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MLBTR Chat: 5/4/22
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David S Spencer
1:08
Brett Gardner to The Phillies??
Anthony Franco
1:08
Gardner has been kind of superficially linked to other teams but it seems like he's kind of set on Yankees or bust
If he comes off that, the Phillies make a ton of sense
Voomo
1:09
Are we seeing who Dalton Varsho is? Or is he better?
Anthony Franco
1:09
Even this version of Daulton Varsho has been 17 points above average by wRC+ with how bad the offensive environment has been
1:11
I think the bottom line results will come up a bit with the rest of the league's as the weather warms. He's solid. Makes contact, has some power with the athleticism to be a capable center fielder. Nice everyday player, but not a star
baseball gods are coastal elites
1:12
Why is Jankowski considered a 4th OF and guys like Pache and Victor Robles regulars?
Anthony Franco
1:12
Jankowski's almost 31, Robles and Pache are both still under 25. If they're continuing to produce like this a couple years from now, I think they'll also just be rightly viewed as fourth outfielders
baseball gods are coastal elites
1:13
Same thing applies to Sean Murphy as Willson Contreras.
Anthony Franco
1:14
I don't think the A's are going to trade Murphy this season. They're not really rebuilding, just wanted to save money. Murphy's still cheap and controllable through 2025
1:15
It's not impossible to see a trade coming together after they got Lanegliers, but I'd put the odds below like 30%
JD
1:15
How much more leash does Kole Calhoun (and his $5M) have before the Rangers cut bait and bring up Leody?
Anthony Franco
1:15
Texas pulled the plug on Greg Holland very quickly, so I don't think they'll be beholden to Calhoun just because they signed him
1:17
Honestly, I think this question's a lot more about Leody. He hasn't performed in the majors yet, he's still not walking much in Triple-A and a lot of the production there has been BABIP-based. If he keeps mashing, at some point he forces another call-up, but I don't think we're at that point yet
Zach
1:17
Who would you say IS the best hitter in baseball?
Anthony Franco
1:17
Trout
Drew
1:17
Do you think lineup construction actually matters?  There's always a fair bit of talk about who hits in what spot in the lineup but all the evidence I can find points to it making a small enough difference that it really doesn't matter.
Anthony Franco
1:18
Not really. It's an easy discussion point for fans to quibble with managerial decisions, but so long as you're not actively tanking it (like if Astros were hitting Martín Maldonado leadoff or something), I don't care
Mainz Athletics
1:19
Will the Red Sox move Bogey in July if they slip further out of contention? Should not be a big decision given his usual performance year in and year out for and contender, right?
Anthony Franco
1:19
We're nowhere near that point yet, obviously, but if they're clearly not going to be a playoff team come July, I don't see why they wouldn't do this
Matt
1:20
has kyle wright figured it out and is now a legit #3 starter on a real team?
Anthony Franco
1:20
I'm all in, think he might even be better than a 3
1:22
Wright's numbers in Triple-A were quietly really good. He gets a ton of grounders, throws hard, misses a decent number of bats. Control was kind of spotty early in his MLB career, but it looked like he started to figure that out in the minors last year
Lance lynn to KC
1:22
Does Lance lynn come to KC?!?!?!? if So for who!
Anthony Franco
1:23
I don't see why the White Sox would trade Lynn, particularly intra-division
Cdub53
1:23
Should the Rangers offer Willie Calhoun to Cincinnati for Aristides Aquino as both could use a change of scenery?
Anthony Franco
1:23
I'd rather have Calhoun. Don't think I'd even claim Aquino off waivers at this point (though I expect someone will)
baseball gods are coastal elites
1:23
Where do you see the Marlins finishing in the division this season?
Anthony Franco
1:24
Still would have them fourth
PDXman
1:24
Do we give the Mets FO + owner credit for saying they want to emulate the Dodgers and actually going out and building the team that way?
Anthony Franco
1:25
They have a long way to go to match the Dodgers from a player development standpoint, but sure, they deserve credit for being really aggressive in terms of outside acquisitions
Very exciting team
MPrck
1:25
AFTER SEEING CANO LEAVE, IS IT TIME TO SAY ADIOS TO LONG TERM DEALS ?
Anthony Franco
1:26
You see this kind of thing every time somebody signs a massive deal and underperform (and Canó was actually quite good for much of his time in Seattle), and I think it's just too simplistic
1:27
Is it ideal to be paying players into their 40's? No, and that's a big reason we've seen teams more amenable to the kind of shorter-term, massive AAV contracts singed by Bauer and Correa in recent years
1:28
At the same time, just arbitrarily saying "we won't do long-term deals" is a great way to not land good players. The biggest driver for most free agents is still going to overall guarantee, and the market is just always going to push prices high
frenchhowser@gmail.com
1:29
Thanks for the chat.  I am curious as to whether someone who is NOT a Boston sportswriters sees any hope for the Red Sox.  I see that only TWO of the nine Boston regulars are anywhere near career norms, and yet the Sox are 10-14 and have another 6-7 games they could have won with a little more luck and timely hitting.  Just curious (and I know you might not get to my question) what you think.
Anthony Franco
1:31
It's way too early to declare them dead. Guys like Story and Verdugo should be much better, Hernández as well. To your clutch hitting point, they're four games under .500 with a -5 run differential, so there's certainly a sequencing element there that could've flipped things around
1:32
The concern, I'd say, is that they're in a division with three teams that all might've been more talented than them to begin with. They've already dug themselves an eight-game hole relative to New York. They don't have much margin for error to erase that kind of gap while also climbing over Toronto and Tampa Bay
1:33
So I'm somewhere in between. Everything you said is true, and they could still certainly make the playoffs. But there's a ton of competition in the AL and losses in April count the same as losses in September, so they need to turn things around relatively soon
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