Latest / Foul Territory / FairT: Vlad Guerrero Jr. gets PAID, HOT Giants, Skenes deal exercise

Transcript

FairT: Vlad Guerrero Jr. gets PAID, HOT Giants, Skenes deal exercise · Foul Territory

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: And if you're Bob Nutting and you're the owner of
• 0:01
  Speaker 1: the Pittsburgh Pirates, you're going to say, old on, I'm
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: not going to take disc risk when we know Paul
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: Skeens might blow out. He won't say that publicly, but
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: that's what he's thinking. Welcome everyone to the Monday edition
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: of Fair Territory. And I almost said welcome everyone to
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: the Winter Meetings, because in the last week it has
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: almost seemed like that, even though it's April, we've had
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: one extension after another, topped off by the big one
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: last night Sunday night, I should say that one fourteen years,
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: five hundred million for Vladimir Guerrero Junior. You see the
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: news right there, No deferrals in this deal, straight up,
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: fourteen years, five hundred million. It was a deal that,
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: from the Blue Jays perspective, as I wrote this morning,
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: had to get done. It was a deal to lock
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: up their franchise player, a homegrown Blue Jay, a native Canadian,
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: at a time in their history when they have lost
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: one free agent after another, one big free agent after another.
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: They've signed a few, but no Otani, no Sodo, no
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: Corbin Bones. Right down the line, the Blue Jays had
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: Vladimir Guerrero Junior all these years, failed to extend him.
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: That was their mistake because in the end, when this
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: came down to crunch time during his walk year, they
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: had no choice, in my opinion, but to make a
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: deal with Guerrero Junior. They did it. It's a thirty
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: five point seven to one million average annual value. That's
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: the eleventh highest in baseball history. The total guarantee, and
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: I want to show you right now, the total guarantee
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: of five hundred million without deferrals, that is the second
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: highest in present value in major league history, behind only
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: one Soto's seven hundred and sixty five million dollar deal.
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: You see the top five right there. Soto is seven
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: sixty five, vlad at five hundred, Shojo Tani comes in
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: at four sixty point eight. That's reduced for deferrals. Of course,
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: his deal was ten years, seven hundred million, but it
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: was so massively deferred. The present value is for sixty
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: four sixty one. Mike Trout next at four to twenty
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: six point five. Aaron Judge then at three hundred and
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: sixty million. I want to give you some more context
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: to this deal as well. Just as where it fits
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: in terms of other first basemen, both past and present. Now,
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: when you look at the first basement all time, Miguel
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: Cabrera's eight year, two hundred and forty eight million dollar
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: deal is still something of a standard, because one adjusted
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: for inflation, the average annual value is even higher than vlads.
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: But these are the biggest guarantees for first basement flat
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: again five hundred Miguel Cabrera eight years, two hundred and
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: forty eight, Albert Poohole's ten years to forty, Joey vado
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: ten years two twenty five, Prince Fielder nine years to fourteen.
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: What do those four guys besides Guerrero have in common.
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: They all got their contracts in the twenty tens, and
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: that was an era in which teams valued first baseman
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: more than they do today. Now look at the active
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: first baseman and wear Guerro ranks next to the Freddie
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: Freeman's and the Matt Olsens of the world. This chart
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: is even more telling. There's Guerrero at five hundred, matt
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: Olsen one sixty eight, Freddy Freeman one sixty two. That deal, too,
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: is worth less than that it's deferred, and Paul Goldschmidt
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: five years, one thirty. That's his previous deal with the
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: Saint Louis Cardinals. So for a first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Junior,
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: without having to go into free agency and have the
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: open market determine his actual value, he got a monster deal.
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: There's no other way to look at it. Now you
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: could say, well, it's still two hundred and sixty five
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: million below Soto, Yes it is, but Vladimir Guerrero Junior
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: is not the consistent force that Soto has been throughout
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: his career. He's not as accomplished offensively as Soto has
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: been throughout his career. So that's why there is a
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: difference there. And to some degree, it seems to me
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: that Soto's deal was an outlier. And you might say, well, Ken,
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: that's fairly obvious. It was an outlier. But it was
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: an outlier because Steve Cohen, the owner of the Mets,
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: was not going to lose this player. Cohen was going
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: to give Soda whatever it took to get that deal done.
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: So Vladimir Guerrero Junior is a blue jay. They can
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: now build around him. That's a story for another day,
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: because that is not going to be easy for a
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: team with a relatively poor farm system, an aging rotation,
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: and questions all over the place. But at least now
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: your franchise pillar is in place. The Blue Jays had
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: to get this done. We'll be back after a quick
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: word from our friends at foul Territory. AJ.
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: It is time for people to get some new clubs,
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: and to do that they need to go to their
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: local PXG for a fitting.
• 4:44
  Speaker 3: Right, no doubt. I was there today. I've been there before.
• 4:48
  Speaker 3: Last time I was there, they gave me this killer
• 4:49
  Speaker 3: gap edge. Look at that sweet spot, Scott, it is
• 4:52
  Speaker 3: worn out. That is right in a sweet spot right there.
• 4:54
  Speaker 3: So I went and got new clubs today, new irons.
• 4:57
  Speaker 3: But more importantly, I got this bad boy. I got
• 4:59
  Speaker 3: me a new putter. This is my old putter. It's
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: on order. Yes, that's my putter cover PXG Mustang putter.
• 5:03
  Speaker 3: Now I'm going to the Allen putter. They talked me
• 5:05
  Speaker 3: into it because I was draining some putts today. Bob,
• 5:08
  Speaker 3: the guy who helped me out, He helped me with
• 5:10
  Speaker 3: my irons. He got them teed up perfectly. But then
• 5:12
  Speaker 3: we went to the putt and green I was draining
• 5:14
  Speaker 3: them putts because that's the most important part of golf.
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: PXG fittings are fun. Schedule you're fitting today as you
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: can hear from AJ for a limited time, you could
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: save up to twenty percent on your entire order. Head
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: over to pxg dot com slash foul. That's pxg dot
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: com slash foul to save up to twenty percent on
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: your entire order. Pxg dot com slash foul restrictions apply.
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: See site for details.
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: Over the weekend, back on the field, believe it or not,
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: we actually had baseball baseball all weekend. We had a
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: big series in Philadelphia when I attended the Phillies and
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: the Dodgers, and people were talking before the series, well,
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: what does this mean in terms of October, in terms
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: of could this be a playoff? Preview? And my thought was,
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: whoa hold on? Only in April, And actually, the way
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: the series played out, you can look at it now
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: and say, yeah, there's no way to know how this
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: is going to look in October, or whether these teams
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: will even be in the same position. The Dodgers played
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: this series losing two of three without Freddie Freeman. Blake
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: Snell in this series goes on the injured list. He
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: has a shoulder issue. Shocker of shockers, a Dodger pitcher
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: getting hurt. So who knows what the Dodger rotation will
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: look like come October. If you recall last year, Jack
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: Flaherty was not part of the Dodger rotation in April,
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: Yoshinobu Yamamoto was, but he got hurt, didn't come back
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: until September, and you had just a different kind of look. Ultimately,
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: once the playoffs started, Walker Buehler came back. He wasn't
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: in the rotation at the start of the season coming
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: off an injury. So here are the Dodgers. Yes, they
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: have a question about Snell. Now, they have a question
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: about whether rookie Sasaki can pitch a full season in
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: his first year in Major League Baseball. And they also
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: have three pitchers who are not even pitching yet who
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: could be significant parts of their rotation at various points
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: of the season and maybe even in October. I'm talking,
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: of course about sho Hey Otani. I'm talking about Clayton Kershaw,
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: and I'm talking about Tony Gonsolin. Now Otani threw a
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: bullpen on Saturday. They are slow playing this like no
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: other and the reason they're slow playing it is because
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: they want Otani healthy for the postseason. Otani understands what's
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: going on. He wants to be healthy for the postseason.
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: And there are some people, as I mentioned on the broadcast,
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: who believe that once Otani returns, he could be the
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: best pitcher, the best starting pitcher the Dodgers have. They're
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: number one, Yes, even over Snell, yes, even over Yamamoto.
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: So good for the Phillies to win two of three
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: in this series. And if they had been maybe a
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: little bit more patient against Roki Sasaki on Saturday, they
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: could have won three of three. But it was really
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: the first time Sasaki showed that great split, put it
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: in the strike zone, or at least close enough to
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: the strike zone where he got some chase. So a
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: good series. Tayo Hernandez big obviously offensive performance for the
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: Dodgers on Sunday, wasn't quite enough to make that a
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: series victory for Los Angeles. Now, elsewhere in the NL West,
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: we saw the Padres get off to an amazing start.
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: It's still a really good start. And now we're seeing
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: the Giants, the eight to one San Francisco Giants kind
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: of surprising baseball with how they've come out of the
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: gates here in the early part of the season. Now,
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: if you remember, the Giants were Cactus League champions, and
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: ordinarily no one should put any stock in anything that
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: happens in spring training, But in spring training with the Giants,
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: you started hearing about this better vibe, about the transition
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: from far Anxiety to Buster Posey, and how there just
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: seemed to be a better culture around the Giants, And
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: now we're kind of seeing it come to fruition in
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: the regular season. Now, this is going to be an
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: easy now arrative for people like myself to latch onto. Well,
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: Buster is a baseball guy. Farha Anxiety was an analytical guy,
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: and now the Giants are just happier and feel better
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: about the way things are being done in the organization
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: under Buster. That's part of it. But we're also seeing
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: some different things too. Willie adamis their biggest free agent signing,
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: clearly having an effect. Robbie Ray having added Tarek School's
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: change up, he is looking like he's going to be
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: kind of like his cy young self. There's also Justin Erlander,
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: who has had one okay start and one not so
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: good start, But other than that, the team is essentially
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: the same. We're seeing a better offensive club so far. Warmer,
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: Flora's hot start, mike Yastremsky, Jung Huley, Matt Chapman, all
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: of these guys are hitting. They're a bullpen with Doval
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: and Walker as the anchors. That also has been a
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: bright spot for them so far. They're playing well, there's
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: no question about it. Will they sustain it? Will they
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: be this this much improved team that they look like
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: right now? I'm not so sure, but certainly good things
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: are happening with the Giants. That left side of the
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: infield with the Domas and Chapman, is one of the
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: better left sides of the infield or infield in the game,
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: and they're pitching overall has been really good. So far,
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: So good for the Giants getting off to this start.
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: But again we're talking about I don't know, almost one
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: twentieth of the season, a long way to go, folks. Well, well, well, well,
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: time now for the Inside Dish, the part of the
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: show where I talk about maybe a story I've written,
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: maybe a trend in the game, maybe some big news item,
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: maybe something else entirely, And this week I want to
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: go back to something I mentioned on foul Territory last week.
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: It was after I wrote this story about Juans Toto
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: and how we spent three weeks with the minor league
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: host family and still keeps in touch with them. Now,
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: this story was unusual for a couple of reasons, and
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: it was a lot of fun to do, and that's
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: kind of I want to revisit it. It was unusual
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: one in the way I got put onto it. Now,
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: you guys know from Twitter especially, but in general, that
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: baseball writers, writers in every sport are competitive with each other.
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: They want to be first with stories, first with news.
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: They want to be better than the next person. That's
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: just like any other business, right. But in this case,
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: it was another writer that actually put me onto this story.
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: Now I'm not going to name this writer because I
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: don't know some editor somewhere might get mad at him.
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: But the fact of the matter was this writer had
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: nothing he could have done with this. He is a
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: beat writer for a team somewhere. So he said, listen, Kenny,
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: I've heard about this guy. He was the head of
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: Wan Soto's host family. I've got his number. Would you
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: want to maybe look into this, and I said, yeah, absolutely,
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: I'm always looking for stories, always looking for new ideas,
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: especially different ideas about superstar players. So the writer passed
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: me the number, contacted Brian Campbell, and we started talking
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: about his time with Juan Sodo. Now, it only happened
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: after I texted Campbell initially and he said, let me
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: get back to you. I want to check with Wan.
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: He got back to me within a half hour, and
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: Jan obviously gave him his blessing. And I was very
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: surprised by that for starters, that he had this kind
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: of relationship with Soda where Soda would get back to
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: him like that. And this was during the middle of
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: spring training, so it wasn't like Soda was overloaded. But
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: at the same time, he's getting ready for the season,
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: he's got media commitments, all kinds of things going on,
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: and yet Soda responded to him that quickly, and that's
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: what led me to believe, Okay, there's something here. These
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: guys are still tight. And then Campbell told me his
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: story and how he hosted Sodo with his three sons
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: and his ex wife at the time. He had a
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: daughter who was also obviously part of the family, but
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: not there she was older and out of the house,
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: and how he just had a really wonderful time. I'm
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: hosting Soto and just enjoying him and different players. There
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: were I believe four players in the house at that
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: time when Juan was there. Now Soto was there for
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: only three weeks. That was twenty eighteen. In twenty eighteen,
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: he starts off at low A, then he goes to
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: High A, Double A, and the Majors. He's in low
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: A for three weeks, then he makes those three jumps
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: that I just said, High A, Double A, Majors within
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: a month. He was in the majors by May twentieth,
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: at age nineteen. And yet even in those three weeks,
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: Soto formed a bond with this family and a bond
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: that continues to this day. They will go see him
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: play from time to time. They don't ask for tickets,
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: but he'll give them batting practice passes at times. Brian Campbell,
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: the father, will go out to dinner with Soto when
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: he's in Baltimore or Washington. And when I finally spoke
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: to Soto about this in Houston, right at the start
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: of the season, when the Mets were in Houston, Soto
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: lit up talking about this guy his family, and he
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: just said, basically was the time of his life. They
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: had a basement, the guys would go downstairs, players would come,
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: not just the ones in the house, but they would
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: sing karaoke, they would play cards, they would play video games,
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: all kinds of things, and it was kind of just
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: a very memorable time at a time in his life
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: when he was quite impressionable and still relatively new to
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: the United States New English. Even then, moan Soto has
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: known English really the whole time he's been a professional,
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: so he communicated well, and again it was just a
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: happy story to do. And the other interesting part of
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: it is that host families no longer exist in minor
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: league baseball, and the reason for that. It's actually a
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: good reason that there is a minor league collective bargaining
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: agreement that guaranteed minor league players more money and guaranteed
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: them housing. So host families are not really necessary. And
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: yet even as something has been gained, and something clearly
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: was gained in this minor league agree these guys are
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: getting paid better. The host family experience is something that
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: a lot of players who went through it still speak
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: of fondly On the show Friday, Todd Fraser and Eric
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: Kratz both spoke fondly of host families that they had.
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: They're still in touch with them, and you can go
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: to countless major leaguers ones who were all part of
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: this and they will tell you the same thing. In
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: the case of players from Latin America like Sodo, they
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: could be especially meaningful because of course they're transitioning to
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: new culture. But even in the case of players who
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: were born here, like Fraser and Kratz, host families can
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: leave an indelible impression. And that's what happened. That's what
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: the story was about. I thank this writer. He knows
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: who he is. I've thanked him personally for putting me
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: on to this story, and I hope people enjoyed reading it.
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: It's a lot of fun to do. We'll be back
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: after a quick word from our friends at Foul Territory.
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: Krats, do you like spending an hour on grocery shopping?
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: Nope?
• 15:56
  Speaker 3: Speed up the process please, introducing hungry route to the
• 15:59
  Speaker 3: ft fan. Now we can all be boogie with our
• 16:01
  Speaker 3: own personal shopper to handle the food shopping, including RECs
• 16:04
  Speaker 3: based on what you're looking to put in your body.
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: I stack my Hungry Root box with items like gluten free,
• 16:09
  Speaker 2: dairy free blueberry waffles for breakfasts, shrimp vegieboles for lunch,
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: and a little filet mignon with potatoes and broccoliini for dinner.
• 16:16
  Speaker 3: You can also say just hey, Hungry Root, I eat
• 16:19
  Speaker 3: paleo or I'm vegetarian, and they load up your car
• 16:22
  Speaker 3: with personalized recommendations.
• 16:24
  Speaker 2: And those recks keep evolving as they learn about what
• 16:27
  Speaker 2: you're into. Also no BS, as in no artificial sweeteners
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: or preservatives in any of Hunger Roots food. You're gonna
• 16:34
  Speaker 2: love Hunger Root as much as FT does. Take advantage
• 16:36
  Speaker 2: of this exclusive offer for a limited time, get forty
• 16:39
  Speaker 2: percent off your first box, plus get a free item
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: in every box for life. Go to hunger Root dot
• 16:44
  Speaker 2: com slash ft and use code FT that's Hungryroot dot
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: com slash ft code FT to get forty percent off
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: your first box and a free item of your choice
• 16:53
  Speaker 2: for life.
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: Time. Now for grilling Ken, Let's get to your questions.
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: The first question comes from Atom, not the insider, who
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: asks what is going on with the reds Adam. It's
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: a good question as you watch your team struggle to
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: score runs almost on a daily basis. What's interesting about
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: the Reds is they scored fourteen in one game, eleven
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: in another, and in their other eight games combined, they've
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: only scored fourteen runs. So what is going on. Part
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: of it is health. They don't have Tyler Stevenson, they
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: don't have Bostin Hayes. Spencer Steer has a shoulder issue,
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: he's been compromised. That's three players that they were counting
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: on and are counting on to be significant contributors. Of
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: the guys that are healthy, really, Matt McClain is the
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: only one performing I would say to expectations or even above.
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: His OPS is over eight hundred. No other Red, including
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: Elie Dela Cruz, is over eight hundred. And this was
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: a team that earlier in the offseason, going into spring training,
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: I thought might surprise. I still believe they might surprise.
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: But I had someone tell me right before the season started,
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: someone in their organization who said, you know what, I'm
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: a little worried. We're still one bat short. And that
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: was even with all of the injured players. So I
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: thought the bullpen would be the Red's biggest question, and
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: it still might be. But right now. The offense is
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: somewhat of a concern. I want to see what they
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: look like when they're healthier, but they've got to get
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: going a little bit from an offensive perspective. So far
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: not good. Next question comes from Enzo, who asks, with
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: William Abreu the best hitter on the planet, not really
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: exaggerating there. COR's love of Raphaela's defense in center and
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: Duran in left and Roman Anthony ready for the big leagues,
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: what do the Red Sox do? Fair question? Great problem
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: to have if you're the Red Sox and you left
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: Yoshida out of the equation. I don't see how he
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: fits now that Devers is the DH now once Anthony
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: is ready, Yes, it really becomes an interesting question. At
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: the moment, they're using Christian Campbell in center field on
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: certain days when they want to get David Hamilton into
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: the lineup as a left handed hitting second baseman. I
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: don't know how long that will continue once Roman Anthony
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: is ready. And again, having all of these players, all
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: these talented players, guys who are really going to be
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: or are already significant contributors. This is not a problem
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: generally speaking. Managers and coaches and front office people like
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: to say these things have a way of working out
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: on their own. That's true, and sometimes someone will get hurt,
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: and sometimes there will be underperformance or something else. But
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: the real issue to me is going to be Yoshida
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: and will he be ultimately a guy that they might
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: have to DFA. I don't know where this is going.
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: But again, if you're the Red Sox and you've got
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: all these players and Rafaela still is an offensive question,
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: let's face it, you're in a good position. The final
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: question comes from al who asks what would a contract
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: extension for schemes look like? He has many arbitration years left,
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: but what would it take to convince him to forego
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: free agency? A. I like the question, but at the
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: same time, it's almost irrelevant because Bob Nutting is not
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: going to do what it takes as owner of the
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: Pittsburgh Pirates to convince Paul Skeens not to go to
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: free agency. It's just not going to happen, right, based
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: on everything we've seen from Nutting, there is no way
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: this gets done. But for purposes of this exercise, let's
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: consult my colleague Tim Britton from The Athletic, who is
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: the expert on extension valuations. He does them basically all
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: year long for the Athletic and he wrote an entire
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: story on Skeens, I believe it was in spring training
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: and what an extension might look like for him. Now,
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: Skeens has one more pre orb year left after this
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: one one more year before arbitration, a time when the
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: club can dictate his salary, and then the three years
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: of arbitration. Tim determined that those years would be worth,
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: including this year, about thirty eight million. And then he said, Okay,
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: what if you think of Skeens as a guy who
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: will be in position to a manned a record average
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: annual value as a starting pitcher. He might be that good.
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: And let's say that's forty four million. So the way
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: Tim started out this process, he had skiened somewhere along
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: the lines of seven years point eighty. But that's assuming
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: just three years of free agency. So ultimately, when Tim
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: played this thing out, he kind of looked at it
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: like Julio Rodriguez is deal with Seattle, and you know
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: that deal. It's complicated, but he guarantees Julio a certain
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: amount north of two hundred million, and then there's a
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: club option after I believe the fifth season, and if
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: the Mariners pick that up, there's another two hundred million
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: coming something along those lines. It's complicated. Go to Cotts
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: Baseball Contracts look it up. But basically what it involves
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: is escalators and the ability for the Mariners to make
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: this deal even more lucrative if they want to keep
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: the player from opting out. That's the kind of deal
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: you would do with Paul Skins. It's a different situation,
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: obviously than Julio Rodriguez, because Paul Skans is a starting pitcher,
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: and as Steven Nesbitt wrote last week in The Athletic,
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: the entire sport is basically holding its breath hoping Paul
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: Skein stays healthy and warrants an extension. And if you're
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: Bob Nutting and you're the owner of the Pittsburgh Pirates,
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: you're going to say, hold on, I'm not going to
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: take this risk when we know Paul Skeins might blow out.
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: He won't say that publicly, but that's what he's thinking.
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: And it's not unfair to think that because all pictures
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: generally do get hurt at some point. So I don't
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: know where this is going. I would expect Paul Skeins
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: is going to be a free agent after four more
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: years beyond this one. And when he becomes a free agent,
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: assuming he's healthy, he's going to make a lot of money,
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: period and paragraph. Thanks everyone for your questions, Thanks everyone
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: for watching, for listening. You know where to find us YouTube, Apple, Spotify.
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: We will be back on Thursday. Myself and my co
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: host Elana Rizzo are normal Thursday program live at twelve
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: thirty Eastern. Have a great everyone.
• 23:01
  Speaker 4: Let's shout out the BETMGM first bet fifteen hundred dollars
• 23:03
  Speaker 4: offer when you use the bonus code foul. Get that
• 23:06
  Speaker 4: offer when you download the betmgmsportsbook app or at betmgm
• 23:10
  Speaker 4: dot com sign up, enter that bonus code foul and
• 23:14
  Speaker 4: deposit at least ten dollars into your new account. Place
• 23:16
  Speaker 4: your first wager and receive up to fifteen hundred dollars
• 23:19
  Speaker 4: back in bonus bets if the bet loses. If the
• 23:22
  Speaker 4: bet does lose, your bonus bets will be available once
• 23:25
  Speaker 4: your initial wager is settled. Gambling problem were concerned, call
• 23:28
  Speaker 4: one eight hundred Gambler