Finally! Official Hot Stove League thread!

[D-train]

I doubt he says this if they had even bothered to reach out to him

After the Mariners jettisoned Teoscar Hernandez and Eugenio Suarez, and with too much time on my hands, the offseason plan going forward:

Contact Scott Boras to discuss a contract with Cy Young lefthander (and Seattle native) Blake Snell. When Snell’s demands fall out of the Mariners’ reach, attention shifts to two other Boras clients: Korean outfielder Jung Hoo Lee and lefthander Sean Manaea.

Sign Jung Hoo Lee to a five-year, $70 million contract (AAV $14 million)

Sign Sean Manaea to a two-year, $24 million contract (AAV $12 million)

Trade six years of Bryce Miller to Cincinnati for five years of project third baseman Spencer Steer (pre-arb minimum salary)

Trade six years of righthander Prelander Berroa to Chicago White Sox for one year (and two team options) of designated hitter Eloy Jimenez (guaranteed 2024 salary $13 million with $3 million buyout of 2025 team option)

The trades may need added pieces on each side although Baseball Trade Values accepts each trade.

The lineup:

SS J.P. Crawford
CF Julio Rodriguez
LF Jung Hoo Lee
DH Eloy Jimenez
C Cal Raleigh
1B Ty France
RF Jarred Kelenic
3B Spencer Steer
2B Luis Urias / Josh Rojas

The Mariners add three bats projected to strike out at below league-average rates highlighted by Lee’s stellar KBO numbers

Infield coach Perry Hill gets to work his magic on another defensively suspect Cincinnati Reds third baseman

If Steer falters, Urias goes to third base

If France falters, Steer goes to first base and Urias to third base

If both fail, it’s Mike Ford time!

FanGraphs projects 2024 WAR of 1.3 in 143 innings for Bryce Miller, who this year posted 1.9 fWAR in 131 innings. FanGraphs projects 2024 WAR of 1.4 in 146 games for Spencer Steer, who this year posted 2.1 fWAR in 156 games.

FanGraphs projects 2024 WAR of 2.0 in 151 innings for lefthander Sean Manaea, who this year posted 1.1 fWAR in 117.2 innings. Manaea would replace Miller in the Seattle rotation.

FanGraphs projects 2024 WAR of 2.2 141 games for Eloy Jimenez, who this year posted 0.4 fWAR in 120 games.

The Mariners don’t have the greatest history with Scott Boras, who slighted the M’s in postseason comments. Among Boras clients, Yusei Kikuchi turned down a player option after three seasons with Seattle. This year Luke Weaver signed with the Mariners on August 22 only to be waived a few weeks later.

The rotation:

SP Luis Castillo
SP George Kirby
SP Logan Gilbert
SP Sean Manaea
SP Bryan Woo

Marco Gonzales and Emerson Hancock provide rotation depth

Lee, Jimenez and Manaea add $39 million to the 2024 payroll after the subtraction of the combined $25 million salaries of Hernandez and Suarez from the 2023 payroll.

Arbitration salary increases add to the payroll:

https://www.spotrac.com/mlb/seattle-mariners/payroll/

As always, feedback is welcome.

I like it. They only issues I have is that in no world should a hometown deal for Snell be out of reach by any rational org that made almost $100M in profit and just missed the playoffs. Also, having two totally unproven corner OFers is a significant risk. Manaea is a far better option than Marco as a 5th starter with a relatively low WHIP and a FIP under 4 so that would still leave us with a very good rotation. Steer is a good target and a good return for Miller. Jimenez would be ok for DH but was worse than Ford in 2023 (104 OPS+ vs. 122) so would really be just a move to make a move vs. just keeping Ford, not to mention Jimenez will make almost 10x more than Ford at $13M vs. $1.5M

[Big_Maple]

/

As always, feedback is welcome.

Hey harmony. I also like this plan, and it seems feasible - even plausible.

That said, I agree with D-Train: a Blake Snell deal should not be out of the picture.

The M’s have been trimming the fat over the past weeks and years, and I can’t believe that this is just to put more money in the pockets of ownership. They have to preparing to spend on something.

A Snell deal is affordable, all things considered. We keep saying on this board that free agents don’t wanna come to Seattle, which is why we can’t sign them. But this is not true Blake Snell. He wants to come here, and this should make a deal easier.

The M’s don’t seem to throw money around at a lot of position players, but they seem willing to spend on starting pitching.

Landing Snell gives the M’s an immediate TOR guy and allows Dipoto flexibility to deal Miller or Woo for a position player.

So yeah, I think that the Mariners might actually take a run at Blake, and I think the deal is ultimately doable. For the record, I’d actually prefer to get Yamamoto. He cost more and need a longer contract, but I would shit Tiffany cufflinks if that happened!

[harmony]

Cincinnati fans react to a proposed trade of Bryce Miller for Spencer Steer:

https://www.redszone.com/forums/showthr ... ost4656620

[D-train]

Cincinnati fans react to a proposed trade of Bryce Miller for Spencer Steer:

https://www.redszone.com/forums/showthr ... ost4656620

Curious why you went with Steer over Friedl given Urias is our 3B according to Daniel Kramer, the M's MLB writer.

[Coeurd’Alene J]

/

As always, feedback is welcome.

Hey harmony. I also like this plan, and it seems feasible - even plausible.

That said, I agree with D-Train: a Blake Snell deal should not be out of the picture.

The M’s have been trimming the fat over the past weeks and years, and I can’t believe that this is just to put more money in the pockets of ownership. They have to preparing to spend on something.

A Snell deal is affordable, all things considered. We keep saying on this board that free agents don’t wanna come to Seattle, which is why we can’t sign them. But this is not true Blake Snell. He wants to come here, and this should make a deal easier.

The M’s don’t seem to throw money around at a lot of position players, but they seem willing to spend on starting pitching.

Landing Snell gives the M’s an immediate TOR guy and allows Dipoto flexibility to deal Miller or Woo for a position player.

So yeah, I think that the Mariners might actually take a run at Blake, and I think the deal is ultimately doable. For the record, I’d actually prefer to get Yamamoto. He cost more and need a longer contract, but I would shit Tiffany cufflinks if that happened!

And to add to the flexibility is Trade of Castillo as has already been mentioned here.

[D-train]

/

As always, feedback is welcome.

Hey harmony. I also like this plan, and it seems feasible - even plausible.

That said, I agree with D-Train: a Blake Snell deal should not be out of the picture.

The M’s have been trimming the fat over the past weeks and years, and I can’t believe that this is just to put more money in the pockets of ownership. They have to preparing to spend on something.

A Snell deal is affordable, all things considered. We keep saying on this board that free agents don’t wanna come to Seattle, which is why we can’t sign them. But this is not true Blake Snell. He wants to come here, and this should make a deal easier.

The M’s don’t seem to throw money around at a lot of position players, but they seem willing to spend on starting pitching.

Landing Snell gives the M’s an immediate TOR guy and allows Dipoto flexibility to deal Miller or Woo for a position player.

So yeah, I think that the Mariners might actually take a run at Blake, and I think the deal is ultimately doable. For the record, I’d actually prefer to get Yamamoto. He cost more and need a longer contract, but I would shit Tiffany cufflinks if that happened!

And to add to the flexibility is Trade of Castillo as has already been mentioned here.

Yep we owe Castillo between $100M-$125M depending on vesting option the 5th season. Wouldn't take much more than that for Snell and get a good bat back for Castillo.

[harmony]

Cincinnati fans react to a proposed trade of Bryce Miller for Spencer Steer:

https://www.redszone.com/forums/showthr ... ost4656620

Curious why you went with Steer over Friedl given Urias is our 3B according to Daniel Kramer, the M's MLB writer.

Cincinnati fans react to SoDo Mojo's proposed trade for TJ Friedl:

https://www.redszone.com/forums/showthr ... ost4652547

[ice99]

The lineup:

SS J.P. Crawford
CF Julio Rodriguez
LF Jung Hoo Lee
DH Eloy Jimenez
C Cal Raleigh
1B Ty France
RF Jarred Kelenic
3B Spencer Steer
2B Luis Urias / Josh Rojas

The rotation:

SP Luis Castillo
SP George Kirby
SP Logan Gilbert
SP Sean Manaea
SP Bryan Woo

Marco Gonzales and Emerson Hancock provide rotation depth

As always, feedback is welcome.

So Jung Ho Lee roughly replaces Teocar's production.
Jimenez replaces Ford's production,
Urias/Rojas at 2B replaces Geno's production,
Steer at 3B replaces Rojas' production,

Manaea replaces Bryce Miller's production.

Pretty good, but I'd like to see more improvement. Sure, you're getting a season's worth at 2B, rather than half the season of Kolton Wong, but you're losing Murphy's production.

[D-train]

The lineup:

SS J.P. Crawford
CF Julio Rodriguez
LF Jung Hoo Lee
DH Eloy Jimenez
C Cal Raleigh
1B Ty France
RF Jarred Kelenic
3B Spencer Steer
2B Luis Urias / Josh Rojas

The rotation:

SP Luis Castillo
SP George Kirby
SP Logan Gilbert
SP Sean Manaea
SP Bryan Woo

Marco Gonzales and Emerson Hancock provide rotation depth

As always, feedback is welcome.

So Jung Ho Lee roughly replaces Teocar's production.
Jimenez replaces Ford's production,
Urias/Rojas at 2B replaces Geno's production,
Steer at 3B replaces Rojas' production,

Manaea replaces Bryce Miller's production.

Pretty good, but I'd like to see more improvement. Sure, you're getting a season's worth at 2B, rather than half the season of Kolton Wong, but you're losing Murphy's production.

Jerry's choice to have a complete Black hole in the lineup every game Cal isn't able to catch is something.

[D-train]

This is what I think about pitch framing. lol