Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - 275 | Dodgers Keep Justin Turner + A's & Padres Boost Their Bullpens

Episode Date: February 16, 2021

Pitchers and Catchers report this week! 7:00 - Dodgers did a lot of moves including re-signing Justin Turner! 21:00 - A's boost their bullpen 22:55 - Jake Arrieta returns to the Cubs 34:45 - James Paxton returns to the Mariners Presented by DraftKings 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 Dodgers made some final moves. The A's get some bullpen pieces. Other stuff happened as well. We're going to discuss everything. A lot of small moves happening. How about it? Oh, and welcome.

Jake? Hello and welcome to talk in baseball. My name's Jimmy. Sit next to me is Jake in California. We got Trevor Ploof behind the desk. We have producer Bug Bug Dude, and we are presented by Draft Kings. How about that? How about that?

We got a ton of moves. Spring training starts tomorrow. A ton of moves were made over the weekend. Kind of small moves. So it's a lot of groundskeeping on today's episode. Quick reminder, you know more about your favorite team than we do. Unless it's the Yankees. Jake and I are well-versed in the Yankees,

but someone might know more than us. My rocks, you know. You should talk about them a lot this year. Yeah. I'm excited for the Diamondbacks TPP to drop that we recorded the other day. excited for that one to hit the airwaves. Anyway, this episode is brought to you by Jessica Jankowski. That's a great name.

Jay Jank. Jessica Jankowski. Michael Coos, Adam Rood, Austin Gately, Patrick Parsons, Cameron Guzzo, Guzzo, Guzzo, Guzzo, Guzzo. Out of the bullpen, yeah. That's a bullpen, yeah. Cam Guzzo.

There comes Guzzo. Grayson, Norris, Brent Erickson, Luke. Zach Allen, Kyle Presley, Garrett Finley, Nicholas Collins, Reese Calvin, Christopher Bray, Alex Harrison, Vincent Venturella, William Goodwin, Charles Crawford, Maddie Helgett, Travis Bellinger, Belanger? It's different than Bellinger, but I'm going to say Bellinger. Saul Rodriguez and Christopher Ditchfield. Congrats to all of them for having names that were pretty easy to pronounce it. I've been put through the gauntlet a lot recently. That was pretty easy. So anyway, welcome to the show. I'm excited. Jake, how are you doing?

James, Trevor, David Mendelsohn. Good morrow. That doesn't sound right. I'm doing well, man. Spring training begins pitchers and catchers report tomorrow. That's exciting. Again, weird up and down emotions with it because I should be there. I should be getting loose.

Coaches should be looking at me saying he looks good this year. But instead, I'm up in Nueva York. And I'm excited, man. You know, it's good seeing these guys, you know, pick their spring training homes. I think, you know, some of these veterans are just looking for a spot to know where they're going to go. So even if they showcase themselves for a month and they can get that non-raster release and go to a better home or an injury, whatever.

So I'm excited, man. and it's starting to like, offseason's kind of over, Trev. It is, and love is in the air. We had Valentine's Day. I don't know what you guys ended up doing. I had a great, great night. Yes, Jim, women do belong in sports. Huge.

They do belong. And they deserve to be treated nicely. Did you guys get flowers? Did you do a card? No. Please tell me you did. No. I didn't.

Katie hates Valentine's Day more than me. I'm a wrong James James I'm Treve Dexter Fowler just put this out on his Instagram you said guys

it doesn't matter if she tells you she's not into flowers or cars or anything just get her some flowers so Treb do you want me to bring Katie in here because she hears people say

that I was listening to a podcast once where the guy was saying that she says that's so fucking annoying when I say I don't want flowers I'm not a baby and hiding my emotions I truly don't

so I'm not gonna go get her flowers I I shower Caitlin with love every day. I'm a sappy, sappy guy. Stop. I'm going to send her flowers. I too will send her flowers.

I get her flowers sometimes. Forget about all that. Your relationship might be an anomaly. Everybody else gets your girls some flowers. I will say this. Get them on a different day. Get your guys some flowers. A different reason.

Who's the economy? 100%. I want you guys to. realize that not only was love in the air for us, common folk, but love is in the air for a lot of our big league former bachelors. We have Cole Tucker. Official. Showing up IG official. Yeah. It's official as official gets. Big one. We have Jack Flaherty official as official gets, pictures, stories. We have Scott Kingery, pictures, flowers,

Cody Bellinger, the whole game. The AZ boys. I don't know how to feel about it. Trev, baseball season's here, man. You can't be thinking about that. Is it going to be good for the guys' games? All locked up? Yeah.

Only time will tell. Yeah. All of those guys, I have Cole Tucker as my lead for the NLMVP currently. He's winning right now. How were you getting nasty and Calabasi for Valentine's Day or what? I did Malibu. We went to one of our favorite spots for dinner out there.

First time at a restaurant, a long time, because L.A. is still a complete disaster. Yeah. And then we ended up meeting Braun and his wife, his lovely wife, Larissa. We got a drink at Nobu. So it was nice. Nice, nice night. Where did he say he was signing again? Team Israel.

Yeah, Team Israel. Okay. Keep up. Yeah. I just like getting you guys. That's fantastic. I cooked lunch and dinner. That was my Valentine's gift.

EBD made out with his grandma. Yeah. Again. I don't blame them. They call it practice. Awesome. We have breaking news. That is the news.

Are you just distracting? Is this a passing to change the stuff? subject? Jeff Tennis just signed with the Phillies. Oh, wow. Who? Who? Mathis.

Yeah. 1.8 million if he makes the MLB roster. I think you were trying to change the subject. J.T. Real Muta. Who's the other catchers there right now? Gerardi can still strap it on. Gerardi.

Territi's back up. Teres, yeah. They love Andrew Knaff there. It's going to be tough for Mathis to break that roster. Switching and catcher gives you a good at bat's pitching staff lows. Jim. Yeah. Can we talk about the MLB favorites?

Yeah, the Dodgers did a lot of stuff. I think they kind of ended their offseason as spring training is about to start. The first news is we got some insight into Bauer's contract. On his end, it's the same. He gets the same guaranteed money that we thought, 40 million year one and 45 million and then 23 or whatever it is. But on the Dodgers end, they did some real tricky stuff to make the cap hit as little as possible. it's so interesting. So he's going to get a $10 million signing bonus in 2021.

$10 million signing bonus. And if he opts out, there's a $2 million buyout. And his on the book's salary for year one is 28. So he's guaranteed $40 million. But his salary, quote unquote, is only $28 million, which is just funky math. The next year, his salary bumps up to $32 million with a $15 million buyout if he opts out. That's a damn pricey buyout. So this doesn't change anything.

It's just kind of Hollywood math that the Dodgers are doing for their salary, luxury tax reasons. So if he doesn't opt out, the first year, he'll make $38 million. if he plays the second year. Is that 10 million signing bonus and 28 in salary. If he opts out, there's $2 million buyout. So yeah, I guess then it would be $28 for the first year. 38, 38. Yeah.

And then if he doesn't opt out in year two, then the $2023 salary becomes $32 million. So he's still going to get his money. What, why wouldn't the team? just give the entire thing as a signing bonus. Because I've said this before. I don't know why. I think we're getting in some weeds.

We don't want to get into it. There's got to be some rules and accounting. But, yeah, I don't really know exactly the purposes between the funky math. There's an article. Jared Diamond wrote it. Could reach out. Why don't the Yankees just give John Carlos Stanton a $30 million signing? No, because there's still, there's still caveats that make it part of the AAV.

But you can only get sold out. If he gets bought out, that ends up landing on the AAV. so I don't know. We're in a weird area. It's still just the total value is what Davey is based on. So I don't know. Yeah. It doesn't help luxury.

Anyway, you look at it. Yeah, we're definitely not a math pod. No. It was dicey to even enter this realm. I thought we were going to Turner. I thought Turner was the news. Well, I mean, we're just going in order of the topics to discuss on our sheet. I thought Turner should have been first.

I'll take Jake. Shot.jobboymedia.com. Add. Turner, back to the Dodgers. Two years, $34 million. I mean, we all kind of knew he was going to go back to the Dodgers. I said it a while ago. He breaks the news himself, beats, beats every reporter to the punch.

It's kind of fun. And then, I don't know. Do you want to, I mean, we knew this was going to happen. It's not a shock. We looked at Turner's numbers recently, and he's been damn good. Yeah. Like, kind of, kind of overshadowing. He's been overshadowed by all the other stuff going on in L.A.

What was it? last eight seasons he had like an OPS plus of 130 or something stupid like that. Yeah, I think the bigger story is, you know, LA, the Dodgers had been quiet this offseason. Everyone assumed Turner. We also hit a free agency where, you know, Turner was getting rumors everywhere.

Turner was getting Brewers rumors. Turner was getting Nationals rumors. Turner was getting Braves rumors from some real people. So, you know, in the end it did turn up. I think he was just trying to get the proper evaluation and price tag. But he goes home, Bauer, and low-key, the Dodgers, defending champions, have had one of the best off-season

of any baseball team. So, I mean, I think I would, I'm pretty against, you know, running it back in any sport, especially baseball, especially after watching the Chiefs, what they did. They seemed like a layup, and they got punched in the face in the Super Bowl. Tom. But, man, these Dodgers, dude, Bauer and Turner back. they're a force.

They're good. Last 10 years. What's that? I just want to correct it. Last 10 years, Turner has averaged a 129 OPS plus, or he's been at 129 OPS plus player. Last 10 years.

I mean, when did he come into the league? 2009 with the Baltimore Orioles. You know, we heard some rumblings about the Brewers making offers. We heard some rumblings, Dodgers. I don't think the brewers necessarily were ever in real contention. They were going to have to blow the Dodgers offer out of the water, and I don't think they were going to get there. So it seemed inevitable that JT was going to be back with the Dodgers.

You know, if you're him, there's no. Why would you leave? You're a legend. You're from Southern California. You won the World Series. That's what I would say. He's pretty part of the culture. there.

Yeah. Oh my goodness. Dude, like for a guy to grow up in Southern California and then kind of start your career off the way he did to like have the Renaissance with the Dodgers and then go win the World Series. Like he's, he's an LA legend man.

I don't know how else to put it. What's his home address? He's, I think I might know it. Let me check. In case anyone wants to send him anything. No, I think he's somewhere in the valley, though.

He reps the valley. Wow. Oh, he does. Valley Treas. I don't know if you consider where he lives the valley. Some people do. Well, Valley Snob is who you are. It's hard to be a valley snob because people hate on the valley.

If you like the valley or the opposite of a snob. Didn't you used to? I wish I love the valley, but I just can't breathe when I'm there. Yeah, no. Yeah, exactly. It's true. Didn't she used to rent a convertible just to drive up and down Ventura Boulevard? Five.

Mm-hmm. I wasn't you. I used to ride my bike up and down Ventura Boulevard. I thought you used to test ride convertibles and just ride from one dealer to the other waving the hot chicks. That wasn't you? I used to take my Corvette. Oh, that was Jake. It was Jake.

I'd go up to five. I'd connect to the 405 and then I'd just get on. And I'd rip. Sometimes I'd surf. I'd love it. Oh my gosh. Would a cert board hold you up? Oh, that was okay. Oh, yeah.

Longboard. Long board. Jake, you're fat, dude. Hey, you were getting on me. You told me the eight-year-old me you looked like 12-year-old me. That was weird. Oh, what a burn. Oh, you were a beast when you were young.

I was. Damn. In other Padres news, because they have so much. much damn bullpen. They took one of their bullpen pieces, Caleric, and traded him to the A's for a minor league infielder, third baseman, second baseman, Sheldon Noose, who lit it up in AAA.

Noisy? Yeah. It's a weird one. Yeah. Noisy. Yeah. Okay. That's tough.

Yeah. Noisy. Yeah. Oh. Otherwise, I think it looks, yeah. Okay. Noisy. Well, they traded.

Caleric to Oakland for noisy. A guy named Gus Farland. It kind of looks like Sunny Gray. And someone else was part of this deal. But really, they traded Ray Calerick, who's been pretty good. And he's got four years of control left. But, I mean, the Dodgers just have a surplus of arm talent.

And relievers are pretty volatile. And I don't even think they really used him in the playoffs last year. So they just trade him and get some depth pieces. Maybe this noisy dude becomes the next key. K roaming infield hitter for them. I really don't know the plan there. The Dodgers also extended Austin Barnes two years, 4.3 million arbitration.

And they made another trade. What? They extended it. That was a two-year deal? They just avoid arbitration. Yeah, it was an arbitration. It was an arb deal. Oh, it can't be two years.

Oh, so two years in the total was 4.3. I'm sorry, I didn't see this one. I think so, yeah. Yeah. They're just buying out his arbitration. And they traded Dylan Floro to the Marlins for left-hand pitcher Alex Vesia. And Kyle Hurt, who is the fifth round pick. So the Dodgers just kind of making some housekeeping moves here.

I don't think any of these are really of note. I think for the A's, the choleric deal is because he can be a very plus reliever. And now they get him. And look out for this noisy kid. You know, the Dodgers grab him and they can probably groom him and he's probably going to become a stud. So the A's also signed Sergio Romo and re-signed Petit. So the A's are making bullpen moves. The Dodgers are making ancillary moves.

How old are Sergio and Petit? Can we get on that, BBD? Holy, you know, Petit seems like he's been in a league for 15 years. Combined age? Or what are you looking for here? Petit is 36. Sergio's 38 or going into his 38 year old season. He's gross.

Sergio can throw until he's 45. I mean, he just throws a slide ball up there. He's all good. Still tricking him. Still tricking him. Haircut buddy. Still tricking him. My haircut partner.

A's are going to A's. They've got a bunch of gross guys in the bullpen and that hits on multiple levels. I mean, Deakman is kind of a flat-out stud. Also comes from a gross arm angle. Romo, gross on many levels. I'm healthy eater. Caleric where he comes from. Trevino's been doing it for a little while now.

Wendelkin, Petit. These A's are going to do what the A's do. I think it's weird. I've been trying to wrap my head around the offseason, and who had the best off season, blah, blah, blah. Like, look at Bassett's going to give them solid innings. Lizardo, Montes, Mania, fires. When you compare that rotation to a lot of others,

that holds. They've got the bullpen. They've got the foul ground. This team's going to be able to pitch. It's how much can they hit? How much can Treves Maddie Chapman come back to do it? But for the A's operating under their own gross rules, I mean, this A's team is going to do their things. And yeah, the Dodgers, you almost get grossed out when they're making moves.

Sheldon Noisy, I feel like he's a stocky infielder. Someone that said in our chat, Jacob Jensen, I'll shout him out in our YouTube chat. He said Sheldon Noisy is going to be the next. Max Muncie. I was just going there. Oh, Jesus. Jacob, Jensen beat you.

No, he didn't. I was just talking. I was trying to get the words out. If you said it, Jacob would have been at home being like, Jake, just stole my goddamn tank. Oh, goddamn.

Well, let's hope it's on the next Max Muncie because the A is just gave him away. So that's maybe... Four years of Caleric ain't bad. And they got Chapman, Trev. Like, this kid's been blocked because Chapman is the third baseman. He played a hundred and 26 games at AAA in

2019 and absolutely raked. He had a 317 batting average, 389 on base percentage. Like, I think a lot of other teams, he probably cracks the roster. But unfortunately, the A's have one of the best third baseman in baseball. So he's a little bit blocked. I think that maybe as an A's fan, you're saying, oh, maybe we're going to stick with Chapman. Maybe we're going to extend him. I don't know.

But, you know, you know, you're cool to see Chapman go to a shortstop. That's not happening. Who did they just sign? they got they got they got Elvis in the Andrews that's right he was traded for Andrews uh shell yeah I mean look if he's in the next next max month

he's that's that's tough for them he's a thick king he's 6 foot 232 he plays a little bit all around the infield he's been mostly at second base for the A's um you know he's he's got some minor league numbers where he's hit pretty well interesting to see I mean

uh yeah the A's If they think Sheldon Noisy could be a real piece, they wouldn't trade him even for four years of Chalric. So I don't know. You got to be scared trading with the Dodgers because, man, they can... Everything we just talked about, Muncie, Justin Turner.

Like, they've got something in the water there in L.A., not in the valley. Yeah, I think this kid's... I don't know why they usually trade him. Seems, we don't know everything, but whatever. They don't believe. His second picture on baseball reference, picture on baseball reference is funny. It looks like a bruiser.

Oh, thick. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, again, Muncie's listed at 6 foot 215. Do what you want with that. Noisy listed at 6 foot 232. So noisy, honest. All in the ass. Muncie has lived in a few years.

It's from Fossil Ridge High School in Keller, Texas. Hell yeah. Sooner. Hmm. So that's all the Dodgers news, right? And then the A's news. Like the A's are, their bullpening got better. Well, they lost Liam.

They lost Liam. So we're kind of in the pendulum swinging and we'll see where it lands. They're doing their best to fortify it after losing Hendricks. They got some names. What do you think Sergio Ramos look is going to be like in? Is it going to be just shag, shag, beard? Is it going to be cleaned up? Yeah, it's going to be a lot of beard, trapp, because as a reliever, he only really pitches at night.

And by the time he comes into the game, it's freezing in Oakland. So he's going to want the extra beard and the longer hair. He might even like wear undershirts. And then when it's hot, you know, for the first three-nings, so just chill in the clubhouse. That's analysis. If you guys don't think Sergio Romo, has got a beard oil that helps him twirl that slider a little bit, you're out of your mind.

Of course he does. Of course he does. That's why I like Garrett Cole has long hair. Classic thing I come back to is when you're playing a team, do what the opponent doesn't want you to do. And a lot of these guys out of the bullpen,

you just don't want to see them come in and be gross. For the A's. Yes. Yeah. Caleric, Petit, Romo, Deekman. They're just going to. Trevino. They're just going to.

slop on you. Even their starting pitchers are guys you're uncomfortable about. Trev always talks about how Bassett's weird at back because he's a gangly MFer. Lazzardo's torn on it from the side. Manias got some weird stuff going on. He's really tall. A's. That's the A's. Thanks for tuning in.

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So basically, I mean, imagine if one team doesn't hit a three and that's the team you chose. It's tough. I think legally you got to like, I don't know. in the mirror. It's really taking your decisions. Because this should be a no-brainer. All it takes is one three-pointer being hit by your chosen team to turn $1 into $100. It's a no-brainer. This slam dunk of an offer, it won't be around forever. So head to the App Store now. Download the Draft King's Sportsbook and get in on all of the action. They also have hockey and soccer and a lot more. Download the Draft King Sportsbook app now and use promo code John Boy to get your shot to

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I've been over-pronouncing draft kings because everyone always says it sounds like I say draft kings because I talk wrong. Guy told me I pronounced Twitter wrong once, and I said it to myself, and I do pronounce it wrong. It was eye-opening. People are the worst thing on the planet.

How do you say Twitter? I say it with a C-A-A-R-A. Twitter Twitter Twitter Twitter Like a C-H at the C-H-W is how But then I said it to myself and then I said it to the whole office I don't know, there was like a couple weeks ago And everyone was like, yeah, you do say Twitter not Twitter Okay

Holy smokes promo code Johnboy promo code Johnboy The Cubs signed Jake Gary out of do a one year 6.5 million dollar contract. Trevor X teammate of yours. Sky. One of my favorite teammates that I've played with. So I'm happy to see him go back to the Cubs where he had so much success. Still don't know what the Cubs are doing. I have no idea what they're doing. But I'll always root for Jake Arieta. And I'll always say this.

He's got a chance to be one of the best pitchers in the league. I don't care what you say about his last year, whatever. The way he works and his mindset, I expect him to have a good year. Well, they traded away a sye young guy for a sly young guy. Yeah. No, I mean, don't get me wrong. I love memories. Trevor's saying he can be one of the best pitchers in the league this year.

I'm going to come down from that a little bit. You call him bullspit? I'm calling a little bit of bullspit. I mean, I love a good work ethic. You know, C.C. Zabath. He's got a great work ethic. He's lost a ton of weight. I don't think that means if he hopped on the mound right now, he'd be great.

So I think you're going to get major league innings. of Arieta. I do like that. And that's kind of the back half of this Cubs team right now. And I feel like as we get further in our team profile and projections ad coming soon, you know, Jake Gerietta, you're going to get a professional start. Trevor Williams, our guy, right now they've got him as the five star is going to give you a professional start. So guys that are familiar with the National League, still worried. The two things I'm worried about with their pitching staff is the depth.

and the talent. Oh. So, yeah. This is some big things. Yeah. Yeah, a little bit. Wow. Can we talk about Trevor Williams for a sec?

Do you want me to bring up like the Amir Garrett thing? I do. You do? Interesting, right? Like he put that, it's not like we're like digging here. This was out on IG. Well, this happened when we had Trevor Williams on the show. The brawl.

And he talked about the brawl. And then Amir Garrett responded to what he said. on our show and was like, fuck that guy, basically. Yeah. It's real. The hate. It's one guy in MLB baseball.

MLB. Made Amir Garrett. Yeah, so they're in the same division. Again, I'm curious to see how this goes. Because, you know, you don't see this too often in the big leagues. You don't see you guys absolutely hate each other

and talk about it openly. Like, I hate some dudes, but I'm not just going to go out and saying, that I hate him and I want to, you know, pull up on him. But Amir Garrett, DGaf. The Cubs might work this year. Wow, now you're coming on to him. Can I give you some stats on Jake Gary at a trap?

Need them. In 14, 15 and 14, 15 and 16, I believe were his Syung vote years. 14, 15, 16, yeah. 15, he won the Cy Young. Back then. Nasty. I mean, he was, he was throwing. throwing a ton of different pitches.

Like his mix was really, I mean, his Cy Young year, he threw his sinker 33% of the time. He threw his slider 28% of the time. Fastball 18, you know, as he went to the Phillies, he became sinker only. I don't know if this was a, I don't know what it caused this. I'm guessing some people that follow Cubs and Phillies more, no, like, was there an injury? Was there something? He became 61% sinker ball pitcher. at that time.

And I think it's because someone looked at his stats, right? And in 2015, when he won the Siong, his Sinker had a 191 batting average against. And there's still his most use pitch. It had a, I mean, 257 slugging against, like his sinker was dominant. Last year, his Sinker had a 634 slugging, a 402 batting average. year before that had a 3-04 batting average again. So his number one pitch just isn't doing it anymore. And now he's using it more than he did when it was working.

So I really don't know what's happening with his pitch mix and stuff like that. But it seems like I hope his graph goes back to a steady mix of everything instead of just, you know, last two years his sinker was 50 and 52% of the time. So. Yeah, I mean, part of the reason I'm excited, about him this year. Like I said, I know his work ethic. His body is still in phenomenal shape. So I don't think you have to worry about that.

And sometimes all you need is the right voice in your ear. So maybe he didn't get that in Philadelphia. Clearly he didn't get it in Philly. You know, they went through a couple different pitching coaches there while he was there. And now he goes back to the Cubs. I don't know if the same guy is there, same pitching coach. I guess we should have looked that up in Chicago. But a little bit of familiarity.

you get that juice flow and he's in Wrigley again. Maybe he's pitching more day games. Maybe that's a thing. But I all die on the hill that I'm going to root for Jake Carrietta. And I do think he'd have a big year. Maybe he's not going to be Cy Young, but hey, they don't even. What do you mean by big year? Can you give us a stat line?

What do you want? What kind of stat? Like 14 and 9, 3, 4. Yeah. Just regular old traditional statistics, what I think he's, going to end up out. Give us his ex-bacon. Oh, man. What I would like to see is, you know, the hits per nine go down, because that's what I'm looking at right now, like when he, when he won the Sy Young and the year before he had 0.3, oh, that's his Homer, sorry, 5.9 and 6.3 and

ballooned last year to 10.4. So, you know, some of the softer contact, he needs to get back to that. And maybe that's a pitch grip on his sinker, Jim. Like, you were saying, saying his sinker wasn't sank. So maybe he gets back and figures that grip out again or uses that special sauce in Chicago. I don't know. But I'd expect him to, I mean, he had a 96 and a 90 ERA plus the last two years.

I would look for him to be over the average again, 100%. All right. So baseball reference is predicting with 67% reliability, huge, that he's going to have 100, and 33 innings pitched,

which is around 20 to 23 starts, I guess, decent enough full season where we are now in baseball, with a 4, 6, 7, ERA,

and an 8 and 9 win-loss projection. Is that worse than you're thinking in your head? Yes. Okay. I can see him being

like upper threes this year. That'd be hell of a season for him. Yeah. That'd be a nice little bounce back. Jake, you started coming around on the Cubs. Do you want to extrapolate on that?

I'm just saying. You opened up with you didn't like their depth or their skill, and then you were like, I think the Cubs might do it. In the starting pitching rotation, I mean, I just, I scrolled up to their lineup. And, man, you click around lineups, you don't see as much name power in depth as you currently see in the Cubs starting lineup.

And it's, uh, it's crazy, man. I mean, right now, FanGraphs has Jason Hayward, uh, Jack Peterson, 6th, you know, Bryant, Rizzo, hat. Like, dude, if a chunk of those guys put it together, I don't know. They're going to need Arietta to have Trevor Ploos' 390RA season. I mean, he's a career 376.

He had under a four as recently as, what, 2018? 2018. So I mean, like you do it. Okay. All right. That's the Cups off. Maybe. He did the mountain in Philly?

I don't know, man. Yeah. Maybe. Did you like it? I wonder if I ever stepped on the mound. Remember when A-Rod stepped on Dallas Raiden's mound? Yeah. Someone did that to the lizard king in St. Louis.

What's his name? Michaelis. Michaelis. Yeah, someone did that to him and he got really mad. Who was? I made a breakdown on it. I totally forget. I just need to chill out.

Who cares? I think it was like as Drew or like Starlin Castro or Freddie Galvis. Freddy Galvis. And he was like, what? Freddie Gall was like the most universally liked person in the game. Like, chill out, dude. It's my day, though. It's my day.

I'm pitching. Yeah, pitchers basically have like 30 birthdays a year. It's so ridiculous. It's obnoxious, Jim. You know what I say to him? Hey, I'm in the lineup today. I'm in a lineup every freaking day. Yeah.

You don't hear me talk about what music to wear, what freaking jerseys to wear. Get out of it. Get over yourself, pitchers. Just don't. Pitchers are babies. Oh. Thank you. It's beautiful.

Wow. All right. Speaking of pitchers, James Paxton signs with the Mariners. He goes back to the team. He was with one year, 8.5 million guaranteed. There's some funky incentives in here,

Trev, that kind of made my eyes wide in a little bit. Like, he gets 750K if he starts 10 games. And I was like, that's a really low bar for game started. Paxton has started more than 10 games, I think for the last eight years. Sands, obviously, the shortened season that we just had.

And that's just seems like they're like, yeah, you can come here, but we don't think you're that healthy. I don't know. For some reason, it's like, that's really low. Like to give 750K means that they think it's kind of likely that he doesn't start 10 games, which makes me think the reports and his bullpen session weren't like. like incredibly thought of, but I don't know. He also gets another $750 if he starts 20. Correct, Jake?

Is it 20? Yep. Yeah. I guess it's like disaster insurance. Are those counted on the, what's it called the threshold? Yeah. If they kick in this year. Okay.

So, hey, it's the, Jake doesn't have a solution, but if guys could opt for free agency a year earlier, because he was coming off back-to-back seasons where he started 28 and 29. games, 376, 382 ERA, you know, a K-per-9 that's at an elite level. And, yeah, man, last year he got hurt, a pretty significant back injury. He tried to bounce back, and then he was his average fastball. You know, he went from a 94-95 average fastball guy to a 91. So, yeah, talk about hitting free agency at the wrong time.

And, hey, everything we said about Arieta reunion-wise, You know, goes back to Seattle. It's a pitcher's ballpark. He's kind of, he's a silly, he's an interesting personality. I kind of like him for Seattle. His eyes kind of light up sometimes on the mound. Sometimes they don't, and that worries you a little bit as a fan. But I like it.

Go shove and, hey, either maybe the Mariners lock him up to a team-friendly, three- or four-year deal if he looks like James Paxton again, or could become a very interesting name around the deadline if he looks like the James Paxton from 2014 all the way through 2019. Yeah. He, I think he'll be traded or he'll be a trade piece for them if he's healthy and pitching well. Paxton as the Yankees fan watching him was very interesting. It was either he was like mean and pitching,

he like to say downhill with intensity, or he was like droopy shoulder snoopied snoopy sad Charlie Brown walking on the mound like oh Paxton's not into this one at all and then it would go terribly he was a big body language guy for me it's like pinieeta same guy like they're very much like they call him Mr. Pease you heard that saying Treve I don't know what that means David Cohn in his book, he said that that's what they would call a lot of starting pitchers, Mr. Pease, where, like you're saying, everything has to be perfect. One thing goes off and then their whole vibe and day gets ruined and you can just see their body language change. I think it's a little harsh to Dawn Paxson.

And I've seen a lot of pictures that are way worse than that. But sometimes it was like, dude, like he had that first inning woes and you would just see like sadness like abound on his face. And it's like, come on, man. I mean, you guys watch it a lot more than me. I mean, like, I'm not wanting to talk about body language. I'm sure you can find plenty of clips of me playing where my body language is poor to quite poor. But I get it. You know, if you're looking at these guys and you're going to a game and Paxton's on the hill,

you're spending your good money on going to a ball game. And you see them open around. You don't want to see that. You don't want to show your kids that. So I get it. But it is hard to always have that, you know, I don't even know what to say. That kind of demeanor where you're just on all the time.

But if he does it too much, then I totally get it. But you got to kind of give some breaks here and there. Draymond Green talked about that last night. That was a big thing on Twitter last night. That sometimes shit happens. I fully understand. I mean, you got to be wired weird to be a light switch guy. Like Tom Brady, like every time you're on the field, you're just in like crazy mode.

Those guys are rare. They really are. I just appreciate the pitchers who will grind through a start. Like, that's why Tanaka was so loved. Because on days he, corner what, didn't have his stuff, he would just make shit up or get intense. You seem screaming himself. Well, like Paxson had a couple games where he did that, and it was awesome.

I kind of like Pax finding it again and gets the extension because, hey, these Mariners looking into their front view window, they think it's coming. They've got five top 70 prospects that should be up in the next. next two seasons. They already have some young guys that are up and doing it. And a little quirk, right now their top four starting pitchers are all lefties and their rotation.

That's cool. Marco, Paxton, Kikuchi, and Justice. Kikuchi. That's like when you draft, all of a sudden you look at your fantasy football draft and you have way too many running backs or quarterback. All lefties, what are they doing? Take that tight end in the second round because you're all like, you know, you like the value there. That's an interesting thing.

I don't know what that's about. Who's their GM, DePoto? Yeah. Yeah. Jerry. Get a righty. There's a lot of right-handed bats in the big leagues.

Get a righty. Let's go. Do it. Let's go. Oh, the Padres. They saw the Dodgers making moves and said, let's make some more moves to our bullpen. They get Mark Melanson and Kella.

Keone. Keone. Keone, Keanu. So, I mean, those are. some good pickups what's their pole pan look like right now they got pitching i like milanson and i like keone you talk about a body language guy keony is going to stare right through your soul when he's on the mound pomerance pagan milanson pierce johnson matt strom keon keone kelly keller yeah that's pretty cool tim hill coming from underground to throw it tim hill

Pods are good, man Timothy Hill Yeah, I don't really have much Besides good, good gets Good bolsters, man They don't have that defined closer Right now it looks like they've got Drew Palm.com

Penciled in my guy Ole Miss Married a Vandy girl Might be there Let's see I don't know I'm interested to see If they just do straight up closer

Closer by committee At some point this season Do you go with your pagan ways Malanson, Pomerans develops down there for Are you guys a last three outs are different person or are you a I need my best reliever in the highest leverage

situation? Heavy life questions here. I do, so I do think the last three outs are different, especially come postseason. But if you don't have one of those guys, like if we went around the league, how many what I think, how many teams have that guy?

I don't think it's a lot. And then, you know, I don't know. Yankees have been spoiled with their bullpen. It depends who's out there. Yeah, I think it's really case by case. If you've got three really good guys that can put their ego aside and not have that old school closer mentality and get the outs where you need, like that's the dream, I think, in modern baseball.

But there's a couple guys out there that still deserve. that night. Chatman for you guys is back end of the game because we've seen him come in a non-save situations and he hasn't done well. Yeah, Chapman kind of like doesn't even care about regular season games. So for him, for him, he's strictly back-end last three outs kind of guy. And you need guys on the same level because there's still this if you use, if the Yankees used Chapman in the eighth inning and he mowed down the para lefties. and it was good job, good effort. And then last year,

Atovino came in and got knocked around for the ninth. No one cares. You say, why didn't you, why didn't you wait? You can't ask Yankee fans about that. I mean, we've been so spoiled because not only do we have Mariano Rivera and then Chapman,

Cashman has always had a closer in the eighth inning guy. Zach Britton is a closer that is our eighth inning guy. David Robertson was a closer that came to be our eighth inning guy. Rafael Soriano was a closer that Cashman brought in to be the eighth inning guys. So we've just been overtly spoiled with eighth and ninth inning guys that we don't really have a normal mindset for it. Okay.

Hater and Devin Williams, they're going to be fun to watch. They were fun to watch last year. But if they fully go, hey, you're the stopper today. You're the closer and they eye the lanes. That could change baseball, I think. It would be fun. Definitely a high leverage situation.

I'd want my best guy in there. It's hard to do that. You have to have a guy wanted, he has to buy into that role. Yeah. Like Andrew Miller bought into that role. I think Hendricks had a really good quote when he signed with the White Sox. He was like, I don't, I don't give it down.

I just want to get the outs. And like, yeah, that's what you want. Stray. I love it. Yeah. He has some funny quotes out there. He's, he's doing it the right way.

The Ray signed two pitchers. They signed Colin McHugh to a one-year, $1.8 million deal. deal and Rich Hill, who's 41 years old, to a one year $2.5 million deal. They also brought back Archer and Waka. Yeah, our guy, Enosaros, wrote a really good article about their strategy here. They basically have 12 starting pitchers, like six old, kind of injured, risky guys, and six prospects, so they're looking to take the leap. And then Yarbrough, Torinos are like the stable guys.

Is there one more stable guy that I'm missing? Glass now, obviously. So they're just going to throw the kitchen sink and see what sticks comes. They're going to do a lot of bulk innings probably, a lot of piggybacking. A lot of you get the first three, he gets the next three. And by postseason, they see who's still around and who's twirling it. Interesting way to go about it. Horned up on your race.

You guys have been seen it the past few weeks. I think they're looking at it totally. Totally differently. I don't, you know, I think Blake Snell, even a normal team would hurt that team, but they kind of implored him differently. That's close to the right word. Tarinos is out, says the chat. Trino's out.

T.J.? I think he got hurt late August. Oh, okay. I mean, last now, Rich Hill, Archer, Yarborough, Waka, Colin McHugh, Honeywell, if he can ever stay on the field, is supposed to have crazy talent. Two-way McKay is supposed to be doing it. They've got 12 guys who are going to get starts this year. You know, Saris wrote a really good article on it.

They see, you know, an MLB season, you need 800, 700 good innings. And they've got enough guys to do that. It's going to be funny to see timing of injuries because that's almost a game they're playing now amongst their young guys. They've also got that McClanahan kid is normally a starter. They've got bodies. Rays are going to pitch. And, hey, when we talk about,

the Ray's reclamation project and going forward, how does that organization work? What do they get out of Waka, Archer, Rich Hill, Mahew this year, because they can start bringing that to, if those guys shove, they start bringing that to every free agency, and now the Ray's have this weird, cheap, messed up pitching factory. I hope they suck because I'm a Yankees fan,

and I want them to be bad, and I hope they suck because I don't want people to be copying their strategy more because I think it's bad for the growth of baseball. Boom. They'll probably be good. They'll probably be good. I don't have a mind up on them. I need to go through all these TPPs

before I make kind of my World Series selection again. But I'm not feeling like I felt last year about them. That's just, that's a me thing. It's a lot of them thing. They could be the same on paper. Maybe after I do some more research, I'll feel a different way. But they just don't.

They sparked it for me a little bit. They got the juices flowing. This year, I just, I don't, I don't see it. I don't see it. We'll have to do a deeper dive. Deeper dive. TPP. All right, we got a couple other things here.

The Yankees signed left-handed pitcher Justin Wilson to the bullpen. They also gave Jay Bruce a minor league deal. The Orioles signed Matt Harvey to a minor league deal. Him and King Felix, just swapping war stories. Matt Harvey telling King like, yeah, me and you, we used to be really big. And King Felix was like, no, no, no, no, no. No. Yeah, you weren't like me.

Seth Lugo will have surgery to remove bone spurs in his elbow. He won't throw again for at least six weeks. Do you guys have anything on any of that? Treb? Treb, do you have anything on Wilson or Bruce? We clearly, we did a whole Talking Yanks episode on it. I'm not too familiar with Wilson. Is it a minor league deal?

Major league deal. Major league deal. Okay, good for him. More depth. Jay Bruce, I love him. I've known Jay for a long time. Literally since 0-4, he's always been able to hit. And that's just another debt piece.

I mean, you guys have some outfielders there that, you know, don't have the best track record or staying healthy. So Jay is there. And gosh, I can only imagine him playing hitting balls into that short portion, right? The guy can still hit, dude. The guy can still hit. So good for them. Matt Harvey, I could care less about.

Sorry, dark night. Harvey's going to look bad in the Orioles uniform. Have we talked about that yet? I think Harvey and King Felix both won't look natural. I think King Felix. I think King Felix can look good in any uni. I don't know. I think he opens up enough buttons.

I see that, Jake. I see that. Big old Aggie uni. That might be the, maybe that's a team that we can get you on, Treve. Who's the all can rep any uni team? Harper. Tatease, obviously. Tatee. Harper is a good any guy for sure.

Not everyone can do it. Not everyone can do it. Lugo's kind of a decent blow to the Mets. 2018, 2019. Dude made 115 appearances. It's only six weeks, though. 2680. Yeah, but, you know, getting into the season,

and he's going to have to build up from there. He's not going to have spring training. We've seen these pitchers are creatures of habits. He was pretty mad last year But they kind of messed with him starting and going to the bullpen Because he was looking so good So interested to see how that Seth Lugo is supposed to be a big part of that team

If the Mets are fully operational I guess Yankees injury brain like six weeks Is absolutely nothing if we get a full season Absolutely Oh, I thought you were going to go the opposite way with it Where six weeks turns into 12 weeks No every Yankee misses at least six weeks So I don't like that's

doesn't phase me get it out of the way get it like sure you know how I mean like D D D Degregory has missed a full month every year he still was there in the playoffs and had good numbers

like I don't know it's just warped injury Yankee brain you tell me you guys are gonna be out six weeks and where we're to start the season oh great

he'll be pitching in June that's basically the start of the season Yankees brain Yankees injury brain Trevor in 2015 you went two for two two RBIs against Justin Wilson.

Whoa. That was when he was the Yankee, too, and he had a really good year. Whoa. Ground ball up the middle to score Suno on July 26th. And then the single to left field, I think, through the shortstop third base hole, scored Mauer. So congratulations. Thank you.

Huge. Good job, Trev. Lefty sounds white to me, Justin Wilson. Mm-hmm. Nailed to it. Cleveland signed Billy Hamilton and Ben Gamble to minor league deals. Ask Crabs goes to the Diamondbacks in a one year, $1.75 million deal. That's really it.

That's everything. We do have our daily episode starting tomorrow. We had everyone rank the order of the teams, and we're going worse to first. So tomorrow's team profile and projection will be the Pittsburgh Pirates, correct? All over it. Yep. So they're like 20 minutes long. So from today until opening day, there will be an episode a day of talking baseball. We do this.

This will be the second year we're doing it for talking baseball. We've done this for talking yanks. We're going on, this is be our fifth year or fourth year doing it. So daily episodes strap in. They're coming. They're quick. They're fun. Again, you know more about your favorite team than we do, but we're trying to figure it out for

ourselves so we can get some understanding. some we come in with one idea and leave with another. Some we stay the same. Trev, can I talk to you for a second? Yes, you can. Jake Oterizzy, what's going on, man? I've been checking in with him, and things are just still kind of moving slow.

Okay. You know, I'd assume it'll pick up. Now the pitchers and catchers are important, but is that a game the owners are playing? Maybe. Who else is still out there? there. Cole Hamels, no idea what he has in the tank. Porcelo, there's some innings for someone if they want him. Yeah, yeah, Pweig, Jackie Bradley Jr., Taiwan Walker, Trevor Rosenthal.

That's a big one. That can be significant for the right team. Tommy Mill won, Trevor's guy that he likes to shit on. Mitch Morland. I love Tommy. I just pick against him in the homework. Brett Gardner, Brett Anderson. Yeah. Cool. So a little more action coming. Not too, too much.

Let's go to spring training. Okay, let's just go. You get out here for opening days. Get out here for opening day. I'm going to be out there for opening day. I need to find a way to get vaccinated. On the record? On the record?

Did you just say you're going to come here for opening day? I got the AOK from Olivia. Ooh. Which is like really the only step. Okay. Now we have to figure it out. Done. So you're coming.

You want to stay at my house or you want us to get your hotel? There's a hotel in the Bronx called the Stadium Inn. Looks like if I would guess they don't have a single bed in the hotel. What's that? I'd stay with BPD and his grandma if they're just going to make out all the time. Yeah, that's the show people want to watch. Yeah. Yeah.

Oh, David, I think I'm going to try making out with. Trevor today. No, Grandma, no. Olivia might come with me. Might be... Yes. There we go. All right.

Thank you guys very much for tuning in. We'll see you tomorrow. Well, you'll see us. TPP peace. Bam. Enjoy. Big sucks. Garding.

That's it.