00:00And I'm excited on him to start with Wilson Contreras because that was the move that I felt like everybody saw coming, yet they were always, the Red Sox were always searching for these greener pastures.
00:11They were pushing. They were in the Quintel Marte sweepstakes. They were in these other conversations, and then they come back to the sitting duck guy who's a really good baseball player but was sitting on a team without much direction for 26.
00:25It just felt like this could have happened three weeks ago.
00:27Yeah, and you never know what else was out there or what they were considering, but I love settling.
00:35Settling's the wrong word. I love landing here. Contreras, yes, 33 years old, going to be 34 years old within the first month or so of the season, so you do wonder how his game will age in the next couple years, but he's not in the squad anymore.
00:48He's playing first base, so I think it's going to age pretty well, and the guy flat rakes.
00:53Like, he just flat-out rakes, and we've seen it year over year over year over year.
00:58He's a career 122 WRC plus, and I know that it was popular.
01:02A lot of people were throwing out numbers of how similar he is production-wise to Pete Alonso.
01:07Obviously, I'm going to take Pete Alonso's run creation a little bit more, but there is merit to the point of, like,
01:13Hey, this guy is quite valuable, and I think it's kind of got lost in the shuffle between the catching, not catching thing.
01:19The Cardinals not really being overly competitive the last couple years, and I just honestly just feel like his really solid numbers just not standing out in one particular area.
01:30Like, you see 20 homers, and you see decent batting average, decent OBP, and I don't know, maybe nothing jumps off the page.
01:38I think it's become almost underrated how productive he's been, and he was cheap to acquire because he did come with a contract, understandably a fair one,
01:46but he came with some money on top, which they were actually able to get included on the deal.
01:51I think it worked out really well for the Red Sox.
01:53Yeah, so the full move was he was acquired from St. Louis to Boston.
01:59He goes from St. Louis to Boston, along with $8 million cash over the next two years in exchange for Hunter Dobbins,
02:05Yoiker Fajardo, and Blake Aita.
02:07The contract details for Wilson Contreras, he's making $18 million in 2026.
02:13Of the 22 that he's owed, four will come from St. Louis, so Boston will pay him $18.
02:18Boston will pay him $17 in 2027, and St. Louis will cover the other four.
02:24So they eat eight of the remaining $41 million.
02:27I think that's what that math comes out to.
02:29And then in his age 36 season, Boston has a club option at $20 million for Wilson Contreras.
02:36To your point, he's not in the squad anymore.
02:39This guy still, into his early to mid-30s, has this violent swing.
02:44Peyton Genis with us, obviously, doing a great job producing the show.
02:46Podcast P is what we're rolling with for Peyton Genis.
02:49But I want you to flash that bat speed leaderboard again, because Jay Hay, who does great stuff at baseball, is dead, put this out.
02:56Fastest average bat speed for a right-handed hitter during the 2025 season.
03:01Junior Caminero at 78.5 miles an hour.
03:05Joe Adele was about a mile an hour slower than that.
03:07Aaron Judge, Vladdy Jr., Julio Rodriguez, then Wilson Contreras.
03:11What do all these guys have in common?
03:13Junior Caminero hit 40 homers at 22 years old.
03:16Joe Adele was flirting with 40 homers.
03:19Aaron Judge just won the MVP.
03:21Vladdy Jr. can get into him as well as really anybody in baseball.
03:25Julio Rodriguez is a physical specimen that we're waiting on making the jump from star to superstar.
03:30And then you've got Wilson Contreras.
03:32This guy got a five-year, near $90 million deal from the St. Louis Cardinals after his time came to a close in Chicago.
03:38He's done nothing to debunk the idea that he's one of the better right-handed hitters in Major League Baseball.
03:44When I say one of the better, I don't mean top 10.
03:46I may not even mean top 15 to 20, but he's firmly in the 15 to 30 range, I think, among right-handed hitters in baseball.
03:55And you want that guy at this price point based on where the market has gone.
03:59Yeah, you didn't have to give up any major, major pieces.
04:02You know, I think they gave up a little bit more of the Red Sox to get some of it paid down.
04:06And I hope that that means they're going to reinvest that into signing a free agent because they've been busy on the trade market.
04:11But, you know, I also think for the Cardinals, it really doesn't make any sense to keep a Contreras at this stage,
04:17to be able to bring in a trio of arms there and two prospects that you have time to develop
04:22and a depth arm and Dobbins that can get in there and help you as soon as he's recovered from that ACL, I think is great.
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