Latest / Foul Territory / Fair Territory: AL MVP - Judge or Raleigh? Ken's NL Cy Young ballot, FA STUD closers

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Fair Territory: AL MVP - Judge or Raleigh? Ken's NL Cy Young ballot, FA STUD closers · Foul Territory

0:01
Speaker 1: Welcome everyone to the Thursday edition of Fair Territory. I'm
0:04
Speaker 1: Ken Rosenthal, flying solo today. Noahlna Rizzo, no Scott Braun.
0:09
Speaker 1: You're stuck with me. But the good news is we've
0:11
Speaker 1: got plenty to discuss, starting with news that just broke
0:14
Speaker 1: this morning out of San Diego. The Padres are exploring
0:18
Speaker 1: a strategic sale of the club, which means the owners
0:22
Speaker 1: are going to try to sell the team. To explain
0:25
Speaker 1: this briefly, this was kind of inevitable once Peter Sidler
0:28
Speaker 1: passed away late in twenty twenty three, and you might
0:31
Speaker 1: recall about a year ago, a little less than a
0:34
Speaker 1: year ago, Sidler's widow sued two of his brothers for
0:38
Speaker 1: control of the team. And now we hear today that
0:41
Speaker 1: they are indeed going to be sold, and presumably that
0:45
Speaker 1: would help resolve the legal dispute which is ongoing. What
0:49
Speaker 1: does this mean, Well, when Peter Sidler passed, we all
0:53
Speaker 1: knew that there was never going to be another owner
0:55
Speaker 1: like him. He transformed baseball in San Diego with the
0:58
Speaker 1: way he invested in the team. The city and the
1:01
Speaker 1: people in San Diego that area responded in great numbers.
1:06
Speaker 1: The tenants has been amazing they've had an issue with
1:08
Speaker 1: their TV deal. Lit'll shake into The LA Times also
1:11
Speaker 1: noted this morning cash flow might be an issue. So
1:15
Speaker 1: there are some issues there, problems, some long term contracts
1:18
Speaker 1: that eventually could haunt them. But it's going to be
1:21
Speaker 1: really interesting to see how this plays out. Now, it's
1:23
Speaker 1: not FATA complete. This will happen. If you recall, in
1:26
Speaker 1: recent years, the La Angels were for sale, the Minnesota
1:30
Speaker 1: Twins were for sale, the Washington Nationals were for sale,
1:33
Speaker 1: and eventually we're pulled off the market. But this is
1:36
Speaker 1: a first step toward selling the San Diego Padres, and
1:39
Speaker 1: it is something obviously we'll all be paying close attention
1:43
Speaker 1: to in the days, weeks, and perhaps even years ahead.
1:47
Speaker 1: All Right, it's award season and I want to get
1:50
Speaker 1: into the AL MVP and NL MVP, both of which
1:54
Speaker 1: will be announced tonight. But first I want to reveal
1:56
Speaker 1: my Cy Young ballot for the National League Say Young Award.
2:00
Speaker 1: That was the only category in which I voted this season,
2:03
Speaker 1: and I'll explain how I voted because it's kind of interesting,
2:08
Speaker 1: not for who I voted for. First, that was obvious
2:10
Speaker 1: Paul Skins unanimous winner as well, he should have been
2:13
Speaker 1: with his sub two brilliant season for the Pittsburgh Pirates.
2:18
Speaker 1: The real issue for me, and I'll show you my
2:20
Speaker 1: ballot now, was Logan Web. Now, when I vote for
2:24
Speaker 1: Cy Young, I generally am someone who prefers innings, who
2:29
Speaker 1: prefers volume. I weigh that very heavily. But you see
2:33
Speaker 1: my ballot there, Logan Web, the National League leader and
2:36
Speaker 1: innings pitch this season, is nowhere on there. And he
2:38
Speaker 1: had a good season. It wasn't like he was someone
2:41
Speaker 1: who just threw a lot of innings with a five VRA. No,
2:44
Speaker 1: not like that at all. So why did I go
2:47
Speaker 1: against what I normally do? Why was I inconsistent here?
2:51
Speaker 1: As voters sometimes are with these things. I just felt
2:55
Speaker 1: that even though Web led the league in s dragouts,
2:57
Speaker 1: he also led the league in hits aloud. Now this
3:00
Speaker 1: is partly a reflection of him pitching two hundred and
3:02
Speaker 1: seven innings, but I felt that at the bottom of
3:05
Speaker 1: the ballot Freddy Peralta and Nick Pavetta. Both those guys
3:09
Speaker 1: their performances, albeit in fewer innings twenty five fewer innings
3:13
Speaker 1: approximately in Pavetta's case, about thirty fewer in Paralta's case,
3:18
Speaker 1: I just felt that they outperformed Web when they were
3:21
Speaker 1: on the mound. Now, when you pitch more innings, it's
3:24
Speaker 1: harder to sustain excellence the way you might if you're
3:28
Speaker 1: pitching one hundred and seventy one hundred and eighty innings
3:30
Speaker 1: like Paveta and Paralta were. But I look at opponents
3:34
Speaker 1: ops and this is just one measure, and Paveta was
3:37
Speaker 1: third in opponent's ops in the league, behind Yamamoto and Skeens,
3:41
Speaker 1: and then Sanchez, Christopher Sanchez was fourth, Paralta fifth, again
3:46
Speaker 1: one measure. Now, logan Webb the problem with excluding him.
3:50
Speaker 1: This is the thing I struggled with. He led the league,
3:53
Speaker 1: or he was one of the leaders. I believe in
3:55
Speaker 1: strikeout to walk ratio he was third, and he also
3:59
Speaker 1: was the victim. Somewhat. It seems of poor luck, very
4:02
Speaker 1: high batting average on balls and play opponent's batting average
4:06
Speaker 1: on balls and play. But in the end, we can
4:09
Speaker 1: look at expected numbers, we can look at what should
4:11
Speaker 1: have happened. I just felt though Web was a guy
4:15
Speaker 1: who was gonna do better with war because that honors volume.
4:18
Speaker 1: I just felt that Paveta and Peralta were more deserving.
4:21
Speaker 1: I didn't think the top three were any question at all, Skian,
4:24
Speaker 1: Sanchez and Yamamoto. So that's how I voted. I'm not
4:28
Speaker 1: sure it's right, that's the way I went about it,
4:30
Speaker 1: all right, now, al MVP tonight. I've said this before
4:35
Speaker 1: and I'll say it again here. I'm kind of grateful
4:39
Speaker 1: that I didn't have a vote for this award this year.
4:42
Speaker 1: And yeah, it's a little bit of a cop out
4:45
Speaker 1: when I say that, because to me, it's always an
4:48
Speaker 1: honor to vote for any award, and we all take
4:51
Speaker 1: it pretty seriously as you can hear. And I'm sure
4:53
Speaker 1: see when you see writers analyze what they did. But
4:57
Speaker 1: with the al MVP, it's like and oranges with Judge
5:01
Speaker 1: and Raleigh. And to me, there is no wrong answer.
5:04
Speaker 1: I'll say it again, no wrong answer. I expect Judge
5:08
Speaker 1: is going to win. I don't know by how much.
5:10
Speaker 1: It's just my hunch. I don't have any inside information
5:13
Speaker 1: on that. But the reason I expect Judge to win
5:17
Speaker 1: is that for all Raleigh accomplished, and he had a
5:19
Speaker 1: historic season record for a switch hitter home runs record
5:24
Speaker 1: for a catcher home runs, for all that, and all
5:27
Speaker 1: that he did as a catcher defensively, all that can't
5:30
Speaker 1: be measured intangibly two hundred points in ops, which is
5:34
Speaker 1: what the gap was almost in the end, almost two
5:37
Speaker 1: hundred points judge over Raleigh. That's going to be difficult
5:41
Speaker 1: for Raleigh to overcome with voters. Now you see the
5:44
Speaker 1: ops gap there, you also see the difference in war.
5:47
Speaker 1: I don't take war seriously when it comes to catchers.
5:49
Speaker 1: I don't believe that war, which is an estimate to
5:52
Speaker 1: begin with, fully accounts for everything a catcher can do.
5:56
Speaker 1: What a catcher does intangibly is lead a pitching staff
6:00
Speaker 1: work with all pitchers that come into play. For the
6:03
Speaker 1: Seattle Mariners in Raleigh's case this year and as justin
6:07
Speaker 1: Hollander their GM, the Mariners GM pointed out there is
6:11
Speaker 1: an emotional toll with catching that is different than just hitting,
6:15
Speaker 1: or even playing the field and hitting. And the emotional
6:18
Speaker 1: toll is, well, if you go oh for four in
6:20
Speaker 1: a given night, okay, you kind of think about your bats.
6:23
Speaker 1: If you go for four and you've caught one hundred
6:26
Speaker 1: and forty five pitches that night and maybe three of
6:28
Speaker 1: them went awry, and you're wondering about that and how
6:32
Speaker 1: that could have been different. That's a mental taxation that
6:36
Speaker 1: the average position player does not experience. That said Aaron Judges.
6:40
Speaker 1: Aaron Judge. He is an amazing performer, as is Raleigh,
6:44
Speaker 1: and I just don't know how exactly this is going
6:48
Speaker 1: to turn out. I know voters are split on this.
6:50
Speaker 1: I know that I know Raley's going to get a
6:52
Speaker 1: certain number of first place votes, and he should. But
6:55
Speaker 1: as I've said before, I'd almost like to see it
6:57
Speaker 1: end in a tie, which would be hard to do.
7:00
Speaker 1: The way the voting is tabulated now, we can still
7:03
Speaker 1: appreciate Raleigh's year, of course, even if Judge is the
7:07
Speaker 1: ultimate winner. Tonight and Dan Shaughnessy of the Boston Globe,
7:11
Speaker 1: a writer who has been honored by the Hall of
7:12
Speaker 1: Fame with the BBWAA Excellence Award Career Excellence Award. He
7:16
Speaker 1: had a column in which he explained Ted Williams triple
7:20
Speaker 1: Crown in nineteen forty two and nineteen forty seven, finished
7:23
Speaker 1: second both times, I believe, to Joe DiMaggio in both.
7:28
Speaker 1: One year he had four h six. That was in
7:30
Speaker 1: nineteen forty one. He also came in second to Joe DiMaggio.
7:34
Speaker 1: Stam Musial for second place finishes, and you see what
7:37
Speaker 1: Ted did right there. Those were pretty good years in
7:40
Speaker 1: which he didn't win at MVP, and catching is a
7:44
Speaker 1: tough position to win from. Only two catchers have won
7:46
Speaker 1: since nineteen ninety nine, Joe Mauer in two thousand and nine,
7:50
Speaker 1: Buster Posey in twenty twelve. So it's going to be
7:53
Speaker 1: an uphill battle for Raley. It was always going to
7:56
Speaker 1: be an uphill battle. But we can all remember what
8:00
Speaker 1: was an amazing season by an amazing player. It will
8:04
Speaker 1: never be forgotten. And if he doesn't win an MVP award,
8:07
Speaker 1: well that's only one measure of a player and a
8:10
Speaker 1: player's greatness. And I don't know that it will take
8:12
Speaker 1: anything away from cal Raley. Obviously you want to win it,
8:16
Speaker 1: you want that on your name forever. But if he
8:20
Speaker 1: doesn't win it, he still got I don't know, the
8:23
Speaker 1: record for most home runs by a sweet raeder, of
8:24
Speaker 1: the record for most home runs by a catcher, and
8:27
Speaker 1: the memories he created for fans all season long. National
8:30
Speaker 1: League MVP. We know it's going to happen. It's going
8:33
Speaker 1: to be Otani unanimously again. This will be his fourth
8:36
Speaker 1: MVP award in five seasons. He has had an incredible
8:41
Speaker 1: career this year, of course, he did it differently than
8:44
Speaker 1: last year. Last year, hey, you remember he was not
8:48
Speaker 1: able to pitch, and he stole all those bases and
8:51
Speaker 1: did it that way fifty to fifty. This year he's
8:54
Speaker 1: pitching again, and while the offensive numbers maybe weren't quite
8:57
Speaker 1: as great, he just had that all around season, all right. Finally,
9:01
Speaker 1: before we go into the Grill and Ken's segment of
9:05
Speaker 1: the show, there's a lot we've written at the Athletic
9:08
Speaker 1: over the last couple of days about the closure market.
9:10
Speaker 1: The closer market is quite robust because there are quite
9:15
Speaker 1: a number of good closures available. Edwin Diaz, Devin Williams
9:21
Speaker 1: go right down the list. There's a bunch of others too.
9:24
Speaker 1: I'm thinking of Ryan Helsley, Luke Weaver. You can go
9:28
Speaker 1: right down the line, racil Igalacias, Pete Fairbanks. Obviously some
9:32
Speaker 1: of these guys are more highly regarded than others, but
9:35
Speaker 1: it's a big list. And you see today in our
9:37
Speaker 1: notes Calm, the one I wrote with Will Salmon and
9:39
Speaker 1: Katie Wu there's a note about the Red Sox maybe
9:42
Speaker 1: finding or signing a closer, even though they have Chapman,
9:46
Speaker 1: someone who would pitch the eighth inning with Chapman there
9:49
Speaker 1: and then perhaps supplant him. Ultimately is the closer once
9:52
Speaker 1: Chapman is not Chapman anymore, and perhaps that won't happen
9:56
Speaker 1: anytime soon. The Orioles looking for a closer, the Blue
9:59
Speaker 1: Jays looking for a closer. The Mets have to figure
10:01
Speaker 1: out whether it's Diaz or someone else. The Dodgers too,
10:05
Speaker 1: looking for a late inning reliever. They've been one of
10:07
Speaker 1: the teams linked to Devin Williams. Will Salmon of The
10:10
Speaker 1: Athletic had a terrific story on Williams yesterday and just
10:14
Speaker 1: how his season statistically was a bit misleading. You have
10:19
Speaker 1: to dig deeper and look into some of the things
10:21
Speaker 1: that were going on to really understand what happened with Williams,
10:25
Speaker 1: And I forgot to mention with the closers. Robert Suarez
10:28
Speaker 1: another fine closer available in free agency. There also might
10:32
Speaker 1: be some traded, So that's going to be a market
10:34
Speaker 1: that's going to be really interesting to watch. It's going
10:37
Speaker 1: to be, I would think, quite lucrative for the pitchers
10:40
Speaker 1: at the top. When Diaz is seeking a deal much
10:42
Speaker 1: like the one he sign with the Mets before opting
10:44
Speaker 1: out of this one five years, one hundred and two million.
10:47
Speaker 1: Will he get that? I don't know, but these guys,
10:50
Speaker 1: for the most part, they're going to get paid, all right.
10:53
Speaker 1: With that, we close out the first segment. We will
10:55
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12:04
Speaker 2: All.
12:05
Speaker 1: Right, here we go. Time now for Grill and Ken,
12:07
Speaker 1: the part of the show where I answer your questions.
12:09
Speaker 1: Let's not waste any time, Let's get right to them.
12:12
Speaker 1: First question comes from Tyler Maxsmith, who asked, do you
12:15
Speaker 1: see the Braves restarting Byron Buxton trade talks? I know
12:19
Speaker 1: Anthopolis said he is prioritizing a shortstop and a starter,
12:22
Speaker 1: but he's proven what he says and what he actually
12:25
Speaker 1: does are two different things. Tyler, you are a smart
12:27
Speaker 1: person because Alexanthopolis, the way he operates, going back to
12:32
Speaker 1: his days in Toronto, he is someone who kind of
12:35
Speaker 1: is stealth and often when you see names attached to
12:38
Speaker 1: the Braves, those aren't the names that he is looking at.
12:41
Speaker 1: The managerial search was just the latest example of that.
12:44
Speaker 1: So Buxton really interesting situation in Minnesota. If you've been
12:48
Speaker 1: reading Dan Hayes and The Athletic and even I wrote
12:50
Speaker 1: about this a little bit this week as well. The
12:53
Speaker 1: Twins are in a funny position. Their president of baseball
12:56
Speaker 1: operations Derek Falvey clearly wants to build the team up
13:01
Speaker 1: again and not continue tearing down, not continue what they
13:04
Speaker 1: started at the deadline. That would mean keeping Joe Ryan,
13:08
Speaker 1: keeping Pablo Lopez, and yes keeping Byron Buxton. Dan wrote
13:12
Speaker 1: a story yesterday saying that if they do tear down,
13:16
Speaker 1: then Buxton, who has been adamant about wanting to stay
13:18
Speaker 1: in Minnesota, might have a change of heart because obviously
13:22
Speaker 1: you're not gonna want to play for a team completely
13:25
Speaker 1: rebuilding a team that's going to be far away from contention. Now.
13:29
Speaker 1: Buxton is from Georgia. We all know that, and he
13:33
Speaker 1: would be someone I would think almost every team would
13:36
Speaker 1: be interested in. The Braves have a center fielder, Michael
13:38
Speaker 1: Harris the second and a darn good one. They do
13:41
Speaker 1: have other priorities, so I do not see them necessarily
13:44
Speaker 1: getting involved in the Buxton sweepstakes, if indeed they become
13:48
Speaker 1: Buxton Sweepstakes, We're actually a long way from that. What
13:52
Speaker 1: happens now is we have to see what the Twins'
13:56
Speaker 1: budget is going to be. They don't even know yet.
13:58
Speaker 1: Owners have not given the word yet. Aj Presentski asked me,
14:01
Speaker 1: how can owners not know the budgets yet, And I
14:03
Speaker 1: asked that question last night here at the GM meetings
14:06
Speaker 1: and was told that with the TV money, the local
14:09
Speaker 1: TV money, a lot of times it comes in late
14:12
Speaker 1: and they're kind of assessing as they go along. So
14:15
Speaker 1: we have to see what the Twins direction is going
14:18
Speaker 1: to be, and we have to see if indeed it
14:21
Speaker 1: leads to a point where they're even interested or entertaining
14:25
Speaker 1: the idea of trading. Byron Buxton. All right, let's go.
14:28
Speaker 1: Next question. This one is from Justin Long, who asks
14:31
Speaker 1: do you factor in picture friendly ballparks versus hitter friendly
14:34
Speaker 1: ballparks into your voting? Yes? Good question. And in the
14:38
Speaker 1: case of Paveta, he's pitching in a picture friendly ballpark.
14:42
Speaker 1: Web two is a picture friendly ballpark, Yamamoto Dodger Stadium's
14:46
Speaker 1: kind of neutral schemes PNC is more or less neutral,
14:50
Speaker 1: I believe. But I do consider kind of all these
14:53
Speaker 1: things that less than others because it doesn't often play
14:58
Speaker 1: a major role. Most of these pit they're at the
15:01
Speaker 1: top of their game. They're good on the road as
15:04
Speaker 1: well at home, no matter where they're pitching, so it's
15:06
Speaker 1: not necessarily a front and center thing. But sure, in
15:10
Speaker 1: certain cases you're gonna look at that and factor that
15:12
Speaker 1: in as well. All right, next question, let's see what
15:16
Speaker 1: we got here. So if we got anything here, all right,
15:18
Speaker 1: here we go Dialvarez who asked, oh, what a package
15:22
Speaker 1: of She and Stone, Rushing and other prospects get a
15:25
Speaker 1: trade done for Skins to the Dodgers. Nice try For
15:28
Speaker 1: one thing, Paul Skeins is not getting traded. For another thing,
15:32
Speaker 1: If he was getting traded at this point, it would
15:35
Speaker 1: take a heck of a lot more than She and
15:37
Speaker 1: Stone and Rushing. But one point here that I want
15:40
Speaker 1: to make with regard to the Dodgers, and I did
15:42
Speaker 1: not realize this until our Beat writer Fabian Ardaya reminded
15:46
Speaker 1: me of it. Next year, their starting pitching depth is
15:49
Speaker 1: going to be incredible. Why, Gavin Stone is coming back
15:52
Speaker 1: from surgery, River Ryan is coming back from surgery, and
15:55
Speaker 1: they've got all the guys that, of course played such
15:58
Speaker 1: prominent roles for them this year as well, So they're
16:00
Speaker 1: going to be in a really good position. Emmt Chan
16:02
Speaker 1: will be a year into his career at that point
16:05
Speaker 1: and should be ready to contribute even more. They'll probably
16:08
Speaker 1: have more starters than they know what to do with.
16:11
Speaker 1: But as for Skens. No, he's not getting traded yet.
16:14
Speaker 1: Do I expect ultimately he will perhaps, but he was
16:17
Speaker 1: pretty adamant on his conference call last night about wanting
16:20
Speaker 1: to win in Pittsburgh and kind of showing the twenty
16:23
Speaker 1: nine other fan base is that this is what the
16:26
Speaker 1: pirates and he want to do. All right. Next question,
16:30
Speaker 1: This one comes from Armando Armandez amazing. He says, Ken,
16:37
Speaker 1: have you heard about any relievers on the trade market.
16:40
Speaker 1: We've seen one reliever traded, Andrew Kittridge from the Cubs
16:44
Speaker 1: back to the Orioles. Pete Fairbanks was available until the
16:48
Speaker 1: Rays declined his eleven million dollar option obviously did not
16:51
Speaker 1: get traded. I am certain that there are relievers available.
16:55
Speaker 1: I haven't heard any specific names about what teams might consider.
17:00
Speaker 1: There are guys, though, but free agency is probably the
17:04
Speaker 1: first choice for many teams with regard to relievers, because
17:07
Speaker 1: there are a number of them out there, and it's
17:09
Speaker 1: easier to sign a free agent than to trade prospects
17:13
Speaker 1: for a reliever, especially when relievers are so viatle. All right,
17:17
Speaker 1: next question, let's see what we have. This one comes
17:21
Speaker 1: from I can't even pronounce this, zoo z lod Ken
17:26
Speaker 1: with the CBA and looming salary cap being pushed by MLB,
17:30
Speaker 1: the MLB. No, it's not the MLB, it's MLB. I'm curious.
17:34
Speaker 1: Are the big spending teams pushing back against the salary
17:37
Speaker 1: cap because they draw a lot more because of the
17:40
Speaker 1: big stars. You're asking a good question here, And here's
17:44
Speaker 1: why it's a good question because often with CBA talks,
17:47
Speaker 1: it's not just players versus owners, it's owners versus owners.
17:51
Speaker 1: Large market owners have different interests than small market owners.
17:55
Speaker 1: Now there is a world where I am sure big
17:58
Speaker 1: market owners would maybe we'll welcome a salary cap because
18:02
Speaker 1: it would limit what they could spend. They wouldn't have
18:04
Speaker 1: to go out and outspend everyone else. They'd be limited
18:07
Speaker 1: and what they could do, and that would give them
18:09
Speaker 1: as well as the small market teams cause certainty. But
18:13
Speaker 1: a lot will depend on the TV deals as well,
18:16
Speaker 1: and how Baseball ultimately figures that out and whether they
18:20
Speaker 1: distribute the revenue from that kind of an even manner.
18:23
Speaker 1: I don't know how it's going to play out. So
18:27
Speaker 1: the question is will there be a dispute between big
18:30
Speaker 1: market and small market teams about a cap? I can
18:33
Speaker 1: see a world where Rob Manfred convinces everyone that a
18:36
Speaker 1: cap is in their best interests. But as for a
18:39
Speaker 1: competitive advantage right now, Yes, the Dodgers, the Yankees, the Matts, Phillies,
18:43
Speaker 1: they have a huge competitive advantage because they can spend
18:47
Speaker 1: without restriction or without much restriction. There is a luxury
18:50
Speaker 1: tax threshold in there as much as they want. Okay,
18:55
Speaker 1: what else do we app Well, we don't have anything. What
18:57
Speaker 1: we have coming up are es and Dorks of the Week.
19:01
Speaker 1: It'll just be solo this week. Dude and Dork of
19:03
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Speaker 1: Dude, Dude, dude, all right, Dude of the Week. Now,
19:58
Speaker 1: this is an interesting question this week, and I'm I
20:00
Speaker 1: want to harken back to the Manager of the Year voting.
20:03
Speaker 1: A lot of Blue Jays fans were quite upset when
20:06
Speaker 1: Steven voted the Cleveland Guardians beat out John Schneider of
20:09
Speaker 1: the Toronto Blue Jays. John Schneider certainly a candidate for
20:12
Speaker 1: due to the week great season. I personally felt Stephen
20:16
Speaker 1: vote getting to the playoffs and winning the Ale Central
20:19
Speaker 1: with that team going nineteen and four down the stretch
20:22
Speaker 1: without class A and Ortiz and all that happened to them,
20:25
Speaker 1: I personally thought he should have been Manager of the
20:27
Speaker 1: Year simply because of that. He didn't have the team
20:30
Speaker 1: John Schneider did. But I digress. My dude of the
20:33
Speaker 1: Week is another manager who was snubbed in the Manager
20:37
Speaker 1: of the Year voting, and that is Dave Roberts. Now,
20:40
Speaker 1: keep in mind, the Managers of the Year are selected
20:43
Speaker 1: based strictly on regular season performance. The ballots have to
20:46
Speaker 1: be in before the playoffs start. But Dave Roberts this
20:50
Speaker 1: year beat all three National League Manager of the Year
20:54
Speaker 1: finalists Terry Francona, Pat Murphy, and Rob Thompson in the playoffs,
21:00
Speaker 1: all three of them. So that's kind of dude worthy,
21:03
Speaker 1: I would think. And certainly what Roberts has done with
21:06
Speaker 1: the Dodgers, winning three World Series, all those division titles,
21:10
Speaker 1: everything that he's accomplished in the regular season. Yes, he's
21:13
Speaker 1: had great teams, we all know that. But you can
21:15
Speaker 1: screw up a bad team. You can just look to
21:17
Speaker 1: New York to see how that happened in the Mets situation.
21:20
Speaker 1: In Yankees, not the manager's fault necessarily, but the point
21:23
Speaker 1: is you don't have a guarantee of winning even with
21:27
Speaker 1: a big money, star laden team. Dave Roberts has won.
21:30
Speaker 1: He's headed to the Hall of Fame, and for that
21:33
Speaker 1: he is my dude of the Week. All right, let's
21:36
Speaker 1: break and go to the next segment we have here.
21:39
Speaker 1: That would be dork of the Week. All right, Dork
21:49
Speaker 1: of the Week. The obvious choices would be the two
21:52
Speaker 1: Cats who were indicted by the federal government in an
21:55
Speaker 1: indictment that was unsealed Sunday. Like prosecutors in Brooklyn, Emmanuel
21:59
Speaker 1: Class and Louis Ortiz. Easy to name them dorks the Week,
22:02
Speaker 1: but innocent until proven guilty. Their lawyers insist their innocent,
22:06
Speaker 1: even though the indictment reads pretty specifically about what they did.
22:10
Speaker 1: I'm not going there with those two guys. I'm gonna
22:12
Speaker 1: go to the world of music from my dork of
22:16
Speaker 1: the Week, the world of rap music, and I'm gonna
22:18
Speaker 1: give it to Drake. Drake, of course, who has taken
22:21
Speaker 1: one hit after another in his beef with Kendrick Lamar.
22:24
Speaker 1: He's kind of lost that thing time and time again.
22:27
Speaker 1: Well here it is already again, I should say, Drake
22:31
Speaker 1: ticking off the Los Angeles Dodgers. He's a Blue Jay
22:34
Speaker 1: fan and you see what he tweeted there or put
22:37
Speaker 1: on his Instagram, and the Dodgers took exception. The Dodgers,
22:41
Speaker 1: I mean, this is kind of silly, but they drew
22:43
Speaker 1: motivation from it. Drake, maybe you need to stay in
22:46
Speaker 1: your lane here. It is exclusive from TMZ. Drake going
22:49
Speaker 1: after Shoho Tani during the World Series actually backfired hard.
22:53
Speaker 1: Miguil Rojas tells TMC Sports the locker room definitely took
22:57
Speaker 1: notice of the rapper taking shots at their superstar teammate
23:00
Speaker 1: and they didn't like it one bit. Drake Man, you're
23:03
Speaker 1: on the wrong side again. Dude, you're the dork of
23:06
Speaker 1: the week. All right, So let's get to one more
23:10
Speaker 1: question before we end the show today, at least the
23:12
Speaker 1: television side, We've got a Dodger's question. Here goes, for
23:16
Speaker 1: the Dodgers to trade for Kwan, who would you most
23:19
Speaker 1: likely see getting sent I'm sorry, I don't see the
23:22
Speaker 1: rest of the question. First of all, I don't know
23:25
Speaker 1: that the Dodgers are going to trade for Quan, and
23:28
Speaker 1: they were interested at the deadline, and remember it didn't happen.
23:31
Speaker 1: The Guardians generally are considered a difficult team to deal with,
23:35
Speaker 1: and it's not that Chris Antonetti and Mike Turner off,
23:38
Speaker 1: their heads of baseball operations, are difficult human beings. It's
23:43
Speaker 1: just that they set the bar a certain level, and
23:46
Speaker 1: if you meet that level, you can make a trade,
23:48
Speaker 1: and if you don't, there's no trade. And that's the
23:51
Speaker 1: way they operate. Now. I would imagine the Dodgers, in
23:54
Speaker 1: need of outfield help, will again explore the Quan situation,
23:59
Speaker 1: but I just don't know that it's going to lead
24:01
Speaker 1: to anything. The Guardians are desperate for offense. They've got
24:05
Speaker 1: Jose Ramirez, they've got Kwan, and they've got a bunch
24:08
Speaker 1: of guys that there's hope. There's some younger players coming
24:12
Speaker 1: too that could impact players for them. But if they
24:16
Speaker 1: trade Kwan, unless they're getting something really good back, it's
24:19
Speaker 1: difficult to imagine them competing at the level that they
24:22
Speaker 1: have in the last couple of years, which is at
24:25
Speaker 1: an extremely high level. So I don't expect the Quan
24:29
Speaker 1: trade to happen. Clearly, if the Dodgers did it, they've
24:32
Speaker 1: got a bunch of outfield prospects, not really all that
24:35
Speaker 1: close to the majors some of them, but they could
24:38
Speaker 1: start the deal with some of those names, include some pitching,
24:41
Speaker 1: and maybe then the Guardians would be tempted. I'm not
24:43
Speaker 1: sure Kwan is a great fit for anyone, low chase
24:47
Speaker 1: rate fall and play all the time, really good player,
24:51
Speaker 1: So again, I don't see it happening. But it's the
24:54
Speaker 1: off season, and I always say this off season deadline
24:58
Speaker 1: whenever things will happen that make our head spin, and
25:02
Speaker 1: I expect things that happened this offseason to make our
25:06
Speaker 1: head spin again. I have one more thing I want
25:08
Speaker 1: to discuss before we close out the show for the week,
25:11
Speaker 1: before I leave Las Vegas, where the GM meetings have
25:13
Speaker 1: been held this week. Not too sorry to be leaving
25:16
Speaker 1: Las Vegas, by the way. It's an interesting place. It's
25:18
Speaker 1: not the greatest place for a GM meeting. There are
25:20
Speaker 1: a lot of distractions for the writers, for the executives. No, seriously,
25:24
Speaker 1: everybody's kind of locked in. They're not messing around. Maybe
25:27
Speaker 1: a little bit at the gaming tables and the slot machines,
25:30
Speaker 1: but that's about it. But the topic I want to
25:32
Speaker 1: discuss is really an interesting one because it's one of
25:35
Speaker 1: the most fascinating things that's happened to baseball this season
25:37
Speaker 1: and maybe in the last couple of years, and that
25:40
Speaker 1: is the return of Paul D. Podesta to the sport
25:44
Speaker 1: after ten years in the NFL with the Cleveland Browns.
25:47
Speaker 1: He's taking over the Colorado Rockies. And Andy McCullough today has
25:51
Speaker 1: an amazing story about how things have changed in the
25:55
Speaker 1: last ten years. Andy talked to executives from around the
25:58
Speaker 1: game here at the GM meetings and he said, or
26:02
Speaker 1: he wrote basically what he heard, which is that so
26:05
Speaker 1: much has changed. Some of the things he mentioned were
26:09
Speaker 1: that players get to the big leagues much sooner, even
26:11
Speaker 1: those coming out of high school. Obviously, technology has changed
26:15
Speaker 1: track man. You see it right there in the headline
26:17
Speaker 1: of the story. Launch angle was not a thing ten
26:20
Speaker 1: years ago, and just in general, there is so much
26:24
Speaker 1: that is different now. Paul de Podesta is one of
26:28
Speaker 1: the smartest people you will ever meet, and he's worked
26:30
Speaker 1: obviously in baseball for quite some time. Did before he
26:34
Speaker 1: joined the Browns, he was with the Oakland a's guy
26:37
Speaker 1: that was famous for what he was portrayed as in Moneyball.
26:42
Speaker 1: Then he went to the Los Angeles Dodgers became their
26:44
Speaker 1: general manager at thirty one under the mccurts. It was
26:47
Speaker 1: a mess, partly due to the mccurts and Paul Baby
26:50
Speaker 1: was not ready for the job. And then with the
26:52
Speaker 1: Mets and the Padres as well. This is someone who
26:55
Speaker 1: is again extremely intelligent. He is also inheriting a team
27:00
Speaker 1: that really is nowhere to go but up after a
27:03
Speaker 1: historically bad twenty twenty five seasons. So the consensus is
27:08
Speaker 1: then he'll get up to speed, and he'll get up
27:10
Speaker 1: to speed pretty quickly. But so much has changed in
27:14
Speaker 1: ten years in this sport, and I am sure for
27:17
Speaker 1: Deep Podesta there's going to be a little bit of
27:19
Speaker 1: culture shock. Now. Whether he can turn this around, how
27:22
Speaker 1: quickly he can turn this around, it remains to be seen.
27:26
Speaker 1: The Rockies are the Rubik's Cube of baseball. It's difficult
27:30
Speaker 1: to find the solution. No one really has long term.
27:34
Speaker 1: They've had some seasons in which they made the playoffs
27:36
Speaker 1: two thousand and seven, of course, they made it to
27:38
Speaker 1: the World Series. They've had some seasons in which they
27:40
Speaker 1: were pretty competitive. But pitching, in particular at altitude is
27:45
Speaker 1: something that no one has figured out yet, and it's
27:48
Speaker 1: going to be difficult for Deepodesta to do it. But
27:51
Speaker 1: he's essentially starting from scratch. He has a team where
27:55
Speaker 1: he can build in any direction that he wants to
27:58
Speaker 1: build in, and with that, I expect that it's going
28:02
Speaker 1: to be a really interesting ride. I don't know if
28:04
Speaker 1: he will succeed, but he will bring new ideas to
28:07
Speaker 1: the table. He will certainly have his own perspectives. And
28:10
Speaker 1: the Rockies, for so long so irrelevant a team that
28:14
Speaker 1: barely is worth paying attention to. Now are a team
28:17
Speaker 1: that you're gonna look at and say, Okay, what's going on?
28:19
Speaker 1: With those guys all right. I want to thank everyone
28:22
Speaker 1: for watching, for listening both on YouTube and on our
28:25
Speaker 1: television outlets. Foul Territory is next. Heidi Watney is hosting.
28:30
Speaker 1: She has the pleasure of being on with Aj Prazinski
28:33
Speaker 1: and Eric Kratz, Jayceon Tinler, Jason Lachanfora and Chris Catillo
28:37
Speaker 1: will be the guests. Fair Territory returns Monday at ten am.
28:41
Speaker 1: Have a great weekend everyone, Thanks for watching, Thanks for listening.