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Winter Meetings Day 1 Subscriber Chat!
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Dan
5:08
How does having a job like yours affect your fandom for whatever team you rooted for before? Does it inevitably just quash the "fan-ness" out of you? Do you consciously decide you have to let it go? Or do you remain a fan and just commit to never let any favoritism show?
Tim Dierkes
5:09
I was a Cubs fan when I started MLBTR in 2005, and the job has probably ground about 75% of that out of me.  I think I'd be excited if the Cubs were in the playoffs, but I also don't care at all if they're not.  I kind of just root for interesting or unexpected things to happen in general and am not inclined to be fanatical about one team or refer to them as "we."
Steve Adams
5:11
Used to be more of the latter, re: my hometown team (the Twins) -- has definitely become more of the former. I used to watch 100+ Twins games, wire to wire, each season. Turning on the local nine was my escape when I'd get home from an office job and didn't want to think about baseball.

I still watch more baseball than I reasonably should, since my job now consists of staring at baseball all day, haha. I'm a sicko. But I watch fewer Twins games than I ever have and tend to watch them, specifically, more if I'm at friends' houses or with my family or out at a restaurant/bar that has them on. I usually just find a pitching matchup I want to see or an exciting young player I haven't gotten a great look at yet and watch them.

I still want the Twins to do well, candidly, but that's largely because it makes my family happy and because I want to be able to go watch a postseason game in person without having to travel. I definitely do not live and die by the team any more, whatsoever.
Which is good, since it's a rough time for all my diehard Twins fan family members and buddies, haha
Guest
5:11
As a Yankee fan scorned-Trying to find a positive light.  Don't get me wrong, I'd rather have Soto, but are the Yankees able to put Judge in a much more favorite spot with a lot less injury risk for a man his size.  Perhaps this works out better for maintaining the health of Judge?
Steve Adams
5:14
If you're looking for silver linings, yeah that could be one. I get the pain of losing a generational player like Soto, but to me the silver lining is that the Yankees already had one, and it's one who was homegrown and who could've left but chose to stay. Aaron Judge rules. You've got him for his career. He'll be in Cooperstown someday wearing a Yankees hat and he'll be right there in Monument Park as well.

Yeah, keeping him healthier is nice, but you never know what could injure a player. Maybe this lowers the risk a bit, but I don't know how big or measureable the impact will be with regard to his health.
Dan
5:14
If you were the commish, what would you do to keep owners from putting terrible (cheap) teams on the field, and just pocketing the revenue sharing and running big profits every year?
Steve Adams
5:14
If I were the commissioner, I'd work for the owners, so I'd just do what was in their best interest. (I think Tim and I are basically typing the same answer here -- let's see!)
Tim Dierkes
5:14
A payroll floor, but it's an oxymoron because one cannot have the MLB commissioner job if they have a problem with teams running big profits.
Steve Adams
5:15
Awwww
Skenes Stache
5:15
Could the Pirates get Casas for Ashcraft? If not what about adding  Davis?
Steve Adams
5:16
I like the Casas/PIT fit, but I think most people who've asked this type of question tend to undersell how good Casas is. To me, this doesn't even start the conversation.
5:17
The Red Sox are probably looking more like Bubba Chandler or Jared Jones. Triston Casas is so good. I simultaneously do not understand the rush some Red Sox fans feel to trade him. I know Devers is poor at 3B, but I'd sooner just dump whatever I can of the Yoshida deal and go Casas/Devers between my 1B/DH spots than move Casas
5:18
I just think Triston Casas is a monster (in a good way -- not like he's secretly done some abhorrent thing at which we should all be appalled)
Joe Schlabotnik
5:18
Very happy to be a paying member here, even though the Orioles still aren’t taking my calls. Have you heard anything about a Rutschmann extension?
Tim Dierkes
5:19
Thank you for subscribing!  You guys are the die-hards and crucial to MLBTR's future.  Quiet on the Rutschman extension front, and I'm not sure if his abysmal second half affects the team's interest.
Steve Adams
5:21
In general, I've begun to wonder whether they'll eventually get it done. It's not a good time for Adley right now, from his perspective. He probably doesn't want to sign on the heels of such a rough second half. He surely believes -- and I would agree -- he can bounce back from that.

He's also already into arbitration, and he's there with a first-overall signing bonus in his bank account, so there's no urgency.

By the time 2026 rolls around, he's only two years from free agency. I think the O's should pursue it, of course, but they're going to have to make a really strong offer and not at all factor in any kind of "discount" for how far he is from the open market or his poor second half in 2024.
5:22
Tim is trying to figure out how to insert a pic into this chat.
He sounds like he is 70.
This rules.
"Do I drag this thingy?"
"Aw man, where'd the file go?"
"This did not work."
Incredible drama here.
Tim Dierkes
5:22
Boom
Steve Adams
5:22
He did it
Erik
5:22
Can we get a picture of you guys at the Hilton Anatole media workroom in Dallas, AMA style?
Tim Dierkes
5:23
Some said that when I asked players to hold up those signs in our player chats, they looked like hostages.
Steve Adams
5:23
I don't care what anyone says. Tim getting that pic into the chat is the real big news from the Winter Meetings. Juan Soto is second fiddle.
GBS42
5:23
I just want to say thanks for all the hard work everybody on the team puts in day after day, month after month, year after year to make your site such a great resource for fans. You guys rock!
Tim Dierkes
5:24
Thank you very much for subscribing and jumping into the chat with no notice!  Things are a bit fluid here in Dallas, but we're planning both a mailbag and another chat on Tuesday.  So stay tuned!
Steve Adams
5:24
Appreciate the kind words. In turn, thank you guys for subscribing. I say it often but I mean it -- it's a privilege and is genuinely humbling to have people paying their hard-earned money to support our work in this fashion. You guys are amazing. Thank you all. We'll do another of these tomorrow most likely!
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