Latest / Foul Territory / Ken Rosenthal: Padres for sale, Mets/Edwin Diaz decision

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Ken Rosenthal: Padres for sale, Mets/Edwin Diaz decision · Foul Territory

0:05
Speaker 1: All right, it's now time to welcome in one of
0:07
Speaker 1: my favorite people in baseball. That would be our very
0:09
Speaker 1: own Ken Rosenthal, senior writer for the Athletic mlbon Foxfield
0:12
Speaker 1: reporter insider for us here at fel Territory. Ken, you
0:16
Speaker 1: just got back from the GM meetings. I know there's
0:19
Speaker 1: a lot of buzz around those meetings. Some of it
0:22
Speaker 1: is earwash, some of it is legit stuff. What was
0:26
Speaker 1: the vibe around it?
0:27
Speaker 2: Tell us there's a lot of eyewash, there's no question
0:30
Speaker 2: about Atricia. But what's different about the meetings these days,
0:34
Speaker 2: the GM meetings is that teams are still very busy staffing,
0:38
Speaker 2: hiring coaches to be with their new managers. In one case,
0:42
Speaker 2: the Colorado Rockies, they still need to hire a manager.
0:45
Speaker 2: So a lot of gms and baseball operations types are
0:48
Speaker 2: occupy with that. But at the GM meetings generally they
0:52
Speaker 2: do generally start to talk about players. Meetings take place
0:56
Speaker 2: between teams and agents for free agents. Meetings take place,
1:01
Speaker 2: or conversations take place between heads of baseball operations for
1:05
Speaker 2: different clubs. So you'll often hear after the fact that
1:09
Speaker 2: the groundwork was laid for this deal or this trade.
1:12
Speaker 2: At the Winter meeting or at the GM meetings, and
1:15
Speaker 2: that is kind of the function of them. What has
1:17
Speaker 2: changed a little bit, as I mentioned, is that a
1:19
Speaker 2: lot of the teams are still occupied with finding coaches,
1:22
Speaker 2: and it's been a kind of a crazy offseason in
1:25
Speaker 2: that way, with nine new managers being hired.
1:28
Speaker 1: Okay, let's talk a little bit ahead.
1:31
Speaker 3: Does it give you a chance to sit there and go, Okay,
1:34
Speaker 3: I'm rekindling these conversations for you or are you like, yeah,
1:39
Speaker 3: I could probably have just texted this person.
1:42
Speaker 2: Actually, Eric, it's a great question you ask. I could
1:45
Speaker 2: text everybody, and you might even say the GM meetings
1:49
Speaker 2: and the winter meetings are obsolete for that reason. However,
1:52
Speaker 2: you do get to see people in person, and it's
1:55
Speaker 2: nice to see people you haven't seen a long time,
1:57
Speaker 2: not just gms and agents, but also writers, and from
2:02
Speaker 2: that perspective, there is that human face to face element.
2:06
Speaker 2: We don't get a lot of face time with these guys.
2:08
Speaker 2: They're kind of busy, and they give us one hour
2:10
Speaker 2: of availability with the American League heads at Baseball operations
2:13
Speaker 2: and then one hour with the National League on different days.
2:16
Speaker 2: But I always think there's value, much more value to
2:20
Speaker 2: talking to someone face to face than texting them. I'm
2:23
Speaker 2: old school.
2:25
Speaker 4: Ken question for you. I know baseball is a little
2:28
Speaker 4: bit different as its free agency because we don't have
2:30
Speaker 4: a salary cap. But what's stopping teams from just making
2:35
Speaker 4: things happen, you know, saying I want Edwin de Weez
2:38
Speaker 4: and just going to get them the first day of
2:39
Speaker 4: free agency. I know there's arbitration, I know there's qualifying
2:43
Speaker 4: offers teams have to figure out. But we have smart people.
2:46
Speaker 4: You could kind of figure out your salary what these
2:49
Speaker 4: projected arbitration numbers are going to be. You know, maybe
2:52
Speaker 4: if a guy gets a qualifying offer. But why is
2:54
Speaker 4: baseball the only sport when free agency opens, nothing ever happens?
2:58
Speaker 2: Kevin, This is a great question. A lot of fans
3:01
Speaker 2: have this question too. Why does this drag on for
3:03
Speaker 2: three months now? Some fans actually like it because baseball
3:06
Speaker 2: remains in the news rather than having free agency over
3:09
Speaker 2: in four days. But it seems to me that the
3:12
Speaker 2: reason the calendar works like it does and the pace
3:15
Speaker 2: is what it is is because there's no deadline. And
3:19
Speaker 2: when we have the trade deadline, you see action, and
3:22
Speaker 2: you see the action peaking on the last day because
3:25
Speaker 2: the deadline is driving that movement. We don't have that
3:29
Speaker 2: in baseball, and for whatever reason, these things seem to
3:33
Speaker 2: go at their own pace. The winter meetings are often
3:37
Speaker 2: a center of activity, but even then only certain things happen.
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Speaker 2: They're not everything, and you'll see deals drag into late December, January,
3:47
Speaker 2: even February. It's just the way baseball works. I don't
3:51
Speaker 2: like it. I don't know that anyone in the sport
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Speaker 2: likes it. Actually, there are a lot of people on
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Speaker 2: all sides of the spectrum, media, baseball, operations, agents, Everyone
4:02
Speaker 2: would like to see this compressed, at least in terms
4:05
Speaker 2: of their own personal lives. But the union does not
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Speaker 2: want to set any deadlines because they believe that restricts
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Speaker 2: the market. Somehow. I would argue that maybe it would
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Speaker 2: drive the market, but that's always been the union's position,
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Speaker 2: no restrictions on the market whatsoever.
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Speaker 4: Yeah, that was going to be my follow up is
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Speaker 4: if could they implement a deadline? And then the other
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Speaker 4: question is I feel like from a player's perspective, we
4:29
Speaker 4: always kind of assume that the longer you waited, the
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Speaker 4: fear became on the player to the pressure to sign
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Speaker 4: maybe a deal. Do you think there's a way around
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Speaker 4: either of those two things.
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Speaker 2: As for a deadline, there have been ideas floated. It
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Speaker 2: would have to be collectively bargained, both the players and
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Speaker 2: the teams. The owners would have to agree upon it,
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Speaker 2: and it would seem to me that it could be
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Speaker 2: structured in a way where it worked for everyone. Maybe
4:56
Speaker 2: you have a trade deadline at the winter meetings where
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Speaker 2: no trades after the end the Winter Meetings, and then
5:01
Speaker 2: the free agent market would open up right then. There
5:03
Speaker 2: are all kinds of ways you could do it. And Kevin,
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Speaker 2: there's no question too, the teams use the calendar to
5:10
Speaker 2: their advantage. They wait and wait and wait and try
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Speaker 2: to squeeze certain segments of the market. Maybe there are
5:16
Speaker 2: an excess number of relievers that hey, if we just wait,
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Speaker 2: these guys are going to panic and they'll sign for less.
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Speaker 2: There is no doubt that that takes place.
5:27
Speaker 1: Ken I just want to say that I agree with
5:30
Speaker 1: you on the old school face to face stuff. I
5:32
Speaker 1: don't ever want to go back to the pandemic. You
5:33
Speaker 1: remember when we couldn't even see anybody face to face,
5:36
Speaker 1: and there is a value. I teach my students that
5:38
Speaker 1: all the time. I'm like there's so it's so valuable
5:41
Speaker 1: to be face to face with the people that you cover.
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Speaker 1: There's just something about talking to them in person. So
5:45
Speaker 1: I'm glad that the GM meetings are still in person
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Speaker 1: and the Winter meetings are still in person. And you
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Speaker 1: can't just text these guys all the time. I mean
5:52
Speaker 1: you can, you can blow up their phone if you
5:54
Speaker 1: want to, but face to face is always better. Let's
5:56
Speaker 1: talk a little bit about what you just wrote, Ken
5:59
Speaker 1: about the Mets with Edwin Diaz on the market. You said,
6:02
Speaker 1: a perfect storm is brewing for the Mets to lose him.
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Speaker 1: We know that he's testing free agency the first time
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Speaker 1: he wants that payday. We also know what has been
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Speaker 1: said from the Mets not afraid to replace him by
6:14
Speaker 1: diving into a large market for closers. Right now, what's
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Speaker 1: the latest.
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Speaker 2: The latest is what Edward Diaz said last night at
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Speaker 2: the MLB Awards, which is that he's fifty to fifty
6:26
Speaker 2: to re sign with the Mets now, Tricia, obviously, and
6:28
Speaker 2: you know this, everyone knows this. At this time of year,
6:31
Speaker 2: there's only so much you can believe about what is
6:34
Speaker 2: coming out of anyone's mouth, and it's kind of up
6:36
Speaker 2: to people like me to figure out what's real and
6:39
Speaker 2: what isn't. Now, what's real here is Toronto. The Blue
6:43
Speaker 2: Jays want to add high leverage reliever and a starting pitcher,
6:48
Speaker 2: not necessarily in that order. The starter actually is the
6:50
Speaker 2: priority right now. But we all saw what happened in
6:53
Speaker 2: Game seven of the World Series. Two outs away, Jeff
6:56
Speaker 2: Hoffman gives up the home run to Miguel Rojas. For
7:00
Speaker 2: the Blue Jays, it would make a ton of sense,
7:02
Speaker 2: and they are motivated right now to do things. We
7:05
Speaker 2: know that. We also know that David Stearns, as president
7:09
Speaker 2: of base Operations of the Mets, is a guy who
7:12
Speaker 2: is disciplined. He adheres to, or tries to, certain thresholds
7:16
Speaker 2: for certain players. He doesn't want to go above. He
7:18
Speaker 2: will in response to the market. But if a team
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Speaker 2: pushes the Mets, and it doesn't have to be the
7:23
Speaker 2: Blue Jays, I focused on them for the most part
7:25
Speaker 2: in this column, but it could be the Yankees. It
7:29
Speaker 2: could be the Tigers, it could be the Braves, it
7:31
Speaker 2: could be the Dodgers. Any number of teams might say,
7:34
Speaker 2: you know what I really want Edwin Diaz. Now he's
7:37
Speaker 2: a reliever, and relievers making one hundred million dollars over
7:40
Speaker 2: the course of a contract over five years. That's a risk,
7:43
Speaker 2: there's no question about that. And Edwin Diaz is going
7:45
Speaker 2: to pitch next season at thirty two. But as we know,
7:49
Speaker 2: all it takes in free agency is one team, and
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Speaker 2: Diaz has been that good, he's by far the best
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Speaker 2: closer on this market. That maybe one team jumps, and
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Speaker 2: then that's the perfect storm. If it's the Blue Jays,
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Speaker 2: for instance, a team that is motivated when you have
8:04
Speaker 2: a proud player who wants to be recognized for what
8:07
Speaker 2: he has achieved. He had a great deal the last time,
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Speaker 2: but he wants a similar type deal this time. And
8:12
Speaker 2: then you have a Mets team that, yes, of course,
8:15
Speaker 2: with Steve Cohen as their owner, might just simply say
8:18
Speaker 2: we'll pay him whatever we need to pay him, but
8:21
Speaker 2: not necessarily. So all of these things, I don't know
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Speaker 2: that any of it will take place, Tritcher, But what
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Speaker 2: I wanted to outline in this article, and I know
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Speaker 2: there were some people in the comments saying, what's the
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Speaker 2: point here? It's clickbait's the usual trolling, But there is
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Speaker 2: a point, and the point is here is a scenario.
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Speaker 2: Here are the situations at hand in this particular case
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Speaker 2: and how it might repeat might develop.
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Speaker 3: Does the amount of people on the market, not just people,
8:50
Speaker 3: the amount of high end Robert Suarez, the fact that
8:53
Speaker 3: now I guess Pete Fairbanks would be below Suarez and
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Speaker 3: Devin Williams and Edwin does that make the closer I
9:02
Speaker 3: don't even call it the reliever market, because everybody says
9:04
Speaker 3: they need a reliever. Does that make the closer market
9:07
Speaker 3: the one that's possibly gonna go first because of as
9:12
Speaker 3: much high end talent. If there was just one guy,
9:14
Speaker 3: then it would be like, ah, I can drag this out.
9:16
Speaker 3: I'm the absolute BEA's knees here.
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Speaker 2: Possibly, Eric and I say possibly, because it's always im
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Speaker 2: possible to predict how this is all going to play out.
9:27
Speaker 2: But I would think that if a team jumps out
9:31
Speaker 2: on one of these guys, this is often the case
9:33
Speaker 2: what happens in free agency. You see a run on closers,
9:37
Speaker 2: you might see a run on middle relievers, at one
9:39
Speaker 2: point on outfielders. So yes, it's possible that this happens quickly.
9:44
Speaker 2: And it's also possible the team's posture and they wait,
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Speaker 2: and the players wait as well for what they want
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Speaker 2: and they're not getting it, and this drags out for
9:54
Speaker 2: ever long it might drag out. So it's really hard
9:57
Speaker 2: to predict timing. Obviously, with no deadline, it's really difficult.
10:01
Speaker 2: So I'm not sure exactly how it might go. But
10:04
Speaker 2: if you're asking, is there a world in which this
10:09
Speaker 2: kind of starts to happen going into the Winter meetings
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Speaker 2: and right after, yes, I would think that is the case.
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Speaker 4: I want to beat a dead horse. I want to
10:17
Speaker 4: go back to our previous conversation. Do players, agents, and
10:21
Speaker 4: even executives feel like they lose leverage if they just
10:25
Speaker 4: have a little bit of transparency? Like what's the harm
10:27
Speaker 4: in a team coming out and say we'd love to
10:29
Speaker 4: trade for Terrek Scouoble, Like, you know, whether you do
10:32
Speaker 4: it or not, that's whatever happens behind closed doors. But
10:35
Speaker 4: why does everything have to be so cryptic?
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Speaker 2: Actually, Kevin, I have an answer for that. With regard
10:40
Speaker 2: to trades, it's tampering when you openly say you want
10:44
Speaker 2: another team's player. With regard to free agency, there are
10:48
Speaker 2: rules in the Collective Bargaining Agreement about how teams cannot
10:53
Speaker 2: talk in certain ways about free agents. The reason for
10:56
Speaker 2: those rules is that from the collusion era, which took
11:01
Speaker 2: place in the late eighties early nineties and has flared
11:04
Speaker 2: up again from time to time. Even since public statements
11:08
Speaker 2: were sometimes used against players and when teams would say
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Speaker 2: we're out, that would be an effect on the market.
11:15
Speaker 2: And that is why those rules are in place. So
11:18
Speaker 2: we don't have transparency, and teams try to be as
11:22
Speaker 2: careful as they can, and agents and players too for
11:24
Speaker 2: the most part, with regard to what they're doing. Now
11:28
Speaker 2: you will see sometimes it's coming from an agent a
11:31
Speaker 2: report saying team X, Y and Z are interested in
11:35
Speaker 2: player C. That can happen, and often it does come
11:39
Speaker 2: from the agent, but for the most part it's pretty
11:43
Speaker 2: tightly kept. All of these desires of teams and leverage
11:47
Speaker 2: is the reason, and also the rules that I just stated,
11:50
Speaker 2: that's the other reason.
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Speaker 3: Ken where you live, there is no rules, so we
11:53
Speaker 3: can ask you whatever we want to ask you. So
11:55
Speaker 3: I'm to starting pitching market and not so much free
11:59
Speaker 3: agency more the hot debate of the trade market. Because
12:03
Speaker 3: we saw what the Red Sox got when they got
12:05
Speaker 3: Garak Crochet last year. They got the number two in
12:08
Speaker 3: the cy Young but ironically number one in cy Young.
12:11
Speaker 3: Trek's Scouble has been rumored. Where do you see this
12:15
Speaker 3: market going? And are there other names that are not
12:18
Speaker 3: are clearly below Schooble but have not been pushed out
12:22
Speaker 3: there yet.
12:23
Speaker 2: Well, this is an interesting conversation going on right now,
12:26
Speaker 2: and it was going on at the meetings about which
12:29
Speaker 2: starting pitchers might actually get traded. And I wrote about
12:32
Speaker 2: this in a notes column earlier this week. So the
12:35
Speaker 2: Tigers are saying they don't want to trade Trek Scooble.
12:38
Speaker 2: The Brewers are saying, we're not trading Freddie Peralta. Of
12:40
Speaker 2: course Paul Skens is not getting traded. Even the twins
12:43
Speaker 2: with Joe Ryan are saying we'd like to build around
12:47
Speaker 2: Joe Ryan rather than just pedal him. There are some
12:50
Speaker 2: teams that believe teams that are interested in these pictures,
12:53
Speaker 2: that these other clubs, the clubs with the starting pitchers,
12:57
Speaker 2: are merely posturing, and that at the appropriate time they
13:01
Speaker 2: will certainly open up the conversations to a greater extent
13:04
Speaker 2: than they are now. And in the Tiger's case, for instance,
13:08
Speaker 2: it's just a matter of Okay, we'll play hard to get,
13:11
Speaker 2: play hard to get, and then boom, strike a big
13:13
Speaker 2: deal that could happen. But the Tigers, from what I understand,
13:18
Speaker 2: what they're saying, at least right now, and it might
13:20
Speaker 2: be bs for lack of a better phrase, but what
13:25
Speaker 2: they're saying right now is we want to win in
13:27
Speaker 2: our last year with Trek Schouble. We do not want
13:30
Speaker 2: to trade him, and it would send a pretty bad
13:32
Speaker 2: message to their fan base if after two years of
13:35
Speaker 2: making the playoffs with Schooble being the centerpiece of the team,
13:38
Speaker 2: that suddenly they shipped him out for pieces that probably
13:42
Speaker 2: wouldn't be having the same kind of immediate impact. So
13:46
Speaker 2: I actually believe the Tigers likely will not trade Trek's Scooble.
13:50
Speaker 2: In some of these other cases, I do wonder if
13:54
Speaker 2: trades ultimately will occur. I also believe Peralta is not
13:56
Speaker 2: going to move the Brewers have been public and adamant about.
14:00
Speaker 2: But again we'll see as the winter progresses. Once the
14:04
Speaker 2: free agents come off the board. From bra Valdez Ranger Suarez,
14:07
Speaker 2: Dylan sees once those top guys are no longer available,
14:11
Speaker 2: then the pressure might mount on those teams to make
14:14
Speaker 2: trades from the teams that got shut out in free agency.
14:18
Speaker 1: Maybe so sounds like you'd have to offer your firstborn
14:20
Speaker 1: to the Tigers if you want. Scooball all right again,
14:22
Speaker 1: let's move on to another topic that's been hot recently.
14:26
Speaker 1: What information before you have to go real quick? Are
14:28
Speaker 1: you hearing about the Padres and the selling of their team?
14:34
Speaker 2: Not much. It just got announced yesterday by the team
14:36
Speaker 2: that they will explore a sale. And as I mentioned yesterday,
14:41
Speaker 2: I believe on my own program that it's kind of
14:44
Speaker 2: been pointing toward this once Peter Sidler passed away. And
14:47
Speaker 2: you see the tweet right there from Kyle Glazer. Padres
14:50
Speaker 2: chairman John Seidler announces in a letter to fans that
14:53
Speaker 2: the family has decided to begin a process of evaluating
14:56
Speaker 2: our future with the Padres, including a potential sale of
14:58
Speaker 2: the franchise. Now, one thing I didn't mention yesterday, and
15:01
Speaker 2: it's worth mentioning. We've seen in recent years the Twins
15:05
Speaker 2: come up for sale, the Angels come up for sale,
15:07
Speaker 2: and the Nationals come up for sale and ultimately get
15:09
Speaker 2: pulled off the market. Now, the Oriels were sold, the
15:12
Speaker 2: Rays were sold, there were other transactions Cleveland took on
15:15
Speaker 2: a path to control with minority investors. But just because
15:20
Speaker 2: the team says it wants to sell, doesn't guarantee a
15:23
Speaker 2: sale will take place. Now with the Padres, you have
15:26
Speaker 2: the widow of Peter Seidler suing two of his brothers,
15:30
Speaker 2: and it would seem to me that that alone is
15:33
Speaker 2: motivating this perhaps, but who knows if the Padres get
15:37
Speaker 2: their price. With the CBA expiring in December one, twenty
15:42
Speaker 2: twenty six, with all of the TV contracts in baseball
15:45
Speaker 2: still unsettled, the national TV contracts beyond twenty twenty eight,
15:49
Speaker 2: and also a lot of local deals, the Padres have
15:52
Speaker 2: been hurt because they were one of the teams that
15:55
Speaker 2: had their local deal pulled out from under them. So
15:58
Speaker 2: whether a sale happens or not, it's difficult to say,
16:01
Speaker 2: but the intent seems to be there, and it's going
16:04
Speaker 2: to be really interesting to see how this plays out, Tricia,
16:07
Speaker 2: because the Padres our team that while they're having difficulties
16:12
Speaker 2: on the TV side, that a lot of other teams
16:14
Speaker 2: are having too. Man, they've drawn three million a year.
16:17
Speaker 2: They are booming in San Diego. An owner or prospective
16:22
Speaker 2: owner might want to get in on that.
16:24
Speaker 1: Absolutely, they are booming in San Diego. Those fans are
16:26
Speaker 1: amazing in San Diego. I loved covering the Padres on
16:29
Speaker 1: Apple TV this year. Ken, thank you so much. Make
16:32
Speaker 1: sure to check out Fair Territory on Mondays and on
16:35
Speaker 1: Thursdays with Alana Rizzo. Ken, we appreciate the time.
16:39
Speaker 2: Thanks Trisha.
16:40
Speaker 1: All Right, we are back here on Foul Territory. We're
16:43
Speaker 1: talking spreading rumors, and first we got to talk about
16:46
Speaker 1: the Mets off season outlook. We talked with Ken a
16:49
Speaker 1: little bit about the article that he just wrote about
16:52
Speaker 1: the Mets, talking about how it might be a little
16:54
Speaker 1: bit of a storm this off season for them. We
16:57
Speaker 1: will start with Pete Alonzo, right, we went through this
17:00
Speaker 1: tobacco with him last off season, what he was going
17:03
Speaker 1: to do, all that stuff. KP, let me start with
17:06
Speaker 1: you on Alonso this year because what they're saying or
17:10
Speaker 1: this offseason, what they're saying right now, is that the
17:12
Speaker 1: Mets are expected to lose him.
17:15
Speaker 4: Yeah. I mean, he obviously was very open last year
17:19
Speaker 4: about wanting to be a Met and maybe he shot
17:21
Speaker 4: himself in the foot a little bit and didn't really
17:23
Speaker 4: put himself out there. And you know, sometimes a player
17:26
Speaker 4: just knows what they want, and he wanted to be
17:28
Speaker 4: in New York met and it wasn't reciprocated, and he
17:31
Speaker 4: went out and had an unbelievable year again, a monster year,
17:34
Speaker 4: and I think he goes out and test free agency.
17:36
Speaker 4: But no, I think the Mets have some tough decisions
17:39
Speaker 4: to make because Pete Alonso is part of the fabric
17:42
Speaker 4: of what the Mets are and who they've been and
17:44
Speaker 4: he's been there for a long time. And I think
17:47
Speaker 4: Steve Cohen's got some tough decisions to make too, because
17:50
Speaker 4: although the Juan Soto deal didn't work out, from a
17:52
Speaker 4: personal standpoint, he had an unbelievable year. I think he
17:55
Speaker 4: finished third in the MVP voting. They didn't make the playoffs,
17:58
Speaker 4: so maybe not throwing money at every single player is
18:01
Speaker 4: maybe not the right way to go about it. But
18:03
Speaker 4: I feel like if Pete Alonso was not a Met,
18:06
Speaker 4: that's a big hole to fill at first base.
18:10
Speaker 3: Yeah, one hundred percent. I agree. Pete had a down
18:14
Speaker 3: year going into his his platform year before last year,
18:17
Speaker 3: and you know what, he got a little he got
18:21
Speaker 3: a small deal. But I think there is very few
18:24
Speaker 3: players that are more synonymous with a one organization. I
18:30
Speaker 3: think Pete. Pete's that guy. I think the Mets also
18:35
Speaker 3: know with that that they can get him at a
18:37
Speaker 3: discount because his market is pretty capped because of the
18:41
Speaker 3: amount of amount of teams that are really trying.
18:44
Speaker 2: Yeah.
18:45
Speaker 1: Absolutely, And we know his agent, Scott Boris did say
18:48
Speaker 1: recently that Alonso would be willing to spend some time
18:51
Speaker 1: at DH, at least sometime at DH next season. All right,
18:55
Speaker 1: let's talk a little bit about Edwin Diaz. We just
18:58
Speaker 1: talked about him a second ago, guys.
18:59
Speaker 4: But.
19:01
Speaker 1: We know that he won Reliever of the Year. The
19:03
Speaker 1: season that he put together was phenomenal, but we are
19:06
Speaker 1: hearing rumors of him possibly not being a met next season.
19:11
Speaker 2: KP.
19:11
Speaker 1: What do you think about that?
19:12
Speaker 2: What's your reaction?
19:14
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, unlike Pete, I mean Edwin Diaz, I
19:17
Speaker 4: could see, you know, wearing a different uniform much easier
19:20
Speaker 4: than a guy like Pete Alonso, and I think that
19:22
Speaker 4: plays into his favor. And you know, elite relief pitching
19:25
Speaker 4: doesn't grow on trees. So yeah, I mean, this is
19:28
Speaker 4: typical you know, off season free agent baseball fifty to fifty.
19:31
Speaker 4: Of course it is. Maybe he does, maybe he doesn't,
19:33
Speaker 4: But I think Edwin Diaz obviously had an unbelievable year.
19:37
Speaker 4: Reliever of the Year opted out of a deal where
19:40
Speaker 4: he left some money on the table, but I think
19:42
Speaker 4: he ends up with a really big deal, and I
19:46
Speaker 4: don't think it's in New York.
19:48
Speaker 3: I think there's nobody that the Mets need more. I
19:51
Speaker 3: think they lost so many games because that bullpen got
19:55
Speaker 3: so ravaged. The fact that Edwin Diaz had ninety two
19:58
Speaker 3: strikeouts and sixty six innings and only twenty eight saves
20:04
Speaker 3: shows that this team was either boom or bust and
20:06
Speaker 3: they never really got the game to him. Like, you
20:10
Speaker 3: can't be bringing any elite closer that you're paying. Possibly
20:13
Speaker 3: he'll get one hundred million dollars in a game where
20:17
Speaker 3: you're winning by five runs or you're winning, but like
20:19
Speaker 3: the value there is to keep the game close. They
20:23
Speaker 3: need a bullpen. They need to build a bullpen, and
20:26
Speaker 3: you can't build a bullpen with five pieces and none
20:29
Speaker 3: of them closers. I feel like the Mets, based on
20:32
Speaker 3: what they did last year, and based on the fact
20:33
Speaker 3: that David Stearns doesn't like to give starting pitching money
20:37
Speaker 3: out there, they need an anchor in that bullpen because
20:42
Speaker 3: you need somebody picking up the innings that you're not
20:44
Speaker 3: willing to pay starters. So I would disagree with KP.
20:48
Speaker 3: They need Edwin or one of the other elite closers.
20:51
Speaker 2: It's out there. Yeah.
20:52
Speaker 1: Well that also kind of begs the question about what
20:56
Speaker 1: we saw from Bob Nightingale recently. So the Mets are
20:59
Speaker 1: expected to land at least one high end starter, and
21:01
Speaker 1: we know that David Stearns, he came out and he said, listen,
21:04
Speaker 1: I don't know how many true number one starters are
21:06
Speaker 1: actually available right now. I don't know how many are
21:09
Speaker 1: going to be traded. But he said, you know, you
21:11
Speaker 1: would always like to find that top of the rotation guy.
21:14
Speaker 1: So that's got to be a priority for them right now, KP.
21:17
Speaker 4: Right, Yeah, they definitely need to find one. I think
21:19
Speaker 4: they get a decent job last year of signing starting pitching,
21:23
Speaker 4: but they didn't go find front end guys. I think
21:25
Speaker 4: they overpaid for some certain guys that were coming off
21:28
Speaker 4: some injuries and they were hoping that they had bounced
21:30
Speaker 4: back years. They have a really good piece in David
21:32
Speaker 4: Peterson there, but he is not a number one. He's
21:36
Speaker 4: working his way up to, you know, potentially being that.
21:39
Speaker 4: But I think they need a frontline and starter much
21:41
Speaker 4: to like krat said, they need innings. They need innings
21:44
Speaker 4: because that bullpen got eaten alive because their starters weren't
21:48
Speaker 4: going deep in games.
21:52
Speaker 3: Yep, I agree, I agree, And maybe the front end
21:55
Speaker 3: one number one isn't what they need. They need somebody
21:58
Speaker 3: who they're not afraid to let them pitch the need
22:02
Speaker 3: they need to be. And I don't think it's Mendy Mendy.
22:06
Speaker 3: You know, he can't make chicken salad out of chicken,
22:08
Speaker 3: you know what, Like guys couldn't go deep into the games.
22:12
Speaker 3: And if you're expecting the young guys that they called
22:14
Speaker 3: up late in the season to be those guys, I
22:18
Speaker 3: don't think. I don't think those are the guys. You
22:21
Speaker 3: need somebody that's not afraid to eat innings. So who
22:24
Speaker 3: on the market can eat innings? And that's to me,
22:27
Speaker 3: that's the route you go. And maybe they become your
22:29
Speaker 3: number one. Maybe they aren't number ones right now, but
22:32
Speaker 3: because of their ability to go deeper into games and
22:35
Speaker 3: the trust that you can have for them, that is
22:37
Speaker 3: where the value is at all.
22:39
Speaker 1: Right, guys, we just talked about some rumors. Let's talk
22:41
Speaker 1: about more rumors from Bob Nightingale. At the GM meetings,
22:45
Speaker 1: we saw that the Brewers reiterated that they have no
22:49
Speaker 1: intention of trading Ace Freddy Peralta. I know that Ken
22:52
Speaker 1: Rosenthal talked about that. He said, they seem pretty adamant
22:55
Speaker 1: to what do we think. I mean that says they
22:58
Speaker 1: will listen. They say they will listen. But he's only
23:02
Speaker 1: owed eight million in the final year of his contract.
23:05
Speaker 1: So guys, what do we think?
23:06
Speaker 4: Kidp You go, yeah, I think those two things contradict
23:10
Speaker 4: each other. I think someone saying I'm absolutely not gonna
23:13
Speaker 4: do something, but I'm also gonna listen. I think that's
23:16
Speaker 4: just baseball free agency in a nutshell. But I mean,
23:19
Speaker 4: Freddy Perolta would be a great fit in New York.
23:22
Speaker 4: We talked about someone that's, you know, not afraid to
23:24
Speaker 4: take the ball, go deep into games, durable. He seems
23:28
Speaker 4: like a great fit for the Mets. But he's also
23:30
Speaker 4: a great fit in Milwaukee. He's been there. He's their guy.
23:34
Speaker 4: You know, he worked his way up to being that
23:36
Speaker 4: number one. He sat behind Burns and Woodruff for a
23:39
Speaker 4: long time and they had an unbelievable rotation. It's now
23:42
Speaker 4: his rotation. But he's a guy you could definitely see moved.
23:46
Speaker 4: You could see a guy being stayed. I think there's
23:48
Speaker 4: some other guys out there, maybe more likely because Milwaukee
23:52
Speaker 4: does a good job of kind of valuing their players
23:54
Speaker 4: and the people that they have in their clubhouse. And
23:56
Speaker 4: Freddy Pearolta fits, you know, all the things that Milwaukee
23:59
Speaker 4: Brewers are about.
24:01
Speaker 3: I don't care what people say. Actions speak louder than words,
24:04
Speaker 3: and the actions are that the Brewers will get rid
24:07
Speaker 3: of you at this point. As much as I love
24:09
Speaker 3: Matt Arnold and the Brewers organization, it's their mo it's
24:13
Speaker 3: what they do. They don't ever have a rebuild. They
24:16
Speaker 3: want to keep going. Freddy Peralta will give you an
24:19
Speaker 3: absolute cachet of arms and current big leaguers. I see
24:26
Speaker 3: him as Red Sox next year, to be flat Oh.
24:29
Speaker 1: Boy, okay, there's a take. We like that, all right,
24:32
Speaker 1: real quick? Sandy Alcantra of the Marlins, what do we think?
24:37
Speaker 1: We know that their owner, Bruce Sherman has told a
24:39
Speaker 1: lot of people that he plans to have him on
24:41
Speaker 1: the roster at the start of twenty twenty six.
24:42
Speaker 4: But will he be KP Where will he be not there?
24:47
Speaker 4: I mean, I think if he would have pitched a
24:49
Speaker 4: little bit better, he would have got traded the deadline,
24:51
Speaker 4: but coming back from the TJ it took him a
24:53
Speaker 4: little bit longer, and not you know, unexpected guys that
24:56
Speaker 4: come back from TJ. Everyone kind of goes at their
24:59
Speaker 4: own pace. The way he pitched down the stretch was
25:01
Speaker 4: the Sandy al culture, Sandy al contra of old, and
25:05
Speaker 4: I don't expect him to be in Miami. He would
25:07
Speaker 4: be a great fit also in New York Boston. I
25:11
Speaker 4: think those two teams because obviously they are teams that
25:13
Speaker 4: could use some guys, and they also have some young
25:17
Speaker 4: starting controlling pitching, which both of those teams you know,
25:20
Speaker 4: value very much