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Chat with MLBTR's Steve Adams: 5/2/23
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Barbarino
1:33
Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse for the White Sox, they activate Billy Hamilton. He'll be sure to make a crappy offense even crappier.
Steve Adams
1:34
He'll probably be used like he has been for the past four years -- late defensive replacement and pinch-runner. I imagine Haseley gets more time in RF right now. Given how Colas has looked at the plate through his first 80-85 PAs, it's a low bar to clear for improvement.

Not a knock on Colas long-term, but he's looked decisively overmatched so far.
Depressed Baseball Fan
1:35
Is it too early to talk trade deadline?  What teams are already looking like sellers and which player may be the first included in a major trade?
Steve Adams
1:37
It's probably too early, but then again I wrote a piece on what the White Sox would look like as sellers just last night, ha. As it stands, I think it's reasonable to expect any of the Royals, Tigers, White Sox, A's, Nats, Reds, Rockies and Giants to wind up as sellers, though some are obviously less concrete than others (and the Rockies/Royals rarely sell even when they're bad).

There's so much time left though, that even with really rough-looking clubs right now, I'm not calling anyone a lock to be in selling position other than Oakland, Kansas City, Detroit and Washington. (Well, and Colorado too, but as I said, the Rockies rarely trade veterans away)
Oaktown
1:38
Why haven't the A's called up JJ Bleday?  He is raking in Triple-A and they could use a Lefty power Bat in the lineup.  They don't really have one at the moment.
Steve Adams
1:40
Yeah he's had a great start. Huge power output. More walks than K's. He's looked great there -- far better than I anticipated.

This is cynical but also quite possibly the reason... Bleday has 75 days of MLB service. If the A's keep him down for 89 days this year, he'll fall one day shy of finishing with a full year of service time, and they'll have an extra year of control over him.
1:41
That's speculative, and they can prove me wrong at any point by calling him up, but until they do that I'm going to assume they're operating in the most cost-conscious way possible.
B Snit’s Bongos
1:41
Is Lars Nootbaar a better RF than Ronald Acuna Jr.?
Steve Adams
1:42
Nah but he's a very good outfielder and my favorite among the current Cardinals group
Miguel Amaya
1:42
Do you expect an announcement this afternoon?   If Gomes not to IL---Velasquez back on the shuttle?
Steve Adams
1:43
He's on his way to meet the Cubs in D.C., so yeah, they'll announce something one way or another. I doubt he's called up if Gomes avoids the IL, but maybe if they want to sit Gomes for a few days without making the IL move, they'll go the route you described.
Ed
1:44
Lars Nootbaar really, he hasn't done anything to warrant all the hype!
Steve Adams
1:45
Since taking over an everyday role last summer, he's hitting .244/.378/.469 with nearly as many walks (17.8%) as strikeouts (18.8%). He's hit 13 homers, 13 doubles and three triples in 320 PAs. He's also stolen five bases and played good defense. And he's averaging 91.5 mph off the bat and hitting 49% of his batted balls at 95 mph or greater.
Lars Nootbaar is very, very good.
Jolly Roger
1:46
West Coast fan rooting for the Pirates. Is this sustainable? This story is great for baseball.
Steve Adams
1:48
Some of it looks great. I'm driving the Jack Suwinski bus, and I like the combination of Keller, Contreras and Oviedo (even with his most recent shellacking). David Bednar is awesome. Rodolfo Castro's a good-looking player. I think Ke'Bryan Hayes will hit and will be great.

I'm less bullish on Hill and Velasquez keeping this up, on Connor Joe sustaining this pace, and on a lot of the bullpen in general. But they're a way better team than I thought, those 20 wins are already in the bank, and the farm will produce some help.

I like the direction of the team.
Dominic Leone
1:49
Now a free agent do I get signed a MLB contract. Angels need help among others.
Steve Adams
1:50
Leone has a solid big league track record and a strong start in AAA. I can see him getting a big league deal and would lean that way if forced to guess, but I don't think it's a lock that he goes straight onto a 40-man roster.
Gwynyrd Skynyrd
1:51
What does a possible extension for Snellzilla to remain in SD look like?  We've heard a few rambling estimations...
Steve Adams
1:53
He's walked 13% of his opponents so far and is allowing homers at the highest clip of his career. I'm not sure he's someone they're going to want to sign for multiple years right now, and I don't know why Snell would take a lowball offer right now either. He already has more than $50MM banked. Might as well play out the season, try to build toward a strong finish and get a bigger deal than the Padres would offer.
Would offer right now, that is. I don't think they're paying market value given his early struggles.
Philly A
1:53
Wouldn't keeping Bleday down longer trigger a Kris Bryant grievance?
Steve Adams
1:54
Maybe? But does it really matter? Bryant lost that grievance. Tons of teams have held down players in similar fashion and to my knowledge no player has won such a grievance.
Cupcake city
1:55
Can we slow the roll on the Tampa Bay Rays?  Their first 3 series were against the Tigers, Nationals, and A's.  They also have played the Reds, White Sox, etc.   What I'm saying is, IF you check their Strength-of-Schedule stat, they have likely played the SOFTEST schedule to date.
Steve Adams
1:57
I get this comment every week. The Rays still won all those games. You could put any team in MLB -- the Rays included -- in that spot and make them play those games back again, and I doubt anyone opens the year 13-0.

Teams have soft patches of the schedule all the time, but 13-game winning streaks and 23-6 stretches still aren't common. We see good teams collapse every September because they faceplant against a last-place team playing spoiler.

There is absolutely something to be said about winning the games you SHOULD win and doing so consistently. The Rays have done that. They're an objectively good team. Are they going to win 79% of their games this season? Of course not, but that doesn't make them some kind of fluke who should be dismissed.
Cincy
1:58
Is this finally a breakout from Nick Senzel?
Steve Adams
1:59
He's had 25 productive plate appearances over a 6-game hitting streak and is sporting a .556 average on balls in play with poor batted-ball metrics in that time.

I'm not going to write off Senzel as someone who'll never be good or anything, but nothing he's done over the past week has me saying "Here comes the breakout" either.
Bill
2:00
I just want to say - I think the Cardinals woes are mostly due to their new catcher, Willson Contreras.  Losing a HOF game manager in Molina isn't being discussed enough.  Just look at what happened to the Giants the year after Posey retired.
Steve Adams
2:02
I don't think Molina's absence has caused Arenado's strikeout rate to nearly double while his walk rate halves and his quality of contact plummets. Molina was surely a better game manager than Contreras, sure, but there's a whole lot of problems on the Cardinals and it'd be an oversimplification to just say "Yeah Molina's the only reason they were any good." That's simply not true, especially considering Molina was an objectively bad hitter over his final few seasons -- particularly 2022
Hypothetical GM
2:02
What should we expect from Mikael Garcia? Is he up to stay?
Steve Adams
2:03
Good defense, contact, minimal power. Whether he's up to stay depends on his play. The Royals' infield has been terrible, so if he produces, he should absolutely earn the right to keep playing. Garcia's hitting eighth and playing 3B tonight.
Fan
2:03
Who would the Tigers All-Star representative be at the moment
Steve Adams
2:04
Eduardo Rodriguez has 36 2/3 innings of 2.21 ERA ball. Feels pretty clear it'd be him at this moment.
2:07
Alright I've got to wrap up for the week. Thanks, as always, for chatting -- and sorry for all the questions I can't get to in these. I'm on Twitter @Adams_Steve if you're so inclined and always happy to take more questions there.

You can also consider signing up for our Trade Rumors Front Office subscription package, which (among other things) grants you access to a weekly subscriber-only chat, and your odds of getting a question answered in those is vastly higher, given the smaller audience. Subscribers also get ad-free viewing, weekly email articles from Anthony and myself, exclusive fantasy baseball advice from Brad Johnson, autograph giveaways and more. It starts at $2.99/month, and you can read more or sign up here:

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/membership?ref=chat-5-2-23

Have a great week, everyone!
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