2015 MLB Hot Stove thread

[The Kid 24]

Re: 2015 MLB Hot Stove thread

Tigers sign Mike Pelfrey

Damn that's a solid rotation they have now.

Zimmermann
Verlander
Sanchez
Norris
Pelfrey

[bhurst99]

Re: 2015 MLB Hot Stove thread

He's just a Shapiro/LaCava yes man. They're doing something similar to the Leafs. Also, Cleveland on a $140 million budget is great. They did a lot of good things there without any money, at all.

Anthopoulos' comments if he was still GM and Price turned him down:

"Well, we made what we felt was a competitive offer to David, and unfortunately things didn't play out the way we wanted them to. We felt we offered a strong annual value in spite of the lack of years given, and were very surprised when David told us he was moving in another direction. However, we have lots of balls in the air right now, and we feel extremely confident in our internal options such as [insert 14 year old in Dominican Summer League.] I'm extremely excited about the team moving forward, and will look to address this through free agent deals that fit within our internal evaluations, or trades that help us improve as an organization."

Likely offer made: 4 years, $78 million

Brilliant analysis. I thoroughly agree.

[Money99]

Re: 2015 MLB Hot Stove thread

Damn that's a solid rotation they have now.

Zimmermann
Verlander
Sanchez
Norris
Pelfrey

I may be too optimistic, but I think Shane Greene is going to have a good bounce-back year.
I wouldn't be surprised if he beats Norris for a spot in the rotation.

Now all Avila has to do is sign Holland.

[PhilliesFan13]

Re: 2015 MLB Hot Stove thread

Barry Bonds officially named Marlins hitting coach.

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[Syce]

Re: 2015 MLB Hot Stove thread

Barry Bonds officially named Marlins hitting coach.

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hopefully hes not like "ok guys we need to score some runs so lets all pop some juice and start slugging like i did when i played" lol

[redsox4evur]

Re: 2015 MLB Hot Stove thread

Barry Bonds officially named Marlins hitting coach.

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He'll having him a good training regiment soon enough.

[WaitTilNextYear]

Re: 2015 MLB Hot Stove thread

This isn't really rumored or otherwise based on any evidence, but I am starting to think that a Starlin Castro for James Shields trade might make sense. Castro has 4 more guaranteed years at $38MM overall and a pricey team option. Shields has 3 more guaranteed years at $63MM total and the same team option. Considering that the Cubs were rumored to be in on free agent Shields last year, I wonder if this might actually get discussed. If Theo and Jeddie have any faith in Javier Baez whatsoever to play 2B, they have to kick the tires on this one, right? Or plug in a Zobrist.

The way I see it is why give 31-year-old Jeff Samardzija $18MM/year for 5 years ($90MM in new obligations) when you can get the rest of Shields' career (age 34-37 or so, which is a little worrisome) for $21MM/year for 3 years while dumping Castro's contract ($25MM in new obligations)? Shields and Samardzija were both off their game last year, but Shields had an astounding HR/FB% which should return to Earth this year.

Think about it...if the Cubs deal a guy like Soler for Carlos Carrasco or Shelby Miller, deal Starlin Castro for James Shields and sign Jason Heyward, that's addition of 3 new veteran pieces to an NLCS team for about 3/4 the cost of 1 David Price in new money on the books. And a rotation of Lester/Arrieta/Shields/Carrasco or Miller/Hendricks or Hammel. I know I run the risk of sounding like 'ol Jim Hendry bringing in vets, but there's plenty of youth to mix it in with.

[ShowTyme15]

Re: 2015 MLB Hot Stove thread

This isn't really rumored or otherwise based on any evidence, but I am starting to think that a Starlin Castro for James Shields trade might make sense. Castro has 4 more guaranteed years at $38MM overall and a pricey team option. Shields has 3 more guaranteed years at $63MM total and the same team option. Considering that the Cubs were rumored to be in on free agent Shields last year, I wonder if this might actually get discussed. If Theo and Jeddie have any faith in Javier Baez whatsoever to play 2B, they have to kick the tires on this one, right? Or plug in a Zobrist.

The way I see it is why give 31-year-old Jeff Samardzija $18MM/year for 5 years ($90MM in new obligations) when you can get the rest of Shields' career (age 34-37 or so, which is a little worrisome) for $21MM/year for 3 years while dumping Castro's contract ($25MM in new obligations)? Shields and Samardzija were both off their game last year, but Shields had an astounding HR/FB% which should return to Earth this year.

Think about it...if the Cubs deal a guy like Soler for Carlos Carrasco or Shelby Miller, deal Starlin Castro for James Shields and sign Jason Heyward, that's addition of 3 new veteran pieces to an NLCS team for about 3/4 the cost of 1 David Price in new money on the books. And a rotation of Lester/Arrieta/Shields/Carrasco or Miller/Hendricks or Hammel. I know I run the risk of sounding like 'ol Jim Hendry bringing in vets, but there's plenty of youth to mix it in with.

Could very well happen. Both teams match up on paper.

[Blzer]

Re: 2015 MLB Hot Stove thread

Barry Bonds officially named Marlins hitting coach.

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hopefully hes not like "ok guys we need to score some runs so lets all pop some juice and start slugging like i did when i played" lol

He's the perfect hitting coach for professional athletes. This isn't like Little League where he's teaching them how to squish the bug (although he has a fine-tuned philosophy regarding the synchronization of the front and back sides), he preaches a mantra of good bat speed, getting good pitches to hit, eliminating the pitcher's best pitch early, owning the inner half of the plate, etc. I'd like to see what comes of this, but especially for guys like Stanton for obvious reasons (with a career 0.42 BB/K ratio), and power lefties like Bour (whose L/R OPS splits were .572/.845, respectively).

[SPTO]

Re: 2015 MLB Hot Stove thread

Regarding Cubs: If they make a deal for Shields they better hope that in some respects that his HR rate was an outlier because it's a bad sign when you're giving up bombs in the bigger ballparks in the NL West.


Bonds: As I've said in some ways I think he's the right guy for the job but I don't know about the temperment or patience will necessarily be there.

[Chrisksaint]

Re: 2015 MLB Hot Stove thread

I'm excited to see what he can do with Stanton, Yelich, Gordon, and maybe he can get Bour to be more then a 1 season wonder.


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[Mabster]

Re: 2015 MLB Hot Stove thread

It looks like the Cubs signed Lackey, 2 years 33 million ish.

[SPTO]

Re: 2015 MLB Hot Stove thread

It looks like the Cubs signed Lackey, 2 years 33 million ish.

Yep

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Sources: Lackey in agreement with <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Cubs?src=hash">#Cubs</a>, two years, $32M-$34M, pending physical.</p>&mdash; Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) <a href="https://twitter.com/Ken_Rosenthal/status/672902473951158272">December 4, 2015</a></blockquote>
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Nice pick up for the Cubs but man, the Cards are going to be scrambling for some arms especially now that they've lost the most consistent guy other than Wainwright.

[Speedy]

Re: 2015 MLB Hot Stove thread

Lackey is 37 years old with a lot of mileage so I get that STL may not have wanted to pony up >$15MM/year.

That said, he relies heavily on his sinker and his infield defense; should be a good fit in Chicago....as long as he can keep the ball down.

[WaitTilNextYear]

Re: 2015 MLB Hot Stove thread

So I was right about adding a veteran pitcher. Kind of surprised they went with someone even older than Shields though. Lackey is already 37. Overall I'm ok with it. It's better than giving 5 years to Shark and they hold onto Castro. Was Lackey really worth surrendering draft pick compensation to the Cards though?