00:00But I think they've got to hang on to him, too.
00:01My question is then if you hang on to him and you don't get rid of him
00:05and now you've got to go to arbitration with him,
00:08knowing them, they'll try to settle up something
00:09before they ever hit arbitration.
00:11Well, that's okay.
00:12Andy, he has one more year of team control.
00:16If we don't even play baseball next year, who knows?
00:19Well, that's another point.
00:20I didn't even think about that.
00:23I'm not interested in moving Steven right now,
00:25and I'm not interested in signing him right now.
00:28What I'm interested in doing is playing him.
00:32Dan, what would you do?
00:33What would you do, and what do you think the organization wants to do?
00:39What I would do is pick up the phone and call the Phillies,
00:42whose outfield is a mess, and see if there are –
00:47and Dombrowski seems like he wants to put his chips in the middle of the table
00:50with this Phillies team and see if there's a Steven Kwan deal there.
00:55And get what in return?
00:57I would do myself a favor.
00:59Current help?
01:00I don't know what current help –
01:01I don't know if there's a whole lot of current help that the Phillies can give you.
01:05Well, but you're knocking on the door.
01:07For sure.
01:07You think you're getting into the postseason this year.
01:09But what this does –
01:10well, the Phillies seem like they're going to put their chips in the middle of the table
01:14because they're sniffing around Scooble,
01:15and they're sniffing around Aces and that stuff to pair with everybody.
01:18So, it seems like Dombrowski's starting to get that itch again
01:21that it's time to unload the farm system to make a run at this thing.
01:25I would then – that would be my first phone call is see if they would be interested
01:29because what that does then is also cleans up my outfield a little bit
01:33where I can bring a guy like Khalil Watson back up
01:36and stick him in left field and have him figure things out.
01:38And then I'd have Angel Martinez.
01:41I'd have whoever.
01:42You could play Martinez in left, Watson in center, and DeLauder in right.
01:49Right.
01:49However –
01:50So, two birds with one stone and then maybe –
01:52However, are you hurting your chances down the stretch here to make the playoffs
01:57if you trade a guy in Stephen Kwan who's red hot?
01:59Here's the other thing.
02:00What do you say – remember a couple years ago, remember when they made the move –
02:02remember Savali?
02:03That's who it was.
02:04They made the trade, and then Anthony had to go back in the club.
02:08And say, hey, you know, we're still a team.
02:11We can still try to do this.
02:12And let's – you're going to walk away from a guy that's hitting .369
02:17in his last 21 games by trading him to Philly?
02:20What does that say to your clubhouse?
02:23And a beloved player in the clubhouse.
02:24I mean, gents, we've been down this road enough times with the Rays,
02:27with the Brewers, with the Guardians.
02:29You know when you sign up for this ball club that everything that's above your locker
02:32is temporary.
02:34These guys don't hand out long-term contracts very often unless it's somebody
02:37who's either, A, willing to take a team discount,
02:39or, B, willing to – going to be here for six to seven years,
02:45and that's the end of it.
02:46Right now I'm just playing the guy.
02:48I'm not going to try to trade him, and I'm not going to try to sign him.
02:50I don't know, man.
02:51While this is the time you might want to strike when the iron's hot,
02:54if you believe that this is the fluke and the guy that you saw
02:57in the first two months of the season are the real guy,
03:01that's why you make the phone call.
03:02What if – would you want Philly?
03:06Philly is the one I circled because their outfield's a mess.
03:09Imagine if Philly came after him and said, no, no, no, we're good with this.
03:12And we'll give you prospects.
03:15Do we care about prospects?
03:16I don't know.
03:17We've got a guy that's hitting hot.
03:18Let's see if he can stay hot with us, right?
03:20You could, though, if you want to hang on to him and worry about next year,
03:24you could – this is, for lack of a better term –
03:28you could dine and dash with him, right?
03:31You could stick the bill to David Blitzer if he takes over the team.
03:37You could try to figure that out.
03:39I mean, they did – they came together on the Ramirez restructure, right?
03:43Right?
03:44They decided together they did the restructure, the Dolans and the Blitzers.
03:49So –
03:50I know there's an option and possibility of an ownership change
03:54and everything else.
03:57Let's – let's worry about the roster here and trying to make the playoffs.
04:00I don't think the ownership change factors into moves that they would make this year
04:07to try and get into the playoffs.
04:09Well, again, and I may have said this a little bit awkward over the last week or two,
04:13that ownership change wouldn't happen at the end of this season.
04:16It would be the end of next season.
04:18So that's so far down the road, Andy, I don't think it's an issue right now.
04:22But if you're in a work stoppage, then what happens?
04:25Well, then everybody doesn't work.
04:27Right.
04:27So it's not like you're – you're going to go into the offseason maybe heading into arbitration.
04:33It's a maybe heading into arbitration.
04:36Andy, it's not like –
04:37Because everything's going to stop.
04:38Stephen's going to go in, hi, I hit about 180 for most of the year.
04:42I'd like 25 million, please.
04:44Yeah.
04:45He's not going to do that.
04:46No, I don't –
04:47Nor would he get that.
04:48I also wonder –
04:48So what if they go to arbitration?
04:50They won't, though.
04:51The Guardians won't go down arbitration.
04:53But even if they did, so what?
04:54He's not going to break the bank.
04:57Stephen is most valuable to our team here right now playing and hitting leadoff.
05:02Is $7 million breaking the bank with his current ownership group?
05:05No, keep going, young man.
05:08Happy for you.
05:09Glad you turned the corner.
05:10Stay that way.
05:11Let's go.
05:12Just play.
05:12Yeah, I think they don't have to worry about it.
05:14This is what I'm saying.
05:15Because you could be looking at a work stoppage and you don't know what's going to happen down the road,
05:20you're right.
05:21At the end of the day –
05:23Just play him.
05:24I don't know that unless – like you laid out, unless Philly came in with some kind of offer, you're
05:28like, oh, we got to do it.
05:30Right?
05:31We got to do this.
05:32And why would somebody do that for Stephen right now?
05:34Desperate.
05:35Desperation.
05:36Yeah.
05:36Okay.
05:37Somebody wants to pay $1.20 to $1.25 on the dollar?
05:41Let's talk.
05:41Find me that team and then we'll talk.
05:43I have.
05:45And by the way, $7 million –
05:46I'm glad you've discovered that.
05:48Now maybe if Dave Dombrowski will discover that, we have something to talk about.
05:52It's –
05:53You do realize $7 million is the second highest paid guy on the team?
05:56Good.
05:58Not to mention it does clear a log jam.
06:02Well, you're assuming then that the Khalil Watson comes in and plays really well the rest of the year.
06:06I'm assuming Khalil Watson comes in and plays.
06:08There's no expectation of level of wellness.
06:11It's an expectation of plays.
06:12I'm sorry.
06:13Steven Kwan is playing good baseball right now.
06:15He's hitting the ball.
06:16He looks like the guy we knew at the beginning of seasons for the last several years.
06:21And you're trying to make the playoffs.
06:23Put him in left or center and call it a day.
06:26Is there any shot that he has a future on this ball club?
06:30I don't care about the future right now.
06:34Can we get that in writing, by the way, Andy?
06:36Did you just realize what happened here?
06:37Mr. Process over here just said, I don't care about the future.
06:42What the hell just happened?
06:43Did you hit your head on the way in?
06:45Do you know why?
06:46Edville.
06:46Because he's pushing 30, which isn't terribly old in baseball.
06:54Right.
06:54But he's pushing 30.
06:55That was good.
06:57He's hitting.
06:59And he was so putrid most of the year, I don't think anybody's going to give you anything for him.
07:04So just play him.
07:06Just leave him alone.
07:07Play him.
07:07Play him.
07:08Play him.
07:08If you want to pay him next offseason, then you pay him.
07:12If not, you can trade him.
07:14Whatever you want to do.
07:15Is this right?
07:16But just leave him alone, man.
07:17He's doing just fine.
07:18And the team is knocking on the playoff door.
07:21No need to mess it up.
07:22Are they still paying Klase?
07:25No.
07:26No, that changed recently.
07:28No.
07:29All right.
07:30A month or two ago.
07:31It was rule they didn't have to pay him anymore.
07:32All right.
07:34But they paid him all last year.
07:37I'm just looking at the numbers.
07:38I mean, Klase was the third highest paid guy on the team who wasn't even playing.
07:42And an extremely team-friendly contract when he signed it.
07:44Yeah.
07:45Now you're like, oh, man.
07:48That's, man.
07:49For an organization that doesn't like to waste money.
07:53God.
07:54Even on that contract, it feels like it was.
07:56The other part of this is just, I don't know that I want to take him off this team right
08:00now because I think you're saying to the rest of the team, if we're going to walk away
08:04from a guy who's red hot right now.
08:05And then, you know, it could turn again and go back.
08:08But, I mean, he's so hot right now.
08:10I don't know how you can walk away from him.
08:13I just don't.
08:14And then you're right.
08:15Let it play out.
08:16Let it play out.
08:16Not when you're trying to make a run, Andy.
08:18Yeah.
08:18You're trying to make a run.
08:19And by the way, I think fans would probably not be, I don't know what fans.
08:23Well, they're not going to be over the moon.
08:24I mean, it's going to be the hater trade in Milwaukee.
08:27I mean, everybody's going to immediately lose their minds over it and get upset as all
08:30get out.
08:31And then the team's probably going to sulk for a little bit and then bounce back.
08:35But the long-term health of the franchise in Milwaukee after the hater trade is in a
08:40better place now than it was when they made the hater trade.
08:43It's the same thing you're going to be in the midst of with the Guardians and making a
08:47Stephen Kwan trade.
08:48Is you're basically saying, is the health of the future of this team worth the trade that
08:53we're going to make in the current situation?
08:55That's the question.
08:57Is what we get back going to help the health of this ball club more than keeping Stephen
09:01Kwan here for two more playoff runs?
09:04See, the thing right now.
09:06I like Watson too.
09:08I like Watson as well.
09:10I just don't think you're going to get this kind of production out of Watson now that you're
09:14getting out of court.
09:14Which might be the case.
09:16That's why, again, just play him.
09:19This team has a great chance to make the postseason this year.
09:21This team has enough pitching that if you make the postseason, anything's possible.
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