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Free Agency Hot Stove
25 Plays1 year ago
The latest episode of Born on the Bayou Sports kicks off with a discussion about the MLB Winter Meetings, focusing on the Astros' ongoing negotiations with Alex Bregman and the team's potential trade scenarios for Kyle Tucker. Tim and Scott highlight the Cubs' rumored trade package as particularly intriguing.
The conversation then shifts to the Houston Texans' upcoming matchup against the Miami Dolphins. Tim emphasizes the need for a physical game plan to counter Miami's speed.
Next, the hosts turn to the Houston Rockets, who are playing exceptional basketball and have advanced to the quarterfinals of the NBA's in-season tournament.
The episode concludes with the fan-favorite segments: "Horses Ass of the Week," "Tips of the Cap," and "Scumbag of the Week."
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Be sure to follow the Born on the Bayou Sports Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100089663917792
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Transcript
Welcome and Introduction
00:00:06
Speaker
Welcome to Born on the Bayou Sports, a Houston sports show made for Houstonians by Houstonians. Join Tim Costello and Scott Barzilla every week as they break down the latest in Houston Astros, Rockets and Texans news. Tim's a former minor league broadcaster and Scott has written two books on the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Baseball Highlights: Cy Young and Player Development
00:00:32
Speaker
Yeah, if probably Eric could get it figured out, it would make things a lot easier because he was that guy everybody was counting on this year to be a Cy Young candidate, take that big step forward and and help anchor this rotation with Palmer. Since he's come to Houston, you can look at the development of guys like Carlos Correa defensively, Jeremy Peรฑa defensively, you know, Alex Bregman, you know, certainly I think I'm better than average third baseman.
00:00:56
Speaker
And now you're putting teams in 3rd and 8th, 3rd and 7th, 3rd and 9th. Now Hill comes to Will Anderson. Pin back your ears, let's go. So if
Holiday Season Kickoff: NFL and Winter Meetings
00:01:05
Speaker
you're by you, born and bred, or just like spending time of the age, sit down, relax, and stay Houston strong.
00:01:23
Speaker
Welcome, all my friends, to the holiday season as we are in the thick of the NFL season. It's the winter meetings. It's getting chilly, and yet here we are, still coming to you hot on a Wednesday night.
Fun Holiday Anecdotes: Santa's Chimney Dilemma
00:01:38
Speaker
How we doing, Scott? We're doing really good, and I was going to throw this one at your your way. I love to do a question of the day with the students.
00:01:48
Speaker
And I love to do it because I love there's always one um kid that gives me just the most hilarious response. So the question of the day today was, for homes that have no chimney, how does Santa get in? Well, Scott, if you've seen the movie, The Santa Claus, he creates a chimney through magic. I've seen that, but here's my favorite answer response from a kid. Kid, and I quote, he throws an elf through a window.
00:02:19
Speaker
Wow, violent. Santa is sand of the thug Santa there. Yeah, Santa's got some anger as you. Apparently the naughty list keeps growing. But you know speaking of the movie, the Santa Claus got for the starting question in this show.
Favorite Christmas Movies Discussion
00:02:35
Speaker
What is your go to Christmas movie watch list look like? Is there anything that you've already checked off this season or or what are the ones that you have to watch every year? We usually do a Christmas story every year.
00:02:48
Speaker
Uh, you know, for hours, uh, that's a personal, you know, and I've never met anybody who's met about that movie. I've met my wife. but Oh, I've met people who either really, really hate it. My wife is men. Take her leave it. Um, but I, most people I know they they feel a very strong way about it one way or the other, but, uh, I personally love it.
00:03:17
Speaker
I like, uh, watching Hans Gruber die hard on Christmas Eve. That's always a fan of mine. Um, you know, I, I like watching, uh, the Griswold family Christmas. Oh yeah. that' Always a big fan of that one. We've done, um, jingle all the way already. And then we did, uh, uh, I can't remember which one we got. We did another one too, but you know, honestly, I don't love the Santa Claus. Like I think that one is, uh, just played out a little bit. Maybe it's my dislike of Tim Allen.
00:03:47
Speaker
I don't know very good be You know the narc Tim Allen Narced on everybody when he got busted for cocaine trafficking, but yeah um Maybe that's not who I am. You know envision playing Santa Claus guy flying a airplane full of cocaine No, i'm not I'm not a big Santa Claus guy. I Think I'm not a big home alone guy either. Oh see we'll disagree on that one. I love home alone but I will say You know a very underrated one is elf We did well, that's what we watched already is elf. Who's underwriting elf? Well, you know you get the thing with Will Ferrell his movies are either really really good or really really bad and that One and that when I was going to watch it the first time I was thinking this could be really awful and it turned out to be really good and
00:04:40
Speaker
Yeah, I also, I also much watch, um, four Christmases. I'm a big Vince Vaughn guy. So I really enjoy, uh, really enjoy four Christmases. Always fun to watch. And, uh, you know, I, I, uh, Christmas at the cranks, another Tim Allen one, um, Fred claws enjoyable as well. If you've ever seen it, I enjoy good. I even enjoy the trailer park boys, Christmas special Scott. I like it. I like a good holiday festive, uh, event.
00:05:09
Speaker
I'm not a big Fred Claus fan, because you the whole thing of Saints Live Forever and their families also live forever just seemed kind of a stupid concept to me. But, you know, teach their own. Fair enough. But
Astros Winter Meetings Strategy
00:05:24
Speaker
speaking of living forever, I'm not sure if this Astros dynasty is going to live forever, Scott. And the winter meetings hot stove is heating up right now. We've seen some big deals go down. Juan Soto has already signed.
00:05:39
Speaker
the market for Kyle Tucker appears to be red hot. So here we are, the Astros are at the preface of either maintaining this this window, you know signing Alex Bregman, trading Tucker, and getting a package back that allows you to maybe get better or or fill some holes. I don't know, Scott. It's something I was maybe against originally, but if if we're not going to be able to lock down Tucker, that Cubs package looks pretty enticing right now.
00:06:08
Speaker
Yeah, and I think ah the cuffs packaging are you missing the say a Suzuki and radius radius? Yeah, that one is not prospect Yeah, that one's intriguing to me. I think you know Valdez to the Orioles seems like it would make sense because the Orioles are prospect rich and I could see them wanting to avoid a the big money you know guys to to get in you know somebody to replace Corbin Burns.
00:06:40
Speaker
um I don't know if if if there's going to be much of a market for Presley. Now, correct me if I'm wrong. Is Presley a 10-5 guy? I think so, yeah. So he could basically refuse any deal? No, he doesn't have five full years with the Astros.
00:06:59
Speaker
I believe so, because he came in I believe. 24, the six years, six, or seven years. yeah yes um Well, and so to me, I think he would only accept a deal to a team where he'd be closer. And so i don't know if that's I don't know where that is. that's So that's going to be a hard one. But I think overall, though, if you're looking at the winter meetings,
00:07:28
Speaker
I haven't felt this way about baseball in general since probably the 90s and early aughts. I felt like the game was making some positive steps towards financial parity in the last decade or so. But the last couple of years, I think, with what the Dodgers have done and then some of the big contracts like we saw, like the Yankees dole out,
00:07:55
Speaker
It's just kind of you know crushing your spirit a little bit. i I mean, I agree a little bit more with the Dodgers just because of how much the the deferred money game is being played there. And I don't even mind from a player's perspective if they're willing to accept deferred money. I
MLB Contract Economics and Astros' Limitations
00:08:12
Speaker
just think we talked about in the last episode of this podcast, I think the way that it does not count towards your luxury tax is bullshit, right? Like it's the AAV, that's what should matter. You know, the Mets,
00:08:23
Speaker
The Mets just always have found ways to give big ass contracts out. You know, that one doesn't surprise me as much as just the amount of it, right? Like you paid him more than Shohei Otani. It's just crazy. And then, I mean, the Yankees not giving a suite is the reason why they didn't get them because they had issues with security. And I mean, I'm with you, though, Scott. I do.
00:08:49
Speaker
And maybe I'm a little disheartened from, from like Jim Crane stance as well. Cause it just feels like we don't have a chance, right? Like when our owner has publicly said like, I won't go past six years and all these big guys are getting 10, 11, 12, 13 year deals and your owner is just like, it ain't happening here. How are you supposed to feel as a fan knowing that like we're automatically out of the running and less than willing to take a four or five year deal? Yeah. I mean, basically the, the 156 million, I think,
00:09:19
Speaker
You can correct me if I'm wrong. I think is the most we've ever offered anybody. That's, you know, the six year 156. Yeah. But it's the same AAV that Adamus got, right? Like it's not like it's a crazy deal. It's just crane won't go longer than six. Yeah. But what killed me was I think is the max free deal. I think because, you know, to be perfectly honest,
00:09:47
Speaker
I think the Mets ended up being one of the teams to wine and dine Soto. And so that's just one of those things where, you know, you, you map that shit out a year in advance. I mean, the Mets knew they were were going to make a big offer to Soto probably, you know, within, you know, a whole calendar year. And so they were getting that sucker ready and that was, they were in the planning. The whole free thing just felt like, well, we got to sign a guy. Here's $218 million. dollars There you go. And I just don't see the Astros in that neighborhood of being able. I think they did it with Josh Hader for 95 million. Well, five years for 95 million. but for Under a hundred, right? Under a hundred. with yeah under hundred or million So, I mean, I feel like the Astros are capable of making spur of the moment deals, but not at that level. No. And I think,
00:10:46
Speaker
that's what makes it disheartening, right? Like you just know this top level free agent class isn't coming here, right? Like you have to hope to God that Alex Bregman has some sort of ties enough here that he's willing to maybe leave some some years on the table elsewhere, or leave some bigger offers on the table. I don't know, but that's where you're at, right? Because you know, you're at the end of the day, your offer is not going to be the longest Your offer's probably going to have a high AAV, but it's not going to be the 10 year, $300 million dollars deal he thought he was going to get. So, you know, what way are you going to sell him other than like, Hey, you know, you know, Houston, you love Houston. You've won two rings here, yada, yada, yada. Well, because he's got those two rings, he can also go get a bag and already get, say, I already won two championships, right? Like that's also.
00:11:38
Speaker
out there and we don't have the money to compete with that. Like as fans we watched Springer go and it's just like well shit okay we've got this whole whole group we've got to pay and we watched Correa go and that one really stunk because like Correa was the guy. Correa changed everything in this franchise but okay we still got you know Yordawn and Kyle Tucker and Altuve and You know, Verlander, okay, well now Verlander's gone. Well, now Bregman's possibly gone. Now Tucker's possibly gone. Now Fromber's possibly gone. And I'm not saying we're ripping this thing down to the studs, and I'm hoping this is more of a retool than a rebuild, because at the end of the day, you still have Altuve. You still have Yord on Alvarez. You still have Jinder Diaz. You still have, you know, even if you trade Fromber a rotation that has Renault Blanco, that has Spencer Evanghetti, that has Hunter Brown.
00:12:31
Speaker
That's gonna have CJ come back at some point. Hopefully it's gonna have a ah Luis Garcia. That's healthy You know, there's a lot of arms here and theoretically you're gonna get some good players back for the guys you trade But it's just you're losing What's been the heart and soul of this franchise for the past seven years piece by piece by piece all of a sudden You know, it's it's it's that Will Smith meme from Fresh Prince where he looks around his house at the end and He's just like I don't recognize anything anymore Well, and I think part of it, and in those old guys that she mentioned, um, Altuve and Yordan took team friendly deals. Let's be, let's be honest. I mean, what what do you think Altuve would fetch on the open market? I mean, I think he'd probably get a similar yearly number, but he'd probably go.
00:13:23
Speaker
Eight or nine years somewhere and I think even more so would be a young you're done if you're done It's the market. That's a based on the numbers we've seen out there. That's a five hundred million dollar contract, right? Yeah, exactly So basically what you're doing is and when you're offering all of these guys is you're offering them. Here's a hometown discount Let's see if it and see if he bites And yeah, two guys bite and in that's fantastic And I think the positives so far is with the exception of Cole. I mean, Springer to the Blue Jays. Does anybody really care about the Blue Jays? And he's been bad and unhealthy. Yeah. Correa to the Twins. Does anybody really care about the Twins? They've been OK. His first year there was good. The next two were not. So I mean, this year he was good when healthy. But he hasn't been healthy.
00:14:16
Speaker
so I think what's really going to bite with Bregman is if he goes to Boston or New York. That's really going to stay. If he goes to someplace like Philadelphia, be like, okay, all right, whatever. But, you know, I think if he goes to Boston or New York, that's really going to, that's going to stay. Yeah. That one, I just, even the fact that with Tucker, that we're talking to the Yankees, like,
00:14:45
Speaker
These are teams that you expect to see late in October. Why would you want to make them better? Right. Like I understand mutually beneficial trades exist, you know, in the Yankees package has Gil, you know, a great pitcher is own, right? That if you're going to look to trade from where it wouldn't be the worst thing to get back a young arm like that. But again, like you're going to go help the Yankees get better. and And to me, that is just insane. Some of the some of the stat cast and other, you know, numbers behind behind the numbers are not very complimentary of Gil.
00:15:15
Speaker
Uh, so I'm like his stat cast ERA was in mid fours. So, uh, that one makes me, I don't love the Yankees package. I prefer the Cubs package that I've seen out there. Sayuki's a, uh, you know, uh, say a Suzuki, pardon me. He's got eight 50 OPS guy two years in a row and he's gotten more power every year. He's been here. Uh, Paredes is a guy you and I both wanted.
00:15:40
Speaker
at the deadline last year. um And if you get a top pitching prospect out of it too, we've we've done pretty well with our developing arms. And let's pretend for a moment that if you traded Valdez, let's say you trade them to the Orioles. Let's say that you're able to throw in Jake Myers and get back Cedric Mullins. You will, that guy. I don't know that Cedric Mullins is an all-star, but would you agree that he's an upgrade over Myers?
00:16:11
Speaker
Maybe, I don't know. We had a down year last year, man. Meyers wasn't great, but neither was Mullins. Yeah, but I think if you want to sit there and this is where it's kind of the spread the wealth, obviously, sugu Suzuki, I'm guessing would be your right fielder. And I think he slots in better as a left fielder defensively. Uh, maybe so, but, um, so you, you have a hole in right, but you, you've, you know, you've solved the left field hole.
00:16:40
Speaker
Uh, Paredes could be your third baseman or your first baseman. If you wanted to bring back Bregman, you could move Paredes to first base. And suddenly you're looking at a lineup that is better across the board, even though you've dealt one really good baseball player. And so you don't like that package. Yeah. You've dealt one really good baseball player and you're bringing back three, I would say at least solid hitters yeah between those two.
00:17:11
Speaker
packages. And the only problem is, is that I don't know what arms you're getting back to replace Valdez. But we also got to remember that you're probably now the Suzuki and Pareto steel is probably going to be fairly close to even money with Tucker going the other way. And so about that, you might get some savings ah trading, you know, and if you're able to trade Pressley,
00:17:39
Speaker
maybe you've got about $20 million dollars to spend. So, you know, where do you go with that money? That's kind of a key question that's going to, you know, fill in some of those blanks about, you know, how, whether this team's going to compete or not in 2025. Yeah. And I think also a big question is whether we're going to compete or not is, is the two headed monster of Aaron Getty and Brown, right? If those
Astros' Pitching Challenges and Roster Moves
00:18:02
Speaker
guys continue to take step forward, right? And you've got a legitimate one, two,
00:18:06
Speaker
Because Aaron Getty was a good pitcher down the stretch last year, and Brown was dominant at times. Brown pitched well in the playoffs, and and the bullpen screwed him. And so you know at the end of the day, if Hunter Brown continues to be a potential ace of a staff, and Aaron Getty looks like a solid 2-3 guy. And you know, Blanco could be a solid 2-3 guy. And Luis Garcia comes back, and he's a solid 3-4 guy. And Christian Hargrove.
00:18:30
Speaker
huh You got JP France. JP France. I am not high on JP France at all. He's an end of the rotation guy. He's a five. And then you still have Christian Javier coming back at some point. Well, he'll come back probably second half. And then, of course, you got the ghost that is LMJ. Who knows? He might come back and win a Cy Young this year, guys. Well, I'm going to. He's not being arrested. If, you know, yeah.
00:19:00
Speaker
That's true. You know, if he wins this young, I'm just, I'm gonna saw all of my, uh, my yearly salary by lottery tickets. Because, you know, you might ah you might as well, but even though it crazy is even though he is the ghost or all that other things, he's had the injury issues.
00:19:19
Speaker
This guy creeps into the biggest moments in franchise history, does he not? Like, he just finds himself in the spotlight when you need him. Even the Game 3 start, they took the loss. Like, he still ate innings. If he gave you 120 innings of, let's say, 2021 level pitching, man, I would take that. Yes, I mean, if I get if i can get innings of 3.5 ERA baseball out of out of Lance McCullers Jr. sign me the fuck up right now. Yeah, exactly. Well, I mean, and and even if you could, even if you got three and a half ERA and you wanted to sit there and say, you know what, we're going to trade Presley and we're going to make McCullers our setup guy um or our relief. that Yeah. Give me something. Give me something. my I worry about him having to warm up every day, though. That's all. Yeah.
00:20:15
Speaker
You know, he would almost have to be like your old fashioned, like your Krista Finski 2017 kind of guy, the guy that goes two or three innings. Yeah. And maybe gets a day or two off in between those. Maybe. I don't mind it. All right. Let's take a, let's take a look at a big matchup this
NFL Preview: Texans vs. Dolphins
00:20:33
Speaker
week. I've got Texan's dolphins. We were talking off air. Kenyon Green is back, but thank God looking at the practice lineups that were out there today. He's not back in the starting lineup.
00:20:42
Speaker
Zach Thomas is looking like he's gonna be the left guard this week um this Dolphins team Runs the ball extremely well a lot of a lot of movement a lot of speed a little bit undersized I'm intrigued to see you know with Jalen Petrie out What and you know ah Aziz al say you're out Christian Harris back in what is D'Amico Ryan's have called up on def defense this week?
00:21:08
Speaker
Yeah. And I think what happens up happening is Jimmy Ward plays in that Jalen Petrie role, which means that you have ah Bullock and the ever, you know, everybody loves Eric Murray. thatetss Your safety tandem. We'll talk about a guy who keeps finding himself in big opportunities. Eric Murray entered the chat and man, that guy, he's the gift that keeps on giving. Uh, but you know, I think.
00:21:38
Speaker
What's really going to be the big key is this is an opportunity for Derek Stingley to show you why he's the third overall pick from a couple of years ago. I mean, this is his opportunity. He came up big against, um, against the Cowboys, you know, pretty much shutting down, you know, CD lamb. So, you know, who knows? I don't know that they want to do that because he got both Jalen Waddle and, um, Tyreek Hill. I don't know if they want to,
00:22:08
Speaker
put, you know, Pete, if they want to put Stingley on one guy, but can he shut down his end of the field? You know, that's, that's going to be a big question. And also this is a, a line that's kind of showed obviously through the years, they allow some hits on to a, right? Like they will allow the quarterback to take some shots. So give the Texans pass rush, find a way to take advantage of that and, and, and maybe hit to a hard early in the game.
00:22:37
Speaker
I don't want to concuss him, hit him low, hit him, hit him, you know, middle of the chest, but, uh, he is a guy susceptible to taking some big hits. You mentioned juice scrubs being out. I wanted to introduce a stat that I got sent to me today. So the, the title of this, of the, uh, the, uh, the graphic here is team blown blocks and pressured a allowed. Would you like here to guess where your Houston Texans rank in this category?
00:23:09
Speaker
I'm going to say we're oddly not number one, but we're going to be like number two. You'd be wrong. We are dead ass fucking last. Okay. So what inverse I met number one in in a bad way. As my grandfather used to say, we are so far in the basement, they're going to have to pipe light down to us because so now get this stat here. Uh, the rate is 30.3%. We have either blown a ah blocking assignment on the run or a lot of pressure. The 31st ranked team are your New England Patriots at 25.4%. So we are 5% worse. Now 30th place is 25%. And then you go to 22.9 and 22.8. We're 30.3, Tim.
00:24:05
Speaker
And we're dead last in both categories by, you know, by a wide margin, the number of blown blocking assignments on the run, 77 blown assignments, the next highest team. Actually. If I read this right is the dolphins was 60. Go figure. And then of course, with pressures allowed 177.
00:24:33
Speaker
You've got the Giants with 173 or the next highest. So we're last across the board and you're losing Juice Grugs and you're putting in a Hall of Famer. Is he in the Hall of Fame, Zach Thomas? I don't think so. I think he's in the Hall of Good and this is not the same Zach Thomas. No, not the same Zach Thomas because he's in his 50s. I think he's about my age. Probably can't walk at this point based on the way he played. He had one of those classic Uh, but the high flat neck, uh, braces on the back. I remember that he was a cowboy dolphin. Uh, remember him very, very well. My biggest thing is, and it's going to be the same and we saw a little bit better out of the Jaguars game, but it was the Jaguars. Can this team block reasonably? Can we keep CJ Stroud clean? You know, cause to me, if you can.
00:25:29
Speaker
You give this team a fighting chance. I mean, I think Joe Mixon, particularly a healthy Joe Mixon with a week off, you know, to whatever bumps and bruises, you know, are hopefully, you know, going to be healed. I mean, we could probably count on him maybe going for a hundred yards. Can CJ Stroud look like the CJ Stroud from last year? And you got to keep him up right in order for that to happen. Yeah. I, I expect this to be a physical game. It's got, you know,
00:25:56
Speaker
I mentioned it earlier, the Dolphins are a smaller team, they're a little bit undersized. So this is maybe an opportunity for the Texans line to get rolling, to run block, to maul some motherfuckers and let Joe Mixon feast, right? Like control the clock, do what you can to keep that offense off the field, give CJ third and manageable situations, you know, do enough in the run game that the play action works. And that's what's weird to me too, Scott. We were so bad in the run last year.
00:26:26
Speaker
And it seemed like the play action game was better last year. Yeah, and the other part of it on the other side of the ball, the Dolphins love to throw quick passes. And so that's going to, if they're successful in doing that, that's going to negate your pass rush. Yeah, very true. So the question is going to be, is if last year... And that's where you're missing Petrie too, right? Like Petrie is kind of one of those guys who eliminates the quick passing game by his ability to read it and jump it at the line of scrimmage or blow it up.
00:26:56
Speaker
So now without him there, you know, I think we're going to do the same thing. I think where you're going to lose is on the back end. Like whenever Eric Murray's involved anytime Eric Murray's, I mean, basically Eric Murray is the, the X factor and a negative way. He's I'm Eric Murray's involved. It's not a good side, but I'll out. The question is, is that last year and stingly can lock down waddle and, and Tyree kill.
00:27:24
Speaker
at least and give them extra second or two, you know, then you, maybe Will Anderson and then Daniel Hunter can get there and maybe get, you know, I hate to say concuss, uh, you know, two of, but he, he doesn't do a good job of protecting himself. He does not know. And, and, and first and foremost, so you guys have to run. This is a team that loves to run the football. They've got,
00:27:50
Speaker
Speed, speed, speed, speed, speed across the board with Arkane and Mostert and the other backs that they have, that they've got a stable of running backs that all seem to run like 4-2-40s. And so this team loves to run the ball, they love play action, they love the motion. It's you know an offense that D'Amico should be familiar with, right? Because this is another one of the San Francisco Niners coaching tree hires that has made its way throughout the NFL. So realistically, this is an offense that D'Amico should be familiar with and should have at least an inside working knowledge of of how to shut it down. So, you know, I hate to bring politics into this, but they've accused the Democrats of, you know, controlling the weather. So is there any way that, you know, an NRG that they can, you know, maybe make it 34 degrees? Not if you want Texas fans to show up.
00:28:46
Speaker
But, you know, that's that's if you, you know, if you want to beat to us, seems like the ah the the best way to do it is to make it cold. Yeah, I mean, it doesn't surprise me that the team from Florida doesn't play well in cold weather, Scott, oddly enough. um My game doesn't necessarily translate in cold weather either. So, oh, no kidding. You hit once then and you feel it for about three holes. Exactly. Well, speaking of games translating, the Rockets are hoping that some of their in-season tournament success will translate to the NBA playoffs. It still sounds silly that I'm saying that, but if if the Rockets win the in-season tournament, I'm going to be a big fan of it. The quarterfinals tonight, Scott Tipoff, was about 22 minutes ago. um How big of a deal is this for you? Is it not a big deal unless we win it all? um I think, oddly enough, I was thinking about this in that
00:29:42
Speaker
I think you get some scheduling benefits because obviously you're only going to play 82 games. And so, you know, maybe you avoid some tougher games if you just make it to the finals of this thing. And I think, you know, you have you have the Warriors at home. You've got Fred Van Bleep back. You've got Tar-Eason back. You know, Tar-Eason was on the two day two game concussion protocol. Looks like he's back.
00:30:11
Speaker
And Van Vliet was dealing with, I think it was an ankle issue or knee issue. And I think he's back. um So, you know, one of the bigger things, and and we, number one, we, we had some, uh, Rafael Stone made some comments that, you know, we don't want to make any in season trades. Do you think he's, is he just posturing there or do you think they really want to keep this team together?
00:30:39
Speaker
I think a little bit of both. I think he's maybe showing some confidence to the young guys that, hey, I want you to keep playing well. We trust you. We don't think we need shake this team up too much. And also at the same time, I don't think he wants to show us cards too early and in in a process like this, right? Where you know, there's going to be some high asks for guys like Jimmy Butler or Giannis or players of that caliber. You don't want to be out there and and on camera saying, yeah, we got to go get somebody. We really need somebody. We'll do whatever we can do to get somebody like that on our roster. Like, so you get trade raped. Yeah. And the thing is, I don't know if you saw this, but Vegas has the Rockets as the leading contender for Jimmy Butler's next team. That means nothing to me though, Scott, because like even
00:31:24
Speaker
When he was a free agent years ago, you know, the Rockets were listed as a team that he he was favored to go to because he's from Tom ball and all that other stuff. But like, if you ask Jimmy, he doesn't see himself as a Houstonian. He could care less about coming to play for the Rockets. Like, I don't know if if still wants to bring a ah personality like that into this locker room. I don't know. I don't see that happening. I see, I see a,
00:31:50
Speaker
Perimeter shooting role player being the move that they go get like they've already got a big banger and Steven Adams that they can put in when they want to play that way They just don't have a guy they they need like JJ Redick. They don't need a star They need a guy like JJ Redick who you like if he's open He'll knock it down like you hope that Reed Shepard can grow into that guy But you can't bank of a late playoff run on a rookie becoming that guy this year And if he does awesome now you have two The problem I have though, the biggest problem I have with Butler, and and I don't know that, you know, personalities, you never know about these things, right? The same thing with the Texans bringing in Stefan Diggs, you know, there was a lot of question marks about, you know, the personality and it turned out to be personality a fit. My biggest thing is he's 35 years old. And so to me, it's the same thing with Kevin Durant, you know, take all the other crap aside.
00:32:42
Speaker
I don't see even a superstar pulling this team to an NBA championship this year. I just don't. I think this is a team, you know, I'd compare them to is OKC from last year. OKC last year they go in, they win, they have the best record in the West and they laid an egg in the playoffs. Why? Because all their guys were young and didn't have any playoff experience.
00:33:12
Speaker
And I see the same thing happening probably with this Rockas team. I think they have the talent to probably get to the second round of the playoffs, but I don't see them having the stones and the veteran leadership to get them all the way to say the conference finals or the NBA finals. So I am in a similar view, but slightly different in like the way I, I compare this team, like you, you're comparing them but to a team that,
00:33:43
Speaker
You think, you know, the young players have the potential to grow, right? We're like, I
Rockets' Youth-First Strategy in NBA
00:33:47
Speaker
look at this team almost like the, the year that the Clippers were a feisty, like eight or nine seed right before they got quiet and Paul George, right? They were like just above 500. They had a bunch of real tough hustle players. Um, they had Pat Beverly, they had Montrose, Harold, and then, you know, adding those stars was supposed to put them over the top. Right.
00:34:10
Speaker
And I think the Rockets are maybe a little bit better version of that. I don't think there are 500 team anymore, but i I think there's like there's not marketable star power in Houston, right? Like you've got guys that are getting paid star money. You've got guys that are close to max deals or, you know, Dylan Brooks making fat bank, you know, Fred van Vliet making, making big time wants to cast we're paying Jalen green. We're paying sin gun. But again, like if you were to put.
00:34:40
Speaker
prime mellow on this team. You're like, OK, now we're cooking, right? Like you need that big time guy that just everybody looks at when they walk in the building like, he's going to be a problem tonight, going to have to deal with him. And that's just like for the Rockets to win, you got to play a really good game every night. Or sometimes in the NBA, like you don't have to always play a good game, but you're started enough for you to win. And the Rockets star players just aren't good enough to overcome off nights from other players? No, I see this team as probably somewhere in the 45 to 50 win. Plateau somewhere around there. I think the problem is, like we mentioned last week, that you know James Harden was a great pickup, despite the fact that you didn't win any NBA titles. But what made James Harden a great pickup was that he was, what, 25, 26 years old when you got him. And so you get him that he was like 24.
00:35:39
Speaker
So seven, eight, nine years, 10 years of a guy, to me, you know, who is that young star that you can put around this team that gives you like a five or six year championship window? Because the thing is, is that, and that's where I think the Nets made the big mistake. The 76ers made the big mistake, you know, when they were going after Harden is that they were thinking, okay, this is our year and it didn't work out. And of course, Harden forces his way out.
00:36:10
Speaker
But, you know, to me, you know, you don't need a guy that, you know, 2024 25, this is our season and we're going title or bus. I don't think that's the bar for this team right now. And I think Scott, if you look at the successful teams in the NBA, outside of the Lakers bubble championship,
00:36:33
Speaker
That mentality doesn't really work, right? Like getting a collection of stars together for a year or two and saying, okay, let's go get a championship. Just hasn't really been successful. The, the, the nets did nothing. The 76ers never really advanced very far. The sons, you know, when they went and got to rant, we're not the team that they thought they were going to be last year with, with Durant and Beal and Booker and, you know, everything that they had, they they didn't want a title with Paul and Durant and Booker.
00:37:02
Speaker
they, you know, the, the warriors had a sustained success with a core group of players, the, um, you know, the, the heat, yeah, they, they came together, but it was for a sustained period of time. It wasn't a trade everybody away to get this guy here and have nothing left either. These guys signed as free agents and you still had some playing, you know, some chips to play with to bring in talent, right? When you go trade the farm for a guy for two years, you destroyed your roster.
00:37:32
Speaker
That's what the Rockets can't do, right? Like, you're absolutely right. Like, this is not an all-in year. Like, everybody's still really young. You've got six, seven, eight years to really grow and build this thing. You don't go trade for a 35-year-old. You trade for a 25, 26-year-old who you think is going to be the next best thing and, okay, let's add him in here. And and that's that's the main thing for me. Like, the thing I didn't love about the stuff on Dig Trade wasn't the personality, that that it was and another older wide receiver.
00:38:01
Speaker
We don't need another old guard. We don't need another old injury pro forward in here. We need a young, legitimate star who's being the blocked you know because he's behind another star the the way that James Harden was, right? Or you've got three really good players, you can only pay two, okay, we'll take the third. But those situations, like, OKC was so fucking stupid for that. Those situations don't happen every day.
00:38:24
Speaker
Yeah. And I think the, the team that I would point to, you pointed to the Warriors, which, you know, I think is that, you know, as a good example to me, the better example is the Nuggets. Yes. You know, the Nuggets, they only have one title, but they were building towards that for years. I mean, they were putting together, they were adding pieces and that's what I think for Milwaukee too. Right. Yeah. And this, but people don't understand about the hardened era is that, you know, they we, we went through iterations, we went through,
00:38:53
Speaker
Okay, we're going to pair him with Jeremy Lin. Okay, you know, that didn't really work out. Okay, we're going to compare. Well, Jeremy Lin, he was already there and then it wasn't gotten him, right? And then it was, it was Dwight Howard. Yeah, we're going to compare. We're pairing with to Dwight Howard. Okay. Well, that didn't really work out. Okay. Now we're going to try Chris Paul. You know, that worked really well. Should have gotten you a title. Didn't. And then, you know, then of course we tried Russell Westbrook and that was the end, you know, basically. but The whole thing is that you you've got to have that six, seven or eight year run where it's like, you know, we, we talked about the Astro starting in 2015. They had to figure out, they had to figure out, okay, we need to add some veteran leadership. And, you know, the, each title team, if you want to include the teams who've gone to the world series has looked a little bit different because teams always do. Yeah. Every, you're never going to have the exact same roster year in and year out. Right. Like.
00:39:52
Speaker
guys like a Chris Davinsky come and go or Brad Peacock come and go or Charlie Morton or Garrett Cole or um you know, Verlander's come and gone, you know, these guys will become part of the roster though, you know, Josh Reddick will make you fall in love with them. He'll become synonymous with the city of Houston and the sound of whoa. But at the end of the day, he's going to move on. Right. And that's that's part of what the Rockets have to realize. However, when you bring in a guy like a Harden, when you did,
00:40:22
Speaker
You have opened the window for a sustained period of time, right? Like you've got a pretty good basketball team here Like we we are playing pretty good basketball. We're playing watchable basketball night in and night out, right? Like that's first and foremost like this team is fun to watch again You feel like they have a chance to win most nights if they tip it off But now let's take it to the next level right like even you you look at the Mavericks like The Mavericks have committed to growing luka, right? They've they've committed to finding the best possible players that they can put around a guy like Luca Doncic to let him be his best version of himself, right? Like they've got a guy who's not necessarily a point guard who has to have the ball in his hands all the time and Kyrie Irving.
00:41:01
Speaker
They brought in a a fantastic spot of shooter and Clay Thompson, right? Because you know that Luca loves to drive in Dish. You've got a really good pick and roll center that that changes what Luca is able to do, right? Like as time goes on, they've added piece by piece by piece around Luca and made this a team that fought for an NBA, an opportunity to play for an NBA championship last year. They came up short, but it's still a team that a lot of people should be scared of because Luca Doncic alone gives you a chance to win every night.
00:41:31
Speaker
Yeah, I think you you were spot on with the whole OKC thing kind of falling in our lap because the guy that I think most people had pegged was Donovan Mitchell. And, you know, kind of hoping that, you know, he didn't like Cleveland kind of hoping, OK, things are going to blow up and he's going to want out. But then he ends up signing a max deal and that's kind of off the table. And so really the rockets are left in that mode of let's see what falls in our lap.
00:41:59
Speaker
And right now I don't think that guy's out there. I don't think we know who that is yet. I don't know if he is either, Scott, but I prefer to be in the mode of let's see what falls into our lap as opposed to let's force something. Because the one thing that, that Maury was able to do at that point was he never did force anything, right? Like Maury slowly rebuilt this team going 500 every single year, slowly flipping.
00:42:23
Speaker
point guard for a different point guard at a pick and then flipping that point guard for another pick and the next thing you know, you've got, you know, three first round picks in the same draft. And then when a guy like Harden became available, you have the bullets to go make that trade. So you don't want to spend your capital now on an aging, you know, Kevin Durant when next year someone's disgruntled and wants out, right? So yeah I'm okay with this team staying in tact, as is getting playoff experience, playing together as a young team. Maybe, maybe one of these pieces like ah a Jabari Smith growing a little bit or even you up his value. If you do want to include him in a trade, right now, I don't have to give up as much because Jabari Smith is worth more. So I'm not opposed to just letting this bad boy ride out um and and seeing where it goes from there. Yeah, absolutely. All right, Scott, I think it's time to start giving out some awards this week.
00:43:20
Speaker
It is time for that horses ass award. Who do you have for us, Scott? Oh, let's see where I want to go with this one. Um, I think, you know, the big, I hate to say that, well, I hate to do this to him, but Juan Soto, why are you going to the nets?
00:43:51
Speaker
what What are we doing? Yes, they paid you a bag, but it's not like it was 750 million versus 500 million. It was 765 versus like maybe 760 or 750. Were we really going to turn down the Yankees for over a suite? Is that what I'm hearing? Because we all know how this is going to turn out.
00:44:21
Speaker
Everybody knows how this is going to turn out. You've got Francisco Lindor is a nice player. Peter Alonzo is going out the door. I don't think he's going to go back to New York. So you know now New York is kind of scrambling and they're saying that they want to trade Starling Marte and we'll give you some money that's it if you want to take Marte off our hands. mean I'm intrigued at that. Yeah, sure.
00:44:49
Speaker
or but The whole thing is, is that do we really think that the Mets are going to be a consistent contender? Uh, for the next like three or four years, I do. I think they've got a good enough good young talent, but I don't think for the length of that contract, they will be. And because of that contract, they're not going to be. But the thing is, is that if the Yankee, if he has accepted the same deal from the Yankees, I don't think there's any period in Yankees history.
00:45:18
Speaker
where you've had that kind of sustained suckage. I think if you go back to like maybe 1965 through the mid 70s, they weren't that great. But other than that, since the 80s, early 90s weren't great either. They weren't great because they were competitive. They were always in the hunt. And so, you know, I mean, you'd have to go back to 1919.
00:45:46
Speaker
I mean, this is a team that won 27 world championships between 1920 and the end of the century. I mean, it's just an unbelievable amount. And yeah, they haven't gotten to the the ultimate prize, but to see the Yankees are always going to be the Yankees. They are, but if the Yankees signed him, they wouldn't have had a.
00:46:07
Speaker
I don't think a ah late period of suck though, right? Like I think this will hurt the Mets down the line. I don't think it would have hurt the Yankees as much because they already have so much talent signed, right? That's what I'm saying. That's kind of what I'm saying is that, you know, your, your chances of winning with the Yankees are always going to be higher. And, and, and, ah and if he had signed with say the Dodgers or even say, Oh God.
00:46:34
Speaker
that just Everybody would boycott a baseball, but like say the Phillies, the Phillies feel like they're you know going to be constantly in the hunt because they're constantly spending money. The Mets had just been a dumpster fire since 1986. I don't disagree. you know it's It's not a ah franchise that you can count in on a playoff berth year in and year out, right? but I don't know. Maybe they're, they're hoping to change that now. You got a billionaire owner who does not give a shit about making money with that team. So, I mean, at the end of the day, if he's going to keep spending above the luxury tax threshold, cool. Do it. Go for it. I, I'm going to take the other side of it, Scott. Cause I think my horse's ass is the Yankees. Cause I think they are putting out huge spurned lover vibes because why do we need to know that?
00:47:24
Speaker
Juan Soto had an issue with a security guard or why do we need to know about this sweet stuff, right? Like I feel like take your L and move on, right? Like if the Astros don't re resign Alex Bregman, are we going to have stuff coming out that they wouldn't let him put breggy bomb salsa in the clubhouse and they made him eat paste picante instead? And that was the real issue. Or, you know, he he had to, he had to use salt and pepper when really he wanted Slapio mama seasoning or he wanted breggy bomb season. Like, what are we going to think? That's not how you do it. You say, Hey, we put our best offer out there.
00:47:57
Speaker
They didn't accept it. It sucks. But we now have this money to spend elsewhere. And because of that, we signed a really, really good picture. And Max Fried, you're welcome Yankees fans. Like, no, you you start dissing your ex. And it's just I think it's it's ridiculous. Well, you know what it almost reminded me of is it reminded me of the early days of the crane era before we had Luna in tow or, you know, kind of very early or maybe Luna just getting here.
00:48:25
Speaker
when I can't remember who the the Japanese player was, but we offered them 101 million and he ended up signing for 150 million. And we were like, well, we were the second highest bid. Yeah, but like $49 million, you were short. Or, you know, sitting there, you know, well, we were seconded for Jose Abreu coming from Cuba. Yeah, we were the the backup bid.
00:48:53
Speaker
I don't care about the guys you almost saw. Don't give me that story. Give me the story of, well, tell me, yeah, we tried our best, but tell me what's what's your plan now? And to me, that's my, you know, my biggest thing with the Astros is that if you want to sit there and tell me we don't want to pay more than $150 million dollars for a guy, okay.
00:49:19
Speaker
um If that's your prerogative, But tell me what your plan is. Yeah, I agree with you. It's frustrating. It's certainly frustrating. I don't want to say ah um a minor horse ask for Jim Crane for the things we were discussing earlier. We're like, some of these big guys, you just don't feel like you ever have a chance, right? like You are a very, very wealthy man, dude. like Pay the luxury your tax. why are so why like We see how much money this team makes. It makes the money. Pay the fucking luxury tax. Yeah.
00:49:53
Speaker
All right, Scott, let's tip some caps. Who you got for us? of you know Actually, I'll tip my cap too. I think ah and think the Boston Red Sox had a good day. I don't know if you saw what they they pulled off. To me, I would much rather trade for younger talent. They they got Garrett Crochet.
00:50:17
Speaker
I'd much rather trade for a younger talent than dole out over $200 million dollars for eight years for a pitcher who you know is going to blow his arm out at least once in that eight year span. You know, and and to me, if they turned around, if they signed Corbin Burns, that's a pretty sick pitching staff all of a sudden. So I feel like, you know, the Boston Red Sox had a good day. I, and I love to see big market teams make small market kind of moves.
00:50:47
Speaker
because it kind of shows that, you know, we want to play this, the smart way and that's just bluster and spend our way out of this thing. One of the things I find interesting, Scott, with, with these giant contracts that are being handed out, how many of them would you say have to have truly worked or quote unquote been worth it, right? Like the Dodgers, I think are one team that could say like, yeah, they spent a shit ton of, they won this year. But outside of that, right? Like,
00:51:16
Speaker
um Padres gave out some huge long-term deals. I Don't know if you'd say that worked or not Phillies gave out 13 year 300 million to other deal of Bryce Harper um You know time will tell on on Soto Lindor got the big long deal from the Mets judge got the big long deal from the Yankees and I don't know if these big long deals allow you to win World Series and compete for a long time. like i It's tough because like I want to compete on some of these free agents, but also at the same time I understand where Jim Crane is coming from. So I do agree with your hat tip of like there's more than one way to skin a cat. right like If you've got a good GM,
00:52:01
Speaker
who can go make a move, who can build a farm system up that other people are envious of, so you can go get young controllable talent and just kind of churn it the way like the Patriots did in their reign, right? Let a guy go a year too soon rather than a year too late, um and just keep bringing in more talent that other people aren't aware of. Yeah, and I think yeah you're asked an excellent question. To me, the only long-term deal I can think of in recent memories Like you could go back to like the 80s. I think, you know, the Yankees signed Winfield for, you know, an seemingly long deal. You know, the Astros deal with ah but Nolan, I think was a pretty long deal because I think it was 80 through 88. So, you know, that's a pretty long deal. But I think Harper is the only one that I would say I would argue has worked out because the Phillies have gone from kind of a middle of the pack
00:52:57
Speaker
National League East team to a constant competitor that did make it to a World Series. So I would say that's the only one and I would say the rest of them, I'm not going to go on mitigated disasters and now in every case. I think you're right, but I'm not going to judge the Otani deal after one year. I mean, that's a 10 year deal. We'll have to see. I also know on the Otani one,
00:53:26
Speaker
they're going to make their money back in merchant sponsors on Japan, right? Like that's why I know you can wash that one just because it's a foreign market. That one's so different, right? Like you can throw that one away because every big Japanese company that is, you know, global is going to want to have a billboard in the Dodger stadiums that way, when they run the Japanese feet of the game that the sign shows up. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, that's, that's a big part of it. And and who knows how much a world series is worth financially.
00:53:55
Speaker
but You can put money on it, right? The extra the extra games are sold out at, the sold out revenue, the extra TV revenue, the extra merchandise revenue. like The Astros know firsthand how much winning a World Series makes you. so we We just don't we don't, we the fans don't necessarily know what that number is. But it's a number. We know it exists. I'm going to go with a combination hat tip ah this week, Scott. It's going to be for the same event, but a combination of tips.
00:54:25
Speaker
uh first and foremost it goes to the wife for what always just seems like to have the amazing ability to pick out just the best seats in a venue for the best price right like even though we don't always spend you know orchestra front center orchestra prices um we always end up with just a great view of the stage so um we had our first show of our dallas broadway season tickets on saturday and i don't know if you've seen it yet or not but shucked was our first play. And i I can't tell you, Scott, I laughed out loud, audibly, obnoxiously, 10 to 12 times like that was one of the funniest plays I've ever seen in my life. Just a quick hitting sarcastic one liners were just right up my alley. Had the hearing impaired earbuds in so I could hear all the jokes. It was it was a wonderful night. and Yeah, we our last one was noises off. I don't know if you've heard of that one.
00:55:24
Speaker
I haven't. that it was It's a great play because basically it's it's about the troop that's putting on a play. So it's broken into three acts. And so you see like the first act is the rehearsal. Second act is what's going on behind stage. And then the third act is like their final performance. And it's just, you know, it's a laugh, laugh a minute. We we actually have tickets for Saturday.
00:55:49
Speaker
On the smaller stage, they ah the Alley Theater has a smaller stage that seats maybe 100. And so that one's gonna be a one act, you know one person play. so And it's basically, I think the title is The Night Shift Before Christmas. um And so it's kind of a new age thing. But yeah, terrific hat tip there. And and yeah know we ah we also saw, I got to see behind the scenes, uh, on the Christmas Carol at the alley theater. And that was a good event as well. Yeah, man. That's not nothing like getting a little culture, right? Being, uh, we're more than just sports guys. We are our culture and human beings in the world.
MLB Economic Structure and Team Spending Disparity
00:56:35
Speaker
All right, Scott, that time to kick off a scumbag of the week. These people have offended us and it's time that they'd be recognized as scumbags of the week. Who you got?
00:56:48
Speaker
Um, I'm going to tip my hat here or throw my hat in anger at major league baseball. Uh, we didn't get to talk about, you know, this in the longterm and in in the episode, but the economic structure of the game is unsustainable.
00:57:09
Speaker
I mean, and the thing is, is that you've got three or four teams that are able to spend two, three, $400 million dollars on a player. and the rest of the teams really can't. um And I don't know, we didn't talk about this in the episode, but I'm sure you saw how the the Players Association is thinking about levying a grievance against the Oakland A's, or I shouldn't say Oakland A's.
00:57:41
Speaker
oh you've got you know Tampa Bay who may build their stadium, may not build their stadium, may renovate the Tropicana, may not remedate renovate the Tropicana, so they may end up being homeless for the next three years, ah playing in a minor league stadium. I can't believe this is where we're at, Tim. I can't believe that we have you know a couple of teams that literally don't have a major league home, along with other teams that are spending literally
00:58:17
Speaker
over a billion dollars on players in the single option. It doesn't, and the thing is the NFL and the NBA, they've done things a little bit differently from each other, but they've kind of figured out teams are spending more or less similar amounts of money to fill teams. Now the NBA restricts the highest salary that you can make. The NFL just says, hey, you can pay a guy or whatever you want to pay him, but you got a hard cap.
00:58:47
Speaker
So you got to figure it out, but baseball for years hasn't figured this out. And to me, it's not, I mean, I think when you look at a team like the Astros, I feel like if given their revenue, the Astros are spending pretty close to what they should be spending. I think, but there are teams that aren't and there's, what are we going to do about it? I mean, there's no solution.
00:59:15
Speaker
It's like we, uh, some people suggested a salary floor. I don't think that's a bad idea. Um, my idea would be to make it like a reverse tax to where you can go below the threshold and, you know, maybe have minor penalties, but if you stay below the threshold for multiple seasons, then you really get penalized. Cause I could see that the, the, the prospect of, Hey,
00:59:44
Speaker
We went for it. Our team sucks. We want to bottom out for a year so that we can reload. That makes sense. What doesn't make sense is teams never getting out from that body bottoming out. And we've mentioned teams before, like the Pirates, you know, the scumbag, you know, move that they made, they were scumbags ah one week for what they did to Roddy Tellez at the end of the year, last year.
01:00:10
Speaker
yeah The Angels have done kind of similar things where it's like in in September, they're just going to like, we're just going to cut like six guys so that we don't, you know, reach a bonus or whatever. There's just, there's two halves in baseball and it can't continue to exist like this. I don't want to hear anyone tell me that baseball isn't America's game when this game breaks out just like the wealth of our country is, right? You've got like,
01:00:40
Speaker
three or four teams that can spend whenever they want and can do whatever the fuck they want. You've got some other teams at the Astros that are doing okay, middle of the road, spend where they should, stay within their means, compete. Then you've got the ace, the Rays, the Pirates, the the Denver, rock the Colorado Rockies, right? You've got teams that are just baseball's version of trailer trash, right? like Voting for things that don't help them, but at the end of the day, the owners have too much power and we'll never get those things that we want because they have that much power. um I think a floor is great and I agree with you may not have to meet it every year, but if you're below that floor for you know more than 2 full seasons, there's gotta be penalties for that. So um absolutely agree with you there Scott. I think.
01:01:30
Speaker
There's just too much money in the game right now, right? Like at what point are you going to price your fans out? Like you're paying guys $765 million. dollars How much of those tickets going to be? How are a father and his daughter going to go to a game at a hundred bucks a pop for nosebleeds? Yeah. not No. and and And we've been to maybe two or three games in the last three years. Yeah. Dude, when I was a kid, I'd go to 20, 25 games a summer. If I had.
01:01:56
Speaker
If I had a day off of work when I was 17 or older and had my license during the summer, I was at Minute Maid Park. Like that's just what I did. You can't do that now. Well, you want to go back in the day. We used to do the same thing in high school and college because the outfield bleacher seats and the dome, four bucks. Yeah. I mean, you, and I mean, yes, inflation happens, but you know, to me, you ought to be able to get a seat for,
01:02:23
Speaker
10 or 15 bucks, gru think but you can't, you know, and, and, and baseball, we've talked about this before. We talked about this last week where, you know, why don't we have like a home run channel or, you know, a red zone equivalent? Why are we blacking out, you know, say Tim and Dallas from watching the Astros, you know, why, you know, why you're blocking me out from watching the Rangers, you know, uh, why, you know,
01:02:52
Speaker
Why are we blocking anybody out at this point? You know, the whole thing is, is that you have people, and and this is where, and and this is the whole point, is that if you want to grow the game, you want to grow it for kids, if you price me out of the game, of the live game, and you give me no options to watch it, other than spending over $100 a month for Fubo, then, you know, you're probably, you're pricing out a lot of people, period, from watching the game of baseball.
01:03:23
Speaker
And then when you have a commissioner turns around and everything, um, my favorite, uh, Facebook meme was the new rule is that each team gets a strategic airstrike during a game. Uh, Janet came up with a great one that actually, you know, you'd think would be hilarious. It's like every team has a guy in the outfield that can tackle a fielder once in a game.
01:03:48
Speaker
Can you imagine a fly ball? Your dog's a lazy fly ball to left field, but here we're going to send the guy and he's going to tackle a left fielder. What are you going to do? Yeah, that backup guy, because way more important now if you got a tackler out there. Yeah. But, but the whole point is that we're, we're suggesting these asinine rules changes when really all that needs to happen is we got to make more teams competitive and we have to give more people the means to watch it. Period. I don't disagree with you at all. I think you're you're right right on the button, Scott. We are at a preface for this game, and you know i don't I don't think Rob Manford loves the game. right if We've talked about this before. That should be a prerequisite for the job, should be you love this game, and you can't convince me that he does.
01:04:42
Speaker
like and that's why at the heart of it, right? He's the biggest scumbag of them all in all this. Yeah, absolutely. All right, Scott. Uh, my scumbag this week, it's gonna be Scott Boris, right?
Impact of Scott Boras on Baseball Economics
01:04:57
Speaker
Like to go along with what you're saying, like, this is the guy that's causing all of this. This is, this is one of the main reasons these things are becoming an issue is Scott Boris doesn't really care as much about like getting you into the best situation for your career. He cares about getting you that bag.
01:05:13
Speaker
And like, when you see a guy's higher, Scott Boris, you know, you can basically kiss him goodbye. Um, I, I don't know what much more to say. I mean, I, it sucks that he represents our guy right now, but like, I, I can't imagine what it's like ah like being in a room with that guy. Like, you know, I, there's some, some political scumbags that could throw in there, but like in today's day and age and the issues we're having with the game of baseball, like Rob Manford is the problem on one side.
01:05:42
Speaker
but Scott Boris is the problem on the other. Yeah. And and ah the two things that really strike me about Scott Boris is I think, you know, I think back to the Carl Speltron negotiations back in 2004, 2005. And he had a guy, to me to be the stat guy for Scott Boris is like being a photographer for the national inquirer. I mean, it's got to be like the worst level, you know, it just I suck, but basically, I don't know if you remember this. Scott Boris argued that Carlos Beltran was better than Willie Mays. I don't know if you remember that. I don't remember that. No. And so, because he came up with some kind of crazy stat thing, like, Oh, look, he's better than Willie Mays. And he probably came up with something for Juan Soto. I was like, you know, he's the best hitter that's ever lived. And it's like, Juan Soto was a great hitter.
01:06:41
Speaker
and Not the best ever lived. And what I always- Roy Hopps, the best that ever was. That's right. and What I always tell people though, and and because they always argue this, because they argued this with Beltrud came up. Well, there's no state income tax in Texas. Why is he signing in New York with a high state income tax? And my answer is because Scott Boris can live anywhere he fucking wants.
01:07:07
Speaker
He can live in a state without a state income tax and the five, 10% that he gets, you know, from his agent's fee, he can spend it anywhere he wants. So he doesn't care. He takes his 5% off the top. and And that's what kills me is that when, when, if Bregman ends up getting his 200 million, that's a billion dollars that Boris is basically signed for two baseball players.
01:07:36
Speaker
And he gets 5% of that. That's $50 million. dollars I mean, that's, that's just insane. Um, and then I don't even know who his other clients are. You could probably, you know, get it close to maybe 1.5 billion when you count all of his clients together. Kukuchi was his guy too. That's going to be, end up being $75 million dollars in agencies. Yeah. Not a, uh, not a bad day at the office, huh?
01:08:06
Speaker
No, no. i'm sure I'm sure charitable donations are high though, Scott. Oh, I'm sure they are. and And I've heard him speak. He's an engaging speaker. He's full of shit. He's an engaging speaker. I mean, he he's an entertaining guy to listen to. it's you know As long as you kind of suspend disbelief and kind of check your facts at the door, he's a great guy. All right, Scott. I think that's going to be it for it.
01:08:34
Speaker
i I don't want to talk about Scott Boris anymore. So I think we're going to wrap it up this week, a little bit of a shorter episode, but, um, we appreciate everybody who tuned in and, and, uh, we look forward to seeing everybody back again next week on born on the body sports. We'll see everybody next week.