Finally! Official Hot Stove League thread!

[bpj]

Almost 100 WAR traded. He should get an award

Ouch. I wonder what we got back total.

That's the hard part about Dipoto is he always spins off one piece of a trade to keep the chain going so people can't point to any particular trade as a failure yet.

[D-train]

Seager roasts that little bitch Bregman. lol

https://www.wfaa.com/video/sports/mlb/r ... 81b0f1e56b

[D-train]

Almost 100 WAR traded. He should get an award

Ouch. I wonder what we got back total.

That's the hard part about Dipoto is he always spins off one piece of a trade to keep the chain going so people can't point to any particular trade as a failure yet.

Hint: pick a number between 1 and 10.

[bpj]

The rough draft of my offseason plan had the Mariners trading for Fernando Tatis Jr, until I realized that Tatis has a blanket no-trade clause. Tatis would approve a trade to Seattle only in my dreams.

Nevertheless the Mariners are likely to trade a starting pitcher for a bat (and could trade high on relievers Justin Topa and/or Gabe Speier).

My early free agent targets and their projected contracts (per The Athletic):

SP Lucas Giolito, 4 years, $70 million (although Keith Law thinks Giolito could settle for a one-year pillow contract)
Always looking for bargains on players coming off down seasons. A Jim Bowden blurb on the 29-year-old righthander caught my attention:

He needs to sign with a team with a strong pitching coach and analytics staff that will treat him as a reclamation project. With the right pitching plan, Giolito could rediscover what he had during his prime years of production.

https://theathletic.com/5008102/2023/10 ... edictions/
https://theathletic.com/4987045/2023/11 ... bellinger/
https://theathletic.com/5015723/2023/11 ... ojections/

OF Jung Hoo Lee (Jung Lee-hoo), 4 years, $56 million
The 25-year-old Lee lacks power (the opiate of the baseball masses) but has posted superb contact numbers in the KBO. Lee's outfield defense has received positive reviews.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/regi ... e---009jun

LRP Yuki Matsui, no contract projection
The now 28-year-old, who was the youngest pitcher to reach 200 saves in Japan, covers the possible departure of lefty Gabe Speier and provides longshot insurance behind sometimes shaky closer Andres Munoz.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/regi ... tsui000yuk
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/sports/202 ... 200-saves/

Let me take cover before you fire off responses.

I don't know anything about those other guys but if that gets the job done, then nice plan harmony!

[bpj]

Almost 100 WAR traded. He should get an award

Ouch. I wonder what we got back total.

That's the hard part about Dipoto is he always spins off one piece of a trade to keep the chain going so people can't point to any particular trade as a failure yet.

Hint: pick a number between 1 and 10.

No kidding? Under 10 WAR back?

[harmony]

Ouch. I wonder what we got back total.

That's the hard part about Dipoto is he always spins off one piece of a trade to keep the chain going so people can't point to any particular trade as a failure yet.

Hint: pick a number between 1 and 10.

No kidding? Under 10 WAR back?

Mitch Haniger, J.P. Crawford and Marco Gonzales have each posted at least 10 fWAR for the Mariners.

[D-train]

[D-train]

The rough draft of my offseason plan had the Mariners trading for Fernando Tatis Jr, until I realized that Tatis has a blanket no-trade clause. Tatis would approve a trade to Seattle only in my dreams.

Nevertheless the Mariners are likely to trade a starting pitcher for a bat (and could trade high on relievers Justin Topa and/or Gabe Speier).

My early free agent targets and their projected contracts (per The Athletic):

SP Lucas Giolito, 4 years, $70 million (although Keith Law thinks Giolito could settle for a one-year pillow contract)
Always looking for bargains on players coming off down seasons. A Jim Bowden blurb on the 29-year-old righthander caught my attention:

He needs to sign with a team with a strong pitching coach and analytics staff that will treat him as a reclamation project. With the right pitching plan, Giolito could rediscover what he had during his prime years of production.

https://theathletic.com/5008102/2023/10 ... edictions/
https://theathletic.com/4987045/2023/11 ... bellinger/
https://theathletic.com/5015723/2023/11 ... ojections/

OF Jung Hoo Lee (Jung Lee-hoo), 4 years, $56 million
The 25-year-old Lee lacks power (the opiate of the baseball masses) but has posted superb contact numbers in the KBO. Lee's outfield defense has received positive reviews.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/regi ... e---009jun

LRP Yuki Matsui, no contract projection
The now 28-year-old, who was the youngest pitcher to reach 200 saves in Japan, covers the possible departure of lefty Gabe Speier and provides longshot insurance behind sometimes shaky closer Andres Munoz.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/regi ... tsui000yuk
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/sports/202 ... 200-saves/

Let me take cover before you fire off responses.

So we are going to trade a SP for a bat (I agree that is likely) and pay $70M to replace him with a guy that is barely better than Marco and was atrocious after being traded to the Angels and Cleveland.

Dae Ho Lee
2016 as a Mariner .740 OPS
2017 back in Korea .925 OPS
2018 in Korea .987 OPS

Jung Lee Hoo
2023 in Korea .863 OPS
2024 as a Mariner???? .675-.700???

The Japanese midget looks good but Jerry no longer thinks he need to pay more than the $57 he just paid for Bolton on relievers.

Other than that, Great plan!

Fun Fact: Dae Ho Lee retired after the 2022 season in which he hit .332/.885 just 91 hits short of 3k and 12 HRs short of 3000.

[Donn Beach]

Giolito achieved an extremely rare and unfortunate feat, becoming the first player since 1899 to surrender eight earned runs in a start for three different teams in the same season, according to OptaSTATS.

30 or so WAR on a highschool rotation

Giolito is a Southern California native who pitched at Harvard-Westlake School in Los Angeles. There, he was a part of an eye-popping high school rotation that also included the future big leaguers Max Fried and Jack Flaherty.

[D-train]

Giolito achieved an extremely rare and unfortunate feat, becoming the first player since 1899 to surrender eight earned runs in a start for three different teams in the same season, according to OptaSTATS.

30 or so WAR on a highschool rotation

Giolito is a Southern California native who pitched at Harvard-Westlake School in Los Angeles. There, he was a part of an eye-popping high school rotation that also included the future big leaguers Max Fried and Jack Flaherty.

Awesome, how about we laugh at that horrible feat by Giolito and trade for Fried instead.

That signing would literally be repeating the Carlos Silva signing by Bavasi....