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Front Office Chat: 11/17/23
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Anthony Franco
4:00
Hey everyone, hope you all have had a great week!
4:01
Have to stick tight to an hour today with the NT deadline tonight but I'll move through what I can
Dmitry
4:01
Does Mike Trouts contract have any positive value? Do you think he would be able to match it if he was a FA today?
Anthony Franco
4:02
No, I don't think he'd get seven for 248 if he were a free agent right now. Too many injuries, questions about the defensive profile from age 32 onward. He had a very good offensive season last year but it wasn't peak Trout hitting
4:03
I do think he'd beat Nimmo's 8/162, though, so I don't see 7/248 as a complete disaster or anything. Would probably put him in the low 200s over seven
The Beatles Show
4:03
Hey, Anthony.  Thanks again and Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.  This seems like a dumb question for someone who's followed baseball as closely and for as long as I have but what's the difference between a major league and a minor league contract?  (Someone has to be on the 40 Man to get the major league contract?)
Anthony Franco
4:03
Correct, the "major league" portion means it comes with a 40-man spot
4:04
Doesn't mean they have to be in the majors. Guys who have option years left can sign a major league deal and still be sent back to Triple-A without clearing waivers, but they're on the 40
Brad
4:04
What a fall from grace for Jared Shuster? Thought he had some potential but now is just a throw in.
Anthony Franco
4:05
I'd consider him the most valuable piece of that return for Chicago but I'm not a fan of it in general. I understand why they did it but none of the individual pieces are moving the needle for me
4:07
Shuster's a pitchability lefty who sits 91 and projected as a #4/5 starter for evaluators who liked him. He got bombed in both Triple-A and the majors last year and hasn't shown he can miss bats above the Double-A level yet
Thank you for the chat!
4:07
What's Soto's next contract look like? Is he going to beat the $400MM+ he previously passed up?
Anthony Franco
4:08
Yeah I'd take the over on 440. Think he's in the 500+ range, chance he beats whatever Ohtani gets this winter if he has a typical Soto platform year
4:09
Ohtani's a better player but Soto's four years younger and his camp will know what the Ohtani benchmark is when they get to FA, making it a reasonable thing for them to target
John B
4:09
Does the Giants pursuit of Chapman signal that they no longer see Casey Schmidt as the 3rd baseman of the future? Is he a potential trade piece?
Anthony Franco
4:10
I wouldn't go so far as to say they're done on Schmitt, but he didn't hit well enough last year that they can count on him in 2024. Chapman's one of the few free agent position players available, makes sense that they'd check in on all of them
4:11
I still like Bellinger as a fit there quite a bit more, but Zaidi needs to pull in some kind of impact position player talent in an offseason where there's not much available. Your mileage may vary as to whether Chapman fits that description, but he's closer to it than Teoscar Hernández or Jeimer Candelario are
Santiago Espinal
4:11
Toronto has cheaper options to do what I do. I could probably use a fresh start, couldn't I?
Anthony Franco
4:12
Yeah I'd be surprised if he's still on the roster tonight at 8:00
Darrell
4:12
Thoughts on the Braves 5 for 1 trade? Is that honestly all they could get for that contingency of players? Is it an precursor of a bigger move, opening up the available spots on 40 man?
Anthony Franco
4:13
Mentioned this in one of the questions earlier but I just don't think any of those five players were all that appealing
Dave
4:13
Do you think 1year contract for 12 to 15 million for Ryu would be good signing for LAD? Similar to Syndergrad in 2023.
Concerns that LAD rotation will be too right handed in 24 without Kershaw and Urias.  Not a lot of left handed options in free agency.
Anthony Franco
4:14
Wouldn't be super excited by it but I guess I'd like the Dodgers throwing $12MM at Ryu more than I would if another team did it
They have the money and rotation need and the park could mitigate some of the homer issues
If he's he third-best starter they bring in, it's fine. I wouldn't worry too much about handedness balance in the rotation though
WHY?
4:15
Why would the Jays sell low on Alek Manoah? Tell him to check his ego and pitch. He simply wasn't good enough to hold a roster spot last year. His agents should tell him the same thing.
Anthony Franco
4:17
He couldn't beat hitters in the strike zone last year, wasn't getting them to chase out of the zone. The velocity was down a tick
I can't speak to whether some element of that is an effort thing, but if the Jays don't think that an upper mid-rotation version of Manoah is still in there, this is probably the last chance to sell another team that there's untapped upside
Guest
4:18
The FA market often is slower than we expect because everyone is waiting to see X player set the market. Is that going to be Ohtani--or is he so unique (and expensive) that he won't slow the market down much? How might the concept of waiting until the market is set affect the several Japanese and Korean players who will be posted and have to get their deals done within 45 days? Does the posting period deadline create opportunities for the teams that aren't competing for Ohtani?
Anthony Franco
4:20
I think Ohtani still holds stuff up because he's the top target of basically every big-spending team. Even if most of the league has no shot at him, he's the #1 priority for the ones that do, and those are the teams agents want involved if they're pitching Bellinger, Nola, etc.
I expect Ohtani to sign within the next couple weeks, though, so I don't think it'll materially affect Yamamoto
Another dumb question
4:20
Following in the footsteps of John, Paul, George, and Ringo, I have another dumb question: What are "cash considerations"?
Anthony Franco
4:21
When a player's traded for cash considerations, that could be any amount. Sometimes it's only a dollar. Basically just a way to jump the line on a guy who was likely to end up on waivers otherwise
4:23
If a team includes cash considerations alongside a player on a more expensive guaranteed contract, that's a more notable way of facilitating a trade by retaining some of the money
Get some sleep, Jed
4:23
I'm seeing the Cubs come up in almost all of the recent rumor articles, they seem to be in on. Ohtani, Alonso, Soto, Chapman, Bellinger, and all the pitchers. If the Cubs were to land one big bat and one big arm, who do you think are most likely?
Anthony Franco
4:24
Chapman and Imanaga probably isn't the exciting answer you're looking for
4:27
Certainly think they're a viable fit on any of the bigger names (although I remain skeptical about Soto or especially Alonso being traded), but the Chapman tier is where the Cubs have tended to draw the line in free agency recently
Thank you for the chat!
4:27
Do the Mariners line up for a Gleybar trade? What do they offer if so?
Anthony Franco
4:28
Yeah makes sense. I don't think Gleyber has all that much trade value. One year of a good but not elite second baseman at $15MM isn't super appealing
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