2020-2021 Hot Stove Thread

[D-train]

So more blacks means less whites or less latinos. Which would he prefer? Or would he like less whites and less Latinos?

7.7 percent
However, African-American players have decreased from 13 percent during the start of the 21st century to 7.7 percent today. With people of color making up 42.5 percent of MLB players, the league has one of the best diversity scores among the four major sports.

[D-train]

Talk about a diversity problem.......what is being done to address this travesty.

By 2020, 81.1% of players in the NBA are black (if mixed are also counted as black), 17.9% white, 12.5% mixed race (mostly half-black half-white), and 1.1% of other race

[harmony]

Free agent Japanese righthander Tomoyuki Sugano must make his decision by January 7. This Japan Times piece examines Sugano and lefthander Yusei Kikuchi following their matchup in 2018:

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/sports/201 ... ki-sugano/

The stats for Sugano, who is 20 months older than Kikuchi:

https://www.baseball-reference.com/regi ... gano001tom

[Coeurd’Alene J]

Free agent Japanese righthander Tomoyuki Sugano must make his decision by January 7. This Japan Times piece examines Sugano and lefthander Yusei Kikuchi following their matchup in 2018:

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/sports/201 ... ki-sugano/

The stats for Sugano, who is 20 months older than Kikuchi:

https://www.baseball-reference.com/regi ... gano001tom

wish we would go after Sugano. He seems to be the better of the two and we could easily go 2 yrs with an option. Which would allow our youngsters to mature

[bpj]

Talk about a diversity problem.......what is being done to address this travesty.

By 2020, 81.1% of players in the NBA are black (if mixed are also counted as black), 17.9% white, 12.5% mixed race (mostly half-black half-white), and 1.1% of other race

I think until recently it would have been too racist to broach the topic. They still probably wouldn't appreciate it on ESPN

Weird world we're living in.

[ddraig]

Hey I am not a Trammel fan and I would be happy with the trade. I just don't think they will get a top 50 prospect for Joey Gallo. We shall see.

Taylor Trammell was interviewed on a podcast this week:

https://twitter.com/KleinschmidtJD/stat ... 4039321601

The podcast references this "Baseball Is Not Black Enough" piece that Trammell wrote for The Players' Tribune in September:

https://www.theplayerstribune.com/artic ... ammell-mlb

Well if he wants it blacker, he better get his OPS over .700.

The recent obsession with race is mind boggling to me. What ever happened to "judge not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character/WAR."

Baseball not being black enough is not the problem. The problem is that there is no place for kids to play baseball but you can go anywhere and find at least a half court basketball hoop. Not that many inner city kids are in to baseball but many of them think they are the next Michael Jordan.

[harmony]

FanGraphs columnist Dan Szymborski has released his 2021 ZiPS projections for the Seattle Mariners:

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/2021-zips-p ... -mariners/

That was both in excellent and profoundly disturbing read. Thanks for posting.

Seems to fit our fears for Evan White. *confirmation bias alert

If I'm the Mariners he can have the first half of the season to improve. After that he's Smoak/Ackley to me until he forces his way out of AAA.

Of any position on the field, 1B is the last one you can try and get cute and go with defense over offense.

A bat isn't optional at 1B on a good team.

Defense is always optional because the delta between "average defender " and "elite defender" is very very small in terms of actual runs saved.

The only equation that matters is (how many runs your bat creates + how many your glove saves). A good bat puts way more runs on the board than a good glove saves because you're talking 600 plate appearances compared to the extra 10 plays an elite defender MAY make in the field.

Prospect Insider columnist Luke Arkins offers his take on Evan White:

https://prospectinsider.com/evan-white- ... yle-lewis/

[bpj]

That was both in excellent and profoundly disturbing read. Thanks for posting.

Seems to fit our fears for Evan White. *confirmation bias alert

If I'm the Mariners he can have the first half of the season to improve. After that he's Smoak/Ackley to me until he forces his way out of AAA.

Of any position on the field, 1B is the last one you can try and get cute and go with defense over offense.

A bat isn't optional at 1B on a good team.

Defense is always optional because the delta between "average defender " and "elite defender" is very very small in terms of actual runs saved.

The only equation that matters is (how many runs your bat creates + how many your glove saves). A good bat puts way more runs on the board than a good glove saves because you're talking 600 plate appearances compared to the extra 10 plays an elite defender MAY make in the field.

Prospect Insider columnist Luke Arkins offers his take on Evan White:

https://prospectinsider.com/evan-white- ... yle-lewis/

Before reading this article, ill be honest, I've already facepalmed after hearing the writer.

That butterball knows as little about baseball as his dorky, creepy looking co-host on PI.

Having said that, I'll give it a read..

[Coeurd’Alene J]

Tomorrow is Sugano’s last day to make a deal... It sure looks like he is going back to Japan....

[D-train]

Tomorrow is Sugano’s last day to make a deal... It sure looks like he is going back to Japan....

Looks like the only owners willing to spend a dime are the Padres and Royals.