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Crush City Territory reacts to Tatsuya Imai signing with the Astros · Foul Territory

• 0:06
  Speaker 1: What's up, everybody?
• 0:07
  Speaker 2: Happy New Year and welcome to an emergency episode of
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: Krush Shitty Territory. 'm channel the Room, joined by Tyler
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: Stafford and Tyler. I'm not sure if it's a harbinger
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: of good or bad to come that our first episode
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: of twenty twenty six is an emergency pod. But here
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: we are after the Astros made I don't think it's
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: hyperbolic to call this a pretty stunning signing on Thursday,
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: and signing's not even the right word. They have agreed
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: to terms on a three year deal with Japanese right
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: handed free agent pitcher Tatsuya Emi. The deal is a
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: little bit complicated, and we'll get into all the machinations
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: of some incentives, how much money he can make.
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: Where this leaves the Astros. We'll get into that in
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: a little bit.
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: But Tyler, first of all, you know, I consider myself
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: somewhat decent at this job. I kind of have a
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: pulse of what's going on. I kind of tend to,
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: you know, be able to tell you guys things. You know,
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: if you listen to me, I guess, if you listen
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: to me hard enough and you listen to like kind
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: of read them between the lines, you kind of understand
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: that I'm trying to tell you the story without telling
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: you the story. This one I had no clue about.
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: And I think this one shocked a lot of people
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: in the industry.
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: It shocked, you know.
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: I talked to some astros officials today that were a
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: little bit you know, they said, oh, we had been
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: talking about it a little bit, but they did not
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: know it had progressed to this magnitude. This is This
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: is a stunner, a stunner on New Year's Day for
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: the Astros.
• 1:37
  Speaker 3: Yeah, just when you thought the fireworks were over right,
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: I mean, they come in here and then of course
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: Chandler over here. Oh, they're not going to sign a
• 1:47
  Speaker 3: free agent. This man has no idea what he's talking about. Clearly,
• 1:50
  Speaker 3: everybody unsubscribe like the video before you do, but don't
• 1:55
  Speaker 3: listen to Chandler. He clearly has no clue what's going on.
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: No.
• 1:58
  Speaker 3: I mean, this is awesome, It's a great sign. I
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: hope we do ten emergency podcasts of the Astro signing
• 2:05
  Speaker 3: a big name free agents. This is very exciting, really
• 2:10
  Speaker 3: really good picture. I'm sure you've seen the the story
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: of you know, when when he was posted. Of course,
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: the first thought is Japanese superstar, you know, is now
• 2:24
  Speaker 3: a free agent or is able to sign an MLB,
• 2:28
  Speaker 3: He's going to go to the Dodgers. And I saw
• 2:30
  Speaker 3: the the story of him saying like, no, I don't
• 2:33
  Speaker 3: want to go to the Dodgers. I want to beat
• 2:34
  Speaker 3: the Dodgers. He came to the right place, uh, to
• 2:38
  Speaker 3: to the team that knows how to beat the Dodgers.
• 2:41
  Speaker 3: Very very exciting.
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: News that that uh, that remark you're referencing. He made
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: that on a on I believe it was a podcast
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: in Japan. Alongside Dice came out Susaka.
• 2:52
  Speaker 3: I cast, let's get him on.
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: Let's get him on the former Red Sox picture. Dice
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: came out Susaka. He uh, he had had on his
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: podcast and among the things he said that were interesting, obviously,
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: he said the thing about.
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: The Dodgers, like who wants to beat the Dodgers?
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: Like he did not have like a real big It
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: wasn't a prerequisite for him that he go to a
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: team with a Japanese presence on it already. But I
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: thought this was interesting to hear him say this. And
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: this is from his podcast interview with Dice Ki Matsusaka.
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: He said, if there were if there were another Japanese
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: player on the same team, I could just ask them
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: about anything, right, But that's actually not what I'm looking for.
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: In a way.
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: I want to experience that sense of survival when I
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: come face to face with cultural differences. I want to
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: see how I can overcome them on my own. That's
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: part of what I'm excited about.
• 3:46
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that's the rules.
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: That's an awesome perspective to have. That's an awesome way
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: to go about things. Certainly not you know, he's not
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: taking the easy way out, so to speak, of just
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: going on a team where he can blend in with,
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: you know, other people in his culture, other people that
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: kind of know what he's going through.
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: He's going to.
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: A place in the Astros where he will be the
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: only Asian presence on the teams. This is the astros
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: first Japanese free agent signing since kas Matsui in two
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: thousand and eight, and that was not Kasmatsui did not
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: come from MPP. You know, Kasmatsui was already a big
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: leaguer they had just they signed him. Now, obviously the
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: Astros have had Nori Aoki on their team. They had
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: Yusa Kakuchi on their team, but those were those were trades,
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: those were guys that they just kind of brought in
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: for a little bit tylan in a in a more
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: macro sense like this makes the Astros, you know, players
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: now in the Japanese market, in a kind of a
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: burgeoning free agent market in Japan where you're seeing more
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: and more guys come over and post, and you're seeing
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: that it's you know, we've even seen this this off season.
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: Maria Kami went to the White Sox. It is not
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: it's no longer just they're going to post and go
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: to the Dodgers. There's other teams trying to get in
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: on the on that windfall, and you know, you have
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: to credit what Otani has done. You have to credit
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: in large part a little bit Yamamoto what he has
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: been able to do and kind of show that these
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: guys can come over and these guys can succeed in MLB.
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: And I think from a macro sense, this puts the
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: Astros they are now they can now call themselves like
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: legitimate players in Japanese free agency and in MPB, which
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: is which is a pretty cool thing for them.
• 5:33
  Speaker 3: Yeah, maybe he has a dyike in air conditioner and
• 5:36
  Speaker 3: he's just you know, he was excited about that. Uh yeah,
• 5:40
  Speaker 3: I mean it's it's huge news, like you said, very
• 5:46
  Speaker 3: very exciting, and you're right it it does kind of
• 5:49
  Speaker 3: open up. Uh. You know, the Astros have done obviously
• 5:54
  Speaker 3: a huge amount of success in the you know, kind
• 5:58
  Speaker 3: of Latin American caribbe in you know, that that side
• 6:02
  Speaker 3: of the world. But yeah, this opens up a whole
• 6:07
  Speaker 3: other part, not just for the astrosk but for MLB
• 6:10
  Speaker 3: in general. I think objectively it is good that Japanese
• 6:15
  Speaker 3: players are able to come over and sign with any
• 6:20
  Speaker 3: team and not feel like they are limited to a
• 6:22
  Speaker 3: handful of options. You mentioned a few, you know, pitchers
• 6:25
  Speaker 3: who are a little bit more current. I think this
• 6:29
  Speaker 3: is a very similar situation of you Darvish coming over
• 6:32
  Speaker 3: to Texas, you know, ten fifteen years ago now where
• 6:38
  Speaker 3: just a you know, a superstar over there, but coming
• 6:41
  Speaker 3: to Texas and coming to a place that didn't really
• 6:44
  Speaker 3: have any any real Japanese connection. Yeah, that quote of
• 6:50
  Speaker 3: him saying like, yeah, I want to experience kind of
• 6:53
  Speaker 3: the the cultural shock. I know that this is a
• 6:58
  Speaker 3: different part of Asia, and I know it as a
• 7:00
  Speaker 3: very different scenario. But I feel like he and Ryan
• 7:04
  Speaker 3: Weiss will get along really well too, because they both
• 7:09
  Speaker 3: went over and you know, went to a place that
• 7:12
  Speaker 3: didn't have a lot of cultural ties. And Ryan obviously
• 7:16
  Speaker 3: really enjoyed it. When we had him on the pod,
• 7:17
  Speaker 3: he said he was, you know, excited to go back
• 7:20
  Speaker 3: and yeah, this is this is great, And boy is
• 7:26
  Speaker 3: it not exactly what the Astros team needs for this season.
• 7:31
  Speaker 3: A for real number two starter, a guy that can
• 7:35
  Speaker 3: pitch a lot innings well and that you can count on.
• 7:40
  Speaker 3: I mean, it's it's a perfect signing.
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: Let's let's break it down from a couple of different angles.
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: And before we do that, I'm going to ask you
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: again please like the YouTube video guys, it really will
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: help us out. That can be one of your New
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: Year's resolutions if you are if you are a frequent
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: watcher of this podcast on YouTube and you don't, just
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: all you got to do, like look right below the screen.
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: All you gotta do is hit the thumbs up. It
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: takes two seconds. It takes two seconds. All we're asking
• 8:07
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• 8:10
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• 8:13
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• 8:15
  Speaker 2: video really helps us out, helps the algorithm helps makes
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: our bosses happy, and it allows us to keep doing this.
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: So that's cool.
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: Now, let's kind of talk about how this happened, and
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: a lot of this is a little bit of reading
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: between the lines. A lot of this is talking to
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: some people today that have been involved in this process.
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: Let's start out by acknowledging that the Athletics Tim Britton,
• 8:42
  Speaker 2: who does a very very good job of projecting contracts.
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: He takes comps from other guys that have done similar
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: things in the league. He comps free agents to other guys,
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: and he comes up with free agent contract projections before
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: every season.
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: He's There have.
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: Been many where he has been dead on in years,
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: dead on in money. He's been a little bit off
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: in some money, but most of the time he's pretty
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: close to reliable. He projected EMI to get eight years
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: and one hundred and ninety million dollars, and that was
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: not He was not alone in that. There were there
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: were a lot of people, a lot of you know,
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: projections that had em I getting a long term deal,
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: and Tyler, you and I both know that the Astros
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: are never going to do that. They are never going
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: to give, certainly a pitcher, They're never probably never going
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: to give a free agent eight or nine or ten
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: years as long as Jim Crane's the owner.
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: They just don't believe in that. They don't believe in
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: that kind of deal.
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: My understanding is that im I did have longer offers
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: on the table. That there were long I don't know
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: that they were eight years in length.
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: But they were.
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: There were longer offers on the table with smaller average
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: annual values yearly.
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: But it became.
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: Clear that he was isn't going to get that sort
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: of contract, the one that Tim projected him for, the
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: one that a lot of other insiders and analysts projected
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: Emi to get. So what do you do when you
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: don't get that. Well, they constructed this deal to where
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: it is essentially a pillow contract. And I don't know
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: what a pillow contract is. It's kind of one of
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: those contracts that allows a guy to get right back
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: into free agency. So this deal, it's a three year
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: deal with opt outs after each season. So think of
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: it like the Alex Bregman deal with the Red Sox
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: last year.
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: It is a total bet.
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: On Emi, it is if he goes out there and
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: he pitches like a number two or a number one starter,
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: you know what, he can opt out after this season,
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: go back into a free agent market next year. That
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: should be pretty aggressive because yes, there is a looming lockout,
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: but or what we think will be a looming lockout
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: once the CBA expires. But if you remember back to
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: when the CBA expired in twenty twenty two and there
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: was a lockout like that was when all the money
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: was changing hands. That was when you know, Seger got
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: his big deal. That was when Trey Turner got his
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: big deal. I think that was when Korea got both
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: of his three hundred million dollars you like. So suffice
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: to say, there will be there is precedent that there
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: will be aggression after before and after a lockout. So
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: it really kind of fell into the ASTROS lap that
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: this is the exact sort of contract that Jim Crane
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: is okay doing.
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: It's the short term.
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: It's a high ish aav So as of now, for
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: the ASTROS luxury tax purposes, Tatsuya EMI's average annual value
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: is eighteen million.
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: Dollars per year.
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: Now he has million dollar incentives that are in each
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: year that for eighty ninety and one hundred innings pitched,
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: he gets a million more dollars, so could max out
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: at twenty one million dollars a year. That's why you know.
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: If things happen to where Tatsuya Emi stays for the
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: life of this contract and pitches at least one hundred
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: innings in each of the three years of this contract,
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: he can max out.
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: At sixty three million dollars.
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: Now he has Scott Boris as his representative, I would
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: imagine that they are going to seek a more a
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: longer term, more lucrative deal if Emi does what I
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: think Scott expects him to do, if Emi does what
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: the Astros expect him to do, which is come here
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: and pitch well. Just come here and establish yourself and
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: assert yourself as a high end number two, number three starter,
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: and pitch well enough to where if you opt out,
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: you can go get the sort of pay day that
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: the Astros won't give you, and the Astros will benefit
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: from having.
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: You for a year.
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: But Tyler, there is some some wonder and some thought,
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: and I think the way his market played out only
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: accentuates it that he's maybe not the sure saying that
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: Yamamoto was that people thought Roki Sasaki will be There
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: are some questions here, but still the upside I think
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: was too much for the Astros to turn down, especially
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: when it landed in their lap like this.
• 13:13
  Speaker 3: Yeah, of course there's there's questions, but I mean it
• 13:17
  Speaker 3: makes a ton of sense for him too, because like
• 13:20
  Speaker 3: you said, I, if he's good after a year, somebody
• 13:23
  Speaker 3: is gonna give him the contract that he you know,
• 13:27
  Speaker 3: was projected for this offseason. And also, look, the Ashros
• 13:31
  Speaker 3: are in year by year when now mode, they're not in.
• 13:36
  Speaker 3: Let's sign a guy for eight years mode right now.
• 13:40
  Speaker 3: If he's great next season and he walks, do they
• 13:43
  Speaker 3: get a qualifying offer? Does that? Does that work if
• 13:46
  Speaker 3: you opt out of a contract. I don't know how
• 13:48
  Speaker 3: that works. I'd like this, I do.
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: I don't know that he'd be qualifying off for eligible.
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: I do not have that in front of me. I
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: need to look that up. I will, I will. I
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: will work that into whatever I write soon. But I
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: will say this, because they signed Emi, it prevented them from,
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: you know, if they were looking in the free agent market.
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: It prevented them from you know, if Zach Gallan would
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: fall in their lap. He's a qualifying offer guy, same
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: as Rangers sware Az, same as if they were resigned
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: from er. He does not have a qualifying offer attached
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: to him. So they did all of this while getting
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: to keep all of their draft picks as well, which
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: is something, which is something also be said.
• 14:25
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and I mean yeah, I mean twenty twenty twenty
• 14:29
  Speaker 3: one million dollars for you know a guy. Let's let's
• 14:32
  Speaker 3: run through his stats just from last season in Japan.
• 14:38
  Speaker 3: I mean he had a one ninety two ERA one
• 14:41
  Speaker 3: hundred and sixty three innings, a whip under point nine,
• 14:45
  Speaker 3: which is great, and I'm striking out about ten per nine. Again,
• 14:50
  Speaker 3: those are not going to translate one for one over
• 14:53
  Speaker 3: from Japan. But look, man, he throws ninety five plus.
• 14:58
  Speaker 3: He's got a great slider with a lot of glove
• 15:01
  Speaker 3: side run. He throws a change up like three different ways,
• 15:05
  Speaker 3: which is fun. He's got like a vulcan group. He's
• 15:08
  Speaker 3: got a you know, a splitter grip that he does
• 15:12
  Speaker 3: a normal change up grip too. Yeah, it's it's it's great.
• 15:19
  Speaker 3: I'm very excited.
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I've I've never seen him. I mean, I've seen
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: all the videos that you guys have probably spent all
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: morning watching and looking at. I've seen those. I I
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: can't sit here with authority and try to tell you
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: kind of what makes him good, what doesn't make him good?
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: Like I've talked to a couple evaluators in the league
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: that seem to think they're they're a little bit divided.
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: And you know, in the story that that we wrote today,
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: you know, Cody Stavenhagen, friend of the pod in front
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: of the Foul Territory Network, co host of co host
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: of Tiger Territory, he talked to a couple of guys,
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: He talked to a couple of people, you know before
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: while EMI was coming over him while he was posting,
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: kind of talked to some evaluators about what scared them,
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: what they liked about him, and basically, you know, one
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: National League evaluator told him that, you know, it's good stuff.
• 16:09
  Speaker 2: It's a deep arsenal. He's got about six or seven
• 16:11
  Speaker 2: pitches he can use. But there is some thought that
• 16:15
  Speaker 2: maybe at best he's a number three or a number four.
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: You know, I think certainly this raises the ceiling. This
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: raises the ceiling and raises the floor for the Astros
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: twenty twenty six rotation. This is not you know, there's
• 16:33
  Speaker 2: always going to be some just in the transition is
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: never as seamless as some people make it seem like
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: Otani's a freak, like coming over and just doing what
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: he did immediately. It just doesn't happen often. There will
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: be you know, you saw it. I think with Code
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: I single with the Mets, there have been, you know,
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: some some growing.
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: Pains with him.
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: I expect there to be some growing pains with Emi. Heck,
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: there were some growing pains with you Oshanoba Yamamoto his
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: first year in Los Angeles. And that's something that I
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: think you come to kind of expect when guys come
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: over from from MPB. Like it's a different baseball. It's
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: a different you know, the talent level here is just different.
• 17:14
  Speaker 2: It's you know, MLB is better than NPB. Like they
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: have better talent, they have better hitters. It's just it's
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: just a better quality of leagues. So there will be
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: some adjustments, you know, I he had a one nine
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: to two E and the NPB last year, I would
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: not you know, look, I think the Astros would be
• 17:33
  Speaker 2: ecstatic if he comes over and has a one nine
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: to two in his first MLB season. You know, I
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: don't think that's going to be the case, but I
• 17:41
  Speaker 2: do think Tyler, what they have done is they've built
• 17:44
  Speaker 2: out and just by what they've done this winter by
• 17:47
  Speaker 2: adding Weiss and Pearson and Burrows and what they have
• 17:50
  Speaker 2: coming back, like, they have enough insurance and they have
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: enough depth to where you know.
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: They're not going to be counting on this guy to
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: have of a sub.
• 18:01
  Speaker 2: Three era from the beginning that they've if built in
• 18:05
  Speaker 2: and they've built up enough depth for this guy to
• 18:08
  Speaker 2: you know, he's gonna be making a lot of money
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: and he's gonna slot in in the middle of the rotation.
• 18:12
  Speaker 2: Don't get me wrong. They're not gonna baby him, I
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: don't think, but you know, if the first couple starts
• 18:16
  Speaker 2: don't go well, and if they've got to, you know,
• 18:18
  Speaker 2: make some adjustments with him, like they've got enough around him.
• 18:22
  Speaker 2: They've got they have given themselves enough depth and given
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: themselves enough insurance to where I don't think this guy
• 18:30
  Speaker 2: has to come in and feel the.
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: Entire weight of the franchise and weight of the team
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: on his shoulders.
• 18:35
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I wonder if some of the concern is just
• 18:41
  Speaker 3: height wise. I mean, he's listed at five eleven, so
• 18:45
  Speaker 3: you know, you wonder if maybe that's some of the
• 18:48
  Speaker 3: concern he does. He has kind of a weird arm
• 18:50
  Speaker 3: slot too, But look, I mean he's been successful in Japan.
• 18:56
  Speaker 3: It's again you're right, it is not MLB, but MPB
• 19:02
  Speaker 3: is the second best league in the world, you know,
• 19:05
  Speaker 3: It's it's not like he's playing nobody's So yeah, and
• 19:10
  Speaker 3: the contract is perfect because, like you said, maybe the
• 19:13
  Speaker 3: first year is a little rough, and so maybe he
• 19:16
  Speaker 3: doesn't opt out after the first year, but maybe he
• 19:18
  Speaker 3: catches fire in the second year and then opts out
• 19:22
  Speaker 3: after that, and I'm sure the Astros would again be
• 19:26
  Speaker 3: more than happy with that. You know, opt outs are
• 19:30
  Speaker 3: funny because you know, you don't want somebody to opt out,
• 19:35
  Speaker 3: But at the same time, if they had a season
• 19:37
  Speaker 3: good enough to opt out, you probably had a pretty
• 19:40
  Speaker 3: good season on your team and you'll take it. So
• 19:44
  Speaker 3: I mean, I think it makes a ton of sense
• 19:46
  Speaker 3: for both sides.
• 19:48
  Speaker 2: Yeah, Like, as you said, like the Astros right now
• 19:51
  Speaker 2: are not they can't be thinking like they should be,
• 19:53
  Speaker 2: but they can't be thinking about twenty twenty seven and
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: twenty twenty eight, like they want to win this season,
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: like they've got a priority this season, having the twenty
• 20:01
  Speaker 2: twenty six Astros ready to win and put themselves in
• 20:05
  Speaker 2: a position to be be ready to win. And I
• 20:08
  Speaker 2: think this helps in that endeavor greatly. You know, we
• 20:13
  Speaker 2: talked about and one thing that's kind of been bouncing
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: in my head, and we talked about how the Ashers
• 20:17
  Speaker 2: have not had a footprint in the Japanese market in
• 20:21
  Speaker 2: a long time. You know, they did acquire Usseka Kuci
• 20:25
  Speaker 2: in twenty twenty three, and look, Yusaka Kuchi's left handed.
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: Emi is right handed. They're not.
• 20:33
  Speaker 2: They have some similar characteristics in their arsenal. You know,
• 20:36
  Speaker 2: you say is about six foot six foot one, you know,
• 20:38
  Speaker 2: Emi is about five ten, five eleven. They've got some
• 20:43
  Speaker 2: of the same pitch mix and they've got some of
• 20:45
  Speaker 2: the same stuff. But to say that they are the
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: exact same pitcher as disingenuous.
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: But it has had me thinking.
• 20:52
  Speaker 2: You know, yuse Ka Kuci is represented by Scott Morris,
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: just as Tatsuya Emai is. I talked to Scott Boris
• 21:01
  Speaker 2: during that two months when we were in Anaheim, when
• 21:03
  Speaker 2: Kakuchi made a start in Anaheim, and I talked to
• 21:05
  Speaker 2: Scott about kind of what the Ashers had done with Kokuchi,
• 21:10
  Speaker 2: and he was I mean I wrote about it at
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: the Athletic like. He was very impressed and impressed him
• 21:14
  Speaker 2: kind of the plan they had for him that making
• 21:17
  Speaker 2: him comfortable and we all saw what Kokuchi was able
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: to do down the stretch. He parlayed that into a
• 21:23
  Speaker 2: big payday with the Angels. So while they maybe haven't
• 21:27
  Speaker 2: had the footprint from an MPB perspective of signing those guys,
• 21:32
  Speaker 2: of being legitimate.
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: Contenders for those guys, Scott Boris got an.
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: Up close and personal look at what the Astros pitching
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: development infrastructure can do with a Japanese pitcher that has
• 21:45
  Speaker 2: at least some of the same profile as Emi. I
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: wonder how much that played into this, just the fact
• 21:53
  Speaker 2: that the Ashers have had success in tinkering and allowing
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: him to come in and talk about transosicians like you
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: say's transition into.
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: The Houston Clubhouse was seamless.
• 22:04
  Speaker 2: I mean, didn't know anyone, they didn't have any Japanese players,
• 22:09
  Speaker 2: kind of came in very blind and they welcomed him
• 22:12
  Speaker 2: with open arms. The pitching coaches and the analytic team
• 22:15
  Speaker 2: was able to distill some stuff down for him, and
• 22:17
  Speaker 2: he was able to have one of the greatest runs
• 22:19
  Speaker 2: of his career. Look, at the end of the day,
• 22:22
  Speaker 2: this all comes down to money. At ninety nine percent
• 22:25
  Speaker 2: of the time, these negotiations come down to money. They
• 22:28
  Speaker 2: come down to who has the best offer. They come
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: down to all that stuff. But don't discount Kakuchi's two
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: months here that I think that left a resonating presence
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: with Scott Morris. I think it left a resonating presence
• 22:40
  Speaker 2: with a lot of you know, people in the industry
• 22:42
  Speaker 2: that we've known for a long time. At the Astros
• 22:46
  Speaker 2: do a very good job of identifying, developing and helping pitchers.
• 22:52
  Speaker 2: I think that put it on a bigger stage, a
• 22:54
  Speaker 2: bigger platform, And I wonder how much maybe that had
• 22:57
  Speaker 2: at least something that could be a feather in the
• 22:59
  Speaker 2: apps Astro's cap when it got down to this and
• 23:01
  Speaker 2: they realized that this could be a possibility.
• 23:03
  Speaker 3: Yeah. And I think I also saw that the Astro
• 23:06
  Speaker 3: scouted him like out of high school too, that they've
• 23:09
  Speaker 3: had some sort of relationship, right, Is that is that correct?
• 23:15
  Speaker 3: I believe emi?
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 23:17
  Speaker 3: I think I saw somewhere they.
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: Did scout the scout a Kakuchi when he was coming
• 23:20
  Speaker 2: over as well. I wouldn't be Yeah, I wouldn't be
• 23:23
  Speaker 2: surprised if they scouted Emi as well.
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: The one.
• 23:26
  Speaker 2: The other thing I will say is that the Astros
• 23:28
  Speaker 2: have And the only reason I know this is because
• 23:31
  Speaker 2: I literally get emails those LinkedIn sponsored emails, because I
• 23:35
  Speaker 2: followed some of the people on I followed some of
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: the Astro's front office members on LinkedIn, just as you
• 23:40
  Speaker 2: know you would normally do. They are posting for like
• 23:44
  Speaker 2: Asian Pacific Room, like Scouts, so this is not just
• 23:48
  Speaker 2: a one off thing, like they are trying to get
• 23:52
  Speaker 2: a deeper footprint in that market. And I think, you know,
• 23:56
  Speaker 2: I think Kakuchi helped. I think, you know, I think
• 24:00
  Speaker 2: seeing them seeing what he can do and what that
• 24:03
  Speaker 2: was like having him for two months, kind of the
• 24:06
  Speaker 2: exposure that got. And then I know we joked about
• 24:08
  Speaker 2: it at the beginning, but I can't separate myself from
• 24:11
  Speaker 2: like they re like diyke And bought the naming rights
• 24:14
  Speaker 2: to the ballpark in January or February, so that we're
• 24:18
  Speaker 2: coming up on about a year that dyke and has
• 24:19
  Speaker 2: brought bought the naming rights, And I think Jim Crane
• 24:25
  Speaker 2: on that day or in the days afterward, you know,
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: did make some mention of yeah, you know, now that
• 24:31
  Speaker 2: we have this, maybe we can be a bigger player
• 24:33
  Speaker 2: in that pool. And I'm not saying that the two
• 24:36
  Speaker 2: are a direct like one is a direct result of
• 24:39
  Speaker 2: the other. That I don't think they signed Emi because
• 24:42
  Speaker 2: they're now called dike In Park, But don't think that
• 24:44
  Speaker 2: doesn't have anything to do with it, because there were
• 24:47
  Speaker 2: multiple times this year where there were guests of Jim
• 24:51
  Speaker 2: Crane that were from the Japanese hub of dyke In.
• 24:55
  Speaker 2: Where dyke In is found and located is in Japan,
• 24:59
  Speaker 2: in Osaka, Japan, And there were many home stands where
• 25:02
  Speaker 2: on a couple of occasions, you know, Jim had a
• 25:05
  Speaker 2: Japanese contingent from Dyikan that was showing around, sat in
• 25:08
  Speaker 2: the suite with him at the games. So like, don't
• 25:11
  Speaker 2: discount that either that this that that certainly could have
• 25:14
  Speaker 2: at least been somewhat of a.
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: Factor in this.
• 25:18
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and I've covered a few Astros games when Otani
• 25:24
  Speaker 3: was with the Angels, and I'm sure you can speak
• 25:26
  Speaker 3: to this, but anytime Otani is playing somewhere, there is
• 25:32
  Speaker 3: a humongous Japanese media contingency, or at least you know,
• 25:38
  Speaker 3: in the first couple of years that he was here.
• 25:39
  Speaker 3: I'm sure it's still the same, but those first couple
• 25:42
  Speaker 3: of years when he came over, they were live broadcasting
• 25:45
  Speaker 3: all of his games back in Japan. And look that
• 25:49
  Speaker 3: the Angels were playing the Astros eighteen games a year, like,
• 25:53
  Speaker 3: and people in Japan saw the Astros just dominate for
• 25:58
  Speaker 3: years while Otani was the biggest thing in Japanese baseball,
• 26:02
  Speaker 3: so that that certainly could have something to do with
• 26:04
  Speaker 3: it as well as Okay, this team is obviously very good. Uh,
• 26:08
  Speaker 3: they've seen that a lot. Uh. Is he gonna be
• 26:12
  Speaker 3: on the World Baseball Classic team? Do you know?
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: I haven't looked.
• 26:16
  Speaker 3: I like to see his name, but I'm not I'm
• 26:18
  Speaker 3: not sure that they've fully announced their roster yet.
• 26:21
  Speaker 2: I mean, I think there will be a press conference
• 26:24
  Speaker 2: with Emi and within the next couple of days, so
• 26:26
  Speaker 2: I'd imagine he will be asked that when he meets
• 26:29
  Speaker 2: the media here in Houston. I do not know that
• 26:32
  Speaker 2: off the top of my head, but it would stand
• 26:35
  Speaker 2: the reason that if he wants to play, I don't
• 26:38
  Speaker 2: see why the Ashers would would say no. But yeah,
• 26:42
  Speaker 2: because because you know, Jim Crane dyk In Park is
• 26:46
  Speaker 2: hosting the WBC, like Jim Crane is a fan of
• 26:49
  Speaker 2: the WBC, Like I don't think the team is going
• 26:51
  Speaker 2: to stand in the way of any player that wants
• 26:53
  Speaker 2: to play.
• 26:54
  Speaker 3: Now, my my only concern is, with all of the
• 26:59
  Speaker 3: technology you talk from this year, are are we do
• 27:02
  Speaker 3: we know that he is real? His last name is
• 27:05
  Speaker 3: I'm a I. Uh So that's that's one concern that
• 27:10
  Speaker 3: I have that we haven't seen him in person. So
• 27:12
  Speaker 3: that's why I'm looking for the the WBC to make sure.
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: I don't even know how to follow that one up.
• 27:21
  Speaker 2: It is weirding me out though, that the Rockets coach
• 27:23
  Speaker 2: is Odoka and that guy is em I, So I'm
• 27:29
  Speaker 2: having to like separate those two in my head. I
• 27:31
  Speaker 2: did some radio this past week and we talked a
• 27:32
  Speaker 2: lot of Rockets and I kept saying May and so
• 27:35
  Speaker 2: I have to get em in my head now. I
• 27:38
  Speaker 2: was writing something that will probably go live tomorrow morning.
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: I don't know.
• 27:42
  Speaker 2: It's a holiday. No one's reading them, so who knows
• 27:45
  Speaker 2: one of the will go live? But if anything, Tyler,
• 27:48
  Speaker 2: this accentuates like there's gonna be some competition in spring training.
• 27:51
  Speaker 3: Mm hmm, like.
• 27:52
  Speaker 2: They've got I mean, this is a good problem to have,
• 27:55
  Speaker 2: don't get me wrong, but they've almost got too many starters.
• 27:58
  Speaker 2: You know, we we have talked that they will probably
• 28:01
  Speaker 2: have to run a six man rotation to start the year.
• 28:03
  Speaker 2: With twenty five games in twenty seven days, you start
• 28:07
  Speaker 2: to kind of fill it out. Now you've got four
• 28:09
  Speaker 2: spots just about guaranteed with Hunter Brown, tatsia Emi, Mike Burrows,
• 28:14
  Speaker 2: and Christian Hoavier, and then it's Ryan Weiss, Nate Pearson,
• 28:18
  Speaker 2: Lance McCullers, Spencer Arraghetti, aj blue Ball, Colton Gordon, Jason
• 28:24
  Speaker 2: Alexander all four two spots to open the season. Then
• 28:28
  Speaker 2: probably one spot you know, when they get into a
• 28:31
  Speaker 2: five man so look injuries always.
• 28:33
  Speaker 3: Can you imagine how good of a problem that would be.
• 28:36
  Speaker 3: It's a problem too many starters. I'd be so excited, Well,
• 28:40
  Speaker 3: what are we gonna do with all these guys?
• 28:41
  Speaker 2: Right, this is a good problem to have. First and foremost,
• 28:45
  Speaker 2: this is not a this is not an issue. This
• 28:47
  Speaker 2: is not something they have to go down. This is good.
• 28:49
  Speaker 2: If they can go they go to the spring training
• 28:51
  Speaker 2: with this, be fine. But it's going to underscore that
• 28:54
  Speaker 2: there's gonna be some tough conversations to have to be had.
• 28:57
  Speaker 2: Ryan Weiss was on this pod like a month ago
• 29:00
  Speaker 2: and pretty emphatically said, like, I ain't a reliever, Like
• 29:03
  Speaker 2: I'm a starter, and I took this to start, you know.
• 29:07
  Speaker 2: Nate Pearson said, one of the reasons that he signed
• 29:10
  Speaker 2: with the Astros is because they're going to let him start.
• 29:13
  Speaker 2: You have the Lance McCullers junior situation. M that's also there.
• 29:19
  Speaker 3: So I'm making eighteen million dollars.
• 29:21
  Speaker 2: Seventeen but also sorry, represented by Scott Bores. You've got
• 29:27
  Speaker 2: and you've got Spencer Araghetti, who I mean was excellent
• 29:31
  Speaker 2: the second half two years ago, but really hasn't you know.
• 29:35
  Speaker 2: So there's a lot of difficult conversations to be had.
• 29:37
  Speaker 3: Who cares that's a future problem. Well, we'll figure that
• 29:40
  Speaker 3: out later. I don't care. I'm excited that they have
• 29:42
  Speaker 3: this many pictures. Can you imagine two months ago saying
• 29:45
  Speaker 3: what are the Astros going to do with all this
• 29:47
  Speaker 3: starting pitching depth? I mean, this is a great problem
• 29:51
  Speaker 3: to have. Go get another one, keep doing it.
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: Well.
• 29:53
  Speaker 2: I was about to say, everyone can stop asking me
• 29:55
  Speaker 2: about Justin ber Leander. I would imagine this closes that door.
• 30:00
  Speaker 3: I don't know. Are they over the luxury tax? Now?
• 30:02
  Speaker 3: Who cares? Just go get it. We're getting to that, Okay.
• 30:06
  Speaker 2: The door for Justin Erliner to come to Houston was open.
• 30:09
  Speaker 2: It always is. I think it's closed a little bit
• 30:12
  Speaker 2: more now. But was the thing earlier in the in
• 30:15
  Speaker 2: the off season. Just warn't lined up money wise, as
• 30:19
  Speaker 2: I understand it. As I understand it, the official luxury
• 30:25
  Speaker 2: tax number for EMI's contract the AAV this year is
• 30:30
  Speaker 2: eighteen million dollars. Now, if you go to Cott's contracts,
• 30:37
  Speaker 2: I need. I'm doing this on the fly and seeing
• 30:39
  Speaker 2: if they have updated it yet. I do not believe
• 30:41
  Speaker 2: they have updated their their spreadsheet yet, which is actually good.
• 30:45
  Speaker 2: So before this agreement was put into place, according to
• 30:49
  Speaker 2: Kott's contracts, the Astros were about twenty two point two
• 30:53
  Speaker 2: million dollars under the first luxury tax. If the AV
• 30:57
  Speaker 2: hit is eighteen million dollars, as i'm that's what the
• 31:00
  Speaker 2: official luxury tax hit will be, they are still under.
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: Not by much.
• 31:08
  Speaker 2: They do want to get a backup catcher, which is
• 31:12
  Speaker 2: going to cost money. I would not be surprised if
• 31:17
  Speaker 2: there is another trade allah what they did with Ryan
• 31:21
  Speaker 2: Presley last year. You can kind of start to to
• 31:27
  Speaker 2: trace a little more parallel. Last year, right, they signed
• 31:30
  Speaker 2: Christian Walker and they got up near the luxury tax,
• 31:35
  Speaker 2: but they weren't all the way, they weren't over it yet,
• 31:38
  Speaker 2: and it was just like they still need to make
• 31:40
  Speaker 2: some rooms. So they shipped Ryan Presley. They found an
• 31:42
  Speaker 2: expendable high salary, shipped Ryan Presley, paid down some of it,
• 31:46
  Speaker 2: and he went to Chicot. Would not be surprised if
• 31:50
  Speaker 2: there is another trade of that ilk one that they find,
• 31:54
  Speaker 2: they find someone on a with a substantial ish salary
• 31:59
  Speaker 2: to get them a little further under the tax. We'll
• 32:03
  Speaker 2: continue to reiterate. You know, it would likely come from
• 32:06
  Speaker 2: the infield, likely come you know, one of Estak Paratus
• 32:10
  Speaker 2: or Christian Walker. You know, remember Ryan Presley had a
• 32:13
  Speaker 2: fourteen million dollar salary when they traded him last year. Now,
• 32:16
  Speaker 2: the Astros paid down I believe six million of it,
• 32:20
  Speaker 2: but they got eight million off their books. Everyone the
• 32:23
  Speaker 2: Jake Myers conversation, I know we had that all winter.
• 32:27
  Speaker 2: But he's only going to make about four million dollars
• 32:30
  Speaker 2: in arbitration.
• 32:31
  Speaker 3: Like I'm not here, Sanchez is making six right.
• 32:33
  Speaker 2: So maybe you look at a hay Sue Sanchez, also
• 32:37
  Speaker 2: represented by Scott Boris.
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: We've got so much Scott Boris over.
• 32:42
  Speaker 3: Time must be a big agent. I've never heard of
• 32:44
  Speaker 3: this man, is he? Is he a big deal?
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: He's kind of a big deal. I hope.
• 32:49
  Speaker 2: So he's gonna he will one hundred percent be at
• 32:52
  Speaker 2: this news conference whenever it is next week.
• 32:54
  Speaker 3: I can you tell him about my writing? Can you?
• 32:57
  Speaker 3: Can you ask him if I can get on that.
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: I'll slip your business card.
• 33:00
  Speaker 2: But also, like one of my favorite things about Scott
• 33:02
  Speaker 2: is that he color coats his suits and his blazers
• 33:07
  Speaker 2: to whatever the team he is going to sit on
• 33:11
  Speaker 2: the dais for Like, he wore like a beautiful green
• 33:14
  Speaker 2: blazer when the Mariners introduced somebody that he that he had, Like,
• 33:19
  Speaker 2: he'll he'll wear red if he goes to the Phillies
• 33:21
  Speaker 2: or something. I hope he shows up in like a
• 33:23
  Speaker 2: neon orange blazer.
• 33:25
  Speaker 3: I hope he shows up dressed like a orbit.
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: That would be great, that would be great.
• 33:30
  Speaker 3: Big old shoes, big green jacket, that'd be great.
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 33:34
  Speaker 2: But so trades his Sanchez obviously, now not that he
• 33:41
  Speaker 2: ever wasn't a trade candidate. But I think now you
• 33:43
  Speaker 2: start to look at him as that's gonna be about
• 33:45
  Speaker 2: a six seven million dollars that could help you get
• 33:48
  Speaker 2: under Yeah that, but you know they still have to,
• 33:52
  Speaker 2: you know, solve the infield logjam. You know, I do
• 33:55
  Speaker 2: still wonder, you know, just for practicality and for roster
• 33:58
  Speaker 2: purposes and keeping everyone happy and keeping everyone content, it
• 34:02
  Speaker 2: would seem that one of Walker or Paradus would be
• 34:08
  Speaker 2: the guy in terms of substantial amount of money you
• 34:11
  Speaker 2: can move a guy that two guys that are expendable.
• 34:14
  Speaker 2: Not I know you fans would not like if he
• 34:17
  Speaker 2: saw Paradis got traded. But there is no place for
• 34:21
  Speaker 2: him to play regularly on this current iteration of the roster.
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: So he's playing Winterable, right, Yeah.
• 34:29
  Speaker 3: What I didn't his leg fall off? Like, why is
• 34:32
  Speaker 3: he not sleeping in a cryo chamber somewhere? How's he
• 34:37
  Speaker 3: out just playing winter ball? I mean, I know he
• 34:38
  Speaker 3: came back for like two days at the end of
• 34:40
  Speaker 3: last season, but that guy just loves ball. He's out
• 34:44
  Speaker 3: there just playing playing winter ball.
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: He loves ball, does love ball.
• 34:50
  Speaker 3: But so yeah, Esac's making ten, Christian Walker's making twenty.
• 34:54
  Speaker 3: Christian Harvey is making twenty one. Lance mccullor is making seventeen. Uh,
• 34:59
  Speaker 3: you know, you you do have some bigger name guys,
• 35:01
  Speaker 3: but I think I mean clearly Hazu Sanchez is there's
• 35:06
  Speaker 3: no way the Astros start the season with with him
• 35:10
  Speaker 3: on the roster. With the way that they're constructed currently.
• 35:14
  Speaker 3: You got two left fielders already. You've got Zach Yeah,
• 35:20
  Speaker 3: you got al Tuvan jord On like that left field,
• 35:23
  Speaker 3: both of.
• 35:24
  Speaker 2: Whom, like the manager has literally said out loud, I
• 35:26
  Speaker 2: do not want either of them playing left field.
• 35:28
  Speaker 3: Well, too bad. That's that's where your roster is. Figure
• 35:34
  Speaker 3: that out later, but that's those are your left fielders.
• 35:38
  Speaker 3: You know, you you've got some some logjams there. I
• 35:41
  Speaker 3: don't I don't see a spot for Haze Sanchez, even
• 35:45
  Speaker 3: if he had, you know, performed a little bit better. Uh.
• 35:50
  Speaker 3: You know, I think that's one that you can look at.
• 35:53
  Speaker 3: You've got uh you know, like I've said, I know
• 35:59
  Speaker 3: they're not going to do this, but Brian A. Bray
• 36:01
  Speaker 3: you to me, makes a ton of sense as a
• 36:04
  Speaker 3: as a trade chip, just because this is the last
• 36:07
  Speaker 3: year of his contract. He's a huge Really, he's making
• 36:10
  Speaker 3: five million. You know, I could see a scenario where
• 36:14
  Speaker 3: you could include Brian A bray you with a salary
• 36:21
  Speaker 3: dump as well, because he's obviously way undervalued at five
• 36:24
  Speaker 3: million dollars. There's there's certainly ways to get value there too.
• 36:29
  Speaker 3: But man, what a what a rotation all of a sudden?
• 36:33
  Speaker 3: Where did this come from.
• 36:35
  Speaker 1: Jim Crane's wallet? Man, yeah, no money, all.
• 36:38
  Speaker 3: It takes his money.
• 36:38
  Speaker 1: This all takes easy, Yeah, just just money.
• 36:41
  Speaker 3: Just pay the good players. It's not that hard.
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: I'm going to reiterate again. Two things can be true.
• 36:50
  Speaker 2: Their rotation today is far better than it was at
• 36:55
  Speaker 2: any point in twenty twenty five, at any point towards
• 36:58
  Speaker 2: the end of twenty twenty five. Their rotation is better today.
• 37:02
  Speaker 2: But you know, there is no guarantee that Emi just
• 37:06
  Speaker 2: completely becomes this force of a number two. The reason
• 37:10
  Speaker 2: why he fell into the Astros lapse, the reason why
• 37:13
  Speaker 2: he was willing to take a deal like this is
• 37:17
  Speaker 2: because of the uncertainty. Is because of there was market uncertainty.
• 37:21
  Speaker 2: There was uncertainty within the sport as to how well
• 37:24
  Speaker 2: he will translate here. And this is a this qualifies
• 37:27
  Speaker 2: as a gamble by the Astros. But I think it's
• 37:30
  Speaker 2: as I think it's a sensible one. I think it's
• 37:31
  Speaker 2: a practical one. I think you're gambling on a guy
• 37:35
  Speaker 2: that has proven he can pitch at the highest level
• 37:41
  Speaker 2: we've talked about. MLB is a little bit. MLB is
• 37:44
  Speaker 2: a better league than MPB, but it's not. His stats
• 37:47
  Speaker 2: are nothing to slouch at. He has pitched, he has
• 37:50
  Speaker 2: been durable, he has been able to succeed at the
• 37:53
  Speaker 2: professional level. The Astros just have to hope that the
• 37:57
  Speaker 2: learning curve is not as steep for him as it
• 38:02
  Speaker 2: can be for some MPB guys.
• 38:04
  Speaker 3: I'd prefer you not to use all three words of
• 38:08
  Speaker 3: Japanese translate and gamble in the in the same sentence
• 38:13
  Speaker 3: when talking about a baseball player. Let's let's let's keep
• 38:18
  Speaker 3: that out of here. But yeah, I mean, of course
• 38:20
  Speaker 3: it's a gamble. I mean, but yeah, you're right. This
• 38:23
  Speaker 3: This makes a ton of sense for where the Astros
• 38:26
  Speaker 3: are at currently. It makes a ton of sense for
• 38:27
  Speaker 3: for e May as well. H My, Emi, you you
• 38:32
  Speaker 3: did this to me. I wouldn't have had that in
• 38:34
  Speaker 3: my head unless you did it. This is your fault.
• 38:37
  Speaker 3: I'm upset with you. Now.
• 38:40
  Speaker 2: Well, that's that's a perfect way to end the first
• 38:43
  Speaker 2: podcast of twenty twenty six, Tyler complaining that he's upset
• 38:46
  Speaker 2: with me. Well, this was uh, this was not how
• 38:51
  Speaker 2: I envisioned my New Year's Day going. But alas, this
• 38:54
  Speaker 2: is only a harbinger of great things to come for
• 38:56
  Speaker 2: the next three hundred and sixty four days.
• 38:59
  Speaker 1: Of this year, during which we.
• 39:01
  Speaker 2: Will be around to talk about the Ashers, talk about
• 39:04
  Speaker 2: Tatsuya Emi, and to talk about this revamped rotation, including
• 39:09
  Speaker 2: a special guest later this week to discuss that revamped rotation.
• 39:14
  Speaker 2: But until then, you can follow me on x at
• 39:16
  Speaker 2: Chandler Underscore Room. You can follow Tyler at Tyler C. Stafford.
• 39:20
  Speaker 2: As always, please rate and review us on Apple and Spotify.
• 39:23
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• 39:26
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• 39:29
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• 39:32
  Speaker 2: a new pot. We should have gone live today, I
• 39:34
  Speaker 2: should have been a today, could have been again.
• 39:36
  Speaker 1: It's New Year's Day.
• 39:37
  Speaker 2: Everybody's watching Texas Tech like play with themselves against Oregon.
• 39:42
  Speaker 2: It's not going well for them. Sorry for them, but
• 39:44
  Speaker 2: everyone's watching that. No one's listening to this, so we
• 39:46
  Speaker 2: could have done it. We could have done a live
• 39:47
  Speaker 2: see how it goes. But we'll do one of those soon.
• 39:49
  Speaker 2: At some point, maybe in the next week or so,
• 39:53
  Speaker 2: we'll do one, but until then we will talk to
• 39:56
  Speaker 2: you soon.
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: We appreciate you guys listening.
• 39:57
  Speaker 2: Hope everyone had a safe New Year's Eve and a
• 40:00
  Speaker 2: happy New Year's Day. To all of you, to a
• 40:03
  Speaker 2: prosperous and fruitful twenty twenty six. Thank you guys for listening.
• 40:07
  Speaker 1: Ami