Latest / Foul Territory / Fair Territory: Braves lose Kim, Bellinger update, Ken's HOF Ballot

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Fair Territory: Braves lose Kim, Bellinger update, Ken's HOF Ballot · Foul Territory

0:01
Speaker 1: Welcome everyone to the Monday edition of Fair Territory. It
0:04
Speaker 1: is Martin Luther King Day, a day to reflect on
0:07
Speaker 1: King's legacy and all that he taught us. It is
0:10
Speaker 1: also on our show a Day for a first, we
0:14
Speaker 1: are going to rescind last week's Stork of the Week,
0:17
Speaker 1: which went unanimously to the Los Angeles Angels, and we
0:21
Speaker 1: are going to rescind it because the Angels have agreed
0:23
Speaker 1: to pay the insurance and the salary in twenty twenty
0:26
Speaker 1: six of that prospect Ral Foster who was injured in
0:30
Speaker 1: a car accident. You see the story by Sam Blum
0:33
Speaker 1: last week, and this is from the other day. The
0:36
Speaker 1: Angels will continue to ensure the prospects severely injured in
0:39
Speaker 1: a car crash. His mother says, this story is the
0:43
Speaker 1: follow up to Sam's original story. I don't know that
0:47
Speaker 1: Sam's story well, I don't know that it didn't have
0:50
Speaker 1: an impact on this. Sorry for the double negative. It
0:53
Speaker 1: seems to me that maybe the Angels were going to
0:55
Speaker 1: do this all along. That's a possibility. And it seems
0:58
Speaker 1: to me also that once published his story, his original
1:02
Speaker 1: story and then it went public, that perhaps the Angels
1:05
Speaker 1: were shamed into it. I don't know either way. The
1:08
Speaker 1: Angels are doing the right thing. We are rescinding for
1:11
Speaker 1: the first time in Fair Territory history, a Dork of
1:14
Speaker 1: the Week award. Angels, good job by doing this for real, Foster.
1:18
Speaker 1: All right, now, let's get to the matters at hand,
1:20
Speaker 1: and we have quite a bit at hand today. The
1:22
Speaker 1: Mets Hashan Kim, the Hall of Fame ballot that I
1:25
Speaker 1: published today, a lot to get to. Let's start with
1:28
Speaker 1: the Mets and we'll get into Cody Bellinger in this
1:31
Speaker 1: conversation as well. The Mets have had an off season
1:35
Speaker 1: that I would describe as curious. Others might describe as
1:40
Speaker 1: borderline incoherent. And you might say, Ken, why do you
1:43
Speaker 1: say that, Why are you getting on the Mets again? Well,
1:46
Speaker 1: David Stern's president Baseball Operations, said at the start of
1:50
Speaker 1: the offseason, and it's said consistently since that defense was
1:53
Speaker 1: going to be a priority for the Mets, and the
1:55
Speaker 1: Neimo for Simeon trade Brandon Nimo for Marcus Simeon. Certainly
2:00
Speaker 1: that Simeon a Gold Glove winner last year. Yes, his defense,
2:03
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, his offense has declined in the last two years,
2:06
Speaker 1: but defensively he remains elite, and yet there moves since
2:11
Speaker 1: these are the ones that to me have been curious. Now,
2:15
Speaker 1: we started with the Mets trying to get Kyle Tucker
2:17
Speaker 1: for fifty five million a year, which would have given
2:20
Speaker 1: them two corner outfielders making over fifty million a year,
2:25
Speaker 1: neither of whom at this point in their career is
2:27
Speaker 1: average defensively. Both might get back to that, but they're
2:30
Speaker 1: not that right now. Mets didn't get Tucker, Dodgers did.
2:33
Speaker 1: The pivot was to Bo Baschett. Now, Bobachett is one
2:37
Speaker 1: of the best hitters, or perhaps even the best hitter
2:39
Speaker 1: available in free agency this year. He's a guy who
2:43
Speaker 1: hits all kinds of pitching in all ways. He's a
2:47
Speaker 1: really outstanding hitter. He has never played third base, and
2:50
Speaker 1: that's where the Mets intend to play him now. Bo
2:53
Speaker 1: is a shortstop for his entire career. He played second
2:56
Speaker 1: base in the World Series. I'm sure he can play
2:58
Speaker 1: third and hope Blanco, who has never played first base,
3:01
Speaker 1: will be at times the first baseman, probably the bulk
3:06
Speaker 1: of the time. He has never played first base in
3:08
Speaker 1: the majors. Now I'm expecting these guys will adapt Polanco
3:13
Speaker 1: practice first base last year with the Mariners before games. Okay,
3:17
Speaker 1: it's just not exactly the way you would expect it
3:20
Speaker 1: to go. What a team says, we're stressing defense, and
3:23
Speaker 1: then they're signing players to play out of position. And
3:26
Speaker 1: the Baschet deal three years, one hundred and twenty six
3:29
Speaker 1: million is curious in another way as well. First year
3:33
Speaker 1: salary forty two million, and then he has a five
3:36
Speaker 1: million dollar bonus if he opts out, so he may
3:39
Speaker 1: be getting forty seven million for one year with the Mets.
3:42
Speaker 1: And keep in mind that forty seven million the bulk
3:45
Speaker 1: of it, not all of it. The bulk of it
3:47
Speaker 1: is subject to a one hundred and ten percent luxury
3:50
Speaker 1: a tack. So it's possible the Mets effectively will be
3:53
Speaker 1: paying Bobashett one hundred million or so for one year.
3:58
Speaker 1: That is an interest choice. It's not my money, Steve
4:02
Speaker 1: Cohen's money, and we'll see what else he does. And
4:04
Speaker 1: that's what we need to get to now, what the
4:07
Speaker 1: Mets need to get to now. So they still need
4:11
Speaker 1: one more bat and Will Sammon of The Athletic had
4:13
Speaker 1: a notes calum about the Mets yesterday, explaining where they
4:16
Speaker 1: are right now, and he mentioned their need for a
4:19
Speaker 1: versatile outfielder. Cody Bellinger is that guy. Cody Bellinger, in
4:23
Speaker 1: my mind, probably should have been the mets first choice
4:26
Speaker 1: given what they've said about defense. But at the same time,
4:30
Speaker 1: the one thing the Mets have not addressed yet to
4:33
Speaker 1: a meaningful extent is their starting pitching. That was the
4:36
Speaker 1: downfall of the team last year. Now, listen, it's only
4:40
Speaker 1: January nineteenth, and this off season is not over by
4:44
Speaker 1: any stretch of the imagination. I fully expect the Mets
4:47
Speaker 1: are going to get pitching starting pitching at some point.
4:50
Speaker 1: They've addressed their bullfen with Devin Williams and Luke Weaver,
4:54
Speaker 1: but they still need a starter, and they still need
4:56
Speaker 1: an outfielder, and it's going to be really interesting to
4:59
Speaker 1: see how they proceed. Cody Bellinger, one of the outfielders
5:02
Speaker 1: are considering, not attached to draft pick compensation, but he's
5:06
Speaker 1: sitting on an offer from the Yankees five years, one
5:09
Speaker 1: hundred and fifty five to one hundred and sixty million
5:12
Speaker 1: with two opt outs, according to the Athletics Brandon Cuddy,
5:16
Speaker 1: and he hasn't taken that deal. Now, maybe he hasn't
5:19
Speaker 1: taken that deal because he's waiting to see what the
5:21
Speaker 1: Mets and Blue Jays do and whether they come back
5:23
Speaker 1: to him with something better, or maybe he just ends
5:26
Speaker 1: up back with the Yankees. That would seem to be
5:28
Speaker 1: the logical thing. He is the Yankees' number one priority.
5:32
Speaker 1: But we'll see how that all plays out, and then
5:35
Speaker 1: we'll see what the Mets do with a starting pitcher,
5:38
Speaker 1: because frankly, they're in the mix for Freddie Peralta in
5:43
Speaker 1: a trade, and I'm sure they're in the mix for
5:45
Speaker 1: other pitchers in a trade as well. But if they
5:48
Speaker 1: sign a from ber Valdez or a Zach Gallon, two
5:51
Speaker 1: free agents, the two best free agents who are still
5:53
Speaker 1: out there from a starting pitching standpoint, they're losing two
5:56
Speaker 1: more draft picks. Now. I don't see that as a
5:58
Speaker 1: big deal for a team like the Mets. Their farm
6:01
Speaker 1: system is in a really good place right now. If
6:03
Speaker 1: they blow out their draft and lose their third and
6:06
Speaker 1: sixth picks as well as their second and fifth, so
6:09
Speaker 1: you go second, third, fifth, sixth, all gone, I don't
6:13
Speaker 1: see that being too cumbersome for the Mets. They can
6:16
Speaker 1: handle that, but it's a choice that they're going to
6:19
Speaker 1: need to consider as they go forward. Here. So one
6:22
Speaker 1: other thing I want to get to with the Mets
6:25
Speaker 1: their offense. And certainly the question was asked and has
6:29
Speaker 1: been asked, and was asked of me on foul Territory
6:31
Speaker 1: the other day. Is their offense better than it was
6:34
Speaker 1: last year? I wasn't really anticipating the question, and my
6:38
Speaker 1: answer was, it seems to me the Mets are on
6:41
Speaker 1: equal footing or perhaps even better than last year. But
6:43
Speaker 1: I want to show you the Steamer projections. Now, these
6:46
Speaker 1: are advanced analytical looks at the Mets players, the ones
6:50
Speaker 1: that they've acquired, the ones who have departed, and it
6:53
Speaker 1: shows that the ones who have departed if you look
6:56
Speaker 1: at their combined WRC plus weighted runs created plus, it's
7:01
Speaker 1: an advanced metric that shows you basically a complete offensive
7:05
Speaker 1: picture of a player. These are projections. Again, these are
7:08
Speaker 1: merely projections, and projections do not always come true. But
7:12
Speaker 1: you see where if you add up and I don't
7:14
Speaker 1: know if this is the proper way to do it analytically,
7:16
Speaker 1: but if you add up the three guys who left
7:18
Speaker 1: and the three guys who are coming, the three guys
7:20
Speaker 1: who left, their projections are slightly higher overall. We'll see
7:25
Speaker 1: how it plays out. I kind of think that the
7:27
Speaker 1: newcomers bashd in particular, are going to be really good.
7:31
Speaker 1: I'm not so sure about Simon because he's been in
7:33
Speaker 1: a two year decline, but it's fairly close offensively. One
7:36
Speaker 1: more bat would put it over the top, I would
7:39
Speaker 1: think for their offensive balance compared to last year. So
7:43
Speaker 1: that's the Mets, but they weren't the only NLS team
7:47
Speaker 1: with big news in recent days. Just yesterday, the Braves
7:51
Speaker 1: announced that Hashan Kim, who they had signed earlier this
7:54
Speaker 1: offseason one year, twenty million dollars, he suffered an injury
7:59
Speaker 1: to his face and is going to be out four
8:01
Speaker 1: to five months now. Hashan Kim, the whole idea was
8:05
Speaker 1: he was going to stabilize short stuff for them, enable
8:08
Speaker 1: them to use Mauricio Duban in more of a utility role.
8:11
Speaker 1: That is not going to happen, at least not right away.
8:15
Speaker 1: The expectation among Braves people is that Hashan Kim is
8:19
Speaker 1: going to be out to at least or probably about
8:22
Speaker 1: I should say about mid May. It could be a
8:25
Speaker 1: little bit longer than that. These things you never quite know,
8:27
Speaker 1: but if they get him back in mid May, they'll
8:29
Speaker 1: go with Dubon for six weeks or so, and they'll
8:32
Speaker 1: probably find some external option to just kind of give
8:36
Speaker 1: them a backup if Dubon needs a day off here
8:39
Speaker 1: or there. They're okay. They're not in a horrible spot
8:42
Speaker 1: because they acquired Dubab before signing Kim. But would you
8:46
Speaker 1: say this is ideal? I would not say this is ideal.
8:50
Speaker 1: The Braves, though, have had, in my opinion, a very
8:53
Speaker 1: good offseason. They've supplemented their bullpen with Robert Suarez and others.
8:58
Speaker 1: They have signed Kim, a player who should be good
9:01
Speaker 1: for them if he gets on the field at some point,
9:04
Speaker 1: and they've done some good things, but they still have
9:06
Speaker 1: one more thing to do, and that is get a
9:09
Speaker 1: starting pitcher. And we'll see where the Braves end up
9:12
Speaker 1: on that. They've been in on the Freddy Peralta sweepstakes,
9:15
Speaker 1: though I don't know that they've been into the same
9:17
Speaker 1: degree as some other clubs. They're a team that should
9:20
Speaker 1: bounce back this season. I fully expect that they're going
9:23
Speaker 1: to be better. Mike Yastremsky is another addition that they've made.
9:27
Speaker 1: They've made a number of additions that are kind of
9:29
Speaker 1: thirty something players, but they still look like they're going
9:33
Speaker 1: to be pretty formidable once hash on Kim gets on
9:37
Speaker 1: the field. All right, with that, we end up the lead.
9:40
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10:44
Speaker 1: Were where where? Well? Where? Time? All right? Time Now
10:51
Speaker 1: for the inside dish, the part of the show where
10:52
Speaker 1: I talk about something I've written, trend in the game,
10:55
Speaker 1: something else going on. And today it's an easy call.
10:59
Speaker 1: I'm going to talk about my Hall of Fame ballot,
11:01
Speaker 1: which I published today in The Athletic, and of course
11:04
Speaker 1: wrote an entire column about it, because a lot of
11:07
Speaker 1: us that's what we do. We write explanations of why
11:09
Speaker 1: we voted the way we did. Now, my ballot this
11:13
Speaker 1: year is stuffed. Frankly, it has ten names on it,
11:17
Speaker 1: which surprised me a little bit. I didn't know at
11:19
Speaker 1: the start of the process that I would get to ten.
11:21
Speaker 1: That's the maximum number that voting members of the Baseball
11:24
Speaker 1: Writers Association of America are allowed to vote for. But
11:28
Speaker 1: I've got ten online, and I've got six first timers.
11:32
Speaker 1: Here are the names, Carlos Beltron, Andrew Jones, Jimmy Rollins,
11:35
Speaker 1: Chase Utley, Felix Hernandez, Andy Pettit, Mark Burley, Cole Hamils,
11:40
Speaker 1: David Wright, and Dustin Pedroia, Beltron Jones, Rollins, and Utley.
11:45
Speaker 1: Those are my holdovers. The others are all first time
11:48
Speaker 1: selections for me. Basically, my ballot had two themes, and
11:53
Speaker 1: I explained this in the column at length. The first
11:56
Speaker 1: theme was this, and this was kind of the main one.
11:59
Speaker 1: No longer am I going to penalize players for things
12:03
Speaker 1: that they did not accomplish through little or no fault
12:06
Speaker 1: of their own. So what are we talking about? Guys
12:09
Speaker 1: whose careers ended prematurely due to injuries Padroia and right,
12:13
Speaker 1: a guy who might have pitched longer at a higher
12:16
Speaker 1: level if he wasn't abused by his team early in
12:20
Speaker 1: his career, and that's Felix Hernandez. And then a guy
12:23
Speaker 1: who's a little bit different than those, who is quite
12:26
Speaker 1: similar to another of my first time choices, Andy Pettitt,
12:29
Speaker 1: but doesn't have the same postseason resume because he didn't
12:34
Speaker 1: play on teams that were as good as Andy Pettit's
12:36
Speaker 1: that's Mark Burley. So I know, when you start putting
12:42
Speaker 1: people on your bout who accomplished a lot, but could
12:46
Speaker 1: have accomplished more. If you think about it, that's a
12:49
Speaker 1: slippery slope. It opens up a lot of things. It
12:52
Speaker 1: opens up a lot of questions, It raises certain doubts
12:57
Speaker 1: maybe that people might have, and of course it ultimately
13:02
Speaker 1: has people saying, well, if you're going to elect that
13:04
Speaker 1: guy or name that guy in your ballot, what about
13:07
Speaker 1: this guy? What about that guy? This is the challenge
13:11
Speaker 1: that Hall of Fame voters face because when you select one,
13:14
Speaker 1: then you're looking at another, and that's how it rolls.
13:17
Speaker 1: And that's why I've always tried to keep the bar high.
13:21
Speaker 1: But some would argue that I'm not keeping the bar
13:23
Speaker 1: as high as I should be with this particular bout.
13:26
Speaker 1: They will argue that this is the Hall of the
13:28
Speaker 1: very good with some of my selections. I get it.
13:32
Speaker 1: But times are changing, our standards should be changing with
13:36
Speaker 1: those times. And there is more of an emphasis now
13:39
Speaker 1: because careers are shorter pictures, careers in particular on peak
13:44
Speaker 1: performance a peak of seven years perhaps and not ten.
13:48
Speaker 1: My initial prerequisite when I began as a Hall of
13:51
Speaker 1: Fame voter, I think that was in the late nineties,
13:53
Speaker 1: was ten year dominance that's what I want, and that's
13:56
Speaker 1: what I still look at the most. But there are
13:59
Speaker 1: players who don't quite get to that, whose peaks are shorter,
14:02
Speaker 1: and yet still have amazing careers. And that is why
14:07
Speaker 1: I picked some of the players that I did. And
14:09
Speaker 1: I say in the column, I think I've blown it
14:11
Speaker 1: in the past with guys like Manningly and Murphy Don
14:14
Speaker 1: Mattingly Dale Murphy great careers, abrupt endings perhaps to their
14:19
Speaker 1: careers or sharp declines. In the case of Murphy Manningly,
14:23
Speaker 1: a guy who is back just betrayed him and his
14:25
Speaker 1: career ended prematurely. So I feel we blew it then,
14:30
Speaker 1: and I don't want to blow it anymore. And that
14:31
Speaker 1: was one theme. And the other theme here is that
14:36
Speaker 1: we don't elect enough Hall of Famers. If you look
14:39
Speaker 1: at the induction rates year by year, Travis Sauchek has
14:42
Speaker 1: written about this, they keep going down, and the percentage
14:46
Speaker 1: of Hall of Famers to the percentage of players is
14:49
Speaker 1: reducing each decade. That's, in some lines, I'm sure a
14:54
Speaker 1: good trend, but I'm not sure it's a fair trend.
14:57
Speaker 1: We're not honoring enough players pictures in particular, we've elected
15:02
Speaker 1: the BBWAA has only three starting pitchers since twenty fifteen,
15:07
Speaker 1: Roy Halliday, Mike Messina, and last year, of course C. C. Sabathia.
15:12
Speaker 1: Three pitchers in a decade. Three starting pitchers in a decade.
15:15
Speaker 1: That probably isn't enough. Now coming up in due time, Verlander,
15:22
Speaker 1: Scherzer Kershaw, they will be all Hall of famers, of course,
15:26
Speaker 1: and they're slam dunk first ballot Hall of Famers. Zach
15:28
Speaker 1: Grenke probably will be a Hall of Famer two. But
15:32
Speaker 1: none of those pictures is eligible into twenty twenty nine.
15:36
Speaker 1: Until twenty twenty nine, so what are we going to
15:39
Speaker 1: do in the interim? Stop electing starting pitchers. I don't
15:43
Speaker 1: know that that's a very wise thing to do. And
15:45
Speaker 1: you might say, well, you do this, but you're lowering standards.
15:50
Speaker 1: I get that argument, I certainly get it. But last
15:53
Speaker 1: year we elected C. C. Sabathia, and C. C. Sabathia,
15:57
Speaker 1: in my mind, was certainly a Hall of Famer. He
16:00
Speaker 1: received eighty six percent of the vote on the first ballot,
16:04
Speaker 1: and the pettit when you look at some of their
16:06
Speaker 1: statistical categories, it's almost identical to Sabathia. Sabathia was more
16:10
Speaker 1: dominant more accomplished. No one would dispute that. I don't believe.
16:14
Speaker 1: But if CEC got eighty six percent of the vote
16:16
Speaker 1: on the first ballot, it forced me to reconsider what
16:21
Speaker 1: I thought of Pettit or just how Pettit fits into
16:24
Speaker 1: this whole equation. And ultimately I voted for Pettit this
16:28
Speaker 1: year when I did not last year or even before that.
16:31
Speaker 1: He's been on the ballot now seven times. This is
16:34
Speaker 1: his eighth, I believe. So once I elected Pettit, or
16:37
Speaker 1: voted for Pettit, I should say he's not elected yet.
16:40
Speaker 1: I thought, okay, let's look beyond that. Let's look at
16:43
Speaker 1: the other names on the ballot. Guy who might be
16:45
Speaker 1: similar to Pettit, Mark Burley quite similar. These two guys
16:50
Speaker 1: are perhaps two of the last pitchers who are going
16:53
Speaker 1: to reach three thousand innings. There are a couple of
16:55
Speaker 1: actives that will do that. Verlanders there sure's or will
16:58
Speaker 1: get there, and their cases for the Hall are based
17:02
Speaker 1: largely on longevity and of course, excellence during their course
17:06
Speaker 1: of the careers. Burley was quite similar to Pettitt. You
17:11
Speaker 1: can look at the numbers. Go check them out on
17:12
Speaker 1: Baseball Reference dot com. Check them out on fangrafs. Wherever
17:15
Speaker 1: you look at your statistics, they're similar. The difference largely
17:19
Speaker 1: is Pettitt had two hundred and seventy innings in the postseason,
17:22
Speaker 1: a record where Burley had only thirty. Didn't get as
17:25
Speaker 1: much opportunity in October. Now, you can't hold Pettitt's success
17:29
Speaker 1: against him in the postseason. He helped the Yankees get there.
17:32
Speaker 1: He pitched well for them in many cases in the postseason.
17:35
Speaker 1: Twelve starts in clinchers, the Yankees won eight of them.
17:39
Speaker 1: The Astros two were part of that equation with him. So, yes,
17:43
Speaker 1: you cannot hold that against him. It's part of his story,
17:46
Speaker 1: it's part of his career. But I don't know that
17:48
Speaker 1: you can hold it against Burley that he wasn't quite
17:51
Speaker 1: that Now. The two other pitchers on my ballot Felix Hernandez.
17:56
Speaker 1: He's a classic example of what we might see in
17:58
Speaker 1: the future, a guy with a shorter peak who shone
18:02
Speaker 1: brightly for not the longest period of time, but definitely
18:06
Speaker 1: was a huge star. You look at his cy young finishes.
18:09
Speaker 1: All he accomplished over a nine year period between the
18:12
Speaker 1: ages of twenty one and twenty nine. He was one
18:14
Speaker 1: of the best pictures in the sport. Those pictures to me,
18:17
Speaker 1: those players, to me, are the people we should be honoring.
18:21
Speaker 1: So Felix Hernandez that was a fairly easy call for me.
18:25
Speaker 1: Now that I'm adjusting and recalibrating on the position player side,
18:29
Speaker 1: next year we're going to have Buster Posey. Buster Posey
18:33
Speaker 1: only fifteen hundred career hits. Well, Buster Posey is a
18:36
Speaker 1: guy that's going to be most likely a Hall of Famer,
18:39
Speaker 1: and that's why guys like Utley and Wright and Pedroia
18:43
Speaker 1: to me are more valid now. So Felix fits into
18:47
Speaker 1: that category. Shorter peak, but brilliant, great career. Finally, Cole
18:52
Speaker 1: Hamil's now here's the one guy I didn't expect to
18:56
Speaker 1: be voting for. I didn't think of him as when
18:59
Speaker 1: he was active as a Hall of Fame player, didn't
19:02
Speaker 1: think of him as Hall of Fame material. But part
19:05
Speaker 1: of this process is you go back and look and
19:07
Speaker 1: sometimes what we see and what we believe is not
19:10
Speaker 1: always a fair measure of a player's career. That's why
19:14
Speaker 1: we go look at the numbers, go back and talk
19:17
Speaker 1: to people and think about this again. Now, Cole Hamils
19:20
Speaker 1: is a guy that I expect will be kind of
19:24
Speaker 1: a not popular choice in the balloting this year. He'll
19:27
Speaker 1: do okay, he'll get over five percent, the minimum required
19:30
Speaker 1: to stay on the ballot. But a number of people
19:32
Speaker 1: I spoke with said, no, he's not. But you look
19:36
Speaker 1: at his ERA plus. That's his era when adjusted for
19:39
Speaker 1: park and league factors, better than Pettitt, better than Burley,
19:43
Speaker 1: It's right up there with a lot of great pictures
19:45
Speaker 1: Hall of Fame pictures. In fact, if he got into
19:48
Speaker 1: the Hall of Fame, his Era plus would rank tenth
19:51
Speaker 1: among all left handers, ahead of Glavin, ahead of Sabbathia,
19:55
Speaker 1: head of Steve Carlton. I was surprised to learn all this.
19:57
Speaker 1: He also had a pretty stellar Postsea in resume. Great
20:00
Speaker 1: in two thousand and eight, not so great in two
20:02
Speaker 1: thousand and nine, but overall an amazing, impressive career. So
20:09
Speaker 1: that's where I am with all this. And I'll say this,
20:12
Speaker 1: as I said in the column, I'm not sure I'm right.
20:15
Speaker 1: I'm never sure i'm right. Everybody has their own view
20:19
Speaker 1: of what a Hall of Famer is, Fans, writers, people
20:23
Speaker 1: in the industry. That's the beauty of the process that
20:25
Speaker 1: we can agree to disagree that will debate this and
20:29
Speaker 1: just talk about it and talk about it and talk
20:31
Speaker 1: about it some more. Now, when he mentioned that I
20:35
Speaker 1: should mention as well that I have a line for
20:39
Speaker 1: where I draw, let me put this better. I have
20:42
Speaker 1: a line with the steroids or candidates. I will not
20:46
Speaker 1: vote for candidates who tested positive or were confirmed to
20:49
Speaker 1: have used after rules were put in place. That's why
20:53
Speaker 1: I don't vote for a rod and Manny. A lot
20:55
Speaker 1: of people will disagree with that as well. But again,
20:58
Speaker 1: this is a subjective thing. This is a personal thing,
21:01
Speaker 1: and most voters put a ton of care and thought
21:04
Speaker 1: into this. If you disagree with my choices, I get it.
21:08
Speaker 1: Certainly entitled to your opinion, and I certainly respect that opinion.
21:13
Speaker 1: I don't pretend. No writer who is voting should pretend
21:16
Speaker 1: that their opinion is the end all be all. But
21:21
Speaker 1: in my view, with this, there aren't right or wrong answers.
21:24
Speaker 1: They're really are only your own answers. All right, with that,
21:29
Speaker 1: you complete the inside dish. We'll be back with grilling
21:32
Speaker 1: can right after this.
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21:54
Speaker 1: Time now for grilling. Can the part of the show
21:55
Speaker 1: where I answer your questions? Let's go rapid fire on
21:58
Speaker 1: this Monday. First question from Tyler Max Smith. Does Gallon
22:02
Speaker 1: have any kind of market? Could we see a one
22:05
Speaker 1: or two year deal with multiple team options. I wrote
22:08
Speaker 1: about Zach Gallen the other day, and it seems to
22:11
Speaker 1: me that because he received a qualifying offer, it's hurting
22:15
Speaker 1: him and he's not coming off his best season. And
22:18
Speaker 1: it's certainly possible that he will do with other Scott
22:21
Speaker 1: Boris clients have done in recent years and take a
22:24
Speaker 1: shorter deal with the idea of having a great year
22:28
Speaker 1: no qualifying offer after this year or next year whenever
22:31
Speaker 1: he opts out or ends that deal, and then going
22:33
Speaker 1: back into the market with a better chance to be
22:37
Speaker 1: an unrestricted free agent and make more money. That seems
22:40
Speaker 1: to me the path that he will get. I don't
22:42
Speaker 1: know about multiple team options. I can see player options.
22:45
Speaker 1: I can see a two year deal with an opt
22:46
Speaker 1: out after one, a three year deal with an opt
22:49
Speaker 1: out after two something along those lines. That to me
22:52
Speaker 1: is perhaps where Zach Gallen is headed. Next question, this
22:56
Speaker 1: one is from the Frosty Treks, say eight seven eight
23:00
Speaker 1: for Pirates and Aohano Suarez, they're a connection. There is
23:03
Speaker 1: there a connection there. I would expect, I certainly expect
23:08
Speaker 1: and actually know that the Pirates are interested in Aohano
23:11
Speaker 1: Suarez and the problem that they're going to face is
23:14
Speaker 1: the problem they faced with other free agents as well.
23:18
Speaker 1: If Aohanno Suarez has a choice to play for a
23:21
Speaker 1: better team, a more competitive team in his opinion, he's
23:24
Speaker 1: going to choose that team. I don't know that the
23:27
Speaker 1: Pirates in the minds of free agents are quite there yet.
23:29
Speaker 1: They're better, They're fully capable with one more hitter in
23:33
Speaker 1: my opinion, of competing for a wildcard spot because they're
23:36
Speaker 1: pitching starting pitching is so good. But if Aohanno Suarez
23:40
Speaker 1: can go to Boston, if he can return to one
23:43
Speaker 1: of his former teams, Seattle or Arizona, that might be
23:46
Speaker 1: his preference. All right. Next question, this one comes from
23:52
Speaker 1: Video Game Nation twenty six ken what has been your
23:55
Speaker 1: favorite offseason move so far? Wow, that's a good one. Hmmm.
24:01
Speaker 1: I have to think about this. I did like the
24:04
Speaker 1: three team trade between Pittsburgh, Tampa Bay, and Houston. I
24:07
Speaker 1: thought that was kind of a cool move, and three
24:10
Speaker 1: team trades are always interesting. That was the one where
24:13
Speaker 1: the Pirates acquired Brandon Lowe and the Astros acquired Mike Burrows.
24:18
Speaker 1: The Astros then and of course the Pirates too, send
24:21
Speaker 1: some prospects to Tampa Bay. Not the hugest of names,
24:25
Speaker 1: but it showed to me what the Pirates are going
24:28
Speaker 1: to need to do, need to make trades because of
24:30
Speaker 1: the free agents. Only Ryan O'Hearn has agreed to go there,
24:34
Speaker 1: So I like that move the free agent market, I'd
24:37
Speaker 1: have to think about it and take a deeper look
24:41
Speaker 1: at which moves I like best. Foul Territory coming up
24:44
Speaker 1: at one pm Eastern, We've got Jim Bowden and ken
24:47
Speaker 1: Lee Jansen joining Aj Prizinski, Aeric Kratz and Alta Rizzo.
24:50
Speaker 1: Want to thank you everyone for watching, Thank you everyone
24:52
Speaker 1: for listening. We will be back Thursday, twelve thirty Eastern
24:56
Speaker 1: Live show with a lot of Rizzo