JotCast | Trade Rumors Front Office Chat

Trade Rumors Front Office Chat

Anthony Franco

2:00

Hey everyone, hope you're doing well!

Joe

2:00

What do the stats at your disposal say about the White Sox infield defense? Or another way to put it is: what is your interpretation of those stats? I see all the games and it seems pretty solid. Not the best I'm sure but no holes to speak of.

Anthony Franco

2:02

Generally speaking, I don't love the publicly available defensive metrics. They're superior to simple fielding percentage because they factor in range a bit better, but they're not great at adjusting for shifts and can still be pretty fluky year-over-year

2:03

I'm not big on WAR as a great indicator of value within a single season for that reason

As for the White Sox specifically, it seems like the metrics mostly line up pretty well with your intuition

2:05

Statcast's Outs Above Average has Anderson as the only truly plus defender on the team, but the rest of the team rates out OK. Vaughn's probably a little miscast in LF but not terribly so

2:07

Chicago's allowed a .279 BABIP this year, which is 7th-lowest leaguewide. That's a pretty blunt tool for measuring defense, since it doesn't give pitchers credit for inducing weak contact, but as a general proxy, I think it's fine to say they're an above-average but not elite defensive team.

Joel

2:07

I'm a dedicated Mets fan. What's bothering me is not only the type of injuries the Mets pitchers, especially deGrom and Syndergaard, have, but the numerous injuries to their staff.

Do you think Noah will come back and what will he look like. In deGrom's case, are we looking at TJ surgery?

Anthony Franco

2:08

Seems like Thor's coming back as a reliever this season. I think he'll basically be elite in that role, especially since it seems like his velocity was most of the way back before his setback in May

2:10

Obviously, deGrom's series of injuries worries me but they keep stressing there's nothing structurally wrong there, just inflammation. I wouldn't speculate about him needing surgery unless the team suggests that's on the table. They haven't to this point

Don

2:11

Is when a team trades a player and receives International bonus money, Do they actually get money, Or are they just getting opportunity to use more of their own money?

Anthony Franco

2:12

Yeah it's the latter. They're trading bonus pool space as opposed to actual cash

2:14

As an aside, I looked this rule up to confirm before the chat and learned teams can't sell their bonus pool space for actual cash, unless the cash is part of an offset of the salary of a player being traded back. That'd be shortsighted, since a dollar on the international market is worth more than an actual dollar (because there's a hard-capped, finite number you can spend internationally), but I find it interesting they took the time to prohibit that

2:16

MLB prohibited trading international pool space in each of the 2021 and 2022 signing periods as part of their COVID rules changes. It's possible those trades never come back if the new CBA institutes a draft for international amateurs, which others like Ben Badler of Baseball America have speculated could be a possibility

Randall

2:16

As teams begin the stretch run, what is your BOLDEST prediction?

Anthony Franco

2:18

Ha, I don't know if this counts as particularly bold, since they're running away with the division. But I think the Brewers are the favorites to represent the NL in the World Series at this point

Jorge78

2:18

I guess, as a subscriber, I have to remember to click in on Friday? It won't automatically pop up in my email feed? Would be helpful if it just showed up!

Anthony Franco

2:20

Tim's the one who sends the links out for these. I believe the reason he doesn't send any reminders is because he's wary about clogging people's inboxes and only a small percentage of FO subscribers actually partake in the chat.

That said, I'll make sure to pass your message along to him and see if there's any way he can find a workaround

Bruce

2:21

Why don't they check pitchers before they pitch for substances? The way it is now means the cheating gets a potential benefit and non cheating team penalized. Only delay inning by about ten seconds

Anthony Franco

2:22

I think the league really wants to make sure it's done during commercial breaks because it's not great optics. If they were catching more people, I could see them moving it to before innings (which they do with closers for the reason you suggest)

2:24

But we've only had two ejections in two months. Since they either 1) almost completely legislated sticky stuff out of the game or 2) aren't that good at catching pitchers who are still using stuff, I'm not sure they feel the need to move it to before inningds

Longfoot

2:24

With the Marlins having good young pitching and topping MLB.com’s most recent prospect rankings, how far are they away from being serious contenders?

Anthony Franco

2:25

Wouldn't shock me if they hung around next year, assuming they bring in a couple position player upgrades (catcher and an outfielder spot maybe?)

Longfoot

2:25

Mariners get no respect, but it looks like Jerry DiPoto has done a great job of rebuilding that organization.

Anthony Franco

2:26

Yep, I'm with you. I've liked about 95% of the moves they've made over the past few years (even the stuff that probably didn't work out, like trading Zunino for Mallex/Fraley)

2:28

Dipoto's been a GM for a decade and his teams (2011-15 Angels, Mariners since 2016) have zero playoff wins, so I get why he's not generally in the conversation for top executives in the game

2:29

But I think his group took over a Seattle organization that was near a cliff (aging/average MLB roster, lot of expensive contracts on the books/worst farm system in baseball) and basically worked them back to respectability as fast as reasonably could be expected

B Simpson

2:29

Watching the Red Sox collapse has been painful. Is this season salvageable? If so, in your opinion, what will it take to turn it around?

Anthony Franco

2:31

I'd be pretty worried if I were a Sox fan. They're not dead by any means -- it's a half game deficit in the Wild Card -- but I'd pick the A's and Yankees to grab those final spots

2:33

But the lineup's really good, and E-Rod's way better than his near-5.00 ERA. It's not crazy to think they could get hot again, especially with Sale back, but the overall rotation's pretty concerning to me

2:33

As of now, does J.D. Martinez opt out after 2021. Current stats: .293 BA, 23 HR, 79 RBI. Contract will pay $19.350MM in 2022.

Anthony Franco

2:33

I think he'll opt out personally

Guest

2:33

Hi with all the changes over the last two years, just how many players can clubs add after 8/31/21?

Anthony Franco

2:34

I assume you're referring to the expansion of the active rosters in September? It's up from 26 to 28 this year

Don

2:34

How about a change of scenery trade Yankees trade Clint Frazier and is bigger and maybe a low level prospect but for Nick Senzal ?

Anthony Franco

2:36

Not sure I see either team going for this. I'd rather have Frazier than Senzel overall, but the Reds already have a logjam in the corner outfield

2:37

Castellanos walking this offseason would open a spot, but I'm not sure Frazier's an upgrade over Aristides Aquino

Jorge78

2:37

Why were trades after July taken away this year? Will they be back next year? I miss them!

Anthony Franco

2:37

Believe those are gone for good

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