JotCast | Front Office Chat: 1/12/23

Front Office Chat: 1/12/23

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Anthony Franco

7:03

Statcast is a little more granular in that it tracks batted ball speed and the distance the player had to move to get to the ball

Then they all compare each player's rate of turning batted balls into outs versus an overall league average

7:04

I like Statcast's stuff the most

Nick Krall

7:04

With Cueto in Miami, which veteran pitcher should I target to add to my young rotation?

Anthony Franco

7:04

(Reds)

7:06

Guessing they'll take a flier on an Archer or Chad Kuhl to take some innings at the back of the rotation for a couple million bucks

Bruce

7:06

Given MLB and Minor Leagues union are still working on a CBA, will the minor league season be delayed if they don't come to an agreement? Certainly could be another missed year for player development like 2020.

Anthony Franco

7:07

I haven't seen firm reporting on this, interesting question

Feels like something we would've heard about if there was a serious risk of the minor leagues being delayed though

Bob T.

7:07

Anthony, do you think that pitchers who participate in the WBC will be properly stretched out enough to start the regular season? Also, do the Managers of these players have a say in how their guys are used?
Thanks for doing these chats. I look forward to them every week.

Anthony Franco

7:10

My understanding is the World Baseball Classic has specific pitch limits teams have to follow for this reason

Rickey

7:10

What kind of hitter will Vinnie Pasquantino turn out to be: A slugger, or more of a John Olerud with high BA and modest HRs?

Anthony Franco

7:11

I think it's more the latter but if Pasquantino becomes a John Olerud type, that'd be one hell of a career

Matt (Costa Rica)

7:11

Hi Anthony, Thanks for the chat! The Dodgers were right at 233 million in salary (slightly under). This trade adds around 4.5 million net to the Dodgers ledger putting them over the 1st lux tax level. I've seen some writers on other sites suggest that the Dodgers could trade Muncy, Taylor, or flip Rojas to duck back under. This makes no sense to me. I view it as the Dodgers were comfortable dipping under the lux tax hit if they could, but not at the detriment to their team's chances to win a world series. I think it much more likely that they simply didn't want to hand out a 10,11, or 12 year contract to any of the free agents except maybe Turner, and they knew he preferred the East coast. Even if the Dodgers don't get aggro with trades and let their young prospects play, I still think they don't care about that lux tax hit very much. What say you?

Blank Frank

7:11

What the heck are the Dodgers doing? They stay out of the market for the big guns, but then add on players that put them over the luxury tax threshold. Do you see upcoming moves to get back under the threshold (trades of Muncy or Taylor?), or resignation that they can't put together a competitive team without exceeding the salary limits?

Anthony Franco

7:12

Seems like the hope of limboing under the CBT just kind of went out the window when Bauer got most of his salary back on appeal

Matt (Costa Rica)

7:12

Max Kepler actually has some excellent rate stats on Baseball Savant (Max exit velo, and super solid defensively). Does this seem like the kind of player the Dodgers might target in a trade? With their track record of developing hitters, he seems like they could turn him into a Ferrari real quick. Thoughts?

Anthony Franco

7:13

Kepler has felt like a breakout candidate forever for these reasons -- good plate discipline, contact skills, above-average power potential -- and it only briefly happened in the juiced ball season

7:14

He does still feel like an upside play, particularly with the forthcoming shift limits, but I also think he just might not have the kind of bat control that most great hitters do. He doesn't hit many line drives, a few too many grounders and pop-ups

7:15

Like the player a lot, particularly thanks to the defense you mentioned, but he's 30 now and I'm kind of at the point of thinking he mostly is who he is

Eddie

7:15

The International draft is this month. Are there any players that stand out, that we should look out for?

Anthony Franco

7:16

I have no idea but would refer you here

https://www.baseballamerica.com/rankings/2023-mlb-international-prospe...

Ben Badler's the best in the business on that front

Alright that's all I have time for tonight

Thanks for all the questions and of course for supporting the site!

7:17

Feel free to throw stuff at me on Twitter as well, and we'll do this again next week