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Felger and Maz to entertain and inform you in the afternoon.

Felger and Mad.

985, the Sports Hub.

I'm going to do. The Sports Hub.

All right.

News came out in the 5 o'clock hour yesterday,

right in the middle of our Patriots conversation following the loss in Baltimore about J.D. Martinez, surprisingly, as far as I'm concerned, opting back into the Boston Red Sox. A lot of ramifications to this move. So let's discuss some of them here with Maz. What are your opening thoughts on that? So I don't think the Red Sox are necessarily expecting this. And in fact,

I think they were half hoping that he didn't opt in. I think that they thought it would have made their lives a hell of a lot easier as it pertains to Mookie bets. And they'd be able to sort of assess Mookie now, weigh the landscape, maybe trade someone like Bradley and try to sign Mookie. Now it gets a hell of a lot more complicated.

So now me personally, I think they're better off this way. I think they're better off trading Mookie and keeping J.D. Martinez. Because I was a better player. Mookie's a more complete player. Jaddy's a better hitter. Okay. Mookie Betts is a better player. Why are they better off with the lesser player? Because I don't want to give Mookie bets 10 years. I think that they can function with

Bogart's, Devers, and Martinez in the middle of that lineup, and without extending themselves

on Mookie. And again, at the core of every Red Sox belief I have this offseason is that they're

going to lose Mookie bets in a year anyway. So to me, I would rather have J.D. Martinez on the roster for three more years than Mokey Betts, you know, for one. And honestly, I wouldn't give Mokey 10. And I think Mokey's looking for a 10-year deal. I mean, what did Trout get? Trout got 12 years or something, $420 million. My guess is that Mookie's looking for that kind of contract. Okay, so you got to clear space. Is that where you do it? I think that's the easiest spot. I think that's the easiest spot. But I'm not giving them away. Okay. Follow me on that? And let me tell you now, I think you're going to have to give them away for all intents and purposes. You won't get nothing back, obviously. But you'll lose the trade. You won't get value. So they're going to have to take ponies for a horse. Exactly. You know, for what amounts to a one-year rental, anyone who wants to sign them to a free agent contract just has to wait a year and they don't have to give you anything.

So you're really threading the needle there. anyone who wants to sign them to a free agent contract just has to wait a year and they don't have to give you anything.

So you're really threading the needle there for someone who needs them immediately and thinks they can resign them.

So maybe that's Atlanta, but I don't know how many other teams you can put on that list where you can assume that Mookie Betz is going to want to stay, you're going to have

to pay, and you think you're knocking at the door for a championship next year, so it makes

sense to give a premium just for that extra year.

Because again, you can sign them for nothing next offseason.

So how many of those, you know, Atlanta, Philadelphia, how many are there? Yeah, there aren't many. So, you know, Atlanta, Philadelphia?

How many are there?

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