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MLBTR Chat: 4/7/26
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Anthony Franco
12:29
Still think he's a Twin
Fantasy Advice
12:29
Are we concerned about Nick Kurtz's start?
Anthony Franco
12:31
Not really. His rookie season was probably a little over his head -- don't think we're talking about him as the third-best hitter in MLB behind Judge and Ohtani -- and there will always be a lot of strikeouts but the power barrage is coming
Greg
12:31
Any tips for securing a job with MLB Trade Rumors?
Anthony Franco
12:33
When opportunities come out, we just put out a job posting on the site, nothing available right now. Best advice I could give is to read closely on a lot of the transactional minutia to have an idea of why teams make moves when they do, 40-man implications, etc.
Phils
12:33
What do you do with T walker when Zach Wheeler comes back?   He won’t be in the rotation and they have absolutely no space for him in the bullpen. Is it time to just say goodbye or ask him to go to AAA?
Anthony Franco
12:35
He has no incentive to go to Triple-A. My guess is they'll try to get Pop through waivers and keep Walker around in long relief as a hedge in case Wheeler doesn't look right
Ryan
12:35
Why did the Brewers preemptively give Cooper Pratt a 40-man roster spot when he's not getting called up and wasn't Rule 5 eligible until after the 2027 season?
Anthony Franco
12:36
It's required for any player signing a major league contract. Mariners had to do the same with Colt Emerson
Jordan Walker
12:36
Are you buying my breakout?
Anthony Franco
12:38
Cautiously optimistic. Still a lot of swing-and-miss but he's destroying the ball and getting it in the air more than he usually does. Seems like the bat path is a little more uphill this year, which is encouraging if you can pull that off without a massive drop in contact
12:39
It's two weeks so I'm not fully on board yet because we've seen stretches where Walker gets hot and then falls back, but I'm more intrigued than I was on March 27
Big Fan
12:40
Can you explain the "player to be named later" process?  Is there a time limit for the player to be named?  Is there a bank of players that the teams agree could be available at a later time?
Anthony Franco
12:41
Pretty much. Teams will agree to a prearranged list of players who the acquiring club can choose from a timeline for them to make that decision
To ATL
12:41
I've seen Tim and now you revently respond to questions about the lockout with a bit more pessimism. Is that me, or are you concerned we may actually lose part or all of next season?
Anthony Franco
12:42
Nah I think the offseason will suck but they'll figure it out late, pretty similar to what happened the last time around
12:43
More pessimistic about 2031 but MLB has so many reasons right now (TV bundle after '28, expansion, Manfred's personal desire not to have his legacy be an inability to get a CBA done at the end of his tenure) not to bring it all to a halt this time
I Overslept
12:44
Calm me down about Carter Jensen.  There are a lot of young guys on the Royals and it kinda bugs me that they let it slide.
Anthony Franco
12:45
They kind of put him on blast publicly, obviously scratched him from that game. I think it's fine. Sending him down or something is an overreaction that deals more of a hit to the team than it's worth
12:46
If it happens again, alright, maybe they do some kind of disciplinary thing like the Nationals did with CJ Abrams a couple years ago. For the first time, I think they handled it fine
The Big Q
12:46
Why is "swing and miss" simply a part of Kurtz's game, but a detriment to Walker's breakout?
Anthony Franco
12:47
We've seen Kurtz have a monster power season despite a 30% strikeout rate already
If Kurtz had hit six homers last season, I'd be a lot more worried about the whiffs
zivkov34
12:47
What's the hold up on the Konnor Griffin extension? Or were we sold yet anotherPR lie y Bob
Anthony Franco
12:48
Probably waiting a few days to make it look better for that silly PPI rule that says he can't earn them a pick if there's an extension done before his MLB debut
Marlins
12:49
Do you think Liam hicks will keep hitting like this or do you think he’ll go back to being around a below average to average bat
Anthony Franco
12:49
He's never had anything close to this kind of power but the plate discipline is good enough that I buy him as a slightly above-average hitter
12:50
I like him more than Agustín Ramírez but don't think either has the glove to be a long-term starting catcher. Not like they've got anything locked down at first base, though
Blue
12:50
How do you like ABS challenges so far?
Anthony Franco
12:52
It's been fun. Still think it'll end up being full ABS once the novelty wears off and we get a blown call that costs a playoff game when a team is out of challenges. But I underrated how much fans would love the idea of the ABS overturning calls on the scoreboard
Guest
12:53
If Bohm scuffles will the Phillies call up Aiden Miller to replace Bohm?
Anthony Franco
12:54
He'd need to be really bad into July before I could see that as a possibility, easier to break him in as a bench bat without turning over 3B halfway through a pennant race. Miller's also on the minor league IL right now and his return timeline isn't clear
Buster Posey
12:55
Why not blow this whole thing up and finally play the kids? This organization never wants to rebuild so we can be mediocre and win our standard 81 games.
Giants fan
12:55
Would this Giants team be a powerhouse in the SEC?
Rich
12:55
Is there a legitimate chance the Giants are really bad? Like, worse than Colorado bad.
Anthony Franco
12:56
Three of the many Giants questions in here. Not yet moving off my prior that they'll be in the Wild Card picture all season
Hoyer
12:57
Giolito kinda makes sense if Hortons out awhile right?
Anthony Franco
12:57
Probably but I have no idea what Giolito's status is at this point. One of the weirder free agent trajectories I can remember
charlie tuna
12:58
A question/comment about the MLB draft and taxes. As we all know, teams that spend big also pay big taxes and teams that don't spend, don't pay the lux tax. There are teams that are legitimately trying to win and others that aren't. Then there are (not many) teams that spend and try to win with limited resources. Teams like this (best example being the Padres) are penalized by having to pay the lux tax anyway. They are also dinged by having their Q.O. players, that sign elsewhere, bring back a lower draft pick than they would normally receive. To me that seems like penalizing teams that use all their resources in an attempt to win. Bass akwards if you ask me and detrimental to the game. Any chance this gets address in the next CBA?
Anthony Franco
12:59
MLBPA would love to flip this around. The league puts this in the CBA because they don't want teams to spend, it's a deliberate choice
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