The Hot Stove League has heated up. Anybody want to chat about who your team is going to sign?
David Eckstein's a free agent. Anybody want to see him as your shortstop? 2nd baseman? Ballboy?
Any predictions on how quickly the Cincinnati Reds will regret having signed Dusty "Don't Clog the Basepaths" Baker?
It seems that A-Rod's heading back to the Yankees for another season of abuse from Yankee fans. Does anybody care?
Will the Twins trade the best left-handed pitcher in the game? If so, will he be any good anymore since he won't be pitching in the Metrodome on a regular basis?
I've been listening to Chicago sports radio lately, and it seems that, according to Cubs fans, every free agent that has some talent will be landing in Chicago. What I'm wondering is which free agent pitchers the Cubs will overpay for? Who's this year's Ted Lilly? :tongue3:
What do you think about this year's Hot Stove League?
Hot Stove League
Discussion in 'Sports Forum' started by ccrobinson, Nov 15, 2007.
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Tori Hunter is being hotly pursued by the Tx Rangers, they are also pursuing old friend Kenny Rogers - but want an apology first
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I had heard that about Rogers. I should probably know what the Rangers want an apology for, but I don't.
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Rogers got into it with a cameraman at a game - he shoved the guy, bad scene
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Yankees working hard with A-Rod and pursuing Mike Lowell :thumbs:
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The Tigers have traded for Edgar Renteria and Jacque Jones giving up very little, IMO. The Tigers will probably score more runs than any other team, save the Yankees. But pitching is a concern - we need another good bullpen arm and another starter. Zumaya will be out most of next season with yet another injury. I'm not expecting him to ever return to his rookie season brilliance. Can anyone say, Mark Fidrych?
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Cordero to the Reds. Very interesting
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The Cordero signing only makes sense to me if the Reds are going to sign more free agents and try to win in '08 or possibly '09. Otherwise, they have a lot of money tied up in a 32 year old reliever who isn't an elite closer now and will likely be washed up in years 4 and 5 of his contract, if not year 3. If the Reds don't sign more free agents, or make some trades to get better, I think the Cordero signing was a bad one. It may be bad anyway, even if they do sign more free agents.
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Just the Reds being the Reds....but oh yeah yall got Baker now :) Good luck with all that.
The Cubs are going for a Japanese offseason by trying to sign Kaz Matsui away from the Rockies and also going after an outfielder from Japan. They also signed Kerry Wood to a 1 yr deal and are going to give him the closer job and probably put Dempster back in the starting rotation. I like that move, I think Wood could make a great closer, well of course if he can stay healthy. But I think he has a way greater chance of staying healthy in the bullpen instead of starting. -
For the '08 season, I hope that Tom, and every other Reds fan, has a nice soft wall somewhere so they don't hurt themselves doing this.
:BangHead:
I'm not sure why the Cubs would put Dempster back in the rotation, but I do like putting Wood in the bullpen. It would be nice to see him resurrect his career and become a good closer.
I don't understand why the Cubs would have any interest in Kaz Matsui.
Here are 2 players. We're only going to consider their avg/obp/slg lines.
Player 1 .288/.342/.405
Player 2 .293/.371/.420
The player the Cubs should go after is player 2, who makes fewer outs than player 1.
Player 1 is Kaz Matsui.
Player 2 is Mark DeRosa.
The Cubs have more pressing needs, like getting more offensive production from their CF and LF spots.l -
ccr, I completely agree about Matsui. I have no clue why they are going after him when they have DeRosa.
I am not sure about the Dempster thing either. I think what will ultimately happen is Wood will be the closer, while Dempster will either be traded or used as a long reliever.
The OF from Japan intrigues me, and it will be interesting to see if that works out. From what I understand he has yet to decide if he is coming to the U.S. -
I completely forgot to mention the biggest name that's out there to be traded, Johan Santana. What do you guys think happens to Santana?
I think the Yankees will wind up giving up at least Hughes, Kennedy and Melky Cabrera to get him, and possibly Cano as well. As great as Santana is at 28, that's still a pretty high price to pay for him. -
I can't figure out why so many people question the Reds hiring Dusty Baker as a bad thing. I am not saying he is the best in the game right now, but he won at two places where winning wasn't always the case. He took the Giants to the World Series, and was five outs from taking the Cubs there, too. I know he has had his bad years, but the Reds haven't had a winning record since 1999, going 96-66. It's not like he would be a downgrade from what they've had. The worst thing they did was to not rehire Davey Johnson after the 1995 season. But Marge Schott wanted Ray Knight as their manager.
I am stoked at the signing of Francisco Cordero. He has a LIVE arm, had what, 48 saves, and a sub-3.00 ERA?? What's wrong with that? I don't think by he being 32 is a big factor, considering he is a closer. They can now use David Weathers in the set-up role with the rest of the bullpen. He(Cordero) can't do it all by himself, but I believe this is a step in the right direction. -
Let's see if you are still "stoked" come midseason. -
Another big reason is the way he completely mismanaged the Cubs pitching and how he pretty much ruined the careers of Prior and Wood. On one occasion, he had Kerry Wood throw somewhere around 150 pitches in his first game back from a DL stint.
In 2003, Mark Prior turned 23 on September 7th. Here are the pitch counts for him in every start he made in September. This on a 23 year old pitcher who had thrown 180+ innings already.
131
129
109
124
131
133
That, my friend, is mismanaging a pitcher.
So, Reds fans, say good-bye to the health of Aaron Harang, Bronson Arroyo and Homer Bailey. Say good-bye to the further development of Josh Hamilton and Joey Votto. Say hello to 700 plate appearances for Ryan Freel.
As a kid, and before the '94 strike, the Reds were my team. The last thing I would want is somebody like Dusty managing my favorite team. Here's more Dusty.
SV IP H ER BB K ERA WHIP BAA K/BB K/IP
2005 37 69.0 61 26 30 79 3.39 1.32 .234 2.63 1.14
2006 22 75.1 69 31 32 84 3.70 1.34 .265 2.63 1.12
2007 44 63.1 52 21 18 86 2.98 1.11 .218 4.78 1.37
Which Francisco Cordero are the Reds more likely to get? Will they get the excellent Cordero of 2007? Or, will they get the Cordero of '05 and '06, who put up decent numbers, but not elite closer type of numbers? I hope they get '07 Cordero, but I think they'll get '05 and '06 Cordero, which will mean that they overpaid for him.
Finally, to finish up with Dusty, let's look at this quote from PastorSBC, a Cubs fan.
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Speaking of stoked, that word has to describe one Andy T. this morning after the Tigers/Marlins trade.
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The Tigers gave up a lot in this trade. Maybin is supposedly a 5-tool sure thing. Miller is on his way (lefty power pitcher). In fact, I'm not convinced D. Willis is better than A. Miller right now. Actually, Willis is the key part of this trade. If he can give us 200+ innings at an ERA around 4.00 or even 4.50, then that would be great.
There is also a question of where to play Cabrera. He is a butcher at 3B, but I assume that is where he'll play. He's ultimately a DH/1B kind of guy. With Sheffield's health questionable, it is great fall back plan to have Miggy go to DH. Here is how I would do their lineup, which could potentially have 7-8 guys hitting over .300 and 5 of those guys with a slugging percentage over .500:
1) Granderson - CF
2) Polanco - 2B
3) Cabrera - 3B
4) Ordonez - RF
5) Guillen - 1B
6) Sheffield - DH
7) Renteria - SS
8) Rodriguez - C
9) Jacque Jones - LF
I think most people assume Sheff will bat 5th and Guillen 6th, but I like putting Sheff at 6th in order to break the string of righties starting at Polanco.
This team should average 6 runs per game or more. If not, they are underachieving.
Time will tell. -
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What about Cabrera in LF? Jacque isn't awful, but he's not Cabrera either.
IP H ER HR BB K ERA WHIP BAA
2005 236.1 213 69 11 55 170 2.63 1.13 .243
2006 223.1 234 96 21 83 160 3.87 1.42 .274
2007 205.1 241 118 29 87 146 5.17 1.60 .294
Since Miller only pitched 10 innings in '06, I'm not putting his line here.
IP H ER HR BB K ERA WHIP BAA
2007 64.0 73 40 8 39 56 5.63 1.75 .282
I'd say Miller is a bit better since he earned his 5+ ERA in the AL, while Willis earned his 5+ ERA in the NL. It seems likely that Willis will get back to his '06 form. Frankly, since he'll be in the AL in '08, he's going to have to.
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