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Fair Territory: 5 offseason teams to watch, Padres hire Craig Stammen · Foul Territory

0:03
Speaker 1: Welcome everyone to the Thursday edition of Fair Territory. I'm
0:07
Speaker 1: Ken Rosenthal here with Scott Braun in for Alana Rizzo. Now,
0:11
Speaker 1: back when Clarence Clements was alive, a member of the
0:14
Speaker 1: E Street Band, Bruce Springsteen used to introduce him by
0:16
Speaker 1: calling him King of the World, Master of the Universe.
0:19
Speaker 1: He go on and on. I'm going to introduce Scott
0:21
Speaker 1: today as the Emperor of the Foul Territory Empire. Scott, welcome. Wow.
0:28
Speaker 2: I'm in Aj Persinki's seat right now.
0:31
Speaker 3: Be in the other one for Foul Territory later, Ken,
0:33
Speaker 3: But I appreciate that I will. For me, I try
0:36
Speaker 3: to stay humble, but I'll make sure that Aj knows
0:39
Speaker 3: what you just said.
0:40
Speaker 2: I'll make sure he please do.
0:41
Speaker 3: The Emperor was the name, and we'll figure out a
0:44
Speaker 3: name for Aj maybe later on in the show.
0:46
Speaker 2: But I appreciate it.
0:48
Speaker 3: Let's get to biz, and to lead off today, we're
0:50
Speaker 3: gonna look at five teams that you have pegged for
0:53
Speaker 3: very intriguing off seasons.
0:55
Speaker 2: Now we'll preface it.
0:57
Speaker 3: Every team is interesting and we will cover them through
1:00
Speaker 3: the offseason. But for today's purposes, let's pick five, and
1:04
Speaker 3: the first one you want to hit is.
1:06
Speaker 1: The defending World Series champion, two times defending World Series
1:10
Speaker 1: champion Los Angeles Dodgers. And here's why you might say,
1:14
Speaker 1: I can come on the Dodgers. Yeah, they're gonna be busy,
1:16
Speaker 1: of course, But I had a rival executive tell me
1:19
Speaker 1: yesterday that he thinks the Dodgers are going to be
1:22
Speaker 1: even more active than usual this offseason because of the
1:26
Speaker 1: threat of either a salary cap in the next CBA
1:30
Speaker 1: or increased restrictions on spending. So this might be the
1:33
Speaker 1: last chance saloon for the Dodgers to go nuts once more.
1:37
Speaker 1: So what would that mean, Well, they definitely would like
1:40
Speaker 1: to address their outfield, and you've seen them linked already
1:43
Speaker 1: to Kyle Tucker. Trent Grisham is another player that they've
1:46
Speaker 1: liked in the past, according to the athletics Fabian Ardia.
1:49
Speaker 1: And it's going to be interesting because Tayo Hernandez's tasker
1:53
Speaker 1: Pandas did not have the same kind of year this
1:56
Speaker 1: year that he did last year and his defense has declined.
1:58
Speaker 1: So that is one I would expect to go to
2:01
Speaker 1: address the bullpen in some fashion. Again, maybe they go
2:04
Speaker 1: out and get another closer to top off Tanner Scott
2:07
Speaker 1: so the Dodgers are definitely a team to watch and
2:10
Speaker 1: maybe the team that ultimately lands Tucker will see it's funny.
2:15
Speaker 3: I felt like fans really got pissed off at the
2:18
Speaker 3: end of the offseason when they signed Tanner Scott and
2:20
Speaker 3: Kirby Yates.
2:21
Speaker 2: They weren't factors in the postseason.
2:23
Speaker 1: So he didn't make the roster.
2:25
Speaker 2: In mind, Nope, didn't make the roster. Okay, next up.
2:29
Speaker 1: Next up, Let's see who I have here? I would say, oh, yes,
2:32
Speaker 1: the Philadelphia Phillies. Now this is another interesting team for
2:37
Speaker 1: a lot of reasons. One, they're free agents Schwarber, real
2:40
Speaker 1: mutto Ranger Suarez, and with the Phillies, they want to
2:45
Speaker 1: resign Schwarber, they want to resign real muta they probably
2:48
Speaker 1: need to resign both because they don't have people to
2:51
Speaker 1: replace them. Internally, they just don't. They're already at two
2:55
Speaker 1: hundred and fifty nine million in the luxury tax payroll,
2:57
Speaker 1: so if they resign those guys, what is that take
3:00
Speaker 1: them to to ninety nine something along those lines. They're
3:03
Speaker 1: running out of room. They don't want to spend much
3:05
Speaker 1: more money than that, So how do they do this?
3:09
Speaker 1: Can they get in on Kyle Tucker. It would seem
3:11
Speaker 1: to me no is the answer, because I don't know
3:13
Speaker 1: that they can do one more big contract. Alex Bregman
3:16
Speaker 1: would fit into the same category, but third base is
3:20
Speaker 1: a possibility. If they trade Bone, which they've talked about
3:22
Speaker 1: doing forever, an outfielder would be a possibility. They're gonna
3:26
Speaker 1: be really interesting to watch. I just don't know how
3:29
Speaker 1: they're going to make it all work because you really
3:32
Speaker 1: can't trade any of your big money players. They're players
3:35
Speaker 1: that you want. Tucker, I'm sorry, Turner and Harper and Wheeler,
3:38
Speaker 1: all these guys. You're not trading any of them. So
3:41
Speaker 1: how do you somehow create payroll flexibility? If indeed that
3:46
Speaker 1: is what the owner, John Middleton wants to do, you
3:48
Speaker 1: would think even he has a limit. I guess we're
3:51
Speaker 1: going to find out.
3:52
Speaker 3: Yeah, And the past two post susons have not worked
3:55
Speaker 3: out well for Philly despite winning the division. You always think,
3:59
Speaker 3: does an owner suddenly go, you know what, I want
4:01
Speaker 3: to switch things up, not in terms of spending less,
4:03
Speaker 3: but just trying to get a different roster on the
4:05
Speaker 3: table coming into this season.
4:07
Speaker 2: Okay, next up.
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Speaker 1: Next up the Boston Red Sox, and they're intriguing for
4:13
Speaker 1: a lot of reasons, namely Alex Bregman. We know what
4:17
Speaker 1: Bregman meant to that team. We know that he was
4:20
Speaker 1: not simply a guy who played well when healthy, but
4:23
Speaker 1: also someone who is transformative in the clubhouse. He makes
4:27
Speaker 1: other players better. He's constantly in tune with the game,
4:31
Speaker 1: seeing things, and that is value that you can't quantify. Obviously,
4:36
Speaker 1: what if they don't sign Alex Bregman, that's the question.
4:38
Speaker 1: You could play Marcelo Meyra third, That's one way to
4:41
Speaker 1: go about it, and go sign another corner infielder, maybe
4:44
Speaker 1: a Pete Alonso. That's one area that they're going to
4:47
Speaker 1: need to address, the corner infield. The other would be
4:50
Speaker 1: starting pitching. And of course they made the great trade
4:52
Speaker 1: for Crochet last year, but they could use one more.
4:55
Speaker 1: And will they be active in free agency or will
4:59
Speaker 1: they again try to trade because their farm system remained strong.
5:03
Speaker 1: Trade candidates include Derek Scoobel. We'll be talking about him
5:06
Speaker 1: all winter, Hunter Green, Joe Ryan, the Red Sox thought
5:09
Speaker 1: they were close on him last year. Close doesn't work
5:11
Speaker 1: at the deadline, sorry, Sandy al Contra, and Freddie Peralta.
5:16
Speaker 3: Fans like to simplify things, and I think they go, Okay,
5:20
Speaker 3: you traded ralphied Evers, what are you doing with that
5:23
Speaker 3: extra money? They are looking exactly at that big chunk
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Speaker 3: of money and saying where is that going?
5:28
Speaker 2: And not in the future.
5:29
Speaker 3: They want this offseason to be a time period where
5:32
Speaker 3: all of a sudden they get spent.
5:33
Speaker 1: And they're not wrong about that, Scott. That's what the
5:35
Speaker 1: Red Sox said they were going to do. We're trading
5:37
Speaker 1: devors to create pet flexibility for the future.
5:39
Speaker 3: Well, let's go Five intriguing teams to watch this offseason
5:44
Speaker 3: continues right now, and the fourth one on the.
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Speaker 1: List the Atlanta Braves. And the Atlanta Braves are particularly interesting,
5:51
Speaker 1: not just because they named Walt Weiss their new manager,
5:54
Speaker 1: but because their chairman on an earnings call yesterday. Remember,
5:57
Speaker 1: the Braves are the only American public traded company in
6:02
Speaker 1: Major League Baseball, so we know what their earnings are.
6:04
Speaker 1: They are public, and they have to be released. He
6:07
Speaker 1: said on an earnings call yesterday that he expects the
6:10
Speaker 1: Braves to go back to being a top five payroll team.
6:14
Speaker 4: They were.
6:17
Speaker 1: A top nine payroll team this year. They ranked ninth
6:19
Speaker 1: in payroll, So what would that signal to me. That
6:22
Speaker 1: would signal to me that they're going to be aggressive.
6:24
Speaker 1: And the other thing, the other motivator for them to
6:27
Speaker 1: be aggressive is they missed the playoffs for the first
6:29
Speaker 1: time since twenty seventeen. The president of Baseball Operations, Alex Anthopolis,
6:34
Speaker 1: has been quite open about not being happy with that outcome,
6:39
Speaker 1: So I do expect them to be busy. Shortstop is
6:41
Speaker 1: the big question. Can you resign Hatshan Kim, who opted
6:45
Speaker 1: out as they expected he would, or do you have
6:47
Speaker 1: to find some other solution That market is not particularly
6:56
Speaker 1: Lopez coming off the shoulder surgery. Hurston waldrip great finish
6:59
Speaker 1: to the season, but could they use one more?
7:01
Speaker 3: Sure they could, Yeah, Braves fans have high expectations. We
7:06
Speaker 3: also talked about the Walt Weiss hiring for the team,
7:09
Speaker 3: keeping it internal. We actually covered that on Foul Territory
7:12
Speaker 3: during Ken's appearance, so if you want to check that out,
7:14
Speaker 3: go for it. It's in Wednesday's edition of the show.
7:17
Speaker 3: And last but not least intriguing team to follow here.
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Speaker 1: This team doesn't have a manager right now, the San
7:25
Speaker 1: Diego Padres, but that's not their big question. The big
7:28
Speaker 1: question is going to be reconstructing their pitching. Darvish out
7:32
Speaker 1: for twenty twenty six after a UCL repair. Dylan Cees
7:35
Speaker 1: and Michael King are free agents, as is their closer
7:38
Speaker 1: Robert Suarez. What their payroll flexibility will look like, we
7:41
Speaker 1: don't know yet. They're also going to have to address
7:44
Speaker 1: for a space where Ariz is a free agent. They
7:46
Speaker 1: could move Cronenworth back there, maybe get a second basement.
7:49
Speaker 1: There are all kinds of ways to do it. We
7:51
Speaker 1: know aj Preller will be aggressive. We know they have
7:54
Speaker 1: the capability at least or the possibility of moving Mason
7:58
Speaker 1: Miller and or Adrian mordejone into the rotation. They're gonna
8:02
Speaker 1: have to be creative. That's the bottom line for the Padres,
8:05
Speaker 1: and they're gonna be really interesting to watch as we
8:08
Speaker 1: go forward. Here.
8:09
Speaker 3: Wow, and actually it looks like we potentially might have
8:13
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8:16
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8:19
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9:26
Speaker 3: Ken is working hard right now. We should have him
9:28
Speaker 3: back pretty soon. So it's weird. We're talking about the
9:32
Speaker 3: San Diego Padres as the fifth team and we didn't
9:35
Speaker 3: go in any particular ranking order. We just hit five
9:37
Speaker 3: teams intriguing ones to watch this offseason. Ken finishes with
9:41
Speaker 3: the Padres. I kid you not. As I'm looking down
9:44
Speaker 3: at my phone for a second to see when we're
9:46
Speaker 3: going to go to break and what we were going
9:48
Speaker 3: to bring up next, looking for grilling Ken questions. You
9:51
Speaker 3: see Kevin Ace with a report that the Padres have
9:54
Speaker 3: made their decision and that is Craig Stammon as their
9:57
Speaker 3: next manager.
9:58
Speaker 2: So Ken is back a Ken.
10:00
Speaker 3: This has been a windy road, Mike Schilt out, that's
10:02
Speaker 3: a surprise, pooh Hole spending nine and a half hours
10:05
Speaker 3: on a meeting, but it's Craig stamon who emerges as
10:08
Speaker 3: the new manager of your thoughts, definitely a surprise.
10:11
Speaker 1: He was not someone that was thought to be even
10:13
Speaker 1: in the mix. Now he is a former Major league pitcher.
10:16
Speaker 1: Of course, he has been in the Padres organization in
10:18
Speaker 1: their front office. Shilt was in the same kind of
10:21
Speaker 1: category when he was hired by the Padres to replace
10:23
Speaker 1: Bob Melvin. So it's a surprise. I am always skeptical,
10:27
Speaker 1: I will remain skeptical my entire career of guys who
10:30
Speaker 1: have never managed coming in and taken a team like
10:34
Speaker 1: the Padres. But We've seen success stories over the years,
10:37
Speaker 1: Aaron Boone, Stephen Vote. You can look at each one
10:41
Speaker 1: of these and say, well, they had no experience, no
10:44
Speaker 1: coaching experience.
10:45
Speaker 4: What's up with that?
10:45
Speaker 1: But we will see how this goes. With Craig Stammon,
10:49
Speaker 1: It's a very interesting choice, to say the least. He
10:51
Speaker 1: is someone who is what's the word I'm looking for here,
10:55
Speaker 1: quite engaging. He's a guy who's kind of popular, good personality,
10:59
Speaker 1: and I expect him to be, at least in that respect,
11:04
Speaker 1: a good choice for them. Now, can he run a game?
11:06
Speaker 1: Can he handle the club in the clubhouse? Who knows?
11:10
Speaker 1: You don't never You never know with any of these guys.
11:13
Speaker 1: But this is not the most radical hire we've seen
11:15
Speaker 1: this offseason. I would put Blake Puterra up there, and
11:18
Speaker 1: Tony Vaitello, but certainly a surprise for the Padres and.
11:22
Speaker 3: A little more context on the background of Stamman if
11:24
Speaker 3: you forgot about his playing career for fans listening right now,
11:27
Speaker 3: he spent his final let's see six seasons.
11:30
Speaker 2: With the Padres.
11:32
Speaker 3: He retired and finished up in twenty twenty two at
11:34
Speaker 3: thirty eight years old.
11:35
Speaker 2: He's currently forty one years old.
11:38
Speaker 3: Background wise, He's been a part of the organization since
11:41
Speaker 3: twenty twenty three, so basically right into that special assistant.
11:45
Speaker 2: Type of role.
11:45
Speaker 3: And I'm trying to look into more of what he
11:47
Speaker 3: was covering during that time period. Worked with both the
11:49
Speaker 3: major league team and minor league affiliates, So this is
11:53
Speaker 3: someone that they know well.
11:55
Speaker 2: It is.
11:55
Speaker 1: And what's also interesting here, Albert Pools was a candidate
11:59
Speaker 1: for the Los Angeles Angels job, did not get it,
12:02
Speaker 1: was a candidate for the San Diego Padres job, did
12:04
Speaker 1: not get it. The only remaining opening is the Colorado Rockies,
12:07
Speaker 1: and if I'm Albert, I don't want that job. So
12:10
Speaker 1: he was someone who came into this offseason wanting to manage,
12:14
Speaker 1: and with all these openings, it appears he is not
12:17
Speaker 1: going to get that chance, at least at this point.
12:19
Speaker 1: So that is surprising too. This whole thing is surprising
12:23
Speaker 1: with the Padres because the names we heard on their
12:26
Speaker 1: search were Albert Pooholes, Ruben Dieblo, their pitching coach. We
12:29
Speaker 1: will see if he stays now, Ryan Flaherty, who was
12:32
Speaker 1: a coach with the Cubs but had been part of
12:34
Speaker 1: that organization too, and Nick Hunley. They chose Craig Stamon
12:39
Speaker 1: interesting choice.
12:41
Speaker 2: One follow up on pooh Holes.
12:43
Speaker 3: Yeah, it doesn't seem like he's going to be a
12:45
Speaker 3: manager for this coming season, at least not at the
12:47
Speaker 3: start of the season, and based on him being available
12:51
Speaker 3: and being involved in these interview processes, he clearly wanted
12:54
Speaker 3: to be a manager next season. Now he will manage
12:58
Speaker 3: the Dominican Republic team in the World Baseball Classic. If
13:00
Speaker 3: he doesn't manage a team, which seems like that'll be
13:03
Speaker 3: the case, I'm wondering what he does next year in general.
13:06
Speaker 3: Does he consider any type of role within an organization
13:10
Speaker 3: to be more involved. I know right now he's technically
13:13
Speaker 3: part of the Angels organization based on the personal services
13:16
Speaker 3: agreement he has with them, So I'm curious what the
13:18
Speaker 3: next year looks like. Albert to put himself in a
13:20
Speaker 3: position for twenty twenty seven as a manager.
13:23
Speaker 1: It's a good question. He could continue on MLB network
13:26
Speaker 1: and we remain visible in that role. Does he work
13:29
Speaker 1: for a team in some capacity. I would tend to
13:32
Speaker 1: doubt it. Like you said, he has that personal services
13:35
Speaker 1: contract with the Angels. They'd have to somehow come to
13:37
Speaker 1: an agreement on that. But I don't see Albert as
13:40
Speaker 1: a bench coach somewhere. He has no experience in that,
13:43
Speaker 1: of course, no experience as a manager either. Could he
13:46
Speaker 1: be some other kind of coach for a team, I guess,
13:48
Speaker 1: But I just don't see that he wants to manage,
13:51
Speaker 1: and at some point I believe he will get his
13:53
Speaker 1: chance to manage. It's just an interesting scenario with him
13:56
Speaker 1: because historically Hall of Fame type players, great players do
14:01
Speaker 1: not make good managers. Ted Williams Frank Robinson was a
14:04
Speaker 1: pretty good manager at times, but it's hard for them.
14:07
Speaker 1: It's hard for them because their expectations are up here
14:10
Speaker 1: and sometimes the players that they have cannot meet those expectations.
14:13
Speaker 1: Oftentimes they cannot, So it's a challenge. Pools would be
14:17
Speaker 1: a fascinating case study as manager to see how he
14:20
Speaker 1: would handle this. But at least as of right now,
14:23
Speaker 1: it does not appear, as you said, Scott, that he's
14:25
Speaker 1: going to have a job managing for this season.
14:28
Speaker 3: We'll have much more on this on the FT Network.
14:30
Speaker 3: I feel like this is definitely my obligation Ken calling
14:33
Speaker 3: me emperor at the top of the show of the
14:35
Speaker 3: Ft Network, I'll say I'm co emperor, so I will
14:38
Speaker 3: throw this out there. Friar Territory is part of the
14:41
Speaker 3: FT Network. That's our Padres dedicated show Kyle Glazer, Heath Bell,
14:45
Speaker 3: Mike Cameron. They will have a show I'm shore at
14:47
Speaker 3: some point today with the breaking news.
14:49
Speaker 2: Val Territory is coming up.
14:51
Speaker 3: If you're watching live right now in forty five minutes,
14:53
Speaker 3: we'll lead off the show at that topic as well.
14:55
Speaker 3: We've been all over the Poohles interviews, so a lot
14:58
Speaker 3: more to cover there. But let's get to some questions
15:00
Speaker 3: now with Grill and Ken. I'm told we have a
15:07
Speaker 3: Mike Trout question to start, and there was a great
15:10
Speaker 3: article about Trout in The Athletic written by your colleague
15:14
Speaker 3: Brittany Droli this week. So here's Maverick. Is there a
15:16
Speaker 3: world where the Angels trade Mike Trout to the Dodgers?
15:20
Speaker 3: He deserves so much better, but he chose his path well.
15:25
Speaker 1: I would encourage everyone to read Britt's article because it
15:28
Speaker 1: was really good on Trout, a really good look at
15:30
Speaker 1: where he is now in his career. Now, two things
15:32
Speaker 1: about a trade with Trout had a ton of money left,
15:35
Speaker 1: and he's not the player he once was. And beyond that,
15:39
Speaker 1: the most important thing to remember, he has not given
15:42
Speaker 1: any indication, zero indication, that he wants to be traded. Now,
15:48
Speaker 1: there might come a point where he gets there, but
15:51
Speaker 1: that point might have passed where it's going to get
15:53
Speaker 1: the Angels a good return, and where they might decide
15:57
Speaker 1: it's in their best interest. Obviously, they would love to
15:59
Speaker 1: get rid of money if they could, if Trout wanted
16:02
Speaker 1: to go, and they'd love to get a return for him,
16:04
Speaker 1: but it's not going to be so easy when you
16:07
Speaker 1: have a player who is in obvious decline. So I
16:09
Speaker 1: don't see the Dodgers going there. If anything, they need
16:12
Speaker 1: to get a younger hitter. Their position player group is aging.
16:16
Speaker 1: I wrote about this during the World Series. It's not
16:19
Speaker 1: that they're unproductive. They're still really good players, but they're
16:21
Speaker 1: going downward a little bit. So a Tucker, who will
16:24
Speaker 1: be twenty nine next season would make a lot of
16:27
Speaker 1: sense for them. That would be the direction I would
16:30
Speaker 1: see them going, more than an older veteran.
16:32
Speaker 3: One other note for Maverick, Even if you do think
16:35
Speaker 3: he gets traded at some point, the chance that he
16:37
Speaker 3: gets traded from the Angels to the Dodgers is not high.
16:41
Speaker 3: There are still humans involved. Exactly, I would say, close
16:44
Speaker 3: to zero. The only chance would be if the team
16:47
Speaker 3: gets sold Arty Moreno, is not going to sell him,
16:50
Speaker 3: you know, to the team that makes.
16:51
Speaker 2: Their franchise look bad.
16:53
Speaker 3: Let's be real, So I would cross that team off
16:56
Speaker 3: the list just for that alone. Okay, what's next. Let's
16:59
Speaker 3: get a question in here on the reliever market. Bernie asks,
17:03
Speaker 3: how do you see the relief pitcher market shaking out?
17:05
Speaker 3: And how would you rank the top closers that are available.
17:10
Speaker 1: This is interesting because obviously closers relievers in general, are
17:14
Speaker 1: always in demand, and we've got some good ones out there.
17:17
Speaker 1: Edwin Diaz is one, Devin Williams is another one. Ryan
17:20
Speaker 1: Helsley a third.
17:22
Speaker 4: Hellsley.
17:22
Speaker 1: Let's start with him. He had that situation with the
17:25
Speaker 1: Mets where he was tipping for about three weeks. Teams
17:27
Speaker 1: still love his metrics, love his pitch shapes, all that
17:31
Speaker 1: kind of thing. I expect he's going to do. Okay,
17:34
Speaker 1: it might only be one year, but maybe it gets
17:36
Speaker 1: to three years if there's enough competition at the one
17:38
Speaker 1: year level. Devin Williams is kind of in a similar category,
17:42
Speaker 1: and the team still regard his stuff and what he
17:45
Speaker 1: does analytically maybe better than his performance in twenty twenty five,
17:50
Speaker 1: which wasn't bad. He had some down periods, but he
17:53
Speaker 1: also had some really high periods as well. And then
17:56
Speaker 1: Edwin Diaz is probably the best of this bunch. I
17:58
Speaker 1: would rank him first, and he's a guy who's coming
18:00
Speaker 1: off a great year with the Mets and has proven
18:02
Speaker 1: he can do this job time and time again. So
18:05
Speaker 1: I do expect the market to be good, and I
18:07
Speaker 1: expect all these guys, even Hellsley, to get good deals.
18:11
Speaker 3: I'll throw two other names out there. Luke Weaver I'm
18:14
Speaker 3: a fan of I think he can close, and Robert
18:17
Speaker 3: Suarez opting out becomes a free agent.
18:20
Speaker 1: Yes, I forgot to mention him, He's obviously in that category. Two,
18:25
Speaker 1: I would put him probably behind Diaz and maybe right
18:30
Speaker 1: about even with Williams. I'm not sure exactly. I'd have
18:33
Speaker 1: to look at it statistically, analytically and all that, but
18:36
Speaker 1: he too will do well. And yes, Luke Weaver is
18:38
Speaker 1: a guy that I would imagine some team would want
18:40
Speaker 1: as a closer. So yet, all those guys Scott are
18:43
Speaker 1: going to be interesting names to follow.
18:45
Speaker 2: Yeah, good question and good names.
18:47
Speaker 3: It's a good list for this offseason relief pitcher wise,
18:50
Speaker 3: let's get one more in there before we hit another break.
18:53
Speaker 2: Here's Jay.
18:54
Speaker 3: This offseason seems a lot lighter on talent than last year,
18:58
Speaker 3: yet a lot of the dollar figures be thrown around
19:00
Speaker 3: are similar.
19:01
Speaker 2: Does this make sense? And I'll just throw this out there.
19:04
Speaker 3: I know Tim Britton puts out his list and he
19:06
Speaker 3: just did of free agents and the money that he
19:08
Speaker 3: thinks they're going to man command. Kyle Tucker's gonna get
19:11
Speaker 3: a lot of money. The other one that stood out,
19:13
Speaker 3: I think he had twelve four something for Boba Schett,
19:16
Speaker 3: which was in a similar range to Kyle Tucker. So
19:18
Speaker 3: those are big dollar figures.
19:20
Speaker 1: The question is good because there's no Sodo in this
19:23
Speaker 1: year's market. There's no Otani in this year's market. There's
19:25
Speaker 1: no Yamamoto in this year's market. Though there are several
19:28
Speaker 1: players from Asia Cumming who are going to get a
19:31
Speaker 1: lot of attention. The picture am I perhaps foremost among them.
19:35
Speaker 1: I don't see numbers being thrown around like Soto or Otani.
19:39
Speaker 1: Tucker has been a guy we've all thought could be
19:41
Speaker 1: four hundred to five hundred million. He's coming off two
19:44
Speaker 1: years where he didn't play the entire season, he had
19:47
Speaker 1: kind of these nagging injuries. I wonder if that depresses
19:50
Speaker 1: his value some and I wonder if teams see him
19:54
Speaker 1: in quite the same light. Do I expect it to
19:56
Speaker 1: get the four hundred with him? Yeah, I do. I
19:58
Speaker 1: expect him to be that kind of guy. But it
20:01
Speaker 1: is a lesser market in terms of monster names. But
20:04
Speaker 1: you're gonna see trades, You're gonna see free agents, sign
20:07
Speaker 1: I'm sure we're going to see some things. I say
20:09
Speaker 1: this every year, and I say it every deadline that
20:11
Speaker 1: will make our head spin. That's the beauty of the
20:14
Speaker 1: off season. It's the beauty of the deadline. So while
20:17
Speaker 1: it doesn't look as attractive, I expect it to be newsworthy.
20:20
Speaker 1: I expect it to be fun as it always is.
20:23
Speaker 3: Great Questions. We're here live every Thursday for Girl and
20:25
Speaker 3: Ken Questions. Of course Mondays is live as well, and
20:28
Speaker 3: we try and get to things there.
20:29
Speaker 2: That's Ken Solo.
20:31
Speaker 3: Okay, coming up next, Dudent Dork of the Week, And
20:33
Speaker 3: I'm just gonna preface this before we hit the break.
20:35
Speaker 3: I've actually never participated. I've done this show maybe three
20:38
Speaker 3: or four times over the last couple of years, but
20:40
Speaker 3: I always leave early to go host foul Territory. We're
20:43
Speaker 3: a little earlier with the show today, so I'm excited
20:46
Speaker 3: and we'll be right back. Bet I'MGM account holders today.
20:51
Speaker 3: How about in any sport parlay boost token you can
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Speaker 3: score a bigger payout if your wager with that token.
20:55
Speaker 3: Hits tokens can be used on parlays and on same
20:58
Speaker 3: game parlays. Gambling problem, We're concerned. There's help called one
21:01
Speaker 3: eight hundred Gambler. Hey, when you get a chance, subscribe
21:05
Speaker 3: to foul Territory on YouTube. We are getting very close
21:09
Speaker 3: to three hundred thousand subscribers on the channel and love
21:12
Speaker 3: all of them, so we'd love you to join us
21:15
Speaker 3: on that channel as we break down everything going on
21:18
Speaker 3: across the sport. It is baseball the way it should
21:21
Speaker 3: be covered at foul Territory.
21:23
Speaker 2: Give us a sub.
21:24
Speaker 3: Dude, dude, dude, let's do this.
21:34
Speaker 2: Due to the week, Ken.
21:36
Speaker 1: Mcgul Rojas and I know we're a little bit away
21:40
Speaker 1: from the World Series now it's been a few days,
21:42
Speaker 1: but my goodness, we're talking about a game tying home
21:46
Speaker 1: run in the World Series by a guy who had
21:48
Speaker 1: not hit a home run off a right handed picture
21:51
Speaker 1: all season. He had hit one off a right handed
21:54
Speaker 1: position player one, but not a pitcher. And the thing
21:58
Speaker 1: I love about mcelrohas this is what Dave Roberts said
22:01
Speaker 1: after it. And remember he had just been inserted into
22:03
Speaker 1: the line up in Game six because Roberts wanted him
22:06
Speaker 1: to give them a jolt of energy. And Roberts said,
22:10
Speaker 1: the game honors those who honor the game. And what
22:12
Speaker 1: he meant by that is that Miguil Rojas is one
22:15
Speaker 1: of the great teammates, one of the great workers, just
22:18
Speaker 1: a guy that you want on your team. He's the
22:20
Speaker 1: one who helped teach Mooki Bets or relearn shortstop Mookie Betts.
22:25
Speaker 1: And that was after losing his job. So it was
22:28
Speaker 1: cool to see him have that moment. It was shocking.
22:30
Speaker 1: Go back and look at the video, look at Dave
22:32
Speaker 1: Roberts face, and for me, he's the dude of the week.
22:35
Speaker 3: Hey, he's a glue guy. I gave hip his number
22:37
Speaker 3: for Rookie Sosaki. I know a lot of guys would
22:38
Speaker 3: do that, but he's just involved in a lot of things.
22:40
Speaker 3: When you talk about the Dodgers, despite not being one
22:42
Speaker 3: of their stars, I'll go with mine and a picture
22:45
Speaker 3: is worth a thousand words. In this case, I'm sure
22:47
Speaker 3: there will be feature stories written about Kirby Yates. Not
22:51
Speaker 3: a factor in the postseason for the Dodgers, but still,
22:54
Speaker 3: it is every ballplayer's dream to win a World Series.
22:57
Speaker 3: And he said if he won a title, he would
22:59
Speaker 3: get Kirby the animated character video game you can play
23:03
Speaker 3: them and super smash all that right on his butt
23:06
Speaker 3: cheek with.
23:07
Speaker 2: The World Series trophy. So it's Kirby with that piece
23:11
Speaker 2: of metal, and it's awesome. I love a man of
23:14
Speaker 2: his word.
23:15
Speaker 3: We got the story from Keik Hernandez who kind of
23:17
Speaker 3: caught it live on one of his Instagram stories.
23:19
Speaker 2: So there it is. If you're listening to us right now,
23:21
Speaker 2: you can find it.
23:22
Speaker 3: And I think we did a nice job with our
23:23
Speaker 3: production team of just showing you like the exact tattoo
23:26
Speaker 3: and not stretching it out.
23:28
Speaker 2: So good job, Kirby.
23:29
Speaker 1: Very nice.
23:30
Speaker 4: Yes, that's it, dork, all right, Scott.
23:41
Speaker 1: Now I'm looking at my watch checking the date. The
23:44
Speaker 1: date is November sixth. The GM meetings start November tenth.
23:50
Speaker 1: The Colorado Rockies do not have a GM now I
23:53
Speaker 1: presume they will have one in time for the meetings.
23:55
Speaker 1: But my goodness, they're already over a month late. The
23:59
Speaker 1: Nationals fire their GM at midseason, Mike Rizzo, and then
24:03
Speaker 1: hired Paul Taboni in late September. Why so he could
24:06
Speaker 1: get a headstart in the offseason staffing, all the things
24:09
Speaker 1: that need to be taken care of before you even
24:11
Speaker 1: get into player acquisition. The Rockies, we're still waiting. Torks
24:16
Speaker 1: are the.
24:16
Speaker 3: Week sounded like they had two finalists that weren't interested.
24:20
Speaker 2: We'll get more on that. I'd say at some point.
24:23
Speaker 3: That's not a good sign either, not liking the conversations
24:25
Speaker 3: they were having. Okay, my first ever dork of the
24:28
Speaker 3: Week that I'm going to hand out is to Jim Murray.
24:31
Speaker 3: He is a player agent who is in trouble for
24:34
Speaker 3: I like the movie That Departed a lot, being the
24:36
Speaker 3: Rat the mole for Major League Baseball.
24:39
Speaker 2: It is an incredible story.
24:40
Speaker 3: I think that it hasn't gotten enough attention yet because
24:42
Speaker 3: it came out during the World Series.
24:44
Speaker 2: Evandrelik wrote it. You broke It.
24:46
Speaker 3: It's called Inside the Text Messages of the Agent who Became.
24:49
Speaker 2: A Mole for Rob Manford and MLB.
24:51
Speaker 3: When you read that title, you're like, is this a
24:53
Speaker 3: sensationalized title. It is not the story is worth the read.
24:56
Speaker 3: Then we also did a follow up with Evan on
24:59
Speaker 3: our show. We talked about that. We talked about the
25:01
Speaker 3: Tony Clark players way situation. So there's a good podcast
25:04
Speaker 3: and video clip on YouTube to check that out. But
25:06
Speaker 3: Jim Murray for me Ken dork of the Week, and
25:09
Speaker 3: I won't say much more besides that he was basically
25:12
Speaker 3: smashing players and working against them despite representing them. So
25:16
Speaker 3: if you want more, please give it a night. You
25:19
Speaker 3: need like five to ten minutes because you're going to
25:21
Speaker 3: be jaw dropping when you read this.
25:24
Speaker 2: It is worth it.
25:28
Speaker 3: And then that's it. Right, We're on our way out here.
25:31
Speaker 3: I'll sign us off. Okay, So Foul Territory is coming
25:34
Speaker 3: up next live at one o'clock Eastern. Patrick Mooney, Ken
25:37
Speaker 3: skylie Govertt, the Athletic and also one of the hosts
25:39
Speaker 3: of Northside Territory will be on there. Blake Mitchell, who's
25:42
Speaker 3: a super prospect with the Royals, and P. T. Tierney,
25:45
Speaker 3: who is part of the MLB Fan Council, will ask
25:47
Speaker 3: him about how that works. That should get interesting. Ken,
25:51
Speaker 3: great to do this with you and I enjoyed my
25:54
Speaker 3: dudent Dork of the Week experience for the first time.
25:56
Speaker 1: Thank you well Scott, Thank you Emperor of the Foul
25:59
Speaker 1: Territory Empire.
26:02
Speaker 2: You'll see Ken on Monday on fair
26:07
Speaker 1: Mm hmm