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Front Office Chat: 8/2/24
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Anthony Franco
4:13
It's a tough break for him though since he's pitched well all season
Ryan Red-leg
4:13
It seems that Skip Schumacher won't be with Miami next year.   Do you think he would be a good fit for the Reds if they fire David Bell?  What do you think the chances are that the Reds fire Bell?
Anthony Franco
4:15
Eh, they just extended Bell a year ago and they had a lot of injuries this season. Guess I wouldn't be stunned if they made a change but it seems likelier they give him another year
Guest
4:15
What do the Cubs do from here?  Do they play the youngsters or go with their veterans to see what they have for the rest of the season?
Anthony Franco
4:17
Generally more of the same that they've done all season. They were active -- I like their deadline a lot because of the Paredes trade -- but they didn't subtract the way it looked they might
4:19
Paredes swaps into the lineup for Morel. Otherwise the lineup and rotation are basically as they were. Could give a few more innings to some of their unproven bullpen arms (Hodge, Pearson, Roberts) because that's still in flux but the rest of it stayed largely in place
RAGBRAI
4:19
While the odds may beg to differ I see Atlanta not making the playoffs. Just doesn’t seem like they added enough, seem to be struggling and others are improving. Think they are in or out?
Barring major injuries do the Brewers have enough to hold off STL and PITT?
Anthony Franco
4:20
I still like Atlanta as a WC team and Milwaukee hanging onto the Central. By default, I guess Arizona's the NL playoff team I'd be most likely to drop out
Artie Moreno
4:20
Dick Monfort and I have started trading some of our rentals, is there hope for Angel and Rockies fans?
Anthony Franco
4:21
Still no indication that either of those organizations wants to take any kind of long-term view
GBS42
4:21
Who are the biggest names you could see moved via the August waiver process like the Angels used last year to unload some contracts?
Anthony Franco
4:23
I don't think anyone would take the Chad Green contract off the Jays' hands, but he's the most obvious one for me. Seems like they came up just short of getting under the luxury tax line -- RosterResource estimates them a little less than $3MM the base threshold -- and he has the closest combination of notable salary without being a huge subtraction for '25
4:26
Giants could try with Conforto if they're dead by the end of August. Angels should probably waive Pillar even though it won't save them any money just to see if a contender's willing to give him a bench spot for his final stretch run. Rockies could try on Elias Díaz if they want to give Drew Romo a late look behind the plate
Guest
4:26
What do you think of Nolan Gorman? Can he ever get past the streakiness and be a 40 homer guy?
Anthony Franco
4:27
Still think there's a 30-homer season in there but I doubt he's got good enough pure contact skills to hit 40
4:29
It's really tough to get to 40 homers with the kind of strikeout rate Gorman has shown in his MLB career. Gallo did it a couple times but just barely at a time when the ball was traveling more. Mark Reynolds only got there once
Detroit Danny
4:30
What would a Tarik Skubal to LA trade look like in the offseason? 4 top young players like Andy Pages, Dalton Rushing, Landon Knack and Nick Frasso?
Anthony Franco
4:31
Yeah it'd probably look something like that. Don't think I'd even pull the trigger on that one if I were Detroit but that's close and probably all they can reasonably expect another team to meet
Nick
4:31
IYO, whose contract is a good comp for a Crochet contract?
Anthony Franco
4:31
Man...
4:35
I should probably take some time and turn this into a full subscriber post. My initial reaction would be to put him in the Luis Castillo range ($108MM guarantee) but probably only buying three FA years
4:36
I don't know that Crochet would take that but I also wouldn't feel great about offering it if I were a team. Maybe that makes it fair? Idk
Dave
4:36
Why do you think pitching arm injuries are greater today than in 60’s and 70’s despite the fact that pitchers are pitching less innings today?
Anthony Franco
4:37
Mostly velocity. They work fewer innings but with that comes an expectation they're working closer to max effort on every pitch that puts a ton of stress on the elbow
4:39
And there are probably a ton of guys in the 60s and 70s (and earlier) who pitched through ligament damage that just went undiagnosed because teams weren't paying as close attention as they are today. Maybe that worked for some pitchers but probably cost other guys careers that would be salvaged if they had 2024 medical staffs
MLB draft bonuses
4:40
What’s the least amount a team can give a player as a signing bonus? Do you think MLB will raise that? It seems like it’s in everyone’s best interest to raise the minor leagues standard of living, especially now that mlb teams and mlb supported companies own so many minor league teams.
Anthony Franco
4:43
Not sure about the specific rule but it appears the lowest bonus this year was $1,000 for a few senior signs. I think there's a pretty easy argument that raising minor league living standards -- which MLB has done in some respects lately -- is mutually beneficial, but it requires owners to look past the very immediate cost increase it entails
4:45
It's largely a rounding error in the overall context of team payrolls, but a team could also (correctly) note that the senior sign they drafted in the ninth round to reallocate bonus space to their top handful of picks is very unlikely to make the MLB roster, much less be of significant impact
4:46
In which case they don't really care about his standard of living while he's in Low-A. That's a cynical view but it's probably one every team holds to varying extents
Arizona
4:46
Christian Walkers defense and bat are going to be sorely missed in the desert. Did they make a mistake by not pivoting last minute and selling instead?
Anthony Franco
4:48
Nah they're coming off a pennant and holding a Wild Card spot. Losing Walker for a couple weeks sucks but they've gotta go for it
4:49
Josh Bell isn't Walker but he's an ok stopgap. They're expecting E-Rod and Merrill Kelly to come back down the stretch. They should expect to make the playoffs this year
4:50
Alright I didn't get to everything but we're approaching two hours so I need to wrap up here
4:51
I'm on vacation next week but I believe one of Steve or Darragh will cover the chat on Friday. We're still sorting out everyone's schedule
4:52
I'll be back two weeks from now. Hope everyone has a great couple weeks in between! Thanks all for continuing to support the site and for the questions today, as always!
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