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Chat with MLBTR's Steve Adams: 8/22/17
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Steve Adams
3:06
Second chat in as many days! Madness, I say. Sheer and utter madness. I'm going to procure a diet coke, and then we'll get underway.
(As always, begin firing away whenever though -- queue is open for questions)
Justin Verlander
3:07
I looked pretty dang good against the Dodgers on Sunday. Does that mean someone will be more motivated to pay big and pick me up?
Steve Adams
3:09
He's looked pretty dang good for the better part of two months, but no one wants the contract. One single outing isn't going to change much. His stock is pretty much right where it was before that.

I said yesterday (and will probably say again over the course of this chat due to the weekly barrage of Verlander questions), I don't think he'll be traded this month.
Rod
3:09
If Eric Hosmer leaves, should the Royals go after Matt Adams?
Steve Adams
3:11
There'll be better options than Adams, who has pretty predictably reverted back to being... well, Matt Adams, after a ridiculous four or five weeks to open his Braves tenure. Free agency will have Lucas Duda, Yonder Alonso, Logan Morrison and Carlos Santana, to name a few.
3:12
If they can get Adams for next to nothing from the Braves, sure, but I don't know that there's a wild upgrade by going from Brandon Moss to Matt Adams. Moss has been better of late anyhow, and they're rather redundant players.
Curly_W
3:12
I worry about the Nats not extending Dusty Baker.  Lord knows he has earned it.  Don't know why the ownership will pay certain players but go cheap when it comes to Managua
Steve Adams
3:13
I half published this just for the "Managua" autocorrect, ha.

That said, the Nats never seem to go out of their way to extend managers ahead of time. The Nationals have played well under Baker, he's publicly said he wants to return... I think he'll be back even with the lack of news on the extension front.
McQueen
3:14
Is there any real possibility of Henderson Alvarez pitching this season?
Steve Adams
3:15
For sure. He's already made 7 starts with the Long Island Ducks, and the Triple-A season will end a month before the MLB season. I fully expect the Phillies to take a look at him and see if they think he shows enough to be tendered a contract for the 2018 season. He's arb eligible one more time this winter, and Philadelphia's rotation is anything but stable
3:16
Especially with Eflin hitting the DL and Velasquez now out for the year
Matt E
3:16
You said yesterday that you think Moose gets 5/$90M this winter. Do you think Hosmer beats that?
Steve Adams
3:18
I do think he'll beat it. I recognize that Hosmer is a polarizing player, but he'll be a year younger than Moose in free agency (going on his age-28 season), and has had a ridiculous five-month run at the plate without a massive knee issue in his recent history and with a better history against LHP
Hosmer will almost certainly get far more than I'd feel comfortable paying him as a theoretical (and woefully underqualified) general manager, but that's true of most free agents
James
3:18
If Upton opts into his last 4 years, do you see him as a potential offseason trade chip?
Steve Adams
3:20
I think he's going to opt out, but if he opts in and is basically on a four-year, $88.5MM spanning his age-30 to age-33 seasons, yeah I think they could market that. He'd be comparable to Cespedes but younger and healthier, and on a contract that pays him $5MM less annually. If the Tigers eat a few million per season, it makes it all the more appealing.
Robby
3:21
Haven't heard a lot about GM's on the hot seat recently. Could this be the first time in a while that a GM isn't fired?
Steve Adams
3:22
There aren't too many obvious candidates since there are so many GMs/presidents in their first year or two with that title. But, with an ownership change in Miami, I suppose you can't rule out some BB ops changes there.
Loogys
3:22
What LHP starter is out there who could be used as a bullpen arm/LOOGY a la Francisco Liriano?
Steve Adams
3:23
I've pointed out a few times on the site that Derek Holland has been great against LHBs this season, though he worked in relief yesterday and got hit around by a couple of lefties, which worsened his overall line
3:24
.239/.308/.376 isn't great, though, and he's been good against LHB throughout his career.
Woof. Indians put both Miller and Danny Salazar on the DL, team announces
3:25
Knee tendinitis for Miller. Elbow inflammation for Salazar.
Jeff
3:25
Is nicky delmonico for real, was he highly touted as a younger prospect? Or maybe a late bloomer?
Steve Adams
3:27
The small-sample K/BB numbers are impressive, but his average is going to come back down to earth. Delmonico was a fairly well-regarded prospect with the Orioles back in the day. I don't know if he has a position he can play all that well, though, so he'll need to hit quite a bit
PL
3:27
O's WS chances???
Steve Adams
3:27
In 2017? Nonexistent.
Ross Atkins
3:27
Should I move Steve Pearce this winter?  Smoak has first base locked up, and some of Teoscar Hernandez, Dwight Smith Jr, Ezequiel Carrera, and Anthony Alford should play the outfield.
Steve Adams
3:30
I wouldn't be closed off to moving him or anything, but I also don't think the Jays need to aggressively shop him. He's a nice depth piece that can be a right-handed complement to a lefty. He doesn't need regular playing time and can see some work at DH, 1B, 2B (since Travis can't stay healthy) and in the OF corners. I don't know that I'd 100% bank on the fact that Hernandez and Alford can necessarily step right into full-time corner jobs and run with them.
Terry Collins
3:30
Am I still the manager of the Mets next season?
Steve Adams
3:31
My guess (and it is a pure guess at this point): No.
Mitchell
3:31
Could Seth Smith be an option for Diamondbacks with Tomas out for a while?
Steve Adams
3:32
Tomas has already been out for awhile, and Arizona is probably better off for it. They've got David Peralta, AJ Pollock and JD Martinez in the outfield... there's no real need for Smith unless it's just as a bat off the bench.
Brendon
3:32
Because of increases in medicine, training techniques, analytics, learning from prior generations, etc., is it crazy to think that Mike Trout is the greatest player to ever play baseball?
Steve Adams
3:34
He's the best player of the current generation right now, so it's fair to put him up against the best players of previous generations, sure. There's no good way of knowing how players from older generations would fare against today's barrage of 100mph fastballs, harder breaking pitches, defensive shifts, etc. So, sure, I wouldn't fight you that he's in the conversation, but I wouldn't definitively anoint him either.
3:35
And, of course, you'll upset some traditionalists who refuse to believe that a young player has any business being mentioned in the same breath as current Hall of Famers, but meh, Trout's going to Cooperstown when all is said and done... he's basically already punched his ticket as long as he can just take the field for a few more years.
Scott Feldman had season-ending knee surgery today, per the Reds
James
3:35
Do you put much stock in prospects that jump 2-3 levels in one season? Angels have a lot of guys that went from rookie ball to AA or low A to AAA
Steve Adams
3:36
Depends how old they were in the first place. Ronald Acuna jumping to Triple-A as a 19-year-old is damn impressive. Some 21-year-old who opened the year in the AZ Rookie League or GCL and then jumped to Class-A Advanced or Double-A isn't necessarily anything to get hyped about.
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