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Trade Rumors Front Office Subscriber Chat with Steve Adams: 6/23/25
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Steve Adams
12:34
Happy Monday! We'll get going in about 90 minutes, but feel free to send in questions ahead of time.
1:59
Hello! Let's get underway
Rafael Devers
1:59
(Sorry for the old news but it’s still hot for a lot of us.). Is my contract “under water”?  Some reports say yes, the market (I.e., the Giants) apparently say no.  Great hitter but not much more.  Is there surplus value in the contract or not?
Steve Adams
2:04
I wouldn't say it's underwater at all. Devers is an elite hitter, top-10 in the sport, who won't turn 29 until October. We just saw Guerrero get a $500MM contract and Soto $765MM. Devers is owed $238.5MM beyond this season, starting with his age-29 campaign. That's older than Soto and Vlad were when they signed their contracts, of course, but if you asked me whether Devers would clear $238.5MM as a free agent this winter, I'd say he would, yes. Maybe not by leaps and bounds, as many teams would view him as a DH, but yeah, I think he'd get more than that in the open market still.
Knock-Knock
2:04
Are there ever thoughts about changing All Star Voting? I think the starters should be based on stat leaders at each position and then reserves should be who the fans vote for. Too many homers vote for their favorites when clearly, they aren’t the best. This year is better than past years (so far) but not totally true to who is playing the best at each spot.
Steve Adams
2:08
I doubt there will be, but yeah, I said last week in a chat that I don't really care about the All-Star Game whatsoever, in part because I find the voting process so stupid in the internet/social media era. It's always been more popularity contest than anything else, but it's just so exacerbated now.

It'd be more appropriately labeled the "Fans' Choice" game or "Fan Selection" game, but in general, I don't find much excitement in it. I'll watch it if I have nothing else going on that night, but I find the All-Star Game less exciting than just tuning into a random Pirates/Reds game to watch Skenes vs. Greene or something It's just ... kind of dumb.

But it's also probably not aimed at the hardcore fan or a baseball sicko like me who consumes as much baseball content as I do. So maybe I'm just jaded and grumpy, haha.
What about Ann?
2:08
Tyler Fitzgerald a fit for Braves 2b?
Steve Adams
2:10
Giants just optioned him. He's been pretty terrible since coming off the injured list, but I was a believer last year and earlier this season. I get that Albies has hit poorly this year, but I also wouldn't just assume he's suddenly bad after a really nice run from 2017-24.
Paul
2:10
Is Raffy the biggest name to get traded? What about guys like Trout, Degrom?
Steve Adams
2:10
Trout and deGrom aren't going to be traded. I'll be surprised if there's a bigger name than Devers moved this summer.
Jarren Duran
2:10
Could the Sox trade me and still compete this year?  No shortage of outfielders in the system.
Steve Adams
2:11
I can see it, sure, from the sense that it's an area of depth for them. But I think a lot of the Duran talk stems from one report that the Padres have interest in him, even though Duran is probably one of like 20+ outfielders on whom the Padres have called.
SAM
2:11
Hey! Might have been asked before, but why did MLBTR switch to having the whole chat in the post as opposed to posting the jotcast link?
Steve Adams
2:13
Only within the past couple weeks. We'll leave the link in the chat while it's ongoing and then our developers added a script where we can just press one button and have the entire chat transcript into the body of a post with one button push, which is nice.

Or at least, I think it's nice. Is this positive or negative feedback?? Haha
Smilin Joe Randa
2:13
Do you see Pittsburgh trading Mitch Keller along with Falter, IKF, and Heaney?
Steve Adams
2:13
Kiner-Falefa and Heaney are as good as gone, assuming they're healthy. I don't think either Keller or Falter will be off the table by any means, but I wouldn't necessarily expect them to move, either. I'd guess Falter goes before Keller, though.
Sam
2:14
Are the Twins looking like sellers to you, Steve?
Steve Adams
2:17
They're looking like one of the 10-12 teams that won't make that determination until the final week or so before the deadline. They're a more talented team than they've been over the past couple weeks, even without Lopez, but this slide is still in the books.

The Twins might perennially be the team that most spectacularly fails to live up to the talent they have on the roster. I know a lot of people put that on Baldelli, but it predates him, too. They pretty consistently have strong farm systems but never seem to get the most out of those prospects once they graduate.

I was joking with a friend last week but it's kind of true -- the Twins and Reds trade with each other all the time, and they both have this same issue with their top prospects, especially on the hitting side.
Gadzooks
2:17
Where does Candelario end up after he's bought out in Cincinnati?
Steve Adams
2:20
Mariners, Yankees, Tigers, Brewers -- lots of teams could use a free roll of the dice on a hitter as talented as he is. Obviously hasn't been healthy for a lot of his time in Cincy and hasn't shown that talent even when he is healthy.

But man, from 2020-23 he was such a solid corner infielder. Had the one really bad year in 2022 when he had that big shoulder injury but was otherwise just a consistently good hitter. I loved that deal for the Reds when they signed him (well ... I liked the price... not the fact that they added an 11th infielder to a team that could've used that help in the OF or on the pitching staff instead, but I digress)
Sean
2:20
Who are currently your top 3 Cy Young candidates in each league?
Steve Adams
2:24
It's so hard, in the AL in particular. My answer would probably change if I sat down with this and really dug into it more. But... off the cuff:

AL: Tarik Skubal, Garrett Crochet, Hunter Brown
NL: Paul Skenes, Logan Webb, Zack Wheeler

Could make real cases for any of Bubic, Fried, Framber, deGrom in the AL as well. Or in the NL, any of MacKenzie Gore, Robbie Ray, Freddy Peralta. (I'd say Sale, but we know he's not going to get the innings now)
Conforto
2:25
Do the Dodgers move me at the trade deadline?
Steve Adams
2:27
I think he's more just a release candidate, even though I still think at some point he's going to start hitting. The walks, quality of contact, etc. -- all encouraging. But the results haven't been there, and eventually they're going to need someone who's putting up numbers.

I could see him being shipped off somewhere else as a financial counterweight, kind of like when the Dodgers and Guards flipped Amed Rosario and Noah Syndergaard a few years back.
M’s Fan
2:27
Cal Raleigh should be MVP
Steve Adams
2:30
The more he stays hot, the more he's closing in on Judge. At this point he's absolutely in the mix. I think if the season ended today, Judge would win, and deservedly so, but Judge has gone from superhuman to merely "elite baseball player" over the past 3-4 weeks, whereas Raleigh is trending from "elite player" to "superhuman"

The gap is definitely not so large that Raleigh can't run him down, and of course one injury that sends Judge (or Cal) to the IL for even 2-3 weeks could radically alter things.

Regardless, what Raleigh's doing is absolutely outrageous. And what Judge is doing is absolutely outrageous. It's a treat to watch either of them play.
Alex Anthopoulus
2:30
Speaking of Sale not getting the innings for Cy Young consideration, does this make the Braves clear sellers?
Steve Adams
2:31
They don't need to make that call right now, but man, I have a hard time seeing them play their way into a situation where I'd advocate for anything other than listening on Ozuna, Bummer, Johnson, Verdugo, etc.
Bo Knows Free Agency
2:31
Has anybody done more to help their impending free agency this year than Bichette?
Steve Adams
2:35
I'd say Alex Bregman but he's hurt. Pete Alonso, but he's cooled since that obscene start. Bo is up there, sure.

I realize it was a semi rhetorical question, but lower down the pecking order, look what guys like Ryan O'Hearn, Willi Castro, Austin Hays (small sample, but still) have done. Or someone like Brad Keller, who's going to go from minor league deal to multi-year reliever deal if he keeps this up.

In general though, a very well-timed rebound from Bo, who's on fire right now
Nolan Arenado
2:35
is zack Wheeler a Hall of Famer?
Steve Adams
2:38
I don't think he'll get there, but I'd be fine with it. I think Wheeler should've been the NL MVP and Cy Young winner in 2021. But in broad terms, he took "too long" to break out at this elite level and won't accrue the totals he probably needs to get there. He's going to finish with elite rate stats but pedestrian totals in terms of traditional stats/milestones. He'll get 40-some WAR, which is obviously excellent, especially in such a condensed period, but not up to usual Hall of Fame standards.
2:39
I guess Jack Morris got in with like 43 WAR and a nearly 4.00 ERA, so hey, anything's possible, but he had maybe the single greatest postseason pitching performance in history on his side and a decade-plus of being considered a big-game, elite pitcher (even if the numbers never really supported that). And he threw a billion innings, which does matter, and which today's pitchers aren't going to be able to point to in their cases.
Perry
2:39
What am I doing at the deadline?
Steve Adams
2:40
I'm on record repeatedly as saying the Angels aren't very good and they should sell, but Arte Moreno never wants to sell, so the Angels will probably hold onto a bunch of guys and maybe make an ill-fated acquisition or two from their already perpetually feeble farm system.
Ben Cherington
2:41
Are my days numbered?
Steve Adams
2:43
I have a hard time seeing how Ben Cherington sticks around as Pirates GM into the 2026 season. They're not really much better off than when he took over. They've repeatedly failed to develop hitters. They have a nice core of young pitching, but some of that is just due to happening to get the No. 1 pick in the Skenes year.

Don't get me wrong ... they still had to take him, sign him, keep him healthy and probably make a few finishing touches, but sometimes you get the No. 1 pick at the right time. Other years you get the No. 1 pick when there's no consensus top talent and you end up with Mickey Moniak.
Cards Fan
2:43
B. Donovan for Rengifo & Silseth... who says no?
Steve Adams
2:44
Cardinals, overwhelmingly.
Chris
2:44
If Judge missed 6 weeks but still put up the same numbers post-injury, would he still win MVP?
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