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Front Office Chat: 2/14/25
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Anthony Franco
3:00
Hey everyone, hope you've all had a good week!
Spring training trades
3:00
Do you think there will be a lot of trades towards the end of Spring trading since we hardly had any from New Year's Day and beyond?
Anthony Franco
3:01
Not really. I think the lack of activity broadly reflects the fact that there are only three teams going into the year without any real hope of competing
3:02
Sets up a quiet winter in terms of trades because it's harder to pull off a "baseball trade" involving MLB players than it is to line something up where a bad team trades a good player for prospects
Dan S.
3:02
As MLBTR has pointed out, it’s hard to assess Robert Suarez’s value because of his opt-out. That said, since SD is still looking for a bat, do you think the Orioles could work out a swap for Ryan O’Hearn or Mountcastle, with a mid-level prospect going one way or the other if needed?
Anthony Franco
3:04
Even with the opt-out, I think Suarez has more trade value than that. San Diego loved him enough to give him five years in the first place and he's been really good for them overall. I wouldn't give him up for a DH if I were in their position
ClarkeinEcuador
3:04
Does Yoshida have ANY trade value at the moment?
Anthony Franco
3:05
Certainly not relative to the contract. That's way above what he'd make as a free agent. If the Red Sox put him on waivers tomorrow, no one would claim him
3:06
He's a major league caliber player though, so I don't think the Sox should eat 85% of the money just to give him away. He's a pretty good hitter, not a bad guy to have as your primary DH. Sox just way overvalued him when they signed him for as much as they did
Josh Elliott
3:06
At about what time in the offseason do players start thinking about minor league deals?  Is it something that Justin Turner or JD Martinez would think about or are the minor league deals for those player that are a bit less accomplished?
Anthony Franco
3:07
I'd be surprised if those guys took minor league deals. JDM talked about being willing to retire if he didn't find a legitimate offer last offseason. Turner's still a good hitter, no real reason he should need to work his way onto a roster via an NRI
3:09
We'll see. Brandon Belt was in this position a couple years ago, understandably refused to take a minor league deal coming off a good year, and essentially backed into retirement as a result. Feels like Martinez would be likelier than Turner to go that route, since there are more obvious worrying signs (strikeout rate, terrible second half) with JDM
Philly A's
3:09
Happy Eagles Super Bowl Parade day..  the Phillies didn't do enough to plan a parade for next November right?
Anthony Franco
3:10
I think they're less likely to win the World Series but they'd be in my top five
3:11
I really liked the Luzardo dice roll. Quiet offseason otherwise but that's because they're returning a really good team
Derek Falvey
3:11
We didn't get worse over the winter, did we? The loss of Carlis Santana (the 1B, not the guitar player), can be offset and then some by expected positive regression and hopefully health elsewhere on the roster. So why does the winter feel so incomplete.
Anthony Franco
3:11
(Twins)
3:13
I think they're marginally worse. Fair to expect that Santana wasn't going to quite repeat last year's numbers at his age, but between that and Kirilloff's retirement, the floor at 1B is lower. Probably not a huge drop from late-career Kepler to Wallner though
3:14
Still a pretty good roster but the offseason sucks because they're right at that line where marginal upgrades actually matter. Pushing an 85-win roster to 87 or 88 is huge, of much greater significance than bumping a 92-win team to 95 or going from 74 to 77
3:15
So it's more a missed opportunity to improve than anything else
Dick Monfort
3:15
Am I clinically delusional about my team, or merely a bad owner.
Anthony Franco
3:16
These very much go hand in hand but a lot of it is just unwarranted optimism. Rockies brass always feels better about their rosters than is deserved
3:17
I think Monfort really likes a lot of the guys they bring up (which is why they'll just refuse to listen on Ryan McMahon or something). Which is fine as long as you have can keep into perspective the many areas in which they're still behind everyone around them
DJ
3:17
Can you think of another time when all 3 OFers batter 7, 8 and 9 like the Astros are projected to do this season?
Anthony Franco
3:18
I'm sure there are individual lineups like this scattered throughout the season when utility guys are playing the corners, but it's a weirdly top-heavy roster
3:19
Royals are the best recent comp I can think of, but I don't know if they ever specifically ran a lineup where they had Renfore/Melendez/Isbel as their bottom third
Tiger Fan
3:20
Who do you think gets the last two spots in the tigers rotation?
Anthony Franco
3:21
I'd guess Mize and Jobe with Maeda starting the year in long relief
James
3:21
How does the Bregman signing alter where you think things stand in the AL East? Are the Red Sox now favorites to win the division?
ClarkeinEcuador
3:21
Now that Bregman is signed, who is the odd man out in Boston?
RSox
3:21
Do you put them above the yankees in the east now? It's pretty impressive what they've been able to do so quickly.
Anthony Franco
3:24
I think they're still a little behind the Yankees, right there with Baltimore for second. I have some concerns about the injury risk with the rotation and a back of the bullpen that includes Aroldis and Liam Hendriks coming back from two lost seasons
3:25
Small margins though. Their end of the Crochet deal was one of my favorite moves of the offseason. Obviously Bregman provides a much higher floor at second base than what they would've had from Grissom, David Hamilton and Kristian Campbell
3:27
Campbell's technically the odd man out in the sense that I think he would've won the second base job otherwise, but they can move him around the diamond as injuries arise. He'll play a lot. I don't really see the path to Grissom getting an extended look after how badly his '24 season went though, wonder if he'll be a sell-low guy around the deadline
Maineiacs
3:27
How are signing bonuses calculated for CBT purposes? Bregman was reported as $5million signing bonus and $35million base the first year. Why not just $40million?
Anthony Franco
3:27
Signing bonus counts as guaranteed money for the luxury tax the same way that a salary would
3:28
A heavier signing bonus is usually a way to work more favorably around state taxes. Also allows the player to get a chunk of money upfront rather than evenly distributing it throughout the season the way it would be as salary
Big Al
3:28
what are your predictions for the National League West? Do you have Dodgers first Arizona second Padres third Giants fourth Rockies fifth?
Anthony Franco
3:29
Yeah I think that's right. Wouldn't push back if you flipped SD and ARI but that's probably the most stratified division on paper
Angels Fan
3:29
Do you think a trade for Starling Marte would be an improvement over Adell/Moniak?  If so, the Mets seem to nearly want to give him away.  What would it take?
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