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Front Office Chat: 1/30/26
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Anthony Franco
3:02
Good afternoon, hope you're all well!
3:03
Decent amount to work with today, let's get rolling
Drake
3:03
Initial thoughts on the breaking news of Wilson/A’s 7 yr/$70 mil extension?
Anthony Franco
3:05
Love it for the A's. Wilson should've been well clear of the Lawrence Butler/Ezequiel Tovar tier in my view, thought he should've been a nine-figure guy already
3:06
Easier for me to say he should've turned down $70 million than it is for him to do it, and I don't begrudge anyone for locking in life-changing money and staying with a young core that's really promising, but I think he's leaving a lot on the table here
Arise, Sir Loin of Beef
3:07
I'm not real impressed with the Mets position player group or their bullpen. What am I missing?
Anthony Franco
3:09
I share your skepticism on the bullpen even as a fan of the Williams deal. It's a weird position player group because so many guys are bouncing around but you've got the elite talent with Soto, Bichette and Lindor and another five players (Alvarez, Robert, Polanco, Semien, Baty) who could be above-average regulars
3:10
Obviously Polanco/Robert have durability questions and Semien's probably a max 3-WAR guy at this point, but they've also got Benge lurking and Vientos hanging around. It should be a top 5-10 offense in MLB
Joshua
3:10
I would love to see CJ Abrams with the Pirates. Do you think the Nats would do a Seth Hernandez, Hunter Barco, Termarr Johnson deal? Is that close?
Anthony Franco
3:12
I think the Nats would jump on it. A little too rich for Pittsburgh for me but not an egregious ask or anything
Mr KLC
3:12
Jim Crane has been known to jump the payroll threshold for the right signing.   Do you think he could bring Framber back if Valdez pivots to a high AAV deal with opt outs?
Anthony Franco
3:13
I'd be really surprised. Every time Dana Brown talks about Framber, he sounds pretty final about him ending up elsewhere
Ryan S.
3:13
If you're the Cardinals, do you need a RH hitting OFer? Or just give the at bats to Saggesse? Call up Baez in July or August?  You still think Donovan is moved? I don't see them extending him. Seattle makes the most sense, but they don't appear they want to pay for his services. People can claim he's not a "star" all they want. And i know it's subjective, but being the 4th best second baseman in baseball is worth more than other teams fans seem to think. You think everyone's just waiting for Chaim to blink. And I don't think he will
Anthony Franco
3:14
I'd be more open to extending Donovan than they seem to be. If that's not happening then he has to move by the deadline at the latest. They're otherwise just squandering the trade value at that point
3:16
Do they need a RHH outfielder? It's not like it really makes much of a difference but there's no harm in tossing a few million to Austin Hays. Saggese's approach isn't workable for me. Baez will play every day once he's up but they'll start him in Triple-A
3:17
Agree that July is a reasonable timeline and by then, Nootbaar and any veteran outfielder they do pick up will probably be traded (or DFA in the case of a free agent signing if he's not playing well enough to get any interest)
Tom Delonge
3:17
Should the Padres be nervous about the state of their rotation?
Anthony Franco
3:18
Yeah it's not very good but I felt that way about it last year too and they made it work
3:20
Getting King back was huge but they're really up against it if he or Musgrove have any setbacks. I know catcher was a huge issue last year but trading Bergert and Kolek (both of whom I like more than Vásquez, Hart and Sears) for a low-end starting catcher in Fermin just never made sense
Bird Gregory
3:20
Seeing ABS in MLB this year is pretty exciting. Do you think they’ll start showing metrics for players challenges? Do you personally foresee any major issues?
Anthony Franco
3:21
I don't know if the league will track this publicly but I imagine some outside outlet will. It'd be easy enough to do
3:22
Should be mostly fine but I'll be curious to see what they do if there's an obvious system glitch on a challenge
3:23
If a borderline pitch is called a strike, hitter challenges and the system has a misread and says the ball was like three feet outside, do they just stick with the umpire's initial call? Not sure what the process would be there
Brewer Fan
3:23
Tell me not to fall for Garrett Mitchell again...
Anthony Franco
3:24
Haha I stopped falling for Garrett Mitchell before he got to the majors
3:25
I get the appeal but I'm just out with that level of swing-and-miss and the injury history. Still like an outfield with Chourio, Frelick, Perkins, occasional Yelich start, and potentially Jett Williams though
Kevin L
3:26
Are there any bigger name free agents left you think will wait until spring training to sign? Or you think most will find contracts before then?
Anthony Franco
3:27
Only like two weeks away and there are so many unsigned pitchers that a few will have to linger into camp. Having a tough time placing Gallen in particular, especially if the Orioles are waiting on Framber/Giolito before they move there
Worried Twins Fan
3:27
Is there anything from the Falvey news that could possibly be a positive for the club’s future and direction?  Make me feel something better than I am now, please!
Zakis
3:27
What direction are the Twins going?
Anthony Franco
3:29
No idea what happened there. Agree with everything Steve wrote in the post this morning. It's not all that surprising that Falvey's out -- he's been there a while, the team isn't good, ownership restructure -- but a handoff two weeks before Spring Training is basically unprecedented
3:31
Nothing they've done this offseason makes me confident they have a direction at all. It feels similar enough to what the Cardinals did last year that I assume it has to be ownership just mandating that they don't truly rebuild because they brought in those minority shareholders
3:33
Signing Josh Bell and Victor Caratini isn't cutting it though. The bullpen is down there with the Rockies and Nationals for the worst in MLB. They have like four good position players, most of whom have extensive injury histories. The rotation is fine but probably in the 10-20 range in MLB
3:34
I'm lower on them than Steve and Darragh are. Neither of them think this a good team but could see them being kind of respectable, and Darragh's at least a little open to them going for it because the division is still bad. They're down there with the White Sox and Angels for me though
Rangers Trade? Pirates
3:34
I think the Rangers overpaid for Gore, especially since the pending lockout could make him a rental. I would have approached PIT with that 5 player package, adding Junis, to get Keller and Santana. Thoughts? I like Keller’s floor better than Gore’s ceiling and they’d get a closer.
Anthony Franco
3:36
Can't trade Junis right after signing him, but separating that, I'd rather take the swing at Gore than Keller. Also doubt the Rangers were ever considering taking on Keller's $16.5MM salary given the way they've talked about the budget all offseason
mstreacker
3:36
Lets be honest.  The chances of Scott Boras letting Elly De La Cruz sign an extension with the Reds are slim to none.  The Reds have to know that.  One would have to believe that after this season, the Reds have to start thinking about trading him.   What would the return package look like?   An example would be great.
Anthony Franco
3:38
While I'll say that I do not think there's any chance the Reds are trading Elly De La Cruz when he has three years of club control left, they'd be looking at something similar to the first Juan Soto package (from SD to Washington)
John D
3:38
Give the Phillies GM a suggested, realistic candidate that can be signed and plugged in the rotation to start the season, providing depth until Wheeler is healthy.  Is Giolito too much to ask for this Phillies fan?
Anthony Franco
3:40
Feels rich. I think it's more like an Urquidy or Civale who can pitch in long relief while they wait on Wheeler
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