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Chat with MLBTR's Steve Adams: 5/9/23
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Steve Adams
12:34
Giolito's the likeliest one. He's a free agent at season's end. Both Cease and Kopech are controlled another two years beyond the current season, and it's hard to imagine the Sox selling low on either.
NYM SP Help
12:34
E Rodriguez from DET for ? Would DET be interested based on opt out if they are going to lose him anyway? I'm sure BOS would like to have him back
Steve Adams
12:37
The problem with the opt-out and a trade partner is that it's pure downside. The acquiring team has to view him as a rental, but if he gets hurt in the final 2+ months of the season, they're stuck with the remaining three years.

I'm not saying they can't trade him, but I don't think the Tigers would get much of value back, and if they're anywhere close to .500, maybe they'd just prefer to keep him and see if they can defy expectations by sneaking into a postseason spot.

Trading guys with opt-out clauses and player options at the end of a given season is just inherently difficult.
Angel fan for life
12:37
What do the Angels do now as they need more pitching?
Steve Adams
12:38
Probably plug Silseth into the rotation and hope for the best. Trades for meaningful starting pitchers just don't really happen this time of year, and Silseth has been good in the 'pen but probably deserves a look in a larger role as well. It'd be easier for them to find a new bullpen arm to fill Silseth's spot in the relief corps than to find a useful starter from outside the org in early May.
Adrian
12:39
Does Tim Anderson get moved?  Where's best guess?
Steve Adams
12:41
I'm a little more against the idea than some of the others on the MLBTR staff, but it's silly to act like it can't happen. Dodgers and Angels both make sense to some degree.
Rockies
12:41
Rockies stink of course, is there any good reason Brenton Doyle shouldn’t play every day?
Steve Adams
12:41
Nope. I'd play him over Grichuk every day.
The Ghost of Nuke LaLoosh
12:43
I know Manfred works for the owners, but isn't there something related to the integrity of the game that he should be doing (publicly or privately) about the abysmal A's? I mean, they aren't even trying to put a competitive team together for their fanbase.
Steve Adams
12:43
Manfred's job is not to be a steward of the game or uphold its integrity. Like you said, he works for the owners.
Guest
12:43
Thoughts on the Cardinals-Contreras situation? Cards Fan here, I think the front office is looking for a scapegoat.
Steve Adams
12:48
It's so weird. What's meaningfully changed since they signed him for five years? He's still great at throwing out runners (seven percentage points above league average, ninth-best poptime in MLB) and still a below-average-but-not-awful framer who has some issues blocking pitches in the dirt.

I don't know if the pitchers are using the absence of Molina as an excuse for their struggles or if the front office is looking for a scapegoat or what, but Contreras is who he's generally been -- a strong-armed, bat-first catcher. If that's not what you wanted, then what were you doing signing him in the first place?

It's nonsensical. He's a good player and now has to deal with this magnified narrative surrounding him because the Cardinals have experienced far broader-reaching failures in the organization as a whole.
Logan Gilbert
12:49
I am the latest in a now long list of Mariners pitchers doing everything I can (6 perfect innings) and the offense spoils it. Any reason I should be optimistic the offense is going to bounce back and get better?
Steve Adams
12:52
I would just be optimistic because it's a talented lineup that's underperforming as a whole. Ty France, Julio Rodriguez, Teoscar Hernandez, Eugenio Suarez etc. are better hitters than they've been in recent weeks.  It's obviously frustrating when you're wasting outings like Gilbert, Miller etc. have delivered lately, but there are too many good hitters for the lineup not to turn things around. It's just miserable when cold streaks align like this
Dave Stoller
12:53
Brent Rooker; legit or about to be a pumpkin?
Steve Adams
12:55
He's drawing walks, making gobs of hard contact, not chasing off the plate, not striking out an exorbitant rate. He won't keep seeing a third of his fly-balls become home runs, but he's always been a bat-first prospect who came with a huge college pedigree who never really got a full-time look anywhere. I think there's some degree of legitimacy to his start, even though he clearly won't maintain THIS pace.
Brewers
12:55
What happened to Jesse Winker’s power?  He used to absolutely mash against right handed pitching
Steve Adams
12:56
Recovering from multiple surgeries is hard? That's my best guess, because yeah, he went from one of the best hitters in MLB against RHP to a guy who's looked barely rosterable in short order.
Mitch Keller
12:58
O/U 3.5 ERA this season?
Steve Adams
12:59
I think this version of Keller is probably a 3.40 to 3.60 type of pitcher in terms of true talent (i.e. quite good), but he's gotten out to a stronger start than that so I'll take the under. Even if he pitches at a 3.50 pace from here on out -- which seems plenty reasonable -- he's still going to come in well under that line with his end-of-season number.
1:00
He'd have to pitch well over 4.00 to finish above 3.50 at this point, and he's better than that now.
2023 Trends
1:00
Bellinger, Rooker, Outman, etc. 2023 is the year of the lefty swingers
Steve Adams
1:00
Brent Rooker hits right handed!
Walter
1:01
Bibee and Allen in starting rotation for the remainder of the year?
Steve Adams
1:02
I lean that way, but I guess it depends how long McKenzie is sidelined. Both Bibee and Allen are better than Zach Plesac at this point, and maybe better than Aaron Civale, too  (who I like, but who hasn't been able to stay healthy at all for the past couple years).

Going to be a real young rotation in Cleveland, but they've done fine with that before and probably will again, given how successful they are at churning out quality arms.
Rick Mahler’s stache
1:02
Any veteran starters out there the Braves can take a flier on with Fried and Wright out?
Steve Adams
1:04
I've been asked like 10 times this chat if the Braves will sign Bumgarner, and he's certainly a veteran starter they could take a flier on.... but I'd rather just give those innings to Shuster/Dodd/Soroka than bring the 2023 version of Bumgarner aboard. His stuff is down across the board. He just doesn't look good.

There are some guys left unsigned from the offseason... Michael Pineda, Chris Archer, Anibal Sanchez... but they're not going to be ready to step into a game anytime soon. And again, there's no telling they're better than in-house options. All 30 teams declined to sign them in the offseason, after all.
Cutch
1:04
If Luis Ortiz is serviceable this time up, is there a chance he permanently takes Velasquez/Hill’s rotation spot?
Steve Adams
1:06
Probably takes more than one good start to supplant Velasquez/Hill, but I can see him carving out a role. Big arm. I'm a fan. Plus we don't know yet how long VV will even be out, so that'll obviously play a role in the matter.
Ty Stephenson
1:06
How concerned are the Reds with my complete absence of any power? I was supposed to be a center piece of this rebuild and Reds have ZERO other C in the system
Steve Adams
1:09
Yeah it's really weird. He's not hitting many fly-balls and is making tons of line-drive contact, which is good, but I still figured he'd hit around 15 homers if he stayed healthy all season. He did have a broken thumb and broken collarbone last year, so maybe those are still dogging him. I'm willing to give him some more time to find that power stroke, but it's not looking great right now, considering they're carrying three catchers to keep Stephenson's bat in the lineup.
1:10
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.

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https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/membership?ref=chat-5-9-23

Have a great week, everyone!
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