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Chat With MLBTR's Steve Adams: 10/16/18
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Steve Adams
3:07
'Tis Tuesday, and thus, 'tis chat day.
3:08
Let us commence another joyous gathering centered around my inane commentary and room-temperature takes.
Greg
3:09
Will MadBum and Arenado be on the trading block?
Steve Adams
3:10
I think there's a much better chance of Bumgarner being moved than Arenado, but I still have a tough time seeing Giants ownership sign off on a rebuild regardless of who the new GM is.

Arenado is tougher to see since the Rox were just in the NLDS and will want to reload/try again in his final season of control.
Bryce Harper
3:10
That Cardinal team would look really good with me hitting in the #3 hole for the next 7-10 years.
Steve Adams
3:10
Probably, but I think Harper is going to sign for 12-14 years at way more money than the Cardinals would care to bid.
Hong Kong Phooey
3:11
What are the chances Cleveland trades one of their SPs to fix outfield/bullpen? Who would you guess?
Steve Adams
3:13
If they moved anyone it'd be Salazar, I'd wager, but I don't think he'd necessarily net an instant fix in either area. Would rather just see them put him in a short relief role and leave him there. I think you're looking at a Kluber/Carrasco/Bauer/Clevinger/Bieber rotation next year; finding OF help is way, way easier than finding above-average rotation pieces.
Andrew
3:13
Would Harper ever sign a one year deal hoping to hit better thus increasing his value for a larger contract starting in 2020?
Steve Adams
3:13
He doesn't need to. He'll sign a record-setting contract this winter.
Baby Braves II
3:13
AA kept cards close to his chest, but do you see them moving on from Markakis and Suzuki and finding younger guys to fill those spots?
Steve Adams
3:15
I think they'll let Suzuki move on. Anthopoulos is coming from a Dodgers front office (and a Jays front office before that) which heavily emphasized pitch-framing, and Zuk just isn't that good there. It's also probably a large part of why they extended Flowers.

I think the Braves will be in the Grandal market. Markakis I could see if his market doesn't really take off and he's sitting there for a one-year deal in February, but I'd expect them to aim higher. (Brantley? McCutchen?)

Essentially, I didn't take AA's comments to suggest that they wouldn't sign any free agents -- just that fans should put aside the Harper/Machado pipe dreams.
Andrew
3:15
Is Forrest Whitley a starter next year in Houston?
Steve Adams
3:16
At some point, yeah. Probably not to open the season.
Chatwood
3:16
Any bad contracts out there that match up with mine?  A change of scenery would be nice since I am no longer in the Cubs plans
Steve Adams
3:16
Think I've suggested Melancon in the past in these. Money works out well enough. Giants could use rotation depth, Cubs are always looking to deepen the 'pen
Adam
3:17
This may be an overreaction but I feel like Grandal has cost himself a few million dollars over the last week. Do you think having a historically bad postseason series will have a significant effect on his next contract?
Steve Adams
3:19
I say it every time it comes up -- no. Not unless he's injured. Darvish's World Series didn't really hurt him. Daniel Murphy's outrageous postseason didn't push him to some $75MM player like I saw suggested by some outlets (perhaps with some nudging from his reps).

In the age of analytics, where everything is looked at from a big picture standpoint with small sample sizes largely ignored, no one's going to care that Grandal had a week-long slump. It happens.
Hong Kong Phooey
3:19
Chances Morton and Keuchel take the QO? If they do, does that change Houston’s offseason?
Steve Adams
3:20
Morton I can see, since he's unsure how long he wants to play and will be selective about his destination in free agency anyway. No way on Keuchel.
That Girl
3:20
Hi Steve, do you think the Reds will dump Homer Bailey?
Steve Adams
3:20
If they were going to do it, they'd have done it by now. I imagine they'll shop him and try to flip him for another bad contract this winter, and if that fails, he'll be on a reasonably short (6-8 weeks?) leash next season
Mark
3:21
The rangers are a year away from opening their stadium.  Why not splurge in free agency now (Gallo's childhood friend for instance) so they fill the stadium in 2020?
Steve Adams
3:21
Because buying a team in the manner you're suggesting rarely works and would probably be to the organization's detriment in the long run. Plus, people will turn out for a new stadium for awhile even if the team sucks.
John
3:22
Ottavino to Boston seems like a perfect fit no?
Steve Adams
3:22
Ottavino to a lot of places seems like a good fit. He's among the best free-agent relievers out there.
Schwarber
3:23
Do i get moved to the AL this off season?
Steve Adams
3:23
His defense improved pretty substantially. If he's moved, I don't think other clubs will view him as a strict DH anymore.
Troy C
3:23
Any chance Pujols announces this is his last year? Angels play @ STL this year and think it would be a great way to end it.
Steve Adams
3:24
He'd be walking away from $59MM if he left after 2019. I don't think there's any reason to expect that he'd do that, unless he suffered some kind of injury that rendered him unable to play (e.g. Prince Fielder, David Wright)
Kenny Williams
3:25
The old man isn’t getting any younger. Think we can talk him into opening the vault this off season?
Steve Adams
3:26
I think the White Sox would've been more apt to spend if they'd seen more from Lopez/Giolito/Moncada and if Kopech hadn't blown out his arm. They'll probably make some mid-scale investments (as they did last winter with Castillo), but I have a harder time seeing them pursue something larger.

They do certainly have a squeaky clean payroll outlook that could fit a Harper or Machado, but the ChiSox have (somewhat shockingly) never given out a contract bigger than Abreu's $68MM deal. Hard to expect them to go spend 5-6x that on one player.
Jack
3:27
Is Flaherty worth keeping in fantasy? is he legit?
Steve Adams
3:29
He's probably in for some ERA regression due to the so-so control, some good fortune on balls in play and a fair bit of hard contact allowed. But the strikeouts are real, and there's always the chance that he improves his control/command. I think he's a comfortably sub-4.00 guy next year pretty safely, and if his control takes a step forward then he could come a lot closer to repeating this year's ratios.
Matthew
3:29
What's up with the Pirates are they buyers or sellers?  Do you think they field offers on Marte or Dickerson?
Steve Adams
3:33
They don't need to be one or the other, and really haven't fit neatly into one of those buckets in a long time. They're always going to be extending their control of players to secure them at below-market rates, even if the final few years of those contracts are more costly than they'd prefer to pay. And when they reach that point where they're beyond their comfort zone, the contracts will generally tend to have value to other clubs.

They're going to add some cost-effective pieces and probably look to shed some more expensive pieces. I can definitely see them fielding offers on Dickerson, though with one more year of control and an $8.4MM projection, he won't have much in the way of trade value.
Marte will only be earning $10MM next season and has more defensive and baserunning value, so he's probably less likely to be shopped.
Paul Paul Mesa
3:33
Does MLBTR have any plans to add an IFA tracker? We need to be able to follow along with how much money the Marlins can spend on Victor Victor
Steve Adams
3:36
No, because teams sign dozens of players that never even go reported or announced, with bonuses ranging from a couple thousand dollars to a few hundred thousand. Tracking a team's bonus pool is nearly impossible.

But to your question, the Marlins had a reported $4.3MM before adding $1.5MM combined between the Barraclough/Lillie trades, so today's $500K puts them at $6.3MM, which at this point is more than the O's have to offer.
Andrew
3:36
Who pitches better next year, Wheeler or Thor?
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