JotCast | Trade Rumors Front Office Chat | 12/17/2021

Trade Rumors Front Office Chat

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Nick

2:50

Thanks for your time! Most writers opine that DET needs another SP and some RP help, but I feel like a "thumper" in needed to hit #3 or #4. Jeimer, Miggy, Grossman.. none process a lot of pop. Baez doesn't seem like he can hit #3/#4 due to his on-base issues.

Is Al putting too much stock into Greene and Torkelson too soon?

Anthony Franco

2:50

You can make that case, for sure. I do think the lineup as constructed is a little bit light, yeah

2:51

I think their concern is that signing a true bopper probably requires a multi-year deal and they'd rather see what they have in Greene and Tork fairly soon, even if it means some growing pains that could impact their chances of contending in 2022

2:52

I think they'd be a great fit for Conforto, although there's no real indication they're diving into the free agent outfield options

Cease your judgement

2:52

Dylan Cease took another baby step toward becoming a top of the rotation talent but his consistency is troubling. Hhe seems to take one step back after two good outings. Obviously his stuff is real but what do you think he needs to become the reliable and dominate starter he was made to be?.

Anthony Franco

2:53

Yeah, I think your take on Cease is spot-on. Not sure if he's got the command to be a true "ace" but he's already really good and the stuff is electric

2:54

With more consistent command, he'd be dominant on a night-in, night-out basis. But developing command and more consistently executing pitches is a lot easier said than done

mmddyyyy

2:54

What would you consider to be valid league-imposed roster constraints?

Anthony Franco

2:55

I'd like to see some sort of limit on the number of times you can option a guy within a season

mmddyyyy

2:55

Is a 10 war pitcher more valuable than a 10 war position player?

Anthony Franco

2:55

In theory, no. Now if you could assure me both players would be in perfect health, I'd take the pitcher

2:56

Because come postseason time, you can leverage that guy more heavily (pitch him on three-days rest, maybe some high-leverage bullpen work on two days rest, etc). With a position player, you just can't do that stuff

2:57

Can hit the guy leadoff, but that's it. He's coming up once every nine times through the order

sunny

2:57

what’s your favorite hobby

Anthony Franco

2:58

I'm a movies guy

Finding random "best movies of all time" lists and plugging my way through them

Kevin cash

2:58

what’s your take on Cash’s use of his pitchers? usage, injuries, shuttling between bigs and minors seem… pretty gnarly

Anthony Franco

2:58

As I said in response to a question a couple minutes ago, I'd like to see limits on the up-and-down stuff

2:59

That's not unique to the Rays, but they're among the most active

Limiting how often you can option a guy reduces your flexibility to tandem start or pitch a guy for four innings of mop-up work, etc.

3:00

But as far as in-game strategy goes, I think Cash is really good. The opener stuff makes intuitive sense and was adopted by basically the entire league within a year. Limiting guys' exposure to an opposing lineup a third time is smart

3:02

I think he's a really good manager, both in terms of his approach to in-game decisions and his seeming ability to get his players comfortable with that lack of familiarity. I don't think it's a coincidence that the team wins 90+ games despite public projections calling them a fourth place team going into essentially every year

Oakland

3:02

when will the a’s finally put it together? this most recent collection of guys seemed really exciting (chap, Olson, Ramon, Semien) but they just couldn’t add enough pieces around them to go very far. Clearly the a’s have VERY tight windows of contention (3 years tops). what do they need to do next time around? is it just about opening the pocketbook or is there something deeper they’re missing?

Anthony Franco

3:03

Obviously spending more and not having to live in these cycles would help, but that's not up to Forst/Beane

3:04

I don't think they've got a fatal flaw in their approach or anything. Playoff success is pretty random. They've gotten there fairly frequently, just didn't quite put it all together with the current group

3:05

I think maybe adding a little more swing-and-miss in the rotation would be ideal, and they've missed on a few high draft picks (Austin Beck, Kyler Murray, etc.)

3:06

But I wouldn't call that a fatal flaw in the approach so much as something that happens to every team on occasion. But the A's have less margin for error because they can't paper over that stuff in free agency

yankees

3:06

what on earth are they doing? it’s always so fun to hate them when they “buy” every good free agent but now they just seem.. sad and directionless. when can I go back to hating the evil empire??

Anthony Franco

3:06

I still expect them to be active once the luxury tax thresholds are set in the next CBA

3:08

But if they really come out of this winter with like Isiah Kiner-Falefa as their big splash, then yeah, I don't get it

dombrowski on line 3

3:09

Phillies sign Correa + trade for Matt Chapman. can they do it and does it push them to the playoffs & beyond?

Anthony Franco

3:09

Doesn't seem like they want to spend $300MM+ on a free agent

But yeah, if they did those things, I think they're a playoff team. Probably the favorites in the NL East

brew crew

3:10

matt olson traded to the brewers for… hiura + who else?

Anthony Franco

3:11

Could see something with Ashby and one of Frelick/Mitchell

Slope

3:11

How does the MLBTR "office" work - are you all spread around the country - connected by a Slack channel or on a daylong Zoom? Or do you all live in a cul-de-sac and walk next door to Tim's house and hang in his pool room and play darts in your underwear between writing posts and chats?

Anthony Franco

3:12

Lol

We're all around the country, communicate via email/text mostly although we do the Top 50 free agent deliberations over Slack

Steve's the only one of my co-workers I've ever met in person

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