The Hot Stove League Thread

[fugazi]

Re: The Hot Stove League Thread

Not going to lie, wouldn't mind seeing Grady in a Cubs uni if for the right price.

Have always been a fan of his, just a solid player all around and good character guy. Im sure he has some great years left in him.

no, he doesn't...seriously...u want the sizemore from 08...he is no more.

[DaltonT4]

Re: The Hot Stove League Thread

According to his twitter account and the Reds personal account. The Reds have picked up Brandon Phillips $12M option for this upcoming season.

[1Rose]

Re: The Hot Stove League Thread

Take Him. Cubs save $ And get compensatory draft picks. And with Theo and Co. That's a good thing. Reports are he's looking for a 4 or 5 Year deal. Good Luck with that.

I'm a Aramis Fan, but his time in Chicago is over.. Unless he lowers his price tag.

Yea, if anyone in their right mind wants to give him 4-5 years, which I can bet they will, they can have him. I loved Aramis, my favorite Cub but if didn't want to take a cut, it's time to go. Still a solid bat, but probably has two years left max of really good baseball.

I'll take the cap space and picks for sure.

Going to be weird seeing him in another uniform though, and Ill be rooting for him wherever he goes.

Considering the Cubs are 4-5 years away from doing anything, it's understandable that they would rather have draft picks and more money. Heck, they still are paying Dempter 14 million next season.

He won't get 4-5 years, there's no way. He's 33. He hasn't show any decline offensively, but nobody is going to give him more than 3. I'll be shocked. I bet he will take 2 if he can get 13-14 per.

Dempster had a rough year, but he'll bounce back. At the end of the day, it's still a business and still need names to get fans in the stands, plus we need pitching, can't afford to dump a quality starter.

Also, Aramis will get 4 years, that's the reason he declinded the option, because he knew the Cubs wouldn't give it and someone else will.

Now only if we can get someone to take Soriano.

[CabreraMVP]

Re: The Hot Stove League Thread

I don't believe he will get 4, I dont think that's the reason he opted out. He wants a multi year deal. If the money is right, I bet he'll take 2 or 3.

But I don't think there is a team who is going to give a third basemen a contract to play out over the age of 34, 35, 36, and 37. That's not smart. I'm sure he'll be a productive hitter still at age 37, if he holds up. But over the next 4 years, he's going to get to the point where he is just too slow to play the field, he will have to DH. And while he is not exactly injury prone, he isn't Prince Fielder who misses 10 games in a 6 year career.

Who needs a third basemen? Detroit, maybe the Reds, Atlanta (Chipper?), Seattle? Angels?

He fits for a team that needs another piece to put them over the top. There aren't many teams in that situation. I dont think Detroit comes close to 4 years, they learned their lesson with Guillen/Sheffield and the other 32432 horrible contracts they gave out to players in the past.

Maybe somebody like Seattle who is just desperate for any type of offensive talent will go overboard. But I just can't see many teams needing him THAT bad to go 4 years. I'll stick with 2 or 3 years. If I'm wrong I just hope that Detroit isn't the team. Haha.

[rdnk]

Re: The Hot Stove League Thread

The Cubs picked up Ramirez and his 16m option, but he declined and will become a free agent.

I really think the Tigers are going to push hard for Aramis Ramirez. It sounds like they had all but got a deal for him at the deadline before he decided to stay put in Chicago. That's what Dave Dombrowski hinted at when the deadline passed. He said something like "We were very close to getting an NL Third basemen..high profile player..but the other side backed out." Only Ramirez fit that description.

David Wright does too.

Anyways, stay away from Ramirez (and Reyes too) Dombrowski. The guy is 33 and will be 34 in June. His defense is declining rapidly according to UZR and our infield D is not great to begin with. The guy has never played in the AL, so there will be an adjustment period at the plate. Finally, we don't need another masher (Young, Boesch, Martinez, Peralta, Avlia and Cabrera could all hit 20 bombs); I'd like to get a real leadoff hitter (or #2 hitter). Plus he'll likely want a lot of money considering the options out there, plus probably three or four years guaranteed. Save our money and explore the trade market for a 3B and a 2B.

[Travis40]

Re: The Hot Stove League Thread

I'd like to see the Rangers try to get Marlon Byrd during the offseason. He could cover CF while the Rangers ease Leonys Martin into the lineup. I'd be surprised if the Rangers went after Fielder or Pujols, because Moreland could be the first baseman for the next year or two, and the Rangers could try to move Hamilton or Mike Olt to 1B. I'm thinking the Rangers will pick up one of Sizemore/Byrd and one of Wilson/Darvish/other SP.

[1Rose]

Re: The Hot Stove League Thread

David Wright does too.

Anyways, stay away from Ramirez (and Reyes too) Dombrowski. The guy is 33 and will be 34 in June. His defense is declining rapidly according to UZR and our infield D is not great to begin with. The guy has never played in the AL, so there will be an adjustment period at the plate. Finally, we don't need another masher (Young, Boesch, Martinez, Peralta, Avlia and Cabrera could all hit 20 bombs); I'd like to get a real leadoff hitter (or #2 hitter). Plus he'll likely want a lot of money considering the options out there, plus probably three or four years guaranteed. Save our money and explore the trade market for a 3B and a 2B.

He's more than a masher, guy is just an all around hitter.

Draws walks, uses all the field. Over the last 8 years aside from his injury ridden 2009, he's been around .300 or above every year. Regardless he's still solid defensively although he's slowed a bit with age, but it's not like he's a liability out there.

Right now a 3B who can hit 25-30Hrs and hit over .300 and play decent defense is a hot commodity right now. Especially someone who did it in a lineup with little protection like the Cubs.

Put him in the middle of Cabrera and Martinez and that's a terrifying 3-4-5 IMO. I'm sure the Tigers would gladly take that for 3 years. Like I said, offensively I think he still has 2-3 good years left in him.

Personally I'd love to see him in Detroit, so I can watch him light up the White Sox some more lol

[CabreraMVP]

Re: The Hot Stove League Thread

David Wright does too.

Anyways, stay away from Ramirez (and Reyes too) Dombrowski. The guy is 33 and will be 34 in June. His defense is declining rapidly according to UZR and our infield D is not great to begin with. The guy has never played in the AL, so there will be an adjustment period at the plate. Finally, we don't need another masher (Young, Boesch, Martinez, Peralta, Avlia and Cabrera could all hit 20 bombs); I'd like to get a real leadoff hitter (or #2 hitter). Plus he'll likely want a lot of money considering the options out there, plus probably three or four years guaranteed. Save our money and explore the trade market for a 3B and a 2B.

I don't agree. Ramirez is right up there with A-Rod as being a top 5 third basemen. Wright, Longoria, Zimmerman, A-Rod, Ramirez, Youkilis, Beltre...who else? Not many great third basemen walking around. The only better option is trading Wright which would wipe out the only 3 good prospects we have.

We definitely need another big hitter. First off all, look at Texas. Big bat after big bat. There 7-8 was more dangerous than their 3-4 hitters. We saw how tough it was to pitch to them. There is no easy outs in their lineup, that got them to the world series. For Detroit in the playoffs, Betemit, Jackson, Martinez, Peralta, did very little. We had a horrible postseason offensively. Tigers had a good offense but there is a huge room for improvement. Inge is the worst 3B in baseball. There is no top of the order hitter playing third base, and if there was/is, he's not available. In order to upgrade from Inge, Ramirez or David Wright are the only two realistic (and imo, possible) options there is.

You also can't count on Peralta and Avila duplicating their 2011 seasons. Both of them will probably come down to earth at .280. Avila was a little lucky and Peralta was a career .270 I think. He got better overall though, which is why he can probably hit .280. I dont know if Martinez can hit .325 again. We definitely need another hitter. People said Texas didn't need Beltre either.

If the Tigers do add a guy who can hit near the top off the order, it would probably be Bourjos. He's gonna be available, and his speed/defense would be awesome in LF (Young would be let go) and he can hit a little bit.

But if you're looking for youth/speed/defense/top of the order hitter....you won't find any of those things in a 3rd or 2nd basemen. There's not even many to trade for, I'd say there is David Wright and that's it. I see it as either Ramirez and a .300 average or Brandon Inge.

And you mentioned his adjustment period, I'm not sure if I buy that. He's a career .290 hitter with 30 homers in 140 games agaisnt the AL. Like 1Rose said, Ramirez can hit. There is no situation where he struggles. Home/Road/Day/Night/AL/NL/whatever, he just hits and has been as consistent as anybody the past 12 seasons. And if you worry about him declining, hit him in front of Cabrera and it will do a great job of hiding it. There is no better place to hit in baseball than in front of Cabrera or Pujols. Delmon Young went from a .260 hitter with the Twins, to a .300 hitter on pace for 30 homeruns in Detroit.

[cubsfan203]

Re: The Hot Stove League Thread

I'd like to see the Rangers try to get Marlon Byrd during the offseason. He could cover CF while the Rangers ease Leonys Martin into the lineup. I'd be surprised if the Rangers went after Fielder or Pujols, because Moreland could be the first baseman for the next year or two, and the Rangers could try to move Hamilton or Mike Olt to 1B. I'm thinking the Rangers will pick up one of Sizemore/Byrd and one of Wilson/Darvish/other SP.

If the Rangers can get Fielder or Pujols, Moreland won't be a Ranger next season. I'd much rather have Fielder just for the bat, and that line-up would give the Rangers a very, very good chance at making it back to the World Series. Daniels has said Moreland is their guy, but with no Sabathia on the market I don't see why they wouldn't give one of the big name guys a shot.

I agree that the Rangers focus right now is SP, CF, and then trying to work out long term deals for their current players. They probably need to go after another reliever as well, because I don't really see Oliver being on the team next year. I read that they picked up the option on Colby Lewis, which was a good start.

[BatsareBugs]

Re: The Hot Stove League Thread

Aaron Harang is now a free agent. They also hired Phil Plantier as their new hitting coach/scapegoat/fall-guy-for-their-offensive-woes.

[SPTO]

Re: The Hot Stove League Thread

Aaron Harang is now a free agent. They also hired Phil Plantier as their new hitting coach/scapegoat/fall-guy-for-their-offensive-woes.

Phil Plantier? Goodness, based on his playing career I'd never peg him to be a hitting coach.

In Jays news E-5's option has been picked up while Rauch's has been declined.

[The Big Squeezy]

Re: The Hot Stove League Thread

I didn't say there is no way, but you're acting like there is no doubt he will find "it."

Mysteriously losing all your velocity is not good. People couldn't even diagnosis his problem, still nobody has. Lol. He got rocked.

Even in Colorado he was not an ace....and that's when he was posting great numbers in some of the biggest pitchers parks.

So he magically finds all his velocity and pitches like his old self. He's in the American League. His 3.66 ERA he posted in Colorado in pitchers parks with no DH's, is going to be closer to 4.

He's not a sure thing...and on top of that, he's been an ace for 2 months of his career.

And as of right now Cleveland has one of the worst rotations in the AL and by trading for Lowe, makes it look like they aren't going to be spending any money or trying hard to improve it.

I wouldn't say Cleveland has one of the worst rotations in the league, but I'm not trying to say they have a great one. Masterson was brilliant minus his last two or three starts (which can be atributed to his huge innings jump from 180 the previous year to 216) Ubaldo is, well, I don't know. The jury is still out on him. Fausto.... is well, Fausto. He'll look great for a start or two and then give up 8 runs in a third of an inning. After that it's Tomlin/Lowe who I expect nothing from other than eating innings. Is it great? Nope. Is it the worst rotation in the league? Nope. It's closer to the middle of the pack than the worst in the league, imo.

The whole Ubaldo thing still blows my mind. He looked brilliant in some of his starts and looked like utter trash in some of his others. He'd have a start with 10 K's and then follow it up with a game that he had 8 BB's, it was crazy. There was something wrong with him last year, anyone can see that if you compare how he looked (his wind up, delivery, and follow through) from the first half of 2010 and last year. I don't know if he was hurt or if someone tried to tweak his mechanics or what, but before I go out and crucify him I'm going to wait to see how he looks this year. If he sucks again this year, then yeah, horrible trade. I have hope for him because the longer he was here, some of his velocity was coming back (he was up in the 95-97 range in his last couple of starts) and he looked more comfortable out there. Hopefully some winter ball can straighten him out.

I dunno, maybe I'm just being super optimistic and our team blows. But to be honest, being a Cleveland sports fan is all about being optimistic.

[SPTO]

Re: The Hot Stove League Thread

More Jays news:

- AA was on the radio today and explained that E5 will be a utility man doing a lot of DHing, some time at 3B and interestingly some time in the outfield as well.

- Rauch's performance last year was not good enough to earn the option but the Jays are opening to resigning him to a lesser deal.

- Jays prefer to go the trade route in player acquisition but will also go the FA route if need be.

[BunnyHardaway]

Re: The Hot Stove League Thread

LaCava turns the Orioles down thanks to Angelos. I'm so ashamed to be an Orioles fan right now.

[CabreraMVP]

Re: The Hot Stove League Thread

Detroit had a press conference today, here's the word: They are letting Magglio and Guillen go....they will sign a RH backup Catcher (Bring Laird back, Pudge, Shoppach, Hernandez?), will bring Young back, probably a ST invite for Zumaya, and best of all, they won't sign Jose Reyes.