- 7 weeks ago
On Thursday's edition of Zolak and Bertrand, the guys had some lingering questions surrounding Roman Anthony's contract extension with the Boston Red Sox. One question that Bertrand had specifically was, why did the player rush to sign an extension with the team.
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00:00Roman Anthony signs the eight-year extension.
00:02You heard, too, that home run he hit last night counted.
00:04It was a home run in every other ballpark, so that counts.
00:07No, give it to him.
00:08Yeah.
00:08No, I'd award it to him.
00:10Warning track power.
00:11Let's give it to him.
00:13There it is.
00:15No, no.
00:16Give him the home run.
00:17Which ballpark is he going to play half of his games in for the next eight years?
00:21Which ballpark?
00:22Oh, it's Fenway Park?
00:24Oh, they didn't get permission to move the fences in?
00:26I know they tried that trick a few years back before the Historical Commission shut them down on that idea.
00:33Oh, but that one's going to stand as a fly ball out the same way it would?
00:37You're like, no, we'll just tip pitches.
00:39No, okay.
00:40All right.
00:40Oh, they were rooting for that ball to get out.
00:42Well, of course.
00:43Why wouldn't you be rooting for it?
00:44Oh, yeah.
00:45But it didn't go out.
00:47It was not a home run.
00:48Not in this ballpark.
00:50Every other one.
00:50I don't want to do this to Roman Anthony.
00:51I like Roman Anthony.
00:52Who doesn't like Roman Anthony?
00:54I don't want to beat up on him.
00:54Let's just say, we like the contract.
00:57We like the player.
00:58I want to make sure something is abundantly clear here.
01:01That I did not yesterday at any point say that the contract is bad.
01:06That was never said at any point that the contract is bad.
01:12In fact, if the player turns into the player that a lot of people believe he will turn into,
01:19the contract is amazing for the Boston Red Sox.
01:23And that is my issue.
01:26I want to make that clear.
01:27That that was my issue with this.
01:29That the motivations behind the deal for the Red Sox were to get an amazing deal on Roman Anthony.
01:38That's why they did this deal.
01:39Because they saw an opportunity to get a bargain.
01:42And that's what that deal is if he pans out.
01:44That's a freaking bargain.
01:45At eight years and 130, even with the escalators for him, performance-wise, turning into the player.
01:53Again, that a lot of people believe he will be.
01:56Doesn't guarantee that it happens.
01:58But if it does, it's a freaking bargain.
02:00It's not a bad deal.
02:01It's an amazing deal for the Boston Red Sox.
02:04Yeah.
02:04Even if he hits all those milestones, I mean, you only get another $100 million.
02:07It's not like he's getting another $500 million.
02:09So the world I live in, Zoe, and the world you have lived in, you've been through contract negotiations with not only a professional sports franchise, but with our current employer.
02:19Right?
02:19We have all gone through contract negotiations many times.
02:22I did a contract at a wedding.
02:24On a cocktail napkin.
02:26On a cocktail napkin.
02:27True story.
02:28At the end of every contract, there are winners and there are losers.
02:31Somebody wins the negotiation.
02:34Somebody wins on the deal.
02:37Always.
02:38No matter what.
02:39You're buying a car.
02:40You're buying a house.
02:41You're negotiating.
02:42There's a winner and there's a loser.
02:44Yeah.
02:44That doesn't mean you don't come away unhappy.
02:47Right?
02:47Because you could buy a house and say, I know I overpaid for it.
02:51I lost the negotiation.
02:53This is ultimately financially not good for me, but I'm happy so it doesn't matter.
02:59Right?
02:59Yep.
03:00Right.
03:00The same way you can be Roman Anthony and be happy that at 21 years old, you just got $130 million guaranteed that if you blow up your leg like Tristan Casas did, and I bet you that came up in these talks,
03:15that if that happens to him, he gets $130 million going home.
03:22That's what he gets.
03:23He can be happy with that.
03:24But he is financially the biggest loser in this deal.
03:30Yep.
03:30I heard John Heyman say this yesterday, too.
03:32He commented, well, what young player says no to $130 million?
03:37Yeah, guys like Mookie Betts.
03:38That's who.
03:40What about like a Juan Soto?
03:43Those type of guys look at that and say, no, I need more.
03:47And good for Betts going to get it.
03:49And good for Soto getting it.
03:50Well, that's why I brought that up at the end of the show yesterday when I said, if Roman Anthony is right, then Mookie Betts is wrong.
04:01Yeah.
04:01Those are two approaches.
04:02Which one's the right approach?
04:03Which one would you do?
04:04Which one do you believe is the right approach?
04:07Staying, playing out the years, going through the arbitration years, hitting free agency, or doing what Roman Anthony did?
04:13I can tell you if I were his agent, I would not advise him to take eight years at $130.
04:17Nope.
04:17I would say play it out, man.
04:18No, you do what Betts did, right.
04:20Do you bet on yourself?
04:21Do you believe in yourself?
04:22You're not going to make peanuts along the way, by the way.
04:24This is baseball.
04:25You're going to make good money in those arbitration years if you're a good player.
04:28You're going to be okay.
04:29You're still going to make millions.
04:32And so that's why I say, was Juan Soto wrong?
04:37Was Mookie Betts wrong?
04:39Was Mike Trout wrong?
04:42I don't think they were.
04:45So I would tell this player, man, they hosed you.
04:48Great deal for the Red Sox.
04:50Not a great deal for you.
04:52How much credit are you giving Craig Breslow for the deal?
04:54I feel like deals like this go above and beyond that and go to sort of an ownership level that, hey, this is how we want to approach it.
05:02So we want to try and get these guys done early.
05:04Go do it.
05:05Figure out what the numbers are and get it done.
05:07Yeah.
05:07So he gets some.
05:08Obviously, he's been working on it.
05:11It's not his checkbook, though.
05:13It's John Henry's checkbook.
05:15So if you're giving credit to someone, I'd actually give more to the owner.
05:20When it comes to the money, I give the credit and blame to ownership.
05:23So if you're interested in throwing a parade for the Red Sox for getting a great bargain on Roman Anthony, I give the owner credit.
05:31I am happy Craig Breslow looked at post-trade deadline and was like, this is the priority.
05:37And it's been reported since that this was something they targeted right after the deadline ended.
05:41They wanted it to happen very quickly.
05:42They didn't want it to drag out into September or whatever it may be.
05:45This was something they were going to shoot for over a two- or three-day span and see what happened.
05:49But I think what you're looking with Craig Breslow here is they're copying the Braves plan in so many ways.
05:53And for years, we talked about so many teams need to follow what the Braves are doing.
05:57That's how you build a young core.
05:58That's how you keep it sustainable.
06:00And all reality, the Red Sox today, they don't operate like the Dodgers or the Phillies or the Yankees where you're over the luxury tax three years in a row.
06:07That's my problem.
06:08Which is fair.
06:08That's my issue.
06:09But I think that's why a deal like this is even more essential because you're avoiding some of the pitfalls that you've fallen into in the past because of your behavior with Mookie Betts or whatever it may be.
06:17But now you're building a culture.
06:18And I think that's part of the reason maybe Roman Anthony was willing to lose some of that money is that you have so many guys now locked up these pieces.
06:25And it becomes almost contagious for a lot of these guys.
06:28You look at the Braves.
06:29It started with Ronald Acuna Jr.
06:30And Ozzie Elby signing these extremely team-friendly deals.
06:33And then it was Spencer Strider.
06:34And then it was Austin Riley.
06:35And then it was Michael Harris.
06:36Now with the Red Sox, it's Bayo.
06:39It's Sedan Raffaella.
06:40It's Garrett Crochet.
06:41It's Christian Campbell.
06:42It's Roman Anthony.
06:43It feels like this is getting contagious.
06:45And I couldn't help but realize how much Roman Anthony talked about why his view on a lot of these things changed over the course of the year and what it meant to play in Boston and learn and see what it's like to be with this group.
06:55And Sam Kennedy had that comment where Alex Corr is talking about the clubhouse and he's putting his hands together saying how tight these guys are.
07:02Roman Anthony and Marcelo Meyer are inseparable.
07:04We've seen that.
07:05I think it does really mean something to him.
07:07And he was willing to sacrifice money because of what's going on here with this young Corr that looks like they're going to be here.
07:12And when there's been so much turnover for this organization for a half a decade, I think that says something about some of the healing that's going on around with the Red Sox.
07:20Yeah, Bogarts.
07:21Bogarts and Devers were inseparable too.
07:23This is such fantasy talk.
07:25Like he signed the deal because he just loves the Red Sox and loves his teammates.
07:29He signed it because it's $130 million guaranteed and he wanted the security.
07:34You're saying he just lost money.
07:36You're saying that he took a crap deal.
07:38He did take a deal.
07:38He potentially did.
07:39He did.
07:39It's up to the player.
07:41John Henry showed up yesterday because he was victorious.
07:43Roman Anthony got $2.5 million in the second round.
07:45He's not Christian Campbell who signed for slot and got $450 grand.
07:48Like Roman Anthony doesn't come from a background where it's like.
07:51How much was it?
07:52Say it one more time.
07:52$2.5 million.
07:53$2.5 million versus $130 million.
07:55Do you understand that that's like peanuts compared to the $130 million?
07:58Of course, but that changes how you operate in some of these situations and how desperate you're willing to be.
08:02That's why Roman Anthony got three offers during spring training and said, you know what?
08:06I'm good.
08:07I'm going to wait.
08:07And then he comes here and over 150 plate appearances.
08:10The conversation starts to change.
08:11He basically took the insurance buyout for injury or being a bad player.
08:16Yeah, that's what it comes down to.
08:17If he is not the player that people project him to be, he gets the money still.
08:23If he gets hurt, he gets the money still.
08:25That's what it is.
08:26And he knows that for playing baseball in his life, he gets a guaranteed $130 million.
08:31No questions asked.
08:34Right?
08:34Yeah, it's an insurance policy.
08:35And then if you go and look at it, and if he winds up being the player that everyone's kind of projecting as well,
08:40you look at the top 25 contracts in Major League Baseball, nine of them signed by guys that are 29 or older.
08:46So he's still going to get a huge contract if he winds up being the player that he's expected to be moving forward.
08:51He's been here for seven weeks.
08:53Why does he need to sign the deal to stay here?
08:55He's here for years to come, like to be part of that core and to have his teammates that he likes.
09:00Why does that have to be the case?
09:02I don't understand that.
09:04Why would he need it?
09:04What did you say?
09:05It's a nice, cute little thought you have, but it doesn't make any sense.
09:09I really doubt that his representatives were thinking about that or that he was thinking about that.
09:14No, but that's why Craig Breslow, when he said, like, we sent the offer to his agent and Roman Anthony,
09:18they thought if they sent it just to the agent, and this is in Alex Spears' article today,
09:22they'd probably just stiff-arm it and move it to the offseason because their camp had essentially told them,
09:27hey, we'll figure it out in the winter or next spring training.
09:30Roman Anthony was the one who was kind of pushing for a lot of this to happen and get done,
09:33and that speaks to, I think, the character and the player and some of the stuff you have going on
09:37because where your organization is right now, building up some of these blocks,
09:41I do think there's something, it feels different.
09:43What you have going on right now is different.
09:45It's all factor.
09:46It's all part of the equation here, but that stuff I do think makes an impact.
09:49Don't you think it could also be a 21-year-old opening up that email and seeing 130?
09:53Yeah, yeah, that's way more likely.
09:55That's a big part of it.
09:56That's a way more likely outcome.
09:59As immature as I am, as immature as I am right now, imagine me being immature at 23 and you get to check
10:04and I get to run to a car store and buy whatever car I want.
10:07Like, that's what goes through a young kid's head.
10:10Oh, I can buy a penthouse down right across from Fenway Park.
10:14Oh, it's going to be great.
10:15I can have parties here.
10:16Invite all my friends over.
10:17Put 10 beds in there.
10:18Oh, it's going to be a ball.
10:19That's what kids at age think of.
10:21I've never taken Roman Anthony in that way.
10:22I do think he's cut from a different cloth.
10:24I think it's based on romance.
10:25The romance of being a Red Sox right now is what got him to sign the deal.
10:29Romance Anthony.
10:30No, it's not the main part, but I think it factors in.
10:32I think it's a reason why he was willing to change his outlook on discussing midseason versus after the year.
10:39It's been a magical ride, hasn't it?
10:41It's been a real magical ride.
10:42Since he's come up, yes.
10:44Oh, my goodness.
10:45It's because he gets $130 million.
10:47That's why he signed the deal.
10:48Money is going to be the most important thing, but I do think those other things are variable.
10:52Contracts are only about money.
10:53That's what they're about.
10:54It's just about negotiating money.
10:55That's all it is.
10:56Term and money.
10:57That's why you have them.
10:59It's about money.
11:00He won $130 million.
11:01He took it.
11:02It was offered.
11:02They threw it in his face, and he said, yep.
11:05And it's a great deal for the Red Sox.
11:06And if he pans out the way Christian Campbell has not to this point, well, then good for them.
11:13They've got a great deal.
11:14They're going to save a ton of money on Roman Anthony, and they're going to keep him locked up.
11:17It's not a bad thing for them.
11:18It's a great thing for the team.
11:20It's not a good thing for the player financially.
11:23Not something I would do if I were him.
11:26If you're that good, you're going to get paid way more money by just playing out the process.
11:30617-779-0985, but motivations of ownership, one, to save money.
11:37That's obvious.
11:38That's my biggest gripe with these Red Sox owners.
11:40They're always looking to save a buck, and they were on this particular player like they are with every other player.
11:45But what do they know about what's coming down the pike in this sport?
11:49And what do they know about that labor negotiation that that doofus Rob Manfred is in Major League Clubhouses spouting off about this season?
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