Anthony Franco
- Good afternoon everyone, hope you've had a good week! Another one that I'll keep around an hour as we put the finishing touches on offseason prep, let's get rolling
Guest
- The Yankees need both rotation and bullpen help but I believe the offense is their biggest need. I would love to see them sign Tucker but find that unlikely. So, if not Tucker then who? Thanks as always for the chats!
Anthony Franco
- I don't see why Tucker wouldn't be in play unless you're assuming they re-sign Bellinger before Tucker comes off the board. I wouldn't rule them out on any free agent hitters really
- First base might be tough because they've got Rice internally and can't use the DH spot. Beyond that, any outfielder seems viable. They could make a run at Bichette and trade Jazz, or just roll with a Bo/Jazz middle infield tandem for a year and make Volpe play his way back into an everyday role
Snelling
- Snell said the Jays got lucky. Was he just making excuses for a unsuccessful performance?
Anthony Franco
- I mean, it obviously wasn't a great performance. He gave up homers on two of the first three pitches and issued four walks. It's also true that he would've had 6 2/3 innings of three-run ball with seven strikeouts if Edgardo Henriquez had done his job behind him, which doesn't look nearly as bad as five earned runs do
Yes. Savage.
- 12Ks. No walks. Still a rookie next year. How amazing was that outting? Also, does make Trey the default prediction for rookie of the year next year?
Anthony Franco
- Of course it would not have mattered because this was happening on the other side of the ball
- I don't know that I'd pick Yesavage to win ROY over Kevin McGonigle or something, but yeah, incredible performance. Insane that the dude was in A-ball a few months ago
DJ Clutch
- How would you resolve the weird roster jam the Astros are facing for position players? Is it ridiculous to think Correa could handle 2nd if Paredes can't?
Anthony Franco
- I don't see why Correa couldn't play second base. It'd still be a weird logjam because you need Paredes at third with Yordan/Altuve splitting LF without the fallback of moving Altuve back to second if he's still bad in the outfield
- I think they just need to eat part of the Walker deal and move on
Dipoto
- I'm wondering how you see the 1st base market developing in free agency this offseason. Will I be able to keep Naylor? If I can't, how will the two Japanese 1B/3B coming over impact the marketplace and what's a reasonable cost estimate for Okamoto?
Anthony Franco
- Yeah I don't think they'd be so openly putting out there that they want to keep Naylor if they weren't serious about making a competitive offer. Payroll's going to be up a little bit from where they opened last season (as it should be) and they could hear teams out on Castillo again
- I can't imagine they'd pay Murakami. I think we're going to end up with Okamoto at four years in the $60M range. Tim seems open to the possibility that he pushes to five years, which I don't see at his age. If Okamoto turns out to be a four-year deal guy, Seattle should probably just pay the few extra million annually to get Naylor done
Michael
- Gleyber Torres to Washington make any sense?
Anthony Franco
- Eh, they need to do better than García but I don't think Gleyber's netting them much at the deadline and they're still rebuilding
- If he takes something similar to this year's 1/15, I'd rather just spend that money on a starter who has a better shot to be an in-demand trade chip. You'll be able to pitch starters to almost every contender in July but there'll only be a couple teams that want a second baseman without defensive flexibility
- And if Gleyber commands three-plus years, I wouldn't be a fan of it for any team
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