Latest / Foul Territory / Braves sign Ha-Seong Kim, Uncertainty for Darvish, Edwin Díaz unveils LA v. NY negotiations, Nats ink Griffin, Cubs sign Thielbar
Transcript
- 0:02Speaker 1: I'm almost doing a double take when I'm looking at
- 0:04Speaker 1: this list. Do you guys know how many teams are
- 0:09Speaker 1: left to sign an MLB free agent like a major
- 0:14Speaker 1: league free agent deal? I saw this from somebody who
- 0:17Speaker 1: appears on the show sometimes. Aaron Gleaman posted this the
- 0:20Speaker 1: other day, and then one of the four teams he
- 0:22Speaker 1: posted just signed someone.
- 0:23Speaker 2: So.
- 0:26Speaker 1: Eighteen, there's only there's three left according to his tweet,
- 0:29Speaker 1: that hadn't signed a major league free agent. One of
- 0:32Speaker 1: them was the Twins. Aaron covers the Twins, so then
- 0:34Speaker 1: we're down to three. I'm like, that's actually surprising that
- 0:38Speaker 1: we're this in my mind early in the off season.
- 0:41Speaker 1: I know this didn't used to be early in the
- 0:43Speaker 1: off season, but nowadays, scrats, we are early in the
- 0:45Speaker 1: off season and everybody but three teams has already signed
- 0:48Speaker 1: a free agent.
- 0:50Speaker 2: This has to be early in the off season because
- 0:52Speaker 2: the Braves are done all their lifting. The Braves are
- 0:54Speaker 2: always the first one. Alex Anthopolos is like, I'm pouncing.
- 0:57Speaker 2: I'm trying to think of the three teams. I'm trying
- 1:00Speaker 2: to think of.
- 1:03Speaker 1: You got to play the game where you go down
- 1:04Speaker 1: the line right like it's now the Cubs have signed
- 1:08Speaker 1: some relievers, including philm Mayton. Oh, just go down the line. Yeah, Like,
- 1:13Speaker 1: let's start, because I'll give you a hint on one
- 1:15Speaker 1: of the teams. So one of the teams is in
- 1:17Speaker 1: the National League East. We're going to talk about the
- 1:18Speaker 1: Braves in a moment. We know that the Mets signed
- 1:20Speaker 1: Polanco the other day. Who do you got?
- 1:22Speaker 3: The Marlins, Nats.
- 1:26Speaker 1: The Washington Nationals. The Marlins signed Morel and I think
- 1:29Speaker 1: they might have signed someone else, But the Washington Nationals
- 1:31Speaker 1: are one of the three teams. We have two others.
- 1:35Speaker 1: Just in terms of not taking up forty minutes on this,
- 1:38Speaker 1: I'll give you the next division. The AL East has
- 1:41Speaker 1: a team without a major league free agent signing. Yet
- 1:45Speaker 1: the Yankees signed to med Rosario and one or two others.
- 1:50Speaker 1: I believe. We know the Oriols have done a lot
- 1:52Speaker 1: of damage. We know the Blue Jays have made some moves.
- 1:55Speaker 3: Red Sox the Red Sox, Red Sox, they made some trades.
- 2:00Speaker 3: They made some trades though the right.
- 2:04Speaker 1: Right, this is just signings. And then lastly, this team
- 2:08Speaker 1: resides in the National League West.
- 2:12Speaker 3: I think you nailed it, didn't you say the Mariners
- 2:15Speaker 3: or the.
- 2:17Speaker 1: No National League West.
- 2:19Speaker 3: Rockies, Oh, Nationally West Rockies.
- 2:21Speaker 4: That one's on a platter for us.
- 2:23Speaker 1: That's why I saved that one for the last. The
- 2:26Speaker 1: Rockies are figuring out. They're kind of like they were
- 2:29Speaker 1: fighting in a cave and for twenty years and they
- 2:33Speaker 1: were only hanging out with their same you know seven.
- 2:36Speaker 3: They're waiting for the football season to be over. That's
- 2:38Speaker 3: where they're getting their players.
- 2:41Speaker 1: No, they're meeting new people. They're like, right, that's true.
- 2:44Speaker 1: Actually that's a good point.
- 2:45Speaker 3: I like that.
- 2:46Speaker 1: Yeah, some of the Browns players, some of the failed
- 2:48Speaker 1: Browns players are about to get baseball bats. But you know,
- 2:51Speaker 1: they got out of their phone.
- 2:55Speaker 4: They're like, this is do you think JD's gonna Do
- 2:58Speaker 4: you think j D's gonna know? I mean Pd? You
- 3:02Speaker 4: think PD's gonna call me?
- 3:04Speaker 3: Oh, Paul, come on.
- 3:08Speaker 1: Just don't sign Deshaun Watson too soon. Anyway, Let's do
- 3:13Speaker 1: some not breaking news because we learned about it last night.
- 3:17Speaker 1: But a little charge amound action on a nice little signing.
- 3:21Speaker 2: Charge about.
- 3:25Speaker 1: Kevin. A team that you recently spent some time with,
- 3:27Speaker 1: the Atlanta Braves, does in fact like to get their
- 3:29Speaker 1: off season shopping done early. It was very clear that
- 3:32Speaker 1: they spent a little bit of money on Hassan Kim
- 3:35Speaker 1: last year in a trade acquisition that didn't have a
- 3:37Speaker 1: ton to do with competition. They were not going to
- 3:40Speaker 1: make the playoffs last year at that point, very very unlikely.
- 3:43Speaker 1: So they pick him up. They see him decline his
- 3:46Speaker 1: sixteen million dollar option, his player option, and he's back
- 3:51Speaker 1: for twenty million bucks on a one year deal. I
- 3:53Speaker 1: mean that the shortstop market's basically empty this year. So
- 3:57Speaker 1: what do you think for atl.
- 4:00Speaker 3: Yeah, I think it was a smart move dating back
- 4:02Speaker 3: to last year claiming him off waivers. It's easy to
- 4:05Speaker 3: kind of evaluate a guy from far, but when you're
- 4:07Speaker 3: able to bring a guy into your room, your clubhouse,
- 4:10Speaker 3: see how he worked, see how he kind of fits
- 4:11Speaker 3: in with the group, because one thing about Alex is
- 4:14Speaker 3: he loves quality people. He likes all the puzzle pieces
- 4:18Speaker 3: to kind of fit. So a great signing. You know,
- 4:20Speaker 3: they got a thin shortstop market, and you know, ever
- 4:23Speaker 3: since Dansby's left there, you know, they were able to
- 4:27Speaker 3: kind of patch it together with Orlando Arcia, who kind
- 4:29Speaker 3: of just came out of nowhere and ran with the job.
- 4:32Speaker 3: Was actually an all star for the Braves. And then
- 4:34Speaker 3: kind of went back to who he was. So, I mean,
- 4:37Speaker 3: you know, like me and Craftsy always talk about there's
- 4:39Speaker 3: no such thing as a one year bad deal. So
- 4:42Speaker 3: they go and get a shortstop, and you know, reading here,
- 4:45Speaker 3: you know they say they want him to stay potentially
- 4:47Speaker 3: longer after that. You know, when if there's anyone who
- 4:50Speaker 3: has a track record of signing guys up before they
- 4:52Speaker 3: get to free agency again, it's it's double a so
- 4:56Speaker 3: good signing with him.
- 4:58Speaker 2: Yeah, should have he should have signed up KP for
- 5:00Speaker 2: a long term before he got rid of him. But
- 5:03Speaker 2: that's a different day. Sorry, KP, you're on here. I'd
- 5:06Speaker 2: be remiss if I didn't say that. But this Braves
- 5:09Speaker 2: team is built on the extensions that they made, the
- 5:13Speaker 2: fact that they have dudes that are supposed to bang.
- 5:16Speaker 2: You don't need to add this massive DH, this massive
- 5:20Speaker 2: hitting position player of some position. They've filled in already
- 5:27Speaker 2: with with Yaz. They've filled in last year with Profar.
- 5:31Speaker 2: They thought that was gonna be a good signing. This
- 5:33Speaker 2: team is supposed to hit with their core. You are
- 5:36Speaker 2: paying twenty million dollars as a Braves fan, you're gonna go, wait,
- 5:40Speaker 2: what we're getting a guy who's a career below average
- 5:44Speaker 2: OPS plus. I think his career at OPS plus is
- 5:47Speaker 2: ninety seven. He's a career below average hitter and based
- 5:51Speaker 2: on one season essentially was his best offensive season. But
- 5:55Speaker 2: you are getting in my opinion, I think with Andre
- 5:58Speaker 2: Semenez at shortstop, now you know you're he's one of
- 6:02Speaker 2: the top three, if not top five, defensive shortstops in
- 6:07Speaker 2: the game, and I think they got their eyes on that.
- 6:10Speaker 2: And to pay twenty million dollars for a defensive shortstop
- 6:14Speaker 2: is a little steep. So I love this for players
- 6:17Speaker 2: because now you really just have to hit average if
- 6:21Speaker 2: you are an elite defender. Before, if you're an elite
- 6:23Speaker 2: defender at a premium position center catcher and shortstop, you're
- 6:29Speaker 2: just looking. You're looking at your one year, one point
- 6:31Speaker 2: five two point three million dollar deal. Hassem Kim has
- 6:36Speaker 2: done a great job of kind of bumping that market,
- 6:40Speaker 2: and he has to bet on himself. Unfortunately, he had
- 6:42Speaker 2: a he had an injury. He had an injury two
- 6:46Speaker 2: years ago at the end of the season that caused
- 6:48Speaker 2: him to miss a lot of last year regain his value.
- 6:51Speaker 2: It wasn't enough at bats regain his value. Now this
- 6:53Speaker 2: year is the year. Hopefully now after this year he
- 6:56Speaker 2: could still get that three year deal. And if you
- 6:59Speaker 2: put it all together, it's a lot of money that's
- 7:02Speaker 2: made so defensively.
- 7:03Speaker 4: This is this is it. I think this buttons up
- 7:05Speaker 4: everything that the braves need to do.
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- 8:06Speaker 1: Slash Legal Slash podcast for full disclosures. So the athletic
- 8:13Speaker 1: puts out contract projections and predictions. I should say Tim
- 8:17Speaker 1: Britton had him at three years fifty million bucks. Over
- 8:21Speaker 1: the course of the next three years, you might make
- 8:24Speaker 1: more of that more than that if he keeps up
- 8:27Speaker 1: the d and he provides, like Kratz said, at least
- 8:31Speaker 1: league average offense, but at least in terms of what
- 8:35Speaker 1: one of the best prognostigators in the business looks at.
- 8:39Speaker 1: It's kind of a bargain for Atlanta because KP if
- 8:42Speaker 1: the shoulder ends up barking again or becomes more of
- 8:44Speaker 1: a problem where he's just not the same guy, or
- 8:47Speaker 1: the bat takes a step back, and all of a sudden,
- 8:50Speaker 1: he's a seventy five ops plus type of guy, almost
- 8:54Speaker 1: getting down to your Nick Allen status. Okay, you had
- 8:57Speaker 1: a season of him, but the upside still there.
- 9:00Speaker 3: Yeah, a lot upside. I'm looking at his Baseball reference
- 9:03Speaker 3: page here, and you know during his years where he
- 9:05Speaker 3: didn't play full time and his bad years two point
- 9:09Speaker 3: one two point six war his two years in San
- 9:11Speaker 3: Diego that he was really really good five and a
- 9:14Speaker 3: five point four, you know, So if you get somewhere
- 9:17Speaker 3: in between that it's money well spent. But to Crossey's point,
- 9:21Speaker 3: they the Braves just go out and make moves early,
- 9:24Speaker 3: and they go out in these signings and sometimes they
- 9:27Speaker 3: don't completely make sense. But I'm referring to the Mauricio
- 9:30Speaker 3: Dubont signing. Is he going to be your every day shortstop?
- 9:33Speaker 1: No?
- 9:33Speaker 3: But to your point, Scott, if he does regress, they
- 9:37Speaker 3: have a guy in Mauricio Dubont that they feel comfortable
- 9:40Speaker 3: maybe stepping into the shortstop role, you know, down the
- 9:43Speaker 3: stretch for a playoff run. But it's a one year
- 9:45Speaker 3: deal if they able to, if they're able to get
- 9:48Speaker 3: him back on track offensively, and knowing the hitting staff
- 9:52Speaker 3: that they have there, they feel like, I feel like
- 9:54Speaker 3: they're going to be able to do that for him.
- 9:57Speaker 3: In all fairness, if they have the offensive production from
- 10:00Speaker 3: their guys that are supposed to hit, he's gonna be
- 10:03Speaker 3: hitting towards the bottle of the lineup anyway. So go
- 10:05Speaker 3: out and play good defense, get on base, which he's
- 10:08Speaker 3: always done. A pretty good job of getting on base.
- 10:10Speaker 3: It's gonna be a great signing.
- 10:13Speaker 2: On base and run. People forget like when dudes do shoulders.
- 10:17Speaker 2: KP just had his shoulder surgically repaired. It affects running,
- 10:22Speaker 2: It affects your sliding whatever that is. Obviously, it affects throwing,
- 10:26Speaker 2: even if it's your lead front shoulder. It affects how
- 10:29Speaker 2: it affects how you move around the field. He's coming
- 10:32Speaker 2: off now, He's gonna have a full, healthy offseason. I
- 10:34Speaker 2: said that yesterday. A full healthy off season is way
- 10:38Speaker 2: different than a full healthy season, like where you can
- 10:42Speaker 2: get to your peak strength, your peak speed, your peak everything,
- 10:46Speaker 2: so that when the season hits, you hit the ground running,
- 10:49Speaker 2: not June, you're healthy enough to jump into a big
- 10:54Speaker 2: league season. I mean, you're telling this is a guy
- 10:56Speaker 2: who is always going to walk over ten percent of
- 11:00Speaker 2: his played appearances throughout his career. Stolen bases twelve, thirty eight,
- 11:06Speaker 2: twenty two, and KP said he's going to hit seven, eighth,
- 11:10Speaker 2: ninth in this batting order. Those at batch don't matter
- 11:14Speaker 2: as much as the ones at the top, but what
- 11:17Speaker 2: they do matter, and you see it in the playoffs
- 11:19Speaker 2: because you're more keyed into one game and how like,
- 11:23Speaker 2: oh the Superstars coming up, show hes coming up, Acunya's
- 11:25Speaker 2: coming up. In a regular season, if you have a
- 11:27Speaker 2: guy that controls the strike zone at the bottom of
- 11:30Speaker 2: the order, it creates way more havoc on teams because
- 11:35Speaker 2: now that walk rolls the lineup back over. You get
- 11:39Speaker 2: a Kunya up one more time, you get Austin Riley
- 11:42Speaker 2: up one more time, you get Matt Olsen up one
- 11:44Speaker 2: more time. And that is where this team will succeed
- 11:48Speaker 2: or they won't succeed. It's going to be obviously health.
- 11:52Speaker 2: Last year they ran into too much health. But it's
- 11:54Speaker 2: going to be in that lineup banging.
- 11:57Speaker 1: Can I point out something that I thought was interesting?
- 11:59Speaker 1: KP and curious to get your thoughts. Atlanta was not
- 12:03Speaker 1: in it for basically the second half of the season, right,
- 12:06Speaker 1: They just they were off to a slow start. They
- 12:09Speaker 1: lost their starting staff. It wasn't the year for them.
- 12:12Speaker 1: Their trade deadline was unconventional. Ryce ell Iglecias could have
- 12:16Speaker 1: been dealt. They had asks. They didn't feel like the
- 12:18Speaker 1: asks were that meaningful, right, like, what's your line? Is
- 12:22Speaker 1: it a prospect where they're like, I don't even think
- 12:23Speaker 1: this guy has any chance of making it, or such
- 12:25Speaker 1: a low chance of making it, we'd like to keep
- 12:28Speaker 1: Rice Cell in the same place. He doesn't have to
- 12:30Speaker 1: move over the next couple months. We really want him back.
- 12:34Speaker 1: Let's talk him into coming back. Let's acquire Kim because
- 12:38Speaker 1: we're looking at the free agent shortstop market and we'd
- 12:41Speaker 1: like to have one of them. We'd like to put
- 12:43Speaker 1: one in. And now look what they do right with
- 12:45Speaker 1: Dubon being able to play all over the place and
- 12:47Speaker 1: Kim getting to step in for atl And it helped,
- 12:51Speaker 1: like you said, to have him in the organization. You
- 12:54Speaker 1: don't see that very often, and sometimes it can be
- 12:56Speaker 1: criticized because people are like, you're out of it, get
- 12:59Speaker 1: whatever you can. Why are you going to take on
- 13:01Speaker 1: a couple million bucks of a player down the stretch.
- 13:03Speaker 1: It worked.
- 13:05Speaker 3: I mean, it's it's the human side that we never
- 13:07Speaker 3: talked about, and I think that's what makes some general
- 13:09Speaker 3: managers so good. And I had a similar experience with
- 13:12Speaker 3: one of these teams that I played with behind me,
- 13:15Speaker 3: I was on a team that was out of it
- 13:18Speaker 3: leading into the trade deadline, and they called me up
- 13:21Speaker 3: and said, hey, we don't really love the return of
- 13:23Speaker 3: the package that is being offered for you. But if
- 13:26Speaker 3: you want a chance to go somewhere else, we'll send
- 13:28Speaker 3: you there. If you want a chance to just stay
- 13:30Speaker 3: here and you know, finish your season here because you
- 13:32Speaker 3: have a family and you're comfortable here and we value
- 13:36Speaker 3: you being here, then you can stay. And they gave
- 13:39Speaker 3: me the choice and I ultimately ended up staying put
- 13:41Speaker 3: where I was at because my family was happy, I
- 13:44Speaker 3: was enjoying what I was doing. I was having a
- 13:46Speaker 3: pretty good year.
- 13:47Speaker 1: You know.
- 13:47Speaker 3: Part of it was I was hoping to get a
- 13:49Speaker 3: chance to come back to that team the following year.
- 13:51Speaker 3: That didn't happen. But that's the human side of it too,
- 13:54Speaker 3: is if it's not going to move the needle and
- 13:56Speaker 3: you have a chance to potentially go out and resign
- 13:59Speaker 3: up guy like a Glacias because you gave him that
- 14:02Speaker 3: option and the communication was very upfront, then go ahead
- 14:06Speaker 3: and do it. But not everyone operates like that, and
- 14:08Speaker 3: I think, you know, that's why you're able to get
- 14:11Speaker 3: a guy like a Glacias to kind of potentially come
- 14:14Speaker 3: back to the Atlanta Braves because maybe that was a
- 14:17Speaker 3: conversation they had, you know, thinking outside the box, being
- 14:21Speaker 3: like we're not going to the playoffs. But let's get
- 14:23Speaker 3: this guy in the door. Let's see what he's about,
- 14:25Speaker 3: because maybe he is our short step of the future,
- 14:28Speaker 3: or at least for next year. So I love what
- 14:30Speaker 3: the Braves do. I'm a huge fan of Alex. I
- 14:33Speaker 3: think he's one of the best gyms in the game.
- 14:35Speaker 4: Which team was it?
- 14:37Speaker 3: One of these.
- 14:40Speaker 4: Kp this one right here?
- 14:43Speaker 3: The Angels, the Angels.
- 14:45Speaker 4: Good for them, Yeah, Scotty conversation, Scotty.
- 14:50Speaker 1: Good idea. Now, I just wanted to motion like a
- 14:52Speaker 1: mind good idea. I like that. He pointed behind him,
- 14:55Speaker 1: one of these Angels. There's two teams behind him. For
- 14:57Speaker 1: anyone listening on the pod, he's got an Angels and
- 15:00Speaker 1: a Mets UNI. But good for them. Good move.
- 15:02Speaker 4: Yeah, that's what he said.
- 15:03Speaker 1: That's what he said.
- 15:05Speaker 4: That's what he said.
- 15:06Speaker 1: That's what he said. Hey, guys, this might be it
- 15:12Speaker 1: for you. Darvish. So he spoke on Monday through a
- 15:16Speaker 1: translator interpreter, and he said, I'm not necessarily thinking about
- 15:20Speaker 1: really pitching as I go through this rehab process right now.
- 15:23Speaker 1: I don't have that in mind. I'm just trying to
- 15:26Speaker 1: rehab my arm right now, and if I get the
- 15:28Speaker 1: urge to come back. If I feel that I can
- 15:30Speaker 1: stand on the mountain come back, then I will go
- 15:32Speaker 1: for that. But I'll just leave it there for now.
- 15:35Speaker 1: So he's got a contract running through twenty twenty eight.
- 15:39Speaker 1: He's going to be out for next season. He's due
- 15:41Speaker 1: to come back in twenty twenty seven. This is interesting
- 15:46Speaker 1: on a couple fronts. Number One, from a fan perspective, KP.
- 15:52Speaker 1: I'm sure fans want to see Darbish and you miss
- 15:54Speaker 1: him as part of the rotation this year. All of that.
- 15:57Speaker 1: On the other side, the Padres are going to be sold,
- 16:00Speaker 1: They're gone through some lawsuit crap with who gets what,
- 16:03Speaker 1: with the aftermath of Peter Sidler passing away, and if
- 16:08Speaker 1: you Darvish is serious, he's going to have to give
- 16:10Speaker 1: money back. I remember my friend and you guys know him, right,
- 16:13Speaker 1: Ryan Dempster did this is one season with what Boston
- 16:18Speaker 1: and Kratz is smirking. Did he not do that?
- 16:21Speaker 2: Kratz, he did it, but let's make sure maybe there
- 16:25Speaker 2: was a little bit different circumstances too than just say
- 16:29Speaker 2: I don't want to play again.
- 16:31Speaker 1: Okay, fair, But for Darbish, I mean you rarely see this.
- 16:35Speaker 1: Is he going to give back KP a year, maybe
- 16:38Speaker 1: more of money to just call it.
- 16:41Speaker 3: I think he might. I mean, I appreciate the honesty.
- 16:43Speaker 3: I mean, you know, as a as a fan, you're
- 16:47Speaker 3: probably maybe a little bit upset because he is going
- 16:49Speaker 3: to get paid to rehab this year. But you know,
- 16:52Speaker 3: as a player, I mean, I appreciate his honesty. I mean,
- 16:55Speaker 3: he he's it's been kind of a weird last couple
- 16:58Speaker 3: of years for him. He's had some you know, absences
- 17:01Speaker 3: away from the team for some personal reasons. We don't
- 17:04Speaker 3: really know what was going on. He would go back
- 17:05Speaker 3: to Japan for certain things. He's had an unbelievable career.
- 17:09Speaker 3: If this is how he truly feels in his heart,
- 17:11Speaker 3: and obviously going through an injury like Tommy John at
- 17:14Speaker 3: his age, you know, with the amount of innings that
- 17:17Speaker 3: he's pitched for as long as he's pitched, it can't
- 17:19Speaker 3: be the easiest thing. And if that's where his heart's
- 17:21Speaker 3: at and he feels like he's just gonna take it
- 17:24Speaker 3: day by day, what I really like is I love
- 17:26Speaker 3: seeing the videos of him catching his son throwing bullpens.
- 17:29Speaker 3: So he might just be at that point of his
- 17:31Speaker 3: life where, you know, his son or his family life
- 17:36Speaker 3: is a little bit more important, and he's made a
- 17:38Speaker 3: ton of money, and I know it's a lot of
- 17:41Speaker 3: people are gonna be like, damn. And I'm sitting here
- 17:43Speaker 3: thinking I would never get back the money because I
- 17:45Speaker 3: didn't make as much money as him. But apparently he
- 17:47Speaker 3: feels comfortable with the amount of money he's made that
- 17:50Speaker 3: he's willing to maybe forgo the last two years of
- 17:52Speaker 3: his career. But I appreciate the honesty, and I guess
- 17:56Speaker 3: we'll just see what happens a year from now.
- 17:59Speaker 1: One fan in the chat mentioning how Michael Kadyre did that?
- 18:02Speaker 1: That was Micha LaVerdi. Do you guys remember Kadier did that?
- 18:08Speaker 1: What for the last year of his contract. It's happened.
- 18:11Speaker 1: It happens time to time, remember that.
- 18:13Speaker 3: I mean, I I was with Kadier during Homer and
- 18:16Speaker 3: DERBX and that kind of came up, you know, me
- 18:19Speaker 3: just recently being retired, talking about kind of the transition
- 18:23Speaker 3: I was making in my life, you know, leaving baseball,
- 18:26Speaker 3: and he kind of talked to me about that story
- 18:28Speaker 3: where he was at in his life, and he left
- 18:30Speaker 3: a lot of money. I think it was like eleven
- 18:32Speaker 3: or twelve million dollars on the table, but he felt
- 18:35Speaker 3: like he had given everything he had to the game,
- 18:37Speaker 3: that he wasn't going to be the type of player
- 18:40Speaker 3: commanding a eleven or twelve million dollar deal as kids
- 18:43Speaker 3: were at a certain age. I think he's got twin daughters,
- 18:45Speaker 3: and I think he has a son who's actually going
- 18:47Speaker 3: to be playing at North Carolina next year. So, you know,
- 18:50Speaker 3: some people just you know, money's not everything to every person.
- 18:54Speaker 3: It's a lot easier when you've made a ton of
- 18:56Speaker 3: money to give up future earnings. I love when people
- 19:01Speaker 3: just you know, knowing they've had enough, they've given enough
- 19:03Speaker 3: to the game that there's other priorities in their life
- 19:06Speaker 3: and they're able to walk away from some money. You know. Uh, Aaron,
- 19:10Speaker 3: the Roachs did the same thing, you know, with the
- 19:12Speaker 3: situation in White Sox spring training where his son wasn't
- 19:17Speaker 3: was it the White Sox or is it the National
- 19:19Speaker 3: at the time, Adam the Road, Sorry, Adam the Road? Sorry, Aaron. Yeah, yeah,
- 19:25Speaker 3: but he felt like, you know, whatever money he was
- 19:28Speaker 3: owed was not equal to the value that he he
- 19:32Speaker 3: cherished the time with his son being able to bring
- 19:34Speaker 3: him into spring training in the clubhouse and when they
- 19:37Speaker 3: said no, he said no to the money. I'd rather
- 19:39Speaker 3: there's not enough money in the world you could give
- 19:41Speaker 3: me to separate me from this time that I have
- 19:43Speaker 3: from with my son. So good for good for guys
- 19:47Speaker 3: and people for being willing to do that.
- 19:51Speaker 2: Yeah, and and everybody's everybody's situation is different, like Roachi.
- 19:55Speaker 4: One of the reasons.
- 19:56Speaker 2: Yes, obviously him and Kenny Williams kind of butted heads
- 19:59Speaker 2: about the whole, like, you know, his son wasn't allowed
- 20:02Speaker 2: to come in, and he's like, dude, I was in
- 20:04Speaker 2: the clubhouse with my dad throughout his entire career. He's
- 20:07Speaker 2: been in the clubhouse a year before. They didn't see
- 20:10Speaker 2: eye to eye. But also there's something in the off season.
- 20:12Speaker 2: You know, he had done some he had done some
- 20:15Speaker 2: mission work with International Justice Mission saving kids from human trafficking,
- 20:20Speaker 2: and he was like, I'm going to spend an entire
- 20:23Speaker 2: baseball season, which is a lot people don't People think
- 20:26Speaker 2: sometimes players just go to the ballpark and they play
- 20:31Speaker 2: the game and then they come home. Oh, you're playing
- 20:32Speaker 2: a game. There is so much that goes on into it.
- 20:37Speaker 2: My last year was twenty twenty. In twenty one, Team
- 20:41Speaker 2: USA said we want you on the Olympic team. It's
- 20:44Speaker 2: your spot, you'll be on it. And there was no
- 20:47Speaker 2: doubt in my mind. I did not want to play. Physically,
- 20:51Speaker 2: I could have done it. Physically, everything was fine, but
- 20:54Speaker 2: the fact that I would have had to work out
- 20:58Speaker 2: every single day with disregard to my family, which I
- 21:02Speaker 2: had disregarded pretty much for the nineteen seasons before, the
- 21:06Speaker 2: nineteen years before.
- 21:07Speaker 4: In my life, because.
- 21:10Speaker 2: The fact that you know you're constantly the guy when
- 21:13Speaker 2: you're the player, and all of a sudden, family becomes
- 21:16Speaker 2: more important and you're like, I gave a lot to it.
- 21:19Speaker 2: You Darvish is no different. I also think there's another
- 21:22Speaker 2: level that I don't understand. KP probably could understand a
- 21:25Speaker 2: little bit more elite. He was elite. He knows he'll
- 21:30Speaker 2: never get back to that. He knows last year his
- 21:33Speaker 2: velocity was down, his max velocity not even telling his
- 21:36Speaker 2: average velocities. Max velocity he could throw a baseball was
- 21:40Speaker 2: down two miles an hour. So you know, when you're
- 21:43Speaker 2: at an elite level earlier in your career, how are
- 21:47Speaker 2: you ever going to get back to that? Then you're like,
- 21:50Speaker 2: wait a minute, I got to work out for twelve months.
- 21:53Speaker 2: I got to miss my son who just committed. I
- 21:55Speaker 2: think he's going to University of California, San Diego or something.
- 22:01Speaker 2: I'm not sure exactly which, but he just committed to play.
- 22:04Speaker 2: So there's more things that are involved in that than
- 22:07Speaker 2: just oh, I'm gonna get eighteen million dollars, I'm gonna
- 22:10Speaker 2: get twenty two million dollars, which is a ridiculous thing
- 22:14Speaker 2: to say to ninety nine point ninety nine nine percent
- 22:17Speaker 2: of the population.
- 22:20Speaker 1: Okay, and then Padres fans are like, what does this mean?
- 22:24Speaker 1: Do we save money? Does this help us? Because it
- 22:28Speaker 1: sounds like from our conversations with Ken and from reading others,
- 22:32Speaker 1: the Padres aren't going to be the ownership forcing a
- 22:36Speaker 1: j preller to just dump payroll left and right. But
- 22:39Speaker 1: it's going to stay at a similar rate, if not
- 22:42Speaker 1: come down to drop. Also, it's going to add up
- 22:45Speaker 1: with some of the long term contracts that I think
- 22:47Speaker 1: get higher as they go. So what do you think
- 22:50Speaker 1: ap for San Diego Padres fans. I mean, it's not
- 22:53Speaker 1: going to save any money this coming season. I think
- 22:55Speaker 1: we should lay that part out twenty twenty six. He
- 22:57Speaker 1: is out for the year. He's getting paid, He's getting
- 22:58Speaker 1: paid to rehab. That's just how it works. Could it
- 23:01Speaker 1: save them money in twenty seven or twenty eight, Yeah, maybe.
- 23:05Speaker 3: Yeah, it certainly could if that's how he decides to,
- 23:08Speaker 3: you know, go out in his career. Obviously, he has
- 23:11Speaker 3: a ethical responsibility to show up if he is healthy
- 23:15Speaker 3: or if he is still rehaving if he completes, and
- 23:18Speaker 3: the team obviously documents this for people at home listening.
- 23:22Speaker 3: He's going to go through his rehab process with the team.
- 23:25Speaker 3: He is going to have to check all these boxes.
- 23:26Speaker 3: He's going to have to get off a mound, He's
- 23:28Speaker 3: going to have to go on a rehab assignment. Once
- 23:30Speaker 3: that is all completed and he is healthy to perform,
- 23:33Speaker 3: and he decides that he does not want to perform anymore,
- 23:37Speaker 3: he is going to have to make a decision to
- 23:38Speaker 3: He's going to have a decision to make, which is
- 23:41Speaker 3: going to come with him forfeiting the rest of his money.
- 23:43Speaker 3: He's going to have to retire. The team is going
- 23:45Speaker 3: to save money. But I mean that's still a year away,
- 23:48Speaker 3: so there is a chance that the padres on the
- 23:50Speaker 3: back end of this contract, which to a lot of
- 23:53Speaker 3: people thought was a little bit crazy given his age
- 23:56Speaker 3: when he signed this extension. But you know there could
- 23:59Speaker 3: be a silver line for Padres fans that they may
- 24:01Speaker 3: be saving a good amount of money in a year
- 24:05Speaker 3: from now.
- 24:10Speaker 1: Jay Farrell and the Chat said he took the long
- 24:11Speaker 1: deal to help the Padres out and keep the AAV down.
- 24:14Speaker 1: He should get every dollar he's owed. I know you
- 24:17Speaker 1: guys usually feel that way, but I will also say,
- 24:21Speaker 1: when you sign those deals on the other side, you
- 24:25Speaker 1: got to play through the deal. Right, We've seen some
- 24:27Speaker 1: of these deals ten years, twelve years. If you get hurt,
- 24:31Speaker 1: that's one thing, but otherwise you got to play through
- 24:34Speaker 1: the deal kratz. And if not, then you do give
- 24:37Speaker 1: money back. That's how this works. It's not like, oh, well,
- 24:39Speaker 1: you know what, I helped them out on the short
- 24:40Speaker 1: and plus I got to look at what the number
- 24:42Speaker 1: is and don't have my computer today, so I'm a
- 24:43Speaker 1: little born limited. But if you evaluate this contract and
- 24:47Speaker 1: how much U's been hurt and now it's going to
- 24:49Speaker 1: miss more time, it's a bad contract for the Padres.
- 24:53Speaker 2: This was an extension. This was an extension that he
- 24:56Speaker 2: had signed. But yeah, I mean it's it's not an
- 25:00Speaker 2: and that's why I think possibly there could be some insurance,
- 25:02Speaker 2: which could save the Zeidler family or the trust a
- 25:05Speaker 2: little bit of money. But I mean he's owed sixteen
- 25:08Speaker 2: in the next successive years, sixteen, fifteen, and fifteen.
- 25:12Speaker 4: So yeah, it stinks.
- 25:14Speaker 2: But one other thing, you're talking about it, and maybe
- 25:17Speaker 2: we'll ask him next time he comes along. We'll probably
- 25:19Speaker 2: have more pressing matters. But Buster posey. I remember playing
- 25:23Speaker 2: with him in nineteen and you and I were both
- 25:25Speaker 2: there at KP and Buster looked to Evan Longoria and
- 25:30Speaker 2: he goes.
- 25:31Speaker 4: You got five more years on your contract. He's like,
- 25:36Speaker 4: that would be brutal.
- 25:38Speaker 2: He just wanted to play to a certain extent because
- 25:42Speaker 2: he wanted to be home with his family. He wanted
- 25:44Speaker 2: to move on to the next thing. And I don't
- 25:46Speaker 2: think people necessarily understand that, because I think then Buster
- 25:50Speaker 2: sat out twenty twenty because of COVID twenty one. He
- 25:54Speaker 2: signed his one year deal, and I assume they went
- 25:58Speaker 2: to him because he had a mass of year that year.
- 26:02Speaker 2: When they went to Crawford, who signed a two year extension,
- 26:05Speaker 2: and I'm assuming he probably declined it. It was like, no,
- 26:10Speaker 2: I'm good, Like some guys are good to be done.
- 26:13Speaker 2: It's okay to be done and not be shackled by
- 26:16Speaker 2: the fact that you have an obligation to keep playing.
- 26:20Speaker 1: Mm hmm. The obvious example being brought up here by
- 26:24Speaker 1: mgr in the chat, Mjr. Did Rendon play through the deal? Well,
- 26:29Speaker 1: it sounds like they're going to figure something out for
- 26:31Speaker 1: this coming season and he's a tricky case. Yeah, it's different. Different,
- 26:39Speaker 1: it is different. This is very different. But it's different.
- 26:44Speaker 3: This is different because at the end of this deal
- 26:47Speaker 3: where we're talking about, at the end of this rehab process,
- 26:50Speaker 3: he's going to have a choice to make you darvish
- 26:51Speaker 3: and if he wants to give that money back by
- 26:53Speaker 3: saying I don't want to play anymore, he's going to
- 26:57Speaker 3: give the money back. There's there's a difference in and
- 26:59Speaker 3: you have to respect what Kratzy is saying. He understands
- 27:02Speaker 3: that he might not ever be a lead again, and
- 27:05Speaker 3: he doesn't want to pitch at not being elite anymore.
- 27:07Speaker 3: So if he decides to go home and give the
- 27:09Speaker 3: money back, that's that's one thing. I think it's worse
- 27:11Speaker 3: for him to just check the boxes and go out
- 27:14Speaker 3: there and be a way less version of himself and
- 27:17Speaker 3: just going out and collecting a paycheck. So if he
- 27:20Speaker 3: wants to give the money back, go give the money back.
- 27:22Speaker 3: You know, like Kratzy said, we are humans, we have families,
- 27:25Speaker 3: we have our priorities change, and yes, you do have
- 27:28Speaker 3: a responsibility to kind of honor that contract. But if
- 27:32Speaker 3: you can get out of that contract by not receiving
- 27:35Speaker 3: the money, then who's upset about it.
- 27:41Speaker 1: He's made plenty of money, so he's gonna be okay. Yeah.
- 27:45Speaker 1: On the Padres side, I mean, I don't think it's
- 27:47Speaker 1: going to change much in terms of plans for them
- 27:49Speaker 1: this coming season. Some Padres fans are probably like, no,
- 27:53Speaker 1: don't trade Nick Pivetta. Why is he even in a conversation,
- 27:56Speaker 1: And I agree with that. I mean, Nick Pivetta had
- 27:58Speaker 1: a banger year and he's always a guy that you
- 28:00Speaker 1: were watching and thinking that he could find another gear.
- 28:03Speaker 1: It goes back to our combo we had with Ken
- 28:06Speaker 1: about the national sinking they've got another gear with their
- 28:09Speaker 1: crew coming in to try and boost some of their players.
- 28:12Speaker 1: You didn't feel that way, krats I felt that way.
- 28:14Speaker 1: You think it's more of an anomaly year, or do
- 28:16Speaker 1: you think that they helped him unlock something and he
- 28:19Speaker 1: might have a nice little run here for the next
- 28:21Speaker 1: couple of years. I just think I don't know. I mean,
- 28:23Speaker 1: I wouldn't trade him, is my point. And I don't
- 28:26Speaker 1: think whatever Darbish does has any idea or has any
- 28:29Speaker 1: correlation to this, because you're not going to know what
- 28:31Speaker 1: Darvish is doing for a while.
- 28:33Speaker 4: I think it's a lottery ticket.
- 28:35Speaker 2: I think if they cash in Nick Pavetta because of
- 28:38Speaker 2: what they I think there's a lot of value there
- 28:40Speaker 2: because they only paid him five million dollars maybe four
- 28:42Speaker 2: million dollars last year, because of how they they staggered
- 28:46Speaker 2: or loaded that.
- 28:46Speaker 4: Contract it was.
- 28:47Speaker 2: I think I think it's a lottery ticket that there
- 28:50Speaker 2: might be another Nick Pavetta out there.
- 28:52Speaker 4: What do they see in like a Luise Heel, what
- 28:55Speaker 4: do they see?
- 28:56Speaker 2: I just use that name because you have to trade
- 28:58Speaker 2: him to a team that's willing to pay a starting
- 29:00Speaker 2: pitcher for the next four years on this contract. There's
- 29:04Speaker 2: a lottery ticket and maybe this is a chance to say,
- 29:06Speaker 2: you know what, we see this value in somebody else
- 29:09Speaker 2: that we just saw the league was undervaluing in Paveta,
- 29:13Speaker 2: and that's how we got that contract.
- 29:16Speaker 1: I think Paveta's situation was the qualifying offer Okay, I
- 29:21Speaker 1: mean there's someone else that has really hard for that. No,
- 29:23Speaker 1: you're right, You're right, I know. I'm just saying that's
- 29:25Speaker 1: where they find value, is they go, Okay, all these
- 29:28Speaker 1: teams are avoiding this guy because he's not a star
- 29:32Speaker 1: free agent available last year and he's got the pick
- 29:34Speaker 1: attachment and teams don't want to give that up. And
- 29:36Speaker 1: I also do think that ultimately the league is trying
- 29:40Speaker 1: to get rid of the compick for a significant trade
- 29:43Speaker 1: off like the International Draft that's getting into CVA talks.
- 29:46Speaker 1: So players have consistently been getting punished with the qualifying offer,
- 29:51Speaker 1: and I think examples are being made so that they
- 29:53Speaker 1: can use that. It's one of their best bargaining chips.
- 29:55Speaker 1: Just giving you inside baseball and what's going on with
- 29:58Speaker 1: that world a corner. We had two moves while we've
- 30:06Speaker 1: been on the show. I'm going to start with the
- 30:08Speaker 1: most recent one because he's been on our show, and
- 30:11Speaker 1: I think it's for more money one year, five and
- 30:13Speaker 1: a half million bucks for Foster Griffin. Do you remember
- 30:15Speaker 1: the conversation Kratz was it AJ that day? Was a
- 30:18Speaker 1: KP who was on.
- 30:20Speaker 4: That was agent Foster Griffin? Was a whatever over the
- 30:29Speaker 4: school is that he sends his kid to so for Foster.
- 30:32Speaker 1: Yeah, one year, five and a half million bucks, comes
- 30:34Speaker 1: from overseas, has a ton of pitches, seems like a
- 30:37Speaker 1: great dude. This is something that's been more prominent lately.
- 30:41Speaker 1: And it's not just oh, there's just one guy coming over.
- 30:43Speaker 1: I remember when it was Miles Michael list and he
- 30:45Speaker 1: went to winter meetings and he's meeting with everyone about
- 30:48Speaker 1: all the changes he made. This is happening more frequently.
- 30:51Speaker 1: I mean, this year really getting a ton. There's there's
- 30:54Speaker 1: names we're getting to know, Michael Weiss, who was just
- 30:56Speaker 1: on crush shitty Territory if you want to hear his story.
- 30:58Speaker 1: But Foster specific three seasons in Japan, Ryan Weiss, is
- 31:04Speaker 1: it Ryan Weiss? Yeah, Ryan Weiss. And there are a
- 31:07Speaker 1: number of others, Anthony Ka who signs with the White Sox.
- 31:11Speaker 1: White Sox have signed Eric Fetty, guys coming from the
- 31:14Speaker 1: KBO Korea or MPB in Japan. And for Foster, he
- 31:20Speaker 1: actually knocks the Nationals off our list. And now we're
- 31:22Speaker 1: down to two teams that haven't signed major league free
- 31:25Speaker 1: agents already, and we're not even in twenty twenty six yet.
- 31:28Speaker 1: But KP. Seems like it makes sense for the Nats.
- 31:30Speaker 1: Are they going to be playoff contenders? Not likely, But
- 31:34Speaker 1: if there's a good year, this is a good flip
- 31:37Speaker 1: over to a contender.
- 31:39Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean I love it. I just wish that
- 31:41Speaker 3: were there was a I wish there was somewhere. And
- 31:45Speaker 3: obviously you can go overseas as a position player, but
- 31:48Speaker 3: it doesn't really kind of change your stock, your value,
- 31:51Speaker 3: your stock, you know. I love that it's happening for
- 31:54Speaker 3: players that maybe run into a little bit of a
- 31:56Speaker 3: tough time here in the States. You know, you're bouncing
- 31:59Speaker 3: around from minor league team the minor league team. You
- 32:02Speaker 3: got a chance to go overseas and kind of make
- 32:04Speaker 3: some real money for your family, and sometimes you figure
- 32:07Speaker 3: it out, you find something you get away from, you know,
- 32:10Speaker 3: maybe the pressure and stress of trying to make it
- 32:13Speaker 3: to the big leagues and maybe you learn some different grips,
- 32:16Speaker 3: or you're just around some different people and it finally
- 32:19Speaker 3: clicks for you. So I love that pictures or they
- 32:21Speaker 3: have that option to go overseas, make some money for
- 32:25Speaker 3: their family, kind of reinvent themselves and then get a
- 32:28Speaker 3: chance to come back here and actually cash in we're
- 32:31Speaker 3: seeing multiple year deals. Me and the Blue Jays signed
- 32:34Speaker 3: Ponts for thirty million dollars and that's out of the KBO.
- 32:37Speaker 3: So I just hope that eventually it will catch up.
- 32:41Speaker 3: For the position player side, where you know you're bouncing
- 32:43Speaker 3: around in the minor leagues, you're not making a ton
- 32:46Speaker 3: of money. You get a chance to go to you know,
- 32:48Speaker 3: Korea or Japan, and they kind of value the adjustments
- 32:52Speaker 3: that maybe hitters make similar to pictures.
- 32:55Speaker 1: I'll say this technology helps a ton. This is going
- 32:58Speaker 1: to relate to our next segment. Technology helps a ton. Here,
- 33:02Speaker 1: why you're not just no, I'll tell you why. Krats.
- 33:05Speaker 1: In my mind, teams are trusting players like this to
- 33:08Speaker 1: bring them over and give them real money more so
- 33:11Speaker 1: than before because they can try and grade pitches better.
- 33:14Speaker 1: This is one of those spots where I do think
- 33:15Speaker 1: it's effective. When we talked to Dylan Sees the other
- 33:18Speaker 1: day and he's saying, how you can't just go off
- 33:21Speaker 1: of stuff plus slider score since it could be a
- 33:24Speaker 1: more exposed pitch if he changes the way he's opening
- 33:26Speaker 1: up right. We can get into all that, but just
- 33:29Speaker 1: from a pure quality standpoint on a pitch, I do
- 33:33Speaker 1: think the tech helps here because it's hard to project
- 33:36Speaker 1: how a guy is going to look. When he's been
- 33:38Speaker 1: in the States, he hasn't necessarily performed well. He goes overseas,
- 33:42Speaker 1: he looks like a stud. Sometimes some of those studs
- 33:44Speaker 1: are great, sometimes they're not, and they're at least able
- 33:46Speaker 1: to say, hey, this pitch changed a ton. It's not
- 33:48Speaker 1: just Felo, it's shape. He figured it out, and now
- 33:51Speaker 1: this is a more effective pitch. Sure you can look
- 33:53Speaker 1: at results, but I do think it helps to have
- 33:55Speaker 1: a little bit more behind it for them to say, now,
- 33:57Speaker 1: for Foster, okay, this is a quality cutter, and he's
- 34:02Speaker 1: got a change up that has really emerged that we
- 34:04Speaker 1: think has very similar characteristics to pitches we see in
- 34:07Speaker 1: the majors, and it can be successful there.
- 34:10Speaker 2: This is exactly what's KP was talking about too. It's
- 34:14Speaker 2: all in the pitchers. It's the only sport where the
- 34:16Speaker 2: defense has the ball. Like, there's nothing that's affecting a
- 34:21Speaker 2: pitch shape other than the pitcher. The position player value
- 34:26Speaker 2: going over there right now is all watered down. We
- 34:30Speaker 2: just heard about it with Morikami. Morikami legitimately has eighty power.
- 34:36Speaker 2: I've seen this guy hit the ball in VP far
- 34:38Speaker 2: as far, if not farther than anybody that I've seen
- 34:42Speaker 2: just in batting practice. But what's the first thing they're
- 34:45Speaker 2: gonna do, M velocity. You're not consistently facing this so
- 34:50Speaker 2: right now, exactly what you're saying, Scott, Yes, it's helping pitchers,
- 34:55Speaker 2: exactly what KP is saying.
- 34:57Speaker 4: It's not quite helping hitters yet. You know the last
- 35:00Speaker 4: this guy.
- 35:00Speaker 2: That really went over there and truly cashed back in here,
- 35:04Speaker 2: Eric Dames. Eric Dames went to Korea and was I'm
- 35:09Speaker 2: not sure if he was fifty to fifty, but I
- 35:10Speaker 2: know he was forty forty. I mean he had video
- 35:13Speaker 2: game he had video game arms, but he had video
- 35:15Speaker 2: game numbers over in Korea and was an absolute legend
- 35:20Speaker 2: over there. But it's just hard for position players to
- 35:23Speaker 2: go over there and get that value to come back.
- 35:26Speaker 2: It just hasn't happened yet. There will be a team
- 35:29Speaker 2: that will find that value for sure at some point.
- 35:34Speaker 1: Next up, we have Caleb Thielbar agreeing to a deal
- 35:38Speaker 1: with the Chicago Cubs. Spending and physical so the Cubs
- 35:43Speaker 1: keep building their bullpen back up. I like this cub
- 35:46Speaker 1: spending on some quality relievers, crats. You know Caleb.
- 35:50Speaker 4: Oh, yeah, we.
- 35:51Speaker 2: Played together in twenty nineteen Team USA. He was currently
- 35:55Speaker 2: at the time, he was recruiting for a college in
- 36:01Speaker 2: I think North Dakota. That's what his job was. We
- 36:04Speaker 2: went to Arizona to play against some college teams to
- 36:08Speaker 2: kind of prep for Team USA. Then we went down
- 36:10Speaker 2: to Mexico. He went on some recruiting trips down in
- 36:14Speaker 2: Arizona to try to get some kids to come to
- 36:16Speaker 2: his college up in North I think North Dakota. I'm
- 36:19Speaker 2: not sure why I'm thinking North Dakota, but it was
- 36:21Speaker 2: something crazy like that. And now look at him. He's
- 36:24Speaker 2: he was done. He was legitimately done on his accord,
- 36:27Speaker 2: he had a baby coming, his wife was a is
- 36:30Speaker 2: a college softball coach, and now he has made some cash.
- 36:34Speaker 4: And he is a.
- 36:35Speaker 2: Very quality not just left on left reliever because he
- 36:38Speaker 2: throws that curveball from the upper deck.
- 36:43Speaker 1: K B. Did you face him?
- 36:45Speaker 3: Yeah? I faced him. I mean, you know, he's typically
- 36:47Speaker 3: the guy that's gonna come in to face a left
- 36:50Speaker 3: handed batter and a guy like me who when I played,
- 36:53Speaker 3: is the guy who gets tapped on his shoulder and says,
- 36:55Speaker 3: go get him. And it's not a comfortable at that
- 36:57Speaker 3: because it's an elite curveball, the sneaky fastball. But it's
- 37:01Speaker 3: a great signing he had. He had a nice year
- 37:05Speaker 3: last year, and you know the Cubs made the Cubs
- 37:08Speaker 3: made a nice run last year, so they're bringing back
- 37:10Speaker 3: some of the pieces that they had last year.
- 37:13Speaker 2: Scotty, you'll love this kind of good against both He's
- 37:19Speaker 2: he's always gonna be. You know, they're gonna think he's
- 37:21Speaker 2: left on left. But when the Twins unlock the fact
- 37:23Speaker 2: that he throws that fastball. Some years he's touched ninety seven.
- 37:28Speaker 2: Normally he's like a ninety five ninety three guy. But
- 37:32Speaker 2: he ran he starts running that fastball in. It's just
- 37:34Speaker 2: too hard. It's too hard for a guy like kp
- 37:37Speaker 2: who handles that ball in and clips him out front
- 37:39Speaker 2: to then say, oh, I'm gonna wait back on that curveball.
- 37:42Speaker 2: I mean his numbers, his numbers batting average against against
- 37:46Speaker 2: lefties one fifty eight. I gotta make sure, yeah, last
- 37:49Speaker 2: year one fifty eight against against righty's two to oh
- 37:54Speaker 2: five ops against rightyes, five eighty eight. So it's not
- 37:58Speaker 2: just a left on left. But teams have implemented that,
- 38:01Speaker 2: and he's able to get out there, stay out there
- 38:03Speaker 2: and get his three outs or get that fourth out.
- 38:06Speaker 2: If you know a team, stacks are left right, left,
- 38:08Speaker 2: right left.
- 38:12Speaker 1: I like it. And the Cubs are spending money to
- 38:15Speaker 1: build the bullpen right back up right because they had
- 38:18Speaker 1: quite a few free agents, and they didn't keep Kittridge.
- 38:21Speaker 1: Remember they sent him back to the Orioles. But Polenty
- 38:24Speaker 1: was great for them most of last year. They just
- 38:27Speaker 1: signed Mayton. Recently they signed field Bar today. I like
- 38:31Speaker 1: the potential of porter Hart Porter Hodge, who's twenty four
- 38:34Speaker 1: years old, who had ups and downs. He's great in
- 38:36Speaker 1: the beginning and then but yeah, I think most people
- 38:38Speaker 1: are anticipating good things from him. He's nasty Holby miner
- 38:42Speaker 1: who gives you a completely different look. And I like
- 38:46Speaker 1: Ben Brown out of the bullpen can give you multiple
- 38:48Speaker 1: innings like this is this solid bullpen.
- 38:51Speaker 3: Hey, I'm confirming Kratzy. South Dakota State University. So you
- 38:55Speaker 3: were you were in the right region. You're in the
- 38:57Speaker 3: right region South Dakota.
- 38:59Speaker 4: North Dakota is not.
- 39:01Speaker 2: South Dakota is actually less inhabited, I think than North Dakota,
- 39:04Speaker 2: is what I've heard like there's a larger there's a
- 39:07Speaker 2: larger city in North Dakota. But either way, it was
- 39:09Speaker 2: in the middle of nowhere, and it was the craziest
- 39:11Speaker 2: time I've never played with somebody who was doing recruiting
- 39:14Speaker 2: trips at night in the middle of our in the
- 39:17Speaker 2: middle of our prep to go play in Guadalajara, Mexico.
- 39:22Speaker 1: Do people from North Dakota or vice versa for people
- 39:26Speaker 1: from South Dakota get pissed if you mess up to Dakota.
- 39:29Speaker 1: Oh sure, it just said North Dakota. It's South Dakota.
- 39:34Speaker 2: Come on, I'm sure they get pissed. I'm sure they
- 39:37Speaker 2: get pissed because think about it. Talk to somebody from
- 39:40Speaker 2: North Carolina and be like, oh, you're from South Carolina. Huh.
- 39:43Speaker 2: They're like, what it's like Virginia and West Virginia. Like
- 39:48Speaker 2: I would tell people I lived on the western side
- 39:50Speaker 2: of Virginia, like right near the border of West Virginia.
- 39:53Speaker 2: Like here's Eric Kratz from West Virginia. And I'd be like, whoa,
- 39:59Speaker 2: so each it's like no, no, no, no, like we're
- 40:02Speaker 2: not because north people from North Dakota say that birds
- 40:05Speaker 2: fly upside down in South Carolina and South Dakota. There's
- 40:09Speaker 2: nothing good enough to poop on in South In South.
- 40:11Speaker 1: Dakota, Hey, South Dakota is offended though, because they actually
- 40:15Speaker 1: have a higher population. It seems like they're at nine
- 40:18Speaker 1: hundred thousand ish according to recent estimates, and North Dakota's
- 40:22Speaker 1: around eight hundred thousand. I would love to hear from
- 40:25Speaker 1: an FT fan from one of those spots and let
- 40:28Speaker 1: us know if you get offended. If someone's like, oh,
- 40:30Speaker 1: you're from South Dakota, You're like, yeah, I'm not from
- 40:32Speaker 1: South Dakota. South Dakota from North Data.
- 40:35Speaker 4: That's weird, bro, it's hot down there.
- 40:39Speaker 1: The South.
- 40:40Speaker 4: Come on.
- 40:52Speaker 1: Right. Two things on our way out, one krats hats,
- 40:55Speaker 1: and then I promise everyone should stick around for an
- 40:57Speaker 1: extra minute after that for an Edwin Diaz quote.
- 41:00Speaker 4: Nice best color hat in a game.
- 41:02Speaker 2: I know the Mariners have a similar one for their
- 41:04Speaker 2: spring training, but I think there's the best logo color
- 41:08Speaker 2: hat in a game.
- 41:09Speaker 4: How to wear it?
- 41:09Speaker 2: For Mikey coming on the show, who was one of
- 41:13Speaker 2: my favorite interviews in the last few weeks.
- 41:15Speaker 1: Soroku's great, he's so well spoken. And then lastly, do
- 41:19Speaker 1: we have the tweet there's a bunch of quote action
- 41:22Speaker 1: coming out of Edwin Diaz and his comments on how
- 41:26Speaker 1: things went down with negotiations with the Mets stand filed.
- 41:30Speaker 1: I think I can find it myself to give you
- 41:32Speaker 1: a little read. So Edwin Diaz on why the Mets
- 41:35Speaker 1: didn't get a shot to match the Dodgers deal. He said,
- 41:38Speaker 1: we took an offer to the Mets. They said they
- 41:41Speaker 1: have a gap to negotiate, but that usually means is
- 41:44Speaker 1: they're not giving you the straight shot number forget best
- 41:48Speaker 1: and final. They're just like, We're like, here, let's keep dancing.
- 41:52Speaker 1: You come back, we might have a little room. He said.
- 41:56Speaker 1: He took his number and info right what he was
- 41:59Speaker 1: looking for at that point. To the Dodgers, they said, cool, done,
- 42:05Speaker 1: accept it right away. And being that they accepted it
- 42:07Speaker 1: right away, he couldn't go back to the Mets and
- 42:10Speaker 1: then start going back and forth again. You can't mess around.
- 42:13Speaker 1: This is how the game works. And I've spoken to
- 42:15Speaker 1: many agents KP about how they often feel as if
- 42:22Speaker 1: front office executives are offended by the way the market works.
- 42:25Speaker 1: They're like, what I'm supposed to just keep going back
- 42:28Speaker 1: to you, maybe lose the other deal for my client,
- 42:31Speaker 1: Like that's just not how this works, right, Like, oh,
- 42:33Speaker 1: how come you didn't give us one last chance? This
- 42:35Speaker 1: happens all the time. I know this happened with a
- 42:37Speaker 1: number of teams last year. So with like say Alex
- 42:40Speaker 1: Bragman and the Tigers, right, we have this number, we
- 42:42Speaker 1: probably can go higher. Okay, well I got a better
- 42:44Speaker 1: deal now from the Red Sox. I don't have to
- 42:46Speaker 1: freaking call you just because I spent a lot of
- 42:48Speaker 1: time with you or with aj Hinch. That's not how
- 42:50Speaker 1: this shit works.
- 42:51Speaker 3: It's not how real life works. I mean, I've been
- 42:54Speaker 3: doing construction at my house for the last month or
- 42:56Speaker 3: last year. You know, when people coming in bid jobs,
- 42:59Speaker 3: it's like, okay, you know, obviously you want quality and stuff.
- 43:04Speaker 3: But when you're talking about two quality type of things
- 43:07Speaker 3: and you know there's a price differential, I don't owe
- 43:09Speaker 3: it to anyone to go try to you know, you know,
- 43:13Speaker 3: sell it to someone else, and good for the Dodgers.
- 43:16Speaker 3: That's how you do business. But it's not only the Dodgers.
- 43:18Speaker 3: Good on Edwin Diaz and his agent, because I think
- 43:21Speaker 3: in this sport there's too much of like, hey, let's
- 43:25Speaker 3: you know, you know, let's set a ballpark. We want
- 43:27Speaker 3: seven years. Just come out with a realistic offer, what
- 43:30Speaker 3: you think your client's worth according to the comps and
- 43:33Speaker 3: the history of the game, and where your player's at
- 43:36Speaker 3: be within like you know, a ballpark, and you're gonna
- 43:38Speaker 3: get a deal done. I love the Dodgers saying, yep,
- 43:40Speaker 3: you're in. Can't go back now. Obviously Edwin probably could have,
- 43:44Speaker 3: but it's probably not good for business for you know,
- 43:46Speaker 3: his agent and himself. If he would have, the Dodgers
- 43:49Speaker 3: would have agreed on it. And he says, oh, I'm
- 43:51Speaker 3: gonna go run back to the Mets. But this is
- 43:53Speaker 3: you know, business one oh one by the Dodgers and
- 43:57Speaker 3: Edwin Diaz and his agents. This is our number. If
- 44:00Speaker 3: you want to accept it, accept it. And the Dodger said,
- 44:02Speaker 3: we accept it. You're ours. It's over done.
- 44:06Speaker 1: That's how you do this. Done. Good stuff today, great show, KP,
- 44:12Speaker 1: you're superman. Thanks for joining us. We're gonna talk again soon.
- 44:15Speaker 1: I think I think we got you back soon.
- 44:17Speaker 3: Right yep, yep, right before Christmas.
- 44:21Speaker 1: Okay, what do you know, what day are we on
- 44:23Speaker 1: with you?
- 44:24Speaker 3: I'm on the twenty third.
- 44:26Speaker 1: Oh nice, that's a good shoe, you.
- 44:28Speaker 3: Know, And less unless there's someone else that you know
- 44:30Speaker 3: runs into a problem. You know, I'm always available off
- 44:32Speaker 3: the bench.
- 44:34Speaker 1: KP to the rescue Superman. Truly good stuff, dude. Todd
- 44:38Speaker 1: Father is back on with us Tomorrow. Bob Nightingale will
- 44:41Speaker 1: join us for an insider segment and we'll see then