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Front Office Chat: 2/13/26
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Anthony Franco
3:01
Good afternoon, hope you've all had a good week!
3:02
Decent number of questions in here, let's get rolling
Half St
3:02
There really isn't much for Nats fans to look forward to unless the new regime proves to be much better at developing young players. Do you feel there might be one young player who could make a surprise jump and carry the team forward from the absolute depths? James Wood seems the obvious answer, but should I be hoping on anybody else?
Anthony Franco
3:04
Wood's the obvious one. Durability's the big caveat for Cavalli but I think he'd be a mid-rotation starter if he can stay healthy. Harry Ford's stock is down a little from its peak but still feels like a capable starting catcher to me
3:06
Abrams has a higher gear but he's probably getting traded before they're back to being competitive. Confidence in Crews is waning. Lile feels like a role player to be, not a believer in Brady House at this point
Barron Of th Bullpen
3:06
How does BlueJays & Astros trade effect Cam Smith's playing time? What is your opinion of Smith long term?
Joey Loperfid'oh!
3:06
Who won this trade - Jays or Astros?
Anthony Franco
3:07
I prefer Houston's end of it because I'd have just non-tendered Sánchez, who I don't think is a $7M player. Loperfido is a fine bench bat, won't have any impact on Cam Smith
3:08
Seems like Houston wants Smith to start the season in Triple-A after how he finished last year, which is understandable. Loperfido's not blocking him and I imagine there's another move coming to add a mid-tier outfielder to replace Sánchez
Tony
3:09
Thanks for the chats.  With early posturing by owners for a salary cap, or seems as if the only way the players would agree is if MLB agrees to a floor and some kind of revenue sharing.  Both sides will argue the league needs to improve competition. Since owners have resisted sharing their books  is there a way forward?  Or will MLB have to edit the game to save it.
Anthony Franco
3:10
All the cap systems come with a salary floor. The league would be on board with that -- albeit with some dissent from the smaller-market owners -- but MLBPA continues to maintain that's a non-starter. If they budge on that, it would require a dramatic increase in revenue sharing to ensure the small-market teams meet the floor, yeah
3:12
Doesn't necessarily mean they need to open the books to the public. They'd need to share it with the Players Association but they already do that, the MLBPA just can't leak it. The bigger stumbling block -- again, beyond the PA considering this at all -- is how to calculate revenue. The players would want all the adjacent "ballpark village" stuff to factor into those calculations, while the team would obviously want to construe it much more narrowly
Sultan of Sling
3:13
The Giants can't possibly be done assembling their bullpen. Can they?
Anthony Franco
3:13
Haha well they signed Rowan Wick three minutes ago, so I guess not?
3:14
In all seriousness, yeah they're pretty much out of options back there and it's my biggest gripe with the roster
The Beatles Show
3:14
Hey Anthony, how's the weather for you?  Second...probably happier question:  With the Sanchez trade does that mean the Astros are going to keep Parades and move him to left?
Anthony Franco
3:15
Alright the past few days! All of January sucked. Don't thing Sánchez has any real impact on Paredes, they could've played him in LF either way if they wanted to do that. Seems ill advised when he's coming off the hamstring injury
Arizona
3:15
Which is more likely? A lottery pick or a playoff run?
Anthony Franco
3:18
Hmm, I think they'll end up in between but lottery pick feels a little more likely. The bullpen's really rough, rotation could go south quickly with an injury or two, and now there's a question about what they'll get from Carroll early in the season
Alex Anthopoulus
3:18
What am I doing? Our projected #2 starter goes down and I haven't done a thing to address the starting rotation issue (that got worse with the Schwellenbach injury). This is a very odd offseason, it started "adequately" but I still haven't solved the main problem from the beginning.
Anthony Franco
3:19
Still have a week or two to add a starter and expect them to be ready for Opening Day but it's thinning quickly. This was always my fear when they were (in my opinion) overpaying for Suarez, Yaz, Kim etc. earlier in the offseason
3:21
All those guys except arguably Yaz checked boxes they needed to hit, but the rotation depth was always my biggest concern and if they ran right up against the budget without fixing it, then they were a very foreseeable injury or two away from being in the same spot they were last year
Ribs in the closet
3:21
With Wheeler... there seems to be optimism for May or so but the TOS procedure has a pretty poor history (Matt Harvey, Tyson Ross, Chris Carpenter, etc). Is it a mistake not to add someone of the Gallen, Giolito variety just to cover what can possibly (likely?) go wrong here?
Anthony Franco
3:23
I get the concern but I think they're alright to wait it out and see how Painter looks in Spring Training and what the stuff looks like for Wheeler when he comes back. Could be something they need to address at the deadline but I have enough faith in the lineup to keep them afloat even if the rotation looks rough early on to have them in a position to fix it midseason
Baron Of th Bullpen
3:23
Do the Pirates get a useable thirdbaseman or does super utility Triolo be their option? Is Paredes a realistic option especially with Corea penciled as the Astros starter at third?
Anthony Franco
3:25
Don't love the match on Paredes, especially if the goal for Houston is to add a LHH outfielder. They're not taking Reynolds' money. Pittsburgh's not doing Cruz (and I assume not Horwitz), Suwinski/Mangum aren't moving the needle
3:27
I think it'll ultimately just be Triolo to open the season  but I'm not as down on that as most Pittsburgh fans seem to be. Plus defense, the bat picked up a little bit down the stretch. He's not a great player obviously but as a stopgap regular in the bottom third of the order, he's alright
VP of Common Sense
3:27
Since Zac Gallen is a still a FA, likely due to his Qualifying Offer, doesn't make sense for the MLBPA to argue that the teams signing players with a QO should not be penalized for spending $ on a player? Rather, the team losing the player would still get a compensatory draft pick.  This system has been tweaked, but it is still hurting players.
walterj23
3:27
Cubs are rumored to be in on Gallen . What would a contract with him look like and where does he fit into the rotation ?
Zac Gallen
3:27
Will I be on a team by opening day?
Anthony Franco
3:31
The union tried this last CBA. League wanted something in return for it -- such is bargaining -- and it affects a small enough number of players that the PA didn't feel it was worth making concessions over
3:32
Tough to see Gallen waiting more than another week or so, especially after seeing how badly it went for Montgomery a couple years ago. I'll say 1/16 at this point
3:33
He'd slot into the middle of the rotation for the Cubs. Better than Taillon, probably on par with Imanaga. They could option Assad to Iowa and run a six-man rotation with Rea in long relief. It's workable, especially with the injury histories for Cabrera, Boyd, Horton. Wouldn't say it's a necessity though
Ewitkows
3:33
Brewers can't be done yet with the infield, would Lawlar be available?
Anthony Franco
3:34
Steve agrees with you!
3:35
I imagine Arizona's still willing to discuss swapping Lawlar for a controllable starter. Feels a little risky for Milwaukee given how badly his throwing was last year but they could just be higher on the player than I am
Scott
3:36
Absolutely love MLBTR!! Question… how does Service Time work if a player is on the bench or injured? Thanks!!
Anthony Franco
3:37
Thanks! The player gets service time for any days during the regular season that he's on the MLB active roster or injured list. Whether he plays in the game is irrelevant
3:39
They generally don't get service time if they're in the minors -- there are some exceptions if they're recalled quickly and slightly different rules in September -- so players on the 40-man who get hurt while playing in the minors won't get service time unless the team places them on the major league injured list. They'll sometimes do that to open a 40-man roster spot but a lot of the fringe guys who get hurt in Triple-A just get released
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