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Speaker 1: We at the Baltimore Sun Me in particular, we'll call

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Speaker 1: it whatever the heck we want to call it, and

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Speaker 1: I would expect that we will do the same at

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Speaker 1: the Athletic for the Sacramento as Welcome everyone to the

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Speaker 1: Monday edition of Fair Territory. The first spring training camps

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Speaker 1: open in less than a week, the first games, the

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Speaker 1: first exhibition games or in less than three weeks, and

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Speaker 1: the free agent signings continue. Sunday night brought a big one,

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Speaker 1: Jack Flaherty back to the Tigers, essentially, as you can see,

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Speaker 1: announced it himself on X Then it was simply a

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Speaker 1: matter of what the terms would be, and the terms

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Speaker 1: were as listed right there, two years, thirty five million

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Speaker 1: with an opt out. Now, the second year is technically

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Speaker 1: a player option, and as you saw in the thread

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Speaker 1: that I posted last night, that ten million dollar player

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Speaker 1: option can increase to twenty million if he simply makes

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Speaker 1: fifteen starts. So I expect Flowerdy to have a good year.

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Speaker 1: I expect him to opt out, and at that point

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Speaker 1: he will be eligible for a qualifying offer as long

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Speaker 1: as he doesn't get traded the way he was last season.

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Speaker 1: He has yet to receive a qualifying offer. So that

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Speaker 1: could hinder him somewhat next year the way it's hindering

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Speaker 1: Nick Pivetta right now. But if Flowerty has a second

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Speaker 1: consecutive season, he's going to be just fine. So this

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Speaker 1: is a big move and a move that we might

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Speaker 1: have anticipated when watching or when participating in the BBWAA

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Speaker 1: Awards broadcast on Foul Territory just over about a week ago.

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Speaker 1: And here is what Tarek Schouble, Flowerty's former and now

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Speaker 1: future teammate, said on FT.

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Speaker 2: I mean, I love Jackie's a hell of a talent.

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Speaker 2: That's such a I would say. I mean, if there's

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Speaker 2: a guy I want on the mountain, that's that's not

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Speaker 2: me on our team, I want him on the mountain.

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Speaker 2: I mean, he's last season was special. K for nine

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Speaker 2: was I think career high walks for nine, career low.

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Speaker 2: That's kind of the formula right in the postseason, as

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Speaker 2: you want guys that can miss bats and gets you

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Speaker 2: out of trouble. And you know, you saw his starts.

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Speaker 2: I think he only had one bad one. All the

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Speaker 2: other ones were pretty dominant, you know, in terms of

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Speaker 2: who he is, and and he was going through some

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Speaker 2: stuff too, you know, physically with his body and just

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Speaker 2: him being able to take the ball every fifth day.

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Speaker 2: You see the toughness that that kind of guy has

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Speaker 2: and I think he, you know, has the respect to

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Speaker 2: the guys in our clubhouse.

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Speaker 1: Pretty strong endorsement from the American League Sy Young Winner

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Speaker 1: Derek Scoobel. And now let's look at the Tigers rotation

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Speaker 1: with Flowherty joining Schooble, because he's suddenly looking pretty darn good.

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Speaker 1: Those two guys are at the top, Schooble, Flowerty, you

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Speaker 1: see Rhys Olsen, Alex Cobb, and the great prospect Jackson Job.

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Speaker 1: That could be the rotation, but you have other options.

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Speaker 1: Casey My is cater Montero, who had a pretty good

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Speaker 1: year for them last year, and brand Hunter. So that's

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Speaker 1: their rotation, and now their off season is coming into

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Speaker 1: better focus as well. Here are some of the moves

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Speaker 1: that they've made. Glabor Torres the infielder, of course, second baseman.

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Speaker 1: He is going to move Cold Keith to first base,

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Speaker 1: Alex Cobb joining that rotation, and saw his name Tommy

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Speaker 1: Cainley a very good year for the New York Yankees

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Speaker 1: last season. He's, of course, is a change up specialist.

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Speaker 1: And now Flaherty the question now for the Tigers is

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Speaker 1: is there one more move left? And is that move

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Speaker 1: Alex Bregman. The Tigers payroll currently, according to Fangrafts, is

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Speaker 1: estimated to be one hundred and forty two million. That

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Speaker 1: would be the highest in the Al Central, edging the

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Speaker 1: Minnesota Twins by a little bit, and the highest for

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Speaker 1: the Tigers since twenty seventeen. If you signed Bregman for

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Speaker 1: likely twenty five million plus a year, that takes it

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Speaker 1: even higher. Can they afford it? Of course they can

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Speaker 1: afford it. Will they do it? I'm not so sure.

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Speaker 1: Now they are still sitting on Javier Bias's six year,

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Speaker 1: one hundred and forty million dollar contract. That is not

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Speaker 1: a great contract, obviously a couple of years remaining. It

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Speaker 1: was done by the previous front office, but it is

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Speaker 1: that kind of serves as a warning sign for the

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Speaker 1: current front office, and the current front office has been

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Speaker 1: quite vocal about keeping opportunities open for their younger players.

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Speaker 1: They currently have Jace Young slay it in at third base.

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Speaker 1: He is a promising guy, good hitter, not necessarily a

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Speaker 1: great defender, But my goodness, if you can get Alex Bregman,

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Speaker 1: you have to do that. I've said that for the

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Speaker 1: Red Sox, I've said it for the Astros, and I'll

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Speaker 1: say it for the Detroit Tigers. Bregman is too good,

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Speaker 1: and he's too good a player and a leader. Simply

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Speaker 1: to say we don't need him, We've got Jase Young. No, sorry,

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Speaker 1: doesn't work like that. So the Tigers suddenly looking impressive

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Speaker 1: in an Al Central that includes an improved Royals team

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Speaker 1: they've done some things this offseason and an interesting Guardians club.

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Speaker 1: Now they've done some things too, subtracted added, but this

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Speaker 1: division should be pretty competitive, as it was, of course

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Speaker 1: last season when it produced three postseason teams. For more

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Speaker 1: on the deal, check out Tiger Territory. Cody Staven and

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Speaker 1: my colleague at the Athletic and Kieran Steckley have a

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Speaker 1: fresh episode out now all about how Flowerty fits with

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Speaker 1: the Tigers. Subscribe to Tiger Territory on YouTube and wherever

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Speaker 1: you get your podcasts. Okay, moving on, there are still

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Speaker 1: a number of teams with a lot to do this offseason.

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Speaker 1: The off season doesn't last much longer, but yes, there's

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Speaker 1: still a lot of action, and I want to go

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Speaker 1: through five teams and their remaining needs. This is not

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Speaker 1: a complete list. Don't start yelling at me what about

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Speaker 1: this team? These are five that I've selected. Now we're

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Speaker 1: going to start with the San Diego Padres, and you

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Speaker 1: might have seen a quote from their fan fest over

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Speaker 1: the weekend. Aj Peler, their general manager, said we need

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Speaker 1: to add a bat or two and an arm or two. Now.

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Speaker 1: The Padres have been exceedingly quiet this offseason. Of course,

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Speaker 1: they've got the lawsuit going on between the late owner's widow,

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Speaker 1: Sheiel Seidler, and the late owners brothers, three guys that

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Speaker 1: are all vying for control of the club. Now, the

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Speaker 1: Padres have insisted that is not affecting their operations or

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Speaker 1: in this case, in action speaks louder than words. So

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Speaker 1: what can the Padres do? Well, there are players out there.

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Speaker 1: Bregman doesn't fit for them. They've got Manny Machado at

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Speaker 1: third base. They've got a blood of infielders. Pete Alonzo, Nah,

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Speaker 1: he doesn't really fit for that either. He's gonna cost

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Speaker 1: them too much money. Nick Pavetta, I guess they could

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Speaker 1: do that, but it's gonna cost them draft picks. So

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Speaker 1: I'm not sure what Aj Preller has up his sleeve.

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Speaker 1: But we've seen him act without regard to the normal calendar.

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Speaker 1: Dylan Ceas in March, Luisa rise in May last year.

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Speaker 1: He will do things at different times than other gms,

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Speaker 1: so I anticipate the Padres will have some more moves.

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Speaker 1: On this list of teams with needs, the Red Sox.

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Speaker 1: All season long, all off season long, we've been talking

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Speaker 1: about the Red Sox need for a right handed bat.

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Speaker 1: Have they acquired a right handed bat after losing Tyler O'Neill. No,

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Speaker 1: they have not. The Red Sox are another natural fit

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Speaker 1: for Bregman. They don't seem to be willing to go

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Speaker 1: long term, but I'm not going to rule them out

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Speaker 1: either until he is signed. If the Red Sox acquire Bregman,

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Speaker 1: he would play second base for them, with Devers remaining

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Speaker 1: at third. That is a question all its own, But

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Speaker 1: the Red Sox still need a right handed bat, and

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Speaker 1: if they end up with someone like Randall gritchik, okay,

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Speaker 1: that's fine, but it's not what this offseason held is

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Speaker 1: terms of promise for what they could have done. Number

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Speaker 1: three on this list the Mets with Pete Alonzo. This

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Speaker 1: reunion seems all but inevitable if Alonzo had wanted to

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Speaker 1: go to the Toronto Blue Jays. I believe he would

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Speaker 1: have gone to the Toronto Blue Jays already, but perhaps

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Speaker 1: he has something else in mind, and perhaps the Blue

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Speaker 1: Jays in the end will emerge as the Pete Alonzo winner.

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Speaker 1: I'll believe it when I see it. But the Jays

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Speaker 1: have done some interesting things right Max Scherzer, Alonzo's former

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Speaker 1: teammate with the Mets, signing last week. They've added Anthony

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Speaker 1: santan Dare, Jimi Garcia, Andres Jimenez. They are looking to be,

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Speaker 1: at least it's twenty twenty five a competitive club. Now

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Speaker 1: beyond that, a lot depends on whether they sign Vladimir

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Speaker 1: Guerrero Junior to an extension. We will see about that,

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Speaker 1: but I'm not going to rule out the Blue Jays

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Speaker 1: for Alonzo just yet. As we all know, it seems

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Speaker 1: a lot more logical for him to end up in

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Speaker 1: New York. Back in New York with a team that

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Speaker 1: still needs one more power bat. Number two on my

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Speaker 1: list the Mariners and first base they've signed. The Mariners

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Speaker 1: have two hitters, Orgeye Polanco and Donovan Solano. I like

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Speaker 1: both players, but they still haven't needed first and they've

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Speaker 1: been linked all off season to Justin Turner. They could

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Speaker 1: be a team for pie to Alonso, except they are similarly

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Speaker 1: not willing to pay what it would take. Are they able?

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Speaker 1: I would say that yes, they are able, but they

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Speaker 1: are not willing. So that's a whole thing that you

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Speaker 1: can pretty much rule out. What could they do well?

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Speaker 1: My colleague at the Athletic Jim Bowden, suggested Kobe Mayo

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Speaker 1: from the Orioles they're emerging young first baseman corner fielder

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Speaker 1: as a possibility. The Ools, in my views, still could

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Speaker 1: use a number one starter, even though they've kind of

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Speaker 1: filled up their rotation, They've got a number of options.

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Speaker 1: Louis Castillo would fit. I don't know if the Ools

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Speaker 1: would ever do Kobe Mayo six ers of control for

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Speaker 1: Louis Castillo in decline with a couple of years of control,

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Speaker 1: but perhaps you could fashion some kind of deal around that. Again,

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Speaker 1: I'm skeptical, but the Mariners need a young, promising, up

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Speaker 1: and coming guy in that order along with Solano and Polanco,

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Speaker 1: two veterans. They need help offensively. They have the entire

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Speaker 1: off season, and finally the Yankees. We know what the

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Speaker 1: Yankees need. They need an infielder third basemen would enable

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Speaker 1: them to play jazz at second. Second baseman would enable

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Speaker 1: them to play jazz at third, and they need a

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Speaker 1: left handed reliever. A reunion with Tim Hill would make

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Speaker 1: a lot of sense. So those are just five teams

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Speaker 1: with needs, and the Yankees are probably going to need

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Speaker 1: to trade Marcus Strohman to accomplish what I just described.

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Speaker 1: But again, the five teams with needs, and your team,

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Speaker 1: whoever you might root for, probably has a year or

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Speaker 1: two as well. This is the time of year when

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Speaker 1: teams start to realize maybe they're not as good as

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Speaker 1: they thought they were, and that's why more moves are

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Speaker 1: possible leading into spring training and during spring training. Stay

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Speaker 1: tuned well, well well. Time now for the inside Dish,

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Speaker 1: the part of the show where I talk about maybe

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

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Speaker 1: maybe a story from a long time ago. And today

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Speaker 1: we're going to go back more than three decades to

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Speaker 1: nineteen ninety three when the Oriols were sold to Peter Angelos,

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Speaker 1: and this was a period in their history in which

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Speaker 1: their owner at the time, Eli Jacobs, was in bankruptcy

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Speaker 1: and the team was auctioned off in bankruptcy court. In

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Speaker 1: New York. Eli Jacobs was based in New York, and

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Speaker 1: this was going to be this huge auction, and it

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Speaker 1: turned out to be just that. And in that situation,

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Speaker 1: the Baltimore Sun sent a number of reporters, including myself.

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Speaker 1: I was working for the Sun as a sports columnist

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Speaker 1: at the time, and an interesting scenario developed. Now the

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Speaker 1: day before the auction, the day before this great hearing

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Speaker 1: in New York, I wrote a column in the Baltimore Sun,

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Speaker 1: and I kind of made fun of the guy who

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Speaker 1: is going to be running the auction, a judge named

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Speaker 1: Cornelius Blackshear. And here is what I wrote to kind

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Speaker 1: of kick off the proceedings. Cornelius black Schear. He isn't

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Speaker 1: listed in the Baseball Encyclopedia. His biography does not include

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Speaker 1: his speed from chambers to bench, nor state whether he

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Speaker 1: swings the gavel left or right. For all anyone knows,

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Speaker 1: he thinks Oriole Park is a bird sanctuary. Worse, he

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Speaker 1: probably sold one baseball game in his life and now

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Speaker 1: harbors a secret passion for the New York Yankees. Remember

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Speaker 1: I was writing for the Baltimore paper at the time,

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Speaker 1: so I had a Baltimore bent, a Baltimore Angle on this.

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Speaker 1: The next day we go to court and we're all

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Speaker 1: there gathered and there were a number of heavy hitters

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Speaker 1: in these various rooms before the auction began, and I

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Speaker 1: sort of snuck into one of the rooms and I

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Speaker 1: was listening, and I believe it was Bildwick Junior who

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Speaker 1: went out to own the Cardinals and the Angelos group,

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Speaker 1: and they were working out terms of a possible partnership.

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Speaker 1: So I snuck into the room. And then at the

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Speaker 1: start of the auction, actually before the start of the auction,

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Speaker 1: the judge Cornelius Blackshear summoned me to the bench. I

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Speaker 1: was a little nervous. Now I'm the son of an attorney.

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Speaker 1: I kind of knew my way around a court room,

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Speaker 1: and I kind of knew when a judge calls you

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Speaker 1: up to the bench, it's not a good thing. So

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Speaker 1: the next day in the Baltimore Sun, after the auction,

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Speaker 1: after all went down, one of our editorial page writers

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Speaker 1: wrote kind of a recap of what had happened. And

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Speaker 1: here is the part that he wrote about the particular

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Speaker 1: scene with me. Judge Blackshear unwittingly caused fright among the

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Speaker 1: sons reporting contingent in the courtroom. No sooner had he

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Speaker 1: taken the bench than he asked whether Ken Rosenthal of

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Speaker 1: the Baltimore Sun was in the courtroom. Well, that is

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Speaker 1: what happened. And at that point when he called out

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Speaker 1: my name, as I said, I was a little nervous.

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Speaker 1: I thought that maybe I was in trouble. And here

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Speaker 1: is what happened next, because I was in trouble, but

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Speaker 1: not the kind of trouble that I thought. I thought

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Speaker 1: I was going to be in trouble for sneaking into

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Speaker 1: that other room to hear the meeting that was going on.

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Speaker 1: And here's what the editorial page writer in the Sun wrote,

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Speaker 1: Mister James Keat I believe was his name. As mister

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Speaker 1: Rosenthal tensely acknowledged that he was present, his colleagues braced

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Speaker 1: for trouble. During his delay before the hearing, mister Rosenthal

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Speaker 1: had unobtrusively slipped into a meeting between the Angelos and

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Speaker 1: DeWitt groups. That's what I described, and an attorney representing

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Speaker 1: mister Jacobs, the journalist, feared he had unwittingly broken some

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Speaker 1: sort of judicial rule and was about to be reprimanded.

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Speaker 1: Or I guess the fear could have been that I

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Speaker 1: might have been held in contempt of court, something along

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Speaker 1: those lines. Now it didn't turn out that way, but

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Speaker 1: at the time I was thinking, you know what, I

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Speaker 1: wasn't supposed to be in that meeting. No one knew

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Speaker 1: who I was. I didn't think I didn't know any

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Speaker 1: of the players at the time. Peter Angelos was not

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Speaker 1: someone who had owned a baseball team yet. Bill de

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Speaker 1: Witt was well known somewhat in baseball circles, but he

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Speaker 1: didn't know who the heck I was. And I had

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Speaker 1: been sitting in the back of the courtroom. It's not

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Speaker 1: like anybody would have said, Hey, who is that guy?

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Speaker 1: There were all these people in there who didn't know

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Speaker 1: each other. So this leads to the conclusion of what

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Speaker 1: our editorial page writer wrote. He said, feigning indignation. Judge

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Speaker 1: Blackshear denied he was a secret Yankees fan, announced he

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Speaker 1: had seen six baseball games, beats right handed, and takes

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Speaker 1: nine point eight three seconds to get from his chambers

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Speaker 1: to the bench. In his sports column the previous day,

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Speaker 1: and mister Rosetal had facetiously made some slighting references to

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Speaker 1: the judge in complaining that someone unknown to the baseball

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Speaker 1: world would decide the Oriole's fate. So what had happened

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Speaker 1: was Judge Blackchear was a faithful reader. Now this was

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Speaker 1: in an era before the internet or really had taken off,

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Speaker 1: So I don't know exactly how Judge blacksher had seen

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Speaker 1: this column, but I thought that was pretty cool and

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Speaker 1: I breathed leanless to say, a sigh of relief. Now

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Speaker 1: history knows, or history will record, what happened next the

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Speaker 1: auction that took place. Ultimately it was Peter Angelos, build

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Speaker 1: a Wit and Larry Laquino on one side. They were

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Speaker 1: all partners initially. Of course, this partnership broke up because

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Speaker 1: Peter Angelos wanted full control. DeWitt went on to own

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Speaker 1: the Cardinals. Larry Laquino went on to the Padres the

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Speaker 1: Red Sox. He had an amazing career, could be a

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Speaker 1: Hall of Famer one day. And ultimately the auction came

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Speaker 1: down to Peter Angelos's group and Jeffrey Lauria. Jeffrey Laurier

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Speaker 1: went on after that to become owner of the Marlins

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Speaker 1: because he lost the auction. The Orioles went for one

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Speaker 1: hundred and seventy three million. At the time, it was

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Speaker 1: a record price for a sports franchise. And the next

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Speaker 1: day after the auction, I wrote in the Sun perhaps

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Speaker 1: one of the doubber columns I've ever written. And I

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Speaker 1: know out there you might think I've written a lot

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Speaker 1: of dumb ones, and yeah, I've written some dumb ones

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Speaker 1: from time to time, but this one it's got a

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Speaker 1: rank in the bottom five. What I wrote was that, Okay,

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Speaker 1: the team went for one hundred and seventy three million,

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Speaker 1: and now, how is Peter Angelos going to have enough

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Speaker 1: money left to raise payroll to run the team as

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Speaker 1: he properly should. Well, payroll was never the issue in

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Speaker 1: these early years for Peter Angelos. So I was completely wrong.

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Speaker 1: And not only that, the Angelo's family, thirty plus years later,

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Speaker 1: turned that on one hundred and seventy three million dollar

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Speaker 1: investment into a one point seven to three billion dollars sale,

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Speaker 1: ten times the amount of the initial per worked out

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Speaker 1: pretty well for Peter Angelos, who now of course has

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Speaker 1: passed away, and it worked out well actually for everyone involved.

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Speaker 1: Laurie goes on to the Marlins, Lakino goes on to

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Speaker 1: his great career. DeWitt goes on to the Cardinals, and

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Speaker 1: everyone lived, including me, happily ever after time. Now for

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Speaker 1: Grill and Ken, the part of the show where you

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Speaker 1: guys get to ask me questions. Here we go. First

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Speaker 1: question comes from Nashball, who asks Ken, is there truth

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Speaker 1: to the rumor that if the Athletics or Rays make

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Speaker 1: the playoffs that MLB will not allow postseason games in

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Speaker 1: a minor league park. Actually, Nashball, this is not a rumor.

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Speaker 1: It's already been said that there's no guarantee the A's

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Speaker 1: would play their postseason games should they qualify in Sacramento,

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Speaker 1: and while nothing formal has been said about the Tampa

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Speaker 1: Bay Rays, I would expect the same scenario to be

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Speaker 1: in effect. Now it's possible they could play playoff games

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Speaker 1: at Steinbrenner Field, but it's also possible that maybe they

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Speaker 1: would move them to Miami or some other ballpark. Who

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Speaker 1: knows how it would play out. That's a problem for

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Speaker 1: another day, a problem that might never arise if neither

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Speaker 1: of these teams makes the playoffs. But at the same time,

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Speaker 1: it's an issue. You've got two teams playing in minor

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Speaker 1: league parks this year, and if either or both make

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Speaker 1: the postseason, you're going to have as a league some

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Speaker 1: decisions to make. Okay. The next question comes from Benjamin Berger,

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Speaker 1: who asks why did no one try to outbid the

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Speaker 1: Rays for a great defensive infielder, of course, referring to

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Speaker 1: Hashan Kim. Interesting question, and yeah, I would say that

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Speaker 1: I expected Kim maybe to go back to the Padres

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Speaker 1: or maybe somewhere else. He gets two years, twenty nine

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Speaker 1: million with an opt out from the Rays. He is

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Speaker 1: a really good player. The problem with Kim this year

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Speaker 1: at least is he's coming off shoulder surgery, won't be

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Speaker 1: available until at least May, and no one knows for

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Speaker 1: sure what he's going to be, so I would expect

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Speaker 1: that is why the market was depressed for him. The

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Speaker 1: Padre not really being a factor in terms of free

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Speaker 1: agency this offseason, at least so far. That's another issue,

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Speaker 1: because they loved hash On Kim in San Diego and

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Speaker 1: rightly so. He did really well for them, and it

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Speaker 1: just seemed to me that the surgery and the uncertainty

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Speaker 1: is what affected him. Once Williadamas went to San Francisco,

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Speaker 1: another logical place that kind of changed everything for Kim.

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Speaker 1: The Giants were a one team this offseason that really

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Speaker 1: needed a shortstop. Okay. The final question comes from the

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Speaker 1: control room. Do you have a reaction to John Shay's

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Speaker 1: San Francisco Chronicle article explaining the paper's decision to call

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Speaker 1: them the Sacramento A's. Will the Athletic entertain doing the same? Actually,

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Speaker 1: at the Athletic we have not yet discussed this, but

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Speaker 1: it's a worthy topic, and the A's are basically saying,

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Speaker 1: call us the Athletics. Don't call us Sacramento, don't call

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Speaker 1: us Las Vegas, certainly don't call us Oakland. Well, I

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Speaker 1: remember going back to the Eli Jacobs years. Remember I

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Speaker 1: talked about them inside dish with the Orioles, And that

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Speaker 1: was when Camden Yards opened, and there was this big

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Speaker 1: fight between Jacob's, the owner of the Orioles, and the

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Speaker 1: governor of Maryland, who ran a state that had financed

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Speaker 1: the ballpark, about what to call the stadium. The governor

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Speaker 1: wanted to call it Camden Yards. The owner wanted to

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Speaker 1: call it Oriel Park. So the compromise was reached Oriel

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Speaker 1: Park at Camden Yards. And I remember writing at the

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Speaker 1: time we at the Baltimore Sun me, in particular, We'll

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Speaker 1: call it whatever the heck we want. To call it,

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Speaker 1: and I would expect that we will do the same

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Speaker 1: at the Athletic. For the Sacramento A's, no team dictates

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Speaker 1: what a newspaper or any other media outlet calls them.

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Speaker 1: If they're playing in Sacramento and they don't want to

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Speaker 1: be called Sacramento. Sorry, the A's don't get that choice.

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Speaker 1: The A's don't get any benefit of the doubt. We

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Speaker 1: will call the A's at the Athletic whatever we want

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Speaker 1: to call them. Thanks everyone for your questions, Thanks everyone

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Speaker 1: for watching, for listening. You know where to find us, YouTube, Apple, Spotify,

385
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Speaker 1: like us, subscribe the whole. We will be back Thursday

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Speaker 1: with our normal live show twelve thirty Eastern. Have a

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Speaker 1: great week everyone.

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