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Front Office Chat: 11/3/23
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Anthony Franco
3:59
Hey everyone, hope you've all enjoyed your week!
Pretty busy time for us so I'll probably have to keep this one to an hour
Guest
3:59
Is the World Champion(!) Texas Rangers Offseason Review coming soon?
Anthony Franco
4:00
Yep, the draft is finished. Mark wrote it. Believe he's planning to hold off on publishing until tomorrow morning so he can run the chat a couple hours later
Congratulations on the championship by the way
Steve E
4:01
Serious question: Would YOU agree to pay Shohei Ohtani $50 million over each of the next 10 seasons, knowing that there are no guarantees that he will ever pitch at the same level going forward? It seems like a huge risk for a guy who might be a DH for many of those seasons.
Anthony Franco
4:02
Depends on the team. If it's one that's going to run a payroll in the $250MM range annually, then the megadeal is reasonable. Even if he has another setback and doesn't pitch, I don't doubt that he'd be a very good right fielder
4:03
We're under a $50MM AAV on Ohtani but your general point stands
Tor Min
4:03
Do the TWINS trade Royce Lewis now? How about sending Byron Buxton on his way. I know trading him would be selling low but both are constantly getting injured and are a burden to a lineup that really can do without them. Buxton sits in the dugout as a DH and does nothing productive while Lewis at 3rd base, while filling a weak spot is not a third baseman. Go after a Matt Chapman type of third baseman? Do you have an opinion on any of that?
Anthony Franco
4:04
Trading Lewis would be a non-starter for me. I think he's a better player than Matt Chapman right now
4:05
Front office is probably open to moving Buxton at this point but they wouldn't be able to offload the entire contract. It's not like other teams are unaware of the injury risk. So much of Buxton's value is tied up in the ability to be an elite defensive center fielder. If he's not that anymore, he's not especially appealing given the on-base concerns
Arthur Dent
4:05
Would the Braves entertain offers for Ozzie Albies?  Any chance the Mariners could swing a deal with some pitching?
Anthony Franco
4:07
Doubt it. No real motivation for Atlanta to do that. He's really good, astoundingly cheap and a key piece of the core they keep building around
Coco Laboy
4:07
Who starts at 3B for the Jays in '24?
Anthony Franco
4:08
This is a good question. I guess give me Gio Urshela to start, maybe Addison Barger by midseason
They're definitely a viable player on Candelario as well
Astros fan
4:08
How do you think this years free agent market will compare to last years, especially in terms of the number of really long contracts?
Anthony Franco
4:09
It's just not as good, so we'll see fewer of them. The trend toward super long deals has thus far been limited mostly to position players, which makes sense given the injury risk for pitchers. This year, Ohtani and Bellinger are the only hitters good enough for that to be the case
4:10
Yoshinobu Yamamoto probably falls into that bucket on the pitching side given his youth, but that's it as far as people I think have a reasonable shot at nine-plus years
Guest
4:10
With respect to a couple of young outfielders, who do you will have a greater impact next season - Garrett Mitchell or Johan Rojas?
Anthony Franco
4:11
Mitchell has a little more power and the clearer path to everyday reps. I'll take him
Josh B
4:11
How many more seasons do you think Clayton Kershaw will pitch?
Anthony Franco
4:11
I'd guess two
Arthur Dent
4:11
What kind of contract is going to land Mitch Garver and what teams do you think will be in the mix.
Anthony Franco
4:13
Garver seems like the perfect guy to accept a qualifying offer. Texas has the money to accommodate a $20MM salary for a key lineup piece, the one-year term reduces their downside if he gets injured again
4:14
If they don't offer it, we've got Garver at three years in the mid-high 30s. Needs to be a team with DH reps to offer, maybe a young catcher they like as the starter but don't want to overload
4:15
San Diego fits if they have the money. Arizona, Boston, Miami fits on paper if they can make the finances work
Ohtani
4:15
If the Angels resign Ohtani who else do you think they should get to turn this club around?
Anthony Franco
4:16
They'd still need all kinds of pitching help. At least one mid-rotation arm to play the role they hoped for from Tyler Anderson, multiple relievers, probably a corner outfielder
AHume92
4:16
Other than Ohtani, whose free agency are you most interested in? I'm very interested to see how Matt Chapman fares after being terrible at the plate for much of the year.
Anthony Franco
4:18
The KBO/NPB guys are always interesting because MLB teams can have wildly different valuations of them. Very interested to see how the market treats Jung Hoo Lee, for instance
4:19
Teoscar Hernández is a pretty interesting one to me, much for the same reason Chapman is for you. He's a bat-first player who was all over the place offensively in his platform year but a well above-average hitter from 2020-22. It's pretty hard to find comparable players who landed four or five years with that kind of profile, but there's also a case that Teoscar's the third-best hitter in this class
Guest
4:19
In most teams Offseason Outlook notes, the phrase "they can't afford the top pitcher contracts" was in most of them.  There are what, 3 or 4 pitchers projected for huge deals plus the Unicorn?  Will there be enough landing spots for all of them?  Will some pitcher end up with a "haircut?"  Or with a team no one considered?  The last one standing may have no leverage.....
Anthony Franco
4:21
There's enough to go around. Dodgers, Mets, Cardinals, Yankees, Giants, Phillies should all be in on the top guys. Rangers, Braves, Red Sox could get involved
Real Craig Mish the Dish
4:21
when does the top FAs and predictions list drop?
Anthony Franco
4:21
Monday evening
4:22
We wait for the qualifying offer/option decisions because those affect some of the players who are eligible for the list and the projected salaries of others
Joshua
4:22
What’s the top love you could see the Nats doing this off-season? Either trade or FA route.
Anthony Franco
4:23
Top longshot possibility that wouldn't completely floor me? Chapman. Biggest move I think is "realistic"? A mid-tier starter like Lugo or Wacha
Mike
4:23
Will the Rays trade Tyler Glasnow this year?
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