#92Noon 10a Hour 4/9 - Ben Goessling/Dan Hayes

The Strib's Ben Goessling on Vikings and NFL Draft conversation, followed by the Athletic's Dan Hayes on the Twins and early season struggles!

Episode Transcript

(00:37):
She was she always like never missinglovely. Yeah boy wasn't need Yeah not

(01:00):
read he did the big with meby listen No morning, Pa, midcheer

(01:29):
from South Saint Paul. What ifthose questions plan all along to let cousins
contract inspired knowing that Jefferson had anextension coming up, so he puts all
ships on the table, gets thistop quarterback, So now he's paying him
for four or five years while youcan pay justin Jefferson, and then we
can see when the salary camp goesin there, maybe gets traded or whatever,
and we can kind of see wherethat goes and maybe that was his

(01:49):
plan all along. Thanks guys,Pa Nordo, Trevor and Fan Cato.
I can't wait for firstus Jamie McCownand try and get that came back that
he lost in that playoff game.Now it's I think we should probably think
about tradon kJ if he doesn't wantto be here for the long haul.
I think we need to dangle thatcary in front of the New England and

(02:10):
War Arizona. What do you boyssay? And it was twenty six Josh
McCown costs the Analyst twenty six brandwith that Nathan Poole piece, Welcome back
to nine to Noon. Ben Gesling, who covers the Vikings for the Star
Tribune to Star Tribune dot Com,is with us now and it's too bad

(02:31):
to a certain extent, definitely toa certain extent that like gambling betting,
I'm not in fact, all right, three too, let me start over.
How much do you know about betting? Not a whole lot? Thank
you? Okay, all right,three too. It's quasi unfortunate with sports
betting on the horizon, the horizonbeing of vast and never expanding horizon.

(02:54):
So maybe not tomorrow, maybe notnext year, maybe tomorrow, maybe next
year that you don't know more aboutthe gambling aura simply for Nordo to do
a parody for a podcast you couldhave that would go but but but Benny
and the bet Benny, Bennye guessingwith guestling. There you go the best,

(03:19):
but Benny lost a bet. Bythe time this becomes legal in Minnesota,
I probably have enough time to getup on this. Yeah, so
beautifully, there's probably enough enough preptime for me to we could make this
a thing. Well what if Imean, Ben Gestling, probably maybe our
most buttoned up guest. So sixmonths into sports betting, things go the

(03:40):
wrong way. Suddenly you start lookinga little bit like the nine to noon
host and the shirts open and allof that. Like I mean, it's
it's a it's a tough industry toget into. Why keep looking at my
chest? You look at my chestevery day, you comment on my v
every single day. Stop staring atmy chest, and I'm gonna go talk
to Emily about it. Like ans OS pat start it out of your

(04:00):
shirt. Eric continually is looking downmy shirt and I'm I'm quite uncomfortable with
it. You know, just likeyou said for years about touching the sides
of other men. I challenge youto go to HR and make that statement.
That's a good point. It's avery good point. So but but
but Benny lost a bet that door. But but but Benny won a bet.
There we go, and there's somany sides to it. But like

(04:24):
you, you would, you wouldhave to know what a teaser is.
I yeah, I know, toplease just be dangerous a pleaser, I
know, Harley, sort of propbet. I had a friend that won
on a parley last night in theNCAA tournament. You explained to me what
it was before he told me howmuch he won. So what do we
have, yukon to under? Hehad? Yes, that was it.

(04:46):
Yeah, you kind of the underand the under hit because kind of a
it was no forget the number,what is it? Just that you said
it over under in terms of thenumber of points the teams combined for in
the game, and there wasn't alot of scoring in that game. So
he hit the under. He beton under in a one. I mean,
it's we talk about so many thingsfrom a biblical standpoint ninety eight percent

(05:08):
of our lives, and I knowyour facial expressions, like when we're talking
about job and you know, likeI watch this comedian last night, you
know, like he was doing thisbit like my wife's over there. Yeah,
and you just lay off for asecond. It was really going to
show to you it was clean.And I know your facial expressions and everything
when we talk about certain gospel centricthings or the Exodus being the gospel of

(05:30):
the Old Testament. But then wego down the road of like parlays and
over under your face changes. Thisis a test for which I'm not prepared.
Yes, but it's okay because you'repassing said test. Okay, so
you know what a money line is. Yeah? What, Well, that'd
be like the the over the negativeone ten thing plus one sixty five and
the business we call it minus.Right. Yeah, I'm not negative.

(05:53):
I'm not in the business. No, I want you to make money as
supplemental income. Okay, you know, because this this very well c be
coming. I mean, who knows. But if it's like if it's a
negative one a minus one ten,sorry, that means if I bet one
hundred and ten dollars, I winone hundred Is that right, Nordo?
Correct? Okay, So I'm fairlyto be dangerous on that. And of

(06:16):
course that would mean they are thefavorite. Correct, So the minus line
would be the favorite plus money whereyou're it's like giving six points in a
spread or something. Right there.You go, see you're ready some of
it podcast is what you're ready todo? Well, we have already got
the jingle. If and Sir Eltonwill give us the rights to the song,
it would not sue us that theideas off of their problem with rights

(06:39):
in music these days. We're figuringit out as we can, and so
are the headaches that I and weare getting. But nevertheless is Nordo.
When they played at the College Stadiumand they walked off against the Jet,
Pardo had a brilliant parody. Itwas it to Teddy skin, was it
Je McKinnon or to Teddy? Idid it. I did it twice.

(07:02):
I did it to Teddy and theJet when they when they got Teddy and
Jack McKinnon, and then it wasto Teddy beat the Jets. Yeah,
to walk off to Jerrius that theonly problem with that is that I didn't
have the rights to that song.And now twenty percent of my paycheck for
another three years, I think beforeit clocks out, those are the rules.
It goes to BMG. Yeah heplayed. He played twenty point one

(07:25):
seconds of it and to costume sixgrand Yeah, one's my four oh one
k right, only cow. Ididn't realize they were that tight on it
tough. How did how did youfeel Sunday filling in for Barrero wentch I
thought it went fairly well. Itwas interesting. I feel like I learned
a lot about almost sitting in thatchair more than sitting in this one,

(07:46):
just because like trying to hit thebrakes and line up segments to a way
that doesn't bleed over or you geteverything that you need to get out of
a guest, or all of thatkind of stuff. It was that part
was the trickiest part of it.But I think it was a good first
run. I feel like I woulddo better with it on that part of
it the second time. Ben BenBen Benjamin, Benny, Benny, but

(08:07):
Benny and his best Ben Ben BenOkay, the guy with three chins in
the corner. Any words, phrasesor thoughts you wish you could take back?
Any words phrases are thoughts that Iwish I could take back. You
know, I'll have to go backand watch the tape. I'm sure that
there will be things that pop upwhen I go back and listen to it
again, and you know, assessingit right afterwards is probably a little difficult.

(08:31):
It's been a couple of days,but I need to go back and
watch and listen to the tape onemore time. I'm sure there were some
There's always things you can improve.Bj bg bg bg Ben Ben Ben Ben
Ben to the guy? Can wego to the guy in the corner?
Yeah? Hey, what was itlike talking about the Boston Marathon on the
radio? It was fun, Imean that one. Honestly, I felt
as comfortable with that segment as anythingbecause it was your wheeling. It's very

(08:54):
much in my wheelhouse. Yes,the Vikings are talking wolves. That took
a little bit more research. IsI just I'm so much in a Vikings
tunnel. But the running stuff wasvery easy and it was fun to get
pick care of Goucher's brain selfishly aboutfloss and marathon tips. Okay, time
for two more, Ben Ben BenBen Benny Benny Benny Benny Benny Ben.

(09:15):
Let's go over here to the guywith the with the hair. There was
a there were reports via social media, so you know, not not official
reports. Yeah, that you know, between you and fellows scribe Alex Lewis,
who hosted a show earlier in theweek Monday again am that your camp

(09:35):
was saying a response to that performancewill be that of greatness. Do you
feel you came through with that responseSunday in response to Alex hyperactivity the previous
Monday. You know, that's foryou guys to decide. My job is
just to go out there and giveone hundred and ten percent, and I
feel the guys in this room knowwhat we did and for you guys,

(09:58):
you can make all the ranking youwant, You can speculate all you want.
That's that's your job. That's whatgets the clicks. I understand that.
But I just tried to go outthere and do my best for my
team that day. All right,last one? Ben Ben Ben Ben?
Are you giving your best when yourbest is required? Norto, When you
were sitting in that chair on thatparticular day, in that particular time slot,
did you sense at any point intime some sort of aura of pessimism?

(10:24):
You know how reporters and columnists are. They want the controversy, they
want the negativity. Give it tous. Meaning sitting in that spot that
I feel I needed to live upto said aura. Yeah, I suppose
a little. I feel like Iaped a little bit of the mannerisms and
there was probably a little bit ofa Barrero because I've listened to Berra for
a long time, so there wereprobably some things that I was doing subconsciously

(10:46):
that I did tell somebody. Ifelt a little bit like a Berrero cover
band in spots when when you're cominginto al Green and I didn't do the
like this is your you know,insert your thing here, leader thing.
I wasn't going to do that.But I felt a little bit like that
sitting in that spot. So yeah, there was probably a little bit of
that, that aura floating over thewhole thing. And I understand said aura,

(11:07):
like there have been days recently whereI'll be talking to people outside and
I'll be like Van Ginkole Grenard,Aaron Jones, let's play what a wonderful,
wonderful off season piece of work byQuasia Dooflamensa via Free Agency. Then
I sit in the chair and it'slike, he's an idiot if he doesn't

(11:28):
trade Justin Jefferson, If Jefferson doesn'twant to be he said it. Yeah,
so it's the chair, It's it'snot the heart or the purse.
Sure. Ben Gaslin at Ben Gaslinvia Twitter. I filled in for Barrero
on Sunday Sermons, and he'll getan opportunity to do more of that.
Did a fantastic job. Any ideawhy Spielman went to splashing guaranteeing the Vikings

(11:50):
would trade up for JJ McCarthy,then suggesting they trade justin Jefferson. Any
idea? I mean, that's outof body for you. Yeah, it
is a little bit. I don'tknow, so if he has intel.
I don't think the Jefferson thing isgoing to happen. I just don't,
and maybe I'll be surprised by that. But all of this speculation, I
get it that the contract's not doneand they have to figure out the quarterback

(12:13):
stuff, and there's reason to sayuntil it's done, all of these things
are our fair possibilities. Now.Rick also is a guy that traded away
a couple of receivers for first roundpicks in the past, so he has
some experience in that area, nointent to do it, but ended up
doing it because it just I supposejust happened with Percy Harvin. But the

(12:35):
JJ McCarthy thing I think is legitimate. I think there's certainly a possibility that's
what they end up doing, becauseI have said it, I said it
Sunday, I've said it on here. I think Drake May is somebody they
like a lot. I do notthink it's Drake May or Bust. I
don't think they've looked at this quarterbackclass that way and said, we have
only one guy that we can behappy with, and the reality is to

(12:58):
get him you may have to getup to three. Probably if the Patriots
won him So if that doesn't happen, if the Patriots said this is our
next guy, this is our successorto Tom Brady, and you can't move
them off of that, you stillhave to have another plan. And I
think there are a lot of quarterbacksin this class that they think can be
successful NFL starters for a long time, and it would not be more than

(13:20):
a handful. We can define ithow we want. Well, no,
but a lot. I said itbefore you got here. I'm like,
hey, deep wide receiver draft,like twenty twenty, you got sixteen seven,
you got twelve to eighteen. Whogets second contracts? Deep quarterbacks draft,
you get a hand right, maybesix or seven eight who get second
contracts as high level backups are starters. Yeah, you're right, And it's

(13:43):
not going to be a lot becauseit's never very easy to do it.
And it was interesting. So mydad sent this question in on Sunday and
I didn't get to it, andI thought back on it's like, this
is actually a really interesting question inthe pace of Oh, there's all these
texts coming in and how do Iget through them all? I didn't see
it, but he said, ifthey were to draft somebody that was Dante
Culpepper level, is that a successfulpick? And you always go into this

(14:09):
thinking, good question you need itis a really good question. I thought
it was pretty thought provoking because wealways think this has to be the fifteen
year guy. This has to beyou know, somebody who's gold jacket immediately,
and if it's not, it's afailed pick. It's like, well
maybe, but if you get somebody, especially if they're good on that rookie
contract. We've seen teams go tothe super Bowl with Jimmy Garoppolo, Jared

(14:31):
Goff, who are not going tobe gold jacket type players. But if
you make a run with one ofthose guys, especially when they're cheap,
is that a successful pick. Idon't know the answer to that. I
think if you're going to make themove that it would take to get up
there, you certainly want somebody thatis going to be your answer to Patrick
Mahomes, you know, go ondown the list. But if you get

(14:54):
somebody that is able to be successfulfor six or seven years, is that
enough from that spot? I thinkthere's gonna be a lot of discussion on
that. A lot of people mayhave different opinions on it. When he
said it. It's like, that'sa really interesting exercise because do we set
the bar too high on the quarterbackthing? There were like one hundred and

(15:15):
two quarterbacks drapped in the top tenin the Super Bowl era. I look
this up on Sunday. Fifty twohave been to a Pro Bowl, so
about half then. I think itwas like thirteen that had ever been a
first team All Pro and only eightthat are in Canton. That number.
I'll go up with Mahomes and Burrowand some of these guys, But there
is a much higher chance of gettinga guy that is like Pro Bowl level
a few times than there is gettingthe guy that's going to just change your

(15:37):
franchise forever. So where do youhit the standard, I guess is the
question. I don't know how muchor how closely you listen to either the
CBS podcast with Spielman or him withCharles Davis. Yeah, that thirty thirteen
thing mostly just saw the aggregated clips. Yep, same here and then Nordo
played him back yesterday. But whenhe said they are going to overpay to

(16:03):
move up in the draft to takeJJ McCarthy emphasis on they are, The
Jefferson part was they should so wehave conjecture, so we have we have
steam. I believe it to besteam, or he doesn't say are and
then it's like, you know,that's right, you should And so like

(16:25):
the road we went down yesterday withJefferson was if you if it's it's it's
reported. I mean you've said ithere before that there was a deal for
Justin Jefferson that was not to hisliking, and that deal would have made
him one of the one, twoor three highest paid whatever overall players in
the NFL. Okay, so ifhe and or they the constituents chose not

(16:45):
to sign that, then when Cousins, a preferred quarterback of his, was
coming off a boffo season and wouldget better the next year before the Achilles,
Well, if that's the case,and now Cousin is gone, right
and it shrouded in questions, notcontroversy, but questions, Well, then

(17:07):
if you if you don't think thathe is going to acquiesce to any form
of contract and work through whatever you'regoing to do next offensively, you kind
of have to consider in a coupleof weeks being like as hard as this
is to swallow, Yeah, okay, So the first thing in the image
conscious game and world would be howdo we sell it? How do we
sell it to the fans? Youtell the truth. He didn't sign a

(17:32):
contract that was this, and wewent up here and he wasn't interested in
this. What are we supposed todo? Yeah? You see what I'm
saying. Yeah, So that's that'sa at least a consideration in a couple
of weeks. Yeah, and Ithink it's fair to discuss it. I
don't think that's where their mindset isat. My understanding is that they got
and Quisy uffle Mets I think hassaid this that they got very close to

(17:53):
having a deal. I think itwas a couple of million dollars over the
life of the deal, and itwas more like, I want this,
and it's really close to that,but it's not quite there and it's still
two years out, So let's let'snot do it with something that I'm only
ninety percent happy with. I thinkthere was a lot of that that went
into the negotiations last year, basedon the conversations I've had. But you're

(18:18):
right, he doesn't have to justsay, Hey, Sam Darnold, whoever
it is, I'm good with it. I'm signing the way that the rest
of my prime. Because the guy'sonly twenty four years old and has a
long time yet to be productive,so he does want to know and has
a vested interest in having a quarterbackthat can help him be as productive as
Kirk Cousins was, which is whyI think Kevin O'Connell has made a point

(18:40):
to say, hey, this iswhat we're thinking. I'm gonna keep you
in the loop every step of thisprocess. Doesn't mean that you get the
final say in what we do,but I do think trying to keep him
on board with the overall we haveyour best interest at heart in this quarterback
process is why Kevin O'Connell is makingthe effort to do that great and I
think it's smar a super long shotthat he's not on this team. Yep

(19:03):
for a second deal agreed, Butit's not a zero sure. I might
have said at one point it's azero that yes he is, he will
be in proclamation in proclaiming fashion,but maybe that it just incrementally is not
the case right now now. Toclose this segment is just just with with
the things the former general manager said, which which you know I think are
pretty big. The way he executedit. I love Rick and and he

(19:27):
was very kind and open with mewhile he was here. But to a
man had had his predecessor said they'lloverpay to trade up for a quarterback.
He then identifies my name and thensays what other choice do they have that
would have upset Rix Bielman greatly?Yeah, I mean so that's why I'm

(19:49):
saying, why did he do it? There is a reason. I don't
know the reason, but he identifieda name. And of course you know
this isn't gonna splash nationally because it'sa seven win operation and they're they're paying
attention to a lot of different thingsthat have wint O operation. Yeah,

(20:10):
it's massive because of they will himforget the overpay opinion him and then the
what what? What other choice dothey have? I just think, with
all due respect, and again I'mvery fond of Rick and great to me
when he was here. I thinkthat's disrespectful man to the coaching staff here
to say, whatever choice do theyhave? Oh? Really? I mean,

(20:32):
so they can't take Panix or Nicksor Rattler or or Tulangai or whatever
and do anything with it. Howcan you say that? Yeah? It
is an interesting thing. And theother point there too is that the scouts
in that front office are mostly guysthat he brought in, So I don't
think about that. Yeah, Imean there's still whether it's Jamal Stevenson,
whether it's Ryan Munnin's a lot ofthe scouts towards the top of that department,

(20:53):
whether it's Robert Zinski in the CAFdepartment. There are a lot of
connections there of people that know RixBuelman still are very fond of Rix s
Buelman. And then, yeah,it does put everybody in a little bit
of an odd spot, I think. But yeah, I mean that does
become the game. You get outand then you can inject opinion or information,

(21:15):
speculation, some blend of all threeof those things into the process,
and he's got the opportunity to dothat now he's got a microphone. So
yeah, it's always a little bitof a weird shift when you go for
being the guy making the decisions tothe guy commenting on the decisions. Yes,
but in a very short amount oftime that's Ben Gesling, And when
we return, we'll land the planeon this conversation and with what former Vikings

(21:37):
general manager Rix Buelman said the Vikingswill trade up and draft JJ McCarthy.
The question for the scribe is goingto be, is Rick right. We'll
be right back, Larry from Rockford, And I was just wondering what would

(22:02):
have what would have happened if MichaelPennox would have won that that National championship
game. Would we be talking aboutMichael Pennox in the top four and JJ
McCarthy is just a byproduct of losingthe National championship or would this talk still
be the same where JJ McCarthy hashead of Michael Pennox. I don't think
we can go on either way,and we should sit back and take d

(22:23):
and Michael Pennox nice talkback on aday that we are giving away tickets to
the draft party at us Bank Stadiumtwo weeks from Thursday, for a talkback
that very well could win. Butthe way he framed it up was if
Penix had gone lights out and wonthat championship game, would we be discussing

(22:45):
him differently, not only compared toJJ McCarthy, but just like discussing him
Definitely, for me the answer wouldbe no, because I know incrementally a
little more about him now than Iknew when he played in that championship game
yea, simply by just not followingit that closely. So for me it'd

(23:06):
be no, what about you?Yeah, I think that's probably the case
for me as well, because especiallywhen you talk about accuracy as much as
Kevin O'Connell does, that is oneof the big questions with Pennix and would
it fit in this offense. Istill think that question would be there,
and I don't think, I mean, certainly, performances in big games stick
out in the evaluation process. Thisis one thing that Rix Bielman used to

(23:27):
talk about a lot, is thatthey put a lot of stock in how
players played in big games because ittells you what they do in the most
NFL like competition they're going to face, and also how they do on big
stages. So those games do factorinto the evaluation process. However, I
don't think if factors so much intoit that if he had played well,

(23:49):
it would lead them to say,well, all these other concerns we might
have, let's put those aside becausehe was really great in one game.
I don't think that would tip theskin that much. Yeah, I agree,
And and like quick twitch, youknow, for just having not watched
a lot of what he's what he'sdone, and and I don't think you
have either. Yeah, yeah,I'm gonna sit here and speak for you,

(24:11):
but like if I were to speakfor you like this, I'd say,
well, you know, I don'tthink he watches that much. A
lot of things are going on duringthe football season. He's described got to
get Sunday pieces ready, then yougot to travel, you gotta write the
game, the game or come backfamily, don't think but like quick twitch
Penix injuries, yeah, four ofthem. Yeah, okay, there was
a transfer, but then the injuriesand then some things you definitely like about

(24:33):
how he moves and he's got aswivel, he's looking off safeties. I
mean yeah, they're definitely good thingsthat you can share, even in cursory
fashion not following somebody that closely.But you know, let's let's just let's
just let's be honest here is wemay not come out and tweet break or
go Spielman on it. Yeah,they're going to trade up. They're going

(24:56):
to well forget the opinion part.They're going to trade up and draft JJ
McCarthy, probably with the fourth pick. We may be able to say something
like that, but we don't.Yeah, you know, so we're more
reliant on people with whom we've establishedrelationships or and of trust yep, and

(25:17):
guess what, they know more aboutit than us. Sure, and you
don't come out and say so andso said this word for word. It
helps you shape your opinion, right, Yeah, no doubt. And that's
a lot of the job is startingto get as good of a sense as
you can of what you think isgoing to happen from people that are closer
to it than you are, andpeople that know more about it than you
are, and you try to relayas much of that as reliably and honestly

(25:38):
as you can to people who arefurther away from it in the sense of
they don't have the access that wehave. So beautifully said, that's what
the job. I mean, thesingular of media is medium. So you
are in the middle of the teamand the fans, and your job is
to convey information from that you learnfrom one to the others that want to

(26:02):
know about it. So, Imean, that's that's what you try to
do. It's not a perfect process, especially this time of year. It's
never a perfect process. But yes, a lot of it is just trying
to form as complete a picture asyou can with interactions that you have with
as many people as you can,and certainly the ones that you trust the
most. Very interesting the way youput that. The singular of media is

(26:22):
medium. All right, So BennyG is a game changing running back who
plays in West Palo Alto. Let'sbe a different PENNYG because it's not me,
it's so but it's and his batsdoesn't have a quick stride because of
all the distance running. So youare a running back for the Stanford Cardinal.
Well, what's the plural of everybodyon the team. Well, Cardinals

(26:48):
would be a bird, but Ithink cardinal for them is a color.
Yes, but I'm saying it's there. The Stanford Cardinal baseball team is the
Saint Louis Cardinals. Z. Yes, so is when describing as an leadscribe,
is the Stanford Cardinal and it?Or are they? Well, it's
funny that you mentioned this because thishas been a debate at the Star Tribune
for a long time because we havea singular team in this market. Is

(27:12):
it the wild is or the Wildr? Wow? And I can't remember
what our style is on that.I know it's different because I covered the
wild of the Pioneer Press and thePioneer Press is style on this is different
than the Star Tribunes. I thinkwe were the wild is at the Pioneer
Press, which is probably typically howyou would put it. But with every
other team when it's a plural,it's Minnesota is the Vikings are, and

(27:37):
I think we do Minnesota is thewild R, not Minnesota is the wild
is. So this it's a weirdand the wild is it is? The
wild is it is? But Ithink AP style would be that it is
and is. But we have changedit and said it is an R because
that's how we do all of ourother teams. Yeah, so I think
it's where we landed on that doesAP style, I al associated Press style

(28:02):
still have goodbye as b why itcould be b y or b ye.
Yeah, I typically be ye,but you know what I'm talking about.
Yeah. And and finally, youryour thoughts on dangling prepositions. Dangling preposition
here and here's how I asked it. Say you're tweeting, so because you're

(28:22):
not going to write in a ina gamer, he can go back where
he came from. But a columnsmight right, So it's not ap style.
In the business, we call itthe English language. Yeah, it
technically is he can go back towhere he came from, or are you
he can go back whence he cameI typically go the third door with that.

(28:44):
I don't do the like super stuffysounding phrase, but I also the
other ones. I'm enough of aword nerd that the the dangling preposition annoys
me, so I just typically findanother way to say it. He can
go back to his home or changeit. I just changed change. I
just take the other door out ofit. Typically, yep, for sure.
All right, Time for one moreBen Gesling, by the way,

(29:07):
speaking to writers, good piece byScoggins chatting with the former Gopher's defensive coordinator
Joe Rossi about quarterbacks. Strike Mayand JJ McCarthy Nordo shared some yesterday.
What did you pull from it?Yeah, glad you brought that up,
because that was one of the thingsthat I had on my list of things
to get to on Sunday that Ididn't get to. So good chance we
get a second round at it,both with my dad's question and Chip's column.

(29:30):
So this worked out very nicely.Do you often find when you are
preparing a game script, you havean elite play unsaid game script like the
Scoggins piece, and you don't getto it. Yeah. I mean,
you know, you go in witha plan, you have all these ideas
of what you want to do.But obviously those guys get paid too.
I don't know who the other guysare this, Oh chaloge you ben sure

(29:52):
you do? Thomason used to workfor them. Yeah, the clock gets
paid and the the ads have tobe read, so I mean you have
to you have to adjust. Alot of this game is about making adjustments.
So what are your thoughts on thecolumn? Yeah? I thought it
was pretty interesting. He felt like, if you're going to have a drop
back offense, I think that wasthe big takeaway for me. Rossie basically
said, if you're going to playa drop back game, Drake may is

(30:14):
your guy. If you want togo more play action RPO stuff, a
little more structure to help the quarterback, he thought JJ McCarthy was better.
That I thought was pretty interesting becausethey certainly have a lot of that in
their offense. They have play actionstuff, but you do need a guy
that can drop back and rip it, so you know that's one opinion.
Obviously, that's one guy that hasfaced him, faced both those quarterbacks.
It's not maybe the abiding opinion onthe whole thing. But I did find

(30:38):
that interesting because that comparison would sayto me that Drake May probably fits better
than McCarthy. Now do the Vikingsshared that opinion that Joe Rossi shared.
That's what we'll have to see andhow much do you adjust the offense if
it is in fact JJ McCarthy.But that was I think the interesting takeaway
of that story for me was thatcompare that he made of how they fit

(31:00):
in those particular offenses. Do thirtyseconds you get it off? So with
Spielman's proclamation two and a half weeksin front of the draft, do you
think he'll be accurate? Do youthink he'll be right they'll trade up for
JJ McCarthy or are you not farenough down the road yet to commit.
I'm not far enough down the roadto commit. I do see the challenge

(31:22):
of getting to Drake May. Ifin fact you think you have to get
to three to get him, Ido think that's going to be more difficult.
I think the Cardinals not needing aquarterback that may be an easier spot
to get too, so that maychange what they're able to do. I
think they have spent a lot oftime with both of those guys. I
know they are very fond of Mayand I think they have a good opinion
of JJ McCarthy as well. Butit may be easier to get to four.

(31:45):
So if it does, in factgo that way, I certainly see
that as a plausible option. Let'sput it that way. Dan Hayes from
the Athletic around the Corner on theTwins. Lastly, I can't forget to
read this text for you that Igot from my friend Lan Anderson Lonnie Anderson
church friend, also runner. Infact, he's run, He's competed in

(32:06):
mile events against Sebastian Coe. Yeah. So yeah, he writes, give
Ben my very best for the BostonMarathon. Remind him he will be running
into prevailing wins and he's done this. Yeah, he's done Boston Marathon many
times, several times into prevailing winsthe entire distance. So pick out somebody

(32:27):
equally paced and use the drafting technom. Yeah, and you'll be a beast.
That's a good piece of advice.I've gotten a lot of good little
Boston tips in the last week.That's a really good one. So thank
you Lonnie for that. I'm definitelygoing to use that. Sorry to the
guy that I'm going to take advantageof and uses a drafting part of the
all the way through. But yeah, well I've been running behind David Ortiz,

(32:47):
makes sense. Love you, goodluck, thank you, and stay
healthy and we'll see you when wesee you. Okay, sounds good and
guestling b writer for the Star Tribunecovering the Vikes. Dan Hayes covers the
Twins and Baby Baby, Baby,Baby Baba. Hey, Dan Hayes.

(33:21):
It's Paul Allen. How have youbeen good? Thank you? Yeah,
thanks, I'm thanks for taking timeto join the old nine to noon radio
show. Dan Hayes at Dan HayesMLB of the Athletic and the Athletic dot
Com Big Bat Dodgers are in town, beat the Twins last night at target
Field, and Dan the Man onthe Fan erstwhile disco. Dan chronicled the

(33:43):
action for the Athletic well with thelocal nine virtually punchless into the night again.
Is it the quality of pitching earlyin the season they are facing Dan
or just super slow to go withthe bats and good morning. Yeah,
I one, maybe the quality ofpitching. You know, look, April,

(34:06):
the ball doesn't This is a teamthat likes to hit home runs and
that you know, they know theball doesn't go far in April, and
they've rock Obaldelli hitting coaches have beenon them to try and shorten up their
swings when the ball doesn't go asfar, because you're not going to hit
home runs unless, of course,your show hal atonic. But you know,
like they they have tried to addressthis, they have not done very

(34:30):
well at it so far. Theattempts have been there. The coaching staff
has spent the last couple of weeksof spring training and saying, look,
we're going to do this for theend of the year. It's hard to
score runs in April. You know, you're just not going to hit home
runs, and really it is notThe players have not executed so far,
and it's tough. Look there thereyou can say, you know, they've
had four off days in the firsteleven days of the season. That is

(34:52):
difficult to establish rhythm. I doget that without question, but you know,
at the same time, the otherteams are having kind of wonky schedules
too, and you know, youlook at Cleveland, they handled the days
off here well. I mean,it just has not been a very good
start. In fact, you couldmake a point that the best offensive moment

(35:14):
they've had all season was the firstany of the first game when Royce lewis
homeward and then he gets hurt,and everything has been pretty rough since then.
I mean, I know, theyscored some runs in Kansas City and
they won two of three, andthey had a nice comeback in Milwaukee,
but it has been ugly. Youknow, they're right now twenty sixth straight

(35:34):
plate appearances without a hit with arunner and scoring position, and the way
you keep that going and then ata low key level was like last night,
where you just don't have chances.They only him two last night,
and it put them in a toughspot because, man, the pitching was
great last night from Bailey ober thatit laid a lot of fears, I
think with the fan base after hisdisaster and the opener in his first start.

(35:58):
But you know, you're you're askedto protect a two to one leading
gets that Dodger lineup, and theyturned to the bullpen, and they liked
the matchup there with their lefty andDodgers had six lefties coming up in a
span of eight batters, and showhe Tani trying the way to flip a
little double down the left field lineand Freddie Freeman hits a blooper and all

(36:20):
of a sudden, it's a tiegame, basically, And that's that's how
quick things can turn for a teamwhen it's not going well right now.
And boy at the offense is it'smiserable. I mean, you just look
at it. There's there's a fewguys that haven't had their first hit of
the season yet. You know,there's guys that are one for twenty,
guys that are one for twelve,and it's eight games in, so the

(36:40):
sample size gets very skewed, yousee it. You know, if this
was in June, you wouldn't knowit nearly as much. But it's at
the start of the season, andman, it's it's ugly and not fun.
Any weird reaction to show, heyOtani given the betting boondoggle, I'm

(37:00):
sure there has been. I mean, I'm sure there have been jokes made
in the press box that I wouldnot know anything about. But no,
you know, shoe hater, Donnieis pretty beloved. He's such an incredible
player and we saw it last night. What he can do, I mean
is there's maybe some skepticism around baseball. I wouldn't be shocked. We did
have the windows mostly shut last night, and so you couldn't hear crowd reaction.

(37:25):
Have a better sense for that tonight, But I think the overwhelming sentiment
is, boy, this guy's amazing, and fans just come to watching them
there in awe of him. Imean the way the opposite field home running
hit last night was a good pitchand he's just strong enough to hit it
out where most guys that ball getscaught on the warning track. And he's
just so big and strong. Heis a fun player to watch, and

(37:49):
he just started getting hot, youknow, maybe four or five days ago.
And that's not great for the Twinsbecause he can outscore them by himself
without question. Yeah, it's it'sshow. Hey O, Johnny who three
or five with that home run?Of all the batters you watch on a
daily basis, what makes him different? You know what? The thing I

(38:09):
like the most is the sound Ihear when he off his bat, and
there was a home run. Ithink it was Dodger Stadium. It may
have been at Wrigley Field. Ican't remember, but it was in the
last couple of days, and I'veheard it once or twice in person before.
I think it was Anaheim, maybehis first year. The bat has

(38:30):
a different sound too, and maybeit's just a different bat that he uses.
I don't know that what the caseis. But the ball comes off,
he takes some swings that you're like, how does a guy make contact
up there and drives the ball withincredible strength. But the fact that he
can come back and beat you know, Steven Okert the way that it happened

(38:51):
last night with the double, justflipping it. And that's the part that's
kind of probably gonna be maddening forpitchers is this guy is so strong,
he has the potential at forty tofifty home runs, and yet he's a
good enough hitter. Where Okert madea decent pitch and he flipped it and
kept it fair down the left fieldline and started the game time rally with
the double. And I mean,honestly, I would say that like pitchers

(39:15):
would take that over getting beat withthe home run every time, because that
ball usually gets caught, but hejust finds ways to beat you. And
it's so impressive. Dan Hayes theAthletic covers the Minnesota Twins. Right's about
baseball at Dan Hayes MLB. Allright, So how about the Dodgers.
I mean, they snagged Johnny fora bank breaking deal. They also pluck

(39:37):
tay Oscar Ernandez from the Mariners andhe's pretty darn good and it's just an
embarrassment of riches out Chavez Ravine wayright. Oh yeah, I mean they
probably their payroll is like the GDPof a small country. It's ridiculous.
And you know, I mean they'rein an fortunate spot. They draw three

(39:59):
million fans every year and they havea spectacular TV deal and those things are
very nice that some things look they'rethey're an elite club, and about five
clubs in baseball really can say thatmaybe maybe we get six seven where they
get the fans no matter what,and that really helps. And the fact
that al Tani took the deal hedid where most of the money is deferred,

(40:22):
you know, like they can takethe money basically that they're paying him
and invest it and and you knowknow that they're going to pay him way
less than they're actually on paper payinghim because the value of money over time.
You know, obviously they knew whatthey were doing with the deal with
him, and the fact that hewas willing to take that deferred money says

(40:43):
a lot about him and his desireto win, because we're not going to
see their pitcher that they got fromJapan in this series for three. They
spent three hundred twenty five million onhim, and we're not going to see
him. They you know, theywent out and essentially on two players,
spend a billion dollars this year betweenyah Moto and Otani, and that's a

(41:04):
pretty crazy response to losing to theDiamondbacks in the playoffs. But that's what
the Dodgers did and they can affordit, and Tony pushing the money aside,
they allowed them to do some things. But it's weird they still have
flaws because Mookie Betts is a reallygood athlete, and I mean he's an
incredible bowler, he's an incredible pingpong player, he was an outstanding outfielder,

(41:25):
Gold Glove winning outfielder, and hebasically said, yeah, I'll try
shortstop. Why not? And thatthat is weird to me that this team
has this incredible payroll and they're takinga first time shortstop, given how important
that position is. It's a niceexperiment for right now, but I think,
you know, if they want tosurvive in the playoffs when everything gets
tight, they'll need a real defensiveshort stop there. And you know,

(41:47):
play moockey bets at second base orputting back in the outfield. He's doing
a good job right now, butit's a long season, and you know
it's that's a tough, tough positiondefensively, and it means so much shit
pitchers. And I don't know whythey went out and spent money on the
way they did when they were goingto go in with a flawed shortstop,
but you know they they are byfour of the favorites in the NL,

(42:10):
and for good reason. Perhaps apermissible press box joke involving the Otani slash
translator thing that's above board would betalking about the deferred money. Well,
what's his deal this year? Well, I think it's twenty million and a
parlay to be named later. Ialways love that. I think you can

(42:30):
probably get away with that. Ithink so. I think so, And
you know, like I wanted totweet whoever caught the home run ball last
night to make sure that they,you know, asked for some different like
make sure that they got to keeptheir family together when security came to negotiate.
I mean, yeah, it's weird. He has had an interesting start
to his Dodger career without questions.Well, I'm watching, you know,

(42:52):
I'm watching an ending or two oftheir their games at Wrigley and Otani misses
a home run by like three inches, and if I'm a Dodger fan,
I'm kind of like, well,that was a teaser. I always love
that one. Oh man is barelywhere's the Yeah, where's the rim shot
with that one? All right?Last one a minute and fourteen seconds?
You get it off. By theway, with Taoscar, I'm saying that

(43:15):
right correct, it's Oscar Hernandez.Yeah, yes, so you got your
main man, Taoscar, and theygot show Hey and so on, and
then the picture that you talked about, uh for three twenty five. Well,
by the way, they added theRays arguably one of their best pitchers,
Tyler's las. Now who goes today? I mean, are you in
favor of a salary cap in baseball? Or you're like cool. I'm cool

(43:39):
the way it is. And uh, and what's your answer? I think
more that we need a salary floor. I think what I think that teams
should be required to spend a minimum. I don't think what the Pirates and
the Open A's do is okay.And you know what, the teams that
can earn it should be able toearn it and spend it however they want.

(44:00):
If the Dodgers are wanting to reinvest, let them players are. You
know, it's the free market allthat the players are more than deserving of
getting this money that they help bringinto baseball. So I don't want to
see teams limited on what they canspend. I do want to see the
bottom feeders be required to spend morebecause there's revenue sharing and some teams are

(44:22):
making out like bandits and they havefor a long time, and it would
be very upsetting to be a PittsburghPirates fan, a Cleveland Guardians fan,
an Oakland A's fan. Those teamsjust don't spend. And that's that's more
acceptable to me than outrageous, youknow, spending by some teams elite.

(44:43):
My brother enjoy the game tonight,glass now, Varlin, Varlin glass now
and thanks for the time, right, yeah, thank you. Yep.
See you about Dan Hayes at DanHayes MLB via the X Machine, the
tweet Machine. Always great having himon nine to noon back after that.