Anthony Franco's NL Central comments

Discuss all things Cardinals Baseball
Post Reply
User avatar
mikechamp
Hall Of Famer
Posts: 10132
Joined: April 17 06, 5:05 pm
Location: Southwestern Illinois

Anthony Franco's NL Central comments

Post by mikechamp »

These comments came from a chat with MLB Trade Rumors' Anthony Franco that occurred on February 1. (You can find him on Twitter at @affranco10 if you really want to ask him something.)

Average number of questions for a 70-minute chat, with 1 "what if" bonus Q&A that is kinda fun to ponder.

The link to the entire chat can be found here: https://live.jotcast.com/chat/mlbtr-cha ... 14972.html

-----------------------------------------------------------------
MLB.con’s Mark Sheldon said recently (after the Chad Pinder signing) that the Reds are still in search of a LHH infielder. Any names on the free agent/trade market that would fit?

Anthony Franco
Believe they answered your question like two minutes ago when they announced a Jason Vosler minor league contract.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Playing devil’s advocate here. If owners are looking at their team as strictly a business entity, what incentivizes them to spend? Pirates/Reds likely aren’t going to attract any big names, so they’d have to settle for players in the Soler/Avisail Garcia territory or one year deals to flip. The Pirates and Reds understand where their franchise is at in terms of competing. Once they do build a core or Greene/Lodolo/Stephenson or Cruz/Reynolds/Hayes and don’t opt to spend any money, then you can get angry. I think it’s unfair to get angry at an owner who isn’t willing to spend when their team is losing 100 games and their farm system is bare. Winning 70 games instead of 60 won’t get you more revenue.

Anthony Franco
I'm not stridently against rebuilds in certain situations and think there are perfectly fine times to scale spending back with a future plan to push back up when the time's right. I have no issue with how the Rangers have played the last few years, for instance.

I think the Reds, in particular, did exactly the thing you said is worth criticizing in 2021 though. They won 83 games, held a Wild Card spot in September and narrowly missed the playoffs. At season's end, they let Castellanos walk and blew everything up despite having players like India, Mahle, Castillo, Stephenson and Gray under club control for at least two more seasons.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Which of the Cards' promising young players (MLB and/or MiLB) gets traded for pitching? There’s nothing beyond 2023 and aren’t enough prospect(s) coming up soon that will keep us competitive every year. Who do they target? Gallen? Someone else?

Anthony Franco
Of the guys who have gotten to the MLB level, it feels like Alec Burleson and Matt Liberatore would be the ones most likely to move in this kind of consolidation trade. Nolan Gorman perhaps as well, don't think they're anxious to deal Brendan Donovan, Lars Nootbaar or Dylan Carlson.

As far as the prospects go, I'd be stunned if they traded Jordan Walker and think it's really unlikely either Tink Hence or Masyn Winn gets dealt.
Got a few questions (from Cardinals fans and others) about which top-end starters could be available at the deadline. I don't mean to dodge that question but it really depends on how the first half plays out.

Could Shane Bieber or a resurgent Lucas Giolito be out there if the Guardians/White Sox struggle? Probably. Ohtani's going to get a ton of attention, maybe another bad half-season gets the Rockies to seriously think about trading Germán Márquez. None of those teams are thinking like that right now, though.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Vosler signed with the Mariners, not Reds.

Anthony Franco
Had a deal with Seattle, got released a few days later. Just signed with Cincinnati instead.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Who swings a trade for one of Madrigal or McKinstry?

Anthony Franco
McKinstry's out of options and didn't hit last year. He's just a roster bubble guy for me.

Madrigal's interesting and a guy teams could take a look at if the Cubs are willing to sell low. The White Sox speculation is probably overblown given their previous ties but does make some sense. Boston fits, a non-contender like Detroit could give him a look.

The profile feels very Royals too, although they might just think Michael Massey's better.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Seiya Suzuki put up a wrC+ of 116 his rookie year while making all kinds of adjustments. What are the chances he can make that 130 in his sophomore season? Would make a massive difference in the Cubs' outlook.

Anthony Franco
Yeah I think that's doable. Power, patience, the bat-to-ball skills translated against MLB pitching.

I'm all in on Suzuki as a middle-of-the-order caliber bat. Probably my favorite move of the Cubs' last two offseasons.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Where do we project Aaron Ashby to be this year? In the starting rotation or in the bullpen?

Anthony Franco
I expect Milwaukee trades one of Houser or Lauer (probably the former) to get Ashby into the rotation.

Ashby will probably get some tandem work and come in as a bulk type behind openers, etc., but functionally, I think he'll be more of a "starter" than a "reliever".
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Cubs really upped their baseball name game with Dansby Swanson and Brad Boxberger this winter. What are some of your favorite baseball names? (I think my #1 is Brusdar Graterol for the record.)

Anthony Franco
Arquimides Caminero is probably my favorite of the past few years. Big fan of Adeiny Hechavarria, Lars Nootbaar's solid.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------
If you were to assemble a team of remaining FAs (C Sanchez, 1B Gurriel, 2B Solano, SS Andrus, 3B Moustakas, LF Profar, CF Bradley, RF Naquin, DH Sano, SP Wacha, Pineda, Bundy, Minor, Kuhl, RP Britton, Chafin, Moore, Fulmer, Harris, Will Smith, Bradley), which MLB teams would they finish with a better record than?

Anthony Franco
Answered a similar question a few weeks back, I think. Pretty sure the answer to this is none of them.

It'd be a decent bullpen and the rest of the roster would be really bad. It's a bunch of pitch-to-contact starters in front of an aging team that'd be pretty rough defensively, by and large.
-----------------------------------------------------------------

Tags:

Post Reply