Latest / Kenny Wallace Media / Juan Soto's Record Mets Contract & The College Football Playoff | Eric Messersmith & Brian Johnson

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Juan Soto's Record Mets Contract & The College Football Playoff | Eric Messersmith & Brian Johnson · Kenny Wallace Media

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  Offseason baseball, the big domino of the offseason fellow,
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  you're a baseball guy, Juan Soto, who has had a very
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  prolific career with the Padres and now with the Yankees,
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  starting with the Nationals back in the day, one of the best
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  players in the game, still in his prime, a 26 years old,
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  signed a 15 year, $765 million deal.
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  And it's not the largest ever in terms of average annual value,
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  that's Ichiro, but it is the largest ever in terms.
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  Of total. I'm sorry, Otani.
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  And none of it is deferred, unlike Otani.
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  So this is an incredible amount of money in baseball.
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  Is this a like, obviously Soto is worth it because that's what
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  he got. And if you look at his numbers
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  and what he does, he's a great player.
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  But is this good for the game? Is it good that a rich owner
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  like Cohen with the Mets can just go out and buy one of the
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  best players in the game a year after the Dodgers with their
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  wealthy ownership bought the best player in the game when he
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  came up in in in my is that is that a good thing?
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  It feels icky to me. I don't know.
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  Not that he got the money. I'm I, I don't know, problem
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  with Solo getting as much money as he want.
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  My thing is more of big picture for the game.
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  Is this a good thing? Well, I'll start with I am
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  always is it relates to the money 'cause you said you don't
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  care about it, but it's important.
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  I think as you as as I frame this one up, that I would prefer
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  that the money go to Juan Soto rather than Steve Cohen.
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  Like I think the people playing the game should make money off
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  of the game if that's the value that they could get.
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  I'm looking at some somewhere in like a 5050 split.
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  So what it says to me is I'll for a very long time, a lot of
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  teams and a lot of owners made a ton of money and the players
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  didn't. So I on the money side, I'm very
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  happy for Juan Soto. You asked me the question, is it
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  good for the game? I think it's great for the
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  players. I I think it's fantastic.
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  But funny enough, what's happening in baseball, and this
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  also happens in basketball and in football, is that the middle
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  class is actually the one that gets hurt the worst.
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  Because you have your Wan Sotos of the world that are going to
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  get, you know, $60 million a year.
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  But then you're going to have a bunch of guys on rookie
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  contracts that make, you know, $500,000 a year.
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  So your roster ends up being constructed of the Wan Sotos.
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  And then a lot of guys who are making, you know, let's be real
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  here, as relatively low, like not low to the average American,
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  but low in terms of an overall roster.
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  And the guys that kind of get cut out here are the guys that
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  are in the because all of a sudden there isn't as much
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  willingness to pay those players that much money because they
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  have so much money invested in the top tier players.
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  With the exception of a few franchises.
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  With the exception of a few franchises.
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  But just the last thing I'm going to say on this, if the
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  Mets have proven anything in our lifetime, it's that spending
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  money on players does not guarantee results.
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  And that's why I don't think it's necessarily bad for the
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  game, because it's just as likely that a well run Tampa Bay
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  Rays organization is going to make the playoffs as the New
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  York Mets. Let me give you a theory that
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  I'm not sure I even totally believe, but I think it kind of
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  explains my point of why I said it's not good because I agree
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  with you. It's great for Soto.
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  I I have no, I don't care about owners, you know, losing their
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  money. They'll somehow be fine.
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  They'll figure it out. Yeah, they'll figure it out, I
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  think. But here is my theory.
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  I think that the combination of owners who were not willing to
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  spend their money combined. So for instance, a big market
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  situations that where they were a little bit cheap.
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  Your beloved Pittsburgh Pirates? Who?
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  Have the seven, the 7th. Wealthiest owner in sports?
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  Right. But I'm talking about some of
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  the big markets maybe not having the ideal combination of
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  ownership that was both because remember you have to be both.
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  You have to a be willing to open the bank account and you have to
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  be be good at it because as you pointed out, if you're not good
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  at it, it doesn't matter, right. So I think because you have had
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  franchises in some of these big markets like remember the old
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  Dodgers owner who names whose name escaped me like lost his
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  fortune and and they were down on their he had to like sell the
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  team and had no money for a while as the freaking owner of
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  the Dodgers. My point is, I think baseball
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  has benefited to some degree because the huge revenue teams,
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  primarily, I'm talking about the Dodgers, the Yankees, the Mets,
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  maybe, I guess you should, maybe the Red Sox, right?
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  Cubs. I think baseball has benefited
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  because those teams didn't have very wealthy owners willing to
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  spend huge amounts of money, very competent organizations and
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  identifying talent at the same time.
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  And throw on top of that the well you and I have talked about
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  before, the randomness of the postseason format in baseball
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  and how it doesn't necessarily translate.
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  Although this year wasn't it, did the Yankees and the Dodgers
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  were the two best teams during that?
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  Weren't they both the one seeds and they both made it to the
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  World Series? But that that didn't that hasn't
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  happened much in recent years. If you start to see that
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  happening more where the the teams who are the one and two
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  seeds make it to the World Series.
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  And if the Dodgers, Yankees and Mets continue to have competent
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  ownership and front office is willing to spend a ton of money,
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  we the gap is so big now the money is so massive that the
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  Dodgers, the Mets, the Yankees and maybe the Red Sox are going
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  to be in it every single year. Yeah, but that's always been the
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  case. That has not that has not been
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  the case. Go back and look, I mean, God,
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  the Mets have been awful. We've had a lot of variation in
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  World Series winners. The.
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  Mets are an outlier. They don't count.
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  And the Yankees hadn't been before.
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  This year wasn't the last time they were in the World Series.
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  The early 2000s. Yeah, it's 2000.
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  Nine, yeah. So I'm so my point is it has not
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  been the case. But they've been competitive,
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  they've been there. I think they've only missed the
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  playoff one time. That's true, but but that's not
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  what I'm talking about. I'm talking about domination.
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  I'm talking about year after year being at the top of the
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  standings. I mean, the Dodgers have been
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  great for a long time. The Dodgers had two world.
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  Series they did, but as I said, if you go back again 5-10 years,
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  that wasn't the case. They've been really good for a
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  while. But my point is maybe because
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  you didn't have the the right decision makers, you had the
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  weirdness of the format, maybe that obscured what is a
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  potential problem for baseball, which is as long as teams have
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  owners who are rich in these big markets, who are willing to
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  spend the money because we know they're rich and they have
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  competent ownership, they're going to dominate the sport.
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  And and the teams that don't are going to be at a severe
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  disadvantage. And yes, the Rays are really one
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  organizations will still make the post season from time to
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  time, maybe get in a run here or there, maybe a team like even
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  even the Pirates or somebody catch lightning in a bottle.
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  Stop it. But my point is, that is why I
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  don't like the Sodo deal, because it shows you the giant
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  gaping flaw in my opinion in the baseball system, which is the
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  lack of any kind of salary cap. Or cap.
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  No, no salary cap. I hate the salary cap.
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  I hate it. But what happens if the Mets and
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  the Yankees and the and the Dodgers just win every single
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  year? One of the three?
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  But that's not. Going to happen.
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  They're going to be in the mix. They're going to be in the
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  playoffs. Because the margins in baseball
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  are so small. The difference between Juan
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  Soto's on base percentage and Bryce Harper's on base
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  percentage is literally 3%. Juan Soto reaches base 3% more
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  than Bryce Harper, even though Bryce Harper makes half as much
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  money as Juan Soto. But here's Here's the thing
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  though. The Dodgers lost like their
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  higher pitching staff, and they still did what they.
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  Did this because the margins in baseball are so thin.
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  This is what I'm trying to explain.
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  To you, but it was because they had a $350 million payroll, way
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  more than almost any other team. So my point is when the when the
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  well. Sure.
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  That's the advantage of being the Yankees.
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  If the Pirates best players get hurt, obviously they're not
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  still going to be able to compete.
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  That's a real difference, sure, But this idea that they're just
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  going to win all the time, I I'm not buying it.
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  I think when the margin you're, you're right that the margins
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  are thin when the gap, let me try to say as articulately as I
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  can, when the gap in payroll is fairly minimal, then the
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  randomness, the closeness, the playoff format will get you a
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  huge variation in competitiveness in the league,
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  right? My point is as that gap expands
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  and we are at a record expansion of it right now, right between
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  the bottom and the top, we've never seen it like this.
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  As that happens, the randomness becomes less and less of a
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  factor because now the talent is more and more collected at one
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  end. And what I'm saying to you is if
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  you get to a point like the Dodgers have been absolutely
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  dominant for the last, what, 5-6, seven years, if they keep
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  doing that for the next 5-6 seven years and the Yankees are
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  that like that and the Mets are like that, I just think that's
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  not great for the sport, you know what I'm saying?
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  Like, don't you think there comes a point where the money
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  discrepancy is so big? I think it's incredibly.
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  Changes the game. I think it's incredibly
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  important that the major market teams in baseball are good
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  because when your World Series is the Diamondbacks versus, you
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  know, whoever, it's bad for the for the sport.
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  It just is. It's the same thing in the NBA
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  and the only The only exception here is the NFL.
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  It's the only one. You you got to put that off to
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  the side because that's such an outlier.
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  But baseball now it is a regional sport.
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  The I I did want to say the thing that shocks me about the
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  Juan Soto contract in general is that Juan Soto is not a star.
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  He's not a star. Shohei Otat no in in the world.
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  Oh, right, right. Like.
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  In the. World he's a.
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  Great baseball player. And you know, what's going to
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  happen is he's going to be a great baseball player in New
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  York probably for the next 15 years.
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  And that's really cool. But the idea that someone who is
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  not like transcendent like in popular culture, like Otani's
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  worth $600 million because you get the entire country of Japan,
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  like when you give Otani $60 million, you get all the
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  advertising, you get television in Japan, you get all the things
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  that come along with Japanese media.
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  You get the celebrity that is Shohei Otani with Juan Soto.
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  You just, and with due respect, you get a Dominican guy who can
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  smash a baseball. And that's the part of
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  $765,000,000 that really blows me away.
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  What I will say is that I commend Steve Cohen for giving
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  Juan so to this contract because he's trying to do something with
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  the New York Mets that has never been done.
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  They've never been able to get out of the shadow of the New
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  York Yankees. The coolest part about the Mets
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  is that today they, for one day they are cooler than the Yankees
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  because they got a great, great player.
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  Will they be able to sustain that as the Yankees have for 100
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  years? I severely doubt it because I
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  know you grew up a Mets fan even though you never visited in New
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  York. You were also a Duke fan.
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  But I I was. Yeah, I don't know what I was
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  thinking. All right, Speaking of of
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  college, Forge, Bryan, College Football Playoff rankings came
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  out. Do do you have any big problems
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  with it? I mean the big controversy, I
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  guess if it was a controversy was Alabama getting the last at
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  large spot. I'm sorry, SMU getting last a
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  large spot over Alabama. SMU would not play our Penn
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  State or or my Penn State Indy lines on December 21st, which
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  will be cool to see a playoff game in Happy Valley.
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  I think they made the right call.
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  Alabama that lost to Oklahoma was just so devastating.
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  I have no problem with it, but but the drama is kind of the
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  point I think. I think overall the I the 12
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  team playoff was a smashing success this year.
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  Like I said, it made me more interested in the college
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  football regular season than I have been in a long time.
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  And having some of that controversy was great.
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  And look at these blue bloods that you still have in even
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  though Alabama isn't in. You have Texas hosting Clemson,
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  you have Tennessee and Ohio State.
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  You have Penn State in there. Notre Dame's going to get a home
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  playoff game. Georgia, Oregon, Boise, who's
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  been one of the best programs in college football the last decade
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  and a half. So overall, I'm very happy with
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  the playoff. What?
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  What say you? This was like one of the
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  weirdest reactions I've ever had to something like this.
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  When I woke up the next day and I and Sunday, because I didn't
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  really look on Saturday and I saw it, I went, yeah, that's
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  right. Like, you know what I mean?
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  Like I read it and went, this makes sense to me based on the
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  outcomes that I saw. So in that regard, I think the
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  committee did a fairly good job. Look, if if you have a four team
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  playoff, you're going to argue about 5:00 and 6:00.
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  If you have an 8 team playoff, you're going to argue about 9:00
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  and 10:00. And sure enough we have a 12
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  team playoff. So we're going to argue about 13
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  and 14. Like that's just how it's going
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  to be. You could expand it.
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  There is no perfect way to do it.
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  There are too many teams, there are too many good players.
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  You can't guarantee the matchups every year.
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  Like the whole point of college football is to argue about it.
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  So in that way this is perfect. It is, and I would much rather
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  argue about #12 and 13 than I would four and five.
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  I think that's better for the game if you're arguing at that
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  level. I all these people that have
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  said, oh, you can't expand beyond four teams, it'll
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  diminish the significance of the regular season.
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  I always thought that was Oh no it.
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  Made it better. This year, prove it.
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  It made it better. Much better.
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  I think it made it better and I think it is really cool that
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  Indiana made it. Yeah, I think it's really cool
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  that SMU made it. I think it's really cool that
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  Boise got a buy because I mean. See, I don't like that.
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  That's my one critique. And I think the one thing they
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  will change, I think they will change that next year, I guess
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  the year after. I don't think the conference
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  champions will get automatic buys.
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  I don't think they should. Getting into the field is
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  enough. It may very well.
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  That Arizona State should not have gotten the buys.
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  Arizona State did not get a buy, did they?
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  They Yeah, they did. Because Clemson.
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  Oh, that's right. That's right, Clemson.
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  Won the ACC, so they're the 12. Because they're the 12.
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  I, I just think that, like I said, it's never going to be
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  perfect. And I think this is as close as
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  you're really going to get, man. I think the regular season was
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  much more interesting. I mean, if you're an Alabama
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  fan, I mean, you had three losses, man.
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  There's no other team in there with three losses.
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  Don't lose to Vanderbilt. Don't lose to Oklahoma by three
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  touchdowns. I kind of feel I would have
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  liked, like I think that Miami is a better team than Indiana.
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  Like I just do. I think Indiana played a
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  fraudulent schedule, but like, whatever.
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  I mean that that's what I was saying though at the beginning
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  is like it's not Indiana's fault they had a weak schedule this
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  year. They could have the exact same
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  schedule next year and it could turn out those teams are
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  amazing. I mean, people had Florida State
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  on their schedule this year and thought that was going to be a
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  hard game. It turned out they stink, You
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  know, So like I said, man, I think these playoffs are going
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  to be great. I don't like that it's going to
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  run until like January 20th to get all this taken care of.
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  But I mean, you know, whatever, I'll still watch.
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  Yeah, those home playoff games in in stadiums are going to be
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  awesome to see. I mean, a freaking home game at
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  Penn State, a home playoff game at Notre Dame.
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  That's pretty cool. I think.
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  Well, the only tweak, 12 is a great number.
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  The only tweak they need to make in my opinion again is just seed
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  the teams one through 12. If you want to give automatic
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  bids into the 12 for five conference champs, I'm fine with
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  that. But you see them one through 12
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  because what you have this year is Penn State as the sixth seed
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  and Texas as the five arguably have an easier.
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  Path. Than the number one and #2
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  seeds, like for instance, if you compare Penn State, Penn State
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  lost that Big 12 game championship came to Oregon,
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  right? So Penn State as a result got
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  the six seed. They play SMU.
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  SMU. Then they play because of.
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  The third one beat up SMU. Then they play Boise.
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  They'll beat Boise cause Boise has no defense.
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  Whereas Oregon will have, yes, they'll get the bye, but then
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  they have to play freaking Tennessee or Ohio State,
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  probably Ohio State in the second round.
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  So again, Penn State almost, even though they wanted to win
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  that game, obviously, and they tried to win that game, it
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  actually gave them a slightly easier path to lose the game in
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  the conference championship that that should not.
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  I got about no good. Do you have anything else on
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  this? Yeah, My proposal for I think
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  the one thing that's happened because of the 12 team playoffs
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  and I I don't think this is arguable, is the other Bulls
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  don't matter at all. Like they're pretty much just a
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  nice class trip that everyone gets to take, even though like
• 17:15
  international travel is very common these days.
• 17:18
  So yay, I get to go to Cleveland and play, play in the Fat guy's
• 17:22
  Tire Bowl. So these other bowls, like they
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  really don't mean anything. Like it's hard to drum up
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  excitement for them, except for gambling, obviously.
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  I mean, they're going to get gambled on.
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  That's why they exist. So I'm proposing the A12 team
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  NIT, maybe like a 16 team NIT because now Miami and Alabama
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  who didn't get into the big playoff and are all upset about
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  it, Well go win the NIT. Well, I love.
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  That that's a great that would make us at least somewhat
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  interesting. And they can still have the
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  Cheetos bowl and the toilet bowl and who gives a shit bowl around
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  in in the NIT. Wait, so you're telling me
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  you're not excited for this Jackson State South Carolina
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  State Cricket Celebration Bowl coming up this Saturday?
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  That that is something that cricket should sponsor.
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  You're not gonna. You're not interested in that at
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  all or the staff DNA curable on Friday, December 20th between
• 18:15
  Ohio and Jacksonville State. No, it's going to be hard for me
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  to get fired up. But no, they exist because
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  people bet on them and there is revenue for those towns because
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  hotels and like this and that. So I do understand why they
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  exist. I just think that an NIT Type 12
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  team playoff would also work with.
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  You know, 13. Through 24.
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  You could keep these same sites. I agree with you.
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  I think that's a great idea. That's the best idea.
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  I think you back we get. More football.