Latest / Foul Territory / Fair Territory: Pirates make offer to Kyle Schwarber, Tigers strategy, Jeff Kent elected to HOF, Bonds & Clemens out for good?

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Fair Territory: Pirates make offer to Kyle Schwarber, Tigers strategy, Jeff Kent elected to HOF, Bonds & Clemens out for good? · Foul Territory

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Welcome everyone to the Monday edition of Fair Territory, the
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Winter Meetings edition of Fair Territory. We've got a ton
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: to get to this morning. Hall of Fame things happening
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: at the Winter Meetings. Not too much happening just yet,
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: but I would expect over the next couple of days
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: we will have some action. The expectation is that, yes,
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: some deals will go down, trades, free agent signings and
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: the like. So let's get right to the news of
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: the day, which is the Hall of Fame vote from
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: last night, the Contemporary Era Committee electing Jeff Kent to
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: the Hall of Fame. He is the newest Hall of
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: Famer and it was an interesting ballot, to say the least,
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: the eight names. I had no problem with any of
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: these guys getting elected, but of course Kent was the
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: only one who ultimately received twelve of the sixteen votes
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: seventy five percent from that committee, and that is why
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: he will be the inductee from this group going into
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: the Hall of Fame. Carlos Delgado nine votes, again needing twelve.
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: Mattingley and Murphy got six eighth. You see the vote
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: totals right there, Kent with fourteen, Delgado nine, Mattinglee, Murphy six,
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: and then Bonds, Clemens, Sheffield and balance Well all less
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: than five. And what that means is they will not
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: be eligible those guys with less than five votes in
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: the next cycle three years from now, and if they
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: get less than five in twenty thirty one, the next
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: time they are eligible, they will not be ever on
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: the ballot any ballot again. So for Bonds and Clemens
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: in particular, they're in real peril here of not getting
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: into the Hall of Fame. We've seen this now through
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: ten years of BBWA votes. We've seen it through two
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: committee votes now is not surprising. And at the same time,
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: I know there are certain people who are good with
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: this and there are certain fans people who are not
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: good with it at all. When they were on the
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: bout the BBWAA ballot, I did not initially vote for them,
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: but once I felt that there are other Hall of
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: famers who were getting elected that had used performance dancing drugs.
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: I'm not gonna mention names, but once I felt that
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: it'd been happening, that line had been broken, then I
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: did vote for Bonds and Clements. I don't vote for
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: guys who tested positive or were suspended by Major League
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: Baseball after Firmer rules were in place, a Rod and Manny,
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: but the ones before that, generally, yes, I do vote
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: for them, not all of them, so side didn't get
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: to in time, Maguire, etc. But enough about that. The
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: real question here is how do we deal with this era?
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: And it's still the question, and unfortunately the BBWAA and
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: these committees don't have great answers because we know there
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: are Hall of Famers who used peds. It's a reasonable
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: assumption at this point there are some players who have
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: been linked to peds in one form or another. And
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: then we know also that Bonds and Clemens, arguably the
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: greatest hitter and pitcher of this generation, are not in
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: I'm not sure what the right answer is. There really
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: is no right answer. And yes, if you're a fan
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: and you see contradictions, you're absolutely right. There are contradictions.
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: But these are the votes. And if you look at
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: the committee, the guys who rejected Bonds and Clemens this time,
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: it's interesting because there were seven Hall of famers on
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: that committee, players who are not exactly contemporaries, all of
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: them with Bonds and Clemens, but certainly players that had
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: some familiarity with them, to say the least. Fergie Jenkins,
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: Jim Cott, Juan marischal Tony, perez Azzi, Smith, and Alan
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: Trammel were the players on that committee, along with Robin Yeat.
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: Then there were five executives actually six and three researcher
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: writer types, So that is the group that decided no.
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: And again you're not seeing any greater support on these committees,
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: which are comprised partly actually the majority or not the majority,
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: but of good number of Hall of Fame members. They're
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: not giving Bonds and Clemens anymore quarter than the writers
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: did when they were on the Writer's bout. One other
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: thing I want to mention with the Hall of Fame,
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: and it's interesting, Jeff Kent certainly were the most home
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: runs ever by a second basement. I voted for him
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: when he was on the BBWAA ballot. But when you
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: elect guys then people often say, well what about this
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: guy or that guy? And I want to show you
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: a comp with Lou Whittaker, between Kent and Lou Whittaker,
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: because Lou Whittaker fell off the bout in his first year.
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: And I am hopeful that one day a Veterans Committee
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: or one of these committees is going to recognize him
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: as the rightful Hall of Famer he is along with
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: Alan Trammel. You see this graphic here, the comparison from
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: Statthead Baseball that CJ. Nikowski posted last night. They're very
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: comparable players. Yes, Kent had more power, but Lou Whittaker
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: in his day was every bit the player. Jeff Kent
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: was a different kind of player perhaps, but man, it's
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: pretty close. Lou Whitaker should be in. This should be
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: good news for Chase Utley as well going forward. So
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: that's the Hall of Fame vote. We can debate it
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: all day long, and I'm sure people will, but that's
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: where we are with that as of Monday, December eighth. Now,
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: Winter Meetings last night reported something that I thought was
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: pretty interesting, to say the least, and I was surprised
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: to hear it that the Pirates have made a four
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: year offer to Kyle Schwarber. Now, do I expect the
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: Pirates to sign Kyle Schwarber, Absolutely not, but the fact
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: that they're in there swinging and I imagine and I
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: reported that this offer almost certainly is for more than
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: one hundred million otherwise why bother. That is a major step.
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: And I've been reporting all winter really or all off
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: season about how the Pirates are being more aggressive, how
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: they finally are trying to put a team around Paul
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: Skeins that would be worthy of contention. Schwarber is at
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: the top of their list. They know he is probably
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: going to be someone who gets a better offer from
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: a better team. But at the same time, they're in there,
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: the Cincinnati Reds are in there. There are other big
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: market teams in there, like the Boston Red Sox. So Schwarber,
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: it's not clear exactly when he's going to sign yet.
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: Maybe it will be at these meetings, maybe not, but
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: he clearly is in demand now. I also wrote today
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: about another team that is somewhat in a comparable position
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: to the Pirates because they have a great picture their
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: own sy young winner. That's the Tigers with Trek Scrubel. Now,
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: what I wrote about the Tigers was a column. It
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: was opinion, and at the same time it was something
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: I felt strongly about because to me, if the Tigers
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: are going to keep Trek Scruble not trade him, which
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: appears to be the case, you never know, but certainly
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: it appears to be the way they are leaning. Unless
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: they get overwhelmed, then you've got one year of Schooble left.
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: In my view, you've got to take your best shot.
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: And I'm not talking about doing something stupid. I'm talking
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: about putting the best team possible around him. Tiger's President
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: Baseball Operation, Scott Harris, in my view, has been pretty
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: risk of a verse in his time for reasons that
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: are understandable. He was trying to build up a team
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: that had fallen apart. But at the same time, here
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: are a situation or here is a situation where it
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: seems to me it's time to go. And again, I
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: don't know who the players are that they should get. Necessarily,
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: they can certainly use another bat. We know that. We
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: also know that they could use a number two starter
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: behind Schooble, someone who, if they signed long term, could
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: be Schooble's replacement. Should he leave as a free agent, Yes,
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: I expect him to leave as a free agent. He's
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: represented by Scott Boris. He's one year away. He's going
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: to hit the jackpop probably break yamamotos three hundred and
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: twenty five million dollar record for a pitcher. As a
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: free agent as long as he is healthy, and if
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: that happens, the Tigers are left with a draft pick
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: and only a draft pick in return. That said, I
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: like that they're pretty stubborn right now about keeping him.
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: They want to keep him, they want to win with him. Well, okay,
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: but if you want to win with him, then you've
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: got to do some things around him. And I mentioned
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: some name Calm Gregman. Obviously, they made the six year,
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: one hundred and seventy one point five million dollar offer
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: to him last winter. He didn't take it. He took
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: less from the Red Sox. I wouldn't expect him to
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: necessarily choose Detroit over any of the teams that might
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: be interested in him this offseason when he already rejected
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: them once when they had a higher guarantee on the table.
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: Boba Schett would be an interesting player for the Tigers.
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: Hashan Kim would be an interesting player for the Tigers.
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: The pitching market is not quite as impressive as you
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: would want it to be, and the executives keep telling
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: me and others that they're not all that impressed with
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: the remaining group, which is Ranger Suarez and Sachua am
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: I and fromber Valdez. The good pitchers, no question about it.
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: But I don't know that anyone is overwhelmed by their
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: abilities on a long term, not the way they would
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: be with perhaps a schoobl next year or Paul Skeens
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: once he becomes a free agent. So here are the Tigers.
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: They're in an interesting spot here, and I get that
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: they don't want to block younger players. I get that
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: with javieror Bayez a few years ago it didn't work
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: out for them, but it shouldn't prevent a team from
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: trying again. It's not easy. But at the same time,
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: we have seen with the Orioles, keep playing for next year,
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: keep waiting for these prospects. It doesn't always go in
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: a linear fashion. So from that perspective, I'm concerned with
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: the Tigers. I want to see them do something this offseason.
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: A few things really show up their bullpen as well,
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: to ensure that win, to ensure that in their final season,
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: what likely is their final season with Trek Scubel, they
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: take their best shot. All right, That is if for
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: the first segment, We've got a long way to go here.
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: We've got inside dish coming up, catch foul Territory live
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: from the Winter Meeting in Orlando later today through Wednesday
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: one pm Eastern on the FT YouTube channel, Ali Marvel,
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: Terry Franconis, Steven Vote, and Paul Taboni our schedule to
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: join Scott Braun, Aj Prasinski and Eric Krafts today. That's
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: a really good guest list. Subscribe on YouTube and rate
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: five stars wherever you get your podcast to the entire
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: Foul Territory network. We'll be back with the Inside Dish
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: right after this.
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: Hey, when you get a chance, subscribe to Foul Territory
• 10:28
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• 10:37
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• 10:41
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• 10:43
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• 10:47
  Speaker 1: Well, all right, Time out for the Inside Dish, the
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: part of the show where I go inside a story,
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: ever written, a trend in the game, talk about something
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: else entire and today I want to talk about what
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: it's like to cover the Winter Meetings. Now, I've been
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: at this a long time. I'm a little older than
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: some of the other writers right now, Okay, whatever, And
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: I try very hard not to look back and say, man,
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: it was better back then. But you know what, covering
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: the Winter Meetings was a better experience earlier in my career,
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: and even before I started covering. It's gotten more buttoned
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: down over the years, more conservative in what teams do
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: and all of that. I'm not saying teams shouldn't act
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: as efficiently as possible. I'm just saying that back in
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: the day, and I'm going to give you some stories
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: to show you what I'm talking about, there were some
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: wilder things going on than there seemed to be at
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: the meetings in these last few years or so. So
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: there's one story. I have my favorite Winter Meeting story
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: that I'm saving for my book if I ever write
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: a book. It's too good to talk about here. It's
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: too good to write for the Athletic. It's for a book.
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: Not going to get into that. But I want to
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: go back in time a little bit. Now. I'll go
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: back to start with before my time, nineteen seventy five,
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: the Diplomat Hotel in Hollywood, Florida. Rowand Heeman, general manager
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: of the Chicago White Sox, the late rowand Heeman. I
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: covered him with the Oriols, one of the great people
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: in our game. He was working for Bill Veck and
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: Rowan Heeman set up a table in the lobby of
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: the Diplomat Hotel, put up a sign and said open
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: for business. The White Sox then made four trades in
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: I don't know, a span of an hour something like that.
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: Big trades too. Mickey Lowich was involved in one rusty
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: stob Ralph Gorr. That was maybe the peak winter meeting's
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: craziness moment. You don't see GM's in the lobby today.
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: They're in their suites, they're huddled up, they're texting. There
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: was no texting back then. There were phones. There were
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: actual phones that worked. But that's how rowand Heeman did it.
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: All right, that's nineteen seventy five. Now let's go back
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: a little bit closer to the current time. My start
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: in nineteen eighty seven, and some of my favorite Winter
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: meetings have been in the last I don't know, twenty
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: years or so, two thousand and six, right here in Orlando,
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: legendary winter meetings, different Hotel. Jim Hendry, then general manager
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: of the Chicago Cubs, he's now working for the Yankees
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: for Brian Cashman. Jim Hendry signed Ted Lilly to a
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: four year, forty million dollars deal while hooked up to
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: an EKG. He was having heard trouble and it turned
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: out he needed a procedure at another hospital later during
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: those winter meetings. But he did sign Lily even though
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: he was hooked up to an EKG. Incredible story and
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: luckily Jim is still with us and survived that whole affair.
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: That's one of the crazier things that I can remember
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: now twenty twelve. I wait, two thousand and seven. This
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: is one of the bigger ones I've ever broken. Back
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: in the day before Twitter. There was an Internet in
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: two thousand and seven, but if you were going to
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: break a story back then, you had to do it
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: in written form on a website. So that was the
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: Miguel Cabrera Dontrelle Willis for Andrew Miller, Cameron Maybin and
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: four others. Remember that Detroit Tigers, Florida Marlins, maybe the
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: Miami Marlins at the time, I don't remember which Marlins
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: they were, but whatever, I had it, and I had
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: it pretty good. I had the biggest names I didn't
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: have the secondary names, but I had certainly Willis and
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: Cabrera going to Detroit maybe and Miller going back to Miami.
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: And I remember reporting it working for Fox sports dot
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: Com at that time, and I remember also seeing the
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: Detroit writers, many of them who were my friends, kind
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: of just messing around in the media room, and I'm
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: waiting for the story to post, and I'm thinking, oh, man,
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: they're not gonna be happy when they see this, And
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: it was a big deal. That was one of the
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: bigger trades honestly that I can remember at the Winter meetings.
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: And of course Miguel Cabrera goes on to a Hall
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: of Fame career with the Tigers. All right, final story
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: in this one is a doozy twenty twelve. The Rangers, Rays,
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: and Diamondbacks pull an all nighter. They're trying to make
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: a trade in which Justin Upton would have gone to
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: the Rangers, James Shields would have gone to the Padres.
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: It never came to fruition, but JP Brossi and I
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: were both working for Fox Sports dot Com at the time,
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: and we decided, all right, let's divide this up. We
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: know they're going to be at it. Let's have JP work.
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: I don't remember what it was eleven to four am,
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: and I get up at five am because I had
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: to do hot store for MLB network, and we'll just
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: cover it and monitor it, monitor it that way. So
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: we did that, and the next morning I see Kevin Towers,
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: the Padres GM strolling through the lobby. This was in Nashville,
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: I believe, and I know he had stayed up all
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: night and he's looking fresh as a days, fresh as
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: a daisy. Kevin Towers. Unfortunately, Kevin no longer is with us.
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: He was one of my all time favorites, everyone's all
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: time favorite. He had dodible energy. He had an incredible,
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: infectious personality. And that's one thing I remember from that night.
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: And then that night was memorable for other reasons. Evan Granted.
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: The Dallas Morning News later wrote a story about just
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: what happened in the suite when the Rangers, Rays, and
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: Padres were trying to work out these deals that night.
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: Kirk Gibson was the manager of the Diamondbacks at the time,
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: and John Daniels was the general manager of the Texas Rangers.
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: They were going back and forth drawn each other and
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: Gibson basically was saying to John Daniels, I'm gonna mess
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: you up. And according to Evan's story, what happened was
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: Gibson headbutted John Daniels. He body slammed them to the carpet,
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: and then he put them in a choke hold. And
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: I guess the game was, see if John Daniels can
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: survive twenty seconds, and then maybe it gets another player
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: in the deal. Well it didn't work out that way,
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: but it's a hilarious story. And again, the thing I
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: remember most the next day, after staying up all night,
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: Towers strolling through that lobby, chested out, held head held high,
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: or held as high as possible, and just kind of
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: savored the moment, even though nothing turned out happened. Those
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: are the Winter Meeting stories that I cherished, that I love.
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: There was another one one year when Geene Watson of
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: the Kansas City Royals Rockuball Deli then with the Rays
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: they were working on another James Shields trade, the one
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: that came to fruition. They were negotiating in their pajamas
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: in the hallway. I didn't see this, I heard about
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: it later. Those kinds of things don't really happen anymore.
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: Everyone's kind of holed up in their suites. But I'm
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: not gonna say it was better back then. It was
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: certainly different. It was a little bit more fun, but
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: still fun. The transactions that keep us all going, keep
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: us fired up. And I'm sure we're going to see
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: some more this week, if not necessarily here in Orlando,
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: the big ones in the days that follow. All right,
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: that's it for the inside dish. Now let's break for
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: grilling Ken, which is coming up next.
• 18:00
  Speaker 2: Bet MGM account holders today, how about an any sport
• 18:04
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• 18:06
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• 18:09
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• 18:12
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• 18:22
  Speaker 1: All right, time now for grilling. Can the part of
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: the show where I answer your questions? Let's get to
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: them first. One comes from d Gobble two kind of
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: appropriate de Gobble. With the recent thawing of tensions between
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: the O's and Nats, would this make a gore trade
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: more possible than before? Good question, and tensions have thought
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: between the two teams. One reason. Peter Angelos and his
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: sons no longer own the Orioles. They had the mass
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: in dispute, remember the regional network dispute with the Nationals,
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: and it went on forever and ever it's finally settled.
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: The Ools are under new ownership. I see no reason
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: why these two teams could not make a deal at
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: this point. Now, whether michae Elias wants Mackenzie Gore and
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: is willing to meet the Nationals price, that remains to
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: be seen. That's a separate question. But that would be
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: a normal negotiation as opposed to the Cold War that
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: existed before. Gore is attracting a lot of interest, obviously
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: two years of control. The Nationals want to move him,
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: They're going to make a pretty good trade for him,
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: I would expect. Will it be the Orioles. It would
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: be great if the Oriols for them. If they did it,
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: I'm not sure they'll be ultimately the team. All right.
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: Next question, This one comes from Mike, who asks, can
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: you please ask Jed Hoyer if he's aware that Zach
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: Gallan gave up the fourth most homers last season thirty
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: one time? That showed it in Managa. Could the Gallon
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: rumor be I can't read the rest of it, but anyway,
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: on Zach Gallant, now, I understand people might look at
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: the ERA and say, whoa, he wasn't good, But in
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: the last two months of the season he was really good.
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: Three point three two ERA I believe looked much more
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: like Zach Gallen, much more in line with his career numbers.
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: He is still a quality major league pitcher. He's made
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: twenty eight or more starts each of the last five seasons.
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: He's a good guy to sign. If the Cubs get
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: Zach Gallen, they should be happy about that. Now. I
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: know it depends on the contract and all that, but
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: if you're a Cubs fan, you want Zach Gallen on
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: your team. Okay. I know about the home runs. That's
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: an issue, of course, but he had a rough four
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: months to start the season or really good two months
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: to end it, and based on everything he's done before,
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: I would trust the final two months. All right. Next
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: question from Matt Lana, who asked, what is your percent
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: right now Schwarber signs with the Reds? Any other moves
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: are you hearing for the Reds? I would say ten
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: to fifteen percent. I still really believe Schwarber is going
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: back to the Phillies. Now. The advantage of the Reds
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: have over, for example, the Pirates, another small market team.
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: Is that Schorber is from Middletown, Ohio. It's about thirty
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: five miles north of Cincinnati. If he wants to do
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: a hometown thing and go back and maybe take a
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: little bit less, the Reds would be a team the
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: team to deal it with. He could also justify it
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: by thinking, Hey, I I'm gonna be playing for Terry Francona,
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: a Hall of Fame manager. I'm gonna be the centerpiece
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: of a lineup with a young group of talented hitters
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: that need me to be part of them. Pirates can
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: make the same argument. He can make the same justification
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: for them. I just think in the end, my expectation
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: is the Phillies beat whoever else is in the mix
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: and ultimately end up with Schwarber. Just my feeling. If
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: it doesn't happen that way, it would be big news,
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: for sure, it would be crazy. But I just think
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: those teams are long shots right now, both the Pirates
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: and the Reds. The Reds less so because of the
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: hometown connection, but both still long shots in my estimation.
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: All right, This one comes from Tyler Max Smith, who
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: asked yesterday, and Thopolis said, you have to work with
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: what's available, even when it's not the cleanest fit. Could
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: we see an unexpected deal from AA Marte would certainly
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: be an upgrade over Albi's. Good question, because Alexanthopolis has
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: made a lot of unexpected deals in his career, and
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: we certainly can see another one. And it's an interesting
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: thought on Marte because Albi's has declined. He's not the
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: player he was three, four or five years ago. And yes,
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: they picked up his option and I expected that, but
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: could they do better and could they maybe trade Albis
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: somewhere else if they got Marte, or even put Marte
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: I'm sorry, put Albi's in the deal. Sure will they
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: be the high bidder for Marte? I don't know, but
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: he is a really good player. The Diamondbacks are getting
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: hit on him by a number of clubs. Mike Hays
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: in their GM has said it's unlikely Marte will be traded,
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: but it's all unlikely until it actually happens. I know
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: they want a lot, they want to reinforce their pitching.
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: They reached agreement with Mike Soroka earlier today on a
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: one year deal. They need better than that as their
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: injured pitchers rehabilitate and they wait for them to return.
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: So I think Marte is a more likely guy to
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: be traded than many. But will the Braves be the
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: team that? I can't tell you? I don't know? All right,
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: here we go with another question. This one's from SS
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: Curtis fifty nine. Do you think the Padres will dump
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: some payroll? Dennis Lynn of The Athletic wrote about this today.
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: It certainly is possible, and the problem they have is
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: who they dump now. Paveta's name has been bandied about.
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: It's at least out there, but Aj Preller always listens
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: on all of his players, and I don't know that
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: it's likely he's going to be traded. They need Pavetta
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: after losing Michael King and Dylan Cease to free agency.
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: They need Pavetta, who was their best pitcher last season,
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: to be their anchor going forward. They still want to compete,
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: but they have had payroll issues. Jake Cronaworth would be
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: one guy they could trade. His deal is a pretty
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: good deal for a player of his caliber. Five years
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: sixty million left, but they don't have many options to trade.
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: So could aj Preller be really creative and do something
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: maybe with Paveta to get younger starting pitchers in return.
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: It's conceivable. I don't know that it's likely, but the
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: Padres are a team to watch because they do have
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: payroll concerns. All right, with that, I want to thank
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: you everyone for their questions, everyone for following along. We've
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: got a big week ahead on the FT Network, so
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: stay tuned. You've seen our schedule. We return my show
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: on Friday this week, not Thursday. We're going to be
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: back Friday at twelve thirty Eastern. The winter meetings will
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: be concluded by that point, but we'll have a lot
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: to talk about. I am sure have a great week.
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: Everyone will be back twelve thirty Friday with Alana. Thanks
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: again for joining us.