Finally! Official Hot Stove League thread!

[D-train]

Well, the Braves clubhouse should be a shitshow with cabinet pulling Sale and water cooler kicking Kelenic, pitching hissy fits.

So happy that joker is gone. Best thing that has happened this off season.

It was my contention that he'd do better elsewhere anyway.

Exactly. I do appreciate him for at least rising above epic historical suckage levels to allow us to dump him, White and Marco.

[D-train]

Speaking of White:

Acquiring infielder Evan White is a prime example. Minasian spoke to MLB.com's Rhett Bollinger, and noted how excited he is to see White in red and white.

“I think Evan White we feel really good about. He's healthy for the first time in a long time, which was very attractive. The deal gave us some financial flexibility, which will allow us to pursue some other players. It just made sense with where the roster was and the development of Matt Thaiss and Logan O’Hoppe. We really like those two catchers and they’re definitely two players we'd like to grow with. They made strides over the course of the year defensively.”

[D-train]

Who was the guy that wanted us to trade for Story???

[ice99]

Missed the Flexen signing. We'll see how he does with his new team.

[harmony]

Missed the Flexen signing. We'll see how he does with his new team.

The night before Chris Flexen signed with the White Sox this poster was thinking the Mariners should sign Flexen for rotation depth. Flexen had by far his best year in Seattle.

[harmony]

Instead of their characteristic trades, perhaps Jerry Dipoto and Justin Hollander will cap off the offseason by landing their "1-1/2 outfielders" with free agents Joc Pederson and Harrison Bader.

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

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

Bader is as strong defensively as Pederson is weak while Pederson is as strong offensively as Bader is weak. Bader strikes out at a desired low rate while Pederson is projected with a league-average strikeout rate.

https://www.fangraphs.com/players/harri ... osition=OF

https://www.fangraphs.com/players/joc-p ... osition=OF

Each has significant platoon splits with Bader mashing lefties and Pederson raking against righthanders.

FanGraphs projects Pederson with 2024 WAR and wRC+ of 1.7 and 119 in 117 games and Bader with 2024 WAR and wRC+ of 1.7 and 93 in 105 games.

Bader's contract projections include two years, $20 million at MLB Trade Rumors; one year, $8 million at The Athletic; one year, $13 million by FanGraphs columnist Ben Clemens; and two years, $18 million by FanGraphs median crowdsource.

Pederson's contract projections include one year, $12 million by FanGraphs columnist Ben Clemens and two years, $24 million by FanGraphs median crowdsource. MLB Trade Rumors and The Athletic did not provide contract projections for Pederson.

Spotrac's market value feature assigns Bader an average annual salary of $15.2 million and Pederson an average annual salary of $15.8 million:

https://www.spotrac.com/mlb/cincinnati- ... ket-value/

https://www.spotrac.com/mlb/san-francis ... ket-value/

The resulting lineup might not generate excitement:

SS J.P. Crawford (L)
CF Julio Rodriguez (R)
1B Ty France (R)
C Cal Raleigh (S)
DH Mitch Garver (R)
LF Joc Pederson (L) / Harrison Bader (R)
3B Luis Urias (R)
RF Dominic Canzone (L) / Dylan Moore (R)
2B Josh Rojas (L) / Jose Caballero (R)

The Mariners maintain their starting rotation but sign pitchers to minor league contracts for rotation depth.

Lowered expectations may result in less disappointment.

[seattlefan-daBronx]

"Lowered expectations may result in less disappointment. "

[GL_Storm]

Instead of their characteristic trades, perhaps Jerry Dipoto and Justin Hollander will cap off the offseason by landing their "1-1/2 outfielders" with free agents Joc Pederson and Harrison Bader.

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

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

Bader is as strong defensively as Pederson is weak while Pederson is as strong offensively as Bader is weak. Bader strikes out at a desired low rate while Pederson is projected with a league-average strikeout rate.

https://www.fangraphs.com/players/harri ... osition=OF

https://www.fangraphs.com/players/joc-p ... osition=OF

Each has significant platoon splits with Bader mashing lefties and Pederson raking against righthanders.

FanGraphs projects Pederson with 2024 WAR and wRC+ of 1.7 and 119 in 117 games and Bader with 2024 WAR and wRC+ of 1.7 and 93 in 105 games.

Bader's contract projections include two years, $20 million at MLB Trade Rumors; one year, $8 million at The Athletic; one year, $13 million by FanGraphs columnist Ben Clemens; and two years, $18 million by FanGraphs median crowdsource.

Pederson's contract projections include one year, $12 million by FanGraphs columnist Ben Clemens and two years, $24 million by FanGraphs median crowdsource. MLB Trade Rumors and The Athletic did not provide contract projections for Pederson.

Spotrac's market value feature assigns Bader an average annual salary of $15.2 million and Pederson an average annual salary of $15.8 million:

https://www.spotrac.com/mlb/cincinnati- ... ket-value/

https://www.spotrac.com/mlb/san-francis ... ket-value/

The resulting lineup might not generate excitement:

SS J.P. Crawford (L)
CF Julio Rodriguez (R)
1B Ty France (R)
C Cal Raleigh (S)
DH Mitch Garver (R)
LF Joc Pederson (L) / Harrison Bader (R)
3B Luis Urias (R)
RF Dominic Canzone (L) / Dylan Moore (R)
2B Josh Rojas (L) / Jose Caballero (R)

The Mariners maintain their starting rotation but sign pitchers to minor league contracts for rotation depth.

Lowered expectations may result in less disappointment.

Bader should find a job, but he isn't worth anything close to 15 million.

[Pharmabro]

Neither one of these guys should be worth approaching 15 million on.

Bader has been below average for years with the bat. I remember another right handed platoon bat that had sucked. Bader's last 2 years 69 OPS+ and an 85. And remember some of that WAR is positional scarcity and I doubt Julio wants to give up center for him. We need bats. And at age 30 betting on a rebound is a little too much repetition on that front: Urias, France, etc.

Peterson is old: 32 next year and I think we would be chasing the dragon on this one.

Instead of buying 2 flawed players for 20-25-30M in salary why don't we pay the freight for a young good bat on the rise. A proven player.

Something about the definition of insanity is doing the same dumb ass decisions thinking this is the year they all come up roses. I liked the Mike Ford move not because you counted on it but because it was a cheap bat that we could store in AAA. It is counting on ABs from LaStella, Cooper, and AJ because you did not see that Moore, and Murphy would not be able to start the year healthy.

[Seattle or Bust]

Pederson is also pretty much full time DH. Not sure why you'd sign him after signing Garver.

Bader feels like a fkn minor league contract, invite to Spring Training type player... would be shocking if he got that sort of a money. He's been horrific since 2021... worse than replacement level with the bat and basically only valuable as a defensive replacement at this point.