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Mark P
7:45
The Weekend Chat is here! We'll officially get started once a few questions start piling into the queue....
Coleston
7:45
Chances PCA actually wins MVP?
Mark P
7:46
Pretty strong.  Voter fatigue might play a role in a fresher face than Ohtani capturing the trophy, plus it's not like PCA doesn't deserve it on merit alone
Ken
7:46
The A's win their first series at home since April. What can they do this offseason to be a contender in 2027?
Mark P
7:47
I'm not sure there's anything the A's can do until they get out of Sacramento.  The skewed pitching environment makes it too hard on any hurlers to stay consistent, and it puts more pressure on the hitters to win every slugging contest.

In general, obviously it helps if the A's didn't have like half their team (and most of their best hitters) all injured.  But, getting Rooker and Butler on track are key factors in future success, given what the A's have already invested in that duo in contract extensions.
Dombrowski
7:50
What would a Bryson Stott extension look like this offseason?
Mark P
7:56
Just for contractual background, Stott made $5.9MM in salary this year, and he has one more arb year before hitting free agency.  Stott is entering free agency in advance of his age-30 season.

Stott is the kind of solid but unspectacular type of player that I'm not sure Philly would (or should) be in a rush to lock up, especially with so many big contracts already on their books.  But, by that same logic, Stott also isn't the type of player who might score a lot in free agency, meaning that he might be more amenable to sticking in Philadelphia on a fair price, if perhaps not a hometown discount.

A four-year deal in the $15MM-20MM AAV range seems like a reasonable projection. So with his final arb year added on, that makes it a five-year extension worth roughly $70MM?
Captain Dunsel
7:57
Is Alec Bohm playing himself into a QO?
Mark P
7:57
Bohm's wRC+ is still only 86, his recent hot streak notwithstanding.  So Bohm will have to do a ton more in the next month to make a QO even a halfway possibility.
Walker Jenkins
7:57
How much longer will I stay in St. Paul?
Mark P
7:58
He could be up any day now.  I'm halfway worried that this very chat may be interrupted if I have to write up a "Twins Promote Walker Jenkins" post, haha
Catching Depth
7:59
Does Gabriel Moreno get an extension offer from AZ or will they trust their newfound catching development line instead? Kinda hard as a fan to think any of their prospects are going to make watching Gabi play in different colors ok…
Mark P
8:00
Derrick Hall said last month that the D'Backs had interest in extending Moreno, so a long-term deal is definitely a possibility. If such a deal is struck, that might make Arizona more amenable to moving the other catching prospects (even Helfrick) in trades.
8:01
Moreno is arb-controlled through 2028, so that gives the team plenty of time to continue negotiating while still looking at how their catching prospects develop
Mark Kotsay
8:02
do I get fired this offseason? What’s the chance I’m the Mets next manager?
Mark P
8:02
I suspect that Kotsay will be replaced, and the next A's GM will get to pick his own manager
B-Wild
8:02
Is McGonigle the AL MVP? I haven't seen anyone say it, but he's leading the AL in bWar. It'll probably come down whether or not the Tigers make the playoffs. If not, it'll probably go to Yordan.
Mark P
8:04
If Alvarez wins the triple crown, he's absolutely winning the MVP.

And in another fun example of how bWAR and fWAR differ from each other, McGonigle isn't even the Tigers' leader in fWAR....Dingler has 5.1 to his 4.8.  (Alvarez has 5.7 and Bobby Witt has 5.4)
Jay
8:04
In March I had no idea how the Rays were going to win 80 games all year. How are they doing this?
Mark P
8:05
They're generally pretty good at everything.  Solid lineup, solid rotation, solid bullpen, solid defense....you name it.  The Rays' lineup may not look too imposing on paper, but they avoid mistakes and have the lowest strikeout rate in the league, thus forcing the other team to make outs.
Parker Messick
8:07
I should be the Rookie of the Year in the American League, right?
Mark P
8:07
Messick is having a fantastic year, but McGonigle is the clear ALROY
Guest
8:08
Why did the Pirates put Conor Griffin on the 60 Day IL when he can easily be back before that and then help them?
Mark P
8:10
Griffin last played on July 5, and he has yet to start baseball activities. So there's no guarantee he'll be back before September 5, let alone "easily" before that date.
The Pirates wouldn't have put Griffin on the 60-day if they had any real belief he would've been back early
Bendix
8:12
Can we make playoffs still? We have the starters with Meyer returning eventually.
Mark P
8:14
Miami remains three back of both the second and third NL wild card slots, as the Phillies and Padres are tied for the two positions.  Arizona is one game back and the Cardinals are just behind the Fish at 3.5 games back.

It's still so crowded that Miami definitely has a shot.  The key health factor isn't Meyer but Kyle Stowers, given his outsized importance to the lineup
TJ HOF
8:15
How are Tommy John and Dr Jobe not in the hall?
Mark P
8:15
Great question. If you're talking about overall influence in baseball in the last 50 years, Jobe is very high on that list.  And even beyond the impact of his injury recovery, John has a case based on numbers alone.
Getz
8:17
Do the white Sox have enough starting pitching to finish the stretch run and make the playoffs
Mark P
8:19
While Davis Martin hadn't been pitching well, losing him to the IL hurts the Sox from a depth perspective.  It's anyone's guess as to whether or not the pitching staff can hold up, but the Sox have done a great job in retrenching their lead with that sweep over Detroit.

If it wasn't for the fact that the Sox are such a surprise team, a 5.5-game lead on August 16 would seem pretty safe. But as we've seen the last couple of years, leads are never safe in the AL Central.
Cincy
8:20
Do you know if the Reds informed teams of Greene's health when they were fielding offers.  Kinda strange that he has TJ just days after the deadline.
Mark P
8:21
Teams exchange medical records as soon as they're close in any trade talks, assuming things even got that far in any negotiations between the Reds and interested clubs.
My name is Clown Face
8:22
What are the odds of Trevor Rogers staying in Baltimore?  I say they will not give him a QO and let him become a free agent because the jury is still out on who he really is.
Mark P
8:23
I'd be very surprised if Rogers doesn't get a qualifying offer.  There's no real risk for the O's in issuing the QO, since if he takes it, great --- they get him for another year at or near the front of the rotation, and that's one less rotation hole Baltimore needs to address
RoxTalks
8:23
Steve put out something about Tovar’s situation in Colorado and how the Rockies might move forward following this season, and he said a bad contract swap might be best, which makes sense to me to an extent . But I don’t know why the Rockies would take on a worse contract just to offload Tovar’s. Would they get back some lottery ticket prospects in addition, cause why would a team offload a bad but not horrible contract for something worse as a one-for-one?
Mark P
8:25
If the Rockies have really soured on Tovar's ability to ever again be a productive MLB player, then they absolutely should be shopping him around while he still has any trade value as a bounce-back candidate.  

I agree with Steve that a bad contract swap might be Colorado's best route with Tovar at this point, to see if the Rockies can snag another bounce-back candidate in return
Tork Bomb
8:26
Tiger next Year?
Mark P
8:28
Torkelson is arb-controlled through 2028, and is due a raise on his $4.075MM salary.  So that means a raise into the $6.2MM range or so, based on his counting numbers.

If I'm Detroit, that's maybe still a reasonable enough salary to bring him back for one more year.
Mustache man
8:29
I get that Randy Dobnak has been over performing his underlying numbers but he has a 1.9 WAR and a 1.73 ERA. Even his FIP is a decent 3.66. Has he done enough to get a guaranteed contract next year or is his previous performance too poor.
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