Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - 467 | AL West | Profile & Projection

Episode Date: April 1, 2022

The AL West is up next in our team Profile & Projection series! Will the Astros continue their dominance over the division or will the improved Rangers, Mariners, and Angels challenge them? 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.

Yo, what up? It's another team's profiles and projections here on Talking Baseball. And this episode is brought to you by Z Warehouse Games. How about that? Go subscribe to the YouTube channel and watch the fun unfold. Trev's here, Jake's here, BBD is here. If this is your first time tuning in for a TPP. It's different this year than most years because of the short and spring training.

We could not get everything in. So I'm going to give you the whole spiel real quick. We are doing the A-O. West. We'll put 15 minutes on the clock for each team on YouTube. These will be separate videos for one per team on the podcast app where most people listen. It's just one long episode. Each division is getting an episode. This is the American League West.

As always, you know more about your team than we do. So if you are in A's, Angels, Mariners, Rangers, or Rangers, Astros fan. Be sure to tune in and correct us or let us know what we forgot to say. Jake, are you excited to do the A.O. West. James, Trevor, B, B, D. I sure am, starting with one of Trev's favorite teams and baseball. I think he's actually making a turn on this team. The AO. West, man, I'll say this.

We did our central previews. And I think none of our stances really changed. Like the rankings and order that we mentally had in our heads coming in, I think remain the same. The West, I have a lot of emotions on. I've been drinking Angels Kool-Aid. I'm always excited to see where the Astros land because that team is stacked. And the Mariners are balanced.

So I'm excited to get my teeth in here, yeah? Nice. The Reds Cubs changed. Right? I mean, that was one where we've been. said the rankings are off. But like your opinion when you came. I'm talking about like where I'm telling you. The whole rankings are off. We're doing new rankings

start of the year. Wait for him. Come out, follow talking baseball and Trevor Plouffe on Twitter. Trav, you wore the uniforms of two of the teams we're about to talk about today. Which one felt better? You know, I had a great time in Oakland. Things didn't turn out great for me personally, but you know, the guys were nice there. Texas, look, I am turned to the corner

with my relationship with the Rangers. You guys know how I feel about. about them, but they've been putting too many guys on their team that I like. So I can't, like, Backyard Brad is my sleeper all-star pick this year. Like, the guy is going to be on the all-star team. So they're winning me over a little bit. I'm excited to go through the rosters. I think we're going to be surprised with the depth of the AO West. How do you feel about that? I'm very interested to see how I feel about it because how I feel going into this. And I'll put that out here.

How I feel going into this, Astros will win it. Mariners will have a fun season. Mariners and Angels will compete for the wild card spot and the Mariners will win it. I think this is one wild card league max. I think there's a possibility. you don't get a wildcar team out of this division with the A's now being full tank mode. Let's just get into it and see where we land afterwards.

Are you ready, Jake? Ready. I'm going to Google the word timer and then hit stopwatch and 15 minutes on the clock. And here we go. All right, we're talking about the Texas Rangers. Now the rankings are very off because the A's still had a lot of players, but they came in at the time, ranked number 19th and fifth in the division when we do the new rankings, which Jake is very excited about. I'm interested to see where they land. They had a hell of an off season. They finished last year. 60 and 102, 102 losses. And we've been kind of confused about the direction for the last couple years as a team. Jake, I think they found a direction that they're going with. Can you tell us who they lost?

Man, I want to apologize to Texas Rangers fans. They lose Isaiah Kiner Folefa to the Yankees, MVP candidate for the Yanks this year. A couple hurlers, Jordan Liles. Most valuable pineapple. Fulte. Volta Nevich. Brock Holt.

He's with the Braves. How about that doing Brock Holt things? That's who they lost, fellas. The good news is coming in. Oh, this is Trevor Plouf on a Friday night feeling good. How's your Cory Seeger? How's your Macus, Marcus, Simeon, with one of the best years we've ever seen from a second basement.

Mitch Garver, behind the dish, that's important. John Gray, Martine Perez. How about Cole Calhoun? Sneaky going to be batting in the second half of this lineup this year. Garrett Richards, Trevor Plouffe, Sneaky, All-Star Pick, Backyard, Brad. Mariznick, Matt Carpenter, Greg Holland, Charlie Culberson, all on minor league deals. These guys could be major league impact players for this team this year.

Texas opened up the bank account this offseason and they made some moves. Trev, tell us what the rotation looks like, though, after all that. Because I... I'm interested in the rotation, okay? I'm not going to pretend to know all of these guys and what they feature. You know, there are a few familiar names to people. John Gray, Martine Perez. Dunning, Taylor Hearn.

I know those guys. There's a solid couple pitchers in there that could, you know, eat some endings up for you. I want to see T. Hunge get a full season as a starter. See what this guy can do. Because obviously we've been around him a lot. He's a big boy. Those are real hard.

AJ Alexi, Colby Allard are going to be more rotation depth according to fan graphs in the bullpen. Don't know a ton of these dudes. Joe Barlow, Spencer Patton, Garrett Richards. I do know. He is in the book twice. Holland is in the book twice or thrice. Brett Martin.

George Spores. Pitching is not a strong suit for this team. I'm going to say that right away. James, what may be a strong suit is this lineup. Do you want to go over it? They added some guys. Top of the lineup, Simeon Seeger, Garver,

all new additions. Nathaniel Lowe, early settler name nominee. He's there. They got him in 2020 via Tray. Adelis Garcia had a great year last year. True or false. A good year. Was great at one point.

It was great for the first. Early in the year. He had a good year. Early in the year. Cole Calhoun forgot that they added him. That's exciting. Brad Miller. All right.

So this is a whole new lineup. Yes. Andy Abanyes and Willie Calhoun. Three of the nine there were on the team last year. it's not a bad lineup. No, it's wild that there's so many new faces. Like a lot of our Texas Ranger listeners, parents and grandparents,

are going to have a tough April. Because when, like, the Yankees would do this, my grandma would be like, I don't know what any of these guys are. And she'd get their names wrong for a while. So that's fun. Forget Rangers fans. You're going to have a lot of explaining to do to your grandparents.

They've got two that you only need to explain once and Simeon and Seeger. So that's the good news. Big Daddy, Nate Lowe was there. This is what I asked of this team for the past 18 months. Their lineup was depleted. Willie Calhoun, who's currently slotted in to be maybe the last guy in that lineup, they were hoping he was going to be like the leadoff guy, two-hole guy next year.

So offensively, they've done a full flip. Nick Solac, remember he was all JM team first month last. year. You got a pedal. Got sent down as part of last year or got demoted. Either way, this offense, I will say, one of my first biggest surprises, it does jump off the paper. Some of their fan graphs projections.

It says eight of their guys are projected for 19 or plus homers. I mean, that's different than some of the teams we've seen. I know we're going to talk about some of the young guys later, but Josh Young, he should be getting the call this year and he would be your third base. Threve just signaled it. And by the way, Jack Leiter on the farm will be interesting to see if he gets a call this year. He could also be waiting.

But they transform the hitting. Awesome. I've wanted Texas to do that. Even the guys like Cole Calhoun and Brad Miller, let's find out. Because those dudes could give you a 25 homer season when the guys that they were running out last year could not. So I love that for Texas. I do think Josh Young had a injury and surgery and is out for six months.

I don't think he's around this year. What about his little brother who's going to be a top six pick in the draft? Ooh. Texas Tech. What's his first name? Jace. Jase Jung. I knew that.

I knew that. Yeah. Yeah. And I hate college baseball. Hey. Got me. Listen. Yeah.

I'm going to just come out strong with this right now. Yes. If they get lucky with a few of these stars, charters. John Gray looks pretty good. T. Hunge does his thing. Jack Lighter comes up. Why is this guy? Like, I've seen him pitch. His stuff plays at the big level. Let's find out. Like, get him up there. This team, we said, we said if they get to 500, it's a win for them. I think this team has a higher ceiling than that. Yeah. I mean. Am I saying wild card? I don't know. Like, that is...

They're in that bucket of teams that can surprise you. Yeah, for sure. They have the talent. But I also, I think it's clear with lighter in the wings and some other aspects of the construction and them signing guys for multiple years. Like, they're, they basically just built the window. And they're going to open it up a little bit this year.

I don't think the Rangers front office, like if they win this year. And we've had teams like the Red Sox were supposed to be rebuilding last year, like in a new state and they were a playoff team. So I do think this Rangers team can become a playoff team. And surprises. But I also think that say they win, you know, 85 games, 80, whatever, and have a good, like a good season that they're fine. I don't.

They could have a successful 78 win season from where they're coming from. I don't know, man. Well, it will still stings a lot. There's only one team in this division that should be a rollover that was ranked ahead of them before they traded three of their best players. Jim, you labeled it best at one point this year because it was a Jakeism, I forgot it, and you brought it back. Like, Corey Seeger and Marcus Simeon were not going to be free agents next year.

And I think next year is probably the attack year for the Texas Rangers, but they lock those guys up now. So that's really fun. And we'll see. And what you guys were saying is, you know, we talked about some of the other teams, like the Cubs, would they be able, like the Kansas City Royals, like those teams' best case scenarios, I don't really know where that lands. I don't think that can be a sneaky, fun, wildcar team.

This team, and it's what we're saying about the lineup, if a couple pitchers click, a couple of the young guys, our guy Taylor Huron, we love him, he's the man. AJ Alexi watched him pitch a couple times last year. He was gross. Dane Dunning, young pitcher. I always thinks he's lefty. He's a righty.

If they have a couple things, click. Like, it's the window for a very fun baseball season, which is cool. That being said, I don't think you hammer that bet, but the fact that they have the potential for that is pretty cool. And that's because their team, their front office did what kind of every team,

their team does going into the offseason. They signed two of the biggest contracts in baseball history, and they added a little bit around it too, which is awesome. Go Texas, go. Big Texas fan. I'm still not on them on them because of just my past. If you're a Texas Rangers fan,

I think you should be excited about the year. Clearly, it's an upgrade over where we've been here. You know, we signed a two big dogs. We did add around them. For the last couple years, they were searching for the walls of the house hoping they could find a window. And we're like, what are you doing? You're signing all these pitchers. You're not trading guys that you can get a return for at the deadline.

Like, I've just excited for Rangers fans. One, amazing off season. Like, to get those two guys and to shock everybody, to get lighter, like, they're going for it. I don't think they need to win this year for the off season to be a success. They sign these guys for a long time. I do think they can surprise this year. I don't like this West Division as much as you guys do. Like, I think the Rangers, Angels, and Mariners

could be all in the same exact bubble of record. And I wouldn't be shocked. I think when we look at the Mariners on paper, I do think the talent is going to... They're my favorite, but I just don't think it's a wide gap. I think the pitching. I think it is. The pitching is what separates.

We really haven't talked to the bullpen. and Martine Perez is slotted in as there two right now, and that was a guy that was in and out of Boston's rotation. And the other guys are... Whoops, the other guys are just young. And that bullpen, man, I mean, there's... I mean, Trev's got guys in his book in there. Like, this bullpen has a chance to be one of the lesser in baseball.

So I think when we actually get on paper and we start digging into my halos, and the Mariners, especially the Mariners, I do think we're going to see teams on different tiers. Okay, you've been just opening the wound up a little bit. Let me just throw a little salt in there real quick. Sure. Usually, we're learning about these teams as we do these TPPs. I'm on Fangrass, we're on baseball reference.

Fanggrass roster resource, every single pitcher they have listed. There's not one that has a three in its projection for an ERA. So when we are looking at these teams, our consensus playoff teams, I mean, we're seeing projections that look a lot better than what we have here. Don't always live by the projections. I understand you got to go play the game. But I think I don't know what the plan is there, if they're just going to ride it out here and just hope.

It seems like that's probably what's going to happen. That's going to be the Achilles Heo 100%. I'm interested to see the pitching. Obviously, Hearn's going to crush it. Nasty. We love him. One of the nicer guys, if you're a third party listener, like, rude for Hearn, even...

I also think it's true, though. Like, this guy has everything you want. They put him in the rotation at the end of last year. I think he had some blips down the stretch before a while. Like, it was like 10 games in a row. It was good. He looked good. Get lighter up.

Trev, I agree. Like, He's a college kid first round pick. You're the Rangers in a year where you can test out. Like there's not a lot of make or break. Get him seven starts, 10 starts. And if he looks anywhere close to good. Like if his first five starts, where are they going to start him?

Double A? Triple A. Trying to look it up. If I'm the Texas Rangers, yeah, you give him those starts, James, and then you just try to sign them. Why not? Yeah. You already invested in a lot of money in them.

Like try to go sign them for cheap so you have them. And then you have to worry about any of the service time manipulation, anything like that. But I'd get them up this year. I mean, I don't think it's... I think you see where the season's going. Unfortunately, service time stuff ends up getting involved. He hasn't thrown a minor league inning yet. So, like, let's see.

And let's see where this Texas Ranger season goes. Because as we're talking about it, like this worst, we're kind of on the optimist then. like, hey, these guys, these guys can bump it around a little bit. They can compete this year. They could also be the fourth team in the West. And then the conversation goes, okay, well, we're the fourth team in the West. Let's find out what Jack Lider is.

Or let's save a year of service time. So when these Texas Rangers are a ball club in a couple years, we've got them. I have dug into the pitching. That's, I mean, you love you. I can't hear you guys. What about now? Yes. Okay. I dug into the pitching a little bit.

Sure. Because there are a lot of names. John Gray, good last year. They should have traded it, blah, blah, Martin Perez, Dane Dunning, they traded for him. Lance Lynn, they got him in return. Yeah, I didn't realize how, how, yeah. I did not realize.

I kind of walked back some of what I said earlier. You're a pitching guy. Yeah, yeah. It's not, it does. I just saw. The lineup's solid. The lineup's solid. What happened with Dane?

What happened with Dane Dunning last year? He's done in. He like didn't get out of the fourth inning a lot. It seems like a fifth inning. Yeah, I walked back what I said. Okay. They would need like, they would need lighter to like come up.

Be a fun team. Dominate. Who's going to pitch? Yeah, maybe there's somebody that we don't know about. Like I said, we don't know all these rosters, but I mean, we've already said it a million times. year that that's the concerning part of this roster. I think I got it.

Even the lineup, dude, like a lot has to go right. If you put this lineup with like the Florida Marlins, we got a ball team. Here's, here's I think our dream. I shouldn't say dream. I think this is as a baseball fan in wanting the Texas Rangers to become good. I think your best case is this team has a fun April May. You know, we're winning some games. were around 500. Trade deadline starts to come around.

Team starts losing games. And backyard Brad and Cole Calhoun, these guys that are killing it, we trade them for some pieces. Next free agency, we had a couple more guys. Jack Liders dialed up for next year. Our guy, Josh Jung, he's ready to go. I like next year being here. How about this?

I was going to say be last year's Mariners. But last year's mariners were good. Be a two years ago. They need like a ranger swar. They need like a Nestor Cortez. They need like a guy that no one has penciled in to have a, like, you know, give him half-withers season, 15 starts of like a two ERA or some shit like that. I don't know who it is. Rangers fans.

Who's it going to be? I liked Alexi. I liked watching him pitch last year. What pitcher is going to do it? Gross beard. I'm deflated because I was trying to be nice and root for him. Taylor Hur. Yeah, but like they went out.

and they got Donning for Lynn. I didn't realize how not good as year was last year. That was the guy they went and got. Yeah. John Gray. Decent. Minor league pitcher named Cole Wynn. Let's root for that.

Martine Perez. Win, win. The win for win. Okay. Do we have an over-under? Oh, we're late. Oh, man, I wasn't keeping track of time. I was wondering what was going on there.

Rangers employed from Max's fun stat, the Rangers employed the best pitch-framing catching staff in baseball with Mitch Garver, Jonaheim, and Jose Trevino. Don't care. The pitching just got helped. I'm still over-pitch framing. It's like they've, they've, they've went too hard.

They were putting too much stockin to it when certain umpires, I don't even fucking consider it. Over under from Draft Kings is 74 and a half. I, um, under. I, um, under. at the beginning of the time period, I probably would have said over.

But I think some of the overs and stay under. It's under. It's under. This is a 72 win ball team. Thanks, Rangers. Thanks, Rangers. Sorry that maybe they were happy with me for a second. And then they teetered off.

My bad. Trev shook hands too. Okay, moving on to the next team rated as the 17th best team in baseball. before they dumped a bunch of their players. I'm guessing in the new poll, they will drop significantly. It's the Oakland Athletics last year. They missed the playoffs.

They won 86 games. Did not make the playoffs, though. Jake, this team, I know they lost a lot of guys. Did they add anyone? Walk in straight from Oakland, hold in my dick. Like the U.S. Open trophy. James, the A's last.

a lot of guys. They did add guys, Jim, because they made some trade. So Christian Pashet, that's Trev's guy, came over from Atlanta. Shea Landjoliers circled that one. Big time catching prospect. Gunner Hogland, got to throw hard, right? Kevin Smith, Jed Lowry's back in Oakland, so expect a big year from him. Stephen Vo, it's the alumni team. Is that true? Did that just happen? Brent Honeywell. Will Honey finally get a little bit on his stinger? Eric, Thames, Thames is on a minor league deal, and Pilly McKinney, so is he. How about that? And who they lost, a lot of dudes, you know, Matt Olson, Matt Chapman, Chris Bassett, Starling Marte, Mark Cana, Jan Goams, Andrew Chaffin, Josh Harrison, Romo, Deekman, Romo, my haircut buddy,

Mike fires, Mitch Morland, Yves Merrill Petit, there's a whole baseball team they lost, because they basically did. They tore it down in Oakland. And Trev, despite all of that, this rotation, they can pitch a little bit still. It kind of plays, and everyone's just like staring at it. It's like you're at the mall, and this one store has got a big sale going on, but it's not open. And everyone's just gathered around like, hey, when are you going to open your doors? You still got Frankie there. Sean Minaya, Cole Swirvin, Irvin, former Lehigh Valley Iron Pig, James Cap, who we met in Spring Training.

the guy is a beast, a physical monster. Dalton Jeffries behind him, Adam Oler, rounding out some rotational depth. In the bullpen, again, they still have some guys. Lutrivino, Dio Squero, I played with him. AJ Puck is a dude, and Domingo Acevedo. I don't know. That's it in their bullpen?

Like, what's going on? We got a couple more. They're Oakland. They have a bullpen. They're Oakland. Okay. Well, James, tell us about the lineup because the pitching is still there, although it's probably not going to be there the whole time.

What about these hitters? They traded for Kirby Sneh. in the bullpen. Did you say him? I don't talk about him. The hitters. Tony Kemp. Like him?

Elvis Andrews. Sean Murphy. He's good. Seth Brown. Jed Lowry, Stephen Piscotti, Eric Thames, Kevin Smith, and Christian Pachet.

I mean, this is a real-life major league situation. A lot of people like to throw the real-life major league situation. out there. The owner did not get divorced and his ex-wife is taking over the team. That's not happening.

But the owner and the A's are trying to be as bad as possible and have as little as fans show up to the ballpark as possible so they can move the team to a new city. That they're just like, and the mayor hurt them by not allowing to build new ballpark. In turn, they are spitting in the face of their fans making it hard. Do you know that this franchise averages the most? concessions per fan, charges the most per fan. Did you see that come out recently? They charge them, they charge the most per beer and stuff.

It's the Bay Area, but still, it's Oakland. So I'm not saying anything. It's the under, this sucks. They have a million dollars in the books. Unlike the Indians who I think are doing this, but still have all the talent, I don't think they're even going to try to win. I think, like, honestly, I think they're going to try and be as bad.

as possible. Not the players, but the GM and the ownership. You're not wrong, but there's still talent on this team. I mean, especially we just came from the Texas Rangers like Mania Montes, how often did we talk about how much, not yet. They could be there through half a season. They can be traded in July. As soon as, as soon as there's an injury, as soon as a one, two, and that's what they're waiting for. As soon as a one, two gets hurt in April or May, these guys are gone. they could make it to July 31st as well. Like Oakland is going to wait for the best deal.

And if they have Mania Montes, Irvin, Don Jeffrey's a real prospect. Like these are the Oakland A's. Like I, it sucks what this franchise is about. It sucks. But this franchise also has a history of being successful for their own boundaries. Like, even when you go in the lineup, like Tony Kemp, Sean Merritt,

it's not like they're rolling out non-made, Majorly guys. But that's when they're good. This lineup, Jake. Jake, I don't know what you're saying. This lineup is not. They're good when they're rolling out their young prospects that are like, like, like huge.

This is, this is, I mean, I don't. This is Jed Lowry batting fifth and Eric Thames batting there and Elvis Andrews batting second. They're in trouble. This isn't what the A's are about when they're like unsuspectingly good. That's when they have young talent that they know. about and they're promoting and like doing their best. This is literally just survive with cheap veterans because we don't want to start the service time of any rookies, nor do we want to pay any veteran a million dollars.

So they got Thames on an $850 contract and they got Lowry on an $850 contract. Like this isn't worth talking about. And I like A's fans in Oakland in the Bay Area a lot. This is fucked up. And yeah, the pitching will be good, but they're going to be. be traded by the deadline if they last that long and then what happens so this stupid you're right you can get caught in the narrative of saying hey this is when the aes are the aes this is when they surprise you and they go out and they compete for a wild card but you're right james and saying like that is like where is the

the fresh young talent yeah pauchet could be that guy love him as a player but like i think they need more and i agree with you the pitching specifically minaya he's gone now montes like they have another a year of controlling him. We'll see what they do. They are going to wait for what they believe is the right package. They can be patient with him. Manaya most likely, I mean, there's pretty much no scenario in which he survives a full season here this year. It's bad, man. And the over under seven and a half, and I'm, I went under on the Rangers because I thought I was going to go over on the A's, and I'm just now looking and I'm pretty upset as well. And I think they're going to be under. A's. A's have guys like the Stephen Biscotties and Seth Browns.

They're major league baseball players. And like those guys are going to go out and give it bats. Chad Lowry, I don't know if he's got one more magical Oakland season in him. It seems like he always finds one every couple years. He'll hit 30 or 40 doubles. Yeah. I don't know. I'm just telling you with this pitching staff,

and think about some of the other pitching staffs we've seen, who knows how long it lasts. By the time this episode comes out, both those guys could be traded. But as long as those pitchers are going to be there, I mean, they're going to have three starts a week where they get a decent effort from their starting pitcher. You run into a couple balls. Like, I think this Oakland A's team, you're right.

There's going to be a falloff. Mania literally cannot make it through the year, literally. I always said that about Story and Gray too, but they did. But I mean, Seth Brown, did you just say him as something good? Like he has a like a 274 on base percentage last year. I mean, Sean Murphy had a 306. Like they're not even money bowling. That's what I'm saying.

This isn't like the A's that are trying to trick you. They're literally just getting warm bodies. This is like what the pirates and the Rangers have done in the past. Just getting warm bodies and telling these guys, we'll give you a shot to play every day and maybe get traded. But they're not, there's no strategy baseball-wise to this lineup at all. It's a budgetary strategy, which is bullshit. I agree.

My hand was because I want to make a point to Dave Forrest and Billy Bean. Please just trade Chad Pinder too. Don't trade all his friends and then leave him there. Like send him to a contender. We want to see this guy have some fun also this year. That's it. Go to A's games. They're fun because they let you move all the way down to the ball.

And then it's just diehard fans there. so they are like a good time if you're in that crew I'm pretty sure I played a few games there where the tickets were just free I think they do that every once in a while I was like come on charge them at the concessions I'm taking the under

Is that it? Jake you're taking the under? Over under Do we have a fun stat? Oakland will be moving cities soon Jake's fun stuff Oh my gosh.

No, Shamaniah threw his sinker 60% of the time in 2021, which is the highest rate of any qualified starting pitcher in baseball. All about that sink. I like Shamaniah. Saw him throw a no hitter one time. Mm-hmm. Sox.

Moving on. That ends the athletics. TPP. Good luck to them. We're going to go down the coast to Trevor's favorite place. in the world. Anaheim to talk about the Los Angeles

Angels because that's what they're called. I know. We had them ranked 16th, right dead middle. And last year, if you remember, the storyline of the Angels were,

they beat teams that they were supposed to beat and they lost the teams that were better than them. I don't know how true that ended up, but at one point in the year, Jake and I just had a blast.

looking at their schedule, and it was very true. Does this team have a better record than them? They lost. Does this team have a worse record than them? They won. And they just rode that line forever. Jake, they made some moves. They sure did.

They lost Alex Cobb, who goes to San Francisco, and they'll untap a little more in him. Dylan Bundy, who could have seen it coming, he ends up in Minnesota. Steve Seish. See on the Blitzball field, my man. He's a national. Dexter Fowler, Riemanzaf.

How about that? Phil Gosselin. How's your utility action? Who came in? Well, Rysel, Iglesias came back. They re-signed him. Noah Cindergarde, Thor, that one-year deal. We'll see how that works out. Bullpen, Aaron Loop, Ryan Tepera. A little lefty-righty action coming at you. Michael Lorenzen, it's like he could potentially be a swing man for them this year. Archie Bradley, after a tough year in Philadelphia. Then some infield depth. Matt Duffy, Tyler Wade, Andrew. Velasquez. A little Bronx magic there. And Kurt Suzuki. How about that? Trev, a couple fun guys

up top of the rotation this year at least. Yeah, you know what? I got some thoughts on this whole thing. At least, look, when you just read all those people who they brought in, a lot of them were pitchers. And we've been calling on them to do that. They drafted every single draft slot was a pitcher. They've been trading for pitchers, signing pitchers. So at least addressing the problem. The rotation, as it stands right now, show hey, leading the way and our guy thor is probably going to be slotted in the two spot him and patty sandevall the lefty michael orenzen's getting stretched out he was a reliever last year right last two years so he's getting stretched back out we'll see how that works and they got a couple of guys

swarres and detmer's uh can sling it up there a little bit the bullpen all the angels fans want to talk about is go check our bullpen out so here it is you want to hear it people i'm throw it right in your face. Reisel Eglacias, an absolute stud. Great signing by them. Way to keep them in your city. Tepera came over here. Loop came over here.

Mike Myers, not sure if he was with them. He was there. Came over. Archie Bradley comes over. Who else did they add? You said some more people. That was it. There's some other people in there.

But they do have like a good top three, four guys in the bullpen. That's really all you need. So I like it. James, the lineup. We've always kind of like the lineup, right? Yeah, they've had names in the lineup for a while. They got a lot right now. Shohei Otani, Mike Trout, Jared Wash, Walsh, Anthony Rendon, Max Stassie, Brandon Marsh, Joe Adele, Matt Duffy, David Fletcher,

Tyler Wade and Taylor Ward. That's confusing. Justin Upton, Jack Mayfield, Kurt Suzuki on the bench. Yeah, Jake, you are hot on the Angels, so I'm going to let you go first. They are my angels. I'm taking them at my own peril. Shohei, I'm drinking the Kool-Aid. Let's do it, dude.

You are a special, special man. Mike Trout out for a lot of last year. A lot of last year. So Trouty back. I mean, Otani and Trout, how long those guys can stay healthy? Jared Walsh, one of the breakout players of last year. Van Graf's has him projected for 34 homers. That's a very real number from Jared Walsh.

Anthony Rendon also missed a ton of last year. I love Anthony Rendon as a two-way third baseman. My goodness. And then the rest of that lineup, there's not a bunch of names that jump off the page unless you're a foolish baseball guy. He loves Max Stacey. Brandon Marsh, a young ball player that maybe this is when it clicks.

Joe Adele, like I think one of those guys. guys has a chance. And then in the infield, David Fletcher, another favorite of anyone's. And then what can they get from one more guy, whether it's a Duffy, a Tyler Wade, someone like that. Justin Upton, does he have one more year of magic? So I really think that lineup can come together. And I know the lineup has never really been the problem in Anaheim, although Trout and Rendon missed a ton of time last year. So I think that top four is a sneaky top, top four in baseball, especially if Shohay and Trout are them. Now, the pitching, where it's always questioned,

Shohei, again, I'm just going to drink the Kool-Aid on him, and he's the best ever, two ways. Cindergarde, let's see. Like, he came back, he made an appearance last year after T.J. We'll see what he's built up for. He's still going to have to feel it out on the mound. Expecting some lumps early, that doesn't mean he can't have a nice second half of the season

or wherever he ends up landing. Sanival had a solid little year for them. He's projected to have a nice season, which, God, they could use that. And then you'll see from Lorenz and Suarez, and then Reid Detmer's, another guy I'm buying stock in, a top 50 prospect. I think he gets the call this year. Because guess why? The angels are in this window. Like Trout's time is starting a tick.

He just went over 30. You have Otani for cheap right now. You gave Tony Rendon that big contract. Now's the time. So I think if the Angels see an opportunity to continue to improve this team, they will take it. And I do think when we get to the bullpen, that can be a big difference maker for them.

If the 7th, 8th, 9th innings can be more lockdown innings, which, man, Rysel's so good, Tepera's underrated. Aaron Loop, I mean, what is going on with that guy? There's a path for the Angels. I'm ready to be hurt by it, but I think this team can find a way. I'm going to say this. People are going to get mad at me.

This all hinges on Noah's Symbigard. Like the entire season. I'm looking at the roster. Otani. Let's just say he's Otani like last year. I honestly probably, I expect a little bit of regression on both sides of the ball, and he'll still be like the elite of the elite.

Let's just say for argument's sake, he's still who he is. Patty Sandoval had a nice little year behind him. I'd say he's like a three guy. Detmer's, you know, limited showings in the bigley level wasn't great, but we know to say he's okay. We needed to. And Sindegarde, I spoke about this with Chris Rose.

He has looked good and usually I'm pretty hesitant with TJ guys, but he's had enough time now where he's not 18 months removed. I think he's a full two years now. So he's had a kind of a normal off season. I've heard the ball is looking good. I've seen some spring training starts. The ball does look great coming out of his hand. It's how many starts can you get out of him?

How many innings are you going to get? I believe they said they were going to try to go with a six-man rotation. I don't believe that's like something that's really sustainable. I don't think pitchers like that. If you can get 25 starts, this is what I said to C-Rose. If you get 25 starts and somewhere around a 3-5, because go look at Noah Sindegaard. baseball reference page.

Like a 3-5 is not out of the realm for this guy. If you get that, I think we're talking about a completely different Angels team and kind of the one that we all have in our head, like thinking they could be the wild card team and make some noise. You got to get that out of nowhere else it's not going to happen. And honestly, this is a team. If that doesn't happen, like we could be saying like they're not even close to the playoffs.

So I think there's a floor there that most Angel fans don't want to admit. And the ceiling is predicated on pretty much no syndegar being a guy. So take that for what you will. I don't like totally disagree because they need pitching, obviously. And Shohay's awesome and exciting. But they need someone to like, else to do it. Patty Sandoval was good.

Suarez bumped to the rotation last year. and was decent in 14 games. I think he averaged like a five-innings pitch, two-run runs, which with their bullpen would be great. But you need someone who, that was like his like, you know, you need someone to be a stud, and to be a good team, you need three guys. So I don't know.

The pitching, obviously, is the scariest thing. The bullpen is really good, and maybe that helps out. Still shocking. didn't go get a starter. That's like, not a question mark. Because right now you have a, you know, and Syngard's good. They took a big swing. They took a big swing.

I guess that's part of what, you know, a $21 million. That's part of what's, part of what's, that makes that no sense me. Part of what gets me excited is they took a big swing, because if they signed two, $10 million a year, guys, I think we would be laughing harder at the angels. Well, why is that the limit? themselves a chance. If Cinderguard clicks, like Trevor. You just made up a budgetary limit.

Well, they signed Noah for what? 22, 20 million? 21. Yeah, but they could have signed like Noah's could assign to Noah and another guy. Right. I think, I don't think they only had 20 mil to spend. I mean, there's a lot of teams around baseball

that would have liked to sign another starting pitcher. I'm saying if they went out and they had a $22 million for starting pitcher, if they got two, 10 million guys or one Noah Cindergarde, I like that they at least swung and, hey, maybe Cindergarde stinks this year. We look back at his baseball reference and this was the bad. Didn't bounce back yet, wasn't ready year. But if he does, like they got a huge win in that one year deal. So instead of us talking about like who are some of the pitchers that got?

Like I thought Strowman should have been someone they picked up. Gossman. they could have went after. Literally rode on. Like, I don't know. They still have, they still have room for a big ad if they want to. The payroll is at 168, but if you add in like benefits and minor league salaries, it says right now, I'm on a spot track, Spotrack, 28 mil before the first tax threshold. So they got room to do this. And maybe they just couldn't land somebody or maybe they didn't see anybody that they thought would help them as much as Noah. I mean, obviously they are taking a big risk with him, but it could pay out in a big, big way.

Go add another guy. Noah's on a one-year deal. What is it? Does he have a team option, a mutual option? I don't know. One-year deal coming off T.J. for 20 mil as great for Noah. And I hope he pitches really well, but even then, then what? Like, you got to start locking guys down for the windows that match with your hitters so they can get comfy and be there. Well, maybe they see that out of Noah this year And they say, hey, this guy looks good. Noah. And he's going to go get a ton of money elsewhere probably. Sure is.

He is a CAA guy, not a Boris guy. I'm sure that always helps when you look at a player. Like, is he Boris guy? Yeah, I'm interested. The lineup is awesome. This should be a team that gets a lot of like Sunday night games. I don't know if the show Hey, effect is fully taken in. Like, they should be on primetime games.

They should be getting national attention because they are. are like very exciting, multiple different ways. And they got a lot of speed now. Madden has talked about how excited he is with how many fast guys they have on the squad and how much they want to start doing the... He didn't call it small ball. He called it something ridiculous.

Just like... Yeah, I'm sure. It was really ridiculous. Now ball? Oh, not old school, not new school. It's in school baseball. That's what he said. The Angels are playing in school baseball.

So that's something. All right. Hey, let me quick trivia before we end this one. Yes. Don't look at your computers. Noah Cindergarde's original organization. Go.

Blue Jays. I didn't hear what you said. Blue Jays. Nice. Tolet trade. I don't know that. Dickey trade, right? Did not know that.

Known as the Tole trade. Hey, at least guys, bra. Yeah. Oh, coastal. leads only on the East Coast. And that's it for the episode. What's the fun stat? Over Under. Max's Fun Stat, Over Under.

The Over Under is 83 and a half. Max's Fun Stat in the span of June 15th to June 21st. Shohei hit six home runs, had a 1.56 OPS, recorded a win in Stola Base, giving him 0.7F4 and 6.6. games. That's for B-Mags 94 on Twitter. I'm taking the over.

I drank the Kool-Aid. This is the year. This is the year, Anaheim. They only won 26 games in 2020. Damn. That would be their highest finish since when? What's the over under 85?

83. And a half. So since 2015, it would be their best season since 2015. It's a good line. I'm taking the over. I'm going to put them in like 84 wins. I think it is a good line.

I think they barely squeak over it. I don't think they're a playoff team this year. I was going to say, I kind of like, well, now we're all on the green. I was kind of, I like them as over 500, but not, not making the wild card. I'd love it if they're in the playoffs. Me too. I think you say that every year. I leave the bandwagon open for you guys.

This is a surprising Jakey bandwagon for me. You know, it's organizations, right? That's something I'm passionate about, and this organization doesn't have the track record. Mike Trout and Anthony Rendon are two of the best this game has to offer, and they were out. And like Otani, like there's a chance he regresses. No, it's funny, we can't even dream of him getting better.

And this is going to be what? His third full year in the league, something like that. And I, trust me, I know that's an insane thought because of what the man did last year, but he's, like, still young and stuff. I don't know. I think you can get better. Baseball is a funny sport.

If they have that high-end talent, which they really do, you know, it can come together. Stay in it to the break. I think they're going to be better than Oakland. I think they're going to be better than Texas. And this is another team that almost can't sell. So, Shoah went in the Siong.

He's a ward chasing. Rookie of the Year. Got it. Might as well. MVP. Got it. Give them the sigh. This lineup is good.

The lineup is good. The bullpen is good. The starting pitching is still just okay. They would love just okay. I guess that's the other thing that gets me almost excited. If the rotation can be just okay, which, hey, an Anaheimid hasn't been, that would, this team can actually do things. Go, Senegal go. If Sindigard goes, this team goes.

And part of the reason I'm also doing it is if they can somehow do it and sneak into the wild card and you got to face a cinder guard that maybe he's worked through whatever T.J stuff he had to work through. And Shohay and that lineup and a five gamer, man, Halo up. Don't make me fucking hate your organization at the end of the year. It's a risky move. Tyler Wade hot. Tyler Wade hot. I still don't like the organization.

personal reasons. I like the Angels organization. Like that whole I hate the Angels speech that everyone thinks like, but like it's not the same as the Indians or the A's. Like they do try. And they drafted 20 pitchers. So like, yeah, it is a new regime.

They're getting the net a little bit. I just wish they would have signed another pitcher. They're still a chance, bro. They sign another pitcher in like a legit guy. I mean, this. is this now we're talking about here we go yeah let stroman would have been a good fit for them all right that's that it's over we're moving on the angels are put in our rear view and the next team on the list your seattle mariners last year they finished 90 and 72 and went out with a bang they missed

the playoffs, but the last series in Seattle, second to last game was amazing. The crowd was amazing. Seattle was amped up and it was a fun place to watch baseball. They became kind of MLB's darling towards the end. Did miss the playoffs, but everyone still enjoyed what they saw a lot. And they got better and made a little bit of a shocking trade, Jake. And what other moves did they make? Jake? They lost. How about a mariner all-timer? Kyle Seeger, retired. He's out on the farm in North Carolina, just drinking it in. Jimmy's guy, Kukuchi, he's now a Jay. BPD's guy, James Paxton is a Red Sox. Tyler Anderson, the trade deadline ad, he's in L.A., Joe Smith, Justin Dunn, Sean Dool, Jake Frailey. They went out,

but the good news is they went out for some good news for Mariners fans. Jesse Winker is in town, one of the best all-around hitters in baseball. And how's your Cy Young? Robbie Ray, they make the bet after Robbie Ray's big year. He will lead that staff and they hope take him over the top. That Adam Fraser trade can't get enough of it. Eugenio Suarez, man, is he going to be an asterisk in that trade or is he going to be a big part of that trade?

I did not know Sergio Ramos tricking him up there this year. That kind of changes a lot of my takes. And then how's your journeyman outfielder? Suez Bot, Trev's guy, and Billy Hamilton on some minor league deals. So they added some high-end stuff, man. And that rotation, there's some young guys,

some old guys, some sex guys. Some what guys? Yeah. Okay. Yeah, the rotations here. They added the big arm, Robbie Ray. Tight pants, brought him up into Seattle. Here we go. Lefty. Marco Gonzalez is behind him, another lefty. And then we got some of the dudes. Chris Flexen, really nice year last year, Logan Gilbert, Matt Brash, the bullpen. This is another bullpen that, like, Mariners fans, if you don't say every single day, like, oh, this bullpen is incredible, they get pissed at you. They want you to know how good their bullpen is. Paul Seawall, Drew Steck and, Rodeo Castillo, Ken Giles, Sergio Romo, like you mentioned. These guys are going to get it done for them. I'm looking forward to seeing what happens up there.

James, tell me about that lineup, because I think the lineup has turned into something. Well, they got Adam Frazier. I forgot that that happened, but he'll be playing second base. Tie France at first, Jesse Winker. Left field, Mitch Hanager, right field. Ah, Eugenio Suarez, playing third base.

J.P. Crawford, that's short. Abraham Toro in a trade that was really fun last year. Jared Kelnick, Centerfield, Tom Murphy, catching. Two Murphy catchers in this division? How about that? Where do you want to start? What do you got? I hope they build upon next year.

The Winker trade was awesome. The Robbie Ray signing is awesome. Marco Gonzalez last year. pretty solid. I don't know. They needed bats. They needed bats and they addressed that situation. Yeah.

We talked about, you know, the one run games they won, but the offense just was not there for them last year. So they made some big time additions to bolster that. And honestly, Winker is one of those guys that you talk about building around. Like, I don't know if they have him for a couple more years. He may, you may not build around him, but you're going to construct a lot. lineup around him. He's that kind of hitter. So you put him in there with some of the younger guys

that they have. And this has a chance to be like a very, very exciting team on like pretty much all facets of the ball. Again, I'm still looking at the starting pitching. Am I crazy? I don't know. Do I expect too much for teams and starting pitching? Because every team I look at, I'm, that's, it seems to be like. It's hard to have like, especially the American League. I mean, that was eye-opening for me last year in the playoffs. Some of those NL rotations, like at one point we were down to like six teams and five of the best rotations were in the NL.

That math doesn't work out if you think about it. But they add Robbie Ray, which if he can repeat last year, my goodness, if he can even come close of last year, I mean, that's a dude at the top of the rotation that any day could give you seven innings, one earn run, run, a bunch of punches. There's not too many guys like that around baseball. And Trev, I kind of, I think you might have stumbled into something there. Watch out, how about a little sneaky

Jesse Winker extension? You know what? Like, they've got young guys on the way, Julio Rodriguez. You know, when those guys come up and have to be paid, you know, lock winker up for maybe four years, something like that. Pay that man. Haven't said this for, a lot of teams. I do think a hot start, or excuse me, not a bad start is very important for the Mariners. You're coming off a year where you had a lot of juice. You had a lot of juice. You kind of became baseball's darling in September there. Keep the juice going. Keep the juice going. And it's going to be a really interesting balance to see, you know, Julio is supposed to be a different type of prospect. He's supposed to be one of the special ones. He's supposed to be one of the

special ones. He's like a Luis Robert type. Like he's supposed to be legit. And Kelnick. I mean, Kellnick came up and he stunk and then he started to figure it out. So like, where do those guys land? Does the Toro trade end up looking good? Because they broke their own team's heart for 24 hours.

And I love my last name before I pass it. Logan Gilbert in that rotation. That's a young man. I'm buying stock in. Last year this team beat up on not the Astros, but their other divisional teams. They went 13 and 6 against the Rangers.

They went 15 and 4 against the A's. 11 and 8 against the Angels. It's like a 680 winning percentage. Now, we're saying the Rangers and the Angels got better. Is that going to make a difference? That's going to make it hard for them to win 90 games again? maybe they can pick up even more wins against the Oakland, but they handled them pretty well last year.

They also had negative run differential last year, so there are a lot of like probably non-believers in just like the sustainability of what they did, but the Mariners got better as well. But I don't know. Is there any doubt? Is there any like, is it a guarantee that this team does better than last year? because last year, according to some of the analytics and stuff,

they over achieved. Yeah, I mean, look, this is, I was looking at the bullpen, like, who were we missing here? Because I always hear about the bullpen, and it's Sadler, who was going to miss the entire season. You know what he did last year, like 0.67, like, was an absolute, he was their guy. He's done for the season.

So that's why he wasn't listed. That's why I forgot to read his name. That's a huge, that's huge for them. in a negative aspect. So, I mean... Trev, do you know what there? I forget, are you a fan of the Pythagorean win loss or are you not? We've looked at it, you know, kind of at the end kind of lines up.

Same thing with run differential. It usually does. There'll be a few teams here and there that kind of, you know, buck that. But I think it usually is around what happens. Yes. So last year this team was a huge ally. The Pythagorean win. loss says they should have won 76 games.

It's a 90-win team. So. Lights up, bullpen, one-run games. That's basically it. They were really good in extra innings. Extra innings, yeah. Yeah. So I guess that's my question is I wish I would have read some of the nerdy analytical

teams like, well, they're going to regress because they overachieve. But I don't know. And they did get better. It's a spin cycle. This team got better. They added Robbie Ray. They added Jesse Winker. This team got better.

some of their young guys should be a year older, whether you're talking the Thai Francis, whether you're talking to J.P. Crawford, our guy, Toro. Like, this team from last year had some regression in them. But they also got better. So I think you could spin yourself in circles. Like, I love Diego Castillo. Last year he came over and he was okay for them. I think that guy's got all the tricks in his bag.

How about 100 Mile Giles? He's missed a season or two. He's in that Mariners bullpen. It can all click and look really good for the Mariners who also have some depth options, man. I mean, whether we're talking, you know, Kyle Lewis, if he comes back, Evan White, our guy Taylor Tramel, awesome dude, like world-class dude. I don't know. I don't know.

I know. They have a 14 luck factor last year. The next highest is six. I forgot about that. I forgot that they were playing out of their shoes a little bit. Or maybe they weren't. Maybe all the numbers are bullshit. Like I honestly don't know if I believe in this stuff at all.

So I'm kind of just throwing it out there. If you're a heavy believer in it, give me your argument in the comments. If you're not a believer at all, give me your argument in the comments because I need more info on like what that means. But they did get better. And Oakland got worse. but the other team's got a little better. This is a tough one. I'm looking at the over-under right now.

It's 83 and a half. So I'm the Angels guy. Sorry, Mariners fans. We're not respecting Robbie Ray like the Cy Young winner. Like if we're being honest. Because otherwise, wouldn't we be like jumping and screaming

that they just added the Cy Young winner and the guy? Yeah, but it's, it's, uh, I mean, it's, it's not like they added like Verlander, or Cole or, or DeGrom, who has proven that they're going to do it year in, year out. Like, if Robbie Ray goes back to being a four guy next year or a three six,

uh, it's, it's the walk. It's the walks with him. Like he, that's the fun stat that we have here to how big of a jump he made, um, from 2020 to 2020 and his walk rate.

If he's that guy again or he's not walking guys and still striking people out at that elite clip that he does, because guess what? Right now he's got a gold. on his baseball reference page for strikeouts per nine a gold that means best all time all so the guy can do it keep the guys out the base with the free passes then yeah then he'll be fine i don't think we're worried about robbie ray i'm i'm respecting him as a sye young winner okay the other guys the loss of sadler i mean it's it's a big hit i wonder what the the over under went

from that loss of not having him in the bullpen. I mean, had to affect it a little bit because of how good he was last year. You like flexing? I'm having a hard time thinking about the over right now. That's kind of... Because I like flexing a lot. He's got two blips last year

that if you butterknife those like the two Jake stat, take your two worst outings and just get rid of them. I think his ERA, which is at 36, over 31 starts, I think comes down. a decent amount. I mean, he's got a 1.2-8 earned. So that's probably a little bit of an ERA killer.

And he's got a 4-7 earn. So you do Jake Statt, you take rid of those two. I like flexing a lot. And I guess that's where I'm getting caught up. I think the lineup is what it is what it is. Like I think Winker's good. I think Mitch Hanager's Mitch Hanigar. And then it's just coin flip.

Like out of Suarez, J.P. Crawford, Kelnick. Even if you had Julio Rodriguez, a couple of those guys are going to click that make this. a solid lineup, like not a scared lineup, but a solid lineup. I guess the rotation, like, if you took away some of the names and you saw this rotation, you'd be like, this is a really good, this is a top 10 rotation in baseball. I think when you see, you know, Chris Flexen, I would have guessed he was in his 30s. He's 27.

Like, Logan Gilbert, again, I don't think too many people know him. He gives me, like, mini-glass now vibes. like we could be looking at that top four at the end of the year like this is this is a top six rotation in baseball i think we could also be looking at them as very middle of the pack and that's i think that's where this whole conversation hinges i hope they have the fun factor again give us another year too Rodriguez too like come up and be if he's a what if he's a kuna type or a Lubbob or you know a Soto like he is has the pedigree if he comes up and is is a guy like that or 80% of a guy like that that changes things completely in the lineup as well um i agree this is a

i think mariners fans probably feel that way too like the potential is definitely there are they a little worried about some of the underlying stats from last year yes you're crazy if you don't look at that stuff. It is a new year, a new team. I'm going over. 83 and a half. I was just about to say under. I think Jakey Boy, you brought me back with a little bit of love for the staff there. They have a ton of room to make an ad if they need to. I think they have $100 million to play with before they even come close to that tax threshold. So I'm taking the over and they are going to not make the playoffs. 83 and a half feels low.

I will take the over. I think even if they do regress like we've talked about, and even if, like, Robbie Ray is 80% of last year's Robbie Ray, this team should still be 85, 86 in that range. So, yeah, I'll take the over. Thanks, Draft Kings. So you guys are both taking the over? I might bet it right now.

You're taking the over too, Trev? I'm taking the over, but no playoffs. We've agreed too much. I'll take the under. I don't, uh, yeah, trust your heart. East Coast bias. Sure. I think when we get to the raise, Red Sox, Yankees, Blue Jays, we're going to see better teams.

Can there be four teams in a division? Then go to the playoffs. I guess there can be, right? Then, well, they got to beat up on each other. But, uh, like you said, Trev, if the White Sox went to the ALE East, Jake and I both said we'd pencil them in to win it. Like, we really liked the White Sox. It's really not that much east goes by.

As I said, the Astros, we're getting to them next. I'll see where these four teams, I have them finishing fifth in the ALE East, all four of them. Mariners. I could see the Mariners. I mean, look, for Angels and Mariners who just talked about, like, if things go right, they could be a pretty good team. But, like, as we're sitting here making projections today, yeah, I'm not drinking the Kool-Aid. I guess here's my thing. I'm Jakey jokes, right?

I'm silly. He's always joking. He's always joking. Always. I don't really like him. Vegas, who done joke. They don't joke at all. Same over under as my halos for the Seattle Mariners who went out and got Robbie Ray and Jesse Winker.

That kind of tells the story. That they're both not great teams? That they both have a chance to be good, but they both have a chance to not be good. Yeah, they're both. I think they're both above 500. I know I took the other. Like, I think they're both going to be around that at the end of the year. Like, let's get over 500.

I don't know. I really, I want both teams to be good. I would love, I love both teams to be playing against each other down the stretch and the games matter for that second wild card. And I think that's going to happen. That'd be awesome. I think we're going to have 30. Three teams in the West.

But put them in Seattle. I don't want that series to happen to Anaheim. Okay. Okay, cool. Let's go to that last team. I'll look at the schedule to see if it can be exciting out West. The last team that we did. Thank you for tuning in.

That was the Seattle Mariners. The last team tuning in. Fourth ranked Houston Astros. The ALCS goes through Houston, 2017. Went through Houston, 2018. Went through Houston 2019. through Houston. 2020, went through Houston.

2021, went through Houston. That's very impressive. Very. That's very impressive. Damn. They won 95 games last year. They lost in the World Series to the Atlanta Braves. Jake,

what do you got? Who'd they add and lose? What did they do? They did lose the World Series last year, dude. Jim, I'll say this. I think we might put you through a little bit of a rigmar role with this team. because they re-signed Justin Verlander. Hall of Fame or one of the best to ever do it.

Coming off, T.J. They give him that two-year deal. Let's see what he's got in the tank. Otherwise, you know, couple utility, Nico Goodrum. I do like him. Hector Neres and the pin, if they can tap into his talent. Franklin Barreto, one name's bats or the other name Barreto. But Jim, who they lost?

Kendall Graveman. It's a great deep cut. Who is important in that bullpen. Brooks Riley. name more important than what he did, but he was also good. Caught me a Marwin, Yemi Garcia in the bullpen, Zach Grinky, he's gone, and Carlos Correa,

kind of the heart and soul of that team with Jose Altuve. He is now gone. Trev, I'll say this, the rotation still has a chance to be really good. They do. Verlander coming back. I can't wait to see what he looks like. Unfortunately for these guys, McCullors Jr.

is going to start the year on the DL. He had a little setback during his rehab process. During the lockout, couldn't even see team doctors. How stupid is that, owners? Anyways, he'll miss the start of the season, which is a big blow to them, by the way, because we do love this staff, but Lance McCullors Jr., Moxie King,

you need him in your rotation. Behind him, our guy Framber, Luis Garcia, Jose Orkidi, Jake Oterizzi. There's depth here. They can do it without McCullors, but they really need him back in the bullpen. We love it there too. Ryan Presley, former teammate of mine. Have I been on the moon with him?

Maybe a few times. Ryan Stanick, definitely him. Hector, Nairus, Phil Matam, Blake Taro, Pedro Baez, Raphael, Monserre, Josh, James, Brandon Belich, Christian Javier. They got a lot of pitchers. We love this team. Don't make me tell you how much I love this team because I'll just continuously do it over and over

and one of the biggest reasons is his lineup, James. The lineup, the lineup, the lineup, Posei Altovae. He's there. Michael Brantley, the hitman, Yordon Alvarez, T.H. and Uli Uriol, Kyle Tucker,

who had a little bit of a good year. A little bit of a good year. Chas McCormick Jeremy Pena What made you laugh? Just remembered that Yordon finished with 33 homers last year Which was important to some Unbelievable

Martine Maldonado catching Can I tell you Jake their biggest loss? Yes. Corea, sure. Okay Second biggest loss Brent Strom Pitching coach extraordinaire

gets a lot of credit for teaching their pitchers how to dip their fingers in a jar and throw the high fastball. But honestly, Brent Strom is like a very, very respected pitching coach. He retires and then unretires and is now with the diamondbacks.

And that's a big loss. Yeah. I still think they'll persevere. I think they'll do just fine. I think the Astros will win the division with ease. And I think they're, going to be good. You know,

you know, it's hilarious. Talk about Correa, how much, you know, he meant to this organization. And you can't really replace a guy like that, okay?

But these Astros, you know what they do. I say it about the Dodgers. When they bring someone up, it's not just some scrub that's going to, like, be there and be a warm body.

They have guys that are above average big beers coming up. This guy, Jeremy Pena. You know, the, article, an article headline that was just written on him.

Astros view Carlos Correa's replacement, Jeremy Pena as a star. Yeah. Who wrote it? Just another one. What's the publication? Fox Sports. Fox Sports. These are words coming from

Robinson Canoe, Jose Altova. This isn't just anybody saying this. I mean, I know they're trying to pump this guy up. You ever talk bad about a player? James, go look at the body of work too, man. I'll look at that. I'll trust that more.

He spoke mean about Kriski. Oh, no. You were mean to Kriski last year. I've been mean about players. I'll look at the body work. I'll never say this guy's going to be a star. I'll look at the body work, but you lose Karea, new kids coming up.

There's a lot of pressure on him to replace Karea. The fan base is going to kind of give him a hard time. The player's going to come out and they're going to say all that shit. It means nothing. But I'll look at the body of work. And I'm rooting for him. I don't think the word star gets thrown. around a lot.

Okay, like if I say, hey, this guy's any pretty good player. We think he's going to fit right in. Sure. A potential star, you don't put pressure on, like, you don't put pressure on a guy like that unless you think he can handle it and is going to be that.

So even the fact that they're saying it about him, Astros fans are like, like the window. Let's talk about windows. Okay, James. Who just built the window, the Rangers? They just framed it. Yeah, framework is set.

The Astros, they don't have, like, what's the window? to the Astros. It's open air concept, baby. We don't need windows. We're always letting people in. The wind's coming in. The summer breeze is always blowing in Houston. They don't give a shit about a window. It's continuous. I love this franchise. We rightfully so, we had to come down on them for some dumb stuff that did in 2017. I wish that wasn't the case because we could be looking at. We could be looking at like one of the best franchise runs in a long time. This is where I have to remind you about the Yankees and they won four World

Series in like six years and they went to like six World Series and eight years and stuff like that and it's just like way better. One of the best, James. All right, all right. I just, and there's also another one like the A's and stuff like that, but they only won one World Series. But yeah, I said it's very impressive. I shouted them out a lot. It just. They're not even close to done yet. I think they, I think the windows like, do I have to tell you about the Chicago Bulls? Oh my God. They're really good.

Tell me more about the Yankees and the Bulls. The ALCS. Okay. The ALCS runs through Houston. I bet that they're going to be there again. And can I tell you about the pitching from last year? Jake? You have a question?

The division I think deserves to be talked about a little bit. Treve, your Texas Rangers, have they been a joke for the last three years. We're not calling them the AOS champions. We're saying the ALCS. That's championship series, bro. I know it. I know it.

Houston's run has been fantastic. One of the best in recent baseball history. I'm with you on that. I'm with you on that as well. I'm with you on that. I'm with you. The Texas Rangers have been a joke for a little while. They're trying to get somewhere.

Don't think they're actually getting anywhere. Angels have been a joke in their own right. They're literally a joke of baseball Twitter because of their pitching. I believe they have a chance this year. The Seattle Mariners have more hope than they've had in a long time up in Seattle. Oakland stinks. Houston has lost George Springer, Carlos Correa, Grinky's now gone.

We'll see what JV's got in the tank. The division is closer. this team is still stacked Trevor I'm interested to see the next step they have been a low-key pitching factory and it's gotten overlooked whether you want to talk Framber Luis Garcia or Keady

McCullors I mean some of the guys in that bullpen you know when we jump to pitching factories I feel like we go to raise like Houston should be in that conversation and like Jimmy said we'll see how much of it's tied to Brent Strong good pitching coach good sticky icky I think the division does reel them this a little bit this year.

And I do think it ties into some of the other guys. Like Jeremy Pena, is he the dude? We'll find out. You know, he could be a star and he could also not be good this year. He could also be very good this year. I have no idea. Kids are rook. And, you know, from a guy coming from the show, rooks.

What's going on in center field? I think the dudes in their lineup have to be respected as dudes. Does Yulee Gereal have the fountain of goddamn youth? You won the batting title last year. What is that guy about? He's a Cuban ball player. Yeah, that's a great point. Dr. Smooth, he's going to be 35 this year.

Seems like he's still a stud. Bregman missed a chunk of last season. So, Yorda, this is our annual reminder that we'll start saying weekly, he is one of the best young hitters to ever play the game of baseball. If that continues, holy smokes. Altuva's El Tuve, Kyle Tucker in his nice year. It's one of the best all-around years in baseball last year. Houston is still the favorites deservedly.

So I think there are more question marks than years in the past. And I think the rest of the division has caught up a little bit. It's just where does that actually land? I disagree with everything Jake said. I think they're better than the division this year. I was more worried about them last year. Verlander's coming back. and their starters last year,

kind of like Framber, Garcia, or Kitty. They were kind of playoff stars in 2020, and we saw them, but are they real? I mean, those four guys with McCullors, they combined for 558 innings pitched

with three, three ERA, the four of them. And you're taking Granky out or out of bad year. Verlander in, who I put on the Wayno train of like, I don't think Tommy John's going to hurt Verlander at all. I actually complete opposite from my usual takes.

and he's looked good in spring. Verlander exemption. So I think he's so old and just a robot pitching and I can do it. Like I actually think he's going to be better than Granky last year. They did lose Correa, but I mean, Tucker came out to play. And he's like, I'm real now. He has a 147.

When you're saying you're losing Springer and Correa, like you're also gaining Alvarez and Tucker. Like they just, they continuously find these guys, or develop them, I guess. And they're just... You have Yordon Alvarez now, who played his first full season last year and showed you what he can do.

Yeah, I think these guys got better. And I think that they will run away with the division. Losing for something? You think they got better. Well, no, but I don't think it hinders them because from where I was at the beginning of the season last year, Like what I thought about them in the TPP last year. Sure.

Versus this year better. Because there was, I didn't know what Tucker was going to do. I didn't know what her kitty was going to do, what Framber was going to do, what all these guys over a course of like a full season of workload. And that's like five players that I don't have a question about anymore. Right. But then we have them as an easy, we all said they're over last year was one of the easiest locks we picked. And who in the division was challenging them at all last year?

The A's were supposed to at this time last year. year they were supposed to. And now I think they're not. I do think the Angels and Mariners might be messing around for a wildcar, but I don't think the Astros are going to go that far down. They're good. I mean, we're talking about how hard it is to find a pitching staff with depth. We got the white socks on record in TPP, and now we have the Astros.

And we've done, this is our 15th team, and it's a second team where I'm like, that's a good staff. You want to talk about center field a little bit. Do it. well let me get this up here love me some Siri electric I'm looking at his numbers now very small sample size in the show last year

155 OPS plus not going to expect that to continue but still it's nice when you bring a guy up and he does that for you right it's a good feeling minor league stats are pretty good too is he going to be like the long-term answer there I don't know maybe he's 26 years old right now? Maybe he's fine something.

And the next three years he's great. It wouldn't shock me because the Astros have just continuously brought players up to do that. So look, you guys know how I feel about this team. I don't even know what the over under is. I'm going to say over. I just, I'm on him. I too will say the over. What is it?

91 and a half. Yeah. You'll take the over. McCullors being out is not good. How long is he out for it? It says just they don't know yet. Beginning this season, that's the last that I've seen on him. Defensively,

Corae is a big, like obviously he's a big hit across the, but across the field. But we're talking about a shortstop that was the right field cutoff guy. Like the second baseman would go to cover the bag and Correa would go to right field. So I wonder if the running game, you know, scoring from second to third or I don't know, you know, that's how good he was.

that's how crazy Correa's arm is. So there's a hit there. But yeah, there's just less question marks. Like you're losing Correa, but so many guys last year were like, I'll help. If you guys don't want to sign Carlos next year, I'll step up.

Maybe they step down, but the rotation is a big thing. Yeah, I just, I don't love the White Sox comparison because I think the White Sox high-end guys are more of a lock. Well, I didn't compare them. I said we've had two staffs

where it's deep. Well, you're comparing them. That's where I'm... Well, the whites are actually way better, but out of the 15, what, you don't agree that this is the second best staff we've talked about? Milwaukee Verers, like... Oh, I forgot about them. Yeah.

So, I guess in the A.L. That's, I, and, you know, Verlander getting the exception is big. I do love Framber, obviously, and they have a lot of, they have options, which is nice. I think this is a different year for the Aster's. I think Correa was a heart of a lot of that, and I think the West is going to be a slog this year. I think they still win the division. I think you're closer to an 88-90-win Astros team. So I will take the under. There's something to be said about like success just being in the building. It's expected. It's not like, hey guys, like, let's see what we can do. Like, they expect

to be in the World Series. And these guys have been playing together for a long time. And like, there's camaraderie. And like, one guy knows like, hey, man, if I suck today, like, don't this guy's got me. Like there, there is that feeling in the organization. You know, they have good veteran leaders. They have guys who have just done everything you can do in this game.

I mean, so I love the roster construction. I just think that it's, I think they're going to run away with the West. I don't think it's going to be a slog. I think this team is going to show everyone like we're, we don't have windows. baby back to the ALCS they go I believe that be how are you six years in a row

it's gonna be tougher for them I think the the AL is more top heavy this year I think there's some really really good teams in the AL so it's gonna be tougher to get to the CS but man once you get in the playoffs like you can't you can't count these guys out and maybe most important experience that they have not mentioned yet their manager has a plan yeah he does he's the best god damn it these guys were close to win the world series against the nationals howie kendrick said n uh-uh they were close to win the world series last year brave said uh-uh do you think do you think they make the alcs again this year

i'm not i mean yeah i'm i'm a pretty basic person if you're bad for a long time i'll just ride the chalk on that if you're good for a long time I'll ride the chalk on that. So until they don't make the ALCS, they're making the ALCS. Hot take. See who they're playing in the playoffs. Yeah, okay.

How about this? Yankees. Got to face the Blue Jays or the Astros? Blue Jays. You'd rather face the Blue Jays. Well, I big believer in battle tested, especially when it comes to the playoffs. Like you said, like they just have the confidence

that we've done this, we've been here. Like if you said, Sox or Astros, I would rather play the Astros than the White Sox in these playoffs. Okay. Are we all in agreeance on the over-under, too? Jake took the under. You and I took the over. Good for you.

88 to 90 wins. They still get the division. Bring my Moxie King back. Come on. What was the Angels over under? 83 and a half. You got to be in tight. It's Vegas, baby.

Wow. It's never easy. That is the ALS. Thanks for tuning in and listening. Comment below how mad you are. Which one of us? And why? All of us, yeah.

All of us. Who did we forget? Everyone. Stroes. Tros, halos, mariner's, rangers, Rangers, ace. Pat.