MLB 2010-11 Offseason & Hot Stove Thread
 

I realize that the playoffs are about to start and things will get pretty busy in those threads, but the offseason has begun for the majority of MLB cities, so some folks might want to talk about those issues.

The Mets fired their GM and Manager. Shocker I know.

Heard the Mets owner on Boomer and Cartin this morning and he was a pretty good sport about his team's woes overall. It sounded like a fun interview.

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It's about time the Brewers got rid of Macha.

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Ah, I was wondering if someone had started this.

Mariners appear to be hiring Eric Wedge but won't announce till next week.

I know he was one of four the Cubs had interviewed but that race would seem to be between Sandberg and Quade.

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The Cubs name Quade manager per this ESPN link. I'm really a bit surprised at this choice. I didn't think Sandberg was the obvious choice as some might have thought. I did believe that if it hadn't been Sandberg, it would have been a guy with a proven ML track record (not just Quade's 40+ games of success last year).

Also, LaRussa is coming back again in St. Louis.

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There really isn't much to chose from if you want a manager with a proven track record. Unless you want retreads like Wedge or Melvin who I am glad the Cubs didn't hire then Quade is the man for the job. The players like him and he did a good job managing after Piniella left. Plus the Cubs aren't likely to do much next year and are going to a lot of their younger players so I think this is a good move.

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The bad news for Cub fans is this probably means Hendry is secure as Quade is a Hendry guy.

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He was already secure through next year anyway. Unfortunately. Ricketts stated that he would be back next year but you are right this does confirm he will be back.

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I think I heard someone say they wanted to take a different approach from the last few Cubs hires, which have been the best available superstar manager (or maybe it was media saying that). Maybe they're going to acknowledge that they're going to rebuild, though that's always a tough sell for the fanbase.

Cardsfan111, it looks like all of Tony's staff but one will be returning. How was Big Mac's first season as hitting coach?

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I saw that--they got rid of the guy who had been their bullpen coach for a long while. I think there's still some doubt about some of the other coaches who haven't officially signed contracts yet, including McGwire who has to decide if he wants to come back. He's been quoted as saying his wife will have a big say in that since the couple just had triplets in the last year.

I think McGwire did an ok job. It's hard to really gauge based upon the team's success. They struggled on the offensive end, but that would seem to be largely a personnel issue. It's interesting to remember all the speculation a year ago about the media circus that would surround him and the club, yet he managed to his job without all that scrutiny from what I could see.

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Blah.

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Haven't tuned in to Chicago sports talk to hear the reaction, but I'm sure there won't be many going to Cubs games in 2011 as before.
The Cubs hired the cheapest manager and that's that.
Ryne Sandburg should leave the Cubs orginazation after this snub.

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True, they did say the others were "invited back," not that they were confirmed to be coming back

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pgammo Peter Gammons

Three GMs today insisted John Farrell will get the Toronto job. The final list was the product of exhaustive, thoughtful due diligence

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Yeah because going with a high priced manager has worked out so well for the Cubs in the past. -ohbfrank-

They chose a well respected baseball man that the players respect and loved playing for. The Cubs went 24-13 under his direction to end the season.

He is a great choice.

But you're sure people will stop going because of the choice of manager and not because of the product on the field.

Your logic is flawed.

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Dodgers signed Ted Lilly. Don't know for how much, but I think it was for 3 years?

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3 years, $33 million is what I heard.

Edit: Here's one link confirming that.

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The Lilly signing makes sense to me. The only thing bad about his season this year was the Won-Loss record. His numbers otherwise were pretty good.

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Hard to believe the Mets could be more stupid with hiring a new GM, but apparently it's possible. They are bringing back Josh Byrnes for a 2nd interview. Say goodbye to any chance your franchise had of winning, NY!

http://sports.espn.go.com/new-york/m...ory?id=5715234

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I know that AZ did poorly in his tenure there (well, they did well in his first 2 years, then poorly his last 3). But what about him did you not like?

I am not questioning the validity of your opinion, I just know very little about him and he may be my team's next GM!

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Let's see: he gave out stupid contracts. Off the top of my head, Eric Byrnes, Chris Young, Mark Reynolds are just a few. Those last 2 guys sting the most because they were still under team control for several years, but he insisted in giving them huge deals and it hasn't worked out.

He's a terrible evaluator of talent. He's made several trades that have worked to the detriment of the team. He hired a yes-man to be a manager when everyone knew it wouldn't work out. It's out there that he was basically setting the lineup earlier this year after they replaced Melvin with AJ Hinch. No GM should ever, ever have input on who plays and who doesn't play. That's not their job.

I could keep going, if you want. :)

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Well, now I guess I root for Alderson! :lol:

One question: according to wiki, he was not really responsible for Eric Byrnes' contract. Don't know if that is true or not.

Ah, well, at least with the Mets, there is a greater ability to recover from bad contracts.

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Josh Brynes was the GM from 2005 until 2010, so I don't see how he couldn't have been involved in that deal. :shrug:

I see what wikipedia says, but I have doubts about that authenticity. He might've also been GM when they gave Russ Ortiz that 4 year, $40 million dollar deal. I am not totally sure about that, though.

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Lets give a big Bronx cheer to all the Yankee fans who just showed up in this thread. :lol:

When do they sign Cliff Lee? :sarcasm:

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Don't think he was, Ortiz was with them in 2005, he didn't become GM until late 2005.

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So with the majority of the Phillies returning next season, what do they have to do to improve? I know that they're letting Werth go in favor of Dominic Brown, so at least initially the offense will take a hit but they have enough good players that they shouldn't have to worry about that. Rotation is set. Do they make changes to the bullpen? It doesn't seem that they have THAT much work to do.

For the Yankees: There are a lot more questions. Of course they'll go hard after Cliff Lee... they really need to with the way Burnett pitched this season. Pettitte is another question mark. I hope he comes back for one more go, this is likely Jorge's last year too, they might as well go out together. I think we'll see some good stuff out of Phil Hughes next season. He hit a wall with his innings limit this season but he has shown that he can be a good starter and I see no reason why he wouldn't progress next year.

Bullpen doesn't need to change much. As poorly as Robertson and Joba pitched in the ALCS, it's not right to give up on them since they did pitch well down the stretch. The Joba/Robertson in the 7th, Wood in the 8th and Mo in the 9th still seems like a solid back end to me. I think they need to upgrade their lefty specialist though, I'd like to see Marte back but the guy can't stay healthy. They're always tinkering with their long relief too so I wouldn't be surprised to see changes there. And please, please, please get rid of Chad Gaudin. I would like to see them work Mitre into being a short relief guy. He has the kind of stuff that would work well for an inning or two.

Hopefully they don't change the offense too much. I don't want them to panic and sign Werth and/or Crawford. It's not necessary. Gardner has been solid out of the 9 hole all year and Swisher might not be better then Werth but considering he's younger, cheaper and a great clubhouse guy I don't see any reason they need to upgrade there. I think they lose Berkman and Jorge/Jeter/A-Rod will be the primary DH's. They call up Montero this year as well (maybe not right away, but at some point next year) so that Jorge can groom him.