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12:10

Mo the Cards GM is criticized a lot on St. Louis chats. How is he perceived nationally?

Mark P

12:11

As hard as STL fans are on Mozeliak's front office, I think fans of other teams would love to have a club that consistently has winning seasons and is usually in the playoffs

12:12

Not that Mozeliak hasn't made moves that deserve criticism, or that the expectations shouldn't be high since the Cardinals haven't won a pennant since 2011.

Estevão

12:13

Starling Marte to the Red Sox. Tell me that the fit isn't great.

Mark P

12:13

Marte would be a great fit on a lot of teams, Boston included

Preller

12:13

Will I survive if we don’t make the playoffs?

Mark P

12:14

Considering Preller's contract runs through 2025, yes

ookla the mok

12:15

How much money is coming off the Phillies books next year and do you think they'll be a big player in the SS market?

Mark P

12:17

The Phils have about $142MM committed to next year's payroll, as per Roster Resource: https://www.fangraphs.com/roster-resource/payroll/phillies

Plus arb raises for Eflin and Hoskins that will boost that number to around $154MM

12:18

So there's some money available, but a lot of holes to address in the rotation, bullpen, OF. I probably don't see them in the shortstop market since Gregorius is still there, but if they can unload his contract, maybe

Ross Atkins

12:18

Who do i look at in the off-season to shore up my bullpen? It's clearly my teams biggest need.

Mark P

12:20

Atkins = Jays GM

The Kirby Yates deal counted as a splurge by Atkins' standards, since he tended to go after cheaper relief options in past offseasons. I tend to think he'll return to that idea this winter, just to add as many arms as he can and hope that a few of them pan out.

It would also help the Jays if they didn't lose almost literally their entire first-choice bullpen mix at the same time to injury

Dalton Wilcox

12:23

With all these high profile arb cases, do the A’s move someone? Laureano? Manaea?

Mark P

12:24

Given how the A's operate, multiple players are going to be moved. Steve Adams recently took a deeper look at Oakland's arb situation: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2021/09/athletics-trade-rumors-payroll-...

@therealRangers29

12:25

I haven't swung into a chat in some time, but here's my 2 cents: E-Rod will be the best bang-for-your-buck pitcher on the market this off-season. Even with a 5 ERA right now, he's in the midst of a very good season.

Mark P

12:27

E-Rod's 3.65 SIERA is way lower than his 5.00 ERA, and there's another big gap between his xwOBA (expected results) and his wOBA (actual results). He hasn't gotten much help from Boston's defense this year, either.

Teams know to look beyond just the surface numbers, so I suspect Rodriguez will get a contract that will more appropriately match his contributions

Bravos

12:28

What’s taking so long to extend Freddie? Why does it seem AA I’d focused on extending other players instead of Freeman.

Mark P

12:29

I would imagine it's a lot easier to negotiate one- or two-year extensions (with Morton and d'Arnaud) than an extension that will run in the 6-7 year range, and be worth way more money

Salvvy

12:30

Ohtani is the mvp but how come I’m not getting more love for having a record breaking season as a catcher

Mark P

12:30

I think there's been a lot of "wait, Salvador Perez has HOW many home runs?!" attention lately.

Mike Rizzo

12:31

What do you see the Nationals doing in the free agent market this offseason?

Mark P

12:32

The Nats have indicated they're going to reload for another run at contending in 2022, so you can't rule them out for any of the big name free agents. There's a big glaring hole at shortstop that could be filled, for instance.

12:33

would storman resign with the Jay's or too much bad history there

Mark P

12:34

I'd be very surprised at a Stroman/Blue Jays reunion. He is almost certainly signing elsewhere.

King Kelly

12:35

Does winning a major award change a player's contract demands? As for example - has Freeman's 2020 NL MVP win contributed to Atlanta's inability to re-sign him? And if Robbie Ray were to win the 2021 AL Cy Young, would his price go up? A part of me thinks that GMs know what a player is worth, and that winning an award vs. finishing second would not affect their judgement - do you concur?

Mark P

12:37

You mean in terms of winning the actual trophy? Probably not a big impact. As you said, GMs aren't going to be swayed by an impressive line on a resume. Obviously if a guy has won an MVP or Cy Young, it means they've had a terrific season, and executives will be making their decisions based on whether or not they think the player can continue to be terrific in future years.

For a guy like Ray, just being able to prove that he is capable of a Cy Young-caliber season is more valuable than actually winning the award

Mike Trout

12:38

Having been wasted for 8 seasons now, do you think my injury makes me only a 2 or 3 WAR player from now on? Do I ever make it back to the playoffs?

Mark P

12:40

There hasn't been any indication that Trout's injury is anything long-term, though it is troubling in a bigger picture that Trout has missed quite a bit of time with a variety of injuries in the last few years.

It's a sign of how awesome Trout has been that being "only" a 2-3 WAR player counts as a massive decline. But there isn't yet any sign that a healthy Trout isn't still capable of being one of the game's very best

Rob K

12:41

I could see Bryant signing with the Phillies, teaming up with his best friend Harper. What do you think?

Mark P

12:42

Since the Phillies haven't been shy about making big signings, I can see it. Having Bryant available as either a third baseman, left fielder, or center fielder would give the Phils a lot of phlexibility (sorry) in addressing those other needs

Angels

12:43

What's priority #1: Signing Scherzer, or re-signing Raisel?

Mark P

12:43

An ace starter is more valuable than an ace reliever, so Scherzer should be the priority if it comes down to it. But really, no reason the Angels couldn't pursue both.

Max Scherzer

12:44

I want to actually win and go to the playoffs so why would I sign with a team that can't do either of those?

Mark P

12:45

Also a fair point. If the Dodgers and Angels, for instance, made comparable offers, I would have to imagine Scherzer would sign with the L.A. team that is in the playoffs every year

Gmen reconsider

12:45

You claimed the Giants won’t go hard after their FA’s, but hasn’t Zaidi already expressed interest in “running it back?”

Mark P

12:47

Well, yeah, what else is he going to say? His team is in a playoff race, and you think Zaidi would say "oh yeah, we're definitely getting rid of four or five of these guys"?

Designate Yourself

12:48

No DH!!!

Mark P

12:48

I think the ship has sailed on that

Cobb

12:48

Do/can angels give Cobb a QO or did he get one prior to his current contract?

Mark P

12:48

Cobb has already received a QO in the past