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 discuss…
- The Blue Jays and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. agreeing to a $500MM extension (1:10)
- How will this impact impending free agents like Kyle Tucker or Pete Alonso? (11:10)
- The Padres extending Jackson Merrill (14:10)
- The Red Sox extending Kristian Campbell (24:10)
- The Diamondbacks extending Ketel Marte (34:10)
- The Red Sox trading Quinn Priester to the Brewers (37:40)
Plus, we answer your questions, including…
- Can the promotions of Chase Dollander and Zac Veen give the Rockies some hope? (45:55)
- Has Spencer Torkelson of the Tigers figured out how to hit again? (50:10)
Check out our past episodes!
- Garrett Crochet’s Extension, Problems In Atlanta, And Other Early-Season Storylines – listen here
- What We Learned From The Offseason – listen here
- The Rays’ Stadium Deal Is Dead, Rangers’ Rotation Issues, And More! – 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 Nick Turchiaro, Imagn Images
As soon as merrill & marte signed extensions they both ended up on DL
This is an accurate statement.
Going to disagree a bit on Vlad Jr and the Blue Jays. They certainly could just tear it down and rebuild even with Vlad signed for 14 years. He is just 26 right now and prime years tend to be 28-32 so they could very easily tear down and rebuild and still be competitive during Vlad Jr’s prime.
They tried to compete with old guys in 2017 and 2018, and were able to rebuild with just one down season (2019, Vlad Jr’s debut). The farm system was ranked 23rd in 2018, jumped to 5th by 2019, and they were back in the playoffs in 2020. Rebuilds can be really fast sometimes. But you never know if those impact prospects will materialize or how many years they’ll need. It’s a risk, but so is hoping an older team can be fixed.
Also, on Tork. He has made some changes to his stance that has helped him a lot. Small sample size qualifier noted. But this was a move to be more athletic and less “stiff’ in the box. Baseball Savant has a new tool on batter box stances and this article (below) outlines some of the hitters who have made some significant changes, including Tork.
mlb.com/news/biggest-batting-stance-changes-in-202…
Yes, it’s early and small sample size bs… but is anyone saying he’s going to continue to be a 200 OPS+ with .300/.400/.650 splits? No, definitely not… but he obviously isn’t the .219/ .295/ .374 split guy we saw in 2024. He’s only 25 and he’s learning on the fly after being rushed through the minors. Tork will be an above average hitting 1B for quite a while.
I think it was Trevor Plouffe who was saying on a podcast that MLB players will face adversity when they are brought up and if they can adjust and have success, then they can have long careers. Some guys get called up and smacked in the face and can’t figure out what to do and they become AAAA players.
Chipper Jones was saying when he went into a slump, he would go back to the basics and just try and make contact and look for hitting singles. He would build up confidence and then attack the ball more trying to crush it. He said some times he could feel it during batting practice… some times it took a couple games to get the confidence back.
IRT Tork, he is still on pace for 229 Ks per 600 ABs. I think 30+ HRs is very doable, but with very few other contributions.