Fantasy Baseball Today - Bounce-Back Candidates plus Adam Jones Joins The Show! (12/09 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: December 9, 2020

Danny Vietti and Will Middlebrooks are back, taking a look at some non-tendered players and bounce-back candidates. First off, what's a player's mindset like after being non-tendered (2:35)? Can Kyle Schwarber get back on track (4:08)? Will Yoenis Cespedes get another contract (8:00)? What's left for Jon Lester (11:45)? ... David Dahl was one of the biggest non-tender surprises (15:22). ... The guys debate whether they would pay or pass some of these names on the market (20:50). ... Former Baltimore Oriole Adam Jones joins the show (26:58)! ... How has the game changed with the introduction of analytics (29:40)? How is the game in Japan different from the States? ... What went wrong for Chris Davis in Baltimore (36:40)? ... What was it like for Adam Jones robbing that home run as part of Team USA in the World Baseball Classic (40:50)? ... The guys wrap up with some rapid-fire questions for Jones (45:08). ... 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/ 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.

20 people, what's good? Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast. It is another Wednesday. It is another Wednesday that Will, my co-host and I, Danny Vietti, are taking over the fantasy baseball today podcast. It is December 9th. Will Middlebrooks, the World Series champion, long-time MLB veteran, Boston, Red Sox, San Diego, Padre, how we live and out there on the East Coast, my friend. We're good. We got a cold front, a high of 60 today, so it's feeling like the holidays.

I like that interest you gave me. You make me sound a lot better than I was. I'm going to hype you up a little bit more. Hey, I'm going to bring you down, though, because we got a little bit more of an MLB veteran joining us. Adam Jones, I don't know if you've heard of them, the five-time All-Star, four-time Gold Glover, on-time Baltimore Oriole. Pretty solid player last year played with the Orix, Buffalo. He's going to be joining us today on the podcast.

So we'll humble you a little bit. That's okay. I'm used to that. Yeah. Like, the last two podcasts, I've never felt so out of touch because we had last year, or last week, we had Jackie Bradley Jr. and you, this group, we're going to have you and Adam Jones. So me being the really good student that I am,

and it really, you know, I just saw a college career, but I think I'm a little on a different spectrum, I guess. But I don't know. You don't have to play in the big leagues to be cool. It's okay. Okay. It's all right. You do a good job of what you do, and that's all the matters.

You don't have to play in the show. It's just a cool job. That's all it is. Will did say the other day that I could do this podcast from a porta-potty, and I still sound like an angel. So I am holding on to that one, wrong. But you know what? We're going to get right into it. We're going to talk about bounce back candidates going into the 2021 season because we had a lot of guys being non-tendered

this last week. We had Kyle Schwabre. We had David Dahl, surprisingly, non-tendered. A lot of big time, I mean, these are All-Stars we're talking about. College Swarver, World Series champion, David Dahl and All-Star. There were some really good players hitting the open market now in MLB for agency that really weren't expected to, and now they are. So we're going to talk about bounce back candidates. Like I mentioned already, we're going to have Adam Jones, longtime MLB veteran on today's show. Will Middlebrooks, of course, was non-tendered, if you didn't know, by the San Diego Padres. And you got to, what is the mindset there? Because essentially they're saying, we don't, we don't think you're really worth even a minor

league contract. That's got to be kind of a blow to you and your mindset, right? Yeah, absolutely. I mean, that's really tough as a player that, for one, they traded for me. So that means they wanted me, right? They get there, I play okay. I have some injuries. That's the story of my career. This was kind of in the middle of it when this happened. But played all right, hit some homers, not much for average. So they shipped me out the AAA, played well there, and they never brought me back. So when they never brought me back in September, I was going, you know what, I'm probably not going to get tendered a contract. So that's tough, just as a professional, because you know the work you put in. And for the team basically say,

we know your arbitration eligible. We're not going to give you a contract. So just, you know, you're free. You're free to go. It isn't a good thing. Was it riding on the wall or were you kind of surprised like, damn, like I'm not going to be able to play for the Padres next year? I was surprised that I didn't get called back up

because I played decent enough in AAA in El Paso to get back up. I was more surprised that I didn't go up in September. So when I didn't get called back up, I know it's a business. At that point, that was my fourth year in the big league. I had seen how the business side of it worked. And like you said, the writing was on the wall. I knew it was coming. Well, a guy that might not have known it was coming,

although he did struggle last year at Carl Schwerber. You know, last year looking at his numbers, I mean, he's never been a high average guy. He strikes out a lot, but he's got massive power. Last year, he hit just 197. This is actually his career. He's hitting just 197 against lefties, 239 against righties.

So he obviously is maybe not a platoon guy, but he could be a platoon guy. And as we're going to talk about, it could be a really good D.H option because he's been a really poor, poor outfielder. He has not had a positive defensive war output. In fact, when you look at since he started being put out there in left field, he's one of the worst defenders.

He's talking about a negative 29 outs above average, according to fangrass. That's fifth lowest among all outfielders. So I know we talked before. You like Kyle Schwerver and an American League team. And again, we're talking about bounce back candidates. College Warbur is certainly one of the top candidates to bounce back in 2021.

Yeah, 100%. And like you said, last year, he was bad. Last couple of years, he hasn't been great, but the pop is there. The K rates up. He also walks. He also worked out, sees pitches. There's not a great stat for that. But, you know, as a team and getting into teams bullpins, that means something when you're

building a lineup. But the hard hit rate, you know, he's squaring balls up. His exit velocity is up near the top of the league. When he makes contact, there's obviously a lot of swing and miss, but that happens as a power hiter who's trying to hit up for trying to slug and hit the ball over the fence. But I think a good fit for him could be Toronto, could be Minnesota if they don't sign back Nelly Cruz because they're going to need,

they're going to need some pop. They're going to need a D.H. And I honestly think him in the D.H spot is going to help his career. It's going to help his at-bats because he's a catcher. All right. let's not forget he was a catcher. Just to make himself more versatile and be able to play, be in the lineup more often and get consistent at bats,

he made the choice to move to the outfield. Yes, he's been really bad out there. He knows his whole high ability out there. He's uncomfortable out there. And that stresses you out as a player. You know, I was a decent fielder, but I would go through two, three games skids where I didn't want the ball hit to me. and that feeling and that lack of confidence

would carry over into my at-bats. So if he's feeling that all the time, no wonder that stress and anxiety levels a little up and he's not having good at bats because he is in the back of his mind still worried about blowing the game in the outfield. Well, people were talking about Schwerber in a Yankee pinstripe uniform.

I don't know if I love that because Yankees have plenty of guys that strike out a ton and they have plenty of pop. They don't need another guy that strikes out a lot and also has pop. They just need to stay healthy. They don't need a college swore. Interesting enough, too,

Schwerver against breaking balls, he had a 38.3 whiff percentage. He really struggles against breaking balls. He hits the crap out of fastballs. You give him a fastball low and in. He's going to crush it. But he really struggles against breaking balls. So that's something to pay attention to.

And I should have cleared this up beforehand. But what we're doing with these bounce back candidates, we're basically talking about if we were a GM, would we pay or pass? So I apologize. I should have mentioned that. I'm a bad host, but I'm making up for it. So, Will, are you paying or are you passing on college forward

as a general manager? I'm paying. I'm not overpaying. of course. No general manner was to overpay unless it's the elite of the elite. But I'm paying. I think his power numbers are there. And I want to see how he can do as a full season as a DH. Fair enough. I'm buying as well. I know it's what percentages are up, but they've always been up. Still got power. And again, you mentioned a DH role. It can be really nice too. And unfortunately, they talked about it. News just broke out that Major League Baseball is now telling teams to anticipate not having a DH.

which sucks for guys like Marcel Azuna, college forber, because I think Schwerber would be great with St. Louis, personally. But, you know, moving on, let's continue. Another interesting guy, so I don't think there's anybody that could have expected Yon Assessabitist to just leave the Mets halfway through the year. He just dipped out.

He's like, yeah, I'm good. I see where this team is going. And it's like the Mets in a nutshell, at least for the past couple of years. Now they got Steve Cohen. Hopefully they got something going. But Yon Asesestis is now a free agent after dipping out mid-year.

Safe to say, that contract did not work out for the Mets. Do you see him landing with anyone because he's had legal issues, for one? He's had bowl issues or pig issues. He fought with a pig. Wild hog, yeah. Wild hog, thank you. I'm from the south.

I can explain this one more else. I don't have my wild animals intact. But yeah, wild boar. He's just an interesting character. He's electric in the field. I mean, he's going to sell tickets, but if you had no fans in the stands, he's really useless really i mean he's still got power but yeah no he's exciting i played with him uh for a couple months in boston in 2014 and he's an interesting character that's for sure he he loves him some

some uh some yo in us that's for sure i'll just leave it at that but i think he rubbed a lot of people say that again is he chatty chatty no he keeps to himself yeah he keeps himself but if you if you start the conversation he's pretty fun he's he's a funny guy but I think he rubbed a lot of teams wrong with how he treated the whole the whole Mets COVID situation. Now, this is just my opinion. I don't know. I haven't spoken to him about this, but he didn't leave because of COVID. That's my full opinion, all my opinion.

Yeah, the cat's in the back there. He wasn't playing well. He was hitting 161 through, what, 35 of bats or something like that. And they started plugging in other players, Dominic Smith, those guys who were swinging a little better, and he wasn't happy about it. He had already had a lot of money taken away from him because of all the injuries and the time missed, and he wasn't happy about that. So he left.

I don't see him getting a big league deal. I just, I don't. I think a lot of times are going to pass on the character issue. I think they're going to pass on the fact that he hadn't played many games in the last two years. That baseball is a sport where you can't miss a ton of time and then just hop back in there and go get knocks off guys throwing 98 with a 92-b-hour slider. It doesn't work that way. It just doesn't. It's not football. Like, no offense to football players. Right. It's not a physical

ass after sitting out for two months. Baseball, if you don't see a pitch for two years, good luck. Right. Football, you just, it's a physicality. You just go outman, out-strength that guy. Baseball is more finesse. You have to use your eyes, your hand-eye coordination, your brain. It's a tough, it's tough, especially with the long. list of injuries he's dealt with, he's going to continue to have issues throughout a long season. So I'm passing. I'm passing on Cespitus. I think he's a good candidate for a minor league deal, but I think his ego might be too big to take a minor league deal. Yeah, I'm not touching him with a hundred yard stick. I think one, I don't think he's a cancer in the clubhouse.

I just think he has too much going for him and not enough going on. Definitely not a cancer in the clubhouse. I can tell you that firsthand, he's not a bad teammate. He just kind of of does his own thing, takes care of himself. I wouldn't say he's a great teammate, but he's not a bad teammate. Yeah. And for a guy that hasn't played more than 100 games since 2016, you're going to have to do a little bit more with the bat. And I know he's still hitting the ball hard.

I mean, the ceiling is through the roof. Like, high ceiling. I get that. But he's also not going to take a really small deal, I don't think. I think he, his ego is too big. Well, another guy that has gotten paid, but is going to possibly look for a much smaller contract and might even make a good.

bullpen piece. I think John Lester, World Series champ, and you played with him in Boston, am I right? You are correct. So another guy of my veterans, he was one of my veterans when I came up for my first guy. He's a really good guy. Good teammate. He's good for

a young pitching staff. I think he would fit in well with a young pitching staff. So I'm definitely paying him. I'm definitely buying John Lester just because of his history. He's a winner. He's a proven winner. He's a big game pitcher. And honestly, when I sat down and I was thinking about where should he sign,

Boston would be great because he started his career there. He beat cancer there. He threw all these big games. He won World Series. But then the more I dug into it, when you get later into careers as a professional baseball player, you want to play close to home. He lives outside of Atlanta, all right? Atlanta could use an extra arm.

they're going to have a couple spots open in that rotation. And I think he can make them better. They're younger. They are open to learning and getting better. And he has tons of experience to give them and he would be able to play at home. And I think he signs a one-year deal. The Cubs turned down the $25 million option for this upcoming season, but the buyout was $10 million.

So he doesn't need, I mean, he's made a ton of money anyways, but he doesn't need to sign a big deal this year. He's already getting $10 million from the Cubs just for not playing for them. Nice. I wish I could get. And if we weren't in, I mean, there were 59 non-tender players. That's maybe the most of all time.

I'm not sure. Don't quote me, but I know last year was 53 and that was a ton. And that's just all because of the financial unsureness of each team right now. We don't know. They lost a lot of money last year. We don't know what's going to happen this year with a vaccine and COVID. We don't, we don't know. So teams are cutting guys like that.

They probably would have re-signed them just to have his experience on the bench, in the clubhouse, but they just can't pay for that right now. I think Atlanta's fine. I just don't know if they really, I think they could plug him in as a fifth starter or a guy that comes in for maybe somebody that gets hurt, Ann Anderson, one of these other new guys is to kind of plug into their rotation. Mike Soroka's coming off a big injury. You don't really want him throwing 200-plus innings. Maybe they do, I don't know.

but I'm looking at Lester and I'm passing personally. I think he's a really good guy. I just think it's kind of time for, I don't want him on a contender. I think Boston would be a great story. Atlanta would be a great story because that's where he lives. But you look at his velocity and his spin rate, it's down ticking.

And you think maybe, oh, maybe he just had bad luck. His expected OBA, expected batting average, expected slugging and barrel percentage all against him, all down. Last two years, too. And the last two seasons, he's had the two highest, ERAs of his career. That to me is not only right on the He's getting older.

There's only so many bullets and he's used a ton of bullets. He's thrown a lot of endings over the years and made a heck of a career out of it. But if he wants to be a bullpen He's on the tail end of a phenomenal career. Yeah. If he wants to be a bullpen piece,

dude, I'm buying that guy. I just don't think you would. I don't think he would. Yeah. I think he'd rather retire than go out pitching in the bullpen, which just isn't him. Yeah.

That's fair. And it's understandable. I mean, this guy has quite the resume. I mean, my God, World Series champ, five-time All-Star, but I'm selling. You're paying. I'm selling. That's fair enough. One more guy, David Dahl, and we'll kind of get into some quick hitters here.

David Dahl, that is really surprising. He was an All-Star in 2019. The problem with David Dahl, he just hasn't been healthy. And that's been a case for a lot of these guys that have been non-tendered, tendered. It's really just comes down to help. That's baseball. David Dahl is an All-Star in 2019. This last season was atrocious.

Didn't play in very many games. I want to say he played in 12, 13 games. Got my notes in front of me. But it just hasn't been healthy. And unfortunately, a lot of his numbers were going down. Didn't hit a long ball last year. He had two RBIs. I think it was, or eight RBIs, I think just hasn't been there.

It hasn't been healthy. Hasn't been a component for the Rockies offense. And frankly, if you're Colorado, you can pretty much call up your handful of different guys in the minors. They're going to come up and hit 250 with 20 home runs in 162 game season. In that ball. Colorado, right? It's Colorado, yeah. And you played in Colorado Springs.

You know how far that ball flies. It does. It flies. And the thing with Dahl is I think he's a really, really good player. He can play all three outfield positions, which not many guys are comfortable doing that, just because the way the ball slices in different positions is tough to play. But if he take away last season, he's a career, what, 870 OPS? That's super solid.

828, yeah. Okay. So I was wrong. Thank you for that. It's still good. It's solid. Does that count last year? Because I said if you take away last season.

Oh, I'm sorry. You're right. If you take away last season, which, so he had a labrum, correct? You just went number crunch on me. That's fine. I can do that. It's not all of the issue. I got it.

So he had a labrum last year. All right. I dealt with labrum issues from when I was 18 until now. I still do it with it. And I've had it scoped out a couple times, cleaned out. It's not fun. When that thing flares up during the season, you can't. throw the baseball. All right. And then let's talk about playing in that elevation. I've played in

Colorado. I spend a summer in Colorado Springs, which is a thousand feet higher in elevation than the Denver. And the nagging injuries, the hamstrings that you can't stay hydrated. You like you drink so much water and gatorade and you can only have so much and you're still pulling hammies. You see teams come in and off the road and they hit a double and you think they had to run a mile. Like you're out of breath that bad. and your arm hurts, your back hurts, your muscles are just always tight. And that's why, I mean, look at Tulewski. He fell apart there. He was phenomenal, but he fell apart because that, I'm telling you, that elevation,

it takes a special player to be there and be successful and be healthy. Now, you take advantage of it and hit there all you want, but if you're not healthy, you're not on the field. You're not putting up numbers, and that's been the issue with all. But I'm buying them. I think he's still a really good player. I think he's been dealing with injuries. I think he gets past that.

And just looking at his swing and breaking down his swing path, that swing plays. He's through the zone. His bat path is through the zone. It stays in the zone a long time. He stays on off speed. He hits the ball the other way. There's not many holes in his swing when he's healthy. So let's get them.

I can see New York. I can see Chicago. Platoon in them. I mean, even plugging him in with injuries. Lefty hitting a Yankee Stadium is always a, a good thing as a ball flies out. I slice the ball off Mariano. I'm going to chew my own horn.

I sliced the ball off Mariano out to right. So just hit it in the air. And he's got plenty more pop than I had. So I think he'd be a good fit there as a fourth outfielder platoon guy, possibly Chicago. I'm going on a tangent here because you brought up Mo. Is he the toughest that bat you've ever faced or at least one of with his kind? Okay. So not at that point in his career.

I got him. I was the last guy at home off him. I have to throw that in there. You have on your wall back then? Sports trivia of the day. I was the last guy to Homer off Mariano. The day before I got Andy Pettettit, too. But somebody else got him in his next start.

So I wasn't the last guy to get him. But I think at that point in his career, his stuff wasn't as good, obviously. He still had a really good cutter. The Velo was down. He was mixing in more two seamers, which made the cutter a little better. But the VLO wasn't there. And I think just seeing him on the mound, seeing 42, seeing hearing his name and inner sandman, the Matt,

Calica as he's coming in, that's what made it tough because you're thinking about, wow, that's the best closer of all time. And he's trying to get me out. So it was a really cool experience. And it's something. And to speak on the person he was, after I homered, he sent a jersey over and said, hope you, and with a note, it said, hope you always remember this homer. I know I always will.

And signed a jersey. You can see it up in the corner of my, you can see the pinstripes up there in the corner of my video. That's the jersey. and I have a cheater jersey in there with it as well. Yeah, he was all class, and it was a really fun about it for me. That's cool. I'm sorry, I went on that tangent, but that's awesome.

So going back to David Dahl, paying her pass, and I am paying him because he's cheap. He only made $2.5 million. I think it was last year with Colorado. He's cheap, and I think San Francisco is a great fit. He's a three years left to control, too, I believe. Yes, exactly, which is another crucial piece. Again, he just has to stay healthy.

And I think anywhere but Colorado is going to give them a better chance to stay healthy. So we got Adam Jones on deck. And man, he's a unique personality. So he's going to be a lot of fun. But I want to kind of roll through a couple guys, just quick answers for you. I want you to tell me pay or pass on these bounce back candidates. Feel free to go as long as you want. Feel free to go as short as you want.

But quick answers, here we go. First up, Corey Klobber. I'm paying them. I think you still got a little left in the tank. I think a good signing, a good landing spot for him is Boston. He lives, he has his home just outside of Boston and Winchester, Massachusetts. That's a comfortable place for him. I think he has a year or two left, didn't think.

I too am paying Corey Klobber. Chris Archer. Okay, this is a tough one because I really like Chris Archer. It's similar to Cluber. Yeah, as a pitcher and a human being, I love Chris Archer, but he had thoracic outlet syndrome surgery. A lot of guys lose velocity. And I will say Chris Archer needs to be in the mid-90s

to pitch well and be effective. He likes to pitch at the top of the zone. He's got a straight fastball. He can go down and away with it as well. But then that hard slider isn't nearly as effective when he's pitching 91, 92 miles an hour. We've seen him get hit around before the injury when he was a little bit lower on the radar gun.

So depending on how he is with his velocity, would make my decision. He needs to be in the mid-90s to be effective. So for me, I'm going to have to pass. Fair enough. I would pay if I'm a team trying to rebuild like Detroit Tigers, San Francisco Giants, maybe use them as a trade piece. But if you're a contender, probably not. Two more guys here. Adam Duval. Oh, that's a tough one. I'm going to pay. I'm going to pay because the thump is there. I think he can be a, I mean, he had, what, 16 taters in 57 games last year. All right. That's, that's a really high rate for home runs in a short and a really small sample size. So I think the thump is there.

The contact wasn't. I get that. But that's a platoon piece. That's a bench piece. I think he fits in well with a national league team, especially if there's no DH and there's a lot of moving pieces and plugging guys in. I think he fits in and I'm paying him. I too am paying Adam Duvall.

Last guy on this list, Eddie Rosario, who kind of a surprise wave by the twins and now he's going to be a free agent. All-Star a few years ago. Yeah, he's too good of a player. He's too good of a player. I feel like there's got to be more that we don't know. Will it come out?

I don't know. Was there an injury? Was there this or that? There's plenty of stuff we don't know with front offices. I'm paying him. I think he's too good of a player and he's still young. And he's got a lot left in the tank. So you've got to take your chance there with him.

I am passing, actually, just because I don't think he gets on base enough. I think he's a good player. I just think he has room to grow in regards to taking pitches. His chase rate is high. And he's not true. And he's to improve. Yeah. But that's his game.

That's his game. I feel like if you take his aggression away, there's a lot of players. If you tell them to take a first pitch or take a strike that completely changes and flips their bat and it changes their mindset, some guys just have to be aggressive. That's just how they play well. Ooh, I forgot one. We can't pass. We can't not pay or pass.

We can't lead this guy out. Yassie Lepuy, paying and passing. Last guy. I'm passing. I'm passing. Just because I don't, well, he didn't even play last year. Yeah.

All right. He's, I need to see how he, I know he just started playing Winterball. Well, he was going to play, but then he tested positive for COVID, so that kind of ruined that.

Yeah. I just think there's too many, I don't know, I hear too many stories about him being an issue in a clubhouse. I mean, you just watch him. I mean, it's a, it's a me, me, me show.

Is he a very, very talented athlete and baseball player? Of course. So I think maybe a rebuilding team, I think maybe a Baltimore take a shot on them, if you can get them cheap. Yeah, Colorado was kind of fluttered in there too. I'm passing on him. He had a sexual assault allegation against him that came out last month. To me, it's starting to pile up.

I don't have my phone. issues that carry into the clubhouse. And I'm not saying every one of these allegations, sorry, this is a whole other conversation, but I'm not saying they're all true. They're all, all these allegations are true. But like, if it starts to turn into a trend, something you're doing is not right. It's a distraction. When you're having to answer, eventually as a teammate and you have a guy in trouble and

the papers and in the stories of doing things wrong off the field. As a teammate, it gets old because you're saying, wow, this guy isn't focused on us and winning. He's got his, you know, get all this going on. And now I even have to answer questions to the media about Yossil Pueek. And it's a distraction in the clubhouse when your number one focus should be winning ballgames. So as your bounce back candidates for 2021, whether we pay or pass, we have Adam Jones on deck. He's, again, he has a one of the personalities second to none. He's going to be a whole lot of fun. Adam Jones coming up next on the fantasy baseball today podcast. We back. Fantasy baseball today podcast.

excuse me. And we're back with even more talent. We got five-time All-Star, four-time Gold Glover, Adam Jones, you know his resume, you know him as a player. Let's get to know a little bit more about him. Adams, thanks so much for joining us, man. Oh, anytime, you know what I mean? And it's good to come on here and let people know that, you know, I'm just a human being. You know, I just got a cool job. But, you know, I talk smack better than most, and I like to talk smack. So. I can attest to that. This man talks. He is the Philip Rivers of the MLB. Hey, you got to talk smack.

On baseball league. Yeah, now I can't talk smack because they're like. They don't understand you anyway. I want to jump. Just look at you. Best smack talkers in Major League Baseball. Smack talker? Inside you, of course.

I think the best smack talker. You got to go with silent. I say silent once because he was just silent and just was, you know, he's cool, but a lot of people thought he was a d. Is Prisinski, AJ? Oh, he wouldn't. I play with them. You have to play with them.

I'm saying, I'm saying, against them. It took like four years. I get in the batters box. I was like, hey, what are you doing?

It just stared at you. Just like four years. You just looked at me. And I'm like, hey, what's going on? Damn. And then like,

I was like 2011 or 12 or something. He was just like, how are you doing? Once you got through arbitration, he was like, all right. I was like, okay, it must have been like,

a kid, kids, you might not be here tomorrow. So, you know, shut up and just try and get a hit. But that, I think he's seen that I was going to be around for a little bit. So he's like, all right, the kids can you play?

I mean, speaking of like the first few years in the big leagues, we talked about this before, but you were a part of one of my coolest memories in the show. I was hitting my first career homer. I dug this out of the closet just for you. It lives. You can't really see it. There you go.

First career homer ball. You were in that game. I know you remember that game. We talked about it. It went 17 innings. Yep. You hit the Homer off our fourth outfield or DMAC, Darnel McDonald, to win the game.

game for you guys, no big deal. Chris, Chris Davis went deep and got the win on the mound. He was punching everybody out going like 92, but that was a lot of age Gonzalez. He struck out Egon. He struck out Mike Avila. I swung first pitch. I saw something close and I was like, I'm just going to get this everywhere. I flew out the center. I was trying to take them deep, but I was feeling myself, you know that I hit my first homework. So, but, um, good times, good times. But um. For sure. There's nothing better than that feeling, bro.

Oh, no better feeling, that's for sure. Speaking about you playing with the Orioles, I think I want to dig in here. You know, we got some fun stuff out of the way, but I want to dig in here and really get your views on really, honestly, how the game's changed, analytics in the game, technology in the game, all the different devices we use to break down swings

and pitchers, mechanics, and everything. You came in the game, you drafted early 2000, you've been in the game. This would be 18 years professionally. You've seen it go from old school baseball to this technological age or in now. What are your viewpoints? And how do you feel about how the game change?

Well, first of all, I think baseball is still great. And it's the greatest sport. Let's be honest for ourselves. I mean, it's this chess. It's the only sport where the defense has the ball. Think about that. The only sport. That and then I guess cricket, you know,

if you want to, if you want to, I'm telling America, some of Americans care about. But, you know, going from, you know, hitting behind the runner, playing the game right away, buttoning him over. That's how I was taught in the minor leagues. Now it's, you know, hey, slug. These kids come up nowadays and don't know how to bun.

That's just that's just and don't know how to bunt. And the bun is a wasted out. Anybody in Yankees' bullpen or anybody in the raised bullpen, eighth inning, when you lucked out and got a walk or a single passball or whatever stolen base, man on second base, no outs. You think it's just going to be easy to just hit them that way or get a hit in general? No, people don't know how to button. Now, if you've got the middle of the lineup, let's be honest.

I mean, we all know, you know, Stanton is not going to bun. LeMayhew, Torres, all them big guys aren't going to bunt. But there's a lot of guys in baseball, it's just not a bun anymore because it's not taught anymore. What it's taught is, hey, it's about OPS. And I get it. Scoring runs is the how you win the game. Creating runs is how you win the game. It's creating opportunities to create runs.

I understand that. But sometimes you just have to take what the defense is going to get you. He's going to give you. But, you know, that's why I'm saying. I'm starting as my career's got, you know, still extending. I'm slowly trying to understand the other side of baseball. I have the last couple years, try to understand their point of view. Because as the product, you just, hey, I'm out there.

You don't think about what they're thinking about. You're just like, hey, I'm facing this guy tonight. Let me just have some good at bad. Let me put the ball and play. Let me drive the ball. Let me get what I can do. You know, you thought you won for, four was good. Up there, they could be like, that one for four was atrocious. He didn't do

this. It didn't do this. He didn't do this. He didn't do this. He didn't do this. He cost it here and you. But you in your locker, one for four, we got the, I'm trying to learn what they're thinking. What's the, what's the, what's their value in players? And it's interesting because it works, I believe, when you use the component of the players and the in the data together, opposed to just going on the data or just going on the players. I think it's we're in an era, we're in an era where you have the data, you'd be a dummy to not use the data, but you'd be a fool to just use all technology.

Like, it has to have a component of, look, this is how the game's going. This is how I'm filming. You might, you know, I mean, you might, your back might be stiff that day. And you could, as infill, especially at third basement, you can see his swing if he's getting around on that heater that day. And if he's not, you're a little more comfortable.

Like, okay, he's not, he ain't coming to me today. But you know when he's, when him hips is getting through, And he's like, oh, this ball's about to come to him. He's probably got to be hot. And that's the player seeing that. That's the coaches that's seeing that, who have seen pitch after pitch live and see the swing. So, you know, I just think if you're using together, it works.

Was there, is there a difference? Now that you are in Japan, they do play small ball. They do hit behind runners. They do work counts. How does that work with the analytics there? Now, it's a completely different game. It's played differently. It's played more old school like we just talked about because like I said, they play small ball.

So how does it work there? They play the original just traditional baseball. They play for one run though. That's the difference. Americans, hey, you get a lead off single. Okay, hey, let's get a lead off walk. I mean, not lead off single. Let's get a walk behind the guy.

I need that three run home run, the two run home run, the RBI double man on second. Like it's play for big innings. There they play for one run. Later, I mean, and that's just how they do. Like that's the style. And when I got there, I just was, you know, mapping out and figuring out, just trying to see how they played. And it was like, this is a culture shock.

It's completely different on how they do everything. And, you know, with me in the scoring position, you know, I get nothing fast to hit. And you're talking, hey, forkballs that are good, though. Like, you play with Koji. Oh, yeah. Hey, they throw them for strikes at will. He lived on it. He lived on the sport.

Literally. Yeah, they threw them for strikes all day. He had better command of his split than he did his best. Exactly. And, you know, it's just a different style of game over there. But they play a really good, they play a clean style, a really efficient. They don't make errors. And when they make errors, you know, they're out there next day taking a thousand ground balls,

opposed to being like, I made the air. It's like, guys in the cage. It's like, man, I had a bad game. I'm going to go hit two buckets. Exactly. It's the same thing. Oh, they do. Yeah, they work.

So they just try to be efficient. And I told you yesterday that I've, I think I only seen like three errors from the pitcher, from the pitcher's position all year, like home, like against us and our team. Which did you like better, Adam? Did you like the small ball aspect or did you like letting them let you play, letting them let you swing away? I've always played baseball.

If the situation called for me to do something, I've done it. I'm not, I mean personally because I don't care about my ego or care about anything. Like if it's a man in score position, it's like, you know, If I can, this is a good pitcher, a nasty picture, if I have no success off of them or limited, you know, what, hey, I might need to sacrifice myself, you know, maybe bun for a base hit, opposed to just sacrifice,

but maybe bump for a base hit, which I've done a lot. Either if I'm out, okay, I'm out. I always try to just play the game no matter where I've hit, but one through nine, I mean, we're trying to take you deep. But then over in Japan, seriously, it's only, you know, you know, three and four and five that are,

it may be six, that are trying to hit home. runs. The rest are, they're like just, hey, put the ball in play, guys that annoy you. Hey, these, oh, they annoy you. Hey, are we Matt Albers? Not Matt Albers. Andrew Albers, the lefty, remember the lefty? Yeah. He pitched, and I played behind him and just got the watching pitch so much. And he makes good pitches and they just flick him, foul them off, foul him all, foul him off, fallow him on. 80 pitches in the fifth. It's not like he's walking nobody. They're just foul. It's a style. Then they got the two guys.

especially three and four that is just trying to launch. But majority of guys are just play the game, play the game, serving it up. And it's a good style of baseball. You know, it's interesting and it's very humbling to see that style of baseball and they hustle. They try to get triple and everything. You would think one of your boys, one of your former teammates, Chris Davis, this style of play would really fit him. Launch angle, nothing but home runs and extra base hits.

He's really struggled the past few seasons. I mean, it goes without saying, I mean, he was one of the best hitters in the game. Why do you think just from a player perspective, you're one of his teammates, you think it's more mental for him or do you think it's more physical? Well, it ain't physical. Knowing I'm being his locker mate for nine, eight years, seven years, something like that, seven and a half. You know, knowing he, you know, put the time in, put the work in, you know, only time you're in, me and him shared, we've locker mates, we shared the same pains.

Fought that bone up your foot, yep, knee hurt, my back hurt, my wrists killing me, my thumb hurt. That just happens. That's his everyday jabber, you know, my feet hurt this day. That's just the jabber was going, which goes on in there. But we post up. And if he's posting, he's posting. I just think the struggles, you know, it could be mental at this point because, you know, when you're not having success and, you know, the big contract, people are like, oh, man. And he had two unbelievable years to where, hey, I see why he got that monster contract. And, you know, when you get a big contract, you have to fulfill it. That's just, or the pressures to fulfill it.

And that just is what it is. And especially in Baltimore, it's like, what else is there to talk about? So let's talk on CD, that's Harcon CD, opposed to the youth movement that they have going through there right now. With, you know, knock on wood, Mancini comes back healthy. You got Tentander, and you got the shortstop. This is name. I forgot.

Got those hazel eyes, real nice eyes. But I'm saying they have so much, so much talent. that's coming up. That they should focus more on that. And, you know, how baseball has moved, you're talking about on the physical aspect, how baseball has moved, everybody's, you know, especially in the ALE East,

everybody's 95, 97, 99, and just sitting high forcing fastball running. And launch angle eliminates that. You can't hit a high fastball with uppercuts wing. Often. Well, I should say. If it's down, oh, yeah. Down in the zone.

Off speed, you're going to hammer it. Murder it. But you start going that belt and above, and it's 95, 96. These dudes still hard, man. Everybody's so hard. Especially coming out to bullpen, especially how, you know, teams are using their bullpins now. There's only a few starters that are even allowed to go 100 pitches.

You know what I'm saying? Most have to go 80. I don't know. But you don't see a lot of the quality start. That used to be a standard. quality start now. It's like how 300 innings was. 200 innings is like that now.

And 200 innings is a lot of damn innings. But just imagine them dudes were throwing 300 innings. And I'm talking about like, Kershaw has a couple. This isn't the furthest past of past. So it's like how baseball's transitioned in that form. That's an analytical side. You know, third time through the lineup, don't do it.

Don't do it. Hey, man, this dude on the mound got some experience too. I mean, damn. Let him be able. That's why, that's why you're not just a, if you're a thrower, all right, get somebody out. But, you know, it's a pitcher, do both times. Let me navigate. Now, if I can't get through it, get out, get him in the ball, good game, smack on the ass and keep going.

But, you know, the game has changed that way. I used to love when you used to see every night. I remember when Tillman got a four-year span, every start was at least 100 pitches. It didn't matter the outcome. He's getting 100 pitches. Kershaw gets his 100 pitches. Unless he's giving up an 8 spot in a second when he throws 52 pitches, he's going, he's giving 100.

He just has to get 100. Verlander, 100, 100, 15. Yeah, good luck, taking him out of the game. I want to change speeds a little bit. Before we wrap this up, I want to talk about Team USA. We can't not talk about Team USA. You getting to go play in San Diego, which is your hometown, friends, family, robbing a teammate,

Robin Machado on that, you know, the iconic robbery of his home run. I just want to hear about that because I think that's pretty cool to represent USA on New Jersey. Oh, that was one of the best moments. I mean, obviously of my career. I mean, it says it, the Olympics is the global, man, I'm going to represent my country, you know, getting to see a whole new, everything, every other country in the world and just beautiful. That's the Olympics. WBC, it turned into bragging rights.

You know what I mean? At first, I think it was just like a really good competition. Then America was pissed. Dominican was pissed. They didn't win. Japan won both first time. So they're like, oh, hell now. Both countries, I think the United States, Venezuela,

everybody felt like, oh, no, hell now. The Japanese are not going to come over here, whoop all our asses, and y'all just going to allow it. So I think all the countries are like, yeah, now this is for bragging rights now. 13, Dominican won it. They was hype when they won. in 2013. I mean, they were talking smack throughout the whole, that whole WBC time, the Latin players, you see, if you even look at it. That's when the swag started coming into the game again.

Exactly. You had the dudes wearing the green sleeves. You had the Latins have their own BP tops with the Venezuela. Got the countries on. They start to just be like, look, hey man, we're here. We hear. We hear. Okay. Y'all do. Y'all. Thank you for the opportunity, but this is our game now. And America just had to say, you know what? Ease that on a little bit there, bro. but the first game they got us I mean that was the game they came back but then the second game back home it's the semifinals the winner goes to the

final round what game how big could it be the biggest game of the view I mean sold out crowd this time we had more fans for us in Miami it was at 52,000 people there 51,995

the minute And San Diego, it was way more fans for us. And so it felt like it was a home game for us even more. And we just duped it out. And, you know, we got to that seventh inning. And we're up and we brought in Clippert. He was our seventh inning to get to Robertson. And Chado comes up and just, you know, gets in a hitter's count.

I'm like, okay, look, all right. Look, you just got, you know, secure this game. We got three more out. We got nine more out to get first ball hit. I'm like, oh, damn. But I mean, I know much how I hear the sound. I'm running. It's like, oh, just go.

Just keep going. It's the long run. Keep going. And when I came down with it, I felt myself catch it. I came down, I looked at myself in the glove, and I grabbed it. And I'm like, there's no way I just caught this ball. Oh, this is sick. And then, I mean, the whole stadium is just going crazy.

And I'm like, there's no way I just caught this ball. And I'm just blacking out through a bullet back to Kinsler. And the touching, does me know what? I'm just like, what the hell just happened? Walked him up and walked back to Centerfields. All while doing this at home in front of your friends and family too. What the hell is going? It's really like written up perfect.

That probably had, that was the most text messages or messages in general I've ever had in one day, hands down, that people just like. And it's still an iconic play. It's still a great play. Because we won. We ended up winning the whole thing. And that they are fantastic. We represent Team USA, we told the world, you know, the Americans, you know, hey, we still, we're still running things, you know, and I can't wait for the next one.

I know it was supposed to be that next year, but it's going to be 20, 23. I'm definitely not going to probably participate in that, but it's going to be awesome to see guys like Acuna, Soto. Trout, hopefully, you know, he's going to be about 32 at the time. Hopefully, he's still willing to do it, Harper, same age. Hopefully they're, you know, willing to do it. And this next group of real good pitchers, you know, as Bueller and Bieber of the world, so hopefully they join him and do it.

And Mookie, you know, hopefully, you know, he wants to do it next time. So, you know, it's just a grand tournament, but it's bragging rights now. And Dominican made it after that in 13. And but I think Japan incited by coming up here, whooping our ass two times. Let's kick it into fifth gear here.

Let's get some rapid-fire question. that Will has ready to go for you. Oh, yeah, these will be quick. We've got a few of these. And just quick, first answer to comes with mine. All right, let's go. First, favorite city to go to as a visiting player. Oh, visiting player, favorite city, Seattle, Brothers Trip.

Steakhouse, El Coucho. Yum. Love that. And did they draft you? Yeah, they did. All right. Change gears. In Japan, what's better?

Sushi or Wagoo. Wagu. Sushi's amazing, though, but the Wagyu. Come on. I'm carnivore. be honest for itself. I bet. All right.

If there was one teammate, you would not want to be quarantined with, who would that be? Dang, and you still hasn't found the guy's name. He was 11. We were talking about this. We were discussing this. Will Omen, Willie Eyre, or Wilson Betta Meet? Will Omen. It was Omen.

Okay, so Will Omen. Will Omen. Will Omen. Will Oman. Hey, he's going to be sacrificed and I'm going to eat him. because I can't talk to him. Hey, good guy, it meant well, but gosh, shut the hell up, Will. Damn.

I love it. I love hearing something like that. All right, is there a TV show or a TV series that you're locked into right now? Finish the undoing real quick. That was a nice little six episodes. Waiting for the Ozarks. I mean, Japan gave me a lot of time. I did a designated survivor.

That was true. I like Keeper Southerning. because I love 24. So that was some good, you know, I mean, eye watch, though. But that was good. So favorite date night spot with the Wi-Fi. In San Diego. In San Diego.

Oh, okay. Oh, because I had a fuse everywhere. I haven't got some everywhere. San Diego date night. This place, Barbosa, Barbusa, Italian spot. Okay. Bob. And actually, I don't like Italian outside.

I like Italian out. But, Bob. Okay. Last question. One thing on your butt. bucket list you need to check off. Australia and Antarctica are next. So check off all the continents. Okay.

That's a good one. Yeah, Australia. And yeah, that's a pretty, I mean, to see all the continents is, Antarctica is probably going to be the toughest. And, but I don't even think I'm that ambitious. I don't know if you get a straight flight from San Diego to Antarctica, but who knows? No, you would have, you'd probably have to go, I mean, to be honest with you, I've never even looked into how to get there.

You've probably got to go with the U.S. Coast Guard or something. something like that or some, some, you know, people out, some people out there looking for ancient aliens. There's supposed to be some big world base under there where Hitler still over there. He's probably about 99, buddy, still there. I got one more for you before we left. Yeah, that's something good. All right.

All right, hypothetical. San Diego, they're viving right now the Padres. That's your hometown. AJ Preller is calling you up right now. They're saying, hey, we got you on a one-year deal. We have a one-year deal for you. You're coming back. Because I love setting my alarm clock to watch you in Japan.

I do, but I would much rather watch you at 5 o'clock, my time. Same here. So what do you think is hypothetical? If there was a way, I mean, hypothetical, it's going to be hard to get out of a contract. First off, so that's another league. I can ask my wife. You can read the contract. but that'd be hard not to try and find out a loophole situation you know what I mean if it was

for the same amount plus or minus minus a couple you know 100,000 you'd have to entertain it but I'm happy where I'm at you know I made a decision I made a commitment and you know I'm happy where I'm at but obviously who wouldn't want to play for their hometown team team I grew up loving and still watch and obviously they had a great year and their next couple years are crucial because they won they got money to spend and they got talent right right now. Hey, thank you so much. This five-time All-Star, four-time Gold Glover, you can make the case one of the best Orioles to ever play, really. I mean, one of the great guys in this game. On the lower end, there's some greats, man.

Hey, one of the greats in my mind. One of the greats in my mind. Thank you. Adam Jones. We miss you out here in the States, but hey, who knows, maybe we'll see you back again in San Diego one more time. Thank you, Joe. Do you ever know? Adam Jones, man. He is unlike any other. I mean, we need him back in the States. We need him back in the States because he's so fun. I know he's maybe past his prime, but dude's a dude. He's such a fun personality. I mean, you saw it right there. He just, he loves, he, I love talking baseball with him because he just, you can tell how much he loves a game. His passion

is unrivaled for baseball. Yeah, and he was talking about analytics, implementing that into his own game. And he even said, if you're not using analytics, you're cheating yourself. So I want to ask you, how much did you implement? Because analytics was starting to become more, more of the factor when you were playing. Yeah, no, I definitely, the biggest thing for us was just the amount of video that we could use on opposing pitchers on ourselves. Everything was spin rates and Rhapsodos and Trackman and all that was just getting started towards the end of my career.

So I didn't get to reap as many of the benefits from that stuff, but we had all the video you could ever want. So we were given all the scouting reports, all the video and, you know, notes that you could ever want. And they wanted you to have it all so you could sift through it and just use what you needed. So I think the hardest part as a young player is having, not getting overwhelmed with the amount of information and sit down with a veteran and say, what works best? Like, what do you think I need?

Like, what works for you? That way, you can pick A, B, C, and D, or one, two, three. And those are the three things you focus on that help you get better as a player. So that was the hardest thing for me was finding what worked. Not much worked for me, but that's baseball. But I would definitely say use it. Use as much as you can. Just don't overload yourself.

I think it's like anything in life, too. Even if you're working an office job, you're going to have certain numbers that could help you. But when you're young and you're grinding, you just want to do a really good job. You want to impress. Like for me, example, like I work an office job and I'm just trying to get numbers. But I don't, when I hear information, and I hear advice, sometimes it just goes in one ear and out the other. And that's just like any young person.

So I think it's anything. But, you know, anyways, such as life, I guess. So anyways, that'll do it for the second takeover for Will and I. Will, this was fun, man. I'm going to do it again next week. I can't wait, man. This is awesome. Anytime we can talk baseball in December, I'm game.

Yep, winter meetings are ongoing. So plenty to talk about. And our producer, Frank, just let us know that Carlos Santana signed a deal with the Kansas City Royals. So things are picking up. Adam Eaton to the White Sox was reported today, as was Lance Lynn to the White Sox. So we got moves. We got moves. So anyways, we'll be back with you guys next Wednesday, both Will and I will miss you. We won't miss you that much, but we will see you next week. Thanks guys for joining.

This has been the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast.