Hot Stove: 1/7

History of Baseball: 1900
National League Champion: Brooklyn Superbas (82-54, .603 WPCT).
Before the 1900 season, the National League dropped four teams: the Louisville Colonels, Cleveland Spiders, Baltimore Orioles, and Washington Senators.  The eight remaining teams will all survive to this date and will be the only teams in the NL until 1962.  Additionally, the St. Louis Perfectos underwent their second name change in as many years, settling on the Cardinals.  When the Colonels disbanded, the Pirates took in three notable players.  Fred Clarke, arguably Louisville's best player, joined the outfield and went on to a Hall of Fame career.  Rube Waddell, a young pitcher, joined the Pittsburgh rotation and quickly became one of the best pitchers in the majors, making the Hall of Fame in 1946, a year after Clarke.  Lastly, Honus Wagner, already a star at this point, joined his hometown Pirates and went on to define the team.  The greatest shortstop ever, at least in my opinion, would be elected into the Hall of Fame in its inaugural class in 1936.  On July 7th, Boston's Kid Nichols became the sixth member of the 300 win club, joining Pud Galvin, Tim Keefe, Mickey Welch, Old Hoss Radbourn, and John Clarkson.  To this day, Nichols remains the youngest pitcher ever to reach the mark, doing so at only 30 years old.  On July 17th, a 19 year old righty, still attending classes at Bucknell University, debuted with the New York Giants.  After appearing in six games (and going 0-3 with a 5.03 ERA), the young Christopher Mathewson was sent back to the independent minor leagues with the Giants demanding their money back.  It would be a long, long time before anyone was "dissatisfied" with Mathewson's performance again. As it turned out, Wee Willie Keeler was extremely valuable to Brooklyn, as they won their second straight National League title, compiling a record of 183-101 (.644 WPCT) since his acquisition.  The Superbas finished 4.5 games ahead of the overhauled Pirates team, as they finished 79-60 in their first season with their Hall of Fame trio of Wagner, Waddell, and Clarke (they also had Happy Jack Chesbro, another Hall of Famer who was not acquired from Louisville).  Still building their dynasty, the New York Giants finished last at 60-78, 23 games out of first place.  Honus Wagner earned his first of what would be many, many batting titles, clocking in at .381, well ahead of a second place Elmer Flick of Philadelphia (.367).  Boston's Herman Long paced the league with 12 home runs, followed closely by Flick's 11.  Flick did lead the league in RBI, bringing his season stat line to 11 HR, 110 RBI, .367 AVG.  However, I would have given the MVP to Honus Wagner, who in addition to leading the league with his .381 average, stood atop the NL in doubles (45), triples (22), slugging percentage (.573), and OPS (1.007), easily compensating for the fact that he only hit four home runs.  Joe McGinnity, the sensational Baltimore rookie from 1899, powered the Superbas to the pennant by going 28-8 with a 2.94 ERA.  He was the only pitcher to win more than 20 games.  Pittsburgh's Deacon Phillippe was just as good, going 20-13 with a 2.84 ERA and a second place 1.13 WHIP.  Rube Waddell, in his first full season, went 8-13 with a 2.37 ERA and a 1.11 WHIP in 29 games (22 starts), establishing himself as one of the best pitchers in baseball.  Cy Young, in his second season with St. Louis (in my last blog, I erroneously said he was with Boston), posted the first non-winning season of his career, finishing at 19-19 despite a solid 3.00 ERA and 1.16 WHIP.  After the season, the Reds picked up Christy Mathewson from the Virginia-North Carolina League (which he had been sent down to after being sold by the Giants).  Cincinnati proceeded to make the most lopsided trade in major league history.  They spun Mathewson back to the Giants in exchange for future Hall of Famer Amos Rusie.  Although Rusie had not pitched in the majors since 1898, the Reds believed they could get something out of him.  As it turned out, he went 0-1 with an 8.59 ERA in 1901 before retiring.  On the other hand, Mathewson went 372-185 with a 2.10 ERA and was elected into the Hall of Fame in its inaugural class in 1936.  Rusie would be elected in 1977.  During the offseason, rumors began bubbling about a new league that would join in 1901 and rival the National League.

News
37 year old former Silver Slugger winner Aubrey Huff announced his retirement after 13 major league seasons.
34 year old, two time World Series Champion Ryan Theriot retired after eight major league seasons.
Top Twins prospect Eddie Rosario has been suspended for 50 games for a second positive test for a non-performance-enhancing drug.

For many years, Aubrey Huff, Carl Crawford, and Scott Kazmir formed the lone bright spots in the dismal Tampa Bay Devil Rays seasons.  With his team mired in last place year after year, Huff supplied the power and at least kept the Devil Rays from losing worse than the 1899 Cleveland Spiders, who went 20-134.  He grew up in Mineral Wells, Texas, an exurb well outside of Fort Worth.  He went to Vernon College in Texas for two years, then spent his junior and senior years at the University of Miami, where he was a standout third baseman.  In 1998, the Devil Rays took him in the fifth round.  He made the big leagues in 2000, where at the age of 23 he knocked four home runs and batted .287 in his 39 game cup of coffee.  In 2001, he earned the opportunity to play a full season at the big league level, knocking eight home runs and batting .248 in 111 games.  In 2002, he bursted out for a breakout season.  In 113 games, he hit 23 home runs and batted .313, striking out only 55 times.  One of the games newest stars, he played in every game in 2003 and put up the best year of his career.  Through those 162 games, he hit 34 home runs, drove in 107, and batted .311 while also adding 47 doubles and 198 hits.  2004 was another great year, as he hit 29 home runs, drove in 104, and batted .297 in 157 games.  In 2005, his production slipped a little, but he still hit 22 home runs, drove in 92, and batted .261 with a career high eight stolen bases.  Huff was involved in a midseason trade in 2006 that sent him from Tampa Bay to Houston, and he responded with 21 home runs and a .267 average between the two.  In 2007, he joined the Orioles, and though he hit just 15 home runs (his lowest total since 2001), he brought his average back up to .280 and slugged 34 doubles, his highest total since 2003.  His 2007 production was a foreshadow to a career renaissance in 2008, where he hit 32 home runs, drove in 108 (a career high), and batted .308 with 48 doubles (also a career high).  That all lead to a Silver Slugger for the 31 year old DH as he snatched away what would have been David Ortiz' fifth straight.  Huff split the 2009 season between the Orioles and the Tigers, but his struggles with Detroit brought his season totals to 15 home runs, 85 RBI, and a .241 average, the lowest of his career.  He joined the Giants in 2010 and had a big comeback season.  In 157 games, he hit 26 home runs, drove in 86, and batted .290, even knocking 35 doubles.  As the Giants won the NL West, he got his first taste of postseason baseball.  Through 15 games, he batted .268 (15-56), while his two run home run in Game 4 of the World Series gave the Giants the lead.  San Francisco had ridden his rally thong, a bright red garment that he wore for good luck, and it worked.  After helping the Giants win the World Series in 2010, he returned in 2011 for his final full season.  Playing in 150 games, the 34 year old hit 12 home runs and batted .246.  Injuries hampered him in 2012, the final year of his career.  Though he appeared in only 52 games for the season and batted just .192 with one home run, he was able to join the team for their run at the World Series championship.  He went 1-9, his lone hit coming in Game 2 of the NLCS as San Francisco rode to its second World Series title in three years.  After sitting out the 2013 season, he officially announced his retirement in the offseason.  For his career, he hit 242 home runs, drove in 904, and batted .278 with 360 doubles in 1681 games.  He currently holds single season Rays records for hits (198), doubles (47), total bases (353), and extra base hits (84).  All of those occurred in 2003.

Ryan Theriot is calling it a career after eight major league seasons.  At just 5'11" and 185 pounds, he wasn't the biggest player on the field, but he was always valuable.  He was drafted out of LSU by the Cubs in the third round of the 2001 draft, but struggled in the minors.  It would not be until 2004, with High Class A Daytona, that he finally batted over .252 (clocking in at .273).  He hit over .300 for AA West Tennessee in 2005, and there was no looking back.  On September 15th, he made his major league debut.  Though he played just nine games (and went 2-13 in the process for a .154 average), he would be back again in 2006, that time for good.  He hit .304 in 73 games for AAA Iowa, and after a pair of brief, unsuccessful call ups early in the season, he came back in August for a third time and batted .347 with a trio of home runs in 43 games from there on out.  Playing in his first full season in 2007, now 27 years old, Theriot batted .266 with three home runs, but also smacked 30 doubles and stole 28 bases in just 32 tries.  He posted a breakout year in 2008, batting .307 with 22 stolen bases, the former of which was enough to lead all National League second basemen, ahead of Skip Schumaker's .302 and Chase Utley's .292.  In 2009, he saw a power surge and hit seven home runs, equal to that of the first four years of his career combined, while batting .284 with 21 stolen bases.  He split 2010 between the Cubs and Dodgers, totaling only two home runs but batting .270 with 20 stolen bases.  It was his fourth straight year with at least 20 stolen bases.  Theriot then joined the Cardinals in 2011, and batted .271 in 132 games, but stole just four bases.  The Cardinals won the NL Central, and he went 6-10 with two doubles in the NLDS to lead them over the Phillies.  As it turned out, Theriot got his ring after St. Louis won the World Series.  In 2012, he joined the Giants, and hit .270 as a back-up infielder, stealing 13 bases.  The Giants won the NL West and he joined them on their ride to a World Series Championship, giving him two rings in two years.  In addition, he had won the NCAA National Championship with LSU in 2000.  A free agent in the 2012-2013 offseason, he did not find a team willing to give him enough playing time, and he sat out, then retired the following offseason (like a few days ago).  He finished a career .258 postseason hitter over 25 games, but had more success during the regular season.  Over eight seasons from 2005-2012, he hit 17 home runs and batted .281 with 121 stolen bases and 138 doubles in 899 games.  He is one of 32 players to steal 100 bases in a Cubs uniform.

Free Agent Signings
Indians signed Jeff Francoeur (3 HR, 17 RBI, .204 AVG, 3 SB, 2014 age: 30) to a minor league deal.
Indians signed Scott Atchison (3-3, 4.37 ERA, 1.26 WHIP, 2014 age: 38) to a minor league deal.
Pirates signed Chris Dickerson (4 HR, 13 RBI, .238 AVG, 5 SB, 2014 age: 32) to a minor league deal.
Mets signed Taylor Teagarden (2 HR, 5 RBI, .167 AVG, 0 SB, 2014 age: 30) to a minor league deal.

Waiver Claims
Cardinals claimed minor leaguer Rafael Ortega (1 HR, 10 RBI, .228 AVG, 9 SB at AA, 2014 age: 23) off waivers from the Rangers.

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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 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