Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - All the New Managers, Relievers Signing, & Rookies of the Year! | 575

Episode Date: November 16, 2022

This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at https://betterhelp.com/talkinbaseball and get on your way to being your best self Get 20% Off and Free Shipping with code TALKIN at https://manscaped.com Visit https://athleticgreens.com/baseball  to get a FREE 1-year supply of immune-supporting Vitamin D AND 5 FREE travel packs with your first purchase Timestamps: 0:00 Intro 4:53 Interim Managers Promoted 7:07 Marlins Hire Skip Schumaker 12:00 Royals Hire Matt Quatraro 16:48 Rangers HIre Bruce Bochy 22:45 White Sox Hire Pedro Grifol 27:00 Edwin Diaz Returns to the Mets 33:00 Robert Suarez gets 5-year deal from Padres 36:30 Rafael Montero returns to Houston Astros & GM James Click Does NOT 41:45 Julio Rodriguez & Michael Harris II Win Rookie of the Year Awards 49:30 Qualifying Offer Decisions 50:45 Astros are in on Anthony Rizzo 53:30 Rays Rumors are Hot in the Streets Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello and welcome to talking baseball offseason edition. We got new managers, new relievers, and a ton of rumors. So let's get into all of it. Hello and welcome to talking baseball brought to you by Seat Geek. Use code Talking for 20% off. My name is Jimmy. I'm sitting here with Trevor Plouf in California and producer BBD. Behind the dish, young Jake is in St. Lucia,

checking out the spot where, he will wet his beautiful sweet Jessica. Is that how he says it? Is it a sweet beautiful Jessica? A few different words. Svecent gets in the mouth. Effervescent. Yeah, effervescent gets thrown in there a lot.

So he's gone. He's going to come back so tan, which is bullshit, because that dude gets dark like in a second. Anyway, Trev, how are you? James Beavers, everyone out there in the ethosphere. What's going on? I'm happy Jake's out of here. Sometimes I got to get rid of that guy, get a little reset, let him go frolic on the beaches while we're here in the grind talking about what?

Rumors, managers, all sorts of stuff that we're going to cover today. But it's a beautiful morning here. And I'm excited to talk some ball. Me too. And, you know, we're in a little weird, funky November with talking baseball because Thanksgiving is coming up and some other stuff. So I think we're once a week unless something crazy happens through November. Which is only a couple more weeks. I think we're aiming Tuesdays, record.

It comes out Wednesdays, right? During this period. During November. I think we're back to Monday, Wednesday releases after. I haven't fully talked to. Yeah, December. We're going to be two days a week in December. Not sure the cadence yet.

I think we're trying to go to winter meetings. I don't know if Trev is able to or not yet. But we'll get back to the usual grind come December. And then it's... The real thing start happening. TPPs, all of that. But for now, we got off-season reports. And we're hoping this is a normal off-season, Treve, right?

There's not going to be any surprise lockout on us, right? And you can also promise no pandemic. Is that what you were saying? Yeah, I can promise that. Yeah, look, I don't think there'll be any lockouts. We have a new CBA. That'll be great. I'm going to try to make it to the winter meetings.

I want to go down there and see eye-to-eye with some of these people. I told you not while we were recording that you're either going to love it or hate it. I think I'm going to love it. I really do. I like looking people in the face. But it's like all the non-players of baseball. It's really funny. I absolutely, we've been twice.

And in 2020, it was amazing. It was awesome. Like, it was a really, really fun experience. But the hotel. And if you're a young kid looking to get a job, we have met people that went there for the job fair. Yeah, it is like the biggest baseball job. Biggest, like, get a job in baseball, job.

but it's wild because you walk around. We'll talk about that when we get there. We have managers. You got to know who's your manager right away. So every team right now has a manager. They either hired, retained their interim or they hired a new manager. So that's kind of the first breakdown here as we discussed the teams that said goodbye to one person and called in Better Help. Swing.

This show is sponsored by Better. Help Therapy Online. And, you know, that's basically the same thing as changing out your manager. The person running your day-to-day life, maybe controlling your brain was doing a bad job. I've been there, Trev, down and out. Lost a lot of weight due to stress this summer. The weight loss ain't bad, down a lot, but distress, that was pretty, I needed a lot of help. And that's where better help can help you if you're going through times like that.

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So the teams that needed some better help. Marlins, Rangers, Royals, White Sox. Four off-season turnovers of manager because we had, what, three mid-season? The Angels, the Phillies, the Blue Jays. Those are the only three? All three of those guys are now the official managers of the team. no more interim tag. So Philly's obviously

with Topper. They extended him. They go to the world series. He was the story. Philly Rob, they're calling him. And they also extended all their coaching staff.

So I like that for Philly. Like everyone's coming back. The vibes are good. They believed in what they were doing. So that's a nice sign. It was run it again. Trey Turner is probably going to play shortstop for them. That's our third section.

Oh, that's, oh, sorry about that. Then the Angels, they retained Phil Nevin. I believe only for a year, but they removed the interim tag. He becomes the manager, and then with the Blue Jays, John Schneider, fiery manager that he is,

is going to lead those boys up in Toronto. Yeah. Interesting. I mean, I guess it's nice to reward the interim. Sometimes they don't do it, but, you know, with Nevin, with the suspension thing, I think some people thought he wouldn't come back. They return him. And he gets to bring in Marcus Thames, Tim's.

Tim's? Tim's, I believe. They had two, there's two, T-H-A-M-E-S and MLB, and they say it. different ways, Tim's and Tame. So the hitting coach that was with him with the Yankees is now with the Angels. So he gets a confidant, I guess. You see that a lot when managers get a job that like, hey, bro, I need my buddies.

Like, I need my guys. Yeah. It's like that scene in stepbrothers where that they go interview and I think it's Seth Rogen's like, like, I just want to like have some guys that I can hang out with and don't mind being around all the time. It's like kind of the same thing for them. You're around each other so much. you have to like who you're around.

It's that and it's also communication breakdown. Like I know a lot of times you hiring, even the professional world, you hire someone that's on the manager side and they're coming from a company. Like, is there anyone you think would come with you? It's a good question to ask because if they say no, it's probably a bad sign.

Oh, no. I don't have anybody who might. But yeah. So then there's four teams that have completely new management. The Marlins, the Rangers, the Royals, the White Sox. Now, the Royals and the Marlins, I want to kind of combine or do those two first. And I don't think Treve and I have any hard takes here, just informing you guys. The Marlins' new manager is Skip Schumacher, which is a goodish name.

Wait, Skip. What's his real name? Is it Skip? You can just call him Skip because that obviously is slang for manager, but it's also his name. And typically, you call the manager by their name anyway. You never call him a coach or anything. like that. So Skip is good. That is one of my favorite

things, nominative determinism where you live up to your name. So his name was Skip. He was going to be the captain or manager of Saptan. Like if Rangers Svarez became a Texan. A Texan. Yeah. Yeah. Or an Army Ranger. Looks like birth named Jared Michael. So I'm trying to find

where the nickname Skip comes from. Because I remember him going by Skip as a player. Good hopscotch player. Yeah. Probably. Sometimes, like, I knew a family from Barrington, Illinois, and the kid my age was Chip, and his dad was Skip. And then there was no, the kid my age was Tripp.

And his dad was, it was Skip, Chip, Trip. None of them were their names. It was just like a nickname lineage. A nickname family. Okay. Pretty weird. Shout out to that. guy. I think his dad's a judge. Now you can find him. Damn. Anyway, shout out. Skip Schumacher,

42 years old. He turns 43 in February. Cardinals bench coach last year, Padre's associate manager in 2021. What was he doing? Or 2020. What was he doing? And what does that mean? And what was he doing in 2021? I don't know why that's different than, than just bench coach. There's all these weird. terms now. He had an 11-year career, Trev. Yes. Only 28 homers, so not touching you at all. No, you know, I know the name. I think we did play against each other, you know, a few different times, but from what I remember, great teammates, some of the accolades that he has

acquired, back that up. He received an award. I didn't even know existed, the Daryl Kyle award. That's the good teammate, great friend, fine father, and humble man from the BW. you a I would have like to win that award except I'm not humble that's the problem fine father I feel like like I would if you're looking for an F word maybe fantastic is better like fine just feels like very secondary how's is how is he had a father fine he's all right he's fine yeah I don't know if non fathers are exempt from the award I know it was I was looking into it when we were prepping the sheet yesterday oh if you're not a father maybe if you're an uncle I know it's it's for who exemplified darrell kyle

The best, and he was described as that by teammates. Okay. He actually had a really good stretch looking at his baseball reference. From 2007 to 2013, Trev. That's a lot of years. How many years is that? One, two, three, four, five, six. Seven years with the Cardinals, one with the Dodgers.

And over that seven years, a 96 OPS plus, but he was, you know, no slug. 288 batting. average 288 batting average over seven years and uh and 880 games is pretty good pretty good and i like kind of what he's been doing so he's coming in he's going to take over this uh organization do his thing but he brought some of his friends along john jay is now going to be the first base coach for him um and they know each other from being part of that cardinals organization i love john jay we love john jes He's a friend of the program.

And Pipe. So now, what's that? Pipe, too. Luis Arena. How do you say is the last name? The Diamondbacks. He listens to the show. I just like calling you Pipe because I,

I like Goretta, right? I think so. That's how it's spelled. It's probably Americanized pronunciation. Came to the office, been with the Diamondbacks forever. Now he goes to the Marlins. So yeah, we're in with the Marlins. We know the whole crew.

Schumacher loves us too, probably. He's a Kelly guy. The Marlins are all set. He's excited. He's grateful. He's got some good quotes. The Marlins said, winning doesn't come easily.

Kim Ang said, and there are a lot of steps to it. You not only have to have your process, but you have to have execution. Okay, that's nothing. The Royals hired Matt Quatero. You know this guy? Is this a name you're familiar with?

I feel like I'm not familiar with it because you don't forget the name Quattaro when you see it. I believe. I believe I remember the name. He was with the raise the year after I was there. And then before that, he was with the Indians as some sort of coach, a hitting coach from 14 to 17. So I believe that's where I remember the name from.

But he's been a candidate, an interviewee, if you will, for quite some time. And finally becomes the bride instead of the bridesmaid of the royals. I have a theory that I do not want people to be taking seriously. I'm like 10% serious. I don't want to be, and it's not aimed at Quattaro here. Would it be in the Ray's best interest to hire inept bench coaches and then offer them up to the rest of the league?

Because it seems like the most coveted bench coach role. Oh, you were with the raise? Oh, we want to poach you. Now, I think teams can get by without a bench coach that has a big impact, just kind of sits there and tells jokes, like, kind of, and is a nice guy. So if I'm the raise and I'm playing, like, devil baseball and being sneaky and super smart, I think I start hiring inept bench coaches and then let teams pillage them from you because they want your secret sauce.

Or at least mix in one and that. But like they're kind of, yeah, you know. Is that a good coaching tree philosophy, Trev? Your thoughts? I like that, like a little sleeper cell of bench coaches. Yeah. You know, maybe if they saw a couple of AL East jobs coming up, you know, like they could do that and just plant them in there, some moles, if you will.

I told you, like, you know, this raised staff. You know, I was only a part of the organization for three months, okay? I don't know if there's anything that they do differently. I think it's more front office driven with the race. Like the player development at the major league level is, there's good coaches. I don't think there's anything that like completely sticks out. Maybe just the way that they learn to think about the game

is appealing to other organizations. But yeah, there's definitely that feeling like, hey, he's been with the race. Or give me another organization like that. Like the Dodgers. But the Dodgers steal them from the race. So it's like, I don't know, man. It's interesting. You're totally right about that.

And I'm behind your sleeper cell situation. You know who the bench coach for the raise before what Traro was? I do. And I'm blanking on it right now. Charlie Montoyo. Yes, Montoya, yeah. Goes to the Blue Jays. Maybe that was their sleeper cell because he got fired pretty quickly there.

He might be coming up later. Ooh. Before that, it was Tom Foley, who retired. Tom lifer, great guy, always fun. And I think he coached their base for them for a little bit too. I got to know them there, pretty sure. Okay. Now, the reason I put those two together is because their first-time managers

on teams that, for being honest, are not trying to win, their expectations are not win the division and win the World Series. Well, James, to be fair here, we don't know what the Marlins' objective is. That is a shadow realm of secrets over there. The Jeter, Kim Eng thing. I got to know what is happening. I'm so curious.

Don Mattingly left. I just got to know you have like some of the best pitching in the game. Yeah. I mean. And then what happens? This is. Don't sign Nick Castellanos and everything blows up? That's the rumor.

speculation combination that has trickled down to me, but by no source. I'm not reporting anything. But like, yeah, I just got to know. I just want to know what happened. That's, that's, they seem like they were like this, bro. I must have read it somewhere publicly, but it was the Castianos was when Jeter realized, oh shit. You really not like going to go in? I'm sure there was many other disagreements. But that was, and then I think Maddenly was like, I've been here a while and I thought eventually you guys were going to go all in. and I think he decided, I think they would have retained him, but he decided to leave.

I fully, I had no idea. It seems that way, though. Well, maybe we'll find out this year. We got, we got some people in the org. Yeah. The Rangers in the White Sox are interesting because there's a whole narrative kind of, of first-time managers for rebuilding teams,

and then old school managers for teams trying to really win. So the Padres went with Jace Tingler, when they were like at the start of this rebuild. and then they realized, oh, shit, we actually really need to capitalize on this. So they went and traded for a veteran old guard manager, Bob Melvin. The Mets thought they were at the start of the rebuild, and they bring in Rojas.

So Beltron and Rojas, first time managers, they realized, we got to capitalize. They go bring in Old Guard, Buck Showalter. Yeah. Yes. White Sox had their manager, and then they wanted to win,

and they brought in their old guard, Tony LaRusa. So who was, am I going to blank here? Was it just Guyon to Rensuria to LaRusa? I think there was someone I'm blanking to. Beaver's? Robin Ventura.

Yeah, well. Yeah, Ozzie Guy and Don Cooper got three games. Is it an interim? Robin Ventura, Rick Renteria. Rensuria to Larusa, yeah. Okay. But so this thing of, you know, old guard stuff, um,

there's got to be more examples that I'm blanking on right now. Dusty Baker, the Astros lose their manager, but they're in a big window. Do they want to go bench coach or a young guy? Like, no, let's go to a guy that's done it and been there. Dusty Baker, old guard. The Rangers had Woodward.

They fire him. They, I think we think we have no idea. But, you know, with the pitching. with the pitching they have in the minors with the offensive they've acquired in free engine last year and about to spend, they turn to Bruce Bochy, another old guard manager that has the respect of the clubhouse and maybe we'll have his own way every now and then. But it seems to be a theme, Trevor, like in 2017, 18, everyone was like, let's get the new young manager that will just do what we want.

And then these teams do it for a little bit. and then like, oh, wait. I was bringing in a guy who knows kind of what the position means and needs, and the Rangers now do that with Bruce Bochy. And I'm curious about the whole, like, thought process because you bring in a young guy for what, just to be a yes man? Is that kind of what you're thinking?

Cheap and yes, man. And there's not expectation. So maybe you don't, maybe you easy to fire. Like, you know, I'm interested with the Orioles and hide. I'd feel terrible because he got him out of this. but usually you have the guy that is the sitting and then ready to they change hands when the team is like at the precipice.

Yeah, I'm curious, man, because I've kind of played for both. I played for a first-time manager and Paul Maldor. Obviously, all the accolades in the world as a player. I enjoyed him as a manager. I thought he did some really good things. I think I played for Gardner, who had been there, won a bunch.

and I think they both bring different, but equally like just as good managerial instincts. I didn't really bother me playing for a first-time manager. I wasn't bothered playing for like an old school guy either. So I'm just trying to think like what the advantages are to bringing in a Bochi or a Showalter. Is it now? This is kind of where my brain's just running now. Okay. So let's just jog alongside me right here as I'm running with my brain.

Okay. today's game, you know, as we bring up the youth, and they're expected to be able to express themselves a little bit, and it becomes more of a personalized game, and it's more of an individual game, and there are parts that I think are really good, but there are parts that I think are detrimental to a team, too. Do I think, I do think,

that maybe teams saw this happening and wanted a manager that was able to relate to players so they can communicate to the players. But I think what's happened is if you have a young guy who wants to be a player's manager so bad because most young guys do, I think maybe things didn't run as smoothly

or as like organized as they need to be run. So teams now are like, you know what? Like, let's go back. Let's let the young kids be young kids, but let's have someone at the top who kind of reins them in a little bit instead of letting them run all over. the place.

I think like, how do you feel about that? Just like a level of stability and, and, um, clear communication style. Like sometimes maybe these first time managers and, you know,

with tingler, with Boone, with some of these, they were never really benched. They were never a higher level, you know? They were never like, um,

lieutenants, if you're going to use. Yeah. That they were like lower than that. And then they come in, Like Boone was never in a clubhouse as a coach. And just building that style, your players and then the analytics department and everyone has got to be like, man, this guy's figuring it out on the fly. And they hire you knowing that's going to happen.

I think there's going to be a lot to a guy who just is like, this is how I want to do it. I have a vision. Like sometimes you look, leadership needs to be clear. So I have no idea, but it does seem to be a little bit of a trend. like you want to get going get going you got to Topper with the Phillies and you have some younger managers but Cora they get the Red Sox went back to Cora and he's a younger guy but he established himself as being able to like win

I don't know that's where the White Sox interest me because they did that with Larissa now probably the the craziest old guard move and in like old yeah oh on old yeah and instead of they hire Pedro Griffel I'm not familiar with him either but they hire him

and they hire another guy that I'm not familiar when I do believe I wonder you know some of the older old guard guys if they wanted to manage like I think Sosha said he wanted to come back Madden is out there but he just wrote a book and he's kind of crazy Yost came to mind I don't know

I wonder like how many other are out there but they don't go that route they go back to Pedro Grafahl. Now, he hasn't been with the White Sox? Been with the Royals a long time. Yes. That one, this is the most interesting hire to me. Because you have a team that's good, that just underperformed, but should be winning that division or should be like contending

heavily for it. And I guess I wonder if they thought a shakeup was needed, or usually you see the way the Blue Jays did. Like find the game. guy who the clubhouse likes the most in respects, make him the manager, and let's not shake it up too much. But maybe they thought a shakeup was needed here. Yeah, look, and I think that when you're the White Sox and you have gone through some managers like they've gone through in the last couple of years, I think now they've decided what they really wanted a manager. They've kind of gone through some extremes here and there. And now you bring in a guy who's been in baseball for forever essentially. I know he's from Miami, so I'm sure that there's

a Spanish speaking aspect to this. And if I was hiring a manager, guess what? I'd almost require them to speak Spanish. I really would. Bilingualism is key in baseball, especially right now and especially going forward. So I think they're going to get that here, which is great. And then, you know, they bring in Charlie Montoyo as the bench coach. So you were talking before about like, you know, who are you going to bring along with you? Like, what's, what's going to be the, the sum of your coaching staff and your coaching philosophy? And, you know, I think that for the White Sox, any sort of stability next year is, is good. So I think Montoyo's been a bench coach for a long time. He understands that

role. And believe it or not, like we're talking about sleep or sell bench coaches. Bench coaches do a lot. It's a lot of organizational stuff that they do, not like organization as in the White Sox, I mean, like actually organizing stuff, like making plans, making, you know, the schedule for the day, a bunch of different things that are tedious and that the manager kind of like doesn't want to have to do. Montoya is very skilled in all that stuff. Plus, he can help out with Grafaw as he's obviously been a manager with the Blue Jace. I like this. I like this pairing. Yeah, he's done a lot with the Royals, like a lot of different roles. So see how that goes. But that's, that's all the managers.

That's all the help that has been called in. Some of those will be blamed for things not in control and others will get credit for things they didn't do and then some will be rightfully earned and not earned. So with managers this day and age, it's super tricky. It is. All coaching spots at the major league level are fickle, bro. I think bench coach might be the best spot to be in first base coach.

You just kind of like fly under the radar. Yeah. I don't know the pay. It's all right. Is there a big difference in pay? Bench coach, first base coach, third base coach. I know that most of the coaches are making anywhere from like 150 to like 300 grand. Maybe some make more than that. But I think in that vicinity is what they're making.

Okay. Interesting. Well, that's the managers. If you have any really harsh opinions that we didn't share, leave them in the comments. and we'll read them to ourselves as we fall asleep. Boom. Okay. Moving on, we have some signings,

and it's the relief pitcher market that kind of goes early and quick, just shaving away at the relief pitcher pool as you shave your pubs away with Manscaped. This holiday season, they're giving all of my personal friends the best deal they can, and they'll have you looking like dessert. Sounds good. Yeah.

To help of Manscape Performance Package 4.0, trim your pumpkins by going to Manscape.com. Use code talking for free shipping and 20% off. Jake's in St. Lucia right now. You think there's, you know, a mess of hair? There's not a hair on his body. No. He's taken care of because he was wearing Speedos only, he said.

He said him and Jess wearing. So much of lube and oil. Matching bikinis, as I thought he said. to us. I mean, one, Jake obviously cleaned up for this trip, but also, he said, he has said many times, the Manscape, like the bag they give you, that is, that is his travel bag. Yeah, that is his travel bag. It's his favorite bag in the world. And it's also his medicine closet because he doesn't unpack when he lives at home. He doesn't put things in the cabinet. So that's good. You can get 20% off in free shipping with code talking at Manscape.com. That's 20% off with free shipping at Manscape.com. Use code.

talking, be thankful this holiday season for the best gift of all from Manscaped. Your balls will thank you. Relievers have gone. We're a cron pod, so we're a little behind on this one. We mentioned it last episode, but the Mets re-signed Edwin Diaz. It will be $5.5 million per year for his first three seasons and then $5 million per year for his last two. That's right. A five-year deal.

it's a lot of money it's getting more than 5.5 million a year he got 102 for the whole thing so how are they Joel Sherman New York Post says many deals oh that's deferred wow okay

so it's a hundred and two million dollar deal for five years comes with a 12 million dollar signing bonus a full no trade clause and the team has an option for the six year which could take the total value up to a 122 million. They're not taking that option.

He can also opt out after the third season. Oh, dude, I forgot about all these contracts and the opt outs because, all right. So I only ever heard this as five years, $102 million. But it's actually because he has the opt out, which very much players accept contracts hoping they get to opt out and can get more. Am I wrong or correct there, Trev? No, it's just they're not hoping. They're not, you know, whatever it is.

Yeah, I guess best case scenarios, you're outperforming your contract and you can opt out and go get a different one. It's just, it's security, it's insurance, I guess, if you will. So how much, I wonder how much is guaranteed in those first three years that isn't, because it's super funky. They got the, they have the signing bonus of 12 million. They have 26.5 million of the,

of the salary is deferred. I'm reading it right now. Yeah. So I wonder how much is guaranteed those first three years. I think all the deferred money is guaranteed. And then whatever he's going to make on a year by year annual, those mean the same thing basis. Yeah.

So the and the 12 million is guaranteed because that's the signing bonus. Joel Sherman said 5.5 mil per year the first three seasons. so you're at what, 17 there plus 12, 29 plus more? I have no idea. That's kind of confusing. That's interesting. He has an opt out after three years. They haven't opted in to make it a six-year deal.

It's a ton of money. I did not think we were going to see relievers making the amount of money. We're seeing them make this early in the offseason. Good for him and good for the reliever market in general. But I thought this bubble at burst of paying relievers this much money. Yeah. Yeah, it's, I love it. And I think he got himself into like the perfect situation, you know, kind of, I mean, obviously having the year on the field that he had.

It was incredible. He was lights out. But then the whole like trumpet thing became viral and it became almost a spectacle. Like part of the game, part of the reason people went to City Field was to see Edwin Diaz come in the game and like have his moment. So I think that factors in. And then obviously Uncle Stevie there with his pocketbooks just fat as can be. Fat as Jake after a St. Lucia fucking pasta.

He's dishing it out. So I think there's just kind of a perfect little mixture right here for him to get this contract. I'm happy for him. I think it did drive the next couple guys' salaries up that were about to talk about. But Diaz, man, yeah. Super interesting. It's the most volatile position, right? And you're looking at him.

and in 2021, I mean, he didn't have the best year. In 2020, he had a stellar year. In 2019, he had a rather poor year, 2018. So it was every other year here. So that trend continues. It's like we see every postseason how valuable, like, high leverage relievers are. And I think that just like clicks in all these dudes' brains. Like, we need that.

We need to make sure that the back of our bullpen can finish these games. it's true you have to have that and it's difficult to find it so you know i don't fault teams for going after relievers like this and signing them uh but like you said it's very very volatile that position and for him three of the last five years he's been amazing and they're hoping that if they have them for five years they get three amazing seasons out of them that would be a steal but it's a lot of money and i'm not no no nocta diaz here just a thought process how much of this is uncle, uh, Stevie and the Mets ownership, how much is Edwin Diaz benefiting from the Mets making a statement?

Like, oh, you, you thought you were going to be able to get Diaz and you were going to put some money in front of him? No, he's signing before that even happens. We're resigning them and we're going to pay way more than you would have ever paid and we don't give a shit about it. I think that's exactly what's going on. We talked about, you know, this happening. When you have an owner that has so much more money than the other owners, which is crazy to say, because these guys are all super, super rich. I think there's going to be a time where he gets, where the Mets get bitten by the tax and they're going to say, okay, maybe we need to like calm things down.

But right now is not that time. They're going to go sign de Grom back. They're going to make a run at Judge. I think there is a little bit of this like, fuck you. attitude like we're going to do things our own way here and yeah i think 100% he benefited from being in this position right now yeah well good for him yeah the next reliever is actually robert sweres that went off the board so if we're going cron pod i just reading he went next another five-year deal trev but way less money than diaz but the padres retain

robert sweras five-year deal 46 million guarantee allows him to opt out after 2025 campaign. So he has an opt out after two years, 23 and 24. He declined the $5 million player option earlier this week. There you want to be. You want to decline the player option and get a new deal. He gets it with the team. So, you know, good vibes moving forward.

46 mail coming to Robert Swartz. I mean, his story is amazing. So for him to sign this, that's got to be, you know, pop a bunch of champagne and cry some team. That's what I'd suggest. Yeah, an untraditional path to the big leagues. He's out of Venezuela, goes to Japan, plays five years there. There's some other stuff.

Go check out his story. It's kind of all over the place. But he ends up in Japan playing there, makes his debut. I think his first game was just really, really bad. I was reading about it. He walked two batters, then hit a third, and that was it. And they took him out. All of them ended up scoring.

After that, he was pretty much lights out. And I love this signing for the Padres. And I know he missed some time with like a with some knee inflammation, it says. But the combination of pitches, like you think they're thinking, wow, he throws a heater and he throws a change up. And those pitches aren't necessarily like bad for your arm as be sliders or maybe a splitter would be. So, hey, we can bank on this guy being relatively healthy if we keep those knees in check. You know, here's 10 mil a year. I think that makes sense.

Crazy. Never played in the MLB. before this year. And now he's signing this deal. And yeah, he gets 10 million in his first three seasons. So this is kind of what I was looking for in the Diaz conversation that I couldn't find. So he's going to, if he doesn't opt out, he gets 30 million, 10 mil a year for the next three years.

And then it goes down to 8 mil in year 4 and 5, which he can opt out from. He would leave 16 on the table if he thinks he can get another 10 per deal somewhere else at that time. But that's a good deal for him, man. Of course he took. I'm sure that he was ready to accept it. He was ready to give, in a weird sense, I'm not trying, I know players should always take top dollar,

get top dollar, but Padres gave him a chance that he earned. And I'm sure there's some loyalty there both ways, but him being like, you guys, after that bad start, let me ride it out and like, you know, second life in the majors that he was probably happy to sign with the Padres and happy they treated him fairly. their offer. Yeah, and you know, this is cool because the last pitch, I think it's the last pitch we saw him throw was the Bryce Harper Homer. And, you know, sometimes that could stick around in a

front office's mind, but I think they understood the circumstances there. He hadn't even given up a homer to it, letty all year long, and it's Bryce Harper, and he just, sometimes you're going to get beat by Bryce Harper. And I'm happy they realize that and didn't like hold that against him. Well, hey, you're a high leverage reliever on a postseason team, you're getting paid to be of blame, or, you know, to be the one that blows it at the end. That is the job. Which sucks.

Also, you get the hero, though. All right. And the third big reliever signing. Another postseason pitcher we saw down the stretch, Rafael Montero. He is signed a three-year, $35.5 million deal with the Astros, the third elite reliever to fall off the board, reports Jeff Passan of Espin on Instagram.

Is this the one passing it on Instagram? Yeah. Oh, yeah, he's trying to be top boy on Instagram. Relax, Jeff. Yeah. Edging his bets with Twitter. Hmm. So there you go.

Another reliever off the board. I mean, good for Montero. He was 32 years old. Another cool story. Another cool story, yeah. Let's see. Before the Astros. Kind of been all over the place.

Yeah. Had some success, regressed a little bit, had a really bad 2021, comes over to the Astros and that Kendall Graveman deal. And, dude, I don't know. Like, the Astros,

tinker with him and fix them and, you know, kind of make him do what he does well, probably. Good time right now to talk about James Click, because. who made this deal. The Astros currently don't have a GM.

Right? They haven't hired anyone. They let go of their GM James Click. Who made the... Two assistant GMs. Oh, okay. Who made the trade for Montero. So, yeah,

assistant GM sometimes do way more than you think. I know how the Yankees used to do it is that they would divide the teams up. And like when Cashman was not the GM, but before he became the GM, he had like 10 teams. If they were going to make a trade with him, as Bob Lemon, he ran it

and then reported back like before he made the moves, but did all the discussions. I think Cashman runs it that way now with his team, maybe, where the assistants kind of have like, you go talk to those teams, all the preliminary stuff. So maybe it was in the works, but, and then, yeah, World Series team, manager gone,

or GM gone. So he didn't sign Montero. He just traded for him. Well, he traded for him. I guess he didn't give him the money. Although he could have been part of the conversations before the off season, like, what's it going to look like? You would guess.

I have no idea. Because rumors were that relationship soured way back at the trade deadline. So maybe he's been on the outs ever since. Yeah, it's interesting because he's, click we're talking about now, has had some good moments with the Astros, you know, this trade, he signs Ryan Stanick, he brought over Hector Nerris.

Like he's done some good things, but I guess there was disagreement. as far as like an erkidi for Wilson Contreras deal. And then, you know, I talked about this yesterday on baseball today. When it all comes down to it, like there's human interactions and feelings going on throughout these front offices and, you know, like my opinion, and again, I don't have any sources for this, but I feel like there was, you know, after that disagreement, there was some resentment. and if there's that there and it kind of builds, like Jim Crane's a very hands-on owner. And if you're his GM and he feels like he's got to battle you for everything,

he's just going to fucking get rid of you. And he did it in a way that's like, we didn't fire you. We actually offered you a one-year deal. Yeah, the one-year deal is such a funny offer. They offered them a one-year deal like to run it back. Like, you know, go in back-to-back. And it's like, I kind of want job security.

And I think you're just doing that. and then not going to let me do any moves because, you know, I'm telling us a safe face offer. These guys own teams and they're allowed to do with them what they want to do with them. I feel like that's kind of what happened here. The Contreras trade, or Kitty for Contreras trade, Dusty Baker had some quotes on that as well

where he said he didn't want to do it because Contreras is on a contract year and he wanted a catcher. He wasn't going to sit Maldonado. And he didn't want, he thought Contreras was going to want to play every day because he wants to earn the most he can going into a free agency and that he probably deserves that

and it wouldn't be a good fit and Arcidi has been so good for them at Dusty Baker kind of nixed it. They went and got Vasquez who's also on a contract here, but I guess he had been part of platoons or they thought he would be more likely or just going to get less infringed

that this wouldn't hinder it. That was interesting to know that Dusty had was in that room. Maybe Click didn't like that. Do you know where Click came from? Where? The race. Of course he did.

Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Maybe he was the seat at the raise. Bebers, go work for the race for like two years, do some statistics stuff, find your way onto the bench,

and then boom, manager, Bebers. I bet I'd pull my hair out of my skull after the second meeting. I thought as part of the Ray's chats of just math club. I don't get it,

dude. Maybe I wasn't privy to like these super secret conversations they had where the secret sauce was mixed in or whatever, but I don't get it, dude. No. There's some raise rumors coming up next part of the show. And the rumors here are brought to you by Athletic Greens.

Because rumor has it. Athletic Greens is pretty good for you. Rumor has it. Chris Rose is an athletic greens guy. I would like them to send me some athletic greens. I need all the greens in my life. Okay. Rumor has it.

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give you a free one-year supply of immune supporting vitamin D and five free travel packs with your first purchase. All you have to do is visit athletic greens.com slash baseball. Again, that is athletic greens.com slash baseball. I take ownership over your health and pick up the ultimate daily nutritional insurance. A.G. Mahmood, what up? Okay. Good guy. I went to his wedding. Bangladesh wedding. Kind of crazy. They do a lot of these ceremonies. Sounds fun. One of the ceremony is like the bride tries to walk through into the place but first the grooms all the grooms relatives are like taking bribes like you have to give me something to let her in here and then her brothers and relatives are like paying money to let her in the door but then eventually they say

enough is enough and they like break down the door and storm their way in but it's all part of the like act and ceremony of it and I was sitting in the corner with the girl that I took as like a date and we're just like what the fuck's going on crazy. So Bangladesh wedding, pretty good time. I like that. Rookie of the year and rumors is a third part of our show. Congratulations to Michael Harris. The second wins the National League rookie of the year.

And congratulations to Julio Rodriguez. The first wins the American League rookie of the year. And congratulations to Adley Rushman, who earns a full service year with rookie of the year runner up. And that is brand new. and is going to help him earn money so much quicker. A full year of service tref. That's a nice reward.

It's awesome because he was kept out of the major leagues so he would not accrue that year of service time. That's the only reason. And he said, you know what? Fuck that. I'm going to go ball out and you're going to give me a full year of service time. And I like that and all the Orioles executives are clapping like this. Like, good job, Adly.

And in the back, they're just kicking themselves. because they don't like this at all. I remember reading some opinions when that new part of the CBA got announced to people because it's obviously put in there to try to curb, you know, service time manipulation, but some people have theories that guy, oh, well, they'll just keep them down until like July, so he earns enough time to not be eligible for a year this year, but won't be eligible next year either. And then that'll have it.

So good on the Orioles for not doing that at least. Does Michael Harris? It's egg on their face. Does he accruous? No. I believe he also does because he wins her key here and all that. But also he got his big deal. But that I guess he got his deal, yeah.

Yeah. Oh. Well, that's because the Braves do. Julio and Harris both got paid. But imagine he was in AA, Trev. Michael Harris' second never played in AAA. And now if the Braves didn't give him the deal, now because it's really double A to full year of service time.

He's got no AAA service time. That's wild. Congrats to those guys and the Braves for Colin Harris stopped straight from AA when they knew they needed a spot, but they knew they had something on their hands. What do the Orioles finish out of the playoff race? They finished 83 and 79. What were the standings this year? Well.

I'm looking right now. I got it up. They're fourth in the east, but I don't know the wildest. Yeah, where's the wild card? I can't find the wild card either. Baseball reference, just put the wild card in your front card. I have them three games out of the wild card. Interesting.

So maybe the guy that turned your season around and turned you into an actual winning team if you hadn't for the first month and a half, maybe, just maybe you're in the fucking playoffs. I let this be a lesson to teams. And it won't be. They don't care. They'll just say, yeah, that was a one-time thing.

Put your best foot forward at the beginning of the season. You owe it to everybody in the room. And if you don't see that, then your brain is fucked. Yeah. Yeah, it's a good step. It's a small step from the MLBPA. You'd like this to happen more and get it bigger. Like, you're part of it because they'll stop holding guys back.

but actually this might make them holds guys back longer. Longer because they don't want them to get votes. This is what happens. That was like, you know, I think the Yankees just weren't going to call up the young guys, but some of the rumors where they're going to call them up so there's not enough time for them to get rookie of the year votes, which is just like a crazy fucking way to thinking.

And crazy that, like, we have to honestly assess if that's why they're holding guys back that seem ready. They don't want them to get the accolade. We're not a labor pod right now. but we're going to just turn into a little labor segment pod. This happens all the time in the CBA talk, okay? And this is why players are so hard on this and we take it very seriously. It's like, think about the competitive balance tax.

That was thrown in there to, because the teams are saying, well, we want parity throughout the league and everyone wants parity throughout the league. Well, it turned into a cap. Same thing with this thing. We're thinking, oh, it's going to work out well. But like if this does happen and they see, okay, shit, Adley Rushman, when did he come up? May something. He comes up and he gets the full year of service time. They're going to say, you know what? Let's just move that mid-May to mid-June now. And if that happens,

my gosh, you're going to hear me on this program MF and a lot of people. And it's probably going to happen. Okay. It's probably going to happen. All right. Let's get into some rumors. And if you've listened to us before, we're not going to dive too deep into these. And really, if Pass-in or Rosenthal reports it, we'll talk about it, but there's a lot of reporters on my not talking about what they say list. Unless I say it's done. Well, if it's done. Yeah, but there's just, I mean, rumor season is like crazy. Bob, it's annoying.

I know you like Bob, but no. No. Because also it's like, what are you going to do? Some rumors aren't actionable. Some are interesting. So here's some stuff that's happening. So this episode, are we posting this tomorrow? Yeah.

As you're listening to this, these decisions have been made, Trev. Martine Perez accepted or didn't accept his qualifying offer. Same with Jose Ibrahim, Jacques Peterson, or no, Martin Perez, you think he's going to accept it or not? It's a lot of money. I don't think so. Okay. I think he may.

Rumors are saying that he might, but at this point, my thought process, go and get the most total money you can get. Don't worry about your AAB. I think did Evaldi get one? He did. So Ivaldi, I don't know if he's going to accept it. Jose Ibray was not going to accept it. Like, no way, right?

I don't think Jack Peterson. I think he's been a nomad for a while now. I think he's probably going to not accept it and try to lock up a contract for a couple years. It's a lot of money for a guy like Jock who is seen as a platoon guy. Oh, very true. Very true.

But it's so much. It's an interesting case. He's one thing you can see either way. Might be looking to finally get locked into a place. Well, you guys already know because the deadlines are due the day we're recording this, not the day you're listening to it. So we'll see. Rizzo is a big one for us Yankees.

I don't think he's going to accept it. Although Ken Rosenthal wrote an article about how rumors are that the Astros are in on Rizzo and they want him. And that sucks because, one, it's a big blow to the Yankees if they're trying to resign him. you know, he's a good player and we'll help the Astros out and all that. And it makes sense. Then he the first base help. But then Ken wrote, maybe he does accept the qualifying offer because it's a big yearly salary.

And if he has a good year without the shift and in Yankee Stadium where he hit 32 home runs and the qualifying offer cannot be attached to him next time, well, now he's a free agent coming off a 19 per year, had a good year and now that contract may be much different and better than the other one. Because you kind of set the yearly money at 19 or around 19 if you accept it. It's more than he's going to get kind of for anyone per from anyone per year right now. Yeah. And I was like, all right, Rosenthal, talk me into this, even though I don't think he accepts it. But it was an interesting thought process of this.

This qualifying offer is tough. I read somewhere that it wasn't a big deal for him, but the way they do the qualifying offers now is if, you know, you go over the competitive balance tax, the more times you go over that, the higher the pick that you have to give up is. So this is what it's going to take for the Astros to get rid of,

or to sign Rizzo, excuse me. They'd be stripped of their second highest pick in the 2023 draft and $500,000 in international signing bonus, space. Yeah, they were saying Rizzo gets hurt by the qualifying offer a decent amount because of his age and his back injury. And not only you're going to have to pay Rizzo his money for a couple years, but you also are going to have to do just what you said.

I have to give up a decent pick and decent money. He's going to want to go to a contender who's going to want to give up more. And that's why Rosen thought was making the point. And this is all wasted breath because as I'm saying this, the people who are listening already know what Rizzo did, but making the point that he may opt in because it sets the bar of a higher one-year salary. he gets to use Yankee Stadium short porch to boost his numbers like he did 32 home runs last year and then if he hits free agency again you can't get the qualifying offer a second time so he'd have a

better shot in fringely so kind of i thought it was no shot i thought it was like zero percent chance he accepts it and then after reading rosenthal's words i was like oh maybe there's a chance and that's obviously yankee bias and yeah and wanting it definitely yes yeah for sure manager of the the years are announced tonight. You'll find that out as well. Congrats to the guys that won. Yeah, congrats. Other rumors are all raised base, Trev.

Kind of. They are ready or clearing room. They traded G. Man Choy to the pirates, who I think the pirates know have three Koreans in their infield, which is like, are they going to just be the biggest team fan base, biggest Korean fan base? Interesting. Pittsburgh becomes Little Korea.

They steal it. I don't like that. From Pal Park. I lived in Pal Park. A lot of Korean. They reinvent the chero. A lot of people don't know that. It's delicious.

Korean food is. Yeah. It is tough to order. I can never figure it out. But once it arrives, I'm like, this is delicious. I got you.

We'll go together. The Rays released Brandon McKay. So those are the two moves to clear room. But they're saying that trades are looming with the raise because of this 40-man situation that, you know, the glass now might be on the move and some other players. So that's kind of be on the look.

look out for that. It seems like there's a deadline, so the rumors have some weight that it might, they might be making moves. Every team's going to have to make some 40-man cleanup moves, but it seems like rays are motivated to do the extra mile. Yep. And the Dodgers are close to resigning Kershaw. Sort of already a done deal, but nothing official, official. Yeah. It makes sense that he's just going to be a Dodger for life. I don't, I don't ever see him pitching for the Rangers. I know that It's always a rumor. A minute for the statue, man.

Although I do think if he finishes like the next two years of his career with another team, he still gets a statue in L.A. by Dodger Stadium. Thinking about these statues that are outside, I mean, I think it's Sandy Kofax and Jackie Robinson. Clayton Kershaw right next to him? That's fucking wild, bro. Oh, and he's got an awesome statue post. And VIN, I think.

With the knees up and the hand up. Oh, yeah. Like you can picture it. That's what it'll be. Yeah. That kind of greasy hair, hat, just a mess. Yeah. Yeah, that's going to be an awesome statue.

I'm looking at it now. Like, I'll flip my computer around so you can see. This pose? Yeah. That's a good statue. Dude, the Kofax statue is incredible. And so was the Jackie one. They did a really good job with those guys.

You know the best statue as I've ever seen? Interested? Statue of David? I have seen that. It's beautiful. It's huge. So maybe that's number one. Number two. All right. Number two is the Shaq one outside of formerly the Staples Center, now Crypto Arena or whatever the fuck they call it. It's him dunking and you can go stand underneath it and basically get like Shaq's nuts put on your head. Dude, that I can get posterized by Shaq. It's pretty awesome.

You know what? I'm not an LA guy. Not a basketball guy, really? I've never seen this before. That is an awesome statue. It's badass. I never seen that. It's a pretty new statue too, like within the last two years. I'm glad statues are coming back.

I feel like people stop making them for a while. Anyway, that's the episode. Managers, relievers, and rumors. You are now informed. And we'll see you next week when Jake is back. I think it's Thanksgiving. Yeah, we'll get around to it. He's out.

He's out. Jake's out. See you. Jake's, Blitzball statue would be cool.