Ken Rosenthal joins FT to dissect 3-team trade including Mariners landing Brendan Donovan + Skubal arb preview, White Sox add bidet

00:00:02
Speaker 1: We're gonna have a fun one today. Tons of news flowing, and I want to remind everyone that you can also get some news a couple times a week from the brand new GM territory. I know we introed it yesterday with Jim Bowden and his son Trey. I was listening to it this morning. It's great and the logo is epic with Maryfield pointed out how the behind the scenes team coming up with the quarter zip inside the M is a work of art and I feel like you'd appreciate.

00:00:34
Speaker 2: That a j duh, duh.

00:00:39
Speaker 3: I mean standard issue GM material quarter zip on every team and every color, every color, every shape, size, but not Jim was ironic about it. Jim's not a GM. Check out the picture of Jim that we always post when he's on there. He's standing on the cage in a quarter zip.

00:01:00
Speaker 4: Before quarters zips were cool. Now kids go to like Ross or TJ Max just to find two quarter zips that match each other, to clown people that wear quarter zips.

00:01:13
Speaker 1: Wow.

00:01:13
Speaker 2: Quarter zips are the best.

00:01:15
Speaker 3: They're the sun dress for men because you can wear them if you need a collared shirt. You can wear them if you're nice, right, if you like, if you go to a place that requires a collar shirt, you put a quarter zip on it has a collar.

00:01:27
Speaker 2: You can fold them like this is a collared shirt.

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Speaker 3: But then if you want to go work out, you also have the quarter zip and you have like a crappy one. You can sweat it in a little bit. And then if you want to go somewhere really nice, you throw the quarter zip over your nice.

00:01:39
Speaker 2: Button up shirt. It kind of goes with everything in every situation.

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Speaker 3: You wear them with shorts, you can wear them with pants, wear them when it's cold, wear them when it's hot.

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Speaker 4: It's you're an outfitman. You're an outfitman. I have to do something where I was told to dress casual for a presentation of something this weekend. Can I wear my quarter zip?

00:02:00
Speaker 3: Yes, yes, that's that's business casual. But it takes it up another lotch over, just like jeans and like a golf shirt, because what's a long sleeve?

00:02:13
Speaker 4: What about Hey dudes? Can I wear hay dudes or do I need to wear like some nice I.

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Speaker 2: Don't even know what dudes are. I don't even know what hay dudes are.

00:02:21
Speaker 1: Sounds like a future sponsor.

00:02:23
Speaker 2: Alert sounds like sounds like what I wipe my butt with.

00:02:26
Speaker 1: Oh well, that's coming up at the end of the show, the ultimate tease. But let's let's charge right now because we have a ton to get to.

00:02:33
Speaker 4: Charge.

00:02:36
Speaker 1: They had been pursuing him since November, and in early February, the Seattle Mariners get their guy, Brendan Donovan. Come on down, little third base, maybe lead off, left handed hitter on base machine aj. I think this is a massive move for the Mariners. That was a must for them to feel satisfied this offseason.

00:02:56
Speaker 3: You, yeah, this is he fits perfect in their line if he's left handed, right, he plays second base, he gets on base for him.

00:03:04
Speaker 2: They lost Polanka, they lost Suarez. This is a.

00:03:07
Speaker 3: Great fit, and they gave up, you know, a couple of their prospects. So what Brandon Donovan's a proven guy, He's been to the All Star Game. You know he's gonna hit you know what he's gonna give you. So I love this move for Seattle. And why does Tampa Bay always get involved in three team trains? Like Tampa Bay is always the team you call and they're like, hey, will you just throw in somebody so we'll give you a random prospect. Tampa's is like, sure, we got nothing else happening. We haven't done something for a while. Well, yeah, we'll be the third team in a trade.

00:03:35
Speaker 1: Yep, you need a pick in a prospect, We've got one for you. Oh you've got Ben Williamson who we can bounce all around the diamond. Yes, please, there's the full trade. We're gonna learn about the prospect package soon from JJ Cooper and Ken Rosenthal's going to break down some sides of this trade as well. But yes, Ben Williamson did play this past season at third for the Mariners. Looks like he could be a really good defender. The Rays have already talked about playing him at third. Short second tune action, the bat might be a little bit light to be a full time third baseman. He also just got to the league, so let's give him a time to breathe. But wait back to the Mariners for a moment. Kratz and and AJ Just for clarification, I think Donovan's going to play mostly third. I know he can bounce around, but if Cole Young plays well, then Donovan can play third for them. Second base is probably his most natural spot, but he's got the ability to swing around.

00:04:24
Speaker 2: He's play mostly second base in his career though.

00:04:27
Speaker 1: Yeah, no, that's true. But so let's just I'll paint one of the lineups for you from Fangrafts. Against right he's Donovan leading off third. Then you've got Cal Julio Naylor, Randy Rosarina, dom can Zone, who's the guy against right handed pitchers and usually sits against lefties. JP Crawford, Victor Roeblaze, Cole Young. Nice balance. What do you think, Kratz?

00:04:53
Speaker 4: Did you say, Julio, I'm not looking at the image you're saying, Yeah, yeah, okay.

00:04:57
Speaker 2: I was. I Like.

00:05:01
Speaker 4: Before Donovan, I would agree they would have been one short with Donovan to me, whether it's like Aj said, he plays second, which is where he's played the most, or he plays third. They have Colt Emerson and they have Cole Young. Seems like they're gonna give Cole Young that opportunity first. But this is when I have problems with teams who are like, Yep, this is the guy he's gonna go play. He's gonna be the future of our team at third base. It's so tough for prospects to hit right away when they come up. This Brandon Donovan trade allows them to say, Okay, you're playing third because today we see Cole Young being being here and he's better for our team at second base. Cole Young makes the team, it doesn't work out well. Colt Emerson, who has only crushed it in the minor leagues, continues to crush in the bushes. Maybe there's a shift if Cole Young is there. It's such a great it's such a great problem to have, and I think the Mariners have done an incredible job of giving themselves more depth than they ever have and they are not sitting on their hands with this team that was on the precipice of making the World Series last year.

00:06:15
Speaker 1: What about the rest of the package. So we'll talk about the Cardinals racking up picks. I mean, they have a ton of picks coming up in the twenty twenty six draft, six of the top eighty six. I have to they acquired two picks. Has been able to unload aj Suddi grad.

00:06:34
Speaker 3: But he's got prospects too, don't forget in this trade. Yes he got he got what three prospects in this dude? Since what's his name?

00:06:42
Speaker 1: Since I don't know, since I'm actually going to help you out with that, can we can we throw to JJ Cooper to help learn about what the return package is and then we can hear how he pronounces it.

00:06:52
Speaker 5: So we had a three team deal, not surprisingly involved Seattle and Tampa Bay, two of the teams that are most willing to trade. But we're just going to look at the prospects on this portion here. So what did the Cardinals get get back? Prospect wise? I would say that they got a number of kind of intriguing pieces, all of whom kind of aren't perfect prospects, but all have kind of characteristics that you could be really interested in. The top prospect that came back is clearly Durandelo Cinca. You could call him the switch pitcher. Although predominantly a right handed pitcher, he does throw left handed as well. He can throw lefty in games, but predominantly a right hander who if he's going to start, is going to be a right handed starter who always has the ability to flip over and throw a lefty slider in a tough matchup at times. But he's an intriguing starting pitching prospect who has it's not that far away, but at the same time also hasn't kind of put everything together yet. He's not a top hundred prospect for US, but he's not that far off the top hundred. He's kind of on that cusp of the top hundred. He's the primary prospect. I would say that they got back, but you also need to keep an eye on Ty Pete, who also came back from the Mariners. We had Cincho ranked as number seven on our Mariners Top thirty, and we had Pete ranked tenth on our.

00:08:09
Speaker 2: Marin's Top thirty.

00:08:10
Speaker 5: Pete has a lot of athleticism, a lot of tools. Showed some power last year, but there's also a lot of swing and miss. Is an outfielder who, if everything clicks, could really be an everyday regular. But at the same time, with the strikeout Rady has, there's no sure bet that he's going to that everything's going to click, or that he could even be a big leaguer. He's going to have to make some improvements. And then from the Rays comes over Colton Ledbetter, who is kind I would say, kind of the antithesis in some ways of Pete. If Pete is really flashy, tools led Better's more of kind of a whole lot of solid tools and skills. There's not a whole lot of power here, although he hits the ball harder than his home run numbers will kind of give you evidence of He's played center and right field. The Rays kind of viewed him as a right fielder. Maybe the Mariners see if he can play center, maybe they can improve his defense because he has athleticism. He's also a pretty successful base stealer. Was not on the Rays top thirty, but that race top thirty is very deep, and you don't want to forget about. Maybe one of the key things here that is definitely we're paying attention to is the Also the two compensatory picks their competitive pounds PETE B picks, which means they go after the second round sixty eighth and seventy second picks. But those are not just two picks. That's going to be another two point five million or so in bonus pool allotment that will allow the Cardinals to spend more than almost anybody in the draft in twenty twenty six. So that's the prospect return in the three team Cardinals Mariners raise trade.

00:09:41
Speaker 1: I I'm bloom getting the job done. AJ. He did everything you needed to do in terms of the rebuild so far and offloading all of these veteran players to get nice return packages.

00:09:51
Speaker 3: Yeah, was it Senja Sja Durangeloa Sanja. So two things about him. One, I just before this trade, the mariner said he was only going to pitch right handed, so the switch pitcher thing is not the thing. And then also, I remember my son's team went and played in a tournament and his team was there and all the scouts are there to see him throw with both arms, and the coaches like, yeah, he's not going to pitch in this tournament, and the scouts were like, well, we only came to see him. The scout's like, we don't care, he's not pitching, and so the scout's all left. It was kind of funny, but because they wanted to see a guy that get throw in ninety with both hands, and now he's only a right handed pitcher. But this is kind of what the Cardinals need to do. It restocks their farm system, They get rid of one of their better assets, they get players. Hein Bloom did this in Boston too. Let's not forget when he had to trade Mookie Betts and redo that whole thing. Hein Bloom came from the race. He knows how to develop organizations. He knows how to develop talent. He knows how to build talent inside an organization. So for the Cardinals, yes, it's going to suck for a few years. This is a win for the Mariners, absolutely, this is a win for right now because they're trying to win right now, keep up with the Blue Jays, Yankees, Red Sox and the rest of the teams in the American League. For the Rays, the Rays never seemed to miss on a trade, so yeah, it's a win for all.

00:11:04
Speaker 2: This is one of those trades. It seems like a help all three teams.

00:11:07
Speaker 1: This was a good staredown too. Let's bring in FT senior insider Ken Rosenthal. So it appeared as if Ken the Giants signing Luisa Rise might have helped to push this one across the finish line that began in November. What else can you tell us.

00:11:22
Speaker 6: Actually, Scott, that's not my understanding as far as the Arise piece is concerned. These teams were down the line when that happened. The Giants didn't have a piece like Jerangelo Sinta, and that was the difference in the two teams and what they were offering. There were other teams involved as well. The Red Sox were involved, the Royals were involved at various points. The Dodgers, as always, were lurking. But in the end, the Cardinals needed the third team, Tampa Bay, to get exactly what they wanted because with Ben Williamson going to Tampa Bay, that enabled Tampa Bay to send the Cardinals an additional pick and an additional player, and that is what ultimately led to this deal coming to fruition.

00:12:06
Speaker 1: All right, so what do you think of the impact for the Mariners and how badly they needed to pull this off? Ken Also, if you want to mix in some parts from your story this morning on a very unique day for the Seattle front office.

00:12:19
Speaker 6: Well, I love it for the Mariners, and I'm a Brendan Donovan fan. It seems to me that virtually everyone is a Brendan Donovan fan. And he'll go at the top of their order, most likely will start the season at third base. They were talking about bringing their top prospect, Colt Emerson to the big leagues playing him at third, but with Donovan, you don't have to do that now he can play other positions as well, and if Cole Young struggles at second base, or if they need someone to fill in in the outfield, Brendan Donovan can do that. And offensively, this is really the key for the Mariners top of the order, in front of Raleigh and Julio and a ros Arena and that gang, and then at the bottom of the order with j Crawford and Cole Young being contact guys, that gives them a little bit of a different look. With Brendan Donovan also being someone who puts the ball in play, it's a much more intriguing looking offense than it has been. And for that reason, and I forgot to mention Naylor. Of course, this is a very intriguing trade for the Mariners, and they gave up a good amount. Sandra is, by some estimations, a top one hundred prospect. The outfielder Typete is a guy who is kind of a flyer, a chance you take high upside if it happens. And then the pick as well. But with Williamson, he was expendable once they got Donovan, so for then this was a move he had that they had to make. Now, as for the story I wrote today, I learned last night that the Mariners kind of learned that they had an agreement, not kind of they learned they had an agreement when they were at the Washington State Capitol in Olympia, Washington yesterday. The States Senate there was adopting a proclamation basically hailing the Mariners and cal Rally for his historic season, for the Mariners, for their great year. And at that moment when they were reading the proclamation, Justin Hollander, the Mariners GM got a text. It was part of a group text with hein Bloom, the Cardinals president baseball Operations, and hein Bloom said, Hollander start the medicals were good to go, meaning they had an agreement and that they had to next finalize the medicals and review the medicals. That this takes place with every trade. And that is how on a day that the people were at the state House they came to get Brendan Donovan.

00:14:40
Speaker 4: I want to ask about the person who just brought up hein Bloom. Obviously everybody says hein Bloom traded mooky Bets. Okay, ownership made hein Bloom get rid of Mooky Bets. I felt like that transition year where him was kind of helping in the minor leagues, helping the structure the infrastructure was going to be Moe's opportunity to to mozae Lock the previous GM to get rid of these guys, and now him had to come in. Is him's legacy going to be very similar in Saint Louis as it is in Boston. Obviously we don't know the future. But is it fair to heinm Bloom to make him make these moves?

00:15:19
Speaker 6: He knew what he was getting into, and last year with moze Lock, in his final year, Mozelac was not willing and maybe ownership was not willing to go to these lengths to start the rebuilding process.

00:15:32
Speaker 2: They were kind of.

00:15:33
Speaker 6: Waiting for hein Bloom to be that guy. Now, when you embark upon something like this, and remember they've traded Sonny Gray and Wilson Contreras and of course now as well Brendan Donovan, you know that it's going to be painful. Cardinals fans know it's going to be painful, and Cardinals fans, the knowledgeable ones understand that this was probably overdue. So I don't know that heim Bloom is being looked at in a negative way in Saint Louis. The Boston situation was entirely different, Eric, and you alluded to it. Ownership basically forced that deal by not signing bets Heim.

00:16:11
Speaker 2: Bloom didn't make a great deal.

00:16:12
Speaker 6: I don't know that it was going to be easy for him to make a great deal with one year of Mooky left at a big salary number, so and with the Dodgers also taking on David Price and the rest of his money.

00:16:24
Speaker 1: So that was one job.

00:16:26
Speaker 6: This is another job and another task entirely. And I would say that we don't know exactly how this is going to turn out. But the direction he has taken with this team, that is the proper direction. This is what they need to do at this moment in time in their evolution as an organization. And the moves that he has made so far have been pointing toward a better future. Whether it transpires or not, whether he picked the right guys, that remains to be seen. But I will go back to one trade he made in Boston. I'll go back to a couple things. Actually, the trade of Christian Vasquez to the Astros that brought them back will your or bray you pretty good trade. It was one that I actually criticized at the time. A lot of people did thought it was unnecessary. And then you look at some of the young players that they have in the big leagues right now. These were guys drafted under heinm Bloom, developed under heinm Bloom. So his legacy in Boston is not simply the Mookie Bets trade. It's a lot of what is going on there in a positive way.

00:17:29
Speaker 1: Right now.

00:17:31
Speaker 3: Ken Heim Bloom used to work for the Rays. How did the Rays always end up in a three team trade and they're always like, hey, we'll just take the last player something like that. How do they always end up in these trades? Because it always seems like if there's a three team trade, somehow the Rays are involved getting a player, giving up a draft pick, whatever it is. How do they do this every time?

00:17:50
Speaker 6: Aj, You're absolutely right. They are willing on these kinds of deals and they are able. And John Becker from Fangrafts last night posted something on x which he said, I believe six of the last seven to three team trades have involved the Rays, and clearly they are in many cases a facilitator in these deals. So in this case, Seattle and Saint Louis couldn't quite match up. They talked about this starting in November Worth three months later now, and they had yet to match up. The Rays found a way, as I mentioned earlier, by taking Williamson from the Mariners and then sending additional capital to the Cardinals. That was a way to satisfy the Cardinals in a way that the Mariners were not able to do on their own.

00:18:38
Speaker 2: So I don't know.

00:18:39
Speaker 6: That in each case it's been the same kind of role in some of these trades. I'm sure they were the principal team looking for the third team. But as John Becker tweeted right there or posted, I should say they have a knack for doing this kind of thing.

00:18:54
Speaker 4: At the beginning, when you first came on, you said three of three of Scott's favor words the Red Sox were in. I guess that's four the Red Sox were in in on. So anyway, what's next for the Red Sox? I essentially they've been in on so many guys and just so they've missed out. But what's next or what are you hearing is next for them?

00:19:18
Speaker 6: They need an infielder and preferably a right handed hitter. Donovan actually was not a great fit for them in that respect. He's a left handed hitter, but the roster that they have is largely left handed, so ideally it's a right handed guy to play second base. Sombayer can play third. Whether they accomplish that or not, I'm not sure they'll be able to. It's getting late in the offseason. The options are dwindling. If you want Nico Horner from the Cubs, you better be prepared to give up an awful lot. The Cubs do not want to trade him, so I don't know exactly where this is going with them. Clearly though, they need that additional bat, that one more offensive piece. The guy who would have been perfect was katel Marte. But kateel Marte, as the Diamondbacks stand right now, is not getting traded.

00:20:11
Speaker 1: What's the one thing you say? Aj, Everyone likes money, You want money. You can sell this thing, this this arbitration case alone. I think you could sell for more than the price of one regular season game. I think it would be that popular for fans to watch how this goes down and how you make a case for Terrek School not being good at baseball. We need not be good enough to be what.

00:20:35
Speaker 4: We'd need to warm up first, like this would be like a boxing match where we need a couple like preliminary fights, so that fans kind of like, what is this? I don't even know what this is? Arbitration? Millionaires, billionaires, what's going on? And then bang six o'clock at the Polestra in Phoenix, Scott Boris versus Bob Bamfred Fred.

00:20:59
Speaker 1: We're gonna have a little warm up, a little appetizer of esak paratus. Oh no, wait, he just settled with the astro. Sorry, that one's wipe. That's actually a true story. I'll be here all day, but AJ, Yeah, this is fascinating. I know that if you just look at David Price's nineteen point seventy five million, which is the record in ARB for a pitcher, and you slap inflation on it from eleven years, it's twenty seven million dollars. That's without looking at Schooble's accualades. Yeah, there's multiple arguments. How about the argument of who's making more money right now than Schooble and how he's better than all of them and he's allowed to compare himself to free agents. Sure you want to call me biased on this one? Here actually this will state it right. AJ. For example, you and Jim Boden will have many head to head battles over how the CBA is going to go down. Right, Boden is saying like, nobody has a chance if you're a small market team. Blah blah blah ah. That right, Boden is like, if this case doesn't go to Schooble, everything makes no sense.

00:21:59
Speaker 3: That's that's my point. What did I just say to Ken? I've been saying that from the get go. Remember this is not just about Terrek Scooble. This is about the CBA and baseball going forward. So that's why this number is huge.

00:22:10
Speaker 2: This number is.

00:22:13
Speaker 3: If you're a player, If you're a player out there and you're watching this or you're listening to this, you need to be rooting.

00:22:18
Speaker 2: For Trek Schooble. If you're Paul Skeins, you need to be rooting for Trek Scouoble in this case.

00:22:24
Speaker 3: If you're any player, if you're in high school, if you're in college and you think you have a chance to get to the major leagues, you need to be rooting for Trek Scooble in this case. If you're a fan of baseball players in general, and you can say they make too much money. Trek Scooble, you need to be rooting for. I just it's one of those landmark cases in the history of the game for arbitration. Obviously, it's not free agency and some of the other things that have gone down Jackie Robinson and all those great things that have happened, but for arbitration, and if you are on the player's side at all, you need to be rooting for Trek Scooble. And again, I firmly believe Scott Boris is probably gonna argue this case himself, which he's done a lot of. I think he's argued I looked up the numbers fifty plus in his day personally, not saying like one of his other guys, but Scott himself. So I'm guarantee you And if what I know about Scott, they probably had him in a room for the last week and have fired everything in the world at Scott Boris to get him mentally prepared. He's gonna be like a UFC fighter, like a boxer, like when they come to the ring.

00:23:24
Speaker 2: He's gonna be like.

00:23:25
Speaker 3: Frothing at the mouth right perfect weigh in shape right, ready to fight. And to guarantee you, the owners have done the same thing.

00:23:32
Speaker 2: On their side.

00:23:33
Speaker 3: They've got their best whoever their best guy is, whoever that is has been in a room for a week and just everything, and they're gonna both try to get the other guy off their game, and at the end of the day, whoever's better is gonna win. But I just the arguments are all for schoobl because he doesn't even have to prove thirty two.

00:23:51
Speaker 2: He's got to prove twenty five. Okay, and if you.

00:23:54
Speaker 3: Look at all the comps, he should be making more than twenty five million.

00:23:57
Speaker 2: Because he's allowed to use free agents. He should win.

00:24:02
Speaker 3: But you know what that means, not a damn thing in this game, because there's times where you look at numbers you're like, this guy should win, and some reason he loses and you never know why.

00:24:13
Speaker 4: Twenty five twenty five to five and a dollar, right, that's half nineteen nineteen to thirty two.

00:24:21
Speaker 2: My math isn't mathing right now. It's yeah, well you got it, you got five. Yeah, that's what they need to prove.

00:24:29
Speaker 4: I've I've been calling different people this morning, like players that I thought went to actual arbitration, like AJ did just to like kind of get an idea. And one of the guys was like, hey call this GM. So I called the GM and he was like, he blew my mind on this. He was like, look, he's like, I believe that if you have a pissed off player, your organization is not going to be in a good shape. And I was like, okay, I completely agree with you. And he said, honestly exactly what AJ said. This is a Major League Baseball versus the Players Association. So why are the teams even getting involved? Why are the teams even saying, okay, we I'm not even sure who will do it, because it's not gonna be Scott Harris for the Tigers. It'll be the assistant GM, It'll be okay, trust, it'll be an MLB generally. Generally, Scott Harris.

00:25:23
Speaker 3: Will be sitting there. Scott Harris will be sitting there across from Trek's school. And you're again you're staring at When I did mine, it was Brian Saban ned Colletti. They're across about eight feet away from you. Okay, there's there's a two tables separated by about two feet in between and you're sitting there and literally I'll never forget to this day. Don't mind me, I'll have shoes on. I walked in and Ned Colletti and Brian Sabian were sitting there with their feet like this and cowboy boots on the table. When I walked in, come on just like that, I swear, and I was like, oh wow, that's awesome.

00:25:54
Speaker 4: Guys, the picture of arrogance and so. And then I went in and they don't, they don't, they don't say anything. It's the it's the owners. They have like a lawyer that does all the argument. So I don't know who it would be.

00:26:06
Speaker 3: No, what's his name, Noah Haile Scott you know the millb staffing way better whoever the territory host territory.

00:26:14
Speaker 2: Well, anyway he cares because for skiing.

00:26:16
Speaker 1: It's not no Guarden, that's no, it's not No, it wouldn't be. I mean Dan Halem is one of the top lawyers who's been there forever with Rob. But I don't know who. I think they have specific our guys Morgan it's the top guy there, but I think it's probably someone that works below them.

00:26:32
Speaker 3: They'll use their top but they'll just sit there, the GM and the player. You're told not to say anything. You just sit there like this and you just listen to them, and they're literally there are times that they just make stuff up. I mean, my case is forever ago now, but I'm just like I'm because they tell you at the time. Michael Wiener for the Players Association, my agent's sitting next to me and they're like, whatever they say, just don't react. And they were saying some outlanda ship, and I was like, trying not to turn red. Just one of the arguments against me I'll never forget was I went up. So when I went, it's not way different money. But I went for a record for first year ARB catchers. Okay, three point five million. The Giants countered at two two five, right, And I'm like, and they wouldn't go when we tried to get something done before, they wouldn't go above two five. And I go, well, I got a chance to win one point two five or lose two hundred and fifty thousand. I'm like, I'll take my shot for the three point five, right. So we go into this meeting and Michael Wiener was all about it because it would have raised the bar big time for catchers because catchers the time, we're get paid shit, and so we do our whole thing and da da da da dah. And one of the arguments was I'll never get this. They go, well, Prazinski last year had seven pass balls or whatever it was, and they go, Jason Veritek only had six, and he catches Tim Wakefield, the knuckleballer, every time he pitches. And I'm like, no, he doesn't even catch. It's Mirabelly that catches him every time. And I'm like trying that, and I just that sticks in my head, like they just make things up. But then you have to remember the arbitrators they don't know.

00:28:00
Speaker 2: They don't know.

00:28:02
Speaker 3: Who does what really, because they're not really baseball people. They're just salary arbitrators that don't really know baseball. So just things like that, and you're just like, what can they say about tick scougble? You ever hurt your first couple of years, but then since then you've won two cy youngs.

00:28:16
Speaker 2: I don't know.

00:28:17
Speaker 1: We actually have a tweet. We have a tweet that picked up some attention. I don't know. This might just be a random fan, or it might be somebody in the base pilogies in advance. I don't know, but I really respect the tweet. So I found it this morning, and if we can queue it up and show it. His name is Kyle. He put together something funny here, Kyle Bland Bland Analytics Possible arguments against Schooble and arbitration. Number one, our relievers got less playing time because of you. That's selfish. Number two, you made our draft pick worse. Number three, we're running out of space in our trophy room because of your cy Young Awards. Number four, you make fan expectations too high and actually gets me thinking, Aja, should he show up with his two Siang Award trophies he's picked up the past two years in New York City.

00:29:02
Speaker 3: That would be awesome if he showed up. He just carried one in each arm and just sat him on the table. He was like, oh, sorry, guys, little extra hardware. I wanted you guys to be I mean.

00:29:11
Speaker 2: Yeah, hell yeah. What if I was him?

00:29:13
Speaker 3: I mean, oh my gosh, I just I listen. I know this is a big deal, but I just don't know how. I don't know how he loses, and I don't obviously don't want him to lose.

00:29:26
Speaker 2: But let's go back to I don't know. I want to go back to what Ken said.

00:29:29
Speaker 3: What is it So if the Tigers win this arbitration case and they have thirteen extra million, then they're gonna go get somebody else maybe to help their team. But if they lose it, then they can't afford it. Well, you want to talk about making Schooble feel like crap even more after going in there bad mouthing him, Then you're telling him that because he wants the money, he's worth that. Then they can't make their team better. Like I guarantee if you went to Tyrek School and said we'll give you twenty five million to save seven and we can go get a better player, he probably would have said.

00:29:59
Speaker 1: Yes, I think this is hilarious. Kratz. They might use this in the case. They might say Schoogle makes us worse. Why because if we have to pay him twelve million more, then we're not going to give that to someone else, so that will make us a little bit worse. I mean, I don't know what else they can say, so maybe they'll just start coming up with things that make no sense. And yes, I agree, it's very it's a very tough look to examine their off season. It's one of the more confusing off seasons. The stance is, we are good and we are young, so we will be better. We essentially haven't done anything, and we are keeping our asset who is going to be a free agent after this year, so we're not pushing Chips in with that asset a number one, and we're not trading him away. That to me is called the muddled middle. Now are they a contender? Sure? Are they a playoff contender? Yes? But are they really trying to win a World Series?

00:30:52
Speaker 4: I mean if they saw what I mean, look at the Mariners. Look what the Mariners have done. How close they were to winning a World Series? And they have clearly? Have they pushed all in? Have they signed somebody a two hundred fifty million dollars No, And I hope fans don't get that twisted about. That's what we're saying, like teams need to do to go all in, They just need to, like the Mariners. Perfect example for me, A plus for this offseason for the Mariners. With this last move that they made, the Tigers can't say.

00:31:22
Speaker 6: Wow, we loved, we loved.

00:31:25
Speaker 4: What was going on in the postseason last year. We're just not gonna quite push for this year. I don't think they can truly say that, and I hope after this case is over that their goal is then, Hey, you know what, we are pushing it. We're taking all our chips and just like Teddy KGB says, it was splash the pots.

00:31:48
Speaker 1: You mean, you might need to tell kids the reference movie.

00:31:52
Speaker 2: It's Rounders, the movie Rounders.

00:31:54
Speaker 4: It's a good movie. I randomly had sitting over here too.

00:32:09
Speaker 1: So we have a couple important things to do. It looks like AJ has decided where he is going to shift his rooting interest for Sunday. Biggest Seahawks fan on the planet. Actually, this is a perfect time to tee you up on this one. Before we get to anything else, I'd like to queue up the story about your Chicago White Sox AJ installing a bidet for Murakami and making him feel at home. That is a thumbs up from you, two thumbs up from me. I'm a huge fan of bidets. This is from your buddy, Scott Murkin. You're right, tomob dot com. We can't bring them on, but we can read the tweet. He said. The White Sox have a new addition for their rate Field Home clubhouse, thanks in part to an important new addition to their home clubhouse, and that is Munataka Murakami, who recommended the addition of a bidet aj take it away.

00:33:00
Speaker 3: I can't wait to go poop in this but day when I go to do a White Sox game this year.

00:33:04
Speaker 2: Oh wait, Fox doesn't have any White Sox games this year, so never mind. The clubhouse also a great point.

00:33:11
Speaker 3: I am allowed in the clubhouse, but they're just not allowed to go in the video room because Pedro Griffold didn't think that was a good idea for me to.

00:33:17
Speaker 2: Watch Heart of the Video people. I love this listen.

00:33:21
Speaker 3: I had had one request when I built my house, and that was I had to have a Japanese toilet.

00:33:25
Speaker 2: We had this conversation once when Alana was on.

00:33:27
Speaker 3: She couldn't believe it, and it was because Cogiuihara had one in the in the Boston Clubhouse and I tried that thing with the remote control and you sit there and play games with it, and so I was like, yes, I'm in on this. So I put one in my house. I still have it. I love it.

00:33:42
Speaker 2: And when you walk in and like in the morning and you have to use the restroom, the sea pops up and it just goes Oh, it just welcomes you to your throne, Scott, And so I'm all for it. I'm here for they They should be standard. They should be standard.

00:33:59
Speaker 1: I don't think we could ever be more on the same page on a topic. You and me can be step brothers at times. I am so on the same page. And there are varying forms of premium toilets that you can get. So my example is aj might have something really bougie. Nowadays, they actually make like really nice products you can get online for a few hundred bucks. You have to like do a little more work with installing them and everything. But I've got one and it's fantastic. The music might not be as crazy good because we might not have the licensing that AJS bougie one has, but there are a lot of cool components to it, including the heated seeds. So the White Sox are winning this offseason with that move alone. Hey, we're talking a lot more about them in positive light than we have in the prior two years, So they're doing something right.

00:34:45
Speaker 3: Over fifty two and a half, I'm taking over fifty two and a half for the White Sox.

00:34:49
Speaker 2: That's wait till you see the White Sox number.

00:34:53
Speaker 4: Oh, it's gonna be such a great day that day fifty two and a half.

00:34:57
Speaker 3: And by the way, and by the way, let me all so just say this about if you haven't been, if you don't travel, and you've never been to Africa, and you've never been to Dubai. And we had this argument producer lady earlier on her production call. They don't have the days. They have hoses. So you are in there and if you use that part of your body, they have a hose hanging on the wall. And I've never tried it because I don't know how to hit the right spot with the hose. I'm just saying they just have a hose hanging there with with a little squirter.

00:35:29
Speaker 1: Sure that's not for like the elephants or something out there.

00:35:33
Speaker 2: No, it's Dubai. If you haven't been to Dubai.

00:35:36
Speaker 1: I would say camels. But I'm saying if.

00:35:39
Speaker 2: You get well, kras has been to Africa, Africa.

00:35:41
Speaker 3: If you go like to real Africa Africa, like where they're on Safari, they have a hole in the ground and they might have a running hose where you can try.

00:35:50
Speaker 1: Wow, don't tempt me to go. Don't tempt me krats your hat, and then we'll shout out the Philly Show, which just hit ten thousand subscribers on YouTube. But oh that's fitting for today.

00:36:03
Speaker 4: Yeah, we had a regular sized person even though he just became a giant, he's still just regular sized Harrison Vader, So I had to wear my giants hat.

00:36:12
Speaker 1: Yep, just through regular size New York City kid who's actually getting a nice little career put together here and making some kashish as well. The Philly Show, part of the FT Network, features tides like you, Jim Salisbury and Rubinamar Junior. We just want to congratulate them on hitting ten thousand subscribers on YouTube. If you'd like to give them some love, then all you have to do is give them one click and it would be really nice for that free content. There was something interesting they brought up on their show today that I will bring up tomorrow. It revolves around a lineup change that I think is interesting. I'll wait until tomorrow, or actually maybe even Thursday, since Alan is going to take over tomorrow and she has her own agenda for you guys, but we will talk for everyone the usual one to three durned. I'm back Thursday and Friday.

00:37:03
Speaker 2: And three day to day to a.

00:37:06
Speaker 1: J's gonna go hit the bedet. We'll see you later.

00:37:09
Speaker 2: Hair cut day stop. You know what that means, man, m hm m hm