Rays Stadium, Framber Valdez to Detroit Tigers, Luxury Tax

BaseballBiz - Luxury Taxes - RaysUp - Pirates - Trades - ICE in Tampa football field

Mark Corbett: [00:00:00] We'll, we'll do it. I mean, we'll talk a little bit about all that. So, uh, I do have some notes about the stadium, but let's start out with the WBC. Sure. And let's see. I'll probably have to bring up a couple things because I, I, no, I noticed. Well, I'll just start recording. Recording anyway. Okay.

Welcome to Baseball Baseball Deck. I am Mark. And with me is Mr. Matt. And we are once again joining you to talk about all the fun things going on in baseball, as if you can't wait for pitchers and catchers to report here, probably about 10 days away or somewhere near that, aren't we, Matt? 

Mat Germain: That is correct, 

Mark Corbett: but all of this going on.

And knowing that just before spring training comes or right, maybe the first week of it, we've also got the World Baseball Classic. It's, it's eminent. We only get it every three years. And Matt, it is just about here as well. I, I told you I'm gonna go to a few of those exhibition games, but. I, I'm kind of [00:01:00] curious to see how that goes.

I mean, there's, there's a bit of, well, there's always a little bit of dialog. You got several different countries involved, but if you're a World Baseball Classic, we've got three different locations that are United States or United States territories. The total, and the fourth one, I think was the Tokyo, but, um, man, oh man.

Oh, Matt, what? What's going on? What's the latest, greatest from the World Baseball Classic? 

Mat Germain: So I, first of all, let's, let me just paint the picture. So. The pool a schedule. Right. For, for the WBC, they're playing those games in Puerto Rico. 

Mark Corbett: Oh, okay. 

Mat Germain: So, so that is important to note. So you have, uh, Puerto Rico, Columbia, Canada, Panama, uh, Cuba.

You know, so if, if you're, I, I don't know, like Mark, I, I'm not as aware as a lot of people on where ICE is operating, uh, and whether or not they're active in Puerto Rico. I have no [00:02:00] idea. Uh, but, but the, the, the point for now, we can avoid all that talk and, and we can focus on the fact that the Puerto Rican team is considering pulling out.

So what does that do to the venue then in terms of the games and the host, et cetera? And, and the issue they're having is that the insurance for up to 10 other players so far, and it could be more, , is not available. So it, I, it's happened in the past where players like Miggie Cabrera and a couple of other ones have had to play without any insurance, and they decided to do so, but you're basically throwing caution to the wind, and if something happens, then you're, you're out of luck, essentially.

So the, the prominent players that that came up to mind and where it actually. Started to become a focus is Francisco Lindor and Carlos Correa. So, so when you're looking at the caliber of those players,, and what it means, , for their chances of winning, if those players aren't able to lock up, um, some insurance , and [00:03:00] get in the games, , then it, it becomes.

Tedious, I guess is the best way to put it. Now, a team like Canada used to playing without, you know, all major league players, but I think Puerto Rico's grown. Used to having MLB caliber player for the majority of their team. Um, the other ones that are mentioned are Victor Caratini, which is the catcher.

Um, who else do we have here? Uh, Jose Altuve, Edwin Diaz. Uh, anyways, the, the list goes on and on and on and, and so the point is that Puerto Rico is actually considering pulling out of the 2026 World Baseball Classic because of that. 

Mark Corbett: Hmm. Now, who would normally provide that insurance?

Matt would normally, would that be the responsibility of the player of the team, of the World Baseball Classic? The who, who's, who would be paying that? 

Mat Germain: Um, that's a good question. So I think, I don't know that it's only one route [00:04:00] and that, you know, there may be different avenues that you can use. Uh, I know that a lot of times MLB tends to get involved in a range.

Certain things that are able to get, you know, connected in terms of. Um, what the team expects and, and what the tournament actually offers, right? So in some cases, like if, if you're talking Olympics, it would be a different scenario than if you're talking to WBC. The WBC has their own providers, and MLB has their own providers, and the player can also seek out their own personal, uh, insurance.

Sort of like the same way as. If you're a hand model, you can insure your hand. Right? Right. And so it could be, it could go one of the, any of the three ways. Right? So I don't know exactly to what level you would need to be insured. Like let's say that you had a somewhat serious injury, um. [00:05:00] It would that injury have been coming anyhow?

And, and how much time are you gonna miss for that injury? 

Mark Corbett: Mm-hmm. 

Mat Germain: So obviously for the pitchers, it's a, a lot more of an issue than somebody like Francisco Lindor, who, I mean playing shortstop. He's gonna get banged around, he's gonna get knocks and bruises. Um, but for somebody like Carlos Correa where it's back issues and it could be career ending, that's a bit more.

You know, impactful because, um, you know, we've, we, we as Rays fans, we know Brandon Lowe dealt with back issues and he was very nervous for a short while about his career chances. Mm-hmm. So, I mean, I get that one. Right. So Korea and the pitching. Yes. The other ones, eh, I think like Miggie Cabrera, I would probably chance it.

Mark Corbett: Yeah. You're saying talk about the whole piece on the insurance. 

Mat Germain: Mm-hmm. 

Mark Corbett: You know, if it's, they said whoever is paying it. The understanding that if you're a team and you're paying somebody several million dollars [00:06:00] a year and you're paying them 'cause you're expecting certain results.

The idea if that, those, it's not just the money that goes away, it's, it's the results that you were anticipating for that year. Now, I can tell you, Matt, for myself, during the All-Star Games, I always take a deep breath during that week and wonder about all these guys who I love seeing play in the game, but at the same time thinking, oh my gosh, don't get hurt.

Don't get hurt. Don't get hurt. And MLB has got a, a vested interest in that week. But they don't have as much of a vested interest with the World Baseball Classic in the sense that, you know, it's, it in some ways, I guess you say it's competing. I don't know, but I be, I could be way off the beam on that one.

Thoughts. 

Mat Germain: Well, no, I think you're accurate. Uh, there, there's no doubt that that's the case. And the, the question that I have, and I don't wanna make this link because nobody has officially made this link, but there's a, [00:07:00] a lot of talk about countries wanting to pull out of the World Cup of soccer, right?

Yeah. Because of certain political situations. Things going on, et cetera, and, and whether or not the Puerto Rico aspect has a lot of that, those similarities going into it where the players are also considering mm-hmm. Fans showing up the stadiums and, and being targeted by certain, you know, security factions.

And, um, and so the, the whole climate of, of any, um. International, you know, event nowadays we, where I'm hearing or on the news today, there was, uh, a huge uproar in Italy in their government. Uh, they had people yelling and everything about the fact that ICE was actually doing the security for the American team in the Olympics.

Mark Corbett: Oh. Oh. 

Mat Germain: And, and so it, it brings a lot. Of issues about jurisdiction. Yeah, about overreach, about, , and so this whole [00:08:00] normalizing of a, uh, a police force and security force, whatever you want to call it, that is not even trained and haphazardly being used around the world to do certain things. Has repercussions.

So I can't speak to the fact that the Puerto Rican team might be considering that as well. 

Mark Corbett: Yeah. 

Mat Germain: But to me, the insurance one, like I said before, like Miggie Cabrera, others have dealt with it before, why it's becoming such a big deal to the point where they would wanna pull the plug on it at a time when they probably have a lot of players that would be able to step in and do an okay job.

Mark Corbett: Yeah. 

Mat Germain: And still be, you know, a competitive team. Not as competitive obviously, but. It just seems odd that they jumped right away to the whole, we're gonna pull the team out when they're literally hosting one of the groups. 

Mark Corbett: Well, do you, do you think maybe, 'cause there's a couple things gonna matter. One, I think of everything that's been happening with the Kennedy Center mm-hmm.

When they put that other name on [00:09:00] top of it, suddenly all these cancellations of great acts great, uh, artists that we're gonna be coming have decided saying, now that we've got that other name on there, I'm not coming. I don't wanna be a part of that. 

Mat Germain: Mm-hmm. 

Mark Corbett: And I respect that. You know, it's gotten to the point too, I guess, well, I guess you can watch Melania there, but, uh, the, the, the other thing is.

Uh, when you were talking about the Olympics and ICE being there, my mind ran to those old James Bond movies years and years ago in the sixties, the seventies. And you have some great skating princess who's for the Russian team, and she's doing all these things, but she wants that defect to the us. Well, they've got her surrounded by security to keep her there.

So. I, I, I'm trying to conjure, I'm trying to think. Okay. What, what role would ICE play in that, that movie? Would they be looking to bring to keep somebody or add somebody? I don't know. It's, it's a, it's a bad [00:10:00] movie, but, um 

Mat Germain: Right. So as a Canadian, I, I know that ICE has five offices in Canada. 

Mark Corbett: Yeah. 

Mat Germain: Um, and, and I don't know that they're active in any way, shape, or form, but they're.

They're starting to, I, I don't want to get too much into the political side of things. Yeah. Let's see. But they're, they're, they're, they're starting to get into the whole, access to information part. Yeah. And, and documentation part and, and who, who are the players that they need to worry about? Who are the players?

They're not, they don't need to worry about, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. So there, there's a lot of reasons that are, that they're reaching to the places that they are. But the, the focus here is that, okay, we have a team that plays in Canada constantly, in the Toronto Blue Jays. We have teams that are gonna travel out of the country to play games in Japan on occasion and, and play games elsewhere.

Um, you have p players that are traveling in from Venezuela. From Mexico, from Columbia, from Cuba, from a lot of countries that have been targeted by the United States as a whole, [00:11:00] not just, you know, so. It. It's really hard if you're a player and you imagine yourself standing there on the field, looking out in the stands, seeing the pride of your fans when you know that when they exit the stadium, they're going to be targeted by security factions that are kind of not extremely friendly in a lot of ways and not trained to do their jobs in a lot of cases.

So. The, the question is the WBC is going to be a tumultuous time for fans as a whole. It'll be interesting to see how many show up in each location. I hope that they're able to have a good time and stay safe. I hope that the event is wonderful, as it always is with the chance in the crowds and all that kind of stuff, but I'm also holding my breath that we may not be seeing the crowds that we'd expect, , for this event, and that would be sad, in my opinion.

[00:12:00] Mark. 

Mark Corbett: . Yeah. I, it's, I hate to, for a sport, I hate for players and I hate for fans to be impacted by this. I hope that they can find a way to make this all work. 

Mat Germain: Mm-hmm. 

Mark Corbett: One moment. 

Mat Germain: No problem.

This is for you later, mark.

Mark Corbett: Well, 

Mat Germain: you were fast. Had to elevator music on, right? I have to keep myself entertained.

Mark Corbett: Oh, the misses just hadn't came in. I didn't tell. We're recording early today, so you know, it's like, what? No. Anyway, 

Mat Germain: gotcha. 

Mark Corbett: No, 

Mat Germain: at least you didn't come in and curse and swear at you and throw something across the room, then I would've known who the real boss is 

Mark Corbett: there. There we go. 

Mat Germain: Yeah, 

Mark Corbett: she's definitely the real boss.

No doubt there. No doubt. No, but getting back to the whole [00:13:00] thing, I do wanna see that, uh, that. I'd love to see everything go smoothly. Mm-hmm. I hope that they can find a solution in Puerto Rico. I would hate to see the WBC, which we only get a chance to see every three years be impeded by this. You know, part of me was concerned about Venezuela coming over and playing here in the us.

Mm-hmm. You know, that's something, and like I said, we're not gonna go down that political road be so easy to do. And I think everybody out there pretty much has their own opinions about this one way or another. So I don't think we're gonna be changing any minds today. Oh yeah, let's talk about another deal. Mm-hmm. A deal that, you know, I always say I hate talking about, but it's just the other day. Matt, you know, you said, I said something about newspapers, I think on the last show, and you said you're showing your age mark and.

Yes, I was. Thank you very much. And lo and behold, I walked by the newsstand the other day. I guess it was Saturday or Sunday. And there they got across the actual physical newspaper, they got a headline, goes across [00:14:00] all the way, $2.3 billion, and talking about the price. Of the Rays stadium. Whoa. Yeah, 

Mat Germain: I did not see that.

How did I miss that? 

Mark Corbett: I don't know, brother. 2.3 billion. Wow. So you know, that's about double what you would think a stadium would be because. We're also talking about a whole business development that's gonna be around that stadium. So 

Mat Germain: that was gonna be my question. Is it just for the stadium or for the entire area?

Right. 

Mark Corbett: It's for the entire area. Right. And yeah, it's, I mean, it was, it's been kind of a weird week here in Tampa anyway. I mean, when I, when I think about it, because one, this is, I mean, it's just been strange because one, I've never been to a place where they come in and. Put ice in the middle of a football field intentionally.

And, and we did that. 

Mat Germain: And by that you mean the physical ice, not the, the, 

Mark Corbett: the 

Mat Germain: security [00:15:00] forces, 

Mark Corbett: right? That's correct. Physical ice. And, uh, thank you. Correcting me on that. That's the, the, uh, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers football field was filled with ice because we had a hockey game being played out in 50 degrees.

Some odd weather. So that was going on that, that kind of weirdness was strange. But then there were invaders that were unwanted coming into this county. And they were, there were Pirates. Pirates who came this weekend and these, we had the Gasparilla Festival here each year. Yes. And so beads of plenty thrown everywhere and plenty of rum.

Now, Matt. I, it blew my mind when I first moved down here 20 years. The whole idea, idea of this gasparilla thing, it, it got so crazy that you didn't want your kid great parade, but you didn't really want your kids necessarily at this thing. Okay? It means it's Mardi Gras esque. Uh, approach through a party.

And so they actually have a kid's parade like a week or two [00:16:00] before Gasparilla actually happens, which I think is outstanding. And as a matter of fact, uh, I go too deep down this road, but years ago when my son was in high school, they actually had the, the police come out to the high schools and talk to the youngsters about drinking and trying to curb that in advance before the parades.

It, it's, it actually did pretty well with that. But, so between having ice being put down in, um, Raymond James Stadium and then going ahead and seeing the Pirates come, and by the way, part of that celebration of Gasparilla is the mayor hands over the key. She, excuse me, she surrenders the key to the Pirates of the City.

It isn't like welcoming them, that's they take over. And so she surrenders that. So all alls I can think of is $2.3 billion. And we're asking the mayor to surrender half of that amount of money. 

Mat Germain: So here's the question though, mark, in this case, it's [00:17:00] different than what we had, uh, talked about with the Rays in St.

Petersburg, right? 

Mark Corbett: Yeah, because. 

Mat Germain: At some point in time, you have to wonder for if you're the city and you're the mayor 

Mark Corbett: mm-hmm. 

Mat Germain: Those locations that are going to be built there at some point in time are going to be taxable. And when those taxes come in, you're getting direct kind of funding returns, right.

For land that that's face it right now is not being optimally used from an economic, uh, point of view. So, and you're enhancing so much of the tourism into the area and so many ways, uh, by, by sprucing it up the way they're going to, that this is like an investment for the city. It's not the same thing as just handing somebody over money for a stadium that they get to use and that you don't get much re returns for.

So I think that in this. Case, it allows the politicians involved to spin it in their favor politically so that they can make [00:18:00] it, you know, palatable for, for the taxpayers. 

Mark Corbett: Well, you remember even over in St. Pete, there was a councilman or two who was gonna rail and throw their hand up in the air and scream and shout.

You know, but I mean, and you're gonna have some of those, and usually they're more junior, uh, people on, on there because they're trying to still establish themselves in that group, and that's part of what they're going to do. And there's a little of that going on here. But here's an interesting thing to know about, uh, mayor Jane Castor.

One I love the lady was the, she was like the head of the police around here for a long time before she became mayor. This, she's a lame duck now. This is it for her as far as mayor. So, hey Jane, you know, but she, she's, she was, it's interesting 'cause in, in town, not only was she here, but the governor came in and Rob Manfred came to town and all of 'em just saying all these wonderful things and loved to find ways to work together.

And [00:19:00] all the, you know, let's all hold hands in Kumbaya. But, uh, you know, mayor Castor isn't saying she's gonna open up the pocketbook completely. She says, have to take care of our taxpayers first. And so I respect her for that. So what, we'll see what comes from that and. 

Mat Germain: I was gonna ask about designs. Has any design come out yet?

Because like, honestly, I'm, so I'm watching the, like, the situation with the EFL, with Wrexham, right? The Ryan Reynolds and that team and what they're building. 'cause they're rebuilding the stadium there as well, so that when they do make it into the Premier League, they're able to have enough fans to, to fill the place and, uh, and afford the team that they have at the level that they're going to be.

But one of the things that they did that I like. Was that they incorporated red brick onto the building that they're putting up, which is representative of what they had, um, all over the town of Wrexham. And so it was renowned to be the staple kind of [00:20:00] product for that area to be used. So, and it incorporates the dragon into the brick work and everything else, which is really cool.

But. I'm wondering if, if Tampa has a product like that, that the stadium should be, that's representative of the Tampa region. Like Sandstone would be one I would think of or something. I don't know. Something that would say, yep, this is Tampa. This is a product that, you know. I don't know if that exists or not.

Mark Corbett: I dunno. I mean, it's, the funny thing is Tampa is such. A city of immigrants. You know, I Ybor, which is where we are looking at putting the stadium at one point, is kind of a centralized part where population just exploded. You know, in the, what, late 18 hundreds, early 19 hundreds because of the cigar industry.

All these cigar factories were there, so. Cigars are a big part of what you think in Tampa area. That's one place. I, I don't think necessarily they would, uh, make it, eh, maybe they could make it look like a [00:21:00] cigar factory. Maybe not. But there's ways to combine parts of what the, that would've been done around here as far as agriculture and the people that I think they could find a way to represent.

But as of this moment in time, Matt, I have not seen anything saying, Hey, here's some ideas we're thinking about. Here's what we'd like to incorporate with, uh, I. I don't see anything like the, uh, Akron rubber ducks or the Jacksonville jumbo shrimp jumping down here just yet. So we, we got a, one of the owners, a creative guy, Ken Babbye, you know?

Yeah. What did he do with those? Uh mm-hmm. We'll see. We'll see. 

Mat Germain: Yeah. No, it's exciting to see some progress and any talk of, of getting a final resolution. I know. So you can stop talking about the stadium altogether. I'll be very happy, mark, when I hear from you, I've got tickets to go into the stadium.

Right. That will be such a happy day where you're like, it's built. I'm going in. I'll tell you all [00:22:00] about it when I come out. 

Mark Corbett: I do have tickets, Valentine's Day to be in the parking lot of the Trop, 

Mat Germain: the swanky, you know, 

Mark Corbett: it's a block party baby. They're not letting us in just yet. So we'll see how that goes.

But no, it should, I hope 

Mat Germain: it's more than 58 degrees that day. 

Mark Corbett: Oh gosh. I just hope it's not raining. Yeah. So we'll see how that plays out. You know, something you were writing about, uh, I think today, Matt, and I think you were talking about the luxury tax. 

Mat Germain: Yeah, well, I did talk about it just shortly. I just found it funny because, uh, sometimes I go into, uh, into cots, uh, because they, they essentially do the best job I think of, of laying out what the financial details are of all the deals that have taken place and where team stands financially.

So I found it funny because at the bottom there's always little footnotes that they include, and it says like, the rays have never exceeded the luxury tax. [00:23:00] I'm like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Hang on a second. They've never even been halfway there. Like, let's, let's lower the bar a little bit. Let's get the halfway to the luxury tax, and then we can talk about them, you know, starting to approach it, which oddly enough, mark links right back to that stadium thing.

So the, the key thing that I want to know is, is would you. Yeah, the capacity of that new stadium is going to be, and, and the thing is. You know, being right next to where the football stadium is going to be, there's not gonna be that pressure to make it a 40, 50,000 seat stadium. Not saying they ever would go there, but if you've got the football stadium next door, they can go and do events there when they want to have that many people.

So I'm fully anticipating it to be closer to 26 to 32 range. Yeah. Uh, and I think that's, you know, that's cozy enough. That's money making enough. But I think you're gonna see some cushy suites if, uh. If, if [00:24:00] my intuition is right, I, I don't think it's gonna be all for the fans that don't have, you know, really deep pockets.

Mark Corbett: Yeah, I'm sure it'd be a couple millionaire billionaire Suites up there. You know, I, if you, uh, did get me thinking though when you did start about talking about the Luxury Tax and obviously on this show you, you can't talk about. Payment without thinking about the, the Dodgers. And I'm looking, was it 2025?

I think they paid, let's see, 169.4 million, followed by the Mets with 91.6 million. And the Yankees, 61.8 million. There were, let's see, how many teams were there total? Nine teams exceeded the threshold and, uh, the record this past year. It's a total of 400, 2 6, 400, 2 0.6 million in competitive balance tax.

So, wow. 

Mat Germain: Yeah. 

Mark Corbett: [00:25:00] Wow. So you've got the top third of the teams virtually paying, uh, luxury tax. And so, you know, in. There's all kinds of ways of looking about how they take that money and put it out there as well. So once that's paid, you say, well, what happens with it after that? And part of it is they've been, uh, I mean, it gets distributed to others and some of the other teams, and there's benefits as far as who's picked in a draft.

Uh, they say the first few million dollars goes toward player benefits in healthcare, retirement funds, that sort of thing. But I haven't seen a deep dive into this, Matt. And the thing of it is too, if you're just giving these chunks of money to the teams out there, what are they, what are they doing responsibly?

Are, are they doing things too? Raise the game up. Are they doing things to increase activity and people coming to their games and, and the viewership or the attendance in the game. So if they're getting money like that from these big teams, I think there should be some [00:26:00] responsibility at cer certain, um, level of expectation of how that money's gonna be spent.

Mat Germain: Yeah, like the, the concept was put in place, especially for that right, to, to give the, the teams that can't spend a chance to spend, uh, supposedly can't spend. Uh, we know in a lot of cases that they're pocketing the money and it's just an excuse to not have, you know, more of their money or their profits handed out.

To other people. Essentially, these people did not get into business and become billionaires or a hundred, a hundred millionaires, whatever you want to call it, by, by handing out money and not, uh, not keeping most of it for themselves. Um, I would add it to it this way. In gambling alone, this past year, all of the teams made hundreds of millions of dollars.

Mark Corbett: Mm-hmm. 

Mat Germain: You know, in returns for, for gambling. Where is that money? Where is the bump up for the players? Based on that [00:27:00] gambling money, you're never gonna. You're never going to hear about it, you're never gonna get any receipts. Uh, it's always going to be in the background and that's where the whole opening the books argument from me comes into play for the CBA because if they want put in a salary cap, sure, we'll put in a salary cap, just open the books and, and we'll know what's what.

And then we will get a, I don't know, 70% pay raise across the board and, and you're gonna have to eat it. So. The, the whole thing with, uh, with, you know, with the luxury tax, it, it's, it's become a farce really. Let's be honest. Like those, those higher end teams do not pay attention to it at all. The ones that do are usually the ones who do have more, uh, uh.

Larger percentage of the revenues applied towards the salary. So I'll give you an example. Like the Reds, right? The Reds would be spending, you know, let, let's say the Reds spend 150 million in a year, [00:28:00] percentage of the revenues wise, that puts more pressure on them to, you know, operate in a certain way, 

Mark Corbett: right?

Mat Germain: Uh, whereas if, if you're. I don't know. Let's say even the Phillies. The Phillies are really close to Cincinnati, but they have a bigger market and they have a bigger pocketbook, basically. So even though their revenues aren't extremely different, they're able to spend at a different rate and they get better, you know?

Better revenues. So they're able to go a little bit over the luxury tax, but none of those teams are gonna be poor. You're essentially saying, okay, well the Phillies owner is willing to pocket, I don't know, $20 million less than the, than the Reds owner that year just to prop up his and to get his fans going, whatever.

And then when you look at the attendance and the everything else that's going in that continues beyond that. It probably is worth that 20 million and then some right down the road. [00:29:00] So. I don't know the, like I, I'm watching, like I said, welcome to Wrexham and Wrexham and all that, and all the uproar and all the fan increase and the international fan increase that you don't even consider a lot of times just because a team is out there and noticeable and always.

You know, always winning. Like how many fans around the world know that New England Patriots simply because of all the Super Bowls and all the times that they've been in there. Well, it's the winning that bred those fans around the world. Uh, same thing with the, what the Dodgers are doing right now.

There's. Actual value internationally to be able to do that. So MLB as a league is trying to allow the Dodgers and the Mets and others to do that because they think it's to their benefit to have those teams known internationally. Right, right. Which then draws the attention towards the league. The problem is, is that it kills it in about 15 to 16 of their own markets in their league.

So it's not a very. [00:30:00] Sustainable model, in my opinion. You know, they're, they're only gonna care about those teams. Now, having said that, Meck, I've got news today. Apparently the Pirates are in on Framber Valdez. 

Mark Corbett: Oh, they are? 

Mat Germain: Yeah, they're looking at potentially jumping into his market because nobody's grabbed him yet and everybody seems to be skittish about either his health, his attitude, whatever it is.

But they're one of three teams along with the um, the Blue Jays and the Giants that I've heard linked to him more recently. 

So that would be a very interesting landing destination if you've got him and Paul Skenes and Mitch Keller. Yeah. At the top of your rotation. Geez. You know, and, and then depending on how long the deal is, what does it open up for them to trade, to get, improve their lineup as well.

Like, so it's an interesting fit, but like this is the kind of thing that you wanna see happen more often. Hin Suarez just went back to the Reds. That was very exciting. For those who don't know, he spent. A lot of [00:31:00] years over there. So they gave him one year, 15 million. Right. So it's one of those things where it's not much, but it's enough to get the fans to be, you know.

Breaking News – Framber Valdez signs with the Detroit Tigers to the astonishment of fans and the Pittsburgh Pirates

Hopeful about their outcome potential in the season. And, and honestly, a lot of times that's all we ask for, mark, is some glimmer of hope where we can get some of the top three agents in different locations than the Dodgers, the Mets, the Blue Jays, whoever it may be. So, uh, I hope that they come up with a better system in the next CBA.

I'm really hopeful. I don't know what the solution is. I don't know how you don't allow teams to just buy their team instead of developing their team. And I think that that's important. It's core to baseball. You wanna see something funny? Mark? Go on Fangraphs right now and look at the St. Louis cards.

Every single player in their lineup is a Cardinals draft pick or. , International signing, [00:32:00] every single one of them. So that is the Cardinal way and that is the way baseball historically has been. I remember growing up through the eighties, you never traded anyone, barely. Everybody that you had was, was from your team and they grew, they grew into the system and they were developed.

You had the occasional trade, which blew everybody's mind 'cause it was so rare. And then, you know, it became a big thing. But. I think historically the, the, the development side of baseball is what makes the team whole and, and really resilient, right? Those who try to buy teams like the Mets have, haven't had much success because there, there's no cohesion.

There's no. Oh, we're all on the same train. We're all going towards the same thing. The key with the Dodgers aspect is that it's been a merger of the two systems where they have the internal and the purchase combined in a steady stream. So every year they get the top one, two, or three [00:33:00] free agents, and they assimilate them into their team.

And that's a much better model, you know, if you were looking to dominate the league. And, and I think they took a while to, to learn that. 'cause they were in the playoffs for a decade before they won it. And then, you know, they finally figured out how to win it all, uh, with that system in place. So. Yeah, it's not an exact science part mark.

Not an exact science at all. 

Mark Corbett: Well, that's what keeps it fun, man. Come on man. If we, if we knew all of it, it was all gonna be predictable. That's, that's part of the love of the game is, you know, there, there's few things that you can completely say, well this is how it's gonna work out. And certainly when it comes down to negotiating who players are, but my gosh, the Pirates man, I would love to see some killer rotation in there that would just be outstanding with Skenes and, uh, Valdez there and, and who else would, did you see was in that list? But it was, 

Mat Germain: uh, the Blue Jays, which they, they'd have to trade some pitching then if they did that. Right. So I think Jose Berrios is on his way out, to be honest, [00:34:00] in, in Toronto. 

Mark Corbett: Wow. 

Mat Germain: And then Isaiah Kinder Falefa signed with the Red Sox.

Apparently. 

Mark Corbett: Huh. 

Mat Germain: So that's another move that's happened. And the Rays. Got involved on a three-way deal, and apparently they're only interested in three-way deals from now on. They're not doing any one for one trades. They just want to be the, the, you know, the extra cog in the wheel of other people's trades.

Mark Corbett: I'd love to hear the thought process behind that sometime. 

Mat Germain: Yeah, but no, they, they ended up landing Mark A. Guy that, uh, Ben Williamson. I don't know if you know much about him. Uh, a lot of people don't. Uh, but essentially. You know, because the, the Mariners landed Brendan Donovan in that trade, Ben Williamson is a.

Almost an identical clone to Brendan Donovan, just a younger version of them. So when Brendan Donovan first broke into the league, and you look at their, their hitting statistics and their profiles, so they're defensive first. Right? So Brendan Donovan is renowned as a really good, strong defender. Ben [00:35:00] Williamson is as well, uh, on the left side of the infield.

Now the rays with Taylor Walls and Ben Williamson and Junior Caminero in the mix. Will be fine. So more than likely Carson Williams starts in AAA unless they trade Taylor Walls, which I will say adding Ben Williamson allows them to do. I see Ben Williamson more as a guy that's going to split time with Taylor Walls.

He'll be on the field when they're facing lefties and Taylor Walls will be on the field when they're facing righties more than likely to start the year. Uh, but Ben Williamson can also get development at second base. He, he's, you can spell Junior Caminero and arrow at third. I, you know, I don't wanna, it's too early to imagine Junior Caminero moving across diamond to first base.

Yeah. To think down the road. Maybe that happens. In the same way that the Blue Jays did with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. If Junior Caminero ever slows down body-wise or they want to save, you know, him for whatever reason, um, I think he would be stellar at first base as [00:36:00] well, defensively. But Ben Williamson, I'm very excited about Mark because I think it raises the floor.

I really like the bat. I think that there's another level for him to reach the exit. Velocity Max that he's reached last year was 110 miles an hour. Um, I think that there's more pop, but he's a little bit like Yandy Diaz, where a lot of ground balls and a lot of topping the ball. The rays were able to correct that with Yandy Diaz.

Mm-hmm. If they can do the same thing with Ben Williamson. I think he could hit 10, 15, maybe even 20 homers down the road. Uh, because he has the strength. It's not like a Chandler Simpson, you know, where, where the strength isn't there, 

Mark Corbett: right? 

Mat Germain: So I'm excited about that one for the raise. And he's controllable, you know, long term.

They don't have to pay him. He is pre arbitration. So, um, he's going to be a strong addition for the Rays and he's got options. So if he struggles at all, they can mix and match him in there. 

Mark Corbett: Exciting times my friend. I'm really looking forward to seeing these new players come on and, um, really [00:37:00] hope all goes well with the wbc.

Mm-hmm. So, got my tickets to a few of the games. I don't really have anything else. Do you have any, uh, other nuggets you'd wanna share with folks today? 

Mat Germain: No, the only other thing I'll say is Colton Ledbetter was the outfielder that was, uh, dealt in that trade, uh, along with the 73rd overall pick that the rays had gotten in a competitive balance.

So, , the rays obviously think highly of Ben Williamson to be willing to give up that pick, especially Colton Ledbetter was getting, . Beat out for position, , for a, a job basically in, in aaa. And they had a lot of similar, , type players that , they needed to integrate. They got a couple of them in the, , trade with their Orioles when they traded Shane Baz.

So I think he just lost , his ranking within that, , that group. And, , he's got a good power speed combination. But the, , the HIT tool just, I don't know if it'll. Work in MLB for him. I hope it works, but, um, but right now that's the big question mark with him. So that's, that's all I got, mark.

Other than that, I, [00:38:00] I, I think once a week the Rays will make a move and we'll get to talk about it. It seems, 

Mark Corbett: give us, give us something there a little gravy from Erik Neander the gang. Exactly. Wow. Well, I'll tell you what, we started out talking a little bit about Pirates and kinda. Ended up with a little bit about 'em too.

So, uh, I am, we'll see how things go if the mayor hand is over the key to those Pirates already. Let's see what happens with the council and the, uh, county commissioners with the stadium. And as we all know, it's a long, drawn out process over the last 10, 12 years, so I don't expect anything to happen soon.

But just kick back, enjoy the game. Enjoy the, the classic and get ready for our spring training. All right, Matt. 

Mat Germain: Pitchers and catchers next week. 

Mark Corbett: Woohoo. Let's go. All right. Thank y'all again for joining us today on Baseball Biz On Deck, and we look forward to talking with you again real soon. I love that.