Ken Rosenthal joins FT: Braves SP injury chaos, Cubs extend Pete Crow-Armstrong + Roki Sasaki’s flub

00:00:05
Speaker 1: One more sleep and then we play real ball one game Giants and Yankees, and then many more games on Thursday, which I'm all about. They haven't done that every year, but I think they're going to start doing that. One initiative that the league is working on is more marquee moments within our season. Let's make sure every year we have one game that seperates from the rest to start the season.

00:00:31
Speaker 2: Why are you looking at me weird?

00:00:32
Speaker 3: Do they have to plan that ahead of time? Because that might be a colossal fail, like the Twins in the Phillies playing in the Field of Dreams game, Like didn't know the Twins when they scheduled that We're going to get rid of half their team.

00:00:49
Speaker 2: They do have to plan that ahead.

00:00:50
Speaker 1: The opener probably not as much a Field of Dreams game, probably a lot more.

00:00:57
Speaker 2: Would you agree now?

00:00:59
Speaker 4: The opener I don't like? I mean what no? I like? I like.

00:01:04
Speaker 5: I'm a traditionalist when it comes out. I think Cincinnati should be always be the opening day of the first pitch and they should go from there.

00:01:11
Speaker 3: But it's changed.

00:01:12
Speaker 4: I get it, it's changed, but I just think that for me, I was more of.

00:01:17
Speaker 5: A traditional opening day. I think that it should be Cincinnati. It was like that for years and years, and that's fine if you want to do the games. I get the games, the one off games, and Netflix is and Netflix apparently paid a lot of money for this, yes, so I get it. And then they get the cross promote with WWE and NFL and all that stuff, which is fine.

00:01:41
Speaker 4: I get it.

00:01:42
Speaker 5: I like the one off games, meaning the Field of Dreams in the Little League and all that stuff, although the Field of Dreams for me, it should have been a one and done.

00:01:51
Speaker 4: Sorry. The White Sox game was.

00:01:53
Speaker 5: So good, and the Yankees game was so good, and then the next year they did the Cubs and the Reds I think or Red or whoever it was in the Red and it wasn't near as big. And then this year I don't even know who's playing with twins at Phillies.

00:02:05
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean it just the one year was really cool.

00:02:10
Speaker 5: It was like when we did for Bragg. It was really cool to do the four Bragg game, and then they never did it again. Like, okay, but there are certain things that should only be done once. The Little League I get because it's new teams, and it's new teams from around the world. Every year so that one I get. But the field of dreams, I don't know.

00:02:24
Speaker 1: I mean, okay, fine, visually it looks cool, so for me it breaks up the season. I like moments that I can look forward to where I'm like, hey, this week, we get this, and it's not always going to be perfect. And I do think that you have to sometimes starve the market and not dilute what you're doing. But I'm a little more on this side about it. But let's get to Ken. Time to hit the inside scoop with FT senior insider Ken Rose and thal Ken. Let's start with Pete Crowe Armstrong, who was having talks apparently about a year ago with the Cubs and they have finally landed on an extension.

00:03:04
Speaker 2: What do you know?

00:03:05
Speaker 6: We know that they have a deal and that it's pending of physical and that it probably will be announced.

00:03:11
Speaker 7: I would think today or tomorrow. Now.

00:03:13
Speaker 6: I don't know the number yet, don't know the years, don't know the dollars, and I've been thinking about this all morning, even last night, and I can't even venture a guest because this is an unusual player. Pkrow Armstrong's value right now is heavily tied up in his defense. Obviously, he had the great offensive first half last season a much lesser offensive performance in the second half. But I would expect that in this deal there will be I don't know about escalators, but ways for him if he becomes an elite offensive player as well as an elite defensive player to get paid what he would be valued at. Now, I don't know what he would be valued at. In the guarantee here, he has four arbitration years and another year left, so one three year and then four RB years. Then I'm sure there are some free agent years covered too, so I'm guessing at least seven years, and then what the dollars come out to, I'm not exactly sure.

00:04:13
Speaker 4: What is this?

00:04:14
Speaker 3: What is this process for PCA in the sense of like the other comps that are out there, because it's unusual, but also with his service time, it's also unusual. So where's the where where's that process for him? For his camp in When we're guessing the numbers, I'm.

00:04:32
Speaker 6: Sure they look at other one plus deals and even deals for players with less than one year of service. Remember the Julio Rodriguez deal, very unusual, that was two hundred and nine million, and he did not have at that point even a year of service. Now there are escalators, There are all kinds of things in that deal that can raise the value. If, for instance, he has high MVP finishes, that's what will escalate the option years on this deal with Rodrigue. Then there are other deals Roman Anthony last year that was less than one year of service, that was one.

00:05:05
Speaker 7: Hundred and thirty million.

00:05:06
Speaker 6: I would expect PCA is going to be somewhere in the one thirty to one fifty range. But I will caution people listening that I'm guessing and I'm not sure I'm right about that, because again, he has a lot of value tied up in his defense, at least right now. And ultimately the question is what kind of offensive player he's going to be? Will he be that guy? In the first half consistently he had that crazy chase rate, remember the low on base percentage relatively speaking. So he's an interesting player, a fascinating player in many ways, and this obviously is a great commitment by the Cubs and a great commitment by Pete c Armstrong to the Cubs.

00:05:45
Speaker 7: The only question now is how much it is valued at.

00:05:49
Speaker 5: Well, why is I don't understand why both said this as unusual. Why is this unusual they went to him with a deal, as it's only.

00:05:56
Speaker 6: An unusual player.

00:05:57
Speaker 7: AJ, you're not listening to me.

00:05:59
Speaker 6: He is different because his value is in many ways tied up to his defense.

00:06:04
Speaker 7: Right now, if you look at him, yes.

00:06:07
Speaker 6: Good offensive player first half, not so good second half, Chase Rays high, Obp's low, all these questions there, but in center field he is absolutely incredible. So I would expect that he will be paid based on what the Cubs think he will do and what he thinks he will do. And again that's why it's unusual. It's not unusual for a player to sign an extension.

00:06:30
Speaker 1: No, hey, it might be time to have a heart to heart with your phone and be like, I love you, but you cost too much.

00:06:40
Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm not paying this much anymore. That's it.

00:06:42
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00:07:33
Speaker 3: Is this is this signifying Obviously they signed Bregman and now this extension. Is this signifying maybe the Cubs are gonna spend more? It might be an obvious question, but more of the sense of when teams go to their young players and they give them extensions, that doesn't mean they're necessarily going to spend big in free agency. Now they've made that move with Bregman, but he would be the second highest paid player if he makes more than one hundred million in this contract, which we think he will.

00:08:02
Speaker 6: The reason you signed players to extensions is because you think you're getting a deal. Frankly or trying to obviously give him greater security at a lower number than he might get if he went year to year and then became a free agent. When you're buying out free agent years, you're essentially getting a discount. That is the exchange, the trade off the players make. So I don't know that this signals a commitment by the Cubs as much as the Bregman deal did. And the next test for them will be Nico Horner. Nico Horner is a free agent after this season. He is another player who has great value in part because of his defense, and he is a guy that they consider, the players, the coaches, everyone with that organization to be really part of their fabric. So do they resign Nico Horner? There's always another test for a team, and the Cubs still to me have some work to do to prove that they can spend like a big market team. Bregman was a big first step. This is a little bit different with Petek, Armstrong, Nico Horner.

00:09:05
Speaker 7: That will be a better test.

00:09:08
Speaker 1: Hey, Ken, let's go to the Braves Spencer Strider on the IL to start the year.

00:09:12
Speaker 2: Braves Country is freaking out. Should they be yes?

00:09:16
Speaker 6: And it was about a month ago Scott when I wrote after the Schwellenbach and Waldrup injuries that there were one injury away from kind of a true crisis.

00:09:26
Speaker 7: Oh, here we are.

00:09:27
Speaker 6: And Streider is an oblique that generally takes time, and he's a guy that has had different kinds of injuries of course, to Tommy John and with the Braves, they are not really protected with the depth of the rotation. They have pictures that they will use. Bryce Elder will step in. They've got Ditty or Fuentes who's a great prospect, who's had a big camp, who ultimately could be a starter as well, and maybe it all works out. But when you're down Schwellenback, you're down Strider, you're down Waldrip, it's not a great place to be. Rinaldo Lopez has not had a great spring. This is a team that I was looking at this yesterday. The Pakoda projections have winning the NL East, still slightly over the New York Mets. I don't see that. But maybe the Braves overall are so strong with their position group that that will happen. I don't know. And maybe these pictures, ultimately some of them come back and they're effective and healthy. But if I'm a Braves fan, Yes, I'm freaking out a little bit right now.

00:10:27
Speaker 3: Sure, you wrote in your article about the flames and the fire that Alex Anthropois is possibly looking at. When will that flame? When will those flames be like exploding? Because is it going to be an injury is obvious. It's kind of what you were writing about another somebody else goes down and now be catastrophic for him. But what if these guys don't have success now all of a sudden, you're looking at the question marks and the success is something that, oh, no, they're not having success.

00:10:58
Speaker 4: Now who do we go to. We haven't even had an injury yet.

00:11:02
Speaker 6: Right and we're looking at pictures also who have health histories that are questionable. Chris Sale, we all love them, but he hasn't been the healthiest guy over the years. Lopez not been the healthiest guy over the years.

00:11:14
Speaker 2: These are the remaining.

00:11:15
Speaker 6: Pictures in the rotation the top guys, so they are high on Grant Holmes another picture with health questions. They are confident that they can get through this, I'm sure, but it just seems to me that they're in a really difficult spot right now to start the season. It's a long season. We all know that. We all know that some of these guys will come back and hopefully be effective for them. But it seems to me that they are the team that should sign Lucas Giolito, and he's still out there. I don't know what exactly they're waiting for, other than maybe the price to drop.

00:11:49
Speaker 3: You also wrote about the fact that then they may have to get rid of some of their depth if they signed ge Leader. Did I read that correctly, about the fact that Elder and someone else are out of options and if they signs they may lose one of those two guys.

00:12:03
Speaker 6: It's Elder and Joey Wentz, and with the Strider injury, those guys can make the staff even if they added Geelito. I don't know if Giulida would be ready to start the season at this point. I'm sure he's been throwing, but that's different than throwing games. He probably would need to start at triple A build up a little bit. So they're not in that position anymore in my opinion, Eric, where they're worried about the out of options guys, The out of options guys are going to make the team. The real question is going forward, do they want to just kind of save their money for the deadline, because remember they've got Profar his money and at the deadline, when you're getting one third of a player, right, one third of his salary, you have that much more spending power, right, and Profar is fifteen million the Deadliney's still fifteen million that they're saving for the year. But the players you can get are valued less because they've already been paid for two thirds of this. So they can do that. They can wait and wait and just see how it all plays out and then strike. But you're risking the start of the season.

00:13:09
Speaker 7: Being not so good. And that's kind of where they are now.

00:13:12
Speaker 1: That's my point, Ken, I mean, I think they'll be okay. Their offense should be strong, but what if they start poorly? It happened last year. Now, do we think they're going to go oh and seven or whatever?

00:13:26
Speaker 2: It is?

00:13:26
Speaker 1: Probably not, But what if they have a terrible April because the starting rotation is falling apart?

00:13:32
Speaker 2: What's the phrase?

00:13:33
Speaker 1: You can always kind of fall out of it pretty early on in a season.

00:13:36
Speaker 2: And the National League looks pretty damn competitive.

00:13:39
Speaker 6: Yeah, you're right, Scott, and they've got ditty er fronts. As I mentioned, they've got j R. Ritchie, another top pitching prospect. Are these guys ready just yet? We'll see, I guess, because they're probably going to get chances at some point, maybe in the first half, maybe beyond that. And they're in a situation.

00:13:57
Speaker 7: Right now where, in my view it's perilous.

00:14:00
Speaker 6: Maybe they view it differently because they see these guys coming on and they're high on Homes and they're high on Elder and they're thinking these things are going to work out okay, And you're right. They have a good offense, terrific bullpen as well, with Suarez and Iglesias at the back. It just seems to me like, as I wrote, they're playing with fire, and they've played with fire here and they're already getting burned.

00:14:24
Speaker 2: Ken.

00:14:25
Speaker 1: Let's finish with this topic call ups s an options, So let's go on the positive side first. From some of the call ups that we've seen, have many of them stood out to you? Carson Benge getting a spot. I know Mike Takman got hurt for the Mets, but Bene getting a spot and it seemed like they were lining things up for him in the off season.

00:14:42
Speaker 2: By leaving a lane for him.

00:14:44
Speaker 1: So thoughts on him, and maybe you can sneak in Kevin McGonagall too, who has become a big topic.

00:14:50
Speaker 6: Carson Benge certainly is a player that the Mets are extremely high on, and David Stearns the entire offseason kind of indicated they were leaving room for him to win a job. Now, even if Talkman was healthy, Carson Benge would be on the team, in my opinion, and it certainly seems that the Mets were pointing this way, and at Stearns has been deliberate about creating room for prospects like this.

00:15:12
Speaker 7: Kevin McGonagall is one.

00:15:14
Speaker 6: Of the top prospects in the game, number two on most lists behind Connor Griffin, and he's a guy who had a monster spring and I expect him to break with the Tigers. And in my view, if McGonagall is what they think he is, if Max Clark, their great outfield prospect, comes up later in the year and is also what they think he is, that is a transformative combination for them and it might make them into a World Series contender. I don't want to put too much on these kids, but the offense has been the question with the Tigers over the last couple of years. If these two young players help make that offense or reach another level, then we're talking about something else with the Tigers now that they've added from ber Valdez and Justin Verlander along with Trek Skubel at the time of the rotation, so I'm intrigued by them. One more guy that is certainly going to be worth watching Justin Crawford, the son of Carl Crawford, the former Major leaguer. He's going to be the Phillies starting center fielder, and he's going to be an interesting guy. JJ Weatherholt Cardinals shortstop prospect. He made the team. All kinds of different prospects are going to have an impact this year. The National League Rookie of the Year field is loaded, and I'm looking forward. Obviously we all are to seeing these guys play.

00:16:31
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00:17:32
Speaker 3: Is there any indication with McGonagall if he will bump cold Keith out of a position that he ended up moving to last year with then torkl Sin getting more time, does that push a X prospect who got extended before to another position again.

00:17:49
Speaker 6: I'm not exactly sure how they're going to play this Eric, and that's still kind of something to be sorted out.

00:17:55
Speaker 7: I don't expect.

00:17:55
Speaker 6: They're giving up on Cole Keith. And you don't have to play McGonagall every day and rotate guys. There are all kinds of things you can do, and McGonagall can be the shortstop. Col Keith is not a shortstop. So they're a team that has been not relying on their young players but kind of waiting for the young players and banking on them to make significant contributions. Well, they're at a point now where it's time and it's an exciting time for that organization in my opinion, because of these kids that are coming and because of what they've done in the offseason, they're an interesting group to say the least.

00:18:31
Speaker 2: Ken I want to finish with this.

00:18:34
Speaker 1: We of course talk CBA quite often, but I don't want to talk about it much leading up to the beginning of the season. I'm going to do it on the positive vent. Look how many guys we're talking about that are getting called up right now? AJ would that have happened in the previous CBA All we talked about at this time of year was, Ah, they're gonna hold this guy back, They're gonna wait ten days.

00:18:52
Speaker 2: Most of these guys are getting called out.

00:18:55
Speaker 6: Yes, I do think the last CBA in which some service timepulation questions were addressed, has had a positive effect, and kudos to the Union for pushing for that and for the league for agreeing to it. We've seen now less of this kind of thing. The Prospect Promotion Incentive program, in which if a guy who is a top one hundred prospect is on your opening day roster and wins Rookie of the Year you get a draft pick. That's had an effect. Is it totally to a point now where teams just take these guys right from the beginning of the season.

00:19:29
Speaker 7: No, it's not.

00:19:30
Speaker 6: And in some cases Connor Griffin's a good example, a team might be justified in holding a player down he didn't have a tremendous offensive spring in certain respects. So I do think the game is in a better place for that. And as I've written and said all along with regard to the CBA, there are still adjustments, perhaps even significant adjustments, that need to be made. The disparity between high revenue teams and low revenue teams financially needs to be addressed. There's no question about that in my view. Do you need a salary cap to do that. That's where the question is going to come in, and that's where the fight is going to come in. My opinion is no, especially when a salary cap, if the owners are insistent on it, is going to shut down the game in twenty twenty seven. But we have a whole season of baseball ahead and I look forward and I'm sure you guys do too, to talking about that and not the shenanigans that are going to take place between the owners and players.

00:20:30
Speaker 1: Yes, as much as the games as possible, as much of the games as possible to talk about, please Ken, appreciate it.

00:20:37
Speaker 2: We'll see you later this week.

00:20:39
Speaker 1: Sounds good, guys, And later this week, of course, another Fair Territory. We already have one out from yesterday morning with Ken, so if you want to check that out, Fair Territory, which we'll have Alana and Ken for opening day of the season on Thursday, part of the FT Network, taking your questions. The show is live on Thursdays and is usually live on Monday mornings as.

00:21:03
Speaker 2: Well, so look out for that.

00:21:06
Speaker 6: Charge about.

00:21:08
Speaker 1: Hey, the Cubs get the job done with Pete Crow Armstrong and so does he. It takes two to tango here. But PCA is going to be a Cub for a long period of time. You're going to get into the free agent years, You're going to lock up the r years. The whole deal looks like it'll be one hundred mili plus. We're still waiting for final numbers. There's Bob Nightingale, who was really the first and only one that was giving us an idea on money, but we don't know for sure exactly what it looks like. He said he rejected the Cubs extension offer of a year ago, and now they're on a one hundred mili plus contract extension. And he was offered sixty six million dollars last spring. He should double or more than double the amount with this new deal. Remember he was off to a blazing start last year, so last spring. If the Cubs are making him an offer, AJ, it's a very different PCA.

00:21:59
Speaker 5: Yeah. I think this is great. I think it's all right. I think it's great for both parties. I'm glad they did this, and I don't know, I mean, I'm happy for PCA.

00:22:10
Speaker 4: I love that guy.

00:22:11
Speaker 5: I think he's great for the game and good for the Cubs for recognizing that he is an unusual fucking player, and he will good for him.

00:22:22
Speaker 3: I think, you know, I think if you're sitting there and you go, what is you know what Ken said? Oh man, you know how he's unusual, Like he has a six war, a six war, You're like, Okay, I'll definitely take this. I'll definitely take this guy. Give him an extension, and we'll get tons of value as a team. But if you look into the offensive portion of it, you say, Okay, his chase percentage, his lack of walks, how's that going to age? As he ages? To me, if you're the Cubs, you just go you just go in. You just go in like and and say we have this value. He's a very like fans connect with this guy like he plays with his hair on fire. I think there's I think there's an opportunity here to strike while the iron's hot, even if it's not like the most team friendly deal ever. I don't think every extension before arbitration, before free agency needs to be team friendly. To me, I think he adds a lot of value to an organization that really hasn't gone out and paid a lot of players. So I really like this and his defense isn't going to age out till he's like thirty two thirty three. So this is to me, this was an easy one for the Cubs to get done.

00:23:38
Speaker 1: You know, one topic that I saw brought up on social media from the trolls and the haters was like, oh, this could cause him to be complacent, and oh, this could end up like a Michael Harris contract. I'm like, I get that Harris struggled in the first half of last year, but the industry still thinks that he's a very good player and provides surplus value. It might not be as much as his rookie season when he was a five win player, but it's kind of like a three win player. And if you're putting wins against money, it's like, I don't know, what is it? Ten to fifteen mil plus? Like he's going to be worth the contract on defense and base running alone if he's an average bat and the upside last year was what you're MVP for the first couple months of the season.

00:24:25
Speaker 5: Yeah, I don't understand why this is a surprise. I mean, this is a great move for the Cubs and a great move for PCA. A PCA turns into what they think in Craig Council he thinks he can be a star. Then this is a great move for both sides. I don't understand why this was a thing. I mean, he made, he bet on himself for a year. He made it obviously almost probably double what he was going to get. Now, people will tell you if they offer you a hundred million, don't take it because you can make more. But listen, if you're happy in a place, and he seems happy in Chicago, he goes to all the stuff with Caleb Williams. He's been at Bears games, he's been at Bulls games, He's been at this and now Blackhawks games. He's been doing all this stuff. Why would he not Why would he not take this if it's a place for him and his family and everything is happy and they treat him right. And he already said that he loves Chicago fans and that you know, others fans aren't as good as Chicago fans, and great, this is a great move for both sides because if he blows up like they think he can, then this is going to be one of those contracts they might look back and say, well, man, we got a great deal, like a Ronald m'cunya or a Ozzi Alby's or someone like that. So good for both both sides.

00:25:24
Speaker 3: This is good.

00:25:25
Speaker 5: I mean, I'm happy. Obviously, I love Pca, I love the emotion he plays with. And for the Cubs, this is a smart move to get ahead of the curve because they see it down the road. Whatever the numbers are that he could make more, so they went to with a number that he would accept.

00:25:38
Speaker 3: I think everybody looks at the comps and I even asked Ken about the comps of like getting this contract to me, if you're an organization, what do you think he's going to be. What do you think his ceiling is going to be? People be like, well, he's never going to be Ronald m'cunya. You're right, But how many Ronald cunyas are there out there? And you know, this is a guy who, admittedly people say, okay, he has flaws. Offensively, he is a thirty thirty season I don't care what half he had it in. If you can pencil in thirty thirty for a guy and he has to do it year after year to be like, oh, he's definitely a guaranteed thirty thirty I promise you're paying twice the amount they're gonna end up paying him if he is a perennial thirty thirty batter. So to me, yes, there's comps now, because that's how they do arbitration, that's how they do pre arb stuff. But where do the Cubs see him going in the length of the contract. Do they see him being this type of player? Do they see him being as good as you know, this center fielder. You know, there's very few comps as far as who is better than him defensively in center field.

00:26:49
Speaker 1: Hey, shout out to seat geek as you're looking for opening day tickets or opening weekend tickets. I'll get everyone excited with a few games to look out for. You guys know who Schemes is pitching against to start off the season.

00:27:02
Speaker 4: I don't even know who the Pirates play.

00:27:04
Speaker 2: They're in Queens taking on the Mets Thursday afternoon. Yeah that's a good one. Yeah, that should be a hot ticket.

00:27:12
Speaker 1: People have been talking about Dodgers seats and how the home openers pretty pricey. If you want a little discount, it's at the bottom of the screen right now to get yourself ten percent off. That's Gallon against Yamamoto in that one, any others crats?

00:27:26
Speaker 2: You know, you know who the Phillies are taken on to start the year.

00:27:30
Speaker 3: I don't know who the Phillies are taking on, but I really didn't look past because it's not opening day. I'm going to Wednesday. I'm going to San Francochio. Need to see the Giants.

00:27:41
Speaker 4: Need it?

00:27:41
Speaker 1: There you go, Okay, they're playing the Phillies the Rangers. By the way, that's Christopher Sanchez against Nathan y Valdi. So anyway, plenty of awesome matchups, a lot of the number one starters.

00:27:52
Speaker 2: Of course, Google pitching on day one of the season. Good question. I do not know.

00:27:59
Speaker 1: I haven't heard my uch about Jacob this spring training, but I will look into that. And we have a code for it on tea geek Territory ten ten percent off your next set of tickets. That's ten percent off any tickets with promo code Territory ten. Click the link in the description, download the app, have the code automatically added to your account so you can use it later. I have a comp I just came up with on the fly, not for the players, but when you dive into the contract and how deep into their MLB careers they are. Julio Rodriguez last year had just shy have a seven win season. I'm just going off the war numbers for now on Baseball Reference six point eight, right, and before that for Ish the year before in twenty four, PCA had a six war and I think some could make the case that the second half got really bad swinging at everything. You would think that he'll get a little more consistency in his career. Okay, different players, but AJ in twenty it was either twenty two or twenty three. He signed that massive extension after two hundred and forty games in the big leagues. They often look at these extensions and say, how far into your career are you? Right now, PCA is actually further into his career. He's two hundred ninety three games into his career. It doesn't sound like he's going to get two hundred plus guaranteed. And Julio signed for more years most likely, but he got twelve years to ten and incentives club options. You know, MVP finishes stuff like that. Not MVP, but top ten whatever. His contract could be worth over four hundred seventy million dollars over seventeen years. I think you could make a case that the upside for Julio is a little bit higher, but I think it's kind of close. So you look at a contract from a few years ago, and Julio got a lot more guaranteed money and upside. So again, I'm just saying, for Cubs fans, you should be pretty pumped. I think this is at most a market deal. It could even be a bargain deal compared to other deals at this length during this time period of how many games you've played.

00:29:57
Speaker 5: Well, we don't know the numbers, so how can we I mean, what if it's five here is one hundred and forty. I mean, we don't know the numbers, so it's hard for us to say that it's a good deal compared to this deal or not that deal. It doesn't we don't know. So right now, listen, I'm just happy that they come to an agreement. That should be the point here, or not the actual numbers. Until we know the numbers, we can't finalize and say well, Julio got more, or this guy got more, this guy got more or this or that.

00:30:20
Speaker 4: But yeah, I mean, listen, they got a deal done, so be happy. Cup fans.

00:30:23
Speaker 5: You should be happy. This is a guy that loves being in Chicago. He loves playing at Wrigley. He's really great there. He embraces the fans, he embraces the city. So everyone should be happy about this. We don't know the number. Once we know the numbers, we can talk about that, but right now we don't know. So I sure I'm happy for PCA and I'm happy.

00:30:38
Speaker 4: For the Cubs.

00:30:41
Speaker 1: Yeah, and obviously we'll let you know as soon as we have it. Usually we get it pretty much right away in tandem because if you hear the agreement, but we don't know, so we'll.

00:30:50
Speaker 2: Let you know.

00:30:53
Speaker 1: One question from the crowd, Ryan in the YouTube chat said, how much do you think Buxton and PCA talked about his future during the WBC.

00:31:03
Speaker 5: I'm sure it came up. I'm sure. I'm sure something came up. I'm sure they talked about stuff. I mean, you don't sit in a clubhouse for three weeks with a guy and I talk about certain things. And I don't know if the exact contracts came up, but I'm sure some choices came up. And if they were talking to PCA during it, I'm sure he went around and asked guys that signed extensions. I would be the smart thing to do if I was his agent, I tell him to talk to Buxton and talk to other guys Roman Anthony and guys that signed long term extensions.

00:31:28
Speaker 4: It's the right thing to do.

00:31:29
Speaker 1: Also, there's a big difference between Buckston's situation and PCA. I mean, the Cubs generally are going to give you a chance. In my opinion, the Twins it's a little tougher to trust. And you know, this has surfaced again over the past week where people are talking about the Angels and Mike Trout and how much did he know about the direction of the franchise when he signed. You know, I think it was still I think Otani was there and they had, you know, shown some bigger signings in the past. So did he really know it was going to turn and into this? What do you think Kratz, I.

00:32:03
Speaker 3: Mean, I think he's been he I mean, if you're just talking about Trout, I think he was in the big leagues. I think some of the infrastructure stuff he probably could have been sheltered from that. I think he also liked la like he likes to win, but he also likes La and the fact that they offered him that deal right after I think it was right after Harper signed his deal, and so it was like they made him that much, you know, that much larger. And I feel like probably at the time it was a market it was a market thing where it was like, hey, you know, we'll pay you what you would be worth.

00:32:37
Speaker 4: And so I think he liked the deal. But how much did he know? I don't.

00:32:42
Speaker 3: I don't know that. That's hard to say. Like, as a big leader, you don't know how teams are treating scouts in the minor league infrastructure, and you know, you don't have a weight room that's an actual building, it's just a tent in Big league spring training. Did Trout even care about that kind of stuff at that point in his career, I don't know. He'd never been with any other organization.

00:33:06
Speaker 2: Yeah.

00:33:06
Speaker 1: For me, PCA is a diehard Cubs fan. Yeah, it's a good time to be a Cub right now. It just makes too much sense on the look around you front, and then if the money lines up, boom, there you go.

00:33:25
Speaker 7: I like that.

00:33:26
Speaker 2: I like that animation a lot. It's called Pressure Cooker.

00:33:29
Speaker 1: It's a new segment and We're going to start with some decisions that were made here at the end of camp.

00:33:36
Speaker 2: Really, we're going to focus on the Dodgers.

00:33:38
Speaker 1: When you're this good and you're coming off back to back titles, you do have tough decisions to make. We're going to talk Rokie Sasaki, and then we are going to talk Hasan Kim. So let's start with Roki. He just pitched yesterday. He looked abysmal awful. It's spring training. He's gone through a lot of ups and downs. He was a savior for them to some extent in the postseason as a bullpen guy.

00:34:05
Speaker 2: But he walked in two runs.

00:34:06
Speaker 1: As from Katie Wu who's at the game, did not record now in the first inning, thirty pitches. Then he's removed and spring games you can get removed. And then he came back for the second inning, but she was not encouraging for his first spring start, and Dave Roberts said pregame he wanted to see Rokie in complete game mode for the season. Then Maddie Lee, who was at the game there too, reporting said he returned in the second inning, exited again, no outs, zero hits, five runs, six walks, two strikeouts, two hit by pitch in sixty six pitches and recorded six outs. He is part of the starting rotation to start the year. Should he be or does it have to do with promises that were made to him to recruit him.

00:34:52
Speaker 5: He's a pitch better. I don't know what they said to him, but he just needs a pitch better. He needs to figure it out. And this is one of the question marks about him, was his command and con he's a two pitch guy and they said this and if people don't swing in a split, this is why he was effective in the bullpen because he could come in and not save anything and you can go fastball right to the split. And this is why he was better in the bullpen than he's a starter. Maybe this guy's just a bullpen guy. Maybe we just need to figure that out.

00:35:14
Speaker 2: Here's my question.

00:35:15
Speaker 1: If you're the front office and you think you're gonna make the playoffs anyway, and you can deal with two or three clunky starts that then give you the evidence to say you need to be optioned or moved to the bullpen, is this the reat that you would take, because I'll give you one caveat recruiting Japanese players is important. It should be important to every team. It is very important to the Dodgers. This was not a guy who signed just for money. He signed for the team. If they optioned him to start the season, does it set a bad precedent for other players and agents representing those players to sign with the Dodgers.

00:35:51
Speaker 5: Yeah, but still he hasn't pitched well. You don't pitch well.

00:35:55
Speaker 4: Listen.

00:35:55
Speaker 5: If you don't pitch well and you don't play well, you don't stay in the big leagues. Right, A crappy player, you don't stay in the big leagues. Sorry, I mean that's the way it is. If you're a good player, then you stay in the major leagues for a long time because you can because you're good. But if you're not, you go up and down and up and down and up and down. Right, Okay, he hasn't been good. Yeah, he hasn't been good. Sorry, he hasn't Maybe he's a booming guy. And by the way, like it's the same thing, right, Dylan Cruz we just talked about he hasn't been good. Guess where he is Triple A. Connor Griffin hasn't been given a shot at the big leagues yet, so we don't know what he's gonna be. Right, some fool in the chat is saying Christian Campbell makes a hundred million He didn't sign a hundred million dollars contract. He also started the season in the Big league exact, didn't play well, and now he's in Triple A and now they're trying to find a position for him.

00:36:45
Speaker 4: Right, So, if you're good, you stay.

00:36:47
Speaker 5: If you're not good, guess what happens you don't stay there, You go up and down, or you go down and hope they hope you can.

00:36:52
Speaker 4: Get you back.

00:36:53
Speaker 1: Yes, Christian Campbell a different story. They gave him runway and then it didn't work out. So if we're talking about that compared to Connor Griffin would give the guy runway first and then if he didn't perform, you would send him down.

00:37:04
Speaker 2: Regular season.

00:37:05
Speaker 1: So regular season here, kratz Roki Sasaki coming off a brutal performance. He has looked lost often in spring training. What would you have done if you're the Dodgers considering all factors here, including long term recruitment of players like him.

00:37:20
Speaker 3: That's something that I think the Dodgers have played an incredible, incredibly well the long term game they've they've been setting up for this success for years when they were recruiting Shoho Tani before he went to the Angels, when they were recruiting when they were changing different things in the minor leagues, like, they played the long game really well. So to say that wasn't discussed, I would have a hard time believing it wasn't discussed, because they know what that looks like. It's the same way when American guys go over to Japan and play. If you strike out for your first two weeks of the season, when you're over in Japan trying to make the adjustment, they send you to Triple A. Well, now all of a sudden that player has other has an agent who has other players that they want to recruit over there. It is definitely a thing vice versa coming from Japan and over like the Dodgers want the next pitching star, and if they feel like if an agent or somebody feels like they're treated a certain way, then you know what, hey, we're you know, maybe maybe we'll look to another team. Because it clearly if that's the case. It was a pre pre free agency deal or pre determined deal which was supposed to be open to all thirty teams when reality, the Dodgers had it. But to me, I said it when they first signed him. This guy could get sent to Triple A and that's okay. It doesn't mean he's not a good player. It doesn't mean that the Dodgers made a mistake or that he should have stayed in Japan. No, it's okay to work on some things if it's not going well in the big leagues. He should have been in the big leage right out of the gate. I get that he did it. Now you're seeing some deficiencies. Go to a place where it's not big league games and work on those things. And I think pitching in Triple A is not that big a deal for him because you saw what happened when he went down there during his rehab assignment last year, and then he came back and he shortened his stride length or length in the stride length, I'm not one hundred percent sure what it was, and he had success.

00:39:24
Speaker 1: Yeah, you got roasted when you said that initially when he signed, but you were right. We got to step aside bank or break for the TV crowd and then we'll talk. Has some Kim in the break. This episode of FT is brought to you by a Fox One. It is now live stream all your Fox favorites together in one place. MLB, of course, football, and it's football season. We had the World Baseball Classic, which was awesome. MLB postseason. Start your seven day free trial today offer subject to change. Go to Fox won four complete terms and conditions. Fox Won streaming now including Saturday.

00:39:56
Speaker 5: Saturday's opening day on Fox One Giants Yankees Giants with Ken and Smoltz and Joe Davis and then me and Adam and Waeno are in Atlanta for the Royals of Brave. So well, I get that as vintp and Jack Caglione and mac Ochorro about those fences that we showed earlier.

00:40:17
Speaker 2: That's right. Oh yeah, you'll be in k C for it.

00:40:19
Speaker 4: There it is, it's in Atlanta.

00:40:21
Speaker 2: Oh well, then you're just gonna ask.

00:40:22
Speaker 1: All right, first three games in Atlanta, we were clearing this up from earlier. Then they go to Casey after that. Yes, so there you go, seven day pre trial today, go for it. Fox won back for two minutes here, let's get to the Hesse on Kim conversation. So this is kind of the opposite of Rokie. He looks like production wise in the spring he earned it, but they want to see him get more frequent abs in the minor league, so they gave the spot to Alex Freeland.

00:40:49
Speaker 2: Despite Kim hitting four oh seven in spring training.

00:40:51
Speaker 1: He's got to be pretty pissed and might be regretting that he signed there.

00:40:57
Speaker 5: I don't think he's regretting it. But he got paid a little bit too, so I don't think. I don't think he's regretting it. I think the Dodgers see a possibility where later on, like they used him last year, they need him to be sharp, and if he sits on the bench, he's not going to be sharp again. This is if you're on a certain team and they have nine players and you're a bench guy, you might never.

00:41:17
Speaker 4: Get to play.

00:41:18
Speaker 5: If you play for the Braves and all nine players a couple of years ago play one hundred and fifty eight games, you don't get in the game a whole lot. And if you're not good enough to be a starter, then a you either need to get traded or guess what you do, you go to Triple A. It's again, if you're not good enough, you're not there, and if you're good enough, you're there, and if you're not good enough, you go down. It's a really hard job. Playing baseball is really hard, okay, and so the people that can do it for a long time should be respected and look at it because it's a really hard job to do.

00:41:47
Speaker 1: He signed for three years twelve and a half mil a year ago, and then there's club options on there too, so that was probably the best money that he got.

00:41:57
Speaker 2: And he just won a ring, already.

00:42:00
Speaker 5: Got some maybes last year. You got to pinch around a bunch of times. He's really fast.

00:42:03
Speaker 4: That's cool.

00:42:04
Speaker 1: Yeah, but if he wants to play every day, this is a tough team to crack right now.

00:42:11
Speaker 2: Guys will get hurt. He'll come up.

00:42:13
Speaker 5: That's why they need him ready though, because if let's say somebody goes down, they need him ready to play and step up to play every day.

00:42:18
Speaker 4: And that's why he's in Triple A.

00:42:19
Speaker 1: Yeah, Edmund's coming back. I think in two months. The thing was Snell.

00:42:38
Speaker 2: All right, let's slap tomorrow.

00:42:40
Speaker 1: We will be talking about regular season baseball beginning at night. Yankees and Giants were excited for that. It's going to be fantastic. I watched probably less Spring training this year than maybe ever in my life because of the World Baseball Classic, and I don't.

00:42:56
Speaker 2: Regret it, because sometimes.

00:42:58
Speaker 1: I'd watch and I'm like, I don't want to buy too much into what I'm seeing, So highlights were a better route for me on that front. But the real games I'm watching Rob Freeman pitching, ninj is going to join us. We always enjoy combos with him. Hot sheets coming up. I think this is the perfect day for hot sheet. We just learned about Kevin McGonagall and good for the Tigers on this one. Remember you were sitting next to the hinch and you were like, come on, and he was like, no, we're gonna wait until almost the finish line. They waited until basically as late as you could go here. I mean, it's two days before their season starts.

00:43:31
Speaker 5: For McGonagall, they already told them, I think you think so, there's no way you can't do that to people.

00:43:38
Speaker 4: You have to let him know a little bit of time, give them a little bit of time

00:43:40
Speaker 1: To pack, right, Ahi, people, we will see you tomorrow for game Day.