Click here to read a transcript of Tuesday’s chat with MLBTR’s Steve Adams.
Headlines
- Braves Sign Reynaldo López, Aaron Bummer To New Contracts
- Robbie Ray Declines Opt-Out Clause In Giants Contract
- Ha-Seong Kim Declines Mutual Option With Padres; Wandy Peralta Declines Opt-Out
- Gerrit Cole Triggers Opt-Out In Deal With Yankees
- Cody Bellinger Exercises Player Option With Cubs For 2025 Season
- Yankees Decline Club Option On Anthony Rizzo
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These chats are a waste of time. It’s the same people asking the same questions about their favourite team in different ways because they didn’t get the answer they wanted from someone else last week.
Can the braves get Olson for this list of 3 non 100 prospects I’m good with trading now because I wasn’t before cuz I thought they were good but now they aren’t so I’d like to trade the guys I think suck for good players.
If the Cubs spend 100m can they make the playoffs? Like I know last week you said they shouldn’t be in on Correa but if I ask enough times you’ll get annoyed and maybe say yeah.
What should mlb do about tanking? Please agree with me the sport needs a floor. Even though other sports have floors and it doesn’t stop tanking in those leagues. I just desperately want someone to think I’m smart and came up with a good solution even though I’ve been told multiple times it’s a stupid suggestion but in my delusional brain it makes sense.
“lighten up Francis….”
-signed Sgt Hulka
You forgot:
“Are teams and agents working making deals behind the scenes?”
“Thank you (insert writer) for holding these chats, I love you so much and you’re practically like a part of my family”
“Will Freeman re-sign?”
“Will the Nats trade Soto?”
The writer claiming that the best way to prevent tanking is to give the first teams to miss the playoffs the top pick
The writer responding to a genuine and complex question that hasn’t been asked before with a Simpsons gif
Three questions involving Pache, I think there definitely needs to be a separate screener for these chats.
And anybody who thinks a team would fight down to the wire for one of SIX or EIGHT Wild Card spots, instead of tanking to get the top draft pick, is certifiably crazy.
Keep in mind, the writer choses the questions that he can sound the smartest answering. The more obvious the answer, the more likely it will be answered.
I thought that Mueller, Contreras, Waters and Pache for Olson was a little too much. I’m surprised Adams was against it. I know Waters and Pache have seen their rankings drop in the past year but not by a ton. Keith Law still has Pache as a top 50 prospect and actually ahead of Harris. He finished the season with a strong bat and his center field defense is so good it looks like he’s a lock to win the Platinum Glove every single season. Mueller looks like he has the potential to be a left handed ace. Contreras could be a good hitting starting catcher for a long time and Waters slipped some but still has a lot of power and great defense. If the Braves were my team, I wouldn’t want to trade that much for 2 seasons of Matt Olson. Much less trade more than that. If Freeman leaves and that’s what the A’s want, the Braves would be much better off trading far less to take a flier on Voit. Trading all that would be depleting the Braves farm while also totally rebuilding the A’s upper farm for 2 years of a player who probably won’t win MVP. If the Braves traded all that, where would they be when Olson becomes a free agent in 2 years? No Olson and no farm system to replace him. The A’s took way less than that when they traded Tim Hudson and Hudson was actually staying with the Braves for a long time. Not to compare a pitcher to a first baseman but the length of the contract really matters. Voit could find his 2020 form when he lead the league in home runs. I like Olson a lot better than Voit but I have a hard time believing he will be THAT much better over the next 2 years. That’s 4 different players who could all produce very well for the A’s for 6+ years all in exchange for 2 years of one player. I know the trade suggestion had the A’s giving up Kemp but that’s unnecessary. Just keep more prospects and let the A’s keep Kemp.
I think ppl are getting prospect fatigue because waters and Pache have been too prospects for so long. I’m amazed ppl don’t see how Pache turned his season around about 1/4 of the way through last season. Nor do you hear about the fact both Pache and waters may have taken a “step back” this was both guys first full seasons in AAA after losing the entire season before, and both killing the ball in 2019. Just as it was easy to write off Austin Riley for not busting out in the bigs right away pache’s been given the same treatment in less games.
I think so. It’s like they heard about Pache and Waters for so long that when they didn’t produce right away people were quick to right them off as busts. Waters strike out rate does concern me and I’m maybe slightly more worried about Pache’s bat then I was before but not really. He was never going to hit that well when he first came up. Very few do. Riley is a great comparison. A year ago people were calling him a bust and now he’s my dark horse to win MVP next year. I’m not sure he’s even a dark horse.
The idea that a couple players don’t look great right away so you trade a slew of them to rent one guy for 2 years is asinine to me. Pache has the ability to hit well. He just has to figure it out like Riley did. His glove is certifiably insane. I’ve seen him rob home runs and make it look like an accident. His glove alone makes him a gauranteed major leaguer no matter how well he hits and anyone who has given up on him hitting this early is crazy.
Contreras is an every day starting catcher who has proven he can hit in the minors just like his brother does in the majors. Catchers are very hard to come by. Mueller looked so good I can’t see any reason any team should even consider trading him. Throw Waters on top of that and that’s still not enough for 2 years of Olson?
Let someone else pay that price. Those players will be much more valuable than Olson and I wouldn’t blame any GM for deciding to roll with Rizzo or Voit over Olson if that’s the cost. 2 year rentals should never cost that many good prospects unless they are perennial MVP candidates who agree to an extension before the trade.
The Braves should be open to moving guys like Contreras, Waters, and Shewmake while be willing to throw in guys like Toussaint and Newcomb along with lower level guys to sweeten the pot. That should be enough for any 2 year rental. If it’s not, forget about it. No reason to restructure your entire farm in a negative way for a 2 year rental. Matt Olson is not Barry Bonds and he never will be. The last time the Braves tried that was for another first baseman. It was Mark Texiera. As good as Tex was that trade was still a disaster for them. I doubt they make the same mistake twice just to appease the same naiive fans who supported the Texiera trade.
Olson is arguably the best first baseman in the game at this point. He is going to be very costly and in very high demand. There is another issue that most fans just don’t take into account and that is matching up needs. The A’s don’t need Contreras they have Murphy who is better and controlled as well. They may want Pache or Waters but someone else will pay more. In short it’s not just as simple as matching up value it’s also matching up needs. Oh and by the way the A’s best prospect is also a catcher who may or may not stay a catcher but the kid can flat out hit I don’t even think the A’s would want Langliers as part of the return. The one thing you have going for you is you never know who the A’s value highly they seem to walk to the beat of their own drum.
I think a variety of trades and FA signings are already done. There’s some underhandedness here, but not much. Clubs can always maintain they were “discussing” these things before the lockout, revisited them, and agreed quickly.
I SERIOUSLY doubt that a GM who , e.g. swung a deal for Will Myers, is planning his roster with a big question mark next to Myers’ name. Too many business ramifications, too many on-field ramifications.
Besides, rules are made for the little people; multi-billion dollar operations aren’t little people.
It’s hard to read responses from one of the head guys at MLBTR when they don’t even know that Liberty Media has NO say in the Braves fricking payroll. Come on Steve, do some damn research. Most people are aware that the main stipulation behind the team being sold to a corporation was that they had to have no part in the operations or have any say in payroll matters. That the team must be ran by a separate entity, which is Terry McGuirk. LM has NO say in payroll.
This exact comment was asked 2 chats in a row, and it’s a stupid question at that.
Appa Yip Yip
5:45 If you were taking BP in front of scouts, could you achieve a 20 power grade?
Also asked in Kevin Goldstein’s FanGraphs chat on Monday, he gave the correct answer: “Easily, but that’s because you can’t go lower than 20.”
I don’t believe all Hall of Famers are equal. First ballot adds some prestige.
I agree but it’s not always the same. There are definitely some players who didn’t get in first ballot that were better than players who did. I will admit though that if you didn’t know any players stats and you had to guess which one was better that the guys who went first ballot are usually the safest bet.
However, there are some players in the Hall that were so mediocre they have no business being mentioned in the same breathe as some players who fell short. The Hall is really kind of a joke. Plenty of good players are kept out while some of the much older guys who are in only made it because their former owner paid people off to get them votes. There are players who couldn’t hit .270, didn’t hit for power and didn’t even play long enough to set any regular season or all time records who are in the hall of fame. So what does it mean? Pretty much nothing except a few people with cloudy really liked you. Who cares?
The distinction is silly. The voters are essentially saying, “yeah, this guy is a HoFer, but not as good as the greatest players of all time, so we’re going to make him wait a year or more”. What’s the point? All you have to do is look at stats to know who the greatest players were.
I’m pretty sure a corner OF who went in on the second year of eligibility, or later, is well aware that he wasn’t as good as Ruth, Aaron, or Williams. He doesn’t need that delay for him to know. nor do we
Tough crowd.
I can see some prohibited dialogue going on between GMs/PBOs about trades, but I don’t buy it for one second that anything is going on in that regard concerning FAs.
It makes no sense. FAs want as many teams as possible involved, and they want the best deal possible. Why would they limit their options which they’d have to do to keep things on the down low? Trying to negotiate with multiple teams seems like a certain way to get caught.
And why would teams risk getting caught? Most players aren’t going to jump at the first offer when the lockout ends if they think a better deal is out there. Teams that want a certain player can get him simply by offering the best deal when it’s legal to do so.
Its hard to have a site called “MLB Trade Rumors” and have chats when there is literally nothing going on. So on that, we should be appreciative that they are at least trying to engage with the posters here when they could go silent til the lockout is over.
Nothing’s a waste of your time if you don’t do it.