Finally! Official Hot Stove League Thread

[Donn Beach]

But he isn't a platoon candidate, we wouldn't be settling for Gurriel, guy's a starter. The guy I'm thinking of is more limited, the one thing he can do well is mash left-handed pitching. Come on, who is he?

The Mariners could rotate Julio Rodriguez, Teoscar Hernandez, Lourdes Gurriel, Max Kepler and Jarred Kelenic through the OF/DH slots (hoping that Gurriel can learn first base give Ty France an occasional break). The rotation is deep enough to provide insurance against another Jarred Kelenic underpeformance.

Lourdes Gurriel Jr. is no Bryan Reynolds.

Steamer projects Gurriel with a 2023 WAR of 1.5 in 126 games and Reynolds with a 2023 WAR of 4.0 in 150 games. Curiously Steamer projects Gurriel with a wRC+ of 119 and Reynolds with a wRC+ of 125. The defensive metrics favor Gurriel although a move off center field would likely help Reynolds.

https://www.fangraphs.com/players/lourd ... osition=OF

https://www.fangraphs.com/players/bryan ... osition=OF

It's a great idea, more sophisticated than dipotos, and i'm not saying they couldn't do it, but it's not the plan as I see it dipoto has been presenting. I'm curious to try and find the guy dipoto is after, guess the trade candidate, but I really have no idea of rosters. Like ddraig says, they want to keep left field open for either Trammell or DK to be the future starter. But in the meantime, as dipoto has called it, protect them, so he's going platoon left field, find a rightie bat. And he has said the guy really needs to bash so I'm sacrificing defense. Strictly in terms of that plan, who's the guy?

[GL_Storm]

What's the story with Gurriel's regression in 2022? His power went off a cliff, especially vs. lefties.

[harmony]

What's the story with Gurriel's regression in 2022? His power went off a cliff, especially vs. lefties.

Lourdes Gurriel Jr. reportedly was adversely affected by a wrist injury that required offseason surgery:

https://twitter.com/kaitlyncmcgrath/sta ... 6651169792

[GL_Storm]

What's the story with Gurriel's regression in 2022? His power went off a cliff, especially vs. lefties.

Lourdes Gurriel Jr. reportedly was adversely affected by a wrist injury that required offseason surgery:

https://twitter.com/kaitlyncmcgrath/sta ... 6651169792

A player like that, not settled yet with his new team, would make sense if you could get him. Maybe the wrist issue keeps the cost down somewhat. But he's an everyday player and if you keep JK then he becomes a 4th outfielder, which is exactly what I think he should be and where he has some value. But I don't think the front office agrees with me on that.

[Donn Beach]

Yeah, they are looking for a platoon compliment for JK

[Sexymarinersfan]

Yeah, they are looking for a platoon compliment for JK

Lourdes Gurriel would work. And wouldn't be that expensive either.

[Donn Beach]

As a platoon partner? Not really, his splits don't justify it.

[Donn Beach]

That's what dipoto said, guess we are not supposed to call it a platoon so who knows

. “We face a lot of lefties, particularly in our division,” Dipoto said. “We don’t want to just feed them to the lefties without some type of safety net. So finding a right-handed hitter who can protect them, I don’t want to say rotate or platoon, but allow them to not be forced into all of those at-bats and who frankly can give Teo a DH day when we can, that would be very good.”

[bpj]

Its frustrating how they act like Kelenic deserves a spot, but they just completely ignore the existence of Haggerty and Moore.

When you're facing 70% right handed pitching, it doesn't make any sense to focus on the short half of that platoon. Especially when the only one that's been a problem has been Kelenic.

[harmony]

Its frustrating how they act like Kelenic deserves a spot, but they just completely ignore the existence of Haggerty and Moore.

When you're facing 70% right handed pitching, it doesn't make any sense to focus on the short half of that platoon. Especially when the only one that's been a problem has been Kelenic.

Lourdes Gurriel Jr. has a wRC+ of 115 in 508 career plate appearances against lefthanded pitchers and a wRC+ of 115 in 1,356 career plate appearances against righthanded pitching:

https://www.fangraphs.com/players/lourd ... 0#Advanced

Gurriel could slot as the starting leftfielder who provides insurance against another Jarred Kelenic underperformance. The addition of Gurriel and Max Kepler would provide outfield depth while potentially creating a 26-man roster crunch. Kelenic has one minor league option remaining.