Keeping Batherson And Zub Won’t Be Cheap, But Replacing Them Might Be Harder
Re-Signing Drake Batherson and Artem Zub will be expensive, but with few replacements in the pipeline, the Senators have plenty of reasons to get both deals done.
Video Transcript
There's a part of me that still thinks it's gonna get done, Steve.
I just think that you've got a player that you like, that you know you've underpaid on a great contract for the last few years.
You wanna lock him up.
I, I, I just, I, I think it's gonna get done.
I still do.
I think they got two weeks to get her done, and it will get done before the deadline of the 15th.
That's, that's my, my thought anyway.
I wouldn't bet on it, but that, that's my thought.
I think it's gonna get done.
But you, you're more, you're more it ain't gonna happen, right?
I just feel like if it's, if both sides were really interested in getting something done, it would've been done much sooner than now.
And now that we've h- hit- Mm-hmm September 1st, we're this close to the deadline, I feel like it will come and go.
I guess the question is, is it that big a deal?
Is Drake Batherson and his camp going to be offended if the date comes and goes and he doesn't have an eight-year deal?
Yeah, that's a And that is the whole crux of the matter, right?
You don't wanna tick anybody off, so it's a matter of feeling him out and saying, "Okay, yeah, you, you made it known that you want eight years, but, you know, how badly do you want eight years?
Are you okay if it's only seven?"
And only Drake knows, and I assume the Senators would know by now, if he'd be willing to take something less.
I, I, I gotta figure if he was willing to take something less, they probably offered something less and he would've taken it by now.
So maybe there's a, there's a part of me that thinks he's holding steady to that eight years.
And I just think that i- if, if it all gets said and done, and in the end he signs for seven years at, like, 10 million a year, then, you know, why didn't you just do eight and get it done with, right?
Like, if, if it goes past September 15th and it gets done within a couple days, then, and it's darn close to what, what it should've been at eight, then I'm kinda perplexed by the whole thing.
So there's a part of me that thinks, you know what?
Maybe if it doesn't get done by the 15th, it won't get done for a couple of months.
There's, that possibility's always hanging there in the balance, which we don't wanna have happen, but, but if it doesn't happen before that deadline, maybe we do end up waiting a while, and that gets scary.
It's just that Batherson, and we've had him on the show, he's our third man in, and we're due for an appearance.
Maybe I'll put a call in to him this week, but I, he just doesn't seem like the kinda guy, he just seems so laid back and easygoing, that I don't feel like- Yeah he, I think he would be potentially, "Okay, this is something I wanted, and now I didn't get it, so there's something I've given away now in the negotiation process."
I don't know that he's going to, just knowing the kind of personality he is, I don't know that he's going to have spite in his heart because the Sens let this thing come and go.
Doesn't seem like that kinda guy.
I think he'll just say, "Hmm, lost round one, but maybe that means I can negotiate a higher salary as we look towards something else."
