Fantasy Baseball Today - Bonus ⚾️ Talk: Pete Abraham Talks Red Sox, AFC East; Offseason Grades! (2/17 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: February 17, 2021

Pete Abraham from the Boston Globe is joining Danny Vietti and Will Middlebrooks later in the podcast but first, offseason grades! Who had the best offseason (2:28)? ... Which team disappointed in the offseason (11:31)? ... Why are superstars being traded for low-level prospects (14:42)? ... Which team had an underrated offseason (20:49)? ... Pete Abraham from the Boston Globe joins the podcast (24:45). He shares his thoughts on the Red Sox entering 2021 ... What did Pete think of the Andrew Benintendi trade (29:17)? ... We know there's a luxury tax in baseball but should there be a salary floor (35:50)? ... Pete provides an update on Chris Sale and shares some fun stories while on the job (41:06). ... Email us at [e-mail]. Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday 'Fantasy Baseball Today' is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @FBTPod, @CTowersCBS, @CBSScottWhite, @Roto_Frank, @AdamAizer Join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ You can listen to Fantasy Baseball Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast." To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the fantasy baseball today podcast from CBS Sports. I drive, center field, and swing. This is magnificent. Got a fantasy question? Email fantasy baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your league. Well, fantasy becomes reality. Now here's Frank, Scott, Chris, and Adam.

Thank you, for what's. Good, happy hump day. February 17th. One of the best days of year, if you ask me, spring training is here. Will Meadowbrooks and my co-hosts got to be pumped because I don't want to say spring training. Pitchers and catchers report.

That counts, right? Oh, it counts. It's around the corner. It's the first thing that has to happen. And we're a step closer to games. I'm curious to see how, you know, everything goes with COVID and protocol. But look, these guys are pretty accustomed to everything that's going to be thrown their way after last year's season and the months and months of testing and

dealing with the protocol. So I don't think there's going to be many hurdles to jump through. I think it's going to go really smoothly. They're just going to limit people at the stadiums and media and this and that. I think it's going to go really smoothly because it's not going to be anything new. I'm already planning my trip to Phoenix. I'm not lucky like you. I don't live right down the road from different minor league spots.

But we're going to have one of Will's old buddies, old media buddies, Pete Abraham, joining us on the show. spent more than two decades covering baseball. Guys, a baseball encyclopedia. Great human being. Yeah. They give us a lot of insight on the Red Sox in their off-season. Also, what we're going to be doing today is we're going to be giving you guys our

off-season grades. I mean, for the Dodgers to the Padres, we're going to be talking about a couple other teams in here as well. It was a pretty exciting off-season. I mean, it really was. There's a whole lot of action going down in Southern California with San Diego and LA. Boston is going a little bit of a different direction. The Yankees were able to get LaMagee, Toronto, made some big moves. So let's get right into this. Let me ask you, who was

your best graded team, this sausage? Before you get to your point here, I should mention that there are some dominoes left to ball. Jackie Bradley Jr. still out there's some really good bullpen on. Jeremy Jeffers is still out there. There's some really good players still out there. So you can make the case these grades are still incomplete, but great training is here. Well, there's two teams that, regardless of who they sign this point on, get an A. All right. I have number one, the Dodgers. Number two, the Padres.

I think the Padres had the best offseason, in my opinion. And I'm going to let you talk about the Padres because I know how much you love them. And I'll hit on the Dodgers. I think the Dodgers, obviously Bauer, resigning Trinnan, however you'd like to pronounce it. Either way, it's a bowling ball at 99. Good luck hitting that. And then resigning Turner was huge because we, as we talked about in last week's show, they had a void at third base. Is Edwin Rios going to be their guy?

We don't know. I think they need to keep him as a bench piece considering no universal D.H. You got to have a little bit of depth. You lost Jack Peterson. You lost Kike Hernandez. Those two huge bench pieces that as we know in the NL are really essential to your team and your team's success. because six, seven, eight, ninth inning in the NL, those guys are having some of the biggest at-bats in the game for you.

So if you don't have depth on your bench, which they don't have a ton. That's their only spot, which I know you don't love their bullpen. I think their bullpen's going to be just fine. We know how good they're starting pitching is. I think that carries them. I still think they went over 100 games.

I just have questions, that's all. I don't not love their bullpen. I just have questions. That's all. Yeah, that's fine. I feel like they have enough arms. to, I don't know if they have their exact recipe they're going to use yet, because we don't know what we're going to get from Jansen.

I know you think he's done. Well, they have Corey Canebel coming off surgery, Trennan's back, Canely from the Yankees coming off Tommy John. Don't know if he'll pitch this year. It was a two-year deal for like 4.75. So I think 4.75 for that arm and towards the back end of your bullpen will be fine for one year if he doesn't pitch this year. but they got lefty Victor Gonzalez nasty

Joe Kelly's still there they still have a ton of flame throwers and nasty awkward delivery guys and that's really tough when you come in and you can only face that guy once as a hitter so I think their bullpen's going to be fine their starting pitching is ridiculous

we don't even need to talk about that the world knows about how good they're starting pitchers I have seven starting pitchers all right and all of them would be in the top three for every ball club in my opinion in the rotation. So they're going to be fine there. They're going to be able to give guys like Kershaw a day off

here and there, which he needs. He's getting later in his career, he's thrown a ton of innings. So that'll be beneficial for him when you can plug in Dustin May or Gonsland, those guys. Now it's going to be on like four days rest and Kershaw's going to be coming out there every two. The Dodgers, the Dodgers are sitting pretty.

And they spent the money. So that's why you do what they do with their money and they don't really care. They don't really look at the price tag on things because that's who they are and they're going to buy their wins and they're okay with that. Yeah, I respect the hell what their front office did. Absolutely. You got to love that. Tell me about the Padres because like I said, in my opinion, they had the best off-season. They went out and literally got everything they needed starting pitching, bullpen, bench depth, everything they needed. They check it off.

So on my notes here, I basically did. have a list of ins and outs for each of these teams that we're going to talk about. Players that came in and players that went out. People that are listening on the podcast can't see this list, but this is the Padres list right here. This is their in list, which is for the people just listening, it's a very lengthy list. It's about when I went out, it's just Louis Petino, and that's about it. A couple prospects to who knows what they could be. But when you look at these other teams, I have a laundry list of guys that left.

I mean, the Cubs, Albatar Moore, John Lester, Choirver, we're going to talk about the Cubs more later. Even the Mets, who brought in a lot of really good players. They lost, you know, Sest with a sprazier. There's a lot of teams out there that lost a lot. Padres didn't lose anyone. They just got better.

They brought in you. They brought in Blake Snell, Musgrove. And that's to go along with Denelson Lemette, who they already have. Clevenger is going to be coming back next year. And we talked about the Padres a lot already. I gave the Padres an A plus, especially considering,

what happened with the Trevor Bauer process. What they could have done is they could have just waited for Trevor Bauer. They could have waited until February. They could have gone all in on Trevor and said, look, we're going to get Trevor. We're going to bring him here. And they probably had they done that, they might have lost out on these other opportunities for guys like you and Snell. Instead, they were like, look, we like Bauer, but maybe we got to go a different

directions. So I give A.J. Preller so much credit for everything he did with San Diego. And comparing them with Los Angeles because it's an important. possible not to compare those two teams when they're fighting to the same division crown. I like the Dodgers. I do. I like what they did. I like that they spent money. I don't like where they spent their money. I think their one hole, I hate to even call it a hole because come post season time, they're going to kick Hula Urias, they're going to kick Dustin May, those guys into the bullpen. Their bullpen will be just fine. But for the regular season, I have question marks about

their bullpen because I think that's their one hole is, which hasn't been the case for in past years, but their one hole is their bullpen in their depth. I will say this. If they do have any worries, they have those two extra starters, right? So those guys are going to need innings. So those guys are probably going to be long guys. So say your starter throws five.

You can get three out of Dustin May and be just fine because we know how good their offenses too. I don't think they're going to be in a ton of super close games. If they are, they'll go to their bullpen. If not, they can get three. innings out of Dustin May or Gonsland. And that means your bullpins fresh. And that's going to help you in the

grind of 162 as well. Dustin May is too good to pitch three innings every fourth day. I agree, but they have a very good problem over there. It's too many top tier pitchers. I just believe they made what they're already good at better.

And they, I don't want to say forgot, but they put their bullpen in their depth a little bit on the backboarder because they lost Jack Peterson, Eloski Hernandez. Those are two crucial pieces. And we're splitting hairs.

Look, the Dodgers are going to be one of, if not the most competitive team. Another point with the Dodgers is, it's not always just about baseball in L.A. It's about marketing, marketable guys. It's about selling tickets,

which hopefully later this summer, end of the fall, we're seeing a lot more fans at games. And let's be honest, playing in L.A. is a show. People don't go to the game. to watch baseball. Some do, but it's a show.

All right, you want flashy guys. You want guys in the media. You want guys talking to people on Twitter and doing commercials and the LA gigs like that. And they filled their team with more guys like that, which it's flashy guys. And they're making the headlines, but at the same time, they're still really good ballplayers. So I think that's maybe why they went that route, too, because they like marketable guys. Justin Turner coming back to you. you mentioned that he's basically the leader of that team.

I'll use that before we move on. Justin Turner, his first six seasons, he had a combined 15 homers, 132 ribies. And his last six seasons, 109 home runs, 363 ribby. So he pounced on his opportunity. Somewhat of a late bloomer. And then, yeah, he just got more opportunity to play every day.

I mean, he earned it. Don't get me wrong. He earned it. But he progressed later in his career when most guys, if they don't play well the first couple of years, don't end up getting those opportunities. So the ball bounced his way a few times. But I'd rather be lucky than good any day.

So he got good opportunity and he took advantage of it late in his career. And like you said, he's the heart and soul of that team. The guys I've talked to that are on that team who played with him. He's not going to be the most vocal. You're not going to see him, rah, ra, you know, cheering, talk, and yelling to his guys. They respect him. They respect his work.

What we just talked about, like he grinded through some really tough years to get where he's at now and those guys respect that. And inside that clubhouse, he's the voice that they listen to. He's calm, which you need on a ball club when you're playing 162 games. You're in the postseason. You need a calm leader because if you get too high, baseball doesn't tend to go your way. So, Justin, that was a big sign, most important sign in my opinion for that club. So you're giving the Dodgers and the Padres and Nick, right?

Correct. I'll get the Dodgers a B plus because of the concerns I just expressed and I gave the Padres D plus. All right. Fair. That's the thing is they could have had, they could be graded a C and still win the division. Yeah,

they think, exactly. Because they're loaded. That's a great point. That's a great point. Give me a team you were disappointed in the soft season that maybe they didn't grade. Disappointed in, I mean,

I'm not going to dig into the raise. I'm a little disappointed because they had so much success last year. And then they kind of unloaded and didn't, didn't try to pursue getting better. But the team I'm most disappointed in, it was just Chicago Cubs. You look at the NL Central. It's a weak division, right?

Cardinals are down. They got Iron Auto. I picked the Cardinals to win the division. The Cubs won the division last year. Milwaukee's going to be so-so. I feel like everyone is just so-so. Everyone is average. They're going to lose in the first round of the playoffs,

no matter who they play. Yeah, exactly. What comes out of that division. But the Cubs, here's the thing with the Cubs. They won the division last year. So this is why I think they took the biggest step back is they didn't really try to retain many guys. And then they didn't go out and get anyone.

They gave up. I mean, they replaced Swarber with Jock Peterson. Right. He's going to go out and hit you 2.30 and play okay defense. John Lester's gone. Chadwood's gone. You, Darvish is gone. They're starting.

rotation does not look good. Calh Hendricks, great pitcher. They don't have a power arm. They don't have a guy that's going to come in and blow your doors off. Zach Davies is your number two. Those guys average 89 miles an hour on their fastball. They're great pitchers, but I don't know if it's what they need. They don't have any really rotational depth.

Their bullpen really can't be depended on. And they had a chance, like I said, in a weak division to go get a few guys and win the division again and chose to sit on their wallet and save money. So I was disappointed in that just because it's the Chicago Cubs. They have the money to make the moves and they chose not to. So what are you great now? What's your grade? I gave him a D.

I gave them a D. I gave them an incomplete just because, so they're going to have Chris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo, and Hobby Bet, bias coming off the book. They're going to be free agents after this year. Wilson Contreras is going to be a for agent after next season. So I'm in complete agreement with you. They had a chance to go out and acquire a talent and be competitive in a non-competitive division this year,

or at least it's expected to be. They didn't do that. So I agree with all your points. I would just give them a little. I'm giving them a little bit of leeway here because I'm not saying they had to trade to you because they have plenty of money. But in order to create some financial flexibility with Bryant-Rizzo bias coming off the books, they needed to do something. And so I'm giving it incomplete kind of a wait to see tight deal of cups for me.

Could they not? So you think they need to get rid of you this year, not next year? They could have done it after this year, I think. Because he completely changes that rotation and we put you Darvich in there. The problem is that they didn't get any talent back for you. That's my point. That's why I gave my D because they got rid of guys, but they didn't add anything. Why?

That's going to make them better. Jock Peterson isn't going to put them over the top. No. Why are we seeing superstars getting traded for low-level talent? Why are we seeing the Cardinals being able to acquire Nolan Aronado plus get 50 million? And all they had to send them was a couple low-level processes. Here's why I don't understand. We are seeing top 10 players getting traded. And in return, the teams aren't even getting top 10 prospects. Maybe they're paying or they're paying for two years of salary to get rid of them. Francisco Lindor got traded to the New York Mets, and he got traded for what he got, Jimenez, Rosario, who are two unaccomplished major league players. And they got the number nine prospect and number 10 prospect, not majorly baseball in the Mets system.

How are you not? Lendor is a top five, top 10 player in major league baseball, has been for the past five seasons. And you're not able to get a top 10 prospect in baseball. That's another reason the Indians are got a, C minus. Like they they didn't

no one is no one's first priority is winning not no one a lot of teams right now and this is something we need to talk about as the floor like should there be a mark

where you can't you have to at least spend this much money so you can be competitive there's too many people pinching too many owners pinching pennies and crying poor when everyone knows the truth all right

let's be honest you have the money to spend you're just not we're gonna we're gonna we're gonna save it and wait we're gonna build our system and hope that every one of these prospects turns into a superstar that doesn't happen you generational talent doesn't grow on trees like francisco lindore all right if you want the one of the faces of the game and francisco lindore on your team you have to pay him because that's how the sport works if you want to acquire and keep top-tier talent, you have to pay them, and they will get you wins on the field, period. I can agree more.

I'm with the Indians, too, they lost out on Carlos Santana, who went to Kansas City, Lindorre, the Shields left, Domingo Santana, went overseas. Carlos Carrasco, he also went to the New York Mets. Right. That trade still blows my mind, and Brad Hand left. So I'm just tired of seeing stars getting moved for nothing. And these kids that get traded, they really could be something.

Who knows? But the fact that you're even taking a chance, we know what you're going to get out of Nolan R and Otto. You don't know what you're getting out of Joe Random, who's in AA and he slash 360, you know, or he had a 360 on base in AA. You just don't know. I just, I don't get it. I don't get the business of baseball right now.

And I think that it's really hurting the product on the field because we're seeing stars being traded because teams don't. have money, so they say. And then nobody wants to go to the ball games. And now we're going to see Coorice Field is going to be 50% capacity every single game, if that, because they have Trevor's story and that's about it. I got Charlie Blackman. You're going to see, you're seeing teams being non-competitive because they refuse to spend money.

And that goes back to our argument about there needs to be a salary floor. And I believe there needs to be a salary cap too. It's an unfair game. And there's a lot of problems in Major League Baseball. And that's at the point. Totally agree. You know someone that did spend some money and made some moves and really filled a lot of voids on their New York Mets. Yeah.

I gave him a B plus, but it's kind of like B plus slash A because I think they did, I mean, Lindor, Carrasco, McCann, Trevor May, Aaron Loop. I think Aaron Loop, I've said this before, he's going to be really good in that bullpen. They have their power arms, the familias, the Diaz, those guys, but Don't know. They have the flamethrowers, but they have this. Aaron Luke comes in and misses barrels. He's funky. And it's not just left-on-left matchups. He's got pretty good reverse splits as well.

He good change-up, good two-seamer. He gets right. He's out as well, a lot of weak contact. And he's just awkward. Those across his body, so he's really tough. You can plug him in in any big spot. He's pitched in big spots. He was with the raise last year.

So he's pitched in big games. How much don't think he has to be a huge ad for them? How much confidence do you have when he is? You know, I think the last couple of years he's trending up. I feel like he... I agree. It's a mental game for him, man. The stuff is there.

Adrian Beltrade was my locker mate when I played in Texas. And we were playing against Diaz. And he was just, we're looking at the scouting report. He was in Seattle still. And we're looking at the scouting report. And he goes, look, this guy is one of the nastiest guys I've ever faced. Adrian Beltra, 3,000 hits, going to be a Hall of Famer,

one of the best third base one to play the game. He looked me in the eyes and said, this is one of the nastiest arms I've ever faced. Like, I'm uncomfortable facing Edwin Diaz. He said, but he pitches like he doesn't know he's as good as he is. I said, what do you mean? He said, he could throw the,

he just needs to aim middle and just throw it over the plate. He doesn't need to hit his spots because his stuff is so electric, it moves. But when he tries to get too fine and sink it on the black and slider just off away, he tries to get cute. Now he ends up 2-0. Any big league hitter in a 2-0-3-1-3-0 count that knows the fastball is coming can hit it. Doesn't matter how nasty it is in a fastball count.

So he's like, if this guy can just realize how good his stuff is and just get ahead, no one's going to touch him. Yeah. I like to come from Belchray too because you've seen it all. Yeah. Let me ask you this because I want to get to Pete Abe. We're already running out of time because we talk too much as is, as always.

That's you, not me. What was your most underrated off season? Who's a team that didn't necessarily make headlines, but you really like what they did? Underrated. I'll give you mine. No, Kansas City. It's got to be Kansas City.

Yeah. There we go. We're on the same thing. I agree. Yeah, talk. Do your thing. I know you like the, I know you really like these guys,

but I agree with you. It is Kansas City. Yeah. I mean, just to be able to acquire a guy like Andrew Ben Tendi, who's really entering his prime, and I think the Red Sox gave up on him too. I totally agree on that.

Carlos Santana is going to be a really nice option. He's just a pros, pro. He gets on base at a elite clip. That's good defense, too. Yeah. So I think you have a mix of veterans

and you're putting them with some younger dudes who, they're going to have to rely on some of their, like, it going to be. I don't know. And he is even going to be on the big league club this year. I don't know. But I really like what they did this off season. Yeah, for sure. I think the White Sox are up there too. I think they're going to be competitive with the twins for that division.

I think it comes down to the last week of the season to see who wins the A.L. Central. I don't think the Royals are there yet. I think it's going to be a dog fight between the twins and the White Sox. Two, I mean, the White Sox are super young still, but they're so talented. It's another team that I have like. like a star next to you. I can't wait to watch these guys.

Okay. Most disappointing for you. Disappointed was Cubs. Cubs, um, as a somewhat of a Red Sox fan, I'm a little disappointed. Uh,

but I understand what Bloom is trying to do with building that system that Dumbraowski kind of ripped to pieces when he was there. Uh, we can ask Pete Dave about that. He'll have a better idea. But, um, in the race.

Like I said, the rays were really good team. last year and they probably lost the big pieces that they needed to keep to stay good and then didn't really

do anything else to get better. Yeah, they probably will, despite that, they'll probably still win nine games this year. I'd be,

that's the race. No shot. I'd be surprised if they won 83 games. Really? So you're pretty down on the race this year.

I'm down on the race. I am. I think the Blue Jays are that much better. Yeah. That's somebody we didn't talk about, so I'm actually

really impressed with the Blue Jays. Boston will be competitive. They're not going to win the division, not going to go to playoffs, and then we know how good the Yankees are. So that's, Tampa's not going to have any easy games other than Baltimore.

My most disappointing, the Angels, just like every other year. I'm not going to go off on this tangent, but yeah, they got some nice pieces, but they didn't go out and get anybody big and they needed to.

I mean, they have a chance to come in second place in that division. The division could be very interesting, very interesting. Yeah. A's, Astros, even the Mariners, I mean, they went and got Paxton. I don't know if there would be yet.

There's going to be some good baseball. Certainly is. Pete Abraham, coming up next. Spent more than two decades to every major league baseball. Been out to Boston Globe for the past 11. PA, joining us on today's show. First of all, spring training is starting, which is why you're seeing all our gray outfits, my gray outfit.

Now, Wells, are you excited for spring training, Pete? You know, I am because I've been staring out the same window for 10. 10 months and I'm anxious to see something else. And even if it's socially distance and far away in a press box is better than where I am now. So yeah, I actually am. I'm looking forward to getting down there. Well, let me ask. Go ahead.

Go ahead, Danny. Sorry, well, I mean to catch you up. But let me ask you this. You're feeling good about screen training. As the Red Sox beat writer for the Boston Globe, how optimistic should Red Sox fans be going into spring training? Optimistic or pessimistic? Well, based on the feedback I've been getting, and they're very pessimistic.

But I think a lot of that is because, you know, you trade mokey bets, you trade Andrew Benetendi. There's a lot of notable players who have left this team in the last 12 months. But they're also, they've increased the talent level of this team quite a bit. When you look at what they had to start last year to what they're going to have now, the pitching staff is a lot better. I think their position guys are a lot deeper than what they had. They don't have wiki bets, but that was probably inevitable to some degree. And now you have to move forward and see what you do have.

And I think they're not a contender, but they're a heck of a lot better than they were last year. Yeah, your entire outfield, it looks a little different. You know, even had, you know, Pilar gone. Not that, I mean, not that we really thought he was coming back, but JBJ, every day I'll wake up, I'm like, today's the day, Jackie's going to resign with the socks. And it just doesn't happen. I don't, do you think that's even in the plans? I mean, right now, if you look at their luxury tax payroll,

they're right under what the first threshold would be. So why would you trade Mookie and then a year later go back over the threshold? So no, I don't think there's any plans for Jackie. And in talking to people involved, they've described the Red Sox interest as polite, that they're not just dismissing it, but they're, you know, they're not also pursuing it either. Right. Why do you think the Mets changed gears and went after Pilar instead of going after Jay? Is it a money issue, I'm guessing?

Yeah, I mean, between Pilar and Almore, they add to their depth without spending, you know, a heck of a percentage of what it would have cost them for Jackie. So, yeah, I think it was more of that. And the thing that in talking to people, around a game. What's hurt Jackie a lot is the NL doesn't know if there's a DH. So if teams knew that they could put one of their other guys at the DH, keep their offense kind of where it is, and then add Jackie's glove, they'd feel a lot better about signing Jackie. And I think there is eventually going to be at the age. It might take a little time. But right now, Jackie is one of

the guys who's kind of caught in the middle of that. Yeah, that's the thing is they do add Jackie. Then you have Dominique Smith, Nimmo, Pete Alonzo. One of those guys is on the bench. inch every day. So I think they were trying to avoid that issue. Yeah, if one of those guys this is at the age, right, that's a lot better team. Exactly. Totally, yeah. Because Nemmo is going to hurt you defensively, in my opinion.

He's not a good outfielder, but he's sitting on base at a 400 clip. Right. So you kind of, you trade that out and then hopefully add somebody like Jackie. Pilar hasn't been as good offensively or defensively the past two or three years as he was in Toronto. But we know what Jackie can do out there. He's a gold glover. He's probably, in my opinion, the best defensive center filter in the game. And I think the numbers show that, actually, as far as his analytics go.

But he's going to hit you 230, 240. We know that. That's where he's at on his career. He had a good year last year. But at what point do you take the chance to say, you know, we're going to take a hit offensively for a good defender? That's right. I feel like that doesn't fit into the era we're in in baseball right now.

Right, especially for outfielders, right? We're not talking about a shortstop or a catcher. So Jackie, I think, did find something in his, in his office. offense last year that got back to the swing that he had when he had, you know, that successful 2016 season that he had. He was a pretty good hitter in 17. He bought into the launch angle for a while. And I don't think he's built to be a launch angle kind of guy myself. And but, you know, the way guys are getting paid, I can understand why hitters would want to do that. He got back to kind of more of his natural swing, made good contact, got on base a lot. To me, I mean, he's a

super productive player. If you look at the overall player, he's a great defender. He's a good base runner. he's going to hit with enough doubles power to I think help you offensively. And I just think he makes your pitching staff better the day he shows up. I mean, those guys can do a lot more things and take some more chances, knowing you got him behind you, than you can't otherwise. So the Ben Intendi trade to Kansas City, I personally didn't love it because I love Ben Intendi as a player and I like where he's at in his career and his age. But let's go to the other side of things.

Where is Franchi Cordero and where does he fit in their plans? because he's supposed to be a raw talent that really hasn't gotten the opportunity to play yet. Your thoughts on him going over to Boston. Yeah, and they see him as a left fielder. That's what it seems to be, and they don't really have a whole lot of outfielders. So unless Kiki Kananda's going to play out there, he's going to get a lot of at-bats as a left-fielder. He's got to stay on the field. That's the biggest thing that he hasn't done for a couple years.

But all of the scouting guys, when they made that trade, we're all like, oh, Frenchie, French. You know, he's tall and he's big and he's fast, and he's going to. good arm and all this other stuff. But, you know, he strikes out a ton. He hasn't really been able to show what he can do because he can't stay on the field. Now, Benintending has kind of been out of decline for going back to the second half for the 2018 season. I think for him, a change of scenery is going to be very productive. But the Red Sox, you know, they had three guys who were the centerpiece of a championship team in that outfield, and they're all gone. And I think for fans, it's jarring because not only what were they three good players, they were three players

people really like personally. You know, they put out, you know, bobbleheads of those three guys. I mean, it was like a huge, you know, those guys were a thing. And now it's like, well, you know, Alex Fadugo and we're not really sure about the corners. Like, that's kind of what it is.

And you're not used to that in Boston. You used to having, you know, left field is, this freaking left field in Boston, you know, like it's supposed to be a guy, you know, not, well, you know, we'll see who plays their Wednesday. You know, like, that's not what they're used to. Yeah. So as far as the moves that have been going on in Boston and the fans, like you said, It's a win now mentality in Boston.

We know that. Always. So what Bloom's doing there with rebuilding a system that was ripped to shreds by Dumbraussi, to be honest. How is he doing? How is that in your eyes? Is he building the system? Is he on a good path?

Is it trending where it should be? Do you like what you see there with the system? Yeah. I mean, he's only had basically 18 months. So it's hard to get a judgment on that. Yeah. And the draft was cut down last year, only five rounds. So you don't really know, until you see guys on the field, it's kind of hard to get a sense of that.

But when you look at their list of who are some guys who could come out of the miners who could help them, that's a longer list than it used to be. They've added guys during this off-season who are actual prospects via trade. I think what they did, just in terms of moving guys forward in their organization, you know, Bobby Dalbeck's part of the, you know, situation now. They've got other guys who they kind of moved into position, whether it's pitchers or, you know, there's just more guys now. who were going to be at spring training with a chance. Under Dombrowski, it was all veteran players, and it was all expensive veteran players. I remember covering spring training a couple years ago,

there were no spring training position battles. Like, they walked into camp the first day, and you knew exactly who was going to play unless there was an injury. And, you know, it worked, right? They had a hell of a team in 2018. They wanted the best teams in baseball history. But when that starts to go, it goes fast because it just becomes too expensive.

And older guys who are really, good are not going to get better. They're going to start a decline. You mentioned too expensive. Going over to the West Coast and not only a Red Sox fan seeing what the Dodgers are doing with their money, but they also took away their best player

and Moogie Betts. And then they went and signed Trevor Bauer. And then they just brought back Justin Turner. They don't care about any kind of luxury tax. They don't care about spending too much money. As a Boston Red Sox fan, it's got to be really tough to see what the Dodgers do they're doing saying, we have a high revenue. We're basically the Dodgers of

East Coast. Why are we not doing the same thing? It's got to be tough, right? Yeah. Well, I mean, two years ago they did, right? They were up at around 2000, I think it was 22, 35 or something like that. They had a higher payroll than the daughters did at the time. I mean, a lot higher. Now, what the daughters have is they have so many young guys that next year, their payroll is going to go way down because a lot of their older guys are going to come off the books or they'll sign more team-friendly deals and their young guys will remain inexpensive. So this to me seems like a one-year, let's throw everything we have into winning right now, basically what the Red Sox did at 2018. But the difference is they have the farm system to make up for it.

They're going to keep bringing in young, inexpensive guys. The Red Sox didn't have that pipeline. So the Dodgers are kind of taking what the raise have done and thrown a lot of money into it, which is what the Red Sox, I think, hope to eventually do. And I would imagine, Hyen Bloom's got some sort of plan that when some of these young guys now start to become free agents, the Red Sox are going to be positioned financially where they can sign anybody they want. You know, whoever it may, you know, it's hard to say who that will be, but it's going to be somebody. And they'll be in a great position to do that. But for now, they're sort of filling the gaps

with a lot of short-term contracts so they can remain flexible. And it's for fans, it's hard. But I think they're on the right path because at some point, they weren't going to just continue to have, you know, $240 million payrolls. And definitely, I mean, it's kind of hard to keep doing that, you know, just, you know, some far off time into the future will figure it out. This is when and they decided to figure it out. So staying on the subject of financials, we can't not talk about what's going in New York right now, not only in the Bronx,

but in Queens. Who's the best team in New York, in your opinion right now? Well, it's probably still the Yankees until you see what the Mets look like on the field. But the Mets are, I think the Mets are a more interesting team

because of all of the different guys they have. And to me, it's interesting to see the Yankees. It looks like they're going to refuse to sign Brett Garner because they don't want to go over the luxury tax payroll. there was a time like the Yankees were to laugh at the idea of that, right? Like we're going to keep our guys. This is what we do.

And Cashman's not doing that. And, you know, Francisco Indoor, I think, is arguably probably the most interesting player in New York right now. You know, you want to see what he's going to do on the big stage. He's going to give the Mets, I think, a charismatic guy that they haven't had in a while, you know, maybe going back to David Wright. And, you know, he's at the peak of his game. And their pitching staff doesn't have maybe one big superstar player like the Yankees do. but they have pretty good depth. They have a pretty solid bullpen.

They're doing interesting things. And the Yankees, it's a question of older, expensive guys staying healthy. Can stand and stay on the field? You know, can judge stay on the field. You know, there's a lot of bringing back Lamahue seem like a pretty easy thing to want to do. You know, they don't know what Gary Sanchez is. The Yankees have more questions than the Mets.

But if they answer all the questions, they're probably better. Well, staying financially in the financial scope right now. do you think there needs to be a salary floor? Because when I'm looking at different teams and what they're doing, the raise, as competitive as they are, we all know what their payroll is. We know they don't spend a lot of money on their roster, yet they're still incredibly competitive.

Whereas you're talking about a team like the Dodgers, they're spending money in their competitive. So there's two different ends of the spectrum. You think it's good for baseball to have a team like the raise that only spends $40, $50, $60 million on the roster, and they're still able to compete. Because in my eyes, not having stars on the field, deal hurts its product. Yeah, well, as somebody who's been going to watch games in Tampa for a long

time, I don't think anybody there goes to watch a particular player. They're going for, you know, whether it's free pizza night or some bobblehead or just to have a night out, where in Boston, New York, and Philadelphia and Los Angeles, they want to go and see somebody. They're going to see, you know, this player who they really love. And so it's a different kind of market. But I think there's something wrong with the sport. If, you know, the Oreos and the Pirates are going to have a smaller payroll than like Derek Cole gets paid or or what Bauer gets paid or what Mookie gets paid. I mean, the Pirates in the Oriores are looking at, you know, just minuscule payrolls. And they're going to be on the same field as these teams.

Like to me, there's a problem where, you know, you're checked as a team if you go over a certain limit. But nothing happens to you if you go below a certain limit. You can keep cutting down as much as you want. So I think that hurts the sport. But then I don't think the players are ever going to agree to a salary floor. because the trade-off is going to be a salary, a hard cap. And they don't ever want to get, I don't think they'll ever agree to a hard cap. I just don't know that their union is equipped to ever come to grips with the idea of a hard cap,

even though other sports have done that. That's just, it's almost like that's the reason there's an MLB Players Association to never agree to a hard cap. And that would, I think they'll go kicking and screaming before they do that. They just came out with projections the past couple days of playoff percentages. and Baltimore is at 0%. Texas is at 0.8%. Yeah, it's like you don't want to see that in the game. You just don't.

You want it to be a dogfight, not between two teams, but at least three, you know. I think Chris Davis is making, I think it's like $16 million or whatever it is. The guy, the next highest guy on their payroll is like at $4 million. And then there's only like five other guys

who are going to be making over a million. Like that's basically where it is. Like it's Chris Davis. and a bunch of guys who are happy to be in the big leagues. And I guess, got more on Adley Rushman's signing bonus than they will. Well, I mean, really? No, they are. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, let me ask you this. Of the American League East teams that we just mentioned and everyone involved in American League East, who do you think has improved the most this offseason?

Toronto, for sure. When you look at what they've done, you know, George Springer is a guy who knows how to win playoff games. He's one of the best playoff performers of all time. Bringing him into that young team and kind of being a leader and a role model, model just on how to go about your business. What, you know, for Bigio and Bichet and Guerrera, I think that's just a great addition. And what they've done, you know, Marcus Samuans, another guy who's going to solidify their up-the-middle defense playing second base. They now have a really strong up-the-middle defense, which they have, they haven't had in

Toronto. Their outfield has been dreadful defensively for a long time. And I think Springer is going to make them a lot better. It puts the corner guys kind of where they're supposed to be. To me, Toronto is like this untapped monster. I was looking it up a couple weeks ago. That's the fourth biggest city in North America. And they've got an entire country basically as their market.

And downtown Toronto is a beautiful place. It's a great city. I think Springer deciding to go there is going to open them up, I think, to more free agents down the road. As people realize, this is not a bad place to be. And if I were the Yankees in a Red Sox, I'd be worried about Toronto long term because they've got smart guys running that team now. They've got a huge budget. And if they start, you know, they build a new park down there.

There's things that can happen in Toronto that can turn them into a monster. And not just, you know, I don't think this is like a one year they're going for. I think they're starting to put together a base where they can get back to being a perennial contender. I agree because I like their offense. Their offense is young. They're still developing half of their lineup with the bishios or Guerrero's, Bichet. Those guys are still learning to be big leaguers, to be honest.

And they're still going to, they haven't reached their peak. So that's going to be fun to watch. but how do you feel about their pitching? I feel like that is like obviously where they need to build. Right. That's really like kind of a big question. They didn't go out and add any of the big notable starters. They improved their bullpen.

Their pitching was a lot better. I think that people thought it was going to be last year. But I still kind of wonder if they would be in the market to sign order easy or somebody will make a move right before spring training. Because that does seem to be the one thing. If they get into a series with the Yankees, the Yankees could probably stack up a better rotation in the playoffs than Toronto could. So that's, you know, to me, maybe that might be the one place where they might look to do something before they get into the season.

They're super left-handed heavy, too. Yeah. So in a division where a lot of the best hitters are right-handed. So that could play into it as well. Yeah. This is a fantasy baseball podcast, so I'd be remiss not to ask you. Is there any update on Chris Sale and what his plans are for the 2021 season? Yeah, the Red Sox have been super cautious about talking about Chris Sale.

And I think part of it is they don't want to say that, well, we're kind of writing off this season and looking ahead to what we're going to be down the road. But they're not going to push him back quick for the sake of pushing him back. They're going to wait until he's completely ready. He's gone through the full minor league progression. Everybody is signed off on the idea that he's ready to go. And then I think he's probably going to pitch four innings and then not come back for six days. And then he's going to pitch five and not come back for whatever it may be. I think they're going to be super careful with him for a couple reasons.

It's Chris Sale. You don't want to just rush him back. And secondly, his contract is now where it's at, it's heaviest since he's signed that extension. So you don't want to do anything crazy when you're paying a guy $30 million a year. So if he made, shoot, 10 starts this year, I think that they'd be happy with that. I don't think this is going to be the kind of thing where, oh, we're a game behind the Yankees and it's June 15th, like, you know, the hell with him going to double A, let's bring him up. You know, like, I don't think that's going to happen. I think they're going to be super careful with him.

So before I let you go, I have one last question because I saw. this really a fun thread on Twitter that was going around. I think it was yesterday the day before. And it was stories of reporters that have left certain dinners or certain anything. So give me your best story where you have left any kind of event or left anything because you had a story that you had to break or maybe something was floating through your ear, certain rumors. Can you give us your best story with that? Yeah, 2010 winter meetings, the Red Sox were one of the teams trying to sign Carl Crawford. And it was kind of a buzzy thing. everybody knew something was going on and there were different teams that were contending for them.

So I thought I was done for the day work and I went out for dinner with a bunch of my buddies who covered at the time. I had just been covered Yankees and I had moved over to the Red Sox the year before. So I went out for dinner with a bunch of guys I knew. We sat down, we ordered and they bring the entrees. And just as they bring the entrees, I got a text message from somebody. Crawford is signing with the Red Sox. And I'm at a table full of other writers.

So I don't want to like make it, I don't want to go like, oh my God. So I kind of pretend. I just look at my phone. I put it back in my pocket. And I go, I'm just going to go to the men's room. I'll be right back. And I never came back. I just left.

And I ran to the press room and I wrote my story. And then like I started getting messages from the other guys. Like, I can't believe you did that. Like you just left. But, you know, that's kind of what you have to do. And the other one, I can't remember. I was covering the Mets and I was living in New York. And I was dating this girl.

And we got a reservation at a really good restaurant in Manhattan. She was all excited about it. And we're getting ready to go. We're going to dress up. We're going to have a night on the town. And it might have been, it might have been, something to do with Jose Reyes. Something happened with the Mets.

And I had to do the story. And she was like, at my house, we were getting ready to go. And I'm like, I can't go. And she's like, we got this reservation. Like, what are we going to do? I'm like, I don't know, but I can't go. And she was so mad. And she went with one of her friends.

I got, she wouldn't talk to me for like three days. And I just was trying to explain to her like, this is my job. Like, you know, I can't not do this. And it was just not a happy time. That took me a while to come back from that one, a long time. I can't let you go without telling one quick story of Dustin Padrault. And it has to do with when you came over from the Yankees and introduced himself to Dustin in the locker room. Do you know what I'm talking about?

Yeah, yeah. So I had covered the Yankees for five years. So when you cover the Yankees, you know, they play the Red Sox 18 times a year. I'm from Boston. So I would go over to the Red Sox Clubhouse quite a bit. And, you know, Dustin knew who I was, that I was a guy who covered the Yankees, but, you know, I wasn't like we were friendly or anything. So I get a job at the globe and my first spring training covering with the Red Sox is 2010. So one of my goals is I'm going to go in the clubhouse and try to, you know, get to know guys and everything.

So I go over to Dustin and he's like, hey, what are you doing here? And I'm like, hey, actually, you know, I work for the globe now. And he goes, oh, that's cool. So he stops and he kind of looks at me. And he goes, so you got any kids? I said, no, man. No, I don't. I don't have any kids.

and he goes, you ought to get some kids. So why do I need kids? And he goes, and that way you can tell him he covered me. A true legend, man. That's one of the best stories I have that you've ever told me. That was so good. And he had it like, he had it like ready. Like he was just like ready to drop it.

Like it was the greatest thing. And I'm just like, all right, I'm covering the red socks. Here we go. That's great. I could give you a David Ortiz story, but it would be so like, you know, just obscene that I couldn't give it to you. I totally understand that.

His welcome to Boston was not as friendly. It was as friendly, but it was completely unprintable. Yeah, this is a family-friendly show. We can't allow. Listen, I don't want to do anything. I don't want to get you guys in trouble. We do plenty of that ourselves. Two plus decades cover Major League Baseball

and now with the Boston Globe. Pete Abraham joining us. Thanks so much for joining us, Pete. Thanks for having me on, guys. Okay, I'm just going to put you on the spot right away. and you're a fellow Red Soxian, a former fellow Bostonian, and Pete Abe touched on both of these teams. Who's going to be more competitive over this next decade?

It's Ron a Blue Jays, who Pete Abe loves or the Boston Red Sox. Over the next decade, that's so hard to predict. I will say over the next three or four years, it'll be the Blue Jays. I think it'll be the Blue Jays just because of the young talent they have there, the control on the contracts of those guys, the Guerrero's, Biggio, Bichette, obviously love Springer, Simeon. They have a lot of young talent guys that are

either not to their prime yet or in their prime. Pearson. Nate Pearson, I think they're really depending on him to have a good year this year just because pitching is their void. They have a ton of lefties, so they'll need him as a righty to step it up. they need to go get better pitching. They need into the bullpen help and they, I mean, they got Kirby Gates,

but they're going to be more than one guy. So they're going to need to acquire arms over the next couple years. But you get a couple starting pitchers in there with that offense. They're competing with the Yankees. That's the issue is you're competing with a team like the Yankees for the division. So you're more or less playing, in my opinion, playing for a wild card spot. I think over the next, I can't predict a decade because the Red Sox will be back. I like Heim Bloom.

I like what he's doing. He's building the system. It's not really a win now mentality, clearly. The fans hate that there because they didn't win last year. And it's normally like, oh, you have one bad year. All right, back on the train going back to the playoffs. And without expanded playoffs, I don't think they're going to make the playoffs this year. So the next three or four years, I see the Blue Jays being better.

over the next decade. I don't know if I have an answer for that because I would be surprised that the Red Sox weren't back in the mix in the next couple of years. That's fair. I think the Red Sox I've made this case before, I think there's the San Francisco Giants

of the American League right now. They had a front office change with Kamblund coming in, with the Giants, they had Fahansaii come in. And both of those guys came into a front office and they had outrageous amounts of money devoted to veteran players. And so they basically had to figure out a system that was torn up. Both of them.

And so I think you give them a couple of years. Zaiti is coming around. They're going to have, oh my gosh, they're going to have over $100 million coming off the books after this year. If they decline, they have a couple different club options. But if they decline those player, those club options, Quedo, Posey, Crawford, belt, all those guys could be gone. It's up to the club.

Right. It's going to be an interesting off-season. I will. already looking ahead. We haven't had our 2021 season. I know, but that's what we do, right? Yeah, we'll see you guys next Wednesday back here on the fancy baseball today podcast. Adios, people. See you guys.