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MLBTR Chat: 5/17/23
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Chase
6:37
Best offense in baseball, Texas or TB? Who are you taking?
Anthony Franco
6:37
Tampa Bay of those two but I'd go with Atlanta overall
6:38
Not down on Texas or anything -- they'd be in the top ten at least, maybe top five -- but the Braves have been really good in spite of a mediocre start from Austin Riley. Once he gets going, it's like seven deep in really good players
Derek
6:39
If Patrick Corbin's rebound sticks, does an offseason trade become plausible or is the contract just too big for the Nats to ever get anything for him?
Anthony Franco
6:40
He'll be due over $35MM next year and the "good" version of Corbin at this point is a fifth starter. Think he's just playing that one out in Washington
Tyler
6:40
Corey Seager back in the lineup for Texas. How do you see Texas keeping Duran in the lineup long term? Is LF the answer?
Anthony Franco
6:41
Left field and DH for now and then reevaluate if injuries throughout the infield necessitate
6:42
I don't know how much longer they plan on waiting on Justin Foscue but I'd have probably already called him up and moved on from Brad Miller as a multi-positional option too
White Sox
6:43
Who stays and who goes should a teardown occur?
Anthony Franco
6:44
The impending free agents (Giolito and Reynaldo López) are pretty obvious candidates. I think they should and will look into dealing Tim Anderson too, but I know Steve feels differently on that one. We've talked about that one a lot
Dylan Cease feels like a bridge too far for me with two and a half seasons of remaining arbitration control. Same with Luis Robert, who's signed through 2025 with two club options thereafter
Cory
6:45
Are the Orioles firmly in your serious playoff contender group or do you need to see the rest of May play out first?
Anthony Franco
6:47
I still don't think I'd take them if I had to pick a field of six but they're certainly in "legitimate Wild Card contender" territory. The offense and bullpen are great. Rotation's still a question but I'm done betting against Tyler Wells at this point and they're in as good a position as anyone to leverage the farm system for midseason upgrades
Mr Curiosity
6:47
With the season 1/4 over, any changes to your post season projections?
Anthony Franco
6:47
Might as well build off that last one
6:48
Preseason, I had
AL: TB, MIN, HOU, TOR, LAA, NYY
NL: ATL, STL, LAD, SD, NYM, SF
6:50
I'd swap in Texas for the Yankees as a Wild Card and probably go with Milwaukee in the NL Central at this point given the gap between them and St. Louis. Could certainly see an argument for Baltimore over the Angels but I'd probably stick with the Halos for now
Craning for a repeat
6:50
Do the Astros need rotation help or an impact bat?
Anthony Franco
6:51
Nothing stopping them from addressing both, but the rotation depth would be the bigger priority for me. Even with McCullers and Urquidy potentially coming back, the injury concerns are significant and the depth options aren't super exciting
6:52
Altuve and Brantley should still help the offense (assuming Brantley's able to make it back at some point reasonably soon). First base is an issue but I'd be surprised if they're at the point where they'd be willing to trade for someone to push José Abreu to the bench a couple months into a three-year contract
Grover
6:53
Who gets traded off of the A’s at the deadline?
Anthony Franco
6:54
There's not much left. Ramón Laureano probably goes, maybe Seth Brown if he gets healthy in time. That's probably it unless one of the relievers gets hot
Al
6:55
Shouldn't the Mets just tear it down and rebuild? This $400M experiment is failing. Better to finish in last place with a bunch of up-and-comers than finish in last place with a bunch of under achievers.
Anthony Franco
6:56
It's not an easy roster to tear down even if they wanted to. A lot of the problem is their high-priced veteran players aren't performing, and those guys are the hardest players to trade
6:57
The NL Wild Card field is still wide open, and the lineup at least should be better than it has been. Even if this ownership group and front office had the appetite for a retool -- and they don't strike me as the types that would -- I think it'd be premature
Marlins man
6:57
Does Robert and Anderson make sense if we’re in contention at the deadline?
Anthony Franco
6:58
I don't think the Sox would trade Robert but Anderson makes sense as a target for Miami if they're in it, sure. The infield aside from Arraez has been rough
Dodgers
6:58
Looks like May might be out for the Dodgers. If so, do they bring up Stone or have one of the guys in AA get a shot. Frasso, Sheehan, Hurt all have been pitching lights out.
Anthony Franco
7:00
Guessing they turn back to Stone first but Frasso in particular feels like he could be pitching his way into serious consideration for a midseason bump. This L.A. front office doesn't typically jump guys straight from Double-A to the majors but he's probably headed for Triple-A before too long
MoKo
7:01
The Red Sox seem to have excess starting pitching, even if you send two of them to the bullpen; it’s one too many (albeit not to good, barely an innings eater); who’s likely the odd man out and which teams you see as a match? Thanks
Anthony Franco
7:03
I don't think it's setting the stage for a trade. As you mentioned, the majority of the group has been average or worse. Paxton, Whitlock, Sale all have injury question marks. Houck and Bello are unproven as major league starters
7:04
Personally, I'd kick Houck back to the bullpen for now and probably option Bello to keep him stretched out in Worcester once Whitlock returns
7:05
Alright that's all I have time for tonight, have to write about Nick Gordon breaking his leg unfortunately
7:06
Thanks for all the questions. Sorry for the stuff I couldn't address. I'll do another one of these on Friday afternoon for Front Office subscribers; I can get through the vast majority of questions in those
Our memberships also come with weekly posts from Steve and myself on various topics. I wrote about the Mets' rotation issues yesterday
7:07
You can find more about Front Office here if that's of any interest
7:08
I'm on Twitter @affranco10 if you want to throw anything else at me. I'm off next week but I'll do another one of the main site chats two weeks from now. Enjoy your night!
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