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 September 29. (You can find him on Twitter at @affranco10 if you really want to ask him something.)

Brief chat this week, so I included 2 bonus Q&As: one about an OBP quirk and another about starting pitchers reaching 200 IP.

The link to the entire chat can be found here: https://www.jotcast.com/chat/mlbtr-chat ... 14046.html

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The Reds are terrible now, but they have three young starters that look good, any chance they contend for the central in 2024?

Anthony Franco
Yeah I think that's plausible. Going to need to eventually fill in the lineup, particularly the outfield, but there'll be a ton of financial space after '23 once Votto and Moustakas come off the books.

It's unfortunate they stopped pushing in right as they were nearing the end of the rebuild, but there's still enough controllable MLB talent there between the pitchers, Stephenson, India and maybe Steer that I don't think they're doomed for the next three to five seasons.
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What does Trea Turner cost if the Cardinals really want to upgrade at short? Would 6/195 do it?

Anthony Franco
Well over, I'd guess in the $260MM range.
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The Nolas: Austin versus Aaron would be awesome, but will Brew Crew interfere?

Anthony Franco
Wouldn't get that anyways. It'll likely be SD versus the NL East loser and STL versus one of MIL/PHI.

Philly/Milwaukee's almost a coin flip with how bad the Phils have played lately, but they've got the tiebreaker and Milwaukee's still got some innings restrictions on Peralta and Ashby as they work back from injury, so I'll go Philly still.
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Does Milwaukee trade one or both of Burnes and Woodruff? 2 years left on both deals.

Anthony Franco
Yeah I think they'll deal one this winter. Arb prices are escalating throughout the roster and they'd get an absolute haul for either.

Believe Steve's planning to explore this more in-depth for Front Office subscribers this week, by the way.
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Who do you take: The Dodgers or the field?

Anthony Franco
Field over any specific team, at least until the Championship Series. Baseball postseason's much too random.
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Sometimes I see players OBP is lower than their batting average. Why?

Anthony Franco
Occasionally happens in small samples because a sac fly counts against a guy's OBP but not his average.
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What factors, if any, could bring back 200-inning pitchers? More successes like Alcantara? One more year away from pandemic? High cost of premium SP?

Anthony Franco
I think this only really happens if they continue to change the rules to incentivize less roster turnover. Further limits on number of times a player can be optioned in a season, 12 pitchers instead of 13, etc.
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