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Chat with MLBTR's Steve Adams: 5/6/25
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Steve Adams
8:29
Good morning! We'll get going at 1pm CT today, as usual, but go ahead and send in some questions ahead of time.
12:58
Good afternoon!
Let's get underway
New Socks
12:58
I know there is no place for Roman Anthony to play, but under the current MLB rules, does the club gain an economic benefit by not bringing him to the majors before a certain date, and if so, when is that date?
Red Sox 1B
12:58
Campbell? Mr. Versatility?
Steve Adams
12:58
Lumping these together because they're loosely related.
1:00
No. 1, I think the easiest path for the Red Sox is to just put Devers at first base. Alex Cora has said they don't want to. Maybe it makes Devers uncomfortable, I'm not sure, but they already ripped the bandaid on making him uncomfortable when they signed Bregman this offseason. Darragh McDonald and I discussed this at length on the episode of the MLBTR Podcast we recorded this morning. That'll be out tomorrow morning, so check that out.
1:01
No. 2, there's no direct financial benefit. If they were to keep Anthony down into late June, he could avoid Super Two status, but I doubt the Red Sox care much about that. The longer they wait, the less likely he is to win Rookie of the Year, which would net him a full year of service even though he's been held down.
1:02
But at this point, just call up Anthony. Rotate him, Duran, Rafaela and Abreu through the outfield and DH. Devers at 1B.

Which team seems better? One with a possibly grumpy Devers at 1B and the No.1  prospect in baseball getting regular reps between OF/DH

.... Or the one with Romy Gonzalez and Abraham Toro at 1B and Devers serving as DH?

I don't see how the Red Sox stick with Gonzalez/Toro long term when Anthony is right there and they're plugging a spot in the lineup with two journeymen.
Guest
1:02
does bubba chandler get called up this week?
Steve Adams
1:04
He should've been up weeks ago. I don't have good insight into when he'll get the call. The Pirates probably hoped they waited long enough with Skenes to avoid a ROY win and preserve the extra year of control, so maybe they'll wait longer on Chandler. I don't know how they can defend keeping him in AAA when they're a last-place team whose fifth starter is a converted reliever with an ERA north of 6.00
MVPCA
1:04
Thankfully Shota's injury sounds minor, but this seems like the perfect opportunity to get a look at Cade Horton, no?   Possibly 2-3 starts to see how he fares in the bigs?  They're gonna need him down the road, so why not see what you have?
Steve Adams
1:06
Horton's walk rate is still around 12%, so I suppose they could say they want him to scale that back. That said, he's only walked one batter in each of his past three starts, so maybe he's already on his way to doing so. Generally speaking, yeah, I think they could/should take a look at any point.
Reds GM
1:06
Does a player earn service time while being dfad?
Steve Adams
1:07
They get MLB service while they're waiting for the DFA process to play out, yes. If they clear waivers (or are claimed and immediately optioned), then the service clock stops.
Angels
1:07
What can we get for Tyler Anderson?  2 straight solid years.  Would the Os be interested?
Steve Adams
1:09
I suppose the O's might be interested, sure, but Anderson's trade value isn't great. He's making $13MM this season which is probably about the most he'd get on the open market as a mid-30s lefty who's sitting 89 mph with his heater and a gap of nine percentage points between his K% and BB%. Angels could pay it down to get a better deal, but they're not getting any high-end young prospects for him
Nado
1:09
Hearing a lot of trade speculation around Arenado.  Has he improved his trade value with his quality start to the season?
Steve Adams
1:11
It's nice that he's walking more and striking out less, but that looks more fluky than because of any real changes/improvements. His chase rate is the same. His swinging-strike rate is actually up. His contact rate is down both on pitches off the plate and within the zone. His batted-ball metrics are still weak. He's hitting more grounders than ever before.
1:12
The downturn in his offensive output correlates directly with his 2023 spike in ground-balls, and he hasn't fixed that yet. So ... I don't think he's devoid of value or anything, but I think he basically has the same value he held over the winter. Only thing that's really changed might be some teams feeling they need 3B help more than they did a few months ago ... but Arenado's no-trade clause and cumbersome salary are still notable obstacles.
Mash Mervis
1:12
Not a red Sox fan but do you think Matt Mervis would be a viable acquisition for the red Sox to explore. He's been crushing it early on and that short wall in Boston might make him more dangerous as a lefty.
Steve Adams
1:13
Mervis had a hot week where more than half his fly-balls turned into homers. He's hitting .122/.218/.236 over his past 55 PAs, and he's punched out in 40% of his plate appearances this season. His early hot start was never going to last with this type of anemic contact profile.
Sons of Pitches
1:14
New DBacks city connects make them look like an affiliate of the Rockies. Purple and have that shine of Colorado's first. What's been your favorite of them all so far? I like the detail of Washington's gray ones and the pizzaz of Miami's red ones. Sad that neither is still being used in favor of generic replacements.
Steve Adams
1:14
Ha, the new D-backs City Connects *are* my favorites.
Purple's not new for them -- they came into the league purple and teal!
1:15
Yankees just announced that Carlos Carrasco has been designated for assignment
1:16
They called up Yerry De Los Santos from AAA to get a fresh arm for now, but change afoot in the rotation
Elias
1:16
Are the orioles a buy and sell team at the deadline? Sell vets like mountcastle (assuming he sees some positive regression) and mullins, buy some younger pitching from their prospect depth?
Steve Adams
1:18
Yeah I can see them looking to add some controllable pieces, either by dealing from true prospect depth (not Basallo/Mayo etc, but further down the ladder) -- or perhaps just targeting some guys with multiple years of control for their established rentals. We see change-of-scenery guys who've yet to pan out through multiple auditions traded for veterans like Cedric Mullins or Zach Eflin plenty.

They could always claw back into the race, but I just don't see the starting pitching talent there
Dodgers beat reporting that James Outman is with the team in Miami, so seems increasingly likely that Teoscar Hernandez is IL-bound.
LangfordLeigon
1:18
since leody taveras got placed on waivers where do you think hes going to go
Steve Adams
1:18
I don't think anyone will claim him.
1:19
He can reject an outright assignment, technically, but doing so would mean forfeiting the remaining guaranteed money on his $4.75MM salary for the current season.
So, as to where he'll go ... Triple-A Round Rock for the Rangers, most likely.
WSoxFan
1:20
Steve, what justification do the White Sox have for not promoting Tim Elko?  Sox fans see him in AAA this season and he is mashing the ball all over the field.  He's 27 years old and plays 1st base, Andrew Vaughn appears to have peaked, why not give this guy a chance?
Steve Adams
1:21
I'm not much higher on Elko than I am on Vaughn -- he's fanned in 30% of his plate appearances at basically every minor league stop -- but at this point I don't see why they don't take a look. You can hope Vaughn turns it around, but man ... we're on year five of him just repeatedly demonstrating that he's not a very good major league hitter. I thought he'd get non-tendered in the winter.
John
1:22
Would the Cubs extend PCA? Or are fans being too eager for a guy off to a hot start
Steve Adams
1:22
They talked to him about an extension in spring training, reportedly offering something in the vicinity of $75MM guaranteed -- there's been some reporting to the contrary since that original report, though ESPN's Jeff Passan just cited that $75MM figure again in a piece today -- and the price tag has only gone up with his ludicrous start.
Alexis Diaz
1:23
Are my closing days over?
Steve Adams
1:23
I'd focus more on just getting back to the majors before getting back to the ninth inning. He's been a mess.
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