Anthony Franco

• Good afternoon everyone, hope you’re well!
• Sorry about dropping back to one subscriber chat these past two weeks. Prioritized getting those team-by-team deadline outlooks done before trade season really picks up

#1 Marlins Fan

• Sounds like all of the Marlins trade news has gone completely silent the last couple of days. How many of players do you expect to be dealt?

Alcantara

• When will the stove get warm? I am beginning to go crazy.

Anthony Franco

• Probably still another week before it really gets going. Most of the activity will take place in the July 29-31 window
• Barry Jackson with The Miami Herald had some details on the Marlins’ thought process a couple days ago. Nothing especially surprising: listening on Cabrera, Sandy, Bender and Sánchez; would love to move Quantrill (obviously)
• I think the first four guys will all go. They should get a ton of hits on Cabrera given the scarcity of potential top-end starters. Feels like a sell-high opportunity with his injury history, and he’s their trade candidate who’d get the biggest return
• I expect someone to add Fortes for a mid-level prospect. Might as well take what they can get for Faucher. Henriquez is probably their most interesting reliever but they might prefer to hold and let him build up a longer track record

Brewer Fan

• Why do prospects sign for less than slot value? I get why teams want to obviously but what stops a prospect  from just saying pay me slot value?

Anthony Franco

• Just a lack of leverage, especially for college guys. If you’re a college senior, you basically can either take whatever the team offers you or not play affiliated baseball
• High schoolers who go underslot usually do so because they’re drafted higher than they’d go if it were just based on talent. The Braves went underslot with their first-round pick, but he was around 45th on Baseball America’s pre-draft board. Slot value around that pick is in the $2M range
• So if the Braves come to him and say “hey we’ll take you at 22 but you have to sign for $2.6M against a slot value of $4M,” he’s better off taking that than waiting for the slot value of a pick between 40-60. That discussion happens before they make the pick, because if the player says no, then the Braves just draft someone else

Ross Atkins

• Do you think Reid Detmers and Jo Adell might be available if the Angels are sellers?

Anthony Franco

• I do not. I think the Angels will buy as long as they don’t completely tank in the next two weeks, and even if they sell, it’d be rentals

Ken

• What could the A’s get for JP Sears?

Anthony Franco

• Three and a half years of control. Durable but it’s middling velocity and below-average swing and miss. You could kind of write off his huge home run rate this year as a product of the Sacramento bandbox, but that was an issue for him in Oakland as well
• There’d be interest for sure but I think most contenders would view him as a low-end #4 or a fifth starter. Could see someone packaging a few mid-tier prospects but I’d be surprised if they got a huge headliner

Unlock Subscriber-Exclusive Articles Like This One With a Trade Rumors Front Office Subscription

• Access weekly subscriber-only articles by Tim Dierkes, Steve Adams, and Anthony Franco.
• Join exclusive weekly live chats with Anthony.
• Remove ads and support our writers.
• Access GM-caliber tools like our MLB Contract Tracker