Jones & Keefe: Why the Garrett Crochet extension is a win-win

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00:00You ready for news? I'm ready for news. Yes, I think I am ready for news everywhere today.

00:06I love news. Garrett Crochet last night. Yeah, that was out of nowhere. Out of nowhere. I

00:12was told he wasn't going to negotiate during the season. They had a deadline of opening

00:17day. No, he is not. He is not going to talk to the Red Sox in. Oh, wait. Wasn't even a

00:22full week before that got blown up. That's all right. So I saw enough in that one start.

00:27It was pedestrian enough where they said, here you go. Here's $170 million. So Crochet locked

00:33up. Robert Kraft also spoke today in Florida. Yes, he did. So Patriots news out there today

00:38as well. Where do you want to start? We'll get to both here in the opening segment. Jones and

00:42Keefe on WEI. Where do you want to start? Yeah, well, a lot on both. I say we start with the Garrett

00:46Crochet signing because I think it's a great signing for the team. This has been quite an

00:52off-season and not to ignore and completely forget about the past several years for the Red

00:57Sox and their spending. But if you're just focusing on this year, they get Alex Bregman.

01:01They signed him to a massive, like average annual deal. I know there's opt-outs, but that was a big

01:05commitment to Alex Bregman. They throw good money for a year at Walker Bueller. But this was the

01:10piece. This was the one where you said, all right, this is a chance to have a real ace for a long

01:15time. And when you traded for me at two years of control, it's like, all right, is this going to

01:19be a guy that's here for two years and then gets a massive payday somewhere else? And they're not

01:23going to be willing to commit the kind of money it is to do that. And then we were also trying

01:27to figure out what's a fair deal because he has two years at cheap money. So is he looking for

01:33the max free deal? Is that something that any team would give him? You're also bidding against

01:38yourself. So what were the Red Sox going to do? How much would they be willing to give him? Like,

01:43would they try to cheap out here or they look for the value? And no, they gave him a really,

01:48really good deal. And yet I also think it's good for the team. Like I think crochet, if he played

01:53hard ball, he would have had to bet on himself and health, but could have made more money over

01:59the longterm if he kind of waited it out a little bit. But I was thrilled to see that last night,

02:03locking the sky. I was 25 years old. It was one of the, I don't know, 10 best five, 10 best pitchers

02:08in baseball. I love it. So I do too. And I was shocked when it came down. We said, I don't know,

02:15last week, a couple of weeks ago, we've been talking about the max free deal or the Corbin

02:20burns deal. And well, whether or not Garrett crochet would take it, my contention was if the

02:25team offered him that kind of deal, then I would be on the team side. I thought that would be a

02:31fair deal to offer. And I thought crochet would be foolish not to take that. And I just never

02:37expected the Red Sox to be at that point. I didn't think they would offer that kind of money. Now,

02:41it turns out I was half right. They weren't offering that contract. They didn't need to,

02:45but Garrett crochet. And it speaks to on some level, Keith, his fears about, well, the track

02:51record of never having done it before. It speaks to the fears about his health track record,

02:56which is spotty at best. But I do think this is a good deal for the Red Sox. And this is why I said

03:03to John Henry, look, if you're okay with playing it out, John, and stretching this out and paying

03:09200, 250, $300 million, well, then go ahead and put this off until next off season or put it off

03:16until the end of the deal and give them a Yamamoto contract or something approaching that 300,

03:22$350 million if you want to wait, but the price is only going up. So if you want a deal and you're

03:29telling me you're not going to pay why, well, then you better pay X right now and credit to

03:34the Red Sox for doing that. So Jeff Passan had the details last night. You heard some of them

03:38off the top Garrett crochet and the Red Sox. It's a six-year agreement. $170 million is the

03:44extension. The deal starts in 2026. So the Red Sox have some cost certainty the next couple of

03:49years before that extension kicks in, right? Or pretty cheap this year, this year, rather

03:53before it kicks in next year, it includes an opt-out after 2030, by far the largest deal ever

03:59for a pitcher with four plus years of service that surpasses Jake to Grom who the Red Sox saw the

04:04other day, he got five years, $138 million a few years back. So crochet can hit the market again

04:10as a 31-year-old and try to get the same deal that Fried got and cash in at $200, $250 million

04:17or whatever. The point is getting paid now with the opt-out gives them an opportunity to hit the

04:21market again. If he's an ace, it gives the Red Sox cost certainty. And I would say, and you brought

04:26this up before Keefe, especially about young players who rush to get the deal. You have

04:31questions about whether or not they fully believe in themselves. Do you have any of that question

04:36at all about crochet? Because I would say this is more team friendly than player friendly,

04:42which surprises me. I thought crochet would have been a little more dug in.

04:45Me too. It surprises me slightly on his end, but I wonder if he's just looking at it and saying,

04:51I've had a million injuries and now I can kind of put this to the side and I can blow out my

04:55arm at any second. And now I can just pitch. So it is. I think you brought this up before too.

04:59And we were talking about the difference between like, say Raffaella, Casas, Bayo,

05:03all these guys have been offered something. Bayo and Raffaella took it. Casas did not.

05:09And now crochet is, but he has had, uh, you know, a slower start to his career because of all these

05:16different injuries. You mentioned Jacob DeGrom when Jacob DeGrom signed that deal in 2019,

05:21he'd already won one or two Cy Young's. He was like rookie of the year. Like he had an

05:24established track record where he was filthy as much as you and I both like crochet.

05:28And as much as the Red Sox like crochet, this is mostly based on projection. Like he hasn't

05:34done it for a full season. No DeGrom was way more established. That's why players like this don't

05:38get these deals. So on that side of say, well, that is a good deal for the team, but it's also

05:43like a record setting deal. Like as, as you just read. So I guess crochet probably factors all that

05:49in and realizes he has a chance to opt out when he is 30, I believe. Right. If you do the math,

05:55right. I think he'd be 30 years old when he opts out, which is the same age or even a little bit

05:59younger than guys like burns and freed and others who still sign massive deals. So in that sense,

06:05maybe I understand why he's like, all right, I'll get a big boost, not for this year, but starting

06:09next year, whatever he would have gotten in arbitration is going to be double or maybe

06:14three times as much. So I, I, in that sense, I guess I get it. So what do you think? 6, 1, 7,

06:197, 7, 9, 7, 93, seven Garrett crochet tied to the red socks now for another five years.

06:26And so they spent the money. I think it's team friendly, but I understand the cost control for

06:31Garrett crochet. And I would applaud the red socks if this is their plan. And they said,

06:36this is their plan. Maybe this is evidence of John Henry turning a corner. We're going to lock

06:41up our young core. They're trying to do it with Campbell. They did it with, as you said,

06:45Raffaella and Bayo. They're trying to do it with Cassius, maybe not as successfully.

06:50We're going to lock these guys up and we're not going to spend

06:5440, 45, 50 million a year in free agency. We're not doing that. So, okay. You're not going to

06:58do that. That's fine. There are other ways to flex your muscles when it comes to the financials and

07:05the red Sox have a big, big advantage over most of baseball when it comes to bottom line, uh,

07:10how profitable they are, the deep pockets they have, this is another way to do it.

07:14And if this is how you want to do it to avoid spending $300 million on a pitcher and free

07:18agency, trade forum, use your farm system, Teal and Montgomery out crochet in, you extend them.

07:24That's a great plan. And if this is what the red Sox are going to start doing going forward,

07:28I'd applaud them for that. They are, they are putting their money where their mouth is on that

07:33plan finally. And so I don't want to give them too much credit. I don't want to get too far

07:37ahead of it. They are still one in four have sucked to start the year, but there is that

07:42this, I like, this is what we were begging for from the second they acquired crochet and now

07:46they've done it. So good for them. Yeah. And I think it was already a win and I was glad that

07:50they traded Kyle Teal as great of a prospect as he is. It was like, listen, you can't keep all

07:54your prospects. So they traded Kyle Teal and they got them. And if you said, would you trade Kyle

07:58Teal? And we don't know what kind of player he's going to be. He could be a perennial all-star

08:03and you got two years of crochet. I'd say, well, still worth the risk. Like let's do it.

08:08But if you're getting crochet for six years, minimum six years for Kyle Teal, then it's a

08:13no-brainer, an absolute no-brainer for, for bringing him in. And so, yeah, I thought it

08:18was, was great. And maybe it's the sign of, you know, some of their, their older spending

08:23techniques, you know, when they're, they, when they used to be in on everybody and they would

08:27be willing to make trades, they'd be willing to sign big extensions. Maybe there's a little bit

08:31of a throwback to that. I saw John Lyons tweeting about this last night. It seems like their

08:35spending has changed a little bit in the last year. You know, who's back? Theo. Theo. Yeah.

08:41And so look, I don't want to kick John Henry, kick John Henry, kick John Henry. Then he spends

08:45his money and give Theo all the credit for it. Well, I mean, if anybody could, could convince

08:49him, maybe it is Theo or fine. Yeah. Whoever it is. I'll, I'll just, I'll take it. So is John

08:54Henry turning over a new leaf? 617-779-7937, or at least going back to the way they used to spend

09:00your thoughts on the Garrett crochet extension. That's one story we're discussing here on Jones

09:05and Keefe on what is a tear tear Tuesday, rather coming up at 1130. We'll tear off all of the top

09:12April fool's pranks. How about that? Those are, these are not radio. We're not doing them. Mike

09:16Thomas. If you're listening, these are not radio pranks. We're going to be doing. We're not doing

09:19any of them. No, no, no, no, no. We're not doing a single one of them. We're just going to talk

09:23about, we're just going to tear them. We have a bunch of, we have at least a dozen or so to get

09:26to and we'll tear them. We're going to tear off some good April fool's day hijinks out there.

09:31It is also a Tommy Tuesday. We'll talk to Tommy current at high noon. Get his thoughts on Robert

09:35Kraft and his comments today. We have a key for madness for you at 1245 and it is the first two

09:41for Tuesday here on WEEI. You want to win two tickets to see the Red Sox and the Cardinals on

09:46April 6th at Fenway park. Make sure you're listening at 1030, 1130, 1230, 130. We'll be

09:53giving away a pair of tickets all day long here on Jones and Keefe. Hopefully you were listening

09:57today at 7am to the Greg Hill show. He gave away a keyword, a code word that you're going to need

10:03to repeat to Billy Lanny. When this contest gets going at 1030, you're going to need to pass that

10:08code word back to Billy. I like it. If you happen to miss it, odyssey app, a U D a C Y go use the

10:14rewind feature. Go back and seek out what Greg said this morning at seven. Make sure you're

10:18listening next Tuesday at seven to Greg Hill. You'll hear the code word. We'll do that at 1032

10:23tickets to the Red Sox and Cardinals. We'll be doing it all day long here on a two for Tuesday

10:27on Jones and Keefe.

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