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Fair Territory: Michael King market, Royals want Duran, Ketel updates · Foul Territory

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Welcome everyone to the Monday edition of Fair Territory. I'm
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Ken Rosenthal, with you for the next twenty six minutes
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: or so. Happy Hanukkah. Christmas is ten days away, and
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: in these next ten days we expect quite a bit
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: of action. Josh Bell reaching an agreement this morning with
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: the Minnesota Twins. That's a one year deal, and a
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: lot more expected in the days ahead. And let's start
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: with the free agent market and one player who seems
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: close to deciding. As reported by the Boston Globes Pete
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: Abraham yesterday, Michael King right handed pitcher down to three teams,
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: the Yankees, the Red Sox and the Orioles, all in
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: the Al East. Understandable if you're Michael King and you're
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: in demand. You are a guy who went to the
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: high school in Rhode Island, attended Boston College, and obviously
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: has played for the Yankees already. So he's an East
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: Coast guy. Not surprising he's looking at the East Coast teams.
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: Three in the Al East in particular, and in this
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: particular instance, I would expect that the Orioles are going
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: to really have to outbid the Yankees and Red Sox
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: to get Michael King. I know what they've done is
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: really exciting with Alonzo and Hellsley and Taylor Ward and
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: everything else, but there's still not a team that necessarily
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: is going to be considered by Michael King, at least
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: the way the Yankees and Red Sox are, So Michael
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: King one of many free agents still out there. We're
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: still looking at all the best hitters, Tucker Bashett Bellinger
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: from Bervaldez on the pitching side, Ranger Suarez on the
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: pitching side. So there's going to be quite a bit,
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: not necessarily all transpiring in the next ten days, but
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: certainly over the next I don't know, six weeks or so. Now.
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: Also a ton going on trade wise, and actually I'm
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: going to focus more on that today in this show
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: than perhaps free agents, because I wrote a little bit
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: about this today, actually a lot about it. We've written
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: about it over the weekend as well at the Athletic,
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: and there are just some really interesting trade discussions going
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: on at this moment. Let's start with the Kansas City Royals,
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: who over the weekend traded for Isaac Collins and Nick
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: Meers from the Brewers, gave up on Helzurpa. The reliever,
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: and previous to that had signed Lane Thomas as a
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: free agent. That's two outfielders, Lane Thomas and Isaac Collins.
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: And yet as I report this morning, they're still looking
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: and they would take certainly Jaron Duran if they could
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: get him. They would take Brendan Donovan if they could
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: get him. Now, Brendan Donovan is a guy, as Katie
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: Wu of The Athletic reported, seems to be headed to
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: San Francisco or Seattle. Those are the two front runners
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: for him. Doesn't mean he's going to end up in
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: either one, but as of Katie's report on Saturday, those
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: are the two front runners. So the Royals don't really
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: see themselves as much of a factor there, and they're
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: not really a factor for Duran just yet because in
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: their view, the price right now is too high. They
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: are under the impression that for Jared Duran they're going
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: to have to give up Cole Reagan's both guys under
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: three years control. They line up that way. But the
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: way the Royal c Reagan's he's a guy that could
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: start a playoff game, game one of a postseason series,
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: and that to them is more valuable than even a
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: Jaron Duran. Now the Red Sox don't quite see it
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: the same way. I reflect both points of view in
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: the story. They believe these talks have been more exploratory
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: and informal. Whatever two sides canna have differences of opinion.
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: I don't know that this is going to happen. I
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: don't know what the Red Sox are going to do.
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: Their hands are in a ton of things right now,
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: and they have not yet completed anything other than Sunny
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: Gray and Oviedo trades of a major nature, So that
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: is something to keep an eye on for sure. And
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: the Brendan Donovan talks as well. Brendan Donovan is a
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: really valuable player in demand from any number of teams.
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: Is it possible a team jumps in now and tries
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: to beat the Giants and Mariners. Absolutely possible. But clearly
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: now the Mariners are going to be motivated after losing
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: Joge Polanco to the Mets on that two year, forty
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: million dollar deal. They want to get one more bat
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: in addition to Josh Naylor and the Mariners, as we
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: all know, have one of the game's best, if not
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: the best, farm system, a much better farm system than
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: San Francisco so with all that, we move on. We
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: move on to Arizona and Ca Tell Marte. Now, the
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: Diamondbacks on Sunday reached agreement with Merrill Kelly, right handed pitcher,
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: on a two year, forty million dollar deal that for Kelly,
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: at thirty seven years old, is a really good deal.
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: But he has been a really good, consistent, durable pitcher
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: for a while now, and he clearly wanted to go
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: back to Arizona. I reported in my notes column today
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: as well that he had a better offer from a
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: West Coast team, probably one in California, a three year
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: offer for more than fifty million, But he didn't want
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: to be traded in the first place, and he was
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: at the deadline from the Diamondbacks to the Rangers, and
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: he had spent his entire major league career in Arizona,
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: after of course coming back from Korea. So Merrill Kelly
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: is the fold for the Diamondbacks, and that's good news,
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: good news for their rotation, which now looks a little
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: bit more set after of course Zach Gallen and Michael
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: King going to free agency. That rotation includes, as you'll
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: see here, Merril Kelly at the top brandan fought Edward Rodriguez,
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: Ryan Nelson, and another free agent addition, Mike Soroka. With
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: Corbyn Burns expected to come back from Tommy John surgery
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: in mid twenty twenty six. Now, the Diamondbacks also have
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: two relievers coming back from Tommy John surgery, Ajpuck and
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: Justin Martinez. But the reason I'm talking about all this
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: and not could Tell Marte right now is because all
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: of these things represent holes for them. They still want
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: to get more young pitching so they avoid being in
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: the position that they're in again with both their rotation
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: and their bullpen. And could Tell Marte is the most
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: intriguing player available in trade right now because his contract
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: is viewed by teams as exceedingly reasonable. It's sixty years,
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: one hundred and two point five million remaining, but with
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: the deferrals an AAV for luxury tax purposes, luxury tax
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: purposes gets knocked down to about fourteen and a half million.
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: You're a big market team with luxury tax concerns. Fourteen
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: and a half million on an AAV for a guy
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: like Katel Marte, one of the best second basemen in
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: the game, if not the best, That is a good
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: deal when you're going to see for the Kyle Tuckers
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: and the Bobaschets and those kinds of players. Cody Ballinger
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: thirty million, AAVs twenty five million dollar. Katel Marte is
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: a discount, so he has extreme value for that reason.
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: The Diamondbacks are going to ask high for that reason. Now,
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: whether some team meets that or not, that remains three seen.
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: You remember the issues reported by Nick mccoro of the
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: Arizona Republic last August about Marte in the clubhouse, missing
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: the first three games after the break, when the Diamondbacks
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: were still trying to determine whether they were a buyer
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: or a seller. He missed the game, sames he was
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: home in the Dominican Republic after his home in Scottsdale, Arizona,
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: was burglarized. He had later apologized, but this did raise
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: questions and certainly it caused some problems for him in
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: the clubhouse. Some of the guys who didn't want to
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: get traded were upset that this guy missed three games
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: in the middle of a critical part of the season.
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: Turned out, the Diamondbacks won all three of those games.
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: Then Marte came back and they went one to nine.
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: Who can explain these things. But regardless, Merrill Kelly back
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: in the fold, it will not affect the Diamondbacks desire
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: or interest in trading Marte. They're interested in doing it
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: if they can get the right return. Now it does
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: alleviate somewhat the starting pitching shortage, but they still would
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: take more, of course, in a deal. And what they're
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: looking for is major league ready talent, because obviously they
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: want to put the best team possible on the field
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: with all those guys coming back from Tommy John that
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: I mentioned, Burns, Martinez Puck sometime in the second half,
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: so they'd be in good shape there if they can
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: get those players back and of course supplement. But when
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: you lose a Katel Marte, if they indeed do that,
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: that creates all kinds of other issues. You lose offense,
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: you lose your second basement. They also have an issue
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: at third base. They're not quite sure what they want
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: to do there. So a lot going on with the
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: Arizona Diamondbacks right now, a lot going on throughout the sport.
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: And we're going to talk more about one particular team
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: and one particular president of baseball operations when we return
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: with the Inside Dish.
• 8:34
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• 8:37
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• 8:41
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• 8:51
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• 9:02
  Speaker 1: Time now for the Inside Dish, the part of the
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: show where I talk about the story I've written a
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: trend in the game, something else entirely, and today I
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: want to focus launch off a story that I wrote
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: with Dennis Lynn and Will Salmon over the weekend. I
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: lose track of the days, but it was about the
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: Padres and the Mets and how they possibly could match
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: up in trade discussions. Now, that was the genesis of
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: the story.
• 9:25
  Speaker 3: I'll get into it in a little bit, but really
• 9:27
  Speaker 3: what I want to talk about is what it is
• 9:30
  Speaker 3: like to cover Aj Preller, Padres President Baseball operations in
• 9:35
  Speaker 3: a transactional period.
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: Transactional periods in baseball, of course, being the trade deadline
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: and the off season. And I will tell you this
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: covering Preller at a time like this is almost impossible
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: because you don't know what he's doing. His hands are
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: in everything. You hear all kinds of things, and most
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: of them are true in the sense that he is
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: exploring all these things. He never sleeps, he never slows down,
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: He is always on the phone. He rarely is engaging
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: with reporters because he's always engaging with other executives. So
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: following him when he's kind of a whirlwind of an
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: executive who is prone to making moves of all kinds,
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: it's really difficult, but it's also really fun because he
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: does do things that often turn the industry upside down.
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: Now where are the padres right now? Where they are
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: is in a bit of a payroll bind. And this
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: is the result, of course, of some of their moves
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: that they've made over the years. Now. I've been a
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: supporter of Preller in certain respects, I've been a critic
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: of Preller in certain respects. He's done some remarkable things,
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: but he also, with the support of the late owner
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: Peter Sidler, has given out some big contracts. And you
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: don't know if that was more Sidlers thinking than Prellers
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: or how it exactly went down. But they're sitting there now.
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: They've lost Dylan Cease to free agency. It appears they're
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: going to lose Michael King to free agency. Darvish just
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: had a UCL repair internal brace procedure. He's going to
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: be out for all twenty twenty six. So they need
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: starting pitching. Now. Here's what's interesting, and Dennis Lynn reported
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: this last week. The best of the remaining Padre starting
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: pitchers is Nick Pavetta. Nick Pavetta had really almost a
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: career year last year. He was excellent. Joe mus Grove
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: is coming back from Tommy John. They've got Randy Vasquez
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: as well, but that's pretty much it. Nick Pavetta is
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: their ace, or their presumptive ace right now. And yet
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: what are we hearing. We are hearing that Nick Pavetta
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: is out there available in trade talks. Dennis Lynn of
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: The Athletic wrote an entire story about this a few
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: days ago. And you might think, well, wait a second,
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: they've lost Cese, they're gonna lose King, and they don't
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: have Darvish. Why are they looking at trading Nick Pavetta. Well,
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: what aj Preller will do if he can pull this off,
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: is turn Paveta, perhaps into younger starting pitching. And if
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: you remember the one Soda trade, what do they do.
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: They traded Soto a year away from free agency, as
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: Paveta can be if he opts out, and they acquired
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: a bunch of players in return, many of whom have
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: helped them a great deal. One of them was Michael King.
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: Randy Vasquez was another that was a deal that was
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: quite good for the San Diego Padres. And what they're
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: looking to do now is something of the same kind.
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: And if you also remember the one Sodo trade, they
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: got a picture back that they sent to the Chicago
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: White Sox to acquire none other than I believe it
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: was Dylan Cees. Yes, so aj Peller again operating on
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: all fronts at all times. And what we wrote about
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: in that story about the Mets and Padres potentially matching
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: up is the fact that a number of the Padres players,
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: including Paveda, would fit for the Mets right now. And
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: the Mets, of course, have had nothing short of a
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: tumultuous off season so far. They've traded Brandon Nimo, they
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: lost last week on back to back Pete Alonzo and
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: Edwin Diaz, and now they've got some holes to fill.
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: They started that process with the signing of Polanco, but
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: it's got to continue. So who are the Padres that
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: would fit the Mets. Pavetta is one, Ramo Loriano is another,
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: Mason Miller certainly in the back of the bullpen, and
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: some of their other relievers, Adrian Morejone, Jeremiah Estrada. All
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: of those players that I just mentioned have come up
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: in one form or another in trade discussions. Now, as
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: we wrote in this story, Fernando Tattis Junior not part
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: of this, Francisco liandor not part of this. I know
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: people are having a lot of fun on the internet,
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: but while their names might have come up, they're not
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: a serious part of these discussions. They're not getting traded,
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: or at least. Preller has basically ruled out Tatists to
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: as much of an extent as he ever will. He's
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: always going to listen. But I would say the odds
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: of Fertando Tattis Junior getting traded to any team are
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: exceedingly slim, and Lindor simply is not going anywhere. So
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: those players I mentioned they'd be in play for the Mets.
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: What would the Padres want from New York? Pretty obvious.
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: They want young pitching. The Mets have young pitching. They
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: also want young position players, with their payroll a bit
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: out of whack, the Mets have those as well. The
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: Mets system is one of the better systems in the game. Now,
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: we were very careful with this article not to overplay
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: it because basically, yes, aj Preller is talking to the Mets,
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: He's also talking to all twenty eight other teams, and
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: as I said, he's got a ton of things in
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: play at all times. Most teams do, just not to
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: the extent of Preler. Now, as we wrote, no deal
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: appears close, none will necessarily come to pass, but again
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: this is something that has been discussed. And also to
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: keep in mind, the Padres might prefer to trade players
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: individually rather than package them together in any combination. As
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: we wrote, Kreller is known in the industry for his
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: whirlwind style, talking with all teams during transactional periods and
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: weighing a dizzying number of possible moves and contingency plans.
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: So where is this all going? The answer I have
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: for you is that I have no idea. Neither does
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: Dennis Lynn, who does a tremendous job covering this team.
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: Neither's Will Salmon, who does a tremendous job covering the industry.
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: Neither does anyone else. We have no clue. Only Aj
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: Preller knows what he might do, and I would imagine
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: at this stage he doesn't even know exactly what's going on.
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: He's probably got a whiteboard somewhere and he's probably scratching
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: names off, adding new names on, and trying to figure
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: out where exactly this is going to end up for him.
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: What's interesting about the Padres is they may have taken
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: their best shot already. They've been in the playoffs for
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: the last six years, and I'll see us a couple
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: of years ago. But the Dodgers keep getting stronger. You've
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: seen now that while the Giants are in a funny
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: place and we don't know exactly what they're doing either,
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: but they should be a compet team. The Rockies are
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: eventually going to get better, and the Diamondbacks are kind
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: of in a mid place right now where they're not
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: exactly what they should be where they should be. But
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: this is a competitive division and the Padres, depending on
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: what happens, you are going to have a hard time
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: keeping up. So we'll see what happens. And certainly if
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: Preler trades a huge contract Xander Bogarts, for instance, no
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: one should be surprised Bogarts does have a full no
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: trade if he trades Nick Povetta, as I mentioned, for
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: the reasons I stated, no one should be surprised if
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: he gets players that we have not even identified, who
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: would not even be on the radars of anybody writing
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: about this sport or talking about this sport or even
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: involved in this sport, that would not be a surprise either.
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: It's aj Preller, folks. He's always up to something. All right.
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: We will be back with drill and can right after
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: this bet.
• 16:54
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• 17:15
  Speaker 1: All right, Before we get into the questions here, I
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: want to address one thing because this is something that
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: takes me off. It kind of has gotten my gander
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: up in recent days. So there are times I write
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: news stories. There are times that I write analysis. There
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: are times I write opinion columns. And when I write
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: an opinion column and one was written last week about
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: the New York Mets, I often see from people this
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: is clickdait. I find this fascinating. Everybody on the internet,
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: in the comments sections in x anywhere you want Instagram,
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: everybody has their opinions, and they are quite free about
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: expressing their opinions behind their various pseudonyms. But when a
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: guy like me, who's been doing this forty years or so,
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: expresses his opinion, that's clickbait. Guys, It's an opinion. You
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: got yours, I got mine. I'm going to keep writing him.
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: All right. Let's get to the questions. This one comes
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: from armand is amazing. Who says this is a good question?
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: And I address up my notes column today? What has
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: happened to Muri Kami's market? Are any teams really interested?
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: What are the chances he goes back to Japan? Okay
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: Murkami Munataka Murakami is a corner infielder from Japan with
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: monster power. He's also a guy with big swing and miss.
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: Now his posting is up a week from today, five
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: pm Eastern on December twenty second, you haven't heard much
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: about his market. That doesn't mean there is no market.
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: I did have an executive tell me yesterday. Boy, you
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: don't hear much about him. I wonder if he really
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: has anything. Is the swing and misconcern that great? It is?
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: But at the same time, he's twenty five years old.
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: Choey Otani, who was younger when he came over, actually
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: had a higher swing and misrate in Jam, as I
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: note in my notes Calumn today. So I do expect
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: that he's not going to go back to Japan. I
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: do expect that he's going to sign by the time
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: his forty five day negotiating window expires. But he remains,
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: as I wrote, the biggest mystery in this market, because
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: no one seems to know who is on him, and
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: no one seems to know where this might end up,
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: what the money would be, what teams truly are interested.
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: But he is someone that I do expect will be
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: with a major league club next season. All right, next question,
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: this one comes from NANDU three nine zero. Are the
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: school bold trade talks over for now? The answer to
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: that is no, the Tigers are going to listen. They're
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: going to listen as long as they want to listen,
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: which would probably be right up the spring training, and
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: if somebody knocks them out, yeah, maybe they consider it.
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: But it's a difficult trade to make. You're trading a
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: two time sty Young winner from a team that's coming
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: off back to back playoff appearances, and unless you get
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: something that's going to help your major league club and
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: really set you up for the future as well, you're
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: not going to want to do that. And the other
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: problem with trading Scooble is it is one year, one
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: year with a Scott Wars client who almost certainly will
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: not sign an extension, so you're looking at essentially a
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: prolonged rental and for that teams are not going to
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: be willing to give up six years of this player,
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: six years of that player, et cetera, et cetera. So yes,
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: the talks will continue. I do not expect Scooble to
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: be traded, but at the same time, once the free
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: agents are off the board, once Freddie Peralta perhaps is traded,
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: I do expect him to go. Then the desperation of
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: teams looking for starting pitching might make this more interesting. Mike,
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: I'm not sure, so we'll see how it all goes
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: all right. Next question, This one comes from video moon Shot,
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: who says, what is the probability of the Atlanta Braves
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: signing Bobashett? I would say extremely low. Now, Bobaschett is
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: one of the best hitters in this market, in some
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: ways the best hitter. He hits good pitching, he hits
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: all kinds of pitching. He is a threat from the
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: right side, There's no question about it. The one question
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: that has arisen is what is his long term position? Now?
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: My understanding is that he has received offers to play
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: shortstop and continue playing shortstop, where he rated among the
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: worst in the game last year from the statcast a
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: outs of average to the fielding bibles, defensive run saved.
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: But certain teams are looking at him as a shortstop.
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: Are the Braves going to be one of those teams?
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: I don't expect that to be the case, and I
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: don't expect them to be his ultimate landing spot. He's
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: a guy that surely could help the Braves and would
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: be almost a perfect addition from an offensive standpoint, But
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: I would expect the Braves' concerns are mostly defensive. They
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: went with last year Nick Allen virtually the whole season,
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: and he was solely a defensive guy. They've acquired Mauricio Dubond.
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: He is the floor that they will have at that position.
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: I just don't know if they see Bobaschett as a
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: long term shortstop, and with Austin Riley signed, possibly you
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: could move him to second base. If asi Alvi's obviously
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: doesn't return after this year, this is his last year,
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: you could do that, but I'm just not sure the
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: Braves see him as the defender at short that they want.
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: Hashan Kim makes more sense for them in that regard.
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: We'll see if that is who they end up with
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: or if ultimately they just go with Dubon for the
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: most part. All right, next question, This one comes from
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: STL Perfecto's. He asked, you think the Cardinals trade all
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: of Romero, Arnatto, Contreras and Donovan, any of them packaged together.
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: I do expect all those players to go, and I
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: don't know that any of them will be packaged together.
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: Arnatto is perhaps the most interesting from that standpoint, because
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: you're trading the money, you're trading a declining player, and
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: perhaps to entice a team you will need to include
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: a Jojo Romero or a left handed reliever or even
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: a prospect. Not sure, but they've got a lot of
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: action on Donovan. Katie were reported. As we said earlier,
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: the Giants and Mariners are the front runners. Contreras is
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: a guy who is affordable at first base over the
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: next two years and a really good player still, so
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: he could go too. Are not as difficult more difficult
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: because he too, like Contreras, has no trade and it's
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: going to be more difficult to fit him in. Not
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: quite as attractive perhaps as Contreras's is right now, and Donovan,
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: as we said, he's going to go. So the Cardinals
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: are going to be quite busy, and we expect all
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: of those players and maybe a few more, maybe nut
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: Bar or Gorman as well, to be traded. All right,
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: another question coming here, this one from Cincy Brye. Any
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: word in the Cincinnati Reds moves. Have they folded and
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: already pushed away from the trade table? No, they have not.
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: They are talking about all kinds of things, and free
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: agency might be the way they go. They offered Schwarber,
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: as I reported last week, five years, one hundred and
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: twenty five million, with room to grow. Now that was
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: for Kyle Schwarber, hometown guy from Middletown, Ohio. He was
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: going to sell tickets and bring back some of that
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: money somehow or in some way. And they don't necessarily
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: see other free agents in quite that same light because
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: it's a different equation with those guys. They're not going
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: to help sell tickets. That's not the only consideration here, obviously,
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: but it factored into what they did for Schwarber. Now,
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: they are a team that is interesting because they have
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: positional flexibility in a number of spots. They can sign
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: a first baseman, they can sign a second baseman, they
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: can sign an outfielder, they can do any number of
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: those things to support what is one of the better
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: starting rotations in the game. So I expect them to
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: be busy. I'm not quite sure what they are doing.
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: But to the answer your question, have they folded the tent,
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: the answer to that would be no. All right. I
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: want to thank everyone for watching, everyone for listening, everyone
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: for their questions. You know where to find us YouTube, Apple, Spotify.
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: You know that Foul Territory is coming up shortly after this,
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: and you also know that on Thursday we're going to
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: be back myself Alana Rizzo. We're going to be back
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: with another edition of Fair Territory. Have a great week everyone,