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Front Office Chat: 7/1/22
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Anthony Franco
3:25
Still five games above .500 and right in the thick of the Wild Card race. It'd take a terrible July
3:26
They've definitely played worse lately but that's probably attributable to losing Franco and Lowe for a while. They've got enough depth I expect them to add outfield and possibly catching help after the injuries to Margot and Zunino
Chunkey
3:26
What are the chances the Marlins trade Pablo Lopez? I see his name floated by writers and it catches me off guard
Anthony Franco
3:26
Can't see it happening. He's really good, controllable for another two and a half seasons, and they're not that far off from being competitive
3:27
Even if they can't get back into it in 2022, doubt they'll want to move López for 2023-24 seasons in which they expect to be good
Giants fan
3:27
Seems like we could have gotten something more for Duggar? Calhoun passed through waivers unclaimed. Seems like Duggar could help a more CF needy contender like the Phillies or Brewers
Anthony Franco
3:28
Eh, aside from last year he's never hit, and his 2021 numbers were propped up by a huge BABIP that masked a 30% strikeout rate. I don't think the league viewed him as a regular
3:29
The Phils, who you mentioned, just claimed and then DFA'd Oscar Mercado this week. Is Duggar noticeably better than Mercado? I don't think so personally
Chip
3:30
We all enjoy and are thankful for the chats. With that being said is there anyway the Sunday night chat could start hours earlier. As a Senior Citizen, who resides on the East Coast the 11:00EST start time makes it hard for us !!!! Anyway thanks again to all that do the chats.
Anthony Franco
3:31
This is a fair question. I can't speak for Mark and you can certainly run it by him on Sunday and see what he says, but my guess is he'd prefer to run them a bit earlier but it's tough to do consistently with the news he has to cover
The reason we don't have pre-scheduled designated chat times is we typically conduct them while we're on shift and also responsible for any transactions or major injuries that break, which are obviously unpredictable
3:32
Those tend to be concentrated in the late afternoon and early evening though, which can make it hard to keep the chats on a rigid schedule at times
Center Field
3:33
Hello from Barcelona! After the nine game stretch of all New York teams the Astros look like the best team in baseball currently. There doesn’t seem to be too many holes on their roster. Centerfield seems like the most likely place they would look for a bat. With a Centerfield market looking pretty lite any thoughts of Astros going after a corner outfielder and moving Tucker to centerfield? And if so, who would be candidates for that type trade?
Anthony Franco
3:34
Always cool to hear of people reading or chatting from outside North America!
3:35
I like your creativity here but I'm guessing they'll consider it too risky. A left field pairing of Brantley/Yordan is already fringy defensively, and Tucker has 29 career innings in center field. That has the potential to be pretty rough on the pitching staff, particularly for guys like Javier and Urquidy who give up a bunch of fly balls
3:37
If they did it, a bunch of the guys I mentioned earlier as regards the Yankees -- Naquin, Santander, etc. -- could be candidates, but it seems likelier to me they'll just turn things over to whomever of Meyers of McCormick is playing better
Rick
3:37
Seems like the Pirates might be seeing some light at the end of the tunnel. They got some good young players!
Anthony Franco
3:38
Still a lot of work to be done on the pitching staff, but it's getting better for sure. Can't see them being competitive next year but 2024 feels like a reasonable target date for a Wild Card run
Maikel Franco
3:38
Are the Nationals committed to accepting his low OBP and below-average defense for the second half of the season?  Is there nobody in the system (besides the injured Kieboom) worth a look at third base?
Anthony Franco
3:40
Yeah I don't get it. Maybe they love him in the clubhouse or something but it's pretty clear by now he's not a good major league player
3:41
The upper minors are really barren though, so I guess that's why. I'd rather give half a season of reps to Andrew Young than Franco at this point but nothing they do is likely to be good
Ian Happ
3:41
Happ has been mentioned as a trade candidate more than once.  Is this more than speculation?  Have the Cubs signaled they would like to move him?  Thanks.
Anthony Franco
3:42
I've not seen any firm indication they're looking to move him. It's informed speculation based on Happ's dwindling window of club control and where the roster's at currently
Paul
3:42
Good Afternoon Anthony, Being a Red Sox fan I’m curious what direction they will go at the deadline. Obviously the pen is an area of concern. However I wonder if they should look at someone like Montas, Castillo or Mahle then put Whitlock back in the pen upon his return from the IL. Or should they just go after someone like Bednar. Thoughts? Thank you. Have a safe 4th.
Anthony Franco
3:42
Thanks Paul, you as well!
3:44
A straightforward bullpen pickup feels likelier than an impact starter. The prospect cost will be lesser (although Bednar specifically would require a substantial return), and they've got Sale and theoretically Paxton coming later as the midseason reinforcements for the rotation
3:45
In an ideal world, they probably will put Whitlock back in the multi-inning, high-leverage monster role. But I'm sure they'd prefer that to be because guys like Paxton, Eovaldi and Sale got healthy rather than landing somebody like Montas
Guest
3:45
How likely is it that pache becomes a normal every day contributor? Given his glove, about what wrc+ would he need to have for you to say he’s an above average regular
Anthony Franco
3:46
I still think he can get to Michael Taylor viable regular territory, which is like an 80 wRC+ with incredible defense
Probably have to get to 90-95 to be an above-average everyday player, which I don't expect
3:48
I will say, the A's are sort of running out of time there. Pache's going to be out of options next year (assuming he spends 20+ days on assignment this season), and he's shown nothing offensively at the major league level yet
Maybe the A's will be so bad next year they can afford to just give him 600 plate appearances regardless, but there's also a chance they hit a catch-22 situation where they have to keep on the roster but don't want to give him the developmental reps he needs because he's still not an MLB-caliber hitter
Thomas
3:48
Probably getting ahead of myself here, but would it be in the royals best interest to give BWJ a Franco-like contract extension this offseason?
Anthony Franco
3:50
Man, that'd be bold. I understand the case for it but  Witt's swing-and-miss concerns are enough I wouldn't put $180MM in front of him right now
3:51
Is there a chance you wait too long and miss the opportunity to lock up a legitimate superstar? Yeah. But whereas Franco felt almost like a lock to be a franchise-changing talent, there's enough yellow flags with Witt I'd want to see more personally
A's Fan
3:52
Elvis Andrus has a full NTC and a $15 MM vesting option for 2023 so the common logic has been he's virtually untradeable... but he doesn't have a ring, either. What are the odds he gives up the security to jump to a contender?
Anthony Franco
3:53
He may be willing to waive the NTC but I don't know there's going to be much demand from contenders anyhow, even if the plan would be to have him as a backup and make sure he doesn't reach the PA threshold to vest next year's option
3:55
He's been a little better this year but not dramatically so, and even the money the A's are on the hook for this year (about $6.75MM) isn't much of a bargain
Bones
3:55
Woodruff and Burnes are both free agents after 2023. What will the Brewers do?
Anthony Franco
3:55
They're both arb-eligible through 2024, not 2023
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