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Guardians offseason to-do list · Foul Territory

• 0:08
  Speaker 1: Season to front end.
• 0:09
  Speaker 2: By the way, it's very nice Schooble's not.
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: Going to the Guardians, just saying that. Well, let's set out.
• 0:15
  Speaker 3: Let's let's one point here, run point for Zach first off,
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  Speaker 3: writing for The Athletic, covering the Guardians for a while.
• 0:22
  Speaker 3: Selby's podcast also fantastic listen. But let's do a good
• 0:26
  Speaker 3: ten minutes right here with Zach and layout the off
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  Speaker 3: season to do list top three for Cleveland in your
• 0:31
  Speaker 3: mind and thanks for joining us again.
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: Man, how you doing?
• 0:34
  Speaker 4: Yeah, what's up guys? That list that you guys just
• 0:37
  Speaker 4: showed with Tucker Alonsos, that's wrong segment here to the
• 0:41
  Speaker 4: Guardians release. It's look, they're in a weird spot right.
• 0:45
  Speaker 4: They went to the Alcs and they won the division again.
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  Speaker 4: They have nobody signed. They have five guys guaranteed contracts
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  Speaker 4: for next year, really four plus they're chipping in on
• 0:57
  Speaker 4: Miles Straw's contract with the Blue Jays, so tons of flexibility.
• 1:01
  Speaker 4: But also it's Cleveland. They don't spend money, so they
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  Speaker 4: have glaring holes. If you listed the top ten things
• 1:08
  Speaker 4: they need, not even just the top three, like nine
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  Speaker 4: of them would be help for the lineup. So the
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  Speaker 4: outfield the bullpen. Those are the two primary targets. I
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  Speaker 4: think if you need a third, I would say the outfield. Again,
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  Speaker 4: it was the thirtieth ranked outfield offensively in baseball. And
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  Speaker 4: that's with Stephen Kwan on the roster, and he's going
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  Speaker 4: to be a popular name in trade talks all winter too.
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  Speaker 4: So it's it's pretty obvious. They made the playoffs. They
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  Speaker 4: did so with one of the worst offenses a playoff
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  Speaker 4: team has ever fielded. They got to improve that.
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  Speaker 1: So it's the same thing we've talked about with Cleveland
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  Speaker 1: forever no yah for the last five years. Well no,
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  Speaker 1: I mean they had and their offenses were pretty decent
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  Speaker 1: when I was there, and you know the two thousand
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  Speaker 1: and seven ish range, you know, when they had those
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  Speaker 1: teams in the early two thousand the lot offense in nineties,
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: But lately it's been pitching, pitching, pitching, So is there
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: are they gonna go bargain shopping again and try to
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  Speaker 1: piece this thing together because at some point all the
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: pieces and I know Lane Thomas getting hurt was a
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: big deal for him, But gosh, when are they gonna
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  Speaker 1: go out and they have I mean, they do have money.
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  Speaker 2: It's not like.
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  Speaker 1: They're on the you know, the side of the street,
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  Speaker 1: you know, panhandling. But they have money. So are they
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  Speaker 1: actually gonna go out and make some moves where they
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  Speaker 1: just gonna continue to rely on this farm system?
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  Speaker 2: Let's put out so many players.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, so here's why they're in a weird spot. They
• 2:31
  Speaker 4: have you know, Jose Ramirez is gonna make twenty one million.
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  Speaker 4: Then you've got Tanner Byby at like four and change,
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  Speaker 4: Austin Hedges at four, Trevor Stefin at three and a half.
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  Speaker 4: They're paying two point seventy five million for Miles Straw.
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  Speaker 4: That's it. That's thirty five million right there. You know,
• 2:47
  Speaker 4: if you keep Kwan, you'll pay him eight to nine
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  Speaker 4: million in arbitration. There's a few other arb guys who
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  Speaker 4: are making like a million, a million and a half.
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  Speaker 4: So we're talking even when you fill out the rest
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  Speaker 4: of the roster fifty five million. So so yeah, even
• 3:01
  Speaker 4: if you're trotting out a similar payroll to what they
• 3:04
  Speaker 4: have in recent years, ninety to one hundred million, which
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  Speaker 4: is also what it was in like the year two thousand,
• 3:11
  Speaker 4: which tells you a lot about the state of things.
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  Speaker 4: But you've got forty million to spend. So the question is, like,
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  Speaker 4: I think high on the priority list is a right
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  Speaker 4: handed outfielder who can hit lefties. So go get yourself
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  Speaker 4: an Austin Hayes or a Rob Refsnyder or a Randall Kritchick,
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  Speaker 4: someone like that. But what they don't want to do,
• 3:33
  Speaker 4: and they've done this, they've made this mistake a lot,
• 3:36
  Speaker 4: where they signed Eddie Rosario or Domingo Santana or Hanley
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  Speaker 4: Ramirez one year when he was washed up. They don't
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  Speaker 4: what would not make sense, and what they don't want
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  Speaker 4: to do is sign a veteran retread who's trying to
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  Speaker 4: get one last good year and give him ten to
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  Speaker 4: twelve million, and that blocks someone like Chase the latter,
• 3:57
  Speaker 4: or who we saw at the very end of the season,
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  Speaker 4: George Valera rookie up and was pretty good in September
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  Speaker 4: and October. They want those guys to play. I think
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  Speaker 4: they want to make sure that they're not banking on
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  Speaker 4: those guys starting one hundred and fifty games. So they
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  Speaker 4: need to get someone who can play every day, someone
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  Speaker 4: who's proven, someone who's not thirty six years old and
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  Speaker 4: trying to hang on. So that's why it's a good
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  Speaker 4: thing maybe that they have some financial flexibility, because I
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  Speaker 4: don't think you can be shopping for that outfielder who's
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  Speaker 4: gonna make one for nine and then that might be
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  Speaker 4: their career. They've done that a lot in the recent past,
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  Speaker 4: so it's got to be someone who's a little more legit.
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  Speaker 4: But we also know that this team's not gonna spend
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  Speaker 4: a ton of money. You know, you're not gonna hand
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  Speaker 4: out someone who's making five for one hundred. So it's
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  Speaker 4: they're at a weird spot and I think they're gonna
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  Speaker 4: have to let the free agency play out and someone
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  Speaker 4: kind of fall in their lap. Honestly, the way Pete
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  Speaker 4: Alonso lasted on the market last winter.
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  Speaker 5: All right, Well, with all that extra money, houses bullpen
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  Speaker 5: going to get built because the Guardians Indians when I
• 5:03
  Speaker 5: played for him, had a tremendous formula to make the
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  Speaker 5: best bullpen pitchers ever. And wait, no they didn't. Now
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  Speaker 5: they have the formula.
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  Speaker 6: They had the best formula to make starting pitchers, and
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  Speaker 6: now it's like they're figuring out this bullpen formula. If
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  Speaker 6: they need to improve their bullpen, will it just be
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  Speaker 6: from internal because I know a lot of guys that
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  Speaker 6: are out on the market are gonna cost way more
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  Speaker 6: than anybody that's making anything besides Jose Ramirez on the team.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, they know they need help. You know, Nick Enright
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  Speaker 4: was someone they leaned on last year. He's got a
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  Speaker 4: great story what he's overcome and was a huge help
• 5:42
  Speaker 4: for them, and then blew out his elbow. And Andrew
• 5:44
  Speaker 4: Walters they thought was perhaps a future setup man or closer,
• 5:48
  Speaker 4: and then he had injury issues and missed the entire season.
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  Speaker 4: So you don't want to just bank on him making
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  Speaker 4: seventy appearances. Daniel Espino is a guy who has tantalized
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  Speaker 4: with you know, he had one hundred and two mile
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  Speaker 4: an hour fast ball and a plus slider, but that
• 6:02
  Speaker 4: was four years ago, and then he had two shoulder
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  Speaker 4: surgeries and he just pitched in the Fall League. He
• 6:06
  Speaker 4: could play a part, but again, not someone you can
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  Speaker 4: bank on. Obviously. Emmanuel class I don't see him walking
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  Speaker 4: through that bullpen door. So you have Kate Smith. It's
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  Speaker 4: a good place to start. They need depth. No, they're
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  Speaker 4: not going to sign Edwin Diaz or Devin Williams. Even
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  Speaker 4: someone like Hellsley would would seem to be a good fit,
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  Speaker 4: but you know he will probably price himself out of
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  Speaker 4: their range. It's a pretty deep free agent market though.
• 6:32
  Speaker 4: You know, I in trying to piece together the plan
• 6:35
  Speaker 4: for the offseason, what makes sense to me would be
• 6:39
  Speaker 4: the best hitter they acquire they add is probably going
• 6:42
  Speaker 4: to come through trade. That would make the most sense
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  Speaker 4: to me, and then use your free agent dollars to
• 6:47
  Speaker 4: sign that platoon outfielder and to add a rap or too,
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  Speaker 4: because they need depth. You know, they've They've also leaned
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  Speaker 4: on that group a lot. Kate Smith and Hunter Gaddis
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  Speaker 4: have made I think more appearances than anybody the last
• 6:59
  Speaker 4: twos if you include the playoffs. So it's you guys
• 7:03
  Speaker 4: know it. Bullpens are completely volatile year after year. So
• 7:07
  Speaker 4: the more depth you can have back there, the better
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  Speaker 4: shape you'll be in.
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: Right, you brought up class A, So I need to
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: ask the question how much did it hamstring the team?
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: Because there was rumors at him and Kwan we're going
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: to be traded last trade deadline. Obviously cosse A suspended,
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: we don't know if we'll ever see him again, or
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: to you suspended with him? How much did that hurt?
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: I mean, obviously it hurt the organization and the team.
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: But how much did it hurt just in general terms
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  Speaker 1: of building this team and possibly moving somebody like Kwan
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  Speaker 1: and not having this decision on the books.
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  Speaker 4: It's weird because it was almost like a two month
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  Speaker 4: fantasy or fever dream that they were living out because
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  Speaker 4: what got them to the playoffs was the pitching, and
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  Speaker 4: yet they lost two key members. Right the bullpen had
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  Speaker 4: the best era in baseball once Class A hit the
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  Speaker 4: sideline on July twenty eighth. How I still can't wrap
• 8:00
  Speaker 4: my head around that the rotation was what fueled them
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  Speaker 4: to the playoffs in September, they went to a six
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  Speaker 4: man rotation, the fact that they were able to lean
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  Speaker 4: on that sort of depth without Ortiz when they acquired
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  Speaker 4: Ortiz last off season because they were concerned about their depth.
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  Speaker 4: It didn't really make sense. None of it added up.
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  Speaker 4: Where they'll really feel it is moving forward, because now
• 8:21
  Speaker 4: you have to hope for a repeat from those six starters,
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  Speaker 4: because you've got other stuff you have to figure out.
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  Speaker 4: You know, I don't think that it's possible that they
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  Speaker 4: sign a starter or trade for a starter just for
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  Speaker 4: depth purposes, But you really need guys like Joey Cantillo
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  Speaker 4: and Parker Messick to take another step forward because you're
• 8:40
  Speaker 4: not going to have Ortiz and in the bullpen it's
• 8:43
  Speaker 4: leaning a lot more on Kate Smith and Hunter Gaddis,
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  Speaker 4: which is great, but those guys were the insurance for
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  Speaker 4: Class A if classe ever faltered, and you don't have
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  Speaker 4: that now, so it's just a hit to the depth.
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  Speaker 4: You know, they were fielding offers for Class A at
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  Speaker 4: the deadline. Obviously they pulled him off the market when
• 9:00
  Speaker 4: they learned about this, but even if they didn't move
• 9:04
  Speaker 4: him then I think he would have been dangled on
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  Speaker 4: the trade market this winter. And you know, we saw
• 9:08
  Speaker 4: what Mason Miller got in a trade. So they're kicking
• 9:12
  Speaker 4: themselves a little bit now and they're frustrated just because
• 9:16
  Speaker 4: of the value you lose, and it's it's not just
• 9:19
  Speaker 4: losing the player at that moment, but it's it's what
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  Speaker 4: you could have gotten in the future.
• 9:25
  Speaker 3: Zach, good stuff as always, thanks for chiming in.
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: Yes, you forgot say.
• 9:30
  Speaker 3: But hopefully they knock out. Yeah, hopefully they knock out
• 9:34
  Speaker 3: you know, number one and two on the lists. It's
• 9:36
  Speaker 3: you know, they're kind of the same obviously.
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  Speaker 1: Anyway, it's like we're next year twenty twenty Sex, we're
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: gonna have the same thing as you're like, I'll field,
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: I'll field.
• 9:46
  Speaker 3: We have the graphic prepared for when we do this
• 9:48
  Speaker 3: a year from now during the lockout, Zach, thank you man,
• 9:52
  Speaker 3: good talking to you. You gotta guys tick her all right,
• 9:55
  Speaker 3: bet MGM, futures we're starting to look in next year
• 9:58
  Speaker 3: Guardians to win the AL penn plus thirteen hundred.
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: Not touching it, not touching it. I'm not touching.
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: It against them, yeah, but still the offense to the Guardians.
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: We love Steven Vode and we love what they've done.
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: But can they compete with the big boys again? I
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: mean the Blue Jays, the Red Sox, the Yankees, the Mariners,
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: the Astros, the Rangers, even the Tigers if they finally
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: decided Christal Village to do it. Can they compete with
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: the rest of the teams in this league? Guy, I
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: don't think they can. They're a nice story and they
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: make runs and they get into the postseason, but they
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: don't have enough depth. They don't have enough offense to
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: just go out and beat the big.
• 10:39
  Speaker 3: Boys team regular season team the.
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: Way that's built.
• 10:47
  Speaker 5: The regular AL Central team regular season al Central team
• 10:52
  Speaker 5: to get enough games against some teams that just don't
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  Speaker 5: have that extra during the season. Like we looked at
• 10:58
  Speaker 5: it yesterday for that Astros, and I thought that number
• 11:02
  Speaker 5: should have been a little higher for me to dip
• 11:03
  Speaker 5: into that water. Like if I'm getting into thirteen hundred range,
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  Speaker 5: I think the Orioles were at thirteen hundred, the Rangers
• 11:08
  Speaker 5: were at sixteen hundred. Like, if I'm getting sixteen to
• 11:13
  Speaker 5: one money, I'm not putting it on a team that's
• 11:15
  Speaker 5: not gonna do much in the off season for to
• 11:19
  Speaker 5: improve this team. So you're saying the team they had
• 11:22
  Speaker 5: last year is rolling out and win winning the American League.
• 11:25
  Speaker 5: Pennant have a tough time believing that, and they might,
• 11:28
  Speaker 5: and they might. They're talking about Kwan.
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: You talked about Kwan maybe being traded, right, that's another problem. Yeah,
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: Like that's one of their best, one of their few
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: offensive true offensive weapons that they had.
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: That'll be a tough loss for them.
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: That'd be a huge one And for the it goes
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: back to the fans though for me, like everyone wants
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: to blame this and that, but that's like the fans,
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: that's one of their guys. Man like, you can't tell
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: me that they can't afford to sign Stephen Quan.
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: They can't. It's just it's a churn process that they
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: like to do.
• 11:57
  Speaker 3: That's just part of their Hey, exactly, get up to
• 12:00
  Speaker 3: fifteen hundred dollars paid back in bonus bets if you
• 12:03
  Speaker 3: don't win your first bet, plus one hundred dollars in
• 12:05
  Speaker 3: bonus bets if you deposit before December first for those
• 12:09
  Speaker 3: in Missouri.
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: Missouri, welcome to the party.
• 12:13
  Speaker 3: Pre registration plus first bet offer acquisition promotion for bet
• 12:17
  Speaker 3: MGM sportsbook includes bonus bets that expired in seven days.
• 12:21
  Speaker 3: In our non withdrawabal first bet offer token will expire
• 12:24
  Speaker 3: seven days after being issued. Gambling problem called one eight
• 12:27
  Speaker 3: hundred gambler. By the way, I didn't get to talk
• 12:29
  Speaker 3: about this. I know you guys covered this. Good for
• 12:32
  Speaker 3: the Mariners with the Josh Naylor deal five years, ninety
• 12:36
  Speaker 3: two and a half million bucks. We're going to talk
• 12:37
  Speaker 3: about the Pirates portion of that conversation.
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: I can't wait to get office the biggest of shit.
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: Yeah it was, but good for the Mariners.
• 12:45
  Speaker 3: Did you guys hear the quote from Jerry Depoto when
• 12:47
  Speaker 3: he said he got there and he was like, Oh,
• 12:49
  Speaker 3: I'm so excited to hitting this park.
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: They freaked out. They were like, you are that's cool.
• 12:53
  Speaker 3: I mean, we've talked about it, I know, but there
• 12:56
  Speaker 3: were a lot of guys over the last few years
• 12:58
  Speaker 3: who were like, oh, it's death there for and Nailer's like,
• 13:00
  Speaker 3: this is gonna be awesome, and they were like, if
• 13:02
  Speaker 3: this guy's good, we need.
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: To keep him.
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: No, I loved hitting her.
• 13:04
  Speaker 5: I don't know.
• 13:06
  Speaker 3: Naylor was so good with them, and I just feel
• 13:09
  Speaker 3: like he's one like the what was the play where
• 13:12
  Speaker 3: he blocked the tried to block the double play, Like, it's.
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: Just one of those he didn't try. He did, he
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: did jump, he had.
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: Butters as silly as it is.
• 13:22
  Speaker 3: I just feel like Naylor is one of those guys
• 13:23
  Speaker 3: that's like, I will take a bullet for this team.
• 13:26
  Speaker 3: And I feel like they needed that and they recognized
• 13:28
  Speaker 3: that they got a little taste. And that's why trades
• 13:30
  Speaker 3: are also important, right, both sides get to see how
• 13:33
  Speaker 3: they like each other, and they did and he ends
• 13:36
  Speaker 3: up signing early.
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: So I just wanted to give my two cents.
• 13:39
  Speaker 3: I give a ton of credit to Mariners ownership for
• 13:42
  Speaker 3: stepping up on that front almost one hundred million dollars
• 13:44
  Speaker 3: for a free agent. Used to not be crazy in Seattle,
• 13:46
  Speaker 3: but it is these days. So good for them for
• 13:49
  Speaker 3: getting that done. I've been a big Nailor fan for
• 13:51
  Speaker 3: years either. He's underwritten, now properly rated, previously underrated,