00:00Well, let's get to some of the hot stove action that's going on. Jake Bowers, four years,
00:04$58 million. I want to get your take on this. As I said, I said this earlier because, Rob,
00:10you are one of the wisest people I know when it comes to all things baseball reporting.
00:14I am going to, what your opinion is, I'm just ripping it off and it's going to be mine
00:18because I don't know what to make of a player who just out of nowhere has a great season
00:25right when it's a contract year and I just don't know what to make of that. Whether that's
00:30something that we should think is going to continue or whether it was a one-off, you let
00:34me know. What's going on with Jake Bowers? Yeah, I mean, listen, this happens in baseball
00:39now and I think in large part because of the technology, because of the advancement, because
00:43guys can figure it out a little bit better. But it is interesting because all of a sudden
00:47now the Red Sox have two of these guys who you basically have these out-of-nowhere years
00:52and Curtis Mead and Jake Bowers and you're banking on them continuing to do it because
00:57for people who don't know, Jake Bowers is ready to retire after the 2024 season and the
01:02only reason he didn't retire was because he needed the health insurance because his wife
01:06was pregnant. So he basically, he signed the minor league deal with the Brewers, but you
01:13can't ignore what he did, man. He had the seventh best OBS plus in all of the, I'm sorry, in
01:19the national league last year, one of the best hitters, power hitters. And that's sort
01:23of why Craig Breslow wouldn't sit up in his suite overlooking the field at this time and
01:27say, we are going to get a power hitter. That's exactly what they wanted. And that's exactly
01:32what they got with this guy.
01:33But so Bradford, did they get him for the power or do they think the on-base stuff is
01:37more sustainable for him?
01:39No, both. I mean, it's, I mean, one of the things that he does really well, he doesn't
01:44chase. He, you know, he walks a lot. I think he had, he would have had the best on-base
01:49percentage of anybody on the Red Sox last year. And, and you go back to the, the post
01:54season when he won the national league championship series MVP, we had the 12 pitch at bat against
02:00Yamamoto. The 11 pitch one against now where he hits the home run and basically sealed it
02:04for the Brewers. So like he's got that skillset. So I think that this is the reason Ken, to
02:10answer your question, for them to invest in this, in this early, in this guy, it had
02:17to have been more. There had to have been, this guy fits us so perfectly because they
02:22haven't, I think this is, this is not even close. The most, as they've allocated to a
02:27free agent position player since Fresno has been there.
02:30Huh? That's, that's, that's fascinating. I mean, I'm just curious with the lockout looming,
02:34you know, they're, they've been the most aggressive team so far, the, the, the Red Sox with a
02:39significant trade. And then this, uh, signing to, well, Jake powers, are you surprised with
02:44the lockout just two weeks away that they, there feels like the only team making significant
02:49moves?
02:50Nah, because I think that there's going to be a bunch of them like, you know, in about
02:54a week, but it is interesting, Ted, because we go to GM meetings and we're like, okay,
02:58here we go. The GM meetings, nobody does anything, but this is going to be different. But it was
03:03exactly how it was last time they had a lockout where you, you have basically nothing go on.
03:08And then they leave. And then I think that all of a sudden you're going to have a bunch
03:12of shock and awe signings because it's the deadline, the deadline's coming up. So, so
03:17it's not only the team, just the players. You heard Boris the other day, like there is
03:22no doubt. I don't think it's a question that he wants to have, have schoolable sign before
03:26the lockout happened. So there's going to be these signings. It's just that the Red Sox
03:31sort of get out ahead of it earlier. And, um, yeah, so, I mean, I think good for the,
03:35and in a nutshell, guys, when rich, when you say, okay,
