Running 2023-24 Hot Stove Thread

[jr/shotglass]

AL Manager of the Year at 6 p.m. on the WWL.

I'd be really happy for Hyde if he got it. He sat through a lot of shirt baseball to get here. It's hard for me to not acknowledge what Bruce Bochy accomplished, though.

 

[ChrisLong]

Sad news from San Diego.

Padres Chairman & Owner Peter Seidler Passes Away | by FriarWire | Nov, 2023 | FriarWire (mlblogs.com)

As many know, Seidler's mother is Walter O'Malley's daughter and she owned half of the Dodgers with brother Peter after Walter died. When I worked at Dodger Stadium as an usher, many of the Seidler children did too (there were a bunch of them). I didn't know Peter but was work friends with his brother Mike. Those kids worked as hard as anyone else and didn't expect any special treatment (although I'm sure they got it. None of them were working in the bleachers). I always appreciated how down to Earth they were. Some ushers were offspring of front office personnel or former players and would act as if they owned the stadium. The Seidlers actually did OWN the stadium, but never acted that way.

Very sad.
His parents, Roland and Terry Seidler (Terry is Peter O'Malley's sister) and the kids always spent a couple of weeks in Vero Beach during spring training and that's where I met them. They just hung around and messed around, just like typical kids. Rollie and Terry are on the Board of Trustees at Loyola Marymount University, so I saw them there occasionally. Nice, unpretentious people.

 

[jr/shotglass]

Marlins' Skip Schumaker won the NL award in his "rookie" year.

 

[MTM]

Watching Ron Washington's introductory press conference and he's mentioned managing the Anaheim Angels, Los Angeles Angels and California Angels. Which one is it, old man?

 

[Della9250]

Pitchers to win the Cy Young Award in BOTH the AL and NL

Blake Snell: TB ... SD
Max Scherzer: DET ... WSH 2x
Roy Halladay: TOR ... PHI
Roger Clemens: BOS 3x, TOR 2x, NYY ... HOU
Randy Johnson: SEA ... AZ 4x
Pedro Martínez: MON ... BOS 2x
Gaylord Perry: CLE ... SD

 

[jr/shotglass]

I'll give Blake Snell loads of credit. It still feels weird to see him as one of that party of seven.

 

[BYH 2: Electric Boogaloo]

I'll give Blake Snell loads of credit. It still feels weird to see him as one of that party of seven.

It's gonna get even weirder if he wins another one, b/c unless you turn your body into a pharmacy, that guarantees you the Hall of Fame. And whether you focus on advanced numbers (21.1 WAR going into his age-31 season) or more traditional numbers (71 wins, 1,223 Ks and 992 2/3 innings pitched), nobody on this planet is thinking Blake Snell, future Hall of Famer. And yet!

 

[BYH 2: Electric Boogaloo]

Here's even weirder company for Blake Snell, per MLB Network: He's the fourth lefty to win his second Cy Young at age 30 or older, after Steve Carlton, Tom Glavine & Randy Johnson. One of these does not seem like the others!

 

[jr/shotglass]

I'm also wondering if some of this is driven by how far-flung the sport's fans are. If you're living in New England, you probably aren't getting a full appreciation of Blake Snell, who you might only see 1-2 times a year. That feels different from previous generations. Everybody knew what Carlton brought, and Glavine, and the Big Unit.

 

[FileNotFound]

I'm also wondering if some of this is driven by how far-flung the sport's fans are. If you're living in New England, you probably aren't getting a full appreciation of Blake Snell, who you might only see 1-2 times a year. That feels different from previous generations. Everybody knew what Carlton brought, and Glavine, and the Big Unit.

When Snell is great, he is truly great. Lights out. Just thoroughly unhittable with a baffling mix of pitches and speeds. When he sucks, though, he suuuuuuuucks. If he could be consistently good — even 80 percent of his best — you'd talk about him among the greats. But few of the greats got knocked around during their lows the way Snell does.

 

[qtlaw]

Pitchers to win the Cy Young Award in BOTH the AL and NL

Blake Snell: TB ... SD
Max Scherzer: DET ... WSH 2x
Roy Halladay: TOR ... PHI
Roger Clemens: BOS 3x, TOR 2x, NYY ... HOU
Randy Johnson: SEA ... AZ 4x
Pedro Martínez: MON ... BOS 2x
Gaylord Perry: CLE ... SD

That Clemens one in '04 looked so strange to me I had to look it up (he was 40! well 'roids).

 

[Della9250]

It's gonna get even weirder if he wins another one, b/c unless you turn your body into a pharmacy, that guarantees you the Hall of Fame. And whether you focus on advanced numbers (21.1 WAR going into his age-31 season) or more traditional numbers (71 wins, 1,223 Ks and 992 2/3 innings pitched), nobody on this planet is thinking Blake Snell, future Hall of Famer. And yet!

I posted about this earlier but:
Blake Snell has pitched for 8 seasons:
2 Cy Young seasons
4 losing seasons
1 7-6 season
1 4-2 COVID season