All Entries in the "Hot Stove Baseball" Category
Minnesota Twins Season Preview
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1) How was the off-season? What kind of grade would you give it?
For the Twins, the 2009 offseason was one of the best in recent history. After the (unfortunate) early exit from the postseason to end the 2009 season, the Twins had several clear and pressing needs. The most [...]
Eri Yoshida Pitches for Tim Wakefield
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Here are some of the quotes from the knuckleballers from an article on NESN.com where these videos came from by Michael Hurley entitled, “Tim Wakefield Offers Pitching Advice to 18-Year-Old Female Knuckleballer Eri Yoshiba“.
“I was very impressed,” Wakefield said. “It’s an honor to have somebody to carry on a knuckleball tradition, and someone [...]
Baltimore Orioles: Keys for a Successful 2010
With Spring Training starting and the 2010 baseball season only weeks away, it is the time of the year when fans of the Baltimore Orioles can start dreaming that maybe this is the year that our decade long nightmare ends.
The Orioles were not among the most aggressive or highest spending teams [...]
Mets Hot Stove Roundup: The Pilot Light Is Out
The Mets went into the offseason with many big needs: No. 2 starter, power-hitting leftfielder, catcher, setup man, and upgrades at second base and on the bench. As spring training begins, they have successfully addressed only one of those needs.
In January, the Mets signed Jason Bay for $66 million over four years, with an option [...]
A Monday in the Offseason: Dustin Pedrioa (video)
Here’s the second video of a workout day in the life of…by NESN on a member of the Boston Red Sox. If you haven’t guessed by the title, this video follows Boston’s Diminutive Bad Boy, 2B Dustin Pedroia at his home in Arizona.
Check it out and tell us what you think. What you liked or [...]
The 2010 Brewers & The Groundhog Day Principle:
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Last week was Groundhog Day (the holiday, not the Bill Murray Movie). Per Groundhog Day tradition, the weather outside when the groundhog emerges hibernation is supposed to correlate with how much longer winter is supposed to last. For this article I decided to apply this principle with a [...]
Jason Varitek’s Pre-Season Workout Video (2009-2010)
If you are anything like me, you wonder what catchers have to go through in the offseason to prepare for a season of 162 games. Well here’s a video showing us a typical day in Red Sox captain and part time catcher (I am having problems calling him a back up after all of these [...]
Cardinals Are Not Dormant During Winter
While for a lot of teams, the offseason is a quiet time, a time for renewal and reflection. For the Cardinals, this offseason has been anything but.
It would have been hard to believe after the final out of the NLDS that anything would overshadow the pursuit of Matt Holliday during the [...]
February’s Look at the Cleveland Indians
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The Indians started the off season by firing their manager and his coaches, but keeping most of the other front office personnel in place. They staged some what of an extensive manager search and ended on former Washington Nationals’ skipper Manny Acta.
There was a big deal [...]
The Mark Redman Award Effect: Edwin Jackson
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Each year, BaseballEvolution.com doles out Mark Redman Awards for both leagues, recognizing pitchers who began the season surprisingly well but crashed back to earth in the second half of the season. New Arizona Diamondback Edwin Jackson won the 2009 AL Award. Does that have any predicative value for Jackson’s 2010 [...]
A Recent Flurry of Free Agent Signings
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Chad Tracy to the Cubs to a minor league deal that can be worth up to $900K if he gets 450 plate appearances
Ben Sheets to the A’s for 1-year at $10M plus incentive bonuses
Jim Thome to the Twins for 1-year and $1.5M with up to $750K in incentives
Jon Garland [...]
The Priesthood Wins Out Over Baseball?!
This week a top OF prospect in the A’s farm system by the name of Grant Desme (23) has decided to leave baseball to pursue a higher calling. The 8th ranked player in the Oakland A’s system was looking like he could get the call to join the major league team [...]
Baseball’s 14-Member Special Committee Agenda
Improvements on the Field of Play
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The committee met for the first time on Thursday, January 14th. Prior to the initial meeting, this is what the commissioner had to say about the committee,
“I’ve encouraged this group to be very blunt. I want these people to discuss anything they want,” Selig said after meeting with [...]
Blue Jays Reflections on the New GM
Greetings from the frozen north, and man is it frozen this winter. Anyway, what has been going on with the Jays? Well, we are about 100 days into the career of our new GM Alex Anthopoulos and so far most reviews are positive. His first few steps have been to beef up our scouting department [...]
2009 MLB Free Agent Update
While I haven’t found any website or blog that can beat MLB Trade Rumors for your daily scoop of baseball rumors and transactions (trades, free agent signings, etc.), my favorite site to find out where every free agent has signed is ESPN.
Their MLB Baseball Free Agent Tracker, although it’s a little slow (usually takes a [...]
‘Tis The Hot Stove Season
Seeing David Pinto of Baseball Musings was a big influence in the start of this blog, I try to thank him with backlinks and posts like this. In tis post we will be linking back to Baseball Musings as they have begun to highlight players from A to Z and also cover some of the [...]
Same Old Off-Season: The Rich Get Richer and the Orioles Watch
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After enduring another long and disappointing season on the field in 2009, the 2009-2010 off-season was supposed to be the start of a new day for the Baltimore Orioles. With enough quality young pitchers to fill two rotations and a nucleus of talented young position players, this was to be the off-season in [...]
The Mariners’ Hot Stove Report
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Since the beginning of November, the end of the baseball season, it is almost unarguable that the Mariners have led the charge through the offseason. After a strong 2008 offseason, highlighted by the signing of Russell Branyan and the J.J. Putz trade, which netted the team Gold-Glove-snub Franklin Gutierrez, it wasn’t [...]
Three-Way Trade Is Bad News for D-backs
The Arizona Diamondbacks took part in a three-team trade that sent pitchers Max Scherzer and Daniel Schlereth to Detroit for right-handers Edwin Jackson and Ian Kennedy. It’s hard to figure what the D-backs were thinking, as the swap will be a detriment to the Diamondbacks’ chances for 2010 and beyond.
The Diamondbacks entered the offseason with [...]
The Holliday Season
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So far, the Cardinals’ hot stove season can basically be summed up into two words.
Matt Holliday.
Everything the Cardinals have or haven’t done since the end of the World Series has been directly or indirectly tied to their pursuit of the outfielder. Their talks with Scott Boras were the focus of their winter meetings [...]
Red Sox Sign Their New Left Fielder
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Every blogger’s and journalist’s favorite Hot Stove Baseball site, MLB Trade Rumors has reported (by Zach Link) that the Red Sox have signed 36 year old OF Mike Cameron.
It is a reported two year deal worth around $15M. Cameron will play LF and give the Red Sox one of the best outfields in [...]
Boston Rumored To Be Close To Signing Lackey
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It has been reported by Tim Dierkes of MLB Trade Rumors, via Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports and AOL FanHouse’s Ed Price that top free agent pitcher, starter John Lackey is in Boston for a physical. Players usually only take physicals in the area of a local team after [...]
Big News From Day 4 of the Baseball Winter Meetings
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The Trades…
It looks as if Boston and Texas have traded 3B Mike Lowell for top prospect C Max Ramirez with Boston eating a lot of Lowell’s contract. Due to the amount of cash considered and the financial state of the Rangers and owner Tom Hicks, MLB commissioner Bud Selig will [...]
Updates From The Winter Meetings: 2 Days In
First and foremost, how can these meeting be called the “winter” meetings when winter does NOT officially begin until December 21st?!
OK, now that I got that off my chest let’s look around at the early news two days into these meetings.
Free Agent Signings
C — Pudge Rodriguez signs a two year deal with the Washington Nationals. [...]
Mariners On The Verge of Signing Chone Figgins. Whither Adrian Beltre?
he AP reports that Chone Figgins has signed a deal with the Seattle Mariners that would guarantee him $36 million over 4 years, with a vesting option for a 5th year to make the deal worth up to $45 million. Figgins would likely be the Mariners opening day third baseman and slide nicely into the [...]
Mets’ Hot Stove 2009 – Many Holes to Fill
In recent offseasons, the New York Mets have done a good job of addressing one main need. Last year, they needed a closer and signed Francisco Rodriguez. The year before, the Mets needed an ace and traded for Johan Santana. But this offseason will be much more challenging for general manager Omar Minaya. Even if [...]
Pedroia Might Play SS in 2010
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The Sox second half SS, Alex Gonzalez recently signed with the rival Toronto Blue Jays. Also, the organization is uncertain about the ability of Jed Lowrie to play everyday in 2010 after his injury woes. That leaves the Red Sox brass with a choice to make! Do they sign a free agent SS, [...]
Top 5 Low/High Risk 2009/2010 Free Agent Starters
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The market for starting pitchers is perhaps the most interesting, and arguably the most important market heading into any offseason. While casual baseball fans were given a crash course on Type A and B free agents last year, as there were some very high-profile free agents leaving mid-budget teams, they [...]
Top 8 Free Agent Relief Pitchers This Hot Stove Season
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For many teams, especially teams that are successful in the postseason, success is predicated on a solid bullpen. However, while stalwarts like Mariano Rivera and Trevor Hoffman grab headlines and notoriety, as a whole, bullpen arms are significantly more volatile than the two legendary closers. Bullpen arms, especially middle relievers, tend to come [...]
Can Giant’s GM Brian Sabean Become an Iron Chef?
Brian Sabean’s off-season shopping list:
First baseman (with power)
Short-stop (who’s name is not an anagram for aged-rental)
Left fielder
Right fielder
Catcher
Oh, and pick up some milk, bread and maybe some of those frosted holiday cookies. And, one more thing. Could you take Aaron Rowand back? I left the receipt on the firdge, maybe you can get a [...]
