Latest / Foul Territory / Bob Nightengale: Trade reviews, Kyle Tucker market, Imai money + FA feasts for Red Sox & Pirates

Transcript

Bob Nightengale: Trade reviews, Kyle Tucker market, Imai money + FA feasts for Red Sox & Pirates · Foul Territory

0:03
Speaker 1: Hey, Bob night.
0:04
Speaker 2: Gel is back with us regular on FT Insider for
0:07
Speaker 2: USA today, and let's get right to biz. Bob. Hope
0:10
Speaker 2: you're gonna have a great holiday. We'll talk more about
0:12
Speaker 2: that coming up, but let's start with some notable trades
0:15
Speaker 2: over the past week. Is the trade market going to
0:18
Speaker 2: continue to stay hotter than the free agent market for now?
0:23
Speaker 1: I think it will.
0:24
Speaker 3: It's going to stay like this until the end of Decemmer,
0:27
Speaker 3: maybe first of January, until this is absolutely exhausted trade market.
0:33
Speaker 3: Then they'll turn the free agent market and say, you
0:35
Speaker 3: know what, let's let's go that route instead. We'll start
0:38
Speaker 3: spending money when we have to. Right now, you don't
0:40
Speaker 3: have to, and you have big uh, some big contracts
0:43
Speaker 3: have been moved that have been surprising.
0:45
Speaker 2: What were your specific thoughts on the Sunny Gray acquisition
0:49
Speaker 2: for Boston and then also the Semian for Nimo deal
0:53
Speaker 2: earlier this week since we haven't had Yon since then.
0:57
Speaker 3: Well tells you a kudos that Cardinals to pay twenty
1:00
Speaker 3: million dollars down to get prospects back. So if he
1:03
Speaker 3: just wanted to have a salary dump, you know, they
1:05
Speaker 3: would have said, hey, bossy, you got it.
1:07
Speaker 1: We don't care who we're coming back now.
1:09
Speaker 3: They got you know, two legitimate guys, uh, you know
1:13
Speaker 3: with Clark, you know should be a starter and nothing else,
1:17
Speaker 3: a back end reliever. And you know fit should fit
1:19
Speaker 3: and well as a uh you know, maybe a fourth
1:22
Speaker 3: or fifth type starter. So to do that, they had
1:25
Speaker 3: to pay twenty million dollars. So kudos the Cardinals ownership
1:28
Speaker 3: police doing that. Uh and Gray wanted out Gray also,
1:32
Speaker 3: you know, I think Eric Ludis the other day that
1:35
Speaker 3: he wanted to prove a con pitchion of big market.
1:37
Speaker 3: I think even when eleven Minnesota, he was open to
1:40
Speaker 3: going somewhere like, hey, I know I can do this, uh,
1:43
Speaker 3: you know in the big trade with the uh you know,
1:47
Speaker 3: with Nemo and Simeon. I'm surprised that Nemo would waive it.
1:51
Speaker 3: I mean, he just had his house redone in Port
1:54
Speaker 3: Saint Luisi. Longtime met as for his legacy is Semion
1:59
Speaker 3: did not have a two teams on his no trade clause.
2:02
Speaker 3: But it seems like both guys were kind of eager
2:04
Speaker 3: to get out. I'll make curious come spring training when
2:08
Speaker 3: those guys start singing down the more relaxed what the
2:11
Speaker 3: true story was as far as you know, why were
2:14
Speaker 3: they kind of eager to go ahead and lead where
2:16
Speaker 3: they are right now?
2:18
Speaker 4: I want to make a comment on the no trade.
2:21
Speaker 4: I mean, I was never in a position to not
2:23
Speaker 4: have a no trade. But I can imagine as a player,
2:26
Speaker 4: you pick up the phone, David Stern calls and they go, hey,
2:29
Speaker 4: Brandon Nemo, we're thinking about trading you. Right as a player,
2:32
Speaker 4: you have a you know, you feel a certain way
2:37
Speaker 4: about an organization when they tell you they're going to
2:39
Speaker 4: trade you. You know, at some point it's you know,
2:42
Speaker 4: they want to trade me, but they can't trade me
2:44
Speaker 4: because I have the ultimate say. So. I mean, maybe
2:46
Speaker 4: that played a factor in for a guy like Brandon Neimo.
2:48
Speaker 4: It's like, hey, we want to trade you, but you
2:50
Speaker 4: have to approve it. But my question to you is,
2:53
Speaker 4: knowing hein Bloom's connection with the Red Sox previously to
2:56
Speaker 4: the Cardinals, have you got any word that Sonny was
2:59
Speaker 4: really shot around? Where were the Red Sox kind of
3:02
Speaker 4: the team that he knew the farm system really well.
3:05
Speaker 4: He kind of identified as a place that maybe he
3:07
Speaker 4: felt Sonny would feel comfortable going, and he felt comfortable
3:10
Speaker 4: in the return that he knew he.
3:11
Speaker 1: Was going to get from the Red Sox. No.
3:14
Speaker 3: I think he was definitely shopped around. Remember a year
3:16
Speaker 3: ago they wanted to trade him, certainly at the All
3:19
Speaker 3: Star break, you know, trade deadline, they wanted to move him,
3:22
Speaker 3: and Sonning Gray said no, now talk to me in
3:25
Speaker 3: a few months. I'll go ahead and think about it.
3:28
Speaker 3: And I think when they present to him he got
3:31
Speaker 3: excited about it. But I know I think he was
3:33
Speaker 3: shopped around. I think sending Gray would I went to
3:35
Speaker 3: a number of places. But yeah, hein and Bloom, knowing
3:38
Speaker 3: that farm system very well, still got a lot of
3:41
Speaker 3: friends in Boston, says you know what, let's identify these
3:44
Speaker 3: two guys, and then convinced his own ownership like they
3:47
Speaker 3: were paying twenty million dollars to a guy who's not
3:49
Speaker 3: here anymore but would get something back. So I think
3:52
Speaker 3: this is going to be a prelude to, you know,
3:54
Speaker 3: trading Nolan Ernado.
3:55
Speaker 1: A year ago.
3:56
Speaker 3: Ernado turned down to Houston, which was a mistake, turned
3:59
Speaker 3: on the end Angels. And now I think he's saying, hey,
4:03
Speaker 3: shot me everywhere, and I'll probably give my go ahead
4:08
Speaker 3: and they're probably going to eat most of that contract
4:10
Speaker 3: just to get some time to return back.
4:13
Speaker 5: Do you think too much is made Bob about the
4:17
Speaker 5: Nemo departure and David Stern's having, as one writer describe it,
4:22
Speaker 5: a cold heart towards the nostalgic mets, Like it's too
4:26
Speaker 5: much being made about that, because David Stern's job is
4:28
Speaker 5: to make the best team based on the start of
4:32
Speaker 5: next year and not like a piece fans. Everybody will
4:36
Speaker 5: forget about trades when they make the playoffs, and they
4:39
Speaker 5: didn't this past year.
4:43
Speaker 3: No, I agree too much is made of it. I mean,
4:45
Speaker 3: he already showed his hand a year ago. Hey, if
4:48
Speaker 3: Alonzo wanted to come back, that their dollar fine. If not,
4:52
Speaker 3: so be it. And they were ready to walk away
4:54
Speaker 3: from him last year. They were ready to walk away
4:56
Speaker 3: from this year too. It's like just saying, oh, it
4:59
Speaker 3: nice to have them back. They're saying the right things.
5:01
Speaker 3: But you know, if he gets a good offer out there,
5:04
Speaker 3: let's see if they want to match or not. So
5:07
Speaker 3: I don't think there's any guarantee whatsoever that Pete Alonzo's back.
5:11
Speaker 3: A little bit like the Dodgers you know, did with
5:13
Speaker 3: the Corey Seeger. They weren't going to match that. What
5:15
Speaker 3: Texans is offering all right.
5:17
Speaker 5: Let's look at the Cards return in this trade for
5:20
Speaker 5: Sonny Gray. Is it indicative of how close hein Bloom
5:24
Speaker 5: thinks the Cardinals really are. Based on the fact that
5:27
Speaker 5: he didn't go and get you know, three low level
5:31
Speaker 5: prospects that have high ceilings. He got two guys, one
5:34
Speaker 5: who already has big league time, and then Braden Clark,
5:36
Speaker 5: who just burst on the scene with one hundred miles
5:39
Speaker 5: an hour from the left side, seems to be close
5:41
Speaker 5: to the big leagues too.
5:44
Speaker 1: I think just more of a sure thing.
5:46
Speaker 3: I mean, he likes what fit did as far as
5:49
Speaker 3: can be a fourth fifth starter. Kind of juries out
5:52
Speaker 3: a little bit on Clark at an unbelievable first half,
5:55
Speaker 3: kind of fell apart the second half. So even in Boston,
5:58
Speaker 3: the talent in value intors are saying, well, is he
6:00
Speaker 3: really a starter or is he a reliever?
6:03
Speaker 1: At worst? They say he's gonna be a strong reliever.
6:07
Speaker 3: They're real, you know the ceiling is high, but they're
6:10
Speaker 3: reluctant to say, oh, this guy's gonna be an ace
6:12
Speaker 3: or number two starter. I used to think for High
6:15
Speaker 3: and Bloom, this is more of a sure thing.
6:17
Speaker 1: You know it's going to a piece of fans.
6:19
Speaker 3: Too, instead of getting three young guys, you're you know,
6:22
Speaker 3: kind of throwing crafts on and see what works out or.
6:24
Speaker 5: Not kind of return is Aeronauto looking at now we
6:29
Speaker 5: knew what the return could kind of look like with Houston.
6:33
Speaker 5: Houston was willing to take a little bit more of
6:35
Speaker 5: the money and Ernauto said no because now we're one
6:39
Speaker 5: year later. But he's one year cheaper too. So is
6:43
Speaker 5: the return just a complete dump or can the Cardinals
6:47
Speaker 5: get anything for him without having to eat twenty million
6:50
Speaker 5: like they did for Sonny Gray?
6:56
Speaker 3: And you know they don't want him to be a
6:57
Speaker 3: complete dump, So I won't be surprised if they do
6:59
Speaker 3: this blueprint here and say hey, we'll eat three quarters
7:03
Speaker 3: of his contract. I think they're going to have to
7:05
Speaker 3: eat at least twenty twenty five thirty million dollars, So
7:10
Speaker 3: I'd be shocked if he's there on in Spring's training.
7:15
Speaker 3: They'll find people that want them, butchickularly if they, you know,
7:17
Speaker 3: say you can have this guy at all, it's going
7:20
Speaker 3: to cost you is five or ten million dollars a
7:22
Speaker 3: year for the next two years.
7:26
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7:29
Speaker 2: can be mistaken for an old school wallet. May I
7:33
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7:36
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8:27
Speaker 2: any thoughts on the Kyle Tucker market right now in
8:30
Speaker 2: terms of both pace and potential suitors like, have you
8:34
Speaker 2: heard anything in the last couple of weeks that leads
8:36
Speaker 2: you to believe that there are some front runners who
8:38
Speaker 2: are seriously interested? And from a timeline perspective, do you
8:43
Speaker 2: think that this is someone who could potentially sign around
8:47
Speaker 2: the Winter meetings?
8:50
Speaker 1: I think he could s that Winter mings.
8:52
Speaker 3: I think with you know Bellinger of Bellingers smart, He's
8:55
Speaker 3: sbably gonna say, hey, I'm want Tucker to sign first.
8:58
Speaker 3: Then I'll piggyback off him. I can get the tuck
9:00
Speaker 3: of money, but I don't have to get that much less.
9:04
Speaker 3: I think you know the same. You know a couple
9:05
Speaker 3: of teams where the Blue Jays, the Yankees, Los Angeles Dodgers,
9:10
Speaker 3: there's only I think three or four teams are interested.
9:12
Speaker 3: I don't think there's any chance in the world he
9:14
Speaker 3: goes back to Houston.
9:16
Speaker 1: They're not going to spend that kind of money.
9:18
Speaker 3: And I think teams, you know, teams like him, but
9:21
Speaker 3: they don't absolutely love them. This is two straight years now,
9:24
Speaker 3: he's had four second halfs with the injuries. The injuries
9:28
Speaker 3: seem like they take a long time, uh kind of
9:32
Speaker 3: slow recoveries.
9:33
Speaker 1: Here.
9:33
Speaker 3: He's not the aircraft carrier, he's more you know, a
9:37
Speaker 3: stuff putting player, a very good, if not a great,
9:40
Speaker 3: supporting player, but not the guy that you know is
9:43
Speaker 3: going to sell a lot of tickets at the box office,
9:45
Speaker 3: not going to you know, lead you guys.
9:47
Speaker 1: Uh, just more of a quiet demeanor.
9:50
Speaker 4: Hey, Bob, who do you think is kind of the
9:52
Speaker 4: player the domino that everything once he goes, everything kind
9:57
Speaker 4: of falls in place. Is that some of these Japanese
9:59
Speaker 4: players that are being posted. Is it Edwin Diaz in
10:02
Speaker 4: the back end of the bullpen or is everyone kind
10:04
Speaker 4: of waiting to put their best offer for a trek scooble?
10:08
Speaker 4: Is it Kyle Tucker? Who do you think is kind
10:09
Speaker 4: of that domino that's going to kind of push this
10:12
Speaker 4: free agency thing moving forward?
10:17
Speaker 1: I think it's been more of the pitching market.
10:18
Speaker 3: I think what you know, I got like Framer Valdez
10:21
Speaker 3: could set the market there, if not Emaya from Japan.
10:26
Speaker 1: Uh.
10:27
Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't think Yo Kate Michael Kain's going to
10:29
Speaker 3: set the market or jail in the cates, but I
10:31
Speaker 3: think Valdez could. I thought I was smart on the
10:34
Speaker 3: edges part of you know, lobbying him, bring him around
10:37
Speaker 3: the lobby of the GM meetings and have him meet individually,
10:41
Speaker 3: send what exactly happened that night? Is this ever going
10:44
Speaker 3: to happen again when you're crossing off to catcher and
10:47
Speaker 3: just you know how bad it looked. So I thought
10:49
Speaker 3: it was smart just for those teams and know his
10:51
Speaker 3: real personality, and I think he can set the pitching market.
10:57
Speaker 2: Bob KP mentioned some of the Japanese talent. Do you
11:00
Speaker 2: think that teams will I don't want to say overpay,
11:03
Speaker 2: but be very aggressive to try and land one of
11:06
Speaker 2: who I think are three potential stars that could come
11:09
Speaker 2: over from Japan to the US. Sokomotive seems more of
11:12
Speaker 2: a high floor guy, Murakami more of a high ceiling
11:15
Speaker 2: guy on the position player side than Amai, who seems
11:18
Speaker 2: like he's got a little bit of both. So you
11:20
Speaker 2: have three players who are not going to all sign
11:22
Speaker 2: with the Dodgers. So the reason I ask this is
11:24
Speaker 2: this is an opportunity for teams to kind of re
11:27
Speaker 2: establish themselves in Japan and try and take a little
11:30
Speaker 2: bit of a percentage of share away from the Dodgers
11:33
Speaker 2: who have such a foothold right now in Japan.
11:36
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think he might is the guy that everybody
11:38
Speaker 3: wants and I think what you know, what happened with Yamamoto,
11:42
Speaker 3: especially what he did last year, what he did in
11:44
Speaker 3: the postseason. I think people have stars arise now, like
11:48
Speaker 3: oh man, we're not saying John Momoto, but he can
11:51
Speaker 3: be close. So I think his value is going to rise.
11:54
Speaker 3: I wouldn't be surprised at all if he's the number
11:57
Speaker 3: one paid pitcher out there.
11:59
Speaker 1: Murka me. I think people aren't sure what to get.
12:02
Speaker 3: You know, hey, a lot of power, but now he's
12:04
Speaker 3: going to see fastballs he hadn't seen before. Strikes out
12:07
Speaker 3: an awful line Japan. So how much are you going
12:10
Speaker 3: to strike out over here? Okamoto? I think is more
12:12
Speaker 3: of a sure thing. Uh, it's gonna cost a lot less.
12:16
Speaker 1: So Mericano would be interesting.
12:18
Speaker 3: You know, if Dodgers weren't bringing back you know, Max Munsey,
12:21
Speaker 3: ob would say it makes sense, But he would have
12:24
Speaker 3: to wait at least a year for you know, for
12:26
Speaker 3: Monthsy's contract to run out, or even you know, for
12:29
Speaker 3: Freddy Freeman's to run out in a couple of years.
12:31
Speaker 1: So I just don't see a fit there.
12:34
Speaker 3: I could certainly see him going to a place like
12:36
Speaker 3: a like like a San Diego padres or or Staly
12:40
Speaker 3: back East.
12:41
Speaker 5: I have a question for you, Lance Lane brought it
12:43
Speaker 5: up on Cardinals Territory the other day. How does this
12:47
Speaker 5: offseason look if there was a trade deadline in the
12:51
Speaker 5: off season? Who does that benefit the most? Does that
12:54
Speaker 5: benefit free agents who have worked six years to get there,
12:58
Speaker 5: or does that benefit teams who are holding these trade
13:01
Speaker 5: pieces that teams would want, you know, or or are
13:05
Speaker 5: thinking that they want, but they have a deadline, so
13:07
Speaker 5: we got to get to that before the winter meetings
13:10
Speaker 5: or by the end of the winter meetings.
13:14
Speaker 3: I think it would help free agents, they really do,
13:17
Speaker 3: because right now, you know, these guys are taking spots up,
13:20
Speaker 3: you know, like it's sunny, great, just took a nice
13:22
Speaker 3: starting pitcher slot up. So yeah, have a deadline for that.
13:26
Speaker 3: I think you make it a lot more fun. It's
13:29
Speaker 3: like after COVID season whenever he had like a couple
13:31
Speaker 3: of weeks of sign before spring training.
13:33
Speaker 1: That was fun.
13:34
Speaker 3: It was almost like NBA, you know, NFL style, and
13:37
Speaker 3: you know we hadn't seen that. So but I think
13:39
Speaker 3: it would help free agents as far as okay, through
13:43
Speaker 3: the marketplace. Now they have to focus on us and
13:46
Speaker 3: because you know, right now there's so many moves that
13:48
Speaker 3: are made in spring training. I mean used to be, hey,
13:51
Speaker 3: free agents wanted to sign you for Christmas because in
13:54
Speaker 3: the family to know where they're for the holidays. They
13:56
Speaker 3: get housing in Arizona, Florida for spring training. And now
14:00
Speaker 3: I think guys are still used to just waiting and
14:03
Speaker 3: signing even at the start of spring training.
14:05
Speaker 1: And we saw that with Bregman.
14:07
Speaker 3: Obviously saw that that big h you know, that big
14:10
Speaker 3: march in February with a Machado in San Diego and
14:12
Speaker 3: of course Harper in Philadelphia. Right now, the only really
14:16
Speaker 3: deadline you're thinking about is the Diamondbacks with kids. Tell
14:19
Speaker 3: Marte only because he's a ten and five player ten
14:22
Speaker 3: days in the regular season, so I think in their
14:24
Speaker 3: mind their deadline is, you know, mid April if it
14:28
Speaker 3: don't trade him.
14:28
Speaker 1: Now he's got ten and five right, so we probably
14:31
Speaker 1: never trade him.
14:33
Speaker 2: I'm with you. I think it'd be coold. He like
14:35
Speaker 2: focusing on trades from the end of the World Series
14:38
Speaker 2: through the Winter Meetings, and then after that you'd still
14:41
Speaker 2: extend the offseason, which I think baseball does really well
14:45
Speaker 2: with all the signings talk. Okay, last one most important
14:48
Speaker 2: at the buzzer here, bob favorite thing to eat on
14:51
Speaker 2: Thanksgiving is.
14:54
Speaker 3: You know, I mean I love turking him. I go
14:56
Speaker 3: greens and mac and cheese. I love greens and mac
14:59
Speaker 3: and cheese. If I didn't have a bite of turkey
15:01
Speaker 3: or ham, I'd be okay with that. But give me
15:04
Speaker 3: all the greens and mixing it with the mac and
15:05
Speaker 3: cheese all day long.
15:07
Speaker 1: There you go.
15:08
Speaker 2: I love that, Hey, Bob, enjoy it.
15:10
Speaker 1: Oh with hot sauce.
15:11
Speaker 2: Oh that that was a little sizzle at the finish line,
15:14
Speaker 2: A little hot sauce.
15:16
Speaker 1: I like that.
15:17
Speaker 2: I like it a lot. Well, Bob, enjoy that whole
15:21
Speaker 2: that whole mix. Okay, have a great Thanksgiving. We appreciate you,
15:24
Speaker 2: and we'll talk to you. I think next week.
15:27
Speaker 1: Sal's great. Have to think you guys. Take care.
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16:41
Speaker 2: Well that's a beauty right there. That's a free agent feast,
16:44
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16:47
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17:04
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17:08
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17:10
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17:13
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17:18
Speaker 2: Stuffing not as important as turkey, but it is still needed.
17:21
Speaker 2: It is required. It is a big component of the
17:24
Speaker 2: free agent feast. The potatoes are an important bat like
17:26
Speaker 2: potatoes on things, giving consistency is key on that one.
17:29
Speaker 2: And then cranberry sauce does not need to necessarily happen.
17:33
Speaker 2: It's a smaller deal. Some people might say you don't
17:35
Speaker 2: need it at all, and that is the kind of
17:37
Speaker 2: last little piece that you add.
17:40
Speaker 1: Right.
17:40
Speaker 2: It's not going to necessarily garner any headlines, but it's
17:44
Speaker 2: there for you. Okay, Hair Kratz lay out your free
17:47
Speaker 2: agent feast. Which team are you choosing?
17:52
Speaker 5: Boston Red Sox. Boston Red Sox are a team that
17:55
Speaker 5: need take They need to be the splasher in this
18:00
Speaker 5: free agent pool. They need to bring their plate to
18:03
Speaker 5: absolutely crush spread like KP after games when we played together.
18:08
Speaker 5: And I'm gonna go right to the turkey, because nobody
18:11
Speaker 5: ever starts with the cranberry sauce. All Right, you have
18:14
Speaker 5: to get stuff on your plate before you put stuff
18:17
Speaker 5: on top of it. So the turkey for the Boston
18:19
Speaker 5: Red Sox Alex Bregman. Alex Bregman has shown that he
18:24
Speaker 5: is a leader. He can be this guy on this
18:27
Speaker 5: roster of young guys that really needs to they need
18:32
Speaker 5: to learn to win and play at the big leagues.
18:35
Speaker 5: No better player than Alex Bregman, who never doesn't go
18:39
Speaker 5: to the playoffs. That's just what he does. I guess
18:41
Speaker 5: we'll never know was this quote that is the turkey.
18:45
Speaker 5: I don't care how much of that turkey, how much
18:47
Speaker 5: that turkey costs. You got to put it on your
18:50
Speaker 5: plate and it can take up maybe some of the
18:52
Speaker 5: rest of your plate. And I get it. I'm gonna
18:54
Speaker 5: get roasted for not having gravy on there, because I
18:57
Speaker 5: feel like, when you have your plate, when your play
19:00
Speaker 5: is full of really good, juicy turkey, incredibly well done
19:05
Speaker 5: stuffing and mashed potatoes that are perfect, you don't need gravy.
19:09
Speaker 5: I'm not saying I don't like gravy. I like gravy.
19:13
Speaker 5: I just don't need it. When everything else is done.
19:15
Speaker 5: Gravy's for the people who are like, ooh, we we
19:18
Speaker 5: didn't get good turkey stuffing or potatoes, so I gotta
19:21
Speaker 5: soak it all with some something that will make it
19:23
Speaker 5: taste better. So I'm gonna skip over gravy and I'm
19:28
Speaker 5: going right to the stuffing. They've already gotten the the
19:32
Speaker 5: comments out there that they're only going after you know,
19:35
Speaker 5: one a's and two's. Well, they got Sonny Gray, and
19:38
Speaker 5: the argument would be that he's a three. So if
19:40
Speaker 5: the Red Sox are going in that direction, I think
19:42
Speaker 5: one of the guys that's gonna be about twenty to
19:45
Speaker 5: twenty one million dollars a year is Zach Gallan. Now
19:48
Speaker 5: Scott Boris wants more than that, and it might cost
19:52
Speaker 5: one hundred million dollars plus, but I feel like with
19:56
Speaker 5: Zach Gallan, I feel like he can have a bounce
19:58
Speaker 5: back year. The Red Sox are not afraid to give
20:01
Speaker 5: a guy twenty million plus to start. Maybe the five
20:04
Speaker 5: years six years is too much, but you know they're
20:08
Speaker 5: gonna cook in a little opt out. So there's an
20:11
Speaker 5: opportunity there to get a starting pitcher who, when he
20:16
Speaker 5: has a really good year, can opt out and look
20:18
Speaker 5: at the Red Sox. They get out of another long
20:20
Speaker 5: term deal. So I feel like you can move on
20:22
Speaker 5: to the potatoes, and you can mix potatoes with anything.
20:25
Speaker 5: And that's why I chose Hasan Kim. Now you say, well,
20:29
Speaker 5: Trevor Story's gonna play shortstop till at least twenty seven.
20:32
Speaker 5: Got a team option till twenty eight, but Trevor Story
20:35
Speaker 5: got kind of tired. Trevor Story can play second base.
20:41
Speaker 5: This is my Thanksgiving feast, and so I want to
20:44
Speaker 5: have my plate filled with the best players. And I
20:47
Speaker 5: think this does an incredible job of shoring up this
20:50
Speaker 5: defense with a little uncertainty of what Marcella Meyer is
20:54
Speaker 5: going to give you. Now you have a really strong
20:57
Speaker 5: left side that Trevor Story could play shortstop, still Hasan
21:02
Speaker 5: Kim could play a little bit of second base. You
21:05
Speaker 5: figure it out. You get the best players, and you
21:07
Speaker 5: figure it out. As the season goes Cranberry Sauce, they'll
21:11
Speaker 5: say they don't need it, but they don't know what
21:13
Speaker 5: Tristan Costas is gonna bring him. Reece Hoskins. Rarely can
21:17
Speaker 5: you get a guy on a one year deal that
21:20
Speaker 5: is a really good teammate and has a chance to
21:23
Speaker 5: pump thirty dingers for you. Oh and what else does
21:25
Speaker 5: he do? He pulls the ball. Guess where he's gonna
21:28
Speaker 5: play eighty one of his games, Fenway. Reee Hoskins incredible leader,
21:33
Speaker 5: will fit into any clubhouse. And I think he's he's
21:36
Speaker 5: now going to be a full two seasons off of
21:40
Speaker 5: his ACL surgery. I think I think he will be
21:44
Speaker 5: one of the biggest low cost signings of this offseason.
21:49
Speaker 2: Wow, really nice, KP. I'm stuffed. I'm actually even a
21:52
Speaker 2: little bit nauseous. I mean, this is a lot more
21:55
Speaker 2: than you'd expect from the Red Sox here after the
21:58
Speaker 2: sunny gray additional already.
22:00
Speaker 1: But I like it.
22:01
Speaker 2: I like it a lot. Any criticisms here, I guess
22:03
Speaker 2: the only one for me, KP that stands out is
22:06
Speaker 2: how the infield alignment would look. But I'm with Krats here,
22:09
Speaker 2: nobody's going to complain about a little bit of extra depth. Yeah,
22:12
Speaker 2: Reye Hoskins can be there as your insurance. And then, Kim,
22:15
Speaker 2: I know you've got Meyer, I know you've got story.
22:18
Speaker 2: Cost is coming back from injury. Let your worst problem
22:21
Speaker 2: be that at the beginning of the season you've got
22:22
Speaker 2: to figure out a little bit of a pt split
22:24
Speaker 2: in the infield.
22:26
Speaker 1: No.
22:26
Speaker 4: I mean, I love his point too. Go get the
22:28
Speaker 4: best players available, especially middle infielders, and I think the
22:32
Speaker 4: Padres kind of prove that theory of you just get
22:35
Speaker 4: good baseball players that play in the middle of the diamond,
22:37
Speaker 4: you can find a place for them, and if they
22:39
Speaker 4: aren't able to kind of fill out some of that
22:42
Speaker 4: other part of their list, they have a ton of
22:44
Speaker 4: young prospects. If you get to Alex Regman, do you
22:47
Speaker 4: need some of these younger guys that you've drafted, developed,
22:50
Speaker 4: brought up to the big leagues. If Regman's going to
22:52
Speaker 4: hold down third base for the next probably he's gonna
22:55
Speaker 4: get six or seven years, maybe you can use some
22:57
Speaker 4: of these guys to go on and get your number
22:59
Speaker 4: two starters. I got no complaints with it. It just
23:02
Speaker 4: makes me excited for tomorrow because I love Thanksgiving and
23:06
Speaker 4: I love filling my plate.
23:08
Speaker 2: I'm excited for your feasts. So which team are you
23:11
Speaker 2: going to pile up?
23:14
Speaker 1: Yeah?
23:14
Speaker 4: I mean it was a good kind of segue with
23:16
Speaker 4: the Reee Hoskins. So I kind of wanted to think
23:18
Speaker 4: a little bit outside the box here and go to
23:21
Speaker 4: a team that kind of made headlines the other day
23:23
Speaker 4: in the Pittsburgh Pirates saying that they're going to actually
23:26
Speaker 4: go out and spend some money. So I'm going to
23:28
Speaker 4: spend their money. But I also do know how the
23:31
Speaker 4: Pittsburgh Pirates operate, so I had to kind of go
23:34
Speaker 4: through the list of free agents find guys that I
23:36
Speaker 4: felt like maybe either coming off a bad year and
23:39
Speaker 4: injury year where they kind of are going to go
23:42
Speaker 4: out and sign the maybe a one year kind of
23:44
Speaker 4: prove it deal, because if you look at the recent
23:46
Speaker 4: history of the Pittsburgh Pirates, they do not go out
23:49
Speaker 4: and sign guys for multiple years. So these guys are
23:52
Speaker 4: all going to fill my plate for the Pittsburgh Pirates
23:55
Speaker 4: on one year prove it deals. And I'm gonna start
23:58
Speaker 4: with like krat said, I'm gonna start with with the
24:01
Speaker 4: main course here and go Turkey. And what do the
24:05
Speaker 4: Pittsburgh Pirates need? In my opinion the most they need
24:08
Speaker 4: someone at the back end of the bullpen that can
24:10
Speaker 4: close games. They got rid of their closer last year,
24:13
Speaker 4: and David Bettenar. So these are the three guys that
24:15
Speaker 4: I have options for them. Evan Phillips, Michael Kopek or
24:20
Speaker 4: Adjason Foley, all guys that have proven at the highest
24:24
Speaker 4: level that they can close games.
24:26
Speaker 1: What do The.
24:26
Speaker 4: Pittsburgh Pirates have arguably some of the best young starting pitching,
24:30
Speaker 4: with arguably the best starting young starting pitcher in the
24:33
Speaker 4: game in Paul Skiings. These guys pitch deep into games
24:38
Speaker 4: if they are if they're able, if they are trying
24:41
Speaker 4: to be a for real team and try to make
24:43
Speaker 4: a push in the division, They're gonna need someone at
24:46
Speaker 4: the back end that can solidify some of these games
24:49
Speaker 4: where you have guys like Paul Skins going deep into
24:51
Speaker 4: the games. So Evan Phillips obviously missed a ton of
24:55
Speaker 4: time last year, probably would have been the Dodgers closer
24:58
Speaker 4: this year if healthy. Even though the they went out
25:00
Speaker 4: and signed guys like Tanner Scott Kirby Yates to kind
25:03
Speaker 4: of shore up their bullpen, Evan Phillips has been their guy.
25:06
Speaker 4: He's proven track record of being able to close games.
25:10
Speaker 4: Michael Kopek also another guy who's very capable of closing games,
25:14
Speaker 4: who missed a ton of time with injury, probably looking
25:17
Speaker 4: for a one year deal opportunity to close some games
25:19
Speaker 4: to kind of, you know, re up his value and
25:22
Speaker 4: Jason Foley also was a guy you know in Detroit
25:25
Speaker 4: for a long time that was closing games, kind of
25:27
Speaker 4: had a weird year being sent to the minor leagues,
25:30
Speaker 4: probably looking for a chance to kind of, you know,
25:33
Speaker 4: up his value, up his stock going into free agency
25:36
Speaker 4: the following year. The next guy that I think would
25:40
Speaker 4: kind of just fit perfectly with kind of the main
25:44
Speaker 4: course the gravy, Michael Confordo. I love the player. I
25:48
Speaker 4: love the guy coming off a down year, coming off
25:52
Speaker 4: a couple down years, actually had the weird kind of
25:55
Speaker 4: shoulder injury in the offseason when when he left a
25:59
Speaker 4: lot of money on the table with the New York Mets.
26:01
Speaker 4: I still think there's a ton of value in Michael Conforto.
26:04
Speaker 4: I don't think it's on a long term deal right now,
26:08
Speaker 4: you know, to the point where he wasn't even on
26:10
Speaker 4: the playoff roster for the World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers.
26:14
Speaker 4: I think he's got a lot to prove. I think
26:16
Speaker 4: a place like Pittsburgh, with that kind of shorter porch
26:19
Speaker 4: in right field could fit perfectly into his swing. I
26:23
Speaker 4: know he's got some opposite feel power too, But you know,
26:26
Speaker 4: I think Michael Confordo could be a great fit in
26:29
Speaker 4: Pittsburgh on a one year proven deal. The next is
26:33
Speaker 4: the DH position, and I know this is Andrew McCutcheon's
26:36
Speaker 4: job until he doesn't want it anymore, you know, I haven't.
26:40
Speaker 4: He hasn't signed quite yet. And maybe Andrew McCutcheon maybe
26:44
Speaker 4: decides to go somewhere else, even though he's been extremely
26:47
Speaker 4: loyal to the Pittsburgh Pirates and it feels like he
26:49
Speaker 4: kind of always has a one year deal kind of
26:52
Speaker 4: standing for him, But maybe he wants to go somewhere
26:54
Speaker 4: else and really try to kind of go win a ring.
26:57
Speaker 4: Marcelo Zuno is my guy. I played with him in
26:59
Speaker 4: Atlanta and he is one of the best teammates I've
27:02
Speaker 4: ever been around, one of the most professional hitters I've
27:04
Speaker 4: been around. Kind of got squeezed out a little bit
27:07
Speaker 4: in Atlanta because of the emergence of Drake Baldwin there
27:11
Speaker 4: and kind of splitting the time at the catching DH position.
27:15
Speaker 4: But I know Marcelo Zuna has a ton of the tank.
27:18
Speaker 4: I know how hardy works, I know how professional of
27:20
Speaker 4: a hitter he is, and I think he would be
27:22
Speaker 4: a great fit for a lot of the young guys
27:24
Speaker 4: they have there to kind of just be in their ecosystem.
27:27
Speaker 4: Learn from mar Marcelo Zuna, how he works, you know,
27:31
Speaker 4: how he can have a professional at bat. I think
27:34
Speaker 4: he'd be a great fit there. And I think he's
27:37
Speaker 4: probably a guy who is not going to necessarily require
27:41
Speaker 4: a long term deal, maybe just a nice one year
27:43
Speaker 4: deal where, you know, if the pirates aren't in it,
27:47
Speaker 4: and he kind of has the type of year we
27:49
Speaker 4: feel like he can have. You know, you go and
27:52
Speaker 4: trade him and go get some pieces next the potatoes,
27:56
Speaker 4: which are obviously very important, but a little bit lower
27:58
Speaker 4: down on your plate. I like Sam Henches from Cleveland
28:03
Speaker 4: Guardians missed the entire year, but what a physical presence
28:06
Speaker 4: this guy is. If healthy, he is a nightmare to
28:09
Speaker 4: face out of the bullpen. You could slot him in
28:11
Speaker 4: as your left handed leverage guy. You can slot him
28:14
Speaker 4: in as an eighth inning guy. I think it's a
28:17
Speaker 4: guy who doesn't get hurt. We're talking a lot more
28:20
Speaker 4: about him as being one of the top left handed
28:23
Speaker 4: relievers in the market right now. And I'm going to
28:26
Speaker 4: round out my plate with Cranberry's, which I don't really
28:28
Speaker 4: even like. I don't put on my plate but in
28:32
Speaker 4: the case of this, this is kind of just like
28:33
Speaker 4: a little sprinkle salt. Wilmer Flores. I think he'd be
28:38
Speaker 4: a great addition to kind of mix in at first base.
28:41
Speaker 4: I know they went out and traded for Spencer Horwitz,
28:44
Speaker 4: who also missed him time with some injury. Still a
28:47
Speaker 4: young guy, a little bit unproven. You got to give
28:50
Speaker 4: him a little bit of a runway to prove that
28:51
Speaker 4: he can be a major league player, that he can
28:53
Speaker 4: hold down the first base position. But a guy like
28:56
Speaker 4: Wilmer Flores, all he does is driving runs. Gives you
28:59
Speaker 4: professional maybe looking for an opportunity on one year deal.
29:03
Speaker 4: I know he's getting a little bit older there, but
29:06
Speaker 4: that's kind of my dream scenario for the Pittsburgh Pirates
29:09
Speaker 4: to take all these guys on one year deals and
29:12
Speaker 4: try to go out there and do something special this year.
29:16
Speaker 2: Dream scenario. I would say, on the realistic end, that
29:21
Speaker 2: was really well done.
29:22
Speaker 1: KP.
29:23
Speaker 2: Krats this guy's different. That was good, But that was
29:26
Speaker 2: the realistic what the Pirates do dream scenario, right, that's
29:31
Speaker 2: the waters they have to play in, they think Schwarber.
29:34
Speaker 2: KP says, you should be thinking Azuna on a one
29:37
Speaker 2: year contract he'll probably get My guess is twelve to
29:41
Speaker 2: fifteen mil on a one year deal, and that's probably
29:43
Speaker 2: the highest paid player in that group that you just
29:45
Speaker 2: went over.
29:47
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean until they prove otherwise that they're going
29:49
Speaker 4: to go out and sign guys to multiple year deals.
29:54
Speaker 4: And I know it's a von Nova because I hear
29:56
Speaker 4: it over and over and what was it, two thousand,
29:58
Speaker 4: nineteen sixteen sixteen, we're going up. Yeah, so we're going
30:03
Speaker 4: on almost ten years here. So yeah, I found it
30:06
Speaker 4: kind of fun. Like, yeah, not to take anything away
30:09
Speaker 4: from doing the Red Sox, but you know, obviously that
30:10
Speaker 4: would have been fun. You get to kind of you
30:12
Speaker 4: get the shop at Neiman Marcus where I'm kind of
30:14
Speaker 4: you know, shopping at Target or Macy's a little bit more.
30:18
Speaker 4: But I I enjoyed it this morning, kind of getting
30:21
Speaker 4: in the depths of the free agent players out there
30:23
Speaker 4: and try to figure out a realistic path forward for
30:26
Speaker 4: the Pittsburgh Pirates.
30:28
Speaker 2: I would say more of like a TJ Max or
30:31
Speaker 2: what's the overseas one that is popular?
30:35
Speaker 5: Too many, too many, too many analogies. We're sticking to
30:39
Speaker 5: the plate. Basically, the Pirates are building their feast after
30:43
Speaker 5: everybody else has gone through, so all they get left
30:45
Speaker 5: is the draft, Like is the white meat if you
30:48
Speaker 5: don't like white meat, dark meat, if you don't like
30:50
Speaker 5: dark meat, they're getting the like soggy They're getting the
30:53
Speaker 5: soggy stuffing and not the crispy stuffing. So you know,
30:57
Speaker 5: white KP. That was legendary, and I honestly think with
31:01
Speaker 5: the starting rotation you might have a chance of competing
31:07
Speaker 5: in the NL Central with all those moves. Obviously, you
31:10
Speaker 5: have to hope that all those guys have career bounce
31:14
Speaker 5: back type of years, which is tough. It's tough to do.
31:17
Speaker 5: You know, if you get one out of those guys
31:19
Speaker 5: to have a career bounce back year, to me, it's successful.
31:22
Speaker 5: But you can't just keep being the last person to
31:25
Speaker 5: the table to make a full, beautiful plate of food
31:29
Speaker 5: at Thanksgiving. You gotta kind of push, You gotta push
31:33
Speaker 5: to go forward and get the best food. It might
31:35
Speaker 5: sound selfish, but we're about the w here at Thanksgiving.
31:39
Speaker 2: Yeah, that is on the phone too right now, KP.
31:42
Speaker 2: He is looking at your advice and he's making phone calls.
31:46
Speaker 4: Yeah, I would say all my things are like the
31:49
Speaker 4: prepackaged turkey. You buy the can gravy, the can cranberries.
31:53
Speaker 5: You know, not homemade.
31:55
Speaker 2: It's not homemade. It's not homemade, but it's pirates offseason baseball. Baby.
32:01
Speaker 2: It's very realistic.
32:02
Speaker 1: I love it.