So it begins, The official Hot Stove League Thread 2024-25 Offseason

[D-train]

France jumps Soto as the number one FA on the market!!!!

[GL_Storm]

Good for him. Seems like a good guy.

[bpj]

Hopefully France finds a team that will let him have a chance at 2B or 3B.

His bat doesn't cut it at 1B.

He's probably one of the best options we could find at 2B if we stop acting like we need a gold glover there.

[Pharmabro]

Good for him. Seems like a good guy.

You know France could provide value as a 2B, 3B, 1B utility. 2024 was his only sub-par season with the bat and from 2020 -2022 he was a 127 OPS+ bat. He is the type of bat Billy B. picks up on a make-good.

[Donn Beach]

Brain drain

For the second year in a row, the Mariners are losing a highly regarded minor league pitching coordinator.

Matt Pierpont was a finalist for several big-league pitching jobs over the past few weeks, and he ultimately takes over as the St. Louis Cardinals’ Director of Pitching …

[Sibelius Hindemith]

Pitching coordinator? What the fuck is that? So many idiotic job titles in baseball these days.

[Donn Beach]

It's supervising the pitching coaches though the minor league system. The Red Sox had an opening for a minor league pitching coordinator, here's the job description

POSITION OVERVIEW:

This roving position will serve a leadership role in the Boston Red Sox Pitching Department and will primarily be focused on implementation of the Red Sox pitching philosophy throughout the minor leagues. This includes implementing, and executing pitching philosophies, processes, and programming across all levels of the minor league organization. This includes, but is not limited to, scaling programming across the Red Sox pitcher pool, creating well established systems, and forming effective frameworks for experimentation and learning in the pursuit of world class player and staff development. Additionally, this position will also focus on the intersection of Research & Development, Skill Acquisition, Analytics, Sport Science, S&C, and Biomechanics, and ensure that programming is evidence-based and effective in the pursuit of building a pitching operation built to produce championship caliber results at the Major League level while sustainably building depth at the minor league level.

This role will be responsible for educating players and coaches on relevant information and technology, while following the Boston Red Sox pitching philosophy and always supporting and promoting the tenets of the department. The ideal candidate must be inquisitive, intellectually curious, data-driven, open minded, and must possess strong interpersonal, communication, and leadership skills.

This position is based full time in Fort Myers, FL. Candidates must be located in or willing to relocate to Fort Myers, FL. Travel to minor league affiliates is required and will occur approximately 10-15 days per month during the Major and Minor league seasons

[Sibelius Hindemith]

So he's a philosopher? I guess a degree in Philosophy might be worth something after all..

[Donn Beach]

Sure, baseball is a religion, has to have a philosophy

[harmony]

From Jim Bowden's Q&A column Friday in The Athletic:

My Orioles need pitching and the Mariners need hitting. The O’s are also overloaded with infielders, especially after re-signing corner infielder Emmanuel Rivera for next season, but they need two starting pitchers. So how about the Orioles trade first baseman Ryan Mountcastle, a top 20 infield prospect (from their organization) and a top 20 outfield prospect to Seattle for either Luis Castillo or Logan Gilbert plus a top 20 starting pitcher prospect? — No name given

If I’m the Mariners, I’ll offer you Castillo for Coby Mayo and Mountcastle. As an Orioles fan, would you make that swap? Then Baltimore could sign either Sasaki or Fried in free agency.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/595640 ... to-adames/

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The Luis Castillo proposal would be a no-brainer from the Mariners' perspective but the Orioles are unlikely to approve.