The Official 2020-2021 Hot Stove Offseason Thread

[ThisismineScios]

2 hours ago, floplag said:

How do you know they were not?  
Bottom line we didnt sign them.  We didnt improve.  You know anything beyond that as fact?
If not then forgive me if i grade based on results over effort.

Bullpens are not successfully built through FA. The Brewers have the two most dominant relievers in baseball, and they developed them both. They are built through reclamations, a bit of development, and taking some chances. Dodgers last year had a collection of trade/developed/project guys last year. Their big FA signing was Treinen, who had a negative WAR and was awful in the NLCS and WS. Tampa, 2nd best bullpen, was the same deal. No major FA signings. The point is not that they shouldn't have gone after a guy, but that bullpen construction is not a science. They could very well have a great bullpen this year with some of the unknown guys like Reyes, Rivera, Reed, Faria, etc. 

[beatlesrule]

I am not going to watch the 46 min video but what was so wrong with the things he said? Don't we as fans appreciate someone being honest and not sugarcoating things? Don't we want to know exactly what our teams organization is doing? Don't we want the truth? Did he make racist comments? The things I've read that he said don't seem offensive and I applaud him for being transparent and telling it like it is.

Minasian admitted that Maddon heavily influenced the guys he brought in. Many of us speculated that Scioscia pretty much ran the team and was the GM but he didn't publicly say it I don't think. I like Minasians honesty.

Again, I did not watch the whole 46 min video but what was so terrible about what he said that would need for him to resign? Just the fact that he told the public about how the M's and MANY other teams conduct business??  Isn't that a good thing?

[Second Base]

4 minutes ago, beatlesrule said:

I am not going to watch the 46 min video but what was so wrong with the things he said? Don't we as fans appreciate someone being honest and not sugarcoating things? Don't we want to know exactly what our teams organization is doing? Don't we want the truth? Did he make racist comments? The things I've read that he said don't seem offensive and I applaud him for being transparent and telling it like it is.

Minasian admitted that Maddon heavily influenced the guys he brought in. Many of us speculated that Scioscia pretty much ran the team and was the GM but he didn't publicly say it I don't think. I like Minasians honesty.

Again, I did not watch the whole 46 min video but what was so terrible about what he said that would need for him to resign? Just the fact that he told the public about how the M's and MANY other teams conduct business??  Isn't that a good thing?

As I said, if it was a candid conversation between yourself and Mather, you'd laugh and think he was a good, genuine, funny guy. But in front of a rotary club, on camera, in today's day and age where everyone gets offended over everything, particularly in places like Seattle and Portland, the two biggest metropolis areas in their fan base.....it showed a lack of tact and judgment.

10 years ago, he'd issue an apology and move past it. 20 years ago, it probably would've been a small blurb in the sports section of the newspaper. 30 years ago and beyond, you'd think nothing of it. But times have changed. 

[Stradling]

6 minutes ago, beatlesrule said:

I am not going to watch the 46 min video but what was so wrong with the things he said? Don't we as fans appreciate someone being honest and not sugarcoating things? Don't we want to know exactly what our teams organization is doing? Don't we want the truth? Did he make racist comments? The things I've read that he said don't seem offensive and I applaud him for being transparent and telling it like it is.

Minasian admitted that Maddon heavily influenced the guys he brought in. Many of us speculated that Scioscia pretty much ran the team and was the GM but he didn't publicly say it I don't think. I like Minasians honesty.

Again, I did not watch the whole 46 min video but what was so terrible about what he said that would need for him to resign? Just the fact that he told the public about how the M's and MANY other teams conduct business??  Isn't that a good thing?

Well he stepped down and no one is complaining about that decision.  He said that one of his prospects needed to work on his English.  I heard an interview with him from last spring training and he was fluent in English.  He admitted to manipulating service time.  Which means every minor league player worth a damn in that organization, especially JRod and Kelenic could file a grievance with the league.  Nothing he said could be construed as “a good thing”. 

[Angels in 2030]

It's not "wrong" in an illegal sense.  But it's wrong in a management/labor way.  You can't be that stupid.  He basically handed the MLPA a gold plater of goodies in their labor negotiations.  Not to mention being a moron with his language comments.  But it's the labor stuff that ruined this guy.  A CEO might not want a Union to form at the company and it's not illegal for him/her to say so, but it's simply not something they can do.   When you are management (especially senior or the head), you have to be smarter than that.  How someone like that got there....

I continually am amazed at the dumb things my gender does day in and day out.  Unsolicited  and unnecessary things that get us in trouble, makes us look like fools/idiots, etc.  Thank God women haven't figured out a way to guarantee a girl when making a baby (artificial or natural)....us Men might finally be doomed when that day comes. 

[eligrba]

54 minutes ago, rafibomb said:

Mathers resigned

 

[BTH]

4 hours ago, Erstad Grit said:

Several RP I was low-key wanting are now signing minor league deals on other teams. 

Yeah, and I think that's confirms that the Angels are done shopping for players this offseason. While I've been hoping for a late RP addition, any chances seem to be obsolete.

[rafibomb]

[Angelsfan1984]

18 minutes ago, Fourts said:

It's not "wrong" in an illegal sense.  But it's wrong in a management/labor way.  You can't be that stupid.  He basically handed the MLPA a gold plater of goodies in their labor negotiations.  Not to mention being a moron with his language comments.  But it's the labor stuff that ruined this guy.  A CEO might not want a Union to form at the company and it's not illegal for him/her to say so, but it's simply not something they can do.   When you are management (especially senior or the head), you have to be smarter than that.  How someone like that got there....

I continually am amazed at the dumb things my gender does day in and day out.  Unsolicited  and unnecessary things that get us in trouble, makes us look like fools/idiots, etc.  Thank God women haven't figured out a way to guarantee a girl when making a baby (artificial or natural)....us Men might finally be doomed when that day comes. 

Unfortunately you can lol. It’s called spinning. Separates male and female sperm...

[eligrba]

41 minutes ago, beatlesrule said:

I am not going to watch the 46 min video but what was so wrong with the things he said? Don't we as fans appreciate someone being honest and not sugarcoating things? Don't we want to know exactly what our teams organization is doing? Don't we want the truth? Did he make racist comments? The things I've read that he said don't seem offensive and I applaud him for being transparent and telling it like it is.

Minasian admitted that Maddon heavily influenced the guys he brought in. Many of us speculated that Scioscia pretty much ran the team and was the GM but he didn't publicly say it I don't think. I like Minasians honesty.

Again, I did not watch the whole 46 min video but what was so terrible about what he said that would need for him to resign? Just the fact that he told the public about how the M's and MANY other teams conduct business??  Isn't that a good thing?

Really?  You didn't find his comments out-of-bounds?  Here ya go: Taken from https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/30945058/make-amends-seattle-mariners-ceo-kevin-mather-take-back-45-disastrous-minutes-disrespectful-words

"Over the course of a 45-minute chat to a local Rotary Club in early February, Seattle Mariners CEO Kevin Mather disparaged a Japanese player for not learning English, belittled a star prospect from the Dominican Republic for his language skills and derided another top prospect while admitting to manipulating his service time. He called his team's best pitcher "very boring" and embellished the pitcher's actions in a clubhouse incident, told another falsehood about a well-respected veteran and complained that the franchise's best player over the past decade was "overpaid.""

Here is the rest of the story for that Dominican prospect:

 

 

[beatlesrule]

I don't agree with belittling but A LOT of teams manipulate service time. He could have worded the language thing differently and Seager IS overpaid so I don't see what is wrong with that statement. Everyone knows Pujols is overpaid and his contract is one of the worst all time so I would have no problem with an Angels president saying that. I mean, it's over and done with and he stepped down but I agree that this is more a product of the time we are living in. I applaud his honesty though.

[Angelsfan1984]

3 minutes ago, beatlesrule said:

I don't agree with belittling but A LOT of teams manipulate service time. He could have worded the language thing differently and Seager IS overpaid so I don't see what is wrong with that statement. Everyone knows Pujols is overpaid and his contract is one of the worst all time so I would not have a problem with an Angels president saying that. I mean, it's over and done with and he is stepped down but I agree that this is more a product of the time we are living in. I applaud his honesty though.

You just don’t say that. Even from a PR perspective...would you want to go play there if you’re foreign born? Considering the league has such a presence overseas this is a nightmare for the mariners. 

[ScottT]

39 minutes ago, Fourts said:

I continually am amazed at the dumb things my gender does day in and day out.  Unsolicited  and unnecessary things that get us in trouble, makes us look like fools/idiots, etc.  Thank God women haven't figured out a way to guarantee a girl when making a baby (artificial or natural)....us Men might finally be doomed when that day comes. 

Oy vey.

[Stradling]

9 minutes ago, beatlesrule said:

I don't agree with belittling but A LOT of teams manipulate service time. He could have worded the language thing differently and Seager IS overpaid so I don't see what is wrong with that statement. Everyone knows Pujols is overpaid and his contract is one of the worst all time so I would not have a problem with an Angels president saying that. I mean, it's over and done with and he is stepped down but I agree that this is more a product of the time we are living in. I applaud his honesty though.

And I am sure you would love if your boss shit on you to the media.  How unprofessional.  And why wouldn’t you have a problem with it?  Would it make you feel better some how?  

[Don]

49 minutes ago, Stradling said:

Well he stepped down and no one is complaining about that decision.  He said that one of his prospects needed to work on his English.  I heard an interview with him from last spring training and he was fluent in English.  He admitted to manipulating service time.  Which means every minor league player worth a damn in that organization, especially JRod and Kelenic could file a grievance with the league.  Nothing he said could be construed as “a good thing”. 

Yeah, the service time thing is probably what did him in the most. Everyone knows it goes on, but so far nobody has been able to get any sort of real recourse because no front office will openly admit to doing it and they can ostensibly stand behind the "we want him to work on his defense, K rate, baserunning, etc..." Now that this has happened, there's no way he can remain a part of the Mariners organization because it would open them up to some potential lawsuits. 

[floplag]

3 hours ago, Stradling said:

Then say they didn’t sign anyone, instead of saying we’ve ignored these options.  

give me a break... this place is beyond toxic at times. 

[floplag]

3 hours ago, Dtwncbad said:

You didn’t grade in results.  You added a fantasy narrative.

its called opinion, you might try listening to other peoples once in a while. 

[beatlesrule]

10 minutes ago, Stradling said:

And I am sure you would love if your boss shit on you to the media.  How unprofessional.  And why wouldn’t you have a problem with it?  Would it make you feel better some how?  

Like if I'm Pujols? Why would I care? I am getting 30 million from him this year.

[failos]

1 hour ago, rafibomb said:

Mathers resigned

 

Haha

[Inside Pitch]

2 hours ago, rafibomb said:

Mathers resigned

 

Man, the presser was brutal.  Ryan Divish and others asked questions the owner just had no answers for.  The Lorena Martin issue was brought up and the only response was that it was settled out of court.  So she received a payout basically.  

[Inside Pitch]

2 hours ago, beatlesrule said:

I am not going to watch the 46 min video but what was so wrong with the things he said?

Good lord man, if you can't be bothered to actually listen to what he said and more importantly how he said it then there is no point wasting any time discussing it with you, because yours is an ignorant position at hello. 

When I say ignorant I mean it in the true sense of the word and not as an attempt to insult you, you simply have to hear what he says and how he says it to understand what's wrong about it.  The tone was pretty much everything, although maybe reading the full transcript at least gives you a view of his arrogance and contempt.. 

He basically said all the things out loud that it's clear their organization says behind closed doors. It was a pretty brutal look into how little they value people and their prejudices, which after the Martin issues two years ago is a particularly bad look. 

To try to paint it as a refreshingly transparent view is laughable.

[eligrba]

The big question for the Mariners to respond to is whether Mathers is an isolated case or represents a greater issue in the organization. My guess is that Mathers is not saying anything that has not already been said in the Mariner organization offices.  I am also guessing every agent of every international player on the Mariners is on the phone asking questions of the front office.

[ukyah]

6 hours ago, Erstad Grit said:

Several RP I was low-key wanting are now signing minor league deals on other teams. 

everybody is signing with other teams.

[Angels 1961]

1 hour ago, eligrba said:

I remember June telling Ward you were really hard on the beaver last night

[Ender]

Mather is and was a cancer and I'm glad he's been cut away, by his own doing. Too bad it took this long. 

Don't kid yourself thinking that people like him aren't prevalent in the highest positions in most baseball orgs. Most are smart enough to not publicly make fools of themselves though. 

Real bad look on the Mariners, but I wouldn't blame Dipoto or Servais for any of this mess.