Category Archives: hot stove

The Padres Making Huge Moves for 2021 Season

This MLB offseason has been far from a ‘Hot Stove’ as teams took a financial beating from the COVID-19 shortened season. Teams have been looking to cut payroll, but many haven’t found any takers.

The Padres made two huge moves this week when they traded for Rays starting pitcher Blake Snell and then pulled the trigger on a trade for Cubs starting pitcher Yu Darvish. They managed to complete both trades without giving up their best pitching prospect, starter MacKenzie Gore.

The Rays will receive a nice load of prospects in return for Snell. The package is headlined by pitcher Luis Patino, with catcher Blake Hunt, pitcher Cole Wilcox and the former highly-touted prospect (and now possible reclamation project) catcher Francisco Mejia rounding out the deal. Patino is a steep price, but the Padres still have some great pitching prospects in their farm system.

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What the Heck are the Padres Doing This Offseason?

The San Diego Padres aren’t trying to use a slow-build process to rebuild their team. New general manager A.J. Preller is charging out of the gate. He was a scouting director for the Texas Rangers for the last decade. During his time there, Texas used their farm system to trade for MLB-ready bats and arms.

He appears to be trying to use the same method in San Diego.

The Padres have already traded for former All-Stars Matt Kemp & Justin Upton, former top prospects Wil Myers & Will Middlebrooks and acquired underrated talents like Derek Norris and Brandon Morrow.

Can the San Diego Padres instantly contend with the Dodgers and Giants in the NL West or will they need a year to tinker with their current roster?

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Jon Lester signs with Cubs, Fans Fear How This Will End

I’m a life-long fan of the Chicago Cubs. I’ve been through it all. I was born in 1980 and one of my earliest baseball memories was the Cubs’ 1984 playoff collapse. I dealt with numerous inept managers, a handful of ‘this is our year’ years and the whole Steve Bartman ordeal. The Cubs now have a stockpile of blue-chip prospects, but nearly all are position players. Chicago needs quality pitching and they just signed the biggest name this offseason.

Jon Lester, formerly of Boston and Oakland, signed a six-year $155 million dollar deal (with an option for a seventh year).

Theo Epstein and recently-named assistant Ryan Dempster both have a relationship with Lester. It gave them a much-needed edge.

I breakdown this signing and a few other ramblings about the upcoming Chicago Cubs season. Also, gaze upon my awesomely horrible MS Paint skills.

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Teixeira Will Be In Pinstripes

It took long enough, but the Yankees got their man. Mark Teixeira will sign an 8-year deal worth $180 million dollars. That is $22.5 million a year for a man who has been the last two years’ trading deadline prize. This deal will shore up the 28-year old for the prime of his career. With the signings of C.C. Sabathia and A.J. Burnett, it looks like the Yankees are back to buying their way to the World Series.

The Red Sox, Orioles, and the Nationals were the only other teams left in the bidding war after the Angels pulled out earlier this week. As of yesterday, it didn’t even look like the Yankees were in the mix for Teixeira, but money talks and the Yankees threw too much on the table for anyone to resist. New York will now try to move either Johnny Damon, Hideki Matsui, Xavier Nady, or the newly acquired, Nick Swisher.

The Yankees are opening up a new stadium and look like they are wanting to bless the new ground with not one World Series championship, but a string of championships with the years attached to these monster deals this off-season. I’m waiting for the Red Sox to make their move, I don’t know what could trump these moves the Evil Empire has made the last month. The Red Sox will have to sign Jesus of Nazareth.

As a consolation prize for not signing Teixeira, the Nationals signed Corey Patterson. I can’t even imagine trying to explain that move to their fanbase.

A Sports & Entertainment blog that focuses on absurdity in sports, snarky banter, updates on Tim Tebow’s virginity, and decent sports gambling advice.

Gregg Makes Cubs Lose Wood

It looks like the Kerry Wood Experiment is officially over in Chicago. The Chicago Cubs acquired Kevin Gregg from the Florida Marlins for the minor-leaguer, Jose Ceda. Gregg has been the closer in Florida the last two seasons and he will be the set-up man for Chicago next season with Carlos Marmol assuming the closer role. This is a cost-cutting move by the Cubs in hopes of landing a left-handed power bat this offseason and re-signing Ryan Dempster. Wood is looking for a three-year deal in hopes of receiving $10 million a season.

GM Jim Hendry didn’t close the door to Wood in the future but thinks he should go get what he deserves in the open market. The New York Mets and Texas Rangers appears to be a good fit for Wood and have the money to sign him.

Kevin Gregg isn’t as good as Kerry Wood, but for a team that is cutting a few corners while spending large amounts of money, they feel like this is needed to keep Dempster and get a power left-handed bat to replace Fukudome in right-field. Gregg will have an ERA around 4.00 and give up a few extra homers in Wrigley Field. If he stays healthy, which he couldn’t do last season, he could help Chicago this year.

Jose Ceda has been in the Cubs farm system for a few years. The Padres traded him to Chicago when he was 18 years old for Todd Walker. Many baseball experts believe that Ceda could be a future closer and could become a Lee Smith type of pitcher. It looks like the Cubs could get the best out of this trade this season, but Ceda could be a beast for Florida for many seasons to come, until he hits arbitration, then they’ll trade him for another future star.

A Sports & Entertainment blog that focuses on absurdity in sports, snarky banter, updates on Tim Tebow’s virginity, and decent sports gambling advice.