Offseason Hot Stove 2024-25 Thread

Carp said:
A lot of MLB teams (and sports teams in general) don't make much, if any, money. But that's not really the reason you buy a team. You buy a sports franchise for status, tax benefits, and because sports franchises typically increase exponentially in value. The Phoenix Suns were bought for $401 million back in 2004, then sold in 2023 for $4 billion. I don't know of any other investment that is virtually guaranteed to net you 5-10x your money in 20 years.
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Absolutely correct. As long as a franchise can cash flow its capital investment, everything is rosy. Values of franchises continue to escalate and like you say they are a great investment for the few that can enter that extremely narrow market.
 
50PoundHead said:
Absolutely correct. As long as a franchise can cash flow its capital investment, everything is rosy. Values of franchises continue to escalate and like you say they are a great investment for the few that can enter that extremely narrow market.
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I agree too.. but there is a difference between an investment and a business. Amazon is worth billions and Bozo could fund many projects within his companies on what he probably has in the bank.. but Amazon is not going to run a deficit on any one venture very long. What makes a company valuable, is it ability to make money. Sports franchises in a lot a ways are the same. I do agree they are a bit different in that they are valued on other factors outside of profit and loss...
 
I guess AA and everyone else is just hoping another dummy will give up Sale plus cash for a fringe utility prospect... Guess that hasn't happened yet.
 
bravesfanMatt said:
I agree too.. but there is a difference between an investment and a business. Amazon is worth billions and Bozo could fund many projects within his companies on what he probably has in the bank.. but Amazon is not going to run a deficit on any one venture very long. What makes a company valuable, is it ability to make money. Sports franchises in a lot a ways are the same. I do agree they are a bit different in that they are valued on other factors outside of profit and loss...
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Again, sports owners generally aren't making much money off the operations of the team on a yearly basis. Many teams even lose money. Of course they would rather make money than lose money, but you don't purchase a sports team because you think it's gonna be a big moneymaker year over year. Status is largely the reason rich people buy a sports franchise. And they know it's gonna appreciate in value over time.
 
Rosenthal has a notes column (paywalled) which leads with a discussion of the Braves' offseason. Frankly, it's a pretty generous spin, claiming that Strider and Acuna are likely going to return earlier than expected. That's also the explanation for why the team hasn't acquired an outfielder -- he would only be playing for a month or so before being reduced to a substitute, and no one is jumping at those offers. Which is troubling in its own right, as it implies that Anthopolous isn't looking for a meaningful outfield upgrade in any real sense.
 
I do agree that it's hard to convince FA's that want to play everyday to come here and play in a reduced role. At least without overpaying for their services like the Dodgers do. But that doesn't mean we can't find a trade partner.

It also doesn't explain the lack of moves on the pitching side.
 
Carp said:
Again, sports owners generally aren't making much money off the operations of the team on a yearly basis. Many teams even lose money. Of course they would rather make money than lose money, but you don't purchase a sports team because you think it's gonna be a big moneymaker year over year. Status is largely the reason rich people buy a sports franchise. And they know it's gonna appreciate in value over time.
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I didn't say any of that.. I said that most teams basically spend what they make give or take year over year. Billionaire owners or groups could clearly spend more than the Dodger$ are, but most if any would.. because why would they. The Dodger$ bring in more money than probably any other team and thus can out spend every other team even with the lux tax that is supposed to stop them..

I think Baseball is going to do away with that system eventually, because is it completely ineffective and probably leads to more teams spending less.. They might try to do a hard spending floor and some sort of soft salary cap that teams have to get under within a X number of years... probably have some clause that forgives deferments (not count them in current year payrolls) to keep the Dodger$ happy.
 
Carp said:
I do agree that it's hard to convince FA's that want to play everyday to come here and play in a reduced role. At least without overpaying for their services like the Dodgers do. But that doesn't mean we can't find a trade partner.

It also doesn't explain the lack of moves on the pitching side.
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I also don't understand why a FA OF would only play for a month.. Kelenic is not an everyday player and should be the 4th OF...
 
After last year I dont think any FA OF needs to be concerned with playing time. That said I think we need to set our sights on a prospect who is MLB ready and blocked. Like Alexander Canario of the Cubs. He is blocked in the majors with 2 better prospects right behind him. He is low batting average hitter but draws enough walks and hits for enough power to be a productive player.
 
cajunrevenge said:
After last year I dont think any FA OF needs to be concerned with playing time. That said I think we need to set our sights on a prospect who is MLB ready and blocked. Like Alexander Canario of the Cubs. He is blocked in the majors with 2 better prospects right behind him. He is low batting average hitter but draws enough walks and hits for enough power to be a productive player.
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I think something like this fits AA's MO personally. I don't know squat about prospects though, so I would just take anyone's word on who is worth a shot or not.
 
I will say that if this ends up being the offseason and there are no major acquisitions, the Laureano non-tender looks meaningfully worse. There was a reasonable argument at the time that clearing the $6 million he was expected to make in arbitration was a good idea, either to make that money available for other moves or to keep under the luxury tax (I, personally, don't care even a tiny bit about Liberty Media avoiding the luxury tax, but I imagine they do, and I recognize that's going to influence how Anthopolous behaves). But if the team isn't going to spend significant money in the offseason, then neither factor is relevant. According to Rosenthal the Braves are about $24 million under the luxury tax threshold. Adding Laureano's $6 million to the books still leaves them $18 million under the line -- I don't think you get extra credit for being further under the threshold, and that would still leave plenty of wiggle room for a midseason trade.

I'm not under the impression that Ramon Laureano is a great player, but he is a competent Major League outfielder, at least in a broad sense, and we don't have a lot of those banging around right now.
 
bravesfanMatt said:
Who is the Dodger$ closer?

Phillips? I guess since he had the most. But they had 5 guys with 5 or more saves. They had10 guys with at least one save. The Braves had 4 guys with any saves. The save stat is such a trap stat that makes guys like twit unwatchable. To say the game is only saved in the 9th inning is so dumb. It is like judging a guy for the number of RBI’s he has.

If it takes20 million to get talent then the Braves better pay it or watch other teams that will.
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You may want to save your breath here. Anyone who thinks it's still the 90s where the best BP arm MUST pitch in the 9th is never going to understand the logic you are putting forth.

Yes, having a BP Ace from the right and left sides would be pretty ideal.
 
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I also think people are sleeping on Nacho potentially for LF. He has put up an OBP over .380 at every level. I would like to see him get 400+ at bats this year. If he can simply put up a .350 OBP even with no power thats fine by me.
 
Enscheff said:
You may want to save your breath here. Anyone who thinks it's still the 90s where the best BP arm MUST pitch in the 9th is never going to understand the logic you are putting forth.

Yes, having a BP Ace from the right and left sides would be pretty ideal.
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I think most here get it.. and even if they don't, I am fine with it.. Fans have the right to fandom how they want... what pisses me off is that Twit actually believes the game can only be saved in the 9th inning... Like if Iggy is your best RP, then he should be used in the highest leverage situation.. up 1 in the 7th with 2 on and 2,3,4 coming up is way more important than 9th inning with 8,9,1... But try and explain that to twit and his big fat empty head would just explode.
 
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