Latest / Rosters to Rings Podcast / MLB Mailbag: Hamate Bones + Why Is Lucas Giolito Still Unsigned?

Transcript

MLB Mailbag: Hamate Bones + Why Is Lucas Giolito Still Unsigned? · Rosters to Rings Podcast

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Welcome back to Rosters to Rings. I'm your host, Thad Levine.
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: We have a very special episode today. The listeners have
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: been pouring in with some excellent questions. Wyatt has been
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: curating them. We're going to dedicate this whole episode trying
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: to get to as many of your questions as possible,
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: so please keep sending them in and in the meantime,
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: let's kick off those questions.
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: Wyatt, thank you. That first question is going to be
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: from Brian in Scottsdale. Last week we had Corbyn Carroll
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: Jackson holiday and Francisco Lindoor ruled out for the start
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: of the season with broken haymate bones. Do you have
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: any insight into this injury? And how wild is it
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: that three star players were ruled out at the same
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: time with the same injury.
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: I think we have to chuck this up to bad juju.
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: I'm curious as to what the juju these guys had,
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: But this actually is a unique injury which is specific
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: by and large two hitters in professional baseball. I wonder
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: if hockey players have this or tennis players have this.
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: It basically is a small bone in your wrist as
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: your wrist meets your hand and it's often also called
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: the hook of the handmade and it's a very delicate
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: bone and from overuse can be fractured hairline or otherwise.
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: And in these three guys cases, this is not great
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: news for their teams. The silver lining, such as it is,
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: is this is something guys come back from. This is
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: something they can recover from and in a relatively timely fashion.
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: So these three players, all three, two of whom are
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: established stars in the game, and Jackson Holiday is an
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: up and coming star. I think it will have a
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: chance to contribute to their team and hopefully early in
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: the season. So for fans of those three teams, while
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: this is a setback, they are going to miss spring training,
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: by and large, I think they should be ready and
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: hopefully playing for their team sometime in April. But this
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: injury takes place really from just over usage swinging, and
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: there are multiple types of players in the game. They're
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: guys who really spend a ton of time in the cage.
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: And you know, we've had so many of these guys
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: in the past who they are tinkering constantly with their swing,
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: and one hundred swings turns into two hundred swings turns
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: into five hundred swings in the cage, and what then
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: may happen is you start having chain of body injuries,
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: so you have injuries with your fingers, your hands, your wrists.
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: Sometimes it's fatigue, sometimes it's tendon related, and in this case,
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: unfortunately it's a broken bone. So I think, once again,
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: hopefully for those fan bases, those three players will be
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: back and back soon. For fantasy players out there who
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: selected some of these guys, Corbyn Carroll in the first round,
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: Francisco Lindor in the first round or second round, they're
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: dying to get these guys back. I think you're going
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: to see him back on the field in April, but
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: unfortunately they won't be available for their teams in spring training.
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: All right, Next question is from Jordan in Knoxville. We've
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: got a messy development the MLB league offices. As MLBPA
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: leader Tony Clark has stepped down that any insight into
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: what this role for the MLB PA entails and where
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: do you see the league going from here?
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: So I think I think this is a really interesting
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: story to follow from a baseball perspective. So Tony Clark
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: has been the head of the union now for I
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: think thirteen to fifteen years. He has spanned two collective
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: bargaining agreements in that role. For people who don't remember,
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: he was also a very accomplished hitter in the Big League,
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: switch hitting first baseman, power hitter, two hundred and fifty
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: plus home runs in his career, very well respected throughout
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: his career, and that's how he ascended to being the
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: head of the Union. He took over for a guy
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: who I think bears noting his name was Michael Wiener.
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: Michael Wiener was probably one of the most successful Union
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: heads in sports history. And when I say that, it's
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: not because of his name notoriety, it's because of his personality,
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: his intelligence, and his career Risthma Michael was absolutely excellent.
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: He was a guy who was I think revered by
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: the players, by the coaches, but also by owners and
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: by people at front office executives. He had an incredible
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: way to come to the table with extremely thoughtful intelligence.
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: He was constantly looking to better the game from both
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: sides of the aisle. He was a centrist, so to speak,
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: and I think he really served the game exceptionally well. Unfortunately,
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: he passed away prematurely due to a bout with cancer
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: and that left a vacancy back then, which ultimately was
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: filled by Tony Clark, who was an up and comer
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: on the union side. He was kind of thrust into
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: a leadership position, a position that he has now held
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: for well over a decade. But there is some innuendo
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: around this. Why that you referenced, there's some there's story
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: swirling right now, and I don't want to speculate, so
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: I'm just going to reference some of the articles are
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: out there. The article The Athletic has covered this very well.
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: Jeff Passen has been right about this. And there's two
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: issues that are afoot right now that they're trying to
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: resolve with Tony. One is there there appears to be
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: some what is called impropriety associated with the dispersal of
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: licensing money throughout the union and that they were potentially
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: using that to enrich the leadership of the union. That's
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: an ongoing investigation that unfortunately Tony Clark is embroiled. And secondarily,
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: something that's come out kind of recently is this supposition
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: that maybe there's an allegation associated with an inappropriate relationship
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: with his sister in law, who is also employed by
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: the Union a couple of years ago. So both while
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: both of those things are playing out in the background,
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: the leadership of the union decided it was time to
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: make a change not have this distraction. And so from
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: a mechanical standpoint, there's an eight player leadership team within
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: Major League Baseball that advises and ultimately has to endorse
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: the employment of the union head. In this case, that
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: group came together representing the best interest of the players,
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: and they ultimately made a decision it was time to
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: make a change. The significance of the timing of this
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: is real because at the end of the twenty twenty
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: sixth season, the current Collective of Bargaining Agreement which governs
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: Major League Baseball's relationship with the Union, will expire, and
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: there's been a lot of speculation that there will be
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: substantive change that will need to take place to level
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: the playing field of competition within Major League Baseball. Well,
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: that's going to take place at the end of the season.
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: So clearly, the Executive Council of Players made the decision
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: that while there was this concern swirling around Tony Clark,
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: and with the Collective Bargaining Agreement needing to be negotiated
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: come season's end. Rather than have this be a distraction
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: throughout the course of the year and potentially detract from
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: Tony's ability to singularly focus on doing the best he
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: could as the chief negotiator, they decided to make a change. Now,
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: the person who is kind of the vice his assistant
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: has been Bruce Bruce Meyer has been a longtime labor
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: lawyer who has worked for multiple unions throughout the course
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: of his storied career. He was very involved in the
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: last negotiation for a collective bargaining agreement. There is a
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: thought that the most natural person to ascend to the
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: lead of the union at this point would be Bruce Meyer.
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: But time will tell. My guess is this will be
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: resolved in short order because certainly the Players Association is
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: going to want to go into the season with a
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: very clear understanding of who's at the helm of the union.
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: And then one other thing that's happening behind the scenes
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: that fans may not be aware of, is the union
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: had Tony Clark was slated to start a tour of
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: all thirty spring trainings. He was actually supposed to meet
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: with the Cleveland Guardians. I believe yesterday so that was waylaid.
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: He meets individually with all thirty clubs, touch his base
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: with all the players, has a closed door meeting with them,
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: So that is now not taking place. So if they
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: wanted to reinstate those meetings and the substance of them,
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: especially heading into a season which i'll be collective bargain
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: income season's end, they're going to need to replace Tony,
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: and replace Tony very soon.
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: I was going to ask that, do you think is
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: there someone you have in mind that you know is
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: maybe perfect for that role. Is it a Bruce Meyer
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: or is there another former player, coach, executive that you
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: might you maybe think makes a lot of sense.
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: Well, Bruce Meyer is certainly the person most qualified to
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: step in, both in the sense that he has an
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: exceptional career of helping unions negotiate collective bargain agreements. Secondarily,
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: he's been involved with Major League Baseball for over five
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: years now, and so he's intimately knowledgeable with all the
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: ins and outs of what will be negotiated, and he
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: has equity with the player. So he's the most natural
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: fit at this time. I just want to harken back.
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: We started this conversation with Michael Wiener. I want to
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: close it with Michael Wiener just saying he was such
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: a unique talent, because oftentimes what you see in these
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: lead positions is somebody who's very combative, somebody who is
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: constantly fighting for the rights of their players. I think
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: at some point we need to put our sense of
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: fighting for the owners on our side or fighting for
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: the players on their side aside, and we need to
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: fight for the betterment of the league. I think Michael
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: Wiener was particularly gifted at that. If we could find
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: people on both sides who are fighting for the league,
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: I think that would put the sport of baseball in
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: the best position to really excel in years to come.
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: All right, next question is from Trent in Dallas. Lucas
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: Gilito is the last big free agents standing? In your eyes?
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: What does this mean to be in his position?
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: Trent? I think that's a great question. You know, this
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: happens every year, and I don't want to pick on
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: Lucas Gioliedo here. He just happens to be the last
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: guy who's really significance out there. There are other great
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: players out there, don't get me wrong. You know, Starling
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: Marte and Rehys Hoskins and Frankie Montas are a bunch
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: of really good players out there. Some of those guys
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: are a little bit older. Lucas Giliedo is still in
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: his prime. He's thirty one years old. He's coming off
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: a solid season with the Boston Red Sox. He's also
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: calming off a salary where he made nineteen million dollars
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: on a two year, thirty eight million dollar deal that
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: he had signed with them, So he's coming off a
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: significant salary. I think he's still widely regarded, maybe not
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: a number one anymore, but he's certainly in that kind
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: of conversation. Is a really good number three, maybe a
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: low end number two starter. Most teams need these types
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: of guys, So why is he not signed. He's also
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: working with Ryan Hamill of CAAA. His agent. Ryan Hamill's
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: an excellent agent. He's represented some of the best pitchers
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: in the game, and so he very well knows this marketplace.
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: So probably a lot of that conversation behind the scenes
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: back and forth is you know, the agents are doing
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: the best they can at the beginning of the off
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: season to understand the landscape of interest in their players
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: and what they have to juggle is they hear such
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: things as, Hey, we really like your player, but we're
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: also talking to these two or three other starting pitchers,
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: and so you have to balance this notion of when's
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: the right time to strike. You can't force teams to
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: have interest and then also be nimble and be patient.
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: And so Ryan is working with Lucas. I'm sure they're
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: talking daily at this point to understand what's the landscape
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: of the marketplace. We've seen Framber Valdez sign very recently
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: a guy that we've talked about on rosters to rings before,
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: and he signed a very lucrative deal. He's signed a
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: three year, one hundred and fifteen million dollar deal with
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: the Detroit Tigers. And so my guess is the Detroit
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: Tigers were also talking to Lucas Gioledo at the time.
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: Ryan Hammill was excellent at what he does. I'm sure
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: he is also aware of the other teams that were
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: in on Framber Valdez. He is calling those teams to
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: try to re establish their level of interest in Lucasgiledo.
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: So my instincts are that Lucasgieliedo will not be a
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: free agent for much longer. But there also is something
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: we heard Adrian Beltrie refer to this kind of this
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: notion of a pillow contract. Zach Gallon may have just
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: signed one of these with Arizona. He had turned down
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: the qualifying offer at twenty two plus million dollars. He
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: ends up signing a one year deal with them at
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: almost the exact same time dollar metal just a smidge
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: above that, and so that's a pillow contract for him.
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: He'll get to go back on the free agent market
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: a year from now, hopefully when he's a little healthier.
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: Lucas Giulido very well manned up signing that type of deal,
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: or maybe there is still a multi year deal out
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: there for him. The other thing I think fans should
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: consider as you look at a guy like Lucas Gioledo
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: and other guys who are free agents right now, is
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: there is a reason spring training is as long as
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: it is. These guys do need to get ramped up
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: for the season. Starters like to get, you know, four
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: to five starts under their belt. They want to get
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: a certain number of innings pitched under their belt. Hitters
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: want to get a set of plate appearances. The guys
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: who sign late tend to get off to slower starts.
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: It just takes them longer to get ramped up. And
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: so now they're shifting their spring training into the month
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: of April. That's when they're still working out their kinks,
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: building up their stamina, and so they tend to get
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: off to slow starts. And I harken back to twenty
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: eighteen when I was with Minnesota. We signed Lance Lynn,
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: who was a very similar caliber starting pitcher at that time,
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: to a one year d I believe it was March
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: twelfth of that year. We were well into spring training.
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: Lucas Giulito still us a few weeks until he gets
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: to death stage, but it was well into spring training. Lancelin,
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: who was a very accomplished starting pitcher, got up to
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: a slow start. We ultimately traded him at the deadline.
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: It wasn't until the second half of the year that
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: he kind of returned to form and was an excellent
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: pitcher at that point for the New York Yankees, but
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: we didn't necessarily get to benefit from it. So the
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: teams at this point are trying to be very patient.
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: They're trying to get these great deals on players. Similarly,
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: the players are still trying to get the best deal
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: available for them. But the thing that's happening in the
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: background is a collective awareness that the later these guys signed,
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: the less likely they will be to be one hundred
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: percent ready to go opening day. And we want these
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: players for six months, not just for five months of
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: the season.
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: For sure, a fascinating story thad to see transpire, especially
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: Lucasgielito coming off of a solid year last year in Boston.
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: All Right, next question we've got from Steve in La.
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: He wants to know if you had to pick against
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: Otani and Judge to win NL or AL MVP, who
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: would you pick in each league? And we've got in
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: the American League we've got Bobby Witt, cal Rawley, Gunner Henderson,
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: Julio Rodriguez, and Nick Kurtz as the next best odds
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: to win. And then in the National League we've got
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: Juan Soto, Ronald Acunya, Fernando Tatis, Francisco Lindoor, and Corbyn Carrol.
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: So it's a great question. Mercifully, I am not allowed
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: to bet on anything baseball related because it would be
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: really tough to bet against Otani and Judge. Those guys
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: are just Behemos right now in the game, and they
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: seem to really separate themselves, and you know, not great
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: news for the National League West, for the National League.
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: Otani seems to be one hundred percent healthy, ready to
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: pitch and be a hitter this year. So he's going
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: to be at full strength and he may be as
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: a result, setting record for the amount of war that
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: he will produce. Keep in mind, we've talked about this before.
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: Teams that are playoff bound ten to have forty eight
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: or more war as a team. He may end up
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: having nine to ten on his own, and those are
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: just like exceptional numbers that he may be able to
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: account for twenty percent of a playoff berth on his
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: own for a sport that has twenty five other players
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: on the roster, and they are just decorated with some
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: all stars over there. So let's put those two guys
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: off to the side for a second. I'm going to
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: pick from your group in the American League here. Why
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: I'm going to say, I'm really looking closely at Gunner
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: Henderson and at Bobby with These two guys are exceptionally
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: talented players. They're five tool players, which is to say
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: they're great defensive players. They are great power hitters, they're
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: great speed and contact hitters. There's nothing these guys can't do.
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: But for the fact that Judge has just dominated the
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: American League the last couple of years, we'd be hearing
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: a lot more about these guys. Bobby Witz my pick
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: to click this year. He's really been on the cusp
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: of this MVP conversation. He is a dynamic player. When
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: you come out and watch him play, you are seeing
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: a superstar in the making. I think he has all
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: the ingredients to be an MVP. I'm going to pick
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: him as my non American League Aaron Judge candidate in
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: the National League. I'm going to go a little bit
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: a little bit counter, which is to say, the player
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: I'm going to pick is an absolute stud. He is
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: a All Star, he is a cy Young Award consideration,
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: and he's a pitcher, which is very rare to win
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: the MVP. But I'm going to go with Paul Skeens here.
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: I think Paul Skeens is one of the most dominant
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: players in the game. It's an incredible backstory. Having pitched
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: for the Air Force Academy, he then transferred to LSU
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: and just goes through the roof. He is one of
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: the most accomplished college pitchers in recent memory, and he
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: didn't miss a beat when he came to the big
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: leagues and pitched in Pittsburgh. So I think the Pittsburgh
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: Pirates are enjoying one of a generational talent here as
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: a starting pitcher. I think they've also built up their
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: offense this year. The reason I only bring that up
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: is I think the Pittsburgh Pirates have a better chance
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: to be on national TV. The more you're on national TV,
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: the more consideration you do get for some of these awards.
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: As much as the voters are extremely knowledgeable, the more
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: they see the player, the more they're inclined to vote
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: for them. I think we're going to see Paul Skeins
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: on TV a lot more this year because I think
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: Pittsburgh will be more competitive, more compelling. I think he'll
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: garner some more votes, and I think he may sneak
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: in the back door. Will probably require Otani to falter
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: a little bit here, but if he does, look out
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: for Paul Skeins.
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: Some hot takes that I love it, love.
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: It and dove tailing with our previous conversation, you reference
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: both Lindor and Corbyn. Carrol there is as MVP candidates.
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: Both of those guys were on your handmade list. They're
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: going to miss all this training, so that's why I'm
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: just taking a little bit of the under on those
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: two guys. I think it will be tougher for them
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: to deliver full six months at their usual excellent level.
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: It may take them a minute to get up to speed.
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: Otherwise those two guys would be strong considerations as well.
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: Absolutely hard to argue against schemes, just with with how
• 18:16
  Speaker 2: dominant he's been. Next question is from Tim in Philadelphia.
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: Nick Castiano's departure from the Phillies came pretty late in
• 18:28
  Speaker 2: the process from a front office perspective, Why do moves
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: like that sometimes drag out?
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: This is a great question, and you know, one of
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: our themes on rosters to rings and will continue to
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: be in answering this question is you know, part of
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: the answer is these guys are human beings, like the
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: front office executives are trying to do the best they can. Yes,
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: a lot of what we do has to be transactional.
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: It has to be governed by the systems we have built,
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: the formulas we rely on, but ultimately you're talking about
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: people's lives. So in my estimation, they started this offseason.
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: We saw it a little bit last year down the
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: stretch with the Philadelphia Affillies and into the playoffs, they
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: weren't exceptionally clear as to how to use Nick Castianos.
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: For a long time, Castianos has been regarded as a
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: offensive first player who you stick in the outfield's and
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: he's probably somewhere between fringe average and a little bit
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: below average Defensively. He makes spectacular plays out there, we've
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: seen it, but he also makes spectacular plays the other way,
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: which are remarkable when you watch because they're just not
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: particularly competitive. So as good as his offense has always been,
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: it's had to be that level because his defense is
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: a little bit of a detractor from his game. One
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: thing that Dave Dombrowski has done remarkably, I think with
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: the Phillies is he, by and large has built a
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: team that is just so dynamic offensively that it's accounted
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: for some guys who haven't been great defenders. But when
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: they start faltering offensively, which we saw in Nick Castianos
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: last year, it's tough to have these guys on the
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: field because you already Kyle Schwarber as your DH. So
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: if Kyle Schwarber is taking up the DH spot, there's
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: no second opportunity to have a guy like Nick Castellanos
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: in the lineup just for his bat, you have to
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: play him defensively. So my guess is what transpired is,
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: first things first, they wanted to see how the offseason
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: played out. They wanted to see if Schwarber was going
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: to be back. If he was, they'd have that same
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: congestion issue where they'd have to view Castellanos as a defender.
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: They'd have to factor in his defense into his overall
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: valuation for the team. Clearly, they did resign Schwarber, which
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: was a big significant move for them. They've also, you know,
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: a handful of moves this offseason, by and large, was
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: to restore the team they had from last year. They
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: do lose Ranger Suarez, but I think they spent as
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: long as they could to understand where we're going to
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: be their holes and where would their needs lie. Then
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: I think they shifted their attention to trying to trade
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: caste Aanos, and I think what they probably heard by
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: and large from the league was he was making too
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: much money relative to his now diminished on field contributions.
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: So once they got that information and that feedback, they
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: probably started talking about, well, how much would we have
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: to subsidize him, i e. How much of his salary
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: for twenty twenty six would we have to assume for
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: you to take the player at any level. So now,
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: all of a sudden, instead of looking for a handsome
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: prospect return and getting out from underneath the salary, they're
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: probably now willing to pay part of their salary and
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: ideally get a second tier or third tier prospect. Then
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: when that evaporated, they probably got to a point where
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: they were willing to pay him down to close to
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: the major league minimum. And now they were just looking
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: at it from a perspective of how much money can
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: we save to put Nick cast Ianus in a better
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: position and also really decongest what is a very difficult
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: decision for Rob Thompson, their manager, which is, how do
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: you sit a guy with that pedigree who's meant that
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: much to the franchise. It seems disrespectful for him. It
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: could be a distraction in a year in which they're
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: trying to regain their position as a dominant team in
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: the National League. Ultimately, they arrived at the decision late
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: in the process of releasing him, because they thought they
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: probably could have traded him, but once they got to camp,
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: they'd set a deadline for themselves. If we don't want
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: to have him in camp competing for a spot that
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: we know we can't win, that's not fair to him,
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: that's disrespectful to him, and it could be a little
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: bit distracting within our camp. So they ultimately made the decision.
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: But we also saw on the other side that the
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: San Diego Padres signed him very quickly, and in those cases,
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: all they have to pay him is the major league minimum.
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: The Philadelphia Phillies are still required to pay him the
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: remainder of his salary and they're on the hook for
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: the rest of that. I also that makes me wonder
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: were they in negotiations with San Diego on a possible
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: trade that they just couldn't come to terms on so
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: they ultimately decided to release him. The fact that San
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: Diego jumped that quickly indicates to me that they must
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: have had some conversations with Philly prior to his release.
• 22:54
  Speaker 2: You know that you said distraction there. I think that
• 22:57
  Speaker 2: definitely played a role. You know, listening to some interviews
• 23:02
  Speaker 2: after Castianos was released with Kyle Schwarber and you know,
• 23:06
  Speaker 2: seeing him kind of air out some internal conflicts within
• 23:09
  Speaker 2: the team. I don't know if you had any thoughts
• 23:11
  Speaker 2: on that and how he kind of went about that.
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, I think you ideally want all of
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: those things to happen internally. You know, there's you know
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: that there's a living organism which is is the Major
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: League clubhouse. There's a dynamic also of relationships between the
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: front office and the clubhouse, and they go through the
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: natural ebbs and flows that we see in any business setting,
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: and so they are disagreements that take place. But we
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: always tried to promote an environment where we promoted disagreement
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: behind closed doors, but unity once we got out in
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: the public. We wanted to handle as much of those
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: things internally as we possibly could. Kyle schwarber' is a
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: leader on that team, He was a leader on the
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: Cubs before that. So my hunches is the fact that
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: he felt compelled to verbalize some of those you know,
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: grievances was to support and to protect some of the
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: people there, and the decision that was ultimately made that
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: may have been reviewed as a little bit negative by
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: either some players or maybe members of that fan base.
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: So he was trying to overcompensate for justifying Dave Browski's
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: decision for protecting Rob Thompson for some of the decisions
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: he made last year, which was ultimately his decision to
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: put the team in the best position to win. His
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: decision to do that required him to sit Nick cast ianas,
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: which certainly upset Nick cast as totally understandable. He's a
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: very competitive guy. I think they did the right thing
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: here in parting ways. Trying to salvage the situation really
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: is the definition of a sunk cost. At this point,
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: you've invested the money in the player, pay out the player,
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: but don't continue to have it to be a distraction.
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: Once it starts risking harming your competitive landscape for twenty
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: twenty six, that's when the mistake you made about giving
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: him the extra year really compounds itself. We all make
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: those mistakes. Don't compound it by then your ability to
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: compete to the utmost in twenty twenty six. If you're
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: going to have a distraction, much better to do that
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: mid February then to have that really metastasize and become
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: a major issue in your clubhouse and you look back
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: at some point in the season and say, why didn't
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: we achieve our best this year? Well, maybe this was
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: the reason. You want to eliminate as many of those
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: causes for doubt as you possibly can. It takes some
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: really a strong executive decision making. I think Dave Dombrowski
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: ultimately did the right thing, and maybe Nick Castaiano's falls
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: in a much better and fortuitous position for him, a
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: role that he can excel in in San Diego, a
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: role that was not going to be offered to him
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: in Philadelphia.
• 25:37
  Speaker 2: Well said that, all right. Last question we've got from
• 25:40
  Speaker 2: Lance in Fort Lauderdale. When you look at the Dolphins
• 25:45
  Speaker 2: releasing Bradley Chubb and Tyreek Hill, what does that say
• 25:49
  Speaker 2: about the difference between guaranteed and non guaranteed contracts in
• 25:52
  Speaker 2: the NFL? And why would something like that basically never
• 25:56
  Speaker 2: happen in Major League baseball?
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: It gives me pause as to why am I good
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: friend John Wolfe offered me Tyreek Hill in a trade
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: in fantasy football about two weeks ago. I wonder what
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: he knew at the time. So I think this is
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: a very distinct difference between Major League Baseball and the NFL.
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: In the NFL, contracts are the terms are the terms,
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: but then separate to the terms they negotiate how much
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: of that is guaranteed, Whereas in Major League Baseball, once
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: a contract is signed, the entire deal is guaranteed. So
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: in the worst case scenario, you could sign a player
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: to a five year, one hundred and fifty million dollars
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: deal and the very next day they could have a
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: career ending injury, you would still owe that player the
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: entirety of the five years, one hundred and fifty million.
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: And in this case, and I can't speak exactly to
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: the salaries of Bradley Chubb and Tyreek Hill, but they
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: were guaranteed or they had contracts that if they were
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: retained past a certain date would become guaranteed. And so preemptively,
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: what the Miami Dolphins did is they released those players,
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: take a cap hit, but it gives them some flexibility
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: to go spend on the free agent market. They've obviously
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: made some changes in their front office, they made some
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: changes at the head coach level. They made the executive
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: decision a little bit in line with the conversation we
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: just had about Nick cast Dianos about how well those
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: two players were going to fit moving forward. But in addition,
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: in this case, they just needed the financial flexibility to
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: fill multiple holes on their team rather than these two holes.
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: I would expect based upon the reputation of those two players,
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: they will be picked up and probably picked up relatively
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: soon and have a chance to be in very competitive environments.
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: In Major League Baseball, we don't have that latitude. So
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: if we arrive at a situation where we feel a
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: player just doesn't fit from a financial standpoint or from
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: a competitive standpoint, we really have two options. One is
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: to try to trade them. We just discussed that with
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: Nick cast Dianos. We have to go down the list.
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: We ideally want to trade them, save the entirety of
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: their salary and get prospect capital or major league players
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: in return. We then have to decide what's more important
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: to get the players back and maybe subsidize the money,
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: or save the money and get no players back, And
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: in extreme cases, we sometimes have to release that player,
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: and then we're responsible for making sure he's whole. He
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: deserves his full salary. If someone else pays him a
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: portion of that great we then have to pay the
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: rest of it. So those are the options in Major
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: League Baseball. In football, you have a lot more latitude.
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: And that's where the Union in Major League Baseball was
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: so strong at the outset. They really protected the players.
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: They protected them in terms of these guaranteed deals. And
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: so what happens in baseball, maybe a little bit different
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: than football, is when we sign these long term deals,
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: especially for pitchers, we ensure them, and so we take
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: out insurance policies, and those insurance policies in the event
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: of a season and injury or in the event of
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: dare I say, a career ending injury, that gives us
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: the ability then to recoup some of the money. But
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: in those instances, I assure you, it's not the full
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: salary and it's not the quality of the player that
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: you can get at that point. So it's a silver
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: lining in the event that that takes place, but it
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: certainly doesn't protect you entirely in the event you have
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: a significant injury.
• 29:11
  Speaker 2: That's all for today. Thank you to our listeners for
• 29:14
  Speaker 2: sending us questions, and thank you to that for giving
• 29:18
  Speaker 2: us the knowledge.
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: Well, thank you to the listeners wonderful questions, really appreciate
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: the contribution. Please listen to us this Thursday and every
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: Thursday on Rosters to Ranks,