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Chat with MLBTR's Steve Adams: 5/9/23
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Steve Adams
9:22
Greetings all! I'll get this started at noon, but feel free to submit questions in advance if you're so inclined. Looking forward to it, as always!
12:00
Let us proceed.
BrewCrew
12:00
The Brewers continue to struggle offensively against LHP.  Who is a realistic "get" at the deadline (or before) to help?
Steve Adams
12:02
There'll be plenty of RH bats likely available at the deadline... Garrett Cooper from Miami comes to mind. Ramon Laureano will be out there again. Both have hit lefties well in their career.

In the short term, I don't think they have much reason to keep the Luke Voit experiment running. They didn't commit that much to him, and his struggles have been ongoing for awhile now. He hasn't looked the same since all the injuries in '21. You could arguably cut bait on him for Darin Ruf right now and be better off against LHP, for instance.
Enquiring Mind
12:03
Are you going to a Cardinal article like you did the White Sox?
Steve Adams
12:03
I don't know if it'll be me specifically, but we were just chatting yesterday about how we need to get one together -- so yeah, something along those lines sooner than later.
Guest
12:03
Does the Gary Sanchez signing mean the end for Tomas Nido?
Steve Adams
12:04
I think it just means the Mets recognize that they're thin on catching and this was a free look at a guy with some track record. He didn't hit at all in AAA with the Giants, but there aren't many catching options out there so why not see what he's got?
FB GM
12:04
What are your thoughts on the next Reds Prospect to get the call up?
Steve Adams
12:04
I will have something on this very topic on the site shortly!
Doc Roberts
12:05
How long until LA moves Thor to the pen and call up a young pitcher like Gavin Stone?
Steve Adams
12:05
They gave him $13MM, so I imagine he'll get more than 5-6 weeks, but it's been pretty brutal across the board. Hard to see him sticking in the rotation much beyond Memorial Day if he can't show some signs of progress.
Guest
12:06
Is Bryce miller this good?
Steve Adams
12:07
He has a 0.75 ERA and 37.5% strikeout rate. No one is THAT good.

I buy Miller as a viable big league starter with plus ability to miss bats and probably some eventual command issues though, yeah. I don't expect him to go back to Tacoma anytime soon.
Brent
12:07
Jack Flaherty for DL Hall?  Change of scenery for both might unlock potential?
Steve Adams
12:08
Flaherty is a free agent at season's end and has walked 14% of his opponents this season. The Orioles aren't giving up Hall for him.
Cincy
12:08
Thoughts on Lodolo
Steve Adams
12:12
Still very much in. He's been homer-prone this year and maybe always will be thanks to GABP, but the K-BB% looks great -- walk rate is even better than last year. Same number of grounders. Velo hasn't plummeted or anything.

I know fans get sick of hearing about small samples and all that, but 27% of Lodolo's fly-balls have left the yard for homers. The league average is 12.2%. History tells us that stat will eventually normalize, and while maybe you can say he won't go ALL the way back down to league-average because of his home park, he's still not going to keep seeing a quarter of his flies become homers. He was at 15% last year, which seems reasonable.

Between that and a silly, fluky .435 average on balls in play, he's had a lot of bad luck despite excelling in Ks, BBs and GBs -- a trio that's typically a great recipe for success among pitchers, regardless of home setting.
Matthew
12:12
When will the Phillies send Bailey Falter to the minors?  Would Jeff Hoffman be a suitable replacement?
Steve Adams
12:15
Suarez is coming back this weekend. Falter has struggled a lot and seen his K%, BB% and velo all go the wrong way. I can easily see him being optioned out if not when Suarez is back then later this month.

Hoffman's been pitching in relief and I think that's where he'll stay. He's in the upper-90s with his velocity in short stints. I imagine you'd see Cristopher Sanchez or Michael Plassmeyer before him. Plassmeyer's ERA is ugly, but the strikeouts and walks look good.
Cory
12:16
If the Orioles play .500 ball through the month of May, is that enough to consider them serious playoff contenders?
Steve Adams
12:18
Anyone in the AL East is already a reasonable enough playoff contender for me. The O's are in second place and nine games over .500. I don't like their starting pitching at all, but if they're hovering a few games over .500 this summer I'd expect them to pursue upgrades there, yeah. And with all the middle infield prospects they have, they could reasonably pursue someone with some club control.

I feel like they'd still hesitate to give up too much for a guy they can only control through '24, but with such a deep system, they'll have plenty of avenues to explore.
Kramer
12:18
Every time I hear forearm strain about 3 months later I hear TJS. Can you give me some good news? Or a hypothetical if fried does go down
Steve Adams
12:20
That's a selective memory, then. Plenty of forearm strains don't result in Tommy John, and the Braves are at least going out of their way right now to make sure it's out there that they don't see any evidence he'll need another Tommy John (he's already had it once in his career). Obviously that can change, but right now, there's no reason to expect it other than good ol' fashioned pessimism. I am quite empathetic to the general nature of pessimism, haha, so if that's your preferred route, I won't try to talk you out of it any further!
The Wet Bandit
12:21
Whos next up for the Braves Dodd, Soroka ?
Steve Adams
12:23
Dodd was optioned last week and wasn't the corresponding move for Fried hitting the IL, so he can't come back up tomorrow unless the Braves place someone else on the IL. Soroka just pitched on the sixth. That seems to make it Shuster by default, unless the Braves want to add someone like Allan Winans to the 40-man, I guess.
Guest
12:24
You say you don’t like the O’s starters, and I generally agree, but Tyler Wells has been pretty good, right?
Steve Adams
12:25
Wells is the kind of guy I'm talking about, actually. He has plus command but doesn't really miss bats. He's sitting on a .155 BABIP despite the fact that he's allowing hard contact and exit velos well above the league-average rates. I think his ERA is a mirage and he's due for substantial regression.
The Big Maple
12:26
Sounds like James Paxton is about to be caked up to the majors. Does this help the Boston staff or hurt it? Hate to see one of the young guys demoted for a guy who hasn’t pitched in about 3 full seasons now.
Steve Adams
12:27
I just don't think you can pencil Paxton in for any meaningful portion of innings. He might help them manage the workloads for Houck, Bello etc. -- but just because he's coming off the IL doesn't mean he's going to be in the rotation for the next few months.

He's obviously quite talented, but who knows what the stuff will look like after such a long layoff and with so many arm injuries? And who knows how long he can avoid another IL stint? If he gets you like 40-60 decent innings, you probably call that a win this season.
Dave
12:27
Can you see any scenario where the Tigers are buyers at the deadline or do you see them waiting until ‘24 when they have a large cash surplus?
Steve Adams
12:29
I can see them floating a few games below .500 and adding some guys who are controllable beyond the current season, I suppose. They've been better than I expected, for sure. I still don't think a team in this position is going to give up anything of note from its farm to add much in the way of relatively short-term value, though.
Dr Dave
12:29
I'm wondering if it is time to get rid of Jose Abreu.  Has he reached his expiration date?
Steve Adams
12:29
No team is cutting bait on a free agent 5-6 weeks into a three-year, $58.5MM contract.
on a free-agent signing*
LarsAnderson
12:31
The Pirates have certainly cooled off of late. Do you attribute this to Oneill Cruz dong being out of the lineup?
Steve Adams
12:33
They were doing just fine even after the Cruz injury. Some of the cooldown was inevitable. I talked about this in chats in the past and wrote a piece on it for our Front Office subscribers as well; there were a lot of unsustainable hot starts, but there's still plenty to like -- even if some of the fairly predictable regressions are playing out as expected (e.g. Connor Joe, for instance).

They were never as good as their start, but they're probably far better than most gave them credit for prior to the season (myself included)
Aaron k
12:33
Who do the Yankees drop why Judge gets actived
Steve Adams
12:33
The Yankees announced just seconds ago that Judge is off the IL and Peraza is going on the IL in his place due to his current ankle injury
RealSox
12:34
Kopech gave up 4 homers on Sunday, Cease was shelled again yesterday, and yet it seems Giolito is more likely to be traded. Will the Sox trade any or all of them at the deadline?
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