Jeff Passan (5:25)

Well, we'll know kind of where everybody lands at the end of this week. Those numbers are due. But I think he's estimated around the 14 number for this year.

Peter Tilden (5:34)

So for a one WAR player, that's not good. For a three time consecutive batting champion for a year or two, that could be okay. It's just. Where does Luis Arise land? And this is his last year, Correct.

Jeff Passan (5:49)

He would be a rental. Yeah.

Peter Tilden (5:51)

So one year, 14 mil for Luis Arise. I. I think it's easy say from the fan perspective and be like, that's worth it, man. You can get a guy who's gonna hit.314. What got you over there?

Jeff Passan (6:02)

Luis or do you know his full name?

Peter Tilden (6:05)

I don't.

Jeff Passan (6:07)

Louise San Hell Arise. And that Louis on Helicunia. I was like, oh, wow. Different. You just put those names together and that's the Acuna brother.

Peter Tilden (6:17)

Yeah.

Jeff Passan (6:17)

And that just kind of got me.

Peter Tilden (6:18)

Okay.

Jeff Passan (6:19)

More than it should.

Peter Tilden (6:20)

Yeah. That got you guy. All right. I'm into it. Comment. Your favorite name. I think we see the batting average and even the on base percentage like last year. 346. That's. That's nothing to scoff at. The year before, actually the two previous years in Miami and Minnesota, that's really what you're looking for. 354. 393 and 861 ops. Yo. But the year before that, I think that's your more honest aim because even for the best contact hitters in baseball, which Luis arise is, he hit.316 that year, which won the batting title in the Ale.375 on base, a.420 slugging for a.795 OPS. So he had 30 plus doubles in each of the past three years. Which makes kind of those homers either put him over the top or not offensively, defensively, I don't know. I think you just put them at second base and pray or maybe first base. But that gets scary.

Jeff Passan (7:28)

If you're the Yankees, I would assume the A lineup day is. Is a rise at second and. And you hope for the best.

Peter Tilden (7:36)

Well, that's the thing. They'd be trading for him as a second. I'm still keeping my hat open to the rest of the league just in case. This is Jeff Passon, not known for blowing smoke except off the field. I don't know if Jeff Pass and smoke. Sweet. I can ask him. He's probably got a. Remember his Dwayne the Rock Johnson story? Yeah, there's a whole deal. Well, another time. We'll get brother Jeff soon.

Jeff Passan (8:02)

It is better at first than second with the rise.

Peter Tilden (8:06)

Yeah, I mean, I guess first base. I know there's a lot of tricky plays a first baseman makes, but essentially at the end of the day, you have to catch the ball. He's listed 5 10, 1 75. Would love to get some updates on that.

Jeff Passan (8:17)

Both ways.

Peter Tilden (8:18)

Both ways. Both ways. Kindly for the Yankees. They've had bad defense at second base the past couple years and Gleyber Torres, who also let off for them in a lot of big moments. And with the loss of Juan Soto, you're looking for that lefty, righty balance. Luis Arise, not only does he plug in it at second base, he's your leadoff hitter and you have Aaron Judge second. So batting average, I've been on a kick that it needs to be valued a little bit more because I think on base percentage, I've been looking to get a stat that's like uncompetitive walks, you know, for the take guys in baseball, if you get thrown five balls in your first four pitches, you're going to walk. If you only really chase or swing inside the zone. That I think on basement numbers can get inflated. That when it's a moment that it matters when there's runners on first and second or second and third and you have to pitch to someone. I think batting matter. Batting average matters more there. And we haven't fully. We haven't fully embraced that yet. I, I hate to do this to my guy because, you know, I consider his brother a friend. Aaron Hicks, we got to watch a lot of him with the Yankees. His numbers also with runners on. And I think the bases loaded were like scary bad, which again, it was a small sample size and some bad luck there. He got Verlander in the playoffs. It's cool.

Jeff Passan (9:53)

Bases loaded thing was weird, but Aaron.

Peter Tilden (9:56)

Hicks, his, his essentially his initial intention when he was hitting was trying to draw a walk. Like that was kind of the first goal with Luis Arise. He's trying to hit that. If I just think the concept's pretty basic. If it is second and third, you need a hit. I think someone like Aaron Hicks's on base percentage value goes down. If Aaron Judge is on deck, they're going to pitch to you. So if they're not going to walk you, then your batting average becomes a lot more relevant. So I think Luis Arise has value in that factor. That every time that if, if it were the Yankees and they had to flip the lineup, it's like, okay, here comes Luis Arise and Aaron Judge. I would be very interested to see how those at bats would look because Arise doesn't walk a ton. Um, 196 career walks, which I think Soto gets close to that in a season. 194 career strikeouts. So the man swings and hits the ball.

Jeff Passan (11:01)

It's that walk rate has come down each of the last four seasons. God, 20, 21, he walked 9% of the time. Pretty good, pretty solid rate there.

Peter Tilden (11:11)

It's insane.

Jeff Passan (11:12)

8.3, 5.7 and 3.6 this year.

Peter Tilden (11:16)

It's insane what he does. 637 at bats, 24 walks, 29 strikeouts. Yo. So I'll be interesting to see what develops. If he goes to the Yankees. Their lineup questions are somewhat done. It would be Luis Arise, Aaron Judge and then you're probably going Belly Stanton, Austin Wells, Paul Goldschmidt, Domingo, you Obviously those can get shuffled a little bit, but the Yankees would have their lineup. It would just be interesting. The Yankees that seem to make this commitment to defense, bring in Cody Bellinger. Glaber out, which we thought was part of the commitment. Jazz Chisholm. Everyone kind of assumed he was going to second base, which I guess, you know, I. The Yankee people are humming around the office that Arise has played some third base. Would they put Jazz at second and Arise at third? Is that punting third base? That doesn't seem to make sense. That. I don't know, it seems like you made this intention to go get better defensively and go and become a better team without Juan Soto. That's every Yankees fans. If I bump into someone on the subway that knows that's kind of the going away line right now. It's like I think the team's better. And yeah, it's the off season and we got to tell ourselves that with Juan Soto gone and the Yankees have done some strategic and good additions, but it would just be weird for the Yankees to come into next year. Man, that infield Goldschmidt sure into it is 37. If it is a rise, then it's a rise. Volpe, Jazz Chisholm and I don't know, I've, I've. I like Jazz Chisholm at third. I was impressed by what he showed and I thought he could stick over there. It's obviously going to be on him to put in the work or see what level of third baseman he can turn into. But it's, it's still going to be a first full season. Like I don't know where can you really set the bar? And then a rise at second base. I, I don't know the numbers don't like it. Everyone that seems to have watched him doesn't like it that I get it for the lineup. And hey, if the defense is great everywhere else that can work. But it just seems, it just seems like it's a double. Like Yankee fans kind of convinced themselves they were going to get a third baseman. Jack Curry, who covers the Yankees and is very tuned in, made it seem like they want you as a third. The Yankees are also running out of money that I don't know. I guess the office has a little juice today about Luis Arise. I'm a little skeptical.

Jeff Passan (13:59)

It's hard to imagine the Yankees with the off season they've had and all the tone shifts and, and it seems like with the money freeing up and all that pivoting to like, all right, we're not sacrificing infield defense like labor. There isn't a one year offer available to you to then turn around and get a rise. I know a little more contact and left handed and they are different players but I'm, I am skeptical of them being serious about bringing a move like that to the finish line without it being like a good value play. Like the caveat of like look, if the Padres are trading because they want to be rid of some 20, 25 salary and get whatever that return is, then like yeah, him for freeze. Interesting. Essentially for free is interesting.

Peter Tilden (14:53)

But there's, there's not a lot of guys that can hit well. There's nobody hits like this production wise. Depending how you measure production, there's not a lot of guys that can provide. Would he provide. So yeah, the, the salary dump side of it, which basically you're alluding to, there's some merit to it, but it's just such a mental hurdle. And I know this sport has come a long way from batting average, but it's also a really good batting average and there's years where the on base and OPS are there and ultimately like.

Jeff Passan (15:28)

This, it's one year, this salary dump for a team. That's where the Padres are at. I think they'd prefer to move off some amount of money. I would assume that preference is more about long term money. If they were to do a move that salary dumpy.

Peter Tilden (15:44)

They're competitive like this guy's I always love. I never actually use it. Baseball Reference has similarity scores for players at the bottom of their webpage. Like some of the names that pop up like Wade Box. That's a Hall of Famer. That would. We view him through a different lens. I mean the factorize can't play defense hurts. This one's just a blind spot for me. So he'll be today's player of the day. Bill Madlock, you heard of him?

Jeff Passan (16:12)

Name that I know. I've heard. Three time All Star. Four time batting title, All Star game MVP, 1979 World Series. Good for good for Bill.

Peter Tilden (16:23)

A lot of Pittsburgh, a lot of Cubs. Giants for three, Dodgers for three. Wow.

Jeff Passan (16:29)

Didn't taste the NL till the AL till the end. Basically.

Peter Tilden (16:33)

Guys go. Go celebrate. Bill Madlock. I didn't. I didn't know he got down like this nickname the Mad Dog. Obviously. Mad Dog Madlock.

Jeff Passan (16:44)

That's natural.

Peter Tilden (16:47)

This ties into the Padres conundrum that I still have zero answers for. I don't know what they're going to do if they're dumping Luis Arise. What. What are the Padres doing and what are they bringing back? Are they. Are they in on Hassan Kim to bring back? Are they in on jerks and profile to bring back? They have massive contracts with Bogarts, Machado and Tatis. Cronenworth went from being a salary dump to a tradable salary to a kind of not tradable salary. Yeah, it's a. His contract is bizarre that they've been silent this off season and I don't know. I don't know what they're gonna do. Cronenworth actually he's kind of DJing man. Yeah. 12 mil a year for the next till 2030.

Jeff Passan (17:41)

It's good defense. At least two spots.

Peter Tilden (17:45)

Yeah. I mean I'd love to watch nerds like debate who's a better baseball player. Cronin Worth Arise a guy that can play a lot of positions well. Hasan Kim, who's a free agent technically he grades out better than Arise. At least last year probably last two. Yeah.

Jeff Passan (18:04)

Three very different prototypes of players baseball.

Peter Tilden (18:07)

It's the beauty of it. I'm interested to see what happens. I. I would be excited and understand the Yankees thought process if it happens. I don't see that happening. Whether it's financial or fit or other or just believing that the Yankees, I guess the concept even for being a young doing young man things. Shannon Sharp for doing young man things with baseball statistics. A three time batting champ. Consecutive. Just been rolling that if you could have that person for free even with some of the quote unquote shortcomings, I don't know, three over the past three years. 328. 371A. 797 OPS. If the Yankees can put that guy in front of Aaron Judge, you have to start to a really fun lineup. You have a fun way to start every game. I know that's not what it's all about. I don't buy it yet. I'm open to him. Let's see Padres. No idea what you're doing. Currently the bottom of their lineup is listed Terso Ornialis Campusano, My guy and then Aggie Rosario with a bench currently listed as Mike Brasso.

Jeff Passan (19:28)

Wow.

Peter Tilden (19:29)

Tyler Wade and Brandon Lockridge. So I don't know. I know the past couple years we've had some questions about the Padres depth and they've kind of done work late and it seems like they might be doing that again. But it's just a question of what is that franchise doing? Are they making money? Does their ownership want to buy more players? That we'll see. And maybe America's GM Jim Bowden has some insight for us. Whoa.

Jeff Passan (19:57)

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Peter Tilden (21:04)

Go always check him out at the Athletic. His article predicting where the top 15 MLB free agents will sign and what a segue as I go from a potential Yankees Padres trade and BBD was getting a decent laugh out of this roki Sasaki is the number one free agent listed for some obvious reasons. He's 20, 23 years old. The age really helps him there. You're gonna get him essentially for free, some signing pool money and he has of the pitchers coming over from Japan. This was kind of supposed to be the guy. Like sure, Yamamoto was supposed to be a guy. Imanaga kind of wasn't. Sanga kind of wasn't. Sasaki is the guy that we've heard for a while because he kind of has the look like he is a tall guy, long throws hard, pumps gas like no excuses. Yoshinobu Yamamoto. People are like, I don't know, he's a little guy. Is he gonna, is his body gonna fall apart? Is it gonna completely translate? Just a reminder, go check out his stats. It translated he did get 300 million. So I guess people thought he was going to be pretty damn good. But Roki Sasaki a little younger and I think a little more upside. This was the only player that Jim Bowden had a hedge on his prediction. He had the Yankees or the Padres, which those teams have been linked the Padres. I do believe that you Darvish is like his pitching idol. The west coast factor for a lot of these Japanese players helps and there was a rumor for a little bit that he's hope he kind of wants to be a smaller market guy but again I don't know who knows where you're getting some of these things at some point but on the other side of that the Yankees doesn't help my argument. The only reason I could see Roki Sasaki picking the Yankees because he essentially does get to hand pick his team between the Dodgers, Padres, Cubs, Yankees, Mets, Rangers and Giants are are kind of the, the final possibilities there. The only reason Sasaki would pick the Yankees is if he, if he wants the smoke. Second smoke reference. Whose podcast was that? Is that, is that Steven Jackson who is.

Jeff Passan (23:40)

Yeah.

Peter Tilden (23:41)

All of the smoke.

Jeff Passan (23:42)

All the smoke.

Peter Tilden (23:43)

All the smoke. Pod ad yeah. Stephen Jackson and Matt Barnes. I see the clips. I don't, I don't tune in because man, if Roki came to the Yankees he would be their first. Is he their first Japanese player since Tanaka?

Jeff Passan (24:01)

Yeah, Tanaka was after Coroda. Right.

Peter Tilden (24:04)

So yeah, yes. And I mean Tanaka initially came over.

Jeff Passan (24:09)

In what 15, I believe the 20. Either either 14 or 15.

Peter Tilden (24:15)

14. So he would be the first newly introduced at least like star high level Japanese Yankee pitcher since Tanaka who got introduced over a decade ago. I know he pitched into 2020 but with everything that's going on with the Dodgers they have Shohei, they have Yamamoto. They have, they just signed your guy. Hey, Sung Kim. I think I'm saying that right from South Korea and they just signed whoever they want. Reminder. They signed Blake Snell. They signed Conforto as a bonus piece. Shohei is going to pitch this year. Dodgers doing well. Reminder. Roki Sasaki would want to want all of it. He'd want to want New York City. He'd want to be the guy. He'd want to get the ring. I'm sure he wants all of that wherever he goes. But obviously New York and the Yankees and the Pinstripes, they still hit a little different. I know we haven't been getting our rings recently that the value prop with the Dodgers is very different. I mean he doesn't have to come in and be the guy. I mean he would be like their fifth starter which is nuts for the Padres he'd be a guy. But they have other reliable starting pitchers for them. So do the Yankees. But I do think there's something you Darvish has been on the Padres for a couple years. Ohtani and Yamamoto. For him to choose the Yankees, it would be a surprise and it would change the Yankees whole off season. Oh my God. Like there was a day we daydreamed Carlos Rodon trades. With that be on the table, maybe you just got a free starting pitcher. Not going to believe anything until I see it. It would be a huge win for any of the other teams who aren't. The Dodgers, Padres need Cubs would kind of be a game changer for them. Mets, sure. The burgeoning Mets, the Rangers, absolutely. I already think they are on the the upslope but that would be huge. And the Giants who are trying to fend off the Dodgers and that whole division constantly. I am still kind of thinking it's Dodgers which is nuts because again him being so cost controlled just allows them to do whatever. I don't know. I mean that's the one that I, I feel the least ability to comment on. When are we gonna find out? Is January 15th a real thing or.

Jeff Passan (26:44)

Is that January 15th is when he's allowed to literally sign again? Because his 45 day posting window had like the 30 day not allowed to sign window in the middle of it.

Peter Tilden (26:57)

Sure.

Jeff Passan (26:58)

So they started a little earlier than everyone thought. People thought they'd wait till 15th, till the 15th for him to even do the posting. So I believe his deadline is January 23rd off the top of my head. So he has like a week after that to make the final Choice.

Peter Tilden (27:13)

So by the end of January, we think we know where Roki's gonna be.

Jeff Passan (27:17)

Three weeks from today. We will. We will for sure know.

Peter Tilden (27:21)

Okay. It's exciting. Haven't really gotten there yet because his free agency isn't normal. He gets to choose where he goes and it doesn't really affect your team's money for these other guys. Number two is listed as Alex Bregman. He opens up the article saying he was surprised that Bregman turned down that 6 for 156, which is a bad sign. He mentions the Mets. That was original. That was originally the daydream Bregman team. Like he was gonna change their identity. They went a little bigger than that. I don't think you can rule them out because that moves Mark Vientos to first base. There's options there. The Blue Jays have to do something. I don't think Alex Bregman is a fit. Their move has to be switch hitter lefty. We'll get to Santander and everyone's in on the Tigers, which I just haven't figured out yet. Maybe if it's a creative contract that has the Bellinger opt outs or something like that. But they're still paying Hobby Bias so much money. They have so many young infielders. I don't see it. Everyone else does. So I'll leave it out there for.

Jeff Passan (28:32)

Some reason like when they, when the Tigers went to do the Glaber thing, I thought that was gonna be okay. So Bregman is off the table and it's only the, the chatter at. It's only increased since then.

Peter Tilden (28:45)

People. Some people think it's opened up the table and maybe it has and maybe we'll see in a little bit. Me and America's GM have the same favorite landing spot for Alex Bregman and it is the Boston Red Sox. And you bring up the Red Sox lineup, it still looks somewhat comical how lefty they are. The fan graphs. Red Sox lineup starts with five of their six hitters being lefties. Duran, Devers, Casas, Trevor, Story, you're righty breaking that up. Yoshida, while you're a Brayu, Connor, Wong, Hamilton, Rafaela, a couple righties on the bench. Rob, Ref, you know he's in there. Verse left, he's any mashes. Okay. But if I'm the Boston Red Sox, a right handed hitter is the answer. Somewhere in this lineup, somewhere in the top of this lineup. And I think Bregman would be perfect. I mean if you could, if you could go Duran, Bregman, Devers, or if you'd prefer to go Duran, Devers, Bregman, and then Tristan Casas. And then you can use your story to break up the lefties a little bit and dream on. His comeback hopeful comeback season. Bregman swing plays at Fenway. They're looking for the next move to put them over the top. Their rotation looks really good. Their bullpen looks really solid. Their lineup looks good. It just not balanced that Alex Bregman, you moved Evers to first base. Just remove that band aid. You have him signed for a long time, have him become a high quality first baseman and then your infield defense improves, your lineup improves. You're ready to compete for the division if they sign Alex Bregman. So that's been the team that's jumped out for a while. I wonder if the Red Sox are being coy about it. I wonder if Bread Bregman's market isn't going so hot. And I've wondered that about the next guy a little bit, too, because I'm going to go to Pete Alonso, who he does have at 4.

Jason Alexander (31:06)

I'm Jason Alexander. And I'm Peter Tilden. And together on the really no really podcast, our mission is to get the true answers to life's baffling questions. Questions like why they refuse to make the bathroom door go all the way to the floor. We got the answer. Will space junk block your cell signal? The astronaut who almost drowned during a spacewalk gives us the answer. We talk with the scientist who figured out if your dog truly loves you and the one bringing back the woolly mammoth. Plus, does Tom Cruise really do his own stunts? His stuntman reveals the answer, and you never know who's gonna drop by. Mr. Bryan Cranston is with us.

Jeff Passan (31:39)

How are you?

Jason Alexander (31:40)

Hello. My friend Wayne Knight about Jurassic Park. Wayne Knight, welcome to really no really, sir. Bless you all. Hello, Newman. And you never know when Howie Mandel might just stop by to talk about judging. Really?

Peter Tilden (31:51)

That's the opening?

Jason Alexander (31:52)

Really?

Peter Tilden (31:53)

No. Really? Yeah, really? No really.

Jason Alexander (31:55)

Go to reallynoreally.com and register to win 500, a guest spot on our podcast or a limited edition sign Jason Bobblehead. It's called really no really? And you can find it on the iHeartRadio app on Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcasts.

Peter Tilden (32:13)

And did all the first basemen get figured out? I don't think so. There's still teams out there, Mariners, but we haven't heard anything from them. The rumor this weekend was the Halos. I don't know. I guess you can Never rule them out. Right? That's, that's the beauty of them.

Jeff Passan (32:30)

They could do anything, anytime.

Peter Tilden (32:32)

We got you this. Mike Trout ready to win some ball games. The Mets are still there. And I guess that's where things get a little tricky, too, because I talked about them in the Bregman game. Would they rather have Bregman than Alonzo? Is that a better fit for the team? It's an interesting debate. Better defense at the hot corner, a reliable stick where Alonzo's bat has more upside, but probably not that on the defensive side. I think you'd want Bregman in a. In a vacuum. That's going to be interesting, man. I. People were looking at my Diamondbacks as potential dark horses for Pete, I have to admit. And if you've been listening to this show, you know, I'm a little surprised that there hasn't been a bigger market for Alonzo. When you're putting together your whiteboard of your team or your offensive goals for the years. Like, I remember the first time the Rays, the Rays measured the season in innings. Instead of like five starting pitchers, the Rays were like, yeah, we need to get through this many innings. And everyone was like, whoa, okay, raise. Like, if I'm a baseball team and I'm looking at, you know, I need 250 home runs to be a good power hitting team and I can get 40 from one guy. I just thought there'd be more appeal there. So maybe misread that and maybe. It seems like Pete's not going to age well and I know he has some declining numbers. I still think a team is going to step up to the table that I, I don't think he's going to have to do a creative contract, but I've. My sniff test has been wrong on Alonzo so far. We'll see. I mentioned Anthony Santander. It's so funny that he's not getting a ton of buzz as a free agent. Blue Jays have been my team from the start. Stays in the division. You break up Bo and Vladdy, you've kind of created a top of the lineup. Now, if one or two of your young guys click, you have a lineup. The Blue Jays offense, team that has to go an extra year to get the free agent they want. Santander is that kind of free agent. Between his age and people worried about his defense, that extra year probably gets the deal done. Toronto can do that. They've done that with Springer, they've done that with Ryu. I've loved Santander. Santander there from the start. I've always thought Houston is a dark horse team for I haven't always thought that recently after the Kyle Tucker trade seems like they have a spot for Santander that can make their lineup very scary. And the other teams that you're going to hear rumored on everyone Halos. I don't know what are those teams about Giants. You shouldn't be lumped with them. I'm sorry, I take it back. Looking for a pitcher. How about our friend Jack Flaherty? Jack Flaherty still a free agent. The year end numbers last year man 317-era-194 punches listed as the best starting pitcher outside of Sasaki and we talked about the tricks of that and yeah we he mentions Flaherty's medical reports. We heard. We heard a rumor during trade season that a couple teams were out on Flaherty because of his medicals. So you wonder what that looks like or if he'll have to go for a weird opt out type deal which I could see him being open to. If you do that right you could still make your money with enough security. Although in a way he should feel like he's deserved this. He was one of the best young pitchers. He kind of worked his way back after going through the struggles teams linked Cubs, Giants, Blue Jays. Giants. Blue Jays just ended with that. The team that I haven't had connected and if they are Jack, I would answer the phone is the Atlanta Braves. He talks about Spencer Strider who's going to be recovering and not ready for opening day. They lost Charlie Morton. Charlie Morton to your Baltimore Orioles. I don't know. I don't know. Orioles. I'm not rooting against the Orioles. I want that out there even if my deepest, darkest Yankee days. But they're starting to have one of those free agencies that the team better do something or you're going to be pissed. Charlie Morton, Sugano, Gary Sanchez, Tyler O'Neill. If you're an Orioles fan would you rather just have one player that you look at and you're like wow, we got him. I don't know. Charlie Morton has thrown the innings. He continues to pitch and I the other thing I've stumbled into is maybe just the Orioles are their front office is respected going back to some of the Houston days that like I think depth is starting to get valued again. The Texas Rangers had a hurt rotation outside of their rotation when they won the World Series. The Dodgers had a fully injured rotation outside of their rotation when they won the World Series. That maybe the Orioles getting Sagano and Morton are just like, hey, someone's gonna get hurt. I'd rather have more arms at 15 million than have one 30 million arm. I don't know if that's right, but I think that's what they're doing. Jack, the Braves are calling. I like that a lot. I don't know what those dirty little Braves are up to, although I did hear a rumor about number six listed free agent and those Atlanta Braves, Tanner Scott. I'll say this for the wake and J community because you guys are my people and I appreciate you and you're subscribing because right now I'm about to give you some inside info. I did have some birdies. Tell me, Tanner Scott to the brace. We'll see. This was a little while back. I have gotten info from said birdies before, so I'm interested on it. And you could see that being the Braves direction, like that's a very high end team move adding to your bullpen. Rice. And you know, there was a while when I feel like the Braves had a bullpen you looked at and were like, whoa, look at, they're going eight deep. They have guys like Pierce Johnson has had some nice seasons. Aaron Bummer has had some nice seasons. Dylan Lee had a great season last year. I guess it's not the names that necessarily drive the fear into you. Like it was with a couple of the past Braves teams that I could see them adding a significant guy back there. And maybe that's the Tanner Scott landing area. And Tanner Scott's name sounds like a Brave. Is he from that area? Tanner Scott? No. Texas. Texas forever. My friend went to Notre Dame.

Jeff Passan (40:13)

Born in Ohio.

Peter Tilden (40:16)

Tanner went to college in Texas, transferred to Notre Dame. I feel like we need the whole, whole story. People call him Scotty. Makes sense baseball. When I first heard that rumor, I was like, okay, this checks out. America's GM has them going to the Red Sox and if they do that, I'll be a little sad. Other teams in the market for relief pitching again. I'm just going to stop saying Blue Jays and Giants. They're just looking to give people money. Dodgers, Rangers and Diamondbacks. Yeah. Yes, yes. I'm, I believe in my birdie. I'm going Tanner Scott, Braves.

Jeff Passan (41:04)

Tanner Scott went to Notre Dame College. Different from the university.

Peter Tilden (41:08)

That's not Notre Dame.

Jeff Passan (41:10)

When I clicked on, I clicked on the Wikipedia, it says not to be confused with University of Notre Dame.

Peter Tilden (41:17)

Notre Dame's in Indiana. Notre Dame College is in Ohio. What is this? Why would you even do that?

Jeff Passan (41:29)

Did he get tricked?

Peter Tilden (41:33)

Tanner Scott. The mystery continues.

Jeff Passan (41:35)

Division two team.

Peter Tilden (41:37)

They're so out.

Jeff Passan (41:38)

Their mascot is the Fearless.

Peter Tilden (41:42)

No, they're out. Don't. No jerks in Profar. Speaking of Fearless, one of the weirder free agencies that could happen. A former top prospect who kind of found a major league role and is a solid contributing player. Had one of the best seasons an outfielder could have last year at age 30. So what do you do with that? Padres seems to be where he's had his most success, including last year. That everyone's assuming that. I just don't know. He mentions the Red Sox switch hitter. Sure. I mentioned they need a little more balance. Put him in left field. He hasn't graded out. Great. So you could hide jerks and profile. But if we're. If you're the Red Sox, it seems like there could be safer ways to spend your money. It's a San Diego reunion. Till it's not. Watch him be the Pirates big yet. Wouldn't that be it? Jim Bowden doesn't have that. But I do because I'm America's assistant gm. He also says the Braves would be a good fit. They have Kelnick and Brian De La Cruz right now listed in an outfield spot.

Jeff Passan (43:01)

Add a third guy to that mix and bank on one.

Peter Tilden (43:05)

But what are we paying for to be a guy in the Kelnick De La Cruz mix? I don't know. It's San Diego. And now I've daydreamed the Pirates. That's not. That's not Jim Bowden's words. Do not tweet at him and say Pirates and profile. Actually, you can. He'd love it. Yeah, he just likes to chop it up. I might tweet that. Adam. Oh. Should I start using Twitter the old fashioned way? Just.

Jeff Passan (43:35)

Just opinion tag, I guess.

Peter Tilden (43:36)

Hey, what do you think about Profile to the Pirates and tagged him about. I'm gonna do that now. This one's just for me. What do you think about Profar to the Pirates?

Jeff Passan (43:52)

That's good alliteration there.

Peter Tilden (43:55)

And that's just a tweet. That's how Twitter used to work. People that tweet shouldn't get any engagement. Get through the rest of this. Kirby Yates again. Go check out how good his season last year was. 3.3 WAR from a reliever. That's really hard to do. I know. My dimebags really want him. They want him to replace Paul Seawald and have Martinez be their. Their swing man. Yeah. It's a funky list. I'm seeing the Reds, Rangers, obviously. Toronto's listed I guess hidden secret of.

Jeff Passan (44:34)

Both starting and relief pitching. Everyone could use another one right?

Peter Tilden (44:39)

Just stay in Texas. Right.

Jeff Passan (44:42)

They you would think they need him pretty bad and it just worked for him.

Peter Tilden (44:47)

Things worked out. I do know my snakes want them.

Jeff Passan (44:51)

Somebody's gonna sign him and be happy.

Peter Tilden (44:54)

They did I think the other before we start churning through because I there's a there's a handful of pitchers coming up. Hassan Kim, one of the weird mystery free agents because of his shoulder surgery which has to have teams a little freaked out. The Guy had a 5.8 WAR season in 2023. Going back to all the arise conversations before obviously offensively the goal is for him to land around league average and then everything else is a plus. Apparently the Giants were in on him until they got Willie Adamas America's GM throws out the Red Sox which gets interesting with Trevor story and a couple of their prospects that are supposed to be on the way are middle infieldish that I don't know about that he ends up landing on Padres which again just brings us into this whole Padres what's going on? Are they keeping a rise? Do they have money to sign players? Are they trying to compete? Are they trading Dylan Cease? The Padres have they're going in every direction at the same time and that's kind of Preller's MO a little bit but none of it makes sense to me.

Jeff Passan (46:13)

None of it makes sense for them. None of it makes sense for Hassan Kim. Ev every team that's had like legit rumors or buzz around like a pursuit of him has like already gone in a different direction I think.

Peter Tilden (46:26)

Right.

Jeff Passan (46:27)

Like Dodgers they just signed the other Kim and retained Tay Oscar. Tigers went and got Glaber Giants got Adamus. Jay's did that Andres and Menace trade that nobody really likes for any party there. I just basically nobody knows where Hasan Kim is going because his value is in a very weird spot especially with the injury. Yes.

Peter Tilden (46:55)

Yeah I hope it doesn't end up in a bad spot for him and maybe for him unfortunately he might have to do like a one year thing because people are freaked out by the shoulder.

Jeff Passan (47:04)

Like I wonder what he's asking for except if I were him I would assume he wants an opportunity to re up if he wanted to. This year will be his age 29 year so there is kind of time to do that. I wonder with the shoulder injury our teams nervous that for 2025 is he second base only? No idea with that injury to his throwing arm long term or short term?

Peter Tilden (47:38)

October 13th surgery yesterday with Dr. Neil Ellatrash.

Jeff Passan (47:43)

Ooh.

Peter Tilden (47:46)

Yeah, I don't know. I think Hassan Kim is looking to get paid like a good starting shortstop and I'm guessing teams aren't so again, the Padres part of this off season. I still have no clue how they're going to connect their dots and if he's a part of it, Braves were connected for a while and it doesn't seem like there's anything there. So interested to see where Hassan Kim goes. A guy that should fit on any team whether you need a short stop or not. Getting through the rest of the list. We have some pitchers. Carlos Estevez forgot about the big man. Nice year last year. Big boy. 26 saves. They have the Cubs again. You know the Giants and Blue Jays get listed along with the Rangers. Every team can use pitching. They have Cubs. I'd like that. Cubs give me another move. Get me excited about you. Another reliever or is he not? Jeff Hoffman following in the footsteps of Clay Holmes. So wow. He has a deal to build off of, right? He was kind of better than Clay Holmes. Yeah, we're trying to do the same thing here. Transition to a starter. He has the Nationals doing that. It's kind of a fun high reward, low risk, medium risk move.

Jeff Passan (49:02)

Team that like could try that.

Peter Tilden (49:04)

If you're paying a 32 year old reliever to try to be a starter and if it works, it works. I'm interested in that. Yeah, I'm now realizing, excuse me, all the pitchers are borderline awful conversations because it's every team. A team I haven't mentioned is the Royals for Jose Quintana. So if you're into that, really, really check in on yourself because that's, that's the stuff. Verdugo and Justin Turner round out the list which that kind of goes to show you things start getting thin quick. I see Pirates listed for Verdugo. That checks out. And Justin Turner one and a half war last year, age 40. He's got the Mariners making their move.

Jeff Passan (49:52)

He's a guy who hit for them last year.

Peter Tilden (49:55)

My goodness. The photo of Roki Sasaki in the article is from the Yomiuri Shimbam. It's listed in the article. I don't know. So let's see where free agency takes us. The Sasaki thing is going to be wild when that happens.

Jeff Passan (50:15)

We're Sasaki weeks almost here you're that.

Peter Tilden (50:18)

Team is getting a significant player changes their team's outlook for the next few years. Wonder if Santander Lounge or Bregman who's going to Drop first. I'd think Santander because he still has a few teams that fit. Switch hit. There's almost no the question is the defense but also it's corner outfield and if you can find them a couple DH days you're going to be all right. But I think Santander happens. Blue Jays would be funny. I'd have some old receipts on that. Let's see what else is out there. We are entering the quiet times of the baseball off season, so watch out. Be scared. Oh God. I was just gonna read a guy's username who just tweeted at me but is inappropriate so I'm not going to read that. I will tell you again. Football this weekend was a weird one. There's like one and a half games that mattered. It all ended late last night. Late last night. Lions. Vikings. Lions. Vikings. In Detroit. Place was going nuts. Tony Dungy said he never heard a louder environment. I don't know if that was true. Either way, it was raucous. Ugly football at first. Divisional teams, they know each other well. Winner gets the one seed and a buy. Loser has to go to LA and play Matthew Stafford in the Rams. Pretty insane that it came down to that. But Lions end up rolling late. The Vikings in the red zone. Offense. I don't know if I've ever seen something like that on a football field. Darnold and the lads just couldn't find anything in the red zone. It was disgusting. There was one ball that hit Jefferson's hands that probably could have been a touchdown and that would have changed things early. There's also another one where Addison looked like he was open in the flat instantly. Darnold just didn't see him. Tough Sam Darnold game. Also tough that this was coming after Kevin O'Connell. Tall, handsome head coach that we were on first here. Awaken Jake. There's potential trade rumors with him that he might be valuable enough to be traded in the last year of his contract. Now the Vikings are heading on the road to the Rams for their playoff game. We'll do a bunch of football on Wednesday. Maybe we'll get panic. Chris Rose. I don't know. I don't know if we'll have time. But yeah, it was a weird football Sunday. Carson Wentz? Nope. Josh Dobbs. All right, that was a lot. I'm late for a meeting. I have to use the bathroom pretty badly. I appreciate you guys. So does Uncle Dan.

Jeff Passan (53:09)

Wink and Jake is a production of Dan Patrick Productions, John Boy Media and Workhouse Media.

Jason Alexander (53:14)

I'm Jason Alexander and I'm Peter Tilden, and together our mission on the really Know really podcast is to get the true answers to life's baffling questions, like why the bathroom door doesn't go all the way to the floor, what's in the museum of failure? And does your dog truly love you? We have the answer. Go to reallynoreally.com and register to win $500, a guest spot on our podcast or a limited edition sign. Jason Bobblehead the Really no really Podcast. Follow us on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.