Finally! Official Hot Stove League Thread

[D-train]

Mitch might want to focus more on baseball if he is going to get those MVP votes. LOL

mitch.JPG (62.88 KiB) Viewed 544 times

[bpj]

I'd love to see him making a visit to Seattle!

[bpj]

Mitch might want to focus more on baseball if he is going to get those MVP votes. LOL

mitch.JPG

Nothing like a little motivation!

[Pharmabro]

I'd love to see him making a visit to Seattle!

He sounds like a NewYorker

[Captain 97]

This was a comment from the Haniger piece on mlb trader thought it was very well said

However, I would say that for all the focus Jerry Dipoto and Justin Hollander put on team chemistry and the clubhouse dynamic that it effects, J.P. Crawford was far too inconsistent to deserve the type of commitment they gave him. While he may be a leader in the clubhouse and a great guy, it doesn’t mean crap if you can’t play the game on the field.
Crawford was hitting around a .600 OPS for the last 3/4 of the season and the Mariners would be wise to move on from him, now. The same is true of Ty France and his penchant for getting hit by pitches, both of the last two seasons were greatly effected by that and I don’t see it changing much with the tension in the AL West and the focus being on getting past the Astros & Mariners in 2023.
If the Mariners are smart and trade Crawford and/or France or if they are dumb and wait for them to struggle and lose the clubhouse, it will have a large effect on the team dynamic. My belief is that Julio’s determination, Geno’s care free positive attitude, and Haniger’s work ethic are the most important parts of the clubhouse culture and those three together can weather any storm without France and Crawford. They are also talented enough that new guys will listen.
Without Mitch Haniger in Seattle, the first sign of trouble could cause things to go very wrong. I think Mitch comes back to Seattle on an incentive based deal. Something like $30M/3 years, but pay escalators of $500K at 400, 500, and 600 PAs, as well as All-Star appearances ($1M), MVP votes ($750K), and Silver Sluggers ($750K). With the incentives equaling up to $4M/season and including a $13M vesting option at say 1500 PAs over all three seasons combined that could make the deal worth as much as $55M over 4 years or $13.75M/season.

as well as All-Star appearances ($1M), MVP votes ($750K), and Silver Sluggers ($750K).

What Mitch is he talking about????????? Mitch wasn't even that at his pre injury PRIME.

Mitch was an all-star in 2018 and he recieved MVP Votes in 2018 and 2021. He finished 11th in 2018 just ahead of Judge and Altuve.

[D-train]

This was a comment from the Haniger piece on mlb trader thought it was very well said

as well as All-Star appearances ($1M), MVP votes ($750K), and Silver Sluggers ($750K).

What Mitch is he talking about????????? Mitch wasn't even that at his pre injury PRIME.

Mitch was an all-star in 2018 and he recieved MVP Votes in 2018 and 2021. He finished 11th in 2018 just ahead of Judge and Altuve.

Yeah I obviously remember the AS berth 4 years ago. Stunned he go MVP votes. Silver slugger is comical...

[Captain 97]

What Mitch is he talking about????????? Mitch wasn't even that at his pre injury PRIME.

Mitch was an all-star in 2018 and he recieved MVP Votes in 2018 and 2021. He finished 11th in 2018 just ahead of Judge and Altuve.

Yeah I obviously remember the AS berth 4 years ago. Stunned he go MVP votes. Silver slugger is comical...

He was an absolute stud in 2018. He had a 6.5 bWAR.

[Big_Maple]

I would be thrilled if we brought Mitch back. I think the problem for Mitch has been his health - and most of this is the result of shitty luck, not because his body is prone to injury. Mitch was doing great in 2017 until he took a fastball in the face from Jacob deGrom. In 2019 he had the worst kind of bad luck when he fouled off a pitched and ruptured a testicle. I see these injuries are slightly different than pulling a hammie running to first base or blowing out an ACL chasing down a flyball.

I know you all know this, but it is worth noting that he's had a run of bad luck, and when a player is on the IL for an extended period of time, it has to interfere with whatever groove they were in prior to the injury. Coming back after being out has to be difficult, and you need a lot of PAs to get your timing back. When he's healthy, the dude is a stud. He plays hard, he has a great work ethic, and he is a leader in the clubhouse. And yeah - I know - saber metrics don't measure how nice you are, but I think that still matters.

Put it this way - all else being equal, would I rather bring in Benintendi or resign Mitch? Mitch is a known entity - we know what we're going to get with Mitch. We could wind up bringing in a dud like Winker who - despite his 2021 stats and general sense of enthusiasm around here when he was traded to the M's - is someone we all seem to want to be rid of. He is apparently a douchebag, he apparently has no work ethic, and he's a shadow of the player he was a year ago for reasons that are apparently under his control. So yeah, if we have 3 outfielders who are about the same age with about the same slash lines, I would pick Mitch every day of the week and twice on Sundays.

[D-train]

Mitch was an all-star in 2018 and he recieved MVP Votes in 2018 and 2021. He finished 11th in 2018 just ahead of Judge and Altuve.

Yeah I obviously remember the AS berth 4 years ago. Stunned he go MVP votes. Silver slugger is comical...

He was an absolute stud in 2018. He had a 6.5 bWAR.

Yeah he was. No doubt about it. Better than I remembered.

[Captain 97]

I would be thrilled if we brought Mitch back. I think the problem for Mitch has been his health - and most of this is the result of shitty luck, not because his body is prone to injury. Mitch was doing great in 2017 until he took a fastball in the face from Jacob deGrom. In 2019 he had the worst kind of bad luck when he fouled off a pitched and ruptured a testicle. I see these injuries are slightly different than pulling a hammie running to first base or blowing out an ACL chasing down a flyball.

I know you all know this, but it is worth noting that he's had a run of bad luck, and when a player is on the IL for an extended period of time, it has to interfere with whatever groove they were in prior to the injury. Coming back after being out has to be difficult, and you need a lot of PAs to get your timing back. When he's healthy, the dude is a stud. He plays hard, he has a great work ethic, and he is a leader in the clubhouse. And yeah - I know - saber metrics don't measure how nice you are, but I think that still matters.

Put it this way - all else being equal, would I rather bring in Benintendi or resign Mitch? Mitch is a known entity - we know what we're going to get with Mitch. We could wind up bringing in a dud like Winker who - despite his 2021 stats and general sense of enthusiasm around here when he was traded to the M's - is someone we all seem to want to be rid of. He is apparently a douchebag, he apparently has no work ethic, and he's a shadow of the player he was a year ago for reasons that are apparently under his control. So yeah, if we have 3 outfielders who are about the same age with about the same slash lines, I would pick Mitch every day of the week and twice on Sundays.

I used to agree with you but this season he twisted his ankle on a routine swing and missed half the season because of it. For whatever reason he seems to be an extremely slow healer. Also he is getting old. He will be 32 next year. We should be expecting a decline even without injury concerns just because he is moving out of his prime and his age is only going to make his potential for injury issues worse. Most of the other guys that people are looking at are a solid 2-3 years younger. Benintendi is 4 years younger. You can't discount that.