***Official 2012-13 MLB HOTSTOVE OFF-SEASON THREAD***

yeah like I said not great. Not a hole though I'd say.
edit: Also wondering who will bat lead off now

 

They finally got rid of Upton!

This is really cool. They reunited B.J and Justin Upton. Happy for them two.

 

I really like this deal for the Braves side. Wow, they did give up much for Upton at all.

 

By the way if I'm a Diamondback fan I want Kevin Towers fired. He traded three young players in Upton, Young and Bauer with very little in return in terms of players/prospects. Just a poor job.

 

...

 

Towers is a butcher, he likes to gut teams....

 

Great signing and much needed.

 

He also made the AGone trade 2 yrs ago.

 

Yea, not a fan of Towers.

 

Nope that was Theo's buddy, and now current Cub GM, Jed Hoyer. Remember how you thought it was a conspiracy between Theo and Hoyer because they both worked together with the Red Sox?

 

what are your reasons for liking this trade?

 

Because the Braves gave up very little for Upton. All they gave up was 1 year of Martn Prado, 6 years of Randall Delgago and three fringy prospects for 3 years of a 25 year old who has a ton of potential and hasn't even hit his prime yet. It was a very good to possibly great move. I'm a big Upton fan, think he has a lot of potential left to discover and think getting him out of Arizona wll help him. Can't see how any Brave fan could be disappointed in this move. Even if Upton never improves it's not like anyone the Braves gave up will be regretable, as most of the guys they traded away (minus Prado) would be surplus.

 

Just wondering man don't yell at me :'(

 

Haha, I'd never yell at you!

 

Absolutely fantastic trade for the Braves!!! I'm ecstatic and cannot wait for baseball season to get here. With the "Up, Up, and A Hey" outfield, it is going to be very difficult to get balls into the gaps against the Braves, and I dare folks to try to run on these arms. Offensively, this could be a trio that has three 0.800+ OPS hitters that all hit between 25-35 home runs on the year.

SS Andrelton Simmons
CF BJ Upton
RF Jason Heyward
LF Justin Upton
1B Freddie Freeman
C Brian McCann
2B Dan Uggla
3B Chris Johnson/Juan Francisco

Only Simmons doesn't have double digit home run power.

 

Awesome trade. Wren is everything Jeff Ireland wishes he could be

 

He gave up Peavy, my mistake.

 

Yeah that Peavy trade was pretty bad too at the time and in retrospect, however I wonder how hurt Peavy really was and if his medicals scared some teams off. I think a big reason he was moved was because of injury risk due to his mechanics. Actually now that I think of it wasn't Peavy on the DL when he was traded that year? And Peavy was hurt and not very good in 2 out of the 3 years since the trade too.

 

Digging in the dirt a bit, but seem to recall he had ankle issues, then arm issues?

The reason he was moved was his contract, which happens a lot in SD, if Maybin bounces back this year it would not surprise a bit if he were moved as well.

Then Hoyer came to town..the Padres franchise is criminally mismanaged at times, but hey, Kelly may even start this yr!

As for Towers, it was amazing, high draft pick pitcher, for that cavern known as Petco, arm self destructs, or they draft a player not due to talent BUT.."signability", Verlander should have been the draft pick but they would not pay a hefty bonus.

 

****ing gold.

 

It may have been an ankle injury but I think the main concern is and always was the arm. The problem with the Padres has always been failing to trade guys at the right time. They always either traded a player 1 year too late (Gonzalez, Peavy) or not at all (Bell) for various reasons.

Yeah damn that Jed Hoyer for restocking a bare farm system with trades and smart drafting. But when you watch Kelly, Wieland, Ross etc just remember you have Hoyer to thank. And also remember Hoyer wasn't the one who traded Rizzo for a relief pitcher that gets hurts all the time and will miss part of the year because of a hunting accident. I'd actually be more worried about Josh Byrnes as the GM right now, but at least Mark Kotsay is still employed right?

 

Mets looking in to Bourn...petitioned MLB to allow for 2nd round pick to be given up instead of a first @ pick 11 with the backing of the players union. UFA's require teams outside the top 10 to give a first

 

That sets the stage to crash the entire system if one team can petition why cant every team?

 

There reasoning behind it is that they would have had a top 10 pick if, I believe, the Pirates were able to sign their 1st round pick. Because they didn't they have a top 10 protected pick for the 2013 draft so it knocked the Mets out of the top 10. So they at least have somewhat of a valid argument.

I actually don't see a problem with that as the ten worst teams should have protected picks.

 

Exactly Ray. The rule didnt account for a situation like what happened with Pittsburgh.

 

As is Franceour.

Oh look, Kelly has an elbow issue? Really?

The other problem that franchise had, was the prior two owners were McCourt like, one was in the middle of a messy divorce, the other a fmr sports agent who could not consumate the sale, new ownership hopefully rights the ship.

I like Spagenberg, to me he fits petco.

 

Agree, MLB's draft is nothing like the NFL's, it can take years for a guy to work his way to the big club, so a top 10 pick while important, is not as valuable as an NFL equivalent.

I can live with it.

 

MLB banned 3rd to 1st pickoff moves?

 

My understanding was its not banned but simply a balk.

 

tell you what the Yanks should look into it if the years become less.....trade Grandy at that point...

 

Apparently SI is releasing a list of 20 or so NFL and MLB players that are currently on steroids sometime tomorrow.

My buddy that works for the AP is hearing David Wright's name will be on that list

 

So it aint so

 

Very interesting. Wonder how SI got the names of those players.

 

His direct quote:

 

I'm in no position to say whether its true or not but Wright be one of the 3 or 4 players around who would truly STUN me...the others being Jeter and Mauer. I never really thought of him as a player who would use. Id need concrete evidence to believe that. He hasnt really had any changes to his voice over the years that would indicate steroid use, doesnt really have a sick physique that you would associate with steroid use, doesnt really have significant injury history (concussion from Matt Cain's fastball and a bad back a few years ago not withstanding)....

Just saying, if thats true, I lose all hope for athletes being clean ever again. Everyone I know who has met Wright talks about what a great he is and how he speaks out against the use of Steroids....Id hate for him to be a hypocrite.

 

No one would stun or shock me anymore. I wouldn't bet anything on any player being clean. It's just the way sports are nowadays.

 

There are a few that would shock me. Wright is one of them. You may be right about it being the way sports are but I refuse to accept it.

 

Remember when Arod said he only used PEDs when he was in Texas, never before and never after? Yeah that was funny.

http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2...-hgh-as-recently-as-2012-other-players-named/

Anyway I'm assuming this is what Mainge was talking about last night, the names that I've seen so far have been Arod, Bartolo Colon, Melky Cabrera, Gio Gonzalez, Yasmani Grandal and Nelson Cruz.

No David Wright, so Boik should be able to sleep tonight hugging his Wright jersey.

EDIT: Here's the Miami newspaper story: http://www.miaminewtimes.com/2013-0...linic-supplies-drugs-to-sports-biggest-names/

 

Dominicans LOVE PEDs.

Or just Latin ball players in general.