Latest / Foul Territory / Jim Bowden’s Front Office Unfiltered: Bellinger & Framber markets, Ha-Seong Kim injury, Elly says no + Dodgers perfecting their system

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Jim Bowden’s Front Office Unfiltered: Bellinger & Framber markets, Ha-Seong Kim injury, Elly says no + Dodgers perfecting their system · Foul Territory

• 0:09
  Speaker 1: All right, time now for front Office Unfiltered. We welcome
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: in once again Jim Bowden, who of course does a
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: great job I know, the analyst, insider, CBS Sports, the
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: Athletic and they'llly network radio Sirius XM, the Man of
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: Many hats, very very busy. All right, Jim, good to
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: be with you as always. Thanks for coming on. We
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: appreciate it. Hassan Kim's injury on the Braves. He's expected
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: to be out four to five months. They're replacing him
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: with Hodhe Matteo. What more do you make of this?
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: It's a tough break for the.
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: Braves, obviously, Alana. It's a big setback there for the Braves.
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: They committed twenty million dollars on a one year contract
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: to Kim to solve shortstop. They were very excited about
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: that being the last missing piece of how they kind
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: of viewed their team. And so obviously he has this injury,
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: going to be out for months and so for now,
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: mauriciod Bone Dubon will be the starting shortstop.
• 1:00
  Speaker 3: Initially, Yes, they did sign Hore Mitato or.
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: A one year, one million dollar deal to give them
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: some infield depth. He's got a lot of speak and
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: play a few positions. So that's how they're gonna at
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: least go into spring training. But we all have seen
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: the Braves president Alex Anthopolis. We know how aggressive he
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: can be, and so you know, look, I think he'll
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: look at his team during the spring. They'll make a
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: decision if they think Dubon can carry the load for
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: the first six weeks, eight weeks of the season, whatever
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: it's gonna be. And if not, we know what he'll do, right,
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: He'll call Cleveland, or he'll call Detroit, or he'll look
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: for another option at shortstop to bridge the gap until
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: Kim gets back. But obviously he has setback for Atlanta.
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: Not the way you want to start spring training.
• 1:44
  Speaker 4: Is there a situation where as GM, you would go, okay,
• 1:48
  Speaker 4: this is the date that it makes it too late
• 1:51
  Speaker 4: for us to be like, Okay, now we're gonna make
• 1:53
  Speaker 4: a move in the sense that he possibly could be
• 1:55
  Speaker 4: coming back mid to late May, depending on how he
• 1:58
  Speaker 4: heals from the injury or July. At this point when
• 2:01
  Speaker 4: you go, no, we need to we need to fill
• 2:03
  Speaker 4: this role with a true, proven big league shortstop and
• 2:07
  Speaker 4: not a stop gap.
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely, Yeah, if it's going to be half a season.
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: I need to get another option and then when Kim
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: comes back, Okay, I've got depth, I think, because it's
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: probably going to be six to eight weeks, you know
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: I can get by. But that being said, every GM
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: is going to look for a better option than the
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: option you have right now, regardless of who it is.
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: I'm not picking on Mauricio Dubon, who's a very good
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: extra player, but that's what he is. He's a guy
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: that you like to fill in for a couple of
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: weeks rather than a couple of months.
• 2:37
  Speaker 3: And so, you know, I think if you're Alex, you
• 2:40
  Speaker 3: know you're.
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: Going to keep looking out there, see what kind of
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: options are out there on the trade front during the spring,
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: and if you can pick up a better short stop,
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: someone in between Dubon and Kim, you're going to try
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: to do that.
• 2:53
  Speaker 5: Jim.
• 2:53
  Speaker 6: It sucks with the Braves. And we just talked about
• 2:55
  Speaker 6: Cody Bellinger. Have you heard anything on Cody Bellinger on
• 2:59
  Speaker 6: what his free I mean, we've heard all the stories
• 3:01
  Speaker 6: the Yankees don't a bidding or they've made their best offer.
• 3:04
  Speaker 6: Who else is out there? And what would the Yankees
• 3:06
  Speaker 6: possibly do if they lost Cody Bellinger.
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: Yeah, they don't have a panic pivot like the Mets did, right.
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: I mean when the Mets lost out on Tucker, they
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: did the panic pivot and they overpaid Bobaschett by seventeen
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: million a year. Right, that option is not going to
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: be out there for the New York Yankees. So if
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: the Yankees lose out on Bellinger, Jason Dominguez and Spencer Jones,
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: they're going to get their shot. They're going to get
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: to compete in spring training, and one of them is
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: going to be the starting left field of the New
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: York Yankees come opening Day. That's clearly the plan that
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: New York has right now. But I still think it's
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: likely that Bellinger goes back. He's been offered five years,
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: one hundred and sixty million, with opt outs after years
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: two and three. My understanding is the Yankees are willing
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: to give a huge signing bonus as well.
• 3:53
  Speaker 3: I think the offer that the Yankees.
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: Have on the table is astronomical, especially when you look
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: at his six year history. You know, his history isn't
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: like Alonzo and Schwarber where it's clean. He's had good years,
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: he's had bad years, been inconsistent.
• 4:06
  Speaker 3: So I think this is a very good offer.
• 4:08
  Speaker 5: Now.
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: I understand that Scott Boris and the Boris Corporation and
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: Cody would prefer a seven year deal, so would everybody else.
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: Schwarber would have liked that too, so would have Pete Alonso.
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: But the market is what it is. I do not
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: believe there's a team in baseball that has offered Cody
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: Bellinger seven years. I don't think that's out there. I
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: don't think he's had an offer of six years. I
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: could be wrong. And the one thing we know about
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: the Boris Corporation, if the offer is out there, he'll
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: take it. He won't be afraid to take that offer
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: because he'd love to be able to go back to
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: the Yankees and say you wouldn't go seven? I found seven.
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: He loves doing that. That being said, I don't believe
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: the Mets are in outside of a short term aav
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: on him. Toronto is not in on him, The Dodgers
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: are not in on him. I don't know, honestly of
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: another team right now besides the two New York teams
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: that are an on Bellinger.
• 5:00
  Speaker 4: Looking at how the team's constructed and the fact that
• 5:02
  Speaker 4: they made a big push for Tucker, and I think
• 5:05
  Speaker 4: Bellinger's very much like, way more versatile than Tucker. Why
• 5:11
  Speaker 4: are the blue Jays not in on Cody Bellinger?
• 5:13
  Speaker 5: Do you think? You know?
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: I think it's the risk with how he's going to
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: age with the swing. I think it's the risk of
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: we saw him fail in Chicago and a year ago
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: the Cubs had to eat part of the contract in
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: order to trade him to the Yankees. They had to
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: eat it the Dodgers. He struggled there a couple of years,
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: they moved on from him. You know, I think that,
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: you know, Mark Shapiro, the president of the Blue Jays,
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: Ross afkns the GM looking at his history and saying,
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: you know, what is the risk if we were to
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: sign him long term?
• 5:42
  Speaker 3: What's the risk?
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: I think, quite frankly, the blue Jays kind of view
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: Kyle Tucker and Cody Bellinger's similar the way I do.
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: I would have been fine giving Kyle Tucker ten years
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: three point fifty like the Blue Jays offered. I kind
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: of feel like Bellinger's not that kind of player for me.
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: I think there's too much risk now. I love him defensively,
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: he can play all three outfield positions above average you
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: can play first base above average. I love the power.
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: I love this MVP season with the Dodgers. I love
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: this season last year with the Yankees. I loved one
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: of his seasons with the Cubs. But where was the rest?
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: And I know we're blaming injuries and we're blaming the pandemic,
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: but you know other players didn't have that problem of
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: lack of consistency. And I don't want to get stuck
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: on a seven, eight, nine, ten year deal on a
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: player that I don't think I can count on producing
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: most of those years.
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: Jim, Let's pivot now to pitching. Not a lot going on,
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: at least it doesn't seem very public going on with
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: fromber Valdez. How is he still out there? And where
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: do you see a landing spot for him?
• 6:48
  Speaker 5: Yeah?
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: I think Octagon has done a really good job of
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: keeping the negotiations of all das quiet, nothing leaking. I
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: actually like it. I think it's good for Framberg, to
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: be honest. The reason he's still out there is I
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: think when free agency started they were looking for a
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: six or seven year.
• 7:04
  Speaker 3: Deal for him.
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: He's not going to get that. He's thirty two years old.
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: I'm not sure he's gonna get year five. I think
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: he will get four years.
• 7:12
  Speaker 3: But you know, the.
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: Offers haven't been there like expected, and so when those
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: long term deals aren't there, the agents these days have
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: to take a deep breath and then figure out, Okay,
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: how short of a deal can I get? What are
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: the opt out clauses look like? Am I okay doing
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: a two year deal? Opting out and going back in
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: the market next year when I'm not tied to draft
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: pick compensation?
• 7:37
  Speaker 3: You know, you've you've got to be creative and.
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: Try to figure out the best way to handle this now,
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: you know, I know the Orioles have been in on
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: Framber Valdas the whole time. I've heard the Mets had
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: interest if it was a shorter term deal. I'm not
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: sure if Framber is there yet. But you know, besides that,
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: i've not heard Framber's name connected. I think it's I
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: think the Giants should be all over him, but I've
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: heard they're not because they don't want to spend that
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: kind of money towards pitching. So you know, besides that,
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: you know, I can't tell you. I still think the
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: best spot for him right now is the Orioles or
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: the METS. I think both teams need them if they
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: want us to cover that team in October either one
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: of them.
• 8:20
  Speaker 7: Nobody likes a bloated cell phone bill. It can consume you,
• 8:24
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• 8:28
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• 8:30
  Speaker 7: when you have your end of your sales, but there
• 8:32
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  Speaker 4: get and take advantage of it because it's not necessarily.
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  Speaker 7: upfront payment of forty five dollars for three months, ninety
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• 9:21
  Speaker 4: What's hurting his market more the draft pick compensation because
• 9:25
  Speaker 4: I felt like that was, you know, more than fifty
• 9:27
  Speaker 4: sixty million dollar range and he's clearly a nine figure
• 9:30
  Speaker 4: type of pitcher. Or is it the fact that a
• 9:33
  Speaker 4: guy like Freddy Peralta, who everybody probably views as a
• 9:36
  Speaker 4: better picture than him right now, is still technically out there.
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I think everything factors in, right. I
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: think being thirty two years old factors in. I think
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: there are some analytic groups that don't like the hard
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: hit rate against Ramber, although it's mostly ground balls and
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: it doesn't worry me as long as you have a
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: really good defensive infield. I think some people are looking
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: at him and saying, you know, he used to be
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: a one, now he's a two, and so I want
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: to pay two prices, not one price. So I think
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: all of those things kind of factor in. You know,
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: what are the other options that are up there on
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: the market. That being said, you know, he's a difference maker.
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: He I think he could take a pretender and make
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: them into a contender.
• 10:19
  Speaker 3: So I think he'll find a home.
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: But I think we're going to find out it's going
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: to be one of those shorter term high aav with
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: opt outs.
• 10:28
  Speaker 5: Jim.
• 10:28
  Speaker 6: We just saw Ranger Suarez signed with the Red Sox.
• 10:31
  Speaker 6: The Red Sox done enough this offseason because you know,
• 10:33
  Speaker 6: Bregman was kind of the guy they thought. They flipped
• 10:36
  Speaker 6: and went, and they went Sunny Gray, they went Ranger Suarez.
• 10:39
  Speaker 6: They obviously have Garrett Crochet the back end of the bullpen.
• 10:42
  Speaker 6: They brought back Chapman. Do they have enough offense to
• 10:44
  Speaker 6: win this division with the way they've lined it up
• 10:46
  Speaker 6: with their pitching as strong as it is, A.
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: J my opinion is they need a second basement or
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: third baseman. They need one more bat. Obviously they wanted
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: to bring Bregman bat. They weren't going to play at
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: Bishette at the kind of numbers Bishett ended up with.
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: So I think that a player like you Henyo Suarez
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: makes sense for them if they can get him on
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: a shorter term deal. Power plays in that ballpark. Uh,
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: you know, he can hit six or seventh in the lineup.
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: And hit that occasional three run homer. I think that
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: makes sense. Circling back to Arizona to see if there's
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: another way to trade for kateel Marte is something that
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: makes sense for them as well. I know at some
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: point that Marcelo Meyer back. They like him very much,
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: but I think they need one more bat, whether it
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: be at second base or third base.
• 11:34
  Speaker 4: You've mentioned the Mets twice with shorter term higher A
• 11:40
  Speaker 4: A V. What is the what is that line for
• 11:43
  Speaker 4: the Mets in the sense that they're just gonna okay,
• 11:46
  Speaker 4: we're gonna stick with it, but at some point they're
• 11:48
  Speaker 4: gonna look up and go dag go on.
• 11:50
  Speaker 5: We're paying everybody forty million dollars a year. I get it.
• 11:53
  Speaker 4: We're rolling over like you know USC football. We just
• 11:56
  Speaker 4: roll roll over every player every other year and il money.
• 11:59
  Speaker 4: But what is what is that line? What is that
• 12:02
  Speaker 4: line for the Mets?
• 12:05
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so for Steve Cohen, he has unlimited money.
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: He's the wealthiest owner in baseball, and look, if he
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: wants to take losses, he just he writes a check
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: and he can write it off against his hedge funds.
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: So I think he just do whatever he wants I mean,
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: we've heard the stories about him seeing a piece of
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: art for twenty million dollars and he decides he wants it,
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: he writes a check and it goes in front of
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: his house. He's doing the same thing with baseball players.
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: And look, I wish, you know, in my years as
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: a GM I wish I had an owner that was
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: willing to just give me a check book and say,
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: you know, go spend whatever you want. And forty seven
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: million for Bob Baschett, my goodness, gracious, but they got
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: the player, which was great. It was a great panic pivot,
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: I thought. And he was wondering what color smoke it was.
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: When he found out it was Dodger blue, he went, okay,
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: I'll go get Baschette.
• 12:50
  Speaker 6: Then wow, yeah, Uncle Stevie, he nails it all right.
• 12:55
  Speaker 6: So let's go to one of your old teams. You
• 12:56
  Speaker 6: have a picture of the guy over your shoulder. Elie
• 12:59
  Speaker 6: de la Cruz alleged he was offered the highest extension
• 13:02
  Speaker 6: of all time right for any Reds player, and he
• 13:04
  Speaker 6: hasn't accepted it yet. First of all, do you think
• 13:06
  Speaker 6: he should? And when you're as a front office member
• 13:09
  Speaker 6: approached a player, did you already think that, hey man,
• 13:11
  Speaker 6: this guy's going to accept this and save us money
• 13:14
  Speaker 6: and also set his family up. What's the deal with
• 13:16
  Speaker 6: the L extension?
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, look, I think Nick Krawl and the
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: Reds did the right thing by offering him over a
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: quarter of a billion dollars and said, look, we want
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: you here, we want you to spend your career in Cincinnati.
• 13:29
  Speaker 3: I think you have to try to make that effort,
• 13:32
  Speaker 3: whether it works or doesn't work.
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: When you're represented by the Bors Corporation and you're a
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: position player, and you're young, and you have analysts telling
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: people that he has the talent to be a future
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: Hall of Famer, really tough to do a long term
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: deal because Scott Boris's long history is he will beat
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: it on the open market.
• 13:53
  Speaker 3: And I know when the.
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: Nationals offered Juan Soto four hundred and fifty million, he
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: turned it down and everybody laughed, and he ended up
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: three years later getting seven hundred and sixty five million.
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: So we made an extra three hundred and sixty five
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: million by saying, no Elie Day the Cruz is going
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: to do the same thing.
• 14:10
  Speaker 3: So I understand it, and you.
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: Know, it's pretty painful for a small market team like Cincinnati.
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: I think for them to have a chance to sign
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: him right now, you have to probably start the conversation
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: at three hundred and fifty million to start the conversation
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: to get it serious. I'm not sure Cincinnati's going to
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: do that in the marketplace. So again, this is a
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: talented kid. He hasn't reached his potential yet. We keep
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: waiting for that breakout year, which I think may happen
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: as soon as this year. It's going to be fun
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: to watch, but keep in mind it's going to be very,
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: very difficult for the Reds in this marketplace. When you're
• 14:47
  Speaker 2: seeing the kind of contracts. Kyle Tucker gets sixty million
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: a year, Bobaschek gets forty seven million a year, Showe
• 14:55
  Speaker 2: a Otani gets seventy million a year. It's really hard
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: to try to do these deals like the Braves did
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: once with Ronald Acuna Junior, because these young superstar as
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: seeing this kind of money out there, it just doesn't
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: make sense to give up the kind of hundreds of
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: millions you'll be given up if you sign.
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: Now, Jim, what did the Reds do? I mean, you
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: said they probably need to start at three hundred and
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: fifty million. I mean, is there a certain point where
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: they're like, what is the point because we know that
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: he's going to go to free agency and there's not
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: a dollar figure that we can do right now to
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: extend it.
• 15:29
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: I mean, look, you've got to be realistic in these
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: small to midal markets. If we're if we're not going
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: to do a salary floor in a cap, if we're
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: not going to let half a baseball compete for a
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: world championship, if we've decided we're not going to do
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: that as a sport, which is okay, if that's what
• 15:44
  Speaker 2: they want to do. Then if you're the Reds, you
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: have to do what Tampa Bay does and Miami does.
• 15:49
  Speaker 3: And everybody else does. You've got to enjoy your.
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: First four years with the player, and then you've got
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: to call the Dodgers and the Yankees and the Mets
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: and the Phillies and the Red Sox and see what
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: you can get for a day. Look, cruise, and at
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: some point trade him. You don't want to wait to
• 16:03
  Speaker 2: the last year. You want to do it with at
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: least two years left so you get the most return
• 16:08
  Speaker 2: you possibly can. But that's gonna be the reality if
• 16:11
  Speaker 2: we don't fix this system.
• 16:14
  Speaker 4: Is he good enough for the three hundred and fifty potential? Yes,
• 16:19
  Speaker 4: but really a lot a lot of his analytic numbers
• 16:22
  Speaker 4: are propped up by a stolen basis. I get it,
• 16:24
  Speaker 4: he had the torn quad and the second half was
• 16:27
  Speaker 4: a business. First half was looking MVP ish if there
• 16:30
  Speaker 4: wasn't a show, Hey Otani in the league. But are
• 16:33
  Speaker 4: his numbers based on the fact that is his walk
• 16:36
  Speaker 4: rate is what it is and a strikeout rate is astronomical?
• 16:42
  Speaker 5: Is he what do you feel.
• 16:44
  Speaker 4: Like his value is based on how he has done,
• 16:47
  Speaker 4: not what he could do?
• 16:50
  Speaker 3: Well, that's a great question.
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: I think the value is probably pretty close to what
• 16:53
  Speaker 2: the Reds offered him, which is why they tried to
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: get it done at two hundred and fifty million dollar range.
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: I think that's probably when you look at it, that
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: would make sense on a ten year deal right now. Yeah,
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: the potential is that you know, by the time he
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: gets to the open market, he could be somewhere between
• 17:10
  Speaker 2: Kyle Tucker and Vladimir Guerrero Junior. I think that's realistic.
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: But he's not there yet and you've got to see
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: the development. So yeah, and there's lots of risk in this.
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: And remember, three hundred and fifty million today is going
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: to be six hundred million when he gets to free
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: agency in five years based on history.
• 17:29
  Speaker 6: Jim, we mentioned Shorver buying Shorver and the Reds and
• 17:34
  Speaker 6: they had three hundred million to try to give him.
• 17:35
  Speaker 5: Where did that money go?
• 17:37
  Speaker 6: Like, I know they tried to get it to Ellie
• 17:38
  Speaker 6: and listen, it's a great pr move also by the Reds.
• 17:40
  Speaker 5: Let's not forget that.
• 17:41
  Speaker 6: And Scott Morris has never had a client turned down
• 17:44
  Speaker 6: one hundred million dollar offer and then not gotten a
• 17:47
  Speaker 6: more so, let's a position player. So let's also that's
• 17:50
  Speaker 6: why one of the reasons why you said that he
• 17:53
  Speaker 6: won't turn he won't accept it, is because he has
• 17:55
  Speaker 6: a history of getting him way more Like you said, so, well,
• 17:58
  Speaker 6: where did that money go for the red As the
• 18:00
  Speaker 6: Reds say, hey, we offered Ellie the highest EXTENSI ever.
• 18:02
  Speaker 6: Oh he didn't take it. We tried. It's a great,
• 18:04
  Speaker 6: great move, especially they just had Reds Fest this weekend.
• 18:07
  Speaker 6: I mean, everyone's like, well, now they're like, Elie take
• 18:09
  Speaker 6: the offer, right, But where did the three hundred million
• 18:12
  Speaker 6: they had for Schwarbur go and they said, oh, it
• 18:14
  Speaker 6: was just for that one player. Where does it go?
• 18:16
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean it's a great question. Aja.
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: I asked the same thing of the Reds. You know,
• 18:19
  Speaker 2: as soon as they lost out on Schwarber, before the
• 18:23
  Speaker 2: Orioles quickly signed Alonzo, I was at the winter meetings
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: and I text the Reds and I said, why not
• 18:29
  Speaker 2: just pivot and go get Alonzo right now? Like immediately,
• 18:32
  Speaker 2: just take the same money he had for Schwarbur and
• 18:34
  Speaker 2: put for the Alonzo. The way they viewed Schwarber's and
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: tangibles were such exception. They felt like what he would
• 18:43
  Speaker 2: bring to their clubhouse and locker room was such a
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: difference maker that they wanted to extend for him. They
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: didn't view other players on the open market similarly and
• 18:56
  Speaker 2: so that's that was their view, but ended up being
• 18:59
  Speaker 2: the intangibles there. Do they have money if they needed
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: to to commit thirty million.
• 19:05
  Speaker 5: To a player.
• 19:06
  Speaker 2: The answer to that is yes, they haven't done it.
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: I think if the right player were to come along,
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: I think again, I think they would go back to
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: the well and try to do that. But to do Schwarber,
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: they weren't really going to add to their budget. They
• 19:20
  Speaker 2: were just going to take their budget and instead of
• 19:23
  Speaker 2: spreading it out among two or three players, give it
• 19:25
  Speaker 2: to Schwarber. And remember this about the Reds and try
• 19:28
  Speaker 2: not to smile or laugh. They paid Nick Martinez twenty
• 19:32
  Speaker 2: million last year to be a six starter and long reliever.
• 19:37
  Speaker 3: They gave him the qualifying offer and accepted it.
• 19:40
  Speaker 2: So they were taking Nick Martinez as twenty to put
• 19:43
  Speaker 2: towards Swarbur.
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: I want to ask you if you think that the
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: way that the free agents or players are looking at
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: things now, Jim has shifted from back in the day
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: when you would take the guaranteed money as a young
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: player versus what these the high end of these free
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: agency contracts are now. I mean, the eyes I would
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: imagine are really big with some of like an Elie
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: de la Cruz saying what some of these contracts have
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: amounted to. Has that shifted and changed the dynamic of
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: how these young players are going out going about it?
• 20:15
  Speaker 5: Oh?
• 20:16
  Speaker 3: Absolutely.
• 20:16
  Speaker 2: If I'm a young player and I'm looking at the marketplace,
• 20:20
  Speaker 2: I mean I don't even have to play into my
• 20:22
  Speaker 2: mid or late thirties anymore. If you're going to pay
• 20:24
  Speaker 2: me sixty to seventy million dollars a year. Just give
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: me five years in my prime and I'll have enough
• 20:31
  Speaker 2: money if I want to retire or do something else.
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: And doing long term deals, you know, we're seeing a
• 20:37
  Speaker 2: lot of players that did the long term deals and
• 20:40
  Speaker 2: those players are losing out.
• 20:43
  Speaker 3: It's just the way it is.
• 20:44
  Speaker 2: I mean, Ronal Kuney Junior and Guerrero came up the
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: same time. One guy's getting paid five hundred million, the
• 20:51
  Speaker 2: other players not getting paid relatively speaking. So I think
• 20:55
  Speaker 2: when you continually watch who does better, I think the
• 20:58
  Speaker 2: young players with advice from the agents are saying, you know,
• 21:02
  Speaker 2: we're better off waiting unless somebody wants to overpay.
• 21:05
  Speaker 3: And that's why in.
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: Ellie Daily Cruz, all he has to do is look
• 21:07
  Speaker 2: at Juan Soto and look at Guerrero and say do
• 21:10
  Speaker 2: I want to get that result or do I want
• 21:13
  Speaker 2: to get what Acuna ended up getting in Atlanta. It
• 21:16
  Speaker 2: makes it pretty easy to make that decision.
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: Jim Hall of Fame, voting tomorrow, what do you think
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: gets in?
• 21:24
  Speaker 2: Well, Carlos Beltron's going to get in, So that's great
• 21:28
  Speaker 2: news for him.
• 21:28
  Speaker 3: I mean, what an incredible career you have.
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: But the guy that I've been pushing all these years
• 21:34
  Speaker 2: that hasn't gotten in is Andrew Jones, and I'm just
• 21:37
  Speaker 2: praying he gets in.
• 21:38
  Speaker 3: It's going to be close. I think it could go
• 21:40
  Speaker 3: either way based.
• 21:41
  Speaker 2: On what I'm hearing in terms of the voting. But
• 21:44
  Speaker 2: Andrew Jones was the best defensive center fielder I've ever
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: seen in my life, and it's not close. And I
• 21:52
  Speaker 2: asked the late Frank Robinson, who was a manager for
• 21:55
  Speaker 2: me when I was the GM of the Washington Nationals.
• 21:58
  Speaker 2: I asked Frank, who is what the greatest defensive center
• 22:01
  Speaker 2: fielder you ever saw? And he said, Andrew Jones is
• 22:05
  Speaker 2: one A and Willie Mays is one B. And by
• 22:08
  Speaker 2: the way, Andrew Jones has one less home run than
• 22:12
  Speaker 2: Carlos Beltron. Both of these players deserve to get in.
• 22:16
  Speaker 2: I hope tomorrow we can celebrate both center fielders.
• 22:20
  Speaker 3: And by the way, I.
• 22:20
  Speaker 2: Hope all the people that voted, I hope they spent
• 22:23
  Speaker 2: the time to ask John Schoreholtz, Bobby Cox, John Smoltz,
• 22:29
  Speaker 2: Tom Glavin, Chipper, Jones, David Justice, Fred McGriff, and any
• 22:35
  Speaker 2: other Atlanta Brave that watched him play. I hope they
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: spent the time to ask the visiting managers and gms
• 22:41
  Speaker 2: that were in the National League during the ten years
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: that Andrew Jones won ten consecutive Gold Glove Awards. I
• 22:48
  Speaker 2: hope they asked those people if Andrew Jones is a
• 22:51
  Speaker 2: Hall of Famer, because all of them would say yes.
• 22:54
  Speaker 2: And it's a shame he isn't already in. But you
• 22:57
  Speaker 2: know what, as long as he gets in this year,
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: it'll be okay. So hopefully the voters did the right thing,
• 23:03
  Speaker 2: and hopefully tomorrow on foul Territory, you guys will be
• 23:07
  Speaker 2: announcing beltront and Andrew Jones.
• 23:10
  Speaker 6: I hope so Jim. I got to play with Andrew
• 23:13
  Speaker 6: and he was a great guy.
• 23:14
  Speaker 5: He's fun.
• 23:15
  Speaker 6: Do you think I have two questions on Andrew Jones? One,
• 23:18
  Speaker 6: do you think that the end of his career hurt him?
• 23:21
  Speaker 6: And that's why it's taken so long because he was
• 23:23
  Speaker 6: so spectacular for those ten years and then he kind
• 23:25
  Speaker 6: of just fell off a cliff And I played with
• 23:27
  Speaker 6: him at the end with the White Sox and he
• 23:29
  Speaker 6: was a shell of himself with other injuries. Do you
• 23:31
  Speaker 6: think that hurt him? And then my next argument is,
• 23:33
  Speaker 6: look at Tory Hunter's numbers. How come he's not getting
• 23:36
  Speaker 6: more love? He has I think nine gold gloves instead
• 23:38
  Speaker 6: of ten, right, and he has a lot of bet
• 23:40
  Speaker 6: numbers that are better in a lot of other categories
• 23:44
  Speaker 6: except for you know, I think home runs he's like
• 23:46
  Speaker 6: a few behind. But other than that, they're all similar.
• 23:48
  Speaker 6: But Torri gets no love and he was the best
• 23:50
  Speaker 6: center fielder that I ever saw on a consistent basis.
• 23:53
  Speaker 6: Obviously I'm biased because I played with him in the
• 23:55
  Speaker 6: minor leagues and came up with him, but he gets
• 23:57
  Speaker 6: like no love and his numbers are across the board
• 24:00
  Speaker 6: very similar to what Andrew Jones did.
• 24:02
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 24:02
  Speaker 2: So, in terms of Andrew Jones, absolutely his career once
• 24:06
  Speaker 2: he left Atlanta, whether it was Dodgers, White Sox, Yankees
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: hurt his career and he kept playing, right, there was
• 24:12
  Speaker 2: like a five year period after that. He had ten
• 24:15
  Speaker 2: years where he was a Hall of Famer and then
• 24:18
  Speaker 2: he absolutely fell off and that was it. And I
• 24:21
  Speaker 2: think those five years hurt him. I think a lot
• 24:23
  Speaker 2: of the young writers that joined later saw those five
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: years and that's what's in their mind. Unfortunately, I think
• 24:31
  Speaker 2: the analytic and stat people end up looking at all
• 24:36
  Speaker 2: the statistics, whereas if you just look at the ten
• 24:39
  Speaker 2: years in Atlanta a ten year period. There is no
• 24:43
  Speaker 2: doubt he was a Hall of Fame player, and I
• 24:45
  Speaker 2: believe that he should be voted based on that. With
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: Tory Hunter, I can't give you the right answer, to
• 24:51
  Speaker 2: be honest, because I spent practically my entire career in
• 24:55
  Speaker 2: the National League, and those were all the games that
• 24:57
  Speaker 2: I saw in person. I certainly loved what Tory Hunter
• 25:01
  Speaker 2: on the screen. I don't disagree with the stats and
• 25:03
  Speaker 2: numbers that you're throwing out there just for me, you know.
• 25:08
  Speaker 2: I like the people that vote on the guys that
• 25:11
  Speaker 2: saw them with their own eyeballs during that same time period.
• 25:14
  Speaker 2: And my seventeen years as a GM, all seventeen were
• 25:18
  Speaker 2: in National.
• 25:19
  Speaker 3: League ballparks, you know, And so I don't.
• 25:23
  Speaker 2: Feel that I can give a good opinion on Tory
• 25:26
  Speaker 2: Hunter like I can on the guys that were playing
• 25:28
  Speaker 2: in the National League.
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: Jim, as always, we appreciate the insight, look forward to
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: seeing who gets in tomorrow. We'll be right back and
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: thank you very much. She'll see you soon.
• 25:37
  Speaker 3: Thanks, guys, All.
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: Right, welcome you back to Hot Corner as the Hour
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: number two starts here on foul Territory. AJ Pruzinski, Eric
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: Kratzelonaizzo in for Scott Braun. Okay, let's talk about the
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: fact that I'm not just doing this because I'm on
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: the show. This was in the rundown before I was hosting,
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: so I don't want to hear it. Eric, don't hate
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: on the Dodgers for perfecting an imperfect system. Tyler Kepner
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: wrote something in The New York Times recently about, you
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: know what, they're doing a good job of spending money, obviously,
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: but we've talked about it at length. Aj other teams
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: can do it, so why aren't they.
• 26:21
  Speaker 6: I don't hate the Dodgers at all. If I'm a player,
• 26:23
  Speaker 6: I love it. And it's a destination place and they
• 26:25
  Speaker 6: get all the money you can because no one complains
• 26:27
  Speaker 6: on the Mets go out and signed Boba. Shit, they
• 26:30
  Speaker 6: didn't know, and it was like, oh no, the Mets
• 26:31
  Speaker 6: are ruining baseball. It's just because the Dodgers have won
• 26:34
  Speaker 6: and they figured it out, and they have great leadership,
• 26:36
  Speaker 6: and they have unbelievable talent, and they also figured out
• 26:39
  Speaker 6: a way to draft guys that are not in the
• 26:41
  Speaker 6: top because they lose all their draft picks every year
• 26:43
  Speaker 6: and they still have players. But you know, marching through
• 26:46
  Speaker 6: their system that they can use. So they've done a
• 26:48
  Speaker 6: lot of great things. What they have done is they've
• 26:50
  Speaker 6: reinvested the money not only in players that they make,
• 26:53
  Speaker 6: in infrastructure, in development and talent, in finding talent and
• 26:57
  Speaker 6: finding ways to win on the margins. You get a
• 27:00
  Speaker 6: great president of baseball ops and Andrew Freeman, you get Brandon Gomes,
• 27:04
  Speaker 6: and then you give them money. This is what you
• 27:06
  Speaker 6: can get, and they go out and make these deals.
• 27:08
  Speaker 6: Now a lot of them are deferred, and everyone's saying, oh,
• 27:10
  Speaker 6: it's deferred money. Why Look how many people have deferred contracts. Okay,
• 27:14
  Speaker 6: the Orioles are paying Chris Davis for like fifteen more
• 27:18
  Speaker 6: years on that contract.
• 27:19
  Speaker 5: It's all deferred.
• 27:20
  Speaker 6: Okay, the Dodgers aren't the only one that does. Is
• 27:22
  Speaker 6: just because they win that people are mad?
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: Eric, what do you make of this? Tyler Kuttner continues
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: in the article that the Dodgers have adapted by de
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: emphasizing the regular season and building such a deep roster
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: that they basically cannot miss the playoffs. I believe that,
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: because I do believe the Dodgers are built for October.
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: It's almost as if they assume that they're going to
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: get there, and they're just worried about making sure that
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: roster gets them to that point.
• 27:49
  Speaker 5: I think they've done a great job.
• 27:51
  Speaker 4: I think whether they set out to make their starting
• 27:55
  Speaker 4: rotation ten pitchers deep, No, I don't think they started
• 27:59
  Speaker 4: out doing that, because I think they set there and
• 28:03
  Speaker 4: they won the World Series in twenty four with just
• 28:07
  Speaker 4: a bullpen. Then they go, we don't want to do
• 28:10
  Speaker 4: that again.
• 28:11
  Speaker 5: That was risky.
• 28:12
  Speaker 4: They were almost eliminated by the Padres, so I think
• 28:15
  Speaker 4: they then set out and they were like, Okay, what
• 28:17
  Speaker 4: is the depth that we need. Obviously Roki didn't want
• 28:20
  Speaker 4: to go anywhere else, so that added another piece of depth.
• 28:23
  Speaker 4: I think they've perfected it in so many different ways.
• 28:27
  Speaker 4: But the part I want to hit on is what
• 28:29
  Speaker 4: AJ said. So many teams don't want to sign players
• 28:33
  Speaker 4: one people will say, oh, well, they don't have money.
• 28:35
  Speaker 4: And I spent an entire weekend getting roasted on Twitter
• 28:40
  Speaker 4: for congratulating the Dodgers for what they did, which I
• 28:43
  Speaker 4: think was awesome, not just for them, but I think
• 28:46
  Speaker 4: it raises the competition level. But got roasted for that,
• 28:50
  Speaker 4: so I won't go that way. To me, It's what
• 28:53
  Speaker 4: AJ said. About the draft. All these teams we just
• 28:57
  Speaker 4: talked about what fran Bervaldez at draft pickcom compensation. It's
• 29:01
  Speaker 4: it's tied to them. You know, they don't they don't
• 29:03
  Speaker 4: want to sign somebody because it draft pick compensation. Like
• 29:07
  Speaker 4: they're losing so many of their picks because one they're
• 29:12
  Speaker 4: finishing in first place, so they're picking way late in
• 29:15
  Speaker 4: the draft. Two they're signing some of these free agents.
• 29:19
  Speaker 4: And you have to remember, not everybody, not everybody that
• 29:22
  Speaker 4: they've signed was this massive show hey deal, show Hey's
• 29:26
  Speaker 4: just the best player in the planet and he wanted
• 29:27
  Speaker 4: to go where he was gonna be taken care of.
• 29:29
  Speaker 4: But all these draft picks that they lose, they're still
• 29:33
  Speaker 4: creating an incredible minor league system. So is that because
• 29:39
  Speaker 4: they have all the money. Is that because they're buying
• 29:41
  Speaker 4: all their prospects. No, they're doing it to supplement a
• 29:45
  Speaker 4: big league team that Yes, the TV deal that you
• 29:48
  Speaker 4: know happened with them of courts and all that stuff. Yes,
• 29:51
  Speaker 4: they're able to pocket extra money all that stuff.
• 29:53
  Speaker 5: I get it.
• 29:55
  Speaker 4: But there's an advantage to what the Dodgers are doing
• 29:59
  Speaker 4: that is not just us in free agency. But now
• 30:03
  Speaker 4: it's coming to fruition in free agency because they made
• 30:07
  Speaker 4: that push for certain players a certain culture, and they've
• 30:11
  Speaker 4: been able to back it with depth from their minor
• 30:14
  Speaker 4: leagues and back it with the fact that they've been
• 30:18
  Speaker 4: able to go get pitchers. I mean they traded for
• 30:20
  Speaker 4: Tyler Glass now. The rest of the league said, you
• 30:22
  Speaker 4: know what, Tyler Glass now is a injury prone pitcher.
• 30:26
  Speaker 4: Obvious he threw in the postseason for him. So like
• 30:30
  Speaker 4: there's things that they're doing that other teams can do.
• 30:34
  Speaker 4: They just have a larger margin for air with it.
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: And I want to give credit to the Toronto Blue
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: Jays who have had a very good offseason AJ and
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: they are spending money and it's good to see. And
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: they were a strike away from winning the World Series
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: last year obviously Game seven against the Los Angeles Daughters.
• 30:49
  Speaker 3: So good, this far away a couple of.
• 30:54
  Speaker 6: Bigger team win having.
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: And that's what I've That's what I always say that,
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: you know, having spending money guarantees that you get good players.
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: Spending money typically guarantees that you have a postseason birth
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: or you have an opportunity to play in the postseason.
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: But spending money does not guarantee championships. But the Baltimore
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: or excuse me, the Toronto Blue Jays are starting to
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: spend some It's like some real money here are they
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: kind of taking a page out of the Dodgers' book
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: where they two aj are building for the postseason.
• 31:28
  Speaker 6: Well, they learned last year how deep their starting rotation was.
• 31:31
  Speaker 5: Look at it.
• 31:32
  Speaker 6: All the guys that they used, They traded for Bieber
• 31:34
  Speaker 6: when he was hurt, the Headshers or Gosman, the Savage
• 31:36
  Speaker 6: came up. They used all these guys. Lower was a guy,
• 31:39
  Speaker 6: a factor formed during the regular season. Then they got
• 31:42
  Speaker 6: to the postseason and said, okay, we can throw Bassett
• 31:45
  Speaker 6: in the bullpen, right and he was great for him
• 31:47
  Speaker 6: out of the bullpen every day, Louis Varland was out
• 31:50
  Speaker 6: there chucking one hundred miles an hour every day. They
• 31:52
  Speaker 6: built depth, right, And that's what the Blue Jays, that's
• 31:55
  Speaker 6: what other teams are learning from the Dodgers is it's
• 31:57
  Speaker 6: cool to have five starters, but it's cooler to have
• 32:00
  Speaker 6: ten starters he can count on because you can use
• 32:02
  Speaker 6: them in different roles and use them to do different things.
• 32:06
  Speaker 6: The Dodgers did have done that. Now other teams are
• 32:08
  Speaker 6: falling toit. It's a copycat lead, and now other teams
• 32:10
  Speaker 6: are like, man, if we have ten starters, look at
• 32:12
  Speaker 6: all those things we can do, and if we believe
• 32:14
  Speaker 6: we're good enough to get to the postseason, then they
• 32:16
  Speaker 6: can help us make a run deep into the postseason.
• 32:18
  Speaker 6: So yeah, I think what the Blue Jays is doing
• 32:20
  Speaker 6: is awesome because you know what they did. They made
• 32:23
  Speaker 6: a crapload of money in the postseason by going to
• 32:25
  Speaker 6: Game seven, and they're reinvesting it back into their team.
• 32:28
  Speaker 6: They just put a new They've done a new spring
• 32:30
  Speaker 6: training site and didn't They've redone the locker rooms in
• 32:33
  Speaker 6: the Rogers Center. They've done all these things and then
• 32:36
  Speaker 6: they get the results and then they throw the money
• 32:38
  Speaker 6: back into the product.
• 32:39
  Speaker 5: It's awesome by the Blue Jays ownership.
• 32:42
  Speaker 4: We roasted, We roasted. I roasted the Blue Jays more
• 32:45
  Speaker 4: because of what ross Akins did or did not do,
• 32:48
  Speaker 4: Shapiro did or did not do to bolster a team
• 32:51
  Speaker 4: that I felt like should have been in the playoffs
• 32:53
  Speaker 4: the last few years. Now you see what came to fruition,
• 32:57
  Speaker 4: but what AJ said about the minor league system, they
• 33:00
  Speaker 4: made those changes. I was drafted in two thousand and
• 33:02
  Speaker 4: two by the Blue Jays. They redid their minor league
• 33:05
  Speaker 4: complex in two thousand and two. My last year in
• 33:08
  Speaker 4: baseball was twenty twenty. They were redoing their minor league complex.
• 33:12
  Speaker 4: There's still some minor league complexes that have not changed
• 33:15
  Speaker 4: since the day I was drafted.
• 33:18
  Speaker 5: And the Blue Jays. Yes they made the World Series.
• 33:21
  Speaker 4: Yes they were inches away, strike away several times in
• 33:26
  Speaker 4: Game seven, but that started years before that started because
• 33:31
  Speaker 4: they're trying to build that infrastructure, which if you're saying
• 33:34
  Speaker 4: we want to emulate the Dodgers, yes they're spending this year.
• 33:38
  Speaker 5: Yes they've been spending.
• 33:39
  Speaker 4: They got George Springer, they putting money into Vladimir Guerrero,
• 33:42
  Speaker 4: all that stuff, But it happens in that infrastructure years back.
• 33:47
  Speaker 4: I remember when I was playing in Triple A. I've
• 33:49
  Speaker 4: said this before. We'd come into a clubhouse that the
• 33:53
  Speaker 4: Dodgers Triple A team just left, and they're like bringing
• 33:57
  Speaker 4: all the candy bars back out. They're bringing out all
• 34:00
  Speaker 4: the unhealthy food. I'm like, why are you guys bringing
• 34:02
  Speaker 4: all this in? They're like, oh, well, the Dodgers came
• 34:04
  Speaker 4: in and they make us clear all the food out
• 34:07
  Speaker 4: and they bring in their own food and they feed
• 34:09
  Speaker 4: the players all in their own The Dodgers did all
• 34:12
  Speaker 4: of that. Dodgers did all of that way before the
• 34:16
  Speaker 4: mandatory minor league food was a thing. And people might
• 34:19
  Speaker 4: say that doesn't give you show heo Tani.
• 34:22
  Speaker 5: I get that.
• 34:23
  Speaker 4: I hear all the arguments, but you know what it does.
• 34:26
  Speaker 4: It builds a little bit of a It starts a
• 34:29
  Speaker 4: spark that builds a bigger fire that has what is
• 34:32
  Speaker 4: now burning in the furnace of the Dodgers, And it's
• 34:36
  Speaker 4: all part of it. Is it a small portion for
• 34:39
  Speaker 4: people who say, salary cap all this stuff, it's unfair
• 34:42
  Speaker 4: other teams, Yeah, they say that's a small portion for
• 34:45
  Speaker 4: people who have been in those situations and come up
• 34:48
  Speaker 4: through minor league systems and seeing how teams are really built.
• 34:53
  Speaker 4: To me, that's a huge, huge part of why they
• 34:56
  Speaker 4: are what they are. And now Kyle Tucker is going
• 34:59
  Speaker 4: to say, I'll take ninety less million dollars to go
• 35:03
  Speaker 4: there because it's a better fit for me. I like
• 35:07
  Speaker 4: the place. I'm going to get more of my money
• 35:09
  Speaker 4: up front. All that stuff. So it's not a chicken
• 35:13
  Speaker 4: or the egg. It's the first thing that happened was
• 35:17
  Speaker 4: the egg, and then you had a chicken, and now
• 35:19
  Speaker 4: they have tons of chickens.
• 35:20
  Speaker 5: And look at all those chickens.
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: Look at all those chickens. Aj don't you want that
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: as a player, Don't you want a team that is
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: going to be so on top of every single detail
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: and take care of its players as if they are
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: a prize commodity, as if they are precious cargo. That
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: I mean, it only makes sense that if you treat
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: the player well, you're going to make more money.
• 35:46
  Speaker 6: That's just make it a destination. Players want to come there, right.
• 35:51
  Speaker 6: And by the way, the food thing was because Gabe
• 35:52
  Speaker 6: Kapler was in charge of the minor league, so he
• 35:54
  Speaker 6: he also was still playing. He never eat cheese or anything,
• 35:58
  Speaker 6: so he had to do that to everyone else.
• 36:00
  Speaker 5: Hunt to the best.
• 36:01
  Speaker 6: We were when all this stuff started happening. Ozzie Game
• 36:04
  Speaker 6: was still our manager. We went into some of the
• 36:06
  Speaker 6: places where they took the cookies and the ice cream
• 36:08
  Speaker 6: and all that way. Ozzie made him bring it all
• 36:10
  Speaker 6: back out and he's like, my players need to drink
• 36:12
  Speaker 6: beer and eat ice cream, and I like both. So
• 36:15
  Speaker 6: we're gonna have alcohol and we're gonna have ice cream
• 36:18
  Speaker 6: and snacks. If a guy wants to eat a candy
• 36:19
  Speaker 6: bar and he's thirty five years old.
• 36:21
  Speaker 5: Let the man eat a.
• 36:22
  Speaker 6: Candy bar, and so that's how he kind of that's
• 36:25
  Speaker 6: how we I mean, I kind of get that too.
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: I get that too. I think you have the options, though,
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: I mean not all Major league teams are created equally,
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: and what I mean by that is not necessarily the
• 36:34
  Speaker 1: spending or the lack of wanting to spend by owners.
• 36:38
  Speaker 1: But I'll never forget there's been times when guys have
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: you know, come over in trade, you know, even within
• 36:43
  Speaker 1: the division. And you know, I think I've told this
• 36:46
  Speaker 1: story on here before, but I remember when Aj Pollock
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: came over in a trade from the Arizona Diamondbacks to
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: the Los Angeles Dodgers at spring training and Camelback So
• 36:53
  Speaker 1: we basically went from Scottsdale to to Camelback Ranch. You know,
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: all of the outfielders were lined up in a certain
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: area in the Dodgers clubhouse, and Jock Peterson looked at Aj,
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: who had been in the big leagues for quite some time,
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: obviously played at Notre Dame and then was in the
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: big leagues for some time, and he goes, welcome to
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: the big leagues. Because it's just a different that the
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: Dodgers just treat their players differently, and they just go
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: about their business differently. Eric, let me ask you this,
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: as a player, are you for it when you're on
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: one of those teams that don't spend and can't win.
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: I mean, I would imagine that that motivation is taken
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: away from you very early in the season, Like, what's
• 37:29
  Speaker 1: the point? What are you playing for?
• 37:32
  Speaker 5: As a player?
• 37:33
  Speaker 3: Yeah?
• 37:34
  Speaker 5: Player.
• 37:35
  Speaker 4: That's why I think I've gotten eviscerated for saying what
• 37:37
  Speaker 4: I said about the Dodgers being good for baseball, elevating competition.
• 37:42
  Speaker 4: People are like, what is this high school?
• 37:45
  Speaker 5: Like?
• 37:45
  Speaker 4: You know, you're trying to explain to us about competition
• 37:48
  Speaker 4: as a player. I promise you I could care less
• 37:53
  Speaker 4: who was on other teams. Would you go into places
• 37:56
  Speaker 4: and go holy crap? Like the in two thousand, I
• 38:01
  Speaker 4: forget when the tires late two thousands, I'm like, what
• 38:05
  Speaker 4: the heck? Like They've got Pudge Rodriguez, they got mag
• 38:09
  Speaker 4: le or Adonias, they had Maggie Cabrera, they had Justin Verlander.
• 38:14
  Speaker 4: Joel Zumaya animal saying like I remember thinking, holy crap,
• 38:18
  Speaker 4: this is a freaking really good team AJ played against
• 38:21
  Speaker 4: him the whole time. But as a player, you're not
• 38:24
  Speaker 4: sitting there going we got no chance. If you are,
• 38:27
  Speaker 4: I don't, I your career is going to be super
• 38:31
  Speaker 4: short because I played with people who who said that, like,
• 38:34
  Speaker 4: oh man, whatever, man, like I guess we got no
• 38:36
  Speaker 4: shot to me. That's tired. As a player, you cannot
• 38:41
  Speaker 4: think that way.
• 38:43
  Speaker 5: Listen.
• 38:44
  Speaker 6: I played for the Twins. I came up with the
• 38:46
  Speaker 6: Minnesota Twins. The Minnesota Twins time we played in the Metrodome,
• 38:51
  Speaker 6: and the team that was in our division that was.
• 38:52
  Speaker 5: So good Indians.
• 38:55
  Speaker 6: They had Jim Tomy, Roberto Alomar. You know they've been
• 38:58
  Speaker 6: going to the World Series. I'll never get and spring
• 39:00
  Speaker 6: training in two thousand and one because my first time
• 39:03
  Speaker 6: when I was going to break camp as a starting catcher,
• 39:05
  Speaker 6: I had a reporter come up to me and he said,
• 39:07
  Speaker 6: what do you think of this payroll disparity? And you
• 39:10
  Speaker 6: guys are small market and you guys can't compete. And
• 39:12
  Speaker 6: I looked at him and said, who said we can't compete?
• 39:15
  Speaker 6: And I said, we in this clubhouse have never said it.
• 39:18
  Speaker 6: I never looked at it and said we can't compete
• 39:20
  Speaker 6: with these guys because as a player, you think you're
• 39:22
  Speaker 6: one of the best players in the world, and when
• 39:24
  Speaker 6: you take that field, you can make your team better
• 39:26
  Speaker 6: and you can compete with anyone. Now, we didn't win
• 39:29
  Speaker 6: the division that year. We wanted the next bunch of years.
• 39:32
  Speaker 6: The Twins won of for how many every years in
• 39:34
  Speaker 6: a row for.
• 39:35
  Speaker 5: A long time. It made the playoffs.
• 39:38
  Speaker 6: But we never looked at it like we can't win
• 39:40
  Speaker 6: this division because the big bad Indians are in it.
• 39:42
  Speaker 6: The White Sox are, you know, with a bigger payroll. Right,
• 39:45
  Speaker 6: We were like, we're the Twins, We're really good players,
• 39:47
  Speaker 6: We're a really good team. We believe in each other
• 39:49
  Speaker 6: and we can figure it out.
• 39:51
  Speaker 5: And we did.
• 39:52
  Speaker 3: So.
• 39:52
  Speaker 6: I agree with Chrats like you never as a player say, oh, man,
• 39:54
  Speaker 6: look at what they're doing. Oh we can't compete, but
• 39:56
  Speaker 6: there's no way we can compete. We're always always like
• 39:59
  Speaker 6: I can compete. I've played on some really bad teams
• 40:01
  Speaker 6: and the Braves at the end of my career, but
• 40:03
  Speaker 6: going into the season, I'm like, ah, if things fall right,
• 40:06
  Speaker 6: you know, we might be able to get to a
• 40:08
  Speaker 6: point during the season where, you know, make some trades
• 40:10
  Speaker 6: if we're good, right, you never you can never look
• 40:13
  Speaker 6: at it and say and plus he's as a player.
• 40:15
  Speaker 6: I don't want people to feel sorry for me, like
• 40:17
  Speaker 6: the outside world be like, oh, you're on the Pirates
• 40:19
  Speaker 6: or you're on the Twins or this, or that you
• 40:21
  Speaker 6: can't spend money the Marlins. Screw that. I'm in the
• 40:23
  Speaker 6: big leagues and I'm here to compete, and I'm here
• 40:25
  Speaker 6: to beat the other team, no matter who they are.
• 40:27
  Speaker 6: And if I'm on the lesser team, I want to
• 40:28
  Speaker 6: show the bigger team that I can compete with you.