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Speaker 1: Look of everyone's fair territory. The Super Bowl is behind us.

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Speaker 1: Baseball is starting to get into full swing. Two teams

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Speaker 1: already have reported the spring training, the Dodgers and Padres

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Speaker 1: they're going to play in career early and the rest

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Speaker 1: of the teams report this week pictures and catchers, and

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Speaker 1: you'll have the position players following next week. We've got

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Speaker 1: plenty to discuss today. And I know some of you

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Speaker 1: might be looking at this and saying, whoa Ken? A

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Speaker 1: little bit better backdrop than in recent weeks. Yes it is.

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Speaker 1: I've changed locations. I have moved to parts unknown. No,

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Speaker 1: I'm not going to reveal my locale. Aj Perzinski will

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Speaker 1: be asking me that on foul territory and he's not

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Speaker 1: getting an answer either. You guys get a lot of me.

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Speaker 1: You don't need to know everything. But anyway, without further ado,

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Speaker 1: let's get to our spring storylines. Top five spring storylines,

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Speaker 1: some fun things to discuss here. We're gonna go in

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Speaker 1: reverse order. Now. This is my opinion of the top

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Speaker 1: five storylines. If you are a fan of a certain team,

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Speaker 1: these are probably not your top five storylines. From a

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Speaker 1: national perspective, here is what I am looking at Okay,

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Speaker 1: here we go. Number five. On storylines of the spring extensions.

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Speaker 1: We've already had a few, of course, Bobby Witt Junior

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Speaker 1: being the big one last week. And there are a

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Speaker 1: number of players who I'm sure will at least be

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Speaker 1: in conversations about extensions this spring. Zach Wheeler of the

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Speaker 1: Phillies maybe the most likely of them all. He's a

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Speaker 1: potential free agent. Pete Alonzo of the Mets also a

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Speaker 1: potential free agent, represented by Scott Boris, who generally likes

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Speaker 1: to go to the open market. It'll be talked about.

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Speaker 1: I don't expected to happen. Paul Golchmidt of the Cardinals.

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Speaker 1: Their GM John Mozelac, has already said that they probably

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Speaker 1: will not start conversations until after the season begins. We

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Speaker 1: shall see. And then there are our younger players. Kyle

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Speaker 1: Tucker not a young player exactly, but he is two

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Speaker 1: years away from free ag agency. Adlee Rushman, on the

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Speaker 1: other hand, he's a guy maybe the Orioles will entertain

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Speaker 1: now that they'll be under new ownership. He is not

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Speaker 1: a free agent until after the twenty twenty seven season.

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Speaker 1: And I am sure, quite sure that a number of

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Speaker 1: other players will be discussed as well. Contract extensions are

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Speaker 1: always discussed at this time of year for younger players.

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Speaker 1: So we're going to see I'm sure quite a few.

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Speaker 1: Number four on the list, Wow, new managers. Now we

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Speaker 1: start with Craig Counsel, the Cub's new manager, but he

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Speaker 1: is only one of eight new managers. Let's take a

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Speaker 1: look at the list right now. It's kind of stunning

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Speaker 1: how many teams have changed managers for the twenty twenty

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Speaker 1: four season. You see it right there. Counsel with the Cubs,

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Speaker 1: Steven Vote with the Guardians, Joe Spotted with the Astros,

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Speaker 1: Ron Washington with the Angels, Pat Murphy replacing Council with

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Speaker 1: the Brewers, Carlos Mendoza with the Mets replacing Buck Showalter,

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Speaker 1: big shoes to fill, Mike Shilt, and Bob Melvin Well

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Speaker 1: Shilt goes to the Padres, Elvin to the Giants. Obviously,

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Speaker 1: when you have a new manager take over, different things

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Speaker 1: happen with teams, Different cultures are established, different rules in

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Speaker 1: certain cases. All of these managers will be closely scrutinized

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Speaker 1: this spring to see the tone that they're setting. Spring

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Speaker 1: training means nothing. We all know that, but you can

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Speaker 1: set a set of standards, and that is what is

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Speaker 1: going to happen with these managers this spring. And the Cubs,

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Speaker 1: of course, will be under greater scrutiny than some of

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Speaker 1: these clubs, one because counsel is there, and two because

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Speaker 1: we're still waiting for them to sign a big free agent,

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Speaker 1: which brings us to storyline number three. That would be

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Speaker 1: the Boris four. Now you could call them the Boris six,

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Speaker 1: because there actually are six big free agents remaining who

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Speaker 1: are represented by Scott Boris. Who are they? You've heard

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Speaker 1: their names for weeks now, Blake Snell, Jordan Montgomery, Matt Chapman,

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Speaker 1: Cody Bellinger and the two others, Jeddy Martinez and him

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Speaker 1: Jin Ryu. Now we're gonna find out in the coming

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Speaker 1: weeks just how these guys fare in free agency. But

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Speaker 1: as I wrote last week in the wind Up That's

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Speaker 1: the Athletics Free Baseball newsletter, the projections that Tim Britton

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Speaker 1: of the Athletic had at the start of the off

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Speaker 1: season were seemingly I thought, realistic, and they still are realistic.

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Speaker 1: Maybe some of those Boris clients will get to these numbers,

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Speaker 1: maybe some of them will surpass them, maybe some of

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Speaker 1: them won't reach them at all. Let's take a look

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Speaker 1: at what Tim projected for the Big four, the Boris

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Speaker 1: four at the start of the off season. Bellinger six years,

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Speaker 1: one hundred and sixty two million. Probably wants more. We'll

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Speaker 1: see if he gets it. Blake Snell two times Cy

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Speaker 1: Young Winner five years, one hundred and thirty five million,

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Speaker 1: definitely wants more. We'll see if he gets it. Jordan

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Speaker 1: Montgomery five years one oh five, Matt Chapman five years

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Speaker 1: ninety five million. Again, we'll see how this all plays out.

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Speaker 1: That is the Boris four. All right, Moving on, now,

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Speaker 1: we'll be talking about a team with another prominent Scott

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Speaker 1: Boris client, one who will be a free agent after

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Speaker 1: this season. And I guess I could have included this

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Speaker 1: guy among the possible extension candidates, but I don't expect

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Speaker 1: him to sign an extension. He turned down four hundred

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Speaker 1: and forty million from the Washington Nationals a couple of

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Speaker 1: years ago. Now he is on the verge of a

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Speaker 1: five hundred million dollar deal. I'm talking, of course about

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Speaker 1: Juan Soto. Now he is a spring training storyline, but

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Speaker 1: really the Yankees are a greater spring training storyline. Their health,

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Speaker 1: in particular is Rodin going to come back healthy, Carlos Rodin,

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Speaker 1: Is Nestro Cortez Junior going to come back healthy? And

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Speaker 1: how is this all going to play out for the

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Speaker 1: Yankees If one of those pitchers gets hurt, maybe they

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Speaker 1: get more active with regard to a Blake Snell or

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Speaker 1: Jordan Montgomery, something along those lines. And finally our number

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Speaker 1: one storyline. Now, I know a lot of fans are

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Speaker 1: not going to like this one because a lot of

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Speaker 1: fans don't like that this team spent a billion dollars

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Speaker 1: this offseason. But the Dodgers are the story in the

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Speaker 1: sport right now, the biggest story in the sport. Otani Yamamoto,

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Speaker 1: all of the things that they've done, Tyler Glassdowin coming

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Speaker 1: in taoscar Hernandez, on and on. We've seen already from

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Speaker 1: their spring training site photos of the media presence, which

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Speaker 1: is quite significant, especially in this day and age when

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Speaker 1: you don't have as much media traveling. But at the

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Speaker 1: same time, it's warranted. It's warranted because this team has

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Speaker 1: spent more than a billion dollars. This team will be

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Speaker 1: under scrutiny all season. This team will be under a

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Speaker 1: unique form of pressure all season. The manager Dave Roberts

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Speaker 1: is going to be under even greater pressure than ever before.

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Speaker 1: Every game for them, as Bookie Bets said, will be

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Speaker 1: like a World Series game, at least for the opponent.

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Speaker 1: So we'll see how it all plays out with the Dodgers.

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Speaker 1: We'll see how it all plays out with their media

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Speaker 1: and how this just all unfold over the course of

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Speaker 1: the twenty twenty four season. It's the biggest story of

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Speaker 1: the season. It's going to remain that way, however it

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Speaker 1: turns out all right. One news item from the weekend

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Speaker 1: that I want to get to as well, and that

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Speaker 1: was something reported last night by Robert Murray. A fan

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Speaker 1: sided Yasmini Grandal going to the Pirates for two and

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Speaker 1: a half million. Now, Yazmani Grandal is not what he

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Speaker 1: once was. In fact, he's coming off a bad year,

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Speaker 1: bad couple of years, honestly. But the Pirates have now

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Speaker 1: signed six free agents, and people might say, WHOA, six

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Speaker 1: free agents, that's pretty good. The Pirates are kind of

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Speaker 1: coming alive here. Well, they're trying to. But let's look

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Speaker 1: at the spending in the NL Central because the Pirates

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Speaker 1: still lag behind even with all of the free agents

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Speaker 1: they've signed. You see the Reds there at one hundred

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Speaker 1: and nine million, Cardinals one oh five, Cubs sixty two million,

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Speaker 1: and they still have one big move left. The Brewers

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Speaker 1: fifty nine point twenty five million, and the Pirates twenty

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Speaker 1: nine point six million, a role as Chapman the biggest

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Speaker 1: of those signings at ten point five. Yeah, the Pirates

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Speaker 1: have brought in some veterans Chapman and Martine Perez and others.

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Speaker 1: They are a team that could be a lot better

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Speaker 1: this year. O'Neil Cruz is coming back. We're all looking

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Speaker 1: forward to seeing that, but when it comes to spending,

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Speaker 1: the Pirates still are lagging behind in the NL Central Time.

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Speaker 1: Now for the Inside Dish, We're going to do something

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Speaker 1: a little bit different this week. I usually talk about

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Speaker 1: a story i've written, trend in the game, something I

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Speaker 1: want to go deeper on, But this week I'm going

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Speaker 1: to talk about what it's like to cover spring training.

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Speaker 1: Spring training, as you guys know, takes place in two

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Speaker 1: different states, Florida and Arizona, and the experiences are quite

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Speaker 1: different in each. In Arizona, everything is centrally located. There

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Speaker 1: used to be two teams in Tucson, which is about

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Speaker 1: ninety miles south of Phoenix. But now all of the

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Speaker 1: teams are in the Phoenix area. And the greatest distance

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Speaker 1: that a baseball writer or a actually a team has

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Speaker 1: to travel between two camps. The greatest distance is forty

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Speaker 1: seven miles. That's from Surprise where the Rangers and Royals trained,

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Speaker 1: to Mesa where the Cubs train. Forty seven miles. That's it.

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Speaker 1: Most of the camps are within a half hour of

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Speaker 1: each other. So generally speaking, each year, what I'll do

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Speaker 1: is set up in one location and just spread out

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Speaker 1: each day and go to a different camp each day.

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Speaker 1: And as a writer, I have more flexibility than I

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Speaker 1: do in Florida, which I'll get to in a minute.

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Speaker 1: The reason is if something's happening, say with the Angels,

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Speaker 1: and I want to jump over there on a given day,

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Speaker 1: I can do that. Same with the Reds or the Royals.

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Speaker 1: There are any team in Arizona. Dodgers are here, Giants

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Speaker 1: are here. There are a number of teams here fifteen

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Speaker 1: just like in Florida. Florida is much different. In Florida,

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Speaker 1: you can simply set up in one place. The camps

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Speaker 1: are spread too far and wide. So generally what I

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Speaker 1: do is. I will start usually Tampa when I go,

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Speaker 1: and I'll go generally two weeks in each Start in Tampa,

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Speaker 1: hit that area. The Phillies are there, the Yankees are there,

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Speaker 1: the Blue Jays, the Ools and Pirates are not far

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Speaker 1: The Tigers are in that area as well. Then I'll

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Speaker 1: drift south to Fort Myers. That's where the Red Sox

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Speaker 1: Twins are. The Rays are not too far away, the

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Speaker 1: Braves as well, and then over to the eastern side

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Speaker 1: of the state. Jupiter is where I will usually be.

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Speaker 1: The Mets are up in Port Saint Lucy, the Cardinals

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Speaker 1: in Marlins are in Jupiter, and the Astros and Nationals

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Speaker 1: are really close by in West Palm Beach. It's three

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Speaker 1: different sites, so to speak. And you can't simply wake

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Speaker 1: up one day and say, you know what, I want

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Speaker 1: to go to the Yankees today, because you might be

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Speaker 1: on the other side of the state three and a

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Speaker 1: half hours away. So that's how Florida works. And I've

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Speaker 1: got one story to tell about Florida and being there

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Speaker 1: and just how crazy it can get when the distances

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Speaker 1: come into play. Now. A few years ago was twenty nineteen,

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Speaker 1: after Evandrelic and I wrote the Astros Science Deealing story.

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Speaker 1: You might remember that Cody Bellinger over in Arizona when

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Speaker 1: he was still with the Dodgers, ripped the Astros and

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Speaker 1: said some things about l Twova, how he shouldn't be

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Speaker 1: the MVP, and it was a big controversy that Spring

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Speaker 1: training in general was all about the Astros. The penalties

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Speaker 1: had come out in January, just a month before there

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Speaker 1: was a lot of talk. So I was in Florida.

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Speaker 1: I was on the east side of the state in Jupiter, Florida,

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Speaker 1: and Carlos Correa, who I know well, I've covered him

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Speaker 1: for a long time, text me and he says, I

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Speaker 1: want to respond to Cody Bellinger. I'm like, okay. I

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Speaker 1: was thinking he wanted to do something for print, and

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Speaker 1: I was good with that. Of course I wanted to

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Speaker 1: hear what he had to say. But when Carlos and

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Speaker 1: I continued texting and tried to arrange a time to meet,

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Speaker 1: he made it clear to me that he wanted this

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Speaker 1: to be on television, and at the time I was

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Speaker 1: working for MLB Network, so that would be possible. There

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Speaker 1: was only one problem. The MLB network crew had asked

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Speaker 1: me the day before, Hey, we good to go now

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Speaker 1: over to Tampa, and I said, sure, why not? There's

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Speaker 1: nothing really happening here of great consequence. Those guys were

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Speaker 1: having steak at a steakhouse in Tampa, enjoying themselves. When

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Speaker 1: I called and said, Carlos Carea wants to talk tomorrow morning,

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Speaker 1: can you get back? They had to scramble back. We

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Speaker 1: did the interview. It's maybe the most memorable interview I've

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Speaker 1: done in my entire career. Correa was on fire, and

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Speaker 1: whether you agree or disagree, I'm just talking about the

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Speaker 1: quality of the interview, just the passion that he showed

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Speaker 1: for what he was saying. He of course said some things.

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Speaker 1: I challenged him on some things. It went back and forth.

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Speaker 1: But the real story was, at least from my personal perspective,

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Speaker 1: was those poor guys, the audio guy, the producer, and

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Speaker 1: I guess the cameraman. They all had to drag back

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Speaker 1: and leave their dinner drive all night and that's how

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Speaker 1: it went down. My other favorite story from Spring training,

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Speaker 1: this one is not as spicy as that one, but

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Speaker 1: it involved one year when I was in the Angels clubhouse.

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Speaker 1: Now spring training is a much more relaxed atmosphere. No

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Speaker 1: one has lost the game. Yet the players are cool,

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Speaker 1: They're not worried really much about anything. They're just getting

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Speaker 1: ready for the season. The managers are more relaxed than

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Speaker 1: they would be during the season. It's just in general,

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Speaker 1: an easier atmosphere to interview, an easier atmosphere overall. So

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Speaker 1: I'm in the Angels clubhouse one morning, it's about eight

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Speaker 1: eight thirty, and I'm talking I believe it was to

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Speaker 1: Jared Weaver, and we're sitting there talking and all of

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Speaker 1: a sudden, I hear the room goes silent. Now, Mike's Osher,

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Speaker 1: when he was manager of the Angels, had a meeting

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Speaker 1: every morning with his players. Usually he would say something funny,

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Speaker 1: or they'd do a skin or just something to lighten

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Speaker 1: the mood. Sometimes it was more serious than that. Of course. Well,

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Speaker 1: the room had gone quiet because Mike Soshan was about

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Speaker 1: to start his meeting. So I'm talking to Jared Weaver.

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Speaker 1: I've got my back to where Soshia is and I

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Speaker 1: turn around and there's Mike Soshier and he's like, Ken,

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Speaker 1: would it be okay with you if we start our

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Speaker 1: meeting now? And I ran out of there very quickly.

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Speaker 1: Spring training is a blast. I love covering it. Love

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Speaker 1: it a little bit more in Arizona than Florida because

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Speaker 1: it's a little easier, But overall it's my favorite time

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Speaker 1: of year. Time Now for Dude and Dork of the Week,

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Speaker 1: We've got a little bit of a twist on it

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Speaker 1: this week, but I'll get to that in a second. First,

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Speaker 1: the dude of the week a pitcher who announced his

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Speaker 1: retirement last week, A pitcher who, for a five year

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Speaker 1: period from twenty fourteen to eighteen, was among the most

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Speaker 1: dominant pitchers in the game and among the most dominant

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Speaker 1: pictures of our recent times. I'm talking, of course, about

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Speaker 1: Corey Klueber. In that five year period twenty fourteen to eighteen,

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Speaker 1: he won two cy Youngs, finished third twice, finish ninth once.

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Speaker 1: In that five year period, he put up numbers that,

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Speaker 1: though were only a few years down the line, seem

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Speaker 1: almost impossible now that we judge differently in today's game.

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Speaker 1: In that five year period, Corey Klueber averaged thirty two starts,

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Speaker 1: two hundred and eighteen innings averaged, and two hundred and

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Speaker 1: forty six strikeouts. He was a machine. He was the ClueBot.

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Speaker 1: He was a great, great pitcher and someone who carried

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Speaker 1: himself in a really classy, dignified way. Didn't join the emotion,

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Speaker 1: of course, but he was really cool on the mound.

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Speaker 1: He went on, of course, and had some injuries. Wasn't

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Speaker 1: really the same. Did have no hitter for the Yankees

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Speaker 1: in twenty twenty one, but just for a fantastic career.

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Speaker 1: Corey Klueber Dude of the week. Dorks of the week. Now,

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Speaker 1: we generally reserved that title for someone or some group

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Speaker 1: of people that have done something stupid, but I want

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Speaker 1: to twist it a little bit this week to name

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Speaker 1: the dupes of the week. The dupes of the week

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Speaker 1: would be the Nevada State Legislature and the Governor of Nevada,

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Speaker 1: Joe Lombardo. Why have they been duped? H They've committed

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Speaker 1: three hundred and eighty million in public funding to a

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Speaker 1: team that cannot get its act together. I'm talking obviously

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Speaker 1: about the Oakland A's. Now I could have named John

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Speaker 1: Fisher dork of the week again, He's like a nine

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Speaker 1: time winner at this point. But really, let's look at

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Speaker 1: Nevada here. They committed to the A's. The A's don't

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Speaker 1: know where they're playing. From twenty twenty five to twenty seven,

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Speaker 1: they committed to the A's. The A's don't know logistically

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Speaker 1: how a new ballpark with a roof is going to

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Speaker 1: fit into a nine acre site. And the A's don't

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Speaker 1: even know if this ballpark will be done by twenty

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Speaker 1: twenty eight because guess what, the state teachers Union in

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Speaker 1: Nevada is suing to block that public funded They want

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Speaker 1: that not to happen. So we've got a lot of

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Speaker 1: things going on here. But yet told them borrow. The

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Speaker 1: governor and the state legislature couldn't wait to embrace major

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Speaker 1: League Baseball. Well maybe they should have lobbied harder for

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Speaker 1: an expansion team instead. All right, time now for grilling ken.

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Speaker 1: Let's get to your questions and see what we've got

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Speaker 1: this week. First comes from Chance Henry, who asks how

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Speaker 1: likely are the Red Sox to trade Kenley Jansen? Why

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Speaker 1: would that matter at all in a possible Montgomery signing? Chance,

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Speaker 1: you ask a good question. It shouldn't matter at all.

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Speaker 1: There has been a lot of talk about a possible

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Speaker 1: Jansen trade. I don't see it happening necessarily at this point. Now, granted,

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Speaker 1: for a team that is cunning payroll, a team that

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Speaker 1: doesn't seem to be putting forth its full effort. A

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Speaker 1: sixteen million dollar closer is a luxury, especially one at

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Speaker 1: an advanced age. But who is going to take Kenley

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Speaker 1: Jansen at this point? Now? He's still good, don't get

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Speaker 1: me wrong, But how is this all going to happen?

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Speaker 1: The Dodgers, to me seem to make the most sense.

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Speaker 1: And the Dodgers right now seem to be pretty full

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Speaker 1: with their roster and what they're doing now. The Red

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Speaker 1: Sox could always include cash in the deal to bring

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Speaker 1: the salary down to get a better prospect in return,

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Speaker 1: and maybe that's ultimately what will happen. Shouldn't affect a

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Speaker 1: pursuit of Jordan Montgomery or any other player for that matter. No,

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Speaker 1: the Red Sox, they've announced essentially that they might be

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Speaker 1: at a lower payroll number this year. I don't know why.

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Speaker 1: Right now, their payrolls at one seventy eight. Last year

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Speaker 1: it was one ninety nine. They were already down. Now

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Speaker 1: if you take it down further, that gives you greater room, yes,

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Speaker 1: to sign a Jordan Montgomery. But guess what, the Boston

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Speaker 1: Red Sox should be able to sign Jordan Montgomery and

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Speaker 1: keep Kenley Jansen too, all right. The next question comes

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Speaker 1: from Mitch asked the d Backs reportedly are in on

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Speaker 1: a right handed bat to compliment Peterson at DH fam

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Speaker 1: Duval Gritchik or no more moves left for them. I'd

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Speaker 1: be a little surprised if they did this, But if

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Speaker 1: the price enough on any of those players, and I

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Speaker 1: don't necessarily expect that it will, sure they might look

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Speaker 1: for one more bat. If you remember, they've already added

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Speaker 1: Lords Guriel junior free agent that was returning to the team,

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Speaker 1: and Aohano Suarez at third base. That's two right handed

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Speaker 1: hitters they've got Peterson now. Peterson, of course, hits righty's

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Speaker 1: much better than lefties, though we haven't gotten much of

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Speaker 1: a chance against lefties in recent years. The Diamondbacks payroll

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Speaker 1: right now is at a record level one hundred and

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Speaker 1: forty two million, record for their franchise. Can they go

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Speaker 1: a little bit higher? Four five six million? I guess,

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Speaker 1: but that's a question for their owner Ken Kendrick. Finally,

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Speaker 1: the last question comes from Syracuse Jurgen Klop forty four,

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Speaker 1: who asks, between Solaire and Bellinger, which do you think

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Speaker 1: could help a contender more to win the World Series.

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Speaker 1: Reasonable question considering that they're both still free agents. But

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Speaker 1: Bellinger is the much better defender and all around player,

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Speaker 1: so he could help a team more to win the

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Speaker 1: World Series. So Layer, in theory, could be the better hitter. Right,

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Speaker 1: he could slug forty home runs and Bellinger might not

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Speaker 1: do that. But Bellinger is going to be able to

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Speaker 1: play first center field, so Laire, you can stick him

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Speaker 1: in the outfield, but you don't really want to put

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Speaker 1: him out there too often. All right, I want to

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Speaker 1: thank everyone for watching, everyone for listening, and I want

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Speaker 1: to give a special thank you to the people who

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Speaker 1: have been commenting on the YouTube page. The comments there

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Speaker 1: are much more civil than anything you see on x

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Speaker 1: even more civil than the comments I usually get on

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Speaker 1: The Athletic from my articles. Now, obviously, sometimes I invite

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Speaker 1: things on myself with things that people might not like

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Speaker 1: on The Athletic, But at the same time, I do

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Speaker 1: appreciate everyone on YouTube just being so cool and civil

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Speaker 1: with what they're saying in response to the show. Never

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Speaker 1: mind people disagree with what I say, That's all part

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Speaker 1: of it. That's why we love baseball, the arguments. But

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Speaker 1: I do appreciate when people are respectful, and from what

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Speaker 1: I've seen, people have been really respectful. So you know

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Speaker 1: where to find us. If YouTube, Spotify, Apple like us,

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Speaker 1: subscribe to us, stay with us back next Monday,