Latest / Foul Territory / Jim Bowden’s Top Remaining Free Agents List + Jose Altuve out for WBC
Transcript
- 0:10Speaker 1: Let's do this front off sunfiltered with resident GM Jim Bowden, JB.
- 0:14Speaker 1: Good to see you, and we want to do a
- 0:15Speaker 1: market check with you. There are still big names on
- 0:17Speaker 1: the list that you put together for the athletic it's
- 0:20Speaker 1: almost all pitching. So I figure we start there, Framburn Gallin,
- 0:24Speaker 1: Framber Valdez, Zach Gallen. What do you think, where do
- 0:27Speaker 1: you see these markets shoring up? And do you have
- 0:30Speaker 1: any teams in mind for them?
- 0:32Speaker 2: Yeah, so let's start with Framber Valdez because he's the
- 0:34Speaker 2: best pitcher.
- 0:35Speaker 3: On the market.
- 0:36Speaker 2: And this is a guy at thirty two years old
- 0:38Speaker 2: that is consistent, got tremendous ground ball ability here can
- 0:43Speaker 2: also miss bats, has proved he can pitch on the
- 0:45Speaker 2: biggest stage in the biggest moments. Yes, he comes with
- 0:48Speaker 2: a little bit of baggage for crossing up the catcher,
- 0:50Speaker 2: which teams want to kind of understand. But the market
- 0:53Speaker 2: has kind of fallen for him, and the market wasn't
- 0:56Speaker 2: what he was expecting.
- 0:57Speaker 3: He was expecting a long term.
- 0:58Speaker 2: Deal with a five or six your type of deal
- 1:01Speaker 2: and it's just not there for him. And so now
- 1:03Speaker 2: you know, what does he do? Does he get a
- 1:05Speaker 2: short term deal? With opt out. So it's been kind
- 1:08Speaker 2: of fascinating watching Framber. Of all the free agents out there,
- 1:11Speaker 2: he's the one that's kind of it's kind of puzzling
- 1:13Speaker 2: how he doesn't have a home yet now when I
- 1:15Speaker 2: talk to gms throughout the sport, everybody over the weekend
- 1:19Speaker 2: kept telling me he'll probably end up in Baltimore.
- 1:22Speaker 3: Everybody thinks he's going to end up there.
- 1:24Speaker 2: But we're kind of waiting on Framber to understand that
- 1:27Speaker 2: the offers on the table is all he's going to get. Like,
- 1:30Speaker 2: there's not going to be more money, there's not going
- 1:32Speaker 2: to be more years, so why wait longer? I don't know,
- 1:36Speaker 2: but I will say this, he fits with so many teams.
- 1:40Speaker 2: The problem is a lot of teams don't want to
- 1:42Speaker 2: spend the money. He fits for the Giants, I mean
- 1:44Speaker 2: to put him at the top of the rotation with
- 1:46Speaker 2: Logan Webb and Robbie Ray. Makes a lot of sense
- 1:49Speaker 2: when they're trying to get a wild card spot. I
- 1:52Speaker 2: think he fits with Detroit because I think eventually they're
- 1:54Speaker 2: going to have to trade school between now and the
- 1:56Speaker 2: trade deadline. The Phillies, I think after losing out on Bishett,
- 2:00Speaker 2: why not try to get Valdez on a short term
- 2:03Speaker 2: deal to replaced Ranger Suarez because you don't know for
- 2:06Speaker 2: sure what Wheeler is going to look like coming off
- 2:08Speaker 2: the IL. You don't know if Noah's going to have
- 2:10Speaker 2: a bounce back year of Andrew Paynter, another year away
- 2:12Speaker 2: from Tommy John is going to live up to the potential.
- 2:15Speaker 3: So it's a fit there.
- 2:16Speaker 2: And Atlanta was kicking the tires on Valdez as well.
- 2:20Speaker 2: So those are kind of the five teams that I
- 2:22Speaker 2: keep hearing. But everybody in the industry thinks eventually he
- 2:25Speaker 2: goes back to Baltimore. But they're kind of downplaying it too.
- 2:28Speaker 2: They're like, you know what, Zach Efflin's the last medicals
- 2:31Speaker 2: on him were really good. We feel good about our
- 2:33Speaker 2: five man rotation. But I still think, probably Scotty, that
- 2:37Speaker 2: that's the spot he ends up based on what everybody's
- 2:40Speaker 2: telling me.
- 2:41Speaker 4: Now, the Dodgers, we assume are probably out of this.
- 2:44Speaker 4: So what team if it becomes a short term Dodgers
- 2:47Speaker 4: type of Hey, we're going over the top for a
- 2:50Speaker 4: one year type of contract, what team do you feel
- 2:53Speaker 4: like comes to the forefront.
- 2:54Speaker 5: Then of the ones that you mentioned for Framberg, I would.
- 2:57Speaker 2: If I was a guest, I would guess the Phillies
- 2:59Speaker 2: because Dave Dobrowski's always been about the star players. That's
- 3:03Speaker 2: how he has built all his teams. Dave's going to
- 3:05Speaker 2: go to the Hall of Fame someday, right, And he
- 3:07Speaker 2: won a world championship in Boston and Detroit, and you know,
- 3:10Speaker 2: he had Montreal with a tremendous record when he was there,
- 3:13Speaker 2: took the Marlins do a world championship. You know, he
- 3:16Speaker 2: was trying to win one there in Philadelphia. Now he
- 3:18Speaker 2: knows how to do it, and he does it with star players.
- 3:20Speaker 2: So I think, you know, if the market completely falls
- 3:23Speaker 2: for him, I can see Dave. Look if Dave had
- 3:26Speaker 2: the kind of money to land Bashett, if that was
- 3:29Speaker 2: available to him, I can see him jumping in at
- 3:31Speaker 2: the last minute. So outside of Baltimore, I would guess Philadelphia.
- 3:35Speaker 2: I'll tell you if I'm in San Francisco or Detroit,
- 3:37Speaker 2: I'd be in there too.
- 3:40Speaker 6: I want to switch gears here to another pitcher, Zach Gallen.
- 3:42Speaker 6: I talked about a little bit earlier with the crew here.
- 3:45Speaker 6: I'm surprised another kind of guy where I thought he
- 3:49Speaker 6: still has a couple more years left in the tank.
- 3:51Speaker 6: I thought he'd get picked up rather quickly. You think
- 3:53Speaker 6: about a Yankee team who's going to be struggling this year,
- 3:56Speaker 6: especially in the beginning of the year with a couple
- 3:58Speaker 6: guys that are down. He always pitches well on Queen's Like,
- 4:02Speaker 6: do you see him in the Northeast? Like what you
- 4:04Speaker 6: been hearing about Zach new Jersey guy too as well.
- 4:08Speaker 2: Yeah, he ish Todd Father. You know, Look, he's another
- 4:11Speaker 2: Scott Boris client, So he's going to go wherever the
- 4:14Speaker 2: best offer is. That's what most Boris clients do. You
- 4:18Speaker 2: have to keep in mind Arizona really does want to
- 4:21Speaker 2: bring him back, and Arizona is the only team where
- 4:24Speaker 2: he's not tied to draft pick compensation. Now, part of
- 4:27Speaker 2: the problem with Gallan, as you guys know, is he
- 4:30Speaker 2: didn't have a good platform year. He went backwards. The
- 4:33Speaker 2: stuff wasn't quite the same, and so the question has
- 4:35Speaker 2: to be was it mechanics, was it health? Was it
- 4:39Speaker 2: the pressure of being on a free agent contract? You
- 4:43Speaker 2: know which one of those three was it? And I
- 4:45Speaker 2: think every team has to kind of figure out what
- 4:47Speaker 2: that is. But I will say this, I've been told
- 4:50Speaker 2: that he has a robust market, And besides Arizona, I've
- 4:53Speaker 2: heard Atlanta, Baltimore, San Francisco, Detroit, and quote unquote more so,
- 4:59Speaker 2: there's a lot of market out there. And you know
- 5:01Speaker 2: the Boris Corporation right now, Gallen is their number one
- 5:04Speaker 2: free agent left, so they're dealing with that, and they're
- 5:06Speaker 2: dealing with the arbitration case of Scoobol. So Gallan though,
- 5:10Speaker 2: is next on their checklist. So you know, I anticipate
- 5:13Speaker 2: something probably happening, maybe as early as the end of
- 5:16Speaker 2: this week. If I was a betting person, it would
- 5:19Speaker 2: be go back to Arizona on a two year deal
- 5:22Speaker 2: with an opt out after year one. The idea is,
- 5:26Speaker 2: let me get him two years in case he gets
- 5:29Speaker 2: injured or has another down year to protect them, but
- 5:32Speaker 2: let me get him back on the market next year
- 5:35Speaker 2: when he's not tied to draft pick compensation.
- 5:37Speaker 3: So if I had to bet, that's where Gallon goes back.
- 5:40Speaker 4: Jamie, talk to us about evaluation. Evaluating Zach Gallen. When
- 5:44Speaker 4: you were a GM, you didn't have all this analytics.
- 5:46Speaker 4: You had a radar gun, you had your scouts eyes,
- 5:49Speaker 4: and you had the results of what the hitters did.
- 5:52Speaker 4: If that's all we had today, and I know they
- 5:55Speaker 4: have so much more to evaluate. Guys, how do you
- 5:58Speaker 4: evaluate what Zach Gollan did in one year when the
- 6:02Speaker 4: five previous years you're talking about one hundred to one
- 6:04Speaker 4: hundred and fifty million dollar pitcher.
- 6:07Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a great question. So let me give you
- 6:09Speaker 2: my GM territory angle here. So as a GM, what
- 6:13Speaker 2: I would do is I would be calling in all
- 6:15Speaker 2: of my pitching people, right and the analytic people, and
- 6:20Speaker 2: my question would be the same one I just raised
- 6:22Speaker 2: a minute ago. I would say, why did Gallan have
- 6:25Speaker 2: a down year? Tell me what the science says in
- 6:29Speaker 2: terms of what his mechanics were this year, how the
- 6:33Speaker 2: arm came out, where the release point was, the arm speed,
- 6:36Speaker 2: the angle, the deception. Give me all the physical things
- 6:39Speaker 2: compared to when he was pitching well, and tell me
- 6:41Speaker 2: what the difference is. Number two, if I was engaged
- 6:45Speaker 2: with him, I would ask permission to get an MRI
- 6:49Speaker 2: on the shoulder and the elbow to make sure there
- 6:51Speaker 2: is no issues there and to make sure that there's
- 6:54Speaker 2: no issues anywhere else and make sure it's not a
- 6:56Speaker 2: medical situation.
- 6:58Speaker 3: And I think when I got the result.
- 7:00Speaker 2: Also those two things, I would be able to make
- 7:02Speaker 2: a decision I wouldn't care as much about if it
- 7:05Speaker 2: ended up being some pressure on a free agent year,
- 7:07Speaker 2: that wouldn't bother me at all. I talked to Zach
- 7:10Speaker 2: Allen in the past. I watched him start an All
- 7:12Speaker 2: Star game. I believe in him, knows how to pitch,
- 7:16Speaker 2: love the command when he's on. But you got to
- 7:18Speaker 2: answer me the other questions, because when you have a
- 7:20Speaker 2: down year and the stuff also goes down, it's not
- 7:22Speaker 2: just the results, it's the stuff was down. I need
- 7:26Speaker 2: to know what it was. I need the pitching people
- 7:28Speaker 2: to tell me that it was pitch selection, or it
- 7:30Speaker 2: was a leg kick or as a move to the
- 7:32Speaker 2: side of the rubber, or he was having family problems
- 7:35Speaker 2: or he's having finance problem. I need to know something
- 7:39Speaker 2: so that I can understand it, because I can't go
- 7:41Speaker 2: forward and pay him what he was prior to this
- 7:44Speaker 2: past year unless you give me those answers so I
- 7:47Speaker 2: can feel comfortable that he can go back and be
- 7:49Speaker 2: the guy that he was a year ago.
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- 9:47Speaker 5: Reading the free agent market.
- 9:48Speaker 4: Still on Gallon, is he the is he the ugly
- 9:53Speaker 4: duckling of the free agent qualifying offer people? And he's
- 9:56Speaker 4: just in a bad spot. I know all the things
- 9:58Speaker 4: you just mentioned, this stuff went down, his results weren't there.
- 10:01Speaker 4: But this is a guy, like I said, that was
- 10:03Speaker 4: a nine figure pitcher locked guaranteed coming into this year.
- 10:09Speaker 4: The qualifying offer every year has a victim. Is he
- 10:13Speaker 4: the victim of it this year? Or is this just
- 10:16Speaker 4: a circumstance of what happened on the field.
- 10:19Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, I think he's going to do okay
- 10:23Speaker 2: because another Boris client a year ago I didn't think
- 10:26Speaker 2: had any chance of getting the qualifying offer, and Nick
- 10:31Speaker 2: Martinez got it from the Reds and got paid over
- 10:33Speaker 2: twenty million dollars. His representatives are so good that I
- 10:38Speaker 2: think that I think he'll at the very least be
- 10:41Speaker 2: able to get a one year deal at the qualifying offer.
- 10:44Speaker 2: I believe that'll be there. I don't think he'll have
- 10:46Speaker 2: to do a Nick Pavetted deal that the Padres ended
- 10:49Speaker 2: up doing, and Pavetta and basically lost his shirt over
- 10:52Speaker 2: the decision not to accept the qualifying offer. I don't
- 10:55Speaker 2: think that's the case here. I think he's going to
- 10:57Speaker 2: be fine. I just think it's going to have to
- 10:59Speaker 2: be a short term over an opt out.
- 11:02Speaker 6: I want to talk about one more guy, want a buddy?
- 11:04Speaker 6: My me and Gene Suarez e Heneyo at Redsfest. I
- 11:08Speaker 6: was at a couple or two weeks ago, and I'm thinking,
- 11:11Speaker 6: I'm like talking to some guys. They say he'd be
- 11:13Speaker 6: a good fit over there. Bring him back to Cincinnati.
- 11:15Speaker 6: Have you ever heard any talks with Cincinnati and other
- 11:17Speaker 6: teams as well? Because this guy can hit some homers,
- 11:21Speaker 6: and I understand, you know, he struck out a lot too,
- 11:23Speaker 6: but he's a good he's a really good defender, and
- 11:25Speaker 6: he's got some pop that he could bring to any team.
- 11:28Speaker 2: Yeah, So in terms of the Reds, I'm not sure
- 11:31Speaker 2: the fit. I guess he could DH maybe there, but
- 11:34Speaker 2: certainly not gonna play third day at Cabrian Hayes there.
- 11:38Speaker 2: I don't think he's going to play first over the
- 11:40Speaker 2: young players. He could DH there. You know, I think
- 11:42Speaker 2: the best fits to me would be Boston, Pittsburgh, maybe
- 11:45Speaker 2: even Seattle again, but Boston Pittsburgh are the best fits.
- 11:48Speaker 2: But there's not a market for him, and it's puzzling
- 11:51Speaker 2: after forty nine home runs. So I actually talked to
- 11:54Speaker 2: a GM this morning on a team that's a non
- 11:57Speaker 2: contending team, and I said, one, you sign Suarez, since
- 12:02Speaker 2: you have a spot for him that makes sense in
- 12:04Speaker 2: the lineup and have a need, why don't you sign
- 12:07Speaker 2: him for the first half of the year, let him
- 12:09Speaker 2: hit his twenty home runs in your ballpark, and then
- 12:12Speaker 2: trade him at the deadline for a prospect. And his
- 12:15Speaker 2: response to me kind of raised my eyebrows, right, he said, well,
- 12:19Speaker 2: look at what he did last year. He was hitting
- 12:23Speaker 2: forty nine homers and we got to the trade deadline
- 12:26Speaker 2: and there was no trade market for him, and Arizona
- 12:30Speaker 2: barely got a decent return, So why would I want
- 12:33Speaker 2: to spend the money for Suarez in the first half
- 12:35Speaker 2: of the year for a fringe prospect that I trade for,
- 12:39Speaker 2: And he said, I don't think the market's any better
- 12:41Speaker 2: for him.
- 12:41Speaker 3: Look at the free agent market right now for him.
- 12:43Speaker 2: He's not getting hits. It's not like he's waiting for
- 12:46Speaker 2: a better offer. He's got people kicking the tires, but
- 12:49Speaker 2: they are not pursuing him for whatever reason. So look,
- 12:53Speaker 2: I think the fact that he's not a very good
- 12:55Speaker 2: defender at third base without a very limited range, hasn't
- 12:59Speaker 2: played a lot of so you're looking at a DH
- 13:02Speaker 2: that can play a little third and maybe you could
- 13:04Speaker 2: put him at first kind of situation. But the market,
- 13:08Speaker 2: believe it or not, because it's hard to fathom. But
- 13:10Speaker 2: a forty nine homer guy just isn't doesn't have the
- 13:14Speaker 2: market right now. You know, Boston's worried about the defense.
- 13:17Speaker 2: Pittsburgh doesn't. I don't think wants to spend much money
- 13:20Speaker 2: anymore after what they've already spent this offseason. So I
- 13:23Speaker 2: find it fascinating where he's at. But the market just
- 13:27Speaker 2: hasn't been there. There's nothing imminent. He's not close to anything,
- 13:30Speaker 2: and I think somebody should swoop in and take a
- 13:33Speaker 2: chance on him and your idea, Todd father of the Reds,
- 13:36Speaker 2: if they wanted DHM certainly makes sense to me.
- 13:38Speaker 3: In that ballpark, it's so.
- 13:40Speaker 4: Crazy me forty nine home runs and you just you're
- 13:43Speaker 4: getting crickets. It seems like somebody's like colluding to anyway.
- 13:47Speaker 4: I won't even I won't even go there, but I'm
- 13:49Speaker 4: gonna ask one last pitching question about your list. Yeah,
- 13:53Speaker 4: give me the most value on this list, is it?
- 13:58Speaker 3: Yeah?
- 13:59Speaker 5: Perfect?
- 14:00Speaker 3: Yeah? I love Chris Bassett.
- 14:01Speaker 2: I don't think people realize how consistent he is year
- 14:04Speaker 2: in and year out. He takes the ball, he makes
- 14:06Speaker 2: thirty starts, his keeps his eheria under four. And this
- 14:09Speaker 2: is going to be a core Whoever gets him, this
- 14:11Speaker 2: is gonna be a quality sign. I keep thinking Aj
- 14:13Speaker 2: Preller of the Padres is going to jump in and
- 14:16Speaker 2: grab him, right. I mean, he desperately needs another starting
- 14:19Speaker 2: pitcher there. The only really they've done this offseason is
- 14:22Speaker 2: Michael King. I think he would be a perfect fit
- 14:26Speaker 2: pitching half his games there in San Diego in that
- 14:29Speaker 2: great weather at his age. But I think he's going
- 14:31Speaker 2: to be a real value because he's consistent. No, he's
- 14:34Speaker 2: not a one, two or three, and probably the stage
- 14:36Speaker 2: of his career is a four. But I can count
- 14:38Speaker 2: on thirty starts and that is so important, as you
- 14:41Speaker 2: guys know, I.
- 14:43Speaker 6: Want to switch gears again here, Andrew McCutcheon. I know
- 14:46Speaker 6: you've seen this whole situation, and you know, social media
- 14:51Speaker 6: is a really beautiful thing and it also can be
- 14:53Speaker 6: a detriment too as well.
- 14:55Speaker 3: They talk about legacy.
- 14:57Speaker 6: How you know, some fans ask sharing to about our
- 15:01Speaker 6: ben sharing thing about you know, what about Andrew McCutchen.
- 15:04Speaker 6: You know, they talk about he had a three year
- 15:06Speaker 6: deal and they you know, that was just kind of
- 15:07Speaker 6: going away party kind of deal. But a fan says
- 15:11Speaker 6: pretty much, I know, like listen, we've had him already.
- 15:13Speaker 6: We were trying to win, and McCutchen comes back and
- 15:16Speaker 6: has a nice little tweet about it. You know, you're
- 15:17Speaker 6: not going to tell me my story, So go into
- 15:19Speaker 6: that a little bit and talk a little about what
- 15:21Speaker 6: you think about this whole situation.
- 15:23Speaker 3: Yeah.
- 15:23Speaker 2: So, I mean, number one, when you're running a franchise,
- 15:27Speaker 2: you got to be sensitive to the people that have
- 15:29Speaker 2: been the face of the franchise, right and when you
- 15:31Speaker 2: think of the Pirates until Paul Skeen's got there. Andrew
- 15:34Speaker 2: McCutchen has been the face of the franchise basically over
- 15:37Speaker 2: the last decade.
- 15:38Speaker 3: Right.
- 15:39Speaker 2: Yes, he left to go to San Francisco and the Yankees,
- 15:41Speaker 2: but he's been a Pittsburgh Pirate. He has been great
- 15:44Speaker 2: with the front office, he's been great in the community.
- 15:47Speaker 2: He has been the fabric of class and dignity representing
- 15:51Speaker 2: the Pittsburgh Pirates on and off the field. Yes, agent declined,
- 15:55Speaker 2: has gotten him, without a doubt. I think if you're
- 15:58Speaker 2: running the Pirates and you get to Septen and you've
- 16:01Speaker 2: made the decision you're not going to bring him back.
- 16:03Speaker 2: You call Andrew McCutcheon into your office and you say, look,
- 16:07Speaker 2: you've had a great career here.
- 16:09Speaker 3: We're going to move on from you.
- 16:10Speaker 2: We've made that decision, and we want to give you
- 16:12Speaker 2: the opportunity if you want to either retire or allow
- 16:16Speaker 2: us to have an Andrew McCutcheon Day on the last
- 16:19Speaker 2: day of the season and honor you in front of
- 16:21Speaker 2: the fans.
- 16:23Speaker 3: That's how you do it, right.
- 16:25Speaker 2: And then when you get to the off season, if
- 16:27Speaker 2: you're going to sign them as your twenty six guy,
- 16:30Speaker 2: then go do a deal and get him signed as
- 16:32Speaker 2: your twenty six guy and make sure he's at Pirates
- 16:34Speaker 2: best right.
- 16:37Speaker 3: You don't want to leave it in limbo.
- 16:38Speaker 2: And the last thing you can't do with the face
- 16:41Speaker 2: of the franchise is not communicate with the player and
- 16:45Speaker 2: tell him exactly where you stand and why, and treat
- 16:48Speaker 2: him with class and dignity.
- 16:50Speaker 3: Because Andrew McCutcheon is.
- 16:51Speaker 2: A human being for all he's done for Pittsburgh deserves that,
- 16:55Speaker 2: and by the way, also deserves to be given a
- 16:58Speaker 2: job in their front office or on the field on
- 17:01Speaker 2: the staff if he wanted it when he's done playing.
- 17:04Speaker 2: So I think the entire situation has been mishandled by Pittsburgh.
- 17:09Speaker 2: I think they have time to correct it, and I
- 17:11Speaker 2: hope that they do. I still think he's got something
- 17:14Speaker 2: left in the tank. I think it's probably as an
- 17:17Speaker 2: extra outfield or part time DH kind of role, but
- 17:20Speaker 2: there's still a spot for him, and I think if
- 17:22Speaker 2: he wants to play one more year, I think the
- 17:25Speaker 2: Pirates owe it to him to give him one more
- 17:26Speaker 2: year because he can still play.
- 17:29Speaker 5: And I can add on this.
- 17:31Speaker 4: One of my good friends and somebody I saw make
- 17:33Speaker 4: his big League debut from playing with him in Triple
- 17:36Speaker 4: A and seeing him get called up. He loves the
- 17:38Speaker 4: city of Pittsburgh. He hasn't just played there. He loves
- 17:41Speaker 4: the city of Pittsburgh. So my last question to you
- 17:44Speaker 4: is another aging veteran who is looking possibly we had
- 17:48Speaker 4: some conflicting reports you Darvis situation. What's your take on
- 17:53Speaker 4: the whole U Darvis situation and how it was handled,
- 17:57Speaker 4: how it's being handled, and how it should be handled.
- 18:01Speaker 2: Yeah, you hate for that kind of stuff to leak
- 18:04Speaker 2: out where it doesn't originally come from a press conference
- 18:07Speaker 2: from the player. When a player is forty three million
- 18:10Speaker 2: left on the contract, don't really want a writer to
- 18:13Speaker 2: leak out that he's going to retire. And quickly Joel Wolf,
- 18:17Speaker 2: his agent, jumped in and said, wait, wait, wait, wait,
- 18:18Speaker 2: wait a minute, these decisions have been made yet. And
- 18:20Speaker 2: I remember, as you guys know, his agent gets about
- 18:24Speaker 2: two million of that forty three million left right with
- 18:26Speaker 2: his with his percentage, so he's affected as well. There
- 18:30Speaker 2: have been players, as you know, historically, that have walked
- 18:32Speaker 2: away from a lot of money. Gil Mesher the Royals
- 18:35Speaker 2: back in the day, walked away from a huge contract,
- 18:38Speaker 2: something most people don't do. Steven Strasburg got paid his
- 18:42Speaker 2: full amount to walk away from, you know, his team,
- 18:46Speaker 2: the Washington Nationals. That was because of injury, which Darvish
- 18:50Speaker 2: is injured right now too, so that so he got
- 18:52Speaker 2: completely paid. Gil Mesh walked away from it. But the
- 18:56Speaker 2: Players Association historically doesn't want players to walk away for
- 19:00Speaker 2: the guarantee money. They don't want to set precedent for
- 19:03Speaker 2: the rest of the players.
- 19:04Speaker 3: That it's okay to do that. So there's a little
- 19:07Speaker 3: pressure there.
- 19:08Speaker 2: There's a little pressure from the agent and the money
- 19:10Speaker 2: he's gonna make. And then there is kind of is
- 19:13Speaker 2: you're a compromise in the middle where if you do
- 19:15Speaker 2: walk away, uh, maybe you pay me half of what's
- 19:18Speaker 2: left and I'll walk away from the other.
- 19:20Speaker 3: But the whole idea of having.
- 19:22Speaker 2: An article come out there he's retiring, he's going to
- 19:24Speaker 2: walk away from forty three million.
- 19:26Speaker 3: It doesn't help anybody because if you're a.
- 19:28Speaker 2: Fan like, oh, yeah, he's walking away from that, we'll
- 19:31Speaker 2: go sign Framber Baldez. We'll take the money and give
- 19:34Speaker 2: it to Framber now, yay, you know it's you don't
- 19:37Speaker 2: want that, right, And then the other thing is the
- 19:40Speaker 2: darbish is he really ready to not try to fight
- 19:42Speaker 2: back from Tommy John and and pitch again. So I
- 19:46Speaker 2: think the sometimes in today's social media, information gets out
- 19:51Speaker 2: before you want it to get out.
- 19:53Speaker 3: You know.
- 19:54Speaker 2: I always have told players in my career, you know,
- 19:57Speaker 2: don't say anything until you're ready to make a decison,
- 20:00Speaker 2: to make sure you've talked to your family, the agent,
- 20:02Speaker 2: the team, and work everything out, because there's a lot
- 20:06Speaker 2: of people that get involved when you sit there and
- 20:09Speaker 2: you want to retire and you've got forty three millions
- 20:11Speaker 2: still on the books.
- 20:13Speaker 1: At corner let sizzle, Well, we're starting to learn more
- 20:16Speaker 1: and more about players that are either in or out
- 20:18Speaker 1: for the World Baseball Classic. Actually, this one came in
- 20:20Speaker 1: hot just during our conversation. Not only do we know
- 20:25Speaker 1: most of the roster I guess for Team Japan, but
- 20:28Speaker 1: I think there was a drop of questioning about Yamamoto.
- 20:31Speaker 1: I mean, he's pitched so much for the Dodgers, and
- 20:33Speaker 1: then leading up to October he's in confirmed. So just
- 20:37Speaker 1: wanted to throw that out there. We just saw a
- 20:39Speaker 1: tweet from Alden Gonzalez there's one in. Here's one out
- 20:43Speaker 1: for Team Venezuela. Jose Altuve, who got hurt last time
- 20:46Speaker 1: around at the World Baseball Classic. Wow, this time Astros
- 20:51Speaker 1: say no, A team can't force a player not to go,
- 20:56Speaker 1: but they can request it. Altuve is a franchise, lifelong
- 21:01Speaker 1: dude there, and they clearly had a conversation. He was
- 21:04Speaker 1: looking to get cleared. I saw a tweet that I
- 21:07Speaker 1: had actually sent through this morning about Altove talking to
- 21:11Speaker 1: the press about how he wanted to play. But maybe
- 21:16Speaker 1: it's a tougher sell todd father because he had gotten
- 21:20Speaker 1: hurt in a prior World Baseball Classic.
- 21:24Speaker 6: I don't know man telling somebody they can't play for
- 21:27Speaker 6: their country from me and Cratsy, I feel like he
- 21:30Speaker 6: would agree with me on this for playing. He played
- 21:32Speaker 6: for two different and I played for three different USA teams,
- 21:36Speaker 6: And to tell me I can't do something like that,
- 21:39Speaker 6: that would that would sting a lot more than other
- 21:42Speaker 6: things do, so that that would leave a bad taste
- 21:45Speaker 6: in my mouth. But you know he won't participated. He listened.
- 21:50Speaker 6: Maybe there's something else going on. But if he's healthy
- 21:53Speaker 6: and everything's good to go, and they they're basically saying no,
- 21:56Speaker 6: I don't think it's a good idea, And you know
- 21:59Speaker 6: you're not getting their approval, which you really don't need
- 22:02Speaker 6: at the end of the day, but still for them
- 22:04Speaker 6: to say that, I'd be like, hmmm, that that one
- 22:07Speaker 6: doesn't sit well with me.
- 22:08Speaker 1: And it was a hit by pitch, I mean he
- 22:10Speaker 1: missed the first forty three games of twenty twenty three.
- 22:12Speaker 5: That sucks.
- 22:13Speaker 1: Right hit by a fastball from Daniel Bard ninety six
- 22:17Speaker 1: when Venezuela lost to the US in the quarterfinal game.
- 22:20Speaker 1: I mean it was a highly watched game, very entertaining,
- 22:23Speaker 1: but fractured right thumb missed time. Okay, that's why I'm
- 22:27Speaker 1: just trying to come up with. I don't know if
- 22:29Speaker 1: it's an excuse, but some reason why he wouldn't be
- 22:33Speaker 1: allowed to go. Is there something else going on with
- 22:35Speaker 1: him where he's recovering from something, nothing that we know
- 22:38Speaker 1: of publicly, So maybe we'll get more context at some point.
- 22:43Speaker 4: Yeah, I don't if you were going to play WBC
- 22:46Speaker 4: and there was like some kind of crazy rule in
- 22:48Speaker 4: the WBC where like dudes will get tackled or something, yeah,
- 22:52Speaker 4: I get it, but you're going to play a game
- 22:55Speaker 4: that you're playing in spring training he got hit by
- 22:57Speaker 4: a pitch, broke his thumb. I promise at the end
- 23:00Speaker 4: of spring training Joseel tuv is gonna have to face
- 23:03Speaker 4: some dude who's like a ninety nine or a ninety
- 23:06Speaker 4: five number coming over from the backfields that probably.
- 23:10Speaker 5: Doesn't know where the ball's going.
- 23:11Speaker 4: Big League hitters accidentally hit guys like those types of
- 23:15Speaker 4: things happen. I hope that's not the reason, and I'm
- 23:18Speaker 4: glad that Josey said, Okay, that's fine that they came
- 23:22Speaker 4: to an agreeance because Carlos Correa still wants to play,
- 23:25Speaker 4: and they're him and Jim Crane, which I know Jim
- 23:28Speaker 4: Crane absolutely loves jose Al Tuve. He absolutely loves Carlos Correa,
- 23:33Speaker 4: and they have a different relationship than say somebody has
- 23:36Speaker 4: only been with an organization for a few years or
- 23:39Speaker 4: just signed over there as a free agent, like Jim
- 23:42Speaker 4: Crane and those guys. He knows those guys very well,
- 23:45Speaker 4: and I think it'll be amicable. But I think, like Hosey,
- 23:52Speaker 4: Josey ultimately has a final say here, so I don't
- 23:55Speaker 4: think he would be pissed that they didn't let him go,
- 23:58Speaker 4: just because, like, look, he's to be He's going to
- 24:01Speaker 4: be there for the rest of his career. He's a
- 24:02Speaker 4: franchise player. So there's some give and take there. So
- 24:06Speaker 4: maybe there's something else that we don't know.
- 24:08Speaker 1: This could be the last one that he was going
- 24:10Speaker 1: to play in. I guess he could do one in
- 24:12Speaker 1: three years or whatever. Yeah, he probably has one more
- 24:15Speaker 1: in him, so he'll probably fight harder. But sure he's pissed.
- 24:19Speaker 6: I mean, but he can say he can say no,
- 24:24Speaker 6: I love thanks for your opinion, but I'm still gonna
- 24:27Speaker 6: do it, you know, I mean, what are they gonna
- 24:29Speaker 6: be pissed off for? You know, Listen, I don't know
- 24:34Speaker 6: if he's if it's not a rule, you have to
- 24:36Speaker 6: really think about what you really want to do. And
- 24:37Speaker 6: I feel like anybody in their right mind I love
- 24:40Speaker 6: him in baseball and has a chance to play for
- 24:42Speaker 6: their country and anything should do it.
- 24:45Speaker 1: I agree. Carlos Kray is still waiting for the approval
- 24:48Speaker 1: process too. The only thing I want to also add
- 24:51Speaker 1: is that there is an insurance component. Clayton Kershaw couldn't
- 24:55Speaker 1: get the insurance component in gear to play last time
- 24:58Speaker 1: around Kara. Who'd be going through something like that, right,
- 25:01Speaker 1: We've had physical issues for Kreya in the past with
- 25:05Speaker 1: his contracts. I don't know. Again, that's speculation. Because we
- 25:09Speaker 1: go back to what Todd Fother said, it's Krea.
- 25:12Speaker 3: Being told not to play too from the Astros.
- 25:13Speaker 1: The Astros just holding back certain veteran position players. You
- 25:17Speaker 1: don't love to see that. But Crey is trying to
- 25:19Speaker 1: push right now. That's what we learned the other day
- 25:21Speaker 1: from him because the Astros had their fan fest. There
- 25:23Speaker 1: you go, there's a tweet from Chandler Rome still working
- 25:25Speaker 1: through certain approvals required for him to participate. If he
- 25:28Speaker 1: receives that approval, he will play for Team Puerto Rico.
- 25:31Speaker 1: So to me, if it's him and Jim Crane working
- 25:35Speaker 1: through it, owner of the team, that probably means it's
- 25:37Speaker 1: more on the insurance side. With Altuve, it sounds like
- 25:39Speaker 1: it was more on the team side. But again speculation.
- 25:43Speaker 1: For now, here's another player who wants to participate, who
- 25:46Speaker 1: will participate despite some pushback. Logan Webb in regards to
- 25:52Speaker 1: the Giants not wanting him to pitch at the WBC
- 25:57Speaker 1: said quote, Obviously they have their thoughts about it. Think
- 26:00Speaker 1: that's known, but at the end of the day, it's
- 26:02Speaker 1: my decision.
- 26:04Speaker 3: So just like that, mm hmm.
- 26:10Speaker 6: Love that. Take control of what you want to do
- 26:13Speaker 6: if you're allowed to do something. You can easily say
- 26:16Speaker 6: yes or no to whatever decision you want and how
- 26:18Speaker 6: you feel. I think that's great, agreed.
- 26:23Speaker 1: Good for you, Logan. And there are plenty of other
- 26:28Speaker 1: cases you can point to at this point, Paul Skins,
- 26:32Speaker 1: Eric Scouble who's entering his free agent year, Skiings who's
- 26:36Speaker 1: pre big contract, like, there are plenty of comps where
- 26:39Speaker 1: Logan Web could be like, I'm one of the most
- 26:41Speaker 1: durable starters in the game.
- 26:43Speaker 5: I'm a veteran.
- 26:43Speaker 1: I know what I'm doing. I'm going to log a
- 26:45Speaker 1: few starts for Team USA in the World Baseball Classic.
- 26:48Speaker 3: Good for him.
- 26:51Speaker 4: Maybe he wants to pitch, Maybe he wants to pitch
- 26:52Speaker 4: in like real games too. Some dudes like, oh great,
- 26:55Speaker 4: I get to throw three innings against this team. Oh great,
- 26:59Speaker 4: we're facing We're facing the Dodgers in my next start.
- 27:02Speaker 4: So I'm going down to the b field. I'm going
- 27:05Speaker 4: down the field too because I had to throw.
- 27:07Speaker 6: No.
- 27:08Speaker 4: Instead, I'm gonna throw games against Brazil, Mexico, Great Britain
- 27:15Speaker 4: or Japan or like some duds just like to compete.
- 27:20Speaker 4: And if he gets hurt, it's also his career too,
- 27:23Speaker 4: not just the team losing a player. He gets that
- 27:26Speaker 4: players understand that and that's how important it is to
- 27:30Speaker 4: put your country on your back.
- 27:34Speaker 1: Yes, and Doc asked in the chat, contracts insured against
- 27:37Speaker 1: injuries that may occur at the WBC. Yes, as far
- 27:40Speaker 1: as I know, that's what they do. They pay some premium, right,
- 27:43Speaker 1: so that they can ensure these contracts in case there's
- 27:48Speaker 1: an injury in the World Baseball Classic and affects the season.
- 27:52Speaker 5: Right.
- 27:52Speaker 1: That's how you get teams who invest a lot in
- 27:54Speaker 1: players to say, okay, we'll give the approval for this
- 27:58Speaker 1: to happen. Teams have to prove most things for players
- 28:02Speaker 1: outside of Major League Baseball, and even though this is
- 28:05Speaker 1: Baseball's event, that's part of it. They have to get
- 28:07Speaker 1: the insurance premium. So I'm sure they pay millions of
- 28:09Speaker 1: dollars to be able to ensure all the players.