Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - 72 | Donaldson, Frazier & Chirinos Sign, Cora & Beltran Fired

Episode Date: January 20, 2020

Todd Frazier and Chirinos signed with the Rangers. Donaldson signed with the Twins. Ivan Nova to the Tigers which made Jake rethink the Bundy trade even more. Cora and Beltran step down and The Astros speak to the media for the first time. 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.

Donaldson signed with the team and Fraser signed with another team. Trinos, he signed with the team. Cora and Beltron, they got let go from their teams. We got a lot to talk about. Let's talk some baseball. Not our normal song, right? I know. I don't know what song this is.

Normally it's like the brown. Bown chica bown. No, that's my old line of work. I don't know what song that was, but it is a Mike Retano song. So thanks, Mike Ritano. He makes all our music. Yeah. We are coming to you live.

Patrons, they're watching live. We've got Patrick Bishop in the chat. P. Bish, how's the levels? How's the audio? Let us know. Keep us in tune. We are in the Bronx, guys. We are at John Boy Media HQ.

Wow. I've never referred to it. Yeah, that's new. We've just been going office, office, office. Yes. John Boy Media, the John Boy Media Hangout. Because it's kind of like an apartment. office split.

But we're here. We don't have like, you know, our regular tables, a regular equipment. We don't have anything going. We have a laptop on top of a Pelican case. But we're here. I hope you can hear us. Hope everyone's doing well. We're excited.

This episode is brought to you by some special patrons. Are you ready to hear where they are? Okay. Andrew. Scott Banta. Banta. Michael Morgan. Christian Vlegis.

The Aegis. The Vegas. The Vegas. And Susan O'Brien, aka Papa Breath. That's my mother. I know who that is. She joined because she thought the live show in Santa Monica was going to be live streamed. Ah, got her.

She was going for the live show. So thank you all our patrons who support us. Johnboy Media. Patreon.com slash Johnboy Media. I mean, you sincerely helped us get here and get to an office. So we appreciate you. Thank you. Thank you.

Jake is in town. He was apartment hunting. Mm. I think he caught her. apartment hunted. Yeah, I got one. I'm going to have to do double lease for a month. Luckily, Denver and New York are two of the cheaper cities you'll find. So that's good news.

But yeah, I found a place. Excite to get in there. It's going to be doing Denver slash spring training for like a month and a half. And then I'm a city rat. Yeah, it's going to be a while until you are organized. and like in flow in the same. Well, you're good on you. It'll be never till I'm organized.

Yeah, you're good traveling. It'd be never till I'm organized. But yeah, it's exciting. City folk. So, and now I'm excited for baseball. Oh, I'm getting so excited for baseball. Pitchers are, it's not spring training yet, but they're starting to throw. They're starting to do their little workouts.

They're starting to Instagram. Yeah. Baseball players are starting. There's a couple levels. It's the Instagram spring training and then spring training and then games and we're in Instagram spring training right now. It's nice. I enjoy.

it. The first video of a guy swinging a bat in the cages. Yeah. And you hear the crack of the bat. That always goes viral. They're like, I love that sound. Well,

know what it is. So right now we're getting Instagram videos, which we'll take, because it's been dry baseball-wise. Then we're going to hit actual spring training, and we're going to be yoked. We're going to be out of our minds. Then comes the third week of games of spring training.

Yeah, I think it's two and a half. I was going two and a half and you're just like, okay. Yeah. Everyone sees that the last three guys. guys on the 40 man. It seems like they're getting 100 at bats. And then you just want the real stuff. But

do you think it'll sneak up a little more? Because doesn't the season start late March? Yeah. But last year did two, I think. The 28th or something? I don't know. Cool. Yeah. I will say this. The last three episodes we did was an impromptu reaction to the Astros getting their penalties because they were

proved as cheaters. A lot of Astros fans are forgetting it to be proven. Then we did the live show with Jack Flaherty. Thank you to everyone who came out. or who listened. It's awesome. Then we did impromptu buzzer session

with ploof. So it's a lot of Astros talk. A lot of live stuff. For people that are sick of it, the back half of this show is probably going to be, you know, more Astro stuff

because we have gotten just even crazier with Beltron being let go, Kor being let go, the buzzer stuff we talked about. But there's a lot of other stuff going on. The Astros finally made their first appearance and,

and, but, What's the name? Regman and L. Tuvay. Jose L.2. Yeah, they talked about it. So we'll get into that. In the meantime, there has been baseball news that, like, I'm excited to talk about that.

That's what this show is. We aren't just the controversy. Like, hey, if all this wasn't happened, this would be the headliners. What's the name of the show? It's talking baseball. Ah. Ah. Did you watch the championship games yesterday?

That's a trap. That's a trap. It feels like a trap. So we do we do my homes his dad the former baseball player yeah talking about him yeah okay pitcher all right well we do have some news it's not really this this isn't working around my phone okay the twins have reportedly agreed your twins yeah Minnesota twins have reportedly agreed to a four-year $92 million contract with free agent third baseman Josh Donaldson we knew they had a four-year deal out there and I think on this show,

you and I both kind of said he's not going to the twins because if he was going to the trends, he would have accepted that. He's waiting for the nationals or the Braves. So we're both wrong. I think, I don't know if the twins sweeten the pot.

It does seem like this option for the fifth year helps out. It's said to include a $16 million club option for fifth season, but of $8 million buyout. So if you're fresh to baseball and you're like, What the hell does that mean or sports contracts in general? If he's really good and the market says that 38-year-old Josh Donaldson is going to earn more than $16 million a year because he was so good in his 38-year-old year, the twins get him for $16 million.

They can just say, nope, we got him. You can't go make more money. If he's really bad and he starts aging by the time he's 38 and they say, we don't want you, they buy him out for $8 million. Which would be, and not a math pod, but I just realized that. is four for 100. I didn't do the 92 plus eight until now. And I was like, ah, four for 100.

Four for 100 or five for 108? Some like that, yeah. Yeah. Unless they have the $8 million guaranteed as part of the $92. So good. What are your thoughts? Because I, you're not a twin hater. You're a twin realist until they show, until they show you something else.

Well, I think, I think, I think, I, I, I think, I don't know if I said this about Fraser Downson, but I, and then you tweeted it, but it was the same thought. Like they give, he gives them a certain edge. Donaldson comes with an attitude. It's dumb sports radio, but he's one of the few guys that you can genuinely say that about. Yeah. Like a little bit of a hard O and the twins kind of need that.

Yeah. I remember like when they asked, someone on the, in Atlanta media asked, like, what do you bring to the team? And he just said, look at the back of my baseball card. Boom. And it's like, okay, kind of a douche answer, kind of a correct answer. we meant we meant like your stuff to put in your locker I'm the guy I'm the clubby I'm just trying to help you out

You want me to bring your cards? Jeez seems ridiculous Yeah I like it man I think it's odd I would love to know the nitty gritty Did like that option really seal it Did no one else even come close Yeah and that's uh we're going to talk about

Todd Frazier signing with the Rangers And you mentioned the teams that were involved in Donaldson And I think, I feel like he and baseball was hoping a little bit that the Rangers would throw a Hail Mary at him. Yeah, the Braves and the Nats, it just never, when the Nats signed those two, I mean, they have what, three utility guys that can now play third base if they need to? Castro, Ascrabbs, and. Howie Kendrick, I don't think he can really play third base,

but in our heads, let's say he can try. He could try his hardest and do his best, and he'd be our right. Howie Kendrick could survive a game at third base. That's my hot take today. Damn. And then the Braves, I don't know. The Braves is interesting. I mean, it felt like they had them on that short deal,

and that was the decision they made. They made all these moves at the start of spring training, and we were wondering if they were going to drop the Donaldson bomb. Apparently not, because, I mean, the price, the end of this contract could be an ugly one, right? Like, Donaldson has an injury history. He's already old. I mean, his last year is going to be, what, age?

37, the option is 38, something like that? Yes, yes. So, I mean, there is a chance. I mean, that's a tough age for a guy with an injury history that's playing a tough position. I mean, you know, Nelson Cruz is DH now. Maybe Donaldson can end his career at first or DH or something like that. But for now, I mean, this team, not technically, this team set the record for most home runs by a major league team in a season.

And they had a dude, a guy that's won in. MVP award. I mean, he's a little past that, but he's still a great baseball player. His defense is also really good. It allows them to move Suno to first, and Donaldson will play a borderline gold glove third base next to Polanco. That's a really strong left side of the infield. So good for the twins. I think the one thing that scares you if you're a twins fan, and maybe we can help Twins fans cope here, Jim, and this will be a nice way to get you back in good graces with the Twins fans. they are a little righty heavy. Their lefties are Kepler and Rosario,

which, hey, Kepler had a huge year last year. If he can repeat that, that's cool. Rosario is, this is pretty Jake stuff, but Steady Eddie. Steady Eddie. He's going to give you an 800 on the nose OPS, and he'll be a lefty bat. But I think right now the middle of that lineup is Donaldson,

Sano, Nelson, Cruz. and I think there's the other guy that scares you as a Ritey. I'm blanking right now. So a little righty heavy in the middle, but the Yankees have been doing that for a couple of years. They've been okay. So I like it for the twins. How about the twins being able to sign dudes?

Yeah, it's cool for them. I think what's interesting, and we kind of have to discuss, because it's all the same conversation is that Sanoe has been their third baseman moves to first base, and they just extended him. They kind of bought out the arbitration years. Is that correct? Yeah. I think so.

where is... And good for him, you're in your extension. The deal guarantees to know 30 million. That includes a $3 million buyout in 2020, which or an option at $14 million. So, I mean,

he ended up... 10 million a year? That's like the standard now. They're just giving guys 10 million a year. Did he end... Whatever. Did he end up at high A the year before? Yeah, I know.

They sent him all the way to... It was because he was friendly with the guy. I mean, he would have just been at AAA or whatever. But hey, going from sent to the miners, lost. in baseball to the next year you're signing a good extension. Good for the twins, because he was a huge prospect for him. He was one of the few 80 power grade prospects that ever come out.

Him and Gary Sanchez were in the same 16-year-old free agent signing class from Dominican Republic. Those were the two top guys. Didn't they go to a town dance and they were both there? Yes, yes. They danced with each other. Everyone thought it was going to be a big fight. You know, all the girls are going to want to dance with Gary. No, all the girls are going to want to dance with Suno.

They spend the whole dance dancing together. And then, yeah, they went face to face and people thought, is this going to, whoa, my God. Dance off. Is this going to happen? And then they just talked and then they just had a firm, firm handshake. So it worked out. So good for them. It was a site.

I mean, yeah, we got some video sent in. The National. Allegedly, all of that's alleged. You have a video sent in, actually, you just said at the end there. So, well, you'll release that then. Allegedly, I had a video sent in. Okay, allegedly. What also conversation that I want to have around this Donaldson signing is the snow moves.

He gets extended. The range. Rangers pick up Todd Frazier, who we said was going to fall once Donaldson fell. And I'm not sure if that's the order of operations there. Maybe Frazier went first. I wasn't that tuned in. Todd Frazier signs a one-year deal for $5 million. There's a club option for $5.7 million for next season or a $3.5 million buyout.

So basically he's guaranteed $8.5 million for one season of playing with the Rangers. are you I mean Todd I've met Todd he's uh from thoms rivers like you know I'm I'm I lived in that area so I'm oh oh I am always rooting for Todd Frasier one of the nice guys in baseball and I have nothing against Josh Donaldson I'm rooting for Todd Frazier have a better year than Josh Donaldson because the price the price is so funny oh um that that would be that's that's a spicy meat to ball if that happens everyone everyone wanted the Rangers to get Donaldson because they're going all in they're getting all these people there having the new stadium and then they're like he's too expensive they get Todd for

five million dollars yeah I mean I'll let you root for that you've met Todd Frazier pride of Tom's River New Jersey I'm always there's this is this that was bias um good for Todd um I'll say that I mean last year was the example of that group of um Todd Frazier is that group of MLB free agents last year that were just between a rock and a hard place they were the group of guys getting calls from teams on the same day after not hearing from anyone for months. They were in that middle class, whatever you want it, kind of later in their career free agents that were getting love. Good for him, man.

And I mean, if you're a Texas, if you're a Texas Rangers fan, I mean, it doesn't, you know, you're not given a fist pump necessarily. You should for the quotes and some of the fun stuff he'll bring to the dugout. I mean, baseball-wise, you're going to get a dude who's solid. You know, if a pitcher makes a mistake, he's going to hit it. His numbers at the end of the year are going to be solid, and he'll be stable for you at third base. And that's all they're asking for him with a one-year, five-mill with an option.

Yeah, go, Todd, go. Enjoy it. Hot-ass Texas, though. Far from home. It's hot. It is hot there. I was going to say it's a hitter's part, but we don't know with the new stadium. We don't know.

We don't know. Jerry Gallo took some swings. Did anyone track those? someone did Dono de Shields was over there And they traded him Tough Yeah tough break

Easton athlete Just like us Yes Not officially Unofficially officially Just like that The next To know Gary Sanchez story

It's unofficially official The next story Or the next big name To come off the board Was also picked up By the Texas Rangers Torinos He signs for 6.5

$5.75 million deal, $5.7 in salary, plus at least a $1 million buyout. So less money than Todd Frazier signed for, or they can pick them up for a $6.5 million the next year. So guaranteed $5.75 million for Torinos to go to the Rangers. Is he going to be their starting catcher? Yeah, I believe so. And we've got a couple fun things going on here, Jim. A, I think I'm almost going to copy and paste my Todd Frazier speech, but for catcher. Like, Trino's, we're not going to end the season and be like, wow, Therino's banged out 30 homers and hit 280. Like, no, that's not going to happen.

But he's a stable body behind the plate and Jim. This is one of your favorite things in sports. I kind of made that up. Well, we'll see. Maybe it is. He's coming over from Houston, the former catcher. So, A, yes, we've had all the Houston stuff leak, and we got information. that way. But, I mean, Robinson

Chorino's dealt with that whole pitching staff. He knows those dudes on the team. He'll look out for some cameras and bangs. Okay, that was a cheap one for you guys to laugh at your desk. You didn't laugh, and I appreciate that. But he's a solid guy to play catcher. Someone on Reddit did the Texas Two Step. Where you go from the Rangers to the Astros to the Rangers. Like you do the three of them. Spurs, Rockets. No, Jake.

This is baseball only and get it. through that thick head of yours. Damn. Okay. That cat outside like that one. But the Texas two-step was like 12 players that have done it and Torino's did like true one.

Yeah. Rangers. Direct. Direct. Direct. Staying in that Texas heat. Interesting to see how Torinos does. I mean, it's not that good, right? Where are you looking at?

Is this Texas depth chart? Yeah. What's it look like? Do you like this team? Let's see. The Rangers depth chart now because two new guys. Frazier's at third. Andrus at shortstop.

Oders. And Odors and Odor still at it, huh? Yeah, right. Guzman. Guzman. He was the guy that always kills the Yankees. Like his dad was in the stands. He had three homers.

Fuck you, Guzman. Good for him. Yeah, good for you. Joey Gallo and Wright, Santana and Center and Calhoun. Willie. That's what this says. Slick Willie. I don't know.

Could be fun. That doesn't scare me as much. Yeah, they need like one upgrade at the point. plate. Yeah, but their pitching staff is pretty good. Kluber, Miner, Lynn, Gibson, Liles. It's a fun pitching.

Their pitching staff could either be like, wow, you know who's second in the A.L. in pitching this year? The Texas Rangers. Or we're going to be like things fell apart for Lance, minor, and. It's balanced. Like, you know, I don't think they are going to win,

you know, I don't think they're going to be in the top five of, like, we have the best one, two, three. I don't think they're going to be in the top three of, of we have the best one, two, three, four, five. That's what, but it's balanced. They have, that's what I'm going for. If everyone has their best year, I want them all.

I want them all either to be great or tank. I don't want like, oh, three were good, two or bad. Like everyone turn it on or everyone turned it off. Yeah. I kind of, I like their rotation because I like proven guys. You know that that guy can,

Charlotte. Let's take a chance. Torino's was like, guys, hear me out on this. New stadium. camera. Trust me on this one. It works. It would be easier.

I'm telling you if we knew. Just build it in the new stadium. Anything else we have? Nationals re-signed Daniel Hudson. The deal's worth $11 million with up to $1 million in performance bonuses. Good for both of them. Good for both of them. I will say like Daniel Hudson was great for them.

Yeah. His like career still isn't like, you got to sign that guy. But he was great for them. last year. So I think he's earned this contract. And the Nationals rebuilt their bullpen, dude. It's good. It's like they have one of the better bullpins.

They got a lot of arms. Bring me that Natspin. It's because we both were blanking on who else. Do Little and Hudson. Yeah. Those were their guys in the playoffs. And Harris. Will Harris.

That's who I was thinking of. That's what you were thinking is. Harris is a good signing. Do Little Harris, Hudson, Rainey. Rainy won our hearts over a little bit in the playoffs. So in this, in this contract with Hudson, he has an incentive

where he can reach up to a million dollars or something and it all depends on games finished. So look for the Nationals to play some shenanigans over Hudson's not in the closer role anymore. You know, stuff like that. That's kind of a fun one though, because I feel that's one of those positions you don't, you don't, I know you're saying you mess around with,

but like if Hudson wins the closer job and he starts rolling, you pay that million dollars. It's not a debate. Like you're not going to start teasing. It's almost worth it. Makes sense. That's like a really good option. What if he's terrible, right?

Okay. He's having a bad half. Dig. And he's dropped down to like mop up duty. Okay. And they have him pitch everything but the last out. Oh, you can't have a guy just make one out. Yeah, you can.

Oh, it's final out. Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah. So, yeah. Watch out for Daniel Hudson going bad, going to mop up duty, but the nationals won't let him finish games. Yeah.

10-0-Hudson, you get the 7th, 8th, 9th, and 2-thirds. We don't want to burn you out. We don't want to burn that arm. The only other signing I have here that I thought was worth talking about because I think you have an interesting spin here. The Tigers announced that they have signed

Ritey Yvonne Nova. It's a one-year deal with a 1.5 million guarantee and 500K in incentive. So he can make up to $2 million. Jake, do you want to roll with this? Because he was part of your Bundy. Someday you will find me.

Cop underneath the landslide with the Tigers Ivan Nova throwing strikes. Yeah, I mean, here's my thing. Ivan Nova, I think his career ERA is like 432, something like that. I think his ERA last year, was 4-7-2, something like that. And he started 34 games last year, I believe. He's dutable.

So, and this was my whole Dylan Bundy speech that got me outed as Angels Hater, even though I kind of like the Angels. No, no, you hate him. I hated the Dylan Bundy trade. They traded four prospects, even though they're not huge prospects, their bodies you could have worked in in other trades to get Dylan Bundy, who's making $5 million this year. Nova is making 2 million with incentives?

No, no, 2 million is the max if he doesn't hit the incentives. With everything. Yeah. So, and that's just where I said. If you're the Angels, I feel like go get a reliever with those four prospects. Hey, maybe Dylan Bundy turns into that for you. Dude, Ivan Nova started 29 games in 2007, in 2018. What the fuck am I?

I lost my spot. You are lost. Okay. So in 17, he started 31 games. In 18, he started 29. In 19, he started 34. In 16, he started 26. So the last four years, he's pitched 26, 31, 29, 34.

162 innings, 187 innings, 161, 187. Dude eats up innings. And he had a, I mean, he had a 472 ERA last year, but he was bad. and then he had a good stretch. But the year before that, 419 and 4 and 4. And I know a lot of people compare everyone to the best ever. Sure.

We're thinking of him as a 4-5 guy. Yeah. So if your 4-5 goes out there and gives you 30 starts on the here with a 4-point under 4.5 ERA, before anything. You're going to take that. And this dude's worth 1.5 million and no prospects. And Bundy was worth 5 million and 4 million. I'm with you.

Can I see that? And that's what I was trying to say. And when you were discussing it, you said you wanted to see the other free agent options to see how they played out. And I think we, does your phone not click? What's going on here?

What are you trying to do? Like if you click on my baseball reference, like you can highlight stuff. You don't have a clicky phone, huh? I do, but. Damn. Well, let's, I'll do some turkey math. Dylan Bundy, the last two years.

Are you logged in on your phone? Maybe, I don't think so. Dylan Bundy, the last two years, 61 starts a 5133 era, 333 innings. Ivan Nova, what are we going to say? A 4-4-4-4? I was going to go 4-38. 4-3-8. We're just guessing on these numbers, but that's what we do best.

But yeah, that's my whole case, is that you could have gotten Dylan Bundy types for cheaper. And again, he's got, we heard after that that his analytics and his slider and stuff are good. Here I am going on about Dylan Bundy. Don't care. Good for the Tigers. Nova, pitch well get traded at the deadline. Problem solved. That'd be cool for Nova.

I'll report it now. Ivan Nova traded to Texas for whichever one of their pitcher struggles this year. Not for that guy. To replace him. To replace him in the lineup. In the lineup. the rotation even. On baseball terms, you got to figure them all out.

Sports. All right. I think that's all we wanted to talk about with all the signings and stuff. Someone in the chat says that apparently Terenos and his family love the Dallas Fort Worth area and it's why I went back. Jake hated it. That's why he left. That's not true.

I had a lot of fun. Dallas Fort Worth, you're either, it's either two years or you're there for life. And I had fun in my two years. A lot of drinks, drink, drink. Town's changed a lot, man. Deep Ellum is now the spot. Wow. Nobody hangs out in Uptown anymore.

Damn, bummer. Talking Dallas. Is this usually the intro song? Yes. Here we go, here we go, here we go. You're seeing that? Look how bad I look there. We are changing the subject.

We did the real baseball talk. And now it's time to dive back into the biggest scandal in sports. The story that's dominating the headlines that we thought was coming to a close and decided that no, it wasn't ready to close. Alex Cora gets fired Jake And we haven't heard what is actual punishment No no no no you get fired Whatever

I think I think eventually like someone slipped in the press comments And like said the word fired And they're like well I thought you guys Mutually agreed to Part Ways Yeah that was our guy Brendan Cuddy that covers the Yankees for What are they calling it now? NJ.com

Yeah NJ.com He's got a It's called not Jake.com He has fun That's a bad joke He has fun on the Twitter sphere and with Beltran and Cora. He was like,

these guys were fired. These guys were fired. Because if this didn't happen, they wouldn't be mutually parting. Nice. We talked about Beltron last episode with Plouf, because I said, I didn't think it was necessary.

You guys said, like, that's kind of necessary. Cora, he might get the biggest punishment here. Yeah. And if anyone doesn't understand why or whatever, it's because, so to go back to our analogy,

which I love so much, that the Red Sox were caught going five over the speed limit. The Astros were caught going 50 miles over the speed limit. But Cora had been previously caught going five over, and the Red Sox were told not to do it again. Right. They did it again. And Cora is now a repeat offender because he was named in the report

from the Astros report. Like, you know, he was one of the names stated. so now they're kind of pinning it all on him. Interested to see what his suspension's going to be. From the report, you saw him as the bench coach. Yeah. The bench coach. Yeah.

Oh, in Manfred's report, he refers to them as general and field general. Shut up, dude. What are you doing? No. That's like you play when you play in toys. Man, we're still,

Civil War ended. You don't have to call him general and field general. He was like, when I laid down the warnings in 2007, I said that any discipline would fall on the general and the field general. And I cannot backtrack from that. So the discipline will fall on the field general and the general. And it's like, call them GM and manager.

No, what are you doing? Lunow's listed him as the bench coach. Lunow listed him as the bench coach. That's the one I was thinking of. So we don't know who it was, Jeff. You can put the name. Yeah. What do you think?

I think, did you hear that Veritech said, what was it Veritech? Lowell. Lowell said, I'll bridge the gap. I'll manage until Core is unsuspended. He can come back. Perfect.

That's what you need. That's exactly what baseball wants. And the Red Sox. Well, whatever. I don't really have any thoughts on that thing. If they wanted that, just have him serve the suspension. Yeah.

Yeah. Lowell, you dummy? Use that brain of yours. And then the buzzers thing intensified. Jake, did you know, that Astros fans think I single-handedly made up the buzzers. You did. This is all you.

It is wild. And we've talked about this on some other podcasts. Like Joel Sherman slyly mentioned them. So here's this order for that. Trevor Bauer, who's been doing the media circuit to kind of puff his chest a little bit because he was on the forefront. He had heard about the buzzers were around. The buzzers were the buzz around buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz.

Buzz, buzz. Well, yeah, because I said on talking baseball, like I heard something that changes everything. Right. But I'm not going to say it unless it gets broken. The very next day, Joel Sherman puts it in his articles. There's rumors that there was buzzers being used.

So I was like, oh, okay, that's it. That's what I heard as well. Joel heard it from someone. Yeah. It's a rumor. It's out there. There's no proof. There's no hard evidence.

The only way it will ever, it'll be confirmed is they do an investigation. Now, MLB did their investigation, and they said there was nothing found in 2018. and 2019, and I think that's MLB intentionally being lazy and not finding anything from 2018, 2019. Common sense, it doesn't add up. You say, we win the World Series with this cheating mechanism that proven to have been used.

We're past speculation, proven to have been used, proven in MLB's report, to have been used in the playoffs. Yeah. So they win the World Series. Now they're going to grow a conscious. Right. No, they're going to try and win again. that's just common sense in my brain.

So whatever. But and then what do you think? Because a couple Astros, because they did Astro Day or whatever, and they denied, they actually did deny the buzzers. Bregman did. It's, yeah. It's the first time they've come out and said no to something.

They also probably would have denied the banging as well. You think they just call the buzzers by another name? Semantics on us. Yeah. We can talk about Bregman and Altuves quote. I want the Jimmy. This is one of my favorite meters because it's usually all over the board. I'll be honest with you.

What's your percent chance that there are no buzzers? The buzzers do not exist. Like maybe there's other forms of cheating. Like maybe they just went to whistling and maybe there's something else. Where are the chance that the buzzers, which I think everyone around baseball, except the teenager Houston fans on Twitter, agree that's like as agreed. just as it gets. Like everyone's been saying

if the buzzer stuff is true, like, down with you. I mean, you're making me put a dumb, random ass number. I know. This is why it's my favorite scale.

People are going to quote it and it's like, this is bad. Yes. It's just your opinion. It's, you're not reporting or breaking anything. This is a pin,

this is when you're in the clear. There, it's heavily rumored. Okay. I'm not going to be surprised if it's true. I hope it's not. Like,

there's no confirmation, but there are some shady things around it. So I don't know. I mean, the people that, tell me, don't say I know 100%. Right. They're saying, I heard that rumor too.

That rumor's been circulating for a while. Sure. So what shocked me if there are none? No. But what shocked me if they are? No. Percent. Not doing it.

Damn, you suck. That's some Stephen A shit. Page out of my book. That's why it's always fun, man. Stephen A is the best. Those comment in the chat, Cora is about to get lifetime. It'd be hilarious if Michael Loll took the job.

is the bridge and the core got a left-type band. Yeah. Oops. So now I'm here. I'd be genius. Well, I did a good job. Or if he doesn't want to. Fuck.

The comments from Braggman and Al-Tubei, they were clearly coached, right? Like you get told what to say by your PR team. And I understand, you know, denying the buzzards heavily because MLB came out and said they didn't find any. But why? Why was that what they got?

coached. They got coach to deny everything. And like some people are like, that's how you do it. Lawyers, but it's a bad look. It's a really bad look. And like,

there's tons of athletic articles, articles from all over, opinions from all over. Be like, that's terrible. Like you were proven. Right. And punished to be cheated.

And people are saying, well, you know, their names weren't on the list. Well, they got amnesty from the MLB. Their names weren't on the list. But we have all the video of who used it.

We've seen Altuvae at bats where he benefited from the bang. and we've seen Braggman at bats where he benefited from the banging. So it's it's not like you're like obviously dude. They were part of the scheme. So why did they need to keep their mouth clear? I think it's a PR dumb move. I think it would have been much better like Carrig. Carrig had a bunch of good like what would have been good to say.

Yeah. That they didn't say. It's proven that they cheated via the banging scheme 2017 and they still acted like I have no comment on that. I've no. Right. I mean it you're right. It is it's proven that the Houston. Astros cheated.

It's technically not proven that Alex Bregman cheated. So that's why they're going to say those generic lines. And if you're one of the wiser's, you're going to know, but a lot of people aren't, as you've found out through the internet. So people will just be like, they'll shrug and be like, yeah, yeah, I think he's guilty. But if Alex Bregman, once those words come out of their mouths, it does change for them, which is dumb, but that's how society works. It would have been so much better.

Here was Mark Carriggs, like, examples of what maybe the PR should have coached him to say. We're sorry for damaging the game of baseball. We screwed other players are bad. Or maybe even we realized that this was wrong and we used poor judgment, but I hope it doesn't completely ensure what we accomplished. Like that probably would have if I was ahead of PR. Yeah, I think the first ones are half joking on his part because he doesn't believe those. But that last one is.

The last one's on that. We realized that this was wrong. We skirted the rules and then we took it too far. we used poor judgment, got away from ourselves. I hope this doesn't completely destroy everything we've accomplished and doesn't taint everything we were going to accomplish moving forward. Bam. You know what America loves?

They're never going to say that. That's what I need to warn you about. Yeah, but they're just going to be hated forever. America loves an apology. America loves someone that shows regret and remorse. Think of everyone, A-Rod's back in America's good graces. Yeah, and they will eventually. Tiger got back in America's good graces.

They will eventually. They just said they never would. They'll get in their good graces eventually. they would have to apologize. Yeah. I mean, we went on short porch the other day, and Tommy Sib said, A-Rod never failed a drug test.

So people... Well, he was joking. Well, kind of, but I don't know. Ay-Rod did a full apology. Yeah, it's A-Rod. They'll have to apologize. It was just a weird move. I mean, they kind of made things worse.

Especially Braggman saying the Astros made their decision. Yeah. He's not part of the Astros. Well, it takes a lot to say that the commissioner gave his report. And he said that. So I give him that. Yeah.

I mean, he's just started laughing while I was saying it at the end too. Yeah. Because like, because that's the PR line he was given. And so he was just going to crank that out. How do you feel about Artouvae using the underdog approach? I mean, it's hilarious. It's, it's, it's Altuve.

And I mean, that's the underdog is such the worst word for it. what they need, and you know I've been hammering the table on the stance, and it's why I don't want them to get Buck Showalter, and you cracked a funny, which maybe we'll get to in a second. But whoever becomes the manager of the Astros needs them to get a massive chip on their shoulder. And they've got guys that can do that. Bregman always kind of lives that way. Altuve, Springer, all the guys on that team,

if they lean into this and go full heel, chip on their shoulders, They're like, because guess what, everyone? This, this, our dream is that the Astros suck this year. They're still really good. All those guys are freaking, freaking good at baseball. And if they have a manager that leans in and says, have a chip on your shoulder, go show the world how good you guys are. And if you actually believe in those quotes that you didn't need it,

or you're going to pretend you didn't use it, then go show the world this year. And I think Buck Showalter would bring that out. What was the Buck Show Walter joke you made about no technology? I think that was Joe's. Or someone said that. It wasn't me. It was someone we were with.

They were joking that Buck's going to go back old school. Like no iPads, no cell phones in the building. No TVs in the locker room. Like Buck would be old and crazy enough to do that. And I think it would actually work. Who just showed up to interview? Dusty? Yeah.

Did he interview with Houston? Dusty Baker. Because I think he interviewed with the Mets too. Dude. But it's so interesting because all the other teams usually have to give their assistant coaches approval to go get these interviews. But we're a couple weeks away from spring training. And they're like, no, we need him. Yeah.

He's our bench coach. If we let him interview and you make him your head coach, we're out of bed bench coach. So they're like slim pickings. Yeah. It's all guys that are currently not attached to a team. Yeah. It's interesting. Yeah.

Three spots need to get filled. Who's out buck, dusty? Who else is even being rumored? Like a spotta? All the Red Sox guys being rumored are former Red Sox guys and Ron Reneky. Just mascots. Veritech and Lowell. Wally.

Yeah. Hello, Wally. Give Wally Backman the Mets job. He's been blackballed for too long. Green Monster, Wally. I know, but you made me think of Wally Backman. Okay. Give Wally Backman the job.

Come on. Just do it. Why you guys hate him so much? Jake, who do we have left? What free agents do we have left? We still have Castellanos. We still have Pueig. Castiano's Pueg.

There's one other righty. Marcel Ozuna, right? He hasn't signed yet. So, yeah, there's three kind of righty impact bats to different degrees. Castellanos just slaughters, lefties. Ozuna is a violent bat whenever he's up there, and Pueg's always a threat. you're going to have awesome weeks and you're going to have terrible weeks.

It's kind of cool that, you know, this offseason, besides the Astro stuff, just the actual signing of guys is good. Yes. We are almost all teams are set. We have a handful of guys left to find homes. And just roll it. Spring training. We're not going to have to open that camp up for free agents.

You're not going to have to worry about Keikl and Gonzalez waiting out the draft picks. It's been a good offseason for baseball. Good off season. It's the cheating, so. I still think the attention it brought to baseball is still good. There's a lot bad. Yeah, I think it's bad for baseball. I think for attention to the game, it's good.

But if the negative attention, I don't know. You could go in circles with that all day. Here's who hasn't signed left. Ozuna, Castiano, Poitianos, Pueg. Don't go to Japan, Pueg. Don't do it. Dozier. Kevin Pilar. Wilmer Flores. Stephen Sousa, Jr. Hulis Shasayn. Addison Russell. Jason Kipness. Matt Duffy. Taiwan Walker. Alex Gordon. He's going back to Kansas, right? Sure. I think he will. Russell Martin. Reported. Felix Hernandez. Jason Vargas. Brock Colt. Mitch Morland. There's a lot of names that we know. And I'm like, wait, would it be terrible if they don't get major league jobs? If they get minor league? I don't know where this. scale isn't a lot of these guys. Jared Dyson, he'll get invited

to someone's minor league camp. Someone should sign Russell Martin as a reliever. Yes, 0.00 ERA last year, like four outings. Speaking of, Fernando Rodney. I mean, if he doesn't get a job, cancel the season. He'll get a job. The first team that have a back-end reliever go down, bam, Fernando Rodney.

Like Rodney, well, the Nationals did it last year Before we appreciated them as the World Series champs, Fernando Rodney and Sergio Romo are the guys that every year, if your team is looking for bullpen help, you go out and get them and say, hey, if they get you a little bit of that magic, Chris Collinsworth is in the booth for the baseball game then.

But yeah. Cool. Anything else? How many pitches has Rodney thrown since the World Series? He was playing in the Dominican? I know. Like a thousand? That's why I think he might not,

like he might not care about MLB season yet. Like he needs the Dominican season to finish before he can think about MLB. Dude just pitches. Just pitches. That's what he does. Got nothing better to do. Well,

it's his career. It's also his career. He's really good at it. He's really good at it. He probably could do other things, but he loves pitching. I don't know. You could like read to his kids all day.

All day. Boring. It's not as fun as pitching. Wow. I'm going to remind you that when you have kids. All day. No, three bucks. Okay.

Okay. Got the quote. Anything else? I don't think so. Someone mentioned Hall of Fame stuff. We're going to find out about that tomorrow. I might let you go on that. I know that I do talking baseball.

I can't. This is a classic. You don't care until the results out. If someone's in, cool, if not. Yes. Also cool. Yeah.

Yeah, I mean, Larry Walker's the big one. He's going to be so close. I think he's going to get in. Is he a Hall of Fame? Yeah, there's some good numbers there. And Jimmy, something that you and I really fell into this year is the whole Corps effects stuff and people, not enough people. And I was telling my Rockies guys this, they need to spread the word on what happens when

the Rockies leave course field. You didn't believe it at first. No, no. And that's why I said they need to spread the word. I said I wanted to see more evidence. And as I got into it, I was like, holy smokes. But, yeah, I mean, his OPEO. Yes is crazy. He was a good fielder.

I've been getting in some heated Larry Walker, Derek Jeter debates. Stand where you want on that, but Derek Jeter's Petter. Larry Walker's an awesome ball player. The Rockies people get passionate about it because they lean into him as their guys because not a lot of expose people still can. He should be in. He's got some impressive numbers out there. And again, if you don't know about the core stuff, look into it because, yes,

they're going to rake at cores, but when they go on the road, it's a nightmare. I can't wait to get older because I didn't watch baseball religiously from when did he play. 89 to 2005. When I started watching the like every single day because I lived in Australia, I lived in Illinois, it's like 2004. I got a Yankee fan. I would walk the playoffs. I'd watch big games.

But every day watching baseball, knowing other teams, 2004. So I don't, I have no opinion on Larry Walker. Never. All I could do is look back at his stats, which yes, are very impressive. But a Hall of Fame voting for me, stats come in. into play. It's a gut feel. Right.

It's like, hey, you watch that guy play? Like, you were around the sport for that decade. Was he a dude? Right. For 10 years, was he like, oh, shit. Right. That's Larry Walker. And so I have no idea.

He could have been. He could not have been. I didn't pay attention closely. So that's why, like, all these young kids on Twitter going, like, hard into caring and not caring about guys who, like, just being honest, you didn't watch play. Right. Or it's not even. because, like, you can't watch every game of every team,

but you didn't know the vibe. Right. And the strictly analytics people are going to hate this whole take. Sure. But for me, Hall of Fame is just very gut feel. Like, you hear the name, you're like, hmm. And it's funny if you dig into, because the big boys have been releasing their ballots recently.

Jason Stark, I don't give Jason Stark enough love as one of the short baseball godriders. Go check out his piece he wrote on his Hall of Fame ballot. I can barely read. took me hours to get through it. No, but it's so well written and there are feel aspects to it that if you are

one of these analytics people like, we welcome you in. Analytics are cool, but the feel will always be there and it's so well written because guess what? It is his feelings, but he's using analytics. And I think you'll read through that. Like he mentions Jeter and there's, he just has one quick line in there

and he's like, it's Derek Jeter. He's a Hall of Famer. Yeah. You don't, you, there's some stuff you cannot overthink. But yeah, I, I'm hoping Larry gets in, because he really does have some impressive stuff. We'll see the steroid guys. It's going to be interesting to see where they land.

They got a lot of votes. So I don't know. I hope, I mean, either way, when any award gets announced, there's going to be somebody screaming about something. Hopefully, hopefully tomorrow is a good day for baseball. I think it will be. I think we're going to get some awesome names in the Hall of things. name.

Cool. Great. Sounds good. Stay tuned. Jake's traveling back to Denver. We're building this office. We'll be keeping the episodes as regular as possible. But,

like, you know, news might be slower. Maybe we'll have to try and get some topics and shit like that. We got, what do we got? Three more big signing, spring training approach,

and we'll get something. Yep. Chorus suspension. Yep. All right. Hall of Fame. Hall of Fame. Thank you guys very much.

We appreciate you. Thank you. Special shout out to the patrons watching live with us. See you later. Jake sucks.