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Trade Rumors Front Office Subscriber Chat with Steve Adams: 3/14/25
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Steve Adams
2:31
I liked the Reds' Hays signing, but he's never had a 3 fWAR season and only has one 3 bWAR season (barely). I also don't know that you can bank on him being healthy enough/playing enough to get there. I'll easily take the under, but if he's a solid two-win guy that's still a bargain for them.
Sultans of Swing
2:31
Thanks for these ... In PTBNL trades, has a list of mutually accepted-upon potential players already been agreed upon? Who in the end gets to choose?
Steve Adams
2:34
Sometimes yes, but not always. It's generally the acquiring team making the choice from that list. Most famously, when the Rangers traded A-Rod to the Yankees, they got Alfonso Soriano and a PTBNL, ultimately choosing infielder Joaquin Arias ... on a list that also included a young infield prospect named Robinson Cano.

Whoops.
Arise, Sir Loin of Beef
2:34
Odds Jeff McNeil is the Mets full time 2B when he gets back?
Steve Adams
2:35
That's my expectation. If he were going to be sidelined for 2-3 months, that might be enough time for a Luisangel Acuna to overtake him. But it sounds like McNeil could be back mid-April, and I doubt Acuna does anything in a span of 10-15 games to unseat him.
That's assuming Acuna even wins the job
And on that note
Guest
2:35
Can Brett Baty seize the Mets’ 2b job and run with it?
Steve Adams
2:37
I don't think they like him defensively enough to play him at second base regularly, at least not right away. But for the first couple weeks, sure I can see him getting at-bats there in lieu of McNeil.

In general, I imagine this will sort itself out such that each of Baty, Acuna and maybe eventually Mauricio all end up with 200+ PAs on the year. Injuries happen, guys get banged up. MLB-ready bats like this will find their way into a lineup.
Dano
2:37
Who's closing in Texas?
Steve Adams
2:39
Probably Chris Martin -- typed "Chris Young" for a second, ha -- but I can see Marc Church working his way there. Would be curious to see Emiliano Teodo in that role and think he'd do well, but Texas understandably seems to want to keep trying him as a starter. If he struggles in that role for a few months, he'd be a real fun 'pen option.
Florida Man
2:40
So what’s gonna happen with the Rays?
Steve Adams
2:40
Doubt even Rob Manfred or Stu Sternberg have a real ability to answer that question right now.
CardinalRed
2:40
Has there been much talk about draft pick trades in the next CBA? I've seen it here in discussions but can't find anywhere else that it states it as a position for either side or MLB Front Office in general. Would be a fascinating addition to an otherwise uneventful draft.
Steve Adams
2:41
Not to my knowledge, but selfishly, as a transaction/hot stove nerd -- even setting aside my obvious bias given my job, haha -- I want them to agree on it. There doesn't seem to be a compelling reason not to.
Kirt Bennett
2:42
The Rays are not for sale. They backed out of a deal.  MLB is telling people that they want baseball in Tampa Bay.  MLB also said the same thing about Oakland. St.Pete is done with the Rays.  What are your thoughts?
Steve Adams
2:44
Well, St. Pete is done with Stu Sternberg. We'll see how much pressure can be placed on him.

I'm a cynic with this sort of thing, as discussed on this week's podcast (even before the Rays backed out of the stadium deal, though that seemed like a foregone conclusion). As I said then, I just can't really help but envision this ending with anything other than relocation.

Sternberg mentioned it as a possibility back in November. I have to wonder if he's hoping to be able to still be the majority owner when the team relocates to a more profitable locale, but that's pure speculation from me of course.

They've just been at this for years now with no resolution in sight. I don't see how it works to stay in that region, which sucks for Rays fans
Posey fan
2:44
What do you make of the giants this spring. Most so called experts believe they will finish in 4th place. I'm not of that belief.
Steve Adams
2:44
Based on the tenor of your question, I do not think you will be happy with my answer:

I have them in fourth place.
2:45
I don't think it's out of the question that they move into third or even second (longer shot), but they're a cut below Arizona (second place) and San Diego (third) for me. I like their depth better than the Friars', so if the Padres get a mountain of injuries I'd probably expect the Giants to move up over them
walterj23
2:45
What would it take to pry Cease away from San Diego  if you were the cubs ?
Steve Adams
2:46
I don't think there's much of a chance Cease moves at this point -- I thought differently a month ago -- but I'd imagine something like one of Caissie/Alcantara plus an immediate rotation option like Jordan Wicks? Just riffing off the cuff there, but it'd take a premium prospect and some immediate depth to replace Cease. You can mix-and-match the names as you see fit.
Gene Parmesan
2:47
Why is Seattle so reluctant to trade from their rotation? That ballpark can make some pretty bad pitchers look good, so why not use their ballpark to their advantage to backfill the rotation and use someone who may be getting inflated by that ballpark.
Steve Adams
2:47
GENE!!
2:48
I agree that they should've been more open to it and think I've written as much at some point this winter. (Or I've talked about it a bunch with Darragh and Anthony. These things blur together, ha)

You could sign a Kyle Gibson or Jose Quintana to round out the staff.

I understand being reluctant to give up on premium young arms like that, and perhaps there's some wariness knowing that you might trade a good arm for a hitter who's going to be naturally suppressed in your ballpark.

But the Mariners badly needed offense, and it sounded like they were closed off to the idea of trading a starter from the jump.
2:49
Even if the "Plan Z" comments were performative, they're just bad optics now that the end result is a quiet offseason where you brought back an injured infielder who flopped after you acquired him in a trade last year and signed a 37-year-old, hit-over-power, short-side platoon 1B
Chris H
2:50
I know that spring training is not over yet, but is there a rookie that has surprised you that has already been sent down?
Steve Adams
2:50
I can't think of a prospect who's been optioned/reassigned already that's made me think, "Wait -- what?! I thought he was making the roster for sure." I'm sure it'll happen before long though.
2:51
Huh. The Rays are picking up Yandy Diaz's 2026 option in advance and tacking on a club/vesting option for 2027, per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times.
2:52
An extra year of control over a good hitter for the Rays on a psuedo-extension
GBS42
2:52
Thanks for all of the chats your team does. With Noelvi Marte demoted and Spencer Steer not at full health, does Jeimer Candelario get 500+ PAs this season? And which positions does he play most often?
Steve Adams
2:53
I think between the infield corners and DH, he can get close to that. In general, I think Candelario is a talented hitter who played through some injuries last year. I won't be at all surprised if he bounces back. I liked the signing at the time (well, I liked the price; I was confused as to why the Reds were adding more infielders, but that's another topic)
Kevin in Dallas
2:54
What do you personally see in Jack Leiter and  Kumar Rocker as starting pitchers. Maybe 1-2 starts before being? Sent down or bullpen.
Steve Adams
2:55
I've yet to watch Leiter this spring outside of some highlights, but he's upped his velocity, changed his arm slot a bit and by all accounts looks really good. I'm going to try to watch a spring start of his if I can, because it's all pretty intriguing. He feels very likely to make the rotation at this point, so I'll be keeping a close eye on his first start of the season.

I think they can both be well above-average starters, and with all of the health risks in the Texas rotation, they could both end up starting 15+ games in the majors this year.
Oscar offer
2:56
When a team makes a "formal" offer to a free agenct, is it on the record? ...like does it get filed with MLB like what happens in  Real Estate offers? What's the diff btw formal and informal offers?
Steve Adams
2:57
I don't know that it's filed with the league, but a formal offer would be a written contract/term sheet that's submitted for consideration, whereas informal offers are just kind of verbal "We're in the range of X years and Y dollars" talk with the player's representatives. Corbin Burnes kind of alluded to this when talking about his offseason interest from the D-backs, Giants, Jays, Orioles, etc.
Sounds like each of Arizona, Toronto and SF made formal offers, whereas the O's were more just verbal indications with him
Josh
2:58
Have there been fantasy chats? I feel like I haven't seen any recently and I've got a draft coming up in a week, but maybe I've just missed them.....
Steve Adams
2:59
There have not been! Nicklaus, our fantasy guy, is sadly on the injured list with a broken wrist that's in a cast and thus makes real-time Q&A settings like this extremely difficult. It sucks and I'm sorry for that.

While I'm not a fantasy specialist, I did write for our now-defunct fantasy site back in the day and did some work for MLB.com's discontinued fantasy site as well for the better part of six years (2012-18, I think)

So -- ask away and I can offer some opinions, if you like!
AJ Preller
3:00
Who will be in my starting rotation on Opening Day 2026?
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