00:00And I love what the Royals are doing.
00:02And we talk about the Diamondbacks, and I think they're a great example of how mid-market teams can and should operate.
00:09And I think the Royals have started to put themselves in that conversation as well.
00:13You get a superstar, you lock him up.
00:15I know that it's not always the same situation because if Bobby's represented by Scott Boris, it's not the team's fault, right?
00:23Like it's just not going to happen.
00:25But you have a superstar, you lock him up.
00:27You have an emergent breakout player, and you lock him up now.
00:32You spend some money in free agency.
00:34You don't fully sell at the deadline.
00:36Even when armchair GMs like us are saying, ah, they got no chance to get back into this thing.
00:40They soft buy, right?
00:42And they make some savvy moves.
00:45I feel like this is how a team should operate.
00:47And they're in on other free agents, and they're still spending money, and they're aggressive with their prospects.
00:51They don't care about Jack Caglione's clock.
00:53But they still are operating efficiently, and they're still being careful, and they're not going to be reckless.
00:58And I think that's a great balance of the two things, right?
01:01It doesn't have to be Rays or Dodgers.
01:03It doesn't need to be so extreme.
01:05Royals fans can now just sit here and say, we've got the left side of our infield locked up for so long,
01:11and that's as good of a left side of the infield as you're going to have in Major League Baseball.
01:15And that's a really good starting point for a franchise and for a fan base to hold on to.
01:20A hundred percent.
01:21And we knew what their deficiency was offensively.
01:24It seems like they're starting to fill out.
01:26Vinny Pasquantino had a heck of a year at first base.
01:30Second base, it's easier to find guys to plug and play.
01:33India was super underwhelming.
01:34Massey was underwhelming.
01:36You can fix second base.
01:38That fix could be somewhere else.
01:39It could also be in the state of Missouri.
01:41They could go get Brendan Donovan and keep him in Missouri.
01:44Is Missouri a Commonwealth?
01:46I think it might be a state Commonwealth regardless.
01:49Keep him in Missouri.
01:50Seems like Brendan Donovan likes it there.
01:53Shortstop, Bobby Witt.
01:54Third base, Michael Garcia.
01:55To your point, one of the better left sides in all of Major League Baseball.
01:59Catching, it seems like you have your long-term answer in Carter Jensen.
02:02You also have your captain in Salvador Perez there.
02:04So that pretty much handles DH as well.
02:06You've got Cags that can cycle into DH.
02:09You have to figure out the outfield.
02:11You just have to.
02:13And maybe Cags can play right long-term.
02:16But they also acquire Isaac Collins and they sign Lane Thomas.
02:20I want to start with Lane because that's a quicker conversation.
02:23Lane Thomas, who is hampered by injury this year in Cleveland,
02:27didn't really play much whatsoever.
02:29Lane Thomas signs a one-year deal with the Kansas City Royals.
02:32This is a perfect, low-cost bounce-back option for them.
02:37And this is what every, again, middle market team should be doing.
02:42And small market teams should be doing, right?
02:44And I'm sure others did.
02:46And Thomas took an opportunity to sign here.
02:48Bounce-back opportunity with a team that could also make the playoffs.
02:51It's a perfect scenario for him, right?
02:53And I think it's a good insurance policy in case things don't fall into place
02:57the way that they maybe want via the trade market or other free agent options.
03:01And I know some people might look at the numbers and be like,
03:04oh, what's he going to do?
03:06So he's had some really brutal and unlucky injuries.
03:10You know, Thomas was a guy that was, you know,
03:12I think we were really excited about him, was a key acquisition, right,
03:15for the Guardians to help kind of make a push a couple years ago.
03:18And at 30 years old, I still think he has plenty of time.
03:21And he's going to be 30 for most of the season to get things right.
03:24It was a wrist issue, which is always going to affect you.
03:26A heel issue that's always going to affect you as a hitter and outfielder.
03:29And I love the fit as a right-handed bat that at worst,
03:32like should be able to short platoon help you.
03:34And it's not like it's extremely expensive.
03:36It was a lost year for him last year.
03:39I'm really interested to see how they handle the India Massey situation there too,
03:44because I thought India was a non-tender candidate at $8 million
03:48after what he did last year.
03:49It doesn't provide you much value with the glove.
03:51Clearly, they don't want to give up on him just yet.
03:56669 OPS at Kauffman would have probably,
03:57with no defensive value would have been it for me probably.
04:01But that's where I'm just, I'm curious.
04:03Like clearly, they were fine to take that $8 million on.
04:06So I don't think they're pinching pennies too much here,
04:09but that's where like,
04:10there's a lot that you still need to soar out here.
04:13And like, who's going to play where, who's going to DH.
04:16Like if you got Cags in the outfield in India at second,
04:19like you're really compromising such a good left side
04:23with like a pretty bad right side.
04:25Like, and I think that'll be interesting to see how they,
04:28how they go about that.
04:29I'm curious to see what they do with India as well.
04:32I was with you on the non-tender thing,
04:33but the more I thought about it,
04:35the more I came around to the idea that JJ Piccolo,
04:39who's their lead decision maker on the baseball operations side,
04:41I think he's the president of baseball operations,
04:43could be the GM.
04:44Those titles are pretty much one and the same right now.
04:47It doesn't matter that they all make decisions on the baseball off side.
04:51Um, I feel like trying to put my JJ Piccolo hat on,
04:56he saw a 10% chance that that $8 million Jonathan India price tag was movable.
05:04And if you have a 10% chance,
05:06it's worth trying because then at least you get a prospect and you're not
05:10letting him go for nothing.
05:12I bet there's a team out there that is willing to give you an intriguing
05:16prospect at the lower levels.
05:18If you eat three of the eight that he's due or two of the eight.
05:21That is a good point.
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