Finally! Official Hot Stove League thread!

[D-train]

This is fake but funny:

[Coeurd’Alene J]

I find it interesting and slightly annoying that John Stanton has not even attempted to clarify Dipotos pathetic pressor. It’s been said that Mr. Cheap Hates to lose but I hope more than that that he really hates the embarrassment of this season topped off by what can only be described as Jerry’s unveiling of the not so secret Mariner philosophy of giving fans a good ballpark experience 54% of the time

[D-train]

I find it interesting and slightly annoying that John Stanton has not even attempted to clarify Dipotos pathetic pressor. It’s been said that Mr. Cheap Hates to lose but I hope more than that that he really hates the embarrassment of this season topped off by what can only be described as Jerry’s unveiling of the not so secret Mariner philosophy of giving fans a good ballpark experience 54% of the time

Sadly he thinks that he is responsible for giving the fans a good ballpark experience 100% and the team winning or losing has 0% to do with that. Just a bizarre mentality confirmed by his interview when he said he runs the team like any other business which it most certainly is not.

Dude is literally Mr. Potter in "Its a wonderful life". Unfortunately Jerry is NOT George Bailey.

[D-train]

Breaking! Players want to win WS Championships not win 54% of their games.

[D-train]

Simply Seattle Weighs in. Coincidentally they used to make deposits with me and my fellow Bank Tellers in 1990-91 at US Bank 3rd and pine just a couple blocks from their store near the PP Market.

[AZOldDawg]

Jerry will probably say something on his weekly show about sensing Seawald wasn't a clutch player while ignoring what Seager, Semien and Eovaldi did for the Rangers. Thoroughbreds only please. No more gambles

[ddraig]

This is fake but funny:

Too true!

Jerry will probably say something on his weekly show about sensing Seawald wasn't a clutch player while ignoring what Seager, Semien and Eovaldi did for the Rangers. Thoroughbreds only please. No more gambles

But he did get us thoroughbreds this past season! 18-year-old thoroughbreds, but even though far over the hill, they were still thoroughbreds. They should have been sent to the glue factory!

[D-train]

By Ryan Divish
Seattle Times staff reporter
For the second straight season, the World Series champion comes from the American League West.

Can the Mariners can take any solace in the fact that they were eliminated by the eventual World Series champion for the second straight season?

Yeah, probably not, since the Texas Rangers moved right past them in the baseball hierarchy.

With the World Series finished, a seminal offseason begins for the Mariners, who failed to meet lofty expectations in 2023.

Nov. 2
The day after the final out of the World Series, players who have expiring major league contracts or expiring club control become free agents. The Mariners have three players on the 40-man roster who will become free agents:

Teoscar Hernandez, OF
Tom Murphy, C
Dominic Leone, RHP
There is a five-day window for teams negotiate with their expiring free agents before other teams can make official offers.

The Mariners were vocal in their desire to sign Murphy to a contract extension, believing he was a key contributor on and off the field. But after fractured thumb put him on the injured list on Aug. 16 and kept him out for the rest of the season, there was no extension or much discussion surrounding one.

Murphy has been plagued by fluke injuries since his breakout 2019 season. But the Mariners don’t have a catcher in the organization who would fill the role and responsibilities to Murphy’s level.

This is also the first day that teams can make trades involving major league players or a sort of “MLB Prime Day” for Jerry Dipoto, Mariners president of baseball operations.

Nov. 5
The winners of the Rawlings Gold Gloves will be announced on ESPN’s Baseball Tonight, which airs from 4:30 to 5:40 p.m. PT. Fan voting for the Platinum Glove — the overall winner in each league will begin immediately after the show.

The Mariner have one finalist: Julio Rodriguez.

Nov. 6
It will be a busy day for the MLB offseason.

The finalists for the Baseball Writers’ Association of America Awards will be announced at 3 p.m. PT on MLB Network. Three finalists for the Most Valuable Player Award, Cy Young Award, Jackie Robinson Rookie of the Year Award and Manager of the Year Award in each league will be announced.

While he isn’t likely to win the AL MVP, Rodriguez has a decent chance to be named as one of three finalists. Angels pitchers/designated hitter Shohei Ohtani is the favorite to win the award, despite missing the last month of the season due to injury. Rangers shortstop Corey Seager is expected to be a finalist as well despite two trips to the injured list.

That leaves Rodriguez or Rangers second baseman Marcus Semien as the top candidates to complete the trio of finalists.

In his second MLB season, the Mariners young superstar overcame a slow start to the season to put up quality overall numbers. In 155 games, he posted a .275/.333/.485 slash line with 37 doubles, two triples, 32 homers, 102 runs scored, 103 RBI, 37 stolen bases, 47 walks and 175 strikeouts.

He posted the fourth highest FanGraphs Wins Above Replacement in the AL at 5.9, finished second in the AL with 180 hits and 71 extra-base hits and posted the third most RBI and stolen bases.

Rodriguez also posted the Mariners first 30 homer/30 stolen base season since Alex Rodriguez in 1998. Bobby Witt Jr. was the only other player in the AL to achieve the feat this season.

Even though he isn’t expected to win the award, Rodriguez will finish in the Top 10 in the MVP voting for the second straight season (7th in 2022).

Based on the unique contract extension he signed with the Mariners last season, which includes escalators based on American League MVP voting from the 2022-2028 seasons, Rodriguez has pushed the cost of the club option after the 2029 season from 8 years, $200 million to 8 years, $240 million by finishing in Top 10 the past two seasons. It’s an option that can increase in years ahead.

Also in Arizona, executives and staff from all 30 teams, player agents and even few players will start arriving for the annual MLB General Managers meetings.

Dipoto and general manager Justin Hollander are expected to be quite active over the short set of meetings. Most teams will engage in preliminary face-to-face meetings with the representatives of the top free agents and also start laying the groundwork for offseason trades.

It’s also the fifth day after the World Series, which is the end of the “quiet period” is for free agents. Players’ representatives can start negotiating or even sign with any team in MLB.

This is also the last day for a club to tender a “qualifying offer” to free agents.

Under the collective-bargaining agreement between the MLB Players Association and MLB, the Mariners can make a qualifying offer to Hernandez because he was on their roster for the entire 2022 season.

The qualifying offer is a one-year contract for a salary that is the mean salary of MLB’s 125 highest-paid players.

The salary for a player receiving a qualifying offer in 2024 would be $20.5 million. It’s the highest qualifying-offer salary since the system was enacted in 2011.

During the forgettable end-of-season news conference, Dipoto was asked about the decision to offer Hernandez a qualifying offer. He wouldn’t provide much detail.

“We’ve already made our decision internally,” Dipoto said. “We’ll talk with him before we make that public information.”

In one season with Seattle, Hernandez played in 155 games, posting a .258/.305/.435 slash line with 29 doubles, two triples, 26 homers, 93 RBI, 38 walks and 211 strikeouts. The numbers were solid if not overwhelming.

In a free agent class highlighted by Shohei Ohtani but light on proven producers at the plate, Hernandez, 31, is considered one of the top hitters available along with Cody Bellinger, Matt Chapman, J.D. Martinez, Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and Jeimer Candelario. It seems unlikely that Hernandez would accept the qualifying offer for one year because he could sign a deal for similar yearly salary for multiple seasons.

If Hernandez declines a qualifying offer and opts for free agency, the Mariners would receive a compensatory pick in the 2024 MLB draft. The position of that draft pick is based on the financial commitment of the player’s free-agent contract and if his former team is receiving revenue sharing from or paying MLB’s competitive balance tax (CBT).

This is also the deadline for MLB teams to return all players on the 60-day injured list back to the 40-man roster. Seattle has four players remaining on the 60-day injured list:

Robbie Ray, LHP
Marco Gonzales, LHP
Evan White, 1B
Emerson Hancock, RHP
Nov. 8
A baseball operations representative, usually the general manager or team president, from each AL team will be available for an open afternoon media session. It will be the first time that Dipoto has been in an open media situation since the Mariners’ end-of-year news conference.

The 2023 All-MLB Team nominees show will air on MLB network at noon PT.

Nov. 9
Media availability for baseball operations representatives for each of the NL teams will be held at the GM meetings

The winners of the 2024 Silver Slugger awards will be announced via news release and aired on MLB network in show that runs from 3-4 p.m.

The winners of the Jackie Robinson Rookie of the Year Award for the AL and NL will be announced at 3 p.m. PT on MLB Network. The Orioles

Nov. 14
A 1 p.m. PT deadline for any free agent who has received a qualifying offer to inform their former team whether will accept or decline it.

The winners of the AL and NL Manager of the Year awards will be announced at 3 p.m. PT on MLB Network.

Nov. 15
The winners of the American League and National League Cy Young Awards will be announced live on MLB Network at 3 p.m. PT.

It’s also the deadline for teams to place any players eligible for the Rule 5 draft to the 40-man roster for protection. A player signed at age 18 or younger must be added to the 40-man within five seasons or become eligible. A player who signs at 19 or older (college draft picks) must be added to the roster within four years. But how many prospects in the Mariners farm system need to be protected from the Rule 5 draft? Maybe none.

Of the eligible players in the Mariners Top 30 prospects, outfielder Zach DeLoach and right-handed reliever Travis Kuhn have outside chances of being taken in the MLB portion. DeLoach, the Mariners’ second-round pick in the 2020 draft out of Texas A&M, put up solid numbers with Class AAA Tacoma this offseason. Kuhn was Rule 5 eligible last season but didn’t get protected or selected. He has a lively fastball and posted a 3.13 ERA in 49 relief appearance for Class AA Arkansas this past season.

Nov. 16
The winners of the AL and NL MVP awards will be announced live on MLB Network at 3 p.m. PT.

Nov. 17
The deadline for MLB teams to tender contracts to arbitration eligible players for the 2023 season.

The Mariners currently have seven arbitration eligible players. Here is their year of arbitration and projected possible salary from the algorithm created by MLB Trade Rumors with the help of a former MLB agent.

Ty France (second year): $7.2 million
Trent Thornton (third year*): $1.4 million
Josh Rojas (second year*): $3.5 million
Sam Haggerty (first year): $800,000
Justin Topa (first year): $1.5 million
Mike Ford (first year): $1.5 million
Logan Gilbert (first year*): $4.9 million
Of this group, the Mariners could non-tender (not offer a contract) to Ford and Thornton. While both were decent contributors to their team in 2023, the Mariners could view the projected salaries as too steep for likely future contributions or roster fit.

While there are some analysts and fans that think the team should non-tender France and move on after a down 2023 season, the Mariners, given their lack of depth at the upper levels of the organization, aren’t in a position to be ridding themselves of proven MLB talent. While prospect Tyler Locklear may be the first baseman of the future, that future doesn’t likely start at the beginning of the season. Some MLB sources expect the team to tender France a contract and then still shop him as part of a trade package this offseason.

The * means that those players achieved Super 2 status, giving them four years of salary arbitration instead of three.

This is notable for Gilbert, who hasn’t officially been granted Super 2 status but is expected to meet the threshold of being within the top 22% of service time in for players in their first two seasons.

Seattle will likely face a similar situation next offseason with George Kirby, who is expected to reach Super 2.

Nov. 20
The National Baseball Hall of Fame announces the 2024 BBWAA Hall of Fame ballot. Third baseman Adrian Beltre, a likely first-ballot selection, highlights the list of newcomers to the ballot along with Twins catcher Joe Mauer, Phillies infielder Chase Utley and inimitable pitcher Bartolo Colon.

Dec. 3
The announcement of the vote from the Hall of Fame Contemporary Baseball/Managers-Umpires-Executives Committee. Former Mariners manager Lou Piniella is one of eight candidates on the ballot.

Dec. 4
The Major League Baseball winter meetings begin at the Gaylord Opryland Resort outside of Nashville.

Dec. 5
The second-ever MLB draft lottery will be held will be held and televised on MLB Network’s at 2:30 p.m. PT. Every team that didn’t make the postseason will be entered into a drawing for the first six picks of the 2024 draft. The percentage of odds is based on record.

The A’s, Royals and Rockies, who finished with the worst record in MLB have an 18.3% chances of getting a top six pick. The White Sox (14.7), Cardinals (8.3) and Angels (6.1) the top six highest percentages.

The Mariners have a 0.2% chance of getting selected for a top six pick, which is the second worst of all non-playoff teams. The Nationals are ineligible for the lottery selection this season.

[D-train]

Nellie calling it a career. The Mariner forum Salutes you!

[D-train]

I think the Bolton trade is proof the M's don't give a F about getting ridiculed and humiliated.