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Chat With MLBTR's Steve Adams: 5/22/18
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Steve Adams
3:40
Hey all -- schedule was extremely hectic today. As I said on Twitter, I'll go for as long as I can today (around 30 min most likely) and then do a makeup chat on Friday. I'll aim for 1pm ET
Pad Squad
3:40
How can the Padres become good?
Steve Adams
3:41
They have one of the three best farm systems in baseball. They'll be good, organically, within the next year or two most likely. This season was just never really part of the plan. Still exciting to see guys like Lucchesi and Lauer come up, and Tatis should arrive later this season, along with Luis Urias. Franchy and Franmil are varying levels of intriguing. There's hop on the horizon, and I'm sure Preller will spend more when he feels the rest of the core is in a good place.
Alex Anthopoulos
3:41
What’ll it take for me to get Moose????
Steve Adams
3:42
Realistically, not much. J.D. Martinez was the best hitter in baseball last year and went for three mid-tier prospects in on of MLB's worst farm systems.
Can't see Moose commanding all that much more than what he fetched
Squirrels Gone Wild
3:42
Almost two months into the season and the Rays have their heads above water.  What have we learned from them?
Steve Adams
3:44
That reactionary Spring Training takes are silly, and that the whole notion of them conducting a "fire sale" because they traded overpriced and largely replaceable assets was a pretty thin narrative.

Granted, Dickerson has been legitimately great, but no one in the world could've predicted that he's just entirely stop striking out. They shed payroll while dealing from positions of depth and trading guys whose actual value wasn't near what their surface-level stats in 2017 indicated.
3:45
I don't think they'll be legitimate contenders, but the whole notion that they were punting never made sense to me, either.
Jared
3:45
Do the Astros make any moves at trade deadline?
Steve Adams
3:46
I have to imagine that at the very least they'll add a left-handed reliever, and I'm sure they'll be opportunistic in seeing what other assets aren't being valued all that highly. Wouldn't mind seeing an upgrade at DH or maybe a better corner OF option than Fisher, though perhaps they have that in-house with Tucker
DIDI
3:46
What is up with Gregorious?? Is this more what we should expect or is he just in a mega slump?
Steve Adams
3:46
He's slumping. Just like he was playing WAY over his head in April, he's now playing way below his capabilities in May. There's no reason to believe that either extreme is sustainable over the course of 162 games
Being a Reds fan is fun!!!
3:46
Should Amir Garrett be in the rotation or is he fine where he is?
Steve Adams
3:47
Leave him where he is, I say. He looks legitimately great in this role.
Moose
3:47
Will I be traded before the deadline?
Steve Adams
3:47
Certainly.
Joe
3:47
What is Christian Arroyo’s ceiling?
Steve Adams
3:48
Solid regular in the infield but probably not a star, I'd say. An infield with Duffy at 3B, Adames at SS, Arroyo at 2B and Bauers at 1B seems like it could be plenty solid though.
Elijah
3:48
Any weaknesses on the braves?
Steve Adams
3:51
The entire pitching staff? Beyond Newcomb and Folty, the latter of whom is going to regress to an extent, who in the rotation inspires confidence? McCarthy is in his mid-30s and hasn't been healthy since 2014. Teheran is throwing 88 mph and is already starting to regress. Soroka is really intriguing but is also the youngest pitcher in MLB.

And in the 'pen, they have Winkler, Minter and Vizcaino, but Carle can't keep up what he's doing given his lack of strikeouts and batted-ball profile, and the rest of the relief corps is a pretty patchwork crew.

The Braves are a really exciting young team, and they're going to be good for a long time, but there are plenty of problem areas around that roster right now that no one is focusing on because it's more fun to ride the positive vibes. Can't blame Atlanta fans, and what they've done to this point has made them legit contenders in the NL, but the pitching still needs lots of help.
Heath
3:51
Has Danny Duffy ruined his trade value?
Steve Adams
3:52
He hasn't done it any favors. He doesn't look right, and his contract was always more fair market value than a Sale/Quintana style steal. He's controlled for 3 more years beyond '18, so there's plenty of time to rebound, but I wouldn't trade him now with his value so low. Control has been awful, ground-balls are gone, homers way up ... it looks like more than just your standard early-season bad luck
Sufferfortribe
3:52
How long until Biebermania starts in Cleveland?
Steve Adams
3:53
Would imagine Plutko gets at least 4-5 starts to prove himself before Bieber gets a chance. Bieber only recently got to AAA, and Plutko has been good there (plus in his one previous MLB appearance this year0
BB9
3:53
Does Brandon Belt start the Allstar game? If not does he make the Allstar team?
Steve Adams
3:54
There's no point in trying to predict who the fans will vote for, as far as I'm concerned, but he should definitely be on the team. I'm buying his improvements this year.
Rangers fan
3:54
At what point do we stop giving Odor regular ABs?
Steve Adams
3:54
Guy signed a $49MM contract extension and the team is really bad anyway -- it's in their best interest to let him try to get right, even if it's frustrating for fans to watch.
Tyler Chatwood
3:54
Will I stay in the rotation all year? My results have been solid, but some of my peripherals are nightmarish (my walk rate, especially).
Steve Adams
3:55
They signed him to start, and I have to imagine he'll continue to do so barring injury. But yeah, the spike in walks is inexplicable. Have to think it'll come down, but it's tough to be too excited about him right now.
Larry Biggersby
3:55
Did Neil Walker's first HR make him less likely to get lost when Bird comes back? Or is he still heading out?
Steve Adams
3:56
I don't think he was ever all that likely to go, and one homer isn't going to change the front office's mind. Brian Cashman went on record recently saying he wasn't considering moving on from Walker. And, he's been hitting pretty dang well for a few weeks now -- just takes the overall numbers awhile to recover from that kind of start.
Matt Den Dekker
3:56
Should the Mets trade Rosario in a package to get Machado, and sign Machado for 10yrs 320million?
Steve Adams
3:56
I don't think Machado would sign for 10/320.
Padres
3:56
Does Christian Villanueva top 30 homers?
Steve Adams
3:57
If he faces enough left-handed pitching, maybe. But he's terrible against right-handers. I don't think he's a regular player.
Rays fan
3:57
Is Josh Hader untouchable? I've kind of given up hope of him being included in an Archer deal
Steve Adams
3:57
Can't imagine the Brewers parting with him.
Osfan
3:57
Why are we so awful
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