Latest / Foul Territory / Fair Territory: Kyle Tucker visits Blue Jays, HOF vote Sunday, Dodgers shopping Teoscar Hernández?

Transcript

Fair Territory: Kyle Tucker visits Blue Jays, HOF vote Sunday, Dodgers shopping Teoscar Hernández? · Foul Territory

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Welcome everyone to the Thursday edition of Fair Territory. I'm
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Ken Rosenthal here with as you can see, the master
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: of the Foul Territory universe, Scott Braun. We are not
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: with Alana Rizzo today for reasons that I will explain
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: later in the show. Good reasons, Scott. We've got a
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: ton to talk about as the Winter Meetings approach.
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: Yes we do, and I'm excited to see you briefly
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: at the Winter Meetings, running around covering the sport like
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: you do. But let's get into what's surfacing before that,
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: And Ken, I think we need to start with the
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: biggest name in terms of who should command the most
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: money this offseason. That's Kyle Tucker. And that's a little
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: visit to a fancy facility in duned and Florida. What
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: else do you know? And do you think that the
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: Blue Jays are serious candidates to be able to sign him?
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: Well, this was a stunning report by Robert Murray last
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: night about this visit by Tucker to the Jays training complex,
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: which is one of the best in d Need. It's
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: a selling point for the Blue Jays. Now, what's interesting
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: about this is that prior to last night, The Jay's
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: interest in Tucker was kind of rumored, but it was
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: never really confirmed or even seemed to be something that
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: the club was prioritizing. We know that they signed the
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: two starting pitchers, d'lan cease and Cody Ponce. We didn't
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: know exactly what they were doing on the position side,
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: but they had interest, perhaps in Tucker and certainly in
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: resigning Boba set So this is a clear indication of
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: their interest. Whether it indicates that they're going to sign Tucker,
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: that remains to be seen. And let's not get carried
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: away with that idea. You remember show he Otani a
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: couple of years ago visiting the Jay's training complex and
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: Dunedin didn't sign. This is kind of a normal thing
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: for players to do. And Kyle Tucker does live in Tampa,
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: which is a short drive from duned and so really
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: for him, hop skip and a jump, no big deal
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: to go there. But at the same time, I don't
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: want to underplay this. The Jays are acting like behemoths
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: in this market, and this meeting with Tucker that took
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: place last night or yesterday, whenever exactly it was, that's
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: an indication that they are thinking big. It also might
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: be a message to Bobaschett, hey come down a little
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: bit in your price. There are all kinds of possibilities here,
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: but the fact of the matter is he was into
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: Needon at their complex and that is news.
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: That is definitely news, and I will give credit. We
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: got to see this actually surface. If they signed Tucker
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: or if they sign back Bobachhet, payroll will be high
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: for the Blue Jays. We certainly knock on this network
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: teams when they cry poor and don't spend. The Blue
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: Jays just had a banger postseason. I know they didn't
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: win the World Series ken, but they clearly made a
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: lot of money and it seems like they're reinvesting back
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: into the team. You mentioned in the story how they
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: were at about two forty ish mill for their opening
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: day payroll. It seems like whether they get Tucker, Bishett
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: or someone else, they're going to be tracking well ahead
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: of that number next year.
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: Yes, they're going to open with a club record payroll
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: and it's right now. If they signed Tucker, likely will
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: be over three hundred million opening day, which is not
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: where the Jays have been. They've been a high payroll
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: team in the past at various points early nineties when
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: they were rolling. They had a big payroll back then,
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: at least relative to the other clubs. But this is
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: clearly an indication of their aggression and assertiveness in this
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: off season. And let's have some fun here, Scott and
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: look at a projected lineup with Kyle Tucker in it,
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: because it's kind of an awesome thing to just consider it.
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: Here it is. You can see it right there, Springer
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: Tucker batting second right in front of Guerrero, Addison Barger
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: behind them, than Kirk Santandre varshow Clement and him Menez.
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: This is without Bobashed. I don't expect them to sign
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: Tucker and Bobashed, but my goodness, it is a fascinating look.
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: And that is a powerhouse lineup, no doubt about it.
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that looks really good. And here's a team that's
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: going to be in a competitive division. Yankees always good,
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: Red Sox should be as good, if not better, this
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: coming season, Oriols better. So good to see the Blue
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: Jays getting involved on some of the big boys.
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: I like it.
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: Let's move to the team they lost to, and that's
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: the Dodgers, And I thought this stood out a Ton
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: to me in your notes column this morning, to Oscar
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: Hernandez is beloved in LA and we know he has
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: defensive deficiencies. Do you really think the Dodgers might dangle
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: him in trade talks?
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: Well, what I reported along with Patrick Mooney today is
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: that his name has come up in trade conversation. Doesn't
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: sound like it's terribly likely, but it's an intriguing thought
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: for a couple of reasons. Yes, as you just mentioned Scott,
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: their defense was lacking last year, Tao was one of
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: the worst defensive right fielders in the game. But of
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: course what else is he He has been one of
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: their best hitters in the postseason the last two years,
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: eight home runs combined for back to back World Series
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: champions in the postseason, and one of the more consistent
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: hitters during the season as well. If you trade him
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: at a point when you already need an outfielder, Confordo
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: is not coming back, then you're down to outfielders and
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: you'd have to shuffle some things around. Maybe play Payes
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: in right where he could be elite Andy Payes, find
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: a center fielder and just figure it out from there.
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: I'm not certainly going to do it in fact, I
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: would say the odds are against them doing it. But
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: it's interesting to hear that his name has come up
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: because his contract gets complex, but it's relatively affordable. And
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: let's say the Dodgers could get an outfielder back and
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: then sign another one, then you have something going. And
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: I don't know that this means in any way that
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: they are going to be in the Kyle Tucker sweepstakes.
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: Just seems to me his price is going to exceed
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: their comfort level for him. But what if Byron Buxton
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: becomes available, What if some other players that we aren't
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: even focusing on are in the mixed trade wise, then
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: perhaps this becomes a viable thing. I don't necessarily expect
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: it to happen, but his name has come up in conversations,
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: and that to me was certainly interesting to hear.
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: Yeah, Ken, My observation is that the Dodgers are in
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: a place where they have someone who is going to
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: DH every day for them and show Heyo Tani. I
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: think Tao, if not a full time, is someone that
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: should at least be getting some serious DH consideration during
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: a season. Maybe you even point to someone like Jordan
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: Alvarez when he's healthy, He'll still play the outfield here
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: and there, but you want him dhing most of the time.
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: You want him dhing in the playoffs where you need
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: your defense to be tight. The Dodgers are never going
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: to be in that spot, and they're still on the
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: hook for him for years. Do you think that they
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: might be able to find a team that has a
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: better space for him, a team that's looking for pop.
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: Like you mentioned, it's not easy to find the profile
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: of Tao on the market right now. So there are
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: teams out there that are like, hey, we could use
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: this and we could put him in the outfield occasionally
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: during the season. It's not going to kill us, but
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: we also have the DH spot open for him.
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: I think that's a great call, Scott. And one team
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: that's stands out immediately, as just you were talking, there
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: is a team that's pretty predominantly left handed, and it's Boston.
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: Boston has, of course the desire to resign Alex Redman,
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: a great right handed hitter, but if they don't, then
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: they're going to do some other things, and frankly, they're
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: looking for two bats. So that's just one team. I
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: do believe you're right that another team can fit him
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: in better because of the DH spot being totally closed
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: off in La. So I don't know again where this
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: is going, but there are some interesting dynamics in play here.
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: And obviously, if you lose Tayo, then you've got to
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: find offense to replace him too, because he's been such
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: a meaningful part of their offense and he's also been
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: a meaningful part of their clubhouse. But again the question becomes, Okay,
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: if you trade him, then what are you doing to
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: replace him? And I'm sure if the Dodgers even come
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: close to considering this, they'll have some pretty intriguing thoughts
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: in mind.
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: That's funny you mentioned the Red Sox. It seems like
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: they were in on him. I don't remember. I think
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: they actually publicly said that they were in on him,
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: that they missed out on him. Tayo was on our
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: show soon after he signed. I think he mentioned that
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: as well. So the fit makes even more sense when
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: you consider that the team actually does like the player
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: in the past.
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: Yeah, they have, and again a lot has to happen
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: to get from point A to point B here, But
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: teams consider all kinds of things in the offseason, things
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: that we don't even report or even hear about. It's
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: a wide, wide variety. So this in that sense does
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: not necessarily surprise me that his name is coming up,
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: simply because, as you mentioned, they've got the DH set
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: for I don't know, eight more years. That's not opening
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: up tasker Hernandez. Even if you think he can play
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: outfield a little bit. Now, well, what about in the
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: final two years of that deal. I don't know how
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: that happens. I'm sorry, the final year of that deal
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: after this one. He's got two years left right now.
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: M yeah, I know there's some crazy pervision and you
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: should read the article for everyone listening right now in
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: terms of if he gets hurt, then there's an option
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: you're at at all that you can get into that
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: in the article and the Athletic Ken's got it out right. Now,
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: let's move to the other column that you put out
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: this morning, and that regards the Hall of Fame. There's
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: a big decision coming up this weekend with the Contemporary
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: Committee that's going to try and vote in some players.
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: But you need, I believe, twelve out of sixteen votes
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: to go your way. But can you get into what
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: you wrote about and how the landscape of how people
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: are thinking about voting players in should change.
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: Yes, Scott. So this idea that I had to write
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: the article stemmed from the fact that Mattingly is on
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: this contemporary era about and he is a guy who
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: had a short peak in his career, but some people
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: consider still Hall of Fame worthy, even though the writers
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: for fifteen years snubbed him in the Coopers Down balloting. Now,
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: there are a lot of layers to what I was
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: getting into here, but basically what I was saying is
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: that as the game evolves and as players' careers are shorter,
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: pictures don't pitches deep into games. That's another element here,
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: and position players and pictures both sometimes injuries force them
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: to retire prematurely. As this kind of thing keeps going
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: on and it has now, we need as writers to
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: consider these players with short high peaks in maybe a
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: bigger sense than we have in the past. Who am
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: I talking about? Chase Utley, who has done well in
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: his first two years on the ballot, David Wright, Dustin Pedroia,
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: both of whose careers ended prematurely due to physical problems.
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: And a guy like Felix Hernandez who just faded quickly,
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: in part because the Mariners used him so heavily early
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: in his career. These guys all had relatively short peaks,
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: And what I say in the article is that generally speaking,
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: I prefer my Hall of famers to have longevity, to
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: have volume. Ten year dominance is kind of my prerequisite.
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: But maybe I need to rethink that, and maybe we
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: just need to rethink in general how we view these
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: players now. In the article I mentioned as well, Don
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: Mattingly's statistics career wise are very similar to Kirby Pucketts.
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: Kirby Puckett was another player whose career ended before it
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: should have due to the glaucoma that caused your blindness
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: in his right eye. But Puckett got in first ballot, maddingly,
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: never got in on the writer's ballot, and this is
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: his fourth try on an eras committee. So it's going
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: to be really interesting to see how the voters look
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: at this on Sunday, and not just maddingly. Of course,
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: Bonds and Clemens are on this ballot, Sheffield's on this ballot,
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: Dale Murphy is on this ballot. All kinds of players,
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: eight of them really good ones, all worthy of consideration
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: are going to be looked at Sunday. You see the
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: list right there. Fernando Vealezuela. How could I forget him?
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: Jeff Kent? I voted for him when he was eligible.
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: Carlos Delgado, a guy who got overlooked at position where
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: there was a lot of thunder in the two thousands
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: when he was in his prime, but he put up
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: some huge numbers as well.
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: To me ken for the Veterans committee that votes, which
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: is a totally separate process from the BBWAA, this is
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: a stacked ballot. And even if you want to get
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: rid of the bonds, Clemens debate and all that, it's
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: still a stacked ballot, like you mentioned, with Jeff Kent
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: getting a lot of love but not getting enough. And
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: I think Delgado's underrated. So here I'll bring it to
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: this from what you wrote about, would you vote for
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: those particular players?
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: Now?
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: I know you did vote for Chase Utley last year,
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: But then also I want to spin it to Murphy
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: and Mattingly, who you spent time writing about.
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: Scott. I haven't thought about this year's ballot in great
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: depth yet, and write and Perdoi are certainly two guys
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: I'm going to look at more closely Felix too. Now,
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: Mattingly and Murphy, do I believe they should be in
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: the Hall of Fame? Do I believe the Hall of
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: Fame would be their presence? I do. I don't believe
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: that I voted for either during their eligibility, and I
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: don't recall the specific reasons. Perhaps the ballot was too crowded.
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: Perhaps I just didn't think their numbers were worthy, and
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: that is why, of course they did not make it.
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: But you consider an entire baseball life, and in Manninglely's
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: case in particular, twenty years more than that as a
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: manager and coach, all the contributions to the game, he
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: should be in in my opinion. And Dale Murphy, it's
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: a tougher one for me because that peak again was
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: kind of short and he didn't have much that he
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: did after age thirty two or so. But would the
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: Hall of Fame be a worst place if Dale Murphy
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: was in it? No, it wouldn't. All right, we are
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: going to take a break down. We're going to be
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: back Scott with the Dudes and Dorks of the week,
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: a little different flavor this week. Right after this.
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: Hey Ft is going to be at the Baseball Winter Meetings. Yes,
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: we'll be live doing our show one o'clock Eastern. We'll
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: grab plenty of interviews before and after the show, mix
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: those into the show. We'll put those up on YouTube.
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: You can listen to them wherever you get your podcasts.
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: We're very excited to be there for all three days
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: in Orlando, Florida, AJ's favorite city on the planet. So
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: make sure you tune a little extra for Winter Meetings coverage.
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: Next week.
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: It's baseball the way it should be covered on the
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: FT network.
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: Dude, dude, dude.
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: All right, let's it dude to the week.
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: Ken.
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: Would you like to go first? Or should I go first?
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: And I love the theme we're going with here, you.
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: Know what, I'll go first. All of our dudes this
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: week look like ladies. And if you don't know the song,
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: look it up. The dudes are dude debts and I'm
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: going to start with our own. Alana Rizzo. Alana is
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: not doing the show today for a very good reason.
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: G is being honored by the Italian American Baseball Federation
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: tonight at their gallat in New York with their media Awards.
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: So Alana Rizzo. You see you right there. Distinguished career,
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: to say the least, she is one of my do
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: debts of the week and the other this just came
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: out yesterday Hazel May from Sportsnet. She received the Jack
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: Grainy Award from the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame. That
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: is for significant contributions to baseball in Canada through her
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: life's work. Hazel, like Alana, very very deserving to do
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: debts for me.
• 15:22
  Speaker 2: And what say you, Scott, I've got another one a
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: due debt of the week, and that is my teammate
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: here at the FT Network, your teammate even more so
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: over at the Athletic. Katie Wu, who has done a
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: brilliant job covering the Cardinals on the beat for the
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: past five years, is still staying at the Athletic. She's
• 15:40
  Speaker 2: moving over to Los Angeles. She's from California. She's going
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: to cover the Dodgers along with Fabian Ardaiya, so there'll
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: be two of them on coverage there. And I just
• 15:49
  Speaker 2: wanted to point out how brilliant of a job that
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: Katie did for years. I think that she brought just
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: a different flavor of coverage. She's been great on Cardinal territory.
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: You'll see her in some future FI Network action coming up.
• 16:01
  Speaker 2: But I just wanted to give her a shout out
• 16:03
  Speaker 2: Ken as people should recognize her in the LA area
• 16:08
  Speaker 2: and add her to their follow list and look out
• 16:10
  Speaker 2: for her articles.
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: Absolutely and Katie, like Fabian, went to Arizona State their
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: great sports journalism program. Both great young journalists and it's
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: a pleasure to work with them, to say the least,
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: in any medium. Yes, great dudes of the week. Yes,
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: love it all.
• 16:27
  Speaker 2: Right, let's get to the Dorks. Two good candidates this
• 16:39
  Speaker 2: time around. I'll try and go first on this one.
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: I'd like to Cueue up a tweet to help me out.
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: Tis the season, Ken, But when I say that, I
• 16:46
  Speaker 2: mean tis the season to say I'm not as rich
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: as you think I am with my major league ball club,
• 16:52
  Speaker 2: and you expect the common folk everyone else in the
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: world to believe you. So we heard about the profit
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: its situation for the Yankees. What a couple weeks ago.
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: Now let's bring in this report from Sean McAdam and
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: Tyler Milliken, who's part of the Jared Cravis podcast team,
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: pointed this out. But anyway, here's the quote. According to
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: Industry sources familiar with the organization's thinking. The Red Sox
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: are okay going over the first CBT threshold set at
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: two hundred and forty four mil for twenty twenty six,
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: which would translate them to absorbing a modest financial loss,
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: but with anything beyond that, there's a reluctance to incur
• 17:30
  Speaker 2: bigger deficits. I wonder how that got out there. Who
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: knows the books and the finances, Who would be able
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: to speak on that and give information to someone. I
• 17:41
  Speaker 2: just have a hard time when this stuff comes out
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: ken believing that nobody, not even the Yankees or the
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: Red Sox, are making money in Major League Baseball? Why
• 17:50
  Speaker 2: own the team just for the love of the game.
• 17:52
  Speaker 2: Feel bad for me. I'm the only one that can
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: own this team, take the losses and still try to
• 17:58
  Speaker 2: put it into the team to make it success. Pathetic,
• 18:01
  Speaker 2: pathetic information that comes out this time of year. In
• 18:03
  Speaker 2: my mind, I don't think it has as much to
• 18:05
  Speaker 2: do with, say, an illumine lockout in a year. I
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: just think we always get this every offseason and it
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: helps to temper fan expectations.
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: Oh, there are excuses every off season, and it's COVID
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: one year it's the TV money drying up another year.
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: It's always something, and sometimes the excuses are more legitimate
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: than others. This one I question, especially in the first
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: off season after you have unloaded Raphael Devers Hello. That
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: move was intended to create great financial flexibility in the future,
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: and suddenly that flexibility isn't as significant as we thought
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: it was. Eh, we're not buying now. I want to
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: go to my dork of the week because it's a
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: familiar target to this program and it's one we haven't
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: hit in the while. The Athletics, the Oakland, Sacramento, Las
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: Vegas Athletics, And let's take a look at the artists
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: rendering of their new ballpark in Las Vegas, and I'll
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: show you why they are the dorks of the week,
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: because only the A's could pull this off. Now, I
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: don't know if we can zoom in on that person
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: wearing the jersey on the scoreboard, but that is not
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: a Brent Rooker jersey that he's wearing. It's not a
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: jersey of any player on the Athletics. It's a Jose
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: Altuve jersey, a jersey on one of their biggest rivals
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: in the division. So no Brett Rooker, no any other A.
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: But we've got Altuve showcased in this artists rendering. It's
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: a little thing compared to the injustices and criminal activity,
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: not criminal activities, but various things that the A's have
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: done in the past. But it's still dork of the
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: week merit, and it is dork of the week Oakland
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: a's whatever they are, the as the Las Vegas as,
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: Sacramento a's darks of the week yet again.
• 19:52
  Speaker 2: Yeah, easy one here, Ken, I mean, you're putting out renderings,
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: you're putting out a model, you're showing off the ballpark
• 19:57
  Speaker 2: cool and there's some really cool components. There is no
• 20:00
  Speaker 2: faulting that, right. There are parts of the ballpark that
• 20:02
  Speaker 2: looks super cool. Excited about that part. This isn't a
• 20:04
  Speaker 2: knock on Vegas. But when about a year ago John
• 20:08
  Speaker 2: Fisher tells everyone how excited he is for Aaron Judge
• 20:10
  Speaker 2: to hit home runs in his ballpark in Sacramento. And
• 20:13
  Speaker 2: now one of the main photos here has jose Al
• 20:16
  Speaker 2: Tubay Jersey on. It's not like you have to really
• 20:18
  Speaker 2: go find it, right, It's not like they had fifty
• 20:20
  Speaker 2: thousand people in the seats and you find one al
• 20:21
  Speaker 2: Tuo Bay jersey like this is on the video screen
• 20:24
  Speaker 2: on both sides of this photo.
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: It's just it's so ridiculous.
• 20:29
  Speaker 2: It's so John Fisher and company.
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: A pretty easy fix to find the picture of an
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: athletics player and put that on the board. Put a
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: fan with a jersey from an athletics player. Yes, they
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: do exist, not that hard, Scott Man. Hey, thanks for
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: helping out today, Alta. We hope you have a great
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: time tonight. We are going to be back with grilling
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: Ken right after this bet.
• 20:52
  Speaker 2: I'm JM account holders today. How about an any sport
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: parlay boost token. You can score a bigger payout if
• 20:58
  Speaker 2: your wager with that token. Hey, Its tokens can be
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: used on parlays and on same game parlays. Gambling problem
• 21:04
  Speaker 2: or concerned, there's help called one eight hundred gambler. Hey,
• 21:07
  Speaker 2: when you get a chance, subscribe to Foul Territory on YouTube.
• 21:11
  Speaker 2: We are getting very close to three hundred thousand subscribers
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: on the channel and love all of them, so we'd
• 21:17
  Speaker 2: love you to join us on that channel as we
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: break down everything going on across the sport. It is
• 21:24
  Speaker 2: baseball the way it should be covered at foul territory,
• 21:27
  Speaker 2: give us a sub.
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: All right, time now for grilling Ken, the part of
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: the show where I answer your questions. Let's get right
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: to them. First question comes from Mike G fifteen, who says,
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: could you see the twins moving Ryan and Buxton in
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: the same deal? What would it take from a team
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: like the Mets or Cubs who could use a frontline
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: starter and outfielder replacement. Okay, the Twins right now are
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: a mystery. And I've said this I believe on our
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: show and also on FT there is not clarity yet
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: on how they are going to operate this off season.
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: And when I say there's not clarity, I don't mean
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: not clarity coming to reporters about their plans. I mean
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: clarity within their own organization. I don't know that they
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: know what they're going to do. They're working through it.
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: What I was told this week is that they'll have
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: clarity by the winter meetings. Okay, it's probably a good
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: idea to have clarity by the winter meetings. So the
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: question then becomes, and to the question that the person
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: is asking there, where are they going to go? Which
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: way are they going to go? I don't necessarily expect
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: them to trade Ryan Buxton, maybe Pablo Lopez. It seems
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: to me that there are factions in the Twins organization
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: that want to start building the team back up again.
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: Good ideas since you've alienated your fan base and then
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: there are ownership questions. They just took on the two
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: new investors. How much are they going to spend all
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: of that but to keep going backwards? If they do that,
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: then yes, Ryan becomes available, Buckston becomes available. They're probably
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: more valuable separately than they would be together. All right,
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: let's go to the next question. What I mean there
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: is separately in trades than they would be in one package.
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: Next question, this one comes from Bernie Suarez who asked,
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: can you elaborate on the case for Valenzuela in the
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: Hall of Fame? I know there are many fans of
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: Mexican descent, like myself that became fans because of him. Bernie,
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: great question, And Fernando Valezuela like Murphy, like Maddingly, would
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: he elevate the Hall of Fame? Yes, he would elevate
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: the Hall of Fame. For a moment in time, Fernando
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: Vealezuela was the hottest thing in the sport, and like
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: some of the others, you could say his peak was shorter.
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: He certainly didn't get to the major numbers in longevity
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: that you like to see. But Fernando Valezuela had a
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: huge impact on the sport, and in my view, that
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: should be taken into consideration in Hall of Fame balloting. Now,
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: he didn't get in on the writer's ballot. That's why
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: he's on the Eras Committee ballot, and we'll see how
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: it goes. But when you ask these questions, do I
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: think he belongs, Well, obviously I didn't get in on
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: the writer's baouot, okay, But if they put him in now,
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: it would be good. It would be a good thing,
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: and I would be quite pleased to see Fernando Vealezuela
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: in Cooperstown. All right, Next question, this one comes from
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: Let's get to It's Sicilian eighty seven. I love these names.
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: A lot of money coming off the books for Toronto
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: next year. True. Do you think they'll tolerate one year
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: of an ultra high payroll? Yes, that seems to be
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: the way that they're going with the signings of Cease
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: and Ponce and then perhaps another big signing in store,
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: whether it's Tucker or Boschette. Again, I do not expect
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: them to do both. But with that money coming off
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: the books after next year, yes, they can operate in
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: the way that they're doing, and that is perhaps not
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: even perhaps that is one reason why they're going this way.
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: Next question comes from armand is amazing. Who asks, besides
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: the Mets, Blue Jays and Dodgers, what other teams will
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: be in on Edwin Diaz Armond, I'd like to know
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: the answer to that myself, because I don't know now.
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: Diaz is an interesting case. The Mets obviously this week
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: signed Devin Williams as kind of protection against the loss
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: of DZ. If they get Daz back, great, They've got
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: a dynamic one two punch at the end of games.
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: If they don't, certainly Devin Williams can close, though it's
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: not as good a bullpen without Daz. Let's not mistake
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: that the Blue Jays we do know have been linked
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: to Edwin Diaz and the Dodgers. I can expect that
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: they be in, but probably only if his market collapses.
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: I don't see them doing another multi year for reliever
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: after they gave Tanner Scott four years seventy two million
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: last offseason. So when we look at this and say, okay,
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: which teams are in? Who else can be in? Maybe
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: he doesn't have a market, and certainly the qualifying offer
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: is something that hurts all players who get it to
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: some extent. But I don't ever buy that an elite
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: talent like a Diaz or any other player at that
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: caliber does not have a market. Now, he might not
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: have a market at the level that he wants to
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: be at. But let's say the price drops. Let's say
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: it's not five years one hundred, Let's say it goes
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: to four years, maybe even to three. Then teams would
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: jump in. And again it's difficult to predict. I always
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: tell you guys this that free agency it's almost impossible
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: to predict in many cases because teams come out of
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: nowhere and teams do things that you don't expect. But
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: does Edwin Diaz have a market? Yes? I believe he does,
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: so we'll find out in short order. I would expect
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: where he's coming, but at this point just don't know
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: beyond those teams which other ones are involved. All right,
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: one more question before we go. This one comes from
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: Christian Avilis one, two, three Ken who are the front
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: runners for Tetsuga am I Now. In our notes column today,
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: Patrick Mooney and I we wrote about am I and
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: Patrick in assembling that it was his note for the
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: most part, pointed out that am I as a guy
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: that is not necessarily wedded to any one part of
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: the country or any one team or anything like that.
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: He is open minded. That was the point of what
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: Patrick wrote. Three East Coast teams I can see being
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: in on Ami for sure, both New York teams the
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: Yankees could use another starter. Not necessarily an absolute must,
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: but man, it would be great if they got one more.
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: The Mets, we know they need an ace, and certainly
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: they were in on Yamamoto, as were the Yankees and
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: the Phillies. Another team that was in on Yamamoto two
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: years ago also figured to be in the My Sweet stake.
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: So those are three teams we've heard. San Francisco is out,
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: But here is a guy that can be a difference
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: maker and the best Japanese pitcher coming aboard this year.
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: I would expect he's going to do quite well in
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: free agencies. So with that, I want to thank everyone
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: for watching, for listening, for however, you consume our wonderful
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: product here. I also want to thank Scott again for
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: joining us as co host. Have a great weekend everyone,
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: and the next time we speak will be from the
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: Winter Meetings in Orlando coming up Monday. Unfair Territory