MLB hot stove 2020

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Memento

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Well, we signed three prospects to our forty-man: Elehuris Montero, Jake Woodford, and Alvaro Seijas. I'm quite happy with these three prospects being protected: Woodford and Seijas were some of our better pitchers in their respective leagues this year, and Montero won MVP honors in his league a year ago.

Now, if we can find a way to ditch Brett Cecil and Dexter Fowler, I'll be happy.
 

coconut

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Now, if we can find a way to ditch Brett Cecil and Dexter Fowler, I'll be happy.
Fowler is a tough one given his salary and the rookies coming up. If the rookies don't excel then (assuming Fowler can still hit) keeping him is likely.
 

Memento

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Fowler is a tough one given his salary and the rookies coming up. If the rookies don't excel then (assuming Fowler can still hit) keeping him is likely.

I'd trust in the rookies over Dex. I love the guy's personality, but he's a poor outfielder at this point - both offensively and defensively.

And considering the sheer number of young outfielders who could get a crack at playing time in the outfield(Harrison Bader, Tyler O'Neill, Lane Thomas, Randy Arozarena, maybe Carlson if he impresses enough, Justin Williams, Conner Capel (if he doesn't get poached in the Rule 5 Draft), Adolis Garcia (although I'd rather use Garcia as a potential trade chip), and of course, Jose Martinez), Dex is redundant at best and blocking younger, better players at worst.

You're probably right, and they probably will keep Dex. This is the same front office who gave Carpenter an extension before his deal was up, after all.
 

Memento

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Don't give up on MC just yet.

I just don't see how he'll bounce back. He's below-average defensively (I trust Edman more than Carpenter at the hot corner.), and his offensive skills took a gigantic nosedive. Giving him an extra two years to tack onto his existing contract - when he was already thirty-two, at that - was stupid. There's just no way to put it nicely. Two of our best prospects in Gorman and Montero are going to be knocking at the door when Carpenter is in the beginning of his second contract extension, if not sooner.

Signing Carpenter for those extra two years and the Fowler contract were awful decisions by the front office.

For the record, I do not think that the early extension for Carpenter was a mistake. I just don't like the two additional years.
 

coconut

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I just don't see how he'll bounce back. He's below-average defensively (I trust Edman more than Carpenter at the hot corner.), and his offensive skills took a gigantic nosedive. Giving him an extra two years to tack onto his existing contract - when he was already thirty-two, at that - was stupid. There's just no way to put it nicely. Two of our best prospects in Gorman and Montero are going to be knocking at the door when Carpenter is in the beginning of his second contract extension, if not sooner.

Signing Carpenter for those extra two years and the Fowler contract were awful decisions by the front office.

For the record, I do not think that the early extension for Carpenter was a mistake. I just don't like the two additional years.
I love how Edman plays. I hope he is the real deal as in long term Mr. Cardinal stuff. But he hasn't faced the scrutiny of other pitching coaches nor the mental rigors of a 162 game MLB season. He will have it much easier in St. Louis compared to some other cities but all that is to be determined. MC is proven. Players of his calibre can bounce back. If Edman continues to be indispensable to the team offense then yes it will be over for MC in St. Louis. It will be a sad day.
 

Memento

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I love how Edman plays. I hope he is the real deal as in long term Mr. Cardinal stuff. But he hasn't faced the scrutiny of other pitching coaches nor the mental rigors of a 162 game MLB season. He will have it much easier in St. Louis compared to some other cities but all that is to be determined. MC is proven. Players of his calibre can bounce back. If Edman continues to be indispensable to the team offense then yes it will be over for MC in St. Louis. It will be a sad day.

True. But Edman did hit, run, and field well. If he's a utility player who plays as much as he can, I'm sold on him. I'd prefer Edmundo Sosa make the roster over Munoz (who can and should be a trade chip) because of Sosa's defense at short, which will give DeJong a much needed breather.

Carpenter is a proven player, but Father Time will forever be undefeated. I am a fan of Carp, so I hope he bounces back in a big way. I just don't expect him to do that.
 

coconut

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True. But Edman did hit, run, and field well. If he's a utility player who plays as much as he can, I'm sold on him. I'd prefer Edmundo Sosa make the roster over Munoz (who can and should be a trade chip) because of Sosa's defense at short, which will give DeJong a much needed breather.

Carpenter is a proven player, but Father Time will forever be undefeated. I am a fan of Carp, so I hope he bounces back in a big way. I just don't expect him to do that.
If Edman continues to play at the level he's shown then he is a starter. No way he's on the bench. That means MC if he continues to slump is expendable. Usually I would add the cost of Edman into the equation but given his hitting and in clutch situations that is unnecessary. If Edman continues to be productive at the plate and with some luck health wise we may be seeing him in a Cardinal uniform in the decade after next. You can't watch him play and not see the similarity to Musial. We should be so lucky.
 

Memento

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If Edman continues to play at the level he's shown then he is a starter. No way he's on the bench. That means MC if he continues to slump is expendable. Usually I would add the cost of Edman into the equation but given his hitting and in clutch situations that is unnecessary. If Edman continues to be productive at the plate and with some luck health wise we may be seeing him in a Cardinal uniform in the decade after next. You can't watch him play and not see the similarity to Musial. We should be so lucky.

I'm just thinking of a potential Zobrist-like role for Edman, which is what the Cardinals think of him, at the moment. Hopefully he'll continue to improve.
 

coconut

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All pretty valid reasons. What ends up happening will be interesting to see especially the thought of reducing the draft to 20 rounds. Also it’s hard to tell what’s worse, Twitter comments or reddit comments.


View: https://twitter.com/AlbaneseLaura/status/1197608015282741248

Minor league teams are businesses. Those that are profitable will have to be bought out. I don't see it happening. It is entertainment and it doesn't matter if few if any players make it to the bigs.
 

OldSchool

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Minor league teams are businesses. Those that are profitable will have to be bought out. I don't see it happening. It is entertainment and it doesn't matter if few if any players make it to the bigs.
They also have a contract to do a business for the organizations and MLB. Those don’t have be renewed. If they want to fold the teams they can and will. I personally would welcome it to an extent.
 

coconut

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They also have a contract to do a business for the organizations and MLB. Those don’t have be renewed. If they want to fold the teams they can and will. I personally would welcome it to an extent.
There are teams that are not owned by the MLB club. I believe the MLB money supplements their income. It will hurt every club from which it is not renewed but won't be the death knell as suggested in the tweet. I've been fortunate to see games in every A league and had a good time doing so. In many ways the experience was better than MLB.
 

OldSchool

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There are teams that are not owned by the MLB club. I believe the MLB money supplements their income. It will hurt every club from which it is not renewed but won't be the death knell as suggested in the tweet. I've been fortunate to see games in every A league and had a good time doing so. In many ways the experience was better than MLB.
Teams not associated with MLB clubs obviously wouldn't be affected by this other than they'd have to find a league to participate in. MLB and it's teams can't fold teams that they don't in some way own. Independent teams will have to fend for themselves or try to become affiliated with a team which will be that much harder with fewer lower level minor league teams. Be honest here, while they're nice to have minor league teams and yes I live in a town with a AAA team but it was before that an unaffiliated independent team, there are too many teams. There are tons of people who will never make it to the big leagues or even close in those lower level teams. Congrats to them for the opportunity to keep playing the game but the purpose of the minor leagues is to develop talent for the majors.
 

coconut

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Teams not associated with MLB clubs obviously wouldn't be affected by this other than they'd have to find a league to participate in. MLB and it's teams can't fold teams that they don't in some way own. Independent teams will have to fend for themselves or try to become affiliated with a team which will be that much harder with fewer lower level minor league teams. Be honest here, while they're nice to have minor league teams and yes I live in a town with a AAA team but it was before that an unaffiliated independent team, there are too many teams. There are tons of people who will never make it to the big leagues or even close in those lower level teams. Congrats to them for the opportunity to keep playing the game but the purpose of the minor leagues is to develop talent for the majors.
For MLB that is the purpose but not of the minor league teams. As I said it doesn't matter if the players make it to the bigs. It's ENTERTAINMENT. You go to watch professional baseball. The experience is different. In many ways better, very affordable and quite enjoyable.
 

OldSchool

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For MLB that is the purpose but not of the minor league teams. As I said it doesn't matter if the players make it to the bigs. It's ENTERTAINMENT. You go to watch professional baseball. The experience is different. In many ways better, very affordable and quite enjoyable.
If it's just for entertainment then they don't need to be associated with the MLB teams. You just made my point for me thank you.

Edit btw thanks for the fun discussion :) these back and forth polite discussions are why I'm even on message boards.
 
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coconut

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If it's just for entertainment then they don't need to be associated with the MLB teams. You just made my point for me thank you.

Edit btw thanks for the fun discussion :) these back and forth polite discussions are why I'm even on message boards.
No. All of baseball at every level is entertainment. As I said earlier the MLB money to teams is supplemental income.
 

Elmgrovegnome

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I love MiLB. I’d hate to see it go. I also dislike the idea that they know who has a chance to make it to the majors and who won’t. BS. Some low level guys can surprise. Don Mattingly was only picked because some cute stewardess was asking Steinbrenner to pick him. He was considered a longshot.