The 2021-2022 Non-Fungible Hot Stove Thread (Presented by Monkeyjizz)

Automated strike zone coming to Triple-A in 2022 https://t.co/NvpohxWiqH

— NBC Sports EDGE Baseball (@NBCSEdgeBB) January 20, 2022

booooo (to Montreal getting nixed)

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FJ4C-vzWQA4QnTJ?format=jpg&name=small

i think it's the cardinal way that stands out to me. doing things the right way. having the best record of any non-NY/LA team with infinite money, through hard work and dedication - and maybe a couple tricks from Mr. George Kissell!!

it also stands out to me that the angels have the second best record in the AL west over that period of time, but yet never seem like serious playoff threats

also that the astros are still under .500 for that period. a lot of things standing out here

Angels surprised me the most

if you think about it, they're 8 games over .500 over a 10 year span and whereas some other teams might have had some great seasons and some bad ones to get them to that place -- i.e. the rangers -- i feel like the angels are just constantly mediocre. it sorta scans to me even tho i agree it's a bit weird to see them second over that time period. at some point there will be a reckoning over the longterm damage to baseball by having it's best player in 70 years basically never make the playoffs

It's not ideal, but what long-term damage would there be? A Google search turns up twelve HOF'ers who never played in the World Series, including Frank Thomas, Ryne Sandberg, Rod Carew, George Sisler, and Ernie Banks (as often pointed out, not even a playoff game). Trout's missed a lot of time the past few seasons; doesn't make him any less great of a player, but that hasn't helped L.A.'s postseason chances. It just seems like a weird statement to me, like the rest of the division owes Trout an apology or something.

Arte moreno owes trout an apology really

Idk if it's damaging the game now that we have acuna and tatis and vlad but it definitely sucks that trout and now ohtani don't get the national spotlight of the postseason

arte moreno sucks but tbf he's been more than willing to spend money -- he's just spent it poorly. certainly he doesn't owe trout or pujols or rendon any apologies

The AL Central owes everyone an apology.

god, i miss baseball. this is always the time of year when i reinstall out of the park baseball 201x and get really into it for 2 and a half days.

i missed this from last year:

Dodgers pitcher Joe Kelly, whose mother is Mexican-American, wore a mariachi jacket to the White House on Friday.

He got the jacket earlier in the week after asking a musician from a mariachi band if he’d trade for a jersey.

(Via @redturn2, @mgarijc, @ashleynicokelly) pic.twitter.com/iuvB4BkWxa

— ESPN (@espn) July 3, 2021

i know signing expensive relievers as free agents is a bad idea, yet i highly desire a joe kelly return to stl

joe kelly gives me life

I made the mistake of undertaking a league build in ootp that has gotten so daunting, I’m scarred to open it again

i'd like to think that they wouldn't go ahead and charge people during a lockout, but if you have mlb.tv you might want to stop it from automatically renewing on march 1: https://www.mlb.com/account/subscriptions

i'd like to think that they wouldn't go ahead and charge people during a lockout

aha! ahahahahahahahahahahaha!

*breathes*

bwahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!

good call, i canceled that shit

thank you for this reminder, you have done the lord's work today mookie

this is probably the only way to nudge mlb into resolving this. i'd imagine not a lot of money comes in over spring training, but if they see a bunch of people unsubscribing it might spur a little action.

Jeter: not a true Marlin

". . . the vision for the future of the franchise is different than the one I signed up to lead."

they must be bringing back the sculpture

I’m new here @LinkedIn pic.twitter.com/6ICuCH7aBc

— Joey Gallo (@JoeyGallo24) February 28, 2022

i'm extremely used to players being younger than me but it's still weird to think that joey gallo graduated high school 6 years later than me

kwang-hyun kim is going back to KBO, signing with his old team (the Incheon-based SSG Landers, formerly the Wyverns) for 4 years, $12.3M.

that turns out to be the record contract guarantee in KBO, at 15.1 billion won

That’s not to say Kim “settled” for a return to Korea. His deal is worth 15.1 billion won, not coincidentally topping 15 billion won deals for Sung-bum Na and Dae-ho Lee that had previously been the largest guarantees in KBO history. Setting that record is presumably a point of pride for Kim, and he’d not have garnered a four-year guarantee had he remained in MLB. However, big league teams may have been willing to offer more than the roughly $3.075MM in average annual salary he’ll make on this deal had it been a typical offseason. A few other players have made the jump from MLB to foreign pro leagues this winter, but Kim would probably have garnered the most interest of that group had teams been able to keep in contact with his reps over the past few months.

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2022/03/kwang-hyun-kim-signs-four-year-deal-with-kbos-ssg-landers.html

here we go

Yeah, the next few days are going to be bonkers

yup, this gonna be fun!

It’s 7 o’clock. Why haven’t dozens of free agents signed yet?!

Carlos Correa will be buying Amazon within a few days.

Please don't go to the Yanks, Freddie.

Keep hearing about Toronto as a possibility for him...would love that, if real.

It would be great and all - but makes like zero sense.

For him, you mean? Toronto would obviously have to pay out, which is why it won't happen, but theoretically, if they were willing, it would make sense for the Jays, no?

but why? they need a 3b (or failing that 2b) and a backend starter. Vlad's already at first, i don't see him going back to 3rd and neither of them are appropriate for DH.

fuck the handedness haters; let freddie play third

god i'm so glad the season will start soon. spring training is going to rule

some teams are literally starting tomorrow, no?!

i think official be there or die date is sunday, but players can report as early as tomorrow. so i'm already looking forward to pitchers and catchers tossing the ball and someone being in the best shape of their career. god i love this stuff

if wainwright and molina stay healthy, they will set the record for most battery-mate pitcher/catcher games, this year. i think they need around 22 or so

passing lolich and freehan, i think, at the top

honestly, i did think there was going to be an absolute rush of transactions, starting..pretty much anytime? weird

The Cardinals have agreed to a two-year contract with free-agent righty Drew VerHagen, tweets Mark Feinsand of MLB.com. VerHagen, who spent the past two seasons pitching in Japan, will be guaranteed $2.5MM in 2022 and $3MM in 2023.

uh, ok! let's do this

IT BEGINS

carlos rodon to the giants, 2 years/$44m

Welcome to San Francisco Carlos, two years is fine and can be very good

bold move for a guy with his injury history, but that's what money is for. glad rodon is getting paid

also kershaw re-signed with the dodgers for 1yr/$17m

Kinda glad Kershaw is back with los Dodgers

very much so

andrelton simmons to the cubs 1 yr/$4m

dodgers have supposedly made a big offer to freddie f