Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - 253 | Some Pitchers Sign, Springer Narrows it Down, and Tony Larussa is Punished

Episode Date: December 22, 2020

A flurry of pitchers found homes, George Springer seems to be down to the Mets and Blue Jays, Plouffe has a toothache, Tony Larussa got punished, and Howie Kendrick retired! 6:15 - Wacha to the Rays 16:30 - Holder to the Cubs 23:45 - DeSclafani to the Giants 28:15 - Claudio to the Angels 35:00 - Tony Larussa gets punished 38:15 - Howie Kendrick retired 43:45 - George Springer is closer to a decision 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.

Hello and welcome to Talking Baseball. We've got an episode full of news. You guys don't know anything, and we're going to tell you what happened. Let's do it. Hello and welcome to Talking Baseball. My name is Jimmy. Sitting next to me is Jake, California. We got Trev and behind the desk.

We've got producer Bug. Bug, dude. And this is Talking Baseball. Thank you very much for tuning in and hanging out with us. Hope you're getting excited, gearing up for a fun. Christmas or holiday season with the family. And a New Year's Eve to forget. I hope you all terrible New Year's Eve.

Trev, how are you doing? Well, we just wrapped along pregame. I kind of spilled the beans, but I'm battling a toothache this morning. But I'm here. And you know me. I'm playing. I'm playing through the pain gym.

But everything else is good, man. You should have showed up. And if you have a toothache tomorrow or the next time we record, still, I'd appreciate if you showed up with an alfalfa toothache rig from Little Rascals, if you know what I'm talking about. It's like a bandage around your head with an ice pack on the side. I don't think ice would work.

Does ice work on a toothache? He's got to get past your skin. Come on. One time Katie's dad told me like I had a toothache or I felt like I had a cavity form. And he was like, brush it out. And I was like, you can do that? And he was like, yeah, just take that two minutes toothbrush and just brush that one tooth for two minutes. And I did it.

And it worked. But I don't know if it was just happenstance or really. real advice, but I do it every time I have a tooth pain. I just set the two-minute timer on the toothbrush, just go out that one tooth. Kind of works. So there's my advice. So I should just go do that. Immediately after the show.

Yes, yes. Brush me. We have to go to Jake first, but producer Bugbug is born with bad teeth, so he might be able to help you out. He's probably got some remedies. I mean, I've got bad teeth for sure. Yeah, I mean, the brushing thing probably helps at least like clears if anything's on it, irritating the tooth.

Yeah. Yeah, that's kind of the rule. It at least eliminates a possibility. That's the rule with mouth stuff. Just attack it. Toothbrush, get some floss, get one of those floss picks. Just go ham. It's going to hurt, but it might get better.

I mean, you guys are to know I'm an adult. So I brush my teeth and I floss. So I'm one of the dentists today. I'm taking care of. That's what adults do. They go to the dentist. Flexes early today. Looking for a good dentist in the city, by the way.

So, my dad found a dentist with a view, and we laughed at them. There's more to that story, but. All right. I'm good. I don't know. Holidays are here. Springer's got a sign. Like, we've been waiting for a big baseball to step to drop for a while, and it just has them.

Besides the Michael Walker signing. But, you know, I'm good. I'm good. Took a Tylenol PM last night. it too late. It was groggy until like 10.30 a.m. So, you know, don't do drugs, kids. Can you give me like a little flex? I want to see how big that coat is on you. Can you like give me a little front flex? Little front flex. Oh, okay. What's going on? What's the situation here? That coat fits shake well. It's a well-fitting coat. He didn't get to wear the soft at winter meetings.

Show, bro. I'm the sea, man. We're all in black today. Not all of us show up in hoodies to work. besides you three. And usually me. Usually not a hoodie though. I get too hot. You're the, you're in the wrong. Yeah. Yeah. Always.

I love huddies. Yeah. You can go get yourself one at shop.jamboy media.com. No, we got some headlines here that we got to talk about. Nothing huge, like Jake said. We're still waiting on something big. We have a couple signings here. We have changes to the records books that are coming in.

Someone's retiring that we can talk about. So there's a couple little. bullet points we will be discussing on today's show, which is brought to you by Pinchstripe Strong and Joe's McFly. Joe's is an early, early friend to Jamboy Media World. He was doing his stuff for Yankees. I was doing my stuff for Yankees. We're like, dude, we like each other.

Let's team up. Pinchripe Strong, so if you're a Yankees fan, check them out. If you're into the gaming world, check out Joe's McFly. He just had Luis Severino on, especially if you speak Spanish and you want to hear these players chatting in their native language where they're much more loose and fun, him and sevy were just chatting while they were playing in Spanish which is awesome and we're going to get Joe's more involved so when we get guys that come on that speak Spanish we have a way there it's not me fumbling my words so go follow Joe's McFly follow Pinstripe strong if you're

Yankees fan as well tune in to the gaming world because we're trying to do some gaming stuff here as well and I think Joe's might be our dude wow maybe we'll see not me can I say something can I say something yeah you made a really good point right there yeah know when you're talking with the guys coming from the Latin countries and you get them and they're able to just kind of be themselves and speak Spanish, they're a completely, you know, like different person. Yes. It's awesome, man. And like you feel like imagine you doing that.

Like you're going down there and you can you speak Spanish a little bit, but then someone comes down, you're able to like, you know, speak English. Like how good that feels. You know, how bad I come off? All the time. And it's a very understated thing that they have to come over here and assimilate to. it's it's yeah la vita baseball just did a video on a bunch of guys and their process learning it and how they learn it but yeah i mean if i had to go do an interview in spanish i'd just i'd sound really timid and really dumb and i don't think that's my personality at all so it's pretty

exactly put me in the right scenario i can be timid and dumb it's kind of yeah eight-year-old john boy's perfect explanation of me go baseball love that say to san francisco giants Los Hibito hientes. That's good, right? Oh, snap. That was lit. All right. Yeah, okay.

So, moving on. Let's do Ray's signing Waka first because there's some interesting stuff here. Michael Waka came up. It was a big name, was an all-star at its point, signed with the Mets last year on a very incentive-based contract. I think it was $3 million guaranteed. And then there was a lot of, like, if you start and innings and all these building blocks to more money, the raise signed him for one year three million, which I think is the same base,

and he had a bad 2020 with the Mets, but I think this is a sign that the race surely don't care about that, and they're just kind of saying whatever it was, like it was a weird year. You would have guessed his price would go down a little bit. He got older. He didn't really improve in 2020. It didn't. The Rays lost Charlie Morton.

They need more arms starting. They're getting Waka now. Expect him to be good. And we'll be like, what happened? And the race are going to be like, well, his fastball plays better here. So we had him throw that more. You're like, oh, okay. Scouting.

Got anything on this, Jake? I do, James. Michael Waka. Been around the league for a while. I wonder if, did him and Pluf have history, BPD? I guess Treb might remember too. But yeah, man, this is really interesting for me. Michael Waka has two pitches that are really nice.

He's got a cutter that comes in on you, and he's got a change-up that goes away on you. He's got really good reverse splits, so he's really good against lefties. Very similar numbers to Oliver Drake, who's been out of the raised bullpen for the past couple years. Drake, really weird delivery, so it's not exactly apples and oranges. But, man, this is a big test for the raise and for Michael Waka a little bit. Waka, this is clearly, you know, he could have weighted out free agency a little more. I mean, one year, $3 million, we'll see. I think the thing that was interesting is that I heard some of the guys on MLB Network

talking about it. And it's not like the raise paying a guy $3 million is for him to be a starting pitcher. And for both sides to move this quickly on it compared to the rest of the market, I think Michael, the raise probably went to Michael Waka, said, we can do this, this, and this and resurrect your career a little bit. and Michael Waka said, all right, like, let's do it. So really interested to see, I mean, go check out Pitch Ninja and type in search Pitch Ninja Waka on Twitter,

and his change-up is gross. So I'm sure the Rays are going to find a better way to tap into that. The cutter moves the other direction. For me, it's interesting. He throws a change-up, but it's a little too hard, so I wonder if they can pull the string more on that, because right now all of Michael Waka's pitches are like 85 to 97, 95 to 87.

So you can kind of sit on that. So I wonder if he could pull the string a little more on that, ploofer, but I don't know. Interested, as a Yankees fan, we're scared of any Tampa transaction. I got to say, your terminology was pretty good there. Thank you. I think that when I remember facing him. I think I faced him in St. Louis, and his changeup is good,

but I agree with you that he could take a little bit off of it. It's tough to do that. You want to have good arm action, but maybe choke it down a little more and get a little less velocity. But as my friend Evan Longoria told me I was, this is such a raise guy. You know, he's 6'6.

You know what they like to do. Come at you with different arm angles. I think that's one way they're going to exploit him. He's 6.6. They have that whole thing that they do, the whole diagram of arms. He's just going to add to that. He's probably going to be.

to learn to throw the top of the zone because that angle coming from a guy that that tall is tough. So I love this for them. I think for him, he's like, look, this is, I get to go to a team that's in a World Series contender. And I get to go learn from them and develop. And look, it's a one-year deal. If I come out of this and I have a great year, I'm easily going to get another two, three-year deal. So I think this is a perfect place for them. It's a perfect match.

Yeah, he's, I did it. He's not 30 yet. BBD, do you have ploof stats versus him? Yes. Trevor, you went one for two with a walk against Michael Walker, a line drive doubled on the left field line, scoring Brian Dozier in the first, a fly ball to deep right in the fourth,

and you walked in the seventh. Wind was blown in that day, too. That's that 500 batting average and a 666 on base percentage? Yeah. One dot 667 OPS. I got mine right in your face, math. 667. Oh, 666 repeating.

I don't round up. I don't not round up. It's the rules of rounding. I don't know. It was in St. Louis. I remember that. St. Louis is cool, man. I didn't get the play there.

The whole place. 16, 2015, in St. Louis. Yeah. Mm. Whenever I see this, I'm like, what are the race seeing him? And I just go look at the baseball savant numbers and all that. His velocity ticked up a tiny bit on the fastball last season. And he started getting way more whiffs than he ever did.

before. His whiff rate jumped up on his fastball, his change up, jumped up on everything, really. And he just kind of eliminated the curveball that he was throwing because it got hit really hard. Yeah. So, I mean, he threw a curveball a lot in 2019. He had a 778 slugging on the curve. That's so bad. 778.

So the Mets or whoever was like, don't throw that anymore. and he only threw seven curveballs in 2020. I mean, that's horrible. It had a 444 batting average and a 7-78 slugging. So he took that out of the repertoire. That was his slow pitch, Jake. Only threw seven of them last year. A bigger one, kind of loopier one.

I remember it. Yeah, well. Interested to see. I mean, it's going to be fun to track him in spring training slash his first couple starts this year to see what is different. Because you know he's going to be in the lab. The Rays have given him some info. Jim, we might have to make your all pitch mix team for next season.

I'm interested to see where Waka lands because I would guess cutter and change up up. And then I don't know. I just, you like to have a pitch that's not in that five mile per hour range or wherever he's been sitting. So I don't know. Can he pull the change up's really nice. I don't know if you can pull the string on that more.

The numbers are really good on the change. Yeah. I don't know. Maybe if there's, the same speed, you just change the plane a lot or like where you put them. Your fastball's only up. Change up and cutter or down. I don't know.

The change up jumped up from 28% to 29. Cutter from 15 to 27. So we'll see. I would guess the four seems going to ride back up. And then you also see how the rays are going to use them because it probably just go two times through like they do with everyone. So do you think Trev that this puts Waka in the. running for comeback player of the year.

Five, four, three, two. No, not in the American League because it's already, we already got one. Gary Sanchez? Trey Mancini. Flex. Come back and light it up. He's a lock. He's a pro's pro.

Yeah, I have a, this, this is something that I'm just on his baseball reference page here with WACO. I'd have drafted at Texas A&M. So, you know, he's from Texas. This guy's been famous he's been like 13 years old. I'm sure he played football, big guy.

He's a star baseball player, goes to Texas A&M. He spent one year in the minor leagues and then was in the show the next year. Cardinals. Incredible, dude. Tasty. That was when the Cardinals would bring up the guy to relieve and then become a starter and they're just like doing that over and over and over.

Michael Waka football high school. So you think he was a stud football player in high school? Pleasant Grove High School, Texarkana. You know he played football. Come on. Pleasant Grove High School to retire. Michael Walker's high school baseball Jersey. Not football.

Okay. Uh-oh. Maybe he was too big. He was already too good at baseball, maybe. He was the baseball guy. Yeah. Like he was like, yeah. Those guys always play, though. I could play football, but.

His brother, Lucas Waka. Waka boys. Yeah. Oh, them Waka boys always go to sports. Man, I tell you what. Do you see Michael Waka Twirl? Well, Lucas Waka is just a small town Texark.

We don't know anything about Michael. I don't know anything. Well, I know a lot about Lucas Waukes. Small town Texarkhani. We know Lucas Waka. Texarkandakia trying to make a professional. He talks like that a little bit sometimes. It's gross.

How many trays are there in baseball? You wouldn't think there'd be so many trays. It's a baseball name, though. Yeah, that's true. What's Trey Mancini's real name? Is it Trey? No, no,

he's probably the third. Joseph Anthony Mancini, so he's probably the third, like Trey Amburg. He's the third. Confirmed. Can't wait until my grandson. Trey.

Triple. Keep it full base. I think I'd rather go by Trip. People do that. Yeah. Oh my God. No. Wow.

I know a trip. It'll be backed by them. And then his son, his name was Chip. He was the fourth. And they went with Chip. Keep it rolling. Yeah. Barrington, Illinois.

Shout out. Tripp and Chip. Had. That wasn't an ad. It was for Barrington, Illinois. It was for Barrington, Illinois. It was a ad. No, no, no, no, no.

No, no, no. Never, never an ad. Go Barrington Red Wings, obviously. The Cubs signed Jonathan Holder. Hmm. So, I mean, this is on the list. I don't think anyone cares about this really, but. Holders do?

Holder's been a Yankee forever. I like Jonathan Holder because he's been a Yankee. If anyone listens to talking Yankees as well, or if any Cubs fans are interested, I've never really... How do I put this? He doesn't have a plus pitch, in my opinion. He looked for decent last year. He kind of developed one.

But when I think of bullpen arms, I think power pitchers or power slider or power something. and Holder kind of was just like, I throw a pitch mix at you. You have four options here figured out. So, you know, he had a really, really, really good 2018 with the Yankees. They relied on him much more than you'd ever expect them to rely on Jonathan Holder.

But if you're a Cubs fan, he's a piece, he's an arm. He can be a very plus arm out of the bullpen, but I never really, never going to be like, look at that fucking pitch. Yeah, Jonathan Holder was really good in 2018 with the Yankees 60 appearance. 314 ERA and most of that came in a Boston Massacre game. Otherwise, he was like a 60 game, basically 2ERA reliever, which is a really good year.

Had a bad 2019, just got knocked around. And last year he was actually pretty good until his last couple appearances where he got roughed up again. I don't know, the Cubs bullpen has kind of been a revolving door for the last little bit. Jonathan Holder's a guy that can put together a couple good weeks for you and get you some reliable outs in the middle innings, which the Cubs haven't had for. for a while. He can also get knocked around. And like Jimmy was saying, he doesn't have the modern

day reliever wipeout fastball, wipeout slider. We'll see where it's going. He almost has a starting pitchers arsenal. You're going to see fastball slider change. And I don't know, I like him. I'm interested to see how he does outside of Yankee land. Hey, if pitchers aren't hidden in the NL, maybe you get some spots there. But yeah, it's not going to be an impact piece. but I think Cubs fans might like him I think he might grow that beard in and might get a little bit of beard confidence going to grow the beard He's also a hunter

He's got some pictures of dead deer Mississippi State guy Trev As an animal killer Do you like him Treve? I hope Holder goes and just shoves And he goes hey Jake remember when you said I'm not a piece See that's where you're wrong Trevor Plough Because I was actually

I was very high on the Jonathan Holverer No one has no one has been a bit You weren't right there But Treve There was a time where it was like Jonathan Holder's parents His wife Jake

Yeah As like the biggest Jonathan Holder Supporters and believers So you know he feels Gotten by Holder No I mean I There was a There was a talking Yanks podcast

Where I was like I could see Jonathan Holder Getting saves one day For like a bad team So I'm I am hoping that the Cubs bullpen runs into some crap and Holder ends up sneaking out like three saves this year. Because also, like during his best year. I will walk on graves, yeah.

Trev, do you think you've ever faced Jonathan Holder? I have the answer. I don't think so. I don't remember if I did. Well, I wouldn't have asked if you hadn't. You have. Oh. You faced him, Trev, one at bat.

One for one. One of your 3,000 hits. Two pitches. Oh, I have the hit right here. Here we go. Raise Trev? No, Oakland Trev. What?

Ninth inning. Didn't get that many hits there. Wow, B, B, B. You want to hear it again? It was an 01 pitch. Here it is. Right back up the middle. Michael K.

Yeah. Your guy. I want to make a request to hold her. Jonathan? Sure. Since, you know, I'm one for one. Yeah. Basically means I get to tell you,

do something. I want him to go there and stop the bullpen dancing. Ooh. I'm just not a fan of it. Like, maybe do something different, but the bullpen dancing thing, eh. Okay. I don't know how you guys feel about it.

I'm okay with them messing around, whatever, but like it just kind of, eh. I'm kind of a anything goes during rain delays. This is every home run. I stand there. Yeah. And, you know, it's fun to have a thing, but the Cubs Bullpen has kind of been pretty

ble for a couple years. So it's like maybe let that, maybe let that go. Or do something, I just think they could do something, but it's just not that good. Holder's not a dancey guy. He's more of a natural light and shoot a deer guy. Be cool if they did like, just

played beer pong the whole time, but like water pong. Like as they're watching the game, like why not? Where else they're doing? They're sitting there. It's exhausting. Play beer pong for three hours. No, not beer pong. 162 days. Water pong, you're I'm bringing up a clip of the bullpen dancing.

I can't picture it in my brain. I got to make an official decision. Official decision inbound. They do this a lot. Every home run. It's too much. But the Cubs kind of went like a girl softball way last year. Yeah.

Like they were very much. But I think the bullpen's been doing that for a couple years. But as long as slow spread. And I'm not a fan of carrying things year to year. Yeah. So like if you're a one and done. If you're organic. If the bullpen.

If someone wants to take my water pong idea, go ahead. No, nobody wants that. What is that? Why would you do water pong? There's just sitting there anyway for the first five innings. Just play some water pong. You can hydrate while you sit out there. If there was an MLB team playing water pong throughout the baseball games,

we would rip them to shreds. It's pretty lame. It depends if they're good. You could do anything if you're good. good you do whatever you want i would have the lightest guy stand on the the biggest guy's face imagine if they just they just cut to the bullpen and the guy was like laying on the ground the guy was standing on his face that standing on his face what's that even mean dream you have last night or something barefoot both feet do you guys seen a bullpen because it's not have you

they don't do anything these guys are ridiculous like if there was uh okay that bullpen but like you know Johnny Lazzania standing barefoot on a Roller's Chapman's face and there's a quick cut and then they come out and it's normal again. That's good stuff. Good luck, Johnny Holder. Shove. And Cubs. And L. Central can't hit.

He's going to be a stud next year. It's like a non-guaranteed contract too. Three saves from John Holder next year. Next up. Good early settler name too. Jonathan Holder's a great early settler. Jonathan Holder. They started calling him John at the end of last year.

Like Boone called him John in a press conference and it was very much like, what? That's Jonathan Holder. Huge. Giant sign Anthony Desclophony. Descofani. This is a guy who I always say his name and then people in the comments are like, these guys know nothing. They can't pronounce any names.

So I think I just call them disco now. I think people call them disco. So do that. I like that. You get a lot of like angry people. One star. They can't pronounce names. I don't have a take on this.

told you guys we talked about a little pregame pre show here i don't know what the giants are doing who knows what they're doing they're just are they going to compete against the dodgers are they going to you know like i think they're doing what the royals are doing man they're like hey we respect our fan base and we don't want to just go completely dark on them so during this slight rebuild we'll be competitive at least i like that i think that's what they're doing well i think there's a couple things going on here i think they're the playoffs i think the giants think of them actually higher than the outside world thinks of them. I think, you know, they brought Gossmann in.

They made him pretty good. They re-signed him. I think they see some of the same stuff in Discalfani, who's a year removed in 2019. 31 starts a 389 ERA. That's a really nice season. You pay money for that season. Got hurt.

It was bad last year, whatever. Interested to see, maybe the Giants can become this. rebuilding pitcher program, a lot easier to pitch in San Fran than in Sinci. I think he gets hit hard by lefties too, so the big wall out there, so maybe they can play around that a little bit. And guys, the secret about the Giants is they think they're good. I saw, I want to say it was Joel Sherman said that the Giants are the only team with seven batters coming back with a 100 OPS plus and higher. Wow. Is that the stat around there, right? Yeah.

Seven returning players. So the Giants think that they've got something going here, and we'll see over the course of 162, Gabe Kapler, friend of the pod, John Boy and Trevor's close friend. You know, they were without Buster Posey last year, who a year off, we'll see what he's got in the tank. But these giants believe in themselves,

which is more than I can say. Is there something to be said about their hope for expanded playoffs? And does that make teams like, hey, we could sneak in? Probably a little bit, right? Because they're not going to be a wild card team or a division winner. They're going to need expanded playoffs. I do kind of like what Jim's saying. Hey, we just want to make a competitive team out there.

And I dig that, man. Like, teams, all teams should do that. And I'll say this, because the MLB draft is such a crapshoot. You know, like very rarely is there a clear number one. Number two, it's always just tough. You have to find the right guys you need. Maybe this year with that guy, what's his name? Rocker.

Kumar. Yeah, Vanderbilt, Kumar. Yeah, Andy Goddors. I don't know. Trev, how many times you think you face disco? Oh, man. I don't know. Four, but I got a bad news.

Oh, boy. You made five outs. Oh, wow. And you got a hit. A couple of plays, huh? Single, double play, double play, ground out. All in the same game. Wow.

Oh, snap. That was lit. He was with Sinci? Yeah, 2015. Fuck. That was pretty good then, too. Damn. Was that your double play year?

It might have been. Sounds about right. Well, the twins won the game, so who cares, man? You know? League leader. League leader Lick Lint Licker

That's what I was doing In 2015 I love those pictures You guys put out Who put those out Is it Kyle I guess Assum Kyle He's always all over

My social Getting pictures and stuff Yeah Spreading the ploof word Man Royal family The Royal family Okay

Katie was She loved your family Photo dump Cool Yes I love my fam Angel sign Alex Claudio Jake you have so much to say about this one

I love Alex Claudio this is Trebs guy actually Soft toss in lefty You know we're talking about new age bullpen guys Claudio's not one of them Kind of drops it down slings it up there I don't even know if he's touching 90 I don't think so on his on his good days Guys recorded some MLB saves

344 career ERA in the big leagues And hey he's going to the Angels. They need so much bullpen help. And I've decided I'm all in on the Angels GM, because I saw that one press conference where I decided I like him. So hey, you know, they added RISEL from the Reds.

They had Alex Claudio, who, you know, worst, worst case, he's going to get lefties out. I mean, he's coming from NASA. But he's pitched a lot of good Major League Baseball innings. 311 MLB innings, a 3-4-4-ERA. He's a guy down there. I mean, I don't think

at this point you want them necessarily as your eighth inning guy, but seventh inning with Alex Claudio, that ain't a bad place to be, Treff. I like him. I got to know him a little bit in Texas. Like a good dude, and, you know, if you face an Alex Claudio and you're not feeling right at the plate,

it's going to be a tough bat for you. You know, for a ridey to go up there, if you're feeling good, you can see those left-handed submarine pitchers pretty well. But if you're kind of off and your timing's off, real tough. And then obviously lefties against him. He's got to be a real platoon guy, right? 556 career OPS versus lefty, 798 first righty. So, yeah.

Yeah, I mean, you want to find him that lefty matchup. So I'm, I mean, I'm scrolling through the A.L. West right now. Houston, I mean, Brantley gone. They'll have that big boy back from last year. And they can skirt around the three batter rule by just doing it at the last part of the ending. Damn. So I hope he's not the show hey killer, because that would be a headline. It would get more literal.

It's scary. Trave 2 for 5 versus Claudio. Congrats, man. But that includes a double play. I'm not a Racon right now, huh? Yeah. One double play. That's fine.

That's the ploof story. It's expected. One double play and then one of, one of the outs. I've never seen it type this way, but all cats ended game line out to left. That's how they do the final. Yeah, I, like, didn't surprise me.

That's their first time. I watched your two hits versus him. I just watched them. They were nice. You just, you know, sent it back where it came from, right? Right to shortstop. You looked very comfortable in the box. Awesome.

Oh, we have news? The Chicago White Sox are signing. You lechuisest, but it's the number one international prospect. Yueness's brother. Two million and a half-brother. Yelke. They got this. stream line there, huh?

Yeah. How many Cuban players is that now on the White Sox? Trevor Plouffe in the White Sox front office. I'm just making my voice heard. You don't think people listen to this dang podcast? They do. Daggummit. Where is this, BBD?

I'm looking for it. I can't find it. Who's your secret sources? MLB.com. Really? Deep cuts only. I don't know. I get the notification and tell you.

On Albi's Twitter, let's see. and they got do they got to have the most Cuban players in baseball right like behind the track like full system Luis Robert Yon Moncato Jose Abraeu Yasmani Granda Yes And now Sessvis little brother is going to be in coming up That's pretty cool man

They also got no no no no I already said him I already said him Jimmy He already said him Jimmy That's cool How old is this kid? I just bought the Cespitas guys another 15 years on the name, huh? Yeah. Cessapus Family Barbecue guys?

Huge. Yolki? How do you say his name? Well, it's spelled two different ways here. Yeah, I'm seeing a Q and a K. I don't know. Yelkis is the way I... And then the other one is Yolk.

23. Yoelki. Oh. Is he expected to play right away? What's his path? Reading an article right now. Because 23. means he's got to be got some established baseball in him.

I mean, they're paying him two mill. Like that's, again, think about what we've been talking about with MLB players. Like, there's a lot of veteran guys that aren't going to get that. So they think they think there's something there. Five tool outfielder with above average tools across the board. His arm has been comparable to Yuenas, which is mind boggling to most scouts. 23-year-olds build is similar to him. Yeah.

I mean, duh. he's his brother. Like, they're going to be pretty similar. Like, it's probably not a good arm because they're doing the same shit growing up. Trevor Ploof the scout. Uh, his, uh, Cuban stats aren't, like, impressive. It's a tools guy, Jim.

So this is, like, a fourth outfielder type. Never been challenged. Like, the batting average is there, but... He's the number one international prospect. They probably want to start him in the minors. He's probably going to do a minor's year. He's 20th right now. do a year of the minors

It gets hit by pitches a lot That's my scouting report Okay Congrats white socks And they're in a pipeline of Cuban players Trevor Ploops It's official Kenny Williams listening

Always Irmed Rinesdorf Rinesdorf probably has people listening to this And giving him information Speaking of the White Sox Larissa It's got one day of house arrest to serve.

White Sox are also expected to sign Norhe Vera, who is the number 20 international prospect, but also Cuban. Oh, my God. Otherwise, I wouldn't have mentioned it. Norhe Vera. Wow. Does Norhevaea get mentioned again on time of baseball? Yes.

Okay. Yes. Looking at a different guy. But they are expected to sign a guy with that name. All right. A lot of updates here. Updates. Yeah, I mean, thoughts and prayers of Tony, man.

That day of being in his house. What was it? It came down guilty, drinking and driving, reckless driving because he was drinking, something like that. Yeah, he got a fine 20 hours of community service and one day of, what they call it, detention. One day of home detention, which I've never. Isn't this his second DUI?

Didn't he get one for falling asleep? A stop sign. I mean, what's wrong with that? Been there. No, it's a... That one was a long time ago and he clearly didn't learn his lessons. So don't worry about it. Yeah, it's just...

$1,300, 20 hours of community service and I'll spend one day in home detention. What do you think Larissa does for his community service hours? Coaches the White Sox. That was awesome. I coached my little brothers to his seven-year-old baseball team. Like, I did that anyway. I coach his team and I got a... ticket for driving in the carpool lane by myself, which was like $400.

And it was like, you know, you can do community service to pay it off or pay it. And community service pays $10 an hour. And I just like, well, I coach my little brother's little league team. And I'd do that like, you know, three times a week. And they're just like, oh, cool, paid off. And that was all I had to do. Just live my normal life. So Tony's got it easy.

Bottom line is just a really tough day for Tony LaRosa. a big, big, uh, punishment for him. What if his, what if his, what if his community service was like going to White Sox fan fest and like

signing balls for people. Right. It probably will be in, right now there's no fan fest. You press to Zoom some people for a couple of them. Yeah. Yeah. He'll be drunk for that.

If we could somehow, I go. Shees. Double cup up on the Zoom. I mean, you're not doing a fan meet and greet on Zoom without a beer in your hand. And you guys all know it. Oh, boy.

Yeah. I mean, I just want to know what day. he's doing the in-home suspension, because I'd like to stand in solidarity with him and stay home for one day. Yes. Like the rest of the country is supposed to be.

I accidentally did that last Saturday. I cannot wait for the season until the Roos. I just can't wait. I want there to be fans in the stands, though, because that's when you're going to get the real person to come out. I think he's going to make huge stands right away for his players. He's going to go out there getting tossed, defending his players, doing all this stuff.

But we'll see through 162 what happens. I like reading Trevor Plough stuff. He's got a lot of good takes. I thought of a promotion that's in bad taste. No. No, no, no, no. Go away from it? No, no, no, no.

Can I whisper it? Is it about Tony of the Rousse? Yeah, yeah, for sure. Yeah, and drinking and driving. Say, like, uh... Like every home run, you chug the beer, and then you take, like, the food tray and do, like, a steering wheel celebration. Ooh.

That's in very bad taste. We don't like that. Not to go and drinking and driving. Yeah. Uber. No, he's making fun of him. Maybe if they lose, everyone does that. He's a driver.

They need to do a giveaway that's like, it says something like, what's his quote? I'm a Hall of Fame or something like that. I'm a Hall of Fame baseball person. I'm a Hall of Fame or baseball person. All right. So I'm I. I'm into the Hall of Fame.

Howie Kendrick retires. Yeah, speaking of driving, Howie Kendrick retires. That's pretty good. Yeah, that's what he does after home runs. Howie Kendrick is retiring 15 years in the Biggs. He's going to end his career with a 294 batting average, a 337 on base percentage, 430 slugging a 767 OPS,

and a 109 OPS plus 9% better than the people he did it against in those 15 years, which is pretty cool for him. Got an MVP vote in 2014, but he placed 18th, so I'm going to click that and see how many people voted for him. One person. Or maybe three. Three people.

Hey. Three people voted for him when he was on the Angels. So how about that? Mike Trout won. He got 420 votes. Or points. So one person maybe. I don't know.

Anyway. Howie. Hello. One of the, I mean, should be one of the most famous home runs. and baseball history. Game seven. I mean, we're almost like too close to the situation.

Game seven off the pole against, you know, bad boy Astros. And Trev, I mean, I don't know if we ever got an explanation because I feel like we talked about a little bit, but I went into the stats the other day. And I remember Howie Kendrick coming up. I was a big prospect should be able to stick and hit pretty well, and he did. I mean, you know, hit 289 his first decade.

in the league 22 through 32, 749 OPS, a 106 OPS plus. He was always there, and he was a Yankee killer. I don't know if you saw this, Jim Sweeney-Murdy tweeted it the other day, but very much Yankee killer numbers, which sticks out in our head. But the last three years, ages 33 through 37, a 320 padding average, 367 on base, and an 869, nice OPS. It kind of raked for his last few years, which I don't know. kind of wonder how that fully happened and I don't know other dudes that did that.

Who was a Yankee killer? You guys love another player that does exactly what Howie has done for 15 years. You love DJ that Mayhew. Howie and DJ are very comparable players, especially at Howie's peak 2014, 15. This guy is great. Look at us stats right here. You'd pick up his baseball reference page. The only negative war season of his career through 15 years was last year. he's just a consistent player.

When you think about Howie Kendrick, you think a professional hitter. Like anybody around the league, like, Howie Kendrick's one of the best pure hitters in the game. You know, I think I said this about him on the show before. Like his overall numbers don't wow you, but the consistency of them does. And, you know, he's just had a great career, walks away with a ton of cash, and gets to go live his life now.

So very happy for how he got his ring, big home run like you're talking about. I mean, he'll, he'll be able to talk about that for the rest of his life, man. Like, that's awesome. NLCS MVP that year, too. So, like, Howie was. Doubles in the gap. I mean, that's kind of what I think about.

You think about how he. Base sits the other way, doubles in the gap, playing a good D. It's kind of funny how his 23-year-old season and his 33-year-old season are, like, comparable. Both half years. Really consistent. I mean, he had that six, one war a year. That's a big, that's a big season, man. Doubles in the Gap would have been a good horses in the back remix.

I got doubles in the gap. Yeah. Love Howard, man. Wait 10 years, then it's like that. Yeah. Oh, wow, that song. So Nats. Go sign someone.

DJ, Cording the Ploof. Yeah. The exact same player. Do you guys like my comparison? You seem like he didn't like it Well, the DJ thing is just convoluted Because DJ has been so good in recent years That if he continues that for two more seasons

Then I don't think the comparison fits If DJ Lemayhew goes back to Yeah, if these are the best The last two years are the best of DJ's career Then it fits. I mean like, you think he's gonna just be the best player for I mean, he's about to get like four for 80 or something like that So teams are expecting him to be pretty good

For at least two more years He's got, I mean, I just you guys, it's very similar. There are very similar players. Howie Kendrick, I mean, what's DJ's highest war season? I don't know. I don't look at war because I don't care. Five, five, nine.

So, you know, these are the seasons how we have those seasons. He's played a long time, too. Yeah, DJ Lemay is two top five MVs the last two years. Howie Kendrick does not have that. Game was looked at much differently now than it was back then. It's true.

Oh, you're going to say that it wasn't? No, it is. 2014 to now? It's pretty comparable. If there's an off chance, DJ gets repeats what he did the last two years for two more seasons and his top five MVP votes again, I think then it would be a bit different.

DJ's got three gold gloves, two batting titles. Those are a little more significant too. Okay. I don't care about the gold gloves. I want it on record. George Springer seems to be down to the Mets and Blue Jays. also big rumors about DJ and the Blue Jays.

I think I'm getting, the Blue Jays rumors are too much, too frequent. They're tied to like every player. I think they're being used at this point, unless the Blue Jays front office is really actively engaging. Like every team seems as a priority. Like this guy's are number one, blah, blah, blah, except the Blue Jays. Apparently they are actively in the works with every player,

which doesn't match up with how. free agency usually goes. So I think they're being used right now by reporters and agents and teams as a mask. Like, oh, Blue Jays talks are heating up. They can't be heating up with five different guys at the same time. I'm happy for the Blue Jays. If they get someone, I just think the way these reports are coming out, they're being used officially as like, like it was accepted a month ago that the Blue Jays

were going to spend big money. So now every agent and every camp is like, well, let's say the Blue Jays are interesting. feels like the White Sox, the Machado Harper year. Yeah. I mean, they were kind of in on those guys, and then they ended up not really getting any of them. I think the Blue Jays will get someone. They might get Springer.

I'm just saying it's pitching. That's the thing that's weird. Yes. Yeah. Springer. I mean, Springer gets out of Houston. I was talking with Quentin Huber on the morning show today. Like, you know, it seems like he's going to enjoy getting away from all that shit

and just coming back east to where he's from and playing baseball. So, Matt's We had the inside info a long time ago that Jays were in heavy on Springer so I'm sure that's just continued they're really thinking that he can make an impact on the franchise and I think he could

too and we said this before he's one of the guys that kind of skirted the whole controversy like he wasn't Bregman who was doing the face thing to the camera he wasn't Coray who became the guy that went to talk to the media like Springer was just kind of in the background so like I don't

think about him as much when I think about the Astro situation. I don't know if that's fair or what, but... Well, no, it's fair because he didn't say anything. Yeah, you just stay in the back. Yeah. New Britain. DJ, yeah, and we love him. DJ in the, here's a scary thing for you, for you guys, for you Yankee fans as well.

I think the Rogers Center plays very similar to Yankee Stadium. So his style of hitting works very, very well in the Rogers Center. Now, I'm willing to admit if I'm wrong on this one and I don't really care and maybe next week it'll change. There's zero part of me that thinks DJ to the Blue Jays is even a remote possibility. I think that DJ's camp, I think Cashman told DJ's camp to go field other offers and they sprinkled some rumors, Blue Jays are really interested.

I don't think it adds up at all. So if I'm wrong, I'm wrong. And obviously I have Yankee bias and I want them to come back to the Yankees. but it just doesn't pass like, it just seems wrong to me. I think they're in on Springer, but like Jason, they need pitching pretty bad. They got to go get Paxton or Odo or like some of these arms out there. It would be interesting because the other play with that, before I get to you, Trevor Plough, is I think what it would be is if they do sign George Springer, they outbid the Mets,

that's their move, whatever. Then the rumor is that they would trade. Guerriel or T-Oskar and get a starting pitcher with one of those guys, which, hey, if that's how they have to do it and that puts the best team together, I could see that. But I don't know. That's a lot of moving parts when, you know, I kind of agree with you. If you're going to spend big money in free agency,

go get two starting pitchers, and a lot of teams would be more scared of the blue jays. They have a lot of infielders. Trevor. Trevor Plouf, 24. Hand up. Number three on Oakland? I don't. want this to come off like in a negative way. Here we go. Okay. I feel like it is and I don't want it to come as a negative.

Currently feels negative. I don't have a negative view on DJ that made you. I don't. I think he's an excellent ball player. Sure. And I think he fits a lot of different teams. But I think you guys have him a little overvalued in your head. And what will tell you that is the fact that you guys don't even believe there's another suitor for him besides the Yankees. You believe the Yankees are the only serious suitor for him. And you, you believe the Yankees are the only serious suitor for him. And you You're expecting him to replicate an MVP type season. No, that's not what I don't think that at all. If other, or close to it, if other teams felt the same way that he was going to put up over a nine OPS for four years in a row and be in the MVP top 10, three out of those four years, even two out of those four years, there'd be a lot of suitors, man.

Well, if anyone listening is, if anyone, he's not going to cost that much. If anyone listening is interpreting what I'm saying the same way you are, I guess I'll clear it up. because I was incredibly wrong. He's only got one full season over 900 in his career, so I don't expect him to repeat that. I also don't think I'm overvaluing him because I'm saying no one's going to give him five years 100 million. He's got plenty of suitors at what the Yankees are offering,

four years 75, four years 80, and I think they're all going to be in that area. And then he's going to choose the Yankees because he publicly said, I will take a discount to go to the Yankees. I don't think anyone's offering him more than that area. Do you think there's a bunch of teams offering him four years 80 right now? Like a handful. Yes.

Nationals, Blue Jays, Yankees. Is that out? Or that's just an assumption? No, it's just my thinking. Anything that's out, I don't trust. It's been reported by semi-decent people that, like, the Blue Jays are in on LaMayhew. Like, I think Passing had that out the other day. You guys are saying that's bullshit.

So, like, I don't. No, I'm not saying that's bullshit. I just said that's real. We're saying that's real. I'm saying no one's in for five years one of, I'd be surprised if he gets that from anyone, which I think is what's happening, and they're trying to act like teams are in.

I don't think they are. We believe the Yankees are going to match whatever the four-year number is, four-for-75, four-for-80. If a team goes to that five-for-100 or five-for-95, we don't think the Yankees will go there, but we don't think another team will go there as well. So that's not overvaluing him. I think I have them right where you have them,

Four years 75. Four years 80. I want him to get five years a trillion. No, you don't. I do. Hell yes, I do. You've been saying he won't get it. A rising tide raises all ships.

Players Union trip. Not ships with holes in them. Those ships sink. You can have holes in your ship. Ships don't have windows? I mean, all the players out there that have holes in their games. To shoot your cannons out of? They just get not signed at all.

Yeah, it's where are the holes, I guess. Right in the bottom. Bottom holes are suck on chips. Yeah. Yeah. No bottom holes out. I love DJ. Man,

this is like, I feel bad. I feel like I'm always bringing him down, but I'm not. I'm just, I'm curious who, what teams think of. I want to know if I could,

I would love to go see what, how each team values him because they all have their own proprietary. Didn't you start this by saying, didn't you start this by saying we were wrong because we don't think there's other suitors for him? And now you're coming back and saying, you don't think there's other suitors.

suitors from him? I have no idea where you land on this. I know where I land. My point was if you were, because you said that you think he's going to go out and give some big seasons again. And I said, I said, we said too. I did that out. I think there'd be a lot more suitors for him. I don't think there's that many at that even at, even at 480 Jim. Well, I think there's like four or five. Well, I think there's only like four or five got teams on the biggest free agents of their position out there. Like Real Moodo is the best catcher to hit the market in a long time.

I think there's like three teams in on him because they outprice all the other teams. So like as many people I can afford it. I think that price is fair for him. I'm just saying I don't think teams even want to pay that. If teams are out on DJ, it's because they don't, they have that spot in their roster lined up, locked up already.

Their infield is locked up. Or they can't afford him. You're not going to tell me like the Marlins are out on DJ because they don't project him being good for a couple years. If the good teams are in on a guy because they protect him being good, that means every team if they had that need and the money to do it would be in on him. It's not like... I'm saying 30 teams are going to be in on him saying that, you know,

a guy like that, if he's going to put up a nine, there'll be seven, eight, nine, ten teams. And I don't think, I think there is only, It's an MLB contract. It's not even... It's just a dance. They're dancing. They're dancing.

It's a free agency. Yeah. Treves Dodgers, get in the mix. He looks great in pinstripes. He looks good in them. Short porch is calling. He's like the humble Yankee. I love...

I like, that's an ironic type of... What is that? OxyMoron, a humble Yankee? You either be humble or you go the full other way. You're either Paul O'Neil or you're Reggie Jackson. Yeah, there's not a lot of... Reggie Jackson's out there. It's mostly Derek Jeter, Andy Pettit, C.C. Like they think they're like, Yankees over everything. That means more than me. It's the Yankees.

Yeah, I think the demeanor for a while is no names. The fan base, the fan base is very arrogant and annoying and obnoxious. But the Yankees players, I don't think we've had a really like. Who? A-Rod. I'm not saying the persona outworthy projects that on the base. baseball field, but a lot of Yankees I know are pretty damn cocky because they're a Yankee. You go through the minor leagues, you play the Yankees, these guys, they'll take an extra 10 minutes for batting practice. They'll be throwing in the outfield when you're trying to do infield outfield drills. I see what you're saying. I don't know that arena, obviously. I haven't played for them or against them. I'd like to.

Anybody that played and knows the minor leagues, like Red Sox are that way to an extent, but the Yankees culture. Very cocky. We went one of the spring training games this year. A Red Sox player walked through the outfield while the other team was warming up and you got mad about that. So it stands.

Whatever you're saying stands. Respect. Just a little respect. That's all. Okay. Baseball. Do you remember who it was? I do. I don't want to put him on blessed. Me too, and I don't want to either.

So this is during a game? No, it was spring training, pirate spring training, and the pitchers were out there shagging balls, and a Red Sox player just walked in the, like he didn't use the warning track. Had like flip-flops, had his bag. And he walked straight through the middle of the outfield, and you said, that's not good.

It's not show. It's not. Sometimes being show is showing respect. It's not always about being, you know, There's a shirt right there. Show respect. Oh, snap. That was lit.

Zero shirts sold. You think DJ robbed you have any hits ever? What? Did DJ Robb you have any hits? I'm trying to see why you hate him so much. We didn't play him that often, man. You know, I went to Colorado once. Yeah, it doesn't look like you did.

Bummer. Is there any other thing news? Oh, the other big piece of news here that I haven't fully wrapped my head around yet, so I don't. I mean, don't want to deep dive, but I would like to is that the Negro League stats are now being combined. I just read it for a while, and I was trying to understand how they're going to do it, because logistically, it seems like a nightmare, and logistically it is because a lot of these stats are, you know, combinations of league stats, all-star games within the Negro leagues,

playoff games within the Negro leagues, some barnstorming games. The biggest winner is Gibson, who is known as the Babe Ruth of the Negro Leagues, and he's like now got the second highest batting average behind Cobb, or do you pass Cobb? I think he has, I think he passed Ted Williams for the last guy to hit 400. I think that was one of the headlines. So, yeah, again, it's... He's right behind Cobb now, ahead of Roger. Hornsby for um career batting average 361 so there's they haven't fully come out with this

yet because it's a it's a lot to do but i mean pretty cool that baseball is doing this obviously they should have been playing all in the same league and then we'd have a real true test of talent that would be awesome and a lot of people the stats man like i don't know if the stats are they significant whatever it is i'm happy this happened but they don't even translate era to error, let alone different leagues. It's an interesting thing how they're going to do it. I think it's cool that he's now going to be accredited for the last player to hit 400. There's going to be some people gaining victories on the mound.

Like, I love all that. But the people that hold these, and it's, I like it, and it's because I don't value historical statistics like other people do. Baseball is obviously really well known for, like, you know, history, keeping guard of their own stats. but like they don't translate dude like it's fun to look back and see how much better someone was than their counterpart in that era but you can't compare these you can't compare any of them so that's why I like it I think it's great because I don't hold them I think there's probably going to be some old school people where like this doesn't make any sense but that's it's ridiculous take just tell the story you know tell the story let people know about these guys have them debate if Josh Gibson's the best catcher ever because that's the beauty of sports There's some videos of Gibson's like swinging stuff, which is cool. Yeah, I don't know much.

I haven't really dived into this. All I know is it's cool and it's going to lead to a lot of rabbit hole. I think once it's like baseball reference gets fixed or gets updated. That's going to be really fun. So I'm excited about that. And good job by baseball. I think this was a long time coming. Yeah.

Yep. That's all we really have. Next episode will be something from the winter meetings. As we enjoy Christmas and New Year's, we will be with you guys every Tuesday to talk about any news and signings and new stuff. And the second show of the week, we were going to run out our conversation with Bob Costas, which was very baseball heavy. Our conversation with Buster Only, which is very baseball heavy. I'm not sure if we have another. I think it might just be those two from the live stream winter meeting.

So if you didn't get a chance to listen, they're coming your way. But on Tuesdays, it will be us. and hopefully there's some news. And if there's a big signing, I think one of these top five guys, we will hop on. We will hop on and talk about it. Emergency pods used to happen a lot,

and now they don't. Need one. I need one. Yeah, January, February is like emergency pod season, though. So we'll be hopping on. All right. You guys got anything else? Any last words?

Happy holidays, everyone. Yeah. Enjoy whatever you enjoy. I thought I had something else, but guess what? I don't. He doesn't. He thought he did, but no, he doesn't.