Episode 4 of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.
This week, host Simon Hampton is joined by Betsy Helfand of the St. Paul Pioneer Press to discuss:
- Oakland’s move to Las Vegas took a big step forward, so Betsy, who covered baseball for the Las Vegas Review-Journal, tells us about Vegas as a baseball city (1:35)
- The Twins are off to a solid start to the season and Joey Gallo is hitting very well, so is he back? (5:24)
- Minnesota is set to lose Sonny Gray, Tyler Mahle and Kenta Maeda to free agency this winter, so after the Pablo Lopez extension Betsy offers her thoughts on whether or not there’ll be any more rotation extensions for the Twins (7:26)
Plus, MLBTR’s Anthony Franco joins to talk:
- Bryan Reynolds has agreed to an eight-year, $106.75MM extension with the Pirates – is this a good deal for the team? (15:01)
- Madison Bumgarner has been designated for assignment by the Diamondbacks and looks headed for free agency; will he find a new team? (24:57)
Check out our past episodes!
- Free agent power rankings, Shohei Ohtani’s next contract and Aaron Nola or Julio Urias in free agency? Listen here
- Rays, top prospect debuts, Angels, trade deadline, Gary Sanchez, Francisco Alvarez – listen here
- Early trade deadline preview, Jake Cronenworth extension and the Padres, Marlins trade ideas, Cardinals rotation, Dodgers – listen here
The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff. Check out their Facebook page here!
Bryan Reynolds has around 450 million reasons to pursue free agency if the Pirates don’t hold up their end of the contract.
I’ll have some of what you’re having, please
Ketamine laced with dad jokes?
Ace has roughly 1 reason for being muted and it will happen NOW’
You need to stop with the “so and so had however many reasons” posts.
But that’s all he’s got *shrug*
And how would the Pirates not live up to the contract? The guy is a dolt.
Bob Nutting (underrated) is a genius so he might figure something out.
hey you are finally right about something. Bob is underrated.
Acematic!!!
You are correct sir!
Okay guess I’ll start listening to this while I walk the dog if the Twins are featured
I walk the dog to Tiger stuff too. One time my wife caught me and said, “Hey! You Really love Miggy! Jeesh, put that away!”
This time, though, its about the Vegas move, baby! The Athletics break my heart. Stay in the Colliseum. We need grinder baseball, too. Thank God we still have Tropicana. Right?
How funny would it be if Oakland revealed city connect jerseys shortly after all this Vegas talk.
That WOULD be funny. But it’s not the A’s fault, that Oakland is run by leftist wing nuts.
Not leftist enough, they left to find a more socialist area where taxpayers would be willing to fund their business for the common good.
Lol Oakland A’s tried to work with Oakland for a decade and they did nothing. They even would have bought a new stadium and Oakland still turned them down. That water front stadium would have been beautiful
Yes, because if right wing conservatives ran Oakland there would be zero issues, I am sure.
True
I have factual news for you, case, funding the military, police, public education, infrastructure and even politicians are a result of socialism
no doubt, you’re one of the poorly educated that Trump loves
Nope. Just two words: John Fisher.
And public golf courses! Conservative socialists love public golf courses!
And insurance. Conservatives should give up all forms of insurance. It’s socialism!
Sarcasm comprehension aside, the military and police are not considered a key element of socialism. Virtually all ideologies agree that a police force is necessary to enforce laws and a military is necessary to protect the country from being invaded, both core components of the social contract.
And yes, I do like to think about how Trump loves me, alone, late at night…
‘And public golf courses! Conservative socialists love public golf courses!’
Especially in the middle of deserts, in occupied foreign countries with water shortages, and only officers are allowed to play :)(:
Anything that the taxpayer pays for that benefits the American people is a form of socialism
They’re both forms of pragmatism. Classical liberalism (and general common sense) assert that if you form a group and agree on a set of laws some form of law enforcement is necessary because it’s unrealistic to believe that everyone will follow them out of a sense of duty. A military is required because your ideological and cultural beliefs wont mean anything if another country simply takes you over, anarchists and pacifists have learned that the hard way. Both of these principles predate the concept of socialism by several hundred years, though the way the US throws taxpayer money at the military could easily qualify as a form of socialism.
Please go to Oakland before talking.
We learned today that Maeda is not effective. Maybe he should become long guy. Time to give him some rest and get Ober or Varland a shot.
Maeda was TERRIBLE today. They DEFINITELY should consider moving him to the bullpen, but Kenta has ALWAYS wanted to be a SP.
Thank you sir. Kenta have another!
Yayyy! Winning feels good.
Twins will extend or bring back Sonny Gray! Unless he wins the CY Young then they can’t afford him.
Madison signs a league minimum or minors contract with the Pirates with an opt out if he doesn’t get called up. Could allow a prospect starter to develop a bit more should he get called up or a fill in if/when the pirates trade off the off season signings.
Which Pirate pitcher exactly are you referring to?
Each have pitched a quality start in 16 of the 26 games the team played thus far this season
when they trade off season signings… Hill and/or Velasquez, When someone gets hurt, etc…
if they’re competitive throughout the season, I doubt they will trade anyone
Madison would be a low risk signing, that is the bonus. If he were to cost 5M then yeah, no way. At league minimum or MiLB contract no real reason not too. If you do not need him that is fine let him go.
Boycott the Tampa/SF Giants!
Giants and Commissioners’ Office SABOTAGED THE A’s from staying in SF Bay Area.
SF Bay Area IS A 2 TEAM MARKET like: LA (Dodgers/Angels), New York (Yankees/Mets),
Chicago(Cubs/White Sox).
Former A’s Ownership “stepped up” helped to Save the Giants for SF Bay Area in the 1990’s when the Giants had been sold to Tampa investors and were ready to move to Tampa. A’s helped find new, local well funded Ownership for Giants in SF Bay Area. A’s worked with Dodgers and other Owners to block Giants move to Tampa. A’s also gave up 50% of their lucrative Santa Clara County/Silicon Valley shared territory with the Giants
with the understanding that the Giants would build their new stadium in Santa Clara County(like the SF 49ers did much later after 4-5 failed stadium ballot initiatives).
Things changed. Giants built a mostly privately financed stadium in downtown San Francisco, not Santa Clara County and/or San Jose.
At that point the lucrative Santa Clara County and/or San Jose territory should have reverted back to the 50/50 shared Giants/A’s territory.
IT DID NOT.
MLB AND THE GIANTS have blocked the A’s from moving to Santa Clara County and/or San Jose for decades.
Well after the fact the SF 49ers successfully built their new stadium in Santa Clara County and moved and the NLF and Ownership gave their blessing to that move.
However, Bud Selig and his successor Commissioners and Giants present Ownership have consistently blocked the A’s from moving to Santa Clara County and/or San Jose.
The A’s would pick up lucrative sponsorships and advertising revenues in Santa Clara County/Silicon Valley home of some of the World’s richest tech companies.
The A’s would also sell out most games in Santa Clara County because it is loaded with highly paid tech executives and employees.
The proposed stadium in San Jose/Santa Clara County was to be called
“Cisco Field” (tech company naming rights)
But MLB and the Giants have consistently blocked the A’s from being financially viable in the SF Bay Area.
The MLB knew the Oakland economic viability would most likely not pan out.
They used Oakland and its fans to move the A’s out of the SF Bay Area and into Las Vegas.
The current A’s Ownership pulled a “Major League” (the movie) and stripped the team down to the studs. let the Coliseum fall into disrepair to set them up to leave town.
They have set up a Giants “monopoly” in the SF Bay Area that is bad for competition in a capitalistic society, bad for the fans and bad for baseball.
Las Vegas is a tiny market with a much smaller population and revenues.
(SF Bay Area has 7-8M people).
The A’s move to Las Vegas is a travesty and should not be blamed on Oakland, its officials and/or its fans. It appears to be “planned” in advance to move the team to LV.
Yep they wanted to move to San Jose which they owned the rights, but they gave the rights to SF. And SF said no
The Tampa/SF Giants and the MLB Commissioner’s office should have
changed the territory rights in Santa Clara County back
to 50/50 shared with the Giants and the A’s.
The whole reason the A’s gave up those territory rights was
ONLY for the Giants to build their New Stadium in Santa Clara County and/or San Jose. IT DID NOT HAPPEN, SO THE TERRITORY SHOULD GO BACK
TO 50/50 GIANTS AND A’S.
The Giants built their stadium in San Francisco.
The Population of Oakland is down to 433,00 and change?!
The Population of San Jose is approximately 1,013,240!
The Greater San Jose Population is 1.9 million.
Do they have any math majors working the MLB Commissioners Office
or do they just not give two sheets?!