Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - 162 | Baseball is (Almost) Back

Episode Date: June 23, 2020

MLB is set to officially implement a 60-game season after the MLBPA voted on Monday to decline the most recent proposal. The fellas wrap their heads around how this all shook out, what could happen with the impending grievance, whether or not some guys will sit out, and other details that could be important for baseball's return in July. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Welcome back to talking baseball. We may have baseball coming. We're as close as ever. We're nearly there. I think we're excited. Let's do it. Welcome back to talking baseball. My name is John Boy.

I got Jake with me. We got Trev in Santa Barbara. A little Father's Day retweet. Retreat. Twitter on the brain at all times. And I think we have exciting news, Trev. we're very weird because I think the people are excited because baseball, we're looking like baseball is going to be back.

Now, the three of us and a lot of people I've been listening to our show have been nitty gritty in the details. And I'm still having trouble sorting out how I feel about how the end result came. And do we have winners? Do we have losers? But I think the main thing is we have baseball. Almost we can say coming back. There's still a little bit that we came.

So Trev, first off, how's Santa Barbara? How's the wife and kids? How's their little escape going? It's really nice. A little bit of June gloom up here, but I love that type of weather. So it's been a great time. I've been following along with all the baseball news. Clearly, the road taken to get here was an absolute shit show.

For lack of a better term, and that's the best way to decide. describe what's happened. But here we are, basically adhering to an agreement we had in March. And it is June 23rd, and we're going to start baseball using that agreement, which to me is hilarious. Not that there could have been baseball before this, obviously with all that's going on in COVID, I think there needed to be some time to figure all that stuff out. But as far as the negotiations and whatnot, I mean, we got to the end point,

but it was a tough, tough road to get there. I think everybody that's listened to our pod, even people who are just following casually along with baseball, are over it. They don't want to hear about labor dispute, so I'm thinking this should be our last labor dispute pod for quite some time, I hope. Yeah, hold the phone.

You never really know with this crew. And yeah, that's me and Jimmy. We just did JJR, John Boy, Jake, Radio. Go check that out. And it's kind of funny because we were both, from what I heard from Jimmy's emotions, we had the same emotions last night. Like, we got excited. You got that little baseball rush.

Like, it is coming back. All the times I told myself that Manfred had the emergency press go button. Like, that's kind of what we saw last night. I think they're still ironing out some of the health and safety methods. measures, which are important, but considering everything else do seem a little bit like an afterthought. And I think the other question that was posed to the players union is, will you guys be ready for July 1st?

Everything we've heard so far has said that, so we'll see if there's any hiccups there. But I think what was funny, and this does start sounding a little sports radioe, is like, who won, who lost? And we started talking about that a little bit. and I almost started walking all over myself instantly because again, you know, like you said, we ended up essentially in the March agreement. Do you have the agreement?

Like for anyone who's not sure, and like I was pretty messed up last night, and there were so many different reports. So I know you just look at pass and it's like, can you lay it out for me like where we're at right now? The part that was tricky was we got in statement mode again. So the statements started flying around, which is always a great time.

Who doesn't like us baseball fans We love a good statement And I think what was confusing Because basically where we are And I'll let anyone jump in Is the 60 games Full pro rata But currently without any of the

Addendums we've talked about for this year There's currently not a DH in both leagues I believe So that's one thing There is they are working on that Okay I was misunderstood that as well so in 2021 that is not offered but 2020 per the safe D and health protocol like a

sheet that included the DH okay and so so there is DH but there's not expanded playoffs currently right yes okay so yeah I know I was then I was trying to dig through another anonymous reporter named John Heyman's tweets earlier today and I just got fed up again And I think they, from what I know they're still discussing this, and this was kind of the fun landing point that me and Jimmy landed on on JJR this morning was, you know, the expanded playoffs is a giant bargaining chip. I think everything being equal or in a vacuum or however you want to phrase it, with this 60 game season, I would still like to see the expanded playoffs.

and I don't know, and maybe this is player inside stuff, but it sounds like there's still a chance that's on the table, but I don't know. I mean, they're still negotiating right now. There's been nothing signed off. Obviously, there's some deadline that's supposed to be today, as we're recording this on a Tuesday. It's supposed to be by 5 p.m. Eastern today. Who knows if they'll adhere to that.

But some of these scenes could make their way. I don't think the postseason is going to make its way in this year. It is a bargaining chip. A lot of guys don't want expanded postseason. And I think a lot of fans don't want it either. It sounds like a simple- I understand what Jake's saying. Like, because we're having a weird, funky season,

then it would be the only time where I'd be like, yeah, let's roll the dice and see what it's like. I understand that thought process. And if they did have them, I'd be like, open arms, cool. Let's get crazy. This is a weird. But I don't want expanded. Playoffs.

16 teams is ridiculous. Because I don't want to set the precedent moving forward that more than 50% of teams get in. I don't know if I flip-flopped on that or not because I feel like sometimes I'm like, dude, that would be cool. Like more guys get to play in the postseason. But, you know, so I might, like I said, be flip-flopping on this issue. But when I really sit down and think about it, over 50% of the teams being in the playoffs,

like that doesn't make any sense. That's why baseball is different. You know, we have that long season. Only a certain amount of teams get. in stop whining. That's how I feel about it now. So hopefully someone could clip me saying, oh, I love expanded playoffs and then pair this one, and that'd be a great look for me.

Trev, I have, can you help me figure out my brain on this? Okay. So the players rejected the 60 game season with the DH and the extended extended playoffs and all the other stuff because they basically wanted to tell the owners like, hey, you're going to implement 50 anyway, so we're not going to give you all these perks and waive the grievance and waive all of that

for just 10 more games. Yes. I'm totally fine with that stance. I understand that stance from the players. What I think muddies that stance is that they were willing to do it for 70, but not for 60. That's just because I'm, I had some tweets out there like, you're going to do it for 70, but not for 60.

That I think, I wish they wouldn't have done it for 70, and they just would have been firm. If you're going to implement a 50-game season without this stuff, we're not giving it to you no matter what. I would have much rather they stood with that, but they kind of played themselves with the one aware. So that's where my brain was. I was like, I know what the players are doing. I agree with them. I just think the way they've messaged and sent it has now been muddied up. When they reject the 60-game season, now Manfred can implement as low as 4.

48, right, or 50. But Manfred says, all right, we're just going to do the 60 anyway. Half of that seems like that's in good faith, but it's also forced good faith because if he doesn't do the 60 and does the 50, the players are going to win the grievance easily that this whole thing's been in bad faith. So it's like it was been reported as, and you know, good on the league for actually giving 60 and giving the players a little bit of what they want. but it was forced that he had to do it

because it helps not lose the grievance moving forward. So my brain's all fucking twisted up, man, because I think the players played well at the end. And out of all the proposals, like this is the best version of the 60 game proposal. We're not getting extended playoffs, but we're getting the DH. Like, as a fan with take away any allegiance to owner or player,

just as a fan who wants to watch this, if I had to get a 60 game season, no extended playoffs, and Universal DH is the best version of that. So I know we're not 100%, but I'm trying, like, am I allowed to be happy? Because I think I got what I wanted

if 60 was the number. I think you're the right to feel however you want to feel, Jim. Well, how do you feel? Like, do you think that it was gamesmanship to the end? Do you think there was any, like, handshake at the end? No, I was like, okay. It's all been gamesmanship. manship the entire time and you know I had a tweet go out how I was over the business side and how

the current construct can't survive and I stand by that like you can't just be us versus them and continue and think you're going to make it through a CBA it's just not going to happen but that being said that's kind of where we're at right now so yeah it was games of ship to the very end rob implementing 60 games is so the owners can bring that up if a grievance is filed. And now I'm not so sure that either side has a lien on the grievance. Like I don't know if the players could win. I don't know if the owners can win, but I do know that having that bargaining chip for 2021 is important for one reason and one reason only. And this is a very important reason. So I think if people like really think about this for a second, they'll understand why the players did what they did.

if they file a grievance they're going to get a peek inside the books they've never been able to do that before and to be able to do that before a CBA to understand the economics of the game fully the revenue of the game fully is worth every cent of bad optics that they got

I know that sounds cold and I know that sounds calculated but that's kind of where we're at this is a business okay people always say you guys play a kid's game for a living. Okay, yeah, I guess. But do you also know it's a $10.7 billion per year business? Like, this isn't some Sunday league.

Like, this is Major League Baseball. Like, when- You would have liked my rant on morning this morning. I defended the players pretty well. Because people are like, why does the public just agree with the owners all the time? And I say, because the public wants to believe that these baseball players were just born with a gift

that they didn't have to work for or dedicate their life to. and it's just like they got lucky. And they're like, I wish I was born and I could throw baseball that hard. I hit a baseball far. And I'm like, these guys gave up their youths, a lot of players, like gave up their adolescents and dedicated and worked really, really hard. You didn't do that. So these guys couldn't, you know, go to a wet t-shirt contests in Florida.

Yes. It was a booty-shaking contest. Booty-shaking contest. No, and there's also like, there's going to be a weird societal thing that comes out with people that just, like, idolize really, really, really. people like they're kind of on that path even though they're not at all. I don't know. That's a whole other thing.

We'll come back to that. But yeah, Trevor, I mean, that's a huge point that I had kind of forgotten about it, the grievance because we talked about before this. I think the number I just saw was $900 million that's potentially on the table with this grievance. But if they get, if the players get in the books, like that $900 million, and again, think about this sentence. That $900 million could be a blip on the radar.

And that's how insane that is. And that's interesting because when you start talking wins and losses, and if we really want to do that, we can. But my brain just jumped to Manfred and Tony Clark again because these are the two guys that have been out there. And, you know, I was having some funny Jakey shower thoughts, as I always do. You know, there goes the soap again. but I was picturing you holding a planters watering.

A watering plant over my head. Yeah, just giving yourself a shower like that. I knew where you went. Yeah. But I was wondering and I was thinking about Bobby Manfred, Uncle Robb, and thinking about, you know, I was seeing all these tweets today that were like, you know, this is it for Manfred. He's fired.

And you know, there's a world where, well, A, if the players, get in the books, then I think Manfred is fucked. I think that's been one of the predicting jobs of the commissioner for a while. So maybe that could be the end game. But there's also another world where, again, this agreement happened March 26th. And here we are essentially doing the same thing. And the owners could have told Manfred, hey, we are losing some money per game. Let's drag our feet as much as he can. And hey, if that was the job, he kind of did a good job. Tony Clark, you know, again, I don't know when this is what I'm still not processing is

because there are long plays here. There's a short play here when there was supposed to be no play here. There's a pandemic. There wasn't supposed to be a play. It was supposed to be figured out safely, but both sides kind of went for it a little bit and, you know, you get it. If you ain't cheating, you ain't trying a little bit. But yeah, I guess that's the part I can't wrap my head around because if you had told me,

you know, March, April that we were getting a 60-game season, I would have said, I think the players lost, or I think COVID got more involved, and maybe both sides are true? I don't really know. Yeah, it's a mess. And I keep thinking to myself, like, if there was no social media,

like what would this, what would these negotiations look like? Maybe a few blips on SportsCenter. They talk about it. Oh, they're having trouble. behind doors, closed doors, but because of social media, we've seen how certain Twitter personalities have been used as weapons,

possibly I fell into the trap a little bit early on, but we just seen, like, this happened in the public eye, and people get mad about it. So sometimes I think that's a really bad thing for the game. And then sometimes I think baseball has been talked about the entire summer when there's been no baseball.

We've been... I think without social media, the players have no backing. I mean, I think without the public opinion and the power of public opinion, the owners send their message through ESPN and MLBTV, and the players would have zero backing in the media without social media. Yeah, I'm a little too young to remember how 94 went and how that was all portrayed through the media. I know it wasn't good for the game. Obviously, we watched the documentary about 98 and saw fans were still,

struggling to come back before that season. So maybe I'm just, you know, not seeing it the right way, but I don't know. I'm excited for baseball. There's a lot of people out there that are talking about the when and where. We kind of talked that it was, they got their bluff called, and it was a genius play until it wasn't. And I can see how from the outside perspective looking in, I get it. It does look stupid. But again, as I tweeted out, the win and where was to get to this point we're at now. When you say one and where they wanted Bobby to implement a season. Now, the way Bobby countered that was another proposal.

And so I likened it. And also the grievance. Like, you know, the public didn't realize that the when and where was, let's get this over with so we can file our grievance in a way. And Manfred was like, well, here's this, but you can't file the grievance. which then publicly outs that aspect of it. Well, what they were saying, when and where was like implement the March agreement.

We've already agreed to this, so that's what we want. You know, put the ball on your court, and then Rob decided to throw another proposal, which included the expanded playoffs, included the University H for two years. I think eventually they took those away. But at the time, players had to backtrack. They're like, I'm not going to just say when and where,

you're going to give me another proposal, and then us just say yes to that. That doesn't make any sense. So as bad as it kind of looked externally, like that was 100% the right thing to do saying absolutely not. Like you're not going to challenge me to a fight. I say, okay, or I challenge you to a fight, you say, okay, then you bring two extra kids to the yard. What am I going to do? I'm not going to fight all three of you.

That was kind of my analogy there. So in the public, it looks stupid. But it would have been actually stupid for them to just say, okay, you told us one and where. and you added some extra things in there to grease your pockets, sure, we'll do it. I just want to kind of clear that up for people because I got a lot of people hounding me about that, how dumb the players looked after that slogan.

Well, they would have looked even worse if they would have just agreed to some proposal because they were stubborn. The situation is incredibly nuanced, and a lot of people won't dig for that nuance. Hopefully anyone that listens to this kind of gets it a little more, but I do think, you know, it backfired surface level. Yeah, publicly it did.

Yeah. But that's what we're here for. Can we, so, that's what we're here for. I want to do so much about the schedule and the season and the DH and what team is going to be benefited and all that, but we cannot do it yet. Hopefully we have in like next week we can do it because there is still a chance this doesn't happen. Trev, do you think players will sit out and star players will sit out? I know that they said when the union voted, there was, someone reported that when the union voted, they, players asked like, hey, are we going to support guys who have situations

at home and have underlying issues that sit out and publicly support them? Or is this a unity everyone needs to play situation? They didn't give us the answer. or they just told us that this was a question posed in the meetings. Do you have any insight on that? Do you know, like, will guys sit out? I haven't heard personally of anybody sitting out or planning to sit out. But I would assume there are going to be a few guys.

I mean, that's just the nature of it. You know, there are going to be high-risk guys, you know, guys playing with pre-existing conditions or people living with people that are high-risk. And if the union somehow balks at that, the players somehow balk at a guy sitting at home, I don't think that makes any sense. So my thinking is if someone does, and they have a legitimate reason to, players are going to fully support that.

I think MLB should fully support that because if they don't, they're going to look like, I mean, they're going to look horrible. Yeah, there's bad optics negotiating stuff, but there's bad optics and it comes to, like, morally. Yeah, so I think there's semi-clearly. there. We'll see. Yeah, it'll be interesting to see what happens. I mean, there's reports out

there, and I think these are pretty good numbers here that because there was already the, I guess you'd call it an advance on salaries in March and through May, I believe it was, guys making league minimum are going to be playing for $25,000. And the one thing that's interesting here is that there are no postseason shares for anybody. So essentially, if you if you go out there, you're making League Minim, you win the World Series, you're going to be playing from July through October for 25 grand, which is kind of funny. So, and you hear something like that, and again, that's, you know, Trevor, I almost wanted you to tweet something like that because, you know,

I've seen Heyman and some of the different guys tweet out different stuff that says, you know, well, you know, the players turn down the playoff shares for the right to grievance and, you know, hold that postseason chip. Like I think if the public heard something like that, like a young player, I mean a like a Soto, I'm trying to think guys that are pre-Arb, you know, could play the second half of the baseball season or almost the whole baseball season, win the World Series and walk away with 25K from that point. and that's one of those things where I take a step back, and I'm like, I'm wondering who won this war, and I hear something like that, and I think the owners. Yeah, we have to remember that League Minim is, you know,

right around 500 grand, and if you're going full-pro-rated for 60 games, it's 37% of your actual salary. I don't know what the math is on that. BPD, can you give me 37% of 500 grand? That's, I mean, I've got it at the tip of my tongue, so I'll give it to you guys. Treves the math, whiz. It's a one, 160. Yeah, so, I mean, look.

185K. Yeah. 185K. So it means they've already paid $150,000 for, 160 grand for staying home. Yeah, staying home. So they weren't going to make, I mean, I don't want to say, like, they're not making anything. They're not making a ton of money. Right, there's still numbers, but, yeah.

But it's interesting to think. we what's so interesting to me is that when when this like the very first conversation the three of us ever had way back in February or March we're like well they're going to pro rate it but now the owners want to take 30% off on top of that because they're saying they're going to lose 30% of revenue those are the numbers we were at in March that's where we landed basically yeah yeah I mean look they I don't know what a long winding road to no I'm not sure what you were trying to say there, but they are getting their full 100% pro-rated when the league was going to offer pro-rated and then minus the 30% or whatever they were trying to do.

Well, that was with 80 games. Like I'm just saying we landed where we started basically. We did. We did, Jim. We took the long road, the ugly, disgusting, bumpy road to get there. And I'm kind of with you. People are really complaining about the game. But in the end, I don't.

I don't know, baseball is being talked about every single day. And all that... If they didn't play, I think they would have lost a lot of fans. I do. If I was a casual fan, I'd be like, fuck that. So I'm glad they're playing. And I think as soon as games start, we will get excitement and we will talk about it and all that. And that's why I want to do like another episode where we're excited and we're talking about like the schedule and the matchups and all that.

I'm excited. You know, I have a lot of people in my mentions tell me that they're done with the game. tell me they're done with me and they think I'm playing and I'm greedy. Like people don't understand I'm not a player anymore. But there's a lot of people out there. I mean, and I don't know what that means is the vocal minority, whatever it is, but a lot of people are telling me that they are over it. They don't want to watch baseball.

So there is some really bad blood out there. Those people have human names and human pictures on their Twitter accounts? They're all of a certain demographic, cranky old white guys. like 90% of them probably maybe even more they yell at me all the time no matter what I post but um I also think once baseball starts people are going to kind of forget about it all oh yeah it's a great distraction and I just I want it on the record too like Trevor just put it out there I am also no longer a professional baseball player people keep telling Jake people need to know that they saw I'm throwing those knuckle balls in the alleyway on the behind the scenes vlog.

And yeah, I started digging through tweets because I, what we're just saying now, I know is something I said before. And on June 1st, so what was that, three weeks ago? Something. I said at the end of this, we're going to get the approximate 80 game. So wrong. Change that to 60. We're going to get the approximate 80 game season that everyone pretty much agreed to in March,

but each side probably racked up a good lawyer bill doing it this way. so I don't know. It's from that side, it does seem frustrating, and it does kick into a conversation this offseason, which was the Houston stuff good for baseball. And I know Jimmy touched upon that the other way, and there are some little parts of that that are fun, because you're talking about how they're doing it during at-bats,

during game, like there's some gameplay here where here there's nothing. And, yeah, I do think a lot of people started seeing those tweets go around for some Twitter clout, like, guess what? I'm done with the game. Oh, yeah. People love saying shit like that. And I think that started going around. But, hey, you know, July 24th is the number on paper.

Again, that's exciting, but it's also partially sad because, you know, they could have gotten a full three weeks to hook people. Like, I am deeper into European soccer than I've ever been. And, you know, maybe that'll be gone in a month. Maybe it's not. You know, I've been watching UFC every Saturday night. Like, I don't want to, but I just tell Jimmy it's, like, the best way to scratch the itch at this point. So it'll be interesting to see.

And, you know, MLB could be the first major sport back, I think, still at this point, which, you know, it might only be a week. They get it. I think the next storyline is what you guys were just talking about. and it's who's not going to play. Because we've had these stories leaking out from the NBA. And again, all of this stuff is very different when people are trying to compare leagues. Like I know a guy at Davis-Bertan, so if you're not an NBA fan, you may not know. But he's had a really nice year, and he's hitting free agency.

And he's on the Wizards, and they're probably not going to do anything. So he's like, hey, I'm tapping out. And I think the Wizards are even like, hey, man, that's fine. Like, we get it. So baseball, there's kind of not that, I don't think. I think anything is just going to be strictly health-related. And I bet it's not a lot of guys. You know, this might come back to shit on me.

But I mean, picture. Please be Garrett Cole. Please be Garrett Cole. You know, hey, you know, there's. Dude, he's driving the Yankee Stadium to pitch the bullpen on the mound like every day. I think he's itching. There's a chance. He's got his money. Yeah, there's a chance for baby crew, I guess.

I think the bigger thing is, you know, the actual people. with immune system type stuff or family members with immune system type stuff. But I mean, I think this is something we've also said along the way is like, I mean, these are baseball players. And they all they know is playing baseball. I've saying that in the most polite way possible. But there's not a lot of these guys that could just be sitting at home for the rest of the summer watching everybody else play every day.

I, you know, if someone's sitting out, it's going to be a hundred percent health issue stuff. And that stuff should be fair, like we said. I have a statement and then I want to play a game. And then I want to play a game. Official statement? No, it's not really a statement either. I just want to pose something and then I want to play a game. Posing.

I think that we should go over one day. and maybe reread some tweets from all these big J journalists and then lump them into a category of who they support. One category would be Major League Baseball Owners Group. One category would be Scott Boris. One category would be players. And we just kind of lump everybody. And so we know where we're at.

It's kind of like CNN and Fox. Like you know what you're going to get with those two. And I think we need... Well, you can break it down to when they met face-to-face. and, you know, who reported a deal's done and who said otherwise because, you know, Haman got, Haman got tipped off from the league and he didn't double check it with Boris, which is weird because Boris is his best friend. So, not that you know where Haman stands, you just know he doesn't double check his sources.

Who's this reporter? Some anonymous guy. Trevor, that? Well, you were just saying is, I mean, the old Batman. gift. Some men just want to watch the world burn. I'm just saying, I think it's important. If we throw that out there. It's important for fans to know because

they are getting information and they're like, oh, see? But it's like there's, you can, it's like statistics, dude. You could really give any stat you want. You could cherry pick. And when you do that with these reporters, like clearly if we were to do that with me, they'd be like, okay, player side. Just fucking

let this guy. I try to be objective about everything. I have said bad things about the players association. But of course, I'm have a lean. I've seen a lot of things and heard a lot of things in my time playing that are going to make me that way. So that's fine. Lump me with the players. I get it. But these guys that claim to be journalists shouldn't have a lien and should be reporting facts and they're not. They're playing a game and they're making people have opinions based on who they support. I don't know if there's any money being passed around. I'm not going to say that. I'm not saying that. I've never heard

that. I don't think so. I don't think so. Otherwise, pay us. It's for sale. It's tit for tat. It's like, I'll give you information. I'll say anything. You give me information, whatever, whatever, whatever. I do know. Say bug, I do know that certain guys, this is 100% fact. I do know that certain guys will put stuff out there for certain people to help their cases. And I'm talking about anything from work for the owners, help for agents talking about mystery teams involved. If you hear mystery teams involved, just rest assured that that person's probably I mean, again, Haman's the only person that says mystery team.

So we're just talking about John Haman. No, there's a lot of guys out there too, Jim. You can't just single out Haman. That's a mystery team? Maybe not mystery team, yeah. That's like his calling card. Hey man, Haman. No, when the documentary on this comes out filmed by John Boy Media,

John Hayman saying that a deal was in hand lost the players, I'd say 95% of the goodwill they built up, which is insane. And that's the power of the media that you're talking about. And yeah, I guess the categories are what? It's the league, Boris, the players, and just sucks, and it's me and Bob Nightingale. Well, speaking of Hayman, he just said that,

or he said that they are going to do the extra inning rule with a runner on second to start extras. I don't I hate the rule and I hate the way it changes the game I it ruins the game world baseball classic did it was brutal it turns into a bunting competition but oh that's actually these players actually hilarious because nobody knows how to fucking bunt anymore so I'm all yeah it's but um that rule sucks it's gonna be shitty to watch I'd almost rather them say there's just gonna be ties in these 60 games then do that because I understand these guys are playing a ton of games in a short with only a three-week spring training

and there's health risks and there's a lot going on. So I understand like not wanting extra inning games. I would say a tie after 11 innings is what I would do instead of this. But I played a lot of baseball in my life, Jam, and in youth baseball, the runner on second extra endings thing is something. And I swear it, I mean, doesn't speed up anything. I mean, in my opinion. They did it in the world baseball classic traven.

And it was brutal. It was like, okay, first batter bunts him to third. Second batter tries to hit one through the right side on the grounder. You score a run. And then if they don't do that, the next, like, it's just a way different strategy. Sometimes I feel like in this instance, it's the team that's like the visiting team is whoever is up first will not bunt. They'll try to score two runs. And then what happens, what happens is if they don't get any runs, then the home team will be bunt.

and whatever. I think it's stupid. Ties I'm okay for. I mean, I'm not okay for ties, but if we're looking to speed things up and not get people hurt throughout the season, I'd rather just have a tie than a stupid run run second rule. Sounds like it just, it just gets really tricky, though, because again, without the expanded playoff format, which I kind of want to ask you one more question about that before your game. But man, I mean, if you threw ties into this mix this year, like you could have some ugly win percentage entries into the playoff type situations that would, that would make this season seem like more of a farce. Can I ask BPD to look up some info?

BBD, can you look up how many games went to extra endings last year? Extra inning games, 2019. Because that would be interesting to see what kind of, what percentage we're looking at. You know, there's like 15,000 games played over. That's not right. Do you think, do you think there is? Is any hail, do you think there is any Hail Mary for the expanded playoffs this year? Just for this one-off year, like what they'd have to offer the players a percentage and blah, blah, blah.

There's a possibility. I'm not going to say there's not a possibility, especially since I went back and kind of saw that there will be no postseason shares. Right. I think, and I've said this before on this show, those aren't just for the players. like the players share those with team employees and for those to be gone, I think really sucks. So like if it doesn't happen and like the team should step up and do that. It's ridiculous that the players do it anyway.

Dude, this says that and this says in 2018 there were 475 extra inning games by July 1st. By July 1st? Yeah. Oh, so it's a lot. I thought it was less. I was going to say it's a lot because when I was scouring last year for like extra running walkoffs and breakdowns, so it's like almost every day there's an extra game. What's the percentage, though, on games?

I mean, I'm just curious. How many games we play a year? So it's 30 teams and everyone plays 162. But then that's cut in half because each team plays each other. So 15 times 162. 15 times 100. And then you divide and then you're going to, okay. The league average as it sits today, May 30.

at 4.9 extra inning games per team. Five, five per team per year? That's nothing. Does that make sense? It's like just under 9% of all games go to extras. That's way more than I thought. Sounds like the right number. Each team has played roughly 51 to 55 games this far,

going by average, about 10% of each team's games have gone to extra games. 10%. That's a lot. That's a lot. Okay. Fax pot. Okay. So that's something. I have a game I want to play.

Yeah, I just, my final thing on the expanded playoffs, because I, like Jim, we're not far apart on this, and I get, and during a traditional season, I like the current playoff format. But I just feel like it would be a really bad look for this season if, you know, the 60 games finish and in the six playoff spots, that were taken out from the expanded format you're looking at just really good baseball teams. I mean, any team that gets off to a slow start is in risk there, whether it's, you know, Yankees, twins, you know, you don't think a team like the Dodgers is at risk until they are. And I just think that has a chance at coming back at baseball.

So hopefully I do hope they figure out the money for the players, for the shares or whatever it is to make that work, just for this year. because I don't know. I think it puts baseball at a bigger risk. We need the final nail in the coffin. We're playing baseball. Also, we haven't talked about corona and the second wave and all that at all.

It's very likely that happens. Fauci just said that there's going to be a vaccine. It's a when, not if. And it's like, duh, Fauci. I don't understand. You know what? I'm starting to be mean because today I thought about if someone like snapped a picture of Fauci walking around without a mask on like how fucking crazy

that would be and I was almost starting to root for it and so every time he talks I'm starting to get more annoyed I don't know what that says about me because then I feel bad about being annoyed I'm kind of overseeing his name in news well but corona's real and the second wave is real and all that people are going to be mad at us no matter what we say about this but the information has been horrible like we don't have any clear cut information out there about what to do i know there was masks there's no mask i'm a mask guy like i'll i'll wear a mask i don't care about it in fact i like it because then i don't have to talk to people i don't want to talk to and i don't even have to give that like smile like when you know when you pass somebody and you're like i was telling jimmy i missed that dude i

I kind of I flirt with everyone I meet, like male, female, dog, whatever. And I miss not knowing their face if, you know. You like light people up. I guess I was, I sounded like a crumagine, but I like when I go to like the bodega and me and the lady pass each other. And we both like get out of each other's way and look away from each other. I'm like fine with it. It's easier to live that way.

But Jake is a people person. I just like flirting with everyone I've ever met in my life. Okay. And oh, I just Jakey SpinZone, mention this on JGR. that this we're kind of in a mini second wave of corona right now and imagine if baseball had figured it out like I think things kind of would have got shut down like with all the states that are spiking right now gosh I don't want to say anything about this people are going to be so mean to me

getting tricky well there's people out there that are going to say we're not taking it serious enough and we're so we're dumb idiots and there's other people that are going to say that you know it's not real you're taking it far too seriously you're dumb idiots and it's like, I don't know anything. Exactly. Fun world. All I know is I definitely have fatigue, which I think is allowed.

I'm like I have corona fatigue. Nobody wants to hear three idiots talk about coronavirus. Let's play a game. All right, I got a game. I think we got to cover it. We got to stamp this. It's got to be official. Next episode we got to talk about baseball.

Strategy. Players, pitchers. schedules. New York City. New York City announces illegal fireworks task force. Huge. Oh.

That is huge. Thank God. They're fireworks by you in L.A.? Not by me. I mean, I'm removed from L.A., but I have fireworks at my house. Don't tell anybody. The man.

Anyways, I want to bring us down into the depths again. I don't want to be positive right now. I want to bring us down, down, down. Going down. Down in an earlier round. Sugar, we're going down, swinging. Okay, we're finally going to get to see him play baseball for the Dodgers.

Let's say Mookie Betz goes out there, hits 300, has a fine year. Just kind of like, you know, he's Mookie Betz. We all expect him to do that. Sure. Mookie Bets was rumored to be asking for, north of $350, possibly $400 million this off season? What do you think Mookie's contract is going to look like? I want everyone to give their guess.

After this season. What was the Red Sox contract? It was something like $300 million, I believe. I think he's going to get, I think he's going to take like a really, expensive one-year contract to play for Boston. Or maybe the Dodgers. They bring them back on a one-year expensive deal. It would not be.

The way the market seems, and obviously this can change by tomorrow, and by the time it happens, it'll change drastically. But right now, the way the market seems like it's going to play out, it seems like assigning a long-term deal would not be in his best interest and doing a 30-mill one-year deal would be in his best interest and wait for the market to fix itself. And one team will offer them a lot of money for just one year, I think. 30-mill, one-year-thirty-mills not –

Mookie Betts would not sign a one-year $30 million deal. I know it sounds preposterous to say that, but that number better be – No, I think it'd have to be like 40. 35 to 40 would be kind of what I'd think for one year. We'll see. We'll see what the money looks like. I mean, I kind of lean that way. I lean the one-year thing.

Mostly fear out of just not knowing. But I also kind of feel this way. How about what's the contract? Yelich just got. A lot. I could see him getting that. What was that? 8 for 220, something like that?

Yeah. And I think, yeah, so let's see, 27 for 215. I think that's what I just Googled. God, that's amazing. I could see Muky pulling something. And I could see Mookie pulling something like that off because I could see a team saying,

hey, that's a bargain. I'm with you, Jake. I think that as scary as the free agent market's going to be this offseason, I think it's going to be more of the mid-tier guys. And there's going to be, or at least there should be, some opportunistic teams out there taking advantage of what most people would say is obviously a down year for free agents. I think somebody will step up.

I don't know who. I was trying to think that before I, I pose a question, who is it going to be? I don't think anyone's doing seven years. I'm going to tell you that right now. I just don't see a seven-year deal being done. I could see him going four years, 180, something like that. Oh, that's too much.

That's way too much. Maybe like a four-year 160, something like that. I could see that getting done. I mean, Rendon got seven for 245, and I think that comes out to 35 a year. And this is pre- Corona. I mean, Mookie can do that. That was pre-Corona, sure. But yeah, I think it's just one of those things that is, it's a mind fuck that very few people can put themselves in those shoes.

Like, Mookie bets, yeah, you could bet on yourself for a year and play for one. for 35 and see what happens. But if you've got 245, you know, life's over. Like, you're set. And I mean, a lot of people, I know you're set with one year 38 too, but it's a lot more money.

So someone's got to do it, right? That's the thing. I think in these uncertain times, there are going to be teams that sit out, and then there are teams that are going to be opportunistic. I feel like the Reds were really opportunistic this off-season.

and going out and signing a bunch of guys when other teams weren't. The twins did that a couple of years ago, or they did also this year with Josh Donaldson. I think those teams are smart. The teams that their windows are now, like they've got to be opportunistic in this market. Yeah. We'll see.

It's going to be very interesting to see how he plays and will how he plays factor into that at all. Obviously, injury is a huge risk. It's two months of baseball. Make some business decisions, Moogie. Don't go all out for the Dodgers. this year. Who cares?

Take it easy. We think Ken Griffey at the end of his career saying like, I'm not diving anymore. Well, what? Kind of over the diving thing. As soon as he gets the bag, which I mean, he kind of already has the bag, but once he gets like the the bag, he should be diving and going

all out. That's the whole. Dodgers should just negotiate for one year deal with him right now. But he's going to be crazy now to test the open market. But then at least he's not exposed for this two months. Don't hurt yourself. I don't want to say the C word. but, I mean, it's not like it hasn't been proven

and has been paid out before in baseball. Collusion is a real thing. Oh, thank God. He thought you were going to say cookies. I mean, Paul Maldor, my manager, won a collusion case. Like, it's been proven in baseball before there's been collusion. And if there's ever going to be another year that it's going to happen, by golly. If it didn't already happen the last three years prior to this,

is going to happen this offseason. Yeah. X-training are going to be so fucking weird if they do this runner on second. You're just going to have, with the expanded rosters, you're just going to have a bunter on your bench and a pinch runner. So, okay, X-R-Rinings. Hey, Tyler Wade, you're in. Go to second base.

You're our fastest dude. Hey, who's the best bunter on the team? It's also Tyler Wade, but, you know, someone else on the bench, like Tyro Estrada, you're up, Bunt Wade over, and it's going to be a completely different game. sneaking in some Yankees deep cuts at the end. Different players. What's fun is...

Stupid. What's fun is, you know, usually you practice like five different bump plays in spring training. And you have the wheel, you have the pickoff, you have the no look, you have, you know, the crash play, everything. And then you end up running play number one, which is just getting out. That's what every team does. They practice five different plays and then they run one play. That's just how it is. You can ask any baseball player.

They're like, why are we practicing? So I'm curious if teams are going to actually implement some more of these trick plays in this situation. Because it's going to be a big part of the game. 10% of the games going to extra endings, 10% of the games are going to be decided by bunt defense and bunt the ability to put down a bunt. It's going to be hilarious. Nobody can bunt anymore. So like you're saying, I agree, Jim, they're going to have people like, we're going to see some pitchers up there probably in those situations,

pinch hitting because they've bunted a lot. They probably bunted more than position players have. So it's going to be interesting to see how it turns out, but I can't believe they're doing that. I cannot believe it. It's like a penalty kill unit for hockey, just the extra inning too. Possibly a defensive unit to go in there and defend. Yeah.

You know? Did the twins have a pitcher pickoff play to third, like instead of a throw over to first, a throw over to third? We, I mean, when? What are you talking about? Like, I don't know. Runners taking a big lead off a third base and Oda Rizzi instead of throwing home. You run to third, he throws to you.

We'll pickoff play. No, but I try to implement this, and I think it does work. obviously there's no first to third move anymore or third to first move anymore they've they've banned that rule but i had a play if there was if it was runners on first and third full count two outs a runner from first is going to be taking off i had a play if you didn't want to pitch to that guy at home plate say whoever's up you know mike trout's in the box we had a play where a guy would lift his leg, he'd actually pick off to third base, because you can still do that.

But he'd try to just aim it at my chest, not trying to pick the guy off, but then me taking that ball, trying to relay it back to second base and get that guy in a pickle and get out of it. Because obviously the guy from first is going to take off, and then it just becomes, can you handle the ball?

Can you run a rundown? And a lot of times that's a better situation than pitching to that guy at the plate. So we tried that a few times But a straight pickoff to third base is very very rare I don't know anybody that's done that I'm trying to bring it back I think baseball is ready

It's tough it's tough job Because a third base is not on the bag So then it's a pass pattern You know what I'm talking about? Yeah oh yeah Oh I know Mahomes Pitchers are terrified of all of this shit too So

Yeah that's true You have to have like the right guy in the mouth. And they believe, yeah, they believe in their self to get outs and things like that. And that's not how I've ever felt about myself. Oh. Fan of the gimmicks. All right. I mean, that's the show.

Hopefully that we get this signed sealed and delivered. Trevor Ploof, live from the bar in Santa Barbara, California. I'm working on a vacation. I want to enjoy the rest of your trip. Working on vacation. Noted in the book. Cool. Playing the music.

Only Trev can hear it. That's not it. Thanks. That's not it. That's the wrong music. That's the wrong music. I liked it though. Here we go.

I couldn't hear it. Bright music. You got to fix that. It's coming. Bouncing. We're saying goodbye. We're having fun. It's hot in here.

Go baseball. Jake sucks. Duh. Char.