Finally! Official Hot Stove League Thread

[harmony]

From MLB.com columnist Anthony Castrovince on the 11 most improved teams so far this offseason:

5. Mariners
And here’s the other end of the Hernández trade. To the frustration of the fan base, the Mariners haven’t made any noise in free agency (their only signing is veteran reliever Trevor Gott to a $1.2 million contract for 2023). But Hernández, who was worth 2.8 WAR (per Baseball Reference) last year to Mitch Haniger’s 1.4, has the ability to amplify their corner outfield production, and Kolten Wong, who was worth 3.1 WAR last year at a second base spot where the Mariners only ranked 23rd with a minus-1.3 mark, also raises the floor for a team that took a big step last season. It’s understandable why fans would want to see a bigger Seattle splash, because the Astros remain the better team, on paper. But the Mariners do merit a mention here.

https://www.mlb.com/news/most-improved- ... 1896807463

[harmony]

Seattle's 40-man roster currently stands at 38, according to Roster Resource:

https://www.fangraphs.com/roster-resour ... s/mariners

The Mariners would have room for Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and Max Kepler even without trading a player off the current 40-man roster.

[GL_Storm]

Now the Mets are getting cold feet on Correa. The imaging on his old injury must be spectacular.

Link: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2022/12/ ... sical.html

[Seattle or Bust]

Reading the Yankees missed on Varsho, don't think they can get Reynolds so are shifting Kepler.

Thank the Gods.

[harmony]

Now the Mets are getting cold feet on Correa. The imaging on his old injury must be spectacular.

Link: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2022/12/ ... sical.html

Reports point to a season-ending injury Carlos Correa suffered in 2014 while playing with Lancaster of the High A California League.

https://nypost.com/2022/12/24/mets-sudd ... -physical/

I had hoped to see Correa play in 2013 when I was back in Iowa for my 40-year high school reunion. That year Correa played for the local minor league team, the Quad Cities River Bandits, in the playoffs of the Single A Midwest League. The River Bandits won the league title on the evening of my reunion; I was hoping the Bandits would lose that evening to force a deciding game that I could attend the following day.

Correa was a top prospect at the time but the River Bandits roster also included Teoscar Hernandez, Lance McCullers, Josh Hader and Tony Kemp:

https://www.thebaseballcube.com/page.as ... 2013~10357

[harmony]

A Lookout Landing commenter offered this quote from beat reporter Ryan Divish, reportedly from Divish's appearance on 710 after his podcast on Thursday:

I don’t think Jerry has a ton of money to spend. I think the budget has been limited based on what they’ve done in the last year and a half in terms of Castillo and Julio and JP and some of the other extensions. But I don’t know that Jerry’s working with like a $175 million payroll. I think he’s right at about $150 million. I think they’re sitting right at about $135 million right now, so maybe he has $10-15 million of wiggle room. Maybe not even that. But you want to have a little bit of money at the deadline as well in case you want to add a guy. Supposedly the ownership, if the right player is there that you want to spend money on they would supplement that budget. But it’s clear that there isn’t that player out there right now. I don’t see one that’s worth that kind of money that you want to invest in. And maybe that’s the thing too. If they make a trade for a player and then they want to extend him, or if they trade for a guy that has money on the books, like Ketel Marte has already got an MLB contract for I think 2-3 more years, then you have money to spend on him. So you don’t want to maximize your budget right before the season starts because if something happens and you need to go get a guy and you need to take on more money you have to have dollars to work with as well. And the argument can be whether or not they should have more money spend. That’s a fair argument to have, it really is. And Jerry can only work within the confines of what he was told he can spend. The draft, develop, and trade philosophy that he likes and the Astros use and the Braves use, it’s not always just about if it’s the best thing, its also out of necessity because you don’t have the budget of the Met’s or the Yankees or whatever. And spending doesn’t guarantee wins. Talent guarantees wins, but sometimes talent costs a lot of money, and I think that’s what we’re seeing.

https://www.lookoutlanding.com/2022/12/ ... a#comments

Scroll down to comments.

[bpj]

Why save the money for mid-season when you could fill the hole ALL season...

And if he hadn't committed $15M to a 5th and 6th SP, he'd have $30M to spend.

All on Jerry.

[desbcoach]

Merry Christmas to all!!!!

[TraderGary]

Why save the money for mid-season when you could fill the hole ALL season...

And if he hadn't committed $15M to a 5th and 6th SP, he'd have $30M to spend.

All on Jerry.

Not to mention the wasted $50M on the JP extension.

[D-train]

Why save the money for mid-season when you could fill the hole ALL season...

And if he hadn't committed $15M to a 5th and 6th SP, he'd have $30M to spend.

All on Jerry.

Not to mention the wasted $50M on the JP extension.

Also $43M on Kikuchi and $24M on White.....total of $117M which would have bought both Bell and Yoshida this off season.