Latest / Foul Territory / Ken Rosenthal’s Inside Scoop: Rays sale update, AL Wild Card fight, MVP voting ethics

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Ken Rosenthal’s Inside Scoop: Rays sale update, AL Wild Card fight, MVP voting ethics · Foul Territory

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: FT senior insider Ken Rosenthal's here for the inside scoop. Ken,
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Let's get to an article that you put together yesterday
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: with Evandrelick on Stu Sternberg selling the Rays. It sounds
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: like that's all happening, but he's still going to be involved.
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: Is that true?
• 0:21
  Speaker 3: He will still be involved.
• 0:22
  Speaker 4: It's a minor share and it's going to expire eventually.
• 0:26
  Speaker 4: Timeline is not exactly known, but he is going to
• 0:29
  Speaker 4: be part of the initial group. And this is not uncommon, guys.
• 0:32
  Speaker 4: We do see this that an owner will stay on
• 0:35
  Speaker 4: in a lesser degree and the ownership group eventually will change.
• 0:39
  Speaker 4: So I don't know this was earth chattering news. It
• 0:42
  Speaker 4: was certainly newsworthy because I thought most of us believe
• 0:45
  Speaker 4: that Sternberg would be out entirely. But he's not going
• 0:48
  Speaker 4: to be out entirely, at least.
• 0:50
  Speaker 3: From the outset.
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: And of course fans down here want to know if
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: there's any chance that they will escape the.
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: Tampa Bay area. So let's see.
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: I think it's number three on the list that was
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: put in the article in the Athletic with someone who
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: was campaigning to bring a team to Orlando. Here we go,
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: Rick Workman as the top two there seemed to be
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: more Tampa friendly. Zelepski and Bill Cosger not saying that.
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: You know he's going to have influence, But is there
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: anything to read into there?
• 1:23
  Speaker 3: I don't believe so.
• 1:25
  Speaker 4: Major League Baseball wants this team in the Tampa Bay
• 1:27
  Speaker 4: area and those some people, aj being one of them,
• 1:31
  Speaker 4: think Orlando would be a great spot for them, and
• 1:33
  Speaker 4: maybe it would be. It seems to me that MLB
• 1:36
  Speaker 4: does not want to lose the Tampa Bay market, and
• 1:38
  Speaker 4: that what this group's first order of business will be
• 1:42
  Speaker 4: is finding a way to get a new ballpark built
• 1:45
  Speaker 4: in Tampa. There are sites that are being considered. There
• 1:48
  Speaker 4: are all kinds of possibilities there. It hasn't been easy
• 1:51
  Speaker 4: for Stourberg, but that's in part because the Tampa government
• 1:54
  Speaker 4: and the Saint Petersburg government, both of them really lost
• 1:57
  Speaker 4: trust in him. So now the new group, and yes
• 2:00
  Speaker 4: he's only a small part, he's not a significant part.
• 2:03
  Speaker 4: That seems to be something that will be more feasible
• 2:07
  Speaker 4: now my Orlando's surface as a possibility if Tampa Bay
• 2:11
  Speaker 4: doesn't happen, Yes, but I just don't see that really
• 2:15
  Speaker 4: being a realistic thing.
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: Ken let's get to your article full of fun from
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: I think the day before. For fans of each of
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: MLB's fifteen flag playoff contenders, things could always be worse.
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: So I want to start with the Blue Jays. You know,
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: the past couple of years, obviously they have not come
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: through this year. This is definitely a playoff team still
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: in line to win the division.
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: What would be the concern?
• 2:45
  Speaker 4: The bullpen, without question, is the concern. And it's not
• 2:49
  Speaker 4: just Hoffman, though Hoffman certainly is the major concern. He's
• 2:51
  Speaker 4: the closer. He gives up a lot of home runs.
• 2:54
  Speaker 4: He's had some really really bad outings and some good
• 2:57
  Speaker 4: ones as well, But the bullpen as a whole has
• 2:59
  Speaker 4: not performed really for quite some time now, and that
• 3:04
  Speaker 4: is the major concern. That is any team's fatal flaw
• 3:08
  Speaker 4: if they can't figure it out.
• 3:09
  Speaker 3: So the point of this article was merely to point.
• 3:12
  Speaker 4: Out to fans of all these contenders, Hey, you think
• 3:17
  Speaker 4: you have it bad, and I see everybody whining on X.
• 3:19
  Speaker 4: That's where I kind of look at things and see
• 3:21
  Speaker 4: what fans are thinking. Yeah, your team might be frustrating you,
• 3:25
  Speaker 4: but guess what team XYZ, ABC, D and E they've
• 3:29
  Speaker 4: got their own problems.
• 3:30
  Speaker 3: And they're equally frustrated.
• 3:32
  Speaker 4: So take heart, it's not as bad as it might appear,
• 3:36
  Speaker 4: because other teams have problems too.
• 3:39
  Speaker 5: All right, the Yankees, Are there any new problems or
• 3:42
  Speaker 5: is it just rinse and recycle from last year about
• 3:45
  Speaker 5: what Mookie Bets and all his teammates said, Well, they
• 3:48
  Speaker 5: were drinking after they won the World Series.
• 3:52
  Speaker 4: Eric, it seems to me it's the same thing. And
• 3:55
  Speaker 4: granted they had a really good week four and two
• 3:58
  Speaker 4: against two first place teams, Strosen the Blue Jays, But
• 4:02
  Speaker 4: the way that they play, the sloppiness that we see,
• 4:06
  Speaker 4: the lack of fundamental sound iness that we see and
• 4:10
  Speaker 4: we have seen for quite some time with the Yankees,
• 4:13
  Speaker 4: that has not entirely gone away. Volpi is a major
• 4:17
  Speaker 4: lightning rod with this team right now.
• 4:19
  Speaker 3: Fans have about had it with him.
• 4:21
  Speaker 4: The Yankees continue to stick with him. My friend Joel
• 4:24
  Speaker 4: Sherman of The New York Post has suggested both in
• 4:27
  Speaker 4: a podcast and in print today that he thinks Jose
• 4:30
  Speaker 4: Caballera will be their starter in the playoffs, that ultimately
• 4:34
  Speaker 4: the actions of the Yankees will speak louder than any
• 4:37
  Speaker 4: words from Aaron Boone.
• 4:38
  Speaker 3: That remains to be seen, but I certainly.
• 4:41
  Speaker 4: Can see how that might be something they strongly consider.
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: Ken I'll take us to the Padres. So now they've
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: won three in a row. Michael King is starting tonight,
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: so King is back. Do you feel differently about the
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: Padres in the past few days, especially if King is
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: here to stay.
• 4:59
  Speaker 3: King is here to stay and healthy and good.
• 5:02
  Speaker 4: Yes, that's a much different equation than we've seen from
• 5:05
  Speaker 4: them with their starting pitching in the last I don't.
• 5:08
  Speaker 3: Know a couple of months.
• 5:09
  Speaker 4: Really.
• 5:10
  Speaker 3: What I like about the Padres is their schedule.
• 5:12
  Speaker 4: It's one of the easiest remaining schedules, and they're home
• 5:16
  Speaker 4: again now. They're always draw momentum at home and if offensively,
• 5:20
  Speaker 4: they can get it going, and it's kind of curious
• 5:22
  Speaker 4: that they.
• 5:22
  Speaker 3: Haven't in a bigger way. Tatisa is one of.
• 5:25
  Speaker 4: The questions, and all these things have happened.
• 5:27
  Speaker 3: He's been better the last few days.
• 5:30
  Speaker 4: Their bullpen is still a lockdown bullpen, even without Jason Adams.
• 5:34
  Speaker 4: So I don't rule them out in any way, shape
• 5:37
  Speaker 4: or form one for the division title, and if not
• 5:41
  Speaker 4: the division, maybe they catch the Cubs for a higher
• 5:44
  Speaker 4: seed of the Wildcard and host the Wildcard Series. So
• 5:48
  Speaker 4: everything seems to change by the day this time in
• 5:50
  Speaker 4: few year, actually all season long, the Padres seemingly are
• 5:54
  Speaker 4: on the upswing.
• 5:55
  Speaker 3: We'll see if it continues.
• 5:57
  Speaker 6: Ken what about the Mets. Will the Mets really start two,
• 6:00
  Speaker 6: maybe three rookies in their rotation if they get to
• 6:03
  Speaker 6: the postseason? I mean, I think they're gonna get there,
• 6:06
  Speaker 6: But would they really go mclan and the other rookies
• 6:10
  Speaker 6: to start, because since Montas and all these Senga and
• 6:12
  Speaker 6: all these guys have just been not good and injured.
• 6:16
  Speaker 4: AJ, I don't know that they're going to have much choice.
• 6:18
  Speaker 4: And certainly, let's see the next few weeks play out,
• 6:21
  Speaker 4: and McLain certainly looks like the real thing.
• 6:24
  Speaker 3: I'm not as convinced by Tom or.
• 6:26
  Speaker 4: One star from his scrope, but they certainly have been
• 6:29
  Speaker 4: pressed so far. Three starting pitchers who are rookies who
• 6:33
  Speaker 4: had just made their debuts in the postseason would.
• 6:35
  Speaker 3: Certainly be a stretch.
• 6:37
  Speaker 4: But if that's where the Mets are, that's where they
• 6:39
  Speaker 4: are now. I'm anxious to see David Peterson if he
• 6:43
  Speaker 4: rebounds from a recent lull.
• 6:45
  Speaker 3: He pictures Thursday on our Fox game.
• 6:48
  Speaker 4: He to me is part of the solution here, Clay Holmes,
• 6:51
  Speaker 4: I'm not sure how you use him in the postseason.
• 6:53
  Speaker 4: And of course the questions remain about Senga, whether he'll
• 6:56
  Speaker 4: be a.
• 6:57
  Speaker 3: Factor at all. He's currently in the minor leagues.
• 6:59
  Speaker 4: So what has happened here is that these young guys McClain,
• 7:05
  Speaker 4: tong sprote have emerged as the mets best options. And
• 7:09
  Speaker 4: if they're the best options in October, they're going to pitch.
• 7:12
  Speaker 3: I'm just not sure.
• 7:13
  Speaker 4: It's all going to play out exactly like that. There
• 7:15
  Speaker 4: are a lot of different ways they can go. I'm
• 7:18
  Speaker 4: forgetting Sean Manaia. He's got to pitch better too.
• 7:22
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• 8:21
  Speaker 2: Dig In, all.
• 8:23
  Speaker 5: Eyes are on Texas, the Rangers, and they're staying in
• 8:29
  Speaker 5: it without the guys that they have, without those stars
• 8:33
  Speaker 5: in their lineup. It's the little rascals as I think
• 8:36
  Speaker 5: you coined the phrase, and it's now just sweeping the nation.
• 8:39
  Speaker 5: But how is this team if the if Corey Seeger
• 8:44
  Speaker 5: and Adulis come back with a week to go and
• 8:47
  Speaker 5: they are within a game a game and a half,
• 8:50
  Speaker 5: like they are right now. Obviously they put them back in,
• 8:53
  Speaker 5: but does that kill their mojo?
• 8:56
  Speaker 4: Well, first of all, Rangers TV analyst David Murphy is
• 8:58
  Speaker 4: the one who coined the little Rascals.
• 9:01
  Speaker 3: I just quoted him.
• 9:02
  Speaker 4: Now we all know what's going to happen if Seger
• 9:05
  Speaker 4: and Garcia come back. They're going to play, and they
• 9:07
  Speaker 4: should play. And I heard you guys talking during the
• 9:10
  Speaker 4: break about how you're not sure what these younger, less
• 9:14
  Speaker 4: experienced guys are doing is sustainable. I would suggest it
• 9:18
  Speaker 4: probably is not sustainable. So the fact that the Rangers
• 9:21
  Speaker 4: are getting this much right now out of Michael Hellman,
• 9:25
  Speaker 4: Cody Freeman, Dustin Harris, all these different players that most
• 9:30
  Speaker 4: people have never heard of, it's a great thing and
• 9:33
  Speaker 4: it's gotten them back in the race. And the energy
• 9:35
  Speaker 4: that these guys have provided has certainly given the team
• 9:37
  Speaker 4: a boost. But you're not going to sit Corey Seeger
• 9:41
  Speaker 4: and you're not going to sit due all these Garcia.
• 9:43
  Speaker 4: Those are two of your mainstays, Seger in particular, of course,
• 9:47
  Speaker 4: And the good news for the Rangers is they've gotten
• 9:50
  Speaker 4: to this point. They've hung in there without those guys,
• 9:53
  Speaker 4: at least.
• 9:53
  Speaker 3: For the last week or so.
• 9:55
  Speaker 4: Two weeks or so, so that's great. Now the question
• 9:59
  Speaker 4: is once they come back, can they keep this rule going?
• 10:03
  Speaker 4: And yeah, I guess you might lose a little mojo,
• 10:05
  Speaker 4: but you still want core receiver.
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: And by the way, Ken, we had Sewn Armstrong Rangers
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: reliever on yesterday.
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: Asked him about Little Rascals.
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: He didn't know about it yet, so he was excited
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: to tell teammates that the TV broadcast is calling some
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: of the youngsters little Rascals.
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: We'll have Josh Smith on later.
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: We just happened to have back to back days with
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: Rangers guys, so we'll keep you posted there on the
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: important nicknames that are changing things.
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: But they have competition.
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: In the lost column, you also have the Cleveland Guardians
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: two back. They have a Royals team that's stumbling right now.
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: They beat him up yesterday.
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: Then the White Sox, then Tiger's team that's playing very
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: midlight lately, Twins playing terribly, Tigers Rangers for last three
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: games of the year. Chances for Cleveland, how interesting could
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: this get for them?
• 10:48
  Speaker 3: It's funny, Scott. I don't care for Cleveland.
• 10:51
  Speaker 4: I don't think they're good enough to get there, But
• 10:53
  Speaker 4: you know what they keep hanging around, and they are
• 10:57
  Speaker 4: a team that has some starting pitching and certainly at
• 11:02
  Speaker 4: times with Ramirez and Kwan and everyone else like last night,
• 11:07
  Speaker 4: can put some numbers up. So I don't see it.
• 11:10
  Speaker 4: I don't see the Royals either. To me, the one
• 11:13
  Speaker 4: team with the best shot of catching Seattle is Texas
• 11:16
  Speaker 4: because Texas has outstanding pitching even without Ivaldi right now.
• 11:21
  Speaker 4: But you know what, hey, I can talk all I want,
• 11:24
  Speaker 4: people like me can talk all we want. It's what
• 11:27
  Speaker 4: happens on the field that matters. And if the Guardians
• 11:30
  Speaker 4: do it, all power to them.
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: Nice.
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: Okay, well, we'll see that's decent looking schedule there. Let's
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: stay in the American League Central and talk about a
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: team that's not in that frankly looks like the worst
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: team lately in that division, the Twins.
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: But the bright spot has been Byron Buxton. Ken.
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: My question for you revolves around in Buxton's incentives in
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: his contract. I remember at the time when he signed
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: that long term extension, it was very tied to MVP
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: voting and not just winning it. It depends on where
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: he places I think from six to ten on MVP voting.
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: If he finishes in that spot, you get three million dollars.
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: What do you think of this incentive? I don't think
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: there's anyone else in the league that has it, this
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: tie to MVP voting. And are you okay with it
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: on the writer's side to be influencing this kind of money.
• 12:16
  Speaker 4: I'm not in love with it. It's something I'm pretty
• 12:18
  Speaker 4: uncomfortable with.
• 12:19
  Speaker 3: Now, you can argue.
• 12:21
  Speaker 4: That this has always been the case. Our votes influence
• 12:25
  Speaker 4: a lot of different incentives.
• 12:27
  Speaker 3: Maybe this is a little bit more extreme Scott, as you.
• 12:29
  Speaker 4: Point out, but hall of Fame votes too.
• 12:32
  Speaker 3: A player who gets elected to.
• 12:34
  Speaker 4: The Hall of Fame can make money on the outside
• 12:36
  Speaker 4: that he might not make otherwise.
• 12:39
  Speaker 3: It's all part of it. Do I love it?
• 12:40
  Speaker 4: No? And there are some newspapers that do not allow
• 12:43
  Speaker 4: their writers to vote because they fear the conflict of interest.
• 12:47
  Speaker 4: They fear the worst case example, and let's play this
• 12:51
  Speaker 4: out Byron Buxton needs X number of MVP votes and
• 12:56
  Speaker 4: he gives money to a few writers to put them
• 13:01
  Speaker 4: ninth or tenth on the ballot. Now, this has never happened.
• 13:04
  Speaker 4: I don't expect it ever will happen. It would be
• 13:07
  Speaker 4: the highest breach of ethics imaginable on both sides. But
• 13:11
  Speaker 4: that is the worst case scenario. So it's not cool.
• 13:15
  Speaker 3: I don't like it. I don't also know how to
• 13:18
  Speaker 3: get around it. Now, you could say, hey, we shouldn't
• 13:21
  Speaker 3: vote at all.
• 13:22
  Speaker 4: In these awards, and that would end this. Yes, but
• 13:25
  Speaker 4: that's part of the fun of the job. It's actually
• 13:28
  Speaker 4: part of the responsibility that some of us get. And
• 13:31
  Speaker 4: for the most part, ninety nine point five percent of
• 13:34
  Speaker 4: this is cool, so that point five is not cool.
• 13:38
  Speaker 4: But at the same time, I'm not sure it's ever
• 13:41
  Speaker 4: gonna change either.
• 13:43
  Speaker 5: Players have to put up the numbers, but a player
• 13:46
  Speaker 5: who is very connected when Ken Rosenthal comes in, if
• 13:51
  Speaker 5: Byron Buxton is like whatever, then maybe your vote is
• 13:57
  Speaker 5: a little swayed. I'm not saying, because you're human and
• 14:01
  Speaker 5: it's how writers and just people interact. It's hard. It's
• 14:06
  Speaker 5: hard to differentiate when somebody's being nice to get Ken
• 14:11
  Speaker 5: Rosenthal's votes and when somebody's being genuine or isn't afraid
• 14:15
  Speaker 5: of losing votes and they won't say what they're supposed
• 14:18
  Speaker 5: to say.
• 14:19
  Speaker 4: Well, the one thing there, Eric is that the way
• 14:23
  Speaker 4: the game has evolved, with so much attention on statistics
• 14:26
  Speaker 4: and advanced metrics, everything is in front of us. I
• 14:30
  Speaker 4: don't know that any of us is swayed by a
• 14:32
  Speaker 4: guy being nice to us or a guy not being
• 14:35
  Speaker 4: nice to us.
• 14:35
  Speaker 3: Now, sometimes you will.
• 14:37
  Speaker 4: See a vote from say a Kansas City paper, for
• 14:42
  Speaker 4: a Kansas City player that might not be in the
• 14:45
  Speaker 4: minds of some justified I'm just using Kansas City as
• 14:47
  Speaker 4: an example. Could be New York, could be.
• 14:49
  Speaker 3: La, could be anywhere. You will see that.
• 14:51
  Speaker 4: But often that is because that writer sees that player
• 14:54
  Speaker 4: more than he sees anyone else and has a better
• 14:56
  Speaker 4: appreciation for that player. Now, as far as the niceness
• 14:59
  Speaker 4: thing that idea, I will tell you this. Eddie Murray
• 15:04
  Speaker 4: once threatened to assume me when I was in Baltimore.
• 15:07
  Speaker 4: I didn't do that, actually, but he threatened. I still
• 15:09
  Speaker 4: voted him first ballot Hall of Fame. I don't care
• 15:12
  Speaker 4: what guys think of me, whether they like me or not,
• 15:15
  Speaker 4: or whether I like them or not, that's irrelevant. What's
• 15:18
  Speaker 4: relevant is their performance. And I believe strongly that almost
• 15:24
  Speaker 4: every writer feels the same way.
• 15:26
  Speaker 3: It's not something.
• 15:27
  Speaker 4: Where hey, man, I'll give you an interview and you
• 15:30
  Speaker 4: give me a no, it's not happening.
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: Oh, I didn't know about the Eddie Murray part. That
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: might be an inside dish for another day.
• 15:39
  Speaker 3: It never went anywhere, he threatened.
• 15:41
  Speaker 4: I wrote some stuff and it is what it is.
• 15:45
  Speaker 3: Not the first time I got like that. Player won't
• 15:47
  Speaker 3: be the last, you know, just it's part of it.
• 15:50
  Speaker 5: Yep.
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: Understandable. Well, Ken, good stuff, Thanks for the insight, appreciate it.
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: We'll catch on Fair Territory Thursday. Thanks guys, Fair Territory
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: with Ken an Alana Rizzo questions, bring 'em for Grill
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: and Ken on Thursday's live show