Latest / Foul Territory / Ken Rosenthal on ABS challenges, Vladdy’s future, Brewers consistency + Executive poll results

Transcript

Ken Rosenthal on ABS challenges, Vladdy’s future, Brewers consistency + Executive poll results · Foul Territory

0:00
Speaker 1: We might say five hundred million for first basemen, even
0:02
Speaker 1: as good as Lad Guerrero. That's ridiculous. No team should
0:05
Speaker 1: do that. But the point of what I wrote was
0:07
Speaker 1: that this should have been settled long ago.
0:15
Speaker 2: Sad scoop with Ken Rosenthal. Oh yeah, he is at
0:18
Speaker 2: spring training camp. So let's get into it right now
0:20
Speaker 2: with our FT senior insider, Ken abs challenge system coming soon.
0:26
Speaker 2: Quick question for you, and then you can obviously give
0:28
Speaker 2: us your thoughts on it. Do you like the strike
0:31
Speaker 2: zone box or not? Eighty three percent of our audience does.
0:37
Speaker 1: I don't think it, but I also recognize that it's
0:40
Speaker 1: often inaccurate, and that's been a complaint baseball people have
0:42
Speaker 1: had for a long time with the kzone. And if
0:46
Speaker 1: it's inaccurate, it just leads to false perceptions. It leads
0:50
Speaker 1: people to get upset that maybe he shouldn't be getting upset.
0:53
Speaker 1: So from that perspective, while I like the idea, I
0:56
Speaker 1: want to see where the pitches. Obviously it's problematic.
1:01
Speaker 3: Great Ken and I love it on the broadcast, so
1:03
Speaker 3: I think I think that they should stick with him.
1:05
Speaker 3: By the way, how's the Ranch, How's Glendale the Ranch?
1:07
Speaker 3: How is it today?
1:08
Speaker 1: Because it looks so ranch is always nice, a very nice.
1:11
Speaker 3: Well, you're on the right side. You're on the Dodger side. Though.
1:14
Speaker 3: The Dodger side, people do understand, has palm trees and
1:16
Speaker 3: all this stuff. The white Sox side desert has nothing
1:20
Speaker 3: else on you kids. Dodgers has like pools, blue asses,
1:26
Speaker 3: white Sox side nothing.
1:28
Speaker 1: I don't know about pools at oases, but the Dodger
1:31
Speaker 1: side might be a little nicer. I can confirm.
1:33
Speaker 3: That it is way nicer. There's no there's little is
1:38
Speaker 3: a small statement for you, Kim. I'm just saying before
1:40
Speaker 3: we get into anything else, all right. I got to
1:42
Speaker 3: ask this because you are in Dodgers camp and they've
1:45
Speaker 3: signed everybody. Are they gonna sign mir Guerrero Junior next
1:49
Speaker 3: year when he's a free agent too, and it's put
1:50
Speaker 3: Freddy Freeman in second base to try it? I don't know.
1:53
Speaker 3: I mean, what's what's going on there? The miss the
1:55
Speaker 3: deadline in Toronto? Where's he gonna sign? Wow?
1:59
Speaker 1: That's great question. I don't know. I would say that
2:03
Speaker 1: the New York team is both in a first base
2:05
Speaker 1: and there's been a lot of talk about Boston, which
2:07
Speaker 1: I sort of get because obviously he has talked about
2:11
Speaker 1: going there seemingly to his friends. But if Tristan cass
2:15
Speaker 1: Has becomes a real player, maybe that's off the table now.
2:18
Speaker 1: Then again, if Tristan Casss keeps playing general manager as
2:23
Speaker 1: he did yesterday, I believe it was telling everyone where
2:26
Speaker 1: he thought the infielder should be aligned this year, with
2:29
Speaker 1: Devers a third Redman at second. I am not so
2:32
Speaker 1: sure that the Red Sox are gonna want to tolerate
2:35
Speaker 1: that for too long.
2:37
Speaker 2: Hey, Ken, I think Toronto is, and really Canada is
2:40
Speaker 2: fuming right now over them not being able to even
2:43
Speaker 2: really apparently come close to an extension. So what did
2:47
Speaker 2: you take of what happened the other day? I read
2:49
Speaker 2: your article about Bladdie Junior. I highly encourage everyone to
2:51
Speaker 2: check that out in The Athletic because it also gives
2:53
Speaker 2: a really good history lesson on this front office and
2:57
Speaker 2: how really the success was with Alex Anthopoulos's player in
3:00
Speaker 2: twenty sixteen for the Alcs and and Vladdie Junior's career
3:05
Speaker 2: actually kind of compares to Fernando Tatis in terms of timing.
3:09
Speaker 2: And you can get into this, but how they really
3:12
Speaker 2: missed the boat multiple times right now?
3:15
Speaker 1: Obviously they could have corrected everything if they just gave
3:18
Speaker 1: him the right off for this time around. But basically
3:21
Speaker 1: the point of what I wrote was that they had
3:24
Speaker 1: chances here. They had chances well before this. Now. If
3:27
Speaker 1: you remember, back in February twenty twenty one, that's when
3:30
Speaker 1: Tatis signed his fourteen year, three hundred and forty million
3:33
Speaker 1: dollars deal with the Padres, A lot of people, including myself,
3:36
Speaker 1: questioned that deal. That deal now is looking pretty good.
3:40
Speaker 4: And that was the same year.
3:42
Speaker 1: Guerrero, after that contract was signed, went off. He had
3:45
Speaker 1: his best year for the Blue Jays, and after that season,
3:50
Speaker 1: or even before that, they could have offered him the
3:53
Speaker 1: Tatis deal right something similar, and at that point you
3:57
Speaker 1: probably would have taken it. I would imagine he definitely
3:59
Speaker 1: would have taken. So that was a chance. They had
4:03
Speaker 1: chances after that as well. And the history here is
4:06
Speaker 1: not great. Early on they told the world that they
4:10
Speaker 1: planned to manipulate a service time. They were going to
4:12
Speaker 1: keep him in the miners. They didn't feel he was
4:14
Speaker 1: defensively sound enough. It was for his own good, all
4:16
Speaker 1: this stuff he gets hurt. It didn't turn out to
4:18
Speaker 1: be an issue in that sense because he wouldn't have
4:21
Speaker 1: been available necessarily, but that was the plan. Then they
4:24
Speaker 1: take him to a hearing, an arbitration hearing in twenty
4:27
Speaker 1: twenty four.
4:27
Speaker 4: They lost that hearing, and there's this.
4:30
Speaker 1: History of insufficient offer or at least offers he deemed insufficient,
4:34
Speaker 1: and it's kept off by yesterday. Now, if you're a fan,
4:38
Speaker 1: you might say five hundred million for first basement, even
4:40
Speaker 1: as good as Vlad Guerrero.
4:42
Speaker 4: That's ridiculous.
4:43
Speaker 1: No team should do that. But the point of what
4:45
Speaker 1: I wrote was that this should have been settled long ago,
4:48
Speaker 1: and he should have been extended long ago. So now
4:51
Speaker 1: AJ asked where he's going to go. People say, well,
4:54
Speaker 1: maybe it's Toronto. Maybe they come back to him. I
4:56
Speaker 1: guess that's conceivable. They can come back to him with
4:59
Speaker 1: a number closer to what he wants because they're getting
5:01
Speaker 1: a lot of heat, as you know. But the Blue
5:04
Speaker 1: Day's front office talks frequently about discipline. Now they want
5:08
Speaker 1: to stay disciplined. Sometimes actually often, that's a great idea.
5:12
Speaker 1: But when you've got a star player like this and
5:14
Speaker 1: you've got the one Sodo deal, they're sitting at six
5:18
Speaker 1: hundred I'm sorry, seven hundred and sixty five million. The
5:20
Speaker 1: market's changed, and it seems like they had a couple
5:24
Speaker 1: of opportunities to react to that before even Sodo signed,
5:27
Speaker 1: and they did not take advantage of them.
5:29
Speaker 3: Ken, real quick, I want to go back to something
5:31
Speaker 3: you said. You said, Tristan Costas played GM yesterday, which
5:34
Speaker 3: is fine, you can do that, right, But I said
5:36
Speaker 3: this last year on here and and I question this,
5:38
Speaker 3: are they going to get tired of his antics? If
5:40
Speaker 3: he can't play and he doesn't perform, well, this is
5:42
Speaker 3: just another one on the list. So could this expedite
5:46
Speaker 3: his I mean, he has to come out and bang
5:47
Speaker 3: this year, right in order for the Red Sox to
5:49
Speaker 3: be like, Okay, you can say whatever you.
5:50
Speaker 1: Want, I would say when you talk like that, and listen,
5:56
Speaker 1: reporters welcome that kind of talk. We love stuff like this,
5:59
Speaker 1: right it. But when you say things like that like
6:02
Speaker 1: he said yesterday, you've got to back it up. You've
6:05
Speaker 1: got to be really an established star. And I think
6:09
Speaker 1: that was the issue that certain people had with what
6:12
Speaker 1: Casis did. This guy really hasn't accomplished that much, if
6:16
Speaker 1: anything at all, in the big leagues just yet. He's
6:18
Speaker 1: a talented guy. He's done a little bit he's going
6:21
Speaker 1: to be fine. He's probably going to be a pretty
6:23
Speaker 1: good player. But if you're going to talk like that,
6:27
Speaker 1: it's probably best to have maybe, I don't know, ten
6:29
Speaker 1: years in maybe a couple of MVP awards. It just
6:32
Speaker 1: isn't something that's normally done by a player with his
6:36
Speaker 1: lack of stature.
6:37
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6:41
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6:44
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6:48
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7:40
Speaker 3: When you wrote the article this morning or posted the
7:42
Speaker 3: article this morning about the Brewers, you mentioned in there
7:46
Speaker 3: how they're top ten in attendance. They are an organization
7:50
Speaker 3: that's gone from two hundred and thirty three million in
7:53
Speaker 3: value and Antinasio bought them to one point six billion.
7:58
Speaker 3: And yet the gist of the article, if I'm not mistaken,
8:02
Speaker 3: is they're coming back spending this year after having a
8:05
Speaker 3: better team. Is it because of the fact that they
8:08
Speaker 3: won the division and they're like, ah, we got beat
8:11
Speaker 3: by the sixth place team, so we can just slide
8:15
Speaker 3: into the sixth place spot. And you know what, it
8:18
Speaker 3: was a wash about making the money when we had
8:21
Speaker 3: three home games for the wildcard series, right, Well, there's a.
8:25
Speaker 1: Lot going on with that story. And they were top
8:29
Speaker 1: ten in attendance, or they've been top ten in attendance
8:32
Speaker 1: since two thousand and seven. The cocumulative numbers. They weren't
8:35
Speaker 1: top ten last year. Eric, But the point is that
8:40
Speaker 1: they do this. They operate according to their revenues. They
8:44
Speaker 1: are a low revenue team and they don't have a
8:46
Speaker 1: big payroll. We all understand that. My question that I
8:50
Speaker 1: raised is, hey, this year, you haven't signed a free
8:53
Speaker 1: agent for more than one million dollars. You signed three guys.
8:56
Speaker 1: One was for a million, two or for less than that,
8:59
Speaker 1: and they're weren't even fully guaranteed. And you're doing that
9:04
Speaker 1: when you're coming off a division title and you had
9:06
Speaker 1: three home games. Now, what the owner Mark Attanasio said
9:09
Speaker 1: in the news conference yesterday was the money that you
9:12
Speaker 1: get from the wild card round when you get knocked
9:15
Speaker 1: out as they did, is not consequential. It was like
9:18
Speaker 1: a million to two million. That's consequential to a lot
9:20
Speaker 1: of us, But to a baseball team, I guess not much.
9:23
Speaker 1: So that was one point. And then I actually did
9:26
Speaker 1: ask about, hey, because you got knocked out by a
9:31
Speaker 1: hot number six seed, is it a situation where maybe
9:33
Speaker 1: you just don't want to really go for it the
9:35
Speaker 1: same way when you know you can sneak get into
9:38
Speaker 1: the playoffs as a number six and maybe have even
9:41
Speaker 1: better success than you've had. They've had five straight early
9:44
Speaker 1: eliminations without advancing, and at Tanasio said, you go for
9:48
Speaker 1: the division title. You can't think that way, and I
9:51
Speaker 1: believe that is the case. I believe what he's saying
9:53
Speaker 1: is true there. His position is we've got so many
9:56
Speaker 1: good young players were set well, they don't really have
9:59
Speaker 1: an answer at third. He did acknowledge that you can
10:02
Speaker 1: always add to your pitching, and they should be adding
10:04
Speaker 1: to their pitching. That's the one thing that I don't
10:07
Speaker 1: quite follow. They could have been a team for the
10:09
Speaker 1: relievers out there, Kenley Jansen, They could still be a
10:12
Speaker 1: team for David Robertson or another reliever. And Jose Kintana
10:16
Speaker 1: is sitting out there, Andrew Guiney is sitting out there,
10:20
Speaker 1: Kyle Gibson all still free agents. And I understand the
10:24
Speaker 1: Brewers are in a different difficult financial situation compared to
10:27
Speaker 1: a lot of teams. We all get that. But in
10:31
Speaker 1: my view, and what I wrote here is you're making
10:34
Speaker 1: it even harder for your front office and at some
10:37
Speaker 1: point that could catch up with you.
10:41
Speaker 3: Agreed, Agreed, Now you're you're you're at the Rancher in Glendale,
10:44
Speaker 3: Campbell back ranch there with Dave Roberts his contracts up,
10:48
Speaker 3: Aaron Boone his contract's coming up. Here. Are they going
10:50
Speaker 3: to get the big bucks like a Craig Council. They
10:53
Speaker 3: deserve it. Listen, they're in huge markets. They've handled their
10:56
Speaker 3: teams unbelievably, so are they going to get the contracts
10:59
Speaker 3: they deserve? Our owners still gonna say, oh, we can down,
11:02
Speaker 3: you know, not pay these managers enough because the front
11:05
Speaker 3: office really does all the work. Anyways, because that's the
11:07
Speaker 3: way it looks from the outside with manager salaries, how
11:09
Speaker 3: they've held them down. Well, Creig Council kind of broke
11:12
Speaker 3: the mold. So these two are next in line.
11:17
Speaker 1: A Jay's an interesting point you raised there, and if
11:19
Speaker 1: you think about it, we were talking about Guerrero just
11:22
Speaker 1: a minute ago, and has Soto change the market for him?
11:25
Speaker 1: CREG Council changed the market for managers. Dave Roberts is
11:28
Speaker 1: much more successful than CREG Counsel. He's won two World Series.
11:31
Speaker 1: He has the all time highest winning percentage for managers
11:34
Speaker 1: with two hundred and fifty games of experience or more.
11:37
Speaker 1: There's a lot going on there that is really positive.
11:40
Speaker 1: Boon not as much, but his winning percentage is second
11:43
Speaker 1: among actives pretty good. So I would expect that the
11:48
Speaker 1: Roberts contract will come in above council. But it's not
11:51
Speaker 1: necessarily going to be an easy negotiation because you're right,
11:54
Speaker 1: teams don't value managers, and teams always point to contracts
11:58
Speaker 1: like counsels or like Soto's as an outlier. Well, just
12:01
Speaker 1: because that team did that doesn't mean we have to. Well,
12:04
Speaker 1: it's kind of not the way it works. And if
12:06
Speaker 1: Dave Roberts gets to the end of this contract without
12:08
Speaker 1: an extension, obviously there are teams that would want him.
12:12
Speaker 1: That said, all that said, I do expect both these
12:15
Speaker 1: guys to be signed to extensions by opening deck.
12:20
Speaker 2: All right, we'll see what happens. We'll talk about it
12:22
Speaker 2: in a sec Ken, thank you very much. Enjoy the
12:26
Speaker 2: non dark side swim.
12:28
Speaker 3: Pool great and the ladies feeding it with fans and great. Yeah,
12:35
Speaker 3: when you go to the other side, you ain't getting that.
12:38
Speaker 4: Have fun. We'll talk to you, I understand. Thanks guys.
12:42
Speaker 2: All right, that's FT senior insider Ken Rosenthal back on
12:45
Speaker 2: Fair Territory tomorrow live session twelve thirty East Coast time
12:50
Speaker 2: is when that show begins. Let's stay here actually for
12:53
Speaker 2: a moment. Let's shock the system. We didn't get to
12:56
Speaker 2: talk about this the other day, and I wanted to
12:58
Speaker 2: bring it up to Brian Cashman said there would be
13:00
Speaker 2: a flood of activity if Boone was let loose in
13:05
Speaker 2: a free agent and I do think you know, Boone
13:08
Speaker 2: gets a hard time sometimes from Yankee fans krats who
13:11
Speaker 2: are just used to the dynasty that the Yankees used
13:14
Speaker 2: to be and don't realize that Boone is just handling
13:18
Speaker 2: the roster that he was given, which often isn't perfect.
13:21
Speaker 2: It's definitely not Derek jeter dynasty day is perfect. So
13:25
Speaker 2: what's your take on this? For both sides? We've touched
13:28
Speaker 2: on it, but I just want to give it a
13:30
Speaker 2: couple more minutes here, since I do think there is
13:33
Speaker 2: going to be this battle, which includes the league office
13:36
Speaker 2: trying to get manager salaries down, and the Dodgers are
13:39
Speaker 2: in this weird spot. Everyone's already kind of against them.
13:42
Speaker 2: They're spending a lot of money. It's a piece of
13:44
Speaker 2: cake for them to give Doc whatever he wants, but
13:46
Speaker 2: they don't want to keep rising the number up because
13:48
Speaker 2: what if someone else crushes it the next couple of
13:51
Speaker 2: years and then he's like, I want more than ten
13:53
Speaker 2: million dollars a year.
13:55
Speaker 3: Teams that value it are going to pay for it.
13:57
Speaker 3: Teams that take a first year guy. You know, as
14:01
Speaker 3: a first year guy, you're not gonna get that much.
14:02
Speaker 3: And teams, I guess, can squash that salary just like
14:06
Speaker 3: they can, you know, the minimum salary for players, although
14:09
Speaker 3: that's negotiated. To me, Boone Roberts should both exceed what
14:15
Speaker 3: Craig Council's done or did. All three are in big marcuts.
14:20
Speaker 3: You know, I think there's more pressure on the other
14:23
Speaker 3: two than there is on counts in Chicago. But to me,
14:27
Speaker 3: you have to you have to pay these guys if
14:30
Speaker 3: you think there's a value there. If you don't think
14:32
Speaker 3: there's a value there, hey go roll the dice. Boonie
14:36
Speaker 3: will get a job somewhere else. David rout dajoill get
14:39
Speaker 3: a job somewhere else too. Yeah. I mean, what is
14:46
Speaker 3: there to say other than yeah, like pay the guys.
14:49
Speaker 3: These guys are great. If Aaron Boone hits a free
14:51
Speaker 3: agent market, guess what, every team that fires their manager
14:54
Speaker 3: of this offseason is gonna want Aaron Boone. If David
14:56
Speaker 3: Roberts hits the free agent market this year as a manager,
14:59
Speaker 3: every team that it'll be, yeah, bidding war between Boone
15:01
Speaker 3: and Dave Roberts. Boone Dave Roberts. Boone Dave Roberts. I'm sorry,
15:04
Speaker 3: these two or two of the best in the game.
15:05
Speaker 3: He say whatever you want about the Dodgers roster, but
15:08
Speaker 3: they have to still finagle stuff. They have to especially listen,
15:12
Speaker 3: you have to get the rosters right. You have to
15:15
Speaker 3: get the players to understand what the front office wants.
15:17
Speaker 3: You have to get them to understand analytics. You have
15:18
Speaker 3: to communicate with these guys, and these two are two
15:21
Speaker 3: of the best at it. I mean, Aaron Boone stands
15:23
Speaker 3: up for his players better than anybody, right, And Dave
15:25
Speaker 3: Roberts is one of the best communicators. If you ever
15:27
Speaker 3: talk Dave Roberts for five minutes, you understand what a
15:29
Speaker 3: great communicator is. So, I mean, both these guys deserve
15:32
Speaker 3: a ton of money, and they deserve more credit than
15:34
Speaker 3: what they get.
15:34
Speaker 2: I feel like, yeah, you know, I've sat in his
15:37
Speaker 2: office to multiple times for meetings and you're like, yep,
15:41
Speaker 2: this makes sense.
15:42
Speaker 4: This is why this has been.
15:43
Speaker 2: Operating this way for a while so consistently, and why
15:46
Speaker 2: there's not as much drama here as there is in
15:50
Speaker 2: many other organizations, and he has talked about getting the
15:54
Speaker 2: value that he deserves. You should test that out, not
16:00
Speaker 2: go to the free agent market, but don't settle because
16:04
Speaker 2: the Dodgers have pressure in this situation too. They cannot
16:07
Speaker 2: let him walk. They're gonna pay for all these players.
16:11
Speaker 2: They're gonna do the excess of grabbing a reliever to
16:14
Speaker 2: cut another reliever who should be on a big league roster,
16:16
Speaker 2: right like the Yates for the Brazier. That's kind of
16:18
Speaker 2: the money difference in what it would cost to pay
16:22
Speaker 2: Dave Roberts per season, So it's no big.
16:24
Speaker 4: Deal for them.
16:25
Speaker 2: I think there's a bigger hand in play here where
16:28
Speaker 2: the league wants to keep the salaries down.
16:29
Speaker 4: I would not overlook that part. So we'll see what happens.
16:32
Speaker 2: But Doc should say I get the highest paid and
16:35
Speaker 2: I get the most years, and nobody should flinch.
16:38
Speaker 4: We'll see what happens.
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Speaker 2: the Weeds, the Athletic Spring Training Survey, Jason Stark talks
17:50
Speaker 2: to executives, scouts, coaches. Thirty two total pulled. All right,
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Speaker 2: let's go over a few things here. First of all,
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Speaker 2: start nice and easy, most improved team, he said, is
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Speaker 2: the first time that the most improved team was the
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Speaker 2: team that won the World Series. And this he went
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Speaker 2: n L a AL, so let's go NL first. Talking
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Speaker 2: about the Dodgers, he's puts in quotes from the execs.
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Speaker 2: He's like one exec was like, what are they gonna
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Speaker 2: do with everyone? Like what if everyone is actually healthy?
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Speaker 2: It's going to be awkward.
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Speaker 4: So the Dodgers won, and then what are they gonna do?
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Speaker 3: Load management?
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Speaker 4: That's right, they are. They already do that, so they'll
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Speaker 4: do even more of that.
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Speaker 2: Dodgers, Mets, Cubs, Diamondbacks, and then Reds were the top
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Speaker 2: five that received votes for most Improved National League Teams.
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Speaker 2: Let's show AL as well, and then we can chat
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Speaker 2: most improved AL. One execs said it's honestly tough to
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Speaker 2: come up with three and pointed out how there's a
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Speaker 2: massive difference between the AL in the NL right now,
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Speaker 2: which was the case last year. But the Red Sox
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Speaker 2: won this pre Bragman signing, so probably would have received
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Speaker 2: even more boats. Yankee Second Rangers, A's, Tigers, Blue Jays.
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Speaker 4: I'm sorry, I know.
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Speaker 2: It seems fifty to fifty on this, but I don't
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Speaker 2: think that the Yankees are improved. If you want to
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Speaker 2: make a case that they're in a similar spot, that's okay.
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Speaker 2: I have a hard time seeing them improved based on
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Speaker 2: their off season.
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Speaker 3: That's me. You got a more athletic person to get
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Speaker 3: Judge out of center field. They got a the best
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Speaker 3: closer in baseball. I mean, I guess cost was better
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Speaker 3: last year, but they got the best closer available by far,
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Speaker 3: and they up. They haven't lost. Yeah, obviously they're you know,
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Speaker 3: you can't make up for so Soto's offense with this,
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Speaker 3: But Max Freed is a bona fide number one. He's
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Speaker 3: not their ace, but he's a bona fide number one
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Speaker 3: to add to the rotation. Yeah, I agree. I mean,
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Speaker 3: I think what they did. I think Goldschmild will improve
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Speaker 3: their defense. I think I think another year wherever Jazz
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Speaker 3: if he's at third base, another year of Jazz at
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Speaker 3: third base. I think Devin Williams is going to solidify
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Speaker 3: their bullpen. They could put Weaver in a setup role.
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Speaker 3: I love what they've done. I think I just think that. Yeah,
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Speaker 3: I think they're improved, but I still don't think they
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Speaker 3: improved much of the Red Sox even before the because
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Speaker 3: you had Crochet, you had Bueller, he had some of
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Speaker 3: the other things that the Red Sox have done. Now
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Speaker 3: you throw Bragman on top. I agree with this. My
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Speaker 3: bigger question is I thought the A's would be third
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Speaker 3: in this because of some of the signings that they
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Speaker 3: made over the Rangers. But we'll see how it plays
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Speaker 3: out and nationally. Nationally, yeah, the Dodgers improved and the
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Speaker 3: Mets improved. I mean, but seeing that the Dodgers improved
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Speaker 3: the most, that they won the World Series just shows
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Speaker 3: you how much better they are than everybody else.
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Speaker 4: As an org exactly right.
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Speaker 2: They won last year at a time when they should
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Speaker 2: not have necessarily won.
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Speaker 4: We've talked about it many times.
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Speaker 2: I mean, they almost got bounced by the Padres, but
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Speaker 2: the Padres choked in that situation. Free agent signings, so
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Speaker 2: here's the fun part. Best and worst have a lot
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Speaker 2: of crisscross. Best Roki Sasaki, that's obvious and you cost nothing.
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Speaker 2: Corbin Burns, then Pete Alonzo than Juan Soto. Worst free
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Speaker 2: agent signings. Here's the top five according to this poll.
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Speaker 2: Sodo Freed, Severino Schuerzer, boyd aj.
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Speaker 3: Thoughts, Well, I mean, listen, the best, I mean depends
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Speaker 3: on how well Won Soto ages for me for the
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Speaker 3: best or worst. I mean, obviously Sazaki is the best.
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Speaker 3: Corbin Burns great for the Diamondbacks because he didn't cost
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Speaker 3: him an arm in a leg, Pete Alonzo had to
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Speaker 3: go back to the Mets. But to me, the worst
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Speaker 3: is more interesting. Max Sure's are for an on a
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Speaker 3: one year deal to the Blue Jays. How is that
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Speaker 3: a bad deal? If he comes out and he's healthy
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Speaker 3: and he pitches, even if he's not the Max Scherzer
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Speaker 3: of all the cy Young's in the first ballot Hall
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Speaker 3: of Fame guy. If he just gives them twenty five
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Speaker 3: starts and is very effective, or he gives them fifteen
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Speaker 3: starts in the first half and they can trade him
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Speaker 3: and get something if they're out of it. I don't
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Speaker 3: know how this can be even close to the worst.
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Speaker 3: I mean, Severarino, the A's made his move. We should
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Speaker 3: be applauding the A's, not saying it's bad. I don't know.
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Speaker 3: The one to me that's the most interesting will always
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Speaker 3: be won Soto because we got to see how this goes.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, well, the consensus was great short term, awful long term.
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Speaker 2: That makes sense, So It just depends what kind of.
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Speaker 4: Person you are. You know, you don't know what's gonna
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Speaker 4: happen here ten years from now? Who cares?
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Speaker 3: Who cares?
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Speaker 4: That's my thing.
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Speaker 3: I don't care. No way you have you have a
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Speaker 3: cornerstone to build around, and when you already had a
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Speaker 3: cornerstone in Lindoor, like those dud dudes are going to
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Speaker 3: play for a long time, even six years from now,
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Speaker 3: like your front office could look different, Your prospects are
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Speaker 3: going to totally look different. You haven't even drafted dudes
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Speaker 3: that are going to be in the big leagues in
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Speaker 3: six years yet. And Wan's still going to be in
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Speaker 3: his prime. So who cares?
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Speaker 2: I'm with you, all right? Two more that I want
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Speaker 2: to bring up here for verbal mentions that are more funny.
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Speaker 2: This was not an official poll, but he got one
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Speaker 2: vote for someone who wanted to bring up most confusing trade.
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Speaker 2: An executive was like, why did the Blue Jays trade
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Speaker 2: for Miles Straw most of the two years close to
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Speaker 2: fifteen million dollars left. I know there's some money that
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Speaker 2: came back to gather money for a player that they
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Speaker 2: didn't end up getting. They were like, they should have
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Speaker 2: done that. Once the player said, I'm coming over. Obviously
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Speaker 2: we don't know everything behind the scenes, but I'm not
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Speaker 2: going to give benefit of the doubt to the Blue
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Speaker 2: Jays right now. They are valuing players differently. Watch yesterday's
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Speaker 2: show for more info on that fun little quote shot
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Speaker 2: at Laddie Junior for no reason. And then lastly, least
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Speaker 2: recognizable team was epic, really really good battle. But aj,
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Speaker 2: you might be a fan of the worst team in
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Speaker 2: baseball last year and the worst team in the AL
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Speaker 2: this year, but the Marlins, actually one is the least
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Speaker 2: recognizable team. The White Sox finished in second, Rockies third
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Speaker 2: race finished in fourth. The little note that Stark provided
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Speaker 2: was no one who got more than two played appearances
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Speaker 2: or pitched more than one in the third innings in
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Speaker 2: that wildcard series for the Marlins two years ago remains
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Speaker 2: on the roster.
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Speaker 3: Well, here's my thing. I agree. I can't name. We
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Speaker 3: tried to do this the other day. Name five Marlins
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Speaker 3: not named Sandy al Contra and Perez, maybe five other
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Speaker 3: Marlins we played this game, didn't We rarely could do it?
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Speaker 3: I mean the White Yeah, it took all three of us.
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Speaker 3: So it took all three of us and producer lady
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Speaker 3: in our ear to give us some code. So yeah,
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Speaker 3: but I mean the White Sox to me are a
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Speaker 3: little bit more recognizable because they have been attende. Andrew
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Speaker 3: Vaughn's been around, Luis Robert obviously, they have some names
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Speaker 3: that have been a little bit around the mar They
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Speaker 3: don't really have anybody like you said in the Rockies.
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Speaker 3: Nobody pays attention to him. So how the hell I mean,
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Speaker 3: if you I mean Chris Bryant, who is verily on
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Speaker 3: the field, and then Ezekiel Tovar after that, it's like,
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Speaker 3: I mean, you have to really dig in and we
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Speaker 3: watch the old No, but I'm saying we watch baseball
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Speaker 3: every day. I'm talking about the casual fan that turns
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Speaker 3: on a game. They don't know who these guys are.
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Speaker 3: They don't know who these and that's that's just the
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Speaker 3: way the organizations are set up. It's not a knock
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Speaker 3: on the players, just the way the organizations set up.
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Speaker 2: I know he's been out for a year, but Sandy
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Speaker 2: al Contra is a name you want to say young,
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Speaker 2: but it's been a minute since we've seen him on
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Speaker 2: the field because coming back from.
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Speaker 3: Surgery, I said, him and Harry Bruce but don't not
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Speaker 3: name me four other ones. If we if we hear
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Speaker 3: about Sandy a contra when he gets off to a
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Speaker 3: strong start, if we hear about him getting traded, there
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Speaker 3: has to be some type of grievance of some kind.
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Speaker 3: I'm not saying that they have to keep him. I'm
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Speaker 3: saying he's the only one. If you look at his contract,
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Speaker 3: it's super team friendly for who he is and what
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Speaker 3: he can be. But if they talk about trading him,
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Speaker 3: I'm I'm gonna be irate because this team has to
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Speaker 3: has to be made to do something, has to be
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Speaker 3: made to do something because people are gonna turn these
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Speaker 3: teams on. They're gonna see that the Marlins are on
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Speaker 3: and they'll be like, I don't want to watch this game,
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Speaker 3: and it's bad for the sport.
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Speaker 2: It is, but they're doing the scrap it down and
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Speaker 2: build it back up Orioles Astro style. Cubs did it
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Speaker 2: back in the day. I don't agree with it, but
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Speaker 2: that is what they're doing, and I think Sandy will
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Speaker 2: get Delta.
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Speaker 3: They've scrapped it down way loose. They've scrapped it down
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Speaker 3: way more than any other team ever has.
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Speaker 2: I'm sorry, no, dude, I disagree with that. I hate
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Speaker 2: the process. But Houston, Baltimore, those teams.
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Speaker 3: Houston did Houston. I played against Houston at twenty thirteen.
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Speaker 3: They're awful year. I mean they had Rick Ankiel still
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Speaker 3: was on the team. Bud Norris is still there. I
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Speaker 3: mean Al Tuvay was there. I mean they still had
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Speaker 3: some people you had heard of, the Marlins.
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Speaker 4: I'm just saying, I'm right right with Adam.
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Speaker 3: There were still some veterans that you had heard of
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Speaker 3: on the Astros that you're right, trust me. I played.
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Speaker 3: Jason Castro was there. He was there, was there were
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Speaker 3: some people that were there that other but the Marlins
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Speaker 3: are just this is a completely different animal than what
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Speaker 3: the Astros did. I'm sorry.
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Speaker 4: Orioles had nobody.
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Speaker 3: Adam, Jones, Davis and all those guys still around.
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Speaker 2: No, but then Jones was gone, right, He eventually went
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Speaker 2: to the d Backs and then went overseas. I think
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Speaker 2: only Davis, but he wasn't really playing towards the end
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Speaker 2: of that deal. Right, We can do a dive on
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Speaker 2: that at some point. Best Tank of the twenty first
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Speaker 2: Century might be a fun segment if you're into it,
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Speaker 2: let us know