Latest / Foul Territory / Jim Bowden breaks down Owners meetings, Failed medicals, Alonso negotiations, Top ROY candidates

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Jim Bowden breaks down Owners meetings, Failed medicals, Alonso negotiations, Top ROY candidates · Foul Territory

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: The choice was either this two year fifty four or
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: three years at seventy two million dollars, and you know
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: they want the longer term deal.
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: All right, let's do this.
• 0:22
  Speaker 3: We've got CBS sports insider Jim Boden joining us right now,
• 0:25
  Speaker 3: so find his work in the athletic. I've been told
• 0:27
  Speaker 3: we got some fancy front office animation that we will unveil,
• 0:32
  Speaker 3: not yet in a couple of weeks, so stay tuned
• 0:34
  Speaker 3: on that one, but I know we're almost there. We're
• 0:36
  Speaker 3: almost there, something for everyone to look forward to.
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: JB.
• 0:40
  Speaker 3: Pete Alonzo back to the Mets. How do you think
• 0:43
  Speaker 3: he feels and what do you think the conversation was
• 0:46
  Speaker 3: like at the dinner last night in Tampa between him,
• 0:49
  Speaker 3: Boris owner Steve Cohen, front office leader David Searns.
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think Scott got the thirty million that he
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: wanted in the front ear for Pete Alonso. I mean,
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: this is the same kind of deal he did with
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: Blake Snell a year ago. You know, I think the
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: way the Mets viewed his value was somewhere around twenty
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: four million, in between Matt Olson and Freddie Freeman. That's
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: where they wanted to land and Scott wanted to do
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: that Blake Snell Cody Bellinger deal, which is, you know what,
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: I'll get thirty million. I'll opt out after one year
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: if he gets injured as a bad year. I've got
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: two years at fifty four million booked, so I can
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: always play the second year for twenty four million. But
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: you know, with one so hitting front of me, let
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: me go hit forty home runs, I'll put up a
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: big year and I'll go right back in the market
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: and I'll get my five years at twenty six or
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: my five years at twenty eight. And I already got
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: thirty upfront towards what I want to get to. So
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: you know, if you're going to do a short term deal,
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: Scott has made a huge living for star players doing
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: it this way. And Pete wants that long term deal,
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: He's just gonna have to get two or three contracts
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: to get the same amount he wanted in the first place.
• 1:54
  Speaker 4: Now, let me ask you this that long term deal.
• 1:57
  Speaker 4: Was there an opportunity to get that long term deal?
• 2:00
  Speaker 4: I mean, whether it was with another team or just
• 2:02
  Speaker 4: a Mets. So what happened in that situation? I know
• 2:05
  Speaker 4: Pete really wanted to you know, solidify himself as a
• 2:09
  Speaker 4: Met for the rest of his career. So was there
• 2:11
  Speaker 4: any opportunity for them talking and finalizing you know, close
• 2:15
  Speaker 4: to two hundred million dollars is what we were expecting.
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think early on he had a chance to
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: get I think it was somewhere between one sixty one
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: sixty five somewhere a long time ago. And then when
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: free agency occurred and Juan Soto got his deal, then
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: the Mets went shorter term. So the choice was either
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: this two year fifty four or three years at seventy
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: two million dollars. And you know they want the longer
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: term deal. And you know, as Scott can show him,
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: he's had a lot of clients in his career that
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: he's done a short term deal with. And then you
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: go back on the market and you go and do
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: it again. And from the Mets perspective, you know, you
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: love the short term deal because you love the fact
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: that Pete has to perform to continue to pay him
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: at this level. And look, they can extend them again
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: later if they decide to. If he it's forty home
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: runs and they want to give him a four or
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: five year deal in the offseason, you know they can
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: do that as well. So look, I think this is
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: a win short term for Pete. I know we didn't
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: get the long term deal he wanted, but I think
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: they just they waited too long, right, I mean they
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: waited and all of a sudden, the Yankees filled up
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: first base, Arizona filled up first base. The Seattle Mariners
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: didn't have any money to play at the position, so
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: you know, the position dried up really quickly. There weren't
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: a lot of options at the end. They tried to
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: get San Francisco in, but Buster Posey said, look, I
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: don't believe in opt outs. I'm not going to do it.
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: Toronto really wants to sign Guerrero and put their money there,
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: and they signed Santander. So at the end of the day,
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: there weren't a lot of options for Pete, but he
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: ended up doing a really good short term deal. I think,
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: considering the circumstances.
• 3:48
  Speaker 5: Can this exactly what you just said, be kind of
• 3:51
  Speaker 5: a precursor to, hey, we don't want to go past
• 3:54
  Speaker 5: these this three years, whether it's Sterns or not. But
• 3:57
  Speaker 5: a Vladdie coming on the market next year, the Mets
• 4:00
  Speaker 5: being a big player because we've seen teams kind of
• 4:03
  Speaker 5: like go eh, you know what, Like the Dodgers kind
• 4:06
  Speaker 5: of had their one rebuild year, so they could go
• 4:08
  Speaker 5: in with shohey and everything. I know, it's not a
• 4:10
  Speaker 5: rebuild year, but it's a Dodgers rebuild year. Could this
• 4:14
  Speaker 5: be indicative of that possibly down the road here or not?
• 4:18
  Speaker 5: Not even on the same stratosphere.
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: Yeah, not a The reason it's not the same conversation
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: as all because of age, right, I mean, the only
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: reason Juan Soto got seven hundred and sixty million dollars
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: is he hit the market at twenty five or twenty
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: six years old. So because Laddie is so young, he's
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: gonna get I predicted in my article on the Athletic
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: that he'd get twelve years, four hundred and seventy seven million.
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: He may get more than that, but you know, Guerrero
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: is that three to twenty hitter with thirty home runs
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: and in your twenties, and so I think those players
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: are going to get paid. But I got to tell you,
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: based on all of their algorithms and all of the analytics,
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: the clubs are nervous about players that are north of
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: thirty one one years old, and especially power hitters, and
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: so you know, I think most clubs are going to
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: be very conservative in that area of players. But if
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: you get to the market at twenty five, twenty six,
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: twenty seven, you're going to get the years and you're
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: going to get the dollars.
• 5:14
  Speaker 5: Can the front offices look past that analytical part? Because
• 5:17
  Speaker 5: I mean when you look at Pete one twenty four
• 5:22
  Speaker 5: six ops plus, they're just not even His best year
• 5:25
  Speaker 5: was one forty six, so he's not even close to
• 5:28
  Speaker 5: that elite level. Is there an organization that has been
• 5:33
  Speaker 5: leaning towards looking past that to be able to just
• 5:35
  Speaker 5: go get a guy that they really think they need.
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: I mean, it only takes one team, right, I mean
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: that's how the market change. It only takes one GM
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: one owner out of the thirty to go against the
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: grain and go there. I mean, in Pete's case, I mean,
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: what is He's a blowouverage defender. At first, he's a
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: forty home run back. But I also think what he
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: proved last year in the postseason is he can perform
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: in the biggest moments on the biggest stage. And he
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: also proved everyone that he can play in the New
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: York market and succeed in the New York market, so
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: he's got a lot of intangibles around him. I mean,
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: I think if you wanted to look at all the
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: first basemen, he doesn't belong in the conversation with Freddie
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: Freeman or Vladimir Guerrero Junior or in my opinion, not
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: even Matt Olsen. But forty home runs. How many first
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: basemen are there that hit forty home runs or have
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: the potential to do that. Not a lot. So if
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: you can get him on shorter term deals and you
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: don't have to worry about the back end of the deals,
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: I mean, remember, I think when you look at the padres,
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: they're going to regret paying Xander Bogarts to forty. They're
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: going to regret paying Manny Machadau of forty. And clubs
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: don't want to be in that position because when you
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: get to that point, it really hamstrings you on being
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: competitive at that point. So David Stearns is the smart guy.
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: He didn't want to go long term with Pete and
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: he found a way not to go long term.
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: JB.
• 6:53
  Speaker 3: The owners meetings are happening right now in Florida. We're
• 6:55
  Speaker 3: going to cover this later in the show, but I
• 6:57
  Speaker 3: want to get the front office perspective.
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: What's happening there.
• 7:00
  Speaker 3: Your colleague over at the Athletic Evandrelik has written about
• 7:03
  Speaker 3: how they're debating how they want to handle a potentially
• 7:06
  Speaker 3: salary app situation and that push in a couple of years,
• 7:09
  Speaker 3: and how long they'd be willing to sit out and
• 7:11
  Speaker 3: not have games go on after the expiration in twenty
• 7:15
  Speaker 3: twenty six for the twenty twenty seven season. One other
• 7:18
  Speaker 3: thing I want to add to the mix here and
• 7:20
  Speaker 3: then get your thoughts is Drelik just reported that two
• 7:23
  Speaker 3: new MLB owners are joining Rob Manford's executive council at
• 7:27
  Speaker 3: the owners meetings. That's Steve Cohen of the Mets. We're
• 7:30
  Speaker 3: really going to the opposite side of the spectrum here,
• 7:32
  Speaker 3: and John Fisher of the Ace, which joins a team
• 7:35
  Speaker 3: of six others owners of the Angel Stebachs, Giants, Guardians, Marlins,
• 7:39
  Speaker 3: and Red Sox.
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: So I'm kind of.
• 7:41
  Speaker 3: Open the floor here to your thoughts on how any
• 7:43
  Speaker 3: of this works and what you see happening. John Fisher
• 7:46
  Speaker 3: is an interesting choice to be on any committee in
• 7:49
  Speaker 3: baseball right now.
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: Yeah, And I think what Commissioner Manford's trying to do
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: is to bookend the biggest market owner with the smallest
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: owner market and then try to figure out how everyone
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: can come together get with a system that works a
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: little bit better here. I mean, look, I think most
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: teams outside of New York, Los Angeles, maybe Philadelphia, would
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: like to have some kind of salary cap where there's
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: a floor and there's a ceiling, and then there's a
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: range within there. Maybe you use one hundred million differential
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: with the highest team is here and the lowest team
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: has to at least be one hundred million less than that,
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: some kind of range like that. Salary caps have never
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: the whole concept that's never worked in the past. No
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: one's ever bought in on the players association side, And
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: I think that's the biggest part is that I think
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: that as we learned over the last several cbas, the
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: most important thing is to get on board with the
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: players Association and work with them to try to find
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: a system that works. I know there's a lot of
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: players that are opposed to a salary cap, but I
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: think if it's done properly, there is a way that
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: it works. I don't think MLB would ever be able
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: to do a cap system that is successful like the
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: NFL and the NBA, where you literally have paroity, where
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: you really literally have small market teams that have a
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: chance to compete with the big markets, but you can
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: bring it a lot closer. And I think what we've
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: seen the last couple of years is Dodgers, Yankees, Mets,
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: Phillies have kind of run away from most of the
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: pack here. And I know we've tried to correct that
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: with the luxury tax and the CBT issues and taken
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: away draft picks, but all of those moves really haven't
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: worked well enough, so I think we have to still
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: keep trying to find ways. And I got to tell you,
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: if I'm a player, look, I want to make sure
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: I maximize salaries, but I also want to make it
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: more competitive with all thirty teams. So hopefully both sides
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: can find a way to creatively kind of embrace the
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: idea of a salary cap and try to find a
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: way to make it work.
• 9:46
  Speaker 6: All right, a couple things, sir, Jim.
• 9:49
  Speaker 7: One, excuse me, You're not getting a salary cap without
• 9:52
  Speaker 7: a salary floor, okay. And when you have a team
• 9:54
  Speaker 7: like the Marlins, even thing throwing the White Sox the
• 9:57
  Speaker 7: pirates and they have their low salary for their floors.
• 10:02
  Speaker 7: You're gonna have to get that up right now, you
• 10:03
  Speaker 7: have a soft salary cap, luxury tax.
• 10:05
  Speaker 8: Some teams just don't care about it. Right.
• 10:07
  Speaker 7: Why the Dodgers have a better TV deal, The Mets
• 10:09
  Speaker 7: have a better TV deal, The Yankees have a better
• 10:11
  Speaker 7: TV deal. John Middleton wants to win. You're never gonna
• 10:14
  Speaker 7: get that to be equal. Now, you brought up the
• 10:17
  Speaker 7: other leagues. What is the NBA, the NHL, the NFL?
• 10:21
  Speaker 7: What do they always argue about how much revenue? Because
• 10:24
  Speaker 7: it's all based on the revenue and the sport, right,
• 10:27
  Speaker 7: the owners aren't never going to show you all the
• 10:28
  Speaker 7: revenue that they're getting. They're never gonna do you. We
• 10:31
  Speaker 7: worked in the front office. You know how this works.
• 10:33
  Speaker 7: They don't show you all the revenue. The Braves have
• 10:35
  Speaker 7: to they're publicly traded. I'm sure there's ways they can
• 10:37
  Speaker 7: kind of finagle some stuff too. I don't know how
• 10:40
  Speaker 7: all that works. It's way smarter than I am. But
• 10:42
  Speaker 7: until you can get the owners to open their books
• 10:45
  Speaker 7: and say, hey, yeah, we made fifteen billion as a
• 10:47
  Speaker 7: sport last year. And you know, players are supposed to
• 10:50
  Speaker 7: get fifty percent of that owner's supposed to get fifty
• 10:51
  Speaker 7: percent of that, and you get all the other outside
• 10:54
  Speaker 7: companies that the owners used to hide money and and
• 10:56
  Speaker 7: finagl their their business models. It's always going to be
• 11:00
  Speaker 7: an argument. So that's why in other leagues you see
• 11:02
  Speaker 7: the NBA arguing over it all the time. You see
• 11:04
  Speaker 7: the NFL arguing over Oh, they're saying they're making ten
• 11:06
  Speaker 7: billion when they're really making thirteen billions. It's never gonna stop,
• 11:09
  Speaker 7: even if you put a cap in. It's just a way,
• 11:12
  Speaker 7: it'll be just different finances.
• 11:14
  Speaker 8: I don't know. I don't think it's gonna work.
• 11:15
  Speaker 7: I don't know how you make it closer, like you said,
• 11:18
  Speaker 7: unless you get a floor.
• 11:19
  Speaker 8: If you get a floor, the owners are gonna want
• 11:20
  Speaker 8: a cap. I don't know.
• 11:22
  Speaker 7: I just don't think it's gonna work. And it's gonna
• 11:23
  Speaker 7: get nasty here the next one. If the owners dig
• 11:26
  Speaker 7: in on this.
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: Yeah, And I think one of the things you have
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: to do is you have to come I think we
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: have to take the television and the streaming revenue and
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: be able to share that more equally with all thirty teams,
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: of which the big markets obviously don't want to do
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: it because they make a lot more money. But here's
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: the argument that small and middle market teams have, which is,
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: you can't tell if we don't agree to you televising
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: our game, then you don't get that income. So if
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: every team outside of the two New York teams, the
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: Dodgers and the Phillies, if all the other teams, the
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: twenty six teams say you can televise all the games
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: you want, but just none of our you can't televise
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: our games. If you're not going to give us equal revenue,
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: then you can't televise it. Then what is the value
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: of TV for the You're not gonna be able to
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: televise your games. And that's the kind of the argument
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: the small and middle markets can get to get more
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: revenue sharing that creates an easier path. You know, I
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: think with the players to have that argument for a cap,
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: I agree with you completely. You cannot have a salary
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: cap without a floor. You can't sit there also and
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: share revenues with team likes Miami, the Athletics, the Pirates.
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: You can't share all this revenue and then not force
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: these teams to spend not just what they're getting but
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: more than what they're getting right, And so, yeah, we
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: have an issue at both ends right now, and I
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: think we need to share more revenue. We need to
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: have a floor, you need to have a cap that
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: works and opening the books. Yeah, that is the right answer,
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: And you're right there are a lot of owners that
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: will never let that happen. But you certainly can argue
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: for the players that there's certain certain revenue streams that
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: the players should be able to audit, and those are
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: the bigger revenue streams.
• 13:08
  Speaker 5: How contentious do these owners meetings get? Because I've been
• 13:11
  Speaker 5: in Players Association meetings and you know, you have people
• 13:14
  Speaker 5: at different ends of the spectrum on things. Is it
• 13:17
  Speaker 5: the same way with the owners because they put out
• 13:19
  Speaker 5: a picture of oh, we agree with each other all
• 13:22
  Speaker 5: the time, and yet some of the things you see
• 13:24
  Speaker 5: you're like, I don't think he agrees with that.
• 13:27
  Speaker 8: Yeah.
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: So I was in a lot of the owners meetings,
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: and in fact, there was one year that I was
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: the acting owner of the Reds when my owner was
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: suspended for a year, and that was during one of
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: the CBA negotiations in the mid nineties. And I can
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: tell you that it gets very contentious. A lot of anger.
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: You have little cliques, little groups, right. So I was
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: in that lower middle market kind of ownership group, and
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: I had the small markets, the real small markets, trying
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: to pull me in. I had the big markets trying
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: to pull me up because they needed my vote.
• 13:58
  Speaker 8: Right.
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: But it is intense because they're totally different. You know,
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: even the GM jobs, they're totally different. If you're a
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: big market GM or a small market GM, they're totally
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: different jobs. And if you're an owner, it's a whole
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: different level if you're in the top third of the industry.
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: So one thing that the teams do is the teams
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: when they're done voting, they try to get everyone to
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: make it unanimous so they can have a solid front
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: to the public. So let's just say if the voting
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: on something ended up being twenty two to eight, there's
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: a lot of times that gets announced as unanimous because
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: those eight teams are asked very nicely, let's make this
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: one unanimous like all of them. So yeah, they like
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: to do that. But it's like any group of people,
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: not everybody's ever going to degree. They all have different needs,
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: they all have different problems, and they all have different philosophies,
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: and so it's like, no, it's like every other group
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: in America. Right, It's a group of thirty people that
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: all have their own personal agendas. They want what they want,
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: and so you've got to try to find a way
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: to make the industry all happy. But behind the scenes, no,
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: it's it's just like any other It's just like the
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: player's side.
• 15:07
  Speaker 8: I view it as a royal rumble.
• 15:10
  Speaker 5: They're all just in a cage and it's just all
• 15:11
  Speaker 5: the owners and whoever gets thrown out says we agreed
• 15:14
  Speaker 5: to everything. Speaking of agreeing to things, how do the
• 15:18
  Speaker 5: medicals work with not only with trades, but also with
• 15:22
  Speaker 5: what happened with Hoffman? Because we think about Jack Flaherty's
• 15:25
  Speaker 5: trade and it came out the Yankees were like a
• 15:28
  Speaker 5: little we don't we're not really sure about his medicals.
• 15:30
  Speaker 5: Well that hurts everybody. What are you not sure about?
• 15:32
  Speaker 5: Let everybody know? Same with Hoffman. He got failed and
• 15:36
  Speaker 5: ended up signing with the Blue Jays. This is good
• 15:38
  Speaker 5: for him, But how does that all? How does that
• 15:40
  Speaker 5: all work? And why does some of it leak out
• 15:42
  Speaker 5: and not others?
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so it's a great question.
• 15:45
  Speaker 8: Eric.
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: A lot of people don't know the answer to these things.
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: So part of the job as a general manager is
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: risk management, and you're like an insurance underwriting yourself. That's
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: your responsibility. So when you do a medical with players,
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: always used two orthopedic doctors, the team one and then
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: I would use James Andrews out of Alabama and you
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: would get all the information. And what you find is,
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: as an example, almost every pitcher in baseball is some
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: kind of tear in their shoulder, some kind of tear
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: in their elbow. Every position player is something that's the generative.
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: It could be a back, it could be a knee.
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: There's always something with players, right, and so the doctors
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: tend to protect themselves, right. They don't want to recommend something,
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: and then a guy gets injured and then they're the
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: ones in their mind responsible for the millions that you
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: lost because he's on the injured list, right, So they
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: tend to tell you to stay away in general. So
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: then you have to look at each GM and what
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: their position is long term, short term, right, So alex
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: Anthropolois of the Braves is signed long term, Michael Lias
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: is going to be in Baltimore long term. So they
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: look at Jeff Hoffman situation, three year, thirty three million
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: dollar deal, and the doctors have some issues with him medically,
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: which we can't talk about this hippo laws. But they
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: have risks there and they don't want to sit there
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: and pay thirty three million to a guy that might
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: get injured after one year. They don't want to sit
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: there and have that money sitting on the book. So
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: they pass. You didn't pass the physical. We're gonna move on.
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: Now you get to Toronto. You have Mark Schapira and
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: Ross Atkins. Their contracts are up this year. They got
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: to win or they may not have their jobs a
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: year from now. They got to win now, so they
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: may look at the medicals a little bit different, saying,
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: you know what, yeah, there's risk here. This is the
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: only way we're gonna sign him as a three year deal.
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: Let's roll the dice. We got to win now. Anyway,
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: let's win. We'll get our contracts and then if he
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: blows out, you know we have enough resources to be
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: able to replace. And let's take that gamble. And I
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: can tell you in my career, I signed Ron Gant
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: after he got a motorcycle accident broke his legs the
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: Braves released him, and my doctor said, don't sign them.
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: I don't think he'll ever play again.
• 17:54
  Speaker 6: You know.
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: I ended up signing him, you know, with a low base,
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: with incentives, and he helped lead our team to the
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: NLCS the next year against the Braves. Ironically, so I
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: kind of went against the medicals of the doctors and
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: then it paid off. Another time, I traded for Scott Olsen,
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: a left hand pitcher for the Marlins, because I wanted
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: an outfielder Josh Willingham that was in the deal, and
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: the medicals weren't great on Olson. They went through the
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: risk with me, and I'm like, you know, I'll take
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: a chance anyway, and that one didn't work. But again
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: that's on me. That's the gamble or the risk of
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: the GM gets. Now, in the case of Flarity that
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: you mentioned last July, the Tigers and Yankees agreed to
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: a trade Flarity to the Yankees for a really good prospect.
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: When the Yankees did the medicals, they didn't like the risk,
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: and remember it was just one year. They didn't want
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: to give up the prospect because they didn't know Flarity
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: would be healthy in October. Now, the Tigers disagreed. They
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: thought he was healthy. The Dodgers thought the medicals were fine.
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: They said, let's go, we'll make the deal. The Dodgers
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: won the World Series. Flarity was a part of that.
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: So now he goes on to the open market. Teams
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: are now all looking at the medicals. They don't like that.
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: They're like the Yankees. They don't love the risk here.
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: Even the Tigers that traded him didn't love the risk either,
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: so they're like, short term, okay, long term, I don't know.
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: So they structure the deal with him right, twenty five
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: million this year. If you make fifteen starts, the next
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: year will be twenty million. If you could pitch a
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: half a year. Otherwise it's ten million, and you get
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: an opt out after one year. So again it's all
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: about the medical real same thing the Red Sox did
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: with Walker Bueler on that one year, twenty million dollar deal.
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: He didn't get a long term deal. Same thing. Teams
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: don't like the risk of the medicals. So it's just
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: a big part of GM's jobs is get all the
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: information on the health and then it's up to you
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: to make the decision of what kind of risk you're
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: willing to take or not take.
• 19:49
  Speaker 6: I love that.
• 19:50
  Speaker 5: What a great explanation, except you got to tell us
• 19:52
  Speaker 5: who the prospect was that they were going to give
• 19:54
  Speaker 5: up for Jack Flaherty.
• 19:55
  Speaker 8: You can't say just a good prospect.
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: I could tell you it was a middle infielder that.
• 20:01
  Speaker 5: Okay, okay, we'll take that our our pinstrip territory. Derek
• 20:07
  Speaker 5: guru that he is, he'll figure it out for you
• 20:09
  Speaker 5: for the.
• 20:10
  Speaker 8: Rest of us.
• 20:11
  Speaker 2: Durban. I'm guessing Durban because you got trade my guess. Yeah,
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: all right.
• 20:16
  Speaker 3: Last one, let's talk about youngsters here. Because you wrote
• 20:19
  Speaker 3: an article about the top thirty potential rookie of the
• 20:22
  Speaker 3: year candidates that you're excited to watch in spring training.
• 20:25
  Speaker 3: A little controversy at the top. Jackson Job is number
• 20:29
  Speaker 3: one on your list. Rookie Sasaki is on this list too,
• 20:33
  Speaker 3: but he is in the three spots, So JB.
• 20:35
  Speaker 2: I'm wanting to.
• 20:36
  Speaker 3: Explain, you know, your thought process at the top. Then
• 20:38
  Speaker 3: everyone can read the article to get the rest because
• 20:40
  Speaker 3: we don't have time. And I do want to preface
• 20:42
  Speaker 3: it by saying that you like to go against the
• 20:45
  Speaker 3: grain on prospects that you like versus many other publications. Right,
• 20:50
  Speaker 3: I think you were probably the highest person on I
• 20:53
  Speaker 3: want to say Jackson Curio, and I might be missing
• 20:55
  Speaker 3: someone else in the past ten years. I want to
• 20:57
  Speaker 3: say maybe in Nikunya. But I'm also going to give
• 20:59
  Speaker 3: people the bat big Jordan.
• 21:01
  Speaker 2: Who was it?
• 21:02
  Speaker 8: One?
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: Sodo was my big one? Was your big one?
• 21:04
  Speaker 6: D Right?
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: It was Soto? That was yeah? My god, Yeah, I'm
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: gonna give.
• 21:08
  Speaker 3: Them one and one JB just to be fair. Okay,
• 21:10
  Speaker 3: So Soto was your big one over Roblaze when many
• 21:13
  Speaker 3: others had roadblazed.
• 21:14
  Speaker 2: That's a massive win.
• 21:15
  Speaker 3: The latest one, I would say on the other end
• 21:17
  Speaker 3: would be Jordan Walker. That has not worked out yet. Right,
• 21:20
  Speaker 3: You've been higher on him than others, although we can
• 21:22
  Speaker 3: make the case that he hasn't really been given a
• 21:25
  Speaker 3: full chance, a full runway, So still TVD.
• 21:27
  Speaker 2: But anyway, tell me about this one.
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and that was wrong on why at Langford last
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: year too. But by the way, I'll be right on
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: both Langford and Walker. I just am not right on
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: the timetable. The prime years are twenty four to thirty one,
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: and a lot of times I get too excited when
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: they're twenty one and twenty two. But then a couple
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: of years later they hit. So the reason, look, this
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: particular article wasn't ranking prospects, it was ranking guys to
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: win Rookie of the Year. And so the reason I
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: have Jackson Job at the top of my list number one,
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: I think he's the second best pitching prospect in baseball
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: behind Sasaki. You know it throws ninety eight ninety nine.
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: He's got a wipe outsider, a plus plus change, plus
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: plus cutter for that matter. Love the delivery, love the command,
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: love the composure. But it's more importantly He's going to
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: be in a five man rotation instead of the six
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: man rotation that Sasaki's in, and the Tigers don't have
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: to baby his innings. It'll be the third starter after
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: schoobl and flirting and the rotation. AJ Hinch is not
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: afraid to put him out there every fifth day. And
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: I'm just I'm a big believer in the stuff, in
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: the command that it brings to the table. As much
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: as I think Sasaki is a better pitching prospect with
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: the higher ceiling, I don't think he's a finished product.
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: I'm a little bit leery about the velo being down
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: a little bit. I think he needs a little bit
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: more development. He's going to be in a six man
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: rotation on a team that has ten legitimate big league
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: starters and five number one starters. And they tend to
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: like to baby their pitchers now in the regular season
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: because they know they're going to play on October anyway,
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: and they like the get their pictures all set up
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: for the month of October, which is what matters the
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: moth to that organization. So I just kind of feel
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: like I've got Job over Sasaki just because I think
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: he's going to get more starts, more volume, and and
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: that's a difference maker. So that's why I've got him
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: over Sasaki for this list.
• 23:17
  Speaker 3: Right for this Rookie of the Year candidate list, very
• 23:19
  Speaker 3: different from how you're projecting prospects going forward, but that's
• 23:23
  Speaker 3: for another time.
• 23:24
  Speaker 2: JB. Great to have you on. We'll catch you next week.
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: Okay, thanks guys, we.
• 23:28
  Speaker 3: Got a super chat. And also I'm going to do
• 23:30
  Speaker 3: this kind of early in the show just to make
• 23:31
  Speaker 3: Aja excited.
• 23:33
  Speaker 2: Please subscribe to foul Territory.
• 23:38
  Speaker 8: Was that hard?
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: Subscribe?
• 23:40
  Speaker 6: Was that hard?
• 23:42
  Speaker 8: It's free.
• 23:44
  Speaker 2: I just don't know why I have to do it.
• 23:45
  Speaker 2: I feel like people listen to you more than they
• 23:47
  Speaker 2: listen to me. You know, I don't have to the host.
• 23:49
  Speaker 8: You're the host, you're hosting. It comes out you, guys,
• 23:53
  Speaker 8: it comes out from you.
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: It does.
• 23:55
  Speaker 7: I mean, but I've been told I wasn't supposed to
• 23:57
  Speaker 7: say it at certain times, and I don't know what
• 23:58
  Speaker 7: those times are.
• 23:59
  Speaker 2: So then I got it for you. I got it
• 24:02
  Speaker 2: for you. Okay.
• 24:03
  Speaker 3: Justin, with a super chat said MLB needs a salary floor,
• 24:07
  Speaker 3: not a cap, and thinks deferrals should reflect the contract,
• 24:11
  Speaker 3: like Otani should be seventy million or not forty six.
• 24:14
  Speaker 2: Totally agree with the floor.
• 24:15
  Speaker 3: Aj the deferral part doesn't make sense because that'll kill deferrals.
• 24:19
  Speaker 3: That's not how it works.
• 24:20
  Speaker 8: I don't know.
• 24:21
  Speaker 3: I can't do the math again, but Justin, I love you.
• 24:23
  Speaker 3: I love the first part. But the way that they
• 24:27
  Speaker 3: both actually agree on this, this is the crazy part.
• 24:29
  Speaker 3: I think the optics are just pissing people off. But
• 24:32
  Speaker 3: the owners and the players agree on the way deferrals
• 24:34
  Speaker 3: are structured. It's not that big a deal.
• 24:37
  Speaker 5: Players should free. Players shouldn't agree with it. It's better
• 24:41
  Speaker 5: to get your money up front. But there's parts of
• 24:45
  Speaker 5: it that help push salaries in a different ways.
• 24:51
  Speaker 8: That's it. You should always get your money up front.
• 24:54
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 24:55
  Speaker 3: I would actually counter that that it is good for
• 24:57
  Speaker 3: some players Todd Father, because then they don't spend.
• 25:00
  Speaker 2: The money and they're like, cool, this is coming later on.
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: I know, I know.
• 25:05
  Speaker 4: But also it's where you're living too as well too.
• 25:07
  Speaker 4: So you know, you defer that money and you go
• 25:11
  Speaker 4: live in Texas or Florida or one of those states
• 25:14
  Speaker 4: where there's no income tax, you're going to save a
• 25:16
  Speaker 4: little more money down the road. So if you're thinking
• 25:18
  Speaker 4: like that, that's great. You know, money up front is great.
• 25:21
  Speaker 4: It just it really just depends on your current situation,
• 25:25
  Speaker 4: that's all.
• 25:25
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, AJ you can speak to this with
• 25:27
  Speaker 3: a minute ago. Here you're in Florida. You always want
• 25:30
  Speaker 3: bonuses and deferrals in your contracts if you can get them,
• 25:33
  Speaker 3: because you literally will save millions of dollars. That's happened
• 25:36
  Speaker 3: multiple times this offseason, including with Blake Snell who's in Washington.
• 25:40
  Speaker 3: They saved him like seven to ten mili.
• 25:43
  Speaker 7: Ten million dollars signing bonus. Where does he live? He
• 25:45
  Speaker 7: lives in Tampa and Florida. Think about the money he
• 25:48
  Speaker 7: saved between Florida and New York just by getting that ten.
• 25:51
  Speaker 6: Million dollars signing bonus.
• 25:52
  Speaker 8: It matters. I always.
• 25:54
  Speaker 6: I say this all the time.
• 25:55
  Speaker 7: Every time I was a free agent, I always tried
• 25:56
  Speaker 7: to get a signing bonus, and I always, especially if
• 25:58
  Speaker 7: I signed before the end of the year, I tried
• 26:00
  Speaker 7: to get it on the end of the year before,
• 26:02
  Speaker 7: like January first, or just you know, so I could
• 26:04
  Speaker 7: count it to the taxes from the year before, so
• 26:07
  Speaker 7: I wasn't having to pile it on for the next year.
• 26:10
  Speaker 7: I mean, signing muses are a big deal. Deferrals if
• 26:12
  Speaker 7: I would have been able to get deferrals to Florida.
• 26:14
  Speaker 6: Hell yeah.
• 26:15
  Speaker 3: The commissioner spoke about the Padres situation and said there
• 26:19
  Speaker 3: has not been a single word or whisper of relocation
• 26:21
  Speaker 3: in the context of the San Diego Padres. San Diego
• 26:24
  Speaker 3: is a great market with a great facility, not a
• 26:25
  Speaker 3: realistic concern. Evandrelic wrote about it and said some in
• 26:29
  Speaker 3: the industry think that the team will eventually get sold
• 26:32
  Speaker 3: or be put on the market. He said that the
• 26:34
  Speaker 3: Seidler family holds about with a bunch of them right,
• 26:37
  Speaker 3: including his widow and his brothers, hold about forty five
• 26:42
  Speaker 3: percent of the company. The team's valued at one point
• 26:45
  Speaker 3: seven eight bill by Forbes. They did just appoint his
• 26:49
  Speaker 3: older brother John as the control the guy in charge
• 26:53
  Speaker 3: now of the team. The budget's actually up aj for
• 26:57
  Speaker 3: the Padres it's two oh five mil, but that's because
• 27:00
  Speaker 3: a lot of salary increases on their own team. They've
• 27:03
  Speaker 3: lost a ton, so for fan purposes, they just want
• 27:06
  Speaker 3: to know where the team's at now and long term.
• 27:09
  Speaker 3: And the other part I found was the lawsuit from
• 27:13
  Speaker 3: Sheiel Sidler, the widow, against the younger brothers could take
• 27:17
  Speaker 3: years to figure out.
• 27:20
  Speaker 6: Uh, Padres ain't moving, Let's establish it, pet.
• 27:22
  Speaker 8: COO's unbelievable that we know the area around.
• 27:25
  Speaker 6: That is unbelievable.
• 27:25
  Speaker 7: So even have to say that is like, come on,
• 27:28
  Speaker 7: like it's done. And also you said I don't understand.
• 27:33
  Speaker 7: I don't understand how I was not invited. It said
• 27:35
  Speaker 7: the owners meetings were in Palm Beach at this hotel
• 27:38
  Speaker 7: called the Breakers, and I love the Breakers, So how
• 27:41
  Speaker 7: was I not invite? That's all I really care about.
• 27:42
  Speaker 7: Like I texted her Reinstorf yesterday, I was like, thanks
• 27:45
  Speaker 7: for the invite. I could have shared a suite with you.
• 27:47
  Speaker 7: I could have had one bedroom and you could have
• 27:48
  Speaker 7: had the other. He goes, I thought you lived in Orlando,
• 27:51
  Speaker 7: I said, close enough. But I love the breakers.
• 27:56
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I read that Manford changed the way these owner
• 27:58
  Speaker 3: meetings work. They used to work where he would bring
• 28:00
  Speaker 3: a ton of staff and I think they're still there
• 28:02
  Speaker 3: and they would all present. And now Manfred's biggest thing
• 28:05
  Speaker 3: is he gets the thirty control people in the room.
• 28:08
  Speaker 2: He walks in alone. They close the door.
• 28:11
  Speaker 3: And that's the best reality show of all time that
• 28:13
  Speaker 3: we never get access to because you get to see
• 28:15
  Speaker 3: the big owners fight.
• 28:16
  Speaker 8: Nobody covers this. How come we can't get a camera
• 28:18
  Speaker 8: in there like MLB nowher can't put a camera in there.
• 28:21
  Speaker 6: That would be awesome.
• 28:23
  Speaker 3: It would be so epic to see that battle because
• 28:25
  Speaker 3: then they come out of it after fighting and they say,
• 28:27
  Speaker 3: we voted thirty to nothing on everything.
• 28:30
  Speaker 2: We all agree on everything.
• 28:33
  Speaker 5: It would just all be bleeped out and not because
• 28:35
  Speaker 5: of curse words. Well, we can't show any of this,
• 28:38
  Speaker 5: but here's three hours of the owner's meetings. You can't
• 28:41
  Speaker 5: hear any of it. You can't see anybody's faces nothing.
• 28:46
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and I don't want to stare at all those
• 28:47
  Speaker 3: faces the whole time, all Right, let's hit it. Obviously,
• 28:50
  Speaker 3: there's three players here, so we want to get your perspective.
• 28:55
  Speaker 3: Toddfather Owners meetings Florida right now. Lots of news coming
• 28:59
  Speaker 3: out of there. One article from Evandrelik, who really is
• 29:04
  Speaker 3: hired to cover these kind of stories, is how there's
• 29:07
  Speaker 3: a lot of debate about how they want to handle
• 29:09
  Speaker 3: a salary cap push in the next collective bargaining agreement.
• 29:13
  Speaker 3: They're debating the push at the summit, and to summarize,
• 29:17
  Speaker 3: they all of course want it. The main reason is
• 29:21
  Speaker 3: for cost control, so they can kind of push down
• 29:25
  Speaker 3: salaries make their team valuations larger and their profits larger.
• 29:30
  Speaker 3: These are obvious business decisions. Nobody's disputing that part. But
• 29:36
  Speaker 3: the debate is how much do they want to push
• 29:39
  Speaker 3: because some owners seem to be okay with missing a
• 29:42
  Speaker 3: good chunk of time, and others are probably concerned about
• 29:45
  Speaker 3: how that would affect the sport short and long term.
• 29:51
  Speaker 4: I mean, if this ever was to happen, which it
• 29:56
  Speaker 4: never will or should, baseball in a lot of trouble.
• 30:01
  Speaker 4: This is why other players from other major sports are
• 30:05
  Speaker 4: jealous of baseball, because we don't weak because I played
• 30:08
  Speaker 4: in it, we don't have a salary cap, and I
• 30:11
  Speaker 4: think that's the biggest part, Like you can go ahead
• 30:13
  Speaker 4: and sign a guy for seven hundred plus million dollars
• 30:17
  Speaker 4: and give them forty something or fifty something million a year.
• 30:23
  Speaker 4: This just comes up a lot, and I think Manford
• 30:27
  Speaker 4: and his team are trying to figure something out. They're like, oh, well,
• 30:29
  Speaker 4: look at the Dodgers, see what they did. Well, guess what,
• 30:31
  Speaker 4: that's their choice. They can go over the tax threshold.
• 30:34
  Speaker 4: Any team can do it. They talk about small market teams.
• 30:37
  Speaker 4: All these owners are billionaires. They can go out and
• 30:40
  Speaker 4: buy a big name if they wanted to. This will
• 30:43
  Speaker 4: never happen, nor should it happen. This is why it's
• 30:46
  Speaker 4: a great sport and they can make as much money
• 30:48
  Speaker 4: as possible. That sounds greedy, but it's not. This is
• 30:52
  Speaker 4: the way baseball is and the way the world is.
• 30:54
  Speaker 4: Other sports are making millions as well. But the salary cap.
• 30:57
  Speaker 4: You could keep bringing that up and Tony Clark's gonna
• 31:01
  Speaker 4: keep denying it, and he should.
• 31:04
  Speaker 5: Let's stop talking about this, Let's stop talking about it
• 31:06
  Speaker 5: as owners. Let's start talking about how can we all
• 31:09
  Speaker 5: be competitive. We don't need par we don't need parody,
• 31:13
  Speaker 5: Like why does why does the parody thing have to happen?
• 31:16
  Speaker 5: Like you all put your best foot forward, do the
• 31:20
  Speaker 5: best you can to be competitive, not equal competitive like
• 31:26
  Speaker 5: no other business that they own. Would they sit there
• 31:29
  Speaker 5: and go, you know what, my business is really successful,
• 31:33
  Speaker 5: but yours isn't as successful. Here, I'll give you some
• 31:36
  Speaker 5: extra money so that yours is almost as successful as mine.
• 31:41
  Speaker 8: Stop. It doesn't need to happen. This is a sport.
• 31:45
  Speaker 5: Everybody needs to sit in that meeting and go, what
• 31:47
  Speaker 5: are you going to do to make your team the
• 31:49
  Speaker 5: best out there? Because when they do that, it's going
• 31:52
  Speaker 5: to raise the tide for everybody's money. And now whatever
• 31:55
  Speaker 5: you make, you're just gonna all make a higher percentage.
• 32:02
  Speaker 3: Aja, you know what I want when this battle goes down,
• 32:04
  Speaker 3: because we know about the committee, there's like.
• 32:06
  Speaker 6: Six hundreds open the books.
• 32:09
  Speaker 2: Well they're never going to.
• 32:10
  Speaker 3: Do that, but but here can I offer this as
• 32:13
  Speaker 3: a compilation prize from players when we bring them on
• 32:16
  Speaker 3: during this fight in a couple of years. I just
• 32:18
  Speaker 3: want to know what John Fisher has to say, like
• 32:20
  Speaker 3: behind closed doors, I want to know where's head zat,
• 32:23
  Speaker 3: what he thinks about baseball. You know, maybe they give
• 32:26
  Speaker 3: him a baseball I Q test and have him named
• 32:28
  Speaker 3: ten players in the sport if he's going to be
• 32:30
  Speaker 3: sitting in these meetings deciding the future of our sport.
• 32:34
  Speaker 3: And there's the tweet from Bill Shake and they have
• 32:36
  Speaker 3: elevated him. He's gotten a promotion to the executive Committee.
• 32:40
  Speaker 3: So that committee, as far as I know, sits down
• 32:42
  Speaker 3: and bargains stuff like salary caps. So he's going to
• 32:47
  Speaker 3: be pushing that to the player committee in a couple
• 32:50
  Speaker 3: of years. And I mean he might be, you know,
• 32:53
  Speaker 3: the dumbest owner in modern history. Like he does every
• 32:56
  Speaker 3: single thing wrong. And it's not just the decision making,
• 32:59
  Speaker 3: but it's the process, it's the pr he's he's watched
• 33:02
  Speaker 3: everything and made our sport embarrassing. I mean, we have
• 33:05
  Speaker 3: minor league baseball or a minor league field now taking
• 33:08
  Speaker 3: control of a team for several years at least, right
• 33:14
  Speaker 3: it's embarrassing to everyone. That's the problem for me AJ.
• 33:17
  Speaker 3: So I'm just curious to see how this goes down.
• 33:19
  Speaker 3: I hope somebody will just report for mind the scenes
• 33:21
  Speaker 3: and tell me what's going on, because we've only heard
• 33:23
  Speaker 3: him speak publicly a few times. It's superscripted and coordinated
• 33:26
  Speaker 3: and maybe even programmed in his brain chip. So I'm
• 33:29
  Speaker 3: just very curious to hear how this goes.
• 33:32
  Speaker 6: We'll see, We'll see. I mean, I don't even know
• 33:34
  Speaker 6: what that does.
• 33:34
  Speaker 7: I don't even know what the Owners Executive Committee does
• 33:36
  Speaker 7: meet with the players.
• 33:38
  Speaker 3: Yes, just like the I think it's like the players
• 33:40
  Speaker 3: subcommittee that goes against them and the I'm gonna ask
• 33:43
  Speaker 3: Krats someone.
• 33:45
  Speaker 7: I did a barstool interview today with White Sox Dave
• 33:48
  Speaker 7: our guy, and they asked me if I was ever
• 33:50
  Speaker 7: on a you know, committee or a player rep. And
• 33:53
  Speaker 7: I was like, no, they never wanted me to do
• 33:55
  Speaker 7: that kind of stuff. But I think, Kratz, were you
• 33:56
  Speaker 7: a player rep one year? Like I went to some
• 33:59
  Speaker 7: neg I went to some negotiations. I went to negotiations
• 34:03
  Speaker 7: and when it was in Chicago and they wanted players
• 34:05
  Speaker 7: to show up, and I sat in some of those
• 34:07
  Speaker 7: for a few hours and listened to it. And I
• 34:09
  Speaker 7: got to hear a bunch when I was with the
• 34:10
  Speaker 7: Twins and they were trying to contract us, and Dendy
• 34:12
  Speaker 7: Hawking was a good buddy and he was the player
• 34:15
  Speaker 7: rep and he was telling us all this stuff. And
• 34:17
  Speaker 7: I mean, I I don't know, you hear stories like
• 34:21
  Speaker 7: look at the Player the Player Committee from this past
• 34:23
  Speaker 7: year when they were talking about trying to get rid
• 34:25
  Speaker 7: of Tony Clark and uh Bruce Meyer, right, and a
• 34:29
  Speaker 7: lot of those guys got got kicked off of it.
• 34:31
  Speaker 7: So I mean, I don't know, I don't I don't
• 34:33
  Speaker 7: know what a lot enough about it to know what
• 34:35
  Speaker 7: these guys do. Because even like the player I know
• 34:38
  Speaker 7: what the Player Executive Committee is supposed to do. They're
• 34:39
  Speaker 7: supposed to, you know, whatever, eleven guys are supposed to
• 34:42
  Speaker 7: make basically the decision for all the players.
• 34:44
  Speaker 5: But I've never sat in one of those MUNI, so
• 34:46
  Speaker 5: I don't really know what happens. That's essentially you're you're
• 34:50
  Speaker 5: gathering from your team. As a REP. I was an alternate,
• 34:55
  Speaker 5: so I was just there listening to guys gather their
• 34:58
  Speaker 5: information or see the text threads, Hey, how do you
• 35:02
  Speaker 5: guys feel about this? How do you guys feel about that?
• 35:05
  Speaker 5: Some guys as reps did a good job, some guys didn't.
• 35:11
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 35:11
  Speaker 3: And the reason to me why someone like Fisher gets
• 35:14
  Speaker 3: promoted is because he's a legend in that circle. Because
• 35:17
  Speaker 3: he's actually moving a team and so he creates leverage,
• 35:20
  Speaker 3: which is the key word for every other team when
• 35:22
  Speaker 3: they're asking their city and their taxpayers for money. Right,
• 35:27
  Speaker 3: So I want to leave everyone with this and just
• 35:29
  Speaker 3: tell me which side you're on. Okay, I got a
• 35:31
  Speaker 3: quote from Drelik story with the commissioner. He said he's
• 35:35
  Speaker 3: talking about a lockout in a couple of years, which
• 35:37
  Speaker 3: obviously I don't want, and I think most I'll speak
• 35:40
  Speaker 3: for the fans, most fans are not.
• 35:41
  Speaker 8: We did, we just have a lot.
• 35:44
  Speaker 3: We did, but it didn't technically miss games. They just
• 35:47
  Speaker 3: started like a few days later or whatever. So here
• 35:49
  Speaker 3: the commissioner's perspective quote in a bizarre way, it's actually
• 35:54
  Speaker 3: a positive. There is leverage associated with an offseason lockout,
• 35:58
  Speaker 3: and the process of collective bargain under the nl RA
• 36:03
  Speaker 3: works based on leverage. The great thing about offseason lockouts
• 36:08
  Speaker 3: is the leverage that exists gets applied between the bargaining parties.
• 36:13
  Speaker 3: Tony Clark with a response to this quote. Players know
• 36:17
  Speaker 3: from first hand experience that a lockout is neither routine
• 36:20
  Speaker 3: nor positive. It's a weapon, playing and simple implemented to
• 36:23
  Speaker 3: pressure players and their families by taking away a player's
• 36:26
  Speaker 3: ability to work. Simple question, lockout good or bad for
• 36:31
  Speaker 3: a sport, any sport. Thumbs down, thumbs down, thumbs down, Okay, cool,
• 36:37
  Speaker 3: that's it. I just want to like sometimes take us
• 36:41
  Speaker 3: all back to common sense and what we think actually
• 36:44
  Speaker 3: is legit.
• 36:45
  Speaker 7: Why would a lockout be good for any sport? You
• 36:47
  Speaker 7: lose games, you lose interest from fans, you lose revenue
• 36:50
  Speaker 7: for both sides. It doesn't make any sense. I mean
• 36:53
  Speaker 7: a strike and lockout. I mean I get their necessary
• 36:55
  Speaker 7: evil sometimes, but it's not good for either side. And
• 36:58
  Speaker 7: baseball's got it going right now. Like everything, we look
• 37:01
  Speaker 7: at projections up, projections up. Remember ninety four was the
• 37:03
  Speaker 7: last strike, how to work out? Everyone was like, oh,
• 37:05
  Speaker 7: it's dying, It's dying and dying cal Ripken. The home
• 37:08
  Speaker 7: run race of ninety eight kind of brought everyone back
• 37:10
  Speaker 7: to it, but again to kind of lost interest. Now
• 37:12
  Speaker 7: everyone's starting to like, come back, everything's up. We don't
• 37:14
  Speaker 7: want to break that momentum. Let's keep it going up.
• 37:16
  Speaker 7: Figure it out, guys.
• 37:18
  Speaker 2: Yep, there you go.
• 37:20
  Speaker 3: Some people watch the show and then comment later on
• 37:22
  Speaker 3: about where my side lies. All I did was read
• 37:26
  Speaker 3: a quote that is a direct quote from both sides.
• 37:29
  Speaker 3: I really don't give a crap about anything besides watching
• 37:33
  Speaker 3: games and having a good time and being entertained.
• 37:35
  Speaker 2: So it's just funny. Sometimes I bring this stuff up
• 37:37
  Speaker 2: and they're like, oh, Scott, you're being too pro player
• 37:40
  Speaker 2: this or that.
• 37:41
  Speaker 3: I'm like, I literally just read a quote this time,
• 37:43
  Speaker 3: so I'm really curious to see what pops up. I
• 37:46
  Speaker 3: went verbatim quote one side paraphrasing, lockouts are good, other side,
• 37:51
  Speaker 3: lockouts are bad. I will disagree with a lot that
• 37:55
  Speaker 3: is on both sides, but this part is crystal clear.
• 37:58
  Speaker 2: That is stupid.
• 37:59
  Speaker 3: That is litigation, and that is why often our sport
• 38:03
  Speaker 3: is looked at from some people, the gateholders, as a
• 38:06
  Speaker 3: legal battle versus a sport that's fun and entertaining and
• 38:10
  Speaker 3: great for the community. That's the part that pisses me off.
• 38:14
  Speaker 3: I get business, but I don't get constant litigation. That's
• 38:19
  Speaker 3: the part that pisses me off. And that's what happens.
• 38:21
  Speaker 3: That's what our sport revolves around. Most decisions revolve around litigation.
• 38:25
  Speaker 3: Why are half the teams sitting out the off season?
• 38:28
  Speaker 3: Is it because they they don't want to win, they
• 38:30
  Speaker 3: want to lose, or is there a greater long term
• 38:35
  Speaker 3: plan to piss people off and say, oh, no, we're poor,
• 38:39
  Speaker 3: we can't do anything.
• 38:41
  Speaker 2: The Dodgers are evil.
• 38:45
  Speaker 5: Let me say this, there's never been a platform like
• 38:47
  Speaker 5: our platform during a CBI, during a collective bargain agreement.
• 38:52
  Speaker 5: There's only been one baseball platform that has enabled people
• 38:56
  Speaker 5: to hear the same rhetoric from the same people pumped
• 39:00
  Speaker 5: into the ear pieces of the people on that platform.
• 39:04
  Speaker 5: Just be prepared that you're going to hear a different
• 39:06
  Speaker 5: side of it, and you're gonna hear the owner side
• 39:09
  Speaker 5: from us, and you're gonna hear the players side, because
• 39:11
  Speaker 5: it's only fair for you to decide as a fan
• 39:14
  Speaker 5: when you hear both sides, not just one side.
• 39:16
  Speaker 8: They've only heard one side for a long.
• 39:19
  Speaker 3: Time, right, No scripts offers for both sides to come
• 39:23
  Speaker 3: on and talk this out, That's what I'll tell you,
• 39:25
  Speaker 3: because because one side does get scripts when they have
• 39:28
  Speaker 3: to talk about things, we don't get scripts.
• 39:29
  Speaker 2: We're not owned by anyone, and we're.
• 39:32
  Speaker 3: Going to say some things on the player side are stupid, right,
• 39:35
  Speaker 3: like them fighting over in my mind over certain rules
• 39:38
  Speaker 3: in the past, like the pitch clock stupid and that
• 39:41
  Speaker 3: held back the sport too. But we're going to lay
• 39:44
  Speaker 3: it all out. Invites are going to be out there
• 39:46
  Speaker 3: for everyone. So when we do get to that point,
• 39:48
  Speaker 3: hopefully it's short, but it probably won't be at all
• 39:50
  Speaker 3: that least last.
• 39:50
  Speaker 8: Time we don't get to that.
• 39:52
  Speaker 6: We don't get to that point.
• 39:53
  Speaker 2: We're going to get to that.
• 39:54
  Speaker 8: That would be helpful, I know.
• 39:56
  Speaker 7: Let's just not though, Like I said, figure it out.
• 39:57
  Speaker 7: There's too much, too much good going in baseball right now.
• 40:00
  Speaker 7: I don't care what Cam Newton says. There's too much
• 40:02
  Speaker 7: good going right now. Why the heck would we want
• 40:04
  Speaker 7: to ruin it.
• 40:07
  Speaker 2: That minimum.
• 40:07
  Speaker 3: I think the owners just said we're gonna at least
• 40:09
  Speaker 3: have a lockout the entire offseason after twenty six into
• 40:12
  Speaker 3: twenty seven. That's the vibe imbezer. All right, let's sizzle here.
• 40:17
  Speaker 3: Playoff chances, fangrafts. Where do they have your team. Let's
• 40:20
  Speaker 3: look at the board and just pick it apart.
• 40:24
  Speaker 2: Tell me what you think.
• 40:25
  Speaker 3: Something that looks real nice, something that looks like they're
• 40:29
  Speaker 3: getting the short end of the stick. Dodgers and the
• 40:33
  Speaker 3: Braves are the only two teams in the nineties for
• 40:36
  Speaker 3: percentage chance. The bottom of the list we're currently looking
• 40:40
  Speaker 3: at still includes competitive teams. Of course, the Tigers at
• 40:43
  Speaker 3: forty seven percent. The Orioles at forty four and a
• 40:46
  Speaker 3: half percent, actually go below that. You've got the Padres
• 40:50
  Speaker 3: at thirty two and a half percent. And it's funny
• 40:52
  Speaker 3: you look at the Padres and we keep mentioning this.
• 40:54
  Speaker 3: I mean, they were one win from beating the Dodgers
• 40:56
  Speaker 3: and then probably beating the Yankees in the World Series.
• 40:59
  Speaker 3: So hot, father, something you like or don't like.
• 41:05
  Speaker 4: The first one that can in mine was the Braves
• 41:07
  Speaker 4: ninety three percent. I don't know if it should be
• 41:09
  Speaker 4: that high. I think they're gonna be good, but I think, man,
• 41:18
  Speaker 4: I don't know. I don't know the Braves. To me,
• 41:20
  Speaker 4: I don't know if ninety three percent that means guaranteed playoffs,
• 41:23
  Speaker 4: and I don't know if it's guaranteed for them just yet.
• 41:27
  Speaker 5: I look at the number thirty two and a half
• 41:30
  Speaker 5: for the Padres. I think it should be higher. I
• 41:33
  Speaker 5: really think I do. I don't think it should be
• 41:38
  Speaker 5: over fifty percent. But to me, it was either I
• 41:42
  Speaker 5: was either gonna say the Orioles or the Padres, because
• 41:44
  Speaker 5: I feel like both those teams are I think they
• 41:48
  Speaker 5: have a better shot than.
• 41:51
  Speaker 8: The Twins.
• 41:52
  Speaker 5: I think they have been maybe not the Twins, But
• 41:54
  Speaker 5: the Orioles definitely have a better shot than the Twins.
• 41:57
  Speaker 5: So when I'm looking at that bunch there, it was
• 42:00
  Speaker 5: weird to see the Padres on the bottom of that
• 42:03
  Speaker 5: middle tier.
• 42:06
  Speaker 7: To me, the Orioles are lower than the Red Sox.
• 42:09
  Speaker 7: Did the Red Sox miraculously have the best offseason of
• 42:12
  Speaker 7: all time? Am I missing something? The Red Sox are
• 42:15
  Speaker 7: fifty point seven, the Ools are forty four point five.
• 42:18
  Speaker 7: Don't they play in the same division? I mean, he
• 42:20
  Speaker 7: DUTs to me, is the is the crazy crazy one?
• 42:24
  Speaker 7: To me that I look at and I'm like, the
• 42:27
  Speaker 7: Red Sox are higher than the Orioles. What are we
• 42:30
  Speaker 7: looking at? Because I think most people would say the
• 42:32
  Speaker 7: Oriols would have a much better shot this year unless
• 42:34
  Speaker 7: the Red Sox make some other moves to get to
• 42:36
  Speaker 7: the postseason.
• 42:40
  Speaker 2: Agreed, Orioles are better than the Red Sox.
• 42:44
  Speaker 3: Now I think it'll be I think it'll be maybe
• 42:46
  Speaker 3: not pretty close between those two right to me
• 42:52
  Speaker 5: If you're thinking, if you're thinking the Orioles are that bad,
• 42:55
  Speaker 5: you are buying the second half and not the first half,
• 43:00
  Speaker 5: and not what at the beginning of last season, you
• 43:05
  Speaker 5: know you're talking about one of the better teams in
• 43:06
  Speaker 5: the American League