Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - 123 | MLB and The Players Come to an Agreement

Episode Date: March 27, 2020

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What's going on, everybody? MLB and MLBPA reached a deal in all this craziness, and we're going to talk all about it. What's going on? Welcome to an impromptu episode of talking baseball. My name is John Boy. Sitting right next to me is Jake Storelli, and in between us is Trevor Poof.

He's out in Cali, freezing cold California. Trev, how you doing? I'm doing great. It is a little cold here today. I feel like I'm at the point now in this quarantine where it's just like hats all the time. My hair is just not doing well right now. Not happy with what your hair is doing?

No, I mean, haven't had a haircut now in like three weeks, maybe even longer than that, so it just doesn't look good. I haven't had a haircut since before spring training trip. I was going to say you guys are kind of like pulling it off right now. That quarantine look is treating you guys well. Well, Jake, I'm still fresh from my pro my pro cut my show cut you're still riding high yeah man that's incredible yeah I am I hear that a lot but uh yeah man speak speaking of incredible

they made a deal through this craziness that was kind of uh I wasn't expecting it to be tweeted if anyone's not familiar we'll we'll narrow or we'll break it down before we get into it what we're actually talking about. But first off, when Passing tweeted that, I got excited for so many other things it could be. And then I was like, oh, I get it. I see what this is. But I thought it was like a schedule announcement

or a new format or something. And I was like, oh, okay, okay. Well, this makes sense. Kind of a common sense deal in a way. But Treb, do you have it in front of you? Do you want to let people know exactly what happened? Yeah, I kind of got the cliff notes in front of me. And, you know, I think there was a date happening soon.

think it might have even been opening day, the actual opening day period, where Manfred could have frozen all the salaries going forward because it was a national emergency. That's some kind of clause in the CBA, whatever, what have you. So I think both sides were kind of wanting to get at least some sort of agreement in place before that happened. So this deal kind of covers a bunch of stuff, and it's still fluid. I don't think it's a formal agreement just yet. It's just kind of a shaking hands agreement. There's a few things talked about,

and even those are not set in stone. So basically, you know, talking about scheduling. This new agreement allows the MLBPA and MLB to come to an agreement, a joint agreement on how scheduling should be, instead of the league having like a unilaterally, way to determine how the games are played. So both sides now have to agree on it. Obviously, both sides want to play as many games as possible.

I don't know how they're going to do that, what they're going to do, because that's not set in stone. Obviously, there's going to be some double-headers, but I think both sides, because financially it makes sense for both sides, they want to play as many games as possible. There's talk about the postseason trying to be expanded, going from, what's that now, 10 teams in? 10 to 14.

Yeah, they're trying to expand that. They're talking about neutral sites. We kind of already knew. That's nothing new. Transactions are going to be frozen at this point as soon as the deal becomes official, so there'll be no trades. I still think the teams can do transactions, sending guys up and down, depending on what their need is before we have our spring training.

Roster sizes are going to expand. There's a lot of things going on. They came to an agreement on a salary, like a stipend for this. season. And I think one of the big things that everyone's kind of talking about and one of the things that's least clear is what they're doing to the draft. It's a big point. And this is kind of where I think the union, it was easy for them to say, hey, sure, we'll shorten the draft this year. There's been no spring season for high school or college. So these guys are kind of been sitting around. I still don't understand kind of like why the MLB side really wanted this but as it's proposed now

it can be shortened to five rounds and as they see fit they can add rounds if they need to but they short it to five rounds and then after that there's a there is a limit on what they can spend on undrafted guys and I think it's at $10,000 and typically it's $125,000. They shorten the whole draft to five rounds? Yes. How many rounds is the draft usually? 40. I mean, that's crazy.

So I don't really understand this part. And they gave the union gave this up to ensure the service time. That was the union's biggest stipulation here is they wanted guys to accrue service time during this time. And if there was no season, doomsday scenario, all players would receive a full year service time, depending on what they had last year. But if you were to have a full year last year, you were going to get a full year this year. And that was the main stipulation that the union had. And they were able, I mean, they made a choice.

So if you're not at a service time or key the draft, and it was easy. If you're not a top 150 player in college or high school, you just got affected in a weird way. You can't get drafted. You won't have a draft story, but you probably, it's a free for all after that? It is. And so a lot of like the high school kids. So the MLB guys were like, don't fog with our service. I don't care about those kids.

I hate to say it like that But I mean if you're going to do something They were kind of an easy That was an easy way out But again I don't understand MLB's side of that There's something that benefits MLB But we don't know what it is I'm smart I sent some feelers out

I haven't really got back on that side yet Which interesting about this whole thing is I did send some text out yesterday And I got back so many different answers And the question I asked was how do you feel about the deal and it really just depends on where you're at as a player. Some guys were like, this is great. Some guys are like, this is crazy. So it's not a deal that's like just accepted.

Like I said, it kind of depends on where you're at as a player. Let Daddy try to unpack a little bit of this for you. So what I read from the Ken Rosenthal article, you know, they're talking about teams are going to be potentially losing, you know, I saw a number close to $2 billion, blah, blah, blah. they said every year in the draft they pay out 400 million in signing bonuses so they thought you know limiting that can kind of be a a cuss-coting thing a cost cutting thing excuse me yeah um i guess the other thing that i'm curious about is is maybe this is affecting less people

than we think because i think like you said it's minimum five rounds it can go up to 10 i think that's how they have it listed right now and can't college players aren't all spring athletics weren't they offered a redshirt year or something like that? So won't all college players, if they want to dodge this, they essentially can. And I guess taking that to high school, I don't think they're getting the redshirt year because you get older and that's how high school works, and some of those kids will be going to college. But essentially, aren't we talking about the elite of the elite? If you're a high school kid and you're going to go in the top, let's split the gap right now,

and say seven rounds of the draft, you're a pretty elite dude that's been scouted and you've been on teams radar for a while. So I guess maybe, and maybe this is a little devil's advocate, and this is us all kind of reaching at this because we don't have a grasp on it. But, I mean, isn't there a chance that, you know, either guys are going to go and do their college year. And maybe there shouldn't be that many dudes in the draft anyways because we don't have a college baseball season.

A lot of people say no to the draft anyway. Like high school guys will say like, no, I'm going to go play college. It sucks for dumb high schoolers that are good at baseball. Yeah. Well, that's kind of, I was talking to some people and they were saying a lot of these kids in that 10 to 15 round, 10 to 20 round range, they would normally sign. Now if they have to go to college, there's no scholarships available anymore. Like they've already been handed out. And I don't know if the NCAA is.

Yeah, yeah, that's interesting. I don't know if the NCAA is going to do something about an add an addendum and increase scholarships. I think it's 11.7 per team, which is insane that that's still a thing. But, you know, a lot of these guys, you know, I was being told I was going to get drafted in the 10th round and I was kind of just banking on that, you know. Yeah. I think a lot of these lined up and then they might be fucking. I think a lot of jucoes are going to be getting these guys.

Yeah. I think there's going to be a lot of players. I mean, $10,000 to go play pro ball, you should go play juco. Like, go get some college credits in. How much, I mean, all right, so this is an interesting twist on it because we're talking about the developmental side that it's actually going to. getting affected the most by this deal kind of. But like, think about the kid, the high school kid, well, let me backtrack.

How it works is the more team invests into you, the more they're going to actually care and try to make you be an asset. Like you were first round pick, ploof. So if you were dog shit when you were in A ball, hey, they still invest a lot of money in you. They're not just going to toss you by the roadside. they're going to do their best to improve and, you know, because they've invested in you. Does this cut down the number of kids teams will invest in for this year?

So is there going to be a lot more players that can be easily like, well, whatever, where you don't care about your development, you're just here to help other guys? I think teams are always going to try to develop the guys they draft because that's like the best, it's the cheapest way to acquire talent. And it's the best story. when you have homegrown talent, people love that. So they're always going to try to develop that. But your point is correct, where high money guys are going to get more chances.

And they're going to continue to develop you as long as they can. They want to get something for their money. It almost makes a lot more pressure on that fifth round. Yeah, no, it's going to be interesting. If I wasn't a top pick, like, I probably wouldn't have got the opportunities that I got. Like, I wasn't very good early on in the minor leagues. I was very young for the leagues that I was playing in, but they gave me a long leash because they invested some money in me.

And to your point, that's not going to be the case. If a lot of these guys are just going to go and sign and say, screw it, I'll take my chances in Pro Bowl for $10,000, bucks, they're not going to get as long a leash. Maybe they would have if they got drafted in the 10th round or seventh round or something like that. Yeah. And the only thing that's coming to mind for me is that, you know,

we had our episode on minor league baseball and closing down some of the teams, and we talked about how a lot of minor league guys are more or less filler for the other players to play off of. I think right now five rounds, I mean, that's shocking for baseball. I'll be interesting to see where the rounds land. If it's five, I don't think that's acceptable. I'd almost rather push back the draft a year and just load up a draft. or something like that because five seems a little ridiculous.

But if they get closer to 10 rounds and, you know, maybe the NCAA does make some addendums or it is Juko or whatever it is, I could see this not being as big of a thing as we make it out to be because then you're getting into a 10 round draft and guys will have different eligibility and other options for what is a global pandemic. Still, I mean, 10 of 40 is still a big difference, but I agree with you. But five is, that's a huge difference in that pool of players. I want to say we'll go more than five.

Because there will be a free-for-all for these guys that don't get drafted. And now they become essentially free agents for any team. Would the six-round players be making more money? Because now there's going to be maybe a bidding war for those dudes? They can't. Oh, yes. They can't. Yeah.

They capped it at $10,000. So it's an interesting time. I got to feel there's going to be more than five rounds. If it's only five, the last pick of the fifth round, that is like awesome. Put a camera on that. I do believe, to your point, Jake, that is an easy way for these teams to save money this year. Right. Because of all the money they hand out on signing bonuses. But again, to me, it's like, that's the cheapest way to acquire a town.

So that wouldn't have been the route I would have taken if I was, MLB, but I'm kind of a dummy, and those guys are really smart, so they probably have some other reason. Yeah. All right, so the big win, and I call it a win for the players is the service time because they had to get that. If Mookie Betts, if this doesn't count and, you know, anyone that was about to be a free agent isn't, and now they're a free agent a year older, which, you know, age matters so much in these things. that was a must win for the players. Now, have you heard that it was used as leverage,

or did MLB kind of say, of course, we're going to give you that? I think they knew that the players were going to stick on this subject. So whether they wanted to get into a lengthy battle or not, I don't know. It seems like they understood that that was going to be a sticking point. So they said, okay, well, if that's going to be your point that you want to stay, on here's what we want and I think it seems like it was pretty amicable I mean this is it's it's I don't know if it's because of the times people are feeling more compassionate or something but to me it doesn't seem like this is the way that the union and MLB have been working in the last

couple years together they've kind of came up with this pretty quickly and it seems like at least who I've talked to people feel like this is kind of a fair deal between both sides I don't think that players had a ton of leverage and I think the The owner's kind of... Or nice. I don't know. They got a fair deal done. According to the guys that I've talked to,

everyone kind of feels that way. Is it fair? Am I allowed to be rooting for chaos a tiny, tiny percent? My number one rooting interest is most amount of baseball being played. But if I'm 50 years old and I get to tell my teenage son, yeah, the Dodgers actually traded for Mookie Betts and they gave away a top prospect. but Mookie never played for the Dodgers and they never got the prospect back because of coronavirus.

I mean, that's an all-time story if that happens. 1% of me, if there's no baseball, we'll be like, oh, that is wild. Especially if he goes back to the Red Sox. Exactly. I mean. If you're the Red Sox, you'd have to resign him. The Red Sox are, so, okay, that's interesting. The Red Sox fans, maybe with sale injury and,

the new manager and like core being suspended. Imagine if you're a Red Sox fan and core suspension is only a year and that gets done up with this and you just go to 2021 and sale is returning halfway point. You've re-signed Mooki. You've got for Duke. Like the Red Sox right now have to be rooting for no games in a weird way. They also get under the competitive back, a competitive tax balance. Am I saying that right?

Yeah, whatever. We know what you mean. attacks. Yeah. Every team's going to get under that. Unless they play 162 games, which they're not. That is an insane storyline. Pro rate.

I mean, even a shortened season. I mean, even a shortened season, they traded all these guys for Mookie for a shortened season. So there's still chaos to be at. I will say this. The Dodgers did a great job in that deal, not giving out their elite elite prospects, and they still got Mookie.

But still, if Mookiee doesn't play. or they don't make the playoffs and a short in season or something some chaotic happens well took on a lot of money with david price too and they're not going to have to pay that so the dodgers aren't all out losing here but yes they wanted them this was like a year for them this is they had everyone everything going like i don't hate the dodgers either obviously i don't like the red sox but i just the chaos involved there is kind of making the evil and me grin yeah and i i think where Trevor started and again these seemed like amicable negotiations which doesn't happen, but I think, again, sometimes I say enough shit that I stumble into something

that's right is that these people couldn't go to war on these topics right now. Like, imagine if the owners in MLB were saying, no, you're not getting service time, you know, over a pandemic. Like, it just wouldn't work that way. And I think that leads us into what is the win for the owners and the players are going to be fine with, especially for this year, is the expanded playoffs. Jim just mentioned his Dodgers not making the playoffs. But in my head, I'm already penciling it in. I guess there's a chance it could not go down still, obviously.

But I think we're going to see expanded playoffs. The owners were clamoring for this, you know, weeks ago before we were talking about any of this. That, I mean, this is the perfect example. And especially with me and Jim are doing some of the baseball history stuff on our watching baseball in the 1981 season. they had the holdout going on that they literally split the season into two, and they had their first expanded playoffs. So this is the perfect time for leagues to experiment. I think we're going to see stuff in the NBA get experimented.

I think we're going to see stuff across all the leagues. And I think that right now has to be the biggest. If we're calling the players getting service time a win, I feel like the owners getting expanded playoffs is their win, that nobody can really fight over. Yeah, I agree. I think especially the more the season get shortened, like if we get down to 81 games,

if we get down to less than that, I think you're going to expect just a whole different Globetrotters-esque situation where, sure, they play two months, and then there's like a round robin bracket, weird style playoffs. That's totally different. And whoever wins, it'll be like a tainted world series

are like not a legitimate world series. Like I'm, I'm ready for that to happen. I think it'll be fun. It'll be experimental. It'll be completely different if they can't get 81 or less games. They may be able to get more than that. But I do think like Jake's right. Like now's the time to experiment.

And in 1981, they went to eight teams for the first time ever because of a short in season. They immediately the next year went back to the regular. And for the next 10 years went back to the regular things until the strike in 94 led to another expansion. So like, don't be worried that like, oh, shit, they're going to do it this year. Then they're going to want this to stick. It may not.

But I do think that they're going to expand and it's going to get funky. Yeah, I don't know what they're going to do. I was thinking about, like, how cool it would be if they said, fuck the season. Let's do a bracket. We could do, you know, 14 teams on either side. And then the two World Series teams from last year get a first round by. And just, can you imagine? I mean, I think that only happens if, well, a little spoiler of a guest we had coming up,

who said he thinks there might only be like two months of games or less than that. And then they do something like that. If they can get 100 plus games in, then I think it'll be normal. Somewhat normal. Well, like I said earlier, maybe the wild car or something like that. Yeah, like I said earlier, these people, both sides want to play games. They want to play as many games as possible. not up to either of them right now.

That's the only case. Yeah. Of course they do, but neither of them are going to be like, no, let's do 81, but it's not their call. Well, when I was thinking about like too many doubleheaders, I think the guys want to play, you know, so they're like, fuck it, expand the rosters. Like, let's get, because they're getting, the more games they play, the more money they're going to make on both sides.

So, you know, it's tough to talk about money in a time like this, but that's kind of what they're thinking. Like if we can get as close to, you know, a full season as possible, like that'll make both sides very happy. So now where I said there's no way these guys are going to want to play all these double headers, I'm kind of softening on that stance because if they expand rosters, they can do it. One a week, I think it's fun. I think that's doable. Someone proposed two a week. That's, I don't know. It's too many.

It's a lot of baseball. That's too much. That's a baseball fatigue at that point. Especially if you go like two double headers a week with less off days, deeper playoffs, and now you've just like fucking put them through the grinder with shorter offseason for 2020 one season. But one a week, I think one double header a week for teams, I would love that as a fan. Yeah, they already talked about, um, using October for the regular season.

So that's kind of in this deal. They're willing to go fully through October with the regular season. So that frees up another 31 days to play games. Yeah. So if that comes into play, which I'm pretty sure it will, if we start the season,

that means we're going to start the playoffs in November and the playoffs are going to go into December. And it's going to be freezing, so we have to do neutral sites. And I actually, I like that idea for one year. I want to see how it plays out. Like the home field advantage thing

is super cool in the World Series, but I'd also think, like, I got to go watch a few games, like the WBC games at Marlins Park, whatever it's called, Marlins Field. It was cool. Yeah, sure. It was really cool to have that neutral site, you know. I'm not into that at all. I understand the way everyone's making concessions and stuff, but playoff games at a neutral site for me is just, I can't wrap my head around it.

It sucks. Yeah. In my opinion. Super Bowl. Yeah, but that's just one game. Can you imagine playing in New York in December? No, you can't do it. It would be snowing.

I mean, does it snow in New York? It does. Oh, yeah. Oh, sure. Beautiful. Yeah, I don't know. I think we're all around it. And it'll be interesting.

Trevor, you also said this, that things are still handshake agreementy. And there are some big, big stuff to come when it comes to schedule and and like Jim also alluded to is, you know, a lot of this isn't currently we're government mandated. It's when, when are the teams going to be allowed to get together? When and when they are, are we going to start spring training then? Are we going to start spring training a month from them? Is it going to be three weeks of spring training? But like you're saying with October, I mean, that really does open things up, especially if we're getting in that one double header a week. Because I mean, if we start playing games in June, even if we don't,

Let's say it's July. July, August, September, October. That's four months of baseball. You can, that is enough for a regular season that where. No, it's not. You're taking away 60 days. Enough, not for 162. I said enough for a regular season.

That's 162. What can be counted as a regular season. No. Yeah. I thought you meant. I think we're going to get to close to 100. Yeah, I think right now over under is 100. I take the over, slight over, slide over.

I'm a bet. Man. But just a little sprinkle. Yeah, just a little cheddar on it. But I think they're just going to find a way to squeeze those games in. And yeah, I think we're most likely looking for a shit show sort of neutral site playoffs, which like you said, will be fun for a year, but baseball will be clamoring to get back because you need some home field and road stuff going on in playoffs.

Let me tell you this. If they're going to use Miami or Florida. Let's go. That's Yankee territory. that all these snowbirds are going to be down there. The place we've filled with Yankees fans. No other fans retire in Florida, which is huge. Well, you have the cold weather teams.

Like nobody's, you think anybody, if it's the Dodgers, the Yankees. Blue Jays, baby. And they play a series in Florida. I promise you that will be packed with the Yankees. You're twins. I don't, wait, that's not even what tripping me up. I don't care about. It's not Yankee Stadium, Treff.

That's what I care about. There's no ghosts there. I'd rather an empty playoff game in Yankee Stadium than a packed neutral site with fans. That's, I mean, that's maybe, like, you know. Space heaters on the bases. Yeah. Well, I'll get over it, and I understand why it's happening. I'm just saying, like, when I picture, like, a playoff game at Marlins Park,

I agree. Dodgers and the Yankees. I don't care what fans are there. That just, in my mind, is aesthetically ugly and dumb. Yeah, because you're thinking about Marlins Park. That's not exactly like... Beautiful. I mean, or fucking the trap, Trev.

There's not many beautiful ballparks down in Florida. Well, let's get out of Florida. We can just go to Dome places. Let's go to Houston. Let's run the whole... Let's do the whole playoffs in Houston. If they... And they're not allowed to play it.

And they went to Houston. Now we're talking. Give me that neutral, neutral. Go to some college stadiums in the SEC with smaller crowds. Is Arizona. There's Milwaukee. There's, I mean, they're not going to play in, oh, maybe, Toronto. I don't know how they would do that.

Probably not. There's domes kind of everywhere. And everywhere, you know, the teams with the retractable roofs and all that. So there's going to be some different sites. They probably do a west coast and an east coast and just all the teams play on the same field. Like, imagine that. It's Marlins Park. It's a double header.

Okay, Yankees versus twins, day game. And then the night game is the Rays versus. I'm loving it. The A's. Go full Omaha. College World Series. Have the games all in one place? Just fucking run it, baby.

That'd be cool for fans I can go to those If the fans are allowed there. But yeah, like we said, like I'm kind of sick of the reports like Both the players and the league Want to get as many games in as possible. Yeah, it's not up to them. It's not going to be up to them for a long time.

Like, you know, it all depends on the start. What's the number of people on the rosters where you guys would be comfortable with like the product on the field? Because that's a sticking point for the union and every single negotiation is we want the best players on the field we want the best product on the field for the fans well now it's like we want as many players on the roster because we're going to plenty of double headers if they do it one double header a week i think 30's even a lot i think you have to cap the pitchers um so right now they're going to 26 but the 26 person

can't be a pitcher four man bench 13 pitchers max yeah 13 is the max right now I'd give them two more. Yeah. 15. Because if you give them... Two more pitchers. Two more pitchers. If they do the double headers.

But you get into really sloppy, bad product territory. If you have like... You know, it's just reliever fast. But also, where else are we at with that? I mean, how long was the topic of position players pitching last year, I think? So, I mean, at least you're going to have bodies who play the position. So I don't know. I think you definitely need extra bodies.

That will be interesting to see where that lands. I also like 28 is the number, which is crazy that like 28 seems right, and it's like 30s like, whoa, guys, let's chill out about it. So, yeah, no real idea, but 28. That's a good number, too. Do you think it would be fun to have, like a taxi squad, like a second game of a doubleheader squad?

Because that's essentially what will happen. if you bring these extra guys on the roster, you'll have your guys, your actual 26-man roster, playing the majority of the games, and then the second game of the double-heder, you'll put those other guys in to give the other guys a break. Probably do a third catcher would be part of this.

Teams have kind of already been doing this. There's not a lot of guys that clamor to play both games of the double header, and there's not a lot of teams that force that. Like, as you said when we were going around spring training, you know, the massage tables are out. These guys are pampered. We're keeping dudes healthy now. Like, it's almost, if you're over 30, you're not playing both ends of a double header unless you're a sicko. Unless you're hot and you want to play.

Unless you're hot, baby. But, you know, yeah, it's going to be interesting. We're going to see some funny baseball this year. If we get to the season and we have expanded rosters and we're playing these double headers, there's going to be some silly shit going on on the field, no doubt about it. Didn't you say you're getting loose? I thought about it, man. Versatile?

And then I stopped thinking. Don't think. Just. Jack Flare. Oh, man. I can't even take a jog around my neighborhood without my body hurting, so I probably shouldn't get ready for two double headers a week. That's probably not good for me. You'd be the guy they'd stick out for both.

You'd be the double-heder guy. They just like send me to catch a bullpen or something. I don't have it anymore. I've come to terms with that. I'm okay with it. Anything else we need to cover on this? I think we kind of danced all around it. Oh, arbitration.

So, Treb, in the passing stuff, the arbitration, they're prorating all the counting stats because when you go to your arbitration, pro rate. There's certain stats they look at and they're going to compare you to past seasons and other players. And obviously, you're not going to be able to compare

to past seasons. when accounting stats don't end up, so they're prorating that. In everything that I read, I couldn't find anything about incentives, but you would guess they're also just going to pro-rate those as well. Did you see anything about guys who have incentives in their contract? I have not seen that. I assume it'll be the same way. Will they just pro-rated?

It makes sense. You know, for the arbitration side, you know, we have numbers now that kind of help out with that. You don't have to rely on the accounting stats anymore. and in those cases, counting stats are pretty much disregarded. You know, you can kind of sort of form a comp based on counting stats, but these teams are not going to come at you with those numbers anyway. So I think arbitration, I would say, is probably just going to go as planned. They already know where you're going to be slotted in.

I don't think the counting stats mattered that much. But the incentives is an interesting play. we talked about that a couple times a couple episodes ago i don't do yeah i haven't heard what a it's got to be prorated i mean they had they had common sense with the arbitration they have common sense with the service time you got a it might be team by team decision because they're not ml they're you know but who knows they have to pro rate those things pro rate it if you don't know what to do pro rate it um did any of the guys you reached out to didn't did anyone say anything interesting or caught you off guard or was all just kind of where

they were in their career. Yeah, it's where everyone is in their career. I mean, I think the guys who are making big money this year, we're supposed to make big money this year, they want to play. They're like, I want to play the games. I, you know, worked for this contract. I worked for this paycheck. Like, I need, like, let me have it.

But I think everyone is just, like I said, you know, it's just depends where you're at. The guys in the draft, the amateur guys, probably not too stoked about this. But they're not in the union. And unfortunately, that kind of comes to play. Comes into play in these negotiations a lot. Fuck those high schoolers coming to steal these guys' jobs. Go to school.

Little scrubs. No, yeah. It was a mixed bag when I reached out. But in the end, kind of the common theme was it was as fair as you're going to get at this point. Yeah. That's good. All right. That about ends this episode.

Hope you enjoyed it. I think we covered it rather well. Good job, everyone. Thanks for listening. See you tomorrow. Or whatever the next episode comes out. We've got a good interview coming up. Any Tiger King yet, Pluth?