Steve Adams' NL Central comments
Posted: May 5 26, 10:39 pm
These comments came from a chat with MLB Trade Rumors' writer Steve Adams that occurred on May 5. (If you like him, you can find him on Twitter @Adams_Steve and Bluesky @adams-steve.bsky.social.)
A fair amount of questions this week and 2 bonus Q&As: one about trade timing and one about team interaction. Enjoy the read!
The link to the entire chat can be found here: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2026/05/ ... t-125.html
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The Cardinals aren’t for real are they? Surely the young hitters cant keep bailing out the terrible rotation and BP???????
Do you see St Louis maintaining + .500 ball for the season, or will this eventually end?
Steve Adams
A lot of these types of questions re: St. Louis. I think it’s a bottom-five rotation in the game, and the bullpen drops off hard after Riley O’Brien. I don’t see how they can stay in it with this pitching staff, but hey, Jordan Walker finally looks great and JJ Wetherholt is as advertised, so there are plenty of encouraging things about the Cards even if/when the wheels fall of the pitching staff.
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At what point is Sal Frelick a problem? I love Sal, I know he is a great defender, but that bat is something awful.
Steve Adams
If you want to cherry-pick, he’s at .270/.356/.432 over his past 50 PAs or so. I think he’s fine. He’s never going to be a great hitter, but he puts the ball in play a ton and has enough pop for 10-15 homers with plus defense and good baserunning. He’s hitting too many grounders and he hit a bunch of pop-ups early on, both of which have dragged down his BABIP (.211), but I generally think he’ll be a solid regular, even if it’s glove-over-hit.
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Nick Gonzales is playing out of his shoes
Steve Adams
Feels very fluky to me. BABIP north of .400, no power, poor walk rate. Makes a decent amount of contact, but he’s averaging 86.7 mph off the bat with a grounder rate over 50%. It’s not a recipe for keeping this up.
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Noot is starting a rehab. When ready, who’s sent down? Scott?
Steve Adams
It should be. I get loving the defense, but I have far more faith in Church’s ability to be an overall contributor.
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Why is Moises Ballesteros getting no love for ROY? He may lead the NL as a rookie in Batting this year!
Steve Adams
He has 60-70 fewer plate appearances than Wetherholt and Stewart, and he’s not going to provide much defensive value with most of his work coming at DH. Also, Nolan McLean.
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Chafin to Cards?
Steve Adams
Sure, but you could basically plug him in anywhere and I wouldn’t blink. He’s not going to be expensive, he has some track record. He does seem to prefer midwest teams, given that he has the farm and family up in that region.
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Feel like Chafin will be a Brewer with the Zerpa news and no real idea if Koenig will be back.
Steve Adams
They have Ashby, Hall, Drohan, Fitzpatrick… could still end up there, don’t get me wrong, but LHRP is an area of depth for the Brewers so I don’t think they’re going to fall over themselves to get him in the org or anything after the Zerpa injury.
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Why are most trades done at the deadline now? What happened to May-June trades?
Steve Adams
Modern front offices wait until the last possible second with any and every deadline. They can’t even make run-of-the-mill DFAs in November until 30 seconds before the non-tender deadline. Everyone is obsessed with marginal gains and making sure you’re using as much data as possible to inform any decision. The expanded playoff field, of course, impacts that as well. If you can be around .500 come the deadline, you’re loosely in playoff contention, so not many clubs are willing to make sell-side trades early on. And those that ARE willing to do so can’t drum up a full market for their players, because so many teams are in wait-and-see mode until late July.
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When a player is on waivers or “on the trade block”, how do other teams know? Is there an overarching list/database, or are front offices talking with each other about these transactions?
Steve Adams
Teams are made aware of every player hitting outright waivers and have 48 hours to decide on placing a claim. Trade stuff is less formal and more just calling/texting around, that sort of thing.
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A fair amount of questions this week and 2 bonus Q&As: one about trade timing and one about team interaction. Enjoy the read!
The link to the entire chat can be found here: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2026/05/ ... t-125.html
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The Cardinals aren’t for real are they? Surely the young hitters cant keep bailing out the terrible rotation and BP???????
Do you see St Louis maintaining + .500 ball for the season, or will this eventually end?
Steve Adams
A lot of these types of questions re: St. Louis. I think it’s a bottom-five rotation in the game, and the bullpen drops off hard after Riley O’Brien. I don’t see how they can stay in it with this pitching staff, but hey, Jordan Walker finally looks great and JJ Wetherholt is as advertised, so there are plenty of encouraging things about the Cards even if/when the wheels fall of the pitching staff.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
At what point is Sal Frelick a problem? I love Sal, I know he is a great defender, but that bat is something awful.
Steve Adams
If you want to cherry-pick, he’s at .270/.356/.432 over his past 50 PAs or so. I think he’s fine. He’s never going to be a great hitter, but he puts the ball in play a ton and has enough pop for 10-15 homers with plus defense and good baserunning. He’s hitting too many grounders and he hit a bunch of pop-ups early on, both of which have dragged down his BABIP (.211), but I generally think he’ll be a solid regular, even if it’s glove-over-hit.
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Nick Gonzales is playing out of his shoes
Steve Adams
Feels very fluky to me. BABIP north of .400, no power, poor walk rate. Makes a decent amount of contact, but he’s averaging 86.7 mph off the bat with a grounder rate over 50%. It’s not a recipe for keeping this up.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Noot is starting a rehab. When ready, who’s sent down? Scott?
Steve Adams
It should be. I get loving the defense, but I have far more faith in Church’s ability to be an overall contributor.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Why is Moises Ballesteros getting no love for ROY? He may lead the NL as a rookie in Batting this year!
Steve Adams
He has 60-70 fewer plate appearances than Wetherholt and Stewart, and he’s not going to provide much defensive value with most of his work coming at DH. Also, Nolan McLean.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Chafin to Cards?
Steve Adams
Sure, but you could basically plug him in anywhere and I wouldn’t blink. He’s not going to be expensive, he has some track record. He does seem to prefer midwest teams, given that he has the farm and family up in that region.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Feel like Chafin will be a Brewer with the Zerpa news and no real idea if Koenig will be back.
Steve Adams
They have Ashby, Hall, Drohan, Fitzpatrick… could still end up there, don’t get me wrong, but LHRP is an area of depth for the Brewers so I don’t think they’re going to fall over themselves to get him in the org or anything after the Zerpa injury.
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Why are most trades done at the deadline now? What happened to May-June trades?
Steve Adams
Modern front offices wait until the last possible second with any and every deadline. They can’t even make run-of-the-mill DFAs in November until 30 seconds before the non-tender deadline. Everyone is obsessed with marginal gains and making sure you’re using as much data as possible to inform any decision. The expanded playoff field, of course, impacts that as well. If you can be around .500 come the deadline, you’re loosely in playoff contention, so not many clubs are willing to make sell-side trades early on. And those that ARE willing to do so can’t drum up a full market for their players, because so many teams are in wait-and-see mode until late July.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
When a player is on waivers or “on the trade block”, how do other teams know? Is there an overarching list/database, or are front offices talking with each other about these transactions?
Steve Adams
Teams are made aware of every player hitting outright waivers and have 48 hours to decide on placing a claim. Trade stuff is less formal and more just calling/texting around, that sort of thing.
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