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Front Office Chat: 5/30/25
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Anthony Franco
3:34
Tough for me to see them doing the kind of major shakeup that'd put the Harris or Albies types in play.
Jazz Hands
3:34
What do you make of the decision to put Jazz back at 3B?
Anthony Franco
3:35
Seems fine, still going to need to acquire an infielder because LeMahieu as a starting second baseman all season isn't working
Alex Anthopoulos
3:35
If the Braves become sellers, do they trade Chris Sale? Do you think he brings back a good haul?
Anthony Franco
3:37
It'd be a huge return and you can argue for it if they're clearly not going to compete this year, but I think they'll be close enough by the deadline to hold in hopes of a second-half push with the idea that they'd have him at an extremely reasonable $18M next year even if it doesn't work in 2025
Nolans
3:37
Are you a believer in STL yet? Maybe Mo knew what he was doing in the off season?
Anthony Franco
3:38
Darragh and I talked about this on the pod earlier this week but we're both still skeptical on them as a legitimate playoff threat in the NL. More likely to finish above .500 than I expected a couple months ago, for sure, but they're had better rotation health than they can probably expect all year
C.R.
3:38
Is Carlos Rodon a legitimate Cy Young candidate?
Anthony Franco
3:40
Trending towards a 5-10 finish for me. He's in a league with Tarik Skubal, so he's not going to win it unless Skubal gets hurt, and there might be a slight vote-splitting element with the Yankees because of how good Fried has been too
speedster
3:40
What's with the Rays sending down Chandler Simpson? Simpson has hit for average and, as advertised, stolen bases and disrupted the opposing team.
Anthony Franco
3:41
Mangum was really good before his injury and they prefer Misner's glove in CF. A little surprised they didn't keep Simpson up as a fourth OF though
Ben Cherrington
3:42
I get that I failed to put a team around Skenes, but why is everyone so obsessed with me trading him already? Yeah I get there are only five or so teams that will be able to pay him and mine's not one of them. It probably won't even be my team by time that happens.  He's still free for next year, and will be cheap the year after.  No need to trade him. Yet.
Anthony Franco
3:42
Yeah I mean it's mostly wishcasting from opposing fanbases
Jon KK
3:43
Which good starting pitchers are likely to be available before the trade deadline? Do you see any getting moved in June?
Anthony Franco
3:44
Pirates should try to move Heaney ASAP. He's got an automatic no-trade until June 15 as a free agent signee, but after that, no reason not to have him out there
3:45
Mahle probably should go -- either because Texas is a pure seller or in some kind of swap for offense if they're hanging around. O's are going to move Eflin at some point. Miami could listen on Ryan Weathers
Great Expectations
3:45
How reliable are "expected" stats? I see a lot of fans postulating that the under performance of certain batters (Dylan Crews and Luis Garcia, Jr. on my hometown Nats, for example) are because they have been unlucky. They base these arguments by comparing the player's BA, SLG, and wOBA to their xBA, xSLG, and xwOBA. Crews, for example, has splits of .196/.266/.354/.620. 74 wRC+, .277 wOBA. Not good. But ... his xBA (.258) is 62 points higher than his BA. His xSLG (.469) is 115 (!) points higher than his actual SLG.
3:46
Sorry for uploading my previous comment without finishing. Bottom line is: how much solace (or concern) about a player's natural/true ability can we take from comparing his actual results to his "expected" stats?
Anthony Franco
3:49
They matter but they're slightly more informative versions of batting average on balls in play, in a sense. Crews has a .233 BABIP, García's at .259. Even in the pre-Statcast metrics days, they'd have been positive regression candidates because it's tough to have that many batted balls find gloves over a full season
3:51
I think it's easier to break them down into component parts. Are these guys making contact consistently? García is, Crews is not. Do they hit the ball hard and at what angles? García comes out more favorably there as well
3:52
I still prefer Crews as a player long term. He's younger, has less MLB experience, and has more defensive value. But García's the one who seems likelier to have a bigger short-term boost in his offensive results
Desperate red sox fan
3:52
Take me off the ledge.  This has been awful.
Anthony Franco
3:53
Maybe if Roman Anthony drives to Fenway and writes his name on the lineup card, they'll give up the crusade to keep him in Worcester
3:54
In all seriousness, he's gotta be up soon and the AL Wild Card picture is middling enough that they can get right back in it if they win four in a row
Go Tribe!!!!
3:54
Will David Fry be able to catch at all for Cleveland this year? Austin Hedges is getting hard to watch as the backup catcher!
Anthony Franco
3:55
They said in November that it's a 12-month recovery to playing the field
3:56
Regret to inform that you're probably in for another full season of Hedges. They wouldn't keep bringing him back if they didn't think the game-calling wasn't providing value
Deb
3:56
Are the giants for real or are they actually coming back to earth. They obviously have some holes in that lineup with Wade and Bailey being the main issues. The pitching has been pretty good all season.  Encarnacion will be returning possibly by Monday. Might they DFA Wade?
Anthony Franco
3:58
He's been a little better in May and they've got an all right-handed bench right now. I assume they'll option Schmitt once Jerar gets back but Wade's probably got like 4-6 weeks to click before they have to trade for a first baseman and move on entirely
Twins Fan
3:58
With mutual options so rarely picked up by both sides, who seems more likely to opt out of Harrison Bader's option for next year?
Anthony Franco
4:00
I imagine Bader's going to want to see if he can get two years and something close to $20M total
George
4:00
Happy Friday, Anthony!  Ben Brown is having a really bad run. What are the chances he loses his rotation role or gets sent down?
Anthony Franco
4:03
Likewise! Don't think they have great alternatives for the next couple runs through but I imagine Brown's the first guy out once Imanaga comes back
Royal
4:04
I've tried to do some research on this, but other than checking every single MVP, I don't know how to confirm one way or another. My question is if Cody Bellinger was the first MVP winner to get non-tendered while still under club control?
Anthony Franco
4:06
Don't have time to look this up but I have to imagine he's the only one. There are probably former MVPs from the pre-free agency days who got released in their 30s or something, but under the six-year control window, that's a really rare one
4:07
Few guys win an MVP within their first two or three seasons anyway, and you basically need a catastrophic injury or downturn to get non-tendered within two years after that
Anthony Franco’s #1 Fan
4:07
Any word on the updated app? Would love to be reading these in app and now on browser. Either way, I’ll always be AF’s number one fan!
Anthony Franco
4:09
Can't imagine you're facing much competition but I appreciate it nonetheless. Texted Tim on the app. He said he's scheduled to talk to the development people about it next week and will know then how much more time it'll take. Goal is to have it launched at some point before the end of this season
Uke
4:09
The brewers dfa’d payamps and he cleared waivers, so he stays in the organization.  I believe they did it to make room on the 40 man.  What’s his 40 man status now?
Anthony Franco
4:09
Outrighted players don't count against the 40, so he's off it. They'd need to add him back to it if they want to call him up obviously
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