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Front Office Chat: 2/27/26
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Snoozy
4:20
Can Ron Washington work his magic with Arraez at 2B or should I prepare myself for a difficult year on the right side of the infield?
Anthony Franco
4:21
Not holding my breath on that one. Just don't think he's athletic enough to be anything more than a playable but below-average defensive second baseman
RoxTalks
4:22
The Rockies have lost 629 games since 2019 and currently have the sixth worst farm system in baseball (per FanGraphs). Despite bringing in a whole new front office regime, is there any hope for a productive prospect pipeline with Sterling Monfort directing player development? (Wonder how he got that job with no experience).
Anthony Franco
4:23
I guess the glass half full view is that there's nowhere to go but up in that regard. Their drafting/player development track record over the last 5-7 years has been so terrible that it feels like it can't be sustainable to remain that bad
4:24
McMahon worked out, nice find with Goodman in the fourth round. Other than that, man...
4:26
Their first-round/supplemental picks between Kyle Freeland in 2014 and 2021: Brendan Rodgers, Mike Nikorak, Tyler Nevin, Riley Pint, Robert Tyler, Ryan Rolison, Michael Toglia, Zac Veen, Benny Montgomery. Can't do any worse!
4:27
Will give them the benefit of the doubt on the guys over the last four years but it's not like the arrow has gone up for Gabriel Hughes or Charlie Condon in pro ball
West is the best
4:27
With all the love Cal and the pitching staff (rightfully) gets I feel like Julio still flies a bit under the radar. We know what Cal can do when he puts it’s all together but what kind of season do you think Julio could actually put together?
Anthony Franco
4:28
Might not predict it this year but I think he'll win an MVP at some point
Guest
4:28
Who breaks camp with the Mets…Benge, Melendez or Tauchman? Mauricio or Brujan? Kimbrel or Brazoban?
Anthony Franco
4:29
I'll go Benge and Brazobán. Mauricio seems likelier than Bruján to me but I could see them adding some other utility piece who shakes loose on waivers at the end of Spring Training and optioning Mauricio
Brodie
4:30
What have you heard on Rowdy Tellez? Who do you see signing him & when? He’s still only 30 years old, young among remaining free agents. He had an excellent second half with the Rangers last year, still provides big time Left Handed Power and is an excellent teammate & Clubhouse Guy.
Anthony Franco
4:31
Haven't seen anything on him but he's an NRI guy (could say many of the same things about Dominic Smith, for instance). He'll probably sign somewhere without anything leaking until there's an agreement in place
Buttery at 3B
4:32
Speaking of McMahon, the Yankees are trying to get him to cut down on his historically high strikeout rate this spring (I think by starting with a less-wide stance). Has a player in his 30's ever significantly cut down his strikeout rate? Cody Bellinger actually comes to mind as I'm writing this, but he did so at 27
Anthony Franco
4:35
Not coming up with any great examples, it's hard to do
4:36
Just ran a quick year over year search on FanGraphs to see if anyone obvious had a significant strikeout rate improvement, nothing jumped out
4:37
Closest thing I could find in the past decade or so was Michael A. Taylor dropping his strikeout rate by four points at age 31 in 2022. It went up 13 points the year after that haha
Royal
4:37
From my perspective Chris Getz has done basically A+ work in his entire tenure as the ChiSox GM. What do you think has been his biggest miss thus far?
Anthony Franco
4:39
I think he's done a solid job. This is the easier part of the rebuild though, it's tougher to start putting things back into place than it is to collect young talent when you're selling pieces off
4:41
Biggest miss? Getting Vargas for Fedde/Kopech probably isn't going to work. Thought it was a reasonable flier at the time
4:42
Most consequential thing really was not trading Luis Robert after 2023. No idea if ownership would even have let him do that when they had four years of club control but they lost 101 games that year, so it's not like it wasn't clear the rebuild was coming
4:44
Pretty sure I remember Tim Dierkes making the argument for selling high at the time. Not sure I would have done it, most GMs probably would not have. But if you're looking at where they left the most value on the table by not acting boldly, that's it. They would've gotten more for Robert than they did for Crochet if they traded him then
JJ
4:44
Any idea how much say MLB has when teams want to make offseason stadium modifications, like moving an outfield wall in or out?
Anthony Franco
4:46
I think basically none? Obviously there has to be a cutoff at which the league would step in -- don't think they're letting you go 150 feet down the lines -- but seems like the Orioles and Royals made the smaller changes unilaterally
Better 2026
4:46
Roman Anthony or Jackson Merrill
Anthony Franco
4:46
Anthony
Chances of McGonigle Breaking Camp W/ DET?
4:46
Hi Anthony, what are the chances of Kevin McGonigle breaking camp with DET, and which position will he play?
Anthony Franco
4:47
Pretty slim that he breaks camp given how deliberately Detroit has moved most of their prospects under Harris. Should be up by June though, everyday shortstop as soon as it happens
School of balls and sticks pt. 2
4:47
Thank you for your detailed and thoughtful response! I have a follow-up w.r.t the chicken and the egg thing: every prospect and org is different, but for late first round/early second round picks, do teams generally find more success with big-upside-big-risk high school arms or mid-tier college position player prospects? After all the best college arms and toolsy HS prospects are gone, what's third best?
Anthony Franco
4:49
Not sure on that one. My guess is you're better chasing upside in that range but the hit rate on any supplemental/second-round picks is going to be low regardless of demographic. Drafting is really hard, especially after the top few prospects
4:50
Biggest thing to consider there are the bonus pools. Teams have what is essentially a hard cap on the draft pools; they can blow past them but the future penalties are so exorbitant that no team has ever done it
4:52
So they're forced to balance to make the money work. The high school guys are generally going to cost a lot more. If you're a toolsy but risky high school prospect who falls out of the first round, there's a decent chance you're pricing yourself out of what teams can afford to offer you later in the draft because you have a scholarship to a marquee college program (plus NIL money now) in your back pocket
4:54
Teams can go over slot on one or two of those types but can't afford to lean fully in that direction without breaking the pool. Have to balance by offering well under-slot money to college guys whose only alternative is to not play professional baseball at all
Jorge78
4:54
Test
Anthony Franco
4:54
This went through but nothing else of yours is in the queue
Jazz hands
4:54
Think Jazz will accomplish a 50-50 season?
Anthony Franco
4:55
Haha this would be the most surprising 50-homer season I can remember
Very good player but definitely not
Angels
4:55
Where would you rank the Angels as far teams that need new ownership?
Dollar hotdogs are the best!
4:55
Besides selling the team to a new owner, what is a realistic timeline for the Angels to get back to respectable
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