Finally! Official Hot Stove League thread!

[D-train]

It's the click bait aspect that bothers me. There's nothing in particular to report on but they need to churn out content so they spend their time referencing each other turning idle possibilities into news

Yep, like the telephone game.

Jerry: We are looking for RH bats
Reporter 1: Tommy Phan is RH, I wonder if the M's might have interested
Reporter 2: Reporter 1 says Pham might be a good fit with the M's
Reporter 3: Reporter 2 has linked Pham with the M's
Reporter 4: Reporter 3 indicates M's are likely pursuing Pham
Reporter 5: Reporter 4 reports M's are very interested in signing Pham
Reporter 6: Reported 5 says M's and Pham working on a deal

[D-train]

mlb.com article

Yeah let's create another hole AND sell low. Win Win!!:

Mariners: Ty France, 1B
France made his first All-Star team in 2022, but his 2023 numbers didn’t replicate that breakout season. Seattle was open to trading the first baseman prior to the Trade Deadline, and with two more years of club control, France could be an interesting chip for the Mariners if they’re looking to fill other holes on the roster.

[harmony]

From Tuesday's chat with MLB Trade Rumors columnist Steve Adams:

Justin H./Jerry D.
2:12 Make sense of the moves we are making right now? Are we clearing cash for a big signing or is the boss greedy? Who do you see as a realistic trade target for us?
Steve Adams
2:14 I thought the Suarez trade was ... fine, for the Mariners. His strikeout rate has climbed in alarming fashion, his power dipped last year, he'll turn 33 next summer. If the defense slips or the strikeouts tick upward anymore, he's going to be a pretty fungible player. I get that he was popular among fans, but Suarez needed a .315 BABIP to hit .232 last year -- that's a BABIP hike of 40 points over the prior four seasons. He's K'ed in 31% of his PAs over a two-year stretch. His contact rate on pitches in the zone dropped more than six percentage points over the past two seasons.
2:15 If ownership is placing some limitations on overall spending, I'm not sure that's where I want to allocate 7-8% of my payroll eithher
Beyond that, Carlos Vargas has huge Andres Munoz vibes, and the Mariners have done a better job than most teams of taking unknown relievers and making them into huge MLB contributors (Munoz, Paul Sewald, Drew Steckenrider, Justin Topa, etc. etc.)
2:16 Vargas' fastball in his limited MLB time was harder than all but (I think) seven MLB relievers (min.10 IP). And he had a near-60% grounder rate in AAA. Easy to be excited about that arm.
2:17 Now if the M's just pocket the extra $13MM from trading Suarez -- yeah, that sucks. They should do something with that to better the club in another area. But as the first step in a sequence of moves -- particularly after stating an understandable and I think correct goal of decreasing the team's strikeout rate -- that move works for me.

https://live.jotcast.com/chat/chat-with ... 17096.html

[D-train]

From Tuesday's chat with MLB Trade Rumors columnist Steve Adams:

Justin H./Jerry D.
2:12 Make sense of the moves we are making right now? Are we clearing cash for a big signing or is the boss greedy? Who do you see as a realistic trade target for us?
Steve Adams
2:14 I thought the Suarez trade was ... fine, for the Mariners. His strikeout rate has climbed in alarming fashion, his power dipped last year, he'll turn 33 next summer. If the defense slips or the strikeouts tick upward anymore, he's going to be a pretty fungible player. I get that he was popular among fans, but Suarez needed a .315 BABIP to hit .232 last year -- that's a BABIP hike of 40 points over the prior four seasons. He's K'ed in 31% of his PAs over a two-year stretch. His contact rate on pitches in the zone dropped more than six percentage points over the past two seasons.
2:15 If ownership is placing some limitations on overall spending, I'm not sure that's where I want to allocate 7-8% of my payroll eithher
Beyond that, Carlos Vargas has huge Andres Munoz vibes, and the Mariners have done a better job than most teams of taking unknown relievers and making them into huge MLB contributors (Munoz, Paul Sewald, Drew Steckenrider, Justin Topa, etc. etc.)
2:16 Vargas' fastball in his limited MLB time was harder than all but (I think) seven MLB relievers (min.10 IP). And he had a near-60% grounder rate in AAA. Easy to be excited about that arm.
2:17 Now if the M's just pocket the extra $13MM from trading Suarez -- yeah, that sucks. They should do something with that to better the club in another area. But as the first step in a sequence of moves -- particularly after stating an understandable and I think correct goal of decreasing the team's strikeout rate -- that move works for me.

https://live.jotcast.com/chat/chat-with ... 17096.html

Agree that trading Geno is fine.
Thinking Vargas with his 7 ERA and 7.7/9 K rate in AAA is the next Munoz is Lazy AF regurgitated mindless drivel. (Munoz had a 14.6/9 K rate his last season in the minors)
Locking a black hole at BU catcher is not Fine
Going with Urias as the the new 3B is very not Fine

[harmony]

From Tuesday's chat with MLB Trade Rumors columnist Steve Adams:

Justin H./Jerry D.
2:12 Make sense of the moves we are making right now? Are we clearing cash for a big signing or is the boss greedy? Who do you see as a realistic trade target for us?
Steve Adams
2:14 I thought the Suarez trade was ... fine, for the Mariners. His strikeout rate has climbed in alarming fashion, his power dipped last year, he'll turn 33 next summer. If the defense slips or the strikeouts tick upward anymore, he's going to be a pretty fungible player. I get that he was popular among fans, but Suarez needed a .315 BABIP to hit .232 last year -- that's a BABIP hike of 40 points over the prior four seasons. He's K'ed in 31% of his PAs over a two-year stretch. His contact rate on pitches in the zone dropped more than six percentage points over the past two seasons.
2:15 If ownership is placing some limitations on overall spending, I'm not sure that's where I want to allocate 7-8% of my payroll eithher
Beyond that, Carlos Vargas has huge Andres Munoz vibes, and the Mariners have done a better job than most teams of taking unknown relievers and making them into huge MLB contributors (Munoz, Paul Sewald, Drew Steckenrider, Justin Topa, etc. etc.)
2:16 Vargas' fastball in his limited MLB time was harder than all but (I think) seven MLB relievers (min.10 IP). And he had a near-60% grounder rate in AAA. Easy to be excited about that arm.
2:17 Now if the M's just pocket the extra $13MM from trading Suarez -- yeah, that sucks. They should do something with that to better the club in another area. But as the first step in a sequence of moves -- particularly after stating an understandable and I think correct goal of decreasing the team's strikeout rate -- that move works for me.

https://live.jotcast.com/chat/chat-with ... 17096.html

Agree that trading Geno is fine.
Thinking Vargas with his 7 ERA and 7.7/9 K rate in AAA is the next Munoz is Lazy AF regurgitated mindless drivel. (Munoz had a 14.6/9 K rate his last season in the minors)
Locking a black hole at BU catcher is not Fine
Going with Urias as the the new 3B is very not Fine

Perhaps the Seattle front office looked beyond the minor league ERA and K rate of Carlos Vargas.

We all do our best given our limited information and expertise.

[Donn Beach]

What they would look at are his pitches, they would look to make adjustments in how he chucks them.

[D-train]

From Tuesday's chat with MLB Trade Rumors columnist Steve Adams:

https://live.jotcast.com/chat/chat-with ... 17096.html

Agree that trading Geno is fine.
Thinking Vargas with his 7 ERA and 7.7/9 K rate in AAA is the next Munoz is Lazy AF regurgitated mindless drivel. (Munoz had a 14.6/9 K rate his last season in the minors)
Locking a black hole at BU catcher is not Fine
Going with Urias as the the new 3B is very not Fine

Perhaps the Seattle front office looked beyond the minor league ERA and K rate of Carlos Vargas.

We all do our best given our limited information and expertise.

Perhaps the D Backs only offered Seby and Jerry said can you throw in some reliever you don't want to make the trade look a little better? Our fan base is basically a collection of dolts that worship us for turning a few dumpster dive relievers into decent options and future trade bait for 4A INFers so they will buy it.

[D-train]

What they would look at are his pitches, they would look to make adjustments in how he chucks them.

Why didn't they do that with Weaver and Leone and Gott and O Brien and Campbell and Romo and Middleton and Duggar and Montero and Will Vest?

Seems so easy.

[Coeurd’Alene J]

https://sports.mynorthwest.com/1769760/ ... ers-wants/

Sounds like Blake Snell wants to come to Seattle badly. Then you could trade some pitching like we've talked about on this forum already. I thought Dipoto said he was only interested in players that wanted to come here. If he doesn't sign Snell then I'm calling him full of shit on that.

Maybe trade some pitching to Tampa for Yandy.

1.SS-Crawford
2.CF-Julio
3.1B-Diaz
4.C-Cal
5.LF-Kelenic
6.DH-France
7.RF-Canzone
8.3B-Urias
9.2B-Rojas

However it sounds like they aren't that interested in Snell, but are actually HOT after Yamamoto. There have been multiple multiple rumblings from around the League that say Seattle is Red Hot after Yamamoto. If true, then that would be very cool. Rumor is that Yamamoto wants to play somewhere as close to Japan as possible. It's probably gonna cost $200M at around 8 years. If we can land Yamamoto then that gives us the best rotation in all of baseball, hands down! Gilbert becomes you're #4 starter which is insane!!!

https://youtu.be/3R1EzwnOZvY

Ace-Kirby
P-Castillo
P-Yamamoto
P-Gilbert
P-Gonzales/Miller/Woo/Hancock

If pigs fly over the moon and it is Yamamoto than Cade is gonna have to give up his number.

[Donn Beach]

What they would look at are his pitches, they would look to make adjustments in how he chucks them.

Why didn't they do that with Weaver and Leone and Gott and O Brien and Campbell and Romo and Middleton and Duggar and Montero and Will Vest?

Seems so easy.

It's not easy and it doesn't fit every pitcher. No idea if it would work with him. To me the trade was a salary dump so it doesn't really matter who they got back. It just looks like they got a hard throwing reliever they might be able to fix


Article on fixing Seward, fact is they have a reputation for it.

If Sewald hadn’t made an adjustment to both his arm slot and the location of his fastball, it’s likely that his VAA wouldn’t have improved as dramatically. But because both of those adjustments happened together, his fastball is now nearly unhittable. During the offseason, he actually approached the Mariners about signing a contract, because the organization’s development program has gained a reputation for helping pitchers get the most out of their stuff. Between the mechanical adjustments and the honed approach, they clearly unlocked Sewald’s ceiling