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Front Office Chat With Anthony Franco
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Anthony Franco
3:31
Hey everyone, hope you all had a great week!
3:32
Let's get this going
Curious
3:32
Sometimes I ask a question early in a chat but the answer comes near the end.  Not complaining, just curious.  Do you have to scroll back up? Do you put questions in a queue?
Anthony Franco
3:32
Ha, I'll throw you off by starting with this one today
3:33
The Front Office chats open in advance obviously, and I generally keep an eye on the questions as they come in. I have a loose idea of how I want to answer some and not others, so I kind of scroll around to hit whatever's fresh in my mind at that point and then circle back
3:34
Can't do this with the main site chats though. Those are so chaotic I can't even read all the questions that come in real time, let alone try to bounce around
Josh Smith
3:34
Do the Rangers give me a strong opportunity when I come off IR?   Is Ezekiel Duran going to block me?
Anthony Franco
3:35
They'll find ways to get Smith in there semi-regularly, but it'll probably be via a super-utility kind of setup. Duran seizing third base for now does block the easiest path to reps at one position, yeah
Mike Rizzo
3:35
Will the long term contracts to Strasburg and Corbin cost me my job?
Anthony Franco
3:35
(Nats GM)
3:36
I don't think Rizzo's job is in danger because of those deals necessarily -- Corbin contract did help them win a World Series in year one too, although he's been awful ever since -- but the bigger concern is probably the ownership sale
Seems like the Lerners will exercise Rizzo's 2023 option at least, but it's not uncommon to see a new owner clean house and bring in their own people
Peter R
3:37
Why do teams call up a player from AAA and if the performs well, too often the player gets DFAed? This happened with Ryan Weber with NYY yesterday? Thanks
Anthony Franco
3:38
That kind of situation is usually a cycle at the back of the pitching staff. Weber threw a bunch of pitches yesterday, wasn't going to be available, but he's out of options so they had to DFA him to replace him on the active roster
3:39
My guess is he knew or had at least some idea this was coming. He still gets paid an MLB salary for a day, and he'll now hit waivers where maybe someone will give him a more lasting 40-man spot
It's not ideal, of course, but it beats not getting called up at all
Andy Friedman
3:39
Do I trade for Montas or rely on May, Heaney, and Duffy coming back? Our pitching has been better than our bats lately.
Dave roberts
3:39
Are we going to get another starter v
Dodger fan
3:39
How do we shake up the team
Anthony Franco
3:40
Got a few of these questions. I'm sure the Dodgers will look into the market for the upper echelon starters, particularly with Buehler out now
3:41
Will they get one? Who knows, there'll certainly be competition for those guys. But they're among the teams that should be most motivated to land someone from the Montas, Castillo, Mahle bucket
Dallas
3:41
I have a bone to pick with you Anthony! Read your email about the Rays Latest Experiment (great stuff) but you failed to mention Johan Santana started his career in the bullpen (and so did Liriano). You did mention Sale who was successful but this isn't a new thing in baseball, Nolan Ryan was in the bullpen for years with the Mets to start his career. Really, the Rays are experimenting with finite innings and how best to maximize results for a set amount of work.

What's the best way to get 70-95 innings out of an arm, is that multiple 5 inning starts or having them appear in 70 games going an inning?

I'm waiting on the next experiment where you let a pitcher throw 7 to 8 innings every 5 days because they are your best arm and should eat the most innings

Really I miss Bartolo Colon and I love Sandy Alcantara
Anthony Franco
3:42
Ha thanks! I didn't intend for that to be an exhaustive list of guys who did the reliever to starter thing so much as just name the first few who popped in my head to convey that I'm not trying to credit the Rays for inventing the idea
3:44
I don't think we'll ever get to a point where teams stop relying on true aces. Those guys aren't going 250-300 innings anymore for health reasons, but they're still going to be trusted to work deep into games. Tampa Bay's letting McLanahan go more than six innings per start still, for instance
3:45
The 4-5 inning hybrid role is more going to be at the expense of the back-end starter, the guy who'd give you 175 innings with a 4.50 ERA
deGrom
3:45
Do I pitch for the Mets, Dodgers, or Giants next year?
Anthony Franco
3:45
Hard to pick him leaving the Mets
Cody bellinger
3:46
What is my future with the Dodgers if I don’t start hitting
Cody Bellinger
3:46
What type of deal will I get on the free agent market after I get non-tendered?  1-2 years?
Anthony Franco
3:46
Yeah I think he's trending towards a non-tender after this season and probably looking at like 1/12M if he keeps on this pace
3:47
I think he could find two years at a lower AAV with a higher overall guarantee than that but would probably prefer to bet on himself at that point
Old_chief
3:47
AA says he wants a left-handed bat for the lineup and everyone seems to gravitate to Benintendi, but I'd be more tempted to look at Ian Happ? What say  you?
Anthony Franco
3:48
Happ's going to cost a greater return but I agree, would much rather have a year and a half of Happ than two months of Benintendi
For any team, Braves among them
Bednar's radar
3:48
If you were Ben Cherington, who would you rather trade David Bednar for?
Cavan Biggio
Samad Taylor
Jordan Groshans
Anthony Franco
3:48
None of those guys get a Bednar deal done
Hotlanta
3:48
What do the braves need to do at the deadline?
Anthony Franco
3:49
Second base kind of depends on Arcia. Ideally he plays well enough you can leave him there but that might wind up being a problem
3:51
They'll probably want another bat regardless though. Duvall, Rosario (even pre-injury), Ozuna all underperformed, and adding another corner outfield/DH type would allow Snitker more freedom to pick and choose among the rest depending on who's playing well
Guest
3:51
Do you think the Rangers call up Jack Leiter this season?  I drafted and stashed him.  Was that a mistake?
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