JotCast | Trade Rumors Front Office Chat

Trade Rumors Front Office Chat

Anthony Franco

1:59

Hey everyone, hope you're doing well!

2:00

I'll be back in like 2 minutes and we'll get started

Squid

2:02

Who makes up the Yankees infield on opening day?

Anthony Franco

2:02

Good question. Urshela and LeMahieu are the only two I feel confident about

2:03

I guess I'll go Voit, LeMahieu, C. Seager, Urshela but could certainly see scenarios where they trade Voit and/or sign someone like Semien instead of Seager

Ross Atkins

2:03

Whose my starting third baseman opening day 2022? Do I live with a Biggio/Espanal platoon until Jordan Groshans is ready? What do I do if Biggio has to play 2b if Semien can't be resigned?

Anthony Franco

2:04

I think they'll mostly stand pat there. Bringing back Ray and Semien will be the priority, and there's not a great class of free agent third basemen beyond Bryant anyways

2:05

If they re-sign Ray but Semien walks and Biggio kicks back to second, maybe they sign someone in the Kyle Seager mold -- average or slightly better player who won't come at too significant an investment

2:06

Mariners have an $18MM call to make on Seager via club option. My guess is they buy him out

consistency is great

2:06

When is the automated strike zone happening in MLB?

Anthony Franco

2:06

I'll guess five years

It's probably coming, but it doesn't seem to be as far along as a lot of people make it out to be

2:07

I've never seen a game with robot umps, so I'm going completely off second-hand stuff here. But it seems that the system still has real issues with north-south calls -- especially loopy breaking pitches that narrowly clip the top of the strike zone at the back of home plate

2:08

Most viewers wouldn't consider those strikes, but by definition they are and get called as such by the ASZ

Could argue that's a positive, and that hitters should just adjust, but there'll at least be a growth period where players and fans have to live with some weird results

2:10

What went right for Steve Cohen and the Mets in 2021?

Anthony Franco

2:11

deGrom posted one of the best first halves in MLB history, Pete Alonso hit 37 homers, Marcus Stroman was really good, Javy Báez was fantastic after they traded for him (thumbs-down thing aside)

It was a bad season overall, a real disappointment relative to expectations. But they did have some bright spots too

egv56

2:12

The Giants were initially mocked at times for the size and inexperience of their 13-person coaching staff, but 107 wins later it is evident their organization was doing something right. Given the Giants’ rapid rise this season, will other organizations take a closer look at their operation and perhaps even borrow from the innovative processes they have put in place?

Anthony Franco

2:12

Yes, but that's easier said than done. I'm sure there'll be teams that go in looking to hire more coaches as a sort of copycat off the Giants

2:13

Zach Buchanan of the Athletic reported the D-Backs are considering innovative ways to teach hitting beyond a traditional hitting coach, for example

2:14

But it can't just be numbers right? Like there's probably some low-hanging fruit there in having plenty of different voices, but those individual coaches in SF still have to be connecting with players really well, getting buy-in on small tweaks here and then from players who'd had so much success earlier in their careers that it would've been easy for them not to listem

Listen

2:15

And getting that kind of trust is a lot harder to replicate, something that other teams can't do merely by hiring more people. It's a testament to what Kapler and his staff (and the players obviously) have accomplished there

Crash

2:15

With Ray and Semian, amongst others hitting free agency in Toronto, it seems unlikely they bring both or even either back. Could the Jays line up with the A’s (Chapman) and the Marlins (pitching) in off season trades? And if so, what could packages look like?

Anthony Franco

2:17

I love the idea of the Jays moving Kirk for one of the Marlins' controllable starters. Miami's basically on record saying they want a new catcher, and that probably comes via trade because the only good one in free agency is Yan Gomes

Sixto Sánchez missed the whole year with shoulder issues, so he's hard to value right now. But if the Jays are comfortable with the medicals, maybe something involving him and Kirk fits there?

Keith

2:18

Is Oswald Peraza and Jasson Dominguez enough to acquire Matt Olson?

Anthony Franco

2:20

I don't think so, no. Olson's still got three years of team control and he's one of the three to five best first basemen in the AL. I think they could probably get a little bit more

2:21

It's not a terrible offer or anything. I do think they'd have to think about it, and maybe their scouts think Dominguez is a future superstar, the kind of player the A's could never dream about signing in free agency

2:22

But there's so much risk when you're talking about an 18-year-old that I think they'd look for a similarly regarded headliner who's closer to the majors

Will

2:22

Where do you see the landing space for Starling Marte?

Anthony Franco

2:23

Philly needs a CF badly, and Dombrowski pointed out how awful their leadoff hitters were this year. Hard to draw up a better fit for both of those problems than Marte

2:25

Obviously, there'll be other teams involved too. Giants, Yankees, maybe the Mets and Nats get involved

Will

2:25

What will be the foci of the Tigers’ efforts in the offseason? What do you think is the starting line-up?

Anthony Franco

2:25

Hard to peg a full starting lineup this far out. But Avila basically said they have to fix shortstop and the rotation, and I think those are logical areas for sure

2:26

The Correa thing will probably get overblown a bit; he's not going to sign in Detroit merely because Hinch manages there now

2:27

But they should have plenty to spend and could play at the top of the shortstop market generally, so Correa/Seager/Story etc all make sense

2:28

Catcher, too. I wonder if they'd take James McCann back if the new Mets front office wants to go elsewhere and were willing to pay down a good bit of the money

Will

2:28

Does JV decline the QO from Houston, and sign with the Tigers, then?

Load More Messages

Connecting…

Message History

On Off

Your current subscriptions

None

E-mail Address	Chat Owner	Status	Remove

Enter your email address to be notified when Steve Adams hosts a chat