It's the '07/'08 Hot Stove (or Grill) League

no transactions during playoffs, mang.

just rumors, and All-Yankee Tabloid Coverage means STIFLE for 3 weeks.

'08 Tigers-Pudge option exercised.

We never discussed rumors in other Hot Stove threads?

"Almost every player has shortcomings," Dombrowski said. "In Pudge's case, we wish he was more selective at the plate, but he did hit .281."

Cards resign Russ Springer, who quietly had a phenomenal year in relief.

Torii Hunter is going to sign for twice what he's worth with <insert team here>

<insert free agent here> is going to sign for twice what he's worth with <insert team here>

scuttlebutt from the warehouse: tejada to the cubs for pie, cedeno & marmol; ramon hernandez to the mets for x; intense talks for matt kemp.

<i>Torii Hunter is going to sign for twice what he's worth with <insert team here</i>

A free colonoscopy from my neighbor says it will be Texas.

ITALICS!!!

"Ooh, man, going back to manage in the NL Central and picking up where Jerry Narron and Pete Mackanin will be a tough act to follow but this Cincinnati Reds team is just unbelievable. I mean you've got so much talent from the younger guys like Edwin Encarnacion and the scrappy but powerful Brandon Phillips, and then you've got the veteran presence with Junior and dominant pitching from the big guy Harang. Arroyo with the leg kick going, younger pitchers with lots of promise like Dumbatrain and Homer Bailey, it just goes on and on for this exciting team, and when you've got someone like Josh Hamilton hitting seventh for you, you know your offense must be unbelievable. This is a professional organization, and one I'm glad to be a part of."

santana to yanks? that'd be rough.

lol @ Reds nevar winning again xp

The Reds bringing in an old 70s ex-Dodger to manage is killing me. If you followed the Reds in old NL West days, you HATED the Dodgers. Might as well bring in Orel Hershiser, Bill Russell and Davey Lopes to complete the package of evil.

I really was fine with Cincy giving Pete Mackanin a one year deal at the helm and seeing how things go.

I figure the Reds will be dealing Adam Dunn for a time share in Tampa and a pack of Beer Nuts any day now.

I'm crushed at Dusty getting swept up by Cincy the very day Bill Rhoden suggested in the Times that he'd be a bold hire by the Yankees. Oh, how I would have loved to see if Dustiny's hand with the Pitcher Abuse Points would have turned Hughes, Kennedy and Joba into the resilient, innings-eating machines that Kerry Wood and Mark Prior have become.

carligula (Oaktown): I enjoyed the who-signs-Barry-Bonds odds sheet... have you thought of doing one for Rodriguez?

Nate Silver: No, because I'd put the Angels at about 1:5.

The Reds bringing in an old 70s ex-Dodger to manage is killing me.

How do you think Giants fans felt?

are the angels setting up a fledgling cable sports network? do they have one already?

BREAKING

Joe Torre Rejects Offer for One-Year Deal With Yankees (NYT)

You know what this means -- all-Yankee NYC tabloid covers til Thanksgiving.

NYT seems to think Yanks will pick Girardi

edgar renteria flipped to los tigre for jair jurrjens and gorkys hernandez.

Are "Silver" Jair Jurrjens "Lenkman" and Gorkys "Zygotic" Hernandez any good? Never heard of them.

Yes, they are.

Wanted Renteria to be a Tiger but... hmmm.

I'm not certain, but both Jurrjens and Hernandez might've been considered top ten prospects. If they were not, they were very close.

Jurrjens' first two starts this year were against Cleveland. They hit him pretty hard the first time, but he came back less than a week later and basically shut them down -- that was impressive. He also has a tremendous amount of poise, but obviously that can only get you so far. I think he could be a solid, reliable fourth or fifth starter -- not great, but good. If Andruw Jones were to remain a Brave, there would be two people from Curaçao on the team.

Gorkys Park: outfielder who just turned 20, haven't seen him play. Put up pretty good numbers in Class A. So far: lots of speed (54 steals in 124 games), not a whole lot of power, but more is expected once he fills out a bit.

Would've been nice to see an eventual Maybin-Granderson-Hernandez OF. Oh well. The one thing that is kind of scary is that Maybin has been racking up all sorts of minor injuries.

(Top ten prospects within the org, obv.)

Just checked a reliable source. They were considered top FOUR prospects.

With all these declining thirtysomethings, they're obviously making moves to win immediately.

Maybe Eckstein will go to the White Sox and Renteria will one day be hit with an off-speed pitch from a WS pitcher and exact his revenge by stealing second on the next pitch and throwing a forearm into Eckstein. One can dream.

(Didn't mean that, really.)

Grady Little fired/Joe Torre hired?

I'm not certain, but both Jurrjens and Hernandez might've been considered top ten prospects. If they were not, they were very close.

Jurrjens' first two starts this year were against Cleveland. They hit him pretty hard the first time, but he came back less than a week later and basically shut them down -- that was impressive. He also has a tremendous amount of poise, but obviously that can only get you so far. I think he could be a solid, reliable fourth or fifth starter -- not great, but good. If Andruw Jones were to remain a Brave, there would be two people from Curaçao on the team.

Gorkys Park: outfielder who just turned 20, haven't seen him play. Put up pretty good numbers in Class A. So far: lots of speed (54 steals in 124 games), not a whole lot of power, but more is expected once he fills out a bit.

Would've been nice to see an eventual Maybin-Granderson-Hernandez OF. Oh well. The one thing that is kind of scary is that Maybin has been racking up all sorts of minor injuries.

-- Andy K, Monday, 29 October 2007 22:59 (Yesterday) Link

AWESOME. Renteria was the second-best player in ATL last year - perfect time to move him, especially for a good young arm.

how great would A-Rod and Torre TOGETHER AGAIN in Chavez Ravine be?

WTF:

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3085166

So,

One piece of news about ARod's future = BAD FOR BASEBALL
Constant streams of Yankee/Torre news throughout the entire playoffs = GOOD FOR BASEBALL

Will Carroll's saying Torre's in for LA:

Behind the scenes, Grady Little was fired mostly for not being Joe Torre. There will be talk of clubhouse problems, but Little was undermined in the clubhouse by ownership. The more interesting news will be when the front office maneuvering plays out... The Torre move is clearly coming from the McCourt family as well as consigliere Tommy Lasorda. If player moves - really big player moves - are made shortly, we’ll know that the purse strings now have become puppet strings.

Is there more pent-up news ready to break after the World Series embargo? There’s definitely rumblings. I’m expecting news in St. Louis and Chicago as soon as Tuesday.

Finally, the Dodgers will turn the corner with new third baseman Miguel Cairo.

hahahahaha grady little didnt work out for you wow lololololololololol

Mattingly quits. Yet another unappreciative turncoat!

The new Yankees manager had no more and no less than one (1) RBI in 114 career postseason at-bats!

Those who can't BE clutch, teach clutch.

billy beane to thread. lol?

Grady Little resigned.

Torre LA pitch to A-Rod: "Perform however you like close-and-late, they'll be in the parking lot."

the parking lot has some nice views

ok oscar, good moves

Mets pick up Alou's option, re-sign Easley to 1-year deal

By MIKE FITZPATRICK, AP Baseball Writer
October 31, 2007

NEW YORK (AP) -- Moises Alou is staying with the New York Mets, and Damion Easley will return next season, too.

The Mets exercised their $7.5 million option on Alou's contract Wednesday, bringing back the 41-year-old left fielder who was limited to 87 games this season because of a quadriceps injury.

New York also re-signed Easley to a $950,000, one-year deal. The backup infielder and outfielder provided a boost off the bench in 2007 before a badly sprained left ankle ended his season on Aug. 18.

OSCAR?

Wright was on Daily Show last night. Jon Stewart described A-Ros as a "bad chemistry guy" (see, even he's a moron sometimes) and DW pointed out the benefits of 50+ homers.

lol, omar of course

yeah i saw daily show, was explaining the sabermetrics of it to my wife. also, how this would be an ilbb topic for morbs; she said, 'sure, he's pretty hot"

Zumaya out for part of '08. Injured shoulder moving personal items during CA fires.

Not a transaction, but...

I have to wonder if A-Rod is really going to get this 30 million dollar a year contract that they are hoping. If the NYY are not going to drop the cash, does anyone think that the Angels or Dodgers are really going to drop that kind of money? I don't see Boston making a move for him and the Mets have other needs and really those are the two teams that seem to go after the huge free agents. The Giants kind of makes sense, but after Bonds, do you think SF really wants to again put all of their eggs in the one basket?

I don't know, it seems to me that I could see this think back firing somewhat on A-Rod.

I was looking at Livan Hernandez as an interesting mid level free agent for some club, as the guy always pitches a bunch of innings, but I was surprised to see how far his K numbers have really fell. The guy only struck out something like 90 batters in just over 200 innings.

THUMBS UP ON THIS MOVE YES

as a red sox fan and occasional mets fan i could not be more pleased about this turn of events

As a Braves fan I don't really give a crap. The Mets will still find a way to blow it.

YANKEES LITE

Actually, now the Mets have a player that I actually like. If they get Bonds then I will like omg totally jump on the bandwagon.

you don't like pedro??

god thanks a lot you minnesotan bastardos, like we needed more pitching in the nl

FUCK YOU, JEW YORK

Wow, that's the best package they could get?

Wow, that's the best package they could get?

No.

well, maybe it was, if we can believe Klapisch's tale about the Yanks refusing to do a deal even without Hughes.

amazed about keeping Martinez and Pelfrey!

IN YO FACE, HANK

Now would be a good time for Frank Wren to see what it would take to get Erik Bedard. Unfortunately the first condition would probably be the death of Peter Angelos.

LOLrioles.

looks like someone's got their fantasy team name picked out!

Now would be a good time for Frank Wren to see what it would take to get Erik Bedard. Unfortunately the first condition would probably be the death of Peter Angelos.

-- Garrett Martin, Wednesday, 30 January 2008 15:57 (3 hours ago) Link

yeah, the worst part about this is that just a few days ago, when the bedard trade happened, all i could think is "man, the braves really could've put together a package for that dude" :[

the Mariners deal has maybe fallen apart though, I think. something about Adam Jones' old-man hips and/or Angelos being a cranky dick again.

ooooh!

GET IT DONE, WREN!!!!

bedard probably would end up being mike hampton 2.0 tho

no, the adam jones hip rumor is just that. mlb.com is quoting several sources as saying that bedard to the m's for "not pacman" jones, george sherill, chris tillman and two other dudes is imminent.

who knows?! i've heard this for weeks now, though if i were the phils and/or braves, i'd be seeing what i can pony up for bedard.

Santana wants Zito money. Mets are all "fuckin' Sabean..."

If Santana doesn't get it by Friday 5pmEST, he's still a Twin.

that's all?

and years...

Indications are that the Mets want to limit the guaranteed portion of the extension to five years, not including Santana's current contract, which expires after 2008. So if Santana's side is adamant that the deal extend beyond 2013, it's believed the Mets would insist that the back end of the contract not be guaranteed, but could include at least one vesting option year.

the mayor signed w/ the red sox? curious.

tick-tock on the santana deal... less than 2.5 hours and no budging.

deadline allegedly stretched to 6pm cst.

listen to Schadenfreude Shasta, TICK TOCK

DONE DEAL/good riddance

TAKE THAT BARRY ZITO!

Johan Santana reportedly will make $150.75 million over the next seven years under the terms of his deal with the Mets.

wow

If you calculate Santana's value purely relative to what Zito is earning, then this is a nice bargain!

yes.
it is also a gigantic wheelbarrow full of money.

That's a lot of cheddar.

Manny is so adorable.

okay, okay...the baltimore sun AND the seattle pi are saying that adam jones is in b'more for a physical today and the bedard to seattle for jones, george sherrill and 3 gigantic, young pitchers could be announced today.

if that's true - it's quite the deal considering what the twins got for Santana.

big bag of piss for the mariners

Granderson extended at roughly 5/30.

What are these family matters that Mattingly has to take care of? Is he adopting Andy Reid's kids?

http://media.courierpress.com/media/img/photos/2008/02/04/20080203-235840-pic-960405214_t220.jpg

Baseball coach's wife arrested

dude...she's 45? uh, rough life, i guess.

ts: kim mattingly vs tawny kitaen

I think that may be the face of meth. Only $50 bond. Sad.

fucking finally:

it's official. erik bedard to the m's for adam jones, george sherill, tony butler, chris tillman and kam mickolio.

yeesh.

AJ Pesh: The MPLS Star Tribune is reporting the Twins have signed Livan Hernandez to a 1-yr deal worth $5 million. Thoughts?

Rob Neyer: (12:34 PM ET ) Umm ... Didn't they do the same thing last year with Ramon Ortiz? Hernandez will post a 5.47 ERA while that $5 million is flushed down the toilet.

god lift them up where they belong: kris and anna benson back in the n.l. east!

that philly rotation is looking awfully fearsome!

Jeremy "FAT CATCHER" Brown, invited to A's spring training, announced that he would instead retire. Sensing defeat, Billy Beane signs another fat catcher (Matt LeCroy) to take his place.

Brown's career MLB line is pretty great!
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/players/7759

.300/.364/.500 = retirement?

hey Brady Clark goes to Mets camp, hope he catches on, we still love him up here plus he's a 503er!

so i don't think we've done our usual predict-o-funtime thread (i don't really feel like starting one either) anyone want to take a stab?