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Front Office Chat: 3/27/26
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Conrad
3:40
Do you think this Dodgers roster is more or less beatable than their previous two championship teams?
Anthony Franco
3:41
No but it's not like the last two teams were preordained champions. The Padres had two chances to knock them out in 2024, the Blue Jays were a foot away from beating them a couple different times
Tony
3:41
Thanks for the chats! My question is regarding the Cardinals. Nootbar is now on the 60 day list and Church is now a first ballot HOFer after yesterday's games. Walker looked like a second through 5 ballot HOFer. What do you see their outfield plans for 26 and 27? Hope Nootbar comes back and Walker looks viable and build around one of Church/Scott, Baez and hope a few other minor leaguers prove viable? Thanks
Anthony Franco
3:43
Still think Nootbaar's getting moved at the deadline. Would give Walker another few months but pretty pessimistic at this point. Church feels like a fourth/fifth outfielder to me
3:44
Fine with Scott in CF for the time being, Baez should get a look midseason. Those two should be in there next season. Wait and see on Walker but I do think they're going to need to add at least one outfielder when it's said and done
Pip
3:44
Is there a statistic that calculates the number of extra pitches thrown after an error prolongs an inning? That would be a great way to really gauge how defense affects a game.
Anthony Franco
3:46
I don't think anyone tracks this, though it'd only really take effort if you wanted to since the pitch data/errors are all public. Bigger issue is that errors themselves aren't a good proxy for bad defense
3:48
Basically all errors are bad but a lot of bad defense isn't an error, especially in the outfield. Oneil Cruz gave away a couple plays yesterday that weren't errors because the ball didn't bounce off his glove, for instance
Tarunafish
3:48
I've seen some observers projecting the Pirates having a top 5 starting staff this season. I'm skeptical that the Bucs staff will be that good. What do you think?
Anthony Franco
3:50
Yeah I wouldn't go top five. Pretty sure they'll be top 10 though. There's top five ceiling, yes, but you're still projecting a lot on Ashcraft, Chandler and probably Barco to get there
3:51
Probably would've had them top five had they kept Burrows (Oviedo too, I guess, but he's easier to lose). Had to balance the roster, so I liked both trades, but they did subtract from some of the rotation certainty over the winter
Gwynning
3:51
Darkhorse CYA picks? Both Leagues please!
Anthony Franco
3:54
I picked Luzardo to actually win the NL one and would kind of consider him a dark horse. Had Crochet in the AL which obviously doesn't qualify. Does Kirby count?
If you're looking for real long shots who almost certainly aren't actually winning, give me Kris Bubic and Chase Burns
Chud Selig
3:55
Other than the MLBPA, is another obstacle to getting a cap implemented that the owners would have to universally agree to revenue sharing? I feel like the promise of a cap would not be enough of an incentive for big market teams to get them to agree. Feels like this should be a concern of its own.
Anthony Franco
3:56
It's a massive complication but I do think if the PA wavered on a cap, the league would find a way to get everyone on board with some kind of massive revenue sharing program
3:57
The floor just doesn't work without revenue sharing and the cap absolutely doesn't happen without a floor. Large-market teams would be annoyed with it but they'll save a bunch of money in the long run by limiting their player payrolls and increasing franchise values with salaries controlled
Only one game
3:57
Are the Mets as good as they looked?
Anthony Franco
3:58
Ha, I picked them to win the NL East so yeah, I think they're very good. I'll take the under on them scoring 11 runs per game
Welcome to the Varshow
3:59
People are high on PCA (no pun intended) and as elite defensive CF's with pop and OBP/strikeout concerns go, he actually reminds me of Daulton Varsho more than anyone else. Do you think Varsho would command a similar contract in free agency compared to the PCA extension?
Anthony Franco
4:01
They're not going to directly comp to PCA obviously since they're such different starting points in terms of age/service. I have a tough time seeing Varsho getting six years.

I see the comp you're making but the Cubs are baking in continued improvement in PCA's approach as he gets into his mid-late 20s. Varsho probably is what he is and has had a couple pretty significant injuries
4:02
Good player but I'm sub-100 on him right now. Might be the low one on him among MLBTR staff though. When I was writing that post on the players who had a path to being the top free agent position player a couple weeks ago, Darragh was pro-Varsho on that one
Still an A
4:03
Which opening day game were you most excited to watch?
Anthony Franco
4:04
Detroit v. San Diego. Didn't deliver in terms of competitiveness but hey, McGonigle was awesome
4:05
I bounced around for most of the day. Watched more of Cleveland/Seattle than any other because it was a) pretty good and b) the last one on the schedule
Ryan
4:05
Where can we see the staff predictions for division winners and awards? I can't find an article
Anthony Franco
4:05
We didn't publish that one to the site, just sent it out via email on Tuesday. If you want to drop your email in here, I can forward it to you if you missed it
4:06
Won't publish your email in the chat obviously
Still an A
4:06
What happened to the player chats?
Anthony Franco
4:07
We might circle back on those at some point -- guessing they'd be good to kill some time during the lockout -- but we felt they had some diminishing returns
4:08
Player participation itself was variable, they could be a little bit of a hassle to get them set up on the back end with Jotcast, and some of the reader engagement dropped when a lot the players who signed up were retired and/or lesser known to most fans
Texas Ranger Suarez
4:08
Plays like the two Cruz "made" -- or didn't make, to be more correct -- shouldn't harm pitchers. Couldn't the league do something to give some grace to the official scorer to determine those? I mean, he was nowhere close because of a horrendous jump and a sun-ball, but Skenes gets dinged for it statistically.
Anthony Franco
4:10
Agree they should encourage scorers to be more judicious in calling errors on obvious misplays (especially in the outfield) but it'd basically need to be a directive to scorers or for the league to go back itself and do it
4:11
No one benefits from a situation where the official scorer in Pittsburgh calls everything an error and the one in Cincinnati calls them all hits
4:12
If anything, the league has gone in the other direction. Teams don't really care because they have the player tracking data to better evaluate defense and MLB's probably not super keen on artificially lowering the league batting average by a couple points when everything they're trying with the rule changes is to bring averages back up
Lefty
4:12
The Giants ownership was called out by ex player Mike LaCoss this week. And they have alienated season ticket holders by charging more and taking away amenities. Is SF known to have a particularly bad group, or are they all greedy scum?
Anthony Franco
4:14
Haha I feel like Giants ownership is in the middle third of the league in terms of payroll compared to expectations, meddling in baseball operations, etc.. Certainly fair to be critical of what they did this offseason but they have signed off two on $150M contracts in the last three years and took on over $200M in the Devers trade
Blooper Disbeliever
4:15
I think the Braves can win despite their pitching injuries. They'll have Strider and Waldrep back early, then Schwellenbach after the break (hopefully). To me, the biggest concern is their hitting. You can have Bryce Elder types going for you all year if you're scoring more than 4 runs a game.
Anthony Franco
4:18
They scored 4.47 runs per game last year against a 4.45 league average and it wasn't enough because the pitching was a bit below average. If they're up there at the Yankees/Dodgers level of scoring five runs a game, then they'll outhit it, but the pitching's a little more of a concern for me
Nashville
4:18
Re: Cruz - This backlash against the scorer is getting ridiculous now. if the ball is hit hard and you get a bad jump, regardless of the sun, that’s a hit. That’s part of the game. I’m not sure why so many don’t understand this.
If Skenes struck Baty out it would have been a non-issue.
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