Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - 182 | Voicemails: Cubs Rotation, Mookie Trade, Washington's Future

Episode Date: August 6, 2020

Jomboy, Jake, and Plouffe are answering your voicemails! How do you get out of a slump? (1:50) Is the Extra inning rule an advantage for the home or away team? (6:25) Will Nelson Cruz get some MVP votes? (12:00) Is the Cubs rotation better than we thought? (14:20) When are fans allowed to freak out? (22:00) Hwat is Detroit's ceiling? (31:45) Should Bosotn have taken the original Mookie Betts trade? (36:05) How optimistic can Nats fans be about their future? (46:30) 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 talked yesterday. It's time for you guys to talk. It is the voicemail episode. Let's do it. What's going on, everybody? Welcome back to talking baseball. My name is Jimmy.

I got Jake sitting next to me over there. I got Trevor coming to us in California. Producer BBD is in the corner. And we are coming to you. Live from the Roosevelt Studios here in the Bronx, RSVLTS. A little storm. outside. A little Tuesday record session. This drops on Thursday. So if anything crazy happened

Tuesday night or Wednesday, we didn't have it. A little scheduling, rescheduling because of double headers and all this craziness. But anyway, voicemail episode it is. Are you excited to hear from the people, Trev? I am. I'm very excited. I've grown to like the voicemail episodes because they could go any direction. I have no idea what people are going to ask and I kind of like it. I'm excited. Okay. Yeah, we used you in with probably a wrong voicemail. I think we were towards the end of no baseball climate,

and we were just like, hey, if you guys could call in and give us something, we're here for it. So we set everyone up for failure. Now that we got baseball, babe, the callers are so choice right now. It's challenging, too, because we can't follow all the storyline. So sometimes we'll get asked something, and you don't know, and it's okay to say that. Yep, they got a tip. tell us some stuff.

So it looks like we have 11 voicemails BPD has picked out for us. They're they good? How would you rate these voicemails? All right. Let's just get right into it then. Here we go. Voicemail numero uno, number one. Hey, it's right from St. Louis.

I was calling in about my St. Louis Cardinals. More specifically, my guy Harrison Bader. Pretty boy. Yeah, man. He's got off to a terrible start. I was going to ask Trev or one of you guys. maybe. How do you get getting hot, especially with the season so short and the pressure's on?

Hopefully, by the time the next voicemail episode is out, this is irrelevant, but if so, let me know. Thanks, guys. Well, Cardinals haven't played yet, so still relevant, I think. But Trev, this question is obviously for you and not Jake nor I. How do you get out of a slump? How much pressure do you put on yourself? What do you do? I mean, yeah, that's the thing is if anybody knew how to just get out of slumps, that'd be awesome.

But, you know, for a Harrison that's 13 at bats, the beginning of the season, you know, obviously a very small sample size, so I wouldn't worry too much. And maybe like a yell at situation, this time off kind of hits the reset button. And when they do get to play, which I'm hearing we're recording us on a Tuesday, like Jimmy said, I'm hearing that they'll be leaving Milwaukee tomorrow. maybe when the game start again, fresh slate, he comes back firing. I think that's really all you can hope for. A lot of times when you're going through a slump during a regular type of season without COVID cases,

a manager will say, hey, take today, it's a mental day, watch the game, you're not playing, like, just chill today. And that will help you reset. That's happened a ton. This could be that for Harrison. And, yeah, they need them. They need all the offense they can get on the Cardinals, going in that division with all those damn good teams.

They need every player they can get. What are like, you know, would you ever like fully change your approach and just like 100% go up there just like I'm just see a fastball, hit a fastball, anything else? Or try to guess hit first pitch. Everything. First pitch. Like you just keep going until something happens.

You'll try anything. Okay. You know, literally anything. When you're in a rut, you feel like the lonely, person in the world. You feel like everyone's watching you're at bats with a magnifying glass. You just feel like you feel like you're the center of attention and you're doing poorly and you can't wait to just get a hit and get it with. What about laying down a bun? Like some guys do that that just want to get to first base. Did you ever use that approach? Were you ever like,

I'm just going to bump my way out of this slump? Yeah? Absolutely. That's one of the times I'm telling people like they'd still need to bun for confidence. reasons. Like if you want to just get a knock, you just see that knock on the jumbo-tron, especially first at bat or something like that. You're struggling. Getting that knock and their first at bat can propel you to get out of the slump. Like you see that knock and you're like, okay, the rest of the day I don't have to think about getting that hit again. And sometimes when you calm yourself down like that, then streaks happen, you go off. So Bunn's definitely in naked BP

You know having Huh What? You never done that before? I didn't flinch Well it flinched a little bit of them But like I said You'll do anything

You'll do anything I think I'd be mixing up meals a lot Would you have worn Giambi's thong Giambi had the golden thong That he would give the people slumping Whatever Whatever I think would work

I mean I've brought my bats into chapel on Sunday and said, please pray for my bats, guys. Like, help me out in some way. So, I mean, it gets lonely and you'll do anything. Harrison will be fine, though. I think this layoff will probably help out with that. All right. The resting off day is going to be fun to track this season,

because I know Yellage comes back from the break. He was slumping. He had a couple hits. Gary Sanchez, he gets the rest day because he's slumping. He's looking a lot better. It would be interesting to see if, players try to hit that button this year. Like, Skip, I had bad three games.

I think I might need to reset. Good work. It's not like Harrison's like an offensive first threat. So it's, you know, if he gets to 100 OPS plus, you're happy. All right, next voice, ma'am. Hey, guys, Jake from here, Pennsylvania, now living in Northern Virginia, big fan. Just wanted to give you a call for first time. Jake does suck.

Hey, so Jake, I disagree with you about the extra innings rule. I think you said that there was an advantage, clear advantage for the home team. I think it's actually the opposite. I mean, there's, you know, a thousand ways to get that runner on second base over to third. And then from that, we don't have to, you know, talk about how easy it is that, you know,

runner to score compared to, you know, creating that runner to the second base. Anyway, no, I think if the visiting team scores first, it's just so much pressure for that home team to get that runner across. So it's all I got. Big Yankees fan. Don't sleep on the end of it. Thanks.

Thank you for the call. Has the away team won an extra inning game yet? Has to have happened, but I feel like it's all home teams. I think the A's one. one in Seattle the other day. I think a couple half. Dodgers. It's an advantage for the home team.

I mean, you're fair to have your opinions. The thing that is- Was there any facts in there? What's that? Was there any facts in that? I don't think we got facts. We're not necessarily a fact-pot. I will say this, Trevor,

and correct me if I'm wrong. You know, put me and I play... I didn't play the game. I'm watching... Baltimore, Tampa this weekend, Saturday night, because I'm a little bit of a sick pup, and I told a bunch of my friends to bet Tampa to win and a bunch of parlayes, and they did not. The game goes to extras, so my heart read's going through my chest, so I'm having a good time.

The race somehow survived the 10th after G. Manchoy gets thrown out at 3rd, trying to tag up on a fly ball to left. I mean, just a brutal mistake. They come out, they survive the next inning, because the Orioles also don't try to bunt. Ray's come up, Keirmeier on second, Zanino at the plate, the Lifetime 201 batting average,

OPS in the sixes, I believe. And he doesn't try to bunt, Trev. I'm sorry, man. If you're Mike Zanino, you've got to know how to bunt. Like, there's too many guys that have gotten away from it. And I get it, dude. I get all the numbers.

I appreciate the analytics. But I also appreciate the chance that Mike Zanino, Nino is going to strike out and now you're out of a good run scoring chance. So that's just so frustrating for me. I go back and forth with it. I came up in a time where it was important to know how to bunt. Definitely numbers lean the other way that it's not necessarily a smart move to bunt. But I do believe there are some instances that do increase your win probability with a bunt.

and I think one of those times is when the home team all they have to do is score or run bunting does increase your win probability rather than swinging it's not by a lot so like the numbers don't support bunting whatsoever but like the weird baseball mental game

I feel like still requires bunting bunting bunn defense like it's the pressure thing man like make somebody make a play that's kind of what the purest and the old school baseball guys will say it's like it's not about you know getting your win probability up it's about putting pressure on the base on the other baseball team making them make a play and i think the batter needs to do that i think what we've seen a lot is the

runner trying to do that like choy tagging up from second otani moot going on the the batted ball uh someone else got thrown out at home schwarber threw a guy out top 10th um i think that second that runner on second has been trying to do a little too much in a lot of these games, or at least there's four examples so far. But yeah, I don't understand what the caller is saying. I still think the home team has the advantage. One, because they get to hit second. Like any home team.

Like any home. Like they already had the advantage. Like, does it suck? Was it one of the extra inning games? Someone put up a six spot, BPD? Wasn't that like a Giants Padres game or something? I think the pods put up a six spot in the top of the inning. So, yeah, then it does suck.

to be the home team, but it sucks anytime you give up six runs in baseball. Yeah, yeah. But I mean, you just bunt and sacrifice over if you're the home team. The problem is nobody, they don't practice it. And it's really hard to practice bunting at game speed. I mean, especially now with the average, you know, velocity, fastball velocity like at 94. Like, it's not easy to replicate.

And it's not easy to bunt if you're not practicing. So, you know, we're saying we want bunt, but then I don't want to watch people go up there and bunt that don't know how to and just make a fool of themselves. I think Jake's point was Zanino, a less than hitter, should know how to bunt and be able to lay down a good bun. You would think so. It just doesn't get practiced enough. They practice in spring training.

You know, you do the machine. That's it. Yeah. I mean, I was going to give some Mike Zanino stats from the past couple years, but him nor I need that burden. Let's move on. Boy. Hey, John Boy. It's Henry here.

I'm a big fan of your podcast. I was wondering, Nelson Cruz has been popping off for the twins. Do you think he'll get MVP votes? Vote, sorry. Please respond. Thank you. Have a great day. I think a Freudian slip there.

I think Henry wants Voight to get the MVP. Oh. Did he say MVP Voight there? So I think that's Freudian slip. And Henry's rooting for Luke Voight, which is great. To win the MVP. More people there. Yeah, Nelson Cruz.

I don't know. It's going to be tough because he's a DH, so he only really helps on one side of the ball. But I still don't think he's the best pure hitter going right now. So if the season ended right now, I don't think Cruz is winning MVP or even in the top five. Could he? Sure.

I think he's going to, what's that? He could be top five. Yeah, maybe. He's not top. I don't know. Top three. I don't know. There's other guys that are hitting the ball. It's Aaron Judge, and then who?

I don't know. We were looking at it the other day. There's still guys that are batting 400 with, like, home runs and stuff. Judgey. Yaz from the Giants. Yeah, different. NL. But yeah, I had a D.H. It'll be hard for him to win.

And a 60 game set as a D.H. I think. Yeah, I agree. It might be, again, it's one of those weird 60 game conversations. It might be easier for him to do it this year than other years, because guys can accrue more defensive war over 162 games. I don't know. Right now he's leading the AL and RBIs.

Those don't matter as much as they used to, but the Twins' offense, it does matter, and it's nice. 1.071 OPS. I mean, he just keeps hitting. He's a sick pop. Yeah. Right now I get some votes. I got Beber ahead of him.

Turned 40 July 1st. Kyle Lewis? Still doing it. But yeah, I mean, could he get some votes? Yeah. Would I bet on him winning? No, just because of the DH thing. Yeah.

But he looks great. Looks great, Trev. Excited for him? Even without his entourage? I think he looks fine. I don't think much has got disrupted for him, you know? No. Seaball, hit ball.

All right. Next up. Hey, guys. This is Mike. I'm from Illinois, and I'm a Big Cubs fan. And I know you guys probably don't spend a lot of time. paying attention to the Cubs since your focus is on the Yankees. But the first time through the rotation, the Cubs starters had a 1.80-B-R-A and 0.63 whip.

And obviously, that's not sustainable over the season. But I wanted to know your guys' thoughts on if that kind of thing is an indicator of if the Cubs are going to have a rotation, their rotation via strength this year. We did a lot of – thank you for the call. We did a lot of talk on the Cubs rotation on the pregame show today, which was Tuesday's pregame show. Because the second time through the rotation, Sands Hendricks was like just as good.

Kyle had a bad second start, but Chattwood's got two starts in the bag. Alec Mills got two starts in the bag. Darvish came around his second time through. The Cubs rotation has looked good so far. I don't know how sustainable it is because, you know, Chatwood looks really good. Maybe it is sustainable.

Like, I don't think it's not. It can be. I think that the caller is trying to be a logical fan and say, though, one ERA isn't sustainable, which I appreciate that. Hey, man, you know, you Darvish, when he's right, you know, you can see it. You know, if you're a very casual baseball fan, when his stuff is right, you can see it. Hendrix has just been doing the damn thing. He's going to be Kyle Hendricks, and that's pretty cool.

Tyler Chatwood is the real wild card. His stuff is pretty nasty. He looks like he knows where the ball's going, which I think that was a problem for him earlier in his career. Lester right now is Lester in 11-innings pitch, only one-earned run, 5K. So, hey, I'm going back to season previews when we were going through these teams. And, you know, a big question for us was Cubs rotation. So if they're getting, you know, Alec Mills is clicking right now.

So they can even have maybe Alec Mills fall off or if Chatwood loses it a little bit or Lester, like, they've now got a couple options, which when you bring that back to the lineup, holy crap. I mean, if they're throwing anything like they are, I mean, the Cubs are going to be dangerous. It seems like we've got a few guys throughout the league that are kind of just like figuring their approach out.

Like Chetwood, when I watch him pitch now, like he has a plan. He's just exing the corners. and he's spotting. And when you do that, it's very hard for hitters to, you know, game plan against you. You have to guess what pitch is it going to be? Like, is that two seamer going to run back or is that thing going to take off and go in the left-handed batters box? He's been doing that.

He looks great. It looks sustainable. If he can continue to locate and you just, like, get a guy that kind of figures it out, that's a tremendous help to the Cubs, you know, to pair along with the Hendricks and the Darvitz. I liked what I saw and it's like it looks sustainable to me, which is pretty cool. Chatwood is a guy that he's like the third person I've ran into pitcher that scrapped their foreseamer from the arsenal completely. He was four seamer sinker last year about 50% of the time and a lot of pitchers are saying,

hey, those are pretty similar. Why don't you just scrap the one that doesn't move that much? The four seamer was 96 last year. Yeah, it was 96 last year. He scrapped it. He's only throwing it like 12 times this year. The sinker is now his premier pitch and it's sitting at 94. So that adds up to what you've seen, Trev, that he's kind of just pitching now instead of trying to throw up by people and we'll see if it works.

But that's like who else. Tyler Alexander was the relief pitcher who did it. And there was someone else I looked at for Seamer just out of the mix. What we're seeing now across the league is just a deep dive into what works for you. as a pitcher, let's just do that. Like, you don't need to have six pitches. Throw what works for you. It's like when Sunny Gray, they tried to scrap the curveball

or something like that in New York. New York. And then he went over to the Reds and they're like, no, like, let's throw that thing even more. Like, that's a great pitch for you. And you're seeing that now. It's like, guys are like, what are my good pitches?

And, like, I'll just throw those. Because why would I throw a pitch? pitch that statistically gets hit or in a zone statistically gets hit like let's stick to these blue zones and my good pitches and a guy like chatwood scraps his four seamer goes to the two seamer tightens up his slider a little bit and it's a completely different pitcher and i love seeing that you know it's like guys learning to pitch and they're getting help i think i've said this for a long time technology and the data helps pitchers way more than it does hitters and you're getting these guys with career resurgence because of it

like a Tyler Chadwood, like he's been a good pitcher for a long time, but if he can figure some stuff out and continue on this path, I mean, he just bought himself another three or four years in the show. Yeah, baseball, kind of the only major sport that you can really see career resurgence. I mean, G. Orchella, Chatwood, guys like this that if you figure it out, I mean, you can totally rewrite the book. And I think my final thing on the Cubbies is just, it's been my argument with the Rockies from last year.

had a terrible year. Schedule got them. They had some guys go down. It, you know, it got ugly, quick and things unraveled. Before that, Rockies were a wild card team, back-to-back years. This Cubs team, World Series in 16, they lose in the CS to the Dodgers in 2017. In 2018, they go from best record in baseball to they lose that play-in game or whatever it was that has them in the wild card. So instead of being the number one team in the National League, they go to a one-game wild card and they lose and that funnels them into Madden's last year, which the writing was on the wall all season to now, I mean, what Cubs team are we getting? Like they are still so talented up and down the lineup that with any pitching is kind of a bonus and they're getting good pitching.

Yeah, I like it. I was looking at the other pitchers. Darvish has also scrapped his four-seamer but last year it took a big dive down and this year it's so far a bigger dive. So maybe that's like the Cubs philosophy. Lester still throws one. second most pitch. What did we say? Dude, Hendrick's pitch mix is fucking so funny. What did we say when we were doing

the TPPs about the Cubs? Do you guys remember? No. Pitching. I think that's what we talked about, right? Like this lineup is great. They still have guys,

but the pitch you need to step up and it has. Where they were ranked, like when we opened up the Cubs lineup, I think we did this one together when we were in spring training. I remember it, yeah. Like, whatever,

team we looked at before that, we then looked at the Cubs lineup and were like, holy shit. The only question was pitching and they're doing it. So, thanks for the call. I think it can keep up, not as every time through all of them click. Like, Alec Mills probably has a shorter shelf life once he faces the same team twice and they're like, lead that Alec Mills train, man. Hit that 66 curve. Lead that Alec Mills train.

I want to go get all the footage and make a video on. I just texted Robbie that. Nice. Next. Oh, wait, hold on. I skipped one. Hey, John Boying, guys. Thanks for taking my call.

It's Norm here. Brave's fan. But I want to know how many games in the shortened season. How many games does a team need to lose before you hit the panic button? So if you lose three or four in a row, five in a row, two in a row, when do you hit the panic button? Thanks for taking my call. I believe this is Norm, who's always in the chat. He's in the morning chat.

I think he's in the chat right now. He's a Braves fan. Panic button. three in a row is where I had it before the season started. I still, but with the playoffs, changing, I think it's much different. I think three in a row you're allowed to like momentarily panic right now. I mean, five in a row, I think you can panic on the season. Dude, with the new playoffs, it really, wait, like the season got a lot long.

with the two top spots going into the same playoff situation. So I don't know. What do you think? I like three. Three is the kind of the number before it gets out of control. It's either, you know, it's one team just got you, or it's, you know, a carryover from another series, and you could still turn it around in that series.

But three is the number because then if it turns into four, that's a big number and then, you know, five's in the rear view. So like the raise right now, they lost like five in a row. Yeah. You think they should be panicking? Yes. That's like a, what is it? Like a 12-game losing streak and...

But like the rays are still going to get the second spot in the division. We think that, but Jim, they're also playing the Yankees this weekend. So like if the rays don't figure it out this series, they're running into one of the hottest best teams in baseball. And then, I mean, then you are a panic. Like I know we keep saying And you know We've kind of with the expanded playoffs

It's given us ease 60 games is such a tight span In the normal realm of baseball I know it's a new world And teams should be more focused But it's also a weird fucking world I'd go team to team Like in the AL I give the raise

They lost five in a row I wouldn't be panicking If I was a race fan at this point They should be able to win that division Even coming back And the White Sox They're in a grind With the two teams above them

and the wild card. So I'd put that three games for the White Soxdale. Rangers Angels, Angels, I'd put them, same thing. Like, you know, start panicking after three, four losses in a row. But it all depends. And the NL Central, same thing. You don't want to lose three in a row over there at all, at all. The East is a mess right now because no one's played any games.

But I think the playoffs changed the panic and the shortened season and race a ton for a lot of divisions here. what do you think traff i agree uh you know i i i do think it is team to team uh the guys the teams that you know know they're going to be there whether it's because of the roster that they have or or whatever i think have a little bit less panic whereas you know like you're saying like this team the fringe teams like they need to get hot and stay hot um so the rays i'm not worried about i think for most teams they would just go series by series if you get your butt kicked and lost and got swept in a series Let's get out of Dodge, regroup and do it again.

But definitely the raise, man. The Ray's got to step it up. I think this is a huge, huge series for them. They got to win these games against Boston before the Yankees come in. Like if they lose these two to Boston, then it's full panic mode. But they'll be right. And by the time you guys are listening to this, both those games have happened. Right.

Oh, yeah. Sorry. So we'll see what they did. So at this point, if they won one of the games, I'm fine. They lost both. I think it's panic mode because you have four coming up against the Yankees,

and those should be tough games. Yeah. No, we're saying the same thing. It's, you start mapping it out, and it can get scary quick. Hey, let me just throw this back to the last question about the Cubs. We're talking about Chatwood a lot.

Guess what year it is for him? Contract here? Contract year. Let's go. He's locked in. Is he in your book? He is in my money. my book.

Mine too. Also gyms. Wow. That's great. I got him really early. I got him when he was with the Angels. I remember it. I remember it.

It was 2011. Grand Slam, huh? Mm-mm. Okay. One out of four shot. Mine's not Grand Slam either. That's no. Definitely not one out of four shots because I only had two grand slams in my career.

Who were they off of? Sunny Gray in Oakland. And, uh, Gosh, I don't, it's a Danks. I don't want to get the wrong danks. One of the Danks brothers. John. John.

John. Yeah. We're going to lean John. Chicago whites out. Yeah. Big boy. Hey guys, it's Will from Oakland. Big Time A fan here.

Thanks for taking my rotation voicemail a couple weeks ago. And my question sort of this week is more MLB related. And one of my favorite points of the year is the trade deadline. It's really exciting to me. But I'm really worried that this year it's just going to be. like a total shit show. For like my age personally, I think they really need to add a left-handed power bat and one of the guys who I think they should like I always go after if he gets hot

is Trevor Ploos' former teammate Matt Joyce. But no, that is like a Miami player. And I think teams are to be hesitant to acquire Marlon's players because of their outbreak. And I think that like if other teams get like many outbreaks, I think it's just going to ruin the entire trade deadline. I don't know. I don't want that to happen. So let me know what you guys think.

Matt Joyce Baum on talking baseball. One of my favorite ex-teamates. Yeah? Your guy? Who's a sneaky? Sneaky. Really good big league hitter. Yeah.

He's got some nice stats. He's overcome some tough years and bounce back. I could see him. I could see he's an A's player like he is an A's player he kind of fits that bill yeah it's funny like the A's and the Rays they have players that they go after and Matt Joyce is definitely a a guy that fits within those two molds so I like it he hasn't played yet this year I know that he's he got cleared I don't know what he was on the IL for but he's cleared to play now he might be in a lineup tonight as we as we have the Marlins back

So I can see that. I don't know. The Marlins are going to be dumping players. And then if the A's need a bat, I guess they are a little right-handed heavy. Okay. Interested to see. This has been on my mind a lot since all this stuff has been going down. We kind of landed at a place of like, ah, there's not going to be any trades.

You know, COVID stuff. And the teams are going to be tight. I think the teams are going to be really bunched up. So that's going to limit trading a lot. but teams are still trading. I mean, we saw the Billy Hamilton trade. Obviously, the Marlins kind of made some out-of-necessity trades. Are all of these trades for cash considerations?

The way they've been, like, navigating it a little bit is doing trades for cash, because technically you can only trade players on your 60-man pool. But people are doing players to be named later, so then just after the season, you can finish it. Yeah. Like a young guy. I think I looked into this. I think players be named later, you can do that up to six months later.

So I think, you know, teams are either agreeing on a group of guys and, you know, we'll figure it out in six months, so you might see some of that. Scott Schiebler. Yeah, I don't know. There's not going to be a ton of action. I think it's going to be more hype than anything else. That's most trade deadlines, though.

I think we'll see some stuff. I think you'll see the normal stuff. You'll see a guy out of the bullpen or, you know. Who are our deadline? Who are our con? Scott up. Hichiba. Who are our rental pitchers?

Alex Cobb, if the Orioles start to lose it. Okay. Anyone else? Archers are taken off the board. Archers off the board. Yeah, I don't know, man. That's a good question. Like, what game changer rental pieces are out there?

It's so tough because we still don't know who's going to be bad. Like, say, what if these Diamondbacks continue to just not have it this year? It's not their year. Can they, you know, I mean, if someone like Archer's, Bradley came available with teams pay for him? I think so. So I don't know. That's where it just gets so tricky because who's really going to be available. What if the Phillies are out? Real Muto.

Real Muto. That's a brutal spot to put a catcher in. Short season contract year, although he'd probably like it. We're talking pitchers. I don't know. Lindor, that was your guy, Trev. Yeah, the Indians, they're pretty good. I looked so stupid not giving them enough credit, but it is what it is. You make some calls, you swing and miss sometimes. Mike Zanino, my guy.

Well, you can't bunt, so you don't want that. Can't bunt. You don't want that guy. All right. Next voicemail. Daniel Murphy. Hey, guys. Tiger fan living in Maryland.

New listener, so I don't think Jake sucks. He seems like a good guy. And my tiger. I know they're five and three. I know it's early. I'm not thinking World Series. I'm not even thinking playoffs, but could they actually get to 500 this year

and people will actually talk about them? That's it. Bye. Hurry up an answer before they lose 10 straight. Yeah, and we don't know what happened on Tuesday or Wednesday against the, well, they don't have a game Wednesday or Thursday.

They have the double off day. So we don't know what happened on Tuesday against St. Louis. Didn't happen. That's also not happening. Yeah. So we do know. We're up to date. How about that?

Cool. The Tigers are off to a good start. I don't know. I mean, I'm trying to dig in and see, like, what's actually been happening for them. The Tyler Alexander moment was cool. Nothing's happened. It's been a run of luck. They have a five ERA as a staff and they have a 669 OPS as a, as a, as a,

offense. They've been lucky. Spencer Turnbull's been good. Turnbull looked good. Jacoby Jones, hell of a homer draft pick. They're playing the Royals. Well, they were playing the Royals, so that's part of it. Okay. I mean, the Tyler Alexander moment's fun. So lean on that. And then, dude, like, they have a lot of young guys, but they're just not going to calm up.

Holy smokes, yeah. Yeah, I, hey, I had that guy that tweeted out to me before the season and mocked him. Don't sleep on the tigers. I'm sleeping. I'm asleep, baby. Well, I don't think anyone's saying that they're going to be a, like, all he did, all, he said 500. All this collar wanted was 500, which I still don't think is there.

But, hey, there were the worst team in baseball last year. They were five and three. They beat Sincere. Yeah, I mean, it's good vibes. Like, you don't want 500. You don't want 500, bro. You don't want that. The Red Sox are trying to snake that top pick from you.

I would just give them two weeks in August of good. And then, you know, that's it. How about a week a month? A week a month. of good baseball for the Tigers? Dude, Turnbull's thrown 87 pitches, both of his starts. It looks good. No big deal.

Tyler Alexander has a 389 ERA plus. I mean, big deal. I've got bad news for you. He's in Jimmy's book, and he's not in yours. Yeah. Probably will never be in my book. Let me see if anybody on their rotation is in my book. Oh, my God.

Ivan Nova? You had to get him, right? I'd have to look it up. That's the possibility. Fulmer? Both those guys are in my book. Look, if you're a Tigers fan, you don't want 500. You don't want it.

Just get, acquire high draft picks right now. I know what you're saying, but you also want to see a little bit of good baseball. Dude, how about Austin Romine doing what he does over there? Always. I agree. You want good baseball. You got Gardy. Gardy's doing it.

Why don't you just, you know, one week. a month they win, right? A winning week a month. And then all the other games, they look competitive. That's, honestly, that's an improvement from last year. Couldn't this also, we're just looking for an improvement, but. This could also be a trade team, right?

I think isn't Nova on a one year? Jonathan's scope. Scope, Romine, Crohn, Nova. And none of those guys are like part of the plan at all because they have a bunch of young guys that they're waiting on. So, yeah, I mean, Romine, if he stays, people are always looking for catchers. One good week a month. trade a couple guys.

Yankees trade for Roe Mine. The season ends soon. Yankees trade Clint Fraser, get Roe Mine back as a rental. That'd be good for the Tigers and the Yanks. Be good for... The Higgies fine. We don't know. I'm just saying. Kind of sucks, guys.

I don't have anybody in my book. I got so many, too, so that is embarrassing for you. It's embarrassing for me. I've got you with three guys in your book, Jim. Three? Yeah. Nova Boyd-Fomer. Alexander, that's four already.

Nova Boyd. I forgot Foamer. Oh, I had Daniel Norris in there, too. Oh, he's definitely there. Because he's a weirdo. Yeah, yeah. Okay. Not in my book, but I've got some hits off him.

All right. Next up. Hey, what's up, guys? It's Alex calling from Springfield Mass. I'm calling today to talk about the Red Sox. The reason I'm calling today is I'm wondering if we made a mistake. The initial trade for Mookie Betts. We got Bruce Stark-Ratterol.

and Redugo from Okie Betts. Turned it down. I know at the time there was some concerns about Gratterol's shoulder. Anyway, so Dodgers ended up getting them. We got Downs and Connor Wong. I don't know anything about Jeter Downs and Connor Wong, besides the fact that it's Poo's favorite Jeter. But, I mean, were those guys worth turning down this guy?

Gradol is looking amazing. I know Jimmy just made that video. just wondering. All right, guys. Love you. Peace. Thank you. No, I think you're still fine because when the Red Sox were trading for Gratterol, they thought he was going to be a starter. At least that's what was reported. That was the story. That was the story. And if that's the case and then they find out he's going to be a reliever, even if he is a future closer and lights out reliever, I still think they wanted more than a dominant reliever because you should be able to find those guys within your organization or grow them at least a

couple years relievers are very volatile not maybe it lights out closer but a good arm jake's mad at the red sox because they don't have any of those guys in their pipeline or haven't been able to find any i still think you'd rather jeter downs than a lights out reliever he plays every single game can affect every single game lights out reliever so no i still think like you know from the red sox point of view, they thought they're getting a starter. It wasn't a starter that changed to Jeter Downs. I still think it's fine. Although Gratterol is really fun to watch. Building off that a little bit, I mean, you know, when the Red Sox have their money and they will soon, you know, they're a team that can pay for relievers. Like that's, that's kind of one of the bigger

difference between small market and big market teams right now. So you can go and get that guy. And I think the bigger thing, give Kim some time shirts, John and the Media. It's Heim, but, you know. Give Heim some time. Give Heim some time. Give Heim some time, too. He's my friend. He's in my book. So don't be rude to him. The Book of Kimes. But, I mean, if you, here's what I need to tell our caller. Thank you for calling in.

Look at the guys who are in your bullpen right now. It wasn't not that they didn't want Bruce Starr, Gatorall, because he puts your whole bullpen to shame, talent-wise. You get an everyday person, and socks are punting. This is Himes' dream, man. You get to tank for a full season. The Red Sox haven't had a top six draft pick since I think it was the 70s. In this abbreviated season that'll be here and gone before we know it,

I know it feels like forever. Heim's going to get a top draft pick, and they've reset the engine in Boston, which would normally be 162 games. Here it'll be 60 if that. You know, hey, maybe they sell a piece or two. Maybe this is the year they move Benny. Maybe this is, I don't know. But, yeah, I think I'm sorry.

It wasn't nothing to do with Graderall's talent. He should be a lights out reliever. But, yeah, you got some guys that can play the field and will come up on a better timeline for your socks. What's Gratrol going to do for you right now? Yeah, nothing. They're trying to lose right now. Nothing.

That's why they trade. It's interesting because they have some good players on their squad. They could move guys. Depends on Himes' time. I don't know what he's thinking there. Obviously, they're trying to get under that the competitive balance tax threshold. They will this year with the departure of Mookie.

But I love Jeter Downs. I mean, look, like you guys, I'm going to reiterate what you guys said. Like, you want an impact player that plays both sides of the ball over a relief pitcher. It's just, that's just the way it is. So I've seen this guy, put my hands on this guy, had him in the cage, and he could be special. He's young, you know.

I've said it before. Prospects are nothing until they prove they're something. Guys that the red guys at the red, Trev, I agree with you wholeheartedly on that. That's been my take forever. Guys that the Red Sox could move if they wanted to really move at the deadline workmen, one of their only relievers that's a real reliever right now in their pen. JBJ,

people are always going to need defense and speed if they're going in the playoffs. Yep. J.BJ is a great addition for a team. Yeah, Jake, you had a reaction to that. What was it? I don't know. I think he's... I don't know.

I'd be interested to see. I would see them doing Benny before J.B.J. I mean, it always depends on your team. Is he a free agent after the season, J.B.J. Or is it after next year? He's a free agent after this season. Benny's got two years left, so I don't know if... J.B.J. could be gone.

Yeah. Pilar and Lucroy, also free agents. Yeah, man. They can make some moves. I'm going to... Why would they hold on to J.B.J? I wonder... I don't know what you're going to get back.

So often, though. I think you might have a better chance at moving Benny with the two years left, with the chance that he can still be... Maybe you get some international draft slot money, something like that. I mean, those things matter. Yeah. So we'll see. I don't know.

Someone may come knocking for speed and defense for a postseason. I mean, defense for sure. I mean, Bradley's a stud. I just, it's tough to picture Boston moving them. They just keep them and lose them. Good. Yeah, why? I don't understand.

They move mooky. It's just tough for me to see them moving JBJ. I don't know what they're going to get offered. But isn't it better than just losing him? Potentially. I mean, he could also be part of their next year plans. Yeah. You know?

If there's an extension or something, in the works. But if they don't see them being back, it would be just move them. They could. I'm not saying no, but I'm just saying I'm having trouble seeing it. All right. Hey, Jake, Jimmy, Trev. This is Connor from Cleveland.

Naturally, I am an Indians fan. And first of all, I want to say Jake sucks. And secondly, Trevor, you know, Jake and Jimmy try to tell you the Indians. You weren't giving them enough credit. But there is a concern I have. have Brad Hand. I think you guys should have put him on slump watch. He was awful at the end of the year last year. And he blew his first save the other night and I foresee many more blown saves to come. All right. Thank you guys. Love the show. Bye.

Yeah, tough start to the season for Brad Hand looking at the game log now. He's got four earned runs and his last two outings. I got to admit, I don't know anybody in their pen, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. I'm an old ice. of touch base ex baseball player but you want your closer yeah breadhand came in carc and check supposed to be special i think he's like a pitch revolution guy like unhittable slider if he throws it right here's the thing though is they got six starters so they got a guy that they can move you get to the playoffs you can even cut that down to four stars and put two of those guys in the pen they got pitching man yeah and i think a guy like bradhan will figure it out who who is he blown up against

What are those game logs, Jim? I think it's the White Sox. I just got off of it. I mean, he's got enough of a body of work in his career that I just assume it's the start of the season. I want to bail on Brad Hand. Yeah, he did have like a pretty bad second half last year, if I'm remembering and that guy, 5-6 ERA in his last 20 games last year. So, I mean, you do that.

and then into this, you can see why Indians fans are like, I hope this doesn't spiral out of control. They also have, yeah. How are you saying that guy's name? Karen Chack? Karen Chack. Nick Withgren. I get through an extra letter in there.

Cam Hill, Adam Simber. Yeah, look, they're starting pitching it's so damn good. You know. I mean, when they get to the playoff series, they have starters go to the pen. That's pretty easy. Yeah. It's pretty easy.

All right. Two more. What's up John Boy, Jiggin, Trev. It's Jonathan from Plymouth, Massachusetts. I got a question for Trev. So I'm a baseball player myself, and I was wondering, after a bad at bat, what's a couple of things you used to do to kind of lock back in and stay mentally, kind of both sane and even keeled through a game? Thanks for answering the question and go yanks. Wow. I mean, it kind of depends on who you are, who you're facing, I guess.

But a couple deep breaths work. Always talk about a short memory. Forget about what you did the prior abat, whether it was good or bad. That's something that you have to learn. You know, taking abats into the next abat is something you'll see young guys do all the time. And it's just a mentality that has to come as you get older, a little bit more experienced, a little bit more mature, you start to separate the abats. And the best hitters separate pitches from pitches.

They could have a bad swing and they don't even, whatever. Not a big deal. Back to the game plan. Those are the guys that are the best hitters in the world. They can really separate those, the bats pitch by pitch. So that's my advice is just don't worry about it. One bad abat, forget about it. Take a deep breath.

Stick to your plan. Have a game plan, I think is number one. And, you know, you were facing a guy, know what it works and what doesn't work and what you should be attacking and what you should be laying off. Good advice. And Buny. And Bunn. And Bunn, baby. Get that hit, man.

What though, guys? I'm going to talk pretty fast. I want to keep it short and sweet. First of all, Jake doesn't suck. I'm a nice of fans. We just won the World Series. It was awesome. Got to create some memories with my dad.

He's been waiting since the Senators days. But I'm a D.C. sports fans. So I think the sky is falling. Are we witnessing the last gasp of the Nats here? I mean, are we right around the corner from the Nats being really bad? Max Scherzer's 37. Howie Kendrick can't carry the team forever. We got Soto, but what else is there coming down the pipeline?

I don't know. I wouldn't be surprised if my Nats are pretty bad pretty soon. Side note. What's up with Christian Yelich? I mean, I'm rooting for the guy. I'd love to hear what Plouf has to say about, you know, being a good hitter, but being mired in a bad slump. I mean, what's that like? All right, thanks, guys.

Love it. Well, that was kind of the first question to you as well, the slump stuff. We can talk about the Nats. Scherzer's old. He's still pretty good. Strasberg and Corbyn are locked up, so you can be excited about them. Soto's exciting. Keeboom is supposed to swing a big bat.

If you can start fielding balls. Who else is young out there? Robles? Uh, yeah, Robleson Center, he's 23. So they still got, I mean, you got more going on than say. Trade Turner's 27, he'll be around. Trade Turner's, yeah, so you still got stuff going on, you know. You don't have, you know, no, you still have a lot going on if you're a Nats fan.

And the other thing is, I mean, yes, guys are getting old. I mean, hey, Strausberg's going to be around for a little while. He just got the bank. You know, next year is supposed to be Scher's next year. And yes, you can get sad. He's getting old. He's been awesome from you guys. one of the better big contracts ever given out in baseball history.

But also, that's 35 mil coming off the books that you could go and get another free agent. And not a lot of other teams can do that. So, yes, I mean, you know, that team got their title and it's awesome. I think what this fan's prepping them for is the 2022 Nats are going to look a lot different. Because they're right. I mean, you can only ride out as Drewble Cabrera and how he can. Kendrick figuring it out later in the career for so long. But, yeah, I mean, the Nats will be able to get a couple impact-free agents.

You have a couple more young guys come up. If Kee-boom's the truth, that's pretty cool. Yeah, it'll be different. It'll be different, and that's kind of baseball just does that. Like, even if you're not prepped for it, even if you do have a young core you think's going to be together forever, it just doesn't work out that way. No, it moves fast. I mean, the Yankees started their race.

Rebuild in 2017, if you look at that team and look at what we've been doing now, it's crazy. Chase Headley, Starlin Castro, Jacoby Ellsbury, Greg Bird, like, it's just not the same team at all. You tell yourself, Todd Frazier. Greg Bird's going to be a big part of your future, and then he's fighting to make the Rangers 60 man. So baseball moves. Who else do they have in their prospects? In the pipeline? That Nationals' point.

Pipers-wise is what I was looking at. Let's see. Pitchers are tough. Pitchers are always tough to find. What do you think Scherzer does? After 20-21, he's a free agent. He'll be 30-fucking eight. Every wants, man.

Does he get a five-year deal? Pitch till he's 43? Yeah, I like two years big money. Two years big money. If he can still do it. It's interesting to see that, man. Because we haven't seen a lot of guys pitched that long. and be that good at that age.

So if he can kind of like ride it out and have another good year in 2021, just a regular good year, 3-5 ERA, be interesting to see what offers there are for him. Looks like the pitching prospects for them is a guy named Eddie Yean. Yeah, Yen and Dean and Dinaberg. We'll talk about them in 2023. It looks like they're both rookie ball guys. So, yeah, you're a little ways out.

He's a one of the worst. He's a Missouri guy. Does Max Scher end his? career alongside Jack Flaherty and the Cardinals rotation? Wow. Missouri State as a coach. Could be cool. Could be cool.

All right. Thank you guys very much for calling in and leaving voicemails being part of the show with us and giving us some topics that maybe we would not have talked about ourselves. Appreciate it very much. Hope you have a fantastic weekend. Tomorrow tune in. Jake and I will be recapping this series that were Monday through Thursday series. And then have, well, we'll just see you tomorrow.

Goodbye. Thank you.