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00:00Welcome back to Newswire here on Sports Grid. Hot stove baseball, that's got to be your thing
00:04coming up here. We got the Just Baseball show coming up. Peter Apple is with us to give us a
00:08preview of the show here exclusively on Sports Grid and also go over the latest landscape in
00:12Major League Baseball as well. Peter, great to have you here on the show. All right, so we got
00:17to wait, I think, here until, you know, pitchers and catchers report here a little bit. We get some
00:22trickling news here on some of the fan fests, but teams do seem to be a little bit in a holding
00:28pattern. And I think, Peter, that's only natural because we've gotten to the point where executives
00:32now want to see their guys, right? Like they want to see what they got, let them get to camp and then
00:38decide to make some moves or not. But we did get one, albeit not huge signing. Some money was spent
00:45by the San Francisco Giants, who have been very quiet this offseason. They did sign Harrison Bader
00:50to a two-year contract. Bader's been popping around everywhere in Major League Baseball over the last
00:55few years. But hey, you got a two-year deal now, finally. So it would appear as though, barring some
01:00catastrophe with the Giants, that he'll man their outfield for 140, 150 games this season, and maybe
01:06even do it next year as well. Absolutely. And I think he got this two-year $20.5 million deal because
01:13of his late surge offensively last year for the Phillies. And speaking about the Phillies, I'm a little
01:19bit surprised that they decided to go with Adolis Garcia on a one-year $10 million deal instead of
01:25just giving this money to Harrison Bader because it's one thing to surge late offensively. But the
01:32reason Harrison Bader is getting a multi-year deal is because of the high floor defensively. And to be
01:38honest with you, I'm a little bit frustrated that I didn't think that the Giants would be a perfect
01:42landing spot for Harrison Bader because you look at their center field defense last year,
01:48they were near the bottom in defensive runs saved, outs above average, fielding run value. And it's
01:54in large part because of Jung-Hoo Lee, ever since the Giants brought him over from the KBO, just hasn't
01:59done enough defensively in center field. You bring in Harrison Bader, who is still one of the better
02:05defensive players at the center field position. You put him in there and it makes their defense a lot
02:11better because you also have Heliot Ramos in left field, who is, to put it nicely, not very good
02:16at left field. Yeah, you did. You just put it nicely there. Thankfully, his parents and family
02:21not watching the show today because they wouldn't appreciate that, Peter, but it's okay. That's you,
02:25not me. All right, let's go to the Chicago White Sox, who waited to make an off-season splash by
02:32signing Sir Anthony Dominguez to pitch the back end of their games. It's such a nice season,
02:38I believe, for Toronto, if I'm not mistaken, last year. Dominguez has always been
02:41in high leverage situations and pitching well. The White Sox traded Louis Robert to the Mets,
02:47seemingly freed up a little extra cash there. And so now, let's just be honest, Dominguez
02:52chased the bag here. Figured maybe this is his last multi-year deal. Let me get paid.
02:57Yeah, I think that's a fair assessment on it. One thing that I do want to note, though,
03:02is how many back-end trios and bullpens, you look across the landscape of Major League Baseball,
03:09have their seventh, their eighth, and their ninth inning guy all striking out over 11 per nine last
03:16year. The list is short. And you look at the three that they have, Sir Anthony Dominguez,
03:22Jordan Leisure, and Grant Taylor. All three of them have electric stuff. But I think what the
03:28White Sox want to do by bringing in Dominguez is move Grant Taylor back to the rotation. Because you
03:34look at the White Sox lineup right now, and I know they're coming off 60 wins, and nobody's really
03:38paying attention to them. But during this rebuild, those guys are getting a little bit older that
03:43were rookies last year or in the minor leagues. The lineup looks a little bit more exciting. And
03:48then you look at the bullpen and see that trio, but potentially putting Grant Taylor in the rotation,
03:52you see it forming, right? There's a lot of teams in Major League Baseball who don't seem to have a plan,
03:59and it seems to be just the same old thing every year. The White Sox, they took their licks,
04:05and I think they're getting better and better. And I think this points towards it.
04:09Yeah. And by the way, the White Sox, not just with Dominguez, but certainly with the Murakami
04:14signing and bringing in Sean Newcomb, they've definitely made themselves better going into
04:19the season. I don't think anyone's going to mistake them for 90 wins or anything like that,
04:23but give them credit for at least bouncing back into what appears to be the end of a rebuild,
04:28or the middle of a rebuild. Meanwhile, Jose Altuve of the Houston Astros at a recent event,
04:35I guess, revealed that they've asked him not to play in the WBC. Why do you think?
04:41I have no idea. And I was looking around, and it doesn't really make a lot of sense to me. I mean,
04:45he is getting older, so I guess it would be injury-related. And I know he's dealt with a few
04:51things over the years, but it just seems like, I guess, either the Astros don't want him or he
04:57doesn't want it, I really don't know. Yeah. I mean, it would seem to me, Peter, I mean,
05:02he did get hurt in the World Baseball Classic last time, and maybe that's part of it. But when you
05:07have a player of his significance, certainly coming from Venezuela and batting in the middle
05:12of that lineup, I mean, and by the way, Peter, this is probably his last go of it, I would guess,
05:17at the World Baseball Classic as well. It's kind of hard to tell a player no. I mean, is it fair to
05:23speculate maybe that he knows that, I mean, I don't want to speculate here, but I guess I'm
05:27going to do it because that's what we do, that maybe the truth is, is that he doesn't want to
05:31play, but he doesn't want to say that he doesn't want to play? I mean, is that sort of the deal here?
05:35I don't know. And I think it's fair to speculate that. I think you can speculate a lot of different
05:40things. Is it because of the injury that you pointed to? Is it that he feels just this late in
05:45his career that he wants to put all of his focus into the Astros? Because you look at the Astros
05:49right now, and a lot of those core guys have left, right? And you only got a few years left
05:55of this Astros team before inevitably they might have to tear it down again. So maybe he just wants
06:01to go full bore into this season and is kind of using this as a way to get out of it. I'm really
06:06not sure. My best guess would it would be a lot of different smaller reasons that ultimately led to
06:13this decision. All right. A small move by the Chicago Cubs. If I would have told you, Peter,
06:18let's say three years ago, that they would acquire Dylan Carlson, you would say, man,
06:25what did they have to give up to get that guy? And it just shows you this dynamic of prospects
06:30where it is so hard to predict things in Major League Baseball. Carlson, along with even Jordan
06:35Walker at the time, predicted to be the cornerstones of the future of the Cardinals. Heimbloom comes in,
06:42changes everything up. Now, Carlson's been gone, of course, from St. Louis for a while,
06:45but I remember going to Jupiter in spring training, looking at this kid thinking he's
06:49a bona fide star. Do you think that he has a second life in him, so to speak, in baseball by
06:55going to the Cubs here? He's one of those players that I've always liked because of his ability to
07:00switch hit. I always thought he was a plus defender at a premium position in center field,
07:05and a lot of smart teams have brought him in, right? Most recently, the Rays, and then,
07:09of course, the Cubs are bringing him in, and I'm sure they're kind of seeing what we've all seen
07:14for a while, that there is potential in there, and maybe it's just about bringing him to the right
07:20spot. But I love that point that you made about prospects and how it's really tough, you know,
07:26to know who's going to really become the star that we think they are, and all these big-time
07:33trades come in, and I always just think it's funny when fans kind of wince at a prospect package when
07:41we really have no idea what these guys will become. No, you don't, and especially a guy like
07:46Carlson, who was thought so highly of. By the way, Peter, let's take a look at the National League
07:49Central odds at the moment, very tight with three teams, Cubs, Brewers, and Reds. Brewers arguably
07:54did less than these other teams like Cincinnati and Chicago in the offseason. Even Pittsburgh probably
07:59did more than them. Those are the four teams. We know the Cardinals have basically put the
08:03flag down there in a rebuild, leave us alone, at least until next year. Do you see those odds
08:08as being spot on there? And, you know, certainly anything can happen in baseball, but do you think
08:14Cubs, Brewers, Pirates? And I would ask in that order, it seems like we discount the Brewers every
08:19year, and then they end up finishing near the top. Exactly. I think it's fair to say that the Cubs
08:24should be at the top right now because their roster is better than last year, but I'm not knocking
08:29the Brewers down to plus 260. I know it's not exactly the same roster, but they do this every
08:35year. It's like we haven't learned. I've hit some 4-1. I've hit 8-1 on the Brewers to win the Central
08:40before, and more than likely, that's where my money will be again. Peter Apple with us from Just
08:47Baseball. We'll take a quick timeout, and we'll come back and hit on the remaining free agents, and
08:51there are some significant names out there in the landscape of baseball that are probably going to sign
08:57over the next month or so with a team. Also, if you want to learn more about Just Baseball or any
09:02of the other shows that we have going on here at Sports Grid, take out your phone and scan this QR
09:06code. It is the Sports Grid app. It's completely free, and you can stream our shows 24 hours a day,
09:12seven days a week, exclusively via the Sports Grid app. We'll be back with Peter right after this,
09:16so stay with us on the grid. Don't go away. Peter Apple back with us, Just Baseball, coming your way
09:20in 15 minutes, baseball talk, and of course, as we approach baseball season, man, you guys are going to
09:25love their show all season long. They joined us here at Sports Grid at the end of last season,
09:29but now a full season with Just Baseball should be fun. Peter back with us here to weigh in
09:33on free agency, and you know, look, I'm not going to say it's a moratorium, but it does sort of feel
09:39like we're going to have to wait until, and it's not like the Super Bowl is an arbitrary date or
09:42anything like that, but I do feel like teams are like, if these guys are out there still right now,
09:48they'll be out there when we look at our staff, when we look at our infielders, and then the signings
09:52start to happen. Somebody's out of shape. Somebody gets hurt. Unfortunately, this is the category of
09:57player that still remains in free agency, not to knock them all, but let's get started here.
10:02Man, my buddy, Zach Gallen, I did not think he would be in this spot, Peter, but here he is.
10:08I mean, look, he just didn't have a great free agency season, and he sits on a market where teams,
10:15again, kind of know what they have, what they want already. There's probably, unfortunately for him,
10:19a better pitcher out there than Frambois Valdez, who's still available. We see reports here that
10:24say that Gallen could do a short-term deal, Peter, and then opt back out, go somewhere else. I saw some
10:30Arizona stuff pop up over the weekend, and you look historically, Peter, what's interesting with
10:35Gallen's numbers, let's say, let's use a three-year sample, last year was the worst year of the three,
10:40so I think he's a pretty good gamble for someone, don't you?
10:42I agree and disagree, and the reason I'm in between is I can't decide, are Gallen's best
10:50years in front of them, or are they behind them? Because if you look at the progression,
10:55it's just gotten worse and worse and worse, like 2023 to 2024 to 2025, and albeit his free agent
11:02year ended up being the worst of them all, with an ERA above 4.5. The good part about Zach Gallen is
11:08he can eat innings. I mean, it's 180 innings, rinse and repeat, right? So, and that's kind of unique
11:15on the market right now. It's hard to find guys you can feel good about going six innings or more,
11:21right? The Mets just traded for Freddy Peralta. Half of his starts last year were five innings or
11:26less, so that's the positive, but how good will those six innings be start in and start out? And I
11:33think that's why a lot of teams are questioning Gallen because of last year and how it's just
11:41gotten progressively worse. Yeah, no, I think that is fair. Gallen, though, ain't 36 years old. I mean,
11:48he still should have three good years ahead of him, four good years ahead of him, but maybe it is that
11:53short-term deal to prove it and then go back out to free agency. So, perplexing, that would be the
11:58one with Frambois Valdez because you talked about rinse and repeat. That's what this guy has been
12:03every single season. So, maybe I'm missing something in the advanced metrics here that
12:07point to Valdez going the other way. Some folks are using a single pitch against him, the one that
12:12he threw to his catcher that crossed that up as the reason why no one's going to sign him. I cannot
12:17believe that really is the case. He's been a World Series pitcher. He's been a high-level pitcher
12:21for Houston, pitching in the very biggest games. And so, maybe this is just a battle,
12:27Peter, of Valdez feeling like he's better than the offers that he's gotten, maybe a lot better
12:31than the offers that he's gotten because I didn't expect him to go all the way into February without
12:35a team. Yeah, it is interesting discussing Zach Gallen and Frambois Valdez back-to-back because you
12:41look at Gallen and it's more of a quantitative argument. We're looking at his numbers because there's
12:45nothing that we have to talk about with the person of Zach Gallen. And unfortunately, with Frambois
12:50Valdez, it's less about the numbers and more about what happened last season, right? We saw the
12:57switch up. It was not a good look. And for those who didn't think it was a big deal, clearly general
13:03managers did because his agent had to create a 20-minute video basically telling these guys
13:09who Frambois really is as a man. Now, I'm not going to speculate on who he is as a person. I'm sure
13:16he's a great guy. These front offices, that is their job. But as the offseason
13:20goes along, unfortunately, the longer it goes, the more that the teams have the leverage
13:26here because these guys, they want to get into spring training. They want to get everything
13:30right. So the longer that goes, and especially if it's a shorter-term deal where you have
13:35to prove it, and then you're coming into spring training late. If I'm Frambois and I'm Zach
13:40Gallen, I might have to take a deal that I don't want, especially if it's a prove-it deal
13:44because I want to make sure that prove-it deal, I can actually prove it. And I think
13:49that's where both of them are kind of going to land. And the one team that's in the best
13:53position to pounce is the Baltimore Orioles. They need to make one more move in their starting
13:58rotation, and they can kind of see, all right, is Gallen going to be a one-plus-one deal?
14:02Will Frambois go a three-year deal, maybe even less than that? They're in a great position
14:07to get either one of these arms. Yeah, Orioles always in need of pitching, as it would seem,
14:12but not yet spending the money on it. We're still waiting on that. All right, now let's get to a
14:17player that, I mean, look, he had the best year last year, incredible year, incredible run for
14:24Eugenio Suarez, a very well-liked player, Peter, but this guy for the life of him cannot get these
14:29multi-year offers from these teams. 49 home runs, 824 OPS, 118 runs driven in. You know,
14:37at some point Suarez is going to deliver a massive home run for a team that's going to put them,
14:43it'll give them wins. He's a player that everybody should want, but Peter, nobody does. We go through
14:48this every year with this guy. He's always traded, he's moving on, he's going to other teams.
14:53I think teams don't really know how to value him right now, because you look at 49 home runs
14:57and 118 driven in. Can he replicate that? Because that, all that power got him to an 824 OPS.
15:04What if he hits 30 home runs next year? Still solid, but he's hitting 230, he's striking out 30%
15:09of the time, and he's hitting 30 home runs. Is that a player that you want to give a multi-year deal
15:14of 20, $25 million to? Probably not. Munitaka Murakami, who we just talked about, who might look
15:20a lot like that, just signed a two-year, $34 million deal, and he's 26 years old. Gino is now
15:26aging. And also, a rougher part of Gino's game is his defense. So really, it's all about that power,
15:33and teams are probably looking at him and saying, are we going to get 49 home runs again? Probably
15:39not. So then what do we pay him? It's probably not what he wants. Yeah, that's tough. All right,
15:46before we go, Peter, what's coming up on here on the show in about 10 minutes from now here on Sports
15:52Grid? Oh, it's a really fun show. We ranked the five best off seasons so far in Major League Baseball.
15:59We're looking at five teams who added the most and are looking the best going into 2026. And we also
16:05discussed Harrison Bader to the Giants. We talked a lot about the fit there, and also about the Phillies
16:10situation, getting Adolis Garcia instead of Bader, and then Sir Anthony Dominguez going to the White
16:15Sox. It's an intriguing move. I really do. All right. So we'll catch Peter and Aram and Jack
16:22McMullen. They do a fantastic job that's coming your way in 10 minutes from now, exclusively here
16:26on Sports Grid. Peter, we'll catch up again soon. Spring training around the corner. Thanks for coming
16:30on. Thank you.
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