2013-14 MLB Hot Stove thread

Come on, Dick, hyperbole is a perfectly acceptable way to show absurdity.

You ask how important that run is over the course of a 162-game schedule compared to the potential risk of losing your starting catcher for some length of time? I'd argue that given the minuscule number of serious injuries suffered by catchers in collisions at the plate, that run is well worth the risk. It could mean the difference between making the playoffs or going home. It could win a World Series for your team.

This rule change isn't the end of baseball as we know it, or anything like that. But it is a solution to a problem that doesn't exist. It's strictly a PR move.

 

Looks like whichever team winds up with David Price will have to mortgage its future to do so.

According to Terry Pluto, the Indians checked on Price's available and were told it would take starting catcher Carlos Santana and top pitching prospect Danny Salazar for starters. Shortstop prospect Francisco Lindor, a Top 10 overall prospect for 2014, was also mentioned:

http://www.cleveland.com/pluto/index.ssf/2013/12/terry_talkin_about_the_browns.html

 

Which team is going to win the Masahiro Tanaka sweepstakes? The amount of money to post bid on him is $20 million dollars.

The Japanese pitcher went 24-0 last year with a 1.27 ERA.

 

The new $20M posting cap opens up the bidding war to a lot more teams. I imagine the usual suspects (Rangers, Blue Jays) will be in the running. The Orioles with Tanaka would be scary.

 

The other part of the new posting system is that it's not limited to just one team now. Every team that submits the high bid (whether it's $20 million or less) can negotiate with Tanaka, as if he were a regular free agent. Only the team that signs him has to pay it.

 

And, I believe, the posting fee now counts toward the luxury tax threshold, in addition to the player's salary.

 

Is that right? That was something I wondered about. My understanding was the posting fee did not count previously, so it was one way the big-revenue teams could circumvent the luxury tax.

 

Further research indicates I was wrong. Yahoo says the posting fee did not, and does not, count toward the threshold. Someone on the radio yesterday got it wrong.

 

It's a moot point, apparently. Tanaka's Japanese club apparently isn't letting him leave:

http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/12/19/report-rakuten-will-not-allow-masahiro-tanaka-come-to-the-united-states/

 

The rules in Japan are he'll become free in two years anyway and no posting will be required. Next year he becomes free to sign with any other Japanese team.

 

But Rakuten could still post him next winter and get the fee from MLB clubs right?

 

I don't think so, unless they re-sign him first. Any other NPB club could sign him and then turn around and do the same thing. That may be the route Tanaka decides to take. Sounds like a win-win. Team gets $20 million, Tanaka goes to the show.