MLBTR Chat Transcript

Steve Adams

• Good afternoon! I’ll get going in a few minutes, but opening the queue now to let people start asking questions.
• Let’s begin!

Bernie Brewer

• Luis Rengifo signed with the brewers the other day. How do you view this fit?

Steve Adams

• I think the fit is fine. I’d have liked to have seen a bigger swing via the trade market, but I have little doubt that the Brewers will find a way to get Rengifo back to decent-ish form. There aren’t many guys who’ve gone there recently and gotten worse, and they’ve helped plenty of players restore their stock in recent years.It’s a cheap deal, and Rengifo was a solid 1.5 to 2 WAR guy for a few years until this past season. They’re probably a win or so better, maybe two, with improved depth and without spending much.

Jays Fan

• Jays could use a righty bat. Mountcastle rumoured to be on the block. Rare inter-division trade perhaps?

Steve Adams

• Don’t know that I’d feel all that confident that he’d outperform Davis Schneider, who has more defensive utility. Plus, Mountcastle would cost Toronto more than $12MM after the luxury tax. I don’t think it’s a great fit.

Mayo

• Would you be willing to trade a prospect like Mayo for an injured prospect with more of a track record? Like Jones from the Pirates

Steve Adams

• I’m a Jared Jones guy and not as bullish on Mayo as a lot of people in general, so I would absolutely give Mayo up to get Jones.I wouldn’t make that swap if I were the Pirates unless they have some reason to think the stuff won’t come all the way back or that Jones is just going to be constantly injured.

Bounty

• QO for Happ after 2026? Suzuki? Both? Neither? I can see an extension for Happ and the Cubs let Suzuki go for the QO

Steve Adams

• Both are easy QO guys for me if their 2026 season looks like their past few years have

James

• Why woild the Dodgers risk losing both Ibánez and Rortvedt while keeping a player like Ward who they wouldnt even give a cup of coffee to last yr when they had injuries? Seems like they dont trust him.

Steve Adams

• The Dodgers only ever wanted Ibanez/Rortvedt to try to pass them through waivers. Signing them both to one-year deals worth just over $1MM apiece was designed expressly to help each guy pass through waivers, knowing he wouldn’t reject an outright assignment upon clearing because doing so would mean forfeiting the guaranteed salary.
• Ward has options and is thus seen as flexible depth, which they don’t want to give up

Cute Lady

• But is Rengfio really that much better than Durbin?

Steve Adams

• He might be worse, but that’s not the point. Milwaukee clearly wanted to get its hands on Harrison and/or Drohan (and probably feels Hamilton’s floor isn’t that far removed from what they expect from Durbin after some ’26 regression)

Bob Casey

• Does the UCL injury to Pablo Lopez get the Twins to make a move and sign pitcher?

Steve Adams

• I could see them signing Giolito or Littell, sure. Their payroll is in the gutter after all the trades.Smaller scale like Tyler Anderson, Jon Gray etc. probably also in play. Doubt it’d be someone like Scherzer, who’s clearly going to be prioritizing playing for a winner.

White Sox

• Could the CWS finish the season in 3rd place or better?

Steve Adams

• Sure. Need some things to break their way, but it’s a young team with lots of upside and the AL Central is a dumpster fire. Cleveland has done literally nothing to get better. Minnesota just lost its best or second-best SP after an offseason of minimal upgrades (and still has no bullpen). Kansas City is … fine? Outfield and 2B still look terrible, though. Lineup is extremely top-heavy, so one notable injury to Bobby Witt and they don’t even look like a surefire .500 club.

Still an A

• Aaron Civale got $6M, Sugano got $5.1, and Quintana got $6M. All got around the same amount. Which pitcher will do the best?

Steve Adams

• I don’t like the landing spot for any of them, but Quintana is the best/most talented pitcher of the bunch for me
• A’s getting Civale for $6MM seems fine though. I assume you’re wondering if they’d have been better off giving that money to Sugano or Quintana.I’d take Civale over Sugano pretty easily, and while I’d prefer Q to Civale, we don’t know that Quintana would’ve been open to signing to play in a minor league stadium which has been a real turnoff for some free agents

Six feet of bubble tape

• Who replaces Tony Clark? Sean Casey? Gordon Bombay?

Steve Adams

• My assumption is that deputy director/lead negotiator Bruce Meyer just steps up. Based on Brent Suter’s comments, it doesn’t sound like they’re going to conduct a big search outside the PA and want to preserve some continuity. Meyer achieves that.

FA

• When do you think Giolito and Littell might sign ?  Any ideas with what teams ? thanks

Steve Adams

• I’d be surprised if either is still unsigned in two weeks. Just connecting the dots, I would imagine Giolito is on the Twins’ radar now. (They probably both are, but Giolito has the higher pedigree, throws harder, etc.)

Bloom

• So Do I make good on finding a decent Right handed hitting outfielder especially with Nootbaar’s health in question or do I roll with what is in Jupiter?

Steve Adams

• There’ll be enough guys bouncing around on waivers, to say nothing of yet-unsigned free agents like Grichuk/Pham, that I feel the Cardinals will bring someone in. Obviously isn’t going to be a huge, marquee acquisition.

Jacob D

• Would Ramon Urias be a good match for the Royals as a non roster invitee?

Steve Adams

• Sure, but he’d be a good fit just about anywhere as an NRI guy. Even on a team with established options at 3B/SS/2B, it’s fine to bring in a guy like Urias on a non-roster deal since you’re only ever one injury away from needing the depth.Fit in KC is maybe a bit better than in other spots, since the bench just looks really, really bad.

Met Ric system

• How do the Tigers fill the void left by the injury to Reece Olson ? Last season of Skubal so it’s now or never.

Steve Adams

• I feel like they sort of already did with the Verlander signing.Their top five is now Skubal, Valdez, Flaherty, Mize and Verlander, with Drew Anderson, Troy Melton, Keider Montero and Sawyer Gipson-Long as decent depth options. Never hurts to throw an NRI at a Wade Miley or Anthony DeSclafani, but the depth in Detroit looks decent as is.

Guest

• Any fits for German Marquez?

Steve Adams

• He’s already a Padre!
  https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2026/02/padres-german-marquez-agree-to-…

Patty O’Furniture

• What is the biggest trade you could realistically see happening between now and Opening Day?

Steve Adams

• Washington moving CJ Abrams for a bucket of prospects?
• I think the Twins will move a left-handed-hitting outfielder (Trevor Larnach?)Still think there’s a 50% or so chance the Cardinals deal JoJo Romero
• Isaac Paredes another candidate for “biggest feasible trade”

Tyler Anderson

• How about a one year deal for me for $2 million to the Twins or A’s?

Steve Adams

• Sure, but for $2MM you could drop Anderson on basically any roster and I’d say “Sure why not?” Haha

Bucs trade

• Bucs send Keller to Baltimore for 3B Westburg and minor leaguer Aloy then sign Littell to take Keller’s spot.  Thoughts?

Steve Adams

• I think if they could’ve gotten Jordan Westburg for Mitch Keller, they’d have done it on day one of the offseason haha. O’s aren’t doing that.

AA

• Am really going into the season with this rotation

Steve Adams

• I still think the Braves will add someone. As Anthony said his chat yesterday, I don’t fully buy the “We’re only looking at guys who’d fit at/near the top of the rotation” stance
• What I would buy is if the Braves were just right up to their budget limit and thus are going to try to piece it together with in-house options.

Snakes

• Lawler a breakout player for the snakes?

Steve Adams

• Breakout hitter, sure. I don’t have much faith he’ll be a good defender anywhere, but if you told me he ends the season as the primary LF who’s like 15 to 20% better than average in the batter’s box, I’d buy it.

Patrick

• What are the rules around trading a player that accepted a QO?

Steve Adams

• Can’t trade a player who accepted a QO without his consent until June 15
• Same as any other free agent signing. The CBA treats a QO like a free agent signing (as it should, since those players have a couple weeks to gauge the open market before determining whether to take that fat one-year deal)

barry bonds

• I think we can all agree that the cardinals have had a horrible offseason

Steve Adams

• I think they had a horrible offseason last winter. This time around, I think they’ve done well, given the organization’s goals.

Twins Guy

• Do you think Twins trade Joe Ryan before the season now that Lopez is out?

Steve Adams

• Nah. Pretty hard for Tom Pohlad to be out here doing semi-regular media appearances saying “We like our team! We’re going to compete!” (I disagree, but hey) … and then immediately say “Ah hell we lost one player, burn it all down”

Rhys H

• Who’s going to sign me?

Steve Adams

• Rhys Hoskins doesn’t even know the answer to this! The GM/president who’s going to eventually sign him probably doesn’t, either, haha.A few landing spots that make sense:

  Nationals, Marlins, Rockies, Guardians

Dodgers are Ruining Basketball

• Is the salary cap inevitable?

Steve Adams

• I’ve long been of the mindset that the opposite is inevitable
• Teams/owners talk a big game, but in the end, they can’t lose a whole season when business is booming like this, when there are so many streaming rights/national broadcast rights up for negotiation in the near future, and when Manfred’s lasting legacy would be “the commissioner who oversaw the first loss of games in nearly four decades after calling the World Series trophy a ’piece of metal,'” haha
• If the MLBPA were going to go out and bring in someone new to run the ship in the wake of Clark’s resignation, I’d say maybe that changes my stance.But Brent Suter (executive subcomittee member) has already said they’ll name an interim head and prioritize continuity. If it’s Bruce Meyer taking over, he’s fully aligned with Clark in his “any talk of a cap is a complete nonstarter” mindset.

Ebenezer_Batflip

• Which Red Sox OF has the best season, Anthony, Abreu or Ceddanne? Bonus option for Duran

Steve Adams

• Roman Anthony is going to have a better season than most people, including those on all 29 other teams.
• I’m fully on board the hype train. He’s a monster.

Rox Optimist

• Out of the Rox FA signings this offseason, which one do you predict ends up having the most worth as a trade candidate?

Steve Adams

• Willi Castro and then Jose Quintana

Fire cashman and sell the team

• Dominguez Volpe and a pick for Skenes who say no

Steve Adams

• The Pirates say no to everything involving Skenes.

Nico Hoerner

• What would it take for me to sign an extension? I’ve seen 5/$90 floating out there but that feels like an obvious win for the Cubs

Steve Adams

• Anthony wrote about this at length last week:
  https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2026/02/ballparking-a-nico-hoerner-exte…

Joe

• Am I wrong that the Reds need a better corner outfielder? Steer is good but they could have done better than Bleday or Meyers, right?

Steve Adams

• Yeah I’d have preferred a better option than Bleday — and I say that as the guy on the staff here who seems to “like” Bleday more than the others (I don’t think he’s especially good, I just think there’s a chance he’s a reasonably serviceable 1.5 to 2 WAR guy)

G

• w does Skubal winning arbitration do to what Skenes could possibly get

Steve Adams

• Nothing until Skenes is also in his final year of arbitration eligibility

Ken from Steel City

• Do you see any teams taking a flyer on a Suwinski trade? Do you think the Pirates will find a suitor for Bart? If so, what would the return be?

Steve Adams

• I was surprised they even tendered him a contract. I guess I could see the Astros giving up cash to get him or something, since they really want a cheap LHH OF, but I can’t imagine he’s netting a player after hitting .169/.271/.297 over the past two MLB seasons. Even while he was putting up big rate stats in AAA last year, he was doing so with a 30% strikeout rate.
• Bart … shrug. I think most teams just few him as a backup with a hint of upside. Better than a total journeyman but probably not someone you’re starting for 70+ games without some notable injuries driving it.

Taylor57

• Friars appear to have a jog jam at 1b. Who is the odd man out? I don’t see France going back to El Paso.

Steve Adams

• Yeah I figure France just plays there during camp then opts out/asks for his release to sign with a better fit late in camp

Astros OF

• are there any NRI depth options the astros can sign? i was disappointed to see tauchman sign with the mets. astros need OF help desperately, right?

Steve Adams

• Conforto? Verdugo? Winker? All LHH OFs who haven’t signed yet

The bigger they are,

• I forget who but someone from MLBTR threw out some amusing “wild” takes for the upcoming season on a chat a few weeks back, and one of them was that neither Ohtani nor Judge will win MVP this year. Do you agree?

Steve Adams

• Tim was asked to come up with some “hot takes” in a recent mailbag, and he prefaced it by saying he doesn’t necessarily think any of those things are certain, he was just listing some unlikely opinions that he feels are plausible.If I had to bet on at least one of Judge or Ohtani winning, I would say that’s likely, of course. But not excessively so. Judge barely ousted Raleigh last year. Both he and Ohtani have notable injury histories. It’s not hard to see a scenario where neither wins an MVP.

Matt

• Even without Pablo, the Twins still have a lot of SP options and LHH OF (plus a clear need for a RHH IF bat). Does a SWR, Larnach, and Alex Jackson package get a deal done for Paredes?

Steve Adams

• I wouldn’t consider that enough of an upgrade to move Paredes
• Woods Richardson is a fourth/fifth starter. Larnach probably should’ve been non-tendered. Jackson is a third catcher.

Girsch

• How does MLB assuming local distribution rights affect teams’ financials?

Steve Adams

• They get less money than they would have under the RSN deals, but it varies from situation to situation.

Blue

• What’s the deal with Walker Buehler signed “minor” league? No team was interested in him?

Steve Adams

• Stuff is down considerably compared to where it was before his second Tommy John. He has a 5.10 ERA, 17% strikeout rate and 10% walk rate over his past 40 MLB appearances / 201 innings.I wouldn’t have given Buehler a 40-man roster spot, either. (Though I figured someone would give him like $5-6MM based on name value, admittedly)

Kris Bryant

• Do you think Kris Bryant will play baseball again or is his back issues just gonna be too much to recover from. I’ve got the same thing he was diagnosed with. Back pain at 34(when my tissues started) now 40 are no joke.

Steve Adams

• I tend to lean no, especially after some comments he made this morning. Which is a shame. Everyone will poke fun at the contract, and that’ll be the legacy for now, but man, what a great player early in his career. That he’s been reduced to this at a still-young age by a chronic condition that’s probably going to impact him for the rest of his life is just an abject bummer.

Ortiz

• Clase is toast, any chance I pitch again?

Steve Adams

• Doubt either ever throws a pitch in the majors (or minors) again

Tterb Ytab

• Thoughts on Brett Baty?

Steve Adams

• Nice solid regular — not a star but maybe winds up with an All-Star nod or two in his career since he’s talented enough to put together a real nice first half and get some fan support.

Sid

• Who gets more playing time this season, Mark Vientos or Matt Shaw?

Steve Adams

• There’s an easier path for Vientos to hit his way into a notable role on the Mets’ roster, even if everyone’s healthy, than there is for Shaw in Chicago. So I’d lean toward him, but obviously it just takes one injury for Bregman or Hoerner for Shaw to be in an everyday role.
• Or a Swanson injury, since Hoerner would slide to SS and Shaw would play 2B

M’s Fan

• If one of the top five starting pitchers for the M’s goes down in Spring Training, do they run out Hancock or roll the dice early with Anderson?

Steve Adams

• Kade Anderson didn’t even throw a professional pitch after being drafted last season! Love the optimism, haha, but it’d be Hancock, Dane Dunning or Cooper Criswell
• (Or an additional signing … Zack Littell, Tyler Anderson, Jon Gray, etc.)

Schanuel

• Do I develop any power throughout the next few years?

Steve Adams

• He’s never been projected to hit for power, and his batted-ball metrics thus far in the majors are … well, they’re not great.

Guest

• Who will be the Giant’s 4th Outfielder (or 5th) and who gets traded seeing Matos and Encarnacion are both out of options?

Steve Adams

• Drew Gilbert or Will Brennan are probably ahead of both? To your point, I have a hard time seeing both Matos and Encarnacion make the roster. I think there’s a chance they’re both off the roster by camp’s end.

I Pika-Choose U

• Does Cleveland know it’s almost time for baseball to start?

Steve Adams

• Hard to find a team that had a worse offseason. Maybe their ownership group thought the lockout started *this* winter.

Park M

• You’ve mentioned Jon Gray a couple times but won’t he be out for a while due to TOS?

Steve Adams

• Oh true. I just had our remaining free agent list pulled up and listed him a couple times off the cuff. Wasn’t thinking about his specific timetable. I haven’t heard when he’ll be ready or even if he plans to continue pitching — he was noncommittal last year — so I could’ve been using a better arbitrary example in those cases, oops. Can we pretend I said, I don’t know, Patrick Corbin instead? Haha
• Alright I’ve got to wrap up for the week. I’m on X @Adams_Steve and Bluesky @adams-steve.bsky.social for more questions.If you want more opinions, analysis, etc. from the MLBTR team, you can sign up for our subscription service, which includes two weekly subscriber-only chats, exclusive articles (including Tim’s weekly mailbag), access to our Contract Tracker, agency database, GM database, ad-free viewing, fantasy advice and more.

  Thanks for chatting, everyone!