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Front Office Chat With Anthony Franco
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Anthony Franco
4:19
Sure, all the high-end talent that made them look great for a month is still there. Ward's back now, which is obviously huge
4:20
They weren't as good as they looked in April, and the flaws have hit them hard of late. But they're certainly not this bad either
EddieB
4:20
I can only keep two of Yepez, Sanchez and Winker.  Who would you drop? (Keeper League)
Anthony Franco
4:21
Is this Jesús Sánchez? I'd probably cut him of that trio
Arthur Dent
4:21
Rookie of the year candidates… where does JRod rank?
Anthony Franco
4:21
Take your pick between him and Joe Ryan for second in the AL right now. Jeremy Pena's the clear #1 for me but we'll see how long he's on the injured list
Southern Lion
4:21
What's your assessment of Noah Syndergaards season so far?  What you expected or a dis appointment?
Anthony Franco
4:22
Hmm, I don't know about a disappointment but it's different
4:23
He's stayed healthy and the results have been good. If you'd told me have a 3.53 ERA through ten starts in mid-June, I'd have taken it. So in that sense, it's fine
4:24
But it is strange that he just stopped striking guys out. I wonder if he's moving more into the Nate Eovaldi range where he's good but feels like he should maybe be a little bit better because the lack of swing-and-miss doesn't quite align with the radar gun
Angels fan
4:25
What would Xander bogart cost me
Anthony Franco
4:25
Ship has sailed, Boston played their way back into it
Baseball fan
4:25
What SPS will be available at the deadline
Anthony Franco
4:26
There's the Montas, Castillo, Mahle group at the top. Then you've got a bunch of boring but fine rentals on bad teams -- Quintana, Zach Davies, Michael Pineda (assuming he's healthy by then), Mike Minor
4:27
Mix in an Elieser Hernández change of scenery candidate or something like that too, but the Montas group is easily the most interesting
Hotlanta
4:27
What’s going on with Matt Olson? Surely not what was expected,at least by me
Anthony Franco
4:28
Just a few too many grounders, I think. All the plate discipline stuff is the same as it was in Oakland, he's not hitting the ball dramatically softer
4:29
Feels like he's just gotten in a little rut lately but I think he'll be fine
Southern Lion
4:29
I have Dany Jimenez as my closer in an AL only keeper league.  The sell-off by Oakland really surprised me in a bad way.  Did you see it coming?
Anthony Franco
4:30
Yeah it was pretty clear early in the offseason they were going to rip it down to save money. They didn't have to from a competitive standpoint, but John Fisher drew a line in the sand and gave the front office nothing to work with
Denny
4:30
Is Ketel Marte overvalued?  One notable year in 7 MLB seasons, annual injury risk, questionable power...  Seems like DBacks could have gotten a pretty decent haul for him at one point.  What am I missing?  Favorable contract?
Anthony Franco
4:31
I like him more than you do probably. Only had the one truly elite season, but he's consistently good when healthy. There aren't many true talent .290 hitters out there anymore, and there's enough power he's an above-average hitter
4:32
Injury concerns are valid and he's a worse defender than you'd think given his athleticism, but he's still a good regular if not an MVP talent
Arise, Sir Loin of Beef
4:32
Will Mark Vientos be a Met or a trade chip this season?
Anthony Franco
4:33
Trade chip probably. Just can't see anywhere for him to play. Alonso obviously has first, and Davis is probably a better bat at DH
Old_chief
4:34
Ynoa, Tarnok, Mezquita enough to get Ian Happ??
Anthony Franco
4:34
I think it would've been coming into the season but probably not anymore with Ynoa and Tarnok both underperforming in the minors
Mets fan
4:35
What will Nimmo’s contract look like?  He’s kind of hard to comp
Anthony Franco
4:36
Yeah he was the guy we spent more time on than any in the Power Ranking deliberations a few weeks ago. I like him at 5/100, but I'm much higher than Tim or Steve and they've got him on the three to four year border
4:37
It's really an injury tolerance question. He's a really good player when he's on the field, but he's not Buxton-level special and has similar kind of workload concerns (one season of 500+ plate appearances)
I'm more inclined to bet on talent and chalk injuries up as sort of fluky, but it's a lot easier to do that when I don't have to actually spend the money
DBacks Outfield
4:37
What do you see the DBacks doing at the trade deadline?  There is an oversupply of left-handed hitting outfielders on the roster, with C. Carroll waiting in the wings.  Trade D. Peralta if there is a market for him (doubtful unless he gets hot)?  Option P. Smith and J. McCarthy?  A. Thomas and D. Varsho need to play as much as possible.  They along with C. Carroll are the future.  Thoughts?
Anthony Franco
4:39
Yeah I think you're basically on it. Move Peralta if anyone wants him or just keep him on the bench for his presence. McCarthy and Smith are just up-and-down depth guys unfortunately
sgrossman
4:39
If the Nats unload everyone with an expiring contract at the trade deadine, who will they call-up to be able to field a team?
Anthony Franco
4:40
They've got non-roster guys with some experience in the upper minors. Can call up Ildemaro Vargas, Adrian Sánchez and Luis Avilán for a couple months in a 100-loss season
4:41
They won't be able to trade all the impending FA's through. Doubt anyone's going to want Will Harris or Maikel Franco
Duffy Scliff
4:41
You’ve probably been asked this in a chat before, but what’s a typical shift for an MLBTR writer like?
Anthony Franco
4:42
Highly variable, largely dependent on news. Sometimes you'll have dead periods for hours where you're digging through beat reports looking for a scrap of news or trying to come up with some kind of original content to make sure we get stuff up every couple hours at worst
4:43
Other times you'll get four things that all need to be separate posts (like the Greene promotion, Megill shutdown, Jorge Polanco injury, J-Up activation) and just have to juggle all that stuff while keeping an eye out for any other transactions
4:44
The basic idea though is that you can't leave the computer unattended for more than a minute or two at any given time, since responsiveness is so key and you never know when something's going to break
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