The Week That Was: November 4 – 10

Hot stove, Oakland A’s are no longer, Aaron Boone sticking around

Welcome back to The Week That Was. Even tough we’re in the offseason it was still a busy week. Aaron Boone got to keep his job, the Marlins found a manager, Shohei Ohtani underwent surgery, and a bunch of New Yorkers are flying to California to make pitches to Juan Soto.

So let’s just jump right into things.

Roki Sasaki

Our own Brandon Day has already gotten into the excitement about Japanese pitcher Roki Sasaki , but you can expect to hear a heck of a lot about him over the coming weeks as he is posted and MLB teams start to fight for the opportunity to sign him.

Because Sasaki is under 25 and hasn’t completed six years of foreign service, he isn’t going to be expecting a huge payday, so teams aren’t going to have to mortgage their stadiums to get him. He’ll be subject to international amateur signing bonus rules (the same rules that applied to Shohei Ohtani when the Angels signed him).

Here’s some more info on Sasaki to dig into:

• Mark Feinsand looks at who the favorites are to land Sasaki .
• What are the chances of Sasaki heading to the Dodgers?
• Not sure how the signing process for Sasaki is going to work? Jonathan Mayo explains it all.
• Tim Capurso looks at the move of Sasaki out of the Japanese league .

Juan Soto Sweepstakes

Ohhhh boy, Juan Soto is poised to get PAID this offseason, and teams are already starting to woo the Yankees ’ slugger. Soto is likely to net the highest payday of the offseason, but there’s a lot of questions as to where he’s going to wind up.

For starters, Mets ’ owner Steve Cohen planned to head to California to meet with Soto and his agent Scott Boras in person over the weekend . He wasn’t the only New York team owner willing to hop on a private jet to make a personal appeal, as Yankees’ owner Hal Steinbrenner had plans to do the same thing .

With Scott Boras in the mix, it’s likely that Soto isn’t going to jump at the first offers he hears, so you can expect a lot of speculation in the coming weeks about which team is going to be willing to spend what it takes.

Yankees Making Moves (But Not Managerial Ones)

The Yankees are doing more than just wooing Juan Soto. On Friday they announced that the team would pick up the 2025 option on manager Aaron Boone’s contract . This shouldn’t come as much of a surprise since Boone helped navigate the Yankees through a rough start to the 2024 season all the way to the World Series . However, all was not certain, considering the Yankees were nearly swept in the World Series and superstar slugger Aaron Judge couldn’t seem to get a hit.

It would appear that while the roster is in question for 2025, the managerial position is all locked up.

Marlins Manager Update

Hot Stove Updates

• Mark Feinsand checks in on the top 25 free agents .
• Thomas Harrigan thinks Blake Snell has a better case on the free agent market this year .
• The Angels have added former Cub Kyle Hendricks .

Quick Hits

• Checking in on the performances from the AFL All-Star Game .
• Jay Jaffe has started breaking down the cases for the candidates eligible for the Hall on the Classic Baseball Era Committee, starting with Steve Garvey . He also goes over the ballot and how few surprises are on it .
• Here’s a look at that ballot

• The General Managers’ meeting exposed some front-office thoughts about starting pitcher innings .
• Scott Boras continues to say ridiculous things, and the internet has some feedback .
• Clayton Kershaw has made a promising update about his return to the Dodgers .

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