Finally! Official Hot Stove League Thread

[GL_Storm]

Hunter is off the table

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2022/11/ ... ewers.html

That kinda sucks. I wonder if the M's were in on that at all? My guess is they want a lefty bat if they get another outfielder, so probably not.

[GL_Storm]

I'm not sure, but maybe the Yankees want to reduce payroll by trading Torres.

I think this has to be part of the motivation. I've been looking at the Yankees payroll and I don't see how they stay under the CBT threshold and also pay Judge $40 million per year or more. The latest offer I read about said they offered him something like 8 years at 42 million per year. The problem is they've got huge commitments to Gerrit Cole and Giancarlo Stanton as well, plus several other players like Rizzo, LeMahieu, and Severino are making healthy salaries, and then they have actual bad money on the books in Donaldson and Hicks.

Right now, without Judge signed, their projected CBT payroll is approximately $218 million and even removing Gleyber (9-10 mil) from the equation, they're still going to blow past the threshold. But maybe the plan is to at least hold the payroll under the $273 million threshold so they don't get penalized in the draft. If they can do that, and avoid signing QO free agents the next few years, they'll be okay.

I believe Yankees revenues are around $500 mil per year, so from a purely financial standpoint there's no issue here for them. But if it wasn't for the CBT, they'd likely be driving up the cost of other players as well. I'm sure a lot of Yankees fans wonder why they aren't trying to sign a shortstop. Well, the CBT is why.

I made the comment with regards to trading Winker and Diego to them, for Torres. I guess if the M's are sending over money with that.

If the Yankees want to salary dump Gleyber, maybe JK or TayTram would be the fit instead of Winker.

[Pharmabro]

Hunter is off the table

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2022/11/ ... ewers.html

That kinda sucks. I wonder if the M's were in on that at all? My guess is they want a lefty bat if they get another outfielder, so probably not.

The Angeles picked him up for peanuts. Renfro has a 111 OPS+ career so good but not great 10.7 career WAR

[Pharmabro]

LAA has made a couple of "good" not "great" upgrades and Trout/Ohtani is a great base.

They traded with the Twins for Gio Urshela 3.1 WAR 121 OPS+ last year

signed tyler anderson

Rendon will be back He was a 94 and a 101 OPS+ guy in 100 games over the last 2 years but in 2020 he had a .950 OPS (150 OPS+ ) 2019 was a 1.000+OPS and then 2 more .900 OPS years.

[ice99]

I made the comment with regards to trading Winker and Diego to them, for Torres. I guess if the M's are sending over money with that.

If the Yankees want to salary dump Gleyber, maybe JK or TayTram would be the fit instead of Winker.

I could see the M's picking up LH Kolten instead.

[bpj]

Angels not seeming to have any trouble moving past Jo Adell.

Hopefully the Mariners can figure out a way to keep the bat out of Kelenics hands also.

Adell and Kelenic both 23, both with career 68 wRC+.

https://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx? ... =&enddate=

[GL_Storm]

I made the comment with regards to trading Winker and Diego to them, for Torres. I guess if the M's are sending over money with that.

If the Yankees want to salary dump Gleyber, maybe JK or TayTram would be the fit instead of Winker.

I could see the M's picking up LH Kolten instead.

The thing with Gleyber that I don't understand is why don't they like him? If I'm in the front office trying to figure out if Gleyber is our guy, that's the question that I'm trying to figure out the answer to.

[harmony]

Yankee podcasters discuss a proposed trade of Gleyber Torres to the Mariners for reliever Matt Festa, outfielder Jonatan Clase and righthander Prelander Berroa:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJCcht7IAO8

https://empiresportsmedia.com/new-york- ... -mariners/

[GL_Storm]

Baseball America just came out with their preseason top 10 prospects for the Orioles and since we were talking about Connor Norby a couple of weeks ago, I thought I would post their blurb about him here. I'm putting it in this thread because we were talking about him in the context of getting a second baseman.

7. Connor Norby | 2B
Born: Jun 8, 2000
Bats: R Throws: R
Ht.: 5'10" Wt.: 187

Track Record: Norby was a first-team All-America selection for East Carolina in 2021 as he led Division I with 102 hits and impressed against top-level starters in the NCAA Tournament. The Orioles drafted him in the second round at No. 41 overall and signed him for $1.7 million--slightly below slot. He began 2022 at High-A Aberdeen and saw a significant burst in production in the second half, hitting 21 home runs in the high minors for an organization-leading 29 and ending the year at Triple-A Norfolk.

Scouting Report: Norby's breakout came as he found comfortable lower-body patterning by recommitting to a toe-tap he abandoned in the winter and moving his hands to allow him to be less vertical through the hitting areas and better combat sliders away and fastballs up. The adjustments allowed Norby to take off. His extreme feel for hitting and high-level ability to execute his plan continued to put him in good positions to do damage, as did his acceptable strike-zone control. Norby showed the capabilities of an above-average hitter with potentially above-average power, with his ability to drive the ball the other way and overall consistency in elevating hard contact key factors in that. Defensively, Norby is limited to second base on the infield or maybe left field due to a fringe-average arm, though his actions on the dirt are fine.

The Future: Bat-first second basemen are tricky propositions, but Norby's offensive profile is one that is increasingly hard to doubt at this point. He can hit enough to be a first-division regular. He will start at Triple-A Norfolk in 2023 with an eye toward pushing for a major league debut in the second half of the season.

Scouting Grades: Hitting: 55. Power: 55. Speed: 50. Fielding: 50. Arm: 45.

[Donn Beach]

If he came back and started slow and finished hot I would be on board but he did the exact opposite of that. Do people just prefer to ignore that due to cognitive dissonance or do you think it just doesn't matter if he sucked for that last thirty games because he is a Mariner and he wrote a heard felt ode to M's fans a year ago?

The ode is what it is. At least the guy seems sincere in his desire to have the M's succeed. I'll take that over Winker's ambivalence any day.

But no - that's not why I'd be happy to see him come back. For starters, I don't see the M's going after any of the top 4 or 5 guys on your list. It's nice to dream, but we aren't getting Judge much less Nimmo. Of the guys further down the list - they all have pros and cons, and truth be told, I'd be happy with any of them. But Mitch is a known entity (to me, at least). I've seen what he can do when he's healthy, and he's a grinder, and he works his ass off. And I actually think he works hard to get healthy when he's injured. I am not sure KLew had the same work ethic or the same desire to get back in the game. I dunno. And Mitch's attitude is a helluva a lot better than Klew's or JK's who pitch hissy fits when they're sent back down to AAA.

So no, D-Train, I'm not blindsided by anything. There's no cognitive dissonance. I understand his liabilities and his age and his shortcomings, and we can swap stats all we want. But the last 4 guys on your list are equivalent to me. For my money, I'd bring back Mitch on a short contract. That's all.

.“I’ve been playing my whole career to be part of an organization that wants to win” -Jesse Winker

Interesting about Winker, he took that shot at the Reds after being traded. Now he has this "not caring" handle. Wonder if there is more to it