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00:00Hot stove conversation with Jack McMullen from Just Baseball on deck here and also on deck for the full show coming up at 1.30 Eastern exclusively here on Sports Grid.
00:10Let's bring in Jack who's taking some time off now.
00:13Got a couple of months to breathe here.
00:15All the Marlins duties are over for now.
00:17The hot stove has percolated to the point now we're getting toward the end of that too here for like the last couple of months.
00:23But we still do have free agents to talk about.
00:25So coming up in 10 minutes Jack and I will look forward to who is still out there and in this discussion for the next 10 minutes we'll talk about who has been signed.
00:34So Jack let's start off since we last spoke about those players specifically and the ones that are the most current.
00:40Probably the most intriguing one of all happened earlier this week.
00:43The Philadelphia Phillies poised for another postseason run decided to head out to the free agent market and sign Adolis Garcia, the hero from the Texas Rangers World Series run to a one year $10 million contract.
00:56It seems like the Phillies want to feel him out to see how he'll do in Philly.
01:00It feels like Garcia wants to feel himself out a little bit to see if he can't go back on the market after this year and recreate his market.
01:07By the way a player that had no market whatsoever years ago with the St. Louis Cardinals sort of found glory by the Texas Rangers great trade by them.
01:15What do you think is this someone that can actually work back on a one year deal because if there's a hundred one year deals out there it feels like 90% of them don't.
01:25Yeah I short answer is yes short answer is he can absolutely be in the 10% that do work out on a one year deal and they've struck goal on a couple of those guys.
01:32And I think that there are a couple of very good organizations in Major League Baseball that fall into these pattern free agent signings and sometimes they work sometimes they don't.
01:41I want to bring up the LA Dodgers the Dodgers if you remember a few years back brought in Jason Hayward who had felt like was at the end of the line and he was just kind of done and he was close to retirement but then Jason Hayward had a really good year.
01:54The OPS was over 800 and they said you know what we struck gold on this one year deal let's try it again they bring Teoscar Hernandez in on a one year 23 million dollar contract and it worked really well.
02:06So then all of a sudden Teoscar hits the open market he's back on a three-year deal they tried it again the following year going into 25 with Michael Conforto and it didn't work well at all he wasn't even on the World Series roster.
02:17So this is an opportunity for them to just try to play the percentages and say you know what we feel like we can pay a premium to get a former really good player on a one year deal and chances are it'll work out for us.
02:30And for the Dodgers it worked out two of the three times they did it for the Phillies I guarantee you they look at the success Max Kepler had in 2025 and say why can't this guy just be our Max Kepler again.
02:42Different thing Kepler left-handed hitter Adolis a right-handed hitter but this is another corner outfielder on an identical contract to one year 10 million dollar deal that they feel like can work out.
02:52I love the way you phrased Adolis as the the hero for the Texas Rangers he was he delivered maybe the biggest swing in their franchise's history.
03:01Adolis Garcia was one of the best corner outfielders in Major League Baseball in 2023.
03:06Guy hit just about 40 homers he drove in over 100 he was a gold glove candidate in right field and then what happened?
03:12He struck out all the time he stopped walking he was hitting the ball really hard but he wasn't hitting it out of the ballpark consistently and then all of a sudden the defense got really bad.
03:21I think this is an effort to infuse some life some new energy into him and there's no better place to do that than Philadelphia Pennsylvania.
03:30Yep definitely so the Phillies lineup will be stacked once again Turner Schwarber Harper Garcia.
03:35That's a very strong for Alec Boehm toward the bottom Bryson Stott against righties is a crusher and obviously JT Romito is going to be back there a catcher at some point.
03:45I don't know when that's going to be but believe me that'll be the case real quick.
03:49Let's get to this one and then I want to get to the others twins.
03:52This was what if you want to say odd offseason the twins probably right at the top sending signals at least through the media it felt like we're going to hit a rebuild we're going to hit a reset and then all of a sudden now we're not going to hit a reset.
04:06So something must have happened Jack not really knowing the dynamics maybe it's the general manager Derek Falvey I'm not sure maybe it's part of the ownership group no clue but they decided to sign Josh Bell.
04:16So this signals to me that it's not a full rebuild at the very least we're going to at least try and pivot and try and play a little bit for this year Bell probably hits what eight to 10 15 home runs with Minnesota they find a trade partner at the deadline if they're not in it and if they are in it Bell helps them out with what two of the five unbelievable months and then the rest pretty pedestrian that's his career.
04:36Pretty much yeah he's already won bingo a couple of times I think people at the bingo hall want to kick him out for winning too much bingo like he's what seven teams in seven years he's getting close to Edwin Jackson level where you're just checking boxes and like every team that you could possibly play for.
04:51I've heard nothing but amazing things about Josh Bell the guy so this is interesting that the twins who are in a pretty tumultuous situation right now with you know pump fake ownership change and are we going to rebuild are we not going to rebuild that whole deal.
05:05It's nice to bring in that steady veteran presence who you know is one of the good dudes in Major League Baseball so they do that on a one year deal but in terms of a fit I found it pretty interesting but this guy did club over 20 homers I to your point is production there but like is Byron Buxton going to be on the team is Joe Ryan going to be on the team Pablo Lopez on the team.
05:25The answer was no until it was yes and it really didn't make sense why the answer was yes but you know what good luck to them and good luck to Josh Bell.
05:35Yeah yeah definitely so and it does seem like ownership in some sort of situation here with some purchasing going on to a story for everyone out in the Twin Cities Braves continue their pseudo spending speed haven't a spree haven't seen the Braves do this in a while it's been a lot of internal extensions now it's getting external free agents signing relievers and now Hasan Kim is a perfect fit for the Braves.
05:59Jack he'll play shortstop for them their second base is locked their third base is locked and so Kim really just plugs the one hole they had in the infield.
06:08Yeah Hasan Kim it seems like it's been a couple of years now that Atlanta has been hunting a shortstop really since Dansby Swanson left and I think a lot of people were surprised that Atlanta did let Dansby Swanson walk.
06:19You remember the two head scratchers it was Dansby Swanson then it was Freddie Freeman like those two guys everybody was like oh you're just an Atlanta brave for the entirety of your career not so fast and Atlanta got younger they got a touch cheaper and they got I don't want to say just as good but they got pretty darn good at first base with Matt Olsen.
06:37At short they've been trying to plug and play and at first it was Orlando Arcea on a two year nine million dollar extension and then it was Vaughn Grissom for a minute and last year was Nick Allen who was one of the best defensive shortstops in baseball but was one of the very few guys I think the only qualified hitter in Major League Baseball without a single home run.
06:55They've had no offensive production from that position since Dansby Swanson left they found it at the end of the year with Hasan Kim at least in partial amounts and they just want to do that moving forward and I don't blame him one bit.
07:08I thought this was a match made in heaven last year when they go and get him from Tampa and I thought this reunion was a match made in heaven the other one they move Nick Allen to Houston for Mauricio Dubon in a trade about a month ago.
07:21I love the idea of Mauricio Dubon in Atlanta as that super utility guy he can fill in in the outfield he can fill in short he can fill in at second if need be if all these goes down with an injury.
07:33It seems like Atlanta is positioning themselves I think pretty darn well on the free agent market but agree and I'm not just if all these goes down all these got to hit a little bit more this year.
07:43I think that you know he's going to be looking over his shoulder a little bit like Dubon can play this position if you if you're done hitting I don't know why it's happened to all these but it has the Diamondbacks.
07:51The Diamondbacks are going to lose Zach Gallin and Corbin Burns is out for the season so they needed consistency they jump right back to the Merrill Kelly market who of course was traded by them at the end of last season he is back.
08:02I would expect him to throw another 170 180 innings and be the number one the number two or the number three for the Diamondbacks that's what this is about isn't it.
08:11Death taxes and Merrill Kelly putting together a pretty solid year for the Arizona Diamondbacks like that's exactly what you're going to get.
08:18This has been such a steady face and I guarantee you Ken Kendrick and Mike Hazen the president of baseball operations there they absolutely saw that and said we cannot take this for granted.
08:29So I love the idea of Merrill Kelly just being in the fold here for the next two years and yeah I regardless of what happens with Corbin Burns in the long term or who else they go get maybe it's via trade.
08:40You know that you have Merrill Kelly near the front of that rotation more work to be done if Arizona wants to contend but this was a good start.
08:47And I always think it's funny when a player is traded at the deadline and then goes right back so Arizona still holds the prospects that they got from Texas and oh by the way they got Merrill Kelly back.
08:58Definitely so 30 seconds to go Tyler Rogers I thought would get a one-year deal he got paid big three years 27 million by the Blue Jays like he gets got he gets right he's out like cake work but he but he doesn't even face left he's a strange signing for me.
09:13Come on man this guy's been amazing it's a sub 2 ERA last year and he's his arm is made of rubber good for him.
09:22Varieties no I know he's fantastic.
09:25All right so we just hit on all of the signings this past week I will say a lot of times I'm very cynical with the hot stove and I know some people are complaining it has actually been acceptable for me this offseason with the trickle that we've had because like every day or every other day somebody else has signed.
09:40So it's gone better Jack than I thought that it would go I really thought because of the new CBA looming and everything else that we may wait until February to get everybody signed that has definitely not been the case.
09:52And in particular the bullpen market has been the big surprise to me I just mentioned Rogers who signed a three-year contract with the Blue Jays and again all good things for him I'm sure his brother is going to get a new contract soon too.
10:04But there are still some big names and multi-year deals to be out there so I wanted to ask you about those here are some of the bigger names that are out there not including Kyle Tucker who I think we both agree is not going to sign for another month or two that guy's got to wait to the bitter end until he could get his 400 million.
10:20Bo Bichette Alex Bregman absolutely getting multi-year deals this time Bregman's not going to want to do another one and done I know that Cody Bellinger who just seems to be a good fit for the Yankees again maybe they were just waiting on something I'm not sure.
10:36And then Eugenio Suarez who I know is searching for a multi-year deal kind of tired of being moving around a lot Seattle Arizona wants to stay or the Reds wants to stay in one place as well.
10:45So I don't know that all four of these guys end up signing quickly and not taking that one-year pillow but I would imagine three out of the four get multi-year deals who intrigues you the most here as we move forward.
10:57Yeah honestly I think it's Bichette Cody Bellinger would have been my knee-jerk answer but Cody Bellinger it seems like his market is pretty defined at this point he's going to end up in a borough he's going to end up in Queens or the Bronx I just have no idea which one it's going to be the Mets according to SNY a couple of minutes ago are reportedly
11:15very in on Cody Bellinger which makes a lot of sense pivoting away from Brandon Nemo it feels like Bellinger is the younger version of Brandon Nemo in a certain sense but the Yankees that's plug and play you know exactly what that fit is.
11:28The reason I say Bichette is because he's going to get paid a lot of money and is the question or the question is is he getting paid a lot to be a shortstop or is he getting paid a lot to be a second baseman?
11:40There are teams that are going to look at him and say listen we see the advanced metrics defensively and you are not very good at shortstop but your bat is special and I just want to know what the difference in price tag is for a really good hitting shortstop and a really good hitting second baseman.
11:58If a team viewed him as a shortstop I bet you he can get 180 million dollars I bet you he can pass what Willie Adamas got from San Francisco last year but if they view him as a really good hitting second baseman that price tag probably isn't 180 it's probably closer to 120 so for me I see the pendulum swinging a couple of different ways for Bo Bichette where he can either get paid like a top of the line second baseman or a top of the line shortstop and I have no idea what the right answer is or what's going to happen.
12:26So let's pivot over to something that we haven't had a chance to talk about since I saw you last week it's not a recent signing and they've already introduced Pete Alonso and it's not really the Baltimore question for me at this point because I think I know where Baltimore is headed and I think that they're going to add another pitcher before it's all said and done and call it a wrap for the for the offseason which is a great offseason for the Orioles who didn't want to do anything the last few years and are totally all in now.
12:50So let's go to the Mets here for a minute and Jack I would ask you specifically about this dynamic that the Mets have going right now with their owner Steve Cohen who is the wealthiest owner in Major League Baseball by leaps and bounds can really do anything that he chooses versus the president of baseball operations general manager who to me is one of the very best in the game in David Stearns.
13:13Just look what he did for Milwaukee and that tree is incredible Matt Arnold is going to get another job whenever he wants it if he wants to leave and go somewhere else to what is going on there.
13:21Do you think in New York because we really haven't seen the Mets outbid for anyone since Steve Cohen bought the Mets like he basically could go to any player an agent say no I'm going to do this or I'm going to do that.
13:37It feels like he got outbid for Pete Alonso here and what do you make of that moving forward.
13:43So the only thing I'll say there is it is a half baked offseason to this to this point and one of my favorite tweets during the Alonso Edwin Diaz saga came from Ian Rappaport the NFL reporter who said I will not judge an offseason until it's finished I will not judge an offseason until it's finished.
14:04He wrote it 10 times like Bart Simpson in detention and the Simpsons right right I love that aspect because the counterpoint to all of this the counterpoint that I guarantee you David Stearns is seeing and probably has effectively communicated to Steve Cohen is if we run back the same cast of characters what happened last year we didn't make it to the dance.
14:26We had a 350 million dollar tax payroll we paid an 86 million dollar tax bill and we didn't even get invited into the front door of the dance we didn't even get to the wild card series so they're changing things up and I guarantee is David Stearns went to Steve Cohen and said listen I appreciate what Pete has done for this city for this franchise I appreciate what Nimmo has done for the city for this franchise but there were glaring deficiencies here defense Pete couldn't play first Nimmo struggled
14:56in a corner outfield spot we need pitching maybe they spend money on the rotation maybe they spend money on the bullpen I do think that you're seeing a reallocation of assets for the New York Mets and I'd be curious to go back and look at Andrew Friedman's first year or two in LA because this guy came from Tampa to LA financially he was swimming in a kiddie pool and then transitioned into the Pacific Ocean that's the David Stearns deal too he was in Milwaukee that he's in New York I think there is still a couple
15:26years for David Stearns to feel really comfortable being the GM of a team with an unlimited budget because he was working for years his entire professional life under strict financial constraints I just wonder what the pattern is there for an acclimat acclimatization of getting used to one of these major market jobs yeah I mean Heinblum I thought did a really good job in Boston but never you know certainly got used to that but I think that the point that you make or that you made at the beginning is the most fair point of all and I think it's a good message for all
15:56all of the fans that are enduring the baseball offseason as it's presently constructed which is it's December it's not February and the Mets could get scuba or do some crazy stuff that we are just completely unaware of right now and we'd be just wasting our time and what have you done for me in the last 30 second tick tock moment and I think that that Jack is really what I what I try to go by here having done this for so long to wait to the end but anyway Jack what's coming up on
16:26the show here today in 10 minutes yeah we're checking a whole bunch of boxes dissecting all of the recent deals we talked about Adolis Garcia we'll go in depth a little bit on that um Robert Suarez his three-year deal with Atlanta we go in depth on that the Kansas City Royals they've been really interesting Mish so we'll hit them as well yeah they have big trades forgot to include that in the show all right we'll do it next week Jack thanks again
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