2015-2016 Hot Stove League

[Tim McG]

The Giants only get a 20/1 shot....WTH? It's an even year. Odds on favorite if you follow current trends.

Must be a poll done by somebody outside of California.

The East Coast press and whatnot never give my guys any credit.

[Brad]

It's impossible at this point to figure out who is the favorite, although I'd probably give the nod to KC.  In the case of the Mets, for example, Cespedes and Murphy are gone and they need to rework the bullpen.  Who knows how they will be next year, just as who knows how any team will be next year, not to mention you can't account for injuries.

[Scott Dolan]

29 minutes ago, Tim McG said:

The Giants only get a 20/1 shot....WTH? It's an even year. Odds on favorite if you follow current trends.

Must be a poll done by somebody outside of California.

The East Coast press and whatnot never give my guys any credit.

 

There are no favorites. Next season is a long way away, and MANY things will change before then, and especially after it gets started. 

[JSngry]

Mike Maddux the Nationals' new pitching coach, eh? Interesting, and if Dusty's real problems have been with managing a staff, an excellent one,

Get ready for the shoulder rub!

[Brad]

Why did Maddux leave Texas? Was it mutual or was he fired.  At any rate, he will have a lot of work to do, starting with finding a closer unless they've lost their minds by keeping Papelbon. 

[Neal Pomea]

Papelbon would drive away fans. Don't think the owners would like that.

If there's friction between the GM and the owners, I wouldn't be surprised if Papelbon were a part of that equation.

[JSngry]

47 minutes ago, Brad said:

Why did Maddux leave Texas? Was it mutual or was he fired.  At any rate, he will have a lot of work to do, starting with finding a closer unless they've lost their minds by keeping Papelbon. 

The story here is that the club approached Maddux with an offer for an extension, Maddux then let the club know that he might be entertaining offers from other clubs, either as pitching coach or, as seems to be his ultimate goal, manager. The club then decided to be proactive about not being left holding the bag and having to scramble for a replacement.There's gotta be more to it than that, like, :change of scenery" and/or "fresh start" or something, but I've heard nothing about any deep divide, hostility, or anything. Maddux has been here a good while and done some good things.

When you watch many/most/all games, there are things that seem like bullpen mismanagement/etc. that the hyper-fans go all balistic about, and maybe, occasionally....but not really. That's kind of a micro focus on what has been a very good cumulative macro effort. And the reality is that bullpens can be a little squirrelly, on any given day, cumulative results are what matters. This team used to be infamous as having no pitching at all. Hell, even in 2011, the more ignurnt of the national press who commentated just to be commentating were still throwing that line out there.

So, I'm like, you know, don't try to bluff Jon Daniels, that ain't gonna work, that guy sees your plan and raises you his direction. But as far as anythng really bad-bloody, I don't think so.

[Tim McG]

18 hours ago, Scott Dolan said:

 

There are no favorites. Next season is a long way away, and MANY things will change before then, and especially after it gets started. 

Good point.

Other news in the NL West:

Looks like Zack Geinke is a free agent again.

Maybe he'll be wearing Orange and Black next season...?

Edited November 5, 2015 by Tim McG

[Scott Dolan]

Well it won't be Royal Blue, I can guarantee you that. 

[JSngry]

He might end up as a higher-paid Dodger, for that matter.

[paul secor]

Interesting that after all of the controversy about Matt Harvey being overworked following Tommy John surgery and supposed teammates' complaints about him, the guy pitched more innings than any other Met pitcher this season. He's eligible for arbitration this postseason and I hope he soaks the cheapskate Mets for a hefty hunk of change.

[Scott Dolan]

4 hours ago, JSngry said:

He might end up as a higher-paid Dodger, for that matter.

Yep, that is very possible. 

[Brad]

16 hours ago, paul secor said:

Interesting that after all of the controversy about Matt Harvey being overworked following Tommy John surgery and supposed teammates' complaints about him, the guy pitched more innings than any other Met pitcher this season. He's eligible for arbitration this postseason and I hope he soaks the cheapskate Mets for a hefty hunk of change.

Yes, he did pitch more.  In fact, he broke the record for most innings pitched after TJ surgery.  That has to raise a lot of alarms. Terry Collins said that the starters will not start pitching until late in spring training.  The amount of innings pitched by all the starters, all of whom have had TJ surgery, except for Syndergaard, has to be monitored.  Let's hope they don't break down next year. 

On the Angels front there's a lot of chatter that Alex Gordon might go to the Angels.  

Zobrist will be in high demand.  Would love to see him on the Mets. 

[Scott Dolan]

Where did you hear the Gordon rumor?

I'm pretty sure the Royals are going to make a hard push to keep Zobrist. And so far he's made it sound like he's interested in staying. 

Gordon, OTOH, should be wearing a different uni next season.

[Brad]

It was just idle gossip that two of the different hosts on MLB radio (on XM Sirius) mentioned.  If I were the Royals, I too would keep Zobrist.  I think I heard someone say that the Met pitchers said they wanted him on the team.

[Scott Dolan]

Hmmm...

That's interesting. Nothing has come across the Royals board on the Angels thing as of now. And we've got sources in Surprise that post there. Though, I guess since it isn't an actual internal matter, it'd likely be off their radar. 

The ongoing narrative amongst the delusional are that Alex is going to stay here because "he grew up a Kansas City Royals fan". 

Some folks just can't be reasoned with. 

From what I've seen, it looks as though Zobrist will likely get a 3/42 contract this offseason. I could definitely see the Royals stepping up to do that. 

Edited November 6, 2015 by Scott Dolan

[JSngry]

Royals offered Gordon a QO, correct? So even if he does leave, there's draft pick compensation to be had,

[Brad]

I don't blame players like Gordon trying to get as much as they can.  Careers are short.

[Scott Dolan]

1 hour ago, JSngry said:

Royals offered Gordon a QO, correct? So even if he does leave, there's draft pick compensation to be had,

Yes. First rounder, unless it's a team within the first ten picks, which it most likely wouldn't be. Then they'd get a second round pick. 

1 hour ago, Brad said:

I don't blame players like Gordon trying to get as much as they can.  Careers are short.

Couldn't agree more. 

And he's dealt with a LOT of injuries throughout his career. Two of them major. Though, to be fair, the first probably saved his career as it forced him to move from 3B to LF. 

Funny how seemingly bad things work out in the end. 

He's really about as humble of a guy as you'll find in MLB. And still one hell of a player. I hope he is able to give whoever gets him some quality years. Some fans feel bad blood towards players that leave, but in Gordon's case, I'd say almost all Royals fans are wishing him nothing but the very best. 

Edited November 6, 2015 by Scott Dolan

[Scott Dolan]

Ben Zobrist and his wife named their new baby daughter Blaise Royal Zobrist. 

Hmmmm...

Perhaps he does love it here as much as has been reported. 

[Brad]

Saw that.  Some things are more important than money.  After all, how much can you really spend.

[Brad]

They're still playing ball at CitiField, a week after the end of the World Series, Cricket Exhibition at Citi Field

I lived overseas when I was a kid and played it a little when we lived in Trinidad.   However, I have no idea how it's played anymore. 

[Tim McG]

On 11/5/2015, 10:21:35, JSngry said:

He might end up as a higher-paid Dodger, for that matter.

I'm thinking he wants to play for a proven winner who has a few WS rings to show for it.

The Dodgers, OTOH, spent shit loads of money and got nothing. Screw them. Serves them right.

Giants won the old fashioned way: Home grown farm players. Guts. Motivation. And a coach who gets how the game is played.

GO Giants!

[Brad]

Hot Stove Predictions, courtesy of MLB

Jim Duquette predicts Greinke to Giants. 

[Scott Dolan]

Gordon will command WAY too much money for the Royals to counter, and they seem VERY intent on re-signing Zobrist. So I think he's got those two backwards.