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Front Office Chat: 4/13/26
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Anthony Franco
4:11
Yeah I can see that. A team with Abrams and Wood alone should be exciting, if still mostly bad
Probably the least entertaining rotation in MLB though
4:12
Unless you're just tuning in for home runs, I guess
Brewer Fan
4:12
Read an article that said the shift has only had a marginal impact on BABIP, is that really true? Maybe it's just because I watch the Brewers most but man getting rid of the shift has been an amazingly good change for the game to me.
Anthony Franco
4:14
Yeah it hasn't made a huge difference in aggregate. BABIP ticked up a bit in the first year but the past two seasons have been back at pre-2023 levels
You can see the year by year trend here. The 2026 one is skewed by the weather, no one can ever hit in April
4:17
Some of it is just swallowed up by the relative lack of ground balls. Most batted balls are hit in the air, and the shift isn't designed for those
4:18
And if you isolate on grounders specifically, there's like an 8-10 point jump from pre and post 2023
4:19
That gets even more dramatic if you look at left-handed hitters specifically, where the big appeal was getting rid of that second baseman playing short right field
4:20
So I do think if you look hard enough you can see the effect but it's small because it was only really designed to aid one particular type of batted ball
Foley
4:20
Any Braxton Garrett news? He is having his way with AAA hitters
Anthony Franco
4:21
Haven't seen anything out of Miami on him but from the outside, I'm with you that he should be up soon
4:22
They're not going to cut Paddack this early, though Garrett's very likely the better pitcher. Should probably kick Junk back to the bullpen and bring Garrett up though
4:23
Their bullpen's been pretty good overall and Junk's a fine fifth starter, but the pitching staff as a whole is just better if Garrett's on it compared to, say, Michael Petersen
DWILL
4:24
Should the Cubs entertain an early add to their starting pitching or work with the depth they have between AAA and Boyd coming back quickly?
Anthony Franco
4:24
Similar response to the Angels one earlier. I know it's not exciting, but there's much to be done in April
4:25
Guess I could see the Cubs signing Giolito, whereas the Angels doing that would really surprise me given how badly his first stint there went
Joe Baseball
4:25
What possibility that home plate umpires who are showing to be terrible at calling balls and strikes will be bumped off of regular home plate duty and relegated to first or third base?
Anthony Franco
4:26
Can't see it. MLB has been grading umpires for years using their version of ABS and this hasn't been a thing
4:27
Also possible that's something they'd need to collectively bargain that with the Umpires Association, not sure what their CBA looks like
4:28
Working the plate has to be pretty grueling. Requires them to be hyper focused on every pitch in a way that the bases just aren't
4:29
If they start placing tight limits on which umps they trust to do that, the performance of the ones they do have back there could suffer from fatigue
Guest
4:29
Let's sell high on Trevor Larnach! Is there a match with a team needing LHH corner OF help who might be able to send the Twins a reliever that raises the ceiling on their bullpen? (Not a high bar to clear...)
Anthony Franco
4:31
Astros made the most sense for this for a while, focus is probably on starting pitching now. Angels are super right-handed but don't really need another corner bat and don't have a ton of bullpen help to spare
4:32
Reds maybe? Their whole outfield has been rough and I'd take Larnach over Will Benson
4:33
Just brought up Rece Hinds, who's killing it in Triple-A, but no real confidence that he'll make contact against MLB pitching
4:34
Swap Larnach for Brock Burke? Sure
Tony
4:34
The Cardinals pitching woes are maybe holding back the WS expectations. (Written like a 100% homer). It seems like we are competitive 3 days a week and then not. If this continues do you think Bloom would chase starting help or continue the reload process?
Anthony Franco
4:35
They're not going to push in for short-term rotation help but everything they've done going back to the last deadline is to improve the pitching pipeline
4:36
Including moves for upper level arms like Richard Fitts and Hunter Dobbins (both of whom are currently hurt) who have relatively lower ceilings but some MLB experience
4:37
I imagine they'll continue to throw darts at guys like that who could compete for MLB roster spots but have extended control windows. Can't see them pushing in for a Sandy Alcantara or Joe Ryan if that's what you're thinking though
4:38
Alright, I have to wrap this one up here
Had more questions today than I've had in the past few Friday chats. Sorry if I didn't get to yours. As always, happy to take them on X @affranco10
4:39
Steve's back from vacation and will do his main site chat tomorrow. He's also going to do the Front Office one on Friday since I'm taking off
Should be back to the usual schedule next week
4:40
Thanks as always for the questions and for continuing to support the site! Hope you all have a great week!
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