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Chat with MLBTR's Steve Adams: 1/21/25
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2:18
What would you have said if I told you in 2021 that the A’s and Rays would both be playing in a minor league stadium in 2025 and Paul Goldschmidt would be a Yankee.
Steve Adams
2:20
Honestly? Goldy being a Yankee wouldn't have seemed far-fetched at all, and both the A's and Rays have been embroiled in stadium drama forever. I doubt I'd have considered any of those to be wildly implausible or anything -- but I'd probably have assumed the Coliseum and Trop were being demolished with new facilities going up on their sites, or something. I would not have put "temporary move to Sacramento on the road to Las Vegas" and "Trop demolished by hurricane" at the top of my list of predictions.
Cubs...
2:20
...make no sense. Why obtain Tucker for one year but fail to go for it this year? Heck, they don't even have a closer! And a rookie for 3b!  You think Hoyer is just trying to fool the fan base? We'll, isn't fooling me!
Steve Adams
2:21
I think they'll add a reliever, but your broader point that the Cubs act more like a a mid-market team than the potential superpower they should be under Ricketts ownership is one I agree with
Weekend at Bernies
2:22
If you were the brewers and you had a little bit extra to spend still, would you look into adding Jose Quintana on a 1/2 year deal for rotation depth?
Steve Adams
2:22
I don't really think the Brewers have "a little bit extra" -- or really anything -- to spend at the moment.
Jturn
2:22
How would the following deal between Phillies and Cardinals play out: Alec Bohm and Taijuan Walker for 
Nolan Arenado and Ryan Helsley? How much money would the Cardinals need to eat to make the deal work for Philly?
Steve Adams
2:23
It just wouldn't play out. The Cardinals want to move Arenado to clear salary and open playing time for younger, controllable options in the infield (i.e. Nolan Gorman). They'd want nothing to do with the $36MM still owed to Walker, and Bohm would only be a two-year stopgap who'd just gum up 3B all over again.
Oscar Gamble
2:24
Your prediction for who gets announced today as a Hall of Fame inductee?
Steve Adams
2:26
Ichiro, Sabathia, Wagner, Beltran are all tracking to get in. Ichiro and CC are locks.

Andruw Jones should be in, but Ryan Thiobdaux has him on 72.6% of ballots thus far with 54.1% of ballots known. That doesn't bode well for him topping 75%, but hopefully he gets in eventually. One of the best defensive outfielders of my lifetime, 434 career home runs, more than 60 career WAR -- Jones was amazing.
Edavis44
2:26
Who signs first at this stage - Alonso or Bregman?
Also, could the Giants be a sneaky team for Pete (knowing they'd have to expand the budget to do so)?
Steve Adams
2:28
I don't think the Giants would be that sneaky. They've been publicly tied to him already, he's a major upgrade to their power output and has the star power/name recognition that Buster Posey hinted at wanting to acquire during his own intro press conference as president of baseball operations. Plus, even though it was under different front office leadership, the Giants have been probably the most frequent team to give out short-term, opt-out-laden deals -- especially to Boras clients. We know it's a pitch from Boras to which their owners are amenable (Rodon, Chapman, Snell, Conforto)
Quadruple play
2:28
Do u think Tanner Scott's deal w/Dodgers was massive overpay ?
Steve Adams
2:31
Yeah, I do. I kind of winced when we predicted either 4/56 or 4/58 for Scott on our Top 50. I figured he'd have no trouble getting the fourth year, but it's not something I'd be thrilled about. The stuff is elite, and the command has been better the past two seasons, but it's still not good. At best he might have 45 command but it's probably more like 40.

Dodgers have a knack for maximizing performance, but it's not a price I'd have wanted to pay.

Then again, the Dodgers probably don't care. Their ownership is pretty clearly just saying "Get us the most talented players and we'll figure out the roster/payroll stuff later." So, good on them. But yeah, I wouldn't have gone near that deal
Melchez
2:31
The Tigers had quite a few needs over the winter.  Starting pitching, right handed bats, 3B, 1B.  Are Gleyber and Cobb the only additions?  I expected a couple starters at least.  Not an injured 37 year old.
Steve Adams
2:32
Yeah I'm not a fan of the price they paid for Cobb, but just Cobb-to-Detroit on its own is fine, and I like the Gleyber signing well enough. I doubt they're done. As I said before, if I had to pick a Bregman landing spot right now, it'd be Detroit, but there's still some work to do there.
Joey Gallo
2:32
Could I be a fit for Angels as big LH bat? Could I still play 3B? I would be cheap on 1 year deal
Steve Adams
2:33
Wherever Gallo signs, it'll be on a minor league deal, and I don't think anyone's putting him back at 3B
He'd be very on brand for the Angels, though not in a good way. It'd be like the 2025 version of their 2024 Miguel Sano signing. (Whoops)
Jerry Dipoto
2:33
Is there any truth to the whole "free agents are scared of hitting in Seattle"? Or is that just something to take the heat off an ownership that isn't willing to pay free agents?
Steve Adams
2:35
I don't think they're "scared" to sign there; I think they don't want to on any kind of short-term deal -- which is all Dipoto offers free agent hitters -- because it's such a pitcher-friendly environment. And not only for the dimensions, but also just the coldish weather, rain, marine layer, etc.

Free agents see what happens to guys like Teoscar Hernandez, Kolten Wong, Jesse Winker and countless others when they sign there ... tough spot to go on a short-term deal when you want to put up numbers and return to the market.
(Winker probably not the best example because he was injured, but point remains -- and there are far, far more examples than just those three)
Adam
2:35
Whos ruining baseball - The Dodgers, or the more cost-conscious (read: cheap) owners? Or….is it entirely possible that baseball isn’t even being ruined?
Steve Adams
2:38
I don't think baseball is being ruined. I think fans are having an emotional response to a big-market power landing lots of marquee players in a short period of time. That's fine.

Even if the Dodgers threepeat, I don't think baseball's ruined -- and I very much doubt that'll happen.

This is all a degree of living in the social media age to some extent, as well. The Yankees in the 2008-09 offseason signed Sabathia, Teixeira, AJ Burnett, Nick Swisher, and re-signed Andy Pettitte. That was after a deadline pickup of a controllable Xavier Nady when he was still (briefly) a really good player.

I imagine the reaction to that spree, in 2025, would be similar to the one elicited by the Dodgers today.
Nac Daddy
2:39
does the signings of relievers the last couple of days make the Pressley contract look more like a bargain?
Steve Adams
2:40
Pressly is a super-talented, kind-of-old reliever. He's making $14MM. It's about market value. He'd have a case for two years in free agency. I don't think Scott getting $72MM when he's a half decade younger influences the way Pressly's contract is perceived.
cpins
2:40
If Mets included $15m of $19.5m of Marte's salary might the Twins give up a pair of DSL lottery tickets or is his value lower than that?
Steve Adams
2:42
In a normal offseason, maybe? With how little breathing room the Twins have financially, I don't see why they'd take on $4.5MM of Marte and give something up. If you're going to spend 4.5 anyhow, they could probably just find a way to shed a little of Vazquez's contract or trade Paddack and then sign Grichuk for a little more money
Tom Kelly's blues
2:42
Randall Grichuk is an affordable, even for the Twins, RH bat with pop, who can play OF. Makes sense for a cash-strapped GM! Yes?
Steve Adams
2:42
On that note -- yes. Makes good sense there. But Grichuk is cheap and very good at a specific thing a lot of teams need, so he's a good fit a lot of places. Twinns are one of many
The Real Slim Marky
2:42
Any chance at all Nick Kurtz plays a significant role for the A’s this year?
Steve Adams
2:43
Definitely. He only got like 50 PAs after going fourth overall in last year's draft, but he's going to open the season in Double-A probably. If the hit tool looks good -- he had great contact rates in a tiny sample of plate appearances last year -- you know the power's going to be there. I could see him in the majors late in the season -- certainly by early 2026.
atleastwetried
2:44
Is there any way the Brewers can ship off Hoskins that doesn't involve eating the entirety of his salary? Even if they can just save, like, $8MM that they could allocate elsewhere, it would be huge. Maybe we can interest the A's in taking on some more salary?
Steve Adams
2:45
I think they could probably get a taker if they paid it down to, say, $4-7MM, sure. Twins need a RH bat/1B and had interest last year before he went to MIL. They're one fit. Mariners. A's. Giants if they trade Wade. Spring injuries could create another suitor or two.
Stupid-face dodger
2:46
When does all the deferred money count towards luxury tax thresholds?? They don't count the money until the year its paid? Doesn't seem right. What about the signing bonuses too - does that count towards any luxury tax totals? Baseball is acting like sucky-faced, smelly poopoo-heads.
Steve Adams
2:49
Deferred money just lowers the net-present value (NPV) of the contract. Ohtani's "$700 million" contract doesn't exist. It was announced that way by his agents. They're paying him $2MM in actual salary but he has like a $46MM luxury-tax hit right now. He's never going to cost them a $70MM luxury hit in any year because he's not actually making $70MM per year. They figured out a deal to get him an at-the-time NPV record and then deferred the majority of it to give his team current flexibility to add to the payroll (and get the biggest/most-impressive sounding number possible when ignoring those deferrals)
The Jays were willing to do the exact same setup and just deferred more than a third of Anthony Santander's contract.
Lefty
2:50
Would either the Reds or Yanks do a one for one swap of Spencer Jones for Matt McClain.
Steve Adams
2:51
This'll be an unpopular take most likely, but I wouldn't trade McLain for Jones. In general, I'm just not high on Jones as a prospect. I know the tools are all there, but a 37 K% in Double-A as a 23-year-old is just not something I can get past.
Rangers plan B for Closer?
2:52
So Yates is a Dodger. What are the Rangers plans to get a more established closer? Any shot at Robertson?
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