Steve Adams' NL Central comments

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mikechamp
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Steve Adams' NL Central comments

Post by mikechamp »

These comments came from a chat with MLB Trade Rumors' Steve Adams that occurred on February 15. (If you like him, you can find him on Twitter @Adams_Steve.)

Quite a few Cards questions this time. I included 2 bonus Q&As about the CBA situation, one about pace of play and one about Grienke's HoF candidacy.

The link to the entire chat can be found here: https://www.jotcast.com/chat/chat-with- ... 12432.html

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Candelario and a top 30 prospect for Moose and Castillo. Who says no?

Steve Adams
Reds. Candelario only has two years of club control remaining, and that's the type of guy Cincinnati is looking to move. They won't use Castillo just to dump Moose's contract, either.
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What would it take in bad contracts for the Cubs to land CJ Abrams?

Steve Adams
Prospects as good as CJ Abrams don't get included as a means of dumping bad contracts.

A lot of fans love this type of scenario, and I get it, but I doubt the Padres would send Abrams to the Cubs even if Chicago were willing to take on Hosmer, Myers and Ha-Seong Kim.
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What is your personal opinion of O'Neil Cruz and your expectations for 2022?

Steve Adams
Dude is going to hit, a lot. I don't know if I can buy anyone who's 6'7" staying at shortstop long term, but even if he moves to right field, I think the bat will play.
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Think there's any interest in a reunion with Kwang Hyun Kim and the Cards? He honestly pitched solidly for them.

Steve Adams
There are five pretty clear starters ahead of him on the depth chart there. If you're Kim, wouldn't you prefer to sign somewhere that can give you a legitimate chance to rack up innings? St. Louis already has Wainwright, Flaherty, Hudson, Mikolas and Matz ... there are durability concerns with Mikolas, of course, but there are a lot of teams who'll have interest in Kim who don't have any real impediments to him making starts.
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How much for Cards to bring back Pujols as DH? 1 year/3m?

Steve Adams
I wouldn't go much beyond that. (I mean, I probably wouldn't even go to 3, but I get it from the Cardinals' vantage point, I guess.)
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Do you think Bart is a good enough replacement for Posey?

Steve Adams
He can be, but I'd be looking for a one-year stopgap to help ease him into the role. I know they have Casali, but it was a rough 2021 for him. I've thrown out the Willson Contreras fit here before, and I still quite like it.
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Which one of the Reds SP do you think gets moved, or multiple?

Steve Adams
Gray is the most expensive and thus the likeliest, to me.
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After the 2022 season, Arenado will average $28.8M a year for the remaining 5 yrs on his contract. Will he strike a larger AAV if he opts out after '22?

Steve Adams
It's possible he could, with a big enough season, but it'd take a pretty disastrous year in St. Louis for Arenado to opt out. He's said multiple times, on record, that he doesn't plan to do so.
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With Cubs prospects years away from the majors, the thought of even trying to sign Carlos Correa is ridiculous. It would be a waste of prime years of Correa.

Steve Adams
I don't really think it's ridiculous for almost any team to sign a 27-year-old, star-caliber SS with several prime years remaining. I don't think the Cubs will do it, but good on them if they do. More teams should be trying to win in the here and now.
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Is Nootbaar a designed hitter this season?

Steve Adams
I don't think the Cardinals are going to sign a dedicated DH, so sure, Nootbaar will get some time there, as will Yepez and plenty of other guys they want to rotate through that spot.
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Who do the Brewers end up with for an impact bat? I don't think they have the firepower for an Olson trade, but I think Voit, Cruz or a different trade has merit.

Steve Adams
Yeah they make sense as a Luke Voit partner. They certainly have the "firepower" to acquire Olson... it's just a matter of if they want to clear out the system and offer some big league-ready rotation help (Lauer, Houser, etc.)
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Do you believe STL trades Dejong and go with Sosa/Edman/Gorman as 2B/SS rotate?

Steve Adams
No. I think DeJong is their Opening Day SS.
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Steven Brault is in DFA limbo until the lockout is resolved, but he's a quality starter who will likely be relatively cheap to sign. Think there will be a demand for him ala Heaney? (Maybe a little tamer)?

Steve Adams
Heaney was signed for his huge strikeout rate and strong walk rate. Brault doesn't really have either of those things. I don't think the two are going to be similarly coveted at all, and I don't know that I'd bet on Brault getting claimed or getting an MLB deal.
Could land at something like a year and $2-3MM, sure, but I'd be unsurprised to see him take a non-guaranteed deal as well.
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Do you think there are tentative trade agreements in place awaiting the lockout to officially end so they can happen or have teams genuinely stopped talking to each other?

Steve Adams
I have to imagine there are a few teams that have quietly tried to conduct some business through back channels. Also worth remembering there were probably a few deals that were close to the finish line at the time of the lockout, and those talks can pick back up and be wrapped up sooner than later since there'll be plenty of urgency.
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Do you think MLB factors in the public opinion of fans when there is a lockout or do you think it does not affect their stance at all?

Steve Adams
I think quite a few of their moves have been made in an attempt to make the MLBPA look bad, which is done with public perception in mind.

The PA isn't without fault, but I haven't felt like they've been as focused on winning the PR war. I'm sure the league would disagree with that assertion.

Frankly, it's annoying that both parties aren't meeting daily.
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Does Greinke make the HOF?

Steve Adams
He should.
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Unless the players agree to speed up the game nothing else matters. That means a pitch clock and staying in the batters box. Without that, the game will die. This from a life long fan who loves baseball.

Steve Adams
I see this a lot but don't think it's rooted in reality. I know a lot of fans feel this way, but most of those fans continue to watch, and the sport's revenues continue to grow at enormous levels. Ongoing labor talks are a detriment to sport's popularity, but I don't subscribe to the notion that the sport is going to die if they can't shave 10-12 mins off the average game time (much as I would prefer them to shave that time off).
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Famous Mortimer
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Re: Steve Adams' NL Central comments

Post by Famous Mortimer »

Some interesting stuff in this one.

I disagree about the speed of the game thing. It's not a binary like is always brought up by people who just don't want to change. But, long games are more and more boring, and gradually, people with millions of other entertainment options are drifting away. That baseball is still incredibly profitable isn't an issue, but how well do you think it's going to do when the cable bubble bursts? I think shaving 10-12 minutes off games at least lets us know that they give a damn about presenting an entertaining product, which hasn't always been obvious.

And I like how he dismissed that trade suggestion from the top of the page. Because of a couple of extremely isolated data points, fans dream of getting rid of all their odds and ends-style players and getting an all-star in return, or dumping salary of under-performing veterans and getting the shiny and the new. That these things, in the grand scheme of things, never happen, does not deter them and it must be incredibly boring for online journalists to read in these sorts of chats.

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