บทถอดความฉบับเต็มของ Attention, Twins: Please make some moves before the lockout

know what the start was. There were 4.3% hope going. 00:02:55 Speaker 4: Into this season. 00:02:57 Speaker 2: And then you had an interesting season. And I'm not going to say it was a good season, but it was a more entertaining season than I think we all expected. The Twins were in it enough to make moves at the trade deadline and then injuries and depth issues caught up with them. but they brought up all their rookies. We saw what Luke Kieschel could be in his first full season. We saw the potential of Walker Jenkins and Kalen Culpepper, Emmanuel Rodriguez. You have at least to an extent captured your fans attention a little bit. I would bet we're more like at 22%, right? Somewhere around there. Maybe, maybe higher. Who knows? Um, but the way to capture their attention right now is to make moves and have them buzzing, uh, before this lockout happens. Because I just can't imagine taking a fan base that just eight months ago or nine months ago was that miserable and having them go through a lockout and be pissed off that there's no baseball happening. And here are these owners and these players fighting over these huge salaries that no of those fans can even comprehend what that money is like, right? And this is not to say that the money is... You know, players deserve what they get. The owners make their money. This is not that conversation. But I just don't think having your fans who are on the fence be pissed off and more sour is a great way to go into that lockout. And if you can go out and make a move or two, if you can go out and sign a relief pitcher that solidifies that bullpen, it doesn't have to be a mega deal. You don't have to go out and sign a $ 300 million player. I'm not, I'm not saying that I'm just saying, be aggressive and do some things. Don't wait for the bottom feeding part of the market. Like the twins have traditionally done for a long time and give fans something to be excited about. So the reason why they're pissed off about the lockout is because they want to see that your team on the field next year, that, that they can't wait to see baseball again, because they are hopeful about the future of the twins. And, Last time, they were coming off a losing season in 2021. Signing Byron Buxton was a great move long-term, especially because it was a win-win contract for both Byron Buxton and the Twins. It limited their kind of damages if he got hurt and how much they paid out. And Byron Buxton, value-wise, has made that $ 15 million every year of that contract because one war is worth about $ 8 million. He has cleared that bar every time. Byron Buxton has earned that contract. But also, if Byron had an MVP season that gave him upwards of $ 10 million in bonuses. Great deal. Really exciting. But also, that was a guy that the Twins fans knew. And I do want to see them lock up some of their young guys. I want to see them lock up a Luke Kieschel, anybody, something like that. But that didn't move the needle. Dylan Bundy was the other move that day that they signed Byron Buxton for $ 5 million. 00:05:57 Speaker 1: And. 00:05:59 Speaker 2: He went into the off season with a rotation full of questions. And I remember during the lockout going to visit Byron in Georgia and Baxley. And we did this whole conversation about his track style workouts and how it was helping keep his legs in shape. And as we're walking to the cars at the end, he was like, Dan, who's pitching for us? And I like looked at him and I'm like, dude, I have no idea. And it was my third, my third guest at that time was Randy Dobnak. And you look at that 2022 staff, and the Twins had a great offseason. Unfortunately, all of it happened in March. And it happened in such a whiplash-type fashion. They traded for Sonny Gray. They got rid of Josh Donaldson. They signed Carlos Correa. They brought in Gary Sanchez. And they brought in Gio Urshela. They made other moves. They traded Mitch Grover. There was a ton of activity in March. You got Chris Archer. You did a whole bunch of things. Do some of that now. Do it now and give your fans a good taste for the first time in a while by making a move. When the Twins signed Nelson Cruz, and it was in mid-December, I believe. It was right after the winter meetings in 2018 going into 2019. That's the kind of move that your fans see that you went out and got a guy you wanted. And you paid for him. And they paid above market at the time. They paid $ 14 million for him. And I believe people were thinking he was going to get $ 12. 00:07:26 Speaker 5: 5 million. 00:07:26 Speaker 2: So they paid a little more to get their guy. But they ignited some hope in Twins fans. And that ended up being a great move. But just being aggressive right now is what's needed for this fan base to have their imaginations recaptured. And they desperately need that. And I just think that free agency begins five days after the World Series ends. And I think making some kind of move to capture their attention, anything that shows you're being proactive, is really good, you know, with a, with a lumen lockout ahead. 00:08:05 Speaker 1: They have some decisions to make on their own players as well. Tyler, uh, most notably Brian Jeffers, who is headed to free agency says he intends to test it. We've talked about all the reasons why it may or may not make sense for the twins to try to enter into his market, but he's certainly somebody that they could make a statement on one way or the other right off the bat. 00:08:25 Speaker 4: Yeah, and it's like you touched. 00:08:27 Speaker 6: We've talked about how is that the right move long term? Is he replaceable or is holding him worth that much more keeping him around versus spinning that on another guy is the question they're probably having now. Do they go shorter and try and blow him away with some bigger years up front? 00:08:49 Speaker 4: He's a little older. 00:08:51 Speaker 6: They can project probably roughly within a few million what he's going to get.

But he's a guy that the potential is you sign him for, I don't know, I'll say. 00:09:02 Speaker 4: $ 20- ish million a year. 00:09:04 Speaker 6: Give him two years for $ 40 and see if he bites on that. Or would you rather have that money to spend $ 20 a year on a starting pitcher or two bigger, like we talked about Iglesias last week, like go get a back-end guy who maybe isn't as well sought after Um, it's, it's just one that move in particular is one. I, I, it would get people fired up to have him around. He had a huge success behind the plate with stealing strikes. You know, the power numbers are there, you know, at times he was kind of carrying the lineup. He's a guy that can help your team win is his value at 20 to 25. 00:09:42 Speaker 4: Million a year, whatever it ends up being. 00:09:44 Speaker 6: Is that worth more than going and getting like three pieces, like you said, before this deadline? Try to jump on a big reliever or even a starter that might be available that we haven't touched on yet. That's the big questions, the what ifs, and as it always circles back, to, the pressures of being a GM are a lot different than the pressures of me talking on this show here or playing a baseball game. Because it can go wrong so quickly. He's played part-time essentially his whole career. 00:10:16 Speaker 4: It's just platoons. It's the way baseball is now. 00:10:19 Speaker 6: No one really takes the full brunt of a season anymore, unless you play for a certain few franchises. And, you know, so it's, it's the value added versus, you know, the potential, what ifs, you know, you get, get another guy that's has a great year, then you win. And if you go sign somebody else and have a bad year, well, you look, you got egg on your face, you know? 00:10:37 Speaker 4: So, um, Jeffers is definitely one. 00:10:40 Speaker 6: I think they throw out a flashy, something at him, maybe a shorter term thing because they have Vaughn Lackey, like ready in a couple of years. 00:10:48 Speaker 4: Like, have him around just to write the ship and then let him go again. 00:10:52 Speaker 3: I don't know. 00:10:53 Speaker 6: It's an ultimate, it's going to be up to Jeffers. Like he's, he's got to decide what's worth it. If he's comfortable where he is, he's got to go to a new franchise and get a new fan base to fall in love with them. And, you know, certain places you go, you don't start out hot. They're going to boo you out of the stadium. Like there, there's a lot of what ifs to being a free agent and, and a GM for that matter. And so it's, But the point of everything we're saying, we've got about a month to where they can make something happen, make a little bit of a splash to get people fired up for spring training whenever that's going to start. And that's the main goal is to keep the fans intrigued and excited about the potential. 00:11:31 Speaker 2: He has about 90 million reasons to not take a two-year deal because he's going to get five years. Like, look. Um, we, we've seen it with, uh, JT real Muto and we saw Will Smith get a 10 year deal. And I'm not saying that, that Brian Jeffers is at that level that either of those guys was at, but I am saying that Ryan Jeffers is a good catcher in eight Oh four OPS last year. He does steal strikes. He's not a great, you know, he's not a great framer blocker, but he is, there's, there's enough there behind the plate. Um, and yeah, because he's 29 and won't be 30 till June, he's going to get four or five years. So if you're going to, if you want to entice him with a two year deal and have him hit free agency at 31, which I just don't think he's going to do, but if you want to do that, you would probably have to throw out something like 25 to 30 million a year because the qualifying offer for one year is supposed to be like 22. Yeah. 23 million bucks. it's still not totally set, but I mean, it's going to be in that 23 range, 20 high 22, low 23 range. So asking him to take two and 40 that's below the qualifying offer. I think he's going to get somewhere. I don't think he'll get, you know, a super high AAV with this five-year deal. But if you get five at an average of 18 million, that's $ 90 million right there. So And I wouldn't be shocked if that's where he ended up getting something. I don't know. We haven't seen projections yet on what his contract is going to look like. But he's going to get a good deal. And I think to entice him, you would have to go short term, but you would have to go a very high AAV. And I don't know if that's worth it. 00:13:17 Speaker 6: Or some mutual vesting option type thing. Like, hey, if you show up and put up numbers, you can make more and more money. I mean, not unlike Byron's deal, but just a lot more up front. With some escalators. 00:13:29 Speaker 4: I think we saw. 00:13:31 Speaker 2: With Ryan Jeffers playing a lot, though, this year. I think he's way better at the 90-95 game mark than if you ask him to play 120. We saw his production. When they played him every day in August, September, his production slowed down. And I think he's a guy that benefits from having a fresh body. So given a guy that can't do every day, you know, high, I want Ryan Jeffers to be around. I think the better play would be for them to do the five-year deal and trade him after two years. If he's in good enough shape, that's the risk you run though, is that you run that risk. Is he going to be still in great physical shape in two years? Cause you always worry about that with catchers and the twins would be in a good spot to keep. I mean, you could pair them with Vaughn Mackey and just have those two be your catchers for the future going, going forward. Um, So, I mean, maybe that's what they do try to do, but you know, the twins have never engaged on an extension deal with him. They, they didn't try to lock him up long-term before there were no contract talks this year. So I, it just seems to me that, you know, he's going to get his payday, but it'll be

somewhere else. So I think you have to focus on other areas to make your moves. And that's why I think bullpen something bullpen would be make a ton of sense right now, overpay by, you know, a couple million a year on what you think Rysel Iglesias is going to get or something like that. And just bring in a name to, to bolster that group. So then it's Jeff Hoffman and that guy and Andrew Morris and Yowanders Gomez. And you look really good going into that lockout with that bullpen. 00:15:12 Speaker 7: It's that time of year where all the sports are pretty much going right now from the baseball playoffs, which obviously on foul territory, we love NCAA football. There's huge games this weekend, conference games, There's NBA starting, NHL is going, and the NFL is in full swing right now. 00:15:29 Speaker 3: So if I need to get tickets because I go everywhere and I go to a lot of games, I use SeatGeek. 00:15:34 Speaker 5: I don't need to go everywhere. I just need to go to the World Series. Maybe I got to go see LeBron play too. So I just scroll across. I figure out where the best place to watch the game is. SeatGeek's got me. 00:15:46 Speaker 3: That's right. Red dot, bad deal, they think. Green dot, great deal. But you get to choose. That's the one great thing about SeatGeek. And, of course, we have a code. Kratz and I have a code for you. 00:15:57 Speaker 7: You can use code TERRITORY10 for 10% off your next set of tickets at SeatGeek. That's 10% off all tickets with promo code TERRITORY10. Make sure you click the link in the description to download the app and have the code automatically added to your account so you. 00:16:11 Speaker 3: Can use it later. 00:16:14 Speaker 1: I want something definitive on Jeffers right away. on that first day they're eligible to do something. 00:16:20 Speaker 3: In or out. 00:16:22 Speaker 2: You know what it'll be? They'll make the qualifying offer. That's definitively what they're going to do. 00:16:27 Speaker 1: And that's fine. That's fine. Then I understand where they stand. I just don't, hey buddy, hope you're feeling better. I just don't want to do, like you've had a month to figure out the play on Jeffers, so just do it. And Jeffers may, if you do make him an offer, he's not going to take it right away. I get that. But like, Well, he. 00:16:47 Speaker 2: Has the short window. He only has, I believe, two weeks to accept that qualifying offer. You don't get to hold on to it the whole offseason. You either take it or reject it. 00:16:58 Speaker 1: But if it's a long-term offer, is that different? 00:17:01 Speaker 2: If it's a long-term offer? 00:17:03 Speaker 3: Well, no. 00:17:04 Speaker 2: Okay, so the qualifying offer is just a– it's like the franchise tag in football where you just throw it out there and the guy gets the one-year deal. So you can then go and make him– you can throw him that and use it as a window to try and negotiate a contract extension. Um, so he doesn't just cause he accepts the one year doesn't mean that you have to keep him for just one year. He could, he could talk to you about an extension. You could take that, uh, like one year and, you know, I mean, obviously once that's locked in, once he would accept it, he is yours. Um, Unless you somehow traded him, but that would seem odd to offer a guy a qualifying offer, and then he accepts it, and then you trade him. That doesn't seem like something they would do. 00:17:51 Speaker 6: It would be a hell of a move. 00:17:56 Speaker 4: Everything's on the table. 00:17:59 Speaker 1: Yeah. 00:17:59 Speaker 2: I mean, hey, when the strike happened in 94, guys you thought were mainstays– because of like their involvement in the strike. I think Jack Morris, the White Sox got rid of him immediately traded him like the day after the strike ended in 95. Like, so anything's on the table when there's a labor dispute, but I, I think the twins move there is definitely just making the qualifying offer and, and putting it out there. 00:18:25 Speaker 4: Like, Hey, good luck. 00:18:28 Speaker 2: We want that draft pick. That's, that's how I think it's got play out. But you know, I just think that them doing whatever they can early on to capture fans' imagination. Because Twins fans have this kind of feeling that the team goes to– is Big Lots a discount store? 00:18:49 Speaker 4: Is that– Big Lots? 00:18:52 Speaker 2: The Twins have this idea that in end of January, early February, Jeremy Zoll is going to get that shopping cart together, go to Big Lots. 00:19:01 Speaker 4: You're going to get a deal. 00:19:03 Speaker 2: And look for players who are on– their market never mattered. 00:19:08 Speaker 5: That has worked. 00:19:09 Speaker 2: There's no question that has worked in some cases. Twins got a really good year out of Michael A. Taylor that way. 00:19:15 Speaker 4: Twins got a really good year out of– Well, you get the hungry guys. You get some guys that need a shot. 00:19:22 Speaker 2: Yeah. I think they signed Michael A. Taylor in late January. They signed Donovan Solano after we had arrived at camp in 2023. you can find some good places like that. You can also end up with Logan Morrison, who was pissed off. They only got one year in free agency and Lance Lynn, who was pissed off. They only got one year in free agency and the twins got them and they came in in 2018 and neither of them performed. They both sucked. They were, you know, Lance Lynn picked it up a little bit before the trade deadline in July and then went and excelled for the Yankees after the deadline. But the idea of shopping late, you want some of that, but mix in some early. Be aggressive. Show them that you actually are– You've talked this big game about wanting to be aggressive and show your fans that you're going to do this to support this team. This is how you back it up, is making moves. 00:20:13 Speaker 4: Give us a little something. 00:20:15 Speaker 1: Right. If they go to December without doing anything, all the best

players are going to be gone. Probably all the next best players are going to be gone. Who knows what's going to happen afterwards? Look, you're always weighing whether the deal will be worth it in the long run, but you can never know. And of all off seasons for them to finally spend some money, not that they haven't before, but you know what I mean? The one where you've been building, building it up, promising it, saying it's going to happen. This is the time. 00:20:50 Speaker 4: Hopes are high right now. Hopes are high. 00:20:53 Speaker 2: Well, they're higher. 00:20:54 Speaker 4: Let's, let's, Hey, higher than they've been. 00:20:58 Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean, look, we can see it in our numbers. We can see what our show is. how many people are watching the show now versus at the start. And there is, I can see it in my content that I, when I write a story at the athletic, I can see how much the numbers have increased over the course of the season. It's certainly higher. I still think there is a big portion of the fan base. That's skeptical. That's going to stay away. And they like to use their excuses and they look, you've had 40 something years of the same ownership group telling you the same stories over and over. So it's well warranted to, to think that, they're not going to do anything. And I would want to be proven wrong too. I would want to see that ownership prove me wrong and go out and spend. So until that group believes a little bit, they're always going to be there. They're always going to say they're not coming back until the poll ads leave. But winning tends to change things and supporting your roster so that you can win tends to change things. This is why it's so infuriating that we're here in the first place. They had this window at the end of the 2023 season. They captured fans' attention. They had Correa. They had Buxton. They had Pablo Lopez. They had Joe Ryan. They had all this good stuff happening. You won your first playoff series in 21 years, and then you screwed it up by cutting payroll. Fans were like, wait a minute, that's it? We won our first playoff series in 21 years? We ended that stupid 18-game losing streak. We did all these great things. And the first thing you do a month later is you cut effing payroll. Like that was the dumbest move ever. That really truly was. You shot your fan base. You shot yourself in the foot. You pissed off your fan base. And so here you are again. You shot your fan base. 00:22:47 Speaker 4: You shot your fan base. 00:22:48 Speaker 2: Well, you did shoot your fan base. 00:22:50 Speaker 1: You did. 00:22:51 Speaker 2: But here you are three years later and you have to start over. And now I hope they understand that. that they got to prove it to these fans because you had it there. You screwed it up. You sort of have it there again. You have some young guys. They're really fun to watch. Like, man, there was more athleticism on the field at the end of the season. 00:23:10 Speaker 4: The core is

being established now. And now you got to help. 00:23:13 Speaker 2: So spend, spend and, and do something aggressive. Like don't, don't drop the ball again. 00:23:19 Speaker 1: Not just like new food items at the ballpark. Although that'd be great too. You know, we always like, to find a bloody Mary with French toast attached to it. Well, I can't top that rant. Dan took the fan rant from me today. So good stuff. We'll move on now to a familiar face. Could be back on a MLB bench soon. Rocco Baldelli reportedly drawing interest from the Mariners in their managerial role. He was, of course, Twins manager for seven seasons, including the Bomb squad year, Tyler Duffy. That was one of your best years, wasn't it, Tyler, that year? 00:23:57 Speaker 4: Yeah, we had some fun. 00:23:58 Speaker 6: Rocco, I mean, and credit to him, he handled 19 the way we did, and then COVID year, the summer camp, I think we had the T-shirts and the whole thing. 00:24:08 Speaker 4: He kind of went through the highest and the lows pretty smoothly. I had great memories with Rocco. 00:24:18 Speaker 6: That coaching staff in general, once he had Shelty with him helping out, I felt like they were like the best, like one, two combo that I've kind of experienced. 00:24:26 Speaker 4: Like he, you know, Rocco is Dan knows. 00:24:29 Speaker 6: He's more soft spoken, you know, not, not even soft spoken, just he'll talk, but he's, he's not going to offer it up as freely. And, you know, he's a deeper thinker and, and, you know, he's unique in that way. Cause baseball, you got some pretty loud opinions at times. And then you had shooter, you know, those taking the temperature of the clubhouse and things like that. But Rocco, I've, Honestly, I was wondering where he was going to pop up next because I don't know how that contract stuff works and everything, how they have to sit out and if it's whatever. But it's good to see him back in the game. I think he's good for the game. He's one of the original Tampa products and saw how they ran their system and took it and brought it to us. And it brought a great environment to be in, a great environment to play baseball in. 00:25:16 Speaker 4: It was a real relaxed environment. 00:25:18 Speaker 6: You know, he knew how to get the guys fired up at times when they needed it and had some spirited, you know, the occasional meetings as he'll tell you, he hates having meetings. You know, we'd have like two or three here and it was when we needed it. And, you know, like I said, all the best to him. He's, you know, he's a great guy for any of those jobs. He's a great voice to have. And he, again, like we've hit on a few times recently, like. 00:25:40 Speaker 4: He did it. 00:25:41 Speaker 6: He went through all the things. He was a big pick, you know, He got the injuries. He has all of the boxes you need checked to be able to have these real conversations with players. He's a great guy to have around, and hopefully for him it works out well and he gets another gig. 00:26:00 Speaker 2: I thought the thing he did well was set the mood, create the environment. 00:26:08 Speaker 4: Just calm is convenient. Yeah. 00:26:10 Speaker 2: And, and also, you know, it, it didn't certainly like, it was pretty good that he was able to bring Nelson Cruz in to be sort of the captain of the clubhouse because Duff, you look around that room and it was you, it was Byron, it was Kepler, it was Sano, Polanco, obviously Joe, Joe was gone that year. So you had a bunch of young guys, you had, you know, Trevor May, Rogers, like you, like everywhere you look, Barrios, like, you had all these young guys who were just figuring themselves out in their career. 00:26:44 Speaker 3: Exactly. 00:26:44 Speaker 2: And like bringing in the steady veteran to kind of just look to him. Hey, this is Nelson's clubhouse. 00:26:53 Speaker 3: Right. 00:26:53 Speaker 2: And, and check what he's doing, because this is the hardest working guy you're going to find. He's going to, he's, he's doing this at this age for a reason. And he is so good and such a calming force himself, such a presence, like a friend to everybody brings the clubhouse together. but also a guy you knew you didn't want to mess with. Like, cause he's, he's a big dude. He could take care of you if you mess with him. Um, especially don't mess up. Don't, don't wake him up during those naps. 00:27:20 Speaker 4: But, uh, Hey, and you got us nap rooms. That's Nelson did the best. 00:27:24 Speaker 6: He got us, there's a room back there. There's pitch black with a window unit and Tempur-Pedic mattresses. 00:27:29 Speaker 4: Like what else can you ask for? 00:27:31 Speaker 2: It's crazy. And, and Rocco also did what I loved was he brought in some Spanish speaking coaches and, because there wasn't a lot of Spanish speaking coaches. So, Hey, what do you do for your Spanish speaking players? You create a better environment where they're more comfortable beyond that. He started having Elvis Martinez, who's now the raise, uh, communications director at the time, Elvis was the team's interpreter and PR staff. And Rocco started having him go with Wes Johnson's the mound for pitching changes or for, for conferences with pitchers. I like so that he could interpret for them. And, and like, Basically, he went and created this great environment. And like you said, Duff, he checks all those boxes because he was a stud player. He could have gone to college volleyball at UCLA. He could have gone to Wake Forest for basketball. They talked about him as the next Joe DiMaggio as a baseball player. So he was a stud. And then he got injured and he dealt with all that crap for his whole career. So he knew what it was like to be empathetic towards injured players. And he had the analytics side and he knew how those could improve players and And he did a good job just meshing it all together. I mean, you're right. 00:28:37 Speaker 4: He wasn't fiery. 00:28:39 Speaker 2: He let his bench coaches do a lot

of that stuff. But he oversaw it all and helped create it. And I think that that's what he does. And I think a place like Seattle where we saw their year basically fall apart because Randy Rosarena and Cal– because Cal Raleigh was– didn't shake his teammate's hand. Like Cal– He put the baseball karma on himself by not shaking his own teammates' hand during the World Baseball Classic. And the fallout from that, I don't know if that really was a thing, but maybe it was. And I don't think that that would have lasted long with a different manager who would have said, get over this shit, you guys. Let's move on and let's play baseball. You guys are teammates and you guys can have each other's backs. I think Rocco can handle different types of personalities. So he is going to get back in and I think he is going to be good And I think the year off was probably great for him. Just getting a chance to be at home with the kids and the dogs and, uh, and soak it up because he's been doing this every year since he was 18. And, you know a break isn't bad but i think he's ready to get back in and find the right spot. 00:29:47 Speaker 1: The pacific northwest feels like a great fit for him too just he's. 00:29:50 Speaker 6: A big coffee guy he's a huge coffee guy He's shown me his trail cams at his house. 00:29:56 Speaker 4: He had, I can't remember what they're called up in the Northeast. 00:29:59 Speaker 6: They're like giant, they're not Nutria, but they're these giant, there's a funky name for him, but like, he's, he's all about the outdoors and you know, the hiking and all that. 00:30:08 Speaker 4: That's right up his alley. Like that's going to be right. His speed. 00:30:12 Speaker 2: Zach, when you approved me, when you approved me to go to Providence to meet his friends and family for that profile I did from him, it was like January, 2019. He had just been hired. he took me to three coffee shops that day. 00:30:25 Speaker 4: So you're beamed up. 00:30:28 Speaker 2: Yeah, it was great. Uh, so yeah. 00:30:31 Speaker 1: You might also remember that the man knows his sausage. Uh, this was from the 2020, 20, uh, 2024 season. Excuse me. 00:30:39 Speaker 6: Dealing with stupid baseball players. That's what this should be. 00:30:45 Speaker 1: This is probably my favorite Rocco Baldelli moment. If you're watching on YouTube, there's a, There's four pictures on the screen of him trying to explain what you might remember, the Twins rally sausage from that year. Just a big hunk of meat. I believe it was wrapped in plastic, so it wasn't like they were. 00:31:02 Speaker 2: It was, and it was encased meat. It was a summer sausage, and that was the best thing about that season. 13-game winning streak because of the rally sausage. 00:31:15 Speaker 6: Didn't Jeffers throw it at one point and almost strike someone with the sausage? 00:31:20 Speaker 2: Carlos Santana got hit in the head. They threw it out of the dugout. They tried to flip it to him as he was coming home, and he didn't see it. They hit him in the helmet as he was getting to the dugout. That thing got beat up, but I talked to a sausage expert at the time because that's what I was going to do. They insured me. I called, I looked up a dude and he was like this gourmet chef who excelled in sausage making from Portland. Um, and it was so much fun to, this dude was like, don't like it's in case meat, it's fine. It's as long as like, they don't break it, it's going to be fine. And Rocco's like talking about being a biohazard thing after a couple of weeks, like they're, they were like worried about it, you know? leading to a global pandemic and all that stuff. And yeah, he let stupid stuff happen. It was, those were good times. That was definitely. 00:32:16 Speaker 1: I love that the lighting from this press conference, it looks like a hot dog cart light. 00:32:20 Speaker 2: Yeah. 00:32:20 Speaker 4: What do we got going on? They have these, there's a heat lamp under him. 00:32:26 Speaker 2: No, they had these like red lights that were supposed to be good, like soothing for the room. Like there was a lot of experimentation with lights that year where, Yeah, we. 00:32:36 Speaker 6: Had the white ones they put in our lockers because we were stuck in the hotels. They gave us the daylight circadian rhythm thing they were trying to do. 00:32:46 Speaker 2: Oh yeah, they changed in the clubhouse a couple years back. They went from the dark lighting to very bright lights in the clubhouse so the guys recognized it's the middle of the day versus, yeah, get your bodies going. It's time to play. So that was one of those kind of lights. It was some kind of Man, I can't remember what it was, but I know that it was supposed to be soothing and helping as far as recovery. Oh, yeah. There's no question it was expensive. 00:33:18 Speaker 1: John Heyman, New York Post, with the report on Baldelli. Just got to get that in there for the sake of my industry. 00:33:25 Speaker 4: Not breaking news. 00:33:28 Speaker 1: A few other items. Back to the baseball playoffs. For a minute there, it looked like Cleveland had something going. against the Rays. But Tampa took control of the ALCS back with two straight wins in Cleveland. They're going to have to play three or four straight days to end this series because they lost the off day due to some bad weather. But game six, Monday night, Yandy Diaz has guaranteed victory for Tampa Bay. So sorry, Cleveland, it's over. No, some tight, well-pitched games, guys. But it looks like the team that we thought would be there in the end is going to be there. Knock on wood. 00:34:05 Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, it's been good. 00:34:10 Speaker 6: It's just one, like, you know, the rain delay added the wrinkle, and it was maybe a breather that the Rays needed that Cleveland didn't need. You know, the big three for the Rays kind of woke up, and they're doing their thing now. You know, Yandy's hitting the ball hard. You know, Camerino seems to be

figuring out how to get to the high heater all of a sudden, like, You know, that's the guys that carried them all year. They were doing it without them, not without them completely, but, you know, other guys were contributing. 00:34:40 Speaker 4: But if that whole. 00:34:41 Speaker 6: Lineup for the Rays is rolling, we know their pitching's good. They've got all the arms. They've got everything locked in. Like, it's going to be a tough road for Cleveland, but at the same time, like, that's the baseball Cleveland plays. 00:34:52 Speaker 4: Like, they just grind it out. They're gritty. You know, we've talked numerous times about how. 00:34:57 Speaker 6: They just somehow managed to walk off at home, especially over and over again. You know, there's always a lot of fight in them, and they're pesky, man. We talked about Ramirez a little bit. You know, I saw the game the other day. He gets on and steals, and then Kwon hits a single. It's just like stuff seems to happen very fast when you play Cleveland. And for that matter, it's the race. It's a great series. I think either team that comes out will be a really good opponent for the Brewers. And ultimately, whoever's in the World Series, it's going to be a great World Series for baseball fans that just like seeing good quality baseball being played because they are both of these teams, all three of them for that matter, check every box that you would want for an organization of doing things seemingly the right way. And, and, and, you know, just play clean baseball and win games, however you need to. And it's, it's been. 00:35:48 Speaker 4: Fun to watch. I've, I've enjoyed every minute of them. 00:35:52 Speaker 2: The, the short start from Parker Messick on Sunday, followed by, you know, they had a tough game on Saturday too. I think Cleveland's at a serious disadvantage because they've had to use a lot of their key relievers in this series. Messick went two innings. He's 60 innings over where he'd ever thrown before in his career right now this season. Had a fantastic season, but he looked like his command wasn't quite where he wanted it. His stuff was still solid, but his command wasn't where he wanted it and walked in a run and he didn't get any help. The defense difference has been huge. Tampa's middle infield defense has been tremendous. We saw Brian Rocchio with the error to extend the first inning, and then Parker Messick walks in. At a time when Parker Messick didn't need to throw 15 or 10 extra pitches, he had to because the ball got bobbled. I think that that has definitely been a factor. Drew Rasmussen is just shoving, and man, if you're looking for like a If you're looking for a Pablo Lopez, it can be good again kind of thing. If you're looking for someone to have some hope, Drew Rasmussen had Tommy John in 2016. He had Tommy John in 2017, and he had an internal brace in 2023. So he's had three Tommy John surgeries. He's either going to finish third or fourth in the American League Cy Young

this year. I think he's 29 or he's 30 right now. But this is a guy that has really come back. He had that internal brace put in in 2023, and that's what Pablo had at the start of the year. That's why it's looking like Pablo is a year versus a longer return from Tommy John. But Rasmussen, since he's come back, has been amazing over the last two years and even a little bit in 2024. So, you know, it's not all– like it's not doom and gloom for Pablo Lopez because he had a second Tommy John, the number, the numbers aren't against you. The numbers aren't in your favor. No question. Like it's harder for guys to come back from that second one, but plenty of guys have like, there's, there's, there's examples out there of guys that have done it and done it well. And Rasmussen is thriving right now. I mean, he gave up the two homers in game two, I believe, or his first start. Oh, game one, I believe game one. No, no, because he got the, the, that was the night that, I think Cleveland won. Man, I'm getting the games messed up. 00:38:19 Speaker 1: It was game one. 00:38:20 Speaker 2: Yeah. He gave up two home runs that night. Cleveland won game one. But he came back yesterday and was just dominant. And velocity was good. And I think their pitching has been huge. They have Peralta tonight. And, you know, if they can get a deep start. 00:38:36 Speaker 4: He looked really good the other day. Really good. 00:38:39 Speaker 2: He did. Drone all fastballs. Like 72% fastballs. 00:38:42 Speaker 4: Fastball. 00:38:42 Speaker 2: And Cleveland– Cleveland's looking at either– I don't know if they've announced their starter yet, but they were looking at Ciccone and they were looking at Bibby, who they really hadn't used in the postseason. So they can't do Gavin Williams until game seven. So they need to extend it, but their bullpen has to be getting gas. And like you said, that top three. Aranda, Jonathan Aranda's hitting well too. It's been– that's a really fearsome top part of the lineup. And they have their guys in the bottom that are solid. They're Johnny DeLucas and guys like that. But they really came back and stole the momentum because before that rainout, it felt like Cleveland was going and it felt like it was going. going to be the Edmund Fitzgerald World Series between Cleveland and Milwaukee, two places that the boat docked. I saw that online. People are always looking for random stretches, and I loved that one, but either way, the great part is if Cleveland comes back and wins it, They haven't won a world series since 1948. Tampa Bay has never won one. Milwaukee's never won one. We're looking at this right now and it's, it's going to be a champion that has not experienced it before or in, you know, 70 years. Love that. Love that a lot. 00:40:07 Speaker 1: Drew Rasmussen's 31. Just want to save us from a correction on the next episode. I don't want to have to do that. 00:40:14 Speaker 4: They will let you know. 00:40:15 Speaker 2: Yeah. 00:40:16 Speaker 1: Uh,

in other news that has Dan very happy, the Dodgers swept out of the NLCS by the Brewers as we saw coming for, for weeks, but, uh, impressive stuff from the Brewers. Nothing else to say. They, they showed it all year and, uh, and didn't leave much doubt. They were, they were trailing in all four games. Is that right? And then came back to win. 00:40:41 Speaker 2: Yeah. Oh, that last one when Shohei bat flipped, uh, Man, that wasn't just a jab. That was a knockout-type blow that the Dodgers threw. That was a haymaker and a half. Shohei was fired up, rallied and won. Wait, I'll just say this on this. It's not going to change the argument because if you look over the last 30 years, teams that spend have had far more success than teams lose. that haven't spent, even though we have three of the lowest payroll teams still alive and competing and the big payroll team is out. It is wonderfully ironic as we're about to head into a lockout that that's, what's going to be the world series. And, and I don't think that's going to change what the owners are asking for. They're still gonna ask for that cap and the floor. Um, but it is hilarious that everything the owners have been standing for and talking about, is not going their way going into this lockout because here you are with the lowest payroll teams competing for the World Series. You just had two teams sell for $ 3. 9 and $ 4 billion. David Rubenstein, the owner of the Orioles, came out and said that he could make more money. He knew that some of his buddies with ownership were making more money owning a baseball team than they were in private equity. That was last week he said that. 00:42:02 Speaker 4: He said that quite out loud. 00:42:05 Speaker 2: He did. Owners are aligned on doing what they want to do. But man, their argument has been weakened so much this last couple of months. And this is more ironic. Because again, it's clear that the big spenders are the teams that traditionally have success in the postseason. But it is so ironic that this is going to be the World Series in a year before a lockout. 00:42:34 Speaker 4: Yeah, last. 00:42:35 Speaker 1: Last 10 years, eight of those 10 years, three of the four Final Four teams have been top 11 in payroll. Depends on what you use. 00:42:46 Speaker 2: Payroll gets you there. 00:42:47 Speaker 1: Right. So it's very uncommon for this to happen, but yet shows that it is very possible as well. Now, Twins ownership, don't use it as an excuse not to spend money, please. But this kind of goes back to, I mean, I remember in June, we were talking about just looking at Looking at the playoff format and the landscape in the American League, some lousy team was going to make it to the ALCS. Cleveland ended up being not so lousy as it turned out. Some of those teams spent more money than some of the others on the list, but the window was there. The door was open. There are other ways to get there besides spending a billion dollars on Shohei Otani. And the Brewers have shown that. The Rays have shown that for sure. 00:43:35 Speaker 2: Well, they have so many zero to three players. I would love to see– say the Brewers kept this group. I would love to see what this group's payroll is in five years because the Brewers currently has constructed would probably be like a $ 200 million. There's so many young guys that are making $ 800, 000 right now. But in two or three years, they're going to be making some great money. So I would love to see that– Sometimes you just have super young, talented groups come together and play together and do what the Brewers are doing. 00:44:05 Speaker 1: Which is kind of the key for a lot of sports, right? NFL teams always want the quarterback on the rookie contract so they can spend the money elsewhere. The 2002 Twins were kind of looking that way before they went the wrong direction and broke up. They had a bunch of young players who weren't making a ton of money, got to the ALCS. 00:44:21 Speaker 2: 2002? 2004? 2004, sorry. 00:44:21 Speaker 1: Anyway, so spend money. 00:44:28 Speaker 2: That's the message. 00:44:31 Speaker 1: On this day. 00:44:31 Speaker 2: Wait, wait, wait. ALCS Twins won their last playoff series in 2002. They beat the A's in 2002. Oh, I'm sorry. 00:44:41 Speaker 4: Is that the Moneyball A's? That was the Moneyball. I love AJ's quote on that. They don't screw that part in the movie. 00:44:49 Speaker 2: AJ loves talking about that. He's like, we ended that movie. 00:44:52 Speaker 4: Yeah. 00:44:55 Speaker 1: Speaking of Twins playoff success, on this date, In 1991, Twins opened the World Series with a win. 5-2 over the Braves. Jack Morris again. We've said that name a lot. He was a good player. 00:45:05 Speaker 4: He's trending. 00:45:06 Speaker 1: He is trending. 5-2 victory. Chuck Knobloch, three for three with an RBI. Two hits for Brian Harper. Two for Ken Herbeck. Of course, that was the start of an epic. 00:45:18 Speaker 4: He got a bloody. Yes. 00:45:21 Speaker 1: Start of an epic World Series. That was probably the most boring... Well, they got blown out in Atlanta too. That game was pretty boring from a Twins fans perspective. We had mentioned it last week, but next Monday's show, we're going to do a rewatch of Game 7, not the whole game, parts of it. I'm still figuring it out. I'll have some logistics for you on Thursday. So kind of a special show on Monday. I hope you can join us for that. We will be back with you on Thursday as well for a regular show. And I appreciate you always as listening. If you like what you hear, please toss us Like or subscribe, however you watch or listen. If you're on YouTube, there is a QR code on the screen right there to make it super easy for you. Thanks, everybody. We'll see you Thursday. 00:46:02 Speaker 4: Bye-bye.