Hot Stove Thread 2014-15

Hart, Kang and Harrison, plus it could open the door for another player to be signed or bring up Bell later in the summer.

 

Nats signed Casey Janssen to fill Clippard's role and also backup Storen in case his shits his pants again. $5M deal.

Is he good?

 

He has had stretches of being decent, but I think he is a considerable downgrade from Clippard.

 

Kang is a middle infielder. Harrison is playing every day at third base. Hart missed all of 2013 and struggled in what little time he managed to stay on the field in 2014 due to injuries. I wonder if he can even play the outfield in more than spot duty any more. If Bell is ready later in the season, they can certainly find a way to make room then.

The Pirates made themselves weaker and Huntington made it clear the move was made for financial reasons when he brought up being a small market when explaining the deal. It just doesn't make sense for a contender to trade a guy at this point in the offseason for purely financial reasons when he wasn't even going to make that much money in 2015.

 

Yeah. That's what I'm hearing. I suppose at around half the price, it's not a terrible signing. I hope anyway.

 

The well-run Pittsburgh Pirates are teeming with offensive depth - MLB - ESPN

I don't think the Pirates will be using anything that looks like a set lineup this season.

 

I can't see it all because I don't have Insider, but that would seem to be more reason to keep a guy like Snider, not less. It might have made sense if they did this during the season, or even late in spring training, once they started to see how some of the question marks work out. They don't know what Polanco will do this year. They know much less about Kang. Hart is a major health question. They don't know if Lambo is any more than a Quad A type yet. They do know that Tabata sucks. Snider showed he can be a valuable part and he is young enough to be worth waiting to see if he can build on a solid 2014. But there were relative pennies to be saved, so why would a contender want to hold on to its depth?

 

Ed Kranepool.

 

In less than a year, we have gone from The Pirates Are Tanking By Not Bringing Up Gregory Polanco!!!!!!!! to What The Hell Are The Pirates Doing Counting On Gregory Polanco!!!!!!!

It's oop's world and we're all just happy to be a part of it.

 

... borrowed Chico's soap and never gave it back?

 

The Pirates want lineup flexibility.

Lambo had a .952 OPS in AAA last year and can play first base. Snider does not play first and could just as easily regress to what he was. Now the Buccos have a pitching prospect and a path for Lambo.

 

They did not need to clear a path for Lambo. They could have kept both. And the prospect, from everything I've read, is nothing special. The player to be named is a similar level prospect.

More importantly, neither of those were the motivating factor. The general manager admitted as much when he called it the type of discomfort that comes with being in a small market. This wasn't a baseball decision. It was a money decision. The Pirates aren't even trying to cover it up this time.