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Trade Rumors Front Office Subscriber Chat with Steve Adams: 4/21/25
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Steve Adams
12:00
Happy Monday! Looking forward to another chat. I'll get going at 2pm CT, but feel free to submit questions ahead of time. I'll get through as many as I can once we're underway!
2:01
Greetings! Let's get underway
Cat Herder
2:01
Thoughts on Detroit's OF?  If Carp goes out for a period of time, what does that change?  Seems like J-Hen would slide in to right (or left if McKinstry continues to crush it), but that is a big bat from the lineup.
Steve Adams
2:03
Carpenter was working out on the field today, and the Tigers just announced that Ryan Kreidler was optioned in favor of Jace Jung. Seems like they're not anticipating an IL move for Carpenter, at least not today. (Teams typically announce all their daily roster moves in one fell swoop -- though there are exceptions.)

Assuming Carpenter is down for a day or two, it feels like you'll just get Malloy, Greene and McKinstry out there. Vierling is throwing, so it seems feasible that he could be back in the mix before too terribly long, as well.
Rox
2:04
Does the hiring of Clint Hurdle show, yet again, that the Rockies refuse to modernize any of their practices? I know that hitting coaches don't make as much of a difference as some might think, but it seems as though the Rockies refuse to try any new-age approaches and prefer old-school thinking, for better or for worse.
Steve Adams
2:08
It's just another example of how insular the organization is. They've stayed in-house for their past 4 GM changes. They went outside the org to get Bud Black ... but he was a longtime division rival whom owner Dick Monfort had admired from afar (well, not that far; they're both in the NL West!)

It's hard to bring in a new hitting coach midseason, since you can't really interview guys who are with other organizations. Can't call up the Phillies or Rays or Tigers and say "Hey can we talk to your current assistant hitting coach?"

So the replacement was always likely to be someone in-house ... it just feels like the most "Rockies" move ever that it was bringing back 70-year-old Clint Hurdle, who was seemingly back as a special assistant in part because Dick Monfort just likes his guys.
GWA
2:08
Judge clearly hit long home run yesterday. Umps blew it badly. Should be demotion for numerous bad calls
Steve Adams
2:09
Don't have a ton to add, just saying I agree. That was a home run. Umps missed it. Don't blame Boone for going and getting himself booted. I doubt you'll see any major repercussions on the crew though. Rough one for Judge and the Yankees, still.
Steve DAVIS
2:09
Should the Mariners promote Coal Young?
Steve Adams
2:11
Cole Young is hitting .203/.323/.266 as a 21-year-old getting his first look at Triple-A pitching. He's hit really well at lower minor league stops, and the M's think he's their 2B of the future, but he hasn't done anything to force their hand yet. He looks like ... a 21-year-old kid who needs more time in the upper minors. I don't see the point in rushing him when he's hitting so poorly in Tacoma as well.
2:12
It's 93 plate appearances, and Young has seen a modest uptick in offense over the past few games, so maybe he's turning it around. But again, there's no sense in rushing him. Let him get going in AAA, learn some more about advanced pitching, get some more reps at 2B, all that.
Red
2:12
Based on his first six games is it safe to start etching Austin Hays's name on the MVP trophy?
Steve Adams
2:13
Oh absolutely.
2:14
Jokes aside, I really liked the Hays signing for Cincinnati at $5MM. He's been a pretty good hitter when healthy, and that kidney infection last year really destroyed him, it sounds like. Can play all three OF spots, hits LHP especially well. It just felt like a good fit for their roster, specifically, and at a good price.
He won't keep this up, of course, but I like Hays as a rebound candidate in general. He could put himself in position for a decent two- or three-year deal next winter, depending on how the season plays out.
Injury List
2:15
Arizona seems to be getting hit with a lot of injuries in the first month of the season again. Monty, Puk, Marte, Graveman, Ginkel and Blaze. Merrill Kelly left with cramping away from Chase Field now too. Does this speak to a larger issue with the organization mindset and strength/conditioning folks? It's not like we're the Twins and our chances depend entirely on the health of glass cannons, but this seems very ominous headed into May.
Steve Adams
2:16
I think most fans tend to hone in on their favorite clubs and think the injury troubles are worse there than other places. The D-backs have quite a few guys on the IL right now, sure, but a lot of those players had lengthy injury histories before ever donning a D-backs uniform. Kendall Graveman and A.J. Puk have frequently been hurt. Montgomery not recently, but he'd already had TJS once in the past.

I don't think their current run of injuries is anything all that unusual.
Brewer Fan
2:16
Just saw Yoho got called up, think he's got staying power now or just a fresh arm for a few days?
Steve Adams
2:18
Anything can happen based on bullpen usage the next couple days. A few marathon extra-inning games and maybe he's sent back down for a fresh arm just out of necessity. But I do think the Brewers like Yoho enough -- understandably so -- and have kind of marketed him to their fans enough already that they'd want his first call-up to be a legitimate audition for a long-term bullpen spot.
A Gentleman is Never Late...
2:19
Pavin Smith and MacKenzie Gore are having great seasons so far. Are there any other late bloomers that you're watching?
Steve Adams
2:21
All aboard the Jonathan Aranda hype train! (As I highlighted for subscribers last Friday)

Kris Bubic, too. I'm firmly buying him as a quality, playoff-caliber starter if his arm holds up
Jay
2:22
I'm sure it's been discussed before but how often do mutual options actually get picked up? I have to assume that if a player has a good year they are not picking up their end and if they have a bad year the team is saying no
Steve Adams
2:22
The last mutual option that was exercised by both parties, I think, was Matt Belisle with the Rockies back in 2013.
2:23
Oh wait, Aramis Ramirez' mutual option with the Brewers was 2014. I thought that was 2012.
At any rate, those are the only two times in my entire time at MLBTR that I can recall a mutual option being picked up by both parties.
Or, put another way, your read on the situation is exactly correct.
Kevin in Ranger Texas
2:24
who goes down when Leiter comes back.
Steve Adams
2:26
I would imagine it's just sending Caleb Boushley to AAA, plugging Leiter back into the rotation and either going 6-man staff or plugging Patrick Corbin into a swingman role.
JimO
2:26
How much playing time do you see Drake Baldwin getting,  He's blocked by Murphy at catcher and Ozuna at DH?
Steve Adams
2:30
Have said this before, but I don't see any reason he can't get semi-regular playing time. A lot of teams divvy up catching reps at a near 50-50 rate. There's not much DH time to go around, which isn't great for his playing time outlook, but the way he's hit lately, I don't see how you send him down and swap him out for James McCann or Sandy Leon. They need all the help they can get offensively. As long as Baldwin is hitting when he's in the lineup, they have to get him into at least 40% of the games, I'd say -- for his development, for his offense and to help keep him and Murphy healthy.
Crusty Old Os Fan
2:30
Well, I think we have discovered Elias' fatal flaw - getting and keeping top end starting pitching. I think Eflin was a fluke compared to all the others. At least he didn't give up much for Trevor Rogers as it turns out. But is it he or ownership that has feet of clay in free agency? The optimist in me hopes that the returns of Rodriguez, Bradish, and Wells, along with the possible emergence of Povich and Young, pushes the pitching over the line. Please, oh great and wise soothsayer, give we O's fans hope for joy?
Steve Adams
2:32
I don't think Orioles GM Mike Elias' flaw is an inability to acquire pitching so much as on overemphasizing long-term payroll flexibility and general aversion to risk. The O's finally spent some money in free agency but did so entirely on one-year deals -- plus one three-year deal (Tyler O'Neill) that allows the player to opt out after 2025.

There's something to be said for maintaining a clean payroll projection, especially for a smaller-market team with a low margin for error. But the O's seem to be prioritizing that too strongly and also seem overconfident in their ability to "fix" borderline arms.
2:34
On the Rogers trade, for instance ... yes, you can say what they gave up hasn't done much so far, but Connor Norby hit well post-trade last year, and Kyle Stowers is enjoying a nice start. And if the O's had just gone ahead and added another arm prior to the season even after adding Burnes, they might not have felt the need to add Zach Eflin AND force an acquisition of another arm because they were so short.
2:35
It just feels like a risk-averse operation -- both in terms of avoiding long-term payroll commitments and also giving up "too much" in terms of prospects. I'd like to see more aggression on the baseball ops side.
Phillies Bullpen
2:35
Is a mess, meanwhile Hoffman and Estevez are doing star turns in the AL? Thoughts?
Steve Adams
2:38
Paying Romano more than his projected arbitration price was surprising to me at the time. I liked the Carlos Hernandez cheap pickup as a flier for the final bullpen spot, but in general yeah, they could've done more and Romano was a headscratcher.

Seems like re-signing Hoffman or Estevez on a pricey multi-year deal -- or signing anyone on a pricey multi-year deal -- wasn't in the cards for ownership this offseason, though.
Bryan Cranston
2:39
No team can have too much pitching.  Who’s closest?  Seems like everyone’s short.  Who’s least short?
Steve Adams
2:40
Dodgers have an embarrassment of depth options in the rotation, but I'd probably default to the Mariners just for the quality of the top five starters and because the bullpen is so deep in talented arms.
Jesse
2:41
As of now, it doesn't like there will be that many pure sellers at the deadline. Do you think we'll see a quiet deadline, with most teams not looking to sell? Or will the number of competitive teams cause a market frenzy?
Steve Adams
2:44
We've seen some of this in the past since the expansion of the playoff field. The answer is kind of ... both? I think there'll be a team or two (Twins, Braves, pick your general April under-performer) who is in position to take advantage of the lack of sellers and really shake things up. But the parity in the AL is so prevalent that there'll be a lot of teams sitting 4-5 games under .500 but only a game or two back in the Wild Card hunt.

I would imagine we'll see more swaps from non-star players on the big league roster than in a given summer, plus a very small number of motivated sellers who'll have an outsized role in shaping the market.
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