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Speaker 1: I'm skeptical still until I see a deal, and if

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Speaker 1: a deal happens, great, it's the best thing for both parties.

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Speaker 2: Did Jays need him? He is a homegrown player.

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Speaker 3: It's insid scoop time with Ken Rosenthal. It is presented

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Speaker 3: by Homage new brand partner. Very excited about that, wearing

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Speaker 3: their shirt. We'll talk more about that in a little bit,

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Speaker 3: but let's get right to Ken. Ken, good to see you,

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Speaker 3: and I want to touch on actually first, if you

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Speaker 3: don't mind, because we didn't get to it the other day,

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Speaker 3: your Tiger's story. So you wrote recently about Trek Scougble

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Speaker 3: and Jack Flaherty, and I just want to say also,

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Speaker 3: how I think the Tigers are going to be pretty

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Speaker 3: damn good this year. So can you give us a

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Speaker 3: little more insight on what you wrote about.

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Speaker 1: What I wrote about was essentially how Schooble and Flaherty

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Speaker 1: arguably the Tigers two best pictures right now, most accomplished pitchers.

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Speaker 2: For sure.

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Speaker 1: They push each other and they're good for each other.

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Speaker 1: And part of this is when you have a younger

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Speaker 1: team like the Tigers, even a guy like School who

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Speaker 1: is somewhat of a veteran but not totally a veteran,

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Speaker 1: and you bring in another veteran, as the Tigers did

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Speaker 1: last season before trading Flaherty, that has intangible benefits. And

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Speaker 1: when guys can push each other and learn from each

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Speaker 1: other and kind of just feed off each other, that's

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Speaker 1: a good thing and it's helpful to a club. So

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Speaker 1: they have a good relationship. That was a part of

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Speaker 1: what this was about, and just how they learned from

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Speaker 1: each other and how they can't be exactly alike, right Flherty,

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Speaker 1: he can't have what school. He can't do what school

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Speaker 1: does on the mound. School can't do what Flowerty does

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Speaker 1: on the mound. But while Flowerty would love to have

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Speaker 1: School's change up, at least he can talk to him.

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Speaker 1: They can talk pitching, same with schoobl wanting Flowerty slider.

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Speaker 1: So that was what it was really about. And I

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Speaker 1: want to see this team play. I believe their pitching

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Speaker 1: is going to be really good. I am not as

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Speaker 1: convinced by their offense and that is the trouble spot

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Speaker 1: for me. And also a team that was so reliant

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Speaker 1: on its bullpen last year should be good again, no question,

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Speaker 1: But bullpen z year to year. Scott, we talk about

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Speaker 1: this all the time.

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Speaker 4: They're volatile, and maybe those two guys can help Jackson

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Speaker 4: Joe become who they really think Jackson Job's going to be.

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Speaker 4: That value is never going to be seen on paper.

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Speaker 4: But I yeah, I loved what you what you talked

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Speaker 4: about with the Tigers and what's happening there. What about

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Speaker 4: the Jays? What about your guy, Vladdie? Are him and

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Speaker 4: the Jays? Are they at a inflection point?

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Speaker 2: Yes? They are.

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Speaker 1: And he is not my guy anymore than any of

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Speaker 1: the other seven hundred plus players are my guy. I've

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Speaker 1: been writing about him a lot, yes, because he's been

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Speaker 1: in the news, and essentially Mark Schapiro, their president, came

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Speaker 1: out yesterday and said a lot of positive things about

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Speaker 1: how he believes an extension will get done, how he

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Speaker 1: believes Vlad is going to sign, how he still sees

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Speaker 1: him as a legacy player.

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Speaker 2: All of that.

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Speaker 1: Sounds great and if it indeed leads to a deal, fantastic.

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Speaker 1: But I will believe it when I see it. With

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Speaker 1: the Jays, because they've had opportunities to sign Guerrero, as

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Speaker 1: we've talked about, as I've written about numerous times over

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Speaker 1: the years, the difference in their last offer and what

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Speaker 1: Guerrero wants in present day value is about fifty million dollars. Now,

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Speaker 1: Shapiro said, that's an oversimplification. Fine, it's not that much

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Speaker 1: of an oversimplification where they're that far apart. So the

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Speaker 1: question now is do you get this done before opening

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Speaker 1: day or do you, as he kind of alluded to,

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Speaker 1: let this go to free agency. And if you let

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Speaker 1: it go to free agency, then all bets are off.

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Speaker 1: So it's an interesting spot that Jays are in. It's

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Speaker 1: been an interesting spot for a while. I see no

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Speaker 1: reason why they shouldn't get done when this relatively close.

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Speaker 2: But I still wonder whether.

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Speaker 1: The Jays value Guerrero to the point where they are

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Speaker 1: going to actually sign him. Now, yes, they made an

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Speaker 1: amazing offer four hundred and fifty million dollars for first Baseman,

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Speaker 1: A lot of people would say anywhere sane. But at

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Speaker 1: the same time, it also didn't get it done. So

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Speaker 1: let's see if they get it done. And Shapiro also said,

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Speaker 1: among other things, well, it's beyond the point of being rational. Well,

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Speaker 1: that's not a ring endorsement for what you're doing. So

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Speaker 1: I just have my suspicions. I wouldn't say suspicions I'm

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Speaker 1: skeptical still until I see a deal, and if a

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Speaker 1: deal happens, great, it's the best thing for both parties.

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Speaker 1: The Jays need him.

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Speaker 2: He is a homegrown player.

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Speaker 1: He is a native Canadian because of course his dad,

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Speaker 1: Flat Senior, was playing for the Expos at the time.

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Speaker 2: He was born. He wants to stay.

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Speaker 1: This is a team that has had a hard time

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Speaker 1: getting players, the big free agents to take their money

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Speaker 1: in the last couple of years. Here's a guy who

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Speaker 1: wants to be there, has given them a number five

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Speaker 1: hundred million that will keep him there again. This should

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Speaker 1: get done.

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Speaker 5: I agree totally, and I think it's the right move,

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Speaker 5: especially for the Blue Jays if taken figure it out.

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Speaker 5: You wrote a little bit about the Braves the other day.

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Speaker 5: You talked about how they might be the best contender

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Speaker 5: to the Dodgers getting to winning the National League Pennant

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Speaker 5: your thoughts on that a little more, talk a little

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Speaker 5: bit in depth. They just signed Verdugo when he comes up,

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Speaker 5: we don't know, putting a little pressure on De la

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Speaker 5: Cruz and some other outfielders. But talk a little about

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Speaker 5: the Braves and what you think you expect from them

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Speaker 5: coming up this year.

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Speaker 2: Todd.

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Speaker 1: I wrote that before they signed Verdugo, and I based

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Speaker 1: it on a couple of things. One, just the roster,

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Speaker 1: which projects to be, as you mentioned, the second best

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Speaker 1: team in baseball, and most of the projection systems see

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Speaker 1: them that way. Then the idea of the depth that

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Speaker 1: they've built just in the month of March Nerris kimberl

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Speaker 1: minor league contracts, now Verdugo. They have seemingly done some

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Speaker 1: things here that could help them.

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Speaker 2: James McCann is another one.

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Speaker 1: A backup catcher.

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Speaker 2: So I liked all that, and I really like their starting.

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Speaker 1: Rotation, and I made I wouldn't say the mistake, but

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Speaker 1: I fell into the trap of falling or at least

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Speaker 1: paying too close attention to spring training results. And this

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Speaker 1: week alone you saw Smith, Jover and Schwellenbach and Strider

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Speaker 1: have huge starts, really impressive starts, lots of strikeouts, and

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Speaker 1: it just seems to me their rotation is going to

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Speaker 1: be a huge strength for them. And while they've got

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Speaker 1: some questions in the bullpen, it seems that they've built

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Speaker 1: offensive depth. They've got Strider coming back at some point,

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Speaker 1: most likely in April. They've got a Kunya coming back

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Speaker 1: in May. Sean Murphy also will be back sometime in April.

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Speaker 1: I just like the overall roster. I like where they are,

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Speaker 1: and if Strider comes back and is anything close to

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Speaker 1: what he was, it's a whole different equation. Now I'm

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Speaker 1: assuming Chris Sale will be as good right now, the

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Speaker 1: Lopez will be good as good. This is baseball. We

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Speaker 1: don't know what's going to happen year to year with players.

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Speaker 1: But I just like where they are and I kind

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Speaker 1: of see them as being underplayed right now. All focus

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Speaker 1: so much on the Dodgers rightly, so the roster is amazing,

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Speaker 1: but the Braves have a pretty darn good roster too.

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Speaker 4: On Phillies on fair Territory, you talked about the Phillies lawsuit.

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Speaker 4: Is there anything new that we need to know about

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Speaker 4: or is there anything that is coming down the road

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Speaker 4: that since yesterday when you talked about it, not that.

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Speaker 1: I know of, And I will admit I didn't pursue

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Speaker 1: this that heavily. We had Matt Gelb of The Athletic

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Speaker 1: who wrote a good detailed story about what this is

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Speaker 1: and the context behind it. It just was interesting to

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Speaker 1: me that a company like Zealous, which is the company

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Speaker 1: that the Phillies are suing would violate an agreement, which

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Speaker 1: is what the Phillies were alleging by sharing proprietary information

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Speaker 1: within the division. The Phillies have this deal where the

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Speaker 1: information they get from Zealous is information just for themselves

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Speaker 1: as far as the Anaal East is concerned. So we'll

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Speaker 1: see where this goes. And the point I was making

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Speaker 1: on fair Territory yesterday was simply that, Hey, you've got

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Speaker 1: an analytics department now of forty plus people. Why do

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Speaker 1: you need to outsource anything? To go to another company

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Speaker 1: for anything? I don't really follow that. Maybe somebody can

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Speaker 1: explain that to me in some analytics department somewhere. Maybe

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Speaker 1: I'm missing something possible, but it just seems to me

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Speaker 1: you should have confidence in your own people to get

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Speaker 1: it done. Maybe there's some information that is just more

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Speaker 1: easily processed by one of these larger companies. I don't know,

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Speaker 1: but that was the one thing that stood out to me.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, Ken for me, I think it's a fascinating story.

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Speaker 3: And I do know just from talking to people in

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Speaker 3: the analytics world, that sometimes there's a company that might

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Speaker 3: have something proprietary and they're really good at making it

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Speaker 3: proprietary and that gives them value. So I'm looking at

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Speaker 3: it like, hey, I give credit to any team that's

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Speaker 3: looking for a legal edge in any way. So I

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Speaker 3: wanted to harp on that for Philadelphia that they're saying

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Speaker 3: Dave dombrask who's been in the league for a long time,

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Speaker 3: looks and says, there's something here that's doing something that

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Speaker 3: will help us, and if it can get us a

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Speaker 3: few more wins, let's go for it. And the guy

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Speaker 3: who was running that company used to work for them,

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Speaker 3: so he leaves, and hey, I mean he probably is

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Speaker 3: going to get compensation if he's running a company like

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Speaker 3: that and he's able to control his situation. Unless you're

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Speaker 3: the what the GM or somebody like that, you're not

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Speaker 3: necessarily making millions of dollars. So my thing was, I

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Speaker 3: was like, I give credit to the Phillies, but I'm

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Speaker 3: with you on the other side is how does a

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Speaker 3: company think they're going to pull that off with a

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Speaker 3: team when they really only had one year left on

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Speaker 3: the contract. Like I read the article, it was fascinatings

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Speaker 3: really good, but they're trying to be like, oh, well

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Speaker 3: we'll give you a discount, you're still paying more than

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Speaker 3: everyone else. We're also going to share this with everyone.

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Speaker 3: I just I found it fascinating how I think the

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Speaker 3: Phillies felt like it was personal. You're stealing our employees,

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Speaker 3: You're now not honoring the contract, so we're coming after you.

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Speaker 1: No, I totally agree with everything you're saying, Scott, And

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Speaker 1: don't get me wrong, Yes, the Phillies are right to

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Speaker 1: seek every possible edge they can, even if it's just

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Speaker 1: to cut the company off from the rest of the division.

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Speaker 2: Who knows.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, so I buy all that, and I buy that, Yes,

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Speaker 1: perhaps a company like Zella's can come up with some

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Speaker 1: things that maybe the Phillies don't have or any other team,

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Speaker 1: but you also build it analytics department of forty one people.

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Speaker 1: Whatever the number is, I think it's forty one. It

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Speaker 1: just seems to me that should be enough at some point.

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Speaker 1: And again, I'm coming at this just from an outside perspective,

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Speaker 1: and I'm not pretending to be an expert on this,

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Speaker 1: but that's just my outside thought on it. And yeah,

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Speaker 1: all the credit in the world of the Phillies for

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Speaker 1: trying here, we all credit every team for trying.

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Speaker 2: But it's just a.

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Speaker 1: Really curious story and a curious situation.

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Speaker 5: So we have had well, you were at as camp

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Speaker 5: talking a little bit about them. We had Lawrence Butler

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Speaker 5: on the other day and we asked him a question

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Speaker 5: about the division, like, Hey, how do you guys stack up?

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Speaker 5: Their team's not bad, they made some good acquisitions in

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Speaker 5: the offseason. He's like, we're coming for first place. We're

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Speaker 5: gonna win the division. I want to hear your thoughts

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Speaker 5: on that. And you talk a little bit about the

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Speaker 5: Rangers revival, like it's gonna be it's gonna be jam

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Speaker 5: packed over there in the West. I think it's gonna

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Speaker 5: be really good. Give me your thoughts on the West.

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Speaker 1: It's really interesting. Mike Petriello ofml dot Com mentioned this

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Speaker 1: early this spring about how Fangrafts rates the three top

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Speaker 1: teams in the division Texas, Seattle, and Houston as almost even,

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Speaker 1: which is really rare to have three teams almost even.

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Speaker 1: And the Angels certainly are improved. The A's on paper

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Speaker 1: as well, certainly improve. So I expect this division to

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Speaker 1: be really competitive, and we've got wild cards too. Are

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Speaker 1: the Astros going to turn to Cam.

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Speaker 2: Smith right away or wait for him? And will he

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Speaker 2: make an impact?

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Speaker 1: There are all kinds of variables in play. The one

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Speaker 1: thing with the A's todd that I want to see

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Speaker 1: kind of come together is just how the team gels,

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Speaker 1: because when you add a lot of new pieces Severino,

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Speaker 1: Jeffrey Springs right down the line, it doesn't necessarily translate

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Speaker 1: into cohesive unit right away. It might take some time

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Speaker 1: and maybe the team is not as good as you thought.

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Speaker 1: They're gonna need continued progress from guys like Butler and

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Speaker 1: bl Dat. Brent Rooker, of course, is going to be

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Speaker 1: Brent Rooker. So I want to see it play out.

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Speaker 1: But yes, on paper, they're better. Now, are they good

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Speaker 1: enough to challenge those three top teams?

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Speaker 2: I'm not so sure.

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Speaker 1: I'm very much curious about Houston.

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Speaker 2: I'm not convinced that.

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Speaker 1: They're going to be a better team without Bregnant, without Tucker,

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Speaker 1: without Presley.

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Speaker 2: But they're always going to be somewhere in the mix.

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Speaker 2: I still like Texas.

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Speaker 1: I like what they've done bringing in Peterson and Berger

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Speaker 1: and some of the other moves that they've made, and

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Speaker 1: Seattle with their pitching, you cannot discount them, even though

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Speaker 1: offensively bringing in Donovan Solano and Joey Polanco probably wasn't enough.

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Speaker 1: So it's a fascinating division. I can't wait to see

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Speaker 1: how it plays out.

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Speaker 3: Ken, let's finish with this. We just had a long

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Speaker 3: conversation about the Pittsburgh Pirates with Dan from DK Sports.

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Speaker 3: Did you get a chance to check out his article?

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Speaker 3: And hey, I think it was about a year ago

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Speaker 3: you wrote a really long article about the Pirates organization.

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Speaker 3: What's going on there? Where are we at a year later?

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Speaker 1: Well, that article certainly was interesting today. And yes, we

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Speaker 1: wrote in our stephen Nesbit and I a year ago

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Speaker 1: about the Pirates and how under Bob Nutting things don't

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Speaker 1: seem to change, and that's still the case now. The

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Speaker 1: point of Dejahon's article today was, Hey, they actually are

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Speaker 1: losing a little bit of money based on the research

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Speaker 1: he did, as much research as he did and his

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Speaker 1: company did. I don't know that we'll ever get the

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Speaker 1: full picture of what a team is spending, but let's

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Speaker 1: take it at face value. Let's assume that what he

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Speaker 1: had and what those guys came up with is pretty

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Speaker 1: much on the money, and I would assume that it's

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Speaker 1: some were close. Right. Okay, the Pirates lost a little

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Speaker 1: bit of money, and you wouldn't want that to be happening.

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Speaker 2: But a couple of things. What are they spending on.

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Speaker 1: As far as renovations, as far as land around the ballpark,

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Speaker 1: all these different things, And why aren't they spending money

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Speaker 1: to make money? Why aren't they running a better business?

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Speaker 1: In short, and that is the rub with the Pirates.

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Speaker 2: Okay, we all.

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Speaker 1: Understand, we do that it's a significant challenge for teams

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Speaker 1: in lower revenue markets to thrive in this environment. Teams do, however,

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Speaker 1: and they compete to a much better extent than the

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Speaker 1: Pirates do.

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Speaker 2: So when you don't.

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Speaker 1: Invest in the club, you can't expect the revenues to rise.

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Speaker 1: And they have not invested in the on field product.

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Speaker 1: They can talk all they want about infrastructure and all that,

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Speaker 1: and then the bottom line becomes, Okay, if you're losing money,

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Speaker 1: if you can't make it work, if you don't want

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Speaker 1: to take the necessary steps to invest in the product,

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Speaker 1: then why not sell the team?

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Speaker 2: And that again is the rub.

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Speaker 1: If you're not going to try, and they in many

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Speaker 1: ways are not trying from a major league standpoint, then

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Speaker 1: just get out and get a new owner.

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Speaker 3: That's the thing. You can do. All this homework and research,

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Speaker 3: and it is fascinating.

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Speaker 2: You're right.

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Speaker 3: The conclusion always ends up with the same response from

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Speaker 3: basically everyone from like the most basic fan to the

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Speaker 3: most intellectual minds in the sport, where just like we

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Speaker 3: don't feel bad for you just part ways. Ken, thank you,

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Speaker 3: appreciate the time. Good to see you you next week

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Speaker 3: the first week later in the week of the Major

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Speaker 3: League season.

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Speaker 1: Yes, absolutely, yes, thank you Ken.

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Speaker 3: Obviously there were two games already which Kennon Alana spoke about.

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Speaker 3: They gave a big shout out to the Tokyo Series MLB,

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Speaker 3: the Dodgers, the Cubs, the Japanese players all crushed it.

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Speaker 3: But if you want to hear more, fair Territory is

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Speaker 3: the spot with Alana and with Ken, and I'll say

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Speaker 3: it like I did at the top, thank you to

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Speaker 3: Homage for being a little part of inside Scoop Homage

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Speaker 3: dot com slash foul Territory. Use the code foul Territory

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Speaker 3: for twenty percent off for first time Homage choppers. I

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Speaker 3: know many of you in the chat right now say

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Speaker 3: you're already big fans of Homage to go check out

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Speaker 3: some new items. We'll show some of them off throughout

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Speaker 3: the next few weeks. I don't know if this one's

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Speaker 3: new or not, but that's cool. I loved NBA jam too.

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Speaker 3: You give me a little MLB jam action. And I'm

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Speaker 3: supporting the Lindor Soto today.

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Speaker 5: Nice.

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Speaker 4: He's on fire.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, where are we at?

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Speaker 5: Heating up the nail in the coffin?

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Speaker 4: I know, I was reading. I was reading The Power

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Speaker 4: looking at that was like, yeah, that's cool. I'll be pissed.

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Speaker 4: I'd be pissed a shirt like that. No chance, of

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Speaker 4: course you would take John Stockton. I think it was

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Speaker 4: John Stockton and Scottie Pip. I was a Scotty, I

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Speaker 4: mean John Stockton in Carmelone and then it was I took.

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Speaker 4: It was Pipping and Horace Grant.

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Speaker 3: Because Jordan Jordan wasn't in there, Jordan.

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Speaker 5: I was Scottie Skyles guy just shooting threes all the

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Speaker 5: Phoenix sigh.

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Speaker 3: No Orlando Magic, Orlando right right right, yep, that's good.

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Speaker 2: Penny was in there.

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Speaker 5: Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Yeah.

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Speaker 3: So anyway, there are awesome shirts. Go check them out,

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Speaker 3: and just for us, twenty percent off for the Ft family.

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Speaker 3: It's not there normally, so go check it out.