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Front Office Chat: 5/30/25
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Anthony Franco
3:00
Hey everyone, hope you've all enjoyed your week!
Don't have much time beyond an hour today so I'll try to move a little more quickly than usual
baseball gods laugh and laugh
3:00
Hi Anthony, have there been way more transactions than usual for late May? Seems so to me.
Anthony Franco
3:01
All minor stuff but yeah, I think so. This week in particular has been really busy with a bunch of small moves
Granted, Casey Lawrence and Cooper Hummel account for 80% of them
baseball gods laugh and laugh
3:01
What would it take for the Mets to get Brent Suter from the Reds?
Anthony Franco
3:03
Reds are still hanging around so this won't happen in the next couple weeks but yeah, he seems like a perfectly viable Mets target who'd only require a fringe top 30-35 guy in the system
Belli bombs for life
3:03
Yesterday in your Yankees outfielders article, you said Bellinger is virtually guaranteed to opt out after this year. Why? His production is right around where it was for his last season in Chicago. His defensive ratings have gone up, to be fair. But do you think he'll match/exceed the $28.5M he's making next year on a multi-year deal? Why not risk staying in the ballpark made for his swing and enjoy the high AAV for one more year?
Anthony Franco
3:04
The slugging percentage is up 30 points, he's hitting the ball a little harder. Offense tends to increase over the course of the season, and he's  already outhitting what he did over a full year. I think the production's better than it was in Chicago last season
3:05
More to the point, though, the first opt-out with the Cubs came with two years and over $50M left. This is a one-year, $20M call that's more or less the same as asking if he should accept a qualifying offer (though the Yanks can't make him one because he's already had one in his career)
3:07
I think that's a pretty easy no if he stays on this pace. The calculus is 20, not 28.5, since it's a $5M buyout on a $25M option and I do think he can match that on three or four-year deal
Craig Breslow
3:07
With all the data and research prep that goes into signing FA’s (Trevor Story for example) - how would Breslow sell that conversation post signing to ownership now that the contract has completely gone awry?  What must those conversations sound like behind closed doors (besides bad!)
Anthony Franco
3:08
Breslow didn't sign Story. That was a Chaim Bloom move. Definitely didn't work as the Sox hoped but he's far from the only free agent signee to bust
John B
3:08
Assuming the Giants trade for a bat from their young SP depth who between Birdsong, Harrison Roup, and Whisenhunt would bring back the best return and is any of the four that you wouldn't trade? Thanks
Anthony Franco
3:09
I'm a Birdsong fan and would value him most highly as another club (he'd also be the one I'd be least likely to trade if I were SF), but I imagine teams would have them in various orders
3:12
I'd probably have Roupp at the back of the group because of his age and pedestrian velocity, but you can reasonably order them in any way. If you value Roupp most highly because he's the one performing in a big league rotation all year, I think that's totally fair
Rocket
3:12
What was the point of bringing Lawler up?
Anthony Franco
3:12
Seems like they thought they'd be able to find more ABs for him than they managed in practice
Still think they should be looking to move Suárez for pitching help (especially in relief)
Positively Half St
3:13
The Nats are only 1.5 games behind Cincinnati right now, but I don't expect anyone to say that DC "is hanging around" like the Reds are. Still, would finishing at .500 in the NL East be convincing enough that the Nats are turning the corner?
Anthony Franco
3:13
Yeah I think the Reds are a more viable long shot playoff threat this year than Washington is, but I'm already convinced that the Nats have turned a corner with regards to 2026
3:15
The big things for me coming into the year were progressions from Wood, Abrams and Crews (massive check on the first two of them), and whether they had a young pitcher who was capable of finding the next gear to become the #1 starter they needed. Gore sure looks like he's doing that
3:16
The bullpen needs a complete overhaul, and they're going to need to upgrade over one of García or Tena/DeJong on the infield (maybe House does this organically at third), but these first couple months have been really encouraging for the medium-term picture
Brewer Fan
3:16
I am not asking this because I think they should or anything like that, I just genuinely am curious what kind of value this player has. What would the Brewers get if they wanted to trade Sal Frelick? He seems like a player who is super valuable to this team and basically not at all on the open market.
Anthony Franco
3:17
There'd definitely be teams that like him, but I agree that he's the kind of player that small-market clubs that place a heavier emphasis on defense (e.g. Milwaukee, Cleveland, Tampa Bay) would probably value most highly
3:19
Could they get a prospect package built around a back of the top 100 guy for four and a half seasons of Frelick? Yeah, I think so. Would that be enough for Milwaukee to do it? I doubt it
ZacharyA
3:19
Who is the most valuable trade chip on each of the league bottom feeders (BAL, CHW, OAK, MIA, PIT, COL)? Let's assume they're open to moving *anyone* on the roster. OK, for the Pirates it's obviously Paul Skenes. But for the others?
Anthony Franco
3:23
Orioles: Gunnar
White Sox: someone not on the MLB roster, probably Noah Schultz or Hagen Smith
A's: Jacob Wilson
Marlins: I think it's Max Meyer
Rockies: Man... guess I'll say Tovar but he's on a big enough extension that there are probably some teams that'd rather just get Dollander the hell out of Coors Field
Jesse
3:24
Panic level for the Mets offense? About three weeks of looking barely competitive. The complete incompetence with RISP CAN'T POSSIBLY keep going on and that's suppressing their runs scored, but overall the offense has looked bad from the first series of the year. And now, with a third of the season in the books, is it safe to say the Mets offense just isn't any good?
Anthony Franco
3:25
I still feel ok with it. They're in the top 10 in OBP and slugging. A lot of it is underperformance with RISP, which is going to even out. Soto, Nimmo and Vientos should all be better than they have been
I'm pessimistic on Francisco Alvarez, at least short term after the hamate fracture. Beyond that, I still like where they're at
Devin Williams
3:26
How much have I hurt my stock this year?
Mike
3:27
Do you think the Yankees will give the closer role back to Williams?  He looked shaky in the 9th the other night.  Additionally Weaver has been fine.  If it ‘s not broken don’t fix it???
Anthony Franco
3:28
Stock's definitely down but he's been pretty good in May (38% strikeout rate with a .194/.293/.306 line against). Decent chance this turns out to be an April blip and he's still positioned for something close to Tanner Scott money
Agree with Mike that I see no reason not to stick with Weaver in the ninth though
Josh Elliott
3:29
If you were AJ Preller, who would you go after to play LF?  Marlins wont do it but what would it take to get Stowers?
Anthony Franco
3:30
Stowers is a weird one. I could see Miami being a little more open to it than you think. He's already 27, the high-strikeout corner approach was one that Tampa didn't like when Bendix was their GM. Even with the remaining club control, they might feel this is a sell-high situation
3:32
DeVries and Salas would and should be non-starters for SD. If they're willing to put Kash Mayfield on the table, though, the Marlins would probably think about it
CF
3:32
If the Braves are 6-7 games out of the WC in late July, who are reasonable trade pieces? Ozuna, even though he’s a rental? Harris? Murphy?
Anthony Franco
3:34
Ozuna's an obvious one. They'd probably have to eat some money but could find a taker for Iglesias who is willing to use him in a setup role. Murphy makes sense to create a clear #1 job for Baldwin, might be easier to do over the offseason given the difficulty of lining up value on midseason catcher trades
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