JotCast | Trade Rumors Front Office Chat: 7/30/20

Trade Rumors Front Office Chat: 7/30/20

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Steve Adams

11:59

Greetings all -- I'll get started in just a couple minutes here!

12:02

Alright -- kicking things off

Flergin

12:02

How does Alex Anthopoulos put together a package for a starter right now? And who is even available? Chris Archer? Anyone...else?

Steve Adams

12:03

Well, Archer underwent thoracic outlet surgery, so he's out for the season. Doubt he's much of a target!

12:04

I'd look at rebuilding clubs who have medium-term control over guys that are getting into their arb years. Matthew Boyd is a great example of this. Joe Musgrove with the Pirates is in a similar spot

12:05

I don't know that there's a high-end No. 1/2 who'd be available early, but a mid-rotation arm should be possible to pry away. And both Boyd and Musgrove are a bit upside-y still.

Marc

12:05

The Cubs are scoring runs and the starting pitching has been amazing so far. But Kimbrel and most of the BP, look shaky, to put it mildly. What are your thoughts?

Steve Adams

12:08

Kimbrel hasn't looked great for the bulk of his time with the Cubs, and they've done nothing to address their bullpen for the past two years outside of signing him.

I think we've reached a point where the Cubs' lineup has somehow become so overrated in the minds of fans that it's underrated -- if that makes sense. Bryant, Schwarber, Rizzo and Contreras are all good to great hitters, but it feels sometimes like even Cubs fans are underwhelmed by them.

12:09

I think the Cubs need to address their bullpen in a meaningful way, but I'm not sure ownership will give Epstein, Hoyer, etc. the resource to do so

Tom Ricketts is the one calling revenue losses "biblical" after all.

Foltynewicz

12:09

What is a realistic Trade return package for the Braves, amidst some team taking on his $6.4M contract ?

Steve Adams

12:10

If you're asking a team to take on the remainder of the money he's owed, I doubt you get much of anything at all. I'm honestly not sure he'd get claimed on waivers for free

That sounds crazy, of course, but you're talking about a guy who averaged 96.4 mph on his heater in 2018 and averaged 90.5 mph in his outing the other night.

12:11

If teams think they're getting damaged goods -- or even think there's a decent risk of it -- most owners are going to shy away. That's particularly true amid this level of economic uncertainty.

Skipper Girardi

12:11

How much do you think I'll end up using Spencer Howard & Alec Bohm in this short season? Will I end up bringing up any other prospects?

Steve Adams

12:13

I think Howard will get at least half a season's worth of starts ... granted that's just six or so in this weird year, ha. They might need an injury to get Bohm into the lineup on a regular basis. Either that or Jay Bruce could just suck to the point where they just move on. It's hard to overlook last year's .261 OBP.

Khris Davis or Chris Davis

12:14

Has the Orioles Chris Davis infected the A’s Khris Davis with his Hitting woes?

Steve Adams

12:16

It's still quite early, but I wonder about his health. He played through oblique, hip and hand injuries last year, and if some of that has lingered into 2020, even with the long layoff, it could be problematic for Oakland. I'm more bullish on Khris rebounding than I am Chris, however.

Free Clint Frazier movement

12:17

Seriously can the Yankees just trade the poor guy already, so that he can play everyday for another team?

Steve Adams

12:18

It feels like they value the depth over what minimal-ish return he'd bring them. If they could've traded Frazier for an MLB-caliber starter to step into the rotation or a high-end reliever or something, I think they'd have made that move since they have plenty of OF alternatives. That he's still there speaks more to me about his perceived value throughout the league than about the Yankees' unwillingness to move him.

12:19

I think it's worth pointing out, too, that this is his final minor league option season.

That at least makes it likelier that he'll be moved this summer or in the offseason. Assuming the re-sign Gardner, they'll have him, Hicks, Judge, Stanton, Tauchman, Andujar all in the OF mix next year but no means of sending Frazier to Scranton (without putting him on waivers, which he wouldn't clear)

SteveM

12:20

Do you think this year's TWINS even better than last year's?

Steve Adams

12:21

I don't think they lost many major pieces. Hill's an upgrade over Gibson, and I'd take the Donaldson/Sano corner pairing over the Sano/Cron pairing any day. A "full" year of Arraez over Schoop seems like an upgrade, too.

(Yes, I think this iteration of the team is better)

A’s second base mess

12:22

I thought the A’s would finally give Franklin Barreto a REAL chance to win the job but he has been given only 1 at bat so far. Are Kemp and Machin any better?

Steve Adams

12:23

I'm consistently confused by how the A's hang on to Barreto but find other pieces to play over him. It has a similar vibe to the Yankees/Frazier situation I brought up a couple questions back -- except Barreto is already out of minor league options.

12:24

If they really feel like a Rule 5 pick and a waiver claim are better suited to handle 2B, then they clearly don't think highly of Barreto at this point. If he's still playing this little in a couple weeks, he'll be near the top of my list of trade candidates/change of scenery candidates.

12:25

Maybe he has an injury they haven't spoken up about -- but otherwise, it's just bizarre.

Kirt Bennett

12:25

If you were commissioner, how would you have handled the Joe Kelly situation? Also, the Astros went to the Dodgers side of the field. With MLB prohibiting bench clearing instances, should the Astros players have been fined for their actions?

Steve Adams

12:28

I'm generally against throwing at player on purpose, so I think the suspension of Kelly was warranted (and maybe even light). I hate the practice and feel it's inevitable that it'll eventually lead to a major injury.

That said, you could also hear someone chirping to Kelly to "get back on the mound" with a choice expletive after the fact, and the Astros indeed helped to escalate things. Some form of discipline for both sides seemed warranted -- probably fines in the Astros' case.

SteveM

12:28

Suddenly (?) Nate Pearson is now a top notch prospect that made the grade. What about Mize?

Steve Adams

12:29

What's sudden about it? Pearson has been a high-end prospect for a couple years and was pretty consistently ranked in the Top 10-20 range of all MLB prospects entering the year.

Mize is right up there with him, as is Matt Manning. I think both Mize and Manning will pitch in Detroit at some point this year.

Guest

12:29

How's it going with the subscriptions? Have they replaced the ad revenue? What about doing op ed pieces as a subscriber-only feature?

Steve Adams

12:32

I don't have an exact number, but we've had a decent response so far. They'll never completely replace ad revenue -- that's not their intent -- but I think there's some promise that they could prove beneficial for sure. We greatly appreciate all of the support, obviously.

We're working on additional content/features that each of Jeff, Connor and myself can provide to subscribers to add value to the offering. Some of that should start coming out in the near future. I'm not sure what I'm at liberty to disclose, so I'll leave it at that! Ha.

Paxton's woes

12:33

Odds on him bouncing back to a solid #2? How much do you equate James Paxton's issues to early season woes and needing to sharpen up vs. lingering injuries affecting his velocity and thus, a major concern for the remainder of the year?

Steve Adams

12:37

If Paxton comes out sitting 92mph with his fastball again in his next couple outings, I think there's some cause for greater concern. He's about 3 mph south of his usual velocity. Sometimes you can say, "Yeah but his velo always starts out slow and builds up." That's true of some pitchers, but Paxton came out of the gates averaging 95+ last year.

He's still only a few months removed from a major surgery, and we know the ramp-up period wasn't what pitchers would've hoped for in an ideal setting, so I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt for now. But if he's 90-93 on Aug. 15 instead of his usual 93-97 ... not great.

Frank

12:38

I feel placing a runner on 2nd base in the 10th inning of a tie game cheapens the outcome of the game. Why not do a poll to see how many agree with me. Thanks

Steve Adams

12:40

I'm with you ... I'd honestly rather see ties than something that feels so cheap and gimmicky. This isn't the best setting for a poll since we've got a real limited audience here, but we could certainly put one up on the site tonight or tomorrow. I think it's safe to assume that the overwhelming amount of voters will agree with you though. I've seen virtually no positive feedback toward the notion.

Also this weekend's Phillies/Jays series is now postponed. Jeez.

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