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This is Walk Off Slams with Greg Zahn on AM 1150.

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Welcome back to Walk Off Slams. I'm your host, Greg Zahn, coming to you from beautiful Kelowna, British Columbia, AM 1150, and Canada Today has come and gone. So has the series with the New York Mets and the return of Bo Bichette. And I gotta tell you, it's uh I'm hoping that the Jays are gonna do exactly what they did last year after Canada Day, which is get hot. Get really hot. Give me something exciting to talk about. Give the Blue Jays fans a reason to stay in it the rest of the season. Give the Jays a reason to ride out Kevin Gossman's last year of his contract and make another playoff run. Because I know how excited people in baseball around Canada have been. We've seen record numbers of enrollment in youth baseball from coast to coast. I certainly see it out here in BC. It's an amazing thing to see even at the local level, coaching a college summer ball program, watching the number of kids that are out there with their ball gloves, having a good time with mom and dad, and getting autographs from our players. It's just been beautiful to watch. It's inspiring. And it's all because the Blue Jays went to the World Series last year. It's a fact. Every time they go to the postseason, we see a spike in interest in baseball. And you know, I'll always be an advocate, and I'm always gonna say, yeah, Canada, it's more than just a sport you play when it's not hockey season. Um let's get into the Jays. So Bo Bachette, he returned. And uh true to Major League Forum, the Jays organization did the thing. You know, the video tribute that seems to go hand in hand with kicking someone to the curb in the, you know, it's it's not you, it's me gesture. Um you know, so let's get into it. You know, the Jay the Jays didn't want to pay Bo Bichette $40 million a year to play shortstop. In fact, nobody actually did. Uh Bichette's market at shortstop was so lean, um, so thin, he was quoted as saying he'd move positions. Well, shortstop is the premium position, and shortstop is the one that garners the premium paycheck. Well, thank God for Bo that the Mets were desperate enough to make a splash after losing Pete Alonzo that they paid him $40, $40 million a year to play third base. Um, you know, I I don't understand it. I mean, Pete Alonzo was a proven New York commodity, a star player. But, you know, as Forrest Gupp says, stupid is as stupid does. Uh but I do think the Jays made a sound fiscal decision. So did Bo. I mean, the Mets are offering 40 million, take it. I mean, he's not a good defender. Uh and honestly, in my opinion, top-tier contracts should be reserved for the marquee guys that play on both sides of the ball. Uh they should be reserved for franchise players. Bo's not a franchise player. Uh he can hit, but he doesn't care about his defense. That's clear. Uh he's there to do one thing, swing the bat. He's a poor base runner, and it shows up at key moments, and Blue Jays fans know it. Um you can you can see why the Jays did what they did. And, you know, there's a lot of other things that go on behind the scenes, uh, but you know, you you don't know about them yet, but you're gonna find out about them now. Um, you know, the whole teary-eyed interview, uh, you know I I gave it everything I had. Um, you know, let's just let's just get back to it. The whole production wasn't for Bo. Um, you know, my sources inside the organization, they told me before the season started in 2025 that he was as good as gone when the Jays were officially out of it. As long as he was swinging the bat, they were going to trade him for what they could get for him. They already knew they didn't want him to play shortstop. Um and then they went on a stupid run after Canada Day, and they were stuck, they were painted into a corner. I mean, can you imagine what would have happened if the Jays had won it all? They'd be sucking on a multiple-year $40 million AAV uh with a subpar defender and a subpar base runner and a subpar teammate, in my opinion. Like, come on. Like, that that would have been colossal. I mean, obviously be careful what you wish for. I mean, a World Series title would have been great. It'd still be riding the wave. But at the end of the day, they dodged a bullet there. Um, now, the whole part about Bo giving it everything he had, does that include taking days off on your teammate for your so-called mental health? Um, again, my sources inside the organization complained to me about how soft the guy was and how it came off as selfish. You think? Selfish? Um, I know mental health's a you know a big topic now. I mean, everybody talks about it, you know. Uh, but let's get it out. Let's get to it. Professional athletes, physically superior in many ways, not always, but physically superior in many ways to the average Joe walking the streets. That's why players play and the fans watch. The hand-eye coordination is better, they're stronger, faster, more readily equipped to handle stress and constant change. The kind of pressure and turmoil that would put regular folks in the fetal position is what professional athletes, professional baseball players especially, eat for breakfast. So when I hear that my guy in the middle, the default anchor of the defense, is taking days off, when he's physically able to go out there, uh it it screams selfish to me. It's basically saying that he thinks he's more important than the team or the outcome on the field. Now, I had teammates go out there with torn Achilles tendons, so hobbled they could barely walk, but their presence in the lineup, maybe one swing of the bat, a step and a dive to either direction, was worth more to our ball club than 100% of a lesser player. I mean, my I myself risked life and limb, life and limb to stay on the field for my teammates because I truly thought I was our best chance to win. And there were times when I was the only option because a guy like Miguel Batista with his stuff, you know, 95 plus, you know, curving and cutting and darting all over the place, uh, nobody else could catch it. So I had to go out there. And I'm shooting, you know, Novicane into my neck just to be able to turn my head. Why? Because I love my teammates, because I knew it was the best option for the ball club, because I care about the outcome on the field. I'm digging myself. But that's that's what that's what good teammates do. I don't understand what Bo's crying about. You guys are making $40 million a year. You know? Uh New York's a tough place to play when you're all squared away mentally. Um but it and it takes a special person to endure that kind of pressure. You're either blithely above it or you just built different. And Bo Bouchette, according to sources, in my personal assessment, not equipped and he knows it. Um this was nothing more than I'm getting paid $40 million. I hope I rake and I hope the fans love me. But I think what what really caused the tears was he realized grass isn't greener. Um he left a cushy, no pressure environment to go to Queens. He left an organization that cared about him, that drafted him, um, to go to a fan base that only cares about what they've seen from you lately. Uh and I'm all forgetting what you can in this game while you can, because our careers are short-lived. But if the Jays were offering 25 to 30, he should have taken that. Because playing out the rest of your days in this ballpark, uh, in this environment in Toronto, with your teammates, with your so-called best friend, you know, Vladdy Jr., the one that you took mental health days off on, um, okay. That's probably where I would have parked myself instead of going and submitting myself to New York, because that's a tough place to be. Um and don't get me wrong, I think the Jays made a great financial decision, but do they miss his bat in the lineup? Yeah, they do. That kid could hit, and he could definitely drive in some runs. Um the thing about the the interview that struck a chord with me is him telling us that he gave it all he had. Well, he was a substandard defender when he got to Toronto, and he never got better. He never worked on it the way he did his hitting. The fielding percentage was below average on turf. On turf. It's like fielding a ground ball on your living room carpet. You don't get bad bounces. Um then we get into all the metrics that the stat geeks love, you know, that factor in range and run saved. And he was underwater in every single category every single year of his career. He gave it all for the boys? Come on, really? Uh that would have involved you going out and getting help. Uh, remember when a guy like Roberto Alamar used to be hanging around? Uh, guys that could have helped uh the kid get better. It requires a few less swings in a cage and a few more reps out there doing the tough thing, uh, you know, when nobody's looking, uh learning how to field your position properly and become a great defender. Um so uh I call BS on the whole I gave it all I had for the boys. Uh that's that's evident. You know, I actions speak louder than words, and and the fielding never got any better. All that was was a production for the sake of production. Um and all it did was take people's minds off a potentially season-crushing six-game skid. Um where the Jays got absolutely schooled by the Rangers. They got swept at home, uh, making you wonder, are they sellers now? Uh I don't think so. They'd be stupid to shoot themselves in the foot. Uh they're still drawing huge crowds. It's not even the all-star break yet. The American League, pretty much up for grabs, minus the East. I think the East is going to come down to Yankees and Rays. The other one's going to be obviously a top uh wildcard pick. Um, and the Domino's are gonna fall where they fall in the American League. The Jays are 10 plus games back in the East, at least two and a half out of the wild card. And in my opinion, there's five teams ahead of them. There's the three teams that already have a wild card spot, and the two teams that are ahead of them in the standings for the wild card. Uh that's a lot of leapfrogging. You got to expect a couple of those teams that are wild card right now, if the season ends today, they're gonna come back to the pack a little bit. Maybe somebody's gonna take off. Um but right now, in my mind, the Jays are sellers. Well, who do they got to sell? Not much. Gosman, that's about it. Corbyn, maybe once upon a time, might have been interesting, but he's at the skids. Bieber, if he's healthy, maybe. Uh don't have much in the way of veteran help as far as other teams are concerned, so I don't see the Jays getting a whole lot better at the trade deadline. Uh who are you gonna trade? I mean, really, who are you gonna trade that's gonna get you anything back in return? Uh saw something really interesting with the Simeon Woods Richardson uh demotion DFA. That's a total joke. I mean, really? The kids 1-0 with 10 scoreless innings out of the pen, a pen that's been overworked and overexposed. Your starting rotation, pretty much the reason for the six-game skid, had the Jays behind in almost every single game, if not every one. Uh clearly, there had to be somebody, somebody else on the roster that you could have gotten rid of to clear a spot. Because you traded for Simeon Woods Richardson, a reputable stuffed guy. He gives you 10 scoreless innings, and then you DFA him. Now, do you think you got it going that good with Corbin struggling the way he is? I mean, Cease can't even get out of the fifth. Um, and they're protecting him, they're making sure he doesn't stay in long enough to give up that big swing of the bat that would blow up his ERA. Can't even believe people are talking about him as a potential Cy Young candidate for this season. Um, like, honestly, how's it gonna look? I mean, Simeon Woods Richardson, he's a stuffed guy. Wouldn't it be cool to find out whether this guy's gonna be like a diamond in the rough, a gem that you could throw at the back end of your rotation next year and maybe find something really great, you know, a potential star. Names like Bautista and Carnacion come to mind. I know they're positioned players, but guys who got a shot in Toronto after kind of spinning their wheels elsewhere, um, hey, you never know. Pitching's valuable. I mean, I don't know if it's gonna happen, but it would suck if they lose the guy because that's a pretty good arm. And I'm told it's pretty good stuff. Corbin's been, you know, 0-3 or worse over his last five starts, 8-6-9 ERA. Uh to me, that was the move. That was the move. Uh, you're not married to that contract. Why would you be? Um, you know, maybe the Jason Pete Walker can unlock something in Simeon Woods Rip Richardson, but you know, who knows whether they're gonna lose them or not. Uh starters have been bad lately. Um, you know, gotta get back to that. Uh these are guys that, you know, you they're gonna go up and down. They're gonna have stretches, maybe a two, maybe even a three-start stretch where they just aren't great. And that's what the bullpen's for. But when the bullpen's cover in four innings every night, you can't expect them to do much. They're overexposed and they're overworked. Um you don't expect all of the starters to go bad at once. Uh, when that happens, you're you're gonna lose six in a row. Uh, your savage has been pretty solid. Um, you know, Cease is still Cease, you know. 26 innings of work over five starts, you throw 500 pitches. Still mind-boggling. I'm I'm I I really want to start talking about this guy as a potential 30-game winner and see some some real reason to think that it's gonna happen. The stuff's there, but I'm just confused. Is he afraid to let balls get hit into play, or is he just enamored with the strikeout? Which one is it? I mean, the ex the exit velocity average on balls put in play against Cease is 88 miles an hour. It's exactly the same as the rest of the league. Um there's way more than one way uh to skin a cat. The lowest exit velocity average in the big leagues is Ryan Yarbrough over the last few years. Uh he doesn't throw hard, he doesn't strike anybody out, he mixes speeds, he puts gets people to put the ball and play weekly early, and his stuff isn't even in the same stratosphere as the Dylan C's. I mean, I don't understand why we're not just fastball slider change up, occasional change up to righties, fastball curveball change up to lefties, spot the heater, read bats, go dominate. I don't I don't understand. It's not that hard of a formula when your stuff's that good. But it does come down to fastball command. Um but on average, hitters are seeing one extra pitch per at bat with a guy like C's. That's meaningful. One extra pitch, it's the difference between in the game past the sixth or out of the game, yeah, he's only given up a couple of earn runs, two, three runs, but it's the trickle-down effect of how much pressure he puts on the bullpen. Put on the bullpen. Um 110 pitches for five innings, come on. 96 miles an hour is still 96 miles an hour. Let's let's put that in the put that in the outside lane and let it eat. Read the bats, go to work. Work faster, keep the defense on his toes. That's your formula. I mean, it doesn't take a genius to understand how to get it done. And I'm I'm pretty sure that that idea has been conveyed. I mean, I look at Cease, as I said, a 30-game winner if he figures it out. Short of that, he looks like a closer to me because I don't want baseballs put in play after the seventh inning. And if you're gonna be a guy that strikes everybody out, have the highest strikeout record uh numbers in the game, well then you're a one-inning guy. But I mean, I know that's a ridiculous statement, but where's the adjustments? We have to make adjustments. I mean, the guys led the league in starts for multiple times, but you cannot continue to throw 110 over five innings. Those are all that means that those pitches have to be stressful because that means that there's walks, there's a few hits here and there, it's just deep counts every time. Everybody's getting a good look, and it's going to manifest itself in ways that we don't want to see happen. So hopefully Bieber can get it going. Uh, not sure if Scherzer's health is ever going to come back, but there's not a whole lot of help. This is what it is, and that's one of the other reasons why the whole Simeon Woods Richardson DFA is puzzling to me, because they don't have starting pitcher depth in the organization anymore. They don't. Uh and the guys aren't pitching all that well. So, buckle up, it's gonna get interesting. Uh, Canada Day has come and gone, and as I said at the top of the program, let's hope for the Jays' sake that they get just absolutely red hot down the stretch. Get those bats going, get the pitchers getting deeper into the games with less pitches thrown, and hopefully the boys can get on a roll. When we come back on Walk Off Slams, we'll get into some MLB news, talk about what's going on with the collective bargaining agreement, and uh see where the talks are at with the Players Association. All that and more when we come back on Walk Off Slams.

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You're listening to Walk Off Slams with Greg Zahn on AM 1150.

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Welcome back to Walkoff Slams. Again, I'm your host, Greg Zahn, coming to you from beautiful Kelowna, British Columbia on AM 1150. The topic de jour is the latest round fired across the bow by Major League Baseball with regards to collective bargaining. As many of you know, the the potential for work stoppage lockout is extremely high. Uh the Players Association pretty well understands that they're in a position of weakness at this point. They're gonna have to stand up and show some backbone, especially given the uh concessions they made in the last go-round, because, in my opinion, they're soft and they need to have comfort and squishy shoes and pajamas and massage therapists, all things that they can afford on their own. They wanted it all paid for by Major League Baseball. Uh just the ridiculous things that are not core financial issues, that are the backbone of the foundation of the union itself, no salary cap. Uh nothing that impedes the progress of player salaries. Um that's why the union was formed. Give people an opportunity to have a say. They caved on a bunch of issues for creature comforts last go round, and now they're gonna suffer. They're gonna get the owners trying to ram things down their throats. Uh, you have the Tony Clark scandal, and so I say you're in a position of weakness. But as we get into it, um you have what you have in society. Baseball is an amazing mirror of society. So in baseball, you have the have nots, the low small market clubs, the losing teams. They want a complete overhaul of the financial structure to account for so-called disparity. It's because they're liberals. It's that's what it is. They're they're liberals and they want the government to fix their problems and pay for everything. Well, here's an idea hire real baseball player people to do real baseball jobs, get better at scouting development, build the Top-tier player development system that year over year sends top talent to the big leagues. While you're sucking, you're gonna get access to the top 10 picks every single year of the draft until you win at the big league level. So where's the excuse? Player development's way cheaper than paying free agents in the big leagues. It's cheaper to develop prospects than it is to pay top-level major league players. So why don't you focus your attention there? Everybody's got an opportunity to draft players. Everybody has an opportunity to develop players, but when you hire no names who have no pro experience to coach your players, what are they being taught? Why do you think your organization sucks when you hire absolute rubbish, inexperienced rubbish to be in charge of raising your kids? It's not good. I mean, there's also an idea that maybe you could take some of that profit sharing money from socialist Major League Baseball, again, liberal ideas, uh, and spend it on the players instead of lining your own pockets. You're already getting charity. How much more do you want? Um, you know, the formula for having a solid organization, you know, the it's what everybody quotes when they're in the rebuilding process, even though very few actually rebuild. It's always the same teams that are crap. You draft well, you develop well, learn how to win at the minor league level, and repeat it year over year at the minor league level. It's uncanny how teams that win at the minor league level usually have pretty good teams at the big league level because in yeah, you need to teach the kids how to walk and chew gum at the same time. You know, you got to teach them how not to eat their boogers, but you also have to teach them how to win. They need to learn how to play catch, hit the ball, run the bases, throw the ball properly, learn the game, incorporate difficult signs so the other team can't pick them, and you don't need uh electronic devices strapped to your kneecaps and your and your pitching gloves. Like, give me a break. It's just so watered down and so bad, you know. But it's it's something that you look at with with regards to these teams and how they fall short. I'm not saying that the lower team should be having access to the same free free agents, they can't afford it. But if you want them to be able to afford it more, here's an idea. How about you collectively pool all the TV money in baseball? The Yankees will never let it happen because their TV deal approaches a billion dollars a year. But let's say that they they would agree for a moment because of the concept that if nobody shows up in the other dugout, the Yankees don't have a team to play, there's no game to broadcast, and that could negatively impact their TV contract if there's nobody to play the Yankees. Same with the Dodgers, same with all the other big league market clubs. So if there's a way, if there's a place for socialism in baseball, it's the TV TV contracts. Um pool that money, give it out, you know, give it out to the clubs in a more equitable fashion. I'm not actually maybe not necessarily equitable where everybody gets the same loot, but split it up a little differently instead of the big teams taking home all the money, because they after all, they still need 162 opponents over the course of a year. So share the TV money, and maybe that'll help. Um but these people all want access to things that they haven't earned. Um they haven't earned the fan base, they haven't earned the TV contracts. You know how you earn it? Win. Develop well, win. Draft well, develop well, win. Raw, wash, rinse, repeat. I mean, the draft is what it is. I mean, it's it's fairly affordable for everyone. You know, they all they all have access to the same players. It's who makes better picks? And once they have the better picks, who develops better? You know, we keep coming back to the notion, hire better coaches. You know what? Develop a surplus of good players, trade them for big league talent, get better into big leagues, be able to trade for a marquee player at the trade deadline and still have guys left over in the tank because the notion of going all in and swinging and missing is what decimates organizations. It's what makes general managers gun shy on trading away the farm. Well, if your farm's not deep enough to be able to afford a free agent, you know, like a Terek Scuble, you don't belong in the conversation because you didn't do the work. Again, we keep coming back to people who haven't done the work, haven't earned the life that they want, haven't earned the BMW or the cell phone or the vacation. And they want they want the powers that be, big brother, government, major league baseball teams that are good at their job, they want them to pay for it. It's asinide, it's ridiculous. I don't even know why we're having this conversation. Um but it's just a bunch of entitled crybabies on welfare, a lot like society. It's unbelievable. Baseball does it every single year. You know, the society goes woke, baseball goes woke. Knee jerk. They're trend followers, they're not trend setters. You know? Uh and that's the frustrating thing about it, is like Crimea River. You you suck at your job, and yet somebody wrote you a check for $25 million at the end of the year as a competitive balance supplemental. You know, they tax the rich who are good at their jobs, who generate wealth, who make money, who can afford nicer things, and because they're better at their job, they're going to get penalized. And that's what the competitive balance tax does in Major League Baseball. You know, like I said, get better at your job. You know, and it comes back down to for the 1,000th time, uh, player development scouting. Everybody wants to win, but very few people, they're willing to do what it takes. And here's the key part, ladies and gentlemen, pay attention. They're not willing to do it for as long as it takes to be repeatable, sustainable, and good at it. They think that they've done it once the right way, that that somehow makes them good. No, it made you good for a moment. It doesn't mean that you're a good organization. It means that you were good for a second, a blip. You know, look at the Tampa Bay Rays. They had the first pick in the draft for the better part of a decade. And they and they they went to the World Series once, fell short, and haven't been back since. You know, they're supposed to be geniuses over there with all that analytic stuff going on. But they keep coming up short. And why? Because they don't have any money. They won't spend it even if they do. Real good players cost real big money. Sorry to tell you, that's gonna happen. I mean, let's look at the draft picks. Guys like Paul Wilder, Jason Standridge, Josh Hamilton, Rehab, Rocco Baldelli, a pretty good player, Dewan Brazzelton, eh, meh. BJ Upton, solid Major League player, but not a superstar. Delman Young, not a superstar. Jeff Neiman, barely, barely had a career. I mean, the answer is crystal clear. The answer is crystal clear. These teams aren't as good as the other teams at their jobs, and you gotta stop penalizing them for it. I mean, the con the conversation's obscene. It really is. It's just absolutely obscene. So, moving on, we get to the Major League Baseball power rankings. Dodgers still at the top. Mookie Betts has gotten hot. Uh and Andy Pahez, swinging a bat good, uh, getting off base, stealing bases. Um 15 ribs in one series. Pete Crow Armstrong, 10 bags in seven days, huge. Cardinals aren't rolling over, they're not going anywhere. Uh Cincy, absolutely, completely falling off a cliff. Things are only going to get worse for them in the Mets, who face the strongest strength of schedule in Major League Baseball. Uh, on the other side of the coin, you've got the Chicago White Sox who face the weakest schedule in Major League Baseball, and they're in first place. Look out, Chicago, the South Side is back, I think. They're playing some good ball. Um didn't think anybody could be worse than the Rockies, but Oakland proved me wrong. Even though they've got Nick Kurtz, player of the month, he's uh they're still not doing well. The Nationals are you know holding tryouts. Please tell me they're not gonna trade CJ Abrams and James Woods. They've gone with the youth. Pirates are still a ball club from Pittsburgh with a really good pitcher named Paul Skeens. The Angels finally fired Perry Manassian. So who's next, everybody? I want to know who's next. Um be stopping there. When are they gonna trade trout? Is he gonna let them trade him? That's a million-dollar question. Phillies are looking pretty good. That's his hometown club. They're still in it, but they better get busy trying to trade him now if they want to get trout in a uniform in Philadelphia where it can absolutely change the course of their season. Uh the Giants are still a joke. You know you're a joke when people are focused on Bible verses on rainbow hats instead of the kind of baseball you're playing. Uh Scoobel's pitching a lot better these days. Uh he's back. Do the Tigers trade him. Well, all indications are pointing towards that. But the American League is still really, really soft. They need hitting. They really need hitting. They need to overhaul their approach. They might need a new hitting coach, somebody with a legitimate voice that can get these guys to stop swinging for the fences because they don't have anybody with legit power. And you play in a ballpark like Camerica where you need legit power. Uh, so maybe you should be focused on line drives, on base percentage, passing the baton, instead of swinging for you know the fences, trying to trying to hit the ball at the ballpark. Um, but either way, Terek Scuble could bring a pretty nice haul if they if they if they find it. And I'm not sure what's going to happen. Could be good if they can get some players for Terek Scuble. Moving on to other trade deadline targets, you have the interesting one to me, which is a roll this chapman. This guy, if you look at his numbers over the last few years, he's actually been the best closer in baseball. And it's kind of been under the radar because he hasn't been on a winning team in a while, or a team that's gone to the World Series. But that guy is a game changer for a championship caliber team. Is he the closer? I don't know. It's a great backup, especially if you get into a seven-game series. You could have him pitch the eighth uh or have him as your backup closer. But that dude is still lights out. Um and uh I think that people should and would give up a couple of nice prospects for a guy like a roles chapman. Freddie Peralta, I I don't trust it. I mean, a guy's been great in the past, but he's really been struggling with his command. They're saying that he's the best option other than Terek Scubel, but I would I would put Kevin Gossman in that conversation as you know, second tier. Uh he's still pretty damn good. He's a veteran, he's still throwing the ball good. Uh, but you know, I don't know if I trust Freddie. Uh they're talking about CJ Abrams. Please tell me that the Washington Nationals are not gonna trade CJ Abrams. I mean, what are you trading him for? He's got a controllable contract, he's the kind of guy you build an organization around, he and James Woods. Um veteran presence in you know that lineup, and there's just I don't see it. I don't understand why you'd even allow that to happen. Uh what are you gonna do? Go younger? You gotta have at least a couple of decent veteran players. So if I'm the national, CJ Abrams isn't going anywhere. Uh Byron Buxton, what a specimen. This guy is such a great athlete. If he could have just stayed healthy his whole career, uh, we'd be looking at record record book type stuff, and we may still see it from him, but he would be huge for somebody looking for a premier outfielder. Um Phillies are definitely looking for him. Phillies fans, would you rather have Byron Buxton or Mike Trout? Because I know Mike Trout is from Philly, uh and that would be an amazing acquisition for the Phillies, but so would Byron Buxton. Um Taylor Ward of the Orioles, high-on base guy with you know big slug. Um, yeah, he he fits. He fits with uh some of the other clubs that are gonna be looking for help. But it looks to me like the outfielders are gonna be a plenty out there. Pitching, as always, gonna be tough to come by, and it's gonna garner a premium price. So look out. Uh, and obviously things can change. There's a lot of time between now and the deadline. Somebody could get hot. Um, you know, there's been some talk uh about you know certain guys uh that are just kind of wait and see type of situations. So the big one's Terek Scuble. He's the big domino. Who's gonna get him? When's that when's that domino gonna fall? And how is it gonna affect the rate, the rest of the trade deadline? I could actually see him going sooner than later, and I think that would be the smart play for the Tigers because you want to figure out what you're getting in return. When we come back on Walk Off Slams, we got everyone's favorite, the roast. We're gonna be talking about the collective bargaining agreement and what's new in the negotiations with the Major League Baseball Players Association.

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And now the Sunday Roast with Greg's on.

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I don't know why anyone would be shocked at Major League Baseball's proposal to the Players Association that shrinks the draft lottery, slashes rounds, slashes signing bonuses, and offers owners the ability to trade draft picks. It's all about saving money for the already rich ownership groups. Let's unpack it one Trojan horse at a time, shall we? First of all, Major League Baseball is a group, they're trend followers, not trend setters. The draft lottery in baseball is an absolute joke. This isn't basketball. There are too many games and too many variables to even discuss the idea of tanking multiple games in order to win picks. The draft was built so that the worst clubs get first crack at draft picks. Notice how I didn't say best players. Clearly there have been some huge swings and misses with regards to draft picks, making it all about the quality of the scouting and player development in the end. There's no argument that can be made for 18 teams under the current system being eligible to receive the first pick. Only the worst team in baseball should have that shot. It's all about preserving the spirit of the draft and giving bad teams a shot at rebirth if Babe Ruth or Cy Young ever decide to be reincarnated. MLB wants to cap the number of years you can be eligible for the top picks at three. Well, I'd say not a bad idea given the fact that we've seen teams like the Devil Rays squander almost a decade of number ones and do very little with them. Comes back to scouting and player development, doesn't it? They also want to raise the draft age to 20. This one, terrible idea, because it involves college programs being the nannies of baseball and raising the kids. Most college programs don't teach squat. The coaches are doing very little out there but trying to preserve their livelihoods. They aren't teaching the games. The assistant are predominantly guys who have no real coaching experience anywhere, even at the college level. They are the proverbial secretaries. They're wandering around with a clipboard keeping stats. I see it every day where I coach. The college kids who come to me are not even close to prepared for professional baseball and not getting there any faster by staying in school. Professional baseball has always been the best path for kids who are physically and mentally mature enough to withstand the rigors of professional baseball at a young age. College ball has always been their best route for the late bloomers. Major college programs used to develop kids while they were there, but now that the portal exists, that model is moot. Coaches don't care about anything but themselves and keeping their jobs, and I don't blame them. Their kids gotta eat too, don't they? And there simply isn't enough time with the kids bouncing from school to school in the portal. MLB wants to slash the number of rounds and signing bonuses. Well, the signing bonuses I get, they're ridiculous and quite frankly, a slap in the face to every major league player on a 40-man roster. There should be no world that exists where some kid can scribble his name on a piece of paper and get more money for it than the average major league player makes in a year. Their entire body of work has been against amateurs, 99% of whom will never be the best player on the local men's league team, let alone see a pro diamond. I mean, seriously, get a grip, baseball. It comes back to owners having egos. It used to be the Steinbrenners, the Illiches, and the O'Malley's of the worlds, owned, you know, teams owned by individuals, not corporations, that drove the market with their giant egos. They got into manhood measuring contests with the owners and themselves, and it created a market where players could get what the market would bear. They cough up massive signing bonuses for a kid and for what? He hasn't done squat at the pro level. This isn't anything more than them wanting the Major League Baseball Players Association to help them control themselves. Here's an idea: find a number everyone can live with, one that gives a kid a shot at going to college if his pro career stalls, add a million dollars to it, and there's the first pick in the draft for you. Slot everyone under that at incrementally lower numbers based on draft order and call it a day. Make the draft picks property of the ball club for three years. Make the picks tradable in case one team cannot sign the player, but make sure the number can never eclipse the slot value and it lowers by a percentage each year he doesn't sign. At the end of the three years, the draft pick becomes a free agent and the team gets a supplemental pick somewhere after the third round. Just say no to ridiculous, disrespectful signing bonuses, I say. Grow up. Take accountability for your spending and raise your own kids. Since Major League Baseball contracted 40 minor league teams to save money, the game has suffered immensely. The quality of play has suffered. Major League Baseball needs to hire more reputable coaches, not less. They need to have more minor league affiliates, not less. If you want to save money, create a system that helps you maintain ownership of your picks and develop them through tried and true methods. Good coaching, reps at the minor league level, and more reps. Major League Baseball's proposal has some nuggets in it, but it lacks overall common sense. It's also another cry for help. They're begging the players to help them control themselves while taking money out of the players' pockets. They're asking the players to help them be better at their jobs when it's supposed to be the other way around. Teams are supposed to help the players get better. You see how that works? It's Sunday. Can you smell that roast?