2025-26 hot stove thread

[JPhillips]

A local brewery is selling a popular brew for 3.81 in honor of the Mets' 381 million payroll. They say the sale will continue until the Mets win.

[Lathum]

The streak is over!!!

[Ksyrup]

Losing streaks aside, the Phillies are the worse team. Run differential is ridiculously bad.

[Swaggs]

I was thinking about posting this in the NFL thread, but figured this was a better spot. I was thinking about an interesting issue that exists now that did not a few years ago.

The Pirates took two high school players in the MLB draft in 2021. Lonnie White Jr. (2nd round, 64 overall) Bubba Chandler (3rd. round, 72 overall).

White Jr. was committed to Penn State to play (I believe he was labeled as an 'athlete") WR and signed with he Pirates late in the process for $1.5M. He is now 23 years old and in his 3rd season at A+, where he does have an OPS over 1.000, but is old for the level.

Chandler was committed to play QB at Clemson and signed way overslot for $3M. He is now 23 years old and has made 11 appearances with 8 starts over the past two years for the Pirates and is looking like a solid starter. Very good fastball, questionable control. 3.45 FIP in just over 50 big league innings.

It is super interesting to think about these guys in terms of how much money they ended up losing from NIL over the past several years and from future NFL income, as they would both be draft eligible for the NFL this year. It will be interesting to see how this affects depth and drafting over the next few years, as guys like this are no longer going to sign.

I'm guessing Chandler would have easily gotten $3M as a blue chip HS QB going to a top 20 program right away and someone like White, as a 4-star recruit, may have been high six figures coming out of HS.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Swaggs

I'm guessing Chandler would have easily gotten $3M as a blue chip HS QB going to a top 20 program right away and someone like White, as a 4-star recruit, may have been high six figures coming out of HS.

Chandler was always going to be a baseball player. He played his HS ball maybe ten minutes from me, there was never really any question about where his future was. The Clemson offer (to play both) got him retconned into being a P4/5 prospect but that was just recruiting services playing recruiting games.

He was originally a UGA commit as a baseball-only guy, he didn't have a single FBS offer until Clemson out of the blue. It was largely seen as Dabo doing Dabo things to offer him (Chandler's FB HC was a disciple of the Dabo-assistant Mickey Conn coaching tree), one of those "character guy" schollies that he likes to hand out to family, friends, etc.

I'm happy for Chandler's baseball success but thinking he was ever a major football prospect is pure retcon.

[Ghost Econ]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

Losing streaks aside, the Phillies are the worse team. Run differential is ridiculously bad.

Prescient

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Chandler was always going to be a baseball player. He played his HS ball maybe ten minutes from me, there was never really any question about where his future was. The Clemson offer (to play both) got him retconned into being a P4/5 prospect but that was just recruiting services playing recruiting games.

He was originally a UGA commit as a baseball-only guy, he didn't have a single FBS offer until Clemson out of the blue. It was largely seen as Dabo doing Dabo things to offer him (Chandler's FB HC was a disciple of the Dabo-assistant Mickey Conn coaching tree), one of those "character guy" schollies that he likes to hand out to family, friends, etc.

I'm happy for Chandler's baseball success but thinking he was ever a major football prospect is pure retcon.

Yeah his best offer when Clemson offered was Western Kentucky and even his non-P4 offers were light (Charlotte was his next best offer). It's funny that Clemson offering got everyone else to jump in, likely wondering what Dabo saw, and he ended up as a 4 star entirely based on who offered.

[Ghost Econ]

I guess Murakami is Adam Dunn taken to the extreme?

He has 23 hits. Of those 12 are singles and 11 are home runs. He has 21 walks and 35 strikeouts. So there are still technically just 3 true outcomes. He ends up on first, touching home plate, or going back to the dugout.

[Lathum]

Alex Cora fired.

[Lathum]

Mets swept by the Rockies and scored one run in 18 innings today.

I don't think this is on him but I can't imagine Mendoza doesn't get fired . Off day tomorrow.

I fucking hate Stearns.

[Ksyrup]

Originally Posted by Lathum

Alex Cora fired.

To replace Rob Thomson, probably!

The Phillies piss me off. It was beyond obvious that this "run it back" strategy had a quick expiration date coming, but they decided to keep pushing it. Granted, they won 96 games last year but lost a solid SP and mostly kept an offense with a lot of holes. They probably aren't a 66 win team, either, but something's got to change. This team looks a lot like the the old Angels' "Trout is great but they lose" joke except replace Trout with Schwarber.

[Lathum]

Ron Thompson gone. Mendoza still has a job.

[cuervo72]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

To replace Rob Thomson, probably!

The Phillies piss me off. It was beyond obvious that this "run it back" strategy had a quick expiration date coming, but they decided to keep pushing it. Granted, they won 96 games last year but lost a solid SP and mostly kept an offense with a lot of holes. They probably aren't a 66 win team, either, but something's got to change. This team looks a lot like the the old Angels' "Trout is great but they lose" joke except replace Trout with Schwarber.

Replace Schwarber with Dave Kingman.

Yeah, I know, he's better than Kingman but he's in the same "three true outcomes" mold. The problem is when (excepting Harper*) the rest of the team is in that mold but they only ever hit one of the outcomes. It becomes really hard to score runs when you have to rely on two hitters in your lineup to do something each time around. (It's mostly the same strategy they've employed the past X years, but the role players cobbled together just enough. They're not now, and they're fucked.)


* I know, being unfair to Marsh. If you get a 116 OPS+ out of him, that's about all you can ask.

[Lathum]

Yankees legendary announcer John Sterling passed. I always thought he was a hack and couldn’t stand his stupid home run calls but can’t deny yankee fans loves him.

[Ksyrup]

Skubal having surgery on his left elbow. I assume that means he's out for 2-3 months, minimum.

Tigers have had an incredible number of injuries already but this one is terrible. Should have traded him, especially since they knew they wouldn't sign him.

[RainMaker]

That's terrible. Was hoping the Cubs would make a trade for him at the deadline.

Also sounds like Joe Ryan might be down for awhile. Basically, if you have a good starting pitcher available at the deadline, you are going to get a haul.

[miami_fan]

It is kinda funny to see on Twitter Eric Kosmer breaking down alleged sign stealing by the Red Sox against the Tigers that allegedly was the reason for Framber Valdez getting tossed from the game. I remember a travel team coach trying to teach my son that method when he played as a guest player during a tournament.

It really is a kid's game.

[Lathum]

Astros 7 games under with an aging roster just lost Correa for the year. They could get quite the haul for Alvarez. If I am the Mets I am picking up the phone and testing those waters. Could be the offensive jolt they need.

[cuervo72]

Originally Posted by Lathum

Yankees legendary announcer John Sterling passed. I always thought he was a hack and couldn’t stand his stupid home run calls but can’t deny yankee fans loves him.

Absolutely hated his end of game call.

[GrantDawg]

This, and only this, is what John Sterling should be remembered for to me.

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by cuervo72

Absolutely hated his end of game call.

That to. I just feel like a legendry franchise doesn't need a hack announcer with schtick more akin to minor leagues. Contrast him to Vin Scully, that is how Yankee games should be called.

I will say despite her actual voice, I like Susan Waldman a lot.

[JPhillips]

Reds are about to be 20-18 and yet it feels really bleak. They might have the second worst run differential in the NL by the end of the day.

[Lathum]

Bobby Cox passes away at 84. Hated the Braves but loved him. They don’t make them that way anymore.

[cuervo72]

Yep, the Braves were a pain in the ass as a Phillies fan, but nothing but respect for Bobby Cox. RIP to one of the greats.

[GrantDawg]

Every manager should have gone thrown out of the game yesterday in his honor. There is a rumor they are going top have an honor guard of umpires that are going to kick dirt on his grave at the funeral.

[Lathum]

Didn't have Edwin Diaz implicated in a cockfighting scheme on my bingo card.

Hope he gets the Vick treatment.

[Lathum]

Mets really starting to show some life. Hopefully they can get to .500 by the middle of June then get some guys back in the lineup for a post all star break run. They have n insane amount of division games left so they can make up the gap fast.

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by Lathum

Mets really starting to show some life. Hopefully they can get to .500 by the middle of June then get some guys back in the lineup for a post all star break run. They have n insane amount of division games left so they can make up the gap fast.

They still have horrible season luck on some key indicators that should continue to rebound. Team BABIP is 26th and Bichette, Baty, Soto, and especially Vientos are way under their expected production based on batted ball data. Lindor was probably the unluckiest hitter in baseball before he went down. I think the offense ends up being above average, the pitching is good, and the defense is solid. It's a postseason level team that dug itself a huge hole in April.

On a side note, what stood out to me from the Yankees series over the weekend is how Cashman continues to build teams that are straight out of the late 90s and early 2000s. Lots of power, lots of strikeouts, bad defense, and bad baserunning. It's really hard to win in the postseason with that type of team.

[Danny]

Did Vlad Guerrero Jr become a vegan? Where the heck did his power go?

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Danny

Did Vlad Guerrero Jr become a vegan? Where the heck did his power go?

The real culprit is Guerrero’s lack of barrels this season. In each of the last five seasons, Guerrero has maintained a barrel rate of at least 11% and has always ranked among the top 30% of MLB hitters in this field. In 2026, however, Guerrero has just 12 barrels on the season for a rate of just 7.1%, which ranks him in the 38th percentile of hitters.

The Age-Old Question: Where's Vladdy's Power This Year? | Just Baseball

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by Danny

Did Vlad Guerrero Jr become a vegan? Where the heck did his power go?

Fernando Tatis makes this year's Vlad look like prime Bonds. Tatis hit his first homer in 240 at bats. It was the longest active streak in MLB without a homer.