hot stove 2018-19

no idea, why another aging star

that's...interesting

hm

cano is a good bet to be productive for another 2 years or so, but i'd guess that diaz and maybe smith would provide more value overall? paying cano $24M a year through his age 40 season, though, yikes

i can't see the mets taking on cano's salary (he has five years/$120m remaining), and the deal makes no sense for the mariners unless they do

Introducing the manager of your 2019 Long Island Ducks: Wally Backman!

The 1986 World Series Champion brings 14 years of @MLB playing experience and a 20-year managerial career in professional baseball to the club. Please join us in welcoming Wally!

📰: https://t.co/snM2ju7wR0 pic.twitter.com/0LwzUsNSXW

— Long Island Ducks (@LIDucks) November 28, 2018

Source: Two former first-round picks are among the #Mets prospects under discussion in talks with #Mariners for Cano-Diaz: OF Jarred Kelenic, 6th overall in 2018, and RHP Justin Dunn, 19th overall in ‘16. ”Significant momentum” in talks, per @JeffPassan.

— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) November 29, 2018

Chili Davis as Mets hitting coach it seems

“I’m excited to be back with Alex and a lot of the training staff with the Toronto Blue Jays because they know me and they know how to keep me on the field,” Donaldson said at his introductory press conference at SunTrust Park. “And that’s the biggest part.”

I'm rooting for Donaldson to have a great season, but give me a break--he's blaming the team for last year?

http://torontosun.com/sports/baseball/mlb/unveiled-in-atlanta-ex-blue-jay-josh-donaldson-takes-shot-at-former-team?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook#Echobox=1543429365

angels have acquired tommy la stella for $/ptbnl; wonder if he'll retire

In the days before his time with the Jays ended, Donaldson pointedly insisted that he felt his injury struggles in 2018 came in large part because he was at odds with the methods of the Jays medical staff and high performance department.

I want details.

man i like tommy la stella

(xpost) Don't have any; I know there was friction. Having thought about it, I'll give Donaldson this--the team has seemed unable to solve recurring blister problems with both Sanchez and Stroman. You would think that would be pretty basic.

I guess I mean details from beat writers on what kind of smart sports medicine as well as pissing-on-hands quackery goes on in training rooms, and how it varies from team to team. Whenever I've gone to games it's been interesting how some players stroll around the field and throw a few balls, and some players go in for 30 minutes of intense stretching and being rolfed by an assistant.

So how long until the Cardinal front office dampens the dreams of some Reds fans who think they might actually have a chance of signing Dallas Keuchel. That guy is from Arkansas, I would figure good chance ole' Dallas might have grew up a St. Louis fan.

He went to college in Arkansas but he's from 2 hours west in Tulsa, OK, not sure if that changes affiliations?

Mariners send Alex Colomé to White Sox for Omar Narváez

reds are non-tendering billy hamilton

who needs a .290 obp burner?

terrance gore 2.0

hamilton kills the pirates tho -- only .280/.327/.360, but 54 runs and 56 SB (8 CS) in 78 games

https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/chicago-cubs-addison-russell-tender-contract-theo-epstein-501656801.html

ugh

http://mlb.mlb.com/images/5/4/0/139598540/072915_nym_flores_eyes_med_z0aylbg3.gif

non-tendered ;_;

I've thought about where Billy Hamilton could fit in. I think for the huge bat/big money teams, Hamilton is a potentially great super sub type. The guy can cover just huge amounts of ground in CF. Some people think the best way to use him might be to have him come in PR for a hitter on base, then switch to defensive replacement. Even though he hasn't been quite as successful at stealing bases, the guy can score first to home on really minimal hits at times.

Don't know their roster, but I could see Hamilton having some value for the Colorado Rockies. Blackmond I believe is supposed to be kind out of place playing center field and Hamilton could go run and get some outs playing in that huge yard.

Yan Gomes is being acquired by the #Nats. Gives them a nice catching combo with Suzuki. Minor League RF Daniel Johnson going the other way to #Indians . (sorry if you saw earlier that mentioned Michael Taylor; he's not involved)

— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) November 30, 2018

This is a pretty crazy deal brewing between the Mets and Mariners.

So this is a chips in the middle trade (they are giving away two of their top 10 prospects if I understand correctly) but they are also shopping a trade with Noah?

I doubt the Noah thing is going to happen now after this move; unless they deal him for established mlb talent at some other position.

after cano deal is wrapped up, word on the street from my man ken rosenthal is that mariners are looking to send jean segura to phillies, perhaps for JP Crawford

Seeing they might send Santana along too - which seems like an insane thing for the Mariners to agree to. Crawford isn’t going to be enough on his own (nor does adding Santana imho).

What happened between Segura and Gordon btw? I’ve seen it mentioned Ina few places but never explained.

This is a pretty crazy deal brewing between the Mets and Mariners.

Is it tho? The EW podcast went over it extensively the other day and wound up at "Yep, yet another trade that makes sense for both teams."

Ya, true. Tho when I first read about it, there were more prospects and money reportedly involved.

This deal for Santana, however...

i assumed there was probably almost nothing left on the santana contract but then i looked and uhhh that's... well actually the last season is a team option so it's only $40m/2y. still yikes

i guess i get to watch my team do the whole fun tear down/build up now, which is... well. i hope kyle seager gets out, he deserves slightly better than this. did mallex not go in the cano deal after all? i guess that's cool. poor dee gordon, finally gets out of miami...

santana is overpaid, but not by *that* much. you could do a lot worse than 25 homers and a ton of walks for $20m. the two years of jay bruce at $14m each seems riper for disaster -- he's been worth 2.6 bWAR over the past five seasons, and all of that was in 2017

#STLCards and #DBacks have discussed a trade that would send Paul Goldschmidt to St. Louis, source confirms @dgoold report. @MLB @MLBNetwork

— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) December 4, 2018

i guess if they get a genuine youth movement going, all of that money is available again in 2021 is the idea?

corbin to the nationals, six years/unknown $

seeing $140 million.

he had a great year, but it also seems like quite an outlier -- K/9IP jumping from 8 to 11, etc.

the projections are solid enough, tho: https://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/nationals-get-another-ace-in-monster-deal-with-patrick-corbin

By May/June fantasy *ahem* "experts" were encouraging owners to sell high on Corbin due to some of his peripherals (pls don't ask) which had showed he was luckier than average.

i don't see him making those projections.

it kind of bothers me that patrick corbin will make more in his career than jacob degrom will (not that they won't both be fine, of course). timing is everything

marlins like rosario, nimmo and/or conforto in Realmuto talks. talks are real, but mets seem resistant on rosario

— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) December 5, 2018

mets and marlins haggling over a once hyped prospect who has never been good, sure why not

it kind of bothers me that patrick corbin will make more in his career than jacob degrom will (not that they won't both be fine, of course). timing is everything

― mookieproof, Wednesday, December 5, 2018 11:58 AM (twenty-six minutes ago) Bookmark

well his agent is the mets GM now so he might just get that payday after all

Stlcards will be getting Goldy

— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) December 5, 2018

between this and the pirates' signing of lonnie chisenhall, the NL central arms race has really escalated

The #STLCards have acquired six-time NL All-Star 1B Paul Goldschmidt from the Arizona Diamondbacks in exchange for C Carson Kelly, RHP Luke Weaver, INF Andy Young and the club's Compensation Round B selection in the 2019 MLB Draft. #TimeToFly pic.twitter.com/65SThIrDli

— St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) December 5, 2018

damn, i like weaver a lot. tough price.

"i read it first on ILB"

wow!

kind of excited to have a "star" on the team for the first time in a while, even though there have been flashes of brilliance with matt carpenter and tommy pham recently.

andy young won't be talked about much, maybe, but i was excited about him. he shot up all the internal prospect lists last year, a 24 year old 2B who has hit with power at every level so far.

it was either going to be carson kelly or andrew knizner, and although i've been a supporter of getting kelly more playing time the last year or so (backups to molina don't play), knizner has more upside. kelly's upside is average to meh offensively, .250/.350/.400 in a good year, with solid defense. a valuable catcher! but kelly's offensive ceiling is more like knizner's floor, and his defense is decent, too.

weaver might be good or might be a #4 starter. it was hard to tell, based off of the first two seasons.

imo arizona did pretty well considering goldy only has one year left, but st. louis didn't need any of those guys (and weaver was pretty bad last year)

also they're apparently confident they can re-sign goldy, since everyone who comes to STL falls in love with it and the bfib (which might be true)