Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - 65 | White Sox get Keuchel & Edwin, Toronto Grabs Ryu

Episode Date: December 30, 2019

Keuchel signs a three-year deal worth $55.5 million with the White Sox. The Blue Jays have formally announced the signing of Hyun-Jin Ryu, to a 4 year, 80MM contract. Jays also sign Shun Yamaguchi, Roark and Chase Anderson. The White Sox have reached an agreement to sign veteran slugger Edwin Encarnacion. The Mets get Betances. Diamonbacks get Calhoun. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices 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.

It's time to talk baseball. Keikl signed, Ryu signed, Encarnazion signed, some other guys signed. Jake's here. I'm here. Let's do it. What's going on, everybody? Welcome to talking baseball. It is the middle of the holiday season.

Hey, do you like flock of seagulls? No, but I bet you do. That's a visual joke for our patrons. who are sponsoring this episode, a good gang of them. Justin Yates, Jay Yates, Sam Thompson, Cassidy Harpster, Nicholas Monaco, Eyal Shachar, fuck that one up. Alex Fernandez, Brandon Edwards, Max Schnerer, Daniel Evans, Megafloid, Eric Lazow, and Rich DeCosto. So thank you to our patron. How long have you been laughing at Max Schner's name?

Well, I just said it. Like, when I wrote it down, I didn't laugh at it, but Schner. And how long have you been going with the flock of Siegel's haircut, man? I like it on you. I was rocking out for the intro, and it just fell naturally into place. Keep on rocking in the free world. It's been far too long since we've talked to baseball. It's been far too long since Jake and I have even, like, talked to each other.

I'm a mess. Dude, it's gotta be the longest we've gone without talking to each other. My life's in shambles. For a long time. We actually just decided that we have so much little dumb stuff to banter about that we don't want to put on you guys on talking baseball that we're going to have to do an episode of our radio show, John Boy and Jake Radio. That's just literally nothing but banter. I thought my girlfriend took the dog out. She's at the mall.

The dog's right next to me. I'm sixes and sevens right now. I got nothing. Yeah, your brain's dead. And there's a lot of baseball moves that I was like, we haven't talked about this on the show yet? What? In my head, I've done a solo white socks expose.

But that's never actually heard, been heard by human ears. I've put so many thoughts about the white socks, like you're saying. like I've just had the conversation probably five times like yeah I like what they're doing but we haven't put that on no it hasn't been on on content yet but here we are well we'll do a little bit how is your Christmas and sum it up in two sentences my Christmas was very nice and quaint if I'm using that word right watched the show you on Netflix, which we're not going to talk about now. We'll talk about on Jake and John Boy Radio.

Change the name this time. And yeah, I'm just, dude, it's a mess. It's a fucking mess. Hard F. Wow. Jakey swears. These past two weeks, dude, we've been in the mountains. We've been in Denver.

The days of the week aren't here. We're figuring out New Year's. I've got a buddy in town that's, like, planning a lot of stuff and it's like hey like I kind of have a life like I don't know I don't know what I'm supposed to tell you like I you scheduled brunch and dinner in the same day that's a lot whoa that's a lot you can't schedule someone's brunch and dinner because it's almost an awkward four hours between those two events yeah like do we have to hang out in between do I like what am I supposed to do, so I didn't.

But, and I, I'm currently in those hours, and I think I'm going to be late for dinner, but I'm okay with that. Do you have a boozy brunch? Um, there was some drinks. It wasn't out of control. It was at a place called Ophelia's in Denver that used to be a brothel. You'd like the history behind it. Ophelia.

Don't get me singing that song. Okay. Did you ask anyone at brunch about, uh, Keikel? Were you, Edwin? I did not. I'd say two or three times over the past couple weeks I've met new people that have been like, oh, nice to meet you. What do you do for work?

And I'm like, well, okay. So I used to be a Yankees podcast and how, well, it's a website and we do baseball stuff and blah, blah, blah. And every time they just look at me and they're like, good for you. And I'm like, you know what? And then I chop them up and my dog eats them, season two of you. How are you doing, Jim? Whirlwind. I'm having a nice lazy day. Nice lazy day. Come on. I left the apartment to go get breakfast sandwiches for Katie and her friend who spent the night.

And then I worked on a YouTube video about Mike Marshall. Yeah, you're on a big Mike Marshall kick. I never knew who he was. He holds the record currently for most games finished in the season and most appearances in the season. I made a YouTube video because I was kind of like, you know what? I want to start making. baseball reference rabbit hole videos because you do it. I do it. Sure. And like I started out Eric Chavez. I got to Pedro Feliciano and then I went to Mike Marshall.

And that was like and then I was on like I was trying to gather information on Eric Chavez for a two minute video. And I ended up on Mike Marshall making a nine minute video. Six degrees of Eric Chavez. So. I don't think. Well, I don't know if the appearances gets. I would say the appearance. doesn't get broken.

The innings has to get broken at some point just by like, the innings might already be broken, right? By a reliever, I don't know. Like Yarborough or something? I don't know. Yeah, maybe because the bulk guys. That's what I kind of mentioned. The opener, yeah.

Yeah. But he was, he was pretty cool. He threw a screwball, which they say isn't like a pitch anymore. Yeah. Let's get straight. Do we know not? Why? I don't want to throw us under a baseball bus anymore. I guess is a screwball just a change-up nowadays,

and there's not a conversation? So I dove into that too. Sure. And a screwball, like, it's basically almost like a circle change, but you just hold it with your pinky and your ring finger, right? And then you come off it kind of like a screwball, like a two-seamer spin. Sure.

So, like, Canley's change-up is definitely like kind of, but then they said the screwball was more like a 12 to 6 curve, reverse. It would dive down and it would like float dive, not like, but then a lot of MLB players just say, dude, there's no such thing. It's just a change up. Yeah, just it feels cyclical. Like, I mean, Roger Clemens technically threw a forkball. Um, and that's just a sinker now. Yeah, that's like a sinker splitter or whatever you want to call it. And now like Tom Glevin, Tom Glavin, I believe he threw a quote-unquote screwball, which I think any lefty pitcher that threw that nowadays, it would just be called a change-up. So I guess I'm excited for the late

20s, the late 20-20s, when change-ups become screwballs again. So how about that? Yeah, it's all cyclical. There's also like two-seemers. Sometimes they'll call a guy, you know, that's his sinker. It's like, that's a two-seamer. They're like, they're there it's like what's what's even a pitch same as same yeah that's why james baxon on the yankees doesn't like name his pitch he just calls it the slider curve cutter thing that's what he says all all of his pitches are named after Canadian drinks he was seen at the vancouver do you see him at the Vancouver Canucks game last night yeah down in the beer love james faxton yeah all right so let's go into this first we have so much movement before christmas

like we said this offseason has been rocking and rolling and it stayed going keichel first name dallas are you a christmas music guy yes yeah yeah i'm a christmas what's your what's like your number one if they're like hey john boy throwing a christmas music song what do you put on i'd just go to like the frank sinatra playlist and run that. Nice. That's pretty good. Yeah.

That's pretty good. Three year deal for Kikel, $55 million. It also includes a fourth year option at $18.5 million for the fourth year. And that will vest if he clears an innings threshold. So it's not like they get to, you know, we'll take the option. It's performance based, the option. So, I mean, if he's good, he's going to get that. We don't know.

Maybe they do know what it is. I'm not sure what it is. The difference between this and last season for Kikl is so wild. And it also mirrors the difference between Mustakis, these last two free agencies and free agency periods and now. Last year, Kikl didn't get signed until the season was already starting because they wanted the draft pick compensation to not be part of them. So last year, teams wouldn't sign Kikl to a one-year deal because they'd lose a draft. pick and now we have a team giving him potentially 18 million a year for four years guaranteed $55 million.

Well, it's weird. It's better for the market, but it's weird how drastic this is from like the white socks are going to give him $55 million. But last year, it was a general consensus among baseball that he wasn't worth giving up a draft pick and now it's worth $55 million on a three-year deal. It's shady. Last year is like more shadier in my eyes now. Yeah, it really is an interesting mix because when you talk about and again, I play my nerdy

baseball game out of the park baseball and I mean, there technically is a price tag that gets put on draft picks, right? Like you can do the math on the odds of a certain draft pick, making the major leagues, whether it's a top 20 draft pick or whatever it is. Right now, the way teams are run, and I guess it's also the risk reward in a draft pick, teams are not willing to risk that for certain free agents, and it's kind of this really niche area that you wonder if when they do go into the CBA, if it gets addressed, I think it will to a degree, because it doesn't seem like a great situation.

but outside of that, good for the White Sox, man. I think you and I were on a good for the White Sox path before they signed Keikel. I think we were on a good for the White Sox path just when they signed Yes, Monty Grandal. But now, I mean, they've got a nice little hall going, man. They've got Grandal. They re-signed Jose Abraeu, Keikle. Who else? Edwin, we'll get to that in a little bit.

Gio Gonzalez, but sticking with Kichel, I like it. The only thing I will say, which will get my Anaheim haters out slash people that think I hate the angels, which I kind of love. You do hate the angels. I love the idea of Kikell out there with Andrelton Simmons and Rendon on the left side of the infield. Like, that's baseball porn. And we're not getting that.

I'm happy for the White Sox, Rocco Ball deli. officially has not one manager of the year again for 2020. That's an announcement I'll make. I'm really happy for the White Sox. They've had incredible offseason. So what I've been saying, and we'll lump Edwin into this conversation as well with Keikle, I do think that maybe they didn't have to go as high and as much money as they did to lock them up. But they didn't get Wheeler and they wanted that next guy. So they splurged a little to make sure it happened. I honestly, I obviously don't know what all the offers were, but it seems like you didn't have to go four years, 18 mil a year. I don't know.

Hand up. I don't know in my head. It seems like you overpaid. Good for Keikel gets his money. Good for the White Sox that they're throwing money into this team in the areas that they need it. I've been saying for, I mean, almost a year now, that 2019 was the White Sox fun year. Let's have some fun. you know, there's no expectations.

Now, I've been saying 2020 is like no more like fun losing mentality. Like there's no like, hey, well, we had fun, but we came in third. You got to, you got to make a run and get a playoff spot. And the front office is doing that. So I'm excited for them there. I do like the Edwin move. Edwin, what's Edwin getting? It's one year.

There's an option on it. 12 million club option. they buy them out or something like that. I don't know what the actual contract is. I mean, it's tricky with anyone who's getting older, but if you have Edwin on a one-year contract, like, if Edwin Encarnacion flames out next year, sure, I'm not too surprised.

He's been doing it for a long time. If Edwin Encarnacion hits 40 yaboes next year, I'm also not surprised. I love Edwin for them. And I think the bigger thing is, and I think this is one of, I think this is a Johnboy thing, but what does the media always say is a quote that is the insanity,

like doing the same thing multiple times. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing multiple times and expecting a different result. Right, which is not the definition of insanity. No, it is. The media's run with that. No, that is the definition of insanity. Oh, dude, I've seen you fight that.

I'll dig it up on J.J.R. Check out J.J.R. but the White Sox, they have learned from last off season. The White Sox last off season went big game hunting. And like it was reported in the media, technically they offered more money to Machado, the way the contract was worked out. It wasn't necessarily more money.

It was how it plays out. But I think the White Sox learned last off season that if they, put the same cards on the table that a lot of other teams can put on the table that the player is going to pick the other teams. So what do they do? They went out early and they got Grandal. They re-signed a brayu, which we love from a baseball standpoint and more so from just a sport standpoint. Like, yeah, you kept the guy in the same team. We like that. Now you bring in Kikell. The White Sox are having a nice free agency. They, you know, they were in the same. the Wheeler bidding.

But I mean, they've put together a team now that with the Indians selling and we're interested to see, A, how their offseason winds down, whether if Lindorne moves or what else goes down. But the Indians are coming back down to Earth. If you're the twins, you're just sitting there saying like, hey, the White Sox got a lot better, huh? So I'm happy for the White So twins currently don't have any pitchers. Let's just talk AL Central now. We like what the White Sox are doing.

The Indians are finally getting their hope and dreams that they can start selling pieces. If they trade Lindoror, that'll be funny. They still try to trade people at the deadline, probably. Even though they have like a good rotation, it just seems like that ownership sucks. Do you have the White Sox winning the Central right now? And if you want to avoid this question, you can because you know I hate these things. but December 29th, 2019, I have the White Sox being, I would not be shocked if they win the division. I'll leave it up to the listeners and I'll leave it on a fake coin flip.

I will say if Lindor is traded, it's the White Sox. If he's not, it's still the Cleveland Indians. Because they still have a full pitching set. They didn't have Kluber last year. And they still had a really nice young pitch. coaching staff so uh you know it's not time to overlook cleveland minnesota fans are like scratching and pawing at their face right now what are these guys talking about um they need i need to hear something out of minnesota well what's the back end of their rotation they got odorizzi they got

barrios they got pinata and then they have no one like do who do who do i don't know who they have. And that's still like good. I think it's Johann Santana and I think it's Francisco Liriano. Yeah. And all their coaching staff got pillaged and they

kind of had like a magical year like everything kind of went perfect. So kind of like the 2018 Red Sox, whatever. Everyone knows that I didn't think the twins were nearly as good as their record last year. So I don't have them as a lock for winning a

Again, I think they'll be good. I think the Central is going to be interesting and fun. The Royals will suck. And who's the other team in the Central? Tigers will suck. And these three teams will have a go at it. I still think the Indians have the best rotation, Clevenger, Beaver, Plutko, Plesack, Savali in the Central. Savali.

But Gialito Gonzalez, Keikle, it's not bad. Yeah. And there's been some fun. Gio Gonzalez stats that got thrown around. I know, and again, you do this in any aspect of life, but I defend it because people want to think of us as Yankee guys because we enjoy that baseball team. There was a lot of Gio Gonzalez rumors last year with the Yankees

because he signed with the Yankees, and people were saying, oh, yeah, we don't want Gio Gonzalez. Why don't we let the young guys figure it out? They've got a better projected FIP this year. You know what? Gio Gonzalez can still twirl it. He's been in the league for a while. And I know there is one stat going around the internet

that Gio Gonzalez has basically had the same decade that Madison Bumgarner has. And it's obviously fun with stats. And again, Madison Bumgarner's special moments are much more appealing than Gio's. I like Gio Gonzalez. And I think this is an argument where some of our listeners that appreciate us for,

enjoying analytics would get mad at us because Gio doesn't cross that bar. But guess what? He still throws innings and he still gets dudes out. So I low-key like that for the White Sox as well. I like everything they're doing. It's funny that Keiko and Gio were the two guys who, like, didn't get signed forever because they had draft picks attached to them. And now they're both on the White Sox.

Why don't you do this last year, White Sox? And if either of them signed with the Angels and maybe... If the White Sox did this, if the White Sox did this last year, I'd be happy. If the White Sox signed these guys last year, how much cheaper would they have come? Ooh, that's an interesting question. I mean, Kiko, you probably could have gotten two years, 20 mil. Right, but you'd have to sacrifice that first round pick that nobody wants to. But it is funny how much a year makes.

And it's like we started off this segment, I mean, it's a messed up part of free. agency right now. And Gio Gonzalez, like, Gio Gonzalez is in this weird baseball cycle of front offices having conversations between their analytics team and their baseball team, where the baseball guys are saying like, hey, Gio could still throw you 150 innings and have a 4ERA. And the analytics team is like twitching in the corner and like, no, his stats aren't that good. And it's like, well, maybe he can pitch a little bit. Maybe he can. Maybe. Another interesting rotation is forming in Toronto.

They pick up Riu for a lot of money. I think Kikell kind of set the Rew market. Like Wheeler's... Snake in the grass, Jim. Yeah, Wheeler set the Strasbourg and coal market because they had to get more than Wheeler and Rue got a lot. Kichael gets a good amount, $55 million with $18 for a fourth year. So what does Riu get?

Four years, $80 million, a little bit, more four years guaranteed 20 mil a season so that's more than kikell's 18 a season no opt outs they're getting married for four years reu to the blue jays the blue jays also brought in tanner row arc chase and uh shun yamaguchi who i have no idea her that is i asked you beforehand uh i didn't do any prep or anything i've no idea who shun yamaguchi is but that's like a completely remade staff that, if we're being honest, doesn't intimidate a single person. So a couple things going on here. Yeah, they absolutely did.

And the next 15 minutes are going to be a deep dive into Sean Yamaguchi's scouting report because that's all I've been doing this Christmas break. No, I mean, let's start with Ryu. He, I mean, it's not a discussion. He led the National League in ERA last year. And I get it. Like, ERA is not the end-all give-all anymore. But this is something that I know me and John fight on the front lines on the internet.

ERA is still the amount of earn runs allowed. And if you can keep that number down, whether there's luck involved or not, it's still a really good number to have in your corner. And Ryu did that, and the Blue Jays, kind of out of left field, had the highest bid, which again, I think you mentioned Kikl getting paid paid. Kikl definitely set the tone for Ryu, where Ryu was the last big fish on the market. Toronto came out and paid it. He has a little bit of an injury history.

This definitely smells of kind of one of the contracts from yesteryear where you're like, you know what, if they get two and a half good seasons out of Riu, this contract is worth it. they very well might not. And I think that's your fear factor if you're Toronto. Rew's good. Is it Rourke or Rew's really good? Rew's really good. It has been really good.

Anderson, Shoemaker, like, Rourke, you don't have a rotation still. I'm sorry, Blue J. San's like you're still. You have a lot of throwers. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You finally got arms. And a lot of baseball is having these guys that if you flip the coin, something good happens. And they have that with Shoemaker and Roarker. Roarck is left less of a coin flip guy, more of a he'll throw you 30 starts and he's going to

have a 4-4 ERA. And those guys are still valuable. I am, I don't know how to say this. I'm going to walk on egg shells a little. Uh-oh. I am keeping my eye out. I'm very, the most exciting thing for me about this Ryu deal is keeping an eye out on the NL West to AL East transition. You have four of like the most hitter friendly parks. The AOL West is probably the most hitter or pitcher friendly division. Yeah. Of course.

Yeah, that's one. All the others are pretty nice. And then you have Camden, Fenway, Yankee Stadium. You have a lot of hitter friendly parks in the AO. Toronto's a hitter friendly place. Yeah. Then you also have the DH now. So I am keeping my eye out for that transition because I think it's real.

I think it is a harder place to pitch than I think the N. West is an easier place to pitch. I don't think that that's a bad signing or that Ryu is going to be bad. I'm just kind of interested to see if the home run numbers tick up or how he handles, you know, not getting a free out once every three innings. Yeah. And the outside the line stuff that RIP Bob Lee, he's not dead, he's a friend. But it's interested to see, and I think, Jimmy, something at the back end of this signing that you and I really like is that the Blue Jays have a core of field players that's fucking badass.

Oh, yeah. And I, you know, I normally wouldn't say a lot of those words in one sentence. But, I mean, it's really cool that they brought Ryu in. Again, like, they're a step away from the Red Sox. They're a step away from the Yankees. It'll be interesting to see what happens with the Mooky Bet situation and how the rest of the Red Sox offseason goes. But what the Toronto Blue Jays did said they told this young core,

like, hey, you know what, Bichette, Vlad Jr., uh if you guys think you are all that we just brought in a starting pitcher that won the era title in the national league so if you guys think you can bring this to the table let's see it and i i think flow beshette our guy um i don't know i think that's a really nice message by the blue jays and uh it's funny i mean the teams the two teams we just mentioned if a Lindor trade doesn't happen, feels like the White Sox and the Blue Jays could easily be the two teams fighting for like the last wild card spot.

And I don't know. That would still be good for baseball. Yeah. Well, do you want to hear the scouting report on our dude Shun? You want me to give the scouting report? No, I haven't. Again, that's all I've been doing this holiday season. I have it in front of me from a website

that I've never read scouting reports, but it's like the 2080 baseball actual scouting reports. Dave DeFritus was the evaluator. Oh, he's good. Okay, physical description of Shun Yamaguchi. Is that you say? Sexual. Big.

Thick frame. Oh, love it. Very strong lower half. Important. Broad shoulders. Yep. Mechanical notes. Don't love that.

Smooth. Yep. Easy actions. Okay. Loose arm with some whip. Dave, give me something like, come on. Medium arm circle. Okay, here we go.

Not a max effort guy. Ooh, no, I actually, I'm big into that. Yeah. All stretch, land soft. Well, so, let's see. let me cut off Dave Scouting Report because the only scouting report I did here was like, hey, maybe he could be a back end starter,

a fourth or fifth guy and put a season together. I heard positive things about him potentially being a bullpen guy because he doesn't throw max effort. So that's an option for them. This guy has realistic role as an eighth inning relief setup guy. He has his ceiling as a great, 55 pitcher. It goes to 80 for those that don't know. All of his pitches right now are graded at 50 and his fastball can become a 60 fastball. He throws, he sits 89 to 93 with the fastball,

70 to 77 with the curve. It's a world I'm scared to dive into because I don't think I come out. But on the 80 scale, 50 plus is kind of like major leagues. stuff, anything under that is not. Honestly, like, when you read me that scouting report, all I heard was, it's a coin flip. Like, that didn't sound like a real scouting report? Like, I could seal, I could see a shun coming in and dealing, and I could see Sean coming in and getting lit up.

I have this dude, Dave DeFritus, also did a scouting report on Chance Adams in 2018. Oh, see, this is, this gets dangerous. This Chance Adams pitcher in the Yankee system We just got traded to the Royals for basically nothing And hell of a curveball I I 2018 Jake This is gonna make or break Dave DeFritus's scouting career in my eyes

Okay Um Hey Give me the numbers This is ground control to Major Tom Never mind There's not even fucking numbers on this page What are you doing?

So what just happened? I got really excited that I was going to read Chance Adam Scouting report by Dave DeFreides and then it's not even here. Damn. Pissing me off. Because if he had like chance being good or even a starting pitcher. Just wait. Plus plus curveball. One of them.

One of them. One of them. One a year. All right. This is Chance Adams. The compact muscular right-hander brings a plus fastball to the table, along with two potentially average secondary offerings. Whatever.

I mean, Chance Adams' fastball sucks, and he throws one good curveball an inning. So that's... Scouting's brutal. How do people do it? I don't know. You kind of have to be a sick pop. Yeah, you got to be a weirdo.

You got to either love... You have to do. devote your to be a major league scout you either have to love tobacco sunflower seeds or being isolated and being uncomfortable with yourself yeah what do you think what do you think you scout the most oh um drinks what do what do i personally scout the most yeah like a butts every butt that walks past you you probably scout it out i like a good butt um how how about i'll tone it in even more i would say just like uh body shape because i i judge guys and girls the same way oh okay like i mean if there's a if there's a fit lady sure that's nice if i see a fit dude i'm kind of

like okay is that an orange theory fitness does he lift a lot does he like to run um so i would say just scouting. You can tell with the runners. Cool. All right. Great. Nice. What about yourself?

The weather. You scout the weather. Yep. It's important to know what you got to wear. I just gave a pretty detailed speech about looking at people. And you said the weather. Yeah. I scout it every day.

It's kind of messed up. I didn't scout it today. That's a lie. I haven't really left this place. All right. So we did in Edwin. We did the Blue Jays. We did the white.

This has been a weird holiday. I don't want to take us too far off the rails. You and I have talked about this a little bit, like how holidays line up. This one has been weird with people's work schedules that, like, my girlfriend, who she's behind a closed door right now, but she's probably hearing this. I mean, she's been couch mode heavy. This has been a holiday that, like, if you want to shut it down, you can hard. Yeah, I did for a little bit.

Yeah. Our dude Cole Calhoun going to the Diamondbacks. God, love that. Two-year deal that contains a $9 million option for a third season. I've got a fun guarantee. You excited for Cole? What are they saying on the Diamondbacks podcast right now? Like you sign Madbub and Cole Calhoun.

Are you stoked? Are you like, what the fuck? What are you, what are you, what are, what are, what are Diamondbacks fans genuinely saying? Because I think you're excited. I told you this. They, they, they, they, they think that their GM. And I'm not trying to disagree. I'm just saying that they think their GM is like super sneaky smart. Like a lot of under the radar moves right now. And I'm not saying that they're right or they're wrong. Because I don't know. I'm not smart enough to judge what the Arizona. Madison Bumgarner signed with the diamondbacks because he has horses. So we're giving credit to the GM? Well, hey dude, he had to know about the horses. I mean, that's fine.

But if I was the GM in Arizona, I think. About his horses, you wouldn't know at all. You wouldn't know what I'd have no idea. I would have no idea. Yeah. I would, when we're recruiting him, I would bring a dinner that's filled with horse meat and he'd be shook. Yeah, exactly.

Yeah. So you would flunk that, Donk. Anyway, Calhoun is from Arizona. He went to high school there. He went to college there to Arizona State University. I think they have a lot of Arizona State guys. I think Cole Calhoun, that pitcher that was in Japan for a little bit, I think they have another guy, too.

I kind of like that, a little local flavor in Arizona. His son is named Knox. Okay. after his favorite street in Arizona, Knox Street. Knox Street. So. Knox Calhoun. Yeah, it's a K in front of the end, so it's the alliterations there. It could be pronounced Knox.

Something we have to do. Maybe next offseason or when we find a tired moment. Maybe it's the middle of the baseball season because the offseason's been kind of bullish. I think we have to find players slash former players kids that are guaranteed. to be major leaguers because Johnny Damon's son is named Dash. Yeah. Dash Damon. Like he will be in the major leagues.

It's not a discussion. He's probably in the Blue Jay system. Dash Damon. Are you kidding me? He's faster than me. Yeah. Yeah. He was faster than you at birth.

Right? Like Dash Damon's a major leaguer. Well, it sucks that when you Google his name, comes up with Damon Dash, who just got accused of sexual battery in a $50 million lawsuit. He's not a friend. So you have to do Dash Damon Johnny. How old is his son? Oh, I mean, I think he's like under five.

He's young. Yeah. Yeah. No. I was, I was, dude, I, Jim, you know I have a beautiful mind to a degree in the opposite of every mind that's out there. I mean, Dash Damon will be playing Major League Baseball. Well, now that I know you're talking about five-year-olds, I'm a little more interested in the episode,

but a little more skeptical of the episode when we grade ex-major leaguers young children. We'll have to get bluefonger with us, so it's not weird. You're not a gambler, and that's fine. If you had to put $20 today on if Dash Damon would be a Major League Baseball player, you know what bet you're placing. Yeah, I'd do it.

Yeah. I mean, he's going to be. Okay. His name is Dash. What if it's short for like Dashua? Like Nashua. That would be something, but no, it's not. Dash Damon, Major Leagueer.

I'm going to say top three rounds picked. Okay. Yeah. All right. Okay, Jake. We have, John. Josh Donaldson's. Josh Donaldson.

What's going on? So according to the legend that I use, I forget who made this. I'd give him credit if I can find his name. But he has the Minnesota Twins and the Washington Nationals being the main people targeting Josh Donaldson with the Braves one lesser. And there's like links to back that shit up.

The Rangers supposedly said they were out because they couldn't afford him. and every other team is basically out. So it's really, I didn't know the twins were supposedly in on Donaldson. That's cool. You also have Ozuna out there. A lot of teams get him and Castiano's and Pueg. Those are like the main guys that I'm kind of watching.

Todd Frazier, my good friend Todd, still out there kind of waiting it out. That's a bummer. He didn't want to wait a long time. Todd's waiting for Donaldson. Yeah, he is. You know, so. And that's kind of the interesting thing. and again, you and I, this is our second year kind of fully diving into free agency in this world and this lifestyle.

Todd Frazier is just waiting for Josh Donaldson. And so is I'll do the fun baseball conversation to start is that once Josh Donaldson signs, the Chris Bryant rumors are going to pick up. Because everything I've heard is that if Atlanta doesn't sign Josh Donaldson, is that they're going to make a very serious play for Chris Bryant. And the other wildcar third baseman out there, which my Rocky guys were pretty steadfast on and now they're backpedaling a little bit, is Aeronado.

I mean, there's a chance that teams are going to roll out a serious package for a third basement after Josh Donaldson signs. And that's actually one of the more fun things going on in baseball right now. if you're Todd Frazier, probably not as fun, but I think he's still going to get a good starting opportunity somewhere, but he needs a lot of the other cards to fall how they may, just like we talked about with Keikle signing before Ryu could get his big payday. Yeah. Yes.

So I agree with you there. What the heck? Oh, my God. Yeah. Josh Donaldson signed somewhere. Get it over with. Come on, dude. You didn't want to wait this long.

Do you think the twins are really going to go? Do you think he has a real bidding we're going on right now? Like are we going to wake up and Josh Donaldson get signed to like $22 million per year or something like that? That's crazy. What's the difference in price between Josh and Todd? And then is it really worth it? I mean, I feel like Todd Frazier probably ends up signing like a two year. Todd either signs like a two for five.

per or he signs a one year per like eight i think donaldson's looking at four five years at like twenty mill it's crazy good for him a twin's gonna give it to him because then it's just the nationals hey yeah all my all my minnesota fans all my minnesota fans turn the volume up a little bit turn the volume up you're gonna think this is rude at first, but Minnesota, congratulations on signing Todd Frazier. I don't know, man. Like, I don't want it to be shots fired at Minnesota, but they've been, they've been quote unquote rumored with everyone.

And do we think, do we think the Minnesota twins are going to outbid the Texas Rangers with a new stadium? Do we think they're going to outbid the Atlanta Braves with a new stadium and a young core that's looking to compete right now. Like it just doesn't add up, and I'm sorry. But I don't know. I think when we start writing articles that are like, who won the offseason? I think we're going to look back.

And right now, unless the Dodgers trade for Lindoror or the twins pull something out of their ass, I mean, those are two teams right now that if you're a fan of those teams, you have to kind of be looking around like, hey, what did we do? Yeah, we lost all our coaching staff. twins did. Well, Rocco did such a good job, coach of the year. Yeah, he did do a good job. I don't want to.

Right. But, all right. So. So did you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. So the, uh, Josh Donaldson, Castiano's, all those Pueg.

Someone signed Puege already. Can I ask you a question? Yes. I love your bomb. No. That came out from. We have three significant right-handed bats on the market in theory. Yeah.

It's Donaldson, Ozuna, Castellanos. I guess Pueek. Pueg is like three and a half. Okay. The length of your penis. Do you honestly, do you honestly feel like any of those guys are significant? Is that extremely rude?

Donaldson. You think Don't, okay. I do think he is like, you know. Right, he's third base, good defense. I mean. Brings an attitude. Guy won an MVP. He puts together a really good season.

The twins could use a Donaldson etch because they're so like, like they're not scary. Right. They seem like they have a bunch of guys that just kind of roll over. It's pretty wild. I guess the second name in that group, and this is surprising me, but is Ozuna.

Because, I mean, I know Castellanos, he joined a pennant race, he put together a nice couple months. He's crazy good against left-handed pitching, but you're going to see that 50 games a year. I think Marcel Ozuna, he's kind of a wild card for me, and there hasn't been like a lot of rumors around his name at all. No, there hasn't. Once those guys go or just kind of in general, now that most of the pitchers are gone and Dodgers and the Angels didn't do anything. Like Angels, what are you doing? This is what's left on the pitching market, Jake.

Are you ready? Give it to me. Alex Wood, Homer Bailey, Dick Mountain, Yvonne Nova, Hulis Chasin, Taiwan Walker, Taiwan Walker. Drew Smiley Félix Félix Felix Hernandez Jason Vargas

Aaron Sanchez Matt Harvey Do you say Dick Mountain in there? Uh-huh Yeah He's good Yeah

that's who's left So then are they Are those guys even going to get looked at before the Hap Price Avaldi guys maybe get traded?

for me, and I've been saying this in a mocking way, David Price feels like he has to be on the move. It just feels like that relationship is shook. There's almost a certain value to David Price right now where if the Red Sox ate a little bit of money, I mean, listen to the numbers that Keiko got. Listen to the numbers that Ryu got. And I know as Yankee fans,

we can be tough on David Price because, A, he's been bad against the Yankees. But, I mean, David Price helped that team win a World Series. David Price throws innings. If you had to take David Price for the next four years or Riu, I almost lean David Price just because Riu hasn't been healthy. Again, listen to what I said 30 minutes ago, is that if you're Toronto, you're hoping to get two and a half

seasons out of Ryu. And I mean, even if he gives you those two and a half seasons, it's, you're not better than the Yankees right now. Are you better than the Red Sox right now? Are you better than the Ray's right now? So for me, I still think there's something for David Price that the Red Sox can clear that money they're looking to clear. Their pitching is very interesting. Is Chris Sayle still what he is? Ed Weirdo Rodriguez had kind of a crazy year last year. I think he needs a little bit more respect. So if you trade David Price, I think that gets tricky because, okay, you send him to Anaheim, you're going to have to sign one or two of those guys you just mentioned, and that

crop of people still wasn't appealing. So I don't know. Maybe they keep them? What, like genuine, these are thoughts more than educated guesses. Like, do you think Price is gone? No. But I don't think anyone's going. I don't think Lindor is going.

I don't think Brian's going. Right. I don't think anyone's going. You kind of lived that way. Yeah, just temper myself. But then Kluber did get moved. That was kind of cool. We have any other big trades?

Yeah, we had some other big trades. Chance Adams got traded. Know who I have to give some love to, Jim. Yeah. The Miami Marlins. You like what they're doing? I won't say that. But I will say,

Think about this. They got Hazus Aguilar basically for free. A guy with All-Star Potential. They got Jonathan VR. Yeah. Basically for free. Yeah.

A guy with, I won't say All-Star Potential, but kind of. Like, dude had, what, a four war last year? Something like that? He exists, yeah. He exists. Okay, we agree on that.

They signed my guy, Dickerson, who was the best left-handed bat on the Marquis. market. And whether he's good for them or whether they trade him, I mean, he's a guy that has like a 900 OPS versus right-handed pitching. So if you're the Marlins, you've, in theory, I won't say in theory done nothing. But like if you're a baseball fan, you look at the Marlins and you're like, oh, the fucking Marlins, dude, they're not doing anything. And it's like, well, they actually signed two pretty nice infielders for nothing.

And they signed a dude in the outfield who he won a gold glove. His defensive metrics are pretty bad, but he kind of rakes. I have an honest question. Sure. Is the best case scenario for the Marlins that they are not good, and then they trade all these guys? Like, these guys have good seasons, but the team is bad, and they trade all of them? I think next year, I think this coming season is the trade.

anyone for anything season. And then I think the year after that, they're hoping to kind of be something. What that means could be a lot of different things, whether it's 500 or compete for the wild card. But I think next year is the last year that there's like a full-blown grace period and it's like just do whatever.

Do whatever. Do whatever. Anything else you want to talk about? Let's see. Do we miss anything? Anyone in the check? Did we miss anything? No, it's kind of funny.

I think we're both I think we're both Homer Bailey fans. Kind of. The Angels signed Julio Tehran. The Mets signed Del and Batances to a one-year deal. The Astros re-signed Martin Maldonado. The Blue Jays to sign Travis Shaw. Tiger signed C.J. Kron

and the tiger signed Jonathan Scoop. So they're kind of making similar. moves to the Marlins like hey we're going to get some guys let's give some dudes some chances and maybe it pays off um and and yeah i like that um what was i going to say james martin prez to the socks huge um we already covered that i think yeah um what am i looking at michael franco to kansas the city also huge um i don't know there was there's something in there that really jumped out maldonato resigned with houston that was a that was kind of a fake conversation joe smith also resigned with houston um do you think uh do you think people do you think that um reu and yamaguchi

are going to get a little tired of uh people thinking that they're going to be automatically best friends because they're both Asian pitchers when they're come from two different countries and maybe don't even speak the same language. I think so, but I also think to a degree that there's such a necessary comfort level there that you have to be fine with it. Like even if you don't love the dude, like you're living on another continent playing, having the same profession. Like I think you guys have to have a certain bond.

Even if you're not friends, you have to play it up a little bit. Jim, I have remembered what I wanted to mention. I love batances to the Mets. If you're the Mets right now, your bullpen was so bad last year, but what you're saying to yourself is, A, baseball, B, like, if half of those guys, even if half of them shit the bed again, Edwin Diaz just can't figure it out. Something about the New York Mets and Edwin Diaz,

he can't be the elite reliever he is. Okay, maybe Dellen's really good. Or maybe it's vice versa. Dellen just can't get healthy and figure it out. And Edwin Diaz is back. Like the Mets have put themselves in a position where however it figures itself out, they should have a good bullpen to some degree.

And I like that. And he likes that. When did Britain get hurt? Zach Britton, Achilles. got hurt i mean what was it 2017 middle of the season something like that end of 2017 looks like he got hurt on september 18th right dude like that people thought i was being the deb like uh so september 18th is when he hurt his achilles right right in 2018 he made it back onto the field so september 18th he made it back on to the field so september 18th he made it back on to

to the field in June. And when the Yankees traded for him, there's an interview with Cashman and Zach Britton, and they say, Zach Britton says, Cashman and I talked, and they knew going into the trade that I was still returning to form, and they said they were willing to go through the growing pains in August, knowing that I'd be ready to go for September. and October. Those are quotes that they said. So Batances, like everyone's like,

he's going to be ready for spring training. Well, Batances injured himself later in the season than Britain did. Well, it's almost the same exact time. September 15th is when Batances injured himself. And Britain injured himself September 18th. And by his own admission, Britain wasn't full strength until the next September,

didn't even get on the field until June. So I have so many people telling me Botancis is going to be like geared to go for spring training, but there's just not a track record of that with this injury. So I think it's an interesting signing. I do think it's like I thought they would get two years knowing that this first one is a little iffy on the return to form. And he's got the option there.

And I think it's kind of what I was leaning into a little bit. is like, okay, like, do I know Delam Betances is going to be the great Delam Patensis that we've seen for the last six years or so? No, but if you give me Delam Betances and Edwin Diaz after a really rough year, I like to think one of those guys figures it out. And I know Lugo stepped up for them. So he's a guy, I mean, and it's low risk. I mean, it's one year with an option. And I mean, Delam Batanzas, you know this better than anyone. He's a dude that if he's right, I mean, he can be a certain level of special that you just don't see from a lot of guys. He better good.

Uber good. Jim, the other thing that I wanted, you know, this is how we wrap up every episode. It's Jake's Angels Corner. I thought you were going to say Jake's Anus. Jake's Anus Corner. I love the Teheran signing. Tayron. There's some numbers around him that innings-wise and strikeouts rise. He's with a group of people that are some of baseball's elites.

And I really like him as an inning thrower for the Angels. The only reason I'm mad at the Angels is because of Dylan Bundy right now, and he's got a good slider, and maybe he figures it out. But why did you trade four prospects for Dylan Bundy when he could, easily have a five ERA next year. They weren't real prospects. Why don't they just sign Homer Bailey? He played for the reds, so he's comfortable wearing red uniforms.

I would love that as long as they didn't trade for mad prospects for Dylan Bundy. Throw those guys in other trades. Do anything with them. Yeah, Dylan Bundy is still like cost controlled. I mean, kind of. He's going to make, what, $5 million next year? Give me Homer Bailey for that price. Homer's not signing a $5 million contract.

You don't think so? You think he's getting paid paid? No. Okay. Talked about it. What did he sign last time? I love Homer Bailey. His last contract was two years, $28 million.

The Christian bail stuff is bullshit. I don't see it. Oh, I see it. I mean, I see it, but he doesn't look like Christian Bale. But he resembles him. Yeah. He could be. be Christian Bailey. He could be Christian Bell's older cousin and you'd say,

ah, yeah, I see it. Yes, that's more than fair. And that's how we end the episode. I win once again. It's been fun. I think I agree that I won. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you for agreeing to that. Thank you. We'll see you guys later. Thanks, Buck's show, Walter. Jake sucks.