Kyle Tucker market update, Rockies sign Michael Lorenzen, Arb settlement day, Angels GM quotes miss

00:00:02
Speaker 1: The Mortar's abiz before we get to the Met's interest in Kyle Tucker among many other teams. What's up Todd Father Thursday? Tod Father Thursday. We'll have Tod Father on Friday, Friday. Apparently I said something wrong already. It's been ten seconds.

00:00:18
Speaker 2: That was the fire shark.

00:00:20
Speaker 1: Damn, I did speed today. Guilty.

00:00:22
Speaker 2: You look amazing. Here we go again.

00:00:26
Speaker 3: Your cortisol levels, you're you just look you're beaming. Your skin looks so much better.

00:00:32
Speaker 1: This guy went well eighty one hours.

00:00:36
Speaker 2: You went eighty one.

00:00:40
Speaker 1: You do look good.

00:00:41
Speaker 2: Look I feel good. I feel great. In a week.

00:00:45
Speaker 4: Yeah, I haven't eaten any grease. Now you don't know your numbers. Three and a half days. I haven't eaten any grease, nothing, No sugar is nothing. I'm feeling good.

00:00:52
Speaker 1: The hardest part, right is slimming.

00:00:54
Speaker 2: You look great? Yeah, thank you appreciate it.

00:00:57
Speaker 1: What was the hardest part, krat said, eating.

00:01:00
Speaker 2: From from like two to four pm, two to five.

00:01:02
Speaker 4: They're like you get that crave of like just go on the fridge and just go crush something and you just chug some more water.

00:01:10
Speaker 2: That's all.

00:01:10
Speaker 1: That's incredible. I don't have that kind of discipline, but I respect the hell.

00:01:14
Speaker 4: Eighty one hour so I and I believe in myself I could have done more, but.

00:01:21
Speaker 2: I was like, all right, let me just try.

00:01:22
Speaker 4: And I had two eggs and an avocado my first meal, and I'm like, all I kind of miss it a little bit so and then I slowly little ground beef, a couple more eggs, you know, and I slowly and surely and now I got my wife's cousin, who's a chef's cooking me up meals each week, so it's good.

00:01:39
Speaker 2: I like it.

00:01:40
Speaker 1: Hey, maybe you'll be on survivor that what it takes.

00:01:43
Speaker 2: Listen, you don't want me on survive.

00:01:45
Speaker 4: I don't eating, okay, but trying to survive out there wouldn't be able to sleep.

00:01:53
Speaker 2: All right.

00:01:53
Speaker 1: A couple of things, So, first off, Happy Arbitration Exchange Day to those who celebrate. Like I mentioned, unfair territory. I was on fair with Ken. It's great. So if you want to check that out later, maybe we'll get some money news that pops up. I don't really care about the ARB number, but if there's anything like an extension during the next couple hours, we'll let you know. Number two over the next couple hours, if you can head over to that Hall of Pretty Good Instagram page and vote for our boy, Kevin Palar. He is currently in the running for the Hall of Pretty Good. He's gonna make it, but there's an elite tier if you get I think ninety percent or higher on the vote. So we even put the QR code up on the screen. I know many of you catch this show later on or if you're listening podcast form later on, the voting will probably be done by then. But if you're in the chat right now, the many hundreds of you, and you want to do this while you're listening, that would be great.

00:02:50
Speaker 2: It's real.

00:02:51
Speaker 1: I mean, what do you define as real? Like keeps asking, He's like, we had.

00:02:56
Speaker 4: This conversation, I said, Cooper, I thought somebody was like a made up thing.

00:03:00
Speaker 1: It isn't made up.

00:03:01
Speaker 4: Oh like it doesn't go through MLB or anything. No, not through forget about it.

00:03:05
Speaker 1: But wait, but I don't care. Why did they get to decide?

00:03:09
Speaker 4: I get it, But does he get an award? Does he get anything like a plaque? I wouldn't want to post that on my wall. Hall Pretty Good?

00:03:15
Speaker 1: I guess you know, like, yeah, Todd father's posting fines, he's posting offers from Yukon. Yeah, man, he's posting this bad boy.

00:03:25
Speaker 2: Yeah, but no, I I guess, I guess it's pretty cool. I mean, you guy's got a good following.

00:03:31
Speaker 1: He does, He does actually have a good following. You know what it is? And krats you tell me if I'm wrong. There are many players that fans feel like they'd like to further acknowledge, and the Hall of Fame is such a small amount, right, it got really small for a time period. It's opening up a drop, but still, I mean it's such a small sliver of players that I think fans just enjoy seeing the name pop up again and being like tip of the cap, this guy was hit.

00:03:58
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think it gets some under rated people. It's a little bit more love that they that they should have gotten. It's also very much your generation, Scott, like, everybody gets a trophy. So let's let's give Todd what do you want? Do you want something?

00:04:11
Speaker 2: To wait? What?

00:04:13
Speaker 1: We're the same generation. I just said to Todd before the show started. They don't make them like they used to. I am definitely not in the everyone gets a metal generation. No, No, I'm.

00:04:25
Speaker 3: With that with that pullover, you got it going on the podcast people, you need to check out the show. Scott has got his Christmas, his Christmas Carnigiate on that is you are you're old school with that.

00:04:38
Speaker 1: I spend a lot of time in Florida. When I don't, I try and take advantage.

00:04:42
Speaker 2: We need that in foul territory gear. So we can all rock right here.

00:04:48
Speaker 1: Anyway. My motto, if you're not first, your last, So there you go. Also, if you're not invited, you're not going to Cincinnati, and that's crap. But I will do this before we get to news because Todd father sitting next to me, Todd myself, the so friendly, so kind to Danny Graves, who is a blast to hang out with as well. Uh, he will give the shirt off his back to you. You've been around Danny many times. He's such an easy going dude.

00:05:19
Speaker 2: Yeah.

00:05:19
Speaker 1: So we'll be hanging. We'll play a little poker.

00:05:21
Speaker 2: I heard he's a good poker player too.

00:05:23
Speaker 1: I did too. I heard you're good too, specifically in Cincinnati. I heard you're good like you have this home there.

00:05:28
Speaker 4: All of a sudden, when I just get to hit the air there and I get a Jeff Ruby steak the night before and I'm my.

00:05:35
Speaker 2: Here we go.

00:05:37
Speaker 1: Locked because you've hit singers there. You know that air.

00:05:41
Speaker 4: Exactly, and I know exactly where we're playing. The room is huge. There'll be some root beers flowing and some good food. And uh, I'm not doing a diet cratty. I'm just eating healthier, That's all I'm doing. Again, people are like, oh man, what do you do this for a dime?

00:05:59
Speaker 2: Bro? You gotta read into It's on the cellular level. Okay, listen, is.

00:06:03
Speaker 3: It in your new lifestyle change to have some ruby steaks and root beers.

00:06:08
Speaker 2: Steak is good, Steak is good protein. We need that.

00:06:13
Speaker 3: You're a cellular level. I'll call you the cellular phone.

00:06:17
Speaker 1: The dude's allowed to have a cocktail on a Saturday night, okay, but on the Sunday. So it's not this weekend. It's the weekend after just for anyone that's in the Cincinnati area. It is coming quick. So it is the weekend of the seventeenth, seventeenth the poker tournament in Cincinnati. And then on Sunday we'll do a Q and A so look up, we'll post about it. Let's post about it today for more details, to check out what's going on there and how you can get involved. And now let's charge chu. Will Salmon covers the Mets for the Athletic among other teams, but he focuses on the Mets during the season, and he put out a story about the Mets interest in Kyle Tucker. So he said, what to make of the Mets interest in Kyle Tucker And he wrote about how the Mets would be mostly interested in one of those high average annual value, shorter term contracts. He also mentioned how Jim Duquette, who's pretty tied in with the team, he used to work for them and he's been on this show and he works for Series XM among other spots. Sm Y Duke said the three most aggressive teams for Tucker are the Blue Jays, the Mets, and the Dodgers. Samon also wrote about how Mets officials actually feel that their roster is really strong right now that their defense is better. Fan grafts war has them sixth best in baseball. It looks like they're pegged for on the win total. I think vetam Jam has them at eighty six and a half for the over under. That's usually a playoff spot right, But as far as Tucker goes, does he want the bright lights? Is he really going to take a shorter term deal? For example, if the Mets are offering him three years, one thirty, it's a big number. But what if the Blue Jays are offering him eight years three hundred?

00:08:09
Speaker 2: Yeah, what are you doing? Yeah?

00:08:12
Speaker 4: I don't knowing him and waiting for this moment, I don't think that he's gonna want anything smaller than what he deserves. And if I'm him and I'm not, though, But if I'm him, I want the most money and I want the most years so I can go after I'm done playing, I don't have to worry about free agency anymore. I can just ride my wave all the way to my house and retire. The guy's a good enough player, he could play anywhere. He would be such a good fit for the Mets. I think it's a great opportunity for them to figure something out to get them. They're always trying to finagle something into what isn't supposed to be there.

00:08:46
Speaker 2: Just make an offer for the guy.

00:08:49
Speaker 4: If he want a short term that kind of deal, it's probably not going to work out unless there's some kind of favoritism towards Tucker that he you know, he can't refuse what that is, I don't know.

00:09:00
Speaker 2: The Blue Jays get them, then we have some more questions to be asked. You know, how about Bobashet and these other guys that are part of the organization, the Dodgers. We don't know what they're gonna do. And that's the team right now. For me. That is like they're willing to do any and everything to win World Series.

00:09:15
Speaker 4: They won back to back in this team, I wouldn't doubt if they got it. If somebody came to an offer and Tucker's agent came back to the Dodger and said, listen, they're doing this. We'll do it for another year. We'll give them thirty more million. Boom, He's going to do it. So that's the wildcard team. I would be be scared of Cratzy.

00:09:34
Speaker 2: For sure.

00:09:35
Speaker 3: I mean, I think we can debate where he's the best fit and who's going to actually sign them, But just for the sake of the just for the sake of the topic, Like let's say the Mets are saying, okay, we want a shorter term deal. Obviously you're talking about opt outs after every year after the first two years. To me, what does that salary look like if they feel like that's a legitimate thing, because teams can come in and do this. You've seen Stern Stern's did it with the Brewers. He signed, YESMANI grandal. He''s not afraid to go out and say, okay, you want a one year deal. This isn't going to be a one year deal thing. This is going to be more of like the Cody Bellinger when he went to the Cubs on kind of like a prove it deal. I don't think Kyle Tucker needs to prove it. So all that aside, what does it look like? What is that number? Because I'm looking at the highest the highest annual salary for players for this current coming up year. How much is it going to take? Is he going to make? Will they offer him three years, one hundred and twenty million? Are they going to offer him which would which would give him exactly what Judge is getting. I don't want I don't think Major League Baseball wants anybody, any team to do that because yes, it's a one year deal essentially, but you're you're raising the average annual value up, and it's giving less less ownership to the Mets, Like, hey, you know what if he gets hurt, you know, we're only stuck three years. Like what's what do you guys think that number is? Because if that number isn't more than forty, you know you're talking then Vladdie and then Zach Wheeler's making forty two and then obviously he's not getting Soto money. But is he going to get more than forty a year on a short term Mets deal?

00:11:21
Speaker 1: Yes, I think he could. I think the Mets would do three years one to twenty right now, Remember some fans are going to go, hey, last year Alex Bregman got what was his final number? I think deferrals made his number three years ninety on net present value, So that was thirty, right, because I think it was three years? Was it three years one twenty for Bregman?

00:11:44
Speaker 2: If it was.

00:11:45
Speaker 3: If it was, the first year wasn't as backloaded as the other years the other years were. He wasn't getting as much.

00:11:51
Speaker 1: Upfront and it didn't matter, right because it ended up turning into a one year deal. But it does matter because that's how you look at the back end security. If the player gets turd or something like that. Point is, do I think that in today money a team would offer Kyle Tucker forty million dollars or even more. I think a team would offer him forty five on a three year contract. I do, But the question is do you want that or do you want like thirty five over eight years from the Blue Jays. To me, it's seeming pretty clear that the Blue Jays have a legitimate offer on the table for him for a lengthy amount of years, and he has to decide if he wants to take that, and they probably have the winning bid by a good margin. The Blue Jays have been aggressive as hell, right they did this with Dylan Cease. They were like, boom, we're throwing this at you. We know it's the biggest and the best. You want to ball with the big boys that almost want a World Series or not.

00:12:40
Speaker 4: And they probably said, listen, I'm giving you this. You gotta let us know by the end of the day. I've been in those part of situations. You got twenty four hours or you know, this is the offer we're given. You got to get back to us within the next couple hours here because we got to make our decisions so that's the unknown, and that's what you know. That's what you got to understand. That's why being an agent's tough. That's why business is tough. This is a business that they're all going through. And if I'm Tucker, I'm like, I want I want this to be done sooner than later. So hopefully we get some answers as we move by something. Hey, look at the Dodgers off for this, or the Mets offered this, so we know, you know what is really going on behind the scenes.

00:13:16
Speaker 1: I would be shocked at the Mets land Kyle Tucker number one, if shocked, shocked if they're offering, if it's a low year, high average annual value offer, as Ken Rosenthal said earlier on Fair Territory, there are four or five other teams are going to do the same thing. Why is he choosing the Mets? And I've actually covered Kyle Tucker a ton and I would say this if we had him on the show You Want to Play in New York. He is like such a low key viewed what is the term that you use crats ad? A lot of the youngsters act where it's not not He is the definition of nonchalant You're like, are you there, bro, are you pumped? And it's like, nah, because I'm so talented. Right, He's got the low heartbeat thing going and it works for him. It's turned him into a super start performer on the field. When I think Kyle Tucker, I think New York is one of the last places where he would want to be NonStop media, tons of heat.

00:14:09
Speaker 2: Right.

00:14:10
Speaker 1: I grew up in the area. So you're you're a Jersey guy, Kyle Tucker, if given the choice, is going to select a different destination.

00:14:19
Speaker 4: And you got and you got to know how to work those people, the media, the atmosphere, going home, having people screaming at you through the cars, and next thing you know, you're going about at and I You're like, oh my god, go ahead, kratthy no.

00:14:33
Speaker 5: No, no.

00:14:33
Speaker 3: I was just gonna say, you grew you grew up in the area. You didn't grow up in New York, but you grew up in Jersey. You know, Yankees all that stuff. And I know I've heard you say it like, dude, I had a problem with this dude, what was his problem?

00:14:45
Speaker 5: Like that?

00:14:46
Speaker 3: And you're you're you're outward. You you express how you feel. Some guys who are more you know, had that inward. They're they're more intrinsic, like they're not they're just they're not out there as much as you are Todd, Like they have the same feelings. Just because Todd shows his expression, shows how he feels about a certain writer writing a certain article. The dudes who are quiet aren't just like whatever, Like it's still eating them up inside.

00:15:16
Speaker 2: Yeah, And so you didn't grow up in the If.

00:15:18
Speaker 3: You grew up in the area, and you have a tough time sometimes with it, not that it affected you, but like how tough is it when you come in from another place, It's pretty tough. It's tougher than people think.

00:15:31
Speaker 2: You think you had it one way.

00:15:32
Speaker 4: It's like, oh man, you know this was hard, and then you come into New York. It's a different beast. And we all know that and understand that. And like where you see a guy like me that would call a guy out on something or would say the other question is that, man, I'm not answering that. When you got a new guy that comes in, it's like trying to beat around what the guy was asking. Then all of a sudden they put an article up that you know, look at this facial expression.

00:15:57
Speaker 2: Look at this.

00:15:58
Speaker 4: He must be doing it, and all of a sudden you get labeled as somebody that you're really not. So yeah, it's harder. I think Kyle Tucker could. I think he can handle it. But at the same time, there's been a lot of guys who have.

00:16:10
Speaker 1: He can handle it. The question is, if given similar offers, why is he going to pick a place that's not really up.

00:16:18
Speaker 2: He would have to think that they're in a seat to make.

00:16:20
Speaker 1: The playoffs, right, But it's like if the Dodgers and Mets have similar offers.

00:16:24
Speaker 4: I mean, well, then money comes into place, and then do you want to win a World Series or not?

00:16:29
Speaker 1: Pretty much it comes. We got a better chance with La of course. One last thing here a question from Noah the Chat. If he can play for the Cubs, why couldn't he handle the Mets media market? Number One, he played for the Cubs for one season. Number two, Chicago and New York different different, not that there, it's just like a soft market in Chicago.

00:16:47
Speaker 2: It's much softer in Chicago. It is.

00:16:49
Speaker 4: It is, and I don't mean that. I know I was with the White Sox, but still it's a softer market. You got your guys and you sit there and you and I used to tell the guys over in Chicago you can talk. You can ask all of them.

00:17:02
Speaker 2: Two of them.

00:17:02
Speaker 4: I said, you guys couldn't handle New York and I used to bust their chops all the time. I remember like it was yesterday, and Noah, I respectfully, it's two totally different markets. And these guys will chew you up and spit you out if you if they if you let them, that's all boom.

00:17:19
Speaker 1: There you have it. And if you want more toughness on the Mets, Mets Up the show, the podcast, go check it out wherever you listen to your pods or on the Mets Up YouTube channel. They'll address this interest for the Mets and the other part of the article, which is are the Mets really good enough? Because team officials think they are, most people think they are not yet a playoff contender.

00:17:39
Speaker 2: Show me the money.

00:17:49
Speaker 1: Every time we play that, I think of how it relates to what we're about to say, and I can do it. Ready, Michael Lorenzen signs a one year, eight million dollar contracts to pitch in Colorado. So the conversation went, Hey, Michael, would you like to pitch in a brutal ballpark for pitchers, and we'll make sure you're starting again. And he's like maybe, And they're like, would you like one year and eight million dollars and then a club option for the next year for nine million dollars And he said, show me the money and then he signed. That is not an easy task. Michael Lorenzen likes to take a little bit of pain, right. I mean, he's one of the strongest dudes in baseball. But it is not going to be easy to pitch in Colorado, as it isn't for almost anyone. But someone's got to do it.

00:18:33
Speaker 2: No, what never is.

00:18:34
Speaker 4: I think this is a great deal. I think you know, it might have come down and not having many options out.

00:18:39
Speaker 1: There, right, or lesser options money wise exactly.

00:18:43
Speaker 4: And if you're going to get a better option of getting a better option of money, yeah, of course you're going to go. You take that in consideration a little bit, but again, you're a professional. You can go out there and pitch and be who you are. I wouldn't look into it that much. But again, yes, the ball does fly out out there. There's going to be some homers that should not have been, but you'll take that risk. And you're a starter now and you're believed to be one of their top guys. So go out there and show it, and you never know what can happen the year after.

00:19:12
Speaker 1: I have a question for you. I want to try and put you in his shoes. So, for la Reenten, let's say he had an offer to for five or six million bucks at places that are more favorable to pitch and with teams that are not in a massive, massive rebuild.

00:19:30
Speaker 2: What do you do?

00:19:31
Speaker 1: So in your shoes. Let's say you're a free agent back in one of your free agent days, right, and you either have the option of signing with a good team let's just say the Yanks, right, one of the teams you really liked playing for, for five million bucks, or the Giants call and say we'll sign you for eight million bucks. And let's say at the time the Giants are not good. So you have a bad team and a bad hitters ballpark, or a good hitters ballpark and a good team. And I'm trying to figure out like what the threshold is and what goes through your head.

00:20:00
Speaker 4: It's a hard one because you I would want to play for the great team. But that's another three million dollars on the table. I mean, I know where Crats is going, but for me, it's.

00:20:14
Speaker 2: I'm not sure.

00:20:15
Speaker 4: I'm not sure, but that would have to be where I'm at in my career. Is it the late stages or and the and the the option for next year.

00:20:23
Speaker 2: Would have to come into play.

00:20:25
Speaker 4: It would have to be a player option in my opinion, right, you're not doing two.

00:20:28
Speaker 2: I'm not.

00:20:29
Speaker 4: I would do it one year with a player option for for the next year after the club options. I'm you know, I did one of those and you know, uh what was it like five? I forget what the money was, but they I got paid for not even being on their team because they didn't pick me up.

00:20:44
Speaker 2: But you get to buy it. Yeah, I would. I would rather have a player option to do it.

00:20:49
Speaker 1: Okay, Krats.

00:20:52
Speaker 2: I mean I love winning.

00:20:53
Speaker 3: I love winning. Like It's hard for me to say because I didn't make a ton of money from baseball standpoint, But I'm made a ton of money from normal people standpoint, playing, so it's relative. All with Todd said, you know, if I had gotten the option to make the most money at the end of my career and I already had a World Series ring. You're like, hey, you know what, I'm not gonna play anymore. So to me, I think Michael Lorenzen is an awesome pickup. Is he gonna have a six era or a three era? I have no idea.

00:21:25
Speaker 2: You know.

00:21:26
Speaker 3: It's how you acclimate to course field. It's how you deal with the fact that it's not the home runs. It's the fact that it's a massive outfield and more balls are going to land, so you just can't let your pitch count get up. You can't walk guys all that kind of stuff because they just can't cover the entire field. To me, it's a massive pickup because of the fact that this is this is a guy he's still young enough. He can still He's only thirty four, he can still play. To me, he's a guy that can help some of these younger players be professional, go through the grow. Just like talking to him. He's got his head on straight in the sense that he understands the priorities in the game and about being a good teammate, about what it's like to compete day in and day out. He's been on really good teams where he threw a no hitter with the Phillies. He's been on really bad teams and he was a position player. He was a pitcher. Like, it's a guy I think you add to that clubhouse without knowing the other guys in the clubhouse that can only raise the level of everybody because of how hard he works and his just his mindset and his positive outlook on the game every day.

00:22:36
Speaker 1: And he wants to start. I mean he's bounced back and forth start a reliever. Some Rockies fans joked that they should have him hit for them as well. He used to do that. But anyway, I mean, he is a guy who wants to start, and the Rockies are going to give him the chance to do that. The Royals did. Actually last year he won one hundred and forty one and two thirds innings. He made twenty seven appearances, twenty six of them were starts. Right, the RA wasn't to dream about. And also when we're talking to R right now for the Rockies, you got to take that with a grain of salt. You got to use other statistics, like if you want to get basic R plus right, just to judge that a four and a half of RA in Colorado could be like a three in other ballparks. But yeah, I'm with you. I mean, the Rockies have to start somewhere. Let's bring on a guy that should be able to eat innings, wants to start sets a great example. I mean, he's a workout machine. I wrote this yesterday on the reply to the tweet.

00:23:29
Speaker 2: As a leader too, so he's gonna help out the younger guys he is.

00:23:32
Speaker 1: But ironic that the Rockies are now being run by a guy who just came over from the NFL Paul de Pedesto. Over the last ten years, the first signing the Rockies make under this era is a dude who looks like he should be in the NFL.

00:23:44
Speaker 2: Is an inside linebacker.

00:23:46
Speaker 1: He's a house Yeah yeah, So anyway, nice little signing for yeah.

00:23:51
Speaker 2: And out of all of us, they would sign you.

00:23:54
Speaker 1: Because I wouldn't see that. If that's what he's thinking, let me just go for the football look, but no actual baseball skill. Rockies fans, let's talk. We have a lot of time left to get back to winning a ways if that's if we're just going off looks and physicality and all that. But I appreciate the top father, But I will say I mean, we'll see how this shakes out. You've got they've got a guy in place now running the front office that is a super super numbers analytical guy, right, and you can you can love or hate where the game has gone. Whatever has been going on in Colorado has not been working. So maybe this guy brings something totally different to the table. It almost feels, don't you feel like Colorado it has to be somewhat of a lab, like a science experiment, because of how different it is out there to play, and.

00:24:43
Speaker 4: If you do well, that's really good for your case, for your lab experiment.

00:24:48
Speaker 1: That's a good call. So a lot of front offices were dreaming, or a lot of front office members right, like an assistant GM, we're thinking about this job. I mean, some guys got calls and said no because of some other factors in play. But for some guys like Paul D. Podesta, it's been a dream to be a part of a team like this because if you can crack the code in Colorado, it's it's like final Boss in the video game, like a really tough code to crack. In his prime, yeah, yeah, right, when he was chomping ears of the video game.

00:25:21
Speaker 3: Crats is it like were you saying, were you saying if you crack the code for pitching or if you just cracked the code everything.

00:25:30
Speaker 1: I mean, even even hitting wise, Like sure, I mean they had their days where the guys were bashing baseballs. But but guys always say like they they see pitches one way and then they're on the road and then the pitch doesn't break the same. It's so different in Colorado versus everywhere else. Am I wrong?

00:25:45
Speaker 3: But there's always hate any hitters. The hate is just so associated with playing in Colorado.

00:25:51
Speaker 2: Ah.

00:25:52
Speaker 3: No, everything talked about Nolan Eronado. Look what happens when he leaves Colorado. He went to Saint Louis and now look what he is. Like I I think, where if you want to make you know your legendary status, if you want to make a mark, it's the pitching. It's the pitching.

00:26:09
Speaker 2: What is it?

00:26:09
Speaker 3: There's something there that you can absolutely corner the market and you can make it so that when teams go in there, we gotta face this because they always do this when we're in Colorado. It's gonna be tough. Somebody's gonna have to probably lose their job before they come up with the actual answer. But you can't just keep well, you know what, we're doing everything that the that all the other organizations are doing. So we're just gonna keep doing that exact same thing. Like they have to do something a little bit different that pushes them over the top. Because the teams that they've had really good teams. They've had guys that have had career years pitching. Tyler Anderson had a ridiculous year. He carried that team, plus their lineup banged, So you have to have that in play to be able to have the success.

00:27:03
Speaker 1: We'll see what they do. We will see this is their first signing of the off season, first signing of the new regime. Let's get to some other money numbers just quickly because we'll learn about a lot of them after the show. The arbitration settlement frenzy has begun. Basically, today is the deadline and if not you go to arbitration, right so, or figures are being exchanged. I guess you could still settle, but figures get exchanged here, so then you go to arbitration. And right now you'll see tons of news pop up from insiders reporting on how Ryan Mackcastle and they were all settled on six point seven eighty seven million. Ernie Clement boids are four point six million. The ones at the top this year are Randy Rose Arena and Trek Skooble. It's not based just on who the best players are. It's based on their track record leading up to this point and most importantly, how close they are to free agency. So Randy and Terek are both free agents after next year. We talked about this on Fair Territory. It's actually kind of crazy. Terrek will get more than Randy, but they're pretty close. And you look and you're like, is that right? Last year of ARB, the back to back side young winner, it's only going to pull like eighteen nineteen mil. It seems like he should be getting paid a little bit more on his last year at ARB, or at least getting paid a lot more than Randy is. Randy is a really nice player. But yeah, the fact that those two, according to this current system, are making a similar amount is a little nuts. Randy settled already at about fifteen and a half and it seems like School's going to end up in like the maybe nineteen mill range. So those two are pretty close, and we're going to get into it more tomorrow. There's actually an article out that I want to cover tomorrow about arbitration how MLB wants to kill it. But any thoughts here, I mean, did you guys go through this at all where he did the number exchange thing?

00:28:48
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, oh yeah, it's fun, right, it's fun. It came down to the last five minutes for me the one time, and then you settled with the White Sox. Yeah, I did? What did I do? I did? The first year we did the first two years we did a two year deal of arbitration for a.

00:29:06
Speaker 2: Total of twelve It was like, I think it was four and four and eight.

00:29:12
Speaker 4: I don't know the exact numbers. I'm like, oh, this is great. You know, I got two years. I'm gonna make twelve million dollars. I'm set. It's pretty cool. And then my third year they started off really low and then we like I told my agent, I said, screw it, go high. So we went really high, and then we met exactly where we wanted to be. Like, it's just so stupid, like why do you have to nickel and dine back and forth? Why can't we give you the number where it's supposed to be instead of taking two months to figure out. And then my agent goes, we're at twelve million. We have five minutes left. What do you want to do?

00:29:47
Speaker 2: Said okay, So I made another twelve million there, so all good.

00:29:50
Speaker 1: So you guys got what you wanted in the end, but you had to battle to the finish line.

00:29:53
Speaker 4: Yeah, pretty much. I mean it was you know, more or less we you know it is what But it was just so stupid.

00:29:59
Speaker 2: It's so dumb.

00:30:00
Speaker 3: I'll tell you why, Todd, because you're a man of integrity and you have one career. They're coming to it as we're going to have nine more Todd Fraser's in the next fifty years. If we give Todd Fraser an extra what were you guys haggling over two hundred thousand dollars five hundred thousand dollars.

00:30:19
Speaker 1: Probably more than that, No, two million.

00:30:22
Speaker 4: I think we started at like they started at like six, and we started at eighteen something.

00:30:28
Speaker 2: Bogus.

00:30:30
Speaker 4: It was not that far, I promise you on anything I love.

00:30:34
Speaker 2: They started out really low or eight or something.

00:30:37
Speaker 1: They have to go above that. Last night, ye whatever, your last number was eight. They probably just say stayed around there.

00:30:43
Speaker 4: I said, let's go. I say, they said, what do you want to go? I said, let's go like eighteen or twenty? Scrowl, you know what I mean? Well, listen in my I didn't care.

00:30:52
Speaker 1: But also this is an interesting strategy. I mean, usually nowadays it's gotten so number oriented that the numbers are closer. But the way arbitration works is that if you go to your case, you present your number. They present them.

00:31:04
Speaker 2: Any number they wanted, but there's the one they started out with.

00:31:08
Speaker 1: But no, they don't end up at the middle unless you, guys settle. So the arbitration panel either says Todd's eighteen or he's eight.

00:31:15
Speaker 2: Or they can go in and put forth they wanted to in the arbitration.

00:31:19
Speaker 1: They can, but I think they wouldn't win that one.

00:31:21
Speaker 2: But if you go to the.

00:31:22
Speaker 1: Right, So if they did that, they'd be stupid, the panel would It doesn't make sense. You got to go eighteen, even though it's.

00:31:27
Speaker 4: Rest that some teams and players would take exactly so whatever.

00:31:33
Speaker 3: Yeah, but they but they know that there's going to be nine more Todd Frasers and if they can, even if they can cut you down by two hundred thousand dollars out of twelve million dollars.

00:31:45
Speaker 2: That's crazy, and I'll tell you no, no, just.

00:31:50
Speaker 3: Over nine players, that gets up to close to two million dollars that they're saving in the long term. And that's that's how they're looking at it.

00:31:59
Speaker 4: Sure, they put a they have this one guy forget his name, and they always put him on the highest number arbitration guy they do each year for the White Sox, and I was the guy.

00:32:12
Speaker 2: So they put this.

00:32:13
Speaker 4: One guy to work tireless for a couple of months to figure out and nickel and dime and get the least amount of money you know, out of me.

00:32:20
Speaker 1: He Well, their job is to basically go to baseball court and say right, They'll be like, yo, I know that he you know he in little league. He was this legend. But he only went nine for ten in this two game series. Like where was the other.

00:32:35
Speaker 2: I would I would have I would have been in there. I would have loved that and said no, but I was.

00:32:40
Speaker 1: I was ready, man, I see, I would pay to watch you watch this dude, tell you how bad.

00:32:46
Speaker 2: You Oh, that's great, it would have been great. That's good theater for a while.

00:32:51
Speaker 3: I want to do it. I want to come up with what year. I'm trying to figure out what year that was that you went to. So that would have been seventeen. So I want to make the arbitration argument of why you sucked in sixteen?

00:33:05
Speaker 1: Now that was that was six Well, no, seventeen was Yanks.

00:33:09
Speaker 3: Ye, Now seventeen was your last year with the White Sox. So you made twelve with the White Sox and then you got traded over. So sixteen they were lucky forty home runs. You didn't get to one hundred RBIs you were too short with ninety eight. It's got a weird thumbs and his strikeout to walk ratio was not great and his thumbs are really weird. Oh and he had fifteen stolen bases. Anybody could have stolen fifteen stolen bases. I would have gotten you six million dollars.

00:33:47
Speaker 2: Either way, it's all good.

00:33:50
Speaker 1: But they would have said his thumbs project to a five percent home run rate decline over this season. Yes, that's why he's not worth that much. I mean, some of these cases are crazy. We've talked about in the past. There was the one with Corbyn Burns, I think against Milwaukee, and that's when he used to come on the show. Often and they said how the Brewers didn't make the playoffs because Corbin had like two bad starts out of thirty or something. It's like that one, to me is kind of a joke. I'm like, how is that even an argument? So he's amazing in twenty eight of thirty starts, which makes him a number one, and you're saying you didn't make the playoffs because he wasn't perfect. I don't know, but that's the kind of stuff. It's real. It feels very old school, the whole system. But we can talk more about it tomorrow too, once we get all of the final numbers coming through. We want to shout out our members only content that we have put together pretty hardcore over the next over the last month or so. So it is five bucks a month to be a member. You get the emojis, the live chat preferences, and then members only content. We still are delivering ninety nine point nine percent of everything we do free, breaking down news all that. If you want, like a little more intimacy with some of the the player stories and look backs on things, we've taken it much more seriously due to requests from many people saying, hey, I would love to see more of the members only content. I want to support FT, but I want to get a little more bang for my bucks. So boom, there you go. We've got thirteen of them and growing. There's one coming out with Kevin Pillar breaking down some of the best catches of his career. So you get some of those inside stories, some of which we mix into the show. But we've devoted special time to that, and we've seen many of the members pop up even here in January. So just a little love. We appreciate you, and we want to make sure you're getting your money's worth, some of you saying hey, we're watching you guys every day. We want to throw a little bit your way. We want to throw as much back to you as well. Let's hit some fun comments from yesterday.

00:35:43
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's what he said.

00:35:45
Speaker 1: That's what he said, that's what he said. That's what he said. So Paraminage and the GM of the Angels spoke yesterday, and we can start with the tweet. Sam Blum is always out there doing it excellent job covering these press conferences, and also we spoke about this on Fair Territory if you want to give that a look after this show. But Blum put out an article that said the lack of transparency by Angels Jim Perrymanashiin continues to amaze. Here's one of the quotes from the presser. We made a jump last year. I think we were in the top four or five teams in wins from the previous season. We expect to make another jump this year. Blum pointed out how the team won sixty three games and then in twenty four and then seventy two games in twenty five. I guess if you keep making that jump, you'll make the playoffs maybe in a year or two, but that's not usually how it works. This revolved around them asking to learn more details about the Anthony Rendoin situation, and Perry really was not getting into it, and then Sam is questioning if the team is actually going to say spend the money they saved. In fairness, they are one of those teams that we talked about yesterday that is dealing with the TV money conundrum, and they don't know how much money they're going to get from local TV revenue coming into this year. And that is music to the ears of an owner that can say, Hey, I can't spend now because I don't know how much money I'm making. But the main point here that I actually pointed out Craton dork of the Week was how Perry's been in the game for a long time. I mean, he was what a clubby, his family's been in the game. He's a really nice guy, He's a great combo a little less GM speak. I would say this to him at this point on the show if we had him on, like, give me you guys do this all the time. I usually let you guys do this. You todd aj like, just talk to me like a person, give me a little. Dombrowski does this, Alexanthopolis does this, many others do. But Perry's just getting very buttoned up and maybe a little bit pissed off. I mean, the Angels haven't been good for a while, but some of the comments yesterday were just they were It was almost like, why are we doing a press conference if you're not saying anything. Can't say anything about Rendon, can't say anything about Perrol, Like what can we talk about? And of course he had the incident a couple months ago trying to defend their lack of air conditioning in the weight room, and it turned into an Abbott and Costello back and forth. Look that up, kids, if you don't know what it is. So anyway, Eric, I think we've reached the point where we got to call out Perry, like Perry a little too much quarter zip talk.

00:38:13
Speaker 3: I think it probably goes to the fact that he gets pressure from the ownership. You think ownership's just like, hey, man, you known handle the Tyler Skaggs, Anthony Rendon air conditioning, handle all of our issues however you want to No. I think when he came over, I think Perry did a good job of understanding that he was kind of a marionette that I think he was kind of pushing in directions with all these scandals and issues and the fact that now he's been there and he's seen the fact that there is just a lack of infrastructure throughout the organization. He's probably getting annoyed with Sam Blum just being like, hey, like, give us an answer to this, and he's like, you know what, Artie said, I can still have my job if I don't piss him off by my answers. Like I think, knowing Perry, the little bit that I knew him watching his interviews earlier, it does feel like there is a shift this year that it seems like somebody's telling him, Hey, let's let's zip it and let's let's give him, let's give him a little bit less, like let's let's try to paint this a little bit different, because you have to crack some eggs to make an omelet, and I think in LA they're gonna have to do some things that are gonna be tough and look weird on the surface to make the organization better. They're gonna have to do some things that Artie Morino might be like, I don't really like that. Well, you haven't liked it for years, and you're squandering the best player of our generation's career. If you want a shot at putting Mike Trout in the playoffs, these are the things you have to do. And his answers right now, Perry's answers right now feel like already saying we're not saying, we're not saying this stuff anymore. So he's just kind of given the I'm annoyed answers.

00:40:16
Speaker 2: And Scott to kind of button this whole thing up.

00:40:18
Speaker 4: In my situation, yeah, you got more wins last year, but you have to make the playoffs.

00:40:23
Speaker 2: You have to be a winning team, a winning organization.

00:40:26
Speaker 4: You're still under five hundred and you have to put your you know, I have to put your foot in the door and open that door and say hey, we're here and it's just not happening. I don't care how many wins you had from last year to this year. Doesn't mean they're gonna do it again. So you have to find a way to make the playoffs.

00:40:40
Speaker 2: You know, win a World Series is that's the goal. But you have to get to the playoffs first.

00:40:44
Speaker 1: No for them, oh my gosh, they'll take the playoffs in a heartbeat. Angels fans will too. I mean, Angels fans have gone through it is as much as any fan base in sports for a while now. It's a good point Kratz. He has to do with someone who is waking up one day and making a different decision or holding back certain infrastructure that almost every other team has. It is not an easy job. In fairness, he knew that when he accepted the job. He knew that everyone knows how the Angels organization operates. It's not like he went in there and said, you know what, everything's about to change. Everything I've heard for years is going to change, and they certainly haven't hit on some of the moves that they've made. But we also don't know behind the scenes how much of that has to do with who made the decision.

00:41:37
Speaker 3: That's the puppet part. He came in. He worked so tight. I mean I saw Perry when he shifted from being a clubby to being an assistant GM in Toronto, like you're grinding through it. Anybody's ever grinded through working your way up the ladder. He got to that GM role and he's like, I am doing this. I work so hard to get here. I am doing it. And now maybe maybe I'm just speculating, but you have to go in and you have to make changes. And even if if I got that job, I would know what it is, but I would also say, yeah, I'm going in to make changes. You can't go in and be like this place is hopeless. I'm just I'm just biding my time for five years. Thanks for the job.

00:42:28
Speaker 1: It ain't easy. But from a fan perspective, they just want a little more. I don't even want to say transparency, just like less not GM speak. Yeah, just give it, just give me a little bit, be real under the curtain be real little bit. You know, he's not the only one that talks like this. It's not like I'm just singling him out. It's just that he's shifted. You feel this shift. There's definitely frustration with Sam Blom being one of the best reporters in baseball. It's true. You've got one of the best reporters in baseball out in the area, and he doesn't just cover the Angels, but he covers the Angels a lot, and so when he's at pressers like this, he's not gonna let you get away with skipping questions on broken air conditioning. You know. It's like we talked about the media markets earlier. Generally that's a pretty safe spot. But there are some really strong reporters covering that team, and Sam Blum is one of them. So he's gonna ask us questions and you can get a little bit frustrating. While we have a moment, I do want to plug pinstripe territory. Yesterday's episode had Ken Rosenthal making a little appearance with Derek Lewandowski and we have a clip.

00:43:38
Speaker 5: I'm not exactly sure, but it's just the nature of the baseball calendar. There are no signing deadlines. There are no trade deadlines in the winter, and teams and agents stare each other down. Teams and other teams stare each other down and wait for the best possible deals, and we get these endless delays.

00:43:57
Speaker 1: That's Derek asking Ken why it's been low and John Hammond reported that the Yankees weren't close on Edward Cabrera. So I guess the Cubs beat them. Oh, in case, he's a pretty big deal prospect to headline a package, and the Yankees weren't able to match that. The Yankees probably would have had to throw a Spencer Jones or a Jason Domingez out to the Marlins to be able to match that. Yeah, so they move on. They try for Freddy p Freddy Pralton.

00:44:25
Speaker 2: I mean, if a school name comes up, that's a different.

00:44:28
Speaker 1: Story, then you're I mean, I would trade both of those guys.

00:44:30
Speaker 2: For schoobl I would have to agree, right, I think I would.

00:44:34
Speaker 1: Best pitcher in baseball. Give you a chance to win a World Series for a year. Yanks haven't won in a minute. Right, there's a line. You're not going to give up ten dudes, but those two for that picture worth it.

00:44:48
Speaker 4: I said that about what's his name from the Red Sox, the lefty just crochet. Yeah, I said that you gotta give up the kitchen sink, and they all crushed me on that. And guess what they gave up most?

00:45:00
Speaker 1: They gave up a lot. And guess what they love him. He's one of the best pitchers in baseball. I'm with you, all Right's it for the people? Just a quick segment here today. The Orioles picked up Big Christmas the other day. Did you see that? Just for the holidays to be festive? And now he's gone. I mean, we talked about how this is actually really difficult for the player, but people did have fun with it online. It's not like he moved his whole life to Baltimore just yet, or I hope he didn't, because it was only a little two day thing. But the Orioles announced that they did designate John Kenzie Noel for assignment. So it was an epic run. You know, people online were like, post your best memories of Big Christmas. That's a Baltimore oriole. So you know, we had some responses. A historic run from Kyle online. Here here's Kevin. Christmas does always seem to fly by quickly.

00:45:54
Speaker 2: It does. Yeah, you gotta.

00:45:56
Speaker 1: Have fun with life, right, I mean, I'm sure John Kenzie's got a personality and appreciates this or a team. Yeah, Baltimore wasn't necessarily the fit for him anyway.

00:46:10
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't. I don't get it.

00:46:12
Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, I mean you're trying to fill up your forty man and then things come and go. So actually, I think Ken Rosenthal addressed this on Fair Territory and talked about it. A fan asked a question. It was after I was on I was on the show for the first twenty then I had to hang around with with you guys.

00:46:26
Speaker 3: But what Kratz, Oh No, I was just gonna say. And they get a chance to put him through waivers now and he could go to Triple A for him, he could. You know, there's there's different little intricacies that guys don't think about because this stuff doesn't happen to Juan Soto, Bryce Harper, Zach Wheeler. You know, it doesn't happen to those guys. But it's real life for Don Kenzie. He was playing down in the d R this year. I was just looking it up. He played on in the last two years now, he's played on two different DR teams. He played for the Astraeus. Now he's playing for the t Grace or no, I'm sorry to Toros. So it's it's real life. And maybe maybe he passes through, goes to Triple A and a team from Japan calls him and the Orioles get a little bit of cash because they sell his rights to Japan.

00:47:11
Speaker 1: That's true. I forgot about that. That's a sneaky little call out right there, and that happens more than people think, Oh, that kind of back could play. Oh yeah in the NPB.

00:47:22
Speaker 2: Missiles out there and some of those fields aren't that big.

00:47:24
Speaker 1: No, And then sometimes they come back. Tyler Austin just came back. Was he in kb O or NPB? That was your former teammate?

00:47:30
Speaker 2: Right, here's here's an MPB. Yeah.

00:47:34
Speaker 1: Back, he's back with the Cubs. One year. Oh, major league deal, too, major league deal?

00:47:40
Speaker 2: Good for him.

00:47:41
Speaker 1: He's back. He can he's huge, he is huge, enormous. Was it Giant and Luko both on the team together and they're like doing the one handed bench press?

00:47:52
Speaker 4: Yeah, I don't know what it was, but he's a when we played. Well, it's been one freaking five years now since we played. He was a month stir over there in Japan, and he was like the king over there.

00:48:05
Speaker 3: He's not huge. He has really small arms, and so it makes the rest of his body look big, and he can refute that when he comes on.

00:48:12
Speaker 2: He's going to crush you for that. I will crush him that.

00:48:16
Speaker 3: I was his uber driver when we played together in San Francisco, so he owes me to come on the show. He can't keep junkings