Latest / Foul Territory / Fair Territory: 5 intriguing teams to watch this offseason, Craig Stammen is new Padres manager
Transcript
- 0:03Speaker 1: Welcome everyone to the Thursday edition of Fair Territory. I'm
- 0:06Speaker 1: Ken Rosenthal here with Scott Braun in for Alana Rizzo. Now,
- 0:11Speaker 1: back when Clarence Clements was alive, a member of the
- 0:14Speaker 1: E Street Band, Bruce Springsteen used to introduce him by
- 0:16Speaker 1: calling him King of the World, Master of the Universe.
- 0:19Speaker 1: He go on and on. I'm going to introduce Scott
- 0:21Speaker 1: today as the Emperor of the Foul Territory Empire. Scott, welcome. Wow.
- 0:28Speaker 2: I'm in Aj Perzinski's seat right now. I'll be in
- 0:31Speaker 2: the other one for Foul Territory later, Ken, but I
- 0:34Speaker 2: appreciate that I will. For me, I try to stay humble,
- 0:36Speaker 2: but I'll make sure that Aj knows what you just said.
- 0:40Speaker 3: I'll make sure please do.
- 0:41Speaker 2: The Emperor was the name, and we'll figure out a
- 0:44Speaker 2: name for AJ maybe later on in the show.
- 0:46Speaker 3: But I appreciate it.
- 0:47Speaker 2: Let's get to biz, and to lead off today, we're
- 0:50Speaker 2: gonna look at five teams that you have pegged for
- 0:53Speaker 2: very intriguing off seasons.
- 0:55Speaker 3: Now we'll preface it.
- 0:57Speaker 2: Every team is interesting and we will cover them through
- 1:00Speaker 2: the offseason. But for today's purposes, let's pick five, and
- 1:04Speaker 2: the first one you want to hit is.
- 1:06Speaker 1: The defending World Series champion, two times defending World Series
- 1:10Speaker 1: champion Los Angeles Dodgers. And here's why you might say,
- 1:14Speaker 1: I can come on the Dodgers. Yeah, they're gonna be busy,
- 1:16Speaker 1: of course, but I had a rival executive tell me
- 1:19Speaker 1: yesterday that he thinks the Dodgers are going to be
- 1:22Speaker 1: even more active than usual this offseason because of the
- 1:26Speaker 1: threat of either a salary cap in the next CBA
- 1:30Speaker 1: or increased restrictions on spending. So this might be the
- 1:33Speaker 1: last chance saloon for the Dodgers to go nuts once more.
- 1:37Speaker 1: So what would that mean, Well, they definitely would like
- 1:40Speaker 1: to address their outfield, and you've seen them linked already
- 1:43Speaker 1: to Kyle Tucker. Trent Grisham is another player that they've
- 1:46Speaker 1: liked in the past, according to the athletics Fabian Ardia.
- 1:49Speaker 1: And it's going to be interesting because Tayo Hernandez's tasker
- 1:53Speaker 1: Pandas did not have the same kind of year this
- 1:56Speaker 1: year that he did last year, and his defense has declined.
- 1:58Speaker 1: So that is one I would expect to go to
- 2:01Speaker 1: address the bullpen in some fashion. Again, maybe they go
- 2:04Speaker 1: out and get another closer to top off Tanner Scott.
- 2:07Speaker 1: So the Dodgers are definitely a team to watch and
- 2:10Speaker 1: maybe the team that ultimately lands Tucker will see it's funny.
- 2:15Speaker 2: I felt like fans really got pissed off at the
- 2:18Speaker 2: end of the offseason when they signed Tanner, Scott and
- 2:20Speaker 2: Kirby Yates.
- 2:21Speaker 3: They weren't factors in the postseason.
- 2:23Speaker 1: So he didn't make the roster.
- 2:25Speaker 3: In mind, Nope, didn't make the roster. Okay, next up?
- 2:29Speaker 1: Next up, Let's see who I have here? I would say, oh, yes,
- 2:32Speaker 1: the Philadelphia Phillies. Now this is another interesting team for
- 2:37Speaker 1: a lot of reasons. One, they're free agents Schwarber, real
- 2:40Speaker 1: mutto Ranger Suarez, and with the Phillies, they want to
- 2:45Speaker 1: resign Schwarber, they want to resign real muta they probably
- 2:48Speaker 1: need to resign both because they don't have people to
- 2:51Speaker 1: replace them. Internally, they just don't. They're already at two
- 2:55Speaker 1: hundred and fifty nine million in the luxury tax payroll,
- 2:57Speaker 1: so if they resign those guys, what is that take
- 3:00Speaker 1: them to to ninety nine something along those lines. They're
- 3:03Speaker 1: running out of room. They don't want to spend much
- 3:05Speaker 1: more money than that, So how do they do this?
- 3:09Speaker 1: Can they get in on Kyle Tucker. It would seem
- 3:11Speaker 1: to me no is the answer, because I don't know
- 3:13Speaker 1: that they can do one more big contract. Alex Bregman
- 3:16Speaker 1: would fit into the same category, but third base is
- 3:20Speaker 1: a possibility. If they trade Bone, which they've talked about
- 3:22Speaker 1: doing forever, an outfielder would be a possibility. They're gonna
- 3:26Speaker 1: be really interesting to watch. I just don't know how
- 3:29Speaker 1: they're going to make it all work because you really
- 3:32Speaker 1: can't trade any of your big money players. They're players
- 3:35Speaker 1: that you want. Tucker, I'm sorry, Turner and Harper and Wheeler,
- 3:38Speaker 1: all these guys. You're not trading any of them. So
- 3:41Speaker 1: how do you somehow create payroll flexibility? If indeed that
- 3:46Speaker 1: is what the owner, John Middleton, wants to do, you
- 3:48Speaker 1: would think even he has a limit. I guess we're
- 3:51Speaker 1: going to find out.
- 3:52Speaker 2: Yeah, And the past two postseasons have not worked out
- 3:55Speaker 2: well for Philly despite winning the division. You always think,
- 3:59Speaker 2: does an owner suddenly go, you know what, I want
- 4:01Speaker 2: to switch things up, not in terms of spending less,
- 4:03Speaker 2: but just trying to get a different roster on the
- 4:05Speaker 2: table coming into this season.
- 4:07Speaker 1: Okay, next up, next up the Boston Red Sox, and
- 4:12Speaker 1: they're intriguing for a lot of reasons, namely Alex Bregman.
- 4:16Speaker 1: We know what Bregman meant to that team. We know
- 4:19Speaker 1: that he was not simply a guy who played well
- 4:22Speaker 1: when healthy, but also someone who is transformative in the clubhouse.
- 4:26Speaker 1: He makes other players better. He's constantly in tune with
- 4:30Speaker 1: the game, seeing things, and that is value that you
- 4:33Speaker 1: can't quantify. Obviously, what if they don't sign Alex Bregman,
- 4:38Speaker 1: that's the question. You could play Marcelo Meyer third. That's
- 4:40Speaker 1: one way to go about it, and go sign another
- 4:43Speaker 1: corner infielder, maybe a Pete Alonso. That's one area that
- 4:47Speaker 1: they're going to need to address, the corner infield. The
- 4:49Speaker 1: other would be starting pitching. And of course they made
- 4:52Speaker 1: the great trade for Crochet last year, but they could
- 4:55Speaker 1: use one more. And will they be active in free
- 4:58Speaker 1: agency or will they again try to trade because their
- 5:01Speaker 1: form system remains strong. Trade candidates include Derek scoobl We'll
- 5:05Speaker 1: be talking about him all winter, Hunter Green, Joe Ryan,
- 5:08Speaker 1: the Red Sox thought they were close on him last year.
- 5:10Speaker 1: Close doesn't work at the deadline, sorry, Sandy al Contra
- 5:14Speaker 1: and Freddy Peralta.
- 5:16Speaker 2: Fans like to simplify things, and I think they go, Okay,
- 5:20Speaker 2: you traded rapphiet Evers, what are you doing with that
- 5:23Speaker 2: extra money? They are looking exactly at that big chunk
- 5:26Speaker 2: of money and saying where is that going?
- 5:28Speaker 3: And not in the future.
- 5:29Speaker 2: They want this offseason to be a time period where
- 5:32Speaker 2: all of a sudden they get spent.
- 5:33Speaker 1: And they're not wrong about that, Scott. That's what the
- 5:35Speaker 1: Red Sox said they were going to do. We're trading
- 5:37Speaker 1: devors to create pet flexibility for the future.
- 5:39Speaker 2: Well, let's go Five intriguing teams to watch this offseason
- 5:44Speaker 2: continues right now, and the fourth one on.
- 5:46Speaker 1: The list the Atlanta Braves. And the Atlanta Braves are
- 5:50Speaker 1: particularly interesting, not just because they named Walt Weiss their
- 5:53Speaker 1: new manager, but because their chairman on an earnings call yesterday. Remember,
- 5:57Speaker 1: the Braves are the only American public traded company in
- 6:02Speaker 1: Major League Baseball, so we know what their earnings are.
- 6:04Speaker 1: They are public, and they have to be released. He
- 6:07Speaker 1: said on an earnings call yesterday that he expects the
- 6:10Speaker 1: Braves to go back to being a top five payroll team.
- 6:14Speaker 1: They were a top nine payroll team this year. They
- 6:19Speaker 1: ranked ninth in payroll, So what would that signal? To me,
- 6:22Speaker 1: that would signal to me that they're going to be aggressive.
- 6:24Speaker 1: And the other thing, the other motivator for them to
- 6:27Speaker 1: be aggressive is they missed the playoffs for the first
- 6:29Speaker 1: time since twenty seventeen. The president of Baseball Operations, Alex Anthopolis,
- 6:34Speaker 1: has been quite open about not being happy with that outcome,
- 6:39Speaker 1: So I do expect them to be busy. Shortstop is
- 6:41Speaker 1: the big question. Can you resign Hatshan Kim, who opted
- 6:45Speaker 1: out as they expected he would, or do you have
- 6:47Speaker 1: to find some other solution That market is not particularly
- 6:56Speaker 1: Lopez coming off the shoulder surgery. Hurston waldrip great finish
- 6:59Speaker 1: to the season, but could they use one more?
- 7:01Speaker 2: Sure they could, Yeah, Braves fans have high expectations. We
- 7:06Speaker 2: also talked about the Walt Weiss hiring for the team,
- 7:09Speaker 2: keeping it internal. We actually covered that on Foul Territory
- 7:12Speaker 2: during Ken's appearance, so if you want to check that out,
- 7:14Speaker 2: go for it. It's in Wednesday's edition of the show.
- 7:17Speaker 2: And last but not least intriguing team to follow here.
- 7:22Speaker 1: This team doesn't have a manager right now, the San
- 7:25Speaker 1: Diego Padres, but that's not their big question. Their big
- 7:28Speaker 1: question is going to be reconstructing their pitching. Darvish out
- 7:32Speaker 1: for twenty twenty six after a UCL repair. Dylan Cees
- 7:35Speaker 1: and Michael King are free agents, as is their closer
- 7:38Speaker 1: Robert Suarez. What their payroll flexibility will look like, we
- 7:41Speaker 1: don't know yet. They're also going to have to address
- 7:44Speaker 1: for at base, where Ariaz is a free agent. They
- 7:46Speaker 1: could move Cronenworth back there, maybe get a second basement.
- 7:49Speaker 1: There are all kinds of ways to do it. We
- 7:51Speaker 1: know aj Preller will be aggressive. We know they have
- 7:54Speaker 1: the capability at least or the possibility of moving Mason
- 7:57Speaker 1: Miller and or Adrian mordejone into the rotation. They're gonna
- 8:02Speaker 1: have to be creative. That's the bottom line for the Padres,
- 8:05Speaker 1: and they're gonna be really interesting to watch as we
- 8:08Speaker 1: go forward. Here.
- 8:09Speaker 2: Wow, and actually it looks like we potentially might have
- 8:13Speaker 2: breaking news on the Padres. Let's take a quick break
- 8:16Speaker 2: and then we'll digest to that and come.
- 8:18Speaker 3: Right back with maybe some breaking news.
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- 9:21Speaker 3: Apply sea site for details. We are back.
- 9:26Speaker 2: Ken is working hard right now. We should have him
- 9:28Speaker 2: back pretty soon. So it's weird. We're talking about the
- 9:32Speaker 2: San Diego Padres as the fifth team and we didn't
- 9:35Speaker 2: go in any particular ranking order. We just hit five
- 9:37Speaker 2: teams intriguing ones to watch this offseason.
- 9:40Speaker 3: Ken finishes with the Padres.
- 9:42Speaker 2: I kid you not, as I'm looking down at my
- 9:44Speaker 2: phone for a second to see when we're going to
- 9:47Speaker 2: go to break and what we were going to bring up next,
- 9:49Speaker 2: looking for Grill and Ken questions. You see Kevin Ace
- 9:52Speaker 2: with a report that the Padres have made their decision
- 9:55Speaker 2: and that is Craig Stammon as their next manager.
- 9:58Speaker 3: So Ken is back Ken.
- 10:00Speaker 2: This has been a windy road, Mike Shilt out, that's
- 10:02Speaker 2: a surprise, pooh Hole spending nine and a half hours
- 10:05Speaker 2: on a meeting, but it's Craig Stammon who emerges as
- 10:08Speaker 2: the new manager of your thoughts, definitely a surprise.
- 10:11Speaker 1: He was not someone that was thought to be even
- 10:13Speaker 1: in the mix. Now he is a former major league pitcher.
- 10:16Speaker 1: Of course, he has been in the Padres organization in
- 10:18Speaker 1: their front office. Shilt was in the same kind of
- 10:21Speaker 1: category when he was hired by the Padres to replace
- 10:23Speaker 1: Bob Melvin. So it's a surprise. I am always skeptical,
- 10:27Speaker 1: I will remain skeptical my entire career of guys who
- 10:30Speaker 1: have never managed coming in and taken a team like
- 10:34Speaker 1: the Padres. But We've seen success stories over the years,
- 10:37Speaker 1: Aaron Boone, Stephen Vote. You can look at each one
- 10:41Speaker 1: of these and say, well, they had no experience, no
- 10:44Speaker 1: coaching experience, what's up with that? But we will see
- 10:47Speaker 1: how this goes. With Craig Stammon, It's a very interesting choice,
- 10:50Speaker 1: to say the least. He is someone who is what's
- 10:53Speaker 1: the word I'm looking for here, quite engaging. He's a
- 10:57Speaker 1: guy who's kind of popular, good personality, and I expect
- 11:00Speaker 1: him to be, at least in that respect, a good
- 11:04Speaker 1: choice for them. Now, can he run a game? Can
- 11:07Speaker 1: he handle the club in the clubhouse? Who knows? You
- 11:10Speaker 1: don't You never know with any of these guys. But
- 11:13Speaker 1: this is not the most radical hire we've seen this offseason.
- 11:16Speaker 1: I would put Blake Puterra up there, and Tony Vitello,
- 11:19Speaker 1: but certainly a surprise for the Padres and.
- 11:22Speaker 2: A little more context on the background of Stamman if
- 11:24Speaker 2: you forgot about his playing career for fans listening right now,
- 11:27Speaker 2: he spent his final let's see six seasons with the Padres.
- 11:32Speaker 2: He retired and finished up in twenty twenty two at
- 11:34Speaker 2: thirty eight years old. He's currently forty one years old.
- 11:38Speaker 2: Background wise, He's been a part of the organization since
- 11:41Speaker 2: twenty twenty three, so basically right into that special assistant.
- 11:45Speaker 3: Type of role.
- 11:45Speaker 2: And I'm trying to look into more of what he
- 11:47Speaker 2: was covering during that time period. Worked with both the
- 11:49Speaker 2: major league team and minor league affiliates, So this is
- 11:53Speaker 2: someone that they know well it is.
- 11:55Speaker 1: And what's also interesting here, Albert Pools was a candidate
- 11:59Speaker 1: for the Los Angeles Angels job, did not get it.
- 12:02Speaker 1: It was a candidate for the San Diego Padres job,
- 12:04Speaker 1: did not get it. The only remaining opening is the
- 12:06Speaker 1: Colorado Rockies, and if I'm Albert, I don't want that job.
- 12:09Speaker 1: So he was someone who came into this offseason wanting
- 12:13Speaker 1: to manage, and with all these openings, it appears he
- 12:16Speaker 1: is not going to get that chance, at least at
- 12:18Speaker 1: this point. So that is surprising too. This whole thing
- 12:22Speaker 1: is surprising with the Padres because the names we heard
- 12:25Speaker 1: on their search were Albert Pooholes, Ruben Dieblo, their pitching coach.
- 12:29Speaker 1: We will see if he stays now, Ryan Flaherty, who
- 12:32Speaker 1: was a coach with the Cubs but had been part
- 12:34Speaker 1: of that organization too, and Nick Hunley. They chose Craig
- 12:38Speaker 1: Stamon interesting choice.
- 12:41Speaker 3: One follow up on pool Holes.
- 12:43Speaker 2: Yeah, it doesn't seem like he's going to be a
- 12:45Speaker 2: manager for this coming season, at least not at the
- 12:47Speaker 2: start of the season, and based on him being available
- 12:51Speaker 2: and being involved in these interview processes, he clearly wanted
- 12:54Speaker 2: to be a manager next season. Now he will manage
- 12:58Speaker 2: the Dominican Republic team in the World Baseball Classic. If
- 13:00Speaker 2: he doesn't manage a team, which seems like that'll be
- 13:03Speaker 2: the case, I'm wondering what he does next year in general.
- 13:06Speaker 2: Does he consider any type of role within an organization
- 13:10Speaker 2: to be more involved. I know right now he's technically
- 13:13Speaker 2: part of the Angels organization based on the personal services
- 13:16Speaker 2: agreement he has with them, So I'm curious what the
- 13:18Speaker 2: next year looks like. Albert to put himself in a
- 13:20Speaker 2: position for twenty twenty seven as a manager.
- 13:23Speaker 1: It's a good question. He could continue on MLB network
- 13:26Speaker 1: and we remain visible in that role. Does he work
- 13:29Speaker 1: for a team in some capacity. I would tend to
- 13:32Speaker 1: doubt it. Like you said, he has that personal services
- 13:35Speaker 1: contract with the Angels. They'd have to somehow come to
- 13:37Speaker 1: an agreement on that. But I don't see Albert as
- 13:40Speaker 1: a bench coach somewhere. He has no experience in that,
- 13:43Speaker 1: of course, no experience as a manager either. Could he
- 13:46Speaker 1: be some other kind of coach for a team, I guess,
- 13:48Speaker 1: But I just don't see that he wants to manage,
- 13:51Speaker 1: and at some point I believe he will get his
- 13:53Speaker 1: chance to manage. It's just an interesting scenario with him
- 13:56Speaker 1: because historically Hall of Fame type players, great players do
- 14:01Speaker 1: not make good managers. Ted Williams Frank Robinson was a
- 14:04Speaker 1: pretty good manager at times, but it's hard for them.
- 14:07Speaker 1: It's hard for them because their expectations are up here
- 14:10Speaker 1: and sometimes the players that they have cannot meet those expectations.
- 14:13Speaker 1: Oftentimes they cannot, So it's a challenge. Pools would be
- 14:17Speaker 1: a fascinating case study as manager to see how he
- 14:20Speaker 1: would handle this. But at least as of right now,
- 14:23Speaker 1: it does not appear, as you said, Scott, that he's
- 14:25Speaker 1: going to have a job managing for this season.
- 14:28Speaker 2: We'll have much more on this on the FT Network.
- 14:30Speaker 2: I feel like this is definitely my obligation Ken calling
- 14:33Speaker 2: me emperor at the top of the show of the
- 14:35Speaker 2: Ft Network, I'll say I'm co emperor, so I will
- 14:38Speaker 2: throw this out there.
- 14:39Speaker 3: Friar Territory is part of the FT Network.
- 14:42Speaker 2: That's our Padres dedicated show Kyle Glazer, Heath Bell, Mike Cameron.
- 14:46Speaker 2: They will have a show I'm shore at some point
- 14:48Speaker 2: today with the breaking news val Territory is coming up.
- 14:51Speaker 2: If you're watching live right now in forty five minutes,
- 14:53Speaker 2: we'll lead off the show at that topic as well.
- 14:55Speaker 2: We've been all over the Poohles interviews, so a lot
- 14:58Speaker 2: more to cover there. But let's get to some questions
- 15:00Speaker 2: now with Grill and Ken. I'm told we have a
- 15:07Speaker 2: Mike Trout question to start, and there was a great
- 15:10Speaker 2: article about Trout in The Athletic written by your colleague
- 15:14Speaker 2: Britney Droli this week. So here's Maverick. Is there a
- 15:16Speaker 2: world where the Angels trade Mike Trout to the Dodgers?
- 15:20Speaker 2: He deserves so much better, but he chose his path well.
- 15:25Speaker 1: I would encourage everyone to read BRIT's article because it
- 15:28Speaker 1: was really good on Trout, a really good look at
- 15:30Speaker 1: where he is now in his career. Now, two things
- 15:32Speaker 1: about a trade with Trout had a ton of money left,
- 15:35Speaker 1: and he's not the player he once was. And beyond that,
- 15:39Speaker 1: the most important thing to Remember, he has not given
- 15:42Speaker 1: any indication, zero indication, that he wants to be traded. Now,
- 15:48Speaker 1: there might come a point where he gets there, but
- 15:51Speaker 1: that point might have passed where it's going to get
- 15:53Speaker 1: the Angels a good return, and where they might decide
- 15:57Speaker 1: it's in their best interest. Obviously, they would love to
- 15:59Speaker 1: get rid of the money if they could, if Trout
- 16:02Speaker 1: wanted to go, and they'd love to get a return
- 16:04Speaker 1: for him, but it's not going to be so easy
- 16:06Speaker 1: when you have a player who is in obvious decline.
- 16:09Speaker 1: So I don't see the Dodgers going there. If anything,
- 16:11Speaker 1: they need to get a younger hitter. Their position player
- 16:15Speaker 1: group is aging. I wrote about this during the World Series.
- 16:18Speaker 1: It's not that they're unproductive. They're still really good players,
- 16:21Speaker 1: but they're going downward a little bit. So a Tucker
- 16:24Speaker 1: who will be twenty nine next season would make a
- 16:27Speaker 1: lot of sense for them. That would be the direction
- 16:29Speaker 1: I would see them going, more than an older veteran.
- 16:32Speaker 2: One other note for Maverick, Even if you do think
- 16:35Speaker 2: he gets traded at some point, the chance that he
- 16:37Speaker 2: gets traded from the Angels to the Dodgers is not high.
- 16:41Speaker 2: There are still humans involved, exactly. I would say close
- 16:44Speaker 2: to zero. The only chance would be if the team
- 16:47Speaker 2: gets sold. Artie Moreno is not going to sell him,
- 16:50Speaker 2: you know, to the team that makes their franchise look bad.
- 16:53Speaker 2: Let's be real, So I would cross that team off
- 16:56Speaker 2: the list just for that alone.
- 16:57Speaker 3: Okay, what's next.
- 16:59Speaker 2: Let's get a question in here on the reliever market.
- 17:02Speaker 2: Bernie asks, how do you see the relief pitcher market
- 17:05Speaker 2: shaking out? And how would you rank the top closers
- 17:08Speaker 2: that are available.
- 17:10Speaker 1: This is interesting because obviously closers relievers in general, are
- 17:14Speaker 1: always in demand, and we've got some good ones out there.
- 17:17Speaker 1: Edwin Diaz is one, Devin Williams is another one. Ryan
- 17:20Speaker 1: Helsley a third. Hellsley. Let's start with him. He had
- 17:24Speaker 1: that situation with the Mets where he was tipping for
- 17:26Speaker 1: about three weeks. Teams still love his metrics, love his
- 17:30Speaker 1: pitch shapes, all that kind of thing. I expect he's
- 17:33Speaker 1: going to do. Okay, it might only be one year,
- 17:35Speaker 1: but maybe it gets to three years if there's enough
- 17:37Speaker 1: competition at the one year level. Devin Williams is kind
- 17:40Speaker 1: of in a similar category, and the team still regard
- 17:43Speaker 1: his stuff and what he does analytically. Maybe better than
- 17:48Speaker 1: his performance in twenty twenty five, which wasn't bad. He
- 17:51Speaker 1: had some down periods, but he also had some really
- 17:54Speaker 1: high periods as well. And then Edwin Diaz is probably
- 17:57Speaker 1: the best of this bunch. I would rank him first,
- 17:59Speaker 1: and he's a guy who's coming off a great year
- 18:01Speaker 1: with the Mets and has proven he can do this
- 18:03Speaker 1: job time and time again. So I do expect the
- 18:06Speaker 1: market to be good, and I expect all these guys,
- 18:08Speaker 1: even Hellsley, to get good deals.
- 18:11Speaker 2: I'll throw two other names out there. Luke Weaver I'm
- 18:14Speaker 2: a fan of I think he can close, and Robert
- 18:17Speaker 2: Suarez opting out becomes a free agent.
- 18:20Speaker 1: Yes, I forgot to mention him. He's obviously in that category. Two.
- 18:25Speaker 1: I would put him probably behind Diez and maybe right
- 18:30Speaker 1: about even with Williams. I'm not sure exactly. I'd have
- 18:33Speaker 1: to look at it statistically, analytically and all that, but
- 18:36Speaker 1: he too will do well. And yes, Luke Weaver is
- 18:38Speaker 1: a guy that I would imagine some team would want
- 18:40Speaker 1: as a closer. So yet, all those guys Scott are
- 18:43Speaker 1: going to be interesting names to follow.
- 18:45Speaker 2: Yeah, good question and good names. It's a good list
- 18:48Speaker 2: for this offseason. Relief pitcher wise, let's get one more
- 18:51Speaker 2: in there before we hit another break.
- 18:53Speaker 3: Here's Jay.
- 18:54Speaker 2: This offseason seems a lot lighter on talent than last year,
- 18:58Speaker 2: yet a lot of the dollar figures be thrown around
- 19:00Speaker 2: are similar.
- 19:01Speaker 3: Does this make sense? And I'll just throw this out there.
- 19:04Speaker 2: I know Tim Britton puts out his list and he
- 19:06Speaker 2: just did of free agents and the money that he
- 19:08Speaker 2: thinks they're going to man command. Kyle Tucker is gonna
- 19:11Speaker 2: get a lot of money. The other one that stood out,
- 19:13Speaker 2: I think he had twelve four something for Boba Schett,
- 19:16Speaker 2: which was in a similar range.
- 19:17Speaker 3: To Kyle Tucker. So those are big dollar figures.
- 19:20Speaker 1: The question is good because there's no Sodo in this
- 19:23Speaker 1: year's market. There's no Otani in this year's market. There's
- 19:25Speaker 1: no Yamamoto in this year's market. Though there are several
- 19:28Speaker 1: players from Asia Cumming who are going to get a
- 19:31Speaker 1: lot of attention. The picture am I perhaps foremost among them.
- 19:35Speaker 1: I don't see numbers being thrown around like Soto or Otani.
- 19:39Speaker 1: Tucker has been a guy we've all thought could be
- 19:41Speaker 1: four hundred to five hundred million. He's coming off two
- 19:44Speaker 1: years where he didn't play the entire season. He had
- 19:47Speaker 1: kind of these nagging injuries. I wonder if that depresses
- 19:50Speaker 1: his value some and I wonder if teams see him
- 19:54Speaker 1: in quite the same light. Do I expect it to
- 19:56Speaker 1: get the four hundred with him? Yeah, I do. I
- 19:58Speaker 1: expect him to be that kind of guy. But it
- 20:01Speaker 1: is a lesser market in terms of monster names. But
- 20:04Speaker 1: you're gonna see trades, You're gonna see free agents sign
- 20:07Speaker 1: I'm sure we're gonna see some things. I say this
- 20:09Speaker 1: every year, and I say it every deadline that will
- 20:11Speaker 1: make our head spin. That's the beauty of the off season.
- 20:14Speaker 1: It's the beauty of the deadline. So while it doesn't
- 20:17Speaker 1: look as attractive, I expect it to be newsworthy, I
- 20:20Speaker 1: expect it to be fun as it always is.
- 20:23Speaker 2: Great Questions. We're here live every Thursday for Girl and
- 20:25Speaker 2: Ken Questions. Of course Mondays is live as well, and
- 20:28Speaker 2: we try and get to things there.
- 20:29Speaker 3: That's Ken Solo.
- 20:31Speaker 2: Okay, coming up next, Dudent Dork of the Week, And
- 20:33Speaker 2: I'm just gonna preface this before we hit the break.
- 20:35Speaker 2: I've actually never participated. I've done this show maybe three
- 20:38Speaker 2: or four times over the last couple of years, but
- 20:40Speaker 2: I always leave early to go host foul Territory. We're
- 20:43Speaker 2: a little earlier with the show today, so I'm excited
- 20:46Speaker 2: and we'll be right back.
- 20:48Speaker 3: Bet I'MGM account holders today.
- 20:51Speaker 2: How about in any sport parlay boost token you can
- 20:53Speaker 2: score a bigger payout if your wager with that token hits.
- 20:56Speaker 2: Tokens can be used on parlays and on same game parlays.
- 20:59Speaker 2: Gambling problem or concerned, there's help called one eight hundred Gambler. Hey,
- 21:03Speaker 2: when you get a chance, subscribe to foul Territory on YouTube.
- 21:07Speaker 2: We are getting very close to three hundred thousand subscribers
- 21:11Speaker 2: on the channel and love all of them, so we'd
- 21:13Speaker 2: love you to join us on that channel as we
- 21:16Speaker 2: break down everything going on across the sport. It is
- 21:20Speaker 2: baseball the way it should be covered at foul Territory.
- 21:23Speaker 3: Give us a sub.
- 21:24Speaker 2: Dude, dude, dude, let's do this.
- 21:34Speaker 3: Due to the week, Ken Miguel.
- 21:36Speaker 1: Rojas and I know we're a little bit away from
- 21:40Speaker 1: the World Series now it's been a few days, but
- 21:42Speaker 1: my goodness, we're talking about a game tying home run
- 21:46Speaker 1: in the World Series by a guy who had not
- 21:48Speaker 1: hit a home run off a right handed picture all season.
- 21:53Speaker 1: He had hit one off a right handed position player one,
- 21:56Speaker 1: but not a pitcher. And the thing I love about
- 21:59Speaker 1: Micel rohas this is what Dave Roberts said after it.
- 22:01Speaker 1: And remember he had just been inserted into the line
- 22:03Speaker 1: up in Game six because Roberts wanted him to give
- 22:06Speaker 1: them a jolt of energy. And Roberts said, the game
- 22:10Speaker 1: honors those who honor the game. And what he meant
- 22:13Speaker 1: by that is that Miguil Rojas is one of the
- 22:15Speaker 1: great teammates, one of the great workers, just a guy
- 22:18Speaker 1: that you want on your team. He's the one who
- 22:20Speaker 1: helped teach Mookie Bets or relearn shortstop Mookie Betts. And
- 22:25Speaker 1: that was after losing his job. So it was cool
- 22:28Speaker 1: to see him have that moment. It was shocking. Go
- 22:30Speaker 1: back and look at the video, look at Dave Roberts face,
- 22:33Speaker 1: and for me, he's the dude of the week.
- 22:35Speaker 2: Hey, he's a glue guy. I gave up his number
- 22:37Speaker 2: for Rookie Sosaki. I know a lot of guys would
- 22:38Speaker 2: do that, but he's just involved in a lot of things.
- 22:40Speaker 2: When you talk about the Dodgers, despite not being one
- 22:42Speaker 2: of their stars, I'll go with mine and a picture
- 22:45Speaker 2: is worth a thousand words. In this case, I'm sure
- 22:47Speaker 2: there will be feature stories written about Kirby Yates. Not
- 22:51Speaker 2: a factor in the postseason for the Dodgers, but still,
- 22:54Speaker 2: it is every ballplayer's dream to win a World Series.
- 22:57Speaker 2: And he said if he won a title, he would
- 22:59Speaker 2: get Kirby the animated character video game you can play
- 23:03Speaker 2: them and super smash all that right on his butt
- 23:06Speaker 2: cheek with the World Series trophy. So it's Kirby with
- 23:10Speaker 2: that piece of metal, and it's awesome. I love a
- 23:13Speaker 2: man of his word. We got the story from Keik
- 23:16Speaker 2: Hernandez who kind of caught it live on one.
- 23:18Speaker 3: Of his Instagram stories. So there it is.
- 23:19Speaker 2: If you're listening to us right now, you can find it.
- 23:22Speaker 2: And I think we did a nice job with our
- 23:23Speaker 2: production team of just showing you like the exact tattoo
- 23:26Speaker 2: and not stretching it out.
- 23:28Speaker 3: So good job, Kirby, very nice.
- 23:30Speaker 1: Yes, what's it? Dork? All right, Scott? Now I'm looking
- 23:41Speaker 1: at my watch checking the date. The date is November sixth.
- 23:47Speaker 1: The GM meetings start November tenth. The Colorado Rockies do
- 23:52Speaker 1: not have a GM now I presume they will have
- 23:54Speaker 1: one in time for the meetings. But my goodness, they're
- 23:57Speaker 1: already over a month late. The Nationals fire their GM
- 24:01Speaker 1: at mid season, Mike Rizzo, and then hired Paul Taboni
- 24:04Speaker 1: in late September. Why so he could get a headstart
- 24:07Speaker 1: in the offseason staffing, all the things that need to
- 24:09Speaker 1: be taken care of before you even get into player acquisition.
- 24:13Speaker 1: The Rockies, we're still waiting Dorks of the Week.
- 24:17Speaker 2: Sounded like they had two finalists that weren't interested.
- 24:20Speaker 3: We'll get more on that. I'd say at some point.
- 24:23Speaker 2: That's not a good sign either, not liking the conversations
- 24:25Speaker 2: they were having. Okay, my first ever Dork of the
- 24:28Speaker 2: Week that I'm going to hand out is to Jim Murray.
- 24:31Speaker 2: He is a player agent who is in trouble for
- 24:34Speaker 2: I like the movie That Departed a lot, being the
- 24:36Speaker 2: Rat the mole for Major League Baseball. It is an
- 24:39Speaker 2: incredible story. I think that it hasn't gotten enough attention
- 24:42Speaker 2: yet because it came out during the World Series.
- 24:44Speaker 3: Evandrelik wrote it, he broke it.
- 24:46Speaker 2: It's called Inside the Text Messages of the Agent who
- 24:48Speaker 2: Became a Mole for Rob Manford and MLB. When you
- 24:51Speaker 2: read that title, you're like, is this a sensationalized title.
- 24:54Speaker 2: It is not the story is worth the read. Then
- 24:56Speaker 2: we also did a follow up with Evan on our show.
- 24:59Speaker 3: We talked to that.
- 25:00Speaker 2: We talked about the Tony Clark players way situation. So
- 25:03Speaker 2: there's a good podcast and video clip on YouTube to
- 25:05Speaker 2: check that out. But Jim Murray for me Ken dork
- 25:08Speaker 2: of the Week, and I won't say much more besides
- 25:11Speaker 2: that he was basically smashing players and working against them
- 25:14Speaker 2: despite representing them.
- 25:16Speaker 3: So if you want more, please give it a night.
- 25:19Speaker 2: You need like five ten minutes because you're going to
- 25:21Speaker 2: be jaw dropping when you read this.
- 25:24Speaker 3: It is worth it.
- 25:28Speaker 2: And then that's it. Right, We're on our way out here.
- 25:31Speaker 2: I'll sign us off. Okay, So Foul Territory is coming
- 25:34Speaker 2: up next live at one o'clock Eastern. Patrick Mooney, Ken
- 25:37Speaker 2: s Kylie Govertt, the Athletic and also one of the
- 25:39Speaker 2: hosts of Northside Territory will be on there. Blake Mitchell,
- 25:42Speaker 2: who's a super prospect with the Royals, and P. T. Tierney,
- 25:45Speaker 2: who is part of the MLB Fan Council, will ask
- 25:47Speaker 2: him about how that works.
- 25:49Speaker 3: That should get interesting.
- 25:50Speaker 2: Ken, great to do this with you and I enjoyed
- 25:53Speaker 2: my dudent Dork of the Week experience for the first time.
- 25:56Speaker 1: Thank you well Scott, Thank you Emperor of the Foul
- 25:59Speaker 1: Territory Empire.
- 26:02Speaker 3: You'll see Ken on Monday on fair
- 26:07Speaker 1: Mm hmm