A Baseball Whodunit

I don't know who you are. I don't know what you want. If you let baseball go now that'll be the end of it. Plus, the suc [View this email in your browser]( A Baseball Whodunit Following a tease transaction involving a potential [Gerrit Cole]( trade to the [Astros]( early Wednesday, a real, actual signing took place. [Jay Bruce]( homecoming to the [Mets]( was reported after a long dry spell. It probably only took place because planets aligned in just the right way. Critics are calling the three-year, $39 million deal “just fine” and “perfectly mediocre.” But, upwards of 30 outfielders still remain unsigned with 32 days left until pitchers and catchers report. They might not fare nearly as well. There are just enough theories trying to explain the disappearance of the MLB hot stove, that cliched metaphor for an active labor market we’ve all come to know and love, that it is reasonable to call it a murder mystery. These theories began with the idea that the displacements of [Giancarlo Stanton]( and [Shohei Ohtani]( were clogging up the transaction pipeline, but evolved when Stanton and Shohei's placements didn't bring back the stove. Dave Cameron surmised Tuesday that [super teams may be holding transactions hostage](. What is likely bearing more of the responsibility, though, is something a bit more sinister. FanGraph’s podcast Effectively Wild guest co-host Michael Baumann spoke of the culprit in [Tuesday’s episode]( legally-not-collusion collusion. There are holes on teams and players with the tools to fill them, yet no signs of melding the two. Every team has held the line. So, as Jeff Sullivan posits, does the line they're holding sit in the realm of "teams just getting smarter" or "something more nefarious”? Neither. There exists no difference between the two. “The job,” Baumann says of ownership and front offices, “is to pay people as little as you can, not just in baseball but in capitalism.” Bad for labor, but stopping short of any legal definition of collusion. The players will eventually be forced to pay the ransom for the hot stove by way of depressed salaries, many of them likely to be doled out during Spring Training. The most obvious culprit in murder mysteries is rarely the true killer, and sometimes they don’t act alone. But the facts shouldn't be dismissed. Please, the stove... it’s very cold, and my family is dying. Won’t someone think of Jerry DiPoto and his precious transactions? [FanGraphs produces over 400 articles each month, in addition to our ever-growing database of stats and graphs. Support our efforts today!]( Throwback Thursday: [The Success Cycle is Full of Crap]( On this day in 2011, Jonah Keri made his FanGraphs debut, declaring himself a fraud in the first sentence he ever published on the site. A believer in the 'success cycle' no longer, Keri explains what changed his mind. [Subscribe to our Podcasts!]( Catch up on past newsletters or pass along to a friend [here](. Data Visualization of the Day: [Mets Bet on Jay Bruce and His Revamped Approach]( After Bruce did much of the heavy work on the Mets low-producing offense in 2017, he was sent to Cleveland for a minor leaguer in early August. Now he's back in Queens, and the move makes sense. Excerpt from "[What If Baseball Had a Penalty Box?]( by Meg Rowley "A little bit of fighting is fine. Let’s not be fussy about it. A little bit, just a little bit, is fine. A little fighting entertains. It teaches us something about the players; I learned it might be a bad idea to tell Hunter Strickland you’ll help him move and then forget, because he sure won’t." [FORWARD]( [SUBSCRIBE]( Copyright © 2018 FanGraphs Inc, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you subscribed to the FanGraphs Newsletter. Our mailing address is: FanGraphs Inc 1200 N Hartford St. Apt 312Arlington, Va 22201 [Add us to your address book](//fangraphs.us7.list-manage.com/vcard?u=72096bce9a69ba4cbdebbf487&id=0c7da3c69f) Want to change how you receive these emails? You can [update your preferences]( or [unsubscribe from this list](