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Chat with MLBTR's Steve Adams: 9/16/25
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@tayyyburrr
12:28
Which current Padre gets the better contract- King or Cease?
Steve Adams
12:28
Who gets more guaranteed money this winter?
Dylan Cease (55.9% | 175 votes)
 
Michael King (44.1% | 138 votes)
 
Total Votes: 313
Collins
12:28
Am I ROY for NL? And will I and MIL qualify for the CBA benefits of such if I am?
Steve Adams
12:29
He has a good chance at it, but he won't get them a comp pick if he wins the award since he wasn't a top prospect
Umbruflla
12:29
Did the Orioles find a couple gems in Jacksons that are not Holliday?  Jeremiah Jackson and Alex Jackson seem to be keepers, or do the numbers under the hood tell a different tale?
Steve Adams
12:31
Alex Jackson is 30 in December and has K'ed in 40% of his MLB plate appearances in his career, including one-third of them this offseason. It's been a nice 90 plate appearances, but this isn't sustainable.

Jeremiah, perhaps more so, but he doesn't walk and is really only thriving because he's hitting close to .360 on balls in play. I can still see him as a viable utility player, but I'm not really buying these ~150 plate appearances
Framber Valdez
12:31
Are teams gonna try and low ball me because of me crossing up/nailing my catcher?
Steve Adams
12:31
If they do, they just won't get him.
12:32
Valdez is going to be paid handsomely, even with the late slide. I think the cross-up drama is overstated.
Bo Naylor
12:32
Do I stick with the Guards or am I moved with 1.5 years of a look in the show
Steve Adams
12:32
Could stick around as a glove-first backup, but the Guardians need to try to find more offense at multiple spots in 2025, with catcher near the top of the list.
Brewerfan
12:32
RE:Collins not being a top prospect. Isn't that ridiculously arbitrary that you have to be a top-prospect when those ratings are incredibly subjective? I get the idea that they are the ones suffering most from service time manipulation, but the idea that teams should only benefit for not manipulating top prospect service time is silly.
Steve Adams
12:33
I agree, sure, but the rules are the rules.
Cade Horton
12:33
Legit chance to win Rookie of the year?
Steve Adams
12:33
Yup
Jake
12:33
What is your opinion on the Jose Barrios so far? Have Martin and Woods-Richardson impressed or disappointed?
Steve Adams
12:36
There's no question they've disappointed relative to the expectations when the Twins traded Berrios to Toronto. But both are still controllable for several years, and SWR is having a particularly nice finish. In retrospect, they should've done better, but Martin was barely a year removed from being the No. 5 overall pick and Woods Richardson was a nearly MLB-ready pitching prospect who'd drawn some top-100 love. The package was fine at the time -- good, even -- but the results haven't been there. In general, the Twins' ability to finish off the development on well regarded position prospects has been lackluster.
Allen
12:36
Raleigh is the AL MVP right?
Steve Adams
12:37
If the season were to end today, he'd get my nonexistent vote. But it's razor-thin between the two, and if Cal goes into the tank while Judge goes on a vintage Judge tear between now and season's end, you could change my mind.
ROX
12:37
Moniak has had a nice little season.
Steve Adams
12:38
He's hit decently, yeah, but I don't understand how the defensive grades have tanked this hard. Still think the Rockies should've traded him at the deadline, but maybe the offers were just nothingburgers. I'd absolutely be listening on him this winter.
White Sox hopeful
12:39
What do you make of the early success of the White Sox rookie class this season?  Montgomery, Teel, Quero and Miedroth seem to be on the right path.
Steve Adams
12:43
Montgomery either needs to find a way to improve his contact when he chases off the plate or just cut down on his chases in general. He's making contact only one-third of the time he swings at a ball off the plate, per Statcast, which is awful. But the contact within the zone is passable (albeit a bit below-average), and the power is encouraging.

Teel looks great. Quero ... I don't think he's a catcher, and the bat hasn't been good enough to justify playing at another position. But he's still young, so we'll see.

Meidroth seems fine, but there's not a lot of ceiling with the lack of power.

Broadly speaking, it's not a bad group. And I remain a weird Miguel Vargas truther who still thinks Vargas will be an above-average hitter.
Yankees
12:44
It is clear that the Yankees no longer know what they are doing. The handling of Volpe not only shows they don't care about the development of their players but also that they can no longer see putting him on the IL for 10 days back in May would have been better for him and the team.
Steve Adams
12:47
I think they've done plenty of things right this year, but I agree that the handling of Volpe is at or near the top of a notable list of head-scratchers. Beyond the on-field ramifications, why are you letting this kid get absolutely eviscerated by fans -- both at the stadium and especially on social media -- by keeping a notable injury like a torn labrum so hush-hush?

It's sort of like what the Astros did last summer, letting fans grow beyond frustrated with Kyle Tucker for missing so much time with a contusion/bone bruise ... only to finally announce "Oh yeah, he's had a fracture in his shin for like three months"

On the one hand, sure you can say these guys are professionals and they should be able to take the criticism. But on the other, it's so unnecessary, and that seems particularly true with a young kid like Volpe. It's just ... weird. Be transparent.
Guest
12:47
Arenado and Gray have each been adamant about not waiving their no-trade privileges
Steve Adams
12:48
Arenado suggested just yesterday that he knows he'll be a trade candidate this winter as the Cardinals move even more toward the young side of things.

Gray didn't waive his NTC last offseason, but he's down to one year now and the Cardinals will revisit the idea. Contreras still seems to be holding firm on staying in STL though, at least based on reporting coming from the Cards' beat.
sox
12:49
Why Raleigh for MVP? Judge has an OPS 200 points higher. It would be virtually unprecedented for someone to win an MVP with numbers that low relative to the runner-up.
Steve Adams
12:49
Because defense matters and because Raleigh has 30-40 more plate appearances, which isn't a huge margin but when we're talking about a narrow race, it can be a separator.
MLBTR Fan
12:49
Is 5/125 for Valdez pretty close you think?
Steve Adams
12:50
Light for me.
Bryce Eldridge
12:50
Bryce Eldridge hit one yesterday that would have been a HR in 23/30 ballparks. Unfortunately it was a flyout in AZ. With that said, who do you think ends up with the 3rd NL WC spot out of NYM, AZ, CIN, and SF? If you had to exclude the Mets, who do you think has the best chance to catch and surpass them out of those other teams?
Steve Adams
12:51
I'd still pick the Mets, but this is another topic we discussed a good bit on the podcast episode that'll run tomorrow morning. I chose the Reds as my favorite to upset the field, if the Mets' insane swoon persists.
Hot Corner
12:52
With the money ultimately thrown at Schwarber, what is the future for 3B for the Phillies? Bohm is likely on his way out
Steve Adams
12:54
I have long maintained that Bohm is better suited for a bench role. I agree he seems likely to be non-tendered or traded.

Phillies will have steep competition for Schwarber, so I wouldn't necessarily assume he's back. I doubt they'd sign both, but if Schwarber leaves, I expect Bregman would be firmly in play.

Other possibilities: Eugenio Suarez, Jorge Polanco, Munetaka Murakami, Kazuma Okamoto or the trade market (Josh Jung, Isaac Paredes, Royce Lewis -- to name a few)
sox
12:56
Does Raleigh's defense make up a difference of 200 points in OPS? Judge is a pretty good defender too, although sure, not as valuable defensively as an elite catcher. fWAR and bWAR both have Judge leading Raleigh by a decent margin. Raleigh's had a great season, and I'm no Yankee fan (quite the opposite), but seems like highway robbery for Judge not to win another one.
Steve Adams
12:59
FanGraphs has Judge up by 0.7 WAR. I don't consider that a big margin. B-Ref has a 2-WAR gap, but that's because of a weird drop in Raleigh's Defensive Runs Saved grade, despite Statcast still grading him as a premium  defender. I prefer Statcast for catcher defensive grades.

Plus, while Judge is a good defender, he's spent significant time playing at DH while he navigates this arm injury.

I don't think there's anything wrong with preferring Judge, but I'm taking the guy who's played more often and put up prodigious power output while playing the most physically demanding position on the field for over 1000  innings.
Billy
12:59
I'm smarter than you.
Steve Adams
12:59
Low bar to clear
Ebenezer_Batflip
1:00
Speaking of Breggy, what do you think he's going to get? I figure he's expecting 5 years minimum, and at least beating the 28.3m AAV over 6/170 Detroit offered him last year. You think he can get 6/200 after this year, even in spite of his hammy injury?
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