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Brent Rooker weighs in on MLB salary cap and signing deadline push · Foul Territory

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: All Star slugger from the A's Brent Rooker hanging out
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: with us.
• 0:09
  Speaker 2: Rook, good to see you, dude. How's the off season going,
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: man off sea?
• 0:12
  Speaker 3: It has been good.
• 0:13
  Speaker 4: Been busy. He's been traveling a pretty good bit kind
• 0:15
  Speaker 4: of all over the place, a couple of teammate weddings, uh,
• 0:18
  Speaker 4: Sacramento trip, things like that. So it's been busy, but
• 0:21
  Speaker 4: it's been a good one.
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: Wait before you go, look at his backdrop in ours.
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: That's very so almost identical.
• 0:27
  Speaker 5: But yeah, well more minds bar over here before we
• 0:30
  Speaker 5: get before we get into a whole bunch of stuff
• 0:31
  Speaker 5: your off season. Did you hear what Eric Kratz said
• 0:33
  Speaker 5: about people from that go to school in Mississippi yesterday?
• 0:37
  Speaker 5: He said that there's never been any hitters that are
• 0:39
  Speaker 5: any good from Mississippi.
• 0:41
  Speaker 6: That's what he said.
• 0:42
  Speaker 3: And I said, pal.
• 0:43
  Speaker 5: Merrow Clark Rookery, that.
• 0:48
  Speaker 4: Might be true in one school in Mississippi, but definitely
• 0:50
  Speaker 4: not our school in Mississippi.
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: Hold, let Kratz defend himself. Then Rook can decide, you know,
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: because AJ likes to all.
• 0:57
  Speaker 4: Right, what was this?
• 0:59
  Speaker 3: Historically?
• 1:00
  Speaker 7: Historically high school hitters from Mississippi do not pan out
• 1:07
  Speaker 7: in the big leagues. Scouts have told me that for years,
• 1:10
  Speaker 7: and it was something that I never never really thought of.
• 1:13
  Speaker 7: And then AJ, being the media mobile that he is,
• 1:17
  Speaker 7: skewed my words and started bringing up everybody from old
• 1:21
  Speaker 7: Mississippi State and Mississippi University and all of those schools.
• 1:29
  Speaker 4: So you're saying, like kids from Mississippi who get drafted
• 1:32
  Speaker 4: out of high school, not they go to college. Okay,
• 1:34
  Speaker 4: what's a more specific group of people that can't speak
• 1:38
  Speaker 4: as higher as as informed on as the college thing.
• 1:42
  Speaker 5: But no, no, no, If I defended you, Rook, you were
• 1:47
  Speaker 5: one of the first names I brought up about being
• 1:49
  Speaker 5: from guys from Mississippi that could rank. You were like
• 1:55
  Speaker 5: school in Mississippi, so it counts.
• 1:57
  Speaker 4: Doesn't get went to school Missippi. It's fair, doesn't count.
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: Also, krat said this was coming from a scout. It
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: wasn't like crats just sat there.
• 2:05
  Speaker 6: I didn't hear that.
• 2:06
  Speaker 4: I know.
• 2:10
  Speaker 7: AJ's misremembered. And before we get into anything, I love
• 2:13
  Speaker 7: that you have the headphones on rope for everybody listening.
• 2:16
  Speaker 7: You don't even need to see what Brent Rooker looks like.
• 2:19
  Speaker 7: He just looks like every high school kid right now
• 2:22
  Speaker 7: when you walk into a high school headphones on.
• 2:27
  Speaker 4: During school hours.
• 2:29
  Speaker 7: That's between classes they walked, they put their headphones on.
• 2:32
  Speaker 7: Then during school they put their headphones around their neck.
• 2:35
  Speaker 3: It's the new thing. So your hip your hip rope,
• 2:37
  Speaker 3: so they.
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: Don't talk to each other.
• 2:39
  Speaker 4: I didn't know what you're saying. Am I lagging?
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: Like?
• 2:44
  Speaker 4: Am I behind lagging?
• 2:47
  Speaker 6: I don't know, miss that, missip, the internet gotcha?
• 2:51
  Speaker 4: I don't know.
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: Let's see. That's why I'm like, I don't know what
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: to do about that.
• 3:01
  Speaker 5: You know, we had Vinnie on and Vinnie's Internet was fine,
• 3:04
  Speaker 5: So maybe it's a coorehouse.
• 3:05
  Speaker 3: Is too big.
• 3:06
  Speaker 4: Maybe it could be. It could definitely be my house.
• 3:09
  Speaker 7: It could be your silver slugger is getting in the way.
• 3:11
  Speaker 7: It's like the frequency with the silver Slugger and all
• 3:15
  Speaker 7: your awards and everything BENNI does.
• 3:17
  Speaker 4: BENNI doesn't have one of those to mess up his connection, so.
• 3:20
  Speaker 3: He doesn't as.
• 3:24
  Speaker 5: Fine, and we won't let it, but we aren't allowed
• 3:26
  Speaker 5: to show it because Scott. It embarrasses Scott that I
• 3:30
  Speaker 5: have when he doesn't, so he made me take it
• 3:32
  Speaker 5: off set.
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: I actually want it on set.
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: Todd Fraser puts his home run Derby Trophy next to
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: me every day when I'm with him.
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: We should put it right here.
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: How do you trick the A's into thinking it's the
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: summertime so that they're good the whole season?
• 3:46
  Speaker 4: Uh? That Yeah, back to the answer, I think that's
• 3:48
  Speaker 4: had a lot to do with an experience and having
• 3:50
  Speaker 4: so many young guys. So I mean, theoretically we should
• 3:52
  Speaker 4: be more experienced. We have more guys with some full
• 3:54
  Speaker 4: seasons than to their belts, and so we shouldn't really
• 3:58
  Speaker 4: necessarily have that same learning curve that we've had the
• 4:00
  Speaker 4: past few years. And you know, figing match the second
• 4:04
  Speaker 4: half we've had in the last two years and doing
• 4:05
  Speaker 4: that in the first half and the second half this year,
• 4:07
  Speaker 4: then we're gonna be in a good spot.
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: Okay, that was better, little better.
• 4:13
  Speaker 4: A little better. We'll take a little better.
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 5: And then one be question was, since you were the
• 4:17
  Speaker 5: first guy of the A's to sign their extension, do
• 4:21
  Speaker 5: you feel like the veteran because now they're starting to
• 4:23
  Speaker 5: sign a bunch of guys to extensions, So were you
• 4:26
  Speaker 5: were you.
• 4:26
  Speaker 6: Like looking at any children. I'm gonna show you the.
• 4:28
  Speaker 4: Way I feel like I feel like the veteran just
• 4:30
  Speaker 4: because I'm the oldest guy, almost the oldest guy in
• 4:33
  Speaker 4: the locker room. We do. We got we got Jeff
• 4:35
  Speaker 4: now soon I'm not. I'm not the oldest hitter anymore,
• 4:37
  Speaker 4: which is a little a little relieving for me. But yeah,
• 4:40
  Speaker 4: I mean compared to the rest of our lineup, I
• 4:42
  Speaker 4: am a old, salty seasoned vet, which is a little unique,
• 4:48
  Speaker 4: you know, for our team, because I mean, I know
• 4:50
  Speaker 4: I'm old, but like, I'm not that crazy old yet.
• 4:52
  Speaker 4: I'm getting there, but not yet.
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: Did you hear they almost got Nolan Ironado?
• 4:58
  Speaker 4: I did hear that they didn't have any I know,
• 5:01
  Speaker 4: that would have been that would have been that would
• 5:04
  Speaker 4: have been something to get No. One in Sacramento, So
• 5:07
  Speaker 4: obviously it would have been exciting. But we like our
• 5:10
  Speaker 4: internal options. So I think we're I think we're in
• 5:12
  Speaker 4: a good spot rosterwise.
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: Okay, uh, what do you think about the off season
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: deals so far?
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: Some of these big stars taking some of the shorter
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: turn deals, and you know, some people claiming the players
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: are are not happy about it, Like what's been going
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: on Dodgers adding guys whatever. I mean, I know you
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: don't speak for everyone, but you are part of a union.
• 5:33
  Speaker 4: So what do you think, Yeah, I think the I
• 5:37
  Speaker 4: think the shift to the shorter term high AV deals
• 5:40
  Speaker 4: is interesting. I think it's obviously great for players, great
• 5:45
  Speaker 4: for the guys getting them. It's it's maximizing value, which
• 5:48
  Speaker 4: I think is awesome and exactly what we wanted to
• 5:51
  Speaker 4: do as players. It's a little bit different than I
• 5:53
  Speaker 4: think the kind of what fre agencies looked like in
• 5:56
  Speaker 4: the past. When you know, guys get the free agency
• 5:58
  Speaker 4: they they they've historically kind of wanted the cash in
• 6:00
  Speaker 4: on the eight, ten, twelve year deals, but shifting it
• 6:03
  Speaker 4: to the shorter term, higher AAV deals is interesting to me.
• 6:06
  Speaker 4: And and if you know as a as as a player,
• 6:09
  Speaker 4: if that's what those individual guys feel like is best
• 6:12
  Speaker 4: for them and making their best decision and kind of
• 6:14
  Speaker 4: betting on themselves to be able to get back in
• 6:17
  Speaker 4: the market, I think it's awesome.
• 6:19
  Speaker 5: Agreed, especially the young guys, right, the young the Bobashefs,
• 6:22
  Speaker 5: the guys that are fairly young, they get their opt
• 6:25
  Speaker 5: outs and all that. It gives the I always say
• 6:27
  Speaker 5: it gives the player a little bit of power, right, like,
• 6:30
  Speaker 5: oh I have I have, but I can.
• 6:32
  Speaker 4: Get it's It's yeah, I like the the betting on
• 6:36
  Speaker 4: yourself again. I mean, Kyle is what twenty seven, he
• 6:39
  Speaker 4: gets to get back in the market theoretically at thirty
• 6:41
  Speaker 4: one and kind of redo it all over again, which
• 6:43
  Speaker 4: I think is an awesome way to kind of maximize
• 6:47
  Speaker 4: earning power and maximize your leverage to to get you know,
• 6:51
  Speaker 4: a couple of different bites at the apple there. So
• 6:53
  Speaker 4: I think it's I think it's great, all.
• 6:55
  Speaker 5: Right, Rok, So explain that I fight this with fans,
• 6:59
  Speaker 5: and I fight this with all the time.
• 7:01
  Speaker 6: Salary cap, salary caps. It's all you hear, salary caps,
• 7:04
  Speaker 6: salary caps, salary cap, and.
• 7:07
  Speaker 5: I always fight for the players. Listen, if salary caps
• 7:09
  Speaker 5: are so great, why does the NBA, the NHL, the
• 7:12
  Speaker 5: NFL have.
• 7:12
  Speaker 6: Work stoppages too?
• 7:13
  Speaker 3: Right?
• 7:14
  Speaker 5: If salary cap is wonderful, the cure all, why do
• 7:17
  Speaker 5: the Kansas City Chiefs go to like every Super Bowl?
• 7:19
  Speaker 5: They're like, oh, at a whole parody? Right, the Patriots
• 7:21
  Speaker 5: won all those Super Bowls, the Chiefs from the Super
• 7:23
  Speaker 5: Bowl every year? So can you give us the players thoughts?
• 7:27
  Speaker 6: I don't.
• 7:27
  Speaker 5: You don't have to give the thought on this cap,
• 7:29
  Speaker 5: but just when you talk to other players, some thoughts
• 7:31
  Speaker 5: that they're talking about.
• 7:33
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, I think you just hit on some
• 7:36
  Speaker 4: major points, right. It's not like a salary cap inherently
• 7:40
  Speaker 4: offers this parody, inherently levels the playing field. Because you
• 7:42
  Speaker 4: look at the NFL and the NBA and you name,
• 7:44
  Speaker 4: I mean, the Patriots did their thing when on their run,
• 7:47
  Speaker 4: the Chiefs did the same thing. You look at the NBA,
• 7:49
  Speaker 4: the Warriors dominated for so many years, and those are
• 7:51
  Speaker 4: in two leagues with caps, right, So it's not like
• 7:54
  Speaker 4: you just install a cap and oh, all of a sudden,
• 7:56
  Speaker 4: now the playing fields level. Now there's going to be
• 7:58
  Speaker 4: a different World Series winner every year, is going to
• 8:00
  Speaker 4: be different teams than the playoffs every year. That's that's
• 8:03
  Speaker 4: not how it works. It's just it's a way for
• 8:09
  Speaker 4: owners to increase their leverage. And it doesn't exactly what
• 8:12
  Speaker 4: it says it's going to do. It decreases salaries, It
• 8:15
  Speaker 4: doesn't offer any answers to the questions and the issues
• 8:17
  Speaker 4: that exist in the league. And I think it's kind
• 8:19
  Speaker 4: of seen as this, like you said, this fix all
• 8:22
  Speaker 4: thing that, Oh, you just install a salar gap and
• 8:23
  Speaker 4: all the problems are done, they're solved, And that's just
• 8:25
  Speaker 4: that couldn't be further from the truth on a number
• 8:27
  Speaker 4: of different levels.
• 8:29
  Speaker 7: What do you think the league would look like if
• 8:31
  Speaker 7: every owner wanted to win as badly as every other owner,
• 8:36
  Speaker 7: Like if as badly as the players, I'm sorry, not
• 8:39
  Speaker 7: as every other owner as badly as the players. What
• 8:41
  Speaker 7: do you think the league would look like? Would it
• 8:43
  Speaker 7: raise the level of competition in the level of viewership?
• 8:49
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I think so. I think. You know, you look
• 8:52
  Speaker 4: at the sport and the league as a whole right now,
• 8:54
  Speaker 4: and viewership is up, attendance is up, revenue is up,
• 8:57
  Speaker 4: Jersey sales are up. All these different things are up,
• 9:01
  Speaker 4: and there's still room to improve, which is exciting. And
• 9:04
  Speaker 4: we know that that way to improve is the teams
• 9:06
  Speaker 4: that you know, the historically and in the past few
• 9:09
  Speaker 4: several years that haven't been willing to spend, that those
• 9:12
  Speaker 4: teams become willing to spend and put their best foot
• 9:14
  Speaker 4: forward to put a competitive team on the field. And
• 9:17
  Speaker 4: when that starts to happen, when you see payrolls at
• 9:19
  Speaker 4: the bottom start to start to climb and start to
• 9:22
  Speaker 4: get higher and higher and kind of closer to that
• 9:25
  Speaker 4: you know that middle ground, you're going to see the
• 9:26
  Speaker 4: revenues continue to climb, and the attendance and the viewership
• 9:28
  Speaker 4: and TV contracts and things like that are just going
• 9:30
  Speaker 4: to follow suits. So we're in a great spot right
• 9:33
  Speaker 4: now in terms of in terms of visibility, in terms
• 9:36
  Speaker 4: of revenue and all that type stuff. But the exciting
• 9:38
  Speaker 4: thing for us is we know with with a few
• 9:40
  Speaker 4: changes that that should come from those teams at the
• 9:44
  Speaker 4: bottom half or in the bottom of the payroll. If
• 9:46
  Speaker 4: those teams become willing to spend a little bit more
• 9:48
  Speaker 4: and try a little harder to put consistently competitive teams
• 9:53
  Speaker 4: and good products out there, that everything is just going
• 9:55
  Speaker 4: to continue to climb and we leve where we're at.
• 9:58
  Speaker 7: Fans have been clamoring for a signing deadline or a
• 10:03
  Speaker 7: trading deadline in the off season.
• 10:07
  Speaker 3: What do you feel that my.
• 10:09
  Speaker 5: Fans have been clamoring for one? Eric Krautz wants to
• 10:13
  Speaker 5: trade deadline in the off season in.
• 10:16
  Speaker 7: January manipulating, Okay, don't represent the fans. Ownership has been
• 10:22
  Speaker 7: leaking to different outlets that there should be a signing deadline.
• 10:29
  Speaker 4: Yep.
• 10:30
  Speaker 7: How does that? How is that seen from players from
• 10:34
  Speaker 7: a player's side, and how is that you know, combat
• 10:38
  Speaker 7: it against?
• 10:38
  Speaker 3: And what is what what what do you have to
• 10:41
  Speaker 3: say about that?
• 10:42
  Speaker 4: Is all I gotta I think. I think the thing
• 10:46
  Speaker 4: that a lot of these issues have in common is
• 10:48
  Speaker 4: fans look at them and they only see how they're
• 10:53
  Speaker 4: going to affect the top earners in the league. And
• 10:56
  Speaker 4: the thought may be, okay, so we put in a
• 10:59
  Speaker 4: sign deadline, like is Kyle Tucker still gonna get his
• 11:04
  Speaker 4: fifty sixty million dollars? Like absolutely he is, because he
• 11:07
  Speaker 4: is the top one person in the league. He is
• 11:08
  Speaker 4: an All Star every year. He's that guy. How that
• 11:11
  Speaker 4: signing deadline is gonna affect guys? Is that middle class
• 11:14
  Speaker 4: of free agent that exists, the guys that get one
• 11:16
  Speaker 4: year between you know, five, six, seven, eight million dollars.
• 11:19
  Speaker 4: It's gonna be the night before the signing deadline and
• 11:21
  Speaker 4: an owner is gonna call him, or a GM's gonna
• 11:23
  Speaker 4: call him, or Whatever's all right, I know you're worth seven,
• 11:25
  Speaker 4: but here's one for three and it's either sign it
• 11:29
  Speaker 4: or you don't have a job, or you have to
• 11:30
  Speaker 4: take this penalty and not be eligible for the postseason,
• 11:32
  Speaker 4: or whatever it is. And it just puts leverage in
• 11:35
  Speaker 4: the hands of the people who don't need any more leverage, right,
• 11:38
  Speaker 4: you work your whole life to get the free agency.
• 11:41
  Speaker 4: You work, you grind to the minor leagues, you put
• 11:43
  Speaker 4: your six years the service time in the big leagues,
• 11:45
  Speaker 4: you get to free agency, you kind of finally get
• 11:48
  Speaker 4: that that time to maximize your earning potential to pick
• 11:51
  Speaker 4: where you play. And now you're gonna put restrictions on that.
• 11:54
  Speaker 4: And you're gonna say, Okay, I know this is you're now. Look,
• 11:57
  Speaker 4: you've you've you've achieved this accomplishment getting agency, which is very,
• 12:01
  Speaker 4: very difficult to do. Now you're looking for the opportunity
• 12:03
  Speaker 4: to take care of your family, to set your family up.
• 12:05
  Speaker 4: But we're gonna put more restrictions on that to make
• 12:07
  Speaker 4: sure that maybe you don't get every dollar you deserve,
• 12:09
  Speaker 4: despite how despite having gotten to this point, which is
• 12:13
  Speaker 4: so difficult. And I think when you put more leverage
• 12:15
  Speaker 4: in the hands of people who don't need the leverage
• 12:17
  Speaker 4: and who don't deserve that leverage, it becomes a variouslippery slope.
• 12:22
  Speaker 5: Okay, yeah, I hate this idea, and who ever said this?
• 12:25
  Speaker 5: And then trade deadline in the off season, signing deadline
• 12:28
  Speaker 5: like no, because again, what happens if you don't sign
• 12:31
  Speaker 5: like let's say.
• 12:31
  Speaker 6: You're Brent Rook or you're a free agent.
• 12:34
  Speaker 5: January first is the free agent deadline to sign, and
• 12:37
  Speaker 5: nobody gives you an offer you want. They say, sign
• 12:39
  Speaker 5: this one year, one million dollars. Think how many players
• 12:41
  Speaker 5: you get? Why would I play?
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: Oh?
• 12:43
  Speaker 3: Then I have to set out to July and.
• 12:45
  Speaker 6: Then maybe get another offer like this. It's it's ridiculous
• 12:49
  Speaker 6: to me.
• 12:52
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I completely agree. And it's like, Okay, so you
• 12:55
  Speaker 4: complain that whatever in November December is boring because no
• 12:58
  Speaker 4: one's signing. Set the deadline January first, whatever you want,
• 13:01
  Speaker 4: and everyone's done by January first, and then there's January
• 13:04
  Speaker 4: it's boring. So it's like, no matter what you do,
• 13:06
  Speaker 4: there's going to be a slow time. That's just how
• 13:07
  Speaker 4: it works. And I think I just think it's it
• 13:14
  Speaker 4: just I think the big thing is it takes you
• 13:16
  Speaker 4: guys know it, Like it's so difficult to get the
• 13:18
  Speaker 4: free agency in our league that once you do that,
• 13:21
  Speaker 4: like that is your time to dictate what's happening, and
• 13:24
  Speaker 4: you shouldn't have anything or any kind of restrictions placed
• 13:27
  Speaker 4: on that to take that right away from you as
• 13:29
  Speaker 4: a player.
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: It takes a decade on average.
• 13:35
  Speaker 6: Yeah, it takes forever.
• 13:36
  Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, unless you're one of those guys that gets
• 13:38
  Speaker 5: up there like nineteen, like Juan Soto or something like that. Yeah,
• 13:41
  Speaker 5: it takes you about ten years on average to get
• 13:44
  Speaker 5: to where you have.
• 13:45
  Speaker 6: Any power at all.
• 13:46
  Speaker 5: And that's why again I love the short term deals
• 13:48
  Speaker 5: where players actually have some power.
• 13:50
  Speaker 3: Like I had a.
• 13:50
  Speaker 6: Really good yet I drop down and get more money.
• 13:53
  Speaker 5: Whereas you know, most teams, as you know, want club
• 13:55
  Speaker 5: options where they control it and say, oh, well, you know,
• 13:59
  Speaker 5: they might throw You know, dude, we have a club
• 14:00
  Speaker 5: aufer for twenty five million, but you get one million
• 14:03
  Speaker 5: if we don't pick it up.
• 14:05
  Speaker 6: It drives me.
• 14:06
  Speaker 5: Anyways, I hate talking about this because we're gonna have
• 14:09
  Speaker 5: a year of this rook and you're gonna have to
• 14:10
  Speaker 5: answer questions. And you've been awesome about answering this question.
• 14:13
  Speaker 5: So one more on the stupid CBA that I have
• 14:16
  Speaker 5: to know. Would you like it? I always say this
• 14:18
  Speaker 5: if owners actually showed the real books, okay, because I
• 14:22
  Speaker 5: tell people all the time and they, again, people don't
• 14:24
  Speaker 5: outside of baseball don't understand this. Teams say, oh, well
• 14:27
  Speaker 5: we have a payroll of one hundred million. These are
• 14:29
  Speaker 5: all arbitrary numbers, fake numbers. Okay, we only made fifty
• 14:33
  Speaker 5: million last year off our TV deal in ticket sales,
• 14:36
  Speaker 5: so we lost fifty million. What about your concessions? What
• 14:39
  Speaker 5: about your merch what about your parking?
• 14:41
  Speaker 6: What about this?
• 14:42
  Speaker 5: That's all in a different company, but it all goes
• 14:44
  Speaker 5: to the same pot for the owners. But they say, oh,
• 14:46
  Speaker 5: we lost fifty million, and oh yeah, by the way,
• 14:49
  Speaker 5: there was about I don't know seven hundred million in
• 14:51
  Speaker 5: revenue sharing luxury taxes that was sent down to other teams.
• 14:54
  Speaker 5: Where does that money go? I'd also love to see
• 14:56
  Speaker 5: the books on that, but we don't have time for
• 14:57
  Speaker 5: all this.
• 14:58
  Speaker 3: So would you be okay?
• 14:59
  Speaker 5: As a player, every owner said, here's every dollar that
• 15:02
  Speaker 5: I made under every company that I owned.
• 15:04
  Speaker 6: Would that make you feel better?
• 15:05
  Speaker 4: Because it made me feel better for sure. I mean
• 15:07
  Speaker 4: some transparency. He's always appreciated in negotiations, right. So it's
• 15:11
  Speaker 4: it's just difficult when you know you have a lot
• 15:13
  Speaker 4: of teams and and and people like you, like you
• 15:16
  Speaker 4: kind of said, like, you know, we were losing money,
• 15:18
  Speaker 4: We're not or generating enough revenue to sustain this payroll
• 15:22
  Speaker 4: or whatever it is. But then they refuse to kind
• 15:23
  Speaker 4: of open that up and and let us see that
• 15:25
  Speaker 4: for ourselves. I think it's it comes across as a
• 15:27
  Speaker 4: little disingenuous, It comes across a little dishonest, and it
• 15:32
  Speaker 4: would be a way to probably take some steps toward
• 15:35
  Speaker 4: each other in a negotiation process if we could get
• 15:38
  Speaker 4: some some more transparency when it comes to that subject.
• 15:42
  Speaker 4: So I think you're exactly right.
• 15:44
  Speaker 7: A lot was made about Rob Manford going into the
• 15:47
  Speaker 7: Phillies and Bryce Harper kind of standing up to him.
• 15:49
  Speaker 7: Did he come and talk to you guys in Sacramento
• 15:52
  Speaker 7: or did he visit you guys on.
• 15:53
  Speaker 4: The road He gave me Sacramento. Yeah, Rob came to
• 15:56
  Speaker 4: see us when we were at home towards towards the end.
• 15:59
  Speaker 3: And how did that go?
• 16:00
  Speaker 7: How did that conversation go? From your viewpoint, but also
• 16:04
  Speaker 7: from a lot of the younger players on the roster
• 16:07
  Speaker 7: that don't necessarily have as much dirt in or cleats
• 16:10
  Speaker 7: as say the Phillies team, where it was a little
• 16:11
  Speaker 7: bit more of an uprising.
• 16:14
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I would assume ours was a little quieter, obviously,
• 16:17
  Speaker 4: with so many young guys in our clubhouse who are
• 16:20
  Speaker 4: still kind of learning about these things and figuring how
• 16:22
  Speaker 4: the system works and how the business works. And you know,
• 16:25
  Speaker 4: they came away with questions that they communicated to to
• 16:29
  Speaker 4: Sevy and to Jeffrey Springs and to myself and to
• 16:31
  Speaker 4: guys who have been around for a little bit longer.
• 16:36
  Speaker 4: But you know, my main takeaway from the meeting was,
• 16:38
  Speaker 4: I just think it's interesting how the first in the
• 16:40
  Speaker 4: first ten to fifteen minutes of the meeting is kind
• 16:42
  Speaker 4: of spent telling us that exactly what I talked about
• 16:45
  Speaker 4: at the beginning of this interview, Like, hey, guys, attendance
• 16:48
  Speaker 4: was was way. Viewership's way up, revenue's way merch sales
• 16:52
  Speaker 4: his way up. All these things are way up. The
• 16:54
  Speaker 4: business of the league is thriving, it's booming, but hey,
• 16:58
  Speaker 4: here's why the system isn't working. And it's like, okay, well,
• 17:00
  Speaker 4: those two things seem to be a little contradictory, Like
• 17:03
  Speaker 4: you just you just told us how great we're doing
• 17:05
  Speaker 4: and how much money the league and teams and players
• 17:08
  Speaker 4: are making. But now you're telling us if the system
• 17:09
  Speaker 4: is broken and it's not working, and that just kind
• 17:11
  Speaker 4: of seems to not really mesh in my mind. It
• 17:13
  Speaker 4: doesn't early gel. It seems like a like I said,
• 17:16
  Speaker 4: like a contradictory message, and that was kind of my
• 17:19
  Speaker 4: main takeaway is like, Okay, well, you know, from from
• 17:22
  Speaker 4: your guys perspective, from the league's perspective, if everything is
• 17:25
  Speaker 4: going so well, then why is there this complaint that, oh,
• 17:28
  Speaker 4: we have to change everything, we have to tear the
• 17:30
  Speaker 4: system down and rebuild it. Like that doesn't seem to
• 17:32
  Speaker 4: be the case at all, based on these facts and
• 17:33
  Speaker 4: the numbers that you're giving us.
• 17:35
  Speaker 6: True. True, I agree.
• 17:37
  Speaker 5: Speaking of merch sales, I know you've been to the
• 17:40
  Speaker 5: new site of Las Vegas, right the new stadium that
• 17:42
  Speaker 5: you guys are going to have in a couple of years.
• 17:44
  Speaker 5: It looks amazing. Hopefully it comes out like the renderings.
• 17:47
  Speaker 5: But I know you saw this, and I just have
• 17:49
  Speaker 5: to ask this. Have you thought of a nickname for
• 17:52
  Speaker 5: the Las Vegas baseball team when athletics since they can't
• 17:56
  Speaker 5: get a trademark, have you guys talked about like what
• 17:58
  Speaker 5: could be that, like the Lost Vegas Strippers or like
• 18:01
  Speaker 5: the Las Vegas Strips or something, you know, like something
• 18:05
  Speaker 5: if they can't get this.
• 18:06
  Speaker 4: I think we're pretty confident that the athletics thing is
• 18:08
  Speaker 4: going to work out. I think I love that.
• 18:13
  Speaker 5: I love the strippers, because you guys are gonna be
• 18:15
  Speaker 5: able to strip, and then you could be like, honey,
• 18:17
  Speaker 5: I'm going to the strippers to see the strippers, and
• 18:20
  Speaker 5: your wife would never get mad. I'm gonna go play
• 18:22
  Speaker 5: with the strippers.
• 18:23
  Speaker 4: Could be a real, uh, real good out of Joe
• 18:25
  Speaker 4: free card there for a lot of people on No.
• 18:28
  Speaker 4: I think, uh, I think, I think we feel pretty
• 18:31
  Speaker 4: good that the athletics is going to work out.
• 18:34
  Speaker 7: Somebody does Frankie his name does out of context, so
• 18:37
  Speaker 7: he takes clips and he just got like thirty seconds
• 18:41
  Speaker 7: of content. By how many times a j said over
• 18:46
  Speaker 7: the place. It definitely is one of the things we
• 18:49
  Speaker 7: talked about. One of the things we talked about earlier
• 18:52
  Speaker 7: in the show was the Brewers. You know they got
• 18:55
  Speaker 7: rid of Freddy Peralta, and we're talking about going all
• 18:58
  Speaker 7: in or missing the playoff. Yes, as a player, would
• 19:02
  Speaker 7: you like to see the front office go all in
• 19:07
  Speaker 7: to make that last move? It might cause you because
• 19:10
  Speaker 7: you're on a longer term contract, maybe a couple losing
• 19:14
  Speaker 7: seasons later in your contract, go all in and give
• 19:18
  Speaker 7: it everything you have for that one season, that one
• 19:21
  Speaker 7: shot at a world series.
• 19:25
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, I think so I think the interesting
• 19:26
  Speaker 4: thing about what you just said is, you know, winning
• 19:30
  Speaker 4: cultures breed breed winning, Right, So if you go all
• 19:33
  Speaker 4: in and for one year and you say, okay, here
• 19:36
  Speaker 4: we're going for right now, and then you make the playoffs,
• 19:38
  Speaker 4: you make a playoff run, that is going to breed
• 19:41
  Speaker 4: more winning down the road because you're create a winning culture.
• 19:44
  Speaker 4: You're creating a clubhouse and an environment. A franchise it
• 19:46
  Speaker 4: expects to get back to the playoffs, it expects to
• 19:49
  Speaker 4: make these runs. And I think that can't be understated
• 19:52
  Speaker 4: as well as how much just kind of that commitment
• 19:54
  Speaker 4: and that dedication to winning is going to create future
• 19:57
  Speaker 4: winning opportunities and winning seasons down the road, just from
• 20:00
  Speaker 4: like I said, a culture and an expectation perspective.
• 20:04
  Speaker 5: Brent, how confident are you in the athletics this year
• 20:08
  Speaker 5: taking that next step? I know you've put out quotes
• 20:10
  Speaker 5: you guys are gonna be much comfortable in Sacramento, much
• 20:12
  Speaker 5: more comfortable to travel everything. So how much and we
• 20:15
  Speaker 5: talked about this a little bit earlier, that you think
• 20:17
  Speaker 5: guys are ready for the next step. So how confident
• 20:19
  Speaker 5: are you that the athletics can compete in a division
• 20:21
  Speaker 5: that's pretty tough.
• 20:23
  Speaker 4: Yeah, a really tough division. But I love where we're at.
• 20:27
  Speaker 4: I think we have people talk about the offense and
• 20:30
  Speaker 4: talk about the hitters we have and talk about Nick
• 20:32
  Speaker 4: Kurtz and talking about Jacob Wilson, Tyler Soda Sherman, Lawrence
• 20:34
  Speaker 4: Bouler and all these guys, and I think that is
• 20:36
  Speaker 4: obviously very well justified and people should be talking about that.
• 20:39
  Speaker 4: But we've got some really really exciting young arms too.
• 20:41
  Speaker 4: I think Luis Morales showed frontline stuff last year at times,
• 20:47
  Speaker 4: and I think he's still so young and developing that
• 20:49
  Speaker 4: he's going to be really good. You know, Perkins same way,
• 20:53
  Speaker 4: had a great year when he was healthy, through the
• 20:55
  Speaker 4: ball really well. And you kind of couple those guys
• 20:57
  Speaker 4: up with some veterans, with Sevy and with Jeffrey, who
• 20:59
  Speaker 4: can teach those guys how to go out there and
• 21:02
  Speaker 4: do their thing at the major league level. I think
• 21:03
  Speaker 4: it's super exciting. And then I think, I think adding
• 21:07
  Speaker 4: Jeff to our lineup. Getting Jeff McNeil and there is
• 21:10
  Speaker 4: going to be huge for us, and it makes the
• 21:12
  Speaker 4: lineup deeper, it makes us more well rounded, versatile. He
• 21:16
  Speaker 4: can play all over the place, plays great defense, and
• 21:18
  Speaker 4: I think when you throw him in Jacob Wilson the
• 21:20
  Speaker 4: same lineup and just being like, all right, look here,
• 21:22
  Speaker 4: here's two guys that you're like, you're not gonna punch out, like,
• 21:24
  Speaker 4: they're gonna grind, they're gonna foul pitches off, they're gonna
• 21:27
  Speaker 4: put the ball in play. And you put that in
• 21:29
  Speaker 4: the same lineup with guys who can hit homers left
• 21:31
  Speaker 4: and right. I think it makes us very dangerous. And
• 21:33
  Speaker 4: I think we're an exciting team, and I think inside
• 21:36
  Speaker 4: our clubhouse there's a lot of confidence that we can
• 21:38
  Speaker 4: go out there and and and do some damage this here,
• 21:40
  Speaker 4: So we're excited about it.
• 21:42
  Speaker 6: Nice, nice, All right, Before before we let you go,
• 21:44
  Speaker 6: I have to ask you.
• 21:45
  Speaker 5: On Saturday night, I have to go up on the
• 21:48
  Speaker 5: stage and present Drake Baldwin with his National League Rookie
• 21:51
  Speaker 5: of the Year.
• 21:52
  Speaker 4: Yeah, okay.
• 21:53
  Speaker 5: Now somewhere sitting next to me will be Nick Kurt
• 21:57
  Speaker 5: m Is there a story that.
• 21:59
  Speaker 3: I need to ask him?
• 22:00
  Speaker 6: Well?
• 22:00
  Speaker 5: And when I see him that we can obviously tell
• 22:03
  Speaker 5: on the air that I need to go up to
• 22:05
  Speaker 5: him and say, hey, Nick, I heard this happened or
• 22:08
  Speaker 5: rook said this.
• 22:11
  Speaker 4: Oh I'm thinking nothing comes to mind. I don't think
• 22:18
  Speaker 4: he's a pretty laid back guy. I mean he's he's
• 22:24
  Speaker 4: not like he wasn't like an abrasive rookie who got
• 22:27
  Speaker 4: who had a tough time. You know. He he kept
• 22:29
  Speaker 4: throw himself a little bit. He did his work, and
• 22:30
  Speaker 4: he was he was a he was a good young player.
• 22:34
  Speaker 4: I'll say that. So nothing comes to mind. If anything
• 22:35
  Speaker 4: comes to mind, specifically that I can't stay live, also,
• 22:38
  Speaker 4: I'll shoot you a text about it. But no, I
• 22:42
  Speaker 4: wish I wish Kurt said more. But he's just kind
• 22:44
  Speaker 4: of a great, great dude and just and just does
• 22:48
  Speaker 4: the right stuff too often where it's a little bit annoying,
• 22:51
  Speaker 4: but you're gonna enjoy being around him. You're gonna enjoy
• 22:54
  Speaker 4: being around him. I'll say that he's a good song.
• 22:56
  Speaker 3: I know this.
• 22:57
  Speaker 6: He won the introduction battle. Do you know who's introducing him?
• 23:00
  Speaker 5: No, I don't know if I'm allowed to say it,
• 23:02
  Speaker 5: but she was a tall blonde pitcher from softball Jenny Finch.
• 23:07
  Speaker 6: Okay, yes, he's definitely he definitely want to.
• 23:10
  Speaker 3: Introduction Jenny Finch and a J Perzinski.
• 23:15
  Speaker 2: Yeah that's a great dude.
• 23:19
  Speaker 4: Yeah, have you been have you?
• 23:21
  Speaker 2: Have you been?
• 23:21
  Speaker 4: Around him. I think you're going to be shocked at
• 23:22
  Speaker 4: how big he is. He's gigantic. It's always he's like
• 23:25
  Speaker 4: surprisingly large.
• 23:27
  Speaker 6: No, because we've had him on the show.
• 23:29
  Speaker 5: But unfortunately, I've never done an Oakland game Sacramento game. Yeah,
• 23:34
  Speaker 5: I actually have. I take them back, I have. I've
• 23:36
  Speaker 5: never done one at their home ball. I've done one
• 23:37
  Speaker 5: in Toronto, which is the weirdest thing of life.
• 23:39
  Speaker 4: Time.
• 23:40
  Speaker 5: So I've no in the last I don't know the
• 23:42
  Speaker 5: last time Sacramento was on Fox, but it's probably hasn't been.
• 23:46
  Speaker 3: He is he Adam? I beg to go there every year.
• 23:49
  Speaker 3: Can I go to Sacramento?
• 23:50
  Speaker 4: Please? I don't think I've ever met Adam, but probably not.
• 23:54
  Speaker 4: But Kirks is like, uh, he's huge, but his head
• 23:57
  Speaker 4: is tiny, so he kind of like I think people
• 23:59
  Speaker 4: don't realize how big he is because his head so
• 24:01
  Speaker 4: small on TV and it doesn't do it justice how big.
• 24:04
  Speaker 6: So if I walked in to him beetlejuice, you might
• 24:06
  Speaker 6: get a little langeah.
• 24:08
  Speaker 4: A little tiny head. You should make fun of that.
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: You might not know what beetlejuice is.
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: It just came out of yeah, oh yeah, right right, Well,
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: Rook This was great, man, great catching up with you.
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: Will catch it actually spring training. Perhaps you'll be out
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: in Arizona.
• 24:24
  Speaker 4: Quick in Arizona.
• 24:26
  Speaker 2: Yes, thanks Brook, good to see you, dude.
• 24:29
  Speaker 4: Sounds good, guys, appreciate it. Sorry for all the technical trouble.
• 24:31
  Speaker 4: I'm glad we figured it out somewhat.
• 24:34
  Speaker 2: It was great. So appreciate you. Man. Than thank you.
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: We just go round and round futures regular season wins
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: for the Red Sox. The number, every number for the
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: good teams is around the same number. Eighty seven and
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: a half for the Red Sox over under.
• 25:00
  Speaker 5: M I'm staying away from this one. I'd just like
• 25:04
  Speaker 5: to see him get one more bat.
• 25:07
  Speaker 2: They're looking to get one.
• 25:08
  Speaker 3: I love their pitching.
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: I mean, everybody in the Al East can't win ninety
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: games under.
• 25:17
  Speaker 6: Krauts is going under.
• 25:18
  Speaker 7: Overrat's going under Today January twenty second, we are weeks
• 25:25
  Speaker 7: away from spring training starting. They're gonna get another bat. Okay,
• 25:31
  Speaker 7: then I might change it to over. But last year
• 25:34
  Speaker 7: they hung around a five hundred team.
• 25:38
  Speaker 3: They hung around.
• 25:39
  Speaker 7: They had a few spurts here and there is Roman.
• 25:42
  Speaker 7: If they don't get another bat, I have a hard
• 25:44
  Speaker 7: time taking the over just because that's saying Roman Anthony,
• 25:49
  Speaker 7: who everyone has said is going to be a superstar,
• 25:51
  Speaker 7: like a generational superstar, and I just can't bet on
• 25:56
  Speaker 7: that going into the season. Gark O, it's gonna be awesome.
• 26:01
  Speaker 7: Ranger Suarez, I love his I love his repertoire in
• 26:05
  Speaker 7: Fenway in the American League East. He doesn't seem phased
• 26:08
  Speaker 7: by big games, so he's gonna have big games all
• 26:11
  Speaker 7: the time. I think they won eighty nine games last
• 26:15
  Speaker 7: year and without Bregman. I can find two games that
• 26:20
  Speaker 7: they would have lost without Bregman.
• 26:22
  Speaker 6: So, by the way, it's right, what is it?
• 26:28
  Speaker 5: Ron Hair run rent Hand, Oh.
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: Not Ranger Suarez. But he said Rangers, okay, So Rangers okay.
• 26:38
  Speaker 7: The g is silent. Yes, I've been I've been saying
• 26:42
  Speaker 7: it wrong the whole time. Row had limits.
• 26:47
  Speaker 2: Yes, asked him.
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: I heard, he said no, But we can try again
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: this year. We shall see nas shucks. Bet MGM players
• 26:57
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• 27:00
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• 27:16
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