Let The Hot Stove Heat Up: 2015-2016 MLB Offseason

[SFGiants58]

The Giants desperately needed starting potching, and they got it with maybe the two riskiest pitchers who were available. This is very different from what the Giants have been doing because they always could rely on the farm for another arm, but not so much snymore. Still need a left fielder, and they had a perfectly good Norichika sitting right there.

Sure he was good, if you like poor defense (remember, the Giants' defense is one of the biggest reasons why they've won the series in each of their past three trips) and being a dunderhead on the basepaths. Sure he could hit well, but then he got injured and his hitting never recovered. I was glad that they didn't bother giving him a new contract.

I'm holding out hope for Alex Gordon, but I'm not sure that's happening. If anything, some journeyman outfielder will get signed by the team, put up career numbers, and then go back to being terrible the year after that. It's the way of the even-year Giants.

[FiddySicks]

Yeah that's how I feel as well. Aoki was kinda like Leake, in a sense. Very low risk, for the most part. Always going to get you at least the minimum. But the problem is that they were ALWAYS going to get you the minimum, and nothing more.

As nice as it was that Aoki usually found a way to get a hit on a three foot dribbler in front of the plate, it was almost COMPLETELY negated by how much of an absolute MORON he was on the base paths. Pair that with his downright terrible defense, and you might as well just have Justin Maxwell out there all season.

[2001mark]

Bartolo. Colon.

[Crabcake]

O's sign Korean slugger OF Hyun-soo Kim to a 2 year, $7 million deal. I love the deal, and here's why:

It's a low risk, high reward deal - $7 mil for a slugger nowadays is next to nothing.

It fills two gaping holes the O's have: outfield and middle of the order bat.

The price allows them to fill their next biggest need: starting pitching.

[The Six]

The Giants desperately needed starting potching, and they got it with maybe the two riskiest pitchers who were available. This is very different from what the Giants have been doing because they always could rely on the farm for another arm, but not so much snymore. Still need a left fielder, and they had a perfectly good Norichika sitting right there.

Sure he was good, if you like poor defense (remember, the Giants' defense is one of the biggest reasons why they've won the series in each of their past three trips) and being a dunderhead on the basepaths. Sure he could hit well, but then he got injured and his hitting never recovered. I was glad that they didn't bother giving him a new contract.

I'm holding out hope for Alex Gordon, but I'm not sure that's happening. If anything, some journeyman outfielder will get signed by the team, put up career numbers, and then go back to being terrible the year after that. It's the way of the even-year Giants.

Aoki's defense wasn't that bad, and the baserunning has been overblown. He also didn't require a new contract, just the Giants picking up his option for 5.5 million, which is perfectly reasonable for a third/fourth outfielder. He was at an All-Star level before he got hurt (which I believe is more than "the minimum"), so you can't blame him for that. Keeping him would have been an easy solution to fill the LF hole, and good insurance for the inevitable Pagan injury.We know the Giants aren't signing any more big free agents, so there are not many acceptable outfielders who are available. They at least could have picked up his option and then used him as trade bait. Instead he was let go for nothing, which was just a bad move.

[LMU]

Iwukuma back to Seattle after failing his Dodger physical.

I'm expecting to wake up to the Dodgers signing/trading for 17 pitchers now that they have money free and an angry mob at the door.

[FiddySicks]

The Giants desperately needed starting potching, and they got it with maybe the two riskiest pitchers who were available. This is very different from what the Giants have been doing because they always could rely on the farm for another arm, but not so much snymore. Still need a left fielder, and they had a perfectly good Norichika sitting right there.

Sure he was good, if you like poor defense (remember, the Giants' defense is one of the biggest reasons why they've won the series in each of their past three trips) and being a dunderhead on the basepaths. Sure he could hit well, but then he got injured and his hitting never recovered. I was glad that they didn't bother giving him a new contract.

I'm holding out hope for Alex Gordon, but I'm not sure that's happening. If anything, some journeyman outfielder will get signed by the team, put up career numbers, and then go back to being terrible the year after that. It's the way of the even-year Giants.

Aoki's defense wasn't that bad, and the baserunning has been overblown. He also didn't require a new contract, just the Giants picking up his option for 5.5 million, which is perfectly reasonable for a third/fourth outfielder. He was at an All-Star level before he got hurt (which I believe is more than "the minimum"), so you can't blame him for that. Keeping him would have been an easy solution to fill the LF hole, and good insurance for the inevitable Pagan injury.We know the Giants aren't signing any more big free agents, so there are not many acceptable outfielders who are available. They at least could have picked up his option and then used him as trade bait. Instead he was let go for nothing, which was just a bad move.

I agree with this, but at the time, the Giants felt that an extra 5.5 million in financial flexibility was more important than having Aoki on the roster. They very well may have made a different decision regarding him if they could see how the field would unfold ahead of time, but unfortunately they couldn't. Looking at what they've gained so far this off season, I can't say that the loss of Aoki is really that much of a blow. For as consistent as he was when healthy, he really wasn't all that good of a fit in that lineup. He was frustrating as hell as a leadoff hitter and he missed almost the entire second half as it was. Not only that, the Giants still may find a way to bring in a better fit in left. It's only December.

[Almighty]

Used to be a A´s fan, not anymore, :censored:s those cheapskates, :censored: the Cubs too. Go Giants !

[Sport]

I think I'm just going to take the 2016 season off. The Reds are!

[dfwabel]

Matt Bush signs minor league contract with the Rangers.

THAT Matt Bush. Fresh out of the bing, Matt Bush.

[2001mark]

Shapiro backing off Jays' plans to put grass in Rogers Centre.

Srsly, this 2nd rate maroon needs to leave town before the new year. No one likes him, wants him, or respects him. Soon it'll be the players thinking the same.

[The_Admiral]

Shapiro backing off Jays' plans to put grass in Rogers Centre.

NO NO NO NO NO GET THAT LOUSY CARPET OUT OF THERE

[Almighty]

Shapiro backing off Jays' plans to put grass in Rogers Centre.

NO NO NO NO NO GET THAT LOUSY CARPET OUT OF THERE

Something i often say when going home with a girl.

What ? I am an interior designer.

[jrodsep]

Brandon Phillips going to the Natio.....err not so fast.

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/14399549/washington-nationals-moving-pursuit-cincinnati-reds-brandon-phillips-source-says

[KDubK414]

Pmoehrin or anyone here close to the Astros, can you guys fill me in on what is going on with all these moves that David Silvers is doing here in Milwaukee? He's making a lot of moves, some of which look really good on paper, but I'm not sure how this all translates to the on the field product?

[Almighty]

Breaking news, Royals stripped of the their world series crown, congratulation Mets !

[pmoehrin]

Pmoehrin or anyone here close to the Astros, can you guys fill me in on what is going on with all these moves that David Silvers is doing here in Milwaukee? He's making a lot of moves, some of which look really good on paper, but I'm not sure how this all translates to the on the field product?

I think I've met maybe two people in the Astros organization, neither of whom probably remembers me, and I haven't been to Houston in over a year and have no plans to return anytime soon, so I don't know if I'm really that close to the Astros organization.

Only things I know about Stearns is that he's young Ivy League grad, with an almost perfect resume which is pretty much par for the course these days for what teams are looking for in their high level front office positions. Beyond that your guess is as good as mine.

As far as the Brewers go, we're talking about a team that won 68 games last year and has what would probably be considered a slightly above average farm system. There's really nobody on the current roster aside from maybe Ryan Braun that I would consider to be a franchise player, so Milwaukee is in rebuilding mode right now whether they want to be or not.

Biggest challenge about Milwaukee is convincing big time free agents to go there and convincing big time players to stay. Its cold and small football city with limited nightlife. Its big reason why players like Prince Fielder and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar bolted the first chance they got and why nobody has come out with a top 10 best free agent pickups in Brewers history list on bleacher report. Who would be #1 on that list? Doug Davis?

Because of that, you could argue the Brewers GM job is the toughest in baseball at least as far as being able to effectively field a winning team on a year basis. The only one I would rank ahead of them on that list is Miami, and that's only because they have one of the most incompetent owners in all of sports.

As far as Silvers' moves have gone, I don't think he's done anything all that surprising. If you can't sign a big time free agent, and the current club is not that great, there's really nothing else you can do other than build up the farm system and hope tomorrow is a better day, which is what he appears to be doing.

Keep in mind also, the only reason the Brewers even hired David Stearns is because Doug Melvin wanted to step back and take a lesser role with the club. As long as Melvin is there I don't think Milwaukee is going to get too far away from what he wants to do and until he leaves I don't think we're going to get a good sense of how good of a GM David Stearns can be.

[TheOldRoman]

I don't think any free agents have gone to Phoenix, Anaheim or Arlington because of each city's nightlife. If the Brewers offered enough money, they probably would have signed some top free agents in the past. I understand NBA players eschewing the Bucks for a variety of reasons, but baseball players wouldn't have to deal with the awful winters. Besides, Milwaukee is a nice town, and even if it's too small for a given player, he can head an hour south and get into plenty of trouble in Chicago. Now, a Milwaukee team might have to pay a tad bit more to get free agents to come there, but it wouldn't be a gigantic difference in cost from other teams. Also, the Brewers are more on the level of the Astros of ten years ago in their revenues. When the team is decent, they're going to pack the stadium. They've got money to spend. They shouldn't be putting together teams with duct tape like the Twins had to do until 2010.

If the Brewers rebuilt the team to the point of where they were in 2011 and offered top dollar for free agents, they'd get the players. But the most important part is building the team. Even if the Brewers would have come up with half a billion for Heyward and Price, they'd still be an awful team.

[KDubK414]

Thanks for all the info guys! That's all pretty much what I was hearing here locally. I'm still counting down the days to pitchers and catchers reporting. I think there's talks about them going after a first baseman before the winter is over.

The hardest thing is that they have to do all of this because they mortgaged the future in acquiring CC in '08 and Greinke back in '10 for the '11 season. Add in some terrible contracts they threw at guys like Suppan and Lohse. And yeah it's a must now. I also heard something about a 4 year plan? Is that feasible?

And thanks for the laugh pmoehrin! I got ya, I was just checking to see if any Houston fans had any insight on the guy. And I added you cause you're very knowledgeable and should probably be working for MLB Network lol!

[The_Admiral]

Also, the Brewers are more one the level of the Astros of ten years ago in their revenues. When the team is decent, they're going to pack the stadium.

Brewers games in 2007-2008 were SO MUCH FUN. The rivalry with the Cubs was at a fever pitch and there were SRO crowds at almost every game. I want them to be competitive. Let the Cardinals lose 100 games for a change and see how the BFIBs like that.