MLB 2024-25 Hot Stove Thread

Little surprising that Vogt got 27-30 votes. Thought it would be closer than that between him and Q.

 

The Guardians finished 10 games below .500 in 2023 but the Royals lost 106 games WITH Witt. To make the playoffs after that was more of a stunner to me than Cleveland winning the division, especially since Kansas City had a horrible bullpen and Vogt could run Clase out there every other night.

 

My guess is that the narrative helped Vogt. It seemed as if Cleveland was going to rebuild once Francona stepped down, but they were as good as most Francona-era teams right away.

 

Give it another year or two, then they will just have to get pennies on the dollar for him before he gets too expensive.

 

Skenes exploded onto the scene like nobody since Valenzuela. Merrill's a fine player, but he didn't do that.

 

(Whispers)

If you gave the front office truth serum, I’d guess they were hoping he’d retire two years before he did. They’d been itching for a young guy who will turn in the line-up card the numbers suggest for awhile.

I don’t think it is a coincidence Francona is back in baseball so quickly. Cleveland isn’t Boston, so no one will be attacking him as he goes, though.

The lynchpin to the organization is actually Carl Willis. When he retires after this season, we’ll see what they are made of. The pitching factory is based on data obviously, but Willis seems to handle that staff by bridging the gap of the Ivy League technospeak of the front office and the players.

He fixed everybody. Except James Karinchak. That guy needed a shrink, a medicine man and a South Beach “aging specialist.”

 

That nickname ...

 

Sorry, no numbers or symbols, Mr. Password. Try again.

 

There's also this guy:

Arber Xhekaj Stats And News

Nickname is Wi-Fi because, well, it looks like a stock wi-fi password.

 

Venezuelan sportswriters must have hated him.

 

Yeah, that Francona "retirement" turned out to be a lot more interesting than I expected. He's a 60-something with a thousand health problems and a rock-solid HOF case. I figured he was done with a slight possibility he'd come back for one more run after a few years off, a la Bochy. Going back to Cincy, an in-state rival which has never tried to spend to keep up with the Joneses and hasn't had a good front office infrastructure in years, was a surprise but one that made it pretty clear there'd been a falling out in Cleveland. Which is fine, 11 years is a looong-ass time. And going to Cincy allows him to stay consistent w/the idea Boston burned him out on ever managing in a big market again. But man, it's got to be in the blood to go to the Reds, though that division is another mediocre muck in which a team is never too far from contending. Except the Pirates @outofplace. #ImADickhead

 

Normally, the only reason to go see that team is the ballpark. Now, at least they have Skenes every fifth day.