What MLB teams should be thankful for + Evan Grant builds Rangers offseason plans

00:00:01
Speaker 1: Charge about.

00:00:04
Speaker 2: All right, So here's the plan.

00:00:06
Speaker 3: CBS put out an article titled what all thirty MLB teams should be thankful for. We don't have time to run through all thirty of them, and some of them I think are more notable than others. So we will pick out a few of our favorites and KP, you can take the rock first and pick out some favorites from that list.

00:00:25
Speaker 4: What do you like?

00:00:26
Speaker 5: Okay?

00:00:27
Speaker 4: Yeah, I wrote two down here, and I kind of wanted to give at least one team that we don't spend a lot of time talking about team that I played for, kind of near and dear to my heart. I'm going to go with the Angels and Joe Odell's kind of breakout season in terms of power, he did hit thirty seven homers. The on base percentage, which I know a thing or two about having a low one was still two ninety three. But when I was with him in twenty three, he talked about his potential of being this thirty forty homer home run type of guy. And at that time, I think his career high was maybe even under twenty at the time, and you know, as a guy who's been in the game. I'm like, it's kind of disrespectful for you to talk about you being this elite power hitter when you haven't shown it yet. And trust me, this guy puts on one of the best BPS I've ever seen. But I know how important BP is in terms of actually showing power in the game. So good for Joe for believing in himself and actually going out and you know, putting his money where his mouth is and hitting thirty seven homers. Now that he's proven he has, you know, thirty five forty homer potential, I think he has to spend a little bit more time being a little bit more selective at the plate in order to really take that next step, and he did a decent job of, you know, switching from right field to centerfield. I think he's part of kind of that young core of the future of the Angels, and he's still young. He's been in the league for you know, four years now, and he's still I think twenty five years old, So he's.

00:01:52
Speaker 5: Part of the future there.

00:01:53
Speaker 4: And then the second one that stood out to me, which I thought was kind of a funny headline was the Baltimore Orioles and it just said season's over. We're thankful that it's over, and I think that team's just got too much talent to be bottom of the barrel of the AL East. I know it's a very competitive division, but they got so much young talent. They got a new manager there that's coming in hopefully he can kind of turn that ship around. And I love the new ownership group there. I feel as like they have this kind of passion like a Steve Cohen has, that this isn't about making money for them. This is about putting a winner on the field, and I think they're going to go out and spend some money to add to this already exciting young corps of guys. But I thought it was a kind of a clever sort of what they're thankful for just that the season was over.

00:02:39
Speaker 2: That was one of the more crafty answers, and it was on point.

00:02:42
Speaker 5: You're right.

00:02:42
Speaker 3: Yeah, there's some core players there to be excited about, and there's a pitching staff that needs a lot of work and there's a lot of time this offseason to get that done. I like those two Krafts, you have two three whatever, I've got like ten bolded. So whatever you don't pick, I'll probably rapid fire through the rest of them.

00:03:00
Speaker 6: My two are what they said about the Brewers. Bryce Terran kind of it's not even a coming out year because he's a Platinum Glove winner all that stuff, but it was more of like a coming out month when he hit I think it was like fourteen home runs in August. Like, this is a guy when you look at him, you're like, I'm.

00:03:18
Speaker 1: Not sure he plays on the team.

00:03:20
Speaker 6: Like he's a skinny, wiry type of player that has kind of emerged from the first rounder that he that he was back in twenty seventeen or eighteen. But he kind of encapsulates what the Brewers are. It's a bunch of dudes that do what they do successfully for one hundred and sixty two games.

00:03:43
Speaker 1: So I love that headline.

00:03:45
Speaker 6: And I think Thanksgiving is always a time when, hopefully, when I sit around the table with my family, my dad is always like, hey, you know, i'd like before we eat, everybody say what they're really thankful for. And sometimes it's things that are brought up that, yeah, are like monumental for this year or whatever, or things that we've kind of missed other years, but we take it for granted. And then at Thanksgiving, you're thankful for it. That's why I picked the New York Yankees. They have the best hitter on the planet. Shohiotani is still the best player. Juan Soto is still awesome. Aaron Judge is the best hitter on the planet, and I think he is forgotten. So at Thanksgiving, why not give a little bit more thanks for the things that maybe you don't really you're not really that thankful for throughout the year, as much as you should be thankful, you take it for granted. And you can't take Aaron Judge for granted.

00:04:38
Speaker 2: Good call.

00:04:39
Speaker 3: Yeah, stuff that eventually gets into expectation status, but you still need to make sure you're grateful for it because eventually it won't be there anymore.

00:04:48
Speaker 2: Every career comes to an end. I'll add a few more some quick hitters.

00:04:52
Speaker 3: I mean, I think we have to mention the Dodgers back to back titles. You don't see that very often folks. Quarter century. So I think Dodger fans are pretty appreciative of what they've gotten here the last couple of years. I think many of them didn't expect to win the World Series last year, especially one loss away from elimination against the Padres, and then this year there were plenty of moments where they probably thought, I don't know, it was not a cake walk in the World Series for them, and they pulled it off. Next one here on my list, KP, I think you'd like this one. A thirty homer season from a San Francisco Giant player, Williadamis pulled it off, and he's a guy they spent a lot of money on the reason why it stands out is he was the first one to pull it off. It's twenty twenty five right now, since two thousand and four Barry Bonds. That's crazy how long they went without a thirty homer season, not a forty, not a fifty, a thirty homer season, and Adamas was catching a lot of crap in the beginning of the season because he had a slow start. He ended up having a pretty nice year for them.

00:05:49
Speaker 5: Yeah. I looked at that one too.

00:05:51
Speaker 4: I was going to touch that one too, obviously a place I played too, and I think when I got traded over there there there was also even a small gap from maybe the last time that Barry had played to even a twenty home run hitter that played the outfield, and I was the first guy to do that, and hitting twenty home runs is not like a great feed. It was a great feat for me, but the fact that no one had hit thirty home runs, and I know it's not the best ballpark to hit in, but I think it's just it's good that someone was able to do it, because it's been a long time since Barry did it. But I think it's also good that Willia Domas was the guy to do it because they went out and spent a lot of money on him. Some people would say maybe they overspent on him, but you know, he got up to a slow start, but he is such a lovable guy. He's a leader, he's a great shortstop. And for the fact for him to be the first guy in you know, over twenty years to go out and hit thirty home runs, money well spent by the San Francisco Giants, and hopefully that kind of leads to some more spending.

00:06:48
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00:07:59
Speaker 2: Two crats.

00:08:00
Speaker 3: I mean, we're probably never going to see something like that again from a home run perspective. Chances, Let's say say in the next twenty years that a catcher hits sixty or more homers, not high.

00:08:12
Speaker 1: I'll take the under.

00:08:14
Speaker 6: I mean, if it's if it's said at zero point five times it happens, I'll take the under. It is so crazy what he did, not saying he should be the MVP, but just saying what he did.

00:08:25
Speaker 1: And then he never faded.

00:08:28
Speaker 6: Yes, his batting average faded a little bit, but his home runs I think he had five total in the postseason, and he brought his team pretty much as close as you can get to going all the way. So I think it's something that I'm glad I got to watch it. I'm glad we got to chronicle it this year on this show. And man, like, you don't know what he's gonna do next year, But if he hits forty eight homers, are people gonna be like, oh, he's regressing. It's like that's a good regression year. If he hits forty eight pumps.

00:08:59
Speaker 5: Yeah, it reminds me. It reminds me of the record with Yeah traveled with.

00:09:07
Speaker 4: I was with Matt Olson when he hit the fifty four homers, the old time record for the Atlanta Braves, and it was just it seemed like it was so easy.

00:09:14
Speaker 5: For him to do.

00:09:15
Speaker 4: And then the following year, I think he he he came back and hit like forty homers and it's like, no, it's this crazy regression. It's like no, just what he did was so special in that year, And it's going to be so tough because, to your point, Kratz, everyone he's gonna he's proven that he has legitimate power, that he's an MVP type of player, But the realistic chances of him even hitting fifty homers to follow up the year he had next year is going to be so rare, so slim that he does that, that whatever he does is going to seem like he took a major step back. But really it's just going to show how historic of a year that he really did.

00:09:50
Speaker 7: Have.

00:09:51
Speaker 2: Three more.

00:09:52
Speaker 3: I'll let you comment on the last one here. Geraldo Perdomo's breakout a seven wins season wins above replacement wise finished in fourth place.

00:10:01
Speaker 2: In n L MVP.

00:10:01
Speaker 3: I don't think anybody had him as a top five finisher in MVP that was a breakout year. He adds to the core of Corbyn, Carrol and ca Tell Marte if he sticks around Cleveland with the greatest comeback ever to win a division from down fifteen and a half games and also erasing an eleven game deficit in September. And lastly, I'll let you guys comment with a trivia answer if you have it. Trek Scouble winning back to back cy Young Awards were going over reasons to be thankful for teams who are the only two pitchers to win three straight cy Young Awards.

00:10:35
Speaker 4: Randy Johnson, Yes, I'd say Roger Clemons Maddox would have been my have my.

00:10:45
Speaker 3: Maddocks Maddox is the other one, guys, not Clemens. Three in a row at least I gotta look at when, but not three in a row. I mean maybe two in a row, but not three in a row. According to this article, So Trek Scooble has a chance to do it in what would be his free agent season. Actually, one more bonus went on the way out Blue Jays for signing Ladie Junior to five hundred MILKP. Otherwise we would be talking about him all off season long coming off a ridiculous postseason performance. If anything changed and he ended up playing in the postseason like he did, we would be like, oh wow, this is going to bring a lot of heat on the Jas to try and keep him.

00:11:21
Speaker 2: And instead they got it done in spring training.

00:11:23
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, hopefully that's a kind of you know, playbook for maybe like the Detroit Tigers to not let Trek spuebl walk. You know, maybe you have to quote unquote overpay a little bit to keep your guy there. But like you said, I mean, if if the Blue Jays did not sign him the type of season he had and more importantly, the type of postseason he had, putting that team on his back, you know, arguably being the best player on the field every time he stepped on the field, he would be all we would be talking about in free agency right now. So good for the Blue Jays to you know, quote unquote overspend a little bit to keep their guy there. Hopefully some other teams kind of, you know, kind of follow that kind of playbook the Blue Jays put up there.

00:12:00
Speaker 2: Off season to do list for the Rangers.

00:12:02
Speaker 3: Who but Evan Grant, Dallas Morning News Rangers Feed writer, He's going to lay it out, Evan, good to see you as always, and we'll do what we do on these First just give us all three the top three on the offseason to do list in your mind for Texas and then we'll dig into that.

00:12:20
Speaker 7: Well. I think they've checked off one item already and that was the trim the payroll. They were not going to go to the CBT threshold for twenty twenty six and they want to be significantly below it, and I think with the actions that they've taken in the last ten days they've accomplished that. Now, the money that they've saved with the demo for Simion deal with non tendering Adulas Garcia and non tendering Jonahian, that's got to go to rebuild a bullpen that really overachieved last year. It was a bullpen built on the cheap, and it overachieved. The Rangers may have some guys come, I don't think they're going to be ready for the start of the year, but they've got to go out and get all the pieces in the bullpen all over again. I think the only guys who are returning are Jake Latz, who very well could be in the starting rotation, Robert Garcia, who ended up pitching some high leverage innings last year. Cole Winn kind of established himself as a big league reliever, but there's a lot still to do in the bullpen. And then the last thing for me is they've got to get a catcher without hanback there Kyle Hagashioka. I don't expect Kyle to start eighty plus games, so I think they've got to go out and get somebody who is capable of sharing the load with him. It's not a straight backup. I'm thinking somewhere along the lines of like a Victor Karratini. But even a Victor Karattini is going to cost six or seven million dollars this year, and that would cut into, you know, what they've got to do in the bullpen. So they've got their work cut out for him. It's a thin market at catcher. I don't think they're players andreal Muto because of the price, and I ultimately expect him go to Philadelphia or since Boston has reached out, but they do need to go and get somebody who can catch some innings ahead of Kyle. And Higgey really produced for the Rangers last year, but he had a number of, you know, small nagging injuries that kind of limited his ability to play, and the Rangers have to be mindful of that.

00:14:27
Speaker 5: Hey have them. Good to see you again. I'm going to touch on the how we're doing. We're good, We're good. Good to see you.

00:14:34
Speaker 4: I want to touch on the bullpen again since I was there and I kind of know the bullpen kind of through and.

00:14:40
Speaker 5: Through last year.

00:14:41
Speaker 4: They used Luke Jackson, Chris Martin, Robert Garcia, Seawan Armstrong at times to close games. Do you see them kind of dipping in the waters of potential a high end closer? And of those guys that I mentioned, the Shawn Armstrongs, the Hoby Milleners, which guy do you see they feel is the most important to bring back?

00:15:02
Speaker 7: Well, you know, they feel like lefty lefty pitchers are more successful in a globalife field, and obviously Milner with a local connection is somebody I think that they'd like to have back. I thought Sean Armstrong was just absolutely outstanding. He dominated right handed hitters last year, I think, and you can speak to this better than I can, but I do think he was the glue that kind of helped that bullpen bond. And I think they're gonna need somebody like that, a veteran that you know, can bring a group that's reformed on the fly together. I'd like to see them go out and get an established closer. You know, since Joe Nathan was here in twenty twelve, in twenty thirteen, Rangers have not had an established closer. It's pretty much been a rotation of guys who have just come and gone and coming gone without any real stability at the back end of the bullpen. But you know, even a guy like say a Devin Williams of he's gonna be and I make good kind of contract after some after some downtimes last year, what's that going to cost ten million bucks or more? So? I don't see them playing in the closer market. And I think their general philosophy dating back to John Daniels, is that closer money is, especially on a multi year deal, is bad money.

00:16:21
Speaker 5: And I know, I know Bochie's not there anymore.

00:16:23
Speaker 4: Of a Bochie's kind of superpower was kind of figuring out bullpen matchups, you know, riding the hot hand. What do you see the difference in a guy like Skip Schumacher. Is he more of a Roles type of guy. Where is he kind of a you know who's hot, we're going to use closure by committee or is he more of like a traditional like I like to have my lefty specialists, my closer, my setup guy. If everything worked out in a perfect world, I.

00:16:48
Speaker 7: Think that's going to kind of depend on the personnel that you get, you know. I think that the Rangers are going to go into camp and there's gonna be a lot of competition for roles in all likelihood, uh, and they will let that kind of as it goes. I think Skip is very amenable to him being malleable to what the pitchers have for him, rather than designating rules or dictating that it's going to be a roleless bullpen. I think he's going to let it play out a little bit see where it goes. That is, we know what Boach did with bullpens in multiple spots, you know, and he came with that reputation. Skip's only had two years, one with a competitive team and one with a team that was being turned over completely. And so I don't know that there's a whole lot of trends on who Skip Schumacher is as a bullpen manager at this point.

00:17:44
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00:18:05
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00:18:19
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00:18:45
Speaker 6: All right now, all you talked about is money, money, money, money, Okay, so we got to get some more money off of that. He trend a little bit of payroll but you don't have enough to spend Evan so.

00:18:55
Speaker 7: I know where I know where this is going.

00:18:59
Speaker 1: Where is it going?

00:19:00
Speaker 5: Well, I mean, what's or where is he going?

00:19:03
Speaker 1: Don't don't lead the witness. It was your words that were misconstrued. I do think.

00:19:13
Speaker 7: Look, I do think the Rangers have to at least be open to the idea of if they've got to trim more more payroll and they want to add quality players. And this was all before the Nemo Semion deal, but you've got to at least be open if somebody approaches you about Corey Seeger or Jacob de Gram, you've got to listen. Now, de Graham has a complete no trade clause. I think it's going to be hard to trade him. Seeger has limited no trade protection and after next year he would have full no trade as a five to ten guy. But I don't think the Rangers are motivated to trade either guy. And I think, quite frankly, as far as twenty twenty six goes and the needs that they needed to meet, that Nemo for Simion deal on the short term really is going to pay dividends because it saves you a eleven million dollars. And I thought the most they'd be able to save on Simeon was about five or six million, and if they did that, they weren't going to get a real quality player in return. They've gotten a guy who slides right into the outfield mix, and that's where they needed to really backfill. So I think that it changes the dynamic a little bit, and I don't think that the Rangers are going to be motivated necessarily to move Corey Seger. I think the challenge right now is going to be for Chris Young to say to Ray Davis, hey, look, if you want us to get to two hundred, we can do that. I don't know if we can completely contend. If you give me another ten million dollars and we get to two ten and we're it's still a full ten percent fifteen percent cut from what the payroll was in twenty twenty five. I think the Rangers have some ability to add a couple more pieces that they really need in the bullpen.

00:20:53
Speaker 6: But doesn't this question about Corey Seger getting moved kind of be because or has to be brought up because of the fact that they went on a hot.

00:21:05
Speaker 1: Stretch when he was out.

00:21:08
Speaker 6: When he came back and wasn't necessarily playing his best because his value will be never greater than it is today because of the fact that he comes off another injury, a few injuries during the season. But I think he had like above a six war. He's still thirty thirty one years old today. I thought he was thirty two. He'd be thirty two during the season. Like, you're still looking at a elite level shortstop with teams that could use a player like that that will impact their team for three years, and they still won without it.

00:21:42
Speaker 1: Is it? Are we?

00:21:43
Speaker 6: Are we ignorant to say that the Rangers shouldn't be listening to this.

00:21:49
Speaker 7: No, I mean I think that they should listen if there's if there's conversation. I don't know that they are motivated to move him. I do think that there are teams that are going to be interested and will approach the Rangers, and then that's when it gets interesting. But to your point, I say, I think that was a very short sample size that we were looking at in September of this year when you had that full influx of young kids and it kind of energized everybody. You look at the numbers when Seger starts for the Rangers versus when he doesn't over the four years that he's been here, and it is there is a significant difference. He makes a huge difference on the plus side offensively. So I don't think the Rangers would look at that and see what happened in September and say, hey, we can win without Corey Seeger. They know that Corey Seger is the anchor to their offense.

00:22:38
Speaker 4: Yeah, I want to go back to the Marcus Simeon trade. Do you believe this was strictly money motivated? Do you think this has anything to do with their internal belief in finding a place for Josh Smith to play? And lastly, is it just you know, kind of breaking up the band a little bit? You know, they had this World Series championship a couple of years ago, they haven't had a lot of success, and they felt like they needed to just kind of break it up a little bit.

00:23:05
Speaker 7: I think I think it's all part of it.

00:23:07
Speaker 5: Kevin.

00:23:08
Speaker 7: I think you know, and you saw this when you were here that twenty twenty three team. So many players have now moved on from it, and that's a long time ago in baseball years, and the idea that hey, maybe this was kind of a one off thing. There's more, there's more substance there. Right, The Rangers had four losing seasons before twenty three. They've had two non winning seasons since twenty three, and so they may need to change some of the personnel add to that. Look at the three big moves the Rangers have made in terms of moving on from players in the past year in the past two weeks who were all part of that twenty twenty three season. Marcus Simeon, Adolas Garcia, Jonahan all had consecutive seasons with down trending ops's all below seven hundred. You know, one year is a slump. Two years is a trend, especially with players getting into their thirties, and I think the Rangers were very cognizant of that. And to your point about Josh Smith, Look, I'm not sure if Josh Smith is an everyday player or if he's a just a great super utility player. I think there's still some questions about he's got to figure out a way to hold up a little bit better in the second half because the second half falloffs have been really, really significant. But he's a good fielding second baseman. He can play the position. He's shown the Rangers the ability, at least for the first half of the season, to be a very productive everyday player, and so I think the Rangers are open to the idea that Josh Smith would get the first shot to kind of lock that spot down. I think it also presents the opportunity for Ezekiel Durant, who we all have looked at and said, this guy's a really talented athlete, why is he not producing. I think it gives the opportunity for Duran to have a more defined role as kind of the right handed side of a platoon with Josh Smith, which still gets Josh about one hundred and twenty starts and I think at maximum that's probably his best and it gives Duran the opportunity to occasionally play some shortstop for Seeger when he goes to a DH role. So I think that's how the Rangers are looking at things. They also feel like Cody Freeman really energized that clubhouse at the end of the last season, and so he could be in the mix as probably a part time player, but I think he figures in they're gonna bring Michael Hellman back, who really had a nice breakout year for them, but yeah, there's gonna be competition going in, but Josh Smith has to be and deserves to be at the top of that list. I don't see them feeling it from the externally. I don't see them going out and signing a free agent like Lewis Rise. And it gets back to Cratsy's point, it's all about the money, money, all right.

00:26:01
Speaker 5: Real quick.

00:26:02
Speaker 4: Of those three guys you mentioned, Jonahi A Medulas, Garcia, Marcus Simeon, who you beting on to have a bounce back year.

00:26:10
Speaker 7: I guess my bet would be a Dolies. I think if he's in the right, I think this gives him a fresh start. And I think there were times last year and really in twenty four where he carried the weight of being the World Series and the ALCS, you know, MVP and Superstar of two series. Obviously, so you ended up with the trophy at the World Series, but he was great in both those series. I think he carried the burden of that pretty heavily. I think that he's still very athletic. He played a great right field this year. He was a Gold glob finalist. I think that he's got the best ability to bounce back. I look at Marcus, and I see a thirty five year old who's going to turn thirty six in September, and the his street for second baseman. And I've had this conversation with Ian Kinsler, I had it with Brett Boone, the history for second basement. When they hit about that age thirty five season, it really starts to become a struggle, and so the trend is not going in Marcus's favor. And Jonah, I don't know what to make of Jonah. You know, he was an All Star in twenty three, but the last two years he's just been He's not been a good player and most disturbing over the last season. And I think even you were aware of this in the time you were here. It just looked like he wasn't enjoying playing baseball very much. And so I don't he could have a real fork in the road moment here, and he could as a switch hitting catcher with some power who's a great framer, he could really bounce back too, But I have some doubts about how much he enjoys playing a game at this point.

00:27:51
Speaker 3: Evan, we always appreciate it really good insight. We went right to the brim here with the time that we had. That's the Rangers offseason to do list. We'll see what they do. Have a great Thanksgiving.

00:28:01
Speaker 7: My friend Kevin, when can I come out to the lawns anytime?

00:28:06
Speaker 5: You got my number?

00:28:07
Speaker 7: Call me all right, ma'am.