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 March 8. (You can find him on Twitter at @affranco10 if you really want to ask him something.)

One fewer question than last week. I included 1 bonus Q&A about TV/blackouts.

The link to the entire chat can be found here: https://live.jotcast.com/chat/mlbtr-cha ... 15249.html

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Any chance of the Reds doing anything with Senzel and Dunn out a while as well as some bullpen arms? They have a few dollars to spend.

Anthony Franco
I don't think they're doing anything in response to injuries beyond maybe a minor league depth signing. There's no one left in free agency who moves the needle for them and they're not in a position to trade to backfill the roster.
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Who will have the better career, Lodolo or Greene?

Anthony Franco
I like Nick Lodolo a little more than Hunter Greene, particularly in that ballpark, because Greene's so fly-ball oriented.
I'm a fan of both obviously -- think they're each going to be above-average MLB starters for a long time -- but slight edge to Lodolo.
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What are your thoughts on the Dodgers acquiring Paul DeJong? Would that make sense?

Anthony Franco
Not unless the Cardinals were paying him down to a couple million for virtually no return, which I don't think they'd do. I'd rather have Rojas as my starting shortstop than DeJong, and while I still buy him as a viable backup infielder, he's not someone I'd want to pay particularly close to $9MM.
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What is your favorite position battle happening in spring training for roster spots that are up for grabs?

Anthony Franco
Interested to see how the Cubs divvy up playing time at third base. Braves' fifth starter, Angels' catcher.

Not sure it's a Spring Training battle per se but I'm curious to watch how playing time in the Guardians outfield around Kwan unfolds over the season. Is Oscar Gonzalez good enough to hit consistently despite swinging at everything? Does Will Brennan take AB's from Myles Straw eventually?
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Say come mid season and the rotation is healthy, pitching as expected, is there an argument to be made about trading Flaherty? I don’t see him re-signing, why not get a little something in return, right?

Anthony Franco
So much depends on where they're at in the standings right? If they're out of it, then trading Flaherty is a pretty obvious call. I don't expect them to to be so unless they feel like he's getting squeezed out of the playoff rotation (kind of as the Yankees did with Jordan Montgomery last summer), it's probably worth riding it out even if he walks at season's end.
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Do the Brewers have enough offensive firepower to make some noise this year? I trust the pitching to do well enough, but with few upgrades offensively outside of Contreras, I'm rather skeptical...

Anthony Franco
It should be better than it was. I like the Brian Anderson bounceback play, Jesse Winker should help. Sal Frelick probably gets to the majors at some point.

Feels like a slightly above-average lineup to me. I'd still have them a bit behind St. Louis but certainly not out of the question they push for the division.
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Do you think Spencer Steer begins the season as the Reds starting third baseman?

Anthony Franco
I'd still take Steer, yeah, although there seems to be a legitimate chance for Christian Encarnacion-Strand to just seize that job out of camp.
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With MLB possibly taking over some regional sports network broadcasts, will this affect local blackouts? Example - I’m a Dodgers fan in Tennessee and with my MLB package I can’t watch games where the Dodgers play the Braves or the Reds due to local blackouts.

Anthony Franco
That seems to be the hopeful end goal, although I'm skeptical it happens in the very near future. Manfred has already talked about wanting to get to a point where customers can cherry-pick games they want (both in and out of market) on MLB TV.
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