Hot Stove Thread 2014-15

Ortiz, Ramirez, Sandoval (and still possibly Cespedes) ...

 

If you have Clay Buchholz as your ace starter, you'd better have a powerful lineup.

 

Red Sox fans should never complain about the Yankees and their spending ways ever again. They still will, of course.

 

It would be kind of funny (and raise eyebrows) if the Sox and A's swapped Cespedes for Lester.

I've always wondered why there weren't more midseason loans trades in which participants went back to their teams the next season. In this case, Lester goes back to the Sox because he's a free agent, and that was the plan all along, and then the Sox trade Cespedes back to the A's for a pitcher or whatever.

 

Yasmany Tomas to Arizona for 6 years, $85 million:

http://js.mlblogs.com/2014/11/26/yasmany-tomas-to-d-backs/

 

Josh Donaldson to Toronto for package of Brett Lawrie, 3 minor leaguers:

https://twitter.com/ken_rosenthal/status/538526963347251201

 

You know, I didn't post anything at the time so I don't know if anyone will believe me here, but when they signed Billy Butler my first thought was if something was up with Donaldson. He and Cespedes were nearly all of their right-handed power last year. Donaldson is a Super-2 arbitration guy; the A's found out Nov. 12 that he made the cutoff, and they signed Butler six days later. (Lawrie is also eligible, but even in the worst case he wouldn't get nearly what Donaldson does.)

Just another example where it sucks to be an A's fan. Every guy you root for is going to be gone soon.

 

I don't know anything about the prospects, but you are right in that this has to be frustrating for Oakland fans. Lawrie seems to have done nothing but regress and get hurt over the last two seasons, but maybe he finally puts it all together in Oakland. The ability is certainly there.

 

Lawrie is exactly the kind of guy Oakland gets to figure it out.

 

A's fans will often blame Billy Beane when a popular player gets traded. They should really blame tightwad owners John Fischer and Lew Wolff.

 

Beane seems to follow the Branch Rickey theory of trading a guy a year too soon than a year too late, but economics seems to be the biggest factor. Wolff hasn't endeared himself to fans in Oakland since he started making eyes at San Jose.

 

When he is healthy Lawrie is a dynamic, all-star calibre player and his injuries last season left a massive void in the Jays' lineup. He is a terrific third baseman and way more than adequate during some time at second, which was his original position. But his bat can be hot and cold and while he is a demon on the bases he can also make some dumb decisions. He is also very high-strung and often comes across as immature. He also had the requisite Twitter beef with fans and media a couple of years ago.

As a high-profile Canadian player he was a big part of the Jays' marketing strategy and a huge fan favourite but it's good to see that didn't enter into any of the decision making with regards to getting Donaldson. If the Jays put a winner on the field the fans will flock to the dome. Besides, Russell Martin is now the resident Canuckistani - and he speaks French!