Finally! Official Hot Stove League thread!

[D-train]

A little OT Comedy break while we wait for Jerry to get off his ass:

[harmony]

Mariners After Midnight columnist Jason Churchill suggests trading Josh Rojas, Dylan Moore and Ty France to clear payroll space:

https://www.midnightmariners.com/p/clip ... t&r=2z8agc

He isn't a columnist.

Podcast host? Vice President Digital Content, New Balance Baseball Future Stars Series Powered by Program?

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonachurchill/

[D-train]

Mariners After Midnight columnist Jason Churchill suggests trading Josh Rojas, Dylan Moore and Ty France to clear payroll space:

https://www.midnightmariners.com/p/clip ... t&r=2z8agc

He isn't a columnist.

Podcast host? Vice President Digital Content, New Balance Baseball Future Stars Series Powered by Program?

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonachurchill/

Renaissance Man? lol

[bpj]

Whoa!

Maaan, this guy's getting tore up on Twitter pretty good, but other than saying our young pitchers aren't on the block, he's not really wrong.

In his followups it looks like he mentions a $150M budget which technically wouldn't be "slashing the payroll", and still seems somewhat likely.

I think the payroll's down from what it would have been, maybe, but it doesn't seem a certainty that payroll will be lower than in 2023 which seems to be his point.

There's still room for improvement without a huge jump in payroll, just keeping pace with 2023.

The problem I have is last year we watched all the good players start coming off the board, and it never stopped, which ultimately left us with Pollock and La Stella. Dipoto has to pull the trigger and make some things happen before all the options are gone and we're stuck with slop again.

[D-train]

I still can't get past SS's. We are trying to play the cards we were dealt. That doesn't seem like a higher payroll than last season.

[D-train]

Also the fact that we are now 1.5 months into the off season and he hasn't filled a single hole tells me he is holding out and not being aggressive due to budget.

[harmony]

Colton at Mariner Mojo clamors for 27-year-old Red Sox outfielder Jarren Duran:

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

Compare the 2024 projections for Duran, Dominic Canzone and Jarred Kelenic:

Steamer
JD: 128 G, 578 PA, .257/.322/.423/.745, wRC+ 98, 1.4 WAR
DC: 109 G, 434 PA, .255/.314/.437/.751, wRC+ 109, 1.3 WAR
JK: 110 G, 438 PA, .245/.322/.434/.756, wRC+ 101, 1.1 WAR


ZiPS
JD: 453 PA, 255/.313/.424/.737, OPS+ 98, 1.5 WAR
DC: 459 PA, .245/.298/.425/.723, OPS+ 104, 0.5 WAR
JK: 492 PA, .239/.315/.410/.725, OPS+ 95, 0.6 WAR

Marcel
JD: 403 PA. .264/.321/.429/.750
DC: 291 PA, .240/.299/.423/.722
JK: 425 PA, .228/.307/.402/.708

The Baseball Savant pages for Duran, Canzone and Kelenic:

https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/savant-p ... itting-mlb

https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/savant-p ... itting-mlb

https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/savant-p ... itting-mlb

[Big_Maple]

Also the fact that we are now 1.5 months into the off season and he hasn't filled a single hole tells me he is holding out and not being aggressive due to budget.

Another interpretation is this: they have plugged the holes, but with cheap garbage, and the owners are trying to maximize profits. They have rising costs, and they figure they placated the fanbase by extending Julio and getting us to the post season. Once. This buys them latitude with the fans without costing them much financially. So WYSIWYG in terms of the roster.

Yours is more a more probable take on this, but the truth may lie somewhere between the extremes.

[D-train]

Colton at Mariner Mojo clamors for 27-year-old Red Sox outfielder Jarren Duran:

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

Compare the 2024 projections for Duran, Dominic Canzone and Jarred Kelenic:

Steamer
JD: 128 G, 578 PA, .257/.322/.423/.745, wRC+ 98, 1.4 WAR
DC: 109 G, 434 PA, .255/.314/.437/.751, wRC+ 109, 1.3 WAR
JK: 110 G, 438 PA, .245/.322/.434/.756, wRC+ 101, 1.1 WAR


ZiPS
JD: 453 PA, 255/.313/.424/.737, OPS+ 98, 1.5 WAR
DC: 459 PA, .245/.298/.425/.723, OPS+ 104, 0.5 WAR
JK: 492 PA, .239/.315/.410/.725, OPS+ 95, 0.6 WAR

Marcel
JD: 403 PA. .264/.321/.429/.705
DC: 291 PA, .240/.299/.423/.722
JK: 425 PA, .228/.307/.402/.708

The Baseball Savant pages for Duran, Canzone and Kelenic:

https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/savant-p ... itting-mlb

https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/savant-p ... itting-mlb

https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/savant-p ... itting-mlb

That's why the projections are questionable. He had a .828 OPS in 362 PA sample. Put up 2.1 WAR.

Why would his OPS suddenly fall 83 or 91 points in his Age 27 season??? I know they are using his full career but he obviously figured it out last season. Why would he unfigure it out in the very Prime of his career playing in the same hitter's park. Makes zero sense.

[Donn Beach]

I still can't get past SS's. We are trying to play the cards we were dealt. That doesn't seem like a higher payroll than last season.

Thought he was complaining about his players being traded. As he says it's an incomplete team now. But how can we complain about payroll being slashed before knowing what the final payroll is. Asi understand it, Dipoto didn't make those trades to slash payroll, he did it to get flexibility in adding additional players. Payroll aside, is there a player there we are complaining about being traded?