Pitchers & Catchers Report - Mat Germain gives us the low down as Spring Training starts up

222 BaseballBiz - Pitchers & Catchers report 

[00:00:00] Mark Corbett: There we go. Oh, first I got to play this one piece for you before I forget. Oh, geez. Let's see. I was listening, you know, talking about the Yankees and everything else. And, and this is Aaron Boone this morning and he's, well, I can't hear much like that, Mark. Um,

[00:00:30] Mark Corbett: . Welcome to BaseballBiz On Deck. I'm Mark Corbett, your host. And with me is my cohost, Mr. Mat Germain, the man who digs deep, the man who analyzes everything and shows us the ugly truth of what's going on in baseball and the shiny moments that we all love to watch on the field.

[00:00:47] Mark Corbett: That's Mr. Mat Germain. Hey, Mat, how you doing today, buddy?

[00:00:50] Mat Germain: I am living the dream, buddy. How about you? 

[00:00:52] Mark Corbett: I am alive, my friend. It is spring training. Almost. It's pitchers and catchers report, uh, living down here in Florida. It's always great to see all these teams start to butt up, you know, even a week or two ago, you start seeing familiar faces coming to town, warming up before spring training officially starts.

[00:01:13] Mark Corbett: And yeah, It is an exciting time, man, is to see all these teams, the expectations of the future people who, who want to live on laurels from last year, maybe, maybe not. And those who don't want to look back at what's happened in the past. At the beginning of this, I did play a little bit, uh, from Mr. Aaron Boone, and it was interesting to listen to him talking about, you know, tired of getting sand kicked in his face.

[00:01:45] Mark Corbett: And Mat, when you think about last year for the Yeah, he's. It was, I mean, the boys, they didn't make it to the, to the post season. Good Lord, 

[00:01:53] Mat Germain: man. Yeah. And I think the, the shocking thing to me was how many different teams kicked sand in their faces. It wasn't just the raise this time. It was, you know, a gamut of teams.

[00:02:05] Mat Germain: So, uh, Aaron Boone has a lot of pressure on his shoulders. I think Brian Cashman does too. It'll be interesting to see how , , they perform. 

[00:02:13] Mark Corbett: It is going to be, I know I was looking, you know, some on somewhere on MLB network and they were putting the leader of the AL East was going to be the Yankees this year.

[00:02:21] Mark Corbett: And I thought, let's see, you know, I think that the Orioles are going to have a. Have that path pretty well, but we'll talk about the Orioles and some of the, the challenges they have as well up and coming, but it's going to be a tough year. I don't think anybody's going to be going through this very easily because there's, man, there's big changes.

[00:02:41] Mark Corbett: There's, we're going to talk about that. Well, we'll talk about some of the free agents. What's going on there. We'll talk how Scott Boras has got his thumb on the game of talent and new ownership with the Orioles too. So let's get started, buddy. Wow. Pitchers and catchers report. You did a pretty good assessment I saw on Twitter, Mat.

[00:03:02] Mark Corbett: On the pitchers, it kind of break down maybe the top 10 of some of those. Did you want to kind of go into some of those? 

[00:03:09] Mat Germain: Uh, yeah, just because I think it's always important. A lot, a lot of times you can put a lot of focus on the depth of a, of a pitching staff, which is really important. We're seeing that already with a few injuries trickling in, but I think it's also important to assess who has a true leader in their staff.

[00:03:30] Mat Germain: There's a few teams that we've seen invest more than they have in, in recent years anyway, uh, on their teams. And part of that, I, reason I think is because they finally found their ace. So you're talking about teams like the Royals with Cole Ragans and, uh, the Detroit Tigers with, uh, Tarik Skubal. I think both of those guys are ready to step into that.

[00:03:56] Mat Germain: It's not to say they're going to be aces all year long. There's a lot of pressure. It'll be up and down starts here and there, but I think they're ready to take that step to lead their staffs. And once you have that settled, everything else seems to fall in line afterwards. And I think that's why in those two cases, you're seeing a huge investment.

[00:04:14] Mat Germain: Well, Bobby Witt Jr. has a lot to do with it in Kansas City as well. Uh, probably the most electric player in baseball, in my opinion, right now. Um, and if he makes up on his full potential, it's going to be interesting, but yeah, those, those teams. And I think the other interesting part, when you look at those, those pitchers is when you have George Kirby and Logan Gilbert, you know, more than likely taking that next step forward and really impressive group behind them and in Seattle, I think it's easy to overlook that team and, and realize that they probably do have the potential to have two ACE caliber guys on their staff.

[00:04:52] Mark Corbett: You mentioned Logan Gilbert. And I think even last year, most people didn't realize what this young man has been doing coming up. Uh, he's been exciting. I know he trains here, uh, near me in plant city occasionally to see, you know, a young man emerged like that coming up into the system at Seattle. I mean, if they're not having a bang up season, I think they kind of get lost as far as when people are looking at analysts and saying what's happening with that team and somebody like Logan Gilbert.

[00:05:24] Mat Germain: The thing with the Mariners, they make so many changes every year. There's no consistency on that team whatsoever. Now, having said that the rays were known to be that for a while, but I think in terms of the lineup, rays have settled things down over the years. And you're seeing more consistency in the lineup.

[00:05:41] Mat Germain: And I'm hoping that the changes that. That the Mariners made this year stick for a bit so that we can see what they can manage with the team they have, generally speaking. So the two impact guys I think they added this year that will really help make the most out of their staff are Mitch Garver and Jorge Polanco.

[00:06:00] Mat Germain: Because they really got nothing out of second base last year and they really needed. Uh, a boost in their lineup. And then of course they picked up Luke Raley from the Rays who, you know, can have hot months here and there to help chip in some power at the bottom of the lineup. And they brought back Mitch Hanegar as a, you know, hoping that he re catches the lightning that he had when he was with the Mariners before.

[00:06:22] Mat Germain: The problem with that approach is that they did deal away a lot of the young talents. Um, so they're, they're betting a lot on, on guys that are. Um, that are new with, except for Mitch Hennigar. And so that chemistry may not be there this year. They may have to wait till next year. And that's why I say, you know, if it doesn't work out this year, just write it out a bit.

[00:06:46] Mat Germain: Don't, don't pull the trigger and trade the whole team again, Jerry. See what they got, like, try to get them to groove together. And then, you know, we'll see. 

[00:06:55] Mark Corbett: It is becoming more and more apparent. That some of these owners had a team just as an investment and didn't know what to do with it when they, they got them.

[00:07:05] Mark Corbett: And I'm speaking specifically of what's going on, um, you know, with, with Oakland and what they're going to move these boys and girls to Vegas. And then the Vegas mayor said, you know, I, I really don't see him coming here. 

[00:07:22] Mat Germain: Vegas pretty much said, we'll take you. But we're going to tell you where you're going.

[00:07:26] Mat Germain: That's essentially what Vegas said, which I find is a really interesting approach because they hold all the power to be honest. Now, when I say they, I mean, it's not one person in Vegas. I would imagine, I think there's probably a lot of players there, but they're not going to get as sweetheart a deal as I think they thought they were going to get.

[00:07:47] Mat Germain: So there's a little bit of power pull now, I don't remember when the Raiders went there. Maybe you do, um, how smooth their, their stadium build was. I think there was some contentious, you know, talk before it got done, eventually did get done. I still think, you know, there's, there's room for them in Oakland.

[00:08:06] Mat Germain: I just don't think there's the corporate support there that they would get in Vegas. So MLBs is ready to do whatever it takes to get them in Vegas. And they want a presence there for gambling purposes and everything else. It just makes so much sense. 

[00:08:20] Mark Corbett: Well, as long as we're talking about, you know, owners, I think in seeing Vegas, they do have the control.

[00:08:25] Mark Corbett: They do have the money. They do have the corporate support, like you said. And. They're just not going to find that in Oakland. I mean, the owner, I think has pretty much snubbed a lot of people. He certainly snubbed the fans, but they'd love to have the team, but. Not with him and ownership could be an issue.

[00:08:43] Mark Corbett: Uh, we see though with the Orioles, a lot of those fans have been not necessarily happy with the ownership there. That's going to change. Look at David Rubenstein, man. He's going to be coming in with the Orioles here and paid 1. 725. Billion to own that team. 

[00:09:01] Mat Germain: This is where the, my argument for having a salary floor is, uh, because when owners are allowed to operate teams the way that he's operating the A's, it's just such a detriment to that fan base.

[00:09:14] Mat Germain: And like to have him, let's say he's there for five years doing this kind of stupidity. And I lived through longer than that as an Expos fan. So I understand completely where Oakland fans are coming from. Well, let's say you do that for five years, maybe even a bit longer. You're losing a whole generation of fans.

[00:09:35] Mat Germain: That are not going to pay attention to that team. They're going to adopt other teams. They're going to be NBA fans. They're going to be NFL fans. They're going to concentrate on other things. They're going to ignore baseball pretty much, you know, in that entire area. So if you're going to place a professional sports team.

[00:09:54] Mat Germain: Especially when you have so few in a city, you need to make sure there's a bare minimum quality product and that's the on the commissioner to be quite honest to instill that kind of, of, uh, whatever system they want to use. It doesn't have to be a cap, a floor. Maybe it could be a penalty. Like they, they get penalized something if they don't spend a certain amount, I don't know, whatever they want to use.

[00:10:21] Mat Germain: But there has to be some accountability for owning an MLB team. Now, I don't know where that, because of the, we don't get the, all the looks in terms of the books we do for the Braves, I think in terms of a public company. So we have a better idea now of what it may look like because of that, but. I think that's where it starts.

[00:10:44] Mat Germain: I'm hoping the next commissioner that comes in will be able to get them there to that point where they open the books, where we know what's going on behind the scenes so that we can have more accountability in terms of who's spending what, how and why. 

[00:11:00] Mark Corbett: Well, while I started talking about spring train, we kind of got over into what's going on with the owners and the commissioner.

[00:11:05] Mark Corbett: There has been more news about the commissioner today, hadn't there? 

[00:11:09] Mat Germain: There is, he's going to step aside after this term. So, uh, hopefully, hopefully he leaves some strength behind and hopefully the next, uh, commissioner doesn't call it a piece of metal when we talked about the trophy and, uh, And I think that, to me, is the biggest failure of Rob Manfred, is not promoting the game with pride.

[00:11:34] Mat Germain: It's been very lackluster, grim, grey. Some things that the league has done as a whole is great, but it's not him. Him, as a commissioner, has been a terrible promoter of Major League Baseball. The World Series has tanked. It is the worst ratings of any, uh, finals event in, in professional sports. And that has to change.

[00:11:54] Mat Germain: Something has to give, and you can't sit there as a commissioner and let that happen and not do something about it. They haven't changed the world series format in forever. They've changed everything else. So now it's time to attend to that. I think it's time to set a location for the world series and not have it at the home team's location, or at least part thereof.

[00:12:17] Mat Germain: I don't know if you do the first three games in a city and then the last, you know, four games in the other cities. I don't know. There's got to be a way to do it because, um, not having that location takes away the ability to market this World Series the way it should be marketed. And It takes it away from being on the national stage as a result, because it's not an event.

[00:12:41] Mat Germain: It's, it's more of a local event instead of a national event. 

[00:12:46] Mark Corbett: What would you, I mean, we just went through the Super Bowl and we know the Super Bowl is always set for a city. That's not necessarily going to be the player, excuse me, the teams that Going to make it to the Super Bowl. So, it would be interesting if you put up, can you imagine, alright, if you have seven games, and you do potential for four different locations.

[00:13:11] Mark Corbett: Two games here. Go 

[00:13:12] Mat Germain: ahead. Seven games, seven games, ten days, one location would work. You go to that one location, you get them done, yes, you have a few off days here and there. Not many. Not like what you have now, which is ridiculous. By the time they get to the next game, I've forgotten it's still going. You know?

[00:13:31] Mat Germain: It's that bad, where I'm like, is it still on? Like, what the And then now I'm a huge fan. So imagine, you know, the, the casual fan, uh, I don't know, there, there's the, there's a lack of anticipation and, and, and kind of consistency with the, the way the playoffs work right now. 

[00:13:51] Mark Corbett: I'll add 1 thing to that, you know, think about the possible expansion cities.

[00:13:56] Mark Corbett: And that those would be maybe the first ones with this new format. I like it. I like it a lot. Well, 

[00:14:02] Mat Germain: those are hope to, to me, that's your opportunity to, to not have, uh, by weeks or by games, because that hurts all the teams that are in the by, uh, to be honest, everybody knows that, like you can't have a. A baseball team sitting still.

[00:14:17] Mat Germain: I don't care what they do on the side. They're, it's not the same as being in the game. And then the other one's rusty. The other one's sharp. You, you have to have enough wild cards so that everybody plays all the way through. 

[00:14:30] Mark Corbett: And think about one more thing with when you have. A Superbowl planned, you know, years in advance where it's going to be held at and the marketing and the planning and all that is there's so much more that can be done by the city and MLB with something like that.

[00:14:47] Mark Corbett: That would be huge, especially 

[00:14:50] Mat Germain: the acts, right? Like, think about if you have 10 days, how many musical acts can you invite to that? You know, just as a, every night could be a different act. You can have seven of them or six of them. Maybe you want to bank on five at least. Right. Because you don't know what happens after that.

[00:15:07] Mat Germain: But, uh, anyways, I think it's time. That's the next thing that elevates baseball to me is to revamp how the world series is done. 

[00:15:18] Mark Corbett: Well, maybe we'll see, um, Rob. Roller skate his way out like Drake and who would come in? I've got a couple of candidates my friend my mind. Who do you have? I've got two right now I'll tell you who they are a second.

[00:15:33] Mark Corbett: Do you have any I 

[00:15:34] Mat Germain: really don't because I think the the what we lack in terms of knowledge is what the owners are looking for and That's a really tough thing to gauge. Uh, they're more concerned with, uh, things that we don't even consider when it comes to, to major league baseball. I do think they want someone normally that, that has some sort of a business acumen for the, for the most part.

[00:16:02] Mat Germain: Um, so I don't know. Who 

[00:16:08] Mark Corbett: do you have? I have two people in there. I don't think either one of them are lawyers, believe it or not. And. Let's see, but man, they've lived the game. They've, they've been in management and both of them have worked, are working with MLB and that is Theo Epstein and Kim Ng. I'd love to see the, one of those people take the reins.

[00:16:28] Mark Corbett: I think that, uh, their love of the game, you take Kim, she worked with MLB before she worked with the Yankees, before she worked with the Marlins and I would, I would think she could do some great things. She left the Marlins, I think, because they did, they gave up on what they're going to do with the future and she's.

[00:16:44] Mark Corbett: Didn't see any reason to be there. That's my assessment. Very, 

[00:16:47] Mat Germain: very intriguing, uh, option there. Mm-Hmm. . Uh, I do think Kim Ng would be a statement like, of all the professional leagues, I think she would be the first ever, uh, female commissioner. Um, and I think Theo Epstein is a no go because of, uh, of his ownership of, of the Red Sox Uhhuh.

[00:17:07] Mat Germain: I think he took an ownership stake. Yep. Uh, but. I think there's always somebody that that we don't know about because, like I said, there's a lot of backroom, um, talks and you have to appease to the strongest players. So, who are the Dodgers and the Yankees going to support simultaneously and Jim crane?

[00:17:29] Mat Germain: And so a lot of big, you know. Be and really Steve Cohen, right? There's a lot of guys with a lot at stake that are investing a ton of money. So they're going to want to influence that choice because they want to make sure that the league is optimized. I'm hoping whoever it is has some sort of ability to promote the game the way it should be promoted.

[00:17:56] Mat Germain: And To resolve the media issues. So when I, those two things, that's, that's a tall ask of whoever comes in. So maybe Kimming is the right person. Maybe she isn't, I have no idea. I don't know how heavy she is marketing background wise and, uh, and media wise, but whoever it is, that's would be my guess is it'll be somebody with some experience in media, business, and, uh, marketing.

[00:18:23] Mat Germain: Because that's really what they need 

[00:18:24] Mark Corbett: most. Yeah, and I'm thinking of her, I think, more as a negotiator. And I think with, uh, when she was with Cashman and the Yankees, she was part of the one who got, you know, Gerrit  Coe, his contract. You got me saying, didn't you? Gerrit . But, uh, Yeah, so I, she's, this is not a minor leaguer as far as somebody who knows the inner workings of the MLB and of the teams and who, who knows how to, I think everything I've read about her, she comes and sits in the room, you know, she's there.

[00:18:58] Mark Corbett: She's not necessarily overbearing, but she knows she's got business to take care of and she does it. And I think she stood her ground with the Marlins. So, uh, she, that says to me, she's a strong person. I'd love to hear other candidates. Anybody out there want to send something in to either Mat or I, please do so.

[00:19:15] Mark Corbett: But, uh, yeah. Let's let's come back then to the free agents. Let's talk about your free agent team that you put together, Mat. Who all do you have on that list? And I'd realize some of these guys may have signed by, by the census afternoon. Yeah, 

[00:19:29] Mat Germain: I know. Well, I think I remember most of them. There was a Kirk Casali behind the plate who I think might've just agreed to a minor league deal.

[00:19:38] Mat Germain: Uh, I'd have to look, um, but there's not much left at the catcher position. And normally there's a reason for that. They're all reporting right now. So if they haven't signed, then they're, they're kind of twiddling their thumbs. And that's not a good thing for a catcher. Um, the first base was Brandon belt, which, who I think will, will add significant value to wherever he goes.

[00:20:01] Mat Germain: Uh, I, obviously I don't think he's a fit with the Rays who have 31st baseman ready to go, but, uh, the, um, there, there, there's teams out there that need that DH role filled and they need that left handed pop. Now, it could go back to the Jays because he did have success there. I get the feeling that they don't want him there just because they want to keep, uh, Vladdy, uh, as an option at DH, uh, and they probably want to rest George Springer a little bit more than they have in the past.

[00:20:30] Mat Germain: But anyways, he, he's a, he's a very, you know, solid candidate. I think, uh, in left field, we had Tommy Pham. In right field, we had Adam Duvall. Both, you know, good corner outfielders with some grit. Duvall's had some issues staying on the field. I think Pham had a couple of, uh, injury things, but they're older.

[00:20:50] Mat Germain: You could put David Peralta in there as well. I think he's still available. Um, but between those three, you know, you're you're talking about guys that are filling roles Uh, I think maybe eight eddie rosario is another one that that hasn't found a job yet Mat chapman at third base, obviously I think he's overvaluing himself big time and I think I don't understand Still, why he's not with the Giants and back with, you know, the guy that he, that managed him in Oakland for years, it just makes too much sense.

[00:21:22] Mat Germain: Um, that he would improve all their pitching with his defense. Yeah, I don't know like for a team that's trying to take that next step forward to me is an obvious fit obviously, they'd have to move JD Davis or Lamont a Wade or somebody from that roster because they do have a 40 man issue, but You can make those things happen with other teams looking for help like Marlins, etc.

[00:21:46] Mat Germain: Anyways the The other thing that I think is interesting is when you start looking at, uh, the second base and shortstop options, which, you know, with Merrifield, he told everybody in Major League Baseball, I only want to play one position and it's going to be second base. And the entire league said, well, so good luck with that, because your value is in your versatility.

[00:22:14] Mat Germain: And if you're telling us that you're not going to be versatile, uh, then we don't really want to pay you what you want. So you know, it's, those are the kinds of things that I think the agents sort of, you know, they should let their agents talk sometimes. It's one of those things you might want to mention after you sign a deal.

[00:22:36] Mark Corbett: Here you go, brother. There you go. Yeah. As soon as that pin goes down to paper and say, oh, and by the way, yeah, let's get this done first. Let's the ink drive maybe, but 

[00:22:46] Mat Germain: Yeah. Everybody knows. Yeah, the everybody knows the, the guys that are utility players and, and you know, why their value are is high to me, I don't even understand as a competitor, like if your team needs you somewhere, you go like, you know, there's a reason they're putting you out there, you're their best option at a time, and you should take that as a.

[00:23:09] Mat Germain: As a compliment, not a, you know, look at Mookie Betts is a good example, right? One of the greatest players in the game went to the L field. He was a fine second baseman. There was no reason to move him off of second base. The Dodgers told him, you know what? We, we need you in right field because of X, Y, Z.

[00:23:27] Mat Germain: He went to L'Oreal Field in XYZ. And then they said, well, you know, we're, you're, we want to save your legs. So we're going to put you back at second base. He said, okay, I'll go back to second base. Like if Mookie Betts is willing to do that, Whit Merrifield should put his hand up every time and say, I'll play whatever you want.

[00:23:45] Mat Germain: You know what I mean? Anyways. 

[00:23:48] Mark Corbett: Oh, no, I get it. You know, time and again, I said, I refer back to my years when I was doing sales with digital. And one of the hardest lessons to learn was learning when the hell to shut up, you know, and so I'm thinking these guys getting the deals done, but then they're going to say something to injure.

[00:24:09] Mark Corbett: They're actually closing in with not having the flexibility that you're talking about. And that it's a shame because, uh, this is a game. A lot of people want to play and there's a lot of talent out there and you may be a top talent, but guess what? There's a glut of some really great players out there. I mean, there's those that, 

[00:24:29] Mat Germain: yeah.

[00:24:30] Mat Germain: How many, how much money has he lost from doing, from saying that? That's, you know, 

[00:24:35] Mark Corbett: well, all right. We're talking about money loss. Let's let's talk about Scott. There we 

[00:24:41] Mat Germain: go. I lined you up for it. That's good. Oh, 

[00:24:44] Mark Corbett: I'll tell you. You think about it. You and I were talking before the show. Looking back historically with Bryce Harper and the Phillies.

[00:24:54] Mark Corbett: And you say, oh, he's a position player. It doesn't Mater so much that he's not there. At the very first day of spring training, but you and I both know when it comes to things like pitching, you know, that is critical for those people to get in there, loosen up their arms, get relaxed, a good rapport with their catcher and all that needs to happen early on.

[00:25:15] Mark Corbett: Scott Bors has got two boys, two pitchers that aren't there yet. I mean, he's got, there's a Blake Snell and Jordan Montgomery. 

[00:25:21] Mat Germain: Wow. Yeah. You know, like, and each of them has their, their, their issues. Jordan Montgomery, nobody wants to believe what he did in Texas is for real. And why is that? Because the Yankees told the world he wasn't good enough to do it.

[00:25:38] Mat Germain: And yet he went out and did it, but he did it once. And I'm like, well. I believe what he did versus what the Yankees are telling me that he would have done because if you look at who the Yankees banked on, it's been crap behind your goal. So, I mean, they're, they're pitching coach in New York is saving them a lot of times because he's turning, he's doing the Carl Snyder thing a little bit where he's actually, you know, gaining a lot of, uh, Of mileage on their pitchers instead, but I think when you're looking at Blake Snell in particular, which irritates me because to me, every team that is a competitive team should be willing to give him 30 million per and go as far as six, because he's never shown any inkling of health issues, right, right.

[00:26:27] Mat Germain: It doesn't seem like anybody's willing to even hit that. And we're talking about 180 for six. Right. And that is a very. I don't want to say it's low because for any of us, that's a ridiculous amount of money, right? And the president of the United States will never come close to that amount of money. So the, the hard thing to say is that it's, it's, it's almost like a low ball for a two time Cy Young winner.

[00:26:53] Mat Germain: Now, having said that. If there was a magnet in the middle of the plate and you put magnets all around that ball, he could not hit the middle of that plate every time. He just can't. He doesn't know where it's going. The hitter doesn't know where it's going. And a lot of times he doesn't have Any command of his pitches, but it works because he throws enough strikes or he's erratic enough that it gets to the hitters where they're saying eventually he's going to come to the plate and gets them out.

[00:27:25] Mat Germain: I, I look at results when I look at Blake Snell, that's the way I value him. And we've watched him in, in Tampa Bay enough to know that. Um, You know, he may not do it in a pretty way. It'll be frustrating to watch. It's not watching Pedro Martinez or Greg Maddux painting corners or coming inside to be aggressive against the hitter.

[00:27:46] Mat Germain: No, this is going to be a guy who's stuff. It's so elite that nobody can do anything with it. That's just, that's it. So if you're, if you're investing your money, you're the owner and, and your GM comes to you and tries to sell you Blake Snell, that's how he should sell them. He's like, it's going to be five innings or six.

[00:28:06] Mat Germain: The vast majority of the time, and we're fine with that because we've built the bullpen to supplement the rest of it. And as long as you have that every fifth game, you're, you're golden. Now, the counter to that, and this is why he hasn't signed yet, is when you see guys like Zach Littell, and you see guys that get, like, Jeffy Springs, they get picked up off waivers, they're getting paid nothing, and they're doing That or more.

[00:28:33] Mat Germain: So, you know, it's that whole how much benefit. So if you're going from spending 1, 000, 000 a year to 30 to gain what? How many wins is he going to bring you more than what you're pitching coach and staff may be able to create? That's the counterbalance to Jordan Montgomery and Blake Snell is that when you're taking the margins that they will give you above and beyond.

[00:29:01] Mat Germain: They're slim. Now, again, the GM needs to sell when we go into the playoffs. And we're looking at our first, second, and third starter, you want one of those guys in there for good reason, right? That's, that's, I think we almost, right now, we could call maybe 80 percent of the playoff teams. Just based off the rosters, experience, everything else, right?

[00:29:25] Mat Germain: So, when you're spending that kind of coin on a pitcher, it's to be that guy in the playoffs. It has to be, and if not, then don't spend it. Keep it. Like, that's just the way it is. So. I don't know. I think, like you said, with Scott Boras, um, he's always going to aim for that top dollar for those guys. I think he's trying to oversell them way too much.

[00:29:51] Mat Germain: It's like, uh, it's like somebody trying to sell you a car you know has been in a wreck for a couple of years, right? And you know the frame's a little bent. And you're like, uh, I don't know, like you're, you're telling me it's a beautiful car. It is this, it is that, it's whatever, but it's got these two dents in it and I can't really, you know, get away from those.

[00:30:14] Mat Germain: I think he's aiming too high. I do think those, those sign and that he has offers he's comfortable with or else he wouldn't be sitting on them the way he is. Yeah. I just think that it's going to be a detriment to the team that signs them because later you get pitchers into spring training. Historically, the worst they've done and that's the detriment that I think we're talking about before the show that is sad that players don't get to perform to their optimal levels all because of greed, essentially, which is sad.

[00:30:48] Mark Corbett: It is. And you know, I mean, it's. The talk is mostly I've heard today is Blake Snell and the Yankees and they've got the pockets for it and the greed that you're talking about. I mean, it starts with Scott Morris being able to give a pitcher or a player a sense of your worth is this that team can afford you.

[00:31:11] Mark Corbett: They need you to get to the World Series and pardon me. So, I get him as a salesperson doing it, but my fear is always that somebody, you know, why it will, uh, it'll be 2 weeks now, Blake's now signing a 2, 3, 2 or 3 year contract, you know, with, with less money than we would have ever guessed he got, but it's, it's part of the game.

[00:31:35] Mark Corbett: It's. It's how it works. I don't like it, but these boys and girls got to make their own decisions. 

[00:31:42] Mat Germain: You do hear that a major league baseball now is really because of this, because of the score, Scott Boras tactic, they want to put in that, that timeline that pitchers are that free agents have to sign by end of December.

[00:31:57] Mat Germain: Or something like that. And there's no way the MLBPA will ever let it happen. No way. Like, if you want to talk about issues that could result in a strike, that would be almost the number one issue. Like, it would just not happen. Like, baseball is just dead set against it, right? So why even whisper it? Like, I don't understand what the, what the tactic is there.

[00:32:23] Mat Germain: When you talk about being tone deaf as a commissioner, that's part of what I'm talking about, right? It's, yeah. 

[00:32:30] Mark Corbett: Oh, gosh, I don't know, brother. So like, so they'll Jordan Montgomery. So wait for the Cody Bellinger, Mat Chapman and J. J. D. Martinez, uh, Bellinger. I thought 2 or 3 times. He was going to be signed with somebody last week, but that didn't happen.

[00:32:45] Mark Corbett: So how do 

[00:32:46] Mat Germain: you come up with predictions, like all these sites and everybody else has come up with predictions without knowing where these guys are going to land? You're talking about hefty, hefty game changers for a lot of teams, right? I'll give you an example. Let's say, because they have the money for it, let's say the Giants sign both Blake Snell and Jordan Montgomery.

[00:33:08] Mat Germain: What happens to your rankings then in the NL West, right? Same thing if they sign in Detroit. Detroit can afford both. Uh, the, the Orioles are just losing guys right now. They could still supplement, you know, with one or two. Um, anyways, there's just, there's too much left on the table. And didn't I hear the Cubs say That they were going to be very aggressive and we're not done.

[00:33:33] Mat Germain: You wait, we're going to be, it was almost like, remember the Phillies, they were saying we're going to spend stupid money and then they spent no money. It was just, it was like one of those things. It was after they signed Stephen Harper and it was like, Oh, we're good. Our Bryce Harper sites where we're going to, you know, Spend a ridiculous amount of money.

[00:33:50] Mat Germain: And then everybody was like, well, where, where, where was this spending? But the cubs could be on one of them. At least I think Cody Bellinger makes a lot of sense. I still want to see Cody Bellinger go to the Royals. I think. Bellinger hitting behind Bobby Witt Jr. would be ideal. Ideal for both of them. I think they need some impact in the outfield and MJ Melendez is not a great outfielder.

[00:34:15] Mat Germain: Uh, he can spend a little bit more time in DH. They're going to lose Salvador Perez pretty soon as a leadership role kind of guy. His money comes off the books. He's about 20 million a year. So they can afford Cody Bellinger. To me, if you want to talk about a team, like they have that Cole Reagans. They have, you know, they added, uh, Chris Stratton and Will Smith to their pen.

[00:34:36] Mat Germain: They've got really solid team overall. It's not great, but if you add Cody Bellinger, suddenly the, in the central, especially, they become a real threat to, uh, to win that division, which is weird. I never thought you'd say that this year. Well, 

[00:34:53] Mark Corbett: about the Royals. Yeah. I mean, I mean, to me, I've got a special place for the Royals anyway, and Salvador Perez, he's been the only shining light when I looked them at each year, said, uh, excitement to watch that man, what he does behind the plate.

[00:35:06] Mark Corbett: Watch what he does, you know, when he's. Taking the ball and knocking it out of the park has been exciting. And I kept saying, man, wouldn't it be nice if they had a team. I was, I want to go to Kansas city and see the Negro baseball museum. So I'd have something besides that to go see when I went there, I could actually go see a baseball team too.

[00:35:25] Mark Corbett: Oh, but anyway, uh, I, I have no compelling feeling because I'm not a football fan to go to Kansas city, but it sounds like maybe this year, Royals might have a team worth watching. I don't know. We'll see. I think 

[00:35:40] Mat Germain: so. They've, they've made, they've made those, those, uh, moves that will actually keep them more consistent.

[00:35:47] Mat Germain: So a lot of those close games, they'll win more of those instead of losing them. Uh, and I, I do think Bobby Witt Jr is a special talent, like to do what he did last year with literally no support in that lineup, nothing. Like it was, it was just

[00:36:05] Mat Germain: flat line. Right. And then you had Bobby Witt, which was like, anyways. So, and I think he got better through the year. The other thing that I wanted to say is in Milwaukee, I don't think they're done. I know they traded Corbin Burns to me and Willie Adonis is not going to stick around in Milwaukee. I think he's, he'd be a great fit in Miami.

[00:36:26] Mat Germain: Uh, you've got Peter Bendix down there who knows Willie Adonis really well. They're willing to trade pitching. To get, uh, you know, a position player now, Willie Thomas's offense has really become lackluster. Um, last year he had some struggles. So, but I, I think he's solid enough defensively that it would, you know, they'd be okay with it.

[00:36:47] Mat Germain: Uh, it's just that they would need an extra piece on top of that. Maybe, you know. Their top catching prospect could be that guy, but I think they're really high on him. Anyways, all that to say, I think there's a fit, and if they are able to clear enough room in Milwaukee to make it work, that would be an outstanding landing spot for Blake Snell.

[00:37:06] Mat Germain: You're talking about Mat Arnold? Mat Arnold was the, the, the scouting director that, that selected Blake Snell in the draft. So, you're talking about, with the Rays at the time, so you're talking about a history there. Right. Yeah, that would be ideal. I think Milwaukee in terms of an atmosphere and a city for Blake Snell would be perfect.

[00:37:27] Mat Germain: There'd be no, none of this New York, uh, you know, stress. Uh, he would, the fans just adopt you as one of their own when you get there. Um. And so, yes, there'd be a great fit if he went back to Seattle because it's his home place. Yes, the Giants would be, you know, much better, much improved with Blake Snell.

[00:37:47] Mat Germain: He'd always be battling the Dodgers. He would always be on the West Coast and one of the worst traveling places if he went to Seattle. So why not go to Milwaukee, settle down and kind of lead a young club? Uh, and probably, I don't want to know. I think when you're talking about 30 and 180, the Brewers would Be skeptical of going that far 28, though, uh, 27 ish, maybe, uh, maybe they give him some opt outs and, uh, you know, so maybe two or three years in, if he doesn't like it, he can change places.

[00:38:24] Mat Germain: But to me, I think the brewers aren't done basically is what I'm trying to say. Same with the meds. 

[00:38:31] Mark Corbett: Well, the meds. Yeah. I'm curious to see how both of those play up at Blake. Yeah. Milwaukee. I would enjoy seeing him there. I really thought. That, uh, the giants would have gotten him, but are kept him. You make some good points though, about being out on that coast and being in that, uh, division and who you're up against, but I, I could see him in Milwaukee and I started hearing the, the discussions about Adamus no longer being with the Milwaukee, moving him around.

[00:39:01] Mark Corbett: I hadn't heard, hadn't thought about Miami, but that would be. A good place for him. You know, even if he hasn't had his best year, Adamas has always had a sparkling energy that seems to infuse the rest of the teammates around him. And I haven't watched it so much last year as I have in the past, but to me, he, I think of him in the same sense that I think of Mookie Betts as somebody who's a leader with the team.

[00:39:24] Mark Corbett: Right. And he could possibly bring that 

[00:39:26] Mat Germain: to, he brings everybody together and he keeps everybody happy to come to the field every day or like, he's, he's just easygoing. And I think if you had him in a raise together on the same team, they would kind of, you know, camaraderie that, that would take him pretty far.

[00:39:45] Mark Corbett: Yeah, you mentioned it's something about him. I'll quickly say, I was going to say this. I think I'll do a show with, uh, Lou Schiff about the Marlins, but he just what, uh, finalized arbitration where he was looking for 12 million. It's got 10 million from, from Miami. And if you look at arbitration, see who was it, who's the guy take on it.

[00:40:14] Mark Corbett: He's getting, I think about 19 million in arbitration. Uh, 

[00:40:19] Mat Germain: yeah, I'll let you finish 

[00:40:22] Mark Corbett: your thought. Go ahead. No, I just sense a parody of talent. You know, I, I don't, it's just that, uh, you look at Luis R. Oz, he's got, uh, won't be until 2026 before he can be a free agent either. So he's got a little bit more leg room.

[00:40:36] Mark Corbett: He went from like 2 million to 6 million to 10 million. Uh, so we'll see. That's all I was gonna say about it. And that's all I got to say about that. 

[00:40:47] Mat Germain: Oh, but I want to talk about the ridiculousness of taking Vladi to arbitration over that 1. 85 million. They were ready to hand Shohei Otani 700 million, 700 million dollars.

[00:41:03] Mat Germain: And at the same time, they essentially backhand Vladi Guerrero over a 1. 8 million dollar bill. Like, explain that to me. Like, it just does not make any sense. He is the franchise. If he leaves, what do you have in Toronto? You have aging pitching and, and Beau Bichette. And that's it. And that's if he sticks around.

[00:41:26] Mat Germain: You don't even know that. No. So. The way they're treating Vladdy Guerrero Jr. is just, it is the epitome of why I no longer, you know, talk about the Blue Jays anymore. I, I just, as soon as they let Antopolis go, I was like, they just don't get it. They don't understand winning. And that's sad to say for a franchise that before, in the 90s, had a clue.

[00:41:49] Mat Germain: And they've lost that clue. And I don't know why. Bringing back the same coaching staff with what happened last year, it just doesn't make sense. Like there's no changes. They, if anything, they got worse over the off season and I don't understand where they're going. I don't anyways, I just wanted to say that thing about Vladdy Jr.

[00:42:09] Mat Germain: I would be in, I think he's going to end up going out and free agency and finding a new home. Uh, I think his dad will talk to him and say, I did it. It was fine. I had fun when I went to other places and the angels would probably offer him a boatload of money to go there and replace Ohtani. 

[00:42:27] Mark Corbett: Yeah, yeah, you disrespect a player and we say it's business.

[00:42:33] Mark Corbett: So don't take a person, but you disrespect a player. Don't be surprised if they're not engaging when it does come to that time of free agency. And with Blake Snell, what was it, Mat? You'll remember this better than I do. I don't know if it was before he got the San Diego award or whatever, but they, they were throwing a little something his way and it was like 50, 000.

[00:42:53] Mark Corbett: It was 

[00:42:54] Mat Germain: dog meal. Yeah. It wasn't just him. There was two or three guys that all refused it. And they were like, this is just, this is insulting, uh, after what they had done. So, yeah. I 

[00:43:07] Mark Corbett: think I'm on people wake up. You're dealing with other human beings. And I think if you offer them something that it's an insult, I mean, it's less insulting if there was nothing being offered than what, in some of these cases, it says, I really don't think you're worth it and we're making God awful amount of money and between television rights and everything else to boot and oh, yeah.

[00:43:29] Mark Corbett: Well, high horse time. I'll step down, brother, because I get really on that when I feel like management cries about how much they pay players because they only pay them because they're making the money with them. 

[00:43:42] Mat Germain: Well, the good example is Corbin Burns. He's not in Milwaukee now. They knew he wasn't resigning because of what was said in arbitration.

[00:43:49] Mat Germain: When you take somebody to arbitration, you're going to open up their cupboard and you're gonna take out the cobwebs and you're gonna You know, basically expose them to, to the courts. And so whatever the arbitrator. So it, it's just, it's a sad system. I don't think, I don't like the system. I don't think it should be run that way.

[00:44:13] Mat Germain: And I think that the Rays are probably showing a little bit of, uh, a little bit of their hand in terms of how long Jason Adam and Harold Ramirez are going to be sticking around, for example. But, uh, I think you can always tell when they do take a player to arbitration, there's a good chance that player will be dealt in the next year or two, 

[00:44:33] Mark Corbett: my opinion.

[00:44:34] Mark Corbett: Well, brother, so pitchers and catchers report. Oh, Mat. It has been another entertaining session here with you, buddy. Any other things you think we should cap on to, uh, this particular episode? 

[00:44:49] Mat Germain: Uh, not this, not this episode. I think the, uh, the interesting things to watch now are the injury issues. Like the Orioles are going through the gamut of injury and use like the Rays got last year.

[00:45:01] Mat Germain: Uh, and I think the good thing for them is like, well, we just talked about before where Scott Boras is slow playing the market. Well, they have room now to, they have room in their budget big time. They're only just under a hundred million. They could add another, you know. Great player if they want and, and some, you know, make up for some of that.

[00:45:19] Mat Germain: So I think some of the off season moves that may still happen. I still feel like we're not done the off season, which is weird. We're we're at that point. The other thing I would say is, is, uh, that there's going to be a lot of, uh, assumptions made. You know, through spring training and into the regular season about, uh, teams without a thorough look at what they have coming in their systems.

[00:45:49] Mat Germain: So when you're watching spring training and you're enjoying, don't discount what they do in those games. It's important and it shows you a little bit of what talents they have coming up. Case in point was last year, Josh Lowe and Luke Raley were raking. In spring training and everybody was discounting it.

[00:46:07] Mat Germain: Oh, well, they sucked last year. Oh blah blah And then what do you know? They were carried the team for a good chunk of the season And so pay attention to spring training because there's guys in there that are hungry They're lit up and they're going to have an impact through the season Or they'll get called up later on this season and become huge pieces I also think it's a great marketing tool So if you're going to trade players and they do great in spring training, all of a sudden, that's a little nugget for the GM to use later on and say, Hey, remember that guy that was lighting it up in spring?

[00:46:40] Mat Germain: You can have them. You give me this guy. So that's what I do in spring training. Mostly I take notes and I'm like, Oh, that guy's interesting. Well, that guy is kind of, you know, anyways. So it's just, that's what I would finish off with is to say, spring trainings here, when a game start, pay attention, watch the games, don't get too bored and, uh, and know that this is the chance for those guys to show their teams what they can do.

[00:47:07] Mat Germain: All right, man. 

[00:47:08] Mark Corbett: We all got our homework there. Watch, watch it. What involves with these different teams and through the spring training. I mean, it's, it's interesting. We get to see a lot of great talent take the field, but because they're so deep too, we don't usually see them maybe for more than three or four innings in a game.

[00:47:23] Mark Corbett: Yeah. Uh, but it's, it's, uh, but you get to see all these younger younger guys come up as well. So it's an exciting time. Uh, you know, you and I often talk about the Rays. We'll do that soon as well. 
And I'll just kind of impart on my last thing saying about the commissioner. I'd like to see Kim Ng there. I think she's, I love to hear other people's, what they like as far as, uh, their comments on who would be a commissioner and also reach out to our good buddy in Miami, Lou Schiff. 
Lou Schiff, who's a judge as well, who could bring the late legal expertise and the love of the game together, I think Lou could be a fine candidate.

[00:48:00] Mark Corbett: For a commissioner of MLB, so 

[00:48:04] Mat Germain: I, you know, both of them are solid candidates. 
I'm completely on board with, I think she would do an outstanding job. And I think Jenny Kavanaugh is the first, play by play announcer in MLB history. She's going to do the A's games. To have a, you know, a commissioner announced as a, as a woman as well would be outstanding.

[00:48:22] Mat Germain: Oh yeah. I'm in on that. So sell it up, man. I'll,  do something about it on Twitter too. And we can post, uh, or whatever it's called now. X. 

[00:48:36] Mark Corbett: X. It's a, it's X Twitter. Formerly known as Twitter. Like Prince. Formerly known as. Yeah. Okay. I'm always 

[00:48:44] Mat Germain: going to call it Twitter. 

[00:48:47] Mark Corbett: All right, brother. Well, hang on. 
Thank you all again for joining us here today on BaseballBiz On Deck. And that's Mr. Mat Germain. That's if you want to find him on X Twitter, @Mat_ Germain_. That's where you find him at Mat @ Mat_ Germain_.

[00:49:11] Mark Corbett: @ Mat_Germain_. Wow. You can find me Mark @TheBaseballBiz on twitter as well. 
thank you again for joining us here today on baseball biz on deck. And as always, you can find us on this platform or wherever else you enjoy your favorite shows. Leave us a like, leave us a love and any nice kind words you want to share.

[00:49:29] Mark Corbett: And we look forward to talking with you guys again real soon.
Special thanks to XtakeRUX for the music rocking forward. 

Remember to support Judge Lou Schiff, fan, friend and professor of the game for the next MLB commissioner. 
Learn more about Lou on Twitter @BaseballandLaw where he covers the history of baseball and its relevance today.

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