Trade Rumors Front Office Subscriber Chat Transcript

Steve Adams

• Good afternoon! Hope the weekend treated everyone well. I'll get going around 2:30pm CT, but as usual, feel free to send in questions ahead of time!
• Hey there -- just over two weeks until Opening Day! Let's get going

David

• Hi there!  Is it true that an extension signed during the season doesn’t increase the AAV that year?  So, if the Mets were to extend Freddy Peralta it would make financial sense, considering the tax hit, to wait till the season begins?

Steve Adams

• The timing doesn't matter -- it's the manner in which it's structured. If the Mets wanted to avoid taking on more luxury tax hits in 2026, they could keep Peralta's salary as is by adhering to the prior contract but set up the extension as a new contract. Doing so means a larger AAV and larger hits in subsequent seasons, though.Garrett Crochet's Boston deal comes to mind as a recent example of someone who went that route.

Ewitkows

• Who's the opening day 3B for the Brewers?

Steve Adams

• I just started typing a much longer reply than necessary because I somehow read that as asking who's starting at 3B for the Red Sox (Caleb Durbin!) -- apologies, ha
• For the Brewers it'll almost certainly be Rengifo. They're not displacing Turang at 2B, so you'll get Ortiz at SS for the glove and Rengiffo at 3B after they signed him to the big league deal

Lefty

• Giants lack of proven bullpen commodities is a given. But you never know with relievers. If their patchwork collection of unheralded prospects (Harris, Bednar), non roster FA's (Santos, Fulmer), and mediocre returning arms (Walker, Butto etc) can surprise and be a  middle-of-the-pack bullpen, are the Giants a solid wild card candidate?

Steve Adams

• It doesn't take a ton to be in Wild Card contention midseason, so i think they can hang within arm's reach. But even beyond the bullpen -- which is bad and a major concern -- I think the rotation depth is just underwhelming. I didn't like the Houser/Mahle pairing at the back of the staff. It's all extremely dependent on Logan Webb continuing to stay healthy.
• Bottom third or so of the lineup and the bench look bleak, too. A lot can change for most teams if just two to three role players step up ... but the Giants feel like they'll need more than two or three surprise contributors who exceed expectations.

Emmet Sheehan

• Hi Steve do you think I have a role in the dodgers rotation. What about Roky, stone, and Ryan?

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