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Speaker 1: Okay Ken. You put out a lengthy notes column with

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Speaker 1: Will Salmon about where we stand with a number of teams,

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Speaker 1: and one part that stood out to us was when

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Speaker 1: you got into the Blue Jays and how the Okamoto

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Speaker 1: signing could fit if he does work out at third base.

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Speaker 1: The name that I'm circling in your column was Ernie Clement,

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Speaker 1: superstar in the postseason, But could he be kind of

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Speaker 1: pushed out of a regular starting.

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Speaker 2: Spot only if they resigned Bashett, which in my opinion

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Speaker 2: is increasingly unlikely. So if they signed Bashett or Bregman,

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Speaker 2: and I don't know if they're going to do Bragman,

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Speaker 2: Bregman doesn't seem to fit right now for the Blue Jays.

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Speaker 2: But if they resigned Bashett, then you have Okamoto at third,

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Speaker 2: Bashette at second. Then where does Ernie Clement play? But

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Speaker 2: I don't see that necessarily happening. I kind of see

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Speaker 2: Okamoto being the third baseman primarily as long as they

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Speaker 2: believe he can play that position and he is thought

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Speaker 2: to be at least average there, and then Clement plays second.

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Speaker 2: And the big move, it would seem to me, is

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Speaker 2: Tucker for them if they can somehow get to a

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Speaker 2: financial point with him that they're comfortable with. So yes,

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Speaker 2: there is a scenario in which Ernie Clement would be

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Speaker 2: at least squeezed for playing time, but it's only in

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Speaker 2: my opinion, if Bishek comes back.

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Speaker 3: Okay, Ken, let's talk about another team in the division

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Speaker 3: that used to cover a lot, the Orioles. Are they

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Speaker 3: done because they've made some big moves Pete a. Lonzo

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Speaker 3: and Jeff Eflyn coming back in Hellsley and all these

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Speaker 3: moves that they're making. But are they done? And I

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Speaker 3: think they need to add at least one more starting

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Speaker 3: pitcher to this makes that's a veteran guy that they

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Speaker 3: can trust.

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Speaker 2: Aj That's exactly where they are with this. And in

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Speaker 2: that article I wrote with Will we quoted an executive

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Speaker 2: as saying they view their rotation as adequate. Well, adequate

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Speaker 2: is not necessarily where they want to be. It's not

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Speaker 2: where they want to be now. They're in a good

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Speaker 2: spot right now, a much better spot than they were.

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Speaker 2: It's Trevor Rodgers, Kyle Bradish, It's Shane Baz, It's Zach Efflin,

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Speaker 2: It's Dean Kramer right there. That's what you have, and

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Speaker 2: you have Tyler Wells in the mix as well and

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Speaker 2: some others. Okay, but what you're saying is exactly what

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Speaker 2: they seem to believe that they need one more, one

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Speaker 2: more that they could fit toward the top of their rotation.

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Speaker 2: So who are we talking about? From ber Valdez or

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Speaker 2: Ranger Suarez are the two leading free agents, both left handed,

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Speaker 2: both would fit really well in Baltimore. And then the

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Speaker 2: trade possibilities that are out there. Freddy Peralta is one,

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Speaker 2: Edward Cabrera is one, and the Oils have been linked

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Speaker 2: to him before, and there are others as well, Mackenzie Gore.

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Speaker 2: So I don't know exactly how they're going to get

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Speaker 2: this player or who it's going to be, but they

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Speaker 2: believe that they have still the prospect depth to make

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Speaker 2: another trade for a starting pitcher, even after giving up

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Speaker 2: the five players they did for Boz and then at

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Speaker 2: that point, if they get the next starter, the other starter,

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Speaker 2: then they would be in their minds more complete. They'd

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Speaker 2: still like to do some stuff in the bullpen, like

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Speaker 2: every team, it seems, they still would like additional depth

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Speaker 2: and center field if they can find it, but the

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Speaker 2: starter is their primary focus right now.

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Speaker 4: It's good to AJ's favorite team the Cubs. Are they

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Speaker 4: going to be as aggressive as they were last offseason

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Speaker 4: in the sense that they went out and got Kyle Tucker.

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Speaker 4: Is there a move like that, because clearly they've just

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Speaker 4: shown they're just in on free agents unless you're a reliever,

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Speaker 4: they're just in on free agents and they haven't pulled

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Speaker 4: the trigger yet.

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Speaker 2: Well, from a trade standpoint, Eric, I don't know who

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Speaker 2: the hitter would be to equate with Kyle Tucker from

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Speaker 2: last offseason. I don't know that that player is out there,

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Speaker 2: but there are free agents out there, and then the

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Speaker 2: question becomes, okay, Cubs, you're in on everybody. Are you

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Speaker 2: going to sign one of these guys? And remember last

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Speaker 2: off season they were in on Bregman didn't get him.

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Speaker 2: And they seem to be one of these teams that

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Speaker 2: sets a boundary for where they're willing to spend and

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Speaker 2: will not exceed that. And maybe their boundary is even

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Speaker 2: lower than some other clubs that are in the mix.

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Speaker 2: So you see the names right there. Would some of

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Speaker 2: these players fit for the Cubs? Oh yes they would.

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Speaker 2: Mister Bregman is a guy that they are interested in

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Speaker 2: and would really fit nicely there. They could perfts move

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Speaker 2: Shaw a second trade and Ego Horner or make Shaw

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Speaker 2: a utility guy. There's a lot of things they could

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Speaker 2: do with Alex Bregman in their mix, but they clearly

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Speaker 2: need one more bat at least, and they can do

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Speaker 2: some other things as well. A starting pitcher is something

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Speaker 2: that they certainly have been looking for. So the Cubs

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Speaker 2: are one of a number of teams, a number of

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Speaker 2: big market teams that we still see out there as

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Speaker 2: not even close to done. I would put the Mets

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Speaker 2: in that category. I would put the Yankees that category

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Speaker 2: the Cubs certainly. I don't know that the Dodgers are done,

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Speaker 2: and I don't that the Phillies are done, particularly if

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Speaker 2: they lose j t Vo Muto somehow. So again, there

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Speaker 2: is a lot in play right now, and it's January sixth,

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Speaker 2: and it's surprising to me how much uncertainty there is.

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Speaker 2: But at the same time, as we follow the off

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Speaker 2: season after off season, maybe we shouldn't be surprised. This

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Speaker 2: seems to be the normal pace.

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Speaker 3: You forgot the Red Sox ken that haven't done much,

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Speaker 3: you did forget enough, and the free agent in the

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Speaker 3: free agent now they made some trades for Sonny Graham

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Speaker 3: Wilson and Trare's no, but.

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Speaker 2: Certainly they're not doing aj They need one more back, Yes, exactly.

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Speaker 3: So here's my question. You brought him up earlier, and

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Speaker 3: we've discussed him with Jim Bowden yesterday, and we talked

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Speaker 3: about him a lot. Freddy Parolta for eighty million dollars,

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Speaker 3: the Orioles. You mentioned him with the Orioles, the Yankees,

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Speaker 3: the Mets, the Dodgers, all these te like, pretty much

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Speaker 3: every team except the Brewers would take Freddy Parolta at

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Speaker 3: one year eight million. Where do you think he ends

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Speaker 3: up and what kind of haul can he get?

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Speaker 2: Well, the Brewers would take him at one year eight million. Two. Well, yeah,

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Speaker 2: they're comfortable with him in that salary range. And actually,

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Speaker 2: while all the big market teams seem to be in

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Speaker 2: on him, there are small market teams as well that

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Speaker 2: can certainly afford Freddie Peralta at eight million and are

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Speaker 2: at least in contact with the Brewers. I would expect

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Speaker 2: that if he has traded, and I do believe he

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Speaker 2: will be traded. I said that on fair Territory yesterday.

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Speaker 2: I believe then they will get in excess of what

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Speaker 2: they acquired for Corbyn Burns, and remember that was Joey Ortiz,

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Speaker 2: who was their starting shortstop last year. Admittedly not a

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Speaker 2: good offensive player. D L. Hall a lefty with still

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Speaker 2: some promise and a draft pick that has not panned

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Speaker 2: out for them just yet. But the reason Parolta is

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Speaker 2: even more attractive than Burns. He might not be quite

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Speaker 2: as accomplished, of course, but he's making half as much

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Speaker 2: money as Burns was, and at the end of the season,

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Speaker 2: if you like him, you can hit him with a

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Speaker 2: qualifying offer and then get one of the prospects back

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Speaker 2: as draft pick compensation. So maybe he won't get as

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Speaker 2: much as Burns. Maybe I overstated that, but I can

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Speaker 2: see where he could bring them even more, and the

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Speaker 2: price of the salary, the cost is the reason for that.

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Speaker 2: He's so much cheaper and you do get the pick back.

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Speaker 2: So that was the case with Burns too. But I

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Speaker 2: just think that Freddy Peralta, if he goes, he's going

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Speaker 2: to go for a nice, nice haul for the Brewers. Ken.

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Speaker 4: I don't know if you use memes when you send

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Speaker 4: text to people, but the meme where the guys just

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Speaker 4: eating popcorn, is there more of a aprofo meme? For

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Speaker 4: the Mets, Like everybody just wants to see what the

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Speaker 4: Mets are doing because they didn't sign these stars, they

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Speaker 4: had their issues last year. What is happening with the

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Speaker 4: Mets and what has to happen for this to be

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Speaker 4: a successful offseason besides make the playoffs.

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Speaker 2: I guess any more offense, they need starting pitching, and

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Speaker 2: they are more comfortable with their team than perhaps those

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Speaker 2: of us on the outside might think. And I believe

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Speaker 2: at one point after they lost the Love and Diaz,

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Speaker 2: I wrote something or referred to something that Fangrafts had

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Speaker 2: that their combined war projected combined war is like seventh

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Speaker 2: in the majors, which isn't bad. It's a playoff team

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Speaker 2: most likely, even with the players that they have. But

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Speaker 2: starting pitching is certainly something that they're looking at. But

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Speaker 2: they don't want to go long term on any of

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Speaker 2: the free agents, any of the remaining free agents. A

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Speaker 2: lot of teams seem to be in agreement with them

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Speaker 2: on that, so I don't know they can fault them

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Speaker 2: for that position. And then the question is do they

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Speaker 2: get another bat as well? And they've been linked to

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Speaker 2: Bellinger and that's really interesting, the dynamic that's going on

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Speaker 2: right now with the two New York teams and Bellinger,

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Speaker 2: and that would be a great fit for them. Cody

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Speaker 2: Bellinger is kind of a great fit for every team

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Speaker 2: because of his defensive versatility. But I don't know how

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Speaker 2: it ends up for them. I don't know how hard

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Speaker 2: they're going to draw the line on some of these salaries.

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Speaker 2: And I don't know exactly how they see themselves compared

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Speaker 2: to how we see them. And yes, they have a

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Speaker 2: higher opinion than the outside world does, but I cannot believe.

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Speaker 2: I don't believe that they see themselves as anything close

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Speaker 2: to complete. So I would expect one more starting pitcher

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Speaker 2: at the very least, and some other offensive addition in

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Speaker 2: beyond what they have.

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Speaker 3: Ken what about the NL West The Dodgers obviously Edwin

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Speaker 3: Dias huge pickup for them with their bullpen troubles and

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Speaker 3: they still won the World Series? Are they done? And

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Speaker 3: then what about the Padres and the Diamondbacks? Is can

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Speaker 3: tell Marte going to be traded? Are the Padres going

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Speaker 3: to actually have any money to spend or is Preller

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Speaker 3: going to have to do his wheeling and dealing to

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Speaker 3: make twenty two trades to end up with a completely

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Speaker 3: different roster by opening day.

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Speaker 2: All right, I'll start right there, because I can see

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Speaker 2: that happening with Preller making a number of trades and

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Speaker 2: having a different roster. Now, I don't know what that's

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Speaker 2: going to look like, but we reported earlier in the

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Speaker 2: offseason that they were talking to the Mets, and I'm

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Speaker 2: presuming other teams as well, about any number of players.

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Speaker 2: Pavetta is in play, Crona Worth is in play, Murray

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Speaker 2: Home is in play, Mason Miller has been in play.

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Speaker 2: So yes, I can see them doing any number of

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Speaker 2: things to just kind of reshuffle where they are, maybe

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Speaker 2: get some more control in their rotation because that's an

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Speaker 2: issue for them. Paveta and Michael King both can leave

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Speaker 2: after this year, So that's the Padres. The Diamondbacks, as

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Speaker 2: we wrote and as Mike Kaysen, their general manager, has indicated,

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Speaker 2: are getting ready to move on from the Marte talks. Now,

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Speaker 2: that doesn't mean it's over, because a phone call could

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Speaker 2: occur at any time and suddenly the Marte situation or

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Speaker 2: the Trape talks are back on. But from every indication

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Speaker 2: so far, from every vibe they're sending out, that's almost over.

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Speaker 2: Then the question for me becomes Okay, how serious are

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Speaker 2: they for Bregman if they still have Katel Marte on

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Speaker 2: their roster. I was told earlier in the off season

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Speaker 2: they could do both, but they really need to address

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Speaker 2: their pitching and bullpen in particular, so I don't know

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Speaker 2: exactly how all that would work. And then there are

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Speaker 2: the Dodgers. And the Dodgers, as we wrote, they are

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Speaker 2: a team that their own people say like to hang

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Speaker 2: around the backboard. And what does that mean. Well, if

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Speaker 2: something falls to them at a price that they like,

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Speaker 2: they're there. So they cannot be ruled out on anything

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Speaker 2: that would include a trade for Trek's Schooble, it would

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Speaker 2: include a pursuit of Kyle Tucker. Nothing is out of

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Speaker 2: reach for them. If it becomes a situation where a

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Speaker 2: trade or a free agent signing becomes in their mind

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Speaker 2: worth the acquisition cost. Might not happen with any of

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Speaker 2: these guys, But with Edwin di As what happened, Well,

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Speaker 2: they found a closer that they liked because the three

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Speaker 2: year deal for them they thought was reasonable and something

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Speaker 2: that they could do.

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Speaker 4: All Right, we've hit on Peralta trade, We've hit on

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Speaker 4: Marte trade. You can't bring up trades without bringing up

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Speaker 4: Trek scuoble. Is there a chance, I guess there's always

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Speaker 4: a chance anybody can be traded, But are the talks

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Speaker 4: still open and does that? Obviously that would shape what

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Speaker 4: the Tigers do the rest if they do trade him

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Speaker 4: or they don't trade them.

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Speaker 2: The talks are always going to be open. No team

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Speaker 2: is ever willing to shut the door because if you

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Speaker 2: shut the door, then the possibility of another team coming

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Speaker 2: at you and saying, well, what about this, and it's

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Speaker 2: this overwhelming deal, You're not going to close that option out.

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Speaker 2: From the beginning of the off season, it has certainly

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Speaker 2: sounded like the Tigers asked for Terrek school is very high,

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Speaker 2: as it should be, even though it's only one year

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Speaker 2: of control, and it has seemed unlikely. Now that said again,

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Speaker 2: once Valdez and Suarez are off the board in particular,

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Speaker 2: but maybe even right now, there are going to be

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Speaker 2: teams pounding the Tigers and saying, okay, what about this,

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Speaker 2: what about this? Can you do that? I expect that

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Speaker 2: to continue, maybe right up to the start of spring training,

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Speaker 2: maybe even beyond that, but it's still going to take

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Speaker 2: such a high price that I don't know that it

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Speaker 2: will ever get done.

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Speaker 3: I have to ask this about some of the smaller

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Speaker 3: markets quote, smaller market teams, the Pirates in the A's,

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Speaker 3: all of a sudden they're spending money. Did they find

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Speaker 3: money somewhere because or is this the collective bargainings coming up?

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Speaker 3: We need to show teams that we actually and the

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Speaker 3: players that we can spend money because the A's are

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Speaker 3: trying to sign these guys to extensions. The Pirates are

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Speaker 3: imagine this, actually signing legitimate free agents to help with

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Speaker 3: their pitchings. Now, what the heck is going on? Are

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Speaker 3: we in bizarre world right now?

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Speaker 2: We are? And aj I've been kind of asking this

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Speaker 2: question a little off season, and we wrote a story

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Speaker 2: Evandrelic and I early in the off season about the

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Speaker 2: Pirates and Marlins because we heard early on that suddenly

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Speaker 2: they had shifted, that they were signaling to agents that yes,

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Speaker 2: we're willing to spend in free agency to a greater

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Speaker 2: extent than in the past. It has come true with

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Speaker 2: the Pirates, for sure, they've been on a number of

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Speaker 2: pursuits and signed Ryan O'Hearn. Come true to a lesser

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Speaker 2: extent with the Marlins, who have just signed Pete Fairbanks.

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Speaker 2: Admittedly a good signing for them, but they haven't really

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Speaker 2: gone out there in a big way for free agents.

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Speaker 2: The a's are a situation where they have pledged to

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Speaker 2: ramp up as they get closer to their move to

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Speaker 2: Las Vegas, and they're doing that now, maybe to the

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Speaker 2: extent that we originally were told they would. But they're

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Speaker 2: spending now. That's the each that's each individual situation. What

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Speaker 2: you're asking, AJ, relative to the CBA is the question

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Speaker 2: I have, and the question that's been raised to me

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Speaker 2: by agents and others. Okay, what's going on here? Why

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Speaker 2: suddenly the shift the pirates? Oh well, we want to

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Speaker 2: build around Paul Skins. That's ridiculous. You had Paul Skins

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Speaker 2: for two years now and you did nothing with them.

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Speaker 2: So why now? Is it? Because, as you suggested, AJ, hey,

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Speaker 2: CBA negotiations are coming up, and these teams want to

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Speaker 2: prove that they can spend, maybe to avoid a floor

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Speaker 2: or who knows the motivation might be. But I've learned

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Speaker 2: over the years always be suspicious of teams that shift

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Speaker 2: in direction. And these teams all seem to be shifting

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Speaker 2: somewhat in direction all at once. And yes, I do

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Speaker 2: believe it's CBA related. I do believe maybe these teams

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Speaker 2: have been told or at least nudged in a direction

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Speaker 2: where MLB is like, hey, guys, we're not going to

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Speaker 2: be able to make a strong case here for whatever

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Speaker 2: we want to make. When you're pulling this, I want

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Speaker 2: to say the word I was going to use. But

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Speaker 2: when you're pulling what you're pulling, put it that way.

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Speaker 3: You wanted to say the B word. It's okay, I

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Speaker 3: get it, Ken. We can't cuss on the R except

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Speaker 3: we can.

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Speaker 2: Can baseball baseball.

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Speaker 3: But before I let you go, Ken, I have two things.

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Speaker 4: One the a's.

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Speaker 3: They can't be called the Las Vegas a's or the

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Speaker 3: Las Vegas Athletics because they couldn't get a trademark, so

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Speaker 3: they're gonna have to change their name. Maybe they should

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Speaker 3: be called like the Strip Athletics or Strip a's. I

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Speaker 3: don't know something. Back because they can't be called Las

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Speaker 3: Vegas they can't trade.

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Speaker 5: They gonna get a trademark, which is the most like

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Speaker 5: a thing of all time. Yes, the Las Vegas Strippers

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Speaker 5: would be amazing, right like the Gwynette Strippers.

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Speaker 3: That's an amazing nickname. Except I know it's not that, but

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Speaker 3: before I let you go, we had a whole thing

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Speaker 3: about happy New Year. So the new year hasn't ended yet,

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Speaker 3: but I just want to thank you for making the

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Speaker 3: end of my year one of my highlights because it's

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Speaker 3: winning Dork of the Year. Thank you, Ken, because it

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Speaker 3: just added up to an incredible year for not only

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Speaker 3: Foul Territory, Fair Territory and me personally, Hall of pretty good.

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Speaker 3: I got in the inner circle and I won Dork

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Speaker 3: of the Year, and that's a huge honor if I

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Speaker 3: took over honestly from like John Fisher, who was Dork

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Speaker 3: of the Year every other time. So I am proud

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Speaker 3: to say that I am a Las Vegas stripper.

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Speaker 2: I must congratulate you again. I know it wasn't something

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Speaker 2: you necessarily expected. But as I poured through the list

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Speaker 2: of candidates.

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Speaker 3: Why didn't I get Do I get an award? Do

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Speaker 3: I get like A yeah, I don't know.

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Speaker 2: I don't know about that. But as I looked at

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Speaker 2: the list of candidates and I remembered our conversation from

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Speaker 2: May text conversation when you were making fun of my

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Speaker 2: particular crew for having a rain delay and you got

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Speaker 2: hit with the rain delay ten minutes later. I don't

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Speaker 2: know that it exceeedged John Fisher or Bob Nutting or

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Speaker 2: any of the other very deserving candidates that we had

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Speaker 2: this year, but I figured, ah, why not give it

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Speaker 2: to Aj. He's Hall of pretty Good, he's Dork of

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Speaker 2: the Year. He's on a roll, right.

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Speaker 3: I mean, thank you, Ken, thank you for making my

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Speaker 3: Christmas time special. I appreciate it. And a Lona too,

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Speaker 3: I'm assuming a lot I had a vote in that too.

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Speaker 2: No, that was mine?

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Speaker 3: Oh who was hers?

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Speaker 2: Who was a lot? I can't remember, I forget help

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Speaker 2: us out.

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Speaker 1: In the next ten seconds.

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Speaker 2: It might have been the Angels Show.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, the Angels with the air conditioning, and it was Yeah,

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Speaker 1: it was the Angels.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm well deserved on that front.

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Speaker 1: Yes, and we launched an Angel show today. So it's

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Speaker 1: actually all coming full circle here, Ken, AJ's back, as

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Speaker 1: you know, so good to see you. We'll catch you

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Speaker 1: later in the week.

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Speaker 2: Thanks guys,