Fantasy Baseball Today - Bonus ⚾️ Talk: Brandon Crawford Talks Career with Giants plus MLB's Most Underrated Hitters!

Episode Date: January 20, 2021

Danny Vietti and former major leaguer Will Middlebrooks are back and start off with the Joe Musgrove trade. They also react to Jared Porter being let go by the Mets (3:20). ... The guys are focusing on the most underrated hitters in baseball, starting with Matt Chapman (6:25)! ... Brian Anderson also deserves more loving down in Miami (10:30). ... Will recalls his playing days with Xander Bogaerts who is a stud (13:33)! ... Wilmer Flores had a quietly awesome season with the Giants in 2020 (17:21). ... What can the Tigers expect with their new outfielder Robbie Grossman (20:20)? ... Brandon Crawford and his wife Jalynne Crawford join the show (29:01). What was it like playing with Mike Trout and Bryce Harper in the AFL way back in the day? ... What's it like facing his brother-in-law Gerrit Cole (32:07)? ... What are the main differences for Brandon playing with Bochy vs. Gabe Kapler (36:46)? ... The crew wraps up with some rapid-fire questions (43:10)! ... Email us at [e-mail]. Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday 'Fantasy Baseball Today' is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @FBTPod, @AdamAizer, @CTowersCBS, @CBSScottWhite, @Roto_Frank Join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ You can listen to Fantasy Baseball Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast." To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the fantasy baseball today podcast from CBS Sports. I drive, center field, and swing. This is magnificent. Got a fantasy question? Email fantasy baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your league. Well, fantasy becomes reality. Now here's Frank, Scott, Chris, and Adam.

Funny people, what is good? brooksy i see you boy welcome to the fantasy baseball today podcast happy hump day wednesday january 20th myself danny vietti along with my co-host of course the world series champ these guys jerseys hanging behind him will middlebrooks how we living today well i'm good to go i was just sharing with you my beautiful pictures of uh my grill art from last night little shish kebab action So I'm living life here in Florida, bud. I can't complain. It's a chilly day here, high of 71.

I really have no complaints right now. Yeah, it's not anything compared to my Taco Bell I had last night. But yeah, sure. So we got a jam-packed episode for you guys today. We're going to give you our five most underrated hitters coming into 2021. I think it was a week ago, maybe two weeks ago, we gave you our five most underrated pitchers. So we're coming at you with some hitting action because because Brooksie is a hitter

and the hitters always get the advantage of the pitchers. But that's another story for another day. The Hostove is continuing to churn. Joe Musgrove heading to San Diego for a package of prospects. San Diego continues to make big time moves. They got you Darvich, Blake Snell. Reportedly, they're still going after jerks and pro far to try and bring him back. So Hostov has been quiet everywhere else except for San Diego.

San Diego has been the center of the universe. Yeah, they're the only team really. I mean, not the only team. White Sox are making moves. Mets are starting to do some stuff. Supposedly the Red Sox are supposed to start heating up here soon. They need to. They're like the seats getting a little warm up there for Heinbblum to start making a splash.

But, yes, the Padres, man, they're set up for success for like the next three years, in my opinion. Especially next year with Clevenger coming back off the IL from TJ. day, they're going to be nasty. They're going to be really nasty. And let's not forget that Trevor Bauer still out there. You know, they seem to, I wouldn't count them out. We looked at their payroll. They have room.

It just depends on how long of a contract and what the AAV would be. But they're definitely in the mix. Obviously, the Mets are as well. So, and the Angels, which I projected. Don't forget it. When it happens, just remember I called it. Hashtag Bowdy-Henheim. Well, Padres are certainly making moves. And not to mention, they also retained seven top 100 prospects, despite getting Clevenger, Darvish, Snell, and Musker. They still have the most top 100 prospects in baseball, which is remarkable. Of course, that trade for Musgrove, it was a three-way trade between the pirates, a lot of the prospects heading to Pittsburgh and then Joey Lou Casey going to New York Mets. So not as happy news, of course, from New York. And we'd be remiss not.

to mention this news is GM Jared Porter being fired and let go from the New York Mets less than 24 hours after a report came out that he had sent over 60 messages to a female reporter, including lewd pictures in that conversation. You'd never like to see these kinds of stories come out. It always seems like there is one every year, maybe even a couple, and it's tough to see across baseball, that's for sure. No, it is. You never want to see, I mean, anything like this.

call it, I don't know if you call it assault, whatever you want to call it, there's no place for it in the game. And we've seen this in the past with reporters and for an office. You just, you never want to say anything like this. And the Mets are losing a really good baseball mind in this. I don't want to talk him up because he's in a bad spot right now. And he did as he should be because he screwed up, plain and simple. He screwed up.

Yeah, it was four years ago. I get that. There's a lot of people screaming. It was four years ago. Regardless, it came out now. It's going to, you know, look really bad on your organization if you keep them around regardless of when it happened. So they're losing a great baseball line. He was in the scouting department when I was with Boston, had a lot of conversations with him. Baseball genius.

IQ through the roof. So in that aspect, that's really tough for the organization because they were sitting pretty and they were really making some great moves and they were going to make even more moves. And he was going to be in the middle of it. But unfortunately, you screw up like that, you might not find yourself with another job in baseball. Yeah, and all credit to the Mets and Steve Cohen for how they dealt with the situation. He said, I love, I love how it just came out. He's transparent.

I've talked to several media members. Ken Rosenthal was on a couple weeks ago or last week and said, that's what we love about him is transparency because baseball is so hidden behind closed doors. No one wants to let out any information. and Steve Cohen comes out, no press release anything, does he's gone. He doesn't fit in here with the values we have as an organization and the way we're trying to trend as an organization.

So he's out. It's a breath of fresh air. There's no doubt about it. Not the situation, but what Steve Cohen is doing is a breath of fresh air. So again, I mentioned we have a jam pack show. I don't want to focus too hard on the situation going on in Queens. That's not really RMO when it comes to the show. We try and keep it positive,

try and keep it upbeat. So we will continue to do so despite those, the findings out in New York. We're going to give you our five most underrated hitters going into 2021. Speaking of underrated players, who I think has really been underrated throughout his entire career is Brandon Crawford. He's going to be joining us on the show along with his wife, Jay Lynn Crawford, she's a former gymnast at UCLA. Of course, Brandon, the All-Star, Gold Glover, World Series champ. The resume goes on and on. So we're going to be out of some nice company joining us. But first, let's get into our top five, well, top five, most underrated hitters heading into 2021. Will's going to give you, he's got a couple guys on his list you probably

have heard of before. But there's still not getting it. There's still not getting it. Is there? I'm going to give you a couple of a few guys that maybe you haven't heard of, maybe you have, but they really need to be given the pedestal they haven't been given so far. Yeah. No, I mean, like you said, you, you mean to start it off? You mean to start this party off? What do me to do. How do you want to do this? You go. You go. Look, I have, I have two guys, really. I'm going to give you one of them here that. I mean, I'll just tell you his name. How about that? Matt Chapman. This kid is a superstar. He's a superstar that we don't really know much about. All right. Is it because he plays in Oakland? Yes. Is it because he plays all the baseball fans on the East

Coast are going to bed when its game starts because they've got to get up and go to work in the morning? Probably. That's probably the case. Oakland's been good the past couple years. So that's starting to help his case. They're in the mix, the wild car with the division. So that's going to help him as well. They just said he just settled with the team for 6.49 ARB settlement a week ago, I believe, which we both talked about. We thought that was an underpay. I think you can agree on that. Coming off hip surgery. He is. He's also coming off a tough year. He only played what? 36 games. 36 games in 2020. Down year. Get that. it happens. He was hurt. What was it, a labrum? His hip, he had cleaned out. Yeah, he had a couple different issues, but it ended up having surgery on that hip. Yeah, he'll be fine. I don't think

that's going to be an issue moving forward. But like I said, this guy in 2018, 2019 posted a 6.6 and then a 6.1 war. You're getting over that 4 or 5 war in a season. That's superstar status. All right. And I know his defense is going to probably carry him. He's going to slow. lug. He's going to strike out, but he's going to hit some big homers, and he's going to play great defense. He's at third base, so maybe not as valuable as maybe a shortstop or center fielder, but there's something to be said about posting numbers that he post six war, two years in a row? It's ridiculous. You said you thought he was a top 10 player. Yes. You stand by that. I stand by that. I'll say top 15, but either way, he doesn't get talked about like he should,

and I think it just goes back to him being on the West Coast. If he was in New York or if he was in Los Angeles, people wouldn't argue whether he's the top 10 player. That's right. And Los Angeles, obviously the West Coast as well, but the Dodgers are on Sunday night baseball, Wednesday night baseball. They're on TV every night because people want to see him.

They have all the superstars, right? And there's no doubt his defense carries him, but he also had a career high, despite his average dipping last year and despite his power numbers dipping a little bit last year, at a career high and exit velocity and barrel percent. percentage and hard hit percentage. He's still hitting the ball hard.

He's just not getting quite the results that he. Let me make one more point. Playing in Oakland isn't easy. No. It's not even for the, I can only speak as a visiting player, but the amenities there are very slim to none for a big league ballpark.

The food's not good. The batting cages aren't nice. The locker rooms aren't nice. It's just the place is falling apart. It's a ton of foul ground. You don't really see the ball well at night there. And when the sun goes down, the ball goes absolutely nowhere. So that's a tough place to play as well. So I would really like to eventually see him on the East Coast, on a big time

squad, and a park where the ball flies and really see what we can get out of him. Keep a minute. Oh, sorry, you're a West Coast guy. Sorry. I think you can agree. If you put him on the East Coast in the limelight, he's all of a sudden a much bigger superstar. Yeah, there's no argument. The conditions in Oakland are crappy for more reasons than one. Yeah. Sewage, you know, you get that reference. Let's stay in the hot corner and we're staying with our underrated hitters going into

2021. I have Brian Anderson on my list of the Miami Marlins. And going back to your point about hitters and players in Oakland, you can make the same case for players in Miami because I could mention Corey Dickerson is a number. another really underrated hitter in Major League Baseball. Brian Anderson is who I have on my list because he's a guy that just drives and runs. He does. He came up in 2017.

He's really good defensively, too. They kind of flip-flop that he's played a little bit first base too. He had 11 home runs last year. That's a pace of 27 and a half homers in 500 at-bat season. So that's assuming you generally get between 500, 600 at-bats in a season if you stay healthy. Yeah, 100. He was on pace for around 30 home runs last year. And of course, Miami had a really surprisingly good season.

They made the playoffs for the first time. And God, I forget how long it's been over a decade. So really good for Miami. And I think Brian Anderson's really been the centerpiece of it all. And I mentioned his defense how it's really improved. He was in the 94th percentile last year and outs above average defensively. So he's doing it with the bag. He's doing it with the glove.

I played against him. So he was a prospect coming up. I was in AAA. I don't remember which year it was. It was right before he got to the big leagues, obviously. He got called up to AAA towards the end of the year, which was in New Orleans.

And I remember him coming up, and I think he debuted in AAA against us. And I remember thinking, this kid is different. This kid shouldn't be here. He's already big league ready. He could tell his swing, his swing path.

Just the way he moved was, you know, top tier athletically. So it was cool to see that and then see him have success at the big league level. And to your point, yeah, players in Miami get looking,

over. They look past. Look at like Garrett Cooper. Like those guys like big pop, good hitters. But you just overlook them because, oh, they're just in Miami. They're only there. They're a triple A team. Yeah. No. No, these guys are studs. And I think we're going to,

they made a splash last year. That's not a fish joke. That's not a Marlon joke. Don't laugh. Don't laugh. I didn't. That was not planned. That's just, I'm a dad. Now dad jokes just come. They just flow out of me. but I think they're good again this year. They have young pitching and young hitters and mixed in a couple of vets.

I think they're going to be good again. And then we're going to continue to look past them until they show us they can make it to the playoffs in a regular structured season. Yeah, the NLA's division is going to be really tough. Matt's right. Who knows what the Phillies are going to do? They added Archie Bradts. Yeah, they're starting to add.

Yeah, I was going to say they're adding to their bullpen, which is like their weak point. But Miami's young and hungry. So they got some really good. They're underdogs. When you're an underdog and you feel like you have nothing to lose, you tend to exert yourself more than someone else who maybe has a little more anxiety, a little more to worry about a little more to lose, say the math,

fillies, higher expectations. When you're expected to lose and you win, it's the best feeling in the world. And they're going to go for it. They're continuing to go for it. I'm excited to watch them. Next up on our list, who's one of your guys here, it's another guy that people have probably heard of a little bit. but isn't quite getting the attention, right?

Yeah, 100%. Zander Bogartz. This kid came up in 2013 at the end of the year. He played there with me in 2013 in Boston, watched him his first big league homer, and from the first day I spent with him, I knew this kid was special. He puts some work in, man.

We had our infield coach, our third base coach, his name was Brian Butterfield. He's with the Angels now. He was with the Angels last year. I don't know if he's still there. but I mean, Zander was out for early work, home and away, every single day. And he put the work in. He wasn't a great defender coming up.

And then he really turned, he transformed himself into a great defender. Let's dig into a couple of these numbers. Since 2017, 124 OPS plus, all right? That's tied for the best shortstop in baseball during that span. Is that good? It's decent. All right. 350 runs created.

All right. That's third best behind Lindorra and Trevor's story. But what stands out the most to me is 2014 through 2019, he's average 150 games the season. Yeah. So that's your shortstop. That's a captain of your defense. All right.

He's got to be on the field. He played 56 of 60 last year. So he's on the field. He's producing. He's a, what, 290 career hitter as a shortstop? He's got some thump, too. You see him flying. balls over the monster too he's got some he's got some pop um and he's just a good dude he's a good

clubhouse guy um but like i said all these numbers line up with lindor and story two superstars yeah no he doesn't get talked about in the same sentence as those guys yeah i think it's a boston thing i think because when he really started coming up he was surrounded by vets vathez even when Rafael Pedroia Padroia was his biggest mentor but probably still is

I know Padraias coming to the end of his rope and probably going to lose his roster spot because he's hurt he can't play I haven't talked to him about it but I'd be very surprised

if he tried to continue so I'm sure they're going to make a move there soon to clear a roster spot because they have to make moves in Boston so but yeah bogey's a superstar and he's going to play.

He's still young. He's still really young. So we don't talk about him enough. I think the last two years, Boston hasn't been great. Last year, they sucked. It's not that they're not hitting, though. They led the league.

They led the league in hits. So. No, no. They led the American League and hits last year. Right, right. And got last in the division. They just can't pitch. It's to no fault of Zander Bogart's.

And the two best pitchers were out last year. So it was still out. And now I'm seeing how, how timid and passive they're going to be with sales rehab. For what? Like, just rehab him normal. If he's ready, he's ready. Yeah.

You can't let him miss the first month of the season. You're going to fall so far behind. The Blue Jays are going for it. We know what the Yankees are. You can't have a bad month. You're not going to make the playoffs. A lot of question marks with Boston, one of those not Zander Bogart.

So you know exactly what you're going to get out of So each of the last three seasons is at-bat per home run has gone up or is at-bat per home run has gone down. Less at-bats, more home runs. So let's say in the infield, but let's go to the West Coast because I'm a West Coast guy and everybody calls me West Coast bias because I am. Wilmer, Florida of the San Francisco Giants. Obviously, former Met, former Arizona Diamondback, went to San Francisco last year. Perfect Farhan Zai-ei candidate for finding lightning in a lot. bottle, guys that don't get talked about enough, guys that don't get the attention they deserve.

He brought him over to- He had a great year last year. Great year. He's affordable. He had 3-17 in 2019 and 89 games. Last year, he hit over 300 again. I'm sorry, he hit below 300, but he had a career high in home runs per at bat. So he had 12 home runs and just 198 at bat.

So his power is coming together, which is strange because Oracle Park, San Francisco, not exactly known to be- I was just about to ask. That is not a great hitter's park. During the day, if the wind's blowing, it flies. But at night, it's like Oakland. I mean, that marine layer gets in there and the ball just seems heavy. What did you like better hitting on the East Coast or West Coast?

Because West Coast ballparks, whether it's Seattle, Anaheim, San Diego, Oakland, San Francisco, balls tend to die during night games. East Coast, is it the same case? Because you don't. LA, both L.A. teams weren't bad. Dodger Stadium during the day It was a flu

The ball flew And we saw it Anaheim I thought Was pretty fair Day and night Dodger Stadium died down at night During the day It flew though

But yeah You get over there on the bay It definitely dies When the sun goes down The ball gets like I said It feels super heavy Yeah Well Walmart Flores

Didn't think it was that heavy Hit a better Get this He had a better barrel Percent than no one Arnato And Anthony Rendon that's pretty good.

That's some pretty good company to be in. That has nothing to do with the Marine layer. That's just him squaring up the baseball. Yeah, big barrel guy. He's nothing impressive when you look at him at the play. He doesn't, he's not, isn't scare you as a picture. He doesn't have like a leg. He's like a down early guy, just point A to point B, put the bow to the ball on the ball.

And Farhan's I.D salivates over players like that. Salivates he loves him. He kind of just disappeared when he left New York. A little bit. Remember the whole thing where like he cried, like he thought he was getting traded and he cried and all that. That's like what I remember. Yeah. Have you ever gotten that emotional over a trade release, anything like that?

No. No. No. I mean, I was, I was bombed when I got traded to San Diego from Boston. Yeah. You know, because I've been in Boston since 2007 when I was drafted. So it was a, you know, sentimental value to that organization. Still is.

Still is. So, but I wasn't like on the, it was an offseason. So it wasn't like I had to leave my teammates. When you, that's the thing. When you leave the end of the season, there's a handful of guys you stay in touch with in off season. And the rest time, it's like, see in Florida next year. See you.

That's the pros. Last guy on our list. Robbie Grossman. Another Oakland A, former Oakland A, I should say, recently just signed a contract with the Detroit Tigers is another guy that, in my opinion, doesn't get the attention because it doesn't get the number of at-bats because it doesn't hit against lefty exactly why he's not a great defensive player he's not going to win any gold gloves out there in left field but he's a guy that gets on base which if you've ever watched the movie money ball and

what billy bean's all about it's like on base because his average isn't high he had like 240 last year but his on base was through the roof right last year he had 241 344 on base percentage in an 826 ops not through the roof but compared to his on base or compared to his batting average it was high. If you're looking at 100 points higher than your average, that's good. Exactly. And he had 166 at bats. So if he's starting, he's getting taken out midgame because he's a defensive liability. Right. If he's not starting, he's probably getting one at bat because he's pinch hitting for a guy that is facing a righty. So 166 at bats, most players, especially everyday players, we're getting well. Which is tough too, which guys don't get credit for. Being a bench player is really hard.

Yeah. you haven't seen live pitching for or you've been sitting there on the bench for two three hour and then they're like hey bud grab your bat i know this guy's throwing 107 with two breaking balls but go get him go win the game for us you know who's really good at that matt stares yeah i'm surprised you remember matt stares you're you're a baby you know you have to been in like elementary school when he matt stares was hitting bombs for the fills yeah i was young I'm glad you mentioned old people because we were just talking about this. So Will's garbage truck was just driving by.

And he said they're picking up his loads of diapers. And I responded and I said, I know you have two kids, but let's be real, those are probably your diapers. This is not the content people signed up for it. He didn't deny it, though. That's the problem. We'll talk about it later. Going back to Robbie Grossman, he didn't have a great barrel percentage early on

in his career in 2018, 2019, just 2.2%. In 2020, at a career high, 5.5% barrel percentage. So he's coming along with these new metrics, and I think he's really finding his way, really good pickup, low-key pickup by Detroit. I think he's going to fit that culture really, really well. Hold on, when you say he's coming along with the new metrics, do you think players actually think about this?

I do, especially in Oakland, Tampa Bay. I think they get something going through their ear. Some guys, it goes through one ear, goes out the other. I think some guys... To a certain extent, guys think about it, but not as much as you would think. You're right. At the end of the day, there's still... You just kind of got to go

out there and play baseball. Yeah. It's really tough to think about this stuff, and that's why you're starting to see teams higher like Sam Fold was with Philly in 2018. I think he was as well last year. The bridge between the analytic group and the players. So he's basically there to

dumb it down. I just saw there were someone else that Shelly Duncan. I don't remember what team it was. Do you know what team you just got hired by? I do not. I remember his career. Anyways, he got, he's doing the same thing.

He's doing the same thing. And I think you're going to start seeing that throughout the game as guys being able to dumb down these stats for players, not because the players are idiots, but because they don't fully understand. I don't fully understand it. I've been trying to figure it out for three years. It's tough.

There's a new stat every month. I feel like. So it's like take what you need. But at the end of the day, like these guys just need to go out and play if they better themselves in the cage and their approach and all that. Like the stats and the metrics kind of take care of themselves. It's not like, man, I'm going to work on my woba this offseason. Oh, dude. Hey, bro.

I want to go to the cage. We can work on our, you know, our expected batting average and expect every line drive. Like, bro, that's a really good line. That's what I meant. Like, the players don't really think about it that much. Like, they'll have, you'll have meetings at the end of the year with, you'll sit down with the GM and the manager and they'll say, like, we like to see these numbers higher, blah, blah, blah.

All right, well, you walk out of the meeting, you're like, so maybe I need to take a few more walks or maybe I need to get stronger and hit for more power. But it's not like you go to the plate and not, like, thinking about that stuff, you know? That's where I was going for it. You touched on it. I was more so talking about. I'm not saying Robbie Grossman's going up to the play and say, well, my barrel percentage was pretty low last year.

But I think he's thinking about getting more barrel on a ball when he's working in the cage. And secondly, we're going to a whole other podcast. But say what you just said again. I think he's going into the cage thinking I'm going to try and get more barrel on the ball. At what point do you think a hitter is not trying to get the most amount of barrel on a baseball every time they swing the bat? Yeah. So it's not, there's not, he's not thinking that way. The hitters don't think that way of, I need to get more barrel in the ball.

No, it's, it's, it's maybe, maybe if that's the case, maybe if someone brings it his barrel percentages down or whatever, maybe there's something wrong with my mechanics. Maybe there's something wrong with my approach where my timing is off. So I'm in between pitches. Maybe I'm early on the breaking ball laid on the heater. So I need to fix my approach. Now I'm dead red. I sit one of the other and I'm able to barrel the base.

baseball better because I'm on time. So it's not, it's not a, I need to go work on barrel in the baseball. It's, I need to work on my timing or work on whatever mechanic it is to fix that number. Or maybe take more pitches to find that perfect. Yeah, maybe not be as aggressive. If that makes sense. That that makes it. That clear that. That's fair. I'll concede that argument. You don't get too any w's on this podcast, but I'll give you that one. I'll thank you. Did you just told everyone I wear divers? That, I did wear a diver this. I did wear a diaper last year. I don't know if you saw that.

So you're not alone in a diaper brigade. I did see that. Any honorable men, I have a couple guys that we're going to get Brandon Crawford and Jalen Crawford on the show coming up here in a second. But before we get to them, a couple guys that I don't think get, you know, the shouts that they should. Mark Hanna, Corey Dickerson, Randall, Gricich, Colton Wong, David Fletcher. Those are a couple other guys that had. I have one.

Yeah. And he fits my mold of he's a superstar, but we don't talk about him like he's a superstar. Tim Anderson. Yeah. What a batting title and he gets overshadowed by Jose Ibrahim, which Jose Abraio, yes, we talk about this.

He's a better hitter. Overall, overall hitter. He hits for average and power. Now, Tim Anderson hits for some pop too. Yeah. And he's a good shortstop.

Yeah. And he's got that swag. He's pimping homers, pissing everybody off, pissing everybody off on the other team. I don't know. I like, I watched this,

the documentary last night on Ricky Henderson. And it reminded me a lot of Tim Anderson. Yeah, I like that calm. Very much. Just his swag and like he's just going to be him and it seems genuine and he loves a game. He loves his teammates. He loves to play the game.

I love watching Tim Anderson. I feel like he's super, super graded. Yeah, I can't agree more. And that White Sox offense is going to be special. It's so fun. So we promised you five underrated hitters. We gave you at least 10 because that's just who Will and I are. We're just giving people.

And we're going to give you a foreign beyond. Far and beyond. Far and beyond. We're going to give you a great interview. We're going to give you some great conversation. We're going to catch our breasts. We'll be back with Brandon and J. Lynn Crawford. Welcome back to the fantasy baseball today podcast.

For those viewing the episode through YouTube, you might recognize these two faces. For those listening, you'll surely recognize our voices. Two-time World Series chant, three-time Gold Glover, of Brandon Crawford, along with his beautiful wife, Jay Lynn. Of course, she was a gymnast at UCLA. I appreciate you both joining us today. Yeah, no problem. Thanks for having us. I mean, the reason we got connected, of course, was through Twitter.

And I hit up Jalen because I saw it on Brandon's Instagram. And this was actually back in July. But one of your guys' four kids, Braxton, kids got a swing on him. My daddy, right? Well, it's got to come. There's athleticism on both sides of the family for sure, right? Yes. I mean, who taught him that swing?

He kind of picked it up almost on his own, I feel like. I mean, we obviously both kind of taught him how to swing the bat, I guess, but he was trying to play baseball as soon as when he was walking, he was swinging about. Even before he was crawling to the ball. Like the girl, we had two daughters first, so he was our first son. So we had all this princess stuff and a frozen Disney castle. And he would find the one ball in the room and crawl to it. So it started really early on.

I have two little girls. So I understand that. you guys are the first couple we've ever had. So congrats on that. But at the same time, don't screw it up for everybody else. So, I mean, Brandon and I played together back in

2011 in the fall league. That was a pretty special, pretty special group of guys. Anytime Mike Trout and Bryce Harper on the same field, we knew it was cool back then, but they were just babies at the time. I guess we all were in the grand

scheme of things. But, from those two guys we played with on that team, who do you think would end up being more special? Cool. I don't know. I mean, they both had so much hype coming into that fall league. I know Mike had a little big league time. I don't think Bryce had any yet. Not yet.

But, I mean, you knew that both of them were going to be big-time players. I don't know if anybody predicted how special Mike was going to be. but I mean obviously they both had great careers so far and I'm I'm sure they're only going to do more great things yeah I mean I have to bring up the fact that another great player in this league at your brother-in-law I remember I was talking to Danny about this earlier and I couldn't remember I feel like he was in the fall league with us was he he was okay was that the first time you faced him um yeah I think so okay I'm Yeah, so that's what I thought. That's like, I can't tell you what I had for lunch today, but I can remember that.

But like, what's it like to face him? Is it, is it, I know you don't really like to show a lot of emotion on the field. I know that's who you are. And I love that, actually. But are you like trying not to crack a smile? Are you like, I'm going to kick his ass or a combination of both? Like, what's that like facing somebody that's family? I feel like there's a, there's a lot of, um,

excitement and stuff like that going into that at that. And just like you, you know you're about to go face your brother-in-law. I'm sure he feels the same way. But I feel like once you get in the box, it's like, okay, I'm facing one of the best pitchers in the league. I need to focus. I need to focus in.

It's not like, oh, I'm facing Garrett. I'm going to crush him or, you know, like, yeah, he still goes a hundred. Yeah. You just have to go up there and compete in battle and try to try to try to. read it like any other pitcher, but like any other pitcher that throws 100 and has good off-speed stuff.

Right. And it's not fun for Amy or I because we both want them to do well. So it's kind of hard. I mean, I don't want Garrett to strike them out because I want Brandon, but we usually like a base hit that doesn't change the score. Or like a line out, you know. Yeah, not a line out now because it's still an out. Yeah.

At the family, is it like a Western standoff type thing? Like Brandon and Jalen are walking up and then Garant and his wife are walking up. Just like a Western standoff. Like, I would love that. No. No, exactly.

I think pitchers go to the field a little earlier, especially on pitching days. So we don't really see them before the game, even if we're all there. Well, let me ask you with Jalen. And then I'll ask you this after, Brandon. What's been the most nerve-wracking moment for you

during your husband's career? He's played in a whole lot of big games. And my fiance has talked to me about my playing days and how she's biting her fingernails the whole time while I'm on the amount. How about you? What's been the most nerve-wracking moment for you for your husband's career? I didn't get to go to his first game because I was in the middle of my master's program. And they didn't really travel people to do those games at that time. So I was nervous, but I didn't get to even watch it because I was in the middle of a class.

I didn't see it until Sports Center that night. I feel like the first game would have been that. But definitely the World Series when he comes up with the runners on. And you just want him to do well because you know he's worked so hard for that moment. But also the World Baseball Classic. That was so fun. I know there wasn't a lot of pressure to do well or no one expected the U.S. to win it. But I definitely was nervous.

And I never got nervous for myself when I was competing. I got nervous for my sisters because I couldn't control what they do. So it's kind of like the same for him. Like I can't do it for him. So I get more nervous for him than I would if I was competing. But definitely like the big games like World Series, World Baseball Classic, those ones make you a little more nervous. How about you, Brandon?

Most nerve-wracking moment of your career. Game 7, 2014, World Series. The tying run on third. Yeah, after Blanco let the ball get by him in center field. Yeah, and then it was fumbled a little bit on the track and then a low throw that I had to pick. I mean, just that whole sequence of events and then Salvador Perez, who's the only one that I think drove in a run off of Bumgarner, that World Series at the plate. So, I mean, I had plenty of confidence still in Bum there, but just that.

that whole sequence there, the last two hitters, was pretty nerve-wracking. But we know he would have made that throw. Yeah. Oh, yeah. You've had honestly, like, I mean, let's see, where are we at? We're coming up on 10 years, right? That's unbelievable. And you've had a chance to play with a ton of good players,

and you've had a chance to play for arguably one of the best managers to do the job in Bochi. and then the changing of the guard and almost the merging of a different era of baseball. You go from Bochi who's super old school, blue collar, just really old school is a way to put it. He was one of the last old school managers in the game. I'm sure he started to trend a little bit towards analytics

because things started to change towards the end of his career. And now you have Gabe Kapler, who's very analytical. The organization, every organization, every manager, trending that way because that's just the way the game's going now. So you had a chance to play for both. And I just want to know as a player who has spent a ton of time, obviously with Bochy and then now transitioning to Kapler, the biggest difference in the game now for a starting shortstop.

I mean, I think I can only speak for myself and not necessarily every starting shortstop because there are a lot of stud shortstops out there right now that aren't necessarily going through the same changes that I am at this point in my career. But I think the main thing is the righty lefty matchup for me, being a left-handed hitter and not seeing as much playing time against lefties this past year versus Bochy, just basically throw me out there against everybody. Early on in my career, I sat a little more against lefties, except for, you know,

like, of course, I would face like Kershaw and John Lester in the big time lefties early on in my career. Thanks, Boch. But he would sit me for some of the other guys, where now it's more like, I'll just face a handful of lefties. And, you know, that's the way the game's trending, like you said. And, you know, I'm going to try my best to avoid platoon and stuff like that. And, you know, I work my hard just to be in there. every day, no matter who's on the mound. Does that make you put more pressure on yourself on those handful of the bats against

lefties? Like, man, if I get a couple knocks here, that keeps me the lineup more, you know, that gives me more opportunities down the road, you know? Yeah, I mean, as hard as you try not to and you go into each at bat, you know, separating each at bat individually, you know, you obviously try not to think about that, but you also in the back of your mind know, like, hey, if I get a hit right here, maybe I'll play the next time. If I don't, I might not. So if you end up maybe putting a little pressure on yourself, but like I said, I try my best not to. So you guys both could be coming up on a juncture

in your guys' lives here with Brandon's contract coming up after the season. Have you guys thought about much about the next stop on your guys' journey? No, I mean, a little bit, I guess, but not a whole lot. I think the plan is to go out and have a good year this year and, you know, hopefully get a team interested for next year to play at least a couple more years. I mean, that would be my goal, but we'll see what happens at the end of the year. I'm sure a lot of people, oh, go ahead, go ahead. I'm sorry, I'm going to go ahead. No, I was just going to say from my perspective, it's I want him to play as long as he wants to play. and I want him to be done on his terms.

You know, when he's ready, I know he gave it his everything and left everything out there. And we support him if he wants to continue to play and we'll continue to make those sacrifices to let that happen for him. And then when he's ready to be done, home we come. Yeah, I mean, I think I would definitely like to play

a couple more years, I think, at least. But, you know, those few months off that we had, was kind of nice to be at home during, you know, April, May, and June. It was a little different than usual. So you never know what happens at the end of the year. Home a lot. Well, as you put much thought into playing elsewhere in San Francisco, have they shown any interest in bringing you back yet?

I know there's only so much you can share in that regard. But have they shown any interest in extending you or anything like that? No, not at this point, no. Okay. Danny with the hard hitting questions. I got to ask. I know. It's not one of those podcasts where we're just going to back you in the corner, but I don't know how, I don't know how common.

I mean, I guess Yadi could be an outlier in that, but I don't know how often a 30 going on 34-year-old gets a, has early contract extension talks with the team that they're on. Or only been on. And I'm sure you guys both. seeing Buster and his family and how they dealt with the situation last year, probably altered your decision making and then kind of looking at your future, maybe that altered a little bit? I don't think, I mean, I completely understand what Buster and Kristen decided on last year to take his option, basically, for last season.

I mean, I completely understand that and support that, but I don't think it would, I don't think it changes our future plans at all. Well, and they had newborns. So I feel like we may have thought differently if we were in their position a couple of years ago with a baby coming in. And, you know, your family changes everything and staying healthy is so important. And no one truly knew how the season was going to go. So we actually usually try to stick around 10 to 12 days without seeing Brandon. And we've never gone longer than that.

And when spring training 2.0 started, that's what I called it. It was in the Bay Area, not at home in Arizona. We actually stayed back for three weeks just to see like if it was actually going to happen or not. So I think the season was so unique that everyone kind of made changes to what they normally do or how they normally plan. So we just supported their decision. I have so much respect for parents during this entire, this last year of COVID. Will and I have talked about it. I don't have kids, luckily, yet.

Will does you guys, of course, have four kids. So I have so much respect for everything you guys have gone through throughout this last year. It's a handful. Just from an outside looking in, it looks like an absolute handful. So Brooksie here has a couple rapid fire questions for you guys. Get to know you guys a little bit more. Quick answers, quick questions. So go ahead and take it from me, Bruxie.

Yeah, we got to finish on a strong note here. So, all right. The hardest hitting question first, between you guys, who takes more pride in their hair? More pride? More pride. Brandon. I don't. When's the last time you cut your hair?

Because it's always, I don't remember it being short. Like cut it short? Like, short? Or like, like, got it short? Yeah. Like short, yeah. A wedding. 2011, spring training, 2011, I think. Special flow.

Okay, let's say you guys are going on a little weekend get away. What's one teammate you would not want to watch your kids? Current teammate, former teammate? Any. It doesn't matter. That's a tough question. Too many to choose, bro. Don't want to make anyone feel bad.

You can just go around at the time and say, yeah. Yeah, probably not him, not him, definitely not him. Yeah. I'll go with George Contos. I know George, and I stand behind your choice there. All right. So let's see. As a shortstop, I'll let him know that I said that too.

Yeah. Oh, I'm sure he will. Is he still there in Arizona? He still. No, I think he did. I think he was in Chicago. Okay. I've been out of the loop for a while.

Sorry. As a shortstop in the league, out of all the second baseman who played the game, who would you most want to play up the middle with? Out of any second baseman? Ever. If you could pick your dream second baseman. Roberto Alamar is probably one of the best defensive second baseman I've ever seen. So I think that would be fun.

That's cool. Cool answer. Okay, so you're worth 35. Is there any significance to that? So I didn't actually choose my number, but our long-time clubhouse guy, Mike Murphy, been with the Giants since like the 50s, I think. He actually picked it for me,

and he gave it to me because Chris Spire and Rich Aurelia to longtime giant short steps were 35. So he gave it to me. He thought it was a good number for me too. That's really cool. All right, this might be more. for Wifee. Favorite date night spot in San Fran? No, not San Fran. We don't go out there too much.

We loved this little Mexican restaurant in Walnut Creek called La Pagata. We both like Mexican food a lot, but that was kind of like our go-to spot. Nothing against the city of San Francisco. It's just not where you were. Right, right. When he comes home, we're not going to like drive back to the city. Right. Because most the players don't live in the city, right?

It's kind of split, huh? Yeah. More and more. There are some of the city, some of the East Bay, some of the South Bay. Yeah. I'm currently working on a piece right now that says Brandon Crawford hates San Francisco. I feel like the way she said definitely not San Francisco. It could have came across that we didn't like the city, but it's just that we

we don't typically stay. Get to go there much. Yeah. And we always have. I only have one more question. It's just what's one thing, and this can be a collateral answer, but what's one thing on your bucket list that you want to accomplish soon? I don't know.

I mean, I think there are a lot of places we would like to travel eventually or go back to eventually, but I don't know. I don't know about any specific bucket list thing. I haven't really thought about that. We've kind of done a lot in our 20s. We accomplished a lot in our 20s. So travel. Travel.

And we've traveled a lot. Yeah. And we would like to continue doing that. Yeah. I mean, Africa was amazing. And I hope we can go back sometime and bring the kids there. Yeah. That would be one of mine.

It's take the kids where we went. That's definitely one of mine too. Okay. I have one more before we let you guys go. Favorite visit. Favorite stadium to visit as a player, favorite stadium to visit as a visiting wife. Gosh, there's so many pretty ballparks. Like, I think Pittsburgh looks like a postcard.

And when you're, like, watching, it just looks like you're staring at a postcard. It's so pretty. Cardinals is really beautiful. The Padres. But, like, obviously, our favorite has been home of the Giants. Like, they have such a pretty view of the bay. And visiting, I would say I like visiting Pittsburgh or the Cardinals. Yeah, I mean, the same kind of thing.

Like there are so many nice ballparks and I feel like you like so many for different reasons, whether it's, you know, looks wise or you like the city or maybe special memory at one of the ballparks, like Pittsburgh's one that I always kind of think about that wildcar game. That was fun. But I think overall San Diego is my favorite. Just like the area around the ballpark, the actual ballpark, the playing surface. I think that's overall my favorite. I should have known you guys would have said Pittsburgh with your wildcard granny.

I should have known that was good. It's weird. Will always talks about how his favorite stadium, which is kind of odd is Anaheim, because the field apparently the condition. I like the surface there. I mean, anywhere in California, really, the ground actually. Actually, San Fran Day games, the infield's really hard. How brutal is Arizona, though?

Because I heard the infield in Arizona is pretty fast. It's more the grass. The grass is awful. It used to be awful. It's now the field turf. So it's a lot different than it was before. It's still pretty fast, but it's a little different now. We can't thank you enough for taking the time out of your guys' days.

We know you guys have a lot going on with spring training, hopefully around the corner in about 30 days. So thank you so much for taking it. time and join in the podcast here. Of course. Thanks for having you guys. Brennan Crawford, Jalen Crawford. He's played in a lot of big games in his career.

I liked how we talked about most nerve-wracking moments because obviously had the wild called Grand Slam, two World Series, the playout in center field in 2014 against Kansas City. He said was his most nerve-wracking moment. Let me ask you, Brooksie, most nervous moment in your career because I have one that I have a feeling you're going to say. how would you bring this up okay um i guessing you want to talk about the obstruction play obstruction tripping obstruction yeah yeah apple apples no it's not apples oranges it's

all right so yeah the obstruction call in the world series 2013 yeah against st louis against st louis yes so uh jarris alpha machia's throw took me into the base runner which is alan craig i would kind of we kind of, I went into him. I glove went into his chest as I was trying to reach and catch the ball. Ball went past us. We both go down. He goes to step over me as I'm trying to push myself up. And he tripped.

By rule, which I end up talking to Jim Joyce about this later the next day. And he just said, like, I'm sorry. Like, my, that doesn't do me any good. I'm getting death threats. But yeah, I was like literally got death threats. Like I lost the game for us on purpose. You know social media.

You're getting death threats. So like I didn't know where Alan was. I knew he was around me, but I didn't know where the ball was either. Yeah. So all I felt was the ball, Alan and myself got to one spot at the exact same time. And it just ran into each other. I went down. He was kind of on my back for a second.

I felt him like pushing off my back to get up. And I, if you go to push yourself off the ground, your legs kind of come up because you go up on your knees. So that's when my legs came up. he didn't actually trip if you watched the replay he didn't trip over my legs he kicked me like in my hip as he was trying to go over me he was limping around anyway he had an ankle injury i don't know if anything to do with it or not but yeah i was definitely uh i was very confused i don't know if nervous was the word um but confused and then you know you grind through a season with a with a team and that that team meant everything to me we were so close and that's why we

were as good as we were. And I felt like I let them down. Even though there was nothing I could have done different. The words, so if you watch the replay, you can look it up on YouTube. It's like, I run over, run the home plate and I'm like, have my hands in the air like, like what? Like what happened? I can't, I can't go anywhere. Like, what am I supposed to do? And Jim looks me in the eyes and goes, you just got to disappear. Just like that. And I was like, speechless. So I just walked back to my locker. I didn't even get undressed. I just like stood in my locker and waited for the media to just come talk to me and love me tell my side of the story.

All while like all while like my hands are like shaking. I'm like holy crap. Like we just lost a world series game because of me. So yes, I can look back now and be like I couldn't know anything different. but at the time I was like, how does this happen? Why is this happening? Like I came in, I didn't even start the game.

I came in, like, I had a couple of bats and then I was, that happened. And that's like, I'm like, a lot of people want to talk about that.

So is it interesting, interesting play. I mean, and then the next night, Colton Wong picked off at first base by Koji Yu-Hara at the end of the game. Right.

Like, what? Those that don't remember this play, type in Will Middlebrooks. It's probably the first video that comes up on. Either that or me breaking my leg. Yeah. Well, they're both like right there.

So type in Will Middlebrook's obstruction. Yeah. At least once a week I get some tweet about it. Well, what the hell is wrong with you for not disappearing? You know what? That was some, that was a metric that I worked on in the offseason. Yeah. Barrel percentage and disappearance percentage.

Yeah, that was a crazy play. Crazy play. I'm glad we won the World Series and I wasn't the next like Bill Buckner. A special thank you to Brandon Crawford, Jalen Crawford, for joining us on today's show. Brooks, you joining me for another episode next week. We've been through this, Danny. I'm not letting you do this by yourself or team. All right, I'll be here.

I'm in. I love it. All right. We'll see you guys next week. Fancy baseball today podcast. Later.