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Front Office Subscriber Chat Transcript

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MLBTR’s Anthony Franco held a live chat, exclusively for Trade Rumors Front Office subscribers. Anthony took questions on Pete Alonso, Bo Bichette, Luis Severino, Trevor Williams' trade value, the middling AL West, Clay Holmes' free agent value and much more.

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Danny Jansen Is Pulling Away From The Rest Of Next Winter’s Catching Class

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Last offseason's free agent catching class was very weak. Only three players received a multi-year deal, all of which checked in at two years. Mitch Garver is more of a designated hitter, while Tom Murphy and Victor Caratini are backups. There wasn't a top target for teams looking to the open market for a #1 option.

Next winter's group looks similarly light, with one exception. It's comprised mostly by players in their mid-30s who are generally better suited for backup roles. Yet unlike last winter, there's one player emerging as the clear top of the class. Danny Jansen has been a very good player for the last three years. He has taken things up another level through this season's first couple months. If he can stay healthy, he'll be well-positioned for the top free agent catching contract since Willson Contreras topped $87MM two years ago.

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Fantasy Baseball: Leveraging Splits For Targeted Streaming

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Hello friends.

At the end of April, we took a peek at one of my favorite subjects, honing in on team performances vs pitcher handedness splits, trying to identify the teams to start taking advantage of, and those we should maybe try to avoid.

TL;DR

Streaming against bad teams is usually obvious but what kind of pitchers different teams do poorly against isn't always so straightforward. Teams can be bad vs both hands or good vs both hands but sometimes there is a big gap between LHP/RHP results and that's the space where you can often find advantages. While your league-mates are simply avoiding good offenses and/or targeting bad ones, we can hone in with more specificity and leverage less obvious plays.

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Tim Dierkes’ MLB Mailbag: Boras Four, Cubs, Blue Jays, Gambling

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I'm back for this week's mailbag!  We've got questions on the Boras Four, the Cubs' plan at catcher, available righty relievers, Juan Soto's defense, the Blue Jays' offense, the recent gambling suspensions, my one-third award picks, and much more.

Doug asks:

Do you think that front offices will feel even more compelled to depress free agent salaries after all of the prolonged drama about "The Boras Four" and none of those players panning out to be very good? Will any of Chapman, Bellinger, Snell, or Montgomery opt out of their contract?

Owners and players will be diametrically opposed on player salaries until the end of time, or at least until the end of Major League Baseball.  But to your point, it stands to reason that if the early performance of the late-signing Boras pitchers holds up, more front offices will be wary of giving big AAVs to hurlers signing well into spring training, even on short-term deals.

Blake Snell has been terrible, and since debuting April 8th has separate IL stints for adductor and groin strains.  Snell recently told reporters, "The one thing I would say is that big-league spring training, you need it. You have to go to spring training. I hope teams see that. I don’t know what [Jordan] Montgomery is doing, but I bet it’s tough for him."

Montgomery, who expressed a similar sentiment, sits at a 5.48 ERA after eight starts, with the worst strikeout rate of his career.

Some pitchers have succeeded after signing late, notably Ervin Santana signing on 3-12-14 and putting up a 3.2 WAR season for the Braves.  But both Snell and Montgomery signed later than Santana did, and most examples show pitchers struggling without a normal spring training.

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Live Chat With Fantasy Baseball Expert Nicklaus Gaut

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Fantasy baseball expert Nicklaus Gaut will be holding a live chat today at 11am central time, exclusively with Trade Rumors Front Office subscribers. Use the link below to ask a question in advance, participate in the live event, and read the transcript afterward.

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Front Office Subscriber Chat Transcript

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MLBTR’s Anthony Franco held a live chat today exclusively for Trade Rumors Front Office subscribers. Anthony took questions on the Yankees' deadline needs, outfield trade possibilities for the Royals, Bo Bichette and Vladimir Guerrero Jr., the Diamondbacks' slow start, Tarik Skubal's dominance, Aaron Judge's potential Hall of Fame track and the Cy Young candidacies of star closers Emmanuel Clase and Mason Miller.

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MLB Mailbag: Rooker, Miller, AL Central, Cubs, Sosa, Jays, Pitching Trends

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I'm pinch-hitting for MLBTR owner Tim Dierkes for this week's edition of the MLBTR Mailbag. This week, we'll look at Brent Rooker's trade candidacy, Mason Miller's long-term role, a host of AL Central topics, the Cubs' recent offensive woes, and what could be a tricky deadline full of difficult decisions for the Blue Jays. Let's get into it!

Nathan asks:

Which teams will be most interested in adding Brent Rooker's DH/LF bat and is there any reason for the A's to hold on to him past July?

When I think of any team needing outfield help, recency bias immediately pops the Braves into my head, but the Royals are also among the teams in most dire need of a competent bat in a dismal outfield mix.

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Fantasy Baseball: A Tale Of Two Months

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With summer almost upon us and spring slipping away, so too do our excuses for why our players are under or overproducing what we expected when drafting them. Saying, "It's still just May" is perfectly sane but the deeper into summer you use the excuse of time, the more you're probably fooling yourself. Since (nearly) two months are now in the books, let's cleave this early part of the season into two and see what we can see.

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Where Can The Braves Go For Outfield Help?

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In a season with a number of high-profile injuries, there has been no bigger loss than Ronald Acuña Jr. The defending NL MVP tore the ACL in his left knee over the weekend. It's the second time in the last four years that an ACL tear (in separate knees) has ended his season a few months early.

There's obviously no way of replacing Acuña with anyone close to the same caliber of player. The Braves will likely need to add to the corner outfield in some form over the next two months, though. Gabe Burns of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution tweeted yesterday that the Acuña injury will push each of Adam Duvall and Jarred Kelenic into an everyday role. That's not an ideal position for a team trying to hang with the Phillies at the top of the NL East.

Atlanta bought low on Kelenic over the winter. The former top prospect still hasn't shown any sign of a legitimate breakout. He has a roughly average .258/.305/.383 batting line over 128 plate appearances. Kelenic's 31.3% strikeout rate is still much too high, and he's walking less often (6.3% of the time) than he did during his final season in Seattle. He can hit the ball hard, but he's still swinging and missing far too frequently. The Braves have also completely shielded him from left-handed pitching. That'll no longer be the case if he's playing everyday, and he's a .188/.252/.307 hitter in 301 career plate appearances against southpaws.

Duvall returned to Atlanta on a $3MM free agent deal midway through Spring Training. His profile is well-established at this point. He hits for power and plays solid defense in the corner outfield. That'll come with low on-base marks and underwhelming strikeout and walk numbers. Duvall has dramatically cut his swing-and-miss in 99 plate appearances this year, but that's largely attributable to the Braves leveraging him heavily against left-handed pitching as Kelenic's platoon partner. Duvall has 14 strikeouts and one walk in 39 plate appearances against righties. At age 35, it seems fair to presume he hasn't suddenly found a new level of plate discipline.

Let's run through a few of the likelier possible trade targets for president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos and the Atlanta front office.

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Live Chat With Fantasy Baseball Expert Nicklaus Gaut

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Fantasy baseball expert Nicklaus Gaut will be holding a live chat today at 11am central time, exclusively with Trade Rumors Front Office subscribers. Use the link below to ask a question in advance, participate in the live event, and read the transcript afterward.

Unlock Subscriber-Exclusive Articles Like This One With a Trade Rumors Front Office Subscription

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  • Access weekly subscriber-only articles by Tim Dierkes, Steve Adams, and Anthony Franco.
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