The Hot Stove is Sizzling

            Last year, it took until the winter meetings for the hot stove to heat up, but this year it’s already steaming with record-breaking contracts, rumors, and excitement.

            With all of the rumors that fly around during the hot stove season, it makes it almost as exciting to me as the regular season.

            The first move of the offseason was a big one—at least financially. Giancarlo Stanton cashed in huge, and even though he might have liked to have seen what other options were out there—a winning team perhaps—the Marlins made sure that was happening by luring him back with a $325 million 13 year contract, making him the highest paid player in the history of United States professional sports. Giancarlo has made less than $10 million in his first five years in the big leagues, but that changed in a big way for the 25 year-old slugger, who is now one of the highest-paid athletes in the world.

            Let’s have a look at just how filthy rich Stanton will become over the next 13 years. Whether or not he gets traded after the 6^th year of his contract (which is when he can opt out of the no-trade clause), he is guaranteed to make 68,493 per day for the next 13 years. That breaks down to $2,854 per hour and $48 per minute.  That $68,493 that he’ll earn per day is just $1,328 less than the average United States annual income. Wow.

            If Giancarlo were to pay the property taxes for every single taxpayer in Miami he would still have $85 million to burn. Stanton could buy the Miami Dolphins, he could run for Governor in Florida twice, he could send 1,827 kids to the University of Miami, he could take every single citizen of Miami out to lunch at his favorite restaurant chain—In ‘N’ Out Burger—87 times, or he could even buy over 40 minutes of advertising during a Super Bowl game. Giancarlo Stanton can seemingly do anything he wants. He may not be on Bill Gates’ level (yet), but he is darn rich, and what he’ll actually do with all that money, I have absolutely no idea.

            There’s a huge problem with the distribution of wealth in the United States of America, but that issue exists on a less visible scale in the game of baseball. Most people probably look at baseball and think that everyone in the game is making a ridiculous amount of money like Stanton is. But in face, players in Minor League Baseball are making between just $3,000 and $7,500. The issue is getting the attention that it deserves now that some former players are filing suing the MLB, but minor leaguers have been making well below minimum wage for a long time.

            Anyway, back to the offseason. The Red Sox front office staff had a very busy day on Monday, as the team made two huge deals, signing shortstop Hanley Ramirez, along with third baseman Pablo Sandoval. The Hanley deal comes exactly nine years after the Red Sox traded the standout shortstop to the Marlins in exchange for Josh Beckett and Mike Lowell. Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal reported that the Hanley deal is worth $88 million over four years with a fifth-year vesting option valued at $22 million.

            For the Panda deal, Jon Heyman of CBS Sports reported at about 4:30 AM EST that the Sox and Sandoval had agreed to five years and close to $100 million. Pablo’s agent then denied that rumor but at this point I think that it is safe to say that Panda and Hanley will be the left side of the Red Sox infield in 2015.

            I don’t expect any other earth shattering deals to come later in the offseason that will greatly affect the Red Sox offense. The pitching staff, on the other hand, needs some serious help. The Sox need to either make a top-dollar signing or a blockbuster trade if they want to be in contention in 2015. I am still skeptical of the idea that Jon Lester may be coming back. That isn’t because I don’t want to see him in a Red Sox uniform, but more because I don’t think that the club is willing to pay him enough money to come back. I think there’s a chance that Lester takes a hometown discount to stay in Boston but he probably won’t leave too much money on the table to come back.

            Many people are saying that the Red Sox won the offseason in one day, and that may be true, but Boston won’t be able to do anything in 2015 with out acquiring some starting pitching. One idea that I have is to look at trade possibilities with the Cincinnati Reds to try and bring in Johnny Cueto. It’s the final year of Cueto’s contract, which means that the Reds are willing to deal him. Cincinnati shortstop Zack Cozart hit just .221 last year, and now that Boston has a shortstop, they could look into trading Xander Bogaerts to the Reds.

            There are still big-market signings to be made, and surprises to come. The offseason is by far the most unpredictable part of the game, and I look forward to seeing what happens next.