Latest / Rice on the Radio / 2026 World Series Chaos: Brewers vs. Rays, Yankees & Mets, MLB Salary Cap

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2026 World Series Chaos: Brewers vs. Rays, Yankees & Mets, MLB Salary Cap · Rice on the Radio

0:00
SPEAKER_00: When I hear Ian, I think of you.
0:02
SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of great Ian.
0:03
SPEAKER_00: Ian Rappaport, Ian Begley.
0:06
SPEAKER_00: It's pronounced differently, but Ian Eagle.
0:08
SPEAKER_00: You're the guy.
0:10
SPEAKER_00: I guess there's only one way to find out.
0:11
SPEAKER_00: Let's do it to it, right?
0:13
SPEAKER_00: That's a lot of Ian talk.
0:16
SPEAKER_00: Hello.
0:17
SPEAKER_00: Welcome.
0:19
SPEAKER_00: Welcome back.
0:20
SPEAKER_00: Episode 89 of Rice on the Radio.
0:24
SPEAKER_00: And it's about time we talked a little bit of baseball.
0:29
SPEAKER_00: Two teams that nobody typically associates with spending hundreds of millions on free agents are playing for the World Series.
0:40
SPEAKER_00: Meanwhile, two New York teams that do spend hundreds of millions on players are sitting at home.
0:49
SPEAKER_00: And baseball's owners and players are getting ready to fight about how much everybody should be allowed to spend.
0:57
SPEAKER_00: There is a whole lot going on around Major League Baseball right now.
1:01
SPEAKER_00: We've got a World Series matchup that I don't think too many people would have predicted coming into the season.
1:08
SPEAKER_00: The Brewers and the Rays, two organizations that have never won a World Series, are going to give us a first-time champ.
1:15
SPEAKER_00: And all while that's happening, back here in New York, you got two very different situations.
1:21
SPEAKER_00: The Yankees are essentially telling their fan base that they're going to stay the course.
1:26
SPEAKER_00: They know what's going on.
1:28
SPEAKER_00: They know what's good for you.
1:29
SPEAKER_00: While the Mets have to figure out how another offseason that looked great on paper turned into another miserable season.
1:37
SPEAKER_00: Oh, and then uh then, of course, there is the uh the elephant in the room.
1:43
SPEAKER_00: Baseball's collective bargaining agreement.
1:46
SPEAKER_00: It expires in December.
1:48
SPEAKER_00: The owners want a salary cap.
1:50
SPEAKER_00: The players don't want anything to do with a salary cap.
1:53
SPEAKER_00: And these two sides can't come to an agreement.
1:56
SPEAKER_00: We could be looking at another lockout.
1:59
SPEAKER_00: So we got a lot to unpack.
2:01
SPEAKER_00: It's been a while since I've done a baseball episode, but World Series has sparked sparked the fire in me again to talk about some baseball.
2:10
SPEAKER_00: We're going to get into the World Series first because that's what matters right now.
2:15
SPEAKER_00: Then we'll check in on the Yankees and the Mets and go through a couple preseason predictions that I had way back in March.
2:21
SPEAKER_00: And then we'll finish a conversation about what the future of baseball might look like.
2:26
SPEAKER_00: But before we talk about any of that money, let's talk about the guys actually playing some real life baseball.
2:36
SPEAKER_01: Extra, extra.
2:37
SPEAKER_01: Keep the light blow.
2:38
SPEAKER_01: New York talking with the late night go from the garden blow to the stadium.
3:03
SPEAKER_01: Run it down light lights right on the radio.
3:06
SPEAKER_00: Let's do it, do it in the I gotta tell you, I really like this World Series matchup, contrary to popular belief.
3:17
SPEAKER_00: I think we're gonna get a good one.
3:20
SPEAKER_00: Look, I know it's not Yankees Dodgers, I know it's not a matchup loaded with the biggest names and the biggest television markets, but if you actually enjoy the game of baseball, I think Milwaukee and Tampa have the potential to give us a fantastic series.
3:40
SPEAKER_00: And the more I look at these two teams, the more similarities I see.
3:46
SPEAKER_00: So, you know, guilty as charged.
3:49
SPEAKER_00: I wasn't exactly watching a lot of Tampa Bay Rays games or Milwaukee Brewers games unless the Mets or Yankees played them, to be honest with you.
3:57
SPEAKER_00: So I did a lot of homework.
4:00
SPEAKER_00: And I unpacked a lot of stats.
4:02
SPEAKER_00: And I'm not gonna kill you with them, but they are pretty interesting.
4:07
SPEAKER_00: So Milwaukee won 103 games, Tampa Bay won 98.
4:12
SPEAKER_00: These aren't exactly two teams that stumbled into October, got hot for a week, and suddenly found themselves playing for a championship.
4:20
SPEAKER_00: No, these were legitimately two of the best teams in baseball for six months.
4:24
SPEAKER_00: Okay, fine.
4:26
SPEAKER_00: Really, what I find interesting is how they won these games, right?
4:31
SPEAKER_00: Both teams play good defense, both have speed, both know how to manufacture runs, they develop their players, they generally pitch well, and they seem to understand the importance of the little things.
4:47
SPEAKER_00: How about Milwaukee and Tampa finished first and second in Major League Baseball in team batting average?
4:55
SPEAKER_00: And both of them finished in the bottom 10 in home runs.
5:02
SPEAKER_00: Let's break that down.
5:02
SPEAKER_00: Think about that for a second.
5:03
SPEAKER_00: In an era where so much of the offensive conversation revolves around launch angle, exit velocity, how far somebody could hit a baseball, the two teams playing for a World Series were the two best teams in a sport at simply just getting hits.
5:24
SPEAKER_00: Now, that's not me saying that either team is incapable of hitting the ball out of the stadium.
5:28
SPEAKER_00: I mean, Junior Camanero hit 42 home runs for Tampa.
5:33
SPEAKER_00: And Yandi Diaz and Jonathan Aronda give them a couple other little smacks there.
5:38
SPEAKER_00: Milwaukee, Jake Bowers, Jackson Churio, Bryce Tarang, 26, 25, and 21, respectively.
5:46
SPEAKER_00: Oh, and by the way, how about William Contreras?
5:49
SPEAKER_00: He's been swinging the piss out of his bat.
5:53
SPEAKER_00: That's not even really a great expression, but you get what I'm trying to say.
5:57
SPEAKER_00: He he came into the World Series with three playoff home runs, and now he's been one of Milwaukee's hottest hitters.
6:06
SPEAKER_00: These teams absolutely can beat you with the long ball.
6:09
SPEAKER_00: The difference is they don't need to.
6:14
SPEAKER_00: Tampa has had the fewest strikeouts of any offense in baseball this season, and Milwaukee drew the second most walks in the league.
6:22
SPEAKER_00: So the Rays are putting balls in play and making the other team work, and the Brewers are making pitchers work to put them away.
6:30
SPEAKER_00: They're not exactly identical approaches, but both create lots of opportunities.
6:34
SPEAKER_00: And to me, that's good baseball, man.
6:39
SPEAKER_00: I don't have anything against home runs.
6:41
SPEAKER_00: Everybody loves watching somebody hit one 450 feet.
6:44
SPEAKER_00: But there's something about a team that can beat you three or four different ways that I really appreciate about the game.
6:52
SPEAKER_00: You know, you don't necessarily need somebody to hit a three-run home run.
6:56
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes a leadoff single, a stolen base, another base hit accomplishes the exact same thing.
7:03
SPEAKER_00: And when you keep doing that over and over nine innings, you're putting pressure on the opposing team to almost be perfect.
7:12
SPEAKER_00: You know, every year we talk about the Yankees, and it's the same thing over and over.
7:16
SPEAKER_00: And don't worry, we'll get to them.
7:18
SPEAKER_00: But like, how many times is it in the playoffs we can't get a hit?
7:24
SPEAKER_00: The pitching's good, we can't get a hit.
7:26
SPEAKER_00: We can't, you know, get the guy in over from second.
7:29
SPEAKER_00: We can't bunt him over.
7:30
SPEAKER_00: God, Sports Rito, every day.
7:31
SPEAKER_00: Why isn't he bunting?
7:34
SPEAKER_00: Well, you got two teams here who actually, one, believe in the bunt, two, know what to do in every situation, and know how to slap the ball around the infield and the outfield.
7:44
SPEAKER_00: Down the line, up the line, wherever you want this goddamn thing, I'll put it.
7:50
SPEAKER_00: The big thing that I'm watching this series is what happens on the base paths.
7:58
SPEAKER_00: These two clubs run.
8:02
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
8:03
SPEAKER_00: Tampa Bay stole 164 bases during the regular season.
8:07
SPEAKER_00: Milwaukee, anybody want to take a guess, stole 162.
8:12
SPEAKER_00: Both teams were successful on almost 75% of steal attempts.
8:18
SPEAKER_00: So offensively, the numbers are remarkably close, right?
8:23
SPEAKER_00: Here's where things get a little more interesting.
8:26
SPEAKER_00: This is the Rice on the Radio deep dive here, huh?
8:30
SPEAKER_00: Milwaukee allowed only 71 stolen bases all season.
8:34
SPEAKER_00: Tampa Bay allowed 131.
8:38
SPEAKER_00: That's a massive difference.
8:40
SPEAKER_00: And William Contreras threw out 34% of attempted base stealers this season, while Liam Hicks for Tampa only threw about 16% out.
8:50
SPEAKER_00: Now look, those numbers aren't entirely on the catcher.
8:54
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you know, it's got to be the right situation.
8:56
SPEAKER_00: You've got to hold runners on.
8:58
SPEAKER_00: There's a whole melody of things that can happen.
9:02
SPEAKER_00: But if if I'm Kevin Cash, that Milwaukee number has to has to get my attention a little bit.
9:10
SPEAKER_00: Because a guy like Chandler Simpson, who stole 46 bags for Tampa, he's one of those players who can change an inning just by reaching first base.
9:19
SPEAKER_00: All of a sudden, you know, the pitcher's thinking about him, the catcher's thinking about him knows he might run.
9:24
SPEAKER_00: The infield has to be prepared for a stolen base.
9:28
SPEAKER_00: And before you know it, a single has become a runner in scoring position.
9:33
SPEAKER_00: That's that's why I think we're gonna see offense in this series.
9:38
SPEAKER_00: Even though the pitching is good, you know, when you're putting that much traffic on the bases, things happen.
9:45
SPEAKER_00: But you've also got to know when not to run.
9:48
SPEAKER_00: And speaking of that, we have to talk about what just happened in game one.
9:52
SPEAKER_00: So while I'm recording this, I'm watching the game, obviously.
9:57
SPEAKER_00: And the Brewers just took the opening game 3-1.
10:02
SPEAKER_00: But let me let me tell you something here.
10:04
SPEAKER_00: The way that game ended was absolutely ridiculous.
10:09
SPEAKER_00: It's almost too perfect considering everything we just talked about with these two teams.
10:13
SPEAKER_00: First of all, Tampa made some base running decisions throughout this game that are really not smart.
10:19
SPEAKER_00: Okay, at one point, Victor Mesa Jr.
10:21
SPEAKER_00: gets thrown out trying to steal third base to end an inning.
10:24
SPEAKER_00: The golden rule in baseball is you don't make the last out at third base.
10:33
SPEAKER_00: I'm all for being aggressive on the bases.
10:35
SPEAKER_00: I spent this entire conversation talking about how much I love both of these teams and how much they run and putting pressure on the defense.
10:42
SPEAKER_00: But there's a big difference between being aggressive and being stupid.
10:46
SPEAKER_00: You're already in scoring position.
10:48
SPEAKER_00: You're willing to risk making the final out of an inning to move up one more base.
10:54
SPEAKER_00: There's two outs.
10:55
SPEAKER_00: Can't get tagged in.
10:57
SPEAKER_00: It's a terrible risk war risk reward decision.
11:01
SPEAKER_00: And it gets back to the point that you're playing this style of baseball.
11:07
SPEAKER_00: You have to understand the situation.
11:10
SPEAKER_00: Now, fast forward to the ninth inning, Milwaukee is a 3-1 lead.
11:15
SPEAKER_00: Trevor McGill trying to close it out.
11:18
SPEAKER_00: And Tampa Bay starts putting together a rally.
11:22
SPEAKER_00: They get bases loaded with one out.
11:25
SPEAKER_00: Think about that.
11:26
SPEAKER_00: You're down two runs in game one of the World Series.
11:28
SPEAKER_00: You got the bases loaded, one out, and the tying run is standing on second base.
11:34
SPEAKER_00: That's about as good as an opportunity you can get.
11:37
SPEAKER_00: You can ask for.
11:38
SPEAKER_00: McGill just walked junior commonero, and now the next hitter comes up.
11:42
SPEAKER_00: What's the first thing he does?
11:44
SPEAKER_00: First pitch swinging.
11:46
SPEAKER_00: Ground ball.
11:47
SPEAKER_00: And it looks like a game-ending double play.
11:49
SPEAKER_00: And I'm sitting there going, he just walked him.
11:51
SPEAKER_00: You can't take one pitch, man.
11:53
SPEAKER_00: You can't work the count a little bit.
11:55
SPEAKER_00: Now, look, maybe it was the exact pitch that he was looking for when he got up there.
12:01
SPEAKER_00: Little known fact inside baseball here.
12:04
SPEAKER_00: Major leaguers, when they get up to the plate, they're kind of just looking for one pitch.
12:09
SPEAKER_00: You could throw him three fastballs outside corner for a strike.
12:12
SPEAKER_00: It's not what they're looking for.
12:14
SPEAKER_00: They're not trying to swing at it.
12:15
SPEAKER_00: So maybe that was the pitch that he was looking for, and he gave it a good rip.
12:18
SPEAKER_00: But he rolled it over, man.
12:20
SPEAKER_00: Just rolled it right over to second.
12:22
SPEAKER_00: Boom, boom, double play.
12:24
SPEAKER_00: Everybody's celebrating.
12:26
SPEAKER_00: Everybody's screaming.
12:27
SPEAKER_00: They actually set off the fireworks in the stadium.
12:31
SPEAKER_00: And then there's one little problem.
12:33
SPEAKER_00: They're reviewing the play at second base.
12:35
SPEAKER_00: And it turns out the shortstop came off the bag.
12:38
SPEAKER_00: The runner is safe.
12:39
SPEAKER_00: The game isn't over.
12:41
SPEAKER_00: So now we got a World Series game that's supposed to be finished.
12:44
SPEAKER_00: Fireworks have already gone off.
12:46
SPEAKER_00: There's smoke hanging all over the infield.
12:49
SPEAKER_00: And Tampa Bay is getting another chance to keep this thing alive.
12:52
SPEAKER_00: You can't make this stuff up.
12:54
SPEAKER_00: It's hard not to be romantic about baseball, right?
12:57
SPEAKER_00: Brewers got to get themselves back up.
12:59
SPEAKER_00: They got to get themselves together, get back out there, record the final out.
13:03
SPEAKER_00: And this time they get it.
13:05
SPEAKER_00: Strikeout.
13:06
SPEAKER_00: Ball game.
13:07
SPEAKER_00: Milwaukee wins 3-1.
13:10
SPEAKER_00: I just think it's hilarious that the Brewers nearly celebrated the end of a World Series game before it was actually over.
13:17
SPEAKER_00: But there's also a serious baseball point to all this.
13:20
SPEAKER_00: Look how many little things affected that ninth inning.
13:24
SPEAKER_00: You had the Rays pulling, putting traffic on the bases.
13:27
SPEAKER_00: Exactly what we've been talking about.
13:30
SPEAKER_00: Excuse me.
13:32
SPEAKER_00: You had a questionable first pitch swing.
13:34
SPEAKER_00: You had a defensive player where the smallest detail, whether the foot stayed on the bag, changed the entire ruling.
13:40
SPEAKER_00: And then you had Milwaukee needing to collect itself and finish the job.
13:44
SPEAKER_00: That's October baseball, babe.
13:46
SPEAKER_00: That's why I keep talking about fundamentals and execution.
13:51
SPEAKER_00: Because you can have all the talent in the world.
13:53
SPEAKER_00: But when the game is on the line, you still got to make the play.
13:57
SPEAKER_00: And to Tampa's credit, they kept fighting until that final out.
14:01
SPEAKER_00: But now they're in an 0-1 hole.
14:03
SPEAKER_00: And that brings us right back to something else that I've been thinking about.
14:07
SPEAKER_00: The pitching matchup and the managerial chess match that's going on here.
14:16
SPEAKER_00: Excuse me.
14:18
SPEAKER_00: Look, as much as I like both offenses, I think this World Series is ultimately going to be decided by the pitching and bullpen management.
14:26
SPEAKER_00: Milwaukee gave the ball to Jacob Mizeraski in game one.
14:29
SPEAKER_00: And if you don't know him, you're gonna by the end of the World Series.
14:33
SPEAKER_00: This kid throws gas.
14:36
SPEAKER_00: I mean, we're talking about somebody who routinely reaches triple digits and touched 105 miles per hour during the regular season.
14:43
SPEAKER_00: That's a starting pitcher.
14:45
SPEAKER_00: You know, it's one thing for a Raldus Chapman to throw his lanky ass doing that.
14:50
SPEAKER_00: Miz has been throwing like 101, 103 consistently the whole year.
14:56
SPEAKER_00: That's the kind of pitcher who can dominate even a very good lineup when he's locating his stuff.
15:02
SPEAKER_00: And across the field, Tampa decided to start Nick Martinez and hold Drew Rouseman for game two.
15:09
SPEAKER_00: Kind of interesting because you can absolutely make an argument for having Rousman on XR S and setting him up for the second game.
15:18
SPEAKER_00: Kevin Cash has earned the benefit of the doubt when it comes to handling pitchers.
15:23
SPEAKER_00: But I do wonder about the risk a little bit.
15:25
SPEAKER_00: You know, we just saw the Dodgers face Milwaukee with Yamamoto starting the second game of that series, and things didn't exactly work out the way Los Angeles hoped.
15:35
SPEAKER_00: As soon as they lost that game, I knew the series was over.
15:49
SPEAKER_00: But hey, I mean, that that's where we're at, right?
15:52
SPEAKER_00: Tampa gave Tampa Bay lost game one, and Rasmussen has to take the mound in game two with his team already trailing in the series.
16:01
SPEAKER_00: Now, does that mean Kevin Cash made the wrong decision?
16:05
SPEAKER_00: Not necessarily.
16:07
SPEAKER_00: I actually thought Nick Martinez gave Tampa Bay a pretty good chance to win this game.
16:12
SPEAKER_00: But, you know, hey man, the raising and capitalized on the opportunities that they had, and now the pressure shifts, right?
16:20
SPEAKER_00: There is the bullpen side of this, though.
16:22
SPEAKER_00: Let's say Mizeraski gives Milwaukee five really good innings, right?
16:27
SPEAKER_00: Do you push him into the sixth?
16:30
SPEAKER_00: What if he's approaching the quote unquote pitch count limit, and there's a man on first with one out?
16:37
SPEAKER_00: Do you bring in your high-leverage reliever?
16:40
SPEAKER_00: Do you save that guy for the eighth?
16:42
SPEAKER_00: How does Kevin Cash handle the similar situation, right?
16:45
SPEAKER_00: That that's the chess match that I love to see when it gets to this level of baseball.
16:51
SPEAKER_00: You know, both teams have managers who understand matchups, both teams are willing to be creative and do creative things.
16:57
SPEAKER_00: And honestly, both organizations are constantly looking for the smallest possible advantage.
17:04
SPEAKER_00: The difference between winning and losing might come down to one pitching change.
17:09
SPEAKER_00: That's how close these teams are.
17:13
SPEAKER_00: And I oh, I forgot.
17:14
SPEAKER_00: I didn't forget, but I forgot I put it in my notes here.
17:18
SPEAKER_00: I almost let one of the best individual storylines of this World Series slip right past me.
17:24
SPEAKER_00: And it was Freddie Peralta.
17:27
SPEAKER_00: This guy spent eight years with the Milwaukee Brewers.
17:33
SPEAKER_00: That's where he became the pitcher that everybody knows and somewhat loves around baseball, right?
17:39
SPEAKER_00: Then he gets traded to the Mets.
17:41
SPEAKER_00: Things don't go particularly well in New York, which we'll talk about later.
17:45
SPEAKER_00: And the Mets turn around and trade him to Tampa Bay.
17:49
SPEAKER_00: Now he's the American League Championship Series MVP, and he's he's getting ready to pitch in the World Series against the Milwaukee Brewers.
18:00
SPEAKER_00: You really couldn't just you couldn't script that any better.
18:03
SPEAKER_00: And it's not just that he's facing a former team, right?
18:07
SPEAKER_00: He's facing the organization that helped turn him into an established Major League pitcher.
18:13
SPEAKER_00: Milwaukee knows him.
18:15
SPEAKER_00: He knows Milwaukee, and he's got a chance to help Tampa Bay win the first World Series championship in franchise history.
18:24
SPEAKER_00: Say what you want, but that's that's enough drama alone to keep me uh keep me interested.
18:32
SPEAKER_00: And look, man, if Peralta can deliver another big postseason start, Tampa Bay is gonna have a very good chance to win this thing.
18:40
SPEAKER_00: And the more I study this matchup, the harder it is for me to separate these teams.
18:46
SPEAKER_00: I expect both teams to win games.
18:48
SPEAKER_00: I expect both close finishes and comebacks and ties, you know, a lot of back and forth.
18:56
SPEAKER_00: After watching game one, I don't think I'm gonna be disappointed.
19:03
SPEAKER_00: I'd be surprised if either team simply ran away with it, to be honest with you.
19:06
SPEAKER_00: I think we're gonna get seven games here.
19:09
SPEAKER_00: And I'm gonna save my official winner until the end of the episode here.
19:16
SPEAKER_00: But I will give you two World Series MVP candidates.
19:20
SPEAKER_00: If Tampa Bay wins, give me Junior Camonero.
19:25
SPEAKER_00: He's the guy who can provide the big swing in an offense that doesn't necessarily depend on home runs, and he's already showed what he can do in the ALCS.
19:34
SPEAKER_00: Now, if Milwaukee wins, I'm taking William Contreras.
19:39
SPEAKER_00: The guy is a dog, man.
19:41
SPEAKER_00: He's swinging the bat extremely well.
19:43
SPEAKER_00: He handles this pitching staff, and given how much running these teams like to do, he could be the main impact in this series on both sides of the baseball.
19:53
SPEAKER_00: He already had a big hand in Milwaukee's win in game one.
19:57
SPEAKER_00: So those are my two guys.
20:00
SPEAKER_00: And I'll uh I'll give you the final prediction before we wrap things up here.
20:07
SPEAKER_00: Now, before we get into the two New York teams, because oh Lord, is there so much to talk about with them, we gotta hold ourselves accountable here and brag a little bit too.
20:21
SPEAKER_00: We did some season-long baseball picks on the podcast way back in March.
20:28
SPEAKER_00: And well, since the regular season is over, since the whole season is pretty much over, we might as well see how we did, right?
20:35
SPEAKER_00: And I have some good news and I have some bad news.
20:38
SPEAKER_00: So let's just let's just always start with the bad news, right?
20:41
SPEAKER_00: Well, the player futures, not pretty, not great.
20:46
SPEAKER_00: Now look, we had some injuries, some guys who didn't come particularly close to their numbers, and a few picks I'd actually probably like to have back, to be totally honest with you.
20:55
SPEAKER_00: But here's the good news.
20:57
SPEAKER_00: The team win totals finished 7-3.
21:01
SPEAKER_00: That's 70%.
21:03
SPEAKER_00: Two of those winners, by the way, were the Milwaukee Brewers over 84 wins, and oh yeah, the Tampa Bay Rays over 77.5 wins.
21:13
SPEAKER_00: How about that?
21:14
SPEAKER_00: Two teams playing in the World Series.
21:17
SPEAKER_00: Seven and three is not bad.
21:19
SPEAKER_00: I would say we uh we did a pretty good job identifying some teams that were being underestimated coming into the season.
21:27
SPEAKER_00: We also hit on Miami going over in its win total.
21:30
SPEAKER_00: And I also gotta give myself a little bit of credit here for Murakami.
21:35
SPEAKER_00: We took over home runs.
21:37
SPEAKER_00: He was at 26, he hit 35.
21:41
SPEAKER_00: Now, did we have the Mets over 90 and a half?
21:46
SPEAKER_00: Yes, we did.
21:48
SPEAKER_00: Did that go particularly well for us?
21:51
SPEAKER_00: No, it did not.
21:53
SPEAKER_00: But any man, that's why we keep the receipts, right?
21:55
SPEAKER_00: 7 3 on team totals.
21:57
SPEAKER_00: I'll gladly take that.
21:58
SPEAKER_00: Maybe next year we stick to those.
22:00
SPEAKER_00: Uh stick to a couple of those, maybe pick a couple more teams and leave some of the player props alone, huh?
22:05
SPEAKER_00: Anyway, all right, let's let's get into the locals here.
22:08
SPEAKER_00: And I'm gonna start with the Yankees just because if I start with the Mets, I'll be talking for four hours.
22:18
SPEAKER_00: If you're a Yankee fan, I completely understand why you're frustrated.
22:26
SPEAKER_00: You have a franchise that considers anything short of winning a World Series a disappointment, and yet the response to another early exit is essentially that the same people are gonna keep making the decisions.
22:42
SPEAKER_00: Boone is coming back, Cashman is coming back, and Steinbrenner has made it pretty clear that he still believes in the people running his baseball team.
22:53
SPEAKER_00: So for a certain segment of Yankee fans, that's probably the last thing they wanted to hear.
22:59
SPEAKER_00: But here's where I might disagree with some of those fans.
23:04
SPEAKER_00: I I think Aaron Boone is a good manager, man.
23:07
SPEAKER_00: I really do.
23:09
SPEAKER_00: I think he understands his players, I think he manages personalities well, I think players generally respond pretty good to him, and I think he knows the game of baseball.
23:20
SPEAKER_00: You know, all he did was play it for his whole life, and he's a legacy player.
23:25
SPEAKER_00: Now, look, do I agree with every pitching change he makes?
23:31
SPEAKER_00: No.
23:32
SPEAKER_00: Do I think he's perfect?
23:33
SPEAKER_00: Of course not.
23:35
SPEAKER_00: But I also think people tend to blame the manager for problems that go much deeper than the guy filling out the lineup card.
23:43
SPEAKER_00: And also, if you fire Aaron Boone tomorrow, what changes?
23:47
SPEAKER_00: Are you suddenly going to have a completely different organizational philosophy?
23:52
SPEAKER_00: Are your hitters going to stop chasing home runs and start making contact?
23:57
SPEAKER_00: Is the new manager going to even operate completely independently of the front office?
24:01
SPEAKER_00: I doubt it.
24:03
SPEAKER_00: Because the Yankees, like a lot of organizations, are built around a particular approach.
24:10
SPEAKER_00: The analytics department, the front office, the coaching staff all operate within that structure.
24:16
SPEAKER_00: You're not fixing that by simply changing the manager.
24:20
SPEAKER_00: And look, when it comes to cashman, I think we've learned that that man has about as much job security as anybody in professional sports.
24:28
SPEAKER_00: You know, he's been doing this for almost three decades.
24:32
SPEAKER_00: And the Steinbrenner family doesn't just trust him, they love him.
24:36
SPEAKER_00: He actually probably is a Steinbrenner.
24:38
SPEAKER_00: He's a family member at this point.
24:40
SPEAKER_00: And you know what?
24:41
SPEAKER_00: Whether fans like that or not, I don't see it changing anytime soon.
24:45
SPEAKER_00: What I found particularly interesting was the conversations after the Yankees were eliminated.
24:52
SPEAKER_00: You know, Aaron Judge came out and talked about the need to go all in, right?
24:57
SPEAKER_00: And I don't think anybody should be surprised that the captain of the New York Yankees wants the organization to do whatever it takes to win a championship.
25:05
SPEAKER_00: I'm sure he sees the writing on the wall.
25:08
SPEAKER_00: I'm sure he hears the noise in the background.
25:11
SPEAKER_00: You know, look, no one wants him to end up as Don Manningly as a great Yankee with no ring.
25:17
SPEAKER_00: But he's getting older.
25:20
SPEAKER_00: And he is he had an incredibly frustrating season again.
25:23
SPEAKER_00: He was hurt.
25:24
SPEAKER_00: He played 66 regular season games.
25:28
SPEAKER_00: And then he had to watch his team get eliminated from the dugout without him even being able to contribute a little bit.
25:36
SPEAKER_00: I can understand why that guy would be a little bit frustrated, you know?
25:42
SPEAKER_00: But then how Steinbrenner comes out and defends what the organization did, both financially and in terms of decisions that they made.
25:51
SPEAKER_00: And you can almost feel a little bit of tension in those comments.
25:56
SPEAKER_00: You know, look, I'm not saying Aaron Judge and Hal Steinbrenner are at war with each other or anything.
26:00
SPEAKER_00: I don't think that's a fair conclusion.
26:02
SPEAKER_00: But I do think the captain and the ownership are approaching the same frustration from two different directions.
26:12
SPEAKER_00: Judge is thinking, look, man, we got a limited number of opportunities to win while I'm still performing at this level.
26:18
SPEAKER_00: And I want the organization to take full advantage of them.
26:21
SPEAKER_00: Where I think Steinbrenner is saying, we've already invested significant stuff for you.
26:27
SPEAKER_00: See, we've gotten the players, we've gotten the pitching.
26:32
SPEAKER_00: We believe in the people running it.
26:36
SPEAKER_00: Both perspectives kind of make sense.
26:38
SPEAKER_00: I get where both sides are coming from, and it's it's interesting to see it kind of subtly get played out in the media, which is not something that really happens in the Yankees organization.
26:49
SPEAKER_00: The question is whether the Yankees can translate all of the investments they've put into the team into a team that can actually win in October.
27:00
SPEAKER_00: And then, you know, then you got former Yankees talking talking a little bravado about the days of past here.
27:10
SPEAKER_00: You know, you got Jeter, A-Rod, Cece.
27:14
SPEAKER_00: Those uh those aren't exactly small names.
27:16
SPEAKER_00: You know, it's not exactly Nick Swisher talking shit about the Yankees.
27:20
SPEAKER_00: But they made it very clear that they feel like the organization has lost its way, I guess, so to speak.
27:31
SPEAKER_00: Now look, when when former players start talking about how things used to be done, I think you gotta be a little bit careful about it because the game changes, man.
27:43
SPEAKER_00: Clubhouses change, players communicate differently now.
27:46
SPEAKER_00: You can't just assume that because something worked in 1998, it's the best way to run a team in 2026, right?
27:56
SPEAKER_00: But I don't think that means those guys have nothing worthwhile to say.
28:02
SPEAKER_00: I think there's a distinction between the culture of the clubhouse and the ability to execute when the moment demands it.
28:09
SPEAKER_00: You get what I'm trying to say?
28:11
SPEAKER_00: I mean, championship teams need guys who can hammer the nail sometimes.
28:17
SPEAKER_00: You know, they need players who can deliver in a big spot and also hold each other accountable and understand that like the little things matter.
28:27
SPEAKER_00: That doesn't mean that the current Yankees don't care or that Aaron Judge isn't a leader.
28:34
SPEAKER_00: But if multiple people who've won championships with that organization are raising concerns, I don't think you should automatically dismiss them either.
28:46
SPEAKER_00: And here's where I'm gonna say the things that Yankee fans hate, and they hated it last year, and they're gonna hate it even more this year, but it's I think it's I think it's right.
29:01
SPEAKER_00: This might be a year where running it back isn't a terrible idea.
29:09
SPEAKER_00: Like, usually when a team gets eliminated and immediately starts talking about bringing everybody back, my reaction is like, okay, well, you know, what's gonna be different?
29:18
SPEAKER_00: What's what's gonna change?
29:21
SPEAKER_00: But the Yankees have a kind of pretty interesting foundation going on right now.
29:28
SPEAKER_00: I mean, look, the starting rotation is strong.
29:31
SPEAKER_00: Schlitler is gonna win AL Cy Young, Garrett Cole is gonna have a full year healthy, Max Fried is still there, Carlos Rodan.
29:39
SPEAKER_00: There's there's a lot of talent in the uh in the rotation.
29:43
SPEAKER_00: Fine.
29:44
SPEAKER_00: If Aaron Judge comes back healthy and stays healthy the whole year, that alone changes the entire offense.
29:51
SPEAKER_00: Bellinger is still in the outfield.
29:53
SPEAKER_00: You got young players coming up now with a full year under their belt like George Lombard and Spencer Jones.
30:00
SPEAKER_00: And then, you know, look, man, Jazz probably isn't going to be here.
30:04
SPEAKER_00: Your second baseman next year is probably gonna be Anthony Volpe.
30:08
SPEAKER_00: I know he gets a lot of shit.
30:10
SPEAKER_00: I know he gets crucified.
30:11
SPEAKER_00: I think he lets the fans kind of eat at him too much, but Volpe can be a serviceable player.
30:18
SPEAKER_00: You know, does he need to knock in 35 home runs and win a gold glove?
30:22
SPEAKER_00: No.
30:23
SPEAKER_00: Can he hit 280?
30:25
SPEAKER_00: God, Yankee fans would love if he hit 280.
30:28
SPEAKER_00: Not to mention you'll have Ben Rice.
30:30
SPEAKER_00: You probably sign a couple, I don't know, not veterans, but like maybe a couple platoon guys, a couple contact guys.
30:40
SPEAKER_00: There's not much to do for the Yankees.
30:44
SPEAKER_00: Really, you just need guys to get healthy and stay healthy.
30:49
SPEAKER_00: So last year, when Cashman said, Yeah, we're gonna run it back, or whatever, the quote was, and Yankee friends, Yankee fans lost their mind, he could probably say it this year, and it would make more sense.
31:03
SPEAKER_00: Running it back and doing nothing are not the same thing.
31:07
SPEAKER_00: You can believe in your core while still acknowledging that certain things need to change a little bit.
31:13
SPEAKER_00: So, look, if the Yankees bring Boone and Cashman back, which seems like they are, they develop their young players, which seems like they have, maybe make a couple targeted accusations.
31:27
SPEAKER_00: Accusations, accusations, acquisitions.
31:31
SPEAKER_00: God, I can't talk.
31:34
SPEAKER_00: Just keep Judge healthy, keep him in the fucking lineup.
31:36
SPEAKER_00: That's really what I'm trying to say.
31:37
SPEAKER_00: Keep Judge healthy, bat Ben Rice.
31:40
SPEAKER_00: Don't offer a qualifying offer to a$22 million center fielder that you think he won't take it and get greedy over a draft pick.
31:48
SPEAKER_00: That's really it.
31:50
SPEAKER_00: Yankees should be fine next year.
31:52
SPEAKER_00: The AL is garbage.
31:56
SPEAKER_00: Let me get I'm getting worked up.
31:57
SPEAKER_00: Let me get to the Mets here while while I'm still worked up.
32:04
SPEAKER_00: I I don't know.
32:08
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
32:10
SPEAKER_00: If you've been listening to the podcast, or if you just know me, you know I am a diehard Mets fan.
32:15
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
32:16
SPEAKER_00: Have been most of my life.
32:18
SPEAKER_00: I am a seasoned ticket holder.
32:21
SPEAKER_00: I go to these games, man.
32:22
SPEAKER_00: I'm invested in this team.
32:26
SPEAKER_00: I feel like I've watched the same basic story play out for two straight years.
32:31
SPEAKER_00: The Mets make moves, everybody gets excited.
32:35
SPEAKER_00: We start talking about what a good job David Stearns has done.
32:39
SPEAKER_00: The roster looks great on paper.
32:42
SPEAKER_00: And then we play actual baseball games, and suddenly the team we were told was going to be so good doesn't look particularly good at all.
32:53
SPEAKER_00: My frustration starts with the 2025 trade deadline.
32:58
SPEAKER_00: Go back, right?
32:59
SPEAKER_00: Look at the moves.
33:01
SPEAKER_00: The Mets need bullpen help.
33:03
SPEAKER_00: Everybody knew it.
33:05
SPEAKER_00: Stearns goes out and he gets Ryan Halesley, Gregory Soto, and Tyler Rogers.
33:10
SPEAKER_00: Three established relief pitchers.
33:14
SPEAKER_00: Three guys who were supposed to make that bullpen so much better.
33:19
SPEAKER_00: And immediately everybody starts handing out grades.
33:22
SPEAKER_00: Look at what the Mets did.
33:23
SPEAKER_00: Look at Stearns.
33:24
SPEAKER_00: What a great trade deadline.
33:25
SPEAKER_00: And to be fair, I understood the excitement because I was right there with him.
33:29
SPEAKER_00: Hazley had been one of the better closers in baseball.
33:33
SPEAKER_00: And St.
33:33
SPEAKER_00: Louis just said, here you go.
33:34
SPEAKER_00: You can have him, no problem.
33:36
SPEAKER_00: Rodgers had been incredibly reliable.
33:40
SPEAKER_00: And Soto brought another left-handed arm into the mix.
33:44
SPEAKER_00: On paper, these were good things.
33:47
SPEAKER_00: Those were great moves.
33:49
SPEAKER_00: But what actually happened?
33:52
SPEAKER_00: Hellesley was a disaster in New York.
33:55
SPEAKER_00: Gregory Soto didn't really provide the stability that we hoped for.
33:58
SPEAKER_00: Tyler Rogers actually pitched pretty well.
34:02
SPEAKER_00: So I want to give him a little bit of credit.
34:04
SPEAKER_00: I'm not going to sit here and pretend that all three acquisitions were garbage.
34:07
SPEAKER_00: But as a whole, that trade deadline didn't fix the team at all.
34:13
SPEAKER_00: And the Mets gave up a legitimate couple prospects to make those deals.
34:20
SPEAKER_00: They also brought in Cedric Mullins to help the outfield, but the bench and the lineup as a whole still lacked reliable depth.
34:30
SPEAKER_00: So you went all in on addressing certain weaknesses, and the team still fell apart.
34:35
SPEAKER_00: All those glowing grades at the deadline didn't mean anything when the season ended.
34:40
SPEAKER_00: And then came this past offseason, and we did the entire thing all over again.
34:48
SPEAKER_00: You told Met fans to trust you.
34:50
SPEAKER_00: We're letting go of Pete.
34:52
SPEAKER_00: We're trading Nimmo.
34:54
SPEAKER_00: We're getting rid of McNeil.
34:58
SPEAKER_00: Edwin Diaz is gone.
35:01
SPEAKER_00: Which kind of actually worked out in their favor.
35:04
SPEAKER_00: Whatever.
35:05
SPEAKER_00: The Mets brought in Bo Bachet, Marcus Simeon, Luis Robert Jr., and Freddir.
35:11
SPEAKER_00: We got an ace.
35:12
SPEAKER_00: We got a guy.
35:13
SPEAKER_00: And once again, on paper, I liked it.
35:16
SPEAKER_00: I think a lot of Mets fans did, to be honest with you.
35:19
SPEAKER_00: They weren't happy about Alonzo leaving, that's for sure.
35:22
SPEAKER_00: But you had Lindore.
35:24
SPEAKER_00: You had Soto.
35:26
SPEAKER_00: You had Bichette.
35:27
SPEAKER_00: You were bringing in veterans like Simeon to the offense, to the lineup.
35:31
SPEAKER_00: You were trying to address the outfield with Robert.
35:34
SPEAKER_00: You know, maybe it was tough to.
35:36
SPEAKER_00: I remember saying this to myself.
35:37
SPEAKER_00: I remember telling people, you know, look, when you're playing in uh Chicago with the White Sox, it's tough to get off the injury report when you're only winning 35, 40 games a year.
35:48
SPEAKER_00: Oh, a change of scenery for Luis Robert Jr.
35:51
SPEAKER_00: is going to be great.
35:52
SPEAKER_00: He's going to be awesome.
35:53
SPEAKER_00: Then he hits a home run on opening day, and you're like, oh, this is.
35:56
SPEAKER_00: See, we know what we're talking about.
35:59
SPEAKER_00: Nope.
36:02
SPEAKER_00: Once again, what happened when we started playing the games?
36:06
SPEAKER_00: Injuries, slow starts, older players struggling to stay healthy.
36:11
SPEAKER_00: An offense that didn't have enough dependable pieces to hold things together when somebody went down.
36:16
SPEAKER_00: Don't even get me started on Polanco.
36:19
SPEAKER_00: Pete Alonso hasn't missed a game in three seasons.
36:24
SPEAKER_00: Polanco played 10 games this year for the Mets, I think.
36:28
SPEAKER_00: Some stupid number.
36:30
SPEAKER_00: And they just kept saying, oh, it's early.
36:32
SPEAKER_00: It's early.
36:33
SPEAKER_00: It's early.
36:34
SPEAKER_00: Then before you know it, the season was over.
36:36
SPEAKER_00: The Mets were trading away some of those guys that they just acquired.
36:41
SPEAKER_00: Think about that.
36:43
SPEAKER_00: You're making trades in the offseason to supposedly get better.
36:46
SPEAKER_00: And then you're turning around a few months later and trying to recover, recoup whatever value you can from those players that you traded for.
36:56
SPEAKER_00: Maybe some of those prospects end up being very good players that we got back.
37:00
SPEAKER_00: We can't judge every return package yet, but that's not the outcome anybody had in mind when those deals were made.
37:09
SPEAKER_00: And that brings us right back to Freddie Peralta.
37:13
SPEAKER_00: Demetri traded Jet Williams and Brandon Spro to Milwaukee to get Peralta.
37:19
SPEAKER_00: Those were real prospects.
37:20
SPEAKER_00: Spro pitched last year.
37:22
SPEAKER_00: And we were all excited about the acquisition.
37:25
SPEAKER_00: And then Peralta comes to New York, struggles, and before the season is over, he's gone.
37:31
SPEAKER_00: Moving to Tampa for a package of prospects, whatever, whatever.
37:36
SPEAKER_00: Now he's pitching in October, late October.
37:40
SPEAKER_00: Now he's the ALCS MVP.
37:45
SPEAKER_00: I'm not saying the Mets shouldn't have acquired him in the first place.
37:48
SPEAKER_00: I like the move when it happened.
37:50
SPEAKER_00: And look, I'm not saying we know for certain that they lost the Tampa Bay trade.
37:56
SPEAKER_00: Those prospects still have to develop.
37:59
SPEAKER_00: What I am saying is that something clearly did not work in New York, or something clearly wasn't right that you couldn't fix with him, that you didn't see with him, that Tampa figured out immediately.
38:13
SPEAKER_00: What is settled is that Peralta helped Tampa Bay reach the World Series and the Mets finished with 74 wins.
38:23
SPEAKER_00: That's a tough thing to watch as a Mets fan, man.
38:25
SPEAKER_00: Especially when we spent two straight off seasons talking about how well this roster seems to have been put together.
38:33
SPEAKER_00: At some point, the front office has to stop getting credit for the idea of a good team and start getting credit for actually putting one on the field.
38:44
SPEAKER_00: I know David Stearns understands that.
38:49
SPEAKER_00: He's built successful baseball operations.
38:53
SPEAKER_00: But knowing how to do it and delivering the results are two very different things.
38:58
SPEAKER_00: The Mets aren't exactly hopeless, which is good, right?
39:05
SPEAKER_00: They have talented players on this roster.
39:08
SPEAKER_00: Lindor is still an important player.
39:10
SPEAKER_00: He had a lot of errors this year, but we're hoping for the better.
39:14
SPEAKER_00: Soto is Soto, obviously one of the best hitters in baseball.
39:17
SPEAKER_00: And Bichette has offensive ability.
39:21
SPEAKER_00: Even if his season wasn't what anybody really hoped for this year.
39:26
SPEAKER_00: There's talent there.
39:28
SPEAKER_00: But what we should really be paying attention to, paying attention to here, the young kids.
39:35
SPEAKER_00: The young players coming through this organization who have given me reason to be excited.
39:40
SPEAKER_00: Carson Bench, AJ Ewing, Nolan McLean, Christian Scott.
39:45
SPEAKER_00: These are building blocks.
39:49
SPEAKER_00: Noan McLean is an exciting young pitcher.
39:51
SPEAKER_00: Everybody got a little gassed up about him.
39:54
SPEAKER_00: Seeing him in the World Baseball Classic.
39:56
SPEAKER_00: I think that might have hurt his arm a little bit.
39:58
SPEAKER_00: I'm not going to lie, but I was pretty pumped up about seeing him pitch for Team USA.
40:03
SPEAKER_00: But Christian Scott, Christian Scott is a he's he's gonna get a little attention here, man.
40:09
SPEAKER_00: Christian Scott finished with a 385 ERA, right?
40:13
SPEAKER_00: Paul Skeens finished with a 382 ERA.
40:18
SPEAKER_00: Scott had 134 strikeouts and 110 innings.
40:22
SPEAKER_00: Skins had 200 strikeouts and a little over 174 innings.
40:29
SPEAKER_00: Okay, fine.
40:29
SPEAKER_00: Before anybody starts yelling at me, I'm not saying Christian Scott is Paul Skins.
40:35
SPEAKER_00: Pitched considerably more innings, his whip was better, whatever, whatever.
40:40
SPEAKER_00: All I'm trying to say is Scott has like established himself as a good up-and-coming young pitcher.
40:48
SPEAKER_00: And that was the uh that was the comparison that I could find that would actually draw a little weight.
40:57
SPEAKER_00: The problem is I don't want to go into next season asking those two guys to be the ace of the New York Mets.
41:06
SPEAKER_00: I don't think that's fair to either one of them.
41:08
SPEAKER_00: And I think that was kind of thrown onto uh McLean this year.
41:13
SPEAKER_00: Even with them getting Peralta, they're like, well, we know, you know, McLean's gonna be the real true ace.
41:19
SPEAKER_00: He's gonna really grow into himself.
41:20
SPEAKER_00: That's a lot of pressure.
41:22
SPEAKER_00: You gotta go get an actual ace.
41:27
SPEAKER_00: You know, I want a legitimate frontline starting pitcher, not somebody who might become one.
41:33
SPEAKER_00: Not a guy who had a good six weeks and now we're hoping that he can repeat it.
41:37
SPEAKER_00: I want somebody.
41:39
SPEAKER_00: I want Garrett Cole, right?
41:41
SPEAKER_00: I want Max Fried.
41:43
SPEAKER_00: I want Garrett Crochet.
41:45
SPEAKER_00: I I want Tariq Scuble.
41:48
SPEAKER_00: You know, I want Yamamoto.
41:52
SPEAKER_00: I want somebody who takes the baseball every fifth day, give you quality innings, and set the standard for the rest of the rotation.
42:02
SPEAKER_00: I'll pay what it takes.
42:04
SPEAKER_00: And if you want to talk about other pitchers on the market too, you know, Trevor Rogers, Kevin Gossman, fill out the rotation.
42:14
SPEAKER_00: There is a difference between adding a starter and adding an ace.
42:19
SPEAKER_00: And that's the part I don't want the Mets to lose sight of.
42:22
SPEAKER_00: McLean and Scott should be able to develop behind an established frontline pitcher.
42:27
SPEAKER_00: The entire rotation shouldn't depend on them becoming finished products overnight.
42:33
SPEAKER_00: And beyond the pitching, I'd like to see the Mets add a couple of reliable complimentary players too.
42:39
SPEAKER_00: You know, some glue guys, somebody to keep the locker room together when things get rough.
42:45
SPEAKER_00: Not everybody in the lineup needs to be an all-star.
42:48
SPEAKER_00: You need guys who can make contact, play solid defense, and give you something when one of your stars isn't in the lineup.
42:56
SPEAKER_00: Because that's where I think the Mets really struggled this year.
42:59
SPEAKER_00: Once the injuries started piling up, there just wasn't enough dependable depth to keep things moving.
43:06
SPEAKER_00: And look, the Pete Alonzo situation wasn't great.
43:10
SPEAKER_00: Goes to Baltimore, hits 43 home runs, and meanwhile, the Mets are trying to figure out how to replace that production.
43:17
SPEAKER_00: Now, you can debate whether paying Alonzo would have been the right long-term decision, but you can't tell me the Mets didn't miss his bat.
43:25
SPEAKER_00: And that's the larger problem here.
43:28
SPEAKER_00: You can't keep creating new holes while you're trying to fill the old ones.
43:32
SPEAKER_00: So, yes, there's talent here.
43:35
SPEAKER_00: I like Nolan McLean.
43:36
SPEAKER_00: I like Christian Scott.
43:38
SPEAKER_00: There's young talent coming through this organization.
43:42
SPEAKER_00: But I want a legitimate ace.
43:45
SPEAKER_00: Scoobyl, absolutely.
43:47
SPEAKER_00: Go get him.
43:48
SPEAKER_00: And more importantly, I want David Stearns to build a complete baseball team.
43:54
SPEAKER_00: I don't need another offseason championship.
43:56
SPEAKER_00: I don't need another round of A grade.
44:00
SPEAKER_00: For moves that look fantastic in January.
44:02
SPEAKER_00: I want to see the Mets win baseball games.
44:06
SPEAKER_00: And here's what makes this particular offseason even more complicated.
44:11
SPEAKER_00: You've already got enormous money committed to Lindor and Soto.
44:15
SPEAKER_00: You got Boba Shep potentially making 42 million next year.
44:20
SPEAKER_00: And now we're talking about adding another massive contract for somebody like Scoobyl.
44:25
SPEAKER_00: I'd love to do it.
44:27
SPEAKER_00: But the current collective bargain agreement expires December 1st.
44:31
SPEAKER_00: And baseball could be getting ready to change the entire financial system for the first time ever.
44:38
SPEAKER_00: So what do you do if you're Steve Cohn and David Stearns?
44:41
SPEAKER_00: Do you make these enormous commitments before knowing what the rules are going to look like?
44:46
SPEAKER_00: Do you wait and potentially miss out on the players that you want?
44:50
SPEAKER_00: Because right now, Cohen can afford anything he wants.
44:55
SPEAKER_00: But what happens when Major League Baseball decides he's even Steve Cohen isn't allowed to spend whatever he wants.
45:04
SPEAKER_00: And that brings us to the final thing that I want to talk about today.
45:09
SPEAKER_00: There is something happening around baseball that I don't think enough casual fans are paying close enough attention to.
45:16
SPEAKER_00: The current collective bargaining agreement expires December 1st.
45:19
SPEAKER_00: I feel like I've said that same sentence 15 times.
45:24
SPEAKER_00: There's a very real possibility that we could be headed towards another lockout.
45:30
SPEAKER_00: Now, if you don't follow the business side of baseball, I'll try and simplify it as best as I can.
45:38
SPEAKER_00: The collective bargaining agreement is essentially the agreement between the owners and the players that establishes the financial rules of the sport.
45:46
SPEAKER_00: Right?
45:47
SPEAKER_00: Contracts, free agencies, salaries, arbitration, all that stuff that, you know, whatever.
45:54
SPEAKER_00: Just go hit the ball.
45:56
SPEAKER_00: Right now, the owners and the players have a pretty major disagreements on things.
46:04
SPEAKER_00: The biggest one being that the owners want a salary cap.
46:08
SPEAKER_00: The players don't want anything to do with it.
46:11
SPEAKER_00: And funny enough, there was actually a fascinating story before game one of this World Series that I think perfectly demonstrates how far apart these two sides are.
46:21
SPEAKER_00: Rob Manford, the commissioner of baseball, and Bruce Meyer, who's leading the players' union, both spoke to reporters in Milwaukee.
46:30
SPEAKER_00: Separate conversations, not an actual argument between the two, but they looked at the exact same World Series matchup and came to two completely different conclusions.
46:42
SPEAKER_00: Manford looks at Milwaukee and Tampa Bay and basically says, Yeah, look how hard it is for these smaller market teams to consistently compete in championships.
46:51
SPEAKER_00: Milwaukee hadn't been to the World Series since 1982.
46:54
SPEAKER_00: Here's an organization that has done so many things right and it's taken them more than 40 years to get back.
47:01
SPEAKER_00: You know, his argument is that baseball needs a system where these organizations have a more consistent opportunity to compete, right?
47:09
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
47:10
SPEAKER_00: Kind of makes sense, I guess.
47:12
SPEAKER_00: Bruce Meyer looks at the exact same matchup and essentially says, What are you talking about?
47:19
SPEAKER_00: Here are two smaller market organizations playing in the World Series.
47:24
SPEAKER_00: They developed players, they made smart acquisitions, they built successful teams without spending like the Dodgers or the Yankees.
47:32
SPEAKER_00: Doesn't that demonstrate that the current system can work?
47:37
SPEAKER_00: I'm telling you, the funny thing is, man, I understand both arguments.
47:41
SPEAKER_00: Meyer took it a step further, though, and dropped the uh proverbial headline for everybody.
47:46
SPEAKER_00: He said he described the owner's salary cap proposal as a nuclear bomb.
47:52
SPEAKER_00: That's a hell of a way to describe a labor proposal, but I think he tells you exactly how difficult these negotiations could become.
48:00
SPEAKER_00: Now, the owners initially have proposed a salary cap of about$245 million with a payroll floor around$171 million.
48:14
SPEAKER_00: So those figures include player benefits, they're not exactly the same thing as teams cash payroll, but the basic idea is pretty simple.
48:23
SPEAKER_00: You have a maximum amount you're allowed to spend, and you have a minimum amount that you are required to spend.
48:29
SPEAKER_00: I'll tell you something.
48:30
SPEAKER_00: I actually I like the idea of a salary cap.
48:33
SPEAKER_00: I think it could be beneficial for baseball, but this is a very, very important distinction.
48:41
SPEAKER_00: I think it has to be done correctly.
48:46
SPEAKER_00: I also understand why the players are fighting it.
48:49
SPEAKER_00: Think about somebody who's worked his entire life to reach free agency, he finally gets an opportunity to negotiate a major contract, and now the league wants to tell him there's a limit to how much teams are allowed to pay him.
49:04
SPEAKER_00: That's obviously gonna affect his earning potential over years, not just the initial first contract.
49:12
SPEAKER_00: You know, we're not just talking about superstars, we're talking about role players, veterans, young guys trying to earn their first big contract.
49:21
SPEAKER_00: So if the if the owners want a cap, they're gonna have to offer the players something meaningful in return.
49:27
SPEAKER_00: And I think there's a way to create a system that's better for both sides.
49:35
SPEAKER_00: If I'm the commissioner, for starters, I like a salary floor.
49:42
SPEAKER_00: I don't think you can complain about the Dodgers and Mets and Yankees spending enormous amounts of money while allowing other owners to collect revenue sharing money and put a team on the field for next to nothing.
49:55
SPEAKER_00: But here's where I would do something a little bit differently.
50:00
SPEAKER_00: I don't think the minimum should necessarily be a hard requirement every season.
50:05
SPEAKER_00: All right, look at Milwaukee and Tampa, right?
50:08
SPEAKER_00: If you're genuinely good at drafting and developing young talent, you might have an excellent baseball team with a relatively inexpensive payroll.
50:18
SPEAKER_00: Why should an organization be punished for doing things the right way, right?
50:23
SPEAKER_00: So I would introduce maybe a rolling three-year spending minimum.
50:29
SPEAKER_00: Let's say the league wants a team spending on an average 170 million a season, right?
50:36
SPEAKER_00: Over three years, that's$510 million.
50:40
SPEAKER_00: Maybe a team spends$130 one season while they're developing a young core.
50:46
SPEAKER_00: Then they spend$170 the following season.
50:49
SPEAKER_00: And then those players mature and they're ready to make a championship run, run.
50:55
SPEAKER_00: Well, then that's the year they spend$210 million to get to where they need to be.
50:59
SPEAKER_00: You still reach the required total, but you're giving the you're giving the teams with lesser money, I guess, or value, I don't know, flexibility to build intelligently and not just change their whole pathway of things.
51:18
SPEAKER_00: Here's the important part though.
51:20
SPEAKER_00: If you don't reach that minimum over three years, the penalties need to be severe.
51:26
SPEAKER_00: Not some like fine that an owner would happily pay because it's cheaper than investing in the baseball team.
51:32
SPEAKER_00: I'm talking about making it even more expensive to deliberately underspend than it would to have actually put that money into the roster.
51:40
SPEAKER_00: You know, there's a big difference between an inexpensive baseball team that's winning because it develops players well and an owner who simply just refuses to spend money.
51:50
SPEAKER_00: This also means we need a better revenue sharing system, too.
51:54
SPEAKER_00: Because if you're if you're going to require smaller market teams to spend a certain amount of money, you have to make sure they actually have the resources to do it.
52:03
SPEAKER_00: You can't demand that everybody spend like the Yankees without addressing the differences in what these organizations bring in.
52:09
SPEAKER_00: And I think there are other changes worth considering too.
52:14
SPEAKER_00: You know, I'd like to see some limits on the length of free agent contracts, possibly with an additional year available for teams retaining their own players, kind of almost like bird rights.
52:25
SPEAKER_00: And we absolutely need to address deferred money.
52:28
SPEAKER_00: Look at Shoe Otani's contract.
52:30
SPEAKER_00: The Dodgers pushed an enormous amount of his money into the future.
52:34
SPEAKER_00: Now, that money isn't completely ignored by the current luxury tax, but if we're introducing a hard salary cap, I don't want extreme deferred contracts becoming a way for teams to work around it.
52:48
SPEAKER_00: You know, I'll allow something like 10, 20% of a contract to be deferred.
52:53
SPEAKER_00: Fine.
52:53
SPEAKER_00: That gives teams some flexibility, but make sure the money still counts under a transparent system.
53:00
SPEAKER_00: If we're going to have a hard cap, it has to actually be a hard cap.
53:05
SPEAKER_00: And the last major issue I want to bring up because I think it might be the hardest part of the entire negotiation.
53:14
SPEAKER_00: Where is all the money actually going?
53:17
SPEAKER_00: We spent this entire conversation talking about how much teams spent on players.
53:24
SPEAKER_00: But what about how much money baseball is making?
53:28
SPEAKER_00: You've got national television contracts, local television deals, streaming agreements with companies like Apple and Netflix.
53:37
SPEAKER_00: You've got sponsorships, advertising on jerseys, stadium partnerships.
53:43
SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of money coming into this sport.
53:47
SPEAKER_00: And if you're going to tell the players that they're entitled to a certain percentage of baseball revenue, the players have every right to ask what actually counts as baseball revenue.
53:58
SPEAKER_00: How much money is really coming in?
54:01
SPEAKER_00: Are local television agreements included?
54:04
SPEAKER_00: How are team-affiliated businesses accounted for?
54:07
SPEAKER_00: Who's verifying the numbers?
54:09
SPEAKER_00: Because if somebody tells you you're entitled to half of a pie, you're going to want to know how big the pie actually is.
54:17
SPEAKER_00: And to me, that requires real financial transparency, independent auditing, clear definitions, a system that both owners and players can trust.
54:27
SPEAKER_00: Because otherwise, you're you're going to spend years arguing about what the numbers actually mean.
54:32
SPEAKER_00: And look, I I know this is a lot.
54:35
SPEAKER_00: We could probably spend an entire episode on nothing but the financial structure of Major League Baseball.
54:42
SPEAKER_00: But here's what I ultimately believe.
54:47
SPEAKER_00: I don't think baseball is broken.
54:50
SPEAKER_00: I really don't.
54:51
SPEAKER_00: I think we've got a pretty good product on the field right now.
54:54
SPEAKER_00: We've got exciting young players, we've got an organization finding different ways to build winning teams.
54:59
SPEAKER_00: We've got some really good, entertaining baseball being played.
55:04
SPEAKER_00: And I think this sport can continue to grow.
55:08
SPEAKER_00: But I also think there's an opportunity to improve its financial system.
55:12
SPEAKER_00: A properly designed salary cap could work.
55:16
SPEAKER_00: A fair payroll floor could work.
55:20
SPEAKER_00: And a better revenue sharing system could create more opportunities for smaller market organizations.
55:27
SPEAKER_00: But the owners need to be held accountable.
55:30
SPEAKER_00: And players need to receive a fair share of the money this sport generates.
55:34
SPEAKER_00: At the end of the day, both sides are gonna have to give something up to get going.
55:41
SPEAKER_00: Here's what I don't want.
55:44
SPEAKER_00: I don't want another prolonged labor dispute.
55:47
SPEAKER_00: We dealt with the lockout in 2021, and everybody who remembers the 94 strike knows just how much damage a labor dispute can do to baseball.
55:56
SPEAKER_00: That one cost us an entire World Series.
56:00
SPEAKER_00: And like I said, speaking as someone who pays for med season tickets, I'd really like to attend the baseball games that I'm paying for next year.
56:09
SPEAKER_00: We got a good thing, guys.
56:11
SPEAKER_00: Let's not screw it up.
56:12
SPEAKER_00: The ratings have gone up every year in the past four years for baseball.
56:21
unknown: I don't know.
56:22
SPEAKER_00: I think that's a pretty fitting place to finish here.
56:25
SPEAKER_00: This entire conversation brings us back to the two teams playing in the World Series.
56:31
SPEAKER_00: Milwaukee and Tampa.
56:34
SPEAKER_00: Two organizations that have built themselves into championship contenders through player development, good roster construction, and fundamentally sound baseball.
56:44
SPEAKER_00: And one of them is gonna win the first World Series for their franchise.
56:47
SPEAKER_00: That's pretty cool, man.
56:49
SPEAKER_00: After watching game one, that absolutely ridiculous ending.
56:54
SPEAKER_00: I'm expecting one hell of a series.
56:57
SPEAKER_00: So let's make it official.
56:58
SPEAKER_00: I'm sticking with the prediction that I originally made.
57:01
SPEAKER_00: Even though they lost game one.
57:03
SPEAKER_00: Tampa Bay Rays in seven games.
57:06
SPEAKER_00: Coming into this series, I had Tampa Bay at about 52% and Milwaukee at 48%, so literally just a coin flip.
57:13
SPEAKER_00: Brewers took game one.
57:14
SPEAKER_00: That's fine.
57:15
SPEAKER_00: Not abandoning my pick after one game.
57:18
SPEAKER_00: Give me Commonero as World Series MVP if Tampa Bay wins.
57:22
SPEAKER_00: I think we're in for some fantastic baseball, man.
57:25
SPEAKER_00: And hopefully, when this world series is over, the owners and the players can sit in a room, lock the door, and figure out a way to make sure we're watching baseball again next spring.
57:37
SPEAKER_00: But yeah.
57:38
SPEAKER_00: Until next time, I am Ian Rice.
57:42
SPEAKER_00: This has been episode 89 of Rice on the Mics.
57:45
SPEAKER_00: Ooh, Rice on the Radio.
57:47
SPEAKER_00: Fuck that one up.
57:49
SPEAKER_00: Tell someone you love them and spread good energy out there.
57:53
SPEAKER_00: Peace.