hot stove 2019-20

I’m a Steele Walker, I kill what I eat.

can Cole have some kind of nonfatal farming accident

I don't think he has any farm bg, but he could start

Maybe he’ll injure himself carrying that contract up his steps.

I can't begin to understand this. For a pitcher. Would have preferred re-upping Didi and Dellin, going after Ryu.

Hope he's bubble-wrapped and given an ankle bracelet / full-time chaperone

can't believe this news outshone the white sox signing nomar mazara

The White Sox will be hoping this changes, but Nomar Mazara's numbers have been absurdly consistent*.

2016: 93 OPS+, 20 HR
2017: 90 OPS+, 20 HR
2018: 96 OPS+, 20 HR
2019: 96 OPS+, 19 HR

*not a synonym for "good"

— Andrew Simon (@AndrewSimonMLB) December 11, 2019

#Mets are working hard to finalize a 1-yr contract with Michael Wacha.

— Joel Sherman (@Joelsherman1) December 11, 2019

I know money is no object to the Yankees but holy shit that contract is nuts. Cole turns 30 next year and NY doesn't exactly seem suited to his talents

Cole has been incredible two years running and i would bet he'll continue to be incredible, though of course like almost every SP he's not a sure thing (arguably the only sure things among starting pitchers over the past decade have been Scherzer and Verlander, the latter only scuffling when he was hurting a few years back iirc). the length seems crazy but the Yanks do really want a reliable ace and not many are coming along.

most likely but I doubt he'll have another year quite like what he had in Houston.

obviously the contract makes sense in that the Yankees window is very much now, iirc in the next 3 or 4 years Judge, Sanchez, Torres, Severino and Betances will all be FAs. still nuts to give any pitcher that sort of money, especially giving them the opt out clause in year 5. as good as Cole is you never knew how age is gonna affect a guy

hate to tell the mets but wacha is only going to pitch 73.2 innings in 2020 before his arm explodes

frogbs how is NY not suited to his talents? Do you mean because of RF? I don't have the numbers but iirc he radically improved ground ball rate these past two seasons. I imagine he'll do just fine.

cole's groundball rate was actually down in houston (the pirates stressed sinkers more than most) but he more than made up for it in strikeouts. his splits against lefty batters are fine and he'll be fine

i'd imagine they are hoping he opts the fuck out in 5 years.

xpost

i'm mostly pissed that cole didn't use his leverage to keep his long hair/beard, because fuck that yankee crap

yet proud that the pirates could smoothly fulfill their role in the whole process

Keep your slovenly habits to yourself.

Put on a tie. And sit up straight fer chrissakes!

I don’t have such strong feelings on this issue except I like the differentiation and I LOVE how much for whatever reason it bothers other ppl

Sources: Zack Wheeler joins Phillies on five-year deal worth more than $100 million

that's fine but if you're gonna spend that kind of money i think i'd rather spend more to get cole or strasburg

i may have underestimated the financial gap here

Jays blow their allowance on 2 years of Tanner Roark at $12 mil per

Rendon to the Angels, 7/245

frogbs how is NY not suited to his talents? Do you mean because of RF? I don't have the numbers but iirc he radically improved ground ball rate these past two seasons. I imagine he'll do just fine.

that plus his HR rate which was his one actual weakness last year. though I wonder how many of those probably shouldn't have been homers

kudos to texas for really trying

Rangers went into the process not wanting to go more than five years for Rendon and Scott Boras made it clear that seven years what clubs were offering

— TR Sullivan (@Sullivan_Ranger) December 12, 2019

Wtf Rangers?

The value of Rendon's contract isn't much more than the one he supposedly turned down from the Nationals months ago. Still, he did well. AAV is almost the same as Mike Trout's contract!

I always thought Roark was underrated, that's not a bad signing by the Jays.

Right-hander Blake Treinen and the Los Angeles Dodgers have agreed to a one-year, $10 million deal, sources told ESPN's Jeff Passan on Wednesday.

Could somebody please explain to an idiot baseball fan like myself why the Indians are trading Francisco Lindor?

For the same reason the cubs are trading Bryant

Cheap-assery

149-game-winner rick porcello to the mets (1y, $10m)

scrappy brett gardner re-signs with yanks (1y, $12m)

Could somebody please explain to an idiot baseball fan like myself why the Indians are trading Francisco Lindor?

― Mr. Snrub, Thursday, December 12, 2019 6:32 AM (four hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

For the same reason the cubs are trading Bryant

― 10,000 mani-gecs (voodoo chili), Thursday, December 12, 2019 6:34 AM (four hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

Cheap-assery

― 10,000 mani-gecs (voodoo chili), Thursday, December 12, 2019 6:35 AM (four hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

nope, both cases are similar. they're both free agents after 2020. both teams face the same decision:

trade their young stars now to gain other players that will be on the team for longer than a single year, plus prospects to restock their weak farm systems (well, chicago's is weak af, i don't know about cleveland)

OR

pass on making the team better in the future in order to go all in on 2020.

i don't know what kind of SS/3B prospects that either team has, but teams are especially motivated to trade young starts before their contract is over when they know they have someone rising up in the system to take their place soon.

one key thing that might not be obvious to more casual fans - when lindor's contract is up at the end of 2020, he can sign for any team he wants. it's not a matter of the indians being cheap. they could offer him a bombass contract, and lindor could choose to play for the yankees for $20M more, or whatever. so this is likely the last year that lindor would ever play for the indians, regardless

kris bryant isn't a UFA til 2022

they could offer him a bombass contract

we're talking about the cleveland indians here???

couldn't they also be "trading" them as a negotiation tactic for an extension/new contract

kris bryant isn't a UFA til 2022

― 10,000 mani-gecs (voodoo chili), Thursday, December 12, 2019 11:05 AM (two minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

pending grievance results though right?

feels like bryant's going to be gone when his contact is up too, the cubs don't seem interested in spending real money right now and i think the grievance has led to some bad blood

lindor isn't a free agent until 2022 either

The Yankees committed more money to Gerrit Cole ($324M) than the Pirates have to free agents in the last 25 years ($299.5M).

— Paul Hembekides (@PaulHembo) December 11, 2019

damn

kris bryant isn't a UFA til 2022

― 10,000 mani-gecs (voodoo chili)

lindor isn't a free agent until 2022 either

― mookieproof,

sorry, i always find fangraphs descriptions of contracts to be confusing. on lindor's page it says "Free Agent: 2021", which I assumed meant he'd be a free agent at the end of 2020. But I guess it means he'll be a FA after that season.

anyway, my silly explanation above still applies - these are young stars that are nearing the end of their contracts. the further away they are from the end of the contract, the more they're worth as trade chips.

The Yankees committed more money to Gerrit Cole ($324M) than the Pirates have to free agents in the last 25 years ($299.5M).

tbf this is probably not true if both figures are denominated 2019 dollars

true, but still

biggest contract in pirates history went to jason kendall in 2000: six years, $60m

i think their highest annual salary was two years of a.j. burnett at $16.5m, acquired in a trade from the yankees

amazing

jose peraza to the red sox

ew

Austin Romine is now a teammate of good friend Miguel Cabrera.

ffs i just want lindor to be an indian for the next ten years is that too much to ask? i don’t want to relive manny ramirez all over again.

I’m enjoying this off-season much more than last years.

who are the best free agents left? ozuna? castellanos?

plus donaldson and ryu (and maybe bumgarner and keuchel)

TT are you a Boras or Cole cousin? secret Stankee fan?