Latest / Foul Territory / Ken Rosenthal's Fair Territory: Tarik Skubal trade likelihood, Red Sox-Nats trade, Astros buying

Transcript

Ken Rosenthal's Fair Territory: Tarik Skubal trade likelihood, Red Sox-Nats trade, Astros buying · Foul Territory

0:01
Speaker 1: Welcome everyone to the Monday edition of Fair Territory. We
0:04
Speaker 1: are one week away from the Major League Baseball trade deadline.
0:08
Speaker 1: We've got a lot to get to today, Trek Scugle,
0:11
Speaker 1: the Red Sox, Nationals, trade hunter Goodman, who should buy?
0:15
Speaker 2: Who should sell?
0:16
Speaker 1: But let's start with the biggest story that will dominate
0:19
Speaker 1: the week.
0:20
Speaker 2: Of course, it's Trek Scugle.
0:21
Speaker 1: Now, let me set the stage for you with the
0:24
Speaker 1: Tigers and where they are six games under five hundred,
0:28
Speaker 1: six back in the Al Central and three and a
0:31
Speaker 1: half back in the wild Card race.
0:33
Speaker 2: They just lost two of.
0:34
Speaker 1: Three to the Royals over the weekend, the Royals being
0:37
Speaker 1: one of the worst teams in the Majors. Not a
0:39
Speaker 1: great outcome for the Tigers at a moment when they
0:42
Speaker 1: are trying to determine their future. Now, their playoff odds
0:46
Speaker 1: are at about thirty three percent, And I'll refer to
0:49
Speaker 1: playoff odds throughout the show because this is something that
0:52
Speaker 1: front offices look at.
0:54
Speaker 2: So it's a one in three chance.
0:56
Speaker 1: Yet I don't know if Scott Harris, they're president of
0:59
Speaker 1: Baseball Opera, is simply going to base this on their
1:02
Speaker 1: chances of making the playoffs. They've got the Orioles at
1:05
Speaker 1: home for three, then they travel to Sacramento to play
1:08
Speaker 1: the A's for three before the deadline. And yet what
1:13
Speaker 1: I've reported with Will Salmon is that Scott Harris has
1:17
Speaker 1: told teams we're going to need a controllable starter if
1:19
Speaker 1: we're going to do this, and we're going to need
1:21
Speaker 1: that on top of prospects.
1:23
Speaker 2: So that's a trade you.
1:25
Speaker 1: Conceivably could do wherever you are in the standings, because
1:29
Speaker 1: you could justify trading Schooble justifying quotes because you'll be
1:34
Speaker 1: getting a starting pitcher back to cover his innings, to
1:37
Speaker 1: be someone that you could count on in the rotation,
1:41
Speaker 1: not to the extent of Trek Schouble, but someone who
1:44
Speaker 1: really could.
1:44
Speaker 2: Help your team.
1:46
Speaker 1: So it's all going to play out this week. I'm
1:48
Speaker 1: sure there's going to be a lot of talk about
1:50
Speaker 1: Schooble one way or the other. And yet the Tigers
1:53
Speaker 1: are in a position, like a lot of teams, if
1:55
Speaker 1: they win games here, it makes the decision I would
1:59
Speaker 1: expect to be that much more difficult for Scott Harris
2:02
Speaker 1: and the Detroit Tigers. Now we had a trade over
2:05
Speaker 1: the weekend. It was a fascinating trade, and I'm gonna
2:08
Speaker 1: start off talking about the Curtis Mead for Connelly Early
2:12
Speaker 1: trade by saying that we all make these lists who
2:16
Speaker 1: teams are targeting, who teams need, which.
2:19
Speaker 2: Players could get traded.
2:21
Speaker 1: We all make them all the big outlets, including mine
2:24
Speaker 1: the Athletic, and these lists and these stories get read.
2:28
Speaker 1: And yet I say this all the time, what we
2:32
Speaker 1: actually know about what's going on, even the reporters like myself,
2:37
Speaker 1: it's a fraction of what's going on. And this trade
2:39
Speaker 1: is a classic example of that. I don't know that
2:42
Speaker 1: too many people had the Red Sox trading Connolly early.
2:45
Speaker 1: I don't know that too many people had the Nationals
2:47
Speaker 1: trading Curtis Mead, And yet here we are now. My
2:51
Speaker 1: initial reaction to this trade when I heard it Saturday
2:54
Speaker 1: night was ah, man, I don't know about the Red
2:57
Speaker 1: Sox giving up Connolly early, and I believe that a
3:00
Speaker 1: lot of people had the same reaction. But when you
3:04
Speaker 1: look at this, when you dig deeper, it is really interesting.
3:08
Speaker 1: And here are the Red Sox. By the way, let's
3:10
Speaker 1: talk about them. To start with. They've won twenty two
3:13
Speaker 1: of twenty six. Their playoff odds are now over seventy percent.
3:18
Speaker 1: It's a shocking turnaround, as shocking as we've seen in
3:21
Speaker 1: the game in recent years. So the Red Sox are
3:24
Speaker 1: in this position where we know they need a right
3:27
Speaker 1: handed bat. They needed it going back to the offseason.
3:31
Speaker 1: So how do you get that right handed bat in
3:33
Speaker 1: this market with such a short supply of those types
3:36
Speaker 1: of players, It's difficult to do. What they did here
3:41
Speaker 1: was trade off their strength. They have, unlike almost every
3:45
Speaker 1: other team except perhaps Seattle, a depth of starting pitching,
3:49
Speaker 1: and with the emergence of Jake Bennett, the return of
3:52
Speaker 1: Patrick Sandoval, the possible return at some point of Gary Crochet,
3:57
Speaker 1: if not this season, certainly in the future. Then when
4:00
Speaker 1: you have the ability to at least entertain this and
4:03
Speaker 1: entertain it for a guy who is similarly young and
4:07
Speaker 1: similarly under club control, under similar club control.
4:11
Speaker 2: Now, Connie Early is.
4:12
Speaker 1: A guy that a lot of people, including myself, like,
4:15
Speaker 1: he started Game three of the Wildcard Series last year.
4:18
Speaker 2: He's also a guy who's had.
4:20
Speaker 1: Left elbow inflammation, he's been on the injured list, and
4:22
Speaker 1: whose peripheral numbers weren't quite as strong as his actual
4:26
Speaker 1: numbers this season. So it does give you some pause,
4:30
Speaker 1: and you can say, if you're the Red Sox, all right.
4:32
Speaker 1: We can do this because of our depth, even though
4:35
Speaker 1: we like Connelly early, because we're getting that right handed
4:39
Speaker 1: bat now. Curtis Meade kind of mirrors the Red Sox
4:42
Speaker 1: in some ways, defaide by the Chicago White Sox at
4:46
Speaker 1: the end of spring trading ends up traded to the
4:49
Speaker 1: Washington Nationals. He's a guy who's kind of come off
4:52
Speaker 1: the mat here and a lot of people are wondering, Okay,
4:57
Speaker 1: he's had a great half season, but is it for real?
5:00
Speaker 1: Is that eight hundred plus ops sustainable? I will say this,
5:05
Speaker 1: Curtis Mead is a guy who was once a top
5:07
Speaker 1: prospect in the game, at least for the Tampa Bay
5:09
Speaker 1: Rays when he was there. Remember, the Tampa Bay Rays
5:12
Speaker 1: acquired him way back when for Christopher Sanchez twenty twenty two,
5:16
Speaker 1: twenty twenty three, twenty four. He was a top five
5:19
Speaker 1: prospect in the Ray's talent rich system. So while this
5:24
Speaker 1: looks like something of a risk, it's not as if
5:27
Speaker 1: Curtis Mead has no pedigree. This season, he has outperformed
5:31
Speaker 1: a guy that I thought the Red Sox should have signed.
5:34
Speaker 1: Most of Red Sox Nation thinks the Red Sox should
5:36
Speaker 1: have signed, and that's Alex Bregman. Does he sustain it
5:40
Speaker 1: going forward, I don't know, but it's a reasonable bet
5:43
Speaker 1: for the Red Sox to make, and I liked it
5:45
Speaker 1: for them. I loved it for the Nationals as well.
5:48
Speaker 1: The Nationals clearly need controllable starting pitching. It would be
5:51
Speaker 1: nice if they had a bullpen too. They didn't have
5:54
Speaker 1: to accomplish that in this trade. And if on the Nationals,
5:58
Speaker 1: I know I'm a game out in the wild card standings,
6:00
Speaker 1: and I know my playoff ods are somewhere around ten percent.
6:04
Speaker 1: I still keep trying to do trades like this, trades
6:07
Speaker 1: to help for now, perhaps once Early comes off the
6:10
Speaker 1: injury list, and of course for the future. So the
6:14
Speaker 1: big question now for the Red Sox, in my opinion,
6:16
Speaker 1: is how this lines up defensively. What they can do
6:20
Speaker 1: here is move Chad Durban to second and play Mead
6:23
Speaker 1: at third, or what I think they should do, and
6:27
Speaker 1: what Jen McCaffrey of The Athletic alluded to this morning
6:29
Speaker 1: is play Mead at second, keep Derbin at third, where
6:33
Speaker 1: he is above average defender. Mead has placed second in
6:36
Speaker 1: the past, so fascinating trade. What they know what they
6:40
Speaker 1: call a challenge trade in baseball. We don't know who's
6:43
Speaker 1: going to win this thing, if anybody's going to win it,
6:45
Speaker 1: or if anybody's going to lose it, or if both
6:47
Speaker 1: teams end up happy or sad. But it's one of
6:50
Speaker 1: these trades that you look at and you just understand
6:53
Speaker 1: where both sides are and you understand where this could
6:56
Speaker 1: end up, knowing that it's.
6:59
Speaker 2: Something of a miss Todd Fither. You're hitting some games
7:02
Speaker 2: this summer. What's the deal, of course?
7:04
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7:07
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7:09
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7:12
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7:14
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7:18
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7:22
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7:25
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7:27
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7:30
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7:44
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7:47
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8:01
Speaker 1: All right, as we go forward here the Astros, here's
8:03
Speaker 1: a fascinating team as well. The Astros are the cockroaches
8:07
Speaker 1: of baseball. They have won five of six and as
8:11
Speaker 1: chand their own rights today in the athletic.
8:14
Speaker 2: They're not going to sell.
8:15
Speaker 1: There have been all these stories about them selling early
8:19
Speaker 1: on Jodan Alvarez and more recently Josh Hater and Jeremy Panya. No,
8:24
Speaker 1: not happening, was never going to happen. That is not
8:28
Speaker 1: how the Astros owner Jim Crane rolls. It is not
8:30
Speaker 1: how their general manager and the last year of his contract,
8:33
Speaker 1: Dana Brown roles.
8:35
Speaker 2: It is not what the Astros do.
8:37
Speaker 1: They're going to be convinced that they can compete until
8:40
Speaker 1: really they can do it.
8:41
Speaker 2: No, more.
8:42
Speaker 1: Now you look at them and you wonder, well, are
8:44
Speaker 1: they being realistic here?
8:46
Speaker 2: That is a fair question.
8:48
Speaker 1: They run differential minus forty seven, they're three games under
8:52
Speaker 1: five hundred, their playoff odds are below thirty percent. They
8:55
Speaker 1: clearly need an outfielder. They also could use, in my estimation,
8:59
Speaker 1: as starting pitcher. But we know Jim Craine never wants
9:02
Speaker 1: to rebuild, and we know Dana Brown is one of
9:06
Speaker 1: the more aggressive gms in the game. So if you're
9:09
Speaker 1: the Astros, you're looking at the division. No one's running away.
9:14
Speaker 2: The Mariners can't get out of their own way.
9:16
Speaker 1: The Rangers are okay, but I don't expect them to
9:18
Speaker 1: do necessarily a whole lot of the deadline.
9:21
Speaker 2: So therefore, if you're the Astros, you're trying.
9:24
Speaker 1: To still keep this thing going, keep it going a
9:26
Speaker 1: little bit longer. All right. One more thing in this
9:28
Speaker 1: first block that I want to get to. A story
9:30
Speaker 1: I wrote this morning with Will Salmon, and it's a
9:33
Speaker 1: story about Hunter Goodman and in reporting in the recent days.
9:38
Speaker 1: In recent days, I discovered, as did Will, that the
9:41
Speaker 1: perception of Goodman's defense around the game is not good,
9:45
Speaker 1: that he seemingly has regressed and specifically, his receiving is
9:49
Speaker 1: an issue, and this could effect, of course, his trade value.
9:53
Speaker 1: Now the Rockies don't necessarily want to trade him three
9:56
Speaker 1: additional years of control.
9:57
Speaker 2: He's cheap. He's really good the majors and home runs.
10:01
Speaker 2: But at the same time, maybe they.
10:04
Speaker 1: Max out when his value is this high, when he
10:06
Speaker 1: has this much control, And the question is can they
10:09
Speaker 1: get what they want with these questions out there now?
10:13
Speaker 1: It's interesting about receiving, and that's the act of catching
10:17
Speaker 1: the ball. For those who might not be aware, it's
10:19
Speaker 1: not framing, it's not throwing, it's not any of the
10:22
Speaker 1: other catching skills.
10:23
Speaker 2: It's purely receiving.
10:25
Speaker 1: That is something that catching instructors will tell you is
10:29
Speaker 1: relatively easy to correct. So if you put Goodman with
10:32
Speaker 1: the right team, maybe they fix this in a hurry, even.
10:36
Speaker 2: Though it's mid season.
10:37
Speaker 1: It's always difficult to trade for a catcher at mid season,
10:40
Speaker 1: and maybe we're looking at the best hitter at the
10:43
Speaker 1: deadline who gets traded. I don't know that the Nationals
10:45
Speaker 1: are going to trade C. J. Abrams at this point. Frankly,
10:48
Speaker 1: I don't know that the Rockies are going to trade
10:50
Speaker 1: Hunter Goodman. But with the injury to Shay Langelier's there
10:53
Speaker 1: is very little catching out there, and it's going to
10:56
Speaker 1: be really interesting to see what exactly theies do here,
11:00
Speaker 1: how they view Goodman going forward, and how the rest
11:04
Speaker 1: of the industry views him as well with these questions
11:07
Speaker 1: that have arisen due to his defensive issues. All Right,
11:11
Speaker 1: with that, we are through one segment. We're going to
11:13
Speaker 1: come back with kind of a who should buy who
11:15
Speaker 1: should sell thing, even though that's an oversimplification.
11:19
Speaker 2: We'll be right back with the Inside Dish after this.
11:27
Speaker 1: All right, time now for the Inside Dish, the part
11:29
Speaker 1: of the show where I talk about something I've written
11:31
Speaker 1: trend in the game or on this particular day, where
11:36
Speaker 1: certain teams stand as we are one week away from
11:39
Speaker 1: the trade deadline. I want to start with the Baltimore Orioles,
11:42
Speaker 1: a team that I've written about at some length this season,
11:46
Speaker 1: a team that can't seem to get out of its
11:48
Speaker 1: own way. Playoff odds at about twenty percent, it's a
11:51
Speaker 1: one in five chance. Swept the Astros in Houston coming
11:54
Speaker 1: out of the break, and you thought, okay, here we go.
11:57
Speaker 1: But every time you think here we go with the Orioles,
11:59
Speaker 1: they sputter again. They then dropped the series in Boston.
12:03
Speaker 2: Admittedly, the Red Sox are red hot, and then.
12:06
Speaker 1: Lost two of three at home to Atlanta this weekend,
12:09
Speaker 1: both losses coming in extra innings. This is a team
12:13
Speaker 1: that right now is missing both of its catchers, Adlie
12:16
Speaker 1: Rushman and Samuel Bossaio, two of their best players, and
12:20
Speaker 1: a team that hasn't played crisply the entire season now.
12:25
Speaker 1: Their owner, David Rubinstein came out last week endorsed Michaelias
12:29
Speaker 1: as president of baseball Operations, said they still think they're
12:33
Speaker 1: going to make the playoffs.
12:34
Speaker 2: A lot of happy talk out of the Orioles. At
12:37
Speaker 2: some point there has to be reality talk. At some point.
12:40
Speaker 1: The owner has to watch the games and watch what's
12:42
Speaker 1: going on. There are mistakes almost on a nightly basis.
12:46
Speaker 1: This team doesn't seem to know yet how to win,
12:49
Speaker 1: and maybe it never will. This group's been together for
12:52
Speaker 1: some time now, so that's been the case all season.
12:55
Speaker 1: I don't know that I expect them to sell because
12:58
Speaker 1: they're still in this thing, of course, like almost every
13:01
Speaker 1: other team in the American League. And Mike Elias is
13:04
Speaker 1: the equivalent of Dana Brown in Houston. He is a
13:07
Speaker 1: guy who you would think is under some scrutiny, even
13:11
Speaker 1: with what the owner keeps saying. That said, what's best
13:14
Speaker 1: for the organization might be to trade Trevor Rodgers and
13:17
Speaker 1: Taylor Ward and go out again next year.
13:21
Speaker 2: All right, Moving forward, the.
13:22
Speaker 1: Saint Louis Cardinals, well, for them, it was kind of
13:25
Speaker 1: nice while it lasted three and seven out of the break,
13:29
Speaker 1: one and a half games out in the wildcard race,
13:31
Speaker 1: but their playoff odds are below twenty percent, and frankly,
13:35
Speaker 1: their president of baseball Operations Heim Bloom, never wanted to
13:38
Speaker 1: buy anyway. So maybe the Cardinals do something along the
13:43
Speaker 1: lines of what the Nationals.
13:45
Speaker 2: Just did and try to kind of keep it going.
13:47
Speaker 1: But at the same time, they've got a couple of
13:49
Speaker 1: players on expiring contracts that teams will want. The reliever
13:53
Speaker 1: Jojo Romero and the starting pitcher Dustin May Lars Nutbar
13:57
Speaker 1: and outfielder with an additional year of control, also someone
14:00
Speaker 1: who could command possibly a decent return. So they've got
14:05
Speaker 1: young catching. I can see them making prospect for prospect
14:08
Speaker 1: kinds of trades, but I don't expect them to be
14:11
Speaker 1: a serious buyer, and they should.
14:13
Speaker 2: The Miami Marlins, my goodness, the Miami Marlins. It wasn't
14:18
Speaker 2: that long ago. I wrote a story saying they're keeping
14:21
Speaker 2: Sandy out.
14:22
Speaker 1: Contra barring a collapse. They're gonna go forward and try
14:26
Speaker 1: to add barring a collapse. And since I wrote that story,
14:29
Speaker 1: you see it right there, fishing for deadline help, Marlins
14:32
Speaker 1: likely to keep al Contra add strategically. Since that story appeared,
14:37
Speaker 1: the Marlins have not won a game. In fact, they've
14:41
Speaker 1: lost twelve straight twelve straight games that they've lost, and
14:45
Speaker 1: right now you look at where they are in the standings,
14:48
Speaker 1: it's still not out of control for them. It's not
14:52
Speaker 1: a situation where they cannot get into this thing, into
14:55
Speaker 1: the wild card, but there are teams ahead of them.
14:57
Speaker 2: They're not playing well, and I don't know that.
14:59
Speaker 1: They'll trade contract who is a favorite of the owner,
15:02
Speaker 1: who's under control for another year. But I don't see
15:05
Speaker 1: them adding big at this point either.
15:08
Speaker 2: So the Marlins have been quite a collapse. Even at
15:11
Speaker 2: Triple A, they've had trouble.
15:12
Speaker 1: The Triple A team has a losing streak of about
15:15
Speaker 1: ten or eleven games, I believe as well.
15:18
Speaker 2: So for the Miami franchise.
15:19
Speaker 1: The last couple of weeks have just been nothing short
15:22
Speaker 1: of a disaster.
15:24
Speaker 2: Pittsburgh Pirates.
15:26
Speaker 1: Now, the Pirates are only four and five since the break,
15:29
Speaker 1: but their playoff odds are pretty good, about forty percent.
15:32
Speaker 1: They're second in the majors in runs per game, second
15:36
Speaker 1: only to the Nationals. It's the difference between the Nationals
15:38
Speaker 1: and the Cardinals. The Nationals have this ridiculous offense. If
15:42
Speaker 1: they can somehow support it with bullpen help, they're in
15:45
Speaker 1: a pretty good spot. The Pirates are almost in the
15:49
Speaker 1: exact same position, but with a better rotation.
15:53
Speaker 2: So here are the Pirates.
15:54
Speaker 1: Not only is their offense performing at an extremely high level,
15:58
Speaker 1: they've got three players coming back some time in August,
16:01
Speaker 1: Spencer Horowitz, O'Neil Cruz and Indie Rodriguez who will further.
16:05
Speaker 2: Bolster that offense.
16:06
Speaker 1: Now, I asked one of their people over the weekend,
16:10
Speaker 1: might you trade off your offense and ultimately get the
16:14
Speaker 1: pitching that way, get the bullpen help that way.
16:17
Speaker 2: They don't seem inclined to do that. What I believe.
16:20
Speaker 1: They want to do, what I've been told they want
16:23
Speaker 1: to do, is trade off their prospects, some of their prospects,
16:26
Speaker 1: not all of them, for that bullpen help.
16:29
Speaker 2: They've been seeking.
16:29
Speaker 1: But if you look at what Ben Sherrington said over
16:32
Speaker 1: the weekend, and I want to show you this quote,
16:34
Speaker 1: it indicates clearly that they are a buyer. Ben Sherrington,
16:38
Speaker 1: of course, being their President of Baseball Operations, he is
16:41
Speaker 1: a guy.
16:42
Speaker 2: I'm sure he's their GM.
16:43
Speaker 1: I don't know the titles anymore, these guys all with
16:46
Speaker 1: their titles.
16:46
Speaker 2: All right, here's what Ben said. We know a lot
16:48
Speaker 2: about the team.
16:49
Speaker 1: It's hard to imagine that much would happen in the
16:51
Speaker 1: next week to eight days that would really shift in
16:54
Speaker 1: one way or another. I think it's pretty clear what
16:56
Speaker 1: we're going to try to do, and I don't expect
16:59
Speaker 1: that an outcome day to day between now and.
17:02
Speaker 2: Then is going to change it much. So.
17:04
Speaker 1: The Pirates, Yeah, they're buyers, and they should be buyers.
17:09
Speaker 1: They've got Paul Skins, They're only gonna have them for
17:11
Speaker 1: so long. They've got this group of starting pitchers, Braxton Ashcraft,
17:15
Speaker 1: Jared Jones, the whole gang.
17:18
Speaker 2: It's really good. You want to supplement that.
17:21
Speaker 1: You want to make the playoffs, which is something you
17:23
Speaker 1: haven't done since twenty fifteen.
17:25
Speaker 2: You want a winning season. You've had seven straight losing campaigns.
17:28
Speaker 2: Let's go. Finally, the New York Mets.
17:32
Speaker 1: Now. I talked on the broadcast Saturday about the Mets.
17:34
Speaker 1: I put out a video on the Athletic about the Mets.
17:37
Speaker 1: I put there over under for trades at six. And
17:40
Speaker 1: that's not even being that radical or that crazy. Six
17:45
Speaker 1: should be the minimum probably for them. The big question
17:48
Speaker 1: for me is not Lindor's I said this on the broadcast,
17:51
Speaker 1: it's Luke Weaver. Luke Weaver is a guy with an
17:54
Speaker 1: additional year of control. The Mets want to compete next season,
17:58
Speaker 1: of course they do. They're not going to rebuild. Do
18:01
Speaker 1: you keep Luke Weaver and ultimately make him a big
18:04
Speaker 1: part of your team next year as he could be
18:08
Speaker 1: with Soto, Lindor, the kids, benj and Ewing, the kids
18:11
Speaker 1: in the rotation, McLean and Christian Scott? Or do you
18:16
Speaker 1: trade him knowing that reliever performance is volatile.
18:20
Speaker 2: And knowing that Luke Weaver might not be as good
18:22
Speaker 2: next year as he is this year. Very few relievers
18:25
Speaker 2: are that good year to year.
18:28
Speaker 1: If I'm the Mets, I get the right offer, yes,
18:31
Speaker 1: I would do it, but only for the right offer,
18:33
Speaker 1: Because if I'm the Mets, I'm taking another.
18:36
Speaker 2: Swing next year.
18:37
Speaker 1: I've got money, I've got guys coming off the books,
18:40
Speaker 1: I've got things I can do. Baby Boba shed is
18:42
Speaker 1: back if so good.
18:44
Speaker 2: But you can't.
18:46
Speaker 1: Simply ignore as well all that has happened this season,
18:49
Speaker 1: And you can't ignore the possibility of trading a reliever again,
18:53
Speaker 1: one of the more volatile positions, the most volatile position
18:56
Speaker 1: in the sport. All right, there is one place to
18:59
Speaker 1: be on trade deadline day watching Foul Territory, of course.
19:03
Speaker 1: AJ Pridinski, Aeric Kratz, and Scott Braun will be live
19:06
Speaker 1: all afternoon, speaking with insiders, reading tea leaves and reacting
19:10
Speaker 1: to unfolding deadline drama. Join us on the FT YouTube
19:14
Speaker 1: channel at one pm ET and stay locked in through
19:17
Speaker 1: the six pm deadline next Monday. Foul Territory Network, It's
19:21
Speaker 1: baseball the way it should be covered. Time now for
19:31
Speaker 1: Brill and Ken, the part of the show where I
19:33
Speaker 1: answer your questions.
19:35
Speaker 2: Let's not mess around, let's get right to them.
19:37
Speaker 1: First question, this one comes from Pippi fans.
19:43
Speaker 2: Whatever are the padres buyers or sellers?
19:45
Speaker 1: Now, that is a question that is an oversimplification of
19:49
Speaker 1: AJ Preller's complex mind. I don't know if their buyers
19:54
Speaker 1: are sellers. I would expect they're going to be both.
19:57
Speaker 1: And AJ Preller is, of course, as we know from
20:00
Speaker 1: years of watching this, capable of doing anything at the deadline.
20:05
Speaker 1: Would that include trading Mason Miller. Of course, it would
20:07
Speaker 1: include trading Mason Miller.
20:08
Speaker 2: Do I expect them to do that?
20:10
Speaker 1: No, because I expect that AJ Preller is going to
20:14
Speaker 1: try to make the playoffs. Padres just swept the Marlins.
20:17
Speaker 1: Manny's hitting now Jackson Merrill's hitting along with Tattis. Their
20:20
Speaker 1: offense has come around since about mid June. They've got
20:24
Speaker 1: huge rotation questions. They're essentially going to pitching chaos, which
20:28
Speaker 1: the Tigers introduced two years ago, using basically two starters
20:32
Speaker 1: Michael King and Walker Buehler.
20:34
Speaker 2: And patching it together from there.
20:36
Speaker 1: But I expect that AJ Preller is going to try
20:39
Speaker 1: to improve his team. But at the same time, he
20:42
Speaker 1: could improve his team by perhaps trading off parts as well,
20:46
Speaker 1: maybe Adrian murrayjone goes. There are any number of scenarios
20:51
Speaker 1: that AJ Preller is going to entertain. He is essentially
20:55
Speaker 1: a wild man at the deadline, unpredictable, and I'm not
20:58
Speaker 1: going to dare predict.
20:59
Speaker 2: What he might do this particular deadline. All right.
21:03
Speaker 1: Next question, If not for oh, if not Schooble for
21:07
Speaker 1: the Brewers, then who good question. If al Contra gets traded,
21:11
Speaker 1: if the Marlins are willing to do that, he is
21:13
Speaker 1: precisely the kind of innings eater the Brewers need. Now.
21:17
Speaker 1: I don't expect that al Contra will get traded, but
21:20
Speaker 1: think about a Robbie.
21:21
Speaker 2: Ray or Freddy Peralta.
21:23
Speaker 1: Even though he hasn't performed, maybe you put him back
21:25
Speaker 1: together with the Brewers pitching group and it works there.
21:28
Speaker 1: I don't expect that to happen, but there are starting
21:31
Speaker 1: pictures available, and the Brewers, yes, I would like to
21:34
Speaker 1: see them get one more simply because of the workload
21:37
Speaker 1: questions with Miserowski, with Harrison, all of their pictures frankly,
21:41
Speaker 1: all right.
21:42
Speaker 2: Next question, are the Reds shopping Ellie? The Reds are
21:48
Speaker 2: one of.
21:48
Speaker 1: The season's biggest disappointments. Now they offered Elie Dela Cruz
21:52
Speaker 1: the richest contract in franchise history, not last spring, but
21:55
Speaker 1: the spring before that. He turns it down. He's represented
21:59
Speaker 1: by Scott Boord. That said, the Reds have a number
22:03
Speaker 1: of players on expiring contracts. Some of their bullpen, some
22:06
Speaker 1: sprinkled around the team, others who are under shorter long
22:11
Speaker 1: term control but some control beyond this season. Those are
22:14
Speaker 1: the players that I expect them to entertain. Elie Dela Cruz,
22:18
Speaker 1: like Lindor if the Mets decide to do it, more
22:21
Speaker 1: of an offseason move. So I don't see the Red
22:24
Speaker 1: Sox shopping or trading Ellie Dela Cruz at this deadline.
22:29
Speaker 1: Next question, Let's see what we got here. And by
22:33
Speaker 1: the way, anything I say here, don't hold it against
22:38
Speaker 1: me because so much will change. And I always tell
22:40
Speaker 1: you guys this, our heads are going to spin with
22:43
Speaker 1: some of the things. We're going to see things that
22:46
Speaker 1: I'm not going to see coming, You're not going to
22:47
Speaker 1: see coming, and even people in the industry are not
22:50
Speaker 1: going to see coming.
22:51
Speaker 2: All right, from Foul Territory Show, the question is what
22:54
Speaker 2: will the Diamondbacks do.
22:55
Speaker 1: The Diamondbacks are kind of a sleepy good playoff contender
23:00
Speaker 1: right now.
23:01
Speaker 2: They've had a decent run here, and even though.
23:04
Speaker 1: They've just lost two of three, they're going to try
23:06
Speaker 1: to supplement or add a first basement that's been their
23:11
Speaker 1: biggest need. They also could look to their rotation because
23:15
Speaker 1: their rotation has people coming back Soroka and Zach Gallon,
23:20
Speaker 1: Ryan Nelson.
23:21
Speaker 2: But it's also an area where you.
23:24
Speaker 1: Have physical questions and you don't know exactly what you're
23:26
Speaker 1: going to get from these guys.
23:28
Speaker 2: And then there is the bullpen.
23:29
Speaker 1: Now they're deep in the bullpen and they ultimately could
23:32
Speaker 1: trade a reliever, but with Justin Martinez coming back, even there,
23:37
Speaker 1: I would look to see if there's something they might
23:40
Speaker 1: do to supplement it, because you don't know with Justin
23:42
Speaker 1: Martinez either. I failed to mention Corbyn Burns he could
23:45
Speaker 1: be back at some point, but again with all these guys,
23:48
Speaker 1: you don't.
23:49
Speaker 2: Know what you're getting.
23:50
Speaker 1: So first base priority, starting pitching, equal or close to
23:55
Speaker 1: equal priority, bullpen where they can probably trade out of
23:59
Speaker 1: that would be on the list.
24:01
Speaker 2: All right, maybe we have time for one more. Let's
24:03
Speaker 2: see Dewey Okay, twins buyers or sellers. That's from Army
24:07
Speaker 2: Killo boy.
24:08
Speaker 1: I say buyers, And they are right in the thick
24:11
Speaker 1: of this thing. As again, every team in the American
24:14
Speaker 1: League seems to be, and they need bullpen help. It's
24:17
Speaker 1: pretty clear. But I don't expect them to trade Joe Ryan.
24:20
Speaker 1: I don't expect them to trade Byron Buxton. Their new
24:23
Speaker 1: control person, Tom Pohlad, has been pretty vocal about wanting
24:27
Speaker 1: to make this team good again after what they did
24:31
Speaker 1: last year at the deadline when they were the biggest
24:33
Speaker 1: sellers by far, by the way, that was something we
24:35
Speaker 1: didn't see coming. So that's where I expect the Twins
24:38
Speaker 1: to be buying rather than selling. Maybe they do a
24:42
Speaker 1: little of both, but I don't believe that they're going
24:44
Speaker 1: to concede this and trade the guys.
24:46
Speaker 2: That I just mentioned.
24:47
Speaker 1: All right, I want to thank everyone for watching, for listening,
24:50
Speaker 1: read us all week in the Athletic foul Territory is
24:53
Speaker 1: coming up at one pm Eastern. Hosts are whit Merrifield,
24:57
Speaker 1: Josh Harrison, and Scott Braun.
24:59
Speaker 2: Where's aj still leading a hot Dog in Texas or whatever?
25:02
Speaker 2: Hosts are those guys.
25:04
Speaker 1: We've got insider Robert Murray coming on Twins First Basement.
25:07
Speaker 2: Josh Bell.
25:07
Speaker 1: We can ask him about buying or selling the Athletic
25:10
Speaker 1: Spencer Nustbaum as well. We're back Thursday, twelve thirty Eastern. Oh,
25:14
Speaker 1: they'll be action by then. We'll talk to you at
25:16
Speaker 1: that point.
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