2021 Cheap Seats Chatter: Wander Franco Debut, All-Star Surprises, Sign or Trade and Winners/Losers

Another edition of Cheap Seats Chatter is now live on Spotify featuring writers Alex Clark and David Gillespie as they talk about the top stories in baseball.

Cheap Seats Chatter: Wander Franco Debuts for Rays

It is well known that the Rays have had the best-ranked prospect in their farm system just itching to get into the show. Earlier this week, fans got their first glimpse as he was called up.

While his debut gave more hope that the hype surrounding him is real, the question becomes on how sustainable his success in baseball will be. With Kelenic’s debut and demotion, the duo talks about what Franco’s debut means and what he has to do to keep up in the big leagues.

Cheap Seats Chatter: All-Star Voting Standings and Surprises

July gives fans the chance to vote on their favorite players to send them off to the mid-summer classic. With the voting each year, there are bound to be surprises that make their way through the standings.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. leads the All-Star voting showing his impressive improvement in 2021. Coming into this season, few would have guessed that he would have the season he has had, but he has set the league on fire.

Cheap Seats Chatter: Sign or Trade, Semien and Verlander

With the trade deadline approaching, teams will need to make decisions surrounding key players who can become free agents this coming off-season. They will need to decide if they want to sign them again, or trade them for a premium return.

Today’s players are Marcus Semien of the Toronto Blue Jays and Justin Verlander from the Houston Astros. In the case of Semien, Toronto is above .500 but still 4th in a competitive AL East division. For Houston, they have a glut of young pitching talent that are already making strides, so the Astros may consider trading Verlander for bullpen help or other areas.

Cheap Seats Chatter: Winners and Losers

About halfway into the season, there are some teams that the narrative has not gone quite according to plan or how it was expected. The biggest examples of these are the San Francisco Giants and the Minnesota Twins.

San Francisco was expected to be at best 3rd place in a top-heavy NL West behind the Dodgers and Padres. However, a stellar record at home and on the road, plus the emergence of Kevin Gausman and Buster Posey has led the team to the best record currently in the MLB.

On the flip side, the Minnesota Twins were projected to compete with the White Sox for the AL Central, but that has not been the case. Minnesota currently is 5th in the division with no real trajectory upwards. Even with how weak the division is, the Twins may become sellers at the deadline.

For the full discussion, make sure to tune into the full Cheap Seats Chatter podcast on spotify.

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