2022-23 Hot Stove thread

Here's the KNBR audio of Tolbert & Copes breaking the Carlos Correa news to Steve Young live on air. Definitely a top 10 funniest moment on KNBR. pic.twitter.com/hLS67WqYS3

— LOLKNBR (@LOLKNBR) December 22, 2022

reds have dfa’d mike moustakas, who is owed $18m in 2023 and a $4m buyout for 2024

in three seasons in cincy he hit .216/.300/.383 in 184 games for -1.8 bWAR while making ~$35m

at some point the "mooooooooooooooooos" turned into real "booooooooooooooooooo"s

Trevor Bauer’s initial 324-game suspension under MLB’s domestic violence policy has been reduced to 194 games by an arbitrator, ending a seven-month grievance process.

— Alden González (@Alden_Gonzalez) December 23, 2022

Dodgers are gonna drop him apparently… Does any team pick him up?!

If a team picks him up it’s for the ML minimum right?

this is bad news for the Dodgers right, because now they have to start paying him again?

Giants made their big move.

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/35310124/giants-michael-conforto-reach-2-year-36m-deal-sources-confirm

Signing the second Rogers twin clearly a move to confuse other teams, subterfuge and trickery in lieu of a franchise cornerstone.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fkqza6fUAAEhiiG?format=jpg&name=medium

hey, i mean the good news if you're a giants fan is that clearly the team is willing to offer gigantic contracts, and next year shohei ohtani will hit free agency.

I don’t know how much Ohtani would desire to stay in OC but I gotta say the Angels would be insane not to try and keep him somehow. Understanding of course they have a fair amount correctly committed to Trout, and a fair amount mystifyingly committed to Rendon, paying him 38 million per year thru 2026 iirc.

really depends on who owns the angels in 10 months

Surely Ohtani wants to go somewhere he can play postseason?

This is bad. Bad, bad, bad. ALL BAD. pic.twitter.com/c8jpgYK3kg

— LOLKNBR (@LOLKNBR) December 22, 2022

The radio called Correa's physical today "the most anticipated physical in history"--that made me laugh. Must have been a president or someone somewhere who had him beat.

the most anticipated cough of the year

Do the kennedy/alien autopsies count?

Huh?!

As much as the Twins hoped to retain Correa, a team source said the club hadn’t had an opportunity to thoroughly examine him since his original physical in March. The only extended examination Correa received during the season was when he was thought to have broken his finger on May 5 after getting hit by a pitch in Baltimore.

No examination was made following a Sept. 20 contest in which Correa appeared to be injured following a hard slide into second base, according to a team source. Thrown out stealing, Correa lay on the ground for an extended period before ultimately getting up on his own and limping off the field. Correa remained in the game.

That night, he told reporters he was OK after having a brief scare with his surgically-repaired lower right leg.

“He just hit my plate,” Correa said, referring to the hardware in his leg. “I had surgery and he hit it. Just kind of felt numb. Vibrating. So I was just waiting for it to calm down. It was a little scary, but when I moved I knew I was good.”

Lotta after the fact reporting on what *seems* to be some garden-variety capitalism happening?

Was it common knowledge the guy had a plate in his leg that got dinged like a tuning fork?

Also, why was he not examined by the Twins after that?!

curious what's going to happen with bauer, because

a) *some* ownership group/front office (be it the dodgers or someone else) will probably be willing to overlook heinous sexual assault to get a good pitcher for cheap

b) i am pretty sure manfred will do everything in his power to stop that. (he doesn't actually have that power, but i don't doubt his wishes are well known)

c) that's collusion

Jays landed Varsho from the diamondbacks for Gurriel and Gabriel Moreno. I was pretty high on Moreno, but looks like a fair trade

Looked at his career box...What am I missing? I thought we'd get more, especially with Gurriel thrown in.

Varsho? Has a few things going for him, amazing defender, great base runner. The average ugly, but he is more disciplined than Lourdes at the plate. I think between his BABIP and no more shift, his avg should improve and I expect he’s capable of hitting 30+ home runs.

they traded a top prospect + everyday player for a 4.5 win player in his prime, what's not to get?

wanted the yanks to get him but moreno is more than they could've offered. maximum deal prob would've included dominguez + pitching prospects (maybe torres or montas if feeling spicy)

He just doesn't look all that impressive to me--his OBA hovers around .300, and it takes a lot of power to make up for that. But his defense looks good, and we seem to be definitely focused on pitching/defense right now.

We've replaced our third catcher already!

30+ games appearing at C & 90+ in OF in a season:

2022 Daulton Varsho
2002 Eli Marrero
1975 Gary Carter
1968 Curt Blefary
1892 Jack O'Connor

— Sarah Langs (@SlangsOnSports) December 23, 2022

Varsho's minor league stats were pretty nice. .302/.372/.527. One of fastest guys at the position.

btw sarah langs (xp) is 29yo and has ALS/lou gehrig's disease. which is just awful; she is grebt

Faced with an ALS diagnosis, Sarah Langs — MLB’s research star — keeps going ($)

craig kimbrel to the phillies, 1yr/$10m

Hahahaha I can’t get over this story

Mets concerned with Carlos Correa’s physical. Story with @DanHayesMLB: https://t.co/pHleqBg0ho

— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) December 24, 2022

The New York Mets, like the San Francisco Giants earlier in the week, have raised concerns about Carlos Correa’s surgically repaired lower right leg, potentially jeopardizing their 12-year, $315 million agreement with the star shortstop, according to people briefed on the matter who were not authorized to speak publicly.

…

Team medical personnel occasionally offer different interpretations of a player’s medical records, just as a doctor giving a second opinion on a patient can disagree with the first. The Mets amount to Correa’s second opinion. And they appear to be confirming the first.

wow

well if this falls through, off your earlier comment maybe the philharmonic needs a man-sized tuning fork.

Lmao

I feel like he will still go there? But if he didn’t, he’ll be lucky if the Twins still have that $285 on the table

This is the strangest free agent signing I have ever witnessed. Not upset with the Giants now, they did know what they were doing.

Still failed to land that big signing though so

True but I think Judge was genuine and Correa ended up being something different. Not their fault that the market moved on while they were in the middle of what they were doing.

not trying to pile on, but it actually is their fault that the market moved on while they were dithering

i'm not saying it's easy, but it is literally their job to anticipate and deal with such issues

(i can understand why they lost judge to the yankees, but i don't see why they should have lost rodon to them as well)

it's just that yankee mystique

BREAKING: Mets reportedly found buzzer from Astros cheating scandal in Carlos Correa’s physical. pic.twitter.com/NXrz1Qs4g4

— New York Porch Sports (@nyporchsport) December 24, 2022

happy rickeymas everyone

Really curious to see how Correa’s 2x failed physicals contract winds up looking.

Scott Boras turns up in the Kevin Cook book I'm reading about the 23-22 Phillies-Cubs game. Bill Caudill pitched for the Cubs then, and there's a little detour about Caudill being Boras's first client (they knew each other from when they were teammates in Double-A).

Quick detour of my own. Five famous relievers pitched in that game: Sutter, McGraw, Caudill (one of the best for a couple of years), Willie Hernandez, and Donnie Moore.

know: Sutter, McGraw, Willie Hernandez

Caudioll and Moore, I got nothing

only a 4 hour (and 3 minutes) game!

*Caudill

2 fun facts:

this game took place 4 years before i was born. during those 4 years, i went to high school in sperm oblivion, played JV baseball, fell in love for the first time, was born and completely forgot everything.

also, this game was Caudill's third ever appearance in the big leagues. in his second appearance, also against the Phillies, he gave up 5 earned runs in 3 innings of work, including 2 HRs.

Caudill isn't famous, that was a stretch by me. Donnie Moore was a great closer in '85, but he's famous for tragic reasons: after giving up an ALCS homer to Dave Henderson in '86 and costing the Angels their first trip to the WS, he committed suicide a couple of years later. (I've read that what everyone assumed at the time, that the two events were linked, is specious.)

IIRC, Caudill was the Blue Jays' first ever free agent signing (I wouldn't know who he was otherwise).

I had no idea who he was and had to look him up.
Turns out the jays traded Collins and Griffen for him

After three seasons of 26/26/36 saves with Seattle and Oakland, he was going to be the last piece of the puzzle in '85 that would take us over the top: the much-needed closer. His stats actually weren't half-bad for the full year--but I think he blew a couple of key saves early in the year and they handed the job over to the guy from Texas who looked like a librarian.