You are viewing the chat in desktop mode. Click here to switch to mobile view.
X
Trade Rumors Front Office Chat With Anthony Franco
powered byJotCast
Prev Page View Full Chat Next Page
Anthony Franco
3:19
I don't think so. The Royals seem to genuinely be opposed to service time games from a philosophical perspective, and if they were super concerned about Witt winning ROY, they could've held him down until like June
3:20
Or, for that matter, demote him now for three weeks and point to his early struggles as justification. It doesn't look like he's going to win ROY, so they could still squeeze the extra year out if they really wanted to
Alec Bohm
3:20
I know that you don't like to make conclusions early on in the season. But isn't it clear enough already that I'm still a terrible defender? How long do you think he has before the hot stove heats up on him?
Anthony Franco
3:21
Oh yeah, I think it's pretty clear he's not a good defender over there. I also don't the Phillies care so long as he's mashing
Eric Hosmer
3:22
How is it possible that my potential trade to the Mets along with Paddack was leaked to the media so much? I feel like everyone knew exactly how those trade talks were going and shouldn't that piss me off? Also, isn't it ironic that I'm off to such a hot start
Anthony Franco
3:23
I'm sure Hosmer didn't love hearing all the trade rumors, but it wasn't just the Mets stuff. It's been clear they've wanted to move on from him for months
3:24
From a human perspective, that stuff can't be fun to see. At the same time, the best way to shut up that speculation is to play better, and to his credit, he's doing that right now
Joey
3:24
I was scrolling through FanGraphs yesterday and came up upon something confusing. in 1916, Babe Ruth threw 323 innings of 1.75 ERA ball, yet only had a WAR of 4.5. How does WAR work that would make this possible? Also, isn't that insane
Anthony Franco
3:25
FanGraphs' primary pitching WAR is based on FIP, which looks just at strikeouts, walks and homers as opposed to actual runs allowed
I don't know that's a great methodology even today, but it's useless for 1916 when nobody ever struck out or hit home runs
3:27
Ruth in 1916 had a 2.43 FIP, which was only a little better than the league average. That's why, even with the innings, his FIP-based WAR total isn't great
3:28
If you look at his RA-9 WAR (which is based off innings and runs allowed), he's at 9.2 wins, which trailed only Pete Alexander and Walter Johnson among pitchers and probably feels more accurate
Brian Cashman
3:28
Also, isn't it weird that I told the media literally the exact deal that I offered to Judge? that feels so uncommon
Anthony Franco
3:29
I can't remember an executive going on the record like that, but I also kind of like it. If you were just going to anonymously leak it to somebody anyways, why not be straight up with it?
3:30
I didn't get the sense Cashman did it as a "look at how greedy Aaron Judge is" thing. Just felt like he was pretty matter-of-fact with "here was our offer, he didn't take it and wants to go to free agency, as is his right, and we'll try again next offseason"
MikeL
3:30
Josh Lowe and Bobby Witt - no bench spot - hold or cut in 10-team AL only. Lowe is actually excess but Witt harder to replace.
Anthony Franco
3:31
I'd hold onto Witt but think you could probably let Lowe go
Caveat that Brad's our fantasy guy and better positioned to answer that kind of question than I am
Rich
3:31
Hey Anthony - Love your chats! Buster Olney recently suggested on his podcast that MLB should solve the baseball grip problem but simply having a jar of sticky stuff (not as sticky as Spider Tack) on the back of the mound, like the rosin bag. It would be available to very pitcher in every park. What do you make of this idea, and do you think MLB would consider doing something like this?
Anthony Franco
3:33
If this is simpler than just doing the pre-tacked ball, I'd be open to it. I don't know if there's a sweet-spot substance that fits exactly the middle-ground you'd need between being enough to aid control without meaningfully improving raw stuff
Kevin J
3:33
Should Texas trade for a Starter or hold pat and wait till July for call ups?
Anthony Franco
3:34
I think they'll just wait it out. The pitching isn't good enough to compete this year, but they knew that going in. 2022 was always more of a stepping-stone season. Acquiring Tyler Mahle or Elieser Hernández doesn't make them a contender
Giants fan
3:34
So cashman recently implied that the Yankees WS drought had a lot to do with the Astros sign stealing. With the letter going public, how secure is his job at this point?
Randy Levine
3:34
if the yankees letter was "a nothing burger" as said by Jeff Passan, why did I fight so hard to keep it sealed? Didn't the attention garnered from me fighting it so much create bad pr and the image that we did do something drastically wrong?
Anthony Franco
3:36
I don't know why they fought so hard against it. Maybe they were just worried about the precedent of allowing "confidential" communications between the league and teams to be released? In any event, I do think that by pushing so hard against it, they made it seem worse than it was
3:37
As for Cashman, while I think his comments on the Astros were mostly just sour grapes (we'll never know who actually would've won in 2017 if the Astros hadn't cheated, but there are a bunch of teams convinced it would've been them), his job security's fine
3:38
The league drew a pretty hard distinction between stuff teams did before September 2017 (when they said they were cracking down on sign-stealing) and after. I don't think there'll be any further developments regarding the Yankee letter
Will
3:38
Good day Anthony (any day with baseball is a good day, BTW).  So, what's the deal with AJ Pollack?  So far this year, he is 4 for 22 (.181), 0 - 2 - 0 (HR - RBI - SB), with only 1 run scored; this past 7 days, he's 0 for 15!!  Did I make a serious mistake in spending 65% of my FAAB when he came over to the AL (in a AL-only, 5x5, roto league)?  Thanks.
Anthony Franco
3:39
It's only been seven games and he got hurt in between. Wouldn't change my opinion on him at all yet
Rangers13
3:39
Are there any 3B base options available via trade that would be an upgrade over Ibanez in Texas? The second question is there a trade scenario between Texas and either Cleveland, Miami or Atlanta that makes sense economically, years of control and  of trade capital required from Texas for a SP traded
Anthony Franco
3:40
I know you mentioned the Marlins from a rotation perspective, but I actually wonder if Brian Anderson's an under-the-radar third base trade candidate. They acquired Wendle to supplant him at third, pushing Anderson into the corner outfield a bit more
3:41
But they already kind of have a stockpile of corner outfielders
I don't think they're trading him any time soon, but if they acquire a real center fielder, push Jesús Sánchez to right field, maybe they turn around and flip Anderson nearer the deadline
Michael
3:42
Charlie Morton?  Cause for concern?  Any word on injuries?  7.00 ERA.  Velocity seems good, but control not where it should be.  Is this a function of short spring?
Anthony Franco
3:43
Still willing to give him more time because the stuff is still intact and the track record's so great. The control definitely seems out of whack and he's not missing bats, so it's maybe a yellow flag, but I'm not jumping ship after four starts
Julius
3:43
what do you think of these possible extension figures for the Jays: Vlad - 12 years, $438 million; Bo - 12 years, $372 million; Teoscar - 6years, $162 million
Anthony Franco
3:44
I'd need more time to really look at the precedents for these but my off-the-cuff reaction is that the numbers you've floated are probably all too high
3:45
Alright, I have to get going to manage the site
Thanks for all the questions this week and for your support of the site, as always!
3:46
You can throw stuff at me on Twitter throughout the week, and we'll do this again next Friday
Connecting…