RosterResource Chat – 4/25/25

Jason Martinez: Welcome to the RosterResource Live Chat! We’ve had the fastest prospect in baseball (Chandler Simpson) and one of the best power prospects (Nick Kurtz) arrive in the big leagues over the past few days. So it’s been a very good week.

Here we go …

Tyler: Should the Cubs figure out a way to move PCA up in the order to get him more AB’s?

Jon Becker: If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, and the Cubs lineup keeps scoring with the way it’s currently structured. PCA’s results have been awesome but he’s also starkly overperforming his xBA, xSLG, and xwOBA, and still chasing quite a bit more than the average hitter.

Keith P.: Thanks Jason and Jon. How likely Cleveland moves Gabriel Arias to SS soon, calls up Juan Brito to play 2B and moves Brayan Rocchio to the bench/AAA?

Jason Martinez: I think we’re getting beyond the point of “maybe Rocchio will figure it out and he can be a league-average hitter”. He’s had 600 PA in the big leagues. Guardians prioritize pitching/defense and Rocchio was very good (11 DRS, 6 OAA) in 2024. It’s early but his defensive numbers aren’t great this year, which might make it easier to move on for now. Arias to SS and Brito at 2B sounds about right. Need to see what Brito can do before the Bazzana era begins. UPDATE: Brito will miss 8-12 weeks after thumb surgery.

LW: How long do the Dodgers stick with Muncy? There doesn’t appear to be any bright red warning signs under the hood, but he sure isn’t helping the offense right now

Jon Becker: He gets into slumps like this just about every year, it’s just more pronounced when it comes at the start of the season and there’s nowhere to hide the rough few weeks of stats. That said, he’s 34 and age is undefeated so I’ll be curious to see to what extent he bounces back. But they’ve got no reason to make a change as long as they keep winning and they don’t really have anyone waiting in the wings to replace him, anyway. (Kim is down to a 99 wRC+ in AAA after a good start and has only played 2B, SS, CF.)

Tim: Should we even consider Hunter Goodman a catcher, with the recent utilization? It seems like COL is backing off that and gonna make him a full time hitter

Jason Martinez: Seems like it. I’m not sure if he’s been a liability defensively. I don’t think there were high expectations. They just wanted to get his bat in the lineup everyday. But being a starting catcher is challenging and it could affect a player’s hitting. So maybe limiting him at catcher in order to get the bat going is the plan. In his last 8 starts, he’s only caught once and he’s 8-for-29 with 1 HR and 5 BB. Not great but much better. At least headed in the right direction.

comish4lif: Baty down, McNeil up.
What does this mean for playing time for Luisangel Acuna?

Jon Becker: Should be a little less time for Acuña in the aggregate, though maybe not right away if they want to ease McNeil back into things a little bit. It was a very rigid left/right platoon for Baty/Acuña and I don’t think that’ll be the case for McNeil. Acuña’s ability to play CF helps too, he might start sharing time out there with Taylor.

Luis Campusano: Thoughts on if SD will bring me back up soon as they aren’t getting much hitting from their C’s now?  Know their P’s are putting up some great games.

Jason Martinez: Padres will sacrifice at least one empty spot in the lineup if it benefits the pitching staff. And I think that’s probably the case right now more than anything because they trust Maldonado/Diaz more than Campusano. With that said, Campy caught close to half of the team’s games in 2024 and the pitching was great. He can’t throw out base stealers and his defense isn’t considered great, but that also puts a lot of pressure on him to hit. And we don’t know which version will show up. Because he’s been somewhere between worst hitter in baseball and one of the best-hitting catchers in baseball at times.

Brablc: Should we be worried about Ryan Walker?

Jon Becker: Not particularly, no, though it does appear as if Doval is the closer now, at least for the time being. Walker’s pitch shapes and velocities have been really similar to last year, it’s the command that’s been off. Remember, he missed a few days early in the year with back tightness so he could still be a little off there or not feeling quite in the swing of things yet.

AH: On the RR Dodgers lineup, you have Will Smith and Max Muncy batting 7th and 8th, neither of whom have batted that low in the order this season. Is this a weird quirk of the dodgers never having had a full-strength lineup? Does Dave Roberts not want to bat them that low for some reason?

Jason Martinez: That’s an interesting observation. No one I have ahead of them has hit that low either, which means that the “starting 9” has not been in the lineup together one time this season due to injuries, paternity leave, sickness, days off, etc.

Jason Martinez: But we’ll see what happens when they’re all finally in the lineup at once.

Bruce: Cause for concern wrt Yainer Diaz?  Or just early?

Jon Becker: It’s definitely early and I try not to sound the panic alarms until mid-May or so, but it’s not like he’s just getting BABIPed to death (although his BABIP is indeed unsustainably low). A lot more soft contact, a lot less hard contact, more pop-ups, fewer line drives. But a lot of struggling hitters are just a small tweak away from winning Player of the Week and bringing their whole season batting lines up to their normal levels in April.

May or Mayo: Mayo back up or May becomes June… which happens first?

Jason Martinez: A roster shakeup has become much more likely and a Mayo call-up could be a big part of it. I don’t think they’re quite there yet, but Westburg and Mountcastle haven’t hit and need to turn things around quickly. If not, we could see Mayo in May.

Kyle Harrison: Do you think the Giants will bring me back up if Verlander/Ray/Hicks continue to struggle?

Jon Becker: Verlander’s got a strong hold on a spot because he’s Verlander and has also already had a few weird starts where he’s gotten hammered for an inning but otherwise looked great, but otherwise, yeah I could see some changes there. Birdsong is also pitching great out of the bullpen and Whisenhunt looms in AAA, too. Asking way too much of the bullpen with Ray averaging under five innings a start and Hicks barely over five.

Vic: Do you see Emmanuel Valdez getting AB in Pitt once Horowitz returns?     I appreciate the weekly chats!

Jason Martinez: In all likelihood, he’s the odd man out once Horwitz returns unless they DFA a veteran like Pham or Frazier. But that’s still at least 2 weeks away. He played a lot of 2B in 2023-24 with the Red Sox and the numbers are ugly. If he keeps hitting, I think they’d be more willing to give him a chance to play 2B and show he can be adequate.

Biscuit: Any word on McGonigle’s recovery timeline?

Jon Becker: The latest I can find is in an injury report from 16 days ago, where they said he was “completing rehab daily,” which I guess is better than being immobilized? Don’t want to rush him back but three weeks with an ankle sprain feels like awhile.

Biscuit: It is odd to see Spencer Steer as a part time player…what is going on in Cincy?

Jason Martinez: Between his injury, which caused him to miss time at the end of camp and prevented him from playing defense until recently, and him not hitting at all, it’s given Noelvi Marte a narrow window to put himself back on the map. And then Marte went and had 8 hits in 3 starts. Candelario has been even worse, but he’s the one with the guaranteed contract and Steer has options remaining. I think they’ll give him some time to get going, though, considering how reliable he was in 2023-24.

Guest: Is Mason Montgomery heading to AAA soon?

Jon Becker: I’d be very surprised. Yeah he’s given up the three homers, which is certainly not what you want, but the stuff looks legit — there just aren’t many lefties who can throw 100 and know where it’s going. Far likelier in my opinion that he’s their closer at some point this year than it is that he’s optioned down.

Lucas: How do the Phillies fix their outfield? I assume they will made a trade by the deadline, but what’s the stopgap? Marsh has been abysmal and Kepler hasn’t been great either

Jason Martinez: Both have enough of a track record to think they’ll be fine. One of their top prospects, Justin Crawford, is in AAA and has started playing some LF (like his pops did) but I don’t think he’s going to make a huge impact in 2025. Could give them a temporary spark because of his speed. If things are bad in July, I can see them aggressively pursuing an OF or 1B (move Harper to OF). Too early to know who will be available.

WB: Does Ben Brown have long-term staying power in the rotation?

Jon Becker: In the short term, yeah, especially with Steele hurt. But long term, well… the stuff is really good, but the command is… not that just yet. I think he could use a third pitch he’s comfortable with mixing in to get quick outs since the list of successful two-pitch starting pitchers is really short. I assume he’s tinkering with things behind the scenes but if he doesn’t start working deeper into games with more regularity, he’s got Cade Horton breathing down his neck for a spot.

Adolis Garcia: How long till Bochy stops hitting me behind Joc???

Jason Martinez: Well, he did drop Joc in the lineup for games on 4/19 and 4/22. So that was somewhere around 0-for-35. But after his pinch-hit double on 4/23, he was back in the No. 3 spot the following day. Probably will take a few more bad games to drop him down again (or to the bench) for a longer period of time.

Mark: ETA for Marte return? Does Tawa stay up when he does?

Jon Becker: He just started running yesterday, which is the big box to check, and he shouldn’t need a long rehab assignment. So within the next ten days feels like a very safe bet. Tawa’s been great and his versatility is a big plus so they could very well keep Tawa and DFA Hampson, for sure.

Whisenhunt: ETA on Whisenhunt? He’s probably the best pitcher in AAA right now, right?

Jason Martinez: The next move is likely Hicks to the bullpen and Birdsong to the rotation. Kyle Harrison is also showing some improvement down in AAA. Carson Seymour has also been good and he’s on the 40-man. Whisenhunt is not. So I’m not sure a Whisenhunt call-up is expected anytime soon but the Giants have to feel really good about their pitching depth. That is going to be a big reason they can hang around in that division late into the season.

Bruce: When both are up/ healthy, who do you think pitches better this year?  Eury Perez or Andrew Painter.
Is it close, not so close?

Jon Becker: It’s close because they’re both so good, but I think I’ll go with Painter since he’s farther removed from the surgery and is pitching like a guy with zero rust, whereas I think we’ll have to expect some of that with Eury under 13 months removed from surgery. But they should both make quite a few MLB starts this year.

Greenmtnboys: Thanks for these chats. 5×5 Roto OBP, 11T Keeper. E. Suarez sitting on my bench, should I just drop him and pick up Lawler?  Only 2 bench spots with Devers and Hoskins starting.

Jason Martinez: If you aren’t using Suarez, Lawlar would seem like the guy to keep on your bench since he has huge upside once the Dbacks do call him up. Not sure when that will be. Suarez and Gurriel have both been bad but also not sure how quickly the Dbacks would be willing to sit them on the bench in favor of the rookie.

Jack Leiter: Do starters normally need a rehab start for a blister???

Jon Becker: I’m going completely off the top of my head here but I don’t recall it happening too often. I would guess the Rangers gave Leiter a rehab start just to be sure it would feel okay during the whole game and not create an issue in a big-league game where the bullpen then needs to cover six innings. They need him even more now with Rocker hurt.

Matt: Does Stephen Kolek get the next 5th day starter spot?

Jason Martinez: That would be my guess, although that spot doesn’t come up for a while. But I think it’s maybe 10-12 days away so they can’t bring Hart back then (unless he replaces a player going on the IL). Bergert is another option, although it sounds like he’ll be used out of the bullpen for now. Hart has been good in 3 of 5 starts, but he does seem more like a spot starter/long relief guy and I think it’s time to give Kolek/Bergert/Cruz a look.

Rudy GoBirds: Is Heston Kjerstad carving out a larger role for himself?

Jon Becker: For sure. Started against Gore yesterday with O’Neill out and he’s one of the few hitters in that lineup who’s hitting decently in a sizable sample. He’s doing that while hitting a lot of balls the other way, so the sky’s the limit for him if he gets to pulling the ball consistently like he has in the minors.

Biscuit: Do the Dodgers find a way to wedge Alex Freeland into that lineup this summer? Rojas, Kike and Taylor are cooked. Muncy too. Slide Edman to 3B, Mookie to 2B?

Jason Martinez: Not sure they want to move any of the lineup regulars around again. More likely that Freeland gets the call (assuming he keeps hitting in AAA) and bounces between 2B, 3B, SS.

WB: Is Wilyer stepping out of platooning and into a more fulltime role?

Jon Becker: Don’t think so, they’ve just faced so few lefties that he’s been playing every day. On the Lineup Tracker, you can see that they’ve played four lefties and he’s only started against one of them.

McGraw45: Who can the Padres pursue to shore up their lineup? Even once their regulars are back, they are thin in left field and on the bench.

Jason Martinez: At full health, I think the lineup is so good that …

7. Bogaerts
8. Heyward/Ornelas/Lockridge
9. Maldonado/Diaz

… at the bottom of the lineup is perfectly fine. But in this division, maybe they need to add another impact bat. Trade deadline should be fun.

Jason Martinez: That will do it for today. Thanks for joining us. We’ll be back next Friday at the same time. Have a great weekend!