Finally! Official Hot Stove League Thread

[Sexymarinersfan]

Anybody hear anything about Hazen & his plethora of OF prospects in Arizona.

I'm going to cheat and include these guys as one "player" in our top 20 trade candidates. It's a very large group. The Diamondbacks are overloaded with outfielders. They can each be dropped into one of three buckets:

MLB players: Jake McCarthy, Pavin Smith, and Daulton Varsho
Top prospects: Corbin Carroll and Alek Thomas
MLB-ready prospects: Dominic Canzone, Dominic Fletcher, and Stone Garrett

Every single one of those guys hits left-handed except Garrett, who is a righty. Something has to give here. The D-Backs are very deep in lefty-hitting outfielders at the upper levels and it only makes sense to use some of them as trade chips to address other roster needs. GM Mike Hazen suggested such a move could be coming a few weeks ago.

"You take a left-handed hitting outfielder and turn him into a right-handed hitting slugger, yeah, I can see that puzzle coming together," Hazen told the Arizona Republic last month. "… It's not going to be taking one of those guys and trading them for prospects in that type of way."


Picking which players to keep and which players to trade is easier said than done, though I would assume Carroll (the best outfield prospect in baseball) and Varsho (quietly a 5-WAR player in 2022) are in the keeper pile. Likely Thomas as well. He's not quite the prospect Carroll is, though he's highly regarded and entered the season as the top-50 prospect in the game.

Point is, the D-Backs have lefty-hitting outfielders to spare and should use him as trade chips to improve their roster elsewhere. They are so deep in lefty hitting outfielders they could conceivably trade two or three of these guys this offseason, and still have enough outfield depth moving forward.

Possible landing spots: With this many young and controllable outfielders to peddle, the entire league is a potential trade partner. The rebuilding Athletics, on the rise Cubs, and outfield-needy Yankees stand out as clubs that should be at the front of the line for one (or more) of Arizona's outfielders. I have a hard time believing Arizona will go the entire offseason without trading an outfielder. They're not going to give these guys away, but there's a move or two to be made here.


https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/mlb- ... aying-put/

Varsho and Corbin are both worth 1.5 times the value of Reynolds, EACH! I think it'd still be harder to pry Reynolds out because he's all Pittsburgh has. So the desert team might be the better approach.

[HawkandMariner88]

Anybody hear anything about Hazen & his plethora of OF prospects in Arizona.

I'm going to cheat and include these guys as one "player" in our top 20 trade candidates. It's a very large group. The Diamondbacks are overloaded with outfielders. They can each be dropped into one of three buckets:

MLB players: Jake McCarthy, Pavin Smith, and Daulton Varsho
Top prospects: Corbin Carroll and Alek Thomas
MLB-ready prospects: Dominic Canzone, Dominic Fletcher, and Stone Garrett

Every single one of those guys hits left-handed except Garrett, who is a righty. Something has to give here. The D-Backs are very deep in lefty-hitting outfielders at the upper levels and it only makes sense to use some of them as trade chips to address other roster needs. GM Mike Hazen suggested such a move could be coming a few weeks ago.

"You take a left-handed hitting outfielder and turn him into a right-handed hitting slugger, yeah, I can see that puzzle coming together," Hazen told the Arizona Republic last month. "… It's not going to be taking one of those guys and trading them for prospects in that type of way."


Picking which players to keep and which players to trade is easier said than done, though I would assume Carroll (the best outfield prospect in baseball) and Varsho (quietly a 5-WAR player in 2022) are in the keeper pile. Likely Thomas as well. He's not quite the prospect Carroll is, though he's highly regarded and entered the season as the top-50 prospect in the game.

Point is, the D-Backs have lefty-hitting outfielders to spare and should use him as trade chips to improve their roster elsewhere. They are so deep in lefty hitting outfielders they could conceivably trade two or three of these guys this offseason, and still have enough outfield depth moving forward.

Possible landing spots: With this many young and controllable outfielders to peddle, the entire league is a potential trade partner. The rebuilding Athletics, on the rise Cubs, and outfield-needy Yankees stand out as clubs that should be at the front of the line for one (or more) of Arizona's outfielders. I have a hard time believing Arizona will go the entire offseason without trading an outfielder. They're not going to give these guys away, but there's a move or two to be made here.


https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/mlb- ... aying-put/

Varsho and Corbin are both worth 1.5 times the value of Reynolds, EACH! I think it'd still be harder to pry Reynolds out because he's all Pittsburgh has. So the desert team might be the better approach.

Why is this not getting more coverage then. They literally have a surplus of OF which we need. Varsho & Carroll should be at the top of that list. Both LH so why not.

[bpj]

Varsho had a 106 wRC+ in 2022.

Winker had a 109 wRC+.

JP Crawford had a 104.

Bryan Reynolds has a career .842 OPS and 126 wRC+.
Vasho has a career .738 OPS and 101 wRC+.

They're not really in the same league offensively.

Varsho's value comes from his defense and versatility.

For a team that needs offense he's a poor fit imo.

[Donn Beach]

Dodgers sign Jason Heywood to a minor league deal

[GL_Storm]

Varsho had a 106 wRC+ in 2022.

Winker had a 109 wRC+.

JP Crawford had a 104.

Bryan Reynolds has a career .842 OPS and 126 wRC+.
Vasho has a career .738 OPS and 101 wRC+.

They're not really in the same league offensively.

Varsho's value comes from his defense and versatility.

For a team that needs offense he's a poor fit imo.

Varsho had 27 dingers in a year in which offense was subdued across the entire league and was good for 4.9 bWAR and 4.6 fWAR. Fangraphs rates him at 7.7 Off and 16.4 Def. If Arizona is willing to move him, then you jump at the chance. This is one of the better outfielders in the league, and he bats left-handed.

While I kind of doubt Arizona would move the player, it's worth asking what they need and if there could be a match.

[D-train]

Varsho had a 106 wRC+ in 2022.

Winker had a 109 wRC+.

JP Crawford had a 104.

Bryan Reynolds has a career .842 OPS and 126 wRC+.
Vasho has a career .738 OPS and 101 wRC+.

They're not really in the same league offensively.

Varsho's value comes from his defense and versatility.

For a team that needs offense he's a poor fit imo.

Varsho had 27 dingers in a year in which offense was subdued across the entire league and was good for 4.9 bWAR and 4.6 fWAR. Fangraphs rates him at 7.7 Off and 16.4 Def. If Arizona is willing to move him, then you jump at the chance. This is one of the better outfielders in the league, and he bats left-handed.

While I kind of doubt Arizona would move the player, it's worth asking what they need and if there could be a match.

Jerry already has 3 amazing LH bats in JK, TT and Marlow!

[tweet]https://twitter.com/RyanDivish/status/1 ... wsrc%5Etfw[/tweet]

[GL_Storm]

Varsho had a 106 wRC+ in 2022.

Winker had a 109 wRC+.

JP Crawford had a 104.

Bryan Reynolds has a career .842 OPS and 126 wRC+.
Vasho has a career .738 OPS and 101 wRC+.

They're not really in the same league offensively.

Varsho's value comes from his defense and versatility.

For a team that needs offense he's a poor fit imo.

Varsho had 27 dingers in a year in which offense was subdued across the entire league and was good for 4.9 bWAR and 4.6 fWAR. Fangraphs rates him at 7.7 Off and 16.4 Def. If Arizona is willing to move him, then you jump at the chance. This is one of the better outfielders in the league, and he bats left-handed.

While I kind of doubt Arizona would move the player, it's worth asking what they need and if there could be a match.

Jerry already has 3 amazing LH bats in JK, TT and Marlow!

[tweet]https://twitter.com/RyanDivish/status/1 ... wsrc%5Etfw[/tweet]

You really didn't need to point out to me that Jerry wants a right-handed bat. I'm well aware.

[D-train]

Varsho had 27 dingers in a year in which offense was subdued across the entire league and was good for 4.9 bWAR and 4.6 fWAR. Fangraphs rates him at 7.7 Off and 16.4 Def. If Arizona is willing to move him, then you jump at the chance. This is one of the better outfielders in the league, and he bats left-handed.

While I kind of doubt Arizona would move the player, it's worth asking what they need and if there could be a match.

Jerry already has 3 amazing LH bats in JK, TT and Marlow!

[tweet]https://twitter.com/RyanDivish/status/1 ... wsrc%5Etfw[/tweet]

You really didn't need to point out to me that Jerry wants a right-handed bat. I'm well aware.

Well you made a point to say he is a LH bat so I wasn't sure....also it was to point out how idiotic it is to be focused on a RH bat to "protect" three unproven hitters.

[D-train]

What do you guys think of Matt Carpenter? DH 3rd Base 1st Base and OFer.

Somehow almost double his 2021 .581 OPS to 1.138 in 153 PAs. Home roads splits are crazy but still put up .840 on the road.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/play ... r=2022&t=b

[seattlefan-daBronx]

What do you guys think of Matt Carpenter? DH 3rd Base 1st Base and OFer.

Somehow almost double his 2021 .581 OPS to 1.138 in 153 PAs. Home roads splits are crazy but still put up .840 on the road.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/play ... r=2022&t=b

That's an idea for sure but he did NOT show up in the post season and that worries me.
We need a banger in the clutch. That's why I wanted one of those SS's like Corea or Bogarts.
They can carry a team in the last at bat. Hey but we got JK! He's got potential.