MLB Early offseason chaos — signings, surprises, and shifting rotations

326 BaseballBiz On Deck

Welcome to Baseball Biz on Deck. I'm Mark Corbett. Of course, with me is Mr. Mat Germain, co-host of this show, the leader of all good things of deep dives into what's happening into the game. So Matt is always glad to have you here, my friend. 

Glad to be here. Just finished building a snowman, so you got me at the right time.

I love it. Absolutely love it.  My, my dad and my brother in Kentucky, they're telling me they've had quite a bit of snow and it's, , the kind where it's bowing down the branches of the trees. And, but the nice thing is the roads have been good. So getting both those together now here, , we've been, , dealing with like 74 degrees weather right now.

So it's, uh, it's a bit of a chore and gotta get that ac working. What can I tell you, brother? 

My dad reminds me every time I talk to him, mark. It's never, it's never a failure of, of our conversations. 

Hmm. Wow, brother. You know, it's, it's so funny right now too. Pardon me, because, I mean, here we are, we're weeks away yet from, uh, uh, spring training.

We'll be here before we know it. You know, and, and the rest of this will be coming quickly, but it's like what is happening during this off season? And there is all kinds of chess pieces moving here and there, and you've been keeping up with 'em. I've been trying to track on Blue Sky all the, uh, combinations of rotations and, uh, lineups that you have built for the different teams, and it's been amazing.

But I think the part that's been most amazing to me, Matt, is how quickly some of those things have to change. It's just nuts. 

Yeah, and we're not even like into the winter meetings yet, right? So this is just the precursor to the main meal. And some big pieces fell, fell to the certain teams like Devon Williams.

Uh, assigning with the Mets is a big one. You had,, the changeover basically from one New York team to the other. , Then you start questioning, well, what does that mean for Edwin Diaz? And, and, 

yeah. 

The next piece beyond that was, uh, the Blue Jays signing, uh, Dylan Cease. And we thought, okay, well they've signed their, main pitcher.

The rotation looks pretty locked in. Everybody there had experience or was tra Savage, so he thought they were done. Nope. They add Cody Ponce and they bring him over from Korea. And so now all of a sudden you're like, well, who are they trading? Or is somebody starting in aaa? And a lot of people have said, well, maybe Trey Yesavage should start the year in AAA.

And I'm like, uh, did you guys watch the playoffs? 

That man delivered? I mean, what was it last week you were talking about building this core of great, uh, pitchers round Trey, you know, and, and so much veterans that were gonna be there. And so I was curious still to see if that was going to continue to play out that way.

So. I heard somewhere, who was it? Verlander, Justin Verlander. What's, have you heard news on him today? 

I haven't, no. I, I honestly, I've been so busy looking up like now that the Rays made their big move and we'll talk about that later. I never actually, . Got a chance to, to look around at the rest of the league today.

But, uh, all I've seen so far for, uh, Justin Verlander is, uh, a lot of people linking him to the Yankees and the thought process being that they have a lot of injury. You know, returnees, uh, innings might be limited in a lot of cases, including his own. 

Yeah. 

, And that I think he would be open to heading over to the pen if need be.

, Especially come playoff time. , So it's one of those. Oddities. I don't know, like what do you expect from that? To me, I see it a little bit like the Max Scherzer deal with the Blue Jays last year, where, you know, you may or may not get much in the beginning of the season. He will come in, he will come out, he will get his, you know, arm going and see how it feels and, but really what you're signing him on for is, is the playoffs and, and to see what he can do and if he can chip in to, to give you that experience and nudge at the right time.

Yeah. Wait, but what you were saying about Cody Ponce though, that to me, going back to that too, it is amazing when you think about what that that young man has done. I mean, when he's went, been over what? Uh, in KBO, he's had a MVP winning season over his best slide. I've been able to find out, and it's when, you know what the contract was?

I think it was, uh, 30 million for three. 

Yeah, it's 10 million a year, essentially. So that's a, that, you know, the, the Blue Jays have, have been willing to go out there and put themselves out there. And that's what a, I was a little bit critical about the Rays today, uh, just because they haven't done that.

Right. Yeah. It's a lot harder for them to do that. 'cause when they miss, it's a lot more evident and, , uh, you can only do it with one. But Ariel Rodriguez was another guy that they did the same thing with. They gave him a big contract, uh, for him to come over from Cuba. And, and he, you know, he's, uh, I think a lot of people would've said that they'd be tepid now to do it again, but nope, they're showing the guts and the glory and, uh, and they're going after it.

 I think. The Blue Jays are kind of setting the tone that they are not afraid to make any kind of move. Yeah. Whether it be for offensive reasons or offensive reasons. So, uh, I tip my hat to him for both sides. 

See what else is going on here. It's coming across the Pacific. Anthony Kay, he's coming, he's coming back.

He had signed, I think with, uh. Yokohama back in 2024 and he's coming back to the States. We're gonna be with the White Sox. See he was traded to Toronto alongside Simeon Woods Richardson for Marcus Stroman back in 2019. Kays recorded a 5.59 ERA for the Blue Jays Cubs and Mets from 19 to 23, and so he's gonna be coming back to the White Sox.

And God knows Matt, when I think about the White Sox and the Rockies, I'm thinking, I, I don't know. I mean, they could just roll dice and throw anybody in there and see what's gonna happen. 

Yeah, but , here's the thing with, with him is Anthony Kay went over to the, to Japan and he actually, dominated in a league where people are, are asked to just get hits, right?

Yeah. They're just asked to get on base. The on base thing is a huge thing. He, he threw 155 innings and he had 111. Hits allowed. Uh, and he only walked 41, so his WHIP was under one in that, which is not easy to do over 155 innings. So he showed health, he showed length, and he's got the innings that a team would want, um, to add to the rotation.

I, I know we all, , guesstimate that that's not gonna be as easy in, in Major League Baseball. But when you're looking around the league and  you're saying, okay, well how many guys are at four ERA and 1.2 whip? You know, like Shane Baz was there, um, , the Rays had I think three pitchers that were in that, that zone, and they're highly thought of, so do I expect Anthony Kay to beat that or match it?

I think he could match it at least. And, and we'll see how it goes beyond that. But again, it's, it's about what adjustments he'll have to make as he goes to Major League Baseball. 'cause you got a different schedule, you've got a different, set of hitters to, to figure out. And uh, and I think it, it's always interesting to look back on Meryl Kelly and all those type of pitchers that come over and, and have success because you're just, like you said, it's a tough road.

It's tough to go over there to begin with and to make that decision. 

Yeah. 

 And then it's tough to come back because yeah, you're having success, so why leave? That's. Says, well, the lure of, of playing against the best and proving yourself, uh, and the money I imagine also helps, , that that's a big deal. 

I would certainly think so.

And you know, I wish 'em well. Mm-hmm. It's interesting because we talk so much about injured arms. Pardon me. We talk so much about injured arms and players and seeing them come back and mentioning a moment ago about the Yankees and thinking about Gerritt Cole, who's still gonna be up for a while. And then also I look back to when we were the L East and, and the Blue Jays, Alek Manoah.

It's like, wow, you know, what's, what's going on there? I mean, this guy, he is a terror. Now, you know, personally, I got issues with some of his attitude in the past, but you know who it really doesn't matter is, is he a great player? And, and he had been, but you know, obviously he's, he sustained some injuries, pardon me, and he's been out for a while, but he has come back this year and signed a $1.95 million contract with the Angels man.

It's like, what? 

Right. It's the Angels are taking some big shots. Uh, and, but I, I, I would caution this. Okay, so the Angels for the first time that I can remember, have , a lot like a plethora is what I would say of young arms waiting in Triple A. So more than likely they're gonna want to keep him in there, you know, till May, June-ish.

So until then, they're, they have the luxury of saying, okay, well, we want to try some guys out that are, you know, need to prove themselves. So GRayson Rodriguez gets traded for, right? Alek Manoah gets signed and then they, they already have, uh, Jose Soriano, uh, Yusei Kikuchi and re Reid Detmers in, uh, in the rotation.

So right there, you've got a. I don't want to say a strong rotation, but a rotation that gives you intrigue. Right. , Where you're like, okay, it could go either way, but it'll keep them in the hunt enough that if they panic and if they feel that any of those guys falls off, they have like, you know, I think.

In terms of starting pitching, they have six of them down in the minors, , that are on the 40 man roster. Just to give you an idea of the amount of talent that they have. Then they're all between the ages of like 21, 24. They're ready. They're somewhat proven, they're length, you know. Okay. So, there's a lot of them that I know because I hold a lot of them on my, on my fantasy rosters, and I'm like, yeah, I want them to get that opportunity.

So I'm not shocked. And what I would say is both. Manoah and Rodriguez also have some intrigue and relief, right? Grayson Rodriguez, if he's not gonna be able to be a lengthy pitcher in the rotation, imagine him as a closer. Like really, he, he would be pretty elite. Uh, and Alek Manoah as a, you know, a shorter, maybe two inning.

Reliever. Mm-hmm. I can see that role. No problem. So that's another avenue that the Angels may be looking at, is that if it doesn't work out in starts and, and they don't prove themselves there, we slide 'em over to the pen and, and we make the best out of, uh, out of what they can give us. And, and for Rodriguez there, it might take a year or two for him to actually get his full value out of his arm because he's.

You know, he had ups and downs and, and just, uh, you know, sometimes like Charlie Morton would be a good example of a pitcher, you know, that that went through all the hills and valleys and twists and turns, and then suddenly, right as he neared 30 and just got over 30, he clicked and everything kind of sorted itself out.

So. Grayson Rodriguez to me, has that same kind of feel where the stuff is still there. You can tell that he needs to tweak and work on things. And so the Angels, I like the fact that they're taking shots. Um, and I, the other thing with the Rendon that we talked about last week, you add it all up there, there's some positives, but they definitely still need to do more.

Yeah. 

Yeah. Rendon, I mean, what he's, nevermind, I, I, we, we, you can listen to last week's focus. It's, that's its own issue, pardon me, in and of itself. But it's, and looking out across all the Major League Baseball right now, Mat it's just, it stuns me looking at how many folks that are still out There is free agents.

Uh, some of these names, I mean, we're looking at, uh, Alex Bregman, I think still out there. We're looking at, we'll see who else I know. Uh, John Bertie, he's still out there. We're looking at, uh, let's see, on left field you got Rob Refsnyder and Tommy Pham. That, that's not overly surprising 'cause some of these guys get a little long of the tooth.

Alex Verdugo, also Center Fielders. Cody Bellinger, Cedric Mullins, who's now no longer there. He's, he's got his one that year deal with the, with the Rays now, which we're glad to have. Uh, let's see who else? Oh man. Manuel, Margot, I didn't realize he was still out in the mix. Uh, another x-ray. Hunter  Renfro is out there.

Pete Alonso, you've got Edwin Diaz. Chris Bassett. Yep. Uh, JT Realmuto, Reese Hoskins, Kyle Tucker. Uh, there's gonna be a lot of money thrown around over the next few weeks. Uh, it's almost Christmas, you know, the advent calendars getting opened, and every day you're gonna see another, a free agent fall off the list.

What's interesting with some of these. Signings is that, uh, you know, you, you start thinking about the CBA and, and our teams calculating any of that into their equations when they're, when they're offering deals to players. So the Rays signing, uh, Cedric Mullins for the one year deal with 7 million, it's clean, it's done.

Uh, there's no option. , And then, , if the Rays do end up falling off, he, he ends up being a, a potential trade chip at the, uh, at the deadline. 

I am really curious, once again to see how these come up. And I wonder if the upcoming CBA makes the, some of these teams just pause and say, you know, why, why I don't really need to make this decision?

'cause we're not gonna have a season this year, so why, why should I worry about that right now? Uh, I, I don't know. There's the, let's see. Managers MLB Meetings we're gonna be going on to Orlando this upcoming week. Yeah, next week I'll have to pop into Orlando. I told you about that before. We had to see if we can get in, chat with some folks, get some new ideas, what's going on.

But I don't know how that's impacting decisions today, do we expect to see Kyle Tucker picked up here the next few days, week? We're talking all the way into spring training in there before somebody picks him up. I don't know. 

Yeah, it's gonna be, it's so hard to tell. You don't know how, how these things are gonna go, but, um, I do expect a lot of movement, mark.

I expect it to be, you know, fast and furious, uh, just because I think there's momentum towards trying to settling certain transaction periods in the off season. Um, so players are completely against setting a deadline, right? Yeah. Everybody knows that. That's fine. I do think there needs to be blank spots.

Like the, the whole, okay. Uh, let's say December 20th to the 27th, there's no transactions, right? And then you can have transactions for a few days. It makes like a flurry of transactions and then. 31st to the 5th of January, there's no transactions, and then you, you start up again full throttle. So it'll give like teams some, they're, they're, they're not real deadlines, but they're sort of like, if you want to get this done, get your front office going, get the paperwork done, get the physical done, do whatever you gotta do and make some announcements and glut.

, Moments , and I think the argument there is that a lot of the baseball operations side of things, like they need a break like everybody else, right? Oh Lord. And then, and they need, like you. I don't know. You walk away from the game a little bit and the phone's always ringing the, this, that, you know, the, the team gets brought in to, to do whatever because such a thing happened.

Like we, we review the news here before, just for this podcast, right? We review everything, we go through things, but. Can you imagine like, when you're actually, you're handing out millions of dollars and you're doing this, like, it's a ba it's a real thing, right? And, and so when they say, you gotta come in, you gotta do this, you gotta give me this information and that format, yada, yada.

I mean, it gets to be endless. So I think that, and also from a marketing and news related thing, it would be really great for them to have pauses set in place. Yeah. Um, and I know the, the winter meetings gets a lot of movement and gets things moving, but there's nothing worse than a free agent sitting there in mid-January.

Uh, like I feel so bad for the ones that have to, you'll go into spring training with, you know, the big question mark over their heads. Like, why, why this, why that, yada, yada, yada. So, uh, if we can avoid that, that'd be great. 

It gets to be a little ridiculous. I do like the idea of putting a pause, you know, pardon me?

Putting a pause in certain parts of the, uh, the year. It's like, let's get everybody a chance to breathe. And as you, you were saying earlier, you and I were staying on top of the pulse of whatever's. Coming out, but what's happening all that time in between, you know, 24 hours a day conversations are being had across, you know, across countries.

I mean across the, uh, Pacific, who knows wherever and looking at trying to bring in new players, look, trying to figure out how to move a player. And I cannot imagine if that is something that's continually 24 7, 365, how a person mentally gets through it. Well there, there's issues with folks unfortunately in sports and mental health anyway, , so I can see where a pause could be something very helpful.

I mean, we, we talked about this about during the regular season too. I mean, we love that there's an all-star break as far as for players and their bodies and such, but I think your idea of a pause for maybe the front offices as well is not a bad idea. 

Yeah, I think it would definitely lengthen a few careers and, and get some people right, uh, with their families to, to make sure that they get, , at least one really solid vacation a year.

Uh, and then, you know, we can abuse them after the fact. 

Uh, they go. You know, looking at, we were talking last week about Sonny Gray. Mm-hmm. And there's a player who just had to move. Now you talk about moving from one arena to the other. You're not gonna play a quick little bite.  

 wow. You know, man, I tell you what I, I've never wanna be a Yankee fan and I cannot imagine. Facing a player who I absolutely loved on my team and being against my greatest rival the next year facing him.

And obviously that is what's gonna happen with Sonny Gray. You know, Moving from the Yankees now to the Red Sox, but. You got to figure man, as far as just picking up and moving, what is the dyna dynamics that we need to probably get somebody for the players' association? I mean, I've heard, I've heard stories of where a player has been told they've been traded, you know, in the middle of the game or whatever else.

Mm-hmm. And they've got an apartment. They've got an apartment that they're renting right now in the city they're at. And I've gotta check this 'cause this seems raw, but he said, some say, well, they tell that player. The office says, well, hand me the keys to your apartment. I'll take care of it. And that they will go ahead and manage whatever remaining rent that they have on there.

And in some cases that they will, uh, the front office, once they do that, that they actually will take the ownership of the lease for whatever the duration is, and maybe they put another player in there. That's, that's coming in. I've gotta find out more about that man. 'cause it one, it sounds crazy, but I can see where it's something that needs to be taken care of when a new player's coming in to make sure that they have a good place to stay and, and to help out a player if you've, if you just decided to pick them up from apartment that they've entered a 12 month lease and did not realize they were gonna be traded a couple months later.

Yeah. Yeah. So have you have, you know, anything on that? 

No, I, I'm just trying to picture, you know, uh, Alex Verdugo moving into, uh, Mookie Betts' condo, and then, uh, Mookie Betts doing the same with Alex Verdugo's. There's a little bit of a lopsided, uh, trade off. No, I know. I get it. I think it's, in a lot of cases it probably makes sense because if you think about it.

A lot of times there's players moving onto the team that are coming from Triple A. They're coming from other avenues where they may not even have their own place. Right. Addison Barger was sleeping on a teammate's couch during the playoffs. Like so, you know, the, there's a lot of these guys that, uh. That probably could use a place of their own.

And I've interviewed enough minor leaguers to know that if they can save a dime, they will appreciate it. So if the team's willing to cover a pad that used to belong to somebody else, by all means provide them that pad. They'll take it and they'll buy more meals with the, uh, the saved money. 

I, I know I've heard stories in the past where like flight attendants and maybe pilots going from place to place and that they have, um.

Maybe if you, maybe one person owns the house and they allow others to use the separate, separate rooms there. It's almost like before there was Airbnbs, right? That a lot of the people who were in, in flight, uh, uh, pilots and flight attendants, et cetera, would come and go from these places. I mean, it is like they, they had their own fraternity slash sorority house.

Not that they were partying there, but they came together as a unit, as a group for that. So. And where was it Matt? Was it, uh, pardon me. I'm jumping around here a little bit, but I'm thinking about the Australian Baseball League. I was hoping to get, uh, Perry Roth on with us from, uh, Perth. He, but one of the things I was looking at is.

Finding places for the players, I think in that league, much like they did at Cape Cod, where you was, you'd find a family for the player to stay with. And I thought, wow, I didn't think that necessary at that level that that would still be something that they do. But obviously it is. 

Yeah. Well you gotta remember, um.

The Australian Baseball League is basically the equivalent of a plus to aa. Right? And that includes the attendance. 

Oh, oh. 

So it's one of those leagues where, you know, you'll hit and miss based on the day of the week, but this is why just like Major League Baseball has done in the minors, um, by altering the schedules around, they don't play baseball on Mondays, Tuesdays.

Then they start their weeks on Wednesday and it goes Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and that's it. So to me, there's, you know, they've learned that lesson. Um, and it's one of that work that's working well for them. But the, for those that don't know, the Australian Baseball League used to get funding from Major League Baseball, and I don't know if the, if the accommodations arrangements were different then.

But now they don't. They're basically on their own to their own entity and it's a pretty vicious sporting world down in Australia. So, uh, getting people's attention and getting them into the park is definitely a trial. So, um, that's why a lot of those players definitely, you know, whatever they can save in terms of getting those accommodations sorted out.

I'm sure the, the teams appreciate it and I'm pretty sure the Rays must, must have some sort of allocation of funds that they, they provide for that as well. 

I would hope so. I would absolutely hope so. I tell you what, let's, let's talk a little bit more about the Rays. You've been, pardon me man, I gotta clean this up.

Let's talk a little bit about, more about the Rays. I know you had been going and looking at lineups and we talked about the one new addition to the team. You know, we had talked about what does that outfield look like? And I know we said Jonny DeLuca was there, maybe Chandler Simpson. We were saying those were gonna be probably key positions out there, but, and there were several other players that kind of fell underneath that as well.

But with this new guy. Mm-hmm. New guy, veteran. Cric Mullins, Kevin, what? What's, how's that going to work with the mix? 

So Mullins is interesting because he, he had a great season in 2022. Um, I think he hit 30 and 30, so, you know, the potential is there for him to have both power and speed, right? For whatever reason, his, his power is tailed off Since then, uh, it's still, you know, it's not Chandler Simpson Power and it's way above Jake Mangum's power.

Um, so you're, you're still talking somewhere between 15 to 20 home run potential, um, and you know, you're gonna get 20 plus stone bases from 'em. So runs the bases very well, plays. You know, league average to just above league average, uh, defense in, in center field. So that takes a, a little bit of pressure off of Chandler Simpson because now Chandler Simpson can concentrate on left field.

He's way more, uh, comfortable out there. His routes are better in left field anyhow, and it allows Jake Fraley and, uh, Ryan Vilade, if they do use Vilade in the outfield, uh, two man right field with a more, um. An a very much improved defense based on what Josh Lowe was, was providing last year. So just that in itself, you've solidified the defense a little bit.

The question is, you know, is Vilade really gonna spend a lot more time in the infield or is it gonna be the L field? Are they keeping another outfielder around? So are they keeping Josh Lowe? Are they keeping Jonny DeLuca, Richie Palacios, Jake Mangum? Like there's a lot to go around here, you know? Now that, and, and the funny part mark, is we, we talk about this amount of turnover, right?

The Rays have brought in all these guys and they paid Jake Fraley 3 million. They paid, um, Cedric Mullins 7 million. So they're gonna be two of the five highest paid, Raysd players. Five or six. Highest, highest point, right? And then altogether, that means the Rays Outfields gonna be about $12.4 million.

You look at the Blue Jays with Springer, Santander, uh, straw and Luke's, that's uh, 55.8 million. You know, that's almost the entire Rays 40 man roster right there. And then you look at the Yankees and they're at, uh, 93 million million for their outfield. So way above the Rays 40 man roster. So just to give you a feel, right, so I always say sometimes you get what you pay for, right?

But, but what the Rays have done, like the, the part that I give him credit for is that Vilade has room to grow. He can improve. No doubt if Jake Fraley can ever have a full healthy season, he is slightly above average, right? So that's good. That's another positive. And he is much better defensively. Um, Chandler Simpson's very young can, he can steal a hundred bases.

He can change the game. We've seen it over and over again. He hits the best pitching, which is a rarity for rookies to do so that's only gonna improve over time. That, to me, is an elite potential player. Love it, don't want to change it. And then you add Mullins', you know, the experience because the Rays did miss a lot of stability last year.

Mm-hmm. Like Morell was up and down the DeLuca Paleos, there was just too many injuries and too much unknowns. And so they were always, seemed to be. And like throwing patches up there and putting way too much pressure on some players that probably shouldn't have had that placed on them. But it did bring out, you know, the, the highlights that we got from Jake Mangum and it brought it out a lot more of Chandler Simpson than we thought we were gonna get.

So there's positives in there and, and now we get to see how Cedric Mullins can help. Maybe Cedric Mullins can help Chandler Simpson this year learn how to run better routes in center field. That is. A very, very, very, like a, a on-field coach, essentially. 

Yeah. Right. 

Um, and then when they're on the bench, when they're doing whatever they're training, I'm positive that's going to be part of the, of what the Rays are trying to push this year.

And then maybe next year, or I say next year, 2027, generally Simpson takes over center field and, and, and they move on from there. Um. The, the other interesting part is Homer Busch Jr. Is going to be in Triple A. He could have a hot start if ever he's needed. He can come up, but he'll be at the same spring training.

Mm-hmm. He'll rub shoulders with him as well. He'll be playing center field in triple A, so it not only feeds the, the Major League Baseball. Club that they have now. It also helps out a lot of the young guys that he's going to be able to, uh, to teach a little bit, you know, of our show. Not necessarily teach, you know, how things are done and, and some of the things they may want to do better.

Well, I think it's, I'm looking forward to seeing him with the team. I've always enjoyed watching Cedric Mullins and, and quite honestly, as the Orioles started bringing in all of those new guys and I saw less of Cedric, it was kind of. Kind of hard, hard to watch. 'cause I, I enjoyed watching him so much.

Mm-hmm. And seeing them come up and then playing so poorly as they did last year. But, and, and Cedric gets, uh, homesick, we can always go over and talk with Brandon Hyde too. So, 

yeah. I do wanna highlight though, like with the Rays have done, remember last year, uh, mark, I know I, I've said this over and over again.

I said the Rays needed to get more left-handed. Mm-hmm. And I pRays that over and over again. Well, if you look at the roster right now, as it stands, and I know Brendan Lau is still on the trade market, so things are gonna change, but there's a lefty that would be taking his spot, so I'll just throw that out there.

Uh, so right now, the lineup against the right-handed pitcher, theoretically could be Chandler Simpson, who's a lefty. Brenda Lowe is a lefty. And then junior Caminero, Jonathan Aranda, who's a lefty. Then you have Yandy Diaz, and then you have Cedric Mullins, Jake Fraley, hunter Fiducia, and Taylor Walls who can all lift, uh, sorry, hit left-handed.

So the Rays have done a really good job of bringing those guys in, and they have guys in AAA that are also left-handed, like the guy that I highlighted as my. So far, the, the guy I'm most excited to see what the Rays can do with is Ray Delgado, because he's one of those guys that hasn't hit his ceiling yet.

And, and like Chandler Simpson, he's got the speed, he's got the wheels. He would give the, the Rays way more range at second base than Brandon Lowe and, and others have done recently. He'd be, he's an excellent defender. He has power potential so he could hit, you know, 10 home runs and and above. Uh, and he's, he's a known high work ethic, high leadership.

He won the MVP in, in the aaa. Uh, he's one of those players that I think gets overlooked and kind of labeled right away as. Quadruple a player because he didn't make it the jump to MLB. But I think he really has the potential to kind of open up a lot of eyes and kind of say, whoa, okay, well where, how did the Rays land this guy?

And, and it's one of those under the radar moves that nobody talks about. But I see it like I, I see the potential there. Like if he gets the playing time and they open up that door. You remember Mike Brosseau? Oh, yeah. Oh yeah. That kind, that kind of thing, right? Where they, they just, they work so hard.

Jake Mangum, iss another example, but they work so hard and  they're always go, go, go. He seems like that kind of player that just wants to grab that opportunity and run with it when he gets it. 

Well, I'm looking for more excitement with him as well. Then that's gonna be exci. I'm, you know, uh. I'm talking about exciting though.

In the year coming up, I have yet to hear if there's gonna be a Raysd fan fest, you know? And where would they hold that? I was, I threw that out there amongst a few friends today and somebody said, well, maybe they could hold it in the Trops parking lot. I. So maybe. Maybe. I mean, 'cause we know that mine Better field.

No, there you go. 

Put the banners back up. Don't take of them. 

I still think they should. Somebody should have, maybe they did. Had a stop action of footage. Putting up all the branding inside of that place and then taking it down. That would've been such a cool thing to see, right. With this brand. With all, it brings up 

some good questions though, mark, because like you're, you're starting to question the things like, okay, well how come we're not hearing anything about the stadium?

How come we're not hearing anything about this? How come we're not here? Like, all these little questions, right. Probably come around around spring training, but you know, I'm hoping for good news before Christmas if we can get some. 

I would love to as well, my friend. I know people are gonna ask me, I'm gonna go work at the, uh, Tampa Baseball Museum sometime this week.

And when I'm down there, I know that question comes up just about with at least every other museum goer who pops in the door. Hmm. And it has gotten to be ridiculous. I you, there's always rumblings, you know, they were talking about putting up the place by the airport over by the Del Mavery. Campus for Hillsborough Community College, and then there's somebody saying, well, I know, but what I've heard is this.

I said, I don't want, I don't want to hear anymore. Okay. You know, me, I, I'm, I reject any kind of news about this until, uh, Ken Babby sits out there, puts that stamp on a piece of paper and says, this is where we're located at. Mm-hmm. As far as I'm concerned, they're a Tropicana Field team until 2029 and, uh, yeah. 

My daughter 

told me it was gonna be a, a stadium built by Elsa, and it was gonna be made of ice, and she was gonna have to be continuously replenishing it as it melts.

So it's gonna be an interesting playing field. 

Oh, I love this. I love that. But tell your daughter thank you, man. That's, I love that. That is so cool. Oh gosh. What's the little, little snowman in the, uh, frozen? What is it? Pull off. Olaf. Yeah. Yeah. Olaf. Geez. No, 

even of Olaf, the Hall of Fame is coming up. Oh, yeah, yeah, right.

The, the, what is it called? The Contemporary Committee? 

The Veterans Era committee. I can't remember. There's, it's gone through so many iterations. I can't remember which one's accurate anymore, but Yes. And, uh, Donny baseball's up in that crowd too, man. 

He is and, and there's two of my favorites, or I shouldn't say my favorites.

There were two guys that I thought were slighted from being voted in and no, it's not Barry Bonds and, no, it's not Roger Clemens. Uh, it's Carlos Delgado and Jeff Kent. Gotcha. To me, they are two of the guys that should be, you know, I, I don't know, like right now I look at the names of who's going to be voting, right.

So you have guys like Ozzy Smith. Probably one of the cleanest players you could ever imagine. And highly skilled. And I know he takes his job seriously as a voter, right? Alan Trammell, same deal. Robin Yount, same deal. I have no doubt in my mind that they hold people to account when it comes to steroids, right?

Um, so. I would be really shocked if, if any of the steroid related people got, you know, the votes required to actually make it through. But I do think Carlos Delgado, who almost hit 500 home runs, it's ridiculous that he wasn't the first ballot. I, I still, I don't understand it. I know he came from a certain era.

But it doesn't make any sense to me. He's like, Andrew Jones. I'm like, Andrew Jones is a Hall of Famer first ballot. Like, don't even mess around. Like, just do it. But the other, the other interesting part, we've talked, you know, we threw a lot of praise at, uh, Kim Ng, she's gonna be part of there. She's sort of, one of those that you would think would keep people to account Fergie Jenkins, who's a Canadian guy.

So I always, you know, like to promote that. Um, and also, uh, Artie Moreno is the Angels owner who gets a lot of praise from everybody across MLB. Yeah. And then my favorite ones are, are Tyler Kepner and Jayson Stark. They're gonna get to vote as well. Um, so, you know, Jayson Stark is a well versed person, and, and he's, he's sort of walked the fine line of not making his opinion known on the, he is such a great guy to read because you never know really which way he's leaning.

He'll throw information out there, but it's subtle. It's not pointed like some other writers do it, so, , it's gonna be interesting to see who gets in. I do think they'll, they'll probably vote two guys in from that group though, because I think there will be enough consensus in votes. Uh, and for anybody that doesn't know the way that the voting works, it's complicated.

Yeah. There's counting and math involved and so, uh. It'll be interesting to see, but it happens on the 7th of December and the decision is made, you know, is announced shortly thereafter. So 

it's, it, it should be fun. It should be a lot of fun. I'm looking forward to it. And um, you mentioned a lot of good folks, and I know Steroid Era is going to probably keep some people up and I've, I've, I'm still looking at some really good players.

I won't go by name, but I, I would like, I, I understand. That is a roadblock for a lot of people. And I have mixed feelings about it, man. I'll tell that right now because mm-hmm. One part of me says, well, that was just part of the game, you know, and that's that sort of thing. You know, you don't tell your kids, you say, well, I understand that that's how it is in that environment, so I understand.

Yes. So you had to go along with them, smoke the cigarettes and drink the beer. No, you can't say that to your own kid. So why should I say that to a professional athlete and uh, with something else? So I understand the need of, uh. The folks that say, well, okay, we're, we're not gonna let them in for that. And you know, I have big trouble problems with the Hall of Fame because.

I think there's folks that get in there, have no business getting in, and other ones who don't, I still can't figure out why they didn't let my guy get in there with the Veterans Committee talking about Lou Pinella, come on, Lou Pinella, boys and girls wake up. But there, none of us are ever gonna agree with everything that they, whoever they choose and don't choose.

But there's, there's some good candidates this time around, 

I'd be really curious to see if somebody could ki uh, kick off like a, I don't wanna say. A Hall of Fame, but a museum of baseball that would tell the story of baseball in Las Vegas. 

Mm-hmm. 

And how much better it would be than because the story would be told from a events related thing and, and actual performances rather than.

Elitism, which is what Hall of Fame actually is, right? It's trying to separate people into level of elites. Uh, you know, just the fact that they have different ballots at different years and, oh, you're a first ballot hall of famer. Oh, you're a third ballot hall of famer. Oh, you're a like, Hey, come on.

There's tiers to this. Really, like, oh, he was unanimous. Well, he must be better than everybody else. Like, come on. It's ridiculous. So, um, I would love to see it just because I know a lot more traffic goes through Las Vegas than there is that goes through Cooperstown, right? Yeah. , So I think when you're talking about giving exposure to the game, that would be a worthwhile, venture

or made. You know, I, I did want to come back to Donnie Baseball, Don Mattingly, and part of the reason was I didn't realize at first that he had actually left the Blue Jays Mm-hmm. You know, he had been the bench coach this year. Mm-hmm. And there was an interview somebody had with him the other day, and one of the things he was saying was, I kind of knew that talking about John Snyder was where he did not need me anymore.

He was past that point where I was feeling like I was needed Really? Or, or that useful, right. He says end game. Yeah. Maybe here or there, but in general, he knew what he wanted to do, right? He had it together. And so I knew it was time for me really before the season started Mattingly added it. And so that was kind of his reason for saying, Hey, I've enjoyed my time with Blue Jays.

I've enjoyed being bench coach, but obviously John Schneider knows what he wants to do. And he didn't feel like he was necessarily bringing anything new to the equation. I mean, I, I, I respect him for that in and of itself. But one of the things is people were talking and saying, so Donny, what's next? Well, , he alluded to, without naming a team, , that there, there is, uh, there are some conversations going on between him and, and I guess some organization.

So whether or not that's an MLB team or what, I don't know. I am, I'm really, uh, curious. 'cause like I say, I, I love watching this guy. I love everything he's done and he's just, you know, I was a great ball player and he's been fun to watch as a manager too. Sometimes. That didn't work out too much, like with the, uh, Miami, but hey, he's, anyway, I, I just like watching him.

So I was kind of surprised to hear that he was leaving the, the, um, the Jays, but it doesn't sound like he's necessarily leaving the game. 

Yeah, the, you know, the teams that he, or you could picture him actually going to, I mean, there, there, there's a lot of them just because you, uh, you wonder, you know. Do you always have the New York angle?

And how long is, uh, Aaron Boone gonna stay manager of the Yankees as they don't win year after year, after year? Uh, is he waiting for that job or is he looking more towards, uh, another team or a fresh start somewhere else? 'cause I mean, he was willing to go to the Blue Jays, so he came not only to a, a different team, but a different.

Country. Uh, so he was willing to go that far in order to get, you know, his stamp on something in, in Major League Baseball. So there's a lot of carouseling going around in the league, and definitely a lot of teams could benefit from having him aboard. Uh, but I always thought that, you know, uh. There's certain teams that have a certain allure.

So I always pitcher Dom Manning Lee with the Cubs, the, the Cardinals, the Yankees, the Dodgers, the, you know, some sort of marquee name. But he may surprise us. He may, he may end up going to, uh, you know, a, a smaller market team, sort of like, uh, Terry Fona did with the Guardians and now the, the Reds and, and you know, maybe he would enjoy that even more.

I will be interested to see, you know, it would be, we mentioned Kim Ang earlier. It would be interesting to see if he goes and works with a new emerging league like the Women's Professional Softball League in some capacity. I mean, it's unlikely. I'm, I'm just, I'm theorizing here because there's just, it's when you see something like that happening and you figure there's just so many.

Possible options and opportunities for that person. What are we going to see? I mean, I'm looking even now, let's see, since October's 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. 10 new managers across MLB, I mean, skip Schumacher, you know, he came in with the Rangers, Kurt Suzuki with the Angels, uh, Orioles now have Craig Albernaz as they got, uh, the twins, Derek Shelton Nationals, Blake Butera  and Padres Craig Stammen .

Stammen and the Rockies, Warren Schafer. So those are just, there's a few others as well. But the idea is that it is such a state of flux. We're looking at practically a third of all of the manager, may, MLB have either moved, changed places or something. And I sometimes wonder how a team can keep an identity if the managers are changing.

That much we, I know that we have new players each year, but as far as trying to keep some standard and we kn and I wanna say this about Brandon Hyde, I think everybody knows this anyway, the challenges for the Orioles and where the games fell this year at his feet. Were not, they should not have fallen just at his feet.

A lot of it should have been the front office. And so I felt like he was kind of. Mistreated with that. Alright, I'll get off my soapbox here for a bit. Yeah. 

I had a conversation just to, to chime in there quickly. Yes. I had a conversation with somebody once who, who, uh, alluded to the fact that when, when you're talking about the front office being liable for the losses, more so than the manager, right?

You gotta remember that the front office and the owner are one and the same. That's what he said. And I was like, you know what? That is so true because they, whether they groupthink or not, uh, and, and whether the MA manager, or sorry, the front office per people speak their minds or not, they are selling the owner on every single move that they make.

So, you know. Like it or not, if, if the, when the owner decides that the front office personnel are the ones that are at fault, he's really saying he's at fault, which is not something people are normally. Prone to doing, right? So that's why you don't see as much front office movement, you know, after a really bad season as you do for managers.

'cause they're the easy target, they're the easy culprit. And, and we've seen it before where uh, managers have had, like John Gruden is a good example. I can't remember how many tens of millions he had left on his deal and they still threw him out the door and said, you know what? Go home and make your money.

We don't watch you here. So, um. I, I, I, I give a lot of leeway to managers and I think they're suckers for punishment than they do God's work on those teams, and they definitely deserve a lot more, uh, leeway than most people give them. 

Well, I kinda like to wrap some of this up, but there's any special topics that you wanna cover we haven't mentioned yet.

Um, no, I, I think we, we pretty much covered it all. Uh, and I'm sure there's news that came out, but we were 

talking while we were talking. Well, I mean, could gravy man, the Cedric Mullins thing came out like an hour before we started recording. It's like, what? Yeah, I, I said, I looked up there on Blue Sky. I said, what is Matt talking about?

Cedric Mul. Oh, okay. Yeah. It's changing. Boys and girl. The ground definitely moves beneath our feet during this off season, and I did. Wanna remind folks too, I am posting a lot of things on social media right now as far as books for, uh. To consider for your baseball fans for yourself or somebody if you're looking for Christmas gifts, and I'm not getting anything from any of these if you buy it, but these are primarily from, uh, authors who've been on the show with Mat and I, and you know, we wouldn't have had 'em on if we didn't think the books were worth reading in the first place.

So putting those up and hoping you're enjoying those and, and if you've got any reads that you, you would like to recommend for us, we would certainly. Welcome that as well. I also wanna salute a lot of the folks who did the, the Giving Tuesday. And, uh, re remember you don't have, now that Tuesday's come and gone, you can still donate.

Uh, I wanna a nod to, uh, the Rays announcer Neil  Solondz.  He does, each year he does something with the purple stride and pancreatic cancer research, and that's one that's worth considering. Um, there's a lot of 'em out there and I know a lot of teams do a lot of. Different things for the community. So I congratulate those that are doing that.

, I have nothing more to say except thank you all for joining us here today. Anything else, Mat? Uh, no, 

keep, keep, uh, crossing your fingers and toes that, uh, the Rays have a home to play in. Uh, when, when the season opens back up, uh, keep crossing your fingers and toes that we actually get some stadium news that tells us the long-term plan and, uh.

Cross your fingers and toes to make sure that all the arms that they have aboard stay healthy and don't fall off over the winter. 

I love it, my friend. I love it. And with all those crossings, I'll try not to trip out the door. But thank you Mat once again. And thank you all again for joining us here today on BaseballBiz On Deck.com, and have a wonderful day.

All right. Let's see brother. 

We need some sort of like bell system that lets us out at the end. You know, like when you leave a a store and the bells go ding or whatever.