Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - 464 | NL Central | Profile & Projection

Episode Date: March 29, 2022

Our Team Profile & Projection series begins with the NL Central!  Presented by SeatGeek 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 the first team profile and projections. It's a team's profile and projections. A little more about that and the new format for this year. I am Jimmy. He is Trevor. We got Jake looking great in the studio. Me and Trev coming from home. You don't think he's looking great, Treve?

We had a long discussion about this already, James. We hash it out, though. Okay, BBD in the corner. I think you look great, Jake. I thought you looked great on Yes Network yesterday. The lighting and your tan was beautiful. You guys look fantastic. Yeah, Jim, before you got here, Trevor.

Trevor and I for about 15 minutes, he kind of attacked my look. And that's fine. And that's fine because you know what that means? That means it's spring training. And that means we're in it. That means we're doing TPPs. You, me, BPD, Pluffy, a slightly different format. this year that ends up being kind of a similar format this year, Tim?

Yes, new format. I think it's laundry for Jake Trev. So I think he's down to the nice shirts because he's out of all of his regular shirts. So he's like dressed up because he doesn't have clothes left. I think you look great, Jake. New format because we just did not have the time to do what we want to do, which is a team every day until opening day. So what we're doing is we're doing six record sessions where we'll do the six division.

We're going to put 15 minutes on the clock per team. We are starting today, as you know, as you saw with the National League Central. Now, if you listen on the podcast apps, which I think is still a majority of people that tune in, it's just going to be six episodes, divisions section up per team. On YouTube, we will upload each team as their own video to keep them nice and short and the brevity of it and the fun of it. So that's what we're doing. We will slide into a groove as we do more and more and more,

because this is kind of a quicker and newer format, but I'm excited because this is as much as we are kind of giving people information on the teams, Travis and I talked earlier, this is our time to learn about the new teams and everything. And we haven't said this in a while. Any new listeners that are starting the season, you know your team better than us. We do not sit here and try to tell you that we know more than anyone else about anything. We're just sifting through the roster moves, the change. and then kind of giving our thoughts on it. But if you are a pirates fan,

you're going to know a lot more than us. So help us out. Let us know what we miss, what you think we're terribly wrong on, and all that stuff. Yes. That's the spiel. You guys ready to go?

That's the spiel. I like it, man. I'm ready for this. Let's do it. We are doing the Pittsburgh Pirates. I'll start a timer BBD, but you can't one too. If I'm not looking,

then maybe like you'll look for me. We got time. It's like a dead stock. thing like 15 minutes and bam don't say another word. I think it'll be 15 minutes. I'll bell. Yeah. Short 12.

All right. All right. All right. All right. One two, three. The 2020, Pittsburgh pirates, pirates,

they were ranked dead last by the listeners of talking baseball. They were ranked 30th out of 30 teams last year. They missed the playoffs. They won 61 games. Jake, can you run me through some additions and subtractions for the Pirates? James, they most importantly hit the over on their wins last year. Great teams cover, but otherwise they were a bad baseball team. Jim, they lost Jacob Stallings,

your gold glove big boy catcher, Colin Moran, kind of the face of that Garrett Coltrade at the time. Couple pitchers, Chad, cool, Stephen Brault, Chris Rose rotation, they gone. They added, how about Roberto Perez behind the dish, the defensive stallwart? That's what they're doing. back there, Zach Thompson twirling the pill. Big Dan Vogelbach. Boogety, boogety. Hit some dingers, my man. Yoshi Susugo returns after he had a fun stint there. Heath Embry, Jose Kintana, and Greg Allen, yes, Yankees playoff stud. Greg Allen is going to Pittsburgh. So that's who's out. That's who's in. Trev, you want to tell me about the hurlers a little bit? They got some guys that can chuck the ball a little bit. We got J.T. Brew,

Baker, Jose Kentana. I faced him a ton. Right hand or Zach Thompson, Bryce Wilson, and then Mitch Keller, the depth there. We got Dylan Peters. He's a lefty and Max Kranick. And then the bullpen guys, pretty right-handed dominant. We got David Bednar, Chris Stratt and Heath Hembray, Dwayne Underwood, Jr., an excellent name right there. And then the lone lefty they have listed here on Fangraphs is Anthony Banda. So not a lot of household names in the rotation or in the bullpen, but, you know, that's okay. It doesn't mean this is going to be a bad thing for them. I've got to dig a little bit deeper. I think now we're going to, we're skipping a lineup, right, James? Yeah, because you just, I mean, lineups a little, it changes a lot. You don't really know what's going on, especially with the pirates

might change a lot. They did bring in, uh, some bats to, to round it out. Like, it's a little different. It's kind of, they're not just running rookies out there. I mean, there's a lot of guys that have more than a full year of service time for like, where the state, of the pirates. I would have guessed it would be a lot more like young guys, but you got Vogelback, Gamel, Perez, you know, a lot of guys that have,

it's like a vagabond pirates in their rebuild year, more than like a up-and-coming pirates. So I don't know where they are as a franchise. I know we have some friends on this team, so we're not going to be too mean. Hoy Park hit a homer, I think, in his first ever pitch in spring training.

Cole Tucker hit a home run in spring training. Brian Hayes is awesome. I guess, I don't know. If you're a Pirates fan, who are you rooting for? Like Hayes, obviously, but in the rotation, is there like, you know, well, he's our guy. Is it just Hayes? Hayes is the dude. Key Brian Hayes.

People are looking to him to really come cement himself in the big weeks. Yeah, O'Neill Cruz, this is the year that he finally gets some run and we find out. We've talked about the defense a little bit whenever we've talked about him. He's a monster. He's six, seven, and they say he can play shortstop. We'll see if that really happens. He's been hitting in spring training. It looks like the dude can hit.

So whenever he gets the chance. And Jim, that's kind of why I think maybe when we get deeper into some of these teams, we can talk, line up a little more. But boy, is this team going to get shuffled? I mean, the guys that are actually locked into at bat, it's key Brian Hayes, it's Brian Reynolds. I mean, outside of that, these guys aren't invested in a lot of these guys. Vogelback just showed up to camp.

Ben Gamble's moved around the league a lot. Roberto Perez, that guy feels like he's going to be there for half a year and then let me know what contender he ends up on. So if you're the pirates, you're hoping to get some good juice out of some Voguees and some of the veterans like that. But man, you know, if you're Pirates fans, you're rooting for O'Neill Cruz to get his chance. You want Cole Tucker to play for a month straight. Let's find out what our guy has.

Like, we're obviously too biased with Cole. But man, when he puts a charge into one, he puts a charge into one. He's a first round pick that can play everywhere. Like, find out. Like, if it's not happening for Cole in Pittsburgh, find out and then move on. And that's probably a big part of what this Pittsburgh season should be. As for baseball fans that aren't Pirates fans, are there any trade rooting interests here?

Like, it's kind of how I view these teams. like Perez, everyone's always looking for catchers around the deadline. Hempry, he's a free agent, even Gamal. Like, I don't know. I guess that's what you're doing. If you're on one of these guys on the pirates, you're hoping to play into a trade. Does Reynolds,

that's the biggest around forever? That's the biggest trade ship they have. And like they can say they want to build around someone like him. But in reality, like I assume at some point doesn't have to be this year that he'll be on a different team. And I mean, that's kind of sad to say. I don't want to bring Pirates fans down even more. So I know that I think they understand it's going to be a tough season. But you do have some, you do have some really good players there and some really talented dudes. Key Brian Hayes is like a guy that I look to to like kind of like follow in like a Matt Chapman footstep. That's all I've

heard about this guy is like he has that potential. So you got to go do it. And he did his rookie year. but I mean there's there are some exciting players on this team maybe what do you mean maybe just named them man it's a joke it's a joke key brian hayes i know how close he is to you named one of your children after key brian hayes so there's a little bit of bias there but yeah it it turns into a let the kids play that that was my whole speech about o'neal cruise cole tucker um you know dan volgelback i think he knows he's probably not finishing the season as a pitts Pirates. So, hey, have some fun.

We'll put the kids out there. So when we're doing next year's TPPs, hopefully Pittsburgh isn't 30th. And we're saying, man, O'Neill Cruz is a problem. And Brian Reynolds is still there. Like, to have an all-world center fielder like that, I know a lot of teams were licking their chops over him, keep that guy around because then what's the goal?

2026? Like, if you're the pirates, let's put a year on the map and say that's when we're going to be back. Because right now they don't have one. It's tough to see where they're going. You're right. Yeah, I'm looking at their schedule right now and we're going to do over-unders for all of these teams and make our official predictions on the over-under, which we track throughout the year, which is a fun thing we do. They are, this is the last year of unbalanced schedule and you play only one division in the AL. they're running through the AL East.

So this team has games against the Red Sox and the Blue Jays and and four teams, a division that has four teams that are playoff hopeful and can make the playoffs. And they're going to be looking at these pirate series and saying, let's, let's eat. So that might influence my over under a little bit. I think within division, they like, they can get some wins. But Trev, any chance? I know we were last year, I think we did floor and. ceiling.

Like their floor is obviously last place in their division. Is their ceiling also last place in the division? I think they, I mean, I don't know. We'll see what the Reds do. How many people do the Reds get rid of? I don't know. Maybe that, that's the battle. But it's, it'd be surprising if they didn't finish last in the Anoscentral.

The tough way to start the PPPs. Yeah. Or two PPs. I'm going. I wanted to give a little bit of love, you know, where are the prospects. Like, are we, are we getting some? And I mean, most of their top prospects, besides O'Neill Cruz, there's another pitcher that is Ronesney Contreras. The rest of them are like in high-e-e. We're a ways away. So, yeah, tough way to start.

I found it. I found it. This year's going to suck. This is going to suck. And that's tough. but what I will say is give O'Neill Cruz's time, get Ronesy the call, let's see what the kids got. And, you know, let's find anything pitching-wise. We met Mitch Keller. He's supposedly sitting, like, his fastball sit in 96, 97. Maybe he found something. J.T. Brewbaker was snapping off curveballs.

Bryce Wilson's young. Let's have next year's PPP being like, okay, Key Brine, O'Neill Cruz, one of the pitchers. And then, Trev, like you said, looking at that top prospects list, like let's have next year be the exciting young guy year. Like maybe Nick Gonzalez is getting the call. Henry Davis, the young catcher out of Louisville. Like, if we can get 2023 to be the exciting young guy year, and that just really sucks for Pirates fans, because, man, they've been waiting for the exciting young guy year for five years.

So, sorry, Pirates fans. Sorry, Uncle Rick. Sorry to your Uncle Rick. It's been a while. It's a very beautiful ballpark. We went there last year. It was far too empty. That was a bummer.

So they got this minor leagger number one pick, Travis Swaggerty. And it's just a cool name. Yeah. I just want to point that out. Yes. Numbers. I don't know what his deal is, but that's a cool name. Swaggerty.

Let's get Miggy Yahoo on the bump because he's fun. So if you get O'Neill Cruz. there's a chance this is like the charisma team you know if O'Neill Cruz if Brian Hayes if Cotuck, Miggi Yahoo. Okay. There's a lot of just like fun, fun guys, like charismatic losers. And you know what? Oh, don't say that. You know what? They, well, I didn't mean like they're losers like the guy just the winner ever. I just meant like they'll be losing, but at least they'll be very charismatic. There's a chance. The number 11. prospect for the Pirates.

Last name is Bay, B.A.E. So, like, if that guy can get some run, we're selling jerseys. We're selling tickets. That's what it's all about, right? Yeah. Yes. That's a really fun infield you mentioned. I mean, you got Key Bryant, O'Neill, and Co-Tuck, like, turning double plays and stuff.

Like, I can see how that could be fun. And I really hope, you know, we love Cole for obvious reasons. reasons. Like he's just the guy. He's a guy. He's a new model. He got some, some deals with some clothing brands. I really hope, like you said, Jake, they just give him an extended run here and he takes off, man. Because he does, he does have the skill set to do it. And it would, I don't know, man. I just root for the guy. Yeah, well, anyone who's just listening, we're very friendly with Cole Tucker. And we're going. to be biased in our talks about him.

And how about this? How about this? Can Brian Reynolds be really good going into next season? Yes, he already is. Could Key Brian Hayes be really good going into next season? Yeah, he kind of already is. O'Neill Cruz is a legit prospect. Top 10, big boy.

If he can have a nice rookie year and be exciting going into next year, that's three guys. That's a start of a lineup. Okay. Let's go. do that what what if they trade brian reynolds to the raise for austin meadows tyler glass now and shame boss don't trade with the raise maybe don't trade with raise if you're the pirates ever let's wrap it up the over under is 65

and a half um they won 61 games last year and then they traded away a lot of players that were good and they have a lot of more like like jake said like uh they're just going to run out there, whether they're performing or not, seems to be the plan. So I'm going to take the under on this one. They're also going through the AL East with all their interleague play, who are going to be looking the feast on them. And that's a tough time. So I'll go first.

I'm going to take the under on the 65 and a half for the pirates. Mark it down. Marked. I will also take the under here. Looking at the division, I think the Cubs will talk about them in a sec, but I think they're going to surprise people. Cardinals are going to be pretty good. Brewers are going to be pretty good.

Yeah, I'm going under. The Cubs made move this offseason to get better. The Reds went the other way, but like they still have, especially compared to the pirates and Jimmy, that ALE East thing is a great point. If you're getting 65 and a half on the pirates, give me the under.

I mean, we're looking at right around 100 losses again. It's tough to see a world where there's not. So give me, I might find that one right now and lay a little action. Literally just picked up my phone. Yeah, I mean, that's how bizarre that kind of line seems right now. I literally just picked up my phone and opened up the Draft Kings app to bet on the under here because I feel pretty good about it. Because, you know, what's, what are they?

Yeah, everything we said, okay, that's it. That's the pirates. Any final words? We have a fun stat from Max. Brian Reynolds posted a 9-1-2 OPS last season, joining Andrew McCutcheon and Josh Bell as the only pirates with a single-season OPS over 900 since 2010.

Like Josh Bell, he, you know, they traded away so much talent and they weren't good with that talent. So I don't know how the over-under bumped up. Yeah. Scary. Be scared of the computers. Yeah.

All right. Well, that's that one. And we will thank everyone for tuning in for the pirates on YouTube. But we are now pivoting. BPD, do you have a Google sheet tracking our over unders? I can turn that into a sheet. Yeah, if you can turn it into a Google sheet because that's what we use during the year. That'd be awesome.

We probably use the one from last year. Just make a new page. Yeah. Yeah. Cool. All right. Everyone ready? 15 minutes more on the clock?

Let's do it. Next team up in the team profile and projections. The Chicago Cubs. Now, they were ranked by our audience and everyone that turned in a ranking on our survey, which was like over 2,000 people, I believe, as the 21st ranked team in all of baseball. Last year, they went 71 and 91 and missed the playoffs. They had a very interesting. fun, confusing offseason.

Jake, can you let everybody know who they added and who they lost? Yeah, Jim, and we should say when we initially put out the rankings, it was before the Cubs made some nice moves and it was after the Reds emptied some moves. So I could see these being flipped pretty easily, but for now, they've lost the Duffman,

Matt Duffy, Robinson Chorinos, behind the dish, and Zach Davies, who actually just got signed by my snakes, And Jim, now look who they've added. This is interesting. Strowman, Seya Suzuki, Wade Miley, Jan Goem's, VR, Andrew Simmons, Drew Smiley, Michael Givens, Chris Martin, David Roberts, and Daniel Norris, Clint Frazier, and Harold Ramirez.

You're talking about double-digit MLB guys that they're adding to this roster. Stephen Brault, hello. Jesse Chavez got some big outs last year. Double-digit MLB guys added to a team. I like that. It's just what does it all mean? And Trev, a couple new bodies at the top of that rotation. Yeah, Marcus Stroman started all of this stuff off.

They signed him. We wondered where they were going. You just mentioned all the guys that they picked up and added this offseason. It's been quite the run for them. And getting to the rotation, I mean, you kind of like the top three here, maybe even a little bit deeper than that. You start out with, of course, Kyle Hendricks. And you go Stroman.

You got Wade Miley in there now. Alec Mills, Drew Smiley or Depth, along with Justin Steele and Adbert Alzillade. He's going to miss the first couple months with a strained right lat. Been there, buddy, take care of that. The bullpen, pretty familiar with some of these names right now. We got Rowan Wick. We got Michael Givens, faced him a ton. David Robertson, you guys know that guy.

And then right-handed Chris Martin, which leads us down to the lineup. And James, I mean, it looks pretty good. on pay. They had a lot of guys. I mean, they traded away all their heartstring guys last year, which I think we predicted on the TPP last year for the Cubs that would happen or we were like kind of saying, I will imagine if that happens. But then they had Frankie Schwindell come up at 56 games. His stats were unreal. They traded for Madrigal from the White Sox. Ortega had a good year last year. Patrick Wisdom had a good year last year. So they had a lot of these guys kind of come up and perform. And then there's all of a sudden like, wait,

the Cubs are going to be good. And then they had a brutal West Coast trip. That's what happened to them last year, correct? They went and faced like the Padres and the Dodgers and the Rockies or something like that when it was like the season was on the brink and they had a tough two weeks and they traded everyone. But a lot of these guys helped them get to where they were going and they're going to be back in the rotation.

So, you know, for, for Frank. For a lot of those guys, for Patrick Wisdom, it's a lot of like, let's see, I think. It is like hopeful let's see for Cubs fans and other teams. It's kind of, you know, the pumpkin and the carriage situation and just trying to figure out how baseball works. Because like, you know, these are 30-year-olds that like all of a sudden had great years. It's usually the opposite, Treve. It is. It's surprising.

but, you know, I also, you know, guys can make changes. And I think we're going to see a lot more of this like late career development as we have more tech in baseball because there is just more data and more points that you can get to and learn. And sometimes that's all it takes is just a little tweak. And you get guys like Patrick Whizden coming up and just going absolute nuts. Uncle Frank just tearing it up. So, you know, back in the day, I feel like that notion of, hey, this is out of nowhere to. it's a one hit wonder type thing, I think was probably more true. But I think we're going to start seeing more and more of this.

And as we saw with the giants, like development can still happen later in your career. So I'm excited to see these guys. When I'm looking at the lineup here, I mean, I want to see what Say Suzuki does. That's the most curious about how everything is going to translate here. I am rooting for this guy. He's funny. He's like in the media making people laugh. He says he loves Mike Trout.

Like this is, by the end of the season, we could be talking about say Suzuki as being like one of the faces of baseball. Like if it, it seems like he wants to come over and be that guy. He's in a big enough market. If he does well and he's funny with his social media and he's kind of out there, like we could see it. Like this, this Cubs team, as I'm looking at this roster, sometimes when we do these things, these TPPs, I get little tingles. I like this team. Interesting. It's a funky mix.

It's a funky mix so much. I texted Ian Hap today, and I said, that's a funky mix. And he kind of replied with, yeah, a little bit, but like, let's find out. And that's what this whole year is. You're right on Sayas Suzuki. Everyone should be rooting for him

because he can be a star of the game. And let's go easy on him at first. He's adjusting to the big leagues. And Riggly Field, we've heard Happer talk about it. Hap's goal is to, like, leave April with a batting average over 200. He's like hitting in Riggly in April is absolutely brutal. And that's something we underappreciate. So I don't know, man.

When you put it all in the pot, I have no idea what it looks like. I don't think that bullpen at the end of the day ends up scaring you, especially when it's compared to other bullpins. What performances are we getting out of that rotation? Kyle Hendricks, Strowman, and Wade Miley. That's your top three. Can those guys put it together for a full year, for half a year? I don't know.

What do you mean? Those guys will give you a full year, man. I like those top three. I really do. They can. They very well can. There's been years when we've talked about Kyle Hendricks, Marcus Stroman and Wade Miley having really good years.

There's been years when we've talked about them, not having great years. So I don't know. I will say this. I love it that, you know, the Old Guard is out in Chicago. Chris Bryant's in Colorado. Rizzo's a Yankee. Like they've moved on from that World Series team. And when you see it on paper that they've added 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13,

14 guys that at some point have had success at the major league level, that has to have an effect on your team. It has to. And especially, Jim, I know you're my schedule guy normally, really interested to see what they've got early on. Because it's Chicago, it's Wrigley, if they can get a little momentum, and one of these guys still has it,

whether it's Schwindell, whether it's Winsdom, whether it's Sea Suzuki, Ortega's stats last year or night. If one of those guys has the juice and the Cubs have a little juice and we can get some good weather and there's fans in the stands, that's what it's all about. And that's got to be the goal for the Cubs. Like, let's get that first step and then we can start daydreaming about more. Well, I got good news for you.

Yes. Their first 17 games, 10 of their first 17 games come against the Pirates and the Rockies. So, I mean, seemingly they can have a good April. And again, April shortening this year because we're starting April 7th, remember, they could have a good April if they want. Now, they do also have in April. They have six games against the Brewers, the Rays, and the Braves. So it's 50-50 on, you know, really good teams that are probably clearly better than them

or projected to be better than them. And then teams that are projected to be worse. So maybe they come out, you know, just a little bit above 500 and that's good. Or maybe they dominate. I don't know. But there's your schedule update. Huge. I want to add a little Trev's corner to these episodes.

Hot or not. Alec Mills, hot. At first I was looking at the roster. I'm like, hey, Patty Wisdom, good looking guy. Ian Hap, good looking guy. Marcus Schroeman, good looking guy. But then you kind of start to dig a little deeper here. I'm not into the roster.

I'm going to go with a no on the hot list. Retroactively, I want to give the pirates a yes on the hot list. Didn't someone say you and you and Patrick Wisdom look alike? So to start there, that was a little off-putting. If you're not a Cubs fan and you're not in the NL Central, if you're not a fan of the NL Central and you're not a Cubs fan and you're listening to this just to get a base knowledge, who should those fans be eyeing?

I think obviously you guys talked about, say, Suzuki, new guy coming over from Japan, seeing what he's all about. Happer, you know about him. He's been around. I think Frank is the big one because for me, his numbers last year were so insane. He ends up. And now at the major league level, I think with the Cubs, he came over halfway through from Oakland. I think with the Cubs, he played 56 games or something like that. But his numbers on the year, including AAA for Oakland's AAA and then a little bit of the Cubs AAA,

is still 500 played appearances and a 938 OPS with a 312 batting average and a 583 slugging. So he did it. In his mind, he's like, I had a great entire year. I was just playing in the wrong league for the first half. He proved that he can do it in the other league as well. So I don't know. I'm super curious and interested to see him because if he is good again to that level or somewhere around it, we have like something crazy on her hand.

And you're the Chicago Cubs. Like I think when we talk about goals for the season, it's fine to have that goal of like, let's find some magic. Let's sneak into the playoffs. Like if you're a Cubs fan, yeah, let's go there. Be nasty stro. and be nasty Wade Miley, bounce back, Hendricks. In the lineup, we talked about it.

If things don't go that way, which, you know, hey, our fans before the Sayas Suzuki signing had them at, what, 21, something like that? Yeah, this is going to get, we're going to get yelled out for this. If you are the Cubs, I think the more realistic thing is next year. You are the Chicago Cubs. Your team has money. Let's find out with the Schwindells and the Wisdoms. And my guy, I haven't said his name yet, doppelganger to a degree.

Nick Madrigal, this guy was a real prospect. 83 games in the show, he's hit 317, 358, a 764 OPS. He's a snuggle bunny. He might not have the pop, but they've talked about this guy that he's got a crazy hit tool, which is my favorite tool of all of them to have because it's the hardest thing to do in sports. If Nick Madrigal, if we can pencil him in at the next five years of second base for the Cubs, then you can make your free agent signings elsewhere and really attack for the future. So I think that should be, if you're a Chicago Cubs fan,

what your real goal is to find out about these guys, the Schwendells, the Madrigals, saya, and then next free agency, you can attack and find out what your team needs really are. Do you think they could do something of the deadline? Or do you think you think they want to wait a year to see? I think they could do some at the deadline. Why wouldn't they go out and try to get

a Manair or a Montes right now? I think a lot of teams are in on these guys. I think the price is probably going to be pretty big by the time Oakland says, okay, we're ready to do it. But I see like a starting pitcher and maybe like another bat that will be readily available

at the deadline. I think those are two things, two small things, not small things, because starting pitching is big, but attainable things. And we're talking about a completely different tier here if you add those two pieces. So they're close. And the other way, they don't have much that, like, people are going to be coming for if they're out of it. So I don't think they're doing much either way, actually. I think this is your Cubs team and that you see what you got.

but I don't say that with a lot of certainty. Brennan Davis is their only kind of big prospect if they wanted to make a move. Again, hearing the compound guys talk about him. Seems legit. We'll see whatever that means. And yeah, I think they'd love to put themselves in the position, and it's unfair because of what the team did afterwards. But I think they'd love to be in that Atlanta Braves position at the trade deadline,

get a couple veterans for cheap, you know, that Pablo Sanchez. Band of All Trade, we've talked about a ton. You know, those veterans they got for essentially nothing. If the Cubs could do that at the deadline, that would be an awesome end of summer for the Cubbies. If you added Montess and Nelson Cruz to this team, what do you feel about it? Is it change for you guys at all?

Do you think they're still kind of like middling in that, like, trying to get a wild card? I still don't even like know I still would just have no real lean either way like for me let me watch April and then I can maybe have a thought but there's so much here

I just don't like like unknown that I won't even I think Cubs fans know that this is it is a wait and see beginning to the year I truly believe that I think if they are hot and they come out and you know maybe the Cardinals falter or the Brewers falter, and they can see maybe a path to the division with some additions. I don't think that, you know,

that's so far out of the question to go add some of these guys. So, Jimmy, if I told you... Or to try to add. The Draft Kings over under lands at about 75 and a half. What's that due to you? We just talked about this on the pirate with the pirates. They're going to be playing the A.L. East as well. Um, yeah, I don't, put it on green.

Hmm. They split a game. I'll take the over just to be nice. I mean, no, but see, that's what I do sometimes, just to have some positivity. And then we keep track of these all season long. And then we're like, you're, you're so smarter. You're so dumb. Yeah, give your, give an educated guess, bro.

We just went over the roster. Come on. Under. I'm worried about, I'm worried about the chemistry of this team. it seems like a lot of guys that's just like don't know each other. And my, the Cubs for so long have been a tight unit. Such a different feel. That's why I think I'm getting tripped up the most like the Cubs have been for six years,

the same six guys as like, this is the Cubs. And right now it's like, well, who are these guys though? And they're good. I'm not saying they're bad. I'm just saying like, what's that clubhouse vibe like? they need to get off to a hot start like Jake said. I'll take the under. I think that's what I'm doing.

It pains me because we're good friends with Hap and we're good friends with Cal Tucker. I took the under on both their teams. That's okay. You got to be honest. We're an on pod here. Here's my honest take. I think it's going over.

I think this is a 500 team with the ability to maybe go out and become better than a 500 team. So I think 75 is a little too low for me. I'm hammering the over. Trevor, same thought process. I love coin flips in baseball because I think every year there's going to be some that don't happen and some that do. And you look up and down this lineup and it's a lot of coin flips outside of like

Hap and Wilson Contreras. But, you know, out of Schwendell, Ortega, Suzuki, wisdom, madrigal, I think enough of those are going to land on the right side that in the NL Central, they're going to, to win a couple games. In my head, I think the scary over under number for me would have been about 80. I think that's where I would have really started to get nervous. I think even if this year starts going downhill, if they do sell a couple pieces at the deadline, you're still going to have enough guys that are trying to make their way at this level, earn their spot for next year, that I don't think the Cubs season would fully tank. So for that reason, I'll go over.

Trev. All right. Max's fun stat. Max helps us put together some of the research for these episodes is that and Max's fun set actually comes from Foolish Bailey here. So it's not Matthews Fun set. Foolish Bailey's Funnstat. In 2021, Frankie Schwindell was the first player with 13 home runs and a 350 batting average in his first 50 games with a franchise since Matt

Holiday in 2009. I don't find that's that that fun. I don't like it that much. Foolish was trying to clown us yesterday. You know, I have to start my beef up again. I don't know. Thanks for tuning in for the Cubs team profile and projection. If you're on YouTube, we are going to move right on

to the next NL Central team. 15 minutes on the clock. The St. Louis Cardinals, a very, no? Reds, you skipped a team. Oh, I was going to say, I was kind of shocked by that. All right. Yeah, I scrolled too far.

The Cincinnati Reds. Now our audience over 2,000 people filled out the rankings and they said the Reds were the 18th best team. This was before the trade. This was before Winker went to the Mariners. So little Nolan void, but it's still the rankings. We're kind of just basing the order of the episodes off of. Jake. They went 83 and 79.

last year, they missed the playoffs. We've had a very frustrating relationship as a podcast with the Reds the last two seasons. Can you tell us what happened this offseason? Jimbo, good news, bad news, you're going to have the same relationship with this Reds team. Because even the who's in, who's out gets you a little confusing. Two of the best lefty, righty combo guys are out. Castellanos and Winker. Sunny Gray, who is a mainstay in that rotation. He gone. Eohenio Suarez. Gone. Tucker Barnhart. Wade Miley. Amir Garrett, Michael Lorenzen, Michael Givens. A lot of show dudes there on their way out. Who's coming in? Another list of kind of show guys. Tommy Fam just got signed. He'll be going in the corner outfield. Mike Minor, remember that trade?

That was a little confusing. Donnie barrels. Colin Moran. Some pitchers, godly done, Strickland, Rake Fraley, and then some minor league Albert Arbor, Jake Bowers, you're familiar with those guys. I mean, what's coming in is ah, but what went out was, oh my God. So that is not great for our Cincinnati Reds. Trev, a couple dudes in the rotation. They got a couple dudes in this rotation. I'm going to say that right now.

Are they going to be Reds the entire year? Probably one of them. The other one, I'm not so sure. And that guy is Luis Castell. Stio, top of the rotation, but don't sleep on Tyler Mali, dude. Like, go check his 2021 out on what he did. Behind him, get the lefty, Mike Minor, Vladimir Gutierrez, Tony Centian. Is that how you say it, man?

It could be Santillin. I'm just trying to get a little foreign on you guys. Justin Dunn. And then the bullpen, you got Lucas Sims, Lewis Sessa. You guys love him. Art Warren, Justin Wilson, Jeff Hoffman. And I do kind of want to run through the lineup, James. He's a lot of familiar faces here.

Some really talented dudes, too. Tyler Stevenson is going to be the catcher. Vado at first base. Jonathan India, our guy, hot guy, guy, guy at second. Shortstop. Still probably undecided. We have Kyle Farmer here. Moose, going to play the bulk at third.

Then they added Tommy Fam, Nick Senzo, Tyler Naken, and then DH probably call him Moran. Not bad. Yeah. What do you got? that's a frustrating relationship with the Reds continues because okay you talk about who's still there and there's some guys and then you talk but then they got rid of so many good like if they if they didn't get rid of god if if they

didn't get rid of Winker, Gray, Suarez, I know he's struggling, blah, blah, but if they didn't get rid of them, Castellanos was gone, he was a free agent, right? If they didn't get rid of those guys, wouldn't we be sitting here saying like,

I like this squad. We'll see. I don't know if they got the brewers and the Cardinals, but they're going to give them a fight. And now, what, what, what's the vibe? What are they even doing? Like they traded one of their best talents and didn't get a return.

They just got salary relief. How do you trade Jesse Winker and not even get prospect capital in return? I know they got some prospects, but come on, it was really they got salary relief, which is, well, what are you going to do with that salary now? I don't know. What a frustrating relationship I have with the Reds because I want to root for them. And I don't think it's wrong, Jim. I say it about the Rockies a lot.

I feel like the Rockies dangle a little bit of bait in front of their fan base just to sell a couple tickets. And, hey, the Rockies aren't awful. Come to a game. It kind of feels like our Reds are doing that. And it stinks because Joey Votto's bounceback year. How awesome was that? Awesome.

Jonathan, India. I bet if we did right side of the infield, how high would the Cincinnati Reds be? like Joey Vado, Hall of Famer with the bounceback season, Jonathan India, young stud with the rookie. Like, that right side of the infield's awesome. And it just has to be so frustrating as a true Reds fan to be like, so shortstop in center field, we still don't have solutions for like the fourth year in a row.

Like we're still sitting here. That's been a problem on our team. And we still don't have a solution. And now, you know, Tyler Stevenson's a really good young ball player. I hope this is a one-year funk for the Reds, and we're saying, Stevenson's a stud, Indians a stud. Maybe Nick Senzel, who was a big prospect,

actually finds it this year. But I don't know, man. It just seems like we're going to come into next year with the Reds, and they're not in a big enough of position to actually attack free agency in the trade market, and they're too scared to dump and fully reset, which is one of the worst places to be in sports. Well, that's what my question was going to be, Trev, if you take a look inside their war room right now,

or they're like, you know, the front offices say they have a big board of like plans, right? What would you think the plans would be? Do you think their plans are like, okay, what if we're, you know, 500 or above 500, who do we attack, who do we promote, blah, blah, blah? or is the plan, who are we trading Votto, Moose, Moran, Molly, Sessa. Because as soon as Winker got traded, we all thought they were going to just keep going

because they have more pieces, unlike the Cubs, who we said they really don't have much to offer at the deadline. The Reds have some to offer at the deadline. And that's my guess, is that's what the plan is. well what we have to figure out is are they going to want to spend any money in the coming years because they can have controllable pitchers for quite some time because Stio's under control until 24 Molly I believe is like under control to like 2026 I think no no no he's got two years left this year and next year okay so two years there but then you got

like your top prospects like hunter green and this other guy I was just looking up. I got to see his name again. Ladolo, this dude's like 6-6. Strikes out like 13 per 9. Like this is, you guys, you have some guys at the top of your organization that, you know, the stuff will play. So that's, it kind of makes it even more frustrating when you think about it that way. If you keep Winker and, you know, maybe you bring Givens back or what, I mean, you weren't

going to, you weren't going to keep Cassiano, so I understand. But like, there's an argument there that you could have a really. good rotation and some bats that'll bang a little bit you just had the rookie of the year it seems like they were just on the precipice of something and then they're caught in no man's land now

basically and that's like I think in recent days the Cubs have jumped them and what their expectations are and I think it's it's tough for me to find a way that the Cincinnati Reds are somehow buyers at the deadline.

Cubs, we talked about it. You can find a way a couple guys click. They're the Chicago Cubs. They got more money in the bank. The Cincinnati Reds, like, even if it all clicks, I just don't see them making the next step at the deadline to try to actually be a wildcard team. You're right, Trev. Those young pitchers deserve a little love.

Hunter Greens hit 104 on the gun, if it clicks, that guy can be a dude. But it would be a dude for next season. So, like, I'm sorry, Cincinnati Reds fans, some of our best friends on Twitter and followers, like our awesome Cincinnati Reds fans. I'm normally a sea light at the end of the tunnel. I'm having real trouble finding it. I mean, I think they're, I would guess you say, Trev, do they want to spend money? Like they got, they cleared the books with Winker, which would make you hope they're saving for something.

And then if you just look at their, they're the business side of things, I mean, you got Votto and Moose making big money, uh, the next two years. If they can trade one of those guys or two of these guys this year and have the team that picks up, eat the 2023 salary. I think they've been waiting for a while for the end of the Votto years to fully buy in somewhere else just because the money wise which I don't know stinks they're making weird moves

I'm not rooting for him this year damn I did it two years in a row that's tough yeah we were all over it bro we were all over it yeah it is tough to root for a team that seemingly is

you know like when you have a boat or like a, I don't know, canoe and you're just paddling like on one side, you just kind of, you start to go in circles a little bit. And if I was the GM, which is kind of what we do here on these TPPs, we play our own little GM, I don't think this is the way I would approach the situation. But hey, man, I guess hindsight is 2020. But I do think there are some interesting pieces here. We always like to talk about players, you know, that you want to watch.

Like, who are we rooting for on this team? You may not root for the team, James, but give me some guys that you want to see, like, have a good year. And that's, hey, let's land the ship going up a little bit. Yeah. Tyler Stevenson. Tyler Stevenson can be one of the best young catchers in baseball. Jonathan India can be, like, the best young second baseman in baseball. Like, circle those guys.

Let's hope that's the future. A couple of those young pitchers. Hunter Green. Tyler Molley's getting the opening day pill. Like, let's get those young guys a little more bona fide and go Reds go next year. Go get them what? Yeah. Okay. I mean, hey, Molly's name, is it Mali or Molly?

Because I feel like we're messing it up. I feel like it's always, I've always heard Molly. I thought it was Molly. Okay. Let us know. I like calling Vladimir, Guderera's Vladigutz, so I'm rooting for him. So I get to say that some more.

I really like saying Aristides Aquino and he, he kind of tapered off. So I don't get to say that a lot anymore. So I am a Vladig Goetz fan. One of the best current baseball reference pictures. If you guys want to go look at Vladigood's picture on baseball reference, it's just all time. High guy picture. So that's good. Huge.

Yeah. All right. Their over under is... Oh, yeah. Nice pick. Nice pick. It's a good one, right? Long neck.

Long neck. 74 and a half. God damn it. Three unders in a row for me? I'll, uh, Jim, I'll go first. I don't know if it's going to help, help or hurt you, but it is the under. Um, just because I don't see a way this team can buy at the deadline, which means at the end of the year,

selling like and you know is is moose tacos on this team at the end of the year is Tommy fam at this team on the end of the year um you know really solid MLB guys I just think are going to end up elsewhere and uh kind of like that Cubs drive to be set up for next season I don't know if the Reds are going to have that under the problem I have with this is I'm I know I can't I only have a certain amount of unders that I can give out and like I don't know if I want to like waste them all right now. Feels like that's what I'm kind of doing. But like at the end of the season, Trev, we,

I know. We say who's smart and who's not. And I feel like I gave out a lot of sympathy overs last year. Yeah. And then it got bit by them. I'm taking the under because I'm a little upset with how things have gone down in Cincinnati. Hey, give Moose some run. Let this, you sign this guy to go bang.

Let him out, like run him out there for a full season. He's going to hit you 40 homers, okay? Hmm. I will say this. Under. I didn't bet the Cubs under and I didn't, I'm not going to bet the Reds under. Like I hammered the Pirates under. I just put a bet.

I picked up the app right away and bet it. So if that puts any like weight into how we're saying it here, are you betting this one, Jake? No. I would bet it more confidently than Cubs. I also didn't bet the Cubs and I ran to actually make the Pirates bet. So same page. Yeah, okay.

Yeah. Cool. Cool. That's it. He came in, uh, just on time. 15 seconds left. Boom. A fun stat.

Uh, the fun stat is that from 2020 to 2021, Joey Votto's hard hit rate increased 17 and 0.5% and his average exit Velo increased 5.5 miles per hour, both the highest year to year increases in all of baseball. It's actually something fun to watch last year. He said, they said, why are you hitting somebody more? home runs and he had that stretch of like eight in a row whatever and he said i'm just trying to hit home runs now i wasn't i wasn't always trying to hit home runs before i we didn't talk enough

about joie vato i love joey vado i also love joey vado hall of fame all the fame player okay thank you for tuning in for the reds t p p p p we are moving forward st louis cardinals Last year, they had a wild season. Their graph was like crazy up and down. They make it to the wild card game with a just unreal push August and September. They go 90 and 72 on the season. Jake, would they lose? Would they gain what happened?

So I'm going to get us off to a funky start, man, because we hear from a lot of Cardinals fans. We thought they thought they were in the big short. stop game. That never happened. And Jim, they lose your guy, Kim. He went back to the KBO. John Lester, enjoying retirement, a couple drinks on the golf course.

Carlos Martinez gone. Luis Garcia. Remember him, the reliever that stepped up? He's now a Padre. Matt Carpenter, former Cardinals legend, he's out. Jayhap, Andrew Miller, sexy lefties. They are gone. Who they added. They made one bigger move. This was earlier on in Free Agency.

Stephen Mats, he's going to slot into the rotation. Did he figure it out last year in Toronto, a lefty who can really pump it. Corey Dickerson, he can slap it around from the left side a little bit. T.J. McFarland, Reside, a couple bullpen guys, Nick Whitgren, Drew Verhagen. But when you put it all out there, is it a plus? Is it a minus? I think if you say you know, I think you're lying. So you would have liked that one Cardinal splashy move to get to the next level. It doesn't look like that happened, but there's still a lot to like, especially with some of their pitchers, Trev.

You got that right, man. Top of the rotation is as strong as ever got Adam Wayne Wright. How old is he right now, 40-something? 53. You don't matter. The guy is a pitcher and he's going to do what he does. Behind Tim Flaherty. He's dealing with a little bit of a nagging issue, but he'll be all right.

And we know what he can do when he's on the mound. Like you mentioned, they brought in. Stephen Matt's. They got Miles Michaelis, Dakota Hudson, Jake Woodford. So the rotation is strong. And they have depth too. Moving into the bullpen, love it there too. It's nice here in the bullpen. There's lots of flame, lots of heat out there. Giovanni Gallegos, Alex Reyes, Hennesis-Cabrera, T.J. McFarland's the lefty. And then, of course, Jordan Hicks, blowing a hunch. So they have absolute fire-breathing dragons in the bullpen, along with a strong rotation and then the lineup too this is uh james this is a team that you're like okay we can dream

upon this yeah i mean and they confused this last year but they got edmund they got goldy um they got tyler o'neill the fire hydrant uh canadian who dresses spectacular aranado dylan carson yachty the young dickerson harry bader and my dude lars nuke bar Lars. Great name. You know who loves him and I love him because he loves him? Eno Saris. I trust Eno with my life.

Why does he love him so much? I don't know. He just does. Probably some numbers. He's got some numbers that are good. Yeah. And Eno likes that. Loves numbers.

Yeah. This is a World Series contending team, bottom line. Ooh. Am I wrong about that? Um, no, because I guess if you're like a playoff team and I do believe that they're a playoff team. I mean, let's do floor and ceiling for this team. Okay. Right away, huh?

Yeah, because it kind of goes up what you're saying. Like ceiling. Yeah. They, they have a great year. They make the playoffs and then like they make a run in the playoffs. I think any team that gets in the playoffs can make a run. It is expanded now, but whatever. But floor,

they still have a missed to playoff floor, no? Yeah. No. Yeah. I don't believe so. Here's what we like about the birds. They always find a way to pitch. Whether it's Waino, whether it's Flaherty,

Michaelis, Matt's, Hudson, the birds find a way to pitch. That bullpen is sneaky. That's a sneaky, really good bullpen. So that's where the Cardinals end up being a real, well-run organization is they find a way to pitch every year, year and year out. That's how you have a chance. Now, with the lineup, Paul Goldschmidt, Stud, Hall of Fame, Tyler O'Neill with the breakout

year last year. My short Las Vegas dressing king, Nolan Aronado, Hall of Fame. Dylan Carlson, who are you? We know what Yaddy is. Stud. Harry Bader, Paul DeYoung, and they have some debt, like Edmundo Sosa ended up. up playing for some shortstop, so they got an option there. Does Lars Neup bar break in?

Nolan Gorman is a legit prospect. Does he find a way in this team? I think St. Louis, a lot of stuff, so to Trev's credit with that instant headshake, I do think a lot of stuff would have to go wrong for St. Louis to not be in or right, like right around the playoffs by the end of the year. Well, floor doesn't mean likely. It just means it's an option. Yeah, it's baseball, you know?

Like, this team could not be too scary. I guess, let me do a little NL scan quick, because, I mean, that's my cop-out baseball answer. Like, almost anything can happen in baseball. But could the St. Louis Cardinals not be a top 17? Let's see. Well, because, you know, say we have the Brewers winning the division and whatever. the east and the west have have really good teams and you need to be you need to be better than

all the second place finishers and then one third so last year the janes and the dodgers ran away they were the top two teams in the nl right would they and then um the brewers won the central but then you had the braves um the mats the phillyes made big moves. Like there's a world, Trev, where the bray, the, you know, there's five teams. I don't know. I'm not saying it's likely. I just do think it's, it's their floor. But I also think they can win the division and then, and then be good in the playoffs. So it's a wide range. Okay. If you're telling me, yeah, like

there's a percentage chance, then there is a chance. Then I agree with you. Obviously, like there can be a lot of things that happen. Already, Jack is on the IL here. He's missing some time. New coach. So if things like that happen, sure. But like as currently constructed as we're seeing everybody on the field, I think this team and some of those younger guys like O'Neill and Bader just bringing the energy and they have just such a good roster, like a mashup of veterans and young dudes here.

They have a Liberator coming up. Just the who, guess who drafted him? The raise. He's going to be good. okay so like they have help on the way too within the system i think they have four or five top one hundred prospects not all of them are going to be contributing this year he will uh i i just think that this is a team who we know they're going to be in it and if they catch another one of those sparks i don't think they're going to be as down as they were last year before they got on that

hot run and but this is a team that's capable of going on those runs if it happens at the at the start of the playoffs, like this is a team that's capable of just running the gauntlet with the guys they have right now. Yeah, because it was a run last year. They were 14 games out. Jimbo, what kind of led us here, this playoff conversation?

I just went on draft kings to see playoff odds. Cardinals are exactly the same yes or no. They have it as a coin flip. It's minus 110 yes. It's minus 110 no. And I'll tell you what I just did. I just bet yes. Like if you're telling me it's a coin flip, I'm going Cardinals easily.

I would have assumed the juice would have been Cardinals will make the playoffs. Yeah, we have two more teams too. Like this is, I think they're going to make the playoffs. And that could segue right into our over under. What is it? It's really one more team, right? Like in the NL. One more team in the NL.

Pirates. I mean, the Padres really helped him out last year too. They're 14 and a half games out like September 7th or something crazy like that. It was a crazy stretch for them to get into the top five last year. But who's the new manager? Marmol. Abdi D with, Ali Marmol,

yeah, he's been, and he's been there. This is not going to be a crazy shift. Yeah, it's not a changing of the regime. It, it's going to be different.

But, you know, I think because you're familiar with the guy, there's no waves being made to the clubhouse. I think in talking to Jack, everything seems great and normal. It's a very professional organization, man. Like the leaders they had,

they think about that. Wainwright, Yadi, Paul Goldschmidt, like these guys are like the class of the class when you're talking about clubhouse leaders. And that's why they're as consistent as they are. And that's why they're able to go on a run like they did last year.

because they have these veteran leaders. And think about how stoic flaredy is. That's not coincidence. Like he has learned from these guys. He's going to be the next great clubhouse leader for them. And that's why. Like their organization is just run well and they have good people in there. And they've been able to be consistent.

And I think that's a big, big reason why. And I'll go stay to baseball as we get to the overrunner. Like the St. Louis Cardinals are going to pitch enough. they're going to get enough out of their lineup. And by the way, like, this team kind of can't sell. You can't trade Waino at the deadline. You can't trade Yadi at the deadline. So with the new expanded playoffs,

like the St. Louis Cardinals are going to be in it at the deadline. And they're probably going to add if they need to. So, like, the over under the draft Kings has firm is 84.5. I'll be honest with you. I just bet them over on that and to make the playoffs. So I'm drinking the Cardinals Kool-Aid. I'm taking the over. I think I am with you.

That's a very good point. And they're not going to sell. Can't. They're going to, even if it's marginally, if they make moves at the deadline, it will be to improve the team, especially coming off a season where they covered a 14-game deficit.

sit in the last three weeks. This team is going to believe in themselves. And I am also going to bet the over on this one. You guys have, I might have sounded like a downer because I was just drawing the ceiling and the floor, but I am going to bet the over here. I do think that they will go over and make the playoffs. That's just riveting content right there, James. Just from down in the depths to come back.

baby we're betting the over that's three for three that one's going to be marked in bold on our spreadsheet we're going to look back and say hey we all were in agreeance here bbd i know you think the same thing too so go ahead and mark yourself down for the over we're all on it let's go j flare get healthy i love the uniforms and if i'm voting hot or not on this team they're hot yeah they're hot tyler o'neill alone wins it for me no it's another one of your doppelgangers you got a lot of people in the show that look like. I look like a lot of show guys. Know what they've got, Trev.

They've got the bar covered. Like they've got the old man corner of the bar covered. Like, Waino. Sugar daddies. For sure. Yeah. Wayno, Yadi. Goldschmidt, they're buying drinks for everyone.

Like, they got it. The young guys. Tyler O'Neill, sexy, Harry Bader, Jack Flaherty. Like, they've got the bar covered. I like that. Hot. I vote hot. Hot is the official vote. Do we have a fun stat?

Hmm. I forgot to set the timer. We do idea if we're over or I'll read Max's fun stat. Outfieler Tyler O'Neill was the only player in the NL whose slugging percentage went up 200 full points from 2020 to 2000. I said that's so weird. 2021 as he raised from 360 to 560. Brian Reynolds was the next closest NL player with a 16.

65 point increase. Not that fun of a stat. How tall is Tyler O'Neill? I think he's listed at 510. He's listed 511, which doesn't exist. He's 5.9 and a half. How tall is O'Neill Cruz? 6'7.

They should take a picture together. The O'Neils. Yeah. We need, okay, I'm going to text Jay Flick. and I'm going to say, please tell me Tyler O'Neill's accurate height. Yeah. Maybe he is that tall, but he's broad. And that brings, like, the, you know, when you're looking there,

your vision is going to see him as shorter. So big this way. I have one last thing I'd like to say. A name we, I don't know if we mention him kind of this whole time. Tommy Edmund is a really good baseball player. And he's just so cardinal. he racked up a 3.7 war last year. He stole 30 bases.

He won the gold glove. Tommy Edmund's just a solid baseball player. Cardinal. He's a cardinal. You think they're going to win the division, Jake? I want to fully look at the brewers. In my head, I have the brewers above them because of that high-end starting pitching.

Well, that leads us right into our next team. Look at that. Oh, my. Hold on. We're back on the Cardinals. Still here. 10 more seconds. How tall is Tyler O'Neill, like in real life, 5'10?

Jack sees him in spikes a lot. So that means he's 5.9 and a half. You're right, Jake. It's kind of my move on now. Kind of my world. Hard hitting facts. We're moving on. Thank you guys for tuning in.

if you're watching the video on the Brewers, if you listen to the podcast, you don't have to go anywhere because it, that was the Cardinals I meant, we're talking about the Brewers now. Our audience ranked the Brewers as the 11th best team in baseball, a little low,

but I haven't looked at the full rankings and I don't remember where I rank them, but that feels low. But again, I don't know the full scope of it. I guess I would have to look at all the other teams. They finished last year. They lost in the next, National League Divisional Series.

They had a 95 and 67 win season. They made some early trades last year that really helped them out, bringing in Willie Adomas and Rowdy Telez helped him out later in the season. They have awesome starting pitching. Sy Young winner on the staff. Jake, what other changes have been made this offseason? Man, these Milwaukee Brewers are kind of a lag. huh? They did lose some guy guys. Avicale Garcia. He's in Miami.

Eduardo Escobar. He's a met. J.B.J. Remember that trade? He goes back to Boston. Manny Pena behind the dish, really solid. Brave now, Vogelbacks gone. Daniel Norris and Brett Anderson also gone for now. Brett Anderson remains unsigned. They added Hunter Renfro. Nice. Andrew McCutcheon. Nice. Mike Broseau. Mean to the Yankees. Brad Boxburger came back. Severino, Pedro Severino, the catcher fills in for Manny Pena. And how about David Dahl on a minor league deal?

Does he find a way, friend of the show? Trev, this team's bread gets buttered by the pitching staff. And we got to see these guys just recently up close and personal. Y'all know their names. Corbyn Burns' absolute filth. what did Luis Urias say about him after he struck out on three pitches? Just said, I hate that guy. I hate that guy.

There's hatred because he's so good. Behind him, another guy you could say that about Brandon Woodruff, Freddie Peralta, Adrian Houser, who was looking nasty in the bullpen. You got the lefties Lauer in Ashby. And Ashby is no longer a secret anymore. Everyone knows about this.

Duthon Bowling Balls up there from the left side. It doesn't end there, though, folks. You know the bullpen. You got Josh Hayder blowing people away. Devin Williams is back. He's got a new pitch. I think he's throwing a cutter or something like that this year. Go get you some Devin.

Brad Boxberger just signed. We saw him at spring training along with Brent Suter, Jake Cousins, and the lineup is good. And I will give this team a compliment that I think means a lot in the baseball world. This team to me is looking like a raised team. but like with some superstars on it. Like it's a raised team with like like established superstars on it. Go ahead and tell them about like that lineup, James.

Lineups good. And they did get some loose some people, which I was just kind of trying to rack my brain about one of the moves. I'll ask you guys a little in a little bit. They got Colt Wong short king like him. They got Willie Adomis. we were at camp and he was the like heartbeat and the energy of the brewers camp. He'd never shut up in a in the best way.

He was making everyone laugh. Yelly, he's the guy there. Obviously they just brought in McCutcheon. I really like that move. Rowdy comes back. Hunter Renfro comes over. Omar Navas,

Locaine, Jason, and then Brasso on the bench because he's a split guy, right? Jake, doesn't he just crush righties? Lefties. Lefties. Yep.

So it's good. Avicel Garcia. All I remember is the one play where he botched to play against the Giants, like the one that sticks out of my brain against them last year. I was trying to look up defensive metrics, which I never trust anyway. Because Renfro and Avicel Garcia's offensive numbers the last couple of years are very similar.

I did, I did their offensive numbers 2020 and 2021 combined. Very similar. And then I did from 20, 19 to 2021 combined. The slash lines are like very similar. But Renfro, is he better at defense than Garcia? That was my guess, but the numbers fully didn't support that,

but I don't trust defensive metrics. No, I mean, Avicel Garcia, he was playing center field for the Brewers a little bit ago. Like he's a big boy athlete. I wouldn't let that one play stand out in your mind too much. Renfro is a wild horse out there. he's fun to watch. But I think end of the day, you're kind of right. It ends up being a wash.

Trev, you said the race thing right as I was thinking it, man. Like if you start a lefty against the brewers, I think the only, you're going to see all righties in the lineup. If you start a righty against the brewers, you're going to see a really balanced, nice lineup. Without any, like, easy outs. There's not, you can't take a nap at any part of this lineup. Go look at some of only.

Omar Narvaez's stats, especially for a catcher. Lorenzo Kane in the eight hole? And that's what's making me really like this Brewers team is that I think one of the things we do when we look at lineups and we look at names. If you saw Hunter Renfro in the two or three hole for a team, you'd be like, I like Hunter Renfro. I don't know if I like him up there. Hunter Renfro in the six hole, that guy's a threat.

That guy's a problem. Lorenzo Kane hitting eighth? I don't know what he's still got in the tank, but he's Zohane, dude. He could have something in the tank, too. So, like, this Brewer's team has depth, balance. It feels Reyes-esque, and I think Willie Adomas and Hunter Renfro is also helping that. Mike Brassoe. But this team, man, this is a really well-run organization.

And that's like, that's before we get to the law firm and the pitching staff. So, yeah, man, these guys are good. They're good. And McCutcheon is such an underrated signing. People are just writing that off as a veteran going to this team. Look at what he did last year. You had 27 freaking bumbas last year. Like he's still got it in the tank.

And this is a team. Like when you get around a winning environment, you can prolong some of those things. So I think McCutche is going to be really good for them. I'm going to tell people right now, 100%. This is one of the teams I'm considering for taking for my World Series prediction.

Wow. Like I am all in on the Brewers. I love this team. I love the roster construction. I love the pitching on both sides. We know they are not afraid to make a move at the deadline. This is a team. They're very smart and tactical with their moves.

In saying that, this is this all, and I think you can take this. This all falls on Yelly. Yelly being Yelly makes this team like a world series one of the World Series favorites and I know him and I know how hard he works and I know the drive he has to be that guy if Yelly gets up to a hot start look out this team is going to just run through this division in my opinion and this over under total of 88 and a half is going to get steam rolled as well I'm taking the over because I believe in Yelly

and I think this is a very, very, very good baseball team. Thoughts. I got thoughts. I'm trying to remember last year. They just didn't hit it all against the Braves in the postseason. Correct? They had a few moments, but yeah. World Series.

It was World Series champion Braves, but before they were the World Series champion Braves. So I think, you know, that Braves bullpen hadn't been good all year, but they looked nasty against the Brewers. But by the end of the day, that Braves bullpen was gross, gross. So, and yeah, Milwaukee had a chance. They could have brought it back home to Milwaukee for game five with Corbyn Burns on the mound and they couldn't do it.

So, 80-5. They're collecting hardware, just not. Not any team stuff. They got a Cy Young winner. They got an MVP winner. They got, I don't know, there's probably other shit in their bullpen and stuff like that. I think like I'd like to see them make the CS. Sure.

They've been so good. There's wild card loss, wild card loss. And then the Braves kind of handle them with ease in the divisional series. So I don't know. I guess that where the brewers are. they have a lot of talent. I like them a bunch. They have all this pitching.

They have all this. And I like what they did in this off season. And I think it's just like a little bit of like a, uh, maybe like it gets too trendy. If they make the playoffs this year and then have an early exit again where it's kind of just like, how do we get past that home? So I wonder, I guess what I'm getting down to is I hope they make big splashes at the deadline in their areas of need. Uh, because I do think they'll, I do think they'll win the division. And I think they'll be a favorite because they'll have the pitching going into the postseason.

Seems like that's happened the last couple of years. I thought the over-under was going to be low 90s. Seeing it at 88 and a half. That's what it is? Yeah. Picks up his phone, opens the app. Yeah, I'm hammering that thing, maybe. That's what I'm saying.

Like, a lot of stuff would really have to go wrong, which you can in a baseball season. but, like, there was a part of me thought that I was going to come in and kind of be like, you know what, sneaky under? Like, oh, the over under's 92? Like, they'll win 90 games this year. Trev, you kind of hit it on the head. Yelly, the past couple years, hadn't been Yelly. Like, his projection this year is to have an 826 OPS,

which would make him a significantly better baseball player than what he's been. he can be more than that. And dude, I just, I look up and down. I see Keston Hurrah on the bench. That guy still has a chance. Like, if you get injured on the crew and Hurrah gets to play, watch out. Because he's making noise in spring training right now. I think that guy's a good ball player.

Tyrone Taylor did it a little bit last year. They've got depth. They've got balance. They've got studs in the pen and the rotation. That overrunder seems low, D.K. Jimmy's placing the bet. Yeah, placed. Now I'm looking at what their odds were to win the division, but they're still favorite there.

Why are they favorite to win the division with 88 over under? The baseball overrunners, they leave the wiggle for a bad season. Okay. Do we have a fun stat on the brew crew? Your Brewers. Let's see. Corbyn Burns set an MLB record. in 2021 by striking out 57 hitters before issuing his first walk.

He also ranked in the top four in the league, an average spin rate on his four-seamer, sinker, cutter, slider, and he's the only pitcher in baseball to rank in top four on all four of his pitchers. Oh, my God. Translates to Freak. And he's a nice guy. What happened to this dude? Really nice.

That's not fair. It's not fair. Hey, let me ask you guys this real quick. He's too humble. Do the New York Yankees or the Milwaukee Brewers have a better chance at winning the World Series? Should the pick one? Brewers.

Yeah, the World Series, probably the Brewers. Milwaukee Brewers are plus 1,600 on the drafting sports pickout, and the New York Yankees are plus 900. They're one of the heaviest favorite teams. They're the third highest team. It's Dodgers at plus 500. Blue Jays at plus 900. The Yankees at plus 9%.

Those are the top three teams. Yeah. What did they know? It's just war. And, uh, go sprinkle on the Brewers for me. Yankees, front office just basically played,

played the war game, you know, so like, I think draftings goes off Fangraph's war and the Fangraphs war likes the Yankees squad. And, uh, Jake's,

Jake's guy that deserved a little more love. Trev has his hotness corner. I have my guy that deserves more love. If you, spring spring training Kool-Aid. He was buzzing at spring training. We haven't talked about him

because he just banged up his quad. Luis Urius, the dude that came over for Trent Grisham in that trade, he beefed up. Everyone was talking about it. We saw him take someone up top. That dude has a chance

to be just another one of those Brewers guys that just hits, plays defense, and is a low-key stud. Who was the dude? throwing the nasty change of. Oh, Miguel Sanchez. Scouts.

His changeup was sick and he made people look foolish with it. So look out for him. Just saying we saw some dudes there. And they were using the string on the bullpen. Schedule watch for the Brewers. I don't think they play a team

that has better odds than them all of April. Cubs, Orioles, Cardinals, pirates, Phillies, I don't know the Phillies odds. One game against the Giants,

so there's one, pirates, Cubs, Reds. So light. I'll start. And if the bats take a little bit to get going,

and you've got to face that brewer's rotation and there, I'd, I'd hope the brewers get off to a hot start. I'd bet on them going pole to pole if that was a bet in draftings. Okay. I still like the Cardinals. I think they can push them.

And I think that's good for the Brewers. I'm on this team, man. I am on this team. Playing the AL East this year, that'll be a good test too. So let's find out. That's going to be some must-watch. baseball, those pitchers going up against the Blue Jays lineup. Like that is going to be something to see.

You know what? I'll tell you this right now. Pitching is going to win. Always does. Those guys are seeing those first time seeing Corbyn Burns. He's got the advantage like none other. There's our timer. 15 minutes. Can you guys hear the incredible amount of carpentry going on above me?

Can't hear anything. And this makes me feel so much better about my. My landscapers. I feel great now. I can't hear you guys over what they're doing. That's insane. Technology. Shout out our microphones.

Yeah. Good job. Sure. Great. Mario Brothers pipes. My garage is like up those stairs and they're just fucking, they got a table saw and they're just rip and plywood it sounds like. All right.

So that's good. Hey, we did it. I guess for the, a little closing. thoughts for people who listen to the all five now or listen on the podcast and on YouTube their separate videos. Anything really change about this division before going in? I mean, any surprises here? I think sometimes when we do the early teams, we want to be optimistic and then we get

to the end of the line. Like, has your Cubs thoughts changed a little bit after seeing the Cardinals and the Brewers? I guess disappointment in the Reds that that I think that they like our our rankings and it's not the audience's fault the trade happened after the rankings were in but like Cubs should finish better than the Reds.

I do have some thoughts on that like I was on the Cubs and they were immediately after the Pirates so I think I got a little bit of a bump like hey like I know a lot of these guys. and like these guys can kind of bang they made some additions but once you get and i think this is going to be a lesson that we're going to see each division is the cardinals and brewers are on a different tier than the cubs uh you can dream upon the cubs you can dream upon them everything clicking and them adding but still like they're in an uphill battle against those two rosters

and the cardinals and the brewers so um that's i guess that's nothing against them because I really believe in the Brewers and the Cardinals to a lesser extent. I like the Cardinals more than I thought. I was looking at their offseason earlier and I was like, really, cards? Like, there might have been better stuff going out than coming in. I don't think it would have been by a big margin, but there's still, there's some young guys on that team that can make the leap. Jack Flaherty only pitched so many innings last year. And I believe even organizations. Like in the St. Louis Cardinals are a class organization.

So like I think the Cardinals are more problematic than I thought. And Cubs, I guess my perspective hasn't changed too, too much on them. They need a lot to go right. They need a lot to go right and they need a lot to go right early. If that happens, we can have some fun. It could also not, and I wouldn't be surprised at all. So, and Reds, I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

Well, Reds fans, I'm sorry. Yes. Because I want. And the players. You cut out, but you said, and the pirates, I'm guessing. I said, and the players. Red's players. Oh, yeah, yeah, obviously.

Yeah, I mean, that gets misconstrued all the time. Angels fans still think I hate the Angels because I said I hated the Angels, but I meant the front office and all of that. No, I mean, I don't just, I don't have an dis, for any of these like fan bases or players. I want this division to be more a four-team race. I understand there's always going to be one team. And we'll run into that on some of the next divisions where I think we'll be like,

who knows? This one, I guess at the end of all of these, we'll figure it out. This one to me seems like the most on paper, I think they're going to fall in this order. Or they're coming up, there's going to be divisions where I'm going to like I got no idea how this one's going to land. I can see that. It would be the safest five-team parlay division.

You'd say Brewer's first, cards, two, cubbies three, reds, four, pirates, five. So if, if, uh, if D.K, if you can let me bet that one, like I would place that bet, you're right. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Yeah. We should, should we do that too? Yeah.

Just put our entire standings. People get so mad about that stuff. It makes it not fun. Yeah, and we're going to be wrong. And we always like to look smart. Well, you don't. No, you don't.

No, I don't. Yeah, you do, James. I mean, only because people take it so serious. We take it serious, by the way. Those over and unders, we love that.

I like calculating them, but I mean, last year I made the joke that any team lost to the Tigers wasn't going to make the playoffs. and I had people legitimately mad at me as if that was a real take. Yeah. And I was right anyway.

It all worked out. I was just holding you to your word. That's all. Any team that gets swept by the pirates this year. No way they win. Don't do it. Pirates are pesky. You're out.

You're dead for the whole season. That's the episode. Thanks for tuning in. Thank you.