Front Office Chat: 10/30/26
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Anthony Franco
3:02
Good afternoon, hope all is well!
3:03
Congratulations to Brewers fans on the well deserved championship! Busy time for us now obviously so I'm going to keep this one around an hour
Let's get rolling
Joshua
3:03
Take your shot.....what do you think will be the biggest trade of the offseason?
Anthony Franco
3:04
Hoping the Rangers trade at least one of deGrom or Seager
TheGhostofChristmasPast
3:05
Gave a read to the top 40 trade during my lunch today and it was an awesome read, do you anticipate any Houston trades outside of Walker, Paredes and Maybe Peña? Seems someone like Hader could be moved with teams like Giants looking for relief/closer help.
Anthony Franco
3:06
I don't, though I'm generally of the mind that it'd be weird for them to be willing to move a franchise shortstop in Peña but draw a line on a 33-year-old closer (even an elite one) just because he's signed for one extra year
I tend to think they'll just keep both and eat half the money to get Walker out of there to alleviate the infield surplus though
Mets Man
3:07
Its the offsesson so you know what that means, HYPOTHETICAL TRADE TIME!!!!: Hunter Brown for AJ Ewing, Christian Scott and Adien Robbins. If they need a sweetner I would throw in Dylan Ross. I know its a lot but Brown is a recent top 3 Cy Young finisher and and has 2 years of control. Him with Skubal (he is still signed in this scenario) and McLean would be a beast of a top 3 rotation.
Anthony Franco
3:07
Yeah I don't expect them to trade Brown but this is the kind of offer that'd be needed to make them think about it
3:08
I'd be surprised if Jim Crane's willing to reset to this extent but you can make a reasonable argument this would be worthwhile for both teams so the Astros don't completely fall off a cliff in a year or two
padres1@
3:08
Resign Morejon & France, then trade Miller for prospects.
Anthony Franco
3:10
Not sure you'd necessarily do the latter even if you bring Morejon/France back. It's not like Miller's super expensive, just run back the super bullpen
Maybe swap Matsui for Trevor Larnach or someone like that to plug left field
Nicky Z
3:10
I was wondering of you think there will be a mad dash to sign/trade players before the impending lockout, or if you think teams will play it more conservatively to see what the new CBA will hold in terms of financial restrictions?
Anthony Franco
3:11
I think it might accelerate the trade market a little bit. The last lockout spurred a bunch of November free agent activity, and there'll probably be some of that again, but this FA class is bad so I could see more teams being content to wait that out to see what kind of economic system we get
RoxTalks
3:12
If ELDC is traded like so many people think from the report today, I don't know how anyone can think we need a salary cap. He has 3 years of arbitration left and the Reds have an estimated payroll of $88 million on RosterResource and only 7 players with guaranteed salaries. But please Mr. Castellini, tell me how the Reds have no money and can't afford players (like the one they currently have).
Anthony Franco
3:13
I'd be shocked if it happens this offseason. If they're not good in the first half again, though, might be tempting to see if there's a Juan Soto level package (WAS/SD version) out there at the deadline
MarinersMan
3:13
Why hasn't anyone given Brennen Davis a chance? He's got a 136 wRC+ over his last 545 PA
Anthony Franco
3:14
He's been good but it comes with a few more strikeouts than you'd like against AAA pitching and he keeps getting hurt
3:15
I hope he gets there at some point though. He's been grinding away at it for a long time
Craig Breslow
3:15
Is something like Bello and Kristian Campbell enough for a Burleson trade?
Anthony Franco
3:17
I think Campbell has negative trade value at this point. If the Red Sox put him on waivers, who would claim a $55MM contract on a guy who doesn't have a position and is coming off an eight-homer season with a 27% strikeout rate in Triple-A?
3:18
Bello's more interesting but I don't think he's getting you Burleson
M
3:18
How often do you see a name in a chat and have to go look the player up?
Anthony Franco
3:20
In the sense that I've never heard of the player? Basically never, it'd have to be a deep cut prospect question that I'd probably just skip because I'm not the right person to answer that anyway.

To confirm a player's projected arbitration price or look up Campbell's final line in Triple-A? A few times per chat
BinDiesel
3:20
Scott Boras seems very confident that there will be no salary cap. Do you think this is just posturing or does he know something we don’t know yet? (Maybe both huh?)
Anthony Franco
3:21
I think he's just aligning himself with the messaging of the MLBPA and basically every player who's willing to speak publicly on this
3:22
It's ingrained in those guys to hate the cap (justifiably from their perspective). Becomes a battle of wills on both sides if they're willing to stretch the work stoppage long enough that everyone starts losing a ton of money
Dave Dombrowski
3:22
The Phillies need help at 3B, RF, and the bullpen; they have multiple excellent starting pitchers. The Blue Jays, on the other hand, could use help in that area. Should I trade Andrew Painter and Orion Kerkering for Addison Barger and Louis Varland in a high risk/high reward deal for both sides? Would the Jays agree to the deal? Thanks.
Anthony Franco
3:23
I'd do it if I were Philly, can't see Toronto biting even with Painter starting to figure things out down the stretch. Varland's just so good and Barger still has middle-of-the-order ceiling if he's healthy
3:24
Kerkering, eh. I get the theoretical upside but at some point you may just have to conclude that he's a talented but volatile middle reliever
Jagger
3:24
Is Landon Knack a possible trade candidate for teams who need a back end starter? He's out of options and Dodgers might need the roster space.
Anthony Franco
3:25
Yeah not going to get much back but he'd make sense for the A's or Royals, sure
walterj23
3:25
Besides Skubal , who is the best starting pitcher the Cubs could get ?
Anthony Franco
3:25
Drew Rasmussen via trade. Trevor Rogers or Michael King in free agency
Luc
3:26
Itoh and Taira would improve the Giants pitching, could they actually get them?
Anthony Franco
3:27
Sure, viable fit on either. Steve's talked to a few evaluators who project Itoh as a fifth starter and don't think he's going to cost much. Taira's got a higher ceiling -- the people we've talked to like him more than Imai at this time last year -- but even something in the $60-80M range shouldn't be unreasonable for them
RCAM
3:28
Is Shane McClanahan going to move? Value is down due to injuries, but you'd think they want to get something for him and and that they're unlikely to re-sign him.
Anthony Franco
3:30
I can see it but you're right about the value dropping and they already have to replace so much of the rotation. Freddy and Martinez are probably gone, expecting them to trade Rasmussen.

Also down to one year of control on Jax, who knows what you're getting from Pepiot? Hopkins might not be a starter, Seymour had a nice year but was a train wreck in the playoffs. They're going to need to keep a couple of these guys
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