The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.
This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Anthony Franco of MLB Trade Rumors to answer your questions, including…
- Should the Red Sox trade Triston Casas and move Trevor Story to first base when Marcelo Mayer comes up? (1:30)
- Does Rafael Devers of the Red Sox need a change of scenery? (10:00)
- Should the Mets extend Pete Alonso now? (12:30)
- What can the Mets do about their bullpen? (16:40)
- Should fans of the Tigers temper the excitement or embrace the season as something special? (19:55)
- Should MLB bring back a livelier ball since hitters seem broadly overmatched by pitchers? (28:30)
- There have been a lot of historically bad teams in recent years. What can be done to discourage tanking? (39:00)
- Is there any way that the Braves can trade Jurickson Profar? (52:30)
Check out our past episodes!
- Justin Steele, Triston McKenzie, And Tons Of Prospect Promotions – listen here
- Free Agent Power Rankings – listen here
- Vlad’s Massive Deal, Extensions for Merrill and Marte, And Quinn Priester Traded – listen here
The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff. Check out their Facebook page here!
Photo courtesy of Matt Marton, Imagn Images
Yes, yes, no, play waiver wire to plug holes until trade deadline, embrace that kitty magic, no, drafts are a crapshoot and some cities aren’t desirable for certain players so tanking/incompetent teams will always be here, you can trade any player with enough money/prospects going the other way.
What does desirability have to do with anything? Tanking is all about money. That’s it.
If you think Casas should be traded, the question is for what. He doesn’t have much value right now. I don’t particularly feel attached to him as a player and would be fine if he was gone, but, it doesn’t seem like a smart move to sell now.
There’s no guarantee Mayer will be that good after making the jump and teams adjust… or that he even stays on the diamond. Seems a kneejerk reaction
If someone wants Casas, they pay. He’s not given away as despite his slow start, he has value. The reason to trade him is to improve the club. I also would not move Story to first. Campbell can apparently play almost anywhere but Story is much better at second than Campbell. Give Casas, Rafaella and Devers more time but listen if anyone any of their players.
dewey – The only experienced first baseman they have to replace Casas would be Romy, but do you really trust Romy’s bat as a fulltime player?
Tonight’s game is further proof, something needs to be done with Rafaela. I’m not just talking about another hitless game, he got caught flat-footed in the 10th and then made a lousy throw. It’s pretty bad when Vladdy! of all people runs on you. This is Year 3 for Rafaela, and he’s STILL got a ten cent brain.
Speaking of ten cent brain ….why does Cora always insist on using Chapman in the 9th in tie games? You NEED his strikeouts in extra innings, THAT is when strikeouts are critical. Slaten has a 7.84 K/9 and Chapman has a 13.50 K/9, it’s a no-brainer. If he’s not gonna pitch Chapman for two innings, then save him for the 10th. Big reason Toronto won was because Hoffman pitched the 9th AND the 10th.
Well I’m not gonna let that moron Cora bring me down. Lots of positives tonight …. Gio was great for 5 innings before tiring, Duran and Devers are carrying the offense just like they did last year, Narvaez continues to show some pop at the plate, and Abreu had yet another nice game.
Let’s hope Houck pitches well tomorrow and gives them at least 7, because we know Whit won’t be available until Derby Day.
I just can’t believe the Sox pissed away a 6-run 6th inning lead to this scuffling team ….. and it was a bullpen game for the Jays no less! Fluharty didn’t even pitch.
What a frustrating loss.
Sending Lucas out to pitch in the 6th instead of letting him build on the incredible 5 innings he gave us for the next 4 days, was second only to pitching Chapman in the 9th in a tie game, when it comes to poor managing and bonehead moves by Cora for the night. Neither make any sense. You need the K’s when there’s an automatic runner on 2nd in extra innings. My 10 year old knows this.
I mean there’s no guarantee that any prospect will be “that good” after making the jump but I have faith in Mayer’s ability to do so. That doesn’t mean I’m in a rush to shove Casas out the door.
Similar mindset here acell on tristan. I’d just use Casas for what he is, on the cheap, and see what happens. But I don’t think he has that value right now teams would pay for. They’d want to buy extremely low.
I simply don’t know quite what to expect of Mayer. I’m literally on the fence. Upside is there, but so are a pretty decent number of red flags to temper expectations.
The entire conversation is a fantasy baseball conversation. Right now, the RS have no other 1B than Casas. If Anthony or Mayer were a 1B, then it would be a real conversation.
But they aren’t so it is automatic that Casas is our 1B. Not even discussion-worthy, imo.
but so are a pretty decent number of red flags to temper expectations.
======================
I feel the same. Good glove, but not elite. Worrisome K/W, and some injuries. I’m hoping that the Pirates get to thinking about their fine rotation and weak hitting, and offer up Bubba Chandler for Mayer.
Joe I’d make that swap in a heartbeat. However, given the relative values of SP vs SS and those red flags on Mayer, I know that a 1:1 wouldn’t make that happen
From my perspective the positives for Mayer far outweigh the negatives. Also I highly doubt that either the pirates or sox would offer or make that trade.
That’s a bit of a pet peeve for me. I guess that a team like the RS will know a whole lot less (relatively speaking) about Chandler, than if this a major league pitcher.
But I love the fit on both sides.
And they are related. The Pirates drafted Davis instead of Mayer so they’d have the money to sign Chandler over-slot.
Hey Joe – I’m with you about the position change talk, i still believe learning at the major league level is a craft that needs work to refine, thats why I dont want to see Campbell in the OF at all.
However, this first base issue is really a fantasy baseball conversation except being had by real-life GM’s and POBO’s. The new generation of analytics driven FO Executives believe that any player, who are three true outcome players, could play first. There is almost no restriction on who they will play there, anyone remember the Kyle Schwarber halcyon days at first?
There is a causation issue here…..the young GM’s watched Moneyball and Brad Pitt says, “its so easy to play first, we’ll teach you”. Really what it is that, they dont want to pay Pete Alonso (types) $40 million dollars.
. espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/44107916/mlb-2025-first-ba…
I like Casas, i think he has a bright future because of his good grasp of the strike zone and obvious power. I just dont think he’s buying what Breslow, et al are selling.
The choice is this, with Story here, you need to make a hard choice between the RS future with Casas or Mayer. One of them will have to be traded. Otherwise youre sitting waiting for Story to get injured and Mayer comes up with no hard decision to be made (hooray?)
The other aspect to this is where does Raffaele fit? I dont see the type of next level step forward that makes him an everyday “must play”., especially with Anthony ready to knock down the door, and Wilyer developing nicely.
To me, (now entering fantasy baseball conversation mode again) the answer is to get involved with the Marlins NOW in conversations regarding Alcantara. Say ok, we have this logjam of high ceiling cheap players, Mayer, Casas and Raffaele. Which two brings us back Sandy?
think of having this rotation for the next two and a half seasons:
Crochet
Alcantara
Bello
Houck
There is a lot there to chew on. Just a couple of random comments.
I don’t know that Mayer has to play SS, for a couple of reasons. We have Story, who is playing well enough, and I think Arias will eventually be in our plans. We also don’t know who our 3B will be next year. Bregman is playing his way into a new contract.
I think Rafaela is slowly morphing into a minor star. He’s where Duran was in 2022, but with a better glove and a great contract. I could trade him, but it would have to be a Jared Jones level return.
Alcantara is nice, but I don’t think he’s a star. And Miami will wait until he starts pitching well before they make a move. I wouldn’t give up Mayer or Rafaela for him, and Casas wouldn’t be enough.
Joe: I just don’t see the Red Sox making that kind of offer nor should they. Mayer either ends up at SS or 3B next year and should hopefully be a key component of the Sox lineup going forward. Likewise the Pirates may have another ace on their hands in Chandler who’s cost controlled for the next 6 years. That’s probably more valuable to the Pirates due to their alleged budget constraints.
Sad Sox: you seem pretty hung up on Alcantara coming to the sox. Right now he has yet to reestablish his value as a true ace coming of injury. The marlins aren’t in any hurry to move him at this time.
acell10 – when i look around the league and see i can get a SP with Alcantara’s unlimited ceiling for less money per year than the Sox are paying either Beuhler or Giolito, yes i am pretty obsessed with that. PLus, its a pricetag that Henry would easily support.
Marry that with the veritable surplus of young talent the Sox have (with Anthony completely untouchable) it seems like a match.
And, while you’re right that he hasnt fully come all the way back yet, i’m suggesting giving the Marlins full price now instead of waiting for the prospect bidding war with the Yankees, Dodgers, Cubs and Mets.
Takes time to come back. Before he does this might be the only chance his value isn’t absolutely ridiculous. That being said, I’m not giving up Mayer on the very real chance he doesn’t.
The Mariners were willing to trade Castillo straight up for Casas but the Red Sox insisted on including Yoshida so that blew up the deal. If that offer is still out there they should jump on it but Seattle may want a sweetener now.
I have serious doubts about Castillo. He’s been a product of his stadium the last couple of years. His road ERA was 4.25 in 2024 and 8.68 this year. Nothing wrong with him, but I am not sure he is even worth his $25M, let alone 4 years of Casas.
And, of course, we have nobody to take Casas’ place.
rmull – I don’t think the Mariners would even trade Paula Abdul straight up for Casas right now.
all these questions about players that are under contract for 100’s of M$- whose performance is stinking it up; and people are asking about “trading’??? Do not people think that thru? Who would want a Devers or Bogaerts and their contract??
People overreact at this point to a small sample. Devers isn’t the first player to slump at the plate coming off significant injuries and missing spring training.
Acting like the contract is a sunk cost is ridiculous at this juncture. He’s actually 6-17 with multiple XBH lately and getting some HRs including a second decker in Toronto last night.
Devers is fine. Folks can complain all they want, but given what Vlad just got paid, Devers is a relative bargain.
GaSox – Even with his horrendous start to the season, Devers leads the league in Walks.
The weird thing is even though he’s struggling to catch up to the heat, he’s still seeing a lot of offspeed stuff ….. really dumb pitch selections by opponents.
Excellent podcast as always!
DMC – You said exactly what I was gonna write, it’s absolutely absurd how some people here (and I wouldn’t call them true Sox fans) have so quickly turned on Casas. But that’s the way they roll, no loyalty whatsoever and once a player sucks for a bit they want them instantly gone, without bothering to understand the possible reason why the player is struggling. I know Casas came off as jerky in the Netflix doc, but giving up on him now is absolutely ridiculous. And BTW Casas since April 22 is batting .313 with a 1.164 OPS, if Dave actually watched the games he’d know that.
And Tony is 100% correct, Devers should be given a shot at first base. it’s ridiculous he hasn’t.
Hey fever, in my defense, you know how I’ve felt about Casas since he was in Worcester, and it’s not about bat-ball skills 😉
Now, do you think *any* part of devers being blocked off 1B comes from cora punishing him for how he reacted when bregman was signed? Not the first time Cora would take that approach after being challenged by a player to put him in his place
GaSox – Are you pulling my leg about being Dave? LOL!!
No, I don’t believe it was Cora punishing him. Remember he wouldn’t even let Devers play first base in the last WBC. Maybe he just doesn’t want Devers putting on any type of glove unless it’s a batting glove? Honestly I don’t want to even *attempt* to get into Cora’s head ….. I picture it as one of those horror movie fun houses.
Think of the tickets you could sell. Maybe Tarantino can direct a movie, Cora’s mind..
GaSox – Hopefully Bryan Mata will be called up someday.
Then the movie could be titled “Cora’s Mind Over Mata”.
I know, I’m bad …. all the winning has gotten me giddy ;O)
I think Casas should have been traded and Devers given the 1b job.
No one takes a good fielding, mediocre hitting SS and moves them to 1st. It’s not even a consideration.
Why would Devers need a change of scenery? He has an .887 OPS this month.
Simplest way to prevent tanking (to some degree) is a salary floor. Since there’s no salary cap you definitely need a salary floor. These teams not spending money isn’t because they can’t it’s because they’re cheap. Force teams like the Marlins, Pirates, A’s, etc. to run at least a $100M minimum payroll.
You’ll never get a floor without a ceiling.
MLBPA would take a floor in a heartbeat, but, they’re not going to bargain off anything of sufficient value to get it
GaSox – Speaking of value, remember how I said the Sox were giving away free calendars during ST?
I flipped the calendar to May and it’s got the Sox playing the Mets May 19-20, playing Tampa May 21, and playing the Orioles May 22-25.
No wonder the calendars were free, I should have known!
Kind of missed the boat on the live ball, yes, .240 and .245 is a small change but pitchers were also using spider tack and teams were allowed to shift defenses.
I totally agree with the guys on reducing the pitcher limit from 13 down to 12 or 11, it would definitely reduce injuries because SP’s would need to leave something in the tank for the 6th and 7th inning which means no more max velo on every pitch. It would also mean a stronger bench, thus creating more offense.
But one thing they didn’t touch upon is the obsession with swinging for the fences all the time. The high strikeout rates are just as much a product of team hitting approach as it is pitcher talent.
If we are going to talk about how easy it is moving a SS to 1B, why not consider moving Rafaela to 1B open a spot for Anthony in the OF? Moving Hamilton and Casas could return decent pitching. Then there would be enough AB’s available for Mayer, as the “super” utility man, to justify bringing him up as well. Just a thought. Might thin the depth more than many would be comfortable with. Devers not at least attempting to play 1B is so odd.
We’re not moving a mediocre-hitting SS to 1st, and we aren’t moving a GG-caliber CF to 1st either.
GG caliber is pushing it for Rafaela. He’s got the tools but he’s also got his fair share of issues. I agree about not moving either of them. Just didn’t understand why moving Story to 1B in order to fit Mayer on the team makes more sense than moving Rafaela to 1B to make room for both Mayer and Anthony.
It’s ceddanes ceiling, speed, and glove/arm that are wasted at 1B. Ceddane also lacks the prototypical power you want in a 1B.
Now, if you really want to jump down the rabbit hole of foolish position changes and moving guys around, convince me yoshida couldn’t learn some 1B
For the record, I don’t agree with any positional changes for any of these guys. Would like to see Devers make an attempt at 1B just because it would open up the DH spot. It appears as if they aren’t going to let him play 3B at all. At the same time I don’t think it’s anywhere near time to discuss giving up on Casas either. But he does have value and could be packaged for pitching or catching, which in turn could open up spots for Mayer/Anthony.
Sean – I know Rafaela has made a lot of dumb mistakes in the field, but he’s still a plus defender in CF therefore moving him to first base would be a massive waste of defensive talent. Plus he doesn’t have the bat for a first baseman, if that bat has to be in the lineup I want him playing CF.
Mayer might be done, his chronic back issue flared up again. It doesn’t make sense to promote him and then have him accumulating service time while on the IL.
The scary thing about mayer is he’s starting to give off Alberto mondesi vibes
GaSox – That’s a great comparison! Yeah chronic back issues is the worst one to have, especially at such a young age.
Devastating news on Mayer. Anything but the back!! Fingers crossed they are just being overly cautious. Wouldn’t be against him taking May off to work with the conditioning coaches.
I am in the same boat as you when it comes to Rafaela. I was more or less just questioning why moving Story to 1B to make room for Mayer was being suggested, as opposed to other equally silly options, if the goal was to get the kids into the big league lineup.
FIRE CORA promote Tek!
Here’s what I consider the bigger issue on Casas: he’s a mental midget, and he’s lost at the plate. I’m pretty certain he just changed his batting stance by raising hands higher. He’s not attacking the zone, he’s watching and I presume guessing pitches instead. This is evident by watching strike 3 down the middle with runners in scoring position multiple times. I think another week or so of him struggling and he’s going to have an injury then a rehab stint. That possibly opens the door for Mayer or Anthony to 1st base or Wong, or some type of move like that. Mayer and Anthony are just hitting too well right now to continue to have 0 production at 1st. I’m not buying this low batting average on balls in play, and him trying to just walk isn’t that valuable. Ceddanne has about 4-5 rockets into the gaps caught, and nobody’s defending him with these balls in play batting average. That’s my take, about another week or so of no production and Casas is “injured” with a tweak to the ribs again. We probably get Wong playing first after his rehab stint due to Narvaez having a sinus stroke right now.
Strong* stroke
cdr – Yeah Red Sox Nation has always known about Triston’s issues, he’s very difficult to coach because he’s unique and stubborn. It takes a good manager to be able to handle him, and unfortunately he doesn’t have one. Yes Casas did change his stance last week, there were side-by-side pictures showing he went back to the same stance as 2023. It’s not a simple solution because the problem is far bigger than most people realize. You have Fatso giving a lot of bad instruction to the hitters, but he’s just carrying out Cora’s orders to swing for the fences on every pitch. As long as the organization continues to push a one-size-fits-all hitting philosophy, the team will continue to struggle.
I totally agree with you on Rafaela, nobody should defend the guy for his boneheaded defense and swing decisions. I’m fine with him as a bench player, but perhaps a demotion to the minors will help him improve his game.
Mayer might be done, his chronic back issue has flared up again and the Sox obviously don’t want to start his service time clock if he’s just gonna sit on the IL. It’s unfortunate the guy can’t stay healthy, he’s got so much talent.
TBH, i think it’s looking like any season Casas gets promoted he’s gonna accrue time on the IL… we’ve got data from 2022, 2023, 2024, and looking like 2025 to support that.
GaSox – I know you meant Mayer ….. must have Casas on the brain ;O)
If I recall correctly, wasn’t that the reason why Mayer fell so much in the draft? Because of health concerns? I thought he was projected to be #1 and ended up falling all the way down to #4 when the Sox took him.
You’re right. I didn’t catch that one. On an earlier comment I actually wrote mondesi instead of mayer as well but at least saw that one.
Off the top of my head I don’t recall where mayer was expected vs wound up. Reality is, so many 1st rounders don’t amount to much anyways, to a point it’s a roll of the dice what some kid amounts to years later. There’s still hope for mayer, but, I stand by my complaint I made nearing 2 years ago or so now that mayer has been slow to develop for his slot/pedigree compared to other high rounders
Well, Casas hurt but I thought it was going to be more of a invisible get your stuff together injured list/regab.
Don’t brag about the AL Central, they have not player each other yet……
Duh….
Likely to affect their records when they play each other…..duh.