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Front Office Chat: 8/23/24
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Anthony Franco
4:40
It's a business for everyone first and foremost but it's one that only works if the consumers like the game
4:41
The whole "fans pay players' salaries thing" is reductive and simplistic, but there's obviously some amount of truth in the idea. It's only a lucrative business (for owners and players alike) so long as viewership is sufficient to convince broadcast partners to hand out streaming deals, gate receipts keep coming in, etc.
4:43
I don't think any of the Manfred rules are going to dramatically change the business model in the short term. The sport's going to survive well beyond his stint as commissioner. But I do think that he views it as a legitimate responsibility to try to make the product more entertaining over the long run, even if it won't be his responsibility
4:44
Doesn't mean I like everything (or even most of the things) he proposes, but I do think he's considering things he feels could make the product more broadly appealing
Olereb
4:44
What do you make of Arcia returning the stare down to Brice?
Anthony Franco
4:45
Ha, more power to him but it doesn't have the same punch in a regular season game when you're six games back of that team in the division
4:46
Now if Arcia hits a huge homer in the NLDS and wants to stare him down again, then I'm all in
Art Moreno
4:46
How do the yankees get to being a world series team? Seems like they are just stuck in this cycle of devoiding propects to  win today's game and then overpaying players because they have no young cheap talent.
Anthony Franco
4:48
Eh, I don't really agree with the premise. They haven't won a World Series in a while (eternity by Yankee standards) but I don't think there's any kind of fatal roster flaw. Having a deeper lineup would help obviously, but they're a legitimate World Series contender as is for me
Pete Alonso
4:48
where am I playing next year?
Anthony Franco
4:50
I'll stick with the Mets even though it's a boring answer. I'd lean towards some kind of shorter-term deal with opt-outs after he rejects the QO. I don't think he's getting the $175-200MM that he'll probably set out for but the Mets should be more amenable if he eventually takes the Bellinger deal or something
You
4:50
If you were an owner of an expansion team, do you draft leaning more towards pitching orhitting?
Anthony Franco
4:51
Obviously depends on the players available but in a vacuum I'd rather build through position players
Burned
4:51
Have Burnes's last 4 starts shifted his contract outlook this off-season? I know he claims he can still get strikeouts whenever needed, but sure seems like they were needed last night...
Anthony Franco
4:54
I don't think it's a dramatic reduction but we're kind of in yellow flag territory. We're planning to do another free agent ranking in the next week or two and already started the prep on that.

None of us feel quite as good about Burnes as we did at the start of the year since the strikeout rate has been down for a while now. But we're almost certainly still going to have him as the #2 free agent (spoiler: Juan Soto is #1) even if he's probably closer to $200MM than the $220MM or so I'd have guessed not too long ago
4:56
The other starters are have some concerns of their own. Snell's market didn't materialize last year and he started terribly, Fried's been hit around lately himself, Flaherty's got the medical stuff. I don't think any of them have pulled especially close to Burnes yet
Olereb
4:56
What does Fried’s contract look like next year and what team gets his signature?
Anthony Franco
4:56
Ha, good timing on this one
4:58
He's probably sub-Nola for me but I'd take the over on $150MM. Rodón money maybe? Still has the plus command, elite grounders, decent strikeout rate with a multi-year track record of being really damn good
4:59
Haven't given much thought to team. Picking a West Coast team feels kinda lazy but I don't know that anything else jumps out so I'll take the Giants as my off the cuff answer
Curious A's Fan
5:00
Would you take the over or under for the A's to finish with 74.5 wins this season?
Anthony Franco
5:01
Feels high. 20-14 the rest of the way is a tough ask
David
5:03
Hey, Anthony-Thanks for the chat! Is there a catcher besides Jansen or O’Hoppe that could be an upgrade option for the Cubs next year?
Anthony Franco
5:06
Tigers could trade Rogers. Díaz will be out there as a stopgap. Carson Kelly looks pretty good again and would be an upgrade on Amaya
5:07
Certainly not as exciting as O'Hoppe, who I don't expect to move, but they'll have options who are better than Amaya even if they're probably not finding a franchise catcher this offseason. Stopgap would be fine anyway if they think Ballesteros can stick back there
5:08
Alright, going to wrap up here to help with some of the news backlog
Thanks for all the questions! As always, I'm around on X if I didn't get to yours here.
5:09
Thank you all for continuing to support the site! It's really appreciated. Have a great weekend!
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