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Chat With MLBTR's Steve Adams: 9/3/19
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Steve Adams
4:04
At this point, you just cannot pencil Alex Reyes into the pitching plans. He's never shown the ability to stay healthy. If they can somehow coax even 80 innings out of him, that's a huge bonus, but you have to stop planning around a guy at a certain point.
Hometown Hero
4:04
Do you think Cole being from Orange County gives the Angels any type of advantage in trying to sign him this offseason?
Steve Adams
4:06
I think that sort of thing is generally overstated. He's going to go to the team that offers him the best contract. If the Angels and the White Sox make identical offers, and those are the two best, then sure, it makes sense to say he goes to pitch at home. But if you're looking at 6/192 from the Halos and 7/225 from the Yankees, he's going to the Yankees.
Mike
4:06
80 innings?  There's a sobering kick in the giblets.
Steve Adams
4:07
Alex Reyes has never even thrown 120 innings in a season and a grand total of 67 innings over the past three years.
4:08
I wish he'd stay healthy, because I love watching elite pitching -- but he's been pitching professionally since 2013 (mostly as a starter) and has a total of 462 innings
Billington
4:08
Lock up Brandon Lowe now should be high on Tampa's list.  Yes he's just a rookie but was going to be ROY.  Lock and throw the key away, agree?
Steve Adams
4:08
They extended him before the season even started!
Alonso
4:09
Am I a lock for ROY? Where do I finish in MVP race, 7th?
Steve Adams
4:11
I think the Tatis injury iced it for Polar Bear (I didn't realize the punny tone of that sentence until I was nearly done typing it, ha.)

Bryan Reynolds and Mike Soroka are in the mix, but Reynolds has played something like 25 fewer games, which hurts when both have been such excellent hitters. The record-setting home run output from Alonso plays into his favor, too.
Brent
4:12
Does Baltimore finally bite the bullet and DFA Chris Davis after this season, freeing up 1B for Mancini/Mountcastle next year?
Steve Adams
4:16
At a certain point they just need to accept the inevitable, and this winter seems like the time. In the past you could say "Well they can play Mancini in LF and no one's knocking down the door at 1B," but Mountcastle is pretty much there. Guess you can rotate Davis between 1B/DH with Mountcastle, but they need a spot for Renato Nunez now, too, and it's not going to be 3B.
4:17
It's in their best interest to use Nunez / Mountcastle / Mancini between 1B, DH and LF for most of 2020.
Joe
4:17
Jose Peraza and a low level prospect for Mychal Givens.
Steve Adams
4:18
Givens has more value than that; Peraza's stock has plummeted this season.
Squirrels Gone Wild
4:19
What kind of impact will the sale of the Royals have on their future spending?  Does the fact that it is a former season ticket holder imply they may open the purse strings a little wider going forward?
Steve Adams
4:20
There's just no way to know that right now; the sale hasn't even been formally announced. If anything, perhaps their new TV deal beginning in 2020 will push the spending needle forward a bit.

That said... The Royals spent $67MM in the 2013-14 offseason and $69MM in the 2014-15 offseason. They re-signed Alex Gordon ($72MM), extended Danny Duffy ($65MM) and Sal Perez ($52.5MM) and spent $182MM in free agency (including the Gordon deal) following their World Series win. It's not like they didn't spend under David Glass.
Johnny 5
4:20
Reds fans hate David Bell and think he is doing a terrible job, what do you think?
Steve Adams
4:22
I think Bell is an easy fall guy after Reds fans entered the year with expectations that were probably too high. I get labeled a "Reds hater" frequently because I didn't buy them as contenders in 2018 or 2019. I don't think the team was that good this season.

Next year, if they can get Bauer going and pair him with Gray and Castillo, I'll be buying that rotation core much more as the foundation for a contender.
Colume
4:22
Did the Sox make a mistake by not trading me when they had the chance?   Any other clubs mess up like this?
Steve Adams
4:22
I don't think Alex Colome's trade value was ever very high.
4:24
He has a shiny ERA and a handful of saves, but that's about it. Colome has below-average strikeout and walk rates and has gotten by this season largely because of one of the game's lowest BABIPs and a sky-high strand rate. His arbitration salary is going to blow past $10MM next year.

I don't think other teams were going to value him anywhere close to the level at which White Sox fans valued him.
Guest
4:24
Is it too late for the Nats to get a deal done with Rendon?
Steve Adams
4:24
It's not too late until he puts pen to paper with another club.
Excellent
4:25
I see so many teams out there that just refuse to rebuild: Mets, Reds, Pirates, Giants, Angels, Rangers, ect. That should rebuild because they aren't going to be contending with what they have.
Steve Adams
4:28
The Reds "rebuilt" for like 4 years just to get to this point.

Large-scale rebuilds don't always work -- particularly when so many teams throughout the league are embarking on them. (The more teams that rebuild at once, the more diminished the returns on rebuilding are.)

The Reds are proof of this. The White Sox are in a similar position (albeit a more favorable one). At a certain point, the trend of aggressive tanking is going to fade a bit -- likely as more and more teams fail over a period of 3-5 years with nothing to show for it.

I don't think the Angels, for instance "should" rebuild. They have Trout, Ohtani, Simmons, a wildly improved farm system, several good young relievers. If anything, I applaud teams who resist the urge.
Well, I should say I applaud teams who resist the urge of doing so when it's unnecessary. A point can be reached where it is absolutely needed (see: Orioles, Tigers)
Tom
4:30
Has the Cubs' window closed? Are the Cardinals the team to beat in the NL Central moving forward?
Steve Adams
4:31
The Cubs are 3 games back in the NL Central. They'll have Bryant, Baez, Contreras, Rizzo and others back in 2020. They might need to make some moves with a long-term outlook this winter, but the "window" on the club hasn't even closed for 2019 -- let alone over the long haul.
Brad Hand's Hand
4:32
Do the Padres really expect to contend with the same OF next season? This rebuild already feels botched.
Steve Adams
4:32
They already traded Reyes to get Trammell, and they've moved some other complementary OF pieces. I don't think they're committed to this specific group.
4:34
Ok, I have to wrap up for the week. Marlins just announced a series of roster moves/DFAs that I'm going to get on the site! Thanks for chatting everyone! You can always ask me more on Twitter: @Adams_Steve.
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