Latest / Foul Territory / Scott Boras unfiltered: MLB's salary cap push, Soto/Alonso/Bregman deals, Rendon’s situation

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Scott Boras unfiltered: MLB's salary cap push, Soto/Alonso/Bregman deals, Rendon’s situation · Foul Territory

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: To suggest that Pete Alonso is not needed, that he
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: has not valued. Also remember that Pete has over one
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: thousand ops in the postseason.
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: Scott, great to have you on, Thank you for the time.
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: Congrats on finishing your off season. So how do you
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: think it went?
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: Well, not quite finished, still have a few more guys
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: to get placed, but for overall, we're, you know, pretty
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: pleased with you know, how things have gone. And certainly
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: the you know, the the one Soto negotiation was obviously
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: very important players and very important to one and he
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: had you know, I think we all think about the result,
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: but what one went through for really seven or eight
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: years of his career to get to the point that
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: he got is really kind of a remarkable statement about
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: him and how well he takes information and being strategic
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: and and how he handled his career. It was a
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: very unusual step for a player.
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: Hey, Scott, how difficult was it or maybe it wasn't
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: at all to coach wand through the whole situation of
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: getting an offer probably early on, and then eventually I
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: think the report, at least the one I saw, the
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: last one from the Nats was pretty hefty in the
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: four hundreds, so how was that process for one? Did
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: he ever waiver or he was like, I'm going to
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: free agency. Baby.
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: Well, you're a never never land because you're remember the
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: host of people around a player, particularly international players, when
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: you're offered one hundred million and then you're offered two
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: hundred and then three hundred and four hundred to take
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: market projective data and revenue streams and historical contexts of
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: the game and markets, and to utilize that information to
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: make your decisions. And you're twenty two, twenty three, twenty
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: four years of age, and you have most players taking
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: the detour to accept if not the hundred, the two
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: hundred of the three hundred, and you have the risk
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: of the game performance gradients you have to meet to
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: achieve achieve those levels. It's really a testimony to one
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: that you know about it. Then once you get into
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: the market, you've got all the naysayers saying that, well,
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: this is Otawani. He got four hundred and fifty million.
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: Everybody in the game was after him, and this is
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: what he got. And he pitches and he is a
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: remarkable offensive talent, and he also makes this franchise one
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: hundred and fifty to two hundred million in addition to
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: providing that, and you don't have an evaluation like that
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: he does, so obviously you're going to get not much
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: more than that, if you even achieved that. That was
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: the conversations that led up to one's considerations in you know,
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: certainly the twenty three and twenty four season.
• 3:09
  Speaker 3: Scott, how did you get a hold of want because
• 3:10
  Speaker 3: he changed his number and he didn't give his number
• 3:12
  Speaker 3: to anybody, So how how did you ever get a
• 3:14
  Speaker 3: hold of him? Because I, you know, I was trying
• 3:16
  Speaker 3: to call him and I, you know, he changed his number,
• 3:18
  Speaker 3: didn't give you the new number, So I was like, what,
• 3:20
  Speaker 3: how am I supposed to know when you're going to
• 3:21
  Speaker 3: sign here?
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: Well, aj you know you have you have our private line,
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: so all you had to do was.
• 3:30
  Speaker 4: No, I'm just kidding. But on a serious note, I
• 3:32
  Speaker 4: mean it was.
• 3:33
  Speaker 3: It was an interesting quote at the press conference when
• 3:35
  Speaker 3: he's like, did any Yankees reach out? And He's like, nope,
• 3:37
  Speaker 3: I changed my number. But that's fine, I get it was.
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: It was a funny moment in the press conference.
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: Yeah, the level of the level of people contacting a
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: major league player or a stature major league player who's
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: a free agent, you have everyone has his number because
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: he's been in the league for a while. It is
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: near impossible to manage the amount of influence and information
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: that comes to a player and to really keep the
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: focus because you're so bitty. We've got to narrow down
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: a marketplace. We have all of these meetings, We have
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: tons of data and meeting I think I recorded I
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: had sixty eight meetings with Juan Soto between his first
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: year in the major leagues and finally when he became
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: a free agent. So the level of information and what
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: he has to go through and the attention he has
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: to require, plus he'son involving anywhere from eight to ten
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: members of his immediate family and aiding him with the
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: decision and communicating information to them. One was a very
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: very busy guy in the offseason, no doubt.
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: All right, Scott, let me take you to the Alex
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: Bregman contract. So that was the freshest one that you did.
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: Of course there was uniqueness to it. So can you
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: talk me through how the Red Sox process worked into this,
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: including if theo Epstein was involved in why Boston you know,
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: decided to kind of get themselves past that luxury tax
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: number when they'd been hanging more in the middle of
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: the pack in terms of team spending lately.
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: Well, I think they're always with the qualifying offer player
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: who is thirty years of age. We've seen a relative
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: consistent path, and I know that people are saying, why
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: do these players sign late? What's going on? The answer
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: is that major league executives do not want to give
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: up draft picks and international money, so they go to
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: the market where players do not have qualifying offers, or
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: they don't mind giving up the draft picks for players
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: that are twenty six, twenty seven, twenty eight, because their
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: surplus evaluations are so extreme with young ages that it's
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: good business for them to do this. When you get
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: a thirty year old player who has a qualifying offer,
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: and we and I had many and I think six
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: in the last two years, when they're in that dynamic,
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: you are not seeing clubs pursue them immediately. So when
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: we get into the free agent market in January and February,
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: the pursuit starts. They look at things. But relative to Boston,
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: it was clear from you know, a meeting with John
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: and Tom John Henry and Tom Warner the principal owners
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: of the Red Sox that they wanted to change course.
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: They had had enough of what went on in the
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: last four or five years. They really wanted to make
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: sure their club was going to be competitive. And we
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: had long conversations after one Soto sign, particularly about their
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: focus on Alex And you know, it's extraordinary that you
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: have a major league player that's been in the playoffs
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: every year of his career. He's been in the ALCS
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: seven times. What is this formula? What is he doing
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: inside the locker in addition to what he does on
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: the field, which is on the paper, but his leadership, mentorship,
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: all of that needed once it was understood and valued.
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: I think there was there. We certainly as we narrowed
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: this down, and remember we made offers to Detroit, we
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: made offers to Chicago that they did not accept, and
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: Boston came in and you know, as we I think
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: bres Craig Breslo called me fourteen times to try to
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: work through situations. Because I developed a category for qualifying
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: offer players which are bridge contracts as I call them,
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: in effect, where they players have optionality, they have opt outs,
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: but they also have the ability to get some length
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: in the contract and we potentiate the AAV in the
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: early years of the contract so that there's some benefit.
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: And the benefit the clubs get is that if they're
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: giving up the draft pick, they don't have to give
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: the long term contract proposal. But in Bragman's case, he
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: had both. He had long term offers, he had bridge
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: contracts offered to him, so he had to really evolve
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: that information to where he finally led to a decision.
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: And after being at the press conference yesterday, I really
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: realized the impact that signing had on the team, on
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: the media, on the ownership, about a very renewed competitive
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: spirit that the Red Sox have now.
• 8:37
  Speaker 3: Scott, have you obviously saw the John Henry tweet where
• 8:40
  Speaker 3: he's smoking the cigar after he signed Bragman? Right now,
• 8:43
  Speaker 3: I have to ask this because yesterday you wore a
• 8:46
  Speaker 3: Red Sox hat in the press conference, So how much
• 8:48
  Speaker 3: is the fine going to be? And were you sitting
• 8:50
  Speaker 3: there smoking a cigar in the other chair with John Henry,
• 8:53
  Speaker 3: because I've never seen you wear a Red Sox hat,
• 8:55
  Speaker 3: but yesterday you definitely wore a Red Sox hat in
• 8:58
  Speaker 3: that press conference.
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: AJ let me point out I have been contacted by
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: many owners and GMS says that my beloved client, mister
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: Bregman in the press conference, did that on his own.
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: He put that hat on me, and it's caused great
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: a great amount of communication. That was not my volition.
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: It was something that he did and a rather comical moment.
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: I am and back when I played for the Cardinals
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: and the Cubs.
• 9:37
  Speaker 5: It was.
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: Last time I wore an affiliated hat, for sure, But
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: the funny moment, but I probably a thirty second moment,
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: but the cameras seemed to register like I was wearing
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: a hat. He did that, and I took it off
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: rather immediately. I might add, you.
• 9:58
  Speaker 5: Should never have a hat on when you have at
• 10:00
  Speaker 5: your age. There's no way, like I wear a hat
• 10:03
  Speaker 5: all the time because I got no hair. But my
• 10:05
  Speaker 5: question is more about your saying a player at thirty,
• 10:10
  Speaker 5: a player with a qualifying offer, they're really they're really
• 10:13
  Speaker 5: putting value on the younger player.
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: What's bigger?
• 10:16
  Speaker 5: What's a bigger problem with teams the analytics of like
• 10:19
  Speaker 5: an older player, or teams just not wanting to be
• 10:22
  Speaker 5: competitive or needing to be competitive.
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: We have metrics, you know when you played all my
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: pitchers wanted to throw to you. Why you know they
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: they knew the communication, They knew A lot of what
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: you did as a player was not on the page.
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: It was not there. It was something how you communicate,
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: how you relax them, the psychology, your focus on them,
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: their level of trust you have. None of that evolves
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: in our sport, where we've got metrics that do that,
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: but the majority of player evaluation is metrically calculated. The
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: problem we have at the major leagues the fans do
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: not know how to measure competitiveness with teams and the
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: competitive commitment. That's what we call our metric. We go
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: by percentage of revenue spent on the forty man roster,
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: and when we look at the number of teams that
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: spend above fifty percent, you would guess how many. You
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: would think a lot. No, it's a very small number.
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: When you look at the number of teams that spend
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: forty percent or below, you're going to find shockingly some
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: amazing The Yankees spend forty percent, they used to spend
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: fifty five percent. You're you're going to have Boston in
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: that area. But you've got a number of teams that
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: are spending below one hundred million. For example, there last
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: year there were six teams spending below one hundred million,
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: and the money they get from the general fund is
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: above that. So we really need to have a competitive
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: commitment measure, a metric to say, on your forty men roster,
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: how much of your revenues are you spending? And then
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: we get to the real problem in the CBA is
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: revenue definition. We have rsns that are owned by teams
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: so that it's not an arms length transaction about how
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: much money they really receive for their rights. We know
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: there's a huge disparity between clubs that negotiate with somebody
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: that's independent for their rights versus negotiating with the ownership
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: of a club owned RSN. That's one major issue for
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: revenue definition. The other one is what we call proximity
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: based revenues. Proximity based revenues are what I earn in
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: the ballpark, which is revenue shared, versus what I earn
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: outside the ballpark. The Atlanta Braves have developed a model
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: because we know their revenue structure because it's public, where
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: they make anywhere from sixty to eighty million of revenues
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: that aren't shared. They're made with their markets outside and
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: the proximity of the ballpark. All of these things. Fans
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: are not a way where we try to make CBA
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: negotiations about player rights or player cost or all of
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: those things. What we're spending. But you know, Rob came out,
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: Rob Manfick came out in October and said, our game
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: is strong, We're doing great. Our revenues went up from
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: you know, by seven percent, from eleven point three to
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: twelve point one billion. That went up, But yet what's
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: the spend the next year? The spen the next year?
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: There are fifteen teams that are have dropped their payroll.
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: There are four teams that have dropped their payroll by
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: over thirty million. There are now eight teams that have
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: dropped their payroll by twenty million, even though we have
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: record revenues. So an answer to your question, Eric, is
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: that we have maybe eight teams that increased their payroll,
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: but the majority are decreasing their payroll despite record revenues.
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: So why are they doing that? And the answer is
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: that there is no notice to the fans of what's
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: our competitive commitment metric? What is that? How do we
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: evaluate our team's commitment to our fan base for winning
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: and until we have that modality, until we register that,
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: I don't think the fan can adequately appraise what a
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: team is doing to remain competitive in in the in
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: the and make the league better in a major league environment.
• 14:29
  Speaker 3: By the way, so I I just before I ask
• 14:31
  Speaker 3: about Pete Alonzo, you're for the salary, cap I hear
• 14:33
  Speaker 3: that in your voice.
• 14:34
  Speaker 4: Scott. It's okay, we got it. You're for the salary. No, No,
• 14:37
  Speaker 4: we're gonna get to that. But I want you. I
• 14:39
  Speaker 4: want to I gotta ask you about Pete. Okay, because Pete, Pete, No,
• 14:43
  Speaker 4: you came out.
• 14:45
  Speaker 3: No, we're gonna get to that. I know, Scott, but
• 14:47
  Speaker 3: it's fun. I love I love pushing your buttons. It's fun.
• 14:50
  Speaker 3: So here's the thing. Pete Alonzo three year deal with
• 14:53
  Speaker 3: opt outs and all that stuff, right, but he only
• 14:55
  Speaker 3: got those You came out and said he only got
• 14:57
  Speaker 3: three years. How is that possible for a guy that's
• 15:00
  Speaker 3: in that productive his entire career? Is it because he's
• 15:02
  Speaker 3: a first baseman and first baseman don't get paid because
• 15:06
  Speaker 3: there should have been teams lined up to sign a
• 15:07
  Speaker 3: guy that can hit you forty to fifty homers every.
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: Year, you know, Aja first base catchers positional. We do
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: not have first basemen who can hit at a ceiling
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: of fifty over fifty or at a base of thirty five.
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: Who do we have, Oh, we don't because you see
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: Prince Fielder, Mark tischera, Chris Davis. When I did their contracts,
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: they got contracts because they all had the capacity to
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: do that, to hit that have that power. They all
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: received contracts that were at the top tier of the
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: major league level because they were free agents at an
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: age of twenty nine to thirty and they were in
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: the market. But the thing of it was is that
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: in our current market is that our good first baseman
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: Olsen and Goldschmidt signed before they were free agents, so
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: their average annual values were lower. And then we had
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: Freddie who had signed an extension and he wasn't a
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: free agent until he's thirty two past prime, so we
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: can't use his contracts as a basis for what a
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: premium aged first baseman with power is worth. So there
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: was no current market upon which to adjust it. So,
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: and I had mentioned this to Pete, is that with
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: the qualifying offer and who you are, I have many
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: examples Matt Chapman and Snell most recently who teams are
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: coming and offering way below scale, using saying I don't
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: want to give up the draft picks and pay you
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: your market value because it's going to hurt our club,
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: and so here we go. So the best thing I
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: can do is bring a player optionality. We got him
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: an average annual value in his first year of thirty man,
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: which is appropriate for his who he is in current times,
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: because you know what would Freddie Freeman be worth today
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: if he's thirty years old and he's a free asan
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: he would be worth three hundred million dollars, and so
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: the reality of it is age and who they are.
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: But having that qualifying offer you understanding that there is
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: a clear movement on the part of teams to say
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: that with that QO, we're going to not do what
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: we would normally do for unrestricted free agents, because that's
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: what the QO is. It's a restriction, a dramatic market restriction.
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: We're not going to do the same for them that
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: we'll do for others. So we have to adjust to
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: the CBA. We try to create contract modalities that bring
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: some form of optimization to the player. But to suggest
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: that Pete Alonso is not needed, that he is not valued. Also,
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: remember that Pete has over one thousand ops in the
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: postseason for winning teams organizations. This is a rare quality
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: that you have a star level player who also performs
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: well in the postseason. And we don't need to discuss
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: how dramatic his home runs have been and what value
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: that to a franchise.
• 18:01
  Speaker 2: All right, we're back, Scott. Appreciate you hanging with us.
• 18:04
  Speaker 2: Scott boris talking to us about what just happened this
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: past offseason. AJ you want to get back to biz.
• 18:09
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I want to ask him because I kind of
• 18:11
  Speaker 3: made a joke about it, but I want to know.
• 18:13
  Speaker 3: Like the salary cap, that's the big thing everyone talks about, right, fans, agents, players, owners,
• 18:19
  Speaker 3: everyone gms. Everyone's like, oh, in after twenty six, when
• 18:22
  Speaker 3: the labor negotiations up, the CBA is up, there's going
• 18:25
  Speaker 3: to be a huge fight.
• 18:25
  Speaker 4: But don't we have a soft cap now? Kind of?
• 18:28
  Speaker 3: And some teams treat it like a hard cap to
• 18:30
  Speaker 3: the luxury tax, and then you know they don't want
• 18:32
  Speaker 3: to get over now. Some teams don't care and they
• 18:34
  Speaker 3: just blow it away, like the Dodgers and even the Mets.
• 18:36
  Speaker 3: But isn't that already basically a salary cap and you're
• 18:39
  Speaker 3: not getting a cap and you know that Scott without
• 18:41
  Speaker 3: a floor. So how do we handle this and what
• 18:43
  Speaker 3: would your ideas be?
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: You don't first of all, when we discussed CBAS we
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: have to talk about the business of baseball. We don't
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: talk about labor only. We talk about in the NFL
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: and the NBA and the NHL they have hard caps
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: and guess what they had lockouts of one hundred and
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: thirty six days in the NFL, one hundred and sixty
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: one days in the NBA, and in the NHL one
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: hundred and nineteen days. So we know that in the
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: relationship with labor, hard cap or no cap, we still
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: have labor relations to conduct. What are the principal problems
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: in a CBA negotiation? They are always based upon we
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: have to understand that owners are talking about what we do,
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: what they have? Well, what do they have? Revenue definition
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: is a monster and it's something where we have now
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: all of the clubs wisely using the CBA and say,
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: how can I divert revenues real estate A club has
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: Maybe I bought the club for five hundred million, I'm
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: now worth two and a half billion. I have two
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: billion in equity that I can do what I go
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: out and borrow money, I invest in real estate near
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: the ballpark, or I grow enterprises near the ballpark to
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: generate revenues. I deduct the cost of the expense to
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: the franchise and reduced my profits. Saying that this is
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: debt alone I have on the team, and in fact,
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: they're using their equity to grow proximity based wise business
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: decision where they're making millions that aren't included in the revenue.
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: So when we talk about revenue definition, we have a
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: broad issue with how we define that, and that is
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: one of the principal issues. The other thing is we
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: now have defined the fact that Major League Baseball in
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: their approach to media rights negotiation once the NBA deal
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: was done, we have now codified the definition that this
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: league is making eight billion and we're making a little
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: over four that. A decade ago, we created streaming. Streaming.
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: It was the measurement that basically cut the cord on cable.
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: It was an MLB BAM right. Did they license it? No,
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: they sold it, and now it was used against where
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: there are sns are saying streaming is now affecting our market.
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: People are cutting the cables, and yet they continue to
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: operate in the cable market. So Milwaukee's a great example.
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: The Brewers have double the dates of the Bucks. The
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: Brewers have higher ratings than the Bucks, but the brewers
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: make substantially less than the Bucks and TV rights. Why
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: because the right value of our METEA rights was not
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: approached appropriately and there is a dramatic diminution in revenues.
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: So the biggest point that we talk about in CVAs
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: should be maximization of revenues and definition of what revenues are.
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: Then we'll talk about the minute point of the cost
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: of labor and what that relationship with labor is. And
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: with this understanding that we're having record revenues every year,
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: yet the labor costs in twenty will be the same
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: as they were in twenty four. There's no increase in
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: the forty manter roster payments to players, yet the revenues
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: will continue to go up. So all of these things
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: I think with baseball, when you're talking about in ninety
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: four when we had a strike, the cost may have
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: been a half a billion for not playing games. Now
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: that cost may be four and five billion for not
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: playing two much? And what is the labor issue about
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: a billion a billion and a half. I don't think
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: that lockouts and strikes are very good for a game
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: and our potentiation advancing into our true media value. I
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: think our focus in this industry needs to be widely
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: on a revenue definition model. Also for the fans, know
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: that the amount of contribution commitment to player playroll by
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: percentage of revenue is something that should be posted so
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: that fans are aware who's committed. Once we have those things,
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: we can really discuss more competently about whether or not
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: we need to adjust anything in the labor market.
• 23:12
  Speaker 3: Okay, I mean you're the only one that really talks
• 23:14
  Speaker 3: about this and in a way that makes sense. So
• 23:16
  Speaker 3: I love hearing this stuff from you. But I have
• 23:19
  Speaker 3: two questions. One you can answer with a yes or no,
• 23:21
  Speaker 3: and you're gonna laugh at it. Why don't you become commissioner.
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: I've had opportunities in my life. I've had opportunities in
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: my life aj to be a part of Major league ownership,
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: to shift sides, and I have the privilege of sitting
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: down with parents and eighteen year olds seventeen year olds
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: sixteen year olds at times, and you're making a commitment
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: to a player. I always remember when I played, one
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: of my teammates come up to me and goes, you
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: need to use an M one ten instead of an
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: R one sixty one. And he was a veteran Major
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: league player, or his name was John Young and John
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: passed a few years ago. He goes, look kid, you
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: got bess. We get rid of that big bat. Do this,
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: do that, and you know what, it really helped me.
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: Players helping players. And I always said, you know, in
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: my life, I think I best serve the game. I
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: best serve everyone in it by helping players be optimized.
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: We spend millions of dollars. We have a sports fitness institute.
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: We have ten trainers. We have all these things aja
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: the design, We have the best medical coverage, We evaluate doctors.
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: We have all these things to optimize players, to help
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: contract execution, help players be better and perform better for
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: our fans and perform better for the owners that they
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: work for. We have psychologists. We tried to build a
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: structure where we're committed to everything because like all of us,
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: everything we have in our lives has come from this
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: game and it means a lot to me. And I
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: don't represent other sports. We don't what we do, So
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: I'm always going to stay on the player's side that
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: we can remain. I think our contribution to the game
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: and who we are to players is something that represents
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: something where a parent and a player at a young
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: age knows that we're totally committed to their lives and
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: will always be there for them.
• 25:18
  Speaker 5: So one of your players that is having a tough
• 25:20
  Speaker 5: time and has been having a tough time since he
• 25:22
  Speaker 5: signed with the Angels is Rendon. Injuries have been tough
• 25:27
  Speaker 5: for them. How do you, as a not only just
• 25:30
  Speaker 5: a business, as a figure in his life handle that situation?
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: You know? You guys know that. You know, particularly when
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: you have big moments in your career and you want
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: to be there at that time, in that moment, and
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: all of a sudden you have a physical injury, you
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: have a debilitating injury where you can't play, and you
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: have to deal with it every day. You have to
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: blame what's going on with the yu can't play. It's
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: the worst thing in a player's life. When you add
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: a substantial contract to that and the expectation from everyone involved,
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: and you go in and all of a sudden you have,
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: you know, third basement and hip surgeries. I've had four
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: or five of them, and the minute the right one's done,
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: years later, the left follows. The doctors tell you that
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: there's been an extraordinary, almost unbelievable path of injury related
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: to Anthony's hips that have. You know, he played well
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: his first year with the Angels and then it started
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: one hip operation. He tried to gut it out last year,
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: he really did. You could see that his performance levels
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: were not at the level because the other hip was
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: bothering him. And the best thing we can do is
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: best medical advice, best doctors try to do everything we
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: can to get the player healthy. Remember that this is
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: not about attitude, it's not about commitment, it's not about intent.
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: It's about the lack of physical manifestation due to injury
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: that it would allow him to prepare and play at
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: the major league level. And these things are unfortunate. Of course,
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: clubs have opportunity to subregrate the cost of this, the
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: risk of this by using insurance carriers. Some do, some
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: don't to mitigate that so it doesn't affect their roster.
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: I've been helpful with teams and players have too when
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: these things have occurred and they have to retire that
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: we restructure the contract and register the players out the
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: payments out at more extended dates so it doesn't impact
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: their roster. And we've certainly dealt with those situations that way,
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: to have better care for the player in the game
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: and the owners in all.
• 28:03
  Speaker 4: Makes sense. Makes sense.
• 28:04
  Speaker 3: By the way, I just forgot that you had played,
• 28:06
  Speaker 3: so I looked up your ops. You weren't a terrible player,
• 28:08
  Speaker 3: I mean, but you do have some years when you're
• 28:09
  Speaker 3: missing stats, which is weird to me.
• 28:11
  Speaker 4: But you know, you know.
• 28:12
  Speaker 3: Seven seven seventy eight ops. Seven seventy eight ops and
• 28:16
  Speaker 3: a ball that's not terrible. I mean, you could make
• 28:18
  Speaker 3: yourself into an All Star now, Scott if you played, now,
• 28:20
  Speaker 3: think about it.
• 28:21
  Speaker 4: So I gotta ask this.
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: Pop, what was that way again? I wasn't on bass guy,
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: No Pop, I I moment.
• 28:34
  Speaker 3: Yeah, Hey, that's because you were swinging R one sixty one.
• 28:36
  Speaker 3: That's why I needed something. Yeah, or the handle as
• 28:39
  Speaker 3: big as the head doesn't work right.
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: So yeah, yeah.
• 28:44
  Speaker 3: But I got to ask you about deferrals because you know,
• 28:47
  Speaker 3: the big thing was show. Hey was he got the deferrals?
• 28:49
  Speaker 3: Soto didn't get the deferrals. Now you have some guy
• 28:52
  Speaker 3: that take deferrals, because if you look at Max Scherzer
• 28:54
  Speaker 3: is one of your guys. I mean he's getting paid
• 28:56
  Speaker 3: from like seven different teams this year, right, the Blue
• 28:58
  Speaker 3: Jays and Nationals. Heck, you might sill begin from the
• 29:01
  Speaker 3: Diamondbacks when you sign the Tigers back from fifteen years ago.
• 29:05
  Speaker 3: I mean, who knows, right, But what's you're feeling on
• 29:07
  Speaker 3: deferrals because fans are crying, Oh, deferrals are the worst thing,
• 29:10
  Speaker 3: the deferrals, deferrals the Dodgers. But to me, if a
• 29:12
  Speaker 3: team can do it, why not do it if it
• 29:13
  Speaker 3: helps your team for this year win and for years coming.
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: Yeah, these are financial calculations of time, usage of money,
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: and in some situations for the player, it's not one.
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: So who has no deferrals. Most of my free agent
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: players do not have deferrals. Some do. It's really about
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: our calculus of what that valuation is, of what that
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: player should be paid. And you know with the Dodgers
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: with Snow, they paid us fifty a record signing bonus.
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: Well until so to a record signing bonus but a
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: record signing bonus of fifty two million dollars and they
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: deferred an equivalent amount, so that really it's not a
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: deferral because they paid so much money upfront. So how
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: we do it is that we try to be open
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: to the knee of the club and the ownership and
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: say what are your needs why, and then we just
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: make sure that the player's true market value is exhibited
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: inside the contract structure, and then we really kind of
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: wigh and compromise that situation as we go in each
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: individual situation.
• 30:21
  Speaker 2: All right, there you go. Yeah, a lot of people
• 30:22
  Speaker 2: crying about deferrals, but we understand how that present value works.
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: Keep in mind that ebbs and flows of talent and
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: sport are the key to a financial intellect and success
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: of a franchise. Because people always talk to me about
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: how we evaluate teams and what we do, and this
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: is our thing about salary caps. Salary caps bad because
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: they say you can only spend so much in a
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: particular year. Well, in some years you may want to
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: exceed it because the flow of talent is I'm going
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: to go sign the greatest free agent. Now my payroll
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: is going to have to advance for two years until
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: certain players exhaust their contracts. But I don't want to
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: miss out on him, and so consequently I want to
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: go get him because he's going to be very important
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: for the next eight to ten years. Well, if I
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: have a salary cap, I can't go get that player.
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: But if I'm smart and what I do, and I'm
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: going to have ebbs and flows like I'm going to
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: in some years when i have young players and I'm
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: not going to be as competitive, I'm going to spend less.
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: In other years where I'm going to I have championship modalities,
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: I'll spend more. These are why salary caps in a
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: talent driven sport are not in any way the best
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: for ownership and our players, because you need to have
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: flex as to what you spend at particular times. And also,
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: if there's extreme talent available, you're going to go out
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: and spend well above what you would normally for a
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: couple of years just because you want to compete for
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: the rarity of that talent that often isn't available in
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: a twenty year scenario.
• 31:59
  Speaker 2: I could not agree more with that last part there, Scott.
• 32:01
  Speaker 2: First of all, MLB is the most parody and also
• 32:04
  Speaker 2: there are some teams that promise their fans that they're
• 32:08
  Speaker 2: going to go through the rough times and then spend
• 32:10
  Speaker 2: on the back end. Some do, some don't. We could
• 32:13
  Speaker 2: spend hours talking about that. We've done that on the show.
• 32:15
  Speaker 2: So Scott, this was awesome. Thank you so much for
• 32:17
  Speaker 2: joining us. Great to have you, and we'll see at
• 32:20
  Speaker 2: some point, hopefully in spring training.
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: Right, all of you have been around the game for
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: a long time. And I asked one thing, and that
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: is I of how we show a competitive commitment on
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: the part of Major league teams. It is not small market,
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: large market. It's how much of your revenues are you
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: spending on a forty man roster to show your fans
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: you're committed. If we can achieve that challenge, If we
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: can do that, we can give the fans to say,
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: how do we measure how committed our teams are in
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: line of their environment and who they are. And I
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: think that percentage measurement is a way of giving a
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: fan and batting average and ra for teams, whatever it is,
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: so that we can get a better understanding of what
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: our teams mean to the fans and what they do.
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: I think it'll really better the game.
• 33:11
  Speaker 2: And some clubs aren't pulling their weight, and the power
• 33:13
  Speaker 2: of media right here on this show is trying to
• 33:15
  Speaker 2: put the pressure on. So Hey, we just saw a
• 33:17
  Speaker 2: team that was kind of low get involved with Alex Bragman,
• 33:21
  Speaker 2: which is a big sign Red Sox could be a
• 33:22
  Speaker 2: playoff contender again. So that kind of brings us full
• 33:25
  Speaker 2: circle here. Yeah, to puff in the cigar. So Scott,
• 33:28
  Speaker 2: thank you. This was awesome. Good to catch up. We'll
• 33:30
  Speaker 2: catch you soon. Okay, I want to know.
• 33:31
  Speaker 4: What your fine is.
• 33:32
  Speaker 3: I want to know what your fine is in your
• 33:33
  Speaker 3: kangaroo court, in your office. I want to know because
• 33:35
  Speaker 3: I heard it's going to be a hefty, hefty one.
• 33:37
  Speaker 4: So get ready.
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: It's a clear big office dinner. I've heard all about it.
• 33:42
  Speaker 2: You are right, got a good off season.
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: You have to ask aj who bought John Henry that cigar?
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: All right?
• 33:52
  Speaker 4: Oh, I think we know now.
• 33:54
  Speaker 2: All right, that's a good way to finish. Thank you, Scott.
• 33:59
  Speaker 4: Thanks Scott.
• 34:00
  Speaker 2: I mean that is what we do. We bring on
• 34:03
  Speaker 2: everyone and we let them roll.
• 34:06
  Speaker 4: That was our territory, by the way, that was gold.
• 34:09
  Speaker 3: So I mean, first of all, we got him to
• 34:11
  Speaker 3: stay for a second segment, which was awesome. I know
• 34:13
  Speaker 3: we're going to lose some other stuff and along the way,
• 34:15
  Speaker 3: but I'm okay with it. Like if just if you
• 34:17
  Speaker 3: just kick me Scott and Crats off and let him go,
• 34:19
  Speaker 3: it'd be awesome. Uh, because he explained things that were
• 34:22
  Speaker 3: that that most people understand. Like we've talked about who
• 34:24
  Speaker 3: was it was a couple weeks ago right where the
• 34:26
  Speaker 3: the whatever the tweet about revenue versus what they spend
• 34:30
  Speaker 3: came out. I mean, that's his whole thing. That's his
• 34:32
  Speaker 3: argument that the Miami Marlins aren't making zero money this
• 34:36
  Speaker 3: year whatever their payroll is going to be thirty million,
• 34:38
  Speaker 3: they're making more than that, so let's see what it
• 34:41
  Speaker 3: is and then but then.
• 34:42
  Speaker 4: That would involve them opening the books, and that's hard.
• 34:46
  Speaker 4: But I just thought we asked.
• 34:47
  Speaker 2: All we ask is that those teams then when they
• 34:49
  Speaker 2: do have their opportunity, they strike. And that's the part
• 34:52
  Speaker 2: that bothers people the most is that you wait, you wait,
• 34:55
  Speaker 2: you wait, and then the pirates the mariners, right, they
• 34:58
  Speaker 2: just smack you in the face and keep taking the profit.
• 35:01
  Speaker 2: You take it on the front end, you take it
• 35:03
  Speaker 2: on the back end. It's very frustrating.
• 35:08
  Speaker 4: Agreed, Agreed, I don't. I mean agreed. I mean what
• 35:12
  Speaker 4: you just said it was exactly right.
• 35:14
  Speaker 5: And the way the way the way he structured it too,
• 35:17
  Speaker 5: saying like, there will be times when you have ebbs
• 35:20
  Speaker 5: and flows of talent, but we can just name the
• 35:23
  Speaker 5: teams right now that have a flow of talent. They've
• 35:26
  Speaker 5: even said they have flow of talent.
• 35:28
  Speaker 4: And yet they're like, well.
• 35:31
  Speaker 5: We could bump up pay roll a little bit. Well,
• 35:33
  Speaker 5: what happened to all the money you saved the last
• 35:35
  Speaker 5: five years building up to this point you just pocketed in. No,
• 35:39
  Speaker 5: you're supposed to have that to spend during this time
• 35:42
  Speaker 5: and take your team to the dynasty that you build
• 35:45
  Speaker 5: it up to be after you had tore it all down.
• 35:49
  Speaker 2: I want my super yacht and my World Series title, and.
• 35:54
  Speaker 5: You can have it. You can probably get two super
• 35:56
  Speaker 5: yachts when you win this World Series title. Just go
• 35:59
  Speaker 5: listen to the Dodger talk watch the ownership. They're like, yeah,
• 36:02
  Speaker 5: that was awesome, we won.
• 36:04
  Speaker 2: We got more now, but my percentage chance of winning
• 36:07
  Speaker 2: is not high enough versus how much the superyacht costs.
• 36:10
  Speaker 2: Where I can just pay that up front and you
• 36:12
  Speaker 2: don't have to win it. You get it if you
• 36:14
  Speaker 2: pay for it.
• 36:17
  Speaker 5: Sorry. I lived as a player, I'll die as a player.
• 36:22
  Speaker 5: Competitiveness needs to be in ownership.
• 36:25
  Speaker 2: Also, here we go at MGM futures. We're looking at
• 36:36
  Speaker 2: the Kansas City Royals number at eighty two and a
• 36:40
  Speaker 2: half right now, Eric Krats, former Royal over under eighty
• 36:45
  Speaker 2: two and a half?
• 36:47
  Speaker 4: What am I missing? Should this not be an over?
• 36:51
  Speaker 4: Should this not be an over?
• 36:52
  Speaker 5: Am I am? I to homersm Am I following what
• 36:56
  Speaker 5: happened last year too much?
• 37:00
  Speaker 2: No, you're not. I'm going to take the over, But
• 37:01
  Speaker 2: I think it's close because there's good competition in that division.
• 37:04
  Speaker 2: Tigers are going to be better, Twins aren't bad. Guardians
• 37:07
  Speaker 2: are going to be good. I mean they won the
• 37:08
  Speaker 2: division last year. Obviously, the White Socks are the White Sox,
• 37:12
  Speaker 2: and I'm missing one other team, right or no?
• 37:14
  Speaker 4: I think I got them Figers, Guardians, Tigers. Yeah, Tigers,
• 37:20
  Speaker 4: you're not the Twinkies.
• 37:22
  Speaker 5: I mean, if you think they're a five hundred team,
• 37:24
  Speaker 5: if you think they're a five hundred team, to me,
• 37:27
  Speaker 5: just the fact that the White Sox are in the
• 37:28
  Speaker 5: division and they're gonna play them thirteen times, should push
• 37:31
  Speaker 5: them over? Should push them over? That eighty two and
• 37:33
  Speaker 5: a half. I think they're more like an eighty five
• 37:36
  Speaker 5: to eighty seventeen.
• 37:40
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, I can't. Yeah, I mean I think I
• 37:44
  Speaker 3: think people people aren't. People aren't counting them though. I
• 37:47
  Speaker 3: think people aren't counting the Twins to have the collapse
• 37:51
  Speaker 3: they had the White Sox to be as bad as
• 37:54
  Speaker 3: they were last year. I think that's why they won.
• 37:57
  Speaker 3: You know, eighty two and a half. They're over five hundred.
• 37:59
  Speaker 3: They've done some nice things, but people aren't counting those
• 38:02
  Speaker 3: factors outside to help them. Because when they go like
• 38:04
  Speaker 3: twelve and one against the White Sox last year something crazy,
• 38:08
  Speaker 3: So people aren't counting on them to do that again.
• 38:10
  Speaker 4: There's room for improvement.
• 38:12
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and they stayed pretty healthy as a ball club.
• 38:14
  Speaker 2: That's always a thing, right, I mean compared to others.
• 38:17
  Speaker 2: I'm sure there's a royal span that's Washington. We lost
• 38:19
  Speaker 2: so and so and so and so for I get it.
• 38:21
  Speaker 2: But they were a pretty healthy team last year. They're
• 38:23
  Speaker 2: not the deepest team yet. It's not a powerful team,
• 38:27
  Speaker 2: but they're building the team the way that it should
• 38:29
  Speaker 2: be built for that ballpark on base percentage would be better.
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: That was the biggest problem.
• 38:33
  Speaker 2: So we'll see what happened. All right, let me speed
• 38:35
  Speaker 2: through a few other things that we didn't get to.
• 38:38
  Speaker 2: Did you guys see Anthony Rendon as no insurance on
• 38:43
  Speaker 2: that contract? Ken reported it in his notes column late
• 38:46
  Speaker 2: last night, so as well. Sorry, the team has no
• 38:50
  Speaker 2: insurance policy on his contract. And according to one Ken source,
• 38:55
  Speaker 2: they think, you know, they could have gotten like fifty
• 38:57
  Speaker 2: million bucks back if they went with that insurance policy.
• 39:01
  Speaker 2: Already doesn't want to do that. The owner of the Angels,
• 39:03
  Speaker 2: He's not the only one. Many teams don't play ball
• 39:05
  Speaker 2: with the insurance policies, but it would have given them
• 39:08
  Speaker 2: a lot of cash back.
• 39:09
  Speaker 3: In this case, our our guests, our guest took a
• 39:11
  Speaker 3: little shot at that too today.
• 39:13
  Speaker 4: That's not very good.
• 39:17
  Speaker 3: I don't think everybody heard that, but yeah, Boris. Boris
• 39:20
  Speaker 3: also does that with his players too. He also encourages
• 39:23
  Speaker 3: them to get insurance policies like for let's use Alex
• 39:28
  Speaker 3: Bragman for example, if it costs you fifty grand to
• 39:30
  Speaker 3: get an insurance policy or whatever the number is throwing
• 39:34
  Speaker 3: out random numbers. I actually did it a couple of
• 39:36
  Speaker 3: times with Lloyd's in London, where you get an insurance
• 39:38
  Speaker 3: policy if you signed like a one year deal, like
• 39:40
  Speaker 3: I did it the year before I hit arbitration. I
• 39:42
  Speaker 3: took an insurance policy out for a certain amount where
• 39:44
  Speaker 3: if I got hurt and could never play again, I
• 39:46
  Speaker 3: was set for the rest of my life. And then
• 39:48
  Speaker 3: obviously I didn't and I got my arbitration.
• 39:50
  Speaker 2: So you know, that's cool, that's smart. Max Scherzer, I
• 39:55
  Speaker 2: think did that on a large policy when it was
• 39:57
  Speaker 2: talked about, right because he had been injured a little
• 39:59
  Speaker 2: bit early his career and they're like, oh, should he wait?
• 40:02
  Speaker 2: And he waited and obviously cashed out big with the Nationals.
• 40:04
  Speaker 2: I worked out for all sides. They won a World
• 40:06
  Speaker 2: Series title. He was dominant during that time period. All Right,
• 40:09
  Speaker 2: one more thing and then Dodgers' territory is going to
• 40:11
  Speaker 2: flip on for the YouTube crowd. There's a few other
• 40:13
  Speaker 2: topics we'll get to tomorrow and then Baseball America Hot Sheet,
• 40:17
  Speaker 2: really good topics. We're going to go over the Devor
• 40:19
  Speaker 2: situation again. So if you're watching and you want more
• 40:21
  Speaker 2: of that from the prospect side with Campbell and everyone
• 40:23
  Speaker 2: will hit that, we'll hit the Orioles logjam. But I
• 40:26
  Speaker 2: want to spend a minute on This is my dork
• 40:28
  Speaker 2: of the week, which is what Ken Rosenthal usually covers.
• 40:31
  Speaker 2: Texas A and M had a policy in their online
• 40:35
  Speaker 2: media guide that said that players will not be available
• 40:38
  Speaker 2: following a loss, and they got destroyed this weekend on
• 40:43
  Speaker 2: social media and guess what, aj the policy disappeared online.
• 40:47
  Speaker 2: There must have been a glitch. It's like MLB not
• 40:49
  Speaker 2: having April in the schedule for forty eight hours until
• 40:51
  Speaker 2: we pointed out on FT and to get the fixed
• 40:53
  Speaker 2: right away. So what do you think are you teaching
• 40:56
  Speaker 2: players how to be a pro if they're not allowed
• 40:58
  Speaker 2: to talk to the media after a loss.
• 41:00
  Speaker 3: No, they're one of the they're ranked number one in
• 41:02
  Speaker 3: the country right now, so they're not going to lose many.
• 41:05
  Speaker 3: But when they do, they got to have grown men
• 41:06
  Speaker 3: and go talk, go talk. You're getting paid. A lot
• 41:09
  Speaker 3: of those guys are getting paid like professionals. They need
• 41:12
  Speaker 3: to act like professionals.
• 41:14
  Speaker 5: I was gonna say they already have grown men, because
• 41:16
  Speaker 5: there ain't no young dudes on that team.
• 41:18
  Speaker 4: Those do no bang yeah, And.
• 41:22
  Speaker 2: When you get paid, you can talk about players a
• 41:24
  Speaker 2: little bit differently. They're professionals. Now, these are pros and
• 41:27
  Speaker 2: they're adults. Let them talk. It's ridiculous policy to even
• 41:30
  Speaker 2: put that out there.