2019-2020 Hot Stove League (2 Viewers)

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They also have Gerrett Cole going to the Angels, who have what, one player, Trout, and no chance at even making the playoffs, when he could stay with the Astros, who went to the World Series, or go the Yankees, who are a starting pitcher away from the World Series, and make more money? Here's my prediction: Cole goes to the team that offers him the biggest contract (Dodgers or Yankees), and the Nationals part ways with either Strausburg or Rendon, as they can't afford to keep both. Boston trades Mookie Betts because they need to dump salary and reload.

My predictions for my team: The Yankees will either resign Didi Gregorious or bring in a left handed first-baseman with a big bat, and move Gleyber Torres to shortstop, and D.J. Lemayieu to second. The Yankees will make a big run at one of the top 3 starting pitchers on the market, Cole, Strausburg or Bumgarner.
 
Cole is from Southern California and reportedly wants to return there. That he could sign with the Angels or the Dodgers and that one of them has been the favorite has been the story for several months. With Joe Maddon on board, the Angels will be trying to make a splash in the FA market.

I don’t see the Yankees signing him. Spending what it will take to sign him is not Hal Steinbrenner’s mo these days. George, yes. Hal, not so sure.
 
Rumor here in SE PA is that the Phillies will go after Cole Hamels. There's a lot of nostalgia getting in the way. Hamels has expressed an interest in returning, and we Philadelphia fans have strong instincts for looking to the past, since our present is usually awful. But few seem to consider that it's apparently for 1 year, and Hamels at 35 is not the same Hamels who helped win the World Series in 2008. Personally, I'd rather take the long view, pass on him and look for or develop younger arms. And fire Klentak and get someone better to undo the damage he has done to the once-productive farms system. I suspect that he's on double-secret probation, in any case. Signing Girardi suggests that. I think that decision came chiefly from the owners.

Prost!
Brad
 
jazzeum said:
Cole is from Southern California and reportedly wants to return there. That he could sign with the Angels or the Dodgers and that one of them has been the favorite has been the story for several months. With Joe Maddon on board, the Angels will be trying to make a splash in the FA market.

I don’t see the Yankees signing him. Spending what it will take to sign him is not Hal Steinbrenner’s mo these days. George, yes. Hal, not so sure.
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That’s exactly what they said about CC Sabathia, and how did that turn out? Coke is a Boris client, he is going to go where the most money is, plain and simple. And there is no way the Angels are going to outbid the Dodgers and the Yankees. As far as the Southern California story, if is based on an Astros teammate’s comment that he would end up west of Nevada. Immediately after the World Series ended, wearing a Boris Corporation cap, he denied he was headed to Southern California. I think the Yankees are going to target him as the one piece between them and a Championship.
 
I don’t know what they said about CC so I really can’t comment on that.

Not every Boras client tests free agency or holds out for the max; Strasberg signed his last contract without much fanfare.

Although money will be important I don’t think it will be the only factor — NY is not for everybody —and the West Coast teams have enough resources to compete with the Eastern teams. I’m sure the Yankees will be interested. I just don’t see them breaking the bank for this player. That’s not the way the Yankees have been operating although anything is possible.
 
The Giants hired Gabe Kapler as their manager.

I truly hope I am wrong about this, but I truly think that hire is a disaster.
 
Panzer ace said:
The Giants hired Gabe Kapler as their manager.

I truly hope I am wrong about this, but I truly think that hire is a disaster.
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Yeah, I heard this on the news this morning and did a spit-take. I really expected that he might return to sports reporting and analysis. We'll see how this works out for the Giants. We'll see if Kapler has learned anything.

Prost!
Brad
 
The Giant's flagship station KNBR is being very critical of the hiring of Kapler.

That is highly abnormal as they are usually rah-rah about everything the Giant's front office does.

Not a good sign.
 
A lot of fans here are not fans of analytics, and that's a beef with Kapler, and with Klentak, that they are apostles of analytics. But I think Kapler was learning that the book doesn't tell you what to do in every single situation. That is, I think he was learning to adjust.

His bigger failing was in his management of his players. I don't think he demonstrated any real leadership skills. I don't think he knows how to manage professional athletes. He apparently had ideas about letting the players take on a lot of the leadership otherwise provided by the manager and his coaches, that they could manage themselves in many cases. Not in terms of strategy, but in the clubhouse. But his application of that philosophy had Carlos Santana smash a TV screen in the clubhouse with a bat, when he saw teammates playing Fortnite during a game.

I think Kapler should spend more time in the minors, learning to manage, before any major league team should give him the helm. But the Giants' front office sees differently. We'll see.

Some people compared Kapler to Terry Francona, who also had a rough debut as a major league manager, also with the Phillies. But he has the skills and the instincts to be a major league manager, and that's why he went on to achieve the successes that he has. I think it's not an apt comparison. Kapler is not Francona.

So, we'll see.

Prost!
Brad
 
theBaron said:
A lot of fans here are not fans of analytics, and that's a beef with Kapler, and with Klentak, that they are apostles of analytics. But I think Kapler was learning that the book doesn't tell you what to do in every single situation. That is, I think he was learning to adjust.

His bigger failing was in his management of his players. I don't think he demonstrated any real leadership skills. I don't think he knows how to manage professional athletes. He apparently had ideas about letting the players take on a lot of the leadership otherwise provided by the manager and his coaches, that they could manage themselves in many cases. Not in terms of strategy, but in the clubhouse. But his application of that philosophy had Carlos Santana smash a TV screen in the clubhouse with a bat, when he saw teammates playing Fortnite during a game.

I think Kapler should spend more time in the minors, learning to manage, before any major league team should give him the helm. But the Giants' front office sees differently. We'll see.

Some people compared Kapler to Terry Francona, who also had a rough debut as a major league manager, also with the Phillies. But he has the skills and the instincts to be a major league manager, and that's why he went on to achieve the successes that he has. I think it's not an apt comparison. Kapler is not Francona.

So, we'll see.

Prost!
Brad
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You’re right that not a lot of people here are fans of analytics but that’s how the game is structured today. Decisions about drafting and signing players, making lineups, and pitching changes are guided by analytics. That’s why the general managers are young and the managers lack managing experience, which is not deemed necessary. Moreover, the managers are not allowed to make key decisions. Those are usually being made by GMs and their analytic staffs.
 
jazzeum said:
You’re right that not a lot of people here are fans of analytics but that’s how the game is structured today. Decisions about drafting and signing players, making lineups, and pitching changes are guided by analytics. That’s why the general managers are young and the managers lack managing experience, which is not deemed necessary. Moreover, the managers are not allowed to make key decisions. Those are usually being made by GMs and their analytic staffs.
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One of the reasons that Bochy cited for the Giants' success was a balance that he and his coaching staff had with the analytics team/front office.

I do think Bochy was ready to retire and aspects of the "new" game had caught up with him. I just think the Giants could have done better than Kapler.
 
I heard more than one former player now working as a broadcaster say that the reliance on analytics to determine how to position players in the field is making the players lose their instincts.

Using statistical analysis itself is not a negative. Managers have done that for years, "playing the percentages." But they always had instincts honed by experience. It's the degree to which management appears to follow those analyses, that puts a team in the field, and a manager in the dugout, in the position of not knowing what to do when the situation doesn't fit that predicted by the analysis.

It's the kind of limited thinking that was exemplified by the Big Bad Wolf in the old Warner Bros. cartoon, "Wind-Blown Hare". The pigs sell Bugs Bunny the straw house and the house made of sticks. The wolf reads from the book of fairy tales and blows them down. When Bugs confronts him, his reply is, "I gotta do like the book says."

Prost!
Brad
 
I have been listing so some local sports talk radio today while I am in the Bay Area.

According to the baseball pundits at KNBR the Dodgers are interested in Cole and Rendon.

The other thing that raised my interest was the rumor that the Phillies may be interested in Bumgarner, in part because they do not want Atlanta to get him.
 
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