Pete Alonso, big time player, uh, all
his years with the New York Mets, now a
Baltimore Oriole, 5 years,$155 million as like
the free agent process, like once you, I
mean once, once that kind of starts, um
, you really kind of don't know, uh,
what's gonna happen. It's kind of like this weird
baseball limbo, um, but then as you start
to sit down and, and really kind of think
about things, um. You, you, you
kind of have some time to really reflect, but
then, honestly, like as the offseason progressed and
realistically, I mean, as, as we got
further along, this, this partnership has, for
me it, this, it just, it was
just head and shoulders above every, everybody else like
this, this park, this, this city,
this team, this organization, everything combined, it's
just, everything just, just clicked. It just
. And for me I think that was absolutely,
it was the perfect fit for not just as a
player but as a, for, for family life
too. I mean this is. I mean,
there's, I, I could go up and down
a laundry list of things where it's like, there's
just so many boxes, like every single box is
placed checks and for us we're just so pleased and
for, for this organization to see, see me
, um, not just in the now but in
the future, I mean. Such a, it's
such a blessing, and I, I, I
can't wait to play. I can't wait to perform
. I can't wait to win games. I like
the deal and I like the player for the city
and the team. You know, they've needed that
centerpiece, that aircraft carrier in the middle of the
lineup. The guy that cleans it all up when
Gunnar Henderson gets on and, and, and,
you know, Colton Kawser's on, and you,
you know, Jackson Holidays on, the guy to
drive the ball, the guy that's, you know
, the rum producer, inexperience. Player with a
group of young players. That was the other thing
. They had so many young guys together and player
to player accountability is better than manager and coaches to
player accountability. And so a guy who's been through
it who can say, don't worry about it.
I struggled like that too. I'm going to be
OK. Look at who I am right now.
People underestimate this guy, and I think that 5
years I had no problem with the deal at all
. Excited to introduce Edwin Diaz. Um, his
wife Nashley and their three boys to the Dodgers family
. Obviously adding an elite closer like Edwin is gonna
make any bullpen better now it allows, you know
, uh, Doc and, and our coaching staff
to kind of put guys into. Uh, spots
leading up to that, knowing that it doesn't really
matter who's in the 9th that we're gonna like the
matchup, um, and also, you know,
layering on he's done this on the biggest stage in
the playoffs like having that confidence, uh, as
well is something, uh, we were looking for
and we're really pumped about so we have a high
bar to name someone the closer, um, you
have to be one of the best. You have
to be elite and dominant at what you do.
Uh, sugar is that. And I think just
watching him compete over the years, seeing the selflessness
in the postseason or in the last weekend of last
year, I'll come in in the 4th inning,
5th inning, whenever the game is potentially on the
line. And it fits in really well with our
culture and the selflessness of a lot of our superstar
players. So, so many boxes were checked in
our mind, um, but again, just a
very high bar to say this person is our closer
and sugar checks all those boxes. Um, I'm
really nervous, so I will be, I will
, I will be pretty short. I wanna,
uh, short, I wanna first thank the ownership
, Andrew Randall to welcome me here. You know
, would be a new experience for me and my
family, you know, too, I wanna say
thank you to the Mets organization for what they did
for me in the last years. Really, really
happy, you know, what, what I did
there. Now we are in a new family.
We are in the Dodgers, you know. I
came here to win. That's my goal, you
know, try to win another World Series with this
great team. So I'm really happy to be here
and let's go. Dodgers. Being denied is a
big responsibility because the ball is in your hand the
last 3 out of the game, and I think
they are the toughest 3 outs in the game.
And personal, I take it nice and easy,
go batter by batter, pitch by pitch. I
don't think much to complete the inning, you know
, it would be fun, it would be fun
, you know. I think that music we,
uh, get into the fans right away, you
know, that's a nice walkathon. So I can't
wait to first game of the season, come in
the night with Timmy Trumpet and get the W for
the Dodgers. Mentioned Edwin Diaz, and I throw
these things around, Steve, but I wanted to
, I wanted to dive into the numbers a little
bit. 2020, all right, so that's a
short season. 75, right? 2022, that's
a fantastic year, a 131 ERA cases per 9
, like 17, that's not a normal number number
, folks. Like 9, 10, you get
to 12 for a good relief pitcher. 17 is
absurd. He's at a 50% strikeout rate, then
2025, a 163. But Steve, there's a
5.59, there's a 345, there's a 352.
I'm just saying, there is some uh mercurial nature
, but, you know, there are some peaks
and valleys, there's some volatility as a reliever,
and the ERA gets. Skewed with one bad outing
here and there. He's high energy. He engages
the fans. When he, when the gate opens
and he's coming out of the field, there's an
energy level that he brings with him, and he's
got an infectious smile. His teammates love him.
One of the best indicators for me about a closer
isn't can he save the game. It's after he
blows the game, what does he do the next
time? Can he come back and get the save
the next time? How about another big signing here
? This is an extension. The Kansas City Royals
, uh, signing a contract extension, agreeing to
terms with a 5. Extension to one of their
young stars, Mel Garcia. Uh, 5 years
, 57.5 million. It could be six years for
85 with an option and incentives. Maybe it tops
off there. Garcia with a very nice slash line
this year, hit 286, 351 on base,
449 slugging. That's a 123 OPS plus, uh
, essentially a six-win player to use the parlance of
war, 5.8 war, and he is a spectacular
fielder, Steve. This is how you do it
. That you, you, you develop a player
like this who becomes a star, you lock him
up for a while, especially for a smaller market
team. I mean, you have to lock these
guys up and you take a look at the defensive
numbers right there, the fielding run value leaders,
and look at them they're 13, uh, a
plus 13, and just a solid defender. Oh
, by the way, his teammate on the left
side of the infield, Bobby Wood Jr. at
a 20. Outfielder Lane Thomas and the Royals reportedly
agreeing to a one-year deal per multiple reports, including
. Uh, Major League Baseball and our own Mark
Feinsand, what do you make of this move here
? Well, I, I think this comes under
what Kansas City usually does, you know, they're
not on the 10 year,$200 million dollar kind
of player. They're looking for great. Value.
Lane Thomas gives you great value in a lot of
different ways. Now, an uneven year last year
, only 125 at-bats in Cleveland. He was traded
over there at the, um, at the trading
deadline and did a great job for them coming down
the stretch. But his best years. 28 and
86 in 2023. He also had 36 doubles on
that season. Um, an outstanding defensive player.
He had a big hit for Cleveland in the postseason
. And even more importantly, I think one year
, he had the most putouts in 16 assists,
uh, for, uh, the Nationals. This
is the hit off Scoble, the grand slam home
run that turned that game upside down. And,
uh, got them into the ALCS against the Yankees
. Biggest hit he's probably hit in his career.
I like to move the Blue Jays extending the contract
from their team president, president of baseball operations,
overall team head Mark Shapiro, five-year contract extension for
this veteran executive who was with Cleveland for many,
many years, 1991 to 2015. When you think
about some of the things that he has done since
going up there. So they made the playoffs.
First year they got in there, Alex Anhopoulos had
gone. They bring in Ross Atkins, they make
the playoffs. They've made the playoffs a number of
times after that, but they weren't winning in the
postseason, but he rebuilt the Rodgers Center. I
mean, the stadium is completely refurbished and people rave
about it. Can I just throw this in as
we're looking at it, and I, I used
to yell this at Mad Dog, because I like
, for a while it was like, ah,
they can't win, they can't win because they,
you see the two L's with the AL wildcard series
. Yes, but they're winning. Look, big
picture, dog. Now I'm still yelling at Mad
Dog. 91, 92, 1989. That's winning
. Now that's a disappointing 2024. This year,
'94. Look, had they even lost to the
Yankees, that was head to head two heavyweights,
I would still say this is a winning organization.
So many great things you get from Tyler Rodgers,
and he chased a slider for strike three, swing
and a miss, a very slow slider away.
Rodgers drops and fires. Pits the outside corner.
It's a unicorn pitching motion, but also. Guy
that'll take the ball almost every day. It's a
submarine release. It is an uncomfortable at bat.
You'll hear that a lot when Rodgers is out there
. It's a tough pitch. How do you see
that? Tyler Rodgers retires the side with ease.
Good work done by Tyler Rodgers. We've been in
the market for starting pitching, likely multiple starting pitchers
, uh, this offseason, and we felt like
Mike had the combination of stuff, bounce back.
potential and the upside to make it, make it
a good fit for us. We feel confident that
that's going to be able to translate into success in
2026, but more than anything else, I think
the, the background, the, the, the
, the stuff, the ability to go out and
compete, the makeup as a starting pitcher, we
felt like it was a it was a good deal
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