Front Office Subscriber Chat Transcript

Anthony Franco

• Hey everyone, hope you've had a good week!
• Will need to keep this one right around an hour because Steve's not feeling well and this afternoon has been crazy. Let's get rolling

Bucs fan

• Please evaluate the trade from the Pirates perspective

Ben Cherrington

• WAIT!  WAS THAT REALLY ME?

Anthony Franco

• Might as well start with thoughts on the trades since they're top of mind
• I really like the three-team deal for everyone involved. Probably most favorable for it on Pittsburgh's end though. Lowe's a massive offensive upgrade and I'm still very much in on Montgomery even though this year was a disappointment
• There's probably only a 20% chance that Montgomery throws enough strikes to click to his full potential, but if he does, it's top 10 reliever in MLB type stuff. As a developmental second piece, absolutely in on that
• Mangum's a fine extra outfielder. Never really been in on him as a prospect but he's already carved out a better pro career than I assumed he'd have based on the limited physical tools
• I like Burrows quite a bit but they needed to trade a starter for offense and he was always the one who offered the best blend of real trade value without the huge ceiling of Ashcraft, Jones, Chandler etc.
• The Astros needed a cheap mid-rotation arm and got it without giving up Meyers or Cam Smith. I'm lowest on it from the Rays perspective relatively speaking, but they'll be able to get an immediate look at Melton and must love Brito, since he reportedly came up when they were kicking around Baz with Houston. I think it works for all involved

MattStats5

• Orioles need arms, and Baz is a solid pick up. Seems like an overpay to me, though. Your thoughts?

Anthony Franco

• Yeah, this one I just prefer from Tampa Bay's end. I get the appeal with three years of control over Baz but the inconsistency, middling command, and injury history give me enough pause that I would not have gone as far as Baltimore did
• Baltimore needed a starter who has upper mid-rotation ceiling and Baz provides that. I don't know what the ask would have been with Miami on Cabrera or if Gore was feasible given the organizational history, but I'd rather have either of those pitchers than Baz

Mariners

• Do you think this happened because Pittsburgh was told they were out on either Marte or Donovan?

Anthony Franco

• They could still make either of those guys work by using Lowe at DH or kicking Donovan around the diamond, but I never felt like Pittsburgh was the top landing spot for either one
• You've got the intra-division complications with STL. I still remain skeptical that the D-Backs are trading Marte despite all the smoke and even if they do, that's a pretty big contract by Pirates standards to take on while giving up a ton of young pitching talent

Philly A's

• The Phillies trading Strahm is confusing, $7.5m isnt really that much of a salary dump.

Anthony Franco

• Agreed. Felt like they were determined to trade one of the lefty reliever (ideally him) for reasons that were never entirely clear to me
• The velocity has trended down so maybe they just think he's cooked, but like you mentioned, the $7.5M salary is fine. Bowlan was pretty good this year and maybe they build him back into a swing role?

Al

• How likely is it that Jordan Walker will be traded?

Anthony Franco

• I don't see the point of doing it this winter, value is way down. I'd give him one more shot

Bob T.

• It appears that the Angels are following the same script as the last ten plus years. They are still in the same boat as before the Winter Meetings. They still need a CF, 2B, 3B another starter or more and a closer.
  will Arte loosen the purse strings or is this the team he intends to field. I can see 100 losses this season. Thoughts?

Anthony Franco

• They've got enough payroll space even relative to last season that I think they'll at least come away with a third baseman and another leverage reliever
• That's still not enough but I'll say that within those restrictions, I'm a little more bullish on the Rodriguez, Manoah and Grissom dice rolls than I have been on their buy-low candidates of the previous few years

Bill

• All of the Braves projected needs seem  to have been addressed except for a starter, whom do you think is likely in the remaining group?
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