JotCast | Trade Rumors Front Office Chat

Trade Rumors Front Office Chat

Steve Adams

2:04

Greetings all -- back from a week off and learning how to type with a wedding ring on my finger. It's been a good week! :)

Let's get underway!

Sean

2:04

Do you believe the Padres are a top 3 or 4 team in the nl?

Steve Adams

2:06

Even without a healthy Clevinger, I'm not sure I can name anyone besides the Dodgers and Braves that I believe to be clearly better. We'll see how the rest of the offseason goes, of course, but Top 3-4 seems right for San Diego.

Daniel

2:06

How have you liked Chris Young's first week as GM? How would you rank the three moves he's made 1-3?

Steve Adams

2:06

Jon Daniels is still the head of baseball operations in Texas. Chris Young is working underneath him.

2:08

That said, I definitely liked the Lance Lynn trade for Texas and thought they got a great price on a buy-low target I like in David Dahl. The Montero return is harder to gauge since we're talking about such a young centerpiece in return, but getting some upside out of a scrap-heap pickup like Montero is always nice. It's been a good week for them.

Kemajic

2:08

Do you think LeMahieu will get the 9 figure offer he seems to be after?

Steve Adams

2:09

I think he'll land more in the $80-85MM range when all is said and done.

Bruce

2:09

Perry Minasian wants to rebuild Angels quickly. Knowing Trout wants to play for a winner right away, he trades #27 to Braves for what return from former boss Alex Anthopolous?

Steve Adams

2:09

The Angels are not trading Trout. Period.

Stevie

2:10

What's up with the Twins. The White Sox positioned themselves as the team to beat while Minnesota seems to sit back and do nothing? Pitching reclamation projects like Kluber harken back to the Terry Ryan regime. Give Cruz 2 years at 15 mill. He's a great dugout coach.

Steve Adams

2:12

Like nearly every other team, the Twins haven't done much. It's not really unique to them, and they've never been reactionary when others in the division make moves ahead of them. The White Sox jumped early last year, too, and the Twins opted to wait for deals they liked.

They're not going to give Cruz two years and $30MM if they believe they're the only team willing to pay him near that annual value and can keep him on a one-year deal with another option, nor should they hastily jump the market and pay two years when he has no chance of getting that elsewhere without the addition of the NL DH.

2:13

Reclamation projects under Terry Ryan and Carl Pohlad were in the Kevin Correia, Ramon Ortiz, Sidney Ponsoon mold. Corey Kluber isn't that. He'd be a nice addition for the Twins.

Raz Mets

2:14

What will be Dominic smith’s position for the Mets to keep his bat in the line up?

Steve Adams

2:14

With no DH, he'll split time between first base and left field; they don't really have many other options. If there's a DH added to the mix, then he and Alonso will share 1B/DH duties (maybe with some occasional LF reps for Dom)

Soma

2:15

Earlier in the offseason, Sandy Alderson indicated that it might be a better strategy to sign free agents rather than give up prospects in trades. (This is how I read it, at least). With the current market, this seems like the appropriate strategy.

Steve Adams

2:16

That is how he framed things, and understandably so. The Mets don't want to shred an already thin farm system, and they have the dollars to make compelling offers at a time when most of their rivals do not. They're in a good spot to be able to spend aggressively without the need to go completely over the top. I'll be surprised if they don't land one of Bauer or Springer at this point, personally. It seems like that's the clear goal

Benny

2:17

Given quite a few suitors for Hendricks likely making strong offers, what is the hold up for his decision? Seems like the dominoes would fall for Colome/Hand/Rosenthal, etc, etc to liven up reliever market after he sets the tone.

Steve Adams

2:19

Lots of interested teams doesn't mean lots of teams meeting his asking price yet. Hendriks knows he's the cream of this year's class, and that means he can afford to wait things out. It's the same reason there's been little movement in the Bauer market, the Springer market, etc.

In many ways, it's easiest of all for Hendriks to wait. He has the broadest appeal -- every team needs bullpen help; that's not true of Realmuto/catchers, for instance -- and his four-year goal is more doable than, say, $125MM+ for Springer.

Kristaps Knees

2:20

No way the Red Sox try to trade Benny with his stock so low?

Steve Adams

2:20

I generally agree with this; the only way they'd trade Benintendi would be if a team offered a package that largely ignored his dismal 2020 season.

Mike d

2:20

Sonny Gray for bo bichette?

Steve Adams

2:21

No way the Jays give up five years of Bo for two of Gray. Swapping out Bichette for Gray doesn't even make them a better team in 2021.

Joe

2:23

What's the difference between "head of baseball operations" / "general manager" and a just normal "general manager" with no head of baseball operations? You note that Daniels is head of Rangers, but isn't Kenny Williams roughly that position in theory in Chicago - but Hahn gets the credit/blame there?

Steve Adams

2:25

Every team's structure is different. Williams is the executive vice president in Chicago, but Hahn has been running baseball ops for years. He was an AGM under Williams and rose to the level of top decision-maker as Williams took on a lesser role (in bb ops) despite retaining his title.

That could eventually be the case for Young/Daniels in Texas, but they're not going to hire Young with zero front office experience and then just hand him baseball ops autonomy over Daniels. Similar story in New York with Porter/Alderson (although Porter obviously has 10+ years of experience so it's not apples to apples)

Guest

2:25

Montero close for M's?

Steve Adams

2:25

He'd be in the mix if the season started today, but I bet the Mariners will add a reliever with some more name value to take ninth-inning duties between now and Spring Training.

Ben

2:25

is JT Rralmuto market hurt by the potential of robot umpires in the next few seasons?

Steve Adams

2:26

I think it's more hurt by some teams who'd make sense as suitors just not wanting to spend gobs of money this winter. He's a well above-average hitter for the position, the fastest catcher in the game and excels in defensive elements beyond pitch framing. We also have no concrete idea of when an automated strike zone would conceivably be added. I don't think that's impacting his market tangibly, no.

2:27

Spencer Torkelson, Austin Martin, or Randy Arozarena; which player projects to have the best offensive career? This may be a very subjective question. Just trying to see where Arozarena fits into the MLB landscape.

Steve Adams

2:29

Torkelson is one of the best hitting prospects to come out of the draft in the past decade. Arozarena had an out-of-this-world postseason, but I doubt you'll find many (or any) scouts/analysts from MLB clubs who think that Tork has an inferior offensive ceiling.

Martin isn't in the same class as Torkelson in terms of pure offense, so some might take Arozarena there (again, in terms of bat only). But part of Martin's appeal was his athleticism and ability to project capably as a center fielder, shortstop, third baseman or second baseman.

Arenado

2:29

Mets right?

Steve Adams

2:31

I am not at all convinced the Rockies will trade Arenado, as I've written numerous times on the site and in these chats. The Mets aren't anxious to just throw around $200MM simply because they can. There's huge downside because of Arenado's post-2021 opt-out clause, and he had far and away the worst year of his career at the plate in 2020. That can partly be explained by a shoulder injury, but if you're willing to accept that the injury tanked his production, you have to have fear of lingering effects over the next six years and $199MM.

Beyond that, the Rox aren't just going to salary dump the best and most popular player of the past 10+ years in Colorado. They're going to want some actual talent in return.

It's an extremely complex trade scenario -- so much so that if I had to bet, I'd bet against a trade actually happening.

Guest

2:32

A's or Rays to Nashville, Vegas, or Portland?? Can you see them moving to a " Nicer stadium" sooner rather than later? Thanks!

Steve Adams

2:33

The main reason that Dave Dombrowski is the Phillies' president of baseball operations now and not still with the Music City Baseball, LLC group that was trying to a team to Nashville is that MLB pretty much told Dombrowski no expansion or relocation will happen in the near future. Jayson Stark wrote an awesome piece on it at The Athletic that's well worth checking out.

(In a shorter response: no, I don't think the Rays, A's or anyone will relocate anytime soon)

Jeremy

2:33

Are the Jays at a disadvantage to signing FA this year more than ever not knowing where they are going to play?

Steve Adams

2:35

It is a clear disadvantage, yes. At the same time, I wouldn't call it "more than ever" before, because the Jays are also in the atypical position of having more money to offer free agents than just about any team in baseball. The Mets, Dodgers and maybe Giants are about the only clubs I can see plausibly outspending the Jays.

Bloom of Doom

2:35

What are the odds the Sox use Sale in a closer role to help him regain his arm strength while signing 2 guys to the rotation?

Steve Adams

2:38

I don't think a sudden move back to the bullpen is as easy as you make it sound. It's fewer innings over the course of a season, but it also means getting up, warming up, sitting down -- sometimes multiples times in a night. Pitching back-to-back games, throwing at a higher intensity, etc.

Sale has spent like 8 years in a starter's routine... radically changing that and making him work as a reliever, only to presumably put him back in the rotation in 2022, doesn't seem easier to me.

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