Hot Stove Thread 2014-15

Cruz turns 35 on July 1, so 2015 barely qualifies as his age 34 season.

And he's already a bad outfielder. Imagine what he'll be when he's 37.

 

I assume they are looking at him playing DH most of the time, though that limits his value even more.

 

Cruz always kills the Angels and they have to be the Mariners' target.

 

Umpire Dale Scott is gay. The revelation occurred quietly when Referee Magazine profiled Scott in October; they wanted pictures of him away from the game, and he gave them one with his partner.

http://www.outsports.com/2014/12/2/7295993/major-league-baseball-umpire-dale-scott-gay-coming-out

"I realized that it could open a Pandora's Box, but this is not a surprise to Major League Baseball, the people I work for. It's not a surprise to the umpire staff. Until Mike and I got married last November, he was my same-sex domestic partner and had his own MLB I.D. and was on my insurance policy.

"This is not going to be some huge flashing news to Park Avenue [MLB headquarters], but I also didn't want to be making some coming out story, some banner headline, because that's not how I operate. It's not a shock to MLB management because they're well aware of my situation and it's not a shock to the umpire staff. If it would have been, I don't think I would have done it."

 

Torii Hunter back to Minnesota on a 1-year deal:

http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/eye-on-baseball/24860239/hunter-follows-heart-back-to-minnesota-agrees-to-one-year-deal-with-twins

 

Here's some insight as to why Oakland might have traded Josh Donaldson:

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-big-league-stew/report--josh-donaldson-clashed-with-billy-beane-before-trade-005754140.html

 

Seems like Beane's letting his ego get a little involved.

 

I don't know how much stock to put in that. For sure it would represent a departure from Beane's belief that production trumps all. And the flashpoint incident happened around the All-Star break, so if it was that upsetting, wouldn't he have put Donaldson in one of the deals?

I still think the bigger clue is that Donaldson was ruled a Super 2 arbitration eligible, meaning his salary was going to jump from $500,000 to whatever a fringe MVP candidate would make in his first year of arbitration, which I have to believe would be north of $5 million. He was right on the cutoff, and if he hadn't made it he could have been renewed at barely more than last year's salary.

 

Torii Hunter's intro presser in Minnesota was apparently quite the scene:

 

So Hunter will fit right in with the Twins organizational plan, then.
The team that still doesn't do platooning, after it's been around for at least three decades.

 

Casey Stengel was platooning in the late 1940s.

 

I said at least. I think of Weaver when I think of platooning.
And Stengel's implementation would make the Twins look more reptilian of mind than they already are.