November 17, 2024 • 25 mins
EJ and Tim discuss the Yankees upcoming meeting with Juan Soto, Caleb Durbin in the Arizona Fall League and whether the Yankees have a chance to land Roki Sasaki.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:10):
Hello, and welcome to episode four hundred and thirty three
of the Bronx Beat podcast. I'm J. Fagan tonight, joined
by Tim Cable Tim Fie.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
How Are You? President?
Speaker 1 (00:31):
Will be Brian Cashman, house Steinbrenner, and Aaron Boone will
be at in Los Angeles, presumably at the Boris Corporation offices. Tim, Uh,
you know when the meeting ends tomorrow, what are you
going to be looking for? What kind of quotes do
you do you want to see?
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Well, if I were the Yankees, I would make sure
that that's the last meeting he has. In other words,
I wouldn't leave until you give a deal.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
It sounds it sounds like they're not discussing money in
these meetings yet.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Yeah, but you gotta seize the bull by the horns,
as they say. I mean, I would make every effort
to have it done. He doesn't need to learn any
more about the Yankees. He played there for a year. Yeah,
it's the.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
Weird part about these meetings, right, Like you know, I'm
sure the Blue Jays and the Red Sox and the
Mets they're pitching them on their hitting coaching technology or whatever.
Whereas like Soto knows all that for the Yankees, right,
he knows you know, the place that's he isn't in
the lineup. He knows everything, and which means it feels
like a very different meeting. I just I have nothing.
(01:40):
I can't trust any of these quotes. So we read
after the Red Sox meeting that there was a three
hour meeting that went really well. We heard after the
Blue Jays meeting that it went really well. But like,
of course Soto is going to say that, right, Like,
so Soto has no interest in closing off a bidder
right now exactly, and so like I just don't want
to hear anything bad. I don't want to hear like
(02:01):
the meeting was a disaster the Yankees, you know, don't
line up with them or something.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
No, But again, what I think they should do is
pretty much what Steinbrenner did in the final meeting with Judge,
basically say do you want to be a Yankee and
what will it take to make you a Yankee? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (02:18):
But to me like that, that is like two weeks
from now, you know what, I think it's at this point,
like SODA's meeting everybody, this is kind of like an
obligatory meeting on the Yankees part, and then the bidding
starts right right, And I'm sure, I'm sure even though
they're not exchanging terms, like there's not like an offer
on the table, I'm sure they're talking about money. Yeah,
(02:39):
and maybe they're talking about like how they'd like to
structure a deal like is it a do you want
a ten year deal with a higher value? Do you
want a fourteen year deal? Do you want to opt out?
It's like those types of of like terms, I think
is probably what's being discussed. And then everybody's gonna huddle
and then put in their their bid and then maybe
they'll be multiple rounds of it.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
And again, I agree with you, but whenever you're in
a negotiation or anything like that, you you can possibly
turn it into what you want it to be.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
Yeah, I mean, I hope the Yankees if the Yankees
do that, like, I just hope they don't. They don't
try cheap out right now. They say like, look like
here's six hundred million dollars. We are prepared to offer
you that much money, and and like that is like,
you know, there's a lot of money at take in
this negotiation, and you know you could you know, the
Yankees could end up overpaying by fifty million dollars pretty easily,
(03:34):
and there's a lot of money. But to me, I think,
you know, the the starting like like, let's just start
the bidding off high is the way I would think
about this about the Yankees. But that's that's gonna be
the the news story tomorrow. We'll look out see if
there's any kind of interesting quotes coming out of them,
(03:55):
and then you know this, the SODO bidding could move quickly.
You know, it could be win Winter meetings is not
that far away. Yeah, and I don't for some actual
offseason news much.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
I don't think much will happen until he signs.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
No, none of the big creations are gonna sign until
he signs.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
The only thing the Yankees could conceivably do while they're waiting,
if they do have to wait, is maybe sign a
picture if they want.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
To, or like make a trade. You know, there's some
trades that can imagine, like smaller stuff. Right, But if
he doesn't sign, that's just a completely different plan, right.
You you have to pivot hard to something else, maybe
that's multiple pitchers or whatever. And yeah, but if he
does sign, then you have to start, you know, maybe
making some trades for cheaper players, or get ready to
(04:41):
play some league minimum guys, which is a real possibility.
It's all, it all depends on him. I've seen like
a lot of comments, at least on my step stack,
of people being like really concerned that this is going
to drag out and ruin the Yankees off season. I
just don't think that's the case. Cale signed at the
winter meetings. Judge signed at the winter meetings. I think
the only the mega contracts to not ever sign kind
(05:02):
of like an early December were Harper and Machado, and
that was that was a weird offseason with possibly some collusion.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
Yeah. And also I think what happened last year with
Boris's clients and how it basically turned into a disaster
and Jordan Montgomery wound up firing him, I don't think
he's gonna drag people out as much anymore.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
I mean, I think Boris was asking for too much
money last year, right, like he he had, like Jordan
Mountgomery was asking for like a like a one hundred
and eighty million dollar contract or something like that. That
was always nuts. And and but that's not Wan Soto, right,
that's a that's a completely different kind of free agency exactly,
so we'll keep.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
An eye on that.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
But first we want to move on to talk about
some other stuff. Caleb Durban has won the Arizona Fall
League Breakout Player of the Year award. He broke the
league record for stolen bases, had about a nine to
fifty oh ps on the season, and the Yankee the
team the Yankees are a part of that they all
share teams, won the AFL title this year. Durban was
(06:09):
a star and it's really ignited conversations about whether or
not Caleb Durban will play a part on the Yankees
next year. And we've talked about him on this on
this podcast before. But Tim, just briefly, can you just
kind of give me your take on Durban and then
I'll give my scating report. As I got to see him.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
Well, I think that he should get the shot to
play to be the second basement because he's done well
at every level. He did well in the AFL two
years in a row. He has speed. He's not only
does he have speed, he's an excellent base runner because
(06:48):
those are two different things. And apparently he's a very
good defender and he could play multiple positions. But second
seems to be one that he can certainly handle in
one where the Yankees have a need, and he he
hits for a high average and gets on base a lot.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
I think he's a fine defender. I'm still waiting. We
haven't done any really good scouting reports because he wasn't
a top prospect until this year. So I'm waiting for
Baseball America, Baseball Prospective, Fangrafts, the Athletic to all kind
of do their their big offseason Yankees prospects reports. I
suspect Durbin will rank fairly highly, though not like number one,
(07:32):
after not being in the top thirty on any of
these lists previously. And and I just I mean, I
want to know what scouts think he can do on defense.
Eric Longenhangen, was it the air. It was at an
Arizona Folly game. Scout at him say, he looked fine
at both second and third, So that's good. I'm very
skeptical he's an outfielder, doesn't have an arm, but but
(07:53):
fine is good? Right that That that means that he
can he can play those positions pretty well, and given
who's played those positions recently, that's that's an upgrade. I
think seconds his position.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
So I was.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
Curious because I'm in Arizona, and I decided, why don't
I go see Caleb Durban play in person? So my
wife and I went to a game. I've never been
to an Arizona Folly game. Have you ever been out
of here for games? No, I've been on your for
spring training quite a bit. My family lives out here,
(08:25):
and it was It was awesome. I cannot recommend it enough.
Tickets were eleven dollars. They were general admissions, see wherever
you want, I said, wherever you want. There was maybe
seventy people in the ballpark, and so you could hear
every single thing happening on the field, everybody talking to
(08:46):
each other. Every every hit felt like a home run
because you could hear the crack of the bats so loud.
You can hear the glove hitting the ball. It was
it was really fun. I really enjoyed the ex varience.
I did not, unfortunately, see Caleb Durban in the fielded
he was dhing my day. It wasn't his best day
(09:07):
at the plate. He struck out a couple. He actually
struck out twice, which is a lot for Durban. But
I'll tell you, I get it. I totally get the
Durbin scattering report. Now. He is so freaking short, like
it is. The way I wrote it on my blog
was it looked like someone's little brother had run out
under the field. He's he's listed five to six. I
(09:30):
would not be shocked if he was really shorter than that.
But he is jacked. If you've seen pictures of Durban,
his headshot looks a little weird. He looks like a
little inhuman in his headshot. That's not how he looks
in person. He's just big. He's just like strong, big shoulders,
big legs. He looks like he has like a perfect
baseball form, like if you had air. If if you
(09:51):
shrunk Aaron Judge down to five six like that, he
would look like Caleb Durban. Okay, it really just fascinating guy.
His swing is really weird too. It's it's it's it's uh,
it's both short. But I can see where he gets
a little bit of power from. He's got like a
little bit of a like a really nice coil to it.
But you can see why he never strikes out. He's
got the shortest wing I've ever seen. And you also
(10:14):
see why he takes a ton of walks because he's
not only five six or smaller, but he crouches down
quite a lot, and so it strikes him. It's teeny tiny.
I like, I totally got the Kale Durban experience where
I totally got why Kale Durbin's an intriguing player. Like
baseball is a it's a sport of weirdos, right, like
like you can have jose Al tu Van Aaron Judge
(10:35):
be the two MVP contenders in one year, which is
not something you can say really about any other sports.
Other sports people are so optimized to particular body types,
and Durban like has a super weird body type that
you don't see that often. But he's because he is
so muscly and so like obviously athletic. I think he
can do it, Like I think I understand why he's
(10:57):
hit ten home runs in the minors this year. I
think he can do it, and I'm pretty confident in him. Actually,
I think he could be a major league kidder. It
was really interesting to watch a couple of other things
about the Arizona Fall League. They had the balls and
strike challenges. Tim, I'm curious what you think about this
(11:17):
the batter calling a challenge to a ball and strike call.
Do you have any thoughts about that?
Speaker 2 (11:22):
Is that where they have the automated.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
Yeah, so it's not the bench ladder has to make
the call basically immediately after the call is made by
the umpire.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
Well, I don't really have a problem with it. I
think there are some batters like a Loan Soto who
are probably going to be fairly accurate, and then there's
gonna be some that are going to be off the wall.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
My concern was just like interrupting the flow of the game,
Like I, it has to be really quick in order
for that challenge system to work, like I don't want
thirty second, one minute, two minute, you know reviews. And
it was like a second. It was amazing how quick
it was. It was the batter has challenged the call,
the plate dot dot dot call is confirmed. Right, that's it,
(12:07):
and it was I loved it. I absolutely loved it,
and I want to be in Major League Baseball right away.
It was so easy, and uh, I don't I sounds
like they're gonna do it in spring training soon, so
I don't know when you actually see it in the majors,
but it could be pretty soon, and I think the
Yankees will benefit from it. I think you're writing about guys
like Juan Soda, Aaron Judge. It feels like the Yankees
(12:31):
have had some players who've been kind of hurt by
umpires for for a while. At the same time, the
Yankees have benefited a lot from frightening like that. That's
been the strength of their catchers, and that goes away
or it gets much harder with the automated system. So
I was very surprised by how smooth it was, and
I was very I was skeptical for a while. I
(12:53):
don't like the way instant replay has been implemented in
the major leagues or video replay. I think it is
too slow. But this was very fast and very smooth.
It's it's it's good. It's really good. Sounds like yeah that,
but that's my Arizona folling experience. I tell you anybody
who's who has a chance to go, go it's it was.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
It was.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
I mean, it was weird being a ball in a
ballpark that empty, but this was real major league play,
high level intensity things. You know, this is a game
with you know, prospects had things at stake, and you
know it's beautiful, you know, fall weather in Phoenix, Arizona.
So definitely recommend it. All right, you know some other
(13:36):
by the way, some other news. We can talk about
this before the show, but I much as well mention it.
Thinking about minor league ballparks, the Rays are going to
be playing at Steinbrenner Field for the next season and
maybe after that. There's been some props and like some
concerns about the Ray's News Stadium, that it might not
get built. Some bombs that they had they had negotiated,
were just rejected because of the hurricane damage that the
(13:58):
city has to recover from. Tim. What do you think
about the Rays playing in the Yankees spring training facility
for a whole year.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
Well, I mean, it's not really gonna affect the Yankees
too much except for their minor league team. And I'm
not sure where they're gonna play.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
They're gonna play the backfields basically.
Speaker 2 (14:17):
Okay, but I you know, I mean the Yankees played
in Chase Stadium a long time ago. But I mean
you have to make do and you have to cooperate,
so I don't really think it's a big deal.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
I think there's like two impacts to me. One is
I think the Rays are kind of screwed, Like I think,
I think the Rays, you know, they didn't have a
great season last year, but they seem to recover toward
the second half. They were basically a five hundred team.
You think maybe the Rays can pull some moves and
and you compete again this offseason. But I think they're
gonna need to shed some payroll because they're not gonna
(14:54):
be bringing money and they're already paying the Yankees for
the right to use stein brunnerfield, and I don't think
for you agents are gonna want to sign there, And
so the Rays kind of might have to rebuild a
little earlier than they were expecting. And I wonder if
that means they're going to trade Yanni Diaz or some
of the other guys on the roster. And the other
thought is that there's gonna be some rainouts, right, I
(15:16):
mean we're talking about Tampa in the summer. I mean
it rains, right, the Tampa Tarpins. The Yankees team, if
you ever watch it, I always check the Mileague box
scores every day. They get rained out a ton. They
get rained out all the time, and I get a
little concerned about the Yankees kind of having to play
too may doubleheaders or Aaron Judge slipping in the outfield
(15:37):
or something like that in that stadium. On the other hand,
it's gonna be kind of weird to see, uh, you
know Yankees. You know in the above the stands spelled
out in the in the Rays stadium.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
So and the Yankees will be the road team.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
Yeah, they'll be on the other side that they don't
even get the nice new clubhouse they just built. The
Yankees just built like this fancy spring training clubhouse, and
and that's only for the home team, which will be
the Rays during the season. So yeah, that's a that
uh you know, it's it's a bad situation for the Rays.
And I really do wonder if they're if they're going
to go to Nashville or somewhere else permanently now that
(16:14):
their stadium is kind of in jeopardy. It's gonna be
where two minor league ballparks in the major leagues in
twenty twenty five, that's a that's something I would not
have expected.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
What's the other one, Oakland.
Speaker 1 (16:25):
They're now or the Athletics are now in Sacramento. Okay,
another weird one because it's gonna be hot, and the
Sacramento gets hot in the in the in the summer,
and so it's going to be ninety five plus degrees
in the summer one they play there, so that will
be a little bit weird. All right, Let's go and
(16:45):
talk about Roki Sasaki. So Roki Sasaki, if you haven't
heard of him, He's a twenty three year old Japanese
pitcher heart thrower. He matches out at one o two
and sits about ninety eight. He uh, He's sixty three, big, tall,
yry guy and is being posted, which is a bit
of a surprise. Sasaki is twenty three years old, which
(17:08):
means that teams cannot pay him more than they pay
him more than they have in their international bonus pool,
and most teams, including the Yankees, have spent almost all
of their international bonus pool, so most the guy's going
to get two three million dollars that teams can maybe
trade for instead of waiting a couple of years and
signing a mega contract like Haamamoto just did. He's coming over.
(17:29):
I guess he wants to be a competitor, wants the
endorsement money, wants the Fame. Tim, Have you read much
into Sasaki? Do you have an opinion on him?
Speaker 2 (17:36):
I have read a fair amount on him, and I
think that they should definitely sign him if they can.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
And every team should sign him, right like, here's a
free prospect basically.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
Yeah, exactly. But I wouldn't be surprised if they make
a couple of trades to get more bonus money, which
they've done before.
Speaker 1 (17:54):
Yeah, and a couple of teams have like held out
some money for him, so book, the Dodgers and the
Orioles have like two million dollars ish left. The Yankees
have one million dollars ish left. But I feel like
he'll he'll choose to sign with a team and then
the other teams will just trade for that that bonus pool,
you know, I am. I think he's a little overhyped.
(18:16):
I've been seeing some kind of YouTube video these days,
these last couple of days of people basically talking about
him like he's Yamamoto, like he's Otani. He's just not
like he's He's been a really good pitcher in Japan.
He throws really hard. You can see where he's a
major league pitcher, and he clearly is a member of
major league rotation right now, he's in trouble staying healthy,
(18:37):
and I think it's like a bit of a warning
sign that's coming over this early, like he doesn't have
confidence that he can stay healthy for the next two
years and said he wants to come over. Now that's it.
I mean, he's like, yeah, like the Yankee, like any
every team in baseball should want to sign him, and
I think, I don't know, the Dodgers are considered like
(18:57):
the favorite for him for obvious reasons right there, the
Japanese Lee league team at this point, they can probably
get a more endorsement money than anybody else. But Tim,
do you think the Yankees have a shot?
Speaker 2 (19:08):
Sure? I mean, remember they did sign Tanaka a couple
of years Matt, I mean big bags, So I think
they could definitely do it. I think it's either gonna
be a team like the Yankees or maybe the Dodgers.
I don't think it's gonna be like Saint Louis or
(19:29):
Kansas City or somebody like that.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
But remember Raldus Chapman was red, Otani was an angel
like these thing's gonna be a little weird.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
Yeah, I think, because well, Otani wanted to be on
the West Coast because the Yankees went after him hard,
but he didn't want to play in New York. So
I don't I don't know what Suzaki has.
Speaker 1 (19:51):
I think the Angels offered him like a guarantee, no
matter what, you can be a two way player, and
that was something that not all teams are willing to
commit to.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
Yeah, I think the Yankees do have a shot, and
I think they you know, that would be a great
move for them because again, it's not going to cost
them that much.
Speaker 1 (20:12):
Oh yeah, I mean I think the like then the
monetary difference has got to be basically negligible, right, it's
like two million dollars a year, one million dollar there.
You know that he's coming off early for other reasons.
He's like not trying to maximize his salary. And I
was trying to figure out kind of what is the
Yankees pitch and I came up with a couple in
(20:33):
a blog post I wrote on my sub stack. And
I think there's kind of like two pitches the Yankees have.
Why does they have like most of the things the
Dodgers can give them, right, fame, big market, brightest lights,
probably a six man rotation. You know, probably pretty good endorsements, right, like,
you know, not necessarily what you would get with with
(20:55):
the immediate following so Tani, but pretty good. But I
also think I think the Yankees. I think one thing
we don't talk about a lot is the Yankees are
really good at keeping starting pitchers healthy.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:10):
I had to look this up though. Do you know
who the last major Tommy John surgery for a starting
pitcher and the Yankees was Montgomery? No, No, before Montgomery.
I forgot what Montgomerys was. Twenty seventeen, twenty eighteen, something
like that. Yeah, it was Sevaris. Oh, it's Louis Sevarino. Okay,
(21:33):
that was a while ago. That was five years ago.
And if you look at the Dodgers, if you look
at basically every other team in baseball, their starters go
down a lot faster. Some of that's luck, some of
that the Yankees have kind of big body guys you
might might hold up a little better. I think there's
something there. I think the Yankees. I think other teams,
maybe Cortes or Schmidt would have gone or Cole would
(21:57):
have gone down with Tommy John this year, and the
Yankees prevented that. And if I'm Sasaki, and I'm worried
about my arm. I think the Yankees have some advantage there.
And also just the Matt Blake stuff. Yeah, I don't
know how persuasive that is, but I think it's you know,
the Dodgers are good at that stuff too, but I
don't think they're good at keeping pictures healthy. They've had
a lot of Tommy Jones, right, and Sasaki he's six
(22:21):
three and like needs to put on weight, but so
like there's a there's like potential for him to kind
of strengthen up and and and whatever. But he's you know,
he's an injury risk and when we throw one oh two,
you're gonna be an injury risk. And uh and and
so I do wonder if if that's kind of part
of the Yankees' pitch. I wonder. I really would love,
(22:42):
would love to see some reporting on kind of what
the Yankees are doing differently to keep their pictures healthy,
because it's actually been pretty remarkable even relieve pictures, the
Yankees have had a pretty good record with lately, and
and and despite the fact that everybody throws really hard,
so there might be something there. I don't know. The
Dodgers you know, the Dodgers are good at this too, right, So,
(23:05):
like I don't know how you need to the pitch
it is, but against like the Mets or the Red
Sox or the Cubs or whatever other big market teams,
I think it's a pretty easy one.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
Yeah. I mean, we'll see what happens, but I think
they have a definite shot at it.
Speaker 1 (23:20):
Yeah, and you know he would he would really change
the roster situation on the Yankees a lot. You know,
Like one problem we have now, if you want to
add pitching, you have to cheap out somewhere, right, you
need to have a Caleb Durban and maybe Carlos Santana
or someone being kind of cheap at first base. Whereas
if you could and so in order to sound like
(23:40):
a Blake Snow and Wan Sota. But if you could
add a league minimum pitcher, well then you don't have
to cheap at at those other positions and you could
still pretty significantly improve your starting rotation.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:52):
So, like really a mass he'd be just a massive
get for whatever team gets him, and I think the
Yankees are one of them. I do think you have
to go for a expand rotation with him because of
his injury history because in Japan you use six man rotations. Actually,
I actually think the Yankees are kind of well set
for that. I think basically every member of the Yankees
rotation could use the extra rest. Yeah, and they have
(24:14):
the pitchers, like, they have six pitchers already, right, they
can they can trade guys away and still have a
six man rotation, right.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
I mean, Stroman might not be there next year.
Speaker 1 (24:23):
I mean I think Stroman's gang traded. The more I
look at it, the more like I did a little
like you know, like offseason spreadsheet exercise on my sub stack,
and I think he's geting traded to the Athletics because
Oakland's in a weird spot. They Oakland isn't spending enough money.
They need to spend more money in order to get
(24:45):
revenue sharing. They only have one player making hope for
the league minimum on the on the roster right now,
and it's gonna be really hard to sign players because
they're pitching in a minor league state, they're playing in
a minor league stadium. And so I wonder if Stroman'
is an interesting player for them. Maybe Yankee take a
lot of money back, But I could imagine that being the.
Speaker 2 (25:03):
Case, Yeah, I think he'll be traded too.
Speaker 1 (25:07):
All right, any last thoughts on Sasaki?
Speaker 2 (25:10):
No, no, I think we've covered it, but I I mean,
first we have to see when he's posted and go
through that whole process. But I think and they definitely yeah,
I think they definitely have a strong shot at getting him.
Speaker 1 (25:24):
Yeah, And they could pull him back and post him
again in January when the international bonus polls refreshed, which
is another possibility though it just it appears that he
doesn't care about money. Otani gave up a lot of
money by coming over a couple of years early, and
I think it's kind of a dumb rule that we
don't let these international players make what they're worth. But
that's the rule. It's in the CBA.
Speaker 2 (25:46):
All Right.
Speaker 1 (25:47):
That's the episode. Tim, Thank you for joining me, everybody,
thank you for listening. This has been your Bronx b podcast.
Hello, and welcome to episode four hundred and thirty three
of the Bronx Beat podcast. I'm J. Fagan tonight, joined
by Tim Cable Tim Fie.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
How Are You? President?
Speaker 1 (00:31):
Will be Brian Cashman, house Steinbrenner, and Aaron Boone will
be at in Los Angeles, presumably at the Boris Corporation offices. Tim, Uh,
you know when the meeting ends tomorrow, what are you
going to be looking for? What kind of quotes do
you do you want to see?
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Well, if I were the Yankees, I would make sure
that that's the last meeting he has. In other words,
I wouldn't leave until you give a deal.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
It sounds it sounds like they're not discussing money in
these meetings yet.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Yeah, but you gotta seize the bull by the horns,
as they say. I mean, I would make every effort
to have it done. He doesn't need to learn any
more about the Yankees. He played there for a year. Yeah,
it's the.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
Weird part about these meetings, right, Like you know, I'm
sure the Blue Jays and the Red Sox and the
Mets they're pitching them on their hitting coaching technology or whatever.
Whereas like Soto knows all that for the Yankees, right,
he knows you know, the place that's he isn't in
the lineup. He knows everything, and which means it feels
like a very different meeting. I just I have nothing.
(01:40):
I can't trust any of these quotes. So we read
after the Red Sox meeting that there was a three
hour meeting that went really well. We heard after the
Blue Jays meeting that it went really well. But like,
of course Soto is going to say that, right, Like,
so Soto has no interest in closing off a bidder
right now exactly, and so like I just don't want
to hear anything bad. I don't want to hear like
(02:01):
the meeting was a disaster the Yankees, you know, don't
line up with them or something.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
No, But again, what I think they should do is
pretty much what Steinbrenner did in the final meeting with Judge,
basically say do you want to be a Yankee and
what will it take to make you a Yankee? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (02:18):
But to me like that, that is like two weeks
from now, you know what, I think it's at this point,
like SODA's meeting everybody, this is kind of like an
obligatory meeting on the Yankees part, and then the bidding
starts right right, And I'm sure, I'm sure even though
they're not exchanging terms, like there's not like an offer
on the table, I'm sure they're talking about money. Yeah,
(02:39):
and maybe they're talking about like how they'd like to
structure a deal like is it a do you want
a ten year deal with a higher value? Do you
want a fourteen year deal? Do you want to opt out?
It's like those types of of like terms, I think
is probably what's being discussed. And then everybody's gonna huddle
and then put in their their bid and then maybe
they'll be multiple rounds of it.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
And again, I agree with you, but whenever you're in
a negotiation or anything like that, you you can possibly
turn it into what you want it to be.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
Yeah, I mean, I hope the Yankees if the Yankees
do that, like, I just hope they don't. They don't
try cheap out right now. They say like, look like
here's six hundred million dollars. We are prepared to offer
you that much money, and and like that is like,
you know, there's a lot of money at take in
this negotiation, and you know you could you know, the
Yankees could end up overpaying by fifty million dollars pretty easily,
(03:34):
and there's a lot of money. But to me, I think,
you know, the the starting like like, let's just start
the bidding off high is the way I would think
about this about the Yankees. But that's that's gonna be
the the news story tomorrow. We'll look out see if
there's any kind of interesting quotes coming out of them,
(03:55):
and then you know this, the SODO bidding could move quickly.
You know, it could be win Winter meetings is not
that far away. Yeah, and I don't for some actual
offseason news much.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
I don't think much will happen until he signs.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
No, none of the big creations are gonna sign until
he signs.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
The only thing the Yankees could conceivably do while they're waiting,
if they do have to wait, is maybe sign a
picture if they want.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
To, or like make a trade. You know, there's some
trades that can imagine, like smaller stuff. Right, But if
he doesn't sign, that's just a completely different plan, right.
You you have to pivot hard to something else, maybe
that's multiple pitchers or whatever. And yeah, but if he
does sign, then you have to start, you know, maybe
making some trades for cheaper players, or get ready to
(04:41):
play some league minimum guys, which is a real possibility.
It's all, it all depends on him. I've seen like
a lot of comments, at least on my step stack,
of people being like really concerned that this is going
to drag out and ruin the Yankees off season. I
just don't think that's the case. Cale signed at the
winter meetings. Judge signed at the winter meetings. I think
the only the mega contracts to not ever sign kind
(05:02):
of like an early December were Harper and Machado, and
that was that was a weird offseason with possibly some collusion.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
Yeah. And also I think what happened last year with
Boris's clients and how it basically turned into a disaster
and Jordan Montgomery wound up firing him, I don't think
he's gonna drag people out as much anymore.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
I mean, I think Boris was asking for too much
money last year, right, like he he had, like Jordan
Mountgomery was asking for like a like a one hundred
and eighty million dollar contract or something like that. That
was always nuts. And and but that's not Wan Soto, right,
that's a that's a completely different kind of free agency exactly,
so we'll keep.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
An eye on that.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
But first we want to move on to talk about
some other stuff. Caleb Durban has won the Arizona Fall
League Breakout Player of the Year award. He broke the
league record for stolen bases, had about a nine to
fifty oh ps on the season, and the Yankee the
team the Yankees are a part of that they all
share teams, won the AFL title this year. Durban was
(06:09):
a star and it's really ignited conversations about whether or
not Caleb Durban will play a part on the Yankees
next year. And we've talked about him on this on
this podcast before. But Tim, just briefly, can you just
kind of give me your take on Durban and then
I'll give my scating report. As I got to see him.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
Well, I think that he should get the shot to
play to be the second basement because he's done well
at every level. He did well in the AFL two
years in a row. He has speed. He's not only
does he have speed, he's an excellent base runner because
(06:48):
those are two different things. And apparently he's a very
good defender and he could play multiple positions. But second
seems to be one that he can certainly handle in
one where the Yankees have a need, and he he
hits for a high average and gets on base a lot.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
I think he's a fine defender. I'm still waiting. We
haven't done any really good scouting reports because he wasn't
a top prospect until this year. So I'm waiting for
Baseball America, Baseball Prospective, Fangrafts, the Athletic to all kind
of do their their big offseason Yankees prospects reports. I
suspect Durbin will rank fairly highly, though not like number one,
(07:32):
after not being in the top thirty on any of
these lists previously. And and I just I mean, I
want to know what scouts think he can do on defense.
Eric Longenhangen, was it the air. It was at an
Arizona Folly game. Scout at him say, he looked fine
at both second and third, So that's good. I'm very
skeptical he's an outfielder, doesn't have an arm, but but
(07:53):
fine is good? Right that That that means that he
can he can play those positions pretty well, and given
who's played those positions recently, that's that's an upgrade. I
think seconds his position.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
So I was.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
Curious because I'm in Arizona, and I decided, why don't
I go see Caleb Durban play in person? So my
wife and I went to a game. I've never been
to an Arizona Folly game. Have you ever been out
of here for games? No, I've been on your for
spring training quite a bit. My family lives out here,
(08:25):
and it was It was awesome. I cannot recommend it enough.
Tickets were eleven dollars. They were general admissions, see wherever
you want, I said, wherever you want. There was maybe
seventy people in the ballpark, and so you could hear
every single thing happening on the field, everybody talking to
(08:46):
each other. Every every hit felt like a home run
because you could hear the crack of the bats so loud.
You can hear the glove hitting the ball. It was
it was really fun. I really enjoyed the ex varience.
I did not, unfortunately, see Caleb Durban in the fielded
he was dhing my day. It wasn't his best day
(09:07):
at the plate. He struck out a couple. He actually
struck out twice, which is a lot for Durban. But
I'll tell you, I get it. I totally get the
Durbin scattering report. Now. He is so freaking short, like
it is. The way I wrote it on my blog
was it looked like someone's little brother had run out
under the field. He's he's listed five to six. I
(09:30):
would not be shocked if he was really shorter than that.
But he is jacked. If you've seen pictures of Durban,
his headshot looks a little weird. He looks like a
little inhuman in his headshot. That's not how he looks
in person. He's just big. He's just like strong, big shoulders,
big legs. He looks like he has like a perfect
baseball form, like if you had air. If if you
(09:51):
shrunk Aaron Judge down to five six like that, he
would look like Caleb Durban. Okay, it really just fascinating guy.
His swing is really weird too. It's it's it's it's uh,
it's both short. But I can see where he gets
a little bit of power from. He's got like a
little bit of a like a really nice coil to it.
But you can see why he never strikes out. He's
got the shortest wing I've ever seen. And you also
(10:14):
see why he takes a ton of walks because he's
not only five six or smaller, but he crouches down
quite a lot, and so it strikes him. It's teeny tiny.
I like, I totally got the Kale Durban experience where
I totally got why Kale Durbin's an intriguing player. Like
baseball is a it's a sport of weirdos, right, like
like you can have jose Al tu Van Aaron Judge
(10:35):
be the two MVP contenders in one year, which is
not something you can say really about any other sports.
Other sports people are so optimized to particular body types,
and Durban like has a super weird body type that
you don't see that often. But he's because he is
so muscly and so like obviously athletic. I think he
can do it, Like I think I understand why he's
(10:57):
hit ten home runs in the minors this year. I
think he can do it, and I'm pretty confident in him. Actually,
I think he could be a major league kidder. It
was really interesting to watch a couple of other things
about the Arizona Fall League. They had the balls and
strike challenges. Tim, I'm curious what you think about this
(11:17):
the batter calling a challenge to a ball and strike call.
Do you have any thoughts about that?
Speaker 2 (11:22):
Is that where they have the automated.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
Yeah, so it's not the bench ladder has to make
the call basically immediately after the call is made by
the umpire.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
Well, I don't really have a problem with it. I
think there are some batters like a Loan Soto who
are probably going to be fairly accurate, and then there's
gonna be some that are going to be off the wall.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
My concern was just like interrupting the flow of the game,
Like I, it has to be really quick in order
for that challenge system to work, like I don't want
thirty second, one minute, two minute, you know reviews. And
it was like a second. It was amazing how quick
it was. It was the batter has challenged the call,
the plate dot dot dot call is confirmed. Right, that's it,
(12:07):
and it was I loved it. I absolutely loved it,
and I want to be in Major League Baseball right away.
It was so easy, and uh, I don't I sounds
like they're gonna do it in spring training soon, so
I don't know when you actually see it in the majors,
but it could be pretty soon, and I think the
Yankees will benefit from it. I think you're writing about guys
like Juan Soda, Aaron Judge. It feels like the Yankees
(12:31):
have had some players who've been kind of hurt by
umpires for for a while. At the same time, the
Yankees have benefited a lot from frightening like that. That's
been the strength of their catchers, and that goes away
or it gets much harder with the automated system. So
I was very surprised by how smooth it was, and
I was very I was skeptical for a while. I
(12:53):
don't like the way instant replay has been implemented in
the major leagues or video replay. I think it is
too slow. But this was very fast and very smooth.
It's it's it's good. It's really good. Sounds like yeah that,
but that's my Arizona folling experience. I tell you anybody
who's who has a chance to go, go it's it was.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
It was.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
I mean, it was weird being a ball in a
ballpark that empty, but this was real major league play,
high level intensity things. You know, this is a game
with you know, prospects had things at stake, and you
know it's beautiful, you know, fall weather in Phoenix, Arizona.
So definitely recommend it. All right, you know some other
(13:36):
by the way, some other news. We can talk about
this before the show, but I much as well mention it.
Thinking about minor league ballparks, the Rays are going to
be playing at Steinbrenner Field for the next season and
maybe after that. There's been some props and like some
concerns about the Ray's News Stadium, that it might not
get built. Some bombs that they had they had negotiated,
were just rejected because of the hurricane damage that the
(13:58):
city has to recover from. Tim. What do you think
about the Rays playing in the Yankees spring training facility
for a whole year.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
Well, I mean, it's not really gonna affect the Yankees
too much except for their minor league team. And I'm
not sure where they're gonna play.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
They're gonna play the backfields basically.
Speaker 2 (14:17):
Okay, but I you know, I mean the Yankees played
in Chase Stadium a long time ago. But I mean
you have to make do and you have to cooperate,
so I don't really think it's a big deal.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
I think there's like two impacts to me. One is
I think the Rays are kind of screwed, Like I think,
I think the Rays, you know, they didn't have a
great season last year, but they seem to recover toward
the second half. They were basically a five hundred team.
You think maybe the Rays can pull some moves and
and you compete again this offseason. But I think they're
gonna need to shed some payroll because they're not gonna
(14:54):
be bringing money and they're already paying the Yankees for
the right to use stein brunnerfield, and I don't think
for you agents are gonna want to sign there, And
so the Rays kind of might have to rebuild a
little earlier than they were expecting. And I wonder if
that means they're going to trade Yanni Diaz or some
of the other guys on the roster. And the other
thought is that there's gonna be some rainouts, right, I
(15:16):
mean we're talking about Tampa in the summer. I mean
it rains, right, the Tampa Tarpins. The Yankees team, if
you ever watch it, I always check the Mileague box
scores every day. They get rained out a ton. They
get rained out all the time, and I get a
little concerned about the Yankees kind of having to play
too may doubleheaders or Aaron Judge slipping in the outfield
(15:37):
or something like that in that stadium. On the other hand,
it's gonna be kind of weird to see, uh, you
know Yankees. You know in the above the stands spelled
out in the in the Rays stadium.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
So and the Yankees will be the road team.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
Yeah, they'll be on the other side that they don't
even get the nice new clubhouse they just built. The
Yankees just built like this fancy spring training clubhouse, and
and that's only for the home team, which will be
the Rays during the season. So yeah, that's a that
uh you know, it's it's a bad situation for the Rays.
And I really do wonder if they're if they're going
to go to Nashville or somewhere else permanently now that
(16:14):
their stadium is kind of in jeopardy. It's gonna be
where two minor league ballparks in the major leagues in
twenty twenty five, that's a that's something I would not
have expected.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
What's the other one, Oakland.
Speaker 1 (16:25):
They're now or the Athletics are now in Sacramento. Okay,
another weird one because it's gonna be hot, and the
Sacramento gets hot in the in the in the summer,
and so it's going to be ninety five plus degrees
in the summer one they play there, so that will
be a little bit weird. All right, Let's go and
(16:45):
talk about Roki Sasaki. So Roki Sasaki, if you haven't
heard of him, He's a twenty three year old Japanese
pitcher heart thrower. He matches out at one o two
and sits about ninety eight. He uh, He's sixty three, big, tall,
yry guy and is being posted, which is a bit
of a surprise. Sasaki is twenty three years old, which
(17:08):
means that teams cannot pay him more than they pay
him more than they have in their international bonus pool,
and most teams, including the Yankees, have spent almost all
of their international bonus pool, so most the guy's going
to get two three million dollars that teams can maybe
trade for instead of waiting a couple of years and
signing a mega contract like Haamamoto just did. He's coming over.
(17:29):
I guess he wants to be a competitor, wants the
endorsement money, wants the Fame. Tim, Have you read much
into Sasaki? Do you have an opinion on him?
Speaker 2 (17:36):
I have read a fair amount on him, and I
think that they should definitely sign him if they can.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
And every team should sign him, right like, here's a
free prospect basically.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
Yeah, exactly. But I wouldn't be surprised if they make
a couple of trades to get more bonus money, which
they've done before.
Speaker 1 (17:54):
Yeah, and a couple of teams have like held out
some money for him, so book, the Dodgers and the
Orioles have like two million dollars ish left. The Yankees
have one million dollars ish left. But I feel like
he'll he'll choose to sign with a team and then
the other teams will just trade for that that bonus pool,
you know, I am. I think he's a little overhyped.
(18:16):
I've been seeing some kind of YouTube video these days,
these last couple of days of people basically talking about
him like he's Yamamoto, like he's Otani. He's just not
like he's He's been a really good pitcher in Japan.
He throws really hard. You can see where he's a
major league pitcher, and he clearly is a member of
major league rotation right now, he's in trouble staying healthy,
(18:37):
and I think it's like a bit of a warning
sign that's coming over this early, like he doesn't have
confidence that he can stay healthy for the next two
years and said he wants to come over. Now that's it.
I mean, he's like, yeah, like the Yankee, like any
every team in baseball should want to sign him, and
I think, I don't know, the Dodgers are considered like
(18:57):
the favorite for him for obvious reasons right there, the
Japanese Lee league team at this point, they can probably
get a more endorsement money than anybody else. But Tim,
do you think the Yankees have a shot?
Speaker 2 (19:08):
Sure? I mean, remember they did sign Tanaka a couple
of years Matt, I mean big bags, So I think
they could definitely do it. I think it's either gonna
be a team like the Yankees or maybe the Dodgers.
I don't think it's gonna be like Saint Louis or
(19:29):
Kansas City or somebody like that.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
But remember Raldus Chapman was red, Otani was an angel
like these thing's gonna be a little weird.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
Yeah, I think, because well, Otani wanted to be on
the West Coast because the Yankees went after him hard,
but he didn't want to play in New York. So
I don't I don't know what Suzaki has.
Speaker 1 (19:51):
I think the Angels offered him like a guarantee, no
matter what, you can be a two way player, and
that was something that not all teams are willing to
commit to.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
Yeah, I think the Yankees do have a shot, and
I think they you know, that would be a great
move for them because again, it's not going to cost
them that much.
Speaker 1 (20:12):
Oh yeah, I mean I think the like then the
monetary difference has got to be basically negligible, right, it's
like two million dollars a year, one million dollar there.
You know that he's coming off early for other reasons.
He's like not trying to maximize his salary. And I
was trying to figure out kind of what is the
Yankees pitch and I came up with a couple in
(20:33):
a blog post I wrote on my sub stack. And
I think there's kind of like two pitches the Yankees have.
Why does they have like most of the things the
Dodgers can give them, right, fame, big market, brightest lights,
probably a six man rotation. You know, probably pretty good endorsements, right, like,
you know, not necessarily what you would get with with
(20:55):
the immediate following so Tani, but pretty good. But I
also think I think the Yankees. I think one thing
we don't talk about a lot is the Yankees are
really good at keeping starting pitchers healthy.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:10):
I had to look this up though. Do you know
who the last major Tommy John surgery for a starting
pitcher and the Yankees was Montgomery? No, No, before Montgomery.
I forgot what Montgomerys was. Twenty seventeen, twenty eighteen, something
like that. Yeah, it was Sevaris. Oh, it's Louis Sevarino. Okay,
(21:33):
that was a while ago. That was five years ago.
And if you look at the Dodgers, if you look
at basically every other team in baseball, their starters go
down a lot faster. Some of that's luck, some of
that the Yankees have kind of big body guys you
might might hold up a little better. I think there's
something there. I think the Yankees. I think other teams,
maybe Cortes or Schmidt would have gone or Cole would
(21:57):
have gone down with Tommy John this year, and the
Yankees prevented that. And if I'm Sasaki, and I'm worried
about my arm. I think the Yankees have some advantage there.
And also just the Matt Blake stuff. Yeah, I don't
know how persuasive that is, but I think it's you know,
the Dodgers are good at that stuff too, but I
don't think they're good at keeping pictures healthy. They've had
a lot of Tommy Jones, right, and Sasaki he's six
(22:21):
three and like needs to put on weight, but so
like there's a there's like potential for him to kind
of strengthen up and and and whatever. But he's you know,
he's an injury risk and when we throw one oh two,
you're gonna be an injury risk. And uh and and
so I do wonder if if that's kind of part
of the Yankees' pitch. I wonder. I really would love,
(22:42):
would love to see some reporting on kind of what
the Yankees are doing differently to keep their pictures healthy,
because it's actually been pretty remarkable even relieve pictures, the
Yankees have had a pretty good record with lately, and
and and despite the fact that everybody throws really hard,
so there might be something there. I don't know. The
Dodgers you know, the Dodgers are good at this too, right, So,
(23:05):
like I don't know how you need to the pitch
it is, but against like the Mets or the Red
Sox or the Cubs or whatever other big market teams,
I think it's a pretty easy one.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
Yeah. I mean, we'll see what happens, but I think
they have a definite shot at it.
Speaker 1 (23:20):
Yeah, and you know he would he would really change
the roster situation on the Yankees a lot. You know,
Like one problem we have now, if you want to
add pitching, you have to cheap out somewhere, right, you
need to have a Caleb Durban and maybe Carlos Santana
or someone being kind of cheap at first base. Whereas
if you could and so in order to sound like
(23:40):
a Blake Snow and Wan Sota. But if you could
add a league minimum pitcher, well then you don't have
to cheap at at those other positions and you could
still pretty significantly improve your starting rotation.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:52):
So, like really a mass he'd be just a massive
get for whatever team gets him, and I think the
Yankees are one of them. I do think you have
to go for a expand rotation with him because of
his injury history because in Japan you use six man rotations. Actually,
I actually think the Yankees are kind of well set
for that. I think basically every member of the Yankees
rotation could use the extra rest. Yeah, and they have
(24:14):
the pitchers, like, they have six pitchers already, right, they
can they can trade guys away and still have a
six man rotation, right.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
I mean, Stroman might not be there next year.
Speaker 1 (24:23):
I mean I think Stroman's gang traded. The more I
look at it, the more like I did a little
like you know, like offseason spreadsheet exercise on my sub stack,
and I think he's geting traded to the Athletics because
Oakland's in a weird spot. They Oakland isn't spending enough money.
They need to spend more money in order to get
(24:45):
revenue sharing. They only have one player making hope for
the league minimum on the on the roster right now,
and it's gonna be really hard to sign players because
they're pitching in a minor league state, they're playing in
a minor league stadium. And so I wonder if Stroman'
is an interesting player for them. Maybe Yankee take a
lot of money back, But I could imagine that being the.
Speaker 2 (25:03):
Case, Yeah, I think he'll be traded too.
Speaker 1 (25:07):
All right, any last thoughts on Sasaki?
Speaker 2 (25:10):
No, no, I think we've covered it, but I I mean,
first we have to see when he's posted and go
through that whole process. But I think and they definitely yeah,
I think they definitely have a strong shot at getting him.
Speaker 1 (25:24):
Yeah, And they could pull him back and post him
again in January when the international bonus polls refreshed, which
is another possibility though it just it appears that he
doesn't care about money. Otani gave up a lot of
money by coming over a couple of years early, and
I think it's kind of a dumb rule that we
don't let these international players make what they're worth. But
that's the rule. It's in the CBA.
Speaker 2 (25:46):
All Right.
Speaker 1 (25:47):
That's the episode. Tim, Thank you for joining me, everybody,
thank you for listening. This has been your Bronx b podcast.
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The Burden
The Burden is a documentary series that takes listeners into the hidden places where justice is done (and undone). It dives deep into the lives of heroes and villains. And it focuses a spotlight on those who triumph even when the odds are against them. Season 5 - The Burden: Death & Deceit in Alliance On April Fools Day 1999, 26-year-old Yvonne Layne was found murdered in her Alliance, Ohio home. David Thorne, her ex-boyfriend and father of one of her children, was instantly a suspect. Another young man admitted to the murder, and David breathed a sigh of relief, until the confessed murderer fingered David; “He paid me to do it.” David was sentenced to life without parole. Two decades later, Pulitzer winner and podcast host, Maggie Freleng (Bone Valley Season 3: Graves County, Wrongful Conviction, Suave) launched a “live” investigation into David's conviction alongside Jason Baldwin (himself wrongfully convicted as a member of the West Memphis Three). Maggie had come to believe that the entire investigation of David was botched by the tiny local police department, or worse, covered up the real killer. Was Maggie correct? Was David’s claim of innocence credible? In Death and Deceit in Alliance, Maggie recounts the case that launched her career, and ultimately, “broke” her.” The results will shock the listener and reduce Maggie to tears and self-doubt. This is not your typical wrongful conviction story. In fact, it turns the genre on its head. It asks the question: What if our champions are foolish? Season 4 - The Burden: Get the Money and Run “Trying to murder my father, this was the thing that put me on the path.” That’s Joe Loya and that path was bank robbery. Bank, bank, bank, bank, bank. In season 4 of The Burden: Get the Money and Run, we hear from Joe who was once the most prolific bank robber in Southern California, and beyond. He used disguises, body doubles, proxies. He leaped over counters, grabbed the money and ran. Even as the FBI was closing in. It was a showdown between a daring bank robber, and a patient FBI agent. Joe was no ordinary bank robber. He was bright, articulate, charismatic, and driven by a dark rage that he summoned up at will. In seven episodes, Joe tells all: the what, the how… and the why. Including why he tried to murder his father. Season 3 - The Burden: Avenger Miriam Lewin is one of Argentina’s leading journalists today. At 19 years old, she was kidnapped off the streets of Buenos Aires for her political activism and thrown into a concentration camp. Thousands of her fellow inmates were executed, tossed alive from a cargo plane into the ocean. Miriam, along with a handful of others, will survive the camp. Then as a journalist, she will wage a decades long campaign to bring her tormentors to justice. Avenger is about one woman’s triumphant battle against unbelievable odds to survive torture, claim justice for the crimes done against her and others like her, and change the future of her country. Season 2 - The Burden: Empire on Blood Empire on Blood is set in the Bronx, NY, in the early 90s, when two young drug dealers ruled an intersection known as “The Corner on Blood.” The boss, Calvin Buari, lived large. He and a protege swore they would build an empire on blood. Then the relationship frayed and the protege accused Calvin of a double homicide which he claimed he didn’t do. But did he? Award-winning journalist Steve Fishman spent seven years to answer that question. This is the story of one man’s last chance to overturn his life sentence. He may prevail, but someone’s gotta pay. The Burden: Empire on Blood is the director’s cut of the true crime classic which reached #1 on the charts when it was first released half a dozen years ago. Season 1 - The Burden In the 1990s, Detective Louis N. Scarcella was legendary. In a city overrun by violent crime, he cracked the toughest cases and put away the worst criminals. “The Hulk” was his nickname. Then the story changed. Scarcella ran into a group of convicted murderers who all say they are innocent. They turned themselves into jailhouse-lawyers and in prison founded a lway firm. When they realized Scarcella helped put many of them away, they set their sights on taking him down. And with the help of a NY Times reporter they have a chance. For years, Scarcella insisted he did nothing wrong. But that’s all he’d say. Until we tracked Scarcella to a sauna in a Russian bathhouse, where he started to talk..and talk and talk. “The guilty have gone free,” he whispered. And then agreed to take us into the belly of the beast. Welcome to The Burden.