MLB Hot Stove 2019-20

[RushmoreAcademy]

Strop was a big part of some very good teams. His contributions are always slightly weakened in story just by being the weaker of the two brought over in the Baltimore trade. (Arietta the other).
Still, he did a great job for the organization. Maybe our fate a couple years back would've been different if he doesn't go down trying to beat out a ground ball.

[buckchuckler]

Looks like Mookie will be wearing Dodger blue.  Huge addition.

Edit: Price, Verdugo and a 3rd team involved.

[Pakuni]

Looks like Mookie will be wearing Dodger blue.  Huge addition.

Edit: Price, Verdugo and a 3rd team involved.

@Ken_Rosenthal: Joc Pederson would go from #Dodgers to #Angels if blockbuster is completed, source tells The Athletic.

[buckchuckler]

Wow.  The Twins traded their best pitching prospect for Kenta Maeda. 

[CTWarrior]

This trade kills me.  Mookie was the most fun player to watch in my 50+ years of Red Sox fandom.  Happy to be rid of Price, though I wonder how much of the contract the Red Sox will have to eat.  I think Betts will not put up the same WAR numbers in LA.  He was made for Fenway Park and his defensive WAR will take a big hit moving out of Fenway.  That huge right field gave him an opportunity to run down and catch a lot of balls that aren't available elsewhere and the low wall allows him to rob an HR or 3 every year on what are actually somewhat routine catches.

[tower912]

Dombrowski left a team with a depleted farm system and highly paid free agents that needed moved to restore fiscal sanity.   Weird.

[MUBurrow]

Wow.  The Twins traded their best pitching prospect for Kenta Maeda.

Really surprised the Twins weren't able to drag at least a lottery ticket prospect or two from LA's system for coughing up the quality of prospect Boston needed to pull the trigger. Maeda's contract is probably more valuable than his skill set.

[ZiggysFryBoy]

This trade kills me.  Mookie was the most fun player to watch in my 50+ years of Red Sox fandom.  Happy to be rid of Price, though I wonder how much of the contract the Red Sox will have to eat.  I think Betts will not put up the same WAR numbers in LA.  He was made for Fenway Park and his defensive WAR will take a big hit moving out of Fenway.  That huge right field gave him an opportunity to run down and catch a lot of balls that aren't available elsewhere and the low wall allows him to rob an HR or 3 every year on what are actually somewhat routine catches.

I saw $50 million from the Sox to the Dodgers,  but that was last night when it was still breaking.

[Cheeks]

Not sure Pederson stays...Angels want to bring up their stud minor leaguer and the other two outfield spots are taken.  More trades ahead?

[buckchuckler]

Not sure Pederson stays...Angels want to bring up their stud minor leaguer and the other two outfield spots are taken.  More trades ahead?

He isn't a perfect fit that's for sure.  He can keep the spot warm for Adell, and then I'd guess he platoons at 1B with Pujols. 

[Jockey]

This trade kills me.  Mookie was the most fun player to watch in my 50+ years of Red Sox fandom.  Happy to be rid of Price, though I wonder how much of the contract the Red Sox will have to eat.  I think Betts will not put up the same WAR numbers in LA.  He was made for Fenway Park and his defensive WAR will take a big hit moving out of Fenway.  That huge right field gave him an opportunity to run down and catch a lot of balls that aren't available elsewhere and the low wall allows him to rob an HR or 3 every year on what are actually somewhat routine catches.

$$$ are more important than winning.

[Pakuni]

$$$ are more important than winning.

That's definitely a factor, but not the only factor.
Betts made it be known he was testing free agency next offseason and the Red Sox had reason to believe they weren't going to be able to keep him. So rather than get a late first-round pick in the 2021 draft as compensation, they bit the bullet and dealt him for a pair of more valuable assets.
Bitter pill for Red Sox fans, but there was more to it than the team being cheap.

[Jockey]

Really surprised the Twins weren't able to drag at least a lottery ticket prospect or two from LA's system for coughing up the quality of prospect Boston needed to pull the trigger. Maeda's contract is probably more valuable than his skill set.

Burrows, I actually think the Twins did what they needed. The window to win is usually pretty short for small market teams. They needed someone to help them win now - and got it in Maeda. Graterol may or may not become a good pitcher in the Majors - I think he will end up being a closer - but he wasn't going to help Minny this year.

For a big money team to give up Graterol for Maeda would be awful - for Minny it works. At least, IMHO.

[CTWarrior]

That's definitely a factor, but not the only factor.
Betts made it be known he was testing free agency next offseason and the Red Sox had reason to believe they weren't going to be able to keep him. So rather than get a late first-round pick in the 2021 draft as compensation, they bit the bullet and dealt him for a pair of more valuable assets.
Bitter pill for Red Sox fans, but there was more to it than the team being cheap.

There is some value he would have taken to hedge against an injury this year (probbaly between $36M and $40M) but there is no way Red Sox would have ponied up that kind of money.  The Red Sox probably did the right thing, because they got themselves under the luxury tax threshold (which makes it easier to bid for Mookie next year, if that is the plan.)  I just hate that I won't get to watch Mookie next year.  Understand it, but hate it.

[MU Fan in Connecticut]

Burrows, I actually think the Twins did what they needed. The window to win is usually pretty short for small market teams. They needed someone to help them win now - and got it in Maeda. Graterol may or may not become a good pitcher in the Majors - I think he will end up being a closer - but he wasn't going to help Minny this year.

For a big money team to give up Graterol for Maeda would be awful - for Minny it works. At least, IMHO.

It doesn't matter what the Twins do as they never breast the Yankees in October.

[Dr. Blackheart]

It doesn't matter what the Twins do as they never breast the Yankees in October.

Meet Dr. Freud

[WI inferiority Complexes]

The window to win is usually pretty short for small market teams. They needed someone to help them win now - and got it in Maeda.

The Twins apparently didn't get the memo that a team in their own division has already won the offseason.

[MUBurrow]

Burrows, I actually think the Twins did what they needed. The window to win is usually pretty short for small market teams. They needed someone to help them win now - and got it in Maeda. Graterol may or may not become a good pitcher in the Majors - I think he will end up being a closer - but he wasn't going to help Minny this year.

For a big money team to give up Graterol for Maeda would be awful - for Minny it works. At least, IMHO.

I agree, particularly with the bolded. And I don't hate the move, I'm admittedly nitpicking.  You'll never be mad to have a guy like Kenta Maeda around on a contract like that. I just question whether Maeda is the best use of prospect capital like Graterol. Maeda is good, and his swingmaniness is more valuable in today's MLB than ever before - but his skills are only pretty good. His contract is the most valuable thing about him - four more years at $3M base and easily manipulatable incentives.  That seems to be a "stretch the window" kind of trade more than a targeted strike to win now, compared to other guys who might have been available for 1-2 years for a prospect of Graterol's character (Graterol is immediately listed as Boston's top prospect). 

Maeda is a nice guy to have around over 162 games, but I'm not sure if he helps you in the playoffs.  If I were the Twins, I think I would have been more likely to wait on trading Graterol and then target someone that can help you win playoff series. The Dodgers haven't started Maeda in a playoff game in either of the past two years, and he only threw 11 playoff innings for them in that span. Heck, its very possible Graterol throws more playoff innings for the 2020 Twins than Maeda does. But throw everything i say out the window if Graterol is actually broken, as those concerns seem to be holding up the deal.

[Pakuni]

#notdonedeal?

@JonHeyman: Red Sox are said to be trying to reconfigure the part of the Betts 3-team deal with the Twins (meaning more than Graterol). While there's still hope the mega deal gets done in some form, some involved are now suggesting it's not a certainty.

[Eldon]

Astros cheating scandal updates

Hammerin Hank says lifetime ban for all players involved (I agree):

https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/hank-aaron-thinks-players-involved-in-astros-sign-stealing-scandal-should-be-banned-for-life/


New details on sign stealing (sh*t goes deeeeeeep):

https://sports.yahoo.com/explosive-new-details-emerge-about-the-astros-cheating-scandal-000636683.html

[Jockey]

Astros cheating scandal updates


New details on sign stealing (sh*t goes deeeeeeep):

https://sports.yahoo.com/explosive-new-details-emerge-about-the-astros-cheating-scandal-000636683.html

This shows how clueless Manfred is. He is cut from the same cloth (dirty linen) as Selig. Not only should there be deeper penalties for Houston and Boston, but Manfred should also bear the brunt of this. Fire the guy and find someone with integrity - if the owners can be convinced that integrity is a good thing.

[CreightonWarrior]

What a strange situation. Sox/Dodgers/Twins trade finally goes through and Pederson to Angels falls through. 

[Pakuni]

Is MLB trying to make the game ... gulp ... fun?

Imagine a team picking its playoff opponent. Think about Brian Cashman and the Yankees deciding whether to face the Red Sox or avoid them in the first round of the postseason. All on live TV.
Well, it is probably coming soon to the major leagues.
MLB is seriously weighing a move from five to seven playoff teams in each league beginning in 2022, The Post has learned.
In this concept, the team with the best record in each league would receive a bye to avoid the wild-card round and go directly to the Division Series. The two other division winners and the wild card with the next best record would each host all three games in a best-of-three wild-card round. So the bottom three wild cards would have no first-round home games.
The division winner with the second-best record in a league would then get the first pick of its opponent from those lower three wild cards, then the other division winner would pick, leaving the last two wild cards to play each other.

https://nypost.com/2020/02/10/mlb-plotting-playoff-expansion-with-reality-tv-twist/

[WI inferiority Complexes]

Picking your opponent could be kinda neat, but we absolutely don't need more playoff teams 

[The Sultan]

Picking your opponent could be kinda neat, but we absolutely don't need more playoff teams 

Im all for more playoff teams if they shorten the season a couple of weeks.