2017/18 Hot Stove Thread

[Spudboy]

And one more thing.

 

This is one f***ing boring hot stove season. I'm guessing that teams are trying to spend less this winter so no one is jumping into the pond just yet.

 

It's whacky to think that no major deals have been made yet.

[harmony]

And one more thing.

 

This is one f***ing boring hot stove season. I'm guessing that teams are trying to spend less this winter so no one is jumping into the pond just yet.

 

It's whacky to think that no major deals have been made yet.

On this date last year the free agents signings were Andrew Bailey, R.A. Dickey, Kendrys Morales, Chris Helsey, Bartolo Colon, Jesse Chavez, Jeremy Hellickson, Neil Walker, Charlie Morton, Josh Reddick, Drew Butera and Brett Cecil.

 

Eight were among MLB Trade Rumors' Top 50 free agents last year: Hellickson No. 7, Reddick No. 17, Walker No. 18, Morales No. 22, Cecil No. 26, Colon No. 41, Morton No. 46 and Dickey No. 48:

 

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2016/11/2016-17-top-50-mlb-free-agents-predictions.html

 

None of this year's MLBTR Top 50 have signed (with the exception of No. 5 Masahiro Tanaka's opt-in):

 

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2017/11/2017-18-top-50-mlb-free-agents-with-predictions.html

[moonslav59]

They don’t want less tho. They want much more. That’s why I want JD instead.

 

They want Stanton: they just can't afford him.

 

They want to dump $30M a year in salary, and if they have to pay some of Stanton's deal to get a better return, they'll have to trade Gordon and/or Prado (dump).

 

Finding a trading partner willing to take the whole contract is one choice they are looking at. They will weigh that choice vs the offers made where the Marlins pay part of Stanton's deal.

 

I realize other teams can make better prospect offers than us, but they will want money. We don't have to ask for money.

 

I hope we don't have to trade JBJ or Bogey for prospects to flip to Miami. I'm not sure I'd want to open new holes.

 

I think we can offer a nice prospect package that might be good enough, assuming we take Stanton's full salary.

 

If we agreed to take Prado, too, I feel we could get Stanton for much cheaper than many think he will cost.

[notin]

Yup. The Statue has said that he has to get payroll down to no more than $90. mil or their business model does not work. That is serious stuff and a very strong motivator.

 

Something has got to give soon or the Marlins will likely look like dopes.

 

They must get out from under the Stanton contract or they are pretty much f***ed.

 

But so far St. Louis and San Francisco have been more inclined to give actual packages with real prospects. THAT is the biggest obstacle for Boston.

 

Stanton will get dealt, but likely somewhere else. And Miami probably gets one decent prospect better than anything the Sox have offered.

[notin]

On this date last year the free agents signings were Andrew Bailey, R.A. Dickey, Kendrys Morales, Chris Helsey, Bartolo Colon, Jesse Chavez, Jeremy Hellickson, Neil Walker, Charlie Morton, Josh Reddick, Drew Butera and Brett Cecil.

 

Eight were among MLB Trade Rumors' Top 50 free agents last year: Hellickson No. 7, Reddick No. 17, Walker No. 18, Morales No. 22, Cecil No. 26, Colon No. 41, Morton No. 46 and Dickey No. 48:

 

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2016/11/2016-17-top-50-mlb-free-agents-predictions.html

 

None of this year's MLBTR Top 50 have signed (with the exception of No. 5 Masahiro Tanaka's opt-in):

 

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2017/11/2017-18-top-50-mlb-free-agents-with-predictions.html

 

How many of those accepted qualifying offers? Hellickson certainly did.

 

Bret Cecil strikes me as a cautionary tale for overpaying early...

Edited November 21, 2017 by notin

[notin]

And one more thing.

 

This is one f***ing boring hot stove season. I'm guessing that teams are trying to spend less this winter so no one is jumping into the pond just yet.

 

It's whacky to think that no major deals have been made yet.

 

 

Usually very little happens before Thanksgiving. THe next winter meetings from December 10-14 should be much more eventful...

[jacksonianmarch]

The reason why the signings are held up are two-fold. One, the Ohtani saga is rolling along. He is such an impact FA that once his domino falls, others should as well. Also, the big names this year are all represented by Boras. Boras slows things down and typically a big domino falls before the smaller ones do.

 

Also, I think the events of today practically gift wrap Otani to NY. The Yankees acquired the Marlins INTL bonus slot, pushing their total above $4 mil and making them the team with the largest bonus pool

 

EDIT:

 

The amount the Marlins sent over was smaller than initially reported. We are now only $30K behind the Rangers in bonus pool money

Edited November 21, 2017 by jacksonianmarch

[notin]

The reason why the signings are held up are two-fold. One, the Ohtani saga is rolling along. He is such an impact FA that once his domino falls, others should as well. Also, the big names this year are all represented by Boras. Boras slows things down and typically a big domino falls before the smaller ones do.

 

Also, I think the events of today practically gift wrap Otani to NY. The Yankees acquired the Marlins INTL bonus slot, pushing their total above $4 mil and making them the team with the largest bonus pool

 

EDIT:

 

The amount the Marlins sent over was smaller than initially reported. We are now only $30K behind the Rangers in bonus pool money

 

No one really knows how much money is a factor. The only party it seems to matter to is the Nippon Ham Fighters.

 

It certainly doesn't seem like Otani cares, or he would postpne his arrival by one season to let his ankle recover fully.

 

The Yankees figure to be in the running for him regardless, but do they have a selling point over the Rangers or Mariners? The Mariners might have made even more sense had Nintendo not old off the majorty of their shares...

[jacksonianmarch]

They do have a selling point, IMO. Their team is far better than the Rangers and Mariners and is on the upswing. The most recent ace from Japan is in a Yankee uniform. The best Japanese player in modern day history (over there at least) also played in NY (Matsui) and we had a short stint with Ichiro too.

[notin]

They do have a selling point, IMO. Their team is far better than the Rangers and Mariners and is on the upswing. The most recent ace from Japan is in a Yankee uniform. The best Japanese player in modern day history (over there at least) also played in NY (Matsui) and we had a short stint with Ichiro too.

 

You ever oversell your players from their overseas days.

 

Matsui was a great player in Japan, but he benefited from playing for the most popular team in the country, the Yomiuri Giants. Ichiro played for a far lesser team, the Orix Blue Wave, but when he left for Seattle, attendace plummeted for the team. Heavily. Conversely, post-Matsui Giants continued a half-century long string of sold out games.

 

Really, while the Yankees are certainly putting together a good team, so is Texas, and so is Minnesota (surprisingly). If Otani wants to be the proverbial Big Fish, he stands a better chance there.

 

Seattle has the obvious proximity advantage, and the Angels do as well. The Mariners in particular have a long history with Japanese players tha extends beyond Ichiro (who I would bet is not remembered as a Yankee in Japan).

 

But really, the most popular player over there in the past few decades was Daisuke, a player Otani possibly idolized at one point. But the Sox are going to be on the outside looking in on this one, unless the situation is unresolved this year..

[jacksonianmarch]

Really? Texas was abysmal this year and is now without Darvish. The Twins are on the upswing, but they were far inferior to the Yankees and got smoked in the playin game. We have the best farm. We have the best young core. We have the second most money available. And we happen to have a hole in the rotation and at DH. We are the favorites here

[notin]

Really? Texas was abysmal this year and is now without Darvish. The Twins are on the upswing, but they were far inferior to the Yankees and got smoked in the playin game. We have the best farm. We have the best young core. We have the second most money available. And we happen to have a hole in the rotation and at DH. We are the favorites here

 

The Twins might not be as inferior as you think. Try not base base too much on one game.

 

And if Otani thinks he can carry a good team to the post-season, he will find himself at the forefront of the Twins team as opposed to being behind a few other ready-made stars on the Yankees.

 

It's going to be his choice. But don't count out the Twins...

[dgalehouse]

We'll see what happens. But the thing is, the Marlins are only trading Stanton because they need payroll relief. It's a salary dump, and a huge one. Normally when you dump salary you do not get much back in the way of talent.

 

If is just about taking the full contract , I think a number of teams would be interested . The team that offers the most in talent will probably be the team that gets him , assuming Stanton is okay with it.

[notin]

If is just about taking the full contract , I think a number of teams would be interested . The team that offers the most in talent will probably be the team that gets him , assuming Stanton is okay with it.

 

And if he isn't all that OK with it, he opts out 3 years and $77mill later.

 

The Marlins reportedly hd some crazy asking price, but it does look more and more that, while no one will probably hit it, some team will offer at least enough that it isn't a straight up salary dump. I do doubt it's Boston, given the current stage of the farm system.

 

I think the only way is if Dombrowski gets a little creative and move players like Bradley and/or Bogaerts to get an actual MLB-ready prospect or two a little more enticing than Chavis...

[Larry Cook]

Looks like a deal has been made on the ohtani situation. We should start to see the dominos falling any day now!

 

I think we should investigate trading for pavel smith. His path is blocked by goldsmith.

[moonslav59]

Looks like a deal has been made on the ohtani situation. We should start to see the dominos falling any day now!

 

I think we should investigate trading for pavel smith. His path is blocked by goldsmith.

 

Ohtani can be posted Dec 1st.

 

He may not be the first domino to fall.

[Larry Cook]

Ohtani can be posted Dec 1st.

 

He may not be the first domino to fall.

 

I keep thinking Martinez will be the first domino to fall, but maybe someone makes a live connection with hosmer first.

 

Regardless, the longer Miami draws out the Stanton trade, the more trade partners they lose.

[moonslav59]

I keep thinking Martinez will be the first domino to fall, but maybe someone makes a live connection with hosmer first.

 

Regardless, the longer Miami draws out the Stanton trade, the more trade partners they lose.

 

It might depend on which teams get JD Martinez, Hosmer, Moose and Santana. Teams hoping to score one of them but missing out may join in on the Stanton sweepstakes.

[oldtimer]

It might depend on which teams get JD Martinez, Hosmer, Moose and Santana. Teams hoping to score one of them but missing out may join in on the Stanton sweepstakes.

 

This will be a complicated set of dealings, with age, length of contract, QO's and financial and prospect/player commitments. Hope DD plays it smartly.

[notin]

Looks like a deal has been made on the ohtani situation. We should start to see the dominos falling any day now!

Ha

I think we should investigate trading for pavel smith. His path is blocked by goldsmith.

 

Pavin SmIth played in low A ball last year. There is no such thing as a blocked player in low A ball.

 

By the time Smith is ready for MLB, Goldschmidt might have moved on or Smith moved to a new position.

 

If the Diamondbacks thought Goldschmidt was blocking Smith, they would not have drafted him with the #7 pick last year....

[oldtimer]

One would hope that after the Thanksgiving holiday that the Sox FO will take some action. Ohtani, relief pitching, 1st base, impact bat, possible 2nd base help, trades on any of the Sox players. Seems like there are enough opportunities that some action needs to be taken earlier rather than later.

[S5Dewey]

One would hope that after the Thanksgiving holiday that the Sox FO will take some action. Ohtani, relief pitching, 1st base, impact bat, possible 2nd base help, trades on any of the Sox players. Seems like there are enough opportunities that some action needs to be taken earlier rather than later.

 

I have to keep reminding myself that the fact that nothing has happened doesn't mean that nothing is happening. I do believe that DD is working daily to find the best fit for the Sox, it's just that nothing has been finalized yet.

[Larry Cook]

Pavin SmIth played in low A ball last year. There is no such thing as a blocked player in low A ball.

 

By the time Smith is ready for MLB, Goldschmidt might have moved on or Smith moved to a new position.

 

If the Diamondbacks thought Goldschmidt was blocking Smith, they would not have drafted him with the #7 pick last year....

 

I might st have the wrong guy. The guy I was thinking of played at triple a, my bad!

[oldtimer]

I have to keep reminding myself that the fact that nothing has happened doesn't mean that nothing is happening. I do believe that DD is working daily to find the best fit for the Sox, it's just that nothing has been finalized yet.

 

Well, dd did sign Esteban Quiroz, a left handed second baseman from the Mexican league who stands at 5' 7" and is a depth move. He played in the World tournament for Mexico. I see that as his first move of this hot stove league season.

[harmony]

I might st have the wrong guy. The guy I was thinking of played at triple a, my bad!

You probably mean Christian Walker.

[jacksonianmarch]

The Mexican League is interesting. Some players excel over there then translate it directly into production a la Aceves from years ago. The guy will get all the chances in the world to play during ST and if he emerges as the best option, he could start until/if Pedey returns

[S5Dewey]

Well, dd did sign Esteban Quiroz, a left handed second baseman from the Mexican league who stands at 5' 7" and is a depth move. He played in the World tournament for Mexico. I see that as his first move of this hot stove league season.

 

?? I'm assuming that the word that was left out of this post was "hitting", as in 'a left handed hitting second baseman'. ??

[Kimmi]

Well, dd did sign Esteban Quiroz, a left handed second baseman from the Mexican league who stands at 5' 7" and is a depth move. He played in the World tournament for Mexico. I see that as his first move of this hot stove league season.

 

The 5' 7" Quiroz would fit right in with the rest of our little guys.

[oldtimer]

The 5' 7" Quiroz would fit right in with the rest of our little guys.

 

Lin is 5' 7" as well so he is in good company. At least they won't be uncomfortable on cross country flights.

[cp176]

The 5' 7" Quiroz would fit right in with the rest of our little guys.

 

With the way this team is being currently built, a lot of money could be saved in uniform expense! I am finally realizing what the deal is - we do have a budget.