0:01

From the berkshears to the sound from

0:04

wherever you live in MLB America.

0:06

This is Inside the Parker.

0:08

You give us twenty two minutes and we'll give

0:10

you the scoop on Major League Baseball.

0:13

Now here's Baseball Hall of

0:15

Fame voter number seveny Rob

0:18

Parker.

0:19

Welcome into the podcast. I'm your host, Rob

0:21

Parker, and what a show we have

0:24

for you today. John Morosi

0:26

from MLB Network. He'll stop by

0:28

tell us about the free agency We're still

0:30

out there on the market, the Dodgers and Padre

0:33

series that they go to South Korea, that

0:36

and much more. Plus Althottle

0:38

why baseball is better than the NBA

0:41

and the NFL. So you know what

0:43

you want to do. Pull a radio close and

0:45

listen to Inside the Park.

0:48

Here comes the big interview. Listen

0:51

and learns so good.

0:54

All right, now, let's welcome into the podcast. One

0:57

of the best in the business. John

0:59

Morosi from MLB

1:02

Network, Fox Sports Radio, MLB

1:05

Insider. He's all over the place

1:07

covering baseball left to right. John,

1:09

Welcome to the podcast. How are you, buddy,

1:12

Rob?

1:12

I am outstanding, my friend. We look

1:14

forward to having you back in

1:16

Detroit hopefully covering some

1:18

postseason baseball. Wow,

1:21

it's possible, my friend, it is possible.

1:24

Well, the al Central is open,

1:26

it's up for grabs. I agree with you on that,

1:29

so it's not out of the realm of

1:31

possibility. So we'll get to that. But let's

1:33

start here with

1:36

some free agents who are still on the market.

1:39

Why has Blake Snell not been

1:41

signed?

1:42

Rob, It's an excellent question. It is one of the most

1:45

popular topics in the industry

1:47

right now. Of course, Blake

1:49

Snell, like Jordan Montgomery,

1:52

like Cody Bellinger, like Matt

1:54

Chapman, all Scott Boris

1:57

clients, and I think in

1:59

every case, to varying degrees, Scott

2:01

has put a

2:04

mark out there that he wants to hit

2:06

in both per year's salary

2:08

and the number of years on the deal that

2:11

he wants to hit. And in all four

2:13

of those cases that hasn't happened

2:15

yet.

2:16

So traded has started.

2:18

I mean, where are we Scott.

2:20

Scott is very famous

2:23

Rob for once upon a time saying

2:26

talent has no wristwatch.

2:29

So somewhat metaphorically,

2:31

Scott had said that. So to be honest,

2:33

I agree with you. We've got games beginning

2:36

this very day that we're speaking in

2:40

all over obviously in certainly in

2:42

Arizona to start with the Podreys and Dodgers.

2:44

So it's it's there, we have

2:47

games happening, and yet so many

2:50

very important players are not signed.

2:52

And we're actually at a juncture now, Rob

2:54

where if Snell and Montgomery

2:57

do not sign soon,

3:00

as in probably the next week, then

3:02

their ability to start the regular season

3:05

with their new team is compromised

3:08

in terms of just the build up that's required in

3:10

a camp around a competitive environment.

3:12

So you're right that we are

3:14

now past the point at which you would

3:17

expect to be seeing a contract

3:19

sign. But you've got teams that either

3:22

a have already spent a

3:24

lot of or all of their budget

3:26

for twenty twenty four, or

3:29

they're at a moment where in a lot of cases,

3:32

we're talking now about teams that are

3:34

somewhat impacted by the uncertainty

3:36

of media revenues going forward, and for

3:39

various reasons, they just have not found

3:41

it comfortable to sign those

3:43

players those contracts. So, whether it's the Yankees

3:46

that eventually step forward, the Angels,

3:49

other ball clubs, the Giants have come

3:51

to mind as well. Maybe the Mariners could

3:54

still be involved on Matt Chapman. There

3:56

just has not been that level of market that

3:58

Scott had expected to see when offseason

4:00

began.

4:01

I'm sorry, John, I want

4:03

Blake Snell in my rotation. If

4:05

I'm trying to procede, I just if

4:08

I'm the Yankees. Okay, two thousand

4:10

and nine is a long time ago. Okay, that's

4:12

the last time they won a World Series. They

4:15

get Juan Soto, do you know what

4:17

I mean? The team last

4:20

year got off the rails after Aaron Judge

4:22

got hurt. But this is a team that's been competing

4:25

and in the mix for the last six

4:27

or seven years. Why in the world would they

4:29

just not snap at the opportunity to get a

4:31

guy like that money. You know, we

4:34

could talk about a few million here

4:36

or there, but him added to

4:38

the rotation, to me, would

4:41

greatly improve the Yankees' chances

4:43

of making a run at October.

4:46

He most certainly would. But as you point

4:48

out, Robert, it does come down to

4:50

the money. And if Snell is

4:52

asking to be paid in the high twenties

4:56

per year or even the low thirties,

4:59

remember it's a luxury tax complication

5:02

too for the Yankees, and so it's

5:04

not just the money. It's

5:06

the money times the surcharge,

5:09

and so all of a sudden Snell becomes

5:12

a very expensive player. You might

5:14

like them at thirty million dollars,

5:16

but would you like them at fifty because

5:18

that ends up being what the luxury

5:20

tax ramifications are. So certainly

5:24

that simple question, do you want

5:26

Blake Snell in your rotation? Well, to

5:29

put another way, do you want

5:31

the reigning Cy Young Award

5:33

winner in the National League in your rotation?

5:35

Of course you do. Everybody does. Everybody should.

5:38

But it's just that the financial reality

5:40

in a sport rob that is unique

5:43

among our North American pro sports. It

5:45

does not have a salary cap, and as a result,

5:47

it also does not have a salary floor,

5:50

and it does not have a frenzied free agent

5:53

period like in the NBA, where

5:55

if I tune into your commentary right around

5:57

the beginning part of July, I know

5:59

that Rob Park by the end of the day is going to be able

6:01

to tell me who's signed where and

6:04

how soon the Pistons are going back to the playoffs.

6:06

You're gonna know that kind of stuff after one or

6:08

two days, Whereas

6:10

in the world of baseball, we just don't have that kind

6:12

of information, and part of it is part

6:14

of that's good. I like that the

6:17

offseason unfolds at a sequential

6:19

pace and gives us time to think about things,

6:22

but obviously to this extent

6:24

is not productive. And I don't think anybody

6:26

around the industry, on the player side of the

6:28

team side, necessarily likes

6:31

the situation that we find ourselves

6:33

in where you've got really talented

6:35

players who don't have jobs. It really

6:38

should not be this way.

6:40

Right now, Well, here's one guy

6:42

who on Thursday today agreed

6:45

to a one year, five million dollar deal

6:47

with the Miami Marlins, according

6:49

to ESPN Tim Anderson, and

6:52

he's thirty years old. I

6:54

get it. The guy you know batt at two

6:56

forty five and struggled last

6:59

year year both offensively and defensively.

7:02

But this is the guy who, with over

7:04

three hundred four years in a row, won

7:07

a batting title. I mean, he had

7:09

one of the greatest walk offs in

7:11

Iowa and the cornfield you know, for

7:14

a game, an All

7:16

Star couple times. And yet

7:19

this guy was without a gig until now,

7:21

and he turned down a fourteen million dollar option

7:24

for the White Sox to take a five million

7:26

dollar deal with the Marlins. What's

7:28

up with Tim Anderson.

7:30

Well, that's a great question, Rob, and he is

7:32

someone that I think is poised

7:35

for a huge bounce

7:37

back season. Tim Anderson

7:39

has not forgotten how to hit. He

7:41

had a bad year, he had a bad year

7:44

with still even in the midst of a bad year,

7:47

Rob, there were moments where he still looked like the

7:49

Tim Anderson of old. And let's

7:51

remind each other here that less

7:54

than a year ago he was a starting

7:56

player for Team USA in the

7:58

World Baseball Classic, now playing second

8:00

base, but even still one of our best

8:02

nine for our entire country. So that should

8:05

tell you something about how good of a ballplayer he is.

8:08

And so I look at him going to

8:10

Miami with something to prove. Maybe

8:13

he is able to parlay this

8:15

year's salary into a larger

8:17

contract and an extension down the line. I

8:19

hope for Tim's case that he does. Hope

8:22

this is not just about a short term

8:24

fit, because his

8:26

back to ball skills are still real

8:29

and Rob, when you talk about the game

8:31

and the number of strikeouts that you see around

8:33

the sport, Tim is the opposite

8:35

of that, and I think has

8:37

a tremendous amount to offer whichever

8:40

team that he's going to sign with, and I'm glad for him

8:42

that it's in Miami, a team and by the way, with

8:45

really good pitching, was

8:47

a playoff team a year ago. And

8:50

yes, of course they're gonna miss having lore

8:52

Solaira around in the lineup,

8:55

but I think Anderson helps him have

8:57

a really good, contact oriented group

9:00

that will, in my judgment, jive

9:03

very well with their rotation. And I

9:06

hope that his defensive play bounces back

9:08

too, because that's a that's a rotation

9:10

that will generate I believe a lot of weak contact

9:13

and create a lot of opportunities defensively

9:16

for Tim Anderson as well.

9:18

Our guest is John Morossi, of course MLB

9:20

Network, Fox Sports Radio, MLB

9:22

Insider, and let's go here.

9:25

The opposite spectrum of the Dodgers were

9:27

spent like eight billion dollars the off

9:29

season to sign a couple of

9:32

great players. We already know, uh

9:35

where the Dodgers are, But let me just say this,

9:37

Okay, in signing Otani

9:40

and Yamamoto doesn't

9:42

guarantee that you're going to win anything.

9:44

And Dodgers have won over one hundred

9:47

games the last couple of years. On paper,

9:49

John, there's no doubt about a baseball strange

9:51

though, in that the best team doesn't

9:54

always win. We saw last year

9:56

Texas off up the division

9:58

in the last day the season and

10:01

wind up winning the World Series. The

10:03

Dodgers did never lead in the series

10:05

against Arizona, and

10:08

yet they wind up Arizona going to the

10:10

World Series. But in this case for the

10:12

Dodgers, who's the pressure mostly on?

10:15

Because on paper they.

10:17

Should win, they should

10:19

win. I think the pressure is broadly

10:22

attributed to everybody in

10:25

that Dodger clubhouse, And certainly you could

10:27

say Dave Roberts has a lot of pressure. I think the

10:29

manager of the presumptive World

10:31

Series favorite always has pressure no matter where

10:33

he's managing, and there's

10:36

going to be pressure on otanis certainly the largest

10:38

contract in the history of the game. Tends

10:40

to come with a fair amount of pressure.

10:43

Especially since especially since he's never

10:45

been in the postseason, right correct, correct,

10:48

that's that big If he struggles we saw

10:50

last year Breddie Freeman

10:52

and Mookie Betts in that series, I'm talking about

10:55

collect one hit between both of.

10:56

Them, right well. And the

10:58

postseason obviously is always its own

11:02

it's its own separate entity. It's

11:04

hard I think to be an effective

11:07

postseason offensive player

11:09

because you're seeing the best of the best from a pitching

11:12

perspective at the end of the year against

11:14

the best teams. And this game is built

11:16

around offensive failure. That's the essence

11:18

of baseball, and so as a result,

11:21

the small sample sizes for hitters

11:23

often look disproportionately

11:26

bad, to be honest with you, even for

11:29

great players. Now, Otani

11:31

in defensive end did have a great

11:33

showing in the World Baseball Classic

11:35

in March, which is a tournament, and

11:38

in a lot of ways, you face

11:40

as much pressure if you're playing for Team Japan

11:42

as you would playing for any Major League Baseball

11:44

team in our postseason. There's immense

11:46

pressure on Team Japan in that

11:48

particular event. I think that here's

11:51

the thing about Otani that stands out to me. We're

11:55

just less than twenty four hours away. Last

11:57

night on MLB Network, the number

11:59

one player in the game was

12:01

voted as Ronald Dcunya Junior,

12:05

not Otani, and not anybody else

12:07

in a Dodger uniform. Now we can debate that right

12:09

now, but the reality is, for the purposes

12:12

of twenty twenty four, Otani

12:14

is a DH. He is a DH

12:16

with extraordinary potential, and he's

12:19

also a pitcher when he's healthy, and he's

12:21

one of the most identifiable

12:23

athletes in the world. He is all

12:25

those things, but on the field

12:28

for the Dodgers this year,

12:31

he is JD. Martinez's replacement at

12:33

DH and JD. Martinez last

12:35

year was an All Star who had close to a nine

12:37

hundred ops. So Otani

12:40

is going to have to have a very

12:43

good season at

12:45

a minimum very good to

12:47

be able to equal what

12:49

his predecessor did as the DH

12:52

a year ago for twenty twenty four production. And

12:54

that's why Rob I have said before and

12:56

believe this wholeheartedly, with full respect

12:58

to Otani, of course, that Yamamoto

13:01

in some ways is the more

13:03

important upgrade for this team

13:06

right now.

13:07

So Gon disagree with you, John, because

13:09

the yeah.

13:11

We're talking about Yamamoto's replacing

13:13

whoever the fifth starter was and

13:15

knocking the fifth starter out of the rotation, whereas

13:18

Otani's replacing someone who was an All

13:20

Star and was a very

13:22

effective player in that role.

13:25

Again just talking about twenty twenty

13:27

four, and that's why I think

13:29

we have to give Otani a little bit of

13:31

grace and also look at

13:33

Yamamoto and say, wow, we

13:37

talk about Otani, and we should, but I

13:39

really believe that for the purposes of the Dodgers

13:41

in twenty twenty four, every time

13:43

you want to do a segment or a conversation about

13:45

Otani, you should pair it up with one about

13:47

Yamamoto, because he is at least as

13:50

important and in some ways more important to the

13:52

Dodgers' success this year than Otani

13:54

is.

13:55

All right, Last thing here, John, the

13:57

Padus and Dodgers on a

14:00

team to play a Major League Baseball game in

14:02

Seoul, South Korea, and the series

14:04

with the Padres is the season opener

14:07

take place. Watch twentieth and twenty

14:09

first, just talk

14:11

about that and playing a major league game

14:14

in South Korea. Pretty amazing where baseball

14:16

is taking things.

14:18

I'm thrilled and I'm planning to be there,

14:20

Rob. I'll be able to repeat him very nice.

14:23

I'll be joining you hopefully on Fox

14:25

Sports Radio all hours of the day and

14:27

night. You call me anytime, Rob, you wake me up

14:30

if you.

14:30

Are already know we want you on am

14:33

I love it.

14:34

I'm excited about it. So historic

14:36

to be able to go over there. There have been

14:38

so many great players to

14:40

come from Korea. And impact Major

14:42

League Baseball hundred. Riyu in fact, just went

14:45

back to Korea and signed with the Hanwa Eagles,

14:48

who were his original team. He's going

14:50

back there to finish his career. Channe

14:53

Park, of course, is a player that was

14:55

a very important figure in Korean

14:58

sports and even cultural hit He's a very

15:00

important player Shinsu Chu. And

15:03

now the Padres have two Korean

15:05

players Wusuk Go, a relief

15:07

pitcher, and Hasan Kim, the

15:10

very very talented defensive player

15:12

who's now the everyday shortstop in San

15:14

Diego. So it's gonna be interesting

15:16

to me rob to see how

15:18

the rooting interest goes between

15:21

the Dodgers and Padres among the South

15:24

Korean fans, because on the Dodger

15:26

side of the Ledger you've got the legacy

15:29

of chan Ho Park, the legacy of Hunjin

15:31

Riu, neither of whom, of course, are on the Dodgers right

15:33

now. Plus you've got Shoe

15:35

Otani, who, in the minds of many

15:38

Korean experts, is among

15:40

the most popular Japanese athletes

15:43

ever for Korean fans, he is

15:45

very popular in Korea. So

15:47

then the opposite side is the

15:49

Padres have two Korean players

15:52

on the team, so it's gonna be a very

15:54

interesting moment, a lot of

15:56

really strong rooting interests on both sides.

15:58

You'll have likely Yamamoto's

16:00

debut. ROB is going to be one of those two games,

16:02

so please join us. I believe it's gonna

16:04

be three a m. Pacific time,

16:07

so I will invite you to either stay up later,

16:09

get up early, and join us

16:12

live from Seoul during those ballgames.

16:14

I will definitely definitely take it all

16:16

in. Can't wait to see you at the ballpark

16:19

opening day. We can feel it is getting

16:21

closer and closer as spring training

16:23

games get started. Safe travels,

16:26

and we will definitely be talking to you on

16:29

Fox Sports Radio and on the podcast Inside

16:31

the Park. We appreciate your time, your

16:33

energy, and your effort. John

16:35

Morosi from MLB

16:38

Network and of course Fox Sports Radio

16:40

MLB Inside It. Thanks

16:42

John, Rob.

16:44

My pleasure, my friend. I love our conversations, whether

16:46

it's on the radio podcast or my

16:48

favorite in the press box. We're

16:51

talking about what we're talking about, a different

16:53

pitchers line, or how whatever it might be

16:55

you and be back and forth for a long time. No

16:58

further explanation needed on that one, my.

16:59

Friend, no doubt, always a pleasure.

17:02

Thanks John, you see.

17:03

Rob, thank you.

17:05

Now bringing the closer. You

17:09

know, here's why MLB is better than

17:11

the NFL or NBA, and

17:14

it isn't even close.

17:17

Spring training games have started

17:20

today Thursday, that's right,

17:23

February twenty second. Amazing,

17:26

and we're excited for the baseball season.

17:28

But it's not the only reason why

17:30

baseball is better than the NBA. In the

17:32

NFL, because

17:35

we're just coming off the NBA All Star Game,

17:37

and what a stinker

17:41

that was two hundred and eleven

17:43

points by the winning team and an NBA All

17:45

Star Game. Even

17:47

Commissioner Adam Silver had

17:50

to chuckle at it and

17:52

and and like kiss

17:54

it off because it just wasn't

17:56

competitive. Here's my you know,

17:59

baseball still has as All Star Game. I

18:01

don't care what anybody says. The NFL

18:03

finally abandoned the Pro Bowl. I

18:05

get it terrible in

18:07

hockey, whenever the All Star Game, the final score

18:10

is something like seventeen to nine.

18:13

And that's not a hockey game. And

18:15

now basketball is reaching a two hundred

18:17

point mark. And in baseball,

18:20

Baseball's equivalent to what we saw with the

18:22

NBA would be if the pitchers through

18:24

the ball underhanded like that would

18:27

be the equivalent. And in baseball

18:30

it's still one on one. People are trying

18:32

to pitch to each other and get

18:35

guys out. It's just they compete.

18:37

That's all we want as fans. Can

18:40

you compete for us for a couple

18:42

of hours, entertain us? That's all it

18:45

is. This whole idea,

18:47

Oh, nobody wants to get hurt in the NBA.

18:49

Stop that. They've been doing load

18:51

management now for eight or ten years.

18:54

People still get hurt. Even with

18:56

load management, you can't stop people

18:58

getting hurt. There's a hospital

19:00

in every other corner. You know why people get

19:03

sick, and we can stop people getting sick,

19:06

we wouldn't need hospitals. It's

19:09

the most obscene, ridiculous

19:11

thing I've ever heard. All I know

19:14

is I can't wait to go to Arlington, Texas

19:16

in July for the Baseball All

19:18

Star Game. I'll be there covering

19:21

it for mlbbro dot Com and

19:23

it's something I look forward to every single

19:26

summer. It's fun, it's

19:28

competitive, and I enjoy

19:30

it. In

19:37

the words of New York TV legend the

19:39

late Bill Jorgensen, thanking you for

19:41

your time this time until next time.

19:43

Rob Parker out he can't

19:46

get it. This could be an inside the Parker.

19:48

See you next week, same bat time, from

19:50

the same Matt's station.