Latest / Foul Territory / FairT - Blue Jays whiff on Vlad Jr, Red Sox infield dilemma, ABS challenge testing begins

Transcript

FairT - Blue Jays whiff on Vlad Jr, Red Sox infield dilemma, ABS challenge testing begins · Foul Territory

0:00
Speaker 1: Right now.
0:00
Speaker 2: If I had to guess, I would say that Vladimir
0:04
Speaker 2: Guerrero Junior is walking as a free agent, walking away
0:07
Speaker 2: from the Blue Jays and they're getting nothing but draft
0:09
Speaker 2: pick compensation and return. Welcome everyone to the Thursday edition
0:16
Speaker 2: of Fair Territory. I'm Ken Rosenthal here with Alana Rizzo. Alana,
0:20
Speaker 2: we have some news already today. Aaron Boone getting a
0:23
Speaker 2: two year extension that covers him for the next three seasons.
0:26
Speaker 2: He's under contract for this year. And I find it
0:29
Speaker 2: interesting that two of the managers Dave Roberts knocked out
0:33
Speaker 2: in the postseason last year, Padres Mike Schultz, and the
0:36
Speaker 2: Yankees Aaron Boon have gotten extensions and he has not
0:39
Speaker 2: gotten one yet, but I fully expect him to alta.
0:43
Speaker 2: We have some news on another front as well, more
0:45
Speaker 2: show related.
0:46
Speaker 3: Yeah, Ken, always great to be with you. Hello everybody,
0:49
Speaker 3: and welcome to this live edition on this Thursday afternoon.
0:52
Speaker 3: Spring training is underway. The first spring training lineup has
0:55
Speaker 3: been posted. It is the Cubs, it is the Dodgers.
0:58
Speaker 3: Full swing in full effect as far as that is concerned.
1:01
Speaker 3: So Monday, we're going to start moving our show. We're
1:03
Speaker 3: going to actually be on the air at ten thirty
1:05
Speaker 3: Eastern just to be in the swing of spring training.
1:09
Speaker 3: It also makes sense that we just kind of lead
1:11
Speaker 3: into foul territory. So Ken and I will be on
1:14
Speaker 3: next week ten thirty am on Monday as well as
1:17
Speaker 3: on Thursday. So just a bit of housekeeping stuff for that,
1:21
Speaker 3: so everybody can follow you Ken on Monday. But let's
1:24
Speaker 3: get back to the baseball news at hand. And things
1:26
Speaker 3: are still a little bit messy in Boston as far
1:29
Speaker 3: as the Raphael Devers Alex Bregman third base situation. What's
1:33
Speaker 3: the latest all on.
1:35
Speaker 2: I've got to admit I'm fascinated by this story, maybe
1:38
Speaker 2: more so than I should be. And I've written the
1:41
Speaker 2: night that put Gregman signed, I wrote that, Hey, Devers
1:45
Speaker 2: should be the DH Bregman should be the third baseman.
1:48
Speaker 2: Gregman is coming off his first goal glove. Devers does
1:51
Speaker 2: not rate well defensively, and I felt, you're trying to
1:54
Speaker 2: put the best team possible on the field, this is
1:57
Speaker 2: the way you have to go and from the Red
2:00
Speaker 2: Sox perspective. Also, Devers's shoulders are still not right. He's
2:04
Speaker 2: still kind of getting into the swing of things. He
2:06
Speaker 2: also came into camp late. And my other concern for
2:09
Speaker 2: Devers is if he plays third base and then it
2:12
Speaker 2: starts off badly, how are the fans going to react
2:15
Speaker 2: knowing that he did not change positions. And there's one
2:19
Speaker 2: other element to Jose. Altuve is entertaining the alfield playing
2:24
Speaker 2: the outfield at age thirty five, perfectly willing to move
2:28
Speaker 2: off second base, where he was not and has not
2:30
Speaker 2: been a good defender for some time. Why can't Devers
2:34
Speaker 2: be the same type of team guy. That would be
2:36
Speaker 2: the argument. But I can see Devers' perspective too, and
2:41
Speaker 2: I do see both sides of this, and that's why
2:43
Speaker 2: it's so interesting to me. Devers is just twenty eight.
2:47
Speaker 2: It's not like al Tuve who's getting toward the end
2:50
Speaker 2: of his career. Devers is twenty eight in the second
2:52
Speaker 2: year of a ten year manager and thirteen point five
2:55
Speaker 2: million dollar contract. It's not easy to DH and the
2:59
Speaker 2: Red Sox argument Alana that this was heim Bloom who
3:04
Speaker 2: made this decision, not the current leadership group. I don't
3:07
Speaker 2: buy that. It was not just heim Bloom who said
3:09
Speaker 2: to Ralphael Devers, listen, you're going to play third base
3:13
Speaker 2: for a long time. They all kind of indicated that
3:16
Speaker 2: to him. So while Alex Korus said that, and while
3:19
Speaker 2: that's certainly an argument the Red Sox could use, I
3:21
Speaker 2: don't really buy it that much. And the other thing
3:24
Speaker 2: that troubles me about this from the Red Sox perspective
3:27
Speaker 2: toward Devers is that they didn't really give him a
3:31
Speaker 2: heads up. It seems like he found out after Bregman
3:35
Speaker 2: signed that this was the way it's going to be.
3:36
Speaker 2: They asked him about it in a meeting, Will talked
3:38
Speaker 2: to him about it, So I do see where Devers
3:42
Speaker 2: was coming from. That said, the bottom line is, as
3:46
Speaker 2: I said earlier, you've got to put the best team
3:48
Speaker 2: on the field, and for that reason, I would expect
3:52
Speaker 2: at least Bregmant to play some third base this year.
3:55
Speaker 2: I don't know how they would work it out exactly.
3:57
Speaker 2: I don't know that it's even that viable or mart
4:00
Speaker 2: to play a guy there part time and split positions
4:03
Speaker 2: between third and second for Bregman. Again, the best Red
4:07
Speaker 2: Sox alignment is Bregman third, Devers at DH. But Devers
4:12
Speaker 2: is a guy who does work at it, and he's
4:14
Speaker 2: a guy who doesn't want to move off the position,
4:17
Speaker 2: so it's really sticky in Boston right now, actually in
4:20
Speaker 2: Fort Myers.
4:21
Speaker 3: Ken does the fact that Dever is coming off of
4:23
Speaker 3: that shoulder surgery and he's obviously behind the eight ball
4:26
Speaker 3: a little bit as he recovers from that, does that
4:28
Speaker 3: factor into this decision at all?
4:31
Speaker 2: It should. It's another reason why you wouldn't want to
4:34
Speaker 2: play him necessarily a third base to start the season.
4:37
Speaker 2: And the difficult part here also is that Bregman hasn't
4:42
Speaker 2: opt out after this year. So if Bregman opts out
4:45
Speaker 2: after one season, which if he has a great year
4:47
Speaker 2: he will, even with a forty million dollars salary coming
4:50
Speaker 2: over the next two years, he probably would, then the
4:54
Speaker 2: Red Sox are telling Raffie Devers, uh, can you go
4:56
Speaker 2: back to third? How's that work it out? Can we
4:58
Speaker 2: do this now? So it's a complex situation, But the
5:03
Speaker 2: point I wanted to make on the show today was
5:05
Speaker 2: I do see Dever's side of it, and it's not
5:08
Speaker 2: simply that a player is selfish and he won't do
5:11
Speaker 2: it's best for the team. These players, all players have
5:14
Speaker 2: a lot of pride. That's where they why they get
5:17
Speaker 2: to where they are. So again, Devers, you can understand
5:22
Speaker 2: his point of view, but in the greater picture, when
5:25
Speaker 2: it comes down to what is best for the team.
5:28
Speaker 2: What is best for the team is not Raphael Devers
5:30
Speaker 2: at third base.
5:32
Speaker 3: When you're talking about what's best for the team, I
5:34
Speaker 3: would think that continuing to talk about an extension with
5:37
Speaker 3: Vladimir Guerrero Junior is not what's best for the team.
5:40
Speaker 3: I really thought that this would have been done a
5:41
Speaker 3: couple of years ago ken in terms of making lad
5:45
Speaker 3: a Toronto blue Jay for life now. He gave the
5:47
Speaker 3: team until the eighteenth to offer him an extension that
5:50
Speaker 3: both sides agreed on. He said he would not talk
5:52
Speaker 3: contract extension within the season. What are you learning about
5:56
Speaker 3: this side of things from Toronto's perspective, because they did
5:59
Speaker 3: say that they gave him a fair offer in terms
6:02
Speaker 3: of value. But it seems like Vladimir Guerrero Junior seems
6:05
Speaker 3: to think that he's a little bit more valuable to
6:07
Speaker 3: the team than the Jays think that he is.
6:09
Speaker 2: What can you tell us a lot on We don't
6:11
Speaker 2: know the numbers here, and I do expect and assume
6:15
Speaker 2: that the Jays made a very sizeable offer and they
6:18
Speaker 2: said it was a record for their club. Well, the
6:19
Speaker 2: record's only one hundred and fifty million, so it was
6:22
Speaker 2: probably I don't know, four hundred five hundred that range
6:25
Speaker 2: with deferrals. Perhaps I don't know exactly. And we know
6:29
Speaker 2: also Vladimir Guerrero was not satisfied with whatever they offered.
6:33
Speaker 2: And you're right, as I wrote the other night, the
6:37
Speaker 2: Jays had every ability, every chance to do this earlier,
6:41
Speaker 2: and they should have done it earlier when they could
6:43
Speaker 2: have got him for a lot less. And the Jays
6:46
Speaker 2: talk a lot about discipline, staying disciplined, and about their process,
6:51
Speaker 2: and they say that in this particular case they did
6:53
Speaker 2: get somewhat emotional and raise their offer beyond their comfort level.
6:58
Speaker 2: But obviously the offer was not good enough. And when
7:01
Speaker 2: you talk about discipline and process, that's well and good,
7:04
Speaker 2: but at some point you've got to win these negotiations.
7:07
Speaker 2: And what I mean by win is get the player.
7:09
Speaker 2: So if you're the J's and you didn't value him
7:14
Speaker 2: enough to give him an early extension at maybe Fernando
7:17
Speaker 2: Tattis juniors level when Tattis signed that contract in twenty one,
7:21
Speaker 2: then Vladdie had the monster year could have done it right,
7:24
Speaker 2: then Laddy would have taken I'm sure something along the
7:27
Speaker 2: lines of tatus after twenty one you didn't do it.
7:30
Speaker 2: Then you didn't value him in twenty four because you
7:32
Speaker 2: took him to arbitration over a split of less than
7:35
Speaker 2: two million dollars, not an insignificant sum, but you fought
7:38
Speaker 2: him in a hearing and he beat you. So if
7:42
Speaker 2: you have concerns about him in some way, and they
7:45
Speaker 2: have not said that, They keep saying we love Laddie,
7:48
Speaker 2: we want him here a long time, but you haven't
7:50
Speaker 2: loved him enough to take care of this early. If
7:52
Speaker 2: you had those concerns, and if you saw where the
7:55
Speaker 2: market was going, and you should have seen it was
7:58
Speaker 2: going pretty high, even Sodo, then why didn't you trade him?
8:03
Speaker 2: If you didn't want to pay him, why didn't you
8:06
Speaker 2: trade him? And again, every step of the way, I'm
8:09
Speaker 2: just not following where Toronto has gone here and the
8:13
Speaker 2: debate over Vladimir Gerrero Junior's worth is he worth five
8:17
Speaker 2: hundred million plus? That is a fair debate. We can
8:20
Speaker 2: certainly argue the merits both ways there and maybe it
8:23
Speaker 2: leans more toward no, it's not good money or the
8:27
Speaker 2: right kind of deal for a first baseman. But again,
8:30
Speaker 2: if you're the Jays, you didn't have vision here, and
8:34
Speaker 2: especially after Sodo signed that was early December, you could
8:38
Speaker 2: have pivoted right there and traded Flatty because you knew
8:41
Speaker 2: he was going to ask for something bigger, even if
8:43
Speaker 2: it's not close to Sodo, it was going to be
8:45
Speaker 2: some monster number. And yet they didn't do that. They
8:48
Speaker 2: have insisted on competing as hard as they can this year,
8:51
Speaker 2: which of course we all applaud. But the problem is
8:55
Speaker 2: what happens after this year. Flatty might be gone, Boba
8:59
Speaker 2: Shet almost will be gone. Where are you? And that
9:03
Speaker 2: is the issue I have with.
9:04
Speaker 3: Toronto here, Yeah, especially in that division ken And it's
9:07
Speaker 3: not like they didn't have about five hundred million plus
9:10
Speaker 3: earmarked for both Juan Soto and Sho hey Otani, missing
9:13
Speaker 3: out on both of those guys. So it's not as
9:15
Speaker 3: if Toronto doesn't have the money. I'm not saying Vladimir Junior,
9:20
Speaker 3: Vladimir career or junior rather is worth five hundred plus million.
9:23
Speaker 3: Maybe he is, maybe he isn't. He's what worth what
9:25
Speaker 3: the market will give him. But it's not like they
9:27
Speaker 3: don't have the money. Why are they so hesitant to
9:30
Speaker 3: spend it on their what could have been their franchise player.
9:33
Speaker 2: That's a good question, Alana. And with Soto, they offered
9:37
Speaker 2: less than seven hundred million according to Sportsnet, And Soto
9:42
Speaker 2: is a player who got that deal largely because he
9:45
Speaker 2: is a hitter. He's not a great defender, he's not
9:47
Speaker 2: a great base runner. He might be a DH within
9:49
Speaker 2: four or five years. Guerrero is the same type. Now,
9:53
Speaker 2: first base is a less valuable position on the defensive
9:55
Speaker 2: spectrum than right or left field, but not that much
9:58
Speaker 2: less valuable. And yes, Guerrero is a below average defender.
10:02
Speaker 2: He rates that way, we all get it. But if
10:05
Speaker 2: you think he's going to be an e leite hitter,
10:07
Speaker 2: not Wan Soto. He hasn't been as consistent as Wan Soto.
10:10
Speaker 2: He hasn't been as good as Wan Soto. But if
10:12
Speaker 2: you expect he can be a top ten ops guy
10:15
Speaker 2: as he was last season, well then you have to
10:18
Speaker 2: understand that he's going to ask for a lot of
10:21
Speaker 2: money given what Sodo got. That's the way this works.
10:25
Speaker 2: And you can point to Soto as an outlier if
10:27
Speaker 2: you're the J's, but you offered less than seven hundred
10:30
Speaker 2: million or just under seven hundred million, whatever it was
10:32
Speaker 2: for him, So he's an outlier, Yes, but you were
10:35
Speaker 2: willing to go there, well, then why not do it
10:38
Speaker 2: for your own guy at a lesser level. Yeah.
10:40
Speaker 3: And you know, they talk a lot about the way
10:44
Speaker 3: that players talk in this game, and they say it
10:46
Speaker 3: oftentimes big time talent doesn't want to go to Toronto because
10:50
Speaker 3: of the way that they treat top talent. I mean,
10:52
Speaker 3: this is kind of playing out in front of our
10:54
Speaker 3: very eyes in terms of if lad's the guy, you
10:56
Speaker 3: better pay him, and they haven't done that, and who
10:58
Speaker 3: knows what that team is going to look like next season.
11:01
Speaker 3: All Right, much more to come as far as the
11:02
Speaker 3: lead is concerned. But right now, let's hear from our
11:05
Speaker 3: friends over at foul Territory a word on arena club.
11:08
Speaker 4: We'll be right back, uh, Todd father, remember the good
11:11
Speaker 4: old days when we would have the cards and the binders,
11:14
Speaker 4: but then they get all messed up and we're trying
11:16
Speaker 4: to sell online and it's just real clunky. They really
11:19
Speaker 4: actually weren't the good old days, were they?
11:21
Speaker 1: No? They were definitely not. But now there's a better way.
11:24
Speaker 1: The arena club has been dominant with this. They you
11:27
Speaker 1: get to trade your card, you could sell them, but
11:29
Speaker 1: the best part for me is getting them graded. I
11:32
Speaker 1: love everything about that, this new age of getting cards graded.
11:35
Speaker 1: You could display them on your online showroom, your mobile device.
11:39
Speaker 1: It's the coolest thing in the world.
11:41
Speaker 4: Whether you're buying, selling, trading, or displaying. Arena Club is
11:44
Speaker 4: the all in one trading card platform. You have to
11:47
Speaker 4: sign up for an account at Arena club dot com
11:50
Speaker 4: slash foul. Just like Todd Father mentioned, there's a process
11:54
Speaker 4: that combines AI and human grading to get the job
11:56
Speaker 4: done right now, twenty percent off your first slab pack
11:59
Speaker 4: work hard purchase by going to Arena club dot com
12:02
Speaker 4: slash foul use codefoul. That's arenaclub dot com slash foul
12:07
Speaker 4: codefoul for twenty percent off your first purchase.
12:11
Speaker 3: All right, I appreciate Arena Club being a part of
12:13
Speaker 3: the show here Unfair Territory with Ken Rosensal By the way,
12:16
Speaker 3: you can be a part of the show as well.
12:18
Speaker 3: Get your questions and we're going to be doing Grill
12:20
Speaker 3: and Ken here momentarily. But before we get to Grill
12:23
Speaker 3: and Ken, Ken, let's finish off the lead with the
12:26
Speaker 3: ABS Automatic Ball and Strike System coming to a baseball
12:30
Speaker 3: field near you. It's here before we know it.
12:34
Speaker 2: Nineteen of the thirty spring training teams have the ability
12:37
Speaker 2: to have abs in their parks. We're going to see
12:40
Speaker 2: it this spring. It's experimental, and I am really interested
12:44
Speaker 2: to see and curious to see how this plays out.
12:47
Speaker 2: The idea is each team will have two challenges per game.
12:51
Speaker 2: You can challenge a specific ball or strike call. It
12:54
Speaker 2: has to come from a player on the field pitcher, catcher, hitter,
12:57
Speaker 2: and has to come almost instantaneously. You get the correct
13:02
Speaker 2: call overturned, then you retain the challenge if.
13:05
Speaker 3: You do not.
13:06
Speaker 2: If you miss, then you lose the challenge, kind of
13:08
Speaker 2: like replay. The way it works. Now, what I am
13:12
Speaker 2: interested to see is not so much how this plays out,
13:14
Speaker 2: though that's part of the intrigue here, just how hitters
13:18
Speaker 2: will react to it and pitchers will see whether they're
13:21
Speaker 2: comfortable with it or not, and whether it's doing what
13:23
Speaker 2: it's supposed to do, get the ball strike calls right.
13:26
Speaker 2: What I am interested to see are any unintended consequences
13:31
Speaker 2: that might come out of this, because, if you remember, Alana,
13:33
Speaker 2: when replay was introduced, the idea was to get the
13:36
Speaker 2: intrigious calls right, just get the really bad calls correct.
13:41
Speaker 2: And what happened over time is that it became much
13:44
Speaker 2: more than that. And you see the play at second
13:46
Speaker 2: base where the base runner's foot comes slightly off the
13:50
Speaker 2: bag and then boom, they slap a tag on him.
13:52
Speaker 2: You replay it and he's out. That was not the
13:55
Speaker 2: original intent of replay. And with ABS thematic ball strikes system,
14:01
Speaker 2: there are going to be some things that happen that
14:03
Speaker 2: maybe the league does not anticipate, that no one anticipates,
14:07
Speaker 2: and it'll be interesting to see how everyone reacts to
14:10
Speaker 2: those things that might happen now. Scott Brown asked a
14:13
Speaker 2: question on Twitter the other day or x I should
14:16
Speaker 2: say about, Hey, if this thing works out, well, can
14:20
Speaker 2: the league implement it immediately? That's not how it works.
14:24
Speaker 2: There's a Joint Competition Committee that exists now and they
14:27
Speaker 2: have to go through the process. There are clubs on
14:30
Speaker 2: that committee, there are players and umpires. The clubs the
14:33
Speaker 2: league have the majority of the votes. They can do
14:35
Speaker 2: whatever they want, essentially, but you have to give forty
14:39
Speaker 2: five days notice to implement a rules change. It used
14:42
Speaker 2: to be a year, but now under the current CBA
14:44
Speaker 2: it's forty five days. And you're not going to implement
14:47
Speaker 2: this thing in the middle of the season. But if
14:49
Speaker 2: it does go well, the goal of testing it now
14:53
Speaker 2: would be to get feedback, make some tweaks, create buying
14:57
Speaker 2: and again, I'm just really interested to see how it works,
15:00
Speaker 2: how catchers adapt, how hitters react, how everything just plays out.
15:06
Speaker 3: Yeah, the game is changing in a lot of different ways.
15:07
Speaker 3: And remember when everybody was up in arms about the
15:09
Speaker 3: bigger bases and not being able to throw over the
15:12
Speaker 3: first as many times, the pitch clock, all of those
15:14
Speaker 3: different things, and we've moved on, the world did not end,
15:17
Speaker 3: and they're gonna, you know, implement this, test it out,
15:19
Speaker 3: get some feedback, and who knows, maybe we'll have it
15:21
Speaker 3: league wide for the twenty and twenty six season. Okay,
15:25
Speaker 3: time now for Gorilla and Ken. Get those questions in
15:34
Speaker 3: all right, Ken, As I mentioned, today is the first
15:36
Speaker 3: game in terms of spring training games, the Cubs, the Dodgers,
15:40
Speaker 3: a few other clubs are playing as well. The Cubs
15:42
Speaker 3: and the Dodgers a preview for their Tokyo series that
15:44
Speaker 3: is happening in less than a month before it actually counts.
15:48
Speaker 3: So my question to you is we get this thing
15:50
Speaker 3: kicked off here. What are some of your favorite spring
15:54
Speaker 3: training cliches. A really funny article in The Athletic, of course,
15:58
Speaker 3: in the Best Shape of Our Lives, Shape of Our Lives,
16:00
Speaker 3: ranking the best MLB spring training cliches. What's your favorite?
16:05
Speaker 2: Well, that one is really the topper for me because
16:07
Speaker 2: it's a joke. Every year I'm in the best shape
16:09
Speaker 2: of my life. Yeah, we hear it all the time.
16:11
Speaker 2: I'm going to go off the board a little bit.
16:13
Speaker 2: This isn't a spring training cliche, but it's something you
16:16
Speaker 2: hear virtually every day of the season when a player
16:20
Speaker 2: is complimenting another player or a manager is complimenting a player.
16:24
Speaker 2: Hey man, he's fun to watch right now, Yeah, we
16:28
Speaker 2: get it. He's fun to watch. It's fun to watch baseball, period,
16:31
Speaker 2: and some guys are more fun to watch than others.
16:34
Speaker 3: Yeah, a couple of mine. For me, I love it's
16:37
Speaker 3: the lidlifter, Like the lidlifter to spring training, the first
16:40
Speaker 3: game of the season, the lidlifter, you know, double dip
16:43
Speaker 3: of course with you know, two games, doubleheader. And probably
16:47
Speaker 3: my other favorite that I like, you know a lot
16:51
Speaker 3: when it comes to spring training because every time you
16:53
Speaker 3: see somebody for the first time in a new season,
16:55
Speaker 3: Happy New Year, Happy New Year, Happy New Year, Happy
16:58
Speaker 3: New Year. And you say that, you know, like every
17:00
Speaker 3: time you see so. I don't know how long you
17:02
Speaker 3: can go into spring training, you know, kind of like
17:04
Speaker 3: Larry David, like by January fourth, you can no longer
17:06
Speaker 3: say Happy New Year. I don't know how long you
17:08
Speaker 3: go in spring training. But those are some of my favorites.
17:11
Speaker 3: All right, now, let's get serious here. You only get
17:14
Speaker 3: to ask Ken Rosenthal a question a couple of times
17:17
Speaker 3: a week. So this one has to do with Marcus Stroman.
17:20
Speaker 3: J Farrell three five, three oh five to me means
17:22
Speaker 3: that he lives in Miami. We'll see Stroman posted as
17:25
Speaker 3: a Yankee starter on Friday. Is this a message or
17:28
Speaker 3: is it a PR move?
17:30
Speaker 2: I don't know. Maybe the question is John Farrell of
17:33
Speaker 2: the former Red Sox ilk. I doubt it, Stroman. I
17:38
Speaker 2: don't know if it's a PR message or some kind
17:40
Speaker 2: of move along those lines. In fact, I doubt it.
17:44
Speaker 2: What teams generally do is line up their starting pitchers
17:47
Speaker 2: in a particular way so that for opening day everything's fine.
17:51
Speaker 2: They want Cole, however, it's going to work out every
17:54
Speaker 2: fifth day until opening day or every six however, they're
17:57
Speaker 2: going to do it. That to me drives this thing
18:00
Speaker 2: more than anything else. So I don't know that Stroman
18:03
Speaker 2: pitching the first game for the Yankees means anything in particular.
18:06
Speaker 2: Maybe they want to get him out there as often
18:08
Speaker 2: as possible to showcase him, to show other teams, hey,
18:12
Speaker 2: this guy is ready. That would be, if anything, the
18:14
Speaker 2: motivation beyond simply the schedule, all.
18:17
Speaker 3: Right, So probably not looking too deep into that, just
18:20
Speaker 3: kind of the way that the schedule works out, how
18:22
Speaker 3: they're going to line him up, making sure that say,
18:24
Speaker 3: hey he's still good, maybe he can still be a
18:26
Speaker 3: trade piece. We'll see, all right. Will Dee wants to
18:29
Speaker 3: know which of the five Mariner starters makes the biggest
18:32
Speaker 3: jump in twenty twenty five. One thing that the Mariners
18:35
Speaker 3: had last year Ken was a very good starting rotation.
18:37
Speaker 3: Who makes the biggest improvement.
18:39
Speaker 2: It's interesting because they're all really good, But the guy
18:42
Speaker 2: I would look to to make the biggest improvement would
18:45
Speaker 2: be Brian Wu. And Brian Wu has incredible ability. There
18:49
Speaker 2: were a couple of times last year where he got
18:51
Speaker 2: physically off kilter a little bit and they had to
18:53
Speaker 2: back off him. But if he can stay healthy, he
18:57
Speaker 2: because of his talent level. Certainly is the kind of
19:00
Speaker 2: guy that can make a jump maybe beyond even what
19:03
Speaker 2: we're expecting. I don't expect Luis Castillo to improve that much.
19:07
Speaker 2: Logan Gilbert, No, not even the same kind of thing,
19:10
Speaker 2: George Kirby Miller. They're all who they are. But Wu
19:15
Speaker 2: to me is the guy who maybe can make the
19:17
Speaker 2: biggest lead forward.
19:18
Speaker 3: Do the Mariners have the best starting rotation in the
19:22
Speaker 3: Al West or in the American League?
19:24
Speaker 1: Is that fair?
19:25
Speaker 2: You can make the argument that it's the best in baseball,
19:28
Speaker 2: even including the Dodgers. It's that good. But the question
19:32
Speaker 2: with the Mariners is are they going to hit enough? Remember,
19:35
Speaker 2: their only offensive additions really are Jorge Polanco and Donovan Solano.
19:39
Speaker 2: These are accomplished veterans, quality guys to have on a team,
19:43
Speaker 2: not Pete Alonso and Alex Bredman.
19:45
Speaker 3: Yeah, no question about that, all right. Next question for
19:47
Speaker 3: you here, Ken on Grill and Ken. That's regarding a
19:49
Speaker 3: veteran free agent pitcher still available. I mean there's a
19:52
Speaker 3: lot Wesley wants to know. Multiple mid tier veteran pitchers
19:55
Speaker 3: are still in the market. I'm sure teams will be
19:57
Speaker 3: adding once injuries happen, but a lot could use one. Now,
20:00
Speaker 3: a good point by Wesley, did you learn nothing from
20:02
Speaker 3: pitchers like Monty last year? I'm assuming he's meaning Jordan Montgomery.
20:07
Speaker 2: Of course, that's a fair question, but I would ask
20:11
Speaker 2: that question in this particular case of the clubs and
20:14
Speaker 2: not the players.
20:15
Speaker 1: Now.
20:15
Speaker 2: With Montgomery last year and with Blake Snell, there was
20:19
Speaker 2: certainly a debate over why that delay occurred, those delays,
20:24
Speaker 2: and the agent, Scott Boris, clearly had something to do
20:27
Speaker 2: with it. Now, Scott would say that it was the market.
20:30
Speaker 2: The teams weren't ready to spend at the level that
20:32
Speaker 2: they needed to spend to get these players. I get it,
20:34
Speaker 2: But at the same time, the teams were not liking
20:37
Speaker 2: the prices that were being asked. Now, with guys like
20:42
Speaker 2: jose Kintana and Andrew Heeney and all of these starting
20:45
Speaker 2: pitchers who are still out there, Kyle Gibson, Lancelynn, these
20:48
Speaker 2: guys are not looking to break the bank. So it's
20:51
Speaker 2: a question of teams being in a position where they
20:55
Speaker 2: can squeeze free agents and where they can continue to
20:58
Speaker 2: bleed these guys and try to get the lowest prices possible,
21:02
Speaker 2: and how it will affect them. It depends when they sign.
21:06
Speaker 2: If a guy signs in late March, it could affect
21:09
Speaker 2: him more. Now. We've seen pitchers over the years succeed
21:12
Speaker 2: in those situations. I remember Kyle Losch when you were
21:15
Speaker 2: signed in late March and pitched really well. But it's
21:18
Speaker 2: not the way you want to go about it, for sure.
21:21
Speaker 2: And once the injuries start, and they already have started
21:24
Speaker 2: to some degree, you're going to see these guys I
21:26
Speaker 2: would expect in camp. But if you're a Lance Land
21:29
Speaker 2: or Kyle Gibson too, you're not playing for two million
21:31
Speaker 2: dollars or one million dollars. You're a major league veteran,
21:34
Speaker 2: You're accomplished, and you don't want what these teams are
21:37
Speaker 2: selling you right now.
21:39
Speaker 3: Yeah, at that point, you just take it to the house.
21:40
Speaker 3: I mean, you've achieved pretty much everything you want to
21:42
Speaker 3: do in your career. You're not going to take a
21:44
Speaker 3: value to undervalue yourself, especially when you're a veteran and
21:49
Speaker 3: you have families at home and you're taking that much
21:50
Speaker 3: time away from your kiddos.
21:51
Speaker 4: All right.
21:52
Speaker 3: Sicilian wants to know if the J's are doing poorly
21:55
Speaker 3: by the trade deadline, Vlad will likely get traded. Do
21:59
Speaker 3: you think Blad be traded at the death. I mean
22:01
Speaker 3: enough with the trading of this guy, like something needs
22:03
Speaker 3: to happen with him, sign him, do an extension, or
22:06
Speaker 3: trade him.
22:07
Speaker 2: Now, first, going back to the last question, I don't
22:10
Speaker 2: want to dismiss a million dollars or two million dollars.
22:12
Speaker 2: We all know that's a lot of money, but in
22:14
Speaker 2: a relative sense for baseball players, it's not a lot
22:17
Speaker 2: of money. Okay, Now, vlad if they are out of
22:20
Speaker 2: contention at the deadline, will they finally see the light?
22:24
Speaker 2: I thought they should have traded flat a year ago.
22:27
Speaker 2: I don't know. They've put so much into this season,
22:30
Speaker 2: and it's sort of difficult if you're any good at all,
22:34
Speaker 2: to be out of contention by the deadline. The Jase
22:38
Speaker 2: likely will be even in a bad season somehow in
22:41
Speaker 2: the wildcard mix. How far are they going to be out?
22:43
Speaker 2: Remember there are six playoff teams in each league. Now
22:46
Speaker 2: it's a little easier to make the playoffs, and as
22:49
Speaker 2: much as they've invested in this season, they're not going
22:52
Speaker 2: to give up on it easily. So right now, if
22:56
Speaker 2: I had to guess, I would say that Vladimir Guerrero
23:00
Speaker 2: is walking as a free agent walking away from the
23:02
Speaker 2: Blue Jays and they're getting nothing but draft pick compensation
23:05
Speaker 2: in return.
23:06
Speaker 3: Okay, we'll see what happens again. It's the saga with
23:09
Speaker 3: Vladimir Gerriwer Junior continues as far as Toronto is concerned.
23:12
Speaker 3: Last question here for you, Ken on Grill and Ken
23:15
Speaker 3: comes from Michael Weiss. Which division is going to be
23:18
Speaker 3: the most competitive in baseball in twenty twenty five. I
23:22
Speaker 3: like this question because I think parody is good for
23:24
Speaker 3: the game. We need more competitive divisions.
23:27
Speaker 2: Actually, I think there are several divisions that could really
23:29
Speaker 2: be competitive, and one of them is the ALE East.
23:32
Speaker 2: We were just talking about it. Toronto is I think
23:36
Speaker 2: improved over where they were last year. They've done some
23:39
Speaker 2: good things. Tampa Bay is always competitive, the Red Sox
23:42
Speaker 2: clearly are improved, the Orioles are good, and the Yankees
23:45
Speaker 2: are the defending league champions. The AL Central is going
23:48
Speaker 2: to be a very competitive division. We saw three playoff
23:51
Speaker 2: teams come out of that division last year Detroit, Kansas City, Cleveland,
23:55
Speaker 2: and now the AL West. Because Houston seemingly has taken
23:59
Speaker 2: a step back. Certainly they're a different team without Presley
24:02
Speaker 2: and Tucker and Bregman well, you've got projection systems kind
24:06
Speaker 2: of showing them. Even with Texas and Seattle, all three
24:11
Speaker 2: teams kind of in the same range. NL East is
24:13
Speaker 2: going to be competitive. The NL Central, I don't know
24:16
Speaker 2: how competitive it's going to be. The Cubs conceivably could
24:19
Speaker 2: run away with it, and then the Dodgers in the
24:21
Speaker 2: NL West, you would expect they'd win the division. But
24:24
Speaker 2: the Diamondbacks are going to be good with Corbyn Burns,
24:26
Speaker 2: the Giants think they've improved, and the Padres are going
24:29
Speaker 2: to be very good again. So I expect that there's
24:33
Speaker 2: going to be a lot of competition throughout the season
24:36
Speaker 2: and throughout the league. If I had to guess, I'd
24:39
Speaker 2: say the AL East will be the most competitive.
24:41
Speaker 3: Well, I definitely hope we have a lot of competition,
24:43
Speaker 3: because it's much better for the game when all thirty
24:45
Speaker 3: teams legitimately have a chance to win. That's not necessarily
24:49
Speaker 3: the case in twenty twenty five, but there are a
24:51
Speaker 3: handful of teams that certainly do Okay. Time now for
24:54
Speaker 3: Dude of the Week, Dude, Dude, dude, and Ken you
25:04
Speaker 3: had like a late inning scratch in terms of who
25:08
Speaker 3: your Dude of the Week was it went from I
25:11
Speaker 3: believe Justin Turner. I can't remember who your original Dude
25:13
Speaker 3: to the Week was, but it's changed.
25:14
Speaker 2: Who is it? Justin Turner was going to be my
25:17
Speaker 2: Dude of the week just because this is his seventeenth year.
25:20
Speaker 2: He's had an amazing career for a guy who is
25:22
Speaker 2: at one point non tendered. But my Dude of the
25:25
Speaker 2: Week is someone who in New York Mets camp made
25:29
Speaker 2: waves this morning because of a gift he purchased for
25:32
Speaker 2: a player who gave up his number. I'm talking about
25:34
Speaker 2: Wan Soto, who received number twenty two from Brett Baty.
25:38
Speaker 2: And what did Brett Baty get in suv? That the
25:42
Speaker 2: normal bottle of wine for changing numbers. That's pretty good
25:45
Speaker 2: stuff right there. So Wan Soto is my due to
25:48
Speaker 2: the Week. Now. A former player pointed out, well, let's
25:51
Speaker 2: see what kind of suv it is. No, No, we're
25:54
Speaker 2: in the real world here. Somebody gives you an SUV.
25:57
Speaker 2: No matter what bottle it is, it's a nice SUV.
26:00
Speaker 2: So Juan Soto due to the Week for his generosity.
26:04
Speaker 3: I love that. I love that there was a bow
26:05
Speaker 3: on the suv. But what I loved about the thing
26:08
Speaker 3: more is that Juan Soto's in full uniform. Why is
26:10
Speaker 3: he in full uniform in the parking lot giving Brett
26:13
Speaker 3: Madi an suv? Good for you one soda, that's the
26:16
Speaker 3: nice thing to do. And listen, I'll give you my
26:18
Speaker 3: number if you want to give me a car any
26:19
Speaker 3: day of the week.
26:20
Speaker 2: All right, and sixty five million, I get it. But
26:24
Speaker 2: that's still I know.
26:25
Speaker 3: But he didn't. He didn't have to give him a car.
26:27
Speaker 3: I mean, that's that's very generous of him. Okay, so
26:29
Speaker 3: let me. I'm kind of on the same lines as
26:31
Speaker 3: you are with your Justin Turner pick. My dude of
26:34
Speaker 3: the week is Andrew McCutcheon for the same exact reason.
26:37
Speaker 3: This is the guy that's entering his seventeenth season. Andrew
26:41
Speaker 3: McCutcheon is just a good dude. He's a guy that
26:45
Speaker 3: you want on your team. He's never about drama. He's
26:48
Speaker 3: never had a problem off the field. He's a good
26:51
Speaker 3: human being. He's good in the community. He's a great teammate.
26:54
Speaker 3: Guys keep wanting him back. Obviously, he's a Pittsburgh Pirate
26:57
Speaker 3: for life. When you think of Andrew McCutchen, you think
26:59
Speaker 3: of the Pittsburgh Pirate pirates. He follows one person on Instagram,
27:03
Speaker 3: his wife. This guy is about no nonsense, no drama.
27:06
Speaker 3: Congratulations Andrew McCutchen your seventeenth season in the Bigs. Not
27:11
Speaker 3: many people are ever fully vested at ten years. And
27:13
Speaker 3: look at what Andrew McCutchen has been able to accomplish.
27:16
Speaker 3: He is my dude of the week.
27:17
Speaker 4: All right.
27:17
Speaker 3: Time now for the John Fisher dork of the week.
27:30
Speaker 3: All right, this is the other end of the spectrum.
27:32
Speaker 3: Ken somebody that leaves us shaking our heads? Who is
27:35
Speaker 3: your dork of the week?
27:37
Speaker 2: Texas A and M Baseball, Now, they instituted a policy
27:41
Speaker 2: that they have since rescinded that players would not be
27:44
Speaker 2: available to the media after losses. Now, I am generally
27:49
Speaker 2: lenient on amateur players and how they should be covered
27:53
Speaker 2: differently than professional players. However, college right now you have nils.
27:59
Speaker 2: The guys are close to pros and actually are pros
28:02
Speaker 2: that they ever were before. So no, let's not protect
28:06
Speaker 2: let's not shield the children here, it's not necessary. And
28:10
Speaker 2: you know what, Also, I don't know how good Texas
28:13
Speaker 2: A and M is and how many first round, second round,
28:16
Speaker 2: third round picks they might have, but guess what part
28:19
Speaker 2: of becoming a major league player or even a minor
28:22
Speaker 2: league player is learning how to deal with the media
28:24
Speaker 2: after losses. Oh my gosh, sometimes you even have to
28:27
Speaker 2: talk to writers then, So thankfully texas A and m
28:31
Speaker 2: rescinded this policy because that was a really, really bad idea, no.
28:37
Speaker 3: Question about it. How about some accountability And one thing
28:39
Speaker 3: I love about players in this game are if you're
28:42
Speaker 3: zero for five or five for five, you're still posting
28:44
Speaker 3: at your locker in answering questions. I mean, the media
28:47
Speaker 3: has a job to do as well. And yeah, accountability
28:50
Speaker 3: is huge. I feel like that's a very generational thing
28:53
Speaker 3: that perhaps us those a little bit younger than you
28:55
Speaker 3: and I Ken Rosenthal don't necessarily want to be held
28:58
Speaker 3: accountable for things. Okay, is also dealing with the media,
29:01
Speaker 3: but perhaps sometimes less is more. And my dork of
29:05
Speaker 3: the week and I like him, I have a lot
29:07
Speaker 3: of respect for him, But my dork of the week
29:08
Speaker 3: is Tristan Cassis. Where he's again he was asked the
29:12
Speaker 3: question in fairness, but sometimes I think the appropriate answer
29:15
Speaker 3: would have been that's above my pay grade. I think
29:19
Speaker 3: the team is going to put people in the best
29:21
Speaker 3: position for the team to win, you know, the sum
29:22
Speaker 3: is bigger than the parts type of situation. And he
29:25
Speaker 3: said that he thought that Bragman should not play third
29:27
Speaker 3: and that Devers should play third. And I don't know
29:29
Speaker 3: that that is something that he perhaps should have said,
29:32
Speaker 3: just based on the amount of time he's had in
29:34
Speaker 3: the big leagues, especially when then later on in the week,
29:37
Speaker 3: Alex Bregman was then asked a veteran player, a World
29:41
Speaker 3: Series Championship player, that said, I'll put I'll play wherever
29:44
Speaker 3: the team wants me to play. So again, Tristan Cassis
29:48
Speaker 3: is a unique personality. I love that sometimes he does
29:51
Speaker 3: speak his mine, but I think in that situation, I mean,
29:54
Speaker 3: you're not a guy that makes those decisions, So take
29:58
Speaker 3: that off of your plate and say, hey, you know,
30:00
Speaker 3: those around me that are in a better position to
30:02
Speaker 3: make those decisions will Because now we're talking about it here,
30:05
Speaker 3: I am calling him a dork of the week. And
30:07
Speaker 3: sometimes less is more agreed.
30:10
Speaker 2: And in this game, perhaps more than other games other
30:15
Speaker 2: professional sports, you kind of have to know your place.
30:17
Speaker 2: And there's good in that and there's bad in that.
30:20
Speaker 2: And we've seen over the years that the young players
30:23
Speaker 2: needed to be given some more freedom. I love guys
30:26
Speaker 2: who speak their mind. We love that as writers media.
30:29
Speaker 2: But at the same time, Tristan Cassis is just going
30:32
Speaker 2: to get himself in trouble if he keeps saying stuff
30:35
Speaker 2: like this.
30:35
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's just it.
30:36
Speaker 2: Again.
30:37
Speaker 3: I didn't want the heat on him. I like tristan'
30:40
Speaker 3: he's a good young man and he's a good player,
30:42
Speaker 3: but yeah, I don't want him to have to deal
30:44
Speaker 3: with all this stuff. And sometimes, like I said, I
30:46
Speaker 3: think less is more. By the way, before we close
30:48
Speaker 3: the show and get to our good friends at bet MGM,
30:51
Speaker 3: Mike LOVERTI wants to know, Hey, Alana, have you ever
30:53
Speaker 3: heard a photo day? Yes, Mike, I have heard a
30:55
Speaker 3: photo day, But the players don't necessarily have to go
30:58
Speaker 3: into the parking lot in full unify. Okay, so there's that.
31:01
Speaker 3: I've been to many photo days, Mike. All right, that
31:04
Speaker 3: is neither here nor there.
31:05
Speaker 1: All right.
31:05
Speaker 3: Time now for our friends at BETEMGM. From February sixteenth
31:09
Speaker 3: until March second, players can join in on the BEDMGM
31:11
Speaker 3: Poker Winter Online Championships. Players can compete for a prize
31:15
Speaker 3: pool of over one point five million dollars guaranteed in
31:20
Speaker 3: twenty one trophy events player cards right in the Winter
31:23
Speaker 3: Online Championships, and you could also claim a share of
31:26
Speaker 3: an additional ten grand on the Winter Online Championships leaderboard.
31:31
Speaker 3: Gambling problem or concern, there is help. Call one eight
31:35
Speaker 3: hundred gambler. All right, Ken, thanks for everybody for watching.
31:38
Speaker 3: We appreciate you guys very much. Foul Territory is next,
31:41
Speaker 3: and just a reminder, Ken is back on Monday at
31:44
Speaker 3: ten thirty Eastern for spring training. As fair territory leads
31:48
Speaker 3: right into foul territory, have a great day, guys,