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Front Office Chat: 4/19/24
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Anthony Franco
4:00
Hey everyone, hope you've all had a great week!
4:01
Looking forward to another chat, let's get rolling
Giants Fan
4:01
What the heck are the Pirates doing with Paul Skenes? Let  him rest but why not let him build up towards 100 pitches
Anthony Franco
4:02
Yeah I don't really get it. He threw around 130 innings last year between college and the minors. Even if you they don't want to overwork him, they should able to get him back to that number this year
4:03
I guess the charitable view is that they're preserving innings early with an eye towards bringing him up to contribute to a division race later in the season. But I also think there's a good chance they just drop out of the mix before that becomes a realistic possibility
Matt
4:03
Yesterday, Darragh had an article on which teams hot/cold starts were for real. Hot - Orioles, Yankees, Brewers, Royals, Mets Cold - Marlins, Cubs, Twins, Giants, Astros, Mariners Which starts do you think are real/a mirage?
Anthony Franco
4:04
I think FG playoff odds were just really low on the O’s to begin with. They always seemed like a pretty clear playoff team to me.
4:05
Yankees have been better than I thought. Mets and Brewers are solid but flawed. I’m still out on the Royals as a playoff team even though I buy that they’re more competitive than I gave them credit for preseason.
4:07
Slow starters: the Marlins are really bad, thought going in that the Cubs and Cardinals would be around .500. Not really worried about Seattle; Julio and Garver should come around and the pitching will be fine. The Twins are better than they’ve shown but been hit hard by injuries. I still think the Astros are a borderline playoff team but it kind of requires them to have really good pitching health from here on.
Chip
4:07
We all now MLB is concerned with pace of play and cutting the time games are played. When will they address this scenario - something happens between Player A and Player B whether it is a pitch a slide a bat toss or words then all of a sudden dugouts empty bullpen empty some jog some walk at a slow pace and all of a sudden game is delayed. How about NBA policy you come off bench step on court and you are suspended and fined ?
Anthony Franco
4:08
I’d be fine with this but don’t think it’s prevalent enough for MLB to implement a rule change that requires negotiation with the PA.
David
4:08
Are the Yankees likely trade any of their free agents or Cabrera before the trade deadline?
Anthony Franco
4:10
Depends on where they sit in the standings, I guess, but it doesn't seem like they're trending toward selling. Third base will probably be one of their big questions all season, so while I doubt Oswaldo Cabrera's untouchable or anything, I don't see why he'd be likely to get moved
Giants Fan
4:10
Why doesn't the MLB focus on trying to grow fantasy baseball? Easier said than done but could nationalize the game more.
Anthony Franco
4:12
Genuinely curious, don't mean for this come off snarky: what would you like to see them do? Push daily fantasy more or traditional season-long stuff? I feel like everyone's already aware of the latter
Philly A's
4:13
I know it's early in the season, but do you think the A's would play better on the road then at home with all of the distractions and negative press?
Anthony Franco
4:15
Don’t think that’ll have a tangible effect on their play at home. It’s not like the negative press is really directed at the players. No one thinks it’s a good roster but if anything, there’s probably more sympathy for the players than there would typically be because everyone understands this situation is being imposed on them by ownership.
TheBeatlesShow
4:15
Anthony, thanks again.  Is there anything you're seeing...or hearing...that says that Joe Espada is doing something different with the line-ups, the roster, the pitching staff that had the Astros in such a hole so early in the season?
Anthony Franco
4:17
He’s had to lean really heavily on the long relief types like Seth Martinez and Brandon Bielak, which isn’t great, but I think it’s much more of a roster construction issue. Partially because of injury and in part because of front office decisions, this team has a lot less pitching talent right now than Baker had to work with at any point.
4:19
Chandler Rome had a piece at The Athletic this week looking at how often the Astros have used Hader in non-save situations, largely because they can't get into the ninth inning with a lead. You could probably quibble with some of Espada's bullpen work, but there's only so much the manager can do when 3/5 of the rotation hasn't been able to get an out
Rules
4:20
I’ve seen a few people suggest a rule change tying the starting pitcher to the DH. Do you think MLB would actually consider something like that when they’ve got big names in the DH spots so often? Ohtani, Alvarez, Ozuna, Langford, Buxton, and then other veterans frequently cycling through for rest. Seems like it hurts the marketing of the game even if I’m 100% aligned with trying to incentivize longer starts for pitchers.
Anthony Franco
4:23
Yeah, I doubt it’ll ever actually come into play. Most of the guys you mentioned are so good that I think teams would find a way to hide them defensively for the most part, so I don’t know that it’d have much of a marketing drawback. It’s not like Yordan Alvarez would be put out of the league, the Astros would have to play him at first base or in left field.
You’d have injury cases like Ohtani or Machado (or Harper last year) where that’s not possible, though, and I do think the rest thing you mentioned would be a real concern for the MLBPA.
Guest
4:23
For the Nats, the presumed goal is to imitate Atlanta and lock-up a group of young star and near-star players with early career extensions. In retrospect, the Braves made it look easy....but watching the Nats makes me think it wasn't easy for Atlanta either. How did Atlanta do it? What are the lessons, if any, for the Nats?
Anthony Franco
4:26
Yeah I don’t think the Atlanta model is replicable for the Nats or anyone else. Most of those deals have been absurdly team-friendly, and some of it is that they’ve successfully leveraged the Braves brand to keep guys who are from the area.
Building an organizational culture and a wildly talented roster that wants to stay together is the starting point, I guess, but that’s more of a hope than a strategy and even that only gets you partway.
TheBeatlesShow
4:26
I saw the Fritz Peterson passed recently.  Of course, he's well remembered for swapping wives with teammate Mike Kekich.  My question is:  Did the wives have to go through waivers before the swap was completed?  (Joking obviously...but what the hell)
Anthony Franco
4:27
Ha, it was one that felt distinctively 70s but hey, the Petersons stayed together for 50 years so I guess it’s timeless. It’s one hell of a story
Chris
4:27
Here's a lively prediction -- if the Mets sweep the Dodgers this weekend, the sports world will ignore it.
Anthony Franco
4:29
It’s a baseball series in April so I’ll concede that it probably won’t make much of an impact in the “sports world,” but it’s not like people don’t pay attention to the Mets. It'll be a big deal in the New York Post
Oakland and KC
4:29
Can you give me a sense of whether Oakland and KC have a real strategy behind their use of two rookies? Specifically, Oakland didn't give regular ABs to promising rookie Darell Hernaiz while giving most of the ABs to putrid hitter Nick Allen. Then, because Hernaiz wasn't hitting with the few ABs he had, they sent him down. KC had a similar situation with Nick Loftin who was hitting well in limited ABs, yet they sent him down instead of putrid and washed-up hitter Adam Frazier. Do the GMs in those cities have any clue?
Anthony Franco
4:31
Allen at least has the glove to fall back on, and it’s not like Hernaiz was doing anything offensively. I’m a believer long term but I don’t mind getting him more work in Triple-A. I’d be more irked by how the A’s have handled Estuery Ruiz than Hernaiz so far.
4:32
I think Loftin got optioned for Michael Massey, who’s back from the IL today, instead of Frazier. If you want to argue they should’ve kept Loftin as a utility guy and DFA Frazier, I wouldn’t really push back, but Massey should get the bulk of the second base reps from here.
Jack
4:32
For rest of the year, is proper order France, Lowe, Rizzo, Bell?
Anthony Franco
4:33
I'd have Nathaniel Lowe at the top. France, Rizzo, Bell as the 2-4 seems right
DrDave
4:34
How much longer will HOU put up with Jose Abreu?  He's clearly lost it.
Anthony Franco
4:35
They've already relegated him to the eighth spot in the order. If Singleton were hitting for any kind of power, he'd probably be getting the majority of the playing time already. I don't get why they haven't signed Brandon Belt at this point
Giants Fan
4:36
I am probably too stupid to have an in depth discussion but we have seen football sky rocket partially due to fantasy football. Programs to promote and maybe even partner with companies who do year long fantasy to get more people playing. I am in a dynasty league and the commish puts in tons of hours because the site isn't that user friendly.
Anthony Franco
4:38
Fair enough. I'm more skeptical that MLB could meaningfully increase fantasy baseball participation rates. Football's more popular to begin with, obviously, and it's so conducive to fantasy because it's one weekly commitment and the majority of the action takes place within an eight-hour stretch. A daily baseball league requires a lot more commitment, and the weekly ones probably aren't as satisfying as it is for football
juan soto
4:38
To get a head start on home remodeling for November 2024-Spring 2025.where do you see me signing as free agent ? Is $50 million x 14 years,  $700 M , a likely possibility? ( I am planning on a big house)
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