Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - 459 | Baseball is Back

Episode Date: March 14, 2022

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Hello and welcome to talking baseball. It's back and it is moving. We're coming to you live from Arizona. Let's do it. Hello and welcome. It's talking baseball live from a couch in Phoenix. My name's Jimmy. Between me and Jake is Trevor.

And on the other side of the room is producer BPD. This episode is brought to you by. seat geek and you know spring training is on yeah there's going to be games if you want to go see one you got to go to seat geek use the app they will rate every ticket zero to 10 to make sure you're getting a good deal we got the hookup use code talking for $20 off tickets at seat geek $20 off your first purchase with the promo code talking make sure you click the link in description download the app code talking $20 off your first seat geek order Trev, how you doing?

James and Jacob and BBD is so good to be in your presence. We've got the chat up right here. We're live. Look, we're out in Arizona having a great time, but the real reason I'm happy, baseball's back. That's the title of our show today. And also these moves are happening.

We might even go to a baseball field today. It just feels like all that lockout shit that we went through, like we all went through it together. We're done. It's regular baseball now. We get to talk about it. What's up, bro? It's crazy.

When we were lining up this episode, like, someone was like, yeah, and you guys, you know, you haven't even wrapped up like CBA talks. It's like, wait, we're going to, we're going to have to circle back on that another time when some, when they announce what the actual shift rules are and stuff. Yeah. We were the number one labor pot in the world. People say that. I have a, I have a way we can wrap it up.

Let's wrap it up. Wrap me up. I don't care about the negativity of it all. I don't want to get lost in the fake deadlines and the fake stuff at all. I want to just tell people real quick, and we can do more as the more of the rules come. Something we like about the agreement. Because I know Jake, there's a rule that he's been screaming on this podcast and on talking yanks for last four years. He's been asking the league to do this, and now they're doing it.

Yeah, I think we're on the same page with that. I am too. I came over to Jake's side. That's kind of what I think to, yeah. We've been talking about realignment balance schedules for a long time, and we're going to get it. And it starts this year or next year? Next year.

Next year. So every team will play every team. It won't be just the Yankees only play ALE East team or NLE's teams. The next season they play NL Central, the next season they play NOS. Every team plays every team every season. Like if you're a Mets fan, you're going to get to see Shohai Otani. every single year. And I think that's kind of the beauty of it.

This also sets us up for expansion. It says it's up for a realignment of the divisions and possibly the league. And I think baseball needs that. So this is the first step in that process. I hope we really go through it with like a fine-tooth cone. We get it right. But like if we do get it right, this will be excellent for the sport. Yeah, like within the CBA, we're probably going to be adding to more teams.

Like I think that's in the timeline. You think with the next five years? I think so, man. I think baseball's thirsty. Because then you've got more teams. You can add more playoff teams. Anyways, and dude, the other thing with the CBA, and I think another reason we don't really feel like we need to talk about it,

I think it landed in a really good place. Like the players from where they were a week and a half, two weeks ago, ended up in a good place. Like some of the rumors we heard about CBT and stuff like that. Also, like, the rule changes. No one's punching air. Like the seven inning games are gone. Like that's going to be a joke in a couple years.

Like they're banning the shift. We don't know how. No more ghost runner or like starting with second. But like. But like. But like. That's gone. That's gone.

That's gone. The runner on second's gone. Yeah. Just gone. Big goodness. So that goes down as a joke in baseball history. It is a joke. It was always a fucking joke.

That's awesome. That's gone. Yes. I'm fine if they do something after the 11th inning to to. Right. We had not have position players pitch. But that wasn't exciting. No one, no one to care about that.

No, no. You even said yourself, the walk-offs weren't even cool. No, they ruined one of the more fun things in baseball with that role. People started to get Stockholm syndrome with it, and they were like, actually, it's not that bad. It's like, no, dude, it was bad. It was like, you never flipped over to be like, oh, there's a run around a second. It was never good. Our ideas are better.

I'm going to give a tidbit. Please do not play the song. Give a tip bit. Okay, we don't need, we're keeping this thing tight. Don't play this song. We're keeping it tight here. You're firm on. I think I can share this.

I think I can share this. I was at dinner last night with a couple of my friends. I'm the Oakland A's and we're talking about the calls, like the player calls about the agreement. And like, you know, lots of dudes on these calls, the one guy that these guys kept mentioning that was like a stickler and was asking questions and was pissed about everything. Jack Flaherty. Yeah. Well, we, you probably guess that.

Yeah, they said it came to a point where, like, they'd be like, Jack, you have your hand up, and Chapman would be like, here we go. So that's what we're talking about. Jay Flair, get in there, man. I like that a lot. I like that a lot. Yeah.

Well, Cardinals were one of the teams that voted now. Yeah. Yankees, Mets, and Astros. Yeah. That's who they were. But we're done. And we're... Baseball.

I mean, I think we catch up with some of that stuff along the way, but now baseball's moving. I do think that the leaders committee voted 8-0-8-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0 against it, and then kind of trickled down to the players like, well, you guys can vote yes. We just need to, we just need a united front against it. So the next CBA, we could go, like, well, we didn't vote for that.

Our players did. I can see how you would think that. It's too neat that I was, 8-0. It's too neat. I think, I know how you could think that, but I also, if you're those eight guys and you go and talk about it, like, they've been, like, together in this for so long, it was a four-month, it was like a four-month thing. It seems pretty natural that they'd all be aligned. I guess so. So, we'll see.

Yeah. Like that. All right, we got a ton of trades and news. We're going to kind of put, like, timers on the clock here to talk about everything. I think we are starting with the Mets and like New York teams in general, but really we're starting with the Mets because the Mets got some guys. They improved. But also, I think the cooler thing about it is they added the fourth tier of tax, basically the Cullen tax, that they were scared he's just going to spend so much money and

buy everyone. So what's the first move that Mets make? They just trade for one of the best pitchers available. Like, oh, you don't want us spending money? Okay, boom. We're still going to get guys. And then they go pick up Adam Ottavino. So they get Bassett from the A's, which starts the A's spending,

and makes their rotation really nice. Deep. I mean, I don't know if you have Bassett's numbers up. I kind of briefly looked at him. I think he has top 10 Cy Young votes the last two years. Back to back, yeah. So this is your third start. You have Jacob de Grom, who's arguably one of the best pitchers of all time.

You have Max Scher who's arguably one of the best pitchers of all time. Those are your top two guys. Oh, yeah. Here's a guy that just got top 10 Sanyang votes, back-to-back years. He's your three-starter. And behind him, Taiwan, Cookie, McGill, was talking to Jerry about him. We've got to figure out what to do with him.

The depth is there. The Mets are scary. They've made 50 moves this off-season. Uncle Stevie, you're not there yet, but you're winning me over, okay? Like, we're not friends yet. Yet. We're not friends yet. You're both business, man.

I know this, though. Knowing people like him that, you know, that mindset that he has, he loves the Steve Cohen texts. Oh, yeah. He is. Oh, yeah. Fired up about that.

Yeah. And don't forget about the Mets made a lot of moves before the lockout. We'll save it for their... And then DOR is, like, new to the Mets. Yeah, yeah. We'll save it for the full TPP about the Mets. And thank you to everyone who, voted we had how many people

rank the teams in our survey at BPD? 2100 when I looked this morning Jesus Christ, that's a lot of people It's a hard activity to do But we will start the TPPs And then they'll be coming like three a day Or I don't know what it's going to be, it's going to be wild They're going to be rolling out hot

Jake, your Mets Yeah my Mets, Bassett I feel like I say underrated too much Maybe it's just not enough Spotlight in Oakland but Trev Since 2018 this dude's made 70 starts, 29 and 14, we're a big win loss. Yeah.

3-2-3-A. Like, hey, I know you're getting some Oakland. I know you're getting some foulouts. I know Matt Chapman's been at third for you. Give this one for the nerds, bro. The ERA plus is 129. As your three-starter and he's a funky at bat, you've been on that early. Like, Taiwan Walker now going to the fourth starter, who he had the opposite halfs last year.

The Mets are super real. Like, it unfortunately ends up in a conversation. It literally happened at the breakfast table this morning is what do you do with the Metsy side of it? And we were talking like, you know, I was saying, like, I think Bucks Showalter is important. Like, I think he needs to change the perception of who the Mets are. I think Max Scherzer, you pointed out, like he's a leader of men.

He's going to change that clubhouse. Like, the Mets are very real. And then Peter Moyland started talking Braves and everyone kind of tuned him out. Peter's so mad that we're giving the Mets compliments. He's a Braves. It's ridiculous. Braves and Mets a Mets face are good, too, Peter. And he just won the World Series, so chill out a little bit.

Let's go Mets, babe. Let's go Mets. Yeah, that's crazy. Good for the Mets. Odevino as well. Yeah? To the bullpen. That's the other move they made, and it's a pretty good bullpen now.

The Mets are good. I hope it comes together. The Mets are good. They are the Vegas favorites in the National League. And whether that's them trying to capitalize on the news and they want everyone betting them, I don't know. But to go from where they were to where they're at now in the blink of an eye, essentially, less than 18 months. Yeah. If you're a Mets fan, make sure you're checking out Shay Station because they're doing like their player profile and projections are recording a lot while they're together, Jerry and Jolly.

And they know way more than us. And they know way more than us. And they jumped on into the live reaction. They're excited. So it's been exciting times. We flew here and got a ton of news. Love it, man. Speaking of, we'll do the Yankees' twins trade.

I think I do think that's the next biggest action that we've had. I took a poll at the breakfast table this morning because I wanted to see how biased we were being. Did you ask non-Yankees fans? Yes, I asked Blake, and I was like, what is the Yankees met, is the Yankees Twins trade the biggest transaction since baseball's been back? And they said, yes. I just think in names. Yeah. It's a big deal.

I just think because whenever you get that many major leaguers trade in one trade, that's big thing. People also forget how good Josh Donaldson is. As far as shift of talent, there's been other stuff, I think. Josh Donaldson is a monster. Like the Bassett trade is. You think that's more impactful to the 2022 season? It's tricky. It's close.

It's close. It's close. Like Josh Donaldson, Trev, we should also preface. Because this trade could be a wash. This trade could be like both teams just stayed at the same skill level with different payrolls. Gotcha. You know what I mean? Like I can't tell you one of these teams just got significantly better.

The Mets are going for it. The A's got better. Do you really think so? You don't. I answered this question this morning with Chris Rose on baseball today. Great show. I said I think 100% the Yankees got better because of this trade. In certain areas, yes.

But now they have a giant hole at catcher. And blah, blah, shut up. Gary could hit. He was a top five offensive catcher. Most home runs. Most home runs from the catcher position since 2016. And he spotted everybody four months to begin 2016. So like for everything Gary Sanchez was,

I've been ringing that bell for a while. That dude is a catcher who hits home runs. But we're in a world now where it's data-driven. And they probably said we can save more runs with a better defensive catching duo, then Gary's going to bring to us offensively. If we can add other pieces to the lineup, then it gets even better for us. So I think that's kind of what they're thinking. They aren't, I mean, once your ace already has his own catcher, the writing's kind of

on the wall. Call us his own catcher everywhere. But they, I think they're going to value that a lot more going forward as I think organizations really do already, and I think the Yankees are going to start to value that even more, like, stealing strikes and, like, making you. sure your pitchers are comfortable is very important. I don't disagree with that. But my point is

they lost their third best bat last year. So Gary, man. So like losing Gary, just because Yankees fans hated him and his defense isn't above average doesn't mean they didn't just lose a guy that actually hit from a position that gets no hitting. So they have a huge hole at catcher right now.

Oh my gosh, what if they put Connor Falafah? People are saying that, but they're not going to do it. It's not about that. So the Yankees... They won't do it. If the Yankees allow Full effort to steal, the Yankees allow him to steal,

he grabbed 20 bags last year, then yeah, but that's up to, we don't know if the Yankees, they told no one else to steal. So like, the reason, there's still so much it has to happen,

and it's not even like Yankee fan, like they're, you know, they got to shake it up even more and keep going. Like, dude, right now the catcher position, it's Higgie and RortVet,

which, hey, 24-year-old Ben Rort-Vett, I hope you're a stud, Higgie's a friend. But with I, KF it's short, which, hey, let's say that's the plan. He's a defensive stud. He slaps it around.

I was telling BBD on Wake and Jake this morning, his stat page looks like one of the 80s shortstop. Like, you know, hits 270, 280, but his OPS is like 600s. There's not a lot of power there. So, but I guess that's what I'm saying is that the Yankees, if they go into their season with a catcher and a shortstop who aren't really offensive options, they've said they want to do something at first base, what's going to happen there? Luke Voight's still floating around. What does DJ LeMayhew play?

Does Glaver Torres get trade? There's so many questions in Yankees land that we could look back at this and be like, this was the start of the Yankees changing over and they landed. Yeah, I do think it's a huge period of course. But I don't know. And maybe they got better, but not like crazy better. I just think we're underestimating what Josh Donaldson can bring. I think he's like going to be super motivated going over there.

And a guy like him motivated, well, they needed to. fire. Yankees, like we've been as fans, we've said they needed attention. About that. Everything that you guys

have been asking for, like, it got addressed. Well, athletic, the fire, the clubhouse, like,

I'll wrap it up because then we'll move to the twins, which I think is a more in Chicago. Go check out talking Yanks. Talking Yanks,

but I said, the Yankees addressed everything we've been asking for with this trade, but it's kind of like we ordered it just,

we asked for a sandwich and they gave us one and we're like, wait, but I don't know if that's the kind I want. I know.

That's the vibe. That's the vibe. Over under, before we move on, over under, half. Amount of games, IKF spends a catcher with the Yankees. A catcher?

Half. Started. Game started. Just appears as a catcher. Appears. Oh, like 0.5. Yeah. Oh, I thought you meant like playing half of his games.

No. Appearance, I'll give you. In a game. I'll take the over. You think so for real? I think that's just like a ninth inning. He's a stud. I would love that.

I don't know why I would love that. I know this is popular around the house when it happened, and, you know, a lot of baseball fans. Cole and Donaldson had some beef, and Brian Cashman just said now that he did give Garrett Cole a call, and Garrett Cole said, I'll be fine. I'll be fine. No, how does he's his voice?

I'll be fine. I'll be fine. Josh Donaldson's going to walk up to him. Yeah, hi. He's in a walk-up to be like, hey, bro, we good? And be like, yeah, we're good. Yeah. That's it.

That's over. That's men. Over. Yeah. These motherfuggers are rich and they want to win a World Series. That's... Red Sox fans could hate Josh Donaldson. Yeah, the Yankees needed a bad guy.

Let's pivot to the twins. This is more interesting part of this trade for me. I'm so confused and interested. And I think I like what the twins are doing. I think the twins are doing. Treves' twins. I think they're sneaky going for it here, Trev, without putting too many chips on the table.

They're like, all right, we're cutting salary by having the Yankees take on Donaldson. By trading with the Rangers, first, they got a pitching prospect from the Rangers. So I think net net, the final twins moves, they got rid of Garver and they replaced him with Gary. They got rid of Donaldson, and they replaced him with Gio.

I think those slightly worse, but if they catch up with like, if Gary is who he, less pressure and he just gets to be more fun-loving and Gio's a stud, like it could be a wash. And then, so if you say it's a wash, they also cut 50 mil,

plus got a prospect. So if they just kind of, you know, washed out, they also cut salary and got a prospect. And they added Sunny Gray with the trade with the red. So I'm, kind of super. I think the twins are, if they were like, let's cautiously get better while cutting. They're kind of doing a good job.

They are, I mean, look, this is a, you can say it's a smart move because they, and it's only a smart move if they go and reallocate that money. Yeah. If they just save $50 million and don't do anything, it's not a smart move. I'm sorry. It's a cost-cutting move. If they say, now we have $50 million open, I don't know how much of that is this year, but there's interest in Trevor Story, apparently.

I mean, they need to address the pitching staff. I know they just traded for Sunny Gray. They got Joe Ryan last year. Who else is on the staff? I'm trying to look right now. So that's the concern because, I mean, my Ada got T.J., right? They got Bundy. So it's Sunny Gray, Dylan Bundy, Bailey, Ober.

Joe Ryan, who we like, Young Stud. Hot. Ryan, Hot. Randy Dobnack, who we like. Handless jokes. Doesn't mean we don't like him. I'm just saying, like, this. We just talked about Max Scherzer, Jacob de Grom, and Chris Bassett on a rotation.

This is the stuff. that's the kind of players that if you want to win a World Series, you need. And they don't have that right now. So take some of that money you're saving and go get some money. I don't even know who's available on the pitching market now. There's not a lot. That's the whole thing. Olson rumors are like going right now.

What do we got? Like it's happening today. Buster's on it. Like it's going. It's happening. Yeah, Dan Rourke tweeted, go trade for him now. I shook his hand twice yesterday. That's smart.

That's smart. So that's exciting. So, yeah, I mean, the twins rotation needs to get better. Twins, Twitter, hit me up and tell me, like, if you think you know the plan. I'm hoping they just reallocate that money. But like I said, there's not a lot of free agent pitching out there that they can spend on. So trades have to come. It's kind of the same old song and dance with the twins has been that way for 20 years.

Like, you need some, we need pitching. And no what, dude? Not 20 years, I'm sorry, that's not right. The twins, they had a down last year. The lineup felt like they got snake bitten. Like, their pitching just wasn't enough. Like, this is kind of a fun baseball team. It is.

If you look at every player on the lineup, like, Araya's love watching him play. They just paid Buxton. Like, this is still in the twins' head. This is a twins window. But it's how much do they attack? Like, people are saying they're in on Trevor's story. Like, if that's true, like, allocate those assets to pitching. Whatever that means.

But with who, though? I know. I mean, can you get someone else from the Reds? You just got signed. You got to go get one of those A's pitchers, bro. Go get an A's pitch. But the problem is there's so many teams that are saying that right now. There's so many teams saying.

And the teams are, they hug these prospects, man. They love prospect capital so much, which I, like, I understand you need to have cost-controlled players, and that's basically why they like them so much. But at a certain point, you got to just get rid of some and go and address your big league team. They have to do something via trade or else I can't, I can't put them any higher than second in the AAL Central. Like, they're nowhere close to the White Sox as far as their roster right now. No, but they might be two right now. With expanded playoffs?

I need these TPPs, man. I got to get in the thick of the shit. They're coming. I mean, guardians are being the guardians. Royals are being the royals, and the question mark is kind of the tigers now. How far up do they come? So the twins are not two, I don't think.

You tigers? I would say, I mean, those teams are all jumbled up somewhere. I don't think there's a clear cut too. I love you, twins' territory. I almost forgot that. It's been a while. We need some pitching. Yeah, they need some pitching.

Go Joe Ryan, though. Hot. Go show out this year. Very hot. Bill Karn Kids lead singer. What? All right. Where do we go next?

The Tatees News is like the next biggest one. Yeah, we'll do some West Coast and hit Tatease first. Tatee is out three months. With the wrist, broke, fractured wrist. Do we get any more? news on it. He did speak to the media. I don't know. Is it updated there? He said basically that it was bothering him, but he thought he could work through it, and then he came to spring training, and they realized it was fractured. So, I mean, there's lots of

reports out there. We don't know what happens. I don't want to, you know, I don't want to throw anything out there. He hurt himself. He's got to get better, and it's been an injury plague start to his career. There's no other way around it. No, and you can I'm going to butter this up a little bit. There was a time when Bryce Harper had an injury-prone reputation. If you look at his numbers the past like four years, that guy's been a rock. He used to really have that reputation.

Tatis, you're entering a slippery territory. This guy is supposed to be like the best player in baseball, like when he's right. Like everything all in. Him, O'Tonnie, whatever. Keep Brian Hayes. Like, even if Tatis comes back fully healthy, he's going to have, like, he's only going to have one season with, like, over 120 games.

And that's, I don't, just people start talking. So if he comes back, he's healthy and he leads the Padres to where they're supposed to be. But, I mean, 2020 and 2021, he didn't miss a lot of games. He has hurt, playing hurt, but he was awesome last year. It's tough. 59. Played hurt and was awesome last year. Yeah.

You know, it's can they tread water in that division without him? Because that's what it's going to come down. He is going to come back. Uh-oh. Matt Olson to the Braves. Matt Olson to the Braves. Holy shit, Freddy! Damn it.

Freddy's gone. Freddy's a Dodger. Anthony Rizzo's a Yank. Anthony Rizzle's a Yank. Damn it. We had the pleasure of hanging with Matt Olson last night. And you guys can weigh in on this. One of the better people you're going to be around.

I just want him to be a Yankee. The Braves got a good one. If you're not going to get Freddie, is Matt Olson? Can he be better? Matt Olson's awesome. I don't know if he's better. Yeah, that's stupid for me to even fucking say.

That's a bummer for baseball, dude. Freddie Freeman should have stayed on the Braves. I don't know if it is, man. Nah, he should have been a brave for life. He should have statues. His body's built like a statue. That's a bummer. Would they put the tight sleeves on a statue probably?

Matt Olson has two years. Resigned Freddie. Matt Olson has two years of arbitration. Then he's a free agent. So you're getting those. That's a great window for the Braves. I think their window is larger than two years, but at least these next few years,

they're solid there. Damn, man. Ashland, how are you feeling? I want to, I need to ask her how she's doing. All our mansplain baseball sports girls are probably freaking out right now. Peters. Peters. be happy.

Out of control. He's got to be happy because... He's at Royals camp. He's probably making a scene. He's making a scene. He's making a scene. He's pumping. Royals camp and Matt Olson got.

Do you think it was... No, he's not excited. Well, do you think it's Freddie Freeman? He loves Matt Olson. And then Matt Olson. He's at grips with Freddy leaving, though. No, he's not. Yeah, he doesn't want it.

He was mad at me... He's not had grips with it. But he knows it's realistic. He was mad that I don't think he did. I said, well, they don't have Freddy's... He said if they're going to have Fredi... He said if, like, Freddie, what didn't, went to the games, he wasn't coming here.

I think Braves fans aren't happy right now. Like I said, here's Freddie Freeman and you get him back. This is happiness. And then Matt Olson's like right here, right? It's two years versus like, you know, five years of Freddie, whatever the, I don't know. What if they try to extend Matt Olson? It'd be cheaper than Freddie right now. You can try.

Not everyone loves the business side. As a fan, you want Freeman to be a brave for life. 100%. You've got to think about Brady's fans that way first, but then that's when the, oh, the math works out and all that stuff. You understand it, but there's, you know, like if Maur left the twins. I would have had the same reaction. I was so happy when he stayed. Some guys are made to be lifelong guys.

So I couldn't want Kershaw to go to the Rangers. Whatever. Now Freddy's going to go to the Dodgers. I agree with you, but Jake said it best. He never treated Freddie like a real free agent just because of that. he's not from Atlanta. So, like, the Mauer thing is, like, he's, like, literally a homegrown kid. Freddy's from Southern California.

It's seeming like he's going to be on the Dodgers, right? That's the heavy favor. It's that or the Yankees, and the Yankees don't seem to have that in them. So Braves fans, if you're pissed, I understand, but also realize that your team isn't going to be significantly worse. It might be the same. It could be better. So, like, on that regard, oh, kutch to the bird. is getting announced now.

That's the Brewers. Here we go. Baseball's hot in the streets. Hot in the streets. We're supposed to be going to Brewers camp today. Caliente in Los Galleys. Matt Olson. I had the last ever dinner with Matt Olson as a...

Oh, man. They were feeling... They were feeling... The two mats were like... They were in a little bit of a... Like a melancholy state about it. Yeah? They took a picture with our mat.

and then they turned and said that might be our last picture together. Which our mat was like, oh, yeah. Did you take one at dinner with them? Yeah, but it wasn't a selfie. No, we didn't take a picture at dinner. Okay. There were pictures.

It's not very show. There were pictures at dinner. So he's not a package deal. So then the A's pitchers are still going. Because, I mean, the A's now. It's a free-for-all. The twins, go get Montas. Somebody go get swerving-ervin.

and somebody go get, who else is there? Mania. Mania. If the A's, I mean, Pinder was here yesterday, if someone wants to grab him. Hot. Mania. He's a stud, dude. I mean, Chapman, they can wait, but they didn't wait on Olson.

Chapman's gone. You think so? I think so. Montes, gone. They just want to make sure they get the right package for him, but there's a lot of suitors for that guy, dude. Luriano, Trevino, Murphy. Man, I was talking.

He let me in on some info last night, Chappie, and the things that have gone. on. He had a really good one-liner with Billy Bean and I have to share off camera. Wow. But you're right. These dudes were talking yesterday. Like we know it's coming to an end. It's sad. We want to be together. Our number one thing would be all of us to be on the same team. We feel like we have a good squad, but they knew it was coming. Yeah. And I guess that's why with the Freddie stuff, it's almost like there's two different

sides to the business side. Like these guys, guys that came up with the Oakland A's had to grind their hardest to become the best MLB dudes they could possibly become, knowing that there was no chance. They become a lifelong Oakland die. They had like a one-year window to win. Like they know. You've heard Glass now talk about it with Rosie. Like if you're in the race, it's just like, well, until Wander, we'll see.

But like, so that's where Freddie hitting free agency after winning the World Series and being that dude, go get paid and go to the Dodgers, dude. If you're a Braves fan, it sucks. That's a guy you love. At least they replaced him. Like, at least they were. Right. And Matt Olson lives 45 minutes from Brave Stadium.

So, yeah. That's cool, man. He's a Georgia boy, right? This is like, I know it's not Freddie, but this is the second best option that you can have. Riley, a Georgia boy too, right? Young Thick. Yeah. Matt Olson, not going to get in any trouble.

Like, he's going to put in. put work in. He's going to put up numbers. Like, he is everything you want in a ball player. Date my daughter. How shocked would you be if it wasn't Freeman to the Dodgers, Rizzo, to the Yanks now? Like, how much of a lock is that in your brain? I'd be shocked.

I don't think the Yankees are out on Freeman. Because there's Lamehue and Voight there. But, like, Freddy's going to the Dodgers. I don't think they're out on, I don't think the Yankees are out on Freddie. We have no way. We have an update from Ashland. Jeff Passon tweeted out the trade.

and, you know, Atlanta and Oakland agree into trade. Madelson to the brave sources with the dealer. Ashland replied, bitch what? And she's got a specy outfit on today. I don't know if you saw it's like, pink-of-haired, blue shirt, gold chain. Oakland will receive Paschay.

Outfielder Christian Pache. Shea Langelliers. He's a catching prospect. That's a big freaking hall. Ryan. Cusick, Joey Estes. So four for one? Get the roster resource for the Braves.

I want to see who what they are. Four for one. Pache and Langleyers are, they're one and two. They're real prospects. Well, Pachet, honestly, look, Pachet's come up and hasn't performed as what they want. He's very young. There's obviously much time for him to develop into a star. He was your guy for a little bit.

He was my guy. But, dude, also what you're talking about with prospect capital, like Pachet had some opportunities. The Braves figured it out in the, outfield last year with a bunch of vagabonds. They saw Drew Waiters is a big outfield prospect for them. Like, go get Matt Olson. And they did. And they did.

Golly. Let's see. Dansby, Ozzy, Austin Riley. Ozuna's back. I just said the Mets were my favorite N.L. And I told Peter, if Freddie goes back, then I consider Braves and see what happens with the Dodgers, the brew crew. Braves.

This puts them right up there. It's going to be a hell of a series and a hell of a year between those. They also got Chadwick Trump. My guy. Great name. He's a good name. Do you know him?

Shea Langelliers was a non-raster invitee. I think he's probably not on the 40 man. He's their number two prospect on MLB.com. Yeah. And Pat Shea's still their name. When they bring the big prospect to Pro Camp. Volpe's not. should not be categorized the same on here.

They went too far. I understand that, but he's in the system. You should put a gold star next to him. A lot of times they're not even like, yeah, yeah, that's not. That's a big haul. So I think the A's are in the numbers game right now because they want to get down to $40 million payroll. They want to have nobody like in arbitration on the squad.

They want no fans to show up and then they want to say, see, we need to get out of Oakland and go to Las Vegas. So they're looking for just young guys. So they were saying the A's got put back into the revenue sharing system this year. And then they have like two years to have a real plan for a stadium. And if they don't have a real plan, then they're out of the revenue sharing again. Really? So I don't know if that has anything to do with this.

It's just the A's being the A's, I guess. I need a water. Trevor needs a water. I mean, all right, the White Sox signed Joe Kelly. I like this for the White Sox. I think it's Rodan and Kershow. We haven't done that yet. Oh, I'm just going to bullet point to all of them.

I mean, Kershaw going back to the Dodgers, I wish it was more than a one-year deal. But I'm happy that he's going back. And with Bauer on administrative leave and maybe not coming back, I don't know the situation. We'll have to wait and see how that unfolds. But I like that Kershaw's back? Yeah, Clayton's back.

What was it? One year what? We did the starting pitching thing. You know, and now if you're the Dodgers, you still have Bueller, Urius, Kershaw, Gonselin, and then it's Heen Dogg. Like, the Dodgers are not done making moves. And then Rodan goes to the Giants and, like, the Padres get the Tatis news. Like, N.O.S. got a big shake the last couple days.

All of baseball is getting a giant shake, right? We knew this was going to happen. We thought it was going to be, like, directly after the lock it was over, but it's taken about four or five days. It actually makes me believe the owners abided by the not talking to teams. They got you right where they want you. Yeah, that's how they get you. You're totally right.

You've got to wait like five days, guys. One year 17 mil for Kershaw with incentives, which is like below the qualifying offer. I don't know. I know that he's not the best pitcher on the planet anymore. He's still like better than that. So that's just a very friendly... I feel bad the way Kershaw gets treated. Like he's a washed up guy just getting one-year deals.

Like, I love Sisi Sabathia, but the Yankees and Cici had an agreement that he was going to get like one year 10-mill until he retired, basically, because they just loved him so much. That's how it feels. Kershaw still had a 3-5 ERA with 22 starts, the season before that 2-1, season before that 3-0,

all the seasons before that best pitcher in baseball. And he's just kind of getting treated like, just like the veteran that you're just... keeping around his fifth starter for camarader for camarader he still can be so good. I think maybe like fans or the general public maybe thinks that, but I don't think the Dodgers feel that way about him. You'd like to think those conversations are open.

How much do we talk about Kershaw on the Rangers? Because if he wants to do that, he can do kind of what he wants. I'm sure that Texas Rangers put random name team here would give Clay and Kershaw a three for 60, three for 20 just to like bring that guy in house. Yeah. But he doesn't want to do that.

He's one of the few guys in baseball I think you can actually have that conversation about. Yeah. So Kerr's back to the Dodgers. Kurtzaw back to the Dodgers. That's huge for them. They need pitching. We mentioned on baseball today. We have to talk about it at some point here.

We don't know what the hell isn't have with Trevor Bauer. Yeah, I said it while you're getting water. I just have no idea. Oh, sorry, I missed that one. You're all good. We have no idea. Yeah. And if he comes back.

It's a big difference maker. It's a massive difference. maker. And that makes their rotation just scary. The Giants, who they went toe to toe with literally every day last year, they signed Rodon. The last, like, impact starting pitcher free agent on the market. You know, it's going to be interesting to see how much of this Giants magic this team has

because Gossman left. Yep. But, you know, now they bring in Rodon, who was incredible last year. incredible. Like there's injury concerns, but his stats off the charts. Logan Webb broke out. They brought in Alex Cobb to see if they could give him a little of that

Giants pixie dust. Dude, you guys know, I said a couple times, like I was going to re-drink the Padres Kool-Aid this year. I was in. This is what they've been building up for. They just lost Tatis for two months,

and these two teams are still forces, man. It's... I was surprised Rodon one to the Giants. I just didn't consider them. I don't know why. Maybe it's rude. I'm sorry. He kind of fits the bill.

He does fit the bill. A little worried about his Velo and his innings. And they just, have you seen the chart? Me and Jerry were looking at it yesterday. It's just a straight line down of his Velo last year. Don't we show you? I kind of want to see it. They obviously know that data and they think that they could fix it or.

Or limit or I don't know. Find some way for rest. They've been very successful with veterans over the last couple years. So that's kind of their MMO. M-O. And, dude, there's always going to be a team that's zagging when other motherfuckers are ziggin. Do you know what I'm saying?

Like, everyone's getting younger and saying, hey, we can get these young guys and we can pay them, you know, league minimum and they can perform if we, what's that called when they do two people at one position? Platoon. If we platoon, blah, blah, blah. The Giants are saying, these are great ballplayers that are undervalued in the market, we're going to go grab them all, and we're going to count on them and rest them the right way and they're going to produce for us.

That's his V-L chart on fastballs throughout the season, game by game. Yeah, I mean, could have been tired? I don't know. Tired, yeah, tired arm, who knows? Empty the tank in the playoff one more time. We'll sing. Giants Magic. Go Giants.

We should go see them. See our board Gabe. Let's go see Gabe. We're going tomorrow or no, Dodgers White Chiles. We don't know what we're doing yet. Yeah. That's like our MO. Yeah, it is.

It wasn't for the check. That's a good one. You screwed. Brad Hand to the Phillies. You said you want to discuss this one a bunch? Quick take. Philly's Dark Horse Sleeper team. Dude, that division's brutal.

Think of everything we just said about the Mets and the Braves. We just added two playoffs teams and I've been saying they have a core there. They need to address some things. Bullpen being one of them. They need bats. They need an outfield. If I'm a Phillies fan, I'm living a nightmare right now. The Phillies, MLB trade rumors just came out with a rumor that Matt Chapman

on their radar. He'd be good for them. He'd be good for fucking any team. Dude, the Phillies are living a nightmare right now. The Braves have this, like... They got Brad Hand. They have the base of a dynasty in Atlanta. A base of a what?

Dynasty. Like, dude, they have so much young talent. They just casually got Matt Olson. Like, they won last year. They got worse at that position. I don't think they got worse. Matt Olson's really good. Can we put the numbers?

Yeah, I'll go. I'll go. Maybe I just spoke freely, but, Freeman's so good at defense. I mean, these guys are both elite. They're both gold. Like, they're both, like, they're studs. They're absolute studs.

Bad Olson. And then if we're hands of it's a bad or comparison. How many years do you want to take into account? Last two seasons, last three. What do you want to take into account? Two full, so 21 and 22. Wait, are we in 22 right now? What year is it?

Yeah. So you want the last, do you want the last? Just do 2020 and 2020. I don't fucking know. All right. 2020 and 2021. Freeman Olson, batter, comp. Let's see.

I really don't know what this is going to be, so I'm excited. Freeman OPS Plus, higher. Okay, Freddie Freeman batting. OBP, big, big, big difference. Everything. Freddie Freeman batting average 311. Matt Olson, 2.50. On base, the percentage.

Matt Olson had a bad 2020, and Freddie was MVP in 2020. So 19 probably makes it a little fair. Wouldn't that just be, how could that be an argument against Freddie? You want me to include 19? I don't know. Freddy's a stud. No one's distinct either of these guys. They're absolute monster.

I stand by what I said that they got worse at the position. Freddie, and there's no disrespect to Matt Olson. Freddie Freeman's just very, very, very good. The OBP is the biggest difference. I mean, every slash line, Freddy's better. It's, yeah. And significantly better.

Last three seasons. Freddy's awesome. It's no disrespect to Matt Olson, but the Braves got worse at first base. Incrementally, look at this one. incrementally worse. Like, I mean, I don't even want to say that. Yeah.

How do you want to say that? I understand because we like Matt Olson. I'm just, I'm just reading Stats. I would have said that before meeting him yesterday. You know I've been a Matt Olson guy. He's really good. Hot. Okay.

So we're talking about it to the Phillies. There you go. I wasn't really talking about because I'm right. What's next? There's a bunch of relievers. There's a bunch of little things. Kikuchi. Kikuchi to the J's, my guy.

The Jays are scary. You guys have to be terrified of the Jays as Yankee fans. kind of terrified of what the Yankees are doing. Too busy worrying about the Yankees. Terrified of ourselves. Once like if I ever get to the point where I feel good about ourselves, then I'll start looking at the landscape and being terrible about, and being terrified of that.

Real quick, because we are, you recently said the Yankees may be the fourth best team as currently constructed. Yeah. In the A.L. East, where are they now? Third or fourth. Third or fourth. or maybe they maybe moved up a little bit. Maybe they tied whoever's in third.

It's like a current. I don't think they got... I don't think they just got crazy better. It depends on the next move, which I thought was going to be Olson or Freeman. Now, if it's Rizzo, then they're fourth. It seems like Rizzo. Then they didn't get much better.

I'll tell you what. They got better. Freddie Freeman's value, I think, just went... because now it's two of the biggest markets after him. Yeah. My goodness, guys. What a day of baseball? What a couple.

And dude, this is going to keep happening for the next 48 and the next 40. Red Sox signed Jake Deekman. He's a nice bullpen piece. It's gross. He's perfect. replaces out of Vino. And they're going to start, they're going to get Trevor Story soon. That's going to suck.

It's going to make me mad. White Sox. Joe Kelly already said. that the White Sox bullpen is incredible. Joe Kelly's like their sixth guy. Joe Kelly will be like... I looked it up this morning. Joe Kelly has 40 playoff appearances.

That's awesome. Like Joe Kelly will be pitching in a big moment for the White Sox in October. And guess what? He's going to do pretty good. Like that dude finds it at the right time. The White Sox are in my group of teams. I'm considering for my pick. Wow.

Group of teams considered for the picks. I'm serious. That's a big, that's something big. Cubs get Andrelton Simmons. Phillies get Familia. Yes. Uri's. They're addressing the bullpen.

They're addressing the ballpen. They need to go to get a bat now. Famillion hand is a crazy way to address a bullpen. You hope. Dude, the Phillies are living a nightmare. They're making rules about Steve Cohen, not paying for a super team, and then you also have the brace.

And the Phillies brought in Dom. bro, to go for it now. They're in a bad spot. Nelson Cruz to the Nationals. This is an interesting one. You couldn't figure this one out. I told C. Rose this morning, like, there's a chance he gets traded before the season, and maybe they just paid $50 million to get a few prospects.

I don't think he's going to demand that much prospect capital, so that's kind of a dumb take on the end. I don't think you can, like, illegally do that. I think in the CBA, you can't just sign and trade a guy. They need to be on your team for a certain amount of time. They just did it with full-off. He got traded. He got traded. You can't sign a free agent just to trade for prospects.

Otherwise, the Yankees would sign a free agent. I don't know. I don't know of that. You have to be on a team for a certain of that. You have to be on a team for a certain of the time. I don't know the rule on that. I haven't heard of that rule.

But it should be a rule. In the long run, this is Elson Cruz going to protect Wonsodo. Rosie had a take. It's to make sure. Juan Soto's happy. They want to, you know. Yeah. I don't know what the Nationals plan is, man.

They're in a predicament with Juan Soto and where they're at. I mean, they have to try to sign him, but they're going to have to give him half a Billy to do it. And then where do you go? I don't know. Nationals fans, let us know what's cracking. They could also, I mean, even if they're not signing him before the season, they could definitely fucking drop my phone down the side of the couch. They could also be signing him to train him at the deadline. Right.

or like they traded Edwin and Carnaccion at like you know the Mariners trade him in like May these guys aren't going to bring back massive prospect halls so I don't know that's an interesting sign $15 million at his age though good for him

and we heard a rumor and there was rumors and I think it came down to these two teams was Nelson Cruz yeah oh we've got rules from BBD oh my God That's a big... I'll hold it for you.

I can't read it now. It's too far away. June 15th. June 15th. The player can wave this right. Hmm. Oh, so it's up to the player. So if Cruz is in it on it.

But if you sign as a free agent somewhere, you intend to go. I never knew that. You never knew that rule. Yeah. Well, that rule and whatever Jake is about to say... Nelson Cruz to the Padre should have happened. Brought to you by Jerry. draft kings.

Yeah. Yeah. That thought. That's obvious. That thought is brought to you by draft kings. Yeah. And college basketball is going on right now. You can bet $5 on any team and win $250 in free bets.

It's that simple. If they win, you win. Download the drafting sportsbook app now. Use promo code John Boy. Bet $5 on any college hoops team to win and get $200 in free bets if they do. If they win, you win with promo code Johnboy this week at Drafting Sportsbook. 21 plus restrictions apply. See show notes for details.

I won two big bets this week. ready. Just let you know. You're bad. Sharks come back, plus 450. Did you win that, like, the cricket one? Yeah, me and Moreland won the cricket, the Knights. Yeah, Lion, the Night Watchman. I mean, you're like, you should just be a professional cricket handicapper.

I don't know if the show cares, but I told I bet that bet, and then cricket journalists were quote tweeting it and being like, this is how bad the pitch is, an American is betting confidently on the Knights Watchman to hit the over. That's how That's how bad this wicked is.

And me and Moyland were like, oh, my God, we just fucking made a dumb bet for fun. But that's what... They think you're all in the numbers. Yeah. Like, this is how bad the grounds are here. Actually ate a gummy and decided that one. I hadn't watched a single ball.

Anything else we need to talk on... We get the Fraser next episode. Maybe some big... Yeah. He got traded. Like, I know we don't want to do rumors. We're going to go hang. out at, we're going to try and go to a camp right now.

But I want to leave with, I think, I'm going to do just predictions, late round predictions. Sure. Because I think the way it's unfolded, there's some clear paths here, I think. Freddie to the Dodgers, Rizzo to the Yankees, story to the Red Sox, Karea, back to the Astros. Those are like the four big ones left? That's my guess. Story, do you believe in? Are you just defending yourself because you think the Red Sox are going to make a big move?

I believe in. Where else is you going to go? Well, we talk, like, Matt Chapman could get traded. I mean, Story. Story can go to the... I just had in my head. What an idiot. We did all the shortstop teams.

It's the Houston Astros. I love Trevor Story to the Astros, but if they can bring back Correa, I think they probably prefer that. Another, just two guys are just studs, so it can't go wrong, really. St. Louis thinks they're in that story. Hey, Volpe or Paraza.

It's your turn. Yeah. They believe in you. That's for sure. Yeah. It's going to be okay, guys. It may be. That's the, it's...

Freeman has a chance to go to the Yankees still. Eh. They'd have to offer a lot of money, which I don't care about because, I mean, why wouldn't he want to go to L.A.? He's from L.A.? Sometimes that's the hassle. Sometimes you don't want to play in your hometown.

He's not from L.A., L.A., but he's not from L. He's close enough. I don't think he can live at home. Oh. Really? He's in Orange County. I mean, that's a community.

So I don't think he's... Well, then that's kind of even a nuisance time. New York it is. You heard it here first. The Yankees' great, Freddie Freeman. Well, if the Yankees get Freeman, then I think the Red Sox get Rizzo. Helicopters to and from?

Maybe Freddy. No, don't do it. He's negotiating that in the contract. Huh. All right. All right. We did it. We did it.

We did it. And we're together. We'll be back Wednesday for more baseball talk. There's going to be so much more that happens. If there's anything breaking and we can, we will. But we're also filming a ton of content here with players. We're doing golf challenges, blitzball challenges, trivia shows, game shows, bunches like.

There's a lot of stuff that's coming out. So it's not like we're just sitting around hanging out. We've been busy. But we will jump on if something crazy, crazy after this. That's it. Love you guys. That's the show, players. Should I kiss Jake?

Yes. Flinched. Kissed me into home run derby. People forget that. I didn't, though. I did? I think I kissed you last night. Oh.

Josh Donaldson, how conversations went with Garrett Cole. Should we play this real quick? Hold on. Show's not over. Show's not over. Show's not over. I think when I, when I did Greg Cole

What I said about here, Cole. And I said that I thought that this was the issues that were right. All right, so he's scared of Cole and he feels bad about what he said. Great.