Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - Would You Rather: MLB Free Agency Edition | 926

Episode Date: November 20, 2024

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Hello and welcome to Talking Baseball. A little bit of would you rather today. This guy or that guy? I know you guys played that with me and Trev a lot. Let's talk some ball. Hey, Oscar. Tommy John. Oh, no.

Hello and welcome to Talking Baseball presenting to you by Seat Geek as always. Make sure you guys go to Seat Geek. Make sure you guys use SeatGeek code Talking 10. Take out your phone. the Seekek app, Talking 10, whether you've used Seekek before or you haven't used Seekek before, Code, Talking 10, save you 10% off, whether you're going to a sporty thing, maybe a musical thing, or whatever else you're into. Trev, what are you into?

Wow, right now, if I was to go on Seekkeek and use code, Talkin' Ten, I think I need like a comedy show, man. I haven't been to one in a long time, and they're never really on my radar, but whenever I do go, I enjoy it. That's a good comedy show is a good time. When I was living in Denver, we timed one up. We got Pete Davidson tickets. And it was the week after he got dumped by Ariana Grande.

So it was, the timing was pretty. Like Sad Boy Comedy. You love that. Yeah, it was a little bit of Sad Boy. And he dunked on himself pretty good. So I don't go see either of them. Seekkeak. Trev speaking of,

Ariane R. Pete, we're going to play... Where are you at? We're going to play Soundoff in the comments. We're going to play a little offseason. Kind of who would you rather? This is one of my favorite games to play at the end of the off season

because we did this. I remember the Cardinals last year. They signed all of their veterans starting pitchers and it was like, well, hey, I know you guys needed innings. but could Lance Lynn and Kyle Gibson been the same price tag as Snell? And then you kind of play that game. Like, well, you're looking at 300 innings

compared to 120 innings or wherever Snell landed last year that I wanted to get ahead of it as teams are dreaming up their off-season plans and doing a little, would you rather? And I think for some of these guys, you don't even need to think about the team. It could be your team, it could be your rivals team,

it could be any team that it's like, Oh, it's an interesting thought exercise. In some of these, we have picked out teams that it's like, ooh. They, for not only next year, but maybe their next three, four, five years, it changes kind of the whole franchise outlook. So you want to get us started, big guy, or you want me to get it started? You need us off. We're going to go back and forth, you know, a little bounce pass.

Like we're on the court talking ball. Yeah, start us off. I think there's some good ones. You know what? I think I'm going to do this one because this is straight up and then it does have a good team in mind. I think this is perfect for the exercise

because I think you could even throw out the money because we did have Dalton come up with some money values. I know where you're going. I know where you're going. You know, fan graphs came out with their crowdsourced projections today, which is a good tool. And what I do respect about them, they have the previous year free agent classes up

with their crowdsource and what they got. So you can do a little side by side and be like, all right, they were low there, they were high there. Anyways, I guess I just haven't thought of these two in the same boat at all. Pete Alonzo and Alex Bregman are both free agents. Obviously, Breggman said he could play second base. He's also a gold glove third baseman. Pete the meat, ready to give you 35 to 40 homers a year wherever he lands.

And Trev, on this exercise, originally Dalton put out Alonzo getting an extra year. I'll put it the same. Let's say these these two guys are six years, 25, 26 million a year, whatever it is. Blank canvas, which one of these guys would you rather have? This one's kind of easy for me and I respect what Pete does and what he brings to the table because I've said this many times in the show before Jake. You just don't find guys that hit 40 homers growing on trees. He has game changing power. I will say this for both these guys. They both just feel like ballplayers.

That's kind of like what they care about. Like they're going to be at the yard, putting the work in. You know, they're not sidelined by their brands or, you know, anything like that off the field. I feel like doesn't necessarily matter to them. Braggie has his kids or maybe just one kid. But these guys, for all intents and purposes, are just baseball guys. So I like that. But if you give me a chance to have.

have a ball player that can do it on both sides, you know, at most likely a premium position, you know, third base, second base, shown the ability to play gold glove defense there. The offense is not too far apart, in my opinion. Yeah, the slug is going to go to Pete, but Breggie's, you know, obviously a very offensive minded player as well. If you give me the option to have someone that can play defense and hit and I can plug somebody else in at first base who I think will not match with. Pete can give you, but will be sufficient enough.

I'm going Bregman all day here. If you know, team dependent would change that. If you're telling me a blank canvas who I can start with, we've talked about this before again. We've mentioned this last episode about how Bregman's going to be a guy that plays for 12 more years. You know, so he's just going to be there. I like Bregman in this scenario.

The defense is interesting because I haven't wrapped it around my head yet because it was funny, Alonzo during the postseason. and they kept running the stat. He was the best scooper at first base. I've been trying to tell you guys that. I know. I know. I just didn't listen to you. But, okay.

Like, in my head, Alonzo was going to have to make the move pretty quickly. But, hey, if he's got the scoops and he gives effort at first base, and, like, I can work with that. Alonzo to DH, that doesn't have to be in your two, three year plan necessarily as a team.

I do think it's interesting. Looking at the career offensive numbers, I was like, wait, Bregman, he kind of does go toe to toe with Pete. A lot of that or some of that is pre-2020. A couple of those, you know, Breggman's biggest... What happened there? Nothing.

There's juice balls. You heard about that. And, hey, to be fair, Pete's biggest offensive season is also 2019, where those balls had a little extra in them. coming since 2020 Alonzo has an 833 OPS Bregman has a 795 So you're both of these guys are

Bregman turned 30 Alonzo's turning 30 I guess for me going blank canvas I would lean Pete I just think If I'm building the team I'm not going to tell you I can find other Alex Bregman's because that's that's not how it works

but the power thing, as a team, I've almost already checked the button. Like, if I get Alonzo, if I have one more slugger or a couple more power threats, like, as a whole, I'm good. Like, our team is going to slug enough to keep up that I think I can find the defense or the quality of bats, Spragman takes. I feel like I could find that at other places that I think money equal, I would lean Pete. It's close. It's the reason we're doing this.

The one thing that scares me a little bit on Bregman, again, I think I'll stick with my answer here. But I love Chase percent, whiff percent, K percent. He's always blood red in those things on baseball, Savant, you know, upper echelon, 95, 96 percentile. Blood red. Yeah. That's good.

That's good. Is blood blue until it hits the oxygen? I don't. Nobody knows. Nobody knows. Did you get that simulation? Literally? Nobody knows. Trev, I can't talk about the simulation thing you sent me.

Gregman's, yeah, we got to send up the Beavers too. Bregman's walk percentage went way down this year, all the way down to 6.9% nice, you know, to give some context. It was at 12-7 last year. You want to go to 2022. It was even better at 13-3. So there is a little bit of a decline there. And do I think that's going to continue? No, because I've told you that I think his swing is so repeatable and so good that he can clean it up. I think this one is close, but again, I think my reasoning is

you get a guy that can play some defense. And I really actually think their offenses are going to... Well, I think Breggman has a better chance to be a solid offensive contributor for, like, longer than Pete does. And I don't really know if I have great facts to back that up. That's just straight a ball player feel. Right. Pete's tricky,

because it feels like with these big old sluggers, Like when it slows down, it slows down hard. Where Bragman, it feels like he's going to adjust, like it's kind of like we've been talking about. He's going to take a tough at bat until he's 42 somewhere. His power numbers are going to be impacted by the field where Pete a little less. But dude, if Pete lands at one of these Homer parks,

I mean, God, it goes from 35 homers to you start dreaming of an every year 40 homer player. that, I don't know. And speaking of, Homer Parks a little bit, when this originally was put on the sheet, they said, if you were Houston, what would you do? And I mean, that gets tough for me because the heartstrings aren't involved.

But I would actually flip back to Bregman just because I think he... Just because the park. Yeah, his, the hit, obviously, I can't remove the nisalgia of like, you know, you're talking about retiring a guy's number and he's going to be a part of the franchise forever if you resign him that I like that part of it. but also Bregman at that field,

you're going to get a little extra offensively, which I think if I can lock that in, then I'm good. Okay. To each their own. To each their own. I want to go to one now, Jake, and maybe, because there's two options here on our sheet

that are pretty similar, and it's Corbyn-Verns versus two pitchers. And I think they both kind of make sense. I'm going to give you the option of either one. So would you rather, Corbyn's seven years 250, that's 35.7 a year. Just, you know, call it, you know, 35 mil, 36 mil a year. Or you could either have a package of Shamanaya and Nick Pavetta, and that will bring you to 37 and a half a year. Or the other package would be Max Fried and Walker Bueller paired together.

That would actually run you a little bit higher like, 42. So Corbyn's Shamanair, or Nick Povetta, or Corbyn's Max Reed Walker Bueller. The old two for one. The old two for one, if you will. And you can get two for one in this Blitzball battle game coming out. Look at this. Blitzball battle five, wugas,

hookline sinkers. Yeah. Two really good teams without a win. Exactly right. That's the storyline. Who is going to come out, victorious? Because both these teams have the potential to do a lot of damage. Obviously, we know the history with Sinkers. Wougars are a new team. Dan Rorke's a new man. That's what we keep hearing, but we haven't seen it yet translate to on-field performance.

I'm going to take Wougas because look at Old Man Dan right behind me right now. I don't know what he's writing. For me, it's always going to be hard to pick against Jimmy Norp. I believe in Old Men. I'm going to have to pick Sinkers. Well, there's no country for old men around here. Let's go Wougas. Coming your way later today from the Warehouse Blitzball Battle 5.

Check that out on our warehouse games. YouTube, subscribe. Okay, how about this? Of the two packages, because I obviously love me some Corbyn Burns. Okay. If I had to go for the two first, Mania and Pavetta versus Frieden Bueller.

Yeah, that's an interesting conversation as well. For me, it's, I'm pretty straight of Fried and Bueller. Me too. Like, I, I still think Bueller's projections are off. Like maybe I was going to say maybe I'm dumb. Sound off below. Comment.

But like Walker Bueller, his playoffs change everything for me. I saw the same guy. I saw the same guy come back that for me, I don't think he's getting. He was atrocious during the year. Yes, he was. And he was coming off of injury. Tommy John, right? I'm just adding context of what you're saying.

Playoffs changed everything. He was really, really bad. Self-admittedly, he was horrible during the year. And then, yes, turn it on in playoffs. Coming off of injury, he should not have been the same version of himself. I think people were surprised of what it turned into. But by the end of the postseason, he turned down, he got the final outs. He had a couple massive shutdown starts that,

compared to Manaya, who we talked about a lot on this show, and any team that gets Sean Mania is going to be stoked, Povetta, I still don't know, man. And maybe that's rude, because I should give his ERA a little more respect, especially pitching his home games at Fenway. But, like, I'd like to know that my starter, Pivotta's never had the big year. Like, I think that's fair.

Like, Povetta's best season is probably last year, 145 innings of 414-ERA, like a 407 FIP. It's really good, especially at FAP. Fenway, but like, I don't know, out of Mania, Bueller and Freed, like, those guys could give me the massive, let's go win at all season. I'm, uh, okay, so I guess we're going to pick through the two for package first. I think I agree with you on the Freed and Bueller.

The only thing is you're only most likely going to get Bueller for one year. Right. It looks like, I don't know, maybe some team says, you know, we'll give you three off the bat. But Bueller might not want that. It's almost the same conversation we had the other day about, hey man, he's coming out for injury. Do you think he just wants to settle up and get as much money now as possible?

Or is he going to do the one year with the player option thing and say, hey, let's go have a year and then reenter free agency. That's going to be a decision that he's probably going to have to make. I bet there's a few teams that offer him at least a two-year deal with like a player option. I would try. I would try. It depends what he wants. Povetta, I still think, man, I would love to just see him.

I know he doesn't want this, and he is a serviceable starter. I'd love to see that guy just be a flame throw in the pen. Just figure it out. He's got the body type. I know that we can find, you know, guys in the pen in different areas, and I just think he profiles better there. I don't know.

But I would take, I'd also take Max Fried and Walker Beeler in this scenario. So now it goes to, okay, Corbyn Burns, and you get him first. seven years, or you get Max Fried and Walker, you get Max Reed for six years, Walker for only one year. Where do you go then? Would you rather? This one, I think teams start to matter a little bit. Like, how much depth you have in your rotation? It's depth and it's, do you need the true one? Like, I know this is a dumb baseball combo a little bit. How many aces are there? Corbyn's got that card. Max Freed.

You don't think Max does? I love Mac. I think he does. In his best year, he does. But, like, you know, he's been with sale. He's been with Strider. It becomes, again, a dumb argument that we probably need to get out of baseball. Corne Burns joins your team.

He's the alpha. He's the Omega. He's all of it. And maybe that's the beard talking a little bit. But, like, Coram Burns comes in. He's the guy. That's why I love. Like, if this was the Cubs, the example I fell into the other day,

I would prefer they get Burns. Like, you can figure out some of the other depths. You get another top dog up there for sure. And Max is going to be really good. But yeah, in my head, that's a little bit of a mental hurdle where I, I don't know, like for the Mets who they need multiple starting pitching, I would actually rather they get Freedom Bueller. That's who I have them in our free agency draft.

That's who I had them taken. Essentially, this one to me comes down to, I almost don't even include Walker Bueller in this because I'm more so looking at like the long term seven years or six years of freed and Burns. I too, I think I side with Corbyn here. And I mean,

obviously I love Max. You know, I've known him forever. I know what he can do. He's had incredible years. But I agree with you about putting Corbyn Burns out there means something. He's a top.

pitcher in baseball, top three starter in baseball. Sure. And Max is probably a top like 12 pitcher in baseball, which is awesome, you know, but there is something about, hey, Corbyn Burns is our guy. It's like when Luis Castillo went to the Mariners and he was like, this is

obviously our guy. Now they've obviously brought some other guys in with him, but I would take the Corbyn Burns package and just put him out there and say, go do your thing, big daddy. Man, I've been doing it a lot recently, but your guy, Max Fried's baseball reference. It's really good. It's really good. I know, I know.

Whoever gets that guy is going to be really happy that, I don't know, man. Maybe we're, maybe we've got that Cy Young Award too deep in our head because Max Fried did finish second in one of the Sandy years. So like, maybe we are just getting blinded. No, we're not. We're not. I know how good Max Fried is. I know how good Max Fried is.

they're both pretty damn good that was a good one trev hey actually before we pivot off this question was originally listed with the red socks on it and I think that's interesting because they could use a little depth

or they could use the alpha dog who would you rather for them with the red socks trying to think about Park I still think I'd go Corbyn Burns he kind of feels like a red sock Max is too clean I'm big on

I'm big on Corbyn. I think he is, he walks into, I mean, gosh, you're right, Max Fried's baseball reference page is nutty. Dude,

it's, it's, you got a better overall ERA career than Corbyn does. For a guy that we're like, I mean, you've known Max Fried for a long time. It almost,

I mean, they have similar innings pitch. Max says 884. Corbyn has 903. And the only thing that Corbin has him in is whip. which means something. That means something.

That means something. Max has an ERA, wins. Not strikeouts, though. Okay, strikeouts and whips? Okay, that's important. Are we talking ourselves out of things today? I know. That's a tough question.

Good job, Dahl. Let's head over to. All right, Trev. You know what? Let's do the corner outfield game a little bit. I'm interested to see how these two play off each other. And I do think money would become a little bit of factor when it comes to Anthony Santander of the Baltimore Orioles now a free agent and Teosker Hernandez. So what I think the people need to know, the AIVs are projected pretty similar.

You've got power hitting corner outfielders not known for their defense. I think Teosker stands up a little better. But Teosker is two years older. So let's say the money's similar. You have to give Santander another year. Let's say that. And I guess this gets tricky. Let's start out wide.

Because I guess I'm interested in your preference as a ball player because the switch hitting for Santander is interesting. Tay Oscar, we just saw him on the biggest stage. It's tough to get that out of our heads. So where are you going? I think that's the only thing that would stop me from just picking Santander blindly is what I saw Tay Oscar do for the Dodgers this year in the playoffs.

He rose to the occasion. As far as fielding goes, I mean, Santander has him in the baseball Savon bubbles this year. Okay. A Teoscar was minus nine outs above average, and Santander was only minus two. So neither of these guys are bringing you a gold glove. I'm choosing Santander for a couple of different reasons. I think the biggest reason is Switch hitter.

I like guys that can cause platoon matchups or, or, excuse me, aren't exposed to platoon matchups. matchups. The power is real there, man. 38 in 2022, 28 and 2023 and then 44 last year. I'm trying to think about as far as like OBP what that means because neither of these guys really have great career OBPs and who's going to who's going to be better down the stretch. I mean, Santander is pretty much exclusively slug when we're talking about what he does offensively. 5.06 slug last year. Teosker almost matched him with 501. To me, I'm going the switch hitter here. But again, I think this one is really, really close to.

And Teosker showed me something last year big time about betting on himself, playing on the biggest stage, doing it. Seems like a great guy. But if I'm picking between both these guys, I'm going to go to Santander. I think I'm Tay Oscar, which I'm surprising myself a little bit. But even going back to his Toronto days, Tay Oscar was like the threat. And Santander, obviously a threat himself.

And I know Seattle fans don't want any more of the punishment, but like, Teoskers year over, year over year, there's something that feels a little more stable about it, and maybe I'm just getting scared by the on-base percentage. Because like I mentioned it with Pete, Like it feels like when the sluggers fall off, it happens quick. And I don't know if that's swing speed or, you know, you don't trust your swing speed a little more,

so you're guessing a little more or however it happens. You know, Santander's on base last year was 308. That, yes, 44 home runs erases that really quickly. But if that homer total drops to 33, which, you know, is still a good year, and that on base stays around there, the offensive profile gets a little more, a little more question marky for me.

So the other side of this, Santander could be, something could have clicked a little more, and he's peaking. Like he had his highest OPS Plus over a full season last year. And, you know, switch hitting, figuring out on both sides. I don't know. And man, that guy can hit anything, which is probably part of his on-base problem.

He doesn't strike out a ton And he's got a good contact percentage And that has something to do with him being a switch hitter Interesting We both landed on different sides For the first two questions So how about this? If it was bringing both heartstrings

If it's Dodgers and Orioles I mean Orioles I think I have to take Teoscar out because of the fence They changed it They changed it a little bit, but like... They used to be a great place to hit. It used to be a great place to hit. Did they move it back to three when they moved it?

It's not all the way back. Not all the way back. Those pitchers, man, complaining. They get everything. It's unbelievable. If it was the Dodgers or Orioles, pick one. Okay, Dodgers. I think they run Teosker back.

There's something about bringing the guy, putting the band back together. together, right? I think so. The devil you know, yeah. Santander with those fellas. Gosh, now I'm thinking both teams would probably pick Tay Oscar. Because the Orioles need a little something different.

Dodgers want to stay the same. They'd both probably take Tay Oscar. Less years. I guess my only real reason for taking Santander is his ability to switch hit. The switch hit, man, if the team you follow has ever gotten too stacked righty or lefty in recent years, you understand the value of a good switch hitter that, yeah,

I think this would become more team dependent, that if you need to balance out the lineup, Santander's switch ability, but there's something, is it rude of me to say there feels like there's something safer with Teosker? I don't feel that way. Okay. Then it is really. Just for more context, against lefties, Santander 786,

career OPS against Ritey 772. You got to love that. Mm. Mm. So, go ahead of your mind? Know what else I love, Trev? Okay. Via.

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I got a good one here. Does your team need a first baseman? I know your team does. Mm-hmm. if you're an Astros fan, your team does. I think if you're a Diamondbacks fan, your team does. I think if you're a Mets fan, your team does. There's a lot of people that need first baseman.

So I'm going to present to you three completely different contracts, and I'm very curious to see where you go. And let's just say this. For, you know, exercise purposes, it's not only a first baseman that you need. You might need some other things, and you don't have unlimited money either. Right, and the first baseman you're about to lay out

affect years, it affects... Yeah. Okay. Would you rather, get Alonzo, you're going to show up seven years for him, and you're going to give him upwards of $27 million a year. Christian Walker you're only going to have to shout three years for him

and only at $20 million a year or do you pinch the pennies and go splurge and buy something else and put a Carlos Santana out there one year $8 million and a club option for the following year.

So Santana for one year at eight mind you you just won the gold glove switch hitter Christian Walker, I believe, is won a gold glove, $20 million for three years, or Pete Alonso has not won a gold glove, seven years, 27 a year. Would you rather?

I see why you like this one, Trev. I really like this one a lot. I've spent a lot of time talking about first base. Basically, if you'd go between, if you decide between Christian Walker and Pete Alonzo, it's only going to give you an extra $7 million to spend, spend. If you go with Carlos Santana at $8 million a year,

you have another $20 million to spend. Right. And that's the years, the years on Pete there. In my head, I'm getting six. Who knows if he gets seven, whatever. This exercise doesn't fully matter. I'll be honest with you. Team dependent, I start with Santana.

He was great last year. He was really good. And obviously the risk attached of not having to deal. deal with three years or six years or whatever it may be. And what that allows me to do with the rest of my baseball team, I would lean that way. Christian Walker, man, his free agent has gotten even more interesting to me. The teams that are involved for Christian Walker,

if you have the Yankees and Mets involved to start, that helps. And it's been this weird kind of thing. thing. I knew Christian Walker would be a coveted free agent for his offense and his defense, but it almost feels like every team has, every team has gone to the board and been like, hey, should we add Christian Walker? Gold Glove defense that his market is higher than I thought it would be, that if you get Christian Walker good, I am a little nervous. You know, we're talking about him at 34 years old like he's young and I know I just came off of Santana but father time in baseball.

I think he's 40 Santana. Santana. We'll be talking about his free agency in seven years too. Because what do we say, Treve? If they pay, he plays. If they pay, I play. Not a bad way to live. I'd lean Santana and with those contracts mentioned, I'd go Santana Walker P.

Oh, my. my gut instinct will be right away and I think I favor him I favored him the entire time would be Christian Walker the three years 20 a year I do think that at that position

it is a position where when it goes it goes quickly you know these guys are big boys you know the age obviously Pete has that but if you're talking about length of contract they're all going to end up being around the same age at the end of it I think what Christian Walker can do both offensively and defensively.

And he really does. And Carlos Santana is a leader too. There's no doubt about it. Christian Walker seems like he really took hold of that Diamondbacks clubhouse and really felt like he was, you know, the guy that people rallied around. Big hits, everything. I'd start at Christian Walker. Then I would go Carlos Santana and then I think I'll go Pete.

I have some hesitations about Pete. Like I really do. I think he's, I think you'll be happy if he goes to your team. but I would allocate my money a little differently. I think there are some really good options. This question right here, I mean, there's alternatives to Pete in this marketplace. And I think that we're going to, my pot take, I guess, is that I think Pete's going to wait around a little bit in this offseason. I think teams are going to go to Santana, go to a walker, and then Pete's going to be like, okay,

and some of his leverage might be down at the end of the off season. Interesting. Yeah, I mean, that's, again, it's part of the Walker excitement. Like, it's half the risk, even less, for what you might get more in the first two, three years. I guess what I'm saying is if I'm Boris, I'd go pre- Thanksgiving, pre-Christmas, and try to get Pete a deal. Because once you start dreaming about, okay, I can get Carl Santana for next year, and then I can take that money, and I can go get this, for my bullpen and I can get this for my

my bench and it's like, wait a minute like I kind of like that better. The longer you let it stew in your mind about how you can reallocate the money I think the way GMs think nowadays, I think they're going to go towards the alternatives.

Yeah. Yeah, Boris needs Santana to sign somewhere without a big budget. He needs leverage, so he needs multiple teams still want. wanting to fill their first base spot. God.

Man, that's not easy. No. Well, it is for us, and that's why you should hire us as your front office advisors, the talking baseball, front office crew. Okay, Coach Trev. Mm-hmm. Wow, I didn't realize...

Okay. This one we might have to end up. up picking a team because these are two different ballplayers. Glaber Torres. Oh, geez. His projections came out today and it was close to what Dahl had. People are three years 48, three years 52, you know, something around three years 50, 16 mil a year, something like that. Hassan Kim, two years 23.

The other note on Kim, I didn't realize how significant his shoulder injury. is. They're saying early September for a comeback. So you could be talking about a lost season. Like, no offense at Hassan Kim, but a shoulder injury, September, you get one setback, and that's it. Is that what came out?

He's gone until next September? Kim's shoulder, September. It's what Dalton has in the notes here. Oh, Mikey. Small Taron is Labrum. So hey, let's double check on that. Maybe we'll say he's coming back next year, whether it's second half or end of the year.

You get Haasang Kim at the end of the year. If they were, this has Haasong Kim as a two-year deal, 23-mill, or Glaber Torres. This is hitting versus defense, if we're being honest. It is team dependent for me. If I'm picking between these two players and who I want on my team between both of them, I think I take Hassan Kim.

I think he's a versatile defender. I like infield defense. I need guys that are going to catch the ball. Now, again, we're assuming that Hassan Kim is completely healthy. I'm going to take him. I like the on base percentage. You know, I didn't, I wasn't sure exactly what it was. I know he's not like great there, but it's enough where I think he is going to give you some offensive upside, but he's also going to pick it up the middle.

So I'm going to find my offense other places, and I'm going to put like a stalwart defender out there. So I'd take Hassan Kim in this situation. I think everything you said makes a lot of sense. I think these two players specifically make it pretty much like what are your team needs because they're position. Although you could say they're similar, they're also not. If you were the Mariners and both these guys were on your play, we've talked about the hitting thing a ton, would you go Glaber? And the other team that's on my head right now,

because we've talked about them is the San Francisco Giants. I mean, I just think about those ballparks and what's Glaber going to be like in those ballparks? Right. Like those are big, expansive outfields. I think you benefit from being, you know, with a short porch. at Yankee Stadium. Career OPS Plus at like,

what is it? 112, I think I have it at. 101 last year. Hassan Kim right at 99, so just kind of right on average. I still think I take Hassan Kim, man. I'm not sold on the Glaber train. I like what he did for you guys last year. Lopped up in the lead off spot, great.

But I think I would, I'm more, give me the defensive guy up the middle. Yeah, Gleiber, I'm not going to say he got contract yeared a little bit. It happened to... 22 bags for Kim last year. Right. You're getting all around baseball,

which, Glaber Torres, you need him to hit to be out there. And he did. As the season went on in the second half, he was 293, 361, a 780 OPS in the second half. in September 333, 387, 859. So, like, he has that in him. Where these contracts are going to land, again, pending some of Hassan Kim's injury stuff,

you're going to want him on your team also because of the flexibility. Glabors only played second base, and he hasn't played him well. Hassan Kim come the postseason, he could be playing any of, like, the not first base, field positions, depending how your roster sorts out and how injuries go. So I think between flexibility, if Glaber doesn't hit, you have a negative on your team, basically, because base running in defense, which it's hard to hit in this sport, that, yeah, Hassan Kim, and maybe that's a good lesson for the kids at home listening.

Field the ball and run the bases, man. Like, it still matters. It really matters. Give me those Korean advertisers. too. Oh. I think this is beginning to really factor into teams decisions. Like international fandom and international advertisers are really going to factor in. And obviously I know that Labor has some of that, but I think the Asian countries of Korea and Japan are proving to be more fruitful than the Latin American countries as far as advertisers go. I mean, we just saw the

freaking Houston Ballpark get renamed to Daikon, which is a Japanese air conditioning brand. I think baseball is hot in the streets and MLB is hot in the streets in Japan right now. And it's hot in the streets in Korea. I think that that matters to teams. You want to be internationally driven

specifically with the Asian countries right now. Hey, here's some dumb stuff. Know what Japan probably loves having the best baseball player ever? Yeah. I mean, what a sense of pride. Dude, imagine the American bullshit. If we had the best soccer player in the world.

Yes. Oh, my God. We would be crazy. We'd be awful. We'd be insufferable. If the French had the best quarterback who ever played. Be some good content. Patrick Mahomes, French.

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And I am not sure how I'm going to answer this one. I had a, I had like an idea in my head. And as I started researching it, I'm like, oh shit. Like one guy's kind of like clearly above and a little, the other guy's recancy bias for me at least. Blake Snell and you're going to have to pay him

32 a year. Sure. Okay. Or new Chrisale clone Sean Manaya and you're going to have to pay him 20.

So essentially, Blake Snow 32, Sean Mania 20, you can obviously add some sort of bullpen piece or maybe even a Walker Bueller for one year on that. Who do you go? Would you rather Blake Snow? or Sean

Mania These are kind of I don't want to say this is your guy versus my guy but I feel like last free agency I was pressing the Snell button

as much as I could both former teammates of mine Wow people don't talk about that enough You don't just me I'm the only one All the blurbs I've been reading None of them have mentioned them

Fingerprints I'm gonna go Snell and it hurts a little bit because Manaya's really good and could be trending up. I think I could say that with Snell. Like, get him on a team, get him to spring training

because he did it again. He gets better every year. His worst year was his first year in San Diego where he had 27 starts and a 4-2 ERA. Like that's, that's his rock bottom. I know sometimes the walks look bad, but he actually,

he was better last year. Blake Snell's walk rate went down and his strikeout rate went up from his sye young season. I don't know, man. I think if you took the names off the board and you just looked at stats, I think we would be more in on Blake Snell. I want him to find a forever home In that $12 million difference

For these two for me Becomes postseason And like I That's the other thing with Snell man I can't believe we're doing this again Like 48 innings a 333 ERA But everyone remembers the World Series start He got pulled too early from

He gets better as every season goes I want Snell Give me Blake Snow Yeah let's go now, baby. Oh, man. I love Mania as much as anybody does. I saw the transformation firsthand. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I mean, he does look like a different picture. And he, you know, shout out the Dodgers in the postseason. He's got a lot of things. I think he is trending up. But his up isn't Blake Snell. You want him to become Blake Snell. Like, Blake Snell.

Like Blake Snell is Blake Snell, dude And he's been that way his entire career In fact, he's got gold on his baseball Reference 11.2 strikeouts per 9 For the amount of endings he's thrown Is an all-time freaking record for a starter. That's crazy. I know we've done that before on the show

But every time I see it, I'm like, this is nuts. Syung in both leagues for Snell Swing and Miss is Paramount in today's game And there's nobody better at it than Blake Snell. I think when he gets on a role. I mean, he is

where do you rank Blake Snow in starting pitchers? Let's just say everyone is hot and everybody is kind of like feeling it. They're best. Where do you rate Blake Snow? So they're on.

They're best. We gave Corbyn Burns top three. Right, but Corbyn Burns gets there partially for consistency. Yeah. Corbyn's got... I'm still our best. I don't think Corbyn Burns is in.

No, if everyone's hot, is there a lefty over Snell? Maybe sail? No. No. I guess that's the point. I think it's like, I think it's like, I think it's Paul Skeens and Blake Snow right now. Who, Treff. Name me some other guys that you want.

Best stuff. I mean, like, like, honestly, Strider came to mind because he's gone. Scobble too is freaking absolutely filthy. I think scoble would get the knot over Snell. Again, it's a little bit consistency. I don't know, man. If you're saying best, best, there are times where Blake Snell is absolutely unhittable.

And you can say that about Scoobel to it. It's obviously a very difficult conversation. But the fact that we're having it, I think we're both a mock step here and I would take that Snell contract over Manaya and a bullpen guy or Manaya and one year of somebody. That's good.

I didn't think we would get that one together. I'm happy for us. Am I crazy for putting Skeens in that conversation? I just said Jackson Merrill should win rookie of the year. People were not happy about that. And that's you from San Diego. Man, Skeens, after looking at his stat page for a little bit, I don't know where I stand anymore.

Like, he is, he's full-blown here. We're going to find out next year. That's the beauty. Can't wait. Can't wait. I think I might, it might be one in one slash if we wanted to end with some quick hitters because there's some reliever ones on here that I think are funny. I'm actually going to go the other way because I think sometimes we start throwing around

these big numbers and we forget what that really means. Juan Soto. Dalt, his agent, has him at 15-year 690 mill. I don't have Juan getting there, but let's play that game. Six-90? It's 46 mil per year, which that is kind of the rumor. I would maybe chop off a year or two, but... Fifteen years is insane.

A lot of years. It gets you to 40 for him. What were you doing 15 years ago, Trev? Double A? 2009? I was in AAA. I think I got moved out to AAA. Okay.

Congrats. Oh, I know I started the year in AAA. Excuse me. Excuse me. Whoops. Juan Soto We know the deal Or you could get Santander and Alonzo

Dahl. Dalt has Santander for 22 mil a year Alonzo for 26 mil per year So let's you know if we level those numbers out You'd be paying Five more million a year For Alonzo and Santander Who they combined for what

4470 homers last year give me one soda the way I'm thinking about this is yeah you're looking at the extra eight years on a contract and what's that end of the contract gonna look like I don't give a shit I don't think like that like if I'm signing this guy it's not for

his age 40 season dude I'm not okay like we'll figure something out we'll eat that money we'll do something you know we'll find a buyout program, whatever it is. Give me Juan Soto for the next seven years. It's just, it's different, dude.

Sontan Dair and Pete Alonzo, are they going to be great hitters over all these seven years? I don't think so. I think there's going to be a cliff. It's just seen it too many times. I think Juan Soto for the next seven years is going to be one of the most dominant hitters in the game. I think you can book that. So give me, give me Wonsoto in this scenario. Trev, that's, it's a great finishing point because the,

excitement of Santon, Darren Alonzo, middle of your lineup. Here's 70, 80 home runs, depending the stadium. You mentioned Soto's. Let's say it does get to 15 years or whatever. Yeah, maybe those last 7, 6, 5, whatever it is, they look different, whatever version of different that is. With Santon, Darren Alonzo, that could be three years from now. Yeah.

That you're looking at those. Well, okay, we'll put it at this. Over the next three years, would it change your mind if we just said, hey, just three years. I still, to me it doesn't. I still want Juan Soto, like the scariest at bat, one of the scariest of bats in the game up there on my team every, for 162 in the postseason.

For three years, I would have to know my team a little better. Like I, okay, like the giants keep coming up. I don't think it matters. Because I. I think what team you have, I don't care. Some of the teams. He's different to me. He's different.

You're not wrong. Like, I can't tell you. Soto isn't different. I don't know. If you're a team like the Giants or, I don't know, just we're back to the Mariners. I don't know if Juan Soto is enough for the Mariners where two of these guys actually might be.

God, put Juan Soto on the Mariners. He will mean more to that team than both of these guys. I think he's not going to strike out. Look what he did to the Yankees and their whole freaking approach, man. like this guy changes things the other two guys yeah they they they're going to give you some numbers but i'm talking about an organizational shift if you bring in wonsodo treb and he don't think he hasn't helped those guys in the podrays either okay i'll tell you that right now like those guys learn from wonsoto ask any yankee this year what what being a teammate with won soto was like

he's it's it's just different trev why don't you find me one more version of BetterHelp? Well, I tell the people about BetterHelp. This show is sponsored by BetterHelp. This month, it's all about gratitude, and there's someone we don't thank enough ourselves. Wow. Sometimes hard to remind ourselves that we're trying our best

and make sense of everything in this crazy world. It ain't easy. Here's a reminder to send some thanks to the people in your life, including yourself. And one way to do that is starting therapy and give it a try with Better Help. It's entirely online, designed to be convenient, flexible, and suited to your schedule. Fill out a brief questionnaire, match with a licensed therapist,

and you can switch therapists at any time for no additional charge. Let the gratitude flow with BetterHelp. Visit BetterHelp.com slash talking baseball. Name of the show. Get 10% off your first month. That's BetterHelp. H-E-L-P.com slash baseball. There's a link in the description.

Where are you bringing me, Coach Shreve? I do have some quick hitters that I think we could rapid fire. I think let's just do one quick hitter apiece. I actually like this one a lot. It's number eight on our sheet, Jake. This is going to be relievers for one year. Okay. And you've got to pick who you're going to go to.

They're all right-handed pitchers. Do you go Kenley Jansen? One year, 10 and a half. Do you go Kirby Yates? One year nine. By the way, Kirby Yates, when probably added was only second to Emmanuel Class A last year of all pitchers.

Didn't know that. Found that out when I was researching. Blake Trinan, one year eight and a half, David Robertson, one year eight. They're all similar, all within $2 million of each other. So Jansen, Yates, Trinan, or David Robertson. And this is a fun fan one, because at the end of the day,

when that money drops for one of these guys, it's going to be shrug, whatever. For these guys, it's going to be who is the best next year. God, Yates was so good, man. Yates's stats are insane from last year. And it's not like he doesn't have a resume behind him. Like Kirby Yates pitch really well. I'll tell you what, I don't know if this is popular.

If he's bought in, I am a Kenley guy. I know he can make a messy inning. I've seen him pitch in every situation. I don't know. I think it's the wrong answer, but I'm just putting it out there. I think if you've got a locked-in Kenley-Ly, Jansen, I'll take that. I'm going the guy with like the

Wiffle ball. I'm going Blake Trin. As much as I love David Robertson, I think if you're putting those two guys together similar contracts, which is what we have on the sheet here, I think I've just seen Trinan make guys look absolutely ridiculous.

The swinging mess stuff is there. You know, obviously I think he got touched up. The Yankees touch him up? Yankees got Trinan a little bit. And his stuff looked a little bit of sour taste, I think. I don't know. He was getting used in those big outings by Roberts. Like he had a couple like 40 pitch that I wonder if that was something.

His fastball was interesting during the World Series. I don't know what that was. Yeah. I mean, at that point you're getting used so much that, you know, obviously fatigue will set in. But give me full strength all four of those guys. Give me Blake Trinen. I understand.

South Dakota State University. Is that a jack rabbit? you're kind of going against your religion by not getting D-Rob. I know. That's very tough for me. Get both. Get them both. Any team can.

That's a beauty of free agency. Treb, my quick hitter, they're on the sheet for the same exact dollar amount. Three years, 45 mil. Your guy, former teammate Jerksson Profar, versus my guy, former teammate Tyler O'Neill. Both listed three for 45. Where are you going?

I think I'm taking Tyler O'Neill I think the track record is better with Tyler O'Neill I love what Jerkson did with the Padres but I'm I'm going with my short king right there Tyler O'Neill for sure I don't think there's any doubt in my mind the only thing that I do think injury

Tyler O'Neill has a pretty pretty recent history of getting banged up where pro far played 150 plus in two of the last three seasons. It's just nobody really knows what to do with this age 31 breakout season. Yeah. But I'm in on it. I'll take pro far. I'll take pro far.

Some of the stuff he did last year, like getting on base at a 380 clip. Yeah, it's huge. You know what I'm saying? Like for some of the stuff you see in like, standout years that don't make sense. It's not like he hit a bunch of fly balls that got out down the line, and it's not like the batting average is in an unattainable place. It feels like there's sustainable stuff here that I would be worried about

O'Neil's injury history if I needed flexibility in the outfield. I think Tyler can still play center that that could be a game changer. But I mean, Tyler O'Neill's got two gold gloves and MVP-8. I think he did take advantage of playing in Fenway. I think you really like the monster there. Good. I'm going Tyler O'Neill. Tyler O'Neill and Jerksson ProFar.

Does it get better than that? Peterson. Peterson versus Winker. I don't think we need to do that one. Oh, we're jock all day. Jock and Tyro Estrada on the sheet. I think we've hit a good point, Trev. Oh, Paul Goldschmidt and Kirby Yates

versus Christian Walker. Christian Walker. Right? If you believe in him, you're going to get that for a couple years. Man, shout out. Dahl. It has so many on this sheet. Valdi versus Kikuchi. In the comments, if you've got one we need to sort through, or if there's one you think we totally got wrong, let us know. We'll be back on Monday unless there's breaking news.

Jigsawks. Povetta to the pen? Penn. It's just a lot of money, you know? I know. Not to start this contract. Maybe you start him in the regular season and then he instantly kicks to the pen in the postseason.

He's kind of got a lot of... You like his body, you said? Yeah.