Latest / Foul Territory / Fair Territory: Reds land Eugenio Suárez, Giants sign Luis Arráez

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Fair Territory: Reds land Eugenio Suárez, Giants sign Luis Arráez · Foul Territory

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Good morning everyone, Welcome to the Monday edition of Fair Territory.
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: I have good news this morning. Punks of Tony Phil
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: saw his shadow. That means, well, it means we have
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: six weeks left of winter. But the good news is
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: less than two weeks until spring training and that should
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: warm all of our cold hearts. Now, we're coming off
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: a very interesting weekend. A couple of interesting things happened,
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: a couple of free agent signings, a trade, and also
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: the insurance issues with the WBC. We're going to get
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: to all of it. I want to start off with
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: the two free agent signings because to me, they're kind
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: of similar and not necessarily related. But we're talking about
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: two flawed players who got one year deals. Aohenio Suarez,
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: of course, one year fifteen million with the Cincinnati Reds,
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: a team he had played for previously. He is welcome
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: back to any team he had played for previously. He
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: is the good vibes guy in the game. And then
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: Luis Arrives, another really good guy, by the way, one
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: year twelve million with the San Francisco Giants. These two
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: guys were not necessarily top free agents. Suarez was number
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: sixteen on the Athletics big board, and Arise was number
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: thirty three. But they're kind of interesting in the way
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: that I just said they're flawed. Suarez is a guy
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: who is somewhat one dimensional. Arise as a guy who
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: is somewhat one dimensional. Now, in Suarez's case, the one
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: dimension is power. He has it. Forty nine home runs
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: last year, tailed off after his trade from the Diamondbacks
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: to the Mariners. But forty nine home runs, My goodness,
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: that's pretty good. What are the problems? The problems are
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: strikes out a ton, usually in the two hundred strikeout range.
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: He is streaky as can be, and he is a
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: poor defender. Essentially, at this point of his career, he
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: is a DH and that is the Reds plan for him.
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: That is how they are going to use him for
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: the most part. They'll play him a third sum maybe
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: at first some but he is going to be their DH,
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: hitting behind Elie Dela Cruz. So that is Ajohano Suarez.
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: Those are his flaws. With Luisa Rise, it's a little
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: bit different. Unlike Suarez, he makes contact. He is the
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: leading contact guy in the sport. He is a throwback
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: to when players actually didn't strike out two hundred times
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: a year. But what are Luis arise flaws? The flaws
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: for him are pretty obvious too. Lack of power when
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: he doesn't hit three hundred, as he didn't last year,
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: he doesn't get on base enough because he doesn't walk
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: all that much. And defensively he is a real question.
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: He saw the reports yesterday that he had multi year
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: deals on the table, but he wanted to go play
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: second base again. Wanted to get back to that position,
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: his original position. The San Francisco Giants are going to
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: allow him to do that. Proceed at your own risk,
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: San Francisco, because the rise at that spot, even though
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: he is still fairly young, he is, it's just not
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: defensively as capable as he is offensively. Again, two of
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: the great people in the game, but flawed, and that
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: is why they were restricted to one year deals when
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: most projected them to get multi year deals in free agency.
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: Now with the Giants, it kind of continues a curious
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: offseason for them. They are a team that loaded up
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: in recent years with big additions, right Matt Chapman, Willia
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: Domas and of course Raphael Devers. We're going to get
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: to him in a minute and yet this offseason, when
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: it seemed that they needed to push a little bit,
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: they also have Logan Web under a big, long term deal,
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: they didn't push at all. They signed six players for
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: a total of sixty seven and a half million. The
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: most expensive of those was Adrian Hauser two years, twenty
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: two million. They also signed Tyler Molly. They bring in
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: Harrison Bader on a two year deal. He'll play center
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: field for them, with Jung Hulee moving to a corner.
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: They're an interesting team to watch, no doubt. I look
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: forward to seeing them play. I don't know how good
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: they're going to be. They still need, in my estimation,
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: a big time starter to go with Webb. With Hawser
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: and Malli, they got competent guys, I don't know that
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: they got high end guys. So the Giants under first
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: year manager Tony Vitello are going to be a different
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: kind of team then they've been in the past. They
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: have the stars in place. They don't have really the
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: solutions that fans envisioned for them at the start of
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: the off season, but this is the way they went
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: about it. They decided for whatever reasons, and maybe the
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: potential lockout was one of them that they didn't want
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: to go big this off season because they've gone big
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: in previous off seasons. And of course last June when
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: they traded for Ralphael Devers, they wanted CJ. Abrams in
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: a trade they tried to get him, but end up
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: ultimately with Arise, who is a guy that I said
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: will be problematic from a defensive standpoint. The Reds, too,
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: are a team that didn't spend a whole lot of
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: money this offseason. Their big move was re signing Amelio Pagan.
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: I believe that was two years twenty million. They are
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: a team that spent fewer than fifty million on five players.
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: The Reds are going to be competitive. They made the
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: playoffs last season with what they had and Terry Francona
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: will get the most out of them. But in an
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: offseason that began with them pursuing Kyle Schwarber, Yes, of
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: course Suarez is a bit of a letdown. Now. I
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: mentioned the trade that occurred yesterday, and I mentioned Ralphael Devers.
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: Those two things are tied together, the trade and Ralphael Devers.
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: The trade, as reported was an announced. Jordan Hicks, one
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: of the players in the Devers deal, and David Sandlin,
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: one of the Red Sox better pitching prospects. Not necessarily
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: their top guy. That's Connolly early and Peyton totally, but
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: Sandlin was a guy who going into last season was
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: really highly regarded and still is quite highly regarded. Engage Zeal,
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: a pitcher from the White Sox system who they had
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: acquired for Austin Slater. He goes back to Boston. This
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: was a salary dump obviously from the Red Sox perspective.
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: They picked up eight of the twenty four million remaining
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: on Hicks's deal, but they get rid of sixteen million,
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: and from the White Sox perspective, this was a good
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: move because, yes, they have to take on Jordan Hicks
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: and his money and make him an eight million dollar
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: a year middle reliever, but they also get Sandlin, a
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: guy they really liked, and this is one of the
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: benefits of their ability a couple of weeks ago to
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: trade Luis Robert Junior to the Mets. Since then, since
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: clearing that twenty two million obligation to him, they've signed
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: Sir Anthony Dominguez, They've now traded for Hicks, and they
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: have one other free agent addition that is eluding me
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: right now, but it was, Oh, Austin Hayes, another good one,
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: one year, six million for him. So the White Sox
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: have done well here, but the Red Soize are going
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: to be the focus for the next minute or two. Now.
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: The Red Sox, if you recall, made the Ralphield Devers
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: trade last summer. Now, I never thought when they did
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: that that the return was going to be something that
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: they were going to be so excited about, and it wasn't.
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: But since then a trade that I didn't like at
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: the time, mostly because of how it came about, mostly
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: because they alienated a star player they had recently signed
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: long term, alienated him to the point where he wanted
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: out and they needed him out. That was mismanagement one
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: oh one. But the return and people have focused on
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: this in recent days and weeks and months, that was
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: never going to be something that was going to be
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: so great. Let me show you how this deal has
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: netted out for the Red Sox, because yes, it is
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: disturbing if you're a Red Sox fan. The principal gain
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: from the Dever's trade was the savings of two hundred
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: and fifty five million on the remaining part of his deal.
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: Red Sox also acquired Kyle Harrison, who could be a
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: guy that ultimately serves a purpose for them. Gage zeal
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: he comes in the trade yesterday. Jose Beao, he's a kid,
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: was in rookie ball last year, and then Jordan Hicks
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: for two months and they were often injured in effective months.
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: And Dustin May, who came for James Tibbs, now one
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: of the Dodgers' top ten prospects. I don't know why
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: the Red Sox felt compelled to trade him for two
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: months of Dustin May, but that's what they did. And
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: the Red Sox of course lost Ralph faeld Devers and
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: David Sandlin. Now, as I said, the principal return for
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: ralfhaeld Devers, a star player who was not yet even thirty,
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: was never going to be what defined this trade. What
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: defined this trade was going to be what they did
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: with the savings. Right, the two hundred and fifty five
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: million that they saved on Devors alone, Well, what have
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: they done this offseason. Let's take a look at this
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: and I'll show you. Obviously, the two hundred and fifty
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: five million was not going to be all spent in
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: one off season, and it will be spent over a
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: period of time. But here is the Red Sox off season.
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: As far as the financial additions, I'm not talking about
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: the players they lost in some of the trades. Strictly finances.
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: Here Ranger Swarez one hundred and thirty million, five years
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: Wilson contrast, they ultimately take thirty four and a half
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: million over two years in that trade. Sunny Gray nets
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: out to one year, twenty one million. I'm counting the
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: Chapman extension here because it happened after the Dever's trade
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: and ultimately counts as an off season move. And then
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: Johanno Viedo coming over from Pittsburgh in a trade one year,
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: one point five five million. If you're a Red Sox
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: fan and you're looking at this, you're saying, again, where
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: is the big offensive addition? Where is Alex Bregman, who
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: of course signed with the Cubs. Where is someone else? Now?
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: The off season is not over. The Red Sox, as
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: Jen McCaffrey wrote in The Athletic Today, still want to
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: add an infielder. I expect that they will add an infielder.
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: Their fan base, which seems to be having conniptions over everything.
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: Had conniptions yesterday again when they did not sign Aohano Suarez.
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: I don't know that Aohano Suarez was necessarily the best
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: solution for the Red Sox. Let's see what they come
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: up with. I didn't like the trade at the time.
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: I didn't like it for the reasons I stated. I
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: never thought it was going to be this great panaceer
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: for the Red Sox. From the perspective of, oh wow,
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: we got these really good guys back from Ralph Field
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: Devers and again Harrison might turn out to be Okay
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: Beyo or Jose baoyat ultimately in time could be the same.
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: I wouldn't expect that. The key question was what do
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: they do with the newfound payroll flexibility. They got it,
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: They've spent some of it, maybe a lot of it,
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: but to this point their team still is one hitter short.
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: All right, Now, we have a brand new show coming
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: up on the Foul Territory Network, This one we're excited about.
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: FT resident GM Jim Bowden and his son Trey hosted
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: GM Territory. It's a new territory for us. In the
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: first episode out now, the Bodon's Great, The Grade, the
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: Al East offseason and predict breakout stars on each team.
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: Subscribe on YouTube and share it with a friend, part
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: of the Foul Territory Network, and we will be back
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: with the Inside Dish right after this. Well well, well, well,
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: all right, time now for the Inside Dish, the part
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: of the show where I talk about a story I've
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: written something in the game. Maybe a combination of both,
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: and that's what we're going to have on this Monday,
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: a combination of both. A big issue surfaced over the
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: weekend and is an issue that I wrote about with
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: evand Relic in the Athletic and the issue is insurance
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: for players in the WBC, the World Baseball Classic, the
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: first big event on the baseball calendar this season, and
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: the issue has arisen because insurance for some players has
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: been denied. A number of players on the Puerto Rican
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: team were denied coverage and for that reason, some of
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: their officials and their federation said, you know what, we
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: might not be able to field a club. We might
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: not have enough to go about this in the proper way.
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: So why has this problem arisen? Insurance has become more
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: expensive since the last tournament. It has been a situation
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: where the insurer became more stringent about the way they
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: approached players and who they covered, who they approved for insurance.
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: And this is largely a result of what happened in
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: the last WBC in twenty twenty three, when Edwin Diaz
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: and Jose l Tuve to expensive players both suffered injuries. Well,
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: you know how insurance companies react to things that go poorly.
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: What do they do? They raised premiums and they make
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: it tougher to get coverage, and that is what is
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: happening here. Put Nico has been hit especially hard talking
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: about Francisco Lindor, Carlos Correa, Jose Berrios, and Victor Caratini,
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: all flagged for insurance issues. Some of those players are
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: still under review. The rosters are due tomorrow and they
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: will not be announced until Thursday, so there's still time
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: for some revisions here. And two Puerto Rican relievers have
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: actually been approved who are initially rejected, so things are
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: changing those relievers, Luis Cannes and Giovanni Moran. Now, other cases,
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: as I said, are being looked at, and Puerto Rico
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: has said they might withdraw their US territory, and they're
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: obviously a strong baseball country. But the problem that they
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: face is they don't draw from as large a player
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: population as the United States, Japan, or even the Dominican Republic.
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: So the more players they lose, the more their team
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: is compromised. And with Puerto Rico hosting one of the
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: first round sites or being one of the first round sites,
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: obviously they don't want to be embarrassed playing at home,
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: and that's why they've talked about potentially withdrawing. I don't
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: believe that is going to happen. There's a lot at
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: stake for Puerto Rico. If they do drop out, you
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: lose money. You kind of are in an embarrassing situation
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: when you are hosting something and you're not participating. Not good.
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: So I expect this to be resolved to the best
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: it can be resolved. But you understand why people in
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: Puerto Rico are upset. Now, let me explain the insurance
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: element here. It's obviously a little bit different than what
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: you and I face when we go for insurance. In
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: this case, for the WBC, the insurance covers one hundred
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: percent of a position player's salary for two years and
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: one hundred percent of a pictures salary for four. That's
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: pretty good. Now. It's expensive, of course, and that's the
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: problem that the teams are I'm sorry the league and
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: union are running into it's co owned wannament is by
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: the league and the union. But at the same time,
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: there's no deductible the premiums or paid off right away.
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: The teams get the money back. The players are paid regardless.
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: Their contracts are guaranteed. That's worth knowing and certainly understanding.
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: But the teams are unwilling to have players play without
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: insurance unless they were willing to assume the risk. The
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: Tigers did that from Miguel Cabrera a few years ago.
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: The Dodgers did not with Clayton Kershaw. This was both
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: in twenty twenty three. So then you might ask, okay,
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: what disqualifies a player. Generally it's two things, one a
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: recent surgery and two more than sixty days spent on
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: the IL or sixty days missed with injuries in the
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: previous season. A number of US players had injury issues
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: last year but are eligible, we're cleared to play, were insured,
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: And this is what has gotten some people confused and upset,
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: especially people with passion for the Puerto Rican side and
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: what I'm talking about is Aaron Judge, a guy who
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: had a UCL issue last year but still played in
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: one hundred and fifty two games. I'm talking about Alex Bregman,
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: a guy who was injured a lot too, but never
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: went on the sixtydil, never had surgery. And Byron Buxton,
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: a guy who has always heard it seems IL twice
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: last year but didn't miss the sixty days. And the
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: other thing with Buckston, his salary is not as high.
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: It's fifteen million, so it's not as big a risk
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: to ensure him. So again you can understand why people
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: are upset and understand why people are confused. It looks arbitrary.
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: Why are the Puerto Rican players getting singled out here?
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: It looks arbitrary. Well, we know this from our own lives.
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: Insurance often is arbitrary. There is no reason for Major
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: League Baseball and the Major League Players Association to want
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: to stick it to Rico. They want the best players
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: in the tournament. They want Lindor playing. He's the face
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: of Puerto Rican baseball. They want him in there. But
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: what happened was and it looks bad. Obviously, it's a
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: bad look for the tournament. It's a bad look overall.
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: What happened was a number of the players from Puerto
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: Dco had issues that were flagged. Now again it's not
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: over and we'll see tomorrow. Actually we will not see
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: till Thursday how this all panned out, because again there
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: are conversations being taken place right now, there are further
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: evaluations being made, players being looked at again and trying
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: to clear for coverage and obviously to play in the WBC.
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: So what is ultimately the overriding thing here, Well, the
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: basic problem of the WBC is the fear of players
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: getting hurt. Teams fear that because they don't want to
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: lose players. They're paying a lot of money to fans too.
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: You see fans off in comment I don't want my
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: guys in the WBC. I want them healthy for the season.
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: And certainly I understand all that, and everybody has their
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: own particular interests. From the perspective of the sport as
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: a whole, the WBC is a great thing. It has
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: promoted the game internationally, It has grown the game, It
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: has created revenue that was not there before. And beyond
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: all that, and the part of it that to me
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: is most appealing. It is one of the more exciting
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: things going on the baseball calendar, and the last tournament,
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: the one in twenty twenty three. I've said this before
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: and I'll say it again, one of the best things
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: I've ever covered, one of the most exciting things I've
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: ever covered. I've covered Olympics, I've covered Super Bowls, obviously,
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: I've covered World Series and all of that. But the
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: quality of play, the passion that the players showed, well,
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: why are so many US players in particular signing up
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: this time because of what they saw in twenty twenty three. Now,
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: it's true that players do get hurt, and it's also
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: true that players get hurt in spring training, but the
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: risk in the WBC obviously is greater. We all know that.
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: So this is the byproduct of having the tournament. You're
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: going to have insurance issues, You're going to have players
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: who get hurt from time to time, and it's just
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: part of the equation. And ultimately you have a vast
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: majority of star players who are participating. The biggest names
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: for the most part are in this tournament, from Judge
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: to Soto, to cal Raley to Turrek Schoubel and Paul
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: skins in this particular tournament. With the insurer becoming more
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: rigid about which players it covers, it was inevitable. Inevitable
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: there would be a greater number of issues this year.
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: That is what has happened. The hope now over the
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: next twenty four hours or so is that more players
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: from Puerto Rico get cleared that this is not that
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: big an issue for them that they feel comfortable fielding
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: a team. I don't know how it's all going to transpire.
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: I do know it was very unfortunate what has happened here.
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: But let's see in wait before judging the WBC prematurely,
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: Let's see who gets on the field. Let's see how
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: the tournament proceeds before condemning it before it even starts.
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: All right with that, that's the inside dish. We'll be
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: back with grilling ken right after this.
• 20:26
  Speaker 2: BET'MGM account holders today. How about in any sport parlay
• 20:30
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• 20:32
  Speaker 2: wager with that token. HITS tokens can be used on
• 20:34
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• 20:38
  Speaker 2: there's help called one eight hundred gambler.
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: All right time now for grilling Ken, the part of
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: the show where I answer your questions. Let's get going,
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: Let's get right to them. First question comes from Wicked
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: Better fifty four, who asks, now that the Red Sox
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: have lost out on Aohanno Suarez, do you see them
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: pursuing from bra Valdez to double down on their starting
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: rotation and keep him from signing with the Orioles. Wow,
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: the Red Sox are scared of the Orioles. That's a
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: new one. I don't see this happening. And Ranger Suarez
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: was the initial pivot from Bregman. When they lost Bregman,
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: they went and signed Rangers Suarez. That was the double
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: down move on their rotation at this point from bra
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: Valdez would be excessive. They don't need any more pitching.
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: What they need is offense. It's a good question, and
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: teams certainly are always wondering, all right, if we can't
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: do it this way, maybe that way. The idea is
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: to outscore the other team. But I don't see the
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: Red Sox getting another pitcher. I do see them needing
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: another bat, all right. Next question, so, when it comes
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: from Sean Daniel, I don't know what it says, are
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: the Rangers done for the off season? Maybe they add
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: a bat possible. I don't necessarily see it happening. The
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: Rangers have had an unusual off season in the sense
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: that it's been kind of quiet for them, But I
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: don't see them necessarily going big on anything. They're a
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: team that looks to be better next season with the
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: addition of Nemo and some other things that they've done.
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: They feel that they can get more out of their
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: own players. That's been a big thing with them. We
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: need to get more out of our own guys. They've
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: obviously added Mackenzie Gore. That was their big move. Yes,
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: they could use more offense because their offense was extremely
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: disappointing last season. But I don't see a bat of
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: consequence coming to the Rangers. In fact, there really aren't
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: many bats of consequence left in either trade or free agency.
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: All Right, one more I think we can get to.
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: Let's see Armand is amazing one of our best contributors.
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: Armand asked Ken, well the Tigers make moves after the
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: RB hearing with Schooble, no matter the outcome. Great question.
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: Great question because Tarek Scouble is going to get either
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: nineteen million or thirty two million once his RB case
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: is decided. Barring a settlement, which is not happening, most
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: likely it's going to be one of those numbers or
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: the other. That's how it works in arbitration. You win
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: or you lose. If that number is thirty two million,
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: do I see them making any further additions? It would
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: compromise them, It would change things for them. If it's
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: nineteen million, Can they go forward with the addition of
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: perhaps another starting pitcher when a number are still out there,
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: from Gallon to Bassett to Geolido right down the line
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: that I can see that should happen. It should happen
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: either way. Frankly, if you're the Tigers, if you lose
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: an arbitration, well maybe you should have offered Derek Schouoble
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: more money before this all came to a head. So
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: with that Schooble hearing is going to have an outcome
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: that is obviously meaningful in the context of arbitration, meaningful
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: for the Tigers twenty twenty six payroll, and yes, perhaps
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: meaningful for their roster in twenty twenty six as well.
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: One way or another. All right, I want to thank
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: everyone for their questions. Everyone for watching, for listening. Foul
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: Territory coming up at one pm e T. That is
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: Jim Bowden and Richie Schaeffer. They're going to join Alana Rizzo,
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: Aj Prazinski and Eric Kratz. We'll be back Thursday at
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: our usual time, live at twelve thirty myself and Alana.
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: Have a great week. Everyone, We'll talk to you soon.