MLB 2024-25 Hot Stove Thread

I think it's an outlandish payout, too.

But does Lindor/Soto present as much danger in a lineup as Judge/Soto did? I'd put them back-to-back in the lineup, and the only ones who can match that is Betts/Ohtani.

That changes the entire way a pitcher works his way through a lineup. You know disaster looms every three innings and have to plan around it.

 

To answer that question you’d have to know which Lindor shows up. After being a paragon of consistency in Cleveland, he’s a faulty hot water heater in New York. Either cold or scalding hot for long periods of time. It’s a weird development I can only pin to his chasing the home run.

 

That sucks. Damn.

 

When talks heat up about a possible trade in the off-season (MLB, NBA) there inevitably is the "well they could wait until the deadline and get more" line.

That has never made sense to me because:

1. why would a team give up more for only half (or less than half) a season vs. full season? and
2. I know that desperation can change the price, but most of the time I see elevated media interest but rarely is someone really a difference maker (sure there are exceptions, CC Sabathia, Doyle Alexander, Beltran).
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Is my recollection accurate or am I off-base?

 

Wow, Clay Holmes to the Mets.

 

Announcement a few days ago. Plan is to convert him to a starter. Not sure if it’ll work but Mets did wonders with Severino and Manaea. And if it doesn’t work, pretty good 7th or 8th inning pickup.

 

I think this is a bit of a misconception. Lindor has been great with the Mets. But I get that everything is heightened with a big contract (od course now his $341m seems like peanuts).

Lindor was a 30/30 guy in 2023 and would’ve been NL MVP last year if not for that Ohtani fellow. And his OPS in four seasons with the Mets is nearly .800. And he’s remained about the best defensive shortstop in the game.

He has gotten off to slow starts, which hopefully will change. Moving him to leadoff seemed to really click last season.

 

Thanks for the expanded information. Somehow I had missed this. Pretty apparent he'd lost the Yankees' closer job.

 

Yeah, he was pretty awful as the closer for a stretch with the Yankees but was very good after he was moved to earlier innings late in the season and in the playoffs.

He throws a ton of ground balls and the Yankee defense didn’t help him much either. The Mets think he can be an effective starter.

Could be a great move on a contract that’s in between starter money and relief money. If he ends up just a a bullpen guy, it’s an overpay. But that’s not much of an issue in Queens these days.

 

Did Soto actually go to the Mets because they gave him a suite and the Yankees wouldn't?