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Steve Adams

2:41

Among the 249 players with at least 40 PAs this year, Baddoo's strikeout percentage (39.1%) is the seventh-worst

2:42

The only established big leaguers ahead of him are Javy Baez and Mitch Garver, and they at least have a track record suggesting those numbers will come down.

Nicholas

2:42

As a Met fan, It is frustrating to see players who either performed poorly for us (Rafael Montero, Jed Lowrie) or had very peripheral roles for us, (Phillip Evans, Sam Haggerty) do so well for their current teams, though it is great to see these guys do well,, it would’ve been great to see this happen in New York. Is this something systemic stemming from the previous administration, or is it just the luck of the draw and will all balance out in time?

Steve Adams

2:44

It happens to every team. Throw out any random club and you can point to several guys who are thriving elsewhere after floundering with their original club. Pirates with Glasnow and Meadows. Astros traded Teoscar for Francisco Liriano. Yankees got nothing out of Sonny Gray and watched him bounce back to ace status. Mike Tauchman never did anything with the Rockies. The Twins traded Nick Anderson for nothing and got very little out of Lance Lynn when he was there. Etc.

Hits Like Rays

2:45

The only thing that I don’t like about the DH is that pitchers get to throw at hitters without any consequences to themselves. If the DH goes universal, what do you think of a rule that says any pitcher who is ejected for throwing at hitters must be the starting DH in the next game that his team plays against that opponent?

Steve Adams

2:46

The consequence, at least in theory, would be they get suspended for throwing at a player and/or their teammates get plunked and then get mad at them. I'd rather just see managers stop telling pitchers to throw at opponents and see that entire mentality phased out of the game. I know some people love a good fracas after a few innings of beanball, but I am not among them. It's stupid to whip a 90+ mph baseball at anyone on purpose.

Fred

2:47

Likelihood "super two" status remains a thing after the new CBA?

Steve Adams

2:48

Arbitration as a whole needs to be revamped, but I don't know that the two sides will be able to come to terms on a whole new compensation structure for players prior to free agency. I'm sure that's on the table as something to discuss, of course, but there's no way to put odds on anything of that nature, especially so early. I'd be impressed if the two sides could even agree on what time they want to host a Zoom meeting at right now.

"3:00 work for you guys?"
"We'll do noon and not a minute earlier or later"
"It seems we've reached an impasse, then."

Rich C

2:48

checking in late .. thanks again, Steve, for doing these!

Steve Adams

2:49

Hey no problem -- seems like a few people have joined late. Did Tim just send out an email blast? Haha. Even if you're joining late, don't be shy about asking questions now

Joaquin Andujar

2:49

Looks like the White Sox may have traded the wrong young starter to Texas in the Lance Lynn deal. What's your long-term outlook on Dylan Cease and Dane Dunning?

Steve Adams

2:51

Cease's raw stuff is just way better. I'm a fan of both Dunning and Cease. I would say Dunning has a higher probability of being a useful mid/back-of-the-rotation starter, but Cease has the much higher ceiling of the two for me. Huge velocity. Elite spin on a pair of breaking pitches. I don't think he's THIS good, but I will say that there are some parallels when looking at his raw arsenal, his spin rates, expected stats, etc. and comparing them to where Corbin Burnes was at a couple years ago.

That's not a prediction that Cease is going to have a 40-to-0 K/BB ratio in 2023, haha, just saying that sometimes even with huge raw stuff, it takes a few years to actually figure out the pitching side of things.

Joe B

2:52

Who wins the season series between the friars and doyers?

Steve Adams

2:53

I think the Dodgers are just the better team, and San Diego recently losing Lamet for who knows how long doesn't do them any favors. Nor does Tatis' lingering shoulder trouble. Padres are still a good team, but that's two of their 4-5 best players (including their *best* player) that are suddenly pretty notable question marks.

Ludwig

2:53

Do you thinks it’s just a matter of time before the weapons on the Braves offense align and ignite, or is this a fundamentally lesser team than 2020?

Steve Adams

2:55

A little of both, but more a matter of time. What I mean by that is... of course Albies, Dansby and Ozuna are going to start hitting eventually. But at the same time, I don't think Ozuna will ever have a better year than he had in 2020, and while I think d'Arnaud is due for some improvements here, he may never get to 2020 levels of output again, either. Freddie Freeman assuredly isn't going to replicate last year's 187 wRC+

2:56

The Braves are a WAY better offensive team than they've shown in 2021 so far, but they had at least three career years in their starting lineup happen simultaneously last summer as well.

Baseball1010

2:57

The MLB Draft League: Will there be contracts, who is responsible for injuries to players and if MLB is providing meals and housing (compensation) are players in jeopardy of losing amateur status?

Steve Adams

2:59

If I'm being honest, I haven't done enough research into the workings of the draft league, so maybe I'll have to do that between now and next week. There won't be contracts, and I would imagine there are league-allocated resources for medical needs/injuries that arise from playing in that new format. I'll have to read up on it and probably send a few emails to folks with the league to have a better answer for you in the future. It's a good note for me to have. Sorry to not have a better answer for you off the cuff right now!

3:00

I'm running low on time here, but if you guys want to fire off some shorter-form questions that I can answer quickly, I'll try to run through a "lightning round" of sorts if there we can get a few quick ones

3:02

Or you guys can all be shy if you like! There's only about 30 people in here right now -- light crowd at the moment -- but I guess folks aren't in the asking mood?

Fred

3:03

Higashioka -- legit starter?

Steve Adams

3:04

Doubt he gets on base enough to be a true starting option, but intrigued by his barreled-ball rate and framing

Power-and-glove-oriented backup for me

Dano

3:05

Garrett Richards, is he toast? That K/BB is ugly

Steve Adams

3:06

I never want to label someone "toast." Rich Hill came back at age 36 or 37 and became a damn near ace. Daniel freaking Bard is a lights-out reliever in 2020-21!

I don't think Richards looks right, though. His velo is down, injuries have obviously taken their toll on him over his career, and the command/control is just way out of whack.

He could easily right the ship, and with his contract he'll get the chance, but I'm not bullish at the moment.

3:08

Alright, questions have pretty much ceased filtering in here at this point and I'm feeling like utter garbage from my second vaccine shot yesterday anyhow, haha, so I am going to go rest up. Thank you guys for supporting MLBTR, for joining this week's chat and for the questions you did ask. We'll do another one next week, and I've got my public chat on the site next Tuesday around 2pm CT

Have a great weekend!

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