Latest / Foul Territory / Way-too-early Power Rankings, Astros name Randy Flores GM, Skubal spots, HOF Exec/Manager candidates

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Way-too-early Power Rankings, Astros name Randy Flores GM, Skubal spots, HOF Exec/Manager candidates · Foul Territory

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Happy Monday, first Monday of the offseason, or as some
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: call it, the winter season. Broncrats, Brzezinski, and deadlines coming.
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: So free agency begins for some people during the time
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: that they're listening to this. If you're watching or listening
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: live right now, we're hours away. But you have until
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: 5 o'clock, and then let's do it. You can sign
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: with other teams. Also, qualifying offers are due, and then
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: players have a week to decide.
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: Do you guys know what the qualifying offer number is at?
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: If you saw it, then disqualify yourself. 23. That's right.
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: 23.15 million to be exact.
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: So if you would like a player who is eligible
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: and you're a team, then you send that out and
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: the player has a week to accept it or they
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: reject it, but then you get punished a little bit
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: when you're in free agency.
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: And before we get to top news.
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: Why are we even doing this? Why are we even
• 1:03
  Speaker 3: doing the qualifying offer? It's not going to be there
• 1:04
  Speaker 3: in the new CBA. That's going to be the one
• 1:06
  Speaker 3: thing the players are going to try to get rid of.
• 1:08
  Speaker 3: And the owners are going to say, OK, well, you know,
• 1:10
  Speaker 3: give us a salary cap. We'll get rid of it.
• 1:11
  Speaker 3: I mean, I feel like this is going to be
• 1:13
  Speaker 3: one of the big arguments for players that they're going
• 1:15
  Speaker 3: to try and get rid of.
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: But I agree with you.
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: But if the qualifying offers happen, those are contracts that
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: are signed. So they're guaranteed contracts. If it does get booted,
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: I think it gets booted. after this off season, after
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: this winter season, whatever it is, you.
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: Know what I'm saying?
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: So like if you're Trent Grisham from last year and
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: you're like, Oh damn, Yankees want to give me $ 20 million.
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: You take that after the lockout ends, that would be
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: a contract for $ 20 million.
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: They're not going to get rid of that. You know
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: what I'm saying?
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: Like they're not going to eliminate a guaranteed deal. So
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: after this off season, that could be a thing, but
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: it depends. I mean, last time around, they tried to
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: make that exchange during, the international draft talk and it
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: didn't end up happening.
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: So we'll see.
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: But either way, I mean, AJ, if you were a
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: player that felt like 23 million is a good number
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: for you and you weren't sure if you were going
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: to get that much in free agency, you're grabbing the
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: qualifying offer and then you sit through the lockout and
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: also you already have a team.
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: That's a factor this year. You have a team.
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: A lot of guys are going to have to wait
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: to figure out who their team is until March, April, May, whatever.
• 2:29
  Speaker 3: True. But I don't know. It just seems like a
• 2:31
  Speaker 3: lot for something that could not possibly be there in
• 2:34
  Speaker 3: a couple months or, you know, well, it's going to
• 2:36
  Speaker 3: be more than a couple months, a long time when
• 2:39
  Speaker 3: they ever do settle this. So I don't know. Maybe
• 2:42
  Speaker 3: it'll still be there. Maybe it won't be. I just
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: feel like maybe we should have just, they should have
• 2:45
  Speaker 3: just waited on this one. But yeah, if you're a
• 2:47
  Speaker 3: guy and you think you're worth 23 million, you can't
• 2:49
  Speaker 3: get more than that in the free agent market, then
• 2:51
  Speaker 3: jump on it. Yeah.
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: But my only point is if they do it, it
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: gets implemented next time, not this time.
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: They're not going to take away a contract. You know
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: what I'm saying?
• 3:04
  Speaker 3: Who knows what they're going to try and do?
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: I mean, I'm sure they would love to, but they're
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: not going to.
• 3:09
  Speaker 3: NHL gave back 25% of their guaranteed contracts. Right.
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: That was because they didn't hit their number.
• 3:15
  Speaker 3: That was a contract, Scott. Steph Curry had to give
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: back money. He had a guaranteed contract. He had to
• 3:19
  Speaker 3: give back money this year. So who knows what they're
• 3:21
  Speaker 3: going to try and do?
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: You're right.
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: That's if the entire system changes and you go off
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: a cap and then you can take money away from
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: player contracts. That is a good point. All right, let's
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: get to a signing, not a player signing. Randy Flores
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: is the name. He takes over as general manager of
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: the Houston Astros. We've been following this story for a while.
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: This was not the front runner, AJ, but he ends
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: up getting the job and he comes with a good
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: track record. It was an interesting winding road for Jim
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: Crane to decide who is going to be his right-hand
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: man in terms of roster decisions he said in the
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: press conference today that they went through about eight or
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: nine serious candidates and they ended up with randy now
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: if you read some good writers behind the scenes it
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: appears as if randy was not the first choice that
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: was uh what's the name matthew klein yeah matt klein
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: matt klein from the brewers and aj summarizing here it
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: sounds like klein wanted a little more authority and to
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: be able to change things up and the ashers were
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: like whoa whoa whoa whoa well, let's do some things,
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: but you're not going to rewrite the wheel here.
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: So he said, see ya.
• 4:31
  Speaker 3: Good for him. If he wants a job and he
• 4:33
  Speaker 3: didn't think it was the right fit, then why do it?
• 4:35
  Speaker 3: But congratulations to Randy Flores, former pitcher. I know he's
• 4:38
  Speaker 3: with the Cardinals for a long time. Yeah, we'll see
• 4:42
  Speaker 3: how long he lasts in Houston. I mean, all he's
• 4:44
  Speaker 3: got to do is win a World Series to keep
• 4:46
  Speaker 3: his job. Oh, wait, no, that doesn't work. Oh, wait,
• 4:47
  Speaker 3: be leading the division to keep your job. No, wait,
• 4:49
  Speaker 3: that doesn't work. Win a World Series. Nope, I don't
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: know what you have to do to keep your job
• 4:54
  Speaker 3: with Jim Crane, but Good luck, Randy Flores. Maybe you'll
• 4:57
  Speaker 3: be the one to crack the code. Yeah, kind of
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: a tough code to crack. Kind of a tough, you know,
• 5:04
  Speaker 3: things that you're hearing that there was a lot that
• 5:07
  Speaker 3: we're sitting here going, I don't know. Maybe I don't
• 5:11
  Speaker 3: want this job. So whether that's true or not, Randy
• 5:15
  Speaker 3: Flores clearly has success with the Cardinals. He was there
• 5:20
  Speaker 3: when they were successful. He saw them kind of start
• 5:23
  Speaker 3: their rebuild under a new GM. So he's learned under
• 5:26
  Speaker 3: Two GMs before, and maybe that's what they like to see,
• 5:30
  Speaker 3: a little bit of experience in that direction. And reality
• 5:34
  Speaker 3: is Jim Crane's the one in charge.
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: I'm going to go straight to what I think is
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: an interesting layer of this, and then we can start
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: to look at other parts of Flores.
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: And actually, one more quick part here, too, if you
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: know the name.
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: He was the guy who replaced Chris Correa in 2015
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: with the Cardinals. And that was the exec who had
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: a 46-month prison sentence, I guess that's over at this point,
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: for hacking into an Astros personnel and scouting database, 2013
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: and 2014. He served some hard time for that. And
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: Flo has done nothing wrong. He just was the guy
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: who replaced him at the time. That was a pretty
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: big story. We would have covered that if there was
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: an FT back then pretty extensively. But the main thing
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: I want to talk about here, AJ, that I think
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: will be interesting to fans is the manager search. So
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: they already have talked to at least a couple people
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: before they officially hired him, and that includes, I think,
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: a Brad Ausmus visit recently in Houston. But there was
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: one tweet that talked about a potential Albert Pujols linking,
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: and that came from our guy Chandler Rome, who covers
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: the team with the Athletic and Crushed City Territory, he
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: said because of where flow is coming from, this is
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: going to be automatic speculation. That's all this is, but
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: can you imagine Pujols managing the Astros? Because you have
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: the connectivity there, and AJ, you see some of the
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: other connectivities with guys who could manage a team.
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: St.
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: Louis bench coach Daniel Descalso, quality control coach over with
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: the Cardinals, John Jay. There are a number of guys,
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: maybe even a Yachty conversation since Ali Marmo will be there.
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: There are a number of people related to the Cardinals
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: who want to manage.
• 7:21
  Speaker 3: Yeah. But do they want to manage the Astros? That's
• 7:24
  Speaker 3: the next question. Do they want to manage the Astros
• 7:27
  Speaker 3: or are they waiting for an opportunity to manage the Cardinals? Listen,
• 7:29
  Speaker 3: I saw Albert Pujols at the World Series. I asked him,
• 7:31
  Speaker 3: are you going to get a job? And he's just
• 7:32
  Speaker 3: kind of like, I don't know. He's like, I would
• 7:34
  Speaker 3: love to have the opportunity, but I don't know. So
• 7:36
  Speaker 3: maybe this is his opening to get Randy Flores to
• 7:39
  Speaker 3: hire him as the GM. I really don't understand. I
• 7:42
  Speaker 3: don't know. Who knows what his candidates could be? It
• 7:44
  Speaker 3: could be Some guy we never heard of that's an
• 7:47
  Speaker 3: A-ball instructor with the Astros or the Cardinals. I mean,
• 7:50
  Speaker 3: the way these hirings go nowadays, it could be anybody.
• 7:53
  Speaker 3: It could be someone we're not even talking about that
• 7:55
  Speaker 3: has no– it could be some college coach that we've
• 7:57
  Speaker 3: never even heard of. Who knows? Who did Randy Flores
• 7:58
  Speaker 3: play for in college? It could be him. We don't
• 8:01
  Speaker 3: know because there's no rhyme or reason to who gets
• 8:04
  Speaker 3: a job and why they get the job. It's just, oh,
• 8:05
  Speaker 3: the GM has heard this guy's pretty good. We'll hire him.
• 8:09
  Speaker 3: I feel like there's a little bit different– a lot
• 8:13
  Speaker 3: of difference in Yachty and Pujols. And it's really a
• 8:16
  Speaker 3: matter of what Jim Crane wants. I don't know if
• 8:18
  Speaker 3: Jim Crane wants to be the guy like, hey, you know,
• 8:21
  Speaker 3: we'll take a first-time manager. He tried that with Joe Espada.
• 8:25
  Speaker 3: How did it work out? I mean, I would think
• 8:27
  Speaker 3: from Jim Crane's point of view, it was successful. But
• 8:32
  Speaker 3: does he want to give Pujols the opportunity that other
• 8:37
  Speaker 3: teams clearly are not willing to give him as of
• 8:40
  Speaker 3: now or hasn't connected? Does Yachty say, I want to
• 8:43
  Speaker 3: manage so bad that I'll leave my beloved St. Louis?
• 8:49
  Speaker 3: That's the discussion that clearly Randy Flores has to hit
• 8:53
  Speaker 3: the ground running because that's his first order of business.
• 8:57
  Speaker 3: I would not be surprised, by the way, if it's
• 9:00
  Speaker 3: not Brad Ausmus. I would kind of not be surprised
• 9:02
  Speaker 3: if it wasn't Brad Ausmus. If he was in the
• 9:04
  Speaker 3: building like we're hearing, he's super tight with Jeff Bagwell,
• 9:07
  Speaker 3: who's super tight with Jim Crane. He's managed before. He's
• 9:11
  Speaker 3: an Astros– I'm not going to call him a legend,
• 9:14
  Speaker 3: but he's an Astros player, ex-player. And it seems like
• 9:18
  Speaker 3: he would be a perfect fit. He wants to manage again.
• 9:20
  Speaker 3: I mean, they better get him some PR training. Perfect
• 9:26
  Speaker 3: fit or like the perfect fit with Jim Crane and
• 9:30
  Speaker 3: I don't know. Jeff Bagwell. I've heard a lot of
• 9:31
  Speaker 3: misreviews about Brad Ausmus as a manager. So that's what
• 9:35
  Speaker 3: I'm coming for. One of his best friends, Kratz. One
• 9:38
  Speaker 3: of his best friends is Jeff Bagwell. Jim Crane's one
• 9:40
  Speaker 3: of his best friends is Jeff Bagwell. There was a
• 9:43
  Speaker 3: connection there. People in Houston really like him. He was
• 9:46
  Speaker 3: the bench coach for the Yankees the last couple years.
• 9:50
  Speaker 3: It seems like an easy hire with not a lot
• 9:51
  Speaker 3: of explaining to have to do. Wow. Bagwell gets another
• 9:56
  Speaker 3: place to send all that. his information. He doesn't want
• 10:01
  Speaker 3: to be the GM, but he's the one that's got
• 10:03
  Speaker 3: Jim Crane's ear. He doesn't want to be the manager,
• 10:05
  Speaker 3: but he's got Brad Ausmus' ear. You see Bagwell back
• 10:11
  Speaker 3: there just puppeteering from the front row.
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: Yeah, this is the ultimate test right off the jump, right? If.
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: Ausmus gets the job, then we know Randy Flores is
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: going to have a lot of trouble talking his owner
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: into doing things. If he gets a Cardinals guy, I
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: think it's actually a really good sign from Jim Crane
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: to say, hey, dude, bring your people over. You've done
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: some really good things. We can show a board with
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: how impressive some of his drafts have been. This is
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: someone who has built up a really nice core and
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: has helped build up a nice core for the Cardinals.
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: He was doing some good work just recently with Hein
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: Blum over the last couple years behind the scenes, but
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: I'm totally with you, AJ.
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: It's a great call.
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: You know that most likely he's tight with at least
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: one or two of these Cardinals guys that we're talking about.
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: And here's the list, by the way, of what he's
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: put together as far as drafts. I mean, many of
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: these guys are big league contributors right now. Jordan Walker,
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: Mason Wynn, Alec Burleson, J.J. Weatherholt, Donovan obviously has moved on,
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: but it was great for them. Edmund He even drafted Gallin.
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: That was a trade eventually when Gallin didn't like the
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: Cardinal way. I'm kidding, but go back to the interview
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: with us.
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: It was funny.
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: Anyway, I'm totally with you, AJ, because there is a
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: very small chance that Ausmus would be his choice. And also,
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: just to be fair, and I know I agree with you,
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: Kratz and AJ, he does have to do some PR
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: training because I think it was well known in the
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: industry that that was not really his thing when he
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: was managing multiple times.
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: I can attest to that firsthand, too. Um, the success too.
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: You can attest that.
• 11:50
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: I mean, I, I have some fun interviews that I
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: can show where I mean, it's super, it was fine.
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: It wasn't mean.
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: He just, you know, one word answer. You can't do
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: that anymore. You gotta be a look at Pat Murphy.
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: I mean, the guy can just absolutely talk your ear off,
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: give you amazing stories, manipulate at times in a good way, right.
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: To get a player motivated. There's so many things that
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: you can do and you've got to represent your, your brand,
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: your team.
• 12:13
  Speaker 3: You gotta be able to hold a room. You gotta
• 12:15
  Speaker 3: be able to hold a room. Yeah.
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: That's important.
• 12:17
  Speaker 3: It's hard. It's hard for a lot of people to
• 12:20
  Speaker 3: figure out. And honestly, I know nowadays the GM and
• 12:24
  Speaker 3: the president of baseball have all the power, but the
• 12:26
  Speaker 3: face of every franchise is still the manager. And the
• 12:29
  Speaker 3: manager has to do three press conferences a day, two
• 12:31
  Speaker 3: to three press conferences every day. They have to be
• 12:34
  Speaker 3: able to hold a room, hold people's attention, hold people accountable,
• 12:37
  Speaker 3: communicate with both the front office and the players, and
• 12:40
  Speaker 3: then go out and try to run a baseball game
• 12:42
  Speaker 3: without stepping on the GM and president's toes. There's a
• 12:45
  Speaker 3: lot that goes into being the manager of a team.
• 12:48
  Speaker 3: It's not just, oh, who are we going to play today?
• 12:50
  Speaker 3: There's so much that goes behind the scenes. And that's why,
• 12:51
  Speaker 3: I mean, honestly, look at Dave Roberts, great at it. Murph,
• 12:54
  Speaker 3: great at it. Brian Snicker was great at it with
• 12:56
  Speaker 3: the Braves, right? These are people that could talk to everybody.
• 12:59
  Speaker 3: They were able to understand everyone, where they were coming from,
• 13:02
  Speaker 3: and they were able to communicate what the front office
• 13:04
  Speaker 3: wanted and what the players wanted, and they would mesh
• 13:07
  Speaker 3: it together with the coaches. That's what you have to
• 13:09
  Speaker 3: be in today's world. Bruce Bochy was great at it.
• 13:12
  Speaker 3: You have to be a real– Joe Maddon. You have
• 13:14
  Speaker 3: to be a really good communicator and make everyone feel
• 13:16
  Speaker 3: like they're the answer.
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and Auspice had one of the best teams I've
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: ever seen talent-wise with Miggy and Max Scherzer.
• 13:25
  Speaker 3: Verlander. Verlander.
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: Price was on that team. It was nuts. I mean,
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: that team was ridiculous.
• 13:31
  Speaker 3: Corey Hunter, Austin Jackson, Alex Avila. Prince was Prince Fielder
• 13:36
  Speaker 3: on that team.
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: I mean, they had, they were, they needed an experienced
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: manager there and it just, it wasn't the fit at
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: the time. You can grow. He's been with the Yanks
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: bench coach, all that.
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: So this is less about Ausmus and more about crane
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: and flow Flores and their relationship and how much crane's
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: going to let him do now in the presser today.
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: Cause I saw some of it. Jim crane did say, Hey,
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: I'm going to let him do his thing. I'm very
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: hands-on involved on the business side. I'm like businesses. And like,
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: should we pay this player in free agency or trade
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: for this player? Like when you rejected the, Brian Abreu
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: trade for Trevor Larnik.
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: Here's the thing.
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: We've talked a lot about this, so I want to
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: make sure that we don't catch someone for the first
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: time that is unaware of at least my opinion, AJ.
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: Jim Crane knows ball. He is very involved as an owner,
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: and sometimes he makes smart decisions. Other times he doesn't,
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: and you should maybe leave it to your GM. So
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: he is one of the more interesting owners to work for,
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: like you mentioned, because job security could be low, and
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: he will reject trades, I would say, more so than
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: most owners would.
• 14:35
  Speaker 3: But he also wants to win, and he keeps saying
• 14:38
  Speaker 3: he won't have a rebuild. But in order to not
• 14:40
  Speaker 3: have a rebuild, you have to be able to make
• 14:41
  Speaker 3: the right moves in order to refresh the farm system.
• 14:44
  Speaker 3: I mean, every team, no matter how good a team is,
• 14:47
  Speaker 3: at some point they're going to have to go through
• 14:50
  Speaker 3: some sort of a rebuild. I mean, we can look
• 14:52
  Speaker 3: at the Dodgers this offseason. There are some moves that
• 14:54
  Speaker 3: they're probably going to have to make. They're not going
• 14:56
  Speaker 3: to call it a rebuild, but they're going to have
• 14:58
  Speaker 3: to make some moves to try to get a little
• 14:59
  Speaker 3: bit younger, and those are where the GM and the
• 15:01
  Speaker 3: president of baseball have to make the tough, tough calls.
• 15:05
  Speaker 3: The Dodgers went through a mini-rebuild when they were waiting
• 15:07
  Speaker 3: for Shohei to come out of free agency. That was
• 15:09
  Speaker 3: their mini-rebuild. I think this is what we want from
• 15:13
  Speaker 3: every owner. I don't think you can have a hands-off
• 15:17
  Speaker 3: owner that wants to win. I think there's levels of hands-off,
• 15:21
  Speaker 3: but I would prefer my owner to be more like
• 15:23
  Speaker 3: Jim Crane, who's like, I never want to rebuild. I
• 15:26
  Speaker 3: always want this to be sustainable. I always want to
• 15:28
  Speaker 3: make the moves. He's going to have his say in
• 15:33
  Speaker 3: Because we have too many owners on this side that
• 15:35
  Speaker 3: are going, you guys take care of it. If it
• 15:41
  Speaker 3: takes a little bit of time, I'll keep line in
• 15:43
  Speaker 3: my pockets. Jim wants to win.
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: Yeah, a good call.
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: Some GMs, just to be frank, have had jobs for
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: too long, too, where they're on the five-year plan that
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: turns into the 10-year plan. Then you look back and
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: you're like, they haven't really won much. And I agree
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: with you, Jim. I'd rather have the Jim Crane. If
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: you're an Astros fan, you are lucky to have Jim
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: Crane as an owner. That's a good way to cap off.
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: segment we'll see who they pick as the manager and
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: also a reminder to everyone to please subscribe to foul
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: territory so it's off season mode subscribe to the show
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: if you're watching right now if you're watching a clip
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: if you haven't already we've been around for like four
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: years so be cool power rankings yes we're not going
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: to do this all the time in the off season
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: we rarely do but There are two reasons why we're
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: doing this right now. One is the Athletic came out
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: with their 2027 way too early MLB power rankings and
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: where teams stand now. Their list includes teams with their
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: current rosters and not the free agents. Of course, those
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: free agents mostly are going to end up elsewhere. That's
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: reason number one. Reason number two is that some people
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: wanted to see AJ move the Brewers to the top.
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: Spot at one point.
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: I felt like it was probably like a 70-30 split
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: in terms of how many people ended up putting the Brewers–
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: number one in the power rankings at some point during
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: the season. So, A.J., will you now put the Brewers
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: at the number one spot in your offseason power rankings?
• 17:09
  Speaker 3: Yes. They are there. You know why, Scott? Because they're
• 17:13
  Speaker 3: the world champions, and that's what we play the game for,
• 17:15
  Speaker 3: as Jim Bowden said. We play the game. You play
• 17:18
  Speaker 3: to win the game, in the immortal words of Herm Edwards, okay?
• 17:21
  Speaker 3: And they won the game. Not only did they win
• 17:23
  Speaker 3: the game, they were almost as good as the 2005
• 17:25
  Speaker 3: White Sox. They won 11-2 in the postseason. not quite 11-1,
• 17:30
  Speaker 3: but they did an unbelievable job in this postseason. They
• 17:32
  Speaker 3: beat the Dodgers. They beat the Padres, who gave them
• 17:36
  Speaker 3: actually the best time, and they beat the best team
• 17:37
  Speaker 3: in the American League, which was the Rays. So, yes,
• 17:40
  Speaker 3: right now the Brewers in my power rankings are number one.
• 17:43
  Speaker 3: I didn't understand the criteria we were doing this on,
• 17:45
  Speaker 3: but I made up my own power rankings. So here
• 17:47
  Speaker 3: we go. Brewers one, Dodgers two, Braves three, just going forward.
• 17:53
  Speaker 3: Rays four, because I think they keep Rasmussen. Five, the
• 17:56
  Speaker 3: Yankees are always going to be there. Red Sox right
• 17:59
  Speaker 3: there because they have money. Guardians just make crowds happy.
• 18:02
  Speaker 3: White Sox are there because they had a good year.
• 18:03
  Speaker 3: They have a young core coming. Padres, I think the
• 18:06
  Speaker 3: new owners will come in and spend some money. And
• 18:08
  Speaker 3: last but not least, you know what? I threw the
• 18:09
  Speaker 3: Mets in there. Why? Just to piss everybody off. And
• 18:11
  Speaker 3: also because I didn't know the criteria. I think the
• 18:14
  Speaker 3: Mets are going to go out, maybe sign a scooble
• 18:16
  Speaker 3: or sign someone else to help their rotation. And I
• 18:18
  Speaker 3: think they're going to be better by the end. I
• 18:20
  Speaker 3: don't know what the criteria was for this. So that's
• 18:22
  Speaker 3: what I came up with. So you can at me
• 18:24
  Speaker 3: if you want. I don't really care. But yes, the
• 18:26
  Speaker 3: Brewers are number one.
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: That's fine. You can, you can set your own criteria.
• 18:30
  Speaker 2: We don't have hard and fast rules.
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: I was just mentioning the list we're going to show
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: you at one point from the athletic is a list
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: in their mind that includes teams where they currently stand.
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: Yours was projecting a little bit on teams that you
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: think are going to be very active in the off
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: season and that you're feeling high on.
• 18:45
  Speaker 2: I think that's fine.
• 18:47
  Speaker 3: It was kind of in between some teams. I felt
• 18:49
  Speaker 3: high on the off season. Some teams like the brewers
• 18:51
  Speaker 3: I felt high on now. So it was kind of
• 18:52
  Speaker 3: like a, It was kind of like a whatever I
• 18:55
  Speaker 3: want to do kind of list. And that's what happens
• 18:57
  Speaker 3: when I forget. And producer lady tells me seven seconds
• 19:00
  Speaker 3: before the show I need power rankings. And I get
• 19:01
  Speaker 3: it done. You did.
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: And also the main point for you was making sure
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: that we finally got the Brewers over the hump.
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: And we did.
• 19:09
  Speaker 3: And what did I say?
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: You said that the Dodgers are number one until someone
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: beats them.
• 19:15
  Speaker 2: And they got dusted.
• 19:17
  Speaker 3: They got ass whooped. They got ass whooped. I mean,
• 19:21
  Speaker 3: everyone pretty much got their ass whooped by the Brewers.
• 19:24
  Speaker 2: They did.
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: They won 103 games. They just dominated from front to
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: back the entire season. We'll get Eric's list in a moment. AJ,
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: do you feel like the Brewers are going to carry
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: that torch the way the Dodgers did? Or do you
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: think there could be times next season, if the Brewers struggle,
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: that you would bump them down?
• 19:45
  Speaker 3: Well, this isn't going into next season. This is right now.
• 19:48
  Speaker 2: No, I know.
• 19:48
  Speaker 3: But it was a.
• 19:49
  Speaker 2: projected question.
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: I just want to know, because this past season you're like, sorry,
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: the Dodgers just won and all that.
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: Do you think the Brewers will be in that state
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: where they'll be number one?
• 20:00
  Speaker 3: No, the Brewers won't open the season at number one.
• 20:02
  Speaker 3: I can almost promise you that. Actually, you know what?
• 20:05
  Speaker 3: I can 100% guarantee the Brewers won't open number one.
• 20:07
  Speaker 3: in the power rankings next season, depending on what happens.
• 20:10
  Speaker 3: I just can't see a way they're going to be
• 20:11
  Speaker 3: number one.
• 20:13
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, you would imagine they're going to shed
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: a player or two. That's usually what they do. Kratz,
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: what are you doing?
• 20:22
  Speaker 3: Compared to his list? Yeah, what are you doing with
• 20:24
  Speaker 3: your list? No, what are you doing with your list?
• 20:26
  Speaker 3: I mean, my list is I did not have the
• 20:30
  Speaker 3: Brewers one. I had the Dodgers one. I had the
• 20:33
  Speaker 3: Brewers two. I went Braves, Yankees. Rays, Phillies, Padres, Guardians, Cubs,
• 20:43
  Speaker 3: Blue Jays. And I feel confident because producer lady said
• 20:50
  Speaker 3: in the show today in our pre-meeting, she told me
• 20:53
  Speaker 3: exactly the criteria. So I was not confused at all.
• 20:56
  Speaker 3: And that's why my power rankings are 100% correct. Just
• 21:00
  Speaker 3: like my last power rankings were 100% correct that the
• 21:02
  Speaker 3: Brewers were the number one power-ranked team in baseball, and
• 21:08
  Speaker 3: sure enough, they won. Well, that's over. Move on. The
• 21:12
  Speaker 3: Dodgers are number one again.
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: Okay, so I'm going to represent Brewers fans and many
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: other fans that just watched the Brewers dominate. Because basically,
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: Kratz already has them at two. AJ said that by
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: the time we get to next season, he's going to
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: have them below one. The Brewers aren't really losing much
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: unless they start dealing many players away, right? Maybe McGill
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: gets traded. We don't know that for sure. They actually
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: are a team in my mind, Kratz. They could say
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: that many of their young players will be better, including
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: one of the top farm systems in the sport. Not
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: every team could say every player is going to get better,
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: but man, they got some young guys, like some really
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: young guys that should be continuing to progress. You know,
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: the Cheerios, the Prats, Jesus Mate is the best prospect
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: in baseball right now and should.
• 21:59
  Speaker 2: Appear next season.
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: So again, Why wouldn't the Brewers be able to main
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: their number one spot, even if they don't do much
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: damage in free agency, which they normally don't?
• 22:09
  Speaker 2: And they're kind of proving a model where they don't
• 22:11
  Speaker 2: like to do that.
• 22:12
  Speaker 3: I want all the Brewers fans who hated on me
• 22:14
  Speaker 3: to now hate on Kratz because he's Mr. Brewer legend guy.
• 22:17
  Speaker 3: And he didn't put them in number one after they
• 22:19
  Speaker 3: just won the World Series. So all you Brewer fans,
• 22:22
  Speaker 3: you can all go hate on him.
• 22:24
  Speaker 2: Him.
• 22:25
  Speaker 3: Over there, him. Me. I picked the Brewers to be
• 22:28
  Speaker 3: number one in my last power ranking, and they proved it.
• 22:32
  Speaker 3: The season's over. And you know why I didn't pick
• 22:35
  Speaker 3: them as number one? Because maybe I went a little
• 22:39
  Speaker 3: farther out. Maybe I went too far out, and it's
• 22:41
  Speaker 3: not just a right now thing. Because besides the fact
• 22:45
  Speaker 3: that the Dodgers won back-to-back world championships, it's so freaking
• 22:49
  Speaker 3: hard to do. It's so... hard to do i don't
• 22:53
  Speaker 3: care if you're getting better as you know scott harris
• 22:57
  Speaker 3: said that well we're a year older so we're going
• 22:58
  Speaker 3: to be better hitters like this was the best most
• 23:01
  Speaker 3: best scoring team in the game this was the best
• 23:04
  Speaker 3: bullpen in the game this was an incredible rotation with
• 23:07
  Speaker 3: a cy young i get all of that stuff but
• 23:10
  Speaker 3: we're talking about power rankings it doesn't mean i'm not
• 23:13
  Speaker 3: picking them to win the division it just means it's
• 23:15
  Speaker 3: so hard to do to repeat as the number one
• 23:19
  Speaker 3: team in back-to-back years So that's why I went. And
• 23:22
  Speaker 3: you know what? A superpower is rest. Dodgers got a
• 23:25
  Speaker 3: little extra rest this year.
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: Yeah, the Brewers are going to get some extra rest
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: with the lockout potentially. But I know Kratz is a
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: little more optimistic than most people are. I still think
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: this is unfair, though. I mean, the Dodgers were hanging
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: around the top spot for a while. And the Brewers can't.
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: The Brewers are a young team.
• 23:48
  Speaker 3: Absolutely.
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: You think they're going to struggle with the World Series
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: hangover the same way?
• 23:52
  Speaker 3: Struggle or just be the second best?
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: Not be the best.
• 23:57
  Speaker 3: Not be the best? It's so hard to do. Like
• 24:00
  Speaker 3: the Dodgers, I'm not picking a team that won like
• 24:03
  Speaker 3: 93 games in the Brewers. Like they won three less
• 24:06
  Speaker 3: games in a down year, the Dodgers did, than the
• 24:11
  Speaker 3: best team in baseball. The Brewers were the best team
• 24:14
  Speaker 3: in baseball at the end of the season. Brewers fans,
• 24:17
  Speaker 3: Krauts hates the Dodgers. Brewers fans, Krauts hates the Dodgers. No,
• 24:22
  Speaker 3: he hates the Brewers. He hates the Brewers, Brewers fans.
• 24:25
  Speaker 3: Get him! Attack him! Attack! That's why the beautiful artwork
• 24:31
  Speaker 3: that our incredible producer lady did is space. We're looking
• 24:36
  Speaker 3: out into the future right now. It's space. We're going
• 24:40
  Speaker 3: so far out. We're looking at who they have. And
• 24:44
  Speaker 3: you know what? I like what the Dodgers have going
• 24:47
  Speaker 3: into next season, and it is just hard, hard, hard, hard,
• 24:51
  Speaker 3: hard to do, especially when you say, okay, let's say
• 24:55
  Speaker 3: the Brewers win 97 games next year. Like they're probably
• 24:58
  Speaker 3: going to be projected to win 88 games because the
• 25:02
  Speaker 3: projections never get what the Brewers do. They win 97 games.
• 25:05
  Speaker 3: Is that a down year? No, I don't think so.
• 25:08
  Speaker 3: But I think the Dodgers had a down year and
• 25:10
  Speaker 3: won 100 games in the regular season.
• 25:12
  Speaker 2: Okay. You just brought up this part, too, and we
• 25:15
  Speaker 2: can see it as we look at the athletics.
• 25:17
  Speaker 3: Power rankings to compare.
• 25:19
  Speaker 2: Well, AJ, you missed Friday.
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: I mean, you say one ounce off about William Contreras
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: right now, and Brewers fans were coming after him on
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: one of our YouTube clips.
• 25:29
  Speaker 2: I don't know if you even saw it.
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: Yeah, he didn't say William Contreras is perfect and should
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: make $ 800 million. I actually disagreed with him, and I
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: would re-sign him. for a good pretty penny, most money
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: of any catcher right now based on the market. But anyway,
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: I digress. The part I wanted to point out was
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: on each graphic, there are custom backpacks for the little astronauts.
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: There was one that said Eric, one that said, or
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: one that said E, one that said AJ, and then
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: here's the athletics rankings. So if you missed that so
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: far and you want to backtrack, if you're watching, then,
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: then do that. Don't miss the details.
• 26:04
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: Athletic power ranks. I got to read it since we
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: have a podcast crowd too. They put the Brewers at one,
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: the Dodgers at two, And then here's the bone to
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: pick that I'll mention while I give you the rest.
• 26:14
  Speaker 2: There's a ton of AL on this list. They have
• 26:16
  Speaker 2: the Yankees three, Rays four, Red Sox five, Braves six.
• 26:20
  Speaker 2: They put the Blue Jays seven, the Phillies eight, the
• 26:23
  Speaker 2: Cubs nine, the Mariners ten. No Padres on here. Thoughts
• 26:27
  Speaker 2: on this list right now? I mean, AJ, for me,
• 26:31
  Speaker 2: for example, I don't know.
• 26:32
  Speaker 3: Here's the problem with the Mariners. The Mariners are going
• 26:34
  Speaker 3: to trade some of their starting pitching. they already said
• 26:37
  Speaker 3: they're going to have to. So that was their power.
• 26:40
  Speaker 3: They're going to lose some of that, whoever that is.
• 26:43
  Speaker 3: The Cubs have no rotation right now, so that's impossible.
• 26:45
  Speaker 3: I just don't like the Cubs. I couldn't have put
• 26:47
  Speaker 3: them in the top ten. Phillies, they're aging fast, as
• 26:51
  Speaker 3: crowds can tell you. He knows that. I mean, who
• 26:54
  Speaker 3: knows what they're going to do this offseason. The Blue
• 26:56
  Speaker 3: Jays missed the playoffs and didn't look real good doing it. So,
• 26:59
  Speaker 3: I mean, they're another team that's like, do I really
• 27:01
  Speaker 3: want to have them that high? So that's kind of
• 27:04
  Speaker 3: my big thing. That's why I didn't have those last
• 27:06
  Speaker 3: four on my list at all. You can argue with me.
• 27:09
  Speaker 3: I put the Mets on, but that was just for
• 27:10
  Speaker 3: fun so people would talk trash to me.
• 27:15
  Speaker 2: But, yeah, I mean, that's my thing, right? Blue Jays
• 27:18
  Speaker 2: and Mariners sneak on here.
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: The one thing we did learn that I don't think
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: is going to change, will it shift a little bit?
• 27:26
  Speaker 2: Sure.
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: But the National League was so much better than the
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: American League. And then guess what happened in the World Series?
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: The Brewers almost swept the Rays, and they ended up
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: winning in five games.
• 27:37
  Speaker 2: So I think our theory proved true.
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: And with that, I think that it's a little disrespectful
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: to put so many American League teams on the first
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: power rankings of the offseason.
• 27:46
  Speaker 2: Is that a fair argument?
• 27:47
  Speaker 3: I would agree. I mean, think of the last three
• 27:51
  Speaker 3: teams that were in it. I say the Padres, Dodgers, Brewers. Yes,
• 27:58
  Speaker 3: I get it. There was other teams that were playing
• 28:01
  Speaker 3: at that time. Those three were the last three in.
• 28:04
  Speaker 2: What do you mean last three in? Hold on.
• 28:07
  Speaker 3: I'm sorry. The last National League teams, the National League
• 28:10
  Speaker 3: teams that played the best in the playoffs that could
• 28:14
  Speaker 3: have beaten the Brewers, Dodgers could have beaten the Brewers
• 28:16
  Speaker 3: because they were playing against them. I think both of
• 28:18
  Speaker 3: those teams who got handled by the Brewers would have
• 28:22
  Speaker 3: handled the race. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I... Maybe I'm
• 28:27
  Speaker 3: way off on that. We'll never know. It's all hypothetical.
• 28:31
  Speaker 3: But I agree with you, Scott, that the National League
• 28:34
  Speaker 3: just showed it was a better product this year from
• 28:36
  Speaker 3: game one to the last game of the season.
• 28:40
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and this is nothing against the Rays.
• 28:42
  Speaker 3: What? Rays up, Rays fans. Kratz also– I keep pointing
• 28:46
  Speaker 3: the wrong way. Kratz also hates the Rays, Rays fan,
• 28:49
  Speaker 3: and the whole American League. So Yankee fans– Raise up
• 28:52
  Speaker 3: and get Kratz. Everyone just attacked Kratz today. He's having
• 28:54
  Speaker 3: some raise. The raise tens of fans came after me.
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: Last part here, AJ, to play off what Eric said,
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: how many teams from the National League do you think
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: would have beaten the Rays in the World Series? If
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: you had to predict, you're like same team, Padres land
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: in the World Series, Dodgers land in the World Series,
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: Braves land in the World Series, Phillies land in the
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: World Series. Do you think teams like that would have
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: beaten the Rays or no?
• 29:22
  Speaker 3: I would say the Dodgers probably would. The other ones,
• 29:24
  Speaker 3: I don't know. I just think by the time they
• 29:26
  Speaker 3: would have gotten there, there would have been some pitching
• 29:28
  Speaker 3: depth issues for those teams, and that's why I hesitate
• 29:31
  Speaker 3: to say that. The Brewers won because their pitching depth
• 29:34
  Speaker 3: and how good their pitching was, and that's what got
• 29:36
  Speaker 3: the Rays to where they were. That's how they beat
• 29:38
  Speaker 3: the Yankees. That's how they beat the Guardians over time,
• 29:43
  Speaker 3: and that's how they won a game, but that was
• 29:45
  Speaker 3: the Rays' thing. So I think the Dodgers would have
• 29:48
  Speaker 3: had a shot. The other ones, I mean, you know,
• 29:51
  Speaker 3: the Padres were running Michael King out there, and then
• 29:53
  Speaker 3: it was like, all right, we got to hope we
• 29:54
  Speaker 3: get seven things out of the bullpen every night. Yeah, I...
• 29:59
  Speaker 3: I think the Padres would have been the only other
• 30:01
  Speaker 3: one that would have had a really good chance to
• 30:03
  Speaker 3: beat the Rays. I think they were the only team
• 30:05
  Speaker 3: that would have been favored. Kind of like the Braves problem.
• 30:07
  Speaker 3: They had Chris Sale, and you're like, okay, can Tyler
• 30:09
  Speaker 3: Malley keep doing this three rounds of the playoffs in?
• 30:12
  Speaker 3: I think that's a tough ask. We're going to forget,
• 30:16
  Speaker 3: and I don't know how many days it'll be, years
• 30:18
  Speaker 3: it'll be, how– untaxed the Brewers bullpen was McGill didn't
• 30:24
  Speaker 3: even throw in a couple of the games no team
• 30:27
  Speaker 3: was going that far without their closer throwing and the
• 30:31
  Speaker 3: Brewers were like you just take the day off we'll get.
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: It this is where I think the Padres have found
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: a market and efficiency too is how they've been able
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: to nail bullpen down and it's been able to get
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: them through like first half of this season the Padres
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: couldn't hit but their bullpen carried them because they went
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: every close game so Brewers just took that to even
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: more of an extreme with the way that they've grown
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: their bullpen.
• 30:51
  Speaker 2: Okay. Good segment. If you agree, disagree, hate us, love us.
• 30:55
  Speaker 2: Thanks for watching. Bet MGM fill in the blank.
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: They posted best landing spots for Tarek Scooble, but the
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: Mets won the Dodgers to the blue Jays, three, the
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: Cubs four and the Padres five.
• 31:15
  Speaker 2: What do you think of their list?
• 31:18
  Speaker 3: Yeah, sure. Sure. Mets, have money. Dodgers, he was there. Yeah.
• 31:27
  Speaker 3: I mean, the list is five big market teams that
• 31:29
  Speaker 3: can afford to spend money. I mean, not big market,
• 31:30
  Speaker 3: but five teams that spend money. Yeah, yeah, Padres. Sorry.
• 31:34
  Speaker 2: And a new ownership group. Yeah, that I think will
• 31:37
  Speaker 2: want to make a splash, right?
• 31:39
  Speaker 3: Agreed. And San Diego is the worst place to play
• 31:41
  Speaker 3: than San Diego. Sorry, especially with a pitcher. But, I mean, Toronto, great.
• 31:45
  Speaker 3: You know, Mets– That's why they were 10 on my
• 31:48
  Speaker 3: power rankings. David Stearns is going to want to make
• 31:51
  Speaker 3: up for him sucking the last couple years. So he's
• 31:53
  Speaker 3: going to want to really go hard. And Tarek Skubal
• 31:56
  Speaker 3: would look nicely. Do the Nats open up their purse
• 32:01
  Speaker 3: again and say, this is the guy that pushes us
• 32:05
  Speaker 3: to the next stage? No. Not until they sell the team. Yeah.
• 32:10
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: I'll tell you why it's a no. Because they've been
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: trying to sell the team for like five years. They're
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: not going to do that.
• 32:16
  Speaker 2: No.
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: They're not going to put someone like that on the book.
• 32:18
  Speaker 2: It's a fun thought exercise. And you're right.
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: Like if you're a Nats fan that looked at the
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: Max Scherzer contract, it was a humongous success and it
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: included a world series title. The problem is the group
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: is halfway out the door already. So they're just not
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: going to commit money like that. That's what they're doing.
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: They're keeping the books as tight as possible for the sale.
• 32:40
  Speaker 2: They did figure out the hitting. I agree.
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: The team is going to be good eventually. They need
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: to sell. Once they sell, a new owner will be in,
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: and then they can do their thing. When you try
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: to sell, you keep the books tight, and that's what
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: they're doing. I mean, they're doing it a little bit
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: more extreme than you need to, but to each their own.
• 32:59
  Speaker 3: They've been trying to sell for a while. Ask the
• 33:00
  Speaker 3: Jets if they're going to be good eventually. You just
• 33:02
  Speaker 3: said every team gets good eventually. Ask the Jets if
• 33:04
  Speaker 3: they're ever good eventually.
• 33:06
  Speaker 2: No.
• 33:06
  Speaker 3: Ask the Padres if they keep the books tight and
• 33:09
  Speaker 3: see how that sale goes.
• 33:11
  Speaker 2: I could not agree more.
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: There are different ways, and some are smarter than others
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: on how to do it. All right, so BetMGM will
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: be hooking us up with some little prediction posts throughout
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: the offseason, and we'll go over futures, of course, too.
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: But it's football, so make Monday night even bigger. Two
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: ways to boost your pro football action at BetMGM. Apply
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: your pro football first touchdown score boost token to your pick.
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: That'll go to the game's opening touchdown for a little boost.
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: Or you could build your same game parlay and use
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: the Pro Football SGP boost token. Also look out for
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: an exclusive odds flash hours before kickoff.
• 33:50
  Speaker 2: So you can get a little boost on that.
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: So many ways that BetMGM is the best.
• 33:54
  Speaker 2: BetMGM make it legendary. Gambling problem or concern? Call 1-800-GAMBLER.
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: All right, let's lap a few things on our way out.
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: The contemporary baseball era ballot is released. Dusty Baker, Bruce Bochy,
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: Lou Piniella, Joe Maddon on the manager side. On the
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: executive side, Sandy Alderson, Brian Sabian, Ted Turner, Bill White.
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: Election is Sunday, December 6th. I think that's around winter
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: meetings is usually. when it happens right to kick off
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: the winter meetings that aren't going to happen because the
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: sports going to be shut down, but they'll still do
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: this Baker and Bochy are heavy favorites, according to Bob Nightingale.
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: And remember, you might think half the list deserves it.
• 34:41
  Speaker 2: That's not how it works.
• 34:42
  Speaker 3: Really.
• 34:43
  Speaker 2: You get, I think usually two.
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: Ish out of that because you only get a few
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: votes and they have the conversation before it's really hard
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: to get elected. If you've got another group in there, that's,
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: that's got big names like Bochy's a lock, right? AJ,
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: he's the number one lock on that list.
• 34:59
  Speaker 3: Yeah. I think Lou, Lou Piniella has been close a
• 35:01
  Speaker 3: couple of times, so he should, but he's, I don't know.
• 35:04
  Speaker 3: He's just kind of lost steam because of he's not
• 35:07
  Speaker 3: managing anymore, but Bochy and, and, and, and Baker are recent.
• 35:11
  Speaker 3: And then, I mean, the one other guy I want
• 35:13
  Speaker 3: to get in Brian Sabian, he wants traded for me.
• 35:15
  Speaker 3: So I want guys who kind of traded for me
• 35:17
  Speaker 3: to get into. So good for him.
• 35:19
  Speaker 2: A lot of winning, a lot of winning for Sabian.
• 35:21
  Speaker 3: That's going to knock him down. That's going to knock
• 35:24
  Speaker 3: him down. True. But that's like, The voting, Lou Piniella
• 35:31
  Speaker 3: had some, seemed like he had some good steam going,
• 35:34
  Speaker 3: but that's not how the airs committee works. Like you'll
• 35:38
  Speaker 3: go one year where you were close and then it
• 35:39
  Speaker 3: goes like right off a cliff because you don't have
• 35:44
  Speaker 3: as many votes or there's not as many people to vote.
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: Apparently Lou has missed by one vote twice, but yeah,
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: I mean, I think he's probably going to miss out
• 35:53
  Speaker 1: again just based on, you know, Dusty and Boach.
• 35:57
  Speaker 2: Yeah, everybody else. It's just a tough list.
• 35:59
  Speaker 1: There's some good names on there. So we'll see what happens.
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: We'll know in about a month. And then can we
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: just rip through a few of these? I'll just read
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: them in tandem. If you can just go in a row,
• 36:07
  Speaker 1: give me like three or four of them. I know
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: we covered some of them, but we've got the Cubs
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: declining their option on Colin Ray. So it's another pitcher
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: that won't be with the Cubs next year. Although also
• 36:17
  Speaker 1: during this show, they did agree with Jacob Webb. I
• 36:20
  Speaker 1: think they had an option on him and they agreed
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: to something with him for a couple million bucks. Robert Murray,
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: I think tweeted that. around when he was coming on
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: with us. But for Ray, second in innings pitch for
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: them each of the last two years, according to Jesse Rogers,
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: solid contributor until they added at the deadline in the
• 36:35
  Speaker 1: July and didn't see as much time on the mound.
• 36:38
  Speaker 1: So now he's a free agent. Then we have the
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: Cardinals not keeping Ryan Stanek. That's from Derek Gould said
• 36:45
  Speaker 1: it was a $ 6 million option for 2027. So he
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: anticipates they're going to look for a reliever or two
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: like him. For the Reds, Emilio Pagan declines his player
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: option for his contract. So he's going to hit free agency.
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: He signed a two-year 20 before this past season. So
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: he's got 10 left, but he doesn't want it because
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: he's going to hit free agency and see if he
• 37:05
  Speaker 1: can get another two-year contract out of it. And he
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: certainly had a nice year. And then the Rays finished
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: up their contract with Yandy Diaz. That's 13 million bucks.
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: I mean, it was an option that was vesting that
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: already hit 500 plate appearances that hit August so Yandy's
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: back for 2027 or is he because I think that's
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: I think he's a free agent after that I think
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: I'm not 100% sure it's either it is it's after
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: 27 not 28.
• 37:29
  Speaker 3: This is the last this is the last option unless
• 37:32
  Speaker 3: there's another vesting option because the list that I look
• 37:35
  Speaker 3: at doesn't have another vesting option on.
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: It got it okay so I mean Yandy's such a
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: big part I mean for me AJ you have that
• 37:43
  Speaker 1: conversation soon with Yandy and see if you can tack
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: on a year or two and and keep them there.
• 37:48
  Speaker 2: He's part of the heart and soul. You got to
• 37:50
  Speaker 2: keep them, right?
• 37:51
  Speaker 3: You figure out a way to keep them out of year,
• 37:53
  Speaker 3: out of two years, whatever it is, figure it out.
• 37:56
  Speaker 2: And he's been willing to take that, right? His profile
• 37:59
  Speaker 2: age as well. Yeah, I agree. He is still hitting
• 38:02
  Speaker 2: the ball hard.
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: He's got good quality plate appearances and he has been
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: willing to take these kinds of deals, right? He's not
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: squeezing every penny. It's kind of like Muncie, right? Max
• 38:15
  Speaker 1: Muncy doesn't hit free agency. The Dodgers usually locking him
• 38:17
  Speaker 1: up for another year, two, three with some options and
• 38:21
  Speaker 1: all that. I would play the same game with Yandy
• 38:22
  Speaker 1: and I bet you he wants to stay there.
• 38:25
  Speaker 2: So lots of moves going on.
• 38:27
  Speaker 3: Here's one on Yandy too, since we're talking about him.
• 38:29
  Speaker 3: He never wanted to leave Cleveland. He's very, very low key.
• 38:33
  Speaker 3: As much as the dude has 20 inch Python arms,
• 38:36
  Speaker 3: like everyone's like, Oh, he must be super out. He's
• 38:39
  Speaker 3: a very low key guy. And when I played with
• 38:41
  Speaker 3: him in 19, we played together in 17 and triple
• 38:44
  Speaker 3: a and With the Indians. And then in 19 in
• 38:48
  Speaker 3: the big leagues with the Rays. And he's like, I
• 38:51
  Speaker 3: never wanted to leave there. Like they traded them. They
• 38:53
  Speaker 3: kind of just got rid of them. And then he's like, wow,
• 38:56
  Speaker 3: the Rays really love me. So I love it here
• 38:58
  Speaker 3: now too. And that was seven years ago. Yep.
• 39:03
  Speaker 1: So we'll see if they get that done. And that's all.
• 39:07
  Speaker 1: Dodgers territory is running right now.
• 39:09
  Speaker 2: They're live.
• 39:09
  Speaker 1: We plug them because they're always live after us a
• 39:12
  Speaker 1: couple times a week.
• 39:13
  Speaker 3: So.
• 39:14
  Speaker 2: They're still doing their thing.
• 39:15
  Speaker 1: If you hate the Dodgers, this is also a good
• 39:17
  Speaker 1: time to consume their content because they're hurting right now.
• 39:22
  Speaker 1: So we also have about 85% of the league covered
• 39:25
  Speaker 1: with team shows. So if you're looking for yours, great.
• 39:27
  Speaker 1: If yours isn't there, then we're probably working on it.
• 39:30
  Speaker 1: it see you on Tuesday everyone