So it begins, The official Hot Stove League Thread 2024-25 Offseason

[Vogelbomb]

I don't check SI, so no wonder I missed that.

OK, so you've got a Globe reporter saying talks advanced enough for Ms to reach out to Nieves about Castillo's willingness to waive his no-trade and Jude sitting there saying they were only exploratory. Who do we believe? Why is one reporter getting lied to?

Another little thing I like about the Ms is they don't tend to have any loose lips. My guess is Jude was lied to, though maybe the source felt he was being honest, that the discussions were only "exploratory." Ms probably made sure to check if Castillo was even willing to go there first, before they got in heavy, otherwise they'd be just wasting everyone's time.

[D-train]

Like I have said I can't imagine wanting to play for a team that was trying to trade me and the only reason I wasn't traded is because I invoked the NTC. Talk about awkward.

[rockycola]

Here's a just waived LH relief pitcher I'd like to see Jerry sign. Not quite as much velocity as we'd like, but solid AAA record.
~

Blue Jays Designate Brandon Eisert For Assignment
By Anthony Franco | January 20, 2025 at 7:01pm CDT

The Blue Jays announced that they’ve designated lefty reliever Brandon Eisert for assignment.

Eisert, who turned 27 yesterday, made his major league debut last season. He came out of the bullpen for three appearances, allowing three runs across 6 2/3 innings. He walked four and struck out a pair. The Oregon State product spent the rest of the year with Triple-A Buffalo, where he turned in a 3.86 earned run average through 53 2/3 innings. He fanned an excellent 29.1% of batters faced against a 9.3% walk rate.

That was Eisert’s third consecutive season working mostly in Triple-A. Eisert has posted a cumulative 3.83 ERA through 183 1/3 innings. He has missed bats in all three years and owns a career 28.6% strikeout rate at the top minor league level. He pairs that with league average walk and ground-ball numbers.

Despite his solid minor league results, Eisert got only the briefest of looks in the Toronto bullpen. The Jays had the worst relief group in the American League last season. The front office seemingly didn’t expect Eisert’s arsenal to play at the MLB level, though. He doesn’t have prototypical power stuff. His fastball averaged 91.2 MPH in the majors and sat around 90 MPH in Triple-A. He threw the fastball around half the time while mixing in a slider and changeup during his minor league work.

Eisert’s upper minors track record and ability to throw multiple innings out of the bullpen could get him some attention. The Jays have five days to trade him or place him on waivers, which are a 48-hour process. Eisert still has two minor league options, meaning another team that is willing to carry him on the 40-man roster could bounce him between the majors and Triple-A for a while.

~
https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/01/ ... nment.html
~

[Donn Beach]

Talk about flying the plane into the ground, good for you

[Pharmabro]

This can't be true: https://www.si.com/mlb/mariners/news/se ... obile-park

There is no way that the Mariners, who thought that Mitch Garver and his .000 (0-32) lifetime batting average at T-Mobile would be a good fit, would think that Triston Casas wouldn't be a good fit simply because he hits to all fields. That just doesn't make any sense at all, nor does Casas and Raley "being redundant" as Raley can play outfield, his performance is not guaranteed, and when exactly did having another good bat in your lineup become "redundant"?

How were we involved in trade rumors for him if we didn't think he was a good fit????

Because who would want a player who hits to all fields? They'd rather have a player who's pull happy and strikes out at a 30%+ rate. How the fuck does Dipoto still have a job?

I think it was because the Redsox wanted to attach Yoshida's 18.6M X3 years and there is a reason he has been DH. I read where Yoshida wants to play in the outfield and there is the potential for a sulking miffed player here.


That said I would probably still do the deal. He still save 5.5M/year with Castillo. and you gain two useful parts. There is no guarantee that Robles repeats his 2024 Mariner performance. So, having Raley, Yoshida, Moore, etc as potential injury/[erformance replacements is a good thing. I would have liked any number of "plans" that we made up about addressing areas of weakness on the team better than what we got so far but this addition would have me feeling much better and we would have somewhere around 20 million to fix 3rd base.

1. Robles RF
2. JRod CF
3. Cal# C
4. Randy LF
5. Raley* DH/1B
6. Shenton/Solano 3B
7. Casas* 1B/DH
8. Moore/2B
9. JP* SS

With 18.6M invested into Yoshida for the roll of potentially being a lefty platoon partner along with Raley and potentially somewhere around 3rd/4th/5th/ 6th OF? It is kinda a redundant fit with a big upgrade to 2nd or 3rd base needed.
He has a split vs RHP of .300 .351 .459 .810 for his career, and a .669 OPS vs LHP.

[D-train]

How were we involved in trade rumors for him if we didn't think he was a good fit????

Because who would want a player who hits to all fields? They'd rather have a player who's pull happy and strikes out at a 30%+ rate. How the fuck does Dipoto still have a job?

I think it was because the Redsox wanted to attach Yoshida's 18.6M X3 years and there is a reason he has been DH. I read where Yoshida wants to play in the outfield and there is the potential for a sulking miffed player here.


That said I would probably still do the deal. He still save 5.5M/year with Castillo. and you gain two useful parts. There is no guarantee that Robles repeats his 2024 Mariner performance. So, having Raley, Yoshida, Moore, etc as potential injury/[erformance replacements is a good thing. I would have liked any number of "plans" that we made up about addressing areas of weakness on the team better than what we got so far but this addition would have me feeling much better and we would have somewhere around 20 million to fix 3rd base.

1. Robles RF
2. JRod CF
3. Cal# C
4. Randy LF
5. Raley* DH/1B
6. Shenton/Solano 3B
7. Casas* 1B/DH
8. Moore/2B
9. JP* SS

With 18.6M invested into Yoshida for the roll of potentially being a lefty platoon partner along with Raley and potentially somewhere around 3rd/4th/5th/ 6th OF? It is kinda a redundant fit with a big upgrade to 2nd or 3rd base needed.
He has a split vs RHP of .300 .351 .459 .810 for his career, and a .669 OPS vs LHP.

Exactly, instead of admitting they didn't want to pay Yoshida they make up some BS about Casas to make it seem like they suddenly have some brilliant analytics dept. that is now cutting edge and laser focused at identifying hitters that are perfect for T-mobile and rejecting any that they don't deem worthy. Anyone with a brain can see right through it.

[Lamda]

Because who would want a player who hits to all fields? They'd rather have a player who's pull happy and strikes out at a 30%+ rate. How the fuck does Dipoto still have a job?

I think it was because the Redsox wanted to attach Yoshida's 18.6M X3 years and there is a reason he has been DH. I read where Yoshida wants to play in the outfield and there is the potential for a sulking miffed player here.


That said I would probably still do the deal. He still save 5.5M/year with Castillo. and you gain two useful parts. There is no guarantee that Robles repeats his 2024 Mariner performance. So, having Raley, Yoshida, Moore, etc as potential injury/[erformance replacements is a good thing. I would have liked any number of "plans" that we made up about addressing areas of weakness on the team better than what we got so far but this addition would have me feeling much better and we would have somewhere around 20 million to fix 3rd base.

1. Robles RF
2. JRod CF
3. Cal# C
4. Randy LF
5. Raley* DH/1B
6. Shenton/Solano 3B
7. Casas* 1B/DH
8. Moore/2B
9. JP* SS

With 18.6M invested into Yoshida for the roll of potentially being a lefty platoon partner along with Raley and potentially somewhere around 3rd/4th/5th/ 6th OF? It is kinda a redundant fit with a big upgrade to 2nd or 3rd base needed.
He has a split vs RHP of .300 .351 .459 .810 for his career, and a .669 OPS vs LHP.

Exactly, instead of admitting they didn't want to pay Yoshida they make up some BS about Casas to make it seem like they suddenly have some brilliant analytics dept. that is now cutting edge and laser focused at identifying hitters that are perfect for T-mobile and rejecting any that they don't deem worthy. Anyone with a brain can see right through it.

lol I guess that is why they haven't signed anybody this offseason - they deemed that everyone would fail here

[Lamda]

We need to go down to Tmobile and put up the M's Slogans for this year - just put up some paper slogans around the outside of the ballpark that say stuff like:

M's 2025 - We don't give a shit
M's 2025 - 54% - Winning!!
M's 2025 - At least we made some profits!
M's 2025 - Playoffs? We talking about Playoffs??

Something like that to let the FO/Ownership know we're fed up

[D-train]

[Lamda]

lol this offseason is worse than last years if you can imagine... this is just so pathetic its beyond sad...