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Trade Rumors Front Office Subscriber Chat with Steve Adams: 3/14/25
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Steve Adams
3:04
Oof that is tough.

I'll say Yu Darvish, Nick Pivetta, Joe Musgrove and two arms who aren't currently in the organization. I just doubt the Padres will shell out nine-figure deals to keep Cease and King when they've got $186MM of CBT considerations on the 2026 books already. If they do keep one, my money's on King, but they could get a pair of picks to help their ailing farm system by QO'ing both and still look for more affordable arms in free agency/trade.
Josh
3:04
I'm sorry to hear about Nicklaus! This is why you can never have too many starting pitchers.....

What's your fantasy opinion on Blake Snell? Besides that he is the most frustrating fantasy pitcher. Can't tell if I should be locking him up or running far far away
Steve Adams
3:07
We were talking about this when we were predicting free agent contracts and Anthony and I were driving the Snell bus. Anthony asked our group, who was more down on Snell, who in MLB he'd rather have start a Game 7 of the World Series.

I said no one. Anthony said Tarik Skubal only (which is defensible, of course).

Generally speaking, I'm the high guy on Snell. I think he is very arguably the most talented pitcher in baseball. It depends on the cost of acquisition in an auction or how high of a pick you need to dedicate to draft him, but he's near the top of my starting pitching ranks.

And if you don't get him, wait to see if he struggles in April and try to buy low. Snell is always a slow starter, but as I wrote for subscribers back in August, he has a legit case to be the best second-half pitcher in MLB history:
https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2024/08/blake-snell-rebound-second-half...
Captain Dunsel
3:07
April first Taijuan Walker is pitching for....whom?
Steve Adams
3:07
Phillies
NRI's
3:08
Can veteran NRI's be traded before their opt out opportunities
Steve Adams
3:09
I believe so, yeah. It's rare, but I think the Guardians traded Mike Freeman to the Reds a few years back when he was an NRI. It'd only be cash going the other way, and often times when there's interest like this, the team that has the NRI guy just grants him his release so he can sign with the other club.
Chris H
3:09
Biggest spring training injury to be concerned about is? (that hasn't already taken someone out for the season)
Steve Adams
3:09
Luis Gil's lat strain? You're talking several months as it is, and then he has to go through an arduous rehab process and avoid setbacks.
The Willies of SF
3:10
Cubs need a better rotation to properly compete, or at least a solid long man. Would Keaton Winn or Tristen Beck plus Casey Schmitt bring back Nico Hoerner to the Giants? Who would say no?
Steve Adams
3:11
I don't make that trade if I'm the Cubs. (Plus, if I'm the Giants, I want to see Fitzgerald at 2B for the year!)

I think they have a decent long guy in Colin Rea, and even if he gets hurt or flames out, they've got a bunch of back-end starters like Wicks or Kilian, who could fill that role.
St Louis
3:11
What has changed in the last decade for us? We used to be the team everyone wanted to be and our "devil magic" took us places. But now we're a laughingstock of the league and look more like the White Sox than a real baseball team. Is Bloom going to be the salve or are we in for a rough stretch like other teams have had to endure?
Steve Adams
3:13
I don't want to say they got complacent or cocky, but I don't think they properly adapted and kept up with growing player evaluation and data trends throughout the league. It's telling that they brought in a player development-focused outside hire to helm baseball operations (Chaim Bloom) moving forward -- one who's been with a pair of organizations that have larger and more modern baseball operations/player development/data departments.
Phillies Outfield
3:13
As the window closes on players like Realmuto and probably Suarez, shouldn’t the Phillies add a legit outfielder?
Steve Adams
3:14
I feel like they did with Max Kepler. He's not the sexiest name on the market, but he's a plus defender who's shown 20-30 home run power when healthy. There are some platoon issues, but Kepler is a solid and underrated player when he's right.

And if they need to, the Phils can always go get someone at the deadline. They're not going to struggle so much in the first half that they're out of playoff contention come July.
Armchair GM
3:15
What is Taj Bradley's trade value, measured by players the Red Sox won't have on the Opening Day Roster?
Steve Adams
3:15
I can see virtually no way the Rays trade Taj Bradley, and if they did, I have to imagine an AL East rival would be about the last place they wanted to ship him.
3:17
Alright, I've got to wrap this up for the week. Thanks all for chatting. Sorry for the questions I didn't get to. I'm on X @Adams_Steve and Bluesky @adams-steve.bsky.social if you want to ask me questions there.I'll have another chat with subscribers on Monday, so hopefully you can join me for that one!

Have a great weekend!
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