Front Office Chat: 5/8/26
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Anthony Franco
3:36
Goodman still whiffs a ton but he's made pretty big strides defensively to get to a point where he's a clear above-average regular. Would not have guessed he had that in him when he was breaking into MLB
Pesky
3:36
If the Red Sox continue to fall out of playoff contention, will they finally trade from their glut of outfielders? Abreu? Rafaela? Duran?
Anthony Franco
3:37
Duran change of scenery feels almost inevitable
Ben Cherrington
3:37
Since extentions seem to be a popular topic today - do I want to extend Ashcraft? The guy (not a kid anymore) still has two pre-arb years and would hit FA at (I think) 31 Seems risky, considering his age/injury history? (although the injuries seem to be behind him)
Anthony Franco
3:39
He's old enough that I'd just wait it out. Entered this year with less than a year of service so he won't hit FA until age 32 unless they change the six-year cutoff in the CBA
3:40
If he's willing to give up a couple club options for a guarantee in the $20-25M range to protect himself against a career-altering injury, then sign me up
3:41
Would be content to wait on anything above that even though I love the player. He just doesn't have much leverage, as you mentioned
Yank or Reb
3:41
My question is about Anthony Volpe.  What are the Yankees doing with him?  Choosing a journeyman utility player over him as the starting SS.  Then with Caballero banged up and Dominguez on the DL, they call up Spencer Jones instead of Volpe.  Are they trying to mess with this kids head?  Does he have any future.  I like Caballero as a sub but he's just not an every day player.
Anthony Franco
3:42
Agree that long-term Caballero is a utility guy but he's playing well right now and Volpe's 20-day rehab window is about less than half of what he would've gotten if he had a normal Spring Training
3:43
I get sticking with Caballero for now, would be surprised if Volpe isn't the starting SS again by the beginning of June though
Hits Like Rays
3:43
Are the Rays for real this year?  I think it's hard to see their current starting pitchers holding up for the entire year....
Anthony Franco
3:45
I like the rotation well enough right now but it's not particularly deep (probably playing a role in the Jax/Englert stuff) and worry about them wearing down given the innings jumps for McClanahan and Matz once he comes back
3:47
Bullpen is pretty good, top-heavy but pretty good lineup. Think they're a better defensive team than the early-season errors showed. Just kind of solid all around
3:48
I can't see them hanging with the Yankees all year but playing .500 ball from here would get them to 87-88 wins and puts them in a Wild Card spot
Ludwig’s Mitt
3:48
For some reason I still feel like this season for the Braves is a fragile ecosystem. Am I wrong in feeling like the success is dependent on the team remaining immune from just one more significant injury to a pitcher or starting hitter?
Anthony Franco
3:51
Rotation would again concern me a little bit if Sale gets hurt but other than that, I'm basically in. Even with some regression from Dom Smith and Mauricio Dubón, the lineup runs 6-7 deep when healthy and the bullpen's legit
Arizona
3:51
Will Mike Hazen be making draft and trade decisions for this team in July/August? Calling up a top prospect getting results with questionable advanced metrics feels like the ultimate desperation move…..
Anthony Franco
3:52
Ooh had not seen the Waldschmidt/Thomas move before this. Interesting
3:54
I get your trepidation with it but Thomas clearly wasn't working out and the outfield aside from Carroll just wasn't good enough. It's earlier than I would've liked to see Waldschmidt ideally, but they had so much to address over the offseason that the outfield necessarily took a back seat to the pitching staff
3:55
I don't have a problem with that in a vacuum, but it's a fairer criticism that they invested a bunch in the rotation over the winter and it has still been terrible
The Knuder
3:56
For a player with 3-5 years of service time who gets DFA'd, clears waivers and wants to reject the minor league assignment, does he still sacrifice his salary if he is already under a guaranteed contract, and not under arbitration? I presume "no", because "guaranteed contracts", but I figured I would finally ask.
Anthony Franco
3:57
Still would lose the salary, yeah. It's a rare situation but happens sometimes with players who sign early-career extensions that don't pan out
3:58
David Fletcher's the example that jumps to mind
3:59
Angels (and eventually Braves) just kept outrighting him over and over because they knew no one was claiming that contract off waivers -- team would have been thrilled if someone did -- and he was never going to elect FA and give up that amount of money
4:00
Phillies did this with Scott Kingery a couple times too
Ty
4:00
How aggressive do you expect the Cubs to be after the Boyd injury on getting an impact or serviceable starting pitcher? Is it too early to know who could be available?  Looking at a team like SF who looks to be a non-playoff team
Anthony Franco
4:01
Still early for the Giants to move Robbie Ray but I don't doubt that the Cubs have at least contacted fringe teams to let them know that they're after starting pitching once those clubs become more defined sellers
The Life Of Riley
4:01
Your thoughts on Bryce Elder’s stellar performance so far and future ?
Anthony Franco
4:02
Lots of credit to him. Did not think he had it coming into the season. I would have been willing to lose him on waivers if it meant signing a mid-rotation FA starter and then looked like an idiot
4:05
Obviously I don't think he's low-2.00 ERA good and think the "new cutter has saved his career" narrative is overstated, but he's commanding the ball really well. Using the front-door sinker a decent amount to do a decent job avoiding barrels against lefties
4:06
Still more of a back-of-the-rotation profile but he's gone from seventh or eighth starter in my view to legitimate #4
That Baseball Fan
4:06
Any observations re: Xander Bogaerts this season? He signed with the Padres who determined he couldn't play SS any longer, moved him to second, now he's a full time shortstop again and playing better fielding and hitting than in prior years. Is this unusual? Anything to learn from this?
Anthony Franco
4:08
The offense doesn't surprise me that much. A player of Bogaerts' caliber is going to have six-week stretches where he hits this well
4:09
More impressed that he's weathered the defensive decline. Didn't think he'd still be playing a league average shortstop at 33
4:10
Not sure there's much to learn from it beyond he's a good player who probably got a little underrated because the contract was so enormous that he was never going to fully live up to it
4:11
But "overpriced contract" isn't the same as "bad player"
Guest
4:11
What do the Phillies do about Alec Bohm?
Anthony Franco
4:11
Hopefully play well enough to trade for a third baseman
4:13
I don't know if the family drama or contract year pressure are weighing on him or if he's just out of whack mechanically but he needs to hit for some kind of power to be an everyday player and that's not going to happen if he can't lift the ball to left field
4:15
Seems like they're starting to move away from him to Edmundo Sosa in the short term, which makes sense as a mental reset. Sosa's not an everyday player and Aidan Miller isn't healthy though, so this is going to have to get fixed externally
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