Fair Territory: Chourio IL’d, Roki Sasaki road bump, Mets sign Pham

00:00:00
Speaker 1: Welcome everyone to the Thursday edition of Fair Territory, and happy opening Day to all. It's not the Netflix Opening Day, this is the real opening day. Today slate of games ahead of us and Alana. Actually, we have some news this morning to get into. First. Tommy Fam minor league deal with the New York Mets. He returns to the Mets, where he was in twenty twenty three. If you remember, he played there in the first half, then got traded to the Diamondbacks at the deadline. The Mets needed another outfielder for depth because Mike Talkman, of course, blew out his knee at the end of spring training, a very unfortunate injury for him. They're going with Carson Benji in right field, but Fam will at least present them with another option. And he's a guy that in my view, should have had a deal quite some time ago. This is a minor league deal, I know, and the demand for him and his age thirty six, I believe is not going to be what it was. But it's a quality major league player. And I'll add this before throwing it over to you, Alana. Francisco Lindor when he was on the Mets, before he was traded, or actually right after he was traded, but before he left the team, he told Tommy fam you're the hardest working guy I've ever seen. Thank you for teaching me to work hard again. So I am sure Lindor welcome this news. And now I welcome my friend and fellow red wearing.

00:01:18
Speaker 2: I'm going to go with Maroon or maybe Murlou. Happy New Year to you, Ken Rosenthal, Happy opening day everybody out there. Thanks for being with us on fair territory. I tell you what, it got a lot to get into today. Let's get into the rest of the lead powered by Game Changer. More on Game Changer in a moment, and Ken Brewers plays Jackson Churio on the il with a fractured left hand. This is a team Ken that many think could win the NL Central. How does this affect them moving forward?

00:01:46
Speaker 1: It affects them, no question, at least early in the season. Now Churio will be out two to four weeks. This is kind of a weird deal. So he injured the hand in an exhibition while playing for Venezuela. It was March fourth, West Palm Beach and originally he missed two games, then came back and played throughout the WBC and it didn't seem to be an issue, but he continued to bother him. So it turns out, yes, he has a fractured left hand. And for the Brewers, obviously, he's a guy who is still on the rise. He's so young still and such a talented player. They're going to bring back Blake Perkins, another right handed hitting outfielder. The rest of their outfield is left handed. It's Frielich and Garrett Mitchell and Jake Bowers. Pat Murphy has said he said this on MLB Network this morning, that Christian Yellwick may play some more outfield in the interim. Obviously, this is a blow for the Brewers, at least temporarily. One other point here, I'm sure people will say, oh.

00:02:42
Speaker 3: Here we go WBC injuries, But this was actually an injury he suffered in an exhibition game in Florida, and really the WBC kind of escaped injury free for the most part this time around.

00:02:55
Speaker 1: Kyle Teel, of course with the White Sox, had the strained hamstring, says Suzuki the issue, but these are injuries that might have occurred in spring training. There wasn't a rash of injuries due to the WBC, at least not yet. So so far, so good on that front for the most part, and for the Brewers they should be okay. It's just something they have to patch together for the next few weeks.

00:03:16
Speaker 2: Yeah, the WBC, as far as injuries are concerned, pretty unscathed, if you will. Hopefully those three can get back soon and start contributing to their team. Opening Day is here, Ken, So let's get into your twelve storylines piece that you wrote for the Athletic Let's start with the Los Angeles Daughters in pursuit of a three peat, Ken, Rosenthal. But they have to figure out what to do with Roki Sasaki and the pitching struggles. What do you make of those?

00:03:42
Speaker 1: It's interesting a lot at first. I saw, obviously the struggles and we've all seen the struggles the spring, and I wonder why are the Dodgers putting him in the rotation, But they want to find out and they want him to learn on the fly. Here they've got Blake Snell on the IL to open the season and Stone as well on the IL to open the season. They have depth and they can win the World Series without Sasaki making a significant contribution. But I spoke with someone close to Sasaki just a couple of nights ago, and he is convinced that Sasaki is going to figure this out and he's going to be a quality pitcher for the Dodgers. Now, if that happens, great, If it doesn't happen, they've got pretty good depth. We've been talking about this all spring. Justin Robleski is effectively their sixth starter. They've got River Ryan in triple A. They've got the two guys on the IL that I mentioned that are coming back. So I would expect the Dodgers are going to be okay. And heaven forbid, they have a need of the deadline, what are they going to do? They're going to trade for a starting pitcher, but I don't necessarily anticipate that at this point.

00:04:48
Speaker 2: Katie Wu, your colleague with The Athletic are co host on Dodgers' Territory, talk to Dave Roberts about it. She has a quote in her story that Dave said, I don't think that you can completely just bank on or evaluate spring training or an exhibition game. Roberts said, but yeah, it hasn't been great. It really hasn't. And we know that the standard needs to be better. He knows that we know that. So we'll see what happens with Rochi Sasaki. All right, Ken, When we were asked to put our predictions together for who is going to win every single category in Major League Baseball going into the twenty twenty sixth season, I picked the Mariners to win the Al West. Is the industry sleeping on the Astros?

00:05:26
Speaker 1: First off, I don't know that the Mariners are a team that we should be overlooking in any way. Some people are picking them as you are, allow us to go to the World Series, maybe even win the World Series. And if you look at the projections that you see on Fanggrafts and Pakoda, they will say or they will tell you that the Mariners outside of the Dodgers, have the best odds of winning their division. Now that said, the question you raise is quite vouid. Are we sleeping on the Astros? Well, we might be, And here's why their rotation with the additions of Mike Burrows and Tetsuya Ima has improved looks better. Mccullors also is at least starting the season somewhat healthy. Then you have a situation where yes, they do have a surplus of infielders. Jeremy Panya coming off that injury is going to open the season with the team, and they have parades. They've got Altuve, They've got Correa, They've got Christian Walker. It's too much, right, but let's see how that all plays out. And it's a talented team. It's a team that we can never discount. They always seem to be there and I expect they're going to be there again to some extent. But that's it. The Mariners are really good, and they're really good because of their additions in the offseason Ferrara in the bullpen, Donovan to their lineup and offense overall. And they also have some young players. Colt Emerson, one of the top prospects in the game, will be ready at some point to play the infield. Cole Young at second base had a monster spring. They're high on him. I just see them as the team to beat, and maybe in the entire al I do like the Tigers as well, though.

00:07:05
Speaker 2: One of the questions that was asked in terms of predictions Ken going into this season was the first manager to be fired, which is interesting to me. I kind of chuckled at that I did not pick Joe Espada to be that manager. But in the article you mentioned that both GM Dana Brown of the Astros and Joe Espada, the manager of the Stros, could face seat warmers on lame duck deals. Tell us more about that.

00:07:29
Speaker 1: Well, they're in the last years of their contracts, respectively. And Jim Crane, the owner, we have seen that he has a high bar of excellence. He wants to compete every single year, and for the most part they have. He's been a very successful owner. And you remember, of course, after the twenty twenty two World Series, which they won with James Click as general manager, James Klick left. He was not brought back. They gave him a one year offer. He didn't want it. So Jim Crane will change up things a little bit if he believes it's necessary. Now. They didn't make the playoffs last year for the first time since twenty sixteen. If it happens again, or if these season ends in some disappointing fashion, yes, I can see Crane certainly doing something because his history would be Hey, I want excellence, I want the best, and if you're not winning, you might be out all right.

00:08:21
Speaker 2: The lead is powered by Game Changer, the number one youth sports app that helps you coach smarter, connect live, and replay the action. Learn more at GC dot com. Ken, I want to ask you about your four teams here in terms of surprise teams. We talked about perhaps the industry sleeping on the Astros, but you have some surprise teams. The Astros not one of them. But hardly anybody seems to be talking about the Miami Marlins like you are. What do you know that we don't.

00:08:49
Speaker 1: I don't know that I know anything that anybody doesn't. And in this story, as I point out, I've been covering the game now, this is my fortieth season, and it seems like I still haven't figured it out. No one figures it out. That's the beauty of baseball. That's what keeps us coming back year after year. What I like about the Marlins is that they made a big jump last year, sixty two wins to seventy nine. They have a group of talented young players in the outfield, in particular right now with Marcia and Casey Stowers is opening the season hurt, but they've got an interesting group and they play the game hard, they play it right, They're kind of the Brewers Southeast and beyond all that they have starting pitching at least to start the season. It's healthy and the question is going to be do they keep al Kontada past the deadline? We don't know, but I do like them now. They're in a tough division obviously, and the other surprise teams that I mentioned, the Royals, the Reds, the A's, they might stand somewhat better chances, though the A's pitching probably didn't merit them being on this list. The Pirates maybe should have been on it. But anyway, I do like the Marlins and I do like the way they play, and that goes a long way toward why I think under Clayton McCall, who did a terrific job last year, they might make another step forward this year.

00:10:04
Speaker 2: Ken, Why do you think the Pirates could possibly qualify for a surprise team this year? You just quickly mentioned them.

00:10:10
Speaker 1: Simply because of the work that they did in the offseason with bringing in Brandon Law and the others that they brought in. Of course, Ryan O'Hearn and the prospect Connor Griffin is just about ready to come. He's going to start the season at Triple a. I also forgot Marcella Zuna there. They've built a more respectable offense. They have one of the most talented rotations potentially in the game, led by the best pitcher in the sport, Paul Skins. I just believe that they feel finally more urgency and they're going to play with more urgency I would expect, and that's never been a problem. The players are fine in terms of how they tried, the front office, the ownership, they haven't tried as hard. Now they're trying, and I expect them to be a formidable team. And if Griffin comes up makes it an then it's something else entirely. It's the same thing with McGonagall in Detroit. If McGonagall is what the Tigers think he is and what the industry thinks he is, that could be transformative for their offense, and then it's a different kind of team.

00:11:15
Speaker 2: Kevin McGonagall is my AL pick for AL Rookie of the Year. Sorry, Kevin, I probably just jinxed Jim. All Right, we're gonna come back with Gorilla and Ken in just a minute. After a word from our sponsor, We'll.

00:11:27
Speaker 1: Be right back.

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00:12:34
Speaker 2: Welcome you in to grill and Ken your opportunity to ask Ken rosenthals some burning questions. Get those questions into the chat. I swear this is not our producer slash director Jeremy Meyer asking about Yoshida all of the time. He is a Red Sox owmer. However, Ken, what will the Red Sox do with Masataka Yoshida?

00:12:53
Speaker 1: We get this questioned a lot, and for good reason, Alana. Actually, there is no place for Masataki Yoshida on the Red Sox. There simply isn't. Now he might be on the team, but he's not going to play. Why they have four outfielders will You're brave, Jaron durand Roman Anthony and Saddan Rafaela, all quality players. You need the DH spot for one of those guys. You're not gonna play Yoshida very often over one of those players. So they've been in this position really the entire offseason and they have yet to address it. Perhaps they just can't do it. And he's got two years left, good money, and it's a problem, but it's not viable. And once Tristan Cassis comes back, which will happen at some point, then it becomes even less viable. So I don't know where this is going. He seems like a DFA waiting to happen, and honestly, for his own benefit, he needs to get out of there. He needs to go be in a position where he can play again, and that would be beneficial to him and ultimately for the Red Sox too, though they're going to have to pay him.

00:13:57
Speaker 2: Sorry, Ken, why do you think they held on to him as long as they did? I remember covering this Red Sox team last season, and I was very concerned that. Of no disrespect to him, obviously, but if Masataka Yoshida is your DH and you're the Boston Red Sox, there's an issue there. I mean, he's not known as a power hitter. Why do you think they held on to him as long as they did? And is this a situation where they might just cut bait.

00:14:20
Speaker 1: I don't have the money in front of me, the contract, but as I said, it's two years. It's significant money. So that's the reason you couldn't trade him for that reason, and you held him because we don't want to just eat the money just yet. Maybe something will come up, and you never know, players do get injured and different situations emerge. But this has gone on too long. It's unworkable, and at some point it's going to reach ahead.

00:14:44
Speaker 2: Okay, switching our focus now to the National League East? Who do you think wins that division? I know you're high on the Marlins going into twenty twenty six. I don't think you're willing to say they'll take the East, But who do you think win's the division?

00:14:56
Speaker 1: Write a lot. I was going to say not that high. I would say the Mets right now, but I'm not totally convinced of anything here. And I hate making picks because one, my picks are always terrible. Two my feeling on picks is tell me who's going to get hurt, tell me who's going to get traded, and I'll tell you who's going to win. But we don't know these things. We don't know who's getting hurt, we don't know who's getting traded. The Mets have immense talent, there's no question about that. The Phillies cannot be discounted, especially because Wheeler looks like he's going to be back sooner rather than later. But I was expecting I would be picking the Braves and their rotation has just fallen apart due to injuries, and that's the problem that they're gonna have. But I would say the Mets right now, but I'm not like feverish about it.

00:15:45
Speaker 2: I don't know, Probably not as confident as who you were likely going to pick for the NL West. What about those Sacramento athletics. Ken, This person wants to know if the A's are gonna make the playoffs this year, Please tell Adam that they are. If in fact, Adam is an as fan, I don't.

00:16:02
Speaker 1: Know, Adam. I don't know the answer to that. I do expect them to hit like crazy. Their lineup is really good. It's only gotten better with McNeil coming aboard. Jeff McNeil, it should kind of stabilize them even more. I can't wait to see Nick Kurtz for a full season, Jacob Wilson, all these guys, and of course Langeleers and Soderstrom, all the players that they have offensively, and I'm forgetting Brent Rooker and a few others. They're impressive. It's an impressive group. The question with them is going to be the pitching, and it's been the question. It's been the thing that's been difficult for them to address to a large extent. But if they get reasonable pitching, probably even mediocre pitching, they could be an interesting team.

00:16:45
Speaker 2: We asked you this question earlier in regards to the astros, ken, if the industry is sleeping on the astros, are we sleeping as a collective on the Orioles rotation?

00:16:57
Speaker 1: No, your rotation is better, It's deeper, but it still lacks what you would call a true number one. Now there aren't many true number ones in the sport, but Bradish and Rogers have that potential, and Rogers pitch like that last year. Bradish has pitched like that in the past. It's just that with Rogers, can he do it again? Will the innings mount to him? Be a problem? And with Bratish it's kind of the same situation. First full year removed from Tommy John. Then you've got Shane Boss, who has all the potential in the world. You've got Zach Eflin, and you've got a situation where you've been able now with Chris Basst coming aboard to send Dean Kramer to the miners. So I like where they are from a depth standpoint. They also have some younger pitchers that they like. I just don't know whether it's dominant enough, and hey, you can address that at the deadline. You can do that in any number of ways, so I expect them to be an interesting team. To say the least, They too are going to hit, and yes, their rotation is going to be better. They've got some rush in the bullpen. But that is definitely a team that we're all anxious to see play this year with all the work that they've done in the offseason.

00:18:07
Speaker 2: Also, staying in the AL East, we'll talk about the New York Yankee, specifically Aaron Judge Ken four punch outs yesterday, that is not the Aaron Judge way. We know that he's going to get it together. Obviously, if Judge doesn't win the AL MVP, which he certainly is always in the running, four, who do you think realistically has the best chance? Jj inn Alaska wants to.

00:18:26
Speaker 1: Know Bobby Witt Junior. And this is a guy who almost won the MVP two years ago, and some would say you should have won the MVP two years ago, but he is only getting better and he's an amazing player as it is. Everything that he offers speed, power, defense, it's incredible package. So yes, I expect him to be in that conversation. I expect him to have a monster year. He's a guy that is one of the biggest stars in the game, but it seems to me is only going to get bigger because he plays in Kansas that he gets overlooked to some degree and he's about to burst onto our consciousness in an even bigger way.

00:19:07
Speaker 2: I'd love to see him be able to get that too. It's kind of hard, though, when Aaron Judge is stepping in the way. Ken is in San Francisco for Yankees Giants on Saturday on Fox and you can stream it on a Fox one can let me ask you this, how is Tony Vytello. He's probably the game's most fascinating managers right now, right because you don't quite know what you're going to get from him. Coming from the college.

00:19:30
Speaker 1: Ranks, there's no way to know. And this is somewhat unprecedented. It happened about one hundred years ago when he had a college guy come from those ranks to become a major league manager without professional experience. It was actually more than a hundred years ago. But for the most part in our game, it is unprecedented. We don't know how he's going to do. And I wrote in there that he has a number of challenges ahead one. He obviously has never managed a one hundred and sixty two game season college seam and is maybe sixty five seventy games, depending on how far you go. He also has to run a bullpen for the first time, a major league bullpen, and that's probably going to be his biggest challenge, particularly when he hasn't been given a great bullpen. So there are a number of things he's going to after adjust to media before and after games in a different way than he did in college. It's every day in major league baseball. But at the same time, those who know him are convinced he is going to succeed. They think this guy has some special charisma, special leadership qualities. The question is whether that team is going to be good enough. They've been basically a five hundred team for four years now. That'll be interesting last night, a side whatever. That's one game, But that's the question with the Giants. How good are they really?

00:20:46
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm sure was the King of Knoxville. Things are a little bit different in the Bay Area. Start your seven day free trial today. Offers are subject to change. Go to foxwe dot com for complete terms and conditions. Fox won Streaming Now We're going to be back with Dude and Dork of the Week right after this.

00:21:04
Speaker 1: Dude, dude, dude, dude.

00:21:13
Speaker 2: All right, ken a lot of guys to choose from this week, which is always a good thing. Who is your Dude of the Week?

00:21:18
Speaker 1: Pete crow Armstrong? And not simply because he received a six year, one hundred and fifteen million dollar extension. That of course is a great accomplishment for any player. But what I like most about this is the structure of the deal. He signed no club options. He becomes a free agent after his age thirty season, so he will get another bite of the apple, presumably if his career progresses in a good way, and that to me was a big win for crow Armstrong. Obviously it's great for the Cubs too. They buy out two free agent years at thirty million a year, which is no small sum. But for crow Armstrong to be able to come into the game the way he has make the impact he has, sign this deal and then become a free agent after his age thirty season, good for him.

00:22:03
Speaker 2: It seems like a win win for both sides. My dude of the week is a Skip Schumacher, the skipper of the Texas Rangers, the way that he went to the mound a mound visit, telling Carter Bombler that he had made the Rangers. And you know, he's probably going out there thinking always coming to take me out of the game or whatever. And you could just see the excitement on everybody's face. Everyone's smiling. Obviously he was a rual, you know, a rule five pick there and he's made the Rangers. I texted Skip after that, I said, you are a legend for this, and all he said was that he's super happy for the kid. That was a really nice way for him to find out that he made the team. Okay, time now for our dork of the week. All right, Ken, go ahead, who's your dork?

00:22:53
Speaker 1: Major League Baseball? Now it's not going to be a screaming hallet like a bansheet dork week because this is a complicated issue. But the story that Evandrellik and I wrote the other day about the coaches having to stay in the coaches boxes this year, new adjustment to the rules and them fearing that they're in harm's way, now, this is a complicated issue. As I just said, major League Baseball wanted to do something after there were a lot of complaints last year and a lot of issues with coaches wandering out of the boxes and trying to pick up pitchers tipping. Okay, that's a problem, and yes it needed to be addressed. In my view, what happened here was they went too far and they didn't consult the coaches. They talked to the managers, and the managers said, yeah, clean this up. But the coaches are the ones who are facing one hundred and ten hundred and fifteen miles per hour coming out them in the coaches boxes. And we had in that story any number of coaches on the record as well as some managers saying, hey, what are we doing here? We have no place to go, we have no place to hide. MLB says, well, you can move back toward the dugout to stay out of harm's way that way, but one coach pointed out, well, that's not really staying out of harm's way. And two, I've got a coach that's the whole point of this. So a mild dork of the week for MLB for not consulting the coaches and not coming up with a better solution. That is kind of something that would fix all of this if possible. I know it's hard and it's hard to figure this all out, but it seems to me there's a happy medium that was not reached here.

00:24:29
Speaker 2: Yeah, Jeremy Meyer pointing out that first page, coach has to be next to the bag too to time the pitcher ken and obviously have the conversation with the folks that it impacts the most. Perhaps for a better solution, mine is the Atlanta Braves. And the reason I say that is there some good pitching still without a job. Lucas Giolito could use it, and the Braves rotation is in a bit of a flux right now. Can Chris Sale, Rinaldo Lopez, Grant Holmes, Brace Elder Diddy or Fuenttez Jose Suarez. But they have a lot of really good arms on the il Joey Wentz, Spencer Star, Spencer, Schwellenbach, Hurston Waldrup. I'm surprised that the Braves did not do more in terms of addressing the starting staff because of the injuries that they've had.

00:25:12
Speaker 1: It's very curious a lot, to say the least. I have not understood it. From the very beginning. They said that their number one priority was a starting pitcher going into the off season, never addressed it all. Right, let's shout out Twin City Territory, the new show in the Foul Territory Network. My colleagues at the Athletic, Zach Pearce and Dan Hayes have your twins bases covered year round. Their first episode is out now. Subscribe on YouTube and wherever you listen to podcasts, welcome Twin Cities Territory.

00:25:38
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's awesome. I tell you what. The Foul Territory family is growing. Ken, let's talk a bit about the padres, some interested parties in the looming sale. Who's going to buy the pods?

00:25:50
Speaker 1: I'm not sure who's going to buy the Milana, but as I wrote with Dennis Lynn yesterday, they're going to go for a lot of money, and we wrote that people close to the process are telling us that it could be as high as three point five billion. Seemingly will be at least three billion. Now, it's complicated because when you have to factor in debt, the price isn't exactly always what the headline price is. But it's going to be big, it's going to be a record. So then the question becomes, Okay, well, how does this affect the negotiations because MLB teams and the owners seemingly are worried about their franchise values. That's why they want a salary cap to ensure their franchise values will be higher, and the padres MLB will argue, I would think are an outlier in some respects Now, they've clearly built their team up in a great way, and it showed what investment can do in a team. But there also are a California team. Most of the investors here or the potential investors, are California based, and not many California teams, if any, are going to come up for sale in the near future, so there's a pent up demand. But at the same time, while they might not be analogous to Cleveland's and Cincinnati and Pittsburgh's, it clearly shows the sport is healthy enough to command this price for this team. I know the Twins didn't do as well, and I know the Nationals didn't, but at the same time, it's going to create some interesting conversation. Let's put it that way as the CBA talks get going.

00:27:17
Speaker 2: Ken, as you know better than anybody, you wrote it. Steve Cohen bought the New York Mets in twenty twenty for two point four to two billion. Multiple sources close to the process that a number north of three billion. Who would have thought that the Padres would be more valuable in terms of purchase price than the Mets.

00:27:33
Speaker 1: It's a credit to them, and it's a credit to what they've built there. And yes they've had to go backwards a little bit with a payroll. They might have gone too far. Okay, we all get that. But Peter Sidler, when he was alive, had a vision and they transformed that franchise into something much more than it was before. Now you can say Peter Sidler was willing to spend in a way and had to wherewithal to spend in a way that the Cleveland ownership couldn't and the Cincinnati ownership couldn't. Well, Cleveland's got new ownership, David Blitzer at some point is going to take over, and maybe you need new owners like Peter Sidler. Even though these markets might not be as lucrative as San Diego, this certainly has been an argument they can spend in a bigger way.

00:28:13
Speaker 2: Well, Peter Sidler wanted to win, that's for certain. God rest his soul. Well, That's it for us. Foul Territory is next Bob Nightingale, Kevin Pullar, Ryan Divis, joined Aj Kratz and Scott Braun. Then Dodgers Territory follows with our post game tonight. Happy Opening Day, everybody, ken. We'll be back on Monday with another episode of Fair Territory.

00:28:32
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