Ken Rosenthal on Pirates/Phillies/Tigers camps + Padres sale update, Justin Turner's salary cap quotes

00:00:02
Speaker 1: F T Spring Training Tour. Don't cry.

00:00:05
Speaker 2: Last day in Arizona, Kip's dancing, Kratz is dancing.

00:00:10
Speaker 1: That's it. Then we're moving to Florida.

00:00:12
Speaker 2: Kip, it just felt so short with you, So let's cherish these next couple of hours.

00:00:19
Speaker 3: You're not short. You're in Giants Camp. You're like you're a giant short.

00:00:24
Speaker 4: It felt short. He did not say I was short.

00:00:28
Speaker 1: You know it's going to be like, this is how you.

00:00:29
Speaker 4: Want to start the show, Eric, I want to start the show.

00:00:32
Speaker 3: Mm hmmm.

00:00:33
Speaker 2: Let me get a sponsor in the way to break this up for now. So the Spring Training Tour is engineered by Fast and All. We love them dearly and they also help us to lay out a calendar. We're organized. Check them more info at fastnall dot com. And we love their vending machines, among other things. So we knocked out a couple of weeks just now in Arizona. By the time we get done today with Giants Camp, and we're excited to talk to their manager, Tony Botello. We're expecting Logan Web, We're expecting Ron Washington. It's going to be a fun day. And also, I would just like to point out that I am wearing the Splashit Territory shirt today.

00:01:12
Speaker 1: Here it is. I made the mistake yesterday of.

00:01:16
Speaker 2: Wearing Snake's territory over the weekend and then just didn't have it in time, So sorry dbacks fans. But today I actually did get to model the splash Hit shirt and I love it.

00:01:26
Speaker 1: It's really fun and it's a shirt.

00:01:28
Speaker 4: Did you do before showing that right right before we went on air?

00:01:31
Speaker 2: Dude, I am gassed hundreds to try and get myself for my one big moment on the show. I'm mostly going to stay out of the way.

00:01:42
Speaker 4: That's some.

00:01:46
Speaker 1: Good call out.

00:01:47
Speaker 2: Oh, I also want to remind everyone about this. Then we'll get to Ken. The show is changing times next week. We do this every year. We're doing it again. FT is live eleven a m Eastern Time starting on Monday. You can still catch the show later do whatever you want to do. Obviously, it just won't be live. So eleven am. We are live for the next few weeks when we're running through Florida because their games start at one and we want to get as many players as possible.

00:02:11
Speaker 1: Now let's get to Ken.

00:02:19
Speaker 2: It's the Inside Scoop and it's engineered by Fastenall where industry meets innovation.

00:02:23
Speaker 1: It's efty.

00:02:24
Speaker 2: Senior insider Ken Rosenthal with us right now. Can I want to start with your article on Connor Griffin the super prospect, the top prospect in baseball, and we can get into him as a player, but first I want to go the spicy route. You mentioned how the Pirates maybe mishandled their situation with Paul Skeins. Can you get into that. Does it have as much to do with when to call the player up versus also making sure it's a small market team that you take advantage of potentially getting a draft pick with someone like Connor Griffin too, right.

00:02:54
Speaker 5: Yes, And I actually wouldn't say the Pirates mishandled the skiing situation. It was understanding at the time he didn't have much minor league experience at all. They wanted to polish off his development. Obviously, in retrospect, it looks like he was ready to pitch the major leagues. I don't know two years ago, three years ago, even before it was in the major leagues. But what happened was they didn't call him up until May eleventh, so they didn't get the chance to receive a draft pick at the end when he won Rookie Year of the Year because he was called up too late. Under that Prospect Promotion Incentive program, the guy has to be in the big leagues within the first two weeks of the season and then spend the entire season in the majors. That didn't happen with Skeins. And then at the end, and I wrote about this at the time, they didn't shut him down. They didn't try to prevent him from winning Rookie of the Year because at the end of this they got kind of nailed another way. Once he won that award, he gained a full year of service time under another provision in the CBA, So he gets the full year of service time, which of course costs the Pirates a year of Paul's skins, and he doesn't get them a draft pick. So how does this apply to Connor Griffin? As Ben Sherington, their general manager, told me, two different players, two different people. Griffin is a high school kid. Skins, of course, pitched three years in college. It's much different. But at the same time, Connor Griffin is a kid that looks like I know it's early in spring training, but This goes back to last season as well, when he was in the miners going through three levels. He looks like the kind of teenage prospect that can make an impact in the major leagues right away. We don't want to get ahead of ourselves, but everything you hear about him, everything we've seen so far indicates that. And the other element with the Pirates is if he's not the shortstop, then who is. It's probably Nick Gonzas or Jared Triolo. These are unproven players in their own right. So if the Pirates truly believe they have a unicorn here, another unicorn, a second unicorn, maybe it will behoove them to open the season with Griffin as their shortstop.

00:05:02
Speaker 3: I do want to get ahead of myself and I want to see him in the big leagues. But what do you feel or what did you hear from Ben Charrington as the stumbling block for him to get to the big leagues, because when there used to be playf service time manipulation. You know, Chris Brian had a few heirs in the minor leagues, so we need to keep him down, you know. That's what all these rules that Ken just brought out are not in the way but what is Ben Charrington saying the organization he's just young. Well, everybody's younger than somebody.

00:05:33
Speaker 5: The concern is that he is nineteen turning twenty. I believe in May and then he's young and that you want to protect him. You want to give him the full chance to develop into the player you expect him to be. Eric It's a legitimate concern. Kids nineteen years old. He hasn't experienced much. He's two years out of high school. It's kind of crazy if you think about it. But at the same time, in the minor leagues right now, development is different than it was in the past. They play six game series in one city. They don't travel like they do in the major leagues. They have a day off on Monday. Most players get another scheduled day off, so they're not necessarily ready for the riggers of the major leagues, even if you'll leave them down there. It's a different world. So from that perspective, it seems to me that when you're in the Pirates position, when you have a player who may I said, may transform your franchise like Skeens, did you take that shot? And there's no guarantee of success. Mike Trout came up to the major leagues, I believe a twenty, sent back to the miners, and of course then became one of the great players of this generation. You never know what's going to happen. No one knows for sure, but everything you hear about this player from teammates and opponents alike, not only is he incredibly gifted physically, he's big, he looks like a young Cal ripkn but he has a good head on his shoulder, the great instincts for the game. It seems like he's the kind of person and Tony Beasley, the Pirates, your third base coach, mentioned this to me in the article. Seems like the kind of kid who can withstand whatever's going to come his way.

00:07:14
Speaker 2: And Ken, that's where I want to finish on this topic. When you say he's got a good head on his shoulders, and you can point to some superstars thriving from the jump and others like Mike Trout needing a nice little pop back down, and then he comes up and he's a superstar. I don't really see any world where they don't have him on the opening day roster. His upside from day one is so significant and so much higher than anything else that they put out there. And this does feel like and this is where I'll relate the question a make or break it year for the Pirates for ben Cherrington. So percentage chance in your mind that he does start on the opening day roster as long as he's healthy. I don't even really care about much of the spring results, because there can be some bad at ballock and all of that. I've got enough for me to say, let's see what it looks like. If in a few weeks he's you know, three for thirty whatever, then you can always send him down and bring him back up.

00:08:06
Speaker 1: So what do you think, Scott, I'm with you.

00:08:09
Speaker 5: Percentage chance would be hard to assess. I would say seventy five percent, and that's just an estimated. It's a guess. It's not coming with any knowledge of what they're thinking. It just seems to me that there's a ton of momentum for this. And as you said, when you step back as the Pittsburgh Pirates and it is something of a make or break year. Every year with Skenes is going to be a make or break year because you're not going to have him forever. So yes, they have to push forward now and they have done some things this offseason which we're quite encouraging as far as getting back to be a competitive team. I'm talking about the trade for Brandon Lao and Jake Mangum. I'm talking, of course about the signings of Ryan O'Hearn and Marcella Zuna. You're doing that, you're trying to win. In the past, the Pirates weren't necessarily trying to win. So if you're trying to win, you have to assess the whole picture. Who gives us the best chance to possibly make the playoffs, be a dark horse team in that regard, And if we did this with Connor Griffin, if it goes badly, what's the end result? What is the worst case scenario? And the worst case scenario is just what you mentioned, Scott. You send them back to the miners and at some point he'll be ready to go.

00:09:21
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00:09:37
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00:09:52
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00:10:20
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00:10:23
Speaker 4: There's free agent years where you're motivated to play better and you have a lot of things going for you that get you locked in the day. What has been the story with him and dealing with all these trade rumors. We know they try to sign Boba Schett. What can you tell us about this and how he's mental game spent kind of keeping up with his game on the field at Phillies.

00:10:41
Speaker 5: Jason I found it really interesting talking to him. He says he was not bothered at all by any of this. It's been two off seasons of trade rumors for Alec Boem and he basically said he understands it's a business. He doesn't take it personally. He doesn't stress over it, doesn't sweat it. It only becomes a topic when people come up to him constantly and say, hey, man, where are you getting traded to? And to that he said, I know as much as anyone reading on the internet. So the Bashette one was I would say, the closest call yet for Alec Boulm. I can't imagine they would not have traded him if Bashett had indeed signed with the Phillies. But Bishett did not sign with the Phillies. So here's Alec Boum back for more his free agent year. And he's a guy that has been down on himself at times emotionally. You could see his frustration in his body language and just the way he conducts himself on the field. But he's gotten better with that, according to one of the Phillies coaches, Bobby Dickerson, the infield coach, and it just seems to me that his head is also in the right place.

00:11:44
Speaker 4: Here's a guy that he was a.

00:11:46
Speaker 5: Number three pick overall in the draft. I don't know that he's had the kind of career that a number three overall pick should have, but he's had a good career and he's gonna be batting cleanup most likely for the Phillies behind Turner, Shober and Harper. He must be pretty good because he's going to be doing that. So he kind of is at a place where he knows where he's at. He gets it, and he gets everything around him, and in his mind, he just wants to keep improving as a player, and obviously as he gets closer to free agency, then the choices will come his way.

00:12:19
Speaker 3: Does it seem like he would like to go back to the Phillies or does it seem like when you talked about the last two off seasons, it's like, I'm just gonna be done with this organization because somebody was trying to get me out of here. Don't know who it was, but did it seem like he was open to a reunion.

00:12:36
Speaker 5: I would imagine he's open to it. Actually didn't bring this up with him, Eric, But the reality of the situation for him is the Phillies have a prospect named Aidan Miller. They want him to play, and if Bishett had signed with the Phillies, the likely scenario is that Bashett would have played third for one year, then vacated third for Aiden Miller, and they would have moved Bashett the second, possibly traded Bryce in stot. There were a couple of different ways, of course they could have gone. So the writing is on the wall. So to speak for Alec Bouman Philadelphia, I would guess he knows it, and that's okay. A lot of times, you guys hear this. You heard it in your careers early and when you were in the minors. We hear it all the time. You're not just playing for your team, you're playing for the twenty nine others as well. And someone's going to take an Alec Bohm in free agency and it'll all work out as it's supposed to work out. But I would be surprised if it worked out in Philadelphia. Shocked actually did.

00:13:33
Speaker 3: Through the conversation that you had with him. Did he feel like he was treated fairly through his entire time, because early on it was about the oh, I hate this freaking place. Then it was his maturity towards the end of the season getting bench for a playoff game. Does he feel like he was treated fairly?

00:13:50
Speaker 5: He does not feel like he was treated unfairly, I'll put.

00:13:53
Speaker 6: It that way, okay.

00:13:54
Speaker 5: And the incident with I hate this place, that was something he owned right away after the game that night and the next day, if you remember, you got a standing ovation and the benching. In twenty twenty four in the division series, we didn't go through all of these incidents again, but that was because manager of Rob Thompson wanted more energy and he thought Edmundo Sosa would bring more energy. It seems to me that Bowman has learned from all of this, and as Dickerson said, he's kind of matured in many ways. So when he talked about the trade rumors in particular, he did not hold a grudge, and it just doesn't seem to me he's the kind of guy that thinks like that. He's like this is a business and this is the way it goes in the game, and he understands that.

00:14:41
Speaker 4: Now, ken you're at the Tiger's camp today, right, Yes, What's what's going on over there? What can you tell us about that organization? How they're going to take the next step after the way they finished the last season.

00:14:49
Speaker 5: Jason, there's a lot of excitement here, and I know there's a lot of excitement in all thirty camps, but here they brought it in from Bervaldez. They brought back Justin Verlander, and they've got Kenley Jansen to anchor the bullpens. So, as one of their people put it to me this morning, they have some adults in the room now. And it's not that they didn't before, but this was a very young team and they needed, in my view, some veteran presence that the type that they kind of brought in. So I expect them to be really good. They play, of course in the al Central. No disrespect, Jason to your roots.

00:15:22
Speaker 4: But your next words wisely can choose your next words wisely.

00:15:27
Speaker 5: Maybe not the struggles. So they feel really good about their chances, and not only do they feel good about their chances of winning the division. But on paper, this is a team that you can see possibly getting to the World Series. And the reason I say that, actually there are multiple reasons. One the veterans I just mentioned. Of course, their starting pitching depth is pretty good, even with Troy Melton now being behind. They have Jackson Joe potentially coming back in August. And in addition to that that depth, they have a the position talent that we're gonna see most likely at some point with their rookie Kevin McGonagall, who might be the number two prospect in the sport behind Connor Griffin. He's gonna be here and Max Clark he might be here too at some point. He's a top ten prospect as well in the sport. So once that happens, then maybe they have a little bit more offensive oomph. And it's a team you still look at offensively and say, Okay, it's pretty good Riley Green and good player Torkles and all that. But if they get the kind of injection of energy and talent and skill from a guy like McGonagall, that could transform them too. And that's why I'm pretty excited about them this year. They have a lot going on in good ways.

00:16:45
Speaker 3: Can you saved yourself. I was gonna say, you need to name all the pitchers you just named and say how many hits did they get last year, because this team would still be playing in the final game of their season because they still haven't scored a run. And to me, if you're saying this organization has a possible influx of Max Clark and Kevin McGonagall, two impact big league hitters, the issue of the last two seasons, yes it's been offense, and yes they made some strides early last year, it's been about more like immature at bats, more like young at bats. Do they have a plan to combat that? Since they spent zero money and I don't include labor Torres as any money. He was on the team last year a qualifying offer. But because they spent that, do they have an ability to change that narrative?

00:17:36
Speaker 5: They do, and it would come from within. They feel that some of the younger players Green is a good example, are going to continue to mature and evolve as hitters, and you would actually expect out of them, of course. But I can see Eric at the deadline just kind of the scenario playing out the way you envision, which is they still need a bat and maybe some of their young players besides Toorkles and maybe it's Cole Keith, who knows, Maybe they emerge. The guys were in the big leagues already. Matt Vierling is back, he will help. But in my view, they still need some kind of offensive elevation. Put it that way, and now maybe it comes from McGonagall and or Clark, maybe it comes at some point from an outside edition. They're going to see how that plays out, obviously, and then if they have to adjust to the deadline, then given what they've assembled here, they absolutely should.

00:18:30
Speaker 2: Ken enjoy your Florida camp tour. We will hear from you on Monday on fair.

00:18:35
Speaker 5: Sounds great, Thanks guys.

00:18:36
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's what he said.

00:18:37
Speaker 1: That's what he said.

00:18:40
Speaker 3: That's what he said.

00:18:41
Speaker 1: That's what he said.

00:18:45
Speaker 2: We've got some good ones today, Yeah, a number of That's what he said. Clips that we're going to throw your way from the FT Network. Yes, Kratz has shaking his head. Got some good guests on this week, and we want to make sure we highlight that and react to some of the comments.

00:18:59
Speaker 1: So let's art with Joe Musgrove.

00:19:01
Speaker 2: We can't get to every camp in Arizona, so Friar Territory is handling some interviews. They spoke to Musgrove, who's looking to put together a full, healthy season here for the Padres and they sure need him.

00:19:11
Speaker 1: Here's what he said.

00:19:12
Speaker 5: Did you try to put more pressure on yourself to come back because of what other guys in your rotation were going through?

00:19:23
Speaker 6: Not so much. Not so much for that reason. I mean maybe a little bit of it, maybe, like subconsciously, I felt like that was part of my job, was to, you know, step up and fill that role, and I think a lot of people were kind of counting on me. And it's hard because, I guess, back to your last question, one of the hardest things is having people constantly ask you, you know, how you feeling, Are you going to be back? Are you going to be ready? And trying to answer that. Honestly, it was very hard because if I was honest, I wasn't be like, hell, no, I feel like shit, you know, but maybe I won't feel like shit in a week, maybe I'll feel better in a month, But just kind of lying to people and be like, yeah, I feel good.

00:19:55
Speaker 7: You know, I'm in a good spot.

00:19:56
Speaker 6: You know, stuff's coming out and my bullpens were good, but it was the recovery wasn't bouncing back from those feeling very good. So trying to be honest with people was very difficult. But yeah, towards the end of the stretch, it was more of a personal a personal thing that was, you know, eating at me. It's like I'd set this goal out and I'd worked so hard and I had gotten so close, and then that last month I kind of took a left turn and wasn't feeling as good, and I felt like all these plans that I had and like this high spirit of like I'm gonna have a chance to pitch, We're starting to dwindle away. So I think it was more like the selfishness of wanting to get in there and wanting to be a part of it. That was the more of the contributing factor to me pushing. Yeah, it's freaking awesome.

00:20:39
Speaker 3: I love the honesty because how many dudes did we see come back last year in the postseason, not just for the Padres, I'm talking about around the league, and it's like, you have to be honest with yourself because eighty percent of Joe Musgrove might have been enough for the Padres to say, Okay, we don't have a better option, but in his mind he wasn't probably even at that point. So I love the honesty.

00:21:05
Speaker 1: Yeah, We've got a lot more of that.

00:21:07
Speaker 2: And you know, somebody in a somewhat similar spot here in Brandon Woodriff, who was on Brewer Territory. We didn't get to Big Wu. We got too many others over at Brewer's camp. But Big Wu is also trying to put together a full, healthy season, and again, this is another team that's going to be like, hey, dude, I know you've missed a lot of time in the past, but when you were pitching last year, you looked really damn good. And then of course we got to the playoffs and you know, he couldn't be a part of the mix. So Brewer Territory talked to Big Wu about a big upcoming season this.

00:21:38
Speaker 8: Year after trading Freddie, and I'm kind of, you know, the last one standing, and it's it's been it's been a fun process for me, to be honest, and I've never been a huge vocal guy, but I try to lead by example and try to be the best and most consistent, you know guy in terms of preparation and and just you know, doing the things daily to get my body ready to go, you know, play catch or whatever it is, and try to and try to set those standards in that way. But it's been fun to talk to these guys and help them, and because I've gone through the experiences now.

00:22:16
Speaker 7: That you know Quinn and Chad.

00:22:18
Speaker 8: You know Chad and Mis went through coming out of the bullpen in the playoffs, pitching in big moments, pitching in big spots and doing well and drawing from those experiences, just like you know at eighteen, that was that was that basically springboarded me into into where I'm at now and the pitcher that I am. And so I try to just I try to I try to not talk about when I come back to the metrics, I try not to talk about any of that stuff.

00:22:47
Speaker 1: I try to just talk.

00:22:48
Speaker 8: About more of the mental side of the game with these guys and how to you know, go about pre pitch routine or whatever it is, or type of situations you get into them the field.

00:23:03
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, that's the that's that's the role. One one. They're paying him a lot of money in Brewers Land, But that's the role that Big Wu. I even kind of saw because I saw the maturation process in eighteen from he had gotten a call up in seventeen. Then he was kind of up and down in eighteen to the point where he was coming out of the bullpen and giving us a big innings. So I have a hard time thinking while he was talking there, listening to what he said about something Big Wu hasn't been through in his career struggles getting sent down, moved to the bullpen, having a massive role in the starting rotation, to being a cy young type of pitcher, to injury to recovering. So it's like he's just a great sounding board for so many pictures in that organization.

00:23:48
Speaker 2: See sir, all right, sir, We're going to get to another picture while Ron Washington is getting set up out there at Giants camp.

00:23:57
Speaker 1: Jared Weaver, the former Angels starter on Halo territory.

00:24:02
Speaker 9: You know, I came in young. I came in a little you know, cocky. I started what nine and zero or something to start my career. But those guys would put me in my place when I wasn't doing something right. You talk about, you know, going in the food line too early, or getting in the training room too early and not giving these these veteran guys that have been around the time to get their bodies ready, because it, you know, thirty eight years old, it might take you a little longer than a twenty three year old to get ready. So you gotta, you know, you gotta get your ass out of the out of the training room and and and get in there when you know no one's in there.

00:24:37
Speaker 7: But uh, you know, Lackeye took me under.

00:24:40
Speaker 9: My wing and really grinding me on working hard the conditioning side of things, the weight side of things, when to kind of push it when it back off.

00:24:49
Speaker 7: It's a long season, uh you know.

00:24:53
Speaker 9: And I try to instill what kind of Lackey told me and you guys coming up, and you know, I might have some guys the wrong way, and and probably didn't some guys probably didn't understand me. But if you did, I would hope that you know, you kind of flourished from it, and uh you know, and and you know, I just love being in the clubhouse and competing and being with you guys, and and uh you know, maybe my mindset kind of got a little bit out of control with trying to put you guys in the right direction. But that was just the way my mentality was and kind of learned from those guys and and uh, but yeah, towards the end of my career, you know, with the Padres there was it was not like that anymore, and you know, I had to kind of back off and and kind of cater to these guys, which was, you know, it was hard for me to do. And uh, you know, there wasn't any dinners going out, you know, with ten to twelve guys or everybody was going to their hotel rooms and playing video games and not hanging out in the hotel bar to talk about the game afterwards or you know, things like that.

00:26:00
Speaker 7: So it was not only my career was dying.

00:26:03
Speaker 9: But the passion for coming to the field every day and then trying to work hard for those guys kind of went out the window too. So it's a totally different game.

00:26:18
Speaker 3: It is a different game. And you hear this from guys because their interaction or their experiences when they first got called up. You heard about the dudes that were given him a hard time. But he also looks at it as teaching as he was being taught because he was cocky. The biggest thing I always said towards the end of my career, the players hadn't changed. When you're twenty two years old and you get called up to the big leagues, you think and you know that you are the best, and you look at these guys and they're like, oh, this guy's thirty geez, what is he He's a walking fossil. But the reality is you got to be able to connect with all those guys because ultimately, it doesn't matter if you're thirty eight or eighteen. When you've come into a big league clubhouse, it's about trying to win. And what Weave was saying was awesome because he was being honest that maybe you know, there is a lost sense of competing and wanting to be out there to get better every single day, and it can get lost when you're making fun of rookies, but it's also to not put them in their place, but to help them be the next steward of this game. And so, yeah, we Weave is a guy. He is definitely a guy for me.

00:27:31
Speaker 2: We're going to get into all of the nitty gritty details about why you should switch to Mint Mobile, but I brought a special guest in for this one to alert you that you might be paying way too.

00:27:42
Speaker 1: Much for your wireless bill. Eric Kratz, can you give me the bullpen dugout phone? Please?

00:27:49
Speaker 7: Ulululul lulu.

00:27:51
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00:27:56
Speaker 2: You heard the man, unlimited talk, text and data at a fraction of what others charge. Ready to stop paying more than you have to? New customers can make the switch today and for a limited time, get unlimited premium wireless for just fifteen bucks per month. Switch now at mintmobile dot com slash territory. That's mintmobile dot com slash territory. Upfront payment of forty five dollars for three months, ninety for six months, or one eighty for twelve months. Plan required fifteen dollars a month equivalent taxes and fees extra initial plan term only over fifty gigabytes. May slow when network is busy. Capable device required, availability, speed and coverage varies. See mintmobile dot com. Hey, hot corner time and it sounds like the padres are going to get sold really soon. It could come in the next few weeks. It's kind of sneaking up on everyone. So here we're actually posting the correction to the story put out in The Athletic. Dennis Lynn and Ken just reposted how Drew Brees and the founder of Viewery I want to be in on this regarding the process. Those two guys did not submit a formal bid on their own. They're exploring potentially partnering with one of the other groups. So apparently there are five bidders that are involved, and first round of bids we're due on Wednesday, Like this is happening fast, Kratz. It's five bidders and then they hope to have this finished up by opening day. And we see this process often happen that way, so you kind of get it out of the way so that you can then just enjoy your last ride, and then the transition happens.

00:29:36
Speaker 1: At some point during the season.

00:29:37
Speaker 2: I think we saw this timing pretty similar with the Orioles from what I remember.

00:29:43
Speaker 1: When David Clara Getty that group.

00:29:47
Speaker 2: I thought it was pretty similar where they took over around the start, like we got the news around the start of the season and then they officially took over.

00:29:54
Speaker 3: No, okay, I just thought there was semantics thought. I thought there was like a game and then they like we're in the bar buying drinks right around when it happened around Camden Yards.

00:30:06
Speaker 1: But whatever it was the official yeah yeah, yeah, exactly.

00:30:10
Speaker 2: So anyway, we're about to see a big change here with the team when it depends who is going to be running that team. Joe Lakobizibob. We talked about him earlier. He owns the Warriors. He's done a pretty nice job there. And then there's an English Soccer League team owner. I think he owns Chelsea the football club, which is worth a lot of money, many many billions, many more than what the Padres are going to go for. Padres evaluation from from some of the publications has them like in the mid twos billion, but it sounds like they're asking for three and I think they're going to get close to that number because it's such a vibe out there.

00:30:47
Speaker 1: Kratz.

00:30:47
Speaker 2: I think there's still a lot of room for growth and they dominate the city even if it's a smaller market. I mean, they're selling that place out. It's like imagine if you have a freaking concert tour and you're just selling out a two nights in a row or eighty one nights in a row.

00:31:02
Speaker 1: I mean they're they're printing, they know what they're doing.

00:31:05
Speaker 2: And yeah, did they jack up the payroll a little bit and maybe pay or overpay for some guys perhaps, but some of that's coming back down. I think this is going to be a very profitable franchise.

00:31:15
Speaker 3: I mean, they've they've created they've created an entertainment industry right there at the stadium. Like I know a lot of teams are like, oh, we got to build around the stadiums. They won't say it, they won't say it, but they've created the energy in the stadium that's now permeating through the city like it is. It's San Diego's only professional team, and I think, you know, it's credit to the late mister Sidler, but what he created, what he allowed the payroll to get to, was to win. And I think this organization still wants to win. With a j pereller at the helm and oh added a repercussion or what happens when you put money in to try to win, Fans start coming out. You get a good team and they have like it's like it's a snowball. They have like seven or eight games a year where a new attendance record because they're adding seats, people want to go to the game, and it's it is a vibe.

00:32:20
Speaker 4: Yeah, you just want you want you just want ownership to come in. I just want ownerships that are looking like the Mets are like. You just want them to spend. You want to make this league fun. You want to get these exciting contracts. Obviously little bias coming from a player's side, but you want teams. The more teams that go for it, the more fun this league becomes.

00:32:38
Speaker 1: Right.

00:32:40
Speaker 2: Yeah, Cohen actually has the highest bid ever for Major League Baseball, buying the Mets for two point four to two billion. But again this this is going to beat that number. Also, think about it on the franchise valuation side, the current group that owns the Padres. This isn't like the Twins where they bought them forty years go. They bought this team in twenty twelve. Okay, so it's twenty twenty six, that's it's fourteen years ago. In fourteen years, the valuation has gone from eight hundred million to now they might sell this team for close to three billion dollars. They are going to at least triple their money, at least triple their money. Put your money in the market in twenty twelve and then close your eyes and look at it now.

00:33:27
Speaker 1: It didn't triple.

00:33:30
Speaker 3: Nice, No it didn't. But ultimately that is what brings businessmen into a business. But oh no, down business and a sport that you know, what Scott's talking about is teams and owners crying, oh it's poor, like we had to You don't understand. There was a lot of overhead during that time. Okay, but now we're coming to the completion of all that overhead, all of that although investments and how you handled how you stewarded your possession of the team, it shows it growth. It shows it grew, and they they had growth that now they're able to cash in. Now the state side, Peter Sidler's a state is able to cash in. And I think it's interesting because all we hear is, oh, we're going to wait till the new CBA. We're gonna wait. You know, they're probably gonna wait till the new CBA to put their organization, put their franchise on the market. It'll be interested to see how if it's sold before this new CBA and then the organizations that are sold after the CBA, did they get a gold mine by jumping in a year early.

00:34:48
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I think they're already starting to price it that way, where they think POSTBA, your valuation goes up, and that's why some of the teams are waiting to sell. And really my point also is even simpler that they've done a nice job with the team and the money goes up. I mean, the money goes up with the league anyway, with the revenues. But they've done a nice job out there, and Kip winning matters, it's most of it.

00:35:12
Speaker 1: Yeah, But they haven't won a.

00:35:14
Speaker 2: World Series title, and they've brought a lot more of a winning culture out there, a lot more of an entertaining culture out there.

00:35:20
Speaker 1: So I know there's Dodger fans that are watching right now.

00:35:22
Speaker 2: They're going to insert their little bro jokes or whatever they've got for the Padres because they've been winning and the Padres didn't. And really I can't harp enough on going back a couple of years ago where the Padres had them and I think they would won a World Series that year.

00:35:35
Speaker 1: That was that was the time.

00:35:37
Speaker 2: For some reason, it seemed, you know, distracted and just they couldn't put together hits against a really good Dodgers' pitching staff. But anyway, you fast forward and Kip, I mean, for a good chunk of your playing career, what did you think of the Padres as a franchise.

00:35:53
Speaker 4: They again, as j I said, when Webby was here, I never got to play them, or never really played against in San Diego, so I never experienced competing against them. But at the same time, they weren't what they are now. I think once Preller got there, once you got to the Machado, Bogart's like, you got all these big names, big contracts coming in. You saw the NFL team lead like that city loves that team now and it looks like a vibe to play it. Like you said, it looks like a fun, loud place that gets even louder during the postseason. Guys want to live in San Diego, Guys want to play there. It looks like the place to be. They just were not able to get over the hump that year that you were talking about. And who knows, maybe this could be this new ownership if it does happen and the deal's made and it goes through and it gives them a chance to reload for Preller to go after some other big names and get there maybe after the Dodgers are finishing their run, if they're about to go on a run. So it's one of the better places to play in the league weather wise, fan wise, and if you have good ownership and ownership willing to spend. Why wysees not II on most free agents' list.

00:37:08
Speaker 2: Improwler is actually going to be there now for a while. You just signed an extension. Yeah, there's back and worth going on there. So yeah, he's he's locked in, all right, So this is going to transition us to current free agent. Justin Turner chiming in on the Socials last night. Something that popped was John Haymond putting in his story what a salary cap would look like from a proposal standpoint, and then people were reacting. He said, early suggestions are looking at a proposed cap around two sixty to two eighty MILI and a floor of one forty to one sixty. Justin Turner then put out their question for the quote parody. People who are pro salary cap, do you implement the cap and then wait for all the deferrals like the Dodgers to expire before you start seeing if the cap works for parody. Do you not think this gives them an even bigger advantage over the next five to ten years, And then debate ensued.

00:37:59
Speaker 1: About what that would look like.

00:38:00
Speaker 2: So even if we do get to a world where there's a hard cap, because we have soft one now a hard cap implemented. Yeah, they're not going to do this overnight. It would take a lot of time to get there. But he said, in case you're wondering, the deferrals wouldn't actually start hitting the Dodgers hard until twenty thirty four. They would be at about ninety and deferrals toward a propose cap, so eight years until they start to feel it. I will say, though, there's so much nuance to what he's talking about, because we still factor in deferrals to the luxury tax numbers so you can do net present value, So it doesn't quite work that way, and I think it's more worth talking out. The other thing I'll point out there is, I mean, these stories are coming out left and right, and the season hasn't started yet, Kip.

00:38:40
Speaker 1: Right now, we have some fans like stop talking about the CBA.

00:38:44
Speaker 2: And I'm like, the stories keep coming out and social media keeps going to blaze about the topics. So yeah, I mean, I don't want to talk about it all day either. I know we're going to talk about it all freaking winter long next year. But right now, somebody puts out a story, puts out a proposed cap number that definitely comes from a you know, somebody who's in the know. There comes from someone on the league side who's leaking that out. We're going to react to it at least.

00:39:08
Speaker 4: A couple of things. Couple it's our job to talk about it with this show. That's exactly what we should be doing. It's a big part of the game, and it's a big part of the direction this game's headed to right now, where this is going to be a huge story. And one thing that I think the player's side has always kind of stood by is we want transparency. We want the public to have all the knowledge and all the stories that we get so they can have all the information to make kind of their own judgment. But no, these stories are very important because this game is maybe coming to a standstill here soon because of certain disagreements, and I want everybody to know what's actually going on, and I want them to make an educated opinion. So these stories are very important to talk to talk about.

00:39:49
Speaker 1: Can I ask a question, Kip, you're a business man.

00:39:52
Speaker 2: If if fans feel like some teams you know, can't spend enough and they're gonna have to spend a lot more on a floor like that, Let's say it's one sixty mil. I mean, there's some teams barely touching one hundred. How are they getting there? I'm going to tell you how they get there. They're going to get there from revenue sharing. And then this just basically puts in forced revenue sharing. So I know the player stance is, Hey, if you want a cap, it's just suppressing player salaries, right, it's concentrating them. It helps franchise valuations. Isn't the same difference to just give more money to the teams that don't feel like they can keep up and then force them to actually spend it, because we don't do either of those things right now? Like, Okay, you played most of your career in Cleveland, right, Cleveland doesn't spend much in the offseason. I mean lately they really do almost nothing. I think they kind of push chips in more during you got during your last run there, right, twenty sixteen, there's a little more going on now.

00:40:47
Speaker 1: It's like really really quiet.

00:40:49
Speaker 2: We had Mike Turnoff the other day on and he was very personal, but very also very straightforward, like, yeah, we don't play in those waters. I'm like, Okay, what if I just dropped one hundred million bucks on you? And it sounds crazy, but they have a new TV deal that's going to come up in the next couple of years, so it's not that crazy that they're going to get more money and they can figure out the revenue sharing a little bit more. If they're then told, hey, you got to spend this on players, what's the difference if your team then is forced to spend that way. What's the difference between that and then putting a cap on something.

00:41:23
Speaker 4: I think the difference Here's one where I'll say the difference is I think after we were making our run in Cleveland around sixteen and all those years we were able to sign Edwin and Carnrasci and I think for four years for eighty so a twenty eight year. It's granted it's spent some years since then, but you see Cleveland has kind of stopped spending a little bit. You don't want a team, especially a small market team to go for it, to spend some money and then have to take a decade to lick their wounds from trying to go for it. You want them to keep going for it. That's so I think that's where the floor is a little bit better than the cap. But listen, it's not like they're they're struggling to make money here with TV deals and everything else. I think it's no difference. Uh, when you when you put it on paper the way that you were laying it out earlier. So I think you're using too much common sense and rationale right now, which just hasn't always been there in negotiations. But hopefully it will be come to the future. I think there is a medium, there is some place where we can meet forward. The problem with these negotiations is instead of just agreeing on the middle piece, it's i'll give you this inch, you give me this inch, and it's like it takes time to get there to the middle because nobody wants to even give that inch. So hopefully the calmer, smarter heads prevail in the long run. But yeah, it's just these are the stories that are going to keep coming out where you're gonna realize why no, no sides willing to budge yet.

00:42:44
Speaker 1: Kras what you think of these parameters.

00:42:47
Speaker 3: I just think my opinion is I try not to be two players sided, but I'm trying to bring the reality of the situation. This is an owner's I don't have an issue as much with the guardians because they do try to win the organizations that try to pocket money. It is where is where I have the issue. Let's say let's say the the Marlins. Let's go to the Marlins. There's seventy six million dollars as a projected opening day salaries. Ah, they're just gonna automatically get to They're just with the increased revenue sharing, they're just gonna automatically double their salary, like their salary expenditure. No like that. I just have I have a hard time believing they're just gonna automatically poof like generate this much money. This could be something. There's something like, like Kip said, there's something in the middle. There's an answer in the middle there because we have the soft salary cap that teams are willing to go over. Teams are willing to pay that penalty, which then yes goes to players. But it also goes to the lower, lower level organizations, the organizations that need the revenue sharing. So why can't we have a soft floor where if you don't hit this. I just don't like the parameters that are there are just you know, they're they're putting those numbers out in the media so that fans are like, oh, yeah, that sounds great. That's my team is a small market. My team is not the Dodgers. So I'm going to you know, I'm going to get behind this. The reality is the Dodgers are going to get richer if they institute this. Teams are going to get richer, and the parody is not going to be like, look at the other organize, look at the other leagues. The parody is not there. So it's an organizational thing. Maybe when you look at the league and you say everybody has to compete, it's competitive balance. It's not a CBA. That's just a balance. It's not a BA. It's a competitive balance. The point of our league is to make every team compet. Not everybody gets a trophy, but every team compete, and without a soft salary floor, those teams have no reason to compete. They just continue to get their revenue checks, and they continue to cry poor, and they continue to finish in third to fifth place.

00:45:16
Speaker 2: And that is the real battle going on behind the scenes. That is that is a fact. There's a massive battle, because we've even seen owners get public about that, right. We've heard some of you Yankees, We've heard Al Steimern are kind of say, hey, I don't want to keep sharing all of that with these guys because I don't feel like they're spending it.

00:45:35
Speaker 1: And that's the.

00:45:35
Speaker 2: Battle that goes on behind the scenes. I mean the TV battles there too. You know, some teams are like, why do we have to give up all of our rights to the league? And you see it looks like the Braves and the Angels are going to start their own network. So there's a lot of battling that goes on behind the scenes. But all we see out in public is all right, it's going to be two fifty mil. Dodgers are going to make eight hundred million dollars a year, and they're going to create I mean, they might be able to buy another planet and breed their own baseball players with that extra money and make them sign with the Dodgers. I'm kidding but in all seriousness, it's it's that's a tough number in my mind. Yep, I don't think. I don't think they're going to get anywhere close to that. And anyway, I'm just one of those people. I don't think there's going to be a cap And I also don't think that we're going to miss time. I think that they're going to fake miss time. That's been my prediction. I think they're going to fake fake miss time means we'll get to March blah blah blah. They'll say, oh, now we're going to start missing games, and then they'll figure it out a couple weeks later when push comes to shove and it starts to look like they might actually miss them, and they'll be like, we're going to flow some double headers. You're going to barely have any spring training. They might not even go to spring training. They might just do like COVID style, you go to the ballpark, you do a week and you just go and they say, well, you want to fight with us. You might not be totally ready and you get hurt.

00:46:53
Speaker 3: I think it needs to be remembered too, that this is a lock This would be a lockout, not a strike, too many people that were still alive, and nineteen ninety four the players struck. This is the owners locking the players out, locking their employees out of the business. Locking up cannot come to work. So I think there's just too many there's too many times where it's just been very much like who the player is?

00:47:20
Speaker 5: This?

00:47:20
Speaker 3: The players? That to me? When this number comes out two fifty to one sixty, if that's if that's what they want, if they won a salary cap? What are the owners willing to give up? Come next? John Hayman article next next Evandrelic article next, Jason Starr Ken Rosenthal all those articles? What are the owners willing to give up? Because with a cap players are giving up so much? Are you willing to let your best player go after four years to free agency? Four years of team control? That's it, that's what we're willing to give up. Like, no, let's start here.

00:47:54
Speaker 1: Know what happened there?

00:47:56
Speaker 2: I can guarantee you what would happen there. There's something that exists. You want me to tell you what would happen? I'm telling you like I could see that where they're like, forget that three years, right, and then you know what they would say, look at the NBA, it's going to be super team city because if you're capped on what you can say, you all the guys are going to go to the same spots that just treated really well. And then you might even start to see some Quhi Leonard marketing contracts. Oh wow, look I can get an influencer deal, It'll turn to like nil. Look I got an influencer deal for one post. I got twenty million bucks. But I'm with the Dodgers. Now it could get real ugly, real fast.

00:48:32
Speaker 1: NBA is going.

00:48:33
Speaker 2: Through a lot of problems right now. That's years A regular season is sloppy right now.

00:48:39
Speaker 7: It's terrible.

00:48:39
Speaker 3: Guys don't even play the whole year. Yeah, but it's been years of very owner centric driven type of rhetoric. And I just want to make sure that when people come to our show, do we say the player's side, Absolutely, because that's what we know. Me and Kip are idiots. Kip owns a business, and I'm bald, so and I had a below I had a below zero war. For everybody who wants to comment on that, this is something that is a two sided negotiation. So when you hear that, make sure you're able to listen to the other side and hear, well, what would be what would be the exchange there? What would be the exchange? Because the goal is parody, right, because that's what we keep hearing parody, parody, parody fans want parody. Just make sure what is being put out there. There's two sides to the to the argument, there's two sides to this negotiation.