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Trade Rumors Front Office Subscriber Chat with Steve Adams: 3/17/25
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Punk Rockies
3:03
Do you think any of the teams with interest in Arenado might pivot to Ryan McMahon? Still several years of control at a decent price, and probably worth more than Nado at this point.
Steve Adams
3:04
He's worth more than Arenado at this point, since the contract is more favorable, but the Rockies don't have any interest in trading him. They should, but he's reportedly a favorite of owner Dick Monfort, and the Rockies very, very, very rarely trade their players at a time when more conventional baseball wisdom says they should.
Darragh McDonald
3:04
The Padres said Goodrum and Wall were reassigned. They didn't say released.
Steve Adams
3:05
Sure did! Thanks Darragh, or thanks to the person who used Darragh's name as a username, ha. Whichever of the two it is.
Reading is hard. My apologies.
Ben Cherrington
3:05
Think I’ll trade a catcher in the next 10 days?
Steve Adams
3:07
I guess maybe Jason Delay, but not one of Joey Bart/Henry Davis/Endy Rodriguez, no. Bart has to stick on the roster since he's out of options, and he was obviously the most productive of the group in 2024 anyhow, lining him up as the starter. But both Davis and Rodriguez have two option years remaining, and the Bucs would be selling low on either. Plus, good as Bart was last year, we're talking 282 plate appearances, so I wouldn't just assume he's locked in as a yearly, plus-hitting catcher like he was in 2024.
3:08
But with four catchers on the 40-man, yeah, I can see a team with less depth looking at a guy like Delay
Some Collusion is Okay
3:08
If the Marlins were better (if the owner tried), wouldn't that make the Mets/Braves/Nats/Phillies more valuable? Miami arguably cheapens the other 29 products available, especially the rest of the NL East. Why don't the owners force Bendix to sell?
Steve Adams
3:10
Peter Bendix is their president of baseball operations, not the owner. That's Bruce Sherman, and he only bought the Marlins from Jeffrey Loria like seven years ago. They just happened to get another owner who has no inclination to spend -- another reminder for teams pining for current ownership to sell that the sale process doesn't necessarily end up as the silver bullet you're hoping for.
baseball gods laugh and laugh
3:10
Does Hayden Senger get the nod as Mets backup C?
Steve Adams
3:11
I still have a hard time believing they're not going to add someone. Curt Casali was just released.
3:12
But as far as in-house options go, I suppose Senger has nominally had a better camp than Jakson Reetz.
Joe Schlabotnik
3:12
Boston still the front runners in the AL East?
Steve Adams
3:15
I don't know that there was ever a point where I considered the Red Sox the favorites in the AL East, but there's enough concern in that rotation that I'm probably not going to pick them once we make our preseason picks as a staff. I think it was just last week in my subscriber chat that I said I can see any of the five AL East teams winning the division, Jays included. There's plenty of talent on every roster and ample question marks for most.

FanGraphs has all five teams within three games of each other and within 39 runs of one another in terms of run differential. I think that seems pretty fair.

AL East will be the hardest to predict this year. Someone will probably separate themselves, but it'll be in part by winning a war of attrition on the health/injury front and probably in part because of someone(s) stepping up to unexpected levels.
Dalton Rushing
3:16
When will we see him as a dodger
Steve Adams
3:18
If there's an injury to Will Smith or a notable injury in the outfield corners. They've been working Rushing out in left field, and he played a fair bit of first base in 2023 as well. I think he'll make his big league debut in 2025, but it's just a matter of when an injury on the big league roster creates an opportunity to get him into the mix (and, as importantly, how other depth options are faring; if James Outman and/or Andy Pages is banged up, it'd improve Rushing's chances of getting a look when an OF inevitably goes down).

I realize that "sometime in 2025" is a very nonspecific answer, but if I could accurately predict things like "Will Smith is going to suffer an oblique strain on May 19," I would be paid millions of dollars by some MLB team, ha.
Lance
3:19
The Rangers' pitching depth is getting tested already this spring. How big of a loss is Jon Gray to the rotation and who do you think steps up the most between Leiter and Rocker, if getting the opportunity in the rotation to begin the season?
Steve Adams
3:22
I think they're both in the rotation to begin the season, now that both Gray and Bradford are going to be down for awhile. Dane Dunning is coming off a tough 2024 season and hasn't had a great camp. Adrian Houser is an option and has pitched well this spring, but he requires a 40-man move.

Based on how camp has played out, Leiter is the favorite for a rotation spot over Rocker. Maybe with off-days early they'll just skip the five spot a couple of times and carry an extra reliever. And the way in which Leiter's stuff has ticked up seems to have caught the attention of the Rangers and a lot of scouts around the league, so I'm more bullish on him at the moment if you're looking for which of the two seems more poised to capitalize on an early opportunity.
Billy Morton
3:23
Any chance the Tigers pick up a right handed batting OF? There was talk that they were interested in Taylor Ward? If so, what would the Tigers have to offer to acquire him?
Steve Adams
3:27
At this stage I just wouldn't expect a trade for someone of that magnitude. (Especially since the Angels, like the Rockies, have an owner who just has no interest in trading guys at a time when it seems obvious they should be out there.)

if the Tigers were facing longer-term absences for Matt Vierling and/or Parker Meadows, it'd be one thing. I know the timetables for both are somewhat nebulous, but there's no indication to this point that either is looking at a monthslong absence. Between Wenceel Perez, Justyn-Henry Malloy and maybe some occasional corner work for Torkelson, they have some in-house guys they can turn to for short-term looks. And once everyone's healthy, an OF mix with Riley Greene, Parker Meadows, Vierling and Kerry Carpenter is solid.
Blue Jays selected lefty Richard Lovelady to the 40-man roster.
He's out of minor league options, so seems like he's going to break camp there.
3:28
Hazel Mae
@thehazelmae
53s
Richard Lovelady was added to the 40-man roster, continues to compete for a spot on the 26 per John Schneider
I'll just copy that tweet over so I don't butcher reading a basic word this time :)
Burn me once, shame on you. Burn me twice...
3:29
This offseason seemed to be very inconsistent w/r/t starting pitchers. There were a few notable overpays, e.g. Boyd, Montas, Severino (granted sort of a special case), but an effective innings eating starter in Kyle Gibson hasn't signed. And the Cardinals made Matz and Fedde available for trade, but found no takers. Fedde at least should have been enticing--low salary and he was good last year. What happened with the starting pitching market this past winter?
Steve Adams
3:33
I don't think the Cardinals ever truly shopped Fedde, or he'd have been moved.

As for a guy like Gibson -- or Andrew Heaney, or Jose Quintana -- it just shows the importance of signing early. It usually pays to get something in place earlier than later.

I would assume Gibson has been selective about his location. He's 37, pitched close to home last year (Indiana native, Mizzou product). He probably thought the Cardinals were going to move a starter and perhaps make an offer at some point, at least early on.

I'm still pretty surprised he hasn't signed by now and am curious to hear from him when he does.

But in general, especially for older pitchers, getting something on the books early is going to avoid the type of late-season, sub-$8MM deal for a lot of these guys. I would imagine there were points in free agency where both Heaney and Quintana were offered more than they eventually accepted.
Heck, with Quintana we know he was; the Pirates offered more than they paid Heaney. Probably not much more. But still.
Lefty
3:33
Everyone needs SP depth. Giants proved that last year when they only had 2 starting pitchers for a spell. But with Harrison, Roupp and Birdsong all looking strong plus Webb, Ray, Hicks, Verlander, Beck, Black etc  is it possible they trade Ray to make room? Is he tradable/desirable considering his 2/50M price tag?
Steve Adams
3:36
Not at 2/50, no. If he thought he could've beaten that in free agency, he'd have taken the opt-out he had available to him at the end of the season. He pitched decently late last year and has had a big spring (17 K's, 34 batters faced!!) but he's a 33-year-old who's pitched all of 69 1/3 innings post-Tommy John surgery (spring and last year's minor league rehab stint included).

If he'd been a free agent I'd have been predicting he signed for somewhere around half the guarantee that's left on his contract.

That said, the 2/50 isn't egregious if Ray is healthy and generally rounds back into form. Although at that point, if you're the Giants, you're probably happy to just have him on the roster and in the rotation.
Dave
3:37
The consensus seems to be that Robert Jr will be traded by the July 2025 deadline. In your opinion, how would you rank the possible suitors from most likely to least likely (based upon need/desire,  prospect capital, etc.) to  make a deal.  Thanks
Steve Adams
3:41
I do think he'll be moved by then, yes, but the list of interested teams is going to depend so heavily on how things play out early.

We know the Reds and Giants have had some levels of interest in the past. Cincinnati as recently as this spring. He's being paid pretty well, so you can probably remove the CBT-adjacent teams like Houston and Texas from the list, unless the White Sox are willing to pay down the contract to get a better return (they should be).

If I'm picking, say, 4-5 teams I think will be in on Robert this summer, I'd say Giants, Reds, Phillies... Jays if they're contending, Rangers/Astros if the White Sox are willing to pay the contract down.
Next Gen Natitude?
3:41
You had some down things to say about Keibert Ruiz last week, and I get that. But there's a perfectly cromulent catcher in there somewhere. He hit fine for a catcher with the Nats from 2021-2023 (111, 94, 98 OPS+) but his defense was dreadful. His defense improved considerably last season. His framing numbers went from horrific to basically league average, and despite his pop time his CS% (19.8%) was essentially league average (20.3%). But his offense cratered.
Steve Adams
3:42
Ruiz was decent at the plate those years but still had the same chase issues and over-aggression/poor pitch selection he showed in 2024. I can buy that there's a decent, close-to-average overall catcher in there, but he's just not someone I'm bullish on in general.

Love that you used "cromulent" btw!
3:44
Alright I've got to get going for today. I'll have a free chat on the site tomorrow. Tim will have his mailbag midweek. Anthony chats with subscribers again on Friday.

I'm on X @Adams_Steve and Bluesky @adams-steve.bsky.social for more questions if anyone is so inclined. Thanks for supporting MLBTR and subscribing. You guys are the best! Enjoy your week, enjoy St. Patrick's Day and enjoy what's left of spring training + the Tokyo Series!
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