Finally! Official Hot Stove League Thread

[bpj]

One great thing is that so far the majority of the quality players have signed with NL teams or teams that are worse than us.

Judge on the Yankees doesn't make them any more scary than 2022 obviously.

Degrom and Abreu are the only problems so far and the Astros lost Verlander.

Hopefully Dipoto stays ahead of the curve.

[Pharmabro]

I guess JD Martinez is in Seattle.

[TraderGary]

I’m probably missing something but…
While other teams are making moves to greatly improve their teams, the Mariners have made a slight upgrade at 2b (Wong instead of Frazier) at one corner of the OF (Figuring Teo is an upgrade over a semi- healthy Haniger) They ditched Winker with no replacement (The idea of JK even being in the mix makes me nauseous) and still think they can draw names from a hat to DH.

So my question is, how can Jerry and Co. say they are trying to be competitive when everybody else gets better by signing stars and we pretty much replace one journeyman with another?

Apparently what sets the Mariners apart is how they have so much more committed in 2026 (which appears to be $44M) than other teams.

They can't possibly spend now, they're going to have to pay Cal, Logan and George here pretty soon......

Hard to say with a straight face. I can't believe Dipoto still has a job. Except that his values perfectly align with ownerships. Compete, but don't spend much to do it.

I still think Dipoto gets a bonus for payroll he doesn't spend.

"Your budget is $150 million, but we'll give you a 10% bonus of the money you don't spend."

Tell me you wouldn't try and put together the best team you can as cheaply as you can.

This exactly! He's the perfect GM for this ownership group and his job may be the most secure in all of baseball.

[D-train]

[bpj]

This is the most frustrating BS.

"We're spending in a different way..."

No mother ******. You're acting like commitments made on a 17 year extension are choking your current payroll.

And acting like future extensions to Cal/Logan/Kirby- which they may never even be interested in signing- are keeping them from investing in 2026 and beyond. They only have $83M in commitments in 2026, and only $44M in 2027. It's a smoke show.

Robbie Ray and Luis Castillo aren't top of market. The Mariners see a market that got paid half what the top free agents do, so they dipped their toes because they knew they had to do something that would actually move the needle.

So they paid two good pitchers less than what one Bogaerts got paid. Well pat yourselves on the back why don't ya.

They're just taking advantage of a market inefficiency and acting like they can't play in the hitters market where it actually costs top of market dollars.

[D-train]

How about him saying we have always been middle to top 10 payroll in the same post that he says they were 23rd in payroll!!

[TraderGary]

This is such fucking BS! Do people actually fall for this load of crap? I personally feel insulted that he really thinks we're this ignorant. Fuck you JD and the greedy MF owners! This quote makes me absolutely furious! He should have just told every fan to bend over and take it up the ass because this is the best it's going to get.

And how the fuck is 23rd, 21st, and 17th middle or top 10 in payroll you lying POS??? And where is all that money you saved the past few years that you said you would spend when the time was right? And how the fuck does a team like the Padres whose market is in the bottom 3rd of the league afford to spend and we can't? I could go on and on but I might have a coronary if I do. Unbefuckinglievable!

[D-train]

See you in Arizona Gary. We can each have a dozen shot of Tequila to help us get through Jerry's answer!

[TraderGary]

See you in Arizona Gary. We can each have a dozen shot of Tequila to help us get through Jerry's answer!

It may take more than that.

[seattlefan-daBronx]

I guess JD Martinez is in Seattle.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfZ46IAZdzw