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Speaker 1: Welcome to this week's edition of Fair Territory. Still plenty

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Speaker 1: of free agents out there, still plenty of trades to

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Speaker 1: be made. We say this every single week. But today

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Speaker 1: I'm going to focus on a group of free agents

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Speaker 1: that I have labeled the Boris Four. Boris being, of course,

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Speaker 1: Scott Boris, the agent for the stars. He has the

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Speaker 1: top remaining for free agents. Scott, if you're watching or listening,

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Speaker 1: a couple of caveats, because I know he can get

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Speaker 1: a little irritated once in a while and people say

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Speaker 1: or write things. First of all, the Boris four, it's

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Speaker 1: not a pejorative. It's not like the Chicago seven. Look

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Speaker 1: it up, kids if you don't know what that is.

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Speaker 1: And also, I know Scott, also you have more than

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Speaker 1: four free agents remaining. The four I'm going to focus on,

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Speaker 1: of course, are Blake Snell, Jordan Montgarmy, Matt Chapman, and

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Speaker 1: Cody Bellinger. But in addition, Scott Boris represents the following

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Speaker 1: free agents JD. Martinez, Rhys Hoskins, Young jin Rieu, James Paxson,

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Speaker 1: and I'm probably missing a couple. I apologize, but let's

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Speaker 1: dive into the Bores fourth. And I want to start

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Speaker 1: and really focus more on Snell, Chapman, and Bellinger than Montgomery,

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Speaker 1: because with Snell, Chapman and Bellinger there's a list of

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Speaker 1: pros and cons. These are not perfect free agents. There

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Speaker 1: guys with some questions surrounding them. So let's start with

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Speaker 1: Blake Snell. Obvious pros. This guy is a two time

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Speaker 1: cy Young winner, once in each league. You see it

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Speaker 1: right there in the pros section. Also one point two

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Speaker 1: zero era and his final twenty three starts. Joel Sherman

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Speaker 1: of the New York Post had a note in his

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Speaker 1: calm that's the best twenty three start regular season period

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Speaker 1: since Gibson in nineteen sixty eight. Pretty good. And for

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Speaker 1: all the questions we'll get to about his walks, only

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Speaker 1: twelve of his ninety nine walks scored. That's twelve point

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Speaker 1: one percent. That's about half the league average, So he

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Speaker 1: kept those guys from scoring, even though, as you see

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Speaker 1: in the list of cons, he had the highest walk

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Speaker 1: rate in the majors, highest since Matt Clement in two

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Speaker 1: thirteen point three percent. Also, the four seasons in between

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Speaker 1: the Cy Youngs, he was basically a league average pitcher.

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Speaker 1: So who is Blake Snell. Is he the cy young

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Speaker 1: guy or is he the other guy, the guy from

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Speaker 1: twenty nineteen to twenty twenty two. That is something teams

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Speaker 1: will have to decide. Okay, we keep going here. The

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Speaker 1: next guy on the boris Ford to discuss Matt Chapman. Now,

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Speaker 1: Matt Chapman is a great defender, four time goal Glove

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Speaker 1: winner at third base. He is someone who has won

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Speaker 1: two Platinum Gloves as well, and he too has some

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Speaker 1: pros and cons you see the four gold gloves. He

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Speaker 1: also is a very durable guy. Looking at his pros

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Speaker 1: average one hundred and forty nine games in his five

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Speaker 1: full seasons, and this year, despite a kind of offensive

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Speaker 1: regression in the final five months of the season, his

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Speaker 1: hard hit rate was in the one hundred percent. He

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Speaker 1: was better than anyone in the majors as far as

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Speaker 1: hard hit rate was concerned. The cons, though, are the

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Speaker 1: results that had two of three with a six fifty

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Speaker 1: nine ops after May one. That's not great. He had

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Speaker 1: a great April, not so good after that, and his

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Speaker 1: seventeen home runs were lowest in a full season since

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Speaker 1: twenty nineteen. So, Matt Chapman, what are you buying? You're

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Speaker 1: buying a durable guy, a guy who is a brilliant defender,

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Speaker 1: someone who is a steady and a positive offensive player.

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Speaker 1: He's an above average league player from an offensive point

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Speaker 1: of view, well above average, actually not Mike Schmidt like,

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Speaker 1: but he is an okay hitter, wouldn't say great, and

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Speaker 1: certainly last year he had his struggles, but he also

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Speaker 1: had a finger injury in the final two months that

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Speaker 1: might have contributed. So there are still teams that are

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Speaker 1: going to look at Matt Chapman and they're going to

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Speaker 1: like what they see. The Giants could be one of them,

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Speaker 1: but there are others as well. And frankly, I know

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Speaker 1: the Blue Jays have signed Isaiah Kin of FILEFFA. If

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Speaker 1: I were the Blue Jays, I'd still be trying to

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Speaker 1: sign Matt cha. So that's two of the three that

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Speaker 1: I wanted to discuss, and the third the International Man

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Speaker 1: of Mystery Cody Bellinger. And I say that International Man

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Speaker 1: of Mystery because Bellinger is somewhat like Snell. Who is

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Speaker 1: this guy? Is it the guy who was the MVP

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Speaker 1: and the guy who was brilliant last year for the Cubs,

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Speaker 1: or is it the guy who struggled in the three

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Speaker 1: seasons in between, in part due to injuries. Cody Bellinger

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Speaker 1: has his own list of pros and cons. The pros well,

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Speaker 1: you see it right there. Three h seven batting average

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Speaker 1: for the Cubs last year, twenty six homers in eight

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Speaker 1: eighty one ops outstanding. His age also is a positive.

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Speaker 1: He's entering his age twenty nine season, relatively young for

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Speaker 1: a free agent. And he is a versatile defensive player.

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Speaker 1: Gives you above average defense both at centerfield and first base.

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Speaker 1: You can do it in both areas with him. CON's

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Speaker 1: kind of curious his hard hit percentage, his exit velocities

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Speaker 1: are low, opposite of Chapman. Chapman has the great hard

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Speaker 1: hit numbers and the low results or the poor results.

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Speaker 1: Bellinger poor hard hit numbers and great results. And of

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Speaker 1: course the other con is what he was between twenty

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Speaker 1: twenty and twenty twenty two. He had no ps five

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Speaker 1: percent below the league average in those seasons. So that's

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Speaker 1: three of the four. I didn't really touch on Jordan

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Speaker 1: Montgomery here because Jordan Montgomery, to me is kind of straightforward.

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Speaker 1: He is a really good major league pitcher, a guy

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Speaker 1: who elevated his value in the postseason with his performance

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Speaker 1: last year. He was exactly what the Yankees thought he

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Speaker 1: wasn't when they traded him for Harrison Vader. He was

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Speaker 1: a good postseason pitcher. So Jordan Montgomery, is he an ace?

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Speaker 1: I don't know that he's an ace, but he's a

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Speaker 1: number two or three. Absolutely he is that. So that's

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Speaker 1: the Bors four. I know there's more, but those are

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Speaker 1: the guys that right now are kind of the focus

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Speaker 1: of the industry and it's going to be really interesting

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Speaker 1: to see how stop Boris plays it with these guys. He,

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Speaker 1: as we know, will wait until he gets the offer

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Speaker 1: he wants. He is not afraid to do that, kind

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Speaker 1: of has nerves of steel at this time of year.

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Speaker 1: Sometimes often he gets what he wants, Sometimes he doesn't,

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Speaker 1: and we'll just have to see how this all plays

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Speaker 1: out for him. I would expect the two pitchers are

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Speaker 1: going to do well. I would expect Bellinger's going to

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Speaker 1: do well, and Chapman too. The question is how well. Okay,

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Speaker 1: those are the free agents we were discussing this week.

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Speaker 1: Also want to get into the trade that happened on Friday,

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Speaker 1: the one between the Giants and Mariners. Quite interesting on

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Speaker 1: a number of levels. We'll give you a quick analysis

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Speaker 1: from both teams perspectives. The Giants, you see there, they

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Speaker 1: get Robbie Ray. Robbie Ray is coming off Tommy John surgery,

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Speaker 1: probably won't be ready till July or August. The Mariners

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Speaker 1: get Mitch Hanniker, who of course they had for many

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Speaker 1: years before, Anthony Discaffani and six million dollars to balance

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Speaker 1: out the salaries for twenty twenty four. Now, obviously the

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Speaker 1: Giants are taking on more salary. This trade was driven

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Speaker 1: in part by the Mariners' payroll concerns. We've heard about

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Speaker 1: them all off season. Their ownership is freaking out over

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Speaker 1: the possibility of losing local television revenue this season. Like

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Speaker 1: so many other teams, it's this year's excuse, trademarked by

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Speaker 1: the owners. Now. The Mariners did this though, because they

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Speaker 1: wanted to put less money in their rotation going forward

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Speaker 1: and shift it to kind of the offensive side of

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Speaker 1: the game with Hanneger, and they also have signed Mitch

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Speaker 1: Garverer of course, And what they had in the rotation

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Speaker 1: were two high price guys, Robbie Ray and Luis Castillo.

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Speaker 1: They also had at the start of the off season

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Speaker 1: Marco Gonzalez, who was making twelve million dollars, and they

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Speaker 1: have the younger pitchers Logan Gilbert first year of arbitration,

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Speaker 1: George Kirby. He will be entering arbitration a year from now.

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Speaker 1: So they were looking at, with Ray signed for three years,

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Speaker 1: a possibility of like a seventy five million dollar rotation

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Speaker 1: in twenty twenty six. They didn't want that. They didn't

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Speaker 1: want to carry Ray this year making all that money

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Speaker 1: when he wasn't going to pitch until August. This was

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Speaker 1: payroll driven, but it was also kind of a rebalancing

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Speaker 1: of where they were between the pitching and the offensive side.

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Speaker 1: The more interesting angle here is probably the Giants angle, right,

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Speaker 1: So they get Robbie Ray, he should be back, as

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Speaker 1: I said, July or August. Alex Cobb coming off hip surgery,

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Speaker 1: he probably won't be around until July or August. So

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Speaker 1: let's look at their rotation right now. The rotation isn't

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Speaker 1: their only need, but the opening day rotation is in need.

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Speaker 1: It's Logan Web, it's Rush Stripling, it's Kyle Harrison, the

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Speaker 1: Great Prospect, Keaton Win and Tristan Beck. That's their opening

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Speaker 1: day group as of this moment, barring any other moves

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Speaker 1: they're gonna have to wait for cob and Ray. So

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Speaker 1: could they sign Snella Montgomery to enhance that group? A? Absolutely?

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Speaker 1: Could they have money. We know that they were bidding

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Speaker 1: on Shoho Tani, they were bidding on Yoshinobu Yamamot. The

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Speaker 1: Giants also have other needs. They still need power Matt

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Speaker 1: Chapman would fit. They still are looking for a shortstop.

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Speaker 1: They're not so sure they want to turn it over

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Speaker 1: to Marco Luciano without a safety net. So the Giants

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Speaker 1: have a number of things that they have to do,

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Speaker 1: but this trade has good upside for them. If Robbie

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Speaker 1: Ray comes back, Wow, that's an ace type starter in

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Speaker 1: your rotation to go with Logan Web in the second

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Speaker 1: half and perhaps at that point in emerging Kyle Harrison.

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Speaker 1: So yes, Robbie Ray can opt out at the end

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Speaker 1: of this season, and he very well might if he

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Speaker 1: comes back and gets hot, But more likely he's going

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Speaker 1: to be on some restrictions coming off Tommy John surgery.

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Speaker 1: He's never been a particularly efficient guy. I would expect shorter,

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Speaker 1: controlled outings when he returns. Could be high impact, don't

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Speaker 1: get me wrong. Will it be enough for him to

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Speaker 1: opt out? I don't know, but if he does get

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Speaker 1: to that point, it means that Robbie Ray pitched really

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Speaker 1: well for the Giants, and that's a good thing. Time

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Speaker 1: out for the inside. This is the part of the

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Speaker 1: show where I go inside a story I've written, inside

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Speaker 1: a trend in the game, or this week, inside my

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Speaker 1: Hall of Fame ballot. I wrote about this Friday in

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Speaker 1: The Athletic and listed my nine choices this year. We

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Speaker 1: can choose up to ten. I listed nine. I have nine.

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Speaker 1: I'll explain them, and I'll preface this by saying that

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Speaker 1: the Hall of Fame discussion is one that gets kind

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Speaker 1: of heated every year in some quarters, and I don't

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Speaker 1: believe it should be in my view. Everyone is entitled

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Speaker 1: to their opinion, and pretty much every opinion is valid.

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Speaker 1: Now you'll see some things that aren't valid. When somebody

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Speaker 1: says Adrian Beltray is not a Hall of Famer, that

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Speaker 1: is not valid. Adrian Beltray is an obvious Hall of Famer.

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Speaker 1: And if someone doesn't vote for Adrian Beltray, well that's

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Speaker 1: his or her right to do that. If you're a voter,

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Speaker 1: you can do whatever you want. You earn the vote.

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Speaker 1: With ten years in the Baseball Writers' Association of America.

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Speaker 1: And I'm not going to sit here and vote shame.

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Speaker 1: Do I think certain things are dumb? Yes, I think

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Speaker 1: certain things are dumb. But it's a vote. It's not

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Speaker 1: world peace we're talking about. I don't know that we

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Speaker 1: should get all that heated about it. So let's get

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Speaker 1: to my ballot. Let's get to my choices. This year, Yes,

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Speaker 1: Adrian Belcher making his first appearance on the ballot was

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Speaker 1: one of them. Yes, Joe Mauer making his first appearance

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Speaker 1: was another. I had a number of holdovers as well,

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Speaker 1: Todd Hilton, Andrew Jones, Jimmy Rollins, Well, he's not a holdover.

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Speaker 1: He was a guy that I added. Gary Sheffield's a holdover.

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Speaker 1: Billy Wagner's a holdover this year, and this is what

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Speaker 1: I wrote about. I added Rollins and Utley the Philadelphia

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Speaker 1: double play combination in the two thousands and early twenty tens.

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Speaker 1: And I also added Carlos Beltron. Now with Beltron, I

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Speaker 1: wrote at length about him last year. I did not

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Speaker 1: vote for him last year. I was conflicted, and I

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Speaker 1: was conflicted because of course he had been a significant

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Speaker 1: player in the Astros illegal signce stealing that took place

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Speaker 1: in twenty seventeen eighteen. He had been one of the

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Speaker 1: architects of the scheme, and I just didn't feel comfortable

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Speaker 1: voting for him first ballot numbers wise, there's no question

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Speaker 1: he's worthy. I think Carlos Beltron is one of the

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Speaker 1: better players of our generation. Switch hitting center fielder, brilliant

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Speaker 1: on the basis, offensively, defensively, he did everything you would want.

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Speaker 1: But I just wasn't comfortable last year. And I said

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Speaker 1: at the time, I revisit my vote every year, and

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Speaker 1: I revisited that this year. And one thing I was

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Speaker 1: not comfortable with not voting for him last year was

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Speaker 1: the fact that I feel that the Astros players, while

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Speaker 1: they were never punished by Major League Baseball, they have

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Speaker 1: been punished in different ways by the public in all

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Speaker 1: kinds of ways. And to say that these guys escaped

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Speaker 1: Scott Free, yeah, maybe under baseball they did, but in

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Speaker 1: the general public opinion, no, they did not. Carlos Beltron

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Speaker 1: lost jobs. And to make a long story short, I

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Speaker 1: just didn't feel comfortable penalizing further. He's a Hall of

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Speaker 1: Fame player. He made a mistake. Obviously, other players in

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Speaker 1: the Hall of Fame have made mistakes, as we know,

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Speaker 1: and that was my thinking on Beltromp. Now Utley and Rollins.

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Speaker 1: This again is what I wrote about, and this was

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Speaker 1: a fascinating debate in my own head really throughout the

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Speaker 1: month of December and even a little bit before and

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Speaker 1: to kind of get where I felt good about voting

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Speaker 1: for them, I talked to a number of people in

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Speaker 1: the game, some people who were with the Phillies during

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Speaker 1: those years, some people who were opponents of Utley and

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Speaker 1: Rollins during those years. There wasn't unanimity, and I didn't

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Speaker 1: expect there to be unanimity, but I basically felt it

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Speaker 1: chased Utley when I was watching him play. Was a

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Speaker 1: Hall of Famer. He is everything, or was everything that

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Speaker 1: you would want in a player, not just from an

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Speaker 1: all around skills standpoint. He did everything you'd want offensively,

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Speaker 1: defensively based running, but just the way he conducted himself

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Speaker 1: on the field. He was instinctive, he was cold blooded.

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Speaker 1: He would do anything to win. Now, I know he

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Speaker 1: doesn't have two thousand hits, and that's been something that

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Speaker 1: has kept players out of the Hall of Fame on

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Speaker 1: the writers' ballots ever since nineteen sixty If you don't

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Speaker 1: get to two thousand, you don't get in. Tony Oliva

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Speaker 1: got in through a veterans committee. He had less than

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Speaker 1: two thousand, Andrew Jones has less than two thousand. If

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Speaker 1: he gets in, he'll be kind of breaking the mold

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Speaker 1: as well. Utley had a shorter peak, yes, but it

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Speaker 1: was a brilliant peak. And he, to me again, is

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Speaker 1: a guy that watching him play, I felt, yeah, he

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Speaker 1: was a Hall of Famer. Jimmy Rollins not so much.

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Speaker 1: Jimmy Rollins was a guy that I thought was a

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Speaker 1: really good player, and obviously was like Utley, a leader

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Speaker 1: of those Phillies teams. But he was someone that when

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Speaker 1: you look at his statistics offensively for his career, he's

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Speaker 1: at below average ops plus. That bothered me. There are

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Speaker 1: short stops in the Hall of Fame with a below

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Speaker 1: average ops plus, but they were considered great defenders. Rollins.

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Speaker 1: Advanced metrics aren't as strong, at least the ones that

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Speaker 1: are being used right now by the people who can

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Speaker 1: cock these formulas. I don't buy that. Jimmy Rollins to me,

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Speaker 1: was a great defender, and that's why, ultimately, when I

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Speaker 1: looked at him, he did some amazing things, even offensively.

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Speaker 1: From a compilation standpoint, he was a guy unlike Utley,

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Speaker 1: who had the big county numbers all time Phillies hits leader.

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Speaker 1: It's a franchise that's been in existence one hundred and

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Speaker 1: forty years, two hundred home runs, four hundred stolen bases.

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Speaker 1: Not too many players have done that. He did some

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Speaker 1: other things as well as six overall all time in

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Speaker 1: games at shortstop. And I hadn't really thought about him

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Speaker 1: as a Hall of Famer until Jason Stark wrote something

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Speaker 1: for The Athletic a couple of years ago, and that

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Speaker 1: got me thinking. And you know what, Jimmy Rollins might

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Speaker 1: not be a classic Hall of Famer, but I believe

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Speaker 1: that if Utley's going in, Rollin should go into as

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Speaker 1: long as, of course, he has the credentials. And while

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Speaker 1: his credentials are borderline, I feel they're good enough. And

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Speaker 1: I wrote, and I go back to this a lot.

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Speaker 1: Alan Trammel and Lou Whittaker. Alan Trammel is in the

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Speaker 1: Hall of Fame. Didn't make it in fifteen years on

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Speaker 1: the Writer's ballot, but made it with the Veterans Committee

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Speaker 1: or one of them, in twenty eighteen, along with his

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Speaker 1: teammate Jack Morris. Lou Whittaker dropped off the Writer's ballot

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Speaker 1: in two thousand and one on the first year didn't

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Speaker 1: get the necessary five percent. Now, Lou Whittaker and Alan

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Speaker 1: Trammel are closer in statistics than Rolins and Uttley are.

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Speaker 1: Rowins and Utley a kind of polar opposites. Whittaker and

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Speaker 1: travel are somewhat similar. In fact, Whittaker might have the edge.

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Speaker 1: To me, both should be in the Hall. And I

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Speaker 1: feel the same way about Utley and Rollins. Neither is

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Speaker 1: a perfect candidate. I get it, But frankly, we have

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Speaker 1: not elected enough Hall of Famers. And I know there

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Speaker 1: are people who say, well, wait a second, is it

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Speaker 1: the Hall of the very good or the Hall of

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Speaker 1: the great? And yeah, I get it. If you're a

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Speaker 1: small Hall guy, you're probably not favoring Chase Utley and

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Speaker 1: Jimmy Rollins and maybe some others on my ballot as well.

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Speaker 1: But I'm a big haul guy, and I believe these

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Speaker 1: two guys, if they were in the Hall, if they

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Speaker 1: got elected sometime during their eligibility period, they would not

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Speaker 1: lower the standards of the Hall. They would distinguish the Hall.

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Speaker 1: They were both guys that played on teams that were

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Speaker 1: very successful. Five straight Division titles, two World Series appearances,

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Speaker 1: one World Series title. They were the heart and soul

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Speaker 1: of those teams, and for that reason I voted for them,

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Speaker 1: along with, of course the statistical accomplishments that I cited.

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Speaker 1: It's not an easy thing to vote for the Hall

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Speaker 1: of Fame, and often when I vote, I kind of

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Speaker 1: play both sides in my mind and can justify either side.

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Speaker 1: And if I were arguing right now against Rollins and

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Speaker 1: utly I could do that, I could argue again. And

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Speaker 1: Sheffield a guy I've voted for, well, yes he had

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Speaker 1: five hundred and nine home runs, but he wasn't much

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Speaker 1: of a defender. You can pick holes and find justifications

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Speaker 1: in virtually anything you decide to do. But to me,

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Speaker 1: that's the beauty of this that it's a subjective vote,

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Speaker 1: and it's something that we look at and those of

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Speaker 1: us who vote take very seriously. We think about it

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Speaker 1: a lot, and in the end, you just make the

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Speaker 1: best decision you think possible. Sometimes you might change your mind,

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Speaker 1: sometimes you might be flat out wrong, and sometimes maybe

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Speaker 1: you actually hit on it. So that's my explanation of

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Speaker 1: the Hall of Fame bout. There were plenty of comments

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Speaker 1: on the column. Feel free to add more. I welcome

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Speaker 1: all opinions on this. As I said at the top,

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Speaker 1: it's the Hall of Fame. It's supposed to be fun

341
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Speaker 1: and it's supposed to spark debate. Time out for dude

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Speaker 1: and dork of the Week. Due to the week is

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Speaker 1: a player who announced his retirement, one of my favorites

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Speaker 1: over the years. Even though he is not a guy

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Speaker 1: who had much time or interest in talking to the media,

346
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Speaker 1: he would talk. He was very polite. He's a good guy,

347
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Speaker 1: but that wasn't his thing. I'm talking about Michael Brantley.

348
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Speaker 1: Michael Brantley, the sweet swinging Michael Brantley announced his retirement

349
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Speaker 1: just last week. And this is a guy who had

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Speaker 1: not a Hall of Fame career necessarily, but certainly a

351
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Speaker 1: very impressive, distinguished career. Michael Brantley. Let's look at his

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Speaker 1: career numbers and I'll show you exactly what I'm talking

353
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Speaker 1: about here. He is a guy who has a career

354
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Speaker 1: slash line of two ninety eight. That's his batting average

355
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Speaker 1: three fifty five on base four to thirty nine slug

356
00:19:35,840 --> 00:19:39,040
Speaker 1: It's a seven ninety four ops, and when adjusted to

357
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Speaker 1: the league and to the ballpark, that ops seventeen percent

358
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Speaker 1: above league average. You might think that's not so great,

359
00:19:45,880 --> 00:19:49,040
Speaker 1: but actually that's pretty good. Seventeen percent above league gaverage

360
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Speaker 1: over a lengthy career is excellent. Michael Brandley as well,

361
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Speaker 1: was a class act. He was someone who his teenmates revered.

362
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Speaker 1: He had a couple of nicknames. Uncle Mike was one

363
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Speaker 1: them when he was with the Astros, and he's just

364
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Speaker 1: someone that kind of embodied the word dude. He was

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Speaker 1: a dude as a player, he was a dude as

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Speaker 1: a guy, and he deserves a big send off and

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Speaker 1: I think he got one. A lot of people responded

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Speaker 1: really well to his announcement. So Michael Bradley, congratulations on

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Speaker 1: a great career. It was a pleasure covering you and

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Speaker 1: that speech you gave to the Astros in twenty twenty

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Speaker 1: two during the World Series while you were hurt, Well,

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Speaker 1: your teammates remember it. It meant a lot, kind of

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Speaker 1: changed things for the Houston Astros, helped them get where

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Speaker 1: they wanted to. D Dork of the Week. Why not

375
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Speaker 1: start the new year with the way we rang out

376
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Speaker 1: the old year? This never gets old. John Fisher, Oakland

377
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Speaker 1: A's owner, dork of the week for preventing this new

378
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Speaker 1: independent team, the Oakland Ballers, from playing one game one

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Speaker 1: game at the vacant Oakland Coliseum. It will be vacant

380
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Speaker 1: again this season, of course, as the A's prepared to

381
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Speaker 1: move to Vegas and their fans stay away in droves. Now,

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Speaker 1: John Fisher actually in this situation, I believe Scott Ostler

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Speaker 1: wrote this in the San Francisco Chronicle. He couldn't win.

384
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Speaker 1: He couldn't win because if he let those guys play

385
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Speaker 1: one game in the Oakland Coliseum and they drew a

386
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Speaker 1: big crowd, it would just be embarrassing to the A's.

387
00:21:18,560 --> 00:21:22,360
Speaker 1: And he couldn't win because he looks petty by denying

388
00:21:22,359 --> 00:21:24,879
Speaker 1: them the right to play one game and gets named

389
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Speaker 1: dork of the Week. I don't care. The whole situation

390
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Speaker 1: is why you're dork of the week. The fact that

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Speaker 1: the Oakland Ballers exist in the first place, because why

392
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Speaker 1: the A's are moving. Well, you get what you get,

393
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Speaker 1: John Fisher, dork of the Week. All right, here we

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Speaker 1: go with Grill and Ken. Let's get to your questions.

395
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Speaker 1: First question from Dan Bartel's Dan asks your expectations for

396
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Speaker 1: the Mets this year. Dan. To be honest, they're not

397
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Speaker 1: very high and the Mets, after losing Yamamoto and not

398
00:21:55,760 --> 00:21:59,199
Speaker 1: signing him, they have done what they said they would do,

399
00:21:59,240 --> 00:22:02,239
Speaker 1: which is not mine. They're adding players, yes, are they

400
00:22:02,280 --> 00:22:07,199
Speaker 1: star caliber players, No, they're mostly depth pieces, complementary parts.

401
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Speaker 1: Harrison Bader centerfielder, free agent signing, Sean Mania left handed pitcher,

402
00:22:12,520 --> 00:22:15,640
Speaker 1: free agent signing. These guys are competent major leaguers, don't

403
00:22:15,640 --> 00:22:19,240
Speaker 1: get me wrong, but Bater gets hurt a lot. Manaia's inconsistent,

404
00:22:19,680 --> 00:22:23,680
Speaker 1: and really they haven't done much in terms of upgrading

405
00:22:23,680 --> 00:22:26,720
Speaker 1: this roster. It's kind of what they said we're going

406
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Speaker 1: for twenty twenty five and beyond. That's why they traded

407
00:22:29,119 --> 00:22:32,200
Speaker 1: sherz Are in Verlander. They wanted to retool and kind

408
00:22:32,200 --> 00:22:35,280
Speaker 1: of move forward. But when you're talking about a division

409
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Speaker 1: with the Phillies and the Braves, I'm not all that

410
00:22:37,320 --> 00:22:40,160
Speaker 1: excited about their chances. Take a look at their rotation

411
00:22:40,520 --> 00:22:44,600
Speaker 1: with Manaya, it's still not all that imposing. Kodai senga

412
00:22:44,720 --> 00:22:48,360
Speaker 1: great rookie year, Jose Quintana, Luis Severino, maybe they can

413
00:22:48,400 --> 00:22:51,920
Speaker 1: rebuild him. Maybe Manaia adopting the splitter last year will

414
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Speaker 1: change his career. Then Adrian Hauser, who they acquired in

415
00:22:55,000 --> 00:22:58,639
Speaker 1: the trade with the Brewers. They also made some interesting

416
00:22:58,960 --> 00:23:02,160
Speaker 1: additions in the bullpen, no big names, but guys will

417
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Speaker 1: fill it out. And what's interesting to me here is

418
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Speaker 1: while they didn't do much in free agency this year,

419
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Speaker 1: next year's free agent class, presuming they're going to be

420
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Speaker 1: active again, and this is again is what they're pointing

421
00:23:13,520 --> 00:23:17,000
Speaker 1: to twenty twenty five and beyond well, next year's class

422
00:23:17,200 --> 00:23:20,920
Speaker 1: is star started. Juan Soto is in that class. Pete

423
00:23:20,920 --> 00:23:23,800
Speaker 1: Alonzo is in the class. They might want to resign him.

424
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Speaker 1: Paul Goldschmid I would expect he'll resign with the Cardinals.

425
00:23:27,520 --> 00:23:30,320
Speaker 1: Al Tuvey and Bregman are potential free agents. I don't

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00:23:30,359 --> 00:23:33,240
Speaker 1: know that the Astros will sign both. Corbyn Burns is

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00:23:33,240 --> 00:23:36,200
Speaker 1: a free agent. There is a lot of players, or

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00:23:36,280 --> 00:23:39,240
Speaker 1: are a lot of players available. I'm forgetting Max Freed,

429
00:23:39,240 --> 00:23:42,840
Speaker 1: I'm forgetting Walker Buehler, I'm forgetting Shane Bieber. It's a

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00:23:43,040 --> 00:23:46,720
Speaker 1: pretty good group. So the Mets, I would expect would

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00:23:46,760 --> 00:23:49,400
Speaker 1: be more active next year, but I don't expect them

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00:23:49,400 --> 00:23:53,040
Speaker 1: to be highly competitive in the Anal East this year.

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00:23:53,119 --> 00:23:55,800
Speaker 1: They'll be good. They'll be at least a five hundred team.

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00:23:56,080 --> 00:23:58,399
Speaker 1: Maybe they'll get the third wild card, but I'm not

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00:23:58,520 --> 00:24:02,760
Speaker 1: all that excited about what I'm seeing. Next question comes

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00:24:02,960 --> 00:24:08,840
Speaker 1: from Van City Red Sox fan at djbef Thief. Van

437
00:24:08,920 --> 00:24:12,359
Speaker 1: City Red Sox fan asks why is John Henry so

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00:24:12,480 --> 00:24:15,800
Speaker 1: restricted with contracts and spending the last several seasons. It's

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00:24:15,920 --> 00:24:19,439
Speaker 1: very frustrating for Red Sox fans. Indeed it is, and

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00:24:19,480 --> 00:24:21,680
Speaker 1: I would suggest that this question go to the Red

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00:24:21,680 --> 00:24:25,680
Speaker 1: Sox owner, John Henry. But John Henry, it seems, does

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00:24:25,760 --> 00:24:29,040
Speaker 1: not really talk very often publicly. In fact, I can't

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00:24:29,080 --> 00:24:33,040
Speaker 1: remember the last time he spoke publicly, and I would

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00:24:33,119 --> 00:24:36,360
Speaker 1: think Red Sox fans are getting frustrated. I know they

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00:24:36,359 --> 00:24:39,520
Speaker 1: are getting frustrated. And what we have seen, as Chris

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00:24:39,520 --> 00:24:43,040
Speaker 1: Catillo first reported on masslive dot com, is a team

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00:24:43,040 --> 00:24:45,920
Speaker 1: that seems intent on kind of keeping the payroll down again,

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00:24:46,400 --> 00:24:50,040
Speaker 1: at least down relative to its standing as a big

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00:24:50,080 --> 00:24:53,639
Speaker 1: market team. And I wrote with Jim McCaffrey on Friday

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00:24:53,800 --> 00:24:57,720
Speaker 1: about the possibility of trading Masatake Yeshida, a free agent

451
00:24:57,760 --> 00:25:00,000
Speaker 1: they signed last year who tailed off in the second

452
00:25:00,640 --> 00:25:04,399
Speaker 1: Maybe signing taskar Hernandez. They don't seem to be in

453
00:25:04,480 --> 00:25:07,080
Speaker 1: the mix for the biggest free agent pitchers, even though

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00:25:07,119 --> 00:25:11,520
Speaker 1: they need an ace. So I'm not sure when this

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00:25:11,600 --> 00:25:15,200
Speaker 1: team is going to start really firing on full throttle again.

456
00:25:15,680 --> 00:25:18,639
Speaker 1: That's the term that, of course Tom Werner, their chairman,

457
00:25:18,760 --> 00:25:21,680
Speaker 1: used at the start of the off season. There's still time.

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00:25:21,880 --> 00:25:24,880
Speaker 1: Maybe they'll do something to surprise us. They've made under

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00:25:24,920 --> 00:25:28,439
Speaker 1: Craig Wrestler, their new chief baseball officer, a number of

460
00:25:28,600 --> 00:25:32,000
Speaker 1: nice complimentary moves, and the sale trade is interesting. It

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00:25:32,000 --> 00:25:36,920
Speaker 1: brings in Vaughn Grissom. But remember they talked about full throttle.

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00:25:37,440 --> 00:25:41,040
Speaker 1: What we've seen is not full throttle. Finally, we get

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00:25:41,040 --> 00:25:43,440
Speaker 1: to our next question. This one is interesting too. It's

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00:25:43,440 --> 00:25:47,119
Speaker 1: about the Minnesota Twins and it comes from Steven. Steven

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00:25:47,240 --> 00:25:50,879
Speaker 1: asks any rumblings regarding the Twins. They've been really quiet

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00:25:50,880 --> 00:25:53,080
Speaker 1: this offseason, even in the trade market, where they have

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00:25:53,119 --> 00:25:56,280
Speaker 1: been very busy in the last couple of years. Steven,

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00:25:56,280 --> 00:25:58,600
Speaker 1: you're absolutely right, and the Twins are one of these

469
00:25:58,640 --> 00:26:03,080
Speaker 1: teams in regional TV purgatory, not exactly sure what their

470
00:26:03,080 --> 00:26:05,800
Speaker 1: revenues will be, and they're using that as the reason

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00:26:06,280 --> 00:26:09,320
Speaker 1: why they're not going out and spending. Maida has left

472
00:26:09,359 --> 00:26:11,479
Speaker 1: as a free agent. They've also lost Sonny Gray as

473
00:26:11,520 --> 00:26:14,080
Speaker 1: a free agent. Now they feel good about the starting

474
00:26:14,200 --> 00:26:18,680
Speaker 1: rotation that they have. It's of course Pablo Lopez, It's

475
00:26:19,000 --> 00:26:22,639
Speaker 1: Chris Paddick coming back full time this year. It's Joe Ryan,

476
00:26:23,200 --> 00:26:27,440
Speaker 1: It's Bailey Ober and it's also Louis Varland. It's okay,

477
00:26:28,040 --> 00:26:30,359
Speaker 1: but they could use one more now. They've talked about

478
00:26:30,400 --> 00:26:35,480
Speaker 1: trading Polanco, possibly trading Kepler or someone else like Kyle Farmer.

479
00:26:36,160 --> 00:26:38,800
Speaker 1: Nothing like that has happened yet, perhaps because there are

480
00:26:38,840 --> 00:26:41,639
Speaker 1: still a lot of free agents out there. But this

481
00:26:41,720 --> 00:26:44,320
Speaker 1: is a team that has a really exciting young nucleus.

482
00:26:44,359 --> 00:26:46,679
Speaker 1: We saw some of these guys last year, Royce Lewis

483
00:26:46,680 --> 00:26:49,960
Speaker 1: and Julian and Matt Walmer. They might win the Al

484
00:26:50,080 --> 00:26:53,119
Speaker 1: Central anyway, even if they don't do much. But if

485
00:26:53,160 --> 00:26:55,280
Speaker 1: you're a Twins fan, you'd certainly like to see a

486
00:26:55,280 --> 00:26:58,240
Speaker 1: bit more activity. Thanks to everyone for all your questions,

487
00:26:58,280 --> 00:27:00,560
Speaker 1: Thank you for watching, for listening. You know where to

488
00:27:00,560 --> 00:27:04,959
Speaker 1: find us, where to subscribe and to like YouTube, Apple, Spotify.

489
00:27:05,640 --> 00:27:08,240
Speaker 1: Next week's show will be on Tuesday. We're going to

490
00:27:08,280 --> 00:27:11,040
Speaker 1: observe the Martin Luther King Junior Holiday on Monday. We'll

491
00:27:11,040 --> 00:27:13,800
Speaker 1: be back with Fair Territory on Tuesday, and you will

492
00:27:13,800 --> 00:27:16,840
Speaker 1: see me on Foul Territory at some point this week

493
00:27:16,880 --> 00:27:17,840
Speaker 1: as well.

494
00:27:18,000 --> 00:27:20,160
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