Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
We're going to end up, please state your name and affiliation. We'll start it off with Anthony Decomo. Anthony Decomo, MLB.com. Hey, David, can you just walk us through the timeline of how this came about from conception, like whose idea it was at first, and all the way through to, I'd be curious to hear about your thoughts presenting it to Nima, who obviously had to clear it.
Yeah, this is something that really probably gained steam last week after the GM meetings. I think throughout the offseason, Texas had looked at Nimmo as a very attractive fit for them, and we had looked at Simeon as a potentially really good fit for us. But we didn't really line up and really start making progress on this, I think, until towards the tail end of the GM meetings into last week.
These are difficult deals to put together. You're talking about two very established players.
Chapter 2: What led to the decision to trade Brandon Nimmo?
You're talking about two players who are embedded in their organizations who have had success there. And clearly in Brandon's case, you're talking about a player with with no trade protection.
um and and yeah i'm gonna keep the specifics of the conversation with brandon i think between the two of us but but brandon's brandon's a pro um he's the ultimate pro um he was very respectful um considerate uh and considered i think uh throughout uh this process
He took time to digest everything, took time to speak with his representation, took time to speak with his family to determine what was best. And ultimately, he decided to accept the trade.
Brandon was obviously not just a longtime player here, but a fan favorite. You've alluded to this a couple of times already, but to what extent or how much do you weigh those sorts of things versus just a pure baseball decision in these matters?
It was something we had to think about, no question, both in terms of... man reality and the fan relationship with Brandon, but also we have real relationships with Brandon and our players have real relationships with Brandon, coaches do, front office does. And so that is a part of this. And that certainly makes decisions like this a little bit more challenging than they otherwise would be.
But at the end of the day, I still felt like this was the right decision for the organization.
Thanks.
Hey, David, just when you talk about wanting to give young players a chance to play and have those avenues opened up, how do you kind of square acquiring a 35-year-old at a position where you have these young players who are available and who are maybe, if not already ready to contribute a year or so away from doing so?
I think the good thing about the players who maybe have played second base for us over the past couple of years who are a little bit younger or who may be coming or infielders, there's a ton of positional versatility with all of them. So whether that's Acuna or Jet Williams or Ronnie Mauricio,
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Chapter 3: How did the trade discussions evolve during the GM meetings?
we have a high degree of confidence that all of these guys can play multiple positions and can play them at a high level. And so we don't look at the Simeon acquisition as necessarily blocking anyone from continuing their progression.
And just how did you how much did you, I guess, wanting to change the clubhouse dynamics, did that play a role into this trade at all?
I don't know if it's necessarily wanting to change the clubhouse dynamics. I think it's a recognition that what we did last year wasn't good enough and running back the exact same group wasn't the right thing to do. And so as we went into this, we believed and still believe that we have to be open to anything, that we shouldn't be in a spot to take anything off the table.
And ultimately, if we're able to put transactions together that we think makes sense for the team, both now and in the future, that we have to consider them regardless of what names may be involved. Disha?
Hey, David. Just Semien is obviously coming off of a down year at the plate. Given his age, it points to an obvious decline. Just what makes you believe that he can rebound offensively?
I think there's still some underlying aspects of what he does that are encouraging for us offensively. I also think it's notable that this is a player that can contribute to winning baseball in a variety of different ways. And the bat may not actually lead the way at this point in his career. We think there's there's likely some bounce back in his offensive profile and his offensive game.
But what we're counting on at the top of his skill set is the contributions he can make for us defensively, how he can perform on the bases. And we think those are going to help us win games.
Yeah. And then you have alluded to it a little bit. What are those intangibles from Simeon in terms of winning drive, leadership, his high character? What did you like there about him?
I think as we really began to dig in on who this person was, talk to his former teammates, former coaches, people who have been around him, this is someone who takes his craft incredibly seriously. Someone who does everything he can on a regular basis to get in the lineup, to perform at a high level. It's hard and holds those expectations of his teammates as well.
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Chapter 4: What were the challenges in trading established players like Nimmo?
I think Jeff, by virtue of his positional versatility, still has the ability to impact our team in a variety of ways. What exactly that's going to look like is probably going to have to wait until we watch the rest of the offseason unfold. But certainly his ability to play corner outfield is a help. There may still be days if Simeon needs a blow where he's playing some second base.
We may ask Jeff to play some first base, depending on how the the offseason pans out. I talked to Jeff.
uh yesterday um he understands where we're headed um i think he wants to be a part of this and he understands his positional versatility is a real asset for us and then you mentioned at one point that you know running it back from last year was not the right thing to do at what point during that that slide over the final couple months of the season did you as a front office come to that that conclusion that you would need to do maybe more changes than you had initially thought and and is this enough of a change in your mind or is there more to come
So I think when you're in the moment in going through a playoff push, you're you're focused on the day to day. You're focused on trying to do everything you can to win that day. And there's there's offseason preparation going on. But there's probably not that time for for real reflection. on how the team is performing at that moment.
So I think once we got into the off season and had the time to fully reflect on our team is when I became convinced that we weren't just going to run it back, that we were going to make some changes. You're never sure which changes are actually going to occur, which changes are actually going to be possible. And that's still the case as we move forward.
I don't know what the next transaction is right now, but I know we're going to keep going in the offseason. I'm very confident we're going to have a productive offseason. Laura Albanese from Newsday.
Hi, David. How do you foresee the outfield alignment shaping up? And does this increase your appetite to go after a sort of higher profile free agent outfielder? Or do you still feel like there are internal options that you can kind of plug those holes with?
I think it would be too early for me to really determine how our outfield alignment is going to shape up. But we clearly we've got Juan. Tyrone Taylor's back with us. We're very excited. We've got a number of young outfielders. including Carson Bench, who we think are going to contribute at the major league level over the course of next year.
As I mentioned, we think Jeff is a contributor at the major league level in the outfield next year. Jet Williams has seen some outfield time and we believe can play well there. And we've seen that in the minor leagues. And then there is the opportunity for external acquisitions. And we've got a lot of offseason left.
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