Anthony Franco's NL Central comments

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mikechamp
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Anthony Franco's NL Central comments

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These comments came from a chat with MLB Trade Rumors' Anthony Franco that occurred on November 11. (You can find him on Twitter at @affranco10 if you really want to ask him something.) He hasn't done a chat in ~4 months.

The entire chat was only 55 minutes. I included a bonus Q&A about his views on tanking.

The link to the entire chat can be found here: https://www.jotcast.com/chat/chat-with- ... 11835.html

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Any chance Correa signs a big contract with the St. Louis Cardinals?

Anthony Franco
Cards' executives made it sound like they're pretty happy with DeJong, Sosa and Edman there and would prioritize pitching:
https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2021/11/ ... ation.html

I don't think they'll foreclose themselves entirely on the shortstop market, but I can't see them signing Correa, no.
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Will Trevor Story come home to play?

Anthony Franco
I'm sure Texas will be in on Story. Astros, Cardinals, Phillies, Angels also make a ton of sense to me.
Tigers and Yankees if they don't get a big two shortstop.
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Bryan Reynolds..extend him or trade him?

Anthony Franco
I don't think Pittsburgh really needs to do either right now. He's controllable via arbitration through 2025. I'd be open-minded to getting blown away in a trade offer but would probably just go year by year for now.

That gives you more time to see how the rebuild's coming along before you pick a direction, and I'd want one more season of elite play before I invest in Reynolds as the face of the franchise type of player.
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Gregorius to the Cubs for a song? Feels like a fit.

Anthony Franco
The Cubs aren't going to want Gregorius, but if Philly attaches a prospect, maybe Chicago takes on some of the money.
Broadly speaking, the Cubs should have the flexibility to take on that kind of "underwater contract to buy a prospect" deal, as the Giants did with Zack Cozart/Will Wilson a couple years ago.
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Sanchez + low tier prospect for Contreras?

Anthony Franco
Not going to be appealing to the Cubs. Sánchez is a free agent after next season, and if the Cubs are moving Contreras, it's because they don't think they're competing in 2022.
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Are clubs hoping Nick Martinez is a Miles Mikolas 2.0?

Anthony Franco
That'd be ideal obviously, but I think they're more expecting he's a capable 4th or 5th starter. He's not going to cost much, and if he gives you 140 innings of 4.30 ERA ball or something like that, he's a valuable piece of a pitching staff.
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Did Frank Schwindel do enough to prohibit a Rizzo reunion? The MLBTR projection for Rizzo comes an awful lot lower than what the Cubs supposedly offered in an extension.

Anthony Franco
I don't know that Schwindel really stands in the way of a Rizzo reunion, especially since I expect the new CBA will have an NL DH that'd give the Cubs a chance to still get him at-bats.

If Rizzo ends up at 3/45 like we project, though, does it make sense for either side? Cubs fans would probably love it, but Rizzo's a declining player and the Cubs aren't especially close to contention. I think he winds up with an immediate contender.
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What kind of prospect(s) could 2 yrs of Luis Castillo fetch? Could they get Julio Rodriguez from the playoff hopeful Mariners?

Anthony Franco
Speaking of tanking...
I'm doing a deeper dive into Castillo for Front Office subscribers this week.
But broadly speaking, I think he'll bring back two really good prospects, including one in the top 20 or 30 overall.
But I don't think the Reds are getting a top five guy like J-Rod.
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Are you a fan of the “tanking” in baseball?

Anthony Franco
It doesn't really bother me, honestly. I'm probably in the minority on that, but I'm mostly of the opinion that some teams have to be bad and I don't much care whether that's by design or because their efforts to contend flopped.

I think the more frustrating situation is for a team like the Reds that's right on the doorstep of contention but tears it down at the last minute.
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CardsofSTL
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Re: Anthony Franco's NL Central comments

Post by CardsofSTL »

Wonder if the Reds are tearing it down to sell the team?

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