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FairT: Vlad Jr.'s HUGE bonus, Astros implode, Mike Elias hot seat? · Foul Territory

0:00
Speaker 1: The other egregious part here was the positioning of the
0:03
Speaker 1: center fielder. He was like a short fielder in softball.
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Speaker 1: Welcome everyone to the Thursday edition of Fair Territory. I
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Speaker 1: am Ken Rosenthal here with Alana Rizzo and Alana. We
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Speaker 1: have got a lot to talk about this week, and
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Speaker 1: not necessarily typical of what we would be talking about
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Speaker 1: in early April. We have a major contract to discussest.
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Speaker 2: So much for not negotiating during this season. Vladimir Gerri
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Speaker 2: Junior with the Toronto Blue Jays. A massive payday for
0:36
Speaker 2: Vladi Junior, Ken, and a very interesting signing bonus.
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Speaker 3: Great to be with you.
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Speaker 2: What more can you tell us?
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Speaker 1: Well? As I reported yesterday that signing bonus is three
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Speaker 1: hundred and twenty five million dollars. Now he's not getting
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Speaker 1: it all at once. They're not writing a check and
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Speaker 1: saying here's flat, here's three twenty five. It's going to
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Speaker 1: be spread over the fourteen years of the deal, and
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Speaker 1: actually it starts this year. He gets twenty million within
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Speaker 1: thirty days of the contract being approved, but it will
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Speaker 1: be spread over the course of the deal, and then
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Speaker 1: there will be a certain percentage of the money he
1:07
Speaker 1: gets will be in salary as well. And the purpose
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Speaker 1: of this, as I explained in that article, is twofold one.
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Speaker 1: It gets him a benefit on state income tax because
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Speaker 1: in Florida, where he lives, there is no state income
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Speaker 1: tax and he will not have to pay that on
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Speaker 1: the signing bonus. The other part of this, which is
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Speaker 1: also interesting, if there is a work stoppage after the
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Speaker 1: two twenty twenty six season, when the collective bargaining Agreement expires,
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Speaker 1: or if there is some situation like we had a
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Speaker 1: couple of years ago with the pandemic and games are canceled,
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Speaker 1: he gets paid regardless. So the signing bonus, when you
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Speaker 1: receive a signing bonus, it is not contingent on you
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Speaker 1: actually performing the job. It's a bonus. You're getting that money,
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Speaker 1: so he gets it either way. He gets a tax
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Speaker 1: break as well, and that's the reason why you saw
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Speaker 1: the deal come out the way it did and dissipate
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Speaker 1: that in the future, we're going to see similar deals
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Speaker 1: like this because that is such a benefit for the
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Speaker 1: player in a tax kind of situation. Remember Sodo got
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Speaker 1: a seventy five million dollars signing bonus and we all thought, WHOA,
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Speaker 1: that's amazing. This is three.
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Speaker 2: Twenty five Grede twenty five Ken. What is the benefit
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Speaker 2: to the Toronto Blue Jays twofold in this question? Because
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Speaker 2: I guess because they didn't get Sho Heeo Tani, they
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Speaker 2: didn't get one Soto in terms of those free agent sweepstakes,
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Speaker 2: they had to do something, and obviously they wanted to
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Speaker 2: lock up, you know, a kid that is now the
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Speaker 2: franchise player that has been and he's going to be
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Speaker 2: there the remainder of his career with no opt outs
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Speaker 2: in his contract. But what is the benefit here for
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Speaker 2: the Jays in terms of tax implications and those types
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Speaker 2: of things.
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Speaker 1: That I'm not sure about. And that's the one thing
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Speaker 1: that I couldn't address in the article because it's still
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Speaker 1: unclear to me if there is a benefit for the Jays,
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Speaker 1: and I imagine there is, Otherwise they might not have
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Speaker 1: done it. If it was just Vladimir Guerrero benefiting from this,
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Speaker 1: maybe they just could have said, Okay, if that's the
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Speaker 1: way you want to structure it, be our guest. But
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Speaker 1: I am guessing that there is some benefit to the Jays.
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Speaker 1: Now from the Jay's perspective. A lot of you mention this.
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Speaker 1: They could not afford to lose this guy. And picture
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Speaker 1: a world in which vlad Junior goes to free agency,
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Speaker 1: Boba Schet goes to free agency. You get only draft
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Speaker 1: picks for those players, and you've got a weak farm system,
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Speaker 1: the seventh worst farm system in the game according to
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Speaker 1: the Athletics Keith Laws. So that would have been really problematic.
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Speaker 1: The real issue for the Jays is they should have
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Speaker 1: done this years ago. You could have saved them a
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Speaker 1: lot of money. They would have been in better position
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Speaker 1: to attract other talent. But this is the way it
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Speaker 1: turned out, and ultimately they paid a premium.
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Speaker 2: Now they have the fifth highest payroll in Baseball ken
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Speaker 2: and second above second in terms of luxury tax threshold. So,
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Speaker 2: I mean, this is a huge amount of money. I mean,
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Speaker 2: this is not a contract to sneeze that. I mean
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Speaker 2: they do they have to win now. I mean, do
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Speaker 2: you build a on Vladimir Gerrero Junior when you're paying
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Speaker 2: that much money the fifth highest payroll in the game.
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Speaker 1: There are a couple of answers to this question. They
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Speaker 1: do have to win, perhaps even this season, to save
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Speaker 1: the jobs of their front office. Mark Shapiro is in
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Speaker 1: the last year of his contract. He's the team president
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Speaker 1: general manager. Ross Atkins has another year after this one.
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Speaker 1: He is obviously so closely tied to Shapiro, and there
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Speaker 1: is a feeling in the organization among some, as I
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Speaker 1: wrote today in my column, that hey, we got to
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Speaker 1: win now or else they might change the entire operation here.
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Speaker 1: So that's one element. But what you're asking is about
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Speaker 1: the team and long term, and yeah, they're going to
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Speaker 1: have to keep spending. When you have a weak farm system,
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Speaker 1: how do you keep a competitive team on the field.
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Speaker 1: You keep buying players until you have better players coming
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Speaker 1: from within. Now, the good news for the Jays is,
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Speaker 1: obviously we've seen that Rogers communications their owners are clearly
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Speaker 1: willing to spend. They've been on every major free agent
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Speaker 1: in the last couple of years, and beyond that, they've
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Speaker 1: got a lot of money coming off the books both
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Speaker 1: this year and after next year. So they'll be okay.
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Speaker 1: And the question now will be, okay, will you get
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Speaker 1: free agents in a more successful way than you have
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Speaker 1: in the last couple of years. They've had some struggles
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Speaker 1: with some of the elite guys and some of other
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Speaker 1: free agents as well. And when you have Guerrero as
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Speaker 1: your centerpiece, and you can tell players, listen, we're in
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Speaker 1: this to win. We've signed Vladimir Guerrero Junior for five
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Speaker 1: hundred million that, in their minds, hopefully will open things
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Speaker 1: up a little more. This is not a team, I've
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Speaker 1: said this repeatedly that has a struggle to attract free
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Speaker 1: agents in the past. The reason that they've had trouble
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Speaker 1: in the last couple of years, in my opinion and
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Speaker 1: in the opinion of a lot of people in the industry,
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Speaker 1: is that they have not been a very good team.
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Speaker 1: There's been a lot of uncertainty around the front office,
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Speaker 1: around the composition of the roster, and players have just said, WHOA,
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Speaker 1: I'm not so sure about that place. It's not Toronto,
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Speaker 1: it's not Canada. It's the way the team has been run.
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Speaker 2: Ken, is this an overpay? I will never fault a
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Speaker 2: player for getting as much as he possibly can, and
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Speaker 2: never fault a player for going to free agency if
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Speaker 2: he chooses to do so. But Vladimir Guerrero Junior a
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Speaker 2: first baseman, is this an overpay?
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Speaker 1: Well, certainly by the standards of recent first base contracts. Absolutely.
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Speaker 1: Matt Olsen was one p eighty. Freddie Freeman was one
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Speaker 1: sixty two with a lot of it deferred. Paul Goldschmidt
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Speaker 1: was one point thirty. We have not seen first baseman
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Speaker 1: get paid in recent years. Now, this was an unusual circumstance.
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Speaker 1: This was a franchise player who was born in Canada,
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Speaker 1: who was a homegrown blue Jay, and a guy that
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Speaker 1: was the face of their franchise. Not that those other
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Speaker 1: players weren't at least Freeman certainly wasn't Atlanta, but it
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Speaker 1: was a little bit different. And yeah, things changed also
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Speaker 1: when Juan Soto signed his deal. So for a first baseman,
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Speaker 1: generally speaking, this will be considered in overpay. Yes, But
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Speaker 1: as we've seen with these contracts, and I've been guilty
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Speaker 1: of it myself, sometimes you'll say, oh man, that is ridiculous.
7:08
Speaker 1: Fernando Tatist junior, good example, three hundred and forty million,
7:11
Speaker 1: Oh man, how can they do that? Well, that deal
7:15
Speaker 1: now looks pretty good. He's a superstar. They've got him,
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Speaker 1: and the rate is not that excessive compared to some
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Speaker 1: of the contracts that have followed. So certainly by today's standards,
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Speaker 1: a lot of yes, it's an overpay. Will it long
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Speaker 1: term be an overpay? Probably? And probably the latter years,
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Speaker 1: as always will be a problem. But the Jays had
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Speaker 1: to pay it right now.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, they could have gotten for maybe half a couple
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Speaker 2: of years ago, who knows. All Right, much more to
7:41
Speaker 2: come here on Fair Territory with Ken Rosenthal. First, a
7:44
Speaker 2: bit of a quick word from our friends over at
7:47
Speaker 2: foul Territory.
7:49
Speaker 1: AJ.
7:49
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8:03
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8:07
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Speaker 2: All right, thanks for PXG for being a part of
8:53
Speaker 2: the show. N let me ask you this. With the
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Speaker 2: Toronto Blue Jays doing this signing obviously with Vladimir Geruro Junior,
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Speaker 2: you look at the remainder of the teams in the
9:01
Speaker 2: American League East, and I want to talk about your
9:04
Speaker 2: former club, your first club, the Baltimore Orioles, in particular,
9:07
Speaker 2: Corbyn Burns is no longer there, obviously, but Michael Lias
9:10
Speaker 2: really didn't make a ton of corresponding moves in the
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Speaker 2: off season to kind of solidify a rotation or really
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Speaker 2: you know, boost up that team. What is your take
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Speaker 2: on the lack of response from Baltimore.
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Speaker 1: Well, it's interesting a lot I wrote about this this week,
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Speaker 1: the Oriols were in Arizona and I was at the
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Speaker 1: ballpark and it was a situation where the reporters from
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Speaker 1: the team, the guys who cover the Oriols, approached Burns
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Speaker 1: and they asked him about the deal, and he said, yes,
9:39
Speaker 1: the Ools offered me a four year deal, but it
9:41
Speaker 1: was short. I wanted more years. And then it came
9:44
Speaker 1: out that the deal, the actual contract offer, was four years,
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Speaker 1: one hundred and eighty million. Now that's a solid offer.
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Speaker 1: It's a really good offer. In fact, it would have
9:53
Speaker 1: been the highest AAV average annual value forty five million
9:57
Speaker 1: for a picture not named Sho Heo Tani. Incredible. At
10:01
Speaker 1: the same time, Corbyn Burns was the healthiest starter to
10:04
Speaker 1: hit free agency since Garrett Cole and he wasn't ever
10:07
Speaker 1: going to take four years. So while the Oriols, as
10:10
Speaker 1: I wrote, had nothing to be embarrassed about, the idea was, well,
10:14
Speaker 1: if you're not going to have Corbin Burns, then what
10:17
Speaker 1: are you going to do? And their counter ultimately was
10:21
Speaker 1: signing Charlie Morton forty one years old and Tomooki Sugano
10:24
Speaker 1: thirty five years old, a great pitcher in Japan but
10:28
Speaker 1: had never pitched here, so that never looked like it
10:32
Speaker 1: was going to be enough, and a lot of people
10:34
Speaker 1: question that. Now what they did was they countered by
10:36
Speaker 1: building up some depth, and they brought in a number
10:39
Speaker 1: of people, or they had people in place, then they
10:42
Speaker 1: signed Kyle Gibson. They thought they would be okay, Bratish
10:45
Speaker 1: is coming back from Tommy John surgery, as well as
10:48
Speaker 1: Tyler Wells in the second half. But they've had injuries,
10:52
Speaker 1: Efflin being the latest one. And as we've seen, Charlie
10:55
Speaker 1: Morton has struggled out of the gate, it's only a
10:57
Speaker 1: few starts. Dean Kramer has struggled out of the eight,
11:00
Speaker 1: only a few starts, and now without Efflin for at
11:03
Speaker 1: least ten days, where is this going. Grayson Rodriguez is
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Speaker 1: hurt again. So here's this team with this amazing young
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Speaker 1: core of position talent, and they might need to do
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Speaker 1: more at the deadline just to stay afloat here in
11:19
Speaker 1: the Al East, which is one of the game's toughest divisions.
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Speaker 2: Kin I wonder if they're even going to be in
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Speaker 2: the picture at the deadline if it continues to go
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Speaker 2: this way. I mean in terms of they may be
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Speaker 2: sellers again at the deadline instead of adding pieces to
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Speaker 2: compete the second half of the season. Speaking of competing,
11:34
Speaker 2: what is your take on what's happening with the Houston
11:37
Speaker 2: Astros trading Rafael Monto to stay under the luxury tax.
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Speaker 2: But they just haven't looked good. I don't know that
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Speaker 2: they would have thought that the impact was going to
11:45
Speaker 2: be as great as it was with the loss of
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Speaker 2: both Kyle Tucker and Alex Bregman. But the Astros do
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Speaker 2: not look good at this moment.
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Speaker 1: Wasn't it funny that we saw the two players of
11:55
Speaker 1: the Week last year last week? We're both former members
11:58
Speaker 1: of the Houston Astros. The two guys just mentioned Kyle
12:00
Speaker 1: Tucker and Alex Bregman. Clearly they are in transition, and
12:05
Speaker 1: Ryan Presley also has gone Their bullpen gave it up
12:08
Speaker 1: yesterday though it had been pretty good to that point.
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Speaker 1: I am never going to count out this team again
12:14
Speaker 1: after last year when they were seven and nineteen, and
12:17
Speaker 1: I was among others who raised the point maybe this
12:20
Speaker 1: is the end of the Astros, And of course they
12:22
Speaker 1: roared back to win the division yet again, but at
12:26
Speaker 1: the same time, there were issues here and offensively they
12:29
Speaker 1: are not the same team quite Obviously Cam Smith has
12:33
Speaker 1: had a better last couple of days, and maybe he's
12:35
Speaker 1: going to be the player they envision. They're not throwing
12:38
Speaker 1: out runners from behind the plate. I think opponents are
12:41
Speaker 1: seventeen of eighteen against them on attempted stolen bases. That's
12:45
Speaker 1: on the pitchers too, But there are a number of
12:48
Speaker 1: different issues that they're facing, the offense being perhaps the
12:51
Speaker 1: foremost among them. So again, this is a good team.
12:56
Speaker 1: They're in a division where it's going to be very
12:58
Speaker 1: competitive with the Rangers for sure, or maybe the Mariners
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Speaker 1: if they ever hit, and they were having their injury
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Speaker 1: issues as well. I just don't want to say at
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Speaker 1: this point in the season I'm worried about the Astros.
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Speaker 1: I'm not worried yet. I am interested to see how
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Speaker 1: they evolve over the course of the season with this
13:17
Speaker 1: new mix.
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Speaker 2: Yeah seven nineteen last year with the Stars and Presley,
13:21
Speaker 2: it's gonna be interesting to see what they do to
13:23
Speaker 2: make up the lack of production offensively. Of course that
13:27
Speaker 2: went away with Kyle Tucker and Alex Bregman, and you know,
13:30
Speaker 2: we'll see what happens with the Astros again. To your point, though,
13:34
Speaker 2: I will never ever count that team out. Don't forget
13:37
Speaker 2: guys to get your questions in for Grill and Ken
13:39
Speaker 2: as you get an opportunity to ask Ken Rosenthal some questions.
13:44
Speaker 2: In fact, let's get to it.
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Speaker 3: All right, Ken.
13:51
Speaker 2: The first question is in regards to the c b
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Speaker 2: A and this is a super chat. Thank you Daniel
13:57
Speaker 2: Rothenberg for that. The owners want a cup, of course
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Speaker 2: they have for a long time. What are the players
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Speaker 2: hoping for after twenty twenty six, we'll playing in minor
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Speaker 2: league stadiums, be part of the CBA.
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Speaker 1: Well, what the players are hoping for is the current
14:13
Speaker 1: system to remain intact but tweaked to force some of
14:18
Speaker 1: the smaller market teams that are not spending to spend.
14:21
Speaker 1: And you might suggest, well, how about a salary floor.
14:25
Speaker 1: There will never be a salary floor without a salary cap. However,
14:29
Speaker 1: as I've said, we have at the top of the
14:32
Speaker 1: pay structure a soft salary cap. It's the luxury tax system.
14:38
Speaker 1: You exceed certain amounts of payroll and you are penalized
14:41
Speaker 1: in some fashion, either money, draft, picks, combination, whatever. Why
14:46
Speaker 1: not put at the bottom of the pay structure a
14:48
Speaker 1: similar mechanism. It makes perfect sense. You can justify it
14:53
Speaker 1: because you already have the one at the top, and
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Speaker 1: the owners could not argue, well, we're not doing a
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Speaker 1: salary floor. No, you already have a soft ca app
15:00
Speaker 1: at the top. So the players would want something along
15:03
Speaker 1: those lines. Tweaks in other areas as well. The players
15:06
Speaker 1: want teams to compete to their fullest and spend as
15:08
Speaker 1: much money as possible. And yes, they want a free
15:11
Speaker 1: market system. It has worked very well for them. Where
15:14
Speaker 1: this is going, I don't know will minor league stadiums
15:16
Speaker 1: be part of it. I don't know that that could
15:18
Speaker 1: be legislated in or if the players would even try to,
15:21
Speaker 1: But it's a fair question based on what is going
15:24
Speaker 1: on this season. We have one team, the Oakland Athletics
15:28
Speaker 1: formerly the Oakland Athletics, playing in West Sacramento because they're
15:32
Speaker 1: waiting to get a ballpark built, and the other team,
15:34
Speaker 1: the Tampa bay Rays. It's simply the product of a
15:37
Speaker 1: natural disaster or hurricane blowing the roof off of their ballpark,
15:41
Speaker 1: Tropicana Field. I don't know that that will be a
15:44
Speaker 1: big part of the CBA or even get a mention,
15:46
Speaker 1: But the money that's always what drives this.
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Speaker 2: Always drives everything, all right, Rob Wick says this question
15:52
Speaker 2: for you, Ken, is Brandon Hyde managing for his job?
15:55
Speaker 2: Could Buck Britain replace him?
16:00
Speaker 1: I don't believe that Hyde's going to be in trouble
16:02
Speaker 1: this year because one, we just talked about the general manager, Michaelias,
16:08
Speaker 1: not giving him a rotation that has been good enough. Two,
16:14
Speaker 1: I don't know that this team is the kind of
16:15
Speaker 1: team that is going to benefit from managerial change. Hi.
16:18
Speaker 1: It has been through thick and thin with this group,
16:21
Speaker 1: and no one's questioned him before. Now. They're playing below
16:25
Speaker 1: expectations to this point in the young season, but that's
16:28
Speaker 1: due to injuries. It's due to a lack of off season
16:32
Speaker 1: restructuring that maybe necessary. So I don't know that he'll
16:36
Speaker 1: be in trouble, But the mere fact that a fan
16:39
Speaker 1: is asking that question kind of tells you where they're at.
16:42
Speaker 2: Yeah, Brendan McCormick is the next question here on Girl
16:45
Speaker 2: and Ken. Do the Jays go after Bashett next? Does
16:48
Speaker 2: he want a Domis type of money?
16:52
Speaker 1: I'm sure Bobashett, if he has a big year, will
16:54
Speaker 1: want big money, and a Domas money would probably be
16:58
Speaker 1: in his range or in his thought process. The Jays
17:01
Speaker 1: have said they're interested in doing Bashett next. Ross Atkins,
17:05
Speaker 1: their general managers, just said that yesterday. We have interest
17:07
Speaker 1: in doing something. Bashett has said, I want to be
17:10
Speaker 1: part of a place for a long time. I want
17:13
Speaker 1: to win and establish a winning culture. With Vladimir Guerrero Junior,
17:17
Speaker 1: those are nice words, but as we've seen over the years,
17:20
Speaker 1: as we saw even with Guerrero, until the money is
17:22
Speaker 1: on the table and until a serious offer is made,
17:25
Speaker 1: it's just words. So I don't know where the Jays
17:28
Speaker 1: go from here with that particular aspect. They could move
17:32
Speaker 1: Andres Jimenez to short next year he's played second for
17:35
Speaker 1: a couple of years, and then a Platinum Glove winner
17:37
Speaker 1: there and then figure out second base if they lose Bishett.
17:40
Speaker 1: But wouldn't it be something if they signed both these
17:43
Speaker 1: under thirty superstars to long term deals and then built
17:48
Speaker 1: around them. That would be kind of an appealing thing.
17:50
Speaker 1: I would think.
17:51
Speaker 2: It certainly doesn't seem that they're going to do anything quickly,
17:54
Speaker 2: if the Vladimir Guerrero Junior situation has anything to say
17:58
Speaker 2: about that. All right, So here's a Rocky's question for you,
18:01
Speaker 2: Ken Rosenthal. We don't get a lot of Rockies questions
18:04
Speaker 2: on Grill and Ken for obvious reasons, But why Mike
18:06
Speaker 2: wants to know, is Bud Black on the hot seat?
18:09
Speaker 2: You addressed it with Brandon Hyde. Is Bud Black next?
18:14
Speaker 1: Bud Black is going year to year, he has been
18:16
Speaker 1: for a while now. He's in his upper sixties, and
18:19
Speaker 1: this team obviously is going nowhere. They got crushed yesterday
18:23
Speaker 1: by Milwaukee. They are who they are again, and as usual,
18:27
Speaker 1: it's not simply the manager's fault, because roster construction plays
18:31
Speaker 1: a major role in how a team performs. At the
18:34
Speaker 1: same time, what the Rockies need to ask themselves is
18:38
Speaker 1: is it time, as we get to a younger phase
18:41
Speaker 1: of our evolution, our competitive window, playing younger players, to
18:46
Speaker 1: have a younger manager, a guy who maybe has been
18:50
Speaker 1: with these players before. The third base coach Schaefer is
18:53
Speaker 1: someone who would fit that. And I don't know that
18:56
Speaker 1: they would do anything mid season. There is a ton
18:59
Speaker 1: of respect, and rightly so, for Bud Black in that organization.
19:03
Speaker 1: Everybody in the game loves Bud Black. He's not someone
19:06
Speaker 1: that you just want to embarrass or do something along
19:09
Speaker 1: those lines ever too. But at the end of the
19:12
Speaker 1: season they're going to have to take a hard look,
19:14
Speaker 1: and if they want to do it at mid season, fine.
19:16
Speaker 1: I don't know that it's going to change anything, but
19:19
Speaker 1: I would expect at the end of the year at
19:20
Speaker 1: the very least, they're going to reassess the situation again.
19:24
Speaker 2: Yeah, Bud Black is a heck of a baseball man.
19:27
Speaker 2: He's said everything he possibly can with the roster that
19:30
Speaker 2: has been given to him. All right, last question for you, Ken,
19:32
Speaker 2: Should the o's call Lance Lynn?
19:34
Speaker 3: Of course?
19:35
Speaker 2: Friend of the program? Lance Lynn has officially retired, According
19:38
Speaker 2: to Lance Lynn on his wife's podcast, Should the O's
19:41
Speaker 2: come a colin?
19:42
Speaker 1: I like the way that questioned his phrase? Should they
19:45
Speaker 1: tell upcoming FT guests Lanceln? He's on the show today.
19:49
Speaker 1: I don't know that lance Lynn is going to be
19:52
Speaker 1: enough of an answer for them right now. And they've
19:54
Speaker 1: got Kyle Gibson coming. They signed him and he was
19:57
Speaker 1: kind of in the same boat as Lynn, a late
19:58
Speaker 1: signee to I add another one. I don't know that
20:01
Speaker 1: they would want to do that. They do have players
20:03
Speaker 1: coming back. I don't know what the status of Roderriguez
20:06
Speaker 1: is right now. They know Bratish and Wells are coming back.
20:10
Speaker 1: Some of their other injured pitchers Trevor Rodgers, Chance McDermott,
20:13
Speaker 1: they'll be back as well. So what they thought initially
20:18
Speaker 1: is we're gonna have a lot of guys. That's our strength.
20:21
Speaker 1: I still believe that that is their position, and they
20:23
Speaker 1: still think that, yeah, we'll be okay that way. It's
20:26
Speaker 1: not something that lance Lynn would solve. What they need
20:29
Speaker 1: is Sandy al Contra. That's what they need, a top
20:32
Speaker 1: of the rotation guy so everyone else could slide down.
20:36
Speaker 2: I like the way that you said Contra. I'm proud
20:38
Speaker 2: of you, Ken Spanish, the Spanish pronunciation on point.
20:42
Speaker 4: All right.
20:43
Speaker 2: Much more to come here on Fair Territory with Ken Rosenthal,
20:46
Speaker 2: but quick word from our friends over on Foul Tour Territory.
20:49
Speaker 3: Regarding Harry's ft FAM. You gotta check out what Harry's
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21:51
Speaker 1: Dude, dude, dude.
22:00
Speaker 2: All right, ken time now for due to the week,
22:01
Speaker 2: and I absolutely love yours and I don't know that
22:04
Speaker 2: anybody else could top it.
22:05
Speaker 1: Go ahead, It's pretty obvious to me that it should be.
22:09
Speaker 1: Jared duran of the Boston Red Sox and Jared Durand
22:12
Speaker 1: did something this week that Alex Cora, his manager, said
22:15
Speaker 1: would save lives. He actually did it while taping a
22:18
Speaker 1: broadcast for Netflix or a show for Netflix, and he
22:21
Speaker 1: revealed that he attempted suicide during the twenty twenty two season,
22:26
Speaker 1: he went into detail about it. And the reason this
22:29
Speaker 1: is meaningful, obviously, is because Duran, by speaking out and
22:35
Speaker 1: explaining what was going on, is hoping to save other people.
22:39
Speaker 1: He's hoping that other people watch him see how he
22:43
Speaker 1: came out of it and kind of just say, Okay,
22:46
Speaker 1: he did it, maybe I can do it. And obviously
22:49
Speaker 1: mental health is a really complicated thing. It's so difficult
22:53
Speaker 1: for so many people. But his hope is to be
22:55
Speaker 1: an inspiration. And his manager, Alex Cora again said, you
22:59
Speaker 1: know what, for what he did, this guy should be
23:01
Speaker 1: a nominee for the Roberto Clemente Award. And I'm not
23:04
Speaker 1: so sure he's wrong about that, simply for stepping forward
23:08
Speaker 1: and being willing to bear his soul and what he
23:11
Speaker 1: was going through in his darkest moments.
23:14
Speaker 2: I am so grateful that that suicide attempt failed for
23:17
Speaker 2: Jared Duran. I am so grateful that he is here.
23:20
Speaker 2: And I don't even care that he's a baseball player.
23:22
Speaker 2: He's a human being and he's important and his life matters,
23:25
Speaker 2: and what he's doing is so incredible. And I have
23:28
Speaker 2: to tell you that because of what he did ken
23:30
Speaker 2: the Samaritan Hotline, which is the Suicide Prevention Crisis Hotline
23:34
Speaker 2: had received I think three times the amount of calls
23:38
Speaker 2: then normal. And I'm not saying it's just because of
23:40
Speaker 2: Jared Duran, but he certainly had something to do with that.
23:43
Speaker 2: So if you are experiencing mental health, you were somebody
23:47
Speaker 2: that you know needs help, there's help out there for you.
23:50
Speaker 2: And you know, Jared Duran was given advice for anyone
23:52
Speaker 2: going through tough times. He said, ask for help. I
23:54
Speaker 2: know it's not easy. I never wanted to ask anyone
23:57
Speaker 2: for help because I felt like I was a bother
23:58
Speaker 2: to them. But it's never going to be a bothered
24:00
Speaker 2: to them to ask for help. The Massachusetts Behavioral Health
24:04
Speaker 2: Helpline in terms of Boston based is eight three three
24:07
Speaker 2: seven seven three twenty four forty five. But there is
24:09
Speaker 2: help all over the place. I mean, you can text
24:11
Speaker 2: four to three nine dash seven two six. Obviously that's
24:14
Speaker 2: the Samaritans Hoope dot org site, and the National Suicide
24:19
Speaker 2: Prevention Hotline is very easy to remember. It's available by
24:22
Speaker 2: calling nine eight eight. So again, congratulations to Darren for
24:27
Speaker 2: just speaking up. And it's hard to do. As you said,
24:30
Speaker 2: it's a very complex issue, but I'm proud of you,
24:32
Speaker 2: and we're happy that you're here. Mine is silly compared
24:36
Speaker 2: to that. But I just wanted to give a shout
24:37
Speaker 2: out to Kenley Jansen, who has achieved career save number
24:41
Speaker 2: four hundred and fifty. Kenley as often in the conversation
24:44
Speaker 2: of whether or not he is a Hall of Famer,
24:47
Speaker 2: but I'm just proud of him. I mean, Kenley's been
24:49
Speaker 2: through a lot. He lost his mom a couple of
24:51
Speaker 2: weeks ago, He's been pitching for several different organizations. Remember
24:55
Speaker 2: he started his career as a catcher, ken so he
24:58
Speaker 2: caught Clayton Kershaw's first as a Dodger and he's on
25:02
Speaker 2: the up there on the all time saves lift. So
25:05
Speaker 2: congratulations to my friend Kenley.
25:07
Speaker 3: Proud of you.
25:08
Speaker 1: All right.
25:08
Speaker 2: Time now for the John Fisher dork of the week.
25:20
Speaker 2: All right, ken who do you have this week?
25:23
Speaker 1: You know what, Alana, I have to say. The Pittsburgh
25:27
Speaker 1: Pirates this week had a week that I don't know
25:30
Speaker 1: that John Fisher has even matched with the A's. It
25:33
Speaker 1: was one embarrassment after another, and we're not even talking
25:36
Speaker 1: about what was going on on the field where they
25:38
Speaker 1: are again off to a week's start. The Roberto Clemente
25:42
Speaker 1: sign that was in right field taken down for an AD.
25:46
Speaker 1: They had to apologize for that restore it. Then it
25:49
Speaker 1: was revealed by a television station in Pittsburgh that the
25:52
Speaker 1: commemorative bricks that people had paid for, they had lifted
25:57
Speaker 1: up some of them from wear and tear and basically
25:59
Speaker 1: taken them to a recycling place and the bricks were
26:02
Speaker 1: just kind of being ready to be recycled. They're gonna
26:05
Speaker 1: take care of that too, and they apologized and are
26:08
Speaker 1: going to figure out that problem. But how do these
26:11
Speaker 1: things even happen? I don't know, perhaps, management, what are
26:15
Speaker 1: you thinking when you take down a sign for Roberto
26:19
Speaker 1: Clemente and replace it with an AD. Isn't there someone
26:22
Speaker 1: who said, hey, what about Roberto? When you're picking up
26:25
Speaker 1: the bricks that people had paid for for the Roberto
26:28
Speaker 1: Clemente Foundation, by the way, to benefit that and you're
26:31
Speaker 1: just taking them away, don't you contact those people? Don't
26:34
Speaker 1: just say hey, we're gonna fix this, but this is
26:36
Speaker 1: what we're doing now for construction purposes. Yes, that's what
26:40
Speaker 1: you do. They didn't do either of these things. They're
26:42
Speaker 1: a hot mess and they're the dorks of the week.
26:45
Speaker 2: Yeah, They're a hot mess.
26:49
Speaker 3: Oh I love that.
26:50
Speaker 2: Yes, they are a hot mess, one misstep after another.
26:52
Speaker 2: All right, my dork of the weekend, AJ Krats and
26:56
Speaker 2: are Aj Karratz, Aj Prizinski and Eric Krats don't agree
26:59
Speaker 2: with me on this, but I'm going to go with
27:01
Speaker 2: the Marlins for playing the infield in bases loaded situation
27:07
Speaker 2: with Pete Alonzo at the plate. I don't know what
27:09
Speaker 2: the hell the Marlins are doing and ended up being
27:12
Speaker 2: that Pete Alonzo cleared the basis.
27:14
Speaker 1: So what are you?
27:14
Speaker 2: What are you doing? Why is Clayton McCullough bringing in
27:18
Speaker 2: the infield? And the s n Y broadcast went bananas.
27:22
Speaker 2: Obviously a benefit of the New York Mets, but they
27:25
Speaker 2: were like, this is just elemental stuff. You don't bring
27:28
Speaker 2: in the infield in a basis loaded situation when you
27:31
Speaker 2: have a slugger at the plate. I was watching that
27:34
Speaker 2: game the other day, kid and the Corsess, and why
27:36
Speaker 2: was going crazy about it? What is your take on this?
27:39
Speaker 2: Because Aj and Eric don't necessarily agree with me, but
27:43
Speaker 2: I don't understand the defensive alignment here.
27:47
Speaker 1: There's one out, You've got a chance for an inning
27:49
Speaker 1: ending double play, and I believe they intentionally walked the
27:52
Speaker 1: batter before to set that up. So Gary Cohen's point was,
27:57
Speaker 1: why are you doing that to set up the double
27:58
Speaker 1: play and then not playing for the double play? All right?
28:00
Speaker 1: The other egregious part here was the positioning of the
28:03
Speaker 1: center fielder. He was like a short fielder in softball. Naturally,
28:08
Speaker 1: when Alonzo crushed the ball the left center it went
28:10
Speaker 1: way over his head. So I'm with you, Alana, their
28:13
Speaker 1: Dorks of the Week. I heard what Aj and Eric said,
28:15
Speaker 1: and I understand their point. And actually Eric was saying,
28:18
Speaker 1: Alonso runs hard to first is beating out a few
28:21
Speaker 1: double play balls already this year. But I'm sorry that
28:24
Speaker 1: to me was not the right percentage play, which was
28:27
Speaker 1: the argument AJ and Eric were making.
28:29
Speaker 2: Right, Marlins are going to Marlon Ken, all right? Always
28:34
Speaker 2: good to be with you on Thursday.
28:35
Speaker 3: Don't forget.
28:36
Speaker 2: Ken has a brand new, fresh episode of Fair Territory
28:39
Speaker 2: on Monday. We are leading into Foul Territory right after this,
28:43
Speaker 2: and yes, Lancelyn will be on the show. But before
28:45
Speaker 2: we say goodbye, let's shut out the BETMGM first bet
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Speaker 2: once your initial wager is settled. Gambling problem or concern
29:12
Speaker 2: called one eight hundred gamblering again. Foul Territory is next, everybody,
29:17
Speaker 2: Scott Braun, aj Przinski, Eric Kratz recently retired, maybe not,
29:22
Speaker 2: maybe he goes to the O's LANCELN is going to
29:24
Speaker 2: be on the show The Athletic Sam Blum. Philly Show
29:26
Speaker 2: host Jim Salisbury also stops by, and then Dodger Territory
29:30
Speaker 2: is after that. Eric carros will join myself and Clint
29:34
Speaker 2: to see it. So for Ken Rosenthal, I'm Alana Rizzo.
29:36
Speaker 2: We'll see you next time.