2018-19 Hot Stove League

[paul secor]

Keep Bonds and Clemons out. If there were a way to throw Selig out after his election, I'd go for that.

[Matthew]

53 minutes ago, Dan Gould said:

Bud didn't stand at the clubhouse door handing them out like Pez. 

He sure as heck made a nice living off these players though, but that was just the used car salesmen coming through. 

[Brad]

1 hour ago, paul secor said:

Keep Bonds and Clemons out. If there were a way to throw Selig out after his election, I'd go for that.

Amen. Just because Selig is in doesn’t mean we should admit the other two. 

[Soulstation1]

ARod begging for Bonds and Clemens to get elected into the HOF

[jazztrain]

There's a report that the Dodgers have signed A. J. Pollock.  Four years, $55 million.

[ghost of miles]

33 minutes ago, jazztrain said:

There's a report that the Dodgers have signed A. J. Pollock.  Four years, $55 million.

Wow... I assume this means they're most likely out of the ever-shrinking Bryce Harper sweepstakes?  I've been thinking that Bryce should've bit at the 10-year, $300 million deal the Nationals offered him to stay in D.C.

[Matthew]

7 minutes ago, ghost of miles said:

Wow... I assume this means they're most likely out of the ever-shrinking Bryce Harper sweepstakes?  I've been thinking that Bryce should've bit at the 10-year, $300 million deal the Nationals offered him to stay in D.C.

Supposedly, the Nationals are still very much in the picture, though with Boros, he never says any team is out, no leverage in that. 

[ghost of miles]

4 minutes ago, Matthew said:

Supposedly, the Nationals are still very much in the picture, though with Boros, he never says any team is out, no leverage in that. 

Given the way the market's trending, that might be the best offer Bryce is going to get.

[Dan Gould]

It's a damn conspiracy to get him in pinstripes, and cheap, too.

[Matthew]

2 minutes ago, Dan Gould said:

It's a damn conspiracy to get him in pinstripes, and cheap, too.

Evil never sleeps! 

[Dave James]

[Dan Gould]

Yeah, its funny until he steps to the podium, Cashman smirking next to him.

[JSngry]

Is it me, or does it look like Harper is more Pippen than Jordan? I mean, one incomplete w/o the other, but still, who would Harper's Jordan be, where is that guy, where is that team?

[Matthew]

26 minutes ago, JSngry said:

Is it me, or does it look like Harper is more Pippen than Jordan? I mean, one incomplete w/o the other, but still, who would Harper's Jordan be, where is that guy, where is that team?

Hate to say this: Aaron Judge-Bryce Harper-Giancarlo Stanton. Pressure off Harper, he does his thing, Yankees Evil Empire reappears. Just thinking about it makes me want to go on a good old fashioned Yankee hater rant. 

[ghost of miles]

2 hours ago, Matthew said:

Hate to say this: Aaron Judge-Bryce Harper-Giancarlo Stanton. Pressure off Harper, he does his thing, Yankees Evil Empire reappears. Just thinking about it makes me want to go on a good old fashioned Yankee hater rant. 

Ha! I wish re Harper.  Why does NY need Harper when we’ve got Brett Gardner, Clint Frazier, and Jacobi Ellsbury? (insert multiple sarcasm emoticons) Unless Cashman and company have been playing a fiendishly insidious game, there is next to no chance that the Yankees will pursue Harper. I’d love to be proven wrong, but the Ellsbury and A-Rod contracts have evidently turned Hal Steinbrenner into an extremely gunshy guy when it comes to handing out longer deals. Never mind that both Harper and Machado are 26, five years younger than Ellsbury when he signed, and six years younger than A-Rod. If the Nats’ offer is no longer out there, then my best guess is Harper landing with the Phillies. He’s the guy I really wanted the Yankees to pursue, given Gardner’s decline, Frazier’s uncertainty, and Hicks’ age and impending free agency. Cashman likes to talk about how overstocked the outfield is, but when Judge went down last year we had Shane freakin’ Robinson (a name I’ll hopefully never see in a Yankee starting lineup again) playing waaaay too many games, until we traded for McCutchen. But now McCutchen’s gone as well. So yeah, I *dream* of Harper occupying a spot in the batting order between Judge and Stanton, but ain’t gonna happen.

[paul secor]

The Yankees need pitching (starting pitching), not hitting, but Cashman never seems to get that.

[ghost of miles]

6 minutes ago, paul secor said:

The Yankees need pitching (starting pitching), not hitting, but Cashman never seems to get that.

Well, we got James Paxton, who was probably the best starter available via free agency or trade. I would’ve been happy to see us land Corbin, but not at 6 yrs/$140 million. I agree, it’s an area for improvement, especially when our fifth starter is going to be a 39-yr-old guy with bad knees coming off heart surgery... good Lord! I was not a fan of resigning either Gardner or C.C. Montgomery may be back mid-year, but I’m not expecting much if anything from him this season.  So right now the rotation stacks up as Severino, Paxton, Tanaka, Happ, and C.C.  Somebody’s bound to hit the DL out of that group, and I’m not sure who’ll they’ll turn to when that happens.

[paul secor]

42 minutes ago, ghost of miles said:

Well, we got James Paxton, who was probably the best starter available via free agency or trade. I would’ve been happy to see us land Corbin, but not at 6 yrs/$140 million. I agree, it’s an area for improvement, especially when our fifth starter is going to be a 39-yr-old guy with bad knees coming off heart surgery... good Lord! I was not a fan of resigning either Gardner or C.C. Montgomery may be back mid-year, but I’m not expecting much if anything from him this season.  So right now the rotation stacks up as Severino, Paxton, Tanaka, Happ, and C.C.  Somebody’s bound to hit the DL out of that group, and I’m not sure who’ll they’ll turn to when that happens.

That happens every year.

[soulpope]

4 hours ago, paul secor said:

That happens every year.

Sadly ....

[Dan Gould]

9 hours ago, paul secor said:

The Yankees need pitching (starting pitching), not hitting, but Cashman never seems to get that.

Happ for a full season and Paxton are major improvements.

And the bullpen loses Robertson and is way better too with the lefty on board a full year and another top five FA reliever added.

[Dave James]

2 hours ago, Dan Gould said:

Happ for a full season and Paxton are major improvements.

And the bullpen loses Robertson and is way better too with the lefty on board a full year and another top five FA reliever added.

The question is, can Paxton stay healthy? 

[Dan Gould]

12 minutes ago, Dave James said:

The question is, can Paxton stay healthy? 

Last three years, 20, 24 and 28 starts respectively. He's not Jon Lester but are you better off with him, even if he misses time, than Sonny Gray? That's not even close.

[Dave James]

1 hour ago, Dan Gould said:

Last three years, 20, 24 and 28 starts respectively. He's not Jon Lester but are you better off with him, even if he misses time, than Sonny Gray? That's not even close.

Sonny just wasn't cut out for life on a bigger stage.  Now that he's in a more Sonny sized environment, I wouldn't be surprised to see him win 12-15 games.

[JSngry]

10 minutes ago, Dave James said:

Sonny just wasn't cut out for life on a bigger stage.  Now that he's in a more Sonny sized environment, I wouldn't be surprised to see him win 12-15 games.

Yeah, this is some kind of ongoing YankeeFanThing (and/or NewYorkJazzFanThing, or...fill in the blanks), that if some players don't do well in New York that it's the player's fault for not being cut out for New York, like it's a defect or something. Bullshit. New York City is A city, it's not THE only city, nor is it the GREATST city. There is no such thing. It IS a major city, and a very important city, but what that has to do with playing baseball is....absolutely nothing. I know, media, blah/blah/blah, get over that, that's a loop of vain self-justification, especially moving forward into the 21st century. 

Now if that's not what you meant, sorry. But damn, a lifetime of experiencing smug spectators clucking about people "not being ready for the big time" or some shit when in reality, hey, maybe your city genuinely sucks in some ways for some people...enough of it!

 

[Brad]

32 minutes ago, JSngry said:

Yeah, this is some kind of ongoing YankeeFanThing (and/or NewYorkJazzFanThing, or...fill in the blanks), that if some players don't do well in New York that it's the player's fault for not being cut out for New York, like it's a defect or something. Bullshit. New York City is A city, it's not THE only city, nor is it the GREATST city. There is no such thing. It IS a major city, and a very important city, but what that has to do with playing baseball is....absolutely nothing. I know, media, blah/blah/blah, get over that, that's a loop of vain self-justification, especially moving forward into the 21st century. 

Now if that's not what you meant, sorry. But damn, a lifetime of experiencing smug spectators clucking about people "not being ready for the big time" or some shit when in reality, hey, maybe your city genuinely sucks in some ways for some people...enough of it!

 

It is THE City and it is the GREATEST city.  You’d have to live there to know, and, yeah, I’ve been to the great cities of the world. 

As Frank said, if you can make it here, you can make it anywhere.