You are viewing the chat in desktop mode. Click here to switch to mobile view.
X
Front Office Chat: 10/4/24
powered byJotCast
Anthony Franco
3:01
Hey everyone, hope you've all had a great week!
Lots to discuss and a good number of questions already in here, let's get going
Paul K
3:02
Notwithstanding Shapiro's brave talk ealier this week, the animosity among the Jays fan base to both Atkins and him is palpable. Atkins walked through the TD Private Section and was booed by the fans in attendance (A long way from "thank you Alex" chants of ~10 years ago. Rogers has just bought control of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Raptors. Given the brand risk, what are the odds that Ownership steps in and truly shakes up the house?
Anthony Franco
3:03
Feels like if this were going to happen, ownership wouldn't have let Shapiro conduct an end-of-season presser declaring that Atkins (and presumably himself) will be back
3:04
Frustration is certainly warranted and I'm at least moderately surprised they don't seem to be making any significant changes -- outside of overhauling the hitting coaches, I guess -- but Rogers seems like they're content to be pretty hands off
Highly doubt Atkins could weather another season that goes as poorly as this one though
Glenn
3:04
What kind of trades do you think the Ray's will pursue this off-season?
Anthony Franco
3:06
I'd guess they'll move one of Brandon Lowe or Yandy Díaz. Could see them dealing Littell for a controllable infielder if that happens since they probably feel good about the rotation going into next year. Most of the heavy lifting was done at the deadline though
Guest
3:07
What is Torkelson's value in a Dynasty league?
Anthony Franco
3:09
I don't know how to quantify this but I'm concerned about the ongoing swing and miss even in his second half hot streak. I think he's worth keeping assuming your roster has 15 or 20+ players but I'm not any more confident on him than I was a couple months ago and certainly lower than I was coming into the year
Long time reader, first time subscriber
3:09
Who has the advantage, the team that just won a tough WC Series or the team that has been off for 5 days?
Anthony Franco
3:09
Thanks for joining!
3:10
I'd still prefer to be the team that has a fresher bullpen and can line up their ace on extended rest for Game 1. There's a small edge for being at home early in the series too, I guess
3:11
That's not how things have really played out in practice. The top seeds in the 12-team playoff era generally have not gone far
3:12
But it's a small enough sample and the margins are so thin in the MLB postseason that I expect the higher seeds to do slightly better over time. I'm open to the theory that it's not ideal to sit for a few days and there might be some rust, but I need more than two or three years of data to fully buy it
Donny Baseball
3:12
I know Shohei had an historic season but if he was in the American League still do you think he would win MVP?  Thanks for the chat!
Anthony Franco
3:13
No, I think Judge and Witt would finish 1-2 if MLB only had one universal MVP award
3:14
50-50 is a crazy feat but Judge had nearly .060 points of OBP and .050 points of slugging over Ohtani. He obviously provided a lot more defensive value. Judge had a better season, and I don't think it's especially close
3:16
Witt vs. Ohtani is debatable to me but Witt has a huge defensive advantage and the Royals very clearly wouldn't have made the playoffs without him. Between that and maybe a slight amount of voter fatigue with Ohtani, I think Witt would've finished above him
Curious A's Fan
3:16
What are the odds Jordan Montgomery is pitching for the Diamondbacks in 2025?
Anthony Franco
3:17
I'll go like 30%. They're clearly going to try to move him and it's tough to come back from comments like the ones that Kendrick made. Certainly never seemed like Monty was happy with how things played out, both in free agency and in his move to the bullpen
3:19
They're going to need to eat a lot of the money, but if they pay it down to $10-12MM, they could probably give him away. That's basically fifth starter money and another team could at least talk themselves into Monty never finding his footing with the late start and having some kind of rebound
Tony Taters
3:19
Seems like the O's will let Santander walk. Is the replacement just Kjerstad or will the lack of scoring during the last 2 games spur them to add a bat?
Anthony Franco
3:21
Agree that Santander probably goes after rejecting a QO. I don't think they'll just give it to Kjerstad. They'll probably identify a mid-level free agent outfield target (Kepler, Conforto, guess I could see Profar on the higher end) to come in for cheaper
3:22
Even if they want to give Kjerstad more ABs, they could trade Mountcastle to free up some playing time. He's a nice player but there's probably not much more in there and the price tag is getting to a point where he's not that much of a bargain
Vladimir Guerrero Jr
3:22
Am I a generational player?  And why would I want to sign an extension with a team that doesn't believe I am?
Anthony Franco
3:25
I wouldn't consider him a generational player but I'd have a more selective understanding of that term than most sports have actually adopted. I'd have a hard time arguing for more than two or three "generational players" at any one time, basically by definition. I wouldn't put Vlad in that group
All that said, he's obviously really damn good
3:27
I mostly just took Shapiro's comments as not having any interest in getting into the debate rather than being a shot at the player. Maybe Vlad feels differently, but if the Jays are willing to offer him an extension worth over $300MM or whatever, that feels like a clear sign that they think you're awesome
JeffyM
3:27
Does Tyler O'Neill get a QO?  And if he does, should he accept it?
Anthony Franco
3:29
I don't think he will. Wouldn't be the craziest QO decision or anything but $21MM+ is a lot for one year on a guy with his health history. This year's production was also extremely platoon dependent, and while that works for a Sox team that otherwise skews really left-handed, I'd be concerned about how often he struck out against righty pitching
If they did offer, I do think he'd accept
Glenn
3:29
Do you think they need to address the long gap between games for the top two seeds?
Anthony Franco
3:30
Touched on this in the earlier question but no, I'm not at the point where I consider this an issue. There's no way to do it without shrinking the playoffs (which isn't happening for revenue reasons) or expanding them and taking away the bye
3:31
And taking away the bye is a huge disadvantage for the top teams compared to whatever cost they take in rust. It's pretty clear they'd all prefer to avoid the possibility of getting bounced in the Wild Card round because they play at 100% until they clinch the bye but nobody seems to really care about finishing first vs. second
Giants fan
3:32
What are your thoughts on the direction the giants will go for 2025. They have holes that need filling. Will they go free agency? Willie Adames is a player the giants could use just like a lot of teams. Santander is another. I'm looking for bats and another veteran pitcher either Snell or someone solid behind Webb
Anthony Franco
3:32
Tougher to predict without any kind of track record to go on for Posey as a lead executive. Agree that Adames, in particular, is a really good fit there and I expect they'll be heavily in the mix
3:35
There's a lot of ground to cover in right field at Oracle and Santander's not a rangy defender. Ramos fits best in a corner outfield spot and I think that's probably Luciano's long-term home if he's going to be a regular. It'd be a lot of money (plus a draft pick) if they go after Santander primarily as a DH
3:36
I assume Posey wants to build a more athletic and better defensive team since that's been one of the Achilles heels. Santander cuts against that enough that, given the cost, I don't love that fit
Ben
3:36
Hi Anthony, given the recent news regarding the Diamond Sports fallout, do you think we’ll see a repeat of last offseason, wherein the biggest fish (likely Soto and Burnes) still get paid well, but everyone else (Alonso, Bregman, Adames, etc.) receives less than anticipated? It seems there will be considerably less demand with financial uncertainty abound.
Load More Messages
Connecting…