Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - 437 | The Mets Shopping Spree + The Best Relief Pitchers for 2022 (with Jerry Blevins)

Episode Date: December 15, 2021

Use code "JOMBOY' at https://dugoutmugs.com to get 30% off sitewide Get 20% off your first monthly box when you sign up at https://boxofwesome.com and enter the code 'TALKIN' at checkout Go to https://getroman.com/talkin now to get $15 off your first month Timestamps: 2:30 - Mets Shopping Spree 20:30 - Draft Begins 1:11:00 - Freddie Freeman 1:17:00 - Jerry's GUYS 1:24:00 - Catchers 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. Special guest, Jerry Blevins is here. We're talking relievers, athletes only today. Let's do it. Hello and welcome back to Talking Baseball live from the Drafking Studio in the Bronx, the Boogie Down Bronx. Jerry Blevins is here. We are mere feet from each other. It is nice. First time meeting in person. That's true. You're way more handsome in person. That's setting the bar really high. That's everyone's natural reaction. I was lucky to catch you on a Wednesday. So I was swagging out. King BBD in the corner and getting nasty in Calabassey is Trevor Plouf. Trev, how are you doing on this fine, fine Wednesday? Jacob, Jerry, BVD in the chat, my people, what's going on? I heard you look like Carrie Strug. Someone put that out there on Twitter.

That is good. That is good. I like that a lot. Like if you just cut out like the face right there, you don't get to the hair. Well, you have like the outfit as well on today. That is a gymnastics outfit. That was definitely a full routine later. The full opening ceremonies get up for Team USA in 92.

We'll get our departments on that. We'll put full effort into that. What's up, Treve? You know, a great day so far. It was raining all day yesterday. So I had some cleanup this morning. You guys know how that goes. I'm getting rid of my gophers.

I had like a real gopher guy come in. Like a real gopher guy. So I'm praying for the gophers. That's all I'm going to say. They might be going bye-bye. Prayers in the chat. Prayers in the chat. Jerry, how are you?

Flew in today. Today. Beautiful. I did the opposite. It was rainy all day yesterday. It took the kids to the zoo in Toledo, Ohio. For the light show. It was awesome.

I've been there. It's a lovely museum, I have to admit. Okay. We're like right between Columbus Zoo and Toledo Zoo, and we do both. But the lights in Toledo are wonderful. So I'm here. Flew out of Detroit today. Happy to be here, boogie down Bronx.

We're excited. We're excited to have you here. Shea Station is rolling, you and Jolly Olive. And the Mets were one of the few teams. I shouldn't say one of the few teams. There was a lot of fun teams that were having fun before the lockout kind of kicked in. but especially Los Mets with Scherzer. And I mean, I guess there's still stuff to talk about

because they're coming down to their final three, right? That's what Jolly and I are just waiting on. It's like it went from classic Metsy, as Metsy as it getsy, to, you know, they don't have a GM looking for a president of baseball ops. You know, all those leaks to where people are like, man, it's still classic Mets. And then, you know, we get a GM in line. and we make huge, huge signings,

and now we're about to hire a manager. Things are looking up in Queens. So it's nice at least to be able to talk about it in a positive, you know, viewpoint for an organization. And man, I think when it's already been discussed a little bit, but like when it's all actually, there could be a little 30 for 30 on like, I don't want to say the Mets cornering Scherzer,

because, you know, he signed the big deal. But with the labor negotiations coming up and sure's are standing that, like, Uncle Steve coming in and having the biggest wallet, like, I think it was actually, like, high-level stuff by the Mets. Like, you know, I joke around with Metsy as a Getsy, but, like, they kind of won the game. Like, they forced Max's hand a little bit by paying him a ton of money that he also deserves. Yeah, what? Yeah, I don't want to. I'm a bitter Yankees fan.

They did nothing, and I'm bored. Well, it's kind of like it points to how different the trajectory of the organization when, because Scherzer's towards the end of his career. He wants to win. And he had to go sit down with Stevie Cohen and talk about what the organization looks like. Because he knows his window is now small. So he wants to win more World Series. And that's what he wants to do.

So when he signed on, I mean, it not only is a great signing because he's, I mean, that's the best one-two punch possibly in history. with DeGrom and Scherzer, but it also just shows you that a guy like that can believe in an organization moving forward. It's a beautiful thing. Do you think it's really that, though?

I know there's some of that. He's there and he knows like they're trying to win, actively trying to win a World Series. But like there's also the side where he wants to set the market. He wants to continue it moving forward. Your Aav is now $43 million for a starting pitcher. Like you have to take that into consideration. I think at this point, like, yeah, you're looking to win if you're sure he's already got the ring.

Like, you've got to get paid and be in that good situation. So I think is a little bit of both. And, dude, you're in New York. You can maximize exposure if he wants that. You probably, that's probably the thing he cares least about, I would say. Yeah, I think his face being everywhere. It definitely played a part, you know, him being one of the executive board members, you know, at the forefront of labor negotiations.

But bottom line is he's a competitor. And he could have signed an Anaheim, could have signed with the Dodgers, even though they lowballed their shit out of him, shockingly, according to Haman. What did Haman said? It was like under, it was like the same kind of deal, 36 mil a year, I think, something like that. Disgusting.

How dare he? But, you know, I think it's, I think it just shows you that the Mets are the real deal, and it's not just a five-year plan like C.V. Cohen talked about, but they want to do it now with all the other signings. Sorry, you look so sad as a Yankee fan. No, man, again, I'm... Yeah, because the Yankees don't do that anymore and they used to. Hey, there will be...

Right? There will be a fun offseason at some point for the Yankees. I think so, too. And yeah, man, I honestly, I slunked, is that a word? To slunk in your seat? No, no. But no, I was mad. I love Eddie Escobar.

Treves Marcana A's sex pop And then Sarling Marte too Like I You know I've been saying Scher And it's like damn I like those other guys Like they They already had a full off season

And they may do more And I'm over here just Would the Yankees like Rodon Trev you raised your hand Yeah I did I guess we have Jerry here He's all he knows everything met So we have so many questions

for you. We'll get to our reliever draft. Huge reliever draft. Big time. That's awesome. I had an epiphany on the show about DeGrom and his contract situation. When Scherzer goes and signs for 43 million for four years, it's clearly a sign that the Mets and Mr. Cohen there want to compete and win a World Series.

There's no doubt about that. That is what they're saying. DeGrom has an opt-out after this year. how much money can this dude hold Uncle Stevie hostage for? I said 50 million. I think I'm taking it back. I think he might make $55 to $60 million a year because he has to pay him that. You can't sign Scherzer for three years and then only have DeGrom and Scherzer for one of those three years. You cannot do that.

So it's basically like blank check time, baby, right? Like, am I missing something there? I don't think so. I think he has to be healthy, but he is, when DeGrom is healthy, like, I've been so sad for the COVID year and for his injuries this year because I think as a baseball fan first and foremost, we were robbed of watching a guy so good. He's better than everyone when he's healthy. Better than Scherzer making 43. He's got three Cy Young's. Better than anyone by a significant margin where you're like, there's no doubt how good he is.

So if he's healthy, he's older because he, you know, he was a college senior, you know, injured early in his career. But if he's healthy and he wants to sign a four-year deal like Scherzer, maybe even three, 60s not unheard of if he's healthy. That's, yes. I know, right? It's so exciting. Treves been so excited about that.

Like he had his like light bulb moment like in the casino rounders. Did you ever mean that, Treve? No, I tried to I tried to But once he put that together I couldn't figure it out Yeah DeGrom can

You can break the bank It's like they had to have thought about that Like there's no way that gets by people In organizations like shit We want this duo But one guy has an opt out We're going to pay this And this guy just so happens to be the best picture

On the fucking planet I'm just excited to see what he gets Because you have to push the envelope At that point His only goal is to push the envelope I mean And he, because he's the best and he's made, you know, considering how good he is the least comparatively.

He's like, you know, a Rani Akuna kind of deal, not quite Ozzy Albies, but, you know, a very team friendly considering the output that he's given him. Yeah, he's, he's, and they, Lindor did it to him. Lindor held out, they made this big trade. He holds all the cards. And he said, look, I'm, I'm going to set opening day. And they, he held him over the barrel and it got paid. Shurs are the same thing.

And so it's positive for the Mets. It's positive for DeGrom. I think he wants to be a part of it. So it's super exciting. Well, baseball, it's so funny. I keep going through these highs and lows. I call them shower thoughts of like the, that you get excited for when this lockout ends,

and there's going to be a frenzy of trades and free agency. It's going to be like the coolest two weeks of baseball offseason that have ever happened. Get excited for DeGrom, contract talks in a year or less than that. And then, you know, and then you're still in the lockout

and you're like this kind of stinks. But I also just jump to, I think, Otani's a free agent in 23, 24. So like, so if DeGrom, I know how excited you guys get as players and proud players unions guy that is you keep pushing those limits. Like if DeGrom could

get a 6-0 on the board, man, by the time Show-hay does it, He's healthy. Like, it starts getting into, I think he's got two years. Oh, paying guys what they're worth. Yeah, exactly. What a crazy concept. Holy shit.

Okay. Yeah, we don't want to get too deep into that. But the guys at the top will always make their money. It's the guys in the middle that they're really trying to make sure. We've informed our audience about that. Like, the top tier guys are going, they know. Like, they're not who this is about right now. The fact that the qualifying.

offer went down is pretty indicative of how the system is set up. Well, you see all these signings like Bryce Harper, you know, Mookie Betts, all these huge numbers and then all of a sudden you see that it's the top 20% is lower. Like it just shows you how they've taken advantage of a system. And that's their right to. It's part of the CBA, but it's obviously needs some adjusting. I don't want to get too deep. I'm a very pro-labor guy.

Oh, they love it. We love labor here. We are the number one labor pot in the world. And our fan base, Jeff Passon came on a little while ago, whatever, friend. And we were like, he's your friend. We were like, let's talk some labor stuff. And he was like, wait, like, really?

And we're like, no, like, we have real baseball fans here. They're like interested in that. It's not just like, oh, show me a diving catch. So we'll do best diving catches of the year coming in January. What happened? Your lists you used to make? I'm sorry. I need those back.

The scientists list. Start of the year. Start of the year. Well, let's get to the draft in a second. First, let me tell you about bespoke post. We think it's bespoke, not bespoke, like I said last time. And, I mean, if we're talking about real genuine ad reads, Jerry Blevins admitted on the way in, you are a bespoke post, man.

I am. I actually, every month. I've skipped maybe one month this whole time, like 18 months worth of boxes, didn't know they were a sponsor. Look at that. We're just quality product. We're going to have to bring that together a little tighter. I did some, some Christmas shopping for the misses through their, through their app. It's wonderful. Look at that. What's the coolest thing you've gotten from Bespoke Post? Personally, I am a, I just made a bar in my basement close to my, office and they have this smoking thing where you can like char the wood and have this big

I think they're called like a glass cloak or something. It's a full on I can be a little fashions in there some like that. A smoked old fashion. We might have to might have to clip out when you said basement bar me and Treve both went little dogs. That's true. Yeah.

We'll talk about the Midwest. You said cloak. I love cloaks. Any cloak I'm just a fan of. So glass cloak I've never heard of and now I need a glass cloak. The big thing that covers like an upside down vase. Yeah, like the beauty in the business. In Kalabasasas, they might call it a vase, upside down vase. Interesting.

I call it a vase and I think people don't like when I say that. Jerry, I'm going to second your choice there because I got a package. They were nice enough to send us out some. And they sent me a mini oak barrel that I poured, some some tequila that George Clooney made. Casamigos? Whoops. No, Friand.

Free ads. My mom likes it, so. Yeah. But I did. I poured the Blanco tequila in there, aged it for like two weeks, and it came out like beautifully golden and tasting excellent.

I was shocked. I thought this thing was a scam, and it wowed me, so. That's lovely. Thanks bespoke. Well, basically what we've just told you is they have their box of awesome. that you can specialize to yourself, your interest, and whatever you're into.

And what do we have? We have 20% off your first monthly box when you sign up at boxofawsom.com. Remember that. Box ofawson.com. Enter code talking at checkout. That's boxofawson.com. Code talking 20% off your first box. And like Jerry mentioned briefly, you can not get it if you don't want it.

If you want it, you get it. It's like $70 worth of stuff for $4. But if you get it with us, 20% off the first one. So thank you bespoke post. What a read. There's so much genuine. So much genuine shit in there. Is that what you treated as, Jerry?

You're treating yourself every month? I do. It's like something cool. That's like a lot of this stuff is very centered towards me because I've put in things that I like and they'll put it together. And then even if you don't want that box, you can skip that one and exchange it for another one or completely skip it. And so they usually have cool stuff like kitchen knives or whatever the case may be.

They have such a vast wide array. A wide array of boxes that you can get. And it's usually like curated. They're super fun. And it is exactly like that. Like I'm treating myself once a month for 45 bucks. And you get some cool things that you can't get. It's nice.

You know, it's your store. Gotta treat yourself, man. And we're about to treat yourself. you guys. We have Jerry Blevins here. How many of your career? Parts of 13 seasons. Whoops. Wow. 13 seasons. Old man. I think what we'll do is we prepared a draft for you guys. We're going to do a bullpen draft

20. 2020. We're going to project a little bit. We'll circle back at the end of the year. And we're just going to draft some of the best of the best out of the bullpen. And I was wondering how to keep track of stats. I think we'll just let the people vote by the end or hopefully it'll have sorted itself out because like we know with baseball stats now, ERA or saves might not necessarily tell the whole story, but

you know, and we're not necessarily a strikeouts pod. Like strikeouts are hot in the street, but if you get out, that's what I'm about. Did that rhyme a little bit? Sure did. And so we always love putting some weird rules around it. We didn't get too crazy. Runs or runs, bro.

Runs or runs, bro. But we wanted to do, and this way I think we'll get more teams involved. You can only take a reliever from one division. So if you drafted Mark Melanson from my Diamondbacks, that means you can't take anyone from the Dodgers, Giants, Padres, whoever. So that's kind of the draft. So me, BPD, Jerry Trev, and then I think after the draft,

maybe we'll do some jock tales. we'll circle up. We'll talk about your guys faithful. Faithful at bat? Fateful? Fateful. I promise you, if you pull that video up, it will not be an HD. That was old. Yeah, it's old. And it's from the Coliseum, so they're at the top of the Coliseum zoomed in. Like 8X or whatever, it's going to be pixelated. And I'm too skinny to be that pixelated. That's, I know that feeling. So, Jerry, we, everyone has to write down a, number. This is how we, one to a hundred.

Okay. Pick any number. Oh, what's that. Hold on. Treve, you can, like, write it on your phone or something. You are separate from us. One to a hundred? One to a hundred. One to a hundred. And then I will bring up a random number generator that I already had prepared because I'm showing. I'm not typing into Google right now.

Oh, my butt. Treve, what number did you write down? That'll be the test spin. Oh, of course. to test. Obviously. Treve put 24. Chairing.

I got 13. 13. I have 68. I put 88. Okay. We're going to spin it. 33 is the number. Yes.

So I think Treve, you get to pick. You get to pick your pick. Which draft pick you would like. Oh, I can do like. We're doing snake, right? Yes. Snake back and forth. So if you get the four pick, you also get the four pick, you also get the five on the way back. So your call.

It's thinking, intensive. I'll take four. Okay. I have one guy that I want and you guys aren't going to take him. Ooh. Early strategy from Trevor Plouf. Jerry, I think you... I'm only 20 away. I don't know. I'm the furthest. You're the furthest and you're closer to go high.

I'll take number one. Yeah, I like that. I like that for you. Not sure why I'm typing in your guy's full name into the sheet, but it felt powerful. I will go three because it's kind of like when you're in a fantasy draft and you want to be near the weak link of the draft. You do get two in the top six. You're not worried about, I spelled my last name wrong, you're not worried about your players getting snaked. That's true. Like, you're like, oh, that guy.

And BPD, I'm assuming. I'll take the number two pick. You'll take the two pick. All right, so we're doing a relievers draft. It's for next year for 2022. We're not just like accumulating last year's stats. And it's so a little bit of who you like. You can only take one guy from each division.

And Jared Blevins, you kind of, you have the honors. I know. I wasn't expecting. I'm so honored to go first. I'm going to stick with my first love, which is left-handed pitchers, man. And I'm going to go Josh Hater. I think his accumulation of innings. and strikeouts, saves all the above is key, and I love the flowing locks.

As close to a sure thing, man, out of the bullpen as you can get. I remember he was having his bad year, like, what was it, like three years ago, something, and his ERA was in the fours, and then he still ended up just dominating. He was giving up so many, like, solo home runs. It was unbelievable. But, you know, you average that out over a season, he'll be just fine. He'll be fine. He's a friend.

gave me the follow on Instagram. It's not a big deal. Wow. How is he on IG? Do I need to check it out? He's good. He's good. He's a chiller.

I think that's a phrase the kids use. Maybe not either. This isn't a kid-friendly pod with this age group. We've got a healthy mix. We get a, I always say my favorite. You just say ear muffs, Jerry. If you're going to say something really bad, we still say ear mumps. My favorite thing is there's a lot of when we go on tour or wherever we go,

there's a lot of kids that run up to John Boy and they love them because. He's the only cursing that their parents let their kids watch. That's like an amazing accomplishment. It's an honor. Yeah, absolutely. It comes up very frequently. You're the cursing. I'm allowed to hear.

I was going to say, not one time as a parent ever come up to me and be like, thank you for cursing around my children. It's been an honor. It's an absolute honor. All right. So the NL Central is out for Jerry. BPD, you have the second pick of the draft.

Yeah. Hater would have been my selection here if you didn't take him or if I had the number. one pick. So I'm going to go to another division that there's not that many names I want. I'm going to go to the AL West. I just got a new deal. I want Raisal-Glasis. Okay. Okay. Interesting.

Going to get a lot of trusty innings over there because it's kind of their best option. He's nasty. Are they ever going to be in the position for him to be to save? That's yet to be seen. Saves are not the goal. Saves are so outdated, Trev. Wow. They're kind of good. I mean, still need to say.

Baseball games. It's part of it. I like it. Don't go all the way there. Don't go full that way, BBD. It's not full that way. It's important. It's all part of the equation.

Early fighting. Yeah. Divisional value. Okay. Where am I going to go? You always have, you always think about your pitch. I get it. I like BPD the way you do these drafts.

Like I literally just mentally took a pick back because of that. Bad brain. Bad brain because BBD's in my head. Okay, I'm the third pick in the draft. Rice will do get 34 days last year. Man, all right. I am going to, I too think the NL Central is a little thin. And I've got a guy I really like, who I think is young and just getting better.

I'm going with Giovanni Gallegos from the St. Louis Cardinals. Low-key gross. It looks like Luke Voigt and the Yankees won a trade briefly, and now Gallegos is absolutely disgusting, and I think they trust him, and he's going to get a lot of innings out of that pen. He's gross. Doesn't get shown enough.

No. Well, we'll talk about it. That's what we're doing. It's the Midwest thing, man. God, Midwest. I got to meet him at the All-Star game. He was a nice guy. He had his family there.

Nice guy. I like that. Okay. Trev, you have back-to-back picks. Yeah, so this is the way I'm approaching those guys, because we all know, like, I don't love pitchers. I do, I do F with relievers. I do.

Because they're warriors. They're in there every day. It's not like to take, you know, every once in a while, you're like, I need the day off today, you're off. But whatever, it's not a big deal. So I'm drafting, you know, being good is obviously a majority of my vote,

but I also need to be in the pen with these dudes. They got to be guy guys, my boys. It really matters that cohesiveness of your pen. You know, what snacks are we going to bring? We've got to all know what's going on. Are we throwing baseballs to the fans? Are we playing court, whatever? Trev does F with relievers.

Yeah. That's very in the know. Yeah, I used to catch bullpens, Jerry. That's how bad of a position player I was. They made me catch bullpins. So my first, this is a guy I played with. and he turned into an absolute beast. This is the AL Central we're going with.

I'm taking my guy Ryan Presley. I mean, just the stats are there. I've had a lot of fun with him. And I know, I know when a big situation comes up, like he, I know a lot of guys want the ball, but I've seen him really, really want the ball. So I think that means a lot to me. So Ryan Presley is my first pick.

And I don't know if you guys want to discuss that or just roll right in number two. Double it up and we'll critique both. Discuss them in tandem. Another guy played with two-time reliever of the year. Liam, freaking Hendricks. Love it.

Back to back. So I got the Central and the West, excuse me. There you go. Locked up. And again, stats speak for themselves, but I mean, what really got me on Liam was when he, it was the 2020 playoffs

when he had pitched like a zillion innings in a row and still was blowing like absolute fuzz like throwing 98 past his former team like that was awesome so he's got both these guys just have huge balls essentially yeah and he'll yell at you as you know Jerry need him classic Aussie guy in Liam Hendricks

is a super intense having played with Balfour out in Oakland very intense very similar I was in camp with the A's in 2019 had a chance to to mingle with Liam Hendrix a guy is like super thick like one of those

you see his body and you're like that guy could pitch every day at a high level and he's shown that a lot of people were saying that he had kind of a down first year in Chicago I disagree I think that guy performed very well I think he he showed how good he could be

even when luck isn't always on his side I love that draft pick there's no way it was going to get back to me but good spin on the end there it's a good snack Didn't he He's just won his second Roll-Aids reliever of the year in a row

I don't believe, right? This year? I don't know. Rivera. Yep, two-time. Sorry, it's the Mariana Rivera American League of leave in the year. Thank you.

Show some respect. You used to be the roll-aids reliever of the year. A little respect for the pinstripes. Sorry about that mo. Yeah, right? But also, wait, one more point on these guys I want to make, they'll move on. both failed starters or failed starters.

They were in Minnesota's system. It didn't work out as starters. And I love when guys find themselves in the bullpen too. I think that's really cool. Did you, Jerry, not to open wounds, but when did starting pitching leave the equation? That's actually a fun story a little bit. I'll give it a quick brief.

So I got drafted by the Cubs. I signed really quick so I went out and I met the team. right, like the day before the season started in Boise, Idaho. And the pitching coach looks at me, goes pitcher, right? I was like, yeah, he goes, are you a starter or reliever? He goes, don't even worry about it. With that frame, you're never going to be able to throw 200 innings. Literally, never thrown out of the bullpen my whole life,

maybe a couple times in college, but they projected me to not handle an extreme inning's limit. And so I've been a reliever ever since. saved my career though Kind of work I loved it I'm happy I prefer it I feel like starters

Have too much free time Like like Trev talked about I get to lace up Lace up my cleats every day Kept me from doing Stupid stuff You know young 20 21 year olds do

Because I knew I had to be ready every day And it I loved it It's fun We get to BS out in the bullpen And talk about movies And look in the stands And then lock it in

So I like that Dugout's so up tight. The bullpen is awesome. Oh my God. It's such a unique place to be. I would, if I would like, my last year when I was in AAA rotting away, if I wasn't like playing,

I wasn't going to sit in the freaking dugout. Because you said it's too stiff. I'd walk out to the bullpen and hang with the boys. Especially if your team is not doing well. Like being anywhere within earshot of the manager is like rolling the dice of just getting a grimed for you're not taking this serious man. So the bullpen is the

opposite of that. It's really laid back. But when the game started to to get into that point, everybody locks it in. But for the first three, four innings, you know, if, like, DeGromer, Scherzerer pitching, the first seven innings, it's very loose and fun. I feel like I could be bullpen-lice. We can do some bigno down there.

We can do some bigno down there. Trev, Presley gets so overlooked on the Astros. He was gross last year. 2-25-E-R-A. Disgusting. And Hendricks full won me over when he busted out his full, like I'll pitch whenever. Like, you call in the third inning, and, like, Liam would be like, all right, how many we need.

So, great picks, Jeff. I agree. Happy for you. Presti, I want to make a correction on what I said. He was a starter with the Red Sox minor league system. When he came over to the twins, he's been in the bullpen the whole time. Thank you for correcting that. I made the transition there.

Oh, shit. It's his birthday. Look at that. Hey, happy birthday. Happy birthday. 33 years old, Presby, my guy. Oh, his career is. Sorry.

That's one. 33, that's the line. Street down. All right. I'm up. Are you? Yeah. Yeah, I started the peak in my early 30s.

Then I hit a precipice really fast. Jake, are you ready? We'll get, we'll get. I'm always ready. We're going to get that between rounds. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I, uh, all right, I'm just going with guys I like. I'm going to stop.

BPD has me thinking about strategy. and stuff. This dude throws arguably the best pitch in the game, and he's young and getting better, so I'm going to take a manual Class A. Wow. I was going to sneak him out. Man, I just throw a cutter like 102.

I don't really get it. I don't really get it. In the mix for my next pick, Jake. It's between him and Hendricks for me, but nice. Thank you. Thanks, guys. Are they going to win? He is Phil games.

Every, I mean, the Indians, it feels. like they always stumble into guardians excuse me we'll bleep that out it's like the Washington football team talk I always that one whatever guardians I'm with you guardians uh and class A he's just like too good to fail it's fun to watch too good to fail BBD what do you got let's see let's see I think I'm going to go with a guy you just every year you know in this kind of draft relievers are such a volatile position And this guy kind of every year does it. He's in a division that kind of scared me

with how few guys I would have been excited to take. Not as much as the AL-West was, but I'm going to the NOS and I'm going to your snakes. He just got there to another guy with the new deal, Mark Millance. Okay. Just every year. Okay. Every year.

I didn't know if he was going to get snagged. That guy is unbelievable at his job, and he is one of my favorite personalities I've ever had the chance to play with. He is a unique being. He is the most left-handed, right-handed pitcher I've ever met. He's awesome. Doesn't he own like a, didn't we stumble into? He owns like a turfing company or something like that.

Did we, did that become a thing and then we saw it? Or did we, our people find that? I felt like that was like early COVID times. And we were like, oh, Mark Millanson, those lawns. We're like, what? He's a man of many times. Yeah. We'll talk to you.

You ship out this way. Once your gopher guys are done, Trev. Jerry, you have the double-up. So excited to see where you go with this. So I'm going to start. Let me just make sure I've got this right real quick. We're going to do the NL West. Okay.

And I just want to because I don't want to go to, I'm pulling up Sam, the New York Giants. I don't want to go to get his name wrong because he is one of a twin. Oh, okay. Yep. So I'm going to go Tyler Rogers of the San Francisco Giants. I know he's not even technically the closer out there,

but the Giants with Andrew Bailey, former teammate, being their pitching coach, you know, they do things different. They'll just roll with whoever, and that guy is funky and nasty. He's healthy. Submariners, you know, and less their back kind of goes out,

they could pitch all the time. And I think the, The NL West is a little thin as far as, you know, picking guys out of the, out of the bullpen. I love that. As far as locks go, yeah.

Yeah, that's also true. These guys you can believe in, but. So I'm going to go to the NL East here. I'm going to pick my guy. I'm going to go with Edwin Diaz. I still think he is an absolutely elite arm. Mets fans may disagree with me because of how many times he's blown it up

and how poor his, what was it, the 2020 season? 2019 season. He's just got elite stuff. It's gross, and the NL East is not exactly full of prime time relievers. And so I think Edwin Diaz fits a mold that is like old school to where he's only going to be in on saves, and he's durable enough and shown his durability

to be able to lock some innings. he's uh how good is you're good when he's right it's just like don't special don't even bring the bat don't even bring the bat uh BBD you always bring the bat um so this isn't necessarily for you but there's a lot of people that have trouble bringing the bat sometime oh baby sometimes you uh you step up to the plate maybe it's your your loved one maybe it's a future loved one and if your wiener doesn't work, that's not a good time. No. It's the worst time.

That's the worst time. Who feels worse? You or your partner? We don't know. Everybody. Your partner probably isn't feeling anything if we were being honest. It's a great. That's a great point.

So maybe you should do it for yourself, but also do it for your loved one. And go hit up, Roman. They will get you in. conversation with a medical professional about your E.D. 52% of guys ages 40 to 70. How old are you? I am 38 on the precipice, on the cusp. Deal with some form of E.D. So what you should do is go to get Roman.com slash talking. Now to speak to a U.S. license health care professional about E.D. And get $15 off your first month of treatment.

Get your bat ready. Bring your bat to the plate. Get it going with Roman. Get it going with Roman. Treve, you have your hand up again, which just not sure about it. I just have something to say. Please. You know how like people, guys, let's say guys. I know guys. I'm a guy guy.

They'll walk around with like a hat that says like Bitcoin on it. Or so you know that guy's in crypto. Or like they walk around with a Porsche hat on and you know he's got a Porsche like guys flex like that like why can't we rock around Roman stuff like you know my dick works Lord knows I'm not stopping you

like like that guy he's ready we'll uh we'll talk to Roman about getting some gear some merch like there's no doubt in your mind that it's like it's working oh that guy that guy's weaner will work uh he's made sure of it

glad Trev raised his hand for that let's get back to the draft Jared kind of love your board early. Just realized they went all national league. Can I like see a board? NL guy. Oh yeah, I could share this with you, Trevor. Put on a sheet. Put on a sheet. Put on a sheet.

It's on a sheet. BBD. You are up. Trevor, you'll be getting an email in a moment with that, I think. And I'm with that, going into this draft, identified three draftable NL Central arms. This guy is as nasty as it comes. learned a lesson for himself last year

going to come back even more motivated he's ready Devin Williams Yep Oh I wanted to Like if I didn't get the first pick He would have been in there But learned a lesson indeed

You punch a wall with your pitching hand Yeah that was dumb That's pretty I want to know there's got to be more story to that right Because he's angry after they clinched We think so Yeah I just want to know

They went out I mean allegedly The puzzle piece I think one day that story will be told. Redemption year. I could probably get it right now. Redemption year. And I needed a young stud.

He's been nothing but that. How about this? None of our business. Yeah. Yeah. We'll find out when it's time for us to find out. Unless you're a Twins fan. I mean, kind of your business.

Brewer's fan. Brewer's fan. That's right. Wrong. Wrong. I'm out. I quit. I'll see you guys.

Yeah, Devin Williams and his kind of. God, it. felt like he was having a met, like an okay year last year, 25 ERA, 87 strikeouts, 54nings. Crazy. Gross. He throws, like, people forget how hard he throws. He throws, like, 99.

And he's got just that screwball. Trevor Hoffman changeover. Oh, what is a, what is pitching ninja? He calls it the airbender? Airbender. Yeah, I mean, it's beautiful. Sure is. Fit matches the ERA and everything for those people.

I Great pick I think I'm going NL West My heart skipped a beat for a second Because this guy won me over this postseason I think everything clicked I think he's

A future Star of baseball For the next decade Out of the Bullpen I'm going with Camilo Doval Mm-hmm Damn it I thought that was sneaky too for me

Dude like one One me over big time To talk in baseball people probably remember. So when you said Giants open, my heart skipped to beat. Because Rogers, obviously, great pick for the same, very different reasons,

but the same reason. I think Doval is, I compared Krod. And then I think some of the big Js took that. Whatever. He's my guy. That guy. You were not the first person to do. I think I'm the first person to say that.

I think I'm the first person. And I think I brought him to your attention because, Thank you. J.P. Martinez, who is my friend and the assistant pitching coach in San Francisco said, this is a guy guy. Yeah.

And he's awesome to watch. He did have not a great last game, sour taste in the mouth. So he's going to come out and kill it. Just fuels us. Got that all off season. Feels us athletes. Speaking of, Trev, you are now the double.

What other guy guys we add into this pen? I'm just going with, I'm sticking with the East here. I'll go AL first and NL. I really, here's what I don't like. I don't like when guys come in the pen and they walk people. Okay? I just don't like walks, okay?

Just, you know, I'm a position player. You stand out there. You don't want guys free on base. So I'll start with another one of my guys, another former teammate of mine, a guy who I've hung out with, and wouldn't mind spending some time out there. He's been really effective for one of the best pitching teams

in all of baseball. to Tampa Bay Race. I'm going with Andrew Kittridge. Okay. Yep. As my A.L. East reliever. Monster year last year. Like a 1-8-8-Ear. And I thought he was going to be, we, and I'll tell you why, because I want to give him some love. You know, maybe he's not the best pick numbers-wise, but I wanted to show him love because he was one of the guys who really struggled with the, when they started checking guys. His spin went down. We thought he wasn't going to be able to be able to.

get back he got back and he was good so like i got we we we mentioned that so i wanted to make sure that we shine a light on the fact that he was good even after all that took him a little bit of time which is really when you think about it to be expected you pitch with stuff on your fingers and now you have to go bare and it's it's an adjustment period so i'm going with kitchard okay second pick i will get the NL east out of the way and I have a weird relationship with this guy

he caused me to be DFAed from the Philadelphia Phillies turns out he's like the best reliever in history Aaron Loop I'll be getting my lefty off the board and taking Aaron I thought people were going to forget about Aaron Loop

is 0-9th I didn't realize there was a there was a Tale of the tape there. Yeah. Yeah. So yeah, I got DFA'd for Aaron. I've made of them for a long time, but I've come to appreciate his ability. That's a hell of a player to step in.

So he was the final straw. Yeah, I've never been back in the show. That's why. Okay. I always saw you had a little chip against a loop. But now it makes sense. Stab me in the heart. So they're gone.

There is a little issue. issue there. He did go to the Angels this off season. He's in there. Oh, wow. I had him on the Mets. Illegal. I'm looking at his stats from last year. That's what I okay. Gosh dang it. Wow. And I do love, I do love Looper. Wow. All right. So I have to forfeit my pick, I guess. I think you could reap. No. Yeah. There's no. You got to feel out of Ross. It's already been deleted. Yeah. We're okay with it. Well, I just, I have had it. What a powerful speech, too. Should I go, James' best friend? He got you again, by the way.

Boop got you again. I can't do that either. He did. I think I got some stats against him, though. Everyone I want, I've already taken this whole, like, one-to-person for a business. You gave your whole thing about how BBD has strategy in these drafts, and now here you are.

I have no strategy. Just peeing on the shower ceiling. Fine. You know what I also like relievers to have? What's that? Earmuffs. a fucking bowling ball, and I'm taking Blake Trinanen, N.L. West. We're all checking to make sure you haven't taken NL. West team. Yes.

Has not. No. Do you sign somewhere else? Very good value at this point as well. I know the chat was a little mad at me that I went Duval over Trinan, but I like what I like. They were a little mad. They were a little mad. I don't know how. They watched Community DeVal pitch. A lot of Dodger fans. As pure stuff as it goes, like, that's...

It's a battle right there. Yeah. Trying to, I don't, I, when he was in, we played together in Washington with, with the nationals. And he had struggled as a rookie. We were, I'd watch him throw these 99 mile per hour, just nasty sliders, sinkers. And they, he'd get hit. And I'm like, how, how is it possible?

How am I? And then I'd go out and like, throw 89, get a guy to pop up. I'm like, I don't know. Baseball's hard, man. It's a weird sport. Yeah. Funky. I guess you need a little.

bit more funk. Who knows? But he figured it out. Maybe he had too much frame. He's too big. That guy's another one of those. You run into him. You're like, geez.

He's like, you know, shoulders are like 66 inches wide. And he's like one of the nicest humans. What are you eating, Blake? Okay. Trev, great job.

Great job. Great picks. Let's see. I've done Central and NL. West. How many picks are we doing all the divisions? No, we're doing five rounds

so you will miss a division. You will omit one division. You will miss a division. All right, one more pick. Um, okay. I think this is a guy I can't quit.

Easy, I know. You don't, who do you think it is? No way. Just fucking pick it. You have no idea who I'm taking. He was traded at the trade deadline this year. I think he's going to

find himself in a lot of big spots. I am taking Diego Castillo of the Seattle Mariners. That's not who I thought you were going to be America's team this year. And I've just, how good is you're good? He toys with people. And I think pitching in Seattle that can even boost the stats a little bit this year. So yeah, I'm taking my guys.

BPD. Interesting pick right there. A little, I didn't know how my draft was going to turn out. This is not the team I expected, but God. I like Diego. Pure stuff standpoint. Like, you know. I'm a stuff guy.

You're a stuff guy. I test kind of guy. I love stuff. What are expected stats? I love stuff. BD, give us your stuff. I'm doing it. I'll take Craig Kimbril, please.

Okay. Dirty Craig. He was on my list. Not going to lie. Dirty Craig. Liam can't do it all. The other division I'm on. at the end.

Yep. So we're on me. I've got all my National League picks. So I've got a little... I didn't realize that. It wasn't strategy. It was an accident. We'll roll with it.

I'm going to go, gosh, one of two ways here. I'm going to go, I'm going to take a Yankee here, and I'm going to go roll this Chapman. I just, I can't see him falling off too bad. And in round four... By the end of the year, that's going to... That's what I mean. In round four, that's...

You know. I considered it with... Talk about huge human beings. His shoulders, man. I don't get it. He looks like, I remember when he first came up with the Reds, like, oh, he's built kind of like me, like a tall, lean guy. And then I remember running into him at Yankee Stadium.

It was like him, and when Batances was there, we were like crossing paths as we were going to the bullpins. I was like, what sport? Like, this guy is huge. His shoulders are enormous. and I think that Chapman is the sweatiest human being I've ever seen in my whole life. Yeah. He's not sweating.

Through a hat? Through your hat bill is sweat. Like, I'll wear a hat for an entire season and not get to the bill. He does it every game. It's amazing. Yeah. It's a good sight to see. There's some camera shots when he'll have his jersey fully tucked in or like retuck it.

And you see like the cut from his hips to his shoulders. And you're like, it looks like he's wearing shoulder pads. He's got the sleeves underneath, too, all year. Literally, like, the best basketball. You can see how the sweat happened. He was, like, the originator of the plus hundred. You know, there was guys before him that did it every once in a while. They're like, ooh.

Yeah. He was the first guy that was like, oh, like every pitch. Trev, how do you feel about him never really getting a chance to be a starter? Because there was a talk of him going back to starter, and then he was like, no, this is where I'm at. I think when you can get that kind of production out of the bullpen, I don't think you think about the starting factor anymore. Because you still, yeah, everyone needs starters and it's more beneficial to your team

if the guy can be an electric starter rather than an electric reliever. But there's no guarantee he could have went and done that and stayed healthy and done all that. They found, he's found his role and he's excelled. I love it. There are certain guys, you know, I wish they would have gotten more chance. But at the same time, I wish they'd convert more starters. the relievers. I know the starters don't want that because the payday is quite different if you can continue to rack up endings of the starter. But there are some guys you look at as a starter and like,

man, I think you'd uptick a little bit with all of your stuff that you can go out there and just blow it out. But I have no problem with them staying as a reliever. I'm always scared of the transition from reliever to starter because that's a different, it's a different workout, different offseason. You know, going from one to the other seems easier to go from started reliever. It's not easy. It's a different job. But, you know, like Daniel Bard, good for him climbing back, but watching what the

Red Sox transitioned him to the bullpen and to the rotation, the Rangers did it to a couple of guys that kind of ended their career. I can't think of their names. The Rangers, when was this? Went from bullpen to a starter. I mean, Jabba Chamberlain is the Yankees example. Bullpen to the starter. CJ

Wilson had success going to the, to the rotation, but it's really tall. I think he ended up going to the Braves, but it was like 2013, 14, 15. Chris Martin? No. Latin guy. Two of them. Anyway. We'll get research on it. The clerk is nasty, but anyway, so I'm going to go for my last pick. I got to stay in the AL. I'm torn. I think you're talking about America's team and the Mariners. I almost went, you know, my boy, Pauly Seawald. It was gross last year. Oh, so good. And he really like turned it up a notch. But I think I'm

going to stay with the AOS and go Lou Trevino out of Oakland, you know, kind of an established guy. They're running pretty thin. They always have a good bullpen. And I think he's just going to accumulate some stats. Yep. Okay. I like Lou, man. I like Lou. I like Lou. I like Lou. The nastiest most, at least for the time I was with him, lack of confidence where he's so good, he's like, yeah, but it's 99, but I got a little bit of the plate. I'm like, shut up. Keep throwing it.

Yeah, just do it. Don't let anybody, and I think he's kind of turned into that bulldog mentality. I think he's really turned the page, so I'm excited. I like it. I like it. BD, your final pick. Man, so I'm between, I have to pick in the east. So there's a party that wants to go with your heart

And go with the Yankees I don't think I'm going to do it So then do I go with another guy Who's a little bit after my heart I kind of want to do it Go with your heart Give me Dickie B, Richard Byer Every year

Every year, good stats, every year Last pick of the draft This is the time to do it Wow Give it to me That was a shock, I'm not going to lie Dick Blyer Dick Bue B,

Okay Every year Every year I love it He's my kind of guy I needed a lefty Are you sucking up to Jerry I love it

Suck up to Jerry Suck up to foolish Dickie B I did not have Dick Blyer going In this draft He was my twist If I wanted to have some fun

I love it I'm happy for him Career 296 ERA Reliable 295 last year Year over year Just he's gonna give You

Does his job Yes, he does his job. God, Dick Blyer. Last round, this is when you can do it. You might not want to read the comments. Or maybe you will. Maybe there's... Every year.

There's a Dick Blyer crew out there. Okay. BBD, weirdly... Weirdly enough. I still have both East's open. Yeah. And you're right. You know, there's...

We obviously come from Yankee Roots. There's one guy dangling there. Jerry mentioned America's team right after I called Seattle. America's team and I didn't think he was talking about the same America's team. I think I'm going to round out my bullpen. I see a bullpen and I think of a bullpen. I think of a unit.

And I think I want nuts. And I think I want those nuts. I think I want Matzik. You know, I've got a bunch of righties that are just gross. Give me the lefty in there too. You know? You needed your lefties. I'm a little balance.

I know that wasn't part of the rules. rules at all, but If I were picking a break, it would be him. Yeah. Yeah. Was that where you were going, Treve? Of course it was. I had a whole speech about postseason heroism and my...

Trezben grabbing guys after his heart, this whole way. What division? So do you have the East? No, you took Kittridge. I have East. I have East and L. Central. East and L. Central. Okay.

I mean... Man, that hurt because I had, like I said, I had a whole thing. Right. Thing going on there. I was going to talk about my favorite postseason pitcher ever as Madison Bumgarner. Maybe followed by Matt Sick. Possibly, I would have been the greatest postseason player in baseball history. I never got the chance, so we'll never know.

I'd like to imagine that I would have been a hero. I mean, there's no doubt. Most people agree with that. Yeah. This is tough now, guys. because I'm looking at the board and it's to steal a Norkel slang where it's hella thin. I haven't heard hell in a while.

Yeah. He's got some of those. You know what? Screw it. You know who was perfect in the postseason this year? Another braze reliever. Another lefty. Another lefty.

He's in my book too. Sorry about it. Will Smith, I'm taking you. Because you showed up. You showed up and you showed out because everyone was talking shit about the Braves bullpen, and they became the night watch. The night watch or the night shift.

The night shift. The night shift. The night shift came in. When he said that, the night shift, I was like, oh, I'm so jealous. I didn't think of that. How did nobody think of that? I know.

It's beautiful. I love it. Can I do a 1A, 1B? What's the question you're asking? I'm going to do. Will Smith slash Peter Moylan. Okay. Just because I can't.

That we can do. We'll allow that. All right, fellas. Let's see where we landed. Great teeth. I was going to say, that smile alone. He's always one A. Peter.

Jerry Blevins, Josh Hater, Tyler Rogers, Edwin Diaz, O'Raldus Chapman, and Lou Trevino, B.BD with Riceilleglis, Mark Melanson, Devin Williams, Dirty Craig Kimbril, Plier, babe. I love it. Me too.

Giovanni Gallegos for myself, Emmanuel Class A, Camilo Doval, Diego Castillo, and Tyler, Big Nuts, Matzic, and Trevor Plouf, Ryan Presley, Liam Hendrix, Andrew Kittridge, Blake Trinen, and Will Smith, the official reliever draft. A lot of people are going to be mad

because we didn't draft. Blank, your reliever. Johnny Lazzania. for the Yankees. Yankee fans will be mad at us for that. Jake McGee. Corey Kniebel, I thought he might go, but he's also going to Philadelphia,

which has been a house of horror a little bit. Remind people that we can only pick one for me. One per division. I was pretty close to taking my guy, Pete Fairbanks, because I could see him having a monster year for the raise again. There's so many talented relievers. The Pete Fairbanks look? Yeah, he actually hates Jake.

Jake doesn't know this. Stop that. He likes almost all of my Instagrams. So it's just a sign of friendship nowadays. Jordan Romano, Blue J fans will probably be mad about that. It was the other choice at the end for me. I want to go Yankees or Romano or after my heart. So I guess leave your comments. Don't be mean. Sorry we missed your guy. Does, do you get pride from relief pitching being so nasty in baseball nowadays?

I do. I do. I think it's one of those things where, there's just so much talent in the game and it was overlooked for so long that it's nice to see some guys shine and for teams to understand just how valuable a back end. You know, it started for me in 2015 or with the Royals basically

when they had the big three at the back end. That was when you realized they can win you ball games. I actually love starting pitching as a fan of baseball. I think they need to do something to address making sure the teams have starting pitchers. You know, in the playoffs, do what you got to do to win. But during the regular season, like, I'm a middle reliever, and the opener is disgusting to me because I don't,

nobody's going to come wearing my jersey unless you're related to me. You know what I mean? Nobody's, you want to root for de Grom, Scherzer, you want to root for these guys, the show Eutonis. It's better for the game of baseball to have starters more important. But you just see how much talent is in the bullpen. And it's lovely to watch. And people appreciate it.

I love that. That's a beautiful bullpen. But you know, Jerry, we can wax poetic about the beauty of pitching, but it comes down to clubs. Want to limit the number of innings the pitchers throw because you end up paying them less. I get the third sign through the order thing, but there's other ways you could do it. You could just take your starter out, whatever it is. The opener is something we need to tell.

talk about a lot, but I agree with you. I love starting pitching. To watch, I don't like hanging with them or conversating with them at all. They're their own breed of human beings. I'd said, but they're good for the game. It's the quarterback. You know what I mean? It's the guy that takes the ball. You open up the newspaper and you say, who's playing? And it says, who's starting today? Yeah, yeah, it's important. Act sure, observers, Garrett Cole. And you say, oh, that's Watch that. The TBDs, the two, who be determined, everybody's like, oh, who cares. I know I was tough on some of the Braves young guys that ended up starting World Series game.

Dylan, I mean, he's just put in an impossible spot. Like, what are we doing? Let's talk some more of that and some more general baseball. I love doing the baseball game where your guys' paths have crossed previously, that one fateful day. Got to love how baseball is. The day defensive. Even when it goes well for you. The day defensive.

It could be good for the other person. Started. And this is brought to you by dugout mugs. You guys know dugout mugs. We love dugout mugs. You heard the noise Trev made. Dugout mugs. Make the noise, Trev.

I know you always do it for Rosie. You never do it for us. Oh, this one? Pop that. Oh. It's incredible. What a noise. Wow.

Bottle that. That was the knob shot. Go grab a bunch of knob shots and throw it in everyone's stocking, boom. You know, the holidays, holidays can get, you know, sometimes you get the family member, you don't see eye to eye, whatever it is. Fill up a couple knob shots. That's going to solve your problems.

Might make them worse. That'll solve your problems. Go get some knob shots. Go get the metal mug. You've seen me rocking that one. We've got the Cubs one floating around, Yankees one. You probably know them from their traditional wood ones. BPD's got the Cubs one over there.

Nice. Go to dugout mugs. Use code jumble. at dugout mugs.com. 30% off sitewide. Before they sell out, I love that. Peacock in a little bit. We will sell out.

Go get yours. Dougoutmugs.com code chamboy. Everything 30% off. Nice deal. Great. Where do we want to go, boys? Do we want to start with the faithful at bat? Oh, my gosh.

I think this is pro bulk of us, though. There's not much to talk about. Treve, I mean, in a way you win. But you lost. But you won. No, I don't. No, I don't even think I hit the ball that hard, guys. Honestly.

I watched the video when it got sent to me, but... It just is. Jerry was nasty. 2013. I wasn't very good that year. I was coming into my own in 1213. Those are the years. Those are the...

So that's kind of what I want to ask you, Jerry. Like, so, you know, a, hilarious, your starter, starter, reliever. Slide a frame, you're going to be reliever. That's right. And you just mentioned it starts to click for you. I mean, you know, you have your first, like, full rookie season. You have a 311 ERA, 2008 with Oakland.

And then you just say, you know, 2013, you're starting to find yourself. Is that just, I don't want to say a coming of age tale, but like what? No, kind of. It's so baseball is so different than other sports where you come out of college and you're so athletic that you're going to play. Sometimes the game's a little bit fast. Like basketball, you can guys contribute right away. But it's so rare for baseball because you have to accumulate experience.

And for me, luckily I came up in Oakland where the team wasn't very good when I first got there in 07. And so I was able to learn and see what it takes to be a big leaguer, you know, wear my lumps out there and get kicked around a little bit because, you know, when I was with the Mets, guys are contending. guys come up and they have to be really good because we're trying to win a world series. And so they don't get their chance to get their feet wet first. And so when I was with Oakland, I accumulated a bunch of experience between going back and forth, just being a part of it for a long haul. And eventually, like, and going into the 2012 season was the first time where I felt really confident in who I was as a pitcher and as an adult.

You know, it was like I was out of options and I knew this is the, the time where I'm either going to be good enough to be in the big leagues or I'm not because they can't just push me down into AAA because they want to or they're manipulating my service time, which happened the year before because I had a good year in 11, a sub three, I think, and I was back and forth a ton. It's just how it goes. And so I was finally comfortable and knew I could either be a big league if I were good enough and if I wasn't, I would be in AAA. And so that's where I was in 12 and then 13 is when we faced each other and that was my last two years in Oakland before I got traded over but that was it man it's beautiful it's beautiful trev thoughts

I mean look it's we know how short average careers are and it's a couple different things it's money thing it's the ways teams you know value those roster spots and when you start making a little bit. They can ax you for someone that maybe is a little bit worse than you, but they don't really care about it. So to be able to play as long as Jerry did, it's just a testament to a couple things, work that you put in. You have to be a good person. I don't care what you say. If you're a shitty person, then you have to be like extremely, extremely good. And that's how you stick around. But if you're good, which Jerry was, I don't think you take offense to me saying you're good, right? No, not at all. Okay. Good person, works hard. Yeah. And like, you know, that's how

that's how you stick around. Guys have to want to be around you. You have to offer something to the team besides your stats. You have to be able to mentor guys, you know, teach people how to be professionals. We talk about that all the time on this. The value of veteranship is undervalued right now. And I think teams are kind of seeing that when you look at the giants and what they've been able to do. Even if you're a veteran, yeah, it's about helping the young guys out. But I also believe veterans can take some of the information and make quicker adjustments than a young guy. guy can. Because to get to be a veteran, you already had to make a bunch of little small adjustments as the game adjusts to you. I just think anyone that's played as long as Jerry has is, you know,

you have to just applaud them because it takes a lot more than just skill. Yeah, man. Thank you, by the way. Are you a good guy? I think I am. I tried to be. The last charity you donated to. The last charity? What was the last charity you donated? Probably, so my neighbor, I golfed in their Golf outing who's called the Black Swamp Memorial. He had child. One of his kids had cancer, and so we did a big charity event for that. All right. You're a nice guy.

But, you know, mentorship is, you know, they can't quantify veterans anymore. They don't know how to appreciate what it means to have been there before. And I think, like, the Giants as an organization understand things a little bit deeper. I really love what they have going over there. Like it's incredible. I was there in spring of 2020 before COVID hit. Really? Yeah, I was there in spring training.

Farhan Zahidi, who's their president, came up with me in Oakland. And then he went. Yeah. And so we had a little bit of a connection. Trebs is a big Gabe guy. I love Gabe. I, you know, I was in watching him when he was in Philly kind of learn and gain experience. Having been there in spring training of 2020, I gained so much more respect for him, not only as just a quality human being, but he's, the way he has interactions with his players, the true relationships that he has, he cares about the players as an individual.

And so these guys are going to work harder for him than they would for themselves. And so it's a true organization. So I think they're building magic out there. And you talked about veterans. Veterans go over there and excel, guys like Longoria. you know, they see something that can even make you even better and you're willing to open up to that. And so, you know, a guy like me, my two best abilities were availability

because I knew I was going to be ready to play every day. I did everything I could. And reliability, you knew what you're going to get from me. I was never, you know, blow nine saves in a row where I was going to be my peak. Sometimes I'm going to get beat. MLB hitters are awesome. Sometimes I'm going to give up a,

Bryce Harper home run or Freddie Freeman, you know, Gapper to win the game. But I'm going to execute for the most part. And that was kind of the longevity of my career was just, you knew what you were going to get out of me. And as a bullpen guy, being reliable is key. It's hot. It's hot. Yeah, I want to.

So, hey, I want to do some personal and silly stuff with you because I think that's fun. I'm saying I'm going to hype up a competitor, but they're kind of the kings of the world. listen to a part of my take interview. They had Joey Harrington on, which speaks to probably... I was going to say, there's only a few podcasts. Yeah, no, they're the guys. I'll give it to that. Joey Harrington, which, you know, if people don't remember,

like he was a big deal, like Oregon, cover of the football game, blah, blah, everything. And he was telling some of his stories today. And tying it to what you were just saying, and we talked about the Giants a lot because of Gabe and all the veterans, that's the part they just missed over the recent analytics wave, which we always say we love Annala's. I mean, there's so much good in it.

But, you know, I think for the past decade or so, they've seen a one-war player as a one-war player. So if you can get that out of your fourth outfielder who's 25 years old and plays good defense, they view that the same as your, you know, 32-year-old that, you know, slaps it around and doesn't play as good defense. And it's all just numbers into the computer and go.

And Joey Harrington was telling some stories, Bobby Petrino now, who's, again, go Google him for some stories. But he was the head coach of the Falcons. Joey Harrington was there when Mike Vick got caught in the dogfighting scandal. And it's just all these moving parts. And he said it was obviously chaos. But he said there were so many veterans in the locker room that it was actually. And he listed all these guys that, you know, NFL moves fast and you forget a lot of guys.

But it was like lawyer Malloy. Like he lists a laundry list of guys. You're like, work done. You're like, yeah. And he's like, you know, that was huge. Like, and me being the quarterback, something in for Vic, they were like, hey, you got to talk to Bobby because everything. And it's just a whole dynamic that I think sports have gone away from that.

You know, baseball, I think why we fought the shift a little bit is because, and Jimmy was on this pretty early, is that baseball hasn't adjusted this shift. Like baseball adjusts, and I think we're going to see the veteran thing between this new CBA, what the Giants did last year. Like I think veterans are going to become trendy. The whole Braves outfield last year that they traded for, I think veterans are going to become the new trend, and I think that's really good for the sport in general.

So I'm excited to see that once we get baseball and all of that. But yeah, the locker room, man, I mean, you guys can obviously speak to it a lot more than me, but that changes so much within a team, so much. That's like one of the, like the fact that Freddie Freeman hasn't signed back with the Braves yet. It's gross to me. Like it makes me sour inside because he is that locker room.

Organizational decisions funnel through Freddie Freeman. They'll go to him and be like, what do you think about this or practicing on this off day, flying out this time? He is a part of the soul of that organization and to let him dangle a little bit. Dangle, it makes me sad.

And I can. The Dodge. and the Yankees. He would be an unbelievable Yankee, by the way. That would be an amazing fit, but it would be bad for baseball because he needs to be a brave. It could be good for baseball, right? I don't think so. No, you're just shows you.

You're absolutely right. That lack of loyalty and appreciation for what he brings. You know, Ronnie Acuna is amazing. He's the most skilled player on that team, but he's not the face of the franchise for a reason. He's not there yet. He's young. We were in 2019 playing with those guys. I would go out of my way to try to have a conversation with like, he's 19 or 20 at the time.

I'm like, dude, what are you into? What's like, what do you? I don't even speak your language. It's so fun. Not only, you know, English has a second language, but like the stuff that he's into, the slang that he uses. It's so funny. But he's just not ready to be that guy yet. He's 23 now.

Yeah, it's insane. That's insane. And so Freddie Freeman is the gel. Not only is he MVP from 2020. just carried your team to an organization, the fan base, that's who you think of. It was Chipper Jones, and now it's Freddie Freeman. Appreciate him.

You're like, well, that last year of your contract that you want, you're not going to be as good, but that's what you do for a guy that is the Atlanta Braves. So that's how I feel. It's disrespectful to me that he's not already signed. All I know is, I agree with you, as far as Freeman, he's out in California right now

Living it up I followed on Instagram He had fake snow Brought out to a beach house I mean the guy Don't let the Dodgers Come in and say hey Freddy Want to come home

You want to come live at home bro Like bring your family Come live at home again Do you want to make some Wittling games For your kid that's growing up Do you want to be able to do that? Yeah don't you want your kids

To be city tough And you know see some sewer rats And you know We don't live in the city in L.A. bro, okay? He's talking. Travis, we're talking Bronx right around the corner here.

We're talking. Nobody, oh, that's disgusting. I love the Bronx. You love the Bronx. You know, the streets of New York and I get along very, very well, especially when it's past 2 a.m. And that's Jerry. Now we're talking about the real stuff.

What do you do after 2 a.m.? Everything. If you're in the city, anything. Okay. Get a great slice. I like that. You can sit down out of. Brickin Michelin-starred restaurant.

It's like, ah, we're just going to stay open to four. Like, it's beautiful. I love New York. I love the city. We bounced around Manhattan for our four years living here, trying out new neighborhoods. When you're a visitor, when you come in to play the Yankees or the Mets, they put you in, like, midtown. Right. And I didn't like New York that much because it was just chaos.

You were just there, yeah. Yeah. And so you're like, man, there's just too many people, like, aggressive Elmo trying to, like, You rob me, stab me, who knows? Fake ass Elmo. Yeah. And so it's gross there, but we got traded from the nationals to the Mets. And my wife was like, let's live in Manhattan.

I'm like, man, it's tough, baby. And so we ended up living in Chelsea our first year and loved it. It was unbelievable. It's like a real neighborhood. And then we lived in Gramercy Park, Lower East Side, Upper East Side. We tried all the, it's just a people are amazing, a city that you could walk anywhere. the best of the best is at your fingertips. Anything you want, it's awesome.

And the people appreciate things on a different level. Like the fandom here is just, it's just different to be on a team in New York that when you're good and they appreciate you, like the, it's just awesome. People are just turned up to 10. That's it. Look at MSG last night with Steph Curry like that.

I wanted to be there. Electric. It was electric. I did two. And then I saw it get in the house. It was six bills. I was like, you know, I'll get ready. I'll get ready for the show tomorrow.

But, yeah, man, and that, dude, I was kind of the same way. Like, I grew up in Connecticut, and, like, I'd come to the city or come to the Bronx, and then we're moving here. We're starting this whole thing. And, like, I live in the Upper East Side, and it's like a town. Like, it's in the city, but, like, you know, you walk around and dogs there and everything. The store owners are like, oh, yeah. Hey, what's up, Jay?

Yeah. Yeah, they start to see regular. You get, like, a neighborhood. Your bodegas, like, every, it's awesome. So Freddie. So cool. Oh, Bodie. Freddy would love it here, too.

You're listening, Freddie. Who are your guys? Like, I, you know, Trev's best friends with everyone in the league, blah, blah, blah. I always laugh because I'm such a baseball nerd that, like, you know, Peter Moyland will be golfing with Chris Medlin, and I'll be like, Chris Medlin. Like, I know that. Who are your guys from playing?

So, Greg Stammon, who is a reliever with the Padres. I went to college. We went to University of Dayton together. Oh, flyers. Yeah, we played two years together in college and then ended up playing together in Washington. Just a fantastic human being. I like to be around him. Ross Detweiler.

Okay. Tyler Clippard. Yeah. High changeups. High change ups. Yeah. The two-time Yankee. Yeah.

I just, I love relievers. You're a different group. There's some guys that I'm really close to. His name's Walt Nolan. He works out in the West Coast. We played A ball together. My buddy Jesse Estrada still plays in Mexico. You're just, it's a family type.

I don't have like big celebrity, big name guys. I actually, I just had COVID. I missed my boy, Confordo's wedding. My wife and my son was in it. He's going to, you know, be the ring bear. So it was tough. That was tough. But, you know, I don't have, I'm not going to go, you know, fly private out to watch a Monday

night football game. You know, I don't have those kinds of friends. I just have friends. Let's leave for a second. Oh, no. Oh, I didn't see you there. We thought you were still gone. No.

And by the way, again, this is talking baseball. Craig Stam and Ross Statweiler, those are guys. These are my boys. They're, you know, we came together. We have kids the same age. Our wives get along great. Yeah. He's a Midwesterner.

He's a St. Louis guy. Just good people, man. They're a different breed. I love Josh Donaldson's one of my good buddies. I was waiting for the position players. Yeah, I love. I love Donaldson. He's a good friend of mine, dude.

That guy is a human being beyond the likes of a regular person like me. That guy just lives on a different realm. And if you're on the mound, you don't matter to him. No, no. If you pitch, Donaldson doesn't respect what you do. He literally thinks it's the easy. thing to do is pitch, which is amazing. Jerry, he's got a good point.

I agree. Favorite saying is, if hitting is the hardest thing to do in sports, what does that make pitching? And you can't be like, oh, well. Such a good line. And so I asked him, I asked him if he were pitching. So this was my rebuttal to that line. I remember this.

We had this discussion. Yeah, I was like, so if you were pitching against yourself hitting, do you get yourself out? And he says, no. I go, so it's not the easiest thing to do. See the pitchers thing, man. No, no, because Josh thinks I'm so good of a hitter. It doesn't matter if you're the best pitcher.

I'm still going to hit you. Donaldson, former catcher turned back to third base. He made his debut in Oakland. We came up together there. Oh, hey, let me ask you something. Because I only heard stories about you play with JD. I did. When he was first coming up, right?

So I was there in 17. I heard stories about him. Obviously played against him, whatnot. But the one story I always, I think we've told it on this, this bar before was about him and Billy Bean's relationship, contentious to say the least.

Yes. Were you there in the clubhouse after the game when he was telling Billy like pay up? Before the game, he said pay up, Billy, and then he hit like a walkoff or a game winning hit. And then he said price went up, something like that, right? I was there.

Yes, I did see there. their interactions. Josh Donaldson knows how good he is and he always have. Even when he wasn't that good yet, he knew he was like, it's inevitable that I will be an MVP. And so at an early age, he just knew. And Billy is in the clubhouse a lot more than other GMs, especially at that time.

A lot. And you're going to run into high energy guys like that. That you're going to have. Well, they're both like that kind of. Yeah, yeah. Billy is very... Similar. Commands of presence, but Donaldson is loud.

Donaldson is loud. Well, Billy understands his value and what he brings, but he doesn't... Like, when Donaldson's in a room, you know it from two rooms away. And so when you walk in, you're like, all right, this is something's going to happen. Exciting. Like, and he speaks his mind and he speaks what he thinks is the truth at all points. And I respect somebody that's genuinely himself. you get around a lot of people that are fake or that love to gossip.

And when you're in a clubhouse for 10 months straight with people, when you're that close to somebody all the time, I'll take Josh Donaldson over somebody that's fake nice all the time. That guy, not only is he amazing at his sport, but he's just a good person. Now he's got dad's strength now. So he's on a next level. He sneaky had a good stint in Minnesota. Like he paid him a lot and he was hurt a little bit.

So it kind of gets overlooked. They've also been a bad team. But like his overall numbers are excellent. He produces, man. He knows. He's he was. He just knows. By the way, he's had calf injuries.

He's got, you know, we got some calves here in Jake. But Donaldson's calves and they're always hurt. I'm like, dude, just do what I do. I don't have any calves so I can't pull them. Yours are too big. They're vulnerable. They're easy to, easy to mess up. I feel that related.

Look great in a pair of baseball pants, though. Where we land almost every episode is comparing myself and Josh Donaldson. Pretty much. Literally MVP in the bag, like 44 career warlike. I can talk about Josh Johnson a lot. He's a monster. A monster. 41 homers, 123 real eyes.

Like he plays defense as a pitcher. Like I love guys that play defense like him because if, if there's an outfield assist coming into third base, no matter when the ball is going to get there, that guy is not going to touch third base. He will put his body down in front of the bag. The guy will slide right into his legs, and then the ball will get there and he'll tag him out.

Like he is that kind of like, I'm getting your face. This is, I'm going to get dirty. He's unbelievable. His defense alone has been overlooked for a long time. He covered a lot of ground for me out in the Coliseum. And he went from catcher to, third base and immediately, as soon as he switched over, he was immediately the player that he is today. Like, unbelievable.

Catchers take, it takes so much out of you to call a game, to squat down. We were talking about it off the air, how, like, these guys. These are nuts. Yeah. You said, you didn't want to use the word? No. You want me to? No.

Like, our, our catcher's insane? What word did I use? It started with an ass. Oh. No, I would never. would never use that. They're a little dumb, like, but not. Like, to put your, no, no, no, I would never.

Put it on record that Jake Story Ali said catchers are dumb. Only because of they know the punishment. They're giving themselves by foul tips, by wearing all that. Like, it's just you know, you know going in, like, I'm going to get hurt today. The career you signed up for compared to all of your other teammates. Yes. Third base, no thanks. Massively different.

The two positions I would never play. I'm left-handed, so I can't. Third base and catcher. I couldn't do it. I couldn't be like, hey, I'm going to squat down and your bat's going to hit me in the hand one out of a hundred times. I'm going to take a foul tip. Like, I couldn't commit to it because I'm too. And, like, dude, we could say all the stuff, the bad stuff that happens to catchers and, like, hit in the hand by a bat would be item 19.

Okay. I'm going to, I fouled off a ball. I had four at-bats in my whole career. I fouled a ball off my shin, and I almost retired on the spot. And you guys don't even, you guys don't even like look at it. You like step out of the box.

And I, in my head, I'm like, dude, that hurts so bad. And the fact that you aren't like rubbing it, you're just like, oh, God. All right, I can feel my leg now. It's crazy. You guys are nuts. It's part of being a hitter is, I understand you're going to hit with the ball,

whether it's by yourself on a foul ball or by the pitchers. And I think if more pitchers hit, which is never going to happen again, it stopped wasting that pitch inside so much because they understand like, oh shit, that could do some real damage. But yeah, it's, I don't know, man. It just happens over and over again.

And even if you have a shin guard on, you never hit it. It's like very rare that actually, wherever you put your ankle guard, you're going to miss it. It's not happening. And how about a little... You know that shake.

A little third base respect at the end. Jerry says he never would do that, and Trevor Plouf stood over there nobly. I'm at on the pitcher's mound. We're closer, 60 feet, six inches, but I know that area very well. I mean, I spent 2015 on the DL, I got hit by a line drive, got hardware in here. But it's different. You guys are there standing in front. It's called the hot corner for a reason, man.

No thanks. You got Jose Batista up, yanking the ball down the line. Like, I wouldn't even want to be the third base coach. Yeah, that's true. That team was a big, big problem. It was an incarnation, L'Cista Donaldson. The turf fields.

Enough about how good I was. I don't want to be awesome. And then we were talking about foul tips, but then you're doing that all the time to yourself as a catcher on purpose. There's something loose. They're hockey players that love pain. Yeah, they're like they make themselves

go through that on purpose as like a right of passage. They're the older brothers of the team. That's what I always say. They're also genius. The older bros. A lot of people, that's their path. You know, Donaldson, Kinerfleffa,

or you just have a 15-year career and enjoy it. Drew Bue, our guy. J.P. Crawford, shout out of him. All right, we got to wrap it up. This was awesome. Jerry Blevins. How? Ladies and gentlemen.

Do we know how we're going to do this at the end? The draft? Oh, we'll post it. We'll get some stats in a little bit and go follow Shay's Station with Jerry Blevins and Jolly Olive. Shout out, John. Jokes. Thanks, everybody. We'll see you,

what day is it? We'll see you Monday. John Boy will be back. Trev will be medicated. Properly. Medicinal.