Latest / Foul Territory / Fair Territory: Betts, Soto & Hunter Brown injured; O’s & Red Sox slow starts, Jo Adell's ELITE night

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Fair Territory: Betts, Soto & Hunter Brown injured; O’s & Red Sox slow starts, Jo Adell's ELITE night · Foul Territory

0:03
Speaker 1: Welcome everyone to the Monday edition of Fair Territory. I'm
0:06
Speaker 1: Ken Rosenthal here with you for the next half hour
0:08
Speaker 1: or so.
0:09
Speaker 2: It is only April.
0:11
Speaker 1: Sixth, only the early early part of the season, and
0:14
Speaker 1: yet what are.
0:15
Speaker 2: We talking about already?
0:16
Speaker 1: Yes, Abs, Yes, Connor Griffin, Yes, a lot of things,
0:19
Speaker 1: Joe Adele, But one of the key themes to emerge
0:23
Speaker 1: from the weekend was injuries. Got a ton of injuries already.
0:27
Speaker 2: Two big star players start off with Bookie Bets.
0:31
Speaker 1: Mookie Bets of the Los Angeles Dodgers, the shortstop right oblique.
0:36
Speaker 1: Normally it's four to six weeks for a right opaque.
0:38
Speaker 1: Dave Roberts is hoping it will be less. Managers, coaches,
0:42
Speaker 1: players always hope it will be less. We shall see
0:45
Speaker 1: the Dodgers slow play every recovery.
0:47
Speaker 2: We've seen that over the years.
0:48
Speaker 1: Why because the Dodgers put only so much meaning into
0:52
Speaker 1: the regular season. Now. Obviously they want to win the
0:55
Speaker 1: division and they want to get a bye in the
0:57
Speaker 1: first round, which they did not have last year. But
1:00
Speaker 1: the Mookie Bets injury coming this early in the season
1:03
Speaker 1: should be one they are able to overcome. So what
1:05
Speaker 1: are they going to do? They've got Miguel Rojas, who
1:09
Speaker 1: of course can play shortstop. They've got his son Kim,
1:11
Speaker 1: who can do the same, and they can actually platoon
1:14
Speaker 1: at that position, maybe play Alex Friedland at second. Each
1:17
Speaker 1: of these players can play either middle infield position. So
1:20
Speaker 1: obviously the Dodgers will not be as good without Mookie Betts,
1:24
Speaker 1: who was hoping for a resurgent type season still might
1:28
Speaker 1: happen for him, but it's not going to happen right away.
1:31
Speaker 1: Perhaps an even bigger injury in terms of what it
1:34
Speaker 1: means for that player's team is Hunter Brown, and the
1:38
Speaker 1: right shoulder strain that he suffered goes on the injured list. Sunday,
1:42
Speaker 1: Chandler Road reporting about this for The Athletic and he
1:46
Speaker 1: noted that Hunter Brown threw one hundred and two pitches
1:49
Speaker 1: on opening Day, that was the most of any starter
1:51
Speaker 1: in the sport. And he's a guy who also pitched
1:55
Speaker 1: on four day's rest to start, or at least on Tuesday,
1:58
Speaker 1: and then last year made just five starts on four
2:02
Speaker 1: days rest.
2:02
Speaker 2: I'm sorry, yeah, just five starts on four days rest.
2:05
Speaker 2: So he was reasonably protected.
2:07
Speaker 1: You would think he didn't pitch in the WBC team
2:10
Speaker 1: USA wanted him, but he did not pitch, so he
2:13
Speaker 1: can't blame this on the WBC. But for an Astros
2:17
Speaker 1: team that has made an effort, a strong effort to
2:21
Speaker 1: deepen its rotation over the course of the off season
2:24
Speaker 1: with am I, with the trade from Mike Burrows with
2:27
Speaker 1: Ryan Weiss, this is still a blow. This is the
2:30
Speaker 1: guy who finished third in NASA Young Voting in the
2:32
Speaker 1: American League last season, a legitimate ace in our sport.
2:36
Speaker 1: Now we don't have a diagnosis yet, We don't know
2:38
Speaker 1: or other than the right shoulder strain, we don't have
2:40
Speaker 1: a timetable yet for a Hunter Brown, but I would
2:43
Speaker 1: expect it's going to be some time before we see
2:46
Speaker 1: him again on the mound.
2:47
Speaker 2: For the Astros, who have had a.
2:49
Speaker 1: Really good start to their season for the most part
2:52
Speaker 1: so far, offensively they've been excellent, and they've got Josh
2:55
Speaker 1: Hater coming back as well at some point, So ultimately,
2:59
Speaker 1: as long as Brown is not lost for eight significant
3:02
Speaker 1: length of time, they should be okay. And they've got
3:05
Speaker 1: Spencer Aarraghetti ready to go and join their rotation. So
3:09
Speaker 1: those are a couple of the injuries, but not the
3:12
Speaker 1: only ones. Alejandro Kirk, this is a big one too,
3:16
Speaker 1: premier catcher in our game, a guy who means so
3:19
Speaker 1: much to the Toronto Blue Jays. He suffered a fracture
3:22
Speaker 1: and dislocation in his thumb. He's going to be out
3:26
Speaker 1: for some time. And then the Blue Jays also lost
3:28
Speaker 1: Addison Barger on Sunday. He had problems with both his ankles.
3:33
Speaker 1: Doesn't seem like it's serious, but pitching injuries, Kirk Barger,
3:38
Speaker 1: these are things that are seemingly mounting for the Blue Jays.
3:41
Speaker 1: And obviously with Kirk, he's a guy that they rely
3:44
Speaker 1: on so much. And they've got Tyler Hyman, they've got
3:46
Speaker 1: the kid they brought up from Tripaa, the prospect, but
3:50
Speaker 1: without Kirk, there's something missing.
3:52
Speaker 2: For sure.
3:53
Speaker 1: He does so much for them on the defensive side,
3:56
Speaker 1: mostly of course, the where he controls the game, but
3:59
Speaker 1: also he is merged as an offensive force in I
4:02
Speaker 1: don't know the last year or so.
4:04
Speaker 2: So that too is a big blow.
4:06
Speaker 1: And finally we've got Juan Soto now on that one
4:09
Speaker 1: that seems to be the least significant of all these
4:12
Speaker 1: injuries I'm talking about.
4:13
Speaker 2: It's a mild calf strain.
4:15
Speaker 1: It's expected that he'll be out a little bit, but
4:19
Speaker 1: it's not even certain he's going on the injured list yet.
4:21
Speaker 1: The MRI came back as I said, mild okay. Good
4:25
Speaker 1: calves though are tricky and you don know how this
4:28
Speaker 1: is going to go. Now, the good news is the
4:30
Speaker 1: Mets without Juan Soto the last two days poured on
4:33
Speaker 1: some runs against San Francisco in San Francisco, tough park
4:37
Speaker 1: to hit normally, and.
4:39
Speaker 2: They looked pretty good. They had some things go right.
4:42
Speaker 1: Fianto's had a big weekend. They had Tyrone Taylor step
4:46
Speaker 1: up big. A lot of good things happen for the
4:48
Speaker 1: Mets in San Francisco. So without Soto they're still formidable.
4:51
Speaker 1: But of course with Sodo they are a World Series contender.
4:55
Speaker 1: We all know that. For more on the latest bumps
4:58
Speaker 1: and bruises, Will Carroll hosts in Injury Territory. The latest
5:01
Speaker 1: episode out now is an in depth conversation with a
5:04
Speaker 1: pioneer of UCL repair and internal brace procedures. Subscribe to
5:09
Speaker 1: Injury Territory on YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts.
5:12
Speaker 1: It's part of the Foul Territory Network. All right, we
5:15
Speaker 1: resume now with the lead with our first segment and
5:18
Speaker 1: the other thing I want to talk about today, at
5:20
Speaker 1: least at the start of the show, is the slow
5:22
Speaker 1: starts of several teams, particularly in the Al East, because yes,
5:28
Speaker 1: it's still crazy early, and yes, with twelve teams making
5:32
Speaker 1: the playoffs, it's never too late really in our sport
5:35
Speaker 1: to make a comeback and correct your season in the
5:39
Speaker 1: final suxx weeks.
5:40
Speaker 2: It's happened that way.
5:41
Speaker 1: It's happened in any number of ways. But while the
5:44
Speaker 1: old adage you can not win a pennant in April,
5:48
Speaker 1: but you can lose one no longer holds not with
5:50
Speaker 1: expanded playoffs. It's still somewhat alarming, I'm sure to fans
5:55
Speaker 1: of the Red Sox Orioles, and to a certain extent,
5:58
Speaker 1: the Blue Jays, mostly because of their injuries. What is
6:01
Speaker 1: happening so far, and on top of all that, the
6:04
Speaker 1: way the Yankees are playing now. I don't expect the
6:07
Speaker 1: Yankees are going to run away with the division, but
6:09
Speaker 1: the Red Sox certainly have been a huge disappointment so far.
6:13
Speaker 1: Their offense has not done much at all. They're averaging
6:16
Speaker 1: barely three runs a game range of Suarez two poor starts.
6:20
Speaker 1: Their rotation has not been quite as good as advertised.
6:23
Speaker 1: This is a team that right now just doesn't look
6:26
Speaker 1: like we thought the Red Sox might look.
6:28
Speaker 2: Now.
6:28
Speaker 1: I've been worried about their offense. I've said that from
6:31
Speaker 1: their very beginning. You lose Bragman, you lose Devers, you
6:33
Speaker 1: don't really replace them, and I'm not counting Wilson Contreras
6:36
Speaker 1: as a replacement.
6:37
Speaker 2: You're putting a lot on their younger players.
6:40
Speaker 1: And let's see what Roman Anthony said yesterday Sunday after
6:43
Speaker 1: their latest loss about their situation right now. He said,
6:47
Speaker 1: we need to find a way to just bring more
6:49
Speaker 1: energy and just be better. This is unacceptable, It's unacceptable
6:54
Speaker 1: to fans, it's unacceptable to the standard that we set
6:57
Speaker 1: for ourselves. So clearly a little bit of tension with
7:00
Speaker 1: the Red Sox right now. Not much different with the Orioles.
7:03
Speaker 1: In fact, some of the same problems. They too are
7:06
Speaker 1: not hitting, They too are having some issues with their
7:09
Speaker 1: rotation hasn't been spectacular by any stretch. Also, they haven't
7:13
Speaker 1: played well. They haven't really played well defensively either. So
7:17
Speaker 1: the Orioles too had a big statement from their top
7:20
Speaker 1: player yesterday that was Pete Alonzo, and he came out
7:23
Speaker 1: and said this we can do all the practice, take
7:27
Speaker 1: all the ground balls, take all the swings in the cage,
7:30
Speaker 1: take all the swings during our BP time.
7:33
Speaker 2: Just because you put in the.
7:34
Speaker 1: Work doesn't necessarily guarantee execution, and it comes down to
7:38
Speaker 1: individual efforts, concentration and execution. Okay, So those are the
7:43
Speaker 1: Red Sox and the Orioles kind of trying to find
7:46
Speaker 1: their way in this early part.
7:47
Speaker 2: Of the season.
7:48
Speaker 1: Again, it is way early, too early for fans to panic,
7:52
Speaker 1: though I see them panicking all over social media, and
7:55
Speaker 1: too early in general to make any judgments. But these
7:59
Speaker 1: two teams clearly want to play better. I mentioned Toronto
8:03
Speaker 1: and they're in a similar kind of.
8:05
Speaker 2: Deal, but for different reasons.
8:07
Speaker 1: They too have not really ignited yet. But they've got
8:10
Speaker 1: an entire starting rotation on the injured list. I'm talking
8:13
Speaker 1: about Burrios, Bieber, punts Y Savage and even Boden Francis.
8:19
Speaker 1: You have to count him even though he's out for
8:20
Speaker 1: the year. That's five starters. It's a problem for them,
8:24
Speaker 1: no question. They also really haven't hit yet. Flat has
8:28
Speaker 1: Andres Jimenez, has.
8:29
Speaker 2: Ernie Clement a little bit, o Komodo a little bit,
8:32
Speaker 2: but they haven't ignited. As an offense yet.
8:34
Speaker 1: So the Jays two have some work to do, and
8:37
Speaker 1: they've got the Dodgers coming up this week in Toronto
8:40
Speaker 1: World Series rematch.
8:42
Speaker 2: Finally, one other team.
8:44
Speaker 1: Not in the Al East I want to talk about
8:45
Speaker 1: that has also struggled. This is the team I wrote
8:48
Speaker 1: about on Friday. It's the San Francisco Giants, and I
8:53
Speaker 1: wrote Friday that for the Giants.
8:55
Speaker 2: There's some pressure there, there's some urgency.
8:58
Speaker 1: They just fire their mat Andrew who had a five
9:01
Speaker 1: hundred record, who three time manager of the Year, Bob Melvin.
9:04
Speaker 2: We all understood it.
9:05
Speaker 1: They seem kind of lethargic, he did at the end.
9:08
Speaker 1: But they hired Tony Vyteller with the expectation that they're
9:12
Speaker 1: going to be better, and ultimately they might be better.
9:15
Speaker 1: But offensively too. Here we go with the Giants lowest
9:19
Speaker 1: scoring team in the majors twenty six runs in ten
9:23
Speaker 1: games so far. That's an average of two point six
9:25
Speaker 1: runs per game. I'm terrible at math, but that much
9:28
Speaker 1: I can figure out. So the Giants, I'm not quite
9:31
Speaker 1: sure where they are just yet, and again, new manager,
9:34
Speaker 1: they're trying to find themselves. It's way early, and their
9:38
Speaker 1: rotation should be okay, but we sold bullpen problems yesterday
9:41
Speaker 1: on Sunday, and we've seen an offense that with some
9:45
Speaker 1: big names, Devers, Chapman, Arise hasn't done much at.
9:50
Speaker 2: All, and Chapman four errors this week.
9:53
Speaker 1: It's kind of interesting that that happened after he aired
9:57
Speaker 1: out Casey Schmid on the mound the other day, telling
9:59
Speaker 1: me to catch the bleeping ball.
10:01
Speaker 2: But Chapman did not have a great defensive week.
10:03
Speaker 1: The Giants have not played especially solid defense all around.
10:08
Speaker 2: So here's a team we'll be watching all year.
10:10
Speaker 1: And I know fans are saying, wow, Tony Baiitello news conferences,
10:13
Speaker 1: they're really cool.
10:14
Speaker 2: He says a lot of cool stuff he does. But
10:17
Speaker 2: if you don't win.
10:18
Speaker 1: All that is not so cool anymore.
10:21
Speaker 2: All Right, we are going to be right back with
10:23
Speaker 2: the Inside Dish after this.
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Speaker 2: Well.
11:31
Speaker 1: Time it out for the Inside Dish, the part of
11:33
Speaker 1: the show where I talk about maybe a story I've written,
11:35
Speaker 1: maybe a trend in the game, or maybe something really
11:38
Speaker 1: cool that happened over the weekend.
11:40
Speaker 2: And something really cool did happen over the weekend.
11:44
Speaker 1: We're talking, of course about jo Adell and his three
11:48
Speaker 1: home run saving catches, his three robberies that occurred Saturday
11:51
Speaker 1: night in Anaheim. Now, I often talk about how I
11:56
Speaker 1: love covering major league debuts such as Connor Griffins. That's
11:59
Speaker 1: one of my favorite things, one of my favorite parts
12:01
Speaker 1: about the job.
12:03
Speaker 2: The other part of the job I love. I love
12:05
Speaker 2: lots of parts about the job. But another thing that
12:07
Speaker 2: I do.
12:08
Speaker 1: Love is when guys who were kind of down make
12:12
Speaker 1: their careers go in a better way. They turn it around. Now,
12:17
Speaker 1: Joe Adell was someone who was a top prospect in
12:20
Speaker 1: the game, tenth overall pick out of Ballot High School
12:23
Speaker 1: in Louisville in twenty seventeen, top ten prospect from Baseball
12:28
Speaker 1: America in twenty nineteen, and twenty number thirteen overall in
12:31
Speaker 1: twenty twenty one. This was a big time guy, and
12:35
Speaker 1: it took him some time and has taken him some
12:38
Speaker 1: time to find himself. If you remember, early in his career,
12:42
Speaker 1: defense was a real problem for him. He was a
12:45
Speaker 1: liability in the outfield. Now he improved to the point
12:49
Speaker 1: where in twenty twenty four he was a Gold Glove
12:52
Speaker 1: finalist in right field. Last year he goes back to
12:56
Speaker 1: center because they put trout and right to start the
12:59
Speaker 1: season and in centerfield just was not good. He struggled again,
13:04
Speaker 1: and ultimately once he got back to right field that
13:07
Speaker 1: the trout started dhing more.
13:09
Speaker 2: He was better.
13:10
Speaker 1: So at the same time, in the middle of that
13:13
Speaker 1: twenty twenty five season, actually the entire season, he emerged
13:18
Speaker 1: offensively thirty seven home runs, career best seven to seven
13:21
Speaker 1: to eight ops. But I don't know that any of
13:24
Speaker 1: us would say at this point in his career, Joe
13:26
Speaker 1: Adele has fulfilled what people thought.
13:29
Speaker 2: He might become.
13:31
Speaker 1: Saturday Night, he was that guy, and it was one
13:34
Speaker 1: of the coolest things we will ever see. And it
13:37
Speaker 1: also reminds us yet again that in this sport, unique
13:41
Speaker 1: to this sport, in my opinion, you cannot know on
13:45
Speaker 1: any given day what crazy thing might happen in any
13:50
Speaker 1: park across America. Now. I talked to Brady Anderson, the
13:54
Speaker 1: Angels hitting coach, about Adele on Sunday.
13:57
Speaker 2: I exchanged texts with him.
14:00
Speaker 1: Brady for a long time in Baltimore, Brady Anderson, if
14:03
Speaker 1: you remember, was an excellent defensive outfielder. Early in the
14:08
Speaker 1: nineties or so, they had Brady Anderson, Mike Devereux, Steve Finley,
14:12
Speaker 1: three really good defenders out there.
14:14
Speaker 2: They didn't stay together.
14:16
Speaker 1: They ultimately traded Finley for Glen Davis.
14:19
Speaker 2: He was part of that deal.
14:20
Speaker 1: Finley, Pete Harnish and Kurt Schilling for Glen Davis didn't
14:24
Speaker 1: work out so good, but we digress. The point is
14:28
Speaker 1: Brady Anderson is a guy who appreciates great outfield play
14:32
Speaker 1: because he was an outstanding center fielder himself, and he
14:35
Speaker 1: took a lot of pride in it. So when I
14:37
Speaker 1: asked him what he thought about that, and I'll read
14:39
Speaker 1: you what he said, he had a really interesting response.
14:43
Speaker 1: He said, the first two catches were very good, really good.
14:46
Speaker 1: The time you're jump it feels easy, but of course
14:49
Speaker 1: it doesn't look easy. Those first two catches the Jo
14:52
Speaker 1: Adell made I would classify as standard fair home run.
14:56
Speaker 2: Robberies, if such a thing exists now.
14:59
Speaker 1: The other play, the one where he fell into the
15:03
Speaker 1: seats in right field to rob JP Crawford late in
15:07
Speaker 1: the game. And remember this was a close game the
15:09
Speaker 1: entire time, so any one of these catches could have
15:11
Speaker 1: made or would have did make the difference in the score.
15:16
Speaker 1: The last play, that one in which he spilled into
15:18
Speaker 1: the stands, Brady Anderson said, is one of the best
15:21
Speaker 1: I've seen a nearly impossible play. He did everything perfectly.
15:26
Speaker 1: He had the wherewithal to get behind the ball slightly,
15:29
Speaker 1: which is hard because the ball seemingly moves faster as
15:34
Speaker 1: you approach foul territory at.
15:35
Speaker 2: Nearly full speed.
15:36
Speaker 1: I hadn't thought about that, but think about it. It's true.
15:39
Speaker 1: You're staying behind the ball and the ball's moving.
15:42
Speaker 2: Okay.
15:43
Speaker 1: Then Brady Anderson talked about the best catch that he
15:46
Speaker 1: remembers seeing, and it was a catch going back to
15:49
Speaker 1: nineteen ninety five, Kevin Bass was with the Orioles Ken
15:52
Speaker 1: Griffy Junior was the spectacular center fielder, the future Hall
15:56
Speaker 1: of Famer for the Seattle Mariners, and this was a
15:59
Speaker 1: game in which the bases were loaded. Randy Johnson is
16:02
Speaker 1: on the mound for the Mariners, another future Hall of Famer,
16:05
Speaker 1: May nineteen ninety five. And Anderson said, I had a
16:08
Speaker 1: terrific view of it from the dugout, which was the
16:09
Speaker 1: field level in Seattle, and I saw Griffy track me
16:12
Speaker 1: it and I sort of knew he could catch it,
16:15
Speaker 1: but I wasn't sure he would want to.
16:18
Speaker 2: He did want to.
16:19
Speaker 1: And he broke his right wrist in the process. This
16:21
Speaker 1: was one of the great catches I can remember seeing too.
16:24
Speaker 1: It was an amazing catch. And the key here and
16:27
Speaker 1: where we come back around to Joe Adele Is Brady said,
16:31
Speaker 1: the catch by Joe gave me that same thrill of
16:34
Speaker 1: admiration of another's play. Singular great plays are rightfully impressive.
16:40
Speaker 1: That game was an accomplishment, and that game is something
16:45
Speaker 1: that not only Angels fans will remember for a long time,
16:48
Speaker 1: but really all baseball fans. And one more note on
16:51
Speaker 1: that third catch, because it was mind blowing and it
16:54
Speaker 1: was so cool when Joe Adell ends up on his
16:58
Speaker 1: feet in the stands holding up the ball. Now people
17:03
Speaker 1: might ask, well, whoa why did that play get.
17:06
Speaker 2: Reviewed or not reviewed?
17:08
Speaker 1: But why did it end up after review being called
17:11
Speaker 1: a catch Because his legs were touching the wall when
17:14
Speaker 1: he caught the ball, or they were at least aligned
17:16
Speaker 1: with the wall.
17:17
Speaker 2: He was actually in play when he caught the ball.
17:20
Speaker 1: That's why the challenge by the Mariners was not overturned,
17:24
Speaker 1: it was not upheld.
17:26
Speaker 2: He simply caught the ball.
17:27
Speaker 1: In the umpire's estimation and in the estimation of the
17:30
Speaker 1: replay Reviews Center in New York, unbelievable play and how
17:35
Speaker 1: about when he ends up in the stands, stands up,
17:38
Speaker 1: high fives a fan comes back into the field of play.
17:41
Speaker 1: That was one of the great individual performances we'll ever see.
17:45
Speaker 1: And it happened on an April night in a game
17:47
Speaker 1: that probably will be forgotten or would have been forgotten otherwise.
17:52
Speaker 1: So Joe Adell early candidate due to the week, no
17:56
Speaker 1: question about that, and really just.
17:58
Speaker 2: A memorable, memorable performance.
18:01
Speaker 1: All right, we will be back after this, and ladies
18:05
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Speaker 1: All Star Brad Brock, Steve Moleski and Tim Barblace dropped
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Speaker 2: Territory episode yesterday.
18:15
Speaker 1: The trio will cover the Oriols with in depth analysis
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Speaker 1: and authentic insight all year long. Subscribe on YouTube and
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Speaker 1: wherever you get your podcast. Welcome Birdland Territory to the
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Speaker 1: Foul Territory Network. All right, we are back with one
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Speaker 1: more segment here on the show, and I'm going to
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Speaker 1: talk about a column I wrote that we published today
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Speaker 1: in The Athletic about Nico Horner and the contract he
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Speaker 1: signed with the Cubs. The extension six years, one hundred
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Speaker 1: and forty one million. Some deferrals in there, the net
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Speaker 1: present value is about one hundred and thirty seven and
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Speaker 1: a half million. And I wrote about how this contract
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Speaker 1: would have been unthinkable ten years ago for a player
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Speaker 1: like this, and even now the number surprised people. People thought, wow,
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Speaker 1: Nico Horner, a guy with thirty six career home runs,
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Speaker 1: is getting.
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Speaker 2: One hundred and forty one million.
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Speaker 1: Yes, he got four one hundred and forty one million.
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Speaker 2: And he got it for a couple of reasons.
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Speaker 1: One, of course, he is an outstanding player, and he's
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Speaker 1: a top defender and base runner.
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Speaker 2: He isn't the.
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Speaker 1: Slugger that you normally associate with big money, but he
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Speaker 1: is an above average hitter and has been, and the
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Speaker 1: Cubs believe also that he can grow into maybe a
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Speaker 1: little bit something more offensively. Now, beyond that, and beyond
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Speaker 1: the fact that he has tremendous makeup and is beloved
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Speaker 1: in that clubhouse, there are some circumstances working in his
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Speaker 1: favor here. Obviously, teams value defense in a greater way
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Speaker 1: than perhaps they did ten twenty years ago, and in
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Speaker 1: part they do that, as Craig Council notes in the story,
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Speaker 1: because we are better able to measure defense, we have
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Speaker 1: a more accurate view of which players are the top
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Speaker 1: defenders in the sport. And Nico Horner, without question, at
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Speaker 1: second base, is one of the top defenders at any
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Speaker 1: p position in the sport. Some other things too. The
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Speaker 1: Cubs before signing Bregman, and remember they've signed Alex Bregman,
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Speaker 1: Pete Crow Armstrong, and Nico Horner in a span of
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Speaker 1: three months, three nine figure contracts span of nine months.
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Speaker 1: A team that we've criticized quite a bit for not
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Speaker 1: spending enough, suddenly they are why in part because their
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Speaker 1: commitments for twenty seven, twenty eight, twenty nine were so
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Speaker 1: low they had plenty.
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Speaker 2: Of room to grow.
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Speaker 1: So with that they were going to have to spend
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Speaker 1: on somebody.
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Speaker 2: They're gonna have to build a roster for those particular years.
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Speaker 1: And Nico Horner of the number of the many free
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Speaker 1: agents that they have on their roster this year, from
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Speaker 1: in Half to Jamison Tyne, to Matthew Boyd, to Seya Suzuki,
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Speaker 1: to some of their relievers, a lot of potential free agents.
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Speaker 1: Carson Kelly is another one. Nico Horner was the youngest
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Speaker 1: of them, or is the youngest of them, and projects
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Speaker 1: to be the best of them, in part because he
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Speaker 1: is on the younger side. He's twenty nine next month.
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Speaker 1: Also with regard to what is going on in a
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Speaker 1: greater sense, in a more global sense, with the sport
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Speaker 1: Collective Bargaining Agreement expires December first, what happened the last
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Speaker 1: time the Collective Bargaineering Agreement expired.
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Speaker 2: This was in twenty twenty one.
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Speaker 1: There was a mad rush right before the end of
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Speaker 1: the CVA, right before the start of the lockout, when
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Speaker 1: teams were signing players and signing them phrenetically. Corey Sieger
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Speaker 1: got paid, Marcus Simon got paid, Javier Biaz, even Afasel
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Speaker 1: Garcia got paid, and a number of pitchers did as well.
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Speaker 1: Mac Scherzer was in that group. Nico Horner likely would
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Speaker 1: have benefited from the same dynamic, and the Cubs knew this.
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Speaker 1: And the other part of that is the upcoming free
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Speaker 1: agent market is not very good at all. In fact,
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Speaker 1: it wasn't even that good when Horner was going to
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Speaker 1: be a part of it. From a position player standpoint,
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Speaker 1: we're talking about Boba Shedfi ops out, We're talking about
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Speaker 1: Jaschism jor Saya Suzuki.
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Speaker 2: Really not a great group. The big free agent will
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Speaker 2: be Schooble.
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Speaker 1: Freddie Peralta will be another big name, but those are pitchers.
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Speaker 2: On the position player.
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Speaker 1: Side, Horner would have been in considerable demand and in
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Speaker 1: considerable demand as well because he plays or can play shortstop.
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Speaker 2: He is a very capable shortstop.
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Speaker 1: He just happens to play second for the Cubs because
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Speaker 1: they have an excellent defender in Dansby Swanson.
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Speaker 2: So all of these things contributed to the.
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Speaker 1: Cubs A wanting to keep him, be needing to keep him,
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Speaker 1: and see having the wherewithal to keep him. So it
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Speaker 1: worked out great for Niko Horner. He got paid an
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Speaker 1: average of twenty three point five million per season. Great
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Speaker 1: job for him, great job for the Cubs, and they
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Speaker 1: end up with the player who is homegrown. Was the
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Speaker 1: twenty fourth overall pick in twenty eighteen. A guy you
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Speaker 1: want in your organization for a long time.
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Speaker 2: All right.
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Speaker 1: One more note before I go, I mentioned earlier the
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Speaker 1: Blue Jays Dodgers series. That's the tomorrow night at Rogers
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Speaker 1: Center in Toronto. Fox is doing a pregame show and
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Speaker 1: postgame show and carrying that game tomorrow, and I will
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Speaker 1: be part of the pregame show with Kevin Burkhardt. I
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Speaker 1: believe Dantroll Willis is on that as well.
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Speaker 2: We're gonna have fun, we always do. We'll be talking
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Speaker 2: a lot of baseball, so I advise you.
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Speaker 1: To tune in on FS one for that, not Fox
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Speaker 1: FS one, and I'll be seeing you then. And in addition,
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Speaker 1: of course, I will be seeing you Thursday with our
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Speaker 1: normal show with Alana Rizzos. I want to thank everyone
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Speaker 1: for watching, for listening. Foul Territory coming up at one
23:32
Speaker 1: pm Eastern. Eric Kratz, Kevin Palar and Scott Brown host and.
23:36
Speaker 2: Guess who the big guests are. Joe Adelle is one
23:39
Speaker 2: of them.
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Speaker 1: David Sampson is the other.
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Speaker 2: Have a great week everyone, We'll see you Thursday. Bet.
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