Effectively Wild: A FanGraphs Baseball Podcast - Effectively Wild Episode 2457: The 2026 Team Fun Draft

Episode Date: March 26, 2026

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the number of Opening Days/Nights at the start of the regular-season schedule and how long they think the challenge system will last, review some of their favorite offseason transactions, and do their annual draft of all 30 MLB teams in order of how fun they’ll be to follow this season. Audio intro: The Spaghettis, “Effectively Wild Theme” Audio outro: Jimmy Kramer, “Effectively Wild Theme” Link to Craig on Opening Days/Nights Link to broadcast dilemma Link to Ben on the challenge system Link to Ben on the labor situation Link to champing/chomping Link to Rogers tattoo story Link to Langs Giants stat Link to pod duration calculator Link to Adames challenge reaction Link to EWStats site Link to freemium model announcement Link to written explanation  Sponsor Us on Patreon  Give a Gift Subscription  Email Us: [e-mail]  Effectively Wild Subreddit  Effectively Wild Wiki  Apple Podcasts Feed   Spotify Feed  YouTube Playlist  Facebook Group  Bluesky Account  Twitter Account  Get Our Merch! var SERVER_DATA = Object.assign(SERVER_DATA || {}); Source

Hello, I'm okay, we got so much to do delay. Break it balls and blaking snells, and those stats won't blast themselves. Effectively wild. Effectively wild. Hello and welcome to episode 2457 of Effectively Wild, a baseball podcast from of FanGraphs presented by our Patreon supporters. I am Ben Lindberg of the Ringer, joined by Meg Rally of FanGraphs. Hello, Meg.

Hello. So we are speaking just a few hours before opening night. Is that what we're going with, I guess? There's been a lot of hand-wringing about the terminology. No. Semantics. There's been no hand-wringing. There's an obvious correct answer.

And then there are people who are doing funny business. This is not opening day. And, you know, look, I don't mean to appeal to the authority of Major League Baseball, but Major League Baseball is calling this opening night, you know? Like if you go to their site and they're talking up Yankees Giants, it's opening night. It's opening night because it's one game at night. You know? Yeah, I'd be okay with calling it that team's opening day if that team wanted to say this is our opening day.

Sure. But in a league-wide sense, no. Opening day is tomorrow. And look, I appreciate that I am on shaky ground because the early season schedule here, kind of weird. We don't even have a full complement of games tomorrow. No, you got to wait until Saturday for all the teams to be in action at the same time. At the same time. Some teams, some teams fans aren't going to see their favorite team to Friday, to Friday, back.

Yeah, it is. It's sort of a staggered start. So you get a starter. you're just opening course, your appetizer tonight, wet your appetite. And then I think we can call Thursday opening day. But there are some teams that are not playing on opening day, which feels wrong. And then Friday, teams that did play already, they have a day out, which is not unusual because you tend to build in off days early just because there can be weather, whatever. And so there's a little slack.

You got to count the possibility of rain. Yeah. Yeah. But it is a strange sort of ramp up. And it's not uncommon. I guess most seasons probably don't have all 30 teams playing on the same day and it's their first game. And obviously some seasons. It is nice.

And I do like the end of the season when all of the teams are in action at the same time and all the games start at the same time. Because we're just desperately trying to recreate the end of the 2011 season, which is tough to do. It takes more than just scheduling the games at the same time. It also takes really exciting races. but I do like that it's all going on there. But I don't hate this, honestly. I actually, I think the opening night is fine. I think it's okay.

I think it's actually kind of cool because, well, not everyone has Netflix, but it's the most popular streaming service, and a whole lot of people have it. As we've noted, tough to have to have a zillion different streaming services and channels to watch all of your team's games, especially if it's the first game of the season. Maybe you have to sign up for something

that your team is never otherwise on. That gets pretty pricey. Maybe you don't always know where the game is. But at least it's not some niche service in this case. And so it does eventize. Sorry, apologies for even turning that into, but people do. So it is just a way to say, hey, baseball is beginning. If you want to watch Major League Baseball, here's the one time to do that.

Because the nice thing about an opening day where everyone is in action is that everyone is in action. Right. The only drawback, though, is that our attention is diluted because we're all watching our own games. So if you wanted to have sort of a national event, just, hey, here's the official start of Major League Baseball. Let's all get excited. And it's kind of a night before Christmas feeling if you celebrate Christmas. Just, you know, it's good. Like families, some have their traditions.

They open gifts on Christmas Eve, whatever it is. But then you have Christmas still in store. You have Christmas morning to look forward to. There's anticipation. So it's just a taste. And then you know that the three-course meal is coming the next day. Now, are the Giants and the Yankees the most exciting lead-off teams that one could come up with for Major League Baseball in 20206? Well, we're conducting our team fund draft today.

So we will decide. But spoiler, I doubt it. I don't think they will go one and two. But maybe that's okay because being the first, that adds a lot of luster to that matchup. You're not going to be super excited to see the Giants or maybe the Yankees play later in the season. But on opening night, if they are the first, if they are officially breaking the seal and ending the offseason and marking the start of the on season, well, suddenly, it's super exciting to watch the San Francisco Giants. And how many days will we be able to say that? Wait a minute.

I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Yeah. Like, I mean, why not? Because what do you mean, why not? What do you mean why not, Ben? simply season would suffice? Is that what you're suggesting?

Right. And if you must modify it because there's ambiguity about whether you're referring to the championship season or the post season, the playoffs, call it regular on season. You sound like, you know what it sounds like? It sounds like you're the character in a rom-com and the person you're dating is someone who uses summer as a verb. And you're like trying to blend in. Like when, on season. Yeah. Are we on?

Are we, is it, is it on season now? The inglorious bastards hold up the fingers test. It's like, have you ever experienced a baseball season before? Yeah. How do you do fellow kids? Oh, the on season is starting. Oh, okay. Yeah, on season.

Yeah. Apologies. Anyway, just thought I'd try it out. It might be cute. It might delete later. So I think it's actually kind of fun. that we have several starts to the season. Now it's frustrating if you're a team that's not playing till Friday.

And I always hated when my team started. And then you're thinking, oh, finally, we've gone six months or however long without a game. And it was never that long because I was a Yankees fan. And so we always played a lot of October baseball, which maybe was a little bit different from your experience. Unbearable. Notting-five, at least.

But. Yeah. How did that one end for? Yeah, yeah. You ended my on-season early. Anyway, I... No, wait. Wait, no. That wasn't the only... Ben? We're making it happen on season. No, we didn't end... We ended your postseason early. It's true. Yes. Famously.

Yes, very famously, legendarily. I mean, I didn't have anything to do with it. I just sat there being like, oh, I guess I'm going to be obsessed with this for the rest of my life. Yeah. So the nice thing about it is that when opening day is over, over. Well, then you feel like baseball blew its load kind of. It's like it was super exciting, but then there's the refractory period, whereas now you have multiple rounds, right? It's like, hey, the season's starting and the season's also starting tomorrow and the season's also starting on Friday. And in a sense, the season's starting on Saturday because everyone's going to be going at it at the same time. So I actually kind of like that. I think when the season starts technically

weeks early because a team is playing in Australia or Asia or whatever it is. I support those initiatives. I think that's good for baseball and Major League Baseball, but it is always a little awkward just for the teams, for the players, they got to get ready early. And then, well, the season has started technically, but no one's playing for weeks. And this was played somewhere else. And it just feels like a strange sort of. And then they go back to return to spring training after starting their season.

And this is not that. So I'm actually kind of into this, I think. I like it. I've discovered linguistic aspects of it that I don't care for. Some of them new in this conversation. I also just point out, like, people always think it's me who's being horny on the podcast. Not lately, Ben. That'd be you.

That be you who's entertaining some verbiage that I would shy away from. But anyway, I like having the. sort of opening night appetizer. I think that you're right to say, like, maybe we won't care about watching the Giants. You and I as non-Grients fan might not care about watching the Giants a couple of weeks from now in quite the same way.

But like, you know, Max Fried and Logan Webb on opening day, that's like an opening night. Excuse me. That's a great pitching matchup. And I think we'll be a tremendous amount of fun. I do wish that everyone was playing tomorrow, though. I don't love having this waiting game for folks where they don't get to see their favorite team play until Friday. But the upside of that is that typically Friday of opening week tends to be pretty scant because you do have to allow for the possibility of rain.

And so that tends to be a scheduled off day for a lot of teams. So maybe this is when it's all sudden done the right thing. My only thing is that I just need everyone to think of opening. night the same way they think of, you know, when the Dodgers have played games in, in Asia that have actually counted. It doesn't affect my publication calendar, okay? That's one of your business. Your business is playing the baseball and enjoying the baseball, watch the baseball, certainly,

but opening day is tomorrow. Yeah, it affects the Fangraph's playoff odds because in those seasons, there are always a couple presets for opening day. It's opening day for everyone. It's opening day on whatever day the Dodgers started playing. It's not always the Dodgers, I guess. But yeah, so I kind of, in a way, I'm just going to let this wash over me in waves. And I will enjoy each one and we'll get our baseball naps in.

And it will be wonderful to have our soundtrack back. But it is true. You know, we concern ourselves with semantics here on this podcast playing. but I have had a number of people text me or message me or email me just to say happy and then they say opening day but then sort of sheepishly they'll say happy sort of opening day, happy opening day kind of. Everyone's aware. I think we're all on the same page that this is opening night.

That's all right. Okay. Yeah. Opening night is just all right. And we have now completed the opening of this podcast after 10 minutes or so. So we are going to do our first. our little team fund draft. Yeah.

And I wanted to shout out a few just transactions I enjoyed this offseason, which will sort of segue into that, I suppose. Also, I wrote about the challenge system. You did. And I wrote about whether it's already doomed. That was my provocative headline. Not because I'm anti-challenge system. No. But I convinced myself.

So you know how there's the cliche writing is thinking. Yes. And like a lot of clichés, there's truth to that. Because in the process of setting down those words, you are thinking about things. And you're refining your argument. And most people at least write a lot more slowly than they speak. And so you have time to process and bring some real rigor to what you're thinking and get distracted by the 17 other tabs you have open. But somewhere in the midst of that, things occur to you.

You have epiphanies. You make connections. I find it very helpful for organizing my thinking. And I've talked about this before. Every time we talk about the challenge system, I muse about whether this is just a stopgap, whether it's a step along the path to full ABS, or whether like the pitch clock,

it could be just a final, fully finished version of the thing that we want to see. And so as I was in the process of writing this article, I convinced myself even more that the challenge system is indeed doomed. Yeah. Its days are numbered and all of our days are numbered naturally. But I think that the challenge system's days don't have that high a number,

even though I think the system will be a success. And I think people will like it and then people will almost stop noticing it for the most part and we'll all stop obsessing over it except for the sickos among us. But I do think that even as it blends into the background, it will ultimately be a gateway to full ABS. So I wonder if you had to, because no one's been a bigger booster of the challenge system than you. That's right. But what's your confidence level that this is it? That, you know, putting aside minor tweaks, maybe there are three challenges instead of two.

Maybe there's a buffer zone for the umpires. Just, but those are all recognizably the challenge system. But I'm talking about moving from now you can challenge a call that was made by a human to skipping that step, going straight to computerized calls of all pitches. How long would you give it? What's the over under? We don't do a lot of over unders and betting content here on Effectively Wild. We just made a big deal about that earlier this week. But if you had to set a personal over under just for fun, just how long?

long you think it has, and maybe you think it has indefinitely. Maybe you think it's permanent. Maybe you think as long as there will be baseball, there will be challenge system. But I wonder where you come down. Well, like, what do we mean by like, how long a time frame do I really have to express confidence over here? Because it, like, through the water wars or sooner than that? Maybe we'll stipulate that society, civilization, indoor, that, uh, We have... It's a big assumption we might be making. But if we take that as a given that Major League Baseball will continue to be played

and not just in an interstellar sort of sense, but in more or less its current incarnation, how long will the challenge system be a part of that? I think that it will persist for... I would give 75% confidence that it will persist in its current form for at least five seasons. Okay. I was going to set my... My over under it, five seasons. It's sort of a cop-out, but part of it is, and, you know, they can make rule changes whenever

they want to. They don't, you know, not every kind of rule change, but like most rule changes, you can, you can do that when you want if you're the league. You doesn't have to necessarily be collectively bargained, right? They try to have like some niceties around these things, but the way that the rules committee is sort of tilted gives the league a thumb it can put on the scale. Which could change because, as you may have heard, there is about to be a CBA negotiation. But yeah, that's true now.

I'd really like to not hear about that for like a month. Yeah, I know it's not going to happen. I just did my primer this week at the ringer. And the main thrust, I covered all the questions. It was kind of an FAQ. But the main thing was just, do you need to worry about this? Should this? Because I made fun of the fact that it's always looming, the looming lockout,

which speaks to the. power of alliteration, but also just this is on everyone's mind. And now I said, first of all, you don't actually have to worry about it because I endeavor not to worry about things that I can't control. Now, am I always

successful at that? No. No one is. Better at it than I am. Maybe. Maybe. But the serenity prayer, right? To grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change of things I can, the wisdom to know the difference. So the wisdom I was trying to offer

was, well, first of all, this is the former. This is one of the things that we cannot change. And so we are not served by stressing about it unless we are in the bargaining unit, one of the lead negotiators. But also, I did pump the brakes a bit on the doomerism that's out there because I really do seem to sense that people are just convinced that 2027 is done. And I don't want to be overly optimistic. about this, but the baseline expectation, I think, should be that there will be a baseball season

because past performance, no guarantee of future results, but there has never been a full major league baseball season canceled to this point, and there have been a lot of them. So I think that is the baseline. There will be a season of some sort. And also putting aside the pandemic, it's been 30 years more since there was even a shortened season. So I'm just saying approach this. Yes, it seems like the sides are dug in a bit

more. The rhetoric has ramped up. There's a virtual certainty of a lockout. But it's somewhat predictive when we try to project baseball player performance. So we look at how they've done lately. And that's about as good as we can do. You know, you put some

aging factors in there and everything. But a lot of it is just, well, how good have you been? You'll probably be about that good again, unless you're a breakout candidate, a fabled breakout candidate. But I think you should go into this thinking, probably disaster will be averted and prepare for the worst, obviously. The worst could come to pass.

And just all the other factors that we've talked about that I think make it a little less likely that we will go beyond the brink. Just what's at stake? Baseball's super popular right now. It's riding a real wave of optimism and momentum that I think all involved don't want to fritter away. no one wants to squander the sense that, hey, baseball's got the juice again. And also those big national broadcast contracts that expire after 2028. You're not going to get much money for those

if they don't play at 2027. And Rob Manfred is retiring and legacy. And he wants to sort out all the broadcast stuff and the expansion stuff. And on and on and on, right? There are so many reasons. And even if it gets acrimonious, we just saw with the WNBA negotiation, that was heated, that got right up to the edge, but then they realized, hey, we're booming right now. We need to capitalize on this. And they made an agreement. And I expect that that's what will happen here. But so anyway, the challenge system. I don't know how I got off on that, Jack, but it's my fault. I think that, well, as I said, I think people are going to really enjoy this. I do think that is going to address many of the

thornyest problems that we have had with the strike zone. I think it will improve the general confidence that fans have in home plate umpires or at least heighten their appreciation for how hard of a job it is. And that isn't to say that people won't still get mad at umpires. They absolutely will. They get mad at umpires now at times when there's no good reason to. But, you know, I think that it's going to be enjoyable for fans that people will largely feel sated.

And there were reasons beyond, like, a desire to maintain the human element in the game that the league leaned into the challenge system over a full ABS zone. Some of those were related to technical constraints, but a lot of it was the feedback from players and fans about, you know, the experience in the ballpark. And, you know, I think that the league is also very keen not to give back the gains that they made from a time of game perspective with the pitch clock. And one of the things that testing in the miners showed was that when you had full ABS, games got longer because you had more walks. So I think that if, you know, they can sort of satisfy everyone that games aren't going to end on

disastrous calls provided that teams are responsible with their challenge use, I think that they'll be happy to sort of stand pat with that, particularly if it kind of washes over the general fandom the way that I expected to. So I think that there will be less that there will be resistance mounted against a move to full ABS and more that it just won't necessarily have a champion. Whereas I think it was obvious that like you needed a mechanism by which to address the phenomena of bad and obviously bad, not close, but obviously bad calls ending games. That was an important thing to get right, particularly as the league was talking up the way that other technological innovations were improving the game, right?

Where it was like, why is there this gap? Why is there this like weird void that it seems like technology, you should be able to help us address? And the very fact that they've been open and receptive to the feedback of fans and players and managers and what have you at the minor league level as this is being tested gives me optimism that they're not like chomping at the bit. Are you a chomping or champing person? Hey, this is the podcast. Okay. The offseason is over, but that doesn't mean that we aren't still ourselves.

Okay? I need everyone to understand what we're up to, which is sometimes reminding people, why we do better in small groups. I think champing is technically not correct, exactly. Because it's, yeah, it's, it was the earlier one. And then it's, it's morphed into chomping because we were all familiar with chomping. And so it sounds like you would chomp at a bit, not champ at it. So mostly I avoid it entirely.

Oh, okay, that's fair. You're like, I don't like either of these options. They're disgusting. Yeah, I don't feel strongly about it, though, because. This isn't one where I'm like, hold the line. I feel language evolves. I'm okay with this particular revolution. I think it just makes it make more sense to people.

So that's what I think about that. We should get to the team fund draft so that we can draft some fun and hopefully, you know, do it before the game starts. You can go read my thoughts in full if you care because thinking is writing, writing is thinking. So I was doing that. It is clarifying for me. The reason why I'm, yeah, setting it had five years is because I think it will be successful. It will largely go smoothly. And it will be, if anything, a victim of its own success.

That it will just be well received. And it will really usher in its own replacement because people will say, gosh, I like correcting a few calls a game. What if we got them all correct? And that people will be persuaded by it and that most people won't really care about the tactical considerations. And also that's all new and novel and fascinating to us now. but then teams and players, they'll settle into patterns and they'll understand when to challenge and when not to challenge and we'll figure out who's good at it and who's not. And it just won't be quite as compelling. It'll just blend into the background a bit.

And I look to, I think it's instructive to look at the timeline in tennis because it's such a perfect comp. It's Hawkeye. It's the same company. It's the same cameras and computers and technology. So the timeline there was they started using Hawkeye, in tennis, in ATP events, in top events, WTA in 2006. And everyone liked it for the most part, and it was pretty widely embraced. 2017, though, Hawkeye Live comes along.

So the original incarnation in tennis was kind of a comp to the baseball system that you had line judges, but players got a certain number of challenges. And then there was a little graphic on the screen, and you got to see if it was in or out and whether the line judges were overruled. And that worked fine, but then they perfected the technology. They had Hawkeye Live rebranded to, I guess, electronic line calling live ELC. So that came in 2017, so about a decade. And then it took another six years or so until the ATP announced this is just what we're going to be using for everything.

And then Wimbledon embraced it last year. And now the French Open is the only holdout because they're like our French line judges are. superior to your American computers. I kind of love that. I kind of love that the French are like, no, we don't feel like it. Why not? Mostly because we're French, you know? We had to, like, isolate a particular characteristic.

It would be the Frenchness. So the timeline there was 20 years, basically bang on from the first introduction of a challenge system to now where it's almost entirely just automated and you don't even have line judges anymore. And then it was about, yeah, 10 years to the introduction of that system and then almost another 10 years until it was kind of pervasive and everywhere. But I think the timeline will be a lot shorter at this time, just because that was the proof of concept. Really, the technology is not quite as experimental or provisional. Now it has been tried and tested and pretty proven. And also in baseball, I think it might be a little less resistance because

you're not actually making anyone really redundant. You're still going to have a home plate ump standing back there to make other kinds of calls. Right. So just from a union perspective, from a palatibility perspective, you're not necessarily having to lay anyone off the way that, well, we just don't have line judges anymore. And part of that was the pandemic came along. And there were restrictions on how many people you could have on the court. So they said, oh, well, this is convenient. We have a system that can do that.

and then once you introduce it, well, then you're sort of stuck with it probably because it works okay. So I think it's going to go a lot faster than that. But I think it'll be successful for now. The only way that I think it could end earlier is if there is some big embarrassment for the system. Yes.

If we do get an ending like the USDRWBC game where a team is just out of challenges, then I think that would cause a lot of, wait, why are we artificially constraining the supply of challenges anyway? And then you could say, well, you get extras in the ninth inning or whatever it is. But then the more challenges you add, well, it takes longer. It's less interesting each time. And why don't we just go a whole hog then and just unlimited challenges or no challenges, in fact,

because you won't have to challenge anything. We will just sort of cut out the middle person there. So that could happen, I think. And then also people might be a bit uncomfortable with the reverse. of victories, the game ending strikeouts and walks that get overturned. If that happened in a big game, Jason Stark was considering, what if there's a world series ending tap off, right? It ends that way.

And we have that scenario with replay review now, and it's not that big a deal. But that would just be another thing where I think people would say, yeah, why are we just imposing this little mini-game on this game? So, yeah, I give it five years over under and I don't know. I might even go under, which they've put so much time into testing and fine-tuning and perfecting this thing. But maybe that was done partly with an eye towards, well, we're getting ABS in the door and then what form it takes. Like when they started testing this, it was not initially challenge system. And probably Rob Minford would have said we want full ABS, but then it turned out actually challenge system kind of compelling.

People actually prefer this in a lot of ways. But he'd probably be pretty happy if they just ended up with full ABS. ABS as well. So yeah. Anyway, let's all enjoy it and see how it goes. But yeah, I just, I don't know that it will prove to have the staying power because it might work so well. All right. So just a few transactions I wanted to highlight that I have enjoyed. And these are some cases, oh, I think this was smart or I think this is a good signing or a good pickup. But sometimes it's just fun. Yeah. Or it's an interesting storyline to monitor throughout the season or it sort of set the tone for the offseason. For example, the Brandon Nimmo for Marcus Semyon trade.

Oh. I think that was a good opener for the hot stove season because that sort of, it summed up the Mets off season. It was a little preview of what the Mets off season was going to look like. That's so interesting. Players coming, players going. Yeah. Are they better than they were?

Tons of turnover. How does their roster even fit together at this point? What are they aiming for? Because at the time, I was pretty perplexed by it. Okay, what's the goal here? How does this fit into the larger strategy? And then it turned out, well, maybe there wasn't one or they're just kind of feeling it out as they go. But they were sure going to be busy and they were sure going to get rid of some long tenured guys and bring in some other noteworthy guys.

So I thought that was just emblematic. I don't know that it was just a steal for one side or the other. I just thought it was representative, really, of. the Mets off season and was one that was kind of fun to puzzle over at the time because in isolation it was hard to figure out how it fit. Yeah. Should I pick one? Yeah, sure.

If you got one, go ahead. Maybe it's like, this is like a cluster of, of transactions, which is perhaps unfair, but you can pick any of the sub-transactions that you see fit. How about that? I just, I liked the shape of the Blue Jays off season very much. not only for the on-roster improvements that it brought to the team, but I just think that when you have a club that was so close to winning the World Series and to see them say, well, no, we're going to get better.

We're going to go out there. We're going to sign some guys. We're going to spend big money where we think we need to. We're not going to be afraid to commit to this group. I think that's like an admirable approach. I think a good challenge to not only their immediate World Series opponents, the Dodgers, Sue I will also talk about in a second. But, you know, a recognition that, like, you're going to have to work very hard to get back to that exact same spot you were in last year because you play in just a nightmare of a division. Yeah, and they had a lot of players who surprised or overperformed, exceeded expectations at least.

And so, yeah, we're not resting on our laurels. of a, Yeah, statement signing. We resist. We resist the laurel. Yeah. Right. We're going to go get Okamoto. We're going to, you know, make some other trades that, you know, it's just like a good.

It's good. I liked, I liked the direction that they took. And I think that when you have the opportunity, they got one of the Rogers. I know which one. I'm testing you. Do you know? Yeah. I know.

I can tell them up. Yeah. Right. I know they're different. But not Trevor. Not Trevor. Well, isn't it, it's spelled, Rogers is spelled differently for him, though, right? Is one of them have a D?

It doesn't matter. I mean, it does, but. Yeah. You know, I have thought that Trevor Rogers has a D, but no, not in his name, at least. They're all. What are you doing? What are you up to over there? I don't know how I, oh, you know why I thought Trevor Rogers had a D in his name?

I think it's. Because of Aaron Rogers. Maybe. But remember when we talked about the Orioles fan who got the tattoo of Trevor Rogers' name on his butt? And I'm pretty sure he had it misspelled, didn't he? That might be right. That's ringing a bell. I think so.

That's ringing an embarrassing bell. Yeah. Not in the actual tattoo, I guess, but in the tweet that prompted the tattoo, which made me worried that the tattoo would also feature the typo. But it was Tyler. They signed Tyler Rogers. Tyler. Yep. Tyler.

Not Taylor, Tyler. I'll stick inside the AL East and I will say Contreras and Gray, the two pickups that the Red Sox made of veteran cardinals where they just called up Heim Bloom and said, do us a solid here. And we'll give you some pitching prospects and you're rebuilding. And we sure could use not top of the rotation, but toward the top of the rotation starter. and we sure could use just anyone who plays first base. That's something we didn't really have. Apologies to Tristan Kosses. So I really like those signings.

And I sense that Red Sox fans were not as impressed with those acquisitions as I was. I thought those were just nifty old trades. And obviously it helped that they did not stop there. And they got Suarez and they did other stuff too. But the fact that they picked up Contreras and Gray, I just, I thought maybe these aren't the most sexy signings and maybe those guys have just been lost in St. Louis and no one was paying attention to the Cardinals last year and maybe people aren't looking at the peripherals for gray. But I thought, wow, those are big additions. They've really bolstered weak spots and great needs.

And it's not that they didn't give up anything, but I think for a team in their position, I thought that was smart. And obviously the Cardinals needed to move on and turn the page two, and they did so dramatically. But yeah, I just thought that was, you know, I wonder whether they talked about doing it as a package deal. And hey, let's just get all this business done at once or whether they thought, well, let's table this for now. We'll break this up. Let's do one deal. And then maybe we'll revisit this later. And they did.

I also think, you know, they've assembled quite a staff here. And we tend to think about the accumulation. of talented pitching as a guard against injury, and it obviously is. But I also think that, like, when you're sort of heavily concentrated in that, in one part of your roster, and you have such profound depth, and especially when it's something that eventually someone somewhere is going to need, you're not just setting yourself up for, like, the immediate term of your roster, but for, like, the next trade you need to make. Because they do, you know, they have some guys who are hurt, uh, who aren't quite back yet.

So they're going to get reinforcement there and maybe it forces their hand on some guys. But I just think that when you, you know, we thought that we might see, you know, them move pitching for infield help. I guess they kind of did. But, you know, we thought they might get a little more dramatic on upgrade. No offense to Caleb Durbin. But it's not like the deadlines here. So they still have the opportunity to do that if they need to. And in the meantime, you know, something happens to one of their guys.

Well, it's going to be really easy for them to slot someone else in. It just takes, and it also takes a bunch of pressure off some of their, you know, guys who are now like fours and fives who I think were a little miscast as like twos and threes in their rotation previously. So I'm with you on that. I think I'm going to need you to talk about Brendan Donovan because I can't name on their thing. I have him on my list. Okay. So I'm going to let you do that. But in the meantime, I'm going to reiterate my delight at.

the Dodgers approach to their biggest transactions this offseason. Sorry to praise the Dodgers. You know, it bothers everyone. But you sit there and you're like, you're such a talented team. You have all these resources. What do you get the team that already has everything? And the answer is you assign guys to directly address the thing that bugged you the most in the postseason.

And there's something about that that I find really delightful. It's such a maximalist approach to roster building. it is like, I don't know if I'm going to use this word, right, but like if you could have a Rococo approach to building a roster, I feel like it would be like this, where you're like, I never want to see Tay Oscar Hernandez play right field ever again. That's fine.

We'll go get Kyle Tucker. Not that left field, Tay Oscar will be that great either, but yeah. Yeah, but the thing that was bugging him, the thing that was bugging them actively. Maybe if we move him over there where he's also been bad, then at least it'll look a little different than last year.

It'll look like it used to before that when it was bad. that when it was bad. It's been longer since then. You know, they've forgotten, right? Like, we're like, yeah, that's, that can be future me's little annoyance. Presid me doesn't have to look at him and write ever again. How delightful. And then you're sitting there like, oh my God, if I have to see Blake trying and pitch one more time. If I have to depend on Roki, that seems disastrous. Who knows what Tanner Scott's going to be? Don't worry. We'll go get Edwin Diaz. So that's fun. We don't get to see that very often. Yeah, it was not creative. It was not inspired. It was, well, we sure could use an outfielder. Who's out there? Huh. Kyle Tucker. That guy's good. Let's just go get, yeah, the best free agent. And then, well, I guess we sure could shore up that bullpen who's out. Oh, Edwin Diaz. Yeah. Let's just go get the best one of those. You know, just whatever our weak spot is. We'll just get the best one. And that'll be that. So, yeah, sure, easy, I guess. All right. Yeah. So, Donovan, I was going to make.

mention, I suppose I have some concerns about the bat in T-Mobile, maybe, that offensively he fits the profile of someone who maybe the pop won't translate to that park. But on the whole, just a good player, just a solid, all-around, versatile, flexible player who fits into that Mariners roster really well. And there were some teams that I was going to shout out the Tigers making their late charge and really strengthening their rotation and getting Fromber and then getting Verlander, who is a real pitcher, who is still pretty good, at least was late last year. And also, for sentimental reasons, that's a nice pickup. But these were teams where maybe they did something early and then they were quiet for a while

and you weren't sure if it was really going to come together. Right. And the Mariners, they started off, oh, we'll bring back Nailer. That's fun. But then are we sort of standing pat? And maybe they can get away with that. Maybe they're good enough to do that. but you'd like to see them try to build on it.

And then Donovan just felt like it sort of cemented their offseason where you could really feel pretty good about it and feel good about the all-around roster. So I like that pickup. And yeah, I really liked the Tigers just swooping and signing from her at the same time that the arbitration decision was coming down for Scoobel and then also Verlander because it was looking like, okay, we have scoble and who else?

We're going to try to piece this together somehow. And then suddenly you have Framber and Verlander to go with the other guys you got. Yeah, okay. That'll play. I feel weird praising Atlanta because I generally really didn't like their offseason. I thought that they should have anticipated some of these guys getting hurt or not being effective. but I don't blame them for not anticipating that Hasan Kim would slip on ice and be unavailable. That one feels active gaudy.

I'm going to let that go. Not adding more pitching. What are you doing? That seems irresponsible. But, you know, is the sexiest upgrade theoretically when he comes back? But in hindsight, boy, really important that they got. Maricio Dubon, huh? You know?

And again, damning with the faintest of praise because is there a curse on shortstop? Like is it cursed? You know? Maybe there's a very angry witch. Maybe the ghost that was occupying their mascot has broken loose and is generally terrorizing the area around shortstop, you know? Because I don't know how else we explain their mascot other than it being some sort of supernatural abnormality.

But I think good for them having to DuBahn on their roster because that seems like it's going to end up being really important. It was supposed to be the backup, supposed to be the redundancy. Swiss Army knife. Yeah. And then turned into the first string option, at least for now. But that's part of the reason why it's good to have someone like him because he could. be a backup at a bunch of positions if something, or everything goes wrong. Right.

Yeah. I will also shout out some of the highest profile NPB players who came over this offseason, just ending up in somewhat different locations. Just not, they didn't go to the Dodgers for once. Yeah, yeah. I like that. Not even necessarily West Coast teams. You mentioned Okamoto with Toronto, but then Morikami going to the White Sox.

And I like that pickup for them. Maybe I'm more hopeful. about him than the consensus, but even if the consensus is right and he can't hit, then it's still the right thing for them to do. Yeah, totally worth trying. Yes. And seeing, given those terms. And then Tatsuya Amai going to Houston, just teams that in some cases had not signed

players like that had not signed NPB superstars. I like that there's a wider range of destinations at least where those guys could conceivably go. And, you know, it's probably good for major league baseball and interest in Japan because obviously, sure, the Dodgers are now Japan's national team. But it's probably good to have other players who starred in NPB playing all over the league, given the level of interest in major league baseball among Japanese fans just so that they can watch other teams too. and that they have players whose careers they're interested in following who are widely distributed instead of concentrated. I think that's probably good on the whole. Yeah.

So I guess I'll also mention, I don't know, it's hard for me to praise the Pirates offseason because it was underwhelming on the whole. But for a while there, the way it started when it looked like, maybe it would be a bit busier and that they would actually really get some bats And ultimately they didn't do that much. But when they got Brandon Lau and Mangum and Mason Montgomery, that filled some holes.

You know, the three-team trade, they took care of a good bit of business there. And you certainly would have liked to see them follow that up with more than Ryan O'Hern and Marcelo Zuna. But it was a start. And even if they didn't finish, you take a start if you're a Pirates fan. And it kind of gave them a little more depth or it raised the floor, which was ground level. But it gave them some recognizable guys who could at least be average or better. And maybe if they have enough of those guys, they could make this work with the pitching that they had. So, you know, and Mason Montgomery, I kind of like.

So, yeah, I'll go with that one, even if you would have liked that to be a prelude to some high. profile moves. I agree. I think that the way that they're, I think you have to kind of grade their offseason as an incomplete because I don't know that you will fully maximize the potential benefit of the kind of move they made until Connor Griffin is on the roster and playing well. Because the moves that they made, I think do appreciably raise their floor. and if what you're doing is like slotting those guys in around Connor Griffin and his big neck,

then then it feels really different, you know, then it's like, oh, you went out and actually got the complimentary players that have been part of not all of what is wrong with that roster, but part of what is wrong with that roster. And I don't say that, you know, like we talked about last time, like I think that sending Griffin down was, fine. I like I don't, I don't view that move as them being, you know, shady or doing service time manipulation or whatever. Like, the guy hit 171 in spring. So, but it's just hard to, to see that sort of tableau in its intended form, I think, until he's up. Having said that, I really didn't like the, the Marcel Lozuna sign, just because it's like, you're concentrating so much of your payroll in a guy who, and this isn't even about, like, the human. Um, but, You know, you're just concentrating such a big chunk of your payroll and a guy who, like, maybe it'll be fine, but maybe he's cooked, you know, he just don't.

Yeah. But another one I will highlight. And then, and then we should draft some fun. We should draft some fun. But one more to highlight. And it's a smaller move. And it's Mariners adjacent, but I like the national side of it. I liked what the nationals did with the Harry Ford move.

Yeah. Because I think that. Yeah. Yeah. Like, I like Jose Ferrer. I think Jose Ferrer. be a really nice pickup for Seattle. I think they'll be able to like kind of adjust his whole thing in a way that'll be useful. Like the mix should be different. Anyway, I think that'll be a nice

addition to their bullpen and it does address a need for them. But Jose Ferrer, even the good, like the best possible version of Jose Ferre, pretty useless to a team like the Nationals because the Nationals are going to be bad for reasons that have nothing to do with Jose Ferrer, that have nothing to do with the presence or absence of like a good leverage reliever. But we know that their catching situation is terrible. And so getting a guy like Ford, even if he doesn't end up being the long-term solution at that position, but seeing what you have in him, and he's starting the year at AAA, they optioned him down to Rochester.

But I think he will get big league run and probably a good bit of it at some point. year. And this is sort of a variation on like the White Sox Murakami theme where it's like, give yourself the opportunity to capture like positive variance and use roster spots to like go through guys who might be interesting and see what you have in them. And I think that we're going to see Ford probably up at some point. And then they can figure it out. And the answer might be, you know, Harry Ford's not the answer, the reasons that people were nervous about him were justified. The athleticism doesn't actually translate into like actual skill. That may end up being the conclusion.

But like to get a chance to figure that out for a guy who you were going to trade at the deadline in all likelihood anyway. And now you could trade him at the peak of his value. I like that. I think that was a good move. Smart. Yeah. Well, all right. we can segue to the team fund draft with this, my favorite move of the off season, late breaking.

This is hot off the presses. It may not even be on the presses yet. Maybe this is a scoop, though it won't be by the time this podcast is published. The twins have signed John Brebia. You were worried. You're like ready to assign someone to. I was like, oh my God, I've got to go do work again. No.

Well, I mean, look, I'm not suggesting this is not worthy of a write-up, but I believe it's a, I believe it's a. I do feel better. Are you at peace now? That's nice. Yeah, I think it bodes well. That's a good fit for him, you know? You might have said the Rockies are about as good a fit for anyone possibly who is a pitcher. But yes, also the twins, since they traded much of their bullpen last year.

Yeah, like, here's the thing. I don't have the same attachment to John Brebia that you do. Who does other than his, like, actual family? But I am delighted by John Brabia. I think that John Brebeah seems like a lovely guy, and he has a time, has been a very good pitcher, and I would like for him to be able to extend his Bigley career if he so chooses. And I just feel like the odds of any pitcher doing that are better when you don't have to play in that ballpark. So for that reason alone, absent any other kind of roster consideration for Minnesota, it just seems like a better, it just seems better, you know.

Well, I'm going to have to adjust my draft board here. I'm bumping the twins up several spots because they were not close to the top, I will say. All right. So what we're doing here, this is not one of our more serious or consequential drafts, not that any of them is all that serious or consequential, but it's our team fund draft. It's an annual or annual-ish exercise that we typically do sometime around opening day just to set expectations, take our own temperatures,

which teams are we most excited to see. And I enjoy this. I always think team fun. I always want to say fun team, but some of the teams aren't fun. That's kind of the point of the exercise. So it's the team fun draft where we assess the fun quotient of each team and how they rank. And why I like doing this is that it can be wildly divergent.

Oh, yeah. In contrast to just a team ranking, a power ranking, you're not going to get that much disagreement these days typically. But a team fun ranking, or a sort of a league pass MLB TV ranking kind of exercise. Yeah. That actually can vary quite widely, just depending on what kind of baseball you like, which players you're attached to.

So I am curious to see how we differ here, because sometimes I'll read these things in other people's rankings of team fun, and do we have the same definitions of fun? How do you have this team up there or down there? So you can go. I don't know how we determine me. Okay. Well, since you're giving me the number one pick, I am vulturing Meg's Mariners at number one.

Oh, no nice. I don't know where you were going to put them, but I'll save you, you know, if you had been planning to stuff them or something and then people could have accused you of being biased or something. I know. I just think, I mean, you are to some extent. You're a fan, but a clear-eyed kind of fan. Thank you. I'd like to think so. The team that you root for is always going to be more fun for you.

Well, that's not always true. I mean, sometimes it's quite the opposite. They really do like to test that theory, you know? They really do like to test that theory. They will provoke stronger emotions one way or another for you. But yeah, I'm going to go M's number one because it kind of seems like M's are number one in the American League. And I know famous last words and tempting fate and everything, but just in terms of true talent and path to the post season. Right. They don't have to

tangle with the east. I think that that is a big, big, big, big, big, big, big, part of it. Yeah. And not that there aren't some decent teams in the West, too, but it just seems like they are coming into this season as favorites in a way that they

haven't been before. Yeah. And they're just a really strong team. Last year we thought it was going to be all about the pitching. And then it wasn't. Some of the pitching didn't pin out or there were injuries and then turn to out that there were a bunch of boppers.

And I don't think Cal's going to be bopping the way that he was last year. But I just, you know, I hope he mellows. And we can all go back to enjoying and having fun talking about and watching Cal Raleigh again. I expect that to be the case. And you've got Randy Rosrena and obviously they've patched things up. And you've got Josh Naylor, who is extremely fun. And it's still a heck of a pitching staff. and you've you just got some good relievers.

It's, I mean, it's just a good baseball team. It's just a good all-round baseball team. And there is the extra intrigue of they've never made the World Series, let alone one-one. And so that's always going to make them a more interesting story because when it looks like they're actually the favorites for web, you might say they are the favorites to win the AL pennant. That would be a reasonable thing to say. That's, in fact, what the fan graphs playoff odds.

It makes me so uncomfortable. Yeah, I'm sure it does. But the fact that that's such an unfamiliar situation for them to be in, I think that makes them more interesting. And we saw how much fun they could be during that playoff run last year. Oh, my God, I was so stressed. I was so stressed. I can't believe I didn't lose more hair. Okay, I love that for you.

I'm going to take the Mets. I feel disgusting. I don't know why I feel disgusting. I'm not a national league person. This isn't my fight. But I, well, first of all, I'm just fascinated to see if all of their weird defensive shifts end up working out for them. I think most of them will. But they're a really fun combination of things.

Not as in the alignment of the players before. But the guys moving around to different. You play what position now? Yeah. Right. Yeah. Like Jorge Polanco, congratulations. You're in first baseman.

That one seems like it'll be fine. But they're really fun. They've had a fun amount of roster. turnover. This was such an established group last year with a lot of really long tenured dudes. And now they have, you know, they still have, they're still connective tissue to that group. You know, you have Lindor, you have, you know, you have Juan Soto, but you also have shifting around. You have young guys, both on the position player side and the pitching side. You have new older guys, right?

Semyon Polanco. I'm so excited about their pitching. I think Nolan McLean's just like really, really good. We get to see a friend of the show, never mispronounced his name, even one time Carson Benj, as the opening day right fielder. We get to see if Lewis Robert Jr.

can kind of turn things around. So I just think that they're like a, they're a really dynamic and interesting team. and I think that there's a lot of talent here and that talent is going to surprise us in some cases, have the, you know, the potential to like really grow and change. You got Freddie Peralta in there now.

Like, you know, they were so busy. You got a, you got mostly a new bullpen, you know, almost entirely a new bullpen. You got Bobauchet. So it's just like a, there's been, exciting turnover. I think some of the players who were sort of on

their down swing are gone for the most part. And then you got a good group that remains. And I really liked the way that they sort of blended their high upside pitching with guys who were either more established in their own

organization or someone like Peralta where it's like, hey, you know, is he mostly going to just go five, six innings? Probably. Are you going to be super happy? have him both in the regular season and come October because it gives you breathing room for some of the younger guys. Yeah, they are behaving at this juncture like a team that if they have needs come the end of July is going to be really active at the deadline because they clearly

want to like win that division and be a force in the NL. So I'm taking the Mets and the only thing I'll say is that just remember you guys don't do too many bits, you know, just keep it to a a normal number of bits, you know? It's a good pick. I had them high on my list. Thank you. So much turnover this offseason. I wrote about the history of teams with that type of turnover.

They're trying to defy that history, which is often those teams not so hot, but I think that they can. So I'm excited to see them try. Okay. You know what? I'm just going to go wild here. And you can be the judge about whether it's effective. But I did famously, infamously, in terms. in past team fund drafts

just take the angels just number one or whatever just because Otani Trout and that was it and I was fine with that because having a couple of super compelling players to me well as a neutral

as an impartial observer that alone is going to get me to tune in and watch your team more than most and if you are kind of on the bubble playoff wise potentially then that only enhances things so what I'm saying is

taking the pirates. This is a ridiculous pick. I understand that. No, I think it's great. It's a reach. It is a reach, but it's a fun pick. The pirates are compelling, and they might be disappointing, and we might get midway through the year, and this will look ridiculous in retrospect.

But when you start with skeins and presumably Connor Griffin sometime soonish, well, that alone is a pretty darn fun foundation. I mean, you got two of the most promising. compelling, riveting players in the game. So can Connor Griffin just hit the ground running be great right away? The pirates need him to hit. They need offense. Can they just get enough to scrape by with this pitching staff?

And yes, if you invest your hopes in a pitching staff and a bunch of youngish homegrown guys, well, that can break your heart. That's not a safe investment. And so maybe these guys will get heard and they just won't pan out. and this will also look silly in retrospect. But if it comes together, and I had multiple Pirates predictions in our preseason predictions game,

if they could construct this super rotation of homegrown guys who've never pitched for any other team and are mostly pretty young, and if Jones can come back and pair with skeins and Chandler and then all the other guys they've got just waiting in the wings,

and it's just, that would be really exciting. if they just had a homegrown guy going every day who was great to watchable. That would be nice. And then there's always the Enigma who is O'Neill Cruz, who's going to wow you, obviously, with individual plays, even if the complete game doesn't come together. And they just are one of the teams that's kind of closest to the 50-50 in or out could break either way. And if they get in, that would be a big story. and they've been bad for a while,

and Pirates fans have been waiting. And so there's a lot of payoff if the pirates can even be competitive. And even if they fall short, there is a scenario where they fall short in a way that makes you more encouraged for 2027. And so the season seems like a success because maybe, okay, this is the opening act and it hasn't all quite come together.

But next year, we start with Connor Griffin, who's had some majorling playing time under his belt. And, yes, the rotation worked out. And maybe this time we could actually sign someone. So, yeah, there's a lot of hope and promise in the pirates. And when was the last time we were able to say that with this degree of confidence? Yeah, I like it. Okay.

I can't believe, now that we think about the fund draft in terms of value, but I can't believe the value of the pick I'm getting here. I'm taking the Dodgers. Like, what are we doing? Yeah. Yeah. Like, do we need to talk about why? The, O'Donnie.

I know. It's funny. It's like I take all this. Take the other, quote, unquote. L.A. team number one for Otani. And then it's like the Dodgers have every superstar. I was certain. I was certain you were going to take the Dodgers.

I was certain. Some Dodgers fatigue that has set in, even as someone who appreciates the incredible collection of talent that they've put together. It's like, all right, enough guys, right? So the whole can they three Pete, that's going to be a sort of tiresome story. No, it's just they got a bunch of good baseball players. They just got a bunch of really good fun guys. guys, they got, they do have question marks, you know, they do have guys where you're like,

what is a Roki Sasaki at this point? What is Roki? Who is Roki? Roki, who are you? You know, what do you, what do you do around here? What is your, what is your contribution? How will they deploy low leverage Ben, you know? I wonder if low leverage Ben knows that I call him low leverage Ben. I hope now. You know, there is just a fun compelling group and we know that if they see themselves as having any deficiencies come July that they'll trade for new guys. And the thing of it is, they probably won't win the World Series, even though they're, probably not.

So it'll be fine. But I'm taking the Dodgers. Come on, come on. Yep. Yeah. And you joined me on Hangup and Listen this week. And you know that I talked a bit about Shohi Otani's chances of winning the Say Young, which our preseason predictions came.

I was weirdly predicting that he would win the Sayung, but not win the MVP. But it's more likely that if he wins. If he wins the first one, he'll win the second one too. And yeah, just getting to see him hopefully go wire to wire without restrictions. He's looked really excellent in a couple spring training starts post WBC. So that is an exciting prospect. Strick out 11 last night, right? Strike out 11?

Filthy. Okay. I'm going to take the Red Sox. I just sang the praises of some of their offseason moves. And I'm just into the young guys too. I mean, Roman Anthony. How could I not be excited about seeing how good Roman Anthony can be? And also just what they have in Meyer and Campbell even and just how does this sort of oddly aligned roster shake out?

And do they find somewhere for everyone to play? But it's just, okay, can we just see Sadan play center and just marvel at that? And that'll be fun. And then the pitching staff, which has not really been a strength. of the Red Sox in recent years, well, suddenly it is because, in fact, they are the number one projected rotation according to the Fangraph's depth charts. So I mean, crochet, gray, Suarez, Bayo, Oviedo, and a ton of depth behind them. So, yeah, this is a pretty exciting team. And it's going to be a tough path to the playoffs, of course, but I am, I'm pretty invested.

I'm taking the Detroit Tigers. Yep. I'm fascinated. to see like can scoobo really do this again? What does platform year scoble manage to look like? But I also am just excited for what that rotation could be in Toto with Valdez and like Flaherty in a role that fits better for him and Mize in a role that fits better for him and what does Justin Furlander have. And then, you know, we have all of these interesting guys in the lineup for them who were most of them were phenomenal in the first half last year,

as we discussed in our Tigers preview, almost all of them fell off and dramatically in the second half. But you get the, you know, the intrigue of watching Kevin McGonagall from day one, and that's going to be super exciting. Can Carrie Carpenter figure out

how to hit lefties? Can Spencer Torgelson take another step forward? Will Dylan Dingler be that good again? And I was like, I feel like kind of didn't fall off. What is, what is the fate of Javier Baez, you know, can Parker Meadow stay healthy and, like, really put it together?

So I think that they have some really interesting guys on the big league roster. They have some interesting prospects. And I think that unlike the sort of top of the Central in a lot of years, like they really did invest in that roster. And it felt like the way

they were putting the team together was about how it can play in October, more than how it can dominate in the regular season. and so seeing some ambition, I think, is also really exciting. So, Tigers. Yes. Yep, it's a good one.

I had them high, too. Just seeing how the scuple saga plays out will be fascinating. And let's see. I meant to shout out also, Red Sox, just that outfield defense, I mentioned Sadan, but just Duran and Abrae. Yeah, we talk about outfields being too good defensively now, maybe. There might not be a batted ball that drops in that outfield unless it's off the monster. Okay. I will take the Blue Jays.

The Blue Jays are very fun. And they were fun last year. And then they had a pretty fun offseason. And even though they came up short on Kyle Tucker, they made some moves. We talked about some of them at the top of this pod. And Flattie is fun. And I want to see whether the guys who were so good last year

and made such gains offensively, whether they can sustain that. And whether, no, they just. just actually really made some major swing changes. And we're able to just keep their contact steady and hit for more power. And finally they broke through as a team. And they just seemed to really like each other. They just seemed to really like each other's company.

And I just like a lot of those guys, just like watching them. And they came so agonizingly close also that, yeah. You want to see them sort of pick themselves up. And they did in the offseason. and they said we're not standing pat, but to see them get right back there and make another real run at it, that would be great. I guess I will take the cups. Okay, said with conviction. All right.

I'm taking the Chicago Cubs. All right, you do that. Now I feel bad. Now I feel like I've made a mistake. Now I feel like I've erred, which seems silly because we think we think that. clubs will be good. Let's talk about why. Okay, so like the PCA, finally we have terms on that extension. It was fine.

We don't need to be worked up about that one. PCA, brilliant defense. Amazing. Love him in center field. Fascinated to find out how much contact he makes this year. I think Bregman's a really great addition for that team. I really like that they didn't trade Nico Horner because I think that when they brought Bregman in, they could have traded him and they could have just stuck Matt Shaw somewhere

else on the infield and said good enough, but their best alignment, includes Horner, even though he's heading into his platform year here. So, like, I really liked that. I'm fascinated to see what they get out of Ballesteros for a full season. I can't believe that we have to watch Michael Comforto play more baseball, but that's officially no longer Craig's problem. So what are you going to do? I really want to see how Imanaga handles this year.

Like, is he able to bounce back? Is Edward Cabrera really, like, the high upside play that they think he's going to be. How many innings do they get out of Matthew Boyd? what is year two of Cade Horton look like? James and Ty and I don't think it's very good. But that doesn't matter. Like, I mean, it might, but they have a hobie, Ben. They got a hobie.

What am I going to do? What am I going to do? What am I going to do not take the team with a hobie? I love a hobby. We love a hobby. You know? So I'm taking the Cubs and all I can hope is that their mascot finds a pants. Yeah, I think the Cubs are one of the best teams in baseball,

but they do just. Punch a little bit below their weight fun-wise for me. Well, but maybe this will, maybe it'll, you know, maybe it'll be different now. Maybe it'll be different. Because, you know, like, they got a fixture in the outfield, you know, PCA is just going to be there. PCA is the exception there. They'll get Sea back soon. Like that, thankfully, that injury wasn't too terrible.

So Suzuki will be back in, you know, a couple weeks. Yeah. Yeah. It's, yeah, it's just the individual standouts. PCA has the potential. to be that, and he was that early last year before he slumped. And he's just, I mean, his hair's on fire. He's just, he's compelling.

He's engaging. He's quotable. He's hugging. He's celebrating. I think if he could light his hair on fire and play baseball, he would do it. Yes. And I think he could. And the glove's so great that he'll be valuable even if he doesn't get on base, but he is much more fun when he does get on base as well.

But, yeah, he sort of stands out from the pack. just in terms of how watchable I find him or just how compelling a personality. So, yeah, there's kind of competence with the Cubs, just all around strength and excellence. And then the starters, it's just like they got a lot of good starters, but maybe short on really good starters or great starters, top of the rotation types. There are guys who maybe could occupy that role. That's all I'm saying. It's just, it's like opposite of stars and scrubs. It's just like really solid all over, you know?

But yeah, there's a little less star power perhaps for me. Okay. You know what? What am I going to do? Am I going to do this? Do it. Just do it. I'm going to, look, I'm taking the Phillies.

I don't care. It's going to be entertaining one way or another, you know? And maybe in a different way than it was a few years ago. But it will be tremendous content. one way or another. I do kind of like the, how long can they keep this going? It's the same core.

It's the same group of guys. They're getting up there in years. So there's some urgency to it. But then also a little bit of new blood. And can Justin Crawford be a new injection of youth into this lineup and fill that center of field spot that's been so troublesome for them over the years? And then maybe could painter come up perhaps

And so there's still just a lot of talent here. And then there are guys just oxygenating themselves and ozoneating themselves and deseguinating themselves. And so you just really never know what's going to happen next with the Phillies. And you might not want to know. But it will be worth talking about one way or another. So Philadelphia Phillies. Okay. What am I going to do?

I'm going to take the Kansas City Royal. I'm taking it. See, I was debating. I was, I was, Philly's or Royals, and then I went with Phillies. I probably made the wrong decision. I don't know that you made the wrong decision. I mean, I just, I think I've come to occupy, have the belief that, like, a lot of our problems would have made better if we knew less about each other. And the Phillies are like, no, they're not. I want you to know about all of my problems. And so that's why I was just like, yeah, it's a fun team or something. But that's not who I'm taking. I'm taking the Kansas City Royals, who are. I know a lot less about, at least in terms of the state of their blood. But I think that, you know, from a position player standpoint, like, Witt is just such a joy. He's such a joy to watch. And I know that we've spent a lot of time talking about the joyless experience of Team USA and the WBC. But watching Witt play was really just a great way to spend March. So Witt, I can't wait to see what we get out of Garcia this year. I really do think that he made changes that are going to be sticky and that he has,

you know, taken a step forward and will be prominent on the national stage in a way that he hasn't been before because the defense was always good, but I think he's going to be a different guy at the plate. I can't wait to see how that park plays this year. I can't just wait to see how many home runs. A friend of the pod, Vini, and Pasquantino hits as a result of the changes to the outfield configuration. I can't wait to see if Vinnie tries to introduce espresso into the Royals.

situation. That might be fun. You know, what do we get out of Cags? Who could say? I don't know. How long did they let Selvie keep catching? I don't know. Probably put Cardigans that in there. And then, like, I hope that we get a good version and a

healthy version of Cole Reagan's this year because when he's right, it's so fun and we haven't, we've been deprived of that lately. I also am really curious to see how long it takes everyone to realize that Carlos Estevez looks pretty washed. Not a good spring.

Wow. Navilow is concerning. Big, big red flags on the velo for Carlos deucev. That's less fun. But they have some interesting guys in the bullpen behind him who I think could sort of slot in in the event that he falters. So the Royals, you know? It's a good pick when I almost made and immediately regretted not making.

I think Jack's going to be pretty good, I think. But he's certainly going to hit some baseballs a long way. You know, I gave you grief for not, for being the one to sort of introduce a horned vibe to this episode. I will just remind everyone that when he was in college, my greenie would call him the jack wagon. And that was funny at the time and is especially funny if it happens while he's on the royals. And so we just, we need to reestablish this lore. And the easiest way to do that is for Jack Caglio to make enough contact to hit a bunch of home run. and send them a long way, and we go on the Jaguigan, and then we all are like, ha-ha, the time we're having.

Okay. Well, I did not intend to collect all the ALEs teams, but I'm going to take the Orioles. I'm taking the Orioles. There weren't really individual moves that they made that I've loved in isolation, but... It's because I need more pitching. Yes, but I do think that they, look, they took that to heart. Could they have done more? Yes.

Should they have done more? probably, but I think they did a lot. They did as much as just about any other team other than the Mets maybe. And I think in terms of just talent they brought on, they improved maybe more than any other team as much as any other team. And that was overdue and belated and much needed. But I think they did enough that they should be very much in contention and they still have a chance to sort of salvage this rebuild and this core.

and return to the playoffs and win some games there and a series even. And I have no idea what to make of a lot of their players at this point, but it can't be as bad as it was last year. There has to be some bouncing back that happens. And will that happen for Adley at this point? I have no idea. I'd like to think so. What will you get out of Basayo and Kouser and Westberg who got hurt

and just all of these question marks? but watching which of those question marks just turn into periods, questions, answers. That would be, I think, quite interesting. And seeing what they're going to get out of Braddish and Rogers. And like, can those guys keep pitching like that? I would be surprised if they kept pitching like that. But can they pitch well enough and will Helsley be good again? A lot of storylines that I'm interested in seeing resolved.

and they did go for it. They spent some money. They brought in some guys. Maybe Pete will just jack 40 dingers and play 162 games, and they need that. So I'm into it. Let's see what happens. I respect it. I mean, I still think they need more pitching, but I respect your choice.

I think your rationale is sound, where am I going to go? Wow, we both must think that the Yankees are just so boring because neither of us. Yep. I do think that they're boring. I'm not taking them here. I'm going to take the Arizona Diamondbacks. Do the Arizona Diamondbacks have enough pitching? I don't know that they do, Ben.

Do they have enough fishing in the bullpen? Absolutely not. But I think that Catel Marte and Geraldo Prudomo easily one of the most fun, like, double play combos in baseball. I hope that Corby and Carol, it's okay after the handmate. but Corbin is great. I liked, you know,

the aspirational competence of their infield corner moves this off season, where it's just like, look, we're really hopeful that someone is going to displace Aronado and Carlos Santana, as much as I still enjoy watching Carlos Santana play particularly defense.

But we're going to do some stuff here. We get to see if Jordan Lawler can play center field. How's that going to go? No idea. I am keen to see what I hope to be. be a healthy and productive, full healthy and productive season out of Gabrielle Moreno, because I think that that guy still has the chance to really take a step forward. I was going to say breakout, which would be wrong by our understanding of it.

But I do think that he has an opportunity to really establish himself. Jorge Barrosa, so little. You know, he's just such, he's just, I call him little Jorge Barrosa. Every time I have to mention Jorge Barrosa, who is a bench player for the Diamondbacks, but he's so little. And they got guys hurt and some of them will come back and maybe they'll be good or maybe they'll be terrible. I don't know.

But I think there's, I think there is fun here. I think that by virtue of being able to go could tell Corbyn, Heraldo in the, in the lineup is, that's pretty fun. Yeah. Yeah. And the other Corbin being back also will help. At some point, yeah. So, yeah. Yep.

Okay. I think they would have been my next select. as well. Wow. Scooby- I wouldn't, look, if someone said Gabriel Moreno

break out, I wouldn't be. You'd allow that? I might, he was a top 100 prospect. Well, he was, but it's been a few years and he's,

you know, four seasons in, and I think he's one of the best catchers in baseball. I've ranked him high, but he has not really played a full season. He just keeps getting hurt

and everything. So if you could just double one of his seasons, then he'd be a star. So, you know, maybe, maybe he's entered the territory where you could call it that at this point. All right, I will say A's. I'm taking that A's. Dang it. Yeah. Now, the thing with the A's is that only half of their games are going to be watchable. So if you just sort of watch the half when they're hitting and then tune out for the rest, depending on their opponent, then you would leave with the impression that they were one of the best.

and most watchable teams in baseball. But look, I'll take half a team or half a game of really riveting talent over all-around roster that might be better, but just doesn't have the highlights. So just looking at that A's lineup, it's just top to bottom. It's just such an exciting group. And it's not just our buddy Brent Roker, but then all the guys they've extended. And so many of these guys are part of their core. so you know they're going to be around wherever the A's are for the next few years.

And can Kurtz do that again? How great is he really? And can Denzel Clark hit at all, like even a little bit? And even if he doesn't, he might still be fun. And then just even following what Leod of Rees is doing and how close is he getting. And then it's just their whole lineup, their whole roster, it's great. They get to hit in a fun park for hitters to hit. hidden. So that's it. Basically, you just want to see some mashers. And I think Butler could

bounce back to, I think he could be better than he was last year. Just, they're really fun. You know, whenever they're at the plate, they are a really fun team. I think that's right. Langoliers, Wilson. Yeah. Sodorstrom. I mean, man, stacked. Oh, God. I guess I'm going to take the stupid Yankees. I would have waited a while longer, I think. They were down my board still. I don't feel great about it. You're getting Aaron Judge.

You can feel good about that. You know what? We're getting Aaron Judge. We're getting Max Freed. We're getting whatever is rolling through Cody Bellinger's head at any given time. You're getting jazz. You're getting jazz. You're getting what are we going to see from Ben Rice this year?

You know, we're getting, we're getting Jose Caballero, the pitch clock menace. I enjoy watching Austin Wells. We're getting Cam Schlittler. We love Cam Schlittler. Sure. Do you see how I said that right twice? It's so easy. Just roll.

I'm in on-season mode, one might say, if one were in insane. Yeah, Garrow Cole is coming back. In theory, you know, also Carlos Rodone. And then at some point, Anthony Volpe, which, you know, descending order of enthusiasm for those three names. I'm really interested to see what this bullpen is able to do this year. Cade Winquest made the opening day roster. Rule 5 pick Cade Winquest.

How excited for him. I think Ryan Weather's is just really, but that's not the point. So I'm taking the, you know, look at these Yankees. Trent Grisham has that great mustache. Yeah, look, they're one of the best teams in baseball. This is, I'm not knocking the talent. No, there's pretty boring. It's just that they haven't changed.

Apologies to Brian Cashman, but they did really just run it back, which is defensible. it's a pretty good team. They won a lot of games last year, but it's not... Will Warren? Yeah, it's just not as fun when there aren't as many new names and faces. There are fun names, like specific

and names. Cade Winquest, what could be better than that? Right. Ryan Yarborough, which I insist is still a cheese, and then Brent Hedrick, doesn't that sound like something that, like, something disgusting that, like, Scottish people would eat a Hedric, you know? Yeah.

Love the Scots. Not a knock on Scots, but some of the stuff you guys eat. It's intense, you know, a lot of interesting proteins. Okay. I will take the Texas Rangers. Okay. The Texas Rangers. Look, I'm very interested in seeing some of the players who play for that team.

Therefore. We don't have to belabor it. This is. Yeah, we don't have to name names. We got to go. We got to make names. Name Rangers. Look, the McKenzie Gore trade.

Sure. Nice pickup for them. If he could pitch like he pitches for part of the season, for the whole season, then that would be great. They're kind of in that pirate's position of maybe on the bubble. Like they're very close to 50-50 playoff odds could go either way. Wyatt Langford, just very excited to see Wyatt Langford. He could be great. And also just like, what do they have in all those other guys who've been hurt and off and on and Evan Carter and Josh Young?

And hopefully Corey Seeger is good and health. again for as long as he ever is. And look, you've got Jacob de Grom. So that's a strong start. Nathan Afaldi, just those guys still still getting after it. And the Vandy Boys. Those bandy boys. Yeah.

So there's a lot there. Sure. I think that, like, Langford, I was talking about this with someone today, you know, concern coming up, like, can you remember a lot feeler? Now he might, you might just be a good center builder. That's a funny. That's a wild, cool trajectory. and the less said about the ownership group the better.

Okay, so it's my turn now. Oh, how have we, I'm taking the Padres. We haven't taken the Padres off the board. I should have, it, it doesn't matter. I'm regretting my Yankees pick. I regret it. It doesn't matter. I think that this team is less good than they used to be,

but in a way that has made people sort of sleep on the ways in which they are good. And I think that, you know, Tatis is, like, still really excellent. I'm excited for Jackson Merrill to have the opportunity to, like, rebound in his junior season. Manny Machado is not the defender he once was, but he's still pretty good out there, and he's great at the plate. I think that they have competent catching, which is so exciting.

Oh, wow. Cassianos is on this team. That's so funny. And then, you know, the pitching is so interesting because that bullpen is so fearsome. Best bullpen in baseball by our projections and not just because of Mason Miller, although a lot of it is because of Mason Miller, but they are just like very stout, really good group. And then like a shaky and potentially bad, but maybe also good rotation? I don't know. No one could say. I almost mentioned the Michael King signing as an offseason signing that I liked. I know he's just gotten pounded this spring.

Yeah, he doesn't look good in the spring. Yeah. These look pretty bad. The Padres, they feel a little less fun. The sum of the fun feels a little less than its parts. I mingled that saying. But you know what I'm going for there. Yeah, they have a lot of individual fun guys, and A.J. Preller is going to make things entertaining in one way or another.

But, yeah, they're just a little less good than they've been before, and they've underachieved in some respect. But, yeah, at this stage of the draft, good pick. Okay. I am taking the Cincinnati Reds. Yes. I remember them. And they're fun. And this is probably the most fun they've been for a while. And obviously the fun starts with Ellie, who is one of the most fun. He's on the short list of most fun major leaguers. And if he's healthy, you know, he wasn't his usual self when he was dealing with the injuries late last year. But prior to that, he was his usual self. And he was wonderful. And I assume if he's healthy, he's just going to play like that all year. And he will be. a super duper star. And then Matt McLean has looked great this spring. And then you've got Marte and you've got that incredible rotation, which is diminished by Hunter Green's absence, of course, but then, hey, make way for Chase Burns and just all those other great guys. So just the rotation alone plus Ellie, I think, at this stage of the draft. Like, that's a solid pick. Okay. I'm going to take the Brewers. I'm taking the Miz. I'm taking a bunch of

fast guys. They have so many fast guys, Ben. They just got a bunch of speedy little dudes. I think Bryce Trang is a really good baseball player and I think he's going to take an additional leap this year. I think Contreras is fantastic. I'm really fascinating to see like what does year two of Andrew Vaughn in Milwaukee look like. I think that like they are going to maximize Sprote in a way that will probably be really cool. They continue to like, play on hard mode and they have some guys hurt who they could sure use. But I also think that like there's there's stuff here that's a lot of fun. There are guys here who are really fun. And some of the things that they have leaned into from a sort of roster aesthetic perspective,

I'm glad to have a like good representation of in the game. What is Truro going to be this year? You know? Inquiring minds want to know. So yeah, I'm taking the brosch. Okay. Good one. All right. This might also be. be a bit of a reach, but I'm reaching for the Chicago White Sox. Okay. I don't know. This feels possibly premature, but I just, I'm just into what they're building over there.

I don't know. Maybe it won't come together. I really want to know how good or bad Morikami will be. And I just, I want to know what Coast Montgomery will look like. And I want to know can Kyle Teal be as good as it seems like he could be when he comes back and Caro in that catching combo. What does that look like? And then, yeah, a lot of the starters just sorting out. Okay, Anthony Kay came back. What do you have there? And some of the guys who could be up, like, you know, your Noah Schultz's, like, will he come up in some point? Drew Thorpe,

will he be back? And I just feels like we might get a sense of what these White Sox will be. there's just a lot of intriguing talent percolating here, and maybe it will start to coalesce into something. And I know White Sox fans saw not that long ago that when you think you're set for years to come, things can come tumbling down quite quickly. But I just, I like what's happening here. And maybe by the end of the season I won't like it as much,

or maybe I'll really like it. And maybe we'll come into next year talking about White Sox, StarCourse candidate. Could they be a contender? So it's not premature. I don't think to think that. But we will see whether that still holds up after this season. I'm taking the Braves, mostly because of Ronald Coon Jr. and Drake Baldwin.

And Chris Sale, you know, so spindly. I hope that we get a full, healthy, and consistent season out of Michael Harris the second because when he is going right, he is tremendous fun to watch. Wow, Dominic Smith really made this roster, didn't he? Is there shortstop? Wow, you guys, this went in a weird direction. Mike Estremski is here. I knew all of these things, but I'm just like re-remembering them

because, you know, the PPRs are like an ionization blackout period for me. And then, you know, the bullpen has some really fun, interesting guys and also someone literally named Bomber. And then the less said about the current. state of the rotation, the better, but some of the guys who are hurt right now will come back at some point and maybe be good, possibly. It's funny because the projections don't really like the Braves in a way that feels like, you know, don't tell them, you know, like somebody was like, just don't, just don't tell them. And they did. They've been told, you know, they know who's on

this team, but also some of them are not the best. But, yeah. But what do you? you can do they're the brides here we are in this part of the draft so well what i'm going to do is i'm going to go guardians now yeah and uh look i just i get jose ramirez i get stephen kwan yeah i get to see what travis pizana will look at the big league level at some point yeah i get to see chaste de loder after his trial by fire in the playoffs last year i get to see cow mansardo hit some homers presumably. I get to see which Guardian's pitchers will be unexpectedly

good this time. So yeah. Great. Look, we're in the bottom third here. Yeah, let's go. Okay. I'm taking the Marlins.

I'm taking the Marlins because I want to see what's Sandy like now and what is your apparel is able. For as long to see is a Marlin. Right. What is your in Paris able to do? And super excited about your repairs.

You know, are we going to, I appreciate that like he is hurt right now. It sucks. But like, how is Kyle Stowers going to look? And can Owen Casey take a leap? And Marcy. Right. What's Jacob Marcy going to be? Jacob Marcy sounds like such a spooky name to me.

It makes me super happy. And then, you know, they have a bunch of guys where like, what are you actually going to get out of Otto Lopez? Like, can he take another step forward? I think he probably maybe can. And what do you? Can Connor Norby figure it out? And Will Augustine, how many pitches is he going to call? How many?

Yeah. That's why I couldn't take the Marlins, my moral objection. Well, what am I going to do right now? You know? Being patient zero in the pitch calling from the dugout epidemic. But yeah. They got a guy named junk on the roster. You know, they got Jans and Jans.

So, Marlins. Maybe you see some Robbie Snelling and Thomas White at some point, perhaps. I think probably will after the deadline at the very least. Yeah, this is another one like the White Sox where you might hope to start to see what they're building here and what kind of core they can assemble. Okay. Boy, not really loving any of the picks from being at this stage. But I guess since I'm collecting all of the ALE's teams except the Yankees, I guess I'll take the raise. Mostly for Junior Camerrero.

Oh, yeah. To be clear, good reason. Yeah. And maybe that's the only reason I need at this. stage, but it's just, I don't really know who's on the raise right now. It's just really, even more so than usual. I know I'm supposed to be a professional, but they've made it really difficult this offseason, just so much movement and what did it all signify? And so, yeah, even more so, they're just really raising it up with the kind of not having identifiable guys.

But Camerro, Yandy Diaz, got some good pitchers, sure, race. And, Jonathan Ronda. Jonathan Ronda is good. They get to return to the trap. So that's nice for them. Carson Williams is on the scene. Can he figure? Yes.

You're like, I know that you edited the PPR's magnolence. No one's doubting that you actually did. You know who is. Showing off your Ray's roster knowledge. No one about the race. What a good party trick. Okay. I guess I will take, I'm going to take the Giants.

All right. I'm going to take the Giants because Logan Webb is great. and terrific fun to watch. I like Willie Adamas. I feel like he figures stuff out. I like Matt Chapman. I will eventually enjoy Bryce Eldridge because he's 27,000 feet tall,

but is going to AAA. I want to see how long it takes Patrick Bailey to throw something at his manager if he tries to call pitches from the dugout. They watched that back. Did you see that? I did see that. Yes. They were like, hey,

my boss is Buster Posey, And also I have Patrick Bailey. Maybe this is not the time to try this. Yeah. What am I doing? But yes, the Tony Vitello experience that alone, I think is a good reason. It's going to be something, you know? What's it going to be?

I don't know yet. You know, they still have, I think, one of the, just like the better uniforms in baseball. Love the classic cream, beautiful ballpark. Yep. Okay. I'll take the Cardinals. I don't think the Cardinals are going to be a good baseball team in 2026, but they No, but they do have some extremely watchable players.

They do. They got J.J. Weatherholt. He's on the opening day roster. They've got Mason Win. And they've got Victor Scott the second. I mean, speed, defense, right? And then a lot of guys who are, okay, we really got to put up or shut up. We got to know what you are now.

Lars Neupar, Nolan, Gorman, Alec Berluson, Jordan Walker. So there's a lot of guys in that category of, okay, we really have to figure out what we have. or not have them anymore. But I think even though they're bad, they at least feel like they're moving in the right direction or a direction now. They've ripped the Band-Aid off. They're remaking this roster. It's Heim Bloom's team to run.

And, you know, the pitching, I think, is going to be pretty rough. But Matthew Libitorre might be pretty good. And I've enjoyed Dustin May when he has been good. And then Richard Fitz, our friend. And then just like, will they? sift through the wreckage of this pitching staff and find someone who will be on another Cardinals competitive team at some point. And Herrera. Herrera is just a really good hitter, and I would like him to get to catch sometimes to see if that's at all workable. So, yeah, I think we're going to

learn a lot about the Cardinals' future this season, and we'll have at least a little fun along the way. Probably so. Okay. I'm taking the twins. because they have Joe Ryan, who's very good. For now. Yeah, we'll see. Well, okay, but we're at the bottom. What are your expectations of my options here? You know what they are.

You took the other good ones. It's true. They have Byron Buckson. Love Byron Buston. Can I remember Royce Lewis figure it out again? What kind of starter is Josh Bradley going to be? That'll be interesting to find out. How is Bailey Oberg going to go?

They have Taylor Rogers. Taylor Rogers. I also just think that when you're at this level, you do have to enjoy the fact that there is a human person named Funderberg. You know, you have to be like, that's a human name. That's fun, just to see that name is fun. That more than one person has, you know, he's not the first Funderberg. It's really hard to say. My God, really challenging.

And Cody with a K. So they're just, it's a minefields, you know. And Cody Lawyersen, like, what a name. What a name? Some of these names, you know? Okay, I'm done. Yeah. The organization itself, not so fun, the antithesis of fun ownership, but, but yeah, some fun.

Luke Keishel could be fun. Right. Yeah, they have some prospects, you know? They have some prospects. Yeah. Okay. Well, we're almost down to the dregs here, but there's one team that I would not say qualifies as a dreg.

And that is the Houston Astros. You might as a Mariners fan disagree. But the Astros are by far the best team left on the board here. Oh, they really are. And I maybe forgot that they were still on the board. Well, one reason or another, they fell to me here. And yeah, I don't think they're among the more fun teams. But watching some winning baseball is typically more fun, all else being equal than not.

And so they will win some games. and they do have some good players and they've got some good pitchers and hey, Hunter Brown is here. And, you know, Jose Al Tuve, I don't know how much is left with Jose Altuva these days. But we'll see. And the seeing will be interesting.

Jeremy Pena, can he be the player he was last year? And, of course, can Yordon be the player he was before last year? Can he go back to being the terrifying masher that he has mostly been. And Kim Smith, can Kim Smith have a little bit of a nice sophomore season? And then, yeah, you know, Carlos Correa, like, look, they've got, they've got some good guys.

And the competition at this stage of the draft is not strong. Giner Diaz, Etairetas. Yeah, look. You've said so much about the Astros. Christian Javier, I mentioned. Burroughs. Oh, my, yeah.

Yeah, look. Hater, if he's healthy again at something. point? A brave? Yeah. Easy. No brain or pick. Great.

Moving a little long. I'm taking the Nationals. Who have James Wood. They have Dail and Lyle. They have Cade Cavali. They have some prospects. RJ Anderson. They have RJ.

And isn't RJ just one of the nicest guys you ever met in your life? It's also very smart, you know? Like, yeah, they are a team that's going to be really interesting to monitor from afar because the most compelling parts of their stories, other than, you know, some of their young hitters is going to be like how the franchise turns itself around. What does this front office do? How much success did they have? How quickly do they have it? What is, like how quickly are we as outside observers able to discern the differences for this team? versus what it was under the prior administration.

And I think that will be fascinating. And also, I do have an appreciation for the fact that I don't want to want to play every day. So I look forward to checking in on them and seeing how it goes. And I do wish them well because I have sympathy for the situation they found themselves in after they won the World Series, you know, and just circumstances beyond their control made it so that we as a collective didn't really get like a stretch with that to sit with it. And then they were immediately bad again.

So I hope that this rebuild works. You know, D.C. deserves a good baseball team as a city. It's a great city. It deserves a good team. And I feel like they're really trying to make that happen with smarts. And then we'll see if the spending comes after. And there they are, the Washington Nationals. I have picked them.

Okay. and I will make the penultimate pick and thus also the ultimate pick. I will take the angels. And look, they have a bunch of guys who were good in some cases some time ago. And so to be reminded of when they were good can be fun, but also sometimes sort of depressing. But I was fairly optimistic about Mike Trout from a performance and skills standpoint this spring. Sure. If he's able to stay healthy, I know the ultimate if.

but I think there's still something in there and that he could be a kind of productive player. Now, he is slug in 390 with no homers in 17 games this spring, but let's put that aside for the moment. But look, they have Neto and they have O'Hopi and Shanawell and just like some guys I'm kind of interested in and some pitchers I kind of like Kikuchi and I don't know, man. I mean, it's not a good team and it's pretty bleak

and this might be the first time that they finally do actually lose 100 games. I think this could be the year that they get on the board as the last franchise never to have done that. But I always wanted to believe in Redetmers. You know, he was pretty good out of the pen for them last year. So Jose Soriano underrated. Yeah. I don't know. I'm running out of names, but they're the second to last pick, so that'll do.

Joadale. What does that mean? Joe Adele. Yep, yellow names. We're at the yellow names section of this draft, which means that I have the Colorado Rockies who have a beautiful ballpark. They have a Victor on their roster.

We love a Victor Vodnik. They have a good man, Hunter Goodman. T.J. Rumfield made this roster. How about that? How about that? I hope that Jake McCarthy goes back to using, oh, God, what was his walk-up song in Arizona? That made me so happy.

Anyway, it doesn't matter. They have a great ballpark, but also another team sort of like the nationals where you were just like, this is a new attempt at, you know, we have a new set of organizing principles here. Like we should use numbers and also try to view the ballpark as as an advantage, one that we can sort of build our roster around and that'll be good. And, you know, so they're trying to do that. And that's cool. Yeah. Seeing whether we can discern some signs of a new different Rockies. He used brain stew.

He used brain stew as his walk-up music. And I enjoyed that. I was like, are you old enough to remember this song? Like, how did you find your way to brain stew? Well, hey, a lot of the music I listened to predated my existence. I guess that's true. All right. We did it.

The fun. It's been draft. All of it. There's none left. We've drafted all the fun. Rockies, they have a Victor with a K. Will they have victors with C's? Probably not that often.

They're bringing up the rear. Okay. Victor, Victor, Vodnick doesn't have a K in his first name. He has a C. Why did I think of it was a K? Well, at the end of Vodnick, there's a K. Well, yeah. Victor, it's a C.

Okay. Well, Victor Vodnick. He'll probably be a Victor at some point this season. Maybe they'll be victors a little more often than they were last year. I don't know. Not that much more often, but a bit. It's a process. It's a process.

Yeah. Okay. So that's our team fun draft. Let us know if you disagree strenuously with any of our fun ratings here. I'm not trying to insult Scottish people to be clear. No, of course not. They just seen Agis. They do.

Yeah. You know. Head Rick. Well, now we will have some fun and watch opening night. and we will get to see the Giants curse slash streak be broken, not the Willie Adomas hitting 30 homers to have a 30 homer hitter for the first time since Barry Bond's, but a left fielder, Elliot Ramos, back-to-back opening days.

So that streak finally over after 19 years. I almost wish they'd gone one more. Just don't look at his defensive metrics from last year. You're going to feel real good about it. It doesn't matter if he's good out there, just matters where he's penciled. in the lineup, it counts. It ends the streak of 19 consecutive seasons

with a different left fielder on every opening day. But now they're tied for the all-time lead with the 1937 to 55 Browns, also in left field 19. It's like if you're going to go 19 years, just go for the records. Just go for 20s, you know?

But I don't know. Maybe they didn't want that distinction. So now as Sarah Lange's pointed out, the Giants left-fielder streak is over. But Cleveland now has a different. different right fielder for 15 straight seasons. And that feels pretty on brand for them, given how unproductive their outfields have tend to be. But yeah, I remember doing a stab blast. I think it was about the Giants left fielder streak years and years and years ago

before it became a big thing. But now it is. So they have snapped both of those curses. I guess that's good. And speaking of streaks ending, I guess we should note that the next time this podcast is back in your feeds, it will be a partial preview for non-patri-on subscribers. So we will be recording again on Friday. We don't know what we'll be talking about, but presumably baseball of some sort. And if you are a Patreon supporter by then, then you will get that episode in your podcast catcher. And if not, then you'll still see what we are talking about and you'll be able to hear the

beginning of it. but that will be reserved for subscribers the full episode. So, you know, I guess that our streak of producing only unpaywalled regular episodes was not quite as long as the giant streak of having a different opening day left-fielder every season, but close. And I looked up, I found this site that allows you to look at the total runtime of a podcast. You just put in the feed and it tells you it's podduration. R-night.m.m.

So I plugged in our RSS feed, not counting this episode, obviously, the first 2458, I guess, including the non-numbered ones, total of 1992 hours, which is 83 days, 83 solid days of effectively wild. Yeah, which that's a lot of time, but given how many years of my life that has been, it sounds like not a lot. It's like, wait, only two months of my past 14 years or whatever, yeah, merely. But, you know, that's, if you marathoned that, not sleeping in honor of me for two months, then you could, yeah, probably, but you could consume the entirety of the effectively

about that catalog. Anyway, just saying, we've made a lot of episodes. There are a lot of episodes out there that will be free for you forever, and we're still making two lengthy free ones a week. We do hope that as many of you as, Can swing it. We'll join us for that third one, of course. And one way or another, we will be back with much more effectively wild soon. Okay, well, opening night, not the best game, not the best broadcast. A seven-nothing Yankees win. I was wondering after all the ABS buildup, ooh, when are we going to see the challenge system? Maybe there just wouldn't be any challenges. Maybe home plate empire Bill Miller would be perfect, would say, not today, not on my watch. And you know what? Pretty close. There was but one challenge in the fourth inning by Jose.

Caballero and the call was confirmed. So Caballero makes the history as the first challenger, but does not make history as the first to have a call changed. It's funny, you know, Willie Adamas didn't challenge, but I saw the other day. The Giants were playing an exhibition game against a Mexican league team, and the catcher challenged on a ball call on a pitch that was pretty clearly outside. And Willi Adamas at least pantomimed being upset about it. He was gesticulating. He was saying, well, you're challenging that. Come on. He actually looked upset. And I was thinking, wow, my bold prediction about how the challenge system is going to spark some sort of benches clearing situation, it might come true before spring training is over. This is getting heated.

And in fact, after the ball call was confirmed, Adamas balked the catcher on the helmet with his bat. And then I think after the next pitch gestured mockingly as if to say, oh, you want to challenge that one too. But this was not, I believe, actually bad blood. The catcher was Omar Narvayas, who had been Adamas's teammate in Milwaukee. So I think this was all in good fun. But it did make me even more confident that at some point the challenge system would engender bad blood between teams. Anyway, look out for our next episode in your personal private Patreon feed. If you have one, if you are a supporter, you find a unique code in your settings. You plug it into your podcast app. It will start delivering to you all of our episodes, paid and free alike. You should get instructions

to do that in the welcome note when you sign up, but I will also link to those instructions in the post for this episode. And if you're listening to this before first pitch on Thursday, Remember that you can still participate in our preseason predictions game. Go to eWStats.com. And we hope that you will support the podcast on Patreon by going to patreon. com slash effectively wild and signing up to pledge some monthly or yearly amount to help keep the podcast going, help us stay ad-free and get yourself access to some perks, including the full next episode, as have the following five listeners,

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