The Dr. Morbius Memorial 2020-2021 MLB Hot Stove Thread

The other two are Ismael Mena and Yeison Santana. https://t.co/Ks9GPmsw6E

— Jeff Sanders (@sdutSanders) December 29, 2020

buncha teenagers

I love Caratini. Underrated catcher, and worked with Darvish.

i understand why TB made the deal, and by 2023 or 2024 their team will almost certainly be better for it. but i don't think winning a pennant and then immediately dealing your (inexpensive) best pitcher is a healthy thing. there's no prize for having the best farm system or most 'financial flexibility'.

mostly i was thinking about how i related to MLB when i was a kid, though. i had a favorite team, but having favorite *players* was more important to me -- someone you were excited to see come to bat or get a start. tampa is very smart and does what it does very well, but if i were a kid with a blake snell shirsey, it wouldn't really be comforting to know that the rays got a good return that will pan out in three years.

there is good economic sense in running your team (or league, or sport) like a hedge fund, but i think it -- yes, like destroying the minors -- tends to discount the reasons why fans care in the first place.

I agree with all that. Had the same reflexion for all those young Red Sox fans who just adored Betts.

I was recently thinking that a Cal Ripken probably could not happen today and it's very sad. Clubs with big financial power can sustain keeping a Kershaw or a Trout for the entirety of their careers, but they are few, and some don't even care (Red Sox and Betts being the best example).

That being said the strategic elements of sabermetrics (shift, opener, launch angles) haven't broken baseball yet, if baseball is broken, it is really because a bunch of owners have decided to pinch every penny possible from the players.

Naturally, I just found out a shirsey is an actual thing!

they may be called shweaters in canada

are there other examples of a pitcher being traded along with his personal catcher?

the rays didn't have fans long before they started being the modern iteration of the rays circa friedman. i suspect there's as many rays fans who buy into the idea of the team as a forward thinking pump and dump machine as there are ones who desperately want the franchise to hold onto blake snell or chris archer or evan longoria. the cynicism of it is undoubtedly grating but until the league in general reorients itself so that teams don't have 6 years of control over every player it's not going to change.

i think with the way free agency has gone recently & this year in particular the union will have a real incentive to try and seriously rearrange the rules of the league. you def can't expect modern day billionaires to start caring about things like sentimentality -- the system needs to be changed so players are more accurately compensated for their value, which means more money in the early years of a player's career and less at the end. of course
the union would never have a reason to want this rearrangement when teams were happy to give out billions of dollars to players 28 and older but that seems to be changing now. that said it will also require the players to be strong as a union bcuz the owners have figured out how to have their cake and eat it too -- don't pay players when they're young or when they're older. it might require strike level organization and fortitude from the union and that might be asking a lot, realistically.

are there other examples of a pitcher being traded along with his personal catcher?

i could be misremembering, but josh thole/ra dickey? they were packaged together, i assume bc thole caught dickey

boston traded doug mirabelli to the padres and then got him back a month later because no one else could catch wakefield

Mirabelli is not remembered fondly in SD:

https://www.gaslampball.com/2015/10/18/9563827/doug-mirabelli-birthday-padres-red-sox-kevin-towers

The Padres are in line for a top 3 payroll next year. Unprecedented times!

sounds like your standard mid-00s red sox player

josh thole/ra dickey?

nice one

JOSH THO

LE

David Ross/Jon Lester iirc

It’s one thing for the Rays and their small market to blow it up, but the Cubs? Really? They just won the division.

but they don't have any moooooooooooooooooneeeeeeeeeeeeeey

spent it all on stopping the steal

cubs projected rotation as of right now, per fangraphs: Kyle Hendricks, Zach Davies, Alec Mills, Adbert Alzolay, and Colin Rea

i am liking steve cohens vibe

Hey , Give the Padres credit. They had a top 5 farm system that gave them flexibility to trade for Snell. Newsflash, the Mets farm system needs to be replenished .

— Steven Cohen (@StevenACohen2) December 29, 2020

Happy New Year to everyone except a rod

— Jose Canseco (@JoseCanseco) January 1, 2021

Which Rod, Jose? Stewart? Gilbert? Blagojevich?

cubs projected rotation as of right now, per fangraphs: Kyle Hendricks, Zach Davies, Alec Mills, Adbert Alzolay, and Colin Rea

― na (NA), Tuesday, December 29, 2020 8:56 AM (one week ago) bookmarkflaglink

update, the cubs have released colin rea

The New York Mets are deep into talks on a deal to acquire Francisco Lindor from the Cleveland Indians, sources tell ESPN.

— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) January 7, 2021

The full Mets-Indians trade involves six players switching teams, per sources.

Mets receive: Francisco Lindor, Carlos Carrasco

Indians receive: Amed Rosario, Andrés Giménez, Josh Wolf,
Isaiah Greene

— Anthony DiComo (@AnthonyDiComo) January 7, 2021

wow.

are the mets good yet?

To hell with the Dolans

Also, I thought we were done with that franchise name.

not for another year, because ... ??

it's so weird that this noncompetitive marketplace makes it very easy for teams that actually want to get better to improve

i like giménez but that doesn't seem like a great return

cleveland payroll is now under $40m

Not bad, Mets! Who's going to play 3B? Davis?

Ugh. Goddamn this sucks. We all knew it was coming but it still sucks. Can Dan Gilbert please buy the Indians ffs? Poor people should not be allowed to own professional sports teams.

Sorry :(

We've been there though.

MLB managing to ruin francisco lindor... is nothing sacred

sweet jesus!

Also, I thought we were done with that franchise name.

― Van Horn Street, Thursday, January 7, 2021 1:01 PM (thirty-nine minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

it has a lot of unfortunate connotations, but I think they should stick with it at least until they leave Queens

Sad to see Gimenez go, but seems like a good deal! At least not as risky as the Brodie blockbusters.

Not bad, Mets! Who's going to play 3B? Davis?

they were trying for Bryant too. not sure if landing Lindor means they're out now or not.

I was talking with my nephew (Yankees fan) and he just reminded me that LaMahieu is still out there. Maybe Springer is asking too much and they go for the upgrade at 3B instead of CF.

rumour is LaMahieu is asking a lot, but since his bat is uniquely ideal for yankees stadium, there isn't a tonne of interest. i'm hoping the Jays can land Springer.

Hoping for that too, but I'm not optimistic.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Category:Slang

1-2-3
A
Ace
Americas
Around the horn
Away game
B
Bad ball hitter
Bag
Bandbox
Banjo hitter
Bases loaded
Bat around
Bean ball
Bench warmer
Big Three
Blowser
Bonus baby
Bronx Cheer
Brushback pitch
Bush league
C
Can O' Corn
Caught stretching
Cellar
Chin music
Choke up
Clean up
Closer
Clutch hitter
Crank
Cup of coffee
D
Dinger
E
Eephus pitch
Excuse-me single
F
Fall classic
Fireman
Five-tool player
Flash in the pan
Four-bagger
G
Gap
Go yard
Golden Sombrero
Good morning, good afternoon, good night
Gopher ball
Green light
H
Heat
Hitting on the Interstate
Hold the runner
Hot corner
Hot stove league
Hung
I
Iron Man
J
Jam
Junkballer
L
Lead
Little League homer
M
Mason Dixon Line
Mendoza Line
Mystery pitcher
N
Nichols Law Of Catcher Defense
O
Ofer
On the road
P
Pickle
Pull
R
Ribbie
Road game
Rope
Royal Rooters
S
Sayonara
Second division
Set the table
Set-up man
Strikeout Single
Striking out the side
T
Taking the collar
Texas leaguer
The show
Tools of ignorance
W
Wheels
Johnny Wholestaff
Workhorse
Y
Yankee Fan
Yips

i am really glad that tater isn't on there

otherwise, though, i think that covers all the baseball slang

never heard anyone use 'strikeout single'

seems like more of a little league occurrence

i don't think you can take first on a dropped third strike in little league?

i mean, that would happen on a majority of strikeouts, and you'd no longer be able to stash your second-worst player at catcher

I can think of at least one famous bit of slang from Ball Four not on that list.

Looking forward to reading that book in a few days.

tangent - should i watch moneyball? somehow i've managed to dodge reading or watching it, although i feel like i already know how the movie is gonna go