hot stove 2019-20

i guess it makes sense that a team without a GM doesn't want to commit to a 70yo manager, but i'm a little surprised dusty agreed to this. also it means the astros will spend the entire season dealing with rumors that they'll re-hire hinch

Dusty Baker's contract is officially a one-year deal with a club option in 2021 that includes a buyout

— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) January 29, 2020

i just realized that there's a possibility of the astros having to deal with a bunch of fans banging on trashcans and containers during away games

cannot imagine what the Astros will "have to go through" on the road this season lol

They’re gonna have to go through some things

Me being one of them.

roundup

American League

Yankees: $336.5MM on two players (Gerrit Cole and Brett Gardner; top 50 MLBTR signings: two)

Angels: $260.85MM on three players (Anthony Rendon, Julio Teheran and Jason Castro; top 50 signings: three)

White Sox: $196.5MM on six players (Yasmani Grandal, Jose Abreu, Dallas Keuchel, Edwin Encarnacion, Steve Cishek and Gio Gonzalez; top 50 signings: five)

Twins: $151.8MM on eight players (Josh Donaldson, Michael Pineda, Jake Odorizzi, Homer Bailey, Sergio Romo, Alex Avila, Rich Hill and Tyler Clippard; top 50 signings: four)

Blue Jays: $114.35MM on four players (Hyun-Jin Ryu, Tanner Roark, Shun Yamaguchi and Travis Shaw; top 50 signings: two)

Rangers: $62.25MM on five players (Kyle Gibson, Jordan Lyles, Robinson Chirinos, Joely Rodriguez and Todd Frazier; top 50 signings: two)

Tigers: $17.8MM on four players (C.J. Cron, Jonathan Schoop, Austin Romine and Ivan Nova; top 50 signings: one)

Astros: $15.65MM on three players (Joe Smith, Martin Maldonado and Dustin Garneau; top 50 signings: zero)

Rays: $12MM on one player (Yoshitomo Tsutsugo; top 50 signings: zero)

Red Sox: $9.9MM on three players (Martin Perez, Jose Peraza and Kevin Plawecki; top 50 signings: zero)

Athletics: $7.5MM on one player (Jake Diekman; top 50 signings: zero)

Royals: $6.95MM on two players (Alex Gordon and Maikel Franco; top 50 signings: zero)

Indians: $6.25MM on one player (Cesar Hernandez; top 50 signings: zero)

Orioles: $3MM on one player (Jose Iglesias; top 50 signings: zero)

Mariners: $2.95MM on two players (Kendall Graveman and Carl Edwards Jr.; top 50 signings: zero)

National League

Nationals: $316.75MM on 10 players (Stephen Strasburg, Will Harris, Daniel Hudson, Starlin Castro, Yan Gomes, Howie Kendrick, Eric Thames, Asdrubal Cabrera, Ryan Zimmerman and Kyle Finnegan; financial details unclear for Finnegan; top 50 MLBTR signings: four)

Reds: $164MM on four players (Nick Castellanos, Mike Moustakas, Shogo Akiyama and Wade Miley; top 50 signings: four)

Phillies: $132MM on two players (Zack Wheeler and Didi Gregorius; top 50 signings: two)

Braves: $116.25MM on nine players (Will Smith, Marcell Ozuna, Cole Hamels, Travis d’Arnaud, Chris Martin, Nick Markakis, Tyler Flowers, Darren O’Day, Adeiny Hechavarria; top 50 signings: five)

Diamondbacks: $109.65MM on five players (Madison Bumgarner, Kole Calhoun, Hector Rondon, Stephen Vogt and Junior Guerra; top 50 signings: two)

Brewers: $48.38MM on eight players (Avisail Garcia, Josh Lindblom, Justin Smoak, Brett Anderson, Eric Sogard, Alex Claudio, Ryon Healy and Deolis Guerra; financial details unclear for Healy and Guerra; top 50 signings: two)

Padres: $48MM on three players (Drew Pomeranz, Craig Stammen and Pierce Johnson; top 50 signings: three)

Mets: $24.35MM on four players (Dellin Betances, Rick Porcello, Michael Wacha and Brad Brach; top 50 signings: three)

Marlins: $23.855MM on five players (Corey Dickerson, Brandon Kintzler, Francisco Cervelli, Matt Joyce and Yimi Garcia; financial details unclear for Joyce; top 50 signings: one)

Giants: $17.775MM on four players (Kevin Gausman, Drew Smyly, Tony Watson and Tyler Anderson; top 50 signings: one)

Dodgers: $15.25MM on three players (Blake Treinen, Alex Wood and Jimmy Nelson; top 50 signings: one)

Cardinals: $15MM on three players (Adam Wainwright, Kwang-hyun Kim and Matt Wieters; top 50 signings: one)

Cubs: $2.5MM on three players (Steven Souza Jr., Jeremy Jeffress and Ryan Tepera; top 50 signings: zero)

Pirates: Signed OF Guillermo Heredia and C Luke Maile (financial details unclear; top 50 signings: zero)

Rockies: Signed RHP Jose Mujica (financial details unclear; top 50 signings: zero)

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2020/01/free-agent-spending-by-team-american-league.html
https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2020/01/free-agent-spending-by-team-national-league.html

(for anyone who doesn't follow, "top 50 MLBTR" refers to the top 50 free agents list on MLBTradeRumors)

The Kris Bryant ruling shows MLB’s “impartial” arbitration is a farce

lol the Rockies do not give a single fuck about winning baseball games

appreciate that the tigers are making a token wave at being watchable, unlike some other teams i could name

your 2020 pittsburgh pirates

https://i.imgur.com/zT9rZRG.png

are there fun players on this team?

Josh Bell will probably be very fun for half the season and very unfun the other half

The half of the season he plays at the plate vs the half of the season in the field

reynolds is a 'professional hitter' -- which is nice, i like him -- but i don't think he can play center. polanco is a disappointment but i still like him because he reminds me of a plague-ridden man's dave parker

the projections for archer, musgrove and moran -- among others -- are extremely optimistic. the catchers too, unless they're framing wizards

brault is kind of fun because he can actually hit

they have a prospect named oneil cruz -- who will probably play in double-a this year -- but if they just called him up now it'd be cool because he's a legit 6'7" shortstop

that's the upper limit for fun

I like Reynolds - but he should not be in CF

oh yeah i forgot about brian reynolds, probably because his name is "brian reynolds"

hen cherington is mulling over these fantastic options

Free agents Kevin Pillar, Billy Hamilton snd Cameron Maybin are among CF candidates Pirates are considering. Pillar would seem to be pricier than the others. GM Hen Cherington knows him from Toronto

— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) January 30, 2020

Pillar is almost the definition of the kind of player who is a) great to have around if you're a strong team and you can bat him eighth or ninth and just be glad for his defense (Jays, 2015), but b) is a liability if you have to bat him fifth or sixth because you've got no offense (Jays, 2018).

billy hamilton in 43 career games in pittsburgh: .303/.339/.376, 33 R, 33 SB, 4 CS lol

Love to see Billy Hamilton go somewhere and figure it out enough to stick around, he's a fun and well likable player.

He's 29, can't remember when a player that old figured it out.

what are hamilton's splits against STL? seems like every game i've ever seen against him involves walking him 3 separate times as the leadoff batter of an inning

Xpost to morbs: Bautista was 30 when he had that monster break out season.

Well, that was about power to a large degree. I wouldn't expect a speedster to learn how to get on base at 30.

Probably won't happen, but Billy H. is such a good athlete even a 10-20% margin improvement takes him up to handy player to keep around with his speed and defense. It will be interesting to see if he is still on a roster in a couple years.

I suppose you see pitchers figuring something out later on, but then you got the 'roid ragers like Luis Gonzales who went from average outfielder to super slugger in their 30s.

Mets signed Matt Adams and Eduardo Nunez to minor league deals

Otis Nixon's career arc might be the closest model you 'might' find for someone like Hamilton.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/n/nixonot01.shtml

Matt Adams has had a weird career. That guy has been a model of inconsistency as there have been more than once it looks like the guy is going to be come a big bat, but then the magic wears off.

That said, I would love to see Matt Adams in a foot race with Lucas Duda.

Similar players I both saw hit moonshots against the Reds at GABP.

More I think about it, both were off Homer Bailey too. Always bet against Bailey if he is pitching during the day, that's my Pete Rose tip of the day.

Pumped to watch Billy Hamilton hit 54 home runs in 2020

billy hamilton has always been a small step away from an above average player - being able to reach .300 OBP consistently, or .100 ISO - but now he's 29, going into his 7th full season. his speed is already diminishing. i loved watching him (destroy the cardinals and yadi) but i think he missed his window.

d-backs sign edwin jackson (and jon jay) to minor league deals

unfortunately, arizona is one of the 14 teams he's already played for

over the last seven seasons, jackson is 37-62 with a 5.47 ERA, 4.87 FIP, 1.517 WHIP and -4.9 WAR while making $39m

d-backs sign edwin jackson (and jon jay) to minor league deals

unfortunately, arizona is one of the 14 teams he's already played for

this must be some sort of mistake. wtf is jackson doing??

i thought the dbags would stop signing average cardinals from 2011-13 after la russa moved on, but it looks like they're still into it

Betts and Price to Dodgers, says Jeff Passan

slight correction

There could be a third team involved in the deal, as @Ken_Rosenthal reported. Significant cash will be going the way of wherever David Price lands. But the main player, Mookie Betts, will be a Dodger should medicals go as expected.

— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) February 5, 2020

baseball is broken

Oh wow, the dodgers have added one of the best players in baseball to their team again

like many things that are bad for baseball, this is great for the yankees!

fuck this. just fuck it.

Mookie in LA from a marketing standpoint is going to be sick

so final tally i believe:
Mookie/Price/cash to Dodgers
Maeda to Twins
Brusdar/Verdugo to Sox

dodgers are also trading pederson to LAA for rengifo. i have no idea why the angels would do this unless they intend on swinging pederson to someone else for pitching. or adell. i have no idea how LAA has made this many moves and they still don't have any pitching.

why is $$$ going to LA? wtf...

to cover part of price, i imagine

when’s the last time a player of betts’ stature was traded by the team that drafted him in the prime of his career? and didn’t demand to traded? just can’t believe this actually happened

Seems dumb to me — good luck Boston.

gets them below the luxury tax threshold which is the only thing that matters