Javy Báez suspended from WBC, Padres sale moving closer, Orioles acquire Blaze Alexander

00:00:09
Speaker 1: I thought this was fake, but it's a real story. Pabi Baiez can't play in the World Baseball Classic. Why because he smoked a little weed in twenty twenty three or an edible or something that like half the league has done. I'm like what, and wait, blame game here. I was doing homework during the show because some of our fans let us know about it. I thought I saw something on Twitter x whatever and thought it was fake, right, because there's plenty of fake stuff out there. And then you know, fans are telling us and they're great and they know, and then I start researching it and yes, he has been denied suspended from twenty twenty three, and it's a suspension that lasts through this World Baseball Classic, so he cannot participate for wait for it, the team that is getting screwed over and over again, Puerto Rico, No Hobby Bias, no Francisco Lindor, no Carlos Korea, probably no Jose Brios isn't on there, right, No tons of guys missing from that roster. It's bullshit. This one probably tops it all. MLB in the Player Association for the most part, run the World Baseball Classic, but they have to go through the federation that runs this, like the World something federation that hip Kratz's nerdy brain probably knows more about, so he'll fill us in. Apparently both sides MLB and the PA, we're trying to figure this out, and federation was like, Heisman, no, sorry, I know it's legal in many spots and half the league, you know, but but he's not allowed. And it's that's a terrible look. Like if I'm if I'm MLB and the Players Association crats, I'm like, okay, well, maybe we're gonna have to run this tournament differently from now on, Like why how is this federation still doing this shit?

00:01:52
Speaker 2: Because this is a big I'm just gonna be careful. There's I'm not afraid of Matrix Baseball. I'm afraid of WATA. I'm afraid of the World Drug Association. So I'm afraid of them. But I love that that our producer or director named it in the weeds and we're talking about weeds. I love that.

00:02:10
Speaker 3: Thank you.

00:02:10
Speaker 2: On a Friday, I needed that. And the other thing, Scott, it's over half. We used to play this practice. We used to play this like go through the team I'm not one of the guys that partakes in it. It's my choice, it's not I'm not judging other people. But we used to say how many guys, how many guys you know edible or smokey. I'm like, looking around, I'm like, that number is higher than fifty percent on every team I played on, just saying.

00:02:37
Speaker 4: No, and he's not wrong, he's not wrong, depending on what team you're at. But yeah, they don't mess around. They do pop up drug test. I mean it's like the Olympics.

00:02:45
Speaker 3: That's fine.

00:02:46
Speaker 4: You see all the time these people get up, you know, they got pop for marijuana and not allowed to do Olympics after four years of training your heart out and trying to work your rear end off to be in there, and then you get pop for a little having a little marijuana in your system.

00:03:00
Speaker 3: I don't know.

00:03:02
Speaker 4: It's a tough one, but you know it's legal in mostly every state too in America.

00:03:06
Speaker 3: Like it's hard.

00:03:07
Speaker 1: Steroid test, cool, go for it. Of course, We're all for all that kind of testing, the.

00:03:11
Speaker 4: Medical like they have needed for medical uses. Yeah, so I don't I don't know much about it. Again, I don't want to dive deep into it. But yeah, you gotta you gotta understand that it is legal, but it's not legal with when it comes to these federations.

00:03:25
Speaker 1: I'm not fighting for the drug. I don't care. I'm not a weed guy. Like I know. Sometimes when I'm in the other studio I'm in like people will be like Scott High all the time, I'm like, no, my eyes the way the camera looks at it. Sorry, but I do not smoke. It's it's not my thing. But come on, if MLB still had it as a thing, it's like, all right, I understand what's going on here at least, but it's not a thing in MLB. So now you're asking all of these MLB players to switch their lifestyle for this. I'm sure many of them didn't even know about this. And again, if we're going to do the weed game in the World Baseball Classic, then we're not going to have a game. We're gonna have the Straight Edge Baseball Classic. There are not going to be many people at that. Are they allowed to drink? Can they have a beer? Where does it stop?

00:04:11
Speaker 3: Oh?

00:04:11
Speaker 1: They can? Okay? Cool, But this one's tough because Puerto Rico. I mean, I don't know you haven't been on for this part much, but dude, Puerto Rico is getting just drilled with the insurance stuff. And I'm just saying, it's a top four team in the Classic, so it's like, okay, cool, Like maybe Mexico or Venezuela can upset a team or two, but otherwise is it's just the US Japan. Let's just watch him in the title game because Puerto Rico can do some damage. Oh sorry, my bad, dr my bad, my bad, But still perto Rico. Puerto Rico is one of the top teams. They can make noise. They finished very high up in this tournament in the past, and to me, my boiling point was before this with the insurance with some of the guys. Now I'm way past it. I'm like, one guy's booted. Of course, he's a guy who could be pretty valuable in the Classic.

00:04:59
Speaker 4: Steps up in the class with his swing, and I don't know exactly where they're playing, but if they're playing one of those high elevations and he gets that ball in there, he can hit five homers in two games.

00:05:10
Speaker 3: So yeah, they're playing in Puerto Rico. Oh, they're playing in Puerto Rico.

00:05:16
Speaker 1: Yea, yeah, they get to watch any of their stars, think about their think about the dudes that are missing, Like that are the staples.

00:05:22
Speaker 3: Yeah, they mentioned it before.

00:05:23
Speaker 1: It's Lindor, It's Korea, It's it is trouble, it's you want to see the best.

00:05:31
Speaker 2: That's That's where I'm at. I'm so I'm so sad for Puerto Rico all they've been through in the last five years. The country loves baseball and they've had to rebuild after that massive hurricane, and like this is something that brings the country together, but it also shines a bright light on the country of Puerto Rico, the island that doesn't get a lot of love in this In this sense, you have Carlos Beltron going into the Hall of That's a massive day, massive day.

00:06:02
Speaker 3: You have.

00:06:04
Speaker 2: Todd and I both played in San in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in Ponce in I forget the other city in Puerto Rico, and we have to play at Roberto Clemente Stadium. Like there's a lot of history for baseball in Puerto Rico and they got to host it this year. They get to host it and like these games are gonna be on TV and for them to not have their best countrymen out there. I'm sad for it. I'm sad for how it's played out. I'm not saying it's fair or unfair. I'm just sad that the best guys don't get to play. And it's only going to continue because we had Miggey row on, Miguel Rojas on the other day, and anybody over thirty seven years old gets denied of insurance unless they change the unless they change the rules coming up. And I'd have to look at where guys are in their in their age. But if you're thirty four this year, you're not gonna be able to play in the next WBC. And it sucks because these guys are gonna get to play at home. If you've never been to winter ball, and I'm not saying this is winter ball, this is a this is a step up from winter ball, but winter ball. They just want to see their team, They want to see their countrymen play. They even love it when foreigners come to play. I never played in Puerto Rico, but I play in the dr They want to see it and it's super important.

00:07:24
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I hope they fix it next time around, and there are fixes. We've gone over it already. You can get other insurance coverage, not even just the player, the federation, the league, whatever, everybody together could do that. But it is what it is.

00:07:36
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's what he said.

00:07:38
Speaker 1: That's what he said.

00:07:40
Speaker 2: That's what he said.

00:07:41
Speaker 3: That's what he said.

00:07:45
Speaker 1: So this is part two on a series called fam Grafts as in Tommy Fam. There was an article out about Tommy Fam mentioning certain ways where pirates batters had it a little rougher than others, and a lot of his points were pretty interesting and I personally thought some of them were valid. Now there's more. But wait, Todd Father, there's more. Tommy gets into it online and I love when he's candid, So let's show you what we were talking about here. He replied that in addition to all of the points that he brought up last time, and there's a video you can look up on foul Territory to get it. But just to give you an example, he talked about how they're all in all these close games, the closers come in and shut them down, and they did have more of those late and close situations against closers versus the mop up man. All that, right, but he goes on Twitter and he says that the Pirates had a broken humidor that's not getting talked about. And then Warmonger on Twitter said I hadn't heard that, and he goes all season and Tommy said, we know, and yes, Pittsburgh had a broken humidor that affected hitters negatively. I was told they bought a new one, so should be better next year as in this season. This was I think in reply to Warmonger posting about teams hurt by the best fielding against them in twenty twenty five, and the team that was most hurt on that front was Pittsburgh. So there it is. Fielding run value really really nice number. They're thirty one against them, and I encourage you to read the article in The Athletic to learn more about it. But the part that the article didn't get to was what Tommy threw out here after it was posted. It was actually well after it was posted in the discussion has continued Tommy's acted there. So what do you think about the broken humidor conspiracy theory?

00:09:40
Speaker 4: The first first time I've ever heard anything about it. Listen, I Tommy fan is an intricate person. I think you take what he says, and you don't take it lightly. For one at least, that's what I do. I mean from knowing him from playing against them. He's a serious dude, but he'll also be funny in his own way. This seems to be ideal, I mean, seems to be possible. I mean, look at that field running rally. I mean, that's it's up there on them.

00:10:06
Speaker 1: So I do you believe the conspiracy theory about the humidor? And if that's true? The big question I know that Kratz is going to bring up is, yeah, it broken all season where most of the season, I don't didn't fix it. That's is that the pirate way?

00:10:21
Speaker 3: Like?

00:10:21
Speaker 4: Is that usually what happens. I wasn't long enough to see a lot of stuff there. But if a ball is not going to travel for me, I'm not gonna be out. I want I want that damn o humidor, you know. And so if I'm a hitter, I'm like, wow, what the heck? I mean, thirteen feet is a good distance you go from hitting a homer at you know, three twenty five and then you hit it at three thirteen, three twelve. You know, I don't know, I think baseball is the same game at the end of the day. But it is what it is. It's a dry atmosphere in Pittsburgh anyway, So I don't they need all the help they can get over there?

00:10:56
Speaker 1: Krats, Can you explain this?

00:10:58
Speaker 2: The humid door used to just be in places like Colorado, places like Arizona. The fact that Major League Baseball mandated that every team get a humidor, I think they're still trying to figure it out. They're tweaking it so that each park plays similar. That's the reason that every team got human doors at every team has the same quote Baseball's And if the fact that the humid door was broken, I don't necessarily blame the Pirates. You can see I'm a pirate fan. I had my Pirate jersey there and everything. It's super neat of me. Look at me, pirate fan, pirate fan, pirate fan. But I don't think it's the Pirates being cheap because the humid door. From what I was told yesterday, I think that's when I first saw the article. Major League Baseball pays for these humid doors. So is major League Baseball coming in and checking the humid door every time? And if they are, then why did they not replace it if they aren't our teams manipulating their humidor a little bit. And like this whole fielding runs value, I've never seen this, Like fielding runs against I've never seen it because everybody plays the same teams. It's not like the Pirates were the most unlucky because other teams were making great plays against them. But the Reds were also there. So who do they both play? Can you show that list again, please, Jair, so I can see the list because I know the Reds were second Pirates in the Reds both play the Brewers and the Cubs, who are really good defensively. And then you go down the list there the Phillies were in the playoffs, the Padres are in the playoffs, the Red Sox were in the playoffs. You know that's top ten, so it's not necessarily winning or losing. But I think it's part of a case that Tommy's Tommy's looking for a job, and anything that's dinged his numbers from being just a little bit below or quite a bit below his career numbers. He has a valid excuse. And the dude's smart. He is very well educated on what goes on in these games, and you know he should have a job by this time, agreed.

00:13:15
Speaker 4: And I didn't even know about the humidor thing until we brought this up today.

00:13:19
Speaker 3: You didn't know about it at all at all.

00:13:20
Speaker 1: I had no You never knew that there was a human or like, even back when it first became a thing in Colorado.

00:13:27
Speaker 3: And then I just went way over my head.

00:13:29
Speaker 4: I had no clue that you know, the balls are being I thought it was just for Ceagars.

00:13:35
Speaker 1: You played with rats, and he didn't tell you who Kratz. You didn't tell him about the humidor.

00:13:42
Speaker 2: I told him so, I told him, but he wasn't listening. He doesn't listen to me, Todd.

00:13:47
Speaker 3: I was looking for that sizzler in Puerto Rico that we win.

00:13:53
Speaker 1: All right, Well, this is interesting, So I like Tommy just adding the yeah, I'm conspiracy theory. It's probably true. I don't think he would just make that up totally.

00:14:04
Speaker 3: He never does. He's very very.

00:14:07
Speaker 2: Tommy's not gonna Tommy's not gonna make something look like he's He's very much black and white. Tommy is black and white when he plays, when he's on your team, when he plays against you, when you're not even playing against him. Like I saw him in Pittsburgh in April this year and he introduced me to his mom and he's like my mom biggest fan. But she's also the toughest on me. There's no like, oh, it's so great to be here. And she looks at me and she goes, you're right, somebody needs.

00:14:36
Speaker 3: To be tough on him.

00:14:36
Speaker 2: And I'm like, whoa, this is coming in Like, it's just I don't think he's making this up. He's not gonna make this up. He's very directed. You'll say he didn't have a good season, or he said he has a great season.

00:15:00
Speaker 3: You like the opens. Who's the guy with that's Michael Stop Stop, Wow.

00:15:06
Speaker 1: We might have to do a segment on Michael right now.

00:15:09
Speaker 3: Michael, Michael Beer behind.

00:15:11
Speaker 4: The Oh my god, you gave him some love. Go for you, Mike God the show. It took me by stormy.

00:15:20
Speaker 3: It was different.

00:15:22
Speaker 1: Well, let's get to the padres. Uh. There was a story two days ago about how the family court battle with the late Peter Sidler's widow and then the brothers and all that kind of got settled to an extent so that they can keep rolling. Appears to be over. But here's the next layer that's important, more relevant. The Padres are for sale and they're looking and one of the big names that was brought up is the owner of the Warriors, Joe lacam who's on the team. Since you know, the most valuable NBA franchise, it's a layup question. The layup question.

00:16:09
Speaker 3: No, I just said it. Oh didn't they?

00:16:11
Speaker 1: At least this article said the Warriors. Is that wrong?

00:16:14
Speaker 3: I don't.

00:16:15
Speaker 2: I always think, yeah, I think that's the most valuable.

00:16:19
Speaker 3: I'm not the most valuable franchise in the league after winning four NBA titles.

00:16:25
Speaker 1: At least, you know, And these estimates, it all depends on what you sell for, right, But the estimates here is this Forbes usually eleven Bill Warriors, ten Bill Lakers. Knicks are right behind around that number as well. But the point is he built that franchise into a powerhouse. And sure you got some talent around it, there's no doubt, But it takes more than that. There are teams with talent that can't figure it out. Our culture, yeah, our sports had Trout and Otani on the same team.

00:16:53
Speaker 3: How'd that go?

00:16:54
Speaker 1: So anyway, initial bids are expected near the end of this month, and the Athletic is reporting that the Padres are seeking about three billion dollars. Three billion dollars record sale in baseball is two point four to two bill. That's when Steve Cohen bought the Mets in twenty twenty. So even if they fall well short of the three bill, there's a big gap between two four to two and three, So it looks like they'll get a number that is a record in the sport. Forbes estimates the team's worth right now at one point nine to five bill. They're asking for a little more, and I think they're going to get a little more.

00:17:31
Speaker 3: Where does all that money go to?

00:17:32
Speaker 1: That goes to the owner's pockets? Oh, you're saying, like who in the family. No, it's split around. He left it to a bunch of them. That's what the fight was over. So it gets funny.

00:17:42
Speaker 3: You just want to give me, you want to give me one? In a little bit, I'll take five. You're not in. You're not in?

00:17:47
Speaker 1: I got that word. You know it's funny.

00:17:50
Speaker 3: I'll take point five.

00:17:51
Speaker 1: They have this AI text thing that automatically already sent me Todd's not in, sugar.

00:17:56
Speaker 4: Yeah, man, I can make I can make my own New Jersey major League team.

00:18:02
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, yeah, well that's actually part of the story too. See Todd and me are doing a bit here. People are worried that the team's gonna move again. And because remember it's part of this legal battle at one point that that was thrown out there by a think her named Shiel, the widow of Peter Sidler. That's not happening. Okay, I'm not going to act like I know everything, but that sounds like legal bs in. This article from Dennis Lynn and The Athletic helps to confirm that even if someone like Joe Laika buys the team, despite his ties to the Bay Area, he's not moving the team. The team would be in San Diego. The Padres are a powerhouse business wise, so they're staying where they're staying.

00:18:43
Speaker 2: The he did move a team already. He moved his team, the Warrior. Yeah, they left Oakland, right.

00:18:54
Speaker 1: I think this is a different situation. Yes, I don't think what Padres to San Francisco by the way he has taken. They have a team, they're called the Giants. What fans want to know, long way of getting to this, What fans want to know is how does this affect me? And for me Kratz, it always depends on who the team gets sold to. But if it ends up with a guy like Joe Leko, who has deep pockets, I think this would be a plus for Padres fans. They have had a really fun run. They haven't won a World Series, but I think it's a fun run for the Padres. They have become very relevant. I felt like they were much less relevant for a long time. Peter Siler pumped money into this team and made it an entertaining ballpark experience in a variety of ways. That includes getting superstars, but it's not the only thing. He did a really really nice job building this team up, and then once he's gone, that's when you usually have the issues someone else taking over that might not want it. It looks like this family has recognized that their best to sell it and let someone else have it be their baby. So if it ends up with a guy like the Warriors runner, I don't know a ton about him, but I'd be pretty pumped if I'm a Padres fan, because in the past year or so, they've had to pump the breaks a little bit on the way that they were spending.

00:20:04
Speaker 3: Yeah, one hundred percent. They've had to.

00:20:05
Speaker 2: I mean, when you hear the rumors where there's smoke, there's fire, where that is, you don't know. But with Aj Pereler, he's never afraid of trying to win. I was there in sixteen in spring training, and you know, they had to kind of take a step back. They you know, they did the whole Kimbrel out of their trade, but they still had some other pieces with Kemp and Upton, you know, so there's been transition. But ever since then, it has been like, hey, we're here to win, and a new ownership's gonna have to navigate a difficult time. They're gonna have to navigate a difficult time. But I think the the cachet, the street cred that they've developed in San Diego now the only professional sports team, major professional sports team down there is is huge, and I think this next ownership is going to have to navigate a thirty eight thirty nine year old Manny Machado, a thirty eight to thirty nine year old Xander Bogart, a post ped Fernando Tatis. How's he gonna age? You know, they're gonna have to navigate that and I think an ownership that has had success in the NBA, it's just about building a culture. It's about building a and continuing to build that culture. Can you win every year? No, If you have the drive to win every year, you're just gonna give the fans a much better fan experience, which right now, I'm gonna say the Padres fan experience, the actual game day experience, is the best in the game.

00:21:44
Speaker 1: I'm not going to argue that. I'm not going to agree, but I'm not gonna argue they're definitely in the top. They're up there.

00:21:49
Speaker 3: Yeah.

00:21:50
Speaker 1: Yeah, it is a fun experience, top five easy. I agree with you with this Lakeup guy too. Again, I don't know a ton about him.

00:21:57
Speaker 5: I love this lake Up guy, Like, just like this billionaire.

00:22:02
Speaker 1: He's tried to buy teams. He's trying to buy the A's, the Angels and the Dodgers, you know what I've been So does the league not want him? Is he going to be falling out too much?

00:22:14
Speaker 3: I don't know the stuff. I don't I've been watching Shark Tank lately. Yeah, and I don't know why. I just got off the standard.

00:22:22
Speaker 4: But my wife and I have been like on this kick and the money and these money the people are just throwing out there.

00:22:27
Speaker 3: Yeah, they're gonna get over one point nine to five.

00:22:30
Speaker 4: I don't care if it's the Padres or you know, the Hack and sack Raiders. I don't care who it is. But listen, Brewsters millions, it's Brewsters billions.

00:22:41
Speaker 1: Yeah, there you go. I just like, how I'm ready for something. I've been watching shock Man.

00:22:48
Speaker 4: They're talking about guy asked for a million dollars the other day for two point five percent equity in the business.

00:22:54
Speaker 3: They're like, what are you doing here?

00:22:55
Speaker 1: Bro?

00:22:57
Speaker 4: I can go on about it. It's a fun show. I would love to be on that. Pitch something Todd.

00:23:03
Speaker 2: Do you do you go after the show's over, do you go and type in the name of the company to see how they did?

00:23:11
Speaker 3: Yeah?

00:23:11
Speaker 4: I tried. Yeah, we've done it before. We we were gonna order something. We're gonna order something, and then they weren't. There was no company three years ago.

00:23:20
Speaker 3: It's good.

00:23:21
Speaker 1: It's good when you watch an old one. I've done that. Yeah, that's what you're talking about, right, Krats. When you watch an old one and they're hyping it up like it is the next big thing in life and it's like a seven year old episode and you go and it goes er four or four.

00:23:35
Speaker 3: Site doesn't so it doesn't.

00:23:36
Speaker 1: Exit, and that the first thing that pops up on Google is how this company went into nothing after Shark Tank.

00:23:44
Speaker 5: It's not blaming shark Tank. They're just saying this guy, this guy on Shark Tank. But hey, I hope he wins it if that's what he wants. But I feel like it's gonna be a lot more than one point nine five it is.

00:23:57
Speaker 1: Yeah, they want three, so there's a big gap.

00:23:59
Speaker 3: Between still negotiating.

00:24:00
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's gonna finish as the top sail ever, it'll top going on in basic money, they don't. They don't. They're only going to get like two and a half billion dollars.

00:24:15
Speaker 3: There's a lot of business good difference.

00:24:17
Speaker 1: That's why we have a show.

00:24:19
Speaker 2: Difference between profit and revenue.

00:24:22
Speaker 1: Okay, Scott, I can't wait to learn all about that.

00:24:25
Speaker 3: Business one one.

00:24:26
Speaker 1: Yeah, we should get a guest on to teach me about that.

00:24:28
Speaker 3: All right.

00:24:29
Speaker 1: While we're on business one oh one, the Saint Louis Cardinals are moving off of the Regional Sports Networks FanDuel Sports Networks, which is run by a company Main Street full disclosure. We used to be on that channel too, but that channel is in trouble right now.

00:24:46
Speaker 3: Yeah.

00:24:47
Speaker 1: So there was a report out there that the Cardinals were going to make like forty million less this year in TV money. Katie wou to the rescue part of Dodgers territory but also former Cardinals reporter for the f Athletic, and she put out clarifying figures yesterday. She said Cardinals TV revenue expected to see roughly forty mil under the MLB model, opposed to the roughly sixty they expected last year. Unlike step fees with Vandal Sports Network, MLB broadcast revenue is based on subscriptions and ad sales. To me, I don't want to say it's like a sigh of relief, but forty versus twenty twenty, I'm like, okay, I mean, much more doable. Plus they've gutted a lot of their roster in a rebuild, so they're not in trouble by any means in any way. Right, They've got money to spend if they want it. They're going through a rebuild situation. I think forty looks like a big number. Twenty You're like, okay, that was more of what I would have expected them to go down, from a money guarantee to more of a percentage model. Here with MLB, which you know is I will say, getting a ton of teams pretty last minute.

00:25:56
Speaker 2: Yet again, yeah, hopefully they don't they don't screw that up. But here's here's one for you. They're gonna get their money based on subscriptions, just like you get your money based on ticket sales. Why do people come to games because you're putting a good product on the field. So here's a mind blower. You want more from your TV revenue. Put a good team out there. Don't got your whole team? And I know the Cardinals have to gut their team because that's the route that they're going. I like Heim Bloom all that stuff, But gee, if everybody goes to a subscription, who do I want to buy a subscription to?

00:26:33
Speaker 1: Oh?

00:26:33
Speaker 2: The Cardinals? Yeah they have stuff. Lars newtbar and Alec Burlson, Uh, maybe I'll wait.

00:26:41
Speaker 3: Till next year. Mason win Win and Mason win.

00:26:46
Speaker 2: And Jordan Walker like to me like I almost kind of like it. Like it's like do you want to work hourly or do you want to work based on the business that you bring in, because if you if you hustle, if you're a baller, and you ball out the business you bring in, you're always in sales, you're always gonna make more than you are hourly. Or you just want to kind of glaze along and just hope people buy subscriptions to watch your team play on TV. No, Cardinals fans, they're loyal and they are die hard. They love their team. But if you don't put an effort out there, blue collar people ain't gonna come out. Just not gonna happen.

00:27:25
Speaker 1: I think a lot of Cardinals fans are okay with like a one year reset that's going on right now where they're kind of carding. No you think they should have pushed chips in this year.

00:27:36
Speaker 2: No, no, no, no. I'm just saying that's the Cardinals have never had to do that.

00:27:40
Speaker 3: I know years.

00:27:41
Speaker 2: I mean, it's like a twenty year reign of the Cardinals. They've never had to do that. So I don't know if they're okay with it, like they just they've they've had a winning team for so long that for me to say the Cardinals fans are okay with it, I'd have a hard time believing it. But hey, I hope Cardinals fans say, y'all tell me we're totally fine with it.

00:28:03
Speaker 1: I'm just going off, you know, the little crowd online that's like.

00:28:09
Speaker 3: Hey, we need to reset, Okay, reset.

00:28:13
Speaker 1: I don't love it.

00:28:14
Speaker 3: A long year.

00:28:15
Speaker 1: Yeah, it is going to be a long year. Hey, let's get to a trade. It was yesterday. We're not breaking anything. Crazy Blaze Alexander of the Diamondbacks now of the Baltimore Orioles, perhaps a top ten team in todd Father's mind. To bring this show full circle, two minor leaguers heading back, including one who apparently is a stuff plus machine Wellington Arasina, but it's a utility infielder for Baltimore. Gives them a little uh, a little depth. Sorry. The stuff plus monster is Cage Stroud. By the way, he was a top bullpen candidate for the Orioles. So that one actually made me a little curious. You know something that we don't because from Baltimore and I want to compete again this year. You gotta have a money bullpen to me, Kratz, I know we talk a lot about their starting pitching, and I'm sure they're going to sign someone, it might not be the someone that fans were dreaming of. There could be some concern with the bullpen too. I think everybody's looking at a team right now like this offense should bang, This should be a top five offense in the sport, but the pitching is a question mark. So we'll see what the bullpen looks like for them.

00:29:30
Speaker 2: I like that it's the Orioles and Diamondbacks my two favorite teams to take the over this year because both teams have massive questions in the bullpen. I mean, you're talking about an Orioles team that had, you know, Danny Kooloom, who's been an incredible lefty. They had the Mountain Felix Baptista, they had your near Cano like and now they have Hellsley as their closer, who you know, you hope he didn't take what he brought from the Mets over to the Orioles. You hope he he's the Cardinals closer, and I think he will be because the closer role is what got taken away from him when he went to the Mets, and I just I think he'll slide in there fine, but it's really gonna have to be a it's gonna have to be all hands on deck for that bullpen. But I love this for Blaize Alexander. I think this was one of the reasons that they were okay originally getting rid of kateel Marte, not because he was going to be the starter, but because they were still gonna be able to have Blaze bouncing around and they were gonna hopefully bring in Jordan Lawler. And anytime a guy is kind of like getting his feet wet in the league, I think he almost had like a two war last year as a utility guy. He was going to play a major role. So they didn't get rid of kateel Marte. They still have Jordan Lawler, and they got Nolan Eronado, and it's like Heraldo Perdomo is gonna play every day. So I love this for him and his career. How he fits into Baltimore, that'll be Craig Alberna and those boys over there fitting him into the rotation. But anytime you get a utility guy that can play short, can play third, can play second, like I hope, it's a better situation for him. But they also have dudes over there that want to play every single day with Westburg and Gunner Henderson and Jackson Holliday. It's tough to be a utility guy when the whole infield is young and nobody replacing Pete Alonzo at first base. That man's playing one hundred and sixty three if.

00:31:28
Speaker 1: You let him, no, that's right, but he'll be a super utility bounce all around. And even though it's crowded in Baltimore, maybe a little bit more of an opening when you look at Arizona, it's like those dudes are going to play every day again, health permitting, but they've got an everyday set over there as well, so well trade, we'll see what it looks like. And good call. He it was almost a two win player on Baseball Reference war, so I'm sure Baltimore was interested in that, intrigued by that. In good Friarzona, you get a bullpen arm. Congratulations to one of my favorite broadcasters, Buck Martinez announces his retirement, and man, he's called a ton of games. He is a great dude, he is so dialed in. He's a baseball lifer. So congratulations to him.

00:32:33
Speaker 3: Said that now, so kind of late in the year, might have been what do you mean?

00:32:37
Speaker 4: I felt like like after the year ended, go out and you know, maybe I don't know. All good either way. Congratulations to Buck. Great guy, great great person. We talk about Jersey all the time and his roots and everything, and he just he has an understanding of the game which most broadcasters, well some broadcasters don't, but he has this inkling have been there before I had done it, and old school kind of fashion, and he's not afraid to tell it how it is. So you walk off into the sunshine and enjoy a little bit of beach time wherever you're going.