The 2017 MLB Thread

[ckfree]

https://twitter.com/MLB/status/934597873521610752



Japanese star Shohei Ohtani has put the ball in the court of MLB clubs, as The Associated Press reports that this offseason's most intriguing potential free agent requested written explanations from each of the 30 teams explaining why they would be a good fit for his services.

Ohtani, 23, requested explanations in English and Japanese, if possible, through his agent Nez Balelo. Ohtani is asking teams to identify his strengths and weaknesses as both a pitcher and a hitter, as well as descriptions of many factors including teams' player development and medical training systems, their facilities at the Major and Minor League levels and why their organization would be one that would make Ohtani feel comfortable.

i had a post i was gonna make along the lines of otani bat might be great for a pitcher but its not going to be good enough for the corner OF nor do i think it is good enough for DH

but with this report though

im going to foolishly hold onto hope that hahn can have otani sign on the south side for 300K

dude has already shown that money isnt a driving factor by coming over so early

rick hahn just has to sell him on the up coming decade of dominance

 

[ckfree]

Hope the cubs can sign maitan they need any high upside position prospects.

and I'd take a flyer on appel too.Hot stove takin forever to pop off this year

and i bet aint shit gonna happen til the otani sweepstakes are over

of course minor league and minor transactions will happen but nothing major will pop off until otani destination is confirmed

 

[ckfree]

balelo's memo asks for a team to evaluate Ohtani's talent as a pitcher and as a hitter; to explain its player development, medical training

mets are out



player performance philosophies

giants are out



describe its minor league and spring training facilities

jays are out

 

[Tommy bilfiger]

Hope the cubs can sign maitan they need any high upside position prospects.

and I'd take a flyer on appel too.Hot stove takin forever to pop off this year

and i bet aint shit gonna happen til the otani sweepstakes are over

of course minor league and minor transactions will happen but nothing major will pop off until otani destination is confirmed

They're speculating he won't sign til christmas and since he's signing a minor league contract and the bonus ranges from 300k-3.5 mil ohtani won't affect the whole market you can add him and still make other moves.Mariners will get him imo they have the dough,the japanese players history,the north west market and will let him dh.

I don't think he'll be good enough pitch and hit.There's life long hitters who struggle to hit in mlb.

Another thing, in the AL there's a rule that if a non position player is used as dh then that team has to use a pitcher for the whole game.So if ohtani goes 6 then comes out they have to use relief pitchers or other starters at the dh spot all game.It would actually make more sense for him to go to the nl where he can pinch hit and hit on days he pitches.

I also think stantons trade is kind of holding up the market.

 

[Tommy bilfiger]

https://twitter.com/jonmorosi/status/935213521423536128
https://twitter.com/jonmorosi/status/935214135687737347
https://twitter.com/jonmorosi/status/935219947248259080

 

[ckfree]

otani hitting stats seem more like those of fukudome than that of a slugger

power numbers simply dont translate from japan to the u.s like that — whether it be smaller parks or less pitching depth or both — japanese hitters have pretty much all seen their power drop in the u.s

i could see him having a bit more pop than fukudome or ichiro did but way less power than matsui had and he isnt likely to hit like ichiro did — i dont even think hes gonna be as effective a hitter as matsui was even if he abandoned pitching and became a full time hitter — thats a pretty high bar and the fact that matsui is the 2nd best japanese hitter in mlb history and after two (ichiro/matsui) you can sort of stop making the list is a pretty good indication of the translation of hitting stats from japan to mlb

his non pitching positions are corner OF or DH

those are premium bat positions

i can see why there is speculation teams are hesitant on promising him a spot in the lineup

 

[ckfree]

marlins are going to be disappointed with the return

theres simply too much money to take on and they are trying to shed money which means they arent going to retain

hes essentially a cap dump

not a good look for jeter and the FO to dump the face of the franchise but their hands are tied by the previous regime

add to the fact that stanton controls the destination and can veto any trade he wants to
https://twitter.com/jcrasnick/status/935245729739755522

but maybe this helps some

i bet that 200 million+ that boras put out there for jd martinez services made teams wanna check in on stanton

 

[infamous114]

Just want this shit to be over with. Sucks we're losing a star.

 

[infamous114]

https://twitter.com/clarkspencer/status/935651143220432896

 

[Tommy bilfiger]

https://twitter.com/JonHeyman/status/935907262039756800

 

[ckfree]

not a fan of that boston farm system after groome

and 2 years of abreu for 3 years of jackie bradley jr doesnt make sense

i think abreu has more utility here in chicago than elsewhere

i cant see the price being met

the deal would really have to blow hahn away like devers or benny and i dont see boston doing that

 

[ckfree]

i remember a time not that long ago when jeter was well past his prime and threw a temper tantrum because cashman offered him what jeter perceived to be a low ball offer

my understanding at the time was cashman giving him an ultimatum of 'find a better deal somewhere else'

well we all know how that ended and obviously they came to terms but at the end of the day cashman was just trying to do good business in not paying a player on his last leg a premium salary

ironic how jeter is now on the other end of the spectrum using the same tactics except stanton has 6+ good years left

 

[Tommy bilfiger]

https://sports.yahoo.com/four-reasons-mlbs-hot-stove-lukewarm-022841950.html

good article by passan on why mlb offseason has been slow so far

reminds me when lebron attention whoring ass held up free agency for a week in 2014

 

[infamous114]

https://twitter.com/jonmorosi/status/935938352750190592

 

[infamous114]

https://twitter.com/jonmorosi/status/936293482783805440

 

[ckfree]

https://twitter.com/hankschulman/status/936296505752797184

giants beat writer

what this tells me is that if they are good with the package

then this could just be about haggling over money

sad to see a franchise getting rid of an mvp strictly over money

i know the reasoning and i know this is how it has to be for smaller markets

but it sucks to see

 

[Tommy bilfiger]

Beede the giants #1 prospect(3-4 starter) and I hope they aren't talkin bout chris shaw.Lol @ giving up top prospects AND takin on a 250 mil contract

Man hell nah

 

[Tommy bilfiger]

https://twitter.com/CraigMish/status/936419747054440449
https://twitter.com/Ken_Rosenthal/status/936432377936703489

it should be a done deal by the end of the weekend

 

[infamous114]

Let's see what we get back in return....

 

[Tommy bilfiger]

Otani will be posted today. 21 day window after he's posted so basically we'll know what team he chooses by the 22nd
https://twitter.com/jonmorosi/status/936600677220003841