Mark Polishuk's NL Central comments

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mikechamp
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Mark Polishuk's NL Central comments

Post by mikechamp »

These comments came from a chat with MLB Trade Rumors' Mark Polishuk that occurred on January 15.

A good amount of questions this week, and I also included a whopping 5 bonus Q&As: ones about international prospects, qualifying offers, his Super Bowl picks, the magic formula for postseason success and arbitration cases. Enjoy all the reading!

The link to the entire chat can be found here: https://live.jotcast.com/chat/mlbtr-liv ... 14809.html

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What team needs Chafin the most and what team is he most likely to end up playing for this season?

Mark Polishuk
There hasn't been much public buzz about Chafin, which is a little strange since he was one of the better relievers on the free agent board this offseason. The Cubs are the only team publicly linked to him so far, and they make a lot of sense given their need for more lefties. Off the top of my head, the Mets also seem like a fit due to their similar lack of LH relief depth.
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Do the Brewers trade Lauer or Houser?

Mark Polishuk
Woodruff, Burnes, Lauer and Houser are all free agents after 2024, and obviously Milwaukee isn't extending or re-signing all of them. There's a chance the Brewers deal one of Lauer/Houser now to address other needs, and then explore a Burnes or Woodruff deal more seriously next winter... or perhaps this summer at the deadline, if the club isn't in contention.
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Will St. Louis offer Flaherty more than the qualifying offer at the end of the season?

Mark Polishuk
If Flaherty pitches well during the season, I'm sure the front office will engage his camp about an extension, but by that point Flaherty might prefer to test the market.

Some might say it's even a make or break year for Flaherty! Self-promotional plug:

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2023/01/ ... herty.html
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Jim Bowden has said the Cardinals were trying to pull off a trade but keeping it under wraps because if it came out public would hamper the trade. You believe this? If so, who do you believe they are trying to trade for?

Mark Polishuk
I have no reason to doubt this scenario. There are surely dozens upon dozens of trades floated between teams that we never hear about, for whatever reason or another.
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I’m a Pirates fan. Happy to have McCutchen back. Will bring in more fans.

Mark Polishuk
It's a cool story, and speaking of clubhouse leaders earlier, McCutchen is an ideal choice to help mentor the young Bucs.
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Mervis's stock is pretty high right now. What sort of starting pitcher could the Cubs get for him?

Mark Polishuk
Selling high on Mervis would be an interesting pivot for the Cubs, and such an idea briefly occurred to me when I saw the Mancini signing yesterday. You'd be perhaps giving up early on a future building block at 1B, yet first base is also a relatively easy position to fill down the road.

For instance, maybe the Cubs get on the phone with Miami and see if any of the Marlins' many young arms could be available for a Mervis-related trade package.
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Are the Cardinals front office still alive? They have had very little off-season activity. What gives on their lack of activity?

Mark Polishuk
John Mozeliak went into some detail yesterday about what the Cards were and weren't up to this offseason, and why things have been relatively quiet:

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2023/01/ ... yroll.html
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With all the infielders at the top of the Reds’ prospect pool, would Cincinnati consider trading India for outfield prospects?

Mark Polishuk
As per that past report about the Reds being open to moving young infielders for young infielders, the implication was that Cincinnati was open to prospect-for-prospect deals, or for players who had just made their MLB debuts.

It would presumably take quite a bit more to pry India away, since the Reds surely still consider him a long-term building block. India is controlled through 2026, and the Reds feel they'll be back in contention well before then.
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Do you think the Rays could trade for Rowdy Tellez?

Mark Polishuk
The Rays and Brewers are known trade partners, and Tellez would help the power-starved Tampa lineup. Maybe not a one-for-one type of trade, but a multi-player swap would make sense.
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Do you think Mancini will really be better than last year? He didn’t look good last year. Great story though.

Mark Polishuk
Between the lockout, the shortened Spring Training, the different dimensions in Camden Yards, and the midseason trade, Mancini had a whole lot to deal with in 2022. There is some sense to the idea that he'll hit better with more of a straight-forward "normal" offseason free of health concerns or labor interruptions.
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Will the Brewers extend Burnes?

Mark Polishuk
I'm not optimistic that either Burnes or Woodruff will be extended. It's certainly possible I'm wrong, and a new front office has a different approach or perhaps owner Mark Attanasio is willing to splurge. But, based on the Brewers' past track record, signing either pitcher to a big long-term deal doesn't seem overly likely.
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Regarding the arb numbers, I thought the Brewers offering Burnes $10.01M so they could say "hey, we went over $10M" was... interesting. Not a great look imo.

Mark Polishuk
I had to do a double-take on that figure, and it's kind of amusing that the Brewers (who I'm assuming use the salary/production formulas that most teams employ) came up with such a weirdly specific figure, as opposed to just a flat $10MM.
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Why does it seem like the same teams always sign the top international prospects? I’m an Angels fan and I don’t think we’ve ever signed a top international prospect ranked in the top 20.

Mark Polishuk
Some teams just simply have a better int'l scouting and development structure in place than others.
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Since MLB and MLBPA didn't work out the Qualifying Offer/International Draft thing last year, will we have the existing QO arrangement through the rest of this CBA, or could they still work something out?

Mark Polishuk
Very possible. I think fans (and maybe some teams) are going to be surprised by how much baserunning is going to suddenly become a key weapon again.

At least in the early part of the season, until teams can adjust.
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Super Bowl picks?

Mark Polishuk
The 49ers seems unstoppable at this point, so my Super Bowl pick is SF over KC.
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How do you assemble a team that can win both during the long regular season AND in the postseason? What's the magic formula in your estimation?

Mark Polishuk
Good pitching, and lots of it. Naturally every World Series winner doesn't adhere to this formula since there is no ideal formula, given the often-random nature of the baseball playoffs.
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Which arbitration case that wasn't settled surprised you the most, either because of how close the sides are and couldn't reach a consensus or how far apart the sides are?

Mark Polishuk
None of the numbers shocked me all that much. In general, I realize that teams stick to the "file and trial" system and face league-wide pressure to limit arb salaries... but some of these gaps between salary figures are so small that you wonder why the two sides can't just split the difference and save everyone a lot of stress.
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Last edited by mikechamp on January 17 23, 12:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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heyzeus
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Re: Mark Polishuk's NL Central comments

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I’m a Pirates fan. Happy to have McCutchen back. Will bring in more fans.

Mark Polishuk
It's a cool story, and speaking of clubhouse leaders earlier, McCutchen is an ideal choice to help mentor the young Bucs.
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Mervis's stock is pretty high right now. What sort of starting pitcher could the Cubs get for him?

Mark Polishuk
It's a cool story, and speaking of clubhouse leaders earlier, McCutchen is an ideal choice to help mentor the young Bucs
One of those hiccups in space/time that reveals were living in the matrix.

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mikechamp
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Joined: April 17 06, 5:05 pm
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Re: Mark Polishuk's NL Central comments

Post by mikechamp »

heyzeus wrote:
January 17 23, 8:12 am
I’m a Pirates fan. Happy to have McCutchen back. Will bring in more fans.

Mark Polishuk
It's a cool story, and speaking of clubhouse leaders earlier, McCutchen is an ideal choice to help mentor the young Bucs.
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Mervis's stock is pretty high right now. What sort of starting pitcher could the Cubs get for him?

Mark Polishuk
It's a cool story, and speaking of clubhouse leaders earlier, McCutchen is an ideal choice to help mentor the young Bucs
One of those hiccups in space/time that reveals were living in the matrix.
Ahh... my bad. Let me fix that.

In my defense, it was almost 5am and I was getting close to going to sleep.

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