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Chat With MLBTR's Steve Adams: 3/13/20
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Steve Adams
11:20
Greetings all. It's an unprecedented time that's left everyone with plenty of questions that lack good answers. Given the lack of spring games and more conventional baseball news this morning, I felt it'd be worthwhile to open up a chat to address things like how MLBTR will function in the weeks to come, talk a bit about the sudden shutdown and, of course, answer some more traditional questions about extensions, trades, etc. in an effort to offer a brief distraction from a very eerie time
WhiteSoxFan33
11:20
How will the shortened/postponed season affect service time for players like Madrigal?
Steve Adams
11:21
I doubt if the league has hammered out exactly how this will happen. A shortened season means that no player would be able to get the requisite 172 days required for a full "year" of service. The league and the union will have to come to some kind of agreement on what constitutes a full year in a shortened season.
11:22
Obviously, it would be unfair to Madrigal if he came up a week after Opening Day -- whenever that is -- and still couldn't get a year of service.
Baseball Fan
11:22
Do you think MLB delay there season longer than 2 weeks?
Steve Adams
11:24
I think that's inevitable, frankly. The speed with which this accelerated even over the course of a 24-hour period should underscore that we really have no clue where things will stand in a couple of weeks. I imagine that come March 26 -- the originally scheduled Opening Day -- we might be looking back thinking it was naive to believe we could have baseball (or any sporting event/mass public gathering) in early May.
Ranger's fan
11:25
Is it just spring training games or all activities shut down?  How will pitchers, for example, ramp back up after a shut down?
Steve Adams
11:27
For the time being, MLB has asked players to stay at their spring locales and only travel home for extreme circumstances -- that's at the suggestion of health experts with whom the league has consulted, per an MLB memo. It sounds like players will continue to work out, participate in simulated and/or intrasquad games, etc. over the initial course of the shutdown. But, as you alluded to, it may become problematic for pitchers if the season is delayed longer than the initial two weeks. Each team will handle that differently, but I imagine we'll see a lot of pitchers scale back and perhaps ramp back up again once we get a clearer picture of when Opening Day will actually take place.
Team payroll dept
11:27
Do the Players still get Paid during the Delay ?
Steve Adams
11:30
Even they're wondering the answer to that. Jason Kipnis indicated that they're uncertain about that themselves. That, along with the service time issue, will be a hotly contested debate between labor and ownership, I assume. You can bet the owners won't be keen on paying out millions in salary at a time when their revenue is effectively halted, but there's no way the union will just accept that.

It'll be particularly stressful for minor leaguers -- many of whom are barely even played a livable wage in the first place.
Words
11:30
how will MLBTR function in the weeks to come?
Steve Adams
11:34
For the time being, the plan is for Trade Rumors to continue covering all 4 sports as we normally would at our 4 sites -- MLBTR, Hoops Rumors, Pro Hockey Rumors and Pro Football Rumors. (It's obviously least problematic for Zach and his crew over at PFR.)

We'll be updating on all elements of how the Coronavirus will continue to impact the game and providing as much information on that as possible. We'll continue our Offseason Review series and perhaps do a bit more forward-looking pieces... early looks at next year's free-agent class, potential in-season trade candidates, etc. Once players resume workouts, there'll be more injury and rehab news as well.

If you have particular topics you'd like to see covered, feel free to submit them here, in fact. I'm all ears, and we'll probably be testing out some new series and types of content as we all wade through this uncertainty together.
Juice bus
11:34
I’m telling you now, in a month this will all be over and people will wonder why everything was canceled.
Steve Adams
11:35
If this is all over in a month -- which would be great, although I find it unlikely -- the very fact that everything was canceled will have played a significant role in why it was resolved so quickly.
Angel's
11:35
This sucks
Steve Adams
11:35
Sure does.
VanWaganen
11:36
Dinelson Lamet..Anthony DeSclafani...Steven Matz....pitchers due for a break out ?
Steve Adams
11:36
I'm very much on board the Dinelson Lamet train.
CJ
11:36
I saw an article that Yasiel Puig and the Phillies could be a match. Is it possible?
Steve Adams
11:37
Yeah, I think I saw a blog on how there's a match there. I don't disagree with the notion, but the Phillies are only about $4MM shy of the luxury tax threshold. I don't think they're going to cross the barrier for Puig.
Wally
11:38
As a red sox fan with the delay any chance chris sale ready for opening day whenever that might be?
Steve Adams
11:39
Anyone who's out with an injury -- with the exception of Tommy John or something -- now stands a better chance of playing in a greater portion (if not all) of his team's games now, yeah. Aaron Judge, Carlos Carrasco, Mike Clevinger, etc.
Indians fan
11:40
It’s probably impossible to answer this, but if the season gets delayed further and service time becomes an issue, does Lindor and the Indians open negotiations back up?
Steve Adams
11:41
I just can't see any scenario where the Indians meet Lindor's asking price.
Adam Stevens
11:41
Should Pirates fans be patient with Cherington & Shelton?
Steve Adams
11:45
I was (obviously) pretty harsh on the Pirates in last night's Offseason Review:
https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2020/03/offseason-in-review-pittsburgh-...

I think they had a lousy winter and didn't do enough to get better in the immediate or long-term future. I believe trading Keone Kela, Joe Musgrove and others would've been a good start on what could be a relatively short rebuild, given the presence of guys like Bryan Reynolds, Kevin Newman and (in 2020) Ke'Bryan Hayes. They basically traded Marte (understandably so) and then sat the offseason out.

That said, I think Cherington gets an unfair amount of flak for how things ended in Boston. As I noted at the end of that review, I think he deserves some benefit of the doubt moving forward -- particularly since we don't know what role ownership played in their activity (or lack thereof) as Cherington got acclimated.
Vickie
11:45
Hey thanks for doing this. It's making me feel normal for a bit.
Steve Adams
11:45
Success!
Nats
11:46
When will Luis Garcia arrive? And has kieboom earned starting third base for us?
Steve Adams
11:48
Garcia is only 19, and he had a .280 OBP in Double-A last year (granted as one of the youngest, if not the youngest player in the league). I can't imagine him in the Majors before 2021 at the earliest -- 2022 seeming more likely.

As for Kieboom, I do think he'll get the nod at third base, and if he struggles, they'll option him and turn it over to Asdrubal for awhile.
Lunch Break
11:49
So, what would a Berrios extension look like if they signed one now?
Steve Adams
11:52
Berrios' agents were trying to set a new precedent by submitting a $4.4MM figure for his first time through arbitration. That'd have toppled the preposterously old $4.35MM standard set by Dontrelle Willis more than a decade ago. (Dallas Keuchel is the only Arb1 SP to ever top it, and he needed a Cy Young win to do it, making him an outlier)

If they were going for precedent in arbitration, they'd have to do so in an extension, too. That means leapfrogging Carlos Martinez's five-year, $51MM deal from 2017.

I think it'd need to be in the $55-60MM range over five seasons, at minimum.
Rocky
11:52
i am just shocked Mlb has decided to cancel spring training and delay the season for a couple of weeks. How do you feel about it, Steve?
Steve Adams
11:55
I'd have been more shocked if they didn't do it. The World Health Organization declared a global pandemic. Minimizing the seriousness of a virus that has overwhelmed Italy's hospitals and medical infrastructure because it "only affects the elderly" (which isn't even true) is myopic and in many cases selfish.

I write about baseball for a living and watch a ludicrous amount of it every year. I love going to concerts. I'm going to miss a lot of my favorite means of entertainment in the short term and that sucks, but it's a minor inconvenience compared to what could happen if we habitually downplay that this is a serious virus that not only lacks a vaccine but even adequate measures of testing in the United States.
Angels Fan
11:56
Assuming Canning will not be back for most of the year, why not attempt to get a Musgrove or Archer from the Pirates?
Steve Adams
11:57
I think there's a good chance the Angels will be connected to both of those guys on the summer trade market (assuming we get one)
Icebolt
11:57
Padres Brown, how much to people out their in the MLB world think of it.
Steve Adams
11:57
I love the brown unis
Yasiel Puig
11:57
If Yankees offers  me minor league deal 1 year  for $4 million should I take it and get my value up for next year?
Steve Adams
11:58
Puig turned down a one-year, $10MM offer at some point, reportedly. If he were willing to take a minor league pact or sign for a $4MM guarantee I don't think he'd be a free agent right now.
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