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Trade Rumors Front Office Chat With Anthony Franco
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Anthony Franco
3:49
Thought the Cron deal was fine at the time, he's been great so far. I liked the McMahon one well enough
3:50
Senzatela was an overpay but I think he's a good fit for the ballpark and understand why they'd want to keep him around. It was surprising money but I sort of get it
3:51
The other two, though, I just don't like. Freeland felt like they were betting on his work ethic and that one incredible season he had four years ago while ignoring the past three seasons of mediocre performance. I don't get why they felt the urgency to do that now
Three years for Elias Diaz? Makes no sense
3:52
It was relatively cheap, so whatever, but he's not very good
Mookie betts
3:52
Should I be worried about my start
Anthony Franco
3:53
On Mookie, I'm not concerned at all. He's been bad, but I'm chalking that up to a slump. No reason to believe he won't still be great this year
Bob T
3:53
Anthony, Why do you think MLB keeps putting off making a decision on Trevor Bauer? There is no way that their investigation is taking a year when the courts took only four or five months. Though I don’t condone any of his reported actions, how is MLB legislating what goes on in the bedrooms of their players.
It is way past time for closure on these issues.
Anthony Franco
3:53
I don't have any insight into why they keep delaying with Bauer, but I'm also surprised it's taking this long. I really thought it'd be sorted out by Opening Day
Kevin J
3:54
Do you see the Rangers trading for pitching soon or waiting out for our rookies in AA AND AAA
Anthony Franco
3:54
Could look at controllable young arms. Maybe Miami's still willing to deal from the surplus?
3:55
But they're not going to trade for an impending free agent in hopes of salvaging 2022 or anything like that. This was always going to be a transitional year
The Catfish Hunter
3:55
Logan Warmoth has looked pretty good at AAA after falling down the depth chart. What are the chances he gets a look in Toronto's OF this year?
Anthony Franco
3:55
He’s still hitting the ball on the ground a ton, but cutting the strikeout rate as he did is encouraging. Going to need more than two weeks to erase the two years of mediocrity that came before it, but yeah, if he’s still doing this a month from now, I don’t know how they don’t take a look at him.
Will
3:55
And how do you project Giolito in his return, as well?
Anthony Franco
3:56
Guessing he'll be on a tight pitch count for his first couple starts but no reason to believe he won't hit the ground running from a performance perspective
I love baseball
3:56
Why do they have to eliminate the shift. I say many hitters dropping down bunts or slapping a hit the oposite way
Anthony Franco
3:57
Agreed. I think bunting or hitting the ball the other way is harder than you give it credit for, but MLB supposedly wants to incentivize players who can play that style of game
Banning the shift runs counterintuitive to that by bailing out the pull-oriented sluggers who tend to strike out more often
Donaldson's Gone-aldson
3:57
Yes, it's early. But the yankees are looking rather pedestrian. Do you think they'll regret taking on Donaldson's contract? I just can't see it working out for them. Not sure why they limit their ability to use their financial might by taking on other people's problems. Stanton, Donaldson, Gallo...
Anthony Franco
3:57
Yeah, I’m not super worried about two weeks but I didn’t love the Donaldson trade even at the time. Seemed the Yankees really zeroed in on IKF as their target shortstop, and he’s fine, but I wouldn’t have been as aggressive to bring him in as they were
RP/SP
3:58
Garrett Whitlock, Aaron Ashby, Jordan Hicks.  Are they better used as starters or relievers, or does a hybrid role make sense depending on their teams' immediate needs?  Is this a trend or nothing new?
Anthony Franco
3:58
I'd give Ashby a chance to start, have Whitlock and Hicks as multi-inning relievers
3:59
But yeah, I do think this kind of thing is a trend and we're going to see more and more pitchers doing this kind of 3-4 inning thing. It's the medium between wanting to avoid times-through-the-order penalties with traditional starters but not wanting to overwork single-inning relievers
4:00
Get a bunch of guys with big stuff who can carve up a lineup once, maybe twice through the order. Four innings and you're out, don't need to worry about keeping pitches in reserve to show hitters later in game, can empty the tank a little bit more from a velocity perspective
4:01
There'll still be traditional starters and relievers too, but guys like you named -- each of whom have ridiculous stuff but concerns about their durability and/or command -- will increasingly be funneled into that kind of gray area, I think
Guest
4:02
Carlson and Rodgers are killing my team. Any hope for the ROS?
Anthony Franco
4:03
Carlson's chasing a bunch of bad pitches, but he's never done that before. I think he'll be alright, power will start to come once he rediscovers his selectivity and the weather gets better
4:04
Rodgers, I'm worried. He's always been aggressive and he's getting blown away this even by pitches in the strike zone. It's 11 games so I'm not saying you should go overboard and cut him or anything, but I think that could be a longer fix
Ryan S.
4:04
What's the news on Flaherty? I realize starting pitching has been pretty good, but the depth is terrible. What's Montas going to cost? Trading Liberatore is counterproductive. Gorman will be a stud LH bat they haven't had since Edmonds, so that's stupid as well. I know you have to give to get. But Mo has traded a lot of good young pitching last couple of years. I do not want to give up Walker, but if they did, is he enough with a couple mid tier guys? Any under the radar starters you would try for before Montas? I'm not trading Walker to the Reds for any of theirs if I'm GM.
Anthony Franco
4:05
Flaherty's been throwing off flat ground, not yet progressed to mound work. Sounds like he'll still need a few weeks
I think Walker plus some mid-tier prospects would get Montas, yeah. I doubt STL pulls the trigger on that though
4:07
As for other starting pitching trade targets, Miami could still move an Elieser Hernández type. That's obviously less exciting than Montas. Maybe the D-Backs would give more consideration to dealing Zac Gallen if they're terrible again in July. That might be too tough a pill for the Cardinals to swallow from an optics perspective though
I do think the Reds will have to reconsider their stance on Mahle/Castillo, as you mentioned
4:08
Alright everyone, I've gotta head out
You can find me on Twitter during the week and throw stuff at me there if you'd like
I'll also do this again next Friday, hopefully at the standard 2:00 time
4:09
Thanks for your support of the site and all the questions every week! Have a good weekend!
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