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Episode 39 - 1933 World Series and Spring Training Woe's
29 Plays9 months ago
We cover 1933 World Series where the New York Giants take on the Washington Senators and introduce legends like Mel Ott and King Carl Hubbell.
The gang also lament over the latest injury news coming out of the Spring training and debate who would actually engage with the Yankees for Marcus Stroman.
https://x.com/TheCOBPodcast
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Transcript
Mel Ott's Humor and Autographs
00:00:03
Speaker
As Mel Ott once said, every time I sign a ball, and there must have been thousands, I thank my luck that I wasn't born Kovaleski or Whamsgans or Peckinpah. What's up, everybody?
Introduction and 1933 Baseball Season Overview
00:00:14
Speaker
Welcome to the 1933 episode of Championship or Bus with Mac, Zach, and Josh. We got a lot of new Hall of Famers today, but sadly, we have no Hall of Fame umpires.
Player Contracts and Decisions
00:00:25
Speaker
We have a lot to get to one the agency. a cheater joins Boston, and we have Pete Alonzo, who walked away from over $100 million dollars to take something significantly less.
00:00:37
Speaker
ah So we might as well just get right to it.
1933 World Series Recap
00:00:39
Speaker
Josh, go ahead. All right. Well,
00:00:44
Speaker
The 1933 World Series, the New York Giants, and the Washington Senators. Both of these two teams came in with brand new managers. For the Giants, owner John McGraw had retired the year earlier after 30 years, and had Bill Terry as his manager, and McGraw would end up dying about four months after the World Series.
00:01:03
Speaker
Wow. For the Senators, former superstar Walter Johnson... retired in 1932 and named John Cronin as the manager. ah The Senators were a prize pennant winner this year, breaking a seven-year streak where either the Athletics or the Yankees had won.
00:01:18
Speaker
So definitely a little little different this time. So game one, October 3rd, 1933, in the Polo Grounds. Not different, because that's where Yankees play.
00:01:29
Speaker
ye ah The New York Giants would jump out to an early two-run lead in the bottom of the first sitting on a Melot two-run home run. And Ott would knock in another run on an RBI single in the third, and the Giants would push across one more of that inning on an RBI groundout.
00:01:42
Speaker
On the mound, King Carl Hubble would throw a complete game five hitter, striking out ten, allowing just two unearned runs, because of course, and the Giants would take game one for two.
New York Giants' Championship Strategy
00:01:54
Speaker
Game two, the Senators start to score on this one on a Goose Gosselin solo home run in a third inning. However, the Giants would strike for six runs in the sixth inning. After loading the bases with no outs, Lefty O'Doul came off the bench for a pinch hit two RBI single.
00:02:08
Speaker
Four RBI singles later, one from the pitcher, The game was 6-1. Talk about moving a line and doing your job. Four RBI singles. That's Zach baseball.
00:02:20
Speaker
um Prince Hal Schumacher threw a five-hitter for the Giants in the 6-1 victory. In Game 3, the series shifted to Washington, and the Senators jumped out to some home cooking, knocking in two runs in the bottom of first on a Joe Cronin RBI groundout, followed by a Fred Schultz RBI double.
00:02:37
Speaker
In the bottom the second, the Senators pushed across another run on a Buddy Meyer RBI double. And then in the seventh, another Buddy Meyer RBI double. Earl Whitehill led the Giants but just five ah giving up just five hits in a complete game shutout for the Senators' win.
00:02:53
Speaker
In Game 4, the Giants would strike first in the 4th inning on a Bill Terry solo home run, but the Senators scored in the 7th thanks to an error, a sack bunt, and an RBI single. This game went to extra innings, where Travis Jackson singled to lead off the 11th inning, moved the 2nd on a sack bunt, and scored on a Blondie Ryan single.
00:03:12
Speaker
King Carl Hubbard would throw all 11 innings of this game for the Giants, and got Cliff Knowled in the ground into a bases-loaded double play to end the game.
00:03:22
Speaker
Game five, the Giants would strike in the top of the second inning on a Hal Shoemaker two-run single and score one more run in the sixth on a Gus Mancuso RBI double. But in the bottom of the sixth, the centers would tie the game on a Fred Schultz three-run home run after two two-out singles.
00:03:39
Speaker
The game would stay tied into the extra innings again, where this time Mel Ott would hit a solo home run in the top of the tenth, which would stand as a difference maker and earn the Giants the World Series championship.
00:03:51
Speaker
Wow. Quick
Hall of Fame Player-Managers
00:03:53
Speaker
series. Yeah. 4-1.
00:03:59
Speaker
And it's time.
00:04:02
Speaker
As I said before, no Hall of Fame umpires. But it is kind of interesting, though, and I just kind of realized this while Josh was going, that um this might be the only time, at least the only time I can think of, that two Hall of Fame player managers went against each other between Bill Terry and Joe Cronin. don't know if we've had that yet.
00:04:21
Speaker
But because we've always had like Connie Mack or John McGraw or Joe McCarthy somewhere in the series. I don't know if that's happened. We haven't had two guys making their managerial debuts.
00:04:33
Speaker
That too, yeah. Both new. As player managers, too. And both in the Hall of Fame as players, primarily. So we'll start with the losing
Sam Rice and Heine Manoush's Legacies
00:04:43
Speaker
Senators. We say goodbye to Josh's favorite player, or favorite legend, I should say, Sam Rice.
00:04:48
Speaker
It's his third and final World Series appearance. This is actually his age 43 season. He had one plate appearance in the series and hit a single. He actually played one more season after this with Cleveland, but still fell 13 hits shy of 3000.
00:05:02
Speaker
One could call him the real life, Mr. 3000. Anyone see that movie? No, never. It's a classic Bernie Mac. But um basically, it's about a guy who just hangs on forever, realizes that um he was given 3000 hits when he was playing.
00:05:16
Speaker
But then they found an issue corrected it to be 2999. So he came back post retirement to try get postre retirreement to try to get it And that's kind of basically what Sam Rice was minus the whole coming back and forth thing.
00:05:29
Speaker
But I have him level one, number 27 right field between Chuck Klein and Kyky Kyler, much to Josh's hatred. Now. Welcome back. Goose Gosling.
00:05:40
Speaker
His first World Series since 1925. He's now 1-2 in the World Series. He had 5 for 20. Did a respectable job. A double, a home run. He stays level 1, number 17 in left field between Joe Medwick and his teammate, Heine Manoush.
00:05:55
Speaker
So no suspense on my opinion incoming here, but welcome to Championship Robust, Heine Manoush. um I've mentioned him a bunch of times in the past because lot of times he'd be sandwiched between somebody else. um But this is his only ever World Series appearance on his own.
00:06:10
Speaker
So in this series, he hit 111 with a 311 OPS, two for 18, both singles. So maybe not the best way to introduce him. But he was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1964 by a Veterans Committee. So would he have gotten your vote?
Hall of Fame Debates: Cronin, Hubble, Ott
00:06:25
Speaker
Here we go. 17-year career. mainly with Detroit and Washington. He has five top five MVP finishes, including two second place finishes with the St. Louis Browns.
00:06:36
Speaker
He led the league in hits twice and doubles twice and won a batting title in 1926, hitting 378. He finished in the top 10 of nationally batting averages nine times and had a career batting average of 330 with an 855 OPS of 121 OPS and 2,524 hits. Heidi Manoush, what do we think?
00:06:52
Speaker
and two thousand five hundred and twenty four hits heini manuche what do we think They keep along. Sounds like a good one to me. Joshua? ah I've had a feeling you were going to hesitate.
00:07:06
Speaker
You know how I love my average hitters. I mean, it's tough, man. He doesn't, you know, he topped out at 2,500 hits.
00:07:17
Speaker
He's got a 48 war. I mean, it's not bad. It's not bad. um The MVP finishes, i mean, I probably would have just said absolutely not if if he doesn't have these MVP finishes.
00:07:28
Speaker
I don't know. This is hard. Right. This one is actually really tough.
00:07:39
Speaker
Help him out, Mac. Where'd you have him? So, yeah. I'll help you up. I have him level one, number 18, actually right behind Goose Gosling and right ahead of Manny Mignoso.
00:07:50
Speaker
ah He's my second last left fielder in my Hall of Fame. I had him um off the list when I first, first did it, and then he was one of the first guys I added in after the fact.
00:08:02
Speaker
um What stuck out for me was I know that this is a very average heavy era, And that's why the 330 didn't stick out to me at first. When you finish in the top 10 of your league nine times, yeah it means that it wasn't just a product of the era.
00:08:15
Speaker
ah You were clearly one of the better hitters for a decade. You were a five-time top five MVP finisher. And you know that 378 season, and that peak clearly was there.
00:08:26
Speaker
So i I did end up giving it to him. He's a lower level Hall of Famer for me. So Josh, I get why you're hesitating. ah But I do have him in. Yeah, I mean, i mean this is definitely a Zach guy, obviously. Oh, definitely. yeah Yes. For sure.
00:08:43
Speaker
I mean, i don't know.
00:08:49
Speaker
I'll say yeah, because I think he kind of, his career kind of fizzled out and died in his late 30s, and if he played longer, he could have had it. But yeah, I mean, this is like bottom of the barrel.
00:09:01
Speaker
Yeah. I agree. I have to go back and see like what we all voted for in past episodes and just like put up a whole spreadsheet of it. Maybe the next time I'm off for a while.
00:09:12
Speaker
um Last player on the Senators, Joe k Cronin. So it's his first and only World Series appearance as well. Obviously, we're talking about him as a player manager, but as a player, he hit.318 in the series, going 7 for 22.
00:09:27
Speaker
No extra base hits, two runs batted in, but is he a Hall of Famer? He played 20 years with Pittsburgh, Washington, and Boston, won an MVP in 1930, finished second this year in 1933, and has five total top 10 MVP finishes.
00:09:42
Speaker
A 301 career batting average, 857 OPS, and a 119 OPS+. 1,400 runs batted in, 2285 hits, and seven all-star teams.
00:09:53
Speaker
So, also a guy kind of on the borderline. I kind of wish they won so I could have ended with these guys rather than started with them. But what do we think? See, this one's tougher for me, I think, because of the the hits.
00:10:07
Speaker
think it's less career hits. But the MVP... I don't know. I'm kind of struggling myself on this one.
00:10:16
Speaker
Josh, what do you think?
00:10:19
Speaker
I think it's funny because I think this one's a yes. What makes you think this one over Manoush? ah The War, for one. I think he lines up very well with short stops through history.
00:10:32
Speaker
um i mean, he's another guy that kind of fizzles out and dies in his late 30s, but his 20s were ridiculous. Seems to be a common thread, but I should have mentioned probably he had a 64.7 career award.
00:10:46
Speaker
Yeah. I think i think as a for for a shortstop, he lines up very well. um Yeah, I guess. Seven-time All-Star. Yeah, good point.
00:10:59
Speaker
I agree. I agree. On the position, I didn't think about that. So if I let the other guy in, I should probably let him in too. I have him as level one also. It sounds a lot higher than Manoush was, but there's a lot less shortstops that I have on the list.
00:11:14
Speaker
But I have him as the number 12 shortstop between Lou Boudreau, who we'll get to, and Joe Sewell, who we've talked about a little bit before. The guy who just never struck out, like ever. So that covers the Senators. Definitely Sachs guy.
00:11:28
Speaker
Yep. Now I get to the Giants. Travis Jackson, welcome back. the Baseman Hall of Famer, first World Series since 1924. And Josh mentioned he hit a single in a big spot, but he went.222 and.541 OPS in this World Series.
00:11:44
Speaker
Went 4-for-18 with a double and two runs batted in. So he had a rough series. Welcome back, and now as a manager as well, Bill Terry. Hit 273 with 727 OPS, 6 for 22 with a dinger, a double, a run batted in.
00:11:59
Speaker
First baseman rankings have shuffled a little bit, so you're going to hear some familiar names here, but I have him as level one, number 16, between Freddie Freeman and Joey Votto. So welcome back, Bill Terry.
00:12:10
Speaker
Wow. Now we have two and a half Hall of Famers here that we haven't covered before. And you'll see what I mean with the half. But let's start with the the two easy ones here. ah Welcome to Championship Robust. As Josh mentioned him a lot, King Carl Hubble. um Just to put the stats together and won in the series, he went 2-0 with a zero ERA.
00:12:28
Speaker
Two complete games, only gave up on earned runs. That's the way we introduce a guy for his Hall of Famer. Through 20 innings, you have run. Yep. yeah Hell of a career. Inducted in 1947, which is his third year of eligibility. I'm not counting um runoff votes. So it was his third ballot um with 87% of the vote.
00:12:48
Speaker
Nine-time All-Star, two-time MVP, three top five, five top ten finishes, two nine war seasons, three ERA titles, led the league in WIP six times, career 253 and 154 win-loss, 68.8 war, and finished with ERA under three.
00:13:02
Speaker
sixty eight point eight war and finished with the neri under three Is he a Hall of Famer? Easy, yes. Yeah, without a doubt. Not even a question. Yeah, I have him level four between some guys you know well. This might be a little controversial, but I have him right between Max Scherzer and Whitey Ford.
00:13:21
Speaker
Ooh, wait. Number 18. Can we look at Mr. Scherzer's stats and compare, is that a... I have Scherzer ahead of him. You can look. Yeah, I'll pull it up right now. um So you got remember Hubble played in a time before Cy Youngs was really a thing.
00:13:34
Speaker
um But Scherzer has three Cy Youngs, a runner-up, another two top threes, another two top fives. So a lot of – and I think Hubble would have been around there if you know he had that option.
00:13:48
Speaker
Scherzer led the league in wins four times. He never had a season above with an eight war. Hubble had two with a nine war. um Again, I'm not a big war guy, but just for the sake of the nerds that care about it. um Led the league in WIP five times compared to Hubble six. I don't like your tone when you say that.
00:14:05
Speaker
So sorry. The one thing, though, and i that's why it's tough because Scherzer has all the strikeouts. Hubble pushed the time when strikeouts wasn't really big.
00:14:16
Speaker
Right. So – He also led the league in ERA multiple times, and Scherzer never did, despite when he was young. And I guess that's where it's tricky because, again, like, runs are harder to come by in Hubble's era. So, like, you know, looking at the career ERA, Scherzer's 3.16 is probably a little bit better than Hubble's.
00:14:36
Speaker
But Hubble had the lead in the era that he played in. Mm-hmm. I'm just going by ERA plus right now. Scherzer is a career 133 and Hubble is a career 130. So they're pretty close.
00:14:48
Speaker
and's ah Honestly, good for you, Mike. That's a tough comparison to make across arrows like that. like I don't think it's a crazy thought. no um I originally had Verlander right below Hubble.
00:15:00
Speaker
I've since moved him up to just above Scherzer. Because I think I didn't update it from a couple years ago when I was doing the rankings. So they're all kind of in that same boat. So just to kind of tie in the modern, I have Hubble right around those guys.
00:15:15
Speaker
it's Another pretty layup call here before we get to the tough one. What would championship or bust Mel Ott? In his first World Series, he only hit.389 with two home runs, four runs batted in, and four walks, giving him a.500 on base percentage and a.222
00:15:34
Speaker
Spoiler alert, the rest of this won't be hard either. Is he a Hall of Famer? Not counting runoffs, he's a third ballot Hall of Famer with 87.2%. He never won an MVP. I guess that's really the only thing you can hold against him.
00:15:45
Speaker
But he finished top five three times, top ten six times, made 11 All-Star teams. But the most impressive thing with Mel, ah kind of like Carl Hubble, is his black ink on his baseball reference page. He led the league in war three times. Shout out, nerds.
00:15:57
Speaker
I say that with admiration. Runs scored twice, walks six times, on base four times, runs batted in once, OPS twice, OPS plus five times. Remember, polo grounds.
00:16:09
Speaker
And oh yeah, he led the league in home runs six times. Finished his career with 511 home runs, 1,860 runs batted in, a 304 average, 947 OPS, and 110 Is he Hall Famer, my friends? nine forty seven op and a hundred and ten war is he a hall of famemer my friends Absolutely.
00:16:27
Speaker
Of course. Level four also. Number six right fielder between, again, two guys you know well, and feel free to do a stat comp with me right now, Tony Gwynn and Reggie Jackson. That sounds pretty good.
00:16:40
Speaker
i think it's pretty fair. I think I might have Reggie a little too high. i don't know. I've been on and off about that one, but I think Mel Lott is firmly where he belongs. Yeah, that sounds pretty accurate. That's awesome.
00:16:52
Speaker
And here's the interesting
Lefty O'Doul's Hall of Fame Controversy
00:16:54
Speaker
thing. So just to give you guys a clue for how I kind of researched this, um I start off by going on to the World Series. I search on Wikipedia the list of names of the players that are in the Hall of Fame that played in the series just to make sure I don't miss anybody on Baseball Reference.
00:17:09
Speaker
Then I go on Baseball Reference and match up all the numbers and put it all together. So when I looked up this World Series on Wikipedia last week, Lefty O'Doul is listed as a Hall of Fame player who appeared in the series.
00:17:22
Speaker
But Lefty O'Doul is not a member of Cooperstown. So when I saw this last week, I was confused why he was there. It turns out Lefty O'Doul was the first American elected to the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame.
00:17:34
Speaker
He would go on exhibition tours to Japan and is credited with helping train Japanese baseball players both before and after World War two So O'Doul's credited with helping baseball become more popular in Japan.
00:17:47
Speaker
With all that being said, he had a very short but great career here. So I figured why not ask, is he a Hall of Famer? Now, don't laugh at it when you just look at his baseball reference page. But he played 11 seasons.
00:18:01
Speaker
What? Too late. Wait. Wait. He played 11 seasons, only played 100-plus games in six of them. He won two batting titles, including hitting for three ninety eight in 1929, finished second or third and third in MVP voting, and had a career.349 batting average, which is the answer to a ah big trivia question.
00:18:19
Speaker
Who has the highest batting average of any player not inducted in Cooperstown? lefty o'dul wow 49 he has a 945 ops now again the totals are very low 1140 hits 113 home runs 542 runs batted in when we look at some guys in the hall of fame for their contribution to the game we look at guys like candy cummings uh we look at guys like joe wood um or not joe wood joe williams rather
00:18:49
Speaker
Does the peak that was very short, but obviously insanely good, plus the contribution of the game in an international sense, especially now with how we're seeing a lot of Japanese players doing really, really well here.
00:19:05
Speaker
Does that combination make him a Hall of Famer?
00:19:13
Speaker
I mean, his playing stats do not make him a Hall of Famer at all whatsoever. I agree with that. I mean, if you if you so decide to put him in as a... What's the word I'm looking for? Pioneer, maybe. Yeah.
00:19:31
Speaker
Pioneer, yeah. i like Yeah, pioneer, yeah. That's the word I was looking for. Thank you. um I could get behind that. But as a player, yeah. Sorry. i don't know I don't know if you can like combine the two to be like, well, you know he was a good pioneer, but he wasn't the best. And he was a good player, but he only lasted six years.
00:19:51
Speaker
The jury's out on that one. I don't know if I can particularly get behind that. I would agree. I'd say if you put him in ah if you put him in the Pioneers wing and then and his plaque is all about what he did for the Japanese side of the game, I think that's pretty important. I mean, we talk about ah that guy we put through the Veterans Committee this past year who you know was barnstorming across the league and all the guys, the nation. like That stuff is important.
00:20:13
Speaker
So I do think it needs to be recognized. So I would agree. If you put him in like a Pioneers section, i have no problem with that. That's why I think – I mean i know they don't normally do combinations, but I do think it does come up at times.
00:20:26
Speaker
Like think about our Veterans Committee conversation. You got you just mentioned John Donaldson. Tommy John, we were tying in the fact that he was so historically significant. With the surgery and that he had a borderline Hall of Fame playing career as well. That puts him over the edge.
00:20:43
Speaker
So I don't have lefty O'Doul on my list at the moment, but learning that information, i'm definitely open to that, especially considering the highest batting average, not in the Hall of Fame.
00:20:54
Speaker
So I think in this case, it's the pioneer, but then the playing career boosts that rather than the pioneering boosting the playing stats.
00:21:05
Speaker
Yeah, that makes sense. I think it's kind of the reverse of, let's say, Gil Hodges, a borderline Hall of Fame player who took years to get in, who might have gotten help by the fact that he won the World Series in 1969 as manager of the Mets.
00:21:19
Speaker
or Jim Cott, who might have been bumped up by a really long, amazing broadcasting career, to go with a borderline Hall of Fame career. I don't think it's formally put in that way, but I think with the voters, there's a human element to it, and they I'm sure they ah account for it, at least some of them.
00:21:41
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, that's that's always true. um the other and i find it hard to... you know, I said before about I vote for a way the guy played on the field.
00:21:54
Speaker
So if i'm going to vote for a guy as a player, anything he did off the field, including managing or spreading the game, doesn't doesn't count. That's fair. Whether it's baseball-related or not. Can i spin it this way, though?
00:22:06
Speaker
You tend to punish bad behavior on the field, right? In terms of cheating? in terms of cheating, yes, I would. So you punish bad behavior. Can you turn around and reward...
00:22:18
Speaker
Good behavior. Think about that time period. There was a lot of hostility between those two cultures at the time. And even after World War II, he was continuing help these guys develop and helped promote interest in baseball in an area where there was a lot of controversy for the time.
00:22:41
Speaker
Uh, no. No, because it doesn't have anything anything to do with his play on the field. I think he absolutely deserves to be in the Hall of as an ambassador, a pioneer, whatever word you want to call it. But as a player, no.
00:22:53
Speaker
Fair enough. I'm also reading this article about him right now. Uh, and there's a bridge named after him at Oracle Park. Interesting. That's cool.
00:23:05
Speaker
and also this i had to mute myself because thiss made me laugh it's not funny it's just kind of say that apparently he opened up a restaurant um out in san francisco where he lived that was this hometown but kind of funny the giants move there now That's iron ironic, yeah.
00:23:23
Speaker
And he he had a restaurant where he has a recipe for Bloody Mary's. um And the restaurant closed in 2017, reopened, then closed because of the pandemic.
00:23:36
Speaker
And the owner went bankrupt following a federal indictment on corruption. Oh. Oh. yeah I don't know why it made me laugh, but it did. tell Tells a lot about me, huh? Here comes the Hall of Fame case against Lefty O'Doul here.
00:23:54
Speaker
But yeah, I like, i don't know. I really like that idea of like just a contributor's wing where we put in guys like that just so people are are recognizing that because, again, we we all really like baseball. I didn't know anything about his dealings in Japan until now. So that's really cool.
00:24:10
Speaker
Yeah, and there are some contributors that are in. It seems to be more rare now. Usually we consider contributors to be owners, GMs, things like that. But, I mean, are we really going to – I have no problem with calling a guy like Vin Scully a contributor.
00:24:26
Speaker
Oh, yeah. like I understand that he has the Ford Frick Wing, but a guy like that should have a plaque. I agree. If they're important enough to the game, they should do something to recognize that so it's not forgotten.
00:24:38
Speaker
Yeah, and I don't think the awards do enough of that.
00:24:44
Speaker
But that covers the Hall of Famer. i just I wanted to do the Lefty O'Dual conversation just to get a feel for your thoughts there because I genuinely was torn on adding him in as a contributor, and I'm leaning towards it after this.
00:24:56
Speaker
It's really interesting conversation. mean, we were just talking about he's in the Japanese Hall of Fame by Ichiro getting in the Hall of Fame and all that kind of stuff, so it's really cool to see. Yeah, it's kind of a little full circle there from a couple episodes ago.
00:25:11
Speaker
All right.
Modern Player Contracts and Future Bets
00:25:12
Speaker
We can jump into some quick current event stuff. I think all the free agents have finally landed, at least the big ones. um Boris really screwed a lot of these guys, but we'll get into that.
00:25:24
Speaker
Let's get with ah Mr. Pete Alonzo first. i don't know if I'd say that. I think Alonzo screwed himself. Well, yeah, he might have. Two years, $54 million. Opt out after one. What do we think?
00:25:38
Speaker
i don't I don't think he screwed himself. I mean, you're making a large bet on yourself. But if he continues to play well, he's up he's up for another payday. But would we say he played well last year?
00:25:50
Speaker
No, absolutely not. That's why he didn't get the contract he wanted. But he made another bet on himself. At one point, he was offered after seven years, $158 million. Remember that? It's long shot now.
00:26:01
Speaker
That's why I think he screwed himself. Yeah. And i understand the the mindset of betting on yourself, but I think the problem is with Alonzo is that his career arc started off very similar to Aaron Judge, and he's not Aaron Judge.
00:26:17
Speaker
and No, but he'll see more pitches to hit now. What? He'll see more pitches to hit now. For sure. Let's have a lineup that's not just him and Lindor. Oh, he made the right move him. And three people between the two of them hitting in the lineup, which is ridiculous. Yeah.
00:26:31
Speaker
Oh, no, the same price, you you definitely go back to the Mets considering adding in the Soto piece. But I think the real issue was not taking that money beforehand. Yeah. Especially as a 29-year-old because you're making the bet on yourself okay.
00:26:45
Speaker
I mean, he's going opt out after this year. He'll be 30. I'm sure, yeah. you just He just has to hope that he's going to hit 250 and hit 45 home runs. And if he does, he'll get he'll get that money and more that he gave up.
00:26:58
Speaker
Your OPS, your runs batted in – has declined steadily each of the last three seasons. His war has declined steadily each of the last three seasons. I don't see... mean, he could be cooked. I'm not saying he's not.
00:27:10
Speaker
I'm not saying cooked. I'm saying he could be a 30-home-run guy for the rest of his career. But is you know is he going to make any more than he would have this year?
00:27:22
Speaker
Who knows? He could have a solid career arc if he has another eight years the way he just did. He'll flirt with 500 home runs.
00:27:32
Speaker
Yeah. I don't know. I'm just sure. mean, he's a locker room guy too. So I'm sure the Mets didn't want to really – didn't particularly want to lose him. I think the Mets had to.
00:27:43
Speaker
I think i think the the other thing here is that if he does opt out next year, ah he will not be the number one first base on the market. Yep. Because Vlad Jr. will be.
00:27:54
Speaker
Right. And he's going get, what, $400 million? And Vlad Jr. is going to get a lot of money. But how much did that really help him this year? Because so many first basemen went before him.
00:28:07
Speaker
Who knows? have Christian Walker. You have Carlos and Adela. They were all signing before him. It cheaper. Yeah, don't know. but I don't even know if I'd want Vladdy.
00:28:18
Speaker
myself but i mean, we can have that conversation. I fully disagree with that, but I want Vladdy as a player. I think as a person, he's a piece of crap. Yeah. I'm not against that. I've never, I've never seen a guy celebrate, you know, a game and in June after losing five in a row. Like this guy does.
00:28:35
Speaker
I just, I don't, I don't get it. The things that have come out of his mouth, just make no sense. I will say though, we kind of do need a piece of crap on this team. We have one. His name is jazz Chisholm.
00:28:45
Speaker
Oh, I mean a piece of crap that can play. yeah. That's good point. that That's what I'm saying. We need someone that can be the anti-judge to make everybody just a little bit uncomfortable.
00:28:59
Speaker
We don't want a cancer, but we want enough of a – We already have a cancer. We want a disease. we want we want a disease We don't want cancer. Okay.
00:29:10
Speaker
Yeah. like Like the good diseases. Yeah. Like the, we we want a minor flu. All right. can recover from. Okay. This analogy isn't going anywhere. We're going to move on. ah ah hu The Red Sox made big splash here with Alex Bregman, three years, 120 million. They're sneaky. Good, man. That lineup's getting a little bit better.
00:29:32
Speaker
See what they can do this year. Maybe not this year, but maybe next year. maybe they can compete. What do you think?
00:29:38
Speaker
But I think that Bregman's numbers are on a decline.
00:29:45
Speaker
He's going to have to learn how change his launch angle to get it over that green monster. um And then God knows what position he's playing because Rocky Devers doesn't... I'm a third baseman and I only play third base. What is this, Clayra Torres 2.0?
00:30:03
Speaker
Yeah. Can't say that. I mean, Red Sox fans and don't seem to like him very much. I mean, yeah. how you any like To the media.
00:30:15
Speaker
that's That's tough. That's a tough look. But i don't know. I keep seeing Red Sox fans saying that they have the best infield in baseball. don't know about that one. Well, who's that prospect that they're going to call up soon?
00:30:29
Speaker
No idea. um It's a second. Oh, Roman Anthony, right? Oh, yeah. Is he second base? Well, I thought Bregman's going play second. Where else is he going play? They're going to hit DHM.
00:30:42
Speaker
Oh, Anthony's in the outfield, my bad. Christian Campbell. Bregman's playing second. It's Christian Campbell. That's their new potential. Don't worry, I got Trevor Story playing shortstop after not playing baseball for six years.
AL East Dynamics: Red Sox and Orioles
00:30:53
Speaker
Yeah, that that was a bad signing.
00:30:56
Speaker
It's not their fault he got hurt. but yeah it was yeah i i mean It wasn't a great signing, but not their fault he got hurt. I think this is a home run for Boston. i this is like When you look at his numbers at Fenway Park, and understand it's only a 20-game sample size, but if you take any stadium that he's played more than 10 games in, it's his highest average.
00:31:14
Speaker
and his highest And one of his highest OPSs. It might actually be his highest OPS. It is his highest OPS in more than 10 games played. um It's a swing built for Fenway Park. I'm not too worried about his launch angle because he can hit him off the wall.
00:31:27
Speaker
Won't be a problem. I'm worried about his the launch angle because he seems like the kind of guy that's going to go out there and be like, I got to change my launch angle because I'm going home runs because I'm a Boston Red Sox now. And then he's just going to flying out and never the stadium.
00:31:39
Speaker
that's ah That's what I would fear. And with a guy who's whose bat speed is already declining, his hard hit rate is already declining, that's that's not good. That's really bad, actually. It's one of those that I didn't want him on the Yankees, but I hate the fact that he's going playing against us.
00:31:53
Speaker
oh yeah I just hate him in general. I i don't how do you do really care where you where he went, ah as long as it wasn't the Yankees. For sure. i don't I don't think he really moves the needle for Boston. I think he i the team's a little bit better, but they need more than just that.
00:32:09
Speaker
I think you can say that they're going to better. I was going to say, I'm sorry, Zach. You can't really call him your sleeper anymore. was like you got him and Crochet now. yeah I think as as much as much better as Boston got, I think the Orioles got worse.
00:32:24
Speaker
So I think it kind of evens out. That's why i think it helps Boston. Yeah. Now they have a shot to pounce the division. If we if we're slacking, I don't trust Toronto. i never count out Tampa, but what is there to really add on with them?
00:32:40
Speaker
The return of Shane McClanahan. McClanahan, yeah. Is he coming back? Yes. He's the opening day starter. He's already named. Awesome. Yeah, good for him.
00:32:53
Speaker
Yeah, you guys want to – moving on, you want to get into the Marcus Stroman of it all?
Pitching Challenges and Trades
00:32:58
Speaker
yeah I just want to say I told everybody so. I wanted no part the problem the second that this happened. Sherm said Glaber 2.0. Stroman is turning into Glaber 2.0, mister.
00:33:08
Speaker
I am a starter. I start every day or every five days. I give you 30 starts a year. i want you to know the second half of your starts every year. the second half of the year, they're bad. This guy falls off every year.
00:33:19
Speaker
Yeah, I don't – I don't know. I mean, he's another guy. mean, you want to talk about a guy that's a, that's a, you know, a disease. all and Cause he's always got something to say. I think he's a full blown cancer. I don't call him a disease. I mean, he's, he's always got something to say. It's, it's really funny because everything that he's left, he said he's talked crap about them. And soon as he gets on a new team, he's like, this is the greatest team ever. And they all treat me great. And I, and I love everybody until that. I just, it doesn't, it doesn't work like that.
00:33:50
Speaker
Like you have the problem. He knew what was happening when they signed Fareed, though. He knew it was going to go down. Everybody knew it. But the problem was they can't get rid of him. They're spending too much money on him. Yeah, and they'd have to eat the salary to trade him, and who wants him?
00:34:01
Speaker
but i don't i I don't even know how you go about it. um Do you have six starters? Maybe. um And run that out for a month and then hope somebody gets hurt?
00:34:14
Speaker
Literally. Because it's probably going to happen at some point. Do you put him in the bullpen and tell him to cry about it and hope he doesn't report so you don't have to pay him?
00:34:25
Speaker
i don't know. The one thing I will say sticking up for Stroman, though, was he really that bad in the second half to be that embarrassed by not playing in October at all?
00:34:36
Speaker
I mean, we had Clay Holmes playing, for Christ's sakes. We all know that the Yankees and their... ah and how they handle their pitching, a four-year-old throwing Cheerios at a dartboard could do a better job.
00:34:53
Speaker
like As much as I dislike Stroman and didn't want him on the Yankees, I kind of can't blame him for being a little miffed. See, and the thing to me about the playoff thing is that I don't understand why they bothered putting him on the roster if they weren't going to play him. That's why I think it was deliberately to insult him.
00:35:11
Speaker
But then again, they put Mark Leiter on the roster, who's the worst pitcher I've ever seen in my life. Well, he got in some games. And he somehow is still on the team. yeah You're telling me that Stroman couldn't have pitched in relief over Leiter or Holmes? You're absolutely right. He should have, actually. I mean, i mean they brought in Nestor Cortez.
00:35:26
Speaker
like Yeah. So, to face Otani, Betts, and Freeman. Speaking of Nestor Cortez, by the way... ah the brewers posted a video today of Cortez, um, like soft throwing pitches into, ah one of those machines that, that pitches balls. Uh, and he's like throwing it at it. It catches it, it throws it back at him.
00:35:50
Speaker
And he's like totally lobbing it in there. And he's like, I'm Mr. Cortez. I'm a brewer now. And all the comments on this video are like, man, I was like to pitch you through to Freeman just over and over and over again. Oh,
00:36:03
Speaker
He was such a gimmick. He was. And you know what? He wasn't bad. No. Do I miss him? No. Yeah. As a person, yeah. as ah As a pitcher, no. The team's better without him. Right.
00:36:16
Speaker
But that's is basically the same way I feel with Stroman. Sure. As far as on the field talent goes. is he If he's a five-starter on the team, I'd be okay with that. Yeah. he's not on the team, you know I wouldn't lose sleep over it.
00:36:27
Speaker
Right. But if he's going sit there and cry about it, yeah, that's kind of a problem.
00:36:34
Speaker
But the same point, I'd cry about it. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know. I wonder if anybody would trade for him if the Yankees ate like half of that salary. What does he get? An 18 mil a year?
00:36:47
Speaker
I mean, you might see him get traded closer you know into the season. Right, yeah, yeah. Again, na know you hold onto to six you hold on to six guys, and you have the six-man rotation. and you just you know You keep Cole and Freeman fresh in the beginning of the year.
00:37:00
Speaker
you know Let them ramp up whatever excuse you want to make. And then if someone Yankees gets hurt, or you know I mean, there were plenty of guys last year that lasted one start, like Shane Bieber. And then what do we do now?
00:37:12
Speaker
Oh, Stroman's not pitching a game this year, now that I'm looking at this. He has $18 million dollars this year, and then an $18 million dollars player option continued on him throwing 140 innings. so They gave him a player option?
00:37:23
Speaker
They apparently did. Oh, my God. yeahll he might I shouldn't say he won't pitch a game, but he will not be pitching 140 innings for the New York Yankees. No way in hell. How the hell did they give him a player option?
00:37:34
Speaker
That's terrible. That's great. Just remember, this there's where this is this is Hal Steinbrenner's New York Yankees. That goes out and spends money on like this and then goes, we don't have enough money to spend.
00:37:48
Speaker
Yeah, because you spent it on Marcus Stroman.
Yankees' Injury Management Issues
00:37:51
Speaker
That's an awful contract. Wow.
00:37:56
Speaker
I guess sam we can jump into injuries too. We already know my favorite, John Carlos Stanton. All right, I need i need to ask this because I'm not comprehending this too. He has tennis elbow in both of his elbows, right?
00:38:08
Speaker
But they knew about it after the World Series because it was bothering him in the playoffs. So let me ask, how did this not get addressed in the offseason for three months? Because this is the same team that let Anthony Rizzo play with a concussion for six months. Yeah, I don't know what what what you're questioning about that. This is an absolute game. This nothing surprising.
00:38:28
Speaker
It's disappointing. how How can you run your organization like that? it's disappointing, yes. It's not surprising. No, it's not surprising at all. That's the difference. It's ridiculous. i just I mean, boone was Boone said that it hurt him most of last year and the playoffs.
00:38:47
Speaker
i mean I mean, we don't know what they did after the playoffs. Did they tell him they're arrested or and they treated him for it or what? but Yeah, don't know. would have to assume they did something. But then again, it's the Yankees, so I could also assume they did nothing.
00:38:59
Speaker
Right. look at the way they handled Garrett Cole last year. Oh, thank God that worked out. That would have been a disaster if he got hurt. Yeah, but that's what I'm saying is that,
Signings and Trade Speculations
00:39:08
Speaker
you know, they'll never trust this team when it comes to what they say about injuries or what they don't say about injuries.
00:39:15
Speaker
um Good point. I just don't understand. I know tennis elbow sounds like it's a ligament thing, so and there's no, like, clean fix to that, but I feel like you treatment would have had to start, I would have hoped, you know, in the offseason, but I just don't know how it's still a problem now, and he's going to be out for a few months now, which is great.
00:39:34
Speaker
Yeah. But he's always hurt anyway, right? So it's part of his game. Part of his game. Yep, part of his game. Yeah, I guess. I don't know. It's a very Yankee thing to happen.
00:39:46
Speaker
Yep. Oh, yeah.
00:39:50
Speaker
But yeah, that's any anyone else got anything? That's pretty much all I had.
00:39:55
Speaker
Justin Turner signed with the Cubs. Good for him. Yay. I forgot. Yeah.
00:40:01
Speaker
I forgot he's still playing. Sorry, that's me mean. That's a big yay. Why, because you didn't want him either? No. I mean, DJ LeMay, who's your starting third baseman, I think you just have to set up set up and accept that one.
00:40:17
Speaker
He wasn't bad last year, Turner. No, he wasn't. You're right. You know, 114 OPS plus, didn't play every day, but played 140
00:40:30
Speaker
hitting 260. I mean, at 39 years old, what more can you ask? True.
00:40:37
Speaker
Yeah. I think the other big ones are... ah I just had it. Oh, means John Means signed Cleveland.
00:40:49
Speaker
think that's a good sign if you're Cleveland. that one. Yeah. Didn't Haroldo Perdomo just sign a big contract? Perdomo just signed a four-year extension with the Diamondbacks. Which I don't get at all.
00:41:01
Speaker
He's not bad. He's not bad, but why? Yeah, yeah i don't I don't know if I understand that one, particularly myself. um Nick Pavetta signed with the Padres on a four-year deal. I think that ah means that Cease is out the door.
00:41:18
Speaker
Yeah, where Cease can get? I wonder what they can get for him. Should be a good one, though. That'll be fun. Yeah. That'll definitely pull in and a nice big haul.
00:41:31
Speaker
He had a great season. He's pretty good. um I think we have to talk about everybody's favorite player and the best contract that has ever been signed. Anthony Rendon.
00:41:42
Speaker
yeah On a 60-day DL already. Sorry, IL. He's ecstatic. With hip impingement surgery. Yeah. Out indefinitely, and the Angels have already signed his replacement in Yohan Mankata.
00:41:55
Speaker
It's unbelievable. Can I be that guy? wild. Gets paid millions of dollars to do nothing? nothing. i mean I mean, dude, he's celebrating, right? Oh, yeah. I mean, you have to be. Oh, he's thrilled. yeah I just... that I mean, that has to be the worst contract that hass ever been signed, right? I think so.
00:42:15
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, between between the never playing and fighting fans, you know what's a wild stat? I don't know if we talked about this one already. um Maybe we did.
00:42:28
Speaker
Ted Williams played more games during the World War than Anthony Rendonis played during this contract he signed with the Angels. What? Yeah, it's a real stat. Yeah, yeah.
00:42:42
Speaker
While fighting in the World War, Ted Williams played more games. Oh my God. I'm sorry. That's really funny. Yeah. That's a real laugh. You hate the military. that's Oh my God. Oh, is that we had that one to the list. Excellent.
00:43:00
Speaker
Oh, that's really funny. What a, what a contract, man. And Oh, and he complains that the season is too long to remember. They got to shorten that up. Yeah. I've never seen a guy that plays a professional sport for his career and and just be like, yeah, it's just another job. I hate my job. what Actually, let's have some fun with this. So in the last four seasons, Rendon has a 1.6 war over the four seasons.
00:43:23
Speaker
Let's take a look at his salary, shall we? Let's count it.
00:43:29
Speaker
four seasons. God. thirty six five seven one four two eight he is made ah hundred and thirty seven point seven million dollars over those four season oh my god I think I could put up one war, right?
00:43:44
Speaker
You can do that four years. It's possible for sure. I don't think you could. I don't think you could. He played 205 games and made $147 million dollars over that span. Yeah, I can do that.
00:43:58
Speaker
I mean, I can do more than Rendon did. How many like home runs and stuff does he have over this time? Maybe that's... Over okay, so since 2021, he has 13 home runs. Oh, i yeah, sure. In four years...
00:44:10
Speaker
Come on now. I just can't believe like the fall off. I mean, this guy was a top third baseman in the league with Washington.
Player Declines and Hall of Fame Discussions
00:44:20
Speaker
This is a guy who could have been a Hall of Famer if we if he kept going.
00:44:23
Speaker
That 2019 season was crazy. yeah Yeah. He has four top 10 MVP finishes through age 30.
00:44:31
Speaker
And then just didn't. yeah And then hated the game. so I mean, you does he have, like, long COVID or something that just, like, got in his head? Like, I mean, after 2020, it's just his career ended, pretty much. Yeah. He's playing 45 games a year, hitting 230.
00:44:49
Speaker
That's it. While fighting fans in the stands. Can you think anyone who was anywhere close to, like, this career arc?
00:45:00
Speaker
Like, where he just fell off not because of drugs or because of crimes or because of, and you know, anything like that, injuries, just because he simply didn't want to play.
00:45:13
Speaker
ah Yes, actually, one one player I can think of. Joel Embiid? I'm sorry. I was going to say Ben Simmons. I was going to say Josh Hamilton. Well, that was drugs. Yeah, well, yeah, I mean, i guess I was equating it to when, you know, the fan died.
00:45:29
Speaker
and it kind of just ruined them forever. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Good point. But I guess that did lead to drugs and crime. That's how you would like to look at it. Drugs and crime. But, I mean, he he left Texas and his career just fell apart.
00:45:47
Speaker
Funny enough, with the Angels. Yup. Yeah. Maybe no one should just sign with the Angels. Yeah, but yeah, Mike, I love how we both went Philly there, because, uh,
00:45:59
Speaker
Yeah, Ben Simmons I think is the comp because least Embiid won MVP, is going to be a Hall of Fame guy. Ben Simmons, ah yeah like I think Joel Embiid, if he doesn't play another game, you could say lived up to the expectation that his career was going to have when he got drafted.
00:46:19
Speaker
He probably could have been better. so It's disappointing, but he he's like a Chris Webber. He's not a disaster. He's an underachiever. He's not a bust. Sure.
00:46:30
Speaker
This is a bust. Yeah. What happened with Lincecum? Did he just get hurt? umar I mean, he liked weed, but other than that... I guess it would be injuries, yeah.
00:46:44
Speaker
Because, like, he... Well, no, it's really just declining skill more than anything else. Because in 2011... was his last All-Star appearance. He had a 2.74 ERA. mini Then the next year, he pitched the same amount of games, had a 5.180 ERA.
00:46:57
Speaker
Yeah. Pitched one less game, had a 4.37 ERA. Pitched 33 games, had a 4.74 ERA. a So he just fell off a cliff. I remember that. He didn't stop playing like Ben and Rendon did.
00:47:10
Speaker
It's just rapidly declining skill or maybe you know maybe he stopped doing some things that he used to do. i don't know. We see. Stole that Cy Young from the Hall of Fame from Johan Santana. Oh, we get it. We get it.
00:47:24
Speaker
That's history. right, well, speaking about not signing with the Angels, Kelly Jansen signed with them on a one-year deal to be their closer, which means he'll pick up about four saves this season. I know we've briefly discussed it. I mean, you both say yes, and that's just... yeah i mean I don't.
00:47:41
Speaker
I feel like I said yes. I don't remember what I said, honestly. Eileen, no. No way. Eileen, no. No way. i think you need I think I need to see, and it shouldn't matter, but I think I need to see 500 saves out of him.
00:47:57
Speaker
How many does he have? Like 447. But when you compare him. He ain't getting them with the Angels, that's for sure. Kimbrell has nine all-star appearances to Jansen's four. I know all-star appearances aren't the end-all be-all, but still.
00:48:10
Speaker
ah Craig Kimbrell has five top ten Cy Young finishes. Jansen has one.
00:48:17
Speaker
And Jansen led the league in saves twice. Kimbrell led it four times. Okay. All right. I think Kimbrell runs circles around Jansen. Okay. So I'm going to feel justified in voting no and you can't yell at me. Thank you.
00:48:29
Speaker
I, not yet. Give me five years. I'll still yell at you. Give me five years. I'm not there yet. Yeah. That'll be a fun one.
00:48:39
Speaker
Yeah. He's literally John Franco with a couple more saves. I'm not there. Yeah. No thank you.
00:48:53
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I don't know. and Jensen kind of benefited from playing on you know dod Powerhouse for a long time. Yeah. Yeah, I don't know. I take it back. I don't know if i'm there either.
00:49:09
Speaker
I actually do have something for you guys before we wrap because i still, I still had more. Oh, you do go ahead. Well, I was going to congratulations to Cole Reagans on his new contract. Yeah.
00:49:20
Speaker
Good for him. But I mean, get some out of the arbitration years, I guess. Yeah. I mean, it's a, it's not a bad contract. It's good for both sides. He's a heck of a pitcher. He really is.
00:49:31
Speaker
Underrated still. He needs another year. Like he just had. And people will start paying attention. True.
Contracts and MLB Spending Disparities
00:49:38
Speaker
Kershaw re-signed to Dodgers, obviously.
00:49:41
Speaker
Coming back again. i don't know. who Who knows where he's going pitch? I was going to say, where what is he going to be doing? I don't know. Bullpen, maybe, I guess. He's got to get 3,000, right? And then he'll probably... ah Yeah, maybe they'll do like an A-Rod thing with him.
00:49:55
Speaker
Yeah. He's 32 away, so... Yeah, he'll get it this year, probably. He didn't get 32 strikeouts last year. He only pitched seven games. So as long as he stays healthy, he'll get it. I forget if we talked about it or not, but did we talk about Tim Hill?
00:50:09
Speaker
I don't think we did. inc we i can't remember if we did or not. all right, well, going to say Tim Hill is Yankee. Thank God. Okay, I've been throwing this one up because he he nearly did. Oh, that's right. I think we have one lefty in our bullpen.
00:50:19
Speaker
Good job, boys. Great work. Hooray. Hooray. right, that's all I got. I wanted to get to the Manfred quote.
00:50:31
Speaker
ah And I have to find it well time because I didn't expect to be running it. ah by business So he actually just talked about this yesterday. um He said the Dodger spending is a great thing, but um I'll find the exact quote. Cohen spending is bad. Yes, we get it. So he said, I actually i actually agree with him on what he said here.
00:50:51
Speaker
He said the Dodgers have gone out and done everything possible, always within the rules that currently exist to put the best possible team on the field. I think that's a great thing. That type of competitive spirit is what people want to see. And he went on and say, it's clear we have fans in some markets that are concerned about the ability of the team in their market to compete with the financial resources of the Dodgers.
00:51:09
Speaker
If we've been consistent on one point, we try to listen to our fans on topics like this. And I've heard people, believe me, if i but he went on and talked about it. If I'm going to be critical of something, it's not going to be the Dodgers. It's going to be the system that the Dodgers are taking advantage of.
00:51:22
Speaker
There you go. No, i agree with that. So he's right. Yeah. It's putting pressure on the players to say, hey, like, you know let's get this done in the CBA. Right. Yeah. The salary floor. Yeah. No, the CBA.
00:51:33
Speaker
Exactly. He said the right thing. And I don't blame the Dodgers either. It's exactly what I've been saying on the pod. and playing by the rules right now. In five years, that won't be the rules. will i mean I mean, I went on a rant last time.
00:51:45
Speaker
I don't blame the Dodgers at all. I blame the owners who sit there and cry and moan because they don't spend money. And then they complain that, oh my God, Stephen Cohen's going buy a team and he's going spend more money than he's making. But that's a problem.
00:51:56
Speaker
But what the Dodgers do is totally cool. that's I'm not going to rehash it. But yeah but like what do you even do to fix it? Salary floor. Salary floor, maybe. But even then, the Dodgers aren't going stop spending.
00:52:11
Speaker
So like, okay, so let's say the salary floor, like, let's say I think the Marlins salary right now is $43 million. dollars So it's up $150 million. dollars Sure. The Dodgers right now are three something.
00:52:24
Speaker
They'll double it in the next couple of years. So what's that going to do? I don't know, maybe get rid of deferments too. So I think that's silly. Yeah, but you're not going Yes, I would absolutely get rid of deferments. That's ridiculous.
00:52:37
Speaker
But the thing is, is that if you have a salary floor, now you're going to have teams like the Angels, like the Rays. We're not going to be able to be a feeder for other teams. You're not going to have Snell or Glass now get traded because, well, we're just not going pay them.
00:52:51
Speaker
You know what mean? Yeah. Depends. Every pitcher that the Athletics have made in the last five years has been traded. Gray, Montas, Minea.
00:53:05
Speaker
Yeah. They get rid of all of them. I'm not saying these guys are top-line players, but I mean, you're basically a AAA team for everybody else. yeah They'd have to pay somebody, yes. have Then you would be forced to pay one of them. Yeah.
00:53:18
Speaker
Because you have to hit that that floor. Other sports have salary floors. Hockey has a salary floor. can't just not pay anybody. yeah can't just put a non-competitive team on the field. The Rays do it, thank God, are able to put a competitive team on the field because they, I don't know who's running that scouting department, but they are really good.
00:53:36
Speaker
um But you can't have a team like the A's are going to throw this piece of trash on the field every year and then talk about how, I can't wait to watch Aaron Judge hit home runs. That was hilarious. I mean, come on.
00:53:47
Speaker
i mean come on Tell me about me going to Barkley Center as a Knick fan. Oh, I can't wait to see this guy on the other team or that guy on the other team. Whilst being a top five richest owner in the league and just not spending money on the team.
00:53:59
Speaker
Screw you. that's me i That's how you do it. It's either that or you're going to have find some local legal leap legal loophole to make guys like that sell.
00:54:10
Speaker
And you'll never be able to figure that one out. So good luck. Salary floor is the only logical way to do it. 100% agree. Yeah. I don't even know. Like, salary floor would be easy to enforce. If you were to even try to enforce a salary cap, I don't know you'd even... Yeah, I don't know how you'd That's the thing. Like, how do you even... What would you do? Add 50 million to whatever the Dodgers have right now and make that the cap? Like, don't know. Because you can't say, like, oh, the Dodgers... Unless you do, like, a luxury tax, but they already kind of set that.
00:54:42
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, unless you're going to set some cap and then force teams to sell players... And I wouldn't do the apron stuff the NBA is doing because that's a complete disaster. Yeah.
00:54:54
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, i don't I wouldn't do the max contract stuff either. Oh, not even that. I'm okay with the max contracts. It's basically what happens is if they spend this amount, they can do, they can manipulate it this way and this way. But if they spend a little bit extra, they have to let go of guys that they grew in their farm system for years. and not the farm system, but like they drafted, they developed.
00:55:18
Speaker
And it it's what screwed the Knicks over with keeping their starting center last year. So I don't like that. I don't like the idea of having being forced to sell guys. Mm-hmm. But I do think there's got be some sort of way to put some kind of pressure on these owners that either aren't doing anything or finding a way to set up a new cap that will be effective after all the current contracts end, aside from maybe the really long ones like Otani and Soto. Yeah. I just think that they need to implement this ASAP so that –
00:55:50
Speaker
um when the pirates decide that they're not going to pay Paul schemes because they can't afford it, he doesn't become a Dodger or a Red Sox. Yeah. This has been my TED talk. Maybe grandfather in the current contracts and say effective this date, it will be this.
00:56:06
Speaker
Yeah. I don't know. Maybe restructure that Otani contract. Deferments have to go. i just don't know how they're going to go about doing that. That's a good I think that's easy too. You grandfather them the ones that are redone.
00:56:16
Speaker
yeah Contracts are done. Going forward, there will be no more deferments. Yeah. But will the Players Association agree to that? I mean, they should. They can put a cap on deferments. I mean, I don't know if you can get rid of it altogether, but you can put a cap on it.
00:56:29
Speaker
Where it can't exceed more than, you know, 25% of a player's contract, something like that. The players like it because they can manipulate it with taxes. I don't know if they'll agree to that. Hmm.
00:56:42
Speaker
Who knows? I don't know. Then on that issue, like... Who knows what Max Scherzer is going to decide? Yeah. was going to say, on that issue, I'm like pro pro-owners then because deferments need to go. no Don't say that word.
00:56:54
Speaker
Well, whatever. Don't say pro-owners. Pro-baseball, whatever the word is. Zach is pro-owner, confirmed.
00:57:01
Speaker
All these terms. I just, I would never want to side with the owners.
00:57:07
Speaker
I don't know. Deferments need to go. That's all going to say. Then again, Zach, we are owners, so I think we have a lot. But of course.
00:57:18
Speaker
And that wraps up our 1933 episode of Championship War Bust. Thank you for listening, and we will see you next time for some more as he a Hall of Famer. Peace.