Latest / Twin Cities Territory / Attention, Twins: Please make some moves before the lockout

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Attention, Twins: Please make some moves before the lockout · Twin Cities Territory

0:01
Speaker 1: My attempt to jinx the Brewers has failed. They are
0:03
Speaker 1: in the World Series, just as I predicted on the show, actually.
0:06
Speaker 1: I told you guys it was going to happen. They
0:07
Speaker 1: sweep the Dodgers in the NLCS. The Rays took control
0:11
Speaker 1: of the ALCS over the weekend in Cleveland. Old friend
0:14
Speaker 1: Rocco Baldelli is a Mariners managerial candidate, reportedly. All of
0:19
Speaker 1: that coming up later on Twin Cities Territory, your Minnesota
0:22
Speaker 1: Twins podcast here on the Foul Territory Network. Zach Pierce,
0:25
Speaker 1: Dan Hayes of The Athletic, along with former Minnesota Twin
0:28
Speaker 1: Tyler Duffy. We will start, though, today with the fact
0:33
Speaker 1: that it's two weeks out from November. Two weeks from
0:35
Speaker 1: today will be the first business day of November, and
0:39
Speaker 1: the World Series will be over. I believe it will
0:42
Speaker 1: be over by then. Do we still play November World
0:44
Speaker 1: Series games?
0:45
Speaker 2: No, this year is October 31. It's the last potential day.
0:49
Speaker 3: Okay.
0:50
Speaker 1: Shortly thereafter in November, teams can start to make moves
0:55
Speaker 1: and make trades, sign their players, look at other free agents, whatever.
0:59
Speaker 1: And obviously, shortly thereafter, a lockout is looming. December 1st
1:04
Speaker 1: would be the day, correct, Dan? December 1st is the
1:07
Speaker 1: official lockout date?
1:08
Speaker 2: That would be where, yeah.
1:09
Speaker 4: When the owners decide that date.
1:13
Speaker 1: The owners decide that date. So there's this weird one
1:16
Speaker 1: month where transactions will be possible, but teams won't exactly
1:20
Speaker 1: know what the next season is going to look like, when.
1:22
Speaker 2: It will start.
1:23
Speaker 1: What the terms of the CBA will be, all of
1:25
Speaker 1: that stuff. We here at Twin Cities Territory decided today
1:29
Speaker 1: that we wanted to take a look at some things
1:31
Speaker 1: the Twins could do in that month-long stretch to show
1:35
Speaker 1: they're serious about all this talk about investing in the team. Obviously,
1:40
Speaker 1: we have covered a lot of things that they can
1:42
Speaker 1: do in the past, and now it's sort of a
1:45
Speaker 1: wish list because, Dan, God forbid that you have to
1:47
Speaker 1: go through another lockout with not very much to talk about, right?
1:51
Speaker 2: I mean, that's honestly, I think it's a smart business
1:54
Speaker 2: strategy right here. Okay. Look, look, 2022 from a, from
2:01
Speaker 2: our side of things, from a reporter side of things
2:03
Speaker 2: did suck. There was nothing to talk about. They signed
2:06
Speaker 2: Dylan Bundy. They locked up Byron Buxton to that seven year,
2:09
Speaker 2: $ 100 million deal. But the rotation on December one was
2:14
Speaker 2: Joe Ryan and Dylan Bundy. And Joe Ryan had five
2:17
Speaker 2: major league starts at the time. And, It's like Randy Dobnak.
2:20
Speaker 2: Was he in the mix? He had never ended up
2:21
Speaker 2: pitching for that team because of his injury. But the,
2:25
Speaker 2: the twins have said that they want to be, it's
2:28
Speaker 2: on ownership to support this group and build out around
2:32
Speaker 2: the road, the roster, both Tom Polad and Jeremy's all
2:36
Speaker 2: signaled that they want to be aggressive. And this is
2:39
Speaker 2: sort of the, Hey, the message. Hey, this is the
2:44
Speaker 2: time to be aggressive because you, you got a little
2:47
Speaker 2: bit of your fans attention. To an extent. And we're
2:49
Speaker 2: talking about, we know what the start was. There were 4.3%
2:55
Speaker 2: hope going.
2:55
Speaker 4: Into this season.
2:57
Speaker 2: And then you had an interesting season. And I'm not
2:59
Speaker 2: going to say it was a good season, but it
3:00
Speaker 2: was a more entertaining season than I think we all expected.
3:04
Speaker 2: The Twins were in it enough to make moves at
3:05
Speaker 2: the trade deadline and then injuries and depth issues caught
3:09
Speaker 2: up with them. but they brought up all their rookies.
3:13
Speaker 2: We saw what Luke Kieschel could be in his first
3:15
Speaker 2: full season. We saw the potential of Walker Jenkins and
3:17
Speaker 2: Kalen Culpepper, Emmanuel Rodriguez. You have at least to an
3:23
Speaker 2: extent captured your fans attention a little bit. I would
3:26
Speaker 2: bet we're more like at 22%, right? Somewhere around there. Maybe,
3:31
Speaker 2: maybe higher. Who knows? Um, but the way to capture
3:35
Speaker 2: their attention right now is to make moves and have
3:39
Speaker 2: them buzzing, uh, before this lockout happens. Because I just
3:43
Speaker 2: can't imagine taking a fan base that just eight months
3:47
Speaker 2: ago or nine months ago was that miserable and having
3:51
Speaker 2: them go through a lockout and be pissed off that
3:54
Speaker 2: there's no baseball happening. And here are these owners and
3:56
Speaker 2: these players fighting over these huge salaries that no of
4:01
Speaker 2: those fans can even comprehend what that money is like, right?
4:05
Speaker 2: And this is not to say that the money is...
4:08
Speaker 2: You know, players deserve what they get. The owners make
4:12
Speaker 2: their money. This is not that conversation. But I just
4:16
Speaker 2: don't think having your fans who are on the fence
4:20
Speaker 2: be pissed off and more sour is a great way
4:24
Speaker 2: to go into that lockout. And if you can go
4:26
Speaker 2: out and make a move or two, if you can
4:28
Speaker 2: go out and sign a relief pitcher that solidifies that bullpen,
4:34
Speaker 2: it doesn't have to be a mega deal. You don't
4:36
Speaker 2: have to go out and sign a $ 300 million player.
4:38
Speaker 2: I'm not, I'm not saying that I'm just saying, be
4:40
Speaker 2: aggressive and do some things. Don't wait for the bottom
4:43
Speaker 2: feeding part of the market. Like the twins have traditionally
4:46
Speaker 2: done for a long time and give fans something to
4:50
Speaker 2: be excited about. So the reason why they're pissed off
4:52
Speaker 2: about the lockout is because they want to see that
4:54
Speaker 2: your team on the field next year, that, that they
4:57
Speaker 2: can't wait to see baseball again, because they are hopeful
5:00
Speaker 2: about the future of the twins. And, Last time, they
5:03
Speaker 2: were coming off a losing season in 2021. Signing Byron
5:07
Speaker 2: Buxton was a great move long-term, especially because it was
5:10
Speaker 2: a win-win contract for both Byron Buxton and the Twins.
5:13
Speaker 2: It limited their kind of damages if he got hurt
5:16
Speaker 2: and how much they paid out. And Byron Buxton, value-wise,
5:21
Speaker 2: has made that $ 15 million every year of that contract
5:25
Speaker 2: because one war is worth about $ 8 million. He has
5:29
Speaker 2: cleared that bar every time. Byron Buxton has earned that contract.
5:32
Speaker 2: But also, if Byron had an MVP season that gave
5:36
Speaker 2: him upwards of $ 10 million in bonuses. Great deal. Really exciting.
5:40
Speaker 2: But also, that was a guy that the Twins fans knew.
5:43
Speaker 2: And I do want to see them lock up some
5:46
Speaker 2: of their young guys. I want to see them lock
5:48
Speaker 2: up a Luke Kieschel, anybody, something like that. But that
5:53
Speaker 2: didn't move the needle. Dylan Bundy was the other move
5:55
Speaker 2: that day that they signed Byron Buxton for $ 5 million.
5:57
Speaker 1: And.
5:59
Speaker 2: He went into the off season with a rotation full
6:02
Speaker 2: of questions. And I remember during the lockout going to
6:05
Speaker 2: visit Byron in Georgia and Baxley. And we did this
6:09
Speaker 2: whole conversation about his track style workouts and how it
6:13
Speaker 2: was helping keep his legs in shape. And as we're
6:16
Speaker 2: walking to the cars at the end, he was like, Dan,
6:18
Speaker 2: who's pitching for us? And I like looked at him
6:22
Speaker 2: and I'm like, dude, I have no idea. And it
6:24
Speaker 2: was my third, my third guest at that time was
6:28
Speaker 2: Randy Dobnak. And you look at that 2022 staff, and
6:33
Speaker 2: the Twins had a great offseason. Unfortunately, all of it
6:35
Speaker 2: happened in March. And it happened in such a whiplash-type fashion.
6:41
Speaker 2: They traded for Sonny Gray. They got rid of Josh Donaldson.
6:44
Speaker 2: They signed Carlos Correa. They brought in Gary Sanchez. And
6:47
Speaker 2: they brought in Gio Urshela. They made other moves. They
6:50
Speaker 2: traded Mitch Grover. There was a ton of activity in March.
6:55
Speaker 2: You got Chris Archer. You did a whole bunch of things.
6:58
Speaker 2: Do some of that now. Do it now and give
7:00
Speaker 2: your fans a good taste for the first time in
7:03
Speaker 2: a while by making a move. When the Twins signed
7:06
Speaker 2: Nelson Cruz, and it was in mid-December, I believe. It
7:10
Speaker 2: was right after the winter meetings in 2018 going into 2019.
7:15
Speaker 2: That's the kind of move that your fans see that
7:16
Speaker 2: you went out and got a guy you wanted. And
7:19
Speaker 2: you paid for him. And they paid above market at
7:21
Speaker 2: the time. They paid $ 14 million for him. And I
7:24
Speaker 2: believe people were thinking he was going to get $ 12.
7:26
Speaker 5: 5 million.
7:26
Speaker 2: So they paid a little more to get their guy.
7:29
Speaker 2: But they ignited some hope in Twins fans. And that
7:33
Speaker 2: ended up being a great move. But just being aggressive
7:36
Speaker 2: right now is what's needed for this fan base to
7:40
Speaker 2: have their imaginations recaptured. And they desperately need that. And
7:44
Speaker 2: I just think that free agency begins five days after
7:50
Speaker 2: the World Series ends. And I think making some kind
7:53
Speaker 2: of move to capture their attention, anything that shows you're
7:58
Speaker 2: being proactive, is really good, you know, with a, with
8:02
Speaker 2: a lumen lockout ahead.
8:05
Speaker 1: They have some decisions to make on their own players
8:07
Speaker 1: as well. Tyler, uh, most notably Brian Jeffers, who is
8:12
Speaker 1: headed to free agency says he intends to test it.
8:14
Speaker 1: We've talked about all the reasons why it may or
8:16
Speaker 1: may not make sense for the twins to try to
8:18
Speaker 1: enter into his market, but he's certainly somebody that they
8:22
Speaker 1: could make a statement on one way or the other
8:23
Speaker 1: right off the bat.
8:25
Speaker 4: Yeah, and it's like you touched.
8:27
Speaker 6: We've talked about how is that the right move long term?
8:32
Speaker 6: Is he replaceable or is holding him worth that much
8:38
Speaker 6: more keeping him around versus spinning that on another guy
8:41
Speaker 6: is the question they're probably having now. Do they go
8:46
Speaker 6: shorter and try and blow him away with some bigger
8:48
Speaker 6: years up front?
8:49
Speaker 4: He's a little older.
8:51
Speaker 6: They can project probably roughly within a few million what
8:55
Speaker 6: he's going to get. But he's a guy that the
8:58
Speaker 6: potential is you sign him for, I don't know, I'll say.
9:02
Speaker 4: $ 20- ish million a year.
9:04
Speaker 6: Give him two years for $ 40 and see if he
9:06
Speaker 6: bites on that. Or would you rather have that money
9:09
Speaker 6: to spend $ 20 a year on a starting pitcher or
9:12
Speaker 6: two bigger, like we talked about Iglesias last week, like
9:15
Speaker 6: go get a back-end guy who maybe isn't as well
9:19
Speaker 6: sought after Um, it's, it's just one that move in
9:23
Speaker 6: particular is one. I, I, it would get people fired
9:26
Speaker 6: up to have him around. He had a huge success
9:29
Speaker 6: behind the plate with stealing strikes. You know, the power
9:32
Speaker 6: numbers are there, you know, at times he was kind
9:35
Speaker 6: of carrying the lineup. He's a guy that can help
9:37
Speaker 6: your team win is his value at 20 to 25.
9:42
Speaker 4: Million a year, whatever it ends up being.
9:44
Speaker 6: Is that worth more than going and getting like three pieces,
9:47
Speaker 6: like you said, before this deadline? Try to jump on
9:50
Speaker 6: a big reliever or even a starter that might be
9:53
Speaker 6: available that we haven't touched on yet. That's the big questions,
9:57
Speaker 6: the what ifs, and as it always circles back, to,
10:00
Speaker 6: the pressures of being a GM are a lot different
10:04
Speaker 6: than the pressures of me talking on this show here
10:06
Speaker 6: or playing a baseball game. Because it can go wrong
10:11
Speaker 6: so quickly. He's played part-time essentially his whole career.
10:16
Speaker 4: It's just platoons. It's the way baseball is now.
10:19
Speaker 6: No one really takes the full brunt of a season anymore,
10:21
Speaker 6: unless you play for a certain few franchises. And, you know,
10:25
Speaker 6: so it's, it's the value added versus, you know, the potential,
10:29
Speaker 6: what ifs, you know, you get, get another guy that's
10:32
Speaker 6: has a great year, then you win. And if you
10:34
Speaker 6: go sign somebody else and have a bad year, well,
10:35
Speaker 6: you look, you got egg on your face, you know?
10:37
Speaker 4: So, um, Jeffers is definitely one.
10:40
Speaker 6: I think they throw out a flashy, something at him,
10:42
Speaker 6: maybe a shorter term thing because they have Vaughn Lackey,
10:46
Speaker 6: like ready in a couple of years.
10:48
Speaker 4: Like, have him around just to write the ship and
10:50
Speaker 4: then let him go again.
10:52
Speaker 3: I don't know.
10:53
Speaker 6: It's an ultimate, it's going to be up to Jeffers.
10:55
Speaker 6: Like he's, he's got to decide what's worth it. If
10:58
Speaker 6: he's comfortable where he is, he's got to go to
11:00
Speaker 6: a new franchise and get a new fan base to
11:03
Speaker 6: fall in love with them. And, you know, certain places
11:05
Speaker 6: you go, you don't start out hot. They're going to
11:07
Speaker 6: boo you out of the stadium. Like there, there's a
11:09
Speaker 6: lot of what ifs to being a free agent and,
11:13
Speaker 6: and a GM for that matter. And so it's, But
11:15
Speaker 6: the point of everything we're saying, we've got about a
11:18
Speaker 6: month to where they can make something happen, make a
11:20
Speaker 6: little bit of a splash to get people fired up
11:23
Speaker 6: for spring training whenever that's going to start. And that's
11:26
Speaker 6: the main goal is to keep the fans intrigued and
11:29
Speaker 6: excited about the potential.
11:31
Speaker 2: He has about 90 million reasons to not take a
11:35
Speaker 2: two-year deal because he's going to get five years. Like, look. Um, we,
11:40
Speaker 2: we've seen it with, uh, JT real Muto and we
11:43
Speaker 2: saw Will Smith get a 10 year deal. And I'm
11:46
Speaker 2: not saying that, that Brian Jeffers is at that level
11:49
Speaker 2: that either of those guys was at, but I am
11:52
Speaker 2: saying that Ryan Jeffers is a good catcher in eight
11:55
Speaker 2: Oh four OPS last year. He does steal strikes. He's
11:58
Speaker 2: not a great, you know, he's not a great framer blocker,
12:01
Speaker 2: but he is, there's, there's enough there behind the plate. Um,
12:05
Speaker 2: and yeah, because he's 29 and won't be 30 till June,
12:10
Speaker 2: he's going to get four or five years. So if
12:13
Speaker 2: you're going to, if you want to entice him with
12:15
Speaker 2: a two year deal and have him hit free agency
12:18
Speaker 2: at 31, which I just don't think he's going to do,
12:20
Speaker 2: but if you want to do that, you would probably
12:22
Speaker 2: have to throw out something like 25 to 30 million
12:27
Speaker 2: a year because the qualifying offer for one year is
12:29
Speaker 2: supposed to be like 22. Yeah. 23 million bucks. it's
12:34
Speaker 2: still not totally set, but I mean, it's going to
12:36
Speaker 2: be in that 23 range, 20 high 22, low 23 range.
12:41
Speaker 2: So asking him to take two and 40 that's below
12:44
Speaker 2: the qualifying offer. I think he's going to get somewhere.
12:47
Speaker 2: I don't think he'll get, you know, a super high
12:52
Speaker 2: AAV with this five-year deal. But if you get five
12:56
Speaker 2: at an average of 18 million, that's $ 90 million right there.
12:59
Speaker 2: So And I wouldn't be shocked if that's where he
13:02
Speaker 2: ended up getting something. I don't know. We haven't seen
13:05
Speaker 2: projections yet on what his contract is going to look like.
13:08
Speaker 2: But he's going to get a good deal. And I
13:10
Speaker 2: think to entice him, you would have to go short term,
13:13
Speaker 2: but you would have to go a very high AAV.
13:16
Speaker 2: And I don't know if that's worth it.
13:17
Speaker 6: Or some mutual vesting option type thing. Like, hey, if
13:21
Speaker 6: you show up and put up numbers, you can make
13:23
Speaker 6: more and more money. I mean, not unlike Byron's deal,
13:25
Speaker 6: but just a lot more up front. With some escalators.
13:29
Speaker 4: I think we saw.
13:31
Speaker 2: With Ryan Jeffers playing a lot, though, this year. I
13:34
Speaker 2: think he's way better at the 90-95 game mark than
13:37
Speaker 2: if you ask him to play 120. We saw his production.
13:42
Speaker 2: When they played him every day in August, September, his
13:47
Speaker 2: production slowed down. And I think he's a guy that
13:49
Speaker 2: benefits from having a fresh body. So given a guy
13:53
Speaker 2: that can't do every day, you know, high, I want
13:57
Speaker 2: Ryan Jeffers to be around. I think the better play
14:00
Speaker 2: would be for them to do the five-year deal and
14:02
Speaker 2: trade him after two years. If he's in good enough shape,
14:05
Speaker 2: that's the risk you run though, is that you run
14:07
Speaker 2: that risk. Is he going to be still in great
14:10
Speaker 2: physical shape in two years? Cause you always worry about
14:13
Speaker 2: that with catchers and the twins would be in a
14:16
Speaker 2: good spot to keep. I mean, you could pair them
14:18
Speaker 2: with Vaughn Mackey and just have those two be your
14:20
Speaker 2: catchers for the future going, going forward. Um, So, I mean,
14:24
Speaker 2: maybe that's what they do try to do, but you know,
14:26
Speaker 2: the twins have never engaged on an extension deal with him. They,
14:30
Speaker 2: they didn't try to lock him up long-term before there
14:32
Speaker 2: were no contract talks this year. So I, it just
14:37
Speaker 2: seems to me that, you know, he's going to get
14:40
Speaker 2: his payday, but it'll be somewhere else. So I think
14:42
Speaker 2: you have to focus on other areas to make your moves.
14:47
Speaker 2: And that's why I think bullpen something bullpen would be
14:49
Speaker 2: make a ton of sense right now, overpay by, you know,
14:54
Speaker 2: a couple million a year on what you think Rysel
14:56
Speaker 2: Iglesias is going to get or something like that. And
14:59
Speaker 2: just bring in a name to, to bolster that group.
15:02
Speaker 2: So then it's Jeff Hoffman and that guy and Andrew
15:04
Speaker 2: Morris and Yowanders Gomez. And you look really good going
15:09
Speaker 2: into that lockout with that bullpen.
15:12
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15:14
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15:17
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15:21
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15:26
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15:32
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15:34
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15:35
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15:38
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15:42
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15:44
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15:46
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16:14
Speaker 1: I want something definitive on Jeffers right away. on that
16:18
Speaker 1: first day they're eligible to do something.
16:20
Speaker 3: In or out.
16:22
Speaker 2: You know what it'll be? They'll make the qualifying offer.
16:25
Speaker 2: That's definitively what they're going to do.
16:27
Speaker 1: And that's fine. That's fine. Then I understand where they stand.
16:31
Speaker 1: I just don't, hey buddy, hope you're feeling better. I
16:35
Speaker 1: just don't want to do, like you've had a month
16:37
Speaker 1: to figure out the play on Jeffers, so just do it.
16:40
Speaker 1: And Jeffers may, if you do make him an offer,
16:43
Speaker 1: he's not going to take it right away. I get that.
16:45
Speaker 1: But like, Well, he.
16:47
Speaker 2: Has the short window. He only has, I believe, two
16:50
Speaker 2: weeks to accept that qualifying offer. You don't get to
16:54
Speaker 2: hold on to it the whole offseason. You either take
16:56
Speaker 2: it or reject it.
16:58
Speaker 1: But if it's a long-term offer, is that different?
17:01
Speaker 2: If it's a long-term offer?
17:03
Speaker 3: Well, no.
17:04
Speaker 2: Okay, so the qualifying offer is just a– it's like
17:06
Speaker 2: the franchise tag in football where you just throw it
17:08
Speaker 2: out there and the guy gets the one-year deal. So
17:11
Speaker 2: you can then go and make him– you can throw
17:15
Speaker 2: him that and use it as a window to try
17:17
Speaker 2: and negotiate a contract extension. Um, so he doesn't just
17:23
Speaker 2: cause he accepts the one year doesn't mean that you
17:25
Speaker 2: have to keep him for just one year. He could,
17:28
Speaker 2: he could talk to you about an extension. You could
17:31
Speaker 2: take that, uh, like one year and, you know, I mean,
17:36
Speaker 2: obviously once that's locked in, once he would accept it,
17:40
Speaker 2: he is yours. Um, Unless you somehow traded him, but
17:43
Speaker 2: that would seem odd to offer a guy a qualifying offer,
17:47
Speaker 2: and then he accepts it, and then you trade him.
17:49
Speaker 2: That doesn't seem like something they would do.
17:51
Speaker 6: It would be a hell of a move.
17:56
Speaker 4: Everything's on the table.
17:59
Speaker 1: Yeah.
17:59
Speaker 2: I mean, hey, when the strike happened in 94, guys
18:04
Speaker 2: you thought were mainstays– because of like their involvement in
18:07
Speaker 2: the strike. I think Jack Morris, the White Sox got
18:10
Speaker 2: rid of him immediately traded him like the day after
18:13
Speaker 2: the strike ended in 95. Like, so anything's on the
18:16
Speaker 2: table when there's a labor dispute, but I, I think
18:21
Speaker 2: the twins move there is definitely just making the qualifying
18:23
Speaker 2: offer and, and putting it out there.
18:25
Speaker 4: Like, Hey, good luck.
18:28
Speaker 2: We want that draft pick. That's, that's how I think
18:30
Speaker 2: it's got play out. But you know, I just think
18:36
Speaker 2: that them doing whatever they can early on to capture fans' imagination.
18:41
Speaker 2: Because Twins fans have this kind of feeling that the
18:45
Speaker 2: team goes to– is Big Lots a discount store?
18:49
Speaker 4: Is that– Big Lots?
18:52
Speaker 2: The Twins have this idea that in end of January,
18:57
Speaker 2: early February, Jeremy Zoll is going to get that shopping
19:00
Speaker 2: cart together, go to Big Lots.
19:01
Speaker 4: You're going to get a deal.
19:03
Speaker 2: And look for players who are on– their market never mattered.
19:08
Speaker 5: That has worked.
19:09
Speaker 2: There's no question that has worked in some cases. Twins
19:12
Speaker 2: got a really good year out of Michael A. Taylor
19:14
Speaker 2: that way.
19:15
Speaker 4: Twins got a really good year out of– Well, you
19:18
Speaker 4: get the hungry guys. You get some guys that need
19:21
Speaker 4: a shot.
19:22
Speaker 2: Yeah. I think they signed Michael A. Taylor in late January.
19:26
Speaker 2: They signed Donovan Solano after we had arrived at camp
19:31
Speaker 2: in 2023. you can find some good places like that.
19:35
Speaker 2: You can also end up with Logan Morrison, who was
19:37
Speaker 2: pissed off. They only got one year in free agency
19:40
Speaker 2: and Lance Lynn, who was pissed off. They only got
19:42
Speaker 2: one year in free agency and the twins got them
19:44
Speaker 2: and they came in in 2018 and neither of them performed.
19:48
Speaker 2: They both sucked. They were, you know, Lance Lynn picked
19:51
Speaker 2: it up a little bit before the trade deadline in
19:52
Speaker 2: July and then went and excelled for the Yankees after
19:55
Speaker 2: the deadline. But the idea of shopping late, you want
19:59
Speaker 2: some of that, but mix in some early. Be aggressive.
20:02
Speaker 2: Show them that you actually are– You've talked this big
20:06
Speaker 2: game about wanting to be aggressive and show your fans
20:08
Speaker 2: that you're going to do this to support this team.
20:10
Speaker 2: This is how you back it up, is making moves.
20:13
Speaker 4: Give us a little something.
20:15
Speaker 1: Right. If they go to December without doing anything, all
20:21
Speaker 1: the best players are going to be gone. Probably all
20:23
Speaker 1: the next best players are going to be gone. Who
20:27
Speaker 1: knows what's going to happen afterwards? Look, you're always weighing
20:33
Speaker 1: whether the deal will be worth it in the long run,
20:36
Speaker 1: but you can never know. And of all off seasons
20:39
Speaker 1: for them to finally spend some money, not that they
20:42
Speaker 1: haven't before, but you know what I mean? The one
20:45
Speaker 1: where you've been building, building it up, promising it, saying
20:48
Speaker 1: it's going to happen. This is the time.
20:50
Speaker 4: Hopes are high right now. Hopes are high.
20:53
Speaker 2: Well, they're higher.
20:54
Speaker 4: Let's, let's, Hey, higher than they've been.
20:58
Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean, look, we can see it in our numbers.
21:00
Speaker 2: We can see what our show is. how many people
21:02
Speaker 2: are watching the show now versus at the start. And
21:05
Speaker 2: there is, I can see it in my content that I,
21:07
Speaker 2: when I write a story at the athletic, I can
21:09
Speaker 2: see how much the numbers have increased over the course
21:11
Speaker 2: of the season. It's certainly higher. I still think there
21:14
Speaker 2: is a big portion of the fan base. That's skeptical.
21:18
Speaker 2: That's going to stay away. And they like to use
21:20
Speaker 2: their excuses and they look, you've had 40 something years
21:24
Speaker 2: of the same ownership group telling you the same stories
21:27
Speaker 2: over and over. So it's well warranted to, to think that,
21:32
Speaker 2: they're not going to do anything. And I would want
21:35
Speaker 2: to be proven wrong too. I would want to see
21:39
Speaker 2: that ownership prove me wrong and go out and spend.
21:42
Speaker 2: So until that group believes a little bit, they're always
21:47
Speaker 2: going to be there. They're always going to say they're
21:49
Speaker 2: not coming back until the poll ads leave. But winning
21:52
Speaker 2: tends to change things and supporting your roster so that
21:55
Speaker 2: you can win tends to change things. This is why
21:59
Speaker 2: it's so infuriating that we're here in the first place.
22:02
Speaker 2: They had this window at the end of the 2023 season.
22:07
Speaker 2: They captured fans' attention. They had Correa. They had Buxton.
22:11
Speaker 2: They had Pablo Lopez. They had Joe Ryan. They had
22:14
Speaker 2: all this good stuff happening. You won your first playoff
22:17
Speaker 2: series in 21 years, and then you screwed it up
22:19
Speaker 2: by cutting payroll. Fans were like, wait a minute, that's it?
22:24
Speaker 2: We won our first playoff series in 21 years? We
22:27
Speaker 2: ended that stupid 18-game losing streak. We did all these
22:30
Speaker 2: great things. And the first thing you do a month
22:33
Speaker 2: later is you cut effing payroll. Like that was the
22:36
Speaker 2: dumbest move ever. That really truly was. You shot your
22:40
Speaker 2: fan base. You shot yourself in the foot. You pissed
22:43
Speaker 2: off your fan base. And so here you are again.
22:45
Speaker 2: You shot your fan base.
22:47
Speaker 4: You shot your fan base.
22:48
Speaker 2: Well, you did shoot your fan base.
22:50
Speaker 1: You did.
22:51
Speaker 2: But here you are three years later and you have
22:53
Speaker 2: to start over. And now I hope they understand that.
22:56
Speaker 2: that they got to prove it to these fans because
23:00
Speaker 2: you had it there. You screwed it up. You sort
23:02
Speaker 2: of have it there again. You have some young guys.
23:04
Speaker 2: They're really fun to watch. Like, man, there was more
23:08
Speaker 2: athleticism on the field at the end of the season.
23:10
Speaker 4: The core is being established now. And now you got
23:13
Speaker 4: to help.
23:13
Speaker 2: So spend, spend and, and do something aggressive. Like don't,
23:18
Speaker 2: don't drop the ball again.
23:19
Speaker 1: Not just like new food items at the ballpark. Although
23:22
Speaker 1: that'd be great too. You know, we always like, to
23:24
Speaker 1: find a bloody Mary with French toast attached to it. Well,
23:31
Speaker 1: I can't top that rant. Dan took the fan rant
23:34
Speaker 1: from me today. So good stuff. We'll move on now
23:38
Speaker 1: to a familiar face. Could be back on a MLB
23:42
Speaker 1: bench soon. Rocco Baldelli reportedly drawing interest from the Mariners
23:47
Speaker 1: in their managerial role. He was, of course, Twins manager
23:50
Speaker 1: for seven seasons, including the Bomb squad year, Tyler Duffy.
23:54
Speaker 1: That was one of your best years, wasn't it, Tyler,
23:56
Speaker 1: that year?
23:57
Speaker 4: Yeah, we had some fun.
23:58
Speaker 6: Rocco, I mean, and credit to him, he handled 19
24:02
Speaker 6: the way we did, and then COVID year, the summer camp,
24:06
Speaker 6: I think we had the T-shirts and the whole thing.
24:08
Speaker 4: He kind of went through the highest and the lows
24:12
Speaker 4: pretty smoothly. I had great memories with Rocco.
24:18
Speaker 6: That coaching staff in general, once he had Shelty with
24:21
Speaker 6: him helping out, I felt like they were like the best,
24:24
Speaker 6: like one, two combo that I've kind of experienced.
24:26
Speaker 4: Like he, you know, Rocco is Dan knows.
24:29
Speaker 6: He's more soft spoken, you know, not, not even soft spoken,
24:33
Speaker 6: just he'll talk, but he's, he's not going to offer
24:35
Speaker 6: it up as freely. And, you know, he's a deeper
24:38
Speaker 6: thinker and, and, you know, he's unique in that way.
24:41
Speaker 6: Cause baseball, you got some pretty loud opinions at times.
24:44
Speaker 6: And then you had shooter, you know, those taking the
24:47
Speaker 6: temperature of the clubhouse and things like that. But Rocco, I've, Honestly,
24:51
Speaker 6: I was wondering where he was going to pop up
24:53
Speaker 6: next because I don't know how that contract stuff works
24:56
Speaker 6: and everything, how they have to sit out and if
24:58
Speaker 6: it's whatever. But it's good to see him back in
25:02
Speaker 6: the game. I think he's good for the game. He's
25:05
Speaker 6: one of the original Tampa products and saw how they
25:08
Speaker 6: ran their system and took it and brought it to us.
25:11
Speaker 6: And it brought a great environment to be in, a
25:14
Speaker 6: great environment to play baseball in.
25:16
Speaker 4: It was a real relaxed environment.
25:18
Speaker 6: You know, he knew how to get the guys fired
25:20
Speaker 6: up at times when they needed it and had some spirited,
25:23
Speaker 6: you know, the occasional meetings as he'll tell you, he
25:25
Speaker 6: hates having meetings. You know, we'd have like two or
25:28
Speaker 6: three here and it was when we needed it. And,
25:30
Speaker 6: you know, like I said, all the best to him. He's,
25:33
Speaker 6: you know, he's a great guy for any of those jobs.
25:35
Speaker 6: He's a great voice to have. And he, again, like
25:38
Speaker 6: we've hit on a few times recently, like.
25:40
Speaker 4: He did it.
25:41
Speaker 6: He went through all the things. He was a big pick,
25:43
Speaker 6: you know, He got the injuries. He has all of
25:47
Speaker 6: the boxes you need checked to be able to have
25:49
Speaker 6: these real conversations with players. He's a great guy to
25:54
Speaker 6: have around, and hopefully for him it works out well
25:56
Speaker 6: and he gets another gig.
26:00
Speaker 2: I thought the thing he did well was set the mood,
26:05
Speaker 2: create the environment.
26:08
Speaker 4: Just calm is convenient. Yeah.
26:10
Speaker 2: And, and also, you know, it, it didn't certainly like,
26:14
Speaker 2: it was pretty good that he was able to bring
26:16
Speaker 2: Nelson Cruz in to be sort of the captain of
26:18
Speaker 2: the clubhouse because Duff, you look around that room and
26:22
Speaker 2: it was you, it was Byron, it was Kepler, it
26:25
Speaker 2: was Sano, Polanco, obviously Joe, Joe was gone that year.
26:31
Speaker 2: So you had a bunch of young guys, you had,
26:33
Speaker 2: you know, Trevor May, Rogers, like you, like everywhere you look, Barrios, like,
26:39
Speaker 2: you had all these young guys who were just figuring
26:42
Speaker 2: themselves out in their career.
26:44
Speaker 3: Exactly.
26:44
Speaker 2: And like bringing in the steady veteran to kind of
26:48
Speaker 2: just look to him. Hey, this is Nelson's clubhouse.
26:53
Speaker 3: Right.
26:53
Speaker 2: And, and check what he's doing, because this is the
26:56
Speaker 2: hardest working guy you're going to find. He's going to, he's,
26:59
Speaker 2: he's doing this at this age for a reason. And
27:01
Speaker 2: he is so good and such a calming force himself,
27:05
Speaker 2: such a presence, like a friend to everybody brings the
27:08
Speaker 2: clubhouse together. but also a guy you knew you didn't
27:11
Speaker 2: want to mess with. Like, cause he's, he's a big dude.
27:14
Speaker 2: He could take care of you if you mess with him. Um,
27:17
Speaker 2: especially don't mess up. Don't, don't wake him up during
27:19
Speaker 2: those naps.
27:20
Speaker 4: But, uh, Hey, and you got us nap rooms. That's
27:23
Speaker 4: Nelson did the best.
27:24
Speaker 6: He got us, there's a room back there. There's pitch
27:26
Speaker 6: black with a window unit and Tempur-Pedic mattresses.
27:29
Speaker 4: Like what else can you ask for?
27:31
Speaker 2: It's crazy. And, and Rocco also did what I loved
27:34
Speaker 2: was he brought in some Spanish speaking coaches and, because
27:37
Speaker 2: there wasn't a lot of Spanish speaking coaches. So, Hey,
27:39
Speaker 2: what do you do for your Spanish speaking players? You
27:42
Speaker 2: create a better environment where they're more comfortable beyond that.
27:45
Speaker 2: He started having Elvis Martinez, who's now the raise, uh,
27:49
Speaker 2: communications director at the time, Elvis was the team's interpreter
27:53
Speaker 2: and PR staff. And Rocco started having him go with
27:57
Speaker 2: Wes Johnson's the mound for pitching changes or for, for
28:01
Speaker 2: conferences with pitchers. I like so that he could interpret
28:04
Speaker 2: for them. And, and like, Basically, he went and created
28:07
Speaker 2: this great environment. And like you said, Duff, he checks
28:10
Speaker 2: all those boxes because he was a stud player. He
28:12
Speaker 2: could have gone to college volleyball at UCLA. He could
28:15
Speaker 2: have gone to Wake Forest for basketball. They talked about
28:19
Speaker 2: him as the next Joe DiMaggio as a baseball player.
28:21
Speaker 2: So he was a stud. And then he got injured
28:24
Speaker 2: and he dealt with all that crap for his whole career.
28:27
Speaker 2: So he knew what it was like to be empathetic
28:28
Speaker 2: towards injured players. And he had the analytics side and
28:32
Speaker 2: he knew how those could improve players and And he
28:34
Speaker 2: did a good job just meshing it all together. I mean,
28:37
Speaker 2: you're right.
28:37
Speaker 4: He wasn't fiery.
28:39
Speaker 2: He let his bench coaches do a lot of that stuff.
28:41
Speaker 2: But he oversaw it all and helped create it. And
28:45
Speaker 2: I think that that's what he does. And I think
28:47
Speaker 2: a place like Seattle where we saw their year basically
28:50
Speaker 2: fall apart because Randy Rosarena and Cal– because Cal Raleigh was–
28:57
Speaker 2: didn't shake his teammate's hand. Like Cal– He put the
29:02
Speaker 2: baseball karma on himself by not shaking his own teammates'
29:05
Speaker 2: hand during the World Baseball Classic. And the fallout from that,
29:08
Speaker 2: I don't know if that really was a thing, but
29:10
Speaker 2: maybe it was. And I don't think that that would
29:13
Speaker 2: have lasted long with a different manager who would have said,
29:16
Speaker 2: get over this shit, you guys. Let's move on and
29:19
Speaker 2: let's play baseball. You guys are teammates and you guys
29:21
Speaker 2: can have each other's backs. I think Rocco can handle
29:24
Speaker 2: different types of personalities. So he is going to get
29:26
Speaker 2: back in and I think he is going to be
29:28
Speaker 2: good And I think the year off was probably great
29:30
Speaker 2: for him. Just getting a chance to be at home
29:32
Speaker 2: with the kids and the dogs and, uh, and soak
29:36
Speaker 2: it up because he's been doing this every year since
29:38
Speaker 2: he was 18. And, you know a break isn't bad
29:41
Speaker 2: but i think he's ready to get back in and
29:44
Speaker 2: find the right spot.
29:47
Speaker 1: The pacific northwest feels like a great fit for him
29:49
Speaker 1: too just he's.
29:50
Speaker 6: A big coffee guy he's a huge coffee guy He's
29:54
Speaker 6: shown me his trail cams at his house.
29:56
Speaker 4: He had, I can't remember what they're called up in
29:58
Speaker 4: the Northeast.
29:59
Speaker 6: They're like giant, they're not Nutria, but they're these giant,
30:02
Speaker 6: there's a funky name for him, but like, he's, he's
30:05
Speaker 6: all about the outdoors and you know, the hiking and
30:08
Speaker 6: all that.
30:08
Speaker 4: That's right up his alley. Like that's going to be right.
30:10
Speaker 4: His speed.
30:12
Speaker 2: Zach, when you approved me, when you approved me to
30:14
Speaker 2: go to Providence to meet his friends and family for
30:17
Speaker 2: that profile I did from him, it was like January, 2019.
30:21
Speaker 2: He had just been hired. he took me to three
30:23
Speaker 2: coffee shops that day.
30:25
Speaker 4: So you're beamed up.
30:28
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was great. Uh, so yeah.
30:31
Speaker 1: You might also remember that the man knows his sausage. Uh,
30:35
Speaker 1: this was from the 2020, 20, uh, 2024 season. Excuse me.
30:39
Speaker 6: Dealing with stupid baseball players. That's what this should be.
30:45
Speaker 1: This is probably my favorite Rocco Baldelli moment. If you're
30:48
Speaker 1: watching on YouTube, there's a, There's four pictures on the
30:51
Speaker 1: screen of him trying to explain what you might remember,
30:55
Speaker 1: the Twins rally sausage from that year. Just a big
30:58
Speaker 1: hunk of meat. I believe it was wrapped in plastic,
31:01
Speaker 1: so it wasn't like they were.
31:02
Speaker 2: It was, and it was encased meat. It was a
31:06
Speaker 2: summer sausage, and that was the best thing about that season.
31:11
Speaker 2: 13-game winning streak because of the rally sausage.
31:15
Speaker 6: Didn't Jeffers throw it at one point and almost strike
31:18
Speaker 6: someone with the sausage?
31:20
Speaker 2: Carlos Santana got hit in the head. They threw it
31:24
Speaker 2: out of the dugout. They tried to flip it to
31:27
Speaker 2: him as he was coming home, and he didn't see it.
31:29
Speaker 2: They hit him in the helmet as he was getting
31:30
Speaker 2: to the dugout. That thing got beat up, but I
31:35
Speaker 2: talked to a sausage expert at the time because that's
31:37
Speaker 2: what I was going to do. They insured me. I called,
31:42
Speaker 2: I looked up a dude and he was like this
31:44
Speaker 2: gourmet chef who excelled in sausage making from Portland. Um,
31:49
Speaker 2: and it was so much fun to, this dude was like,
31:52
Speaker 2: don't like it's in case meat, it's fine. It's as
31:55
Speaker 2: long as like, they don't break it, it's going to
31:57
Speaker 2: be fine. And Rocco's like talking about being a biohazard
32:00
Speaker 2: thing after a couple of weeks, like they're, they were
32:04
Speaker 2: like worried about it, you know? leading to a global
32:08
Speaker 2: pandemic and all that stuff. And yeah, he let stupid
32:12
Speaker 2: stuff happen. It was, those were good times. That was definitely.
32:16
Speaker 1: I love that the lighting from this press conference, it
32:18
Speaker 1: looks like a hot dog cart light.
32:20
Speaker 2: Yeah.
32:20
Speaker 4: What do we got going on? They have these, there's
32:23
Speaker 4: a heat lamp under him.
32:26
Speaker 2: No, they had these like red lights that were supposed
32:28
Speaker 2: to be good, like soothing for the room. Like there
32:31
Speaker 2: was a lot of experimentation with lights that year where, Yeah, we.
32:36
Speaker 6: Had the white ones they put in our lockers because
32:38
Speaker 6: we were stuck in the hotels. They gave us the
32:41
Speaker 6: daylight circadian rhythm thing they were trying to do.
32:46
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, they changed in the clubhouse a couple years back.
32:50
Speaker 2: They went from the dark lighting to very bright lights
32:53
Speaker 2: in the clubhouse so the guys recognized it's the middle
32:57
Speaker 2: of the day versus, yeah, get your bodies going. It's
33:01
Speaker 2: time to play. So that was one of those kind
33:04
Speaker 2: of lights. It was some kind of Man, I can't
33:07
Speaker 2: remember what it was, but I know that it was
33:09
Speaker 2: supposed to be soothing and helping as far as recovery. Oh, yeah.
33:14
Speaker 2: There's no question it was expensive.
33:18
Speaker 1: John Heyman, New York Post, with the report on Baldelli.
33:21
Speaker 1: Just got to get that in there for the sake
33:24
Speaker 1: of my industry.
33:25
Speaker 4: Not breaking news.
33:28
Speaker 1: A few other items. Back to the baseball playoffs. For
33:32
Speaker 1: a minute there, it looked like Cleveland had something going.
33:35
Speaker 1: against the Rays. But Tampa took control of the ALCS
33:38
Speaker 1: back with two straight wins in Cleveland. They're going to
33:41
Speaker 1: have to play three or four straight days to end
33:43
Speaker 1: this series because they lost the off day due to
33:45
Speaker 1: some bad weather. But game six, Monday night, Yandy Diaz
33:49
Speaker 1: has guaranteed victory for Tampa Bay. So sorry, Cleveland, it's over. No,
33:54
Speaker 1: some tight, well-pitched games, guys. But it looks like the
33:58
Speaker 1: team that we thought would be there in the end
34:00
Speaker 1: is going to be there. Knock on wood.
34:05
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, it's been good.
34:10
Speaker 6: It's just one, like, you know, the rain delay added
34:15
Speaker 6: the wrinkle, and it was maybe a breather that the
34:18
Speaker 6: Rays needed that Cleveland didn't need. You know, the big
34:22
Speaker 6: three for the Rays kind of woke up, and they're
34:25
Speaker 6: doing their thing now. You know, Yandy's hitting the ball hard.
34:28
Speaker 6: You know, Camerino seems to be figuring out how to
34:31
Speaker 6: get to the high heater all of a sudden, like,
34:33
Speaker 6: You know, that's the guys that carried them all year.
34:35
Speaker 6: They were doing it without them, not without them completely, but,
34:39
Speaker 6: you know, other guys were contributing.
34:40
Speaker 4: But if that whole.
34:41
Speaker 6: Lineup for the Rays is rolling, we know their pitching's good.
34:44
Speaker 6: They've got all the arms. They've got everything locked in. Like,
34:47
Speaker 6: it's going to be a tough road for Cleveland, but
34:49
Speaker 6: at the same time, like, that's the baseball Cleveland plays.
34:52
Speaker 4: Like, they just grind it out. They're gritty. You know,
34:55
Speaker 4: we've talked numerous times about how.
34:57
Speaker 6: They just somehow managed to walk off at home, especially
35:01
Speaker 6: over and over again. You know, there's always a lot
35:04
Speaker 6: of fight in them, and they're pesky, man. We talked
35:07
Speaker 6: about Ramirez a little bit. You know, I saw the
35:10
Speaker 6: game the other day. He gets on and steals, and
35:11
Speaker 6: then Kwon hits a single. It's just like stuff seems
35:14
Speaker 6: to happen very fast when you play Cleveland. And for
35:18
Speaker 6: that matter, it's the race. It's a great series. I
35:20
Speaker 6: think either team that comes out will be a really
35:23
Speaker 6: good opponent for the Brewers. And ultimately, whoever's in the
35:27
Speaker 6: World Series, it's going to be a great World Series
35:29
Speaker 6: for baseball fans that just like seeing good quality baseball
35:33
Speaker 6: being played because they are both of these teams, all
35:37
Speaker 6: three of them for that matter, check every box that
35:39
Speaker 6: you would want for an organization of doing things seemingly
35:42
Speaker 6: the right way. And, and, and, you know, just play
35:45
Speaker 6: clean baseball and win games, however you need to. And it's,
35:47
Speaker 6: it's been.
35:48
Speaker 4: Fun to watch. I've, I've enjoyed every minute of them.
35:52
Speaker 2: The, the short start from Parker Messick on Sunday, followed by,
35:57
Speaker 2: you know, they had a tough game on Saturday too.
36:01
Speaker 2: I think Cleveland's at a serious disadvantage because they've had
36:03
Speaker 2: to use a lot of their key relievers in this series.
36:07
Speaker 2: Messick went two innings. He's 60 innings over where he'd
36:10
Speaker 2: ever thrown before in his career right now this season.
36:14
Speaker 2: Had a fantastic season, but he looked like his command
36:18
Speaker 2: wasn't quite where he wanted it. His stuff was still solid,
36:20
Speaker 2: but his command wasn't where he wanted it and walked
36:23
Speaker 2: in a run and he didn't get any help. The
36:25
Speaker 2: defense difference has been huge. Tampa's middle infield defense has
36:29
Speaker 2: been tremendous. We saw Brian Rocchio with the error to
36:32
Speaker 2: extend the first inning, and then Parker Messick walks in.
36:36
Speaker 2: At a time when Parker Messick didn't need to throw
36:38
Speaker 2: 15 or 10 extra pitches, he had to because the
36:41
Speaker 2: ball got bobbled. I think that that has definitely been
36:45
Speaker 2: a factor. Drew Rasmussen is just shoving, and man, if
36:50
Speaker 2: you're looking for like a If you're looking for a
36:53
Speaker 2: Pablo Lopez, it can be good again kind of thing.
36:57
Speaker 2: If you're looking for someone to have some hope, Drew
37:01
Speaker 2: Rasmussen had Tommy John in 2016. He had Tommy John
37:05
Speaker 2: in 2017, and he had an internal brace in 2023.
37:10
Speaker 2: So he's had three Tommy John surgeries. He's either going
37:13
Speaker 2: to finish third or fourth in the American League Cy
37:15
Speaker 2: Young this year. I think he's 29 or he's 30
37:18
Speaker 2: right now. But this is a guy that has really
37:23
Speaker 2: come back. He had that internal brace put in in 2023,
37:27
Speaker 2: and that's what Pablo had at the start of the year.
37:28
Speaker 2: That's why it's looking like Pablo is a year versus
37:31
Speaker 2: a longer return from Tommy John. But Rasmussen, since he's
37:36
Speaker 2: come back, has been amazing over the last two years
37:39
Speaker 2: and even a little bit in 2024. So, you know,
37:42
Speaker 2: it's not all– like it's not doom and gloom for
37:47
Speaker 2: Pablo Lopez because he had a second Tommy John, the number,
37:50
Speaker 2: the numbers aren't against you. The numbers aren't in your favor.
37:53
Speaker 2: No question. Like it's harder for guys to come back
37:55
Speaker 2: from that second one, but plenty of guys have like, there's, there's,
37:58
Speaker 2: there's examples out there of guys that have done it
38:01
Speaker 2: and done it well. And Rasmussen is thriving right now.
38:03
Speaker 2: I mean, he gave up the two homers in game two,
38:07
Speaker 2: I believe, or his first start. Oh, game one, I
38:10
Speaker 2: believe game one. No, no, because he got the, the,
38:14
Speaker 2: that was the night that, I think Cleveland won. Man,
38:17
Speaker 2: I'm getting the games messed up.
38:19
Speaker 1: It was game one.
38:20
Speaker 2: Yeah. He gave up two home runs that night. Cleveland
38:23
Speaker 2: won game one. But he came back yesterday and was
38:26
Speaker 2: just dominant. And velocity was good. And I think their
38:31
Speaker 2: pitching has been huge. They have Peralta tonight. And, you know,
38:35
Speaker 2: if they can get a deep start.
38:36
Speaker 4: He looked really good the other day. Really good.
38:39
Speaker 2: He did. Drone all fastballs. Like 72% fastballs.
38:42
Speaker 4: Fastball.
38:42
Speaker 2: And Cleveland– Cleveland's looking at either– I don't know if
38:47
Speaker 2: they've announced their starter yet, but they were looking at
38:50
Speaker 2: Ciccone and they were looking at Bibby, who they really
38:53
Speaker 2: hadn't used in the postseason. So they can't do Gavin
38:57
Speaker 2: Williams until game seven. So they need to extend it,
39:01
Speaker 2: but their bullpen has to be getting gas. And like
39:05
Speaker 2: you said, that top three. Aranda, Jonathan Aranda's hitting well too.
39:10
Speaker 2: It's been– that's a really fearsome top part of the lineup.
39:14
Speaker 2: And they have their guys in the bottom that are solid.
39:17
Speaker 2: They're Johnny DeLucas and guys like that. But they really
39:23
Speaker 2: came back and stole the momentum because before that rainout,
39:26
Speaker 2: it felt like Cleveland was going and it felt like
39:29
Speaker 2: it was going. going to be the Edmund Fitzgerald World
39:31
Speaker 2: Series between Cleveland and Milwaukee, two places that the boat docked.
39:38
Speaker 2: I saw that online. People are always looking for random stretches,
39:43
Speaker 2: and I loved that one, but either way, the great
39:47
Speaker 2: part is if Cleveland comes back and wins it, They
39:49
Speaker 2: haven't won a world series since 1948. Tampa Bay has
39:52
Speaker 2: never won one. Milwaukee's never won one. We're looking at
39:56
Speaker 2: this right now and it's, it's going to be a
40:00
Speaker 2: champion that has not experienced it before or in, you know,
40:03
Speaker 2: 70 years. Love that. Love that a lot.
40:07
Speaker 1: Drew Rasmussen's 31. Just want to save us from a
40:11
Speaker 1: correction on the next episode. I don't want to have
40:13
Speaker 1: to do that.
40:14
Speaker 4: They will let you know.
40:15
Speaker 2: Yeah.
40:16
Speaker 1: Uh, in other news that has Dan very happy, the
40:19
Speaker 1: Dodgers swept out of the NLCS by the Brewers as
40:26
Speaker 1: we saw coming for, for weeks, but, uh, impressive stuff
40:31
Speaker 1: from the Brewers. Nothing else to say. They, they showed
40:33
Speaker 1: it all year and, uh, and didn't leave much doubt.
40:36
Speaker 1: They were, they were trailing in all four games. Is
40:38
Speaker 1: that right? And then came back to win.
40:41
Speaker 2: Yeah. Oh, that last one when Shohei bat flipped, uh, Man,
40:45
Speaker 2: that wasn't just a jab. That was a knockout-type blow
40:49
Speaker 2: that the Dodgers threw. That was a haymaker and a half.
40:53
Speaker 2: Shohei was fired up, rallied and won. Wait, I'll just
40:57
Speaker 2: say this on this. It's not going to change the
41:00
Speaker 2: argument because if you look over the last 30 years,
41:04
Speaker 2: teams that spend have had far more success than teams lose.
41:07
Speaker 2: that haven't spent, even though we have three of the
41:10
Speaker 2: lowest payroll teams still alive and competing and the big
41:13
Speaker 2: payroll team is out. It is wonderfully ironic as we're
41:17
Speaker 2: about to head into a lockout that that's, what's going
41:20
Speaker 2: to be the world series. And, and I don't think
41:24
Speaker 2: that's going to change what the owners are asking for.
41:26
Speaker 2: They're still gonna ask for that cap and the floor. Um,
41:29
Speaker 2: but it is hilarious that everything the owners have been
41:32
Speaker 2: standing for and talking about, is not going their way
41:37
Speaker 2: going into this lockout because here you are with the
41:39
Speaker 2: lowest payroll teams competing for the World Series. You just
41:42
Speaker 2: had two teams sell for $ 3. 9 and $ 4 billion. David Rubenstein,
41:47
Speaker 2: the owner of the Orioles, came out and said that
41:50
Speaker 2: he could make more money. He knew that some of
41:54
Speaker 2: his buddies with ownership were making more money owning a
41:57
Speaker 2: baseball team than they were in private equity. That was
42:00
Speaker 2: last week he said that.
42:02
Speaker 4: He said that quite out loud.
42:05
Speaker 2: He did. Owners are aligned on doing what they want
42:11
Speaker 2: to do. But man, their argument has been weakened so
42:15
Speaker 2: much this last couple of months. And this is more ironic.
42:20
Speaker 2: Because again, it's clear that the big spenders are the
42:25
Speaker 2: teams that traditionally have success in the postseason. But it
42:29
Speaker 2: is so ironic that this is going to be the
42:31
Speaker 2: World Series in a year before a lockout.
42:34
Speaker 4: Yeah, last.
42:35
Speaker 1: Last 10 years, eight of those 10 years, three of
42:41
Speaker 1: the four Final Four teams have been top 11 in payroll.
42:44
Speaker 1: Depends on what you use.
42:46
Speaker 2: Payroll gets you there.
42:47
Speaker 1: Right. So it's very uncommon for this to happen, but
42:51
Speaker 1: yet shows that it is very possible as well. Now,
42:55
Speaker 1: Twins ownership, don't use it as an excuse not to
42:57
Speaker 1: spend money, please. But this kind of goes back to,
43:01
Speaker 1: I mean, I remember in June, we were talking about
43:03
Speaker 1: just looking at Looking at the playoff format and the
43:08
Speaker 1: landscape in the American League, some lousy team was going
43:11
Speaker 1: to make it to the ALCS. Cleveland ended up being
43:14
Speaker 1: not so lousy as it turned out. Some of those
43:18
Speaker 1: teams spent more money than some of the others on
43:20
Speaker 1: the list, but the window was there. The door was open.
43:26
Speaker 1: There are other ways to get there besides spending a
43:29
Speaker 1: billion dollars on Shohei Otani. And the Brewers have shown that.
43:34
Speaker 1: The Rays have shown that for sure.
43:35
Speaker 2: Well, they have so many zero to three players. I
43:37
Speaker 2: would love to see– say the Brewers kept this group.
43:40
Speaker 2: I would love to see what this group's payroll is
43:43
Speaker 2: in five years because the Brewers currently has constructed would
43:46
Speaker 2: probably be like a $ 200 million. There's so many young
43:49
Speaker 2: guys that are making $ 800, 000 right now. But in two
43:53
Speaker 2: or three years, they're going to be making some great money.
43:56
Speaker 2: So I would love to see that– Sometimes you just
43:59
Speaker 2: have super young, talented groups come together and play together
44:03
Speaker 2: and do what the Brewers are doing.
44:05
Speaker 1: Which is kind of the key for a lot of sports, right?
44:08
Speaker 1: NFL teams always want the quarterback on the rookie contract
44:11
Speaker 1: so they can spend the money elsewhere. The 2002 Twins
44:14
Speaker 1: were kind of looking that way before they went the
44:16
Speaker 1: wrong direction and broke up. They had a bunch of
44:18
Speaker 1: young players who weren't making a ton of money, got
44:20
Speaker 1: to the ALCS.
44:21
Speaker 2: 2002? 2004? 2004, sorry.
44:21
Speaker 1: Anyway, so spend money.
44:28
Speaker 2: That's the message.
44:31
Speaker 1: On this day.
44:31
Speaker 2: Wait, wait, wait. ALCS Twins won their last playoff series
44:36
Speaker 2: in 2002. They beat the A's in 2002. Oh, I'm sorry.
44:41
Speaker 4: Is that the Moneyball A's? That was the Moneyball. I
44:45
Speaker 4: love AJ's quote on that. They don't screw that part
44:49
Speaker 4: in the movie.
44:49
Speaker 2: AJ loves talking about that. He's like, we ended that movie.
44:52
Speaker 4: Yeah.
44:55
Speaker 1: Speaking of Twins playoff success, on this date, In 1991,
44:58
Speaker 1: Twins opened the World Series with a win. 5-2 over
45:01
Speaker 1: the Braves. Jack Morris again. We've said that name a lot.
45:04
Speaker 1: He was a good player.
45:05
Speaker 4: He's trending.
45:06
Speaker 1: He is trending. 5-2 victory. Chuck Knobloch, three for three
45:12
Speaker 1: with an RBI. Two hits for Brian Harper. Two for
45:14
Speaker 1: Ken Herbeck. Of course, that was the start of an epic.
45:18
Speaker 4: He got a bloody. Yes.
45:21
Speaker 1: Start of an epic World Series. That was probably the
45:23
Speaker 1: most boring... Well, they got blown out in Atlanta too.
45:25
Speaker 1: That game was pretty boring from a Twins fans perspective.
45:29
Speaker 1: We had mentioned it last week, but next Monday's show,
45:33
Speaker 1: we're going to do a rewatch of Game 7, not
45:35
Speaker 1: the whole game, parts of it. I'm still figuring it out.
45:37
Speaker 1: I'll have some logistics for you on Thursday. So kind
45:42
Speaker 1: of a special show on Monday. I hope you can
45:43
Speaker 1: join us for that. We will be back with you
45:45
Speaker 1: on Thursday as well for a regular show. And I
45:49
Speaker 1: appreciate you always as listening. If you like what you hear,
45:51
Speaker 1: please toss us Like or subscribe, however you watch or listen.
45:55
Speaker 1: If you're on YouTube, there is a QR code on
45:57
Speaker 1: the screen right there to make it super easy for you. Thanks, everybody.
46:01
Speaker 1: We'll see you Thursday.
46:02
Speaker 4: Bye-bye.