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Front Office Chat Nov. 15, 2024
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TheBeatlesShow
1:42
Hey, Darragh and thanks for filling in.  If you were the Rays...considering where you're doing to be playing for, at least, this year, do you now keep Brandon Lowe (considering the short porch in right field and his being a left hand hitter) and do you look to bring in some more left handed power...and, maybe, change your overall philosophy as to how to play while you're there?
Darragh McDonald
1:43
This is a fascinating aspect of the stadium situation that I'm sure the Rays are trying to figure out right now. I think all clubs try to play to the strengths of their parks, at least to a degree, so the new venue might change the calculus somewhat.
1:44
It's possible that the short porch is a factor and they might have a bit more appetite for lefty hitters, sure. I can see that.
1:45
I also wonder if the accounting has completely changed. Their attendance is going to be capped at around 11,000 this year. Insert joke about Rays never getting that many people at The Trop, haha, but they've averaged around 17,000 in recent years.
1:46
Are people from St. Petersburg asking for refunds on their season tickets right now? Does that impact what the Rays are willing to spend on players? All that could impact Lowe's availability.
Chris
1:47
Do you believe we'll have a cavalcade of signings once Soto is done (i.e. teams/players have already identified each other) or will the offseason resume with more "normalcy?"
Darragh McDonald
1:47
Broadly speaking, sure.
1:48
That's not to say that we'll get a major signing every day, but I can see teams pivoting to plan B, C, D and whatnot right after missing on Soto.
1:49
Boras also represents so many of the top guys. By the time Soto is done, he'll already have spent so much time talking to the teams and figuring out where they're at.
Danny Jansen
1:50
Does my market look a little bit better now that Travis d'Arnaud A. Signed so early in free agency B. Signed in a place that did not seem to need a 1-b type catch (having Logan O'Hoppe Angels seemed to be in the strict back up pool of catchers) and C. Getting a decent 6 million AAV contract
Darragh McDonald
1:51
I don't think it will have a huge impact, really.
I wasn't even expecting d'Arnaud to be available.
Best Red in the Central
1:52
Does St Louis have a viable path to winning a Postseason series in the 2020s? They can make the playoffs easily enough with the weakest division in the NL, but it's becoming pretty obvious that none of the 5 teams in the NL Central are real opponents of the legit playoff teams they face in October...
Darragh McDonald
1:52
I think any team can win a postseason series if they're there.
The DBacks won 84 games last year and then swept the Dodgers.
Mike Hazen
1:53
If you were in charge of Arizona, would you replace Walker with Vlad or Naylor in a trade? Who would each cost? Is either better than Pavin?
Darragh McDonald
1:53
I'd be tempted to give Pavin a shot, at least in the large side of a platoon.
Idiotic Failson
1:54
Re: Hal's 'unsustainable' comment - two questions...1) that's not actually true, right? Don't the Yankees generate like $700mm a year in revenue? 2) What kind of time frame do you think he meant - like...cut payroll this year, next year?
Darragh McDonald
1:54
Yeah, I believe that the Yankees are actually fairly modest spenders relative to their revenue. Let me find this data real quick.
1:57
Yankees are only spending about half of their revenue, even with the taxes.
Phillies
1:58
There seems to be a lot of smoke around Alex Bohm.  Do you think it’s likely the Phils move him?
Darragh McDonald
1:58
I'd be a little bit surprised. Bohm isn't a perfect player but he's an arb guy on a team full of expensive veterans.
1:59
They have eight different guys making eight figures next year. Some well beyond eight figures. Wheeler will be $42MM.
2:00
You need cheaper guys to fill out the roster to balance that. Bohm is only projected for about $8.1MM next year. If you trade him and then get Bregman or Suarez or Arenado or something, you're adding money.
Unless the Cards eat a bunch of the Arenado money or something. But then the Phils would need to pony up in terms of prospects.
Ryan Red-leg
2:00
What do you think the odds are of the Reds pushing their payroll to 115-120 mil?
Darragh McDonald
2:01
That's a good question. I don't feel great about the chances, honestly.
They were previously making $60MM annually off their Diamond/Bally deal, which is now dead.
2:02
I'm guessing that has an impact. Teams like the Padres and Twins scaled back payroll as their TV deals collapsed.
The DBacks didn't but they got some playoff money from their surprise World Series run last year.
Joe Schlabotnik
2:02
Holliday has been terrible on defense and offense. Except for raw power he really doesn’t seem to have anything. How much more time does he get before he’s a bust?
Darragh McDonald
2:03
Aaron Judge made his major league debut in his age-24 season. He hit .179 and struck out in 44.2% of his plate appearances.
Jackson Holliday is 20 years old.
I don't think you can really call Holliday a bust for another few years.
Greg D
2:04
The White Sox have stated they won’t necessarily be active in FA but do you see a scenario where they “buy” a prospect? For example trading Vaughn to SEA and getting Garvers contract and Tyler Locklear?
Darragh McDonald
2:04
They should consider stuff like this, for sure.
2:05
RosterResource projects them for a $76MM payroll next year. Most of that is Benintendi and Robert, who are trade candidates themselves. Even if they don't get moved, the contracts only go on for three more years. Two of those being club options in Robert's case.
2:06
The payroll has been as high as $193MM in the past, so they can do some creative things.
2:07
However, those "buy a prospect" trades don't happen a ton. Teams don't like giving up good prospects ever, but doing so just to move money around doesn't happen a ton.
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