The official Hot Stove League Thread 2025-26 Offseason

[D-train]

This is dated three hours ago

Asked about Naylor

Yeah that is a ridiculous lowball offer for a 28 yo coming off a 3 win season. My guess is 5 years $90M

And Josh Naylor had posted only 6.9 fWAR (5.3 bWAR) in 598 games over his previous six MLB seasons.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/play ... jo01.shtml

The Mariners (and other clubs) will need to decide whether Naylor and Jorge Polanco deserve premiums after exceeding expectations in 2025.

Totally agree, recency bias and team hero/bad ass is going to get him a lot more money that if he played for the Marlins last season.

[HawkandMariner88]

What about another deal with the Tigers for Zach McKinstry. Not the best fielder but he does walk more & K less than Geno. He can run too. Not my first choice & but definitely an option.

[Big_Maple]

Yeah that is a ridiculous lowball offer for a 28 yo coming off a 3 win season. My guess is 5 years $90M

I think we will have a solid offseason if all we did was lock in Naylor and Polanco. Polanco is a clutch hitter and a solid 2B. Naylor brings a ton to the table - leadership, home runs, loved by the fanbase, an ability to steal bases - I'd love to get him back.

FWIW, the pundits over at MLB.com made predictions about where some of the FA would wind up (based on surveying 46 members of MLB.com,. I guess). They have the M's as landing Murakami (nearly 50% of the voters) and Geno. If both predictions were true, we'd have 1B and 3B covered and would just need to lock in Polanco at 2B.

I wouldn't hate that outcome either, but for all the dingers they hit, both Geno and Murakami strike out a lot.

https://www.mlb.com/news/mlb-free-agent ... or-2025-26

Just Naylor and Polo would be just getting the team back to status quo. I thought the point of the off season was too improve the team???

No way in hell we sign either Geno or Murakami. Jerry would first need to lift the ban on Japanese players and ever if he did he is way out of our price range.

I would clarify that. I’d say that it gets us back to where we were after the trade deadline acquisitions. We were a better team in the second half and we were in the first because of two additions. If we can carry that through to next season and then upgrade again at the trade deadline, I think we’re ahead eventually. But you’re right. It’s not sexy or splashy, but it at least gets us back to where we were at the end of September.

[D-train]

What about another deal with the Tigers for Zach McKinstry. Not the best fielder but he does walk more & K less than Geno. He can run too. Not my first choice & but definitely an option.

Forget about Murakami, if we want a Japanese player this is the guy:

Barely over a 10% K rate and almost a 1.000 OPS this past season. Plays Third first and OF.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/regi ... amot002kaz

[D-train]

This is hilarious. The give Kwan's stats which would be impressive numbers for one season but no, it took him TWO seasons to accumulate them. Keep that noodle bat off my team. lol More coveted than Tucker???

While the Cleveland Guardians ultimately made the playoffs, All-Star outfielder Steven Kwan was featured prominently in MLB trade rumors during the summer. He’s under contract for two more seasons but Cleveland has a long history of moving top talent more than a year out from MLB free agency. With a .341 OBP, 100 RBI, 45 doubles, 33 steals, and 25 home runs in the last two seasons and four consecutive Gold Glove Awards, Kwan might be the most coveted outfielder in baseball this offseason, and that includes Kyle Tucker.

[Bil522]

This is hilarious. The give Kwan's stats which would be impressive numbers for one season but no, it took him TWO seasons to accumulate them. Keep that noodle bat off my team. lol More coveted than Tucker???

While the Cleveland Guardians ultimately made the playoffs, All-Star outfielder Steven Kwan was featured prominently in MLB trade rumors during the summer. He’s under contract for two more seasons but Cleveland has a long history of moving top talent more than a year out from MLB free agency. With a .341 OBP, 100 RBI, 45 doubles, 33 steals, and 25 home runs in the last two seasons and four consecutive Gold Glove Awards, Kwan might be the most coveted outfielder in baseball this offseason, and that includes Kyle Tucker.

Did the Cleveland Plain Dealer write that?

[Bil522]

What about another deal with the Tigers for Zach McKinstry. Not the best fielder but he does walk more & K less than Geno. He can run too. Not my first choice & but definitely an option.

Forget about Murakami, if we want a Japanese player this is the guy:

Barely over a 10% K rate and almost a 1.000 OPS this past season. Plays Third first and OF.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/regi ... amot002kaz

He is also 4+years older than Murakami bats right handed without as much power

[Bil522]

btw I went to the Norman Rockwell Museum in Western MA with my wife and parents. Highly recommend it. Love his work.

Always loved his realism and detail. The one of him painting his own self-portrait is classic.

I remember lots of Rockwell pics in the doctor's and dentist's offices when I was a kid. Is that just me? I have a specific memory of getting a filling when I was a kid and staring at a Rockwell taped to the ceiling.

Late to the party for this one, but the reason you saw so many pictures of his was because of the Saturday Evening Post covers that he did for over 5 decades. He'd do a cover and then they'd sell copies of it, plus a bunch of other periodicals, which is why it seemed his stuff was everywhere.

[D-train]

This is hilarious. The give Kwan's stats which would be impressive numbers for one season but no, it took him TWO seasons to accumulate them. Keep that noodle bat off my team. lol More coveted than Tucker???

While the Cleveland Guardians ultimately made the playoffs, All-Star outfielder Steven Kwan was featured prominently in MLB trade rumors during the summer. He’s under contract for two more seasons but Cleveland has a long history of moving top talent more than a year out from MLB free agency. With a .341 OBP, 100 RBI, 45 doubles, 33 steals, and 25 home runs in the last two seasons and four consecutive Gold Glove Awards, Kwan might be the most coveted outfielder in baseball this offseason, and that includes Kyle Tucker.

Did the Cleveland Plain Dealer write that?

lol Sportnaut.com

[D-train]

What about another deal with the Tigers for Zach McKinstry. Not the best fielder but he does walk more & K less than Geno. He can run too. Not my first choice & but definitely an option.

Forget about Murakami, if we want a Japanese player this is the guy:

Barely over a 10% K rate and almost a 1.000 OPS this past season. Plays Third first and OF.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/regi ... amot002kaz

He is also 4+years older than Murakami bats right handed without as much power

232 HRs in 7 seasons is good enough for me.