บทถอดความฉบับเต็มของ Giants arbitration decisions, Pedro is LIVID, George Kontos joins

seventh inning like I'm gonna punch you and he's got the stuff in the seventh inning you might face some of the media order guys and he's got the heat he's got the velocity I think he needs to tighten up his breaking ball a little bit but and not we're not depend on the breaking ball like sometimes he gets super slider happy and he's not really controlling you know I'd like to see him use utilize that fastball but I I feel like he's not He's not an eighth, ninth inning guy for me. 00:05:55 Speaker 2: So I think it's I think. Yeah, I think it's a little interesting. I mean, you and I remember it as well as anybody, because we won in seven and you took that was near and dear to your heart in Kansas City. But I mean, they shortened the game better than any team that I think we played against. They had a seven, eighth, ninth. That was almost game over door shut. Um, but what I like about Camilo and I think that he could be deployed in this way. And I said it once he first struggled in the closer role, once the first, you know, once you struggle a little bit, then it's in the back of your mind, like, oh man, it's not just all sunshines and rainbows with me dominating, getting fools out. Um, but I, I kind of like him. in that roving high leverage part of the game, because games, as you know, can be won and lost in the sixth inning or in the seventh inning. When you have those big moments in a one run game, two guys on and one out, you come in and it's almost like the floating Andrew Miller, which he was so successful with the Cubs or with the with Cleveland and with the Yankees for those years. He arguably had the best stuff, but he would be deployed in what were very important situations during the game. that weren't necessarily in the eighth or ninth inning. Sure. Could he come in for those outings, but they'd bring him in in the sixth with a big moment in a big situation in the game because the game can be won and lost earlier than the ninth inning. And, To your point, the ninth inning, it is a little bit of a different animal because everyone puckers up a little bit. And it's by design. And what I mean by pucker up is I mean focus is intensified because you know that these are the last three outs you got. It's back against the wall when you're the losing team and you're coming in as the winning team, the closer on the mound, trying to slam the door, and everything is amplified. And guys who are successful in that role are guys who just don't let the emotion of that situation out. impact their heartbeat, so to speak. And we saw it for a very long time with the guys that we had running out there in those eighth and ninth innings. We had a bunch of guys that had steel in those situations. And it was really nice to see. And you learn a lot when you're watching those types of scenarios day in and day out, not only from our bullpen, but you look at Wade Davis and you look at those guys that were coming in against us. And if we didn't have those leads going into the seventh or eighth or ninth inning, it's a hard comeback. It's a hard comeback to get the best of those guys. But I think wrap up Camilo. I think Camilo would be a good addition to the bullpen in general. Six million is a little steep, but I also do think he can be a very, he'd be a very good row roving kind of weapon, whether it's a six, whether it's a seven coming in for one out in the sixth and going back out for the seventh, something in that, in that kind of ballpark, I think he'd be really, really good at. Yeah. 00:08:40 Speaker 1: But what now you got Ryan Walker, are you surprised? they didn't not, I mean, they got, they lost Beck, right? He went to Korea, you know, they, they gave up on some guys where you were, which, which honestly makes sense for Beck. I think it's a good, it's a good play in this situation, but Walker, I, man, like the guy, like the guy, not, but I'm surprised. I'm trying to figure out why do you, Is he just a low-arb guy for you? What is it that he has? Because, man, his delivery is not consistent. You cannot pitch crossfire in that much. And so he kind of seems like he's lost a little bit. So I didn't know, is there something they're seeing in him that you feel like they're keeping him? Or what is it that you think they did right there with arb with him? 00:09:30 Speaker 2: Well, I think that when you look at how dominant he was when he ascended into that closer role when we lost Camilo and he took over. I mean, he was downright nasty. I want to say he converted like his first 12 saves had a like sub one five in that ninth inning. And what that tells me is mentally he was just locked in. And I do I do agree with you. And I understand that when you have a funk to you like he does very far across his body, it's difficult to repeat that. If you're just a little bit off, it turns into a lot off 60 feet, six inches away. That's why you see some of those misfires, which is way arm side or yanked left. And you and I know that. But for the average fan, it's like, well, what's going on? It's like, well, if he's a little bit off back here, it's a lot off back 60 feet, six inches away when everything isn't timed up properly. But I think the lightning in a bottle that we all saw when he first ascended into that closer role was kind of everyone's like, well, when's that guy going to show back up? And there's a lot to like about Ryan Walker because the stuff is so unique. It's 95 to 97 when he's right with a slider that is kind of Romo-esque but way harder. I mean, it just takes off and keeps going. And when you look at that and when you've seen it and when you understand that it's in the tank there, that's kind of hard to give up on, you know? And I don't know what his arbitration projected numbers are. He's going through it for the first time. But I think that if you can kind of get yourself to a number that's comfortable in a bullpen that I think we both agree needs to be addressed, right? That's what the

success of the organization has been since I've been a part of it. You've been a part of it longer, obviously. And all those teams had really good bullpens. And we were all able– Us in 12 through 17 when I was there and you guys in 2010 and 11, the bullpen was always something that, all right, we might have a blip in the road here or there, but we're overly very good. So his projection is 1.6. Okay, yeah. I mean, I think he's worth 1.6 to see if he can figure it out. And again, I don't mean figure it out. I just mean be consistent in whatever role that they're going to put him in. We know that he can. have success in the ninth inning. Is he going to be a ninth inning guy moving forward in this organization? Probably not, but who knows what happens, but he's the guy that I think you can trust in that seventh or eighth inning to come in. And I mean, against righties, we know he's, he's very hard against righties because it's so unique. He's thrown from behind guys. And when he's, when he gets his hands and his fingers on top of the baseball against lefties, I think it's equally filthy because that ball is not just running away. It's changing planes when he keeps his fingers on top of the ball and from a very unique arm angle. And, you know, I think if he can, you know, I've spoken to him quite a bit the last couple of years and I've heard the same things out of him. It's, I've been doing a lot of mental preparation, some mental training, you know, that tells me that sometimes the moment can get a little bit quick and that's okay. You just got to start getting used to being in those moments and being comfortable being uncomfortable because at that level of the game, at that level of baseball, where this organization and Buster and all of us expect to this organization to get back to that level of baseball, you're going to be in those situations a lot because Giants baseball is one run game. It's torture. It's all the things that the fans have seen for 15 years now. And this organization, when it's successful, just has torture baseball because they're not going to tear the cover off the ball and score six, seven runs a game. Yeah, I think we're missing. He needs to learn the scud. 00:13:05 Speaker 1: And he has to learn to underhand the ball the first. 00:13:09 Speaker 2: I'm going to actually try to implement bringing that back. Talk to himself on the mound. Yeah. I think we need to bring all of that back to these relievers. You know, I think that I'm actually going to implement. 00:13:19 Speaker 1: I'm going to ask Tony if I can implement the underhand. Because they didn't really do a lot of underhanding. And I feel like it'll bring back a lot of personality. 00:13:26 Speaker 2: The underhand is good. I feel like the only person that didn't do the underhand. was Hunter Strickland, and he would just fire 97 across the– me and you were– however the play was unfolding, I'm crawling over there and underhanding it. 00:13:41 Speaker 1: Whatever gets me a

99.9% chance of getting it out, I'm doing. 00:13:44 Speaker 2: Okay, that's how I look at it. 00:13:47 Speaker 1: So we got Casey Schmidt. Last guy I want to talk about on the arc. Casey Schmidt, 2.5, obviously a keep for me, but rumors are right now– I mean, not rumors. I'd say there's potential things. The article just came out. Potential like, Hey, what if Yankees trade, you know, all these different, could he be a big trade candidate or do you trade Chapman to free of a third base spot for him to go to, or do you stick him at second? I don't like any of those scenarios. I personally think Casey's kind of like a DeRosa for me. He's a guy that can play outfield infield, play all the positions teams need. They beg for guys like, plus he hits for power. I mean, You can always keep him in the lineup. And I kind of think this guy is a package you want to make sure you have the whole time. 00:14:32 Speaker 2: Right. I mean, I agree with you. I think Casey's a no brainer. I told him before the season or maybe it was my first skitty games that I that I came in to do this year. And I saw him walking by the hotel and I was like, are you feeling this now? I was like, I think you're going to hit twenty five homers this year. I think that the power is definitely there is approached throughout the course of the year. And it's actually unique when you talk about him because he was forced by what the team needed to start bouncing around. He was playing second base. He played third base. He was playing outfield. He was doing all sorts of things. And while he was doing all those things, he was tearing the cover off the ball. And I think it was because the focus was on learning to take routes in the outfield or doing extra reps at second base. And it wasn't so much like the thought of, let me get my reps in. Let me hit off the tee. Let me get batting practice. And He did a really nice job of simplifying his approach. And when you listen to him talk, he just kept talking about keeping things simple. Hit the ball where the pitcher throws it, doing those types of things. Because he's a dead-pull guy, as we know. When he's on top of the plate a little bit more, dead-pull is still an outside pitch that he can hit to center field with plenty of power to get the ball out of the yard wherever. But I think before his knee injury, I mean, he was on pace for almost 30 homers. And that 30 homers in that ballpark, as we've seen, doesn't happen all that often unless your name is Barry Bonds. And, you know, I know Willie Willie did it last year. But that's a big that's a big deal in that ballpark. And I really like Casey. I think that he he plays hard. He shows up every day. And if he can keep his approach and luckily it was just a meniscus. So he'll be fine whenever. Yeah. And for me. 00:16:09 Speaker 3: Yeah. 00:16:10 Speaker 1: And for me, man, when you got Eldridge hitting the way he did, Devers, Schmidt comes in. 00:16:16 Speaker 2: Makes the line longer. I mean, yeah. Way longer. 00:16:20 Speaker 1: I could see Buster's like, I don't need a bat, right? I don't need a bat. I really don't know if you need bats right now. I think he's about ready to go to Vegas. The GM meetings are coming up here. I know they're going to talk about a lot of stuff. There's going to be a lot of what-ifs. There's going to be a lot of don't-knows. Some stuff's going to be on hold, and we'll talk about the CBA in a minute. But I think there's just so much. 00:16:42 Speaker 2: To talk about. 00:16:43 Speaker 1: So Buster's going to Vegas. He's got December 1s coming up, just like the November 20th. I mean, Buster picked a very interesting three years to take on Presidency. He's got to now figure out, is he going to make a big trade? What's he got to do? He's got to look first. 00:17:02 Speaker 2: Is he going to? there's not a lot of guys signing. I really don't. 00:17:06 Speaker 1: I think there might be some guys that might want to squeak in and get some deals, but what we're hearing with the agents and the players and they're all fired up, it's all a scramble right now. I don't know if a lot of that's going to happen. So right now I feel like there's a, if you're going to do it, it's a trade, but who, I mean, who, what, what would you be looking for? I'm looking for bullpen and I'm looking for a two, three starter. That's what I would be looking for, but I don't know how you're feeling over there. 00:17:30 Speaker 2: No, I look, I totally agree. I think that I think that, A, we've seen Buster not afraid to make moves. If he thinks it's going to be beneficial to the organization and help the team win immediately. We've seen him pull the triggers, whether it's Patrick Bailey, whether it's getting debt with Raphael Devers. all things that were like, wow, when they happened. But he's shown a willingness to do that if he feels like it's going to make the organization better. You know, I agree with you. And look, this year was a little bit different because we all came in thinking, wow, this offense is going to be great. You know, the starting pitching staff, you know, hopefully they were going to be good and do what they had done in the past. And then the bullpen, I think, was the only question mark, which was a little backwards in the way that Giants rosters have been constructed in the past. you know, and things got a little bit wonky, they hit them, they didn't pitch, they pitched, they didn't hit. Uh, so this year obviously was, was a head scratcher, but when, when you look forward to next year and there's a lot of question marks, obviously, as you just said, with, with November 20th coming up, December one looming. And I think that we all at least have somewhat of a, an indication of how it's going to be at the beginning. I think pretty contentious. Um, But yeah, I agree with you. I think that you've got a bunch of guys that are coming back from Tommy John surgery that are very good, viable arms in your starting rotation. I think you

have Landon Roop, who can do a really nice job when he is rolling consistently. But I still think that you could add a couple starters, minimum, at that rotation. And I do think that the bullpen... needs to be addressed. And I don't think that that is by any way a far cry to say that. I think that the bullpen needs to be addressed. And by all indications, I think that Buster very well knows that and he will address it. You need to go into it with a bullpen that you're confident can close the door when you're winning. And look, things happen. You're going to blow saves. All of those things happen throughout the course of a season. But you need to have confidence in those two, three, four guys that that are going to be pitching in that eighth and ninth inning. If it's not one bona fide guy that you're going to either name or sign, you got to have confidence in the guys that are in that, in that eighth or ninth inning, because again, going back to some of the bullpens we've seen in our tenure, when you can shorten a baseball game, it makes it a lot, a lot easier. Not that the game's easier, but when you can shorten it, it makes things a lot easier. And Mel, showed it. 00:19:51 Speaker 1: I mean, we talked about it. Yeah, Tampa both. I mean, I talked about it last week. The blueprint for the Giants was on the table for two teams. Milwaukee probably has the best one, but look at Tampa. They got slam door guys. Sabian did that in 09. That's why he went out and got some of his veterans because he was trying to shorten the game. And then he went and added hobby. Like Buster has a lot to draw from. I still think, I know Buster's got a lot of, you know, cooks in the kitchen around him right now, but I still think Sabian would be a guy that he's go out and get, but I feel that right now he has to look at that blueprint. I will spend money, but what am I going to spend money? I'm going to spend money on, I'm going to drill down this game. I'm going to drill down the 17th night and I'm going to drill. I need to be able to say, that I got two stoppers in that five man rotation at any time. So I don't go on a 10 game losing streak, five game losing streak. I can stop it at any time, pick up two or three. Like I want that situation where these guys, these starters will come out and say, I don't have to try to pitch outside myself. I'm going to get us to the sixth or the fifth and then let it roll from there and let that offense run. I thought, I think they've got some speed. I thought they had young guys that came up at the end. It was the silver lining for the entire year of like, oh, we're going to put everybody on the IL, and then we're going to bring a bunch of dudes up and let them run around. And it showed them something. 00:21:13 Speaker 2: It showed them speed. It showed them defense. 00:21:16 Speaker 1: They have a blueprint right there, except for I don't think they have a bullpen that can literally compete. in their division. You want to get to the playoffs, you've got to get a bullpen and you've got to get a two, three starter in. I think that's where you put your money and let these other guys come back healthy. I think that's what they should do. And they've got guys in the minor leagues. I know they've got a couple of starters. They're a couple of years away yet, but I can't roll on that. I think the fans are ready. And maybe like we're about to talk about, maybe they don't play this year. Maybe they don't play for a few months, but the fans, We can't depend two or three years down the road. I think you've got to win now. You've got to at least make an impression. Come out and put an exclamation point. Say, I'm not going to put up last year. Buster's already kind of said it, like you said. He wants a bullpen in there. Go out there and get some slam-door guys and get after it. So for me, I think his Vegas situation is very– It's got to be very narrow. It's I'm doing this. If we're not doing this, then I'm going to wait and figure it out. 00:22:17 Speaker 2: Yeah. And I think that and I think that's exactly what his mentality is, especially knowing that everyone's going to be a little squeamish to do anything before December 1st. 00:22:24 Speaker 3: Right. 00:22:25 Speaker 2: Because of the lack of confidence of what spring training looks like or when a season gets going. You know, last thing you want to do is as a player, you want to sign and then. something happens and you are just SOL on a year of your contract or whatever prorated part of that of that year that it is. Because I think that maybe this is a lead in into it, but I've kind of heard both sides of it. Right. I've heard some people being like, oh, it might not be too bad. And I've heard other people be like, it's going to be a bloodbath. Yeah. And I think time will tell. And it'll it'll it's approaching rather quickly. So so we'll have some of those answers. But it's definitely going to be an interesting few months. 00:23:04 Speaker 1: Yeah, and retired vets are speaking out. Some ML present-day players have spoke out. You have Harper coming out saying, we're not playing at all in 27. 00:23:14 Speaker 2: I mean, saying that. 00:23:15 Speaker 1: Then you got Votto, who you and I talked about last night that just came out. It was like, players want too much, which is a ballsy comment from a guy that signed a $ 250 million deal and signed one of the biggest contracts at that time. 00:23:28 Speaker 2: That's a ballsy comment. I hope he's joking. I hope he's joking with saying that. I hope it's just some big, like, guys, just kidding. Yeah, I don't know. 00:23:36 Speaker 1: I mean, I played with him and he would I would say if he was sitting in this room, he's an odd duck. Like he just is, you know, and he's got he's funny, but he also says some interesting scenarios. So he him coming out that. But then today you had mentioned it. You said it to me earlier today. 00:23:55 Speaker 2: We got this one. I want to play it because this

is from a guy that. 00:23:58 Speaker 1: Everybody probably respects. one of the best to ever freaking pitch in this game. 00:24:03 Speaker 2: And who's been through a lockout already in what are similar terms to what's. 00:24:07 Speaker 1: Going to be locked up. And he was active in that lockout, right? So he was a part of it. Here's what Pedro had to say. 00:24:14 Speaker 3: This time, there's no excuses on both sides. Not the PA, not the owners, not baseball. The fans do not deserve. 00:24:28 Speaker 2: To be mistreated. 00:24:30 Speaker 3: They have done great. Asia is taking advantage of our best baseball in America. Latin America has improved so much with their players, with their stars, with the SWAT. Everybody has taken advantage of baseball and the fans. It's not fair to mistreat the fans right now. 00:24:53 Speaker 2: And I'm pissed. 00:24:54 Speaker 3: And I hope the commission can see me and And here, and the players association hear what I have to say, I might be insignificant. 00:25:03 Speaker 2: But I lived it before. I feel for the fans. And I know when it's good. And it's good. 00:25:09 Speaker 3: Baseball is good right now. So stop the crap around and get something done and don't lock out baseball for the fans that have been great. 00:25:21 Speaker 1: We got don't lock out baseball. He kind of came on pretty strong there, Georgie. I mean, he's pretty much saying I'm pissed at both sides right now. Baseball's good. 00:25:31 Speaker 2: It's great. Guys are making their money. We just had it. 00:25:35 Speaker 1: And then on top of that, payroll isn't necessarily all about winning because you had a number two lowest payroll. 00:25:41 Speaker 2: In baseball and 19 lowest payroll in baseball. Right. 00:25:45 Speaker 1: They come out when they're in the World Series. So baseball is good right now. 00:25:50 Speaker 2: So I think that I think it's so interesting. Right. Because you had you had the summer of 98 with Sammy and McGuire that kind of brought everything back after what was a very, very dull time after the last lockout. Right. Then all of a sudden the summer of 98 happens and all the home runs and Kerry Woods 20 strikeout game. And that got fans back involved and excited about baseball. And. I think that it's really important what he said because when I came across this, it really resonated because I think that it's gotten lost a little bit that we're still an entertainment outlet and value, right? And the entertainment value is for the fans, the people that pay good money to take their families, to come to the games, to buy merchandise, to go put jerseys on their back, stuff that everyone profits from. And I do think that overall, baseball... going into this CBA has been in a pretty good spot and everyone's kind of coming back. Some of these rules that I, that I did not like that have been implemented. Like I still think the extra innings guy on second base is the dumbest thing ever. This is major league baseball and you're turning it into little league baseball in extra innings, but the pitch clock has been great. Some of the things shortening the game by 36 minutes and having the attention span of some of this younger audience being able to be kept in it for a a little bit longer with a shortened game, I think is great. So they've done a lot of nice things. But I agree with Pedro in that baseball used to be, and I'm making this as a blanket statement, there used to be this kind of unspoken competitive balance where everybody would try to put a team together on the field that could compete. And I think you definitely remember it when you came into the game. You're a little bit older than me, but I definitely remember it. There was just this unspoken attempt to compete, and we've lost that. And that, I think, changed with a few of these ball clubs showing that going the opposite route actually does work. The Cubs were one of them that showed that it worked. The Astros were another team that showed that it worked. If we stink for a few years, draft this and that, then we come up and we'll be good for a few years. But, you know, there's a lot of things that– we can nitpick about, but what I think the number one thing that thing that's going to be to the huge disadvantage of the game of baseball is we are about to embark on a time with this new CBA where we're going to listen to the owners, you know, millionaires and billionaires arguing with players who are also millionaires and do well in general of the bubble. 00:28:26 Speaker 1: And almost billionaires, Georgie players that are almost billionaires. 00:28:30 Speaker 2: Talking about talking about money. And this recircles back to Pedro's point. The average fan doesn't care about that. And it's been in a good spot. So that's where it's going to get awfully annoying for the fans who pay good money. And look, I remember when a beer at Wrigley was like $ 8. 75 when we would go when I was a kid. Now things are like $ 19 or whatever. And that's blanket, right? Cost of living has increased. All of that stuff has gone up. But it has gotten to a point where it's costing a lot more dollars for a family of three, four or five to go catch a baseball game and spend time together and support the team that you like. You know, some teams even have deals where you have to have a specific channel or TV subscription to even watch their game. So it's, it's getting to the point where the dollars are becoming a lot more in the forefront and it's being very blatant that they are where in the past, obviously dollars are still important, but it wasn't as much in your face. And I think that's what's, led to this kind of line in the sand that we're about to see. Yeah. 00:29:33 Speaker 1: And I think it's super important that Milwaukee Tampa happened. 00:29:37 Speaker 2: I agree. Totally agree. Because. goes to show you that you have, you have a team that with a payroll in Milwaukee of 146 million and Tampa at like 94 million. And you can

still go and run a really good organization and go and compete by having the right guys and playing good fundamental baseball. I mean, the best team in baseball won the world series. That's right. Blanket statement, Milwaukee was the best team from top to bottom. Defense, timely hitting, hit for power when needed to. Slam the door bullpen, great pitching. They hustled. They played gritty baseball. They deserve to win. 00:30:10 Speaker 1: Old school manager pulling guys out. They didn't run it out to first base. Didn't care if you're a superstar. Came at guys. But what he did is he said, it's discipline. Play the game right and you'll play. If you don't play it right, then either I get fired or I'm pulling you out. I get fired either way. So I really liked his approach, and I really liked the fact that you don't have to defer hundreds of millions or billions of dollars to pay these guys. 00:30:35 Speaker 2: You don't have to do that. For me, that's the number one thing that needs to be addressed. That's right. And look, I'm going to say this because I think it's great that the Dodgers are spending and signing players and making it very– and it pains me to say that from– You're talking. But from a baseball, from the good of the game baseball, I think it's great that they're spending money and trying to put a very good baseball team on the field to try and go win. And clearly it doesn't work every year because look at the Mets. They've spent a ton and they're not winning. But the one thing that I think, and they've done it, It's the gray area. They took advantage of it. But this deferral situation has gotten out of control. And, you know, for me, that's something that needs to be addressed. I'm not sure it's a it's a cap on deferral dollars or if it's a percentage based on, you know, whatever, whatever your payroll is, et cetera. But that needs to be addressed for sure, which I'm sure it will be. Yeah, because that's going to be the issue. 00:31:37 Speaker 1: The owners are fighting with each other on that one. And then you got the players associations in a flux with you know, their leadership over there just went kaput this year. So like everybody's taking advantage of it. And I think that's one of the things that I read. One of the agents said, listen, the problem is, is these players feel that the owners think they're stupid and they're dumb and they're not. And, and they're, they're trying to take advantage of that, that leadership. 00:32:02 Speaker 2: I think Wolf said that sales agent, right? Yes. 00:32:05 Speaker 3: Yep. 00:32:05 Speaker 2: Wolf said it. Yep. 00:32:06 Speaker 1: And so for me, I think that's where the players are going to end up. The thing is the owners bit themselves in the ass because what happened was you pay guys all this money. They can strike Georgie. They don't, now they don't need that little $ 5, 000 supplement that they were going to give us every month. If that happened, they don't care about that. These guys can hold out for you. Like, so, so now you have a stroke. Now it'd be terrible for baseball. It'd be absolutely horrendous. You'd lose all the fans. I like what Pedro had to say. I appreciate what Pedro had to say. Pedro also knows that, He also knows from the PA you can't give in too much because look what they did. They gave in to the runner on second. Now you've got bigger bases at first. What else are you going to put in there? You can't give too much, but when it comes down to some of the things that they're arguing about, they're. 00:32:57 Speaker 2: Going to lock out on. I like Pedro saying, hey, maybe you do lock out, but figure it out. Yeah, figure it out. Figure it out. Say you're locked out. Great. Locked out. You're locked out. 00:33:08 Speaker 1: December one didn't come to where you have three months to figure it out and hammer it out, man. And get this, get the game back on because it isn't a great spot. It does need to keep going. I mean, I think, I think that that this is, this is a perfect time for, for, for teams to start strategizing on like, okay, how do we actually play this game without having to defer all this money? Cause we see that it doesn't always work. And, What you're going to see on Shohei, you paid him $ 750 million, and your body can't handle what he's doing. You already can't handle the knee. 00:33:42 Speaker 2: I know they made their. 00:33:42 Speaker 1: Money on the guy already, but the reality of it is you paid him to produce something, and he's not going to be able to. You're putting one guy in a role that's going to be tough to do. It's going to be tough to continue to compete like that, and you want to force teams to strategize. I would prefer to force teams to be like, as owners, You can pay whatever you want to pay, but you better be strategic about it because you can't do it this way. 00:34:07 Speaker 2: So figure out how you want to do it. 00:34:09 Speaker 1: And that allows all the other teams to start strategizing now, because if you can just buy everybody and. 00:34:15 Speaker 2: It's going to be hard for a player. I'll be honest. 00:34:17 Speaker 1: I mean, you're a free agent and some team that's deferring all this money all of a sudden throws $ 400 million at you. 00:34:23 Speaker 2: And you're like, I don't. 00:34:23 Speaker 1: Like how you get it. Like you offered me 200 million more than the other guy. Who's not going to sign it. You know, look at, look at Tucker's deal. Look at, look at Tucker's deal. That was kind of the one where, where it was just like, wow. Like, and I'm all about, I'm all about players getting their money. 00:34:38 Speaker 2: Always. Every cent. I think we both will land on that statement. Yeah. As former players, a hundred percent of the time, um, the, And it's going to start happening this way where you're going to start getting lower or less years with higher AVs. But what we've also seen as well in the spending is that, OK, you added an extra playoff team, right? That is

beneficial to. Major League Baseball and owners because of all the revenue that's going to be generated in October from the TV rights to everybody tuning in for postseason baseball, right? But what you've then done is you've now allowed teams to get less competitive because an extra team gets in to October. So you don't have to maybe... make that deal at the trade deadline. You don't have to maybe add that player that you think can help you become one of those teams that's going to get in and try. And also kind of what we've seen as well is the top players are always going to make their money. They're going to get paid. They're going to do well. What you what you started noticing for a few years there is the maybe not superstar players, the guys that were a two to five year player who might be going into arbitration. You had major league minimum increase, which is great for all those guys coming up to the league, making 800 grand. But the guy that was going to be a two million dollar player or a three million dollar player, those are the those are the contracts where organizations are trying to scrape and save. is let's save $ 2 million here or $ 3. 5 million here on this guy, and we'll piece together a rookie, and we'll have him figure out his way to make our team good. But that in general is a– it leads to mediocrity because the guy that's been an established guy for six, seven years that can do it at a high level who doesn't come in a game and is nervous, whether it's a pinch hit at bat, whether it's in the seventh or eighth inning with guys on base, a lot of times rookies, they haven't gotten their feet wet yet. And that difference– is what makes a team primed for the playoffs and to go deep in a race. Or like, oh, we'll figure it out. We'll develop this guy for next year. So there's a lot of things that have happened with this increase. And look, let's be honest. No franchise in the core four sports has had a valuation drop in the last 30 years. 00:36:50 Speaker 3: No. 00:36:51 Speaker 2: You just had the Tampa Bay Rays sell. You just had the Commanders sell for $ 6. 6 billion. So the valuations are increasing. 00:36:58 Speaker 1: Anaheim. 00:36:59 Speaker 2: And I'm at one in freaking 12 years. 00:37:02 Speaker 1: It's ridiculous what they're getting. It's a good business to be in. 00:37:07 Speaker 2: Play the game. 00:37:07 Speaker 1: So I think it's important. I think it's going to be interesting. I do like, though, that vets are coming out. This is probably the first time I've really seen guys. This is probably the first time. 00:37:19 Speaker 2: I went to O2. We almost went on strike. 00:37:23 Speaker 1: But I never heard any guys come out that retired and said anything. This is the first time I've really heard a couple good voices. Pedro is probably not the last one you're going to hear from some of these guys. I think they're going to start coming out, and they need to start pulling on some of these guys' voices as well. These players

need to listen too. I think you've got to bring some of those guys in to the talks a little bit because it's really, really important. In the end, I know it looks like, umpires versus players versus owners there's these say but it's not in the end we're all in it together it's one entertainment industry it like we have to figure this out because it is what makes america america this this is an important time man and baseball is a super important part of our history and part of our future so it's. 00:38:09 Speaker 2: Got to happen i i i Do I think they're going to lock out? I do. 00:38:14 Speaker 1: I don't think they're going to. But do I think they need to lock out for an entire year? I do not think that. 00:38:19 Speaker 2: Well, one of the one of the things, too, that would bode in favor of the owners trying to get something. Everyone wants to get something done, but it would bode well for the owners because of this last year, this TV deal as well. And the wraparound on if you lose whatever percentage of the games because they want that new TV deal, because that's going to be lucrative for Major League Baseball. And that's going to be great. But if they miss whatever percentage of games it is, then it tacks on an extra year at the end of it that they don't want, which is why some of that information came out last week. And it's just, it's going to be, I think, I think emotions are high right now all the way around. And I, and once, once the initial December 1st comes and goes and that's over with, cause now it's just heightened, you know, emotion and speculation on, on all of it. I think we'll get down to nitty gritty. And the one thing that you don't want is just to, to have, Each side, metaphorically, put each other against the wall. Have some good faith conversations and let's move it forward. I totally agree. And again, the people that are the most important of this are the fans. They're the ones that come. You and I played in front of 45,000 people. For every single home game, I was a tenure giant for six seasons. You know, second and king third and king there were 30 or 45,000 people there every day and there's nothing better than that and pissing those people off to make them not want to come to games in general across the league would just be very bad for. 00:39:43 Speaker 1: Everything yep I agree I agree Georgie this is awesome man let's do it more I think it'd be fun to have you on more often. I think it'd be a good time. So for those of you who are listening or watching Splash Hit Territory, George Contos, join me. Super fun. Great conversation. If you guys want to figure out how to see us at Fantasy Camp, you can. 00:40:03 Speaker 2: I'll probably dominate if you want to see that. Get out of here. You're out of here. It'll be awesome. I'm going to go 2-0 this year. I already talked to him. It's done. 00:40:13 Speaker 1: I threw 14 straight innings, by the way. Uh, last year I threw seven innings for both sides. 00:40:18 Speaker 2: I'm going to come in with my arm already ready to go. So breaking bats left and right. 00:40:25 Speaker 1: Uh, I pulled my glute, my glute on the eighth pitch and I still hung in there for 14 innings. 00:40:29 Speaker 2: So I grinded. Not surprising. Not surprising. Georgie man. Hold on one second after this. I want to chat with you, but, uh, thanks for joining me. I appreciate it, brother. Always buddy. Always.