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2017-18 MLB Hot Stove League!


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Let the moves, speculations, rants, and wintry dreams begin!

Masahiro Tanaka declines to opt out, stays with Yankees

Very happy about this, and a wise move on Tanaka's part IMO, after the up-and-down season he had and the ongoing concern about his elbow.  Hopefully this also means there's no chance that the Yankees will chase either Yu Darvish (though much respect to him as a pitcher and a person) or Jake Arrieta, as both will turn 32 next year and will most likely be seeking multi-year deals that take them to the end of their careers.  So this puts NY's rotation next year as Severino/Tanaka/Gray, with Jordan Montgomery and possibly CC (will NY resign him to a one-year deal?  I would, if I were Brian Cashman and company), or Chance Adams, if he's MLB-ready, filling out the back end.  With Chapman, Kahnle, Robertson and Warren all coming back in the bullpen, the big question there is whether or not Dellin Betances can return to form... even if he can't, the bullpen looks pretty good right now.

Edited by ghost of miles
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2 hours ago, ghost of miles said:

Let the moves, speculations, rants, and wintry dreams begin!

Masahiro Tanaka declines to opt out, stays with Yankees

Very happy about this, and a wise move on Tanaka's part IMO, after the up-and-down season he had and the ongoing concern about his elbow.  Hopefully this also means there's no chance that the Yankees will chase either Yu Darvish (though much respect to him as a pitcher and a person) or Jake Arrieta, as both will turn 32 next year and will most likely be seeking multi-year deals that take them to the end of their careers.  So this puts NY's rotation next year as Severino/Tanaka/Gray, with Jordan Montgomery and possibly CC (will NY resign him to a one-year deal?  I would, if I were Brian Cashman and company), or Chance Adams, if he's MLB-ready, filling out the back end.  With Chapman, Kahnle, Robertson and Warren all coming back in the bullpen, the big question there is whether or not Dellin Betances can return to form... even if he can't, the bullpen looks pretty good right now.

My feelings about resigning C.C. - After four mediocre to poor seasons and leaving the team on the verge of the 2015 postseason to enter drunk rehab, he had a comeback in the last year of his contract (surprise, surprise). After making almost $100 million for those four lousy seasons, he should pitch for no money next year - though he won't. Let him go, and if another team is sucker enough to sign him, good luck to them.

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Always sort of surprise to witness a manager being released (omitting an emergency situation ....) and the organisation/enterprise not having decided on the successor in due course ..... this "strategy" builds pressure and increases the price ....

Edited by soulpope
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That shit with Halladay is really sad.

On 11/4/2017 at 6:43 AM, ghost of miles said:

Yes, with Alex Cora going to the Red Sox, the Phillies tapping Gabe Kapler, and the Nats signing Dave Martinez, the Yankees have the only current managerial vacancy in baseball:

List of MLB managers

 

Yeah, I guess for next season Girardi will be doing the TV thing. I think Cashman is the one with the connectivity problem.

Edited by catesta
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I saw a lot of post-game press conferences, and never heard Girardi knock any of his players. In fact, he seemed to go out of his way not to do so, in spite of reporters goading him to do so.
Cashman should be out of there. If it weren't for the crazy high priced, long term contracts he offered - Sabathia, A-Rod, Ellsbury, Chapman, maybe Teixeira, come to mind off the top of my head - the Yankees wouldn't be in a "rebuilding" phase.

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1 hour ago, GA Russell said:

With Rader I always think of Jim Bouton's story about the birthday cake.

Wow, had never heard that story, but yeah, sounds like Rader evidently had some issues. I just remember him still being around when I first started following baseball as a kid--my memory being that he was a good fielder and occasionally could hit for power, but his primary value was his glove.

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Rader was a fan favorite as an Asto, a real "sparkplug" of a player known even then as a "character". Seems that as he got older, heis personality got darker. But as an Astro, he was a gas!

BbAPBhtCEAAuwQH.jpg

Real + replica Astrodome sets commemorating the two longest shots in Dome history. The yellow seats were waaaaay upthere.

 

RaderWynn.jpg4d4bb13a3424ec4af0fac6327deef8f9.jpg

w24-toy-cannon.jpg

BkVmxC3CEAESUU0.jpg

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2 hours ago, JSngry said:

Rader was a fan favorite as an Asto, a real "sparkplug" of a player known even then as a "character". Seems that as he got older, heis personality got darker. But as an Astro, he was a gas!

BbAPBhtCEAAuwQH.jpg

Real + replica Astrodome sets commemorating the two longest shots in Dome history. The yellow seats were waaaaay upthere.

 

RaderWynn.jpg4d4bb13a3424ec4af0fac6327deef8f9.jpg

w24-toy-cannon.jpg

BkVmxC3CEAESUU0.jpg

Thnx for sharing .... any infos how far these two longest shots went (in feet)?

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Wynn's "over 500 feet" https://www.pricerealized.com/#!/Item/862898/4121970-Jimmy-Wynn-Longest-Home-Run-In-Astrodome-History-Single-Stadium-Seat-JSA-Sourced-From-Wynn

Rader's must have been about the same. I don't know if the measured them like they do today, although  it would heve been easy to.

Here's a little more about the "mustique" of the yellow seats. Believe me, there wer "up there" in therms of height and distance. : https://www.astrosdaily.com/history/19700412/

roots-07.jpg

And as always, Loel got excited:

 

Now, here's Gene Elston in classic "dry mode" calling Mike Schmidt's ball that his one of the speakers on the roof: http://www.astrosdaily.com/audio/74schmidt.mp3

http://phillysportshistory.com/2011/06/10/baseballs-hardest-hit-single/

If not for that speaker, who knows?

1024x1024.jpg

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Oh hey, any time I can dig around/out those old late-60s/early 70s Astros memories is always a pleasure!

Some more Doug Rader

Doug Rader killing a base hit, choking it to death!

http://www.astrosdaily.com/audio/72raderdef.mp3

Oooh does he love that curvie!

http://www.astrosdaily.com/audio/72rader.mp3

Can you beat those astros?

http://www.astrosdaily.com/audio/72raderhr.mp3

Doug Rader assists in the sexual harassment of Wes Parker!

http://www.astrosdaily.com/audio/70bandit.mp3

 

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I'd forgotten about Schmidt's "hardest-hit single," an anecdote that I remember hearing or reading about at some point as a kid in the media mists of the pre-Internet 1970s. Wynn, Schmidt, Cedeno, so many names I haven't thought about in years, but I sure remember them from box scores, baseball cards, NBC's "Game of the Week," and Strat-O-Mat baseball. 

In current-day news, Shohei Otani's going to be posted this winter:

Nippon Ham Fighters will post Shohei Otani

Texas has the most remaining international pool bonus money to potentially sign him, followed by the Yankees.

Edited by ghost of miles
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On 11/11/2017 at 6:58 AM, JSngry said:

And as always, Loel got excited:

 

Toward the end of the season, when it became apparent to even casual baseball fans that the Astros were poised for a deep run into the playoffs, a local publication decided that it would be a good time to hop on the bandwagon and started running regular pieces covering All Things Astro on their website. The first piece that appeared was in the midst of namechecking all the things that a longtime Astros fan would expect (Jimmy Wynn, J.R. Richard, 1980 and the Phillies, 1986 and the Mets, and so on), when they casually tossed in a reference to "Lowell Passe".

I replied to the tweet they'd linked the piece in, toning down my initial reaction ("Who the fuck is "Lowell" Passe?") a bit, but never got a response.

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