Mark Polishuk's NL Central comments

[mikechamp]

These comments came from a chat with MLB Trade Rumors' Mark Polishuk that occurred on August 23.

A couple more questions this week, but no bonus questions this time. Enjoy the read anyway!!

The link to the entire chat can be found here: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2026/08/ ... t-140.html
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Please tell me that Krall won’t give a qualifying offer to Singer. It’ll be worse than Nick Martinez and his qualifying offer. What are the chances they resign Stephenson?

Mark Polishuk
Yeah, I don’t see Cincinnati being willing to pay Singer $23.1MM in 2027. The thing about issuing a QO is that you have to be prepared for the player to possibly accept it, and that’s not out of the question given Singer’s so-so at best numbers. Especially with a lockout looming, I can certainly see him taking a QO to lock in some money and save himself a lot of uncertainty over the offseason.btw, the $23.1MM for the qualifying offer is the estimated figure provided by MLBTR contributor Ethan Hullihen.
https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2026/06/ ... 3-1mm.html

Stephenson will get attention from all the teams in need of catchers, and maybe the Reds have a bit of an edge out of familiarity. That might help the team if it turns into any sort of bidding war, since Cincy likely won’t have a lot of spending ability.
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Assuming John Mozeliak is part of any off season rebuild with the Angels, do you see Albert Pujols as someone that will be added as either a manager or to a front office position to try to build the Angels in the Cardinals image? Have you heard any other names for either manager or GM?

Mark Polishuk
Randy Flores and Mike Girsch both drew some speculation as possible Angels hires under Mozeliak, but that was more just because of their past history with Mo than any concrete news.As per Jon Heyman, the Pujols/Angels talks last winter broke down because of disagreements over “coaches, resources, and compensation.” For the latter, I can understand why Pujols would’ve balked if Arte Moreno was only offering something like the one-year deal Kurt Suzki signed. While Pujols would surely want more security no matter who’s running the front office, having Mozeliak in there would seemingly help smooth things over if there is still any hope of Pujols becoming the Halos’ skipper.

Ultimately it’ll be down to Arte Moreno making the call, so it’s anyone’s guess as to how he’ll proceed with either the front office search or a likely managerial search.
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Which team has the biggest concern? Mariners with Raleigh, Toronto with Vlad, Dodgers with Diaz and Turner or the Pirates with Skenes drop in velocity?

Mark Polishuk
Diaz is easily fourth of four on this list, since his struggles haven’t slowed the Dodgers down at all. #1 has to be Guerrero given the sheer size of his contract. While Guerrero and Raleigh aren’t the only reasons their teams have underachieved, it’s hard to see the Jays or M’s making a late push if both continue to struggle like this.
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You’re the Pirates GM in 2027 – what is the first position you address?

Mark Polishuk
The assistant GM spot, since wow would I not be qualified to run a big league baseball team. Serious answer: the bullpen.
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Who is your NL ROY: Stewart or Wetherholt?

Mark Polishuk
JJ has a 4.5 fWAR to Stewart’s 2.1 fWAR. Stewart is the better hitter of the two, though not by as much as you’d expect given the counting numbers — Stewart has a 114 wRC+ and Wetherholt a 107 wRC+
JJ is my pick if I had a vote.
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How many people in Pittsburgh lose their jobs after this collapse?

Mark Polishuk
I wouldn’t be surprised by a total housecleaning after the season. To be fair, the Pirates were playing well before so much of their lineup got hurt, but I think another losing season will cost Cherington and Kelly their jobs.
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Who gets a Qualifying Offer? Names I could think of: Arozarena, Chisholm, Suzuki, maybe Happ. Not Brandon Lowe because it’s the Pirates.

Mark Polishuk
Arozarena/Suzuki/Lowe are all easy yesses in my view, Happ is leaning towards yes but it’s close, and Jazz is a no. Lowe has been good enough for the Pirates that I don’t think they would mind a scenario where he accepts the QO. Also, they can pretty safely assume that Lowe will be turning a QO down.
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Off the top of your head, what was the best trade acquisition from this past offseason, to date? Sonny Gray?

Mark Polishuk
With all respect to Gray, he might not even be the best trade acquisition on the Red Sox, given Contreras’ big numbers.
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