Ken Kendrick

Like, it would be, I think, you know, I'm, not, not the first time we've talked about it either.

I'm all in favor of them hiring a president of football operations, a team president, something like that, where Michael Bidwill can almost be like, you know, just a non-factor, almost like Ken Kendrick with the Arizona Diamondbacks.

You almost never hear about his involvement with the team, and I think that's because he's not that involved in the team.

He hires the, the, the Mike Hazens and the Derek Halls of the world to run his organization and trusts that they're gonna make the right decisions.

Yeah, they ate innings, sort of, but if they gave that to a replacement player, they would've been better off.

So like I mentioned, owner Ken Kendrick has indicated the Diamondbacks payroll will decrease in two thousand twenty-seven.

That makes the next several seasons especially important, and they have a lot of needs, a lot of priorities in the off-season.

The clubs need to improve first base and DH, strengthen the rotation, rebuild parts of the bullpen, while preparing for its established players become more expensive.

They got Cor- they got Corbin Carroll on this really cheap deal.

Wow, look at the Diamondbacks." They are going to get expensive in a big, big way.

If they keep shelling out these bad moves, uh, Ken Kendrick is going to reduce the payroll even more, and the Diamondbacks are going to be stuck.

No more looking at Jake Bowers in the off-season.

The comparison I made to Rhino Hearn in the previous episode also pretty much worth wa- watching when we're talking about a potential contract, uh, for Jake Bowers.

Of course, uh, Ken Kendrick did say that the salary was going down.

Now, how much down it is because there are a lot of guys coming off the books, so naturally it was going to go down.

We just don't know yet, so I hope the Dynamics are still willing to spend some money.

I don't think it's going to be a franchise changing offseason.

I don't think there's going to be any additions made, especially considering Ken Kendrick's comments about payroll that this team is going to like bring in a huge, huge free agent name.

But I don't think they need to.

I don't think they're.

It's about how aggressively Arizona can build their 2027 rotation, how much financial flexibility Mike Hazen will have to do so, and whether the team can afford to run it back with the same core that it has or if drastic changes are needed.

Now, Ken Kendrick's comments would make us believe that drastic changes simply can't be done.

There is not enough money in the banana stand, and yes, I'm making that Arrested Development reference again, uh, 'cause Damon called me old the last time I did it.

But there is money in the banana stand, but apparently not enough, uh, for us to go out and change this team.

However, they still need to replace a pitcher that they're really invested in, and at this point, we've seen this team not have the depth they need.

So without Corbin Burns, with Michael Siroka leaving, they don't, they aren't in a great spot.

Now, if Burn- Burns does opt out, that does make the possibility of retaining Michael Siroka here much more of a potential reality, right? But if Burns opts in, Arizona keeps his ace, and that payroll is as tight as Ken Kendrick said it was going to be.

Cool Bro in the chat says, "I don't think he has a choice but to opt in," and while I would agree with that, you would be surprised about how much another team might still want Corbin Burns and how much they might be willing to offer him, even though at this point it's unproven if he's ever going to return to the level That he was at.

It's not the worst thing ever because of the production that he's going to get.

But right now, there's a lot up in the air, because we hear different things from Mike Hazen, from Torey Lovell, from Ken Kendrick.

Everybody kind of has a different opinion on it, and everyone also seems to be leaving the door open.

Whether he comes back or not, whether we have him back or not, this is what we're expecting from him.

Want to see the pitching continue to improve across the entire organization.

And obviously build around a lower payroll.

Ken Kendrick has already said, I'll throw it up right here, quote, "It will not be at the same level.

It'll be a lower payroll than we had this year." So the Dynamics are going to have to do all of this, all of these off-season priorities that I'm talking about, with a lower payroll.

I work for a great owner.

I work for a great president in Ken Kendrick and Derek Hall.

And then it's clear that this is an elite GM, and we gotta finish this thing off.

We gotta find a way to win a world championship.