Latest / Foul Territory / Fair Territory: Big Framber Valdez splash for Tigers, Yankees/Phillies running it back, Best AL rotations, Skubal’s arbitration

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Fair Territory: Big Framber Valdez splash for Tigers, Yankees/Phillies running it back, Best AL rotations, Skubal’s arbitration · Foul Territory

0:01
Speaker 1: Welcome everyone to the Thursday edition of Fair Territory. I'm
0:04
Speaker 1: Ken rose Dahl here with Alana Rizzo. Big news last night,
0:08
Speaker 1: and really we are down to only a handful of
0:12
Speaker 1: free agents. The best remaining free agent at this point
0:15
Speaker 1: probably Zach Gallen. But Alana, we're not going to be
0:17
Speaker 1: talking much about Zach Gallen this week.
0:19
Speaker 2: Now.
0:20
Speaker 3: It's more about from Barvaldez. Great to be with you, Ken,
0:23
Speaker 3: in the Fair Territory crowd. Yesterday we thought, hey, you
0:25
Speaker 3: know what, maybe the Pirates are going to get from
0:27
Speaker 3: Barvaldez and put him into that rotation. However, Ken, as
0:31
Speaker 3: you know best, another team has emerged from Barvaldez appears
0:35
Speaker 3: to be off the board.
0:37
Speaker 1: He is definitely off the board, and he is pending
0:39
Speaker 1: a physical with the Detroit Tigers. Three years, one hundred
0:42
Speaker 1: and fifteen million. And Alana, it's so interesting that one move,
0:47
Speaker 1: just one can change the entire perception of an offseason
0:51
Speaker 1: or of a team. You go back last year to
0:54
Speaker 1: last April actually with the Blue Jays and Vladimir Guerrero Junior.
0:58
Speaker 1: That's signing. It was for five hundred million, but that
1:01
Speaker 1: signing changed a whole vibe around the Blue Jays and
1:05
Speaker 1: kind of took the heat off of the team and
1:08
Speaker 1: off the players. They didn't have to answer those questions anymore,
1:11
Speaker 1: didn't have to worry about lad being a long term
1:13
Speaker 1: Blue Jay this offseason. Chicago Cubs last year did not
1:18
Speaker 1: get Alex Bregman, in fact, finished fourth for Alex Bregman.
1:22
Speaker 1: And this year they get him, and people say, whoa
1:25
Speaker 1: good move that with Edward Cabrera and some other things. Okay,
1:29
Speaker 1: the Cubs go, And now with the agreement with Fromer Valdez,
1:33
Speaker 1: the Tigers are in a similar position. When we entered yesterday,
1:38
Speaker 1: they were going into a hearing with Trek Scruble, the
1:40
Speaker 1: two time back to back Cy Young Winner. They were
1:44
Speaker 1: looking at the loss and are still looking at the
1:46
Speaker 1: loss of Schooble as a free agent at the end
1:48
Speaker 1: of the season, with really no ace beyond that. Jackson
1:52
Speaker 1: Joe will be coming off Tommy John surgery in twenty seven,
1:55
Speaker 1: but he's still a young pitcher and it'll be coming
1:57
Speaker 1: off of surgery. So with this move, what do the
2:01
Speaker 1: Tigers accomplish. They put an ace in place, a coace
2:06
Speaker 1: in place with schoobl for this season and protect themselves
2:10
Speaker 1: if Schooble leaves because they have Fromberg for at least
2:14
Speaker 1: next season. He hasn't opt out after two years in
2:16
Speaker 1: this three year deal. You can see it right there.
2:19
Speaker 1: There are some deferrals as well. So for the Tigers,
2:22
Speaker 1: this kind of takes the heat off in a lot
2:25
Speaker 1: of ways. And as I wrote today, after talking with
2:29
Speaker 1: a person who was briefed on their intentions on their plans,
2:32
Speaker 1: that person said, we are not trading Trek Schouble. Our
2:36
Speaker 1: intention is to win. It's been their intention all off season.
2:40
Speaker 1: They signed Kenley Jansen, they signed Kyle Finnegan, signed Drew Anderson.
2:44
Speaker 1: They haven't done a whole lot labora Torres took the
2:47
Speaker 1: qualifying off for Jack Flowherdy opting in, but they've been
2:50
Speaker 1: mostly quiet until now. And now you look at the
2:54
Speaker 1: Tigers and you look at them in a much different
2:57
Speaker 1: way than we did twenty four hours ago.
3:00
Speaker 2: And he's reuniting with AJ Hinch.
3:02
Speaker 3: Obviously, with the time with the Houston Astros, it wasn't
3:05
Speaker 3: not a huge reunion, Ken because as you were stating
3:08
Speaker 3: in our production meeting, Fromber wasn't there for very long while.
3:11
Speaker 2: Aj was there.
3:12
Speaker 3: But that's God means something in terms of the familiarity
3:15
Speaker 3: not only for the manager but for the player.
3:18
Speaker 1: No question. Alana and from ber Valdez was first with
3:22
Speaker 1: the Astros in twenty eighteen, kind of a cup of
3:24
Speaker 1: coffee type situation. Then twenty nineteen he wasn't even a
3:28
Speaker 1: full time starter then, So that was aj Hinch's experience
3:31
Speaker 1: with him. But clearly aj Hinch is tied into members
3:35
Speaker 1: of the Astros organization. Over the years, has I'm sure
3:39
Speaker 1: talked to members of the Astros organization about from ber Valdez,
3:43
Speaker 1: and clearly in this case gave the go ahead, said yes,
3:46
Speaker 1: let's do this, we can make this work. Yes, there
3:49
Speaker 1: have been questions about fromer Valdez's makeup, but now he
3:52
Speaker 1: goes with the manager with whom he is familiar, a
3:55
Speaker 1: manager who is familiar with him. It can only help.
3:58
Speaker 1: So this the Tigers is a transformative move. As we said,
4:04
Speaker 1: they have the outcome of the Schooble hearing. They will
4:06
Speaker 1: expect to learn today that should happen. We should hear
4:09
Speaker 1: this at some point today. Whether Schooble gets thirty two
4:13
Speaker 1: million or whether he gets nineteen million, it's one or
4:15
Speaker 1: the other. In arbitration and the feeling among many was,
4:19
Speaker 1: and I had heard this myself. Turned out not to
4:21
Speaker 1: be true, but I had heard that if they lost
4:24
Speaker 1: took a thirteen million dollar hit thirty two versus nineteen,
4:28
Speaker 1: then perhaps they would not have pursued another starter. The
4:31
Speaker 1: Tigers essentially by doing this, said the heck with that,
4:34
Speaker 1: we're going to get a starter, We're going to pay
4:35
Speaker 1: him big, and we're going to have ourselves a great
4:38
Speaker 1: one two combination for this season and from Bervaldez for
4:42
Speaker 1: at least next season as well.
4:44
Speaker 3: You mentioned the one two tandem at the top of
4:46
Speaker 3: the Tiger's rotation.
4:47
Speaker 2: It is a good.
4:48
Speaker 3: One, of course, with te Scoobel and now from Bervaldez.
4:51
Speaker 3: But what about the depth of this starting staff? Can
4:54
Speaker 3: Are the Tigers now one of the best rotations in
4:56
Speaker 3: the American League?
4:59
Speaker 1: I would say with that one, they're in the conversation.
5:01
Speaker 1: Beyond that, it's Jack Flaherty, Casey Myiz and riees Olsen.
5:05
Speaker 1: Not bad by any stretch of the imagination. Pretty good actually.
5:09
Speaker 1: Is it as good as the Red Sox rotation with
5:12
Speaker 1: Crochet and Gray and Oviedo and of course Rangers Suarez
5:16
Speaker 1: and whoever else they put in there. Maybe one of
5:18
Speaker 1: the kids. I'm not sure will it be as good
5:21
Speaker 1: as the Blue Jays rotation headed by Dylan Cees and
5:23
Speaker 1: Kevin Gossman with trey Ya Savage having his first full
5:26
Speaker 1: season coming up? Will it be good as good as
5:29
Speaker 1: the Yankees once the Yankees, if they get healthy, have
5:33
Speaker 1: Garrett Cole, Max Fried, and Louis Hill. I don't know
5:37
Speaker 1: the answer to that, but certainly this puts the Tigers
5:40
Speaker 1: in the conversation, and as I wrote it, positions them
5:44
Speaker 1: playing in the feeble Al Central to at least be
5:47
Speaker 1: the kind of team you can dream on for being
5:50
Speaker 1: this year's Blue Jays. They're not quite there. Offensively, they're
5:53
Speaker 1: not quite there, but they have a couple of top
5:56
Speaker 1: prospects Kevin McGonagall and Max Clark, that they expect to
5:59
Speaker 1: incorporate into the mix this season. And if they need
6:02
Speaker 1: offense at the deadline, then they can go get offense
6:05
Speaker 1: at the deadline. So I kind of like where the
6:08
Speaker 1: Tigers are. And if they go into a playoff series
6:10
Speaker 1: with Scooble and Valdez healthy, that's pretty.
6:14
Speaker 2: Good, I tell you. And I like their road chaser
6:16
Speaker 2: the excuse me.
6:17
Speaker 3: I like their bullpen too, especially the back end of
6:19
Speaker 3: that bullpen with the addition of Kenley Jansen. You have
6:21
Speaker 3: Kyle Finnegan over there as well. I mean they have
6:23
Speaker 3: three guys in that bullpen. Can that have at least
6:25
Speaker 3: twenty saves last year? I want to go back to
6:27
Speaker 3: the money piece for just a second. Three years one
6:30
Speaker 3: hundred and fifteen million is a lot of money, and
6:32
Speaker 3: good for from ber Valdez to get that. But the
6:34
Speaker 3: comparison with the Trek Scooble arbitration stuff, and perhaps from
6:39
Speaker 3: Bervaldez's contract, we're not comparing apples to apples here. You
6:43
Speaker 3: yourself just said that even if they lost the arbitration
6:46
Speaker 3: case to Scoogle, that it wasn't true that they were
6:50
Speaker 3: going to.
6:50
Speaker 2: Not go after a starter.
6:52
Speaker 3: So talk a little bit more about the money piece
6:54
Speaker 3: and what we should be looking at here.
6:56
Speaker 1: Glad you asked Aalana, because there seems to be a
6:58
Speaker 1: lot of confusion among fans, understandably perhaps about the difference here.
7:04
Speaker 1: Arbitration is not the same as free agency arbitration. You're
7:08
Speaker 1: dealing with one team free agency. You're dealing in an
7:11
Speaker 1: open market situation. Arbitration is a system based on precedent.
7:15
Speaker 1: The whole argument in the schoobl case is whether he
7:19
Speaker 1: deserves to be paid more than David Price was in
7:23
Speaker 1: twenty fifteen in arbitration, that's eleven years ago. Price holds
7:27
Speaker 1: the record for a pitcher nineteen point seventy five million,
7:30
Speaker 1: or should he be paid more like some of the
7:33
Speaker 1: better free agent pitchers today. And actually what he's asking
7:37
Speaker 1: for is not even at that level, because while he's
7:40
Speaker 1: asking for a record for an arbitration player, Wan Soto
7:44
Speaker 1: holds that record at thirty one million. He is not
7:46
Speaker 1: going to go to forty. But in this situation that
7:50
Speaker 1: he is in or was in, as a player with
7:52
Speaker 1: five plus years of service, he can compare himself to
7:56
Speaker 1: free agents. So it's relevant in that sense. But when
7:59
Speaker 1: you talking about his ask, which was thirty two million,
8:03
Speaker 1: it was never going to be more than thirty eight
8:06
Speaker 1: that from Arvaldez just got because he is, in his case,
8:10
Speaker 1: trying to establish a precedent in a big way. He's
8:13
Speaker 1: trying to go thirteen million above the previous high for
8:15
Speaker 1: a pitcher. He wasn't gonna go twenty million above. And
8:18
Speaker 1: the whole argument that MLB and the Detroit Tigers made yesterday,
8:22
Speaker 1: I am quite certain is this is too much, it
8:25
Speaker 1: would break precedent. Where he should be is closer to price.
8:28
Speaker 1: Now we'll see what the outcome is of all that.
8:30
Speaker 1: But when you compare the two and you say, hey, wait,
8:34
Speaker 1: how can the Tigers pay from for Valdez more than
8:36
Speaker 1: they're paying Tarrek Scoobel, It's two entirely different branches of
8:41
Speaker 1: the salary tree. So that is where the confusion might
8:45
Speaker 1: come in. But that should give you some clarity. We're
8:48
Speaker 1: talking about two different things again, the comparison. Schoobl could
8:52
Speaker 1: make an arbitration, Yes, he could have compared himself to
8:55
Speaker 1: Valdez if you knew that salary was on the board yesterday.
8:58
Speaker 1: But it seems to me, and I have to talk
9:01
Speaker 1: to some other people about this, but it seems to
9:03
Speaker 1: me that Terrek Scooble didn't need Frobervaldez's contract to make
9:08
Speaker 1: his case. He had a pretty good case as it stood.
9:11
Speaker 3: I would just take both of my Sigh Young Awards
9:13
Speaker 3: in there. I would set them on the table in
9:15
Speaker 3: front of Scott Harrison and everybody there in the front office,
9:18
Speaker 3: and I'd say, please, sir, pay me thirty two million dollars.
9:20
Speaker 2: Enough said, I tell you what Ken.
9:22
Speaker 3: It's a great week to subscribe to Tiger Territory. Kieran
9:25
Speaker 3: Steckley and Cody Stavenhagen had manager at Tiger's manager A. J.
9:29
Speaker 3: Hinch on earlier this week, and you know they are
9:32
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9:35
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9:38
Speaker 3: circle of course, part of the Foul Territory network. Okay,
9:42
Speaker 3: moving on here on fair Territory before we take our
9:44
Speaker 3: first break, smart or silly of these teams can to
9:48
Speaker 3: run it back in twenty twenty six, and what I
9:51
Speaker 3: mean by that is basically running it back with the
9:53
Speaker 3: same exact personnel.
9:55
Speaker 2: We will start with the New York Yankees.
9:57
Speaker 3: Not a ton of difference in terms of additions, but
10:01
Speaker 3: they will get Garrett Cole and Luis heel Back.
10:05
Speaker 1: Yes, and maybe Clark Schmidt as well. And people forget
10:09
Speaker 1: And I don't want to be a Yankees' apologist here,
10:11
Speaker 1: I'm not trying to be a Yankee's apologists. But they
10:14
Speaker 1: did win ninety four games last year. They did lose
10:17
Speaker 1: to the team that came within two outs of winning
10:19
Speaker 1: the World Series in the playoffs. Of talking of course,
10:22
Speaker 1: about the Toronto Blue Jays. They did not have a
10:25
Speaker 1: bad year. No, they didn't win the World Series, but
10:27
Speaker 1: they had a really good year. So to come back
10:31
Speaker 1: with essentially the same cast, and that's what this is
10:34
Speaker 1: for the most part. Okay, but they made some moves
10:37
Speaker 1: to the deadline to supplement their bullpen. Those guys will
10:40
Speaker 1: be back this year, Bednar and Doval. Those were off
10:43
Speaker 1: season moves as well, and I am comfortable with them
10:47
Speaker 1: with where they are. Could they be better, sure, and
10:50
Speaker 1: certainly once Cole and Heal and possibly Schmid get back,
10:54
Speaker 1: they could be a lot better because they didn't have
10:57
Speaker 1: Cole for much of last year. So we'll see how
11:00
Speaker 1: it goes with them. But I did not hate their offseason.
11:04
Speaker 1: Once they got Bellinger back in the fold, they're okay.
11:07
Speaker 1: They're not going to be maybe the most dominant team,
11:10
Speaker 1: but they're certainly in the mix to be a World
11:13
Speaker 1: Series contender. I don't know that there's much question about that.
11:16
Speaker 3: I misspoke. Carlos Rodin obviously is who I'm talking about.
11:19
Speaker 3: To go with Derreck Cole and I started, yes, yes,
11:22
Speaker 3: sorry about that.
11:23
Speaker 2: That's my bad.
11:24
Speaker 3: All right, I'm to the Philadelphia Phillies now. I will
11:27
Speaker 3: say this though, before we stomp on them a little bit.
11:30
Speaker 3: They were close. At least they did do their due
11:32
Speaker 3: diligence and try to get Bobaschett. They did not get him.
11:36
Speaker 3: But are the Phillies smart or silly to try to
11:38
Speaker 3: run it back with that personnel?
11:41
Speaker 1: Ideally they would have wanted to change the mix a
11:44
Speaker 1: little bit. They've been talking about doing that for quite
11:46
Speaker 1: some time now, and Bobachett would have done that, would
11:49
Speaker 1: have accomplished, that would have given him another right handed hitter,
11:52
Speaker 1: would have enabled them to trade Alec Bohm, which they
11:55
Speaker 1: certainly could do anyway, but they don't have a replacement
11:58
Speaker 1: without Bashett. I liked that the move for them in
12:01
Speaker 1: that sense, what they're doing obviously is essentially running it back.
12:05
Speaker 1: They've changed out some pieces in the bullpen Keller for
12:08
Speaker 1: Matt Strom, They've re signed Kyle Schwarber and JT. Real Muto.
12:12
Speaker 1: They're still good. They're going to be good. The question
12:15
Speaker 1: is are they now getting to the point where they're
12:18
Speaker 1: older a little bit. They're a year older than last year.
12:20
Speaker 1: Obviously Yankees, you can make this case with two and
12:24
Speaker 1: do they start to maybe diminish a little bit? And
12:26
Speaker 1: that's possible. It's certainly possible. But at the same time,
12:30
Speaker 1: they too are going to be quite competitive. They were
12:35
Speaker 1: quite competitive last year against the Dodgers in the Division Series.
12:38
Speaker 1: They could have won that series relatively easily, So again
12:42
Speaker 1: I'm not going to condemn them. Would you've liked to
12:44
Speaker 1: have seen a fresher mixed same with the Yankees, Yes,
12:47
Speaker 1: you'd always like to see that because new players bring
12:50
Speaker 1: in new motivations, just kind of a fresh energy. But
12:54
Speaker 1: I don't think they're a bad team by any stretch
12:56
Speaker 1: of the imagination.
12:57
Speaker 3: And while he's not a new face or new player
12:59
Speaker 3: by any stretch of the imagination, Ken, I'm so grateful
13:02
Speaker 3: that the Phillies were smart enough to get Kyle Schwarber
13:06
Speaker 3: back in that mix. I can't imagine Kyle Schwarber playing
13:09
Speaker 3: anybody else at this point, or for anybody else at
13:12
Speaker 3: this point. Then the Philadelphia Phillies much more to come
13:14
Speaker 3: here on fair Territory with Ken Rosenthal. Get those questions in.
13:19
Speaker 3: We are back with Grill and Ken right after this,
13:26
Speaker 3: all right, we welcome you in the Grill and Ken.
13:28
Speaker 3: Time to ask Ken Rosenthal some questions, and I'm going
13:30
Speaker 3: to start it off with another team Ken whether it's
13:33
Speaker 3: silly or smart to run it back, which essentially the
13:36
Speaker 3: same personnel. However, fromber Valdez is gone. The Houston Astros,
13:40
Speaker 3: what are they doing.
13:42
Speaker 1: They did bring in Amai to replace Valdez in the rotation,
13:45
Speaker 1: so they're in a good place there, and other than that,
13:49
Speaker 1: they have not done much. They talked about trading Jake
13:52
Speaker 1: Myers didn't happen. They've talked about trading Paradies or Walker
13:56
Speaker 1: hasn't happened. In my opinion, one of those guys has
13:59
Speaker 1: to go. They have one too many infielders right now.
14:01
Speaker 1: There's no question about it. Parade is more value. Walker's
14:05
Speaker 1: coming off a bad year, But Parades they see as
14:07
Speaker 1: a guy who could really help them. So yes, they
14:11
Speaker 1: are perhaps in danger of the run it back syndrome.
14:15
Speaker 1: And certainly with what Seattle has done in adding Donovan
14:19
Speaker 1: now and of course resigning Josh Naylor, they're going to
14:22
Speaker 1: be the easy pick in the Al West. But it's
14:26
Speaker 1: the same thing with the Astros. I can't condemn them,
14:29
Speaker 1: but at the same time, would you've liked to have
14:31
Speaker 1: seen a little bit more out of them? Would you've
14:33
Speaker 1: liked to see than Maybe and could still happen, of course,
14:36
Speaker 1: trade parades for pitching whatever they might want.
14:40
Speaker 3: Yes, it'll be interesting to see where parades ends up.
14:43
Speaker 3: A lot of folks think, and perhaps the Boston Red
14:45
Speaker 3: Sox on a short term deal. Can I never thought that,
14:48
Speaker 3: sitting here on February fifth, we would be talking about
14:51
Speaker 3: Zach Gallon still without a home. I certainly thought he
14:54
Speaker 3: would go before Fromberveldez. Not apples to apples there, certainly
14:58
Speaker 3: when you're talking about those two start. But what is
15:01
Speaker 3: going on in terms of Zach Gallen. Do the o's
15:05
Speaker 3: now pivot to him? What's your thought there?
15:09
Speaker 1: Not exactly sure, Alana, and I will caution, as I
15:12
Speaker 1: always do, we don't always know what's going on. I
15:15
Speaker 1: don't know that the Detroit Tigers were seen as the
15:17
Speaker 1: team is going to jump out for from ber Valdez.
15:20
Speaker 1: John Hayman had mentioned that a couple of weeks ago
15:22
Speaker 1: as a possibility, but it wasn't seen as a particularly
15:25
Speaker 1: strong possibility, particularly with the schoolbal arbitration looming over them.
15:29
Speaker 1: So things are happening behind the scenes that we, of
15:32
Speaker 1: course do not know about. Now. Gallen has been talking
15:36
Speaker 1: to the Arizona Diamondbacks and in some ways, a short
15:39
Speaker 1: term deal there with opt outs makes the most sense.
15:42
Speaker 1: The Diamondbacks would not have to lose a draft pick
15:45
Speaker 1: to resign Zach Gallen. They wouldn't gain one, but they
15:47
Speaker 1: wouldn't lose one. And because Gallon is the last of
15:51
Speaker 1: the remaining qualifying offer players, the guy tied to draft
15:55
Speaker 1: pick compensation, who is still out there. It is affecting
15:59
Speaker 1: his man. It always does when a player is not
16:02
Speaker 1: coming off his best year or his perhaps scene is
16:04
Speaker 1: not quite the same quality of free agent. That's why
16:07
Speaker 1: you sold four guys accept the qualifying offer this year.
16:10
Speaker 1: They didn't want to run into the situation that Gallen
16:13
Speaker 1: is in right now, so I can see him going
16:16
Speaker 1: back to the Diamondbacks. The Oriols would lose their third
16:19
Speaker 1: highest pick. It's a relatively low pick if they signed him.
16:22
Speaker 1: But there are other pitchers out there that they might
16:24
Speaker 1: consider as well. Chris Bassett, Lucas Gildo, Zach Lttel, all
16:29
Speaker 1: of these guys maybe not as good as Gallan, but
16:32
Speaker 1: he probably would cost more than them as well.
16:35
Speaker 3: Another silly or surprise team or smart team rather in
16:39
Speaker 3: terms of running it back, Kenneth Crawley Junior wants to
16:42
Speaker 3: know what about the Guardians. Is it silly or smart
16:44
Speaker 3: to run it back for them in this upcoming season.
16:46
Speaker 1: They have a lot of young players that they want
16:48
Speaker 1: to incorporate into their mix. Now, their payroll, if I'm
16:53
Speaker 1: not mistaken, and I'm almost positive about this, is lower
16:55
Speaker 1: than it was at the end of last year when they, yes,
16:58
Speaker 1: made the playoffs, But you would expect you make the playoffs,
17:01
Speaker 1: you could spend a little bit more money. They for
17:03
Speaker 1: the most part, have not done that. So I understand
17:06
Speaker 1: where they are low revenue team that wants to take
17:11
Speaker 1: a look at some younger guys and maybe those young
17:13
Speaker 1: guys will pop and they'll be really good. But at
17:16
Speaker 1: the same time, should the Guardians have added would you
17:20
Speaker 1: be more inclined to like them in the Al Central
17:23
Speaker 1: if they had added. The answers to that are yes.
17:26
Speaker 3: Last question here on Grill and Ken. Are the Red
17:29
Speaker 3: Sox done with their infield ken after signing Isaiah Kiner Fileffa.
17:35
Speaker 1: The answer is no. Jem McCaffrey wrote about this in
17:37
Speaker 1: The Athletic. They still want to add an infielder who
17:40
Speaker 1: will give them more offense. Now Ikf is an elite defender,
17:44
Speaker 1: he protects them at various infield spots, enables them some
17:48
Speaker 1: flexibility late in games, perhaps if they want to insert
17:51
Speaker 1: him for defense. So he also gives them the ability
17:55
Speaker 1: to rest a Trevor's story on occasion and whatever they
17:59
Speaker 1: end up doing it second in third base. He can
18:01
Speaker 1: be an alternative. But I still believe and they still
18:04
Speaker 1: are looking for a guy like Iszac Parades who is
18:10
Speaker 1: under control, I believe, for three more years and would
18:13
Speaker 1: cost them certainly, because hey, a guy who's under control
18:17
Speaker 1: always is costly. But I'd have a hard time believing
18:21
Speaker 1: they're going to go into the season with this group
18:23
Speaker 1: and this group alone. They do need one more. They
18:26
Speaker 1: seem to be aware of that.
18:27
Speaker 3: Okay, somebody else asked if it was kind of a
18:29
Speaker 3: panic move on the Boston Red Sox to sign Isaiah
18:33
Speaker 3: Kiner Philippa. I don't believe that to be the case.
18:36
Speaker 3: All right, much more coming up on Fair Territory with
18:38
Speaker 3: Ken Rosenthal. We will be back with our Dude and
18:41
Speaker 3: Dork of the Week right after this bet.
18:43
Speaker 4: I'm JM account holders today. How about in any sport
18:47
Speaker 4: parlay boost token you can score a bigger payout if
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Speaker 4: your wager with that token hits tokens can be used
18:52
Speaker 4: on parlays and on same game parlays. Gambling problem or concerned,
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Speaker 4: there's help called one eight hundred gambler. Dude, dude, do.
19:06
Speaker 2: All right, Ken, who is your Dude of the week.
19:10
Speaker 1: It is going to be the Seattle Mariners with an
19:13
Speaker 1: assist from the Tampa Bay Rays. And I'm talking about
19:16
Speaker 1: the three team trade that brought Brendan Donovan to Seattle,
19:20
Speaker 1: and it was facilitated by the Rays, if not for
19:23
Speaker 1: the Rays taking Ben Williamson in this trade and then
19:26
Speaker 1: giving the Cardinals some additional talent to supplement what Seattle
19:30
Speaker 1: was offering, and this deal doesn't happen. So the Mariners
19:33
Speaker 1: are dudes of the week because they hung in there
19:35
Speaker 1: all off season trying to get this guy who they
19:38
Speaker 1: consider an ideal fit for them, and the Rays because
19:42
Speaker 1: they are perpetually involving themselves in three team deals facilitating
19:46
Speaker 1: the processes. Both of them dudes of the week.
19:49
Speaker 3: All right, mind, Dude of the week a couple of
19:51
Speaker 3: people as well. It goes to Matt Gelb, of course,
19:54
Speaker 3: who did a great job of writing the article, but
19:58
Speaker 3: it also goes to Brad Lynche and Orian Kirkering of
20:03
Speaker 3: the Philadelphia Phillias. Matt Gilb if you haven't read it yet,
20:06
Speaker 3: guys in the Athletic does a great job of kind
20:09
Speaker 3: of explaining the situation with Orion Kirkering of the Phillies,
20:12
Speaker 3: of course, and you know what was the season ending
20:15
Speaker 3: error for him. Now he's embracing the challenges of head
20:18
Speaker 3: and for him to be able to like go through
20:21
Speaker 3: what he went through and obviously heavy on his mind
20:24
Speaker 3: throughout the you know, he wanted to stay there in
20:26
Speaker 3: the off season. I mean, Matt Gilb gets really into
20:29
Speaker 3: the article. It's it's much better if you read it
20:31
Speaker 3: then you take my word for it. But Ken, I'm
20:33
Speaker 3: interested in your thoughts about this as well, because obviously
20:36
Speaker 3: Matt Gilb is a colleague of yours with the Athletic.
20:38
Speaker 3: But you know, we sometimes forget, Ken, that these guys
20:42
Speaker 3: are people before their players, and for Orian Kirkering to
20:46
Speaker 3: have to wear that and a city is passionate about
20:48
Speaker 3: their sports as Philadelphia, and kind of how he's embracing
20:52
Speaker 3: that is interesting.
20:53
Speaker 2: What was your thought on it?
20:54
Speaker 1: Well, Matt Gilb is one of our superstars, that's first
20:57
Speaker 1: of all. And the story is amazing, highly recommended to everyone,
21:01
Speaker 1: and yes, Philly is a tough town. And what happened
21:04
Speaker 1: to Kirkering, as he says in the article, we'll stay
21:06
Speaker 1: with him probably forever. But it seems to me that
21:09
Speaker 1: in recent years the fans in Philly have been pretty forgiving,
21:13
Speaker 1: if that's the right word. If you remember the trade
21:15
Speaker 1: Turner slump, and then gave him the standing ovation, And
21:17
Speaker 1: I expect Kirkering to be warmly received opening day now.
21:21
Speaker 1: If he struggles, different story, but that would be the
21:23
Speaker 1: case for any struggling player. But to see Brad Lidge,
21:27
Speaker 1: who was one of the class acts of the game
21:29
Speaker 1: when he was playing, and of course remains that way,
21:31
Speaker 1: reach out to Kirkering having been there in some respects
21:36
Speaker 1: comparably with the Pooholes home run in the two thousand
21:39
Speaker 1: and five NLCS, Well, that just shows class, and it
21:44
Speaker 1: shows that the guys, the players, they're a family and
21:48
Speaker 1: they know better than anyone what they go through in
21:51
Speaker 1: situations like this. And props to all.
21:53
Speaker 3: Yeah, props to Brad Lidge, Props to Matt Gelban, props
21:57
Speaker 3: certainly to Oriyan Kirkering. All right, time now for our
22:00
Speaker 3: work of the week. Ken, as always, you have the honors.
22:10
Speaker 3: Who are you putting your finger at this week.
22:13
Speaker 1: Thank you, Alana. Let's go with the Minnesota Twins. Okay. Now,
22:17
Speaker 1: not only did they have a mutual parting with their
22:22
Speaker 1: president of operations, Derek Falvey shortly before spring training, that's
22:26
Speaker 1: unusual as well, but beyond that, they replaced Joe Polad
22:32
Speaker 1: with Tom Polad as their lead guy, and Tom Polad
22:35
Speaker 1: in taking over saying, hey, we're gonna compete, We're gonna
22:38
Speaker 1: be good. Well, if you want to compete, you probably
22:42
Speaker 1: have to spend a little bit more money. It's been
22:44
Speaker 1: a sticking point with these guys for several years now,
22:47
Speaker 1: and they have new investors. You can understand why the
22:51
Speaker 1: change was made with Faalve. Tom Polad's knew the investors
22:55
Speaker 1: are new, they are a different group, and he obviously
22:58
Speaker 1: decided I've had enough this. But if you're going to
23:02
Speaker 1: sell yourselves as a competitive team, act like a competitive team.
23:05
Speaker 1: And until then, the Twins, well, their dorks are the weak,
23:09
Speaker 1: but there were remaining dorks until we see a little
23:11
Speaker 1: bit more proactive action from them.
23:14
Speaker 3: I could not wait until my dork of the week
23:16
Speaker 3: because this is just comical. You have lived on the
23:19
Speaker 3: East Coast for a long time, you're no longer on
23:21
Speaker 3: the East Coast, but I am currently residing in the
23:24
Speaker 3: East Coast and we're buried here. We are buried under snow.
23:26
Speaker 3: It's cold, it's awful. But the Atlanta Braves can they're
23:30
Speaker 3: not used to this weather in the South, and they
23:32
Speaker 3: decided to cancel Braves beest because of the thread of snow.
23:37
Speaker 3: Well then the Northern National Weather Service in Atlanta wanted
23:40
Speaker 3: folks to send them pictures of the amount of snow
23:43
Speaker 3: that they got.
23:43
Speaker 1: There.
23:44
Speaker 3: You go, Ken, there's a little sprinkling. I think that's
23:46
Speaker 3: someone's roof there on their car. And peach tree. Look
23:50
Speaker 3: at to cater Decatur just got slammed. Can look at
23:53
Speaker 3: that grill cover? Mind goodness, how could they hope? Oh wow?
23:57
Speaker 3: Not even an inch of snow. And of course they
24:00
Speaker 3: made it a big deal. I understand you're not used
24:02
Speaker 3: to it, but coming from someone that lives on the
24:04
Speaker 3: East Coast, that's embarrassing Georgia. That is embarrassing the Atlanta
24:09
Speaker 3: Braves canceling Braves best fans going nuts. I think they're
24:12
Speaker 3: gonna survive, Ken, I think they're gonna be okay with
24:15
Speaker 3: that snowfall.
24:16
Speaker 2: The what do you think.
24:17
Speaker 1: They'll probably be okay. But I do understand the Braves
24:20
Speaker 1: because once this happens, and I lived in Baltimore for
24:23
Speaker 1: a long time. Atlanta, granted is further south in Baltimore,
24:26
Speaker 1: even but once it happens in a place like that
24:29
Speaker 1: that is not accustomed to it, it gets paralyzed. So
24:33
Speaker 1: the Braves probably did what they had to do. But
24:35
Speaker 1: come on, that wasn't a whole lot of snow. There
24:38
Speaker 1: wasn't a lot of action there.
24:39
Speaker 2: And I understand too.
24:40
Speaker 3: I lived in Los Angeles for seven years, and when
24:42
Speaker 3: it rains there, people act. They don't know how to
24:44
Speaker 3: they lose their minds, they don't have any idea how
24:46
Speaker 3: to drive.
24:47
Speaker 2: Like I get it.
24:48
Speaker 3: I understand, but I had to poke fun of it
24:50
Speaker 3: because we're literally buried under two feet of snow in
24:53
Speaker 3: New England. How the Mariners found out that Brandon Donovan
24:58
Speaker 3: was THEIRS, I didn't. I didn't hear about this, So
25:00
Speaker 3: tell me a little bit more.
25:02
Speaker 1: I wrote about this the other day, the day after
25:04
Speaker 1: the trade. And I love a lot of crazy trade stories.
25:08
Speaker 1: I love covering this stuff in every way, but crazy
25:11
Speaker 1: trade stories, crazy free agent stories, those are my favorites.
25:14
Speaker 1: And this one was right up there. So the Mariners
25:18
Speaker 1: were visiting the Washington State Capitol in Olympia, Washington, because
25:23
Speaker 1: the state Senate there was reading a proclamation adopting a
25:26
Speaker 1: proclamation that day in honor of their season and in
25:28
Speaker 1: honor of cal Raley's historic campaign, and their general manager,
25:33
Speaker 1: Justin Hollander, was standing in the gallery kind of the
25:36
Speaker 1: balcony of the State House as this was going on.
25:39
Speaker 1: When on a group text with Heim Bloom of the
25:42
Speaker 1: Cardinals and Eric Neander of the Rays, and of course
25:46
Speaker 1: Jerry Depoto of the Mariners, he got word from Bloom,
25:49
Speaker 1: you're good to go. We have a deal. Start the medicals,
25:52
Speaker 1: which meant start the medical review process, which is the
25:55
Speaker 1: last step toward finalizing a trade. At that point he
25:59
Speaker 1: bolted out there there was a door that was locked.
26:01
Speaker 1: You had to get it unlocked. Contacted the Mariners medical
26:05
Speaker 1: people said, okay, let's start the review on Donovan. Let's go,
26:08
Speaker 1: and that is how the Mariners found out that they
26:11
Speaker 1: were getting Brendan Donovan after all this time. And the
26:13
Speaker 1: funny part, well, one of the many funny parts of
26:16
Speaker 1: this story is that after Hollander got back and the
26:19
Speaker 1: ceremony was over, different aids and senators were gathered around
26:24
Speaker 1: to Poto and Hollander and Rick Riz was there. They're
26:26
Speaker 1: broadcaster Dan Wilson, their manager, and a lot of people
26:30
Speaker 1: were saying, man, it would be great if we could
26:32
Speaker 1: get Brendan Donovan, and Justin Hollanders said, we're working on it.
26:38
Speaker 1: They not only were working on it, they had them.
26:41
Speaker 3: That's great. That is a good story. That's a fun
26:44
Speaker 3: one that ends in a good way. And Rick Riz, congratulations,
26:47
Speaker 3: it says last year calling Mariners baseball, So enjoy your
26:51
Speaker 3: retirement year one of the best in the business. Well,
26:54
Speaker 3: thanks everybody for watching and listening. Foul Territory is next.
26:58
Speaker 3: Ag appears in. Eric and Scott Braun are going to
27:01
Speaker 3: welcome in Bob Nightingale brock Stewart and J. P.
27:04
Speaker 2: Sears. Fair is back on Monday with Ken Talk to
27:07
Speaker 2: you then,