Hot Stove: 1/24

History of Baseball: 1905
World Series Champions: New York Giants (105-48, .686 WPCT).
The 1905 season saw player dynamics in three major categories.  Pete Browning, the superstar Louisville hitter from the 1880's, died of multiple complications with alcohol and mastoiditis.  Jesse Burkett, a great 1890's hitter, retired after the season, his 16th, with an amazing .338 career batting average.  Though the two greats, both future Hall of Famers, had moved on in one way or another, another player stepped in to take their place.  On August 30th, the Detroit Tigers brought up an 18 year old Georgia farm boy whose mother had just murdered his father three weeks ago.  The boy, named Tyrus Raymond "Ty" Cobb, would go on to turn the game upside down with his all out, bush-league, downright psychotic style of play for 24 years. Though he only batted .240 in 41 games in 1905, he would be a national sensation soon enough.  An interesting occurrence came on June 29th, when the Giants put 28 year old Moonlight Graham in right field in the eighth inning.  He would not bat in the game and would never return to the majors, but he was featured in the movie "Field of Dreams" and for some odd reason, he still remains famous to this day.  As the season closed, the Giants had easily won the NL again, finishing with over 100 wins for the second straight season.  Going 105-48, they ended up a comfortable nine games ahead of the Pirates (96-57).  The AL was much closer.  The Philadelphia Athletics and Chicago White Sox battled it out until season's end, but Philly finished two games ahead of Chicago at 92-56.  Chicago was 92-60.  The Brooklyn Superbas, once a great team, had the worst record in all of baseball at 48-104, 56.5 games behind the Giants.  Interestingly, the Boston Americans, who had won the AL in 1903 and 1904, went just 78-74 and finished fourth in the AL.  The Giants and A's met in the World Series, and in one of the greatest pitchers' Series of all time, New York prevailed four games to one.  In each game, the winning pitcher tossed a complete game shutout.  With four of the five starting pitchers to appear in the games going into the Hall of Fame (and the fifth having a career year), what else could you expect?  On an individual level, Cincinnati's Cy Seymour was a one man wrecking crew.  He led all of baseball with his .377 average and 121 RBI.  Honus Wagner of Pittsburgh was close behind him in average, clocking in at .363, while the Giants' Mike Donlin hit .356.  Seymour's teammate, Fred Odwell, led the majors with nine home runs.  From the mound, 1905 was a story of two pitchers.  In the NL, New York's Christy Mathewson won the pitchers' Triple Crown by going 31-9 with a 1.28 ERA and 206 strikeouts, not to mention a 0.93 WHIP (which also led the NL).  Add on his three shutouts in the World Series, and he was 34-9 with a 1.18 ERA and a 0.91 WHIP in 46 games (40 starts).  Philadelphia's Rube Waddell was to the AL what Mathewson was to the NL.  He also won the pitchers' Triple Crown, going 27-10 with a 1.48 ERA, 287 strikeouts, and a 0.98 WHIP.  Cy Young led the majors with a 0.87 WHIP to go along with an 18-19 record and a 1.82 ERA.  The Giants' Claud Elliot, who pitched in only 22 games in his two year career, unknowingly set a new record by recording six saves in the season.  He would not pitch again in the majors.

News
Japanese superstar Masahiro Tanaka has decided to join the New York Yankees.
It appears that the Brewers have a deal with Matt Garza, but some sources claim that negotiations are ongoing.

Trades
Padres traded Logan Forsythe (6 HR, 19 RBI, .214 AVG, 6 SB, 2014 age: 27), Brad Boxberger (0-1, 2.86 ERA, 1.45 WHIP, 1 SV, 2014 age: 26), and minor leaguers Matt Andriese (11-7, 3.27 ERA, 1.22 WHIP at AA and AAA, 2014 age: 24), Maxx Tissenbaum (2 HR, 49 RBI, .277 AVG, 4 SB at Class A, 2014 age: 22-23), and Matt Lollis (3-8, 4.62 ERA, 1.69 WHIP at High Class A, AA, and AAA, 2014 age: 23) to the Rays for Alex Torres (4-2, 1.71 ERA, 0.90 WHIP, 2014 age: 26) and minor leaguer Jesse Hahn (2-1, 2.09 ERA, 1.12 WHIP at GCL and High Class A, 2014 age: 24-25).

This seven player deal is a bit hard to comprehend, especially since very few high profile players were involved. As it seems to me, the Rays got the upper hand in it by acquiring a solid back-up outfielder, a young back-end reliever, and three prospects in exchange for a reliever and a prospect.  The player who attracted the most attention in the deal was Logan Forsythe, a 27 year old Memphis native who will work into the Rays outfield.  With Desmond Jennings, Will Myers, and Matt Joyce likely holding down starting spots, Forsythe will battle with David DeJesus and Brandon Guyer for a back-up slot.  His best season was 2012, when he hit six home runs, batted .273, and stole eight bases 91 games for the Padres.  For his career, he has 12 home runs, 57 RBI, and a .241 average with 17 stolen bases in 228 games.  The Rays also got Brad Boxberger, a 25 year old reliever who was involved in the Mat Latos deal in 2012.  Boxberger has back-end potential and could be closer in the near future.  He holds a 2.72 career ERA over 42 appearances from 2012-2013.  Heading the prospects is 24 year old starter Matt Andriese, who has had a lot of success in the minors.  Over his three year minor league career, he is 26-16 with a 3.19 ERA through 66 games (59 starts) across multiple levels.  He will likely start the season at AAA, but could be a September call-up next year.  Maxx Tissenbaum lacks power, but he is an on base machine.  He posted on-base percentages of .399 and .365 in his two years in the minors, and if you put up his two year career (which totals about one full season), he's pretty good: 5 HR, 78 RBI, .282 AVG, 6 SB in 159 games.  He won't be 23 until July, so the Stony Brook product has plenty of time to develop.  The last player acquired by Tampa Bay was Matt Lollis, a 23 year old reliever who reached AAA last season.  At 6'9", 250 pounds, Lollis is quite an imposing figure, but he struggled upon reaching the upper levels last year.  After holding a 2.32 ERA at High Class A Lake Elsinore, he struggled to a 6.28 mark between AA San Antonio and AAA Tucson.  
The Padres only got two players out of the deal, which I personally don't think is enough, but they were two good players.  Alex Torres was the main return.  Although widely unknown outside of Tampa, the lefty put up a very solid rookie season.  In 39 appearances, he went 4-2 with a 1.71 ERA and a 0.90 WHIP, striking out 62 in 58 innings.  He has shown the ability to get both lefties and righties out, and is 5-3 with a 1.91 ERA and a 1.02 WHIP over his two year career, encompassing 43 appearances.  San Diego also acquired minor league starter Jesse Hahn, a Virginia Tech product who has been absolutely dominant in his limited action.  Over two minor league seasons between the GCL, Short Season, and High Class A, he is 4-3 with a 2.38 ERA and a 1.07 WHIP in 34 starts.  At High Class A Port Charlotte, his highest level, he was 2-1 with a 2.15 ERA and a 1.09 WHIP in 19 starts. 

Free Agent Signings
Yankees signed Masahiro Tanaka (24-0, 1.27 ERA, 0.94 WHIP, 2014 age: 25) to a seven year, $155 million deal ($22.14 million per season).
Rays signed Grant Balfour (1-3, 2.59 ERA, 1.20 WHIP, 38 SV, 2014 age: 36) to a two year, $12 million deal ($6 million per season).
Red Sox signed Grady Sizemore (missed 2013, 139 career HR, .269 AVG, 2014 age: 31) to a one year, $750,000 deal (up to $5.25 million in incentives).
Indians signed David Aardsma (2-2, 4.31 ERA, 1.46 WHIP, 2014 age: 32) to a minor league deal.
Phillies signed Bobby Abreu (missed 2013, 287 career HR, .292 AVG, 2014 age: 40) to a minor league deal.
Nationals signed Clay Hensley (missed 2013, 4.00 career ERA, 10 SV, 2014 age: 34) to a minor league deal.
Mariners resigned Endy Chavez (2 HR, 14 RBI, .267 AVG, 1 SB, 2014 age: 36) to a minor league deal.
Royals signed Chris Resop (1-1, 6.00 ERA, 1.78 WHIP, 2014 age: 31) to a minor league deal.
White Sox resigned Brian Omogrosso (0-2, 9.37 ERA, 2.27 WHIP, 2014 age: 30) to a minor league deal.

The man whose name appeared in news stories all throughout the offseason and who garnered $155 million before even throwing a major league pitch has finally chosen a team.  With his seven year, $155 million monster contract that dwarfs that of Yu Darvish (six years, $60 million), Masahiro Tanaka has officially become a member of the New York Yankees.  The 25 year old righty is possibly the best move the Yankees have made all offseason.  The Brian McCann deal was critical, but the Bombers needed to splurge on Tanaka.  First off, the Dodgers have been trying to knock the Yankees off the top of the spending game, and New York has a rep it needs to keep up.  Second off, and more importantly, the Yankees' rotation is in shambles.  With the departures of Andy Pettitte (retired) and Phil Hughes (to the Twins), all that remained was C.C. Sabathia, Hiroki Kuroda, Ivan Nova, and Michael Pineda.  On top of that, Sabathia is coming off the worst season of his career, Nova is a bit of a wild card, and Pineda hasn't thrown a major league pitch since 2011.  The addition of Tanaka gives the Yankees a clear cut ace as well as a much needed arm to solidify the rotation.  In my opinion, the Yankees should even go a step further and sign a guy like Ervin Santana or trade for a guy like Jeff Samardzija.  Now, back to Tanaka.  Just look at his stats from Japan, and you know he is insanely good.  He began his career with the Rakuten Golden Eagles back in 2007, where he was 11-7 with a 3.82 ERA as an 18 year old.  That's even younger than Bryce Harper was in his rookie season with the Nationals.  After ascending the ranks of the NPB (Nippon Professional Baseball), he burst out in 2011 with a downright unbelievable season.  At just 22 years old, he went 19-5 with a 1.27 ERA and a 0.87 WHIP.  Despite making only 27 starts, he completed 14 games and tossed six shutouts, averaging over 8 1/3 innings per start.  Oh yeah, and he struck out 241 batters, an average of almost nine per start.  2013 was his other great season.  In 28 starts, he went 24-0 with a 1.27 ERA and a 0.93 WHIP as he tossed another eight complete games.  For his career, he was 99-35 with a 2.30 ERA and a 1.11 WHIP in 175 games (172 starts).  As a comparison, Yu Darvish was 93-38 with a 1.99 ERA and a 0.99 WHIP in 167 games (164 starts). 

The Rays got their closer to replace Fernando Rodney, and he comes in the form of Grant Balfour.  The fiery Australian will be making his second tour of duty with Tampa Bay, having pitched for them from 2007-2010.  He originally agreed to terms with the Orioles back in December, but the deal was called off due to problems with his physical.  However controversial he has been, Balfour has consistently gotten the job done, whatever it may be or have been.  As a set-up man on the miracle 2008 Rays, he went 6-2 with a 1.54 ERA and a 0.89 WHIP as they pushed to the World Series.  He continued to post excellent numbers as a set-up man until the A's appointed him closer in 2012.  In 75 appearances (5th in the AL), he posted a 2.53 ERA and a 0.92 WHIP while saving 24 games in 26 tries.  As a full season closer in 2013, he excelled again, this time with a 2.59 ERA and 38 saves in 41 tries.  For his career, he is 28-17 with a 3.27 ERA, a 1.19 WHIP, and 72 saves in 463 games (1 unsuccessful start, back in 2003 with the Twins).  

-- 
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 leave a comment.
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