Fair Territory: Braves loading up, Freddy Peralta market, Is Boras waiting on Kyle Tucker?

00:00:08
Speaker 1: Welcome everyone to the Thursday edition, oh, the Friday edition of Fair Territory, a special post winter Meetings edition. I'm Ken Rosenthal here with Alana Rizzo. We already have some news today, the Blue Jays announcing a five year extension for team president Mark Shapiro. If you recall, both Shapiro and his general manager Ross Atkins were thought to be on the hot seat going into this season. When you get to the World Series and come within through outs of winning it, it kind of helps cool off the hot seat. So we've got a ton to talk about. Good to see you again. Let's get to it.

00:00:42
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's great to see you as well on this Friday. Great job, Ken. Of course, over the course of the Winter Meetings and we have some more things to talk about, and we start in Atlanta, Ken.

00:00:52
Speaker 1: We do. And the Braves have been active in recent days and they've had quite an interesting offseason so far. What we've seen from them is first the signing of Russ Rachel Iglesias to be their closer. That was one year, sixteen million. Then they acquired Mauricio Dubon for Nick Allen, and that was a guy that they feel can play shortstop. If they cannot get a better shortstop, and then over the last two days Mike Yastremsky outfielder and Robert Suarez to be their setup man in front of Aglesias. Now one thing to note here, Suarez, Iglesias and Yastremsky all thirty five or over on opening day, older players, but experienced players, players who should make the Braves better. Certainly, the back of the bullpen now with Suarez and Iglesias is really formidable. They still want to do shortstop if they can get better, if they can get Hashan Kim, maybe somebody else that we're not thinking of, and they would probably want to add a starting pitcher as well. But the Braves right now looking good.

00:01:52
Speaker 2: And I tell you what can They also have a new manager, of course, Brian Snicker still with the organization, a longtime baseballman, but another longtime baseball man managing again, Walt Weiss. What do you make of that?

00:02:03
Speaker 1: I like it. And Walt Weiss is one of these guys that I thought deserved a second chance. He was in Colorado all those years. Of course, we all know how difficult it is to win in Colorado because of the ballpark and because of the way. Frankly, the team has been run over the past I don't know, decade or so under Dick Montfort, so they seem to be taking a step forward now with Deeperdesta and Josh Burns coming in. And Walt Weiss gets his second chance with Atlanta, an organization where he had been the bench coach before, and he seems to be a guy to me that is well suited for that team. Reminds me a little bit of Rob Thompson, just kind of low key but yet extremely wise in a baseball sense.

00:02:44
Speaker 3: Yeah.

00:02:44
Speaker 2: Rob Thompson of course getting an extension with the Philadelphia Phillies as well, and Walker Montford already making some good moves for the Colorado Rockies. Let's talk about the next domino to fall, Ken, if you will, in this free agency or off season time period. I thought it was going to be Kyle Schwarber, the big news. It seems like, though, Scott Boris is perhaps leaking its Kyle Tucker as the domino that needs to fall before more stuff happens.

00:03:10
Speaker 1: Right. Brendan Cuddy of The Athletic wrote a story two days ago basically saying that Boris might want to wait for Tucker to sign. He doesn't represent Tucker Excel does, but he might want to wait for Tucker to go before he gets to Bellinger. Now it's interesting because if you look at what happened this week, Alana Kyle Schwarber signs for one hundred and fifty million with the Philadelphia Phillies. The next day, Scott Boris with Pete Alonzo signs to the Baltimore Oriols one hundred and fifty five million. Basically, Boris waited for Schwarber and then did Alonzo, and it seems, according to Brendan's reporting, that he would like to do the same thing here because it will enhance perhaps the price he gets for Bellinger. If Tucker goes really high, Bellinger's not the same player, he will not get as much, but he might get more after Tucker goes. So that's one way for Scott Boris to go about, and he of course can sign Ballinger any moment if he gets the deal he wants. But it's really interesting what we've seen so far from these opt out free agents. Alonso, for instance, he signed with the Mets last year, that two year, fifty four million dollar deal. The first year was thirty million, then he opted out, ends up getting five years, one hundred and fifty five. So the total in his free agency the two years six one eighty five that is outstanding for Pete Alonzo. Now Gregman opted out of his deal with the Red Sox forty million, but really thirty one point seven in present day value with all the deferrals. What will he get? What will his final number be? And Cody Bellinger was with the Cubs, opted in last year but opts out this year, ends up making two years fifty five million or fifty five million over two years with the Cubs, and now he too stands to gain more in free agency. So that strategy Scott Boris has taken with some of these players over the years. I've been critical of it at times because it seems like when he gets those short deals, you're wondering, well, is he reading the market correctly? But time and again go back to Matt Chapman was another one. These have worked out pretty well for him, and we'll see how it goes with Bregman and Bellinger coming up.

00:05:22
Speaker 2: Ken Is Scott Boris the type of agent that will allow perhaps a short term deal once for a client, but not twice for the same guy.

00:05:32
Speaker 1: That seems to be the way this goes. Alana, And obviously, if the market dictates a second short term deal, he's not going to have a choice. But basically, when you have the short term deal, and this was the case for Alonso and Bregman with a qualifying offer, okay, what you're doing is hedging until the next year when you won't have a qualifying offer and things are a little bit freer. Seems that is what happened with Alonzo. To an extent, I was a little prized Alonso got more than Schwarber, even though he's almost two years younger. Kyle Schwarber is coming off a fifty six home run season. Seemed to have and we don't know for sure, but seem to have a more active market. Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Boston, So Bellinger and Bregman they're next up, along with Tucker and along with Boba Schett. Those are the four big hitters remaining and we will see how this all goes.

00:06:24
Speaker 2: Yeah, those are the four big hitters. Let's talk about the pitching market for a moment. Ken, what is the peralta the Freddie peralta market looking like right.

00:06:32
Speaker 1: I wrote this with Will Samon a couple of days ago, and if you recall Altam, maybe a week ago, the Brewers, I reported, were cracking the door open for trade discussions. Well, they've cracked the door open, and as I wrote with Will, teams are now barging through. The Yankees, the Giants, the Orioles are among them, and I would expect there are some other teams as well. Maybe the Mets jump into this thing. The Brewers are going to get pushed here. Palta is an extremely valuable commodity, top five cy young finisher. Not only that, making eight million in twenty twenty six before becoming a free agent. Eight million is a lot of money. To the normal person for a starting pitcher of his caliber, it is a pittance. So they are going to get pushed and pushed hard on Peralta, and I would not be surprised to see them trade him, even though after Brent Brandon Woodriff accept the qualifying offer, the owner and the general manager, Mark Attanasio and Matt Arnold talked excitedly about their rotation. We love our rotation, but if they could perhaps get a young pitcher back for Peralta. They go into the season with Woodruff, Mazarowski and Priester as their top three, and they've got some depth behind them. They could justify it in their heads in that way.

00:07:49
Speaker 2: Ken, who are the teams pushing for Peralta? Who's knocking on Milwaukee's door? What makes the most sense?

00:07:54
Speaker 1: Well, the teams I just mentioned all make sense, and really a lot of any team that wants starting pitching makes sense for Freddy Paralta just because of what I said. The question is which team will be able to or willing to pay the acquisition cost necessary to get one year of Paralta and one year of a pitcher is not going to get you what it might if you had multiple years of control that you were peddling. So we saw with Corbyn Burns the Brewers made a good trade a couple of years ago. It was Joey Ortez, it was Dale Hall, and it was a thirty fourth pick in the draft. Now, our Chees hasn't hit much, but he's a great defensive shortstop. Dale Hall has been inconsistent and injured, but he's got a lot of promise and the draft pick. We'll see how that turns out. But Burns was making almost twice as much as Peralta, so Paralta in the trade market will be that much more valuable.

00:08:48
Speaker 2: ID love to see where this is all going to play out. I still think Ken and you know certainly more than I, but I still would love to see Woodroff and Peralta in the same rotation. Just makes Milwaukee that much more formative. But obviously teams must like what they're hearing about Freddy Peralta and those sweepstakes. Much more to come on Fair Territory with Ken Rosenthal. Get those questions in for Ken. We're gonna do Grill and Ken right after a word from our friends at foul.

00:09:14
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00:09:34
Speaker 2: Give us a sub all right, time now to I have all kinds of problems with my headroom, and I know my director's going nuts right now, but I'm gonna try to fix my camera. I apologize all right time now for Grill and Ken. This is where we get the questions in from you the fans in our chat to ask Ken Rosenthal a question. So the first one is on the uh looks like, oh the Bechet market. Okay, So this from Justin Longhai, justin, how are you who is the most appealing shortstop available on the market? Assuming can that most teams view Bo Bashett as a second basement at this point, some teams.

00:10:14
Speaker 1: Do view him as a shortstop, and that's my understanding from talking to people in his camp, and you can see why. Even though his metrics were down. Bob Bashett is an extremely good offensive player and at shortstop he give you a greater offensive boost than most shortstops will provide. But if you're looking for a pure shortstop, a guy who is a gifted defender, it's Hashan Kim and we haven't heard a whole lot about him. The Braves certainly would love to have him back. Remember they got him for the final month of the season. There are other teams as well, who I am sure are on Kim, just as there are many teams on Bishett and Bashet's Market's going to be really interesting. I reported last week about Boston being in on him. Toronto of course is in on him two and others. And he is a guy. When you look at his offensive stats, the underlying ones, they are really good. He hits the ball hard, he hits good pitching. He is what you want at the plate. And with regard to his position, he's certainly open to playing second base as he did in the World Series, and perhaps even third base. So that's going to be an interesting one in the days ahead.

00:11:23
Speaker 3: All right.

00:11:23
Speaker 2: Another interesting candidate in terms of trade ken is katel Marte. What are the what is the likelihood that katel Marte gets traded? Videos two of seven? Are there any new rumors regarding Arizona possibly moving him?

00:11:38
Speaker 1: This one is hard to read because Arizona's position is we will listen on katel Marte because we have extreme pitching needs and some other needs as well, with so many of their pitchers actually three of them injured coming off Tommy Johns, Corbyn Burns, Justin Martinez in the bullpen and AJ Puck. But they keep saying as well, we don't really want to trade Marte because he is one of the best second basemen in the game. That said, there is a lot of activity on him. Nick Bacoro of the Arizona Republic reporting that the Rays considered Shane Boz and Pepio Ryan Pepio in a trade for Marte. I'm told it wasn't those two exactly. It was one of them plus more. But regardless the Rais or a team that has been interested, the Pirates have an interest in him. The Red Sox have been linked to him. All kinds of teams would want katel Marte. But at the same time, the Diamondbacks, like the Brewers with Peralta, are going to ask for a high cost. They want a high price, and you can understand that when you have good players, that's what you do. So where this goes, I'm not sure, but there's one other element here. Ten days into the season, katel Marte gains ten and five rights ten years of service, five consecutively with the same team, and that means he can veto any trade. So if you're going to trade him, and the Diamondbacks know this now.

00:13:01
Speaker 2: Yeah, you got to do it now. You can't wait till the season starts, because then he gains more leverage as you know, all right, for the Mets, who we've talked about the Mets a lot this week. What would a package for Wilson Contreras look like?

00:13:13
Speaker 1: Not sure exactly. He's owed two years, thirty six and a half million. I believe that is the number. It's that range anyway, and because you're taking on the money, I would assume that the prospect package wouldn't be extremely great. It's not like you're going to have to give up one of your top prospects for him. But maybe you get or give one of a group of I don't know, your top ten or fifteen, and maybe a little bit more than that someone else's too. I'm not sure I'm reading this right. Maybe I'm selling low or giving the Cardinals not enough here. But Wilson Contreras is really good. I don't know that he's going to get you one of the mets big pitchers, mclean'sprote or Tom maybe someone from a lesser group, a second tier of prospects.

00:14:00
Speaker 2: All the Mets. What are you doing? More on that to come? I think and do it in Dork of the Week. This is a question in regards to Tarek scooble Ken. I truly feel that Tarek scooble is not going to get moved right now, and I don't think he's coming to the Dodgers. What package can the Dodgers offer for Schooble? This person Young? The twenty seven five has she and emmitts shean Hope of course, and Dalton rushing.

00:14:23
Speaker 1: That's an interesting package. And what you're getting in that package is a guy who's ready to step into a rotation in emmachine with five years of control. I believe here Hope is one of the dodgers many fine outfield prospects. They've got a bunch of them, three or four that are a couple of years away in some cases, closer in others. And then who is the third player in that one? Oh? Russian in rushing guy, a quality bat. I'm not sure he's going to be a catcher, but hey, that's a guy that you would want. So the question would become are the Dodgers willing to do that for one year of Trerek's Schoobel? You remember the package I just mentioned for Burns, the one year that the Orioles got for him, They gave up less than what was just described now. Trek scouble back to backsiw Young winner Best Pitcher in the sport arguably right now, along with Paul Skens, you would give up more for him than perhaps the Brewers got for Burns. But I don't know that you would go to that level. I'm sure the Dodgers wouldn't want to ideally. But what's interesting here, Trek Schooble represented by Scott Borris. If you're the Dodger, just like when the Orioles acquired Burns, who also was represented by Scott Borris, you know that player is going to free agency. So the idea of getting him and signing him to an extension right away probably not happening.

00:15:47
Speaker 2: I have said that a thousand times, but because Ken said it, I know that I'm not crazy. There's no way he's going to go there for a year because you know he's going to test free agency because Boris is his agent. Ken, thank you.

00:15:58
Speaker 1: One more Dodgers doesn't rule out the Dodgers and signing them. It's just.

00:16:04
Speaker 2: My guess is that they're going to want to sign him to an extension at that time and they're not going to be allowed to do so. Although you know they wanted to do it with Mookie Betts and it ended up working out.

00:16:14
Speaker 1: But here we go.

00:16:14
Speaker 2: Do the Giants change their minds and sign either Kyle Tucker or Bobashett since there are holes at those positions. George wants to know.

00:16:23
Speaker 1: Bobaschett particularly would be a great fit. They are looking for a second baseman, and they are acting curiously because Andrew Baggerley of The Athletic Reporter a couple of weeks ago that they're not in on am I a picture that they've been linked to a pitcher who would fit them naturally, and it seems that they're not prepared to spend at the top of the market, and that's what it's going to take for either of those players. And you can understand it. For position players. They've already got three huge deals on their books, devors A, Damis and Chapman. But why they wouldn't continue spending on the pitching is a little curious to me. I expect that they're going to sign Max Scherzer. Max Scherzer loves Tony Vitello. It was his pitching coach at Missouri, but they could use one more and from that perspective, and maybe some bullpen help as well. I'm a little baffled by the Giants and they're seeming retrenchment here when they've spent heavily on those three position players that I mentioned. Now, yes, they've got big investments there and you can't fault them for that, but it would seem that when you're at that level, you'd want to keep going instead of kind of going backwards. And I'm not sure which way they're going exactly.

00:17:38
Speaker 2: Interesting Rhino Thunder sixty eight Ken has a question about the O's, who obviously just landed Pete Alonso. To who do you think the Orioles grab in terms of starting pitching help.

00:17:49
Speaker 1: Well, Ranger Suarez is a free agent that they've been linked to Edward Cabrera. I reported with Will Salmon the other day that that's a picture they're pursuing in trade. Freddy Peralta we mentioned as well. I'm sure they're on virtually every starting pitcher in the market, and with the Alonso signing, it doesn't necessarily signal that they're going to stop spending. If anything, they're going to keep going. As I was just mentioning with the Giants, once you get to a certain point, you want to make your team as strong as possible. They have had so far, arguably the best season of any team. I'm talking about Leot Taveres, Andrew Kittridge, Taylor Ward, Pete Alonso, and Ryan Helsley. That's a big haul. And again they're not done, so I'm not exactly sure where they're going. Maybe they're not sure. They're probably operating on multiple fronts, but they are going to come away with a starting pitcher. And keep in mind, they're not exactly lacking in that area. They've got Trevor Rodgers who really came out at the end of last season, Kyle Bradish who came back from Tommy john So they're in a good spot, but they need one more, if not two.

00:18:56
Speaker 2: I have a question for you regarding that, actually two questions. They train away Grayson Rodriguez, though, Ken, So why trade away Rodriguez when you are in need of a starter to.

00:19:06
Speaker 1: Get Taylor Award and because you're not sure Grayson Rodriguez will be healthy. Taylor Award was arguably best right handed hitting outfielder available. That is a position, and of ten, it's of great scarcity right now. What I'm trying to say was right handed hitting outfielders you can't find it. Mike Petriella wrote a great article on MLB dot com last week about this. They're just extremely scarce, so they took a chance with Grayson Rodriguez. But that was the choice that they made.

00:19:36
Speaker 2: In all likelihood. Do you think their starting pitching help can comes via trade or is there someone on the free agent market you see fitting in?

00:19:44
Speaker 1: My guess is trade. They've made their big free agent signing with Alonso. They've also signed Hellsley much lesser deal, but a significant deal, and they have players to trade. Kobe Mayo is one. Perhaps Ryan Mountcastle is now expendable with Pete A. Lonso coming aboard, so they can do some things from a trade perspective. They've got other prospects as well. I would expect that's the way they would prefer to go. Now, whether it's the way they actually go, I don't know. Maybe they feel they can get range of Swarz on a great deal and they go in that direction. Maybe they do that in trade for a starting pitcher. Kind of the world is their oyster.

00:20:21
Speaker 2: Right now, the Orioles, they have been busy. Great questions today, guys, Thanks so much for participating in the chat with Ken Rosent. Thought we're going to be right back after this with our dude and dork of the week.

00:20:32
Speaker 3: Bet, I'm jam account holders today. How about in any sport parlay boost token you can score a bigger payout if your wager with that token. Hits tokens can be used on parlays and on same game parlays. Gambling problem, We're concerned. There's help called one eight hundred gambler.

00:20:48
Speaker 1: Dude, dude, dude.

00:20:56
Speaker 2: All right, it is time to give some praise. I appreciate you having my self and Hazel May as the dudets of the week last week. Thank you for that. Who is your dude of the week.

00:21:05
Speaker 1: More award winners Alana and I've got Joe buck Ford Frick winner and Paul Hoynes the Baseball Writers Association of America Career Excellence Award winner. And these two guys were honored this week or named to win those awards this week. Joe, of course, I worked for with Fox for many years. He called twenty four World Series. I know some people say, well, hey, he's still young for this. Come on, He's the second youngest since Vin Scully to win this award, and there are some other broadcasters quite deserving, but this vote is conducted among basically his peers, thirteen Living Frick Award recipients and three broadcast historians columnists. So those are the people who chose Joe Buck, and they could not have made a better choice. He's one of the all time greats. I used to laugh all the time when people would say, ken Joe Buck suggs Man. Really Fox kept him out for twenty four World Series and ESPN wanted them to cover football for them, And seems to me he's done okay for a guy who supposedly sucks. Paul Hoyins. We all love Paul. He is one of the great characters among baseball writers and he's covered the Guardians and Indians for more than four decades and done it with his usual work, ethic and humor and all of that and a most deserving winner. Baseball Writers Association Award is a little bit different. It's comprised of a voting block of all of us. All the baseball writers who are eligible to vote can do that, and Hoines was the selection this year. Very deserved.

00:22:39
Speaker 2: Yeah, congratulations to both Joe Buck and Paul Hoyins. What an honor I mean to be able to be in Cooperstown and memorialized in that way is quite the honor, So congrats to them. My dude of the week is Michael Lias. I think this is a guy that has been a little bit on the hot seat and we were wondering what his tenure was going to be, of course with the Baltimore Orioles, but they've had a very oppressive off season. I think obviously the feather in the cap is the signing of Pete Alonzo. I don't know that Alonzo wanted to leave New York, but the Mets are very questionable. So congratulations to Michael Lias making some good moves, making the Orioles incredibly relevant in what is a very competitive Al East. So all right, so there you have it as far as our dudes of the week. Time now for our dork of the week. All right, I'll go ahead and take honors on this one. The Mets. What are we doing? Ken? What are we doing? David Stearns goes over there from the Milwaukee Brewers and is treating the Mets like the brew Crew, And obviously Steve Cohen, with all of the money known to man more than God, really just got the licensing rights for casinos in that area and has gotten rid of the core. Brandon Neimo is in Texas obviously, Edwin Diaz welcome to Los Angeles, and pet alan is an Oh what are the Mets doing? Ken, I just don't understand this. One of the richest owners in the game is getting rid of and now you just have this albatross of a contract of Juan Soto and nobody else around him.

00:24:13
Speaker 1: Well, it's a great question what they're doing. I wrote a column about it, and granted it's only December twelfth, the off season is far from over, but they have acted. In my views, I wrote with a confidence that borders on arrogance even indifference regarding these players. And I know certain Met fans are saying, well, we didn't win with these guys. They didn't win with those guys. True, but not because Peter Alonzo and Edwin Diaz in particular were poor performers. They were elite performers for the Mets, so they weren't the problem. Now, my dork of the week, Alana, it's someone near and both of us you worked with him at MLB Network very closely on the same show. So I'm going to exempt you from the conversation I know you don't want to maybe crush him. I will crush him. I worked with him at MLB Network two. Look at mad Dog Russo and watch this amazing feat of athleticism as he tried a half court shot. Go ahead, Doggie, here comes? What is this?

00:25:13
Speaker 2: He also look like it also looked like he pulled a hammy. Not only is he one handing it up there and completely missing it, he's like he looked like he pulled a hamstring in this process.

00:25:23
Speaker 1: Alana, you just asked the question with the Mets, what are we doing? I have the same question for the dog, what are we doing? And really what we saw there? Merritt's one of his classic rants on ESPN, but we're not going to see it. The dog's not going to rip the dog. But he's the dork of the week. He is the dork of the week.

00:25:42
Speaker 2: We appreciate it very much for all of you that are watching and listening. Foul Territory is coming up after this, but I have to tell you what a time to be with you. Ken have a great week. You're awesome at the Winter meetings. Don't forget everybody Their territory is next. Tod Frazier Eric krat Scott Braun. They're going to walk FP Santangelo Ferries back Monday at ten am. Have a great week, everybody,