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Trade Rumors Front Office Subscriber Chat with Steve Adams: 5/5/25
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Bryan
2:49
Any surprises so far for you in how Chandler Simpson has started his major league career?
Steve Adams
2:50
Lots of contact, good speed, terrible batted-ball metrics but it doesn't matter because he's so blisteringly fast. Feels about right to me. Just hit the ball into the ground and let your legs do the rest, Chandler.
Alan V
2:50
What do the Dodgers do with Michael Conforto and max Muncy? It's been a month and both look lost. The other day against the Braves the bottom of the lineup was 0 for 16.It can't continue like this, do you bring up a kid or look for elsewhere? I really never understood the Conforto signing. Thoughts?
Steve Adams
2:56
I didn't *love* the Conforto signing, but I understood it. Really good batted ball metrics last year, huge finish to the season: .272/.337/.543, 10 homers in 169 plate appearances.

I think both have the ability to turn things around, though. Good walk rates and hard contact numbers. Muncy is hitting more liners and a few more grounders than usual, but he has too much raw power to keep seeing only 3% of his fly-balls become home runs.

Conforto and Muncy are both hitting sub-.100 on grounders despite the league average being .244. Yes, they're slower pull hitters who are easier to position, but they can't keep hitting THAT poorly on grounders.

I don't think the Dodgers will be so quick to move on from either, but if it's mid-June and we're still doing this, then bringing someone like Dalton Rushing up for Conforto starts to get more tempting.
Kevin in Tx
2:57
Would Texas ever dream of cutting ties with Joc Pederson or do teams normally let the player hit and work it out.
Steve Adams
2:57
I cannot recall a free agent ever being cut five weeks into a notable two-year contract.
Cinco de Drinko
2:57
I haven't seen anything on George Kirby's first rehab start yesterday.  The box score looked pretty good - any intel on what he actually looked like?
Steve Adams
2:58
Adam Jude with the Seattle Times had a nice, favorable writeup of how he looked. He also reported he'll need at least one more start (I'd guess 2 more) before being activated:
https://www.seattletimes.com/sports/mariners/mariners-george-kirby-sha...
baseball gods laugh and laugh
2:59
Any chance Orioles would trade O'Hearn? What kind of return would he require?
Steve Adams
3:03
If they haven't turned things around by July, absolutely. He's a free agent at season's end.

The market doesn't tend to value 1B-only guys. If he keeps hitting THIS well, he'll be an exception, but he's seen 31% of his fly-balls become home runs, which is basically Aaron Judge and only Aaron Judge territory. So, I expect the power to come down and ROH to just be a nice short-term 1B who'd benefit from a platoon partner. The return wouldn't be outrageous -- couple of 40-grade prospects?

Side note... I wrote about it last year, but O'Hearn's transformation to unrosterable, strikeout-prone slugger to this dialed-in, heart-of-the-order threat who somehow K's at only a 14% clip now is absolutely remarkable.
Huge kudos to him and to the Orioles
(What I wrote last year)
Legs vs bat
3:04
What do you make of Andres Gimenez' poor performance this year? His legs are great, but you can't steal first.

Likewise, Nolan Schanuel is supposed to have power, but his BA is in the low .240s. Will he ever hit .300? Or even .280?
Steve Adams
3:05
Schanuel was never supposed to have much power. He was drafted for a plus hit tool and because of the belief that he wasn't far from being MLB-ready. He still looks like someone who might benefit from some AAA time to me, but the Angels do what the Angels do. They love to rush their guys to MLB. Sometimes it works! (Zach Neto) Other times .... not so much (Schanuel, Chase Silseth, Sam Bachman).
3:08
I'm still cautiously optimistic on Gimenez. I like him more than most (all?) of the MLBTR staff. The chase rate is down, contact is up. Still has a lower-than-average K% and is actually walking more this year. Batted-ball numbers aren't great but are better than his results. He definitely shouldn't be a .215 BABIP guy.

It seems clear that his 2022 production isn't coming back, but the skills for him to be a slightly above-average hitter are there, and between that and his glove and speed, he can still be a nice regular. (Preferably at shortstop starting next season)
3:12
Alrighty, I've got to get going for the week here. Thanks so much for chatting, as always. I apologize for the questions I couldn't get to. I've got a free chat on the site tomorrow. Tim's mailbag will go Wednesday. Darragh and I are recording the podcast tomorrow, and you can submit questions for us to answer on there as well. Anthony has another subscriber chat on Friday.

Failing all that, I'm on X @Adams_Steve and Bluesky @adams-steve.bsky.social. Lots of paths to try to get those questions answered!

Hope everyone enjoys the rest of their week. Thanks everyone!
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