hot stove 2019-20

cubs acquire jharel cotton from the a’s for $$

Gerardo Parra to Yomiuri Giants

Travis d'Arnaud signs a two-year, $16 million deal with the Braves

BLUE JAYS SIGN COLE https://t.co/gS73gw2oSp

— Céspedes Family BBQ (@CespedesBBQ) November 25, 2019

cheap

longtime replacement-level tigers reliever drew verhagen is off to japan to fight ham

Mets:

Jeremy Hefner - pitching coach
Hensley Meulens - bench coach
Chili Davis returns as hitting coach

https://www.amazinavenue.com/2019/11/26/20983870/mets-news-jeremy-hefner-bench-coach-carlos-beltran-coaching-staff-new-york

BAM
BAM

kyle gibson to texas

i guess someone has to eat the innings

the gibson family thanksgiving dinner, 2054

Kyle Gibson Jr III: "was grandpa good at baseball?"
*uncomfortable silence*

brewers trade trent grisham and zach davies to the padres for luis urias and eric lauer

*four glasses of wine later*

"...which brings us to the concept of the "replacement value" player, by which your grandpa did provide positive value, to an extent..."

former red sox great drew pomeranz to san diego

xp
wow, that trade!

grisham, urias, and lauer all seem like high ceiling players/prospects. seems likely that one team or the other will "win" the trade, but it's not clear which team that is..

gotta wonder how dangerous the padres would be if they hadn't chosen to build their team around wil myers and eric fucking hosmer a couple years ago

Urias was considered a pretty hot prospect a couple of years ago.

for sure. and grisham is a 2015 first round pick who demolished AA and AAA last year. lauer was drafted first round the following year, and his peripherals are already better than zach davies' (who will be a free agent after 2020 anyway)

oops, i think davies isn't eligible for free agency until after 2021 season? sometimes it's hard to tell.

Rays have agreed on a contract with backstop Mike Zunino, who’ll earn $4.5MM for the 2020 campaign and remain under control in the 2021 season with a $4.5MM club option.

so my HACKING MASS catching pick is set! dude can't hit

erstwhile twins bench coach derek shelton is the pirates' new manager

carl/cj edwards jr to the mariners

stephen vogt to arizona

orioles are 'shopping' dylan bundy

legendary mets infielder jed lowrie to san diego for manuel margot and josh naylor

oh wait, apparently that was fake

tsk tsk how could u fall for that

tif no deal is out of bounds for the padres

orioles put their best position player — jonathan villar, 4 WAR in 2019 — on waivers rather than pay him an estimated $10m in arbitration

jfc

red sox trade sandy leon to cleveland, in lieu of non-tendering him

BREAKING: Third baseman Mike Moustakas and the Cincinnati Reds are in agreement on a four-year deal, league sources tell ESPN.

— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) December 2, 2019

They gonna move Suarez to shortstop or something?

With Moustakas going to Cincy to play 2B...do we still believe that 2B is higher (harder) on the defensive spectrum than 3B?

I believe I could argue that shift + rules effectively banning collisions at 2B on DP turns have made 2B easier than 3B.

Which returns us to 1900.

— JJ Cooper (@jjcoop36) December 2, 2019

four years, $64m

Villar dealt to Miami

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/28213608/marlins-trade-orioles-jonathan-villar-claim-jesus-aguilar

weird

In losing Grandal, Moustakas and Pomeranz as FAs, trading Davies and Anderson, and cutting Thames, Perez and now Shaw, Nelson, Guerra, Claudio and Saladino, #Brewers have trimmed some $63 million from payroll since end of season.

— Tom (@Haudricourt) December 3, 2019

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2019/12/zack-wheeler-bidding-already-in-nine-figures.html

In terms of supply, Wheeler occupies an interesting position. He’s clearly not to the level of Gerrit Cole and Stephen Strasburg, but arguably possesses a much loftier ceiling — with a combination of premium stuff and relative youth — than any of the other available starters.

i'm willing to be very wrong later but i suspect anyone signing him to an insane contract based on the "arguably" he has a "much loftier ceiling" via a combination of "stuff" and "youth" thing will regret it later especially considering he's only a couple of years younger than Strasburg and also older than Cole so...i actually don't know what's being said there.

hole camels to the braves apparently

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

really curious about what the Brewers plan to do

Totally agree about the spending aspect of Wheeler. I think teams liked him because he was the next tier down from Cole/Stras - but what’s the point if you’re paying 120 million and also losing a draft pick?! Might aswell just put that towards a legit ace.

the argument that he has a loftier ceiling than Cole or Strasburg seems legitimately insane to me, like when Scott Boras was arguing Jayson Werth was an elite player.

even if the argument is "from this point forward" -- i mean what the--!

Someone on a blue jays board was comparing Wheeler to Chance Anderson - who the jays got for a pretty fair price. And really, Wheeler is not a lot better. He’s a little better (def over the last two years), but no way he’s 24 million a year better

Similar Pitchers through 29

Erik Bedard (979.8)
Shane Reynolds (977.9)
Matt Harvey (976.7)
Carlos Carrasco (969.5)
Danny Salazar (969.0)
Chris Young (968.5)
Shaun Marcum (968.3)
Hideo Nomo (967.4)
Dan Straily (965.8)
Sam Gray (965.1)

Similar Pitchers

Garrett Richards (979.9)
Tommy Hanson (975.9)
Danny Salazar (969.0)
Marcus Stroman (968.1)
Jair Jurrjens (965.0)
Matt Harvey (964.9)
Mike Foltynewicz (962.5)
Kenta Maeda (961.0)
Bill Stafford (960.7)
Mark Prior (959.6)

career ERA+ 100

he doesn't even know how to spell his name correctly, either

I am glad the Mets let him walk

brewers find a catcher, Omar Narvaez

9:20am: The two sides have a deal in place, Greg Johns of MLB.com reports (via Twitter). Milwaukee will send minor league right-hander Adam Hill and its Competitive Balance draft pick to Seattle in exchange for Narvaez. The Brewers’ pick lands in Round B this year and is currently slotted in at No. 71 overall.

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2019/12/brewers-nearing-acquisition-of-omar-narvaez.html

i guess he's not a great defender, but that seems like not much for a cheap catcher who hit 22 homers with a 119 wRC+ last year