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00:08All right, Jeff Passan tweeting out, outfielder Roman Anthony and the Boston Red Sox are finalizing an eight-year, $130 million contract extension.
00:19The deal, which is pending a physical, includes a club option and will keep Anthony under team control through 2034.
00:25Pass, in a sense, adds to that, saying that the deal is going to start in 2026, and it includes significant escalators that could take the max value of the deal to $230 million,
00:37depending on where he finishes an AL Rookie of the Year voting, but it would buy out three or four years of free agency.
00:49What's he done so far?
00:52What's he done?
00:53What's he done?
00:54Tell me what he's done.
00:55He's been the second-best hitter on the team since he came up in a top-ten guy in terms of on-base percentage.
01:00What has he done?
01:01Second-best hitter on the team, Beetle.
01:02He's been replaced with Rob Yell Devers.
01:03He's been replaced with Rob Yell Devers in the lineup since he got called up as a 21-year-old.
01:07He reminds me of Kossus.
01:08I agree with Beetle.
01:09I'm kidding.
01:10I'm joking.
01:10Surprise, surprise.
01:13Overrated.
01:13I just, I don't love...
01:15And I get...
01:16He just told you.
01:17Obviously, shut up.
01:18Everything Millikan just said is right.
01:19I'm not debating the isn't being good.
01:21But is it eight years, $130 million worth?
01:25No.
01:25Is it, we've got to jump the gun and sign the guy?
01:28We just did this and you got burned.
01:30Two different situations.
01:31Completely.
01:32Roman Anthony is the guy.
01:33Anyone would sign this deal.
01:34If you even had a chance at it, it would immediately be done.
01:37You did it with Bayo.
01:38You did it with Bayo, too.
01:39With this guy.
01:39And so...
01:40No.
01:40You know why they...
01:41And look at the Raphael and Bayo extensions.
01:42They look great right now.
01:43No, no, no.
01:44Do you know why they did this deal?
01:46Because they're cheap.
01:47That part's true.
01:47That's why they did the deal.
01:48They didn't do the deal because he was nearing free agency or was going into arbitration.
01:54And so it's about nothing other than the Red Sox want to operate like a small market team.
02:00They want to try and get savings on the very best players.
02:06Five years.
02:06Seven years from now.
02:08Now they believe that this is going to be one of the premier players in the sport, right?
02:11I think a lot of people believe that.
02:13And I don't think it's an unfair thing to believe in.
02:16He's been great for this team.
02:18Thank God they have him.
02:19Because their roster construction was so piss poor.
02:23And then they traded away their best bat.
02:25And so if they didn't have Roman Anthony, they're not winning all these games.
02:28Look at where he's been in their lineup.
02:30The expectations and the workload that they've put on him, it's been very impressive.
02:34How long has he been a major league player?
02:35That's what I'm really getting at.
02:37How long has he been a major league player?
02:38A couple months.
02:39Three months?
02:40What's it been?
02:41Yeah.
02:41Should have been a lot longer.
02:42When was the call-up?
02:43Should have been on the team.
02:44When was the call-up?
02:45June 10th.
02:46June 10th.
02:47He hasn't even been a major league player for two months.
02:49That's what I'm talking about.
02:51So based on seven weeks of being in the major leagues,
02:56the Red Sox needed to sign him to a deal that buys out three or four years of free agency.
03:02That just tells you what they are.
03:04They're a bunch of cheap pricks now.
03:05That's what they are.
03:06That's what John Henry is.
03:07He's a cheap prick.
03:08He doesn't want to invest in real players.
03:11He is afraid.
03:13He is afraid of Roman Anthony turning into the player that a lot of people believe he will be
03:18and then having to pay him the same way he was afraid of continuing to pay Rafi Devers for his bat.
03:27So that's what they do.
03:28Now this is what they do.
03:29They sign Baio.
03:30They go ahead and sign Christian Campbell, who's nowhere to be found.
03:33We may never see him again.
03:34Raffaella.
03:35Those two extensions are major hits, though, in Raffaella and Baio.
03:38The only one you can complain about is Christian Campbell right now.
03:41Milliken.
03:41Milliken.
03:42They're not even playing on the extension in the sense that they were still under team control right now.
03:46But still, though, what you did in terms of AAV and to get a couple more years of free agency,
03:51for them to show they're capable of being those players,
03:53Brian Baio, a guy who's shown up and been your number two, number three starter,
03:56Sedan Raffaella, who's been one of the four or five most important players on the team.
04:00Hey, hey, Milliken.
04:01You understand that all the players you're naming would still be here on cheap deals, team control, right?
04:06But you bet on them becoming the players they are becoming in front of you.
04:09Only to save money.
04:11Only to save money.
04:12That's why they're doing it.
04:14That's how you spend later.
04:14I'd rather do that.
04:15There it is.
04:16I trust your imagination.
04:18Milliken, I love you.
04:20I love you, but you're a dope.
04:22They're $10 million over the luxury tax, Beetle.
04:24You believe that.
04:26You said it.
04:27Thank you for doing it for me.
04:28I don't even have to keep talking.
04:29You said it.
04:30They're going to spend later.
04:31That's what stupid fans say about their team.
04:33They're $10 million over the luxury tax.
04:35Right now, they are spending.
04:36They should be.
04:38Yes.
04:38Who said they shouldn't?
04:39God bless them.
04:40You're right.
04:41They are extending themselves.
04:42They are all up.
04:43I'd rather you do this than you take the chance like you did with Mookie Betts and you get
04:46to those final years and you don't work something out.
04:48No.
04:49Get it done now.
04:49You're right.
04:49Give me those three.
04:50You're right.
04:51This time you pay the guy $400 million.
04:53They also couldn't afford Mookie Betts.
04:54I forgot that.
04:55They didn't have the money.
04:56But you avoid making that mistake and you now ensure that you're going to get Roman Anthony
05:00through his prime when he is going to be a top five player in the sport.
05:03We'll see.
05:03If there is a top 20 bat at 21 years old.
05:07If there is a prime, there might not be one.
05:10As a 21-year-old, he's a top 20 bat in the game already.
05:13Right.
05:14And he's not even hitting for power yet.
05:15He has two homers.
05:17When was he going to hit free agency?
05:18When was he going to hit free agency?
05:192031.
05:202031.
05:21He was going to hit free agency in six years.
05:23So let's celebrate him getting signed after seven weeks.
05:25Yes, because you just got 28, 29, 30, and 31.
05:28I'll take it every time.
05:29Which you could have because you're the effing Boston Red Sox.
05:33But if you can get the deal done now, you get it done.
05:36The highest prices in baseball.
05:38They should never be at risk of losing a player.
05:41That's the thing that they're capable of.
05:44They don't have to worry about that.
05:46That's the convenience of us paying all the goddamn money we give them.
05:50Jesus.
05:51How do you not understand that?
05:52But you still got it done.
05:53It's good news that you get it done.
05:55Give me the three or four years bought out because that ensures he's going to be here.
05:59And I don't have to worry if John Henry wants to go one way or the other.
06:02The fact that it's done makes sure a disaster like that does not happen again.
06:06That should be a win for Red Sox fans.
06:07You don't have to sit here and hear every day for the next five years.
06:10Every time Roman Anthony goes and does something, well, don't worry.
06:13He's going to be a dodger.
06:14He's going to be out of here.
06:15No.
06:15You know Roman Anthony is going to be here no matter how you feel as a Red Sox fan.
06:18He just will be when he's 29.
06:20That's okay.
06:21Sam Kennedy is going to say that tomorrow when he addresses the media.
06:26We learned from the Buki Betts deal.
06:28We didn't want that to happen.
06:29Why didn't you do anything at the deadline?
06:30Ah, we were too busy signing the guy who hit free agency in six years.
06:34Okay.
06:35Great.
06:35Now we know what they were doing leading up to the deadline, Milligan.
06:38They were getting deals done with guys who wouldn't hit free agency for another six years.
06:43You can do both.
06:43Yeah, tip the cap to them.
06:45They're the best.
06:46There's more he was too worried about Joe Ryan and Sandy Alcantara to go get Merrill Kelly or Josh Naylor or Eugenio Suarez.
06:51No one knows who you are.
06:52An extension with Roman Anthony ain't going to do it.
06:54If you don't know who those baseball players are, you don't know baseball.
06:56I'm sorry to tell you.
06:57They could have easily done that Naylor deal, and they were asleep at the wheel.
07:01I've been crying about it for a week.
07:03Okay.
07:03They could have and should have done that deal.
07:05And they weren't really in on Ryan.
07:06They made that stupid phone call at the end to make it look like they were.
