Skubal joins Team USA, Detroit POBO’s viral comments, Could D’backs keep Ketel AND sign Bregman?!

00:00:03
Speaker 1: Ip, it's here.

00:00:06
Speaker 2: Hello, Happy holidays you two.

00:00:11
Speaker 1: Happy holidays to you, Krats. What were you saying a kid?

00:00:15
Speaker 2: Before Eric's going back?

00:00:18
Speaker 3: I wanted I've knocked on his door. I was like, okay, if you will come out and play, we can play catch. You won't play catch, Like, no, bro, I'm just chilling. Man, I'm just hanging out, Like, leave me alone.

00:00:33
Speaker 2: I'm gonna pass you.

00:00:34
Speaker 3: Guys.

00:00:35
Speaker 1: He is good, he doesn't he like he is a member of I just think of the movie Step Brothers when it's him and him and Todd Fraser when they're sitting next to each other, they're like flicking in each other's ears and all that. So but I feel like Kratz has gotten so good, he's on every day that he can actually do that act without physical contact. He can do it with his facial expressions, with his words. He's got something going here.

00:01:01
Speaker 2: Finally, an everyday guy, Krats.

00:01:04
Speaker 3: I know it's taken so long. I get every day now.

00:01:11
Speaker 1: It makes me.

00:01:13
Speaker 3: It suits, Yeah, except except for when we go to places. Except for when we're like at the winter meetings or like fun places. They always they always call me and they're like, hey, it's not you. But you're not going, and I'm like, what, but I want to.

00:01:33
Speaker 1: Well, maybe you'll get more invites as the days go on. But there are multiple reasons for that.

00:01:38
Speaker 3: Okay, it's basically I can't make it.

00:01:42
Speaker 1: The real life most important reason for yeah, exactly, he's busy. His calendar is busy. I've had that before. I've asked for something in past lives and they've been like, you can't do it, and I'm like, I didn't even say the date yet. I had that with my past job once I was trying to do something for I used to work for s n Y and for mlbnwork in a couple other spots, and the two bosses hated each other. They're both out of those positions for a while now, so I don't give a shit. But he was like, you can't do it, and I was like, I didn't even ask you for the dates yet. He was like, we have you on show because they didn't say you can't do it because we don't want you to. They said you can't do it because we have you on shows or a game or whatever. It's like, I didn't even give you the dates, so wow, do you know it's it's Christmas? At six am. You got me working. Actually they probably.

00:02:30
Speaker 3: Did, but probably you did.

00:02:33
Speaker 1: Probably. Yes, Hey, real quick before we start, and we'll get into this. A lot of Baseball World, Baseball Classic news, and then plenty of rumors in the whole deal. This I've been sitting on for about a week, and I keep forgetting to bring it up. So I'll just do it right here. Kratz Stephen A. Smith has had a very successful career. But he was on his own little podcast the other day, and I don't have the clip because I'm just bringing this up randomly and I don't want to get too far away. He was talking about the Pee Alonzo signing with the Orioles, and he brought up how he only played fifty seven games his sophomore season. He was hurt, like kind of I guess, I don't know if you want to call it knocking him, but just kind of going through as if he is the historian taking us through the chronological career of Pee Alonzo. Yeah, his sophomore season, Kip was a season you know, well, it was called twenty twenty the Pandemic. He played fifty seven out of sixty games.

00:03:30
Speaker 2: Yeah, I just wanted to throw that out there.

00:03:34
Speaker 4: Yeah, ninety eight percent of the games, ninety seven percent of the games.

00:03:39
Speaker 1: He was pretty healthy his sophomore.

00:03:40
Speaker 2: Year, pretty healthy.

00:03:42
Speaker 1: I want to slander him as an injury prone player. He's been super durable. And on his show, he's just like, oh he's got hurt.

00:03:48
Speaker 3: He got hurt.

00:03:48
Speaker 1: He only played fifty seven games his sophomore year. Like, hey, I know you missed that year and every other year ever in our sport, which is fine, you do your thing, You've got your sports. But Kratz, I'm like, we only ended up playing sixty games that year.

00:04:02
Speaker 3: I hear you. I hear you. I And when you're not in when you're not in it all the time, I get it. You're just you're rattling stuff off. I know I have done it. I've done it where I've looked at stats and I've just been like okay, okay, oh yeah it must have been oh wait no this happened. And I'm like, oh man, I feel like an idiot. But he's riffing on his own, like he's just he's just throwing he's just throwing words out all the time, all the time. You know, I can't doat it out here that whah whah blah whah. So I'll give him a pass on this one, even though it does fall into the it falls into the easy like steven A doesn't watch baseball category. But hey, you know what, steven A, you could have a show on FT and we'll teach you all about baseball.

00:04:47
Speaker 1: Maybe I'll get him on some time. I think I can actually pull that off and we can have a little chit chat and we can teach him a few things from the player perspective here from you guys. But anyway, we got a lot of news to get too, So let's begin art World Baseball Classic roster news coming in hot and very frequent. Let's start with one of the best pitchers in our sport. I would say can make a case for Skeens and schoobl Skeens has been in for a while now. He started his college career at air Force. He's like, I'm pitching every single WBC if I'm healthy. Derek Scooble is in. I think this is fascinating, Kip, because Schooble is the talk of the town. He's still involved in trade rumors. I don't know if that's going to end up happening. But what I can tell you is that he is entering his free agent year and the Team USA Ball club has had trouble recruiting top end pitching talent. This is already a much better looking pitching staff than we've seen in the past from Team USA. They won not last time it was Japan, but the time before that. This puts them in a much better position. So what do you think about the addition here? We'll go over some other roster moots within TMUSA. But also the fact that a guy who's about to hit free agency is committing to something that occasionally causes concern for injury.

00:06:09
Speaker 2: You'd probably like him.

00:06:10
Speaker 4: I think he would probably like a deal to be in place before he starts to that because I for the same reason that you just said that, there have been injuries that have come down the road from it. But in terms for the USA, just speaking on that, I mean for American pitchers, this is not we have what number one and number two right now. I put those schemes in Scooba are the top guys that we could get and that it doesn't get much better than that in this game. So that is that is an awesome get for Team USA. Sets them up great because you know, pitching wins games in those type of atmospheres and it just increases the odds. Then down the road maybe at the championship or or to get into a championship. Now you have the better odds to have one of those guys going. It sets you up really well. That's they've already had the big lineups, but now if you start getting those pitchers to come in, that's that's that puts you right back up there with Japan and ready for match.

00:07:01
Speaker 3: So Mark de Rosa is essentially the team USA Elite Gold National twelve U team. He's going to figure out how to use the best players to try to win this travel ball tournament that he is entering in. Like I think, now, I mean he's he's got what he needs. Now it's a matter of do they throw Paul Skins in what would be the semi finals and Trek Scubel in the finals. Do they say, we got to get to this, so we want them throwing in the first two games? What if the first games against Brazil? Like I think it's more of like figuring out how to put the best team out there now. But this is the first time that I've seen this good of pitchers, and I love the fact that Trek Scoubele did it, And I think people are too afraid of injuries organizations, not just not just a free agent that's looking to possibly make four hundred million dollars or three hundred and fifty million dollars, but organizations. When I played for Team USA and we're gonna have Cody Ponts on tomorrow, it's hard to get organizations to send pitchers to play in stuff like Team USA puts out there. When you're playing high quality, tough international games, teams just think, oh, there's such an injury risk. There's such an injury risk to me. I'm gonna go with Trek. Scubel is doing exactly what a recent Tiger, Max Schurzer did in his last year. He's betting on himself. Max Schuzer bought a little insurance policy. I'm sure Terrek Scooble is gonna do the same thing. And he's like, I'm gonna get my money, whether it's through the insurance policy that I got or when I go to free agency and he's like, I don't see any reason why I would get hurt because I'm a beast and the opportunity to play for Team USA is something I hope no player ever turns down if they haven't gotten to do it yet.

00:09:02
Speaker 4: Kratz question, do you remember at all the type of restrictions teams would put on pitchers if they kind of make a deal with them that okay, you're allowed to go, here's a pitch count, here's Is there a conversation between the organizations and the World Baseball Classic Team USA saying we'll send you our guy, or is it the player's choice? Is it what if the player wants to go? But does the team not let a player go before?

00:09:30
Speaker 3: For sure? I don't know about WBC, but I know the conversations for Team USA because my second time through I was I wasn't sitting at the table with the organizations, but I was thirty nine years old, and they were like, do you have any pitchers that you think should be on this team? And you know, the guys that I the guys that I suggested were guys that two of them ended up making the team. And I know they said, look, the organization's not going to get in my way, and I say, well what about this guy? They said, we called the organization said no, and I said, all right, well, why don't you have that guy call the organization? And then the organization got a call from said pitcher and they ended up letting them go. So some teams, some organizations are like, no chance, we already have your pitch limit. Like especially now now, organizations say, okay, we want you to throw seventy seventy innings this year. We want you to make twenty two starts as a minor league, as a minor league starting pitcher. If you fall short of that number, then they're more they're less hesitant to let you go and make two more starts, because really, when you're on these teams, you're not making that many starts, but you stay ramped up all the way through the end of October November. That's minor leagues, that's the Team USA stuff that I did this to me. It's about, hey, what's your routine? What's your routine? Paul schemes. Are you coming into spring training throwing eighty six to eighty nine and working up to your ninety seven to ninety nine. No, his first his first spring training start. At most guys first spring training start. For Paul Skins, he'll be down in Bradenton. He's coming out there and he's throwing probably three to four innings, and he's pumping his normal ninety five to ninety nine like Gus. Guys don't ramp up the same as they used to ramp up.

00:11:27
Speaker 1: Okay. Mark de Rosa, Tmusa manager, brought this up publicly after they lost last time to Japan in the finals. It was a lot of phone calls and a ton of rules. So this time around, he wants guys that essentially have less restrictions, right. He wants to be able to utilize his roster in a winning way the way that the team that beat them does Team Japan. So I think there's two prongs to this. It's getting pitchers that are all in that might have less restrictions, but also guys that have juice. Right, how much are the Tigers really going to dictate with Scoogle Like, oh, hey, uh Erk, we'd like you to only go fifty. I know that for this round it's seventy on the restriction. Be like, yeah, I know what I'm doing. I don't need your help, thank you. I know how to prepare for a cy young season. So don't you think that helps kip where a team is going to have more difficulty telling a picture what to do if it's somebody that has Errek Schougle, Paul Skimes like poll and success in the big leagues.

00:12:34
Speaker 4: Yes and no, because if they have that success, they probably have a bigger investment attached to them by that team, so that it's they're more the teams can be more worried about it.

00:12:42
Speaker 2: That way a little bit.

00:12:45
Speaker 4: And it's tough because it's like, you don't want to shelter yourself from injury or worry about it too much, because then you're you're gonna not play how your body normally plays, and you might be more apt to get injured that way. But then you have to plan for it a little bit. By planning for it, I mean you have to know that you can ramp up enough and say I'm only gonna throw three innings or do whatever. But once those lights come on and that adrenaline starts going, you're right back in game mode and you're gonna be throwing out your shoes a little bit and your body just might not be there. So it's a really give or take, and I think they have the right to voice their opinion. That's kind of why I asked Kratz, is it is it strictly the player's decisions, because I mean, they are their own entity and they are their own business. Are they If they team says they don't want them to go, can the players be like, well, I'm going, so I wonder, I wonder, I wonder if an organization would penalize.

00:13:39
Speaker 2: Them, find them. I really wanted to know how that would play out.

00:13:44
Speaker 3: I don't know. Contraction, that's that's a good point, Like could they no rubber hits the road? Are they saying like, no chance you are not able to go. If you go, this will happen. I don't know. I've never that would be a good good pitcher question went through it. But are we ever gonna see this type of stars align in the sense that part of this, somebody has to pick up the insurance tab. When I go and play for Team USA, there's insurance on me as a player. It's very very small when you start talking about and this is why they put values on prospects. When you start putting insurance packages together for a valued prospect, like let's say the number one prospect Connor Griffin, he gets asked, there's a cost to let him be insured to play on a team that is not a Major League Baseball team, it's current team. So Tarrek Scubele, while he is gonna be really expensive currently, he's not, so that insurance cost is definitely down. Paul skeins, while he's gonna be expensive right now because of his salary, that insurance cost is down. You just happen to have two per free agents pitchers who are the best one to two pitchers in Major League Baseball right now.

00:15:07
Speaker 1: The WBC makes a ton of money these days, and I don't think the players get much for it, so I do think that the insurance gets covered by whatever they're making, league profit whatever. So I think it's an easier sell even though it's expensive. That's my guess. I don't know for sure. They don't reveal a lot, but you know, players aren't making millions of dollars on this, so I do think that the petty cash fund is pretty reasonable that they can go, Okay, we'll throw some money at this, right. I mean, this whole package got sold to Fox. Ratings are going to be great. Netflix bought the package for Japan. Numbers are going to be super Bowl like for Unreal. They were last when Japan USA and it was Trout versus Otani. I mean, it's sick. It's an awesome tournament. I love it, love it. I just want to finish with a few other roster notes here because anyone that's catching this later on, I want to give them like the comprehensive look. We haven't touched on this a ton. Many of the position players known already. It's kyt Raleigh, Judge Schwarber, Gunnar Anderson, Will Smith, Peak her Armstrong, et cetera. Right, the pitching is what's the focus. The World Baseball Classic Team USA team has struggled with finding the big boys. Mason Miller just committed. Others in the bullpen Griffin Jack's, Garrett Clevenger, and then I guess Clay Holmes is probably going to be coming out of the bullpen. Uh, Garrett Whitlock starting pitching wise, We've got Matthew Boyd, Paul Skens, Tyrek Scoogle, Joe Ryan just committed. And then the interesting one I wanted to bring up was Nolan McLain. He was one of the better rookie pitchers didn't pitch a ton last year. But when he did, he was great for the Mets. Mets fans are freaking out. Do you remember the last WBC. This dude's entering his first full season, Kip, so this one's a little more.

00:16:52
Speaker 4: Stands still after a win that, oh.

00:16:55
Speaker 1: Man, I mean I'm pumped for Team USA. I mean, I think this guy's a number one.

00:17:03
Speaker 3: I love it. No, I love it. Mets fans, the risk is worth it, risk it for the biscuit because Nolan mclan. You want him, You want him to be in your rotation for the playoffs. There is no better chance for him to get a playoff experience without actually getting there, and he will get there. This team will be a playoff team, but you want him to have that experience. The WBC is it. Do not fear getting hurt. Stop, He's gonna get hurt. Just the same chance of getting hurt, almost the same chance of getting hurt in spring training as he does playing for Team USA.

00:17:41
Speaker 1: Long term development's huge too, if you're hanging out with the best players in the sport. So I'm with you, and it's not like he's going to start every day. You know he's gonna get what two starts, maybe in the w Yeah, maybe one, depending on how it lays out.

00:17:55
Speaker 4: And then lastly at the Joe Ryan edition too, he's a stud as well.

00:18:00
Speaker 2: Oh hell yeah, they got some pitching.

00:18:04
Speaker 1: It is a much different looking staff than usual, and we'll continue to learn about more names. Last one I want to throw at you that won't be participating. Mookie Bets just revealed he is not in for Team USA. The birth of his third child is expected around the same time. And the quote he gave to some I don't know random digital show thing, I honestly don't know what it's called Aiden Ross she as in. His wife, Brenana Betts, said that she would divorce me if I wasn't there. That's asrael as it gets. Mookie, you do your thing, man.

00:18:36
Speaker 4: That that organization ain't letting you go to this one. Yeah, that's not just a fine, that's yeah, you better listen to that One's injury would be That injury will be worse than what could happen to w.

00:18:51
Speaker 3: That would be worse. That would be costly. Hey, you talk about getting rings from the organization. He's with the Dodgers. He gets rings from them. Every child is a championship ring. So you go be with your kid. You don't. They don't need a backup shortstop because Bobby WIT's gonna play short anyway. Mookie, that's the real reason you're not playing. We get it. It's okay.

00:19:12
Speaker 1: There's no insurance policy that's going to cover that either. So there's no insurance policy for Oh, I gotta leave and my wife might hate me forever if I'm not in the delivery room. So yes, we're WBC is in good shape. Bobby Wit Junior will handle things, shake it up. That's what the Diamondbacks might be doing. And this is definitely a good segment title for the owner of the Arizona Diamondbacks, Ken Kendrick, because it's like chilling chillin. Okay, I want him and to me, Kip, I've said this many times on the show. He defines what being an owner in baseball should entail. Like he keeps to his and budget and he does this thing. But then he can wake one up, wake up one day and just be like, I think I would like to have a conversation with Corbyn Burns and that hadn't been a thing. Right, This is my toy, this is my ship. So the latest is Alex Bregman pursuit and how that factors into what they do with kaatel Marte. Kratz made a great point about how he felt like that doesn't do a lot from a productivity standpoint. Ken Rosenthal's latest note is how those two could end up together. There could be a scenario where Bregman and katel Marte are on the team. And now we're talking right, and it's in the latest column from Ken, who has fair territory at If you want to check that out, it's already up on YouTube and podcast platforms fresh from today. I think Ken's joining us tomorrow as well. But Kip, if you actually click into the article, Ken mentions essentially how he finds it unlikely. So is it likely they signed Bregman. No, but if they do, it still sounds like they're going to trade ktel Marte because he has the ten to five rights kicking in a week and change into the season, and the Diamondbacks just don't want to be stuck with him for the length of the contracts not stuck, but have no option in case they want to trade him at some point, so they want to smash the veto rights for him. So your thoughts on all of this.

00:21:21
Speaker 4: I like what you said about the owner. I think there's the realistic thinking of most teams. They not all teams can win every year. I think there so there's times to push and pull, there's times to pull the strings, and there's times to go forward and all that stuff, And so I like where he at least puts out a competitive product though I mean, they're only what four years removed from a World Series or three or four. But I don't know if Bregman would be the right answer here. I love Marte as a player. I think him and Perdomo up the middle are one of the best middle combos in the entire league. But I watched a couple of their games last year I did radio for Cleveland versus Arizona. It's a very top heavy lineup. I think after you get through those first four or five there's not much behind it. So they really need to link that lineup. But I think they could spend the money that they were going to spend on Bragman maybe to kind of maybe spread it to two or three different people instead. But I like a guy who when in the time comes, he can pull the trigger. He's not automatically out of conversations because of a certain price tag or a certain player's name. So that is fun to watch and it's fun to have as a fan for that city.

00:22:31
Speaker 3: I will go to exactly what he said after they lost the World Series the next offseason. While it didn't work out, I get it, and so maybe he's a little bit retisent to do the same thing he said. He went to his he went to his general manager, Mike Hasen, and he said, we have a little extra money coming in because they had all of their they had all of the season ticket holders, and they sold more season tickets then they had anticipated because of the run that they made. And they went out and got Jordan Montgomery, who at the point at that time was the guy that you know, had had been the guy to like, hey, push the Rangers over, and so they said, you know what, We're going to go out and make that push. It didn't work out, but that's what owners are supposed to do. You get a little extra cash, you get the taste of winning, and you're like, I want to keep winning. At the time, they had Corbyn Carroll, you know, Rookie of the Year, MVP type of player. They already knew what Ka tell Marte was Erldo Perdomo was getting to where he was. I think they always knew it. He just had that like he had that energy and you know they pushed. So you want that type of owner because it's not all about the bottom line, it's about the rings.

00:23:50
Speaker 2: Put the rings on that things.

00:23:53
Speaker 1: Kratz, is there a world where they signed Bragman and they really gets the return for kateel Marte on guys that are ready now, yes, Okay, there's no way you would you feel okay about it.

00:24:12
Speaker 3: If they get that top end starting pitcher, If they get that guy that would couple with, you know, the hope of what Mike Soroka is going to do, the hope that Merril Kelly not even hope. I mean, I think he's shown he can be a solid contributor. But you need somebody that for kateel Marte. You need somebody that's going to start game one or game two of your postseason. I'm not saying I'm not saying it has to be somebody that's starting a game one for everybody, but it's somebody that's that's starting, that's starting one of those two games. Just because Corbyn Burns isn't going to be back for a majority of the season, and I think you need somebody depending where he's at, You need somebody to be able to slide into that role. And that's gonna be That's a tough that's a tough return. It's a tough return for the team that's getting rid of them, but it's also a tough return for your scouts saying, I know this guy can definitely start Game two for us if Corbyn Burns is one hundred hitting on all cylinders going into the playoffs. Because this is a Diamondbacks team that they struggled last year. But if you look at all the last few seasons since they were in the World Series, they are right at the cusp. They even they've won more games than they did in their World Series winning season or World World Series making season. They won more games the next year and didn't make the playoffs, So they're right on the cusp. And I think that starting pitcher plus Bregman would definitely I'd be more okay with it than I was when you just say, oh, get rid of Catel, We're gonna get Bregman, Because like I said yesterday, it's not an upgrade. As much as everybody loves Bregman and he's mister consistent, you we have a tough time. You have a tough time backfilling with what Ca tell Marte has done and will do here in the next few years.

00:26:10
Speaker 4: I think pretty standard a lot of people would take Marte over Bregman at this point.

00:26:13
Speaker 2: I think that's not knock on bregmant.

00:26:15
Speaker 4: Marte's just been that good the last five years or however long he's been doing it. My question would be, I don't disagree with you Kratz on needing to get back that guy who can fill in a number two starter like that. But if a team's trading for Marte, they're trying to get better, they're trying to maybe make a run and go for it. Are they going to really let go of that much big league level.

00:26:35
Speaker 2: Talent a guy like that.

00:26:36
Speaker 4: Wouldn't they need him and try to keep him. I feel like they'd be more apt to deal prospects than the big league level talent. Uh, if they're they're trying to upgrade their big league roster already.

00:26:47
Speaker 3: That's why I think it's a small small window of pitchers, Like do the Mariners do the Mariners give up Bryce Miller do the Dodgers give up and it's Shean and maybe Robleski do. It's those are the two that come to my mind right out of the gate, you know, like like you just you look around those teams that are on that friends that want to upgrade, you know, do the Red Sox the Red Sox, I get it. They have they have uh Campbell at second base. Yeah, at second, but he's in the minor leagues. They signed him to an extension so they would need an upgrade at second if they don't get Bregman, but they're not. They don't have enough pitching that you would you would that they would match up. It's a small it's a small window of teams. Yeah, I don't. And but I think those two teams, the Dodgers and the Mariners, that's where That's where I see the Mariners being high up there. And I know everybody needs depth and starting pitching, and the Mariners saw that last year. They needed depth because the year before everybody stayed healthy. It's not going to happen. But when you have the depth and the quality depth like the Mariners have, I've been calling for it and they did it little bit last year going to get Suarez and and Naylor at the trade deadline. Now is the ka tell Marte piece that makes the Mariners a the American League favorites? In my opinion, it does that makes that lineup and that starting rotation and that bullpen the best team in the American.

00:28:23
Speaker 1: League right Planco had a really strong postseason, but he's nowhere. And a strong year mate, Yeah, and a strong year and a strong year he did.

00:28:32
Speaker 3: He had like he had a plus one thirty two ops plus. I think like that's why he got twenty million a year. But when you start talking about katel Marte for seventeen a year now at the level that he's doing it at, well, Kip, you know you were. You were an incredible offensive second baseman. Katl Marte is doing things that other guys are not doing at that position.

00:28:58
Speaker 4: I think he's the best second basement in the league right now. I think pretty trying to think of who else would be above him.

00:29:04
Speaker 2: He does it all.

00:29:05
Speaker 4: He's a gamer, he shows up every day. No, he's one of the most reliable guys that you can just put his name in and not think twice.

00:29:12
Speaker 1: And later this. Yeah, that's a bargain, right, because Kip. I mean, I think Boba Schet is eventually going to sign with the team as a second baseman, and I think he'll immediately become one of the best second basemen in baseball. I think he'll be able to handle the position and be above average, and then he'll be a top three bat at the position. He's going to cost like two hundred million dollars. It's basically double coutel.

00:29:38
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, that's that's kind of how the game works, though, the you from football to baseball or anything. Guys signed these big deals and then five years later those deals look cheap compared to the inflation of the next deals. So Marte's deals looking better and better the more that all these other deals are coming out.

00:29:54
Speaker 2: That's why.

00:29:55
Speaker 4: Yeah, the Polancal forty surprises me a little bit.

00:29:57
Speaker 2: That number.

00:29:58
Speaker 4: I think they overspent a little bit just to make sure they got their guy. But getting good for him by all means get your money. But if you're looking at Marte's deal, there's not many better deals around there, so value wise at least.

00:30:12
Speaker 1: Hey, let's get to some other notes here from Ken's column this morning, he posted about Jorge Polanco. We just brought him up. He said. The Rays were Kratz's two favorite words related to him. The Rays were in on Jorge Polanco and they got out bid, but they were trying for him, and they said, cool, this guy can play anything infield besides shortstop, which was his original position. But he's not really a big league shortstop anymore. So first, second, third, DH and you anticipate if they had done that Kratz, they would trade Brandon Lauer Yandi dis So if you're the Raise, you're probably looking shrewdly and saying, Okay, I can spend probably similar money AAV on him compared to what Yandhi and Blau are costing me next year year, I can trade those guys since they're both entering their final seasons. I believe definitely b Lao Yandi. I have to look up to confirm that I have gotten conflicting.

00:31:13
Speaker 3: I think it's I think it's Yandi's last year and both of them. I guessed, go ahead team.

00:31:19
Speaker 1: I think he has a club op. Okay, I think I'm right on this because I was on a Raised podcast recently and they said he was a free agent, and then I looked it up and I wrote it down, and you can't always find everything, but twelve million for twenty twenty six for Yandy, ten million dollar club option or thirteen million investing option if you hit the five hundred played appearances. So I think he does actually have two years left. So it's two years of Yandy, one year of b Lao. So in my mind, Kratz, it would have been signed Polanco, trade Brandon Lao and boom, there you go. You get a return for a guy who's about to leave, and you signed Polanco for a similar number. Oops, your number wasn't big enough. They probably were like throwing him fifteen and he ends up with twenty plus a year.

00:32:04
Speaker 3: So I'm gonna kind of go against that only for the simple fact I know he didn't sign there, but I know the Rays have made two year deals for guys that were exam were exactly what other teams offer. Now, were they a little short money wise? Maybe, and maybe that's why Polonka went to the Mets. Or just like when DJ Lemayhew signed with the Yankees his two year deal that he ended up signing and winning a batting title, he got the exact same offer from the Rays and he felt like the Yankees were at a better spot in the sense of, hey, you know what we can You know, I can make the playoffs sooner. So maybe that's what Polanka was thinking, or maybe it was just a dollar for dollar thing. But the Rays on the shorter term deals, I say two years to four years, they have been in the market for or offering the same amount of money that other teams have been offering. I just don't think they have that offer, you know, where it's like, oh, yeah, we're ready to win right now. It's just more of like, hey, if this is the same amount of money, you know, I'm not going to go to a place isn't quite ready to win right now. And so let's say in this scenario that it was two years, forty millions or twenty million a year. Is his versatility really that big that you'd be willing to get rid of Brandon Lao, who I think is number two all time on the home run list. I'm not sure. I know he was climbing up the board in Ray's history, but you would just because he's more versatile like Jorge Polanco DH last year he played all of one inning at first base, and I think don't quote me on this, but I think he played like ten ten games at second base?

00:33:59
Speaker 1: No no played, no no, no, that part you're off you played? Do?

00:34:02
Speaker 3: Do I have it mixed up?

00:34:04
Speaker 1: I got this season escapes me quick, But I feel like I watched you know, enough Mariner games and saw him filling in at second base. It felt like more of a split, if I had to guess. But let's let's look this up together. And it was smart. It kept him off his feet more. How many thirty.

00:34:20
Speaker 3: Four starts at second base? Thirty eight games eighty seven, DH's That doesn't sound like somebody that's versatile. It doesn't sound like somebody that's yeah, he's willing to play third, second, first. That doesn't mean the year before that, the year before that he played one hundred and nine. So what happened last year? What happened last year? Was it the fact that how they built the roster of the Mariners said, you know, we don't need you that many times, but to drop seventy games, Kip, if did you ever drop seventy games games played at one at second base from one year to.

00:34:56
Speaker 2: The next, Yeah, nineteen and then COVID year the new.

00:35:04
Speaker 3: Thanks Steven a but like off a position, when you're moved off a position, I have a hard time believing that you're all of a sudden just gonna be like, yeah, I'll go play everywhere. I'm not saying he's all time DHS, but this is why I blasted it for the Mets. And if I'm not gonna blast it for the Mets, why am I not gonna blast it for the race? Twenty million dollars for a guy who supposedly will play third, second, first DH. Maybe it'll work, but is that the most value? Is that more value than branded allow playing every single day? Or if he's healthy at second base, that's a team.

00:35:49
Speaker 4: That if he drops seventy games, starting seventy games less than next year, is either something happened or some opinion changed from the organization to where yeah, I'm with you on that one.

00:36:01
Speaker 1: How about this, which player would you rather have at second base just for next season? Or Hey, Polanco or Brandon.

00:36:07
Speaker 3: Lau That's easy for me, Brandon Lau.

00:36:13
Speaker 1: Wow, Okay. I think they probably looked at the two this is what the Rays would do and said it's close enough. Let's bring on Polanco. Planco has less swing and miss I mean they're very different hitting profiles. Las big pop, big swing and miss guy Planco will give you a kind of a mix. But like you said, you're a lot less second base lately. Yeah, I guess you're right. Two years ago, the strike out numbers were.

00:36:39
Speaker 3: High, right, they were. Really That's why they that's why they brought them in. They said, they said, oh yeah, you know, we're we want we want less strikeout guys. And they went to the Mariners and they were like, come on, Jorge, you can strike out too. And he was like, okay, cool, it's no problem. Nobody's nobody's gonna give me a tough time.

00:36:59
Speaker 1: He's needed a year. It was a year. Buffer.

00:37:01
Speaker 3: Oh, the batter's eye. The batter's eye was angled.

00:37:04
Speaker 1: It was tough to sy Yeah, exactly.

00:37:07
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's what he said.

00:37:09
Speaker 1: That's what he said.

00:37:11
Speaker 3: That's what he said.

00:37:12
Speaker 1: That's what he said. Tiger's President of baseball Operation, Scott Harris, has been fielding a number of questions about the future of the franchise. They went through your classic rebuild. They've had a nice run the last couple of years. That included getting very very close to advancing past the Seattle Mariners. They lost in that game five, but again, you know, he looked at a team that kind of collapsed down the stretch, still made the playoffs, Still be Cleveland. It's back to back seasons where the results are strong, and you want to build on that because you went through the pain previously. Instead, Tiger's fans are frustrated. They're dealing with Derek's Google trade rumors and not a ton of action and whispers about what's happening right Some reliever signings cute Kenlee Jansen and Kyle Finnegan, but will the Tigers do something big? Scott Harris was asked about this and his response has gone viral. And this team is going to change. This roster is going to change.

00:38:12
Speaker 5: So like on the pitching side, for instance, like last year around this time, nobody really was talking about Droy Melton, and now all of a sudden, he's a huge part of what we're doing. Like, there are a lot of young players that are coming right now, a lot of guys that aren't necessarily top of mind, but they're going to be top of mine this summer. They are going to be a huge part of this and we have to make space for that sort of natural change here, So Becauson, I understand by the nature of the question that the roster and the offense looks the same. Yeah, I agree that the names are very similar right now, but this team is not the same. This team is changing on an individual and a collective level.

00:38:49
Speaker 1: That segment brought to you by Captain Obvious. Yes, nobody is the same on a day to day basis, but I would say this right to him if he was on the show, Kip, that's not really the answer people are looking for. And also everyone's aware that players are going to get better, some players are actually going to get worse. But they're asking you about a change in personnel, not a significant one, but for example, can you switch up the offense a little bit by adding a bat. That's the kind of question that was asked, and the answer feels insulting to the crowd because it's like, well, we aren't the same, You're going to get a different version of Riley Green and Troy Melon.

00:39:26
Speaker 4: By his reasoning, every other team is getting better too, because all their players should be also along that same thing. Well, they're also the other teams are making moves, so they're getting better players who are getting better at the same time exponentially getting better now as a team.

00:39:42
Speaker 2: No, it's not the right answer.

00:39:44
Speaker 4: I would imagine he would want that back or just to hey, kicking the butt to go make some moves here or something. Because you are on the verge of becoming a good playoff team and having a deep run. You've been right there the last couple of years. They did collapse down the last month, but they made up for it. No, no fan wants to hear, hey, everything's fine. When when you didn't win the World Series the preentire year.

00:40:11
Speaker 3: I'll tell you when everything was not fine. We're not even talking about the second half when I even talked they made the playoffs, they squeaked in. Since Friday, October tenth, at like I'm gonna say, twelve thirty at night, it may have been October eleventh at like one thirty, the Tigers still haven't scored a run. I think their last run that that game was in the sixth inning. So you know what, No, it's not okay. This team was so close to going to the American League Championship Series and they have the best pitcher for one more year. I want a GM as reckless as it can be But as a fan, I want a GM to say, yes, I'm going to push. I'm going to push to get a guy in here that will make these young players, which hey are going to get better because they have another year in their repertoire, another year under their belt. To me, this is when you put your job on the line and it's okay to say I'm willing to put this job on the line, and the organization says, ownership says, that's cool. I like that. We know it could make us take a step back in two or three years, or it could propel us to be a beast of the American League Central, which is winnable every single year, and you push forward because you have a guy that can change an entire five game series in Trek Scoble pitching twice.

00:41:41
Speaker 1: Here's the thing with the Tigers, it's a different regime these days. We are now years away from how Mike Illich operated the team, and this is just generally how it works. You pass it on to the next generation. They're going to run it differently. They're often going to run it more quote efficient, and they don't look at it like we talked about earlier. Ken Kendrick and his toy and suddenly deciding he really likes Alex Bragman or he really liked Corbyn Burns. That's just not how most of the next generation works when they get past a team, and so let's take it a step further, then they look for someone who's aligned with their values, that is running the day to day in the front office. So that is what Scott Hires believes in and does put you in a position to compete and maybe put together something that consistently pumps out prospects and good young players. Kip, but where are we right now? We're at a point where this team could push it in and two years from now they don't have Schooble and you know they're in a weird spot. Okay, people aren't going to be looking at you like what you have to keep going. I mean, you hope that the team's in a good spot where everybody got better, because everybody's getting better every single day in life. But the point is that I think fan look at things much simpler than the viewpoint that is pushed out to them. Right, it's all about the long term vision, and you know, everyone's getting better every day and we're being really methodical about what we do and how we evaluate, and we don't want to block anyone be a free agency, like not fuck all that you guys rebuilt for a while. Now you're in your winning window. Put the fricking cherry on top, and then we'll worry about the shit in a few years.

00:43:25
Speaker 3: That's it.

00:43:26
Speaker 1: That's the whole name of the game. And when it starts to get really cute with like the terminology that nobody likes, it gets really frustrating. So we're actually taking it easy on this case. Right now in Detroit, they're having a field day with this stuff because they're pissed off. They're like, we've been waiting. This is the one time where you either make a decision you're not going to pay Tarek Schoogle, you trade his as because you're gonna get a lot for him, or you keep him for one more year and you load the hell up and have a chance to win a World Series this season.

00:43:58
Speaker 3: I agree. I agree.

00:44:00
Speaker 4: Doing nothing, you're you're basically saying I'm doing something by doing nothing, and you're gonna look back on it and being like I didn't do a crap once once you realize if it doesn't work out. It's like every GM hopes all their players get better. Every player hopes all their players get better. But that's not a move, it's not you're not telling a fan base. Hey, we respect you guys. We're going to try to put the best product out there. The best product is not standing pat on something that didn't work the prior year, in my opinion.

00:44:30
Speaker 1: But that's just my It's also bad business. It's just bad business, dude. Like the off season is a bad hope, excitement, season ticket sign ups. It's it's just bad optics. We we are getting better, our players are getting better. I've got one guy who's doing the you know who's who's at the gym right now, and he's on They're.

00:44:52
Speaker 4: They're getting better. You're not getting better. They're helping the team get better. What are you doing as a GM to help the team get better?

00:44:58
Speaker 3: Then?

00:45:00
Speaker 2: Wise, why are you there?

00:45:01
Speaker 4: Because all the players are working hard and trying to improve it already. That's then then they're trying to get better. They're getting better. What are you doing, though, to help them get better? It sounds like nothing at the point.

00:45:10
Speaker 3: I think we just had Zach Rosenthal. I know this gets clipped and everything. We just had Zach rosenthal On who was in the or in the front office with the Rockies, and I would love to ask him. Why do gms not say, yes, I want to push all in? Is it because they really really want and want to keep that job for as long as possible because you're going to be out of that GM role at some point. Don't you want to say, I'm pushing all in. I want to be the best I can possibly be this season while also being the best I can be next season while the best Like that is what players do because players know you might play ten years, you might play one year. And players that have regrets at the end their career are always the players who didn't put everything they had into it they could. They're like, man, I wish as a rookie, I wouldn't have jacked around so much. I wish I had done more of this because I noticed it later in my career. It was more like the guys who didn't put everything into it have more regrets. I wonder if gms feel that way too, And here's.

00:46:24
Speaker 1: My thing, No, I mean they feel that way, but they can't say anything. Although some don't feel that way. I actually genuinely believe that Scott Harris is just very careful and calculated one of those super careful calculated guys. Ken Rosenthal brought it up. He's as dialed in as anyone on the Maxia Beach GM. I mean, it sounds like Scott Harris is very much the opposite of Dave Dombrowski. And that's a thing, right. Everybody has their style. He's fitting to the style of who the owner wanted to hire. I think the thing that's pissing everyone off is that most Tiger fans are being pretty rational. They know they're not about to sweep the free agent field, but they're like, can you give us something Gwen did? Detroit all completely into low market abyss and the team's doing well. They're showing up butts are putting in seats.

00:47:06
Speaker 3: Right.

00:47:06
Speaker 1: One big move Kratz right one can completely change things and as you guys know, completely changed the clubhouse. You show up spring training, you're like, let's fucking go, look who showed.

00:47:16
Speaker 3: Up one guy. Because we look at it on such a linear level, that's that game. That game. At the end of the year, it probably wouldn't even have gotten a game five to be honest, and then you would have had Trek Scuebell pitching in Game one of the American League Championship Series, probably Game four and again in Game seven. But one guy could have changed that one guy in that lineup. Did they try for Alex bragmant? Absolutely, But this is what I'm talking about. You can pay anybody to try get it across the line. What does it take. I'm not saying they need help at second base because Glaber just came back. He signed, you know, he took the qualifying offer. But what if they had ka Tell Marte there's a lot of what ifs, but push those what ifs off the table. I get it. You're not in on Kyle Tucker. That's fine. One guy that is an aircraft carrier, that is a difference maker, changes your entire season last year. Don't let it happen again. Don't let Trek scooble go without seeing a World Series in Detroit because I know fans. Kip knows this, he played in the division. Fans come out and watch their team in Detroit.

00:48:29
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, Oh that's a hard place to play. When those fans show up, that place gets me mocking.

00:48:35
Speaker 3: And it's so weird because it's like a it's a single level stadium. You know, it feels like they're like on top of you. It almost feels you know, it's just different. I feel like it's different. Play against them early early tens, twenty tens when they were when they were the bomb dot Com, it was like, oh man, this lineup is suffocating. These starting pitchers are suffocating, these fans are suffol I love it because it's such a passionate city for their city, like you're Detroit, like you love your city of Detroit.

00:49:10
Speaker 2: Facts.

00:49:10
Speaker 1: All right, let's see what they do. They've got a couple months to figure this out. And it's really just one move that can win fans back over because they're pissed right now and they shouldn't be coming off that postseason. Also, maybe they're just looking at it too soon and not waiting for the right move to happen. But this particular quote is why we want to spend ten minutes on it. It went super viral. I'm like flipping through things last night on Twitter and this quote just keeps popping up again and again, and people are like, bro, really think if you were sitting with your buddy and He's trying to explain something super basic to you, and you're like, is that really what you just explained? Like, your players are gonna probably get better the same exact ones you're teaching me about development, got it, let's lap. Sorry, I can't I cut you with our cool animation by accident, you got last word here?

00:50:10
Speaker 2: What do you What do you got to say?

00:50:12
Speaker 4: Isn't isn't the definition of insanity trying the same thing over and over and expecting different results.

00:50:17
Speaker 1: So yes, it's just it's just not the answer. It's just such a tough answer to say. Yeah, we are getting better. Look, I mean, Ft is better, Kratz is here today, he's better than he was yesterday. Actually it's not even true, right, Yeah, half your players might get better next year, and half your players might get worse because there's no chance it is not physically possible for next year in MLB every single to be a better every single player to be a better version of himself. You can't have everybody's eras go down and everybody's hitting stats go up. It's not possible.

00:50:52
Speaker 2: Doesn't work that way.

00:50:54
Speaker 1: New But.

00:50:56
Speaker 3: I was better today than I was yesterday.

00:50:59
Speaker 1: But I think you're better every day.

00:51:01
Speaker 3: Because Jason made me better.

00:51:04
Speaker 2: We make each other better. Bud, miss you guys.

00:51:09
Speaker 1: Missed you too, dude. It's good to see you have a great holiday, right. I don't think we'll catch it until January. We don't have many shows left. We'll say thirty, we only have three shows left, and then I will say we've been racking up some cool content that we are going to unveil between Christmas Eve and New Year's so that we keep you entertained on the YouTube channel and on the podcast feed. We'll get into that more as we continue. We also have an event announcement tomorrow, so we'll see you then.

00:51:38
Speaker 2: Awesome.

00:51:39
Speaker 3: I don't even know it. I'm so excited I'll be here.

00:51:42
Speaker 1: You're not invited.

00:51:43
Speaker 3: But it hurts. It hurts in crazy nights