Fair Territory: Winter moves fan Q&A, Correa/Altuve out of WBC

00:00:01
Speaker 1: Welcome everyone to the Thursday edition of Fair Territory. Sorry for the little bit of a late start. We had some technical difficulties. I'm Ken Rosenthal. We are here with Alana Rizzo and Alana, it seems like your attire is a little bit different today.

00:00:16
Speaker 2: Yeah, technical difficulties. I can technical difficulties, wardrobe malfunction. The only reason Ken, I am wearing this is because I lost a bet to Jeremy Meyer, our wonderful producer. I am a Broncos fan. It is the Patriots that are going to the Super Bowl, so I am a woman of my word. I am fulfilling my bet. More on that coming up and Dude and Dork of the week. Much more entertaining things to talk about though, with you baseball, let's talk about it. You had a one on one with Mark de Rosa, manager of Team USA. How do you see this team, Ken, for the WBC kind of shaping up under the leadership of Mark de Rosa.

00:00:57
Speaker 1: Well was I wrote in a story today, Alana. This is the strongest WBC team the usas fielded, and this is the sixth WBC, so we've had something of a history now and Team USA won in twenty seventeen, but if you compare the two rosters, they're not even close. And I go through that and story, and the biggest thing that has changed over the years is the willingness of superstar Major leaguers to participate in this tournament. For a long time, understandably so, there was reluctance, why am I disrupting my spring training. Teams were of course not into it. They still aren't into it for the most part. But the last WBC, the one in twenty twenty three, was so electric, so much a tribute to the sport and all the sport, all that the sport can be. It swayed a lot of people. It swayed a lot of fans, It swayed a lot of players. It may have even swayed some teams to say, Okay, we get it. For those fans out there who are critical of the WBC, I understand. You don't want your players disrupted. You want them simply devoted to their teams, your favorite teams. I will only say this, watch the games, watch this sport at its highest level. And that's what it is. When you have all these great players from all these different countries competing in one tournament. You see elite baseball, and that is what we saw the last time. Just so happened. We got a slew of dramatic games as well, So I'm expecting that the tournament is going to be just as much fun this year. And again Aaron Judge, cal Raley on one team, with Bobby Witt, with Corbyn Carroll, with all these other superstars, Bryce Harper, then you have Tarrek Schouble and Paul Sken's heading the starting rotation. That's pretty good.

00:02:51
Speaker 2: Really good Ken. And you know there have been some times where we'll talk about it a little bit too. Carlos Correa, Jose al Tuove not participating me because of an insurance issue. But Clayton Kershaw Ken had that same issue the last time the WBC came around. But he's retired now and Mark Durossa has Clayton Kershaw on his team. What more can you tell us about his role his perceived role?

00:03:12
Speaker 1: I remember Kershaw was disappointed in twenty three when he wasn't cleared by insurance, and we'll explain that in a second, Alana, as you said, but in this particular instance, with him now retired and not affiliated with any major league franchise. He is actually going to play potentially an important role for Team USA because there could be a circumstance that comes about where they need a long man, where you need a guy to suck up four or five innings. Because so many pictures in this tournament for USA and other countries as well, will be under restrictions imposed by their teams. In many cases, most cases understandable restrictions because of course it's the middle of spring training. You don't want your starting pitchers going seven innings. You don't want necessarily your relievers going back to back days. And in the last tournament in twenty twenty three, De Rosa explains this in the article they Got Caught. They got caught in a game against Mexico because they basically ran out of pitching. They had to kind of have Brady Singer wear it a little bit. And in the next game, which was against Canada the next day, Team USA was very fortunate that lance Lynn went sixty five pitches and five innings because basically they were out of pitching. So Kershaw will serve that role as basically someone who mops it up if necessary, whether in a route in the USA's favor, or in the other team's favor, and that is actually an important role. He might never pitch, he might end up pitching four innings in one game. He might end up pitching one inning. But to have a guy like that not affiliated with the team is valuable because if you had a major league pitcher in that role and you're telling his team, hey, we might not pitch them, we might we might pitch them a lot, that major league team is not going to be satisfied with that answer.

00:05:09
Speaker 2: Ken, Is that why the Giants are asking Logan Webb to take a pass on the WBC.

00:05:15
Speaker 1: The Giants are asking him to take a pass on the WBC for the same reason every team would prefer their top pitchers and players not to play. It's the risk of injury. It's all that. And teams just have concerns, understandably because there's a lot of money invested in these players and you don't want to see them get hurt. But a lot of we were talking about this off air, and I want to hear your thoughts on air about how the risk in the WBC, while it's there, it's not necessarily a greater risk than pitching in spring training. Yes, the stress level is higher, but you could get You could get hurt in either environment, no.

00:05:55
Speaker 2: No question about that. You can get hurt just as easily in spring training Ken and no one's making a big deal out of it because obviously you're working out. Accidents and injuries happen, But you could easily get hurt in the WBC. And people are blowing that what I believe they're blowing it out of proportion.

00:06:09
Speaker 1: But think about it.

00:06:09
Speaker 2: I mean, you could walk outside and get you know, stumble over a log or slip on ice, or fall up the stairs or whatever it is. I mean, there's ways to get hurt that have nothing to do with baseball. So allow your team to play for the WBC. I understand why teams are hesitant.

00:06:25
Speaker 1: I get it.

00:06:25
Speaker 2: You know, these are highly paid players, and you know it's a commodity for the team. But it's an honor not to put on this jersey, this Patriots jersey, but it is an honor to put on a WBC team USA jersey. That being said, can it doesn't look like the Astros are going to allow Jose Altuve and Carlos care at a player. Maybe it's more of an insurance issue for those two players because the Astros have had some injury prone years as of late. What more can you tell us?

00:06:55
Speaker 1: Well, what the astros are saying and what the players are saying is that it is an insurance issue. Now, let me explain how this works. So each player in the WBC has to be insured, and MLB and the Union pick and insurer, and that insurer basically evaluates every player and when it denies insurance because perhaps of past injuries in Korea's case or without Tuove, he had an offseason surgery, albeit a minor one, but he had one, then the team can go ahead and have the player play if they guarantee a salary. But if they don't, and most teams are not going to guarantee a player's salary if he's not insured. If they don't do that, then the player is risking losing his salary if he gets hurt during the WBC. So when a player like Kara is told you're not getting insured, he's not going to play and risk his entire salary because if he gets hurt in some freak way, he won't get paid. And that is obviously a huge risk. And you see this surface from time to time with different players. We talked about Kershaw in twenty three. Now the Dodgers were not willing to guarantee his salary, so he didn't play. The Tigers, on the other hand, did make that exception for Miguel Cabrera. I'm not sure why. I don't remember the exact circumstances, but that's rare. You don't see a team say go to the dB, go to the WBC. If you get hurt, we'll pay you. That doesn't generally happen, No.

00:08:25
Speaker 2: It does not.

00:08:25
Speaker 3: Now.

00:08:25
Speaker 2: Channler Rome, who does a great job covering the Houston Astros you can also see him on Crush City Territory, had an article about what Carlos Korea was saying. Ken about the injuries with the Astros quote, we had way too many injuries last year, and I feel like when I got here, people did not have the routine they needed to have in order for them to be able to withstand the whole season. That's coming from Carlos Carea. You can see it here more on Chandler Rome's story in the Athletic. I mean, is that kind of something that the leadership in terms of the players are feeling with Houston? Ken I don't want you to for Carlos Korea, but injuries were an issue for that club last year.

00:09:06
Speaker 1: Injuries have been an issue for this team for several years. If you go back to twenty four, Kyle Tucker had that stress fracture. I believe in his shit that was misdiagnosed, and there have been a number of different things with the Astros over the years. I don't know what their protocols are. I don't know what the problem is. But Correa, who is generally one of the most honest players in the game, is speaking to conditioning it sounds like and routines as much as he is medical treatment. So what he's saying is that the players have to get their acts together, that the organization has to get its act together. And obviously, when you're a team the caliber of Houston, you don't want injuries, unnecessary injuries, perhaps compromising your season. And Korea is while an injury prone player in many ways, he's had a lot of stuff. He takes great care of himself, and he's a guy that is tune to all of the physical aspects of.

00:10:02
Speaker 2: The game, and he tell you what he is one of the guys that is most intelligent and well educated on the saber metrics of the game. You talked to Carlos Korea. He's completely into all of the analytics stuff. But it is safe to say that the astros and injuries a touchy subject, can to say the least. For more on the astros, subscribe to Crush City Territory. Rome and Tyler Stafford have more takeaways from FanFest in their latest episode. Subscribe on YouTube and share with the friend the Foul Territory Network Baseball the way it should be covered. We'll be back with Grohan Ken right after this. All right, welcome back to Fair Territory with Ken Rosenthalis. Time now to ask Ken some questions. The first one is in regards to the Braves. Ken Tyler Max Switt Smith wants to know should the Braves add a right handed bat to pair with Yaz in left field as a DH, especially with Kim and Murphy out to start the year. Could in ozoona return makes sense.

00:11:03
Speaker 1: I hadn't actually thought about this, but with the injuries that they're dealing with with Kim and Murphy at the start the year, it is something that perhaps they would consider. I don't know that it would be a guy like a Zuna that they'd have to pay a good amount of money too. Maybe it's a lesser player or even a non roster player. There's still a lot of free agents out there and some are going to have to take non roster deals. Their biggest focus, of course, remains a starting pitcher. That is something they want to do, but it's something they haven't done yet, so that will be an interesting thing to keep an eye on. Good question there.

00:11:39
Speaker 2: All right, what starting pitcher? Are you surprised Ken is still on the free agent market? Perhaps maybe from Bervaldez and Zach Gallan This is from armand is amazing, and maybe the question is are you surprised that both of them are still available?

00:11:55
Speaker 1: Yes, I am surprised both are still out there. We do see every year players linger and not get their values early in free agency and wait to see if they can get it later. Now from for Valdez and Galen are two entirely different types. Even though they're both qualifying offer free agents, both rejected qualifying offers and therefore are subject to drafted compensation. Valdez, it seems to me it's his age thirty two. Perhaps what he is seeking that he is not getting. Perhaps that's part of it, that he's aiming too high, and certainly this cross up with Sesar Zalazar, the rookie catcher last year, did not help his reputation within the game, and it seems to me from the outside, I don't know this for a fact, that that could be could be affecting his market. Gallen, I've discussed this in other places. I've written about it. He was perhaps the least accomplished of the players who rejected qualifying offers, and it seems that that kind of player every year kind of gets squeaked and Gallon, it's a really good pitcher. He had a bad first four months and a pretty good last two months, a very good last two months. To me, he is worth three or four years whatever it might take to get him. But it seems right now he's not getting it. And what I foresee for him is following the path that other Scott Boars clients have followed in use years, short term deal opt outs, try again next year without.

00:13:25
Speaker 2: The qualifying offer. Yeah, kind of like the Cody Bellinger before he just signed the one sixty five with the New York Yankees. You mentioned the qualifying offer Ken, how much do you think that being tied to a free agent player is a factor.

00:13:38
Speaker 1: It definitely is now, it's not for the Juan Soto's of the world, the Kyle Tuckers of the world. And when Diaz teams factor it into the equation. We're losing two draft picks. That is additional cost to what the salary's going to be. But when the player is good enough, you're not going to be restricted by that. When you have a player who is good but not maybe elite, then you're like, maybe we don't want to do this. And also depends on a team's draft position. At times, you can't lose your first round or anymore, but you lose your second and fifth picks if you're a big market team signing one of these guys, and that is prohibitive or at least a deterrent for some clubs.

00:14:21
Speaker 2: This is a good question. I've often wondered this myself. This one comes from Ryan s seven to four to one four. What's the biggest misconception readers have about anonymous sourcing and how do you internally vet credibility before publishing? How do you become the insider that you.

00:14:38
Speaker 1: Are well the biggest misconception readers have about sourcing is when they try to figure out where stuff is coming from. Now sometimes, yes, it is the obvious person you might think, or an obvious group of people you might think, But oftentimes stuff comes out of nowhere. Oftentimes there is not an agenda. People are always trying to read agendas and it just kind of works in a variety of ways. And the other part of this is would you ask about vetting. That's a good question because when you're in this position as a reporter, you have to understand that certain people in the industry, certain sources might be trying to use you, and you have to read that. Have I been one hundred good at that or perfect at that in my career, No, there have been times where I've missed because I misread somebody or was used frankly by that person. But you do your best, and for the majority of us who do this, our track records are very good. We don't miss very often. But there are times where, yeah, you have to be very understanding of where a person is coming from. And that was something that was taught to me early in my career. And again, I'm not perfect. No one's perfect. But over the years I've tried to be as diligent about that as possible.

00:16:07
Speaker 2: How much does trust play into your sources can and the relationship building and knowing who you can legitimately trust.

00:16:18
Speaker 1: A lot of that's everything, and that goes both ways.

00:16:20
Speaker 4: By the way, it's not just me trusting the sources, it's the sources trusting me to handle a particular story or transaction, whatever the case might be, in the proper professional way.

00:16:33
Speaker 1: And it takes a long time to build that up. I often have, In fact, I had just yesterday a young person say Hey, how do I get to be an insider? Doesn't happen overnight. It takes time to build your own credibility. It takes time for you to amass a group of sources or people in the game that will talk to you. And these things do not happen overnight.

00:16:56
Speaker 2: Like anything. It's relationship building and trust and you are one of the best at that. Coming up here on Fair Territory with Ken Rosenthal, we're talking about our dude and Dorks of the week. We'll be right back.

00:17:08
Speaker 1: Hey.

00:17:09
Speaker 3: An easy way to support the show and wear super comfy clothing is by heading to Foul territoryshop dot com. Yes, foul Territoryshop dot com is loaded with foul Territory gear and lots of fair territory gear. If you want to give some love to Ken and Alana, go check out a hat, a T shirt, and a lot more coffee mug in the morning. Foul Territoryshop dot com is the spot. Hey, when you get a chance, subscribe to foul Territory on YouTube. We are getting very close to three hundred thousand subscribers on the channel and love all of them, so we'd love you to join us on that channel as we break down everything going on across the sport. It is baseball the way it should be covered at Foul Territory. Give us a sub bet. I'm JM account holders today. How about an any sport parlay 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 or concerned, there's help called one hundred Gambler.

00:18:10
Speaker 1: Dude, Dude, dude.

00:18:18
Speaker 2: All right, Ken, there's been a lot of news this week, the last couple of weeks about the Washington Post. I want to talk a bit about your dude of the week.

00:18:28
Speaker 1: My dude of the week are the Washington Post sports writers and all of the Washington Post sports writers that I've read and admired over the years. If you don't know what is happening at the Washington Post, Basically there's talk of mass layoffs, the elimination potentially of the sports department and the international reporting department, which is one of the best in the world, and so many people at the Washington Post have been inspirations to me. I'm not going to name them all right here, but it's one of the best sports sections in the country. It has been one of the best sports sections in the country. I tweeted my thoughts the other day about the way it's been handled and all of that. But this is simply to express my admiration and also my concern for what is going on there, to all my friends who work there and all my friends who have worked there in the past. So Washington Post sports writers due.

00:19:19
Speaker 2: To the weeks, absolutely such talented, hardworking people, certainly hoping for the best that that situation resolves itself in a positive way. My due to the week is the Colorado Rockies, and the reason I say it, and I don't often give them praise. I think they're headed in the right direction though, and I like that with Paul Di Pavesto and obviously Walker mon for taking over. But I am giving them the due to the week because they're doing this. They are doing a statue unveiling of two Hall of famers, of course Larry Walker on August twenty third, Todd Helton, who I got the privilege of covering for a lot of his career in Colorado on September nineteenth, obviously both in cooper'stown. And I like that they're doing it separately so each man has his proper due. Congratulations, rockies, you are my dudes of the week.

00:20:06
Speaker 1: All right.

00:20:06
Speaker 2: Time now for our dork of the week. All right, Ken, you're going off the beaten path again this week?

00:20:21
Speaker 1: What is it? I am? And I'm very happy to go off the beaten path for this particular group, the dork of the week. The dorks of the week, in my opinion, are the NFL Hall of Fame voters. Now, I understand that Bill Belichick didn't get put in on the first try because of some process questions with the voting It's been a different process than in the past, and voters found it difficult to kind of sort through it. I get that. All all I'm saying is this one can't be blamed on the BBWAA. We had nothing to do with it. We're all your complain about our own votes, and perhaps some justifiable complaints about our votes, but this one, this has nothing to do with us. So I'm living large. I'm sitting pretty in the NFL Hall of Fame. Writers there the dorks of the week.

00:21:13
Speaker 2: That's all right, It's about time. I don't like the Patriots. I can't stand the Patriots despite having to wear this stupid jersey. But Bill Belichick is a first ballot Hall of Famer, and anybody I think there's been fifty nine Super Bowls and he's won eight of them.

00:21:27
Speaker 1: So stop it.

00:21:28
Speaker 2: Okay, he's a first ballot Hall of Famer, all right. My dude to the or dork of the week is myself because I made a bet with our wonderful producer, Jeremy Meyer, and also Andy Ottovic, who does a great job with the medical team for the Los Angeles Dodgers, who is a Patriots fan, that the Broncos were going to beat the Patriots of the AFC Championship. And also dork of the week is Sean Payton for not kicking the simple points, the easy points early in the game and deciding to go forward on fourth and one so I have to wear this stupid jersey. I am my own dork of the week. I am not going to be enjoying the Super Bowl. And there you have it. Yeah, that's it. I'm the dork of the week and Sean Payton, you too are the dork of the week. And by the way, why did we fire our offensive coordinator when Sean Payton is the one calling all of the offensive calls? Hey, you know whatever, it's fine. We do have one more question.

00:22:23
Speaker 1: That was a rant worthy of your old partner the mad Dog.

00:22:26
Speaker 2: Yes, yes, seriously, but I'm doing it at a lower octave than Chris Russo would do it. One more question for you, Ken before we get to break here, Jim Jim Wood that wants to know can someone please wake up the Mariners?

00:22:40
Speaker 3: Ken?

00:22:40
Speaker 2: What are the Ends doing.

00:22:42
Speaker 1: Good? Question? And Josh Naylor was their big acquisition early, but we've all anticipated that in addition to getting the bullpen piece that they did with Jose Ferrera, which was good from the Nationals. We all thought they were going to get one more infielder. They still might get one more. They've been linked to Brendan Donovan. Brendan Donovan has not been traded yet. There are other infielders that still might be available. So I would not judge the Mariners anymore than I would have judged the Mets two weeks ago when it seems their off season is not complete. Still a long way to go before opening day, and heck, there's a week to go before spring training camps open, and that's not really a deadline of any sort. So given Mariners a little bit more time before condemning them, that's what I would say.

00:23:28
Speaker 2: Okay, a little bit more time. I'm still surprised that a U henne O Suarez is still out there on the free agent market. I think a lot of people are surprised about that as well. We didn't necessarily want this to be a WBC preview, but there have been some additional announcements regarding the World Baseball Classic, particularly with Team Venezuela, Jackson Curio, Ronald Acunia Junior, will You Abray You? And MIKEL. Garcia all going to be part of the WBC. I love this for Team Venezuela, they have always been a force. Again you said it earlier, but in case you're just joining us, this is good for the game, Ken, this is fun. You want these star players representing their countries.

00:24:11
Speaker 1: And plus what we've seen over the years in the WBC and now we're seeing from our team as well the US team is this sense of national pride and Akunya and Churio, these guys, the players from the Dominican Republic, the players from all the different countries, Japan especially, perhaps they love playing for their countries. They see it as an obligation to play for their countries. And Paul Skeens when he talked to Mark de Rose about playing for Team USA, he said, you don't have to twist my arm, you don't have to pitch me at all. I want to play for all the servicemen and service women out there. Paul Skeins, of course, went to the US Air Force Academy before LSU. So there is that growing sense of pride in playing for your country, and that is a really cool thing to see and it adds a layer of emotion to this tournament. That you just don't see in Major League Baseball on a regular basis. You'll maybe see that kind of emotion in the playoffs, of course, but in this tournament you see it.

00:25:12
Speaker 2: Every night now or Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado birthplace to yours truly, Colorado Springs, Colorado. Let me ask you this, Ken, when do you think it was the shift of players not really caring about the WBC and all of a sudden clamoring to be called to play.

00:25:31
Speaker 1: That shift took place really with US players. There wasn't a shift necessary with players from other countries before that. But that twenty twenty three WBC. If you remember Trey Turner's Grand Slam against Venezuela in the quarterfinals, it was a go ahead Grand Slam, amazing moment, and of course the final against Japan, when Otani came in from the bullpen to face his then Los Angeles Angels teammate Mike Trout and strike him out to give Japan that victory in an amazing game, three to two Japan one. All of that and all of the games that preceded it that were so dramatic and so emotional and so just electric that is what caused the shift among the US players. The one two maybe were reluctant before suddenly they all want it in.

00:26:20
Speaker 2: Yeah, I love it. I'll never forget when Mike Trout walked out holding the US flag and show Heytani walked out wearing team holding Team Japan. That was awesome. All right, thanks guys for watching and listening. Foul Territory is next. Fair with Ken is back on Monday. We'll talk to you then