Latest / Foul Territory / Breakout players + Ken Rosenthal on Padres Cease/King trade chances, LA weakness, Bregman/Alonso update

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Breakout players + Ken Rosenthal on Padres Cease/King trade chances, LA weakness, Bregman/Alonso update · Foul Territory

0:00
Speaker 1: I've talked to Barry one on one in my career,
0:02
Speaker 1: I don't know, maybe two or three times, and I
0:05
Speaker 1: don't recall any of those conversations going particularly well.
0:15
Speaker 2: Let's say the Inside scoop with FT senior insider Ken
0:18
Speaker 2: Rosenthal joining us right now, and also a fresh fair
0:21
Speaker 2: territory from yesterday for you to consume later on. But Ken,
0:25
Speaker 2: let's start with the latest on Alex Bregman. Sounds like
0:28
Speaker 2: still a lot of teams in the mix with their
0:31
Speaker 2: own version of an offer, and the Astros thinking about him,
0:35
Speaker 2: but also Jorgey Polanco. What else can you tell us?
0:39
Speaker 1: It's interesting. I was just listening to the conversation you
0:41
Speaker 1: guys were having, and clearly, if there was a team
0:46
Speaker 1: willing to go to where Bregman wants, it would be
0:50
Speaker 1: done by now. It's not done. And I've heard and
0:53
Speaker 1: I've seen reports of multiple six year offer as well.
0:57
Speaker 1: What's the dollar figure? Multiple zero offers? If a guy's
1:01
Speaker 1: getting a six year, one hundred million dollar offer, not sufficient, right, So,
1:06
Speaker 1: I'm not sure where this is going. And the Astros
1:09
Speaker 1: clearly are lining up with Polanco an alternative plan. Might
1:13
Speaker 1: they execute that plan?
1:14
Speaker 3: Yeah?
1:15
Speaker 1: They could, Polanco is a switch hitter. He's a guy
1:17
Speaker 1: who can play first, second, third, possibly the outfield. Scott.
1:21
Speaker 1: You mentioned the knee surgery earlier. His doctor, his surgeon
1:24
Speaker 1: gave him a clean bill of health. He's ready to
1:26
Speaker 1: go now. The knee issue apparently bothered him for not
1:29
Speaker 1: just last season, but even before that. So he's excited
1:33
Speaker 1: about playing and rightly so, because he's healthy. Is he
1:36
Speaker 1: Alex Bragman. No, he's not Alex Bregman. And the question
1:41
Speaker 1: for the Astros will be, Okay, here's the luxury tax threshold. Here,
1:44
Speaker 1: here's where you are if you signed Bragman. Here's where
1:47
Speaker 1: you are if you signed Polanco for much less. And ultimately,
1:51
Speaker 1: at some point they're going to have to make a call.
1:53
Speaker 1: And at that point, if it's to Polanco and not Bragman,
1:59
Speaker 1: then it will be really interesting to see where Bregman
2:01
Speaker 1: ends up, because he clearly has interest, and he should
2:04
Speaker 1: have interest. He's a really good player. But again he's
2:07
Speaker 1: still out there. It's January twenty eighth, and maybe this
2:11
Speaker 1: all works out for him, But AJ's point, who's given
2:14
Speaker 1: him oneint eighty That's the question I would have.
2:17
Speaker 4: In your article, you mentioned how Jim Crane does not
2:20
Speaker 4: want to go for a second year over the soft
2:23
Speaker 4: salary cap. I mean the CBT, but he's not ruling
2:27
Speaker 4: out the whole Bragmant thing. So if this Bragmant thing happens,
2:32
Speaker 4: Let's say it happens that this doesn't really matter what
2:34
Speaker 4: the number is, it's going to be over the CBT.
2:38
Speaker 4: Does that precipitate other moves?
2:40
Speaker 1: Then?
2:40
Speaker 4: Does that mean there be some other type of dumping?
2:43
Speaker 4: I know they already dumped Presley, but it ended up
2:45
Speaker 4: being only eight and a half million that they dumped,
2:47
Speaker 4: so you could fit Polonco in there. But could there
2:50
Speaker 4: would there be other moves if they go with if
2:54
Speaker 4: they get Bragmant here, it's a.
2:56
Speaker 1: Good question, Eric, But my expectation would be that if
2:59
Speaker 1: they did that I went over the CBT again for
3:01
Speaker 1: a second straight year, it would be just like last
3:03
Speaker 1: year when they did it with Hater. Well, we got
3:06
Speaker 1: Josh Hader, we're going to go over the CBT. In
3:08
Speaker 1: this case, we got Alex Bregman. We'll go over. So
3:11
Speaker 1: I don't know that the CBT will drive this as
3:15
Speaker 1: much as Jim Crane's desire to win. And remember he
3:18
Speaker 1: has said repeatedly that when he is owner. As long
3:23
Speaker 1: as he is owner, they're not going to go backwards.
3:25
Speaker 1: They're going to keep pushing and go forward, so making
3:29
Speaker 1: more trades. I'm not even sure who they would trade
3:31
Speaker 1: at this point. Maybe Montero, whe They're going to have
3:33
Speaker 1: to eat all of that. I don't know that that's
3:36
Speaker 1: the that's the plan for them. I would expect that
3:39
Speaker 1: if they signed Bregman, they go forward with their reconfigured
3:42
Speaker 1: team without Tucker, with Christian Walker, with Bregman and see
3:47
Speaker 1: where it goes.
3:49
Speaker 5: All Right, enough of the ostros. We've been talking about
3:51
Speaker 5: him for like twenty minutes. Now, Ken, let's move on
3:53
Speaker 5: to another team and nobody knows what the heck they're doing.
3:55
Speaker 5: The Padres, will Caesar King be traded? And if one
3:59
Speaker 5: of them is traded, which one will go first? Are
4:00
Speaker 5: both free agents at the end of the year. So
4:02
Speaker 5: which one do you think has more value on the
4:04
Speaker 5: trade market?
4:05
Speaker 1: Well, first off, I encourage people to read Dennis Lynn's
4:08
Speaker 1: latest story on Matt Siler, late Peter Siler's brother, his
4:13
Speaker 1: response to Siel Sidler's Peter's widow and her suit, because
4:18
Speaker 1: it's quite interesting. The charges going back and forth and
4:23
Speaker 1: she wants control of the team, and she wants certain
4:25
Speaker 1: amounts of money. And they're saying, if that was the plan,
4:30
Speaker 1: then Peter Siler would have set it up for you
4:32
Speaker 1: that way. So that's the backdrop to all that is
4:36
Speaker 1: going on with the Padres. Now, will they make trades?
4:39
Speaker 1: Aj Peller is always going to listen on potential free agents,
4:43
Speaker 1: he is. That's just the way he goes about Actually,
4:45
Speaker 1: it's the way most teams go about it. So they've
4:48
Speaker 1: got Cease, They've got King, they've got Luis Urryes, all
4:51
Speaker 1: entering their walk years. And I would imagine Cease as
4:54
Speaker 1: the most expensive, would be the one that they would
4:56
Speaker 1: want to trade the most. But maybe they could get
4:58
Speaker 1: more for King, who is looking like he's heading for
5:02
Speaker 1: an arbitration hearing. So I don't know where this goes.
5:05
Speaker 1: It's very difficult to read the Padres, as it has
5:08
Speaker 1: been all off season. This lawsuit is hanging over the franchise,
5:12
Speaker 1: the fight between the Sidler brothers and the Sidler widow,
5:16
Speaker 1: and ultimately AJ Preller, as the general manager, is going
5:19
Speaker 1: to have to make what appears to be some difficult decisions. Yes,
5:23
Speaker 1: their payroll is going up or at least up for
5:26
Speaker 1: where it was at the end of last year, but
5:27
Speaker 1: that's because of internal raises. For the most part, they
5:30
Speaker 1: haven't done anything. They haven't signed a major league free
5:33
Speaker 1: agent yet, so it's raises to guys like a rise
5:36
Speaker 1: Sees who arrived last year, both of them. Also, this
5:40
Speaker 1: is the first year, I believe or one year of
5:43
Speaker 1: Darvish's new deal. They've got things going on with them
5:46
Speaker 1: in their payroll internally that is putting them in a
5:49
Speaker 1: difficult spot. So again I would hesitate to make any
5:54
Speaker 1: prediction on how this is going to end up. But
5:57
Speaker 1: clearly they're listening on their players. Not surprising that they
6:00
Speaker 1: would listen to their players, but against the backdrop of
6:03
Speaker 1: this legal fight, it becomes more curious exactly what they're
6:08
Speaker 1: going to do.
6:10
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7:12
Speaker 2: staying on the trade and legal front, let's see if
7:15
Speaker 2: I can transition to this one from your notes column.
7:18
Speaker 2: I thought this was interesting that an off season trade
7:22
Speaker 2: deadline ending at the winter meetings would help, But you said,
7:26
Speaker 2: you know, way back, MLB wouldn't do this without a
7:28
Speaker 2: free agent signings deadline. Well, that sucks because a free
7:32
Speaker 2: agent signings deadline is never going to happen, because that
7:36
Speaker 2: is going to severely put a player in his rep
7:39
Speaker 2: in a bad spot. The trade part actually makes a
7:41
Speaker 2: ton of sense, and even right now when you wrote
7:44
Speaker 2: about some of the starters holding up the rest of
7:46
Speaker 2: the market for free agents, it plays the part here.
7:49
Speaker 2: So is this just MLB doing their usual legal first,
7:53
Speaker 2: caring about entertainment in the game?
7:55
Speaker 6: Second three questions, Scott, and for me, looking at the
8:01
Speaker 6: way the game is right now and the way off
8:04
Speaker 6: seasons play out, put a trade deadline at.
8:07
Speaker 1: The end of the winter meetings and you'd have some
8:10
Speaker 1: action now, you'd have, yes, a frenzy of activity then,
8:15
Speaker 1: and you could establish free agency and let it go
8:19
Speaker 1: February first or so and then reopen the trade market.
8:22
Speaker 1: Right So, it wouldn't be a trade deadline I don't
8:25
Speaker 1: know forever obviously, but it would be for a certain
8:29
Speaker 1: period and at that point free agency could take over.
8:31
Speaker 1: Maybe you make it February fifteenth. I'm just thinking out
8:34
Speaker 1: loud here the time when free agency, I'm sorry, the
8:37
Speaker 1: time when trades could open back up again. But you
8:40
Speaker 1: want to make the winter meetings more fun. That's how
8:42
Speaker 1: you make the Winter meetings more fun. And you're right, Scott,
8:45
Speaker 1: the Union is never going to go for a deadline
8:48
Speaker 1: on free agent signings. They view it as a restriction
8:50
Speaker 1: on the market, and we might view it as well.
8:52
Speaker 1: That would be a lot more fun for us. But
8:54
Speaker 1: their concern, of course is the players and how that
8:57
Speaker 1: will turn out. So this came up before the free
9:01
Speaker 1: agent deadline has come up before the actually both have
9:03
Speaker 1: come up before in collective bargaining talks, and it's gone nowhere.
9:07
Speaker 1: I don't expect it to go anywhere the next time either.
9:11
Speaker 3: That is crazy to me.
9:12
Speaker 2: I mean, it would be so fun to have that
9:14
Speaker 2: at the trade deadline, but whatever, I guess. In the meantime,
9:17
Speaker 2: we just let the Dodgers sign all the players. So
9:19
Speaker 2: I wanted to ask you about that part of your
9:21
Speaker 2: notes column because I think this is going to be
9:23
Speaker 2: one of the key storylines of the season, and then
9:25
Speaker 2: of course into the playoffs, how to defeat the evil Empire?
9:28
Speaker 2: So can you tell us how at least some teams
9:31
Speaker 2: are looking at the Dodgers and trying to find a weakness,
9:34
Speaker 2: And then I'll just add this part for you. Wondering
9:36
Speaker 2: if any teams are speculating how Tani will look in
9:40
Speaker 2: his first season that he's back pitching again, how well
9:43
Speaker 2: the bat looked because they were so reliant on that.
9:46
Speaker 1: That's something that we're all looking forward to seeing. But
9:49
Speaker 1: really no one has an answer yet, and certainly he'll
9:53
Speaker 1: be on some restrictions from a pitching standpoint. He's coming
9:56
Speaker 1: off a major elbow surgery. That's kind of why they've
9:59
Speaker 1: loaded up with all these different starters. They want to
10:01
Speaker 1: have the ability to mix and match and use guys
10:05
Speaker 1: at different times and however that plays out.
10:07
Speaker 6: Now.
10:07
Speaker 1: As for the defensive questions, I have had other teams
10:11
Speaker 1: raise this point to me, and the Dodgers don't necessarily
10:15
Speaker 1: view their defense as a strength, but they also don't
10:18
Speaker 1: necessarily view it as a weakness. And kind of the
10:20
Speaker 1: key thing here, actually there's two things to watch the
10:24
Speaker 1: outfield Tayo Hernandez and one corner Michael Conforto, and the
10:27
Speaker 1: other those guys lack range. They're not classic rangy outfielders.
10:32
Speaker 1: Edmund is considered a better infielder than an outfielder. He'll
10:35
Speaker 1: be in center, He'll be okay. I would expect, but
10:37
Speaker 1: maybe not. Plus, then there is the question of Mooky
10:40
Speaker 1: Bets at shortstop. Now, Unlike last season when Mookie Bets
10:44
Speaker 1: moved to shortstop in the middle of spring training, he
10:47
Speaker 1: has a full off season to prepare and a full
10:49
Speaker 1: spring to prepare. And it is wise always not to
10:53
Speaker 1: bet against Mookie Bets. But who knows how he's going
10:57
Speaker 1: to look at shortstop. Last year he was a below
10:59
Speaker 1: average short He did a number of things really well.
11:02
Speaker 1: His throwing was the main issue that seemingly is something
11:05
Speaker 1: that is correctable elsewhere. We don't know how Kim is
11:08
Speaker 1: going to be At second base.
11:09
Speaker 3: I would expect to be pretty good.
11:11
Speaker 1: Freddy's a good first baseman, Munsey went healthy is a
11:13
Speaker 1: good third baseman. But their defense might not be elite.
11:18
Speaker 1: Put it that way, it was pretty good last year.
11:20
Speaker 1: It rated very well, and it might not be at
11:23
Speaker 1: the same level. But if Mooki is good, that certainly
11:27
Speaker 1: helps the infield, And even if he's not, they have,
11:31
Speaker 1: because of Miguel Rojas and Chris Taylor, some other ways
11:34
Speaker 1: that they can go moving the pieces around. So I
11:38
Speaker 1: don't know that I would call it a weakness. That's
11:39
Speaker 1: probably strong, but it's probably not going to be their
11:43
Speaker 1: great strength.
11:45
Speaker 4: Makes sense?
11:46
Speaker 5: Makes sense, you know, to a guy who I'm gonna
11:48
Speaker 5: take you to a guy who hates watching the Dodgers,
11:51
Speaker 5: And he said it on Saturday night and we sat
11:52
Speaker 5: down with Barry Bonds. Why don't we hear for more
11:55
Speaker 5: from Barry Bonds? Is it because reporters like you have
11:58
Speaker 5: made him feel so bad ken over the year that
12:00
Speaker 5: he just doesn't want to talk about baseball anymore? Because
12:03
Speaker 5: I don't understand what the insights he could give on hitting,
12:06
Speaker 5: especially just why don't we hear from him more?
12:10
Speaker 1: Hey, J that is a question for Barry Bonds. And
12:13
Speaker 1: you can say we've treated him badly, he hasn't treated
12:15
Speaker 1: us so hot either. And the other night, actually, when
12:19
Speaker 1: he said to me something along the lines of, hey,
12:22
Speaker 1: we've been in this game together for so long, it
12:24
Speaker 1: was something like that. I was shocked. I've talked to
12:27
Speaker 1: Barry one on one in my career, I don't know,
12:30
Speaker 1: maybe two or three times, and I don't recall any
12:33
Speaker 1: of those conversations going particularly well. Now he has his
12:38
Speaker 1: own thing and his own personality. If that's the way
12:40
Speaker 1: he wanted to go about it, that's fine. But when
12:42
Speaker 1: you ask if he doesn't speak to reporters or doesn't
12:45
Speaker 1: speak publicly much because of how badly we treated him.
12:49
Speaker 1: I would suggest that as a two way street.
12:52
Speaker 5: Okay, that's fair, Ken, that's fair. But I was more
12:55
Speaker 5: specifically pointed it.
12:58
Speaker 4: Well.
12:58
Speaker 1: I like hearing him, and we all enjoyed that interview
13:01
Speaker 1: the other night. It was one of the more revealing
13:03
Speaker 1: things that I've heard from any player recently, and I
13:08
Speaker 1: wish he would speak out more or talk more. I
13:11
Speaker 1: don't know how often he gets requests, because a lot
13:13
Speaker 1: of us got tired of requesting interviews when we're getting
13:16
Speaker 1: blown off. But certainly it was highly interesting, to say
13:23
Speaker 1: the least, to hear just the way he approached hitting
13:26
Speaker 1: and the math equation that he discussed, and all of
13:28
Speaker 1: the things that we talked about. I thought it was
13:32
Speaker 1: so cool, and yes, I love to earn it too,
13:34
Speaker 1: AJ And sure, if he was in a more public
13:38
Speaker 1: form or chose to be, maybe he would want to
13:40
Speaker 1: go to a network. Who knows. I would think that
13:43
Speaker 1: would work out pretty well, but I don't know that
13:45
Speaker 1: that's his desire.
13:47
Speaker 2: Somebody who is not shy with the media, which I love,
13:51
Speaker 2: is Steve Cohen. So we were talking about the storyline
13:54
Speaker 2: from the weekend when he's going over Pete situation. I
13:57
Speaker 2: mentioned in your article how you wrote about attachment forty nine,
14:01
Speaker 2: but I also promised.
14:02
Speaker 3: The guys I would ask you about that.
14:04
Speaker 2: So your thoughts on if that could turn into a
14:09
Speaker 2: grievance post Pete Alonzo signing and really do you remember
14:13
Speaker 2: hearing an owner being this candid in an off season
14:16
Speaker 2: before signing or during negotiations with a player post different
14:21
Speaker 2: but during this time period.
14:24
Speaker 1: Well, first of all, Scott, I made it clear in
14:25
Speaker 1: the article that I do not repeat do not expect
14:29
Speaker 1: a grievance to come out of this, And usually the
14:31
Speaker 1: union only acts when prompted by the player and the agent,
14:35
Speaker 1: and Boris is not going to want to disrupt the
14:38
Speaker 1: negotiations and probably in the future not want to get
14:41
Speaker 1: into an a grievance situation with the Mets when he's
14:44
Speaker 1: going to have other clients to deal with free agents
14:47
Speaker 1: going right down the line. So that's one thing, And
14:50
Speaker 1: I wrote it because in dealing with executives for so
14:55
Speaker 1: many years, I know that a number of them are
14:59
Speaker 1: terrified of talking about free agents because of the possibility
15:04
Speaker 1: that it could lead to a grievance because of what
15:06
Speaker 1: is known as Attachment forty nine. It's part of the CBA,
15:10
Speaker 1: and it basically lays out that owners, executives, even agents
15:14
Speaker 1: cannot talk about the substance of negotiations publicly until the
15:17
Speaker 1: deals are done. They cannot talk about offers, etc. Now,
15:22
Speaker 1: what I wrote with Cohen is that what he said
15:24
Speaker 1: was a matter of interpretation. Some might view it as
15:27
Speaker 1: crossing the lines, some might not. A number of the
15:29
Speaker 1: legal scholars who are Mets fans informed me that no, no, no,
15:32
Speaker 1: he did nothing wrong. Well, you guys are not quite
15:36
Speaker 1: as well up on this as preps, the union attorneys
15:40
Speaker 1: or people like Boris who represent the players. That said,
15:43
Speaker 1: I still don't expect it to lead to anything. It
15:45
Speaker 1: was just interesting to me that he was that forward
15:48
Speaker 1: in what he said, that transparent, because generally speaking, owners
15:52
Speaker 1: and executives toe the line with this kind of thing
15:55
Speaker 1: because of what is in the CBA. That is what
15:58
Speaker 1: the point of that particular note was in my column.
16:04
Speaker 2: And if you watch the clip, it looked like it
16:07
Speaker 2: was organic. I don't think they were planning on releasing
16:11
Speaker 2: anything publicly, but when you're out a fan fest and
16:14
Speaker 2: fans are screaming at you, and you're an owner who
16:16
Speaker 2: is a super fan, right, he qualifies for that. He
16:20
Speaker 2: was like, oh, screw it, I'm gonna open my mouth
16:22
Speaker 2: and give them a little more insight because then and
16:24
Speaker 2: what happened.
16:24
Speaker 3: That's like booing that turned into cheers.
16:27
Speaker 1: Well, exactly right, that's the point I was going to make.
16:29
Speaker 1: The fans are chanting for Alonzo, re sign Alonzo. And
16:32
Speaker 1: then as soon as Cohen says what he said. And
16:34
Speaker 1: I don't know that it was premeditated either, I don't
16:36
Speaker 1: believe it was. But when he said that, oh, all
16:39
Speaker 1: of a sudden, they're cheering, which demonstrates the fickleness of
16:42
Speaker 1: fans if they hear things they'd like to hear. Oh okay,
16:45
Speaker 1: that makes perfect sense to us. Good we applause. But again,
16:50
Speaker 1: the real question is are they going to sign this guy?
16:53
Speaker 1: And again, to most of us on the outside, it
16:58
Speaker 1: certainly appears that that is the logical conclusion to this
17:01
Speaker 1: after all is said and plenty has been said and done.
17:05
Speaker 1: We'll see. We'll see if Peter Alonzo gets something better
17:08
Speaker 1: somewhere else, or if he ultimately goes back to the
17:10
Speaker 1: Mets on a deal that mister Cohen finds acceptable to him.
17:15
Speaker 5: Okay, well, then give me the answer real quick. Does
17:17
Speaker 5: Peter Alonso end up with the Mets and does Alex
17:20
Speaker 5: Bregman end up back with the Astros.
17:24
Speaker 1: I still expect Alonzo to be back with the Mets. Yes,
17:28
Speaker 1: And let me preface this by saying, I don't know.
17:31
Speaker 1: I don't have inside information here. I'm just going on
17:35
Speaker 1: what appears to be the logical outcome. Bregman I'm not
17:39
Speaker 1: as sure about, because they've got the PLANCO alternative, and
17:43
Speaker 1: it just a question of how much Jim Crane wants
17:46
Speaker 1: to raise that initial offer, if at all, from six years,
17:49
Speaker 1: one hundred and fifty six million. Bregman does appear to
17:52
Speaker 1: have other interests. Now, is it interest at the level
17:55
Speaker 1: he desires? I don't know that. So I believe I
17:59
Speaker 1: said on the show Saturday Night that I do expect
18:01
Speaker 1: Regman to go back to Houston. If I had to bet,
18:05
Speaker 1: I would bet that. But I'm not as confident in
18:08
Speaker 1: that as maybe I was even Saturday night. And with
18:11
Speaker 1: Alonso if he wanted to go to Toronto, for instance,
18:15
Speaker 1: or Anaheim. If they are really in and I don't
18:18
Speaker 1: believe that they really are, it seems to me that
18:21
Speaker 1: would have happened by now. So we'll see where this
18:23
Speaker 1: ends up. We'll see how it all plays out in
18:26
Speaker 1: the end. But the logical outcome for both is just
18:30
Speaker 1: what you said, Aj Alonso and New York Regman in
18:32
Speaker 1: Houston doesn't mean it will turn out that way.
18:35
Speaker 3: M hm, all right, we'll see.
18:36
Speaker 5: Well, Ken has his GM speak down totally. All you
18:42
Speaker 5: need is a quarter zip for you would be like, Aj, I'll.
18:44
Speaker 1: Tell you what you're asking right, here's what you're doing here.
18:47
Speaker 1: You're asking me to talk about things where I can't
18:50
Speaker 1: talk about with confidence. And then what you want to do.
18:53
Speaker 1: If I say, Hey, Alonso is going to be a met,
18:57
Speaker 1: then you're gonna clip that and when he signs with
19:00
Speaker 1: some other team, you're gonna say, Ken, you're an idiot.
19:03
Speaker 1: So it's a setup. I know it's a setup.
19:07
Speaker 2: It's because we're outsiders, so we could just throw anything
19:11
Speaker 2: against the wall and be like, yeah, he's gonna sign here.
19:13
Speaker 3: I think he's going to sign here. But if you're
19:15
Speaker 3: asking for reporting to be done, Ken, right, I believe
19:19
Speaker 3: that don't have clearations. That's usually what I do.
19:23
Speaker 1: I'm not going to say I'm not ever going to
19:26
Speaker 1: say I know something when I don't know. I don't know.
19:29
Speaker 1: If I knew, well, maybe a deal would be done
19:32
Speaker 1: by now, but a deal isn't done with the other players.
19:35
Speaker 2: Yeah, so turn your Twitter notifications on for Ken and
19:39
Speaker 2: so let us know when something happens.
19:40
Speaker 3: Ken. We'll catch you on Fair Territory Live on Thursday.
19:44
Speaker 3: See you then.
19:45
Speaker 1: Thanks, Guys.
19:50
Speaker 2: In the Weeds twelve MLB breakout candidates that Jim Boden's
19:54
Speaker 2: excited to scout in spring training. So we can show
19:57
Speaker 2: the list and then let's just get a choice from
20:01
Speaker 2: each of you, please, because spring trainings around the corner.
20:04
Speaker 2: We're also going to go over that crazy Winter League
20:06
Speaker 2: game from the other night. And there's a player on
20:09
Speaker 2: that list who I highlighted the other day in junior Cameronaro.
20:12
Speaker 2: But we'll show more junior in a little bit, but
20:15
Speaker 2: I'll read the list real quick. Michael Harris, the second junior, Cameronaro,
20:20
Speaker 2: Lawrence Butler. Some of these guys have had like mini
20:23
Speaker 2: breakouts already. Obviously Harris has had good years. Cameron Arrow's
20:26
Speaker 2: new to the party. Lawrence Butler was a stud in
20:28
Speaker 2: the second half of the season. Saddan Rafaela Brian wu
20:31
Speaker 2: who's been really effective when he's been pitching. Just Ketty
20:34
Speaker 2: put together a full season, James Wood entering his first
20:37
Speaker 2: full season, Parker Meadows in the Tigers outfield, Nick Lodolo,
20:41
Speaker 2: can he stay on the mound? Jordan Walker is on
20:44
Speaker 2: this list who really hasn't blossomed at all yet. Wyatt Langford,
20:47
Speaker 2: who show has to do us some good signs at
20:49
Speaker 2: the end of last year. He's got a marlin on here.
20:51
Speaker 2: Connor Norby Alert who was involved in that trade with
20:54
Speaker 2: Trevor Rogers last year. And then Grant Holmes, who should
20:57
Speaker 2: be at the back end of the starting rotation with
21:00
Speaker 2: the Braves.
21:00
Speaker 3: They really like him. Okay, aj pick one from this list.
21:05
Speaker 5: Okay, first of all, let me say this, Michael Harris
21:06
Speaker 5: a second as your number one breakout, He's already broke out.
21:08
Speaker 1: He's already got a big deal.
21:10
Speaker 5: He's got ops plus in his career of one hundred
21:13
Speaker 5: and sixteen where we hung up, Jim, I love you,
21:16
Speaker 5: but what are we talking about.
21:17
Speaker 3: He's already broke.
21:18
Speaker 5: Out because he had a ninety nine ops plus last year.
21:22
Speaker 4: I mean, come on, that's not a breakout.
21:23
Speaker 5: I mean come on, I mean.
21:24
Speaker 4: His opia career OPS is one one sixteen.
21:27
Speaker 5: So I couldn't pick him, uh because that seemed too obvious.
21:30
Speaker 5: Some of the other guys, Lawrence Butler had a great
21:33
Speaker 5: year last year.
21:34
Speaker 4: Uh.
21:34
Speaker 5: Sadana Rafaela has kind of had some ups and downs,
21:37
Speaker 5: but he played so many dang positions it's hard for
21:39
Speaker 5: him to get comfortable anywhere. But my guy is James
21:42
Speaker 5: Would because he's gonna get to play every day. He's
21:45
Speaker 5: six foot seven, he's twenty two years old. This guy
21:48
Speaker 5: did okay last year. He didn't do great. He did okay.
21:51
Speaker 5: He was a he was a one war player. He
21:53
Speaker 5: did alright in the big leagues last year. You know,
21:56
Speaker 5: he had an OPS plus. It wasn't great. He had
21:59
Speaker 5: ops last year of seven eighty one in the big
22:02
Speaker 5: leagues last year.
22:03
Speaker 4: That's pretty good.
22:04
Speaker 5: So I think he's gonna get four hundred five hundred
22:07
Speaker 5: of bats this year. He had two hundred and ninety
22:09
Speaker 5: five last year. I think he's going to have an
22:11
Speaker 5: opportunity to be an absolute stud for the Washington Nationals
22:15
Speaker 5: and someone they can build their team around. And the
22:18
Speaker 5: best part of James Wood is he knows how to
22:20
Speaker 5: treat producer lady because he blew her off like Scott
22:22
Speaker 5: does all the time. So cheers to you, James Wood.
22:26
Speaker 2: Oh, we've had him on I don't know if we've
22:28
Speaker 2: had him on FT because I get confused with all
22:30
Speaker 2: of the shows I do.
22:31
Speaker 3: Did we have him on FT? No, we had him
22:33
Speaker 3: on hot Cheets on our baseball clad.
22:35
Speaker 5: Chased him down in Palm Beach last year and he
22:38
Speaker 5: gave her the old Heisman trophy.
22:41
Speaker 2: Maybe he was asking for an autograph and he was like, nah,
22:45
Speaker 2: I don't have time.
22:48
Speaker 4: No. Claudy his least favorite player now yep. Plus he's
22:52
Speaker 4: in the braves division.
22:54
Speaker 3: He's nice.
22:54
Speaker 2: He's a big, big, friendly giant. He's very shy when
22:58
Speaker 2: we spoke to him, he's very shy. He is not
23:02
Speaker 2: only an enormous dude, super fast. Did you see the
23:06
Speaker 2: sprint speed eighty fifth percentile?
23:09
Speaker 4: That's crazy?
23:10
Speaker 3: That size, that is special. So I like that pick krats.
23:16
Speaker 4: With Nick Lodolo. I was gonna go is say down
23:19
Speaker 4: Rafaela because Pat thinks he's an MVP candidate. I don't
23:23
Speaker 4: agree with him. I just wanted to say that about
23:25
Speaker 4: Pat Nick Lodolo, this guy, I think he's like I
23:30
Speaker 4: think he's averaged like ten point seven strikeouts per nine
23:35
Speaker 4: last year. It was down a little bit from there,
23:37
Speaker 4: but he dealt with a foot injury the entire offseason
23:40
Speaker 4: into the season that ended up lingering. And anybody that's
23:44
Speaker 4: dealt with feet injuries, planner, fasciitis, you know, broken toes,
23:49
Speaker 4: that kind of stuff, play through it. You just never
23:53
Speaker 4: quite there in that point, I talked to his pitching coach,
23:58
Speaker 4: Derek Johnson, and he said he has been healthy since
24:01
Speaker 4: the end of last season, going through an entire offseason,
24:05
Speaker 4: and this guy's potential has been through the roof. His
24:07
Speaker 4: angle that he throws from analytically is ridiculous. Hitters don't
24:12
Speaker 4: see it. Oh, and he's not afraid to go inside.
24:16
Speaker 4: He led the league one year his rookie year in
24:18
Speaker 4: hitting dudes. Last year he was pretty close. He throws
24:22
Speaker 4: inside with that angle. He creates so much variance in
24:27
Speaker 4: his slider and his heater in. Guys just have a
24:30
Speaker 4: tough time seeing him. And I don't even want to
24:33
Speaker 4: say the H word, but when he gets thirty starts,
24:37
Speaker 4: the numbers he's gonna put up are all star caliber.
24:43
Speaker 3: The H word health health, Yeah, that's true. And that's
24:49
Speaker 3: the case with a few of these red starters.
24:52
Speaker 2: You're right, the backfoot slider from Nick Lidolo, it's like,
24:58
Speaker 2: is that gonna hit.
24:59
Speaker 3: The foot or is he going to land in this zone?
25:02
Speaker 2: It's often producing some pretty nice swords.
25:08
Speaker 5: But by the way, the rest of this list, let's talk.
25:10
Speaker 4: Can we talk?
25:10
Speaker 5: I know we kind of bounce around here, but can
25:12
Speaker 5: we talk about some of these other guys like Brian
25:14
Speaker 5: wu he's established. Sorry, that's why it's like break out Brian,
25:17
Speaker 5: who's nasty when he has the H word health. Parker
25:20
Speaker 5: Meadows was pretty good for Detroit. Now why at Langford's
25:24
Speaker 5: second half was really good. Connor Norby's gonna get to
25:27
Speaker 5: play finally, so good for him. And then Jordan Walker
25:30
Speaker 5: is the one that I want to see what happens
25:31
Speaker 5: with him because the up and down, he hits too
25:33
Speaker 5: many balls on the ground. He doesn't do this, he
25:35
Speaker 5: doesn't do that. I mean, have the Cardinals room Jordan Walker.
25:41
Speaker 5: I know we've asked that, but like, what are they
25:42
Speaker 5: doing with him? Is he gonna be the he needs
25:44
Speaker 5: to be a guy. They say, go play right field
25:46
Speaker 5: every day and we'll see what happens for five hundred bats.
25:48
Speaker 5: That's that's what the Cardinals need to do with Jordan Walker.
25:52
Speaker 3: Okay, I'm glad you brought him up, because you're right.
25:54
Speaker 2: A lot of players on this list have had some
25:56
Speaker 2: success already, and I think Boden's referring to the fact
25:59
Speaker 2: that some of those guys could go to a star level.
26:02
Speaker 2: Then there's others who have barely touched the bigs, and
26:04
Speaker 2: then there's someone like Jordan Walker. I've been saying this
26:08
Speaker 2: through and through Kratz. He's not an outfielder. He's not
26:13
Speaker 2: going to be an outfielder. And I think some guys
26:15
Speaker 2: are thrown in the outfield and it makes them so
26:18
Speaker 2: uncomfortable that it.
26:20
Speaker 3: Throws them off kilter. Do you agree or disagree?
26:25
Speaker 4: No, I think it's trying to look up like the.
26:27
Speaker 2: Statcast, the sprint speed and all that for him. He's
26:30
Speaker 2: no James Wood in the outfield, Okay, and it shows,
26:35
Speaker 2: but look at.
26:36
Speaker 4: But look at a Cardinal outfielder. Was Matt Holliday an
26:39
Speaker 4: incredible outfielder. Listen, he's playing in the same organization. To me,
26:44
Speaker 4: you give this kid, who is really his entire big
26:47
Speaker 4: league career, he's been a kid, just the vote of
26:50
Speaker 4: confidence that, yes, we're gonna put you in left field.
26:53
Speaker 4: I want you to keep the ball in front of you.
26:55
Speaker 4: Don't let the balls get to the wall that shouldn't
26:58
Speaker 4: get to the wall. We're gonna work all in front
27:01
Speaker 4: of you, and we're gonna play really deep, and that's
27:04
Speaker 4: how we're gonna help you out. And you know what,
27:07
Speaker 4: you're going to get six hundred plate appearances. You're gonna
27:11
Speaker 4: get him. Just pen him in. You're gonna hit seventh
27:13
Speaker 4: until you start hitting better. Then you're gonna get moved
27:16
Speaker 4: up in the order. And to me, ground balls, fly balls,
27:19
Speaker 4: oppo pool whatever. If he has the hit tool that
27:22
Speaker 4: they that made him an elite prospect, go let it play.
27:27
Speaker 4: This is the season six hundred, that bat six hundred
27:29
Speaker 4: plate appearances or nothing.
27:34
Speaker 2: M I mean, I'm looking at the sprint speed. It's
27:38
Speaker 2: actually better than I thought. I'm seventy eight, but it
27:40
Speaker 2: looks clunky when he's out there.
27:41
Speaker 3: In the apple. But I don't know.
27:42
Speaker 2: For me, I'm going off eye tests more than anything.
27:45
Speaker 2: AJ And it's not like you're hiding.
27:48
Speaker 4: Let him hit, Let him hit. Figure it out.
27:50
Speaker 3: But you always find a position in the field.
27:52
Speaker 1: Okay, put him in DH.
27:53
Speaker 5: I know they have contreres put him at first, if
27:55
Speaker 5: you have to put him in left field, whatever you
27:57
Speaker 5: gotta do, just you gotta get this guy's bat in
27:59
Speaker 5: the and see what you got. They've hyped this guy
28:02
Speaker 5: up for over a year now, a couple of years now,
28:04
Speaker 5: they gave him a shot. He was doing okay, they
28:06
Speaker 5: send him down, right, That messes with your head as
28:08
Speaker 5: a player.
28:09
Speaker 4: Man.
28:09
Speaker 5: Just give this guy and say, you know what, Jordan,
28:11
Speaker 5: this is a rebuilding year.
28:12
Speaker 4: This is your year.
28:13
Speaker 5: Now. If he goes out and he hits two hundred
28:15
Speaker 5: till in June, maybe send him down. But if he
28:18
Speaker 5: doesn't and he's doing okay, if he's doing just okay,
28:22
Speaker 5: let him sit there and take the next step and
28:23
Speaker 5: figure it out instead of worrying about, oh my gosh,
28:25
Speaker 5: when am I gonna go to Memphis? I'm going to Memphis.
28:27
Speaker 5: If I don't get to hit him going to Memphis, No,
28:29
Speaker 5: you're there all year, Jordan. Go figure it out.
28:34
Speaker 4: Especially with his hit tool, especially with his hit tol Like,
28:36
Speaker 4: you're not sitting there going this dude was just dropping
28:40
Speaker 4: tanks in the big in the minor leagues. We gotta
28:43
Speaker 4: call him up. They do that all the time, and
28:44
Speaker 4: see how that works out. Like guy's fizzle. They get
28:47
Speaker 4: beaten by big league pitching. There is a aspect to
28:52
Speaker 4: wondering and looking over your shoulder.
28:55
Speaker 1: Am I gonna play against this guy? Am I gonna
28:57
Speaker 1: not play?
28:58
Speaker 3: Like?
28:58
Speaker 4: You gain a confidence, you become a lead in a
29:00
Speaker 4: clubhouse when you know you're in that lineup. Doesn't mean
29:03
Speaker 4: he's a four hitter right now, that's okay, Like, let
29:07
Speaker 4: him have success and then let him build on it,
29:10
Speaker 4: let him permeate to the rest of that lineup. That's
29:13
Speaker 4: been the issue with a lot of that team, besides
29:15
Speaker 4: Missy YadA and Malina is nobody ever plays one position,
29:19
Speaker 4: so they never get comfortable. Oh you're not playing today,
29:21
Speaker 4: you are playing today. You're pinch iting. You went three
29:24
Speaker 4: for four, Now you're pinch it in the next day.
29:26
Speaker 4: You're playing center field. Oh you want a gold glove,
29:29
Speaker 4: Now you're playing the right field. Like It's just it's
29:32
Speaker 4: it's too much for a young player. Don't do that
29:34
Speaker 4: to young players. Do that to aj when he's when
29:37
Speaker 4: he's thirty eight and he signs as a one year
29:40
Speaker 4: free agent. Do that to Adam Fraser who signs with
29:43
Speaker 4: the Pirates one year. Those are the guys who do
29:45
Speaker 4: it too, not twenty year olds.
29:47
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's clunky when you look at the roster still
29:50
Speaker 2: right now on fangrafts they've got I mean, when is
29:52
Speaker 2: that short. They've got Alec Burlerson DH first base, Contreras
29:57
Speaker 2: second base, Donovan Arnatto's at third. Outfield is Newt bar
30:01
Speaker 2: Walker and Victor Scott and then von Herrera as the
30:05
Speaker 2: catcher with Pajes backing him up, with Gorman on the bench,
30:08
Speaker 2: Tommy Sagaci who's young, and Michael Siani who's a really
30:12
Speaker 2: good defensive outfielder too. So they it's like a bunch
30:15
Speaker 2: of here. Here's how I look at auditioning. There's just
30:18
Speaker 2: like a lot of constant auditioning going on.
30:20
Speaker 4: Let them go.
30:22
Speaker 5: Cardinals are this year anyways, they're not trying.
30:24
Speaker 4: They've said it.
30:25
Speaker 5: So let the young guys figure out what you got.
30:27
Speaker 5: Figure out some of those guys and the guys who
30:29
Speaker 5: name Win established himself. You know, let some of the
30:32
Speaker 5: other guys see if Victor Scott, if he can do it,
30:34
Speaker 5: see who their catcher is going to be. You know,
30:36
Speaker 5: what are you gonna do with Nolan Arnado if he's there?
30:39
Speaker 5: Right Like, let the young guys go figure it out
30:41
Speaker 5: and if the Cardinals they don't work out, then the
30:43
Speaker 5: Cardinals will have to change their tune with Hein Bloom
30:46
Speaker 5: at the head. But like this year, let him figure
30:48
Speaker 5: it out and see where they go. It might take off.
30:50
Speaker 5: You never know.
30:51
Speaker 2: I think they're going to be better than most people
30:53
Speaker 2: think because while they haven't been adding, I thought they
30:55
Speaker 2: were going to subtract, and they haven't really subtracted. Arnado's
30:58
Speaker 2: still there, Helsey's still there, Michaelist et cetera. So I
31:01
Speaker 2: actually think they're gonna be okay, no playoff team, probably not,
31:04
Speaker 2: but I think they're gonna be five hundred ish, maybe
31:07
Speaker 2: a drop above.
31:08
Speaker 3: Yeah.
31:08
Speaker 4: Last week, real quick, real quick, Heine Bloom. Look what
31:12
Speaker 4: he did to the Red Sox minor league system. He's
31:15
Speaker 4: going to do that. He's already starting to do it.
31:17
Speaker 4: He's already starting to do highers. He's been in the
31:19
Speaker 4: front office. He's looking for that staff that's going to
31:22
Speaker 4: grow that minor league system. You have to get it
31:25
Speaker 4: through your head that it's okay to let some young
31:27
Speaker 4: guys right now establish themselves in the big leagues, because
31:31
Speaker 4: then they're going to continue to feed that big league
31:34
Speaker 4: team with those minor leaguers that hein Bloom clearly did
31:37
Speaker 4: a great job in Boston because look what they've they've
31:40
Speaker 4: got coming up now.
31:41
Speaker 2: Yeah, he crushed it. They have high end prospects. He
31:43
Speaker 2: absolutely crushed it. Underrated job there. They just didn't let
31:46
Speaker 2: him finish the job. You guys see this Winter League
31:54
Speaker 2: game in the Dominican Republic Electric.
31:57
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's cool. Did you did you see.
32:00
Speaker 2: Drama to game six? Albert Pools is the manager and
32:03
Speaker 2: he can tests the bat of some other dude and
32:05
Speaker 2: then they shred it up and then they said it
32:07
Speaker 2: was fine. And then anyway, Quato's pitching Game seven. And
32:14
Speaker 2: there's the picture from our guy draftneck Mark Mets host
32:18
Speaker 2: on Mets Up, who said Quato's wearing number one hundred
32:23
Speaker 2: when he's pitching.
32:23
Speaker 3: To Emilio Bonifacio. There's a blast from the past.
32:26
Speaker 2: The Junior Camonaro home run was absolutely insane. Did you
32:31
Speaker 2: guys watch him go around the bases.
32:34
Speaker 4: Barely, he barely made he just touched home now and
32:37
Speaker 4: he hit the home run last night.
32:39
Speaker 2: It was it was about ten minute layover between home
32:42
Speaker 2: run and touching home after home run, it was freaking wild.
32:47
Speaker 2: Oh here we go. So that was the start of it.
32:50
Speaker 2: That was the start of it. And also that was
32:52
Speaker 2: not a walk off home run.
32:55
Speaker 4: Crazy.
32:56
Speaker 3: That's fun, that's fun. But they're used to it.
32:58
Speaker 2: They know what's going on there and that you are
33:00
Speaker 2: allowed to take your celebration antics to another level. This
33:03
Speaker 2: is what we always try and bring more up to MLB.
33:06
Speaker 2: So there's a lot of cool blast from the past.
33:08
Speaker 2: Names AJ and the theatrics are in my mind, first level,
33:13
Speaker 2: first rate, a plus.
33:15
Speaker 5: First of all, let me just say this, Yes, they
33:17
Speaker 5: know what they're gonna get. People are asking why don't
33:19
Speaker 5: they do this in Major League Baseball because they play
33:21
Speaker 5: too many games and people are gonna get tired of it.
33:23
Speaker 5: I'm sorry, Like, if I'm playing against him and it's
33:26
Speaker 5: the it's the thirteenth time we've played him and he
33:29
Speaker 5: does this, someone on my team is gonna get angry.
33:33
Speaker 5: Someone's gonna get their feelings hurt. It even happens in
33:36
Speaker 5: winter ball every once in a while you'll see you'll
33:38
Speaker 5: see a brawl and winter ball. But I mean it's
33:40
Speaker 5: cool to see right here in a huge game to
33:42
Speaker 5: send them to the to the Caribbean World Series. Uh,
33:46
Speaker 5: you know, he high fived everybody on his team, everybody
33:50
Speaker 5: in the stands, everybody in the whole town, everybody. He
33:54
Speaker 5: even I think he high fived the guy in the
33:55
Speaker 5: light standard that was working on the scoreboard. I don't know,
33:58
Speaker 5: but I mean he high five everybody. He stopped at
34:00
Speaker 5: seven different dance moves, hugged the coach coming around third base.
34:04
Speaker 5: I mean, it was an incredible game. Good for him.
34:07
Speaker 5: It's a cool moment. But you could never get away
34:09
Speaker 5: with this, and not for any other reason than just
34:12
Speaker 5: someone's gonna get their feelings hurt.
34:13
Speaker 2: At some point, they had to make your own omelet
34:16
Speaker 2: station at second base. It was great, right exactly.
34:18
Speaker 3: He pulled up with.
34:19
Speaker 2: The you know, you had the peppers and the even
34:22
Speaker 2: the lobster. It was like a high end one. It
34:24
Speaker 2: was great, right. He took orders from everyone and then
34:26
Speaker 2: eventually made it home.
34:27
Speaker 3: But it was fun. I will say.
34:28
Speaker 5: It was like when you play golf and you get
34:30
Speaker 5: to the ninth holl and they have like the taco station.
34:32
Speaker 5: It's so delicious. He stopped and got tacos for everybody
34:35
Speaker 5: in the dugout. I think he even gave us them
34:37
Speaker 5: out to the other team, so I mean he was
34:39
Speaker 5: he was giving high fives, to everybody that would get
34:41
Speaker 5: anywhere near.
34:41
Speaker 3: Him, so good for him.
34:43
Speaker 2: Yes, And it was a championship game so regular season no,
34:46
Speaker 2: that wouldn't play