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Front Office Chat: 6/16/25
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Anthony Franco
3:01
Hey everyone, hope you had a good weekend! I'm not feeling great today so I'm going to keep this one around an hour. Let's get rolling
Duffy Scliff
3:01
You’re gonna get a million Devers questions, but tell me this, have you ever seen a trade like this? Where a contending team trades a player early into a massive contract? This is not Mookie, or Sale, or Nomar. This is not like A Rod or Stanton being traded in a salary dump. This is 100% unprecedented. This relationship must have been so far beyond repair and we didn’t see it. This is one of the most shocking trades in baseball history.
Devers
3:01
Why would SF do this deal? They don't have 3B open for him and with Eldridge coming up soon, Devers is going to be a very expensive DH only bat. The upside exists, but that's gambling a lot on a guy adjusting to the NL West gaunlet and changing his clubhouse negativity for a team surprisingly in the midst of a tough playoff race.
Anthony Franco
3:02
A quick control Ctrl-F shows there are 18 mentions of Devers in the queue. Not going to publish all of them for obvious reasons
3:05
Broadly speaking, I like it more for SF though I get where both sides are coming from. If Boston felt the relationship was truly beyond repair, I have a hard time seeing them getting more than this. Giants took the whole deal (minus the Hicks contract, which is a negative value asset but a short-term commitment) and Harrison and Tibbs are arguably on par with Top 100 type prospects
Harrison obviously is no longer a prospect but I think he'd be valued equivalently to a back of the top 100 guy if he hadn't exhausted his rookie eligibility
3:08
There's definitely risk for the Giants in creating a long-term logjam at the corner infield with Chapman signed forever and Eldridge knocking on the door. But we've also seen the top of the market for elite hitters spike in the couple years since the Devers contract was signed -- Vlad Jr. might be a worse player and just got $500M -- and they're in a division where there's always going to be huge pressure to pursue top-end talent
Dear Evan Carter
3:08
do you see the Mets transitioning well given canning is starting to show his true colors and senga being out awhile? i am concerned about what we could expect from montas/manaea given the time off.
John
3:08
Would it make sense for the Mets to trade one of their depth starters to try to get a higher leverage reliever or use some of the younger prospects in a bullpen role later in the season? I get a feeling the bullpen market will be light given how scarce quality arms are, especially lefties
Anthony Franco
3:09
Yeah I think they're going to be fine. The rotation is going to regress a little bit but the offense was heating up (at least going into the TB series) and they were starting to produce more with RISP
3:11
I imagine they'll just deal prospects to a non-contender for lefty bullpen help but I wouldn't be wedded to keeping Blackburn if they had another win-now team that wanted to swap MLB assets
Bat first
3:11
Yankees' designating Pablo Reyes for assignment in favor of keeping Ben Rice in the lineup is a bit surprising. With Rice/Escarra on the bench, that leaves Peraza/Grisham (or whichever outfielder is sitting that day) as the only pieces on the bench that can play a position other than 1B or C. Wouldn't it have been better to give Rice or Escarra everyday reps down in AAA, rather than let your 100 wRc+ players rust on the bench if you simply don't have everyday spots for them?
Anthony Franco
3:12
They like Escarra more than Rice defensively as the backup C and I'd much rather have Rice on my team than two of Reyes and Peraza
3:13
Tough to count on Stanton playing every day and there's not much harm in mixing in a few more rest days for Goldy. Between that and maybe an occasional start at catcher, I think they can find 3-4 starts a week to keep Rice in a groove
Robert from SC
3:14
I saw that Braves fans were disappointed today when Nacho Alvarez was optioned. I don't understand why. He's not going to save this team from the disappointing season they're having. Is Nacho the long term answer at SS?
Anthony Franco
3:15
Skeptical that he'll crack it there defensively. Allen's just a stopgap though so if the Braves wind up as deadline sellers and Alvarez is hitting in Triple-A for a month, I'd give him everyday run from August through season's end to see what they've got going into '26
John
3:16
Caminero has to be the starting AL 3B for the all-star game right?
Anthony Franco
3:16
Ramirez again for me
Elbow
3:17
Who are some likely available, cheap, controllable LF options for the Padres to target? I've heard Miami's Jesus Sanchez mentioned and generally like the sound of it, so is there anyone else in that mold where Pads wouldn't have to lose their top MiLBers nor meaningfully contributing MLBers in order to acquire?
Marlin Rebuild
3:17
What is your take on trade value of Jesus Sanchez, and which teams should/could be interested?
Anthony Franco
3:19
Yeah Padres make sense there. Cleveland or K.C. fit for just about every outfielder. He's fine. Consistently average, controllable for two seasons beyond this one but the arbitration price is going to climb into the $10M by his final year and he's probably a non-tender at that point
3:20
He should get traded but I wouldn't expect much back, a couple mid-level prospects. Something similar to the Jake Burger return, I guess
3:22
A few other cheap, fringe outfielders I could see being out there: Jake Fraley, Chas McCormick, maybe one of the Rays' guys like Kameron Misner, Jo Adell's a possibility
Curious A's Fan
3:22
If June has one more blockbuster trade in it... who is getting dealt?
Anthony Franco
3:23
Guess I'd take Alcantara since we know Miami's willing to move early
3:24
Devers is very likely the biggest trade we'll get all season though
A member of this chat
3:24
Are Merrill Kelly and Eugenio Suarez playing themselves into a QO? Is Gallen playing himself into accepting the QO?
Anthony Franco
3:26
I think Kelly is, wouldn't QO Geno. I still lean toward Gallen rejecting but if he pitches like this all season, he'd have to think about it. He'd be in pillow deal territory anyways and I don't know that the upside of rejecting in pursuit of two with an opt-out would be worth it at that point
Chris
3:26
what's the point of the White Sox getting Civale if he is a free agent after the year? To possibly flip him this summer?
Anthony Franco
3:27
Yeah they'll flip him in a month for a marginal prospect, which is more than they would've gotten for Vaughn
Cat Herder
3:27
With Jobe having TJS and Cobb still having hip issues, is Detroit looking to at the SP market?  If so, who ought they be targeting?  Or, are Gipson-Long and Montero enough to bridge them, especially when Olsen returns?
Anthony Franco
3:29
I still think they're ok there. They've got a huge cushion in the division that gives them some leeway. Olson will be back soon and Cobb should be on track to make a couple starts by the deadline (though his history is bad enough that he's a tough guy to count on)
3:31
They're in a strong enough spot that -- while they're obviously not playoff locks -- they can feel pretty good about their chances of getting in and prioritize deadline adds that'd be more meaningful in October. A fourth or fifth starter who'd be pushed into long relief in a short series isn't really that
3:32
I'd rather see them focus on the bullpen. It's held up overall but they're last in swinging strike rate and I'd like it a lot more if they added one or two power arms at the back end
Guest
3:33
If the Nats and James Wood were to start talking about a long-term extension....what are the comparables for years and dollars for players with so much remaining club control?
Anthony Franco
3:35
There aren't many long-term deals for elite young hitters in the 1-2 service bucket. Merrill's the only guy to get above nine figures, but he admitted that he took a discount that I highly doubt the Nats would get from Wood as a Boras client
3:37
Witt was in the two-year service class when he signed for almost $289M on a deal that had multiple opt-outs. He had more defensive value but hadn't been as productive for his first couple seasons as Wood has been. I imagine they'd be looking to beat that if they're willing to seriously consider an extension
Brewer Fan
3:38
0% chance the Brewers extend Peralta right?
Anthony Franco
3:41
That kind of investment in a pitcher is outside their standard operating procedure. I could see it if he's willing to take something in the low nine figures to stick around but if he doesn't give them a sizable discount, it feels more likely that they'll deal him at some point
Marvin Gardens
3:41
Cam Smith has started to find more consistency at the plate, at least as far as his average is concerned - he's hitting .293 in the last month - but has had essentially no power to go along with that. Do you think that's just a matter of time, or is the power just not translating to the bigs?
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