June 4, 2026 • 50 mins
Aaron Gleeman is back in-studio for another great hour of Twins discussion as well as some Wolves talk.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:32):
I don't think I'm going to address you as Aaron
Gleman any longer. Instead, I'm just going to say, how
is Aaron Gleaman dot com. I'm going to think of
you as an entity now, as a corporation, you know,
as an as a media empire.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
You It's difficult to forget the name of the site
if you have any interest in me or reading it.
So I guess in that way, I will tell you
so this is what I my blog twenty something years ago.
So we just went back to that. We even used
the same logo and everything. I did spend like two
weeks trying to brainstorm an actual name for the site,
(01:09):
like I don't know, gleaming on Baseball or something like that,
and I had like a whole list and none of
them were good, And I just thought, what's the point
of trying to like think, actually brand it versus.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
Just Hey, where's the where are you regleaming? It's yeah,
just Google plus. I feel like people just google stuff anyway.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
They do.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
The days of saying that's true.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
I'm sure you know this from doing live reads and
stuff of like fifteen years ago, you'd have to go, www, yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:34):
That's true. It's just like looking up.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
Yeah, you're right about that, that's very true. Were you
just at the getaway day ball?
Speaker 2 (01:39):
Yes, you guys gave me a really good excuse to leave,
Oh excellent a half inning early to beat the traffic.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
And we lose.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
The third game, they have the White Sox avoid to sweep.
Was it last I saw? I think Gardie was at oh.
I think that's what it ended, is it was. It
was a very ugly game. Who was three errors I
saw for the with these damaging errors as well, three errors.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Not just overall by the shortstop Tristan Gray made an
error early and then had a double error play.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
In the middle of the game too. That's not good.
Who was hurling for the It was Ta Bradley, who
gave up four runs in the first inning and struggled
with his control I'm told, yes, uncharacteristically.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
And then he was okay after that. But their defense
was bad.
Speaker 4 (02:20):
And then they who picture the White Sox, Uh, yeah,
that's asking a lot and find that that's it's all
there for me to remember something I literally just came
from watching.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
But I mean they they were being no hit into
the fifth and sixth. I mean it was bad, but
they got the two wins, they win the series. The
I mean, your guys, the White Sox not a bad team.
I was talking to Steve Stone, who's their long time brought,
and I always love seeing him when he comes down.
Always super nice, always loves to get uh, very very
(02:52):
he comes very engaging and it's great. And so he's
a baseball asset, that's for sure.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
I mean, he has a military story.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Yeah, And he was basically saying they kind of not
quite Spurs esque at that level, but kind of jumped
the line on like, Okay, maybe two years from now,
this core could be pretty good. I'm not saying they're
going to make a World Series run or anything, but
I mean they're solidly above five hundred. Even after losing
two out of three to the Twins. They got some
good hitters. They've had a much better pitching staff than
(03:20):
I would expect. And then the other thing is, by
virtue of being so bad for about five years the
worst team in baseball a couple of those years, they
still have some firepower in the miners that they can
still bring up. So I mean, I don't know that
they're going to be the force in this division, but
I think.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
They've been so dreadful. It's obviously a change.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
They've at least turned it around, and I think nobody
expected them to be in second place at this.
Speaker 3 (03:42):
Point, no, for sure.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
Looking at an Aaron Gleaman tweet, not an Aaron Gleaman
dot com tweet, although it's a link to something at
airon Ashley in which you write about justin Lawrence, this
is the relief pitcher we just picked up cash. I'm
told it was like a buck fifty from the pirates.
And you right, why he might be viewed differently than
they're the Twins' usual bullpen lottery tickets.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
Why differently? What's the things out here?
Speaker 2 (04:08):
Well, first of all, he just made his Twins debut
like an hour ago, hit a guy in the arm
with like a ninety seven mile an hour pitch and
the guy immediately left the game on ball.
Speaker 3 (04:17):
I would not be.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
Surprised if that was a broken song man. But the reason,
the only reason he's different, and this is a little
bit said maybe state of the Twins guaranteed contract. They
they're on the hook for like eight hundred thousand, which
is not a lot in baseball.
Speaker 3 (04:30):
But as I wrote, you.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Know, they what's the old saying they throw around nickels
like manhole covers or whatever it.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
Is old Mike Dicklin with George Allis many many decades ago.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
And then he also does not have a minor league option,
so if he struggles a little bit, they can't just
ship him to Triple A. And that's similar to what
happened with Simmon Woods Richardson last week, where you know
Royce Lewis could sent to Triple A, Matt Walner gets
sent to Triple A. Simmon Woods Richardson, Oh to seven
with a seven something era, he would have been demoted
to Triple A probably weeks ago, but he was out
(04:59):
of options. So you can't do that. You have to
expose them to waivers. It's a whole transactional thing. So
justin Lawrence thirty one, you say, well, if he's bad,
they don't care about shipping a triple anyway, except if
he's bad and they cut him, they're on the hook
for eight hundred thousand. So most of the kind of
revolving door of relievers that they've had this year and
in past years, Waiver claims these cash considerations trade. Like
(05:21):
you mentioned, they're guys who are minimum salaried, non guaranteed,
optionable flexibility, and he is much different than that, which
makes me think, you know, I'm not that high on him.
He's got a five something career, a he's a journeyman,
but it does make me think that he'll get a
little bit more of a runway. And they certainly they
still need any kind of bullpen help there.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
How old is he? Thirty one?
Speaker 1 (05:41):
Oh, yes, thirty one, because I'm about to ask what
might he also be different.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
In that that's young for this Well, that's true, that's
maybe it's a step in the right direction.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
We talked about this, I think last time, you know,
having a bunch of journeymen on there that aren't going
anywhere as opposed to well, let's take a look at
this guy. Let's take a look because maybe he's got
some talent and we got time, We've got nothing but time.
And he's twenty seven years old.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
But they've done a little bit more of that. Andrew Morris,
who's a prospect throws. They've added at least a little
more high octane velocity with some guys. Leandres Gomez is
a guy that they picked up cheaply who's closed a
few games for them. Now there's a little bit more
mid nineties instead of low nineties v Low. It's still
I don't think a good bullpen, but it's been more
(06:23):
serviceable than it was probably for most of April, at least.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
A lot of good texts already coming in and we're
going to get to Lewis here in just a minute.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
Grand Slam today, By the way, did he really Chuo
Homer's last night?
Speaker 3 (06:34):
Grand Slam today?
Speaker 1 (06:35):
So he's averaging more than a home run a game
right from the last seven? Is it?
Speaker 3 (06:38):
Seven home runs in ten or ten homes?
Speaker 2 (06:40):
And seven eight now including the one today, eight eight
in eleven games since the demotion, and of note, which
we can get into later.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
Yeah, played second base today.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
Oh, the plot dickens interesting. Let's divert here for a moment.
Early in the show, I was mentioning there was a
live shot during the ESPN NBA brought cast from where else?
They're in San Antonio, so of course where they situate,
where's the where's the shot?
Speaker 3 (07:07):
No, in this case, it's the Alamo.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
It's got to be the album, and we were trying
to figure out what is out?
Speaker 3 (07:13):
What is the one in San Antonio.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
It seems like there are there is only one choice
the album and maybe Riverwalk.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
Yeah that's it.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
So what's the if we ever get good enough to
where the host the shows come to us?
Speaker 3 (07:25):
You know, the studio.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
Shows, where do they where do they set them up
in front of? What's the iconic what's the most iconic
symbolic this says Minneapolis. Let's leave Saint Paul for the moment.
We are in Minneapolis, Minnesota. What's the shot?
Speaker 2 (07:41):
I think you go a couple couple of blocks from here,
right in Yanksee parking lot. I'll be there already. I
can go on the pregame show. Yeah, I'm trying to think.
I mean, we don't have one like that.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
I don't think.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
I mean, you got the spoon if you want, I
guess you got you know.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
I mean a lot of I feel like a lot
of the iconic Minneapolis stuff.
Speaker 3 (08:00):
And I'm a Minneapolis resident.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
I love it is related to the sports arenas, you
know what I mean. And so it's like, Okay, you
could do it outside of Vikings, he could do it
outside target Field.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
You can do it. Yeah that doesn't excite me.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
Yeah, there's some good views, good up to there Jean
Bonus's penthouse condo, which I'll let you k fan listeners
into a little behind the scenes. They've been in Europe
for a couple of weeks. They live on the top
floor of my Ears Pop. When I go into the elevator,
he's he has a dog that they didn't take Rose,
a great dog.
Speaker 3 (08:30):
They just left the dog in the penhouse. Here are
his dog sitters.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
You guys will why I want to sit down as
they're splitting duties. Okay, Max Fuller, who I saw the
game last night, who's now at least recovered enough from
his broken jaw.
Speaker 3 (08:44):
Yeah, he was telling me.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
To believe this is why he had to split dog
sitting duties because he was not comfortable staying at their
apartment because he has like special shakes that he has
to drink.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
It that's all you can have. And he's lost twenty pounds. Yeah,
well he was so fat and he's splitting dog sitting
duties with Zach. Imagine those were you two.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
I love that as good as it can, but imagine
those are your two go tos that. Yeah, I figured
the listeners would like that.
Speaker 3 (09:07):
That's outstanding.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
Yeah, I don't think we I mean, some people said, uh,
you know Mary Tyler Moore statue.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
Yeah, that's nice, but I don't know if that's a
backdrop for a TV SUS.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
Now I'm like obsessed. We're probably forgetting something very obviously.
Speaker 3 (09:21):
I don't think we are. That's the thing we went
through in the first segment. We really the Alamo is
a tough bar.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
Well, right, it's historic.
Speaker 3 (09:31):
Yeah, it's like there was a great war battle.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
Now we're saying yeah, I mean we got what we
had Fort Snelling, but that's not quite the same thing.
And I don't know if there's an iconic front.
Speaker 3 (09:40):
I mean that Mall.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
Of America, like the Rotunda, the Mall of America came
up when it come up.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
Yeah, that's okay, that's unfortunate. I mean, I don't think
that's anything to be that.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
I'm just thinking when I was a kid, w c
W Nitro the Wrestling Show did a show in the
rotun then I thought that was like a huge it
was like nineteen ninety six.
Speaker 3 (09:58):
Or whatever it was. H I we're still working on that.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
We need to come up with something because eventually, allegedly
one of these teams you know, are going to be
good enough.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
Second closer, I'm forty three and I was let's see,
I was eight when the Twins won the second World
Series that I vaguely remember as an eight year old,
and the end it's been.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
A little state fair, like one of the one of
the iconic, like one of the Gates and the state
fair that's probably big enough right in front of the
Sweet Martha's.
Speaker 3 (10:23):
Maybe that'd be a good yeah, yeah, yeah, we need
to work on that. It's a sad conversation, it is. Unfortunately,
that's very well, we'll go for some sweet market. Yeah,
I figured you would.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
All right, let's get our first pause in. Aaron Glehman
dot Com is in studio. A lot of good texts
already coming in. We'll cover a lot of baseball, and
we'll cover perhaps some NBA finals and Timberwols with him
as well. Kessler allegedly will be wheeled in on a
gurney when he joins us at five thirty. Well, I
might be exaggerating that a little bit, but he is still
recovering research. Sure, you know he'll milk it and then
(10:54):
he'll be angry when we make a big deal of it.
Speaker 3 (10:56):
Even though he wants us to make a big deal.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
Of it, including dropping the name of his surgeon, who
also does JJ McCarthy's ministan. It's true he might have
mentioned that like five times last a week ago.
Speaker 3 (11:07):
You're listening to Barrero.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
So what we seem to have with the Twins at
this point and now we've played a pretty good number
of games, right, we're pretty well into this thing.
Speaker 3 (11:39):
Forty percent?
Speaker 1 (11:41):
Yeah, so almost half is there's no consistency to the club, right,
there's no there's there's We started the season what two
and six, and then we had a good stretch and
then we had a bad stretch.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
We had another good stretch or bad stretch.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
This road trip, we start with a sweep and then
the last seven we lose six of those seven.
Speaker 3 (11:59):
I believe five in a row. They lost five in
a row included.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
Then they bounce back they win two versus the White Sox. Yeah,
that's ran an egg today. So does that define okay?
Speaker 1 (12:07):
Yeah, mediocrity, You're just kind of an okay little club?
Speaker 3 (12:10):
Or is it is there.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
Something you can pick up in the pattern about what
it means regarding the team?
Speaker 2 (12:16):
I think it's been tough for them to get on
this past let's say three or four weeks, especially to
get on a better winning streak. I mean last year
we saw thirteen in a row, the year before that
twelve in a row. Because they don't have the consistency
was starting pitching. Because the injuries have really wiped out
all their depth in the rocation. They're at a point
now we didn't know until like twenty minutes ago who
(12:36):
was going to start tomorrow's game because they no longer
have five healthy starting.
Speaker 3 (12:39):
Pitchers who we have out now officially.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
Well, they lose Pablo Lopez and media, yeah, David Festa,
they lose Mick Abel, they lose and then you still
you even have some filling guys Kendriy Rojas and then
see me and when Richardson was so bad that they dfam,
so he's out of the picture.
Speaker 3 (12:54):
And then they're down.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
They still have Joe Ryan who's been great, toadj Bradley
who had been good but is maybe getting a little
wobbly included today. And then they have guy Connor Prelip,
who's probably should still be at Triple A. He's a rookie,
he's been okay solid, and then Zebbie Matthews who began
the year at Triple A because he had a rough
spring training, he's been forced back in and then they
just don't have a fifth guy, and so tomorrow I
(13:16):
think it's gonna be Andrew Moore starting it, and then
it's just going to be all hands.
Speaker 3 (13:19):
On down bullpen game.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
Which teams do that more than they used to, probably, Yeah,
but with Bailey ober Out, who I didn't even mention him,
he's now out shut down for a couple of weeks
and then we'll see. You don't want to do a
bullpen game for more than like one turn through the
rotation because you're just blowing out the bullpen and they've
had enough issues with short starts, so you know, you
do a bullpen game, you're trying to get two or
(13:40):
three innings from a couple guys and then the normal
bullpen distribution after that. You can do that once a
week maybe, but you don't want to like replace ober
Spot in the rotation with bullpen games because then it
affects the game before that, the game after that, and
they're just not in a position from a bullpen standpoint.
We've talked about that all year. The bullpen's just not
that good and so you can't put more weight on them.
Speaker 3 (14:03):
I mean they're struggling just to carry a normal weight
workload wise.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
Updatus on Buxton because I think we all felt like, Okay,
somehow we figured it out where if he's gonna play,
he's gonna play in center field. And then we have
this late stretch where back he's back to dhing.
Speaker 3 (14:22):
Is that fixed? Now?
Speaker 1 (14:24):
Is that?
Speaker 3 (14:24):
Do we have a is he about?
Speaker 1 (14:26):
Are we ushering in a new era of frustration when
it comes to his ability to play center?
Speaker 3 (14:30):
What do you know?
Speaker 2 (14:31):
So he's been back in center a couple of times
now this week he's still to me, doesn't look like
his usual self. But even him at seventy five percent
pretty fast, he's been so good offensively though he's got
like the fourth most homers in the league that you know,
even as a DH, he's their best hitter usually.
Speaker 3 (14:50):
So it does it.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
It hurts them defensively when he's out, and it also
hurts them from like a flexibility standpoint because he's at DH.
Then you have to decide do you want to play
your normal DA somewhere else? Then it's taking someone else's
bat out of the lineup, et cetera. But he's at
least back to where he can play mostly center field now.
But he was dealing with a hip injury, like a
hip strain, which he's had multiple different years that I've
(15:12):
covered him. And then also he banged his shoulder while
sliding into a base on the last road trip, so
then he was struggling to throw. So when you have
two things, they're like, let's yeah, put him at DH.
He's feeling better now, he's at least feeling well enough
to play mostly center field. But the other thing is like,
it's not. I I would much rather prioritize just how
(15:34):
are we getting him his bat in the lineup, because
it's not as if they have a logjam of great
bats that would normally be at first base or DH.
So you know you're taking Josh Bell out of the lineup,
who struggled your you know, Victor carrottin he doesn't play
as much DH or first base. So I mean the
priority is getting Buckston in there. I mean, by his standards,
he's played I don't know, fifty two out of the
(15:56):
first sixty four games or something, it's got seventeen or
eighteen homers. He's probably going to be an All Star again,
so he's been good. But yeah, I mean it's a
situation because of his track record. Anytime he gets banged up,
and anytime he's banged up enough to not play center
because he's always pushing, he wants to play center, and
he also wants to avoid the IL. I think that's
one of the I've covered him since twenty nineteen, and
(16:16):
I think that's one of the biggest misconceptions is whenever
you have a guy who's injured so often, people assume
like he's choosing to sit out right anytime he's not
one hundred percent. My experience with Buckston is the exact opposite.
And sometimes he will not physically hurt himself, but he
will hurt himself by insisting on not going on the IL,
and sometimes it resolves itself, and you know, he misses
(16:38):
less time. But my experience with him is he wants
to play, sometimes to the point that they have to
say to him, it's a long season, your hip's been
a problem, Like let's put you at DH at least
to alleviate some of that.
Speaker 3 (16:51):
Aaron Gleaman dot Com is in studio.
Speaker 1 (16:53):
You mentioned Royce earlier on a home run tear so
what's the path here? What he think the grand plan
is moving forward on him?
Speaker 3 (17:02):
So I think.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
So it's been about two weeks since they sent him
to Triple A, and he's got eight homers in eleven games.
And I think when they sent him down, similar to
when they sent down Matt Walner, like a week earlier,
or not even a week earlier, I don't think they
intended it to be like a two week thing. I
think they intended it to be more of like a
full reset physically mentally, you know, changed the swing, cut
(17:24):
down on the strikeouts, really put together hopefully a month
at Triple A where you're just a good solid player.
But they didn't bank on him hitting eleven or you know,
eight homers in eleven games. And so that is and
I know people will dismiss it that it's against Triple
A pitching, and that's fair. Guys don't do that at
Triple A either usually, And so I think it probably
is enough to make them rethink at least the timeline
(17:45):
of what they expected.
Speaker 3 (17:47):
This demotion to be.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
But the other issue is almost in tandem with sending
him down. A couple of weeks ago, they moved brooks Lee,
who had been the starting shortstop and it struggled defensively
to third base, where which was vacated by royce Lewis
going to triple A. Every indication I've got is brooks
Lee's not moving back to shortstop, and they actually like
him at third base, and I think he can be
a very good third baseman too, much better than he
(18:10):
was at shortstop. And so that blocks a little bit
of a quick return path of like, okay, no harm,
no follow you just crushed triple.
Speaker 3 (18:16):
A for two weeks. We'll just stick you right back
at third base.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
Well, I don't think they're going to disrupt what brooks
Lee's got going on, and so that's why it was
interesting today. In addition to Royce Lewis hitting another hom
or grand slam today, he started at second base, which
he has only played one game in the majors at
second base a couple of years ago, and if people remember,
it was in September of twenty twenty four, and they
kind of approached him and said, we'd like to work
(18:40):
you into the mix of amatic and he didn't love
that idea, and his thing that he said at the
time was, it's one thing to tell me during the
offseason work on second base, or go to the miners
and work on it. But in September of what was
at that point it fell apart, but it was a
Pennant race potentially.
Speaker 3 (18:56):
He basically said, I don't want to.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
Make a fool of myself at second base, and so
I understand that ended up playing one game there. So
now it's like, Okay, well they're probably going to work
him in at second. He's still playing some third at
Triple A. I bet we will see him at first
DH first. I don't think we'll see him in the outfield,
But that adds a wrinkle to the whole. When can
he return because just based on hitting guy hits eight
(19:18):
homers in eleven games, get him back there, But they
can also position it as what we need him to
get comfortable at other positions, because he's not just going
to play third base. So I think maybe what they
have envisioned for him, whether it's next week, two weeks
from now, you come back as more of a super utility.
You play some third, when brooks Ley's out, you play
maybe some second.
Speaker 3 (19:37):
If he looks decent there, you play some first.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
You can certainly be a DH just to get his
bat in the lineup, and I think that's what they
would want to do with him at this point. They
don't want to disrupt Brooksley at third base. The other
thing is, I don't think it makes sense to call
Royce Lewis back up if you're not going to give
him the full runway to play at least.
Speaker 3 (19:54):
You know, four or five times a week.
Speaker 2 (19:56):
And it's very easy to find a spot in the lineup,
even at first base versus left handed pictures, but most
of the time you're going to be facing right handed pictures.
It's a little trickier there because Cody Clements has done
a nice job at first base, They've a few more
left handed bats and switch hitters.
Speaker 1 (20:09):
Has he been humbled enough that he knows he really
can't drag his feet no matter what they have in
mind at this point.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
That's always the question because he's very optimistic, rosy personality.
He's a good guy. But sometimes I think it's people
struggle with some of the things he says, where it's like,
are you is there a self awareness here or understanding
the situation. I will say, though, from everything I've heard
from everyone in Saint Paul and even talking to like
(20:37):
Derek Shelton today about it. You know, I don't think
he was happy with the demotion. Nobody would be, but
he reported to Saint Paul, he went right into the lineup.
He's been hitting homers ever since. Everything that I've heard
from Saint Paul is he's been working hard, he's been listening,
he's not been causing any sort of drama there, And
so I will give him credit. And you know, what
they wanted him to do. It wasn't a demotion to
(20:59):
like get this guy out of our plans forever. They
wanted him to reset and come back and be an
impact player for this season. He still has two years
of team control remaining, whether that's with the Twins in
their plans or potentially he could have some trade value.
Let's say they didn't want to just bury him at
Triple A. They weren't expecting this to happen this suddenly
and this extreme, but they did want him to come back,
(21:21):
And so I do give him credit to take this
in relative stride and put together a monster two weeks
at Triple A and at least put yourself in a
position where you're forcing them to make a decision on you.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
The yeah it you know, well we've talked about the saga.
Somebody's mentioning Royce Lewis Jersey Day is coming up, so.
Speaker 2 (21:40):
June sixth, which is in what three days from now,
Saturday third, Yeah, was supposed to be. It was on
the schedule all year as Royce Lewis Replica jersey giveaway
I think first ten thousand fans at turget Field. So
I noticed like a week ago that that was removed
from the promotional calendar, and then they ended up adding
(22:01):
a Byron Buxton T shirt giveaway that I had previously
not been anywhere to that, but then I heard from
the Saints that they're that same night, June sixth, in
Saint Paul. Now we're assuming he's still in Saint Paul
three days from now, they're doing a Royce Lewis T
shirt giveaway. So now I think that's a clever idea
to sort of you know, a little cheeky, but also
what happened in those ten thousand jerseys, because they're not
(22:23):
giving away the jerseys, so that's why those could be
they're probably given to kids in some you know country.
Speaker 3 (22:28):
I always because you always see pictures.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
Of like champion like NBA champion hats for the runner up,
like I get handed out. That's kind of how I'm
envisioning the Royce Lewis replica giveaway.
Speaker 1 (22:39):
That's, by the way, I think we talked about the
tennis thing before. How vacant is the building right now?
It's pretty vacant.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
I mean, if you look at the number, actually they're
thirty five thousand, I think below last year's pace through
the same number of games. But that includes some tricky
accounting because there was we talked about one game I
think April seventeenth against the Reds, they essentially gave away
twenty thousand tickets anybody who had bought a ticket directly
through them for opening day or the home opener because
(23:10):
it had been delayed by the power outage. So they
just gave everyone a comp ticket, and somehow we're able
to count that as attendance. So there's twenty thousand, you
subtract that they're probably.
Speaker 3 (23:18):
Fifty five or sixteen thousand.
Speaker 2 (23:20):
There's been some other giveaway type stuff, but I will say,
even beyond the relatively slight drop in attendance from last
year was the lowest since the Metrodome days. First of all,
it's I mean, half half of what the announced attendants usually.
I would say it's been a little better now that
the weather's nice, but there were definitely some games in April,
and this is often the case in cold weather cities
(23:41):
where it's like announced attendants seventeen to five and you
look and there's you know, forty four hundred people there
or something like that.
Speaker 1 (23:47):
So have we played enough of the season to get
clues from your standpoint covering this team as to what
the plan is heading into the trade dead law on
for example, Joe Ryan, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:03):
I mean they won't talk about that sort of stuff yet,
but I would say just logically, they're, you know, handful
of games below five hundred. Now, I think at last
year's tread the line they were maybe like six games
below five hundred something like that. If you end up
in roughly the same spot, and this year's deadline, I
think is August third, it's a little bit later than
usual if you're you know, six eight, certainly ten games
(24:26):
below five hundred at that point, which I would probably
project them to be given the state of the rotation,
especially Joe Ryan has the rest of this season and
then one more season after this and then he's a
free agent. If you think you're going to be a
contender next year, then yeah, sure you would want Joe
Ryan at the top of your rotation. But I think realistically,
(24:48):
I'm not sure there are many Twins fans who would
expect them to be contenders next year, and so then
it's a matter of nobody wants to trade Joe Ryan.
He's one of the best pitchers they've developed, and I
don't know since Johan Santana probably, but you also don't
want to lose him for nothing after next season, and
you might get draft compensation or whatever. But if he's
pitching at an all star level come the end of July,
(25:10):
you could get not only more for him than a
draft pick compensation, but more immediate help. You could get
double A or triplay or even major league guys for him.
So my assumption with him has not really changed. It's
if they are solidly below five hundred, I would expect
him to certainly be shopped around, much like last year.
You know, I would have said the same thing about
(25:30):
Pablo Lopez, but now he's out of the picture because
the injury. I think Ryan Jeffers, who was off to
a great start as a as their starting catcher, but
is now out for a couple months with a broken
handmate bone. He's an impending free agent, so that one
makes a lot of sense to trade. Although it's not
always easy to trade a starting catcher because most contending
teams don't have a hole at catcher, it's easy to
(25:52):
trade a frontline starting pitcher because there's never been a
baseball team.
Speaker 3 (25:56):
Ever that couldn't use one more frontline starting pitcher is.
Speaker 1 (25:59):
So we can get what for him, We can get
a Grade A prospect and another player. I mean, how yeah,
how highly regarded is he? You think in baseball circle?
Speaker 3 (26:09):
Pretty highly regarded.
Speaker 2 (26:10):
I mean it's a little tricky because we might also see,
like two times, say young winner Trek Skouble might be
on the block because the Tigers have been so bad.
Speaker 3 (26:17):
It depends what other guys.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
Are being shot around from a frontline starter perspective, But
I would say if Joe Ryan is pitching like this
and is healthy at that point, I certainly at minimum,
I think you would get one top one hundred prospect,
which is sort of the currency baseball that's equivalent to
like maybe a first round pick.
Speaker 3 (26:34):
Let's say you might be able to squeeze a second
one out.
Speaker 2 (26:37):
It also depends, Like last year at the deadline, the
Twins got some good prospects, but they prioritize guys who
were close to the majors or who had already appeared
in the majors. And so instead of let's say, low
a nineteen year old guy, well, you're sacrificing upside for
you know, closeness to the majors and that. So it
depends if they're willing to take some teenage guys who
(26:59):
are three or four years way, you can get higher upside,
maybe multiple top one hundred guys, Versus if you're insisting
on you know, major league ready guys, you might only
get one. But I mean, I would expect Ryan to
have as much trade value as pretty much anybody they've
traded in recent memories.
Speaker 3 (27:14):
So he's signed through next season.
Speaker 2 (27:17):
Yes, he's arbitration eligible for next year. He'll probably make
I don't know, ten or twelve millions to get that.
Speaker 1 (27:22):
So there's two ways to look at having this conversation about,
you know, entertaining the idea of trading him. One is,
who we kidding, We're not really going anywhere, so we're
gonna have to, you know, kind of regroup in a
lot of areas. And so if we can get some
really good, highly valued talent, presumably other pitchers that are
(27:44):
a little bit further away, let's go ahead and do it.
On the other hand, and this is an important distinction
for me at least, if the real reason you say
you might as well deal him is once he's he's
done with his contract, he's gonna there's gonna be demand
for him, and you're not gonna want to afford him
at that point because it's gonna be too much money.
Speaker 3 (28:06):
I hate the psychology of that.
Speaker 1 (28:08):
Well, I even made a place like this where you
go that's what drives people insane, is you gotta trade
him before you lose them because we can't compete for
his salary. To me, that continues to be even for
a team in their payroll positions, self defeating.
Speaker 3 (28:22):
I agree completely.
Speaker 2 (28:23):
It is unfortunate to be in a spot as a
team to even two or three years out to be
sort of counting.
Speaker 3 (28:31):
Down to the guys.
Speaker 2 (28:31):
Free agencies and twins fans unfortunately have experienced that over
decades and decades and different ownerships even but I do
think that's the reality. I mean, he's going to be
in line for what I would say, well over, if
he's healthy, well over one hundred million dollars. What are
the odds of what we know of the Minnesota Twins
right now giving him that sort of contract. And also
(28:52):
if from Joe Ryan's perspective, he's gone through some real
tough times here with the Minnesota Twins, he's true, he
can see finish line of free agency. And even if
they were to say to him.
Speaker 3 (29:02):
Hey, yeah, eighteen months before you're.
Speaker 2 (29:04):
Able to negotiate with thirty teams, what do you think
about taking one hundred and whatever it is? If you're him,
maybe you take that because there's the injury risk and
he's had some injuries, right, But also you've made it
this far. If if you're him and he's made some millions,
he's okay, you're probably thinking, do I even want to
be here with a team that isn't spending and has
(29:24):
it won for a while where I can choose where
I'm from. He's from California. Maybe he wants to play
for the Pods or is it the Giants or whatever
it is. Those teams have money too, I think from
his perspective, and I agree it's unfortunate. It's it's pathetic
really that it's like an impossibility that you might just
sign a guy to a long term contract. But I
do think that's the reality of it. And you know,
(29:45):
what are the odds if you're a player like Joe,
Ryan or even Ryan Jeffers now who's going to be
a fringeent in you know, five months, what are the
odds that the Twins are going to pay you more
than another team would pay you if you just make
it to free agency anyway?
Speaker 3 (29:57):
And then it's do you want to be here? Do
we still assume Buckston wants to be here? Well, that's
the other question too.
Speaker 2 (30:03):
So he's been so steadfast over years and years, and
people saw it like at the All Star Game last
year where the national media interviewed him and stuff, and
I would say, my understanding from talking to him, but
then also just reading stuff that he's said on national stages.
His thing is, I don't want to leave. I want
to finish my career here. My family loves it here,
(30:24):
I love the organization. But I think his other thing
is he's thirty two and as a center fielder, you
know the clock is always taken from an athleticism standpoint.
He's got two more years after this one. He's only
making fifteen million a year. That's not even a top
one hundred salary in baseball. He's healthier than he's been
over the last couple of years. Then he was previously
going to make probably a second All Star Game in
(30:44):
a row. If you're him, it's like, I want to
be here, but I also want a chance to win here.
And if what I really think he expressed at the
end of last year and then even this offseason, I
don't think he wants to be the last man standing.
I don't think he wants to look on that clubhouse
and see the empty Ryan Jeffers locker and the empty
Joe Ryan locker and have a team with a seventy
(31:06):
million dollars pay roll where he's making fifteen and nobody
else is making more than five or ten, and you
just look and you go, I got two or three
years left as a prime player here and then I'm
just sort of wasting it. And again, much like the
Ryan contract, that's that stinks, that that's the scenario, But
he does having no trade. He has made it very
clear in the past that he knows he's not going
(31:27):
to request the trade because he wants to go play somewhere.
But I do think you can push someone to a
breaking point from a competitivist standpoint. I don't think it's
about money. I don't think it's about not liking it here.
I think he loves it here. But also do you
want to win somewhere or do you want to lose here?
And if that's the scenario that they're presenting with him,
I wouldn't blame him for, you know, wanting out or
(31:49):
at least being open to the idea of leaving. But
until he says sort of like the Korea situation around
this time last year, where it was like, well he's
got a no trade, but then it's started to you know,
waiver a little bit and it was like, well you
might take a trade to Houston, and once that comes out,
then the floodgates open until we get some sense of that.
And again that depends on them continuing to not be
(32:10):
competitive this year. Buxton, all he needs to say is well,
I'm open to it, and I think at that point
then the discussion becomes what can you get.
Speaker 3 (32:17):
From for him? You can get a lot for him.
Speaker 2 (32:20):
I mean two and a half years remaining at fifteen
million a year for an all star center fielder that is.
I know there's all the injury stuff with sure, yes,
but the way he's played the last two or three years,
that's a thirty million dollar player, and so there's excess
value in addition to just the impact of the player
that he can make.
Speaker 1 (32:35):
All right, I got some more baseball to get to
when we come back. I've got some basketball to get
to him.
Speaker 3 (32:39):
Believe or not. I have some football way which I
know you don't consider like hockey. Let's do it. We
might get to hockey. We'll see.
Speaker 1 (32:46):
Aaron Gleaman dot Com is in studio Kesler at about
five thirty.
Speaker 3 (32:49):
You are listening to Barrera on the fan. Keep listening
for the next chance to win your way to our
high Hervey.
Speaker 1 (33:29):
All right, Aaron Gleaman dot com. Here is my football question.
It's really not a football question, okay, per se. I
just wanted to say that to sensationalize, to get your attention.
Speaker 3 (33:39):
Yeah, exactly. It. I feel like.
Speaker 1 (33:44):
In the professional sports world right now, there are a
lot of you know, catchphrases and buzzwords that are more
you know, more modern.
Speaker 3 (33:53):
What are our favorite ones? Guardsy, collaboration, laboration.
Speaker 1 (33:58):
But I believe football and football executives and coaches take
the cake on this more than any other. And I'm
curious because you cover baseball all the time. Now do
you hear am I just not paying attention because of
the twins? Do you hear all that same word salad
stuff in baseball as much as we seem to in football?
Speaker 3 (34:21):
Yeah? What do you hear?
Speaker 2 (34:22):
The collaboration aspect is definitely big with baseball because I
think especially with baseball, there's like the flow of information
has to get from sort of the quants in a
front office yeah, to the players on the field, and
that kind of passes through the coaching staff a lot
of the time. And so yeah, collaboration is definitely one
that the front office guys talk about, the coaching staff
(34:43):
talks about of like what you could have the best
information in the world, but if you're not getting it
to a player, and even beyond that, like getting it
to a player in a way that they understand, are
somewhat enthusiastic about it. And I mean that was the
thing with Molitor, who super well respected baseball g beloved
there and it's now doing. You know, broadcast is great,
but they felt like that last season with Maltor. I
(35:05):
remember Ryan Presley was a good pitcher and they felt
like they wanted I think the story went that they
wanted Presley to make some adjustments with his curveball and
they just could not kind of get that information in
his hands in a way that got him enthused. They
trade him to the Astros. Two days later, he's throwing
the new curveball and he's great, And that was like,
it has to be collaborative, it has to be so yeah.
(35:25):
I mean, baseball has its own set up there may
be not as bad as foot because I think what
football has as an outsider looking at it, they also
have the like top secret aspect where they it's like
Fort Knox with everything in football.
Speaker 3 (35:40):
We're in baseball. It's a little bit like we're just
playing baseball here. By the way, is Varlin giving up
a run yet? He speaking of.
Speaker 2 (35:49):
Reliever of the Month in April, and I think his
ra is now lower than it was when he won
Reliever of the Month in April. But the good news
is both players that the Twins got in that trade
are injured.
Speaker 1 (36:00):
So even better. Yeah, it's is what you're saying. Yeah, absolutely,
win win, Yeah, all right, here is my football or basketball?
Okay that would better than football.
Speaker 3 (36:12):
Yeah, no, that's okay. The the I don't know that
we talked about this last time.
Speaker 1 (36:18):
I don't because I don't think the Wolf season was
the Wolf season over when when you last came in.
Speaker 3 (36:22):
Maybe it may have just ended. Whatever. Everybody's got an
idea of what to do. It's fairly clear that.
Speaker 1 (36:29):
Even and I do give conmly credit for this, because
he doesn't speak in words salad or didn't in the
press conference. You didn't have to read between the lines
to say he ain't happy and they're gonna if they
don't do something pretty big on the on the seismic
scale or the Richter scale, it won't be for lack
(36:51):
of trying that I think he says, No, this ain't
gonna work for us. We're not We're not fishing sixth
every year.
Speaker 3 (36:57):
I'm not happy with this.
Speaker 1 (36:59):
But the obviously the challenges well, okay, that sounds good,
but what are you going to do and what do
what do you want? Who's the player out there that
you think is gettable, that you think makes sense for
this club, or do you subscribe to the notion? And
I don't know how you sell this, but you could
try selling it to the owners. Look, we're gonna trade Randall.
(37:23):
We know that, and we hope we can get immediate
help there, but we may end up trading Rudy too.
Speaker 3 (37:30):
And the thinking is it's going to loosen some other
things up for us.
Speaker 1 (37:34):
And but if we do that with Rudy, it may
well be we can get a surprising amount of pretty
damned good, interesting young talent. But we might have a
year take a step back that we gotta we got
to take off what's the term they use in the
in the cliche.
Speaker 3 (37:51):
When you take a year up gap year.
Speaker 1 (37:55):
Where you got to just acknowledge, as hard as that is,
given they've sort of gotten to this one point you
wanted to take the next step, and you got Edwards
waiting because he's anxious. So what interests Aaron Gleaman dot
com Which approach interests you?
Speaker 3 (38:10):
Could you live with a.
Speaker 1 (38:11):
Gap year if if somebody says you, you know what
we're gonna get in three years we're gonna be able
to reach or two years maybe we're gonna be able
to retool in a way that'll keep us viable for
the next five or do you say, can't wait. There's
no such thing as a gap year. As long as
you have Anthony Edwards, we got to go out and
get another star.
Speaker 3 (38:29):
Well.
Speaker 2 (38:29):
I think normally when you have these two monster teams
in the same conference, with Okay See and the Spurs,
it's not a bad idea to be like, Okay, they're
gonna both be really good for the next year or two.
But the problem with the Spurs, and I think is
still probably Oklahoma. They're so young and they have so
many assets that I think they're gonna be good.
Speaker 3 (38:47):
For a while ten.
Speaker 2 (38:48):
So I don't know that like a gap year is
really going to break through there. But my real concern
with that, and I think it's a viable idea. You know,
it's a little bit like the Buston conversation that we had.
The danger if you take a step back for a
year or two is does Anthony Edwards want to take
a step back for a year?
Speaker 3 (39:07):
Joe, right, And let's.
Speaker 2 (39:08):
Say he's willing to do that, but then he gets
to the end of the year or two and they've
you know, missed the playoffs.
Speaker 3 (39:12):
So they finished seventh, or they've been in the plane.
Speaker 2 (39:15):
I mean, the moment he decides he's not happy, then
that is a much bigger issue than anything from a
roster building standpoint beyond him. So I don't know. I
do think I'm on the same page. Like I didn't
love Randall's fit really at any point. He had some
better moments than I expected at various points. But I
think if you can shed that salary and get some
level of value for him, even kind of neutral value,
(39:38):
you can insertain nods into the starting lineup.
Speaker 3 (39:40):
The go bear thing is interesting. I do agree with
you that I think he.
Speaker 2 (39:44):
Is generally more valued by front offices than he is
like the average fan in the NBA. But people love
to goof on you know, Luca making the shot over him.
But the reality is the on off numbers for him
defensively are incredible. Every year he's finishing top five for
defensive Player of the Year. And I think even just
watching the Wolves, you see it like he's incredibly frustrating
(40:06):
at times to watch offensively, and there are situations where
he's not on the court because he's a he's not
an asset offensively, but he's such a tone setter for
what they've been able to do defensively.
Speaker 3 (40:17):
That I worry.
Speaker 2 (40:18):
Yes, I would be very open to trading him, especially
if you can get decent value for him. But my
worry is is he representing more of what we think
of of their defensive identity than maybe we even realize.
Speaker 3 (40:30):
And if you remove.
Speaker 2 (40:31):
Him, it's not as simple as just filling in the
gaps with another big shot blocker or something like that.
But I mean that is the path forward because the problem,
you know, I know everyone wants to trade for Giannis
or something like that, they don't have pick assets to
make that happen. I mean, they're picking twenty eighth this year.
I think the next pick they can trade is like
twenty thirty two or something like that. They can do
some pick swaps, but unless you find some GM who's
(40:54):
gonna go nuts for Randall or go Baer, I just
don't think you can do it. And Louving losing Devincenzo
as sort of a low salary guy hurts on that front.
Two hurts the team, but also hurts their ability to
put together some of these trade packages, which I think
then gets you to like the second tier Either rehab
project like Kyrie Irving or the high risk guys like
a Zion Williamson, where it's just like, do you try
(41:16):
to talk yourself into change.
Speaker 3 (41:19):
For change sake?
Speaker 2 (41:20):
And go, oh, well, Williamson has this upside and then
you maybe get him and a year and you go, well, I.
Speaker 3 (41:25):
Get why everybody's been frustrated with him. But that's like
you said that game.
Speaker 2 (41:29):
I don't think they can just sort of stand pass
because the rest of the conference will sort of pass
them by. And so that's I'm a little I do
agree with you about Conley, like I do enjoy watching
his press conferences relative to let's say Twins Officials press conference. Yes,
because he's not always revealing everything. Answering a question when
someone says, do you guys think you have to make changes?
Speaker 3 (41:50):
He won't go well, I haven't really thought about it.
He'll at least give you some answer.
Speaker 2 (41:53):
And you know, as you said, he is going to
explore every opportunity. And I haven't loved every movie he's made.
I think more often than not, they've they've worked out
pretty well. I mean they've been this is the most
successful period in franchise history. But you at least know
he's going to make every call. He's going to push
every envelope.
Speaker 3 (42:10):
I missed it. Guardie. Did you were you able to
listen to Finchy a little bit with PA to day? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (42:16):
I heard a little bit of it, but I obviously
didn't hear the key aspect of it, which this fascinates me.
I had not heard this one before. I don't know
that I buy it, but here's the quote. We saw
what TJ can do. It was good to see him back.
We finally found the best to play out of him.
He's one of these guys who needs the ball in
(42:37):
his hands more. I think he can play well alongside
Anthony as the primary ball handler.
Speaker 3 (42:43):
I think that's part of the solution there.
Speaker 1 (42:44):
Internally, He's just got to stay healthy and continue to
build on what he did, because part of the solution
everybody says, well, you got to get a guard to
play so that Anthony didn't always have the ball. I like,
I'm intrigued by what TJ represents. I'm still not sure
I'm convinced he's starting guard on a team that wants
to go some places. I don't know, but that's interesting
(43:05):
that that Finchy was was that generous in his conversation about.
Speaker 2 (43:09):
Well, and I think that comes from everybody saw in
the playoffs, like for so much of when Shannon's played
the last two years, it's like stand in the corner.
Speaker 3 (43:16):
Yeah, right, And I think they think his game.
Speaker 2 (43:18):
And in the playoffs we saw they give him the
ball twenty five feet out at the at the top
and he just attacks like almost kind of mini ant,
but going to his left more often, and I think
that was eye opening. I don't know that I buy
him as like a primary ball handler. I think there's
gonna be some issues in terms of you know, turnovers
and stuff there, but as like a microwave guy off
the bench, six man type, especially if NAS is moving
(43:40):
into the starting lineup.
Speaker 3 (43:41):
I kind of like that.
Speaker 2 (43:42):
I still think, you know, what you really need is
a time machine with Mike Conley, Yeah, Mike Conley from
eight years ago or whatever, even five and membos and
that is such a perfect sort of low maintenance ball handling,
shooting threes, tough on defense.
Speaker 3 (43:56):
That ship is sailed with Conley obviously. So I don't know.
Speaker 2 (43:58):
I mean I like Ioh also, yes, but he's not
like a pure point He's more of a secondary wing
attack attack, which I like, and I think they're going
to make an effort to resign it.
Speaker 1 (44:08):
Well, I would put it this way, if you're if
your top four guards can be.
Speaker 3 (44:13):
Edwards, Kyrie, Io, and Shannon, Yes, you got something interesting
going there in the back court, I think, because if
that configuration is realistic, a couple.
Speaker 2 (44:23):
Of them can size up to wing yes if you want,
especially like lighting games. I mean the Kyrie thing, it's
kind of like what we're talking about was like the
risk reward is like, yes, Kyrie pre injury is an
all star perfect fit from ball, hand them shot making.
Speaker 3 (44:39):
What is he now off the injury?
Speaker 2 (44:40):
But then also even without the injury, he's like in
his mid thirties at this thirty two, or there's some
natural aging there with like a small guard maybe, but
I think that assuming Giannis is just kind of a
pipe dream, not doable. I think you know you're into Kyrie.
You're in design that sort of category where it's like
you're not going to feel super confident, but at least
it has some.
Speaker 1 (45:00):
I waited wait too long to get into this, and
so we're maybe we'll just touch the service on it
and get back to it next time. You're on your
initial gut reaction to the owner's proposal about a salary cap,
which just tended to be a non starter. I will
tell you that I thought the numbers within that in
terms of what the floor was the salary cap floor
(45:23):
surprised me and was interesting. And then there's still a
gap I think between the floor and the ceiling of
it was about eighty I think it was from that
range in that rank.
Speaker 3 (45:35):
So I get it.
Speaker 1 (45:36):
You know, the players, this is this has been the
strongest union. But I got to tell you, I don't
think it's an outlandish proposal?
Speaker 3 (45:46):
Is it? For you? Do you think it is?
Speaker 1 (45:48):
The players are locked in as a non starter because
I got to believe upper end players lose money, clearly,
but that a lot of players could look at this
and say, I want anything that will force the teams
were in there every year at sixty million, seventy million,
eighty million dollars that they got to jump up to
double that and more one hundred and seventy What do
(46:09):
you think?
Speaker 2 (46:09):
Yeah, I mean you're taking hundreds of millions of spending
from Dodgers, Yankees, Red Sox, and that's and those are
going to, like you said, the biggest name players. So
from that perspective, those players are like, well, I like
signing four hundred million Dodgers. It's great, but you're then
adding to your point, like a dozen teams are adding
fifty to one hundred million to get upright.
Speaker 3 (46:28):
So the hope is that it sort of balances itself out.
Speaker 2 (46:31):
But if you are a shoe heliet Otani, yeah, the
fact that the Twins and the Guardians are spending an
extra seventy five million and the Dodgers are spending two
hundred million less is not that appealing team. But I
do think for the overall health of the sport, and
this is easy to say from Minnesota. Covering the Twins,
I was also surprised by the floor their first salvo
(46:51):
being one to seven exactly.
Speaker 3 (46:53):
That's what surprised me.
Speaker 2 (46:54):
What I found really interesting about that I heard from
so many Twins fans who are like, the Twins are
at one oh five right now, and Twins are like, well,
how won't the pollet say, how could we ever spend
one seventy Here's the thing when people see these proposals
from quote unquote the league. The league is just the
thirty owners represented by Rob Manfred, So they're not putting
(47:15):
out a one seventy floor when they think half the
league is never going to be able to get to
one seventy. What that is really pulling back the curtain
and nobody will ever see the books for major league
teams like the Twins.
Speaker 3 (47:27):
But it's pulling back the curtain, and it is.
Speaker 2 (47:28):
A giveaway by those thirty team owners as represented by
the League, of saying one seventy is comfortable for most
of these teams.
Speaker 3 (47:36):
We can get to one seventy, and teams like the.
Speaker 2 (47:39):
Twins or the Rays or the Marlins or whatever the
pirates will tell you, oh, we couldn't even you know,
we're losing money at one twenty. This I think is
almost like a admitted like self reporting a little bit
if you scratch beneath the surface of saying, we're proposing
a thing where ten teams who are claiming they'll lose
money at one hundred and twenty are now going to
be forced to spend one that's not going to be
(48:01):
wrecking them because they're agreeing to this as part of
an overall group. But the biggest point that, first of all,
the players have been so steadfast against any notion of
a salary cap, and if they stick to that, then
that's just a moot point and there's gonna be a
lock up and we're gonna miss games.
Speaker 3 (48:16):
So that is really the issue. Will they come off
that at all?
Speaker 2 (48:19):
And it might be a situation where they call it
a luxury tax instead of a salary cap or whatever.
But the real thing that is sort of fueling this
of how can you force these small market teams to
spend one seventy is it's all based around the idea
of central pooling the local television revenue so that the
Yankees aren't making two hundred million versus the Twins making
twenty five million. The problem there is, how are you
(48:41):
going to get the Yankees and the Dodgers's who agree
to that. If you can put all the money into
a pool and sell those rights to Amazon or Apple
for billions of dollars and then split it up something
close to thirty ways, well then you're basically trying to
mimic NBA and NFL, and that's much more doable. But
that is such a massive shift from what baseball has
ever been. And so those are my two doubts. Can
(49:04):
they centralize all the local television revenue, which would be
so huge for teams like the Twins. And then also
will the players come off of the absolute refusal to
even talk about a salary.
Speaker 3 (49:14):
I might take a lockout, like you said, a cancelation
of games to do it.
Speaker 1 (49:17):
We'll see great stuff is always my friend Aaron Gleaman
dot com.
Speaker 3 (49:20):
We don't call him Aaron Gleman anymore. We just call him.
I like that dot com. You don't mind, Matt, do you.
Speaker 1 (49:25):
I mean, I've been called so much worse for sure,
Thank you, appreciate you.
Speaker 3 (49:29):
Tim.
Speaker 1 (49:30):
We'll see him again soon, no question. A little late
guards you for top five. But if you want to
go along, it's up to you because we don't have
Kessler till five thirty.
Speaker 3 (49:37):
Oh we could do that. Yeah, we could do it out.
Speaker 1 (49:39):
Well, wherever you want to do it, we will hear
from Chris Finch and Julius Randall. I like that, and
maybe our new general manager or are you still trying
to find the money quote?
Speaker 3 (49:54):
We can't go long if we're going to play his quotes.
Bumper to bumper with Dan Barrero on the fan from
the one eight hundred Ask Gary Traffic Center. This report
is spawned,
I don't think I'm going to address you as Aaron
Gleman any longer. Instead, I'm just going to say, how
is Aaron Gleaman dot com. I'm going to think of
you as an entity now, as a corporation, you know,
as an as a media empire.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
You It's difficult to forget the name of the site
if you have any interest in me or reading it.
So I guess in that way, I will tell you
so this is what I my blog twenty something years ago.
So we just went back to that. We even used
the same logo and everything. I did spend like two
weeks trying to brainstorm an actual name for the site,
(01:09):
like I don't know, gleaming on Baseball or something like that,
and I had like a whole list and none of
them were good, And I just thought, what's the point
of trying to like think, actually brand it versus.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
Just Hey, where's the where are you regleaming? It's yeah,
just Google plus. I feel like people just google stuff anyway.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
They do.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
The days of saying that's true.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
I'm sure you know this from doing live reads and
stuff of like fifteen years ago, you'd have to go, www, yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:34):
That's true. It's just like looking up.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
Yeah, you're right about that, that's very true. Were you
just at the getaway day ball?
Speaker 2 (01:39):
Yes, you guys gave me a really good excuse to leave,
Oh excellent a half inning early to beat the traffic.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
And we lose.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
The third game, they have the White Sox avoid to sweep.
Was it last I saw? I think Gardie was at oh.
I think that's what it ended, is it was. It
was a very ugly game. Who was three errors I
saw for the with these damaging errors as well, three errors.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Not just overall by the shortstop Tristan Gray made an
error early and then had a double error play.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
In the middle of the game too. That's not good.
Who was hurling for the It was Ta Bradley, who
gave up four runs in the first inning and struggled
with his control I'm told, yes, uncharacteristically.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
And then he was okay after that. But their defense
was bad.
Speaker 4 (02:20):
And then they who picture the White Sox, Uh, yeah,
that's asking a lot and find that that's it's all
there for me to remember something I literally just came
from watching.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
But I mean they they were being no hit into
the fifth and sixth. I mean it was bad, but
they got the two wins, they win the series. The
I mean, your guys, the White Sox not a bad team.
I was talking to Steve Stone, who's their long time brought,
and I always love seeing him when he comes down.
Always super nice, always loves to get uh, very very
(02:52):
he comes very engaging and it's great. And so he's
a baseball asset, that's for sure.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
I mean, he has a military story.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Yeah, And he was basically saying they kind of not
quite Spurs esque at that level, but kind of jumped
the line on like, Okay, maybe two years from now,
this core could be pretty good. I'm not saying they're
going to make a World Series run or anything, but
I mean they're solidly above five hundred. Even after losing
two out of three to the Twins. They got some
good hitters. They've had a much better pitching staff than
(03:20):
I would expect. And then the other thing is, by
virtue of being so bad for about five years the
worst team in baseball a couple of those years, they
still have some firepower in the miners that they can
still bring up. So I mean, I don't know that
they're going to be the force in this division, but
I think.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
They've been so dreadful. It's obviously a change.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
They've at least turned it around, and I think nobody
expected them to be in second place at this.
Speaker 3 (03:42):
Point, no, for sure.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
Looking at an Aaron Gleaman tweet, not an Aaron Gleaman
dot com tweet, although it's a link to something at
airon Ashley in which you write about justin Lawrence, this
is the relief pitcher we just picked up cash. I'm
told it was like a buck fifty from the pirates.
And you right, why he might be viewed differently than
they're the Twins' usual bullpen lottery tickets.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
Why differently? What's the things out here?
Speaker 2 (04:08):
Well, first of all, he just made his Twins debut
like an hour ago, hit a guy in the arm
with like a ninety seven mile an hour pitch and
the guy immediately left the game on ball.
Speaker 3 (04:17):
I would not be.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
Surprised if that was a broken song man. But the reason,
the only reason he's different, and this is a little
bit said maybe state of the Twins guaranteed contract. They
they're on the hook for like eight hundred thousand, which
is not a lot in baseball.
Speaker 3 (04:30):
But as I wrote, you.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Know, they what's the old saying they throw around nickels
like manhole covers or whatever it.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
Is old Mike Dicklin with George Allis many many decades ago.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
And then he also does not have a minor league option,
so if he struggles a little bit, they can't just
ship him to Triple A. And that's similar to what
happened with Simmon Woods Richardson last week, where you know
Royce Lewis could sent to Triple A, Matt Walner gets
sent to Triple A. Simmon Woods Richardson, Oh to seven
with a seven something era, he would have been demoted
to Triple A probably weeks ago, but he was out
(04:59):
of options. So you can't do that. You have to
expose them to waivers. It's a whole transactional thing. So
justin Lawrence thirty one, you say, well, if he's bad,
they don't care about shipping a triple anyway, except if
he's bad and they cut him, they're on the hook
for eight hundred thousand. So most of the kind of
revolving door of relievers that they've had this year and
in past years, Waiver claims these cash considerations trade. Like
(05:21):
you mentioned, they're guys who are minimum salaried, non guaranteed,
optionable flexibility, and he is much different than that, which
makes me think, you know, I'm not that high on him.
He's got a five something career, a he's a journeyman,
but it does make me think that he'll get a
little bit more of a runway. And they certainly they
still need any kind of bullpen help there.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
How old is he? Thirty one?
Speaker 1 (05:41):
Oh, yes, thirty one, because I'm about to ask what
might he also be different.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
In that that's young for this Well, that's true, that's
maybe it's a step in the right direction.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
We talked about this, I think last time, you know,
having a bunch of journeymen on there that aren't going
anywhere as opposed to well, let's take a look at
this guy. Let's take a look because maybe he's got
some talent and we got time, We've got nothing but time.
And he's twenty seven years old.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
But they've done a little bit more of that. Andrew Morris,
who's a prospect throws. They've added at least a little
more high octane velocity with some guys. Leandres Gomez is
a guy that they picked up cheaply who's closed a
few games for them. Now there's a little bit more
mid nineties instead of low nineties v Low. It's still
I don't think a good bullpen, but it's been more
(06:23):
serviceable than it was probably for most of April, at least.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
A lot of good texts already coming in and we're
going to get to Lewis here in just a minute.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
Grand Slam today, By the way, did he really Chuo
Homer's last night?
Speaker 3 (06:34):
Grand Slam today?
Speaker 1 (06:35):
So he's averaging more than a home run a game
right from the last seven? Is it?
Speaker 3 (06:38):
Seven home runs in ten or ten homes?
Speaker 2 (06:40):
And seven eight now including the one today, eight eight
in eleven games since the demotion, and of note, which
we can get into later.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
Yeah, played second base today.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
Oh, the plot dickens interesting. Let's divert here for a moment.
Early in the show, I was mentioning there was a
live shot during the ESPN NBA brought cast from where else?
They're in San Antonio, so of course where they situate,
where's the where's the shot?
Speaker 3 (07:07):
No, in this case, it's the Alamo.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
It's got to be the album, and we were trying
to figure out what is out?
Speaker 3 (07:13):
What is the one in San Antonio.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
It seems like there are there is only one choice
the album and maybe Riverwalk.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
Yeah that's it.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
So what's the if we ever get good enough to
where the host the shows come to us?
Speaker 3 (07:25):
You know, the studio.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
Shows, where do they where do they set them up
in front of? What's the iconic what's the most iconic
symbolic this says Minneapolis. Let's leave Saint Paul for the moment.
We are in Minneapolis, Minnesota. What's the shot?
Speaker 2 (07:41):
I think you go a couple couple of blocks from here,
right in Yanksee parking lot. I'll be there already. I
can go on the pregame show. Yeah, I'm trying to think.
I mean, we don't have one like that.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
I don't think.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
I mean, you got the spoon if you want, I
guess you got you know.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
I mean a lot of I feel like a lot
of the iconic Minneapolis stuff.
Speaker 3 (08:00):
And I'm a Minneapolis resident.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
I love it is related to the sports arenas, you
know what I mean. And so it's like, Okay, you
could do it outside of Vikings, he could do it
outside target Field.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
You can do it. Yeah that doesn't excite me.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
Yeah, there's some good views, good up to there Jean
Bonus's penthouse condo, which I'll let you k fan listeners
into a little behind the scenes. They've been in Europe
for a couple of weeks. They live on the top
floor of my Ears Pop. When I go into the elevator,
he's he has a dog that they didn't take Rose,
a great dog.
Speaker 3 (08:30):
They just left the dog in the penhouse. Here are
his dog sitters.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
You guys will why I want to sit down as
they're splitting duties. Okay, Max Fuller, who I saw the
game last night, who's now at least recovered enough from
his broken jaw.
Speaker 3 (08:44):
Yeah, he was telling me.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
To believe this is why he had to split dog
sitting duties because he was not comfortable staying at their
apartment because he has like special shakes that he has
to drink.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
It that's all you can have. And he's lost twenty pounds. Yeah,
well he was so fat and he's splitting dog sitting
duties with Zach. Imagine those were you two.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
I love that as good as it can, but imagine
those are your two go tos that. Yeah, I figured
the listeners would like that.
Speaker 3 (09:07):
That's outstanding.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
Yeah, I don't think we I mean, some people said, uh,
you know Mary Tyler Moore statue.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
Yeah, that's nice, but I don't know if that's a
backdrop for a TV SUS.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
Now I'm like obsessed. We're probably forgetting something very obviously.
Speaker 3 (09:21):
I don't think we are. That's the thing we went
through in the first segment. We really the Alamo is
a tough bar.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
Well, right, it's historic.
Speaker 3 (09:31):
Yeah, it's like there was a great war battle.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
Now we're saying yeah, I mean we got what we
had Fort Snelling, but that's not quite the same thing.
And I don't know if there's an iconic front.
Speaker 3 (09:40):
I mean that Mall.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
Of America, like the Rotunda, the Mall of America came
up when it come up.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
Yeah, that's okay, that's unfortunate. I mean, I don't think
that's anything to be that.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
I'm just thinking when I was a kid, w c
W Nitro the Wrestling Show did a show in the
rotun then I thought that was like a huge it
was like nineteen ninety six.
Speaker 3 (09:58):
Or whatever it was. H I we're still working on that.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
We need to come up with something because eventually, allegedly
one of these teams you know, are going to be
good enough.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
Second closer, I'm forty three and I was let's see,
I was eight when the Twins won the second World
Series that I vaguely remember as an eight year old,
and the end it's been.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
A little state fair, like one of the one of
the iconic, like one of the Gates and the state
fair that's probably big enough right in front of the
Sweet Martha's.
Speaker 3 (10:23):
Maybe that'd be a good yeah, yeah, yeah, we need
to work on that. It's a sad conversation, it is. Unfortunately,
that's very well, we'll go for some sweet market. Yeah,
I figured you would.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
All right, let's get our first pause in. Aaron Glehman
dot Com is in studio. A lot of good texts
already coming in. We'll cover a lot of baseball, and
we'll cover perhaps some NBA finals and Timberwols with him
as well. Kessler allegedly will be wheeled in on a
gurney when he joins us at five thirty. Well, I
might be exaggerating that a little bit, but he is still
recovering research. Sure, you know he'll milk it and then
(10:54):
he'll be angry when we make a big deal of it.
Speaker 3 (10:56):
Even though he wants us to make a big deal.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
Of it, including dropping the name of his surgeon, who
also does JJ McCarthy's ministan. It's true he might have
mentioned that like five times last a week ago.
Speaker 3 (11:07):
You're listening to Barrero.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
So what we seem to have with the Twins at
this point and now we've played a pretty good number
of games, right, we're pretty well into this thing.
Speaker 3 (11:39):
Forty percent?
Speaker 1 (11:41):
Yeah, so almost half is there's no consistency to the club, right,
there's no there's there's We started the season what two
and six, and then we had a good stretch and
then we had a bad stretch.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
We had another good stretch or bad stretch.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
This road trip, we start with a sweep and then
the last seven we lose six of those seven.
Speaker 3 (11:59):
I believe five in a row. They lost five in
a row included.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
Then they bounce back they win two versus the White Sox. Yeah,
that's ran an egg today. So does that define okay?
Speaker 1 (12:07):
Yeah, mediocrity, You're just kind of an okay little club?
Speaker 3 (12:10):
Or is it is there.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
Something you can pick up in the pattern about what
it means regarding the team?
Speaker 2 (12:16):
I think it's been tough for them to get on
this past let's say three or four weeks, especially to
get on a better winning streak. I mean last year
we saw thirteen in a row, the year before that
twelve in a row. Because they don't have the consistency
was starting pitching. Because the injuries have really wiped out
all their depth in the rocation. They're at a point
now we didn't know until like twenty minutes ago who
(12:36):
was going to start tomorrow's game because they no longer
have five healthy starting.
Speaker 3 (12:39):
Pitchers who we have out now officially.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
Well, they lose Pablo Lopez and media, yeah, David Festa,
they lose Mick Abel, they lose and then you still
you even have some filling guys Kendriy Rojas and then
see me and when Richardson was so bad that they dfam,
so he's out of the picture.
Speaker 3 (12:54):
And then they're down.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
They still have Joe Ryan who's been great, toadj Bradley
who had been good but is maybe getting a little
wobbly included today. And then they have guy Connor Prelip,
who's probably should still be at Triple A. He's a rookie,
he's been okay solid, and then Zebbie Matthews who began
the year at Triple A because he had a rough
spring training, he's been forced back in and then they
just don't have a fifth guy, and so tomorrow I
(13:16):
think it's gonna be Andrew Moore starting it, and then
it's just going to be all hands.
Speaker 3 (13:19):
On down bullpen game.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
Which teams do that more than they used to, probably, Yeah,
but with Bailey ober Out, who I didn't even mention him,
he's now out shut down for a couple of weeks
and then we'll see. You don't want to do a
bullpen game for more than like one turn through the
rotation because you're just blowing out the bullpen and they've
had enough issues with short starts, so you know, you
do a bullpen game, you're trying to get two or
(13:40):
three innings from a couple guys and then the normal
bullpen distribution after that. You can do that once a
week maybe, but you don't want to like replace ober
Spot in the rotation with bullpen games because then it
affects the game before that, the game after that, and
they're just not in a position from a bullpen standpoint.
We've talked about that all year. The bullpen's just not
that good and so you can't put more weight on them.
Speaker 3 (14:03):
I mean they're struggling just to carry a normal weight
workload wise.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
Updatus on Buxton because I think we all felt like, Okay,
somehow we figured it out where if he's gonna play,
he's gonna play in center field. And then we have
this late stretch where back he's back to dhing.
Speaker 3 (14:22):
Is that fixed? Now?
Speaker 1 (14:24):
Is that?
Speaker 3 (14:24):
Do we have a is he about?
Speaker 1 (14:26):
Are we ushering in a new era of frustration when
it comes to his ability to play center?
Speaker 3 (14:30):
What do you know?
Speaker 2 (14:31):
So he's been back in center a couple of times
now this week he's still to me, doesn't look like
his usual self. But even him at seventy five percent
pretty fast, he's been so good offensively though he's got
like the fourth most homers in the league that you know,
even as a DH, he's their best hitter usually.
Speaker 3 (14:50):
So it does it.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
It hurts them defensively when he's out, and it also
hurts them from like a flexibility standpoint because he's at DH.
Then you have to decide do you want to play
your normal DA somewhere else? Then it's taking someone else's
bat out of the lineup, et cetera. But he's at
least back to where he can play mostly center field now.
But he was dealing with a hip injury, like a
hip strain, which he's had multiple different years that I've
(15:12):
covered him. And then also he banged his shoulder while
sliding into a base on the last road trip, so
then he was struggling to throw. So when you have
two things, they're like, let's yeah, put him at DH.
He's feeling better now, he's at least feeling well enough
to play mostly center field. But the other thing is like,
it's not. I I would much rather prioritize just how
(15:34):
are we getting him his bat in the lineup, because
it's not as if they have a logjam of great
bats that would normally be at first base or DH.
So you know you're taking Josh Bell out of the lineup,
who struggled your you know, Victor carrottin he doesn't play
as much DH or first base. So I mean the
priority is getting Buckston in there. I mean, by his standards,
he's played I don't know, fifty two out of the
(15:56):
first sixty four games or something, it's got seventeen or
eighteen homers. He's probably going to be an All Star again,
so he's been good. But yeah, I mean it's a
situation because of his track record. Anytime he gets banged up,
and anytime he's banged up enough to not play center
because he's always pushing, he wants to play center, and
he also wants to avoid the IL. I think that's
one of the I've covered him since twenty nineteen, and
(16:16):
I think that's one of the biggest misconceptions is whenever
you have a guy who's injured so often, people assume
like he's choosing to sit out right anytime he's not
one hundred percent. My experience with Buckston is the exact opposite.
And sometimes he will not physically hurt himself, but he
will hurt himself by insisting on not going on the IL,
and sometimes it resolves itself, and you know, he misses
(16:38):
less time. But my experience with him is he wants
to play, sometimes to the point that they have to
say to him, it's a long season, your hip's been
a problem, Like let's put you at DH at least
to alleviate some of that.
Speaker 3 (16:51):
Aaron Gleaman dot Com is in studio.
Speaker 1 (16:53):
You mentioned Royce earlier on a home run tear so
what's the path here? What he think the grand plan
is moving forward on him?
Speaker 3 (17:02):
So I think.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
So it's been about two weeks since they sent him
to Triple A, and he's got eight homers in eleven games.
And I think when they sent him down, similar to
when they sent down Matt Walner, like a week earlier,
or not even a week earlier, I don't think they
intended it to be like a two week thing. I
think they intended it to be more of like a
full reset physically mentally, you know, changed the swing, cut
(17:24):
down on the strikeouts, really put together hopefully a month
at Triple A where you're just a good solid player.
But they didn't bank on him hitting eleven or you know,
eight homers in eleven games. And so that is and
I know people will dismiss it that it's against Triple
A pitching, and that's fair. Guys don't do that at
Triple A either usually, And so I think it probably
is enough to make them rethink at least the timeline
(17:45):
of what they expected.
Speaker 3 (17:47):
This demotion to be.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
But the other issue is almost in tandem with sending
him down. A couple of weeks ago, they moved brooks Lee,
who had been the starting shortstop and it struggled defensively
to third base, where which was vacated by royce Lewis
going to triple A. Every indication I've got is brooks
Lee's not moving back to shortstop, and they actually like
him at third base, and I think he can be
a very good third baseman too, much better than he
(18:10):
was at shortstop. And so that blocks a little bit
of a quick return path of like, okay, no harm,
no follow you just crushed triple.
Speaker 3 (18:16):
A for two weeks. We'll just stick you right back
at third base.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
Well, I don't think they're going to disrupt what brooks
Lee's got going on, and so that's why it was
interesting today. In addition to Royce Lewis hitting another hom
or grand slam today, he started at second base, which
he has only played one game in the majors at
second base a couple of years ago, and if people remember,
it was in September of twenty twenty four, and they
kind of approached him and said, we'd like to work
(18:40):
you into the mix of amatic and he didn't love
that idea, and his thing that he said at the
time was, it's one thing to tell me during the
offseason work on second base, or go to the miners
and work on it. But in September of what was
at that point it fell apart, but it was a
Pennant race potentially.
Speaker 3 (18:56):
He basically said, I don't want to.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
Make a fool of myself at second base, and so
I understand that ended up playing one game there. So
now it's like, Okay, well they're probably going to work
him in at second. He's still playing some third at
Triple A. I bet we will see him at first
DH first. I don't think we'll see him in the outfield,
But that adds a wrinkle to the whole. When can
he return because just based on hitting guy hits eight
(19:18):
homers in eleven games, get him back there, But they
can also position it as what we need him to
get comfortable at other positions, because he's not just going
to play third base. So I think maybe what they
have envisioned for him, whether it's next week, two weeks
from now, you come back as more of a super utility.
You play some third, when brooks Ley's out, you play
maybe some second.
Speaker 3 (19:37):
If he looks decent there, you play some first.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
You can certainly be a DH just to get his
bat in the lineup, and I think that's what they
would want to do with him at this point. They
don't want to disrupt Brooksley at third base. The other
thing is, I don't think it makes sense to call
Royce Lewis back up if you're not going to give
him the full runway to play at least.
Speaker 3 (19:54):
You know, four or five times a week.
Speaker 2 (19:56):
And it's very easy to find a spot in the lineup,
even at first base versus left handed pictures, but most
of the time you're going to be facing right handed pictures.
It's a little trickier there because Cody Clements has done
a nice job at first base, They've a few more
left handed bats and switch hitters.
Speaker 1 (20:09):
Has he been humbled enough that he knows he really
can't drag his feet no matter what they have in
mind at this point.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
That's always the question because he's very optimistic, rosy personality.
He's a good guy. But sometimes I think it's people
struggle with some of the things he says, where it's like,
are you is there a self awareness here or understanding
the situation. I will say, though, from everything I've heard
from everyone in Saint Paul and even talking to like
(20:37):
Derek Shelton today about it. You know, I don't think
he was happy with the demotion. Nobody would be, but
he reported to Saint Paul, he went right into the lineup.
He's been hitting homers ever since. Everything that I've heard
from Saint Paul is he's been working hard, he's been listening,
he's not been causing any sort of drama there, And
so I will give him credit. And you know, what
they wanted him to do. It wasn't a demotion to
(20:59):
like get this guy out of our plans forever. They
wanted him to reset and come back and be an
impact player for this season. He still has two years
of team control remaining, whether that's with the Twins in
their plans or potentially he could have some trade value.
Let's say they didn't want to just bury him at
Triple A. They weren't expecting this to happen this suddenly
and this extreme, but they did want him to come back,
(21:21):
And so I do give him credit to take this
in relative stride and put together a monster two weeks
at Triple A and at least put yourself in a
position where you're forcing them to make a decision on you.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
The yeah it you know, well we've talked about the saga.
Somebody's mentioning Royce Lewis Jersey Day is coming up, so.
Speaker 2 (21:40):
June sixth, which is in what three days from now,
Saturday third, Yeah, was supposed to be. It was on
the schedule all year as Royce Lewis Replica jersey giveaway
I think first ten thousand fans at turget Field. So
I noticed like a week ago that that was removed
from the promotional calendar, and then they ended up adding
(22:01):
a Byron Buxton T shirt giveaway that I had previously
not been anywhere to that, but then I heard from
the Saints that they're that same night, June sixth, in
Saint Paul. Now we're assuming he's still in Saint Paul
three days from now, they're doing a Royce Lewis T
shirt giveaway. So now I think that's a clever idea
to sort of you know, a little cheeky, but also
what happened in those ten thousand jerseys, because they're not
(22:23):
giving away the jerseys, so that's why those could be
they're probably given to kids in some you know country.
Speaker 3 (22:28):
I always because you always see pictures.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
Of like champion like NBA champion hats for the runner up,
like I get handed out. That's kind of how I'm
envisioning the Royce Lewis replica giveaway.
Speaker 1 (22:39):
That's, by the way, I think we talked about the
tennis thing before. How vacant is the building right now?
It's pretty vacant.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
I mean, if you look at the number, actually they're
thirty five thousand, I think below last year's pace through
the same number of games. But that includes some tricky
accounting because there was we talked about one game I
think April seventeenth against the Reds, they essentially gave away
twenty thousand tickets anybody who had bought a ticket directly
through them for opening day or the home opener because
(23:10):
it had been delayed by the power outage. So they
just gave everyone a comp ticket, and somehow we're able
to count that as attendance. So there's twenty thousand, you
subtract that they're probably.
Speaker 3 (23:18):
Fifty five or sixteen thousand.
Speaker 2 (23:20):
There's been some other giveaway type stuff, but I will say,
even beyond the relatively slight drop in attendance from last
year was the lowest since the Metrodome days. First of all,
it's I mean, half half of what the announced attendants usually.
I would say it's been a little better now that
the weather's nice, but there were definitely some games in April,
and this is often the case in cold weather cities
(23:41):
where it's like announced attendants seventeen to five and you
look and there's you know, forty four hundred people there
or something like that.
Speaker 1 (23:47):
So have we played enough of the season to get
clues from your standpoint covering this team as to what
the plan is heading into the trade dead law on
for example, Joe Ryan, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:03):
I mean they won't talk about that sort of stuff yet,
but I would say just logically, they're, you know, handful
of games below five hundred. Now, I think at last
year's tread the line they were maybe like six games
below five hundred something like that. If you end up
in roughly the same spot, and this year's deadline, I
think is August third, it's a little bit later than
usual if you're you know, six eight, certainly ten games
(24:26):
below five hundred at that point, which I would probably
project them to be given the state of the rotation,
especially Joe Ryan has the rest of this season and
then one more season after this and then he's a
free agent. If you think you're going to be a
contender next year, then yeah, sure you would want Joe
Ryan at the top of your rotation. But I think realistically,
(24:48):
I'm not sure there are many Twins fans who would
expect them to be contenders next year, and so then
it's a matter of nobody wants to trade Joe Ryan.
He's one of the best pitchers they've developed, and I
don't know since Johan Santana probably, but you also don't
want to lose him for nothing after next season, and
you might get draft compensation or whatever. But if he's
pitching at an all star level come the end of July,
(25:10):
you could get not only more for him than a
draft pick compensation, but more immediate help. You could get
double A or triplay or even major league guys for him.
So my assumption with him has not really changed. It's
if they are solidly below five hundred, I would expect
him to certainly be shopped around, much like last year.
You know, I would have said the same thing about
(25:30):
Pablo Lopez, but now he's out of the picture because
the injury. I think Ryan Jeffers, who was off to
a great start as a as their starting catcher, but
is now out for a couple months with a broken
handmate bone. He's an impending free agent, so that one
makes a lot of sense to trade. Although it's not
always easy to trade a starting catcher because most contending
teams don't have a hole at catcher, it's easy to
(25:52):
trade a frontline starting pitcher because there's never been a
baseball team.
Speaker 3 (25:56):
Ever that couldn't use one more frontline starting pitcher is.
Speaker 1 (25:59):
So we can get what for him, We can get
a Grade A prospect and another player. I mean, how yeah,
how highly regarded is he? You think in baseball circle?
Speaker 3 (26:09):
Pretty highly regarded.
Speaker 2 (26:10):
I mean it's a little tricky because we might also see,
like two times, say young winner Trek Skouble might be
on the block because the Tigers have been so bad.
Speaker 3 (26:17):
It depends what other guys.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
Are being shot around from a frontline starter perspective, But
I would say if Joe Ryan is pitching like this
and is healthy at that point, I certainly at minimum,
I think you would get one top one hundred prospect,
which is sort of the currency baseball that's equivalent to
like maybe a first round pick.
Speaker 3 (26:34):
Let's say you might be able to squeeze a second
one out.
Speaker 2 (26:37):
It also depends, Like last year at the deadline, the
Twins got some good prospects, but they prioritize guys who
were close to the majors or who had already appeared
in the majors. And so instead of let's say, low
a nineteen year old guy, well, you're sacrificing upside for
you know, closeness to the majors and that. So it
depends if they're willing to take some teenage guys who
(26:59):
are three or four years way, you can get higher upside,
maybe multiple top one hundred guys, Versus if you're insisting
on you know, major league ready guys, you might only
get one. But I mean, I would expect Ryan to
have as much trade value as pretty much anybody they've
traded in recent memories.
Speaker 3 (27:14):
So he's signed through next season.
Speaker 2 (27:17):
Yes, he's arbitration eligible for next year. He'll probably make
I don't know, ten or twelve millions to get that.
Speaker 1 (27:22):
So there's two ways to look at having this conversation about,
you know, entertaining the idea of trading him. One is,
who we kidding, We're not really going anywhere, so we're
gonna have to, you know, kind of regroup in a
lot of areas. And so if we can get some
really good, highly valued talent, presumably other pitchers that are
(27:44):
a little bit further away, let's go ahead and do it.
On the other hand, and this is an important distinction
for me at least, if the real reason you say
you might as well deal him is once he's he's
done with his contract, he's gonna there's gonna be demand
for him, and you're not gonna want to afford him
at that point because it's gonna be too much money.
Speaker 3 (28:06):
I hate the psychology of that.
Speaker 1 (28:08):
Well, I even made a place like this where you
go that's what drives people insane, is you gotta trade
him before you lose them because we can't compete for
his salary. To me, that continues to be even for
a team in their payroll positions, self defeating.
Speaker 3 (28:22):
I agree completely.
Speaker 2 (28:23):
It is unfortunate to be in a spot as a
team to even two or three years out to be
sort of counting.
Speaker 3 (28:31):
Down to the guys.
Speaker 2 (28:31):
Free agencies and twins fans unfortunately have experienced that over
decades and decades and different ownerships even but I do
think that's the reality. I mean, he's going to be
in line for what I would say, well over, if
he's healthy, well over one hundred million dollars. What are
the odds of what we know of the Minnesota Twins
right now giving him that sort of contract. And also
(28:52):
if from Joe Ryan's perspective, he's gone through some real
tough times here with the Minnesota Twins, he's true, he
can see finish line of free agency. And even if
they were to say to him.
Speaker 3 (29:02):
Hey, yeah, eighteen months before you're.
Speaker 2 (29:04):
Able to negotiate with thirty teams, what do you think
about taking one hundred and whatever it is? If you're him,
maybe you take that because there's the injury risk and
he's had some injuries, right, But also you've made it
this far. If if you're him and he's made some millions,
he's okay, you're probably thinking, do I even want to
be here with a team that isn't spending and has
(29:24):
it won for a while where I can choose where
I'm from. He's from California. Maybe he wants to play
for the Pods or is it the Giants or whatever
it is. Those teams have money too, I think from
his perspective, and I agree it's unfortunate. It's it's pathetic
really that it's like an impossibility that you might just
sign a guy to a long term contract. But I
do think that's the reality of it. And you know,
(29:45):
what are the odds if you're a player like Joe,
Ryan or even Ryan Jeffers now who's going to be
a fringeent in you know, five months, what are the
odds that the Twins are going to pay you more
than another team would pay you if you just make
it to free agency anyway?
Speaker 3 (29:57):
And then it's do you want to be here? Do
we still assume Buckston wants to be here? Well, that's
the other question too.
Speaker 2 (30:03):
So he's been so steadfast over years and years, and
people saw it like at the All Star Game last
year where the national media interviewed him and stuff, and
I would say, my understanding from talking to him, but
then also just reading stuff that he's said on national stages.
His thing is, I don't want to leave. I want
to finish my career here. My family loves it here,
(30:24):
I love the organization. But I think his other thing
is he's thirty two and as a center fielder, you
know the clock is always taken from an athleticism standpoint.
He's got two more years after this one. He's only
making fifteen million a year. That's not even a top
one hundred salary in baseball. He's healthier than he's been
over the last couple of years. Then he was previously
going to make probably a second All Star Game in
(30:44):
a row. If you're him, it's like, I want to
be here, but I also want a chance to win here.
And if what I really think he expressed at the
end of last year and then even this offseason, I
don't think he wants to be the last man standing.
I don't think he wants to look on that clubhouse
and see the empty Ryan Jeffers locker and the empty
Joe Ryan locker and have a team with a seventy
(31:06):
million dollars pay roll where he's making fifteen and nobody
else is making more than five or ten, and you
just look and you go, I got two or three
years left as a prime player here and then I'm
just sort of wasting it. And again, much like the
Ryan contract, that's that stinks, that that's the scenario, But
he does having no trade. He has made it very
clear in the past that he knows he's not going
(31:27):
to request the trade because he wants to go play somewhere.
But I do think you can push someone to a
breaking point from a competitivist standpoint. I don't think it's
about money. I don't think it's about not liking it here.
I think he loves it here. But also do you
want to win somewhere or do you want to lose here?
And if that's the scenario that they're presenting with him,
I wouldn't blame him for, you know, wanting out or
(31:49):
at least being open to the idea of leaving. But
until he says sort of like the Korea situation around
this time last year, where it was like, well he's
got a no trade, but then it's started to you know,
waiver a little bit and it was like, well you
might take a trade to Houston, and once that comes out,
then the floodgates open until we get some sense of that.
And again that depends on them continuing to not be
(32:10):
competitive this year. Buxton, all he needs to say is well,
I'm open to it, and I think at that point
then the discussion becomes what can you get.
Speaker 3 (32:17):
From for him? You can get a lot for him.
Speaker 2 (32:20):
I mean two and a half years remaining at fifteen
million a year for an all star center fielder that is.
I know there's all the injury stuff with sure, yes,
but the way he's played the last two or three years,
that's a thirty million dollar player, and so there's excess
value in addition to just the impact of the player
that he can make.
Speaker 1 (32:35):
All right, I got some more baseball to get to
when we come back. I've got some basketball to get
to him.
Speaker 3 (32:39):
Believe or not. I have some football way which I
know you don't consider like hockey. Let's do it. We
might get to hockey. We'll see.
Speaker 1 (32:46):
Aaron Gleaman dot Com is in studio Kesler at about
five thirty.
Speaker 3 (32:49):
You are listening to Barrera on the fan. Keep listening
for the next chance to win your way to our
high Hervey.
Speaker 1 (33:29):
All right, Aaron Gleaman dot com. Here is my football question.
It's really not a football question, okay, per se. I
just wanted to say that to sensationalize, to get your attention.
Speaker 3 (33:39):
Yeah, exactly. It. I feel like.
Speaker 1 (33:44):
In the professional sports world right now, there are a
lot of you know, catchphrases and buzzwords that are more
you know, more modern.
Speaker 3 (33:53):
What are our favorite ones? Guardsy, collaboration, laboration.
Speaker 1 (33:58):
But I believe football and football executives and coaches take
the cake on this more than any other. And I'm
curious because you cover baseball all the time. Now do
you hear am I just not paying attention because of
the twins? Do you hear all that same word salad
stuff in baseball as much as we seem to in football?
Speaker 3 (34:21):
Yeah? What do you hear?
Speaker 2 (34:22):
The collaboration aspect is definitely big with baseball because I
think especially with baseball, there's like the flow of information
has to get from sort of the quants in a
front office yeah, to the players on the field, and
that kind of passes through the coaching staff a lot
of the time. And so yeah, collaboration is definitely one
that the front office guys talk about, the coaching staff
(34:43):
talks about of like what you could have the best
information in the world, but if you're not getting it
to a player, and even beyond that, like getting it
to a player in a way that they understand, are
somewhat enthusiastic about it. And I mean that was the
thing with Molitor, who super well respected baseball g beloved
there and it's now doing. You know, broadcast is great,
but they felt like that last season with Maltor. I
(35:05):
remember Ryan Presley was a good pitcher and they felt
like they wanted I think the story went that they
wanted Presley to make some adjustments with his curveball and
they just could not kind of get that information in
his hands in a way that got him enthused. They
trade him to the Astros. Two days later, he's throwing
the new curveball and he's great, And that was like,
it has to be collaborative, it has to be so yeah.
(35:25):
I mean, baseball has its own set up there may
be not as bad as foot because I think what
football has as an outsider looking at it, they also
have the like top secret aspect where they it's like
Fort Knox with everything in football.
Speaker 3 (35:40):
We're in baseball. It's a little bit like we're just
playing baseball here. By the way, is Varlin giving up
a run yet? He speaking of.
Speaker 2 (35:49):
Reliever of the Month in April, and I think his
ra is now lower than it was when he won
Reliever of the Month in April. But the good news
is both players that the Twins got in that trade
are injured.
Speaker 1 (36:00):
So even better. Yeah, it's is what you're saying. Yeah, absolutely,
win win, Yeah, all right, here is my football or basketball?
Okay that would better than football.
Speaker 3 (36:12):
Yeah, no, that's okay. The the I don't know that
we talked about this last time.
Speaker 1 (36:18):
I don't because I don't think the Wolf season was
the Wolf season over when when you last came in.
Speaker 3 (36:22):
Maybe it may have just ended. Whatever. Everybody's got an
idea of what to do. It's fairly clear that.
Speaker 1 (36:29):
Even and I do give conmly credit for this, because
he doesn't speak in words salad or didn't in the
press conference. You didn't have to read between the lines
to say he ain't happy and they're gonna if they
don't do something pretty big on the on the seismic
scale or the Richter scale, it won't be for lack
(36:51):
of trying that I think he says, No, this ain't
gonna work for us. We're not We're not fishing sixth
every year.
Speaker 3 (36:57):
I'm not happy with this.
Speaker 1 (36:59):
But the obviously the challenges well, okay, that sounds good,
but what are you going to do and what do
what do you want? Who's the player out there that
you think is gettable, that you think makes sense for
this club, or do you subscribe to the notion? And
I don't know how you sell this, but you could
try selling it to the owners. Look, we're gonna trade Randall.
(37:23):
We know that, and we hope we can get immediate
help there, but we may end up trading Rudy too.
Speaker 3 (37:30):
And the thinking is it's going to loosen some other
things up for us.
Speaker 1 (37:34):
And but if we do that with Rudy, it may
well be we can get a surprising amount of pretty
damned good, interesting young talent. But we might have a
year take a step back that we gotta we got
to take off what's the term they use in the
in the cliche.
Speaker 3 (37:51):
When you take a year up gap year.
Speaker 1 (37:55):
Where you got to just acknowledge, as hard as that is,
given they've sort of gotten to this one point you
wanted to take the next step, and you got Edwards
waiting because he's anxious. So what interests Aaron Gleaman dot
com Which approach interests you?
Speaker 3 (38:10):
Could you live with a.
Speaker 1 (38:11):
Gap year if if somebody says you, you know what
we're gonna get in three years we're gonna be able
to reach or two years maybe we're gonna be able
to retool in a way that'll keep us viable for
the next five or do you say, can't wait. There's
no such thing as a gap year. As long as
you have Anthony Edwards, we got to go out and
get another star.
Speaker 3 (38:29):
Well.
Speaker 2 (38:29):
I think normally when you have these two monster teams
in the same conference, with Okay See and the Spurs,
it's not a bad idea to be like, Okay, they're
gonna both be really good for the next year or two.
But the problem with the Spurs, and I think is
still probably Oklahoma. They're so young and they have so
many assets that I think they're gonna be good.
Speaker 3 (38:47):
For a while ten.
Speaker 2 (38:48):
So I don't know that like a gap year is
really going to break through there. But my real concern
with that, and I think it's a viable idea. You know,
it's a little bit like the Buston conversation that we had.
The danger if you take a step back for a
year or two is does Anthony Edwards want to take
a step back for a year?
Speaker 3 (39:07):
Joe, right, And let's.
Speaker 2 (39:08):
Say he's willing to do that, but then he gets
to the end of the year or two and they've
you know, missed the playoffs.
Speaker 3 (39:12):
So they finished seventh, or they've been in the plane.
Speaker 2 (39:15):
I mean, the moment he decides he's not happy, then
that is a much bigger issue than anything from a
roster building standpoint beyond him. So I don't know. I
do think I'm on the same page. Like I didn't
love Randall's fit really at any point. He had some
better moments than I expected at various points. But I
think if you can shed that salary and get some
level of value for him, even kind of neutral value,
(39:38):
you can insertain nods into the starting lineup.
Speaker 3 (39:40):
The go bear thing is interesting. I do agree with
you that I think he.
Speaker 2 (39:44):
Is generally more valued by front offices than he is
like the average fan in the NBA. But people love
to goof on you know, Luca making the shot over him.
But the reality is the on off numbers for him
defensively are incredible. Every year he's finishing top five for
defensive Player of the Year. And I think even just
watching the Wolves, you see it like he's incredibly frustrating
(40:06):
at times to watch offensively, and there are situations where
he's not on the court because he's a he's not
an asset offensively, but he's such a tone setter for
what they've been able to do defensively.
Speaker 3 (40:17):
That I worry.
Speaker 2 (40:18):
Yes, I would be very open to trading him, especially
if you can get decent value for him. But my
worry is is he representing more of what we think
of of their defensive identity than maybe we even realize.
Speaker 3 (40:30):
And if you remove.
Speaker 2 (40:31):
Him, it's not as simple as just filling in the
gaps with another big shot blocker or something like that.
But I mean that is the path forward because the problem,
you know, I know everyone wants to trade for Giannis
or something like that, they don't have pick assets to
make that happen. I mean, they're picking twenty eighth this year.
I think the next pick they can trade is like
twenty thirty two or something like that. They can do
some pick swaps, but unless you find some GM who's
(40:54):
gonna go nuts for Randall or go Baer, I just
don't think you can do it. And Louving losing Devincenzo
as sort of a low salary guy hurts on that front.
Two hurts the team, but also hurts their ability to
put together some of these trade packages, which I think
then gets you to like the second tier Either rehab
project like Kyrie Irving or the high risk guys like
a Zion Williamson, where it's just like, do you try
(41:16):
to talk yourself into change.
Speaker 3 (41:19):
For change sake?
Speaker 2 (41:20):
And go, oh, well, Williamson has this upside and then
you maybe get him and a year and you go, well, I.
Speaker 3 (41:25):
Get why everybody's been frustrated with him. But that's like
you said that game.
Speaker 2 (41:29):
I don't think they can just sort of stand pass
because the rest of the conference will sort of pass
them by. And so that's I'm a little I do
agree with you about Conley, like I do enjoy watching
his press conferences relative to let's say Twins Officials press conference. Yes,
because he's not always revealing everything. Answering a question when
someone says, do you guys think you have to make changes?
Speaker 3 (41:50):
He won't go well, I haven't really thought about it.
He'll at least give you some answer.
Speaker 2 (41:53):
And you know, as you said, he is going to
explore every opportunity. And I haven't loved every movie he's made.
I think more often than not, they've they've worked out
pretty well. I mean they've been this is the most
successful period in franchise history. But you at least know
he's going to make every call. He's going to push
every envelope.
Speaker 3 (42:10):
I missed it. Guardie. Did you were you able to
listen to Finchy a little bit with PA to day? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (42:16):
I heard a little bit of it, but I obviously
didn't hear the key aspect of it, which this fascinates me.
I had not heard this one before. I don't know
that I buy it, but here's the quote. We saw
what TJ can do. It was good to see him back.
We finally found the best to play out of him.
He's one of these guys who needs the ball in
(42:37):
his hands more. I think he can play well alongside
Anthony as the primary ball handler.
Speaker 3 (42:43):
I think that's part of the solution there.
Speaker 1 (42:44):
Internally, He's just got to stay healthy and continue to
build on what he did, because part of the solution
everybody says, well, you got to get a guard to
play so that Anthony didn't always have the ball. I like,
I'm intrigued by what TJ represents. I'm still not sure
I'm convinced he's starting guard on a team that wants
to go some places. I don't know, but that's interesting
(43:05):
that that Finchy was was that generous in his conversation about.
Speaker 2 (43:09):
Well, and I think that comes from everybody saw in
the playoffs, like for so much of when Shannon's played
the last two years, it's like stand in the corner.
Speaker 3 (43:16):
Yeah, right, And I think they think his game.
Speaker 2 (43:18):
And in the playoffs we saw they give him the
ball twenty five feet out at the at the top
and he just attacks like almost kind of mini ant,
but going to his left more often, and I think
that was eye opening. I don't know that I buy
him as like a primary ball handler. I think there's
gonna be some issues in terms of you know, turnovers
and stuff there, but as like a microwave guy off
the bench, six man type, especially if NAS is moving
(43:40):
into the starting lineup.
Speaker 3 (43:41):
I kind of like that.
Speaker 2 (43:42):
I still think, you know, what you really need is
a time machine with Mike Conley, Yeah, Mike Conley from
eight years ago or whatever, even five and membos and
that is such a perfect sort of low maintenance ball handling,
shooting threes, tough on defense.
Speaker 3 (43:56):
That ship is sailed with Conley obviously. So I don't know.
Speaker 2 (43:58):
I mean I like Ioh also, yes, but he's not
like a pure point He's more of a secondary wing
attack attack, which I like, and I think they're going
to make an effort to resign it.
Speaker 1 (44:08):
Well, I would put it this way, if you're if
your top four guards can be.
Speaker 3 (44:13):
Edwards, Kyrie, Io, and Shannon, Yes, you got something interesting
going there in the back court, I think, because if
that configuration is realistic, a couple.
Speaker 2 (44:23):
Of them can size up to wing yes if you want,
especially like lighting games. I mean the Kyrie thing, it's
kind of like what we're talking about was like the
risk reward is like, yes, Kyrie pre injury is an
all star perfect fit from ball, hand them shot making.
Speaker 3 (44:39):
What is he now off the injury?
Speaker 2 (44:40):
But then also even without the injury, he's like in
his mid thirties at this thirty two, or there's some
natural aging there with like a small guard maybe, but
I think that assuming Giannis is just kind of a
pipe dream, not doable. I think you know you're into Kyrie.
You're in design that sort of category where it's like
you're not going to feel super confident, but at least
it has some.
Speaker 1 (45:00):
I waited wait too long to get into this, and
so we're maybe we'll just touch the service on it
and get back to it next time. You're on your
initial gut reaction to the owner's proposal about a salary cap,
which just tended to be a non starter. I will
tell you that I thought the numbers within that in
terms of what the floor was the salary cap floor
(45:23):
surprised me and was interesting. And then there's still a
gap I think between the floor and the ceiling of
it was about eighty I think it was from that
range in that rank.
Speaker 3 (45:35):
So I get it.
Speaker 1 (45:36):
You know, the players, this is this has been the
strongest union. But I got to tell you, I don't
think it's an outlandish proposal?
Speaker 3 (45:46):
Is it? For you? Do you think it is?
Speaker 1 (45:48):
The players are locked in as a non starter because
I got to believe upper end players lose money, clearly,
but that a lot of players could look at this
and say, I want anything that will force the teams
were in there every year at sixty million, seventy million,
eighty million dollars that they got to jump up to
double that and more one hundred and seventy What do
(46:09):
you think?
Speaker 2 (46:09):
Yeah, I mean you're taking hundreds of millions of spending
from Dodgers, Yankees, Red Sox, and that's and those are
going to, like you said, the biggest name players. So
from that perspective, those players are like, well, I like
signing four hundred million Dodgers. It's great, but you're then
adding to your point, like a dozen teams are adding
fifty to one hundred million to get upright.
Speaker 3 (46:28):
So the hope is that it sort of balances itself out.
Speaker 2 (46:31):
But if you are a shoe heliet Otani, yeah, the
fact that the Twins and the Guardians are spending an
extra seventy five million and the Dodgers are spending two
hundred million less is not that appealing team. But I
do think for the overall health of the sport, and
this is easy to say from Minnesota. Covering the Twins,
I was also surprised by the floor their first salvo
(46:51):
being one to seven exactly.
Speaker 3 (46:53):
That's what surprised me.
Speaker 2 (46:54):
What I found really interesting about that I heard from
so many Twins fans who are like, the Twins are
at one oh five right now, and Twins are like, well,
how won't the pollet say, how could we ever spend
one seventy Here's the thing when people see these proposals
from quote unquote the league. The league is just the
thirty owners represented by Rob Manfred, So they're not putting
(47:15):
out a one seventy floor when they think half the
league is never going to be able to get to
one seventy. What that is really pulling back the curtain
and nobody will ever see the books for major league
teams like the Twins.
Speaker 3 (47:27):
But it's pulling back the curtain, and it is.
Speaker 2 (47:28):
A giveaway by those thirty team owners as represented by
the League, of saying one seventy is comfortable for most
of these teams.
Speaker 3 (47:36):
We can get to one seventy, and teams like the.
Speaker 2 (47:39):
Twins or the Rays or the Marlins or whatever the
pirates will tell you, oh, we couldn't even you know,
we're losing money at one twenty. This I think is
almost like a admitted like self reporting a little bit
if you scratch beneath the surface of saying, we're proposing
a thing where ten teams who are claiming they'll lose
money at one hundred and twenty are now going to
be forced to spend one that's not going to be
(48:01):
wrecking them because they're agreeing to this as part of
an overall group. But the biggest point that, first of all,
the players have been so steadfast against any notion of
a salary cap, and if they stick to that, then
that's just a moot point and there's gonna be a
lock up and we're gonna miss games.
Speaker 3 (48:16):
So that is really the issue. Will they come off
that at all?
Speaker 2 (48:19):
And it might be a situation where they call it
a luxury tax instead of a salary cap or whatever.
But the real thing that is sort of fueling this
of how can you force these small market teams to
spend one seventy is it's all based around the idea
of central pooling the local television revenue so that the
Yankees aren't making two hundred million versus the Twins making
twenty five million. The problem there is, how are you
(48:41):
going to get the Yankees and the Dodgers's who agree
to that. If you can put all the money into
a pool and sell those rights to Amazon or Apple
for billions of dollars and then split it up something
close to thirty ways, well then you're basically trying to
mimic NBA and NFL, and that's much more doable. But
that is such a massive shift from what baseball has
ever been. And so those are my two doubts. Can
(49:04):
they centralize all the local television revenue, which would be
so huge for teams like the Twins. And then also
will the players come off of the absolute refusal to
even talk about a salary.
Speaker 3 (49:14):
I might take a lockout, like you said, a cancelation
of games to do it.
Speaker 1 (49:17):
We'll see great stuff is always my friend Aaron Gleaman
dot com.
Speaker 3 (49:20):
We don't call him Aaron Gleman anymore. We just call him.
I like that dot com. You don't mind, Matt, do you.
Speaker 1 (49:25):
I mean, I've been called so much worse for sure,
Thank you, appreciate you.
Speaker 3 (49:29):
Tim.
Speaker 1 (49:30):
We'll see him again soon, no question. A little late
guards you for top five. But if you want to
go along, it's up to you because we don't have
Kessler till five thirty.
Speaker 3 (49:37):
Oh we could do that. Yeah, we could do it out.
Speaker 1 (49:39):
Well, wherever you want to do it, we will hear
from Chris Finch and Julius Randall. I like that, and
maybe our new general manager or are you still trying
to find the money quote?
Speaker 3 (49:54):
We can't go long if we're going to play his quotes.
Bumper to bumper with Dan Barrero on the fan from
the one eight hundred Ask Gary Traffic Center. This report
is spawned,
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