Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - 203 | Voicemails: Brian Snitker, the Padres, and Fan Rules

Episode Date: September 10, 2020

Jomboy, Jake, and Plouffe are answering your voicemails! Who should get credit for the non-Tatis and Machado Padres? (7:10) Are umpires worse this year? (14:45) What do you make of the Brewers pitching staff? (27:45) Should Braves fans be mad at brian Snitker for his bullpen usage? (32:25) How many teams are you allowed to claim you root for? (41:50) Leave us a voicemail at 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. It's the voicemail episode. You guys called in. We'll be answering. Let's do it. Let's have some fun. What's going on, everybody? How are you doing?

Welcome back to Talking Baseball. My name's Jimmy. Sitting next to me is Jake in California. We got Trev behind the dish, BBD. We're coming to you live from the Roosevelt Studios here in the Bronx. That's RSVLTS. 20% off if you use code Johnboy. They got shirts.

They got hats. They got masks. swimming trunks, shoes, jackets, sweatshirts, tons of stuff. Trevor, how are you doing? Couldn't be better. Okay. We talked earlier today. Got a new gopher in town.

A lot of people are always asking, how's the gopher situation going? It was good for a couple weeks. Got a new one in, but traps are set. And I suspect by the end of the day I'll have a little critter in my capture. That's very exciting for you. Is it 120 degrees by you? It is not. So currently we're sitting around the 90 area, but it's very windy.

So it's kind of like that brush fire type of weather. It's not good. California needs some help right now. Yeah, not good. Jake, how are you? I'm good. Speaking of a guy who needs help. I got my Roosevelt shirt on.

shout out rosy's Serena just took the second set need to get this off my computer screen but yeah man sports are hot in the streets right now NBA tennis baseball football

coming back holy Toledom's but baseball is nuts man I mean that graphic keeps popping up of the AL wild card and it's like the Yankees and then all the teams everyone expected to be terrible It's like Mariners, Tigers, Orioles.

So that's always a nice jab to us, us Yankee fans, and we deserve it right now. The Grinky quote for the Astros, and the parallels between the Astros and the Yankees are pretty comical. But, you know, they're either going to make the playoffs because half the league makes the playoffs, or they're going to continue to play bad and not deserve to make the playoffs. So that's kind of what's been spinning around here. But yeah, we keep saying it in the pregame. show, but we're past the two-thirds point. So, like, the teams, we keep wanting to give NL Central teams love because they have

talent, the Reds and the Brewers, and we keep poo-pooing the tigers, the Orioles, and now the Mariners, the Giants. Like, it's time to just give those teams the love because the other teams don't get it. I get what you're saying, and I appreciate it, but I also disagree. Okay. I think the expanded playoffs is just warping our brain where we wouldn't care about any of these teams. And a normal year, but it ain't normal.

And a three game set, Big Daddy, who. Can we better be happy that it's a big expanded playoff thing. The Yankees will be done. I know. That's what I want to look at right now. What would the playoffs look like without expanded rosters right now? Rays would be in, White Sox would be in, Oakland would be in, right? And the wild card game would be Blue Jays versus Indians.

Blue Jays are better than Minnesota right now? No, they're not. So it'd be an All-A-L-Central wild card. Yeah, it'd be twins and Indians. Twins are 27 and 18 as we are recording this on Wednesday, and the Blue Jays are 24 and 18. That's a game and a half up. Two wild card.

Yeah. That's pretty wild. Rays. No Houston, no Yankees. No Houston, no Yankees. That's why they did this. Curious how it would set up because you can't always put your number one in that wild card game in a regular season, especially if you're fighting for something. Right.

Who would the matchup be? It would be pretty interesting to see if they got a Bieber Maida, Beaver Berrios or Burios. In the NL, it would be the Braves, the Cubs, the Dodgers, and the Padres. would normally be the team that gets screwed because they'd be clearly the best wildcard team. Yeah, and they'd be facing the Phillies. Wow.

Yeah. Wowza. Pretty crazy, man. Yeah. It'd be fun. And I wonder what the races would be, I'm not sure. So look, I mean, if you're looking at that, the second wildcard team in the AL is 27 and 18. And the Yankees right now are sitting at 500. It's why they expect.

It's why they expanded. I mean, we got confident that, you know, the cream rises to the top, but baseball is a silly sport, and it just doesn't always work like that. And that's why they expanded. That's why I was hoping they'd expand, because honestly, we'll see what it looks like when the three gamers get here. But, you know, I want Houston and the Yankees to be in there, because I think they're two of the top teams in the AAL.

I mean, who just got left out on the NL side there? I guess the Cardinals right now? I mean, yeah, Cardinals. And then the rest is just chaos. That's why I'm saying about the NL. Like the rest is bad. Like they're going to, they're fighting for that eight spot. But I mean, the AL's the same thing.

Rest is bad. But again, three games set and then a five gamer. It fits this season. It fits this season. And I'm interested to see if the three gamers get crazy, that means the matchups for the five gamers are going to be nuts. And then it's who are the Dodgers playing. Marlins?

What if they did it the way I wanted them to do it? The six? Yeah, what if I'm trying to find it? Remind us how you wanted it. I don't want the second place in division to be the automatic four, four, five, six seed. So you want it the best record. I want it to be the three division winners and then just the best record from there on out. I think it'd be pretty much.

I think it might be similar. The AL Central is the only. thing that screws it up. The seven seed is going to be the third AL Central team, and that's going to be a really good ball team. The twins are the seven seed right now, and they would be the five-suit. So the two-seed is kind of going to get screwed. Yes. If the twins land at the seven-seed, the two-seed, the two-seed. That's why the yank stopped winning. They didn't want to risk being that two-seed. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, they couldn't because the raise, they would have to, yeah. Stink. Stink. Let's go to the voicemails. Here's the first one.

Hey John Boy, I'm Daniel from Slam Diego and my opinion on Jake is irrelevant honestly But I want not only to talk about Fernando Tapis and Manny Machado Who is slowly and silently building a solid MVP case But the real success of the Padres is from two different daddies We have Jake Cronenworth NL rookie of the year and the number one daddy Wilmire Will Myers has completely turned it around change his batting stance. I think it's from Jace.

I don't fuck with weak-ass shit, Tingler. And Will Myers and Jake Cronoward. And along with Trent Bricstrom and some of those other little pickups are added are the real reason that the Padres are doing so well. One through nine,

they order staff and it's solid. And for the first time ever, I'm excited about Padres baseball. Go dads. I changed my opinion. Jake sucks. Trave, were you listening? I was listening.

I'm kind of looking to see who should really get credit because it's not J's T's. Tlinger. Jake didn't have his headphones and I was distracted by finding. We're talking about the Padres and who deserves credit. He was saying Croninworth and Will Myers, you know, Croninworth doing what he's doing. He's looked incredible.

Rookie of the year type year. I don't know if he's going to get it or what. And then he went on to say Will Myers changed the batting stance and Jace Tingler deserves credit, which is absolute bullshit. Tingler has nothing to do with the hitting. So with Will, since he's in. in the big leagues. I assume that this is a big league hitting coach thing.

You have Damien Easley as the hitting coach. Really? Old Tiger Slugger, Damian Easley. Wow. They have a pretty good staff on here. Wayne Kirby comes over from the Orioles, goes over to Slam Diego. He's a big clubhouse presence.

I'm sure he's keeping the guy sharp and loose. And then another guy that I love that's over there. I didn't know this was Bobby Dickerson. one of the better infield coaches in the game i had him when i was in philly for a little bit a guy that's helped everybody out immensely but as far as who deserves some credits number one is the players cronion worth coming up here and just doing it in his rookie year will mire's realizing he needs an adjustment i mean both these guys are killing it and uh yeah damien easy got to give him i think the real credit here i agree with the caller will mires isn't getting shouted out or

being part of this. What did you guys do on? Wake and Jake? Wake and Jake this morning. Well, Will Myers' second highest OPS plus on the team. I mean, he's got a 297 batting average and a 973 OPS with 11 home runs. I talk about baseball all day, every day, and that hasn't come across my brain yet, so I guess my fault as well. I've seen him doing it, and I think it's just more like, it's about time, Will.

Like, this is the guy who he can be. This is the guy who he was, and it gets kind of. a shipped off to San Diego, doesn't perform. He gets the contract early on in his career. But this is the guy he can be. I mean, he's always been a hitter. And I think maybe it's just this right mix of guys together and the fact that he doesn't have to be the guy.

I think a lot of times that helps players out. You know, you've got Tatis in the spotlight, Machado in the spotlight, even Paddock and Krona were some of the younger guys. And he can just go out and hit. And he's complimented by a good lineup. I know analytics hates that. We talk about that all the time. But when you're surrounded by guys, you know, rising tide raises all ships.

So, you know, credit to him. He's, like you said, Jim, second best OPS Plus on the team, only behind maybe the best player in baseball now, Fernando Tatis Jr. But we love the Padres. If you boys don't mind, I'm going to sink my teeth into this one. Okay. Let me start with Padres owner, Ron Fowler. Quote, at the end of the 2019 season,

heads will roll if this team doesn't win in 2020. All right, Disco Ron. Let it hang out there. And Ron went out and paid that Machado contract, man. The San Diego Padres, they paid that Machado contract. And then at the deadline, they also get permission to go get Clevenger. And he's getting paid some money, too. And we've heard that there were teams that didn't want to make any money moves,

especially within this move. So shout out to Disco Ron Fowler for opening up the wallet. Who did Disco Ron Fowler sign to run his team? A.J. Preller, man, and his moves have paid off. Trent Grisham, who has a piece in that trade, has been lights out this year. A lefty bat to help balance that lineup. He has an 835 OPS this year, coming down a little bit, but a one and a half war really good. And then Croninworth, like you mentioned, Trev, I mean, he was supposed to be a throwing in the Tommy Fam deal.

Tommy Fam's been out. He was throwing the other day. He's been an impact player. Supposed to be a two-way guy. I wonder if we ever see him on the bump. And we'll see if Tommy Fam can come back and impact this team. Zach Davies, also in the Brewer's trade, has been lights out. So Preller, as the GM, deserves a lot of credit.

And the only other thing I'll say about Jace Tingler, where Trev, you're right, he doesn't deserve a ton of credit. But going back to the incident, the Tatis home run, Tingler came back the next day, walked it back, apologize, defend your guy. Texas since then, I think as of yesterday, they were 3 and 17 since Home Run Gate. So, you know, I can only say so much stuff about the swings because the other guy that needs to be mentioned with Will Myers, Eric Hosmer.

Young Haas is balling out. And I guess he embraced some analytics, which he fought throughout the year. So I don't know if that was Damien Easley. I don't know who that was in the organization. but I think top-down owner to the players, you can point at a lot of things that have helped made the Padres, the Padres.

Yeah, I'm not saying Jace Tingler is bad for the team or anything like that. In fact, I've talked to some of the guys and they really like them. I've had positive experiences with them as well. But, yeah, I mean, we've got to talk about the guys that are developing these players, so the hitting coordinator, and then, you know, the guys that are in the cages, in the trenches every day. Those are the guys that deserve the credit. If they make adjustments, it's really never the manager that's doing that.

And like you said, you know, Jace handled that situation poorly at first, but then he kind of, he figured it out. He got pushed in the right direction rather hard and quick. Quickly, too, yeah. Quick. All right. And, hey, I saw someone in the chat, shout out Nate Steele. Hosmer might be out for the rest or a chunk of this with the broken finger trying to bunt. But guess what?

They also got Mitch Morland at the deadline. So I don't know if that's Preller, the owner, or whoever, but you got a pretty nice plug-and-play guy that you got at the deadline. I mean, it looks like a genius move now. I mean, he hasn't been very good this year, but we know what Mitch can do. But yeah, Hosman, that's a big loss for them, man. Just even the vibe, you know, that's what Haas does, man. He throws the vibe out.

Speaking of vibes, let's talk about umpires. What's up, fellas? I was just watching the podcast. Hey, hey, John, boy. What happened? Land Diego. There's Rocky's game last night, and the umping was just horrendous. The strike zone was all over the place.

I saw a few players get just totally screwed by calls that were called strikes when they shouldn't have been, or were clearly over the plate and called balls. And then, of course, the commentators start talking about just taking the hump completely out of the game. Just wanted to get your guys' thoughts on why you think the umping is especially, especially bad this season and if you think it's going to carry over into the postseason. Thanks for taking my fault. Jake sucks. See you. I mean, has the ump, has the umping been necessarily worth? Get this call any season. I think every season you say, wow, the upping has gotten really bad this year.

There's bad umps out there. There's good umps out there. I don't know. Base running's been bad. You like robo-omps, Trev? We're a pro-ump pod, at least we have been. lately. I go back and forth and every time I start talking about the game of baseball, all I can think of is don't be a boomer, don't be a boomer, don't be a boomer. Again, I'm kind of a boomer on this.

I like the human element. I like it. I like the interaction. The one thing I will say is it would be cool as like a hitter or a team to have some sort of like pitch challenge flag. If you get rung up on a horseshit strike three call and you could be like not, sorry, you know, C, B, here's my red flag. We're going to challenge that one.

I think that'd be cool. Do you know, because when you're striking out in a big time situation and it's a shit call, you pissed, man. It gets real tricky there. If they can do balls and strikes via robots eventually, they can perfect it. It's not perfected what they tried.

I would not be against it. I think the umping's been the same as it always is. Like, you know, when it's bad, you notice it. When it's not bad, it's like soundtracks and scores and movies. Do you think they could implement an appeal, like where we get together and we say, hey, you get to appeal two balls and strikes a game. It's just with the eye test. It's with the overhead cam.

Do you think that could kind of work? No. Okay. I think it could. I think if you limit them. Like if it's a high or low call, like that depends on how the batter, like the rule is like when the batter is ready to swing. So it's not him standing still. It's like there's so many trinkets to like actually figuring out.

They already have that technology though. You can go and look if the guys missed a pitch or not. And it's instant. So like if you, I think having unlimited. challenges doesn't work. But if you did have one or two and you're like, dude, big part of the game, I could get that pitch back. If you have that, just use it for every pitch.

I see no reason to half-ass that. Well, that's, and I think that's the problem. It would slow the game down way too much if you had it every pitch. No, I'm saying if you have the ability. He went if you have, if you're going to actually use the technology to check the pitches, that would take the long. Just use it. And if it was that good, use it. But I, I do think there's a world where you could use it now,

and I don't want to compare it to the NFL pass interference rule because they basically implemented it and then said, we're going to shove it up your guy's butt. Like, it's not a real thing. But I do think, you're right. I think teams would need to know what you can actually peel. It would have to be really low to the point that you could look at it and be like, yeah, that's a low pitch.

But with the plate in that overhead camera, I think you can do if there's a, gap there. So I think if teams knew that appeal system, because it just is a really, Treve, I agree with you and I love the human nature, but man, when that one-one pitch is off the plate and gets called a strike and instead of two-one, you're one-two. I mean, with the way modern way baseball is played, I mean, that can be the difference in a game so easily. Because then one-two count, you're getting basically three sliders. Yeah. Yeah. I, I think it's a big difference.

You have the technology and you use it every pitch or you don't. You know. But I have an interesting question. Michael Kay on Yes Network, there was a play where someone slid into third. They came off the base slightly and in between like their foot hitting it and then their butt landing on it. The gloves stayed on. So they reversed the call and called him out, which I think everyone agrees not in the spirit of replay, but an unaffected consequence of using replay.

Michael Kay said when they review it, they should not be able to use slow-mo replays just live time. That'll fix all the bang-bangs that get wrong, like all the really egregious miscalls, but then you wouldn't have the unaffected consequences. I don't know if I like it or dislike it, but I definitely thought it was an interesting thought process that I hadn't thought of.

I don't like it. I mean, I don't like the whole keep your tag on the guy and if he inches off the base after he slides through it. he's out thing because that puts if you if you try to stop on the base as like a base runner you're going to get hurt dude like that shit happens where you kind of go past the base uh i think that's like you said that's an un what did you call it unattended consequence unattended consequence tough word intended intended intended unintentional consequence unintentional uh i don't like that part of it but if you're i mean i know i go back and forth on this all the time i love the spirit of the game

what the call is right. But mainly I think if I was in charge of this, it'd just be big situations. And I don't know how you trim that down, like two strikes, something like that. I don't know, man. It's hard. That's why there hasn't been.

Replay's weird. I hate that the call on the field holds weight. Like, oh, it has to be really bad. It has to be really like, what's the word? has to be to overturn it. To overturn it. Like really, there's a word they always use. I'm blanking out.

Substantial evidence. Yeah, really substantial to overturn it. Why? Right. We're calling his call into question. So why would it hold any weight into the decision? That's the very thing. It's the human element.

Like, there was the home run with the Cubs. Joe West. Joe West, not the Cubs. The Astros. With Mookie. And Joe West called it a home run. But then Joe West said, you know what? I want to review this. Right. Because I don't believe my own call. I don't have faith in my own call.

And then it got upheld because there wasn't enough evidence to overturn the call that Joe West himself said, I don't have any faith in this. Can we help me out here? Like, why would that hold any weight? That makes sense to me that the umpires call holds weight. You know, it's like saying like, I didn't kill him. and like, well, let's go to the evidence. Like, okay, well, you know, we have to believe him because he said he didn't do it. It's like, well, why would that hold weight when that's the very thing in question?

I've never understood that. It's weird. I don't know, man. I don't think, again, I don't think there's a perfect solution to that. Because then what do you say? Just make a new call? Just make a new call and say, from the video we watched, this is the call.

But if it's close enough, then I think, like, fan bases would just get outraged. They do already. At least you have a rule, you know? Well, they do already. Like if we can't tell. But how many times do we get upset by that rule? Oh, yeah. I mean, it sucks, but I just don't think there's a better answer.

Whenever they say the call on the field stands, people are pissed. Yeah. If they say confirmed or overturned, great. But when it stands, you're just like, that pisses you off so much. Yeah, exactly. All right. Next voicemail. Hey, Robert McKinns in the city.

Forgot this. Other message over a minute, so here you go. Your boy, Luke Voight, was once my boy at No State, Mo State, hashtag Missouri State in Springfield, Missouri. Catcher, now he's in the show, hitting home runs, no big deal. Also, you know, who came from Missouri State, hitting home runs, Ryan Howard. Will Luke Voight have more home runs than Ryan Howard by the end of his career? Who knows? What's the over-under?

What do you think? Yeah. No. No. What Howard finish with? A lot. I would say it's in the threes. 3.82.

You want to look at some money. Go look at Ryan Howard's salary page. Yeah. Void didn't start getting everyday play until he was 27 years old, 28 years old. Yeah. Until he was 27 years old, he's had one full season. Yeah. And he missed.

Like a month of that hurt. Now another COVID year in his prime. Now he's got a COVID year in his prime. So like his next full season will be at 30. When did Howard start like 24? I mean. 20s was kind of his first full year. Howard?

He would have been earlier, but they had a guy named Jim Tomey in front of him. By the way, I mean, he was the fastest MLB player ever to 100 home runs. Because in his third season slash his first full season, he hit 58 Yackers. He had 22 at 25. So, I mean, he had... Luke Void has 54 career. Ryan Howard had that in his first full season. Ryan Howard had 127 home runs by the time he was...

Before he was 28. I mean, this isn't even a question. I appreciate that... What's the spread on it? What's the final spread? 382. If Luke Void hits over 150 home runs, I'll be shocked. Yeah, I was going to say, like, 125.

I was going to say 120, yeah. Yeah. Ryan Howard with a career 180 mil. Mm. I mean, Howard had a 58, 47, 47, 48, 45, 31, 33 stretch. That's here. So bad. Not going to find a lot of better four-year stretches. And I wonder, hey, how about a little A-L love here?

What if he was an A-L guy and could have just D.H? Does his body stay a little healthier? Who knows? Who knows? I don't. I don't. His career war would have been a lot better. Voight is very good, not knocking him.

It's just hard to do, bro. Later in life, yeah. How many people? I saw Trout got to 300 homers. There's only 140 people ever in the game to do that. So, like, come on, man. How about that? Ryan Howard has more home runs than Mike Trout

and will have more home runs than Mike Trout for the next. Three years. So. What's Howard out? Three, what? 382. And Trout just at 300? Yeah. Trout's not like a huge...

No, it's 30 the next year? No, but he's just great. 30 a year. 30 a year. 30 a year. The guys that hit those 600 mark and all that have the years that are like... 40, 50. 50. 50, 60, you know. You've got to have a few of those years mixed in. Can we dream?

But can we do our 30-second dream about Thick Boy, D.H. Trout? Because that always gets me going. He's already thick. Oh, my God. Just wait. Yeah, it's going to be interesting to see what he... Let's do that real quick. Over under Mike Trout career home runs.

How old is he right now? 30. He's just under 30. He's just under 30. He's under contract for what? I have him hitting 200 more. Okay, so you haven't gotten into the 5s. I kind of agree with that.

I got 5. 5.25. Sixes will be very tough. He has... Thick boy Mike Trout might turn into more of a home run hitter. How many years does he have left? Like a lot, right? Eight.

I mean, his contract is for a while. Signed through 2030. Oh, my God. So he's okay. So 10 more years. 10 more years making 37 mil. His bank account might be okay, Trev. I know you like a good daddy.

You love a good daddy. I love a good daddy. I love that up, dude. That's like freaking stupid money, bro. It's nuts. All right, next. Hey, guys, it's Sam again. I've got a story that I've been wanting to talk about for a while, but nobody's called in about it yet.

So I thought I would talk about it. And that is the Brewer's bullpen with the emergence of Devin Williams. Hater hasn't given up a hit this year. Still, Canable is going to be coming back soon. Coralta's been on Rio out of the bullpen. For the most part, he has a couple blowups, but going back to last year, he's been a lot better as a reliefer than a starter.

So the pressure really goes to the starting pitchers, because if you can get a good six out of woodruff, six out of Corbyn Burns, six out of Hauser, that's a pretty good recipe for a game with all the good arms at the back of the pen. All right, take care. Bye. Hater has getting up a hit as we're recording this.

It's 11.2 innings pitched with two hits, which is still pretty good. Devin Williams has almost half the whip of Hater because of the locks, so. Is J.P. Fire Eisen getting innings for them? 6.1. He's in the book, in the bushes. I had to bomb off that guy. Like that.

I like the question We're counting on the brew crew Jake made a rule this morning that we couldn't talk about No central teams any longer But I can't quit him, man Like I keep saying this is a team That does it every dang year

I mean your three If they somehow I mean they need any offense Yellich needs to go Yelich has an 811 OPS Hurrah's second with 785 Like those are the two guys that are above league average and Yelly's having one of his worst like career years.

If they can figure it out on offense, again, I'm trying to go three-game set mode with the Brewers. Woodruff Burns-Hauser and then Devin Williams, Hayter. You could scare a team, but I don't know, Brewers. I got I got nothing until you start winning games. Second highest strikeout, nine innings on the Brewers. Haters won, obviously. Yeah. Got any guesses?

Teams? No, the second highest strikeout nine pitcher on the Brewers. So it's not Williams? I don't know. Freddie Peralta. 16.5. Devin Williams is 18.5. I meant, I'm sorry.

I meant besides Williams. Got you. Not besides Hayter. Gotcha. Because you had just said it. So yeah, Peralta. Wouldn't I guess that. Cool.

Phelps was there. They got rid of him. This is young Freddie Peralta. Weren't there two Peraltas, or did I dream that? He's 24. There was Willie Peralta who was good for the Brewers. This is Freddie. You know who's really affected this season?

What was that, Tref? For the Brew Proof. Say it. Lorenzo Kane, man. Yeah. Him not being there, that's a hole that, you know, I don't think he had a great year last. year but he's still a guy in that lineup and when you just have a hole that you can't plug

you're gonna get the leaks so I think they I think they definitely missing because I'm looking at their lineup man it just doesn't seem like there was a ton to start with yeah and then you take a guy like cane out and it kind of hurts so who is there three houseer burns anderson is there one two three uh woodruff woodruff woodruff woodruff probably the one why doesn't he come up on here the way I have it sorted he missed starts so then

and nine starts Renzo canes got a sneaky war too yeah I don't like their starters um I think Woodruff Woodruff's good

and he's been in the playoffs the past couple years Corbin Burns is having kind of a special season yeah I mean kind of under the radar no Corbyn But I was trying to link it to the bullpen.

Because, I mean, Hater and Devin Williams right now, is that four innings? Can Devin give you two? Yeah, you're going to have to burn these guys out to get to the playoffs. Yeah. So I don't like... Hit. I mean, they burn Hater out every year. Yeah.

It's their move. Next. Braun, get hot. Hey, Trev, John Boy, Jay. This is Hunter from Baltimore, Georgia. Braves Country, and I just want to say, congratulate Akunya, on winning a Royal Series when he joins the Yankees when his contract is up. Because I'll be his first one because Brian Snicker is the worst manager in Major League Baseball.

The other day, the double-headed used our two best relievers in a six-run lead game. A nightcap game, he used a one-run deficit. And then whenever it was a three-run deficit, he had a position. I'm just tired of the Brian Snicker experience, and I hope y'all see what our pain. So this is what I was talking about when you were saying, SNET. Like, what was that pre-game show? last episode. I don't know why it was. Snitstone weird

stuff. Like that's so weird. He had a six-run lead and a double header and burnt out as two top relievers and then brought a position player in a three-run

lead. Yeah. I mean it sounds Can I? Please, Trevor. Let me go. Okay. We're talking about snicker. That sounds like a really stupid move. I get that.

We're talking about the 2018 manager of the year. The 2019 runner up, runner up. Third, a manager of the year. The guy's got a 42 and 24, or excuse me, with the Braves. I thought that was his braids. I don't know what his record is with the Braves. I guarantee it's good.

They're in first place. Just relax a little bit. You know, cut them some slack. I don't think we need to run him out of town so you're not going to win a World Series with them. Well, that's hyperbole, but it's a very weird, dude. That's a one, that's a weird thing to do. He's been very good as the match.

They had bases loaded with a three-run lead. Or no, they had bases loaded. They were down three runs. Down three runs, bases loaded. He brought in Culberson to pitch to Trey Turner. DFAed him. Yeah, I can't defend that too much. My only logic there is that they came into the,

double header saying let's get a win. Let's get one. And so they use their guys. And again, kind of that ties to what Trevor's saying, they're in first place and no one's really nipping at them. I think this is one of many because there's like videos and stuff that goes back. I was reading into that. I think it probably ties into, you know, we see this frustration with the Yankees is that I think the Braves are building up for October. This is a team that has World Series dreams.

And by the way, they've been playing pretty well while they've been missing guys for significant pieces of time. Albies comes back today. Fulte's been out. You know, Max Freed just went down. Other than that, he's been, you know, was a Cy Young candidate, so SNT doesn't get any credit for that. What's his name? McCune, was out for a while. So, I don't know, man. Like, this team started off 11 and 10. Since then, they are Quick Math 24 and 18, So that's 13 and 8. And that's while they've been missing guys. And that's losing four out of their last five.

So like you've said, Braves Country has been kind of in our messages. Like the ship is falling. Oh, my God. You lost four out of five. Guess what? Every good team in baseball has this year except the Dodgers. I think it's two isolated things. Snitker's bullpen management's bizarre.

Right. But I mean, how much do you think that's him and the people talking in his ear? know, whoever, whenever you talk about managers, you're talking about the whole front office. Right. With everyone. That call sounded like the manager. Yeah. Snickers said, Snickers said, I had more research on this.

Snickers said in interviews multiple times, he will never use one of their top end relievers when they're behind. Boone did that in 2018, because I think that's what the analytic nerds try to tell you. That's awful. It's terrible to your team, Trev, if you're the offense and you're, you're, down one run in the late innings, and they refuse to bring in a top-tier guy to hold it there and let the offense come back, and they bring in the fourth guy or the fifth guy out of the bullpen, and now you're down four runs pretty quick because you don't believe in your offense to come back.

Like, Boone, they did that. So him going out on record and saying that, I would be very frustrated if I was a Braves fan as well with all of these bullpen moves. I think their frustration is warranted pretty easily. you shouldn't expect any of your relievers to go in and give it runs the matter of it's a fourth cat of the pen the fifth cat of the pen I don't actually love that rule either it's definitely that's a feel thing and guess what

a lot of the feel's been taken out of the manager's hands but the Braves are 99.5% to make the postseason and they're the second best odds to win the World Series behind only the Dodgers. So like this just all relax a little bit down in Bray's country you probably all don't like me yet you will because that's what happens to southern people we talked about that

the Braves are just fine 18 games left if they went 11 and 7 I think you might get another runner up runner up for manager of the year too so he discussed this yeah what do you say about the Colberson move because that's interesting to me

so many games is because those guys have had to pitch a lot and you know if they're probably get to be a point down the road where, you know, we get like that. And, but there's a lot of guys that through yesterday that would lose tomorrow if we pitched them behind in the game. You know, when we get caught up a little bit, I think that won't be the case. It will be.

We're trying to keep the game there. But right now, we're not in that position. Sounds like he's got guys on a schedule. Like he's got, you kind of building a lot. At some point in time, you knew that, you know, the starter's not going five or, you know, making early exits would have an effect on that bullpen. is this one of those points where it might be happening and you're you know you're having to react and maybe protect against it you know yeah no it's it's definitely that that's kind of that's one of

the reasons why you know these guys we we did a good like I said did a real good job but you know when you know if we're we got guys we're going to use and we're ahead we start using when we're behind and you know it's going to be tough to you know because we've had some four and five game winning streaks in order to do that there's somebody else going to have to pick up to slack when we're down so we can use those guys to do that again. Yeah, everything he's saying is the same thing the Yankees do, and I hate it that the Yankees do it as well. So I'm with your Braves fans.

My last defensive snit is, can you guys name the Brave starting rotation right now? Hmm. I was going to look. I'm not going to look. Freed's out. Freed's currently out. That's really tough. Well, all the guys from like the five that we're supposed to start the season are

Not there. Is Newkins still doing it? Ian Anderson, I know him. Ian Anderson's the new guy. Yeah, yeah. Ian Anderson's the rookie. Currently listed as their two-starter. Tookie.

Tuckie's down at the site. They currently, their fifth starter is TBD. I'm assuming that's going to be Tuki, Newcomb, or Fulte, who we forgot, DFAed earlier this year. Yeah, yeah, but Fulte's not back, right? Their current for are Josh Tomlin, Ian Anderson. Kyle Wright and friend of the pod, Tommy Mill one. Oh yeah, Tommy Mill one. I can't be honest, Tommy.

So that's four starters. So I wouldn't be too surprised if that bullpen is getting worked. And like Jimmy says, it is frustrating if they're on that schedule, but they're building up for something bigger. So they're not going to probably pitch guys three days in a row and do things like that. So it is frustrating seeing Charlie Culberson come into a type game. Double-hatter five-run game try to get some.

amounts there. You'd like to think so. But again, they're probably saying let's split today and rest the bullpen. But that's what I'm saying that they probably made us. That's what the Yankees do. They make a plan. Yeah. And it's like, well, if we have a lead, we're going to use our good guys to keep the lead. Well, it's a five-run lead. And you've got a couple innings. So maybe pivot and try to get

an inning out of this guy and have those guys on deck if it becomes a four-run lead or, you know, but whatever. So I get it. It's frustrating. I don't think I mean, I don't think it's an dickman on snits overall. managing, but I, and I don't think he's making those decisions, so. How did they have the second best chance to win the World Series? Doesn't make sense to me. Dude, the NL's sloppy. Like, we're, we keep doing these.

They just have the chance to make it. Nobody else in the NL East has stepped up. We've had a beat-up Braves team running the NL East for a while. The Central, the Cubs had one hot streak, and that kept them on top of the ugly NL Central. It's the Dodgers. It's the Dodgers and the Padres, actually. The Padres deserve some, well, they get love. All right, last voicemail of the show.

Hey, guys, new listener and absolutely loving the show, especially in this rapid fire season where everything matters more. This year I've been heavily following three teams, and even though I have a clear hierarchy of how much you care of each team, I still get called up sometimes for rooting for too many teams. So my questions are, in your opinion, can you root for too many teams? How many is too many? And if you do root for more than one team,

does that make you less of a fan of your original team? And if you're curious, my three teams are the Jays, the Indians, and the Rockies in that order. Whether you answer this or not, love the podcast, keep up the good work, and can't wait for playoffs. Worried about Jim. Those teams he listed are so eclaptic and so mishmashy. Like if he was like Dodgers, Padres Braves, I'd be like, no. You cannot be claiming wins from those three teams right now. Okay.

The fact that it was Rockies, Braves, Indians is bizarre. are jays Rockies Braves Rockies J's Indians Rockies J's Indians But yes If you root for two teams That means you're not a fan of one team

Like What if they're AOLML? No Games play every single night They're three hour games You can't watch every game So you're just a partial fan of two teams Just finish

Finish that East Coast game Flip on the West coaster Six hours of baseball Sure but it's hard to keep up with a team I don't know I mean it depends what you're doing here. Like if you're a diehard fan, like, are you wearing jerseys?

Are you like, you know, like screaming and yelling if they have a walkoff? Is your heart on the line? Like, this guy's heart's not on the line with three different teams. The way that, the way that, like, I will lose myself in a Yankees game. Right. And my mood will change. Right. The next day and the night after, after a Yankees game.

Like, drastically, to the point where I'm embarrassed about it and I wish it wasn't my life. Like, that guy can't. Because what if the Rockies win? But the Blue Jays win in horrifying fashion and the Blue Jays walk off? Like, what's your mood? So that's where I get a little weird. You had him both winning there, which probably means he's in a good...

All right, but you get what I was trying to say. You get what I was trying to. Trevor, what are your thoughts? This is a fandom question, kind of. I think I'm going to offend some people here, probably. Yes, perfect. At least he didn't say something stupid, like I'm a Cowboys fan, a Yankees fan, and a Lakers fan. because you know there's a lot of those people out there

and those people are the worst. So, yeah, like you were saying, Jim, if he was like Yankees, Dodgers, blah, blah, blah, I can't stand. I have a friend who's exactly like that. And you ask them, why are you rooting for those teams? And they have no good answer, except that they're really not fans of the teams.

They just like to be at the party when those teams win, like, yeah, I'm rooting for them. I'm rooting for them. It's like when you have a Super Bowl party. and all of a sudden there's a certain team that everyone's rooting for you're not a fan of that team get out of here so that's i think a l a no's okay that's how i feel about baseball-only rooting for the teams i was a fan of mahomes when he was at tech bro yeah that's the new thing it's like i'm a lebron mahomes yeah and i kind of get that you like elite athletes but it's also

When those people then support the team, that gets weird. Baseball, you're right. It's tiers of fandoms. Tears of teams. You have one team you want to win the World Series. That's kind of it. Gun to this guy's head, he'll choose a team. I'd say this if you're...

Well, not necessarily. So say, you know, people are Orioles fans. Or you're a Red Sox fan this year. And it's just out the window. You're obviously not ruined for the Yankees. but could you pick an AL and NL team to be like this year I'm doing it I think so are you watching like I don't know I are you watching the DVD uh are you like buying the world series DVD and watching it multiple times for all three teams because that's weird

you can't be I think we have again that goes into the different tiers of fandom yeah who's you don't know you don't really have subsets of fandom I don't think they should have your one team yeah see I think there are subsets of fandom because people have busy life and stuff. There's like storylines I'll follow and I'll root for. Sure. But like, yeah, it's weird to me. You've got one team and you've made a lifestyle because of it.

So you're kind of, you're the outlier on one end of the spectrum, I'd say. Yeah, I just, what he says, you know, like, what is your night then? Right. Is he getting crippled? You're watching nine hours of baseball a night? No, but I don't think a fan has to be someone that watches every day. So then this guy, when he says I get ridiculed for being a fan of three teams, you just have to accept that.

Because if you go to a Rockies fan who watches every Rockies fan every night and you try to tell him you're also a Rockies fan, he'll be like, nah, bro, you're not. And he's right. And you're right as well. No, I don't know. Can I go over a rule that I have that I think we should implement for people? Rule.

What's that? If you're going to a sporting event, which, you know, we aren't this year, eventually will be able to go to sporting events again. And say you're going to a baseball game and the Dodgers and the Giants are playing. Don't wear your Cubs jersey. You don't got to wear like, I get it. It's like it's your baseball outfit.

Don't wear it. Well, the only thing I think is hats because some people only have like one hat. Don't wear your Cubs at. No, I think if you have a hat, you can wear it. Jersey is a little weird. I mean, when I go to, if I was to go to a Rockies, Rangers game right now.

If I was in Texas, I would root for the Rangers. If I was in Colorado, at individual games, I'll root for that team for that day because I just want to be part of the fun. But like, I'm not a Rangers fan. As soon as I leave that game,

I give a shit. Yeah. And if they lose, I don't really care. I'm fine with someone doing it, but don't be the provoker. And that's usually who that person is. Like, if there's always a Yankee.

fan at a Red Sox game or a Red Sox fan at a Yankee game when they're not playing each other who's walking around going, oh! You guys suck? And it's like, you would like that. I almost respect that. Like the Red Sox Yankee thing goes beyond baseball. It's like a territory thing and a lifestyle, whatever it is. I almost respect that.

But like a random jersey at a random game. It's like, I got my baseball outfit on. It's like, bro, grow up. If you're a little kid, go ahead. like that you have your baseball outfit. Once you pass like six or seven years old, times it's just not do that anymore. Unless it's a really funny jersey.

Like if you have a Tebow Mets jersey, you can wear it wherever you want. I'm just an all-in person. I used to not understand. Like we had a kid that was a diehard. Well, see, Jake, but Jake lives this life, so I don't mean to insult you. It's okay.

You insult me every day. And I like it. Someone was like a, it was football. And they were a die-hard, something fan. and this was before the internet and I was like, how many games do you watch

out of the 16? He's like, well, they're not on TV so I was like, well, how many do you watch? And he's like, well,

I only watch them in their national TV I was like, three out of the 16 games? The casual fan. No, but he was like, I'm a die hard to this fan. Like,

no, you're not, man. You watch three. People use that word way. That's how you use die hard. Yeah. If you use die hard, you're not a die hard. Depends.

I'm a diehard. I'm a die hard. I'd consider my, You use that word when you're describing yourself? Yeah. I get pretty depressed. He's got a pretty good case for it. You are a diehard.

Yeah. Where's Tim Tebow at this year? Is he in the alternate site? Hot. Someone in the Patreon said, Die Soft fans, I always say Die Easy fan. I'm a die easy New York football Giants fan. Like when they're good,

I'm interested. When they're being abysmal, I'll casually, I'll go Apple picking on that Sunday instead. I also think that if you live somewhere, the majority of your life, that's the team you have to root for. Don't pick and choose teams. I hate that shit.

Like, move for your team, man. I'm a Seahawks fan, but that's only because there was no football team in L.A. for the majority of my life. That's why, Jake said. I would, I would be, I would be the Raiders or whoever the fuck else was in L.A. You know, I would be that. The chart, no one.

No, they were never in L.A. I mean, they were early. Not a Chargers fan, not a Rams fan. Sorry, guys, I'm a C-Ox one. You get one outlier. One outlier is the rule. Otherwise, you're just a scrambled, scrambled. No, but I would be the L.A. team.

Well, you're not, Treve. I got bad news for you. You have banned in L.A. for years. So why didn't you didn't like the St. Louis Rams? Mm-mm. Tough. Shots fired at L.A. And never Chargers, man.

that's ridiculous. There you go. Ridiculous. San Diego's not L.A. No, but if we're playing the local game. No, it's not even gross, though. I mean, Baltimore's closer to New York. Yeah, it'd be like telling you to root for the Orioles or the Red Sox.

All right, thinking about it. A lot of Red Sox fans. Oh, we lost them right at the end. Fandom's weird. I always, what's, I just have, people always ask me, like, how did you become a Yankees fan? And I'm blown away by, like, that there's some people that, like, cognitively chose their fan, their team.

You know what I mean? Like, I did, I had, I was born into being the Yankees fan. I didn't fucking have a say in the matter. I think a lot of people are like that, though. Oh, Jim, you've got one outlier. What? Boing, boing. Yes.

The West Bromwich Baggies. Yes, huge baggies fan. The Champions League in Europe. I think they just got bumped up. Did they just go up? Did they win? I think so. I don't know.

I am an ironic Baggies fan. Watched two games in my life. Boing, boing. Yeah. I'm at a tough point in my basketball fandom because I'm a Lakers fan. Sure. And as a Lakers fan,

obviously you're a Kobe guy, and then there's always a debate when Kobe was playing, Kobe LeBron, which I don't know if it's a debate really anymore. Oh, he's God. Yeah. Tried to make this talking basketball

so he's out. Josh O'Reck with an interesting point in the chat. Maybe it's just interesting because this allows my Broncos. But if you pick a team under the age of 12 and you stick with them, that's kind of something, right? Yeah, that's fine. If you do it in your youth and then you ride it out? Yeah.

Okay. It's just all different levels of fandom. Yeah. I'm a die-easy New York Giants fan. I am a playoff fake Sharks fan. And I'm a 100%. Like, I wouldn't celebrate it. I wouldn't celebrate a shark's win.

But I will watch and root for them in the game time. And then never think about them in between the whistle. Right. And then I'm an ironic baggies fan. Boing, boing. Boing. They got rid of all the players I knew. Tough.

Was there Starstriker? Sido. Sido. Barahina. Barahito. You got a DUI, I think. Deep dive. Yeah, they're back in the Premier League.

So you're back. I'm back. Big time. When does the next EPI? PL start. Oh, sure. Yeah. Okay.

All right. Treb's out. He's gone. Gofer got him. Yeah. That was the last voicemail anyway. Gofer's one. Goodbye.

Farewell. So long. Thank you for hanging out with us. Appreciate you.