The official Hot Stove League Thread 2025-26 Offseason

[D-train]

I agree that is why it drives me insane when they think guys need two days off a week from standing around for 75 minutes a day. BUT I have never heard of mental exhaustion being an issue either. Seems like it is just an excuse for his horrible slump.

[Seattle or Bust]

Sure how about Castillo for Marte straight up. Castillo is only 10 months older and owed about $50M less. Why not?

Huh? Who is suggesting that?

[GL_Storm]

I agree that is why it drives me insane when they think guys need two days off a week from standing around for 75 minutes a day. BUT I have never heard of mental exhaustion being an issue either. Seems like it is just an excuse for his horrible slump.

Sure, it's an excuse. That's part of the job of publicly supporting your players. I think it's also true, to a degree. He was talking about the player needing to make an adjustment, which is mental not physical. And while there's a lot we don't understand about what makes major league hitters able to do what they do, we know that for almost all of them it's a process of adaptation, which is why we have them work their way through the minor leagues where they face increasingly more difficult pitching at each level. And then the final level is the major leagues, where typically you don't see guys succeed right away, which is what we saw with Cole Young. We saw some success from him, and then the league started figuring him out a little bit. And I think all Justin Hollander was saying was an acknowledgement of that. I don't know if that's exhaustion exactly, but maybe it means that the player needs to go into the offseason and kind of regroup. That seems to be where guys make improvements to their game these days.

[D-train]

Sure how about Castillo for Marte straight up. Castillo is only 10 months older and owed about $50M less. Why not?

Huh? Who is suggesting that?

I just came up with it.

[D-train]

I agree that is why it drives me insane when they think guys need two days off a week from standing around for 75 minutes a day. BUT I have never heard of mental exhaustion being an issue either. Seems like it is just an excuse for his horrible slump.

Sure, it's an excuse. That's part of the job of publicly supporting your players. I think it's also true, to a degree. He was talking about the player needing to make an adjustment, which is mental not physical. And while there's a lot we don't understand about what makes major league hitters able to do what they do, we know that for almost all of them it's a process of adaptation, which is why we have them work their way through the minor leagues where they face increasingly more difficult pitching at each level. And then the final level is the major leagues, where typically you don't see guys succeed right away, which is what we saw with Cole Young. We saw some success from him, and then the league started figuring him out a little bit. And I think all Justin Hollander was saying was an acknowledgement of that. I don't know if that's exhaustion exactly, but maybe it means that the player needs to go into the offseason and kind of regroup. That seems to be where guys make improvements to their game these days.

I would like every member of this forum to read this post. Aspire to be as thoughtful and good as Gabe. I fall so short.

[D-train]

Sure how about Castillo for Marte straight up. Castillo is only 10 months older and owed about $50M less. Why not?

Huh? Who is suggesting that?

If.dumb.fuck.jackoff.bleacher.report.fraud.com.gov was suggesting it would it warrant discussion?

[Pharmabro]

Some you tube short is claiming Pete Alonso is a Met again. 2 year with an opt out.

[Seattle or Bust]

Sure how about Castillo for Marte straight up. Castillo is only 10 months older and owed about $50M less. Why not?

Huh? Who is suggesting that?

If.dumb.fuck.jackoff.bleacher.report.fraud.com.gov was suggesting it would it warrant discussion?

No. Maybe I'm missing something in context here.

When Harmony posts those stupid fan articles like they actually mean something I want to pull my hair out.

Regardless, Castillo has trade value.

[D-train]

I agree Castillo has trade value even though the site has him negative. Marte is pegged at $60M but the D Backs won't get all that value because of his issues and the fact that they put him on the block. Maybe if we pay some of Castillo's salary, add a couple prospects and give them Bliss or Canzone back we could make a deal of some sort.

[D-train]

We could easily jump to #1 by adding one more bat.