Mark Polishuk's NL Central comments

[mikechamp]

These comments came from a chat with MLB Trade Rumors' Mark Polishuk that occurred on May 24.

More questions than last time, but that's not saying much. And he hadn't chatted for a while, too. There are 3 bonus questions to help: one about call-ups, one about rings and one about journeymen. Enjoy the read!!

The link to the entire chat can be found here: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2026/05/ ... t-128.html
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Is it possible the Cards are for real?

Mark Polishuk
“For real” in the sense that they can make the playoffs…. probably not, since their pitching (both the rotation and pen) still doesn’t seem like it’ll hold up over the long haul. ”For real” in the sense that they’re looking like a solid team? Absolutely. The Cardinals don’t need to reach the postseason for 2026 to be a nice step in the right direction. Even a .500 record is a big success for a step most expected to be terrible.
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Who loses their job if the cubs don't make the playoffs, Hoyer or Counsell? Thanks.

Mark Polishuk
Hoyer just signed a new extension last summer, whereas Counsell is signed through 2028. Counsell is earning more than $8MM per season, so that would be over $16MM that Cubs ownership would have to eat in the event of a managerial change. This is another situation where the injuries have to be acknowledged, since it isn’t Counsell’s fault that the Cubs’ list of pitching injuries is well into the double figures.
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Will Bloom have to ruin the farm system to buy at the deadline if the Cards continue winning?

Mark Polishuk
Bloom’s not going to shift course from this long-planned rebuild just to suddenly trade key prospects for short-term upgrades. If St. Louis is still in the running at the deadline, I can see the Cards making a few modest adds (likely for pitching) but nothing earth-shaking.
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Is Walker an MVP candidate?

I think people sleep on Turang, he could be a top 5 or even top 3 MVP player.

Mark Polishuk
Not that fWAR is the singular quality of an MVP candidate, but right now Walker and Turang rank third and fourth in fWAR among NL players. (Elly de la Cruz and Corbin “Mr. Triples” Carroll have the top two spots.) I also submit that if Ohtani keeps pitching like this, he’ll win both the MVP and Cy Young in a walk.
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Mautz got called up by the Cards for a spot start but it got rained out. If he is sent back down, does he get a day of service on the MLB club?

Mark Polishuk
Yes, since it still counts a day on the overall season calendar. He’s just now in the unfortunate “ghost player” zone of being a player on the 26-man roster who is technically not an actual big leaguer just yet.
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How cool was it seeing Bryan Torres get a hit and homer in his debut after 11 years in the minors/independent League?

Mark Polishuk
An awesome moment. I particularly love it whenever the TV broadcasts show the family of a debuting player going nuts whenever he gets a hit in his first game.
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Will the Pirates jump at an opportunity to dump Bryan Reynolds’ contract?

Mark Polishuk
He’s owed roughly $71.3MM through the 2030 season, so yeah, based on money alone for a lower-payroll team. Reynolds is hitting markedly better than he did last year, but still like a relative underachiever in regard to his importance within Pittsburgh’s lineup.
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It feels like more top prospects are getting called up than usual. Is it just because more media covers prospects? Or is roster construction shifting?

Mark Polishuk
The PPI gives teams more reason to want their best prospects in the majors sooner. You’d think “wanting to put the best team on the field” would’ve been reason enough pre-PPI, but…
There also seems to be a bit more of a trend for front offices to push top prospects (especially college players) to the Show a bit sooner. An argument can be made that modern scouting and preparation tactics make these players more prepped for the jump to the majors than ever before, though obviously there’s no substitute for actual game action.
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Why do we value rings so much in not just baseball but all sports? Sometimes I see people saying players are the greatest because they have 5 or 6 rings when that has more to do with the teams success.

Mark Polishuk
This is much more of a debate when one is arguing basketball players (when one star player has an outsized impact in the game) or NFL quarterbacks. I don’t think I’ve ever been in a baseball GOAT debate when someone was like “well, Willie Mays only won one World Series, so how good was he REALLY?”
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I wonder if in some future agreement, a player would be allowed to sign a ”journeyman” contract that would allow a veteran to be sent to AAA without being in DFA limbo constantly. I imagine a few might be tempted

Mark Polishuk
As someone who has written umpteen “player X is designated for assignment again” posts over the years, I am all in favor of such a rule!
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