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Trade Rumors Front Office Chat

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Steve Adams

2:33

There's a non-zero chance that Davis just has a better 2021 season. He's not a great defender, but the guy can hit.

2:34

I should offer Freddie a 5/$135 with a 6th year mutual option of $15 or a $5 buyout. Basically we keep him in Atlanta for the rest of his career for $140 million. Thoughts?

Steve Adams

2:35

I'd assume Freeman wants to beat Goldschmidt (5/130), so yeah something like 5/135 would be fair.

Typically, when you're talking about the guarantee on a contract, the buyout is included. So what you proposed there is five years and $140MM with a mutual option, which I do think would be competitive.

Matt Chapman

2:35

How much do you buy into the idea of Oakland trading me right now? Super controllable and we still have a contention window. I could see once my arb $ go into that $10M range but not this season. It's just another "team asks about player" ordeal it seems

Steve Adams

2:36

I would put the chances of a Matt Chapman trade somewhere around the same percentage of the chance that Matt Chapman wins a Cy Young Award and the chance that he retires to pursue a career in competitive eating.

Haha

2:37

I just don't see how they'd sell low on him right now in a year where the fanbase is already livid and they're drowning in negative PR

Plus, despite how crappy their offseason has been, the A's could still legitimately win the division! That's probably not true if they trade Chapman.

That contract tho

2:38

Should contracts like Bauer's be the new normal or at least used more. I feel like it gives the players their actual value without hamstringing teams with bad long term contracts.

Steve Adams

2:38

I bet most players would argue that Bauer didn't get his fair value. He took a lesser guarantee than, say, Jordan Zimmermann got five years ago.

2:39

On a per-year basis, sure, it's strong, but most players prefer the long-term security and wouldn't take on the risk Bauer did.

Jays Fan

2:39

Who will be the Blue Jays best starter not named Ryu or Pearson?

Steve Adams

2:40

Robbie Ray gets my vote, but I still don't rule out them adding a Paxton or someone.

Guest

2:41

It would be appreciated to get a reminder tomorrow about the chat in case one missed the initial email !!!!

Steve Adams

2:42

We usually send out one "Chat this Friday" email early in the week and, sometimes, an email saying it's starting (or about to start). I see what you're saying, but we have to walk a fine line of also not bombarding our subscribers with too many emails. We get pushback on that front, too. We have a Front Office chat every Friday at 2pm CT (barring holiday weirdness), so you can pretty much bank on the time being set in stone.

Chicks Dig The Long Ball

2:43

Your top 3 picks for HR’s in 2021?

Steve Adams

2:44

With virtually zero thought put into this answer, I will say:

Mike Trout, Nelson Cruz, Joey Gallo (in some order)

Pablos Pie Holder

2:44

Did the giants burn it down far enough? They weren't terrible last year, and might not be as bad as the Rockies and Pirates this year. I know the farm system is looking better, and they will have approximately a bijillion dollars to spend on FA in 2022, but stacking up against the Padres and Dodgers, will it be enough?

Steve Adams

2:45

I don't think their intent was to burn it down, nor do I think most of the veterans they had to peddle would've netted huge returns. You can argue they should've been more aggressive -- moved Smith and MadBum even when they were quasi in the race at the '19 deadline -- but generally I think Zaidi and his crew have done well.

2:46

The Tigers just announced the Braves re-claimed Travis Demeritte off waivers from them.

Tigers should respond by immediately signing Shane Greene, and we can all tweet "time is a flat circle" GIFs from True Detective.

Manfred

2:47

I'm resigning and turning it over to you. Fix three true outcome baseball.

Steve Adams

2:49

I don't think there's a fix for it. Hitting home runs and drawing walks get hitters paid; striking guys out gets pitchers paid. I think the notion of banning the shift is nonsensical -- defensive shifts have always existed, they were just less educated -- and that'll continue to be the case.

I'd look more to address the issue of teams not even pretending to care about contending. The offseasons we're seeing out of the Orioles, Reds, A's and others is just freaking embarrassing.

john whelam

2:50

Do the Red Sox see something in Franchy Cordero that I don't see based on his past major league performance?

Steve Adams

2:51

Cordero has outrageously loud tools across the board. Top-of-the-scale exit velocity, huge raw power, elite speed when healthy.

2:52

He might be fool's gold or he might be a superstar. The former is likelier than the latter, but it seems the Red Sox prefer to roll the dice on three years of him, plus prospects, to two years of a more expensive Benintendi.

Rust Cohle

2:53

Thank you for the amusing reference! A follow-up to the earlier vesting option question. So as long as both parties agree, a contract can vest for 3rd and 4th year if a player gets 450 PAs and .450 SLG for year 2 and year 3 (respectively)? I'm hoping LAD and Turner come to an agreement like this. Your thoughts?

Steve Adams

2:54

It wouldn't be slugging based. Contracts can have vesting clauses and incentives tied to playing time but not to specific statistics like that. The home run clauses were done away with after incentives in A-Rod's contract, I believe. Pujols might have some in his, I can't remember. But there's a reason every vesting clause/performance bonus you see is based on plate appearances, games played, innings pitched, games finished, etc. -- and not ERA, home run total, on-base percentage, etc.

Peter

2:55

Have the Mariners been connected to any additional bullpen arms still out in the market?

Steve Adams

2:56

Not sure if this was submitted before or after Ken Giles -- but there's one! I'm sure they'd have interest in anyone they can sign for like $1-2MM or a non-roster deal, but specific names I'm not sure of off the top of my head. Seems ownership hasn't given Dipoto a ton to work with this winter, though.

James

2:56

If MLB has 26-person rosters this season, will pitchers be capped at 13? What's your guess how this will play out assuming a 162-game season?

Steve Adams

2:56

They removed the cap on pitchers

2:57

I would imagine we see a lot of teams with 14 pitchers and 12 position players.

Stevie

2:57

Are the TWINS in talks with someone like Tyler Clippard? He's a versatile bullpen guy who was good for them last year.

Steve Adams

2:58

They have interest in re-signing him. I don't know that talks are active between the two parties at the moment. Clippard took a pretty cheap deal last year ($2.75MM) and had a very good season. He's surely looking for a raise at a time when most teams aren't too keen on giving them out.

M.O.

2:59

I believe the White Sox have an incredibly interesting starting rotation. Giolito, Keuchel and Lynn make for an excellent front three. Dylan Cease will be given every opportunity to be their 4th. My question is, who is the fifth between Michael Kopech, Reynaldo Lopez and Carlos Rodon?

Steve Adams

3:00

I would imagine Rodon starts out in that role, but it doesn't really matter too much. Coming off last year's shortened workloads, we'll see tons of guys get starts skipped or get some 10-day stints on the IL for an "injury" that are really more just about maintenance.

3:01

Each of Rodon, Kopech and Reynaldo will start games in 2021. So will Lambert, Stiever ... maybe some NRI guys like Mike Wright

Old_Chief

3:01

When did they lift the 13 pitcher limit?

Steve Adams

3:01

It was part of the health and safety conditions announced earlier this week. I'm sure it'll be back in place in the future (assuming rosters remain at 26 players moving forward)

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