Hot Stove time.

David Price to the Red Sox. 7 years, $217 Mil

12/1/2015 5:05:38 PM

Thank god. Thought for sure he was going to the Cardinals.

12/1/2015 5:40:20 PM

Detroit is buzzing that the Tigers are the mystery team in on Heyward. Would make sense after owner Mike Ilitch announced he's spend all of his money to bring a WS to Detroit.

Already spent 110mm on jordan Zimmerman

12/1/2015 6:39:26 PM

Dammit. Thought for sure he was going to the Cardinals.

12/1/2015 6:42:05 PM

Every year some team tops last year's previous "stupidest ever long contract."

Good job, Red Sox, you just made everyone forget about the Angels and the Yankees stupid fucking signings.

12/1/2015 8:36:26 PM

Price is like Kershaw. Great in the regular season, trash in the postseason. $31 mil/yr is just nuts.

12/1/2015 9:09:38 PM

takes the mound, makes a million bucks. unreal.

12/2/2015 8:01:15 AM

Quote :

"Every year some team tops last year's previous "stupidest ever long contract.""

It took awhile to beat the A-Rod contract.

12/2/2015 9:15:21 AM

Cubbies were busy today. Braves got a hell of a haul for Miller.

12/8/2015 9:50:39 PM

Cubs sign Jason Heyward. +$200 mil

12/11/2015 1:21:57 PM

Posted this in the Mets thread but on to 2016!

Quote :

"Niese traded to the Pirates for 2B Neil Walker. Looks like we're getting a similar batter with much better defense (.935 Murphy, .989 Walker), and we had pitching to spare. VERY happy with this deal now that Zobrist is off the table, and 4 years younger than Zobrist. 2015 BA/OBP/HR/RBI Murphy (130 games): .281/.322/14/73 Walker (151 games): .269/.328/16/71 Zobrist (126 games): .276.359/13/56 Pretty even lines across the board, but we get the cheapest option of the 3. I think he becomes a free agent after next season but then Herrera should be good to go."

12/11/2015 1:44:14 PM

Daniel Murphy signed with Washington. Watch him hit 20 home runs each year against the Mets and none against anybody else.

37.5 million for 3 years...they majorly over-payed for him.

12/25/2015 12:17:40 AM

I don't feel they overpaid Murphy as $12M/yr is starting to be the reg for decent MLB players. Crazy how much more MLB and NBA guys make over NFL non-QB players. Murphy brings a lot of value with his high contact rate too which has been a problem for the Nats with their middle infielders.

Biggest loss for the Nats in this deal is losing a top 20 first round pick. Not sure I'd give that up for a 2-3 WAR free agent.

12/25/2015 7:42:58 AM

I don't like the Murphy deal either. Thank god it's only three years.

12/25/2015 1:03:59 PM

Wow. Yankees get Chapman from the Reds for basically nothing. Their bullpen is nasty.

12/28/2015 6:32:11 PM

Go Mariners! Going to be interesting to see how the new GM's plan works out. I'm excited. AL West is going to be a race this year.

1/5/2016 6:42:09 PM

Griffey and Piazza were my 2 favorite players when I was growing up. So thrilled to see them both make it into the Hall of Fame.

1/6/2016 4:25:39 PM

Thank god the Royals won this year, because we are not sniffing the playoffs this season barring a serious leap from Hosmer and Moose, which I don't see happening. They're both getting close to what their ceilings are going to be outside of raw power increases.

Hope we can contend for a WC spot, but even that seems like a big ask.

1/6/2016 5:08:49 PM

Tim Raines not making the HOF is such bullshit. Glad Piazza broke the stupid "PED suspicion" barrier. Maybe Bagwell and Edgar will make it next year. Stark had another great column today about the fucked up HOF voting.

1/6/2016 9:57:34 PM

Raines and Bagwell should be locks for next year. Trevor Hoffman as well.

I didn't know about this...it's pretty interesting:

Quote :

"There were 109 fewer voters this year after a Hall of Fame directive that changed the eligibility requirements, eliminating those writers who hadn't actively covered the game in the past 10 years or so. Those voters historically voted for fewer players on their ballots and didn't vote for the PED-era sluggers. The percentage increases that Piazza, Bagwell and Raines enjoyed were also seen by others. Mike Mussina had the largest increase, at 18 percent. This is all a good thing. As I've written, the 1980s and 1990s remain vastly underrepresented in Cooperstown compared to other eras. At least we now have nine new Hall of Famers elected the past three years, after just nine had been elected the previous seven years."

[Edited on January 7, 2016 at 2:37 AM. Reason : -]

1/7/2016 2:35:03 AM

Yeah they got rid of a bunch of dead wood voters who only picked the obvious guys which was killing guys like Raines and Edgar. They still need to open it up to unlimited voting instead of only being able to take 10 guys. Either a guy is a HOFer or he isn't. Someone should not be excluded because guys can only vote for 10 players.

If not for all the PED bullshit, the ballot would not be so stuffed with HOF worthy guys and the rule of 10 would not be an issue.

1/7/2016 7:31:14 PM

Baseball writers are the dumbest of all sports journalists. There are guys within that group who didn't vote for Maddux, Brett, Griffey, etc.

Babe Ruth not being a unanimous selection is not a legitimate reason to not put someone on your HOF ballot. Neither, by the way, is being prickly towards the media.

I have no issue with people not putting someone on because they think he's not a "first ballot" HOF player, having some delineation between all time great among the all time greats is reasonable, but some of the shit the baseball writers do is just asinine.

1/7/2016 8:33:07 PM

The only valid excuse IMO for not voting for Griffey, Pedro, Maddux, or any clear 1st ballot HOF is in defiance of the 10 rule. Some voters have said that since they know a guy like Maddux is getting in, then they can use their vote for another guy they feel is deserving and needs extra votes like a Tim Raines or Trammel.

They do away with the 10 rule, there becomes no reasonable excuse to leave a sure fire HOF guy off this ballot.

1/7/2016 9:39:23 PM

^This. No way Griffey doesn't make 100% of the ballots without the 10 rule.

1/8/2016 2:12:42 AM

Quote :

"Baseball writers are the dumbest of all sports journalists."

I think it's more because it's the largest group of voters by far and they also publicize the vote totals. The NFL has a meeting one day with only 40 or so guys in a closed room and tells you nothing on who just missed or who got what votes.

1/8/2016 6:01:43 AM

Well, we didn't even make it through 5 innings of opening day without some unnecessary chippyness and juvenile "he showed me up" BS. Good job Stroman and Morrison.

Another season and still no consistent strike zone. If only there was some way we could do away with or assist the umpires. Oh well, the technology just isn't there.

All the same shit I still hate was front and center in the Jays vs. Rays game.

Hopefully the Royals vs. Mets will be a better game and won't suffer from interminable breaks between pitches.

4/3/2016 7:23:39 PM

Lol you serious?

4/3/2016 8:26:34 PM

Yeah, I'm serious, but I do really dislike the Blue Jays.

Royals look good so far. Contrast between their defense and the Mets is pretty stark.

Hopefully sports view camera and more research can let advanced stats finally tell us more about defense, because honestly they shouldn't be this good just looking at the current battery of statistics.

4/3/2016 9:24:58 PM

I hope this "welcome to my house" theme isn't an entire season thing for ESPN.

4/4/2016 10:02:03 PM

Kurtis still bringing the hot takes

4/4/2016 10:18:09 PM

Quote :

"Royals look good so far. Contrast between their defense and the Mets is pretty stark."

Cespedes dropped an easy catch that ended up deciding the game. But other than that, I'm not exactly sure what more you could have asked for from the Mets defense. David Wright may have been able to get the out on that bunt-single when he was younger, but most fielders regardless of their condition wouldn't make it in time.

[Edited on April 5, 2016 at 1:48 AM. Reason : -]

4/5/2016 1:47:54 AM

So, Trevor Story. On pace for 216 home runs this season. Not bad, rook.

4/6/2016 4:36:49 PM

Wow, sorry Cubs fans... Schwarber out for year with torn ACL and LCL..

4/8/2016 6:08:03 PM

Sucks.

We will be ok though.

Makes the surprise resigning of Folwler even more important.

4/8/2016 6:19:52 PM

Yeah losing Schwarber sucks for the Cubs as he was a real power threat. His defense was sure to be horrendous though in the OF. The Cubs were probably the one team that could absorb a loss like this without much drop off since Soler now gets more PT. Bryant will get some time in the OF now too. I think the biggest impact will be the loss of Schwarber as the 4th day catcher as you can't find catchers who can hit like him.

4/8/2016 9:49:03 PM

4/9/2016 10:48:19 AM

It's almost like the Dodgers try not to give Kershaw any run support. They've had 4 innings with leadoff doubles come up blank and 1 for 17 with men in scoring position so far. Losing 2-1 top 9 with bases loaded and 1 out right now.

Adrian Gonzalez attempts to hit into game ending dp, but Giants second baseman boots it allowing the thing run to come in.

[Edited on April 9, 2016 at 7:23 PM. Reason : It's a festival miracle]

4/9/2016 7:19:46 PM

I was at the Giants/Dodgers game Saturday and was disappointed by the Kershaw/Bumgarner matchup.

I was also disappointed by the atmosphere of that ballpark. It's a really cool place with lots of things to see and do, but for a rivalry game so early in the season before the more casual fans disappear until the playoff push, the energy was pretty dead except for the Bumgarner home run.

4/10/2016 3:44:07 AM

Hmm, interesting. I heard quite a few "Beat LA" chants coming through on the broadcast (apparently the Dodgers are the "local" team here in Hawaii so we get them a lot, which is fine, they're probably my favorite or 2nd favorite NL team).

I think the NL West is going to be a dogfight the whole year, LA and SF both look good and Arizona should be competitive this year, even through Greinke looks awful so far.

4/10/2016 6:40:30 AM

The "Beat LA" chants only started up when the Dodgers had scoring opportunities. There were tons of Dodger fans who got riled up and the Giants fans responded. But overall it was incredibly tame.

4/11/2016 1:01:12 PM

Quote :

"80 GAME SUSPENSION"

4/29/2016 1:37:25 AM

Christ almighty Atlanta is terrible.

4/29/2016 4:59:50 PM

Chicago/Maddon are in Pittsburgh's heads big time. They go all to shit mentally.

5/3/2016 9:49:45 AM

The Reds' bullpen set a major league record by allowing a run in 21 CONSECUTIVE GAMES.

5/4/2016 8:32:38 AM

Quote :

"According to Elias Sports Bureau data, this is the third time that each Chicago team was the first in their respective leagues to reach 20 wins. The only other times that happened were in 1915 and 1917. The White Sox went on to win the World Series in 1917."

[Edited on May 7, 2016 at 9:51 AM. Reason : C]

5/7/2016 9:50:53 AM

Cubs weren't messing around with Bryce Harper today. Became the first player in MLB HISTORY to reach base seven times in one game without an official at bat.

Dusty might want to consider batting Murphy behind him instead of Zimmerman.

5/8/2016 8:14:39 PM

Bartolo Colon homerun, even more dramatic

https://youtu.be/bX8-Ze-0GR4

5/11/2016 1:44:14 PM

Bryce Harper is easily the MVP... Most Vulgar Player.



One game suspension, but that's not going to stop him from being a whiny bitch.

[Edited on May 11, 2016 at 8:13 PM. Reason : -]

5/11/2016 8:13:30 PM

How many more years until they do away with the home plate ump? It's completely unnecessary and only causes problems. I have a feeling it's going to take at least a decade but it has to happen at some point. It's hugely impactful to the game and there's absolutely no reason for preventable, game changing, wrong calls.

5/11/2016 8:37:28 PM

Max pitched well, tonight.

5/11/2016 10:04:35 PM