Latest / Foul Territory / Ken Rosenthal's Inside Scoop: Sneaky A’s, Vladdy Jr. update, Braves powerhouse, Phils lawsuit
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: I'm skeptical still until I see a deal, and if
- 0:02Speaker 1: a deal happens, great, it's the best thing for both parties.
- 0:05Speaker 2: Did Jays need him? He is a homegrown player.
- 0:14Speaker 3: It's insid scoop time with Ken Rosenthal. It is presented
- 0:17Speaker 3: by Homage new brand partner. Very excited about that, wearing
- 0:20Speaker 3: their shirt. We'll talk more about that in a little bit,
- 0:22Speaker 3: but let's get right to Ken. Ken, good to see you,
- 0:25Speaker 3: and I want to touch on actually first, if you
- 0:28Speaker 3: don't mind, because we didn't get to it the other day,
- 0:29Speaker 3: your Tiger's story. So you wrote recently about Trek Scougble
- 0:33Speaker 3: and Jack Flaherty, and I just want to say also,
- 0:36Speaker 3: how I think the Tigers are going to be pretty
- 0:38Speaker 3: damn good this year. So can you give us a
- 0:40Speaker 3: little more insight on what you wrote about.
- 0:42Speaker 1: What I wrote about was essentially how Schooble and Flaherty
- 0:46Speaker 1: arguably the Tigers two best pictures right now, most accomplished pitchers.
- 0:49Speaker 2: For sure.
- 0:51Speaker 1: They push each other and they're good for each other.
- 0:54Speaker 1: And part of this is when you have a younger
- 0:57Speaker 1: team like the Tigers, even a guy like School who
- 1:00Speaker 1: is somewhat of a veteran but not totally a veteran,
- 1:03Speaker 1: and you bring in another veteran, as the Tigers did
- 1:06Speaker 1: last season before trading Flaherty, that has intangible benefits. And
- 1:11Speaker 1: when guys can push each other and learn from each
- 1:14Speaker 1: other and kind of just feed off each other, that's
- 1:17Speaker 1: a good thing and it's helpful to a club. So
- 1:20Speaker 1: they have a good relationship. That was a part of
- 1:23Speaker 1: what this was about, and just how they learned from
- 1:25Speaker 1: each other and how they can't be exactly alike, right Flherty,
- 1:31Speaker 1: he can't have what school. He can't do what school
- 1:33Speaker 1: does on the mound. School can't do what Flowerty does
- 1:35Speaker 1: on the mound. But while Flowerty would love to have
- 1:38Speaker 1: School's change up, at least he can talk to him.
- 1:40Speaker 1: They can talk pitching, same with schoobl wanting Flowerty slider.
- 1:44Speaker 1: So that was what it was really about. And I
- 1:48Speaker 1: want to see this team play. I believe their pitching
- 1:50Speaker 1: is going to be really good. I am not as
- 1:52Speaker 1: convinced by their offense and that is the trouble spot
- 1:56Speaker 1: for me. And also a team that was so reliant
- 1:58Speaker 1: on its bullpen last year should be good again, no question,
- 2:02Speaker 1: But bullpen z year to year. Scott, we talk about
- 2:04Speaker 1: this all the time.
- 2:05Speaker 4: They're volatile, and maybe those two guys can help Jackson
- 2:09Speaker 4: Joe become who they really think Jackson Job's going to be.
- 2:12Speaker 4: That value is never going to be seen on paper.
- 2:15Speaker 4: But I yeah, I loved what you what you talked
- 2:17Speaker 4: about with the Tigers and what's happening there. What about
- 2:20Speaker 4: the Jays? What about your guy, Vladdie? Are him and
- 2:25Speaker 4: the Jays? Are they at a inflection point?
- 2:30Speaker 2: Yes? They are.
- 2:31Speaker 1: And he is not my guy anymore than any of
- 2:33Speaker 1: the other seven hundred plus players are my guy. I've
- 2:36Speaker 1: been writing about him a lot, yes, because he's been
- 2:38Speaker 1: in the news, and essentially Mark Schapiro, their president, came
- 2:42Speaker 1: out yesterday and said a lot of positive things about
- 2:46Speaker 1: how he believes an extension will get done, how he
- 2:49Speaker 1: believes Vlad is going to sign, how he still sees
- 2:52Speaker 1: him as a legacy player.
- 2:55Speaker 2: All of that.
- 2:55Speaker 1: Sounds great and if it indeed leads to a deal, fantastic.
- 3:00Speaker 1: But I will believe it when I see it. With
- 3:02Speaker 1: the Jays, because they've had opportunities to sign Guerrero, as
- 3:06Speaker 1: we've talked about, as I've written about numerous times over
- 3:09Speaker 1: the years, the difference in their last offer and what
- 3:13Speaker 1: Guerrero wants in present day value is about fifty million dollars. Now,
- 3:17Speaker 1: Shapiro said, that's an oversimplification. Fine, it's not that much
- 3:21Speaker 1: of an oversimplification where they're that far apart. So the
- 3:24Speaker 1: question now is do you get this done before opening
- 3:27Speaker 1: day or do you, as he kind of alluded to,
- 3:30Speaker 1: let this go to free agency. And if you let
- 3:33Speaker 1: it go to free agency, then all bets are off.
- 3:35Speaker 1: So it's an interesting spot that Jays are in. It's
- 3:39Speaker 1: been an interesting spot for a while. I see no
- 3:42Speaker 1: reason why they shouldn't get done when this relatively close.
- 3:46Speaker 2: But I still wonder whether.
- 3:48Speaker 1: The Jays value Guerrero to the point where they are
- 3:51Speaker 1: going to actually sign him. Now, yes, they made an
- 3:55Speaker 1: amazing offer four hundred and fifty million dollars for first Baseman,
- 3:58Speaker 1: A lot of people would say anywhere sane. But at
- 4:03Speaker 1: the same time, it also didn't get it done. So
- 4:06Speaker 1: let's see if they get it done. And Shapiro also said,
- 4:09Speaker 1: among other things, well, it's beyond the point of being rational. Well,
- 4:13Speaker 1: that's not a ring endorsement for what you're doing. So
- 4:16Speaker 1: I just have my suspicions. I wouldn't say suspicions I'm
- 4:20Speaker 1: skeptical still until I see a deal, and if a
- 4:22Speaker 1: deal happens, great, it's the best thing for both parties.
- 4:25Speaker 1: The Jays need him.
- 4:27Speaker 2: He is a homegrown player.
- 4:28Speaker 1: He is a native Canadian because of course his dad,
- 4:31Speaker 1: Flat Senior, was playing for the Expos at the time.
- 4:34Speaker 2: He was born. He wants to stay.
- 4:37Speaker 1: This is a team that has had a hard time
- 4:39Speaker 1: getting players, the big free agents to take their money
- 4:42Speaker 1: in the last couple of years. Here's a guy who
- 4:44Speaker 1: wants to be there, has given them a number five
- 4:47Speaker 1: hundred million that will keep him there again. This should
- 4:50Speaker 1: get done.
- 4:52Speaker 5: I agree totally, and I think it's the right move,
- 4:54Speaker 5: especially for the Blue Jays if taken figure it out.
- 4:57Speaker 5: You wrote a little bit about the Braves the other day.
- 5:00Speaker 5: You talked about how they might be the best contender
- 5:03Speaker 5: to the Dodgers getting to winning the National League Pennant
- 5:07Speaker 5: your thoughts on that a little more, talk a little
- 5:09Speaker 5: bit in depth. They just signed Verdugo when he comes up,
- 5:11Speaker 5: we don't know, putting a little pressure on De la
- 5:14Speaker 5: Cruz and some other outfielders. But talk a little about
- 5:17Speaker 5: the Braves and what you think you expect from them
- 5:19Speaker 5: coming up this year.
- 5:21Speaker 2: Todd.
- 5:21Speaker 1: I wrote that before they signed Verdugo, and I based
- 5:24Speaker 1: it on a couple of things. One, just the roster,
- 5:27Speaker 1: which projects to be, as you mentioned, the second best
- 5:29Speaker 1: team in baseball, and most of the projection systems see
- 5:33Speaker 1: them that way. Then the idea of the depth that
- 5:36Speaker 1: they've built just in the month of March Nerris kimberl
- 5:40Speaker 1: minor league contracts, now Verdugo. They have seemingly done some
- 5:45Speaker 1: things here that could help them.
- 5:46Speaker 2: James McCann is another one.
- 5:47Speaker 1: A backup catcher.
- 5:49Speaker 2: So I liked all that, and I really like their starting.
- 5:52Speaker 1: Rotation, and I made I wouldn't say the mistake, but
- 5:56Speaker 1: I fell into the trap of falling or at least
- 6:00Speaker 1: paying too close attention to spring training results. And this
- 6:02Speaker 1: week alone you saw Smith, Jover and Schwellenbach and Strider
- 6:08Speaker 1: have huge starts, really impressive starts, lots of strikeouts, and
- 6:12Speaker 1: it just seems to me their rotation is going to
- 6:14Speaker 1: be a huge strength for them. And while they've got
- 6:16Speaker 1: some questions in the bullpen, it seems that they've built
- 6:19Speaker 1: offensive depth. They've got Strider coming back at some point,
- 6:21Speaker 1: most likely in April. They've got a Kunya coming back
- 6:24Speaker 1: in May. Sean Murphy also will be back sometime in April.
- 6:28Speaker 1: I just like the overall roster. I like where they are,
- 6:31Speaker 1: and if Strider comes back and is anything close to
- 6:34Speaker 1: what he was, it's a whole different equation. Now I'm
- 6:37Speaker 1: assuming Chris Sale will be as good right now, the
- 6:40Speaker 1: Lopez will be good as good. This is baseball. We
- 6:43Speaker 1: don't know what's going to happen year to year with players.
- 6:45Speaker 1: But I just like where they are and I kind
- 6:48Speaker 1: of see them as being underplayed right now. All focus
- 6:52Speaker 1: so much on the Dodgers rightly, so the roster is amazing,
- 6:55Speaker 1: but the Braves have a pretty darn good roster too.
- 7:00Speaker 4: On Phillies on fair Territory, you talked about the Phillies lawsuit.
- 7:04Speaker 4: Is there anything new that we need to know about
- 7:07Speaker 4: or is there anything that is coming down the road
- 7:10Speaker 4: that since yesterday when you talked about it, not that.
- 7:15Speaker 1: I know of, And I will admit I didn't pursue
- 7:17Speaker 1: this that heavily. We had Matt Gelb of The Athletic
- 7:19Speaker 1: who wrote a good detailed story about what this is
- 7:23Speaker 1: and the context behind it. It just was interesting to
- 7:26Speaker 1: me that a company like Zealous, which is the company
- 7:30Speaker 1: that the Phillies are suing would violate an agreement, which
- 7:34Speaker 1: is what the Phillies were alleging by sharing proprietary information
- 7:37Speaker 1: within the division. The Phillies have this deal where the
- 7:40Speaker 1: information they get from Zealous is information just for themselves
- 7:44Speaker 1: as far as the Anaal East is concerned. So we'll
- 7:47Speaker 1: see where this goes. And the point I was making
- 7:50Speaker 1: on fair Territory yesterday was simply that, Hey, you've got
- 7:54Speaker 1: an analytics department now of forty plus people. Why do
- 7:57Speaker 1: you need to outsource anything? To go to another company
- 8:00Speaker 1: for anything? I don't really follow that. Maybe somebody can
- 8:03Speaker 1: explain that to me in some analytics department somewhere. Maybe
- 8:06Speaker 1: I'm missing something possible, but it just seems to me
- 8:08Speaker 1: you should have confidence in your own people to get
- 8:11Speaker 1: it done. Maybe there's some information that is just more
- 8:14Speaker 1: easily processed by one of these larger companies. I don't know,
- 8:17Speaker 1: but that was the one thing that stood out to me.
- 8:20Speaker 3: Yeah, Ken for me, I think it's a fascinating story.
- 8:24Speaker 3: And I do know just from talking to people in
- 8:26Speaker 3: the analytics world, that sometimes there's a company that might
- 8:29Speaker 3: have something proprietary and they're really good at making it
- 8:31Speaker 3: proprietary and that gives them value. So I'm looking at
- 8:34Speaker 3: it like, hey, I give credit to any team that's
- 8:37Speaker 3: looking for a legal edge in any way. So I
- 8:41Speaker 3: wanted to harp on that for Philadelphia that they're saying
- 8:44Speaker 3: Dave dombrask who's been in the league for a long time,
- 8:47Speaker 3: looks and says, there's something here that's doing something that
- 8:50Speaker 3: will help us, and if it can get us a
- 8:52Speaker 3: few more wins, let's go for it. And the guy
- 8:55Speaker 3: who was running that company used to work for them,
- 8:56Speaker 3: so he leaves, and hey, I mean he probably is
- 8:59Speaker 3: going to get compensation if he's running a company like
- 9:01Speaker 3: that and he's able to control his situation. Unless you're
- 9:04Speaker 3: the what the GM or somebody like that, you're not
- 9:07Speaker 3: necessarily making millions of dollars. So my thing was, I
- 9:10Speaker 3: was like, I give credit to the Phillies, but I'm
- 9:12Speaker 3: with you on the other side is how does a
- 9:14Speaker 3: company think they're going to pull that off with a
- 9:16Speaker 3: team when they really only had one year left on
- 9:18Speaker 3: the contract. Like I read the article, it was fascinatings
- 9:21Speaker 3: really good, but they're trying to be like, oh, well
- 9:23Speaker 3: we'll give you a discount, you're still paying more than
- 9:25Speaker 3: everyone else. We're also going to share this with everyone.
- 9:27Speaker 3: I just I found it fascinating how I think the
- 9:30Speaker 3: Phillies felt like it was personal. You're stealing our employees,
- 9:34Speaker 3: You're now not honoring the contract, so we're coming after you.
- 9:37Speaker 1: No, I totally agree with everything you're saying, Scott, And
- 9:40Speaker 1: don't get me wrong, Yes, the Phillies are right to
- 9:43Speaker 1: seek every possible edge they can, even if it's just
- 9:45Speaker 1: to cut the company off from the rest of the division.
- 9:48Speaker 2: Who knows.
- 9:49Speaker 1: Yeah, so I buy all that, and I buy that, Yes,
- 9:53Speaker 1: perhaps a company like Zella's can come up with some
- 9:56Speaker 1: things that maybe the Phillies don't have or any other team,
- 9:58Speaker 1: but you also build it analytics department of forty one people.
- 10:01Speaker 1: Whatever the number is, I think it's forty one. It
- 10:04Speaker 1: just seems to me that should be enough at some point.
- 10:07Speaker 1: And again, I'm coming at this just from an outside perspective,
- 10:11Speaker 1: and I'm not pretending to be an expert on this,
- 10:13Speaker 1: but that's just my outside thought on it. And yeah,
- 10:17Speaker 1: all the credit in the world of the Phillies for
- 10:18Speaker 1: trying here, we all credit every team for trying.
- 10:21Speaker 2: But it's just a.
- 10:22Speaker 1: Really curious story and a curious situation.
- 10:26Speaker 5: So we have had well, you were at as camp
- 10:30Speaker 5: talking a little bit about them. We had Lawrence Butler
- 10:33Speaker 5: on the other day and we asked him a question
- 10:36Speaker 5: about the division, like, Hey, how do you guys stack up?
- 10:38Speaker 5: Their team's not bad, they made some good acquisitions in
- 10:41Speaker 5: the offseason. He's like, we're coming for first place. We're
- 10:44Speaker 5: gonna win the division. I want to hear your thoughts
- 10:46Speaker 5: on that. And you talk a little bit about the
- 10:48Speaker 5: Rangers revival, like it's gonna be it's gonna be jam
- 10:51Speaker 5: packed over there in the West. I think it's gonna
- 10:52Speaker 5: be really good. Give me your thoughts on the West.
- 10:55Speaker 1: It's really interesting. Mike Petriello ofml dot Com mentioned this
- 10:59Speaker 1: early this spring about how Fangrafts rates the three top
- 11:04Speaker 1: teams in the division Texas, Seattle, and Houston as almost even,
- 11:08Speaker 1: which is really rare to have three teams almost even.
- 11:11Speaker 1: And the Angels certainly are improved. The A's on paper
- 11:14Speaker 1: as well, certainly improve. So I expect this division to
- 11:18Speaker 1: be really competitive, and we've got wild cards too. Are
- 11:21Speaker 1: the Astros going to turn to Cam.
- 11:23Speaker 2: Smith right away or wait for him? And will he
- 11:25Speaker 2: make an impact?
- 11:26Speaker 1: There are all kinds of variables in play. The one
- 11:29Speaker 1: thing with the A's todd that I want to see
- 11:31Speaker 1: kind of come together is just how the team gels,
- 11:35Speaker 1: because when you add a lot of new pieces Severino,
- 11:38Speaker 1: Jeffrey Springs right down the line, it doesn't necessarily translate
- 11:43Speaker 1: into cohesive unit right away. It might take some time
- 11:46Speaker 1: and maybe the team is not as good as you thought.
- 11:49Speaker 1: They're gonna need continued progress from guys like Butler and
- 11:52Speaker 1: bl Dat. Brent Rooker, of course, is going to be
- 11:55Speaker 1: Brent Rooker. So I want to see it play out.
- 11:57Speaker 1: But yes, on paper, they're better. Now, are they good
- 12:00Speaker 1: enough to challenge those three top teams?
- 12:04Speaker 2: I'm not so sure.
- 12:04Speaker 1: I'm very much curious about Houston.
- 12:07Speaker 2: I'm not convinced that.
- 12:08Speaker 1: They're going to be a better team without Bregnant, without Tucker,
- 12:12Speaker 1: without Presley.
- 12:13Speaker 2: But they're always going to be somewhere in the mix.
- 12:17Speaker 2: I still like Texas.
- 12:18Speaker 1: I like what they've done bringing in Peterson and Berger
- 12:20Speaker 1: and some of the other moves that they've made, and
- 12:24Speaker 1: Seattle with their pitching, you cannot discount them, even though
- 12:27Speaker 1: offensively bringing in Donovan Solano and Joey Polanco probably wasn't enough.
- 12:32Speaker 1: So it's a fascinating division. I can't wait to see
- 12:35Speaker 1: how it plays out.
- 12:37Speaker 3: Ken, let's finish with this. We just had a long
- 12:39Speaker 3: conversation about the Pittsburgh Pirates with Dan from DK Sports.
- 12:44Speaker 3: Did you get a chance to check out his article?
- 12:46Speaker 3: And hey, I think it was about a year ago
- 12:48Speaker 3: you wrote a really long article about the Pirates organization.
- 12:52Speaker 3: What's going on there? Where are we at a year later?
- 12:57Speaker 1: Well, that article certainly was interesting today. And yes, we
- 12:59Speaker 1: wrote in our stephen Nesbit and I a year ago
- 13:02Speaker 1: about the Pirates and how under Bob Nutting things don't
- 13:05Speaker 1: seem to change, and that's still the case now. The
- 13:08Speaker 1: point of Dejahon's article today was, Hey, they actually are
- 13:12Speaker 1: losing a little bit of money based on the research
- 13:14Speaker 1: he did, as much research as he did and his
- 13:17Speaker 1: company did. I don't know that we'll ever get the
- 13:19Speaker 1: full picture of what a team is spending, but let's
- 13:22Speaker 1: take it at face value. Let's assume that what he
- 13:25Speaker 1: had and what those guys came up with is pretty
- 13:27Speaker 1: much on the money, and I would assume that it's
- 13:30Speaker 1: some were close. Right. Okay, the Pirates lost a little
- 13:34Speaker 1: bit of money, and you wouldn't want that to be happening.
- 13:36Speaker 2: But a couple of things. What are they spending on.
- 13:39Speaker 1: As far as renovations, as far as land around the ballpark,
- 13:42Speaker 1: all these different things, And why aren't they spending money
- 13:47Speaker 1: to make money? Why aren't they running a better business?
- 13:51Speaker 1: In short, and that is the rub with the Pirates.
- 13:54Speaker 2: Okay, we all.
- 13:55Speaker 1: Understand, we do that it's a significant challenge for teams
- 13:59Speaker 1: in lower revenue markets to thrive in this environment. Teams do, however,
- 14:04Speaker 1: and they compete to a much better extent than the
- 14:07Speaker 1: Pirates do.
- 14:08Speaker 2: So when you don't.
- 14:09Speaker 1: Invest in the club, you can't expect the revenues to rise.
- 14:12Speaker 1: And they have not invested in the on field product.
- 14:15Speaker 1: They can talk all they want about infrastructure and all that,
- 14:19Speaker 1: and then the bottom line becomes, Okay, if you're losing money,
- 14:22Speaker 1: if you can't make it work, if you don't want
- 14:24Speaker 1: to take the necessary steps to invest in the product,
- 14:28Speaker 1: then why not sell the team?
- 14:30Speaker 2: And that again is the rub.
- 14:31Speaker 1: If you're not going to try, and they in many
- 14:34Speaker 1: ways are not trying from a major league standpoint, then
- 14:38Speaker 1: just get out and get a new owner.
- 14:41Speaker 3: That's the thing. You can do. All this homework and research,
- 14:44Speaker 3: and it is fascinating.
- 14:44Speaker 2: You're right.
- 14:45Speaker 3: The conclusion always ends up with the same response from
- 14:49Speaker 3: basically everyone from like the most basic fan to the
- 14:51Speaker 3: most intellectual minds in the sport, where just like we
- 14:54Speaker 3: don't feel bad for you just part ways. Ken, thank you,
- 14:58Speaker 3: appreciate the time. Good to see you you next week
- 15:00Speaker 3: the first week later in the week of the Major
- 15:03Speaker 3: League season.
- 15:04Speaker 1: Yes, absolutely, yes, thank you Ken.
- 15:08Speaker 3: Obviously there were two games already which Kennon Alana spoke about.
- 15:12Speaker 3: They gave a big shout out to the Tokyo Series MLB,
- 15:15Speaker 3: the Dodgers, the Cubs, the Japanese players all crushed it.
- 15:19Speaker 3: But if you want to hear more, fair Territory is
- 15:21Speaker 3: the spot with Alana and with Ken, and I'll say
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