Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - 265 | Michael Brantley's Switcharoo, JA Happ to Minnesota, Bauer & Realmuto Rumors

Episode Date: January 21, 2021

Jomboy, Jake, & Plouffe react to Michael Brantleyreturning to Houston despite earlier reports of an agreement to follow George Springer to Toronto, JA Happ's one-year deal with Minnesota, and updates on Trevor Bauer and JT Realmuto's respective free agencies. 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. The Astros got their men and Minnesota. Here comes Jayhap. Get ready. Hello and welcome to talking baseball. Thank you very much for joining us today on January 21st Hayday. My name is Jimmy. Jake's over here. Producer Bug Bug Bug Dudes in the corner.

And Trev is joining us from his studio, the Trevor Plough, studios in Hidden Hills, California. We had some news last night. We didn't know if we were going to be recording today because a lot of news came out yesterday and we did an impromptu episode about that news. George Springer, Kirby Yates, Kintana. We covered it. We said, you know, if nothing happens, we're not going to do a show on Thursday and this

will be our second show of the week. Things did happen. It looked like an hour after we were done, the blue. Blue Jays were going to get another guy in Brantley. It was reported to be true. And we're like, damn, I wish we were to record it two hours later. We could have sandwiched that all into one show. But if that was the case, we would have done a whole conversation that would have been wrong

because a couple hours later, turns out the Blue Jays did not get Brantley. He's returning to Houston. He's playing with the Astros. And Jason Castro is also going to the Astros. So what we've found out about the waves that MLB produces. this offseason, a lot of teams are catching the same swell. They're just like, the Yankees are like, this is our day, we're going to ride this into shore, we're done. We're pack up, getting our van drive home.

Blue Jays did it with Yates and Springer. The Astros now have done it with Brantley and Castro. Every team's getting their day. We're going to make couple moves. Today, maybe the Phillies are going to sign Real Mudo and a reliever, and that'll be their day. We'll get there when we get there. We also have HAP going to the twins and some other ancillary notes. so we got a lot of stuff for you.

Trev, how are you doing? I'm doing excellent. I was surprised to get the text that we were going back on air, but you know my work ethic. I'm built different. Jake, can I get the emoji? Built different. I was ready to come out here at a moment's notice.

But things are good over here in my studio. It used to be Magnum Condom Studio. I'm looking for a new partner. Let me know. you want to join in. Maybe you'll have the game show network sponsor my studio. I mean. Yeah. Yeah. We like them. I could see that. They are currently, they have a six-day window to become allies or enemies. We're currently in it. Hashtag save baggage. If you guys don't know, JJTV, go check it out. Well, not right now, actually. We'll get you an update on that.

They took down all the videos. Can't. Can't. Took down our videos. So we're okay over there. Trevor, you're right with the work ethic, you showing up for the normal time we record every week. Very impressive by you picking up on that story. Ellie work ethic. I love it. And yeah, I know Trev wants to go ham on some of the big Js because some of the stuff we get yelled at when we jump into the reporting world. Sometimes the big Js act up. Wait, but hold on.

None of the big Jays actually had it, right? like Passon came out right away. His first tweet was Ken had it. Mark had it. No, they had it. They went out with it. But Hazel May came out with it first. They followed up and were like, yeah, this is right.

I think what Passon did was he put it in a tweet about the lineup that they could have with Brantley in Toronto. But, you know, we'll get there. I think that was Uncle Jeff's way of not confirming it, leaving himself an out because he probably knew it wasn't done done. That's the passing way. Leave yourself an out. Yeah, man.

That's the great game. And I know you hate that. But so, yeah, kind of. Well, we'll talk about Houston a little bit. Doing well, hashtag save baggage. If you know anyone at the Game Show Network reach out. I mean, I'll let everyone know. Any talking baseball fan that doesn't know,

the entire company is currently under siege, undersea, were drowning and getting fired upon by Game Show Network. They claimed 40 of our videos in a one hour time period, which could possibly result in every single one of our YouTube channels being terminated forever. And if you didn't know, there's a main channel on there. It's basically the crux of our business at the moment. And talking baseball, you know, we've done a great job building this community, building it up. The live streams are going great. So save baggage.

Undersea. I am wearing this sweatshirt until baggage is saved. It says safe baggage. It says save baggage. For those. So are you guys going to keep recording watching baggage? Like, might as well stockpile some up. Well, yeah, we could always release them just on like Patreon or something.

Yeah. We'll figure it out. Oh, speaking of Patreon, this episode of Talking Baseball is brought to you by Jack Dudar, Alex Munez, Brendan Miller, Rick Castro, Mike Tiberski. That's a good name. Michael Tiberski? Jared Cotry Mika Motes Francisco Garcia

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Bang. Let's get into it. Have an observation real quick before we get into the baseball news? Yeah, I love observations. Hoodie Trev. Yeah, I'll hit the hoodie off after this. Oh, you guys can fuck yourselves to the moon. Yeah, you get that little small hoodie on.

Today, my people. is the 21st day in the 21st year of the 21st century. That's it, dude. That's what we went hood's up for? Hood off. Okay. Okay. Pretty spectacular, if you ask me.

You remember 10, 11, 12 day? Yeah, sure. Jake's birthday? That's my birthday. That's why I remember it for no other reason. Is it your birthday? October 11th, huh? Yeah.

Me and Gio or show on? I don't know what is that. You have a sign? I'm a Libra. Mm-hmm. A Libra? Libra? Lebra?

What kind of animal is that? Yeah. Libra. Sure is. I think you're born in the year of the rat? You'd guess that by looking at me. I don't know for sure. I think I'm born in the year of the snake.

Like to lean snake. We're born in the same year. So there you go. Okay. And we solved that quickly. Brantley does not go to the Blue Jays. He goes to the Astros. Now, do you think these leaks were just completely accidental?

Do you think Brantley's agent told everyone done deal with the Blue Jays to make the Astros realize it's serious? Do you think where did the wires get crossed? Trev, I know you're an expert in Big Jays. What do you think happened? And then we'll talk about the actual game result of, you know, him being on the Astros and what this all means. To my knowledge, I scouted around a little bit, but it was Hazel May, who was a sideline reporter with the Blue Jays network. I don't know who they are. But she also used to work in Boston, so people might remember her name.

And she put the tweet out and said Brantley to the Jays confirmed. I think she said it was a three-year deal. And it got the internet buzzing because it was right after the George Springer news. And we had talked about Brantley probably not having any space there unless they wanted to move somebody. but obviously any team is better with Michael Brantley. He's a great hitter. And so everybody kind of piggybacked. All the big JAs put it out there.

All of them. Sherman, Pass, and Ken Rosenthal, Mark Feinthand, who I am in the biggest beef with right now. I have the most problem with him. And then it came out a few hours later that just wasn't true. They all had to backpedal. And that's when I started my finger wagging. And I just, I was doing this to my phone

for at least 30 minutes and just going, going, nope, bad, bad, bad, bad. Because the gatekeepers, the ones who make the rules in the journalism game, broke all the rules, and they had to live with the consequences. And I just, I kind of relished in that yesterday. It was a really fun moment for me. And, yeah, I mean, I think what's going on is there, people are trying to get the juice. They saw the Jake Story Alley, Thick Boy Juice, when you broke the news about Kluber

and now people are going to want to step in the game and do it, but the fire's hot and you get burned. Yeah. So you're the only right now. Right now. You're the only reporter that I trust in all the baseball games. I am happy when you confirm reports. Yeah, I mean, it should get old fairly soon,

but it's a good joke as of right now. Yeah. But yeah, and Treve, you mentioned piggybacking because the other part that kind of fueled the story it was George Springer signed, and the report came out that Brantley was rumored with Toronto, and Springer wanted Brantley. So, and when that comes out with Hazel May, who does have a lot of, you know, street cred around baseball, she's been around the game for a little bit now.

Yeah, I think there was enough gasoline to pour it on the fire, and then a few hours later, Tadda, Brantley's going back to Houston, which, I mean, kind of makes sense. He's been really good for them. He can go in that DH spot for the next couple years. Because, yeah, it was kind of, we all had that moment yesterday where we looked at Houston and were like, wait, I mean, Springer, Redick, and Brantley are all gone. That's a lot of A-Bs.

So Brantley comes back. You know, Jordan Alvarez. I wonder he's supposed to be coming back at some point. If Brantley can do some innings there and Yorden can D.H. Or if Yorden can pick it enough at first, we'll see. but Brantley goes back to Houston. They had at Bats they're going to have to fill with Springer leaving and Reddick.

So it makes a lot of sense. It does make sense. And also I think, I don't know how true this is. And I hesitate saying it in case it's not true and it just comes off like a hater or whatever because I'm overall Astros nonsense. But do you think it's hard for them to get players that aren't in the organization, Treve?

Like the fact that they're hated and they're going to get booed and they do have to deal with this. Do you think there's any level of like, let's just get the guys that are already been here, already familiar with us, since there are external voices and loud noises going around? I don't think so. To be honest with you,

I mean, I'm putting Texas and Florida into the free agent destination, like go list because of the income tax or the lack of income tax there. So I think people still want to play there, especially if you're a hitter. I mean, you couldn't think of a better place to play your home games. 81 games at Minutemade Park

is awesome for your confidence as a hitter. So maybe two, like last year or the year before, like when things were really popping, I think things have died down on that front and they've got rid of people they need to get rid of and they kind of came out and still had success this year. They proved the haters wrong a little bit. They almost made it to the CS.

or did they make it to the CS? They did? They did? They made it to the CS. So I think people are kind of, I mean, if you're a baseball player and they offer you a deal that's better than other people's deals,

you're not hesitating to go to Houston. I think it's a cool city. And like I said, like it's a good division to go as far as, you know, just the cities you get to go to. I don't think there's any hesitation by players. Okay, cool.

My pitchers, maybe, because it's a bandbox. but that has nothing to do with the banging. Well, then the Astros, I mean, this is good for them. They got guys that are familiar. They're familiar in a clubhouse. And they got a good squad, man. I like their rotation potential.

It's kind of young and a little unproven without Burlander and Granky getting older. But we loved Framber last year. Or kitty and Javier. In the West, I like it in that division. It's also pretty good. And then, like Jake said, Brantley goes back to the three-hole, four-hole, whatever he's going to go. It's a good move. What were the money on this?

What did Bradley get? It was... Two for 32. So, yeah, I mean, it... That's a pretty big hit. For what? 16, A.A.V. Nice.

Math pod. Oh, math pod. I mean, that's more than DJ got. Yeah. I mean... Brantley rakes, but it's only two years. I know. It's just...

Fucking good for the Yankees. Stanton in the luxury tax and clogging that up. Just interesting how it works out. Brantley's like top five in contact every year. I mean, he's a great hitter to have in the middle of this three true outcome. What have been cool, I know, like, you know, to have two of those. Who's the twins guy? Arias.

I'd like to see a team with two of those guys. I want a team with all of them. Brantley is one of those guys like you know he's good but you look at his baseball reference page and it's sneaky you know he's already amassed over 30 career war just

like you said Jim he's a polished hitter with a high contact rate he doesn't get fooled you never see him take a bad swing on a bad pitch I mean rarely rarely does that ever happen he's very balanced at the plate he should have already been paid years ago

he signed a deal with Cleveland Cleveland. And then that was the year he was, so he signed it in 2013 in the following year, MVP, he was a third in the MVP there and went off. He would have been paid much more. And ever since then, he's just been solid, professional, Dr. Smooth is what they call him. But I'm happy for him. He's been one of the best hitters in the Big Leagues for a long time. and they pair him with Castro, go behind the dish, who he got real money too, one year for $7 million? Something like that.

Two years, seven million. It was rep- With incentives, it's a nine. It was first reported as a one year, again, the big Jays, Trevor. And then I think they came out and said it's two years, and I don't know if the second year is an option or not. I think it's not. It's just two years.

The thing I'm seeing is that it's that, Two years, and you can earn up to additional $2 million in incentives based on time spent behind the plates. That means sitting's caught, presumably? I'd like to think so. Otherwise, if it's just sitting behind a plate. It's just total at bathe, and they're doing weird phrasing for no reason. Yeah, it gives them Maldonado and Castro.

I mean, lefty-righty. If you want to just straight-up platoon them, I mean, Houston is comfortable with both those guys, and I don't know. There's two excellent catchers. I kind of think this is where the catching position is going, that not a lot of catchers are built for playing 130 anymore, that you're going to see teams get two veteran guys

that, you know, one will end up playing 90, one play 70 and put them in good situations. Probably. No catchers can hit. So. And the ones that can get paid, man, they're very valuable. I mean, he had a, you know, bad year last year. 2019 is like one of his best years.

767 OPS, 232 batting average. Treve, you ever like, he brings so much more. I understand that. That's what that. Yeah, he's. But that's what I'm saying. People look at the catching people. People need to appreciate catchers that can hit because, oh, yeah.

It's like five of them. Well, typically, you know, if they can hit, they're not very good defensively. See Gary Sanchez. Yeah. But, you know, it's, the catching position is so interesting to me because since we've started these advanced statistics and we have Trackman and we have all these websites tracking, like these different metrics for catchers, like certain guys have become very valuable. And then the other guys who used to be valuable, aren't valuable at all.

But once the, once the automated strike zone goes, comes in, it's going to completely flip again. And you're going to want a catcher that matches. So, like, you know, this is the time for guys like Jason Castro. He's not a bad hitting catcher, but his value is in his defense and his getting extra strikes. If he wasn't a catcher, he wouldn't be a major leaguer. Yeah.

But he does that very well. So it's just, it's interesting for me. That's not a shot fired at Castro. I don't mean to come off that way. A lot of catchers. Yeah. Yeah. Would not be a player at any other position.

I'm just, yeah, people just look at the catching position weird sometimes. Yeah, to taste Castro a little bit, I mean, he's 749 career OPS first right. He's a lefty hitting catcher. So with him and Maldonado as the platoon, together, you can almost make that one of the better hitting catcher combos in the league, which, again, I think would surprise a lot of people hearing that. Jake wants catchers to sit on buckets. I think it's coming. I mean, that's essentially what it's going to be.

We have an automated strikes. If you're a young kid out there that's a catcher, just throw your defensive practice away. Like, work on throwing runners out, and that's it. Like, don't work on pitch framing, nothing, because you're not going to have to do that. Pass balls is pretty important. Yeah, you can work on that, but it's not,

I'm talking about pitch framing and getting low and getting down on one thing and stealing strikes. You're not going to have to do that. So don't practice that. Yeah, work on blocking the ball and throwing runners out and banging because that's what's going to get you paid. And going to get you to stay in the league. Crazy how that's going to happen. It's going to happen quick, too.

Yeah, it's such a skill right now that, you know, we just saw like they're like revolutionizing the way to frame pitches because they're like, well, this is a flaw. Let's trick the umpire so we can get the low strike. And then that could all go out the window. these catchers right now are being thrown through the ringer. Like Garver, who else is that? There's a lot of flowers maybe where they've changed their style to go on one knee and to pull that low strike up. They probably didn't do that in the minors.

And then if they're young enough, whether in five years or six years we go to automate a strike, so now they're just like that's out, there's kind of a 10 to 15 year crazy window for catching. The guys who are going to be screwed are minor league catchers right now and catchers coming up in the draft and stuff because, you know, the guys you just named MLB moves slow. We're not getting an automated strike zone soon.

Like, you know, Mitch Garver will still be able to do his thing. How soon would you say, Trev? Within five years. Okay. I mean, you know, when we're mentioning a lot of the MLB catchers, baseball moves fast, so. It's funny to me, like, this even happened with the reliever market. The reliever market just popped out of nowhere.

Relievers, I mean, besides guys that had seen, saves. They really didn't get paid. They were an afterthought. But then teams started valuing those endings. The starters started to go less endings because you don't want the third time around. So the reliever market shot up. And if you're part of that group that or that time, like you got paid as a reliever, but there could be guys two years before you that put up better numbers that didn't get paid. Same thing now. You got these defensive minded catchers. They're the talk of the town. People are paying these guys. But in a couple years, they could just be non-existent.

Let's all make a pact to monitor the catching market and skill set. Okay. Okay. It's a deal. Give me a little chair back there. They also, Jason Castro nickname. Yeah. Stro.

Come on. Yeah. We had a moose and a moose and now a stro and a stro. We got to work on this guys. Oh, Stroh makes sense though, Castro. Stro. It's accurate. Catcher

Stros. Got that one. Yeah. Astros. Castro. Castro. The Astro. Makes sense.

Houston still needs a center fielder. Rantley. Jackie Bradley, Jr. Trade for Gritchick. They've got tougher. Trade McCullers for Gritchick. Done.

Chuck to play center? I think he can. Right now they have their outfield as Brantley playing left field with Alvarez D-Hing. Kyle Tucker and Miles Straw. Miles Straw. Mayle J.B.J. seems like a clear fit for them, for sure. J.B.J. I like Jim. I like that.

Get one of those Blue Jay outfielders. Lance will make him dance. Lance is only one year and Gritchick has a lot of years left, so don't do it. Well, Gritchick's getting paid, too. Gritchick is getting paid. Yeah. Good call, Jake. 9 million. Well, he's getting 12 million this year, 9 million next year. That's cool.

Levels Vichy. RIPI.P. RIP. Posener. Where were we? I thought he was alive. He is alive. His dad passed away. Trev, your twins. Got in the mix with a world series move yesterday.

Jay Hap. My guy for the past couple years. New York Yankees, sex symbol. Pumping heaters. What do you have on Jay? have, Trevor? You know, I know I have bad numbers against him. That seems like a guy

I would rake, but I've been checking the baseball reference page out, and he's another guy, kind of sneaky good. Sneaky consistently pretty good. That's kind of how I would say, what I would say about him. I mean, he's been a yank, so you guys kind of might know

him a little bit more. I faced him, I believe, when he was with the Blue Jays. But he's been kind of all over the place. And I think you're looking to fill up a four or fifth starter spot you could do a lot worse than jahp so i'm happy for the twins i think it's a good deal for him one year eight million i believe it is um and they need they need um they needed some pitching depth i i don't think the twins are done in that department i at least i hope they're not because right now we put them up with maida and and baryos one

two and then you got big mike coming back another former yankee uh then hap and then and then dobnik So I think they need another piece, but this is a good depth piece. And even in 2016, 6 in the Sigh, Young, like another guy who's just had a really good career that kind of flies under the radar, Jhab. Yeah. So Jhab's very interesting story. And Jay can give you some of the numbers. He's as boring as it comes on the mound. You're not going to be excited by any pitch.

We used to joke on talking Yanks like Japh has never. made it onto pitching ninja. But he has actually a couple times. Yankees fans aren't thrilled. They're happy that he's not coming back, even though he does start 30 games a year and give you the innings you need, which the Yankees kind of need right now

because they have a bunch of injury prone guys. But he had a really bad 2019. So he went back to the well, and he fixed his rotation, and he said he was going to be more whippy. He said, I got a lot of more whip. in my delivery now. So we were excited about that.

Whip it good, whip it real good, JA whip. We had a lot of fun with it. And then in 2020's first two starts or first couple starts were like awful. Jake and I were really, there was one start.

His second start was like awful. After that, he was pretty good the rest of the season. He got seven starts with a 234 ERA. The competition he faced wasn't amazing. But there were some Mets games in there. they had a really good team OPS. But if you're a twins fan, he'll keep you in games.

It won't terribly excite you. And I think most of all, he kind of sucked in the postseason. So Yankees fans, we don't really need a guy that's going to get you through the regular season. We need a guy that's going to win in the postseason. Twins have a lot of postseason woes already. I mean, he sucked in the postseason for the Yankees. Like, brutal. So, like, brutal, like a lot of bad memories attached to happen to postseason.

So that's kind of where my brain goes. A lot of Yankee fans have a bad memory. They traded for him and he came over and he was actually really nice. 11 starts, 269 ERA, 7 and 0 record. J.Hap had earned his keep in New York. And then the playoffs came. He got shelled. Everyone hated Jayhap.

2019 comes the juice ball season. Jayhap is 60 to 80% fastballs, and he's a huge fly ball rate guy. So I genuinely do think he was one of the pitchers highest affected by the juice ball times Yankee Stadium that really pumped that ERA. And then, yeah, he had a pretty nice bounce back season, and it's really funny.

If you asked Yankee fans when you got Jay Hap that he was 50 starts, 21 and 10 with a 413 ERA. I think that shocks Yankee fans initially because a lot of the memories attached to Jayhap are bad playoff memories, including the final Davey opener to Jayhap that kind of ended their, essentially ended their season this year.

So I think going to the Minnesota Twins, you've got a guy. If we're playing 162 this year, he's going to take the pill. He's going to have good days and bad days, like a lot of starters. The good days don't feel as good because of the pitch ninja thing, Jimmy said. When J-Hap is good, it's boring. It's a boring watch.

It's a lot of infield pop-ups. It's a lot of quick fastballs, no wipe-out slider or anything like that. So I think from the Twins standpoint, the only thing that doesn't get us excited is, you know, if we want to get excited about this Twins team, going to the next level, that lineup's going to bang, bring back Nelson Cruz. you know, they still need outs in the playoffs, guys that can wipe out a lineup. And Jay Hap, especially at this point in his career,

which isn't a shot at him, he's 38 years old. He's not that guy that I think you could give it to in game three of a playoff game and be like he's going to give us, you know, five lockdown innings. Well, that's where for twins, for the twins, if, you know, he's your four or five and then you don't think about him in the playoffs. Cool. Good spot to be in. But if he's got a...

And you know what? Maybe the twins are going against the Yankees, and that's what the twins need, and then Cap's going to feel spited because his relationship with the Yankees was pretty bad at the end. Him and Cash kind of took subtle shots at each other in press conferences.

All season, he was pissy with the Yankees, and he kind of... No, he didn't. He didn't have a right to do it. I'm not going to defend him. They pushed his starts back together. The one time he kind of went for it was like the worst time to go for it,

which was dumb. Yeah. It was really funny. The Mets got COVID, so the... the weekend series got eliminated. So Cole was on regular rest. So they pushed Cole ahead of Hap because obviously Cole, if he's ready to start,

you start him. And Hap got pissy and said that the Yankees were doctoring his playing time for incentive reasons. And Cashman was like, I didn't, Cashman's public response was I didn't give the Mets COVID, which is pretty good response by Cashman. It's true. Unless he did. Unless he did.

Yeah. Anyway, for the Yankees in the playoffs, Hap pitched like eight innings gave up 10 runs and the Yankees lost almost every game he pitched in. Very bad members. I would say if he wanted to be upset with Hap about his performance in the playoff, sure, but don't be mad at them because he was pissed that he got pushed on a start. You want your pitchers to want to pitch.

Yeah, but it wasn't like that. He was saying that they were doctoring his playing time and it's like very obvious. When Cole's healthy, they're going to pitch Cole in a 60 game season. And he was in a bad stretch, I believe. Oh, yeah. And he walked six guys in, like, one inning, the game before that. Would you rather him do that than be like, oh, okay, sure, whatever, guys, whatever. Whatever we need.

You don't want that attitude out of a pitcher. Sure. Or any player. There's ways to say it without the way he was bad. Do it one of the other times. I actually kind of like him personality-wise because he's, like, boring and got a sense of humor. He does some social media stuff with the Yankees team, and it's fun. It's just, I don't know.

he's like sorry you know me i'm gonna protect the players i get it no no no i'd like him too i don't want it to be a bashed i'm just he had really good stress we defended him a lot we said he could be good and and then in the end it's kind of just like a coin flip like yeah his last three septembers it's great september bad in october travi and you are right on the baseball reference side like dude check out his page man almost 300 career starts a hundred and 23 major league wins of the 39A ERA. Like Jay App has had a real nice baseball life. Oh, yeah.

He's been around. He's been doing it. You know, like that's another reason. Like, you kind of like if a guy has that much experience in time, you give him the benefit of the doubt. He's going to want the ball.

It's hot. Over 12 years service time. Good for him, man. I do think, look, it's good for the twins. He's going to eat innings. That's what he does. I don't think they're going to rely on him unless he,

maybe he figures some stuff out so it could change. but I don't think they're counting on him to be that lockdown star in the playoffs I think they're going to have Maeda Rios and they got to get somebody else ball parks might could be that ball parks on average are bigger in the central than the east right

I mean Fenway Yankees and Fenway are all bandboxes can't be yeah I mean that could help them out as well but I just think that's a good Yankees and Fenway yeah depth piece that's going to eat endings that's not going to tax your bullpen it's a good sign for them

Yes. How much did he get? Half or eight. One for eight. Guys are getting paid a little bit. The money's happening. It's just taking a while to get there. Yeah.

It's just not, it's the middle class is gone. The elites are getting their... Middle tier. Middle tier. Middle tier. I see a lot of people will get backlash when middle classes involved

because they're all million years. Middle tier. Yeah. Why would they be mad of that? Because the middle class is like, you know, not a millionaire. Middle, it's just a word to describe. If you say the middle class of the free agents. Yeah.

Like, I think that's fine. Whatever. We have some. He's definitely not middle class. He's made $90 million. Yeah. He's not middle class. I think that's the, some people respond that way.

All right. We have Real Mudo and Bauer rumors. The Dodgers are apparently still in on Bauer. and the Braves are circling on JT. Real Moodle. Was this a Hayman tweet? Who did the Bauer update? Or who did the Real Moodo update? Because the Braves are circling and West Coast teams have interest.

That's a whole lot of nothing. That's what I'm talking about with these big Jays, dude. What is that? What is that tweet? I'd like to know. I want some traction. It was Robert Murray. Who's that?

MLB Insider. I mean, literally anybody can go on and be like, Like the so-and-soes are interested in Bower. Yeah, you think? I don't understand like how those tweets even like, what does that mean? Yeah, I don't even want to talk about that. That's a nothing tweet. The brave circling on free agent catcher room,

or no. That can mean up to a thousand different things. Circling. That could mean literally nothing. Yeah. Or it can mean everything. Other teams on the West Coast are expressing interest. So I'm not going to discuss that tweet or rumor at all.

And then the Dodgers are still on Bauer. That tweet is the Phillies and Nats being in on Real Mudo and them trying to spark them. Yeah, just not an update. Bauer's Dodgers are Mets for me. And I'm starting to lean Dodgers, man. L.A. platform, Cali, kid, and they can sign Bauer and then tell San Diego like really cute offseat. I just I own the only way the daughters can do that is if they go really high for small amount of years I just don't think Bauer's gonna do that so I like the Mets still I think

the Blue Jays are in play the Padres who I picked I think are out they just have too many it's signed signed and traded for too many pitchers to I feel like to go after Bauer and give him a real effort going after him. So I want to say the Mets are kind of got they got to be the favorite right now. Do the Dodgers care about the luxury tax? Yeah, they haven't been over it.

They're close though. They're like at like 200, I think. I told you. I was reading an article earlier there. Let's see. Because I mean, Bauer's going to get 20 million year, right? Minimum or 25 to 30 depending on the years. So, I mean, the Dodgers would be going over if they get them, unless they get really creative.

But if he wants to short term... But it would be their first year over, right? Can you name last year the three teams that were over the attacks? Last year. Yes. There's only three teams. It's the Yankees. Yep.

It's the Red Sox got under because they celebrated it. Ha! That was funny. Was it the Dodgers? I don't know. The nationals? Angels. The Yankees, the Astros, and the Cubs.

The Cubs are going to be under it. The Astros are going to be under it. Yankees are trying to get back under it. They're going to be under it. I wish I wouldn't, but they are. So I think the pattern we're seeing is, like, teams are willing to go over it for one year because the tax on that isn't as egregious as it is

for the second and the third year. So you get to, if I remember, if I remember correctly, the first year you're over, you get taxed 10% on the surplus. The second year you're over, you get taxed 20% on the surplus. The third year you're over, you get taxed 50% on the surplus. It's 20th year, 30th year, 50 after that. 20, 30, 50? Okay. So, I mean, the third year is when they really, really want to get under, which I think the Yankees are coming up on.

Because again, you pay 50 cents on the dollar and you lose draft picks. and all that stuff. But like, the Yankees are going to stand her. The Dodgers, who knows, they were under last year, so they could. But again, it'd be an interesting contract, like two for 50. Like, what would Bauer sign? For Bauer, if you went to the Dodgers. No.

Well, I'm trying to figure out, like, what they could do. Dodgers? Yeah, if it's a short-term thing. For two years, to get him to even think about it, I think it would have to be... two for 70 and go from there. But yeah, I guess it's just interesting. Because if he wants to go to the Dodgers,

hopefully the Angels are making a real play, but the Angels play would be like, come for five years and you'll be part of our five-year window with Trout and Rendon and all these guys. And the money would probably be like, you know, the final number would be great. If he doesn't want that and he wants to go be on a contender, the contender has a little leverage there.

or actually being in L.A. and not Anaheim. I think it's the Mets at six years 170, you know, something like that. Like just under 30 A.A.A.V. six years. I think that's what it's going to have, that's what's going to take, especially if he has multiple teams in on him. But the two-year short deal

is going to have to be big dollars, which I would love to see the Mets do that too. Yeah. Still think the Angels might be in play. Yes. They should be. They should not be in, don't sign Rio Muto. Anaheim, don't do that, please.

Like, that's not what you need. Braves got them circle. The Braves just signed a catcher. Yeah, they're not. Well, that, Darno's been awesome. That tweet means nothing. It means nothing. I mean, dude, that's really.

all we got. I mean, what else did we have on here? The Royal signed Wayne Davis to a minor league deal. Hey, hey, he deserves a little bit more respect than that. Those are honest. Series, then a championship. He's disgusting. Trev, I think you perceived our claps wrong, and that means you're the rude one, because that was legit claps. I respect

Wade Davis. Who does? I saw him in his peak. He led the league and saves. He led the league and saves two seasons ago. Three seasons ago, whatever it is. He's the real deal. I actually faced him when he was a starter when he wasn't the real deal,

and then he was one of those guys. He just went to the pen and it clicked. Just should have never went to Colorado. It's a lesson. It's a lesson for a lot of pitchers. Don't go to Colorado. The ball flies far away. I think Kansas City's trying to be coming.

a revival spot. They revived Greg Holland last year. They revived from Trevor Rosenthal last year. I think they just want to give their fans a product. So they're doing these deals and they're like, let's just give them some people to get attached to and have some fun. Go to the ballpark and all that. No, I'm saying in a kind of serious note,

like we're talking about the raise and what, you know, if you're a pitcher, you want to go there and get whatever they're doing. Like last year, the Royals revived Greg Holland and Trevor Rosenthal's career. years. If they can do that with Wade Davis this year, like then you become, if you're a reliever who gets knocked around for a year. And I'm saying, I think they, they're fine with being the revival spot because they give their fans something nice to see. Something. Something. Some. I'm looking at this guy's stats, man. Can you look at them?

In Kansas City in 2014, put up a 1, 2015, a 0.94, followed up with a 1.87, 2.3, 3 time All-Star. I mean, Sai Young 8, Sai Young 6, he was even an MVP candidate in 2015. This guy, I mean, he found it, man.

And then like you said, Jim, led to the league in Sears, 2018 in Colorado with 43. But he was the setup guy. You know, he, in Kansas City, who was?

It was Herrera, him, and Greg Holland. And it was at that time just had no chance. He had no chance. D. Dave Davis.

That's the team they revolutionized the way teams used bullpins or thought about bullpins. Luke Hochevar? If the Blue Jays really were trying to get Brantley, is it a little bit just funny that they got Springer and everyone was like not second place anymore? We're not the runner up anymore. And then like within 12 hours, they become the runner up again. But they did get Springer so no one really cares. But it's kind of a funny dynamic, I guess.

BPD laughed about it BD laughed Yeah You just wonder Did they actually tell Springer That Brantley might be coming to town And you know Yankees a little fear factor

If they were willing to go get Brantley It looks like the Blue Jays got more moves coming So let's see him Or more second place is coming Now did the Blue Jays go sign Bauer I just can't see him doing it They would have to overpay out there But

Like he said he wants to go somewhere where the location helps what he's doing off the field. It does help what he's doing. I mean, look at all the guys' socials who play on the Blue Jays. They are all crazy numbers. Because they get all of Canada. It's true, but... All of them that play there get big-time followers.

So I could see it working out that way. And, like, New York and Canada, Texas, they're like the same. So we don't have to worry about that. Travel sucks. No doubt about that. But you flash that kind of dough. all of a sudden the travel doesn't suck so much what's that what's that sad about

what's that sad about Canada 90% of the population lives in the 10% most southern something like that around and then that picture of the map and they draw a line it's like 90% of the population lives below this yeah take that

Yukon viral tweet every six months book it a lot of horses got killed on the UK I like when they refer to Canada as America's hat. That's rude. That's Americanist. No.

Canadaist. I think it's an insult when people say that. I think hats are like awesome. Someone called us Mexico's hat. I'd be like, yeah. Hats can make you look good. You love a good hat. Yeah, big hat guy.

I actually have a new one coming. Excited about it. 90% of Canadians live within 100 miles of the U.S. border. Bang. Just storming. Stormin Norman. All right, that's the show, guys. Jake, any of the last parting words of wisdom?

Save baggage. Oh, yeah, please. Yeah, I got to wear the sweatshirt. Have our company, please. Save baggage. Save our city. We built this city on watching baggage. It's the show.

I'm trying to play the outro music, but my computer's got the spinning wheel of death, so it's not going, but it might go now because it stops spinning.