Finally! Official Hot Stove League thread!

[Donn Beach]

Says it is likely. Not a done deal. Not a big deal but lets wait for final confirmation. Thanks.

This guy thinks Verdugo takes them out of the Soto sweepstakes

For Yankees fans who have been following the sound and fury around a Soto trade in the last week, acquiring Verdugo almost feels like a joke played by Brian Cashman. “Oh, you wanted to improve our offense and get us some more left-handed hitting? Here you go! I did exactly what you asked for!” It’s not so different than your parents telling you that you don’t need to buy Lucky Charms at the grocery store because you have some at home, only to see a box of Generically Fortunate Oat-Shapes in the pantry when you run inside to check/


https://blogs.fangraphs.com/yankees-acq ... o-at-home/

Yankees can just flip Verdugo somewhere else if they don't want him.

That writer looks pretty silly

[Donn Beach]

Jerry resigned from the Angels. I wonder if the past two months made to look a fool for the 2nd straight off season might break him.

I've wondered about that. It probably comes down to his relationship with his bosses. He has plenty of money and I'm sure he could get some sort of front office job somewhere else if he wanted it, and probably would be on the GM shortlist for a lot of franchises. But what looks to us on the outside as a terrible situation may not be on a day to day basis for him as an employee.

I think he's popular around the league, he's doing what his boss asks and he does it efficiently. Stanton wants costs cut and they got cut. He's developed a farm. He's envied for his pitching.

[Donn Beach]

It's interesting that SS is grumbling a bit. I can't see him leaving but who knows. Again, I think he be popular around the league.

[harmony]

Columnist Luke Arkins at Mariners Consigliere weighs in:

https://www.mariners-consigliere.com/p/ ... dium=email

[Pharmabro]

A financial component also played a role in parting ways with some of these players. Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times recently reported Comcast Xfinity moving the Mariners’ regional sports network (RSN) to the cable provider’s highest tier in October changed the franchise’s financial outlook in the eyes of ownership.

A second-order effect of Comcast’s action was the Mariners reportedly scaling back on the size of their 2024 payroll. As a result, the baseball operations side of the organization felt compelled to jettison salaries in order to improve the roster this offseason. Hence, the offload of the Suárez, Gonzales, and White contracts. Same with not tendering Hernández the one-year/$20.3 million qualifying offer for next year.

Stanton has demanded Jerry scale down payroll and so he has. There just ain't going to be a whole lot of good news and I might have watched my last M's game.

Maybe if Jerry had not have played poor sisters of the poor, the cable company would not have rated you not a "need" for the widely held package for the masses and instead moved you a premium small pool. And now the message is pay more for cable, beer, F-ing Garlic fries, and for tickets and we will put a cheaper team on the field and you will thank us for it. No F-ing thank you Jerry. No F-ing chance. I am not following your dumb ass to oblivion.

Fk Stanton fk JD, this team is rat-fucked!

[bpj]

They may have ~$40M to spend
According to Cots the M's had a $180.7M 40 man payroll in 2023.

They're currently sitting at $140.7M

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... U/htmlview

[D-train]

Here is Spotrac:

payroll 2023.jpg (46.3 KiB) Viewed 327 times

payroll 2024.jpg (41.77 KiB) Viewed 327 times

[D-train]

My best guess is between $20-25M to add. I would be surprised if it was $30M, shocked if it was $40M. They likely wouldn't have gone through the whole Woe is Me, dealing with cards we are dealt campaign if they had $40M to spend.

[bpj]

My best guess is between $20-25M to add. I would be surprised if it was $30M, shocked if it was $40M. They likely wouldn't have gone through the whole Woe is Me, dealing with cards we are dealt campaign if they had $40M to spend.

Agreed, seems like ownership turned off the tap.

Probably the whole wasting $30M of his available payroll on below average players for the 8th consecutive season thing...

[D-train]

My best guess is between $20-25M to add. I would be surprised if it was $30M, shocked if it was $40M. They likely wouldn't have gone through the whole Woe is Me, dealing with cards we are dealt campaign if they had $40M to spend.

Agreed, seems like ownership turned off the tap.

Probably the whole wasting $30M of his available payroll on below average players for the 8th consecutive season thing...

Yep another thing I was thinking about is with the whole ROOT Sports deal, there is no way they have already seen a decline in revenues they are just lowering payroll just in case they do next season. And even if revenues declined somewhat there is no way it would eat all of the almost $100 million in profit they made this season. Always overly conservative to a fault....