Latest / Foul Territory / Ken Rosenthal’s Inside Scoop: Reliever market, Lowe/Buxton/Contreras on block? + KC shopping SP?

Transcript

Ken Rosenthal’s Inside Scoop: Reliever market, Lowe/Buxton/Contreras on block? + KC shopping SP? · Foul Territory

0:05
Speaker 1: Inside Tup time at T senior insider Ken Rosenthal with
0:08
Speaker 1: us right now, Ken, good to see what do you
0:09
Speaker 1: think of the Mets adding Devin Williams here.
0:13
Speaker 2: I pretty much have the same opinion as most of
0:16
Speaker 2: my fellow writers, it seems, which is good move, but
0:21
Speaker 2: necessary still to have Edwin Diaz in the back of
0:23
Speaker 2: that bullpen. If you're building a really strong bullpen, if
0:27
Speaker 2: you've got Devin Williams as your closer, well you better
0:29
Speaker 2: build a strong group in front of him, which they
0:31
Speaker 2: ultimately could do anyway. But I'd like this a whole
0:35
Speaker 2: lot better if it's Williams setting up for Diaz. Not
0:38
Speaker 2: that Devin Williams can't close, of course he can, but
0:42
Speaker 2: as a setup man for Edwin Diaz, that is a
0:45
Speaker 2: combination that a championship team would want and you could
0:48
Speaker 2: see becoming something truly special.
0:54
Speaker 3: Go for it, a j oh My question is which
0:57
Speaker 3: one do you think they're going to be better at? Ken,
0:59
Speaker 3: getting Edwin Diaz and trying to use Devin Williams as
1:02
Speaker 3: a setup guy, or can they go out and fill
1:04
Speaker 3: it to make Devin Williams because basically, when he was
1:06
Speaker 3: at his best, he was a one inning guy they
1:08
Speaker 3: brought him in the ninth in Milwaukee after getting through
1:11
Speaker 3: eight innings and saying, go get the ninth and a
1:12
Speaker 3: clean inning. So which one do you think the Mets
1:15
Speaker 3: favor doing.
1:17
Speaker 2: Well? It's going to depend on price. I know that's
1:19
Speaker 2: kind of a cop out answer.
1:20
Speaker 3: But if they feel it, what new can?
1:22
Speaker 4: What new can?
1:23
Speaker 2: Edwin d Has' price is excessive, They're not going to
1:26
Speaker 2: assign Edwin Diaz. But if you're asking me, which is
1:29
Speaker 2: the better way to go a group of strong setup
1:32
Speaker 2: man men in front of Williams as a closer, or
1:36
Speaker 2: Edwin Diaz in the back Devin Williams setting up and
1:39
Speaker 2: then a group of guys, hopefully strong group in front
1:42
Speaker 2: of them, I would say that's the better way to go.
1:45
Speaker 2: But there are many ways to build a bullpen. We
1:48
Speaker 2: know that, and often relievers come out of nowhere too.
1:52
Speaker 2: Now you can't count on that. Obviously, it's much better
1:54
Speaker 2: to have someone who's proven, like a Williams or a Daz,
1:58
Speaker 2: But you can build bullpen. The Mets can build a
2:02
Speaker 2: quality bullpen without Diaz and with Williams as their closer.
2:06
Speaker 2: They just would be better with Diaz as the anchor.
2:10
Speaker 5: I ken he just threw you a slider, I'm gonna throw
2:12
Speaker 5: you the nastiest knuckleball. Is there a chance they get
2:16
Speaker 5: DZ because they don't want to spend on starting pitching,
2:19
Speaker 5: So they're gonna shorten the game and get guys who
2:22
Speaker 5: can just go four innings like they have been and say,
2:26
Speaker 5: we have much more stability, knowing what we're getting with
2:31
Speaker 5: two elite and end of the game closers. We'll just
2:34
Speaker 5: shorten the game and never have to spend anything on
2:37
Speaker 5: a starting pitcher.
2:40
Speaker 2: No, they need starting pitching, and you're right, teams today
2:44
Speaker 2: Eric generally prefer, if possible, two shortened games. We just
2:48
Speaker 2: don't see starters pitching deep into games anymore. But even
2:52
Speaker 2: if you're taking that approach with the Mets, or if
2:55
Speaker 2: you're the Mets, you're still gonna need guys to start
2:57
Speaker 2: the game, beyond your three kids and beyond Dave Peterson
3:01
Speaker 2: and the rest of that group. Manayah. So their clearest need.
3:06
Speaker 2: Their biggest downfall last season was starting pitching. And even
3:10
Speaker 2: with Devin Williams, and even if you get Edwin Diaz,
3:13
Speaker 2: and even if you sign three other relievers, still gonna
3:16
Speaker 2: need somewhere to take the ball at the start of
3:18
Speaker 2: the game, and it's really hard to win with forwarding
3:21
Speaker 2: starts every night because you're going to your bullpen every night.
3:24
Speaker 2: The volatility that aj was speaking of comes into play.
3:27
Speaker 2: So no, their priority still has to be two starting pitchers,
3:32
Speaker 2: not one in my opinion too. And then go from there.
3:36
Speaker 3: All right, ken, well, who's next? Which reliever is next
3:39
Speaker 3: off the board? I know Pete Fairbanks has been mentioned,
3:42
Speaker 3: There's some other guys out there that are mentioned as relievers.
3:45
Speaker 3: So who's next. Who's the next closer to sign? Is
3:48
Speaker 3: a DS is it Fairbanks?
3:49
Speaker 4: Is someone else?
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Speaker 3: So we don't know a laid in and guy that
3:52
Speaker 3: it's going to get big money.
3:53
Speaker 2: I would expect Fairbanks. In fact, I thought he might
3:56
Speaker 2: be the next one after Hellsley, and of course Williams
3:59
Speaker 2: signed first. Fairbanks has gotten a ton of interest. The
4:02
Speaker 2: Marlins have been a team on him. The Blue Jays
4:06
Speaker 2: have been a team on him. They've been on the
4:07
Speaker 2: other relievers as well, the land inning guys. Edwin Diaz
4:11
Speaker 2: is maybe going to take a bit longer because he
4:13
Speaker 2: has the qualifying offer and that complicates things with his market.
4:17
Speaker 2: Teams have to give up a draft pick to sign him.
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Speaker 2: Robert Suarez. I would expect that he's going to take
4:23
Speaker 2: a little bit longer too, though you don't know. And
4:26
Speaker 2: as the Williams signing showed, even the Ryan Helsley signing showed,
4:29
Speaker 2: the timing of these things are impossible to predict, but
4:33
Speaker 2: certainly we are seeing a run on relievers. We're seeing
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Speaker 2: this from Rachel Iglesias to philm Ayton, to Hellsley to
4:42
Speaker 2: now Devin Williams, and I'm probably missing a couple. Andrew
4:45
Speaker 2: Kittridge had his option picked up by the Orioles after
4:48
Speaker 2: they acquired him in a trade. The relievers are clearly
4:51
Speaker 2: going first here, and there are quite a few left.
4:53
Speaker 2: We've got Luke Weaver left, We've got a Millia Pegan left.
4:57
Speaker 2: We've got ken Lee Jansen still out there, so there
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Speaker 2: are a number of options still available. Tyler Rodgers is
5:03
Speaker 2: a hot guy too.
5:05
Speaker 1: Hey, ken I want to be critical here of something
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Speaker 1: that I think shouldn't be overlooked. Pete Fairbanks didn't have
5:11
Speaker 1: his option picked up. We're seeing what the prices are
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Speaker 1: looking like. There's almost no chance that Pete Fairbanks is
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Speaker 1: going to get less than what the race could have
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Speaker 1: picked him up for. I believe that there was concern
5:22
Speaker 1: from the Rays that they weren't going to be able
5:23
Speaker 1: to flip him. But now looking back, I think many
5:27
Speaker 1: teams would have at least given up a prospect or
5:29
Speaker 1: to lock in Pete Fairbanks for one season that I
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Speaker 1: believe ten or eleven million bucks. So how much did
5:35
Speaker 1: they screw up? This is a team that can't spend much,
5:37
Speaker 1: so they can't miss on the margins like this.
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Speaker 2: I agree, Scott, And actually I asked that question after
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Speaker 2: they decline the option, and what I was told is
5:46
Speaker 2: that they have had a hard time trading him, or
5:48
Speaker 2: they had a hard time trading him. It wasn't as
5:50
Speaker 2: easy as we might think. You know, he has had
5:54
Speaker 2: some physical issues and that comes into it. But for
5:58
Speaker 2: whatever reason, at least in their mind, they weren't getting
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Speaker 2: the value that they wanted for Fairbanks. And certainly it
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Speaker 2: appeared to me that in a market this vibrant, with teams,
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Speaker 2: so many teams needing relievers, that someone would have given
6:12
Speaker 2: them a prospect, as you said, for Pete Fairbanks. But
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Speaker 2: I don't know that they didn't try. They did try,
6:19
Speaker 2: It's just that they didn't get what they wanted. Now,
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Speaker 2: should they have set their sites lower. That's something that
6:24
Speaker 2: we could talk about, but we don't know exactly what
6:26
Speaker 2: they were offered, so it's difficult to say. But this
6:29
Speaker 2: is a team it certainly is not afraid to trade.
6:32
Speaker 2: Last two deadlines, they've traded guys, a ton of guys,
6:35
Speaker 2: and yet they didn't trade Fairbanks, and perhaps that tells
6:38
Speaker 2: us that his market, at least in their eyes, wasn't
6:42
Speaker 2: as good as it could have been.
6:46
Speaker 3: Ken stay on the race here for a second. Is
6:47
Speaker 3: Brandon Loyle going to get traded?
6:49
Speaker 4: Is he next?
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Speaker 3: I mean, because like we just mentioned Pete Fairbanks, wasn't
6:53
Speaker 3: I mean eleven million I think is what they declined.
6:55
Speaker 3: He hopefully he gets more than that for a guy
6:57
Speaker 3: that we all like here on FT. But is Brandon
7:00
Speaker 3: low next? Is Are they finally going to pull the
7:02
Speaker 3: trigger on Brandon Lowe? A guy who they locked in
7:05
Speaker 3: and he's been a really good player for him and
7:07
Speaker 3: he's been in rumors gosh, for I feel like Brandon
7:09
Speaker 3: low has been rumored like every year, like, oh, Brandon
7:12
Speaker 3: Llow's a guy. Are they finally going to pull the
7:14
Speaker 3: trigger on him?
7:15
Speaker 2: I would say they're more motivated than in the past.
7:18
Speaker 2: He has only one year remaining, and then he will
7:21
Speaker 2: become a free agent, so you have two more windows
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Speaker 2: to trade him. One would be now and one would
7:25
Speaker 2: be at the deadline, where sometimes it's hard to find
7:27
Speaker 2: fits for position players. So there are teams that could
7:32
Speaker 2: use a left handed hitting second baseman like Brandon Lowe,
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Speaker 2: a guy who's third on the Rays all time list
7:37
Speaker 2: in home runs, So they're going to listen. The problem
7:40
Speaker 2: they have with trading him is that they don't have
7:43
Speaker 2: really an internal replacement. Carson Williams could be their shortstop
7:47
Speaker 2: eventually this season, maybe Taylor Walls moves to second. That's
7:51
Speaker 2: an offensively challenged double play combination at least right now.
7:55
Speaker 2: And then you have Jonathan Randa. You could play him
7:58
Speaker 2: at second, but he hasn't played much. So if you
8:01
Speaker 2: trade Loud, you probably gotta find a second basement somewhere else.
8:04
Speaker 2: Not impossible, something that they could do, but it's a
8:08
Speaker 2: little bit complicated for that reason.
8:12
Speaker 4: KP.
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9:13
Speaker 5: Is there a chance Patrick Zeleepski's spends or is it
9:17
Speaker 5: all based on oh I need his public funding from
9:20
Speaker 5: my new stadium and just gets in line with every
9:22
Speaker 5: other major league owner.
9:24
Speaker 2: Every signal they've been sending so far is that they're
9:27
Speaker 2: going to continue to operate the way they've operated in
9:30
Speaker 2: the past. Now that, of course, is in a very
9:33
Speaker 2: financially restricted way. They say it would be based on
9:36
Speaker 2: their revenues. Why should we outspend our revenues. We all
9:39
Speaker 2: get that. That said, when a new owner comes in,
9:43
Speaker 2: generally a new owner wants to make an impact. And
9:47
Speaker 2: we've written about this at the Athletic a little bit.
9:49
Speaker 2: I do not expect it to happen. But Kyle Tucker
9:53
Speaker 2: is from Tampa. Actually, Pete A. Lonzo is also from Tampa,
9:56
Speaker 2: and you could make a real splash with one of
9:58
Speaker 2: those two guys and the Rays. In the past, they
10:02
Speaker 2: have made some big money bids. Freddie Freeman was the
10:04
Speaker 2: most notable among them, but Freddie Freeman ended up being
10:08
Speaker 2: one sixty five. Kyle Tucker probably will be twice that.
10:11
Speaker 2: I don't see it happening. But to get to your point, Eric,
10:15
Speaker 2: if I'm the new owners of the Rays, yeah, I'd
10:18
Speaker 2: like to maybe make a signing or two, just demonstrate
10:21
Speaker 2: right away my commitment and how it's going to be
10:24
Speaker 2: a little bit different.
10:25
Speaker 1: Yeah. I mean, fans are pretty simple, right, It's like
10:29
Speaker 1: Caveman status like feed me, give me a home for fans.
10:32
Speaker 1: It's like you show up, talk to me a little bit.
10:34
Speaker 1: Maybe sign someone give me a sign that things are
10:36
Speaker 1: going to be different. So we haven't seen it yet,
10:38
Speaker 1: but I mean there's time. We've got the off season
10:40
Speaker 1: to go here while we're on the Rays real quick, Ken,
10:43
Speaker 1: I don't know if you saw Brandon Hyde was picked
10:46
Speaker 1: up there as a senior advisor. I just wanted to
10:48
Speaker 1: reflect now that all of the manager roles have been filled,
10:52
Speaker 1: were any names really surprising to you that they didn't
10:55
Speaker 1: either get a job or didn't surface more? To me,
10:58
Speaker 1: Hide stands out. And I know you wrote a story
11:00
Speaker 1: about David Ross. It didn't sound like he got a
11:02
Speaker 1: ton of interest either.
11:05
Speaker 2: Those two for sure. And we've had some interesting managerial
11:09
Speaker 2: hires this cycle, no doubt about it. And we've had
11:12
Speaker 2: some first timers, guys like Kurt Suzuki who you could
11:15
Speaker 2: think of as getting a chance at some point based
11:19
Speaker 2: on the way teams higher now. And we've had some
11:21
Speaker 2: outside the box hires Blake but Terra coming from the
11:24
Speaker 2: Tampa Bay Rays minor league system becoming the Nationals manager
11:27
Speaker 2: at thirty one, and of course Tony Botello and San
11:30
Speaker 2: Francisco never been in professional baseball, only in college. We'll
11:35
Speaker 2: see how this all plays out. I've written about this,
11:38
Speaker 2: and I know people have strong opinions both ways. There
11:40
Speaker 2: are some people who believe, hey, good for the game
11:43
Speaker 2: to get new people in the mix and to find
11:45
Speaker 2: these people and just take a different approach. There are
11:49
Speaker 2: other people, and I would count myself in this group,
11:51
Speaker 2: who think that experience matters a whole lot, and that
11:56
Speaker 2: some of the more experienced managers who deserve a second
11:59
Speaker 2: chance are getting overlooked in a way that they shouldn't be.
12:02
Speaker 2: And I would put Hyde and Ross in that category.
12:05
Speaker 2: Was either the next Connie Mack in their first incarnations. No,
12:10
Speaker 2: but we've seen managers who get second chances often succeed.
12:13
Speaker 2: Derek Shelton got one in Minnesota. He'll be their new guy.
12:17
Speaker 2: But to me, experience counts more than teams or certain
12:22
Speaker 2: teams are giving a credit for. And it's sort of
12:26
Speaker 2: an insult to some of these guys that they're not
12:29
Speaker 2: getting at least a more serious look. And I know
12:32
Speaker 2: people on both sides of this they don't see it
12:35
Speaker 2: that way, but it's just a little unusual way this
12:38
Speaker 2: has all gone down this offseason.
12:41
Speaker 5: All right, you wrote any Notes column that about the
12:43
Speaker 5: center field market with Jake Myers possibly being somebody that
12:47
Speaker 5: the Astros would trade. Does a center field market go
12:52
Speaker 5: through the aforementioned Minnesota Twins, just like you talked about
12:55
Speaker 5: with the trades with Buxton, And is that kind of
12:58
Speaker 5: the reason that maybe the ass are looking to move
13:01
Speaker 5: Jake Myers they see a place where the teams need
13:04
Speaker 5: some value with I think just Bader being the best
13:07
Speaker 5: center field are available on the market.
13:08
Speaker 4: Right now, no one.
13:10
Speaker 2: Seems to know what the Twins are doing, and that's
13:13
Speaker 2: a problem for all of us right now. I'm not
13:15
Speaker 2: even sure the Twins know what they're doing just yet,
13:18
Speaker 2: because they've gotten this infusion of money from the two
13:21
Speaker 2: new minority investors, but they were going to use it
13:23
Speaker 2: to cover and pay down their debt. And where they
13:26
Speaker 2: are in a baseball sense is not clear at all,
13:31
Speaker 2: And the Twins can go one of two ways. They
13:34
Speaker 2: can continue what they started at the deadline, which was
13:36
Speaker 2: just tearing it down to the absolute nubs, or they
13:40
Speaker 2: can start to build back up again. They've got a
13:43
Speaker 2: core of decent players, Buxton of course, foremost among them,
13:46
Speaker 2: Joe Ryan Pablo Lopez. We can go right down the
13:49
Speaker 2: line in a division that is perennially one of the
13:53
Speaker 2: weaker divisions. They could build up again, fix their bullpen,
13:56
Speaker 2: which they traded everybody from last July, and then try
13:59
Speaker 2: to compete. I don't know that that's the way they're
14:02
Speaker 2: going to go. And I don't know that they're going
14:03
Speaker 2: to trade Ryan, Pablo Lopez and then Buxton too. I
14:06
Speaker 2: don't know if that's their choice. But Dan Hayes of
14:09
Speaker 2: the Athletic has written that if they continue this process,
14:13
Speaker 2: if for instance, they choose to trade Ryan, then Buxton
14:16
Speaker 2: is going to be open to a trade as well.
14:18
Speaker 2: And it just all depends on the direction that they take,
14:22
Speaker 2: and that direction, again is not yet clear.
14:27
Speaker 4: Ken.
14:29
Speaker 3: You're talking about the Marlins hiring coaches and losing coaches
14:32
Speaker 3: and trying, and you're saying the free agent market is
14:33
Speaker 3: slowed by coaches. To me, as a player, I'm like, wait,
14:37
Speaker 3: why is the free agent market slowed by coaches? You
14:40
Speaker 3: have a manager, you have a general manager. It doesn't
14:42
Speaker 3: matter to me as a player really who the coaches are.
14:44
Speaker 3: I'm gonna go play there if I want.
14:45
Speaker 1: To go that.
14:47
Speaker 2: Maybe I didn't write it clearly enough, Aja, or maybe
14:50
Speaker 2: you're not.
14:50
Speaker 3: Or I didn't read it, or you didn't.
14:55
Speaker 2: What I meant by that. What I'm referring to is
14:58
Speaker 2: teams are so preoccupied right now and have been for
15:02
Speaker 2: the past month or so in hiring new staff. They
15:06
Speaker 2: lose people, they hire new people. There were nine managerial changes, right,
15:10
Speaker 2: so you have all these teams hiring coaches from one
15:13
Speaker 2: another and then having to replace the ones they lost
15:16
Speaker 2: and all that. That is what delayed their attention on
15:20
Speaker 2: trades in the free agent market. Now we're in full force.
15:23
Speaker 2: Now there's still some hirings of staff members going on,
15:26
Speaker 2: but for the most part, teams are focused on player personnel,
15:31
Speaker 2: and that's where the off season generally is the most fun,
15:34
Speaker 2: of course, but it does get delayed a bit by
15:38
Speaker 2: all the staffing changes because teams they have to go
15:40
Speaker 2: through interview processes, even for minor league hitting coordinators or
15:44
Speaker 2: lower positions. Even it's not something that you just snap
15:48
Speaker 2: your fingers and you've got that person. You've got to
15:50
Speaker 2: go through a process and a few people bring them in, etc.
15:54
Speaker 2: And it takes time.
15:56
Speaker 1: Hey, Ken, I want to bring up the Andrew Baggerly
15:58
Speaker 1: article from the athletic. Your colleague wrote about how San
16:01
Speaker 1: Francisco is not going to necessarily be playing on big
16:05
Speaker 1: starting pitching like Ami, who seemed like an obvious fit.
16:09
Speaker 1: I just want to go against the Dodgers. It appears
16:12
Speaker 1: the one I mean, go wherever you want to go.
16:14
Speaker 1: But the one part I did want to include here
16:15
Speaker 1: is he said how they're still about sixty million under
16:19
Speaker 1: the luxury tax threshold, but there's other payments involved, like
16:22
Speaker 1: Blake Snell's bonus and some money they have to pay
16:25
Speaker 1: off for managers buyouts whatever. Even with that math, I'm like,
16:28
Speaker 1: they still have a lot under the first threshold at
16:31
Speaker 1: two forty four mils. So why do you think that
16:33
Speaker 1: they're not going to get up to that mark?
16:36
Speaker 2: I don't know, and it's very curious to me. And
16:38
Speaker 2: I encourage people to read what Andrew Baggerley wrote because
16:41
Speaker 2: he goes through just where the giants are. Now we've
16:45
Speaker 2: known and we've seen them make some big money commitments. Devers,
16:49
Speaker 2: of course, adamis Chapman, yes, even the center fielder. But
16:55
Speaker 2: at the same time, if you're going to do that,
16:56
Speaker 2: why do you stop? And it seems that they're stopping.
17:00
Speaker 2: It seems that they're not gonna go big for the
17:02
Speaker 2: pitching that they need. And it's very curious why they've
17:05
Speaker 2: taken this approach. Whether it's related to an impending lockout.
17:09
Speaker 2: I don't know whether ownership has simply decided we don't
17:13
Speaker 2: want to do this at this level right now. It's
17:17
Speaker 2: not clear. But to me, you're the giants, you're trying
17:21
Speaker 2: to build back up. You've just hired a new manager.
17:25
Speaker 2: Why are you taking not necessarily a step back, but
17:28
Speaker 2: a step sideways. It just doesn't seem to add up
17:31
Speaker 2: to me.
17:33
Speaker 4: Ken, are you coming?
17:34
Speaker 3: You're coming to the Winter Meetings next week?
17:36
Speaker 4: Right?
17:37
Speaker 2: No, I'm boycotting the Winter meeting.
17:39
Speaker 3: I figured I figured that, Ken, because that would mean
17:42
Speaker 3: that you would have to hang out with me, and
17:44
Speaker 3: therefore you might have to pay for dinner. So therefore
17:47
Speaker 3: you would boycott.
17:48
Speaker 4: So at least.
17:50
Speaker 2: Let me throw this out there, because hold on, hold on,
17:57
Speaker 2: let me talk. I know former players get easily when
18:00
Speaker 2: I don't rise to their beck and call when they
18:04
Speaker 2: summoned me at something like the Winter meetings. I've had
18:06
Speaker 2: this happen to me.
18:07
Speaker 1: Actually, And let.
18:08
Speaker 2: Me tell you something. When I'm at the Winter Meetings,
18:10
Speaker 2: I'm working I'm not hanging out.
18:12
Speaker 1: With Aj Brazinski.
18:13
Speaker 4: Sorry.
18:14
Speaker 3: Oh well, and that that needs me.
18:16
Speaker 4: My next thing.
18:17
Speaker 3: I live about ten minutes from where you're going to be.
18:19
Speaker 3: You could drive your little happy ass over there and
18:22
Speaker 3: you could actually do the show live, but I and
18:24
Speaker 3: then you could do it at my house and I
18:26
Speaker 3: won't be at my house.
18:27
Speaker 4: I'll be at the hotel.
18:28
Speaker 3: So that way you wouldn't have to actually see me,
18:30
Speaker 3: but you could be on the show live, but just
18:33
Speaker 3: not in the same location.
18:34
Speaker 2: Aj, my little happy ass will be working.
18:40
Speaker 3: Ken's. By the way, Ken, speaking of former players, I
18:44
Speaker 3: played golf today with Brad Hand and he's a who's
18:47
Speaker 3: on the show today? And I said, Ken Rosenthal And
18:49
Speaker 3: he said, man, that's the one guy. And I don't
18:51
Speaker 3: know he's no longer invited to play golf with me.
18:54
Speaker 3: He said, he's the one guy that you could actually
18:55
Speaker 3: trust and if you told him something, he would do
18:58
Speaker 3: the right.
18:58
Speaker 4: Thing with it.
18:59
Speaker 3: So Ken, that's my one for you for the next
19:02
Speaker 3: twelve Nice to me, all right, But it wasn't for me.
19:07
Speaker 4: I was just relaying the message.
19:09
Speaker 2: Well, no, I appreciate that, but you're relaying to something nice.
19:12
Speaker 2: Even that's unusual. Usually we hold that kind of information.
19:15
Speaker 4: I know, I know, I'm.
19:17
Speaker 1: In a state of shock. Well that's a good way
19:18
Speaker 1: to say goodbye. And really, Ken, don't worry. We'll make
19:21
Speaker 1: sure that this isn't just an AI fake version of AJ.
19:24
Speaker 1: We'll spend the next hour working on that. But you
19:26
Speaker 1: do your thing. We will talk to you later this
19:29
Speaker 1: week and we will see you at the Winter meetings
19:32
Speaker 1: next week.
19:33
Speaker 3: Thank you.
19:34
Speaker 4: You can't speak.
19:38
Speaker 1: Okay, it's still AJ, he interrupted you. It's still him.
19:41
Speaker 1: We're good, Thanks, Kevin. I have a unique holiday gift idea.
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Speaker 1: supplement and lifestyle guidance. Get after it, ftfam. Let's do
20:46
Speaker 1: a few minutes of rumors right now. Let's start with
20:48
Speaker 1: the Kansas City Royals, who apparently are open to potentially
20:54
Speaker 1: shopping some pitching. So JJ Piccolo to the Boston Globe
20:57
Speaker 1: and asked if any anyone in the rotation was excluded
21:00
Speaker 1: from a potential deal. He said, I wouldn't say anyone
21:03
Speaker 1: is off limits. There would have to be a really
21:05
Speaker 1: big return for one starter in particular. But basically you're
21:09
Speaker 1: seeing that the Royals could trade a pitcher for something
21:12
Speaker 1: like an outfielder. The Roys definitely still have work to
21:15
Speaker 1: do with their lineup. There are some promising parts of it,
21:18
Speaker 1: as we know, Bobby Wood Junior and maybe Jack Kaggs
21:22
Speaker 1: has a little breakout. Mike cale Garcia certainly did this
21:25
Speaker 1: past season.
21:26
Speaker 4: I do.
21:27
Speaker 1: He also added that the Royds would prefer to retain
21:30
Speaker 1: Seth Lougo and Michael Waka after both remained with the
21:32
Speaker 1: club beyond their initial deals. So some people are turning
21:35
Speaker 1: to guys like Chris Bubitch or even call Reagan's. Maybe
21:38
Speaker 1: one of them will be available. Reagan's had kind of
21:40
Speaker 1: a lost year compared to what he did the year
21:42
Speaker 1: prior he was hurt. Let me bring up this one
21:44
Speaker 1: other tweet and then we'll get your thoughts. So Mike
21:46
Speaker 1: Petriello put this out there, and I do think it's
21:49
Speaker 1: a good point about the state of their rotation. He goes,
21:51
Speaker 1: I keep seeing Casey going to trade starting pitching for outfielder.
21:54
Speaker 1: I'm having a tough time with that. Waka Lugo both
21:57
Speaker 1: mid thirties. Lugo was not good this past season. Cameron, Noah,
22:01
Speaker 1: Cameron is useful, but has quote going to take a
22:04
Speaker 1: step back written all over him. Boobach, Reagan's had injuries.
22:07
Speaker 1: Can they afford a starting pitching trade? So Aj, what
22:11
Speaker 1: do you think I mean?
22:13
Speaker 3: I'll just echo what Mike just said, Like Petriolo, I mean,
22:17
Speaker 3: this was exactly what I was going to say before
22:18
Speaker 3: we showed this tweet is can they afford to trade Reagans?
22:22
Speaker 3: Can they afford the trade a Brubrich, Lugo and Waka
22:26
Speaker 3: are in their mid thirties, and then you have Noah
22:29
Speaker 3: Cameron who had a nice year, but can he do
22:31
Speaker 3: it again? And so I don't know they can afford it.
22:33
Speaker 3: Can they find Why don't they just go out and
22:35
Speaker 3: do what they did before and try to find those
22:38
Speaker 3: fringy really good players but not the superstar players and
22:44
Speaker 3: have them come in for a year or two and
22:46
Speaker 3: do what they do because they already have Salvey, great,
22:49
Speaker 3: great player, probably going to the Hall of Fame. You
22:50
Speaker 3: have Bobby Witt, You have mikeel Garcia, you have keg
22:54
Speaker 3: Leon you hope takes the next step. You have the passquatch,
22:56
Speaker 3: Minnie Paspentino, right, you have Michael Massey who you hope
22:58
Speaker 3: has a bounce back, doesn't get injured in spring training
23:01
Speaker 3: and miss first month and a half and try to
23:03
Speaker 3: play catch up. I think they have the core of
23:05
Speaker 3: a team that can be decent. Can they go add
23:08
Speaker 3: to it and make it take the next level? That's
23:10
Speaker 3: the question. Why do you have to treat go out
23:12
Speaker 3: and spend some money. They have money, It's not like
23:14
Speaker 3: they spent all their money and threw it all out.
23:16
Speaker 3: They have money. Go find those guys that are a
23:19
Speaker 3: Harrison Bader type. They can cover all of center field
23:21
Speaker 3: for you, right, or someone like that that you hope
23:24
Speaker 3: has a great year and everyone else has their normal year.
23:27
Speaker 3: Some guys have bounced back years. Boom, you're right back
23:29
Speaker 3: where you were two years ago in the playoffs and
23:31
Speaker 3: you have a chance.
23:32
Speaker 5: I'm gonna say no, they can't afford it. I mean
23:34
Speaker 5: it was this year last time. Last year, at this time,
23:37
Speaker 5: they tried to upgrade their offense. They tried to upgrade
23:40
Speaker 5: their lead off on base percentage guy and go get
23:44
Speaker 5: Jonathan India didn't work out. They lost thirty two starts
23:47
Speaker 5: from Brady Singer.
23:49
Speaker 4: I get it.
23:49
Speaker 5: Nobody's you know, everyone's like, oh, strikeout raid, isn't that
23:53
Speaker 5: great and stuff. So he's just more of a contact guy.
23:57
Speaker 5: Like for me being with the when we were successful,
24:01
Speaker 5: it was all because of defense and pitchers who threw strikes.
24:07
Speaker 5: Brady Singers out there for thirty two starts. Does he
24:10
Speaker 5: punch out the world?
24:11
Speaker 3: No?
24:11
Speaker 5: In Kansas City, where he makes half his starts, you
24:14
Speaker 5: don't need to punch out the world. So to me,
24:17
Speaker 5: getting rid of another starter that's two in two years,
24:20
Speaker 5: I get it, Reagan's only in thirteen starts. But this
24:23
Speaker 5: is a guy who I think only had sixty some
24:25
Speaker 5: innings and he almost had one hundred strikeouts. So I
24:28
Speaker 5: don't see them being able to afford getting rid of
24:31
Speaker 5: him unless you are talking about a mega aircraft carrier
24:38
Speaker 5: outfielder that's gonna step in and really change this lineup.
24:42
Speaker 5: Are they going to trade with the Minnesota Twins for
24:45
Speaker 5: Byron Buxton? Are they going to trade Are they going
24:48
Speaker 5: to take on this mega outfielder type of contract that
24:52
Speaker 5: would make up for losing Reagans and what he could
24:54
Speaker 5: do if he has another Cy Young. I think he's
24:57
Speaker 5: fourth into sy Young two years ago type of year. Like, No,
25:01
Speaker 5: I don't think they can afford it.
25:05
Speaker 1: Okay, well you brought it up. I'll make the easy
25:07
Speaker 1: transition right now. Let's just go right to Buxton for
25:10
Speaker 1: our next little rumor thing we can bring up. Stephen
25:14
Speaker 1: from Hammer Territories tweet Very interesting note, he said from
25:17
Speaker 1: Jeff Passon this morning, reporting that Byron Busting is willing
25:21
Speaker 1: to wave his no trade clause for Atlanta, among other places,
25:27
Speaker 1: and he's from Georgia, so that makes some sense. People
25:31
Speaker 1: have pointed to him there. And remember not so long ago,
25:34
Speaker 1: he said he was not going to wave his no
25:37
Speaker 1: trade clause. Then the Twins decided they weren't going to
25:40
Speaker 1: sell and they were instead the owners weren't going to
25:43
Speaker 1: sell and staid they were going to sell half the team,
25:45
Speaker 1: and all of a sudden there could be some second
25:47
Speaker 1: thoughts here. So the article from pass And says willing
25:51
Speaker 1: to wave his no trade clause not just for Atlanta
25:54
Speaker 1: with put them in an interesting position. So yeah, maybe
25:58
Speaker 1: Kansas City for Byron Bucks that would be cool. Again,
26:01
Speaker 1: he's got to approve anything a Jay, but I mean
26:04
Speaker 1: that would be a big, sure, somewhat risky move because
26:07
Speaker 1: of the injury history. But if you get the version
26:09
Speaker 1: of Bucks in from this past season, that's an impact.
26:13
Speaker 3: True, but he's not going to Kansas City. They're not
26:15
Speaker 3: going to want to trade him. Inside the division not happening.
26:18
Speaker 3: So it's cool, Scott that you come up with these
26:20
Speaker 3: crazy ideas that are never going to happen.
26:21
Speaker 4: I like it.
26:24
Speaker 3: Well, Kratz got both you guys, crazy ideas that are
26:27
Speaker 3: never going to happen.
26:28
Speaker 4: I like it.
26:29
Speaker 3: But I will say this, Atlanta, what you pair him
26:34
Speaker 3: with Michael Harrison, Ronald Acunya and Alby's and Riley and
26:38
Speaker 3: Murphy and Baldwin and Olsen. You got you got something
26:43
Speaker 3: bruin Atlanta and you're throwing Pablo Lopez just for fun?
26:46
Speaker 4: Why not?
26:47
Speaker 3: I mean, we're going crazy. Let's get crazy here. So
26:50
Speaker 3: then they can just send Sean Murphy back to the
26:52
Speaker 3: Twins and they get to Murphy and the Twins and say, hey,
26:54
Speaker 3: we got to catch her. So I don't know, but
26:56
Speaker 3: let's get crazy.
26:57
Speaker 4: No.
26:58
Speaker 3: I love this by our bucks and if he can
27:00
Speaker 3: stay healthy anywhere he goes. This was like the Dylan
27:03
Speaker 3: Cees rumors, the Sunny Grade to Atlanta because there's so
27:06
Speaker 3: many people that grew up Brave fans me included because
27:09
Speaker 3: of Superstation TVs and that was where every kid in
27:13
Speaker 3: the South grew up watching the team because there was
27:15
Speaker 3: no Raise, there was no Marlins, there was nothing except
27:18
Speaker 3: for the Atlanta Braves, and.
27:21
Speaker 4: We all wanted to play there. I got to do it.
27:23
Speaker 3: And if you get the opportunity to do it. It
27:25
Speaker 3: was a great organization and it's not going to happen
27:29
Speaker 3: because I think Byron Buckson is going to stay there,
27:33
Speaker 3: and I commend him for that, But I mean, I
27:36
Speaker 3: think he would waive Hiss no trade clause if it
27:37
Speaker 3: came to that.
27:40
Speaker 5: I think there is one thing that Scott said was,
27:43
Speaker 5: oh if he stays healthy, Like, are teams willing to
27:46
Speaker 5: take that risk? Of the teams that are willing to
27:49
Speaker 5: spend fifteen million dollars on and on an outfielder and
27:55
Speaker 5: the teams that are willing to give up prospects for it,
27:58
Speaker 5: all of them are willing to take the risk. Even
28:01
Speaker 5: if you get one good year out of the three,
28:03
Speaker 5: Like there's you know, he keeps having injury concerns and
28:07
Speaker 5: all this stuff. If you get one good year, he
28:10
Speaker 5: is a organizational, season changing type of player. Every team,
28:15
Speaker 5: every team that has a chance, should be in on
28:18
Speaker 5: Byron Buxton.
28:21
Speaker 1: And I will agree with you that if you get
28:23
Speaker 1: one good year out of the three, the rest of
28:25
Speaker 1: the contract is worth it. He's not getting paid a
28:29
Speaker 1: ton of money in Major League Baseball standards.
28:31
Speaker 4: He's fifteen a year, fifteen a year.
28:35
Speaker 1: One season with that he puts together like that is
28:40
Speaker 1: worth in today's game, fifty million bucks. It is. That's
28:44
Speaker 1: how it's looked.
28:44
Speaker 5: At you insert that into a lineup, you insert that
28:48
Speaker 5: defense into your starting rotation. I mean, I get it,
28:52
Speaker 5: Like every every team would want that. There's not a
28:56
Speaker 5: team that's sitting there going like think about the Blue Jays.
29:00
Speaker 5: They have Dalton Varshow in center field, Platinum Glove winner,
29:03
Speaker 5: how good would he be in left field with the
29:06
Speaker 5: added power and defense that that would add with Buxton
29:11
Speaker 5: center field. You talk about the Phillies, obviously they have
29:14
Speaker 5: center field options open. You talk about the Yankees, they
29:17
Speaker 5: wouldn't have to sign Cody Bellinger for as much as
29:19
Speaker 5: they're going to sign Cody Bellinger or take a guess
29:22
Speaker 5: on if Domingus is going to play well. Every team
29:26
Speaker 5: would want Byron Buxton, even with the quote injury risk.
29:32
Speaker 1: Hey, let's get to one more here in spreading rumors.
29:36
Speaker 1: What about Wilson Contreras for teams now that the Cardinals
29:40
Speaker 1: have kind of declared that it is cell mode for
29:43
Speaker 1: some of these vets.
29:45
Speaker 4: Give me a team.
29:47
Speaker 1: There are teams that can use the first base.
29:49
Speaker 3: Give me, give me a team, Give me a team.
29:51
Speaker 1: Kevin Kiermeier, Why am I Kevin Kermeer?
29:58
Speaker 3: What team? Because he came out to teams of and
30:00
Speaker 3: I want to know what team? So what teams?
30:01
Speaker 4: Dock? How along? Scott?
30:05
Speaker 3: Keep up?
30:05
Speaker 1: Okay, hold on, hold on, and then we'll show Katie's sweets.
30:08
Speaker 1: What about the Mets if they don't bring back Pete Alonzo?
30:13
Speaker 3: Well, I mean, if they don't bring back Pete Alonzo.
30:16
Speaker 3: Here here's my question for you.
30:19
Speaker 1: Okay, go ahead, Red Sox, we don't know what it's
30:23
Speaker 1: going to look like. Okay, you're gonna keep relying on him.
30:26
Speaker 1: He hasn't been healthy for them.
30:28
Speaker 4: Okay, keep going.
30:29
Speaker 3: So far he named two teams that might have.
30:31
Speaker 4: A position for the Yankees don't have a first base
30:37
Speaker 4: they do his name is Ben Rice because he's not
30:39
Speaker 4: a catcher.
30:41
Speaker 1: What about the Washington Nationals?
30:45
Speaker 3: Hoolsting a nurse is not waving his no trade.
30:47
Speaker 1: To go to the Washington Nationals new regime.
30:50
Speaker 4: They're into winning now.
30:52
Speaker 3: He's older. He's older than the manager of the hitting coach,
30:55
Speaker 3: the pitching coach, and the GM combined.
30:58
Speaker 1: There's probably five to sevent teams, that's true. There's probably
31:02
Speaker 1: five to seven teams that could use the first base upgrade.
31:05
Speaker 1: You don't think so, Padres, Padres a good one.
31:10
Speaker 4: Padres, not what happened here? So you don't have the
31:14
Speaker 4: tack question.
31:16
Speaker 5: Here's my question to you, AJ is he worth Let's say,
31:21
Speaker 5: I mean the Cardinals have been into buying down these contracts.
31:23
Speaker 5: He's essentially making about seventeen or eighteen million. If is
31:28
Speaker 5: he worth ten million a year for the next let's see,
31:32
Speaker 5: that would be two seasons if somebody buys down. If
31:37
Speaker 5: somebody buys down basically half of what he's what he's
31:40
Speaker 5: going to get in twenty six and twenty seven, Is
31:44
Speaker 5: he worth that?
31:45
Speaker 3: Yeah, if you want to give up the prospect capital,
31:47
Speaker 3: which everyone knows in baseball today, prospect capital is worth
31:50
Speaker 3: more than the actual dollars that you're paying a player,
31:53
Speaker 3: according to some gms and some front offices. So for
31:56
Speaker 3: ten million dollars a year, I mean, listen, his last
31:59
Speaker 3: three years, we'll go, since he went to Saint Louis's
32:01
Speaker 3: got eight twenty six ops, A forty eight seven ninety
32:04
Speaker 3: one one twenty three ops plus one thirty eight ops
32:07
Speaker 3: plus one twenty three ops plus as a first baseman
32:10
Speaker 3: slash catcher. We all know he's not a catcher, so
32:12
Speaker 3: he's a first basement slash teach. Are those numbers that
32:15
Speaker 3: you can say for ten million dollars a year. Absolutely,
32:18
Speaker 3: Are you willing to pay the prospect capital to get
32:20
Speaker 3: him down to ten million dollars a year? That's a question.
32:23
Speaker 3: Everything has to every GM in front office has to ask.
32:26
Speaker 3: But I will say this, Matt. So if they don't
32:28
Speaker 3: sign Controns, he'd fit nicely.
32:32
Speaker 4: Red Sox. As you said, Scott.
32:34
Speaker 3: If they don't figure out what to do with Castes,
32:36
Speaker 3: I feel like they can give another year and see
32:37
Speaker 3: what happens. Yes, he'd fit nicely. Other than that, where
32:42
Speaker 3: do we go? Where do we go? He's and he
32:45
Speaker 3: also he has a full note trade, so he's going
32:47
Speaker 3: to want to go to a team that's gonna win.
32:48
Speaker 3: He's not going to the Dodgers, Rodre's possible Brewers. But
32:53
Speaker 3: do he go to the Brewers with his brother?
32:55
Speaker 4: Yeah?
32:56
Speaker 1: I think you would love to play with his bro
32:58
Speaker 1: Here's my thing with this, and we'll show you think.
33:00
Speaker 3: But the Brewers aren't going to do that, Scott.
33:02
Speaker 4: The Brewers aren't going to do that.
33:05
Speaker 1: Why because he's getting paid if they got to buy money.
33:08
Speaker 3: Down and they're not going to want to give up
33:11
Speaker 3: the prospects that're going to take to get them to
33:12
Speaker 3: buy the money down.
33:13
Speaker 4: I don't know.
33:14
Speaker 1: I think they would give up the prospects. Also, I
33:15
Speaker 1: don't know how much he's going to command. I think
33:18
Speaker 1: that the Cardinals are super motivated to move Gray which
33:22
Speaker 1: they just did Arenatto, which I think is going to
33:24
Speaker 1: be very difficult at this point. They might just have
33:26
Speaker 1: to do a buy out there and then Contrere's who
33:28
Speaker 1: is a tradable asset. But I think the key for
33:30
Speaker 1: the Cardinals right now is they do want to clear
33:31
Speaker 1: some money, and they truly want to get the youth
33:34
Speaker 1: movement and the rebuild going. So I think they're pretty
33:36
Speaker 1: motivated as long as Wilson's into it. Let's show the
33:39
Speaker 1: Katie tweets just to give more context here of why
33:41
Speaker 1: we're bringing it up now, because you've got to remember
33:43
Speaker 1: that the Cardinals didn't have the okay from these guys
33:47
Speaker 1: what about a year ago, or at least not a
33:49
Speaker 1: very firm okay when they spoke to them after not
33:51
Speaker 1: making the playoffs in twenty twenty four. It sounded like
33:54
Speaker 1: Contrera's gray boat said no, and Arnatto was very picky
33:58
Speaker 1: and didn't end up getting moved. Katie said Contreras has
34:01
Speaker 1: opened to trade offers and has become more willing to
34:04
Speaker 1: waive that no trade clause over the last few weeks,
34:07
Speaker 1: and so she wrote an article about how that fits
34:09
Speaker 1: into the picture for what they're doing heading into the
34:11
Speaker 1: winter meetings, and then the follow up tweet from Katie
34:14
Speaker 1: said this will not necessarily change the team's order of operations,
34:18
Speaker 1: but they're open to shopping Contreras. The top priority again
34:21
Speaker 1: remains trading Nolan Anado and one of their lefty hitters
34:24
Speaker 1: with uh large new bart along with Brendan Donovan continuing
34:28
Speaker 1: to gauge interest from rival clubs. I think they're going
34:32
Speaker 1: to be pretty motivated to try and trade Wilson Contreras.
34:35
Speaker 1: I mean, the next what we got there, the next
34:38
Speaker 1: Cardinals playoff team probably doesn't have Contreras under contract, right Ajay?
34:44
Speaker 3: No, Well, what I mean listen to the Cardinals have
34:47
Speaker 3: a bunch of the same guys. They've got to make
34:49
Speaker 3: it up New bar Donovan, all those guys, they're all like,
34:52
Speaker 3: they're all like lefty hitters that are pretty good but
34:55
Speaker 3: haven't proved a whole lot yet. I mean, there's a
34:57
Speaker 3: for Ferguson Furlessen. Sorry, and they got to make some decisions.
35:04
Speaker 3: That's why they got Heim bloom in there to make
35:05
Speaker 3: these tough decisions, and I feel so bad for him, Blum.
35:08
Speaker 3: I can't wait to get him on in the Winter
35:09
Speaker 3: Meetings because him's coming on with us. That he goes
35:13
Speaker 3: to Boston, I gotta trade Mookie Betts, oh no, and
35:16
Speaker 3: then he.
35:16
Speaker 4: Goes to Saint Louis.
35:17
Speaker 3: He's like, I gotta trade Sonny Gray, I gotta trade
35:18
Speaker 3: Wilson Inturist, and I gotta try to wait trade uh Arnatto.
35:23
Speaker 3: Like what did this guy do along the way to
35:25
Speaker 3: make himself have such a tough road to hoe?
35:27
Speaker 4: Can you just get a job where they're.
35:28
Speaker 3: Like spend money him and make the team great again.
35:31
Speaker 3: I don't understand, but no, he keeps getting stuck in
35:33
Speaker 3: these situations and he loves it. He's he's really good
35:36
Speaker 3: at it. But they got to do something in Saint
35:39
Speaker 3: Louis because one the fans weren't back there, and to
35:41
Speaker 3: the fan right, the team is stale and I love
35:44
Speaker 3: Allie Marmel. He's also going to come on the show
35:46
Speaker 3: the Winter Meetings. But you got to do something to
35:49
Speaker 3: mix it up and change whatever the mojo, the flow,
35:51
Speaker 3: whatever you want to call it, the chemistry or the
35:54
Speaker 3: whatever you know they all call it something, but you
35:57
Speaker 3: got to you got to just blow it up and
35:59
Speaker 3: start over.
36:00
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, that's what he's trying to do. And Nolan
36:02
Speaker 1: Gordon a specialty dude, because he came from the Rays
36:09
Speaker 1: and he did it really well with Boston. Now the
36:12
Speaker 1: Cardinals are hoping that he can do the same thing.
36:14
Speaker 1: The Cardinals would love to be in Boston position in
36:16
Speaker 1: two years.
36:17
Speaker 4: You can.
36:18
Speaker 3: I'll say this, I'm Blue, my trusted I trust in
36:21
Speaker 3: him Blue.
36:23
Speaker 1: So wait, let's get back to the root of this.
36:25
Speaker 1: I'll start with Kratz here. Do you think that Wilson
36:28
Speaker 1: Contreris gets traded this offseason? I actually think there's a
36:31
Speaker 1: good chance he does.
36:32
Speaker 4: You don't, I don't. I don't.
36:35
Speaker 5: I just think people see the first base position as
36:37
Speaker 5: a position that they can fill.
36:40
Speaker 4: They can fill with a left fielder.
36:42
Speaker 5: Hey, we'll play first when catching, you know, when you're
36:46
Speaker 5: not catching, we can. It feels like teams use first
36:51
Speaker 5: base for not what it's what it's actually meant for,
36:54
Speaker 5: Like it's actually an important position that your three infielders
36:58
Speaker 5: throw to all the time, that is a premium corner position.
37:03
Speaker 5: They see it as somebody who if I'm going to
37:05
Speaker 5: spend money like Wilson Contreres is making. Oh I want
37:10
Speaker 5: to see thirty home runs and I don't think he
37:13
Speaker 5: has that. So I don't think. I don't think he
37:16
Speaker 5: gets moved.
37:17
Speaker 4: I don't.
37:18
Speaker 1: He's a very good offensive player. And my thing aja
37:21
Speaker 1: is I do think that his reputation can be questioned
37:24
Speaker 1: sometimes because he's a hot head on the field, and
37:26
Speaker 1: that'll at least turn off some teams that don't know
37:28
Speaker 1: him well. I think that actually makes the No, you
37:32
Speaker 1: don't think that matters at all. I think I think
37:34
Speaker 1: teams use that against a team when they're negotiating, though, to.
37:38
Speaker 4: Try it for him.
37:39
Speaker 3: Trust because someone that went through it as a free agent,
37:41
Speaker 3: I understand that. But if they want a player about enough,
37:44
Speaker 3: they'll do it.
37:45
Speaker 4: Okay.
37:46
Speaker 1: Do you think he gets traded this offseason?
37:48
Speaker 4: No? I think it's trade deadline? Oh okay.
37:53
Speaker 5: I was very surprised that the Cardinals paid so much
37:56
Speaker 5: for him to be a catcher. I was very surprised,
37:59
Speaker 5: and it showed showed a lot to me about their
38:02
Speaker 5: evaluation and internal metrics of what because he played against
38:08
Speaker 5: them all he was in their division, that you could
38:10
Speaker 5: see what he was bringing to the Field, so that
38:13
Speaker 5: I was very surprised about. So I guess I'd be
38:15
Speaker 5: very surprised if he gets traded somewhere without a lot
38:19
Speaker 5: of that money getting eaten. And I don't think the
38:21
Speaker 5: Cardinals can eat all of Aeronado's so much is a
38:25
Speaker 5: twenty one million of Sonny Grays and then probably another
38:30
Speaker 5: twenty of the next two years of Wilson Contreras.
38:33
Speaker 1: Why not? Why couldn't they do that? The money doesn't
38:35
Speaker 1: all get eaten in one shot, right, You pay it
38:37
Speaker 1: per year. So for them, they'd actually be trimming payroll.
38:40
Speaker 1: They wouldn't be adding, right. I mean, for as much
38:43
Speaker 1: as they're paying Sonny Gray, it's still what half of
38:45
Speaker 1: what they would have been paying Sonny Gray.
38:49
Speaker 4: Yes, I look at it the other way.
38:50
Speaker 1: I think they're looking to get rid of these guys,
38:52
Speaker 1: and now's the chance. Like for me, guys, Wilson Contreras
38:56
Speaker 1: still could rake. Right, He's still a very good above
38:58
Speaker 1: average hitter borderline, right, I mean, what was he this year?
39:02
Speaker 1: Where twenty four I think ops plus this year?
39:05
Speaker 5: Where is h Where is that compared to other first baseman,
39:09
Speaker 5: It's like it's like saying, oh, you know, this catcher
39:11
Speaker 5: was a was only a league average hitting catcher, but
39:16
Speaker 5: compared to other catchers, if you're at league average, you're
39:20
Speaker 5: an above average hitting catcher. So where does where does
39:24
Speaker 5: his one twenty eight? Where does it rank compared to
39:27
Speaker 5: other first basemen in the league? Is my question. And
39:31
Speaker 5: then you're saying, okay, he's right handed. Now we've locked
39:34
Speaker 5: up our first base position. I get it he could
39:36
Speaker 5: be if there's teams that are really into Pete Alonso, Hey,
39:41
Speaker 5: you know what we'll we'll take We'll take the money
39:44
Speaker 5: we save, we'll put a little bit into Wilson Contreres,
39:47
Speaker 5: and you know it'll be a serve, it'll be a
39:50
Speaker 5: serviceable player at that position.
39:55
Speaker 3: I mean, I think, like you, the Concherise was third
40:00
Speaker 3: in ops by the way, just definitely at.
40:03
Speaker 4: At first base.
40:06
Speaker 3: Well, I don't know that's what it said. Okay, hold on,
40:11
Speaker 3: Nick Kurtz was the ops. Oh, Nick Kurtz was first
40:14
Speaker 3: in the American League. Uh, anyways, yeah, Nick Kurtz was
40:20
Speaker 3: the best.
40:21
Speaker 1: Well anyway, anyone else watching right now comment, let us
40:24
Speaker 1: know your thoughts. I think it's a tradable asset. I
40:26
Speaker 1: think now would be the time to do it. Cardinal's
40:28
Speaker 1: clearly trying to turn a page and do a little
40:30
Speaker 1: mini rebuild. That's what I'm bloom Is up to right now,
40:33
Speaker 1: So I think they're going to aggressively shop him. It
40:37
Speaker 1: was twelfth and ops.
40:38
Speaker 3: Alonzo was one Freddy to Michael Bush, Matt Olson, Vlad Harper, Rice,
40:45
Speaker 3: Rice Naylor, O'Hearn, Burlssen on the same team. By the way,
40:51
Speaker 3: Pasquentino conturist twelfth.
40:53
Speaker 1: To about middle of the pack.
40:56
Speaker 3: First starter Gold Gold Schmid seven thirty one, Queen