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Fair Territory: NL superiority, AL West tossup, Soto's Mets debut · Foul Territory

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: I wonder what Cubs fans are thinking right now, but
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: that was a special moment and obviously dream realize not
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: only for the player but also for his family.
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: Happy New Year, everyone. Welcome to the opening day edition
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: of Fair Territory. I'm Ken Rosenthal here with my partner
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: Alana Rizzo. We are excited for the season to start.
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: We are excited to talk about all things baseball, as
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: we've been doing all off season two, but a lot
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: of There's a lot going on today and it's going
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: to be a fun day and a fun season. Yeah.
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: I can't wait to get going. Twenty twenty five is
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: upon us. Happy New Year, everybody. Happy New Year to
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: you as well, Ken. And there's a lot of storylines
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: going into the twenty twenty five season, but I want
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: to start with the gauntlet that is the NL as
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: far as superiority is concerned. I mean, honestly, Kenny, the
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: Senior Circuit might have the best five teams in the
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: league right now.
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: Yes, and that's exactly what I wrote today in my
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: storylines preview of the season. We're talking about not just
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: the Dodgers, Backs, the Mets, the Phillies and the Braves,
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: all five of those teams look really good, and in
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: the projection system some of them rate as the best
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: five teams in baseball as well. And really it's not
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: even just those five. The Giants look like they're better,
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: the Padres are gonna be good again, the Cubs might
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: be pretty good, and then there are the Reds and
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: the Brewers who have a chance to be very good
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: as well. So for all this talk alan about the
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: Dodgers spending and the Dodgers winning one hundred and twenty games,
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: it's not going to be that easy. And as I
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: mentioned in this story, when I asked Dave Roberts about
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: what it will take to go back to back, no
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: team has done that, of course, since the nineteen ninety
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: eight to two thousand Yankees. He said, get to the
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: second round. Remember, the second round of the playoffs is
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: the NLCS. The first round for the Dodgers anyway, when
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: they generally qualify, is the Division Series, and the Dodgers
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: they're gonna make the playoffs. We almost can be assured that.
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: But in the Division Series, what has happened in the
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: last couple of years. Twenty twenty two knocked out, twenty
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: twenty three knocked out, twenty twenty four, nearly knocked out
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: by the Padres. They were down two to one in
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: San Diego, throwing a bullpen game. So for anyone who
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: thinks this thing is fada, compley. As far as the
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: Dodgers winning the World Series, not in this league and
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: not in this.
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: Sport, no question about it. It's not as if can
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: the Dodgers are just going to waltz into going back
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: to back as far as World Series champions are concerned,
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: and I have to agree with Jerks and Profar recently
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: in an interview, he said that had they won the DS,
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: they would have won the World Series. And I truly
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: believe that whoever won that DS was going to go
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: on to the World Series and win it. So I
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: certainly agree with him. There. There's another thing too, though,
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: when you talk about the American League. We know that
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: we feel that the National League has a superiority, but
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: there's a bit of a log jam when you look
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: at the American League West. What more can you tell
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: us about that?
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: It's a fascinating division. And really what's interesting to me, Alana,
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: in the big picture is so many of these divisions
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: are really competitive. Pretty much every one of them, except
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: perhaps the NL West, and even there the Dodgers, I
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: don't know that there are a lot to win as
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: many games as people think put it that way, But
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: the ALE West. When you look at Pakoda and when
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: you look at Fangrafts projected standings, the top three teams Texas, Seattle,
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: and Houston, you see them right there. They're within two
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: games of each other in both projection systems. Two games.
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: And what that means is really the division is a
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: toss up. Two games can go anyway you might expect,
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: and that is quite interesting on the surface. Then you
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: have the A's who are improved, I don't think there's
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: any question about that, and the Angels, who are probably
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: going to be a better team than they were last
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: year as well, especially if Mike Trout stays healthy. So
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: this division is going to be intensely competitive. The Astros
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: are a different team. They don't have, of course, Alex Bregman,
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: they don't have Kyle Tucker, they don't have Ryan Presley.
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: Christian Walker comes in. Cam Smith's going to be in
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: right field now, Two Bay's going to be in left.
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: They've got Ezac Parades going to be at third base.
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: It's a different group now. Never discount them. We did
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: last year when there was seven to nineteen mistake. The
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: Texas Rangers, if Jacob de gram is healthy, what might
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: they be? And in Seattle we all know they have
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: the best rotation in the game. So it's a really
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: interesting division. And I don't know that anyone can safely
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: say this team is the favorite. We don't know who
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: the favorite is.
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: Ken. There is a delicious possibility that the Oakland Athletics,
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: Sacramento Athletics, Las Vegas Athletics, whoever they are, there's a
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: delicious possibility that they make Major League Baseball squirm by
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: having playoff games in a self inflicted minor league stadium.
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: What do the Athletics need to do? Ken, in a
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: very tight al West to get to that point, the younger.
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: Players have to take another step forward, and we've seen
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: Lawrence Butler certainly do that. Jacob Wilson and some others
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: need to come on as well. And their rotation, headed
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: by Severino and Jeffrey Springs now, which is more interesting
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: than it's been in the past, needs to be good
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: as well. And the Athletics are a team that I
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: don't know that we can project for five hundred just yet.
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: But they have a cores now Bledet and Rooker and
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: all these guys Langeliers. They are a team kind of
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: on the rise. I don't know how good they're going
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: to be. They've also got a good manager and Marcostse
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: is well respected throughout the game, so I expect that
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: they're going to cause problems for the other Al West
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: clubs and who knows how it turns out with the playoffs. Yeah,
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: as I wrote, I would love to see an A's
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: raise ALCS and see how that plays out with some league.
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: Talks A's and raise ALCS. Wow, that would be quite
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: the barn burner. As far as the networks we're concerned,
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: let me ask you this. We're not talking about the
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: trade deadline ken on opening day, But as someone in
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: our chat Ocean View Coffee Shop said, Trout is paramount
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: and Mike Trout is paramount as to what the Halos
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: are going to do this season. Do you see Mike
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: Trout being talked about at the trade deadline of being
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: moved if the Angels are in fact not in this
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: thing come the trade deadline?
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: Well, Alana, we can talk about the trade deadline any
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: day of the year we want and if it's opening Day,
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: I don't care. People are going to be thinking this.
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: And the first question for Mike Trout, the biggest question,
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: the one we all want to see resolved in a
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: positive way, is whether he can stay on the field.
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: He's averaged I don't know, sixty seven games the past
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: four seasons something like that. That is something he is
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: hell bent unchanging now. If he changes that, and if
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: the Angels are out of contention, he's healthy, they're out
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: of contention. Yes, you'll hear that talk. But for Trout
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: to get traded, a lot of things have to happen. One,
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: he has to be willing to go he's not been
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: in the past. Two, owner Artie Moreno has to be
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: willing to trade him, which is no guarantee. In three,
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: you have to find a team to take the rest
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: of his contract, which is still quite sizable. So I
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: don't know that it's going to happen. But the number
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: one thing, let's see Mike Trout stay healthy. Everyone is
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: rooting for that. This is one of the best players
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: in the game. He knows it. He wants to get
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: back to that, and for that to happen, he has
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: to be on the field.
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: Yeah. I love when Mike Trott is healthy. Everybody loves
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: when Mike Trott is healthy. Baseball is better when Mike
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: Trout is on the field.
• 7:36
  Speaker 3: All right.
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: We still have a big storyline coming up in twenty
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: twenty five and that is one soda. We're going to
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: get to that in just a minute with Ken Rosenthal.
• 7:43
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• 8:50
  Speaker 1: All right, we welcome you back here to Fair Territory
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: with Ken Rosenthal and Ken. One of the storylines that
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: you had clearly going into twenty twenty five is that
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: of a seven hundred and sixty five million dollar man
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: in one soda. What type of year can in your estimation,
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: does Sodo need to have to warrant the fifty one
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: million dollar a year AAV that he's getting now.
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: Basically the kind of year he's had for the last
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: several years. And it's interesting one war one point of
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: wins above replacement. There is a debate within the game
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: about how much that is worth in free agency. Some
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: people think it's about eight million, others think it's about
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: eleven to twelve million. So if you're thinking of Sodo,
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: who has averaged about six war for the last several years,
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: he is a guy. If you're using eight war, he'll
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: be worth forty eight million at six war. If you're
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: using the higher number eleven to twelve, then he's worth
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: a lot more than fifty one million. It's something like
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: sixty six million to seventy two million. I know this
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: gets involved and it's a little bit crazy with the math,
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: but the point I'm making here is that he is
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: going to be worth fifty one million in his average year.
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: Players are worth that money just from a baseball sense
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: alone when they are up in that six to eight
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: war category. The other factor with him, of course, is
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: how much money he is making for the Mets in
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: other ways, right attendance. You've seen reports of the Mets
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: selling out their season tickets for twenty twenty five. That's
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: a lot to do with Juan Soto. So is he
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: going to be worth the money? I would expect he's
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: going to be more than worth the money in the
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: early years of the contract. Now once we get into
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: the mid thirties, late thirties might be a different story.
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: We all know that and as I wrote, it could
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: be pooholes ugly in the latter years, but in the
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: early years, fifty one million is probably going to be
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: what he returns and more because he is that good.
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: That's insane in terms of the numbers, But hey, I
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: would never fall to a player for going for it
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: and getting it because of the players making that much.
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: Just think about how much the owners are making. But
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: how much do you think Canjan Soto's contract could be
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: tied to what Vladimir Junior Guerrero or Junior gets rather
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: he wants five million, seven hundred million, a billion, whatever
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: it is. If Sodo tanks, does it affect Guerrero's market?
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: I guess conceivably it could, But I really don't expect
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: one Sodo to tank and two for that really to
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: have an effect. If Soto has a bad year by
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: his standards, what's that going to look like? It's going
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: to look pretty good. Twenty twenty three for him was
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: not his best year, or maybe twenty twenty two, the
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: year he was traded, he still had a really good year.
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: So I don't know that that's going to happen. Vladimir
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: Guerrero Junior, whether this gets resolved today, which doesn't appear
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: to be happening or not, is going to go into
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: the market seeking his number and we'll see if he
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: gets it. I will say this, I was thinking about
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: this last night. We've had players Aaron Judge was one
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: where they turned down extensions and ultimately did much better.
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: One Soda was another. Remember he turned down four hundred
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: forty million got three hundred and twenty five million more.
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: We've also had players turned down money, gregman Alonzo who
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: did not do as well. So there's no guarantee Fervlad Junior.
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: But at the same time, the Trulli elite players, if
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: he is one, and he has shown he can be
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: one in various points of his career, they generally get
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: their money.
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: Yeah, bet on yourself. You rarely go wrong when you
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: bet on yourself. I know it's not the same type
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: of money. But Tioscar Hernandez did that as well with
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: the one year deal he parlated into three more years
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: in Los Angeles. All right, get your questions in for
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: Grill and Ken the opportunity to ask Ken Rosenthal a question.
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: Let's get to it, and this Ken, I think has
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: been a bit of a disaster. The first question is
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: in regards to Jordan Montgomery. Obviously, there's so much happening
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: with the situation with the Arizona Diamondbacks and Ken Kendrick
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: coming out and saying it was a disaster of a deal,
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: and now it looks like he's having Tommy John surgery.
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: Carlos Vega wants to know what happened Ken.
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: What happened was last year, of course he got the
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: late start, never really got on tracked, and then this
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: year he's hurt. He told reporters the other day he
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: is having Tommy John surgery. So it's an unfortunate sequence
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: of events obviously for Jordan Montgomery. I don't know that
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: there's much more to say about it than that what
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: happened is he had a bad year and then he
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: got hurt. That's it.
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's a bummer, I really you know. Interesting think
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: about though, Ken, if you were the New York Yankees,
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: and I'm sure obviously they would have had to do
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: the physicals and look at all the medicals and everything,
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: but remember when Luis Heal went down and obviously Garrett
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: Cole out for the year. Now, what if they would
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: have gone and signed Jordan Montgomery. I'm sure, it wouldn't
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: have happened, you know, with the medicals, but they're still
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: in need of a starting pitcher. What if he had
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: gone back there?
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: Well, that's true, Alana. And remember he wasn't pitching all
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: that well in spring training. That was part of the
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: problem here leading into this news that he was hurt.
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: And the other thing you can think about here is
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: what if he hadn't opted into his contract, which he
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: was going to do after a poor year life last year.
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: He was going to opt in for that twenty five million.
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: But good thing he did, because now he gets it
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: even though he's hurt.
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: Yeah, no question about that. Okay, this is regarding the
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: NL Central and Carl Benson wants to know can the
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: Reds get back to postseason contention? What do they need
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: to do to get the Reds back, which, by the way,
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: Opening Day is a national holiday in Cincinnati.
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: I actually think they can be this year's Brewers, the
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: team that kind of is annoying to the Cubs and
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: maybe surpasses the Cubs. The Brewers could be this year's
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: Brewers as well, because they are the Brewers every year.
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: But the Reds with Terry Francona and with some of
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: the additions that they've made. It seems to me they're
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: in a really good spot. Now what needs to happen.
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: I'll tell you what needs to happen. One, their starting
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: pitchers need to stay healthy. That didn't happen last year.
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: Their offense needs to take a step forward that didn't
• 14:50
  Speaker 2: really happen last year. Maybe Elie de la Cruz is
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: the MVP this year, and maybe he alone with the
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: return of Matt McClain, makes that big a difference. And
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: the last thing, I'll say, the bullpen. It's kind of
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: a question right now. There's talk that the Reds triple
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: A bullpen, where there are a number of big arms
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: in development, is better than the major league bullpen. Alexis
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: Diaz starting the year on the IL, so the bullpen
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: probably will be a work in progress. But when you've
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: got Francona running the team, I expect things to run
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: very well. And I'm watching this team closely. I expect
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: them to be pretty good.
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: That's the heck of an off season sign. When you
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: can get Tito back in the dugout, Tito back in
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: the clubhouse, I like that edition as well. All right,
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: here's another question from Kyle Johnson. This is in regards
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: to accepting Schooble versus Snell, with the exception of Schooble
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: versus Snell. Which pitching matchup today is your favorite?
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: Oh? I haven't looked at it that closely. Skeens is
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: facing who that's the one. I can't recall exactly off
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: the top of my head.
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: What about Curshe versus Nativaldi.
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: That one's interesting, that's pretty good, But the Skeens one
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: is the best one. I can't I'm getting stumped here.
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: Oh it's al Contra Skien Contra. Okay, so here's al
• 16:06
  Speaker 2: Contrada coming back and Paul Stein's beginning his cy Young campaign.
• 16:10
  Speaker 2: Sorry for the blackout there, folks. You kind of caught me.
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: But yeah, that's the one.
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: Skeens a con that's fair. I three a curveball there.
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: I apologize for that, all right. Skeens versus sandiol Contra.
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: All right? Another question for you here, Ken on Grill
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: and Can in regards to the Yankees, what do you
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: think the Yankees can get back?
• 16:27
  Speaker 2: Uh?
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: In terms of you know, with Mike King from the Padres.
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: Well, the Padres are trying to win, They're not trading King.
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: They're not trading Cease. They haven't done that. Aj Preller,
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: their general manager, the whole off season, has entertained offers
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: for that those two players. He's entertained offers for another
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: potential free agent, Luisa Rise, But while doing that, he
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: has also maintained the bar was really high for him
• 16:52
  Speaker 2: to move any of those guys and the only reason
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: he was talking about them was because they were potential
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: free agents. Now, if the Padres fall out of contention,
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: which I don't anticipate happening. Remember twelve team playoff, it's
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: pretty hard to fall out of contention. If they fall out, yeah,
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: then all of those guys will be available, but I
• 17:10
  Speaker 2: don't expect it to happen, and the Yankees aren't getting
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: Mike King back anytime soon.
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Rolando Martinez, thank you for that question. Our next question,
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: Ken comes from videos two to oh seven. What team
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: will not meet expectations in the twenty twenty five season.
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: That's a really good question, and I'm not sure the
• 17:30
  Speaker 2: answer because right now everybody is all happy. No one
• 17:33
  Speaker 2: the game yet everyone thinks they're going to be great.
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: But I will say this about the Red Sox. The
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: Red Sox are a fashionable pick right now. My concern
• 17:41
  Speaker 2: with them is that their rotation is a bit volatile.
• 17:44
  Speaker 2: You've got Crochet pitching for a competitive team for the
• 17:48
  Speaker 2: first time in a market that is quite demanding. Now
• 17:50
  Speaker 2: he's got all the talent in the world, got great makeup.
• 17:53
  Speaker 2: He should be fine, But there is that transition. You've
• 17:57
  Speaker 2: got Walker Buehler, who wasn't good last year, coming on
• 18:00
  Speaker 2: Tommy John surgery until what the last ten innings of
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: the season, which happened to be the postseason, and we're great.
• 18:05
  Speaker 2: So those two guys alone, then you've got some injuries
• 18:08
  Speaker 2: in the rotation. I'm not totally convinced they're going to
• 18:12
  Speaker 2: be the team we think they are. They've got a
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: world of talent, and when that rotation is healthy and
• 18:16
  Speaker 2: if it's effective, it can be really good. But I
• 18:21
  Speaker 2: think we are all myself included, giving the Red Sox
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: a little too much credit here. I want to see
• 18:26
  Speaker 2: it take place on the field before I anoint them
• 18:29
  Speaker 2: as Wow, the Ali's favorite.
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: All right. Sticking with the Red Sox, Rafael Devers is
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: going to be the DH for the Boston Red Sox,
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: as Alex Corr has announced. That means Alex Regman is
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: the everyday third baseman. That being said, ken is their
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: friction in that Red Sox clubhouse because of this move.
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: I haven't been around them lately, so I can't say
• 18:48
  Speaker 2: for sure, but I also have not seen any reports
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: to that effect. Devers early on when this first happened,
• 18:54
  Speaker 2: certainly was I don't know if peeved is the right word,
• 18:59
  Speaker 2: but put off that this had happened. It happened so quickly,
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: and he was pretty adamant early on about becoming the DH,
• 19:07
  Speaker 2: about not becoming the DH. But as the spring progressed,
• 19:11
  Speaker 2: obviously Alex Korra was talking to him. Cora is a
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: persuasive individual, and Devers now is going to be the
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: DH and seemingly is fine with it. Now. We'll see
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: how it plays out, because another X factor for the
• 19:23
  Speaker 2: Red Sox is what if Devers struggles in that role?
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: That role is not easy, and David Ortiz has told
• 19:30
  Speaker 2: me this many times when working together with Fox, it
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: takes a special mindset, a different kind of preparation, The
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: whole thing is different. So if it doesn't go well,
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: then we might have some talk about, hey, what are
• 19:45
  Speaker 2: we doing here? Is this the right way to go?
• 19:47
  Speaker 2: A lot depends as well on how Christian Campbell plays
• 19:50
  Speaker 2: at second base. The Red Sox wanted to do it
• 19:52
  Speaker 2: this way because they believe it's their best team. Campbell
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: at second, Regman at third, Devor's at DH. It has
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: to play out that way for this experiment to be
• 20:01
  Speaker 2: a success.
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: Yeah, being a DH is very different than being a
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: player Defensively as well as we all know, nobody did
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: it better than perhaps a big poppy did in Boston.
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: Last question here on Grill and Ken again with the Angels,
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: Brandon Lum wants to know what the healthy trout. Can
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: the Angels be a competitive team close to a five
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: hundred team.
• 20:21
  Speaker 2: I actually think the answer is yes. The rotation with
• 20:24
  Speaker 2: the addition of Kakuchie and even Kyle Hendrix is deeper
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: than it's been in recent years. They have added some
• 20:31
  Speaker 2: veteran quality kinds of guys Orlaer and d'arnault. They are
• 20:37
  Speaker 2: not quite there in my opinion, and I don't expect
• 20:40
  Speaker 2: them to be a playoff team or anything like that.
• 20:42
  Speaker 2: But do I expect them to be better?
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: Yeah?
• 20:44
  Speaker 2: I do, And we always discount them because they've been
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: a disappointment for so many years in a row. Now.
• 20:50
  Speaker 2: But the question was with a healthy trout. Yes, that
• 20:54
  Speaker 2: is required for the Angels to go forward and be
• 20:57
  Speaker 2: this team that they think they can be.
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: Question about that healthy trout makes a team much better immediately.
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: All right, we're gonna be right back with our due
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: to the week. But first some words from our friends
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• 22:19
  Speaker 1: All right, Ken, tell me something good. Who's your due
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: to the week?
• 22:23
  Speaker 2: I was going to go with cal Raley for his
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: six year, one hundred and five million dollar extension, but
• 22:28
  Speaker 2: then last night on social media, Tarrek schoob Will put
• 22:31
  Speaker 2: out what I thought was a fairly remarkable statement by
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: a player. I'm not going to read the whole thing,
• 22:36
  Speaker 2: I encourage people to read it. It was kind of
• 22:39
  Speaker 2: a love letter to the city in which he plays, Detroit,
• 22:43
  Speaker 2: and basically what he said was, Hey, we're in this together.
• 22:47
  Speaker 2: I've had some adversity in my career, the city has
• 22:50
  Speaker 2: had some adversity. Let's go forward together. And rarely have
• 22:53
  Speaker 2: I seen a player attempt to connect with his city,
• 22:57
  Speaker 2: even show that kind of care for his city in
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: that way. Guys, of course love playing where they are
• 23:03
  Speaker 2: in many cases, but this was really an impassioned message
• 23:07
  Speaker 2: to Tigers fans, and I loved it. I thought it
• 23:09
  Speaker 2: was really cool. It spoke well of Tyrek Schouobel, who
• 23:12
  Speaker 2: is an intensely competitive dude and wants to do right
• 23:16
  Speaker 2: by the Tigers.
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: Yeah, he gets it. I love that. I think perhaps
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: maybe in the National League Bryce Harper would be that guy.
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: Also for the Philadelphia Philly is the way that he's
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: embraced living there and playing in that city. My dude
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: of the week is actually Cam Smith and the Houston Astros.
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: The way that the Astros allowed Cam Smith to know
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: that he made the opening day roster was so special.
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: Joe's spot of there. Of course, the manager of the
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: Astros had Cam Smith's family come into the clubhouse, which
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: is a sacred place. You heard Todd Frazier talk about
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: this on foul Territory. The clubhouse is a sacred place
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: and his family was there. I'm assuming that's his mom
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: was there, his girlfriend was there, and he had, you know,
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: he had some legitimate tears of joy that streamed down
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: his face in front of his teammates. I thought that
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: was really well done by the Astros, and congratulations to
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: Cam Smith. I wonder what Cubs fans are thinking right now.
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: But that was that was a special moment and obviously
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: a dream realized not only for the player Ken, but
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: also for his family. So good on the astros for
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: for getting that done. Okay, time for the John Fisher
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: Dork of the week. All right, Kenny, who do you
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: have for dork of the week?
• 24:33
  Speaker 4: All right?
• 24:33
  Speaker 2: I want to show everyone a visual so we can
• 24:35
  Speaker 2: get into this, because it's quite a striking visual. It's
• 24:39
  Speaker 2: my old friends at MLB Network, Matt Rescuersion and Damn
• 24:43
  Speaker 2: Plea Sack. Now I'm going to name Matt the dork
• 24:45
  Speaker 2: of the week. I'm exempting Poleae Sack from this conversation.
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: If you look at those microphones there, as Mark Lurino
• 24:51
  Speaker 2: points out here, these mics aren't plugged in. In other words,
• 24:55
  Speaker 2: the elevator here doesn't go all the way to the top.
• 24:58
  Speaker 2: Let's zoom in on mister Polee Sack and you can
• 25:00
  Speaker 2: see that's the kind of mike he's wearing. It's called
• 25:02
  Speaker 2: alv MIC. I know this because I work in TV. Now,
• 25:05
  Speaker 2: Damn Plea Sak, I'm exempting him from this. Good guy,
• 25:08
  Speaker 2: it's not his fault. Matt fast Cursion, my old friend
• 25:12
  Speaker 2: from the Hot Stove show, there's a man who should
• 25:15
  Speaker 2: know better. There's a man who is cynical to text
• 25:19
  Speaker 2: things all the time. And if we were still together
• 25:22
  Speaker 2: on Hot Stove, if Matt and I were still doing
• 25:24
  Speaker 2: the show and we saw another MLB network talent with
• 25:29
  Speaker 2: a microphone not plugged in like that, that person would
• 25:32
  Speaker 2: have been obliterated on Hot Stove for six weeks. If
• 25:35
  Speaker 2: freg Amsinger had done that, uh huh, we would have
• 25:39
  Speaker 2: crushed him. So, as Harold Reynolds often said, when Matt
• 25:43
  Speaker 2: would play the soundboard, fake news, that was fake news. Matt,
• 25:47
  Speaker 2: get a real mic. Actually take those mics off the desk.
• 25:50
  Speaker 2: You guys are wearing mics. You're good, Matt fast Cursion.
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: Dork of the Week, you gotta never let him live
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: that one down, Ken, all right, My Dork of the
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: is not even a baseball player. It is a guy
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: that probably could play baseball if he wanted to, because
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: he's unbelievably talented. But Tiger Wood's asking his six point
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: five million followers to give him privacy after he announced
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: that he is now in a relationship with the current
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: president's former daughter in law. He is in a relationship
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: with Vanessa Trump who used to be married to Don Junior.
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: Good for them. I have no problem with this relationship,
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: But how can you ask for privacy for all of
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: those close to your heart When you're Tiger Woods and
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: you are known to switch girlfriends as many times as
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: you switch underwear, and you're dating the President of the
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: United States his former daughter in law. That's just a
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: little silly. I don't think that you can ask for privacy.
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: I think maybe they are the first ones to put
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: the photos out there so the paparazzi couldn't make money
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: off of it. I'm not sure, but that just seems
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: a little bit silly to me.
• 26:58
  Speaker 2: Just one thought a lot on this. Usually when people
• 27:01
  Speaker 2: ask for privacy, it's when they're getting divorced. It's not
• 27:04
  Speaker 2: when they're like together. It just kind of strugg me
• 27:07
  Speaker 2: as odd too.
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: Yes, fifty three million views as of this morning on
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: that post, So yes, you're going to You're not gonna
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: get privacy, But God God willing that relationship last forever,
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: and maybe, you know, maybe we'll be invited to the
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: wedding on his new golf course that he has with
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: with Mike Trott. All right, always great to be with you, Ken,
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: happy New Year, enjoy the season. We can't wait for
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: all of the coverage before we say goodbye, though. Let's
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• 28:03
  Speaker 1: Thanks for watching, everybody. Foul Territory is next. Todd Frazier,
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: Danny Graves, Scott Braun are live in Cincinnati. They're also
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: joined by Aj Prisinski and Eric Kratt, So there's a
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: five man host for Foul Territory. Yeah, good luck getting
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: your word in edgeways on that one. And then Dodger's
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: Territory follows with myself and Clint SEUs After that, Ken,
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: of course, returns on Monday. Happy opening Day, everybody, Oy
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: Bay