Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - Blockbuster Trade Swaps Stars!

Episode Date: November 24, 2025

Use our code for 10% off your next SeatGeek order*: https://seatgeek.onelink.me/RrnK/JMPL... Sponsored by SeatGeek. *Restrictions apply. Max $20 discountDownload the DraftKings Sportsbook app and use promo code JMBASEBALLHead to https://fabletics.com/TALKIN and sign up as a VIP and get eightypercent off everything!Whether you’re just wanting to test an idea out, or you’re getting serious about launching your own brand, it’s never been easier to get started on https://shopify.com/talkin Talkin Jake and Jolly Olive discuss the HUGE trade between Mets and Rangers, Josh Naylor re-signing with the Mariners, accepted qualifying offers and more! 0:00 Intro2:00 Mets/Rangers swap Marcus Semien for Brandon Nimmo15:30 Does this make Kyle Tucker in play for the Mets?19:40 Rangers non-tenders shedding money25:38 Josh Naylor re-signs with Mariners32:30 What else Mariners offseason can look like36:45 Taylor Ward / Grayson Rodriguez trade39:30 Why did the Orioles do this?46:15 Raisel Inglesias re-signs with Braves48:35 Qualifying offers that were accepted52:15 Shota Imanaga55:25 Non tenders58:12 Jake’s Italy adventures Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Chow and welcome to Talking Baseball, the Mets and Rangers blockbuster trade. Jolly Olive's here to talk about it. We'll catch up on everything. I'm back. Let's talk ball. Oh. Oh, Abuzzi. Joey Lucchese.

Oh, he'll sign. Yeah. I'll sign. That's our top story. Great sixth starter heading into camp. Hello and welcome to Talking Baseball presenting you by C. geek. I am Jake Storieli. That is

Jolly Olive Rob's producing Daltz producing information for us. Trevor Plouf is in Japan, wishing him and his family the best. Got my first DM from him while he's gone. Let's go. And I'm excited to talk some ball. It's been too long.

I'm definitely going to lose my voice today. I do have the November sickness that everyone in the world currently has. It's bizarre. Sure. Maybe the grossest flight I've ever been on. on my way back. Like everyone was just coughing and sniffling. Just open mouth.

Nine and a half hours, lady next to me. Jolly, how are you? And her full name that you have? I didn't get it. Okay. But I don't like her. Next episode, next episode. I'm good.

I have not been in a warm climate like you, getting tan and getting all that leather. Florence, where were you in Italy? Can we talk a little bit about that? We'll talk about that at the end. Rome, Florence, Venizia. That's what I did. Those were my three.

That's the northern route. You copied me. Okay. That's fine. Just like most things. I'm good. Mets made a big trade right before our show. It's like they knew that I was going to be on.

So we're going to talk about that. We're going to clean up the last two weeks because you haven't been here. You have no idea what's going on. I've got takes. You were locked out of your email before the show. You're an absolute mess and I'm here for it. Gray Rod to the Angels. Finally.

Talk that. A little Josh Naylor, right? The qualifying offer of Bonanza that kind of. happened. Uh, but jolly. Timing is everything in life. Uh, Trevor Plouffe, uh, went across the pond, the big pond. Uh, and so it's going to be a jolly day, which it always is when you're here.

Uh, but how about the New York Mets with the Sunday night, the rare player for player trade, uh, Marcus Simeon. The Mets wanted to attack their defensive run prevention. this off season. I don't know. That was weird. The Rangers need to mix up their lineup. So Brandon Nimmo,

part of the New York Mets since 2011, which we will play my least favorite jam game. Again, what was everyone doing in 2011? Because I end up on the sad part of that game. Oh, is I doing? And Marcus said two big contracts, Dahl. I'd hate to do this to you on the fly. It was my subway thought this morning.

Are these two of the biggest contracts? ever traded for each other? Like just when you zoom out, two guys making 20 plus million a year. Jolly, I will let you kick off reaction-wise because your Mets make a big move. Yeah, I mean, we'll start with the pure emotion of it because like you said, since 2011, a former first-round pick, a guy who's been in the org for 10 years, top 10 on the Mets all-time list in war and walks, runs scored, like a lot of major things. Nemo's been a part of this organization for a while.

But if you watch this past season and you watch David Stern's press conference, like I know you did, you were locked in for that. The two notes that I think a lot of Mets fans took away were run prevention. That's the thing that David Sern said, I think, 50 times in the 30 minute span. And also that it felt like this core might be broken up, especially after another season where they, you know, kind of failed in the bigger moments. And for me, and I think a lot of Mets fans, you probably look to guys like Jeff McNeil, who's a more movable contract, he looked to me. maybe Pete Alonza, who's a free Asian was going to opt out. Nimmo felt like a much harder move to sell because of exactly what you said before, that big contract, $20.5 million annually in the next five years.

So when I was, I don't want to say dreaming on this, but, you know, thinking about it, I just thought the team would have to eat a lot of the money for this to work. And instead, they find a suitor where they basically bring in a similar contract just with less years. So there's a lot of different. ways you can take it, but I think Mets fans right now are just kind of in shock. I think the fan base feels kind of split. Some people understand the decision and rationalize it, but also still have the emotions of like a guy that played here for 10 years. Like to liken it to something you might understand better. Like this is like if the Yankees traded Brett Gardner,

if he was on some kind of huge contract, because he was a Yankee lifer. He played left field, quality player, reliable, a guy that you could see spending his whole career in one uniform. and instead the next five years, Brandon Nimmo's going to be a Texas Ranger. Yeah, and that's the interesting, well, there's a lot of interesting parts to this, but when Nimmo signed that contract, it was kind of like Met for Life,

and it was interesting going through the sheet and seeing where he offensively ranks in Matt's history. He's fifth in walks. Nice. He would want to start with, Jake. Sixth and run scored, I don't know. Like, I had a weird when we initially got into this as like an industry business.

GoTrac runs scored. I know that sounds so dumb, but if you look like over a five-year span, the guys that score the most runs, it's the best players. Right. No, I've done a full 180 on runs scored and runs bad at them, so I'm with you.

Well, eighth ever and on base percentage, ninth ever in home runs. And I think the other thing that's weird for me is, okay, so the money comes out close. Again, in baseball close, where Marcus Simeon, three years, 72 mil, 24 million AAV, Nimmo five years, 101, mil, 20, a year. So I was actually surprised it was that close. Like, when Simeon signed, I just, I remember being like,

oh, my God, Marcus Simeon signed for that much. And when Nimmo went back, it was just like, oh, Nimo went back to the Mets. Yeah. That it's funny to see the money over the years versus year over year. Nimmo waives his no trade clause. Yeah, that was a big deal. So that's always an interesting just, and hey, I don't know every detail of it, but Texas, no state income tax, that probably doesn't hurt the situation

when you're thinking of waiving your no trade clause. Okay, what else has to be talking? So this was the other thought that I had was Simions kind of, I don't say head in the wrong direction, but offensively. Offensively. And I guess that's what you said with Nimmo. The offensive side, Brandon Nimmo, it's a very impressive, consistent page. He's never had an OPS plus under 100. So he has always been above league average hitter,

which when you think of the Texas Rangers problems the last two years, let's bring in a guy like that. Simeon, the defense is still there. He won the gold glove again. But the offense has been in a weird spot. and we can get into some of the advanced numbers on it and struggling with VLO and different things of that nature. But he's been trending down the last two years

that I guess for me, and you're the Mets, you're trading for a guy getting up there in age 35 for Simeon for a middle infielder. Right. Whose numbers are trending the wrong way, who there's still a lot of money there, trading away Nimmo, who's kind of the example of consistent,

And even though I feel like that's become a target from Mets fans that almost we need more of an upgrade, whether from that position or whatever. I don't know. Like Brandon Nimmo had his career high in homers in RBI last year, which RBI, yes, the opportunity that needs to be tied into that. But yeah, I guess from that side, this definitely feels like a move that's initiating both off seasons for both of these teams that I think there's going to be a lot more Kyle Tucker talk and that kind of stuff. So I don't know. I kind of started rolling there a little too much. It's good to be back, people. I'm happy you're back, Judge.

But yeah, I don't know. It feels like the Mets are putting out more risk in this deal. I think so. I think you're right about that. What I will say, I'll say two things. One, and we said this a lot when Rafael Devers got traded because that was a shock wave. And this is definitely a lesser scale,

but I think a lot of the motivation behind the Rafael Devers trade was the fact that Craig Breslo was the fact that Craig Breslo wasn't. the person that signed that contract. It was Heimblum. In this vein, David Stearns isn't the person that signed Brandon Nimmo to an eight-year deal. That was Billy Epler. And you got to remember that when Nimmo signed that deal, he was a five-war center fielder with plus defense coming off a career year. The things that have contributed to, I don't even want to say it declined because Nimmo's offensive output has been great, but his defensive decline has been very noticeable. He has one of the worst arms in baseball and his range in left field was among the worst among all corner outfielders.

He's been dealing with planter fasciitis for over a year. He's had bulging disc problems in his neck since 2023. And these are the kind of things that don't exactly improve with age, obviously. So I think the Mets were factoring that in to the decision making here. And I think when they saw the opportunity to get rid of the $20 million they would have had to pay him at age 36 and 37, I think they jumped at the opportunity. When you bring in Semyon, you do have to talk about his age. He's going into his age 35 season.

He just had his first year where he didn't play essentially. every game. And that's like something you can hang your hat on with Marcus Sem and he played all 162 in 2021, 161 and 22, 162 again in 23, and then 159 and 24, and then he missed 40 games last year. And his second half numbers weren't great as well. I think he might have been playing through injury, who knows. I think really what this comes down to is the Texas Rangers needed a reliable, consistent bat, because that's exactly what they did not have in their lineup last year. And they could sacrifice a little bit of their defense to get that. And the Mets greatly needed to improve their defense last year.

They had one or two plus defenders you can point to and Francisco Lendor and Francisco Alvarez. Everyone else was sort of a negative detriment out on the field. So I guess they seized an opportunity to do that at second base here. But again, like you said before, I think this is a domino effect for both teams. Like I think there's going to be more that follows, more guys that are going to get traded from both of these teams because of this move.

Lindor-Simian's fun. Super fun. I hadn't gotten there yet. Yeah. Wow. That's reliable. Hot. A little bit.

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Head to Fabletics. Fabletics.com slash talking. Sign up as a VIP, 80% off everything. Only available through our link. So go to fabletics.com slash talking to sign up as a VIP, 80% off fabledics.com. Okay, let me see. Let me, let me, let me rattle off some of this amazing information by Dalton. And then we can kind of get into the next steps from both teams. And a little comment on Simeon not playing every game. Rob, what do you got over there? Oh, from Dalton. This is the first, your question before.

This is the first trade in MLB history where two players were traded when they had a total value contracts of 160 mil plus. Wow. Okay. So the total money of the deal, not the remaining money. Right. Still, though. Still, that's crazy. That was because, A, we don't get one-for-one player stuff a lot.

And that bothers me up, man. A one-for-one major league for major league swap. I love that. A little olive oil, some balsamic. We got to hear about the trip. We got to hear about the trip. We'll get there. Okay.

I'm sorry. impatient. And this is a dumb Jakey asterisk, because I know this isn't how it should work. The Rangers season last year was messy, and Simian does get hurt. But he basically played every game until he got hurt. August 20th, fouls a ball off his foot, and then he misses the rest of the season. So up into that point, he still was playing every day. Let's see.

So some of the Simeon, okay, Simeon good stats. Seven outs above average. Second career gold glove. We love that. Okay. but unfortunately that's where it stops 15 homers were his fewest in a non-shorten season

since 2018 that's not good slugged 441 in a non-two-strike count that's the lowest in the AL OPS was 584 with the base is empty What is this? Hey man I'm just and okay this is the one that's scary to me because as he's getting older and as the league's evolving

slugging 147 on high Okay, high 95 mile per hour plus pitches since 2024. So that's a little better, but still, that's the lowest in the AL. Okay. So, again, that's where I'm saying, like, the risk factor for the Mets here. And again, I do think for the Mets, especially, like, I think Kyle Tucker's so much more in play now. So that's, yeah, we'll get to that. Nimmo, again, some of his set.

Hey, Jolly, this will help you out. 7.7% walk percentage was a career low. Yeah, well. So, and then some, he was bad on first pitches, and he was bad if the abat went long. So Brandon Nimmo, if the abat was two to five pitches, watch out. I don't like how analytical you're getting right now. I know, but the people like the stats. And it does elevate the program.

So the New York Mets right now, and this is probably where we can talk a little better. Texas Ranger fans will be open to your commentary as always. Lindor, Simeon Soto, like that. Okay. Vientos, McNeil, Alvarez, Bady, Mauricio, Tyrone Taylor. I think we're going to see some changes there. I guess, Jolly, from your perspective, do you think Kyle Tucker's more in play? Or what, do you think this changes the Mets,

what changes the Mets overall offseason plans? I'll lead with this. I am a lot more excited about the Mets offseason than I was 24 hours ago. Okay. I think I had, like, I think Brinna Mimmo is a really good player, but I think a lot of Mets fans had a similar feeling to me of like, I have a little bit of fatigue with this core.

Like I have a, like I've been watching the Nimo Alonzo Mets core for close to 10 years and I've seen a lot of shortcomings. And I'm not going to assign all the blame to those two guys, but when you're the two of the best players on the team and you kind of get looked at for those shortcomings and those collapses, if you want to call it that as well. And I just think this team needs a little bit of a new,

you in the clubhouse. And I don't know what that is exactly, but I do think bringing in a guy like Semyon, who's won a World Series, one three gold gloves. I don't know what his output's going to be next year, but it changes clubhouse optics a little bit for me. What I'll say is,

corner outfield is a lot easier of a position to upgrade than second base. And I think the Mets have, like, yes, there's options in the free gym market, you have Bellinger, you have Tucker. There's been Fernando Tatis Jr.

Trade rumors now as well. I don't fully buy into that because that's a little too crazy. for me, but potters are selling, I don't know. So I think the Mets have a lot of ideas that they can dream on for left field. But if nothing else, David Sterns has built great run prevention teams in the past that have won divisions and pennants before that I got to believe that he can build out a similar profile.

And the thing is, like, you know, you take away the six hitters that aren't Lindor, Alonso, and Soto last year. Those three guys powered an offense, man. Like they had three terrific years. All of them finished top ten and MVP. voting that I think if you get one or two more quality league average bats behind them, that might be enough for the Mets offense who ranked out, you know, among the top of the league. It's just they couldn't get any defensive efficiency and they couldn't get any innings

that had their starters. Those are the things they need to target, in my opinion. So we'll see how they proceed from here. I like how you phrase that. The Mets were in a, the Mets off season was kind of, uh, will they, what are they going to, what are they going to get involved in? What are they? Is it going to be the one big starting pitcher?

Was it still going to be Tucker and Bellinger? There were rumors there. Now that Nimmo's out, like I, like that is, I hadn't had a Kyle Tucker team. The two that have jumped out to me were Toronto, because I was actually like, okay, yeah, coming off a World Series, you pair that with Vladdy, like, you know, potentially Beset insurance,

if he were to do something else. Sure. And then the Dodgers, which everyone was landing on because of the way they've been operating. Well, the other team that's supposed to be, be operating the most like the Dodgers right now are the New York Mets. So I think with that happening, I think they're full in on Tucker or Bellinger. And that's still like before we get to Pete.

And that's before we get to the pitching that did run out. Again, we have some Nolan McLean. I didn't say McLean. Good job. Thank you. Obviously his breakout and what that looks like. But the Mets staff, and I know you just acknowledge this, so this isn't me twisting a knife, but Peterson Holmes, Mani Asanga.

Could use a starter. Could use a starter is what I'll say. Hand up, that's it. The bullpen needs a refresh, Edwin. Maybe the $20 million a year you just saved in 2029 and 2030 can go to Edwin Diaz now and it's like you've spent nothing. And should they also be a huge trade team between Beatty, Maricio? More's going to happen with them.

I think they're going to trade anyone that has negative defensive value on this team. Like, I don't think Viantos is safe. I think Jeff McNeil's not safe. Like, I think a lot is going to change in that clubhouse in terms of guys who are controllable long term that have had opportunities and haven't exactly shown any consistency at the big league level. And I think a lot of what you've been saying, you can also transfer over to the Texas Rangers. Like that offense needed such a shake. And they've already shook like that. No, I didn't like that.

Yeah. You shouldn't. I'm glad you asked. Because through their nontenders, they've already cleared 20 plus million. All the rumors before this week was Seeger. Yeah. I've got, I'm, you know, I'm on the train. You are in Italy.

Get in text about Corey Seeger to the Yanks. Oh, I know you're saying you're on the Corey Seeker train. Oh, no. I dreamt that and then I moved on because the Yankees still love Anthony Volpe. Oh, because he's Italian. Volpe mentioned. It's like 20 minutes, but we're back, baby. We're back.

that they already shed a decent amount of money through the nontender between Adoles, Jonah Haim, a couple other moves. That's big news. And yeah, I just think that Texas Rangers team that, again, they are such a, this team has ruined me for a year and a half since they won, basically, that I look at it, and I like. We were laughing before I left where Corey Seeger's final season stats landed. Yeah, six war.

In like 80 games. Like 100 games. Six war from Seeger. That's nuts. Jock Peterson, you'd like to think there's going to be a bounce back there of some sort. I don't know. This team is going to feel a lot different. I think I took Gino Suarez for them.

Oh, I liked that. That would be another, you know, between Nimmo and Suarez, it's kind of like, okay, we can bank on these guys for something. You just bought 60 home runs. That this offense hasn't been bankable on 26th and OPS? Like if they were league average, they would have made the playoffs. They had the best pitching. So, yeah, I'm interested to see what other big moves they have planned for them.

Their bullpen always weirds me out, but again, it landed in a fine spot last year. The Texas Rangers have so many former Mets on this team. I always love that, man. You can kind of tell, hey, hey, dude, maybe this would be a good video for you. Okay, okay. Are the team's front offices that evaluate the same way? Like the Yankees and the Padres, they just pass players. Yon-Hervis Salerta.

That's who was at the top of your mind, right? That's what you were thinking? It was Tyler Wade. Okay. And- I like my answer better. And why this show is the best in the biz. Congrats to James Caprillion on getting married.

Oh, very nice. Tyler Wade, Insta Story, Tony Kemp, Insta story. Was Tyler Wade at Aaron Judge's MVP thing? Did I see that somewhere? That's wild. They're just boys like that? That's like next level boys. What do you mean?

Like, that's like if you were at like my wedding. I don't know. Also, Chris Rose is expecting an invite from you. He commented on it on the last baseball today I did. Is he going to fly cross country for that? Yes. They're empty nesters.

That's, hey. No, wow. That was so fast. Rob's always watching this video. Rob has this saved on his desktop. Always watching that video. Talk about it. Any other Mets or Rangers' thoughts before we move on?

I like it for both sides. I mean, that's really, I know it's kind of a cop-out, and that's what every team thinks going into every trade. But, like, it just makes a lot of sense. It's not something I saw coming, but 24 hours removed, it makes a lot of sense. Okay, and now my least favorite John Boy Media game, Brandon Nimo, 2011, drafted by the New York Mets.

with that same or for 15 years. In 2011, I was graduating from college. Wow. Last year at CCSU, go blue devils. In 2011, I was 12 and going to bot mitzvahs like once a month. I lived in a very Jewish town. Rob? Oh, I was a sophomore in college.

Jeez, and you probably looked exactly the same. I did. Actually, it was heavier. No, I don't believe that. Wait, what year was Trev, right? Oh, is it the same? No, he's 07. He's 07.

I get that confused. Do you know that off a rip? Those are my two, or no, 04. Oops. Oh, four. Sorry old. Unk. What the hell?

Sorry old. Dahl? 2011? Processing. Probably just playing middle school baseball. Middle school ball. Yeah.

Crancing. Center field. Yeah. Yeah. Flying around the bases. Obviously. Trev. Did he get the, he got the call in 2010.

A lot of roachers. Chester in 2011. Good for him. Nemo was a longtime minor leaker, too, five years. Pretty wild. Wyoming, right? Yeah, Sandy Alderson's best pick. He's got a lot of weird little little things in there. Cool guy. All right, let's go on to Josh Naylor.

And I know you guys have probably heard some of this, but I haven't gotten to yuck with you guys. So we'll hit it. And we'll hit some Shopify, because another big tie this company, Shopify, is the place where we started. When we were like, hey, let's make some shirts. the CC, that's for you, bleep shirt.

That was one of our most popular early on. Shout to Amber Sabathia bought it instantly. We got an order from, it was like 11 shirts to a family named Sabathia. There's no way. It's probably just a coincidence. But she's the go. And so is Shopify.

And we just relaunched our merch store on Shopify with our new slash line site. We brought the ideas. Shopify brought the execution. It was great process. And they have so many tools that can help you. grow your business, AI tools, and just like the information you need, who's buying it, when they're buying it, why they're buying it. If you want to be more like us and start building your brand from the ground up,

it's time to go over to Shopify, start your trial today. Click the link, Shopify.com slash talking if you're ready to leave the amateurs and head over to the big leagues. So Jolly, I'm not sure. Did you talk about this with Trev? I don't think so. I think I did Greyrod and Taylor Ward, which we'll get to with Rosie, but not. I haven't talked much about Josh Naller.

Well, I'm excited because he was, A, we were all laughing after we did the free agency draft. They were like, wait, no one took this because this felt like one of the biggest layups of the off season. So perfect that it came first, too. Crazy. Josh Nailer signs, when it first happened, we didn't have the money. We have that now. Five years, 92.5 million per year. And it is escalating per year from 10 million to 18 ends with 22 million.

And the final number is 92.5 mil. For me, for Naylor's free agency, it was kind of a race to $100 million. It's a little short of that. Sure. But I do wonder, because A, both sides seem happy as a clam here. And normally, yeah, when these transactions go down, you feel that way. But it feels real. And I don't know how much the no trade clause came into it.

But the Mariners quotes about, like, yeah, when Naylor came in, he kind of changed the whole clubhouse. He's one of the few guys in the league that you actually feel that. Yeah. Like, you can feel it from the outside. They have a dog that he likes in the clubhouse. That feels very important.

I guess initial reaction to the sign. I mean, I love it for Mariners fans. I like that you brought up that it's backloaded because I think that's a huge deal. That tells me that the Mariners want to spend more in this immediate window and capitalize on the season they just had. Naler, he's always felt like a really good fit there.

I thought that, you know, five years is interesting. Nailor's had a lot of ups and downs. There's questions about the defense. You know that the pop is there. He just stole 30 bases, which is weird. Is that a new dimension of his game? So he was one of the bigger wild cards in the free agent market. I also thought it was interesting because first base and I guess corner infield in general is top heavy.

There's a lot of options between Bregman and Suarez and Nailer and Alonzo. And I thought it was interesting that Nailer set the market pretty much immediately. Like, you know, early November he signs his contract. But I think the biggest thing is it speaks volume to, I think, the health of the Seattle Clubhouse, the fact that Nailor wanted to come back immediately. He wasn't shopping other deals and bringing it back to the club. He got a number that he thought was fair and signed immediately. I think that's a really good sign for players wanting to go play for the Mariners right now.

So the escalating contract, I think the other thing that's interesting for me is that Mariners have money on the books in the future. Julio Cal Raleigh and Josh Naylor. You're seeing the core. You're seeing a core developed, which, again, Seattle's been waiting for that, especially on the offensive side of the ball for so, so long. That, yeah, I like what you're saying. And hopefully for Mariners fans, that leaves more wiggle for this upcoming season.

And, yeah, Josh Naylor hits. Josh Naylor hits, and he's young. That is a great formula. He's 28 years old. That started young. 2019. Yeah. He's bounced around a lot.

21 when he got the call? 21 technically when he got the call. The weighted runs or the OPS Plus and the weighted runs created plus the last few seasons have been great. It feels like he has a hitting approach. Like not a big strikeout guy with enough pop. The playoff performances have been very strong. His time with Seattle has been very strong.

And yeah, I guess when I'm looking at this contract is, again, kind of dumb, openly admit that from the start of this, that if I'm Josh Naylor and before Thanksgiving, I'm getting offers of five years 92.5 million, I'm saying, hey, like, can we get that? Why not make it a hunch? Why not make it $100 million? I'll let everyone process that again for a second.

It's a lot of money. It's a lot of money. It's not bad. I wouldn't know, I'd know what to do. I'd go to Vegas double down, make it 200 million. Turn the podcast off. I think the full no trade clause, I think, was a big part of this. Yeah.

Because, you know, as we're going through, Corey Seeger got mentioned a little bit ago. And then I hear that New York's not on his no trade clause. And I start daydreaming again, even though it's not going to happen. I know. That Josh Naylor seemed comfortable in that city. It seemed that way from the start, like, Josh Naylor's coffee shop and, like, mixed drinks.

I don't know. I'd go there. Canadian. Pretty close to Canada. Interesting wrinkle. He's from a different side there. And the defense, Jolly, I'm going to try to protect you from the Seattle people, although they're already crushing you in the comments.

He graded out fine last year defensively. Plus 1-0AA defensively. And first-based defense has always just been off with the defensive analytics. It just always has. I've seen guys grade out very poorly that you don't even notice. And you're just like, so I don't fully know it. to do with that yet. Some of his, some of the numbers are very funny.

Bad at 3.74 on elevated pitches. Okay. Tied for the best in Major League Baseball. Chased 50% of elevated fastballs out of the zone. So, he likes them up there. Him and pitchers are playing a dangerous game at the top of the zone. And then low in a way, this was crazy to me. Slugged 100 slugged on breaking balls down and away this season.

That was the second low. So Josh Naylor's playing. a very old school style of baseball. We're going to pitch him up and then we're going to pitch him down and away and see what happens. And yeah, I just think him getting this done makes it seem like he is, that home run in the World Series. How quickly we forget, dude. Game seven.

My God. Game seven. And not the World Series. I'm saying they got. Yeah. Tied for the longest contract, free agent contract, excuse me, with Depoto. That I think is. is the biggest thing that comes out of this.

Jerry DePoto actually signed a long-term deal. The other thing, and I told you this on Wake and Jake, and maybe I take too much value from Brother Jeff because he's like a real professional guy, blah, blah, blah, was that he, we were ranking importance of off-season. And I talked you down for Mariners a little bit just because they think, in our head, the Mariners window started three or four years ago

when all the pitchers came up and were like, here comes Seattle. The Mariners think their window just opened. Like they think they're just getting started. They have a well-respected farm system with, you know, where Julio is at, where Cal is. Like, they think the window's starting now that saving a little money early on,

you wonder if they're going to be big in this free agency. I mean, they said their next target is Jorge Polanco, which, hey, sure. He was great for them last year and run it back. You wonder if they're going to be in the Gino game. You wonder what else their offseason looks like. But, you know, I think the sneaky part of why we weren't sure about Josh Nailer was there's teams that need first baseman. The fact they got this done early, I think he probably left a little bit of money at the table.

But if you're somewhere you're comfortable at, screw it. And with that full no trade clause, Josh Nailer controls where he's going to be instead of, you know, potentially being in rumors in four years or whatever it may be, that good for him and awesome for Seattle. Yeah, I mean, that top four is, I think that's division champion worthy. Randy Rosarina, Cal, J. Rod, Josh Nailor. They got some questions to answer beyond that. But once the bottom half the lineup takes shape, I mean, this team looks close to complete.

I mean, the bullpen has a bunch of reliable guys in there. We all know about the rotation at this point, young controllable starters. They need to seize some things from some of the younger major league guys, Like what does Cole Young look like next year? What does Harry Ford look like next year? Is even on the team now that they've inked cow. There's some question marks there. So I think that the Mariners are also a big player in the trade market as well.

But yeah, I think the biggest thing that I took away from this was Jerry Depoto is finally opening the wallet a little bit. Like we've seen a lot of cost efficient spending in the last few years. And I think it's been frustrating for both Mariners fans and baseball fans of like, you guys should push your chips in and cash in on this window because you have so, You have so many assets that other teams can't, you know, rest their laurels on. Now you get this five-year deal. Basically, the only thing is similar, and Dalton has it on his sheet here. Robbie Ray inked a five-year, $115 million deal that got traded two years in.

And then you say Kukuchi way back one, who was, you know, a really reliable start in us pitching for the Angels. But for a hitter, this is what we've been waiting to see for Seattle, who went through offensive woes for years. There was questions about can people hit at Team Mobile Park? Hopefully that discussion is over now because they have a top four that can bang. Bring more offense in. I love it.

Yeah. And if they need to get creative, I feel like Luis Castillo has been a trade rumor for a while. Just a lot that, you know, 25 million a year and three years left, I think, that, you know, look at what just happened with Simeon. Like, that's kind of where Simeon was at, right? So that's a movable contract, especially for what he can still do, that I guess if they still need to get creative with the numbers,

there could be something there, but they also don't need to. Let's go, Seattle, let's cook. Does this do any, this is genuine. You wouldn't take it this way at first. Does this change anything for Peter? I think it does. Yeah, no, I think that's definitely a credible. Good or bad.

Good, really good. I think so too. The length of the deal, really. You always know he was going to get 25 plus whatever on the AAV, but last year everyone was shocked that he got one year with options. Like, that's not what anyone shocked. up. You've been saying that Pete's going to get his big boy deal for a while. Now, I think it's true now because Naylor just got five years. Pete's a little bit older, but Pete's resume

to say is way more stacked at this point that I think you're finally going to see Pete Alonso get his big payday. I think so too. I think so too. All right, let's uh, this gray rod Taylor Ward trade. Everyone's been talking about it, buzz. Especially our friends at the Draft Kings sports book, because whatever you're into, the NBA season is starting to roll. NFL, I'm getting ready for Turkey Day. That's going to be, the games are actually good this year. Sorry, NFL always listening into me for those takes. But at the Draft King's Sportsbook, the official sports betting partner of the NBA is where you can get in on the action.

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Age and eligibility varies by jurisdiction, void in Ontario. Restrictions apply. Bet must win to receive bonus bets which expire in seven days. Minimum odds required. Four additional terms and responsible gaming resources, see dkng.com slash audio. Limited time offer. So I feel bad for mocking this because I hope this trade matters for next season.

And hey, put some respect on Taylor Ward's name where he's been offensively the past few seasons. One year of Taylor Ward for four years of Grayson Rodriguez, and man, there is just, there's a, there is a smell with this trade. Let's just be honest that people aren't sure how to process. Grayrod didn't take a physical? I think that's commonplace. You have your physical that you have at the beginning of the year. Right.

Unless you sign a player to a contract, you can't get them another physical. So that got out from foul territory. never seen trades, never with trades, only free agents? Yeah. Okay. I just, the way that was reported was, again, the way that was reported was. I was trying to be off my phone as much as possible, so I was catching up on the train. So like, I was on the train reading that.

I was like, what? This is, okay. But if you watch a clip, it's said very casually because that's commonplace. Okay. Grayson Rodriguez hasn't pitched since 2024, August 2024. one year of Taylor Okay Basically this whole thing comes down to

Is that everyone is freaked out by the Angels As an organization Chor Trading for a pitcher With an injury history A team that's starting pitching Has been criticized for years And there's just a weird concept of

Hey man, if you're a team If you're one of the people in the comments It's always saying you're not going to trade your top prospects What were some of the old gray rod rumors? Yeah. Because this guy was the top pitching prospect in baseball, and now with four years of control left, he got traded for one year of Taylor World.

Yeah. I mean, I'll say this. So, I mean, this trade has become no clearer to me. You've got to suffer this. I've done it so many times. I've done it so many times. And it's finally got me. Here's the thing I'll say.

So let's go back, what was it, three years? Remember when the Angels used all of their draft picks on pitchers, that one draft? Yes. So I watched a short. recently. I forget who did it, so I apologize for not crediting them. But it was like the aftermath of that. How have all these guys done? And like

over half of them are already out of the organization. The other half are like fringe bullpen arms for them. None of them pan out to starter. So what the angels need is young controllable pitching with upside. I understand the injury history with Greyrod, but at the same time

he can slow throw 96. He's going to be 26 years old. He's getting paid league minimum this year and he has four years of control. So from the outset, I like it for Angels because at worst, he becomes like a middle reliever with plus pitches for you. Great. I'm still not understanding the Orioles side. One, I didn't even think about what you said leading into this, which is they failed

to cash in on Grey Rod's value when it was a lot higher. That stings, but obviously hindsight is 2020 vision. They're paying a left fielder already. They're paying Tyler O'Neill for the next two years, like a decent amount of money is one of the highest earners on the team. So what does the outfield look like? Is Taylor Ward your solo DH now? Because neither of those guys are playing centerfield.

You blocked a spot for one of your young controllable outfielder's in Dylan Beavers or Heston Kerstad. Do they not believe in those guys anymore? What does that look like? I think Taylor Ward is a good ad for the lineup, but was the lineup inherently the problem for the Orioles? I don't know. I still think it's more the pitching, if anything.

So I got to see more from Mike Elias. what they plan to do this off season in terms of free agent and trade additions, because they can definitely trade more. Again, they have a bunch of young controllable talent. I just, I never saw Taylor Ward as a fit for them. And the more I think about this trade,

the more I like it for the Angels, because now they look even better for not trading Ward at the deadline because I don't know what they would have got. Like, hitters didn't really net a lot. Like you look at the things that the Mariners traded, for example, to get Gino and Nailer, and it wasn't a ton. No, no, I'm sorry, Diamondbacks. I'm sorry, but you agree.

We've talked about that. And pitchers, you know, Shane Bieber netted a top prospect. And no one was even sure if he was going to pitch. So I just think that the Angels capitalized on this trade a lot better than the Orioles did. And I got to see more from Baltimore's side. I'm looking at their lineup. And I don't feel a lot differently than I felt before the trade. I'll say that.

Taylor Ward, 36 homers last year. Good. What Jolly Oliveida are the angels going to be with Taylor Ward's 36? Joe Adele hit 64 last year. to stay too. That's another wrinkle. It wasn't 64. That was a little high. Yeah, Taylor Ward has hit the, he hasn't had an OPS Plus under 100 since 2020. So like, he has hit in this league. I'm not as thrown off by the left field, centerfield,

right field thing with the Orioles. I think they can figure that out. Tyler O'Neill has an injury history. Kouser played a lot of centerfield for them down, especially the second half of last season. So, like, I think we can figure out the outfield here. And this is, with any of these transactions, we can say what happens next? Yeah. They're, again, what do these moves look amongst the five moves that are going to happen? And that's the same with Naylor.

That's the same with the Mets trade. Like, Rangers trade, excuse me. Sorry, Rangers fans. And then, yeah, I guess my glass is too half empty on Greyrod because of pitchers with control, with his arm talent. If the Orioles were willing to trade that away for one year of Taylor Ward, who even if, like, Taylor Ward is a good baseball player. Like, if you get a nice Taylor Ward season,

I see an 833 OPS on here, I see a 792 OPS, that's a nice one-season player. Yeah. But for what Greyrod could be in our heads, or where our heads have been at with Rayrod. Yeah. It feels like the math isn't mathing. Yeah.

That if I'm the angels, I would be scared of why that was available. I like how you're spinning it that, like, let's say, because Greyrod's stuff plays. Like, I remember watching a couple of his early starts and just being like, okay, you don't see a lot of righty changeups that look like that. Oh, he's got an off-speed pitch that goes the other way too.

That I guess that would be the fear for me, because if you're the Oriole, what else was out there for them? You looked at it from the Taylor Ward side at the deadline. If Greyrod was on the table, the other thing that is interesting here to me, and I think you've had to do this with transactions on your favorite team, is that the Orioles, and I was shocked by this quote,

but they were talking about planning on having him in the rotation and the risk that leaves them, because of his injury history. Like, okay, if we're going to have gray rot on our team, that limits us from bringing in another starting pitcher. So part of me respects that side of it. Sure. Part of me was shocked that they talked openly kind of about that.

I understand where you're coming from, but again, like the most successful team in baseball for the past two years has like 12 starting pitchers going into every year, and they all get used. So I mean, like I don't fully agree with that philosophy. And also for the Angel's side, Greyrod's blocking nobody. Like he's number three on their depth chart right now.

I'm just saying, like they can afford to take that chance because like if he gets hurt, okay, you lost the one year of Taylor Ward and that stinks, but like the Angels lineup is still, that one through six is like still good. Like it's Zach Netto,

Nolan, Sean, Nuel, Mike Trout if he's healthy, Jorge Saler, Logan O'Hopi, Joe, Adele. Like, that's a lot of offensive output. I think they could afford to trade from that. If these were two different teams, we would talk about this trade very different. Oh, absolutely.

Absolutely. But it's the Angels and Orioles. We've kind of lost trust in both of them. I mean, the Angels, we haven't had trust in in a while. Probably since the not trading show hay and then waiving everybody two weeks later and all that.

Sorry, Swilly. Swilly takes it personally. It's not at her. It's not per-I mean, I understand. When I first started working here, I took the Mets Jabs personally, and you can't.

You can't. Like when I first started working here, they were doing thumbs down. Right. Those were tough days. They were doing that to their fans. Right. That wasn't that long ago.

Remember when they got into a fight? We're not going to do this. We're not going to do this. You love raccoon. That's insane. It's insane that Jeff McDeal stayed on the team for like five years after that. Still there. Still holding.

Still holding. Nice guy. Nice guy. We don't know what happened. We don't know what happened. We know what happened. Still trying to figure it out. Let's see.

Rice of Iglesias, signs with the Braves. Very nice. It, Dalt or Rob, if we could get some quick research, is any of his contract going to the Braves Foundation? Got to be. That's very important to me. He would be the first. Otherwise, otherwise, suss.

Yeah. I think maybe more importantly for your team, the Braves bring back Rice and Iglesias, who, when his stuff is right, it's one of my favorite pitchers to watch him baseball. He did limp down the stretch that I'm wondering if Braves fans are a little taken aback by this move. the one-year risk of it all, I guess, I mean, for someone who is Rysel Iglesias,

I think you should be happy about this Braves fans. And yeah, Anthopoulos said they're going to address the bullpen more. And I think more throughout the league or free agency in the bullpen, a price has been set, a price has been established. Yeah. No, this is a good move for the Braves. I have to imagine this was a lot of teams' backup plan if they didn't cash in on Swares or Diaz, who were like the top two guys right.

now they're going to get multi-year deals. No such thing is a bad one-year deal. I subscribe to that belief. I have a counter to that coming up in a little bit. Can't wait to hear it. Riesel had a really bad start to the season. At one point, the ERA was 6.75 in early June. And then he turned it up in the second half and regained all that value and reminded us who

he is. He's just been incredibly consistent for the past four years. And this is another example of like, once you're on the Braves, you're in that family. And they want to bring you back. as much as they can, as long as your valuable asset there. They got to get healthy. It's still hard to kind of evaluate

what the Braves are going to be, but they got to do more of this offseason in terms of they got a lot of old pitching. Also, to Iglesias, he could have seen what else was out there a little more, right? He probably wanted to come back. He feels comfortable there and maybe, yeah, I don't know.

He's always a sneaky, his age is older whenever I check it out. It'd be 36. Yeah. But relievers are weird. Yeah. The Rob pitched at 42 last year or something. I guess for me, he was on the 2015 Cincinnati Reds.

Yeah. Let's check him out. Take me back. Let's see. DeRob's 40, my bad. Votto Phillips, a young shortstop for them, Eugenio Suarez. Todd Frazier, Marlon. Marlon Bird mentioned.

Dillie Hamilton, J. Bruce. Skip Schumacher played for that team. Of course. Mike Leak, number two starter. Adam Duval. Remember that season he had for the Braves at one point? 64-9. Love me some Ryan Lamar

Chapman Are you got to stop Johnny Quato Kavius Samson You're getting carried away Not in my book You're getting carried away Wow

Hey Reds fans If you made it to this point Welcome Nice Welcome home Yeah let's see what else happens there Qualifying offers We had like the most qualifying offers

Ever accepted Kind of that's a fact right I think so It's definitely the most I've ever Yeah. Trent Grisham. I have thoughts. Glaber Torres, some thoughts.

Brandon Woodruff, that one was kind of expected. Chris Rose dunked on me during the free agency draft because I thought he could get more out of that. That was the only Mets pick in the free agency. And then Shoda I do have some more thoughts on. But what is your theory? So I tweeted this out a bunch of people agreed. So I'm kind of subscribing to this.

I think that if you were among these four guys, and let's think about what their projected deals might have been. And we're always wrong about this kind of thing anyway. But if you're thinking to Glabertores, you're probably thinking like three years, maybe like 15 million average annual value. If you're thinking Trent Grisham, three years closer to like that mid-50s range lump sum, the average annual value of what these guys would have got on the open market, I think is less than the qualifying offer.

And I think you have to think about the fact that in 2027, we could be facing a stoppage of play. I don't want to say the boogie word, which is the L word, because I don't fully believe it's going to happen, but I do think we might lose games. And if you're these guys and you're facing the potential of your salary getting prorated or your salary getting totally eliminated in a work stoppage, you might want to take the large value up front, the guaranteed $21 million on the table.

Whereas if you're Shoda and you signed a two year for 30 or something like that, and you get the $15 million in the next year, and then there's a work stoppage, you lose that other $15 million. Suddenly you made less money than you would have if you just taken the qualifying offer. If that makes sense. I like that. I think there's something there. I also, I just think teams,

I think teams want those picks. Yeah. And they want to put you in the position of, hey, if you're going to do it, like you said, no such thing is a bad one year deal. That's the old,

an old baseball mantra, or we get a pick. So I think teams are viewing it as more win-win, where, like, the Yankee, Glaver Torres is coming off a very Glaber Torres season. I was shot to he took it. I'm not going to lie.

And the Yankees didn't offer him the qualifying offer Because I think they were in a similar boat And now this year they offer it to Trent Grisham A more valuable position you could argue But less of a resume I could also argue I think the Yankees were playing chicken with Trent I think so?

I do A lot of Yankee fans have gone the other way of like No they always expected him to take it And I still don't know No I don't believe so Good for Trent Grisham. Again, you could put stats on both sides of the aisle with Trent to do what he did in one season.

If he replicates that, it would be a great contract for the Yankees. And Trent could hit free agency without the qualifying offer and do pretty damn well for himself. So, yeah, go check out some talking yanks for more thoughts on that. Hey, man, the one Woodruff, the injury history, it adds up. Although I think what's this The first pitcher in Brewer's history To earn more than 20 million in a single season

That I wonder Oh wait, I got a fun trivia for you Okay Okay, I just did every team's most expensive Pitcher contract and I ranked all of them Okay Do you know who the Brewers is? I don't think you'll get it

But I'd love to see what your guess is So not like team friendly Just the biggest lump sum That they've ever paid out to a pitcher Um Corbin Burns Matt Garza Wow

Four years 50. Dog. Dog. Dog. Dog. Gave you that much. Here's something that, again, I've been out of the loop. But this whole thing has thrown me off from the start, Shoda.

Yeah. Because, okay, here's my thing. So the Cubs declined three years, 57.75 million. And when that happened, I was a little surprised because I was like, Shoda, open free agency. I think he does better than that. We've seen pitchers with significant injury histories or limited performance that have basically done better than that. So I was surprised.

Imanaga had a player option for 1525. Turns that down. I didn't realize at first he was eligible for the qualifying offer. So I guess for me when this happened, and it's funny, Cubs GM Carter Hawkins. Okay. Nice name. Sure. Didn't have that.

that he's like this was a no-brainer for us and you're like, well, okay, it feels like you had some thought had to go into these decisions. And then for Shoda, I still think Shoda's good. I know he had a home run problem and that's a bad thing to have, to be fair.

I guess here's my thing. No such thing is a bad one-year contract. We just said that a handful of times. Well, Shoda's going to make one year, what is it, 22-mill this year? 21.05, I think is the number. Okay. In the ballpark, Dalton hated your answer.

Okay, sounds good. That's fine. Eat a bug. Okay, let's say Shoda goes out in pitches to whatever. A Shoda level. Okay. Average out Shodah's numbers over the past two years, and that's what Shoda does next year, which if you're the Cubs and you're willing to give them $22 million,

you think Shodah's going to look like some version of Shodah, right? Yeah. So then he's going to hit Fisodah's going to hit $1. free agency the next year and what kind of deal would Shoda get? Is it better than two years and 37 million or whatever? Probably. That's what the three-year deal would have been. Right.

I think Shoda came out a big winner in this. Like it's things that... I do too. Like his contract... I think the Cubs overthought this. I think so too. So they end up paying him $6 million more than the player option. And then not to keep bringing up the work stoppage,

but if there is a work stoppage in the 27, Shoda can just go pitch in Japan and probably, you know, return there. Still pitch a full year. He doesn't lose any steam or whatever. It's probably a bigger star, right? Because he went to MLB, succeeded there, comes back. And then, you know, he can always return

whenever the work stop at ends. I think Shoda's in a pretty good situation. Also, yeah, if he makes another 150 inning above league average pitching year, he's going to get the money anyway. Yeah, I just think the Cubs out thought. I agree with you. Yeah, I think it was,

a bizarre sequence of events and then in the end he just returns anyway super weird like if showed a pitch is well next year yeah I uh I don't know I don't know if there's anything else going on there but interested um any non-tendered player stuff uh I know some of the names here uh JJ Bladay who oh wow okay I didn't know about that one change of pace here um but no j j jillade this year before had numbers amongst the best center fielers in the league and top prospect like people were wondering did like did it click and he's going to happen. Alec Manoa Nathaniel Lowe Mike Talkman Toglia for my rocks. Ramon Urius Evan Phillips Christopher Morel single tier.

Christopher Merrill is a big one. I hope that clicks back in. Traded for Issock Paredes. That's a big one. Adoles Garcia, Jonah Heim. The race don't win trades anymore. I know we just we did the raise on Wake and Jake, but they're so different now, man. they've lost their shine just a little bit.

And yeah, I don't know. There's a lot of other names on the list. If there's anyone you want to shout out. I think the big one is at Elise Garcia. I mean, 2023 playoff hero. He was just so, so fun to watch. There's still tools there.

I think he's going to find a major league home for sure. But it's just crazy how much things can change so quick. I mean, he had a 2.7 more 19 home runs near league average OPS, a very up and down here. Like some team's going to scoop him up, I think for sure. You can, because again, it becomes a financial equation. There's a lot of bullpen guys that. Yeah.

If you start making that jump to $2 million, $2.5 million. Joe Lucey, he had a good year. Lucchie. I was surprised to see. And then I looked at the injuries are there, but like Sam Henthes, who just got your heart there? Your guy. Yo Helpozo.

I know. Non-tendered. A couple catchers entered the game. Jonah Hein. the market. Someone figure that out. Let's see. I will, let's wrap it out.

I will give some Italy thoughts and commentary. Oh, very nice. But first, we have to give our Draft Kings free agent forecast. Brought to you by Draft Kings. Use code jam baseball when you sign up with the Draft King Sportsbook. Who's next, y'all? Who is next on our free agent forecast? Well, well, well.

I don't think it's a big guy. I'll say that. Wow. I don't think it's, I don't think it's a big guy. I didn't say this one in the trade draft, or not the trade draft, off-season draft, and I want to say it now.

I think Mike Ustremski is going to sign soon because he's a little bit of tier below, but he had a really good year last year, especially with the Royals. I have him going to the Philadelphia Phillies. Okay. A little corner outfield spot there. Castianos is kind of out,

bring someone in on a one-year deal, makes sense as a fit for me. Okay. Said the bar high, I know. Yeah, where do I, how do I, How do I follow that up? Kyle Finnegan, where do you fit? God, Miguel Anduhar to the Royals.

He replaces Yistremski. Oh, my God, he's a Yankee. Come on. I love me. So Miguel Anduhar. And I did love me some Italy. Italy, pretty cool. Never been to the home country.

Rome, Florence, Venice. Rome, most comfortable. Because it's a city. Most people speak English. Colise. And it's got the big, it's got the big names. It's got the Coliseum that lived up to the building. You did the Trevi? What, Trevi Fountain liked that a lot.

Spanish Steps wasn't super impressed. I skipped. Didn't get that one. Vatican, pretty cool. Yeah. A lot of walking. A lot of walking. Are you toned on your legs?

So I came back and I, you know, one of the Italy things is like, hey, you know, you can go and eat whatever you want and you're going to be okay. And I, I tested that. It's true, though. Came back, same way. Yep. Same for me. And I mean, like pizza for lunch, like all the good stuff.

A lot of vino. Oh. A lot of pasta. A lot of pasty. Florence is my mom and sister's favorite place in the world, so I was a little nervous. Or I might have set the bar too high because it was really nice. It's beautiful. It looks like a painting.

Did you have a Florentine stick? It's more relaxed. I did not. I had some rigatoni that was one of the winners from the trip. Rikotone. And maybe the most calm place. I've been. Yeah.

That, yeah, and it's just nice and relaxed, and you can kind of do whatever you want. If you want to get the vino going, the cappuccino, the squares are super relaxing, that I had a good time there. Might have set the bar too high. On the other side of things, Venice, a lot of people set the bar super low for me.

A lot of people are like, it stinks, it's weird, it's bizarre. I loved it. A, I think they've cleaned it up since a lot of people have given their opinion on that. And it's just not a real place. The streets are water. Yeah.

It's great. How high was the water level? Was it scary at all? I wasn't scared. Because every year there's a report that's going to, you know, totally go underwater. No, I wasn't scared.

I will say this. Once I left Venice, I realized you're so on one. Like, I compared it to an amusement park. Like, there's a lot of stimulating things. There's boat.

There's people. You're on like an island. You turn down an alley. Like Google Maps doesn't work so well there. So sometimes you just turn down an alley that's nothing. Yeah, you got to go explore. That's the best part. But I liked it.

But it was interesting once I left. because a lot of people didn't like it that I was like, oh, okay. Like I went back to Rome because I was flying out of Rome and I was like, oh. Yeah. Like I, it's a very different experience. My resting heart rate was down a little bit. Did you do a gondola? I did not do a gondola.

I took a water taxi in and out. Okay. That's the same experience, except it wasn't just me and a guy. Yeah, I guess that would have kind of a weird vibe. It was a good time. It was good to relax a little bit, see the homeland. The food lived up to it. And yeah, I'm debating becoming Italy guy.

Okay. Doing like an every two-year trip or some crap like that. I don't think you've taken a vacation as long as I've worked here. Kapluccine. I'm happy for you. Thank you. And thanks everyone for allowing me to do it. And I think we're about to get into the teeth of it, people.

So get ready. As more signings happen, we're going to be heading to winter meetings. Exciting times. You guys are the best. Gobble, gobble, that's this week. Should we talk about Thanksgiving pizza again? I think Wednesday. Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving. pizza. Who saw the article? All the things you need. On a dough, turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes. It's good. It's a great invention. I like this sandwich is, and how far is a Thanksgiving sandwich from a Thanksgiving pizza?

I mean, exactly. What is this? Brandon Nimmo? Stop, Rob. What the hell's wrong with you? Fordo. You instigator. That was a tough day.

That was a tough day. They played the dimebacks that day.