FT BREAKING NEWS: Dodgers sign Kyle Tucker, Reax from Ken Rosenthal, Jim Bowden, and Kevin Pillar

00:00:06
Speaker 1: Well it happened. We had been waiting. We have an answer. Kyle Tucker has selected the Los Angeles Dodgers. He signs a four year deal. He has opt outs after years two and three. It's a cool two hundred and forty million dollars sixty mil per season on average. Scottie Brown and Kevin Plar were going to be joined by others to help us out and get through this.

00:00:29
Speaker 2: KP.

00:00:30
Speaker 1: Of course, we can talk about how it appeared as if the Blue Jays and the Mets had a shot too, But the Dodgers get richer. They have won back to back titles, and you know what they do, KP. They don't stop Edwin Diaz. Come on down, Kyle Tucker. Sure, best position player this offseason will take them.

00:00:50
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, it's a it's a free market for all these teams to go out and bid for these players. It just and obviously there's going to be interest from every player wanting to join the Dogs. They have a proven track record of making their players better. They're back to back World Series champs. They have a collection of riches. They have some of the best players in baseball. They have this guy by the name of shoe Hey Otani who doesn't want to sign up to be his teammate. You know a lot of people are gonna sit here and say Dodgers are ruining baseball, it's bad for the sport. But everyone has the opportunity to go out and bid for these players. And we obviously don't know exactly what happens behind closed doors with the negotiations with these other teams, but you know, if you are close to another team and the Dodgers are in it, there's a chance the player is gonna go to the Dodgers because of all those things I mentioned, and the Dodgers kind of just kind of been operating, you know, with Kyle Tucker, kind of in silence. You know, you've kind of maybe always connected the dots. You could see how there was a fit. But at some point you're like, there's no way they're gonna go out and get another player. And sure enough, the Dodgers do what they do. They go out, they change the game again. The highest a ever for a player for Kyle Tucker to go play right field, and that's somewhere in that lineup. It's crazy. Yeah, I didn't see it come in, but I'm also not surprised.

00:02:12
Speaker 1: We always hear this from Ken Rosenthal. He loves to use this terminology. Dodgers just hang around the backboard and they wait, and they have their plan. They want high average annual value and a shorter term contract than other teams will offer. They don't want to be tied up in something super long term. Wipe away the show Hay situation. There are many times where they've made offers like this. Bryce Harper comes to mind. Bryce said, Nah, I'm good. I'm going to sign for a very long time with the Philadelphia Phillies. Clearly KP. Kyle Tucker had other thoughts in mind. Hey, I'm going to make so much freaking money on a season by season basis and not take what was likely a much longer term offer and more guaranteed money I would assume from the Toronto Blue Jays. Instead, he has an opportunity needed to play not one, but actually two seasons with the Dodgers and then hit free agency again and perhaps get even more cash. Right, I mean, we'll get the full breakdown of money at some point, but if you're just going off a season by season basis, and let's say it's about sixty a year, Well, you bank one twenty and then you could hit the free agent market again and sign four to fifty three hundred whatever it is. If he looks like a superstar over that two year span, and the Dodgers are probably going to make him look good if he stays on the.

00:03:31
Speaker 3: Field, Yeah, I mean, how could he not mean, if he just stays healthy and he stays on the field, hitting in that lineup, how could he not go out and have, you know, arguably one of the best years of his career. It's it's a genius play by the Dodgers, kind of just sitting back in the weeds. And I think the Dodgers always know when there's a player of Kyle Tucker's caliber that there's going to be interest from the player wanting to play for the Dodgers. So it feels like maybe they take the meetings they hear the player out to hear the agent out, and it kind of just feels like there's always this assumption that the Dodgers and the players agents go out and see what you can get, get your best and final offer from these teams, and come back to us, and we will give you a real and sincere offer. Take it to your player, you know, and maybe in this circumstance. You know, I don't know Kyle Tucker personally. Maybe he's like, holy crap, I can make a shit ton of money in four years and be out of the game and be done and right off of the sunset. Or he's like, I'm just gonna make a ton of money in these first two years, I'm betting on myself, and then I'm just gonna go sign somewhere for a long period of time after that. Either way is not wrong. I just don't know the guy. I don't know what he's thinking, you know. And you know, you think about some stuff with like Anthony Rendon, you know, would would have the Angel has been better off kind of given him a ton of money early on in his career and not doing the duration of the career career or the deal, and maybe they got more out of him. You know. I feel like the Dodgers right now, are you know, playing chess when everyone's playing checkers.

00:05:06
Speaker 1: Other people just think, you know what, the Dodgers have more money than everyone. So it's just completely unfair. It's so funny to me, KP how in trouble the Dodgers were under the Frank McCourt era, and then they got the right owner in place, and all of a sudden, they're winning. They're producing talent homegrown, right, they're developing despite picking in the back of the draft, and then all of a sudden they're supplementing that. They're becoming a dominant team making the playoffs every year. Sponsorships get easy. They go after Japanese talent. Of course, like show hey Otani, they're able to monetize his presence much more so than the Angels did. And then you just have this perfect storm, right, and some fans are just gonna yell out, unfair, unfair.

00:05:47
Speaker 2: Right. Well, hey, if.

00:05:48
Speaker 1: You're a fan of a team like the Brewers or the Marlins, the biggest thing you should be rooting for is a salary, cup floor and maybe some more revenue sharing.

00:05:56
Speaker 2: But you know what's funny to me right now, KP.

00:05:58
Speaker 1: They are fans of teams like that, the Yankees, the Red Sox, and the Mets that are complaining right now that the Dodgers aren't fair owners that can handle that, dude, they can pay that.

00:06:10
Speaker 3: I wanted to them. I was hoping you were gonna bring this up because I'm sure, you have a greater sense of, you know, the order of teams with the richest owners. And I don't believe that the Dodgers owner is the richest in baseball. I think he's maybe he's definitely in the top ten. You know, you would probably have a better understanding of that than I would. But when you were talking about that, I was just thinking about and I was fortunate enough, as people know, I got to work the World Series this year, and whether I was in La or I was in Toronto, all I kept thinking about is Man, that's such a good business model. If you just put a good product on the field and go out and get good players, they sell this place out. People buy uniforms and merchandise and concessions, and you get to host games in the in the postseason, and tickets are going for who knows how much they're going for in the in the World Series in the postseason. It just seems like good business to me to go out and continue to put good players on the field and win, and your city gets behind it, and you go out and get international guys and then their country, you know, gets on board, and then you got fans from all over the world. Wanting to be Dodger fans or Blue Jay fans. It seems like a pretty simple, uh, you know, business idea that you know, any business owner understands. If you put a good product, whether it's a baseball team, whether it's a restaurant, you put out good food, people are gonna come back and you know, want to pay money to your organization.

00:07:36
Speaker 2: Is that not what the Blue Jays just did?

00:07:39
Speaker 1: Exactly what the Blue Jays just did that to a t right, they made one hundred million bucks. Here's Tony with the super chat three Pete. Let's go, Hey, if you want to try and get another championship down, what do you do? Show up the bullpen, which was a little bit of a weak spot for the Dodger especially come playoff time, work on the outfields.

00:07:56
Speaker 2: They pick up Tucker.

00:07:57
Speaker 1: We can talk later about ti Oscar Hernandez and how that fits into the mix. Fly High said, hopefully the Dodgers get Boba Shet, but KP, I mean you saw this firsthand covering the Blue Jays quite a bit over the last three four months.

00:08:13
Speaker 2: The Blue Jays made.

00:08:15
Speaker 1: A dumb amount of money, right, and talked about it over the past year with the success that they had that was partially sparked by Laddie Junior signing long term, right, solidifying your superstar, your franchise player, who otherwise would have been a free agent right now, and we would have been talking about him.

00:08:33
Speaker 2: What happened to me was.

00:08:35
Speaker 1: This close to beating the Dodgers, and then they threw down this offseason. They wanted Kyle Tucker. He chose the Dodgers. But point is, they almost beat the Dodgers this past season. The topic of conversation would have been very different at this point, but the Dodgers are winning the race here. They clearly gave him an offer that he was into, and for whatever reason, he didn't want to go to Toronto. It sounds like the Mets didn't offer as much as the Dodgers, so they're not going to win the player over.

00:08:59
Speaker 2: What do you think?

00:09:00
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean at the end of the day too, I mean in terms of Toronto. You I don't know if we'll know the entirety of the deal that was offered to him, the specifics about it, but you have to believe at this point in time what they offered him was genuine and it was probably a long term deal. And it was a lot of money. You can throw out all these things to a player. Ultimately, the player has a decision to make and sometimes they're gonna choose what they want to choose. He clearly wanted to either be in LA or team up with some of these other guys. He clearly wanted a shorter deal where he could maybe go out a year or two from now and take free agency on again. You never really know what the player in the agent are thinking. But as long as you have an organization that is putting real and genuine offers out there and putting their best foot forward and trying to get these guys. And I know it's kind of a I don't want to say a broken record at this point, but the fact if I'm a blue Jay fan, which I am a fan of the tw team, and over the last three or four offseasons, the biggest free agent on the market, they have been in there, and there's been rumors of them going there, and they've been oh so close to landing them. I gotta feel good about what they're trying to do. And to your earlier point, the blue Jays success this year, the ultimate catalyst in that was just getting Vladdie locked up and giving him that comfort that he knew he was gonna be there a long time. Building this team around him, Having a fan base have a player that they know is gonna be there for a long time and that's gonna be a superstar in their organization for a long time. It just it builds this hope in a fan base that we have our guy and that this team is going for and we're gonna build around him. We're gonna do everything we're gonna do. And like you mentioned, I mean, they were four outs away from you know, beating the World Series champs from the previous year, you know, ultimately the back to back Chance and the Dodgers. They were four outs away. And what did they do? They went out and got better this year.

00:11:00
Speaker 1: That's what you're supposed to do. You're not just supposed to sit around after that. I mean, I'll use the Rangers as an example. They won, and they've kind of been chilling since then, which is stupid. You should be capitalizing off what you're doing. I mean, not completely chilling, but not doing this. Jack Hires from the California Post. At as Kyle Tucker's market started heating up in recent days, it was unclear if the Dodgers were going to be willing to match the mets fifty million a year off or turns out they went even higher. Sixty mil annual salary will rank second in MLB behind only a county only Shoheo Tani, not accounting for deferrals, So really, this is going to be the highest average annual value unless there are dumb amounts of deferrals. I'm sure there's some deferrals. That's what many of the big market teams do. But anyway, let's bring in our FT resident GM right now, Jim Budden for instant reaction.

00:11:45
Speaker 2: Jb what do you think?

00:11:47
Speaker 1: What are the Dodgers doing right now in the front office after landing this at around seven o'clock West Coast time.

00:11:53
Speaker 4: Yeah, they're popping some domb champagnes. What they're doing right now, Scott, no doubt about that. I mean, when we watched the Dodgers within or second consecutive World Series, and we watched them through the playoffs in the World Series, we looked at this team and we said, Okay, what are the two weaknesses this team has? Number One, it's the ninth inning. They don't have an impact closer number two. They've got to improve the defense and right field, ti Oscar Andnandez. All of his weaknesses defensively really showed up in the playoffs and the World Series. So what did Adrew Friedman, the president of the Dodgers do. He went out and signed the best closer in the National League, the best closer that was available in free agency, and Edwin Diaz took up from the Nets to be the ninth inning guy. And now he assigned the number one free agent that was out there this entire offseason in Kyle Tucker. A player who has all five tools. He's a thirty homer, thirty steel type of bat. He's a plus defender in right field, plus arm, plus base runner, complete player, and he just took the Dodgers and just once again took the team to another level. The contract, we got to wait to see what the deferrals and what the net present value is. But sixty million a year times four years. He has an opt out after year two, he has an opt out after year three, so he's got the flexibility to get out if he wants to get out. But it was very clear that he's not a new York kind of guy. He was choosing between Toronto and Los Angeles, And the truth of the matter is, in LA he doesn't have to be the star. Shoey Otani's the star, Rookie Betts is the star, Freddie Freeman's the star, Yamamoto's the star. Tucker could just be a support player making sixty million a year.

00:13:35
Speaker 2: It's crazy.

00:13:37
Speaker 3: Where did things go wrong for me? I would have liked to have been a support player for sixty million. But Hey, my question for you, though, is, in what world do you envision Kyle Tucker opting out of a deal where he's making sixty million dollars a year? What kind of year does he have to have to go out? What kind of numbers does he have to put up where you would feel, you know, as the player or as his agent, be like, hey, let's go and test free agency again.

00:14:02
Speaker 4: Yeah. I think he's going to find out how much he likes Los Angeles, right, That's going to be the first part of this. If he wins a world championship, he's going to enjoy the winning. He's going to find out how much he loves living in Los Angeles. And then the other thing is when you're twenty nine years old, and you're knowing you're twenty nine, thirty, thirty one, and thirty two at some point in here, do you want to get the long term deal before you're thirty two? And I think probably at some point, maybe he stays in LA for the two years or the three years, then opts out, but it's going to be better financially at some point, either after year two or year three, to opt out and then get another. Maybe it's five years, one hundred and fifty. Maybe by then it's you know, who knows six years and who knows how much money at that point. So I think having the flexibility to go back on the market because at some point he's going to want to know this is where I'm going to finish my career kind of contract something he might have been able to get from Toronto but wasn't going to get from LA or the METS. So I like the flexibility he's been given. But he's in a great landing spot in order to win world championships and get paid an incredible amount of money.

00:15:14
Speaker 1: It's crazy, KP. Do you want to ask your Toronto question. We haven't really gotten to it yet, but I mean, this team fell just short against the Dodgers in the World Series, right, and they've lost to the Dodgers on other free agents, so this one hurts a little bit too, right, Yeah, Yeah.

00:15:28
Speaker 3: I mean, I sorry, I was gonna say. I mean, the first thing that came to mind to me is, you know, when it came to the difference between the Mets and what the Dodgers ultimately ended up offering. You know, at some point teams are going to have to make that ten million dollars a year gap, you know, if you want to try to, you know, outbit the Dodgers, and it's just kind of seems like what they did. You know, if there's you know, maybe a million or two dollars a year difference, a player at that point is probably going to choose where they want to live. But when it's ten million dollars that's all, that's a tough thing to say no to.

00:16:01
Speaker 4: Yeah, it is. And I think the other thing Kevin though, is like, I'm I'm an Adison Barger guy, So if Toronto loves him in right field, I think he's got a chance to be a thirty home run guy. Like I'm a fan, so I think what's gonna be interesting is does Toronto pivot and improve their offer to Bashette. They've got a lot of competition right now with Bishett, right because you got Philly, you got Boston. You may have the Mets that decide to pivot after losing out on Tucker. It's gonna be fascinating. But I guess I would ask you, do you think they're gonna now turn around and make an effort, a better effort to bring bow back Because I know they wanted Tucker over Bashett, they wanted that left handed hitter. But I'm thinking now they may shift gears and make a better effort to try to get bow back.

00:16:45
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, I think that's the natural move that they do right now. But to your point, you know, part of drafting and developing players is you hope you get Adison Barger that kind of you know, steps up and you know, become this guy that you think he's gonna be on a big stage and at some point you have to allow him to go out there and be an everyday player. Is Kyle Tucker a better player than Asen Barge? You're sure it's gonna cost you a whole lot more money. To have him. And then the same thing goes with a guy like Ernie Clement, who just kind of was, you know, a utility guy that bounced around, and he shows up on the biggest stage and you know, sets a record for most hits in a postseason ever and now a member of Team USA. At some point, do you give this guy the opportunity to be or everyday second baseman. I mean, those are the tough decisions. You would know more than me you sat in a chair and had to make these tough decisions. But it feels like at some point the Blue Jays just keep falling a little bit short with these free agents, and at some point maybe they have to go out and just try to make a big splash in free agency and maybe go out and give Bo a little bit more money or maybe an extra year, you know, to to you know, continue building on what they've already done.

00:17:59
Speaker 4: Yeah, agree with you on all of those points. And I love Ernie Clement, But I think if I'm them and I'm watching how the Red Sox are improving, Baltimore is getting better, we know the Yankees are always going to keep getting better. I kind of feel like, if I'm Toronto, I would make a bigger effort to get Bichete back. I mean, look, he's led the American League and hits twice. He's focused, he plays, He's a great teammate, as you know, and you've experienced it. He and Laddie get along extremely well. I think he's such an important part of the fabric of the Toronto Blue Jays that I'll be surprised if they don't make a bigger effort. But it might be too late, you know. I know the Phillies are working really hard to get it done, and my understanding is they're willing because of his young age of twenty seven, they're willing to go long distance in terms of a long term offer to him. I wouldn't be surprised if he ends up in Philly, but I'd like to see Toronto pivot tonight for Baschett and maybe improve the offer they have on the table for him.

00:18:58
Speaker 1: Hey, that's a great problem, or a great I should say, for bo. He didn't want Kyle Tucker to end up with the Blue Jays. That would take a suitor off the table for him. The Dodgers weren't signing Boba Schet, so let me get back to the Dodgers for a moment, a couple of questions. We'll go roster construction, and then a big picture money after that. Toaskar Hernandez was floated around like we're listening about a month or so ago. I mean, technically they can just flip them over to left field, right and have Kyle Tucker in right. Do you think that's what they'll do or do you think they'll start to kick up conversations again?

00:19:32
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean I think the way they're constructed right now, I think he just goes to left field. I'm not sure they had a lot of trade offers for Ti Oscar. I think the best fit for TiO at this point in his grier is to be a DH. Obviously that doesn't happen with the Dodgers when you have Otani there. I think if Andrew Friedman had his way, to be honest, he would try to trade for Brendan Donovan, put Donovan at second base and move Edmond to left field, that would be ideal, and then move to Oscar somewhere where he can DH and let that power play. Also get that money off the books which they now have to spend on Tucker. Not that money is an issue with the Los Angeles Dodgers, but they're fine with te O and Left. They can always defense for him late in games, so it's not a problem to have them play there and keep him. But I think to your point, if Andrew has his way, it would be trading for Brendan Donovan, putting him at second, putting Edmund in the left, with Pause and center and Tucker and Wright.

00:20:31
Speaker 1: Jb some money questions, Let's start with the one that has many people freaking out in the comments.

00:20:37
Speaker 2: Dodgers are ruining baseball?

00:20:39
Speaker 1: Right, Actually, Dave Roberts said that himself, and actually, up until a couple weeks ago, the Blue Jays were starting to join the Dodgers in ruining baseball. Do you feel like this further emphasizes an issue in the sport and causes fans to get angry or are fans angry at an evil empire just like they were back when the Yankees kept winning?

00:20:59
Speaker 4: No, I'd see it different. Look, I have compassion, right, I mean I was a GM as you know, small market team in Cincinnati for most of my professional career. I always had that challenge and when you can't compete with the big boys, you've got to find different ways to try to win. It's easy to say, well, anybody can win, and Tampa's been to the World Series and all that is true, But I think we can't deny the realities of the following Scott. The last ten years, there has not been a single major League team in one of the bottom fifteen markets that has won a World Series. That's a decade of baseball hasn't happened. Los Angeles Dodgers literally paid in luxury tax more than sixteen teams major league payrolls. And so a lot of people are going to complain because a lot of small markets, they don't spend the revenue sharing they get. They don't try to win because they know they can't, because they can't compete. And so I try to tell people, like, if you're living right now in a three hundred thousand dollars house, and I ask you, why are you not living in a twenty million dollar mansion on the ocean in Miami, what is the answer. It's because you can't afford it. Otherwise you would be probably right. And that's kind of where the pirates are, right, That's kind of where the Marlins are. They're not going to be able to go sign Tucker at sixty million dollars a year. So is that what you want for the sport? You know? I mean, look, every other sport is a salary cap. My opinion is we should be talking about a salary floor and then we should be talking about a cap, and we should try to try to get a more competitive balance on the lowest payroll teams and the highest payroll teams. Look, the big market teams like LA and New York are always going to have bigger payrolls. The superstar players like Tucker and Soto and Otani are always going to get more money than everybody else. But should it be this much more than everybody else or should we have a system. The other thing is players aren't even getting fifty percent of the revenues. They're getting less share of the revenues than the NFL, the NBA and the NHL. Like that doesn't make sense either. So look, I think the minimum needs to go up. I think we need to have a salary floor making the smaller markets spend more money. We need to continue to add more money to the revenue sharing for the smaller markets, and then I think we have to put how much of a differential do you want one hundred million, two hundred million, three in a million. I don't know. Let everybody decide. But you can't sit there and have a system where one team can spend whatever they want, whenever they want, and fifteen teams can't. And the other thing is have compassion for fifty percent of major league players who spend their whole life go into high school, going to college, going to the minor leagues, going to the big leagues. They're all trying to win a world championship. But if you're in one of the fifteen smallest markets on opening Day, you have zero chance of winning a World Series? Is that really the system we want? Like, I don't think it is. And I think it's okay in the NBA that the Oklahoma City Thunder have the best team, and I think it's okay in the NFL the teams can go from last to first, and I don't think this system works. I look, I'm happy if you're a Dodger fan. I think I'd be thrilled if I'm a big market team. This system is perfect for you. But when you have the fifteen smallest markets that have not won a single World Series in a decade. The last team to do it was the Kansas City Royals. That's a problem for me.

00:24:35
Speaker 2: JB.

00:24:36
Speaker 1: Did you think that the Diamondbacks had a chance in twenty three or that the Brewers with the best record had a chance this past season?

00:24:43
Speaker 2: Not at all.

00:24:44
Speaker 4: You know, it's a great point because the Brewers had the best record in the regular season, and how many people thought they could beat the Dodgers. I know I wasn't one, and I watched those guys play each other. I think it's great that they were able to have the best record. I like the division they were playing in for that, and I I like the fact they got there. Yes, they had a chance, But really, did any of us look ourselves in the mirror and say, yep, those Brewers are going to beat the Dodgers and get to the World Series, Because I'll tell you I didn't. I mean, yeah, seems to win. I'm sorry. And by the way, if a small market team wins, how much how long is that window to keep it? Because it's only so long before they can afford and then they have to move on from their team. Brewers are already talking about moving Freddie Peralta, who is one of their best pitchers because they know they can't sign them long term. So I mean, is that really what we want?

00:25:36
Speaker 1: You know, it's funny I think that the Dodgers are mostly causing the problem and the hate, right if we didn't have the Dodgers right now, even though many other teams can spend at a very high level, right, it's not like the Mets that are spending a ton or running away. They didn't even make the freaking playoffs, right. The Yankees were fine this year. They weren't great. Right, if we eliminate what the Dodgers are doing, they have built a machine. So I'm with you on the disparity right now. But they've built a machine. It starts from the farm system up right, and then they're making a ton of money. I think sho Hey Otani is making them an extra hundred and fifty million dollars a year at this point. That's enabling them to do this. So it leads me to my last question for you, Kyle Tucker. We don't know the exact amount on deferrals, but is getting paid about sixty million dollars a year now That might go down on net present value based on how much money we get in deferrals, right, But sixty million dollars a year and the Dodgers are pasted all the luxury tax numbers, so that's one hundred and ten percent tax. So they are paying him what one thirty or forty something like that mill is what it would cost him if there's no deferrals on the contract this year. So my question for you is it worth it?

00:26:37
Speaker 2: Right?

00:26:38
Speaker 1: Like Mark Bowman who covers the Braves, just threw this out there. It's never had a six plus war season. Hasn't that a five plus war? The past two years two seasons nine hundred ops and just one of those was nine to twenty and he gets sixty million bucks a year. Do you think that Kyle Tucker is worth one hundred and thirty five million dollars after luxury taxes go through then.

00:26:59
Speaker 4: The Dodgers, I do. Yeah, they have the money, they can deserve that, they can pay it, and they have it, And yeah, I think he's a great player. I like a In fact, I didn't like the position the Yankees took where they didn't think he could play in New York. Is I think he can play in New York? I'm a fan of Kyle Tucker. He's just not you know, he's just not going to carry a team, right, He's not the face of the franchise. That's not the personality. But as a baseball player, oh absolutely, I love it. And by the way, when you get the net present value, whenever we get the deferrals, which we haven't gotten leaked out yet, the number is going to be a lot less than this. I promise you. It's probably going to be in the forties to be honest, but we'll wait and see when we get that to make that determination. But yeah, he's that great of a player. And keep in mind what's happened with the Dodgers. They have one of the greatest minds in the game, and Andrew Friedman. So you've got a small market genius running the large market Dodgers. And the Dodgers every time they went and got Atana Yamamoto.

00:27:56
Speaker 2: What did they do.

00:27:57
Speaker 4: They did all these marketing deals all over Japan. They are so brilliant and what they're doing, they're bringing in so much revenue they can afford to do all of this and more. And so the scary part for baseball is when you have great a great mind like Andrew Friedman running a large market team. It's a machine. And by the way, I love their farm Systemsire Hope. Oh my god. I can't wait till he gets to the big leagues and he joins the outfield with Tucker and Pothes. That is going to be phenomenal. They do everything right from the bottom to the top. Analytics, technology, science, scouting. They're the best all the way around. They're destroying people. And it's not just because of the money. I mean, look what the Mets are doing. I mean, come on, stop. At the end of the day, they deserve credit for the baseball movies they're making. But do they have a huge advantage financially, Yeah, of course they do. But they also have the baseball minds that are matching in that's what's been scary for the sport, and they're putting together one of the great greatest dynasties in the history of Major League Baseball. This is incredible what they're doing, and it's also going to lead to a CBA that might cause a work stoppage, or at the very least is going to cause a salary floor in a salary cap. That's the one thing about this signing that it's going to do. It's probably that tip of the iceberg that's going to change everything going forward for the entire industry.

00:29:30
Speaker 1: And don't forget they cleaned up the ninth thing a little bit too with Edwin Diaz.

00:29:33
Speaker 2: No big deal. So a what a.

00:29:35
Speaker 1: Freaking off season, man, unbelievable. Will talk more, of course, JB, thanks for hopping on with us.

00:29:41
Speaker 2: It was awesome. Appreciate you man.

00:29:43
Speaker 4: Thanks.

00:29:44
Speaker 2: Thanks. Wow. That's JB.

00:29:46
Speaker 1: Jimboden resident GM. We're looking at Dodger contracts from June Lee online. He posted worth more than one hundred million bucks. You've got glass now, Will Smith, Reddy Freeman, Blake Snell, Kyle Tucker, Yoshiyamamoto. He's pretty damn good. Pokie Pets show hoo, Tani. What did you think, KP about what Jim said in regards to the Dodgers being unfair. That's the funny thing to me. If the Dodgers didn't exist right now, I don't think it would be as much of an issue, right, Like sure, when fans want every team to spend the same amount, do the same everything, right, they have the same Let's have the same robots on the field. Let's make everything exactly the same. That's stupid and boring. But my point is it's the Dodgers that are bringing this front and center. It's not like we have every single big spender just swinging left and right and crushing everyone right. I mean, the Mets are the prime example right now. They have and can spend as much as the Dodgers, and they've been pretty close with them. I know, the Dodgers separate a little bit over the past year or so because they win so much more so you're gonna make more money when you win. But Mets are capable of doing this, and they can't make the playoffs for two out of the past three years.

00:30:54
Speaker 3: Yeah, I was. I always sit back kind of just listening, observing what he was saying. And I mean, I have some compacts too, But in the same breath, I also understand if an owner can't go out and you know, spend the money that he wants to spend or feels like he can afford to spend to go out there and try to win, there's always an option to selling your franchise. You know, Steve Cohen bought the franchise and he's willing to spend money, but it hasn't worked. The Dodgers just happened to have the perfect balance of an ownership group that is willing to spend the money, and they also have a brilliant mind and Andrew Friedman, and they've been able to draft, and they've been able to develop, and they've been able to out tech and outthink and outdo everyone. And they also play in an unbelievable market in Los Angeles where a lot of players want to play. It's a historical franchise with a pedigree of winning. It's sunny southern California. You know, they draw forty five forty eight thousand fans a night. Who wouldn't want to be a Dodger. And also, when he was talking about just kind of creating parody in the game, I'm an avid NBA fan, so I understand how the NBA salary cap works and all that stuff. And it's easy to point to a team like Oklahoma City and how they just recently won the NBA Finals. But what we're not talking about is the five years previously where they weren't very good, but they were able to draft and develop some good players, and they kept trading them and kept trading them, and they finally were able to stockpile multiple first round picks over multiple years, and they went out and they were able to win an NBA championship. And they're only getting better now because they still have first round draft picks that they're able to go out and get the best players in the NBA draft. You know, it's just I feel like teams can do it. It's just a matter of if they want to do it.

00:32:43
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I mean the comments are wild right now, Terry with the super Chat, appreciate that for Russel on Late Night with the Crew.

00:32:53
Speaker 2: Opening Day is going to be electric.

00:32:57
Speaker 1: We are also going to talk to Ken Rosenthal coming up in a moment to get his thoughts. Here's showtime, not Shoho Tani, but in the comments, face at the Dodgers are the best team in Major League Baseball. Just an incredible, incredible turn of events here. I really thought he was going to end up with the Blue Jays, and fans are obviously like, oh, Scott's glazing the Dodgers. Well, what I mean for being super successful? What can't we can't give praise to what they've done and for the signing again we're talking about them not being the only team that can throw.

00:33:30
Speaker 2: The hammer down.

00:33:31
Speaker 1: The Mets tried, they just came up short. We might end up finding out that the Mets put up a similar number in terms of net present value.

00:33:39
Speaker 2: Right, look up deferrals. We're not going to spend time doing that.

00:33:42
Speaker 1: We do it sometimes on foul territory, but KP for all we know, there's so many deferrals that net present value, like Boden mentioned, could be lower, could be in the forties or something, and the Mets could have actually beaten them. We'll find all of those details out at some point pretty soon. But regardless, I also did genuinely feel like Kyle Tucker did not want to spend time in New York with the Mets. I don't think he's that kind of guy. I've covered him quite a bit in my career many interviews. It's not really his thing. He is more mild mannered. Guess how much attention Kyle Tucker is going to get in LA. A lot less attention than he would have gotten in New York. You played for the Mets, right, you've spent time in LA. What's the ratio going to be? And actually, real quick, because then we got Ken ready to go. But the ratio of attention and pressure and all of that in New York, even versus LA, when you can be like sixth fiddle on the Dodgers.

00:34:39
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, I mean, I also don't think maybe some of the potential friction with what was going on in the Mets clubhouse is probably an ideal destination for you know, if you're choosing between the two teams, and you obviously, if you're a baseball fan, and you know, maybe Kyle Tucker is, you know, once his season was over and he's turning on you know, the World Series, and you know, you look at both of those teams and maybe that's why they were the two finalists for his services. Not necessarily because they were the last two teams standing, which he obviously wants an opportunity to win. But if you looked at both of those dugouts, they both looked like they were a ton of fun. The guys genuinely liked each other. It looks like an environment that you'd want to put yourself in. And you know, if you're a guy who doesn't want to be the face of a franchise, what better place to go hide than go play for the Dodgers. I mean, Mookie's arguably one of the best players in the game. Freddie's one of the best players in the game. Will Smith might be the best catcher in the game. We're talking about Max Munsey potentially hitting seventh or eighth in this lineup, you know, and every all those guys are superstars. But when it comes to show, hey, Tawani, he is the one who gets all the attention. So if he just wants to go out and play baseball and help his team win and make a ton of money and not have to answer questions every single day or not have to carry the load, go hide in la.

00:35:59
Speaker 1: Hey, let's get the scoop on this. Here comes up to senior insider Ken Rosenthal. Ken, I know you just posted an article in The Athletic. Tell us what you wrote about.

00:36:13
Speaker 5: What I wrote about was just the immediate impact on all three teams as far as the team they're going to put on the field next season. Now, of course there is much more to this. I'm going to start writing again the moment we hang up. But this deal, to me, Scott was not that surprising. Now the number is surprising, yes, of course, sixty million dollars a year. It's a record aav It's crazy. We need to hear the deferrals. We need to hear what the present day value of this deal is. It's not going to be sixty million. I can assure you that it might be closer to forty.

00:36:45
Speaker 4: I don't know yet.

00:36:46
Speaker 5: That is a critical detail that we have not yet heard. It will affect the luxury tax number, of course, and I don't know that it even matters to the Dodgers. They're already thirty five million over the luxury tax before even agreeing with Kyle Tucker. So that is one element of this. But essentially, for the Dodgers, what I wrote was they needed an outfielder. Remember they were looking at to start the season if Tommy Edmond was not ready to go from ankle surgery. They were looking at Teoscar Hernandez in one corner, Andy Pahz in centerfield, and the other corner would have been Ryan Ward and Alex call perhaps platooning. That wasn't what we would expect from the Los Angeles Dodgers. So from a strictly baseball perspective, they needed him. They got him, and the reason I'm not surprised it was them kind of goes to what Kevin was saying a minute ago. So I'm not sure he wanted to go long term. I'm not sure he wanted to go to Toronto. Toronto is much more of a destination than it has been in the recent years, and actually all the players they missed out on it was circumstances in each case. We have seen this offseason the Blue Jays spend more than every other team three hundred thirty seven million total with their four free agent signings, including of course Dylan Cees right at the top of that. So free agents do want to go there. Doesn't mean every free agent wants to go there, and it doesn't mean in Kyle Tucker's case, he wanted to sign long term there. So if his preference was short term with opt outs, which is what he got four years with opt outs after years two and three, then it comes down to, of course, the Mets and the Dodgers, and if you're a player right now, and Kevin touched on.

00:38:30
Speaker 2: This, where would you rather play.

00:38:32
Speaker 5: Here's a guy also with kind of a low key personality, well established low key personality. He's going to go to New York, whereas Kevin was saying the clubhouse was a mess last year, when he can go to LA for perhaps even more money. It never made sense to me that that was going to happen in the Mets favor, So I am not surprised by the outcome in that sense.

00:38:54
Speaker 1: Hey, for Toronto fans, ken they want to know where all of that money is going to go.

00:38:59
Speaker 2: You know how that works.

00:38:59
Speaker 1: Fans always want to know what we were about to throw the bag at Kyle Tucker? Are we going to throw that at Bobashett or somebody else.

00:39:06
Speaker 5: I don't expect them to sign Bobashett. I have not expected it the entire offseason. So yes, they have money that they would have devoted to Kyle Tucker that they could now redirect to Boba Sheett. But I still believe rather strongly that Bobaschet's gonna end.

00:39:22
Speaker 2: Up with the Philadelphia Phillies.

00:39:23
Speaker 5: Now the Blue Jays, it's not like they haven't spent here and they're already over the highest threshold. So perhaps they will do some things, maybe get another outfielder. I don't see them, maybe going after Cody Bellinger, who still seems headed to the New York Yankees. They could do that and could go about it that way, but it would seem to me they probably now will kind of go with what they have, and they can play Nathan Lucas and left as they have. They can put Barger in the outfield and right field at some point two. But the issue that they face, and this is what's interesting about them, and this is why maybe they do go make a run. Bellinger, Varshow and George Springer are free agents.

00:40:03
Speaker 2: After this season.

00:40:04
Speaker 5: They're gonna have a hole. And while they don't necessarily need an outfielder right now for twenty twenty six, they will need one going forward. And the free agent class next offseason is not one that has a cornerstone type outfielder. So sure I would watch out for the Blue Jays still wow.

00:40:23
Speaker 1: And then last one for you can the Dodgers with the ti Oscar Hernandez conversations like a month ago or so, do you think that gets revisited or like you said, it actually works to move him over to left like Kyle Tucker play right. And then nice offseason. You got Edwin Diz two.

00:40:38
Speaker 5: By the way, certainly they could trade him and it's something that they have at least thought about, but it seems to me, Scott, they're gonna do exactly what you said.

00:40:48
Speaker 2: Tayo and left.

00:40:49
Speaker 5: Andy Paje is in center. They've got Alex call coming off the bench. They should be pretty well positioned this way. They probably wanted to get Tayo out of right field anyway and move them over to left. This facilitates that conceivably. Could they maybe go trade to Askar Hernandez and then sign another outfielder.

00:41:08
Speaker 2: Sure they could do that.

00:41:09
Speaker 5: I'm not sure why they would want to do that. He yes has questions defensively, but my goodness, he has been a force for them in the playoffs at times of the regular season.

00:41:20
Speaker 2: It's been a really good Dodger. Ken.

00:41:22
Speaker 1: We appreciate the time. We'll look forward to more work in the athletic and then we'll talk to you actually tomorrow on FT.

00:41:28
Speaker 2: Thanks guys, thank you. That's Ken Rosenthal.

00:41:31
Speaker 1: Yeah, look for all his work in the athletic, the one he already put out there, and then I'm sure you'll see a lot more from him and his colleagues, and then we'll get questions for Ken. On Friday's edition of Foul Territory. One more thing for you, kp So it appears as if we have a little information on the deferrals, thirty million dollars in deferrals out of the two forty mil. That's actually probably lower than most people anticipated. That will bring the net present value the number down for Tucker, but it's not going to bring it down below, say the Mets.

00:42:06
Speaker 2: That's my guess. You know, it probably won't bring it down to where.

00:42:09
Speaker 4: The Mets do the math.

00:42:11
Speaker 3: It's trying to do the math.

00:42:12
Speaker 2: So thirdy depends where the deferral.

00:42:14
Speaker 3: Yeah, where where the deferrals are at. It's hard to know exactly, but yeah, still, I mean, yeah, I mean, I guess that's a little bit lower than I thought, just given kind of what the Dodgers had done over the last you know, a couple years with their deferrals. You know, players have been willing to, you know, take some bigger deferrals to come play with the Dodgers. So I mean, I would have thought the number was going to be bigger.

00:42:40
Speaker 2: Well think about it.

00:42:41
Speaker 1: So, out of two forty, if thirty is deferred, you're still at to ten mil. So that is still more reportedly than what the Mets put out there, unless their offer changed, right, because the Mets were four two hundred, so that's that's two ten plus still getting thirty million deferrals. So the Dodgers definitely beat the Mets offer. It sounds like some super chats to finish up here, and then we'll do a full two hours of FT on Friday. In this Dodgers ara This from Herado, which fan base is the most bit or due to Dodgers free agens, trades and preventing teams from winning the World Series Padres, Giants, Blue Jays, Yankees, Mets, Phillies, et cetera. I've gotten text from a fan of almost each of those teams over the last forty minutes.

00:43:22
Speaker 3: I mean, off the top of my head, I would say the Phillies because I think the Phillies went out over there, you know, the previous offseasons getting you know, Bryce Harper and Trey Turner and going out is Zach Wheelers and signing all these guys and spending a lot of money. But they also did it signing these guys over a long period of time, and it kind of feels like that window maybe closing a little bit. They were hoping maybe that Dodger window would close a little bit and maybe they would clash, but to me, it's got to be the Phillies because that was a team who was willing to go out and spend a ton of money and it just hasn't worked out for him.

00:43:57
Speaker 1: We saw nice super Chat about Kyle Tucker's numbers, especially a couple of years ago. He was on a ridiculous pace, but he only played half a season. This past year also put up really good numbers but missed some time, and I'm sure he was dinged for that by some teams that weren't interested JJ with super Chat boohoo.

00:44:13
Speaker 2: Owners have the money, they refuse to allocate it correctly. It's on them.

00:44:16
Speaker 1: Players that are good should be able to come to the table and say what they're worth. Just more x GM cope. I guess someone that was not pleased with the whole salary cap conversation thinking that that's the end all be all that's going to solve everything. Also, just to hint for everyone, if you do get a cap eventually, and we do have a soft cap, it does actually prevent many teams from going above a certain mark. We do, but even if we get a hard cap, it's not like every team's going to be tied to a very small amount of money, it's still going.

00:44:44
Speaker 2: To be a huge disparity.

00:44:45
Speaker 4: Also.

00:44:46
Speaker 1: Lol, if we do get a cap and the Dodgers have to somehow shed like three quarters of their roster, that would be a little bit funny. Anyway, KP, appreciate the time, dude, This was great. Appreciate everyone for hanging with us. Good crowd tonight. Thank you for joining us late night here on the East coast and on the West coasts. Dinner time, party time for Dodger fans. Congratulations to them. They're having the time of their lives right now. Back to back champs. They had the best closer in the baseball in baseball, and they had the best position player that was available this offseason.

00:45:19
Speaker 3: Unbelievable, unbelievable offseason, unbelievable off season. Check check.

00:45:26
Speaker 2: Ken Rosenthal on Foul Territory with us.

00:45:28
Speaker 1: Trevor May will be on the show on Friday, and also Eric Kratz and you'll see KP very soon. We'll talk spring training schedule very soon too. See you Friday.