Latest / Foul Territory / Ken Rosenthal on Free Agent frenzy, Seattle’s new skipper, Angels GM plan + Will Vladdy Jr. bounce back?

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Ken Rosenthal on Free Agent frenzy, Seattle’s new skipper, Angels GM plan + Will Vladdy Jr. bounce back? · Foul Territory

• 0:06
  Speaker 1: It's the Inside Scoop with FT Senior Insider Ken Rosenthal. Ken,
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: your thoughts on Jason Kanzler getting the job over Joe Espada?
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: Surprised.
• 0:14
  Speaker 3: And I thought this was a team that was looking
• 0:16
  Speaker 3: for experience. Jerry DiPoto, the president of baseball operations, kind
• 0:20
  Speaker 3: of indicated that. And yet this is their third straight
• 0:23
  Speaker 3: manager who will be a first-time major league manager. Scott Service,
• 0:27
  Speaker 3: Dan Wilson, and now Jason Kanzler. Now, Kanzler might be
• 0:31
  Speaker 3: the next great manager.
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: I do not know that, but it kind of speaks
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: to AJ's point, the one he was.
• 0:36
  Speaker 3: Just making, you don't know that. You don't know what
• 0:39
  Speaker 3: kind of feel he's going to have for players. Granted,
• 0:42
  Speaker 3: he was three years as the Cubs farm director. He
• 0:45
  Speaker 3: was also a hitting coach for the Astros. It's not
• 0:48
  Speaker 3: like he hasn't been around the game, of course. But
• 0:51
  Speaker 3: it is an unorthodox hire, just as Blake Butera was
• 0:55
  Speaker 3: coming out of Tampa Bay as their farm director. Now,
• 0:58
  Speaker 3: he at least had managed in the minor leagues, granted
• 1:02
  Speaker 3: only at Class A, but he This seems to be
• 1:06
  Speaker 3: the pattern in the game now where.
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: Teams want, for lack of a better phrase, guys that
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: they know will do it their way.
• 1:14
  Speaker 3: I'm not saying Jason Kanzler won't be an independent thinker
• 1:17
  Speaker 3: and won't have his.
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: Own ideas, but Joe Espada is a former manager.
• 1:21
  Speaker 3: He is a guy who definitely would come with his
• 1:24
  Speaker 3: own ideas and might have fit better for a team
• 1:26
  Speaker 3: that seems to need kind of, not discipline.
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: Would be the right word, but some standards. And this
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: is the choice they made. We'll see. It could be
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: a great one. I don't know. That's the question. You
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: just don't know.
• 1:41
  Speaker 4: You don't know how he's going to do, but you
• 1:42
  Speaker 4: do know Jerry DePoto, I think has been there 11 years.
• 1:45
  Speaker 4: Maybe I'm off by a few years and two playoff appearances.
• 1:50
  Speaker 4: Is his, this hiring a hiring for him to say,
• 1:55
  Speaker 4: you know, I'm going to continue my route of hiring
• 1:58
  Speaker 4: these types of, or inexperienced managers, or is it a,
• 2:03
  Speaker 4: somebody going over the top of him saying your hiring
• 2:06
  Speaker 4: has not worked because I think two playoff appearances in
• 2:09
  Speaker 4: 11 years really ain't it. Do we have any indication
• 2:12
  Speaker 4: of if this is Jerry or if this is somebody
• 2:15
  Speaker 4: over top of Jerry?
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: Eric, I would be really surprised if this was someone
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: over top of Jerry.
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: Jerry runs baseball operations. Their ownership from the most part
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: is hands off to a fault in some ways, maybe.
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: So this hire, I.
• 2:31
  Speaker 3: Don't think, is from anyone else but Jerry DiPoto and
• 2:35
  Speaker 3: Justin Hollander, their general manager. And the question then becomes,
• 2:39
  Speaker 3: I thought this was where you were going, okay, if
• 2:42
  Speaker 3: this doesn't work, is DiPoto in trouble? Now, some people
• 2:47
  Speaker 3: have raised the point that maybe DiPoto should be in
• 2:49
  Speaker 3: trouble or should have been in trouble already because of the.
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: Record that you just cited, but clearly ownership has stuck
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: with him.
• 2:56
  Speaker 3: They believe in him, and they're giving him another chance
• 3:00
  Speaker 3: to put his mark on this team. If it doesn't work, sure,
• 3:04
  Speaker 3: at some point, pretty much everyone in baseball has an
• 3:07
  Speaker 3: expiration date.
• 3:10
  Speaker 4: Ken, that was going to be my question. When does
• 3:11
  Speaker 4: DePoto start getting in trouble for this? By the way,
• 3:13
  Speaker 4: we match. Nice, nice. Thanks for listening when I called
• 3:15
  Speaker 4: you earlier, Ken, on the green shirt.
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: No problem, AJ.
• 3:19
  Speaker 4: But, I mean, when is the expiration date on Jerry DePoto?
• 3:22
  Speaker 4: We keep saying, oh, five years, five years. Well, they
• 3:24
  Speaker 4: made the playoffs for the first time in forever under
• 3:27
  Speaker 4: Jerry DePoto. Then they missed it again, missed it again.
• 3:29
  Speaker 4: And then last year, they were within a couple batters
• 3:33
  Speaker 4: of going to the World Series for the first time ever, right?
• 3:36
  Speaker 4: And then last year, they had a disaster of a year.
• 3:38
  Speaker 4: Nothing went right for them. And now they fire their manager.
• 3:41
  Speaker 4: You know, they fired his best friend, Scott Service. They
• 3:44
  Speaker 4: got rid of a franchise legend in Dan Wilson. Now
• 3:48
  Speaker 4: they're bringing in a guy, quite honestly, I'm sure he's
• 3:51
  Speaker 4: a great guy, but I've never heard of him. I
• 3:52
  Speaker 4: don't know if Ken had ever heard of him before
• 3:53
  Speaker 4: he He got hired here, which doesn't make you a
• 3:56
  Speaker 4: good or bad manager. But these are all Jerry DePoto decisions.
• 4:00
  Speaker 4: When does, like, how much does it take? I mean,
• 4:03
  Speaker 4: is this the way of the president of baseball? I mean,
• 4:05
  Speaker 4: you just get like 20 years, just run the franchise
• 4:07
  Speaker 4: for 20 years.
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: In certain situations, yes.
• 4:11
  Speaker 3: And I know, for instance, A.J., Yankee fans are frustrated
• 4:16
  Speaker 3: that Brian Cashman has gotten this long a tenure.
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: Brian Cashman hasn't had a losing season in forever. They
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: make the playoffs seemingly every year. They, compared to the Mariners,
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: are much more successful. So it always comes down to,
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: in these situations.
• 4:32
  Speaker 3: Ownership and whether ownership sees the person, whether it's Cashman
• 4:36
  Speaker 3: or DePoto or someone else, as the right guy for
• 4:40
  Speaker 3: their organization. The Yankees clearly believe Brian Cashman is the
• 4:43
  Speaker 3: best choice for their organization.
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: And despite the fans.
• 4:47
  Speaker 3: Frustration without any World Series title since 2009, you can
• 4:51
  Speaker 3: make a strong case that Brian Cashman has done an
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: outstanding job there. DiPoto, you can make a case that
• 4:57
  Speaker 3: they've been better with him, certainly, but have they gotten
• 5:01
  Speaker 3: to where they wanted to?
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: No. And he would be the first to admit that. Ken,
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: do you think this... Oh, go ahead, AJ.
• 5:10
  Speaker 4: No, go ahead, Scott.
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: I was just going to ask if.
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: This is a trend that you think executives are trying
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: to make a thing across the sport. And I don't
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: know if you heard a few minutes ago when I
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: listed the managers that have won the world series in
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: the past 10 years, but it was a very grizzled list.
• 5:26
  Speaker 5: Did you catch it?
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: The list? I mean, obviously, but I'm well aware of
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: who the managers have been. Yes.
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: All of them are really grizzled in this business.
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 5:37
  Speaker 3: And again, it comes back to, in my opinion, the
• 5:40
  Speaker 3: question of collaboration, which is the word the teams use
• 5:44
  Speaker 3: versus control, which is the word I would use. And
• 5:48
  Speaker 3: Blake Butera did do a good job with Washington last year.
• 5:50
  Speaker 3: That team made a lot of progress, no question about it.
• 5:54
  Speaker 3: But he was a guy like Kanzler who had no
• 5:57
  Speaker 3: major league managing experience and in that sense has to
• 6:03
  Speaker 3: be more open to ideas from the front office. It's
• 6:06
  Speaker 3: almost by definition that kind of person has to be
• 6:08
  Speaker 3: like that. So that does seem to be a trend
• 6:12
  Speaker 3: in the game, hire people with less experience and more
• 6:17
  Speaker 3: more ability to control. You look at even some of
• 6:19
  Speaker 3: the hires that have been made relative to presidents of
• 6:23
  Speaker 3: baseball operations and those kinds of positions, general managers. There
• 6:26
  Speaker 3: are first-timers in those jobs as well. So, again, Taylor
• 6:31
  Speaker 3: Smith with the A's and Randy Flores with the Astros. Now,
• 6:37
  Speaker 3: Randy Flores has a lot of experience as a farm
• 6:39
  Speaker 3: director and as a former player, a little bit different
• 6:41
  Speaker 3: than Taylor Smith, who's 31 years old.
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: But, again, these are first-time guys, guys who....
• 6:47
  Speaker 3: In my view, are more beholden to the people above
• 6:50
  Speaker 3: them because of the fact that they've been given these positions. Now, again,
• 6:55
  Speaker 3: I don't want to be unfair to all these people
• 6:57
  Speaker 3: I'm talking about because certainly they have minds of their
• 6:59
  Speaker 3: own and they're accomplished and deserving in their own right.
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: But that is the simple reality of it.
• 7:06
  Speaker 3: Teams seem to shy away from experience because experience means
• 7:10
  Speaker 3: opinions and teams don't like necessarily hearing opinions.
• 7:15
  Speaker 4: Ken, there's two managerial opens. openings correct the astros and
• 7:19
  Speaker 4: the angels now the angels are in a different spot
• 7:21
  Speaker 4: new owner they got to find a gm as a
• 7:22
  Speaker 4: mosaic whatever do we have any favorites for these jobs
• 7:25
  Speaker 4: do we have a favorite for either one of these
• 7:28
  Speaker 4: jobs or is it just could be someone again like
• 7:32
  Speaker 4: out of the blue that both these teams are the
• 7:34
  Speaker 4: angels maybe a little bit different i think the astros
• 7:36
  Speaker 4: will go a little bit more you know normal i
• 7:39
  Speaker 4: would say uh a little more consistent with past hirings
• 7:43
  Speaker 4: but is there a favorite that you've heard for either
• 7:45
  Speaker 4: one of these teams I.
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: Have not heard of a favorite, AJ.
• 7:49
  Speaker 3: You've certainly seen Brad Ausmus' name connected to the Astros job.
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: Makes sense.
• 7:54
  Speaker 3: He's close with Bagwell, Biggio, and Bagwell in particular has
• 7:58
  Speaker 3: power there.
• 7:59
  Speaker 5: He is a familiar name to fans.
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: He's a two-time manager.
• 8:02
  Speaker 3: Hasn't really been successful as a manager, but now he's
• 8:05
  Speaker 3: the Yankees bench coach.
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: He's certainly a guy that if they hired him, people
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: would not say he's not an experienced person. He is
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: an experienced person.
• 8:13
  Speaker 3: There's been some talk of Pujols or Yadier Molina because
• 8:17
  Speaker 3: of the connection to Randy Flores.
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: I'm not so sure that will happen.
• 8:20
  Speaker 3: Not so sure Jim Crane wants someone with that kind
• 8:22
  Speaker 3: of stature in that position because it means you have
• 8:25
  Speaker 3: to pay that person. And also, again, it means that
• 8:28
  Speaker 3: person comes in with some juice. So I'm not sure
• 8:32
  Speaker 3: which way they're going. As for the Angels, I wrote
• 8:35
  Speaker 3: a column today, and I'm sure you've read it, AJ,
• 8:37
  Speaker 3: about how in their search for a president of baseball operations,
• 8:41
  Speaker 3: they should aim as high as possible And I'm talking
• 8:44
  Speaker 3: Matt Arnold, Eric Neander, the two World Series presidents of
• 8:48
  Speaker 3: baseball operations. Even though both are under contract, even though
• 8:51
  Speaker 3: I doubt the teams would grant permission, even though I'm
• 8:54
  Speaker 3: not even sure they want to go, you at least
• 8:56
  Speaker 3: start there. But the history of Stan Kroenke and his
• 9:01
  Speaker 3: ownership teams with regard to heads of baseball operations or
• 9:05
  Speaker 3: heads of operations, even coaching, especially coaching, is that they
• 9:09
  Speaker 3: lean toward inexperience.
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: They like to hire their guys and have them grow.
• 9:14
  Speaker 3: And my gosh, they've been successful in the NFL with
• 9:17
  Speaker 3: Sean McVay and their front office with the Rams, successful
• 9:21
  Speaker 3: in the NBA with the Nuggets, successful in the NHL
• 9:23
  Speaker 3: with the Avalanche, successful in the Premier League with Arsenal.
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: So it's hard to argue with what they've done. They're
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: good at it. So that would seem to be the
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: more likely route for them.
• 9:34
  Speaker 3: But there are some Former GMs out there, if they
• 9:38
  Speaker 3: wanted to explore, they would be interesting names. I'm talking
• 9:41
  Speaker 3: about John Daniels, who went to two World Series with
• 9:43
  Speaker 3: the Rangers. James Click won a World Series with the
• 9:47
  Speaker 3: Houston Astros. And there are others as well. Dayton Moore
• 9:50
  Speaker 3: won a World Series with the Kansas City Royals.
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: I'm not sure that's the way they're going to go.
• 9:55
  Speaker 3: In fact, their history suggests they will not go that way.
• 9:58
  Speaker 3: But basically, their hire is going to be a big
• 10:01
  Speaker 3: one because the entire industry views the Angels as a
• 10:05
  Speaker 3: sleeping giant, and rightly so.
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: They play in this amazing market. Players want to be there.
• 10:10
  Speaker 3: Who doesn't want to be in Orange County in Southern California?
• 10:14
  Speaker 3: And beyond that, they draw from a huge population base.
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: They have a lot going for them.
• 10:20
  Speaker 3: Including playing in a division that lacks a dominant power
• 10:23
  Speaker 3: right now.
• 10:24
  Speaker 4: The Kroenke group clearly knows how to build structure if
• 10:27
  Speaker 4: they've had success in all of those sports. Do they
• 10:31
  Speaker 4: need to make a splash in this market? You mentioned
• 10:33
  Speaker 4: it in your article. Does this market have that marquee
• 10:37
  Speaker 4: Max Scherzer to the Nats, Tarek Skubal to the Angels
• 10:42
  Speaker 4: type of market-altering move in this free agent market?
• 10:48
  Speaker 3: Well, Scoble would be certainly a guy that I'm sure
• 10:51
  Speaker 3: would be of interest there. Now, the question is, ownership
• 10:55
  Speaker 3: is not expected to be approved until at least December.
• 10:59
  Speaker 3: So they can't really act even to hire a president
• 11:03
  Speaker 3: of baseball operations before then, much less sign a Tarek Scoble.
• 11:07
  Speaker 3: And will Scoble's agent, Scott Boris, and Scoble himself be
• 11:11
  Speaker 3: willing to wait if before the lockout starts.
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: On December 1st, they can get the deal that they want?
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: I would think that that is their goal. That is
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: what they want to do. Get this over with and get.
• 11:23
  Speaker 3: The best deal possible without having to drag this into
• 11:26
  Speaker 3: post lockout world whenever that would be. So yeah, the
• 11:31
  Speaker 3: angels could be a factor there, but I don't see
• 11:33
  Speaker 3: it happening with their ownership still in transition.
• 11:37
  Speaker 4: Ken, that's my question though. Can the new owners talk
• 11:40
  Speaker 4: to Boris? Can they talk to agents of players or
• 11:42
  Speaker 4: is it this still Artie Moreno? I just kind of,
• 11:46
  Speaker 4: Holding up the whole thing so the Angels are going
• 11:48
  Speaker 4: to have to go through another year and be like, well,
• 11:50
  Speaker 4: Artie got us again.
• 11:51
  Speaker 3: It won't be another year.
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: He's not holding it up.
• 11:55
  Speaker 4: Another offseason because if there's a lockout, right, and everyone
• 11:58
  Speaker 4: is going to try and get signed before the lockout,
• 12:01
  Speaker 4: then they're going to say, oh, man, Artie, we couldn't
• 12:04
  Speaker 4: get the deal done with Artie before December 1st. It's
• 12:07
  Speaker 4: locked out. Now we're stuck in kind of a limbo where.
• 12:10
  Speaker 4: We can't get any players because we can't even hire
• 12:12
  Speaker 4: a president of baseball ops and or a GM and
• 12:15
  Speaker 4: or a manager and or a staff and or anyone
• 12:17
  Speaker 4: else you want to hire. So it seems like Artie
• 12:19
  Speaker 4: Moreno still got this team by kind of by the
• 12:21
  Speaker 4: you know what.
• 12:22
  Speaker 3: Well, yes, but AJ, at the same time, he has
• 12:26
  Speaker 3: sold the team and that is in the process.
• 12:28
  Speaker 4: Then let him take over. Then let him take over.
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: AJ, the sale's not even closed yet. You have to
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: have the major league owners vote on it. It's not
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: like Artie can just say, hey, it's your turn now.
• 12:37
  Speaker 3: There are things that have to happen procedurally.
• 12:40
  Speaker 4: The owners don't even need to vote. They're always 30.
• 12:42
  Speaker 4: They always vote together. 29 or 30 together.
• 12:44
  Speaker 5: AJ, they need to vote.
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: It's not like you just make it happen like that.
• 12:48
  Speaker 4: I proxy. I proxy, Ken.
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: Proxy. It's done. 30, they all agree. The question I have, AJ,
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: it does speak to what you're saying here.
• 12:56
  Speaker 3: Can the Angels go out and sign Tarek Skubal right
• 12:59
  Speaker 3: now and the new owners would.
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: Just instruct Artie to do it? I guess that's possible,
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: but at the same time, it would.
• 13:07
  Speaker 3: Seem to be an unusual step. I don't know the
• 13:10
  Speaker 3: exact particulars there. I would be speaking out of turn,
• 13:13
  Speaker 3: but certainly they can give him direction.
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: Now, direction.
• 13:20
  Speaker 3: Leading to a $ 300 to $ 400 million contract, that I'm
• 13:22
  Speaker 3: not so sure of.
• 13:25
  Speaker 4: All right. One of the free agents on this market
• 13:27
  Speaker 4: is Seiya Suzuki. Do you see the Blue Jays as
• 13:31
  Speaker 4: a front runner, not just because of the fact that
• 13:34
  Speaker 4: there's a hole for them to fill, but also for
• 13:36
  Speaker 4: the fact that they've made this splash on a constant,
• 13:41
  Speaker 4: on a consistent basis, and they've already done it with
• 13:45
  Speaker 4: Kaz at third base and continuing that direction.
• 13:49
  Speaker 3: Eric, I don't think we can predict what's going to
• 13:52
  Speaker 3: happen with Suzuki's market or anyone else's.
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: Free agency is basically.
• 13:58
  Speaker 3: A difficult thing to read in advance. We get surprised
• 14:01
  Speaker 3: all the time. Certainly the Blue Jays, though, are a
• 14:04
  Speaker 3: team that is quite a logical fit, a team that
• 14:08
  Speaker 3: is almost certain to have interest if they haven't expressed
• 14:10
  Speaker 3: it already. Suzuki is a natural for them. The team
• 14:13
  Speaker 3: that is losing George Springer, a team that traded Dalton
• 14:17
  Speaker 3: Varshow last year to the Houston Astros, so they have
• 14:21
  Speaker 3: essentially two holes. Addison Barger eventually will come back, but
• 14:25
  Speaker 3: the rest of their outfielders, it's basically guys with promise
• 14:28
  Speaker 3: or guys who are just kind of on the cusp
• 14:30
  Speaker 3: of their careers.
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: Not really established players for the most part. Nathan Lukes
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: is in there. It's okay. But they need more. They
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: know they need more. They were 19th in OPS from
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: their outfielders last season.
• 14:42
  Speaker 3: So for all those reasons, Suzuki would be a fit.
• 14:45
  Speaker 3: So would Randy Rosarena for that matter. He's the other
• 14:48
  Speaker 3: top outfielder on the market. And I expect the Blue Jays.
• 14:51
  Speaker 5: To be active.
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 14:54
  Speaker 4: Ken, the Cubs. The Cubs got rid of basically their
• 14:58
  Speaker 4: whole starting rotation. I mean, they're hoping Horton comes back.
• 15:02
  Speaker 4: They're hoping Steele comes back. Will they be able to
• 15:04
  Speaker 4: find Ford? I know they did pick up a sods option. So,
• 15:08
  Speaker 4: you know, Holmes gone, Peterson gone, Boyd gone. It's just boom, boom, boom, boom, boom,
• 15:11
  Speaker 4: down the list. Will they be able to fill this
• 15:14
  Speaker 4: in time externally? Or do they have internal options that
• 15:17
  Speaker 4: the Cubs are counting on to be able to basically
• 15:20
  Speaker 4: fill a new rotation out?
• 15:22
  Speaker 2: I'm not sure the internal options are sufficient. So, yes,
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: they will be active in the markets.
• 15:28
  Speaker 3: I would think that they're going to sign or acquire
• 15:31
  Speaker 3: at least two starting pitchers. And the one good thing
• 15:34
  Speaker 3: in their favor is that the market is fairly deep,
• 15:37
  Speaker 3: not in.
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: Great starters, but in starters.
• 15:41
  Speaker 3: So there are guys like Trevor Rodgers out there, Freddie Peralta,
• 15:44
  Speaker 3: of course, with the connection to counsel from before.
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: He's out there. Gossman and Holmes, who they had before.
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: Michael King. Scooble's at the top of that list. I
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: don't expect them to sign Scooble, but it's not as
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: if they... are looking at a market barren.
• 16:00
  Speaker 3: For the teams looking for offense, it's a real problem
• 16:04
  Speaker 3: because there aren't that many great hitters, even good hitters, available.
• 16:08
  Speaker 3: But for starting pitching, yeah, you'll have some options, some
• 16:10
  Speaker 3: ways you can go.
• 16:13
  Speaker 4: Talk about the last one for me is the Japanese
• 16:16
  Speaker 4: players that just got posted. Their window is now going
• 16:19
  Speaker 4: to be shorter. I think by 15 days-ish, Was that
• 16:22
  Speaker 4: a drawn out process that needed to be a little
• 16:25
  Speaker 4: bit shorter or is this extra or is this going
• 16:29
  Speaker 4: to hinder them because it's not as long of a
• 16:32
  Speaker 4: process as other years?
• 16:34
  Speaker 3: I don't know that it will hinder them, Eric, but
• 16:36
  Speaker 3: 45 days gives them ample time to negotiate. Now, as
• 16:41
  Speaker 3: soon as the lockout starts, transactions are frozen and the
• 16:44
  Speaker 3: 45 day window gets cut off. It will effectively be
• 16:47
  Speaker 3: 30 because they were posted.
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: On November 1st. How much does this affect them as
• 16:52
  Speaker 2: free agents?
• 16:52
  Speaker 3: Obviously, if you're the agents for those players, you want
• 16:55
  Speaker 3: as much time as possible to flush out the market,
• 16:57
  Speaker 3: to build interest.
• 16:59
  Speaker 2: But I don't know that it's going to hurt them terribly.
• 17:02
  Speaker 3: If anything, this will lead to a greater frenzy at
• 17:05
  Speaker 3: the end because these players will be involved. Now, if
• 17:07
  Speaker 3: Major League Baseball felt this was not disadvantageous to those players,
• 17:13
  Speaker 3: Major League Baseball would have done what it did the
• 17:15
  Speaker 3: last time and.
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: Amended the posting agreement.
• 17:19
  Speaker 3: To allow these guys to basically pause their negotiating windows
• 17:23
  Speaker 3: and then resume them after the lockout is over. But
• 17:27
  Speaker 3: obviously Major League Baseball feels, for whatever reason, that this
• 17:31
  Speaker 3: will be disadvantageous to those players.
• 17:32
  Speaker 2: I might have phrased it wrong there.
• 17:35
  Speaker 3: It will be a problem for those players or less
• 17:37
  Speaker 3: of an advantage, and therefore they cut it off or
• 17:39
  Speaker 3: will effectively cut it off once the lockout starts.
• 17:42
  Speaker 2: In theory, this is not going to happen.
• 17:45
  Speaker 3: But if we get an agreement before December 1st, then
• 17:48
  Speaker 3: the 45 day window is intact, but we all know
• 17:51
  Speaker 3: we're not getting an agreement before December 1st.
• 17:55
  Speaker 5: And selfishly, I like it.
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: I think it'll spur the market a little bit because
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: I think Sato is going to do well. And so
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: it'll cause teams to have to think of course about
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: him and maybe some others, you know, as a backup plan.
• 18:04
  Speaker 5: So, all right, Ken, we'll see.
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: We'll hear more from you later this week on fair
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: territory and also more on that article, of course, that
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: he's referring to in the athletics.
• 18:13
  Speaker 5: So check it out.
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: Thanks, Ken.
• 18:14
  Speaker 5: Talk soon.
• 18:15
  Speaker 3: Thanks guys.
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: Ken's show, Fair Territory, if you haven't heard of it.
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: I think you have if you know Foul Territory. Thursday
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: is the next episode. So if you have a question,
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: we'll definitely be hitting that too. And Ken's been putting
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: out tweets before most of the shows lately too on
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: Twitter asking for fans to send in questions so we
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: can get those ready before the show with graphics and
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: all the pretty stuff.
• 18:38
  Speaker 2: BetMGM, now we're in awards season.
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: Session, whatever, two-week span here where we got the candidates,
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: the final three. What we want to do here, especially
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: since there's so many awards that don't have intrigue for
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: the big ones, guys, is look back at the beginning
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: of the season when the odds are set, okay? So
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: we'll start with the AL MVP here, and then we'll
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: go down the line over the next.
• 19:07
  Speaker 5: Week or so. Judge was plus 200. Makes sense.
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: Judge got hurt, right? Witt was plus 500. Cal Raleigh
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: plus 800. Julio Rodriguez plus 1,200. I'm reading this for
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: the podcast crowd too. I know you're looking at it
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: if you're watching on YouTube and on TV.
• 19:23
  Speaker 5: Vladdy Jr.
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: Plus 1,600. Same with Gunnar Henderson and Jose Ramirez. And
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: then you have Junior Caminero was plus 2,500. AJ, Jordan
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: Alvarez was plus 3,000 if anyone was bold enough to
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: go with him before the season started. And I'm going
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: to guess that there were not many who picked Jordan
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: Alvarez just based on him mostly being a D.H.
• 19:44
  Speaker 4: Yeah, and his injury history too. I think that's the
• 19:46
  Speaker 4: other thing that scared people away from Jordan Alvarez. But
• 19:50
  Speaker 4: Junior Caminero was ranked higher than Jordan Alvarez, which you
• 19:52
  Speaker 4: never would have thought going into the year either. That's
• 19:53
  Speaker 4: kind of a head-scratcher for me. But, I mean, Judge Witt,
• 19:57
  Speaker 4: Jose Ramirez, those are kind of the standards that everyone
• 20:00
  Speaker 4: else is going for. So I don't have a problem
• 20:02
  Speaker 4: with a lot of these. Cal Raleigh, obviously, Julio Rodriguez
• 20:06
  Speaker 4: didn't have great years. Vlad fell off, so Gunnar didn't
• 20:08
  Speaker 4: have a great year. But the three finalists were two
• 20:12
  Speaker 4: and then way down the list. So congratulations to Jordan. Congratulations, Junior,
• 20:17
  Speaker 4: having a great year. And congratulations for Bobby Witt over
• 20:19
  Speaker 4: your just being in the top three.
• 20:21
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 20:22
  Speaker 5: And Kratz, one other note before you comment with Caminero.
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: I think the two things that held him back going
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: into the season were last year, the on base percentage
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: and then also the defense.
• 20:33
  Speaker 5: And sometimes you.
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: Forget he's he's a baby in our game. He took
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: massive strides in both categories. Huge jump in OBP and
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: his defense.
• 20:44
  Speaker 4: He was 22. Most people are graduating from college at 22.
• 20:47
  Speaker 4: So yeah, he was learning in the big leagues and
• 20:50
  Speaker 4: he put a good run together. You'll never get junior
• 20:53
  Speaker 4: for the next probably eight years at plus 2,500. But
• 20:56
  Speaker 4: the only reason I didn't pick Jordan was because last
• 21:00
  Speaker 4: year I picked Jordan and Scott berated me, belittled me.
• 21:05
  Speaker 4: So I would never pick Jordan again as a DH.
• 21:08
  Speaker 4: So that's, I blame Scott for me not making three
• 21:11
  Speaker 4: grand off of my pick. But I remember our discussion
• 21:15
  Speaker 4: about those guys in the middle there, Vladdy, Gunnar, and Hosey.
• 21:19
  Speaker 4: And coming off the World Series, who would have said,
• 21:23
  Speaker 4: I remember saying, wow, 1600 for Vladdy. I'll take 1600
• 21:28
  Speaker 4: for Vladdy. If you're not going Aaron Judge, I'll take
• 21:31
  Speaker 4: 1600 for Vladdy because he was, I mean, he was,
• 21:35
  Speaker 4: he's always been a walk to strikeout guy. And what
• 21:38
  Speaker 4: he did in the world series, you thought he's going
• 21:41
  Speaker 4: to propel to that MVP status. I think he won a,
• 21:45
  Speaker 4: I think he was second in MVP to Shohei during
• 21:48
  Speaker 4: that time. I mean, earlier in his career, you thought
• 21:51
  Speaker 4: this year was going to be the year and it's
• 21:53
  Speaker 4: at 1600. That felt like a lot of value.
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: And, you know, it's funny on the defensive side, I think,
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: Vlad got better. Vlad had a really good year on defense.
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: I have not looked at the metrics lately, but they
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: were good, and the eye test was good.
• 22:12
  Speaker 2: So, just.
• 22:13
  Speaker 4: He just forgot to bring his bats to... Yeah. Yeah,
• 22:17
  Speaker 4: I mean, yeah.
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: Right, because if you're looking at Vlad and you're like, man,
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: coming off that postseason two, Kratz, you're like, damn, this
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: guy could be taking it to the next level, and
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: maybe the defense keeps getting better. It's like, oh, the
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: defense did get better, but Yeah, the bat went in
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: a wrong direction. For me, AJ, I don't know how
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: you feel. I could see him completely turning it around
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: and rebounding. I know so many people say things once
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: a star struggles, but it's hard for a star to
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: make certain changes.
• 22:48
  Speaker 5: Some do it, right? But others won't make those changes
• 22:50
  Speaker 5: until the offseason.
• 22:54
  Speaker 4: We'll see.
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: We'll see.
• 22:55
  Speaker 4: I know Blue Jays fans are counting on Blue Jays
• 22:57
  Speaker 4: organizations counting on him making the next step, but And
• 23:00
  Speaker 4: making adjustments to whatever he's got to do. But will
• 23:03
  Speaker 4: he do it? We'll find out. I guess we'll find
• 23:05
  Speaker 4: out whenever the season starts. We'll find out whenever the
• 23:07
  Speaker 4: first Blue Jays game is. It could be in April.
• 23:10
  Speaker 4: That could be in 2029. Who the hell knows what
• 23:13
  Speaker 4: the hell is going on. But, yeah, hopefully he makes
• 23:16
  Speaker 4: the adjustments needed. If he doesn't make the adjustment, then
• 23:19
  Speaker 4: you're looking at it going $ 500 million? And that's the
• 23:26
  Speaker 4: discussion that will start to happen. No way he hits
• 23:29
  Speaker 4: one home run.
• 23:31
  Speaker 3: At home.
• 23:32
  Speaker 4: No way that happens again. So you know there's going
• 23:34
  Speaker 4: to be an uptick for Vladdy.
• 23:39
  Speaker 5: You're not going to get this version of him for
• 23:40
  Speaker 5: the rest of his career.
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: I think that's an easy prediction to make.
• 23:46
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 23:46
  Speaker 5: Too good to keep putting this together.
• 23:48
  Speaker 2: All right.
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: So we'll keep going down the line over the next
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: few days and then into next week, too, as we
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: approach awards season. And inside the BetMGM app, you can
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: start to look at futures or you can bet on
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: games that are going on right now in other sports.
• 24:03
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• 24:05
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• 24:08
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• 24:10
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• 24:13
  Speaker 1: you win, you get an enhanced payout. Gambling problem or concern,
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: call 1-800-GAMBLER.