00:00Sports fans are up in arms today that Kyle Tucker did not sign with the New York Mets.
00:05We're here in New York doing the show.
00:06He didn't sign with the New York Yankees.
00:08We're here in New York doing the show.
00:09He didn't sign with the Toronto Blue Jays.
00:11We're here in Toronto doing the show.
00:13He does sign with the L.A. Dodgers.
00:14We're here in L.A. doing the show.
00:16And now people think baseball is broken.
00:18All of a sudden, if the New York Yankees don't get the highest-priced guy on the market,
00:23if the New York Mets, with the wealthiest owner in baseball,
00:27don't get the highest-priced guy on the market,
00:29then for some reason, all of a sudden, baseball is now broken.
00:34The L.A. Dodgers are now the villain of Major League Baseball,
00:38and baseball is better off for it because now everybody hates L.A.
00:43Everybody's gunning for L.A., and L.A. is now running circles around the Yankees,
00:48the Mets, the Red Sox, the Cubs, you know, the Phillies.
00:53Pick your favorite major market team.
00:54And while long-term, it's going to result in a major lockout a year from now,
01:01in the moment, I think baseball is loving it.
01:04Yep.
01:05Because remember, from a Mets perspective,
01:07this was supposed to be you guys when Steve Cohen bought the team.
01:11Matter of fact, it's the one thing that everyone in baseball was afraid of happening,
01:16that Steve Cohen, the wealthiest individual owner of the Major League Baseball franchise,
01:22was going to flex.
01:24That's me flexing.
01:25Flexing, yeah.
01:26If you had popped the shirt off, it would have.
01:28But you were flexing.
01:29No, we're good.
01:30I was flexing.
01:31That's right.
01:31That's exactly right.
01:32That he was going to flex his financial muscles and just buy every free agent on the planet.
01:37Well, the Mets haven't really done anything this offseason,
01:40and now they lost the guy that they had made a crazy offer to, to the L.A. Dodgers.
01:45Yeah, it's crazy.
01:46Now, for the record, just because some people were requesting it,
01:48the way Cohen is the richest, followed by...
01:51As an individual.
01:52No, he's the richest, period.
01:53Yeah, I'm saying, but like...
01:54Number two is, as a group, is Toronto.
01:57Right.
01:58Number three then goes down to the partners for the Dodgers.
02:01So he is still the richest, even when they can buy the money.
02:03Got it.
02:03He's the richest.
02:04I just want to make sure, but he's not acting like it.
02:07Let me tell you what they did, though.
02:08The New York Mets offered Kyle Tucker, who was the best non-pitcher available,
02:13this particular free agency period.
02:15They offered him a four-year contract.
02:18All right.
02:18They offered him $55 million a year.
02:21All right.
02:21The initial offer was $50.
02:23They upped it to $55.
02:25Okay.
02:25The New York Mets also offered a $70 million signing bonus.
02:29So right out of the gate, stroke a $70 million check.
02:33And everybody thought that was crazy.
02:35And everybody thought that that would get it done.
02:37Because Kyle Tucker is not worth $55 million a year.
02:41And then here come the LA Dodgers, and they give him $60.
02:45Four-year deal, $240 million.
02:50Yes.
02:50And I love it.
02:51Wow.
02:52And here's the other part.
02:53For the Mets fans that are out there, right?
02:54And I admit, I'm a Phillies fan, full disclosure.
02:56Right.
02:57I don't like how some Mets fans reacted because it's a loser's mentality.
03:02They go, oh, that's too much money.
03:04Well, duh.
03:05Obviously, it is.
03:06But here's the difference.
03:07Now, the Dodgers have the player, and you don't.
03:11Correct.
03:11Why do you care about somebody else's money?
03:13The bottom line is the Dodgers got the player.
03:16And if you looked at it last year, while they did win the World Series,
03:19they were not invincible.
03:20They needed to improve their lineup.
03:22They should have lost the World Series.
03:23They improved their lineup today.
03:24I don't care how much it costs.
03:26Meanwhile, Mets, Phillies, I'm a Phillies fan.
03:28They haven't improved their lineup either.
03:29They brought some guys back.
03:31Right.
03:31The bottom line is the Dodgers are going out there and getting the players,
03:35and everybody else is complaining about how it costs too much.
03:38That's how much it costs to actually win.
03:41Right.
03:42That's how much it costs.
03:43I'm with you.
03:43And by the way, this is what Steve Cohen was supposed to do.
03:46Yep.
03:46And if you're a Mets fan today, there's two sides of it.
03:49I know a lot of people are going to say, well, you can't be mad at Steve Cohen.
03:52He made a ridiculous offer to a player at $55 million a year.
03:56There's an opt-out after two.
03:58There's an opt-out after three.
03:59But here's the reality.
04:01You should be mad at him.
04:03Of course.
04:03Because the only thing that was going to make him different than the Wilpons,
04:06who owned the Mets previously, was that he was willing to write the biggest check possible
04:12to get every great free agent.
04:14And he didn't.
04:15He didn't.
04:16And then you add to that the fact, and again, for those of you that don't follow baseball
04:19or don't follow New York baseball, I'll just walk you through it real quick.
04:22The New York Mets had a homegrown player.
04:25The New York Mets had a guy named Pete Alonzo, who's the all-time homerun leader in New York
04:30Mets history.
04:31He passed Daryl Strawberry this past year.
04:33The New York Mets said no to giving him $110 million and said yes to giving Kyle Tucker
04:40$55 million a year for a total of $2.20 million.
04:43So double what Pete Alonzo would have signed for when they had a chance to sign him.
04:48So Mets fans are saying to themselves, now wait a minute.
04:51You didn't want to bring Pete Alonzo back for $1.10 million, right?
04:54Right.
04:54You offered Kyle Tucker $2.20 million and you got outbid by a rival.
05:00Because again, National League, if you want to go to the World Series, you have to get past
05:04the L.A. Dodgers.
05:05Right.
05:05The L.A. Dodgers showed you what you're alluding to, that the cost be damned.
05:09We are trying to build the best baseball team possible and we're going to do it with
05:14a lot of deferred money.
05:15Good for them.
05:16Creative way of doing it.
05:17Right.
05:17It's allowed in baseball.
05:18Baseball doesn't shun you for doing deferred money.
05:21That's on you.
05:22Right?
05:22Right.
05:23And the Dodgers said, we want to become a better baseball team.
05:27And whatever it costs us, we'll swallow it.
05:29The Mets said, we want to become a better baseball team, but not at any cost.
05:34And that was supposed to be the Steve Cohen difference.
05:38And frankly, it's not.
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