Latest / Foul Territory / Twins & Derek Falvey “mutually” agree to split, Jacob Wilson $70mil A's extension, Rangers W projection

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Twins & Derek Falvey “mutually” agree to split, Jacob Wilson $70mil A's extension, Rangers W projection · Foul Territory

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: It's charge about all right. Some interesting news out of
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Minnesota that Twins announced that they have mutually agreed to
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: part ways with President of Baseball and Business Operations Derek Falvee. Now,
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: this is interesting because he is one of the only
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: front office execs AJ that actually had both of the
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: jobs in terms of baseball operations as well as business.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: Aaron Gleeman adding, making a change of this magnitude two
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: weeks before the start of spring training is legitimately shocking
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: and certainly wouldn't have been planned by the Twins. Also
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: of note, just one week ago, the Twins held their
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: annual media luncheon at which Derek falve was the lead speaker.
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: This is peculiar, AJ, because the timing is interesting. They
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: continue to clean house in Minnesota. What do you make
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: of it?
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I don't know what's happening here. I
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: don't know why they do this now, falve they just
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: promoted to the president of business off and it seemed
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: like he was in charge, But then they had the
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: sale and then they switched from Joe to Tom pull
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: that maybe there's a majority sorry, a minority owner that
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: had some thoughts and wants to get a little more
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: power in the organization, and Derek Falvey didn't agree with that,
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: so they just said, hey, it's better if we part ways.
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: But the timing of this is crazy. Plus they're kind
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: of trying to win. They said, so you fire your
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: president or sorry not fire, you mutually part ways with
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: your president of Baseball ops right before spring training starts,
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: when you're trying to, as they say, try to compete
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: this year. I don't know what's happening in Minnesota, but
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: it's strange, definitely strange times there.
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: Eric.
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: Do you buy the term mutually.
• 1:42
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I buy it, but I think it's definitely going
• 1:47
  Speaker 3: to be on one side or the other. Mutually can
• 1:50
  Speaker 3: be eighty twenty. You're both in relationships. You get it
• 1:54
  Speaker 3: like sometimes you mutually agree even though the one side
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: doesn't agree. But what doesn't line up for me is
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: this guy's been successful with not a lot. He's been
• 2:04
  Speaker 3: successful through the fact that ownership was going to spend
• 2:07
  Speaker 3: after they added Carlos care Carlos Correa for this organization.
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: Was that guy that was gonna bring other guys there.
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: You already had Bucks, and you already had Royce Lewis,
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: You already had a bullpen that could just bang, bang, bang,
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: next guy up. They were finding value in bullpens everywhere,
• 2:24
  Speaker 3: in their bullpen everywhere. But the crazy part too is
• 2:29
  Speaker 3: now you have a new and they might even change
• 2:32
  Speaker 3: his title. Who knows. You know, the titles are really
• 2:35
  Speaker 3: just so that other people can move up underneath that
• 2:38
  Speaker 3: person and still get paid at this new title. But
• 2:41
  Speaker 3: whatever it is, they have a new manager. Derek Shelton
• 2:45
  Speaker 3: was hired I assume by Derek Falvey and Tom Pohlad
• 2:50
  Speaker 3: was making a lot of phone calls. Maybe he accidentally
• 2:53
  Speaker 3: called somebody and they called him. Were like, hey, if
• 2:57
  Speaker 3: you get Derek Falvey out of here, I'll re up
• 3:00
  Speaker 3: my season my season tickets. And they're like, uh, Derek Faalby, Yeah,
• 3:05
  Speaker 3: all right, beat it. See you one more season ticket holder.
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: I mean, I hope that he's worth more than one
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: season ticket holder. They named him being president in March
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: of twenty twenty five AJ. The move ended a ten
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: year that began when Falvey was named the team's head
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: of baseball operations in twenty sixteen, so he's been with
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: the club a long time now. Jeremy Zohl is going
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: to continue to lead the team's baseball side, while executive
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: shared Tom Fullad will handle overside of the business side
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: on an insterim basis. As far as dysfunctional organizations are concerned, AJ,
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: where do the twins rank for you? Right now?
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: What are they doing? I'm not going to rank them
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: because I don't know what's going on behind the scenes.
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: But it's just more of like, what are they doing?
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: I don't understand. If you want to compete, you don't
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: get rid of you don't mutually part ways in your
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: president of baseball house before spring training when you basically
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: have done nothing and you made Derek Falvey trade away
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: ten of the players on your team last year, you
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: may Derek Falvey did not want to trade away ten
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: players last year, including Carlos Korea. Now the better question is,
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: if you're Byron Buxton, do you call the poll Out
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: family and say, what is happening right What is happening
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: to our organization right now? I know he said he
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: didn't want to trade, but I mean, now, how do
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: you trade Joe Ryan, possibly Pablo Lopez, Byron Buckston, Royce Lewis,
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: all these guys, like I know they have some players
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: come in. Oh wow, this is a wow. It's just surprised.
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: It's surprising the timing, and I thought Derek Falve, I
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: mean again, they just promoted him to the business and baseball,
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: so now for him to leave is I can't wait
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: to talk to Aaron Gleman later on because it's going
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: to be fascinating to get the insight on this.
• 4:43
  Speaker 3: Trades like this, trades like last year when they trade
• 4:46
  Speaker 3: ten guys, that is not baseball decisions. Those are not
• 4:50
  Speaker 3: They were not sitting there going I think this is
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: the best baseball decision for our future. Those were business decisions.
• 4:56
  Speaker 3: It's essentially ninety nine percent come out that, Yeah, they
• 5:01
  Speaker 3: wanted to reduce some of the debt that they had,
• 5:03
  Speaker 3: and then they brought on some more ownership and that
• 5:06
  Speaker 3: ownership and flucked some cash that they were able to
• 5:08
  Speaker 3: pay down this debt and got rid of those players.
• 5:10
  Speaker 3: Those are business decisions. That stuff is happening from the top,
• 5:15
  Speaker 3: that is from ownership and who is taking care of
• 5:18
  Speaker 3: the business stuff now it's it's Tom Paullad the guy
• 5:22
  Speaker 3: who was telling Derek Valve, who was in the business
• 5:27
  Speaker 3: business and baseball operations. He wasn't just selling season tickets
• 5:31
  Speaker 3: like there was a mutual other teams do this. They've
• 5:35
  Speaker 3: Dombrowski has the same role with the Phillies, like it's
• 5:38
  Speaker 3: there's GMS underneath there. It's not a baseball decision. These
• 5:41
  Speaker 3: are business decisions, and now you're giving the new ownership
• 5:45
  Speaker 3: more business decision Leeway. I hey, look, I could be
• 5:51
  Speaker 3: completely wrong, but just check out the salaries, check out
• 5:56
  Speaker 3: how many moves they've already made, and go, okay, most
• 6:01
  Speaker 3: likely to go if somebody else is making the bit
• 6:04
  Speaker 3: or if people somebody knew is in the business decision
• 6:07
  Speaker 3: role they have to like, why would they not get
• 6:11
  Speaker 3: rid of some players that get rid of some money
• 6:13
  Speaker 3: off the books?
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: Does this make it more likely than AJ that Joe
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: Ryan will get moved?
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: I don't know. By the way I said Aaron Gleeman,
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: I meant Dan Hayes is coming on later. I apologize
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: to both Aaron Gleeman and Dan Hayes, but I don't know.
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: How does it make it more likely if they I
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: guess they still have a GM. It all comes down
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: to what the pole adds want. Poleads want them to
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: dump more money. Then they say trade Joe Ryan, Pablo
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: Lopez and try to get Byron Bucks in a wave.
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: Is no trade. If they don't want to save any money,
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: then they don't do anything, and they try to compete
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: with the team they had, which we saw last year
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: wasn't very good. So I don't think it changes anything.
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: It really as long as the pole Aad family owns
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: this team, it comes down to what they say. And
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: that's why. For listen, when I played there for or,
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: we had Terry Ryan was our GM. We had Jim
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: Rantz in charge of the minor leagues, and we had
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: you know, kind of the same people, Tom Kelly to
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: Ron Garden higher right, and it was they kind of
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: knew what they wanted, They kind of knew what's gonna player.
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: And then they went to Falvey and thad Levine and
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: they kind of got it going there for a little bit,
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: and then all of a sudden they got to a
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: point where they were pretty good twenty twenty two, let's
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: not forget they're pretty good. And then they're like, oh,
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: we're gonna cut the payroll thirty million, cut the payroll more,
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: cut the payroll more, and the team continues to go
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: down and the fans have stopped showing up. It all
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: comes down to the pole AADs man, like if the
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: pole AADs don't want to do anything, they don't have
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: to because they on their team and guess what, it's
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: their decision and they're right as the owners man. Derek
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: Falvey was brought this team, helped this team to four
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: out of the nine years that he was in his
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: role to the playoffs. A team that you know, he
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: kind of helped build. What is there? What is Kurt
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: or what was there last year?
• 7:56
  Speaker 3: There? Now he had to tear that down. Like you
• 8:00
  Speaker 3: brought guys up from the minor leagues, you realized you
• 8:03
  Speaker 3: had to be, you know a little just weary of
• 8:08
  Speaker 3: where you're where you're making those changes or where you're
• 8:10
  Speaker 3: adding salary. And he did a great job. I think
• 8:14
  Speaker 3: they found a gold mine of pitching in a in
• 8:17
  Speaker 3: a place where hey, you know what, we're not gonna
• 8:19
  Speaker 3: pay for pitching. Hey, we're gonna add Luis Castillo to
• 8:24
  Speaker 3: the mix. Luis Castillo is going to give us this
• 8:27
  Speaker 3: at I forget what salaries he was locked into before.
• 8:31
  Speaker 3: I'm sorry, not Luis Castillo, Lopez, Jorge Lopez, Pablo Lopez,
• 8:39
  Speaker 3: I got them all wrong. But he's he was willing
• 8:42
  Speaker 3: to trade. He was willing to trade from some of
• 8:44
  Speaker 3: that to give themselves those number ones, to give themselves
• 8:48
  Speaker 3: guys to add in with the youth. They went out
• 8:51
  Speaker 3: and got Correa like he wasn't afraid to make these moves.
• 8:54
  Speaker 3: And to me, I hope Twins fans think of his
• 8:57
  Speaker 3: tenure as successful. Art out with Paul Malader, I think
• 9:01
  Speaker 3: it was time for him to you know, new GM
• 9:04
  Speaker 3: comes in, makes the change goes to rock laball Delhi
• 9:07
  Speaker 3: and I think they were successful. Besides the twenty twenty
• 9:11
  Speaker 3: four collapse at the end of the year. I think
• 9:14
  Speaker 3: they were. It was a successful run, and I don't
• 9:17
  Speaker 3: think anything Falvey did deserve for a mutual departure.
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: That's why I don't think it's really mutual. I think
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: it's like you were saying eighty twenty. I mean, this
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: is a guy that's done a lot of good for
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: the organization, and if they're trying to cut costs, there's
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: more ways to do it than just trading away good players.
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: They can get rid of a guy that's probably making
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: you know, four or five million dollars. Dan, thanks so
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: much for joining us. We appreciate it very much. I
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: know it's a crazy day for you. What do you
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: make first of all of the timing of this news,
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: just a couple of weeks out from spring training.
• 9:49
  Speaker 4: Yeah, that part is surreal absolutely. You know, look, six
• 9:54
  Speaker 4: weeks ago Tom poul Ed took over as the team's
• 9:57
  Speaker 4: new executive chair from his brother Joe, and basically a
• 10:02
  Speaker 4: year and change ago, the twins had started to explore
• 10:05
  Speaker 4: that sale, so we knew that there was gonna be
• 10:08
  Speaker 4: a new owner. I don't know that it was within
• 10:11
  Speaker 4: the own family that it was gonna be a new owner,
• 10:13
  Speaker 4: but I honestly think this is something where, you know,
• 10:16
  Speaker 4: Tom Pullad essentially took over after the winter meetings, and
• 10:20
  Speaker 4: you know, there's that winter break, and this is just
• 10:24
  Speaker 4: something where the two parties, Derek Falve and Tom Pullad
• 10:27
  Speaker 4: realized it was gonna be difficult to work together and
• 10:29
  Speaker 4: they made the choice now. But I mean, just to
• 10:33
  Speaker 4: you know, Tom pull Out even addressed that and said,
• 10:36
  Speaker 4: these are two personalities just thrown together. Derek Falvey kind
• 10:39
  Speaker 4: of referenced the same thing. Both of them spoke on
• 10:42
  Speaker 4: Zoom a little bit ago. I think it speaks to
• 10:46
  Speaker 4: the two of them realizing that it was not going
• 10:48
  Speaker 4: to be working, and I mean the fact that they're
• 10:51
  Speaker 4: willing to make this decision two weeks before spring training,
• 10:55
  Speaker 4: says speaks volumes. I think just about where the Twins
• 10:59
  Speaker 4: are trying to head and what maybe the reality of
• 11:01
  Speaker 4: the situation is. You know, Tom pull At at twins
• 11:04
  Speaker 4: Fest last week, came out and said, we want to
• 11:06
  Speaker 4: compete this year, and you know, I mean, that's that's
• 11:09
  Speaker 4: very you know, he talked about some of the missteps
• 11:13
  Speaker 4: that they've made in the last couple of years and
• 11:15
  Speaker 4: how they've gone to this point where they've cut payroll.
• 11:17
  Speaker 4: But you know, it's hard to switch lanes or to
• 11:21
  Speaker 4: turn the ship around so quickly they did. They gutted
• 11:24
  Speaker 4: their bullpen in July, and I think that things might
• 11:27
  Speaker 4: have if they knew they wanted to compete like this,
• 11:29
  Speaker 4: maybe things would have been a little different at the
• 11:32
  Speaker 4: trade deadline. It's hard to rebuild a bullpen on the
• 11:35
  Speaker 4: fly when you don't have a lot of money to
• 11:37
  Speaker 4: do so, tell.
• 11:38
  Speaker 3: Me if I'm wrong. But wasn't the reports when they
• 11:40
  Speaker 3: were looking to sell the team that there was somebody
• 11:43
  Speaker 3: from the pole Ad family that wanted to stay on
• 11:45
  Speaker 3: board as in like a pretty dominant role. And are
• 11:49
  Speaker 3: we kind of seeing that come to fruition now that
• 11:52
  Speaker 3: maybe Tom isn't the greatest to work with for people
• 11:56
  Speaker 3: who have been around the game.
• 11:58
  Speaker 4: Well, no, no, Look in that part, that was Joe Poulet,
• 12:01
  Speaker 4: who did continue to operate as the executive chair until
• 12:04
  Speaker 4: last month. He had hoped to stay in and be
• 12:08
  Speaker 4: part of a group that really wasn't going to ever happen,
• 12:10
  Speaker 4: because I would have meant that Pole AADs would have
• 12:13
  Speaker 4: sold without seeding power, and I don't think that you know,
• 12:15
  Speaker 4: part of that was he wanted to just oversee the transition.
• 12:19
  Speaker 4: But look, this is definitely an ambitious owner who realizes
• 12:25
  Speaker 4: that the Twins as they are the last couple of
• 12:28
  Speaker 4: years have been sort of a train wreck. I mean,
• 12:31
  Speaker 4: it's hard not to look at it and say where
• 12:34
  Speaker 4: they were twenty seven months ago. They won a playoff
• 12:36
  Speaker 4: game for the first time in eighteen playoff games, they
• 12:38
  Speaker 4: won their first playoff series in twenty one years at
• 12:41
  Speaker 4: the time, and then since then they've cut payroll, fired
• 12:46
  Speaker 4: David Popkins, fired Roco Baldelli, fired Dad Levine, had a
• 12:52
  Speaker 4: number of layoffs inside, like, this is not the same
• 12:54
  Speaker 4: place it was twenty seven months ago. And I think
• 12:58
  Speaker 4: when you think about all that stuff, I think Derek
• 13:00
  Speaker 4: Falve's been wearing a lot as they've endured some of
• 13:04
  Speaker 4: these financial hardships. I mean, we're talking about a team
• 13:06
  Speaker 4: that was making sixty million dollars annually, which was one
• 13:09
  Speaker 4: of the worst TV contracts in baseball. That was at
• 13:12
  Speaker 4: the end of twenty twenty three. Since then they got
• 13:15
  Speaker 4: a reduced contract for a year. They went to MLB TV,
• 13:18
  Speaker 4: which we don't know the numbers on. We just know
• 13:20
  Speaker 4: it's not sixty million. Their finances are in a tough
• 13:22
  Speaker 4: spot and I think a lot of things have changed
• 13:25
  Speaker 4: and you could see it on Derek Falve wearing on
• 13:28
  Speaker 4: him over these last two or three years. I mean,
• 13:30
  Speaker 4: he took this place. The joke was when he took over,
• 13:33
  Speaker 4: there were eight employees in Baseball ops. He built up
• 13:35
  Speaker 4: research and development, he built up their information systems. Basically,
• 13:39
  Speaker 4: he brought them into the twenty first century. And at
• 13:42
  Speaker 4: the time, I mean, there was a ton of money
• 13:43
  Speaker 4: spent on infrastructure. You've seen a lot of that go away.
• 13:47
  Speaker 4: I can't imagine what this is now is what he
• 13:51
  Speaker 4: envisioned it to be. And I think part of this
• 13:54
  Speaker 4: is just him saying, hey, this is probably the right time,
• 13:56
  Speaker 4: because if we're expected to compete, and we don't have
• 13:59
  Speaker 4: all the resources. You know, maybe this was going to
• 14:02
  Speaker 4: happen eventually, and maybe getting out now is the right time.
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: So you're, well, I have two questions. One, so you're
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: saying that you think this was mutual or was this
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: more because you're saying he's getting out at the right time,
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: so that I think I'll be wanted out.
• 14:19
  Speaker 4: I think that he probably had some say they really
• 14:22
  Speaker 4: started their discussions in the last week or two and
• 14:25
  Speaker 4: got to figure each other out. And I think that
• 14:28
  Speaker 4: owner is saying, let's win, win, win, and the reality
• 14:31
  Speaker 4: is this is a team that Vegas has them. I
• 14:33
  Speaker 4: think it's seventy one and a half wins right now.
• 14:36
  Speaker 4: The over underline, you know, you look at some of
• 14:38
  Speaker 4: the projections, they're higher the Vegas line. Was kind of
• 14:42
  Speaker 4: stunning to me to see that, because you know, there's
• 14:44
  Speaker 4: somewhere in the mid eighties essentially on the projection. But
• 14:48
  Speaker 4: they don't have a bullpen. They they the reality that
• 14:51
  Speaker 4: they can turn this around. It's going to be really challenging.
• 14:54
  Speaker 4: They need a lot of young guys to step up
• 14:56
  Speaker 4: and do things. And look, a couple of years ago,
• 14:58
  Speaker 4: they were extremely fortunate that you Duran went from starter
• 15:01
  Speaker 4: to elite reliever overnight, but that took a lot of
• 15:05
  Speaker 4: work where it was like he'd pitch every couple of days.
• 15:07
  Speaker 4: And Griffin Jacks looked great the first couple of months
• 15:10
  Speaker 4: of his transition, but then he wore down like any
• 15:13
  Speaker 4: like you'd expect a young starter to do. They're gonna
• 15:16
  Speaker 4: need a lot of that to compete immediately. They don't
• 15:19
  Speaker 4: have a book. They signed Taylor Rogers, which is a
• 15:22
  Speaker 4: nice piece to add for guys that can come in
• 15:25
  Speaker 4: and be a voice and a leader, but it's not
• 15:27
  Speaker 4: the Taylor Rodgers that they signed a couple of years ago.
• 15:29
  Speaker 4: They're missing a closer, they're missing multiple setupmen. They have
• 15:32
  Speaker 4: young guys who performed really well, I thought after the
• 15:35
  Speaker 4: trade deadline and Cole Sands and Cody Funderberg, But I mean,
• 15:38
  Speaker 4: like this, when you're looking to close out games, it's
• 15:42
  Speaker 4: you know, I don't see this as being more than
• 15:44
  Speaker 4: an eighty two to win, eighty three win team at best,
• 15:46
  Speaker 4: and who knows, maybe it could happen, but you need
• 15:48
  Speaker 4: Roy Sluis to bounce back. You need all these things
• 15:51
  Speaker 4: to happen. And I think when you look about that
• 15:53
  Speaker 4: reality and where things have gone. Derek Falvey knew that
• 15:57
  Speaker 4: if he kind of exited now, it might help save
• 16:01
  Speaker 4: other people's jobs. I mean, he loves the people he's
• 16:03
  Speaker 4: worked with. I got the sense that he felt like
• 16:05
  Speaker 4: he had some agency in leaving now. And the crazy
• 16:09
  Speaker 4: part is is that leaving now two weeks before the
• 16:12
  Speaker 4: season was the good option. So, I mean it speaks
• 16:15
  Speaker 4: volumes when you think about it.
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: It's a crazy The whole thing is a crazy story.
• 16:19
  Speaker 2: But there's one constant. Okay, I was there. Listen, the
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: pole Ad family bought them in what eighty four? They
• 16:26
  Speaker 2: win the World Series eighty seven to ninety one, right,
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: and that was old Carl. And then they went through
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: the nineties and they were terrible. I was there ninety eight,
• 16:36
  Speaker 2: ninety nine, two thousand. We were absolutely awful. There was
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: five hundred people at games in the Metrome. Right then
• 16:40
  Speaker 2: we get them back to where they're good, they're relevant,
• 16:42
  Speaker 2: they're really good. For a long time. They build target Field.
• 16:44
  Speaker 2: They say, target field is man, We're gonna spend money,
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: We're gonna do all these great things. Once we get
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: the stadium. Right then they go through target Field and
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: they go through ups and downs. Da da da Da
• 16:53
  Speaker 2: DA and then they win their first playoff series in
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: twenty twenty three. Oh, we're cranking the payroll down. Okay.
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: The one constant is the Poli family. If they're so
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: miserable owning the Minnesota Twins, why don't they just sell
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: the team like they thought the deal was done, Why
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: don't they just go through it and say, you know what, guys,
• 17:10
  Speaker 2: we made two billion dollars off this. We had a
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: good run, we won two World series. Peace out AJ.
• 17:16
  Speaker 4: They need you to start a kickstarter or a GoFundMe
• 17:18
  Speaker 4: to get that money raised. They tried, and you know,
• 17:22
  Speaker 4: look when you're five hundred million dollars in debt, and
• 17:25
  Speaker 4: initially in March we reported four hundred and thirty and
• 17:27
  Speaker 4: that was before the interest payment was added on for
• 17:30
  Speaker 4: last year. And you know, interest payment I think is
• 17:33
  Speaker 4: in the forty million range. So they were five hundred
• 17:35
  Speaker 4: million in debt by October, and a lot of these
• 17:38
  Speaker 4: people looking at the books said, look, there could be
• 17:41
  Speaker 4: a lockout next year, there could be a work stoppage
• 17:45
  Speaker 4: in twenty twenty seven. The team, it's it's hard to
• 17:49
  Speaker 4: take this five hundred million dollars in debt and see
• 17:52
  Speaker 4: us making money immediately, and when you're asking for you know,
• 17:56
  Speaker 4: I think they were. They sold the part sale. Partial
• 17:59
  Speaker 4: sale was at evaluation of one point seven five billion,
• 18:02
  Speaker 4: but that's one point seven five billion where the new
• 18:05
  Speaker 4: owners were expected to take on the debt. It's gonna
• 18:06
  Speaker 4: be hard to make money. So I don't think that
• 18:10
  Speaker 4: they took the best deal they could at the time.
• 18:14
  Speaker 4: I think, really, and I've written this, it primes them
• 18:17
  Speaker 4: better because they've paid down the bulk of the debt,
• 18:19
  Speaker 4: not all of the debt right now. It primes them
• 18:23
  Speaker 4: to be better once we get through the potential workstop page,
• 18:26
  Speaker 4: the next round of national TV contracts, it should be
• 18:29
  Speaker 4: much easier to sell in a couple of years. And
• 18:31
  Speaker 4: I think when you're the pull Auds, you know, Tom
• 18:33
  Speaker 4: Pollad came in and said, look, we've we've tripped all
• 18:36
  Speaker 4: over ourselves these last.
• 18:37
  Speaker 3: Couple of years.
• 18:38
  Speaker 4: We didn't explain where we were well and it set
• 18:41
  Speaker 4: us up for a lot of criticism. Fans are upset.
• 18:44
  Speaker 4: He's done a lot of work reaching out to disgruntled
• 18:49
  Speaker 4: former season ticket holders and trying to get them back,
• 18:52
  Speaker 4: and you know, he's doing all he can and he's
• 18:55
  Speaker 4: saying the right things, but when it comes to the
• 18:59
  Speaker 4: reality and how out of lines. I think that he's
• 19:02
  Speaker 4: a new guy trying to make a mark, but you
• 19:04
  Speaker 4: know where he wants to be and where they are
• 19:07
  Speaker 4: right now, especially after trading ten guys, there's a little
• 19:10
  Speaker 4: bit of a gap there. And look, I will say
• 19:12
  Speaker 4: this again, I think Derek Falvey saw the exit and
• 19:16
  Speaker 4: knew this was going to be the least the way
• 19:20
  Speaker 4: for it to be the least ugly as possible. But
• 19:23
  Speaker 4: I mean, just seeing him the last couple of years,
• 19:26
  Speaker 4: you could see the stress on him. He didn't want
• 19:28
  Speaker 4: to fire Roco ball Delli. I don't think he wanted
• 19:30
  Speaker 4: to make changes after the twenty twenty four season. You know,
• 19:33
  Speaker 4: it's just been an exodus between Dad Levine, Rocco David Popkins.
• 19:40
  Speaker 4: It's been a lot. I mean, to cut payroll thirty
• 19:43
  Speaker 4: million right after the playoffs in twenty twenty three, and
• 19:47
  Speaker 4: it's the kind of the peak of the twenty first
• 19:50
  Speaker 4: century for the Twins where they were at the time,
• 19:52
  Speaker 4: and to just go this direction for twenty seven months,
• 19:55
  Speaker 4: it's been a lot. You could see it on his
• 19:57
  Speaker 4: face at the trade deadline. He did not want trade
• 19:59
  Speaker 4: ten guys, but the plan changed and they were adapting.
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: Dan, I have a hard time listening to any major
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: League Baseball ownership group cry poor. I doubt that very seriously.
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: When you have a one point five billion dollar offer
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: on the table and seemingly turn it down, how were
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: they in debt? Is it just bad business decisions? Are
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: they Are they just biting off more than they can chew.
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: How does a team that can sell for one point
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: five billion have so much debt that they feel that
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: that's not an offer they can take.
• 20:30
  Speaker 4: I think part of it was timing. Look, you're talking
• 20:33
  Speaker 4: about a team that was coming off its most successful
• 20:35
  Speaker 4: season in a long time. In twenty nineteen. They had
• 20:40
  Speaker 4: drawn two point three million fans, They won the Division.
• 20:42
  Speaker 4: They set the major league record for home runs. I mean,
• 20:44
  Speaker 4: just wrap your head around that. That The Twins, the
• 20:47
  Speaker 4: light hitting Twins, hit three hundred and seven home runs.
• 20:49
  Speaker 4: The bomba squad was popular, they added Josh Donson covid hits.
• 20:53
  Speaker 4: They're expecting two point five to two point six million
• 20:56
  Speaker 4: fans to come through the turnstiles that year. They get no,
• 21:00
  Speaker 4: and I know that everybody got. They basically were the
• 21:05
  Speaker 4: salaries reduced and baseball did its part, but they kept
• 21:08
  Speaker 4: every employee, they paid their minor leaguers, They did a
• 21:10
  Speaker 4: bunch of things and that started a drain, and I
• 21:13
  Speaker 4: you know, it's about they've said that the bulk of
• 21:17
  Speaker 4: their debt and I would believe that somewhere between fifty
• 21:20
  Speaker 4: and sixty percent of the five hundred million came from
• 21:23
  Speaker 4: twenty twenty on. You lose the TV revenue, they have
• 21:28
  Speaker 4: not resonated with fans whatsoever. They were spending payroll at
• 21:31
  Speaker 4: an all time record high. You know, they brought in
• 21:34
  Speaker 4: Carlos Korea. That payroll was one hundred and sixty one million.
• 21:36
  Speaker 4: In twenty twenty three, they didn't draw two million fans,
• 21:38
  Speaker 4: even though they won the division. The next year, they
• 21:40
  Speaker 4: didn't draw two million fans. And the throw that in
• 21:43
  Speaker 4: with the loss of TV revenue and the fact that
• 21:47
  Speaker 4: that interest payment started to balloon and the last couple
• 21:50
  Speaker 4: of years being in excess of forty million dollars, that's
• 21:54
  Speaker 4: what they've contended. Obviously, we can't see Baseball's books, but
• 21:59
  Speaker 4: you know, I know the Washington Nationals were in a
• 22:01
  Speaker 4: similar position coming off the World Series, expecting to cash
• 22:04
  Speaker 4: in in twenty twenty, and that's poor timing for the
• 22:08
  Speaker 4: Twins because they've never At that point, they had just
• 22:11
  Speaker 4: signed Josh Donaldson. They were you know, ramping up and
• 22:14
  Speaker 4: looking to compete and sell it to fans and have
• 22:17
  Speaker 4: back to back playoff years. And they did have back
• 22:20
  Speaker 4: to back playoff years. But as the COVID shortened season
• 22:23
  Speaker 4: and twenty one they were a mess. Twenty two they
• 22:25
  Speaker 4: brought in coreb and still was a mess. It's been
• 22:29
  Speaker 4: an ugly time and fans have just stayed away.
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: For my last question for you, Dan, does this make
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: it less or more likely that Joe Ryan has moved.
• 22:41
  Speaker 3: No.
• 22:41
  Speaker 4: You know, that's the thing that Tom Paul had did
• 22:43
  Speaker 4: stress when we saw him last Friday at twins Fest.
• 22:46
  Speaker 4: He flew to see Byron Buxton. He flew to see
• 22:50
  Speaker 4: Joe Ryan. He knew Pablo Lopez was coming to twins Fest,
• 22:53
  Speaker 4: but he went. He flew to California, flew to Georgia
• 22:55
  Speaker 4: for lunch with those players, just to reach out and
• 22:58
  Speaker 4: stress how important they were to the culture of things
• 23:02
  Speaker 4: and where the Twins are headed. So at least for now,
• 23:05
  Speaker 4: I see those guys being on board. But you know,
• 23:08
  Speaker 4: if this team falls apart out of the gate, if
• 23:10
  Speaker 4: this team is terrible in July and Joe Ryan and
• 23:15
  Speaker 4: Pablo Lopez each have a year and a half left
• 23:17
  Speaker 4: on those contracts. All bets are off.
• 23:20
  Speaker 3: All right. One last person that wasn't brought up we
• 23:22
  Speaker 3: talked about players, front office, the fans that have been
• 23:25
  Speaker 3: getting calls Derek Shelton. Derek Shelton comes in under current
• 23:30
  Speaker 3: GM and now it's a new role. Where does this
• 23:35
  Speaker 3: let him? Where does this make him stand in the
• 23:38
  Speaker 3: sense that, hey, he's gonna he's gonna coach this team,
• 23:41
  Speaker 3: he's gonna manage this team. But is this what he
• 23:44
  Speaker 3: signed up for? Because if it isn't, then it's like crap,
• 23:48
  Speaker 3: Maybe I could have taken a different team or a
• 23:50
  Speaker 3: different job.
• 23:51
  Speaker 4: I mean, it's definitely you've got to be wondering what's
• 23:55
  Speaker 4: going through his head as of right now, just because
• 23:58
  Speaker 4: you know, he has said last week that the continuity
• 24:00
  Speaker 4: of message was the same between Joe Pollad and Tom Pollad.
• 24:05
  Speaker 4: But Derek Valley was in the picture at that point
• 24:07
  Speaker 4: and now he's not. Now, Jeremy Zohl has been Derek
• 24:10
  Speaker 4: Falve's right hand for the last couple of years and
• 24:14
  Speaker 4: had really taken over on the day to day baseball operations.
• 24:17
  Speaker 4: Derek Falvey was more the view from ten thousand feet
• 24:20
  Speaker 4: guy with the final approval and stuff, But I mean
• 24:22
  Speaker 4: Derek Valvey was certainly Jeremy's ol was certainly taking some
• 24:26
  Speaker 4: of the reins, so there is still that continuity. But
• 24:29
  Speaker 4: I mean it's definitely something where you have to wonder.
• 24:33
  Speaker 4: It's just natural to wonder when the guy that hired
• 24:36
  Speaker 4: you and the guy that you were very psyched to
• 24:38
  Speaker 4: work with is out, And certainly it's a question that
• 24:42
  Speaker 4: needs to be answered. The thing is that this will
• 24:45
  Speaker 4: all boil down to wins and losses, and they do believe,
• 24:49
  Speaker 4: and even Derek Valve talked about this at length today.
• 24:51
  Speaker 4: They believe in the young group of players they have here.
• 24:54
  Speaker 4: They think that there's a pipeline of talent coming and
• 24:58
  Speaker 4: that there's more on the way. I mean, this is
• 25:00
  Speaker 4: a team that picks third in the draft coming up
• 25:02
  Speaker 4: this year, so you know, all that said, if they
• 25:05
  Speaker 4: can win, you know a lot of this stuff gets solved.
• 25:08
  Speaker 4: But we've seen the Twins struggle to do the last
• 25:10
  Speaker 4: couple of years, and now you know they're doing it
• 25:13
  Speaker 4: with the new leader. So it's certainly uncertain times.
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: Dan apparently, while Derek Falley was doing his pre conference.
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: It looks like the GM of the Vikings was also fired.
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: I guess they're they're friends. They've known each other for
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: twenty years. They've been you know, exchanging texts and conversations
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: and things for a couple of decades. What's going on?
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: If I tell you, it's a tough time to be
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: a front office person and many right now.
• 25:42
  Speaker 4: Yeah, it's a tough time to be in Minnesota right now.
• 25:44
  Speaker 4: And I think in general, it's just been weird. And
• 25:47
  Speaker 4: you know, QUESI and one of the reporters came on
• 25:51
  Speaker 4: and asked Derek about Questy getting fired, and you know,
• 25:54
  Speaker 4: he's shocked because Questy had sent Derek a note this
• 25:57
  Speaker 4: morning just of support. So it's it's definitely a weird day.
• 26:04
  Speaker 4: And I yeah, it's just a strange time for sure.
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: Yeah, Dan, we appreciate all the inside. I know today
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: was a crazy day for you. Thank you for taking
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: the time to be with us on on foul Territory.
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: You can check out more of his work, of course
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: on the Athletic And don't forget to subscribe to our
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: channel on YouTube. We are close to three hundred thousand subscribers.
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: So let's try to hit that number before the season starts. Dan,
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: thank you so much. We'll talk to you soon. All right,
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: let's take a look at the Rangers regular season odds. Gentlemen,
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: do we think they will have over or under eighty
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: three and a half wins? AJ will start with you,
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: what do you think?
• 26:49
  Speaker 3: Hard?
• 26:51
  Speaker 2: Can we just give me an easy one? Uh, I'm
• 26:55
  Speaker 2: gonna go I'm gonna go under. I'm going to go under.
• 27:04
  Speaker 2: I just I don't know. I don't know that they've
• 27:07
  Speaker 2: done enough. I mean, I love de Gram and Valdi
• 27:09
  Speaker 2: and Mackenzie Gore at the top of the rotation. Just
• 27:15
  Speaker 2: until they show me they can hit. I'm going under.
• 27:17
  Speaker 2: And it's not as a former Ranger player and I
• 27:20
  Speaker 2: love my time in Texas. It pains me to say that,
• 27:22
  Speaker 2: but yeah, I'm going to go under. I think they're
• 27:24
  Speaker 2: a seventy eight to eighty one win team right now.
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: How much does the division play into your decision?
• 27:31
  Speaker 2: Well, I think that you have to look at that.
• 27:33
  Speaker 2: I think the Mariners are going to be good again.
• 27:36
  Speaker 2: I think the A's will be better. I think the
• 27:38
  Speaker 2: Angels will be better with another year of some of
• 27:39
  Speaker 2: their young kids. And I think the Astros are still
• 27:42
  Speaker 2: the Astros, so it has to play into it, and
• 27:43
  Speaker 2: they play them in that division a lot. So I
• 27:46
  Speaker 2: just it pains me to say I think it's going
• 27:48
  Speaker 2: to be under.
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: Apparently Jeff Passon reporting that Jacob Wilson just got an
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: extension from the a's longtime, long term deal. There, Eric,
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: you taken the over or the under on the Texas
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: Rangers at eighty three and a half.
• 28:02
  Speaker 3: We have to take the over here. I get it.
• 28:05
  Speaker 3: Evaldi and de Grom another a healthy season, making their
• 28:11
  Speaker 3: twenty nine to thirty two starts. Yeah, that's rare. But
• 28:15
  Speaker 3: I just have a hard time believing that this offense
• 28:18
  Speaker 3: is going to continue the way it did. Is the Nemo?
• 28:22
  Speaker 3: Is the Nemo addition going to jump start this offense?
• 28:26
  Speaker 3: Is the subtraction of Adolis Garcia? How are they going
• 28:29
  Speaker 3: to figure out those home runs? This is a subtraction
• 28:32
  Speaker 3: of Marcus Simeon. Is the young youth that they're gonna
• 28:36
  Speaker 3: inject into the lineup? Are they going to do what
• 28:39
  Speaker 3: they did in August and September when they made that
• 28:42
  Speaker 3: little mini run that they were on. I take the
• 28:46
  Speaker 3: over just because I have to answer it. But I
• 28:49
  Speaker 3: don't know. I don't know if they're a playoff team.
• 28:51
  Speaker 3: I said it yesterday with the Brewers. I don't know
• 28:54
  Speaker 3: if they're a playoff team because of how the American
• 28:57
  Speaker 3: League is going to kind of be jumbled at the top,
• 29:00
  Speaker 3: and I think eighty seven wins is where you got
• 29:02
  Speaker 3: to be to make the playoffs in the American League.
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: And a new skipper, the helm of the Texas Rangers,
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: of course, Bruce Bochi no.
• 29:09
  Speaker 2: Longer their bullpen. Their bullpen worries me. I'm sorry, it
• 29:12
  Speaker 2: does still worry. I mean, Chris Martin. Okay, other than that, though,
• 29:19
  Speaker 2: someone's got a phone call. But other than that, who,
• 29:22
  Speaker 2: I mean, who who's going to be in their bullpen?
• 29:25
  Speaker 2: I mean, no offense, Alexis Diaz.
• 29:30
  Speaker 3: Too many question marks.
• 29:32
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's tough. Certainly it's good, and they're any even
• 29:39
  Speaker 2: looking at their offense, it's still like.
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: Yeah, time will tell, Time will tell. A lot can
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: happen between now and the end of the season. Guys,
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: don't forget. But MGM players will receive a Golf Odds
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: Boost token. To use the token at any golf wagers
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: to your bet slip and activate the token. If you
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: win your bet that was made with the Boost token,
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: you will receive extra winnings in unrestricted bonus dollars. Gambling
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: problem or concern called one eight hundred gambler. It is
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: time now, all right, we're slapping hands. Earlier on the
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: show this week, we talked about insurance regarding players not
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: being able to play in the World Baseball Classic, but
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: we look more into it. We wanted to clarify things
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: just for a hot second, and the main point is, guys,
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: that the World Baseball Classic insurance is for the teams themselves,
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: not the players, So the players under contract are never
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: at risk. It's more of the team not wanting the
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: player to participate in the WBC because they don't have
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: the insurance. If the player does in fact get hurt
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: and then they can't play for their big league club.
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: For example, Clayton Kershaw back in twenty twenty three could
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: not play. Carlos Korea is not going to play for
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: the Astros or for his team in the WBC, nor
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: is jose L Tuve because of an insurance reason. So
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: I guess you can understand aj from a team perspective,
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: why you wouldn't want your some of your star up
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: or any player to play in this without having some
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: sort of insurance policy if they get hurt.
• 31:16
  Speaker 2: Listen, deep down, no team wants their players to play
• 31:20
  Speaker 2: in this thing, deep down, like they will never say
• 31:24
  Speaker 2: that because they can't say that, because Edwin Diaz. We'll
• 31:27
  Speaker 2: use Edwin Diaz and he hurt his knee and missed
• 31:29
  Speaker 2: the whole year for the Mets that year. Right, God forbid,
• 31:32
  Speaker 2: somebody has something like that happened to get and it
• 31:34
  Speaker 2: affects a team season like you did for the Mets
• 31:36
  Speaker 2: that year. So I know these games mean more than
• 31:40
  Speaker 2: playoff games to Scott and Eric, but at the end
• 31:43
  Speaker 2: of the day, they're just exhibition games. Yes they mean
• 31:45
  Speaker 2: a lot for your country. Yes they mean a lot
• 31:47
  Speaker 2: to the players, but deep down the teams will never
• 31:49
  Speaker 2: admit it. But no team really wants any of their
• 31:51
  Speaker 2: players playing in this.
• 31:54
  Speaker 3: That's fair, I agree.
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: Is it fair to the player though, to not let
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: a team play or not let a player play, because
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: I mean, technically, I mean they are your employer. Your employer,
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: I guess, does have the right to say you're not
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: going to play.
• 32:13
  Speaker 2: Here's my question, Alana, if God forbid again, Carlos Crea
• 32:18
  Speaker 2: goes in place for Puerto Rico and something happens, and
• 32:20
  Speaker 2: he's out for a long time, and the Astros were
• 32:23
  Speaker 2: counting on him or out tuove either one and the
• 32:26
  Speaker 2: Astros are counting on them. And then it the Astros
• 32:28
  Speaker 2: don't make the playoffs because Carlos Korea, god forbid, missed
• 32:31
  Speaker 2: the entire season. That's a problem. That's that's something that
• 32:36
  Speaker 2: the Astros deep down or like, man, I really wish
• 32:38
  Speaker 2: you wouldn't have played, but we didn't tell him. No,
• 32:40
  Speaker 2: we should have, but we didn't want to make him angry.
• 32:43
  Speaker 2: It puts everybody in a bad spot. There's no good
• 32:46
  Speaker 2: time to play this. It just puts everybody kind of
• 32:48
  Speaker 2: in a bad spot, and you just pray and hope
• 32:51
  Speaker 2: that nobody gets injured.
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: I think that's a good point too. There is no
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: you can't do it at the beginning of the season.
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: You can't do it at the end of the season.
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: The season is you know, it's too long. There isn't
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: a great time to play it. But I do think
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: it is so important, especially if you see the rise
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: and the interest guys from Team USA. I mean some
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: of the superstars are saying, you know what, I'm playing
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: in this It's important to me now, probably more important
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: to Team USA now than it has been in WBC's
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: in the past. I mean, it's a it's a tough
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: it's a tough road to to ho there when you
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: know you want to play for your country.
• 33:28
  Speaker 2: Younger. A lot of them are younger. Though also a
• 33:30
  Speaker 2: lot of them, the USA players are a little bit younger.
• 33:34
  Speaker 2: The schemes and the position players. It's a little less.
• 33:37
  Speaker 2: You really worry about pitchers obviously in arm injuries, but
• 33:42
  Speaker 2: a lot of the US players are on the young
• 33:44
  Speaker 2: Bobby Wit you know. So listen, let's just let's just
• 33:48
  Speaker 2: hope and pray that nobody gets hurt. Okay, that's it.
• 33:50
  Speaker 2: Let's let's hope we have unbelievable games like we did
• 33:52
  Speaker 2: last time, nobody gets hurt, and at the end of
• 33:54
  Speaker 2: this we say baseball is amazing, like we all know
• 33:57
  Speaker 2: what it is, and go USA.
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: Go USA, all right? Another thing coming out here breaking
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: news from Jeff Passon, a ESPN shortstop. Jacob Wilson and
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: the Athletics are in agreement on a seven year, seventy
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: million dollar contract extension. That's a lot of money for
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: the A's that includes an eight year club option, Sources
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: telling him Wilson twenty three, finished second in ALE Rookie
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: of the Year voting last season. I believe to Nick
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: Hurtz's team rate right after hitting three eleven, three fifty five,
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: four forty four. What do you think about this?
• 34:25
  Speaker 3: Ek great for him. Anytime you can get your money,
• 34:30
  Speaker 3: anytime you can get your money up front, you look
• 34:32
  Speaker 3: at the but you know, for me, I also would
• 34:35
  Speaker 3: look at the earning potential for him seven years, seventy million,
• 34:40
  Speaker 3: So he's giving up one or two years of his
• 34:43
  Speaker 3: free agency. But earning potential in the arbitration process is
• 34:49
  Speaker 3: RBIs how often you spend time on the field and
• 34:52
  Speaker 3: dingers And he doesn't necessarily do that. And I don't
• 34:57
  Speaker 3: think he's taking this because ooh, I'm afraid of getting hurt.
• 35:01
  Speaker 3: I think they've built something in Sacramento. I was almost
• 35:05
  Speaker 3: gonna say Oakland in Sacramento where it's like, these guys
• 35:09
  Speaker 3: want to be here. Rooks signed, Soderstrom, just signed loal Dog,
• 35:16
  Speaker 3: Lawrence Butler signed like these. This means that they are
• 35:20
  Speaker 3: putting those offers out there. I know back in the
• 35:22
  Speaker 3: day they offered, they offered Matt Chapman to stay there
• 35:25
  Speaker 3: and it wasn't enough money and He made the good
• 35:27
  Speaker 3: decision too, and he made a lot more money doing it.
• 35:31
  Speaker 3: You can never tell somebody it's not a good deal
• 35:34
  Speaker 3: for you. I mean, Jacob's dad played in the Big League,
• 35:37
  Speaker 3: so he knows. He knows, you know, how finite careers
• 35:41
  Speaker 3: can be, and they can't. You know, it doesn't always
• 35:43
  Speaker 3: you don't always hit three eleven. And that's actually down
• 35:46
  Speaker 3: from where he was before. But to me, I think
• 35:50
  Speaker 3: it's a great deal. I think it is something that
• 35:52
  Speaker 3: will set obviously him up for life, but it's also
• 35:56
  Speaker 3: giving him certainty over this next seven years and allows
• 36:01
  Speaker 3: him to go into free agency. I'm sure there's some
• 36:03
  Speaker 3: kind of team option at the end too, So at
• 36:05
  Speaker 3: thirty or thirty one years.
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: Old, yeah, eighth year club option. I remember Guy's money.
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: Grandel guys one time told me, get as much money
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: as you can when you can get it. You know,
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: like you don't know what's going to happen. He you
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: doesn't know what's going to happen within the next seven years.
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: But there's something to be said, aj and you certainly
• 36:20
  Speaker 1: know more than I with the length of time you
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: played in the BIGS and your contract negotiations, there's something
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: to be said about having that certainty that at least
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: for seven years he knows where he's going to be.
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: And I mean ten million dollars a year is nothing
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: to you know, nothing to shake a stick out.
• 36:33
  Speaker 2: Ye Listen, he got his money. He got he got
• 36:35
  Speaker 2: money that will set him up for life and not
• 36:38
  Speaker 2: everyone's given this opportunity, so it's hard to tell somebody
• 36:41
  Speaker 2: not to take it. I'm happy for him. I'm happy
• 36:44
  Speaker 2: for him, you know what. I'm happy for A's fans,
• 36:46
  Speaker 2: and I'm happy for the A's in general. They've signed
• 36:49
  Speaker 2: some of these guys. They have a team that's going
• 36:50
  Speaker 2: to be around for a little while. But I will
• 36:53
  Speaker 2: say this, it also makes you easier to be traded
• 36:57
  Speaker 2: because of the because know exactly how much you're going
• 37:01
  Speaker 2: to make for the rest of your contract. So yes,
• 37:04
  Speaker 2: as great as it is, and you know that, and
• 37:06
  Speaker 2: everyone's let's pat the A's on the back and say
• 37:08
  Speaker 2: way to go Sacramento A's and Vegas A's. But at
• 37:11
  Speaker 2: the end of the day, also you can be traded
• 37:14
  Speaker 2: unless you have full note trade, which I doubt any
• 37:16
  Speaker 2: of these contracts have. It also makes easier trade because when
• 37:19
  Speaker 2: you go to a team, you can say Hey, you
• 37:20
  Speaker 2: can have Jacob Wilson. He's got three years thirty five
• 37:23
  Speaker 2: left on this contract. That's a steal in today's market. Boom,
• 37:27
  Speaker 2: there you go.
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: Yeah, well he'll be when he hits free agency, he'll
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: be thirty. That's still relatively young. Before we say goodbye
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: and get to Kratz's hats, I wanted to give a
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: shout out to our girl, Emily Walden. She does a
• 37:39
  Speaker 1: tremendous job. She does a lot of stuff in the
• 37:43
  Speaker 1: Tigers market, she does a lot of minor league stuff.
• 37:45
  Speaker 1: She's a Michigan native. She was in remission from cancer
• 37:49
  Speaker 1: and unfortunately the cancer has returned. But she's going to
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: fight this just as fiercely as she did before. But
• 37:57
  Speaker 1: with this type of diagnosis, obviously it's a lot of
• 37:59
  Speaker 1: time away from work and she could use our help.
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: And I know that the baseball community has rallied around
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: Emily before. I'm just asking if you can, if you're
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: led to, if you're if you're in the position to
• 38:09
  Speaker 1: do so, please go to her gofund me. You can
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: see it there under my ex and her ex as well.
• 38:16
  Speaker 1: It's on Instagram as well. Just help her out. She
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: does so much for the sport that we all love.
• 38:21
  Speaker 1: And you know, hopefully we can support Emily Emily as well,
• 38:25
  Speaker 1: So if you're led to do it, I appreciate that
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: very much. All right, before we say goodbye, how about
• 38:31
  Speaker 1: krat's hats? What do you got on today?
• 38:33
  Speaker 4: Ka?
• 38:34
  Speaker 3: I mean for Kenllley maybe maybe Producer Ladies for Kelly
• 38:38
  Speaker 3: Jameson is a Tiger's.
• 38:39
  Speaker 1: Hat and forgetting Yeah, I love it.
• 38:43
  Speaker 3: And this is Producer Ladies, one of her favorite, one
• 38:46
  Speaker 3: of her favorite teams.
• 38:47
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I love it. It's a nice that's a nice hat.
• 38:50
  Speaker 1: All right, guys, have a great weekend. Appreciate you guys
• 38:53
  Speaker 1: very much. Letting me pinch hit today for Scott Broun.
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: Have a great weekend, everybody. Foul Territory rolls on. We'll
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: be back on Monday. We'll see you then. Take care.