Alex Bregman to the Red Sox, Nick Pivetta to the Padres & The Neverending Search for an Edge
Rates & Barrels: A show about Baseball
The Athletic
4.7 • 873 Ratings
🗓️ 13 February 2025
⏱️ 60 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Eno, Trevor, and DVR discuss Alex Bregman's decision to sign with the Red Sox -- how the pieces might fit in Boston without another move -- and the structure of the deal. Plus, they discuss Nick Pivetta to San Diego, where the Padres have quickly turned around a very quiet offseason. They also dig into the current use of pitch models like Stuff+ around the game, and wonder where teams are finding edges within those models, and beyond
Rundown
1:30 Alex Bregman to the Red Sox (Three-Year, $120M Deal w/two opt-outs)
14:06 Nick Pivetta Lands with the Padres (Four-Year, $55M Deal w/two opt-outs)
22:10 Anthony Rendon to Undergo Hip Surgery; Out for 2025
33:34 How is Stuff+ Used Around Baseball?
40:24 Applications of Pitching Models & Finding an Edge
46:55 Solvability in Sports...Basketball Might Be Broken
52:12 Rule Changes in Baseball by Decade
58:32 Where Are Teams Looking for an Edge?
Follow Eno on Bluesky: @enosarris.bsky.social
Follow DVR on Bluesky: @dvr.bsky.social
Follow Trevor on Bluesky: @iamtrevormay@bsky.social
e-mail: ratesandbarrels@gmail.com
Join our Discord: https://discord.gg/FyBa9f3wFe
Subscribe to The Athletic: theathletic.com/ratesandbarrels
Hosts: Derek VanRiper & Eno Sarris
With: Trevor May
Producer: Brian Smith
Executive Producer: Derek VanRip
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Welcome rates and barrels. It's Thursday, February 13th, Derek and Riper, Enoceros, Trevor |
| 0:17.0 | May, all here with you on this episode. We have a few late signings as spring training gets |
| 0:22.7 | underway. Alex Bregman has a new home. He heads to Boston. Nick Povetta heads to San Diego. |
| 0:29.5 | It sounds like Anthony Rendon is done for 2025 and probably beyond that. So we'll dig into that. |
| 0:35.6 | Some big picture stuff too. Eno had a stuff plus update that was released last week. We're going to dig into the implications of that. And we're going to talk about where teams can try to find differentiation points in strategy as things like Stuff Plus models become more prevalent in the game. Trevor, how you doing? Good to see you. I am good. Thanks for asking. |
| 0:55.5 | Everything is great over here. It's good to be back. I'm excited to get back rolling with rates and |
| 1:01.1 | barrels every single week. I'm excited. Glad to have you back again this season. And Eno, |
| 1:05.8 | what's going on with you, man? Nothing. Got to come up with my speech for Moneyball tonight. |
| 1:09.8 | I'm introducing Moneyball on campus on Stanford campus tonight if there's any Stanford listeners. |
| 1:14.7 | So we'll be at Green Library at 7 o'clock. I got to do a little speech. |
| 1:19.6 | That's awesome, man. |
| 1:21.8 | Well, let's get started with the news. Alex Bregman signs a three-year, $120 million deal with the Red Sox. |
| 1:29.8 | Nice big AAV, two opt-outs built in. So this could turn into a one-year deal. I think Eno made his feelings known about it pretty quickly on Blue Sky last night. |
| 1:41.0 | And the weird thing for me here, Trevor, Alex Brighman's going to play second |
| 1:45.6 | base potentially for the Red Sox, and so much of his value comes from the defense he brings |
| 1:49.9 | it third. And when you think about the way the Red Sox are built, Raphael Devers is not a good |
| 1:55.1 | defensive third baseman. They have some prospects coming up. Christian Campbell being a guy, |
| 1:59.9 | we could probably see a lot of throughout 2025. |
| 2:02.8 | It seems like an odd fit if they actually go through with the second base plan. |
| 2:06.8 | So how do you think the pieces are actually going to fit once we move through spring training |
| 2:11.2 | and get to the point where we reach opening day? |
| 2:13.4 | I think the big sticking point here is Yoshita. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Athletic, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of The Athletic and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.