2013-14 MLB Hot Stove thread

With the Yankees, but he sure as shit ain't getting $300 million or a 10-year-deal.

 

Kind of bored right now. Just thought I post this for fun.

Make a lineup [DH too] and a batting order with the following players:

Craig Biggio
Paul Molitor
Gary Sheffield
B.J. Surhoff
Todd Zeile
Moises Alou
Adam Dunn
Frank Thomas
Dave Kingman

 

Phil Hughes to the Twins:

http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/eye-on-baseball/24306133/report-twins-agree-to-three-year-deal-with-phil-hughes

With Hughes and Nolasco, Minnesota is cornering the market on pitchers who do less with more. Maybe they can trade for Josh Beckett and complete the set.

 

$8M a year for a guy who won four games last year. Wow.

I hope he does well. He had tremendous potential, and flashes of brilliance.

 

I think a change of scenery will do Hughes a world of good.

 

They need some semblance of a rotation. Since Johan left, here's their top pitcher from each of the past six seasons simply based on ERA+:

'08: Scott Baker
'09: Nick Blackburn
'10: Francisco Liriano
'11: Scott Baker
'12: Scott Diamond
'13: Sam Deduno

Not exactly a who's who of annual all-stars. The Twins ended up 20 games behind Kansas City this year even though they scored almost the same amount of runs while playing a similar schedule. The difference was that KC had the best ERA in the AL while Minnesota had one of the worst. Getting Nolasco and Hughes won't necessarily turn them instantly around, but it does bring 7.4 & 7.6 career K/9 pitchers into a rotation that was led in strikeouts this year by Mike Pelfrey (101) with a 6.0 K/9. If nothing else, these two should get quite a few more swings and misses which keeps hitters reaching the basepaths.

 

Scott Kazmir to the A's for 2 years, $22 million:

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/10069029/oakland-give-scott-kazmir-2-year-22-million-deal-sources-say

That is a lot of money for a guy who was a train wreck for about four years before putting together a nice run in Cleveland last year.

And if the A's are throwing around that kind of money, you know the market is out of control.

 

Or it simply means baseball is more profitable than ever.

 

Just because you have the money doesn't mean you have to spend it recklessly.

 

When the sport stops taking in billions in revenue, the contracts won't be so big.

 

Exactly. The Twins pitchers had 985 strikeouts in 2013, lowest in the AL. Next highest was Houston with 1084 - nearly 100 more. That pitching staff was not good at missing bats.

 

I think we need to stop being shocked at the number that free agents get. They get overpaid, this contract is far from crippling. Term is short, good risk for the A’s.