With the 2010 MLB season in the books, hot stove season is officially underway. In addition to this week's rumors and transactions, we also had our share of original content at MLBTR. Here's a recap:
- Free agents have been able to negotiate with any team for nearly 24 hours now, but November 7th isn't the only important offseason date to remember. Check out our offseason calendar for all the upcoming dates you need to know.
- There are even more ways to keep track of the latest updates from MLBTR, as we introduced two new features this week: an iPhone app, and Facebook pages for each of baseball's 30 teams.
- Ben Nicholson-Smith offered a few reasons why teams extend their young starting pitchers, and Tim Dierkes countered with a few reasons why teams may prefer to go year to year.
- Tim shared his full list of potential non-tender candidates, and added a few more "not quite" non-tender candidates. Ben provided some context by breaking down non-tenders from recent seasons, including last year's group.
- Our previews of the free agent and trade markets continued, with a spotlight on pitching. We examined the trade market for right-handed and left-handed starters, while our look at the free agent market zeroed in on right-handed starters and relievers, and left-handed starters and relievers.
- Ben explained why the Mets decided to hire J.P. Ricciardi.
- Steve Adams weighed Scott Podsednik's stock as he heads into free agency, while Tim examined Casey Kotchman as a non-tender candidate.
- Mike Axisa's series on amateur signing bonuses focused on four National League teams this week – the Pirates, Cardinals, Padres, and Giants.
- Mike also provided a super-sized edition of Baseball Blogs Weigh In.
- You voted on which big-name free agent would be the first to sign a contract.
- And finally, the transcript of this week's chat can be found here.
Gosh…I still can’t believe it…Imagine if A-Gon was traded this past summer…He would have brought a haul of prospects in return. Then you say to yourself, the same type of player was traded at the same type of time, and the return was Casey Kotchman and Stephen Marek…Crazy!