Latest / Foul Territory / Ken Rosenthal on Bregman/Arenado situations, Ippei theories, Moncada to Angels, Salary cap warning

Transcript

Ken Rosenthal on Bregman/Arenado situations, Ippei theories, Moncada to Angels, Salary cap warning · Foul Territory

0:00
Speaker 1: What I've heard consistently are the same teams. It's the Cubs,
0:03
Speaker 1: it's the Tigers, it's the Red Sox, the Blue Jays,
0:06
Speaker 1: and the Astros. Those are the teams that have had
0:08
Speaker 1: some level of interest.
0:17
Speaker 2: But the inside scoop with FT senior insider Ken Rosenthal
0:20
Speaker 2: and Ken, let's start with the signing one year, five
0:23
Speaker 2: million dollars for Yon Mancatta, who has not played much lately,
0:26
Speaker 2: and goes from the White Sox to the Angels. We
0:29
Speaker 2: might have Tim Anderson and Yon Mancatta as the starting
0:32
Speaker 2: shortstop and third basement on opening day. Being that I
0:34
Speaker 2: think Zach Netto is going to start the season late
0:37
Speaker 2: for the Angels. I was shocked to see the signing,
0:39
Speaker 2: but I want to get your thoughts.
0:42
Speaker 1: The Angels know they can't count on Anthony Rendon to
0:44
Speaker 1: play third base to be healthy. That hasn't worked out
0:47
Speaker 1: for them, right, So Mancata gets a chance here to
0:51
Speaker 1: really do some things. And what's interesting to me about this, guys,
0:55
Speaker 1: is to see the White Sox players outside of the
0:59
Speaker 1: White Sox environment. Now, obviously Tim Anderson had some problems
1:04
Speaker 1: in his career and there was some stuff he has
1:06
Speaker 1: referred to personal things going on okay, and he got hurt.
1:09
Speaker 1: Mancatta has also had some injuries, but Mancatta elloy him
1:14
Speaker 1: and is who's now with Tampa Bay. These guys maybe
1:17
Speaker 1: got too comfortable there. I'm not saying that for sure,
1:20
Speaker 1: but it's possible when you get a contract at a
1:22
Speaker 1: young age and you're the only organization you've ever known,
1:26
Speaker 1: that that can happen. So now their careers are at stake.
1:29
Speaker 1: Tim Anderson's is certainly at stake, Mancatta too, and Oloi.
1:33
Speaker 1: So I'm interested to see how they do now where
1:37
Speaker 1: there's a different kind of motivation. They're all extremely talented.
1:41
Speaker 1: A couple of years ago, these guys were really well
1:43
Speaker 1: thought of in the game, and it seems to me
1:46
Speaker 1: that not all three of them lost it. We'll see
1:48
Speaker 1: which ones can bounce back.
1:51
Speaker 3: And all three of them were on the twenty twenty
1:53
Speaker 3: one postseason White Sox, Like it's not that long ago
1:56
Speaker 3: that this happened. Was there other interest in Mankata because
2:01
Speaker 3: five million seems like a price tag that is indicative
2:04
Speaker 3: to other interests.
2:08
Speaker 1: There was other interest, and what was interesting about his
2:11
Speaker 1: situation is that he was waiting for Bregman and that
2:16
Speaker 1: indicates to me that he had interest from some of
2:19
Speaker 1: the teams that are on Alex Bregman. Whether it's Detroit, Chicago, Cubs, Boston,
2:24
Speaker 1: Red Sox, Toronto, whoever those teams were. We know who
2:27
Speaker 1: those teams are. Houston's another one, and I don't know
2:30
Speaker 1: which teams specifically were after him, but he did have
2:34
Speaker 1: that interest. And eventually, what I heard yesterday is that
2:37
Speaker 1: he just got tired of waiting for Bregman, and he
2:39
Speaker 1: wanted to make a decision and he wanted to get going,
2:41
Speaker 1: and the Angels were there for him, and that's why
2:44
Speaker 1: he chose them.
2:45
Speaker 2: Okay, I'll take us in a different direction owners meetings
2:48
Speaker 2: this week. You have a fresh column in The Athletic
2:50
Speaker 2: this morning about the salary cap, and I'll just preface
2:55
Speaker 2: my question with this. There's probably quite a few owners
2:58
Speaker 2: or sons of owners who now kind of control the
2:59
Speaker 2: team who either weren't really old enough to remember the
3:05
Speaker 2: nineteen ninety four strike and missed games, or don't care.
3:09
Speaker 2: I don't know, but your thoughts on the salary cap
3:12
Speaker 2: conversations going on down in Florida this week.
3:16
Speaker 1: What prompted me to write this column, Scott, were some
3:19
Speaker 1: public comments that have been made recently, how Steinbrenner was one,
3:23
Speaker 1: David Stearns had some things to say, and David Rubinstein,
3:27
Speaker 1: the Orioles owner. Now, in addition to those comments, I
3:30
Speaker 1: have heard privately from ownership types people in the game
3:35
Speaker 1: that this talk is just continuing, that the owners are
3:40
Speaker 1: eagerly looking forward, not all of them, but some of
3:43
Speaker 1: them to show down with the union over a salary
3:46
Speaker 1: cap after the labor agreement expires December one, twenty twenty six.
3:51
Speaker 1: And the point of the column was just to say, Okay,
3:54
Speaker 1: you guys want this. Do you really want to go
3:56
Speaker 1: back to where we were losing games and being in
4:00
Speaker 1: the same situation the sport was in after the strike
4:02
Speaker 1: of nineteen ninety four ninety five, The sport was in
4:05
Speaker 1: a horrible place. Fans were ticked off and rightly so.
4:09
Speaker 1: And it took first cal Ripken in ninety five with
4:12
Speaker 1: the consecutive games record once play resumed, and then really
4:16
Speaker 1: the McGuire social home run chase, which we now know
4:19
Speaker 1: was tainted in ninety eight for the sport to really recover. Now,
4:24
Speaker 1: some owners might believe and some fans might believe, it's
4:26
Speaker 1: worth it to miss games, miss even a season to
4:29
Speaker 1: get a salary cap. To me, that's insane. And there
4:33
Speaker 1: is a reasonable discussion to be had about whether a
4:35
Speaker 1: salary cap would be good. That's an intellectual exercise. I
4:38
Speaker 1: have no problem with that discussion. The problem with that
4:41
Speaker 1: discussion is that the union is so adamantly opposed to
4:45
Speaker 1: a cap that what we're looking at. If the owners
4:48
Speaker 1: try to impose it, as they've tried to impose it,
4:50
Speaker 1: virtually every labor negotiation is a work stoppage. You're gonna
4:54
Speaker 1: have a lockout. And again at a time when the
4:57
Speaker 1: sport is finally entering a bit of a renaissance. Here
5:02
Speaker 1: record revenues of twelve point one billion last year, twelve
5:06
Speaker 1: point one billion. Don't tell me the sport is broken.
5:09
Speaker 1: Tell me how to fix the legitimate problem that exists
5:13
Speaker 1: in revenue disparity between the large market and small market teams.
5:17
Speaker 1: There are ways to do it without a cap. Some
5:20
Speaker 1: of the owners don't want to think about it. They
5:22
Speaker 1: just want the cap. It's the easiest solution for them,
5:24
Speaker 1: and so be it. But what I intended to do
5:28
Speaker 1: with that column was kind of just send out a warning.
5:31
Speaker 1: This is not good. We should not be thinking this way.
5:34
Speaker 1: I know people are thinking this way, and I'm not
5:36
Speaker 1: going to change their minds, obviously, but I just felt
5:40
Speaker 1: that it needed to be said.
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Speaker 2: it was great. And I mean if we force teams
6:49
Speaker 2: to use revenue and revenue sharing on player payroll, which
6:52
Speaker 2: they say they can't afford, that would also be pretty effective.
6:55
Speaker 2: There's not really severe rules in place besides the thought
6:59
Speaker 2: of a grievance. The team's getting out of control on
7:01
Speaker 2: that front. So I want to read a portion of
7:04
Speaker 2: a comment from your column in The Athletic because I
7:07
Speaker 2: do love to dive into the comments a little bit,
7:09
Speaker 2: because I think this is where fans are split. Some
7:12
Speaker 2: fans are educated and realize that their team is not
7:15
Speaker 2: carrying the weight, okay, And then here's the other side
7:18
Speaker 2: where the smear campaign happens. This fan goes, I'm a
7:21
Speaker 2: fan of a team that is way below my one
7:24
Speaker 2: hundred and twenty five million dollars. Oh, because he wants
7:26
Speaker 2: there to be a floor of one twenty five million,
7:28
Speaker 2: a cap of like to low two hundreds he said,
7:31
Speaker 2: my team has no shot. I have no interest in
7:33
Speaker 2: attending their games and spending money. When the owner does
7:35
Speaker 2: not spend money to improve, it's going to get good.
7:37
Speaker 5: Watch.
7:38
Speaker 2: In fact, to give you a hint, my team was
7:39
Speaker 2: the worst team in baseball history last year and actually
7:43
Speaker 2: cut payroll this year, and the ticket office has the
7:45
Speaker 2: goal to continue to call me to buy tickets and closing,
7:48
Speaker 2: honestly a hope a lockout after the twenty sixth season
7:51
Speaker 2: because he wants this to get fixed. I'm reading this
7:53
Speaker 2: thinking it's going to be one of these other teams,
7:54
Speaker 2: and I'm like the Chicago White Sox. That's who this
7:58
Speaker 2: this fan is is going for here and is shilling
8:02
Speaker 2: for now.
8:03
Speaker 1: The White Sox Scott don't have a revenue problem, or
8:06
Speaker 1: at least they shouldn't.
8:07
Speaker 4: They have an ownership problem.
8:09
Speaker 1: And that is where this starts now for a number
8:12
Speaker 1: of teams, and I kind of address this in the column,
8:15
Speaker 1: a new ownership class would be welcome. And we're seeing
8:18
Speaker 1: some different kinds of owners coming into the game, some
8:22
Speaker 1: private equity types not necessarily going to be spending aggressively,
8:25
Speaker 1: we don't know, but they have money, right So with
8:30
Speaker 1: the Chicago White Sox with other clubs. It is an
8:32
Speaker 1: ownership problem. Now, I'm not dismissing and fans often get
8:35
Speaker 1: confused when I write these things. I'm not dismissing the
8:38
Speaker 1: problems that do exist. They're legitimate problems. Pittsburgh and Cleveland,
8:43
Speaker 1: for example, cannot compete the way the New York Mets
8:46
Speaker 1: and Los Angeles Dodgers can, or at least they cannot
8:48
Speaker 1: spend the way those teams do. But there are other
8:52
Speaker 1: low revenue teams Tampa Bay, Milwaukee. Cleveland is actually one
8:56
Speaker 1: of them that compete very well despite the restriction that
9:00
Speaker 1: they're under. So the answer to me is to help
9:04
Speaker 1: those teams further. Now, you do that maybe through draft
9:08
Speaker 1: and giving them more picks, better positions. You could do that.
9:12
Speaker 1: You do that through different kinds of revenue sharing, and
9:15
Speaker 1: specifically what I mentioned in the column would be making
9:18
Speaker 1: the luxury tax penalties at the top even steeper because
9:22
Speaker 1: those teams get fifty percent of the luxury tax proceeds,
9:25
Speaker 1: or about fifty percent. And there are other things as well,
9:28
Speaker 1: including a floor that should be considered. There are a
9:31
Speaker 1: lot of levers to be pulled here without going to
9:35
Speaker 1: the extreme of a salary cap.
9:36
Speaker 2: That would only.
9:37
Speaker 1: Lead to a workstoppage. So what I'm hoping is that
9:41
Speaker 1: this is the typical saber rattling, the beating of the
9:44
Speaker 1: drums that takes place before every CBA negotiation, and that
9:48
Speaker 1: eventually cooler heads will prevail. But what concerns me is
9:52
Speaker 1: the talk, at least in my recollection, has started even
9:56
Speaker 1: sooner this time, and the talk is even more vehement
10:00
Speaker 1: among certain ownership types about getting this salary cap done.
10:04
Speaker 1: And again, you want to take the sport down a
10:07
Speaker 1: bad path, be my guest, go do it. It's not healthy.
10:10
Speaker 1: It's not a good thing.
10:12
Speaker 4: Is there.
10:12
Speaker 3: We had Jim we had Jim Bowden on just the
10:14
Speaker 3: other day and he talked about being in those owners
10:16
Speaker 3: meetings when his when his owner was suspended for the year.
10:20
Speaker 3: Is there a clear Is there a clear delineation between
10:24
Speaker 3: this group of owners and that group of owners?
10:27
Speaker 1: Like?
10:27
Speaker 4: Is it like?
10:28
Speaker 3: Well, the teams that are in the smallest markets are
10:30
Speaker 3: all on this side of salary cap argument and the
10:33
Speaker 3: teams in the veggest are on the other side.
10:36
Speaker 1: It's not that clear. And there are times, Eric where
10:39
Speaker 1: there's some crossover. I guess you would call it. I
10:43
Speaker 1: am quite confident saying there are certain large market teams
10:46
Speaker 1: that would want a salary cap. Actually, all owners probably
10:49
Speaker 1: would want a salary cap because it limits their spending, right,
10:53
Speaker 1: kind of saves them from themselves, which is what the
10:55
Speaker 1: owners have always asked the players to do for them,
10:57
Speaker 1: save us for ourselves. So it's complicated, of course, and
11:02
Speaker 1: the commissioner has an idea now about kind of bringing
11:06
Speaker 1: the television packages, all the streaming packages under.
11:09
Speaker 2: One umbrella, the league's umbrella.
11:11
Speaker 1: And with that, if you had that, then perhaps you
11:14
Speaker 1: could justify a cap to the larger market teams. It's complicated.
11:18
Speaker 1: I don't know how it worked. I don't know why
11:20
Speaker 1: the large market teams would give up their competitive advantage
11:23
Speaker 1: that way, but maybe to get a cap they would.
11:26
Speaker 1: So I don't know where it's going. But it's not
11:30
Speaker 1: always as clear as large market versus small market. And
11:33
Speaker 1: in terms of if you polled all thirty owners about
11:37
Speaker 1: whether they want a cap, I expect all thirty would
11:39
Speaker 1: say yes. Now the question is how to get it
11:42
Speaker 1: in place and whether it's actually practical. And my point
11:46
Speaker 1: is in this particular argument, is that it's not practical
11:50
Speaker 1: ken what.
11:51
Speaker 4: Have you read it?
11:51
Speaker 3: But I'm sure you don't have your own article pulled
11:54
Speaker 3: up the last three sentences. I'm going to read it
11:56
Speaker 3: for you, so hopefully it doesn't feel like litre cap
12:00
Speaker 3: anibal by me reading your own writing here. But it's
12:04
Speaker 3: you said in the last three sentences of your article.
12:07
Speaker 4: It was tremendous.
12:09
Speaker 3: Their sky is falling quote sky's falling act is already
12:12
Speaker 3: growing tiresome. Fix the sport some other way, or sell
12:17
Speaker 3: your damn team. That was just the best way to
12:20
Speaker 3: finish the article. So I appreciate that.
12:22
Speaker 1: Ken Well, thanks Eric, and again, these are complicated conversations
12:27
Speaker 1: that have to take place because the economics of the
12:30
Speaker 1: sport are complex. They're difficult because you have a sport
12:35
Speaker 1: that has thirty franchises in which the primary revenue driver
12:40
Speaker 1: is local revenue. It's not like the NFL, when you
12:43
Speaker 1: have a national television contract and that is the primary revenue. Here,
12:47
Speaker 1: it's local, and markets obviously are not equal in size.
12:51
Speaker 1: I don't know that the sport is a competitive problem
12:53
Speaker 1: as much as it has a revenue disparity problem, and
12:57
Speaker 1: I guess it's always going to have that. It's kind
12:59
Speaker 1: of hard to get around. But again, a salary cap
13:04
Speaker 1: you might think it's an answer, but it's an answer
13:07
Speaker 1: that's going to bring the sport to a place where
13:09
Speaker 1: it doesn't want to be. And I remember the strike
13:12
Speaker 1: of nineteen ninety four ninety five, and I remember how
13:15
Speaker 1: ticked off fans were, and I remember how difficult it
13:18
Speaker 1: was to kind of get back going again for the sport.
13:22
Speaker 1: In terms of revenue and popularity, all of that. You
13:24
Speaker 1: can make the argument that the sport has never fully recovered.
13:28
Speaker 1: I don't know that I would go that far. If
13:30
Speaker 1: you have a stoppage in which part or all of
13:33
Speaker 1: a season is lost in twenty twenty seven, it's going
13:36
Speaker 1: to be a big problem for a sport that again,
13:38
Speaker 1: I'm going to repeat it, twelve point one billion in
13:41
Speaker 1: revenue last season, and that was a.
13:43
Speaker 6: Record, unbelievable. Talking about money, Pete a. Lonzo finally got
13:49
Speaker 6: signed with the Mets. Now on until I think the
13:52
Speaker 6: biggest name that's still out there, Alex Bregman. There's been
13:56
Speaker 6: talks to him, made me going back to Houston. What
13:58
Speaker 6: is the latest you've heard on and we'll be hearing
14:01
Speaker 6: a shining here pretty soon.
14:04
Speaker 1: Todd. The answer to that question, actually both questions, is
14:07
Speaker 1: I don't know now I can tell you what I've heard.
14:10
Speaker 1: What I've heard consistently are the same teams. It's the Cubs,
14:13
Speaker 1: it's the Tigers, it's the Red Sox, the Blue Jays,
14:16
Speaker 1: and the Astros. Those are the teams that have had
14:18
Speaker 1: some level of interest. Now let's go one by one.
14:22
Speaker 1: The Astros have their offer out there. It was six years,
14:25
Speaker 1: one fifty six. It is reported that they went up
14:28
Speaker 1: a little bit and it still wasn't good enough. Okay,
14:30
Speaker 1: that's one team. The Cubs, I don't believe they have
14:33
Speaker 1: the willingness or the financial flexibility from their owner to
14:37
Speaker 1: go six years. Tigers, I don't believe they want to
14:40
Speaker 1: go six years because they're sitting on hobby buyers' contract
14:43
Speaker 1: and it's an albatross, and that is informing their thinking.
14:47
Speaker 1: Maybe not the right way, but it is. On Bregmann.
14:50
Speaker 1: The Red Sox, they need a right handed bat. They
14:53
Speaker 1: needed a right handed bat since last year. And I
14:56
Speaker 1: do not know, and I cannot figure out, other than
15:00
Speaker 1: financial restrictions, why they have not been more aggressive on
15:03
Speaker 1: that front. They could use Bregman, The Tigers could use Megman.
15:06
Speaker 1: The Cubs could use Bregman. The Blue Jays, of course,
15:08
Speaker 1: could use him as well, and maybe they're a team
15:10
Speaker 1: that would go six years, and maybe like Alonzo, like
15:13
Speaker 1: Soto and like others, he just is not willing to
15:16
Speaker 1: go there. But the question now for me is does
15:21
Speaker 1: Bregman end up somewhat like Alonso shorter deal with opt
15:24
Speaker 1: outs what Scott boris the agent calls a bridge contract
15:27
Speaker 1: that has worked for some and not for others. Or
15:30
Speaker 1: does Bregman ultimately get the six year offers that we
15:33
Speaker 1: keep hearing about six or seven years. That's where going
15:37
Speaker 1: That's where this is going to turn or hinge. Now,
15:41
Speaker 1: when he gets a six year offerings reported, that means
15:44
Speaker 1: nothing to me. It could be six years sixty million.
15:47
Speaker 1: That's not something he's taking. Now, I'm not saying it is.
15:50
Speaker 1: But my point is even if he has six years,
15:54
Speaker 1: if he doesn't have the right dollars, it doesn't matter.
15:57
Speaker 1: So again, that to me is the real question here.
16:00
Speaker 1: Does Bregman end up with the length of deal that
16:03
Speaker 1: he wants or does he end up with one of
16:05
Speaker 1: these shorter bridge contracts with the early opt outs and
16:08
Speaker 1: the ability to go back into the market.
16:10
Speaker 3: Again, all right, we just followed all the crumbs around
16:13
Speaker 3: in a circle for Bregman.
16:15
Speaker 4: Does all this lead to.
16:16
Speaker 3: Something with Aeronado, and all Aeronado is still sitting there
16:20
Speaker 3: in Saint Louis, because now you're here possibly these teams.
16:23
Speaker 3: Does it lead to something like almost immediately afterwards.
16:28
Speaker 1: That's a good question. I don't know about immediately, Eric,
16:31
Speaker 1: but certainly these two players are linked and Arnado needs
16:35
Speaker 1: Bregman to pick a spot. If Regman goes to say Detroit, well,
16:39
Speaker 1: then Boston is open for Arnado if Boston is interested,
16:43
Speaker 1: and it's not exactly clear how interested they are, and
16:46
Speaker 1: of course this will be a negotiation with the Cardinals
16:49
Speaker 1: about how much money they would be picking up, and
16:51
Speaker 1: it would be a negotiation with Arnado, who has a
16:53
Speaker 1: no trade clause. Boston is a team where he would
16:56
Speaker 1: like to play. I would expect that if the Yankees
16:59
Speaker 1: got involved, he'd be willing to play for the Yankees.
17:01
Speaker 1: And of course they have a question now of who
17:04
Speaker 1: is going to be in their infield with Jash Chisholm,
17:07
Speaker 1: either a third or second. There are probably other teams
17:11
Speaker 1: he would go to at this point because he does
17:13
Speaker 1: want out. But the question then becomes, okay, those teams
17:15
Speaker 1: viable and would he really in the end say yes,
17:19
Speaker 1: so yes, Bregman's situation does have an effect on Arnado's,
17:25
Speaker 1: and I believe, I expect that Bregman will need to
17:29
Speaker 1: be resolved first in one way or another, before Arnado
17:32
Speaker 1: can be resolved. Now it's possible, I guess, thinking out
17:35
Speaker 1: loud here, that if Boston eventually signals to Arnada, listen,
17:40
Speaker 1: we're not doing Bragman, let's go, then Arnauda could go first.
17:44
Speaker 1: But we're sitting here with this giant staring match between
17:47
Speaker 1: the teams and Bregman, Cardinals and Arnado and all these
17:51
Speaker 1: things going on. And right now it's February seventh, the
17:54
Speaker 1: first camps are opening this weekend, and these two guys
17:57
Speaker 1: are still out there.
17:58
Speaker 2: It is eggs okay, let's finish with this criminal case
18:04
Speaker 2: comes to an end. Epey Sho Aotani's interpreter receives a
18:09
Speaker 2: good chunk of time in prison. He asked for eighteen months,
18:12
Speaker 2: he ends up getting fifty seven months. Just final thoughts, really,
18:16
Speaker 2: because I don't think we're going to be bringing up
18:17
Speaker 2: this case too much more After this well.
18:20
Speaker 1: I continue to hear from people, mostly on social media,
18:23
Speaker 1: but even friends of mine who say I don't get it, man,
18:26
Speaker 1: there's no way show Hey couldn't have known something's fishy.
18:30
Speaker 1: And listen from the outside. Absolutely this is a weird deal,
18:35
Speaker 1: and yeah, something was fishy. However, do we have proof
18:40
Speaker 1: of any of it. No, And if you're saying to me,
18:43
Speaker 1: Ipe just took the fall for show Hey, they're taking
18:45
Speaker 1: care of him. Really, it's gonna spend almost five years
18:47
Speaker 1: in jail, or at least that's what his sentence is
18:49
Speaker 1: going to be. We have a government report that was
18:53
Speaker 1: pretty airtight about Ipe's activities. We have no evidence, none,
18:58
Speaker 1: literally none, that anything untoward has taken place. So when
19:02
Speaker 1: you tell me Ken, you guys aren't doing a good
19:04
Speaker 1: job reporting something happened here, I get it. That's fine,
19:08
Speaker 1: but show me the evidence. Show me anywhere where there's
19:11
Speaker 1: been evidence that this is anything about Ibe stealing from
19:15
Speaker 1: Show Hey. And believe me, reporters including myself, were really
19:21
Speaker 1: checking into this and trying to do our best to
19:23
Speaker 1: figure out what went on here, to figure out if
19:25
Speaker 1: anything was truly linked.
19:28
Speaker 5: To Show Hey.
19:28
Speaker 1: And obviously we never have found anything. Maybe in time
19:32
Speaker 1: somebody will. But you've got the government report, you've got
19:35
Speaker 1: the sentence, you've got the audio, tape of Iba talking
19:38
Speaker 1: to the bank impersonating Show Hey. Maybe it's time for
19:42
Speaker 1: us to just accept that this guy stole from Show Hey,
19:45
Speaker 1: and that's how it went down and Show Hey and
19:47
Speaker 1: I wrote about this last July. He is oblivious. He
19:50
Speaker 1: is baseball only and he is the kind of person,
19:54
Speaker 1: maybe the only kind of person for whom this could
19:57
Speaker 1: have happened to without him knowing.
20:00
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, if everyone thinks they were in on
20:03
Speaker 2: something together. Ibe was even taking shots at Otani in
20:07
Speaker 2: his letter to the judge, and the judge said yesterday
20:09
Speaker 2: how it was a really rude and misled letter. So
20:14
Speaker 2: I'm like, wow, they really played it up all the
20:17
Speaker 2: way to him getting his prison sentence and that kind
20:20
Speaker 2: of affecting things. I'm like, I love me a good
20:23
Speaker 2: conspiracy theory in baseball can, but this one just it
20:27
Speaker 2: doesn't add up to get it again.
20:29
Speaker 1: And I'm inviting anyone out there they've got the evidence,
20:34
Speaker 1: you know where to find me. I'm easily accessible. Bring
20:37
Speaker 1: it to me and I'll go look at it.
20:38
Speaker 5: You.
20:39
Speaker 1: I have not gotten any communications along those lines, and
20:42
Speaker 1: when we checked, we got nothing.
20:44
Speaker 5: You're not in Jersey anymore, Ken, I can't help you.
20:46
Speaker 1: Out, Buddy, my heart still todd.
20:52
Speaker 5: All right, that's all that matters. That's it.
20:53
Speaker 2: And hey, Ken's done some good investigative reporting in the past,
20:57
Speaker 2: so you can look back. There's plenty of stories. But Kent,
21:00
Speaker 2: thank you for the time. Good to see you. We'll
21:02
Speaker 2: catch it on Monday on Fair Territory. Thanks guys, thank you.
21:06
Speaker 2: FT senior insider Ken Rosenthal with the inside scoop. And
21:10
Speaker 2: that includes many topics that we didn't get to today
21:13
Speaker 2: on purpose with Ken because he covered them yesterday on
21:15
Speaker 2: his own live show called Fair Territory. And a lot
21:19
Speaker 2: is out. So it was Tricia Whittaker who knows all
21:21
Speaker 2: about the rays. They locked in on the rays for
21:24
Speaker 2: at least five to ten minutes of the show, among
21:26
Speaker 2: many other questions. So go check it out wherever you
21:29
Speaker 2: get shows, pods, the whole deal in the Weeds. Two
21:36
Speaker 2: articles to break down same topic, and there were many
21:39
Speaker 2: others written about this this week. It just all kind
21:42
Speaker 2: of fit in salary. Cap was a big conversation in baseball.
21:46
Speaker 2: Parody was a big conversation in sports. And the NFL
21:50
Speaker 2: has the end of their season coming up this weekend,
21:52
Speaker 2: so you know, Cyrus, Jason Stark and others wrote about
21:56
Speaker 2: the situation between the NFL and MLB. As far as
22:00
Speaker 2: parody goes, I'll take a few notes from Jason Stark. First,
22:04
Speaker 2: his article's fresher. He said the Chiefs might do four
22:10
Speaker 2: Super Bowl titles in a six season span. The Dodgers
22:14
Speaker 2: have won four titles in fifty nine years. He's talking
22:17
Speaker 2: about like the best teams, and the only team he
22:19
Speaker 2: kind of left out was the Yankees, and they really
22:21
Speaker 2: haven't had their dynasty rolling into the twenty first century.
22:24
Speaker 2: He's like, the Braves have won four titles in the
22:27
Speaker 2: last one hundred and twenty one years, Red Sox four
22:29
Speaker 2: titles last one oh six years, Giants four titles last
22:32
Speaker 2: ninety one years, combined the Phillies and the Astros, big
22:36
Speaker 2: markets one hundred eighty five seasons of existence, combined four titles.
22:43
Speaker 2: So there are a ton of numbers. I can go
22:45
Speaker 2: on and on that NFL in eighteen possible slots in
22:48
Speaker 2: the last nine years for Super Bowls has just eight
22:50
Speaker 2: teams making it to the Super Bowl. MLB's number twelve. Basically,
22:57
Speaker 2: he was writing about the NFL have and four quarterbacks
23:00
Speaker 2: that just dictate everything for the past quarter century. It's Mahomes,
23:04
Speaker 2: Brady Manning, and you could add Ben Roethlisberger there if
23:07
Speaker 2: you want to just even more sweeten the pot. Okay,
23:11
Speaker 2: even payroll wise, and we'll get your thoughts and I'll
23:14
Speaker 2: mix in Ninosyrus later on. Who went beyond like the
23:17
Speaker 2: championship level and looked more at who's making the playoffs.
23:20
Speaker 2: But one more note here, looking at top five payrolls.
23:23
Speaker 2: We just had that with the Yankees and Dodgers. Also,
23:25
Speaker 2: it was pretty good for business, and it doesn't happen
23:27
Speaker 2: that often. In the last thirty five World series that
23:30
Speaker 2: we've seen, we have had two out of the top
23:33
Speaker 2: five payrolls matchup. Let's see in twenty eighteen with the
23:39
Speaker 2: Dodgers in Red Sox. Obviously we just had it. We
23:42
Speaker 2: had nineteen ninety nine with the Yankees and Braves, nineteen
23:45
Speaker 2: ninety six with the Yankees and Braves.
23:47
Speaker 1: That's it.
23:48
Speaker 2: So let's start there, because I do want to get
23:51
Speaker 2: into the parody discussion because there are a lot of
23:54
Speaker 2: fans who think that they have the solution right now,
23:57
Speaker 2: do you think they have the solution? Todd Father?
23:59
Speaker 4: If we yet?
24:00
Speaker 2: I know we've been hard on this topic. But even
24:02
Speaker 2: let's take the salary cap out of it. Do we
24:05
Speaker 2: really have a parody problem in Major League Baseball? Or
24:09
Speaker 2: is it like five to seven teams that just have
24:11
Speaker 2: crap owners that can't figure their shit out?
24:15
Speaker 6: Thank you that that's it, thank you, that's one hundred percent.
24:18
Speaker 6: You know, I've I've beaten on this horse and so
24:21
Speaker 6: many times. All these owners they have money, and they
24:25
Speaker 6: complain in small market. I don't I don't want to
24:28
Speaker 6: hear it. I am sick of hearing that they have
24:30
Speaker 6: opportunities to get guys. Teams had an opportunity to get
24:34
Speaker 6: Pete A. Lonzo, one of the top twenty hitters in
24:36
Speaker 6: the league, one of the top three power hitters, as
24:39
Speaker 6: Cratzy said, this guy that could have got him for
24:42
Speaker 6: so much, for so less money than what they expected.
24:45
Speaker 6: Other teams are gonna get, they just don't go out
24:47
Speaker 6: there and get it because they wontn't feel sorry for themselves.
24:49
Speaker 5: I can't stand it. So it's just it's.
24:54
Speaker 6: Hard to hear, uh, these these small market teams complaining
24:58
Speaker 6: that they can't go out there and buy a bit
25:00
Speaker 6: name guy.
25:00
Speaker 5: They can and they should. The are billionaires that can
25:04
Speaker 5: do it.
25:04
Speaker 6: They just want to sit back and not say, oh, well,
25:07
Speaker 6: we don't have a chance that this guy you do,
25:09
Speaker 6: every team does.
25:11
Speaker 3: I think part of this too is if you look
25:13
Speaker 3: at it from a player's standpoint, players have for years
25:17
Speaker 3: constantly asked for competitiveness, asked for a league that essentially
25:24
Speaker 3: is a monopoly. And so when you have a monopolistic
25:28
Speaker 3: sport where there's no other leagues competing against Major League Baseball,
25:32
Speaker 3: you have to make sure everybody is competitive. You don't
25:36
Speaker 3: have to make sure everybody has the same amount of money,
25:38
Speaker 3: you have to make sure they are being competitive and
25:41
Speaker 3: not pocketing the extra cash. So to me, you need
25:46
Speaker 3: to ask yourself as a fan, is my team doing
25:49
Speaker 3: the best that they can to put the best team
25:51
Speaker 3: out there, whether that's draft picks, whether that's trades, Which
25:56
Speaker 3: is the part that I think is super important. Like,
25:59
Speaker 3: teams have the opportunity to go out and make these trades,
26:03
Speaker 3: but most of the time, the teams that don't, the
26:06
Speaker 3: ownerships that don't, they're afraid. They're afraid of losing their jobs.
26:10
Speaker 3: Owners are afraid of maybe breaking even maybe even losing
26:14
Speaker 3: some money in the situation, which would never happen in
26:17
Speaker 3: another business. You wouldn't make a move to lose money
26:21
Speaker 3: in a business unless that move could make you three
26:26
Speaker 3: x later on. But they're just fine pocketing the money.
26:31
Speaker 3: They're fine keeping as front offices GMS. I'm not going
26:34
Speaker 3: to trade anybody these guys because I'm fine working another
26:38
Speaker 3: five years at this job that pays me a lot
26:40
Speaker 3: of money. I'm fine just where I'm at. Instead of
26:43
Speaker 3: how a player thinks, how wit Maryfield just thought when
26:46
Speaker 3: he was talking, I'm given everything. I have to make
26:49
Speaker 3: sure I'm out of that field to be the last
26:52
Speaker 3: team standing at the end of every year. And I
26:54
Speaker 3: think if we can focus and go on that light
26:56
Speaker 3: and not the well.
26:57
Speaker 4: I don't have as much as everybody.
26:59
Speaker 3: Else, then you would have more parody because everybody would compete,
27:05
Speaker 3: or you would have more teams pushing all in and
27:08
Speaker 3: the product would improve together as a group.
27:12
Speaker 2: Yeah, the revenue sharing is not landing in a place
27:15
Speaker 2: where it's then being reinvested, all of it being reinvested.
27:17
Speaker 2: That's the biggest problem in the game right now. I
27:19
Speaker 2: promise you that there's plenty of penalties, there's qualifying offers.
27:24
Speaker 2: The Dodgers haven't had a top ten pick in the
27:26
Speaker 2: draft in nineteen years. They haven't even had a top
27:28
Speaker 2: twenty pick in the last twelve years. They're also just
27:31
Speaker 2: run really well. They've got a top ten even if
27:34
Speaker 2: you take Roki Sasaki out right now, Baseball America had
27:37
Speaker 2: them top ten with farm system, Like everything is being
27:40
Speaker 2: pushed against them to not have a great farm system,
27:43
Speaker 2: and they're still thriving. Just like we see in the NFL.
27:45
Speaker 2: In the NBA, some organizations are just run better than others,
27:49
Speaker 2: and that's going to be the case no matter what.
27:51
Speaker 2: My fears will have more super teams if you start
27:53
Speaker 2: to cap contracts and limit players, because they're gonna be like, well,
27:56
Speaker 2: i could get the same amount here or here, I'm
27:58
Speaker 2: going to go to LA or New York, and then
28:00
Speaker 2: I'm gonna also make more money on marketing. So if
28:02
Speaker 2: it's going to be that close, I'd rather just form
28:04
Speaker 2: even more of a super team. We're getting a little
28:06
Speaker 2: bit of that right now with the Dodgers this offseason.
28:08
Speaker 2: I think it could get way worse. I truly believe
28:10
Speaker 2: in that. Let's look at the last decade. How many
28:14
Speaker 2: teams have missed the playoffs in the last decade of
28:17
Speaker 2: the thirty organizations. Is there any fan base that has
28:20
Speaker 2: not seen playoff baseball in the last ten years.
28:25
Speaker 4: In last ten no, I don't think so.
28:28
Speaker 2: Every single organization has had playoff baseball in the last
28:31
Speaker 2: ten years. MLB has the smallest playoff field. People were
28:34
Speaker 2: complaining when they expanded it, but that gives teams more
28:36
Speaker 2: of a chance. I believed in that because I think
28:38
Speaker 2: there were some teams that pick up the pace in
28:40
Speaker 2: the second half of the season and deserved to get
28:43
Speaker 2: a final wildcard spot.
28:44
Speaker 5: Right.
28:44
Speaker 2: We just saw it like the Mets made a kind
28:46
Speaker 2: of a late surge after a super slow start, Right,
28:48
Speaker 2: didn't they have the last wildcard spot this time around?
28:51
Speaker 2: I think wildcards helped, which never was right, but I
28:55
Speaker 2: mean even the Padres were a wildcard team this time around.
28:57
Speaker 2: I love the wildcard So fell in the NHL did
29:01
Speaker 2: not have every team in their league make the playoffs
29:04
Speaker 2: in the last ten years. How about back to back champs?
29:07
Speaker 2: We haven't had one still. It's been a quarter century
29:09
Speaker 2: in Major League.
29:10
Speaker 4: Twenty four years.
29:11
Speaker 2: Yeah, sixteen out of thirty MLB teams have won the
29:14
Speaker 2: World Series in the two thousands, more than half the league.
29:18
Speaker 2: How many teams you want to know?
29:20
Speaker 1: The rest?
29:21
Speaker 3: I was just gonna say, I was just gonna say,
29:24
Speaker 3: how many number one seeds in the NFL are eliminated
29:28
Speaker 3: in the first round. The other year we had all
29:32
Speaker 3: the number one seeds gone. Now we have to try
29:35
Speaker 3: to change the rules so the number one seed from
29:37
Speaker 3: the regular season gets an opportunity to move on to
29:40
Speaker 3: the next round. That doesn't happen in other sports, never happens.
29:45
Speaker 4: It's a good call.
29:47
Speaker 2: NBA two thousands, how many teams have won a title? Eleven,
29:54
Speaker 2: NFL thirteen, NHL thirteen, MLB sixteen. So the NBA has
30:02
Speaker 2: seen a team win six titles since two thousand. That's
30:06
Speaker 2: the Lakers. Three others have won at least three in
30:08
Speaker 2: that time period. In MLB, you've got six multi World
30:15
Speaker 2: Series winners in the two thousands. It's Boston with four,
30:19
Speaker 2: the Giants with three, Theo's the only teams that have
30:22
Speaker 2: won more than two during that time period. NHL has
30:26
Speaker 2: had six teams in that conversation win multiple titles, and
30:30
Speaker 2: those six teams, the Devil's Red Wings, Penguins, Lightning, Blackhawks,
30:35
Speaker 2: and Kings account for fifteen of the last twenty four
30:38
Speaker 2: Stanley Cup champs. The Chiefs have won three of the
30:41
Speaker 2: last five Super Bowls and they have a chance to
30:44
Speaker 2: win another right now. Obviously the Patriots were a powerhouse.
30:48
Speaker 2: I'm just missing the parody conversation, and I just keep wondering,
30:51
Speaker 2: are we picking on the same five teams that are
30:54
Speaker 2: making everything look bad here? Where you're going to point
30:56
Speaker 2: to your team and say, I don't feel like my
30:58
Speaker 2: team has a chance. And it's the same teams with
31:00
Speaker 2: the same five owners that are kind of screwing over
31:02
Speaker 2: their fans. So which side of the pendulum is the problem?
31:06
Speaker 2: Like to me, Todd Father, the NLS is a great
31:09
Speaker 2: example of, Yes, a dominant Dodgers team that has really
31:12
Speaker 2: put together a strong ball club and they spend well,
31:15
Speaker 2: like the Diamondbacks were in the World Series two years ago.
31:17
Speaker 2: The Padres were went away from taking down the Dodgers
31:20
Speaker 2: and I think then winning a World Series championship. The
31:23
Speaker 2: Padres and the Diamondbacks are model franchises right now in
31:26
Speaker 2: terms of how they run themselves and make competitive ball clubs.
31:30
Speaker 2: The Diamondbacks just picked up Corbyn Burns this offseason, which
31:33
Speaker 2: might be the best movie of the offseason. I just
31:35
Speaker 2: don't know what I'm missing here. If the Dodgers won
31:37
Speaker 2: five titles in a row, I'd be like, yeah, maybe
31:39
Speaker 2: we have a problem, but the NFL has a problem.
31:41
Speaker 2: I'm bored for Sunday. I'm going to watch, but I'm
31:44
Speaker 2: bored for Sunday. I'm sick of watching the Chiefs. I
31:47
Speaker 2: don't want to watch them again. I want to watch
31:49
Speaker 2: some other flavor. I don't want the same ice cream
31:51
Speaker 2: every freaking Sunday once a year.
31:53
Speaker 6: You know, Hey, I get it, and I get it totally.
31:59
Speaker 6: This is why baseball is probably.
32:05
Speaker 2: Cookies and cream. He's waiting for his ice cream flavors.
32:07
Speaker 5: No, he's not getting into Hey.
32:11
Speaker 6: All I know is, listen, you can be a really
32:14
Speaker 6: bad team in baseball and you could still beat a
32:18
Speaker 6: really really good team like the Dodgers. And that's why
32:21
Speaker 6: baseball is a tough sport. You gotta come to play
32:23
Speaker 6: every single day. It's a rarity to see that upset
32:27
Speaker 6: in football. You know, same with basketball for the most part. Man,
32:32
Speaker 6: But baseball, you gotta hit the win and you gotta
32:34
Speaker 6: gotta play defense and all this kind of jazz. I'm
32:37
Speaker 6: rambling because I'm just waiting for Cratzy to talk.
32:41
Speaker 2: Let's go, what do you got? What do you got
32:43
Speaker 2: for uskrats? What's your complaint.
32:45
Speaker 3: I could eat vanilla ice cream every single day and
32:48
Speaker 3: I would not complain and go Birds.
32:52
Speaker 4: That's it. That's it.
32:53
Speaker 3: This Sunday is It's not a boring day. It's gonna
32:58
Speaker 3: be a great day. The Birds are gonna win. And
33:00
Speaker 3: as soon as the super Bowl's over, that means baseball
33:04
Speaker 3: season starting.
33:05
Speaker 4: Let's go. Boy.
33:06
Speaker 5: That's right.
33:07
Speaker 2: But tell me, if you're a fan of a team
33:10
Speaker 2: in the past decade, who is the fan that should
33:13
Speaker 2: be really angry? Like I start going through the list,
33:15
Speaker 2: and there's not that many, Like even right now. You're
33:17
Speaker 2: a White Sox fan. Your team was good not that
33:20
Speaker 2: long ago. You're in the biggest market in the al Central.
33:22
Speaker 2: I was making fun of a fan dur and Ken
33:24
Speaker 2: segment because he starts writing about how everyone should feel
33:27
Speaker 2: sorry for him and he wants baseball to miss games.
33:29
Speaker 2: And I'm like, wait, wait, you're a fan of the
33:31
Speaker 2: White Sox. You have the worst record in baseball last year,
33:34
Speaker 2: and you guys didn't spend and you're saying when when
33:37
Speaker 2: it's not fair. You're in the Ale Central. You guys
33:39
Speaker 2: should be leading in peril. We should be complaining about
33:41
Speaker 2: you and your team. If anything. That's where I'm just
33:46
Speaker 2: missing the boat. I'd love to have more conversations about
33:48
Speaker 2: this guys with fans and understand where they're at. But
33:51
Speaker 2: often when I have a conversation, it's with the same
33:54
Speaker 2: few fans and they're on the same page with me
33:55
Speaker 2: and that it's a Pittsburgh fan and they're like, we
33:58
Speaker 2: only had one run. You know, since I've been paying
34:00
Speaker 2: attention to sports, and it was what thirteen to fifteen,
34:03
Speaker 2: twenty thirteen to fifteen, And I'm like, Okay, there's a
34:06
Speaker 2: different situation going on there, right Let's let's lock in
34:10
Speaker 2: on what's going on with your specific team. To me,
34:13
Speaker 2: that's different. Most fan bases don't have a case for this.
34:16
Speaker 2: Right now. We're talking about maybe five teams that have
34:21
Speaker 2: ownership issues. The rest of Baseball's fine. Had the Royals
34:28
Speaker 2: get to keep their Patrick Mahomes.
34:34
Speaker 4: Yet one million dollars.
34:39
Speaker 2: Bobby Witt Junior is essentially a Royal for life, Julia
34:44
Speaker 2: Rodriguez is a Mariner for life, and go down the line.
34:48
Speaker 2: You can keep those guys. Also, if you're shrewd and
34:50
Speaker 2: you're smart, you offer those contracts earlier in their careers.
34:54
Speaker 2: Mookie Betts should have been a Red Sox for life.
34:56
Speaker 2: He's in a big market. They messed up. They kept
34:59
Speaker 2: undercutting their offer. He gone, all right, let's get Dodgers.
35:03
Speaker 5: Will not lose another game, Go ahead.
35:06
Speaker 2: Exactly, can't wait. I don't know why we were playing
35:08
Speaker 2: the season We joked, but I just I don't know.
35:11
Speaker 2: I think the parody is more of an issue in
35:13
Speaker 2: other sports, and all the data backs it up.