I’m not sure how most readers feel about this, but to me, baseball’s offseason – the so-called Hot Stove – is almost as much fun as the six months that games are actually being played.
Thinking and talking about baseball – or writing about it – provide hours of entertainment. The sport produces a never-ending supply of material to tide fans through the days and weeks and months when the next game seems a million miles away.
Among the more fun aspects of the offseason is the opportunity to grade trades. Logically, one would say it makes no sense to try to grade or evaluate a trade within a few days or weeks – at least if it’s made in the offseason.