Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - Cubs & Astros Make ANOTHER Blockbuster Trade!

Episode Date: January 27, 2025

Use code TALKIN2025 for 10% off your next SeatGeek order*: https://seatgeek.onelink.me/RrnK/TALKIN2025. Sponsored by SeatGeek. *Restrictions apply. Max $20 discountHead to https://www.factormeals.com/talkin50off to save 50% off your first box!Download the DraftKings Sportsbook app and use promo code TALKINCoach Trev and Jolly Olive breakdown the trade sending Ryan Pressly to the Cubs, what it means for a Astros/Alex Bregman reunion, Braves signing Jurickson Profar and if the Mets are moving on from Pete Alonso! 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. Poppy Gordo's in St. Lucia, so we got our man Jolly Olive. I can't wait to talk some ball. That's a curb ball. Hello and welcome to talking baseball. Another off-season episode. As I mentioned, our good buddy Talking Jake is just frolicing naked somewhere in St. Lucia. And we're happy for him.

We really are. But we got to get down to business. And when I mean business, I bring in my guy Jolly all of to talk about the rumblings, the action that's going around Major League Baseball. A little bit of New York City traffic going on this morning for my guy Jolly. But he's here. And how are you doing this fine morning? I am good. Trev, yes, a little bit of traffic.

But I'm here. Seekek is here. Code talking 2025. Is that the code? It is. Yes, it is. Shout out Seekek. Yeah, I'm good.

Good, man. Had a wild weekend. Had a wild morning, but I'm here and I'm ready to talk some ball with my good friend Trev. Jake's now been to St. Lucia twice. He hasn't brought me either time. Kind of crazy. He invited me once and I couldn't do it. He's still madden me about that. Yes, seek geek talking 25 for 10% off any tickets that you want to get on there. And I think that's for anybody, not just first time user. So go use it. Use our code, all right, people. And we're going to get right into it because We had a plan. Let's just open. Let's just pull back.

We're up front. We're not going to allow you. We had a plan. We were going to do some news. You know, it's the off season. It's a little bit light right now. We're going to do a draft of starting pitchers, five, four, three, two, and one dollars, $15 budget.

But we think we got enough news to go in and talk about it. And it's starting out with our guy, Ryan Presley, heading over to the Cubs. Now the Cubs and Houston have been swap partners all off season long. Obviously they bring Kyle Tucker over there to the north side. And now Ryan Presley. The trade is officially Ryan Presley and $5.5 million. The Cubs receive the Astros to get prospect Juan Beo.

And they get a little bit of salary relief, I guess you would say. So I'm going to start with this one because Ryan Presley is my guy. Now, we know the Cubs are going to be better off because of him. I think right now when you're thinking of Ryan Presley, I don't think the dominance is in your mind because last year wasn't necessarily as dominant as years past. But don't sleep on this guy, Jolly, because he has that in him. And I do believe now going to the Cubs, he should be the guy that's closing games out for him. And I think that brings out a little bit something different in Ryan Presley.

You know, Astros traded for Josh Hader. He comes in. All of a sudden, a guy that's had immense success in that role gets bumped down to setup guy. And it shouldn't change your repertoire. It shouldn't change the way you approach the game. But mentally, it's just different. Those last three outs. I think that's one thing that all baseball fans can agree on.

If you're just a casual, if you're an old school guy, if you're a new school guy that uses data, I still think everyone believes that the last three outs are difficult and different. But I think Presley getting back into that role for the Cubs will probably, we'll see. I'm hoping it brings out that dog in him again. Porter Hodge, the rest of the guys in that Cubs bullpen moved down a peg. but I think when I'm looking at this Cubs off season, they've done everything they can. They've pushed the chips right into the middle of the table,

and I'm excited to see kind of what kind of ball comes out of the Cubs this year. Yeah, dude, I mean, this is a great move for Chicago. There were a lot of things they had to do this off season, but for me, their number one thing that they needed to improve on was bullpen. There's talent here. Like, I didn't respect Porter Hodge enough. I think I made like a joke about him in one video, and then a bunch of comments were like,

go check out his numbers. Go check him out. And I looked it up and I was like, damn, I was wrong about this guy. But they didn't have that, like, veteran presence back there. They got your guy at Caleb Thielbar, who's, you know, still doing it at 38, which is, you know, shout on him. But, yeah, Presley, it's exactly what you said of, like, two things. One, we unfairly don't think of Ryan Presley among, like, the elite closers of the game because he doesn't bring that Velo. He doesn't have, I don't know, as the kids say, that aura about him maybe sometimes.

but the dude's been doing it since 2019 and he's been consistent as hell throughout that entire time and he kind of unfairly lost his closer gig last year. Like he did nothing to show that he was slowing down at any point and the Astros saw an opportunity to improve the roster

and did so. But it's not like Presley was losing his fastball or anything like that. He was still a great pitcher last year. So now I think it's a win-win for both sides. The Astros can free up some money that maybe they'll use to pursue another guy they want coming back.

I don't know. And the Cubs get their pivot move after losing out on Tanner Scott. Tanner Scott was someone I picked as like their marquee guy to get and said it's Presley and Kyle Tucker. They also added Matt Boyd to the rotation. And considering what the NL Central has done this offseason, which, spoiler alert, it's not a lot at all. The Cubs are looking really good for their division hopes in 2024, 2025.

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Eat smart with Factor. Get started at FactorMeals.com slash talking 50 off. That's T-A-L-K-I-N-50 off. 5-0 off and use code talking 50 to get 50% off your first box plus free shipping that's code talking 50 off at factor meals.com slash talking 50 off to get 50% off plus free shipping on your first box let's get cut this year the astros guys coming over to this team i think is a bigger deal than we're making it yes it's their rentals they're both presley and tucker are only there for this year but what have the what have those guys done for the last four or five

years when they have won they have played in the big games they've they've been there so now i talked about this last night with see rosy those bullpen dudes are different they're they're they're weirdos man they walk out all together in a line one of the rookies has a backpack full of like snacks in it it's like a joke it's sometimes i laugh i'm like what what's going on here but they sit out there together all game long talking about how to get hitters out or maybe some other stuff sometimes. It's a long season, right? But having a guy like Presley, I say it all the time. It's like have another coach out there. This guy has been there, done that in all sorts of situations. He's been at the highest level stress that you can have in the big leagues. And he's

going to be able to impart this knowledge on the bullpen. So you're going to get this guy who has the stuff, who has the accolades, who's going to give you, you know, 60 to 70 innings, that's what he does out of the bullpen. That's how he earned this last year in his contract by throwing that many innings. He's a guy that's available, and he's just going to bring that to the bullpen. So I agree with you.

I think the Cubs bullpen was the biggest, where they needed to address the most this off season. And in one fell swoop, they've been able to do that. So Caleb Thielbar, you mentioned him and press. That's like a Twins 2015 union or something like that. There's that connection there. One last thing. Because I don't think it needs to be said out loud.

He's top five all time in playoff saves, which I feel like doesn't register in my brain. They went to the ALCS seven times. But I'm saying like that's, that's, it's an impressive list. It's Mo, it's Kenley Jansen, Brad Lidge, who was the guy in the playoffs a lot. Eckersley and Ryan Presley is your top five all time for playoffs saves.

So if you get there, which is the goal for the Cubs, they haven't been there in a full season since 2019, you want to win the games when you get there. Now you've got the offense in Kyle Tucker, a guy who's done in the playoffs, and now you got Ryan Presley, who is arguably the best active postseason closer.

You know he's going to be spinning that thing. I'm always curious. You know, he's a top spin guy with his fastball and his breaking pitches. So, like, we've seen David Stearns in Milwaukee turn. Is there going to be some Cubs magic going on now? We'll see it. The Astros have been known for that.

took Ryan Presley like a middling starter slash like swing guy in the bullpen from the twins and turned him into what you just said. It's all there. The Cubs have. I don't know, man. I'm excited for the Cubs. I think going into the offseason, I think everyone was like, okay, you better do something. Because this roster you have is built to win now, but it hasn't won.

So you need to, you know, fill some gaps here and there. And we were talking, which I think we'll get into a little bit later. they might have one of the best outfields in all the baseball. Sneaky. Look up Say Suzuki's career resume to this point. It's good. He's not, but yeah, but like he's not even, I'm not even including him. Like PCA you're saying?

PCA, tuck and Ian half, like, something's there. We'll get into that. We'll get into that a little bit later. I think the other, the flip side of this trade. So go, Cubs go, way to go. What does this mean for the Astros? You're trying to free up some money.

And Dana Brown, their GM has come out. and started talking about what that can mean. He was pressed about questions about Alex Bregman. And they're going to be saving right around $9 million bucks on this deal. Obviously they shed some payroll with Tucker and now with Presley again. They're right at that first competitive balance tax threshold.

Right? I think they're right above it right now. And Crane has talked about, their owner Crane has talked about kind of not wanting to do it unless something special falls in their lap. Alex Bregman, still being available on January 27th, is kind of something special falling into his lap. So I'm curious if that is where they're going to go

and then what do they do if that becomes a reality? Because you sign Christian Walker, you sign Paredes, the talk star, Jose Altuve, if Bregman comes back, might move to left field. that to me, we could talk a whole show about that. So I'm curious to get your take on this. Knowing how the Astros have operated over the years, being fine with letting guys walk,

do you think Alex Breggman is different and they want to keep the Altuve Breggman romance together? I want to believe it because I, you know, say what you will about the Astros. You can have your takes. There is something special about a team looking the same for 10 years. I think that's just a cool thing. It doesn't happen that much in baseball anymore.

And if you were able to keep Altuve and Bregman and those guys together for this long run of like the Astros are bad, they rebuilt themselves. They're two-time champions and now they've evolved past that. I really want Alex Brugman to be an Astro's lifer. I daydreamed about him on the Tigers. There's credible rumors to him with the Red Sox, but it feels like no one's inching towards that number that he wants. So yeah, you're right, it is this special opportunity where, like, he's still out there, and it's almost February, which I wouldn't have had in my book. That being said, because of what you said to kick off this topic of the luxury tax threshold and how, let's say, frugal the Astros have been with their past couple off seasons, I don't think it's going to happen. I think this was purely a cost-effective move.

I think that they believe in their pitching. They still have a really good bullpen. Taylor Scott, look up his numbers. you got Hayter, Brian DeBrayu, and the rotation looks pretty good now too. I just, I think they might be done, and this was kind of like a trimming the fat kind of move. Maybe they had a bench piece,

but I would be personally pretty surprised if Alex Bregman wears an Astor's uniform this year. Like you said, they bring in Christian Walker, huge upgrade at first base, but the lineup, and I feel like we've said this over the last couple of years. It gets a little thin at the bottom,

but it's a little thin almost everywhere now. Save the first three or four guys. It gets a little thin. So, I mean, to me, if I'm a nationalist fan, I'm thinking we just had this run of success. Two World Series, am I correct? Two. Yeah. Two World Series titles. Run of success. Are you just like, all right, I get it. Let's run with this team and see what happens. Or are you expecting greatness? I think I'm expecting greatness. And I'm saying, why can't we bring? Breggman back. We show up. We fill that house. We fill it. We've been to the

postseason. We're getting all this extra money. I think if I'm an Astros fan, I'm pushing for this. Hey, we've made some great moves. But we didn't know. And Dana Brown said this in his press conference. They made these moves not expecting Alex Breggman to be available. And you know the prices come down.

Has to. I believe they did say as well that they've kept the same offer available to him that they initially did. Greg one thing I'll looking for more than that, but now one thing I'll say, and this might not matter at all, the last deep Astros playoff run,

seven game ALCS, they lose to the Rangers, Rangers win the World Series, Rangers got a lot better this offseason, like Jack Peterson, Jake Berger, new bullpen guys, like that's nothing to scoff at. I feel like, you know, you're in the same state, you've been running the AL West for a decade now. do you really want to just let that go?

Because like you said, there's not a lot of depth on the Astros, but there is top end talent in every corner of the roster. Now, if those guys get injured or they slump, this season can go a different way very quickly. But you know it would help supplement that a lot? Dude, that's been doing it for 10 years in your uniform. I don't know, man. Right now you're looking, you could say, hey, we're,

you could say we're five hitters deep right now. I'd say so, yeah. And then, you know, Yiner Diaz, Jeremy Pena, we could extend it to six if all goes well. But the length in the lineup, you know how much that means, you know, it's bring him home. Bring him home. Bring him home. I don't know what else to say. I think it's a no-brainer at this point.

You'll get some season ticket sales. Just bring them home. Some things are meant to be. Alex Bregman was meant to be in Astro. But does that really mean that Jose Al-Tube is going to be in left field? I cannot wrap my brain around it. I will say it would improve the lineup drastically. Because, like, you know,

Chats McCormick had a tough year last year. He's slotted in as the seven hitter right now. I don't know. Do you, do you, if you, okay, let's play this game. You get Bregman back. Do you flip Paredes? Oh. Flip flip?

Peredis could maybe play left field in that, like, shorter, you know, like so. Maybe, hey, this, what I'm, saying is Dana Brown himself said we made these moves not even factoring in that Alex Bregman would be available to us yeah and like that's fair because I thought he would sign in December dude like I thought he'd be long off the board by this point Alex Bregman Jeremy Pena Altuve Christian Walker that's a great infield that's a great infield oh man Astros what is you doing baby come on when in the AOS

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For additional terms and responsible gaming resources, see dkng.com slash audio. So that's the Presley stuff. Again, I'm really, really excited for Cubs fans. At least we're talking about your players, this go around last year we were talking about your manager which I thought was really weird a couple weeks ago we were talking about their owner which is not awesome yeah we don't let's just let's talk about the players because you got to get they got a good squad assembled

just go on do it I'm so curious about the NL Central man it just makes me mad dude like pirates what are we doing man the brewer's going to win it again you know they're going to win it again they're like they're going to win it by accident I talked to yeah I actually on that note I talked to Yelich, not too long. Actually, shout out Christian Yelich. Number one, he's feeling very healthy. That's good to hear. He had the back surgery.

He showed me what they took out of his back. Whoa. What the heck? Didn't know you just had stuff like that in his back. He did. He would play and hurt people. So give that guy a ton of credit. But shout out, I brought one of these, a kid from my high school, who's a stud player,

Diego Velasquez. Shout out Diego. I brought him the hit with Yelie. I took him out of school. and brought him the hit with Yelly. And it was awesome, man. Like, just thank you, Yelly. You might have changed that kid's life.

He loved it, dude. He loved it. It's like, man, he like, because he was just talking to and he was talking ball. And he's like, yeah, all these, all these guys I'm talking to you about hitting, they, it's so complicated. Yelly made it so simple. I'm like, dude, that's what you got to do to play the next level. You got simplified things. So, yeah, Brewer's going to win the NL Central.

So Yelie might win the MVP, lock that in. Let's move on to another National League team because apparently the National League is just where it's at, Jolly. And we're going to go to your NLEs. We're going to go to the Braves, who signed Jurekson Profar to a three-year deal worth $42 million. He gets $12 million this year and then 15 a year in 2026 and 27. we talked about best outfields in baseball.

Dalton, head researcher, suggested maybe is this the best outfield in baseball when Acuna comes back? Because then it'll be ProFar and left. Money Mike in Center, Michael Harris II, and Ronald Acuna Jr. in right field. Love this deal for ProFar. I'll say that right now. And it has been a fit all season long. The Braves have kind of been searching for outfields.

for since 2021. They just kind of have been finding, you know, replacements here, replaces there. They thought they maybe had the guy in Kellanick last year, didn't necessarily work out the way they thought. Although he's still, he's still such a baby.

I think he's like 24th still, which is absurd. He'll be okay. Love this for a pro for. Obviously, he went to San Diego last year on a $1 million deal, crushed it, made some swing adjustments that I thought was interesting enough.

Alex Anthopoulos said, because of those adjustments, because of the improvements, that he's made at the plate, it reminds him of Josh Donaldson. It reminds him of who was the other guy, he said? It was Josh Donaldson and Justin Turner. Like guys that obviously had Joey Batista he mentioned too. Obviously guys that, you know, had crazy career resurgence

later on at the big league level. So great fit for the Braves. Great fit for ProFar. I think a huge loss for San Diego. is the way I'm thinking about it as well. What do you got on pro far to the Braves? I think this is one of the best signings of the all season. And of course it was the Braves.

You know, of course. Like they were kind of just doing nothing. They were idle. They were waiting for the opportunity. They pounce and they get who I think is going to be one of the best players to come out of this free agent market. Now, you might scoff at that because he's coming off a career year by a wide stretch. But it's exactly what you said with comparisons to guys like,

Justin Turner. These late career turnarounds happen, like guys just kind of figure it out and it clicks. And ProFar's been playing for 11 years. He's likely learned a lot of things about himself as a player. And I think it all culminated last year with that terrific year. The biggest thing for me, why I think his skills will carry over, he took a massive step forward in plate discipline last year. His career high and on-base percentage in a full season before last year was 335. last year was 380. He said his best marks in walk percentage, strikeout percentage, whiff rate, chase rate.

He became a more disciplined hitter, and you get that plus some defensive prowess at multiple positions for really cheap, man. Considering some of the contracts that have been signed this off season, this is like an excellent deal. And he fits that team, like super well. Like I think Michael Harris is like one of the most underrated player. Maybe I'd say it.

He's the most underrated player in baseball right now, in my opinion. And then you get Ronald Ocunuchuner Jr. fully healthy. I don't think Dalton's being hyperbolic at all. I think this is one of the best outfields in baseball on both sides of the ball. It drives me nuts as a Mets fan because he is a certified Mets killer and now he's in our division. But I'm happy for ProFar the human being. I'm really sad for Padres fans, man. This was like one of my easier locks of the off season, him going back and reuniting and staying where he's been easily the most successful of his career. But apparently there was no competitive offer on the table. ProFar had to do what was best for him, his family,

career and he joins what I think still is going to be the NLE East champion in 2025. Wow. Okay. I'm not there with the Braves yet. I'm fully there. I mean, there's a ton of competition in that division. It's going to be fun,

but we'll see. So these late career bloomers, it does usually happen when you make a significant change. And there is a little bit of similarities between Turner and between Bautista. He added pro far, added kind of like a leg kick, kind of opened up his stance a little bit, gave himself some time, added some powers. You're talking about plate discipline, Jolly, which is usually that happens later in your career. You see more pitches. All of a sudden, you're like, dude, I've seen all the pitches.

I know what they look like. I know the strike zone better. That comes with just at bat. So he's got that now. Average exit VLO last year, jump from 86.5 in 20203 to 91.1. You're talking about plate discipline and power, huge, like a significant change in mechanics. If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, got to be a duck. I hope for Profar's sake and the Bravesake that that is what's happening.

I love guys making adjustments. No, he's a top prospect. Everybody knows. Everyone's heard of Jerks in Profar. No doubt about it. But it just hadn't clicked. And sometimes you need to just get out of your comfort zone, make a significant change. He did that.

reaping the benefits now 42 ms for him late in his crew that's really really nice and to go along with you and Dalton talking about best acquisitions of the off season Alex Anthopoulos said this is the second best free agent hitter in the class

this year obviously it's Juan Soto and then jerks and pro far that's a huge statement Pete's out there Gregman's out there the guys we just talked about like okay Anthopolis is

not a guy, I feel like would say that unless he truly believed it. So he's got to get, Braves fans have to be hype for this week. You got to be hype, especially when you've been starving for two months for just them to do anything at this point. Like they lost Travis Arnaulte. They lost a couple pieces in their rotation. They got some question marks coming back in Strider and Acuna. They needed kind of something to latch onto and get excited about after just a weird year for Atlanta Braise fans across the board. Profar is that guy. And how about the lineage of players from Curacao on the Atlanta Braves. raised. It's now Andrew Jones.

Yes. Angelton Simmons. Ozzy Albies, Kenley Jansson, who had a pit stop there, and Jurekson Pro Farnet. So they like what they like. And Jir Jurgens. Oh yeah. Yeah. I faced Jair Juergens before. Well, let's see. Let's pull up the numbers. That's not an easy one to say if you just off the rip.

Have you ever heard of it? It's awesome. We got to get that clip in this episode somehow. Parts out for the Braves. Max Reed, Charlie Moore. A.J. Minter, Gio, Urchella, Travis Darno, Solair. That's a lot of parts out. But you're getting Profar. And then I guess you could say technically you're getting Shrider and Ronald Acuna Jr. You also bring in Brian Day of the cruise on a non-guaranteed deal. So it's like a split contract.

He'll be fighting for some time out there when Acuna is getting ready. But I'm not, I'm not all in on. Yeah, you don't sound super sold, which surprised me because I should. You're a sneaky Braves guy. It could be a recency bias thing. You know, they just never got off on the right footing last year. Obviously, some of the injuries. Fully healthy, yeah. But I'm also a believer in the Phillies.

Okay. I think that's my Achilles heel, dude. I just like the Phillies. You do. And I feel like these teams are going in opposite directions. Like the Braves are retooling. They're staying athletic. And I feel like the Phillies, I don't know.

Like, that's an aging team. You know exactly what they are. It's a Dave Dombrowski-assembled team. It's a Dave Donbrowski. team. They have that big three year window and then after that it gets decimated. It's dicey. I don't know. Maybe it'll be different this time.

Then you get the Detroit Tigers from 2015 through 2020. It was a long time that they lived there. I don't know if that's going to happen to Philly but. No, you know what? Their owner will not let that happen. I don't think so either. I won't get that bad. Hey guys, let me ask you something. Are you

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It's so easy, Jake can do it. Just look for the green dots. Green means good, red means bad. That's what I do for Jake. Good, bad. And he listens. I've recently been to some of these football games. I went to the game out in Philly.

You see Kik, they hooked me up. And all I had to do was use code talking 2025 for 10% off my order. Do that the next time you go to see Kik. That's 10% off any tickets with promo code talking 2025. NLEAS champions, you heard it here. They landed Braves. Jolly all have said that. So clip that.

Everyone throw that out into the social media world. Because if I say it's the Mets, you know exactly what's. going to happen. All right. So it's a little bit of, you know, double jinks, you know, playing it safe. Speaking of the Mets, let's get into your guys. First, I want to commend you and say, congrats. You were part of the, what was it called? Amazing day. You were on it. Amazing day, which is, which seemed like a ton of fun. Mets fans got to, you know, sit and ask questions to other favorite players. I saw some dude throwing a bullpen in front of Edwin Diaz. You were out there. We

got ice was out there. Give me a little bit. quickly on how that went for you. I got a shout out Mark Viantos because, you know, I still, you know me. I still have a little trouble, like, just kind of going up to Big Leisure and being like, what's up, dude, like, whatever, because they're always like a foot taller than me.

Viantos waved to me, waved me over, said what's up, dabbed him up. We had a nice five-minute conversation about his off-season, his new hair. I was already a Mark Viantos guy, but I've never been a bigger Mark Viantos guy. And like, shout out to the intent. entire team. They were out the whole day interacting with people. They knew all of us. They knew

the brand. They knew what we were about. And that was really cool. Sean Mania is the nicest dude on planet Earth. He's amazing. And shout out to the Muts for putting together a fan fest. It was kind of weird that they weren't doing it for so long. And they did this first one. It sold out so fast. And I was really, really honored to be asked to be a part of it. That's awesome. Steve Cohen's like, hey, we got to start bringing some money. Spent a lot of money. We've got to make some money. People forget the ones that signed for $800 million.

I didn't forget. I don't think anyone forget that, actually. That's, I guess, in my mind, in my mind, it's a $700 million deal, which is crazy enough,

but it's not. It's $800 million. Oh, that's insane. Okay. So on that topic, talking about being available to the media, Steve Cohen was up there with David Stearns

and Mendoza and they were taking, questions from the media and all of a sudden we want Pete. Chance started happening. And it was really funny because you can see Steve Cohen being like, all right. Like we got to address this. You can't just sit there and ignore the chance. And I think he did a really,

really good job with it. And, you know, I'm paraphrasing here, but essentially he said, look, these negotiations have been very, very tough. He said,

we made a significant, an offer to Pete. And I think the thing that resonated with me the most was he said, we just have not liked the structure of the contracts that have been offered to us. So to me, that means it's what it's they're being offered a contract with opt-outs, with, you know, maybe a ton of incentives, maybe, um, it's just not what they're looking for when they're looking to commit to a player. And I think having an owner that's able to sit down and have that talk with essentially the fans right in front of him. I think it was really, really refreshing.

You know, this is a guy that's, you know, a business, I guess I'll call him a tycoon, like a finance tycoon who really hasn't had to answer to anybody. And all of a sudden, he's got these dudes from Queens being like, spend your money the way we want it. And I think he's handled it so well. This is not something that he's used to. And I thought he crushed his answer. and I guess my question to you is

do you think there's a chance for Pete to come back? It kind of sounds like there's not a chance to me. Do you have a different take being around that day? So sadly I wasn't in the room when this happened because we were kind of, we're bounce around looking to get players to shoot some content. The full quote, I'm going to read it just so people know because some people might have not heard of this.

Here's what Steve Cohen said when he was responding to the crowd. He said, we've made it a significant offer to Pete and what David said is correct. He's entitled to go out and explore his market, and that's what he's doing. Personally, this has been an exhausting conversation and negotiation. Soda was tough, this is worse, which I think is the biggest line in the entire thing.

I don't like the structures of the offer that are being presented back to us. I think it's highly asymmetric against us. I feel strongly about it. So I'm deriving two things from this, and both of them are good. One, has there ever been an owner that has been this transparent about an ongoing negotiation, not just with a player, with like a hometown, homegrown superstar, because I don't think there has been.

So I commend Steve Cohen for not BSing the fans on a fan day. The other thing that this has made me realize is that David Stearns has his ear. Like the older Steve Cohen from two years ago would have dished out the extra money just to get it done because he can, and it would be easy for him. But he's letting David Stearns build this team in the way that he thinks is the best fit and part of that is not negotiating against themselves and allowing their payroll to remain flexible by giving Pete Alonso what they think is a fair offer. That AAV of the offer lands in

the Christian Walker, Matt Olson territory, which I think is more than fair. So to go back to your original question, do I think Pete Alonzo comes back? No, because I think that there are teams, and I don't want to use the word desperate because you should never attach negative connotation to teams wanting to spend money and make their teams better. But there are teams out there that will spend maybe a little bit more irresponsibly like the Angels or the Blue Jays to improve their roster for 2025 because they're in this dire window. And I just feel like the Mets aren't in that situation. I feel like they feel that their internal options can recuse some of the value that Pete Alonzo creates, whether it's Brett Beatty. They said that they expect Luis on Heliccuna to play a massive role

this year is Mark Viantos playing first base. I don't know, but what I do know is that the Mets aren't going to raise their offer until Pete brings them an offer that's higher than what they've already presented. And I don't know that he can do that. And if he does get it, maybe he doesn't even go back, because maybe this bridge is becoming more and more burned with the passing day. He's not going back to the Mets. I'll tell you where he's going to go.

He's going to sign a one-year deal with the twins, bounce back year. The twins are going to trade for Dillon C's, and we're going to run the Central Big. Your twins are making me sad, so that would make me very happy. Twins are making me sad. Making me bummed out. You haven't spoken about the twins in three months.

They haven't signed any. I know. It's crazy. Usually I can't get you to shut up about the twins. Who is it? I think it's them and then one other team that has not signed. The Marlins have not spent a single dollar in free agency. That's not a group you want to be in Big Dog.

I love the twins. I do too. Don't put words in my mouth. All right. We just, we're waiting. We're waiting in the weeds. You know, the Braves waited. see what happened, you know, so.

Give me, okay, so, say Pete doesn't come back and Viantos does move to first base. I kind of liked him at third base last year. I thought he improved and he can improve. That's why it's kind of a bummer because I feel like he can get even better there, but I think so too.

He's getting confident, man, you just got to be confident, and he's kind of got that now. So say he does go to first base, obviously Francisco indoors at shortstop. You think Acuna is more fit at second base or third base? Like Beatty, obviously goes to third base,

and then it's a cune at second for the most part. Yeah, a cune at the middle. And then McNeil's kind of... McNeil's like can be a great bench piece, you know? Like second base, third base left right. Like he's expensive, but you could be a really good like off the bench in that role. But yeah, I think it's going to be one last shot for Brett Beatty. If it's not Peter Lonzo, which is scary because things got really bad last year,

especially in like May when Viantos got that call. But I don't know, man. I talked to Brett at the event. Really nice kid, like said what's up. And we talked about confidence with Mark Vientos. That dude's confident right now. Like he's ready for his opportunity. He had the number change.

The number change is seven. It's a big deal. It's a huge, because that's Jose Reyes, man. Who was the last guy that were that? That's Jose Reyes. So, like,

that's a massive deal. But it didn't seem like all the talk was bothering him all that much. He seemed very, very sure of himself. So you know what? If it is Brett Beatty, I'd love to see that dude succeed. For your second place, Braves. Or second place, excuse me.

Excuse me. Sorry. Brodian slip. Brodian slip, Trav. I don't believe in the race. I told you that. That's how you really feel. Philly's in third then in your mind?

Oh, man. It's tough. What about, I saw you were hanging with Jesse Winker. I always like to know what the heck that guy's thinking. Any tidbits? We asked him about his Spotify wrapped and he gave us like 10 minutes of just going through his music. It was wonderful.

It was more than I could have asked for. It was great. Jesse was a terrific dude. You put Jesse Winker in Nick Castiano. in a room together and you just leave what happened i think they end up best butts i think they fight a little bit really beginning but i think they end up because like it's it's moxie dude like it's they fight to the death yeah almost kill each other you know the the the the handshake of the two dudes with like big muscles where they like link up like that that's what they end up doing after like 10

minutes of like fuck you like no fuck you dude i don't know why i think that of those two i think that pairing is so straight ever since he said they ever play together no they did oh they're on the Reds. They're on the 20. They're on the Reds together? Yeah, the team that was just fighting everybody all the time. We need some stories. I got to start digging beer. Oh, that's good. Oh, maybe, oh, does Nick Cassiano's play first base for the Mets this year? Trying to train him. I don't know. I don't know. Oh, well, I think that does it for today, Jolly. Thank you so much for for stepping in. We're looking for some more news. I will not be here the next episode this week. I will take my vacation, Poppy Gorter will come back.

I don't know exactly if it's gonna be you or somebody else filling in, but we always do appreciate when you come in. Very insightful, you've become more attractive, which is really nice, the hair, the chain. I think you've been hanging around Mark Vientos a little bit too much. I gotta get a bigger chain, I think.

A little bigger chain. Like Jalen Hertz had that one chain on that everyone was talking about. Get one like that, though. Just a thick chain, you know? And you're going to go in Cancun. You're going to hang out with Josh Allen, bond a little bit.

Oh my gosh. You think Josh Allen's going to be in Cancun? By Wednesday? I'd want to be out of here, dude. He didn't spend so much time in the cold. I hit that music, Bobby Golf. Sorry, Bill's fans. What are you going to do?

Patrick Mahomes just getting the job done, I guess. 16 days till pitchers and catchers. Oh, my goodness. I was going to whip you in that draft. I guess we'll have some stuff. I guess we'll never know. Logan Gilbert. Hey, if you're going to do it,

Graff Logan Gilbert. Everything's improving from 2022 to 2024. Innings pitch. You're taking Rokey? Walks per nines. K's per nines. He's my guy. Six, six.

That would a wipe you. I love big guys.