Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - 178 | Voicemails: Padres are Hot, Reds Slow Start, Kimbrel's Struggle Continue

Episode Date: July 30, 2020

Jomboy, Jake, and Trevor Plouffe answer your voicemails! The Astros Bullpen is full of bad rookies (7:40), we get some perspective on the Folty situation (12:55), the Padres are a postseason lock? (19:45) The Reds are stumbling out of the gate (25:15) but the Jays look good (31:20). Would Plouffe have opted out this year if he were still any good at baseball? (37:00) How concerned should Cubs fans be about Kimbrel? (38:40) Will the Phillies have to make a tough choice? (45:00) Voicemails: 917-426-2796 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've got you guys bringing us the topics today. It is the voicemail app. Let's do it. What's going on, everybody? Welcome back to talking baseball. My name is Jimmy. I've got Jake sitting right next to me.

We've got Trevor in California, producer BBD, right next to us in the corner. We are coming to you live from the Roosevelt's Studios in the Bronx, where we record everything. R-SV-L-T-S. Jake's wearing a surfer waves one today. Oh, oh. And I think Jake, before we started recording, looked at himself in the camera and said, I look great today. And we all agree.

You do. Yeah. A different GR word for my hair. Your hair looks good now. Different GR. You got up to the side a little bit. Right now I've got a little bit of a, you know, graduate assistant University of Georgia haircut going.

Oh, your dad's a lawyer. Yeah, Kirby Smart, Disciple, something like that. But yeah, hey guys, baseball on high. We're doing it. Bringing in the voicemails. You guys run the show now. Our hands are off. The voicemails are coming through producer BBD.

I'm doing good, guys. We had some tech difficulties that tried to bite us off. But Dodgers last night, Houston, as good as it gets, we've got the aces rolling today. I'm thinking that's going to be a big day as we do the pregame show when you look at the starters. But I think it's going to start mixing and matching as you get into the season. Or maybe it won't with a 60 game. But today looking at the matchups and seeing all the aces is so much more fun than yesterday.

Seeing all like, who the hell is this? But how are you doing, Treb? I'm doing great. And we got some good news on the COVID front in baseball. So far, the Marlins are the only team with positive. test right now, which is a good thing. And it means that the protocols

worked in some regard. I think that the Marlins I don't know, like what's the right word for them? They've quarantined themselves and they didn't pass it on. So that's good. That's a good thing. I'm happy. I'm happy about that. Because yesterday we were, we were

it was grim. Yeah, no, it's been good. And I have a topic. I'm not sure if I'm just going to step on a voice Did you say anywhere about COVID? No? Go for it. It's a weird situation that I feel like I could can it and maybe that's the smarter move. Does David Price look like an idiot with the strip club news?

Because David Price came out hard against MLB saying the protocols didn't actually care about the players. They actually, like they all suck. You know, this is why I didn't want to play. It was a very hard tweet from David Price. And if it's true that the Marlins, we're at a strip club, and that's how they're all started.

We don't know if that's true. We don't know if that's true. If it's true, then yes, there's a little bit of egg on David Price's face. That's fair. Let's talk about it because... And parentheses, I think it's true. I think it's true, parentheses. Okay.

People have been saying it, and when there's smoke, there's usually fire, and then I brought something to your guys' attention. I got in my DMs, which is an interesting fact, and I've shared it with who I thought it should be shared with first. Now we can just go ahead and say it on here, I assume. We might get in trouble. I don't know. Sure. Does it matter anymore? No. I got a DM from a flight attendant that, um, oh, here we go. Okay. That's a buildup, people. That's how you do it in the biz. Okay. What was this DM you got?

And my DMs are hot. Yeah. Look, I honestly still don't know how to interpret this. But my job is to share baseball information with the fans that listen to our show. That's what I'm going to do because it is, this means a lot to us as a company to people as fans because we need people to stay COVID-free to have a season. So I got a DM. and it says hi Trevor I'm a flight attendant with Delta currently working or was working the marlin charter until it got canceled so in case everyone doesn't know there's always

flight attendants there's a full crew on board usually you have the same people throughout the year sometimes it's different I don't know what's going on this year could all be different for security reasons whatever I'm with a few pilots and they saw your tweet about the planes I'll tell you as long as my name isn't mentioned, which I'm not going to mention the name, that one of the flight attendants that worked on the first flight for the Marlins to Atlanta tested positive after she landed.

Two or from? To Atlanta. Okay. Tested positive after she landed. Delta pulled the whole crew and then I was supposed to work both charters home to Miami and then to the Baltimore series.

So allegedly if this is true, and allegedly, you know, if this person's giving you real insight, that would tell us they got it in Miami and then took it to Atlanta? Or they got it from the flight attendant. Either or. It seems, I'm reading it as the flight attendant had COVID. Or, I don't know, that's what I'm saying. I don't know how to interpret this.

But what I'm saying in my mind right now is that a flight attendant had it on the plane. Obviously, you're in close quarters on the plane on the way to Atlanta. a couple guys got it it spreads very easily maybe that's what happened yeah and that's the problem with the non-bubble world

is that you are going to be coming in contact with people that aren't being checked as much as you are I assume the flight attendants and the pilots are getting checked frequently but not up to the standards that the players are yeah and that's the thing

that burst this whole thing is if we start seeing more and more of this outsiders coming into contact and then an outbreak happens. Yeah. So I don't think that's been shared anywhere talking baseball. It's a drop. We got it. It's a drop. Tidbits.

All right. Yeah, there you have it. We'll see. I mean, everything else is going good. Philly's tests came back. They're good. Everything else around the league. Hopefully, again, this was the positive.

And then will be pivoted kind of well? Hopefully this was the positive spin that, you know, this can be a wake-up call for baseball that like, hey, take this seriously, don't be like the Marlins. Should that be a shirt? Don't be like the Marlins. I mean, that can apply a lot of different times. Yeah, right? All right, let's get straight into voicemails.

I believe this is Quentin, who's in the chat. He's a patron. Here we go. He's also an Astro fan. One of the Astros fans that messes around and hangs out with us and supports us. Thanks. Hey, y'all, Quentin, from Houston here. I just want to talk about really quick the fucking nightmare that is our bullfurtain.

It's like all fucking rookies And it has me terrified And other than that You know Just a tough night for us at We're a full of us Astros fans Yeah

Thanks y'all Bye The Astros bullpen I mean It's a lot of rookies Josh Redick's wife Just called him out If I may

Wow They showed a graphic on the screen That if Jakey on the gummy's taking pictures of graphics you know it's important. Listen to these guys who are currently in Houston's bullpen, and yes, there's 30-man roster, so there's a lot of guys on teams you're not familiar with.

But there's 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. Syneed, Brian Abraeu, Anoli Paredes. He pitched last night. Blake Taylor, Brandon Bailey, Brandon Belak, Christian Javier, who I think's getting the opener start today, Andrei Scrub, he was in the game, he actually looked good, and Nivaldo Rodriguez, nine guys coming out of their bullpen that are just like, yo. And when you start mixing that with the Verlander news,

and you start looking at the depth of their staff, this team still lost Garrett Cole. And that was kind of one of my cheeky lines that I was sending at Astros fans this year. You know, you can look at the Astros and you can see Verlander, and you can see Grinky, and yes, they're studs. You can also see that they're anchored by two 37-year-old pitchers, and their bullpen also lost Will Harris and lost some dudes. So right now, the Astros pitching, I think, is a fair concern. Chandler Rome tweeted,

Roberto Osuna is the only healthy player. Did you just say this? I was digging up this tweet by Redick. So Roberto Osuna is the only healthy pitcher in the Astros bullpen with more than one year of Major League service time. So Quentin's right. Press these injured right now, but he's there. Yeah.

And Jet Reddick. DeVansky's hurt, yeah. Mrs. Reddick tweeted, congrats to all the Dodgers fans running their mouth on Twitter. Your team beat minor league pitching last night. And then she deleted the tweet because I'm guessing her husband was probably like, hey, you're kind of talking shit about my teammates. I work with those guys.

Because they're like, I'm in a clubhouse with them. please don't shit talk my teammates ideally that's yeah there is probably a stern talking to if I had to imagine as he puffed the cigarette but yeah

scary yeah so I don't know you can find arms in the bullpen I'll give you that spin zone like you know someone can break out always there's always a handful of guys who establish themselves

absolutely I mean bullpen arms have a short shelf life anyway. You need to constantly refill your bullpen with guys from your farm system. You know, for them, they haven't had any hydrophics in a long time because they've been so good. But usually in an organization like that, you'd see guys come up with a little bit of something, something. They have the Astros effect on them.

I wouldn't be too worried. Like, let's let let's let this play out a little bit and see if one or two of these guys does establish themselves. Then we won't be talking about it like this. Yeah. Oh, well. And the Astros just traded for Hector Velasquez. Really?

BPD has told us. Didn't they pick up Fernando Rodney too? Yeah, and they just signed Rodney. So they know they need help. So that's positive if you're an Astros fan. Yes, it's not flashy names as of now, but they're trying. Trevor, a little something attached to that. Did you ever have a situation, and if you want to leave names out of it,

but did you ever have a situation with significant others, either doing anything through social media or something else that might have affected the clubhouse. Didn't, like, Giselle once say, like, she called out Edelman for not catching it, or was it Welker? I forget. Something like that, yeah. That was like a thing. Is that a thing? Is that a thing?

You want to call? You want to dish out some? It's a thing. I mean, with social media around, it's a thing. But, I mean, I never had any experiences. Olivia is very, she understands what's going on. So she never had done anything. And I'm not remembering anything up the top.

my head, like where someone tweeted something and it was like, what's, what's going on? But it happens. And we saw it happen last year with, or two years ago maybe, with Elizabeth Swarzak and G. Lido and Tim Anderson's wife going back and forth on IG. Oh, I didn't. I miss that one. Yeah, happened a couple, either last year or two years ago. I mean, I think stuff like this happens, you know.

Yeah. People have opinions and they post them online. They're there for usually forever. Yeah, usually. All right. Next voicemail is a Braves fan who called in about Fulte, and I read some reactions to it and then giving their insight, and there's a little more, I think, to the story.

So let's listen to the voicemail. I haven't heard it yet. Hey, guys. So I just wanted to give my opinion on the Fultenevish B. From Braves fans' point of view. So when I heard it happened, I wasn't surprised at all. Fulte's thing for his whole career has been, he's been a stuff guy.

know, mid to upper 90s fastball, nasty slider. But it's always been consistency with his issue. If you look at the numbers, other than 2018, he hasn't had an ERA under 4-3, and he hasn't had an ERA plus over 101. So once we saw any two-up game in the exhibitions versus the Marlins, his lawsuit down, and then against Tampa, he was 89 to 91, which is just now he doesn't even have the stuff. And the reason we can't wait is because Ham will be come back eventually,

and we have five pitchers in our top 10 prospects, all of them with 20-20 ETAs. So I like the move. I wish Fulte the best, but I wasn't exactly shocked. Thanks, guys. Yeah, thanks for the call. Whenever you can add more knowledge to the show, we appreciate it, like we say. We don't know the ins and outs of the Braves situation. And I read a bunch of people that commented and said, like,

Fulte's been sent down before. Like Fulte gets in trouble. He doesn't have it there. And like, you know, he had that one really good season. But it's still weird to DFA him. And that still makes me think that what I was thinking is true where they went to him and said, like, hey, we need to deal you or we need to put you in the service pool. Like, you need to figure out what's going on. Because I have two years of service time.

You don't just want to lose a guy like that for nothing. And he must have been refusing, in my opinion, allegedly, my thought process. He must have refused that notion. that he couldn't figure it out on the mound every fifth day. And they were like, well, you're not going to do that. So either do this or you're out. That's still what I think happened. Because, like, you know, if it's a regular season,

they probably just send him down, right? Every once in a while we get a player like this, and we've kind of run into it a few times that we've been doing these shows where it's like, a guy like Fulte, we've all like, if you just said his name, like, yeah, he's a good pitcher, man. like starter for the Braves like if you but then as this guy points out in the voicemail if you look at his numbers i mean he's had one good year it's had one good year and a lot of times you just hang your hat on that and say look like this guy's done he can do it again and maybe the braves have

just seen hey like without the velo and we don't know what's going on yeah like we need to figure something out um we've seen the same thing with numbers with a guy like Trevor Bauer i was surprised to see his numbers you know he's had one was it one good year two good years but has it been as consistent as I have given him credit for. Same thing with Dansby Swanson. You see those guys and yeah, like we said about Dansby, like we said about Bauer. It's like you put up or shut up.

And Dansby and Bauer have done it so far this year. Fulte came out really with a tough start. And in the 60 games season, there's just no time for that. There's no time from to figure it out on the mound. Bauer, I think that's a little bit of an outlier. He's clearly shown he's got a different type of personality, so he's had to find it a little bit. Over the past three or four years, he's proven to be pretty solid. I think the Fulte thing is interesting because I don't think they can't send him down.

I think he's out of options. That's why they had to DFA him. There's no send down. Well, yeah, there is. I mean, the Yankees are sending guys up and down. I think he's out of options. He's been around in the big leagues for a while, so that's why they had to DFA him. And I think the bigger thing that does stand out and stands to your point of he wasn't being cooperative is that think about the dudes we just named in the Astros bullpen.

Like there is a need for Mike Fultenevich. And maybe the Braves are really digging deep and saying, hey, we want this 60 game season. We got to win titles that they DFAT them. And I still think they're going to get something trade-wise. Anything, even if it's a player to be named later, just. just because, again, listen to the guys we said in the Astros bullpen. But, yeah, it makes you wonder where his headspace is at because I'm, I'd like to think there's a guy at the end of the Braves pen that they could have sent down

and put Fulty just in the pen. It had to be more than that. Like, it's something going on. I don't know. Weird. But also, like, if he's like, hey, I can pitch through this, I'm fine. And he believes in himself. Like, I'm not faulting him for not being cooperative or whatever.

Like if someone picks him up and they put him in the fifth man and he's good, then good for him. And, I mean, it would be pretty big egg on the Braves face if he finds that heater again. Yeah. He was out of options, yeah. Hey, go to Houston. Get that pine tar. Yeah, right. Next.

Hey, what up here in Japan? Gainesville, Florida. Wondering if Trevor Plufe got the call from the Marlins yet, let me know. Any answer? Any rumors? Guys, I was horrible at baseball. No. Start over.

I've gotten worse since then. I know it's kind of a joke question. I get it, I get it, I get it. But like I said the other day, you couldn't pay me enough money to go play it right now. Someone called you out in the comments that said someone could pay you enough money. What's your number? 10 mil. What's the number?

I guess I shouldn't say they couldn't pay me enough money. They wouldn't pay me enough money. They won't pay. They wouldn't. How about that? They could pay me, I don't know what my number would be, but I know no team is going to give me the number that I need to go out there and play. So I'm out.

What's your number at? Would you do it for free? Just for the story? Like, most people I would say, like, if I could do it for a day. We got a lot going on. Yeah, I kind of can't step away from the day to day here. But if you think about it, the content that would come of that. Yeah.

But, you know, a day, one-day contract for the minimum. If I could get a weekend. So, like 15 grand? Would you pay for it? I could talk into like a three-game series Friday, Saturday, Sunday for 10 grand? Yeah. Exposure. Yeah.

No, we don't trade in exposure. Yeah. Yeah, it's not going to. I mean, clearly it's not going to happen. I'm not good enough and, like I said. All right. Well, you know who may be good enough to make. the playoffs, the next voicemail.

What's up, guys? Just wanted to ask you about your updated opinions about San Diego Padres. I think if they can keep hitting on all cylinders with Will Myers and Eric Osmond's lineup, they're pretty much shooing for the playoffs

if the pitching can handle some more intense competition. What do you guys think? I need to know where this caller's head was at before the season starts. Yeah. If he He started at like, I think we can get, you know, once they announced expanded playoffs, if he was like, I think we can get the wild card.

And now he's jumped from that to shoe in. That's cool. But if he started out like, let's just have a fun year and develop and now he's shoe in, it's pretty quick to go shoe in. I was going to say, like, that left pedal, that's the brake. Let's pump it. Pump it a few times there. You know, they look good.

But like he said, they're firing on all cylinders. obviously that doesn't last. And if you're a Padres fan, let's think about it this way. You're running hot coming into this season. Trev had the over. He was buying into the pods just a little bit, 31. And they beat the Diamondbacks, who is the team that they thought was probably their competition for the two-hole. So they're coming in hot.

So a double pat in the background for you guys, Treve, you were early Ist in here on the Padres love. Jim, their bullpen nasty. Yes. Even their, their answer. Well, they added Pomerantson Pagan. Their ancillary pieces outside of the main dudes are young guys with nasty stuff. So those guys were shoving the other day. So if you get one or two of those guys to click with hand, with Drewpom.com, with Paghan.

I mean, now you have, like you can start. Hand. He's not there anymore. He's not there. Isn't he with the Indians? Who am I thinking about? Kirby Yates, excuse me. Small last names, Yates, excuse me. But they can start doing like five, six inning games.

And you start staying in games longer when you have those arms. So they're feeling good. And Peter Gammon's tweeted it today. Story of baseball last night. Drew Pomeran's in his great start. Not that Dodgers Houston thing. Drew Pomp. Yeah, I mean, I don't think Hosmer's going to stay at a 500 batting average.

And I don't think Austin Hedges is going to stay at a zero. No. Love you, Austin. No, I mean, it's fun. They're doing a lot of fun stuff. It's really the Tatis show, though. Someone told me that Will Myers wears a toupee? Rumors.

I never heard that. Rumor mill. But if there's one team that benefited the most from two teams from each division getting in, it might be the Padres. Yeah, if they can get that wild card, it's, I'm still very interested to see how that plays out, because if the East, you know, the East has a bunch of teams that are better than the Padres, IMO. I'm not saying the wild card, top two teams from each division get in.

Yeah, okay. Well, Jake's Rocks would have to really. Chase Tingler, four and one is manager. The team. Daddy, man, I had a lot of experience with him. Definitely a fan at old Jace's. Early manager of the year, Canada? This is the DM I got.

Please do a breakdown on Will Myers-Tupay. It's so bad. You would think that with a big contract extension, he could afford a better one. And it's from someone we know. Am. It was a female, which my sexist brain says they know hair better than I do. Sure.

So it's pretty. I said. I opened sexist brain. No one else makes you feel cocky as a Padres fan? How about their first time through the rotation? Paddock, six innings, zero earn runs. Zach Davies, five innings two, Denelson Lament, five innings one, Garrett Richards, five innings zero.

When you're getting that kind of performance from your starters, almost any team is going to be good. Yeah, Paddock goes again, let's see if they can keep it up. I'm interested to see if they can do this. Like we said last year, the Mariners started like 15 and 4, and they balanced out really quick. I think this Padreys seems better than that Mariners team last year. I'm just saying it's five games.

Do I think that they look much better than I anticipated? Yes. But like Trev pointed out, the caller said firing on all cylinders. And a true test is, can you win games when you're firing on maybe two out of six cylinders? I will say this. And I don't think any of us gave enough credit to a guy like Garrett Richards coming over. Like when he's pitching, he's been really, really good. his health has been so bad i've faced him and he's a guy you never like when you go up there you're

throwing these they look like cutter splitter things that's his fastball like it moves and it's heavy and usually when you throw a cutter it's not heavy but his is um he's got the stuff and if you look at his numbers throughout his career they've been good he's got to stay healthy if he's healthy now that's a steal for them lemmette's start was pretty cool for them i mean he had eight eight ks and He gets the punchies. Yeah. Cool. All right. Next voicemail. A little Padres talk. I like the voicemail episode. We're learning.

We're talking. Bringing storylines. Don't look out Gary Richards' stats. Sorry. All right. We will. What's up, guys? This is Michael from Cincinnati, big fan. My regs are not doing too well so far. They 1 in 5 dropped the series to the Tigers, lost a couple games to the Cubs. Our Aces have been Aces. Sine Gray, Castillo, Bauer, have locked it down.

All there are a bullpen has kind of blown it in most of these games. So that being said, what are your updated thoughts on the Reds in this NL Central race? Currently the coach of the only team above 500, do you think it's going to stay that way? Or do you think Reds and some of these other teams still have a chance to come back? Obviously, it's only five games in, but now that we have some games under our belt, interested to hear your thoughts. Thanks. the Reds.

We kind of talked about this on the pregame show today where Amir Garrett tweeted out, like, hey, give us time. And yeah, it's early. And, you know, it's early. But, man, if there's one division where you don't really have that much time, it's that one. You know, when they expanded to two spots in the playoffs for each division, you kind of see, okay, it's probably Houston A's.

It's probably twins, Indians. It's probably Yankees' Rays. it's probably Dodgers and then we don't know you can't even pick two in the central over there so it's probably I don't even know the first one

Can't pick three Yeah so if there's one division where Hey you can't fall too far behind Like you got to stay pretty even So I don't think it's too late It's obviously very very early But let's let's win two out of the next three Three out of the next four

Two out of the next four minimum If there was a line right now that gave you live odds on a Cincinnati playoff birth, I would go take it. Their starting pitching has been great, and I'll rely on that throughout the year. And they're missing one of their key players, as we talked about, Mustakis has been on the shelf for the last couple of days. Bullpen's kind of blown some games. You don't expect that to happen throughout the year. I would go ahead and say that I'm still counting on them taking up one of those two spots. They're also missing Eugenio, basically.

He hasn't started hitting. He hasn't started here. I am on the Reds bandwagon still. Yeah, I mean, that's the big thing. Bauer and Castillo, I mean, both six innings pitch with double-digit K's. I mean, you're excited about that. Sonny Gray has passed 34 starts, less than six hits. That's silly.

And yeah, it's early and it sucks that you have to talk this way. But again, Lorenzen kind of blows a couple for you. And we'd be sitting here saying, you know, the Reds are three and three, and they look solid. like, you know, hey, those red starters have figured it out, get excited for them. So you do have to be a little patient, but again, like, you let a couple games slip away. You're playing the Cubs right now. They can win a baseball game any given day. And if that turns to a one in six, a one in seven, I mean, things get loud really quickly.

What's our math this year? 2.7? 2.7. So if you do 7 times 2.7, I think that's... Do it, do it, do it. I think that's the 19 number. 18.9. So that would be the equivalent of starting 3 and 19.

Yeah. So don't get to 1 in 7. That'd be bad. Lorenzen's been bad. I don't know if you guys know. I don't know if you really know how bad he's been. You know why? Fashy, Van Sews.

Put your cleats on, dude. Like, I get it. Like, you had a good idea. Everyone in the history of baseball is from California has thought about doing that before. He actually did it because you're allowed to do whatever you want now. Put your cleats on. Clint Fraser does that for the Yankees too and he's in AAA

Put your cleats on Yeah Yeah I mean you by like You know win probability added For pitchers or for players He's negative on all three appearances right now Like when he comes into the game for the Reds so far

He came in It's bad Let's think about this a little bit But here's my thing to the Reds fans Like It's for me that's such a good spin zone If it wasn't for Lorenzen, we'd be fucking this and this. So one guy, just fix him.

He's entered the game ahead one, blew it, entered the game tied in the ninth, blew it, entered the game down three, left down five. He's been bad. So just fix him. Let's think about the guys that wear bad cleats or like different cleats. We have Lorenzen with the vans. It hasn't been good. Clint Frazier, he puts spikes on all like the cool Georgia. I think, right?

Yep. Yeah, he has like custom guy doing for him. Maybe not his fault, but he's not, he's not in the big leagues right now. Apparently not in the league. Clayton Kirshaw wore sketchers with cleats on him. Yeah? Got to hurt back.

That's just wear regular shoes meant for baseball guys. That's my opinion. I have a Bleacher report article. Ranking the coolest cleats of Major League Baseball. Bryce Harper? Golden cleats. He has his all-star games. own cleat line.

Those are baseball cleats. Rick and Keel? Haven't people been sweating Mookie's spikes? Doesn't he have a nice Dodger spike going? They're Jordan. So all the Jordan brand guys have gotten like the Jordan ones, but they're meant for baseball. They're actually baseball cleats.

They're not like with a playoff. Strasberg is on this list, which I don't get. Hope my street cred just went up by me saying sweating. I don't know if the kids knew I knew that term. Three of your four losses in Cincinnati are from the bullpen. How about that? I'm on Cincinnati still. Yeah, me too.

The starting pitching is really good. Really good. All right, we got to keep rolling. Here we go. We're going to the Blue Jays. Hey, gentlemen. It's Josh from Canada. No shocker.

I am a Toronto Blue Jays fan. The Toronto Blue Jays of Buffalo have had a pretty good start. They're three and two. They really could be 5 and O. Their bullpen has come to disappoint me for the last couple years. And right now, with Giles down, then being three and two, Do you see anybody that they could acquire?

It's kind of a weird season for it. But I love what the starting pitchings done early, and the lineup's been pretty good. Obviously, top-heavy with home runs. But I want to see them make a little bit of a push, especially with teams going down for COVID. Love what you guys do. Hopefully give me some love to those baby Js.

Take care, boys. You want to see the hype train getting going in Toronto. I mean, we're recording this before the Big Boy throws today. Nate Pearson, his first MLB start. If he shoves and out dual Strausburg, or excuse me, Scherzer, then you're going to hear Blue Jay fans get loud. And this shows how dumb the young season is. The Blue Jays are three and two.

You know, Baby Jays, they're hitting the ball around the yard, sure. They lost that one-run game to Tampa that they should have won. If the baby Jays were four in one right now, we'd be having a much more amplified conference. Yeah, they look good. look really good. And it's one game. So that shows how early it is in the year. I'll say this, baseball reference, 59% shot of the Blue Jays making the postseason. Wow. Wild card team. But that's what we kind of did on Sharpstats the other day, which is analytical pot we have for the

Yankees is everyone started at 30% every single team. Well, and I think what's probably helped them out is Boston. 26 of them. I forget what. Boston looking like pure dog shit. So the one loss in Tampa Bay, I mean, it was, we talked about it on the recap. It was like, you know, they were a centimeter away. And then they scored an extras. And then, yeah, it didn't happen. So they look good. Their starting is look good.

I mean, his question was, are there bullpen arms that they can pick up? And like with the Astros, they just picked up two guys. But develop guys, bring up guys in the back. I do not know about the independent league and the AAA bullpenny. Penn situation of what arms are available. And I think everyone's just taking a stab in the dark. Yeah, there's not, it's not like a normal year where we're seeing a bunch of guys getting designated because of the larger player pools.

You're either just keeping that guy on the roster or, you know, he just can be part of your pool. Like you need to have players, you know. So I don't know who's just out there ready to go. But, yeah, Pearson can make a big difference in them. And I'm kind of like loving like the baby J. thing because I remember the baby bombers in 2017. Fun.

Quickly turned into the, you know, the big boys. And I think that we might be seeing the same thing in Toronto. And that's scary for you guys. Do you know who one of the best Blue Jays relievers been? Who's that? AJ Cole. My guy. My guy.

I've got a little bit of a take for you guys. Give it to us. What if I told you there's two really well-run franchises. that have pitching depth in a year where a lot of teams, like we just had a couple callers looking for a little extra pitching. Dodgers and the Rays, they've got guys that they are not really using. Like, I think Tony Gonsolin, didn't he not even make the 30 man? And he had a respectable year last year, if not good.

I wouldn't be surprised if you see one of those teams try to, like, take advantage of this a little bit. If you're, you know, if the Blue Jays need an arm and they could flip Gonson, for a decent prospect? I don't know. I'm just saying, watch out for that. I don't think they get anything for like one or leave. Those two teams are in the practice of hoarding assets.

Yeah. But that's what I'm saying. They could turn a Tony Gonsolin that maybe not a big asset for them into a bigger asset for the future and just keep feeding the pipeline. I don't know. I don't know. Good take, Jake.

Thank you. I think I don't think they're going to get anything worthwhile in return. The Js are, the Js now are in the process of hoarding assets as well because they know that this year is really not their year. Next year is probably the start of where they really want to start competing and then the next year after that will go.

So I don't think they're just going to be, they're not going to give away any of like their guy guys for this year. So if you're a Toronto fan, just watch the games for like the young offense. And then Nate Pearson come. Just like enjoy. their baby seasons. If Nate Pearson shoves today,

you're not going to win the World Series this year. Okay, like, just stop. You know, just stop. I'm just saying. That's how you have to approach as if you're a Blue Jays fan. You're not going to win the World Series. Okay. Jeez.

Bro, do you know how the Nats started last year? Toronto and Canada loved me because my last name is Plouf. It's a very common name up in Canada, so I'm a frequent guest on all the radio shows up there. They know what I'm saying. All right, well, I'll jump on the train with you. and I'll give the Blue J. some bad news.

You're not going to be able to use AJ Cole on three-run and tie-run, tied games later in the game for much longer. He's three-for-three. They brought him in a tie. They brought him in a three-run game. A little close game. Maybe you went to drive-line or something. Sleep apnea?

Sleep apnea team. Next voicemail. Hey guys, it's Sam, and I'm calling to ask travel question. That is, if you were on a team going into. of this season like you went through spring train and everything. Would you have played this season or would you have been one of the players who opted out? That's my question. Side note, I am tied with Jake and Trev in the Homer draft.

So that's huge. Good job by Sam. All right. Take care. Bye. Trev, would you have opted out? I think I answered this on a previous pod that we did. It just would depend on when we're,

talking. Like if we're talking me kind of trying to hold on and be on some roster towards the end of my career, no, I would have left. I would have went home. But if I'm in my days where I'm trying to make some money and I know I'm in my window of opportunity and I have a starting job somewhere, like you've got to play. You got to play and just try to be as safe as you can for your family. So I think that's a lot. That's a lot of the decision making is where I'm at in my career. That's the best answer I can give. It's the most honest answer I can give. If I was towards the end of my career,

I was making league minimum, fighting for just a spot to be there, like on the travel squad. I probably wouldn't do it. I probably just come home. Yeah. I can't answer it. Never been given the chance to opt out.

I have to see the contract. All right, we're going to Tim from Minnesota. Uh-oh. Hey guys. name's Tim. I live in Minnesota. I'm a Cubs fan. After watching Kimbril's meltdown the other night, I think the thing on every Cubs fan's mind is, where do we go from here? We've had such an unreliable bullpen for so long that when we signed Kimbril and shelled out the big bucks for him, I thought we might be turning the corner, but it's been abysmal since then. So thanks,

guys. Love the show. For those not aware that I haven't been keeping up, Kimbrel came in in a game that was a three-run game. It was really 7-1, but by the time he came in, it was a three-run game, 8 to 5, he walked Castiano's, then there's a wild pitch, then gets a ground out, then another walk, then there's a stolen base, then there's a walk, and there's a hit-by pitch, then there's a walk, the hit-by pitch, and the walk both scored runs. and I mean the last time he walked four guys in a single appearance

you have to go back to August 9th of 2016 just one of the worst outings so either that outing is so bad it's an anomaly and they'll bounce back fine you know the next two outings really are going to let you know if you got to zoom in or zoom out on that performance yeah I mean I think every team we'll say they need bullpen help.

I don't even care if you're the twins or you're the Yankees or you're the Padres. Like you're always welcoming more bullpen help. Cubs, I'm looking at the roster and I don't know. There are some guys that maybe I don't know about that are strong candidates to kind of like maybe pick up the slack and help lead the bullpen. But for me, it's fixed Kimbril or it ain't going to happen for you. There's not just guys lying around that you can just go and say, here, let's plug them in.

You know, Jeffers, like, I think it's Jeffress. Jeffers. Jeffers is cool name. Jeffers is cool. Dreyfus could be, he could be a guy. Like, he's got this stuff to do it. He's done it before. So you kind of have him there.

But, yeah, they got to figure out a way to get Craig right. That'd be a huge boost to them. Yeah, I went, I just hopped into last year's game locks because his numbers last year were pretty rough. He did have a stretch. I mean, 17 games July 6th through August 29th, so a real stretch of baseball for a closer, where he had Craig Kimbril numbers. I mean, 15.2 innings, 22 strikeouts, a 2-3-ERA.

The bookends of that are pretty bad. And I think if you're a Cubs fan, you're definitely scared. The performance is so bad that you kind of have to scrap it and say, okay, Craig, let's get rid of that and see what you got. The other note, though, is... Was he getting squeezed? I didn't see a lot of the pitches. I did not see either. On pod, honest.

We're an honest pod, unfortunately. What I'll say is, you know, Craig also ran into a little bit. There wasn't a ton of interest in him in free agency because he was asking for a lot of money. He was trying to get paid for what he's done. And in free agency, you get paid for what you're expected to do. The Cubs, they ended up paying him a decent bag, and they were in a tight spot. They needed some help down there, and Kimbril was a free agent, and he had a draft pick attached to him.

They bring in Kimbril, they give him the money, and I don't know. I mean, his numbers with the Cubs have been big bad, so. He just hasn't pitched a lot with the Cubs, you know? It's true. 24 games. and, you know, last year was 21. Where is, I'm like that at? Last year was 23, then obviously one game this year.

Is he one of the greatest closures of all time? Statistically, everything he's done since his start in Atlanta in 2010 is special in, like, all time. Then let's just pump the brakes. Let's give him a chance to get right. That's kind of how I think. Like, until this guy comes out and has a full year of just being horrible. Let's give him the benefit of the doubt because I think if you look at the numbers, he's earned that. Now, I know he's 32.

Guys age out of that role, but let's give him a chance. His first eight years are unreal. Yeah. I'd still want him on my team. Unreal. Put it that way. Just have Hendricks go complete game shut out the whole time. Chat would look good.

And this dude, Alec Mills, I don't think he's going to last because he doesn't throw hard at all, but incredibly fun to watch. How was his Velo? Whose? Kimbril. I will find it for you. Find me that Velo. Because, yeah.

That's what you look at. If his Velo is still there, all could take is one bullpen session, one flat ground session where he's like, oh, shit. The old David Price. One video session. Like, get the cameras on the guy.

You know, get the statistics. Let's find out what's happening. His foreseamer averaged at 96.2 miles per hour. In 2019, it was 96.2 miles per hour. In 2018, it was 97. In 2017, it was 98. In 2016, it was 98. 2015, it was 98.

So it's down two miles per hour from his prime. That's not even a tank. Yes, that's not that concern. It's enough to do it right if you're doing it right. It is trending down. and so are, you know, some of the strikeout numbers, the K-per-9 have gone down. So, I mean, it's on the watch. And again, I think that ties into him not getting the contract he wanted originally.

But Craig Kimball can still do it. I mean, look at his numbers last year. That was a bad year. He pitched 23 games. He still was at a 13.1 K-per-9. Yeah. It's not bad. That can get it done, yeah.

All right. So, like, let's give a chance. Thank you, Tim, from Minnesota. Now, we have two Philadelphia calls in a row, so I'm going to play them back to back. What's going on, guys? My name's Brett. I just wanted to call in and say I'm a huge fan, especially of you, Trevor Pluth, big Philly's fan, loved your time with Philadelphia. Walk off home around was great.

But I just had a quick question for you guys. So obviously, J.T. Obril Muto is a free agent at the end of the season. Would you even think he would want to resign with Philadelphia after having to just catch these terrible reliever after terrible reliever. after terrible reliever. I feel like it's got to be frustrating for him. He said he loves Philadelphia, but at the same time, do you think those terrible relievers

and terrible backhand of the starting rotation is going to maybe lead J.C. Romuto to lead Philadelphia. Thanks, guys. Keep up the great work. You guys are awesome. Thank you for calling in, and there's one more from Philadelphia.

Here we go. What's going on, fellas? My name's Kenny in Pennsylvania. Jake sucks. Obviously, you all know that. I just want to talk about Phillies. Some I've been thinking about Reese Hoskins. He hasn't really been that great for the Phillies.

We really need starting pitching. Because we've had the same starting pitching for like five years, and I've made the playoffs once. So I've been thinking about trading Reese. He had a 226 average last. year it seems like all he does is really walk or strike out now trading for some starting pitching um i don't know i don't know what you guys thoughts would be but yeah uh take care guys love the show appreciate you guys calling in i'm gonna reese i got to correct my guy who called

in right away um in the three games rice has played so far he has a 600 on base percentage seven walks leading baseball. Leading baseball. He led baseball in 2019 with walks, and he will never have a high batting average because he doesn't care about that at all, and neither should you, our fine friend who called in. He has been statistically above average every single season. What's that? Well above average.

Every single season. 110 OPS plus, 125 OPS plus, 162 OPS plus. The on-base percentage is 354, 364. Reese is pretty good. If they traded him in the middle of his service time years, you'd probably get a decent return. So maybe it's a thought, but don't discredit him because of his batting average.

He doesn't give a shit about those numbers, clearly, which is fine. I love Reese. You know what? Like, honestly, it's kind of got my head turning. But let's go back because the guy did call me a Phillies legend. Thank you. I know.

Yep. everybody knows it okay but with Reese Hoskins I don't think it's far-fetched to see that to say it I don't think it's far-fetched for them to trade anyone for arms real ludo too he's if they think he's gonna walk um if you want to get some arm that's that was kind of the first question so yeah yeah uh the real muddo question is a great one it sounds like our dude um it's just uh it's just a reminder that you know real moodo wants to go to whatever team's going to pay him the most money because this is his first time. That's it.

Being a free agent and he gets one huge, huge payday probably because he's 30 years old and he's a catcher in his life. And it is no fault for him to literally close his eyes, put out his hands and say, whoever gives me the most money, I'll go there because this is the generational wealth. that I've earned for my family and kids and their kids and that. So don't forget that that is the correct move by him. And he may say he loves Philly. He may love Philly.

It's his first time being a free age and he's 30 years old. He's going to be highly touted. He's going to take the biggest bag and we should celebrate and be happy for him because he earned it. Yes, I think that the only decision on cities would be if there were comparable offers which might happen because we do know that the owners collude. Yeah, then you go. Pretty much in the open about that. Then, yes, at that point, he may look for a team that's contending

and has pitchers that are good. Yes. But the main thing, like you said, Jim, it's give me my money. I've earned it, and he's 30. This is it. He wants the most money. Money. Pay JT.

Someone's going to pay him. The guy's a stud. It'll be interesting. I think he's going to have a draft pick attached to him. Did they waive that for this year? I'm trying to think when we went through all the crazy rules. I don't know. I think at one point they did.

They talked about it. At the end, they didn't. You could see the Phillies being the highest bidder either way. And, you know, an interesting caveat, the money is first. The money is one through ten. Eleven, his relationship with Girardi might be interesting, having a catcher in the dugout. The Phillies are lined up to be good, at least offensively. You know, Harper's 27. We forget that because we've known him since he was 16.

Hoskins, also 27. So those guys are supposed to be cogs in that lineup for a while. Real Mudo coming back, it comes down to the money. Hoskins, man, it's interesting, like you guys said, if the Phillies ever get the right offer for pitching, I think they have to be all ears. I think they've got Hoskins pencilled in for a while. Especially with the DH now. especially with the DH, and he's a talented dude.

I mean, and I will say this for Philly fans and the guy who called in. And like Trevor said about having, you know, Philly's legend, Trevor Plouffe, yes, Jake does suck. Thank you for that. I don't know. I understand the frustration when you have a guy like Hoskins who, you know, you can go a series without him putting a bat on the ball. And that's his approach.

And it's, it is a little mess. mind fuck you need to get over because if he gets three walks, in theory that's three singles. To commiserate with them, it took Jake and I about a full season and a half to get over that approach with Aaron Hicks, who goes up there in key moments and just, you know he's not trying to swing. And it's very frustrating. And we used to get very frustrated. What do you mean he's not trying to swing? Dude, Hicks has a bat's. Like, like, base is loaded. Hicks.

leads the league with bases loaded walks. And it's like, cool, man. But if you try to put it in play, maybe two runs will score. And you can just tell he's looking for a walk because he's an on-base percentage guy. And he leads the league in base-loaded walks. But it's just very frustrating because it's like a swing could be cool too. And I think more so what it is that we had to learn

and I had to learn was a lot of these guys are very, very specific. They're looking for a pitch and a location. You know, there's a lot of guys that it's like, 2-0, let's look for that fastball and drive it. These guys are a little more specific. I think the Aaron Hicks and the Reese Hoskins types are saying, like, if it's a fastball low and away, that's where I'm looking and I'm going to drive

it hard. So sometimes you'll see a fastball over the middle and you're like, oh, that one looked nice, but if that's not what they're looking for. Hicks plays very much like a guess hitter. Like he hunts one pitch, so he'll take pitches and so. So it's frustrating, but the results are there. What they do, what you do, especially nowadays with the scouting reports, and I know Reese does this.

I don't know about Hicks, but you'll go and you'll say, let's look at this guy's Arsenal. He's got a two-seamer, a four-seamer, a slider, and a curveball. Okay, out of those pitches, what's the one that gets hit the hardest, and in what location, what has the highest slugging percentage? You start to go over those. and you can pick two or three of those and that's what you look for.

Okay, well his fastball fastball away, middle of the zone gets slugged, you know, at like a 700 clip. Start there. If you see a slider, you know, this is where it gets slugged, this is where it doesn't get slugged. You start to set your tunnels up

where these guys want the pitches and Reese has really bought into that type of mentality. So he is, he's looking for it, but it's not a, it's an educated plan to go up there. And it's, yeah, sometimes he's going to get a pitch that looks like it's right down the middle or he should be speaking that,

but he's not looking for it. Yeah, exactly. I heard a guy, a player, I forget who this was, dropped that in an interview somewhere and he just said like, yeah, we took a look at the percentages. And like to anyone that doesn't know the full what that means, it's what Trevor just explained to everyone. But that was the first time I heard, like,

you know, if you were beat reporter, like, what do you mean you look at the percentages? It's kind of like a new thing, but that was just the quick, like, scouting report and stuff like in travi you always say give me 60% or more in two one counts what is he throwing one pitch 60% or more i'll swing at it then stuff like that yeah that's cool we got one more voicemail here it is what's up guys scott here first time caller long time listener calling you from lansdell p a before i ask my question just want to say i have a lot of common with you guys

include DVD, grew up in Connecticut, and the Yankee fan, obviously. And like DVD, I went to a sinus college. They'll go bears and John Boy, my own history. Civil War is my jam.

Exciting things, I'm moving back to Connecticut, and I'll be super close to NYC, so looking forward to meeting you in a post-COVID world. Okay, so my question is for Trevor. I know you said you wouldn't want to play this year, even though you got paid boo-cru bucks and all that,

just in baseball terms, about the factors of COVID, and making everything weird, baseball season, what team would you have liked to play for this year? Would you want to go to a team with World Series aspirations, the young squad, team that just has a lot fun? Or would you prefer to be with the team you've played with before or is in Southern California? What do you think? Thanks, guys. Okay. Let me, you guys answer the question like he asked it to you, because I got to go close this. I got my guy here and he's going to be making a lot of noise. So you guys

go first, I'll be right back. Yeah, I'd like to be, I don't want to be a star player. And I don't want to start every game. Okay. And that's an earnest answer. Yeah. You know, backup bullpen catcher is probably my jam. Right. You get to make some jokes.

You get to hang out. You get to be part of the gossip in the pen. So you're not on the team here. You know, very anxious. I'd like you on the team. I'd like you on the team. I think that would help. Okay.

Backup catcher. Yeah. I'm just finding my position first. Then we'll find a team. We're still on positions. Jake talks to me out of bullpen catcher into backup catcher. We want to get them on the team. Because I wanted to be bullpen catcher.

I think that's an awesome job. Backup catcher. And then, I mean, put me on a contender. Like, give me the Eric Crats roll. Okay. Quadrupley catcher on the taxi squad gets to hang out a bunch. No pressure. Until there's all the pressure.

That's what I want. Big first pitch swing or old Cratsy, so you have to go up there and just try to swing. Sounds fun? Have I ever told you his home run? His book, Trev? Uh-uh. Dude, Cratsy's book is so. so impressive because he just hunts fastballs.

I'll bring it up. Jake, you give your answer. He'll get his book. I've played against crats for, I don't know, my entire career, minor leagues and big leagues. And everybody knows cratsy is going to be ready for his pitch because he's coming out of his shoes. That's what he's done his entire career. It's hilarious. All right.

So, AJ Burnett back in the day when AJ Burnett was great. Kimbril, pretty good. There's a lot here. Chapman. He got Chapman. He got John Lackey. He got Tehran. He got David Price.

He got Cliff Lee. He got Bumgarner. He got James Shields. He got Jose Cantana. He got Rourke. So those are the big ones. There's others on here. But like some cool names.

Yes. It's been around for a long time, man. Mike Leak. That's not as impressive with the other. Dan Heron. Sure. There's some good names on this book. He's got a nice book.

I mean, mine makes a nice book. lot of sense. I mean, I'm clearly in a Gerardo-Oparro role. A lot of energy for the team. Ronald Jerez. Some good defense. I'm making some really good defensive plays in the outfield. You're not getting much with the stick, and that's honest. The only alternative, I'd say, which would be cool and, like, is the complete opposite of my body and style would be just a wildcard reliever. Like, just pump a hunch, don't really know where it's going. Can't trust me. I at all. I don't even know if I have another pitch. Why don't you be a bullpen knuckleballer? I don't even know if I have another pitch.

The first female bullpen knuckleballer? That'd be cool. Yeah. Trev, what do you want? I've been thinking about it since I got the question and BVD kind of queued it up to me before the episode even started. Oh, inside source. It's tough, man. A lot of me says, dude, go play for the Dodgers and go win a World Series Championship for a team that has a one once in 88, be a hero in your city, and you know do that but i think that's kind of like the easy answer for me so i you know i like the young dudes everybody knows that i think i'd go to the podres they're hot right now they i think it's a lot of young guys maybe they need a veteran presence

in the clubhouse i could just kind of show i could dh every once in a while living in san diego the weather's good i still get to come home play in l a i'm familiar with the brown and yellow jersey color scheme. That was mine in high school. I think I'd start there. I really like that for you, Trevor. Yeah. I think I could fit in really well. Yeah, man. You connect. Osborne and I go way back. You think Jace would be intimidated by you? Jason and I go way back. Jace brought me on. He's the one that brought me to the Rangers organization. So I spent a lot of time talking to him. He probably doesn't like me because I asked for my release very quickly. Sure.

But we do. We go way back. So I think Podgers would be a great fit for me. You and Hosmer, maybe you copy each other's facial hair at one point. You're laughing it up with Tatis and Mani, and then you're connecting it with the other guys. It's really, that really is a good fit for you. It suits me, yeah.

I have a lot of friends in Miami who know Mani. Did I say friends in Mani that know many? Friends in Miami. What do you think about Manning's facial hair? I haven't even seen it. Do I have to go look at that right now? I tweeted it out, and it was a mean tweet, but I said, like, you know, he paid a lot of attention to craft three different patches of facial hair that all look bad. He's got the Joe Dirt mutton chops, like, that come to a point, like, and then he's got the little French Pierre mustache, the little pencil mustache on the top lip.

Then he's got just the chin hair, like the junior in high school, that's all he can grow. And it's like three different looks all coming together. Is it carved up? Or is it just kind of loose? No, no. No, it was like he had someone do that to his face. He's from Miami. You know, they want to be the first.

They like that being out there being first with a new look. Maybe that'll be a new look in a couple years and we'll look back to this. Joe Dirt was the first. Okay. I've got some breaking news. Yeah. Marcaicus is rejoining the Braves. He's opted back in.

I thought that was illegal. Which I think everyone thought, but this is David O'Brien, Blue Check, ATL, the Athletic. Well, if you have a reason, I think you cannot backed in. So, yeah, he's reinstated from the restricted list. And a good comment on it by Amber Theo Harris, Emmy Award winning storyteller, so give her some love. She said staying at home with half a dozen kids will do that to you. So, Marcaicus, back with the break.

Does he have six kids? I'd assume so. Otherwise, it would be really out of place. Maybe he's just been living at a daycare. Just using his time at a daycare. He rented out his apartment to someone else and then you're staying in the daycare underneath. Nick Mark Cakesh kids. All right, we've got to get out of here.

How long has this been, BPD? Hour and two. This has been nice and relaxing and I really do appreciate everyone that called in. Yeah. Because that is a way for us to know what's going on. your brains and your fan bases, and sometimes you're going to give us answers, and we're going to give you questions and vice versa. So we're going to keep the voicemail episode going.

I don't think there's going to be themes. It's just call in, correct us, or ask us a question. Yeah. Anything. Hit them with the number one more time, BBD. 917426-2796. Wow. There you go.

All right. Thanks, guys. See you later. Three kids from our cake as I've got. Three? It's not half a dozen counts.