Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - Tony Clark Resigns From Role at MLBPA | 1125

Episode Date: February 18, 2026

Use our code for 10% off your next SeatGeek order*: https://seatgeek.onelink.me/RrnK/TALKIN2026. Sponsored by SeatGeek. *Restrictions apply. Max $20 discountStart your free online visit today at https://Hims.com/talkin for your personalized ED treatment options.Save on essentials. Save the everyday with Amazon. https://www.amazon.com++++++++++Timestamps:0:00 Did Trevor Make a Mistake?2:50 Olympics3:05 Tony Clark Resigns From MLBPA11:15 What's Next?15:40 How Will This Impact Negotiations with MLB?  32:50 Justin Verlander, Zac Gallen, and Chris Bassitt Sign  41:30 Twins Lose Pablo Lopez (Likely) for the Year  42:55 Veterans are Important47:15 Padres Just Signed So Many Players1:00:00 Tony Vitello  1:05:50 Free Agent Forecast  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. A lot of pitching signings to catch up on and spring trainings rolling. Oh, yeah, some sister brother, brother, sister. We got some stuff to talk about. We have some stuff to talk about. Zach Gallen. Colston Montgomery, good matchup. Good matchup.

Good matchup. Count leverage matters. Hello and welcome to talking baseball. 18th. You know what today is Coach Trev. Get ready to get that cell phone out. The Jambino's birthday. Shout out. Yeah, already live. I had it up. I had it up. Yep. Okay. Shout out Ash Wednesday. Oh, wow. A two for. Uh, shout out to the big guy. 37. Um, we're going to catch up on some ball today. Um, and some not ball. A little bit of off the field, coach trev because like you mentioned maybe one of the biggest stories in sports right now though

olympics and what they're doing in the village and all that stuff um but baseball the cage got rattled and a cba pod that we're going to be coming up uh the first big chess move just happened and i don't know i don't know what to do with it and i think people are where i'm worried about what i'm going to say uh before we get there how are you doing coach i'm doing great i have my own work Many people might know this. I probably talked about on the show. I bought my son a e-bike for Christmas. And it wasn't like fast enough, basically. Like his friends had this other one that I didn't want to get, but now he's like lagging behind. So he's really, really wanted it. Ended up getting him that one. And I put it together last night, took it for a spin. It's dangerous. And now I'm going through this like dilemma of like, did I just. do the worst thing possible as a parent. No. That's where I'm at.

I mean, he's going to take a spill and there's a range of where that lands, but that's how you learn, man. Like, I don't know. I remember my first traumatic bike accident. I was going downhill. That's not making me feel better at all. Did you ever fall off a bike? Like, yes, you did.

I didn't have a motorcycle bike that goes like 40 miles an hour. Yeah, that's fair. 10 years old. That's fair. I mean, how fast do bikes get going downhill is like a kid? We're probably gaining some speed. I don't know. I mean, you probably felt like you're going a lot faster than you were going.

Yeah, you're probably right. He's going to be great. He's Teddy balls. He's going to talk about him. By the way, the Olympic Village and, like, what we're going to talk about? Not too dissimilar. Unfortunately, unfortunately close. And he didn't think we'd be talking about it.

We probably thought the Olympic Village situation we would cover. It is a Wednesday episode, so the life advice at the end. Man, Trev, I, okay, this is a serious topic. The headline is shocking. And we're going to talk all the ball. This originally was just going to be a ball catch-up episode Verlander, Gallen, Bassett. The Padres did their now annual collection of players that have a ton of upside and also potentially not. But first, we have to cover this Tony Clark situation.

The bomb got dropped yesterday, passing. Rosenthal came out with an article. Tony Clark, the MLBPA president, resigns, which I think that's detail-oriented there because I think could have been fired. And allegedly, we've got some inappropriate stuff going on. And Trev, this is, the original report was that there was, like, money embezzling type.

stuff from this Players Way Youth Baseball Initiative group. And then about 30 minutes later, we've got some, an inappropriate relationship with his sister-in-law. That also he hired to the union. So, Coach, I'm going to defer. I'll kick off. Why don't you lead us into this a little bit? I'll take the ball here. This is, I mean, it's a big deal.

It's a big story. Tony Clark, who I was on the community that voted him in. Why are we going single shot here? I don't like that. Like, I just felt like I was on trial right now. Yeah, that was a little intense. I like it. BPD's here today, by the way.

We're running it back. Out of big, you know what. John's B day. Okay, that threw me off a little bit there. Big story. Obviously, we're in a year that bargaining needs to happen. The end of the collective bargaining agreement is December 1st, 2026. Things need to start happening between the Union and Major League Baseball so we don't have a lockout so we can extend or have a new CBA and continue playing this beautiful sport. It was already going to be contentious because there's, been a lot of talk about a salary cap and the Dodgers winning back-to-back World Series really has amplified that because of the way that they're able to spend with their TV deals. So there's a lot of things going on. And the Union, the Major League Baseball Players Association needed to be tight about how things were going.

This is about as loose as it gets, Coach. This is as loose as it gets. I will say a few things. You know, again, I did vote Tony Clark. He was voted unanimously during that process, excuse me. He was a guy that Michael Wiener suggested to the group. And that was our guy. Michael Wiener was like, that was our guy. So it was almost a no-brainer for us. A little bit of hesitance because other leagues having former players as the head of their

unit has not worked out well. But we figured, hey, like Tony's getting an endorsement by the guy that we trust the most in the world. Like, all right, let's do this. And for the most part, Tony's been, Tony's been fine. I don't think he was the best. Right.

But I think he's done a good job leading the union, you know, was there. Like, I had a good voice to him, a good presence to him. Like, he was in it, man. Like, he was in it. Like, he was a guy that took the job very, very seriously.

I guess until he didn't. Yeah. because what was really happening here where there was a there was a licensing company called one team partners that was part owned by the union and then there was Players Way which was like a youth baseball type initiative and that was where this investigation was going. Players Way had spent like a ton of money but really like didn't have anything to show for it like a few appearances showcases call what you will and that prompted an investigation. So that already was a little weird. A lot of players like were just told this thing was happening, didn't really understand exactly what it was. And it's one of those things. That's like so far on the back burner of a player's mind. It's like,

number one, I'm trying to be a good baseball player. Number two, like we have bigger fish to fry with the upcoming end of the CBA. So like there's a lot of things on your mind. This kind of slipped through the cracks, but there was the investigation there, which was not a good look for Tony. And then during this investigation, there was, you know, an incident found between Tony and his sister-in-law, who, as you mentioned, he hired to do things for, I don't know if it was not necessarily for the union, but some part of a business that he had influence on. Yeah. So there's inappropriate relationship, a little bit of nepotism,

a lot of bad things happening, kind of all at once for Tony, and now he's out, coach. And he had, I mean, obviously he had to be. He's out. He's out. And he has to be. That's good final, final notes by you there, Trev. Yeah, man.

I mean, it's, um, it was insane. Like, you know, we, we have a pretty baseball-centric office here. here. And again, you know, I wonder for our listeners, I think a lot of them do care about the labor negotiations and stuff, because I think if you're, if you're old enough to tune into this program, I think that you start to appreciate, and especially, dude, the crap we've gone through between, and it's where you landed on like Tony Clark has done a fair job, because I think if you wanted to be hypercritical, you could say below fair, but there also has a lot of crazy circumstances going from COVID into that initial lockout, non-lockout.

Like, there has been a lot going on. You know, I know as we were Labor Pod people, we discussed that if you went voting through the years on some of the CBAs, you could say the players may have lost a couple steps. I know we've covered that in years past, and I'm sure we're going to check in on that coming up. But this is just crazy. This is just crazy. And it's, I guess on the Tony Clark side, man, it feels as messy as possible. I mean, when everyone was reading that sister-in-law, you know, we live in a world of internet jokes that, you know, our guy, our guy foolish tweeted out what kind of everyone was thinking of like, wait, is that sister, sis, is that, brother. Complicated stuff

that you'd never think we'd be talking about on talking baseball unless it was a full-blown goof or a skit or something like that. And that's on top of the misuse. I don't know if embezzlement's the right word. Abuse of power, misuse of resources. Yeah, Eastern District of New York is investigating him and the use of the funds. And then, I mean, I guess the sister-sister stuff is more. I don't know, just a check on character?

And the fact that she was hired. Right, right. So it becomes an inappropriate workplace relationship as well. Okay, so getting to what's next and like what we can expect. I think the messaging has been very, very clear from the players who they've all basically said the same thing. That's kind of how it goes with this stuff. And this is true. It's not like it's fake.

It's like only doesn't make the decisions. Right. Tony was the voice in the head, but there's committees of players that vote on these things. And Tony just brings it to the table. And he's not even the lead negotiator. He was just kind of like... He's a figurehead.

He's a figure head. Literally six, eight, like in a way, a larger than life person. We've, I will say this. We've made a couple. jokes about his look over the years because it's it's so identifiable that massive white beard on a six eight massive man like it so when tony clark walked in a room it's a it's like a powerful thing um again that that that image has has changed a little bit for us um but yeah the the players

i don't know i it was kind of you know we've got a jameson tyone quote on the sheet here um chris Bassett now with now with the Baltimore Birds that we'll talk about in a second but yeah like you're right everyone came out and again could there be a weird world in two years

where the article comes out where it's like Tony Clark not being there was great for the players again that's that would almost be too aggressive for what we're saying that like Tony Clark wasn't the players union he represented it I think there was already a little bit of a divide in like what people thought about Tony Clark in the union there was I believe this was

two years ago the whole mess of almost like a coup kind of in the players I union when you know they were going through that minor league baseball getting them under the umbrella of the players association there was a guy that was kind of saying hey like the middle class is being completely forgotten here and you know there was uh there was uh you know, some bad things said about some of my friends from taking phone calls. So like there has been a little bit of dissension kind of within the players association. But, but again, it's the messaging will always be the same because it is players for players. I mean, that's what a union is.

So that's what they're saying. I mean, James and Taya, and the strength of the union isn't one person. It's about the players. It's always been about that. I mean, that's, that is the truth. And that is what you're going to hear from every single person. that is asked about this. So, I mean, I don't think a lot of things change.

I do think they need to hire someone quickly. I know Bassett says we don't want to rush into to this, but, you know, we want to start negotiations or we, the Players Association and Majorly Baseball needs to start negotiations as soon as possible. Right. Because we need them to not drag this into the off season and they're like, oh, well, here, can we start talking now?

Like, I hate that. Like it's time to start now. Forget about the leverage. It's about the fans in the future of baseball. That's what we need to think about. But I think if you're interested in this at all, there's tons of stuff written about it. Bruce Meyer,

who's been like the lead negotiator for the union for quite some time. I'm assuming he's the guy that's going to be voted in as the interim director. And then we'll see what happens next. Is a guy like my guy, Kevin Slowie? Like, does he? Whoa. Yeah. I mean, there's a chance.

I don't know if they would go another former player again. I think that would be something that would be, I think that would be frowned upon if we're being honest. I think if we went back in time, we would have thought about more of that. Again, not like Tony did something crazy bad for the most part of his leadership in the union. But I think it'd be hard pressed to put another player in that position.

So I'm assuming Bruce Meyer gets the nod, and then they start these negotiations. What I did find interesting, you know, thinking about what majorly baseball will use this for. Like, how can they weaponize this? Right. That's the right term. No, that's, that was what I was going to ask you. It's kind of like, will this actually affect anything? Because we just kind of came out and said, like, yeah, he's the guy and, you know, the players and all that.

but also at the same time, anything in this environment. Like, you mentioned the Dodgers are being used as one of the biggest negotiating chips in this whole thing, which at the end of the day, okay, one of the problems in baseball is the smaller market team's not spending enough money and being competitive enough and not having a way to enforce that. The Dodgers are being used as this massive billboard and target because they can, because they won back to back, they've spent more money, again, the Blue Jays were very close to winning that World Series that like would it be as much of a topic?

But in a negotiation like this where there's a lot of public showing and just anything can be used. Like this has to be used somehow by MLB, right? They'll attempt it. But I think it's happened so far away from where they're actually going to be negotiating that it won't really matter.

I do think I have a timeline in like kind of the playbook if I was thinking about this, obviously reading all these articles kind of brought back, you know, my days in the association. You know, like, and I was into it. I liked it. I liked the labor part of it and kind of knowing the ins and outs. So, you know, the salary cap thing, they're going to bring that to the table first. That's going to be the number one.

As they have since 1994. Basically, and they know the player stands on that is basically. It's just a no. It's a no, and they've known that for a long time. So I think the next move then will be to threaten to threaten to, like it's going to be a lockout. Like there will be a lockout. From December 1st, or I believe that's the date. It's missing games, which that's those are the two phrases.

Lockout just means at December 1st, there's no agreement. And so like communication between players and whoever, the team that stops. You can't go to facilities. That's all the lock. It almost guarantee there will be a lock. Almost guarantee. Missing games is the big thing.

And so they'll threaten that. But what I think is the following year is when the national TV rights are up and they're going to start negotiating those. How can you go into a negotiation when you're trying to freaking strike it big with missing games and fan dissentment at the forefront of what you're bringing to the table.

You want to bring, you want to look at, be like this shiny object, and look at Otani, and look at Judge. We've got these superstars, man. The game is good. Look at the World Series ratings. It's been awesome. You don't want to bring your most shit to the table.

Hey, we just missed 60 games, and our fans hate us right now. You want to buy us? Like they don't want to do that. Right. So what I think will happen is threaten the cap, move off of that. And then this is where I think it gets really sticky is we already have the, we call it luxury tax, it's the competitive balance tax. We have all the different tiers of it. I think what they'll try to do with that is just raise it, like the penalties.

So much that it becomes like it's already a lot. soft cap teams say we're not going over this this first tier i think they're going to try to raise it so much that it's like you can't go over like a thousand percent if you go over a dollar for dollar you know what i mean like right what's a thousand percent 10 dollars for every dollar that you spend over like that's no one would do it it would essentially become i can't a cap like that's where i think it gets sticky. And players are going to have to decide, like, well, shit, man. Are we going to be the ones to say, no, and then there is missed games because of that. It's these two sides, man, are going to be playing this game of chicken. And again, I've said this on the show. Like,

they need to look each other in eyes and be like, hey, guys, I get it. There's some stuff we've got to figure out, but let's not forget about the fans. Like, we need, they need to keep that at the forefront. Not like you and I, I get it's, I get their labor negotiations and I get there's a lot of stuff at play here, but you cannot ostracize your freaking fan base, man. You can't do it. Not in 2026, when everything is challenging for your eyeballs, man. Like, everything is there. You can't, You cannot go away from your fans. So, like, I, it's going to get ugly. I hope, I hope they figure it out before.

And maybe it doesn't get ugly. Maybe I'm, maybe I'm just used to it being this way. But it's, I don't know, man. Yeah. It's getting me fired up right now. I think, and we're going to have a lot of time to chat about it. I do think what's going to be interesting for me, like you mentioned, and it's kind of where we've been.

And I'll, I'll hand up, and I'm starting to get a little nervous about it. and this is kind of what the ownership side wants. You and I have kind of been like, I don't think this is the lockout, because like you said, with the upgoing, and MLB kind of has their cards on the table, right? Like they have the rights to, what,

like half the league now? Anything more than that. It's kind of crazy. If you look at the amount of teams that the league now controls their games, that that's where MLB is heading. And again, this should be a massive win.

Like this is where MLB can get back ahead of the NBA, and maybe they already are. NBA's got a lot of stuff going on, that, you know, that dream world of, hey, if you want to watch an MLB game, go here, watch an MLB game. Blackouts, put that in the past. You know, whether it's local

or whether it's trying to find the game on any network, and there will still be some of that, but basically, if you want to watch a baseball game, you buy this and you can watch a baseball game. Now, what the cost of that and the amount of money, I'm sure could get us hot to trot at a certain point. But either way, that's where MLB is heading, because I do think they realize you need people to watch the product.

And you need the product to be good. And guess what? The product is really good right now. I think what's going to be interesting with these negotiations, we know how MLB negotiates. They put it out there. They wait as long as possible. And then they'll come back.

And the players just kind of have to survive and advance a little bit. I think there is so much on the line. like you were talking about with the TV networks and just where the game is at with the momentum, like that matters. It just does that I don't think they'll be willing to sacrifice this one. I almost wonder if negotiations get into a tighter range, like a three-year CBA extension, because that's kind of what MLB is building towards. Again, who knows?

I'm just guessing at this point. The other thing that I will throw in the pot that I do think is interesting, And I should give a shout out Bill Simmons, kind of a legend of the game and a lot of NBA. They have a massive tanking problem right now. Like half, or not half the league, but a third of their league is already tanking, and they still have two months to go because tanking just gets rewarded in that sport. And luckily, baseball kind of doesn't have that because the draft and how MLB just works doesn't work that way. And then an NBA with how significant one player can be,

it's a massive problem in the league and it really wasn't getting addressed and Adam Silver came out over All-Star weekend and kind of was like laying down the law like this is going to change which when you're mentioning like these leagues look at each other because that's all they got that's all they have like the American sports leagues that's pretty much the only thing they can compare themselves to that if NBA were to do something dramatic to try to affect the bottom parts of the league. And they're talking about different things, whether it's limiting lottery picks year over year, or if you lose money on your cap. Baseball needs a way to incentivize the lower teams to compete just a little more. Just the fact we haven't talked about the Cleveland Guardians may be bringing in Lucas Gialito or anyone.

For the past how many years? Like, it's just not good for the game that I do wonder if basketball were to take a dramatic turn to improve their products. Because think about that. If you have a third of your team tanking for the second half of the year, I mean, my God. Like, you can ruin almost all of your games on a given night. And that's such a dangerous area to live in that I think leagues are starting to come back. we lived in this America 2000s to now, how can we make the most money possible,

that we just did get too far from, hey, the game still needs to be the product. Like, you still need to start there, and then we can monetize off of that, that I think the concept of how do we make our game the best and then from there weaponize it, monetize it, that I do wonder if in the timeline, if the NBA were to do something drastic

before the upcoming baseball CBA negotiations, that would give the players a little more ammo to incentivize that side of it. I see what you're saying there. The couple things that I think need to happen and people will just point to the Dodgers because they have a sweetheart deal. Their TV deal is ridiculous.

They don't have to pay the revenue sharing like the other teams do because of bankruptcy negotiation. which like can that be addressed? Right. Like can the Dodgers just like say, all right, dude. Like if you're the Dodgers, why would you? Like this is like it's a contract. They shouldn't bring that to the table.

Yeah. But you know what I mean? Like that is the main thing that people are complaining about. It's like they have a head start. And then, you know, you can't really, if you're an owner of a team, you can't complain about other owners having more money than you. Sorry, you can't. The only thing that makes sense to me is, yes,

the TV deals are different. The Dodgers have a head start. You know, is there a big market, small market thing? Like a little bit, but if we all get together, it doesn't become that anymore. If the revenue sharing is equal, it doesn't become that anymore. Then it becomes like, hey, like, if you can't own a team and compete, then you need to sell the team or bring on some partners. And like cash in on the freaking value of your team. Like, that's the dirty little secret.

that most of these guys could make, I mean, their franchise values have just completely gone through the roof for a majority of these ownership groups. So, you know, there's that aspect. I got to push back on like the cap and the floor because how many teams are just going to spend to the floor? I feel like that'll just happen. That'll just happen.

A race to the floor for about nine times. Yeah, so it's, it's, the revenue sharing needs to get addressed. I don't know how they can do that with the Dodgers and say, hey, like you can't keep all that money. Like you need to, like, let's get back in like everybody else's realm. Don't know how they do that. But it is going to get a little nasty.

And I still will hold the sentiment that we're going to have a lockout, but I don't think we'll miss games. It's just it looks too bad for what really matters to Major League Baseball. And that's the next TV deal. Yeah, I know he's kind of become the target of it because of Paul Skeens and their spending history. But I think if I look it up right now, I think Bob Nutting bought the Pirates in 96 for around 100 mil. He could make a penny on them if he wanted to. And yet, there's where things do start to get fun, there can be some pretty wild creative solutions.

like if you don't win 70 games, could you lose draft picks or something like that? Like incentivize a good product, like incentivize teams competing. Like that was, it was a big eye-open moment for me. I think it was brother Jeff Passon who was talking about it. But it's like, we have penalties for teams trying to compete too hard. We don't have penalties for teams not trying to compete. And when, like, that as a.

the one-liner there is kind of like, what are we doing? This is professional sports. And it just feels like a basic thing we've been missing. And like that should allow teams like the Brewers to be celebrated more for them, you know, being within their means while also spending a bit and being one of the more competitive teams. Like, I don't know. It can be done.

It can be done. So yeah, if you like that, people, fast forward to November, probably December. We'll see you there. Do you want to get your Tony Clark jokes out? Because you said you had a few. No, no, no, no, no, no. I will say for our talking baseball game of Thrones crossover crew, I can't get out of my head the Master Paisel scene when, you know, he walks around like a limp and old man and then it cuts

to him one time and he's with a lady and he like snaps his back and walks around all jiggly just because they kind of have the same you're you're saying tony clark is him it's just the beard for me and uh whatever you know adult things tony clark was getting into um that yeah man i i i don't know i think i heard one rumor again we're still in rumor mill mode i heard one rumor that it it it enters an air area that I really, I don't want to joke about. So I don't know, man. It's rough. And I hope there is, I guess for the players in baseball, I hope there's an article in a year or two that's like, in a way it ended up being a good thing for baseball. Because right now, it's just nasty work.

He always called me T. And I'm like, all right, hold on. Like, you either call someone by like one letter if you're a freaking boys or you don't remember their name and you remember the first letter of their name. Yeah. I'm thinking like, do you just like really not know my name and just call me T? I'm thinking he didn't know your name. No offense. That's tough. I mean, I was like on like some high ranking boards there and some of the negotiations. I figured he would know my name. I voted the guy in. Yeah, I guess here's the, I'm, I'm kind of a nickname guy. Like I, I, I, I could, but. But, one letter's tight. One letter's tight.

Let's talk some baseball. Okay. I am. That was, that hurt. Why are we always saying that on this show? It's time to talk baseball, finally. The name of the show. Happy birthday, Jim.

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Actual price will depend on products and subscription plan. How about this? Let's lump this together a little bit, Coach Trev. Or maybe I'll Chris Rose you because does it get any better? And by the way, the content coming out of Arizona spring training right now, Chris Rose, Bob Serocco, Dan Roy, and Jolly Olive. It doesn't get better than that.

Look at this. I'm so sick of Jolly Olive. Okay. Let's talk about that. The trajectory, it's just, it's too high for me. The bravery he has, rolling that hair out every day is just special. Happy for them.

Maybe we'll land- Just think about the name Jolly Olive. Like, what is that? I love it. I understand, you know, Jack Oliver, but, oh, I just docks them. Yeah, I love doing that. That's my favorite thing to do.

And go check out, me and him do some tearless, do some tearless together on the Wake and Jake channel. So if you're really binging baseball. First base drop today. First base, wow. Trev, I guess in the Chris Rose fashion, Justin Verlanner to the Tigers, Zach Gallen to the D-backs,

Chris Bassett to the Baltimore Orioles. Which one of those signings jumps out, or is the most impactful? for you. They're all so different. Right. You know, like Zach Gallen going back to the Diamondbacks on what essentially was a qualifying offer, but he has deferrals on it is an interesting one to me. And like thinking about him in other places, uh, kind of got me going, but he ends up back with the debacks and I think they really need him. Um, so like great for, for the Diamondbacks. But I think, if you're asking me which one I like the most,

I think it's JV, dude, to the Tigers. And they like have like a staff now. They have like a full blown like deep pitching rotation to go along with like a very underrated offense. And the story writes itself of JV goes back to Detroit and they win something. after being on those teams and not winning with someone like

they're going to be go down those 2000 what 12 13 14 tigers maybe it was 11 12 13 as one of the better teams not to do anything we talk about the Phillies being like that and now here he is trying to kind of like put him over the hump we talked about last year like the improvement he made at the end of the season I believe it was because he was wearing Reeboks?

Yeah. Does he have the Reeboks on in spring training? Can we get pictures? Do you save that? Do you keep that in your back pocket for May 10th if you get off to a slow start? And it's like, all right. Do you just go China up and they're like, hey, can you manufacture my rebox for me?

I think you can do that, coach. It might cost you a little bit. I don't know who you'd contact over there. I got contacts in China. Yes, yeah? Yeah. Do you hear this whole Eileen goo story? She's like one of the stars.

of the Olympics. She's a Chinese American. She went, she went team China. I think she's doing well financially, but yeah, I don't know. Okay. My mother-in-law is going to take a, like a vacation, a trip to China. That used to be more commonplace, right? Like, I mean, probably is a fascinating place to go visit. The Great Wall? See it from space? That's pretty nutty. man what's up with the great wall what is up with the great wall what's up with that bro how long do we think the great wall you just blow up the great wall if you want it's not that great of a wall

little little mid-ep trivia how long is deep how does how does fire induced stone how long do you think the great wall is how long do I think it is yeah ooh um I'm gonna go like this is a bad guess I think I'm going to go 576 miles. I, again, hosting the trivia, I ended up spoiling it for myself.

Good news is, I think we might be back on Team Great Wall. 13,171 miles. That makes sense going at the Great Wall. That's a great wall would not have been great. That's a great wall. My wall would have been the Trevor Plouffe of Walls, just like, yeah, just there. Before I looked this up, I was going to say, like, is it a last? lifetime thing to like walk it?

I can't walk that. Forest gum. Okay. How did we get there? Oh yeah, Justin Verlander's cleats. That's... Verlander calling China just to check in. I like the answer, Trev, because I'll be honest.

And, you know, we got Dalton, resident snakes fan here. I guess I'm Snakes 2.0. The gallon signing, okay. Like the market kind of wasn't there for him. He goes back to a safe place, which, Again, I don't know what final offers he had on the table. Supposedly there was a couple multi-year offers out there, reported by Mark FeinSand.

But, you know, you go back to the place you know and you can build yourself up, and he did finish the year strong. His final 11 starts, he had a 332 ERA. That, you know, Zach Gallen has the talent in there to get one of these large pitching contracts that he wants to go back to a safe place, a familiar place that you don't walk away and have, well, you know, earmuffs stall in, like, what do you just watched Jordan Montgomery do, like go to a whole new franchise. Obviously, there's injuries and stuff there, but he ended up in a bad feeling on that.

That Zach Gallen goes back, and let's be honest, with the debacks expectation, I hope we're talking about them having a hot start and competing for an NL wild card where a team got within, you know, 83 games last year got them in. Cincinnati. I don't know. Zach Gallon thing is like if we were doing, if we did an early who could be traded by the trade deadline, I think Zach Gallen would probably be on that list.

And I don't love that, but that's just honest. Verlander, you're right. Like the Tigers, I think they have the best odds to make the American League playoffs because of that thinned out ale central this year, that the old dog. Returning to Detroit in Scoobel's last season, Hinch at the helm, an open American league. Like that is, oh, you've seen this on the mound, Coach Trev.

It's terrifying for me. Still to this day. The old bull, man, no, and he doesn't have the Reeboks on there. It doesn't look like you have scleets on there. Just generic black shoes. What are those? Those look like Hokas. They look like restaurant non-slips.

And maybe that's what he's got. He is 43, dude. Like, he needs some of those shoes with the big support. Yeah, you got it. You start feeling that a little more. The Tigers are one of the more fun teams. Like you mentioned, their rotation right now, scuba Valdez, Flaherty Verlander, how's your testosterone?

Casey Mize, who had his, like, breakout season last year. And then you talk about starting pitching depth. Troy Melton, Cater Montero, your guy. Sawyer Gibson Long has thrown innings in this league. The Tigers are just going to be a fascinating storyline of this season. I've talked about their two top prospects who are going to be 21, Max Clark and McGonagall. Can either of them make a leap or be part of something more impactful? I think they're going to keep them and try to connect this bridge of this Detroit Tigers team. But the Tigers are a really fun storyline that I think the conversation came down to,

to him and Bassett because I wanted an old dog to go to Baltimore because I think Baltimore needs an old dog. And I think Bassett's personality kind of fits that team that like, we love thinking about clubhouse environments. Like Chris Bassett for the pitchers and Pete Alonzo for the hitters, you just, you just change the tone of that whole clubhouse. Yeah, Bassett's one of those guys, like true professional. Also like he's got a funny bone in him. I think he brings obviously a ton of experience to that clubhouse. I think he will be a great leader for him. I usually don't give that two starting pitchers because I don't think they just play enough to be leaders.

But I think Bassett can be. The rotation there, I think, needed that depth. Because, look, you got Rogers and Braddish at the top. You bring in Bosch. Like, okay, that's a three, one, two, three that you could kind of like figure out. but like what are we going to do for four and five and now that you bring in a Chris Bass, I think it obviously just lengthens what they have. You know, Zach Eflin, you know, being their five guy.

Like, all right, like you, this is something you can work with. We were trying, like Framber would have fit in great there. But I think Bassett and like kind of the consistency that he brings is just fine for them. Like they have a real case for being for. Then the Royals go from like, 60 wins to whatever the heck. They have a chance to be the biggest turnaround team in all the baseball this year.

And I think Bassett adds to that. So great signing by them. My twins need to do something now, too. Okay. Well, I mean, there's news there. Don't just okay me. One of the better pitchers in the league who always ranks high not only in traditional statistics,

but stuff plus in like the advanced metrics, Pablo Lopez. most likely going to have TJ and now like, no, I said this before the show. I guess I'll say it on the show because I'm a man of integrity. Our guy Tom Polad, guy who I had a Zoom conversation with about the team saying all the right things. Is he going to jump on this opportunity? Which by the way, I think is a very like easy win for him. Go sign Lucas Gile, though. it's going to it costs you one year it's going to cost you 15 to 20 million whatever it is and like you can say hey like problem we had a problem here and here's the best we can do and i'm going to do it right now i think it's like a no-brainer move for them we'll see if that happens though but he would also fall in line with like kind of what we're talking about verlander gallant bassett gilito those were the guys we were looking to fill these back end of the rotation of the rotation

Gileeta will come into the twins and be like, I'm going to be near the top of your rotation. We brought it to the twins. I want to close one thing off on Bassett. That was a fair segue. It was fair. It was fairish. I just going back to the clubhouse, I mean,

Justin Verlanner, 43, going to be in there every day with all those young pups on the Tigers. I think that matters. Chris Bassett. So, like, okay, before Verlander signed, the oldest player on Detroit's roster is Javi Baez for the players, or position players, 33. And then it would have been Framber, 32, who they just signed. Kenley Jansen, 38 in the back end of that bullpen.

For Baltimore, Chris Bassett is 37 years old. Eflin would have been the leader in the clubhouse for the starting pitchers. he'll turn 32 soon. And then in the lineup, Peter is now, Taylor Ward and Pete are going to be 32. Pete's 31. That I don't know, man. I think those are big years.

Like I, something I like doing, look back at every three years or so of your life and think about how much changes. And like Chris Bassett, having six years on Zach Eflin, having more than a decade on Shane Boz, that stuff matters, man. It matters organizationally.

And like Bassett came off a solid year, a Chris Bassett season where he was also electric in the postseason. That I really like that. Yeah, you get ALE East. He's been there so he knows the league, which I think is important. Sometimes going to a new division can, you know, mess with you. You don't know the hitters as well enough.

A lot of times it's more like organization-based. Like I know this organization. This is what they like to do. another reason why I believe the Orioles liked Bassett and went for him after Framber probably the same reason they were on Framber is because he eats innings.

He's a guy that throws innings. Like he's what I would consider and this is crazy to think. He's like a modern day workhorse. Yeah. That means something a little different than it used to mean. Yeah, man.

But he's a guy that, you know, when you're talking about some of the Orioles pitching stuff coming back off of injuries or not having a ton of innings under their belt. he's a guy that you can rely on to keep the bullpen fresh and pitch some innings for you. So love it for the Orioles. I like all, I like all these signings.

The Gallin to the debacks, no offense, doll. That's like the least fun one. It's a fence. But Berliner and Bassett kind of do it for me. Yeah, I mean, Gallen kind of made a business decision, and I hope it pays off from him going to where you know the coaches, you know the trainers. Like, I don't know.

He didn't have his career. Curveball for a lot of last season. His curbaugh got banged last year. And I wonder what the pitch mix is going to be. He hasn't really changed it a ton over the last like three years. It's been about the same. I wonder if he just like says, I'm going to get in a lap.

Like, do you do that on a prove a year? Do you get back in a lab and say, I'm going to completely change my arsenal? I'm going to I'm going to look to maybe lower or heighten my arm slot. Like are there major changes? coming for Zach Gallen. I'm curious. They know the body. Like they know this guy. They know what he does well, what he doesn't do well. So like sometimes you want outside voices to come in and say, hey, like, let's try this. But also there's something about, hey, like we already know everything about you.

And now here's our recommendations. Are you willing to do them? I'm curious. Is that going to happen for Zach Gallen? Yeah. And hey, root for Zach Gallen this year. Maybe he maybe he's on. your team later in the year. And he did turn down the qualifying offer that, or excuse me, like he will not be able to be offered the qualifying offer again. And that can affect the guy's free agency. And that's where, you know, going back to draft picks and that kind of stuff, we can, the CBAs and commissioners,

you can change how teams operate within the rules of the game. And that's kind of some of the stuff I was referencing before to, you know, some of these lower market teams and how you could affect competitiveness and things like that. Anyways, speaking of a weird one, one of the teams we don't know fully what to do with. Every year it feels like we end up in a weird spot. The Padres, they bring in the following. Nick Castellanos coming off. I mean, we didn't even really cover that.

I'd love to get some of your thoughts, Coach Treve. of. Hermann Marquez makes the NLS jump. A little friendlier place to pitch. Wiffin Canning, after his Mets kind of showing out last year. Walker Bueller to a minor league deal, how quickly this game goes. Tie France back on a minor league deal after just mashing lefties in the World Series. And maybe the most important signing, A.J. Preller extends to stay. with the Padres. So the Padres who have this now tradition of being quiet through a chunk

of the offseason, Miguel Anduhar, roll those ours, by the way. He's in camp. San Diego brings in a flurry of guys we're familiar with. What does it mean? I don't really know. I'm looking here. I believe Ty France won the gold glove. Oh, that's right. Your defensive. Yes, the defensive darling at first base, correct. What do we do with these moves, What do we do with these moves? I think obviously the most interesting one is Nick Castellanos, who I think can be a platoon guy at first base, if you wanted to be.

He didn't hit lefties particularly well last year, but over his career has been a lefty masher. This clubhouse, we talked about Clubhouse Dynamics, seems either perfect or horrible for him. I can't really tell which one. Can you imagine? I'm a Nick Castiano's fan. I think

like it just didn't work in Philly. Like, you know, it reduced playing time. It wasn't going well from there. Had it out with the coaching staff. Like with a beer and the dugout thing, not great. You know, not great. Shout out to his teammates for stopping him. Yeah.

And not letting him do it because that would have been a clip that lived on forever. The beer. The handwritten note explaining it. beer in the dugout picture lives forever. And not like, you know what, like there's, I'm guaranteed there's been beer in the dugout before, but not an open bottle. Like at least the board in the Gatorade Cup.

Put it in a different cup, people. That's what, you know, early Facebook days, put it in that red cup. Don't have the beer bottle out. That's it. It's an interesting one. I don't know. Like, they get them for the league minimum. Right.

So it's, you know, Mani Machado saying, you know, you get a $20 million player for league minimum. I don't know. Miami. I understand. 305 raise up. Yeah, they're boys. They understand. I mean, I think that's one of the reasons why I'm maybe a little bit more bullish on the clubhouse

stuff because you know Mani and he kind of fits that like bravado-ish vibe that the Padres give off. You know, there's some big personalities and there. Nick Castellano is definitely one of those guys. But again, I'm not always a change of scenery guy, but

clearly Philly wasn't working out there. Like him and Topper and not getting along. That's tough when you just don't have it with your manager. And even, man, some of the players, like when they asked Schwab if he was a distraction, that answer that he gave, which was basically like,

it's hard to say, like he just was not trying to throw him onto the bus. Clearly it just wasn't working out there either. And, you know, we know we've talked about how the Phillies do have a very good, leadership program, good clubhouse there.

And, you know, when a guy steps out of line like that, yeah, kind of, he's gone. Yeah. New life, new blood. Again, if he gets put in the right role, I think Nick Cassionis can still have success for the podres. You look around the roster, again, clubhouse episode, CBA and Clubhouse. I am laughing, man.

This might be the number one. If I was a 20, 25, 26 year old, get in the call for the first. time and I showed up in this clubhouse. You've mentioned how, you know, Major League Baseball is a nervous environment. I'd be looking around at all these dudes. I mean, as intimidated as you could be. Tatis, Jackson Meryl, by the way, what a great head he has on his shoulders. Yeah.

Yeah, Machado, obviously big person. Oriano wants to fight you. Like, you know, it's Bogart's got 300 M's coming his way, right? Like, Crohn'sone got that extension, our guy. Where do you got the Padres?

Because I know that's kind of like a loaded question. We're about to do TPPs. We're looking at the roster right now. We know, we know this team. Is this, like, set the over under it 83 wins. Hmm. Or yeah. I'd be in on that.

I mean, they won 90 last year. They lost CIS, but CIS wasn't, like, over the moon for them last year. Bobby Suarez hurts. I guess a rise is just an interesting case study of, like, what does him not being there? Like, how much does war actually matter? Yeah, I don't know. I think they deserve a little respect.

I think it's part of the reason Preller got the extension. I think them versus the Giants this year lines up to be a ton of fun. Like I want what the Giants did to work. I really do. And I don't know if you've seen your guy, Tony Vitello's press conferences, but he's coming out.

Are we not talked about that on this show? We have not. Tony V has come out. Guns of blazing versus the media, which let me know how that works for you. Padres actual win total that a lot of books have is 85 to 86 games

somewhere right in there so just do it 85 and a half is the actual line so you're bullish on them I always am bullish on the Padres too I feel like I still want like this massive offensive year like I can't I don't understand

why they don't hit homers I feel they got guys that can do it but just really hasn't happen I think the starting pitching scares me a little bit. Jake, I know the bullpen's great, but I think, you know, there's, there's some guys there. I like it. Is it a deep staff? Like, not really.

It's one of, it's, it's an obnoxious thing to say this time of year, but it's, it's a high floor and it's, it's a low, or excuse me, it's a low floor and a high ceiling. Like, I, if this roster didn't say Padres, I would say this has some potential to, like, it could blow up. And you can, you can say that for a lot of teams, kind of. but I could also just see them being good. Like remember the Jackson Merrill hype trained? He didn't really have. He had some weird injuries. He still ended up being solid, but he's still 22.

He's a freaking monster, dude. I love Jackson Merrill. That's what I'm saying. Like, we could wake up in June and they have the best outfield in baseball. So, and that's, you know, they're still got a ton of talent in that infield. And I do trust Preller in a way. Like if the right trade is out there to be had, he's not going to hold on to his prospect. So in that bullpen, like, I don't know, it can be special.

It can be special. Let's go Joe Musgrove. I think everybody in baseball is rooting for this guy. Absolutely. Walker Bueller to the Padres. That doesn't feel right, coach. I know this is, again, kind of back to the talking baseball lane. Does Adrian Morahone have a famous wife?

BPD, I might need you researching. that. I think I saw one of the MLB fits or one of the Instagram accounts that was doing like maybe a Super Bowl parties or something. Interested? I think more a home. Again, maybe I'm way off, but I thought I saw him and I was like, okay, okay on double. I mean, it tracks a Cuban freaking stud big league ball player. Right. I love my Cubans. You do. We've been doing some interesting. exercises with the the WBC coming up

about like best players from countries. Cuba's an interesting, like, you'd think there'd be one or two more like dudes. Okay. Same with Mexico. It's interesting.

So I don't know what to do with that. Adrian Mora hon wife. Now I've Googled that. Okay. I've ended up in deep internet. Okay. Okay. I think our, what else do we have to cover here?

Do you want to talk Tony Vitello and all that? What's going on? I'd love to get your thoughts because BBD ran the press conferences for me yesterday. And I was shocked. I was shocked how hot from three Tony Vitello got. I have if we want to listen again. We cannot listen to those. They're very long.

I will not listen to those again. Follow-up was no better. If you can get it, give me the first 30 seconds, like the initial, confrontation. I feel like it's important context for the discussion. Today's episode is sponsored by Amazon. When life throws you a curveball, Amazon's everyday low prices on essentials help you save the day. Amazon has everything you need whenever you need it. From planned purchases to unexpected moments, they've got everything in one place, saving you time and money so you can focus on what matters most. And for us, what matters

the most is having as much time every week to catch up on the baseball action. From tech to clothing, the daily needs, or anything else you need to prepare for the start of baseball season, Amazon has everything you need all in one convenient place and can deliver to you anytime, anywhere. Whether it's routine shopping or handling's life's curve balls, shop Amazon and save on essentials. Save the every day. I mean, BPD has just ready to go on his... When did you first think I was taking this job? Do you remember that part, Max?

Yeah, it was about four days before. what actually happened five days before. Yeah, that's funny you say that because that's all. That was not reality, you know? No, now that I'm in it, I think the world needs to see it. It's wild. Hey, we can talk. Okay.

I don't know if Buster would feel the same way, but that wasn't the case. You know, somebody decides they think they got the information. You know, the final blow was about four days later. and the thing I'm just kind of having a conversation. Therapy, if you will, from walking out of there. But I needed confirmation from the coaches that I worked with that helped boost my status. I'm done.

I'm going to Moro Hone's Instagram. For the people that aren't going to listen to the whole Tony Vitello press conference, he's very spurned by his reporting. to take the Giants job and it goes back to his whole staff at University of Tennessee and then he's talking about how it changed the course of history

he probably like wasn't gonna take it's all over the board Treve and it's so like he brings it to the table I don't love that line like changed the course of history because you can just pick that apart any way you want to

here's my official take on it I don't think it's that big of the deal if this is a one-off it's not that big of it. give a deal. If this stuff continues throughout the year and kind of like he's making a lot of it about himself, I'm out.

This was a conversation for off the record and I think he's got to learn that. I told Chris Rose this. Every manager when you have a scrum says, all right, we're off the record now. And then they talk about things. And it's fine. Like they give the reporters some stuff. And it's just like you can't record this

and cameras off and you can't put me on record with this but here's what's going on if you want to have that conversation of hey like i don't like that this got leaked out because i was basically what he was trying to say there was he didn't want his coaches to know until he was super official with it because he wanted to make sure that they were okay like they weren't going to be fired like they were going to be like um like the succession uh would be in place he was trying to take care of them and he said they found out like too early they got mad it caused like strife so like i understand where he's coming from at the same time when you decide to leave a job like it's

like that's going to happen man like people aren't going to be like super stoked all the time they might say they're happy for you but like it's going to leave wherever you're coming from it's going to leave it in a little bit of turmoil so again i don't think this is that big of a deal it gets overblown because it's like the first thing we heard from this guy and he doubled up Coach? Yeah, he did double up the next day. He came back the next day, doubled up. I know.

Don't, no. Okay, played. Here we go. I want to hear it. No. I don't, I'm busy with this. So, I didn't say anything surprising that I know of. It was a state in the facts.

So somebody, somebody tweets out or says something that's not true about you and it affects your life significantly. It's not just a deal where your feelings are hurt, but it has a significant impact, in particular on my family, which I've obviously got family, but not. He's just, he's very intense about it.

And again, maybe who knows where that's rooted from? He's talking about it. Model it up, coach. Hey. Right. And maybe it will put a lid on it and just put it over there, man. Like this, we got bigger fris to fry. Like we got a season coming up here. I agree with you.

Yeah, it was interesting to send it back on the other side. And again, this won't shock people. Tony Vitello 47, he looks incredible. I thought he was going to be mid-30s. He's like, that dude's dialed. So I don't know. hopefully this is something that you and I are laughing about in July when the Giants are 15 games above 500 and we're like, remember those weird press conferences? And I don't know.

I used to believe in the weird press conference meter, but that changed this year with Liam Cohen and Duval. Because that was one of the weirdestest shit I've ever seen. Like content or not content. That was one of the craziest things. And they had a good season. So end of the day. Tell you what I don't want. Tell you what I don't want.

My coach on Twitter. Yeah. That's a great point. Rob Thompson does not have a Twitter account. He's never gone on Twitter. No, yeah. Or like, yeah, just like. Tito ended up there accidentally one day

and he asked someone to please get it off his phone. Like, yeah, that's a new generation of coaches. Speaking of coaches, Trev, I think we start. wrapping this up and we start wrapping it up with our seat geek free agent forecast brought to you by seat geek uh the MLB off seat it's done people spring training is here the world baseball classic is coming up on us we're going to be covering it from literally every angle um and seek geek they'll be there too uh because they're the number one rated ticketing app 35 million downloads over on

Seat Geek. So whether you've been on the app, whether you haven't been on the app, make sure you go to Seat Geek. Use code talking 2026, 10% off your next set of tickets at Seat Geek. Code talking 2026, 10% off any tickets at Seat Geek. And Trev, kind of, is Lucas Gialito the only fish in the sea at this point? Have you checked in on the big guy? I have not. And now this, I forgot about the brinket about the brinket of the brinket. I know. Braves, the injuries they've already had, and the people, like, just, like, coming off of injuries last year. So, like, not a lot of innings under the belt. Like, the twins are going to have to be in competition with the Braves for Lucas Gialito. And that doesn't, that hurts

my projection a little bit there. A little bit. The Braves seem to be a little bit of a better opportunity. You said one year for Gialito, I mean, of those guys, what he showed in the second half of the season. And I wonder if that gets interesting. I guess Zach Lattel is still out there, too, through a ton of innings last year in a world where innings matter. Mad Max Scherzer, like what does he want to do with all of this?

Your guy Danny Columann signed? What are we doing? Put him in the bullpen. I'm against some lefties. Currball from the sky. Actually, not from the sky. He's not a big guy. Reese Hoskin stands out a little bit.

I don't know. The Brave seem to be the team that stands out for Lucas Gialito. They lost a lot of starting pitching very early on on camp. They're also an organization. I don't know what organizations see when they see Lucas Gialito. I mean, again, one of the taller gentlemen on a baseball field, a right-on-right Bugs Bunny change-up when it's right, that I'd like to think that he's a guy that front offices would love to bring in,

that I wonder if it's price point, if he, if him and his agent don't feel comfortable, if they are an injury away. Like, we've seen that a couple spring trainings where if another injury happens, that kind of forces a team's hand to not let a season get away from them. Whatever it is, one of the nicer guys that's been to us, and I think upside potential that I hope that gets figured out soon. The Braves do jump off the page when you look at teams, but so do the twins. The Braves, man, and Braves fans have to be in their feelings already because we know last year, like, the main gist of the season they had was because of starting pitching injuries.

Now we're starting off already with Schwellenbach, 60-day I-L. He's going through a surgery to remove the bone spurs. Hurston Waldrop, probably going to have surgery. And then again, they're coming off a season where most of their starting pitching staff that is healthy was hurt last year. Right. So it's like they are, they're already really feeling it. And I'm sure a lot of them are saying, is this just going to be a repeat of last year?

Man. They're an interesting team. Yeah, like I was high on the Braves, but already two injuries to the pitching staff, the starting rotation, it has to, it's got to knock them down a few pegs for me. That NLE East remains wild. You know, the Phillies off season.

and wasn't exactly what they wanted. Will the Braves be back? Who are the Mets? The good news for everyone is we're sneaking up, man. Feb 18th, some WBC, some more spring training. We'll see if we get any trades or anything like that. I don't know. For now, thank you guys.

We miss you. We love you. Subscribe, share, all that good stuff. Thank you for BBD, filling in for Bobby Sarachi, as they're all over Arizona right now. And we will be back when we're back. Monday? Give us a breaking trade where Trev is in the warehouse

and we can get physical. Yeah. Jake's on. F or F, baby. It's coming tomorrow night. Master Paisal style. Is Swilly just a full-blown food blogger now? Is that what we're doing? So, uh, forgotten rotten for life, baby.

And throw the pill. Watch out.