MLB (Non-Phillies) Hot Stove, 2024-25

[bkeich]

Last year * an All Star, MVP RF accepted his move to 1B and….. did all he could to learn the position and is now a very good defensive 1B. I would want those guys, if Devers digs in his heels I would do whatever reasonable to get him off my team.

He should be grateful to get to play…. At whatever position helps his team most, even DH. Those are the guys you want.

(*actually the year before, but it was his first full season)

[zambonir]

Yeah, but Harper had to get hurt for two years before doing that.

Obviously you would always rather have the unselfish player but I'd say that's probably only about 50% of the players in MLB. Until they perform so badly that they just lose their jobs entirely, rather than change roles.

And even Harper is still happy to publicly state that he doesn't want to hit lead-off or DH. And myriad relievers insist on particular roles. Even Schwarber is apparently interested in playing LF and 1B not just to help the team but increase his FA value.

Devers doesn't have to worry about his next contract though, ironically.

[andyb]

The Phillies moved the greatest 3B in league history to 1B, he accepted it, then they moved him back when the need arose.

We also talked about moving Chase Utley to 3B and wasted a year of his MLB career.

[andyb]

But it seems obvious this is still going end with Devers at DH, especially since the Sox apparently also have a rookie OF on the way

Roman Anthony is ranked 2nd on the MLB top 100 list and is the OF. Campbell is 7th but a little further along in his development. Campbell is more of a bat first guy where they have been position shopping him (2B, LF, SS, 3B) for a year anyway (and the Red Sox have a decent CF and another SS prospect in Marcelo Meyer). Campbell is more the Miguel Cabrera type who is not great defensively anywhere but the bat could play at just about any position.

[Philsmania]

The Phillies moved the greatest 3B in league history to 1B, he accepted it, then they moved him back when the need arose.

We also talked about moving Chase Utley to 3B and wasted a year of his MLB career.

We had him play at 3B for a year in SWB in 2002 when it became clear that Rolen's future as a Phillie was doomed. Hard to believe that Utley spent the better part of two-plus years in AAA (2002 to April 2004). In hindsight, they shouldn't have signed Bell, kept Polanco at third and had Utley's rookie year in 2003. Having said that, wasn't there thought that signing Bell was necessary to convince Thome that the Phillies were serious about increasing payroll especially after Rolen's messy departure and years of them being stingy with payroll. And, of course, there would be a butterfly effect would have led to not having Pedro Feliz bat in the seventh inning of Game 5 of the 2008 WS.

[BostonRoss]

The Red Sox have a glut of position players, but the only two true superstars play the same position. If Bregman moves to 2B, he displaces the guy they traded the NL Cy Young winner for.

[Philsmania]

The Red Sox have a glut of position players, but the only two true superstars play the same position. If Bregman moves to 2B, he displaces the guy they traded the NL Cy Young winner for.

If that is true, it doesn't sound like the Red Sox have a clear plan and are just adding players willy nilly. For years, they were held up as one of the game's smart organizations.

[DurhamBull]

When did teams cede the “rights” to positions to players? Put out the lineup and when Devers complains tell him to work on defense or learn 1B/LF etc.

In any organization, people usually give their best when they feel like their opinion is considered. Sure, according to lines on the org chart, the boss can tell someone to shut up and do what they're told, but that's rarely going to coax the best performance out of someone, and is more likely to have them looking for an exit (or a way to sabotage the boss).

That's probably even more true for someone like Devers who has a kajillion dollar contract. That's guaranteed money, and the Sox will be financially hurt if Devers starts playing at replacement level because he's unhappy.

Maybe Devers has every right to be unhappy; maybe the Sox broke promises that they made to him, or maybe they sprang the Bregman news on him with no warning. Or maybe the Sox did everything in a decent fashion and Devers is just unhappy with the situation and needs to figure out how to get comfortable with his new reality. We'll probably never know enough to judge.

[zambonir]

I think that was kind of a joke. Nobody thought Chris Sale was going to win the CY when he got traded, and the price wasn't high. The player in question was a once-promising Braves SS prospect who had a .465 OPS last year. And is probably still a better SS than Trevor Story, who's also not that good a hitter anymore. Boston had to give Atlanta $17 million just to get anything.

The Sox have been a mess since they fired Dombrowski, and he's not entirely without a role in that (at the price of a championship obviously). But it was the next guy that bombed, and then they bailed on Bloom very quickly.

[BostonRoss]

If that is true, it doesn't sound like the Red Sox have a clear plan and are just adding players willy nilly. For years, they were held up as one of the game's smart organizations.

Yeah, not so much lately. The Mookie trade was the beginning of the downslide. They key part of the return was Alex Verdugo, who doesn't have a job currently.

[zambonir]

It's been ownership pretty much since Theo left, no? Even them bringing in Dombrowski was not great, and then they made a mess getting rid of him too. But as we now see here he can be pretty good at managing his bosses. Obviously Bloom was not.

You coming for the games in July?

[BostonRoss]

Ownership has seemed to meddle from time to time, not consistently. Theo actually quit after about three years but came back for a while longer. Dombrowski may have been too independent for them. It's hard to tell how autonomous the current and previous (Bloom) regimes have been. If they have been making their own decisions, they mostly haven't worked out.

The current guy, Craig Breslow, was accepted to med school, but I guess he took a different path, unlike guys like Booby Brown, Ron Taylor, Jim Lonborg, and Doc Medich, who actually became doctors. I'm not sure Breslow made the right choice...

I do hope to come down to Philly in July when the Sox are in town. I guess with the current schedule, they alternate years as to which team is home. I made it to Fenway to see the Phillies last year. A cool road trip would be to go from Philly to Cooperstown to see Dick Allen inducted the following weekend.

[Philsmania]

Dombrowski mortgaged their future in 2018 but he got them that ring. The Bloom administration wasn't quite as good at rebuilding the farm though the Red Sox did go to the ALCS in 2021. That was their only winning season in five years, however. The Crotchet trade makes you wonder if they are mortgaging their future again for the short term.

[BostonRoss]

I don't think the Red Sox mortgaged their future in 2018. They traded Michael Kopech and Yoan Moncada for Chris Sale, but Sale has accumulated more WAR since that trade than the other two combined. They traded Manuel Margot for Craig Kimbrel. They stupidly traded Travis Shaw and Mauricio Dubon for Tyler Thornburg.

[bkox]

The New York Yankees announced Friday morning that they will allow “well-groomed beards” moving forward. “In recent weeks I have spoken to a large number of former and current Yankees — spanning several eras — to elicit their perspectives on our longstanding facial hair and grooming policy, and I appreciate their earnest and varied feedback,” Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner said in a statement.

Yankees announce changes to team’s longstanding facial hair policy

[julio]

We should trade Brandon Marsh to the Yanks?

[LoneStarPhan]

We should trade Brandon Marsh to the Yanks?

Not sure Marsh meets the "well-groomed" criterion.