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 June 21. (If you like him, you can find him on Twitter @Adams_Steve.)

No bonus Q&As this week, but on the last question, I immediately thought of the TLR line: "I'd like to manage against you."

The link to the entire chat can be found here: https://www.jotcast.com/chat/chat-with- ... 13378.html

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Do you see any Pirates getting traded before the deadline?

Steve Adams
For sure. Quintana's having a nice enough rebound and they have some guys in the 'pen who'll get interest. Stratton's ERA looks like trash now after he gave up 5 without recording an out a couple weeks ago, but he had a 3.63 ERA and even better peripherals prior to that outing. Huge spin rates, too.
I doubt they move Bednar or Reynolds, but teams are going to try.
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Pablo Lopez to the Cards. Can they do it without giving up any current major leaguers?

Steve Adams
I don't view Lopez as a likely trade candidate. I know Jim Bowden listed him on his list of SP trade possibilities today, but that was a bit of a strange list and I don't see how trading Lopez right now -- particularly if they're not getting any actual MLB help back -- meshes with the Marlins' clear push to start being more competitive.

He's controlled two years beyond the current season. If some team wanted to offer them an immediate big league center field option they could control for the next 4-6 years, OK, maybe they start thinking about it ... but I don't see the Cardinals (or most contenders) doing that.
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Outside of Contreras and Robertson, who do you see traded from the Cubs?

Steve Adams
Mychal Givens and Chris Martin. Some team might want Simmons' glove on the bench. I can see Norris going even with the ugly ERA. Teams like the stuff and the strikeout rate is impressive.
Plus he's cheap.
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Will Mahle's poor results in Apr/May mean a team gets a better deal on him, or are all MLB teams too smart for that at this point? FIP more than a full run below ERA.

Steve Adams
So long as they're convinced the stuff remains the same, the mechanics are sound and he's healthy, I don't think it's going to matter that he had a rough April. In general, teams don't care much about the more rudimentary stats when they're evaluating players anymore. Obviously if Mahle were sitting on a 7.00 ERA in July, the Reds might have a hard time extracting huge value for him, but I don't think shorter blips in production do much other than maybe increase the other party's leverage in talks slightly ... if that collection of word soup makes sense, haha.
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Would a guy like Luis Castillo from the Reds make sense for the Rangers?

Steve Adams
To me that depends if they feel they can extend him. I don't think the Rangers are in a strong enough position for 2023 where they can part with substantial long-term value to basically pick up one year of Castillo.

I'd be looking more toward guys who can be controlled through 2024 at least (and not just pitchers).
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With a couple of near misses this week----have you ever been at a no hitter?

Steve Adams
Does a high school or college game count? Ha. I've never attended a professional no-hitter, sadly. Been to some near-misses. I thought Mikolas had that against the Pirates last week -- what a brutal way to lose it. And what a rebound last night despite throwing 129 pitches or whatever it was in the no-no bid.
Mikolas is having an outstanding season -- really strong showing from a guy a lot of people had kind of written off after some injuries.
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Do you think the Rockies deal Chad Kuhl at the deadline? What teams do you see targeting a 5th starter? What type of return?

Steve Adams
They should. Rockies aren't reaching the playoffs this season. They do weird things, though, and are often averse to selling when it seems like they should. I'd be completely unsurprised if they just signed Kuhl to like a two-year, $16MM extension or something, for instance.

I'm not a huge Chad Kuhl guy, so I don't think the return would be all that impressive. He doesn't miss bats, his command is well below-average, he doesn't keep the ball on the ground and he's giving up a lot of hard contact this year. He's also only reached 100 IP once, as he's been oft-injured.

MLBTR's Anthony Franco is higher on Kuhl than I am, so maybe ask him during his next chat, ha, but I'm not giving up much more than a 40-FV type of prospect to get a couple months of Kuhl.

That doesn't mean there won't be interest. I'm sure teams like the Cardinals, Twins, Mets and maybe even the Rays are going to be looking around at arms and will see some appeal in a decent performance and low-cost price tag. (Not that price matters to the Mets, but they're already right up against the new luxury barrier, and they're really only going to be looking for arms to patch things over until the hopeful deGrom/Scherzer unveiling).
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Robertson would be a good fit back in The Bronx.

Steve Adams
He'd be a good fit in pretty much any contending team's bullpen.
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Team with a brighter future: Pirates or Orioles

Steve Adams
The Orioles have shown in the past that they'll spend at competitive levels. The Pirates have not. So you can argue over which club has a better farm -- they're both very good -- but only one team has a realistic chance to spend $130-150MM to supplement that farm system with big league talent. That gives the nod to the O's, for me.
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Most likely to be traded by Cincy in order of definitely to maybe to notta?

Steve Adams
Drury, Naquin, Castillo, Pham, Mahle?
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Shouldn't the Cubs trade Hendricks?

Steve Adams
They can try, but I don't think he's generating much interest at $14MM per year right now.
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The Giants offense doesn’t seem to be kicking into gear yet. The pitching has been solid, maybe underwhelming at times. Any moves you see them making at the deadline?

Steve Adams
They're the best fit for Willson Contreras, in my view. Give Bart the rest of the year to try to get going in Triple-A. Major upgrade to the lineup right now, in the short-term.
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Can Mozeliak ask Arenado to decline his opt out early so that he can trade Jordan Walker for pitching?

Steve Adams
Arenado has already publicly said he doesn't plan to opt out. That was prior to least year's opt-out, not this year's, but he spoke about sticking in St. Louis for the long haul so my expectation is he will forgo it this winter.
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CardsofSTL
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Re: Steve Adams' NL Central comments

Post by CardsofSTL »

I wasn't sure what Mikolas would have these season either; and I am still a little concerned about his durability over the full season. He hasn't handled a full season's workload since....2019? But he is definitely giving the Cardinals chances to win every time he takes the ball and that is all you can ask for.

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heyzeus
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Re: Steve Adams' NL Central comments

Post by heyzeus »

"trading jordan walker for pitching."

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Radbird
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Re: Steve Adams' NL Central comments

Post by Radbird »

Did we make Hendricks more tradable last night?

Spider John
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Re: Steve Adams' NL Central comments

Post by Spider John »

Radbird wrote:
June 25 22, 5:29 pm
Did we make Hendricks more tradable last night?
Don't we always make him look like Cy Young?

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