Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - Kyle Tucker Heads to The Dodgers & What This Means For Baseball

Episode Date: January 19, 2026

**This was recorded Friday morning before Bo Bichette signed** Use our code for 10% off your next SeatGeek order*: https://seatgeek.onelink.me/RrnK/TALKIN2026. Sponsored by SeatGeek. *Restrictions apply. Max $20 discount Coach Trev and Talkin' Jake break down everything to know about Kyle Tucker signing with the Dodgers, what teams who were in on Tucker are going to do, how this affects baseball and more! 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. Kyle Tucker, King Tuck, signs with the Dodgers. My goodness, there's smoke. A lot to talk about it. Let's talk ball, though. Maybe some labor. Yoshinovu Yamamoto. Does Tony Clark a left or right? I forget. Tony Clark. Switch? Yeah. Big boy switch hitter. I never seen a big boy switch hitter. I never seen a big. Beard now. Powerful.

Game of Thrones. Hello and welcome to talk in baseball. Friday, January 16th, arguably the biggest free agent signing went down. I guess time will tell. Maybe Bo will pull something out of his sleeve. Cody Bellinger, a big winner from yesterday. But the news is Kyle Tucker has signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers,

the two-time defending champion. of baseball bolster their lineup, giving him $60 million a year. Coach Trev, the streets are hot. The streets are hot. There's so many ways to go with this, Jay He boy. I mean, you could talk about the sentiment of the fans, which I think is very important to gauge and to obviously consider it. There's the Dodgers on-field product. There's Kyle Tucker's market that we, I think everybody, got completely wrong. Completely wrong. There's the Blue Jays missing, the Mets missing. This is a massive saga, this event that I guess I don't know where you want to start.

I think you have to start with what it means for the Dodgers just on the field and then go from there, I believe. Which it means they have the best line of baseball. I don't know. That might be too easy. We did this last year. Jake, we did this last year. Super team. Best roster ever created.

About four or five of those guys that we were talking about as why they were the best roster ever created. I didn't even play or play a part in what they did last year. So it's interesting. We're going back to that again. The season's over. Dodgers are going to win it all. And you and I both joke, if the Blue Jays would have just finished the freaking world series off, is it a different reaction today?

Instead, we've got a back-to-back World Series champ going out and spending $60 million on Kyle Tucker. Trev, we're men of the people. You are the son of a pool boy or pool man, excuse me. Yeah, thank you. I mean, at one point, he was a pool boy. You know, both my parents work for the great state of Connecticut. Department of Mental Health, Department of Social Services.

Kind of makes a lot more sense when you think about those are the two people that developed whatever I am. And we might not be men of the people today because what the streets are yelling, I mean, the amount of people just yelling, lock out, like, okay, I mean, we'll unpack that a little bit. There's a little more conversation than that. And then, yeah, Dodgers wise and Kyle Tucker wise, which is where the conversation starts. The Dodgers signed a free agent. And by the way, the Mets weren't that far off and we'll get to them. but the Dodgers and Trev it's where man again you and I could get lost in this for two hours so we might have to contain ourselves

$60 million a year to play baseball four years 240 million dollars we've got opt-outs after years two three and a little inside baseball for you year four because that's when the contract ends um that Kyle Tucker will be going into the Dodgers outfield we'll We talked about, Treve, I don't know if we got Kyle Tucker, Mark, Kyle Tucker's market wrong. If this came out and it was eight years, 240 million,

and Kyle Tucker was getting 30 million a year, I'd say, yeah, we got Kyle Tucker's market wrong. Maybe we got it wrong in the other direction. He's getting 60 million a year, pop. And if he has one good season in three years, he's going to reload if he still likes baseball at that point, which I might have an inkling. still like baseball at that point.

So, okay, that's what I was trying to say. 60 million I don't think was on anybody's mind. Shorter contract we got there. I didn't think we're going to get four years as a short contract. This is a medium range. Medium range jumper right here is what I would consider this contract. And guess what? I'm sorry, dude.

This guy's not opting out of this contract. He's not. Why would you? Maybe the last year when you're only guaranteed 60 and you can go for more. years, but like the first of all, yeah, it's after the second year. I don't know, man, like $120 million over two years is $120 million over two years. If you're winning World Series in L.A., what's not to like, Pop? I don't know.

Hey, man, Trev. Look, look, about the he doesn't like baseball thing. Definitely overblown. I probably phrased it the wrong way. And we mostly talked about this on Chris Rose's and I show baseball today. Go check it out. We already put out an episode about this. I think we phrased it the wrong way.

There's rats and there's guys that aren't rats. And, like, again, I don't know Kyle Tucker personally. Have I heard things through the grapevine? Sure. But clearly, like, if you don't make it to the big leagues unless you love baseball, you might become disenfranchised with the sport. It might not mean the same thing as it did before. You might not like the business aspect of it or the pressure that comes along

in the big leagues and the travel. and the strain it puts on your family, but the guy likes to play baseball. Like, let's just get that clear. So I think we probably phrased it wrong. He's definitely having a good time right now. I mean, that is an incredible contract. He's on, like we mentioned,

the back-to-back World Series champs. He gets to go to a team. And I think this is also what a lot of people meant and just, again, phrased it wrong. I don't think he wants to be Alex Bregman, getting fucking scouting reports and talking to the minor league hitting coordinators, about the players.

He doesn't want to do that. And a lot of times, if you're signing with a team for the amount of money he just signed with, you better be at every function. You better get the scouting reports and talk to you better become a coach

and be that leader. He doesn't have to do that here. And I think that is where that's more of what we should be talking about as far as like his personality. And it's okay to have that personality. And in fact, And we said, it's one of the reasons why he chose the daughters, I'm sure.

It's like, I don't want to have to do all that stuff. I just want to play the game and be me. I think, again, we just kind of, we messed up with how we were talking about it and saying he doesn't love the game. He loves the game. Yeah, and I think that's going to be one of the funnier things to look back at at the end of this offseason. You know, one of my favorite little jakey games I like to play is when the contracts are settled.

For the same amount of money, would you rather have this or that? And how about Alex Bregman for five years for 175 compared to Kyle Tucker for four years, 240? Like, that's going to be an interesting one to look back at in a few years. But again, this goes into Kyle Tucker's potential that we've talked about him as a player that it seemingly, you know, there's a lot of, I think the funny thing is there's a lot of numbers for Kyle Tucker that show he is consistently good in this sport, which is so hard to do. I think one of Dalton stats on here from 21 through 2025, four players had four and a half B war in each of the last five seasons.

Judge Soto, Jose Ramirez, and Kyle Tucker. So that is kind of one of those notes on the consistency that this guy has brought. And in a sick way, there's more in there. And maybe it's in the Dodgers lineup or maybe we're wrong. Maybe that's just a guess. but one of those seasons he played half of year. Half of year. Nice, Jake.

Great, dude. Half of year, Kyle Tucker play good. What if that happens? Like, Trev, I'll throw a challenge flag. I think Kyle Tucker's going to opt out of this bad boy in year two or three. Because who knows where the market is set at? And who knows if he has that eight war season? Alex Bregman just opted out of a ton of money.

money and he put up half a good year, if we're being honest. I know there's obviously different circumstances there, but like, I don't know. And the other thing I want to come back out on the Dodgers side of this, and there's going to be a lot of Dodgers conversation. And is this bad for the sport? Is this good for the sport? Oh, Kyle Tucker picked the Dodgers because he got to blend in. The Dodgers offered the most money. Did they, though?

Like, again, I'm not a financial guy. There's no deferrals. in the Mets offer of $25 million a year, so $220 over four. No deferrals. I don't know when the deferred money gets paid out. I don't think that is out there yet. At least I didn't see it.

So like, was the present day value the same? I guess they, for the CBT tax, $57.5 million is present day money. So it was more according to that. I'm just curious, in the end, Yes, it's more money. In the end, it's more money. And yeah, I mean, did Steve Cohen get a chance to match that?

And he's like, no, I just can't go the extra $20 million? Is that what it was? We're starting to get tricky with how the actual math is laid out. But yes, the Mets supposed final offer was four years to 20. So that would be $20 million short. But again, we've got a different signing bonus and no deferred. We don't have the Blue Jays final offer. But, you know, when we get into some of the Dodgers chaos of it all,

like the numbers, the numbers that hit the final tweet or however you consume your information, Kyle Tucker, in a way, accepted the best offer or on par. Sure. To go to a team that's surely going to be there. Can't be around it. Can't say that about the Mets. Didn't make the dance last year. Yeah, so, I mean, and you can fault them for that.

People are like, people will fault you for that. Hey, you're, you're, you're just going, taking the easy route. It's like, I don't know, like, I always try to relate this back to just like people's decisions about their jobs. If the better company in your field was offering you more money, is that taking the easy way out or is that the smart decision? it's you know Trev sometimes sometimes it's a little more obvious than it feels they're like I it's be it's but it's become this players are greedy narrative out there

and I'm just like I understand I understand when we're talking these types of numbers that it's like who can who can fucking relate to it like nobody can nobody can so I I get it. But like, the other side of this is like, the owners are all billionaires and it's a thousand million to get to one billion and their franchise, like it's just, you're, you're, we're putting

like these, a lot of times on the, on the internet, at least what I'm seeing, it's like, these small market teams can't compete. They can't compete. And they're almost making these teams seem like they're like, they're like the little guy, the mom and pop. And that's just like, it's not the case. It's not. no but we can get into there is there is a conversation and I'm not saying that fans are wrong and stupid because they're not

is there a disadvantage to teams throughout baseball or not there is yes there is every team gets to play by the same rules except for the fact the Dodgers have a massive TV deal right they have an ownership group that can mitigate risk because it's

it's a group it's not a single family so those two things alone allow them to take risk that other teams aren't willing to take I will point out that as we've seen and again like we'll never truly know

because teams won't open the books but the Dodgers are also putting in a higher percentage back of the revenue into their payroll correct and they're giving money they're getting taxed like crazy on this deal alone, 110% of this contract.

So, you know, $57.5 million is what's getting hit against the CBT. Okay? That means that 110% of that on top of it is taxed and going to players retirement funds and then the other teams that aren't across the CBT. So half of that. So call it $62 million. So $31 million is getting sent out to the, these teams just on Kyle Tucker's contract per year getting sent to them as part of the

revenue sharing process of this. And like, are they, are these teams putting it back into the payroll? The small market teams, it doesn't really seem like it. It doesn't feel that way. And yes, I think that's where we can echo the sentiment of the people. The system is not perfect. It's far from. But the fact is right now the Dodgers are playing by the rules.

and, you know, again, what the San Diego Padres did a few years back is the perfect example. The Padres that were a small market team for years, they still are a small market team, but their owner went out and paid. And your team can do that, but they're not. And again, yes, the TV deal is unfair. I think with some of the deferred money, we need rules. Like, you know, I'm not the number one rules guy out there. I think we need something because, you know,

Yeah, something about that feels off right now. But there's also other teams paying a lot of money. The Yankees, the Mets, the Red Sox, other franchises have been putting out big numbers there, and they're not getting results. The Dodgers have just been a class organization. And you could go through all their transactions, and you could have traded for Mookie, or you could have signed Snell the year before.

Or you could have... Freddie Freeman didn't want to leave. Remember that? Like, dude, you could go, Tyler Glass now you could have traded for. Again, there's a conversation like you had to pay them and the Dodgers because they have a bigger budget, the risk with blah, blah, blah. But I don't know, man. I get frustrated with that stuff. And this is where like my former Yankee colors are showing because the Yankees in a way used to be this team.

Even though Yankee fans are fighting back now, we were homegrown. Yeah, you paid all those guys so much money. Okay. A lot of things unpack. I have so many thoughts. I have a lot of thoughts on this. I'm interested in a deferral talk. I don't want to get rid of deferral deferred payments

because I do believe if we're talking about teams that don't have the TV contract, that is a way for them to get in play for some of these free agents. Now, I'd be interested in. And again, I'm like, I'm spitballing here for the most part. I don't sit around and think about how we're going to restructure

the financial system of Major League Baseball. That's not my job, man. I don't... And guess what? I'm a high school grad. I don't have that. And no shame. No shame on that.

I'm pretty smart for being a high school grad. I got college credits. I took AP classes. That's good. That's sick. Maybe we limit what the teams that are over the tax thresholds can defer. And we let the bottom teams

that aren't over the tax threshold defer whatever they. want. I don't know. Maybe that kind of makes sense to me in my, in my brain, big baseball brain, you know, maybe not so big of another type of brain. And I'm okay with that. And I'm okay to be wrong and I'm okay to take the heat from people. You know, the Dodgers, we always talk about them being a class organization. They are. Are they as homegrown as they used to be? They are not. But they still have a very good minor league system. They develop players. They surely know how to scout talent, Jake. As you mentioned, they went out and took

Muky Betts for who? For Connor Wong? Who else was it? I don't want to point fingers at other players. I'm just saying, like, they went out and made that trade. They did go out and steal Freddie Freeman. Like, they are, they understand what they want and they have the ability and the resources to go out and get it. I don't think we should be mad at the Dodgers. I just don't think we should be mad at the Dodgers. So that's like where I'm at with all of this.

And if you want to go to Yankees talk and you want to talk lockout and everyone's saying it's never been like this before, the Yankees. I looked this up last night. 2005, the Yankees were spending over three times the median Major League Baseball payroll. Three times. The median baseball payroll right now is around $150 to $160 million. That would put the Dodgers at $450.50. to $480 million, they're not there yet. So like, do we have a lockout?

After 2005, we didn't. And also, the term lockout, we can have a lockout. Who cares if we have a lockout? It's a strike or missing games that we care about. We had a lockout before. Lockout just means that free agency has to stop. Players can't go into facilities and coaches can't talk to the players in the offseason.

Lockout, stop using the word lockout. Who cares about a lockout? we don't want to miss games. We're going to have, we're going to have a bargaining agreement spat. It's probably going to get ugly. Fine. Baseball is doing too well right now as a whole

for us to miss significant games. Or like we shouldn't miss any games. We're being honest. You know what, you know what? You know what you do? Get the sides talking right now. Let's not wait. Let's not wait.

that's how they negotiate and like i again we triv i i do want to put this out there we could be wrong like i don't know one wrong thing happens or max shirzer heads into negotiations with a samurai sword or some like who knows who knows what could happen but i i do believe you're right and i i think things are leading up towards the next cb a where there's going to be more tv contract stuff figured out and there's going to be more money in the table to fight over that yes i think in this moment in baseball, both sides aren't truly ready to go to war, but we could be wrong and let's see what happens with that. Hey, let's talk a little more baseball for a second and just put a kind of close the loop on Tucker and the Dodgers, even though, again, I guess there's not a ton to say,

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And Trev, honestly, this can probably be pretty high and tight. I think Bobbo has the lineup. And it's looking solid for the Dodgers. Otani, Betts, Freeman, Tucker, Smith, Muncie, Teosker, Tommy Edmund, Andy Pahas, currently has Miguel Rojas

just because he gets to do a world, Series lap because Shohei said so. And that's before you get into their pitching where I honestly forgot they signed Edwin Diaz. So I guess final Dodgers baseball thoughts and I guess any final Kyle Tucker thoughts. Although like, I don't know, I know sometimes we laugh at our, you know, you were talking about big brain or other big body parts you have. Like I don't know.

I don't know what else you say. like great, great Kyle Tucker, you just got $240 million for four years of baseball. On the Kyle Tucker side, yeah, I mean, he earned it, man. He's been, he's been that guy for a long time. You can say he hasn't, and I've said this,

and you know, it's true. He hasn't had those like elite, elite seasons and eight, nine war season, but he has been consistently a very, very, very good baseball player. And he's got an excellent chase rate. and he doesn't strike out. Like he's a dude, man. Like he is.

The Dodgers needed outfield help. They went out and got it. He fits everything for them. I'm looking at the lineup. The bullpen is hilarious to me because I'm looking at D.S. Tanner Scott, Vessia, and Trinan. Tanner Scott was there last year.

Vessi was there last year. Blake Trine was there last year. None of those guys even pitched in the playoffs. Yeah. Obviously, Vescia for a completely different reason. Tanner Scott, was hurt slash wasn't pitching well. Trinan got a couple innings and that was bad. It's, I'm curious, I'm just, I keep going back to yes, if the Blue Jays had won the

World Series last year, what would the discussion be right now? Yeah, I mean, it would still be loud, right? Like the Dodgers are making. I don't think it would be as loud. No, the Dodgers are making a ton of transactions and, hey, if you really want to go crazy, you know, Looney Tunes, not talking Canadian money, but if Toronto won and they got a little more World Series money, does their offer for Tucker change and we're just living in a whole different world? And that's the other thing. Like, if there was another team kind of doing what the Dodgers

were doing, I think everything would be going, there'd still be a conversation. Everything wouldn't be going away. The one thing that I will put a caveat out there that I like fair. That's part of the reason I like sports. Roki Sasaki in signing there, just because like a pipeline kind of opened up. There's something, there's something slightly amiss with that. What do you mean? A pipeline has opened up. We had, we had a Japanese player go to Chicago.

We had a Japanese player go to Toronto. We had a Japanese player go to Houston. this is not, you know, everyone said they're going to get every single player. They didn't get one this offseason. They got Yamamoto. They don't have room for those guys, Trap. Where's a my slot in their rotation? It doesn't matter.

They'll push somebody out. Emmett Sheehan, see you later. Like, what do you mean? Oh, so you don't like Emmett Sheehan? I like Emmett Sheehan. That's what the Dodgers would do. Oh, have any options left? He does, by the way, two.

see in the pen kiddo yeah and again they limped somehow like they were on one leg and won the world series right and I hey I agree with that

I know Miguel Rojas was the hero dude right Miguel Rojas gets under that pitch a little more or again also Will Smith Will Smith nobody talks about he was also the hero right

And Will Klein was the hero. Yeah, and dude, some baseball people still aren't on this, and that's fine. And I didn't touch a lot of grass, but I know they were scared of the double play, but it was a tie game, and IKF was being a good soldier. I don't like the general's orders, and I don't like what the soldier did, because you could have won a World Series. And yes, I think this whole conversation changes. And again, Dodgers, people, if you didn't like that part of the speech,

I'll go back to what I said before. There's a lot of teams paying enough money, a lot of money that aren't having near the same level of success that the Dodgers have just been the class organization. And, you know, if you want to do even more sliding doors, you can go to 2017. And, you know, if they got that title, what are we talking about? We don't have to do that right now.

People are also coming at the city of Los Angeles. It's so funny. Like the juxtaposition, love that word, by the way. way, haven't used it in a while, of like the, what people say about L.A. A lot of people say, L.A., your mouse, is a shithole. It's disgusting. I hate L.A. And then on the other hand, you're like, oh, of course she's going to L.A. Why wouldn't she want to go live in L.A.? It's like, that's crazy. And you know what? It's almost accurate. Maybe there is a couple different sides of Los Angeles. Yeah, I think you kind of agree. I think,

I don't know. When I was in L.A. with you, there's, There's some different... Every place has bad parts. Every place has nice parts. I think there's still a consensus. I know how proud you get about L.A. The consensus is still... L.A. is...

We need some... We need a better mayor. Here we go. L.A. consensus still a cool place, and especially if you have 60 million Ms a year. Where's Kyle Tucker going to live? I think you can make... You'd be my guy.

He might be your neighbor. Yeah, it's Studio City. He's going to want a gate, I'd assume. I don't know, man. It'll be interesting. You and him playing Minecraft? I don't play Minecraft. Good for Kyle Tucker.

I think he does. Good for the Dodgers. And that's obvious. Do we want to go more CBA labor? Do we want to go more internet reaction? Do we want to go Mets? Like, where is your heart out? Let's continue with like the baseball talk.

This is talking baseball. Mets, you know, pivot point now. I said this on baseball today with Chris Rose. Like does Steve Cohen go on tilt now? Or is he like, is he disenfranchised with like, I'm going to be the gunslinger, I'm going to be the, like, he came in and that was the thought. Like he was going to be the guy that got every single free agent

because he had the deepest pockets. Along come the Dodgers, and they're like, nah, dude, like, we have, we're a fund. We got you. Like, so, like, does he go on tilt? Or does he, like, say, you know what? Maybe I need to tighten up a little bit.

Does he go and spend on belly? Does he go and try to make moves? He's got assets to trade. Like, does he go and just kind of push the chips in? Or does it make him shy that he's looking across, you know, his league and seeing what the do. Dodgers have. Again, I feel like the answer very much should be the chips are going in. Like one of my first reactions is Cody Bellinger is going to be a met. I've already had that

planted in my head and now with the Tucker move. I mean, Cohen tweet and, and who knows, like, again, because you could spin this both ways. Like maybe he really thought they were going to get Tucker and he wanted to flex that and have a little fun on the internet. Maybe he's, was starting to get signs that they were going to have a crazy offer and get beat. But either way, if you're the Mets right now, I just, hey, you can believe in Stearns and believe in system building and all that. But where are you at in the NL East right now? Like the Braves feel reloaded and they just had a year from hell.

The Phillies might not be done with the offseason and they still feel like they're a great team with some big prospects on the way. I don't know, man. Your trades, Pete Alonzo left, and that guy was a lock for 35 homers and driving in how many runs behind Soto? You traded Nimmo for Simeon, which was a little bit of a money play, but I think baseball-wise for the present, you got lesser. And you have young guys around the field.

some of them I like, but Trev, this game is really hard to be good. I don't know if Mark Vientos is going to be an all-star this year or back in AAA. That, like, if you're the Mets and you've paid almost a billy to bring in Juan Soto, where are you at? I'm just trying to think, like, what they can do because they do have a surplus of young pitching that's very coveted throughout the league. now the teams that are looking to get that young pitching, what do they have to offer?

The Red Sox just signed Ranger Suarez. So that was one group. I was like that makes a lot of sense as a trade partner for them because I thought they were going to go out and get Bregman or get Bichet and they would want to kind of like bolster that rotation. Well, they did that via free agency. So now that kind of takes away. you trading for some of these pitchers.

And now it looks to me like the Red Sox have trade chips in the outfield to go out and get a Cattel Marte. So it's, do the Mets go try to do that? Like I think you have to go think outside the box. And I think you do. If you are serious about like trying to compete, you have to sign Bellinger, you have to take some of those young pitchers

and go out there and try to convince, a team and say take these young guys, we need that major league talent right now. Like we need, I don't, I mean, I'm looking at their roster resource right now. What do the Mets need after Bellinger? Say they get Bellinger. Like, yeah, first base help.

They had a guy. It could have done that. I don't know how many first basemen are available that you'd want to trade one of these very highly touted pitching prospects for. Right. Yeah. They're in an interesting spot, man.

so is the team across town. And I know people don't, you know, we have another show where people can listen to us, talk some yanks. But yeah, man, both of those teams have a big old spotlight on them. Everything that people are talking about the Dodgers right now was supposed to be the Mets. It was called the Cohen tax. And now that that reputation that we thought they changed with the Juan Soto signing hasn't really changed. The Yanks, man, again, I'm. I know they're not the Yankees that I grew up in loving baseball.

Well, they act like they are. And I'll tell you what, if Aaron Judge walks away from this franchise without a World Series ring, that's a disgrace. That's a disgrace to the sport, not to the sport, to the team and the franchise. And the fans, the fans that still go out here and we're Yankee fans and, oh, screw you guys. we're not doing we're not doing anything I don't know what we're promised in the AL East

and I guess zooming out to the CBA and baseball again and that stuff other teams should be doing this and again I know I know it's not necessarily fair for the sport and if you're a small market team I'm sorry right now but we do need to get some different rules in there

whether it's a floor whether it's you know deferred payments if you're you know, in the smaller markets, whether it's a different rev share, whether there's different penalties. I don't know. Guys are getting paid at an amazing level.

I think that's good. You know, I see people saying, what, 60 million for Kyle Tucker? Hey, you know, not to hit you with like the Matrix, view things through a different lens. What if Kyle Tucker's worth that? What if a lot of players are just underpaid? And we could just view things through that scope.

Isn't that interesting? I went on a ramble there. I'm sorry. Yeah, you did. I'm sorry. I'm looking at like available third baseman for the Mets. I just, I looked up,

you know, leaders of last year. Like, Gino Svarez isn't, I don't think he fixes the Mets. Like, I don't think that's a fit. A couple of names I,

I'm looking at here. I don't think the Ray is part with Junior Camerro. Yeah. I had at 45 homers last year. No. Royals not parted with Michael Garcia. Jose Ramirez. Those are the top three as far as F war last year.

After that, it kind of becomes like, hey, Mani Machado, nice season last year, 3.8 F war. Matt Chapman. Do the giants kind of like fold and say, hey, like, let's start dealing some of these guys? A lot of Giants fans not so happy. That was like the predominant.

group of people in my ex when I said like I think business is booming Giants fans not happy about what's going on or now I don't really think that's happy I don't know what they do third base they need corner infield help they're in a predicament Pete Alonzo was the answer

seemed a little basic but seemed like it would have worked what about the Blue Jays I mean that was another he was rumored to be going there I think they're okay they've had a great offseason dude yeah I think you know sometimes we over analyze and why not? That's the beauty of sports sometimes.

But, you know, the Blue Jays front office came out and they said they had that quote that was like, hey, if we bring in a good player, we're taking away playing time from a good player. And I think that feels true. I don't know if they're out on Bo. I mean, Bo's got to be feeling choose. Bo's got to, Bo and Cody have to be questioning everything right now. Like, wherever their negotiations were at, like, you know, if you're Bo and Cody, do you want

to be like, hey, if there's one of those four-year, $55 million deals out there, I might be okay with that. That I don't know if the Blue Jays are in and out on those players. If you're in on Kyle Tucker for 60 mil, should you be in on Cody for 39? Like, again, my logic kicks in and I'd say yes, that I don't know. I think those two remaining guys did great. I think if you have assets to be traded, like, you know, you and I had a pretty good laugh when they were like Catelle Martes off the table. That's negotiating, folks, because if the price goes up, maybe he's not because there's not, I mean, dude, it's mid-January.

Some guys are already like around their camp. Like some teams, a lot of front offices are like, this is the team we're rolling with that. Yeah, dude, go hunt for third baseman and first base. and let me know what you find. And then are you just, are you bringing in the guy that you thought was best for your team? And I know Andrew Friedman and the Dodgers aren't an advantageous spot right now. Hey, I want to give snaps for Andrew Friedman. As a young baseball boy that at a certain point was like maybe that running a baseball team would be an absolute dream job.

Imagine having the keys to this kingdom right now. Like he's in the Hall of Fame. You're at Andrew Friedman. You made it. He also had a quote in 2016 that I might go spray paint on Yankee Stadium. That if you try to make the right free agent contract, you'll finish third for every free agent. Yes. Yes.

He did say that. And I think there's a lot of teams that like to get the right contract for their free agent. And I don't even think they're thinking about team fit. I think they're thinking about overall war and that kind of thing. where, hey, the Dodgers are bringing in great players. But as we said, Trevin, I do want this to hit home for the Dodger fans that sometimes bring out the nails against me. You can bring in the wrong guys for the right price tag.

My God, have they brought in the right guys? I'm searching for answers for Mets fans right now. I don't have any. They need some help corner infield and they need some help in the outfield. And I think more than just Bell and, It's not a lot out there. Why didn't anyone offer more for Shohei Otani? Can we play that game?

That seemed like a foregone conclusion, coach. Well, I thought they didn't have an advantage. That one seemed like a foregone conclusion. I don't know why it did. Okay. I don't know why it did. Okay. But they haven't, they've signed zero Japanese players this year.

That's all I'm trying to say. Now, they've kind of, they've, they had, did a good job with the guys that they brought over. That's for dang sure. They might have got the three best ones. We'll see. We'll see. Oh, man.

This is going to cause. This is just causing waves. I mean, my social media is just, it's ruined. People are yelling at me telling me I'm an idiot. People like nice people. Yeah. I told Chris Rose, Ian Hap's T-shirt company tweeted at me that I was an idiot. I'm like, what?

Time out. Yeah, what? Can we use a time out here? Okay. Why don't we call ourselves out briefly, Treve? I mean, what are we? And people think I'm a Dodgers fan. What the fuck, dude?

I'm not a Dodgers fan. Is this just horrible? Because I can give you one spin. Like, I had buddies that are sports fans that aren't baseball people texting last night that are interested in the sport. And I, you know, that starts to go into no PR is bad PR. But hey, baseball and Kyle Tucker, a guy that we said, couldn't be like a face of a team.

Well, they stole some headlines last night. And it was kind of a big night for baseball. There are flaws with the current system. I admit that. I don't think this is bad for baseball. And that feels like if I tweet that out right now, like I am, watch out, watch out. It's one of the first things that got sent to me was

can't wait to hear you tell us why this is good for baseball. Right? the Pittsburgh Pirates were going to give Kyle Schwabber $40 million a year okay are they going to reinvest

that $40 million elsewhere they have the ability to do that they're a quote unquote small market team I this is okay all right let's get into it and again like man are these like super fleshed out thoughts

I don't know I've been in this game for a long freaking time we've always been raw a lot. Yeah. A lot of these owners. Okay. And you could talk about the Dodgers and say, well, they have an ownership group with

billions of dollars and assets under management. I understand that. You know, you could talk about Toronto having the same kind of advantage. Here's what I'll say. Most of these owners got into this game a long time ago when franchise values were down. Or like, obviously, way less than they were. were. Most of these owners got in and bought these teams for in the hundreds of millions, if not even tens of millions of dollars. Every single franchise in baseball now is worth

over a billion dollars. I think the average franchise now is what, two, two and a half billion dollars? We're playing loose, but that's fine. Let's just say that. Okay. If you need some help with payroll and you want to mitigate your risk, why not sell off a minority stake in your business and bring in, say you want to bring in some private equity. I don't know. Bring in another guy to share some of that risk with you. Cash out a little bit. Take the money.

If you're hurting for money and this is a bad business, cash in on some of that franchise value. You don't have to sell the whole team. Obviously, you like it. And if business was so bad, Jake, why aren't we seeing more teams for sale? And why are we? Like, these are smart business, man. you don't get rich without being a smart business man, unless your parents gave it to you.

But like if it's so bad, you don't stay in business when it's bad. Yeah. So like I just, that's what I think about, man. If the risk is too much, you can always sell the team or you can sell a portion of the team.

And you get, guess what? Not only do you get help financially, but you also get a big chunk of change. So why aren't teams doing this then? I know, I don't even know what private equity really freaking means, but I know a lot of guys that I'm friends with work for private equity firms. A lot of them want to get into sports. Sports is hot right now.

So like, people are always yelling at their owners, right? I wish my owner would do this. My owner can't afford this. Well, like, they can bring in people. There's no shortage of people right now in this world. And we can get into the economics of the world right now. in a K-shaped economy or like the rich are getting richer.

There's a lot of people wanting to get into sports right now. And if your owner is can't do it, they can bring on somebody to help them do it. And like, I don't know. But like to finish that off, because that is, that is how I feel. On the other end of that, what I don't like,

what I don't like. And this goes for players and owners where, you know, we're seeing franchise values go up, we're seeing contracts go up. I don't like seeing it get passed on to the fans. I don't like seeing ticket prices so high that you can only go to one or two baseball games a year as a family. You can't even buy concessions because they're ridiculously priced. Like, I don't like that. So, like, at the heart of all of this, and again, you have to take the fan into consideration

because they are the business. They are what keeps this all good. going. And you know what? You have to care about and you should care about them. I didn't get to go to a lot of baseball games growing up. The only times I really went was from like a family friend who had season tickets. We would go with him and guess what? We'd bring tuna sandwiches into the game, which is badass by the way. I'm not complaining about that at all.

But like, we can't price fans out. Okay? So like that I think should be at the, the first thing we should talk about in 2026 at the end of the season is not about your piece of the pie, my piece of the pie, it should be about the fans. How can we make this a event, because that's what it is, where more families can come and enjoy it?

We can worry about the TV rights later. We can worry about floor, ceiling, all that stuff. I think that should be at the forefront of the conversation is, can we just figure it out a way to make concessions and ticket prices more affordable for the, the average fan. Like that, that should be at the forefront. A couple things. Uh, the ownership thing you're right about, but also to defend the good people of Pittsburgh, if, if they got a vote to vote their owner out tomorrow, they would do it. Um, so that's, that's part of the problem. And I don't

think there's anything that's going to change in that system, um, that it, it, it would be a dream. And I, I think even Manfred's had a couple quotes that are kind of like, you know, we have a couple owners not pulling their weight. But also, he's got to defend all 30 at once. So it doesn't work like that. It would be great if it did. And if we could, you know, if there was some sicko American system that one owner had to sell their team a year or something, that's not going to happen.

I think for the fan thing, and Trev, maybe this is an offseason episode for now or later if things do get crazy with the CBA. But like, we should do, like, put on our actual things. thinking hats of like a 10-year plan. Because I did a little bit of this last episode because you're right, man. And even if we get so greedy as a society and like, I don't know, like all of us at the end of the day, a little more money would help. Sure would.

But that's how they view their business. And they're looking at bottom lines. And that's where, hey, I wish I could get mad at the Dodgers because I wish there was more owners doing their damnedest. I wish there was more Padres that were like, hey, man, every, the past couple off offseason would be like, I don't know what the Padres can do. Like, are they, are they flush with cash or are they in a weird situation that's going to be a bad 30 for 30 one day?

But right now, I don't have enough teams in those smaller markets pushing and that does fall on the ownerships. Those GMs and those front offices, they want better players in. someone has to sign off on the check, and that's that. From a 10-year perspective, you're absolutely right. The problem is, owners are saying, how do we get more revenue? How do we get more money? Well, it's tickets and concessions.

That's a part of the formula. But, you know, let's look at the Savannah bananas right now. How good of an example of they are fan-first experience, that if you do stuff for the fans who are paying, who are watching the games, who are going to the games, who are buying merch, who are buying, Like the payoff over time is better than the short term. And we have just lost sight of that as Major League Baseball. So I hope there's a way that the owners can come together because at the end of the day,

if there's more fans involved, your overall value of that company and business gets better, that I do think we've strayed too far away from that. Isn't there just some sort of equation that you can come up? up with it's like okay I'd rather have my stadium full for a couple different reason number one it just like looks better the atmosphere is better it's more fun if like think about this is it fun is it more fun to go to like a stadium when it's half full or full like the the vibe is just so much different on games where it is rocking in there right so what's the price point that gets everybody into the stadium and what can you do to entertain people and have them want to come see your product

on the field. I got to believe there is some sort of price point where it's like, okay, it makes sense for us to fill this damn ballpark up. Instead of having our ticket prices be out of reach and our concession prices be out of reach, we're like, nobody really wants to come to the games. Like to me, like that seems pretty simple. It truly does. The team, the team. The team, TV stuff is interesting because I think that's where a lot of teams want to make their money. I like don't care where the games are

because I'm an idiot and have every single service that you can have. And like a lot of people can't do that. And you know, for the teams that have their own channels, like for instance, the Dodgers, if you're in LA, you can't watch them unless you have that specific channel. And that's what's going to come

to a head and when all the other TV deals are up is how is majorly baseball going to try to get these teams, the Dodgers, the Yankees, the Mets, the Cubs, I'm forgetting the other teams that have their own networks. How are you going to convince those teams to say like, well, like, you kind of got to stop that because we need to bundle everybody together because that's better for the sport of baseball. That's going to be the interesting time. That's going to be owners versus owners right there. And I'm curious to see how that goes. But it's like the stadium stuff, you can talk about the bananas.

They truly try to keep their prices down. They're trying to do some sort of like no resale tickets because they want to have full stadiums. It just makes more sense. Like we got to get to a point where we just make it more accessible for families to get to the game. It's like the parking's ridiculous. The tickets are ridiculous.

the concessions are stupid. It's like we need to figure that aspect out. In my opinion, that means almost more than anything. Because when you get those experiences, when it's a good one, and you feel like you're actually getting some fucking value, when's the last time in this world you felt like you got some value? Probably from this show. It's free to watch.

Yeah, I mean, it's part of the reason, like, the podcasting YouTube industry has been so successful. You just got to listen to a few ads and that's it. Right. So like feeling like you get value out of something is so rare in today's world that that's where you have to focus on. Can we make a family of four or whatever your family is come out and feel like they got their money's worth? Right now if you go to a baseball game, you don't feel that way. The games are shorter.

It's more expensive. You just don't feel it. So there's got to be something, man. We got to figure that out. Yeah. And I think it just has to do with the long term. vision because also right now short term and these are where a lot of the tweets and stuff going out like baseball is doing amazing attendance wise baseball is doing amazing views wise that you know i think

that was what a lot of people were using to counter the people that like the dodgers are ruining baseball are they um maybe they are in a couple years if you know year five of the dodgers winning the world series but i think we all know in the back of our heads with this sport it's not how it works what if what if the dodgers the dodgers weren't really you know in a three-game playoff. They ran into the Reds who were a little thin. Like,

what if I, like, I'm not going to do that whole thing again. It's not exactly how baseball works. It gives the Dodgers a ton of options, and that's the scary thing. They hit under 200 in the World Series. They had a pitching staff that was hurt that, maybe we're at the end of this year, like,

whoa, we do need to use a timeout. But that hasn't really happened. You know, the Yanians, Yankee teams I grew up loving. It sneaky stopped after 2000, man. Like, they lost 0-1 to the snakes, and then it took until 2009, where they signed a chunk of free agents

to retool their whole organization. That, yeah, I don't know. I'm fascinated to see the next steps. Like you said with the TV stuff, I think that is going to be the next piece, and that's why we think the next labor negotiation will be really the ugly one. But yeah, I think baseball's drinking it in right now.

And I'd like to think they have a plan with the TV stuff because they're basically being open about it, that they're lining up all these contracts. And every now and then you hear MLBs taking another one. Or I think the Orioles recently came out that their TV contract was running out or, I guess, let me know below. But, like, that's the plan. That's the plan.

Yeah, I mean, look, it's, simplest version is that every single team is on MLB.tv, MLB.com, and you just have the app, you pay a certain amount of money, and you can watch any team blackouts are gone. Now, again, those teams that have their own network making a bunch of change, they're not going to want that because they're going to say, well, that's a lot of our revenue gone. So maybe like the percentage of revenue goes higher to those teams for bringing that to the table. I don't see that happening. But that is the easiest solution would just be like, we're all on. one. And wouldn't fans really appreciate that? If you just had an app and you said, I want to watch that

game today. Yeah. And I think, yes, we're the fun part about it. And again, this will be a late night episode when we need it. But nobody knows where the world's going. Because I guess I just get nerd. If baseball's only on the MLB app, how do you get new fans? You know, how do you get the, because if you're a baseball person, you're like, yeah, this is a no-brainer. Well, it was. wouldn't be only on you could put it elsewhere but it will always be on the MLB app. Right. Right. Like no exclusivity

is what I'm talking about. Gotcha. Yeah. I think that is what they're going for. Like I think for some of this big picture stuff, the league kind of has it. We just don't know how they're going to get there or will there be an owner rift at one point which

fire me up. Didn't you, who were your owners in the expansion draft? the guy that owns all of Utah right guy that owns all of Utah Ryan Ryan something And then I think it didn't you have a Dolly Parton Taylor Swift ownership group? Yes Nashville yeah Fire me up yeah let's go

Let's bring in some tech dudes that made a ton off Bitcoin They want to blow some money like let's fire it up Fayo where you have yo The other thing, shut out, fail. This was the last thing going through my head. And again, some of these topics, you and I could get lost for a long time. And we will. Hopefully forever, Coach.

I know you're trying to make it to 115. I'm, I don't know, 70. Okay. Maybe the most electric Rockies game this year. Do you remember what that was? Most electric Rockies game? Yeah. Yeah.

On the other end of the spectrum, we talked a lot of Dodgers today. Was it against the Diamondbacks? I don't know who they played, and that's part of the hint. But it was maybe the most electric Rockies crowd this year. Do you remember they had Ryan Day? Yeah. Where they just had a bunch of people named Ryan come out to the game. Because people just want to have a good time, dog.

And that's kind of the whole point. that's part of the reason we watch baseball that's part of the reason you go to the games if Ryan Spillboros is listening to this show which why wouldn't he be? He is. You and your co-host both said you would quit your job if a certain pitcher, I forget who it was,

went seven innings against the twins. He went seven innings against the twins. Whoa. Whoa! Are you a man of your word? Are you a man of your word? And finally, Trev, the beef you've been looking

to cause on this program. We're finally there. I told him, I said, have you seen the twins lately? Oh, and some twin trapnel to end it. This is a dream. I'm, uh, I'll be at Twins Fest, man. Like, I'm going to be there sounding on a group. You're going.

I'm going. Didn't Joe Ryan just dropped out? Joe Ryan dropped out. You got a new baby at home. What do you mean? It's fine. Yeah. I'm going to find the guy who they said.

I should know it off the top of my head. Okay. Okay. I mean, this is what the people want to end the episode with. Well, Trev finds that. Yeah, just to remind one episode. Of course it was Herman Marquez. Hermann. Hermann Marquez. That of a negative one-one war, 6-7 ERA. They said, if this guy goes seven innings, I think they said equality star or something like that. I forget what it was. They're going to quit their job. And I said, you have not seen the twins lately. Let's see what he did against the twins. maybe it wasn't Herma Marquez because he did not go well. Who else was it? Okay.

For those of you not interested in the end of the Minnesota twin season, a couple final notes. I like putting myself in other people's shoes. If you were a Dodgers fan today or you're a fan of your team and they were doing what the Dodgers are doing, winning back-to-back World Series and signing more good players, would you be mad? I don't think you would be.

Antonio Zenzatella was the guy. That was the guy. He had a tough season. He had a tough year last year. Seven innings pitched, three earned runs. He had a negative point four war, 665 ERA in 30 games, 23 starts. One eight whip, but he got them twins. My other...

He's a Dodger fan. He's a Dodger fan. He's a Dodger fan. My other final update... Maybe people also try having yourself a Dodger day. I think I'm about to have myself a Dodger brunch. I think I'm going to have an omelet. I think I'm going to have avocado toast.

I'm going to have oatmeal. I'm going to have fruit. Oh, Splur's Day? I'm going to have coffee. I'm going to have tea. I'm going to have matcha. I'm going to just go get everything. Why not?

And see if you like how that feels. Are you saying the Dodgers are going to get sick of themselves eventually? No, I think it's a great feeling. I think if I would, that sounds disgusting to me what you just said. Well, that was a little gluttonous. We always struggle with that word. It's gluttonous, yeah. Yeah.

I have to tell you something on that note. Okay. And we're past it now. We're just talking. I hired a trainer. Wow. Yeah. Let's go.

This guy started talking to me at the gym. And I'm like, all right, like, I would actually like a trainer because I go in there alone, you know, when you go into the gym alone, like you can do it, you like it. I like don't like it. I feel like I don't push myself as much as I need to be pushed. And I just like asked him,

I'm like, you know, what's the rate? And he sent me this, he told me the rate and I was like, done. Done. Done.

So watch out, Jay. Okay, I love it. I went on a program for a little bit last year. It wasn't in person training, but it was nice having some guidelines and like, you know, just not having to think about it.

I definitely think in person, you know, someone yelling at you and like not cutting any of the corners. Yeah. The gym I go to, you know, there's a lot of old people that go to it. So typically he trains that age group, like older people. And he was doing a demo with this lady's older ladies. She must have been 75 years old. Sure. And he was trying to put her on that like that rogue bike where you like have to do the arms too.

And I said, dude, you're going to. to kill her. Yeah. Like her heart will stop. Like I've puked from those bikes before. You're trying to put her on that? And he's like, dude, I know. That's why I got to train you.

I need that. You're going to be on that at 75, coach. I'm going to be there, yeah. Yeah. She's fit. She's fit. I don't know. I feel healthy.

Feel strong. And we should probably let the people know. I don't want to say we found out it was a holiday weekend, but We were like, okay. So I think there won't be a Monday Epp. This is half a replacement for that. If Boba Shed or Cody does something crazy or Ketl or know what was funny, this is where the internet is good.

All the tweets that came out were like, What if L.A. trades for Scoobel? Jake sucks. They could. They got a farm system. They got one of the best farm systems. I told Chris Rose, I think it's Bellinger Scoobel. to the Mets.

Be a good way to save face. And the Yanks just keep sinking lower and lower and lower.