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Front Office Chat: 2/14/25
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Anthony Franco
3:30
Yeah I would like this for the Angels, assuming the Mets pay it down to like $5MM. Minimal prospect cost
3:32
He's almost completely squeezed out there so they're basically shopping him for modest salary relief and to hopefully find a landing spot where he can get more consistent playing time. It'd also provide them with a little more roster flexibility on the bench by clearing a spot for a player who has options
Philly A's
3:32
A's need another starter and swing pitcher to be a WC contender?
Anthony Franco
3:33
It would help, don't think it'd get them much beyond long shot/fringe contender though. They're going to have growing pains with all the young hitters in the lineup. The bridge to Mason Miller still isn't great even with the Leclerc pickup
3:36
They're getting closer but they'd need a lot of their young hitters to take another step forward even relative to what they showed in the second half. I think an upper-70s win total this year would be a success and set them up to where they should expect to make the playoffs in '26
Jellyfish
3:36
Is Edgar Quero the White Sox starting catcher by the all star break?
Anthony Franco
3:37
I expect he and Teel to both be up by that point, yeah
Kevin in Dallas
3:37
Is Houston a better or worse team with the addition and subtraction this past winter.
Anthony Franco
3:38
Downgraded in the short term but the inclusion of Paredes and Cam Smith in the Tucker trade helps to avoid the window slamming shut in the next two or three years
Ken
3:38
Taijuan Walker, Seth Johnson, and $10 million for Esteury Ruiz. Who says no - A's or Phillies? Phillies clear some salary space by dumping Walker, while giving up Johnson, a talented but oft-injured pitching prospect.
Anthony Franco
3:41
I like the framework but I'd want Philly to cover more than $10MM of the $36MM still owed to Walker if I were the A's. If they paid down 20-25, I could see it
Dan S.
3:42
Assuming Zach Eflin hits his ZiPS projection, what kind of deal is he looking at in free agency? Somewhere between Kikuchi and Eovaldi, maybe 3/70, or does  someone offer him 4 years at age 32? Should the Orioles try to extend him?
Anthony Franco
3:42
ZiPS has him at 25 starts with a 3.75. 20% strikeout rate with plus control, all seems reasonable
3:45
I think you're basically on it. Feels like three years to me given the age and potential concerns about his early-career knee injuries. Think he's closer to the Eovaldi/pre-deferral Manaea AAV than Kikuchi because of the more consistent track record, but we're in the same range on him. Orioles have the long-term payroll room to offer this, sure
Verdugo?
3:45
What are Alex Verdugo's likely landing spots? I know he isn't a world beater, but he's a competent player and bat. Surprised he hasn't found a home. Saw a report he was signing with the Astros but nothing after that. Could the Guardians afford him?
Anthony Franco
3:48
Yeah I think he's looking at like $4-5MM, which should be doable for Cleveland. That makes sense. Angels or Blue Jays could work. Astros didn't really address their desire for a LH bat with Gamel, so that's still viable, but I think a couple of their beat reporters have pushed back against how involved they really were on that one
John B
3:49
The Wade vs. Lee leadoff debate. Would you rather have elite OB or elite contact + speed?
Anthony Franco
3:50
OBP generally but I also think Lee's going to get on base enough that I'd be fine with him there
Reds fan Ryan
3:51
PECOTA has the Reds projected to win 73.5 games.  I don't put any stock in these projections, but how could they possibly have them being worse than last year?  The Reds went 77-85 with a bottom 5 offense and replaced at least 40% of at bats with better players (including injured players returning), replaced an average manager with a HOF manager, replaced below replacement level starters with a league average starter and went 15-28 in 1 run games, which usually levels out year to year.
Anthony Franco
3:53
Obviously I'm not affiliated with Prospectus so I can't speak to their methodology specifically. There are some pretty big error bars on guys like McLain, CES, Candelario, maybe even Lux that could make them tough to project. I agree with you that this feels better than a 74-win roster though
Hot Take
3:53
Colorado finishes ahead of San Diego (and maybe SF). Rockies are going to see their farm system start to pay off while SF continues to be average at best and SD sees one or two injuries derail the entire card house they have created.
Anthony Franco
3:54
Noted! I don't see it but it would be fun to see the Rockies overperform and hang around .500. Fanbase deserves it after these last few years
Josh Elliott
3:54
Why is it that strikeouts are so highly thought of in a day and age where pitch counts are so highly thought of. You would think teams would want pitchers to pitch to contact and get outs quick rather than use the minimum of 3 pitches to strike somebody out.
Anthony Franco
3:56
The strikeout is a guaranteed out and the pitch-to-contact profile is not, basically. You can have a 2-pitch AB that ends in a ground-ball single, which ends up being less pitch efficient than a strikeout (plus there's higher stress in pitching with men on base)
3:57
Bullpen depth is the other big thing. Most relievers are better on a per-inning basis than the guys that teams have at the back of their rotations. So they're worried about pitch counts for injury risk, sure, but in a lot of cases, teams are trying to get into their bullpen anyways when they don't have one of their top two or three starters on the mound
Alache
3:58
What team has the best chance to surprise us all and over perform projections?
Anthony Franco
3:59
Touched on Cincinnati already. FG playoff odds have Cleveland at 20%. I'd take the over but that's not exactly a bold take coming off an ALCS appearance. I expect Texas to rebound
Biancalana's Buddy
4:00
Oct 1 last year, bottom of the Royals order (6-9) was Melendez , Pham, Renfroe (DH), Isbel. That's a close as it got.
Anthony Franco
4:01
Four outfielders for the price of three
Biancalana's Buddy
4:01
KC needs an OF - is Taylor Ward going to get moved or should the Royals be on Starling Marte for a nothing offer as you mentioned for the Angels?
Anthony Franco
4:02
Still like the Ward fit but it seems like they may need to wait for the deadline on that one. I thought the Angels would more aggressively shop him from rotation help earlier in the offseason
4:03
Guess they still could but they've done nothing in the outfield (unless they want to try Soler out there) and already have a huge weakness in right field
Defer and deflect?
4:03
Do all these deferral contracts pose any risk of teams not being able to afford top talent when the deferrals come due?  Will we just see this as the new norm?
Anthony Franco
4:04
I think this is at least partially what's happening with the Nationals
Alan
4:05
The Dodgers roster looks set now with Kiki back. Do you think they pay some of the salary and maybe put a prospect in and move Taylor. He really has no position on the team now. Also with Phillips and Kopec hurt should they have kept Braiser?
Anthony Franco
4:06
I think they'd have already moved on from Taylor if they were going to do that. They squeezed Lux out instead even though he's a more valuable player/contractual asset because they love Taylor's versatility and makeup
4:07
May come a point midseason where they need to decide to move on from one of Taylor, Kiké or Rojas (Taylor seems most likely) because of the roster inflexibility, as they did with Heyward last year
Kevin C
4:07
It is disappointing to find out that resolution of the Lerner estate might be behind the Nats refusing to spend money to make the team competitive. Granted, fans used to call Ted Lerner cheap before he made an alliance with Scott Boras and won the World Series. This seems different, though. My question: To someone who pays attention to all the teams, does this sound very similar to what fans of every other team says, win or lose?
Anthony Franco
4:09
I think you're asking whether most fanbases are frustrated with their ownership groups? Yeah, that's a complaint of 25+ fanbases every offseason. Pretty much gets leveled at the ownerships of every team aside from the Dodgers, Mets and Phillies
4:10
Doesn't invalidate your frustration with how the Nats have handled the past few offseasons though. It was understandable during the nadir of the rebuild and while they were actively exploring selling, but they hinted that they might go bigger this offseason and never really seemed to consider it
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