JotCast | RosterResource Chat

RosterResource Chat - 5/9/25

Jason Martinez

2:02

Welcome to the RosterResource Live Chat! I believe we're about 6 weeks into the season. A lot of good and bad performances that have been surprising. As far as standings, not so much aside from maybe the Orioles (10 games under .500) and Giants (10 games over .500). Another fun weekend ahead with Cade Horton expected to make his MLB debut on Saturday.

Here we go ...

BlueJayMatt

2:02

How long until Ross Atkins gets fired? Is he gone before the trade deadline?

Jon Becker

2:04

Baseball ops heads getting fired in-season is extremely rare — as best I can tell, the last one was Josh Byrnes in 2014, who was fired in mid June before Preller was brought in in early August. The Blue Jays have been pretty disappointing, especially lately, but I think he'll get the full year and then could well be gone if they don't make the playoffs. I suppose if there's a deadline sell-off, Schneider could get axed before the season ends.

kdp

2:07

Happy Asian Heritage month! Besides Hyeseong Kim, who do you think would be the next native Asian guy to step up to the big league?

Jason Martinez

2:07

Sounds like Munetaka Murakami will be the next Japanese superstar to be posted. I believe that will be prior to the 2026 season. There are also a few prospects in the lower minors to keep an eye on. The A's have two pitchers in Low-A ... Tzu-Chen Sha and Wei-En Lin ... who are off to good starts and they also signed a highly-touted two-way prospect (SS/SP Shotaro Morii) who has yet to debut.

drplantwrench

2:07

lets say Devers demands out of boston, and for some reason, demands to be traded to the Angels. what return would you the red sox would want?

Jon Becker

2:10

Devers' contract was signed by the last front office, and if he's really a DH for the long haul, they'd be happy to just get a large majority or all of the last 8.75 years off the books without getting much in return. The offensive bar for being a particularly valuable DH is so high and even if Devers is getting into a groove and starting to hit that, he's got red flags (Z-Con of barely 70%, and swinging less overall which makes him easier to pitch to if/when the power dips) that don't portend aging well.

Ozzie

2:10

How would you get Moises Ballesteros bat in this Cubs lineup?

Jason Martinez

2:13

I see no path in 2025 unless Carson Kelly gets injured and misses an extended period of time. Even then, they could easily just go with a veteran like Reese McGuire. Being a catcher is a tough job in the big leagues and we've seen some great catching prospects with above-average hitting tools struggle for years. I think he's a trade chip at the deadline.

2:13

Thoughts on Casey Mize? Went from fighting for a rotation spot to the tigers second best starter

Jon Becker

2:15

I'm not sure he's this good, but it's nice when we can point to things like pitch mix changes as a reason for why he'd be performing so well, as opposed to pitching the same way he always has but getting better results, which can be more of a mirage. Assuming he's healthy he should have that spot all year, with Jobe likeliest to be the roster casualty whenever Cobb is back.

Your Name

2:17

Is there any point to being a Pirates fan?

Jason Martinez

2:17

If you've suffered through all the bad years, you'd never forgive yourself if you stopped caring and had to jump back on the bandwagon when they were good again in 2027 or 2028 with a rotation of Skenes-Chandler-Keller-Barco-Ashcraft and a lineup that included Oneil Cruz and Konnor Griffin.

Stick to Sporer-tzball

2:18

Schneeman? In lineup most days moving forward?

Jon Becker

2:19

Yeah, I think the performance uptick is real since he's got increased EV, so he should at least be in there against just about every righty, plus he can play all over the field. Juan Brito will be out until late June at the earliest and Bazzana's been good but not amazing at AA, so there's nobody coming for his job anytime soon.

MrMet

2:20

When will it be Roman Anthony time in Boston?

Jason Martinez

2:22

Raffy isn't helping the situation much since it would open up some DH at-bats if he starts playing 1B. But I really don't think there's any reason to keep putting off the inevitable move of Rafaela to the bench, Duran to CF, and Anthony to LF. It wouldn't surprise me if it happened in the next few days in order to get away from the "Devers isn't a team player" news cycle.

Insert Witty Name Here

2:22

More of a general question: do you see anything that the more savvier teams are doing with their rosters that perhaps the Rockies and the Pirates aren’t doing?

Jon Becker

2:25

I see different issues for the two teams. The Pirates could have been somewhat-plausibly contending if they actually spent money on offensive acquisitions, but they didn't, and they haven't really developed a multi-year offensive threat since Reynolds (who was largely developed by the Giants anyway). The Rockies are simply in denial about needing to rebuild, something that other teams don't do. They don't do future Rockies teams any favors when they extend anyone who's been there long enough (60% of their rotation, Kinley, McMahon), and there's no reason for a team that bad to be playing Nick Martini instead of letting Zac Veen learn on the job. You don't learn how to succeed in the majors at Triple-A.

Lorenzo

2:25

When do Giants drop Jordan Hicks from rotation and insert Hayden Birdsong?

Jason Martinez

2:27

He's been pretty good in his last two starts, although I still think he's one really bad start away from losing the spot to Birdsong. But he could also secure it with 2-3 more good ones in a row. Ideally, he gives them 20 starts and finishes in the bullpen while they fight for a playoff spot.

Guest#2

2:27

Royals-what can they realistically do to improve the offense?

Ozzie

2:27

Do you have any reports on how Cags has been doing in RF?

Jon Becker

2:29

Cags is the obvious answer here, though to answer Ozzie's question I haven't seen anything on how he's playing out there nor have I seen highlights (but he hasn't made any errors!). But he's such an athletic freak I'm sure he could handle it — they're playing India in left a lot so it's not like they're prioritizing corner outfield defense so much anyway. Nick Loftin has also been great in AAA, and Peyton Wilson was awesome in AA and just got bumped up to Omaha. Farther down the line they'll look at the trade market, but teams aren't really in sell mode yet.

Jim Leahy

2:29

Is Kyle Leahy a dark horse candidate to be in the 26 Cards rotation? Looking much better in the pen this year, but has a starters arsenal.

Jason Martinez

2:31

For sure. I think all teams are focused on identifying who can make the move back to the rotation after having success as a reliever. Reminds me of a funny line from Michael King in a recent interview. He was told by the Yankees that he was too valuable in the bullpen so they didn't want to let him start again. He responded that Gerrit Cole would also be too valuable out of the bullpen.

Ozzie

2:31

The best solution to the Red Sox first base problem is Kristian to first and call up Mayer to play 2B right?

Jon Becker

2:33

If we're taking Devers off the table, the best solution is whatever gets Mayer or Anthony on the roster, sooner, whether that's one of them playing 1B, Campbell at 1B, or even Bregman at 1B. None of those guys have 1B experience so if I'm them I'm trying all three of them out there, at least before games, and seeing who has the best footwork. Romy Gonzalez and Abraham Toro just shouldn't be the guys when they can do better.

1st to kno when it rains in Miami

2:34

Innings restriction for Eury when he gets back? If so, innings per game or overall season limit?

Jason Martinez

2:36

As evidenced by the fact that he's thrown a total of 3 innings in 3 rehab appearances, the Marlins are going to be very cautious with their future ace. In fact, I don't see him returning at the end of the 30-day rehab window at this rate. Either he takes a break from the rehab assignment at some point and starts it up again later or he's activated and optioned to AAA to continue building up.

Ozzie

2:36

If Cade Horton looks good, how are you dropping from the Cubs rotaion when Shota gets back?

Jon Becker

2:38

If Rea keeps pitching like he has, it's probably Brown, and the question there then becomes if it's best to send Brown to AAA to work on a third pitch or to unleash him in the bullpen in a Birdsong-like multi-inning role where having just the two pitches works fine. But Rea's also got plenty of swingman experience so they might think it's best for overall roster construction to put him back there no matter how well he's pitching.

Danny

2:39

Ryan O’Hearn recently drew a start against a lefty. What are the chances the O’s turn him into a full-time starter? And if that happens, would he become a must-add in OBP fantasy leagues? Better bet than Vinnie P ROS?

Jason Martinez

2:41

And he's something like 5-for-17 so he can hold his own against lefties. However, once guys like O'Neill, Urias, Westburg, and Gary Sanchez return from the IL, it's more a matter of stacking the lineup with dudes who have a track record of crushing LHP and having O'Hearn available for a high-leverage pinch-hitting appearance late in the game. I do think his performance makes it more likely that they rarely pinch-hit for him when he's in the starting lineup unless it's a situation where he's facing Aroldis Chapman in the 9th inning.

Chris

2:42

Do you think DJLM will play regulalry at 2B until Jazz returns then regularly at 3B (obv health pending)?

Jon Becker

2:43

I think that's the likeliest course of action, yeah, though to what extent LeMahieu will require load management days off remains to be seen, and of course, he has to perform to keep a starting spot even while Jazz is out. That's a tough division as always and if a Vivas/LeMahieu platoon helps them win more than LeMahieu every day, they'll do that.

Bart Ratly

2:44

Any chance Tim Elko gets some run? Or do the sox think he's just a AAAA guy?

Jason Martinez

2:46

He'll be in the majors in 2025. Just a matter of when. I think the main issue might be that Andrew Vaughn is in the role that Elko would be in if he's called up. And they're gonna be bad either way so might as well see if Vaughn can get back to what he was last season when he had a 119 wRC+ vs LHP. That could at least give him some trade value by end of July.

Shane Mackalackahan

2:47

Who gets booted from the rotation when I'm back?

KC Pain

2:47

Boyle looking good in minors for TB. Seymour keeps being great and getting no chances. Will TB make space for them by trading guys out, trade these 2, or keep them down in minors as depth?

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