Mark Polishuk's NL Central comments

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mikechamp
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Mark Polishuk's NL Central comments

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These comments came from a chat with MLB Trade Rumors' Mark Polishuk that occurred on April 16.

An even spread of questions asked this week. There are also 3 bonus Q&As.

The link to the entire chat can be found here: https://live.jotcast.com/chat/mlbtr-liv ... 15564.html

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Are Brewers for real...even without Woodruff?

Mark Polishuk
Losing Woodruff for what looks like a couple of months is a big hit to the team, no doubt. But the Brewers have the depth to at least tread water pitching-wise until Woodruff is back, and the youngsters seem to have really sparked the lineup.

If the Brewers have been able to stay in contention with excellent pitching and generally so-so hitting for years, it stands to reason that they can make do with only "pretty good" pitching and above-average hitting.
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Just me or are the Cubs actually moving in the right direction?

Mark Polishuk
The Cubs have added enough talent over the last year-plus that it isn't surprising they're playing better. Frankly, there's no reason they shouldn't be better after investing in Swanson, Stroman, Suzuki, Taillon, etc.
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What does it take for Reynolds to sign? He’s fine with term and money but he wants to leave his options open. What’s the compromise here?

Mark Polishuk
It's tricky, since I can totally understand why Reynolds has some hesitation about locking himself up to a Pirates team that has shown only sporadic interest in spending and trying to win.

It does seem like there's some kind of compromise to be found here, perhaps with a vesting option of some kind to trigger an opt-out clause, or perhaps a partial (not a full) no-trade clause.
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If my Pirates are in the race come trade deadline, will we be buyers?

Mark Polishuk
Yes, but in limited fashion. The Pirates aren't going to suddenly go all-in on a playoff push and risk setting back their development. I can see them making a lower-level trade or two to add depth, but nothing headline-grabbing.
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With Happ and Suzuki under contract the next 3 years and Cubs top prospect CF Crow-Armstrong expected to be in the pros next year does that mean Bellinger won’t a long term spot for the Cubs?

Mark Polishuk
The Cubs probably didn't expect Bellinger to be anything more than a one-year stay, since if he does have a rebound year, he'll head back into free agency and look for a richer multi-year deal. In that scenario, the Cubs might be happy just taking back the draft pick compensation and letting Bellinger go on his way.
What might be interesting is if Bellinger has only an okay year, or keeps doing what he's doing now. Maybe another one-year deal in Chicago, if he likes the team and the environment?
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Is Votto finished? He stopped his rehab.

Mark Polishuk
As per the rules, minor league rehab stints can only be 20 days long. Votto had hit that number and wasn't yet ready to return, so he has to sit out a few days before starting a new 20-day rehab period.
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It is maddening as a Cardinal fan that they develop guys so well, then call them up only to spot start or get 5 AB's a week for 3 years, then say, "they didn't pan out" before shipping them off for nothing. Why do they do this? We have probably 6 guys in the OF who could start in MLB right now & they will all split tim (other than Walker). Winn will probably rot behind Donovan & Edman, etc... they need pitching SO bad, why don't they upgrade with these players who won't play anyway?

Mark Polishuk
In fairness to the Cardinals, they dealt Bader for Montgomery just last year. And right now St. Louis is in the (enviable) position of having so many good young players that they themselves are probably still trying to determine who is a keeper and who is a potential trade chip, if they did make another deadline move for pitching.

Also, it's April. If the Cardinals called a team about pitching now, the other team is going to ask for Jordan Walker. The asking prices usually don't become more reasonable until a lot closer to the deadline.
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How much stock are you taking in this Nolan Gorman breakout? Looks like a completely different hitter at the plate and in the field. Playing with confidence and swagger. Clutch hits and should handle the 5 hole in the lineup moving forward. Thoughts?

Mark Polishuk
This ties into a pair of topics discussed earlier....the Cardinals' prospect depth, and how we shouldn't discount prospects after a slow start to their careers.

It should surprise absolutely nobody that Gorman is breaking out. He was a top-75 prospect staple for years, and he drew tons of hype when he was called up. And then, after he cooled down after his big first month, it seems like fans collectively forgot about him, or wrote him off.
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Is MLB hurting itself by waiting for a resolution of the Rays/As situations before expanding? It seems that new markets would generate new fans/revenue, and get some publicity for the sport.

Mark Polishuk
There won't be expansion until the next CBA at the earliest, which seems like an acceptable compromise until the A's/Rays situations are finally sorted out. If you're a new city that wants a baseball team, maybe you also prefer to see if you can lure the A's or Rays rather than start from scratch with an expansion franchise.
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I know the idea is to generate more stolen bases, but do you think it's possible we made it too easy? Last I checked the CS rate was at 18ish percent?

Mark Polishuk
Catchers and pitchers may need some time to adjust to this increase in the run game, but that number should start to (somewhat) normalize as the season goes on.
Or, it might take a season or two for teams to fully adjust.
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Be honest, you guys have a bottle of Dom Perignon for when Adell gets traded, right? Also, how have you not done an April Fool's post where he was "traded"? Imagine the insanity if you posted an "Adell traded to Yankees for Jasson Dominguez straight up." The site might implode from comment traffic...or traffic in general.

Mark Polishuk
The minor boost in web traffic isn't nearly worth the hit to MLBTR's credibility, which is why we stay away from April Fool's pranks.
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