Mega Thread 2024-2025 MLB Hot Stove

[Dixie Flatline]

LHP Sean Manaea will reject the qualifying offer extended to him by the Mets, according to reports. Manaea has pitched almost 1,200 major league innings for a number of teams and had one of his best seasons in his career for the Mets in 2024. He signed a two-year deal with the Mets last off-season which came with an opt-out after the first season. He was paid $14.5 million in 2024, and exercised an opt-out that means he foregoes a salary of $13.5 million in 2025. The Mets made him a qualifying offer that would be worth $21.05 million for 2025.

Manaea enjoyed particular success after adjusting his arm slot to be more akin to Chris Sale, and over his last 20 starts for the Mets, he put together a 3.05 ERA with a 26% strikeout rate and a 8% walk rate.

Should Manaea sign with another club, the Mets are in line to receive a later round draft pick that can be no higher than the fourth round, since the Mets have paid the competitive balance tax.

 

[Dixie Flatline]

The Atlanta Braves have announced that they have selected the contract of RHP Rolddy Munoz to the 40-man roster, thereby protecting him from next month's Rule 5 draft. Munoz turns 25 next April and spent the 2024 season between High-A and Double-A. His twin brother, Roddery, was also a Brave for a while and made his MLB debut for the Marlins in 2024. Rolddy is yet to make his MLB debut but clearly the Braves see enough in him to protect him from being selected in the Rule 5 draft by another team. Munoz put up an ERA of 4.24 between High-A and Double-A in 2024, and was ranked the 18th best prospect in the Braves' system by FanGraphs.

 

[Dixie Flatline]

The Mets announced that they have signed veteran infielder Rafael Ortega to a minor league contract with an invitation to Spring Training. They also announced that they have signed infielder Donovan Walton to a minor league contract with a Spring Training invitation. Ortega joins the Mets for the second time in his career, having spent the majority of the 2023 season between the Triple-A affiliate and the big league team (mostly off the bench).

 

[Dixie Flatline]

One of the big ticket free agents this off-season is drawing interest from a number of teams. Shortstop Willy Adames is drawing interest from the Astros, Blue Jays, Braves and Red Sox, while the Dodgers, Giants and Yankees have also been linked to him.

 

[Dixie Flatline]

RHP Nick Martinez has accepted the qualifying offer made to him by the Cincinnati Reds, meaning that he will be with the Reds in 2025 on a $21.05 million deal. Martinez joined the club on a two-year, $26 million contract last off-season after both he and his former team, the Padres, declined their options for the 2024 season. Martinez signed with the Reds and put together a 3.10 ERA season from 142 1/3 innings (3.21 FIP). Martinez bounced between the starting rotation and the bullpen.

 

[Dixie Flatline]

The Tampa Bay Rays are relocating their home games to the George M. Steinbrenner Field for 2025, and there was the intention that the site of the Tropicana Field would be the basis for a new home stadium for the Rays that would be set to open in 2028. However, it now appears that this plan is in jeopardy of falling over as a result of the Hurricane that severely damaged the Field earlier this year. According to reports, the city council and county commission have decided to postpone the scheduled bond votes that were key to securing financing for the redevelopment of the stadium by a month.

It also appears that the Rays are drawing criticism from the county for deciding to move their home games to the Steinbrenner Field, which is located in a different county to the county in which the Tropicana Field is located. While there is not yet the sense that the vote could fall over, it now appears that the county commissioner is not in a hurry to put the matter to the vote, which would delay the securing of financing and therefore imperil the likelihood of the redeveloped stadium being ready in time for Opening Day 2028, and thus potentially hastening the relocation of the Rays away from Tampa Bay.

Rays say county’s stalling has likely killed the new stadium deal

John Romano | Delays on bond votes have halted stadium groundbreaking plans and jeopardized baseball’s future in Tampa Bay.

www.tampabay.com

'It's unfortunate': Pinellas County commissioner feels betrayed by Rays' decision to play in Tampa for 2025

A Pinellas County commissioner will vote against issuing the bonds necessary to finance the Tampa Bay Rays stadium deal after the team announced it will play its 2025 season in Tampa.

www.abcactionnews.com

 

[Dixie Flatline]

Say goodbye to Minute Maid Park and hello to Daikin Park, after the Astros reached agreement with Daikin Comfort Technologies North America on a 15-year naming rights deal for the Astros' home field. The Astros will be playing at Daikin Field until the end of the 2039 season at least.

According to reports, the naming rights deal with Minute Maid Co. was meant to continue until the end of the 2029 season but was ended prematurely for as yet unknown reasons. The Astros received approximately $170 million from Minute Maid Co for the naming rights. Minute Maid Co remains a marketing partner but no longer has naming rights.

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/sports/astros/article/houston-daikin-park-minute-maid-park-19924657.php

 

[largebus]

Well I was wrong about the AL ROTY but it was very close between Cowser and Gil.

 

[Dixie Flatline]

The Baseball Writers Association of America have announced that Stephen Vogt and Pat Murphy are the AL and NL Managers of the Year. Vogt had a meteoric rise as manager, having only retired as a player about two years ago. Vogt was named as bullpen coach for the Seattle Mariners after retiring as a player, and then was hired to replace future Hall of Fame manager Terry Francona in Cleveland. Vogt lost Shane Bieber early in the season but guided the Guardians to first place in the AL Central ahead of the Twins, Royals and Tigers, then reached the ALCS where the Guardians lost to the Yankees.

Pat Murphy was promoted to replace Craig Counsell, who jumped ship to the Cubs last off-season. With the Brewers trading away Corbin Burnes to the Orioles last off-season, it was not expected to be a strong season for the Brewers, but the Brewers finished the 2024 regular season 10 games clear of the Cardinals and Cubs with a 93-69 record with shortstop Willy Adames hitting 32 homeruns and driving in 112 runs, catcher William Contreras leading the club with 99 runs, 167 hits (including 37 doubles) and 78 walks, while they received strong pitching performances from Freddy Peralta (3.68 ERA in 173.2 innings pitched, and an even 200 strikeouts). The Brewers ended up losing the NL Wild Card in three to the Mets.

 

[Dixie Flatline]

With the Rule 5 draft imminent, clubs have been busy adjusting their rosters to protect those players that they do not want to expose to the Rule 5 draft. In order to avoid being eligible for the Rule 5 draft, a player must be on the 40-man roster as of today. Summarising the roster moves made by clubs as known to this point:

• The Colorado Rockies have selected the contract of OF Zac Veen to their 40-man roster. No equivalent move needed to be made as they now have 39 players on their 40-man roster. Veen ended the 2024 season in Triple-A.
• The San Francisco Giants have selected the contracts of RHP Carson Seymour and RHP Carson Ragsdale to their 40-man roster. They designated RHP Kai-Wei Teng for assignment to create roster space.
• The San Diego Padres have selected the contracts of LHP Omar Cruz, RHP Henry Baez and RHP Ryan Bergert to their 40-man roster. No corresponding moves needed to be made as the Padres have 37 players on their 40-man roster. The Padres drafted Cruz in the minor league phase of the Rule 5 draft in 2023. Baez signed with the Padres as an international free agent out of the Dominican Republic in 2021 and pitched primarily as a starter in High-A before being promoted to Double-A part way through the season. Bergert most recently pitched at Double-A in 2024.
• The Red Sox have selected the contracts of RHP Hunter Dobbins and OF Jhostynxon Garcia to the 40-man roster, and have designated RHP Bryan Mata and RHP Isaiah Campbell for assignment to open roster space.
• The Philadelphia Phillies have selected the contracts of RHP Moises Chace, RHP Mick Abel and RHP Jean Cabrera to their 40-man roster. RHP John McMillon was outrighted by the Phillies to Triple-A Lehigh Valley. The Phillies roster count is at 39.
• The Cleveland Guardians selected the contracts of four players to their 40-man roster, namely pitchers Franco Aleman, Nic Enright and Doug Nikhazy, and outfielder Petey Halpin. The Guardians designated OF George Valera and pitchers Peter Strzelecki and Connor Gillispie for assignment.
• The Chicago Cubs have selected the contracts of OF Owen Caissie and INF Ben Cowles to protect them from the Rule 5 draft, designating OF Brennen Davis and RHP Adbert Alzolay for assignment.
• The Detroit Tigers have selected the contracts of RHP Chase Lee, RHP Tyler Mattison and RHP Tyler Owens to their 40-man roster, designating INF Eddys Leonard, and pitchers Ricky Vanasco and Brendan White for assignment.
• The Texas Rangers have selected the contracts of RHP Emiliano Teodo, INF Max Acosta and RHP Winston Santos for promotion to the 40-man roster, and have returned 2024 Rule 5 draft pick Carson Coleman to the Yankees.
• The Minnesota Twins have selected the contracts of RHP Marco Raya and RHP Travis Adams. No corresponding move to designate any players for assignment was required, as the Twins had room on their 40-man roster for the promotions.
• The Kansas City Royals have selected the contracts of LHP Noah Cameron, RHP Luinder Avila and RHP Eric Cerantola to their 40-man roster. No corresponding moves were required, as the Royals had room on their 40-man roster for the promotions.
• The New York Yankees have selected the contracts of infielder Caleb Durbin and utility player Jesus Rodriguez to their 40-man roster. They also announced that RHP Carson Coleman has been returned to them by the Rangers. There were no corresponding moves announced by the Yankees to create roster space.
• The Baltimore Orioles announced that they have selected the contracts of RHP Kade Strowd and RHP Brandon young to their 40-man roster. No moves were needed to create roster space, as the Orioles had space on their 40-man roster.
• The Los Angeles Angels selected the contracts of infielder Matthew Lugo and LHP Jack Dashwood, and designated OF Jordyn Adams and INF Eric Wagaman for assignment.
• The Cincinnati Reds selected the contracts of utility player Tyler Callihan and RHP Luis Mey to their 40-man roster. No moves were required to create roster space.
• The St Louis Cardinals have selected the contracts of OF Matt Koperniak and RHPs Tink Hence, Tekoah Roby and Matt Svanson. They also announced that LHP Drew Rom went unclaimed on waivers and has been assigned outright to Triple-A. The Cardinals have 39 players on their 40-man roster.
• The Tampa Bay Rays have selected the contract of OF Jack Mangum to the 40-man roster and have designated LHP Richard Lovelady for assignment to create roster space.
• The Miami Marlins have selected the contracts of INF Deyvison De Los Santos, INF Jared Serna and LHP Dax Fulton to their 40-man roster. No moves were required to create roster space.
• The Athletics have selected the contracts of RHP Gunnar Hoglund, RHP Ryan Cusick and OF Denzel Clarke to their 40-man roster. The Athletics did not need to make moves to add these players to their 40-man roster.
• The Houston Astros have selected the contract of LHP Colton Gordon to their 40-man roster. No moves were required to create roster space for Gordon.
• The Chicago White Sox have selected the contracts of shortstop Colson Montgomery and RHP Juan Carela to their 40-man roster.
• The Washington Nationals have selected the contracts of OF Robert Hassell III and RHP Andry Lara to their 40-man roster. No moves were required to create roster space. For those with long memories, they may recall that Hassell was one of the trade pieces the Nationals acquired from the Padres when they traded Juan Soto to San Diego in 2022.
• The Milwaukee Brewers have added RHP Logan Henderson and RHP Chad Patrick to their 40-man roster. No roster moves were required.

 

[Dixie Flatline]

The New York Mets and the Tampa Bay Rays have executed a trade where the Mets have acquired OF Jose Siri from the Rays in exchange for reliever Eric Orze.

 

[Dixie Flatline]

Thirteen players received qualifying offers from their teams and twelve of them have declined those qualifying offers by the deadline. The only player to accept a qualifying offer was RHP Nick Martinez, who accepted the qualifying offer made to him by the Cincinnati Reds over the weekend. The list of players to refuse the qualifying offer is below:

• Willy Adames, SS, Brewers
• Pete Alonso, 1B, Mets
• Alex Bregman, 3B, Astros
• Corbin Burnes, RHP, Orioles
• Max Fried, LHP, Braves
• Teoscar Hernandez, OF, Dodgers
• Sean Manaea, LHP, Mets
• Nick Pivetta, RHP, Red Sox
• Anthony Santander, OF, Orioles
• Luis Severino, RHP, Mets
• Juan Soto, OF, Yankees
• Christian Walker, 1B, Diamondbacks

 

[Dixie Flatline]

The problem with FIP for the purpose of awards is it tries to measure what should've happened rather than what actually happened. Its basically moral ERA. Fine for evaluating future performance but you don't give awards based on what should've happened or what might happen next season.

Nolan Ryan for example was a strikeout pitcher and is hilariously overrated by FIP because it doesnt take into account his own terrible fielding and wild pitches.

I almost fell off my chair at work today when I was perusing my son's team statistics on Gamechanger and I found the FIP for the pitchers on the team (including my son). He's 13 and in his first year of playing baseball!

Interestingly, for most of the pitchers on the team, their FIP is much better than their ERA. For example, my son's ERA is currently 42.00 (my son has a pitch to contact style at the moment, because he needs to add velocity to generate better swings and misses through changing pitch speeds, so while he generally fills the strike zone, he also gives up hits), and the best pitcher on the team has an ERA of 10.89 (he's really good for two innings, but then loses steam in the third inning and starts giving up hits and runs). My son's FIP is calculated at 12.04, and the FIP of the best pitcher on the team is 2.318.

I'm not sure if this league-wide as I only see the stats for the players on my son's team, not across all the teams in his division.