Latest / Foul Territory / Jim Bowden's Front Office Unfiltered: MLB's Small Market Shift, Lockout Concerns, Tatis Jr. power dip

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Jim Bowden's Front Office Unfiltered: MLB's Small Market Shift, Lockout Concerns, Tatis Jr. power dip · Foul Territory

• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Front office, unfiltered, get ready, we have a lot to
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: hit with Jim Bowden. We'll go over the Tatis question,
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: Tony Baytello. Some of the teams also that are in
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: smaller markets that might have a shot at the postseason
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: that we didn't think originally at a shot.
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: But JB.
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: Great to see you, and let's start with your fresh
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: article on the beginning of CBA discussions where they play
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: footsie for a six month period. So what do you
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: think of the players and the owners having a conversation
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: or a presentation starting this week?
• 0:39
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think they.
• 0:39
  Speaker 4: Should keep it away from the media. I think the
• 0:41
  Speaker 4: negotiations should happen behind the scenes.
• 0:44
  Speaker 3: I don't think it's good or healthy for the sport to.
• 0:47
  Speaker 4: Be putting that black cloud around, you know, the threatening
• 0:50
  Speaker 4: of a you know, if we don't get a salary cap,
• 0:52
  Speaker 4: there's going to be a work stoppage or we're going
• 0:54
  Speaker 4: to lock them out, and then the players come back
• 0:56
  Speaker 4: and say, well we put enough money aside.
• 0:58
  Speaker 3: If you do that like, that's not healthy for anybody.
• 1:00
  Speaker 4: I think my point of the article is just what
• 1:02
  Speaker 4: a great place Major League Baseball is in right now.
• 1:05
  Speaker 4: I mean, it's as popular as it's ever been. The
• 1:08
  Speaker 4: TV ratings are up, the streaming ratings are up, the
• 1:10
  Speaker 4: satellite radio for Series XM are up. My articles are
• 1:14
  Speaker 4: crushing it at the athletic like everything is just at
• 1:17
  Speaker 4: a great level. We have small market teams in first
• 1:20
  Speaker 4: place in every American league division. We have the NL
• 1:24
  Speaker 4: Central with every team with a winning record. This has
• 1:27
  Speaker 4: just been a great start to the year. And I
• 1:29
  Speaker 4: just don't think that it makes any sense to have
• 1:32
  Speaker 4: a hiccup now. I think the next CBA should be
• 1:34
  Speaker 4: pretty easy to negotiate if both sides sit down find
• 1:38
  Speaker 4: ways to keep improving. But I think with all the
• 1:41
  Speaker 4: rule changes we've seen over the last six years and
• 1:43
  Speaker 4: including the ABS challenge for this year, the game is
• 1:46
  Speaker 4: in such a great place. Don't do anything to derail that.
• 1:49
  Speaker 4: And that's kind of my meeting behind the article, Jim.
• 1:54
  Speaker 5: But I thought you were so pro salary cap and
• 1:56
  Speaker 5: pro all this stuff. Now you don't want to lock
• 1:59
  Speaker 5: out with what changed, Jim, because forever you were we
• 2:02
  Speaker 5: need a salary cap, and aw, these low market teams
• 2:04
  Speaker 5: are in first place. You're like, no, no, no, let's
• 2:06
  Speaker 5: not do anything.
• 2:07
  Speaker 4: Yeah, So let me kind of go through that because
• 2:09
  Speaker 4: it's a good question, so I can back it up.
• 2:11
  Speaker 4: I did write in the article that if I had
• 2:13
  Speaker 4: my way, there'd be a salary floor of one point
• 2:15
  Speaker 4: fifty and a cap at two fifty. So that paragraph
• 2:18
  Speaker 4: is in the article and stayed in there. Look, I
• 2:20
  Speaker 4: spent my life with a small market team having to
• 2:23
  Speaker 4: compete against the Yankees and Dodgers payrolls, and if I
• 2:26
  Speaker 4: could get with on one hundred million of them payroll wise,
• 2:29
  Speaker 4: I would take my chances when I was a GM.
• 2:33
  Speaker 4: So look, I understand that concept, but a lot has
• 2:35
  Speaker 4: changed for me. And I think what really hit me
• 2:38
  Speaker 4: in spring training when I went to these ballparks and
• 2:42
  Speaker 4: I went to the backfields and I really got a
• 2:44
  Speaker 4: feeling of the Trajeck machines and the impact of hit
• 2:47
  Speaker 4: track and all the things that these teams are doing,
• 2:51
  Speaker 4: and just realizing that high school college a ball rookie
• 2:56
  Speaker 4: ball players they get to face Paul Skins on simulation
• 2:59
  Speaker 4: machine whenever they want, or Trek Scoobel or Jacob Nazerowski,
• 3:04
  Speaker 4: and they're getting to face this high V low at
• 3:07
  Speaker 4: such a young age, and they're seeing the shapes and
• 3:10
  Speaker 4: the sizes of these secondary pitches, all of which is gonna.
• 3:13
  Speaker 3: Lead to early success in the big leagues.
• 3:16
  Speaker 4: And so instead of waiting three years before a guy
• 3:19
  Speaker 4: becomes a star, normally what happens it takes about three years.
• 3:22
  Speaker 4: They become a star, their arbitration eligible, then they get
• 3:25
  Speaker 4: paid right. But now we're gonna have a situation where
• 3:28
  Speaker 4: guys are gonna hit the big leagues like JJ Weatherholt
• 3:31
  Speaker 4: and Kevin McGonagall and Sal Stewart and Chase the Lotter,
• 3:34
  Speaker 4: and they're gonna hit the ground running because they don't
• 3:37
  Speaker 4: have to adjust to this pitching. They've seen it, they've
• 3:39
  Speaker 4: been watching it, whether it be off machines or top
• 3:41
  Speaker 4: prospects in the minor leagues. They're already through that adjustment period.
• 3:45
  Speaker 4: So what's gonna happen, and it's gonna be the club's
• 3:48
  Speaker 4: benefits is zero to three years.
• 3:50
  Speaker 3: Instead of waiting for some of.
• 3:52
  Speaker 4: Develop a lot of these guys are gonna come up
• 3:53
  Speaker 4: and be ready to perform at this level.
• 3:55
  Speaker 3: Clubs are gonna.
• 3:56
  Speaker 4: Get them for free the first three years because that's
• 3:59
  Speaker 4: what their presence system is, and they're also going to
• 4:01
  Speaker 4: control them for six years.
• 4:02
  Speaker 3: The other thing that's changed is teams.
• 4:04
  Speaker 4: Like the Pittsburgh Pirates and other small market teams are saying, hey,
• 4:08
  Speaker 4: we'll sign you to seven, eight, nine years. We'll put
• 4:11
  Speaker 4: one hundred and thirty hundred and fifty million in your pockets.
• 4:14
  Speaker 4: And the young kids are going.
• 4:15
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I'll take that.
• 4:16
  Speaker 4: And so instead of us looking at a player that's
• 4:19
  Speaker 4: going to be traded after four years, now I'm seeing
• 4:22
  Speaker 4: small market teams like the Pirates are going to be
• 4:24
  Speaker 4: able to keep Connor Griffin for nine instead.
• 4:26
  Speaker 3: Of four or three. So I just feel like the.
• 4:29
  Speaker 4: Way the game is evolving, we have to pivot and
• 4:33
  Speaker 4: adjust to it. And when the four of us wake
• 4:36
  Speaker 4: up this morning and realize that Tampa Bay's in first place,
• 4:40
  Speaker 4: so's Cleveland, so are the athletics, and as I said,
• 4:43
  Speaker 4: the NL Central as winning records, and we're realizing, you know,
• 4:47
  Speaker 4: the small market teams are taking advantage of this, and
• 4:49
  Speaker 4: the zero to three players are performing like they're three
• 4:52
  Speaker 4: to six players, and so the results are different. And
• 4:55
  Speaker 4: then you look at the big markets and you go
• 4:57
  Speaker 4: back and look, I don't want one so or not
• 4:59
  Speaker 4: to get his seven in sixty five million.
• 5:01
  Speaker 3: And if someone is going to give them that, fine,
• 5:03
  Speaker 3: let them do.
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: It.
• 5:04
  Speaker 3: Doesn't mean the Mets are going to win where are
• 5:06
  Speaker 3: they right now?
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: Oh?
• 5:06
  Speaker 3: Last place? Sorry?
• 5:08
  Speaker 4: And if the Dodgers want to pay Kyle Tucker sixty
• 5:10
  Speaker 4: million and that's want to pay Bashett.
• 5:12
  Speaker 3: Forty, let him do it.
• 5:15
  Speaker 4: I'm not worried about that if I'm Eric Neander and
• 5:18
  Speaker 4: Tampa or David Forced with the Athletics and West Sacramento.
• 5:22
  Speaker 3: So I just feel like the game is changing enough
• 5:24
  Speaker 3: that I don't want the cap to cause a work stoppage.
• 5:28
  Speaker 4: That's my issue here, and I kind of feel like
• 5:31
  Speaker 4: there is a way to create a floor in a negotiation.
• 5:34
  Speaker 4: There is a way to share media revenue better for
• 5:38
  Speaker 4: all thirty teams, and there is a way to increase
• 5:41
  Speaker 4: the tax for the.
• 5:42
  Speaker 3: One, two or three teams that just want to.
• 5:44
  Speaker 4: Go out there and just blow blow by everything to
• 5:48
  Speaker 4: get a certain player too. There's a way we can
• 5:51
  Speaker 4: do that without putting a cap hard cap at the
• 5:55
  Speaker 4: top end. So that's kind of where the article kind
• 5:59
  Speaker 4: of took it.
• 6:01
  Speaker 6: I do like your idea of a soft floor, because
• 6:03
  Speaker 6: we have a soft cap, and if you want a
• 6:05
  Speaker 6: penalties there, let's add some more. But again, I feel
• 6:08
  Speaker 6: like these are a lot of owner to owner issues.
• 6:11
  Speaker 6: But you were talking about all the small markets which
• 6:14
  Speaker 6: one of those small markets that you were talking about
• 6:16
  Speaker 6: that are doing so well do you feel like are
• 6:18
  Speaker 6: actually legit.
• 6:20
  Speaker 3: I think Tampa Bay is legit.
• 6:22
  Speaker 7: Eric.
• 6:23
  Speaker 4: It's a great question because not all of them are, obviously,
• 6:26
  Speaker 4: and you know, we'll find out when we've done the
• 6:29
  Speaker 4: six months. I think Tampa Bay is because I look
• 6:32
  Speaker 4: at Shane McClanahan and although his vlo's not quite what
• 6:36
  Speaker 4: it was being left handed, still mid nineties right now,
• 6:40
  Speaker 4: two two seventy RA after eight starts, rass Muscin's already
• 6:43
  Speaker 4: an All Star eight starts, the RA of three to one,
• 6:45
  Speaker 4: that's real. And Nick Martinez and Steven Mats have been
• 6:49
  Speaker 4: decent right as their third and four starters because they
• 6:53
  Speaker 4: have such great defense and run support, and the way
• 6:56
  Speaker 4: Kevin Cash knows how to work a bullpen. If they
• 6:58
  Speaker 4: give them five or six hitting, they can win those games.
• 7:02
  Speaker 4: You got Brian Baker in the back end converting eleven
• 7:04
  Speaker 4: of thirteen saves with a two to one six ERA.
• 7:07
  Speaker 4: That's legit. And then I look at the lineup and
• 7:09
  Speaker 4: it's like, we finally have a leadoff hitter, probably the
• 7:12
  Speaker 4: fastest guy since I had Dion Sanders in Cincinnati. But
• 7:15
  Speaker 4: Chandler Simpson's exciting, right. He's been on base thirty four
• 7:18
  Speaker 4: percent of the time with twelve steals. So you got
• 7:20
  Speaker 4: that guy to create traffic at the top. And then
• 7:22
  Speaker 4: you've got three legit hitters to drive your runs in
• 7:25
  Speaker 4: junior camerin Aro. This generation's Gary Sheffield. He's got eleven homers,
• 7:29
  Speaker 4: he's on base thirty four percent of the time. Jonathan Aranda,
• 7:33
  Speaker 4: he's on base thirty five percent of the time. Yonder
• 7:35
  Speaker 4: Diez thirty seven percent of the time. Aronda's got eight
• 7:38
  Speaker 4: homers DSS five. So those four guys are going to
• 7:41
  Speaker 4: create the offense. Those five pitchers I talked about are
• 7:44
  Speaker 4: going to keep them in the race. And then all
• 7:46
  Speaker 4: the other parts that Eric Neanders put together in Tampa
• 7:49
  Speaker 4: Bay are average major league players and really good defensive players.
• 7:52
  Speaker 4: And when you got Kevin Cash, who's one of the
• 7:54
  Speaker 4: best manager in baseball, manipulating and navigating the bullpen and
• 7:58
  Speaker 4: the bench, it's another to be real. Now, I'm not
• 8:01
  Speaker 4: picking them to beat the Yankees. Yankees are going to
• 8:04
  Speaker 4: win that division in my view, but Tampa is good
• 8:06
  Speaker 4: enough to be a postseason team.
• 8:08
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  Speaker 6: All right, you got do you have one more or
• 9:11
  Speaker 6: all the rest frauds. All the other small market teams
• 9:14
  Speaker 6: that are that are good, just not as legit as
• 9:17
  Speaker 6: the race.
• 9:18
  Speaker 4: Yeah, so the good question, let's start with the Athletics.
• 9:22
  Speaker 4: Get me some starting pitching. They'll be legit. The lineup
• 9:24
  Speaker 4: is legit. That's going to be good to go. And
• 9:28
  Speaker 4: by the time they get to Vegas and they have
• 9:30
  Speaker 4: those extra stripe s's, they'll be able to get that
• 9:33
  Speaker 4: starting pitching and be ready to go. The Mariners will
• 9:36
  Speaker 4: win the West. It won't be the Athletics, But I
• 9:39
  Speaker 4: think what we've seen with the shay Langelers and the
• 9:41
  Speaker 4: Nick Kurtzes and the Jacob Wilson news now on the
• 9:44
  Speaker 4: injured list, that that's all real. So got to work
• 9:48
  Speaker 4: on the starting pitch, just like the Cubs did when
• 9:50
  Speaker 4: they went out and got you know, John.
• 9:52
  Speaker 3: Lester and made the trade for Areata.
• 9:54
  Speaker 4: I mean, it's going to be the last pieces they had,
• 9:56
  Speaker 4: but they'll be ready for Vegas and be legit. You know,
• 9:59
  Speaker 4: I think that the A Central teams are all legit.
• 10:02
  Speaker 4: Pittsburgh's on the way once they have made a little
• 10:04
  Speaker 4: effort for the offense and by the way, Seth or Nandez,
• 10:08
  Speaker 4: arguably the best pitching prospect.
• 10:10
  Speaker 3: In baseball is a one. He is an ace.
• 10:13
  Speaker 4: He'll be in the big leagues by the end of
• 10:14
  Speaker 4: next year, and they're gonna have him in schemes at
• 10:17
  Speaker 4: the top and you better watch out. And that's you know,
• 10:20
  Speaker 4: we've seen Ashcraft and Jared Jones, but here comes Pittsburgh.
• 10:23
  Speaker 4: They're that close. Saint Louis is getting better. You know,
• 10:26
  Speaker 4: they've had some good pieces. The Reds need a little
• 10:29
  Speaker 4: bit of work, but they're close. So yeah, I mean, look,
• 10:33
  Speaker 4: you got a lot of those teams. I'm not saying
• 10:35
  Speaker 4: they're gonna win the championships.
• 10:37
  Speaker 3: This year, but they're building nucleuses that are gonna work.
• 10:41
  Speaker 4: And with young players succeeding at such a young level
• 10:45
  Speaker 4: h in their early years in the big leagues.
• 10:47
  Speaker 3: They're gonna get there quicker than normal. Good stuff.
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: Jab I'm gonna take us in a different direction for
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: one of the questions of the day, since it got
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: a ton of attention yesterday. It's like a little footnote
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: in a conversation that we had. We were going over
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: struggling starts to the year and talking about a number
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: of players I think you respect this show like I
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: do in the way that we just talk about what's
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: going on. And we went over the lack of power
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: for Fernando Tatis Junior.
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: Now, is he a zero homer player?
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: No, But the point Kratz made was he had forty
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: two homers in twenty twenty one and since then he's
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: more like a low maybe mid twenties homer guy, right,
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: twenty five last year, twenty one year, four, twenty five
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: year before that. So your take on what you're seeing
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: this year from him for the lack of power, and
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: then what kind of player he actually is compared to
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: that one season, because I do think the perception of
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: how good he was at the very beginning of his
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: career does need to be leveled. And of course the
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: tweet went on fire because you had some fan saying
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: Kratz doesn't know ball, he doesn't know eggs of velascy
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: and hard hit rate and all of that stuff, And
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: of course that's what steroids has everything to do with,
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: not recovery and hitting the ball in the air and
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: things like that.
• 11:56
  Speaker 4: Yeah, so Bernano Tatis had that great year, that's you know,
• 12:00
  Speaker 4: that's not what he is. He is what Cratsey is saying,
• 12:05
  Speaker 4: Theres are in first place. To Tease has a lot
• 12:07
  Speaker 4: to do with that. To Tease is a platinum right fielder.
• 12:11
  Speaker 4: He's gonna win you a lot of games with his defense.
• 12:13
  Speaker 4: He's gonna win your games with his arm, even the
• 12:16
  Speaker 4: runners that don't take the extra base because they don't
• 12:18
  Speaker 4: want to against him. His ability to play second base
• 12:21
  Speaker 4: as well, and give Padres manager Craig Stammon flexibility to
• 12:25
  Speaker 4: use right field in a different way for certain games
• 12:27
  Speaker 4: against left handed pitching. Love love that that, Like Mookie Betts,
• 12:31
  Speaker 4: he's willing to do that. He comes to the park
• 12:34
  Speaker 4: every day ready to play, plays the game hard. He's
• 12:37
  Speaker 4: been hitting the ball really hard. The fact that he
• 12:40
  Speaker 4: has no homers is beyond my comprehension. When you look
• 12:44
  Speaker 4: at all the numbers, it really doesn't make sense, but
• 12:48
  Speaker 4: baseball always doesn't make sense. I will tell you that
• 12:52
  Speaker 4: I'm a fan of Fernando Tatist Junior.
• 12:54
  Speaker 3: Always liked him personally, like the swag, like what he
• 12:57
  Speaker 3: brings to the table. I want him see it more.
• 12:59
  Speaker 4: In fact, I've even sent aj Preller some stuff that
• 13:03
  Speaker 4: I've seen, you know, from different videos of him. I
• 13:07
  Speaker 4: think he's going to figure it out. I think he'll
• 13:09
  Speaker 4: end up hitting home runs at some point.
• 13:10
  Speaker 3: Here.
• 13:12
  Speaker 4: They've got work to do with him to lift the
• 13:14
  Speaker 4: ball and pull the ball a little bit more to
• 13:16
  Speaker 4: try to create some homers.
• 13:17
  Speaker 3: But I think it will come. But I got to
• 13:19
  Speaker 3: be honest with you.
• 13:20
  Speaker 4: All I ever care about when I'm looking at teams
• 13:23
  Speaker 4: is I want to be in first place, and I
• 13:25
  Speaker 4: want players that can get me in first place.
• 13:27
  Speaker 3: And I can be in first place.
• 13:29
  Speaker 4: And he's hitting no homers, but he's winning games because
• 13:32
  Speaker 4: he's getting a ground ball of the second basement with
• 13:35
  Speaker 4: a man at third and nobody out.
• 13:37
  Speaker 3: With the second basement playing back.
• 13:38
  Speaker 4: Or if he's winning a game because he makes a
• 13:40
  Speaker 4: diving play on the foul poll or throwing someone out,
• 13:43
  Speaker 4: then I'm a fan of him. I think the homers
• 13:46
  Speaker 4: will come, but I'm more with Cratzy. I don't think
• 13:48
  Speaker 4: we're going to see forty homers from him. I'm not
• 13:50
  Speaker 4: sure that's what he is. But I'll take twenty five
• 13:53
  Speaker 4: home runs, a platinum defender, a plus base runner, a
• 13:57
  Speaker 4: great teammate, and a guy that I can win with.
• 14:02
  Speaker 5: That's fair. That's fair, Jim. All those all those are valid.
• 14:06
  Speaker 5: I just said he's longer than he used to be,
• 14:08
  Speaker 5: and he's trying and swing harder. That's why he's get
• 14:10
  Speaker 5: the ball in the air, which leads to him rolling over.
• 14:12
  Speaker 5: So I didn't get killed for once on Twitter. I'm
• 14:15
  Speaker 5: proud of myself for that one, Jim. It's usually usually
• 14:17
  Speaker 5: I get killed. Crats that doesn't. So you know what,
• 14:20
  Speaker 5: let's reverse roles for one days? Happy, was it, freaky Friday?
• 14:24
  Speaker 5: Freaking Tuesday?
• 14:25
  Speaker 4: I get killed every day, so don't feel bad. At
• 14:27
  Speaker 4: least you have days you're not.
• 14:28
  Speaker 3: I'm always killed, So I know, I know.
• 14:30
  Speaker 5: We become used, We've grown accustomed to it.
• 14:32
  Speaker 6: It's fine.
• 14:33
  Speaker 5: Uh. I want to ask you about school Scooble had
• 14:36
  Speaker 5: this new procedure that Scott Boris is saying is the future,
• 14:39
  Speaker 5: and it's the laser dissectomy, whatever the heck whatever it's called. Huh,
• 14:45
  Speaker 5: nano vasectomy. I don't know what he had. Whatever he had,
• 14:48
  Speaker 5: whatever he had, I know, nanoscope. Sorry yeah, sorry, no,
• 14:56
  Speaker 5: ignore that. Delete, don't worry. Delete. But what's the importance
• 15:04
  Speaker 5: of him coming back and pitching not only for the team,
• 15:08
  Speaker 5: which is obvious, but for his free agency. Let's say
• 15:11
  Speaker 5: he didn't come back if you're as a former GM,
• 15:13
  Speaker 5: do you hold that against that guy when he hits
• 15:16
  Speaker 5: freeency or do you say, ah, it was just a
• 15:18
  Speaker 5: nano nanoscope. Nanoscope, so it's not a schoobl scope, so
• 15:23
  Speaker 5: it's not a big deal.
• 15:24
  Speaker 4: Everything's a big deal when you're talking about the kind
• 15:27
  Speaker 4: of money teams are gonna have to invest in, right,
• 15:29
  Speaker 4: I don't know if he's gonna get four hundred million
• 15:31
  Speaker 4: or if he's gonna get eighty million a year for
• 15:33
  Speaker 4: three years. I don't know where the negotiations are gonna go.
• 15:35
  Speaker 4: I'm a little confused after the Kyle Tucker Bashett Bellinger deals, Like,
• 15:39
  Speaker 4: I don't know where it's gonna end up. There's only
• 15:42
  Speaker 4: gonna be a few teams that can afford to pay
• 15:44
  Speaker 4: him the kind of money he's gonna get.
• 15:45
  Speaker 3: But everything's gonna matter to me.
• 15:48
  Speaker 4: There's nothing worse than signing a player to a huge
• 15:51
  Speaker 4: contract and then he then he gets injured again or
• 15:54
  Speaker 4: goes under the knife again, and you've lost that investment
• 15:57
  Speaker 4: because you cannot ensure these contracts anymore. So if what happens,
• 16:00
  Speaker 4: you're just screwed. So you have to go homework. Now,
• 16:03
  Speaker 4: in theory, if a pitcher has loose bodies, and even
• 16:07
  Speaker 4: with the old school arthroscopic surgery, if it's a loose
• 16:11
  Speaker 4: body removed and that's it, I'm not concerned about it,
• 16:14
  Speaker 4: and it won't affect my offer to the player. As
• 16:17
  Speaker 4: long as he comes back, is healthy, and pitches to
• 16:20
  Speaker 4: his a custom level before the season's over, I wouldn't
• 16:23
  Speaker 4: adjust my offer. I'm not worried about that surgery. What
• 16:25
  Speaker 4: I care about is what does the ligament look like?
• 16:30
  Speaker 4: Is it affected at all with the loose bodies near
• 16:32
  Speaker 4: the ligament where maybe it's slightly torn that I need
• 16:35
  Speaker 4: to have that answer to did.
• 16:37
  Speaker 3: The injury to the elbow or anything to the shoulder.
• 16:39
  Speaker 4: If you remember the start before he was shut down,
• 16:42
  Speaker 4: he was shaking his shoulder right and we all were like, oh, oh,
• 16:45
  Speaker 4: what's that. It wasn't shaken the elbow, he was shaking
• 16:48
  Speaker 4: the shoulder. So again, before Scoobo gets his next bag,
• 16:53
  Speaker 4: which he's gonna get, no team is gonna sign him
• 16:56
  Speaker 4: without a thorough MRI of the shoulder, a thorough MRI
• 16:59
  Speaker 4: of the If both of them are clean and he
• 17:03
  Speaker 4: comes back and pitches, well, I'm not concerned about it.
• 17:06
  Speaker 4: The only thing I would say to the Tigers and
• 17:08
  Speaker 4: the schoolbl and to Scott Boris is, don't come back
• 17:12
  Speaker 4: and rush the process, even though the Tigers need him
• 17:15
  Speaker 4: so desperately. Make sure you take your time, build it
• 17:18
  Speaker 4: up with the normal recommendations, and when you're ready to go, go,
• 17:22
  Speaker 4: But do not rush back because you don't want to
• 17:25
  Speaker 4: hurt another part of your arm or elbow because you're
• 17:28
  Speaker 4: trying to get back that soon with this surgery. Regardless
• 17:32
  Speaker 4: of what people are going to say, six weeks at
• 17:35
  Speaker 4: the earliest before he gets back on there. But I
• 17:38
  Speaker 4: feel strongly worst case scenario August and September. He's on
• 17:43
  Speaker 4: the mound taking the ball every fifth day and should
• 17:45
  Speaker 4: be one hundred percent.
• 17:48
  Speaker 2: Well, let me get to another Scott Boris client here. JB.
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: Thank you for clarifying the other day that Boris wasn't
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: in Cincinnati to be at a press conference for an
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: Ellie de la Cruz extension. He's just going for a
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: nice meal. And anybody that thinks, oh, he's got to
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: show up and get his name written on a menu
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: has not been to Jeff Ruby Steakhouse because they treat
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: almost everyone that's there like gold. You know, we went
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: there and Todd Frazer's got his name on the menu.
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: Elie has a dish like they just know what they're
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: doing there. They do a great job. My question to
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: you is do you think there is any possibility that
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: the Reds spark that up again? And the thing I
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: think bothered some of our crew was when we spoke
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: to Ken Rosenthal the other day about Sal Stewart and
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: he was mentioning how they don't really feel like they're
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: in the spot funds wise, and I'm like, well, Ellie
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: didn't agree to your money.
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: Shift that money over to sell if you don't feel
• 18:39
  Speaker 2: like you're going to sign him.
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: So as somebody who ran that front offs, I know
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: it's been a minute, but what do you think they
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: should be doing and where they really are financially to
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: be able to hand out extensions.
• 18:49
  Speaker 4: So let me start with Jeff Ruby, who has done
• 18:52
  Speaker 4: an amazing job over the years. Chris collins Worth one
• 18:55
  Speaker 4: of his investors as well. But whether it be the
• 18:58
  Speaker 4: Precinct restaurant, Carlo and John are Jeff Rubies. They're three
• 19:01
  Speaker 4: of Cincinnati's best restaurants. Jeff Ruby is always catered to
• 19:05
  Speaker 4: the sports world. The Bengals, the Reds first class has
• 19:09
  Speaker 4: always taken care of all of us for a long
• 19:11
  Speaker 4: time and really cares about the city of Cincinnati, so
• 19:15
  Speaker 4: I want to give him a little bit of love.
• 19:17
  Speaker 4: When I saw that Scott Boris was there having dinner
• 19:19
  Speaker 4: with La Daily Cruz and I got the phone calls
• 19:23
  Speaker 4: and text from everybody, I immediately rich reached out to
• 19:26
  Speaker 4: Nick Crawl because I'm thinking, Okay, maybe he's there, We're
• 19:28
  Speaker 4: going to see a press conference, is going to be
• 19:29
  Speaker 4: a deal, And I asked him if he had re engaged,
• 19:32
  Speaker 4: because I knew they had talked earlier. They had offered
• 19:34
  Speaker 4: a deal north of Joey Vado to sign him that
• 19:37
  Speaker 4: was turned down. So I asked Nick, and Nick got
• 19:39
  Speaker 4: back to me right away and said not at this time.
• 19:43
  Speaker 4: Scott Boris got back to me about an hour later
• 19:46
  Speaker 4: and said, why I can't just go have a dinner
• 19:49
  Speaker 4: with one of my clients. That's not okay. Tomorrow I'm
• 19:51
  Speaker 4: having a meal with James Wood. You want to do
• 19:53
  Speaker 4: that for the Nationals too. I said, no, Scott, I don't.
• 19:56
  Speaker 4: And then Scott, by the way, is going to watch
• 19:57
  Speaker 4: minor league games the next two days. I love us,
• 19:59
  Speaker 4: Scott grinds, but to answer your question, and I'll answer
• 20:03
  Speaker 4: about both Li de la Cruz and James Wood just
• 20:05
  Speaker 4: because he met with both players, which.
• 20:07
  Speaker 3: Is normal for him.
• 20:08
  Speaker 4: By the way, it has nothing to do with negotiations.
• 20:12
  Speaker 4: If you're the Reds, sign La de la Cruz as
• 20:15
  Speaker 4: quick as you can. It's going to be painful. But
• 20:17
  Speaker 4: I just want everyone to remember that the Washington Nationals
• 20:22
  Speaker 4: could have signed one Soto and they just were too
• 20:24
  Speaker 4: hard headed and they walked away and traded him. He
• 20:28
  Speaker 4: should still be there, but they could have had him
• 20:31
  Speaker 4: for four hundred million and he got seven hundred and
• 20:33
  Speaker 4: sixty five million. Just understand, La de la Cruz is
• 20:37
  Speaker 4: going to get more than Vladimir Guro Junior when it's.
• 20:39
  Speaker 3: His time, and so sign him now. You know, backload
• 20:44
  Speaker 3: the contract, do what you have to do, but you
• 20:45
  Speaker 3: can make it work.
• 20:46
  Speaker 4: Sal Stewart is even a different conversation for me, because
• 20:51
  Speaker 4: Sal Stewart, all the comps are there. You just got
• 20:54
  Speaker 4: to give him in the McGonagall, Connor Griffin Emerson range.
• 20:58
  Speaker 3: It's on a platter for you.
• 21:02
  Speaker 4: This shouldn't even be a conversation. That press conference should
• 21:05
  Speaker 4: have already happened. So I kind of feel that it's
• 21:08
  Speaker 4: different I think in terms of James Wood. You know,
• 21:11
  Speaker 4: I know that Nationals aren't doing well financially, they're not
• 21:14
  Speaker 4: investing in players, they're not drawing. But didn't you learn
• 21:19
  Speaker 4: your lesson with Bryce Harper and Juan Soto? Are you
• 21:22
  Speaker 4: gonna do the same thing to James would and let
• 21:24
  Speaker 4: him go too?
• 21:26
  Speaker 7: Like?
• 21:26
  Speaker 4: Come on at some point, so these small market teams
• 21:29
  Speaker 4: better pay attention to what the other small market teams
• 21:33
  Speaker 4: are doing to these young players because this is an
• 21:36
  Speaker 4: opportunity that probably two years from now won't be there.
• 21:40
  Speaker 5: And the well, the Rents can't afford to sign Seal
• 21:42
  Speaker 5: Stewart and Ellie, So let's just throw that out there. Jim.
• 21:45
  Speaker 5: We all know they have a hard time signing anybody.
• 21:48
  Speaker 5: They had a hard time signing you to a long
• 21:49
  Speaker 5: term extension so that they can't sign both. But that
• 21:52
  Speaker 5: wasn't my question. My real question is when you go
• 21:55
  Speaker 5: to Jeff Ruby's, do you still get treated like a king?
• 21:57
  Speaker 5: Do they have welcome Jim Bowden on the menu today?
• 22:02
  Speaker 4: Jeff Ruby has always it doesn't matter which of his
• 22:05
  Speaker 4: three restaurants my family we all go to, He'll give
• 22:08
  Speaker 4: us a private dining room automatically right away. And everybody
• 22:13
  Speaker 4: comes in and just treat you like your king. And
• 22:16
  Speaker 4: that's what they've always done there. And when I was GM,
• 22:22
  Speaker 4: there was the Bowden Nick's Grill, which was steak, swordfish,
• 22:25
  Speaker 4: and lobster.
• 22:26
  Speaker 3: Back in the day. I'm not there anymore, of course,
• 22:28
  Speaker 3: but uh I still have that menu.
• 22:30
  Speaker 5: By the way, is that to keep the haters away
• 22:32
  Speaker 5: or the lovers of Jim Bowden away?
• 22:34
  Speaker 4: When you have you know, I always go with my kids, right,
• 22:37
  Speaker 4: I've got five boys, and uh, you know, girlfriends and
• 22:41
  Speaker 4: wives are always there, and so we have a pretty big, uh,
• 22:44
  Speaker 4: pretty big group.
• 22:45
  Speaker 3: So it's much better to put us in a private room.
• 22:48
  Speaker 6: I go through the mobile through at Chick fil A?
• 22:51
  Speaker 6: Is that is that kind of the same as your
• 22:52
  Speaker 6: private room.
• 22:54
  Speaker 3: I like the pickle. I like the pickle on the
• 22:57
  Speaker 3: chicken floor for sure.
• 23:00
  Speaker 6: But my question is, is the reluctance with salth Stewart
• 23:04
  Speaker 6: because he's the first baseman.
• 23:07
  Speaker 3: I don't know what the reluctance is.
• 23:09
  Speaker 4: But I was told they're not convinced yet to do it,
• 23:12
  Speaker 4: which I'm not sure I understand. I'm convinced, so I
• 23:17
  Speaker 4: don't get convinced easy. But I'm gonna put him right
• 23:20
  Speaker 4: after Connor, Griffin and McGonagall, and in that category, I
• 23:23
  Speaker 4: think he's gonna hit, He's gonna have power. I'm fine
• 23:25
  Speaker 4: with him at first bait base, the bat is gonna play,
• 23:29
  Speaker 4: and the makeup character off the charts, funny guy, you know,
• 23:33
  Speaker 4: good teammate, all the intangibles you look for, so you know,
• 23:37
  Speaker 4: I'm hoping they change their mind, and I hope they
• 23:39
  Speaker 4: go forward and try to get a deal done because
• 23:41
  Speaker 4: I think the market is just so clear and concision.
• 23:43
  Speaker 4: The one thing also I think they should be considering
• 23:46
  Speaker 4: is bringing up a royo who's red hot in the
• 23:49
  Speaker 4: minor leagues. Reds badly need a leadoff hitter and he
• 23:51
  Speaker 4: would be great at the top of that lineup.
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and they've had him play at least last I
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: checked a little bit of third now, Yeah, that's where
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: you put right, because I mean, as good as he
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: is on d like, it's just he's.
• 24:02
  Speaker 3: Not Bailey, He's Pat Bailey. They're backup players, thank you. Yeah,
• 24:07
  Speaker 3: we boa whoa whoa, whoa whoa.
• 24:09
  Speaker 5: Yeah, Yeah, whoa whoa. He tried to sneak down a
• 24:12
  Speaker 5: little one in there. No I didn't catch it, but
• 24:16
  Speaker 5: I called it and crowds caught it. Whoa, whoa, whoa.
• 24:19
  Speaker 5: Then why the hell did the Guardians going trade for
• 24:21
  Speaker 5: a backup place?
• 24:22
  Speaker 6: I missed that nine people called him nine.
• 24:25
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean he can't hit, and his elite framing
• 24:30
  Speaker 4: is great, but I can challenge it in the ninth inning,
• 24:32
  Speaker 4: so you're not stealing a strike in the perfect time
• 24:34
  Speaker 4: to win a game.
• 24:35
  Speaker 3: He's a backup guy. He doesn't hit enough. In this
• 24:37
  Speaker 3: day and age, you got to get offense from there.
• 24:38
  Speaker 3: You get none from me. He's Austin Hedges. I mean,
• 24:41
  Speaker 3: that's that's what he is. And to give up pick
• 24:43
  Speaker 3: twenty nine. You know, Hall of famer George Brett was
• 24:46
  Speaker 3: picked twenty nine. Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt went after that.
• 24:50
  Speaker 4: Ryan Walshman, who the Diamondbacks just brought up, was picked
• 24:53
  Speaker 4: after pick twenty nine. Like that's a really good player
• 24:56
  Speaker 4: of picked twenty nine. So the Giants haven't done very
• 25:00
  Speaker 4: much well this year, but that trade, that was a
• 25:02
  Speaker 4: nice trade to get picked twenty nine and a guy
• 25:04
  Speaker 4: with a great nickname and tug bowt Wilkinson.
• 25:08
  Speaker 5: Why did they do it then? Because I said, I
• 25:10
  Speaker 5: didn't understand it from the Guardian side at all, and
• 25:12
  Speaker 5: I mean Scott was like, whoa Patrick Bailey's is the next? Well,
• 25:16
  Speaker 5: Mike Piazza put Rodriguez, Joe Mauer and Buster Posey altogether. James,
• 25:21
  Speaker 5: I always wondering why. I'm like, why did the Guardians
• 25:24
  Speaker 5: make this trade? Because I said they had bot Naylor,
• 25:27
  Speaker 5: who's adequate and can hit a little bit. At least
• 25:29
  Speaker 5: he got some bigots in the postseason.
• 25:31
  Speaker 2: Jab I loved it. For Posey, I thought he crushed it, but.
• 25:34
  Speaker 3: Go ahead, yeah, he definitely crushed it.
• 25:36
  Speaker 4: And for the Guardians, I mean they wanted someone a
• 25:39
  Speaker 4: little bit better handling the pitching staff. They got to
• 25:41
  Speaker 4: win with pitching and defense. They don't have enough offense,
• 25:43
  Speaker 4: and you know, they just like them better than what
• 25:46
  Speaker 4: they had, So to them, it was a little bit
• 25:48
  Speaker 4: of upgrade, but it was a big price for that upgrade.
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: There you go. Now, that's exactly good combo, JB. I
• 25:55
  Speaker 2: loved it. You're the man, Thank you and we'll talk
• 25:58
  Speaker 2: to you soon, okay, Santur and thanks you. Jes