Flaherty, Bieber & Story opt to stay put, Salvy’s new deal, Yu Darvish out = Mason Miller the starter?

00:00:04
Speaker 1: A perk of a Game seven in the World Series. There's basically no downtime Monday hits you recap it. We have we still have manager openings. We had a one filled yesterday and then it's opt in or opt out city, which we're about to cover. So the MLB calendar is really nice a jay for show purposes. For our kind of show, MLB calendar is legit.

00:00:34
Speaker 2: Yeah, just the the free agent period lasts forever, so we always have something to talk about and we always have songs that producer Lady can make about things that you know take too longer than they should.

00:00:47
Speaker 1: Actually, that's a good point real quick before we start. If there's one big storyline to follow, like where will want go from last year? What is it?

00:00:58
Speaker 2: Where will Turk schooble next year? Mmm?

00:01:02
Speaker 3: Mmm, that's a new one side side note B where we'll top Tuck.

00:01:10
Speaker 1: But like, is that does that have as much intrigue as where we want to go?

00:01:14
Speaker 2: He's been injured the last two years? I mean no, not. It's there's not a guy on this year's free agent crop where you're like, man, this guy can like change it because it was supposed to be Vladdie Vladdie Daddy. But Vladdy Daddy instead decided to stay in Toronto for only five hundred million. I don't know how he could just you know, only five hundred million, but he decided to stay, and good for him. But the free agent, the rest of the free agent. Tucker's been hurt the last couple of years. His production went down a little bit. So yeah, bo, I guess bo has banged up though, So who's who's the big name? Maybe that's what I should ask you? Who's the biggest name? Tucker and Boba Schett?

00:01:52
Speaker 1: Kyle Tucker is going to receive the most money. I think Bobachett's name is just as, if not bigger than Kyle's. And Kyle is super low key quiet.

00:02:02
Speaker 2: But is Kyle? Is Kyle a franchise changing guy? Right?

00:02:06
Speaker 3: Like?

00:02:06
Speaker 2: Can he can? He single handedly? Because even Jim Bowden yesterday when we had Jim Boden on, He's like, he needs to go to a team where he's not the guy. Well do you pay a guy four hundred million dollars to not be the guy? Cory Seger?

00:02:19
Speaker 3: Cory Seger ask I would put him in that in that realm where you're like, man, you can pencil him in if he's healthy for an ops plus of you know one, So he's going to do his thing if healthy. But yeah, you can pay four hundred million if Like, I don't think every superstar is the leader of the team.

00:02:42
Speaker 2: I'm trying to think. I didn't say the leader, but I said somebody that you know. You don't have to be the leader, but you have to be someone where that can he is the team is the team is in Cory Seger is that guy in Texas. I'm sorry. The team goes as he goes. I think Tucker us you think you think you think he's a guy, you think he can be Batman and he's not a Robin I do.

00:03:08
Speaker 3: I think he can be. I think if you're looking for that, I mean, I think we've seen it in Corey Seeger. And besides the fact that Cory Seger plays shortstop that that's so tough to have somebody that's not the guy that's not playing a premium position. But I think if you at court Kyle Tucker to a lineup, that is a guy that you're always worried about every time you're playing against him. He can come up with the big hit he's always been. He's always been Robin on the teams. But he's played better than Batman on some of the teams. I guess not this year on the Cubs. He wasn't This year on the Cubs. He was supposed to be the guy, and early in the season Pa was the one getting all the love. PCA was like he was the don and then you know, he still just did what he did, did what Tucker does. Yeah, he didn't have a good year.

00:04:02
Speaker 2: Kyle Tucker will not look at this year and say I didn't have a good year because he missed a lot of it.

00:04:07
Speaker 1: Good game for game numbers, he didn't miss as much as you think. He missed like three.

00:04:10
Speaker 2: But the second half he was not good. But you're paying for the whole season. I get it.

00:04:17
Speaker 3: The second half he wasn't as good. But unless you're gonna tell me he's on the decline, I'm not gonna buy him at all. His second half wasn't as good.

00:04:24
Speaker 2: I didn't say that. I'm just saying the last two years he's been injured and the numbers have not been I mean twenty two homer seventy three RBIs and five hundred of bats is that four hundred and twenty two million. I mean, I'm just asking. This is not an opinion either way. I mean, he was a one forty three OPS plus, which is a little bit higher than his average, which is one forty. For his career. His OPS was down a little bit eight forty one. I mean, I don't know. I'm just I'm just asking, like this isn't I don't have an opinion either way. I don't really care to be honest with you. I hope he gets every dollar. I'm just asking because, like Jim Boden said the other day, is he the guy he needs to be second? I'm not that Jim Boden's opinion. I'm not saying either way. I don't care get seven hundred and fifty million. I don't care, Kyle of whatever they'll pay you take every cent because they're going to try to limit your wages every chance they get.

00:05:15
Speaker 1: Yeah, and he's an all around player. That will change, of course, five years. Right if he signs for ten twelve years, he's not going to be known for his defense in base running five to seven years from now. My point is, right now, he's the middle of the lineup superstar. When he's healthy. The last two years, he has missed some pretty decent time. It was really two years ago where he missed half the year, But before that he had a really good run of durability. I mean, you look at some of the injuries, I don't think they're chronic. So I think that if you're buying into him, he'll be a factor in terms of playing time. Like, I don't think this is suddenly an injury prone player. But he's super quiet, and so I wouldn't look at him as the team leader galvanizing the boys. But like krat said, the Rangers go as Corey Seeger goes. He's not galvanizing the crew.

00:06:06
Speaker 2: So Kevin, what did Kevin Pallara say about the Rangers?

00:06:13
Speaker 1: But they want but they want.

00:06:17
Speaker 2: No, I'm not. I'm not arguing that at all. Le Tucker's won too, Kyle Tucker one in twenty two. That's right.

00:06:23
Speaker 1: It's good debate. So we'll go over it to recap. Though, I actually think where will bo Go would flow better in terms of some type of fun animation. If producer Lady is listening, I think that would be fun. Plus, you're coming off the World series appearance for the Blue Jays and they're so excited and it would be devastating if he leaves. So where will bo go does stand out to me more than where will Tuck tuck? And something on terror trade rumors or something sounds intriguing. So just some fun that could pop up. I would like something annoying to.

00:06:59
Speaker 2: Not a producer. Ladies listening. She's listening. I'm pretty sure she does, making.

00:07:03
Speaker 1: Sure whole lot in case she's checking in a guest or something. You know, if there's some eighties music that fits the vibe, we're just throwing it out there. All right, let's charge let's charge out. There have been a ton of opt outs. Most of them makes sense. There have been some opt ins over the last twenty four hours. Let's start with Jack Flaherty. He's gonna stay with the Tigers for twenty twenty six. If he hit fifteen starts, which he did this past season, it gave him the ability to have a twenty twenty six to twenty million dollar option. If he didn't take this, because I think this is important, AJ the Tigers could have thrown a qualifying offer at him because if you remember, he'd never had the qualifying offer before that he was traded during the twenty twenty four season to the Dodgers, so he didn't have to deal with it at the time. I don't think free agency went quite as he thought it would last go round, and he has been vocal about how it sucked. So thoughts on this decision.

00:08:05
Speaker 2: For him, this is what he wanted to do. Twenty million dollars is nothing to sneeze at. And this is he listened. If you listen, look at his quotes, and I've been through free agency. It's not the best time in the world. I mean, is it great if you're Wan Soto and if you're this guy and Cho Heeotani and all these teams are whining and dining you. But like his quotes make so much sense. He can make twenty million dollars. What's the qualifying offer gonna be twenty two million dollars, So he's gonna have to deal with what do I take the qualifying offer? And then I won't have as much value. Plus what he went through last year wasn't fun for him. He had to wait, remember, and then he ended up backing Detroit. He likes it in Detroit. He thinks they have a chance again they're giving him twenty million dollars. Good for you, Jack Flaherty. Listen, everyone says, oh, you know, it's not always about the money. Could he got more money by going on a one year deal if they give him the qualifying offer? Sure, but he's happy there, he likes it there. Good for you, bro, Like, I have no problem with this. Like good if that's what we want to be, do it, dude.

00:09:04
Speaker 3: And he's going to be thirty one years old when he's done this season. There's plenty of dudes that are going to free agency at thirty two. He's still going to be young. He I guess you know he has to re up his value at fifteen losses, four to six era, Like, Yes, he didn't have the best of years. Nobody's gonna deny that, So opt in, get your money. He's gonna re He's gonna recoup his value here. And I don't I don't know.

00:09:35
Speaker 2: I don't know if you can ever.

00:09:36
Speaker 3: Put a dollar value outside of himself, putting a dollar value on it, what it means to be at a place that you like, I don't like. You can never tell somebody, well, you know this is why, and this is how much we feel like it's worth it. There's you know, he's probably not going to get that much more than the twenty one point seven qualifying offer anywhere else. So then you're like, Okay, I don't know this place that I'm going to go sign at. Yes, he could get another two year deal, but to me, playing where you're comfortable, they know him, he pitched there the last two years and he can finish what they try to do this year. Hopefully the team adds to that and recoup his value and he can get three four year deal till he's thirty five. Plenty of pitchers are being paid till they're thirty five on very nice.

00:10:26
Speaker 1: Contracts, and we have seen pitchers sign late and have significant issues. That's part of this as well. If he ends up having to take another one year contract and he goes somewhere he doesn't want to go, and he doesn't know where he's going right now, he knows where he's going on November fourth, versus potentially February fourth, March fourth.

00:10:52
Speaker 2: He can get his place in Lakeland, he can get his place in Detroit already. I mean, he can have everything ready to go again. There's something to be said like krat said, for knowing where you're going, enjoying where you're at. Listen to somebody that took less money multiple times to stay with the with the White Sox, which I look back on and I was like, man, I should have got more money, But it was where I was happy, is where my family was happy, and that's where I liked and where I wanted to be. So I mean because at the end, I mean, I wanted to sign back there again after my last year there and they wanted nothing to do with me. But I was loyal all those years until you know, then I was a free agent again and they didn't want anything to do with me. So I mean, you know, but for those eight years where I was there, it was great, and I took less money to go there and stay there because my family was happy. I was happy, I had a place there. I knew what I was doing for spring training, I knew the people there. It was just a good place to be. So you can't put a value on quality of life.

00:11:43
Speaker 3: I'm sorry, enjoy but enjoying, but enjoying that place is I think you play better. Maybe maybe I never got to stay in one place, so maybe I can't speak on this. But like if your family is taken care of, if they enjoy where you're at, if there's a comfortability there not a complacency comfortability, then you play. I assume you play better. I never got to experience that, but I would. That's what I hear AJ saying.

00:12:19
Speaker 1: Real quick. From a statistical standpoint, Jack flaherty one hundred and sixty one innings this year for six four R Ray expected Era four O four a little bit better. But the stackcast page does have a lot of blue and gray. I mean, the strikeout percentage is twenty seven point six, that's eighty second percentile. A lot of the rest are not fantastic, so there's there's risk. I mean, that is what front offices are looking at right. Jack was not going to be a wind and dyed guy. He was going to be.

00:12:52
Speaker 4: A well, I say, a little blue and gray on this part basketball VLO ninety two point eight, and often you'll see you start where if he's whatever ninety three, ninety four, ninety five, it's great. If it's a little lower that day, it's not like they're going to point out all the things, all the pimples, and he doesn't have to deal with that now, so I.

00:13:11
Speaker 1: Give him credit. Good for you, go back to a place you like, focus on winning. You're getting plenty of money, and his off season is now set. Hey subscribe to foul Territory two hundred eighty one. I think thousand subs, so we'd like to get to three hundred in the next month or two. That'd be great. Give us a little sup Thank you very much. Baseball the way it should be covered. That's a T shirt fould Territory shop dot com. Trevor Story staying with the Red Sox two years, fifty five million dollars left on his contract. AJ to me, this was a no brainer.

00:13:52
Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, And he had a good year of this year too. Let's not forget so this was one of those that was never going to opt outunless he went crazy. But he had he had good years. Yeah, he had a good year this year, so good for him.

00:14:05
Speaker 1: Did a good year, but he had a lot of injuries before that. So the question always is a do you like where you are? And then B or really it should be B do you like where you are? A what would you get as a free agent? Krats He's not getting to fifty five as a free agent.

00:14:25
Speaker 3: No, he might get fifty five, but they would spread it out. They would spread it out way more so, just because the shortstop class and free agency I don't think is very big.

00:14:39
Speaker 1: I don't think my biggest fifty five total.

00:14:41
Speaker 2: You don't think he would get that.

00:14:42
Speaker 1: No, I think he would get maybe two, maybe two years fifty five.

00:14:48
Speaker 2: He's not getting to fifty five.

00:14:50
Speaker 1: They said maybe he would get like three years or four years fifty five. I don't think you would get fifty plus guaranteed.

00:14:56
Speaker 2: To just give him take the two fifty five and then maybe try to sign for an other year or two at a time. Yeah, that's this was This is.

00:15:03
Speaker 1: A what do you get if he's a free agent? Though? AJ right now?

00:15:06
Speaker 2: Forty maybe two forty maybe.

00:15:10
Speaker 1: Yeah, I would say two in the thirties, two thirty two, sixteen a year something like that, based on agent injury history. What were you gonna say, A Crafts we got a minute?

00:15:20
Speaker 3: Oh no, no, no, I just I mean, I love the fact that he came back from that shoulder injury and he's throwing the ball. Well, I know he had a stretch right at the end of the season where he was really kicking the ball around a little bit, and he said, maybe I'm getting a little tired, but I think he adds I think he adds a swag to that team that's needed. And if his defense stays like it was all the way up until the very end of the season, they need defense bad.

00:15:48
Speaker 1: Yeah, it'll be good for Boston and they'll have depth. Marcella Meyer's gonna come back this season. Two's rookie and then got hurt. Hey may Day is part of the FT Network. We're going to be shouting out more of our shows just to make sure everyone knows because there are many of them. Trevor may bringing it once a week. You can catch Trevor Live, so same thing. If you have questions for Trevor, go for it. Trevor's fantastic. He does it kind of in a late night talk show style, so if you've never seen the show, it's got a lot of FT vibes with the way that he breaks down the news. Chandler, rome part of Crush Shitty Territory, said the astros have placed Chas McCormick on outright Waivers. There were other tweets I think from Chandler about how Chas was really a great success story Kratz. I think he was from your neck of the woods. He's definitely a Philly sports fan, and he was a late, late round draft pick and they did a nice job developing him. He's had tougher times the last couple of years, but he had some really big moments for the Astros.

00:16:50
Speaker 3: This is, you know, this is where you can get extra value out of out of your organization. I think some of the Astros have done really really well. Kind of a unique right handed wing where what he does is kind of scissors and he drives the ball the opposite field with ridiculous power, and he's kind of he's dealt with some injuries recently. It kind of played through him. So you know, hopefully, hopefully a team sees his value and experience and he can latch on somebody, maybe like a nice little, small, one year big league deal.

00:17:23
Speaker 2: It's just like a jose L Twove. That's what I mean. That's basically what he tried to be. It was didn't do it as well, but he tried and he listened. He's he carved out a nice little niche for himself in Houston, and sadly, the injuries started to affect him, but you know, someone team will pick him up and be like, hey, he can hit lefties, or he can do this, he can do that, and he'll find a job and hopefully continue to have a nice career.

00:17:45
Speaker 1: Good dude, good interview too. And by the way, back to what I was saying earlier, I was hyping may day. May Day in fact is on today. I think give out the time three o'clock Eastern literally right after FT. Hey, we learned that about a week ago you Darvish had surgery to repair his UCL and his elbow is pitching elbow. He's gonna miss the twenty twenty six season. It does sound like it involved the internal brace procedure. From what I know, I only play a doctor on YouTube, podcast and TV. That is usually a quicker recovery time. That could be more along the lines of the twelve month range versus the fifteen ish month range. No, aj, I think it's like three four months. Yeah, so maybe he'll be back for twenty seven. How old is darbish?

00:18:35
Speaker 2: By the way, I was about to look at up forty one, I think ninety thirty nine. Okay, there's going to be forty this year. Yeah, I know, it was something like that.

00:18:44
Speaker 1: Yep, so he's out. Let me just set this up. AJ from a starting rotation perspective for San Diego right now, they're coming in about twenty million dollars under last year's payroll according to Cott's contracts, but that is taking away. Yes, Michael King, both free agents. Now, let me set up the current rotation for them. Nick Povetta still on for next year, coming off a career year great. Joe Musgrove will be back next season. JP Sears Trade Edition along with Mason Miller. During the deadline, Randy Vozkaz had a one to eleven ERA plus. It was his best year and his velocity was up. Drake got to walk strike cuts in general are very low, but back end guy right now, mount Waldron's listed there, but they'll pick somebody up. So AJ thoughts on the San Diego rotation in the work that they have to do this offseason.

00:19:34
Speaker 2: I hope they get a payroll bump because otherwise it's going to be struggle city. I mean, I know they have free agents, but man, you're talking about losing Dylan Cees. Michael King, you Darvish, Yes, I know. Musgrove's come back. What do they do with Mason Miller. Do they forgot Robert Suarez is also gone too, So let's not forget that he's gone. So they're gonna have to figure this out on the fly. This is why A. J. Preller Crawts kind of joked earlier that they would Probler would trade all thirty of his prospects. Don't be surprised if the Padre has made some more moves. And I mean, I'm serious, like you joked about that, but man, I could see this being being the year Repeller has to trade everybody. He might be trading guys that he ain't even drafted. You He's like, well, we have the twentieth pick. We're gonna draft this guy, so we can trade him too.

00:20:19
Speaker 3: Obviously I'm no good at making trade predictions, but just scan what did the Tigers struggle at last year? And maybe the Tigers they trade terror Scooble and they're like, you know what, we're just not competing. We're just not going to compete if they trade terror Scooble. But if they are saying, okay, we want to compete, what would the Padres have positionally to get Terrek Scooble because they need some offense. I know, if they lose terror Scooble, they need pitching. But maybe they could use that one hundred and sixty million they offered Alex Bragman last year and get a Ranger Suarez and get a Franbervaldez type of pitcher, not as good as Arrek Scouble, but kind of a replacement, and maybe you get a big league bat out of that very nice starting lineup that I think has pieces, just not a lot of power pieces from last year.

00:21:13
Speaker 1: Should Mason Miller consider going back to being a starter, Remember he came up as a starter. He's a brilliant reliever. I've asked him on this show about it, and so far he's been like, no, not really thinking about that. Media pundits, analytics nerds sometimes bring it up. I'm just bringing it up. Here's an article from R. J. Anderson on CVS. You Darvish's injury hurts Padres already thin rotation makes it more likely Mason Miller starts in twenty twenty six. AJ, that's a little clickbaity. I wouldn't say more likely. It's not really become a thing yet. AJ. Prowler hasn't said no, But this is going to be up to Mason Miller. Would you risk this? Miller did have injury issues in the past, and he's been pretty damn durable and top three closer in baseball.

00:21:58
Speaker 2: I'd be if I'm Mason Miller, I'd be like, oh, we just lost Robert Soarez. Oh, I can be the closer, and I can close forty, save forty plus games and get extra paid again and make another All Star team. Like their ability was an issue with Mason Miller as a starter, I'd just like to see him stick with what he is and go out and find someone else. Because, listen, no player will not I shouldn't say that because we saw the Rockey Devers this year, but most players aren't going to say if the team comes and says, hey want you to be a starter, they're not going to say no, we want you to do this. Once you's theither going to say yes, yes, whatever you want. I'm here for the team. But if I'm Mason Miller, I'm like, please don't ask me that question. Just let me stay where I'm at and have the ninth inning and save forty plus games and go on to next year.

00:22:38
Speaker 3: I have to disagree. If I'm Mason Miller, what maximizes your value as a player. And now again, I'm not a pitcher and never worried about getting hurt. I never was like should I do this or this in the game because I could get hurt.

00:22:56
Speaker 2: Now I got it.

00:22:56
Speaker 3: It's different as a picture and closers are easily the easiest to stay healthy because they are not worn out like other bullpen guys. So to me, I'm washing away like injury risk as a player. I'm just I'm not thinking about that. What gets you the most money? I think Josh Hater signed the largest free agent contract for a reliever. I think he beat Edwin Diaz's contract and he got just over.

00:23:22
Speaker 2: One hundred million dollars.

00:23:24
Speaker 3: You can name handfuls of starting pitchers that got over one hundred million dollars. So to me, his max earning, I mean, we got dudes getting eighteen a year as starters that aren't very good starters. Mason Miller, if he sees himself, if he thinks I can be a big league starter because of how I feel, what I've learned in my two plus years almost three years in the big leagues, Yes, I can make the adjustment from what I was before, and I will make.

00:23:55
Speaker 2: Shoot in two years.

00:23:56
Speaker 3: If he takes what he does doesn't depend over. Starting in two years, he could be a nine figure, nine figure contract. I don't see that happening if he stays in his current role.

00:24:11
Speaker 1: You guys, remember Homer Bailey in twenty fourteen, never made an All Star game six years one oh five. That's I think still more in net present value than any closer has ever been paid.

00:24:23
Speaker 2: Here's here's the thing about that. Though. Yeah you can say, yeah, I'm not worried about it getting injured. I get that, But they tried this and it didn't work. Also, like the A's tried this, AS would have much rather have Mason Miller to be a starter, you know, cause there was control problems, whether it was injuries, whether whatever it was. They were like, you know what, you're going to be better suited. And I just think for the long term of him, is he gonna make the same money? Probably not, But is he going to make enough money where he's good? I think so. I mean, you know, Plus I don't know, I just think I think that if I'm Mason Miller, I'm like, I'm very comfortable with my role. I want to stay where I am. If they ask, He'll probably do it. That's what I'm saying. He's probably going. Don't ask these these just don't ask me.

00:25:02
Speaker 1: I'm in between you, guys, because I don't know if they tried long enough and if it was the right organization to try it with him just throwing that out there, and I even stand corrected on myself one time we asked him, it was more shot down. The last time it was asked on FT was when lance Lynn was hosting an episode on August fourth, and he said, not right now, but he said there are possibilities of that in the future.

00:25:27
Speaker 3: Six starts, six six big league starts. He had a three three, seven eight era as a big league starter, thirty eight innings, sixteen walks, So the walks were were problematic. But again, guys learn. Guys learn, like you figure out what your mechanics need to be, how you need to do this to recover, and you look back two years. Sometimes you even look back one year and be like, ah, man, I wish I knew that. I wish I knew that a year ago. It would have really helped to me in this situation.

00:26:01
Speaker 2: So I don't know.

00:26:03
Speaker 3: I if I were his agent, duh, no, duh. If I but if I were giving him advice, I would say, how do you feel?

00:26:11
Speaker 2: How do you recover?

00:26:12
Speaker 3: He had the thing with the diabetes that he was diagnosed in college and it really helped him understand his body. So I think he's still on that journey. And I think, shoot, if the Padres, if the Padres could turn him into a starter, like that trade that they made to get him, because they have a closer, Jeremiah Strona can step in as a closer, so they're not afraid of the closer position going down. It's just you're losing two elite closers in one season.

00:26:41
Speaker 1: Think it's a good topic. Maybe we can ask Mason at some point this offseason if he's been asked, if it's considered, and the questions that Kratz is going over. Hey, I've got a quote from Walt Weiss during his press conference yesterday. Asked about analytics, probably because he's over sixty and people think he can't grasp them, that's insane, he said, I've evolved with the game. I think if you don't, you're fool. My philosophy is, why would anybody, especially in a position of leadership turn their back on information. Alex Anthopolis has done a great job. His team has done a great job of blending the wisdom that comes from being in uniform for a number of years and the information that's available out to us today and the technology that's available. You know, some fans AJ brought up how Hammer Territory was a little more critical of this move. I actually spoke to some of the hosts and Hammers, so I gave him our perspective, and I think that's good. That's why we have shows on the FT network that completely disagree with us on topics all across the board. It could be the CBA, it could be manager player decisions. Whatever we're going one way, they didn't go totally the other way. They were just a little more of like a five, where I feel like our group was more of like an eight, nine or ten on the higher.

00:27:48
Speaker 2: I love it. I love what he said though, like you have to evolve. You can't nobody stays the same. If you stay the same and you're losing, Like you have to evolve, you have to change. And if the game changes a certain way, if you want to stick around, you have to make some adjustments and I think Paul Weiss has done that. He said he's done it, and listen. I mean, I know people that were totally anti analytics for a long time. And if you don't use the information properly, then you're gonna fall behind. So you have to be able to adapt and adjust.

00:28:16
Speaker 3: I think the reason the old guys, as they're said, or the guys who are like I'm gunst analytics, is they feel like they're experienced. They feel like and I had this argument with Willie Randolph. He's like, I don't need to hear this stuff. He's like, and he's slowly come around, and I said, how many games have you watched managed played all that stuff? He's like, ah, five thousand. I said, well, what if you had watched ten thousand. I was like, would that person know more than you? He's like, well yeah, I said, well that's what analytics is. Analytics is all the games put all in there, and it's giving you the information. And just like Walt said, just a little nugget, I'm gonna take a little bit here, because one game, one little thing can swing one game, which can swing your entire season.

00:29:05
Speaker 1: To me, it's a high floor, high ceiling higher I like it also. By the way, remember Brent Strom has been a pitching coach in baseball for so many years as one of the older pitching coaches. Man, he was frontline analytics way before it was Cool Kraft you probably know, but man, he was spin Ray, fastball up, IVB all that stuff way back.

00:29:28
Speaker 2: He was sticky guy too.

00:29:31
Speaker 1: That hey that worked. That was analytics in the weeds. We covered this topic with Ken Rosenthal, so if you want more from Ken, you can check out that clip or that segment, but we are going to touch on this ourselves. The most surprising opt in is Shane Bieber. A couple days after the World Series, he decides, I'll take that sixteen million dollars player option instead of the four million dollars to buy out. So that means if he had gotten twelve million bucks on the free agent market, he would have been richer. He's also signing back with the team that's going to take the biggest hit from a tax perspective. That's a real thing. As we always talk about in the off seasons. AJ, how shocked were you that Shane Bieber opted to not hit free agency and do this instead. There are some that thought he would get significant money. Tim Britton does a whole deal on the athletic and said three years sixty something mil if he was in the free agent market. That doesn't mean he's right, But that's a big difference between sixty three million and sixteen.

00:30:41
Speaker 2: Yeah, but he's happy there. We talked, you kind of hit on a little bit. Maybe he likes the medical staff there, Maybe he likes his wife is happy there. Just listen, guys make decisions for all different reasons. It's not always. I know everyone says its always about the money, It's really not sometimes about happiness. Shaan Bieber has made a lot of money. Maybe he just is happy in Toronto. He likes the trainer, he likes the clubhouse guy, he likes the food, he likes the city. I don't know, but he's happy there. He wants to try to run it back. And all you heard from these Toronto guys was how much they loved each other. So I can't. I can't fault a guy for one to stay somewhere like Jack Flaherty, I can't fault him. He likes it there, he's happy. Good for you.

00:31:18
Speaker 1: I gotta follow, I gotta I'll be happy. Question what if he had contacted the Blue Jays and said, hey, let's try and make something work, either short term or long term before I even hit free agency. I liked it that much. That gives leverage back to the organization. They're going to get a quote discount compared to the market. Why do you think he jumped it so quickly? He was that excited coming off what he was. And I know what you're saying, Aja, I'm just curious, like, why doesn't a team reach out like his team reach out and say, hey, we loved this so much, let's try and work something out, whether it's one year deal.

00:31:57
Speaker 2: Or maybe that's coming. Maybe that's the works. Maybe that's in the works, and he had to make a decision. Now, Maybe they do like Salvador Perez does, and he signs a two year deal down the road, right, Maybe that's it. We don't know, but I know this is you have what seven days after the World Series ends to make a decision as a player opt in or opt out in clubs. I mean, the World Series ended on Saturday. You don't have a lot of true time to make a decision to try to negotiate a new deal. So maybe they came to an agreement said hey, I'll take this one year deal if you guys pick me up for another year or two down the road. We don't know that he could happen.

00:32:31
Speaker 3: I feel like there's something else that we're not that we don't know about this, Like just that he enjoyed his time, that's awesome, but I mean guys, guys spend a lot of time to try to get to free agency. They try really hard. He wouldn't have gotten a qualifying offer after this season. He technically would get a qualifying offer if becomes becomes a free agent.

00:32:54
Speaker 2: I feel like there's something something more that could come out of us.

00:33:01
Speaker 1: That's a good point on the qualifying offer, and that is a significant hamper on pitchers like him. Now he does get to pitch a full season if healthy, and show his value and then hit the free agent market again. But the biggest punishment in free agency is age. So you're racking up another year before you're hitting free agency. And I would say this is a okay free agent class. This is not like a whole wow, there's just aces left and right. This is one that he probably could have capitalized on. And and AJ I think the starting Pitcher was valued a little bit more this postseason, and this is a copycat league, and teams would have been like starters are pretty important.

00:33:45
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, there's more to it. We don't know Scott. He made his decision, but let's not criticize the guy for making the decision that he had the opportunity to make, and he made the decision that he felt was best for him and his family. So congratulates. It's rare that people put leave fifty million dollars on the table. That's that's rare. If you're thinking, you don't know that, we don't know that he could have got fifty million more.

00:34:08
Speaker 3: I mean, we don't know the with with no qualifying offer. He's thirty years old, coming off the year that he did. Everybody knows that Tommy John's you know, six years you get six years after your Tommy John. So it's not like this next contract would be in it. So I think it's commendable to him. Commendable to him, and eventually I hope we get to ask him about it and maybe the more information will come out. Just because fifty millions a lot when you're not when you're talking like five hundred to five hundred and fifty million. It's when you're talking sixteen to sixty six million, that's that's significant.

00:34:47
Speaker 1: Yeah, not criticizing, just pointing out, as we do on this show, that it was a surprise. It was a surprise to many. That was big news, and I think it's important to cap it off this way since we do have a large Canadian audience. This is a banger move for the Blue Jays. This is huge for them. They gave up a pretty decent prospect for Shane Bieber at the trade deadline. Clearly that was worth it based on the postseason run. And guess what, now, it's even more worth it because you didn't know what was going to happen, but you anticipated that if he showed health and effectiveness, he was going to hit the free agent market. You just got even more value out of that trade, and you secured one of your starting pitching spots in the rotation for next year. Huge news for the Blue Jays. They're going to do the best they can to bring back as much of that group as possible. Many of them are already locked up. There's not that many, but this was one of the question marks boom Bieber's back. We check out at MGM Futures and we'll do it with a tweet. First, this news just came in. The Braves had let go of some of their coaching staff. Freddy Gonzalez, Tom Goodwin, Rick Kranitz, Jeremy Hefner is going to be the new pitching coach going from the Mets to the Braves. Guess who the first base coach is going to be? Antoine Richardson going from the Mets to the Braves. And also not the same connection, but still Troy Snicker, who is Brian's son, a regarded hitting coach, is now over at the hitting situation with the Mets. I don't know if he's what the title is, but he's among the mix there too. So we have a lot of incest Braves and Mets action. That's not the right word. What's the word poaching? Yes, poaching. It's not even poaching though, because they were like that.

00:36:38
Speaker 2: Yeah, nepotism. Nepotism is the word you're looking for. Nepotism is where you hire people because they have a name, You give people jobs because they have a name. I think you're thinking of amphibious.

00:36:51
Speaker 1: You're well, I think our grammar is on point. What do you think though, I think it's a great move for Atlanta if they're going to replace who they had a jam. I'm a fan of Haffner. I think he got a raw deal this past season based on what he was given to work with. You know, you can't make.

00:37:09
Speaker 2: He's been good though. In the past, he's been really good, So I don't I don't mind this move at all for the Braves. I mean, Rick Krantz was there forever and now he's gone. They needed someone with some experience they went out and got. And but my question is how much did Walt Weis's having these hirings, because they obviously got these done really fast after hiring him, So how much say did he have in the hirings. That's kind of kind of the next question that needs to be asked, Right, was he the one behind the scenes saying, Hey, I really like you know, Jeremy Hefner, I really like Antoine Richardson, and so where was he at? But I mean, I like these I like these hirings, their experience and they know what they're doing Brave.

00:37:45
Speaker 1: So the Mets running this year, Hey, Anton Richardson got Juan Soto past thirty stolen bases. I'm telling you he had something going there over at first base that was working. Mets stole much more than their sprint speed said they should.

00:37:59
Speaker 3: Antoine, he gets it. He understands there's there's a few first base coaches that put all the other ones to shame.

00:38:05
Speaker 1: Yep, hey, real quick, bet MGM players, get yourself a no sweat token to apply to any bet on Pro football. You're crying baseball seasons not here to use the token for pro football. Add a bet to your bet, or add an event from pro football to your bet. Slip activate the token. Get bonus bets if the bet that was made with those bonus tokens loses, gambling problem or concern call when a hundred gambling corner Salvi's back. We knew that they had a club option for him, talking about Salvador Perez for the Kansas City Royals who plan on contending next year, but then they also tack on another year. I mean, I was looking back, Kratz. So I'll give you the details on this one first and then you'll enjoy the trivia question that I have for you guys. But he signs a two year, twenty five million dollar contract for twenty twenty six and twenty twenty seven. He had a thirteen and a half million dollar club option, So it's a little bit less than twenty six to add a whole another year in twenty seven for his ages thirty six and thirty seven seasons. Seems like a very fair situation. Do either of you guys remember what his first contract was with Kansas City, Not like, oh, the league minimum. I'm saying the first one that he signed. Anyone remember what the initial number was.

00:39:28
Speaker 2: Twenty million or something? It wasn't It was nothing. It was thirteen and a half, wasn't it.

00:39:34
Speaker 1: So it was five years, seven million, with three club options, totaling fourteen point seven five million dollars yep. In baseball terms. That's not And you would think, oh, what was that nineteen ninety two? Now that was twenty twelve.

00:39:54
Speaker 2: Yeah, but he had just come up right when he signed it. He was super young.

00:39:56
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was early, so you're including I get it, you're including the league minimum years, the arm year's still you don't hear of anything that low. We hadn't back then back then.

00:40:07
Speaker 2: Yeah, back then, I would say I would I'll fight you on this one. I think I think back then it was different because I mean, I know, listen, when I went to arbitration as a first year catcher, what I got, and if I would have been able to sign a five year, seven and a half million, it wouldn't have been that far off. I would have taken that as a pretty good deal, especially back then. I mean, catchers don't get paid. Until recently, catchers hadn't really gotten paid. So I kind of disagree with you on this one. Like two thousand, I mean, yeah, he could have gotten more, Yeah, but I don't know, just first contract. He's from Venezuela, you know. I mean, not that that should matter, but it does matter, man, it does. It does. Yeah.

00:40:46
Speaker 1: Of course your money situation definitely matters wherever you're coming from. I mean really, yeah, eight years, fifteen mil. For most people in life, it's like, hell, yeah, I'm rich. But in baseball terms, it ended up working out. I mean, five years, fifty two and a half from seventeen to twenty one, and then he signed another extension twenty one spring training for four years eighty two. Now he's rich, rich, but he's also had a nice career at this point, and a long one.

00:41:14
Speaker 3: I played with him when he was on that contract, and he just he randomly brought it up one time. So I'm not even giving you my opinion. I'm telling you exactly what he told me.

00:41:22
Speaker 2: He said.

00:41:23
Speaker 3: He said, you have to think about the fact that seven million dollars in Venezuela. I forget how many bees. I wish I remember. They're called bees. Is what their money is called?

00:41:35
Speaker 2: He said.

00:41:36
Speaker 3: He said, that's whatever it is, forty nine million bees. He said, my family will never have to worry about money again. He didn't say, Ooh, I wonder where the rest of my money's gonna come from. Ooh, I can't wait till I get my next contract. He's like, why would I not sign it? He was like, I never have any idea if I'm going to have guaranteed or not the rest of my life.

00:42:01
Speaker 2: He said.

00:42:02
Speaker 3: Now my family will never have to work again in their entire life. That was with seven million dollars. Now look at how how much he's made.

00:42:12
Speaker 1: Yeah, Hondo something, we'll probably close to one fifty career innings, if not more so. It's a lot of beets.

00:42:19
Speaker 3: And anybody, anybody that ever says, oh, he shouldn't take that or you shouldn't take that money. That's you don't don't tell someone else what their career could be or should be worth, because that's life changing money no matter what.

00:42:35
Speaker 1: Yep, good stuff. You could say that to me about the last segment for bringing up Bieber, but just bringing it up reporting the news. That's how the off season goes. Hey, let's slap crats at you're up first.

00:42:59
Speaker 3: I can't give one Chicago love without giving the other Chicago love. That and we're probably not going to talk about him much this offseason because they've already made their one off season move twenty million. Luis Robert, enjoy your time there, Boom, What do you mean Jerry said they're going to spend They did?

00:43:16
Speaker 2: Fuse. They just did.

00:43:18
Speaker 1: They did. They activated a dude that they just won't give up on because they feel like they should get something for him. There were some quotes. Maybe we'll do a segment on it soon. One other thing I wanted to point out, No, you don't want to do a segment on it. We'll see, Okay. We got fifty one million total between US, Canada and Japan for World Series Game seven. All the numbers are in largest global audience since the Jack Morris game seven.

00:43:51
Speaker 2: Ninety one.

00:43:51
Speaker 1: That was a long time ago, ninety one, long time ago. That's good.

00:43:57
Speaker 2: Good for the gay baseball's dying, right, Yeah, some people want you to think. That's what people want you to think. It's not true.

00:44:06
Speaker 1: So who's getting a desproyed and NBA numbers? MLB destroyed NBA.

00:44:11
Speaker 3: Numbers, yes, for games set. Who's getting all that money is that the players. The players are getting all that money from all that viewership, right, that's who's getting all that money.

00:44:23
Speaker 1: That is an incredible number since nineteen ninety one. Of course, we've talked about the fact that Canada was super involved for this go round. Japan is super involved for this go round. So next year, if we don't see these teams, don't expect to get that global number thrown your way. Perhaps they'll go with the domestic number at that point, But it was necessary to throw that number out there. I mean, that is a massive number, over fifty million people tuning in. Now, I got a double check if that was the average. Yeah, that's the average audience. I always like to point that part out too. There are more people that actually tuned in. That's the average concurrent audience, as in at one period of time throughout the game. That is the average that you would see on the screen, Like if you were watching YouTube right, you would see the average for the globe at fifty one million.

00:45:15
Speaker 2: What was it last year?

00:45:17
Speaker 3: Because it was Dodgers Yankees, Everyone's like, whoa media darling Dodgers Yankees.

00:45:22
Speaker 2: I got it. The series wasn't good. It wasn't that. It wasn't that high.

00:45:27
Speaker 1: It was Nope, it wasn't close to that high. From what I recall, guess it.

00:45:33
Speaker 2: Was good, but it wasn't that thirties. I wouldn't even say it was that high. I bet.

00:45:41
Speaker 1: This was like a dream world series.

00:45:43
Speaker 2: People were into this. People were into this World series for a lot of reasons. One, Toronto was a new team that people hadn't seen a whole lot of. And two, you had a lot of people that tuned in to watch the Dodgers lose because they were ruining baseball. So there was people that tuned in for hate, and there was people that tuned in to watch another team win that was new. So this was Yes, as much as people don't want admit it, this was a really good World series for a lot of reasons.

00:46:10
Speaker 1: That's right, dominant, dominant, very cool. We'll let you know any other numbers that come out, but I think that was the last big one that we were waiting for because we had gotten US and Canada, but there's Japan. It felt like it, it felt like everyone was watching it. You know. I had a lot of casuals that are in my life that were like, oh I was watching some even that were watching Game three, which I felt like was nuts. My older sister just watches maybe a few games all year, and she was like, I watched all of Game three. I was like why. I was like, you, you watched all of Game three to go to sleep? She's like no, I was into it.

00:46:51
Speaker 2: Maybe it'll come up.

00:46:51
Speaker 3: When Trey Savage, this area was just on fire because a kid from Boyertown was in the World Series, like barbershops and salon. So when we get Trey Savage on here one day, you know there was casual fans, fans that would have completely shut down watching the World Series, watching this World Series, and they got drawn in for a great one.

00:47:17
Speaker 1: Games in a good place, last comment here on the way out, and then you can watch Trevor Mays May day. We announced three new shows yesterday, and some comments were like, oh, and baseball is dying yet Foul Territory is adding shows left and right. We ain't doing it if nobody's watching and listening. So thank you to everyone. We're here every single day. See everyone tomorrow