Jim Bowden torches Acuña trade rumors, O’s moves, Salary cap debate

00:00:00
Speaker 1: They got the thirty seventh pick in this year's draft from Tampa Bay to get pick thirty seven for Brian Baker. Michael Lias did a good job today. I thought.

00:00:14
Speaker 2: Time for money moves presented by Truest Bank. Let's bring on Jim Bowden. We're going to talk a little cash, little trades, the whole deal right now with JB. Are a front office insider, JB.

00:00:26
Speaker 1: Good to see you. I do want to throw you tweet.

00:00:29
Speaker 2: I want to throw this tweet up there for you, JB, because I get the notifications. Of course, when you throw something out there and I'm like, WHOA, WHOA, where's this coming from? So you wrote yesterday. Just to be clear, the Braves have no interest or plans to trade Ronald Kunya Junior, nor will they even consider offers for him, according to multiple gms who have inquired after some various media reports. So just to take the second portion of that tweet, JB, there have been phone calls where GM actually he's going to figure out a way to talk alex Anthopolis into a trade this season.

00:01:06
Speaker 3: Yeah.

00:01:06
Speaker 1: I think when you have some respected media members come out and they go on MLB Network TV and they say there's a possibility a Cooni gets moved. I think some people watch that listen to it and go, we better make sure we check our homework to make sure. But just as clear as could be, and I've confirmed this with the Atlanta Braves too, there's zero chance that they trade Rondacunya junior or even converse about the trades. And so I just want to put it to bed because there seemed to be some momentum on that because of some media reports, and I just wanted to make sure that we snuffed it out as quick as possible.

00:01:38
Speaker 4: If they traded Ronald d'acunya junior this season, there might they might burn the battery down, Like what was the when was it the Civil War when they burned Atlanta? Whoever that was, it burned down Atlanta, right, Like that would be what would happen to the battery? The fans would go crazy. There's no, he's not such a team friendly deal. What He's the one guy in the lineup, him and Nelson that are hitting. Why would you get rid of him?

00:01:59
Speaker 1: I mean, how would why would you ever? Yeah, I mean like me trading Barry Larkin back in the day. You don't trade Roma Coon Junior stend him. That's what.

00:02:09
Speaker 3: You did.

00:02:09
Speaker 4: Trade Griffy.

00:02:11
Speaker 1: I traded Griffy. No, I traded for Griffy agents. I wasn't I wasn't there. Yeah, I didn't trade k Griffy Junior.

00:02:17
Speaker 4: Okay, Yeah, I just don't see any reason why you would ever trade Acune at all. I mean, he's such a team friendly deal and he doesn't when he's healthy. It's unbelievable. Like the fact that whoever brought this up, I'm gonna mention no names, they're crazy because this ain't hapen.

00:02:32
Speaker 2: Yeah, agreed, That's why I wanted to put it to bed. Well JB, let's continue while we're on Atlanta. They are looking very likely to be not involved in the playoff race this year. The tricky part with them is that most of these guys are on long term deals, and maybe that's why people are making things up, trying to come up with franchise players that are signed up for still a while and seeing if there will be offers for them. Are they going to be one of the most boring sellers at the trade deadline? It's like maybe they try and get someone to take on Azuna if he's feeling okay, what is it the shoulder that's been bothering him or the hit the hip?

00:03:08
Speaker 1: It's the hip. Yeah. So right now we have eight teams that are selling as of this minute at the deadline. Atlanta is one of them. With Washington, Miami, Pittsburgh, Colorado, Baltimore, the White Sox, and the Athletics, they're the only eight teams right now that aren't within reach that will listen to certain players. Now with Atlanta, they're not going to do a rebuild. They're not even going to do a reboot. But that being said, you mentioned Marcelo Zuna with the hip, still has some power. We still have some teams that need a little bit of offense to their lineup, and I think there's no doubt that if Alex has the right deal for Ozuna, he will move on from him. I've also heard that there's a couple of teams, in particular San Diego and Tampa Bay that would like to pry Sean Murphy from them, knowing they have Drake Baldwin as their long term catcher there. So I think there's a possibility that they could go. But if Atlanta does anything, it will probably Ozona Murphy or something small. But all the rumors about Akunya and Albe's and Riley and some of these other bizarre Chris Sale name I've heard as well. I'm not getting that impression from the Atlanta Braves at all. So I think it's small tweaking at the very most of the deadline for Atlanta.

00:04:16
Speaker 4: Okay, I have to ask, this is a former GM and a former person that was in charge of a team, what would you do with Michael Harris? What do you do with Michael Harris? Because he's still played a goal goo center field, but right now, if you look at his numbers, he's the worst hitter in the Major leagues over the last two months. What do you do with a Michael Harris if you're the Braves.

00:04:34
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean the first thing I would do is try to see how we can reach him and try to get the potential out of him. If I felt like my hitting room didn't feel that there was a pathway for that, if my hitting room felt like there's not adjustments that could be made to make this work, then I would call Dana Brown, who is the one that drafted him with Atlanta, who's the GM down there in Houston, and I would see if there was a deal where he would have interest in getting him. He's always been his biggest supporter, and I would see what kind of value I could get, and I would check the marketplace. But I think my first priority would be talk to as many hitting people as I possibly could and see if anyone had ideas or solutions to try to get him back on track. Because I I was in Dana Brown's camp on Michael Harris. I thought he was going to hit. I thought he used the whole field. I thought he would make adjustments, and for three years we haven't seen that. So I guess my answer to you is one, I would try to fix him. Number Two, I would see what the marketplace says for him, and if not, I'm still okay with the elite centerfielder hitting the bottom of my lineup.

00:05:39
Speaker 3: You had mentioned Sean Murphy. How hard is it for a GM at this time of year to trade for a starting catcher? And I know teams are going with that like two catcher split kind of thing, but there's Sean Murphy's not getting traded unless he's a starting catcher. Unless I'm completely wrong, How hard is it? Because you rarely see it, and you're adding a guy to a playoff team that needs their pitching staff to do well.

00:06:05
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, I think it really depends on the team. You know, the two teams I just mentioned that are looking for catching, the Padres and the Rays. I mean, he would be a significant pickup I think for either team in handling their pitching and be a plus on both of those teams. Obviously, if you're going to trade for a thirty year old, experienced catcher with a track record, he as the prospect price to get him, You're gonna have to overpay to do it. And Atlanta is not in a position where they have to move him because if they end up trading Marcelo Zuna, they can use Murphy and Baldwin, one at catcher and one at D eight, So it's not like they don't have a perfect spot there. And if they have an injury, you know, they're kind of protected there. So they have to really win a trade to do that. But in terms of a contending team getting a catcher mid season, it has happened before, and I think it really depends on the catcher, and it depends on what you have right now, and It's nothing against Danny Jansen or Martin Maldonado, but Murphy would be an upgrade. All right.

00:07:02
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00:07:30
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00:07:50
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00:07:52
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00:08:03
Speaker 3: Can we classify the Orioles trade deadline as a fire sale or is it gonna be kinda meh? And what are they? What is what is the most intriguing pieces that they're pushing out there?

00:08:16
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, I think it's If I had to guess, I'm gonna say it's Matt, which is really disappointing. But I think the president and GM Michael aas his job is on the line, I think he's going to be really careful now. He's going to concentrate on adding pitching. That's what he wants to do. He's not going to break this team down. When you see the rumors about Adley Rutchman's names, it's like Ronda Coune Jr. He's not talking about Adley Rutchman. Even though Sambasaiyo is coming. His plan is for both of them want one to catch and the other dh or play first base. So that's not happening. What I'm hearing with the Orioles is they're going to be concerned more about the players that are free agents at the end of the year. So Ryan O'Hearn a good bat that some teams need, Contending teams need, Cedric Mullins a center fielder. Cup Relievers like Greg Risoto and Anthony Deminguez are all free agents. Some of them needs a right hand a bat. If they have interested in Ramon Loreano Charlie Morton, who is a free agent, I might retire after this season. I think it's gonna be that group of six players that are moved. I don't think it's gonna be the sexy Felix Bautista. If Zach Efflin gets healthy, it could be him because he's a free agent. But I don't get the impression that the Oils are ready to wheel and deal and make that kind of impact. Although I will say this, they made one small deal today and I really like the deal for that. Even though Brian Baker is a really good middle reliever. If it was ninety six ninety seven with that ridiculously good change up that he's got, and it's gonna help Tampa. They got the thirty seventh pick in this year's draft from Tampa Bay. Just think about two years ago Beggars did with a thirty seventh pick. They got shortstopped Kevin McGonagall, who will be in the futures game, is hitting like three point fifty and has a chance to win a batting title someday. And that was pick thirty seven. So to get pick thirty seven for Brian Baker, Michael Las did a good job today, I.

00:10:09
Speaker 2: Thought, yeah, I want to dive into that. So bring us all on for a sec because this is something that we have heavily criticized the Orioles for, and I'm with you, JB.

00:10:18
Speaker 1: Good trade, But does.

00:10:20
Speaker 2: Anyone love a good pick and a prospect quite like Michael Las. We've been hyping that up for years and it's like, dude, I mean, this guy's got three years left of control. Clearly in my mind, JB. They're looking at the indicators and whatever they have behind the scenes and saying, this is probably a peak Brian Baker, So let's trade him right now. Because you know, if we thought he was going to be the next high leverage superstar in our bullpen, we would hold on to him because you would think that they're competing next year, So I'm with you. I mean, they got themselves in basically an end of first round pick. But I'm like, what's the direction here. That's just getting a nice return for now for teams that need bullpen pieces. Aren't they competing in twenty twenty six.

00:11:01
Speaker 1: We'll see if they compete in twenty six. Let's see what they do in the offseason. Let's see if they go get some starting pitching in the offseason and can get a more competitive pitching staf. But I mean, if you're Michael liias you just mention it, what's his strength? His biggest strength, whether he was in Houston or in Baltimore is the amateur draft. That's what he does extremely well. You know, he hasn't proven what he can do in building a major league roster, but he has proven that he can pick the right guys. And a pick thirty seven for a setup reliever that's not going to be a closer and really isn't an eighth or ninth inning guy. That makes a lot of sense when you're about to go in the draft, and when you look at this draft right now, there's fifty good names you can hit big with second, we've seen cy young Award winners come out of the second round right at this range of picks, So you know, I kind of think it's a no brainer whether he was buying or selling. I think it's a no brainer for Tampa. It tells you that they're all in right now. They know they can make the playoffs at the very least as a wild card team, and they're trying to get that those extra pieces as this team is being sold. So it's very interesting that Eric Neander would push those chips in for a reliever. I was kind of surprised, Jim, where do you draw the line?

00:12:11
Speaker 4: Though? You mentioned Elias as great at the draft, but has he developed guys great? I mean, you know Adley, I mean Jackson, Holliday, Gunner. Yes, they're all in the big league some of them, but they're all kind of, you know, not as great. I don't think as we thought they would be, right, and they're pitching definitely hasn't developed the way we thought.

00:12:29
Speaker 1: So what's the.

00:12:29
Speaker 4: Fine line as a GM or president of baseball up? So being great at the draft or being a great talent development or being a great at putting a team together? Is there different strengths that every GM has, and then do you hire people to help you with the other things that you might not be as great at.

00:12:45
Speaker 1: AJ You're one hundred percent right, That's what it is. We know Mike Elias's straints. He doesn't have to know and do everything, but he has to make sure he hires the right people under him to do the things that he's not capable of doing. You look at any Hall of Fame general manager, John Schulz and Pat Gillick, theo Epstein who will eventually be a Hall of Famer, Brian Sabian. You know, let's just pick those four guys, because they all won world championships and they're all superstars. And what they did they surrounded themselves with the best people to get that done. I mean, the fact that the Orioles have failed in developing players at both the minor league and major league level, that has to do with the people that Michael Olias and the Oriols have hired. That's on them. You know, when they made that managerial change earlier in the season with Brandon Hyde, I thought they were going to go outside the organization and bring in some experience successful managers and coaches that would help get this group better, and that's not what they did. They just promoted from within, so there really wasn't much of a change. And to your point, you know, you guys asked about Michael Harris earlier. You know, Adleie Rutchman should be a star. He should be developing at a better rate. We are seeing progress with Jackson holiday this year. We got to give them credit for him as well. But you know is cursed at being developed properly? Is Kowser? I mean, I just I question whether or not they've hired the right people to maximize the picks that they made, and the results have answered that as no.

00:14:14
Speaker 3: Last time he came on, you just landed from the plane and you hadn't read what Rob Manford had come out and said, what do you think of the comments that he had from I think it was about last week or a week and a half ago.

00:14:28
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, look, I don't look in his particular position as the Commissioner of Baseball. He's listening to all the small and middle market owners that are complaining that the Marlins spend eighty million a year and the Dodgers spend four hundred million a year, and how are we supposed to compete when they're putting down three hundred and twenty million more year than us, And they're right. And I think that the commissioner looks at the NBA and the NHL and the NFL, they all have a salary cap. And I think he looks at Major League Baseball and it would be great for Major League Baseball and for him and for the thirty teams, or not thirty, but most of them, if there was a way that you could have teams, you know, in the same range.

00:15:08
Speaker 4: You know.

00:15:09
Speaker 1: That being said, if you're in the Union, why would you want a salary cap? Why do I want to stop how much the Dodgers and Mets are going to spend, you know? And I think that to me, again, this is my own personal opinion, is I've always believed that the television revenue should be equally shared with all thirty teams, because even if you're in a big market and you have your own network, you still are televising against the Marlins and the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Athletics. It's the same game. One team gets paid a lot more money for that television game than the other does, but it's still both sides are playing in the game. I'd like to see those revenue shared, and I'd like to see a salary floor. If you're going to have revenue sharing, then your major league payroll has to be Let's just say it's one fifty and then you know. In terms of a cap, I don't like the hard cap because I want the owners. If Steve Cohen wants to overpay Soto seven hundred and sixty five million, I don't want to stop one Soto from getting paid on the open market. But I want a penalty. Let's just say you had a soft cap at three point fifty, and you can spend whatever you want, but anything over three point fifty you're gonna pay one hundred percent tax, and it's gonna be split between the twenty nine teams, not just the low market teams, but the other twenty nine teams. You're gonna pay one hundred percent tax. There's a way of doing it that works. Bottom line is how much revenue are the players gonna get. Are they getting fifty percent, are they getting forty eight percent? Are they getting sixty percent? That needs to be negotiated, But I do think we need to get a better system and I think both sides need to work together to do that. I don't like the fact that there's a lot of people taking sides behind people's backs. I'd rather have everyone do it right up front, have the players just as involved as the owners to try to find a solution that everybody likes. I also think the minimum salary should be one million dollars for every single player. If you get to the big leagues and you're that good, you're in them, salary today should be a million dollars.

00:17:02
Speaker 4: Well, it's pretty close, Jim, it's pretty close. But there's a couple of things in what you said. One salary cap in the other leagues doesn't necessarily work because you look at certain teams, and if you're taking the union side, you know, the basketball players have to give money back in hockey because they're guaranteed contracts are in escro right, they're not. They're not fully guaranteed. It depends on revenues and this and that. And then the other thing you said about you know what's it supposed to be, you know, the revenue sharing fifty to fifty. Well leagues you're trying that, like the NFL, and then they have lockouts because they say, oh, well, we're not really getting fifty percent, We're only getting forty eight percent. And it's it fluctuates and this and that. So I get both sides of it. I do, But to me, there is no perfect system. And for baseball, if owners who just spend because they have money, it would work. But they don't want to spend because they're like the Pittsburgh Pirates use it. We use them as example all the time. But here's the thing. Bob Nutting gets a check every year for like seventy five million dollars. He puts that right in his pocket and says, Oh, I'm using it to develop a city and this, and I'm doing this in the minor leagues, nobody ever sees those real gains for the I guess some players do, but you don't see gains in the big league. It has to go there should be somewhere. It has to go to the big league team in payroll. But again then they're gonna want to cap. So there's just too much to break down here.

00:18:18
Speaker 1: Yeah, Aja, but I do think that. I mean, again, this is just my own personal opinion. I do believe we need to get a floor, and I do believe if you're getting revenue sharing, it shouldn't go into your operation. It should go into the major league payroll on the major league team. That that is my belief. And then if you knew you had to spend one hundred and fifty million on payroll, then there's gonna be some you know, players that are gonna get paid more just because the teams at the bottom have to spend their money, and that's gonna help a bigger group instead of just the stars. So I never believe that we should do the revenue sharing that we do without that money going to the big league pairl I understand the argument of hey, I'd rather spend money and development and scouting if on the Marlins. I get that argument. Right now, they're trying to rebuild the technology, the analytics, the science, they're trying to copy the raise and by the way, Peter Pendex is doing a good job of doing that right and I get why he wants to invest it there. But if you're going to ask the teams to share, the fans want to see the major league product. That's what they want. And it's great to say, well, yeah, but four years from now, these guys will get there. But still, I just think it's unfair to have that much money being shared and then a team not spending it, like Pittsburgh, like Miami. I don't think that's good for the game. Totally on the same page with you, JB.

00:19:35
Speaker 2: And what I feel like happens sometimes is that teams are becoming more and more like a real estate deal.

00:19:42
Speaker 1: Which is fine.

00:19:43
Speaker 2: That's a way for them to make money around the ballpark and even with the facilities they have. So it's like, cool, I got revenue, sharre I won to spend ten million of that this year on boosting certain facilities. What does that do that improves the franchise valuation of your team? You can also win a World Series and improve the franchise valuation of your team. I just think there are some owners that are so short sighted that they're like, I know this is a lock. I might not win, but I know this is a lock. This is going to help my cause. Here's my question for you, because we seem to be on the same page.

00:20:10
Speaker 1: With most of this.

00:20:12
Speaker 2: The big push from rod Manford is trying to crack the union and say, hey, guys, you've cost yourselves billions of dollars. I keep pushing the percentage up of how much money I'm taking from the pot. So you should listen to me now, and let's do a salary cap and this will solve all of the problems. We have a soft salary cap, the union can say whatever they want about it. There is significant penalties for teams that spend over a certain amount of money on the fairness scale. We don't have that right now. On the other side, so, hey, I agree with you. Revenue sharing money has to be spent on player payroll, period player payroll. That's a huge part of the problem that's been going on. I think everybody can agree on that. But number two, another way to force that is why do we have this soft but not this on the bottom like that? Why do we not have a certain line that says, hey, fifty mill and if you don't, it's not like the all all end all, but you get punished for that, you lose picks or you know, we can come up with a variety of ways that teams get in trouble for that, or they have to give money back, stuff like that. I know it's never going to happen, and this is part of the whole problem of the sport. But I think the main issue that people are having in baseball is that the bottom feeders or the low revenue teams are pocketing the money and they're not spending it, and we're not forcing them to do it, and the owners are never going to agree to anything like that unless we go the other way and.

00:21:27
Speaker 1: Start to punish the big market teams. Yeah, I'm just going to verbally repost everything you just said. I agree with absolutely everything you just said, and I also just want to add the fact that, you know, labor negotiations are serious things, and you have to give Commissioner Rob Manford and the team's a lot of credit because the players dominated when Donald Fear was there, and years after him, players dominated that and did a really good job. The last three labor agreements it went the other way and the clubs have been kind of dominating there, and I think we all need to take a deep breath and kind of look at it and say, shouldn't we be doing a deal that's best for everybody, for the clubs, for the players, for the cities, for the teams, and try to balance it out if we really care about the game. That's where our concentration has to be. We have a huge problem when you're sitting there for the last ten years and the fifteen teams with the smallest markets in baseball have never won a World Series ten years. That's where we That's what we're going on right now. That doesn't mean, you know, they aren't wildcard teams. That doesn't mean market twelve to fourteen can't win, But we haven't had a World Championship in that bottom fifteen. And to me, we can argue expanded playoffs has help and if you get in, you can run the table. I agree with it. We saw it two years ago when the Rangers beat Arizona. I love it. That being said, we still have to do something to address the teams at the bottom. We have to find a way to bring their payrolls up.

00:22:55
Speaker 3: Fair.

00:22:55
Speaker 4: I agree. I agree with everything he said. Now, Jim, before let you go, it's got to be quick. Everyone online and a check is commenting about your sweatshirt. I dig it, Leuis Vuitton. It's cool. But what I really want to know is what's under that bedspread over your shoulder, because is there like a board of like all these chess moves that you have for every team that you have covered up or is there a body underneath there? What's underneath that bedspread next to you?

00:23:16
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's probably my wife. I haven't really checked recently. I've been kind of busy, you know, with the trade deadline. But probably under there, I guess. I don't know.

00:23:26
Speaker 2: She's gonna surprise you and say, hey, JP, I got you some coffee for yeth segment of the week exactly.

00:23:33
Speaker 1: I love it. Well, JB. This is really good stuff.

00:23:35
Speaker 2: Obviously, we'll have you a little more during this month so we can get really granular on some of these trade ideas and the rumors that flow through.

00:23:41
Speaker 1: Good talking to you. We'll catch up soon. Sounds good. Take care of you guys.

00:23:45
Speaker 2: Thank you are RESIDENTGM Jim voted. Foul Territory is taken over Atlanta early next week. Join us live from the Truest Community Corner on the fourteenth and the fifteenth, so leading up to the derby and to the All Star Game. If you're going, even if you're not and you're just hanging around FanFest and everything, we are in the thick of it at the Battery. It's all presented by tru As Truis dominates that area. They have the ballpark naming rights and they have the coolest fan zone area. And I heard there are significant legendary names besides a Jane Kratz that are going to be around us at truest Community Corner.

00:24:20
Speaker 1: So make sure you stop by.

00:24:21
Speaker 2: If you have any questions, you know how to hit us up YouTube comments, Instagram, DMS chat, BCC, etc. And I'll answer whatever I can. But we'll be there one to three Eastern live shows. We even are going to have fans grabbing microphones and asking us questions.

00:24:34
Speaker 1: Good luck to us.

00:24:35
Speaker 2: All right, I've got two things. Number One, I love Jim Bowden. He's a great person. I've known him for a long time. He's a good friend. But also from an information perspective, I was going back and forth in the chat with everyone. Some insiders just go over news rumors, the whole deal, right. Others come up with all kinds of trade ideas. I used to do that with Dan O Dowd when I worked at MLB all the time. Right, here's five trade ideas that I like. It's just their fun think piece. A lot of people seem to have issues saying like, oh, like that's not the right reporting or whatever. It's not reporting. It's an idea, and so someone even in the chat was like, well, he needs to differentiate that more. He literally says that at the top of every article, like, hey, this is not coming from a GM. He does that too. He'll do like, here's what I'm hearing from GMS. But just wanted to clarify that because I feel like that becomes a problem. They're like, he's off with this. I'm like, it's a fake trade. He's coming up with a fake trade. So anyway, on the other side, AJ, what did you think of his answer? I mean, for me, obviously, I'm pleased. I did a one minute ran and he agreed with everything. He thinks low market team should be punished and no salary cap at the top.

00:25:37
Speaker 4: Well, they're kind of doing that. Remember what happened to Oakland when they moved. They had to spend money. The Marlins need to spend money. There are teams, and I agree with that part of it. But you're not getting a floor without a cap, right, And if he keeps saying we need a cap, we need a floor, well there's the problem. There's the biggest problem you're going to run into. I don't know what the solution is I brought up an idea Scott yesterday that was floated to me, and you guys all shout it down, which is fine. It was just an idea, But I don't know what the idea is. Yes, everyone wants it's easy for like Jim Bowden and me and you and Gout and crats and everyone and everybody sees like we need to do what's best for the game. Well here's the problem. Every side wants to feel like they wont and yes, what's best for the game. Every side thinks their ideas are best for the game.

00:26:16
Speaker 1: So I don't know where this Yep, we got a year and a half to talk about it.