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Anthony Franco

3:48

The hope is just that he strikes enough guys out to overcome it by generally keeping hitters off the basepaths. I'm still confident in his ability to do so

Eddie

3:49

Are guys like Carlson, Kwan and Bellinger worth holding onto?

Anthony Franco

3:50

My inclination is to have Bellinger at the top of that group for a fantasy perspective because of the steals, but I'll offer my typical caveat that I'm not great at contextualizing the fantasy stuff and it's a better question for Brad

Speaking of which...

Will

3:50

Hey Anthony, thanks for doing this. Do you think that any of these guys have value in an AL-only, 5x5 Roto league for the remainder of this year … K. Graveman, M. Kopech, A. Munoz, E. Pagan, J. Staumont, J. Leclerc, J. Alcala, L. Patino? Granted the last three are on the IL, but when they come off, which 5 would you want?

Anthony Franco

3:51

Probably Graveman, Kopech, Patino, Munoz, Leclerc but above caveat applies

3:52

I'm not opposed to trying to answer fantasy questions, to be clear, but it's just not really my forte. I've never played in an AL-only league, so it's kind of hard for me to visualize where those guys stack up versus other uses of that potential roster spot, etc.

Duffy Scliff

3:52

I’m sure Baltimore will look to trade Odor before the deadline, where will he end up?

Anthony Franco

3:52

He's got a .261 OBP right now. I doubt anyone's taking him

Probably just winds up playing out the year in Baltimore

Jacek Murański w strachu Łaa

3:52

I want to talk about pitchers getting injured, which is still a big problem in 2022. It seems like fans and media get excited about high velocity, but are not that concerned about arm problems. It seems to me like teams are taking the risk with Tommy John twist and flat arm syndromes to get the max velocity out of pitchers, while accepting the risk of injuries. Do you think, that this will be a case in the future, where the player union steps up and tries to do something about it? Will there be a team, that could take a chance on guys like Brent Honeywell or Alex Reyes, change their mechanics, keep them healthy and try to build the success that way?

Bones

3:53

So many injuries. Are today’s players wimps?

Anthony Franco

3:53

So, to Bones' question, I think players and teams today are more attuned to health questions and less likely to send guys out to play through things that might be aggravated

3:54

But the bigger issue is what the first questioner is getting at, which is that modern mechanics (particularly from a pitching perspective) are prioritizing a max-effort style

3:55

I don't see how that changes, but it's unquestionably more effective. A standard mid-rotation starter from even 15-20 years would have a hard time holding onto a roster spot nowadays

The velocity's way up on both the fastballs and -- probably more meaningfully -- on breaking pitches. Most guys won't get there without pushing themselves to the limit physically, and with that comes an assumption of injury risk

3:56

If guys like Reyes or Honeywell tried to revert to less demanding mechanics, they'd probably just have worse raw stuff and wouldn't be effective enough to hang on rosters anymore

3:57

So there's probably a peer pressure element to put your arm through hell to keep up with everyone else, but I don't know how you solve that. You mentioned the union trying to step in, but I'm truly not sure what they could do about it.

Regit1968

3:58

Will the Cardinals shop for a SS or bring Dejong back up?

Anthony Franco

3:58

I think they'll roll with an Edman - Gorman middle infield tandem for now and see what happens

There'll be another strong free agent class at the position, but they have alternatives even if DeJong stays in Memphis

Bert

3:58

Cano done?

Anthony Franco

3:59

If he's truly unwilling to go back to the minors, I think so. Hard for me to see another team plugging him right onto the MLB roster

tigersfan

3:59

Is tarik skubal an all-star?

Anthony Franco

3:59

Yeah. He'll get the Tigers automatic bid at the very least, but he'd be a deserving All-Star anyways. Hell of a season

Chris W

4:00

If the Padres could move on from Cano in 11 days why is it taking the Yankees so long to move on from Joey Gallo? Both guys are just black holes production wise

Anthony Franco

4:01

Don't see them as analogous. Canó's more than a decade older, coming off a year-long PED suspension, and has been even worse than Gallo this season

Gallo was awesome as recently as the first half of last year and still has obvious huge physical tools. He's far more likely than Canó to figure things out, in my opinion

4:02

Ok, I'm taking over the feed from Steve right now

I'll circle back in a couple minutes and get through the remainder of the questions in here. Be right back

4:05

Alright, I'm back

JorgeGeorge Paez

4:05

Wow it's been 2 hours Anthony! Thanks! Is that a record?

Anthony Franco

4:06

Ha, it's only been about 65 minutes today. I think my personal record is like an hour and 45 mins, but Mark's definitely topped that before

I legitimately love the Front Office chats though so I'm happy to stick around and try to get through everything asked if I can

Eddie

4:06

Dylan Carlson seemed like a surefire talent. Yet, he fell pretty quickly. Not just his injury, but with making contact. Do you think he can bounce back?

Anthony Franco

4:07

Yeah it's really weird. I was all-in on this being the breakout year and he's gone the other way

4:08

He's got an 84.2 MPH average exit velocity this season. That's like Alcides Escobar/Nicky Lopez territory. He's quite obviously stronger than a 160-pound utility infielder, and he hit for power in the minors, so I'm not out on the possibility he figures things out

4:09

But I also don't feel great about it because he simply needs to hit the ball harder than he has so far. Just a bizarre profile

Kirt

4:09

Does Oneil Cruz get called up prior to the all star break?

Anthony Franco

4:10

I think so. Now that he's gotten the strikeouts back under control, I'd expect him up within a few weeks

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