Front Office Chat: 10/2/26
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Craig Counsell
4:10
So 3 years of underachieving doesn't appear to be heating up my seat, managers really don't matter huh?
Anthony Franco
4:11
His reputation from Milwaukee is doing some of the lifting but this outcome for the 2026 Cubs feels about right to me
4:12
The pitching staff was terrible, some of it to injuries and some because the front office hates investing in the bullpen
They got beat by a slightly better team that has been on fire over the past month and a half
Guarded Indian
4:12
Follow up on trading for Vogt.  Does he have more value now in a trade as a manager or when we was still a player?
Anthony Franco
4:14
Ha yeah, more now. Don't want to disrespect his playing career but he was never a good enough defensive catcher to be more than a bench bat/backup whose value lied a lot in the clubhouse vibes
Pete
4:14
I know that you are asked about this during virtually every chat, but in your estimation: (1) what is the absolute latest cutoff date for the impending lockout to be resolved whereby no games will be lost; and (2) what is your best date guesstimate as to when the lockout will, in fact, be resolved?
Anthony Franco
4:15
March 20; March 18
4:16
I think if you start the regular season by April 15, you can make 162 work by reducing off days and pushing the postseason into November
4:17
And still optimistic that everyone involved will realize they have too much at stake to lose games and that it becomes exponentially harder to get a deal done once you pass that point of no return where 162 just isn't viable
4:18
Because then you're also trying to split the revenue losses on top of the bigger picture stuff that has frozen the sport in the first place
M
4:18
What if they did no preseason, but you get preseason size rosters for the first month?
Anthony Franco
4:19
Can't go that far. Have to give pitchers some time to warm up
4:20
Bigger rosters or not, if the games matter, you're begging players to get injured. It'd also just make for a horrible product to watch -- hitters' timing would be terrible, pitching changes every inning
Alright. I need to wrap this one up to work on some stuff for the Top 50 list
4:21
We're getting that process underway next week. You'll be shocked to learn that I have Tarik Skubal as the #1 free agent in the class
Thanks as always for all the questions and apologies if I didn't get to yours! Had to leave a few in the queue that I would've liked to answer if I had more time
4:22
Feel free to throw anything else at me on X @affranco10 over the weekend
Steve will chat on Monday and I'll do another of these next Friday. Thank you all for your continued support of the site and hanging out every week!
Have a great weekend!
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