00:00Coming up on Sunday, it is Steelers Week, and we've got a lot to discuss when it comes to your
00:05football team.
00:06Charles Robinson, NFLBlueBook.com, is going to join us at 1. Love having him on.
00:10We'll do a little headlines next hour, too, to get you caught up on everything that you need to know.
00:14Nick Kostos at 1240, Daryl Ryder at 1 o'clock.
00:18Right now, we're kind of looking at what we saw in the World Series, and what does that mean for
00:22the Guardians,
00:23and where are the Guardians going in the future.
00:25So, I thought it was interesting in the last phone call, you know, talking about having Gavin Williams,
00:30but I do think it's about having Gavin Williams and having Parker Messick together, don't you?
00:35Having two guys that you, I mean, look, Messick's, I'm not saying he's winning Rookie of the Year,
00:41and I'm not saying he's going to win the Cy Young, but he is in consideration.
00:46So, I don't know how you can't look at him and say, okay, what a great one-two punch you
00:50have.
00:52It's not just that, even, Andy.
00:54To me, despite what we saw in the postseason, it's the rotation.
00:58You know, you've got to get there.
01:02You know, it's not like, oh, we have one or two great guys.
01:05Okay, well, that's probably not going to get you there.
01:09Three or four guys that you can throw out there and give you quality starts night in, night out,
01:14that'll get you there.
01:15And that's what happened with our Guardians.
01:17I'm still trying to figure out what the heck they were actually thinking with the pitching in the postseason,
01:23but that's okay.
01:24And that said, they have a group that's coming back whole, I think.
01:32We'll see about Foster Griffin, but the core of that pitching staff is coming back,
01:38and we'll see how it progresses.
01:40But I think the pitching will give them a chance.
01:44You've got Messick and Gavin under control for a long time.
01:48You have Joey Cantillo under control for a long time.
01:52Bybee's actually under contract, so they'll have to make amends with him and vice versa.
01:59He'll have to pitch better than he did last year.
02:01I think your starting rotation is fine for next year.
02:05You know, they might add an arm.
02:07You think they're three out of four, and then Messick, Williams, Bybee, Cantillo?
02:13Why not?
02:13Yeah, why not is right.
02:15And Foster Griffin, if they can bring him back, I would, but I don't know that they will.
02:21And then I like Slade Ciccone.
02:23If Slade's a starter next year, that's fine.
02:25Be the same five guys you had this year, wouldn't that be fine?
02:29I mean, it worked last year.
02:32If you can upgrade, fine.
02:33If you can't, that's all right.
02:35What they don't have is a ton of depth right now in pitching.
02:41What I do like is the bullpen, they seem to have some depth.
02:45They have a couple of young guys coming up.
02:46But I think for the first time in a long time, you have position player decisions to make, Andy,
02:55where it's not like, well, who the heck's going to play there?
02:57The question, I think, is more so, who isn't going to play there?
03:04You know what I mean?
03:05Yes, I do.
03:06I threw out Rocchio earlier.
03:08Man, Brian Rocchio can be my starting shortstop any day.
03:13That's great.
03:14But will he be this team's starting shortstop next year?
03:18I would think so.
03:21And Angel Hanau is your super utility guy.
03:24First year anyway.
03:26But I could see them.
03:29Can't you see Hanau pushing?
03:31Yes, absolutely.
03:31One of these guys out, I can.
03:32And that's what I'm talking about here.
03:34You've got a good choice in Brian Rocchio.
03:37But is Angel Hanau a better choice?
03:40In the outfield, you've got Steven Kwan.
03:43You have Angel Martinez.
03:45You have Chase DeLauter.
03:49But might there be a better opportunity for someone else?
03:53I think when you lay that out.
03:55There's Joe Adele sitting there.
03:57Joe's under contract for next year.
03:58You're going to play Joe.
04:00Let me go back here.
04:01Of that list that you're like, let's try to sign DeLauter to something long-term.
04:06Like super long-term.
04:07You know what I'm saying?
04:08I'd wait a year.
04:09You're still worried about the injury.
04:10I'd wait a year.
04:11What did he do this year to make you worry about at the end of the season?
04:16What did he do at the end of the year to make you worry about injury moving forward?
04:19It's not just this year.
04:20He's got a track record.
04:21Yeah, I'm talking about this year, though.
04:23I mean, at some point someone's getting it.
04:24But the team won't when it comes to injuries.
04:27The team won't just look at one year and say, oh, they managed to stay relatively healthy for one year.
04:32Let's give them $100 million.
04:34They won't do that.
04:35They're going to look at the body of work and probably insist that he get another year of pretty good
04:40health.
04:42And not just because it's the Guardians.
04:44If I was any team and I had a guy like Chase, I would do the same thing.
04:49His track record of injury, Andy, is pretty evident.
04:52I do think, though, if you want to play the game where you're not going to give out those high
04:56-priced contracts at the end,
04:59you have to give it a little more consideration than you would the average player.
05:02He's still years away from being arbitration eligible.
05:05Dan, what would you do?
05:06You could give it another year.
05:07Would you jump in the water early with DeLauter?
05:09Yes.
05:10Are you worried about injury?
05:12No, because I think a chunk of it is just bad luck.
05:15I mean, I don't know if any of the stuff is chronic.
05:18I think some of it is just, like, I stepped weird and have bad luck or I broke my...
05:23Wasn't he the one who, like, he, like, broke his hand and then he, like, broke his foot?
05:27Like, when that kind of stuff happens, that's not soft tissues and ligaments and all that kind of stuff.
05:31That's, like, just bad luck.
05:33I know he's had some ligament and stuff, but I think a lot of it was just that.
05:38He had a core muscle injury.
05:41Right.
05:41He had a knee foot scare, a rib fracture, hamstring tightness, right wrist soreness.
05:48Okay.
05:49That's this year.
05:51That's this year.
05:52Yeah.
05:54Don't look back further when he barely played through the minors.
06:00Look, he's phenomenal.
06:02Do you think he may...
06:03I'm glad he's here.
06:03I want him here long term, but I'm real hesitant to give him a big contract right now.
06:08Okay, so say you came up with something a little bit less than what would be a monster.
06:13Is it worth it for him to want to hop in knowing that he's also what we just said?
06:17The only way that he does it...
06:18This might not be a bad time to negotiate with him is what I'm saying.
06:20Well, he's not going to...
06:21The only way you do this is if you buy up arbitration years because there's no reason for him to
06:27sign it.
06:28And they're not going to...
06:30The Guardians wouldn't give him money just to give him extra money now because that's not the way the system
06:34works.
06:36The prize for the Guardians would be buying up some arbitration years, which means extensive long term contract.
06:43Next question.
06:44Joe Adele.
06:44What are you doing with him?
06:46Keeping him.
06:48And he's going to be my right fielder and or DH.
06:52He's what?
06:529.6 million.
06:55Final year of arbitration.
06:56There's nothing wrong there.
06:58And if you move Stephen Kwan, you're probably going to want to keep Joe Adele.
07:05I mean, he's under contract for another year.
07:07He's a right-handed power bat.
07:09What have they been looking for for some time?
07:11A right-handed power bat.
07:14I mean, you put him in the middle of that lineup and you just go play.
07:17Now, Dan talked about the swing and miss in his game and it was real evident.
07:22And, you know, during the postseason and he didn't seem like he could lay off the outside breaking ball.
07:31But he also came up with some pretty clutch hits.
07:34So, I would try and work with him and see if we can't get him to lay off some of
07:38that stuff that breaks outside.
07:40And I would keep him for a year.
07:42And then I would, my guess is he's not going to return here when he's a free agent.
07:49His agent is Scott Boris.
07:51Scott Boris likes to auction off his clients to the highest bidder.
07:53Sure he does.
07:54I mean, Scott's doing a great job.
07:56That's why you hire him, isn't it?
07:57That's exactly why you hire him.
07:59But for this team next year, yep, I'd keep him.
08:03And then hopefully next year you develop some young guys who can come up and take his spot.
08:07And you're not going to miss him.
08:08Let me throw one more at you here before we go to break and start talking football.
08:12Austin Hedges, Cooper Engel.
08:14You're probably going to have to make some kind of decision there, aren't you?
08:17I actually think that Austin Hedges is like Stephen Vogt's guy, right?
08:26It's a security blanket.
08:27Yeah, I think that managers get to keep at least one player that they want.
08:31And I just feel like if they want to bring Hedges back again next year, they'll do it and they'll
08:36wait on a catcher.
08:37You know who the most valuable player was in AAA baseball?
08:41Cooper Engel?
08:42Cooper Engel.
08:44He's major league ready.
08:47Dan?
08:50I know it went poorly when he was up here doing it.
08:53It was short.
08:54They put him in right field.
08:55They put him in left field.
08:56Did you stick him in the out field?
08:57Put him behind the plate.
09:00Wait, you got all spring training to get him ready to be an outfielder then?
09:03Yeah.
09:03Or maybe you're sending him to...
09:05I mean, we've watched it enough times.
09:07I mean, goodness, we're talking about the Brewers.
09:09They did it with Craig Biggio.
09:12The point to Gary Sheffield.
09:13Those guys started as catchers and Bryce Harper started as a catcher.
09:16Bryce Harper was a catcher.
09:17And then everybody looked at him and went, we can't have this guy getting his butt kicked.
09:19Was Sheffield a catcher?
09:20Was he a shortstop?
09:21Who?
09:22Sheffield.
09:23Sheffield was a catcher.
09:24Was he really?
09:25Yeah.
09:27Let me throw one more at you.
09:28Do you have to make any more...
09:30Do you have to make any financial decisions before December 1st?
09:35Do you have to make any?
09:37Or do you just ride this into the lockout?
09:39I think if you're smart, try to hit it early before you know any of this stuff is going on.
09:44I think we're going to see a bunch of guys get signed to decent contracts.
09:48And I also have a feeling we're going to see a lot of guys get surgery.
09:52Because health insurance is about to be locked out too.
09:54So don't overreact when you start seeing a bunch of surgeries coming down in the next month.
09:58Here's another thing too.
09:59If you think that they're going to go to a floor, or if anybody believes that's going
10:03to happen, why wouldn't you sign the guys now knowing you're probably going to have
10:07to give out that money on the back end?
10:08Or do you just wait for it to happen?
10:11Do you just wait for the floor to come in if it's going to happen?
10:16I think there are parts of the chess game that are new and unique, I think, to this situation.
10:25At least for this group of people when it comes to making financial decisions before a lockout.
10:31And then the other question that comes into play, and I'll say it until I'm blue in the
10:34face, is if they come back on the other end of this and say they don't play next year,
10:39and David Blitzer is the new owner.
10:41Or by the way, if you're going to invest anything past this year, don't you have to consult with
10:47Blitzer on what you might want to do, knowing that it's probably going to be his team on the
10:51other side of it when you, not this year, but the next year.
10:54I don't know that you have to.
10:57Well, they already have.
10:58I know, but I don't know that you have to.
11:00I can't see them not, I cannot see them not working deals with Blitzer in mind and knowing
11:07what they're paying.
11:07Like, I think that he's in on what they're doing, especially when it comes to long-term
11:11extensions and things of that nature, right?
11:14I think, as a matter of fact, I can almost guarantee it.
11:17Also, before we had to break there, we got to do this.
11:19We'll get it fixed.
11:20Gary Sheffield was never a catcher.
11:22Jeff was right.
11:22He was a shortstop.
11:23I had that winning correct.
11:24He came up as a shortstop.
11:25My bad.
11:26My bad.
11:28216-474-0092.
11:29Yeah, you did.
11:30216-474-0092.
11:31We come back.
11:32It's Charles Robinson.
11:33We're going to talk NFLbluebook.com.
11:35That's where he's working these days.
11:37Love Charles.
11:37He's going to give us some perspective on what's going on with the Browns.
11:40It is Steelers week.
11:41It is Steelers week.
