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Front Office Chat: 3/27/26
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Anthony Franco
3:01
Good afternoon, hope you've all had a good week!
3:02
We've got regular season baseball again, exciting times! Let's get rolling
Mad Max
3:03
Thoughts on Cubs and extensions? Comp to Anthony and Red Sox,what percentage can be applied of regret to Armstrong,Anthony,Merrill in 3 years? Which tema takes a step forward due to locking up young talent versus using up a position and payroll?
Anthony Franco
3:04
I'd order them Anthony, Merrill, PCA on value but I'd happily have done any of them if I were the team. The track record on those extensions for high-end position player prospects who find immediate MLB success is pretty good
3:07
If that guy becomes Ronald Acuña or Corbin Carroll, it's one of the three to five most valuable contracts in the game. Even if they go the Michael Harris II or (worse) Ke'Bryan Hayes path, it's not the end of the world. Risk-reward in these cases almost always points to the team being aggressive if the player is willing to sign early
3:09
Cubs ones are a little weird because they follow a different path than the usual early-career extension. Typically a little shorter commitment that buys out one or two free agent years without attaching club options at the back end.

They did something similar with Happ and the first Hoerner deal. It reduces the long-term upside a little bit but they seem to prefer keeping the guarantee comparatively low (PCA would've beaten Merrill money if they went longer)
NL MVP candidates
3:09
Did the MLBTR staff have a chuckle that nobody picked anyone other than Ohtani to win his fourth consecutive NL MVP? Granted the NL might be somewhat light on superstars compared to the AL (Judge, Bobby Witt Jr, Cal Raleigh, Julio, etc)... but nobody thought Juan Soto deserved a nod? He's a 40-40 guy now after all
Anthony Franco
3:11
Ha, we did them all individually. I put mine in last before sending them out but deliberately avoiding looking at anyone else's picks when I wrote them all up. After four or five Ohtani picks, I wondered if it'd be unanimous
3:12
He's so clearly the best player in MLB that I think any of us felt like picking someone else would come off as too contrarian, but I would still take the field. Not like it'd be a huge surprise if Soto, Acuña, Carroll, even Tatis jumped in there
Randy, the destroyer
3:12
Who do you think gets squeezed off the Yankees roster when Volpe returns (assuming everyone stays healthy until then)? Their bench is Goldy, Grichuk, backup C Escarra and Rosario. Do they just drop Grichuk at that point?
Anthony Franco
3:14
They're probably assuming someone's hurt in between (Stanton most likely), but if they avoid any injuries, I'd guess Rosario's the odd man out. Feels a little redundant if you're also carrying Caballero on the bench
Could also option Volpe if Caballero and all the bench guys are performing. Doubt that's the plan right now but it would preserve all the roster depth and if Volpe looks shaky on the rehab assignment, wouldn't be that hard to justify
To ATL
3:15
I'm a big fan of Ozzie Albies the person, but is he on a short leash if his bat doesn't come to life? .548 OPS in Spring Training, yikes.
Anthony Franco
3:16
Eh I just don't think the Braves believe in Nacho Alvarez at all and I have tough time seeing the argument that even a diminished version of Albies is worse than Jorge Mateo or Kyle Farmer
3:17
The first $7M option was a no-brainer because he played well in the second half and there was the relatively big buyout ($4M). That's not the case for the upcoming option, so I wouldn't be surprised if they move on at the end of the year. Could curtail his playing time once HSK comes back by using Dubón at second, but I don't think Ozzie's getting pushed off the roster in-season
Joe Ryan
3:17
I'm guessing I'm gone shortly after the break. Or are ownership and the FO too directionless to move anyone at the deadline, just like they fumbled the winter?
Anthony Franco
3:19
I can't tell if Tom Pohlad actually believes this team is pretty good or thinks he can convince fans (and whatever minority owners they brought on) if he just says it enough. In either case, I imagine the team's record at the deadline will make it apparent that they need to move Ryan
buhlake
3:19
Why is no one talking about Chase DeLauter’s game?!
Charles Nagy
3:19
Over/Under on how many games Chase DeLauter can play this season?  Can he get to 120?  Can George Valera stay healthy enough to get to 120?
Anthony Franco
3:20
Ha well I can assure you Steve Adams was hyped about DeLauter's game after picking him for Rookie of the Year. I'll hopefully take the over on 120
Yesterday was cool, felt like every top prospect who broke camp homered and/or had multiple hits
Wilyer they pick me
3:21
I was surprised to see Craig Breslow say they wanted Wilyer Abreu to hit more against lefties, and then realized he hit like 20 HR in less than 110 games last year so the move is probably about getting his bat in the lineup more than anything else. Would you say he's the third best hitter the Sox have after Anthony and Contreras?
Anthony Franco
3:23
I think so. Definitely taking him over Story offensively, kind of a toss up between him and Duran but I've got a little more faith in Wilyer from a power perspective
Cat_Herder
3:23
I realize it's only day 3 of the season, so...What has surprised you?  Or, maybe better phrased, what surprised you coming out of Spring to now?
Anthony Franco
3:24
No takeaways from one day of regular season games obviously, though I find some of the positional stuff that I wrote about for this morning's subscriber post kind of interesting. From the spring, intrigued by a healthier Matt McLain and Mick Abel's dominance
3:26
Tough for me to see Roki Sasaki sticking in the Dodgers rotation for very long with how bad he looked in camp. Also pretty much out on Reynaldo López and Carlos Estévez this year. A slight velocity dip is to be expected but when you're talking 4-6 mph, that's probably not coming all the way back
3:27
López having that post shoulder surgery is really rough. I know the Royals have tried to downplay it with Estévez and say it's an adrenaline thing that he always has in camp, but it's not like it came back for his WBC appearance
5'9" of angry contact
3:27
Assuming KM can be an above average shortstop, who would you rather have on your team, Kevin McGonigle or Roman Anthony?
Anthony Franco
3:29
If McGonigle's an above-average defensive shortstop, he's probably winning an MVP or two in his career. I'll take him but that's not a shot at Anthony or anything. Just a much higher floor with the glove at that point and they're both going to mash
Nashville
3:29
What’s your honest assessment of the state of Atlanta’s pitching staff? If fans would set aside hopes and wishes, they’d see we’re clearly in trouble.
Ludwig’s Pop Fly
3:29
Suddenly the take on the Braves potential is elevating. It’s more of a vibe out there than a science. What’s your honest expectation of their season assuming injuries don’t get worse and injured players return at a normal output for each of them?
Anthony Franco
3:31
Yeah I don't think it's good. Have been beating this drum going back to like November obviously, would've focused on that over Raisel and Kim.

Bullpen should be good but they're going to need Holmes' elbow to hold up and probably both Fuentes and Ritchie to find immediate success. It's a lot to ask
3:32
Obviously I can see a path to a team that has this top half of the lineup plus an above-average bullpen and a Cy Young winner being a playoff team. But the depth is rough and I'd have them pretty clearly as the #3 team in the division on paper
Nats fan
3:32
Felt good seeing Butera get his first win as a big league manager! He notably pulled Cavalli with two outs in the fourth with a runner on, then did the same thing with PJ Poulin an inning later. Is this analytical and will we see this more often? It worked both times.
Anthony Franco
3:35
Haven't looked in depth at these moves or anything but Cavalli was kind of laboring so I assume he just ran up towards a high-stress pitch limit for his first start of the season. They left Poulin in to face the lefty-hitting PCA and pulled him for a righty when Hoerner came up, that's pretty standard bullpen management
Brewer Fan
3:35
Would Chourio be in that discussion? Would he be 4th?
Anthony Franco
3:37
As an MVP candidate? I think he's a tier below the guys I mentioned, even before the injury. Obviously has immense ceiling but he swings a ton and it's not easy to put up a 7-8 WAR season if your OBP is hovering around .320
3:39
Think I'd bucket him with guys like Merrill, PCA, Elly De La Cruz where you can see the path but they need a pretty big leap forward. Not like it's impossible though, Crow-Armstrong probably would've finished second last year if the season ended in August
Brewer Fan
3:39
That was to the contract value you mentioned with PCA, Merrill, and Anthony
Anthony Franco
3:40
Oh my bad. I'd take the Chourio deal over the Crow-Armstrong one. A little cheaper, has the multiple options tacked at the back end
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