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00:00Keith, you were just giving me a list of names according to BetAG, free agents who are out there and who's most likely to land them. Give that to me again?
00:08Yeah, they give you some odds. Corbin Burns, next team, if not the Orioles. We don't think it will be the Orioles.
00:13Mention his name a bunch today, right?
00:15They go Mets, Yankees, Giants, Dodgers, Red Sox.
00:20Oh, so the Red Sox are on the list?
00:21They're on the list. Fifth.
00:22Fifth out of five.
00:23You could say they were interested.
00:24Okay.
00:25You could say that they were close.
00:26Now, the one guy they do have...
00:27A plus for effort is what I'm being told.
00:29The one guy I believe that they have is Max Fried.
00:34I think they're the favorite to sign Max Fried.
00:35Nice.
00:36How do you like that?
00:36Okay.
00:37I don't believe it, but let's see.
00:39Let's see.
00:41Well, they offered around $700 million for Juan Soto.
00:45That didn't get them anything.
00:46No.
00:47At the end of the day, free agency in full swing, winter meetings in full swing.
00:51And joining us from baseball's winter meetings is Rob Bradford of WEI.
00:56What's up, Bradfoe?
00:57Oh, what a glorious time of year.
00:59Let's go.
01:00Yes.
01:00There's nothing like being in an enormous hotel in Dallas
01:03where you have people dressed up as gingerbread men
01:06walking amongst the people in the baseball world.
01:10Yes, it is officially the winter meetings.
01:13Okay.
01:13That's nice.
01:14Are people giving the Red...
01:15There was one report from your colleague, Chris Cotillo,
01:17MassLive, that the Red Sox were getting an A plus for their effort in the pursuit of Juan Soto.
01:22How's it playing in baseball, the Red Sox?
01:24Were they in?
01:24Were they really, truly in on Juan Soto?
01:26Because it doesn't feel that way from the outside looking in.
01:29First of all, how is that a report?
01:32It's like you're getting an A plus from somebody.
01:35I guess somebody would give them an A plus.
01:38I would give them like a B minus because you fell $65 million short.
01:46Listen, as I wrote today, how this worked,
01:49I think there's some things to take away from this pursuit of how this shook out
01:54that should be encouraging.
01:55Number one, back in August, Craig Breslow has this idea,
02:00said, hey, let's take a stab at Juan Soto.
02:03It shows you that the ownership is on board with listening to Craig Breslow.
02:07It shows you that they're on board with being more aggressive.
02:10And let's make no mistake about it.
02:12They were on Juan Soto.
02:14They were in on this.
02:15This wasn't just driving the price up.
02:17This wasn't just we're doing a show.
02:20No, you commit to offering a guy $700 million.
02:24It is something.
02:26So there is that.
02:27There is getting back in that pool, which you haven't been in in a long,
02:31long time.
02:32So there's that to still hang your hat on.
02:35But, you know, I think that overall what they have to do,
02:41I give them a B minus because you're fine.
02:44I mean, you were a finalist.
02:45You put your best foot forward.
02:47You wanted Boris to give an offer that they're going to have to beat
02:50and he wouldn't give them to because he knew he had the Mets and the Yankees
02:53sitting there so he didn't have to be desperate.
02:55So, you know, they were trying to do what they could do.
02:58And at the end of the day, they weren't able to do it, fine.
03:01To me, that's not the issue here.
03:03To me, this isn't why you can't give them an A plus for anything because you
03:09have to now do what the most important thing is.
03:12You lost out on the guy that I put at 20%,
03:16and I think that was probably a pretty good number in terms of the odds of
03:19them getting him.
03:20But now you actually have to do what you haven't done in the last few years,
03:25which has been the absolute dagger for them, which is win bidding wars.
03:30Get uncomfortable.
03:31Believe it or not, giving $700 million isn't as uncomfortable to them as it
03:37will be when they get the price tag on Max Fried or Alex Bregman or, you know,
03:44whoever, or Teostra Hernandez.
03:46Now we find out exactly what their approach is when it comes to being more
03:51aggressive, being more decisive, and actually changing the narrative because
03:55you aren't getting any of these guys unless you change the approach that
03:59you've had for the last few years.
04:01So if they were willing to spend $700 million over the course of 15 years on
04:05Juan Soto, how much should they invest in this team this offseason?
04:09Should there be $500 million worth of contracts,
04:12$600 million worth of contracts?
04:14What do you think makes sense for them?
04:16Well, it comes back to you have to identify the guys that you think can help
04:21your team.
04:22And this isn't like, oh, well, we're going to carve off $500 million of the
04:26money that we're allocating for Juan Soto and give it to Max Fried because we
04:30can't.
04:31I mean, no, that's not how it works.
04:32But at the same time, you know, I think that Andrew Friedman, the Dodgers,
04:36had a great, great line where he said something to the effect of, listen,
04:40if you set values in free agency and you just say that's what we're going to
04:44pay, you're always going to finish third.
04:46Doesn't that, like, this is the epitome of what the Red Sox have been,
04:51always finishing third because you've set values in these things.
04:54So now what you have to do is that you have to go in and you have to identify
04:58the guys that you want, and you're going to have to pay a lot more.
05:01Yes, some of it comes out of the Juan Soto fund, I guess, or whatever it is.
05:07But you're going to have to pay a lot more than you ever wanted to pay for the
05:10guy that you want to get.
05:12And to answer your question, yes, they should try to win this year.
05:15Yes.
05:16I mean, yes, Juan Soto was step one in this.
05:18But there is no reason why they shouldn't look at this team,
05:22especially now that the Yankees have been gutted, and they have been gutted.
05:25I mean, Soto was absolutely a must for them.
05:29There's no reason you shouldn't look at this Red Sox team.
05:32And if you get some key guys, which they are in position to,
05:35that they should be the favorites in this division.
05:37They could be.
05:39Talking to Rob Bradford,
05:40WEI.com Baseball is a Boring Podcast,
05:43live from the winter meetings in Dallas.
05:45We've mentioned a few different times, Brad Faux,
05:48the names that you brought up as next targets for the Red Sox here in free
05:51agency.
05:52Freed and Burns, in that order, is how you wrote it.
05:54Teoscar Hernandez.
05:56And then you said the focus is immediately prioritizing,
05:59or might immediately be prioritizing, Alex Bregman.
06:02What's the buzz in Dallas about the Red Sox landing one of these big fish?
06:06Yeah.
06:08So with the pitchers, you know, ultimately we've said this all along.
06:12It was priority 1A and 1B.
06:15You know, okay, Soto's priority 1A, but not too far behind it,
06:19maybe not even behind it at all, is getting that starting pitcher,
06:22getting that guy at the top of the rotation.
06:24But now what you have is that you have to compete with some of these other
06:28teams, including the Blue Jays, by the way, who lost out on Soto,
06:32who are in the same desperation that you are to get a Max Freed
06:36or get a Corbin Burns.
06:38And I do think that Max Freed is a more realistic thing than Corbin Burns.
06:41I think Corbin Burns wants to stay on the west coast,
06:43and Max Freed makes some sense for them.
06:46But at the same time, you know, so you have to do that.
06:49And Crochet, I heard you guys mention Crochet.
06:53Well, if I'm a team and I have a Zach Gallin for Arizona, I absolutely say,
06:59hey, this isn't going to cost as much as Crochet.
07:02Tell you Boston Red Sox, you need a starter, here you go.
07:06Trade for him.
07:07So I think that there might be a starter out there that we aren't talking about
07:12that they might trade for instead of maybe getting uncomfortable
07:15for one of these other guys.
07:16I'll come back to what I wrote, though,
07:19is that I do think what they are focused on is Alex Bregman.
07:24And I would not have said that 24 hours ago.
07:27I did not account for Alex Bregman in the way that maybe I should have
07:32accounted for in how much they prioritize, because right-handed hitter,
07:37obviously open to a move to second base, a championship predigree,
07:41yes, I understand about the championship he won in Houston,
07:44but still the type of guy that they need in that clubhouse
07:47from a position player's standpoint, it checks off a lot, a lot of boxes.
07:52His price is going to be right now, it's uncomfortable
07:55because Boris is feeling good about himself, but still.
07:58I mean, to me, from what I hear, this is a very, very real thing
08:03when it comes to the Red Sox prioritizing this guy.
08:05How do you feel about him as the player now?
08:07We were looking back at 2018, 2019, he was great.
08:12When he knew what pitch was coming, this guy could hit it out of the park
08:15and since then, I think he's good.
08:18Don't get me wrong, he's good, but he's coming off a career-low OPS.
08:22He seems to be a 25 home run guy, which you'll take, but I don't know.
08:27If he's not even playing third where he just won a gold glove
08:31and moving Devers off to some other spot,
08:33how good of a signing do you think Bregman would even be?
08:37Well, again, it comes back to if you do sign him, you're going to overpay him.
08:43Everyone would be like, you paid way too much money for him.
08:45And you look at last year, yeah, no question, the worst year.
08:48And I think that this is an excuse.
08:50This is just a reality that he was playing with bone chips
08:53and that might have factored in.
08:55But still, I think what you have with Alex Bregman is a guy
08:59that fits what they need for all the reasons that I said before.
09:03And also, is he a great player anymore?
09:08Yeah.
09:09And do you want to sign a great player as a free agent?
09:11Yeah, you do.
09:12But let's look at Trevor Story.
09:14And I know that nobody wants to say, oh, Trevor Story's a good player.
09:17But when he's healthy, which has been never,
09:20but still when he's healthy, he's a good player.
09:23I didn't want Story either.
09:25When they got him, he has a big course field.
09:28He was good.
09:29Not course field.
09:30He wasn't.
09:31I don't know.
09:32They seem kind of similar.
09:34Like five years ago, Bregman was much better.
09:36At mid-20s, he looks like a stud.
09:38That's what I'm getting at.
09:40I think maybe I value Trevor Story, a healthy Trevor Story,
09:45a little bit more than you do.
09:47I think he's a pretty good player.
09:48Definitely.
09:49But who can remember?
09:52That's the reality of the situation.
09:55But I think that let's find some common ground here and say, okay,
10:01Trevor Story's pretty good, and I'll use it again.
10:04He's part of the solution rather than part of the problem.
10:07Bregman's that same way.
10:08I do feel also, and this isn't like you're going to pay a ton of money for
10:11this, but I do feel what this team is lacking is that 30-something
10:16position player who is going to show these guys the right way,
10:21who is going to basically be a much younger version of Justin Turner.
10:27I think that that's how Cora, who obviously knows Bregman from Houston,
10:31that's how he views him.
10:33I think that's a priority because when they lost out on one Soto,
10:37another thing they lost out on was the opportunity to have the guy,
10:41no questions about it,
10:42guy that you're building around for years upon years upon years.
10:45Now you have to find that guy, and until you find that guy,
10:48you have to get guys like Bregman in there, I think,
10:51or even a Tosh or Hernandez in there while you figure out which of these
10:55young guys actually can take up that mantle.
10:57Yeah.
10:58Well, all of it makes you question how they feel about Devers long-term
11:01because he might be moving positions, and certainly as a leader,
11:05Bregman would pick up some of that mantle.
11:06He's Rob Bradford.
11:07He's in Dallas for the owners' meetings here, winter meetings rather,
11:11in Major League Baseball.
11:12Busy couple of days with Juan Soto signing.
11:15Bradfoe, we appreciate it.
11:16Any more news, you let us know.
11:18Yeah.
11:19Listen, I leave you with this because this is one thing I can't get over.
11:23This is going to be scratching White Road, you itch.
11:26Can you imagine what Mookie Betts would have made if he wouldn't have won
11:30Soto's?
11:31Same thing, 26 years old, free agent.
11:35With all these teams bidding for him, and he ends up getting half of what
11:39Juan Soto.
11:40It's like I would have taken, in that situation, Mookie Betts over him
11:43any time.
11:44Anyway, I just want to get that off my chest.
11:46Not very good.
11:47The first billion-dollar man, Mookie Betts.
11:50Could have been.
11:51Billion-dollar man.
11:52Five-tool player.
11:53Juan Soto doesn't have all the tools.
11:55He's a one-tool player.
11:56I mean, listen, he's a good – yeah, so anyway.
11:58Anyway.
11:59Thanks, guys.
12:00I appreciate it.
12:01Thank you, Bradfoe.
12:02We enjoyed it.
12:03Thanks so much.
12:04$765 million for one tool.