Anthony Franco
- Good afternoon, hope you've all had a good week!
- We've got regular season baseball again, exciting times! Let's get rolling
Mad Max
- Thoughts on Cubs and extensions? Comp to Anthony and Red Sox,what percentage can be applied of regret to Armstrong,Anthony,Merrill in 3 years? Which tema takes a step forward due to locking up young talent versus using up a position and payroll?
Anthony Franco
- I'd order them Anthony, Merrill, PCA on value but I'd happily have done any of them if I were the team. The track record on those extensions for high-end position player prospects who find immediate MLB success is pretty good
- If that guy becomes Ronald Acuña or Corbin Carroll, it's one of the three to five most valuable contracts in the game. Even if they go the Michael Harris II or (worse) Ke'Bryan Hayes path, it's not the end of the world. Risk-reward in these cases almost always points to the team being aggressive if the player is willing to sign early
- Cubs ones are a little weird because they follow a different path than the usual early-career extension. Typically a little shorter commitment that buys out one or two free agent years without attaching club options at the back end.
They did something similar with Happ and the first Hoerner deal. It reduces the long-term upside a little bit but they seem to prefer keeping the guarantee comparatively low (PCA would've beaten Merrill money if they went longer)
NL MVP candidates
- Did the MLBTR staff have a chuckle that nobody picked anyone other than Ohtani to win his fourth consecutive NL MVP? Granted the NL might be somewhat light on superstars compared to the AL (Judge, Bobby Witt Jr, Cal Raleigh, Julio, etc)... but nobody thought Juan Soto deserved a nod? He's a 40-40 guy now after all
Anthony Franco
- Ha, we did them all individually. I put mine in last before sending them out but deliberately avoiding looking at anyone else's picks when I wrote them all up. After four or five Ohtani picks, I wondered if it'd be unanimous
- He's so clearly the best player in MLB that I think any of us felt like picking someone else would come off as too contrarian, but I would still take the field. Not like it'd be a huge surprise if Soto, Acuña, Carroll, even Tatis jumped in there
Randy, the destroyer
- Who do you think gets squeezed off the Yankees roster when Volpe returns (assuming everyone stays healthy until then)? Their bench is Goldy, Grichuk, backup C Escarra and Rosario. Do they just drop Grichuk at that point?
Anthony Franco
- They're probably assuming someone's hurt in between (Stanton most likely), but if they avoid any injuries, I'd guess Rosario's the odd man out. Feels a little redundant if you're also carrying Caballero on the bench
- Could also option Volpe if Caballero and all the bench guys are performing. Doubt that's the plan right now but it would preserve all the roster depth and if Volpe looks shaky on the rehab assignment, wouldn't be that hard to justify
To ATL
- I'm a big fan of Ozzie Albies the person, but is he on a short leash if his bat doesn't come to life? .548 OPS in Spring Training, yikes.
Anthony Franco
- Eh I just don't think the Braves believe in Nacho Alvarez at all and I have tough time seeing the argument that even a diminished version of Albies is worse than Jorge Mateo or Kyle Farmer
- The first $7M option was a no-brainer because he played well in the second half and there was the relatively big buyout ($4M). That's not the case for the upcoming option, so I wouldn't be surprised if they move on at the end of the year. Could curtail his playing time once HSK comes back by using Dubón at second, but I don't think Ozzie's getting pushed off the roster in-season
Joe Ryan
- I'm guessing I'm gone shortly after the break. Or are ownership and the FO too directionless to move anyone at the deadline, just like they fumbled the winter?
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