Fair Territory w/Ken Rosenthal: AL East Chaos, Rangers still alive, Braves add Kim, Padres injury bug

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Speaker 1: Welgo everyone to the Monday edition of Fair Territory. I'm Ken Rosenthal, and we do have a lot to talk about on this Monday. As I just tweeted, people often ask me, after all this time covering baseball, this is my thirty ninth season, do I ever get sick of it? Do I ever get bored? And the answer is no. And the answer is no because it is so interesting this sport on a daily basis, on a seasonal basis, year after year. This weekend alone, we had things happen that we didn't really expect. And I'm not talking about Trevor Story's ridiculous hole wrote off the Pesky Pole, which was very cool. I'm talking about some races that suddenly are races that really weren't before. I'm talking about a move that took place, a post deadline roster move, transaction that kind of came out of nowhere. I'm talking about a lot of things. So let's start today with the Al East and with the Toronto Blue Jays bullpen difficulties and the tightening of this particular race with the Red Sox and Yankees now only two and a half games back. Let's look at the standings to start the show, and we'll go from there. As I just said, you have the Blue Jays up top, still in a good position. We're a month away from the season ending. Less than that, there's still two and a half games up on both the Red Sox and Yankees. The problem is the Blue Jays bullpen is collapsing. And let me take you through the week that was, because this was as horrific a week for a bullpen as you will see from a contender from bad teams. Yeah, this will happen. So Tuesday, this is going back Last Tuesday, Jays lead the Twins five to three. In the ninth, Jeff Hoffman allows a solo homer by Mickey Gasper and a three run shot by Matt Walner. Jays lose seven to five. Friday, Bieber versus peralta great matchup, great game, scoreless into the sixth. The Brewers score five runs in the six This was off Brendan Little and Lewis Varland. Then Saturday, one one into the ninth against the same Brewers, Hoffman back in the game, Jackson curio home run, Christian Yellich home run, the Brewers get another run. They win for to one. And then on Monday, just yesterday, four to two lead over the Reds in the ninth, Tommy Lance and Little combined to allow three runs in a five to four loss. Four horrific bullpen losses in the span of a week. Now, the problem is when you have a situation like this developed at this time of year, there isn't any way to go outside. You can't make trades. It's over the deadline, it's past. All you can do is look for help from within. And I want to show you a tweet from John Morosi last night that illustrates the current problem. And it goes beyond anyone pitcher, as JP says, and it goes beyond Jeff Hoffman, who's allowed a ton of homers. The solution begins as JP wrights with more throwing more strikes. Over the last thirty days, Jay's relievers averaging five point sixty five walks per nine. That is the worst mark in Major League Baseball over that period. So, now, what does the bigger picture look like? In the Ale East, the Yankees and Red Sox each have one series left against the Blue Jays, and for the Yankees in particular, the schedule is about to get real interesting. We saw what happen to the Yankees against the Red Sox in New York. They got swept. Then we saw them go six to one against the Nationals and White Sox. Good for them, they beat up on bad teams. Well, here we go. Now you see the schedule right there. First fourth series from this point on at Houston, Toronto at home for three, Detroit at home for three, and then at Boston for three, and then the final four series are much easier at Minnesota for three, at Baltimore for three, and then a home stand against the White Sox and Orioles to close it out. The Red Sox schedule is not quite as in contrast as we go along here, but it's kind of interesting too. They've got another West coast trip coming to West Sacramento, where the A's are playing very well, they're dangerous offensively, and where the Tigers were just swept last weekend, and then Arizona and the Red Sox and their season with six games against the Blue Jays and also the Tigers and the Tigers. By that point they will have clinched almost certainly, and they will be just lining up their playoff rotation. So I don't expect that series to be particularly taxing, but the Red Sox schedule is kind of interesting as well. So the Jays have a problem here. They've got Lewis Barrowins, a reliever they acquire from the Twins at the deadline they thought was going to be really good for them. He was really good for the Twins. They can't fix him. It seems like they've got Imi Garcia, who is out for the season scheduled for elbow surgery, and Chris Bassett, their starter, one of their better starters, said yesterday, well, it's honest, starters, we're not going deep enough into games. That is not really true. Ba'st went six yesterday. In August, the Jays were third third in the majors in starts or i'm sorry, innings per start from their starters, so they were doing fine in that regard. Now, yes, the bullpen is tired. All bullpens are tired at this time of year. It's going to be really interesting to see how the Jas come out of this, because I'm not sure there is a fix here. We'll see, you never know. Eric lower goes to the bullpen. Now, maybe it stabilizes, Maybe the rotation starts going deep, everybody gets a little arrest. Who knows. You never know what's going to happen in this game. And for another example of that, look at the Texas Rangers. Here is a team that has been underachieving all season, a team that all of us were ready to write off after their latest injury wave. In a span of three days last week, they lost Corey Seeger and Nathan Valdi, arguably their two most important players. In a span of six teen days, they had eight players go on the il, including those two and Marcus Simeon, another one of their important players. And now here they are, They're on an absolute role. They've won six in a row, they've won nine of ten. They're now just one and a half games behind the Mariners in the American League race for the third wild card, and they're four and a half out in the Division, four and a half out with six games left against the Astros, including three this weekend. I'll be there for Fox in Texas for that one. So the wildcard race isn't over. Certainly the division race might not be over either. You look at the standings right there. The Rangers are the top team that is out right now. They're the leader of the group that is chasing the Mariners for the final birth. The Royals just two and a half back. I think the Guardians are four back beyond that. Now here's Seattle. They're seventy three and sixty five. They're still in a decent position here. But what is the problem. They're playing poorly five ten in their last fifteen games, one in eight on the road in that time, and they've got five games left on this trip on the East Coast against Tampa Bay and Atlanta. Seattle needs to get it together. And this is a team that loaded up on the deadline. They Josh Naylor, Aohano Suarez, Caleb Ferguson, and they cannot seem to get out of their own way. So the Seattle Mariners are facing a real challenge here from mostly the Rangers, but also the Royals. The Royals are right there two and a half back. It's not insurmountable at this time of year. So that's a race that at least has developed in a surprising way. And entering the weekend, you thought, okay, the Royals were the first team chasing, they have the best shot. They lose two of three to the Tigers. Well, here come the Rangers making this incredible push finally. Now, one other thing worth noting in this first segment. The San Diego Padres two bad injuries in the last week. Now, maybe they'll rebound like the Rangers did and seemingly progress without any problem at all. But Xander Bogarts goes down to a fractured left foot. He's hoping to be back by the end of the season. And then yesterday Jason Adam, one of their top relievers in a bullpen full of top relievers, suffers a quad tenent rupture. He's going to be out for this season. Now. Obviously their bullpen is really strong. They can afford the loss of one reliever. But what was the strength of this team and is the strength of this team their ability to shorten games with a bullpen that is incredibly powerful and behind a rotation that is not so powerful. Also, yesterday with the Padres, Tatists was out with what they called lower half tightness. I wouldn't imagine that's a big problem. Maybe he just needs a day. But that's something to watch as well. So here are the Padres. Just a few days ago, we thought maybe they would catch and pass the Dodgers in the NL West not happening. They're now down one reliever from their stacked bullpen. They're two and a half behind the Dodgers, and they are three behind the Cubs in the wildcard race. And this is significant because if the standings hold, and I'm not saying they will, we don't know that they will, but if they hold, the first round or the Wildcard series would pit the Padres against the Cubs at Wrigley Field. The Padres are a dangerous home team. They are really good at home, forty three and twenty three, one of the best records in baseball at Peco Park, which is an electric environment as electric as you will find in the sport right now. So to play on the road, not insurmountable road teams win all the time in the Baseball playoffs. It's not a big deal, but it's certainly not ideal as well. Padres thirty three and thirty nine on the road this season. So what we're looking at here is an NL West race that might soon be decided if the Dodgers start playing better and the Padres cannot get a going again, or maybe it tightens up again. But the Padres without bulguards from an offense that was much better. It has been much better since the trade deadline and the additions that they made, and then without Jason Adam, they're just not as strong in either area as they were before. All right, we've got the inside dish coming up. I'm going to talk about the Ha Song Kim situation with the Atlanta Braves claiming him off waivers. We'll be right back after this.

00:10:27
Speaker 2: One of the newest shows on the FT Network is called Friar Territory. That's right. If you're dialed in on the Padres, then you want to listen to Kyle Glazer and former padres Mike Cameron and Heath Bell who joined him during the week, to break down everything that's going on with this exciting team. We're throwing a curveball at you this week for our Arena Club segment, as AJ has opened up a Pokemon slap pack.

00:10:50
Speaker 3: Did you say it?

00:10:50
Speaker 2: Pokemon?

00:10:51
Speaker 1: Flatman?

00:10:52
Speaker 2: Pokemon? Don't ask me to say what that card is, but we're doing with that card. I already sold it back, baby.

00:10:59
Speaker 3: I bought it and then I got more money than I paid for the pack, so I sold us straight back.

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Speaker 2: You bought it for two fifty You sold it for and you can go get yourself something that you maybe know how to pronounce.

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Speaker 3: Yes, what it is. I exaid it because I saw certain people open in Pokemon and they were making money, and guess what I got.

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00:11:44
Speaker 4: Well wide dished the part of the show where I go maybe inside a story I've written, inside a trend in the game, or go inside a roster move a transaction that happened over the weekend that frankly.

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Speaker 1: Took me by surprise and took a lot of people by surprise. It was one of the most fascinating moves at least you'll see at this time of year. And I'm talking again about the Braves claiming of Hasan Kim the shortstop from the Tampa Bay Rays. You see my tweet there yesterday with the news. When I originally heard this on Sunday, what I originally heard was that Kim was on outright waivers. And sometimes I'll hear that and then I'll pursue it, trying to confirm, see what's going on, etc. And when I pursued it, that's when I learned that not only was he on outright waivers, he was claimed by the Atlanta Braves. Now, how does this work? Kim has owed about two million dollars the rest of the way. The Braves assumed that obligation. He also has a sixteen million dollar player option for next season, so he can exercise that or he can become a free agent. This, then, was a bold move by the Braves. It was an eighteen million dollar gamble effectively. At the same time, it was a move that made a lot of sense. The Braves need for a shortstop is no secret. It's one of the biggest needs we have anticipated going into the off season. Nick Allen. They've played him there all year. He is a great defender, but he is one of the weakest hitters in the game. And they pursued Kim at the deadline actually thinking that maybe they can get him and make the same kind of decision and wait for the same kind of decision by him in the off season. And that right now, that would have been a sensible move even then, because the shortstop market this winter is very thin. You've got Bobaschett out there, but Bob Baschett, in the eyes of many in the industry, should not be a shortstop, or at least not for much longer. So what were the Braves going to do? A trade? Seemed unlikely. Who was going to be available in a trade that was so good? So this move to them could solve the problem. Braves don't generally play big in free agency anyway. This is a one year deal. If Kim exercises the option at sixteen million. Teams, as we've talked about many times before, they love one year deals. They don't even care about the price usually, and sixteen million for a player of Kim's caliber is not a bad price. Okay, So with Kim they get a player who did not make his season debut until July third, coming off shoulder surgery, then twice went on the il with lower back trouble. He's played only twenty four games this year, hasn't really hit hasn't really played well, not great science. But now the Braves get a month to look at him, to get to know him. Kim gets a month to know the Braves, and he already is friendly from the Padres days with Jerks and Profar and we will see how this all plays out. Now, Kim's decision is interesting too. Now he's a Scott Boris client. He cannot get a qualifying offer now that he has changed teams in the middle of a season, so free agency will be more tempting for him than it might otherwise have been. But he'd be coming off a season. As I just said, he plays only or has played only twenty four games so far, and barring a huge performance this month, and I can't rule it out, he's going to play shortstop every day for the Braves the rest of the season. If that happens, okay, maybe you opt out and you take your chances. But if it doesn't happen, then you have to think about exercising that player option. Just going back to the Braves again, the shortstop market is thin. That would play to Kim's benefit if he has a big month, but if he doesn't, he might be better off just staying with the Braves. He's not going to get the long term deal he wants. I wouldn't expect coming off a season like this. He didn't get the long term deal last year. Of course, at that point he was recovering from shoulder surgery. So what this would be with the Braves is is essentially a pillow contract, the kind that sometimes Scott Boris favors, the kind that Kim otherwise might get in free agency. If he goes out there again a chance to re establish his value for one year and then go back into the market. It's not a bad play by him at all. And with the Braves he'd strictly be playing shortstop. He wouldn't bounce around to second base and third as he has done with the Padres and Rays to some extent. So it's kind of an appealing place for him in a lot of ways. The Braves are going to be good most likely, they're going to have a good lineup for sure. I know what happened this year, but next year things should be better for them. And it's just a really appealing place, you would think. Now, Scott Boris's clients do not always opt out when given that opportunity. He loves to include the opt outs, give them the flexibility, but it doesn't always happen that way. Cody Bellinger just last season exercise a twenty seven point five million dollar player option. Now he's having a big year for the Yankees. He has another player option for next season twenty five million. Yes, he will opt out of that one, but he did not doubt the first time because he was coming off kind of an okay year, but not a great year. So if you're Kim, is it worth losing what appears to be a good landing spot for the chance to maybe get a multi year deal when free agency didn't work out so well from him last year. I don't know that the answer to that question is yes. And again, the final month will play a big role in deciding this. If Kim has a big month, as I said, then it gets a little interesting from his perspective. If not, it seems to me anyway that the Braves would be the logical choice. Now, this is not exactly a free look for the Braves. People say, oh, free look, no problem. No, you're paying two million dollars for the rest of the season and possibly another sixteen million if he stays on this contract. But even if Ki opts out, the Braves can pursue him in free agency, right, nothing against that, no reason they can't do that if they want him, and for a team in desperate need of a shortstop as the Braves are. At least in my opinion, this was about as good an outcome as you can get. So that is it for the Hassan Kim situation. Again, a fascinating move. Waiver claims aren't always as interesting. Maybe it's not that interesting to you, It was really interesting to me. All right. We'll be back right after this with grilling Tent.

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00:20:13
Speaker 1: Time out for Grill and Ken. The part of the show where you guys get to ask me questions of your own. Let's start with this one right here. First question comes from well, actually we don't have a person identified with this question, but the question is which picture beyond Schooble Tyrek Scooble is most likely to step up as an appendable number two starter for the Tigers in October. Thank you for the timely question, whoever sent it, because I wrote about this just this morning in The Athletic, and essentially what I wrote is that the identity of the number two starter isn't that big a deal for the Tigers. Jack Flaherty would be the obvious choice, but he's been up and down this year. They've got Casey mis as well and Charlie Morton who has struggled in his last two starts. And the reason I wrote that the number two starter isn't that big a deal because aj Hinch will manage this bullpen aggressively, and we've seen this happen in a few recent games that the Tigers have played. He's yanked the starter pretty quickly because he's got guys like Troy Melton, Tyler Holton and others who he can use in bulk rolls. And keep in mind too that for the postseason, one of those starters, at least for the division Series, will move to the bullpen. So I'm not so sure. Really who starts is that big a concern. They'll start whoever is hot, whoever matches up best. Perhaps that's even more important than who is hot against that particular opponent. The Tigers' issues are these. They strikeout rate as an offense is the third highest in the majors. That's not good. Not good in the postseason, their strikeout rate from their bullpen is twenty ninth, next to last in the majors. That is a problem too. They need more strikeouts out of their pen. You play a danger rush game when the ball is always in play, as we've seen. So I still like the Tigers. They've got a great year. They do some amazing things on the field. But those are the issues that seem to me to be the biggest concerns. All right, now for the next question, This one is can Juan Soto carry the Mets to the Wildcard race? Glad you asked? Now, The Mets have obvious rotation deficiencies. It's a little weird that their best pictures were in the minor leagues, like two weeks ago, right, Jonah Tong, Nolan McClain. Maybe branded Sport's coming. Not good these guys, the guys carrying them to the Wildcard is supposed to be code is Sanga and Sean and I, et cetera. But back to the question to Juan Soto. Seems to me, I remember, I don't know back in April, when Juan Sota was struggling that people were saying, at least Yankees people or Yankees fans were saying, ah, man, he should have resigned with the K. He really wanted to be a Yankee. He's miserable, he can't play. He's having a great year. It's not maybe a typical Wan Soto year in terms of some of his rate stats, but he is having what anyone would classify as a really strong season. Added stolen bases to his game. I'm talking about offense. Defense is never gonna be great. But the home runs, the big home runs of lady hadn't hit and running with runners from scoring position most of the season. He's doing that now. So can he carry them? Yes, he can carry them. But as we saw. It was just yesterday. They had that big game, big scoring game. He did great things, and yet the Mets did not win that game. So they're gonna need to pitch at some point. They're gonna need to pitch, and they're gonna need to pitch better than they have. And I don't know if you can win with this kind of rotation going into the postseason. And in the postseason, they'll get there. I'm pretty confident of that. How long they last, that's a better question. All right, here we go. One more question, at least today. How big was the Cubs come back for their wildcard chances? Certainly big, And frankly, we've underestimated the Cubs a little bit in the last I don't know, month or two. I say, Weave me, I've underestimated them, and we've kind of overlooked them. And again me, I've overlooked them. And here's the deal. I don't have the standings in front of me right now, but as I mentioned earlier, they're a head of the Padres in the wildcard standings. They're pretty close to the Dodgers as well, obviously, because the Padres are chasing the Dodgers in the NL West, so they're well positioned to open the postseason at home. Now their offense seems to be getting it back together. I'm a little worried about their rotation. Still tie home back on the injured list, Kate Horton, how strong will he be in October. He's been terrific as a rookie so far, but that is a concern. The same time, they're having a great year, they're overshadowed by the Brewers because the Brewers are having this ridiculous here. But while they're not going to win the division quite obviously, they're still in a great position in the wildcard race. And you get that first home series, you maybe win the home series, you maybe build momentum for the DS, and then you have something. So I'm not ruling out the Cubs in the postseason. I'm a little worried obviously. As I said about their rotation, I do believe their offense now is going to be back to form. It couldn't be as bad as it was for however long that slump lasted. All Right, I want to thank everyone everyone for listening. You know where to find us, YouTube, Apple, Spotify. We will be back on Thursday. The normal live show with a lot of rizzo. Twelve thirty Eastern, nine thirty pacifics. Thanks to everyone, have a great week. We'll talk to your Thursday.

00:25:46
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