The Official 2017-2018 Hot Stove Thread

[Chuck]

9 minutes ago, tdawg87 said:

If he does I expect a few pages of bitching.

I hope he does... That just means Yu Darvish' price tag drops big time! 

[Angel Oracle]

15 hours ago, disarcina said:

SI says that many teams are waiting out this year's F/A crop and waiting for the better pickin's in next year's F/A class.

Also, I think even without that -- owners are paying some of the elite guys more than ever but that's a very limited few.  The other guys - like lumbering corner infielders (Hosmer/ Moustakas) are seen as not good investments -- teams figure they can pay some up and comer a lot less and differential is not that great at the margins --- a .285 BA with 35 HRs , 105 RBI for those high priced guys vs.  .265 BA , 23 HR and 85 RBI means for the younger 'under club control guy at the MLB minimum of $500,000 or less) means if you sign the high priced guy you are paying about $10 million plus a year for  20 more points in the BA, about 25 more rbi's and maybe 15 more HRs with, perhaps, the glove side being a wash.

Teams / GMs figure save that money and spend it on pitching.............

+1, except that it's wiser to develop your own starting pitchers and use the FA money to keep your own starting pitchers who have maintained health and ability, and also use the FA money to fill a position need that is a weak spot in the org.

[Angel Oracle]

1 hour ago, tdawg87 said:

If he does I expect a few pages of bitching.

Martinez though is mainly one dimensional (mediocre fielder albeit solid arm), while Upton provides more range in the OF.  Martinez also had one huge half season, and otherwise has been rock solid but not superstar great at the plate.   Martinez' asking price originally being $210 million, was a total joke.

[Tank]

2 hours ago, Inside Pitch said:

He's probably working with the Russians...

these days, who isn't?!?

[ettin]

4 hours ago, Chuckster70 said:

The prices are really coming down. Is it possible JD Martinez makes the same or less than Justin Upton?

 

J.D. Martinez at $20M AAV is only $1.2M below Upton's AAV. Justin is probably a bit better defensively (a little more well-rounded than J.D. I suppose but not by too much).

Maybe we'll spend the money on J.D. and have him play 1B?

[arch stanton]

If the offer is in the range of $100 mil it's likely they just use Upton's numbers and throw him an extra few bucks on top

[ukyah]

20 hours ago, disarcina said:

SI says that many teams are waiting out this year's F/A crop and waiting for the better pickin's in next year's F/A class.

Also, I think even without that -- owners are paying some of the elite guys more than ever but that's a very limited few.  The other guys - like lumbering corner infielders (Hosmer/ Moustakas) are seen as not good investments -- teams figure they can pay some up and comer a lot less and differential is not that great at the margins --- a .285 BA with 35 HRs , 105 RBI for those high priced guys vs.  .265 BA , 23 HR and 85 RBI means for the younger 'under club control guy at the MLB minimum of $500,000 or less) means if you sign the high priced guy you are paying about $10 million plus a year for  20 more points in the BA, about 25 more rbi's and maybe 15 more HRs with, perhaps, the glove side being a wash.

Teams / GMs figure save that money and spend it on pitching.............

hosmer has been offered a 140 and a 147 million dollar contract. premise... not so sound.

[UndertheHalo]

I’m not entirely sure that next year will be much different.  I’m not sold that next year will be the feeding frenzy that people expect. Obviously Harper and Machado will get huge contracts but I’ll believe the 40 mill aav stuff when I see it.   Kershaw will get paid as well, but im not sure it’s going to be much more then Greinke’s massive deal.  The rest of the market though.  I’m not sure why we’d expect it to play out much different.

[Stradling]

8 minutes ago, ukyah said:

hosmer has been offered a 140 and a 147 million dollar contract. premise... not so sound.

If he was offered those contracts he needs to go back and hope he can still accept it.  

[Stradling]

As far as future deals go, i think if Machado gets traded, there’s a very good likelihood that team signs him to an extension before he ever becomes a free agent. 

[krAbs]

2 minutes ago, UndertheHalo said:

I’m not entirely sure that next year will be much different.  I’m not sold that next year will be the feeding frenzy that people expect. Obviously Harper and Machado will get huge contracts but I’ll believe the 40 mill aav stuff when I see it.   Kershaw will get paid as well, but im not sure it’s going to be much more then Greinke’s massive deal.  The rest of the market though.  I’m not sure why we’d expect it to play out much different.

I'm kinda hoping that next year's FA talent lets us snag a quality infielder for cheap to go along with Simmons and Cozart. It seems plausible that the huge names will drive down the costs of the normal high-end free agents, because most of your powerhouse teams will blow their wad on a superstar.

[UndertheHalo]

5 minutes ago, krAbs said:

I'm kinda hoping that next year's FA talent lets us snag a quality infielder for cheap to go along with Simmons and Cozart. It seems plausible that the huge names will drive down the costs of the normal high-end free agents, because most of your powerhouse teams will blow their wad on a superstar.

You and me both brutha.  Lemaheiu is my guy. 

[Warfarin]

39 minutes ago, krAbs said:

I'm kinda hoping that next year's FA talent lets us snag a quality infielder for cheap to go along with Simmons and Cozart. It seems plausible that the huge names will drive down the costs of the normal high-end free agents, because most of your powerhouse teams will blow their wad on a superstar.

I'm thinking next offseason is the time we'll try to solve 2B long-term.  Available FAs will include Dozier, Forsythe, LeMahieu, Murphy, and Kinsler.  That's a pretty stacked 2B free agency class.  

[Ohtaniland]

It’s going to be interesting how they shuffle the cards on a daily basis with Cron, Pujols, Valbuena and Ohtani. 

Billy Eppler stated that the plan is to get Albert his 600 PA’s.

So it appears that a couple of players will be spending a lot of time riding the pine.

"Albert's taking batting practice right now and has taken infield," Moreno said. "[Coach Dino Ebel] has been giving him infield [work] and said he looks strong. We won't know exactly what we're going to do until we see Albert play. But if we can get him into the field for 40-50 games, then Ohtani's going to have a lot of opportunity to bat."

[ukyah]

52 minutes ago, Stradling said:

As far as future deals go, i think if Machado gets traded, there’s a very good likelihood that team signs him to an extension before he ever becomes a free agent. 

 

i'm surprised that you think that. i suppose his 2018 may affect that scenario, if he were to be somewhat pedestrian again. 

if he has a big 2018, then i don't see him passing on FA, under any circumstances.

[ettin]

20 minutes ago, Warfarin said:

I'm thinking next offseason is the time we'll try to solve 2B long-term.  Available FAs will include Dozier, Forsythe, LeMahieu, Murphy, and Kinsler.  That's a pretty stacked 2B free agency class.  

You do realize the Angels signed Cozart to play 2B this year until the opportunity for Kinsler appeared. Certainly seems like they will insert Zack at 2B in 2019 and find a 3B instead.

[Warfarin]

2 minutes ago, ettin said:

You do realize the Angels signed Cozart to play 2B this year until the opportunity for Kinsler appeared. Certainly seems like they will insert Zack at 2B in 2019 and find a 3B instead.

The beauty of Cozart is he is flexible.  I don't think he has to play 2B.  If he has a strong year at 3B, why not keep him there, especially if you have a better chance of securing a strong 2B than a 3B?

[ettin]

1 minute ago, Warfarin said:

The beauty of Cozart is he is flexible.  I don't think he has to play 2B.  If he has a strong year at 3B, why not keep him there, especially if you have a better chance of securing a strong 2B than a 3B?

Because he is an elite defender at Shortstop and that should easily translate to being the best defender we can acquire at 2B next offseason. Eppler has stressed how important up the middle defense is to him and I can't think of anyone other than perhaps Simmons, Lindor, Seager, or Crawford who could slide over and provide better defense at the keystone than Cozart likely will.

The decision at 2B will be mostly about defense first, less on offense, making Cozart the very likely choice. His bat will play up at 2B allowing the Angels to acquire a defensive minded 3B who can hit too.

I agree that Cozart is flexible but defensively he is on another level compared to all of the other choices that will be available to play 2B next year in my opinion.

[Troll Daddy]

41 minutes ago, OHTANILAND said:

It’s going to be interesting how they shuffle the cards on a daily basis with Cron, Pujols, Valbuena and Ohtani. 

Billy Eppler stated that the plan is to get Albert his 600 PA’s.

So it appears that a couple of players will be spending a lot of time riding the pine.

"Albert's taking batting practice right now and has taken infield," Moreno said. "[Coach Dino Ebel] has been giving him infield [work] and said he looks strong. We won't know exactly what we're going to do until we see Albert play. But if we can get him into the field for 40-50 games, then Ohtani's going to have a lot of opportunity to bat."

I expect 70+ games at 1st base ... no surgery this off season 

[Warfarin]

17 minutes ago, ettin said:

Because he is an elite defender at Shortstop and that should easily translate to being the best defender we can acquire at 2B next offseason. Eppler has stressed how important up the middle defense is to him and I can't think of anyone other than perhaps Simmons, Lindor, Seager, or Crawford who could slide over and provide better defense at the keystone than Cozart likely will.

The decision at 2B will be mostly about defense first, less on offense, making Cozart the very likely choice. His bat will play up at 2B allowing the Angels to acquire a defensive minded 3B who can hit too.

I agree that Cozart is flexible but defensively he is on another level compared to all of the other choices that will be available to play 2B next year in my opinion.

Right.  But it just depends on how FA plays out.  If there are no decent 3B available, then it would only seem to make sense to get a 2B and play Cozart at 3B, no?  Obviously if we can find a strong fit at 3B, then we can go for that.  

Again, that is the beauty of Cozart - he is flexible, which in turn enables us to maximize the hole we need to fill (2B or 3B) depending on who is available.

[Tank]

1 hour ago, Stradling said:

As far as future deals go, i think if Machado gets traded, there’s a very good likelihood that team signs him to an extension before he ever becomes a free agent. 

No way. I think Machado is dooshy enough to think he's a 300 million man and will reject anything less.

[Stradling]

So let’s play make believe.  He’s traded to the Cardinals.  This off season plays out without any huge deals, maybe $125 million for JD Martinez.  The Cards offer him $300 million.  What does he do?  

[Tank]

At that price I think he signs.  Plus he'd be in one of the best baseball towns in the country.

[Ohtaniland]

34 minutes ago, Troll Daddy said:

I expect 70+ games at 1st base ... no surgery this off season 

If Albert has any health related issues that prevents him from taking the bulk of the 1st base duties they're in trouble.

[Warfarin]

7 minutes ago, Stradling said:

So let’s play make believe.  He’s traded to the Cardinals.  This off season plays out without any huge deals, maybe $125 million for JD Martinez.  The Cards offer him $300 million.  What does he do?  

Hard to walk away from 300million man.  If they offer him that at the beginning of the season and he declines, then suffers a significant injury.. man, he would have just thrown away all that money.  I would sign it, knowing that yeah, you could have netted 50-70mil more maybe if the cards broke right (no pun intended), but I mean, you know.. it's still 300 million, lol.