JotCast | Front Office Chat With Anthony Franco

Front Office Chat With Anthony Franco

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Anthony Franco

3:51

Not coming this season, no. He's going to be good long-term though, easy hold in dynasty leagues

Hogjaz

3:52

When do you think the Red Sox bring up Bello?

Anthony Franco

3:52

I think we'll see him in the second half, at least in relief

3:53

Doesn't mean he can't be a long-term starter, but that feels like the easiest way to keep his innings in check while seeing if he can help what's maybe the worst area of the roster

Bob T

3:53

Anthony, Are the Angels going to be sellers at the deadline? After losing 18/21 they don’t look like they have enough to escape another losing season.
Do you see any way that they can afford to sign Ohtani to an extension? I think they need to make him available in the off season and see if any team will offer a load of prospects for one year of Ohtani. What kind of return do you think they could get for Ohtani?

Anthony Franco

3:54

There's some point at which they'd have no choice but to sell but they'd have to be like 6+ games back of the final WC spot and behind a few teams to do that. I think they'll keep close enough to avoid it

3:55

Even one year of Ohtani would be a massive return but there's no way they're doing that, whether they miss the playoffs or not

Benny

3:55

Would two of the 3 get the Bednar deal done?
Biggio, Taylor, Groshans. If not what would it take?

Anthony Franco

3:56

No, I don't think so unless the Pirates really love Groshans. Neither Biggio or Taylor are needle moving pieces

3:57

Hang on one second

4:00

Sorry, Tigers just called up Riley Greene

Had to get a headline up

4:04

Ok, Mark's taking the pile of news that all just dropped

Mets shutting down Tylor Megill for a month, which feels like it'll increase their urgency to add starting pitching help too

Guest

4:05

I've had little time lately to get caught up but is there any insight to why erod won't return to the tigers

Anthony Franco

4:05

That information is available if you want to look for it but we decided against putting it on the site out of respect for his privacy. No timetable for his return right now

Kenny Rogers

4:05

What do the Red Sox do as they approach the deadline? I can’t figure out if they’re a couple of players away from being a legit contender, or if they generally stay as they are and see if they can ride this team as far as possible, or if they know they won’t catch the likes of the Yankees and Astros and sell…

Anthony Franco

4:06

Definitely not selling, just a matter of how aggressively they'll buy

4:07

Bullpen is the big concern. Could argue for them to be in the mix for the rental first basemen (Bell/Mancini) too, but maybe they'll just call Casas up instead

Hogjaz

4:07

Tigers finally doing something good.

Anthony Franco

4:07

In their defense, they were going to carry Greene from day one but he broke his foot

Austin Barnes

4:08

What will a deal for game calling catcher look like?

Anthony Franco

4:08

Admittedly haven't given much thought to the Austin Barnes market, but something like the 2/$8MM the Braves gave Manny Pina feels right at first glance

Astros fan

4:09

Who do we add at the deadline? Who do we trade away? What is the wildest trade you could see them making?

Anthony Franco

4:10

A better backup catcher than Castro and another reliever feels like the boring but likeliest play there to me. The team's already really good, and while there's a case to be made for upgrading over Maldonado over Gurriel, I don't think they'll do either

4:11

Wildest trade I could see that's not actually happening? Something around Hunter Brown and Chas McCormick for Cedric Mullins?

Oh, apologies to Benny

4:12

Just realized I left his question half-answered when Greene dropped

4:13

I think whichever of Tiedemann, Orelvis or Groshans the Pirates like best would be a reasonable starting point on a Bednar deal

I feel like consensus has Groshans at the back of that group, but I'm sure there's team-to-team variability there

Southern Lion

4:13

Do you think Baltimore trades away Cedric Mullins before the trade deadline?

Anthony Franco

4:14

Probably not, maybe 20%? He's not having a great first half anyways, so I doubt you're getting the kind of franchise-changing return you'd want and at that point, why do it?

Captain Kirk

4:15

Should we be worried about Kevin Gausman? After a brilliant start to the year, he's looked rather pedestrian his last few times out.

Anthony Franco

4:15

Guess it depends on your baseline. I don't think he's the best pitcher in the game, which he looked like in April

4:16

But he's still a top-of-the-rotation guy, clunker against the Orioles notwithstanding

DrDave

4:16

What do you make of Freddie Freeman with on 6 HR so far? Park effect?

Anthony Franco

4:17

That plus the deader ball, yeah. His exit velocity, barrel rate and hard contact rate are all still great. The ball's just not jumping like it did last year because of the environment

Hotlanta

4:17

Bigger contract Judge or Ohtani?

Anthony Franco

4:18

Ohtani, assuming he keeps at this kind of pace. He'll hit the market two years younger and is probably a more valuable all-around player

Bob T

4:18

Anthony, now that the Angels have lost 18/21, is there any reason to believe that thay can turn

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