Hot Stove: 12/23

History of Baseball: 1897
National League Champions: Boston Beaneaters (93-39, .705 WPCT).
Tragedy struck baseball early in 1897, as Old Hoss Radbourn, arguably the best pitcher of the 1880's, died in Bloomington, Illinois at 42.  I look at 1897 as the changing of the guard.  Cap Anson, who had been in baseball since the beginning of the National Association in 1871, retired after 27 professional seasons, 22 of which were played with the Chicago White Stockings/Colts in the National League.  Late in the 1897 season, he also became the first player in major league history to reach 3000 hits, finishing with 97 home runs, 1879 RBI, and a .331 career average.  Although baseball's greatest player was retiring, a new, 23 year old rookie that would replace Anson as the best broke in with Louisville.  His name was John Peter "Honus" Wagner, and he would go on to define baseball for the early years of the 20th century.  In his rookie 1897 campaign, he batted .350 with a pair of home runs in 61 games.  Debuting on the same Louisville team with Wagner would be Rube Waddell, also a future Hall of Famer.  Louisville now had three future Hall of Famers (to go along with Fred Clark), all of which would be traded before their prime.  On September 18th, Cy Young threw the first no-hitter of his career, though Cleveland was already out of the race for the division crown.  Throughout the season, Baltimore and Boston battled it out for the top spot in the NL.  In the end, the Beaneaters broke the Orioles' string of three straight championships by taking the NL with a 93-39 record.  The Orioles finished two games back at 90-40.  For the first time since 1893, Louisville did not finish last.  Instead, the St. Louis Browns struggled to a 29-102 record, a good 63.5 games behind the Beaneaters.  In the final Temple Cup (it would be discontinued after the season), Baltimore beat Boston four games to one, therefore claiming two of the four Temple Cups.  Baltimore's Wee Willie Keeler ended up running away with the batting title, clocking in at .424, now the third highest average of all time.  Louisville's Fred Clark finished second at .390.  Boston's Hugh Duffy led baseball in home runs with 11, adding 129 RBI and a .340 average.  New York Giants shortstop George Davis knocked ten home runs, drove in 136 (led league), and batted .353.  Billy Hamilton, who had been traded from Philadelphia to Boston before the 1896 season, led baseball with 152 runs scored.  New York's Amos Rusie led baseball in ERA, combining his 2.54 mark with a 28-10 record.  Boston's Kid Nichols led in wins and WHIP, going 31-11 with a 2.64 ERA and a 1.17 WHIP.  Baltimore was led by two pitchers who experienced breakout seasons; Jerry Nops, in his first full season, went 20-6 with a 2.81 ERA in 30 games (25 starts), while Joe Corbett, in his only full season, went 24-8 with a 3.11 ERA in 37 starts.

News
Former White Sox catcher Ed Herrmann, who played from 1967-1978 and made the 1974 AL All Star Team, passed away at 67 years old.
Former Giant Brett Pill has signed a contract to play for the KIA Tigers of the Korean Baseball Organization.

Trades
Royals traded David Lough (5 HR, 33 RBI, .286 AVG, 5 SB, 2014 age: 28) to the Orioles for Danny Valencia (8 HR, 23 RBI, .304 AVG, 0 SB, 2014 age: 29).

Free Agent Signings
Rangers agreed to terms with Shin-Soo Choo (21 HR, 54 RBI, .285 AVG, 20 SB, 2014 age: 31-32) on a seven year, $130 million deal ($18.57 million per season).
Dodgers resigned J.P. Howell (4-1, 2.03 ERA, 1.05 WHIP, 2014 age: 31) to a two year, $11.25 million deal ($5.63 million per season).
Nationals agreed to terms with Chris Snyder (0 HR, 1 RBI, .100 AVG, 0 SB, 2014 age: 33) on a minor league deal.
Yankees agreed to terms with Brian Roberts (8 HR, 39 RBI, .249 AVG, 3 SB, 2014 age: 36) on a one year, $2 million deal.

The biggest free agent left, Shin-Soo Choo, has signed with the Texas Rangers.  He joins for seven years and $130 million, the largest contract ever given to an Asian athlete in any sport, taking over from Ichiro Suzuki's five year, $90 million deal from 2007.  This deal likely takes the Rangers out of the Masahiro Tanaka sweepstakes, but they sure got something special in Choo, who will join Alex Rios and Leonys Martin in the Texas outfield.  The South Korea native hits for good power with a very good average and good speed.  He is also an above average fielder.  Aside from his all around style of play, Choo is noted for his uncanny knack for getting on base.  He holds a career on-base percentage of .389, which is eighth highest total among active players.  He also has been in the top ten in his league in OBP in four of the last five seasons, even finishing second in the NL last year at .423, behind only teammate Joey Votto (.435).  His best year was 2010, when he batted .300 with 22 home runs, 90 RBI, and 22 stolen bases in 144 games.  Last year, he knocked 21 home runs and batted .285 with 20 stolen bases, marking his third 20-20 season of his career.  He also set career highs with 107 runs scored, 112 walks, and a .423 on base percentage.  For his career, he has 104 home runs, 427 RBI, and a .288 average with 105 stolen bases in 853 games for the Mariners (2005-2006), Indians (2006-2012), and Reds (2013).  

The Nationals brought on Chris Snyder as a backup catcher for the 2014 season.  He is a low-risk, high-reward option.  Worst case scenario, Snyder struggles in spring training and is released with minimal financial consequences.  Best case scenario, the Nationals have one of the best catching combinations between Wilson Ramos and Snyder as the latter goes back to his 2007-2010 form and provides a solid backup.  Snyder is not guaranteed the backup spot, as he will have to battle with Jhonatan Solano and Sandy Leon to claim it.  The Houston native had his best years in 2007 and 2008.  In 2007, he hit 13 home runs and batted .252 in 110 games for the Diamondbacks.  In 2008, he hit 16 home runs and batted .237 in 115 games.  He also hit 15 home runs in 2010.  The 32 year old spent much of 2013 season at AAA, where he batted .273 with 13 home runs in 73 games.  He didn't play much in the majors, collecting two hits in twenty at bats for the Orioles.  For his career, he's hit 77 home runs and batted .224.  He's never stolen a base in 715 caareer games.

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Teams followed in this update: Washington Nationals, Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, Chicago Cubs, Tampa Bay Rays, Los Angeles Dodgers, Philadelphia Phillies, Colorado Rockies, Detroit Tigers
If your team is not included, please email me and I will add them.
HR: home runs.  RBI: runs batted in.  AVG: batting average.  SB: stolen bases.  ERA: earned run average. WHIP: walks/hits per innings pitched.  K's: strikeouts. WPCT: winning percentage
Zack Silverman