Ladies and gentlemen, your content boys are back.
It has been far too long.
We have a lot to talk about.
It's just me and Kenji.
We got a new show called Mountain Visit.
He and I, we're gonna have everybody out.
Brady and Joe, we're gonna be popping in and out
of this show, but we are so excited
because the last month has just been crazy.
We're here to talk about it.
Let's do it.
Okay, so welcome back.
Welcome back, Kenji.
Welcome back, fans, viewers, everybody.
This has been a long time coming.
Life kinda got busy for Kenji and I,
and so we are back here recording another podcast.
We've rebranded the show.
We're gonna change up how we're doing content a little bit,
but we just couldn't stay away.
It was like the Green Goblin mask calling to us
as all these moves kept being made.
We're like, we have to hop back on here
and talk about what's going on.
I'm not gonna get into anything.
First, I'm gonna ask my favorite co-host,
how are you doing?
I appreciate the question,
and it is great to be back.
You know, I kinda shied away from wanting
to do a podcast again,
because I've realized there's a lot of bad takes out there,
especially when it comes to football.
My Lamar Jackson takes have not worked out really well,
so I'm trying to keep myself away from the internet,
but there's something about talking sports
with your best friends that is the funnest thing
in the world, and maybe some other degenerate out there
would enjoy listening to our poverty takes
about sports, so why the heck not?
We're back.
It's true, I said in the description of the podcast,
I've updated the description, and I said,
you want your talk show hosts to be obsessed
with this stuff, and let me tell you,
I can assure you, Kenji and I are obsessed with this stuff.
We love it.
We spent two months prepping
for our fantasy baseball draft last year.
We have built an entire Excel sheet
of stuff we wanna talk about today and moving forward.
I'm thrilled.
I'm back in the saddle.
I've got the mic in my hands.
You guys can't see it because this is audio only
this first episode, but Kenji is rocking a soul patch.
I have a beard now.
It's awesome.
So we're just gonna jump right into it
because people are done hearing about everything else.
Let's do it.
We got a lot of free agents.
We're gonna go in order.
This is the agenda.
We're going free agents, then we're talking trades,
then we're talking any future moves
that we think are gonna happen,
then we're gonna go and order these teams,
Phillies, O's, Blue Jays, Athletics,
and then whatever else we wanna talk about.
So that being said,
it's impossible to talk about this off season
without talking about Juan Soto.
Obviously this broke a few weeks ago,
but it shattered the internet and shattered,
I mean, I called you right away
and I was absolutely flabbergasted.
Look that one up.
Flabbergasted at the figure on this contract.
I have the number, it's 15 years,
$765 million with escalators that take it
all the way up to north of 850 million.
So what do we think about this contract off the bat?
We're not gonna talk about it a lot
because it's been talked about a lot.
I said a lot twice,
but what do you think about this contract
and what it means for the sport and free agency as a whole?
I thought it was a terrible move,
but to be honest, I come from a very biased perspective.
I mean, I'm a big Ohtani fan
and I don't think anybody deserves any money near Ohtani.
I thought it was crazy when they were saying
that he might get somewhere up in the sevens,
especially, and you and I have talked about this
for a guy who's not a five tool player.
He is one of the all time great hitters,
there's no denying that at bat
against the Cleveland Guardians against Gaddis,
one of the greatest at bats I've ever personally witnessed.
But I don't know how you pay a guy
who's probably gonna be a DH in a couple of years,
almost $800 million.
Especially when there are,
I think personally a lot better players
making significant less.
Yeah, I mean, that's my argument too is
I don't think anybody's worth Shohei money.
I'll be quick with this Soto argument.
I don't think anybody's worth Shohei money,
but I do think Steve Cohen is willing to make a big swing
for his fans and for his ego.
Like these billionaires don't think like we do.
Like they don't.
And if you look up Steve Cohen prior to this Soto move,
the biggest piece of news on him
is that he was disbarred from the SEC
because of bad financial,
he was not smart with his money, he made some mistakes.
Did not follow the letter of the law very well.
But now you Google Steve Cohen
and the only thing that comes up is Soto and Cohen stuff.
It just blew up the internet.
So I think he's willing to pay a premium for the,
I guess the clout associated with it
for the positive image that comes with it.
And so in that regard, I do think it's worth it to Cohen.
But as a baseball guy, I'm like,
nobody's worth Shohei money.
Nobody's worth Shohei money.
Soto was, you could conceivably see him getting
like 600 million, but once you breach Shohei,
like that Shohei line, I'm like,
that's a little too much for me.
So.
Especially considering what Shohei does
and compared to Soto, I mean, I'm taking Shohei every day.
It's true.
I mean, listen, Soto is gonna be a DH
probably in the next decade.
He'll probably switch to be a full-time DH.
And he has amazing bat to ball skills.
He's an amazing baseball player.
I'm not taking away from Soto as a player,
but he just doesn't pitch.
And how he almost won a gold glove is beyond me.
Yeah.
You're gonna piss me off.
You're gonna piss me off if we get into
how he was a gold glove finalist.
That was absolutely insane.
But so.
My last thing about Soto, and I brought this up to you,
but I'm a big Bobby Witt fan, right?
The fact that Bobby, I think his contract's
a little under 300 for like 11 years.
Yeah.
I just can't justify.
I know he gave me great home team discount,
but I'm taking Bobby 10 times out of 10.
Totally.
Bobby Witt Jr., 11 years, 288 million.
And he's like 23 years old.
Yep.
Right?
Just how you think as a player,
it comes off as footballish.
It's next big guy wants the most money.
I just saw how it works.
I don't think.
I mean, that's how it works
because the league is growing.
People have more money to spend.
But it's just crazy that Soto is gonna get paid
that much money.
Yeah.
I mean, it's a lot of money.
But again, he's an amazing player.
He single-handed, I mean, not single-handedly, but.
He did transfer the Yankees.
He did.
I watched the Yankees in 22,
and then I watched them last year,
and they were a totally different team.
I mean, you are a great example of this.
Like the first week of the season,
Yankees are playing at the Astros,
and you're texting me, you're like,
I really like watching the Yankees baseball.
And because they just were totally different.
The bats they took were different.
And I don't know if Soto's gonna have
that same effect on the Mets,
but he's a great player.
I mean, if Soto and Shohei are playing at the same time
on two different channels,
I'm probably watching Shohei,
but Soto's an amazing player,
and he's gonna get the Mets.
He's gonna take them to another level too,
because they just had Pete before.
They let Pete go.
Pete's a true two-outcome hitter.
They're gonna add a guy like Soto
who really elevates the status of Lindor.
He's gonna make Vientos better.
He's gonna help Nimmo be clean up.
So they have a lot to be hopeful for in Queens,
but a lot has been talked about about Juan Soto.
So we're not gonna spend too much time on him
because a lot has continued to happen since then.
My next talking point is the New York Yankees.
So we talked about, obviously they lose Soto.
This is plan B.
What are they gonna do next?
And then they go out and they make a flurry of moves.
They go get Max Fried, eight years, 218.
They trade for Devin Williams,
and they trade for Cody Ballinger.
And Devin Williams is an amazing player.
If this was like 2019, I'd be stoked about Cody Ballinger,
but I'm not as excited because he was about a middle
of the pack player, but he is an above average
major leaguer, I would say.
What's your take so far on this Yankees plan B?
Is it better than plan A?
Where are they in your mind?
I think this way they have a better chance
of making it back to the World Series.
I don't think that team last year,
if they were about Soto back,
they would have made it to the World Series ever again.
Just because they'd have no money to spend anywhere else.
They need more pitching, they need more bullpen.
So I think for Yankees fans, this is a blessing in disguise.
Max Fried is great.
I mean, he's probably not gonna be healthy all season long,
but when he's pitching, he's great.
If you got him and Cole in the playoffs,
and if Luis Hill takes the next step, great bull,
I mean, great starting rotation in the playoffs.
Yeah, I think Cody, go ahead.
Okay, I was gonna say, you forget Carlos Rodan.
Whatever, we're just talking over each other.
Rodan is not that special, we both agree,
but you get three guys at the top of the rotation
that got paid front end starters.
And Max Fried is a legitimate starting pitcher.
He's an awesome starting pitcher.
You put him behind Cole, that is a lethal one-two punch.
So I, as an Oriole fan,
and somebody who watches a lot of Yankee games,
just because we're in the same division as them,
it's scary.
I don't know if they're as scary as they were last year yet,
because they're still missing a piece, you know,
in second base, they're still missing, you know,
what are they gonna do with the outfield?
Jason Dominguez, is he gonna play?
But when you talk about moves you can make
after losing a free agent of the caliber of Juan Soto,
you're like, okay, you know what, this is okay.
I can handle this, so.
What do you think they, go ahead.
I think it's great, they're kind of building their team
like the Dodgers a little bit.
Like they have a lot of flexibility, right?
Like, Jazz can play third, second,
and center field, technically, right?
I don't think he's ever gonna play the outfield
for the Yanks, but there's a big chance
he might be the second base, if, you know,
if he can get somehow like a Bregman,
or some other third baseman.
If they get a different outfielder,
which there aren't many in a free agency,
like if they trade for one, Belli can play first.
Like they're just so versatile now, right?
Like kind of what Tommy Edmond did for the Dodgers,
like it just gives you a versatile piece
from the infield and outfield.
That's what they have.
And they can still make moves.
They're bullpen with Devin Williams and Weaver, right?
Yeah, Belli.
It's a great back end, nice one-two punch.
And so, I'm a big fan of what the Yankees have done.
Of course, they still have to do more.
I'm not sure who's really out there they can go after.
I think like a Ha-Sung Kim would be a great move.
Even if Profar, I mean,
he's asking for a crazy amount of money,
but it, and I doubt he would go to the Yankees.
I'm sure he's gonna go back to San Diego.
But just getting some more depth,
I think would be a great move.
But so far, I'm a big fan.
Yeah, I mean, I,
cause I thought about the Ha-Sung Kim thing a little bit.
And the only thing is,
if he is willing to agree to play second base
and leave Volpi at short.
Because Ha-Sung Kim is an elite defender,
an elite defensive shortstop.
And so is Anthony Volpi.
And so you run into this problem of like,
well, okay, when you negotiate a contract
and Kim is like, okay, well, I wanna play shortstop,
he doesn't wanna end up being just a second baseman, right?
I don't know.
I think there's a different prestige
to being the starting shortstop
versus the starting second baseman, at least in my mind.
Big point.
So I do think Ha-Sung Kim is a fit.
I just don't know how much
because I think he wants to be a shortstop.
I know that we'll get,
we'll touch on Christian Walker in a little bit with the,
cause he just signed with the Astros this morning.
So now the first base market's a little bit thinner.
Pete Alonso is still there for the Yanks.
You've heard rumblings that Anthony Santander,
they could move to play first base.
They could go get Paul Goldschmidt.
How bad is he at first base?
Santander?
Yeah.
I wouldn't put him there.
He's below average defensively everywhere
and he's worse at first base than he is in right.
So I would-
But the Yanks can't sign Santander
cause they got, they got staked.
They just can't, you know.
Yeah. I know.
They can't get Pete either in my mind.
I think they're going to go get Goldschmidt or Santander
because Pete feels like just like white John Carlos Stanton.
Yeah. I'd rather get Goldie than him.
I know. I would too.
I would too.
But Goldie had to shave his beard.
So I don't know.
Yep.
This one happened before all the craziness happened.
Blake Snell went to the Dodgers.
I know Kenji, you watch a lot of Dodger games
cause you're like Lord and savior plays for them.
I mean, all of our Lord and savior plays for them.
Shohei is the best player ever.
If you, if baseball is a religion, Shohei is the Messiah.
Blake Snell, five years, 182 to the Dodgers.
And now they just load up on starting pitching.
Is it becoming a bit of a super team problem for baseball?
Is this deferred money an issue as you see it?
Or is this just the Dodgers continuing to be great?
I mean, I personally don't have a problem with it.
It just makes me enjoy the Dodgers game more.
I mean, deferred money has been a thing the whole time.
And I saw a thing where like,
if you look at the contracts that the Podgers have signed,
like they ship some serious cash into Machado,
Tatties, Musgrove,
Darvish, and I think one other player.
Like they, oh, Bogarts, Bogarts, Bogarts, Bogarts.
But like no one ever says anything about them.
And like they have a superstar team.
They have some serious talent,
but no one ever complains about them
cause it's not, they're not as public, right?
And of course they're not dropping $700 million
for Shohei in deferring most of it.
But I mean, it's just, they're playing by the rules, right?
So it's hard to be upset.
And people just say, then tell your teams to do a better job
or get out of the game.
If there's an owner can't afford to do this and keep up,
then my thing is then get out of the game,
get somebody that will.
Cause a lot of people want to be in sports right now.
There's a lot of billionaires
that I'm sure would like to buy a sports team.
All right.
And so if you can't compete,
then I think your ego is kind of getting in the way
and the team could be better.
And I think the fans deserve better.
And if you're a team that just doesn't spend any money,
can't afford anything,
and it's been the same way for years and years
and you haven't won a world series.
I mean, who am I to say this?
But I think it's a good time to get the heck out of there
and get someone else who can.
So you're saying sell the team.
If you own a team that isn't willing to spend,
sell the team.
Yeah. I mean, like if you can't spend the money,
then get out of there
cause you just can't compete anymore.
I think it's a good argument.
I mean, all these owners are billionaires, right?
So they all have money.
I mean, the Dodgers are not the wealthiest ownership group
in baseball.
Like they're not,
but they are consistently brilliant
with everything that they do.
The Shohei deferred money.
I mean, if we go back to Soto for a second,
if anything that deal makes Shohei
look like an absolute bargain.
It's like the Patrick Mahomes deal, right?
When it came out, it was like 500 million.
Now it's the most,
it's the greatest quarterback contract,
I say it's like Tom Brady contracts,
but I mean, the guys got bums who have been made,
won a playoff game,
making $10 million more a year than him.
So, I mean, it's crazy how smart of a contract that was
and how smart the Shohei contracts looking right now
and going to look in a couple of years.
Yeah. And I mean, if you're, if you play in the NL West,
I think you're really scared of the Dodgers.
I mean, they, especially if you're the Giants,
like the Giants, they're gonna,
next thing we're gonna talk about is Willie Adomis.
Blake Snell goes out in signs with your rival,
and now you got to play him 14 times.
You're only start against you maybe two, maybe three times,
but now you got to face Snell at least a few times a year.
And that's a scary proposition.
And you look at the Dodgers rotation next year,
they won the World Series with like
two healthy starting pitchers.
Raising, raising.
And so you're gonna, they load up again next year,
they get Glass now back healthy,
all the guys that went down with TJ, Dustin May,
all their dudes that come back,
and now you add Snell on top of it,
you're like, dude, this rotation is crazy.
So I'm glad I don't play in the NL West,
like as a fan of the Ori's,
I'm glad my team doesn't play in the NL West.
But they play in the AL East,
which hasn't been much better.
We're gonna keep going NL West really fast.
Willie Adomis, biggest contract ever handed out
by the Giants, Buster Posey makes a move
right out of the gate, comes in, says, this is my guy.
Any thoughts on the Willie Adomis move
to the Giants really fast?
They have more moves they need to make,
but now they have the left side of their infield
shored up for years and years to come.
I think it's a great move.
It obviously probably was one of the better hitters
they could have gotten.
And when Willie Adomis was asked why he signed with the Giants,
he said it was Buster Posey, right?
Which I think says a lot,
the fact that you wanna play somewhere because of the,
he's not the general manager, is he?
He is a GM, yeah.
He's a GM now, okay.
So because of the GM, I think that says a lot.
He obviously wants to play in a place
with a good community, good system.
Honestly, a legendary organization.
And I think they're gonna be great.
Giants are a great organization.
Buster Posey is a legend.
I mean, they won three titles in five years
and we're here a decade later and we're like,
nobody's talking about the Giants
because the Dodgers are the Dodgers
and the Padres have been great.
And you're left looking and you're like, wait,
the Giants did that a decade ago?
Like they have the championship pedigree.
They got it and now in the front office,
they got Posey in the front office.
The Giants, like, and they have the market
to go out and spend.
So I'm really curious to see what the Giants do
with the rest of the off season
because they have quite a lot of options out in front of them.
I do think that you're just playing for wild card spots
at this point, in my opinion.
Yeah, unless you somehow would have gone Kyle Tucker,
which was a pretty big if.
I know Quinn is a big Giants fan, right, my friend.
Shout out Quinn.
He wouldn't talk really bad,
but obviously he wasn't gonna go there.
But yeah, they still need a star, right?
Like a bat.
And I don't think Willie is that.
I don't know where you're gonna get it from,
but they really need a big pop in the middle of the lineup.
Yep, they do.
I mean, I don't really know where you're looking at.
I mean, maybe you get a Pete Alonso
and Anthony Santander.
Someone's gonna sell tickets, you know?
Yeah, somebody that gives you a little bit more juice
than just Willie and Matt Chapman,
because those are phenomenal players.
Those are great players,
but you need some guys a little bit more offensive juice,
in my opinion.
Going down the list, this is a bit of a boring one.
We'll touch on the Angels really fast.
You say Kikuchi, three for $63 million.
I can't stand that team.
They need to just, the owner needs to go.
He's an idiot.
The team, he's ruined two legendary careers,
arguably the best baseball player of all time,
and the other is the actual greatest baseball player
of all time.
Ruined two other careers.
One playoff appearance, right,
in both of their careers.
Anthony Angels, ridiculous.
Didn't trade Ohtani when he could have gotten
the house for him last year.
He needs to go.
I don't know what these moves,
I don't know what getting Jorge Saler,
you say Kikuchi, Darno.
I don't know how this is doing anything.
I don't know why people keep going to the Angels,
but it was the most frustrating year of my life
when I was an Angels fan.
I'm so glad I'm not.
And it sucks, because there's great young players
on that team, and their careers are just ruined
because the owner is an absolute moron.
The Angels are always fascinating
because they do this every off season.
You're like, okay, now is the time to blow it up.
And then they go out and sign some 33 year old pitcher,
and you're like, what?
As if they're contending.
This is a move you feel like a fringe contender makes,
but the Angels are not fringe contenders.
They were worst in the athletics last year.
And they're signing players like,
oh yeah, we're gonna compete.
Like, stop.
I mean, shout out. Get some help.
Shout out my guys, JT and Cole Gamble.
Both of you know, I love you guys.
But they're both Angels fans,
and they don't know why they're doing this.
To their credit, they do have the second pick
in the draft this year.
So they're gonna go get a really talented player
again this year.
And you have to find some way to build up the system.
Maybe this turns into like,
Kukuchi has a good first half.
They flip him at the deadline this year
or next year or something.
And you get some more prospect capital.
But this is just a weird one.
It's just a weird one.
So that's why we're not gonna spend any more time on it.
You don't say another word,
because we're gonna keep going.
Yeah, that's right.
One of my favorite ones, Luis Severino.
Three years, $67 million to go play in Sacramento.
Kenji, we're close friends with a diehard athletics fan,
Tom Farris.
You're listening, we love you.
What do you think about this move
and all of the other ramifications with the A's
and this like, trying to overpay guys
to come play in Sacramento?
Go ahead, the floor is yours.
When I first heard it, I was really confused.
I'm like, why are you going to the athletics?
And then Tom kind of gave me a breakdown
of why Oakland just didn't work out.
And if what he's saying is true, then honestly,
it does seem like a pretty interesting spot to go play for.
And like the athletics are just as an iconic team.
And honestly, at the second half last year,
they had like two of the best hitters in the league,
which doesn't get talked about enough,
but Lawrence Butler and Brent Rooker, oh my gosh,
they out hit Judge and Soto in the second half
in almost like every significant hitting category.
So they got something there.
They do have a ton of young prospects
who just can't seem to figure things out.
But if they click, they honestly have a great young roster
and they could be fun to watch.
I just think they just need better proven veterans
to kind of help out the team.
I think Luis Severino is a good start.
If he can somehow get a bat in there,
I don't know who you could even get,
but the A's might be on the rise, which is pretty cool.
And Spring, no, what's the guy from the Rays?
Springs, Jeffrey Springs.
Jeffrey Springs.
I mean, he's not too bad of a pitcher,
could help the rotation out
because that rotation was terrible last year.
So I honestly, I hope that it works out for the A's
and that they're on the rise from here on out.
Yeah, I mean, I think it's such an interesting thing.
I mean, first of all, Jeffrey Springs,
the trop in Tampa Bay gets damaged with the hurricane.
Of course, our heart goes out to all those people
that were affected, but at the same time,
you think he's like, oh yeah, I'm gonna get traded.
I don't have to play at Steinbrenner Field
in Tampa Bay anymore.
Because he was at the trop and then he was gonna play
at the Yankees minor league park all next season.
And he's like, cool, I'm getting traded.
And then they pick up the phone and he's like,
yeah dude, you're going to Sacramento.
And he get to play in another minor league park
where the locker rooms are in center field beyond the wall.
So my heart goes out to Jeffrey Springs.
He's a great pitcher.
I had him in fantasy last year.
I'm a big fan of his.
We'll see how he does this year.
But the A's are fascinating.
I wanna touch on them a little bit later
because there's a really interesting thing happening
going on with the revenue sharing
that I'm gonna touch on in a little bit.
A couple other, one of the more interesting ones.
Michael Conforto, they're just getting,
he just goes to the Dodgers for stupid throw away money.
One year, $17 million.
Dodgers just go sign one of the Giants better bats
for 17 million.
Sure, whatever.
I think that hurts the Giants
because I honestly think they should have brought it back.
100%, we talked that they need pop.
And that was the guy that had a little pop for you.
Yep.
Again, flying through Tyler O'Neill to the O's.
Three years, $49.5 million with an opt out
after the first year.
I really like this move for the Orioles.
I don't know how it's gonna pan out in years two and three
whether like if he gets hurt, he opts in, whatever.
But I really like this because they needed pop.
If any of you know me closely,
I am not a fan of Saan Tanday long-term.
I don't think he's a long-term solution.
I think he's a true two outcome hitter.
He's below average defensively
and he's about 30 homers a year
with like a career 300 on base percentage.
And because it was his contract year,
he started playing way better.
So he's not the player that you saw this season.
He's not gonna be that for you when you sign him.
So I didn't want the O's to pay him.
I'm glad that they have it.
And they bring in O'Neill who's gonna play every day.
And he's a really good veteran presence for that locker room.
And they bring in the wall.
The wall in left field is coming back in.
So O'Neill is gonna get a little bit of pop.
Mountcastle is gonna be really happy.
So I'm a fan of the move.
I texted you right away and you were hoping O'Neill
would go to the team like the Royals.
Yeah, that was like my one thing
that I felt like the Royals could have done this off season
was bring in Tyler O'Neill.
But I'm glad my guys got it though.
I'm glad Michael Rice and company got it.
As I keep going through the sheet, Clay Holmes to the Mets,
three years, $38 million.
They're gonna make him a starting pitcher.
Really interesting how that's gonna all pan out.
He's got kind of the Michael King to him.
I mean, the Padres turned Michael King into a starter
and he was phenomenal.
I don't know if they're gonna be able
to do the same thing with Clay Holmes,
but Clay is a really interesting guy.
The Mets still need help in the rotation.
But again, they're an interesting team.
They're gonna move on to watch.
Kenji, I'll leave it to you.
We should touch on the Mets another day
of what their team looks like besides Soda.
But we'll talk about that hopefully in the future.
Yep, we will.
We'll do more deep dives as we get going here,
but we just had to cover all of that crazy stuff
that's been going on.
So much going on.
Kenji, I'm gonna leave this next one to you.
Houston signs Christian Walker.
Three years, $60 million.
You're a fan of the move for the Astros.
What do you think?
I thought it's a great move.
I mean, the Astros have been trying to figure out
first base for forever it seems like.
And what, they tried out a couple of guys last year
at first base.
They had what, Josh, John Singleton or Josh Singleton?
John.
John Singleton.
Big John Singleton.
I mean, he's not a starter.
You had Dubon trying to play first base.
He's a great role player,
but I don't think he's the guy
that you want playing every day at first base.
They tried Loper Fido I think at first base too.
They tried it into the Blue Jays for Kikuchi.
I mean, it looks like a waste of a move
and a waste of a prospect at this point
because he's signed somewhere else.
So I think it's a great move.
Christian Walker's great defensively
and he just has a pop.
That wall at right or left field is.
Crawford Boxes.
It's right there.
So I think hitting wise, it's going to be great for him.
I know they have to give him a couple draft picks
for him, right?
Which I don't think that they're too worried about
because they're still kind of in the win now mode.
I think in about two or three years,
the Astros are going to have to break things up
once Atubit kind of gets older
and I guess the rest of the team kind of gets older.
But for now, it looks like they're going all in again
and they solved a big need.
They got to figure out third base now,
but I think Christian Walker is a really good start for them
into fixing that team and getting back into the postseason.
Yeah, I mean, the Astros.
The Astros are a fascinating team to me
because they refuse to sign players to deals
that are six or more years, right?
And it's kind of come back to bite them a little bit.
Like they're going to lose Bregman.
Bregman has the most war on their team
since he's come up in 2017.
They lose, who else did they lose?
Kyle Tucker, they ship Tucker out of town
and Tucker is arguably their best player when he's healthy.
Of course they have Jordan who they extended,
but it's weird because they go out,
they ship away Kyle Tucker, they bring in some prospects
and you're like, okay, maybe this is a bit of a punter
for the Astros.
And then they go ahead and sign Christian Walker,
who I mean, no offense to Christian Walker,
but he's like a short-term deal.
Like it's this three years, 60 million.
He's 34 years old signing this contract.
Like he's not going to play at a high clip for a long time.
So this is like a win now kind of move.
Like you said, and Houston,
it felt like they've made some win now moves
and it also felt like they've made some,
let's win later moves.
And that's where I don't really quite understand.
Actually, yeah, I kind of revert back.
I'm going to kind of agree with you're saying there
a little bit more than what I said earlier.
You kind of, it's hard to understand what they're doing
because like you said, like they traded away Kyle Tucker
and there was rumors about them trading Framber too, right?
Yeah, there still are.
Yeah, they still are.
They're an ace, right?
So it is kind of weird that they won't give these contracts
to these players who are keystones.
But I mean, I guess it's worth that
because like honestly Springer was great.
Yeah, Springer, Correa.
Correa was terrible after he left.
And so, I mean, I get that maybe it looks
for them that looks smart, but I mean,
I bet they were gritting that Josh Hader deal last year
because he was one of the worst players.
He was bad for a lot of the season.
Yeah, he was bad.
I mean, he had a little stretch where he was back to himself
but then he just went back to blowing games.
And so I don't really know what the Astros are doing.
Do I actually think they can win the World Series again?
I don't think so.
I think that team is just, there's too many holes
that the outfield is full of holes.
Yeah, their outfield is not good.
And who's their center field?
Jake Myers.
Yeah.
I think is their starters
and I think Jordan and right or left.
Like it's just not impressive anymore, you know?
And it's so reliant on those stars
that if one of those guys gets hurt
or they're just not having a good year,
they're gonna kind of start out
and maybe play the whole year like the way they did
at the beginning of the year last year.
Yeah, I totally agree.
I think it feels like a really weird situation for them.
I'm gonna rattle off a couple more
of these free agent signings.
And then we're gonna talk about some of these trades.
So Nathan of Aldi goes to Texas,
three years, 75 million, Texas is,
I think my favorite for the AO West.
I know, Tom, I'm sorry.
I know I said the A's, but I thought about the Rangers.
It feels like everybody's forgetting about the Rangers.
It was a good deal for a Aldi.
We had Shane Bieber go back to Cleveland one year,
10 million, kind of a prove a year deal
after getting the Tommy John surgery.
We have Tomoyuki Shigano, Baltimore for one year, 15 million.
Did I say that right?
Tomoyuki Shigano or Shugano?
It's Shugano.
Shugano, Tomoyuki Shugano coming to the O's.
I love this deal because he's like a really serviceable,
reliable back end of the rotation kind of guy.
And for 15 million, like you can get like,
back end of the rotation pieces now cost you 18, 19 million.
So Shugano, I'm very pleased to have him in the rotation.
He's gonna be a good fit.
Blake Trinen goes back to the Dodgers, two years, 22 million.
Matthew Boyd went to Chicago and went to the Cubs
from Cleveland, two years, $29 million.
The Cubs are just stacking left-handed starting pitching.
I don't know what they're doing.
And then that's kind of the recap
what we have in this list.
If we switch over and we go immediately into the trades
that have been happening, we have, of course, the big one,
I guess Kyle Tucker, or do we wanna start with Crochet?
We've kind of touched on the Astros a little bit.
Let's go into Tucker.
Talking about Crochet.
Oh, okay, Crochet, let's do it.
I mean, it was pretty obvious that he was gonna be traded.
And it's a good thing,
because my goodness is that guy talented.
Red Sox gave a lot for him, a lot of good prospects,
but it seems like the Red Sox honestly have a crazy amount
of good prospects just waiting to play,
especially in the infield is what I think is what it is.
I mean, you have Kossas who's still young.
How am I forgetting everyone's names
on the Boston Red Sox now?
They have Devers at third, they've got Kyle Hamilton,
or no, Kyle Tam is the safety and everyone.
They have another Hamilton guy.
They have a Hamilton guy for sure,
but they traded away Kyle Teal was the headliner
in that trade along with Braden Montgomery.
And listen, I know this deals more about Crochet
than Crochet as it should be,
because Crochet is a phenomenal starting pitcher,
arguably when he was pitching full games
at the first half of last year,
he was a top three pitcher in baseball.
He's right up there with Scoobal for Cy Young,
right up there.
But I will say the White Sox got a really nice return here.
Kyle Teal is an awesome prospect.
Braden Montgomery was the 12th pick in the draft last year.
I had the pleasure of watching Braden Montgomery play
in college, he was at USC and he came and played a road game.
I'm in Salt Lake City and I got to watch him play.
Montgomery is a freak athlete.
Like that dude was pitching, he was throwing 95 yards,
and he was throwing 95, 96, and he's an amazing hitter.
He went to Texas A&M, did the same thing.
Montgomery's a great player.
The White Sox got a great haul here,
but really the Red Sox land an ace.
Like that's their new, your new opening day starting pitcher
with a rotation that already was really solid last year.
So in my mind, the holes for the Red Sox
really are just the bullpen,
because I like their lineup.
I really like their rotation,
but I don't really know what they got
on the back end right now.
What's your take on the Red Sox
and about this trade altogether?
I think the Red Sox honestly are great.
If they can get to Oscar,
this team's gonna be really, really good,
and they're gonna compete in that
already competitive division.
Yes, their bullpen is definitely the problem.
I think, I don't think Girolito's,
I think he only signed a one-year deal with the boss.
No, Girolito's back, he's back.
He is?
Oh, okay.
Then I think that might help,
because when he went to the Angels two years ago,
he was the worst pitcher I've ever seen in my life.
Holy cow, that was the worst trade ever.
And the Angels made a lot of bad trades that year, right?
Like CJ Krone, but I think that was his name, whatever.
But yeah, honestly, this is great.
Their rotation's gonna be better.
They've been missing an ace for a really long time.
Show up that bullpen, get another bat in there,
probably get to Oscar.
Even though Santander wouldn't be turned down.
It wouldn't be terrible.
Get them to play some DH, Alphild here and there.
Probably not DH, because I guess they got Yoshida,
but they just need some more pop,
because they've got really good pieces around them.
And I really think they can compete
if everything kind of goes out the way they're hoping for.
Yeah, I mean, I have their roster resource page,
shout out fan graphs, I've got it pulled up right now.
And I mean, this is their starting lineup.
We have Jaren Duran, Rafi Devers, Tristan Casas,
Trevor Story, Masa Yoshida, William Abreu,
Connor Wong, David Hamilton, Nakayo, and Sedan Rafaela.
All of which, those are a lot of good young players.
William Abreu's great.
Connor Wong had a really good season last year.
Trevor Story, when he's healthy, he can be good.
Tristan Casas is an awesome player.
And Sedan Rafaela has some really good points
last year as well.
So they have a lot of talent,
and they haven't even touched their farm system.
They have Roman Anthony, they have Marcelo Meyer,
they got dudes on dudes down there.
It's crazy.
Aren't they infielders?
Yeah, Marcelo's a shortstop, and Anthony's an outfielder.
That's perfect, because once Trevor Story,
I mean, if he can't play this year,
I mean, he's got a prospect that can take his place.
Outfielder, I mean, if something doesn't work out,
you can always play him there too.
So it's great.
They're in such a good spot.
They're definitely in a win now.
I forgot about Tanner Hauck.
Yeah, if you look at their rotation,
I mean, I have the rotation right here.
Garrett Crochet, Tanner Hauck, Brian Baio,
Cutter Crawford, and then friend of the show,
Richard Dick Fitz.
So they got a good rotation, man.
They have some pieces on the back end of the bullpen.
I mean, you've told me Liam Hendricks,
who rolled his Chapman.
Greg Weissert was there last year.
It doesn't inspire confidence,
but it's a good thing.
They need a better, younger, closer.
Yeah, pretty much.
They'll get, they have Lucas Gialito,
who is coming off IAL at the start of next year.
They just signed Patrick Sandoval today
to a two-year deal.
He can be good when he's healthy.
Really struggling with the angels.
Oh, from the angels?
Yeah.
Oh, I love Patrick Sandoval.
Just needs a better pitching coach,
because the angels don't have him.
Yeah, and the Red Sox have good ones.
So Red Sox in a really interesting spot.
Yeah, I'm interested in watching some Red Sox.
Again, it sucks to be a fan of an AL East team,
because if I wasn't a fan of a team,
I would probably love watching this division.
But I see the Yankees and the Red Sox load up,
and I'm like, crap.
And you just know the Rays are gonna be good next year,
because they're scrappy,
and who knows what the Blue Jays are doing?
We're gonna get there in a second.
Kyle Tucker, really fast traded from Houston to Chicago.
We've touched on both teams a little bit already.
Esauk Parades, and what was the name of the prospect,
the kid that got shipped over?
I can't remember.
I don't know nothing about prospects.
Esauk Parades is a really serviceable corner infielder.
He's gonna love those Crawford boxes,
just like Christian Walker.
But again, really interesting that they ship off
Kyle Tucker, first and foremost.
Cam Smith, really good prospect, too.
The Cubs have the number one farm system in baseball.
So the Cubs have pieces to go into this.
Cubs have a lot of pieces to go out and make some moves.
And improve their team.
So we'll see what they end up doing.
One of the best pitchers in the league,
Shotai Monaga, just wanna give my boy a shout out.
Disrespected last year.
Wasn't even up for a Ricky of the Year, really.
I would say he was one of the best pitchers in the league.
Had one or two bad games.
Pitched deep in the games.
Paul Skeens, did you do that?
No?
It's a shame.
Listen, he was going up against Paul Skeens.
He was always gonna lose that, unfortunately.
He had a great season.
Great season.
Yeah, amazing season.
But I'm very biased.
And I understand why Paul Skeens won,
because he was insane.
But just wanted to give a shout out to Shotai Monaga.
Shout out Shotai Monaga, we love you, dude.
Cody Bellinger.
Very handsome.
Very handsome, dude.
Very handsome.
Another handsome guy, Cody Bellinger,
traded from also the Cubs to the New York Yankees.
The Cubs had a surplus of outfielders.
And so they ship him off for Cody Poteet,
and a few million dollars.
So again, this is a perfect fit for the Yankees.
This is exactly what they needed.
But Cody is also not the Bellinger of old.
So this is like, you plug him in,
you can play his defense took a little bit of a hit
last year, but he's still above average.
And of course he's a good lefty bat.
Yep.
And honestly, the inks don't need pop.
They just need guys to get on base.
They got Soto, and they got Judge for pop.
I think they're good.
I think Jason Dominguez is gonna be,
if he can figure out his hitting, and play consistently,
hopefully the Yankees handle them correctly,
because he is so talented.
But they got a lot of pop, I think.
Wells has got a lot of pop.
I mean, honestly, Jazz has a ton of pop.
He's probably gonna have 30 home runs next year.
So Cody just needs to get on base,
and play really good defense, or the best that he can.
Just be a team player, and honestly, he's gonna,
they're gonna be great, I think.
Yeah, yeah, I agree.
I think he's a great fit for the Yankees.
I think Cody's dad played for the Yankees,
so there's also some connections there.
Again, with the Yanks, they also acquired Devin Williams
a few days prior, another big trade.
First of all, Devin Williams is gonna look
horrible clean shaven.
I'm just gonna say.
Oh, that picture that's going around is bad.
Oh, it's terrifying.
It's terrifying.
Google that.
Not safe for work.
But Devin Williams, a phenomenal relief pitcher,
amazing on the back end.
He's gonna be great for the Yankees.
And again, they traded him for almost nothing.
They traded him for, who was it?
Carlos Rodan, or not Rodan, no, excuse me,
Nester Cortez.
They gave him their second baseman,
who was really.
Durbin, right?
Yeah.
Durbin was, I mean, it was a position of need.
They really need second base, so.
I'm not, I mean, if they don't sign him to a deal,
it's a horrible trade,
because you set yourself back for a long time,
and they already have a terrible farm system,
and they had a really good player like that,
and they traded him away, so.
Hopefully Devin Williams works out.
It's just, I don't know how I feel about it,
giving up such a good prospect,
who was in such a position of need for the team.
Again, they need to score.
The Yankees' biggest thing is they need to score.
And Bellinger is a good addition, but he's not Soto.
And you add Max Fried, he's not gonna get you more runs.
And so you need at least another piece
that can go out and score runs for you,
because that's where they were successful last year,
because they could outscore everybody.
Because by the end of the season,
they were the number one offense in baseball.
That's why the Yankees were as good as they were.
So they still need to go out and score.
I will say for the brewer side of this,
Caleb Durbin is a perfect brewer.
A perfect brewer.
Like, he fits the, like, what was the guy last year?
Terrain.
He fits like the terrain mold perfectly.
So they're gonna have two dudes that just do that.
I don't know, because I think they'll have,
I think they'll move Joey Ortiz to shortstop.
I think they put Durbin at third,
and they have Terrain at second, if I had to guess.
And then there's just like a short, scrappy infield.
You know, Jackson Trevio, oof.
I mean, they need some pop.
They need more pop than just Contreus.
Not Contreus, it's Contreus, yeah.
It's Contreus, yeah.
They need some pop.
They need some pop really bad.
But yeah, I mean, it's cool.
You keep winning the gold gloves every year,
but you gotta hit the ball.
You gotta make it so the,
just making the postseason
isn't doing anything for the Brewers.
I know, they gotta do more.
I agree wholeheartedly.
Yeah, I can't stand watching Brewers games.
Yeah, yeah.
So we're gonna, now we're gonna touch on just a few teams
that we've been, we're interested in talking about here.
As we kind of wrap up the episode.
First one, and this is just what's next on my list.
We're gonna go a little out of order.
The Toronto Blue Jays.
They traded for Andres Jimenez and his massive contract.
I think he's owed another 100 mil on that deal
or something like that.
That's crazy.
They trade for Andres Jimenez.
They give away Spencer Horwitz,
who's then flipped to Pittsburgh for a couple other guys.
But I mean, Cleveland has to be happy
to get out of this deal.
Jimenez is a phenomenal defensive second baseman
who they maybe could move to shortstop.
What are they doing in Toronto?
What does this mean for Vlad Jr.?
What does this mean for Beau Bichette?
And I mean, that entire division.
I mean, I think it's just a giant WTF is going on in Toronto.
I don't understand.
They keep being in these stakes of,
oh, Tanya almost signed there, right?
And there was this whole thing about he was on the jet
or whatever to go into Toronto.
I think it came out like a month ago that that wasn't real.
That he wasn't actually even considering
or really serious about Toronto, right?
I mean, I've been seeing this since last year.
Who the heck wants to play in Toronto?
I don't know why anybody wanna play Toronto.
Juan Soto, I don't think ever wanted to play for Toronto.
But they use them for leverage to get more money.
I think Shohei did the same thing with Toronto.
Use Toronto as a way to get more money from other teams.
Cause I mean, look, they're handling it so poorly.
Like, Velad, I honestly should have been given a bag.
Like a blank check that year when I made it.
He turned down, rumor had it,
he turned down like a $340 million extension.
Which if that's the case, if he did turn down the extension,
if you're the Blue Jays, I think you have to ship him now.
You have to.
And you gotta, I think they got a clean house.
You gotta get rid of Gosman while he still has some worth.
Cause he's old, right?
Having that old of a pitcher on,
I think his contract expires the next couple of years,
just does you no good.
First Bassett, little older,
I still think there's some value in him, right?
Brady loves him, quality start guy, right?
Quality start guy according to Brady.
And he kinda was right about that,
but I mean, he's a pretty mid pitcher.
But I think the Blue Jays need to just,
they need to restart.
They got Springer on a really expensive contract.
Vlad can get you so many good prospects.
Boba Shet is still a viable shortstop,
although I don't think he's a great defender,
but he can still hit really well
and get on base really well.
And teams will find value in him.
So I think Toronto needs to just press restart
and just figure it out again.
Yeah, I think that'd be a good idea for the Blue Jays.
I don't know what's going on with them.
I don't know, why would you trade
for an expensive second baseman?
I don't know why you would do that,
who can't hit, since he signed his deal he can't hit.
I mean, their roster still looks decent.
I mean, I got their lineup pulled up.
It's next year, it's projected to be Springer,
Bowe, Vlad, Wagner, Kirk, Jimenez, Clement,
Luke's, Loperfito.
I mean, Loperfito's really young.
I would say hold on to him.
I mean, you're kind of stuck with Jimenez at this point,
but your top three guys, I think you got to get rid of them.
Gosman, Barrios, Francis had a good ending of last year.
Right?
He did, he did.
I think Gosman, Barrios, and Bassett are old guys
that you should look into trying getting rid of.
They're not gonna win anything.
That division's really competitive.
The Yanks, O's, and Boston,
or O's are coming falling behind in the moves this off season,
but they're really all competitive teams.
And I don't know how Toronto has any chance
of ever doing anything as long as those teams are there.
So they got to restart.
Yeah, I agree.
Yeah.
I agree.
Yeah, I got nothing else to say on Toronto.
I have nothing else to say.
I guess moving along, the Phillies,
we haven't said one word about the Phillies today.
Brady's not here to vouch for his team,
but they've been asleep at the wheel a little bit.
I mean, speak of the Orioles.
And nobody wants Alec Bohem.
Yeah, speak of the Orioles falling behind a little bit.
The Phillies have fallen asleep a little bit.
And I don't really know.
I mean, I saw a tweet earlier today,
I think it was from Bob Nightingale, and he said,
the Phillies haven't been involved
in the Roky Sasaki stuff.
They haven't been involved
in any of the big marquee free agents.
They're just kind of standing pat.
I don't know if this is like a revenue thing,
if they're just at the salary cap,
or not the salary cap, but at the competitive balance tax cap
that they want to.
I don't know where they're at.
They have a lot of expensive players, don't get me wrong.
Oh yeah.
But what do you think is next for the Phillies?
Do you think they stay here,
or do they go do something?
I mean, you've got to trade, I think, Nick, Castellanos.
I think you've got to find a way to get rid of him.
I mean, he's a great Phillie,
but even Brady said that he wouldn't be mad if he was gone.
Like I think you got to move on.
They need a center fielder so bad.
You can't keep putting Marsh and Rojas out, not Rojas.
Who's playing center?
Rojas?
It's Marsh in center right now, it's Marsh.
Oh, Rojas is center.
Oh, projected to be Rojas Marsh.
Yeah, I have their lineup up.
Marsh is projected in center.
Who's in left and who's in right?
Kepler in left and Castellanos in right.
I just don't think you can keep doing that.
Like their outfield is just already.
Their bench is Johan Rojas.
I mean, I think they could go trade for Luis Ribera.
I think he's a phenomenal fit.
I think that's the one move the Phillies could do
to make themselves better with what's out there.
I don't know how any player out there
really makes them better hitting-wise.
A son Tondair is not going to help you.
I don't think a Pete's going to help you
because you already got a first baseman.
Like you need guys who can play the outfield
and there are not a lot of outfields right there
or out there right now.
Lubeop is the best chance you're going to get.
And I think with a team that's competitive,
I think honestly his injury proneness will go down.
His attitude will be better.
He'll hustle.
And I think he's going to get back
to playing really good ball.
But Phillies, I think you got to go and get him somehow.
Yeah. And I mean, I'm just taking a look
at their arms right here.
Their rotation is still formidable.
You know, Christopher or Zach Wheeler,
Christopher Sanchez, Aaron Nola, Ranger Suarez,
Tywon Walker, they have Mick Abel in the minors.
He's really good.
And their bullpen still looks serviceable.
Jordan Romano, they signed from Toronto.
Matt Strom, Jose Alvarado, Orion Kirkering.
So they have like four leverage arms
that they can rely on in there.
But again, it feels like in this day and age,
you can't just sit tight and expect to be better next year.
And we saw, I mean, they just kind of fell short
of the Mets and the Mets were a runaway train at that point.
Like that was an electric team.
But at the same time, you kind of have to improve.
You have to improve.
And you lose Carlos Estevez.
I don't know if they'll bring him back.
They lose a couple other pieces.
You gotta go do something.
And it feels like the Phillies haven't yet.
A lot of off season left, you know, still,
what was it, like 50 something days
until spring training starts.
But go make something happen.
And on that same vein, the Orioles,
feels like they've made a couple moves,
but not the big one that they need to.
I mean, and I could sit here and talk about this all day,
but we're already losing fans
because I'm talking about them too much.
But the O's need to go get a frontline starter.
I've touched on Tyler O'Neil and Sagano,
and I love both of those moves,
but they still need to go get a frontline starter.
Cause right now your opening day starter
is Zach Gafflin or Grayson Rodriguez.
And Rodriguez can be that guy, but not for a full season.
I just don't feel that great about it.
And so you need, and Trevor Rodgers is your five,
and Rodgers scares the Jesus out of me at five.
Oh my gosh.
I know.
So I think you go get Corbin Burns.
You get him like a shorter, like five, six, seven years,
high AAV and lock that dude up
before you start paying Gunner and Jackson and Adley.
Just give him what he wants.
Yeah.
Just give him what he wants.
And listen, and I'll hear,
I'm going to be a little bit of fan boy for a second.
I think the longer that this Corbin Burns sweepstakes
goes on, the longer that he remains unsigned,
the higher chance he comes back to Baltimore.
Because if he had in his mind
that the Giants were the right place
or that Toronto is the right place,
they've already been rumored to be at the top of the list.
Why wait?
Like why wait and like pick that spot or why?
Cause he, sorry.
He hasn't lived in San Francisco or Toronto.
You think, you know, before the school year starts back up,
before spring training starts, you'd want to get a home.
You move your family there.
Like all of these things that you would kind of like
start to figure out.
And to me, it feels like they,
if Corbin is staying,
then that means that he feels more comfortable
in the situation that he's in in Baltimore.
Cause he's not in such a rush.
He's like, okay, I'm coming back.
Cause I got this, all this stuff figured out.
I know what the clubhouse is like.
I know what, you know, I know what the trainers are like,
the fans, the media.
And I think he was a good fit in Baltimore.
I think if he's looking for a shorter deal, high AAV,
I like him, man.
Bring him in.
He's not going to Toronto.
Don't worry.
I wouldn't want to play in Toronto either.
Yeah. Not with that team right now.
But yeah, it's definitely the giants of the O's.
I hope it's the O's just for the O's sake.
I mean, it's now, it's now, you know.
And listen, I mean, if you would have told me a season ago
that the O's would be in the top two or three running
for Corbin Burns in the off season,
like I would have been thrilled.
I would have been thrilled
because the O's just don't do this.
And so whether they get him or not,
even if it comes out afterwards that he just picked them
over equivalent deals or he wanted to be there, whatever,
I just will be happy to know that they're in on him
because the ownership group has refused to spend
and I just want them to spend now.
Spend, you have the money.
I think the way you have to look at it,
like Joey Ortiz, would you rather have him
on your team right now?
No, he'd be log jammed.
There's no room for him.
But I feel like, I mean, if Corbin goes, right,
and you guys had the year he had last year,
I mean, it's a waste of a good prospect
that you could have gotten more for, you know.
It is, it is.
I don't know if that's the right lens to look at baseball.
I'm still kind of new to baseball,
but that's kind of how I view these one year rentals
that these teams get for like these really high prospects,
right, and then they just let them go the season after.
Like to me, it just seems like it's such a waste, you know.
And it would be a bit of a waste, like,
because Joey Ortiz is gonna be a fine Major League player.
He already is.
And DL Hall, say what you will, he has an injury history,
but he's serviceable as well.
So yeah, would I love to bring back Corbin?
Yes, but not as much.
The O's have, similar to kind of how the Cubs
were able to ship out some of those prospects
when they traded for Kyle Tucker.
It's like the O's have the prospect capital
to be able to trade the Red Sox
when they could go out and get crochet
because they have the prospects to do it.
That's what this feels like.
They have the ability to do it.
They went out and did it.
It didn't work out.
You didn't win the World Series.
You didn't even score Corbin or single run.
Yeah.
But you gotta keep making moves like that.
And even if they don't get Corbin,
you gotta go trade for Luis Castillo.
You gotta go trade for Dylan Cease, for Bryce Miller,
for somebody to lead that rotation.
And so that's where I met with the O's at the moment.
How the Marlins got what they got for Trevor Rogers
is beyond me after watching.
Norby should be fine.
Stowers isn't gonna be great.
And listen, I can't imagine that that was the best offer
that they could get.
And they, well, sorry.
I can't imagine that there were better offers
for those prospects and they traded him for Rogers.
I think that that's probably all that they could get for him.
And they needed like a fifth guy to fill to be a body
because they were, the guys were getting hurt.
So they shipped him off.
It doesn't look great.
I don't think Stowers is gonna be that great
at the big league level.
I think Norby's better than Stowers,
but you gotta make trades at some point, right?
I mean, that's why you have prospects.
I don't know.
Good point.
Gotta make trades, Brady.
Gotta make trades.
Yeah, that's true.
Last thing, cause we're probably right hovering
around an hour.
The Oakland A's.
Not Oakland anymore.
The Sacramento A's.
Or maybe just the A's, the Athletics,
I think is what they want us to call them.
The most fascinating part of this.
And John Boyd did a fantastic job describing it.
So John Boyd, when you guys get done listening here,
go listen to him talk about it too.
He said, he said that the A's need to reach
a certain number, a certain amount in salary and payroll
to qualify for revenue sharing.
Because years ago, the owners agreed that Oakland
was too big of a market for Jeff Fisher
and the Athletics to qualify for revenue sharing.
Which next year, there's $70 million in revenue sharing
that is due to the A's.
And so the owners have said, well, like, dude,
like Oakland's a good market.
And then Jeff Fisher comes back and says,
well, no, nobody comes to our games.
The stadium is crap, you know?
So then the owners are like, okay, whatever.
And then so he moves to Tech, or to Vegas, not Texas.
He moves to Vegas because Vegas is a smaller market.
Vegas is a much smaller market than Oakland.
So you qualify for revenue sharing.
So that $70 million can come in.
But then the owners go back to Jeff Fisher
and the owners are pissed because they're like,
dude, you just pulled a fast one on us.
You qualified for it before, but weren't willing to spend.
And now you moved to a small market where now
you qualified for it, but you haven't proven
you want to spend.
And so then now they've set this like standard
where he has to spend X amount over,
or X percentage above that $70 million in revenue sharing
to even qualify for it.
So now the A's essentially have a salary floor
of $105 million for next year,
where if they spend over it,
then they qualify for revenue sharing
and they get the $70 million.
If they don't hit it, then the owners will file
an injunction against John Fisher
and he won't get the money.
So the A's are in this really weird spot
where they don't spend for years and years and years.
And then all of a sudden here at the very,
the first year in Sacramento on this transition to Vegas,
now they have to spend because if they don't spend
then the owner won't get his money
and heaven forbid the owner doesn't get his money.
So it's kind of a twisted situation.
It's stupid how it's all gone down.
My heart goes out to A's fans.
It's fun to see them spend a little bit
because baseball is better when the A's are good.
But at the same time, like this is not how you want
to see a team spending just to like qualify
for revenue sharing.
You want to see teams spend to be competitive,
not just so the organization can make more money.
I don't know.
I mean, I don't understand all that stuff.
That's for me to figure out the next couple of years
how all this, the money in MLB is so confusing.
Oh no it is.
How trades works, how contracts work.
It's just, it's so much more complicated than football.
So I am slowly getting into this field,
but yeah, yeah, ditto, whatever you said.
Sure, I don't know if you made any points if you explain.
That was all true.
I appreciate it.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Whatever you said.
I appreciate it.
Follow me blindly.
Yeah, I appreciate that.
That's good.
But yeah, that's all the content we have today.
Everybody, welcome back to the show.
We appreciate you tuning in and listening to this far.
Kenji, anything else you want to leave with
before we give people their time back?
You think we'll do it before Christmas
or do you think we'll do it after Christmas?
Because I'm gone after Christmas.
That's right.
Kenji's in love.
Okay, so are you a married boy, all right?
Oh yeah, Gabe's gotten married
since the last time we did a podcast, so.
You can't see, I'm wiggling my ring.
Yeah, I got married.
Kenji's gonna get married here soon, probably.
We'll see, we'll see.
Yeah, we'll probably do something before Christmas.
Sure, maybe something fun happens.
I'm gonna give you a little bit of a sneak peek.
Well, we got some points that we still want to talk about.
We can kind of talk about the remaining free agents,
who we think should go to where, players that could be traded.
There's still a couple players out there
that are potentially tradable.
Gabe kind of brought one up, Castillo, Aronado.
And then I put one of these as
can anyone even beat the Dodgers now?
And anyone beat the Dodgers?
Can anyone beat the Dodgers?
We'll see. I don't think so.
But tune in next time and you shall find out.
Tune in next time, everybody.
Thanks for tuning in.
Love you guys, welcome back to the show.