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Speaker 1: You have a lot of pride in what you do.

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Speaker 1: You still believe you are a major league player. And

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Speaker 1: you're also not taking a million dollars just over the

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Speaker 1: minimum or even two million. Welcome everyone to the Monday

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Speaker 1: edition of Fair Territory. Have a little bit of a

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Speaker 1: different show in store for you today. I get a

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Speaker 1: lot of complaints that all we talk about and all

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Speaker 1: I write about are the Dodgers and the Mets and

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Speaker 1: the Yankees. So today, even though that is not true,

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Speaker 1: we're gonna do something a little bit I don't know,

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Speaker 1: out of the ordinary. We are going to go through

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Speaker 1: the five teams that I believe are the most improved,

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Speaker 1: who are not named the Dodgers, Mets, and the Yankees.

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Speaker 1: In fact, I'm not even totally convinced the Mets and

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Speaker 1: Yankees are that improved. They're good, no question about it,

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Speaker 1: but significantly improved. That's a debate for another day because

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Speaker 1: we're not talking about them today. We're talking about other teams.

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Speaker 1: So I'm gonna take you through these five teams, discuss

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Speaker 1: them a little bit in depth, each of them, and

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Speaker 1: obviously you guys are free to disagree, but I think

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Speaker 1: these five teams have done a decent job this offseason

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Speaker 1: of putting themselves in a better position. Let's start with

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Speaker 1: my first team. We're not doing this in any particular order,

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Speaker 1: but my first team is the Arizona Diamondbacks. Now, they

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Speaker 1: made one huge move this offseason, of course, that was

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Speaker 1: the signing of Corbyn Burns that came out of nowhere.

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Speaker 1: But the Diamondbacks, if you look at their entirety of

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Speaker 1: the additions that they've made, it's pretty good. Now. Granted,

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Speaker 1: they lost Christian Walker and that was a big loss,

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Speaker 1: but they traded for Josh Naylor, who is in his

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Speaker 1: free agent year and they believe will be a sufficient

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Speaker 1: replacement for Walker, who of course was an offensive and

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Speaker 1: defensive stalwart for them for many years. Randall Gritschick bringing

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Speaker 1: him back. That's a good move for them. Kendall Graveman

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Speaker 1: supplements the bullpen, and the big move, of course is Burns.

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Speaker 1: And what I love about the Diamondbacks if they can

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Speaker 1: keep their rotation intact into October, assuming they get there,

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Speaker 1: would be the ability of them to throw out in

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Speaker 1: a playoff series Corbyn Burns, Zach Gallen, Merril Kelly, and

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Speaker 1: Rod Rodriguez in some order. That's pretty good and for

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Speaker 1: all to talk about the Dodgers and how they're invincible

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Speaker 1: in a best of five division series, even a best

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Speaker 1: of seven NLCS, I would give the Diamondbacks a puncher's chance.

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Speaker 1: They've lost Jack Peterson. I know they've lost Christian Walker.

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Speaker 1: They've lost some pieces, as all teams do. But the

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Speaker 1: addition of Burns makes them quite interesting, to say the least.

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Speaker 1: The next team on my list, a team that really

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Speaker 1: hasn't made dramatic player moves per se, but added a

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Speaker 1: manager who is perhaps the biggest difference maker, or one

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Speaker 1: of them in the game among major league managers. I'm talking,

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Speaker 1: of course, about Terry Francona, the new manager of the

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Speaker 1: Cincinnati Reds. Now When you look at the Reds board

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Speaker 1: and their moves, Brady Singer, We'll see how he does

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Speaker 1: in Great American Ballpark. Jose Travino certainly an adequate and

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Speaker 1: even better than that. Catcher Austin Hayes, Gavin Lux, Nick

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Speaker 1: Martinez coming back, Brent Suitor coming. They've also added Scott

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Speaker 1: Barlow to the bullpen. Are any of those guys for

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Speaker 1: war players or anything like that, Perhaps not, but they've

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Speaker 1: added some depth. They've got Matt McClain coming back to

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Speaker 1: be the second baseman or at least play a lot

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Speaker 1: of second base. I just kind of like where they are,

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Speaker 1: and it seems to me that with all the injuries

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Speaker 1: they had last year and some regression as well among

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Speaker 1: their position players, Francona coming into a good situation. Here.

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Speaker 1: We'll see. We'll see how it all plays out. And again,

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Speaker 1: the Reds are not the Dodgers, but at the same time,

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Speaker 1: in that division, which is a weak division, the NL Central,

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Speaker 1: the Reds could be about to take a step up.

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Speaker 1: The team I next want to talk about is the

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Speaker 1: team that made the Brady Singer trade with the Cincinnati Reds,

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Speaker 1: and that team would be the Kansas City Royals. You

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Speaker 1: remember that trade, Singer to the Reds, Jonathan India and

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Speaker 1: Joey Weimer to the Royals. That's a trade that the

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Speaker 1: Royals believe is going to help them significantly because India

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Speaker 1: will hit leadoff in front of Bobby Wick Junior. You

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Speaker 1: see the Royals' other moves, resigning Michael Waka. That was

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Speaker 1: the big one at the start of the offseason, and

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Speaker 1: when you look at that deal now three years, fifty

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Speaker 1: one million, it looks a lot better. Considering what some

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Speaker 1: of the other starting pitchers got. Michael Lorenzen back as well,

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Speaker 1: and then the big late move for Carlos Estevez Estevez

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Speaker 1: and Lucas Ersag at the back end of that bullpen

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Speaker 1: could be a pretty fearsome combination. So I like what

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Speaker 1: the Royals have done. It's nothing terribly dramatic, but they

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Speaker 1: were pretty good last year. Of course, made the playoffs,

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Speaker 1: and I expect them to be decent as well this year.

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Speaker 1: Remains to be seen how India is going to perform,

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Speaker 1: how He's going to fit into that situation there. The

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Speaker 1: Royals have a pretty good thing going and I expect

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Speaker 1: that to continue this season. Now, the next team I

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Speaker 1: want to talk about is a little bit further south

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Speaker 1: of Kansas City, well maybe a lot further south. That

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Speaker 1: would be the Texas Rangers, the twenty twenty three World

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Speaker 1: Series champions, who took a pretty big step back last year,

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Speaker 1: in large part because their offense was unproductive. So the

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Speaker 1: Rangers this offen season, they had some significant challenges in

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Speaker 1: front of them. First, they wanted to resign Nathan Valdi.

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Speaker 1: They did that. They also traded Nathaniel Lowe, brought in

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Speaker 1: Jake Berger, signed Jack Peterson brought in Kyle Higashioka as

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Speaker 1: a free agent as well. And the other big challenge

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Speaker 1: that they faced, and you can see right here with

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Speaker 1: some of the additions on the lower half of that screen,

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Speaker 1: they lost almost their entire bullpen Kirby Yates, David Robertson,

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Speaker 1: Jose Leclerk, among others. So they brought in Chris Martin,

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Speaker 1: John Armstrong, Hoby Milner, Jacob Webb, and Luke Jackson. Now

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Speaker 1: Bruce Brochi the manager is going to need to figure

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Speaker 1: out their bullpen as the season progresses, and that's something

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Speaker 1: really that is a challenge for every team. But I

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Speaker 1: do believe that Texas's offense will be better. I believe

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Speaker 1: they're going to bounce back. Jock will be a big

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Speaker 1: addition for them, so will Jake Berger. They're a team

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Speaker 1: also that is getting some injured players back. Evan Carter

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Speaker 1: could be won, Josh Young another one. So they should

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Speaker 1: be in a much better position in what looks to

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Speaker 1: be a hotly contested Ale West, with Seattle and Houston

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Speaker 1: both being quite good, and the projection systems show that Texas,

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Speaker 1: Houston and Seattle are all but even the Angels are

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Speaker 1: better and the a's are better. We'll be back after

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Speaker 1: a quick word from our friends at foul Territory.

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Speaker 1: And finally, the Boston Red Sox. Now, I don't know

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Speaker 1: that they're my most improved team, but I'm saving them

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Speaker 1: for last because they are going to be really interesting. Now. Bregman,

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Speaker 1: of course, is the latest edition. We don't know where

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Speaker 1: he's going to play just yet exactly, but this is

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Speaker 1: a pretty interesting group to say the least. That they've

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Speaker 1: brought in the big trade for Crochety, I expect to

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Speaker 1: sign him to an extension. Walker Bueller that one's a

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Speaker 1: little bit of a wild card. Sandoval won't be around

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Speaker 1: until the second half if that. And then the lefties

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Speaker 1: and the bullpen Chapman and Justin Wilson and this catcher

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Speaker 1: Carlos Nevaaz who came from the Yankees, who a lot

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Speaker 1: of people that were with the Yankees were really high on.

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Speaker 1: The Red Sox are going to be better. And on

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Speaker 1: that list I did not include their big prospects Roman

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Speaker 1: Anthony who likely will play a role well, Christian Campbell

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Speaker 1: who could open the season with the team, and Marcelo Meyer,

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Speaker 1: who at some point could join this club as well.

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Speaker 1: So the Red Sox are on the upswing here and

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Speaker 1: I don't know how it's going to play out for them.

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Speaker 1: I don't know how it's going to play out for anyone,

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Speaker 1: but they are going to be a team to watch.

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Speaker 1: And perhaps now we'll see the Yankees Red Sox rival

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Speaker 1: we rekindled for real. So those are my five teams

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Speaker 1: that I believe are the most improved. And I left

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Speaker 1: some off this list as well. Again we're talking about

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Speaker 1: the teams that are not in New York and the

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Speaker 1: teams that are not named the Los Angeles Dodgers. The

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Speaker 1: teams I considered for this list were the Chicago Cubs.

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Speaker 1: That was one. The Kyle Tucker addition alone was a

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Speaker 1: big one. They also get Ryan Presley, Matthew Boyd. They

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Speaker 1: should be a much better group and than Justin Turner

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Speaker 1: the latest edition. I also looked at the Angels and

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Speaker 1: the A's the Angels. They've built an interesting roster. Now

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Speaker 1: I don't trust the Angels, No one should. We don't

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Speaker 1: know if Mike Trout's going to stay healthy. We know

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Speaker 1: Rendona is already out. But they brought in Kokuchi, they

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Speaker 1: brought in Kenley Jansen, they brought in Jorge Solaire, Travis Darnell,

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Speaker 1: a number of solid type veterans, high character guys too,

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Speaker 1: so they should be better, especially if Trout's stays on

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Speaker 1: the field. How much better I don't know. And then Oakland,

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Speaker 1: at least they have tried attention, Miami, Pittsburgh, et cetera.

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Speaker 1: The A's have tried harder than you have. The A's

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Speaker 1: this offseason. They made their big move for Luis Severino.

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Speaker 1: They also traded for Jeffrey Springs, Edit Gio or Schella,

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Speaker 1: and did some lesser moves around the margins as well.

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Speaker 1: They actually signed jose Le Clerk from the Rangers, the

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Speaker 1: free agent that he was this offseason. So a number

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Speaker 1: of teams have different looks, a number of teams will

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Speaker 1: be better, and we'll be paying attention, and I'll be

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Speaker 1: writing about and talking about a number of teams that

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Speaker 1: aren't the Mets, the Yankees and the Dodgers. I always

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Speaker 1: do that. Actually, Well, oh wow, time now for the

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Speaker 1: inside Dish, the part of the show where I talk

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

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Speaker 1: maybe something else entirely. And today I want to talk

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Speaker 1: about a player that I wrote about a few days ago,

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Speaker 1: Anthony Rizzo I combined on that article with Brendan Cuddy

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Speaker 1: of The Athletic and the article was basically an interview

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Speaker 1: with Rizzo about his current situation. He is still a

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Speaker 1: free agent, and in a year in which a lot

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Speaker 1: of free agent first basemen have signed, he's still out there.

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Speaker 1: He's still unemployed, and at the age of thirty five.

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Speaker 1: He acknowledged to me that this could be the end

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Speaker 1: of his career. Now he doesn't want that to happen.

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Speaker 1: He feels healthy for the first time in a long while.

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Speaker 1: Remember last year he had a couple of injuries that

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Speaker 1: kept him on the il. The year before he had

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Speaker 1: the concussion, So it's really been two years of injury

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Speaker 1: march seasons and decline in offensive ability as well. And

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Speaker 1: of course we've seen Rizzo for years now. He had

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Speaker 1: been quite a consistent player in the last two years,

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Speaker 1: just haven't been up to his previous standard. We know that.

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Speaker 1: So the question is can Anthony Rizzo still be a

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Speaker 1: contributor and will the team see fit to give him

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Speaker 1: the money that he believes is appropriate for a player

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Speaker 1: of his ability and past accomplishment. Now I know and

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Speaker 1: we all know that teams base salaries on what they

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Speaker 1: believe players can do in the future. And Rizzo said

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Speaker 1: one thing to me in our interview that a lot

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Speaker 1: of people, at least in the comments and the responses

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Speaker 1: on Twitter. I don't know if taking offense would be

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Speaker 1: the right word, but people kind of looked at this

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Speaker 1: comment and said, whoa what is he talking about? And

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Speaker 1: the comment was about when he said, hey, teams are

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Speaker 1: basically offering me the minimum, and I'm not going to

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Speaker 1: do anything that's going to set back future generations of players,

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Speaker 1: and the responses were essentially, hey, what is Anthony Rizzo

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Speaker 1: going to do if he takes three million dollars to

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Speaker 1: set back future generations of players? Let me try to explain.

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Speaker 1: And I know money is a sensitive issue for all

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Speaker 1: of us, really, and a lot of us cannot understand

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Speaker 1: how baseball players can ever not want to play even

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Speaker 1: for the minimum salary, which is this year seven hundred

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Speaker 1: and sixty thousand dollars. Well covering this game for almost

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Speaker 1: forty years now, I've come to learn that players, like

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Speaker 1: the rest of us, view themselves, judge themselves with regard

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Speaker 1: to salary as it compares to their peers, so they

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Speaker 1: want to be paid and compensated appropriately based on what

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Speaker 1: their peers are making. That's where this all starts. That's

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Speaker 1: when you see players say, well, I'm not playing for that.

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Speaker 1: I don't like that. It's not that they don't think

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Speaker 1: two million or three million, or four million or ten

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Speaker 1: or fifteen or fifty million is an appropriate number for them.

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Speaker 1: They think if player X is getting this, then I

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Speaker 1: should be getting that. That's just how they think. So Rizzo,

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Speaker 1: you might say, well, if he takes two million, how

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Speaker 1: is that setting back future generations of players. He seems

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Speaker 1: to think that the next group of older free agent

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Speaker 1: first basemen will be in a position where that salary,

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Speaker 1: if he takes a really low salary, will be held

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Speaker 1: against them. And what I mean by that is, let's say,

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Speaker 1: in a year from now or two years from now,

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Speaker 1: Anthony Rizzo's two million dollar salary is out there, and

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Speaker 1: comparable free agent first baseman are out there, They'll be

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Speaker 1: judged against the two million. Teams will say, uh uh,

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Speaker 1: Anthony Rizzo took two million, you're taking that or less,

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Speaker 1: And in many cases it will be less because the

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Speaker 1: players will not have the resume that Anthony Rizzo does.

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Speaker 1: I don't believe that fans reading that people seeing those

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Speaker 1: comments should have been offended by it. And I understand

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Speaker 1: that it's difficult to comprehend what these guys are talking

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Speaker 1: about sometimes, and let's face it, players also sometimes make

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Speaker 1: mistakes in judging their values. Anthony Rizzo might even be

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Speaker 1: an example of that. If you remember, back in March

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Speaker 1: twenty twenty one, I reported that he had turned down

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Speaker 1: a five year, seventy million dollar extension from the Cubs

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Speaker 1: that was entering his free agent year with the Cubs,

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Speaker 1: and he felt at the time that he would be

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Speaker 1: able to exceed that number over the course of five

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Speaker 1: years in his free agent period. Turns out that he

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Speaker 1: hasn't done that. He has gotten fifty six million, not

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Speaker 1: seventy million over the time period. This would be the

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Speaker 1: fifth year, and it doesn't look like he's getting fourteen

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Speaker 1: million this year. So perhaps in retrospect, Rizzo should have

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Speaker 1: taken that extension. But I want people to remember, these guys,

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Speaker 1: as I said earlier, are just like the rest of us.

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Speaker 1: They have a lot of pride in what they do.

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Speaker 1: They value themselves at a certain number, and sometimes maybe

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Speaker 1: teams don't value them the same. Sometimes maybe teams undervalue them.

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Speaker 1: But they go about it in a way that all

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Speaker 1: of us would probably go about it if we were

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Speaker 1: major league players as well. And I know fans out

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Speaker 1: there sometimes think they're playing the kids game. They should

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Speaker 1: be grateful just to make any money at all. Well,

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Speaker 1: it doesn't work exactly like that. And what we see

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Speaker 1: every year at this time of year is a group

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Speaker 1: of free AI agents who are still unemployed, and you

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Speaker 1: wonder what's going to happen to these guys. Well, players

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Speaker 1: do get weeded out of the game. I'm not saying

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Speaker 1: Rizzo is going to be one of them. Maybe someone

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Speaker 1: will get hurt and maybe some team will make him

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Speaker 1: an offer he feels is appropriate for a player of

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Speaker 1: his ability. But there are a lot of players still

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Speaker 1: out there. Jose Cantana among the pitchers who are still

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Speaker 1: out there, David robertson Film Mayton among the relievers. Lance

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Speaker 1: Lynn is another one, Kyle Gibson another one. Andrew Heeney

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Speaker 1: just signed last week. So I don't know if any

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Speaker 1: of those players are going to come back or not.

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Speaker 1: But if you're a Lance Lynn or Kyle Gibson and

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Speaker 1: teams are offering you non roster spots minor league contracts,

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Speaker 1: you're not taking it. You have a lot of pride

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Speaker 1: in what you do. You still believe you are a

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Speaker 1: major league player. And you're also not taking a million

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Speaker 1: dollars just over the minimum or even two million. You

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Speaker 1: want to be compensated fairly in your mind, lance Lynn,

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Speaker 1: Kyle Gibson. They're looking at a situation where a lot

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Speaker 1: of starting pitchers this year got ten million or more

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Speaker 1: of them who are not all that accomplished. So they're saying, hey,

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Speaker 1: where's mine. Sometimes that leads to a player having to

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Speaker 1: end his career prematurely. But again, I'm just trying to

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Speaker 1: explain the thought process here. You don't have to like it,

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Speaker 1: you don't even have to understand it. But in the end,

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Speaker 1: they're thinking like you and I would think they're seeking

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Speaker 1: what they believe is fair compensation. Sometimes it works out

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Speaker 1: and sometimes it doesn't. Time now for grilling Ken, the

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Speaker 1: part of the show where I answer your questions. First

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Speaker 1: question comes from Abraham, who asks most surprising free agent remaining. Abraham,

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Speaker 1: I just mentioned this in the previous segment, but for me,

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Speaker 1: it's jose Kintana. This guy is a quality major league starter.

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Speaker 1: Second half of last season three point one point eight era,

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Speaker 1: he was a reliable fixture for the New York Mets

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Speaker 1: coming down the stretch. And he's a guy that I

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Speaker 1: understand why he's not getting maybe the attention you would

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Speaker 1: think he would. He doesn't miss a lot of bats.

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Speaker 1: He's more of a craftsman than a hard thrower, and

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Speaker 1: we all know teams today what they value is missing bats.

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Speaker 1: That said, Jose Cantana is a quality major league pitcher.

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Speaker 1: He should be in a camp somewhere on a major

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Speaker 1: league contract at a salary commensurate with his skill level.

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Speaker 1: So to me, that is the most surprising one of

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Speaker 1: all of them that he is still not signed, because frankly,

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Speaker 1: he is as good as some of the pitchers who

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Speaker 1: have signed, and he's at a stage of his career

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Speaker 1: where he is still capable of making a significant contribution

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Speaker 1: to a club. Next question comes from Pepper, who asks

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Speaker 1: is there an argument that the Guardians will be better

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Speaker 1: this year despite losing Naylor and Jimenez. Pepper, I did

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Speaker 1: not include the Guardians on my list of most improved teams,

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Speaker 1: and it is possible, as you suggest, that they could

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Speaker 1: be better. They've replaced Naylor with Carlos Santana, They've got

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Speaker 1: Brito coming in at second base, and the great prospect,

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Speaker 1: the number one pick of last year's draft, Travis Pizzana

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Speaker 1: in the wings. So the loss of those two players,

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Speaker 1: while significant and should not be underplayed, is not necessarily

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Speaker 1: going to be something where they're that much worse off.

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Speaker 1: They've got some interesting things happening. John Means they just

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Speaker 1: signed him. Him and Shane Bieber are possibilities for the

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Speaker 1: rotation in the second half. They're both coming off surgeries

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Speaker 1: and they're both rehabilitating right now, so I expect that

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Speaker 1: that could be a significant boost. Remember, they've traded for

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Speaker 1: Luis l Ortiz from the Pirates, so he will add

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Speaker 1: to the rotation as well. They've got Paul Sewald in

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Speaker 1: the bullpen, and they're bringing back Austin Hedges to be

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Speaker 1: a backup catcher. They'll be okay, and they'll be competitive,

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Speaker 1: as they always seem to be in the Al Central.

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Speaker 1: But if you're asking if they're going to be better

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Speaker 1: without Nailor and Jim Menez, I don't know if better

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Speaker 1: is the right word. There is the potential there, and

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Speaker 1: they're certainly going to be different, but I'm not so

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Speaker 1: sure they're going to be improved, particularly at those two spots,

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Speaker 1: though Carlos Santana had a great year last year first

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Speaker 1: gold Glove, and they're quite excited about the young second

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Speaker 1: baseman we'll see, all right. Final question, and this one

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Speaker 1: comes from Joseph Joseph who asks who is your one

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Speaker 1: surprise team this year? Joseph, I'm suspecting a number of

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Speaker 1: people are going to pick the A's as a surprise

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Speaker 1: this year simply because they've added, and they've done that

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Speaker 1: for the first time in a while, and they've got

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Speaker 1: some pretty talented pieces. They've added Severino and Jeffrey Springs

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Speaker 1: and jose Le Clerk in the bullpen, and yes, they

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Speaker 1: should be better. But my surprise team, my biggest surprise team,

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Speaker 1: is going to be one I referenced earlier, and I

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Speaker 1: believe it's the Cincinnati Reds. And the reason I think

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Speaker 1: that is the reason I stated earlier, the arrival of

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Speaker 1: Terry Francona to a team that is talented but has

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Speaker 1: yet to really put it all together. So because of

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Speaker 1: what they've done kind of adding pieces around the edges,

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Speaker 1: and because of the addition of Francona, they're going to

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Speaker 1: be my biggest surprise. They're the one team I believe

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Speaker 1: will take a major step forward in a division that

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Speaker 1: is pretty darn weak. Let's face it, Yes the Cubs

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Speaker 1: are good with Kyle Tucker, okay, but the Cardinals are

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Speaker 1: in a reset. The Pirate are spinning their wheels as

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Speaker 1: they always spin their wheels. The Brewers are a team

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Speaker 1: that you look at and say, well, they're always good,

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Speaker 1: and we thought last year they were going to take

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Speaker 1: a step back. But they've done absolutely nothing or next

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Speaker 1: to it this offseason, and I actually believe this could

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Speaker 1: be the year they suffer a bit. Want to thank

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Speaker 1: everyone for watching and listening rate the show five stars.

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Speaker 1: Give us that kind of review wherever you get your podcasts,

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Speaker 1: and bring your grilling Kane questions as well. I'll answer

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Speaker 1: the best ones during Thursday show. We'll be back live

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Speaker 1: Thursday at ten thirty am Eastern. Myself and Alana Rizzo

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00:20:35,600 --> 00:20:39,199
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