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Chat With MLBTR's Steve Adams: 4/30/19
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Steve Adams
3:08
Greetings. Let's talk about all manners of general things and topics.
Tatis
3:08
Manny play SS or does Urias come back up?
Steve Adams
3:09
Urias has 5 homers in his past two games and is OPS'ing like 1.200 in AAA. It's the PCL, but he's still raking. I don't see why they wouldn't give him a look; if he's hitting when Tatis comes back, they shouldn't have a hard time getting Urias regular ABs at 2B
Ron
3:10
What's the likelihood Matt Boyd is traded?
Steve Adams
3:13
He still has three seasons of control beyond 2019, so there's no real guarantee he's moved. Tigers won't feel any urgency to do so, and unless some team is willing to meet what should be an increasingly sky-high asking price, I'd expect him to stay put.

Boyd's improvement isn't the same type of fluky April success we often see; he's throwing more sliders than ever and doing so to great effect (while having dumped some lesser used, less-effective secondary offerings entirely). He's seen huge jumps in swinging-strike, ground-ball and opponent chase rate, while his opponents' hard-hit rate is down
3:14
I'm buying his improvement, and I would imagine the Tigers are as well. I don't think they'll feel compelled to trade him unless we're talking about a major prospect package -- and I didn't think I'd be typing that sentence four to five weeks ago.
Braves fan
3:15
Can Jerry Blevins and Luke Jackson pitch in relief every game and leave the other five in the bullpen?
Steve Adams
3:18
Stark change from when Braves fans have in the past repeatedly asked how the team can continue to give Luke Jackson opportunities, ha.

Jackson's slider usage is way up and he's throwing harder, so maybe there's some legitimacy to his improvement (a la Boyd), but the guy has been outrighted by the Braves multiple times in the past; I'm not quite there that he's some kind of genuine late-inning breakout.

I recognize that the question was generally just an indictment on the Braves' bullpen, though, and you have every right to be furious. I can't for the life of me figure out what the org was doing by just completely passing on the opportunity to make even a modest investment in the pitching staff this winter
3:19
Fans should be pissed. The Braves won the NL East last season, then signed Donaldson and basically sat on their hands despite the fact that it wasn't hard at all to envision some issues with the pitching staff arising. Maybe Liberty Media just put a hard cap on what Anthopoulos could spend, but man alive, the bullpen looks like a nightmare
Astros GM
3:19
Will I spend the money and resign Gerrit Cole?
Steve Adams
3:21
More a question for their owner, Jim Crane, than for Jeff Luhnow (GM/president of bb ops). I don't think Cole will sign an extension, and I'll almost always bet on the field versus an incumbent team re-signing a star player. My expectation would be that this is his last year with Houston. Verlander, Whitley, Peacock, James and some kind of trade/free-agent pickup should all be in the rotation picture next season (and probably some other internal arms I'm spacing on at the moment)
Warby Parker
3:21
Minnesota Twins early success....trend or mirage?
Steve Adams
3:22
The extent of their success -- the second-best win percentage in MLB -- isn't sustainable. (They're not going to keep getting to bludgeon the Orioles seven times per month.)
3:23
But they're a legitimate threat in the AL Central and have been since Indians ownership decided it was fine to go into the season with something resembling a Double-A lineup and a collection of shrug emojis in the bullpen behind Brad Hand.
Angels fanatic
3:23
Will recent call ups like Canning and Regfino plus Ohtani and Upton coming back be enough to right the ship?
Steve Adams
3:25
They're not going to win that division -- that was never likely and looks damn near impossible now -- and I can't see them making up the necessary ground to get to the forefront of the Wild Card picture, either. Both Fangraphs and Baseball Prospectus have their playoff odds at a bit south of 5%.
Phil
3:25
And for the 1000th time....... And Keuchel or Kimbrel updates?
Steve Adams
3:28
They'd be on the site if there were. No one knows what's happening with them, and there's little point in running with nebulous nonupdates like "Kimbrel's getting closer" because they're not rooted in reality. It's not exciting, but that's where things stand at this point.
Astro
3:28
Collin McHugh????
Steve Adams
3:28
Also a free agent at season's end.
3:29
Doesn't mean they won't re-sign him; just don't want to lump him in with guys who'll be in the mix for sure. He could easily fall under the "free-agent/trade pickup" I mentioned at the end of the 'Stros rotation question, though.
Big Swole
3:29
When do the Orioles have a fire-sale?
Steve Adams
3:29
Last summer?
3:31
They don't have much left to sell. Givens, maybe Mancini if his offensive improvements are legitimate, though he has 3 years of control beyond 2019. At this point, who's going to give up anything of real note for Bundy? Cobb and Cashner don't have real trade value. Maybe they can something for Villar this summer... but there's not a lot ton that other teams are going to want
Zac
3:33
is it too early for myself (a Tigers fan) to prepare for a Casey Mize jersey retirement at Comerica is 20 years?
Steve Adams
3:34
There was a time when Matt Moore, who the Tigers signed for $2.5MM this winter, was the game's No. 2 prospect -- sandwiched between Mike Trout and Bryce Harper
3:35
Not saying Mize will suffer the same fate, and they're much different cases (Mize was a polished #1 overall pick out of a major college; Moore was a high-school draftee) -- but as a general rule, it's best to temper your expectations with any prospect ... but especially with pitchers
Stan
3:36
Since the Giants are willing to make a deal for an outfielder would they be interested in Detroit’s Castellanos?
Steve Adams
3:36
The Giants know they're not winning this season and wouldn't have any interest in trading for a player who is a free agent at season's end.
Big Swole
3:36
Beside MLBTR what web site do you visit most?
Steve Adams
3:37
THE ONLY WEB SITE I VISIT IS MLBTR
For real though, ha, probably Yahoo fantasy baseball?
(Though I'm in a few ESPN Leagues too, so guess that's up there)
Fangraphs
Baseball Savant
Den
3:37
Any news on Allen Craig?
Steve Adams
3:38
He retired and joined the Padres front office like 2 weeks ago
Ejoey
3:38
Can Matt Boyd bring 2 lower top one hundred prospects if he continues on at this level.
Steve Adams
3:38
He should bring considerably more than that if he continues at this level.
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