Offseason Hot Stove 2024-25 Thread

Enscheff said:
Congratulations, you’ve just moved to the part of the offseason where fans decide to “just see what happens”, as if process can’t be judged before results that are largely random.

This roster had holes that were well understood. They were not addressed.
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But you don't have the context of the process to judge. If Profar hits anything close to how he did in 2024 I think we had a good off-season in that we didn't trade our farm for rentals or add any bad contracts. Sometimes the best moves are the ones you don't make.
 
cajunrevenge said:
But you don't have the context of the process to judge. If Profar hits anything close to how he did in 2024 I think we had a good off-season in that we didn't trade our farm for rentals or add any bad contracts. Sometimes the best moves are the ones you don't make.
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I think AA had limits he wasn’t going to go past, and he didn’t go past them. I strongly suspect that he had a very detailed and organized plan and followed it to the letter. People around here aren’t happy about it, and will call this “rationalizing,” and that’s also true- but I think the man protected our long term best interest by not overpaying for parts we may well end up not needing. Said differently, the off-season will be better judged by if we can survive without injury until Acuna gets back. Strider being good will be a bonus - rotation is damn good as it stands now- Schwelly and Sale and Lopez and go to war. Caveat : this assumes he adds a BP arm or two by the end of camp.
 
I agree AA had a bad offseason. Regardless of what was available, we’re entering the season with major holes in the starting rotation and an inexcusable bench (this is the most frustrating part). More should have been done.

Is this better than forcing a move? Sure. Bad free agent signings and trades are obviously bad. But it’s AA job to both avoid bad moves and make good moves, not either or.
 
dak said:
Personally, I like the decision to let Morton walk and go with Holmes + 14m to spend elsewhere. Your point is well-taken that it's a gamble, but that particular gamble is one that I'd take.

On the whole though, I worry about the sheer number of gambles we're making . . . Holmes + Anderson as reliable starters, Perdomo + Pilar as reliable middle relief, Daysbel as high-leverage relief. I mean that's 5 spots on a 13-man pitching staff. Sure, we have money for contingencies, but I'd feel a lot better if we had a bird-in-hand right now to take some of this risk off the table.

Maybe we'll make a move or two before opening day and it'll be water under the bridge. Until that happens though, I can't help but be worried.
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I'd be fine using the 14 million elsewhere also but it wasn't used. Soler's money went to Profar and then TDA, Morton, and Fried were let leave with nothing. That's the inexcusable part that AA can try to flip anyway he wants but most people know he's full of crap. I like Holmes and love the back story of how he got here. But having him and Anderson as 4th and 5th SP on this caliber of a team is a huge let down. Like I said earlier, if we have an injury in the rotation to one of Sale, Strider, Schwellenbach, or Lopez we are in big trouble bc with the expanded playoffs no team is gonna trade until the deadline and it'll cost more then then if we made that trade now (Cease)
 
chop2chip said:
I agree AA had a bad offseason. Regardless of what was available, we’re entering the season with major holes in the starting rotation and an inexcusable bench (this is the most frustrating part). More should have been done.

Is this better than forcing a move? Sure. Bad free agent signings and trades are obviously bad. But it’s AA job to both avoid bad moves and make good moves, not either or.
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Good post. The bench is what is the craziest part after what happened last year. Kelenic is a good OF option once Acuna is back but the infield options are gross and Tromp as the backup C I'm guessing. Hopefully Baldwin is tearing the cover off the ball early and takes TDA's spot. A good utility INF should have been acquired regardless.
 
And we have 3 decent prospects starting at AAA. Two who spent all last year at AAA. Whats the point of investing in pitching in the draft if none of them are even good enough to be back end starters. Do people expect them to spend another whole year at AAA? Then what? Just leave them at AAA until they run out of options?
 
cajunrevenge said:
And we have 3 decent prospects starting at AAA. Two who spent all last year at AAA. Whats the point of investing in pitching in the draft if none of them are even good enough to be back end starters. Do people expect them to spend another whole year at AAA? Then what? Just leave them at AAA until they run out of options?
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Waldrep needs another year at AAA bc he was terrible in his brief stint in the majors last year. AJSS is the only one we have that should be give a chance. We know what we have in Anderson and Elder already and they aren't gonna move the needle at all. Holmes is intriguing but I'm not sure he just happen to figure it out but I like him as a BP guy and spot starter.
 
I dont think we do know what have in Anderson. He has 3.8 WAR in 52 starts and 272 IP with a career ERA and FIP right at 4. I know they tried to revamp his delivery and pitches when he came back from injury. He is 26 and a former top 5 draft pick. I think people are just trashing players because they didnt immediately set the league on fire. If he returns simply to preinjury form thats good enough for a fifth spot in the rotation. He got 68 IP last year and now has that extra offseason which is a big deal because TJ typically takes 18 months to get fully back to where thery were.
 
He was very good for a time, but a lot of us knew that was going to be short lived. He had no breaking ball or an ability to spin the baseball so you couldn’t even project the development of a breaking ball. His fastball wasn’t good but played up due to the effectiveness of his changeup. His changeup was basically a slower fastball, it didn’t tumble much. The moment he lost velocity he was going to fall off the cliff because of his hittable fastball, poor command, no breaking ball and a changeup that would lose effectiveness due to the lack of separation from the fastball and the league getting more looks at that one pitch.

That Ian Anderson is done. Doesn’t matter where he was drafted or ranked on lists. The ingredients to succeed are no longer there.
 
Heard some buzz on the radio earlier that the Padres have started talks about Cease or King back up. I guess getting Pivetta frees one of them up if they can get a controllable MLB piece like AJSS back. I doubt they trade anytime soon at this point.
 
Hudson2 said:
Wonder why nobody gave him a big league deal.
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Farmer’s a good get on a minor league deal but his velocity dropped from 94.5 and change to 92-93. Not a huge difference but even a slight dip can make a big impact. Wonder if that’s why he didn’t get a better deal.
 
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