Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - Altuve, Kershaw & Witt are All Staying! | 773

Episode Date: February 7, 2024

Use code TALKIN for $20 off your first SeatGeek order. https://seatgeek.onelink.me/RrnK/TALKIN++++++++Timestamps:0:00 Tooth Problems (Feel Better, Big Guy)4:35 Bobby Witt Jr. STAYING in Kansas City on Record-Breaking Extension21:50 Jose Altuve Signs 5-Year, $125M Extension with Houston Astros32:10 How Does This Impact Bregman, Framber, & Tucker? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello and welcome to talking baseball. Bobby Witt Jr. signs a big old extension with the Royals, Altuvae signs and extension with the Astros and Kershaw stays in L.A. Hello and welcome to talking baseball. Thank you very much for joining us today. My name is Jimmy. Trevor Plouf is here. BBD.

Behind the D. Jake is in bed. Not feeling well. Everyone message him and say, hope you feel better. Hope you feel better, big guy. That's all. Don't say anything else.

everyone tweet at Jake hope you feel better big guy and that's all I need to say this episode's so insulting yeah it is like a bad way to say it right this episode's brought to you by seat geek we've got the hookup use code talking for $20 off your first purchase at seat geek's $20 off your first purchase promo code talking you can click the link in the description to download the app where you can find over 70,000 events every single day on seat geek including including sports concerts festivals and more and they always want to make sure you're getting a good deal. So when you're on the app,

look for the green dots. That means good. Red, like the Red Sox means bad. Every ticket is backed by their buyer guarantee. And Seekek is the only site that lets you return your tickets ahead of the event with swaps. So that's code talking over there. Trev, how you doing?

James Bebers, I'm doing great. Sad to hear about our friend Jake. Yes, he needs all those tweets and comments calling him big guy. best thing. I'm excited to talk on this episode because we're talking about guys getting rewarded for their great play on the baseball field. Organizations stepping up, which I like to see. A little bit of Kirshan news, which was kind of inevitable. So I'm doing well. I also am playing under the weather today, but I'm just built a little different than Jake. I'm here after oral surgery yesterday. How about that? Oh, you had your jawline redone? Yeah. This Travis Kelsey thing.

I'm trying to be like an impersonator. I think I can make some money now on the side doing that. So I'm going to get some creatine in me too because I'm looking a little skinny for Trev. Oh, nice. What did you have done? Teeth removed? No, I had an implant put in.

So I'm finally going to get this tooth like that I had extracted. I'll have a fake tooth put in in three months. It's been the longest process ever, James. It's really hurt my ego a little bit. I don't know if you guys have noticed. I haven't been the same confident Trev for the last like six months.

What tournament was it in the warehouse that I didn't have a tooth for. Do you remember? Oh, you were toothless. Was that floor ball? You've had some teeth. Yeah, I've gone through it with teeth. It might have been

Blitzball Battle three. I just remember when you went on the ESPN for the first time. You had the biggest, fatest face. Batched, a botched. I've had three root canals because

I got, they started in California, but I had to fly home. So then they said, oh, no, they'll finish it in New York. What? And I had to pay full price for both. That was bullshit. And that was all my money. It was $10,000, $5,000 each.

And that was my bank account at the time. So I had to push off buying Katie an engagement ring. Holy, yeah. I mean, no dental. Do you remember that? We were in the Bronx office and I was like, I can't, if my car like breaks down, I can't get an Uber. Like I have zero money on my credit.

card and savings when we're in the Bronx office because of the because of the they were like I have zero money. Yeah, the set of them in the Bronx office after I have zero money to my name right now. Maxed out credit card and actually it was double root canal out of nowhere. I was saving up to buy a wedding ring for Katie and then I had to pay 10 grand. Maybe it's eight grand. I don't know.

Anyway, and then before Blitzpub out of three or something, they had to redo it because the cap came off and he was like, hey, I did an x-ray. It's bad. And one of the Blitzball, I think it was Blitzball about a three. I'd ask Sam, she would probably remember. I had to do the whole thing toothless, like back there, just like a, you know, just a stump. And you feel grimy.

Like you feel grimy. Yeah. Oh, I feel grimy. I've been feeling grimy for six months. Yeah. I hear you. I understand. That sucks.

You know who can't afford as many root canals as he wants. Bobby Wood Jr. Bobby Wood Jr. Yeah. And he should go get some. Just like exploratory. You got it, bro. The Royals signed Bobby Witt, Jr.

to a massive 11-year, $288 million contract extension on Monday. There's a lot of funky options here. One that I found interesting was that there's a team option at the very end to add three more years worth 370. 77.7 million dollars, which would extend it to 14-year deal. Now, my counter to that, Trev, and then I'll get into my general feelings once we understand how this contract is set up. When's his last opt-out? Because if he thinks they're going to hit that button, when is the last player opt-out? His last opt-out is 2034.

or one year before that opt out. Okay. So if he's in 10 years. So if he's good, like, so that team option is kind of null and void. It would be. Seems like it won't come to that. It would be if he has like an injury in year 9 and 10,

like a big injury and then gets good in year 11. Like good in 2034. Yeah. Which will be his last year of this. I see what you're saying. So like, you know, he's saying my market. value isn't what it used to be, but I did come off a good year, so the team wants to keep them there.

It's, this is so far down the road that we don't even, a lot of things can happen. Yeah, but I just like thinking through why they put these there, you know? It'd be a three year, $89 million option is the total value on their multi-year team option. And the first year of those three years will be 35 years old, which is an interesting area. I wonder what the exact circumstances would be for that to get taken up or for Bobby way to let that. Well, not to get ahead of ourselves.

How old Zeltubei right now? And he just got a five-year extension. I think he's, I think he's 35, I believe. So it's almost a perfect. Excuse me, excuse me, 33 years, 277 days. Okay. How is he still this young? But it's similar, right?

Like, in 10 years, Bobby Whit will be 33. And where will money? And the money will be. Exactly where, yeah. And the money will be higher. So, like, if he, if he's good and wants to keep playing, I think he's going to grab that. last player opt out so he can hit free agency before they can lock in three more years at

that fixed number. You can at least get himself like two more guaranteed years or something off. So you get a five-year deal at 33, like Dautube is just getting. Yeah. I know that's not going to be. Yeah. The way it's structured, you know, they bought out three years, I believe, of his free agency before he has those player options.

I think that's what it is because he's got one year. he's got, yes. So in 2013, the player options are $35 million, $35 million, $35 million, $35 million. So $2031 through 2034, those are all player options. I got to believe. If Bobby was the kind of player that we think he is, and he has all the skill in the world to be, you know,

an upper echelon major league baseball player, I just don't see how the contract, A, doesn't get restructured by that point, or B, he's off to greener pastures if the Royals have. haven't done what, you know, they're supposed to do and be competitive every single year. Like this guy in 2031 is going to be, is going to be what? He's going to be 30. Like looking for a brand new deal at that time.

Like we'll see what happens with the money in baseball. There's a lot of shit going on with the regional sports networks and streaming and all that. At that point, it would be crazy to me if he wasn't actively looking for a restructure or maybe headed somewhere else. But I mean, look, that's so far in the future. I think the biggest thing that we need, the biggest takeaway for me is the Royals stepping up and doing this, man. Like really, I talked to Chris about this on baseball today.

Like they've identified him as the guy they want to lead their franchise. And that's not just on the baseball field. Like they see this guy as, you know, he's effectively the CEO of the Kansas City Royals. Like they want people to look at him, the players to look at him, and they want him to work like Bobby does. They want him to act like Bobby does. He's going to be at the forefront. He's going to be leading the charge and like what the organization stands for.

So they have identified at such a young age of this guy as this is our guy. And it just goes like so far beyond play on the field too to give a guy a deal like this. So I think we have to give, you know, I think, congratulations. to Bobby on, on, you know, making them feel that way. The Royals for identifying the kind of kid he was when they drafted him. There's just a lot of cool things that go into this. This isn't just because he had a great second half last year. Like, there's so much more to it.

And I'm happy that the Royals, especially where they're at right now, like they decided this was a good time to do it because they want to get back on that track, man. Yeah, I, I love, love, love this deal. because I feel like it, and there might be other examples of this, the Julio and some other ones that are good fits both ways, or three ways. I'm going to say three ways.

I'm going to say owner, player, fan. So like this is a deal that gets all three sides what they want and need. But we have seen versions of this where you're kind of taking advantage of a young star paying him less than what he'd make if he got the free agency, like significant. less and then um you kind of like hanging injury over his head you know hey take this you might get injured or you might not be good anything can happen and then these young guys grab it and then they're you know Ozzie albi's getting paid like way less than he should be getting paid where you're like

you're like oh come on like this yeah so my initial reaction was like oh it better be like not like a you know a injury hostage deal but looking at the way they're doing it um he's getting two 0.7 mil for this year, 7.7 for next. And that goes in line with arbitration at present value. Like I think by the time he gets to R3 in 2027, he'll be on this contract, he'll be making 19.7. But the way inflation goes, I'm guessing naturally he'd probably be at like 22, 23, if he's a Yeah. Yeah, if he's a stud. If he's a stud. But that's not terrible. So that is like an, an, a loud give and take of like, hey, we're locking you in so we can't like pay you like what we think the max max would be. But then it goes to 35. Like if he was a free agent now, this does fit present value

in my head. And like I said, I love this for the fans and baseball. Like this gives the royals a face and a stud and a star. I think the sport, it's regional. Let's not try to make it, um, to national and have like what basketball has with stars leaving all the time and you follow players more than you follow teams like baseball is a regional sport you need your region to buy in of why you want to watch and now Bobby Witt Jr's the star of the Royals and you're going to tune in and little kids that are 10 years old right now are going to grow up with him being the stud their whole formative years and part of their childhood if they watch baseball so I absolutely love it I think it's good on all three sides can win out really big here.

Fan owner, player. I agree with you. They're going to save some money in arbitration. I think the free agent years that they have him under certain control are, you know, I think get enough money for him at that point. And then he has the player options.

I think, yeah, this is, I think this favors Bobby Witt immensely. But they're banking on the fact that he wants to be the guy there. Yeah. And just stay there. Yeah.

And their ownership, like from all accounts, from all accounts that I've heard, the ownership is great and a place that you want to be. And I've said it before, like Kansas City, like, when the team is good, when you put a product on the field and give them something to watch, some of the best fans of baseball. It's a lot of fun because they can tailgate. I'm telling you that that is one of the main reasons they're that good is because they can sit out there and tailgate and have a good time and make a day out of it. people all other organizations take a note of that dude like you're you're short actively shortening games um for the tv viewer you're charging prices that are outrageous for freaking beer and and concessions you should like want people need to make a day out of it it's like it's like trying to tell someone to go to Disneyland for two hours and spend all this money it's like no dude like I

need to make a whole day out of this because I'm trying to get my money's worth I think the ability to either a have some sort of bar air or area around the stadium or B, be able to tailgate, which I think is better, that makes baseball so much more appealing to fans, right? It's that or it's, uh, be accessible to be in and out. Like when we, when like if you live in the city, um, now there's lines and shit, but you can take the train of the Yankee Stadium.

Like we've worked, uh, you know, the first half of the day, gotten on the train, when the Yanke Stadium, watch the game. So true. Came back. And then you don't have to make a day. it because you're easy in and out. But yeah, I know like Dodgers' friends can't do that or like big parking lot. Well, they're trying to.

They have a gondola, James. They're putting in. That's awesome. I think it's going to be ready for this season. People are going to bang on that thing after wins. It's supposed to carry like a crazy amount of people to and from the stadium. I'm hoping that really works out for them. But I'm just telling you, dude, the best fan experiences are the places that tailgate.

They really are. It's, yeah. Well, I mean, the Bronx, you're just not tailgating there. You're not tailgating at the Bronx, no. You're right about people may. They're easily in and out of there. There's like a, sometimes there's like a bunch, like five dudes grilling like hot dogs. Oh my God.

You can technically start tailgating, yeah. I'm just going early and hang out. Watch batting practice. They have the whole park next door to Yankee Stadium, you know, where the old one was. Like it would be cool if they like designated some of that area for tailgating. I don't know if they could. I just don't think it's tailgating. I mean, the Bronx or like upper Manhattan is a tailgate.

Like when I lived up there, like everyone. You walk around. to the Bronx office. Like there technically is tailgating happening. That's just because their hangouts are just out like shared space, the small apartment. Yeah. Like in,

I lived in Harlem and it's just like, you know, there's 20 different parties going on outside every single day. Music, dominoes, like cookouts, all that shit. Good job by the Royals and by that. I liked that deal. I do want to talk just quickly about Bobby Wood Jr.

on the fields. some of the improvements that he saw you know at the end of last year he really turned it on obviously first half was a little bit different 742 OPS during the first half second half 9-06 OPS the on base percentage which everyone kind of talks about

with him when all the way up to 343 so I I believe that those areas that he's sort of deficient in as far as like contact rate and chase rate and it's like walk percentage like those things are going to get better with experience. He's young. He's playing a great shortstop.

I think he was like third in the AL last year in defensive run saves for infielders first in short stops. Outs above average. I thought he was going to get the gold glove. He's a stud. He's an absolute stud. There is worry a little about, you know,

you don't usually play shortstop your whole career. Usually age out and move to somewhere else. That's fine. Also, he's a speedster. Like he steals a lot of bases. and that declines. But... Sure. Usually that's like post-32.

He's like the length of this contract. He says a lot of time to do that. I don't think you're going to have the, you know, the Carl Crawford like falloff of like speed changing the game and like running into injuries and stuff that you usually have with guys who speed is a weapon. Yeah. We'll see how he ultimately hits, but he has like true power to hit 30 homers last year. Like he's it.

He's not. just getting on base with his speed, his legs. I do want, last point on him, another reason why it's like, I think this is great. The platoon splits are awesome.

First right, he's 800 OPS, first left, he's 862. Like, I, I love that aspect. When you have a guy that,

you know, you have such a big difference in your OPS versus, you know, same side pitcher, like, you know, you can get exposed.

Like, he's doing well. He's, uh, doing well against, right well enough against right-handed hitters where you can just trust to just have them in line at 162 every single year so who's the old who's the oldest was shortstop still in the game moved around i just pulled up like hose rayus you know he got big contract but his numbers in his

very in his 20 through 25 years are fucking crazy yeah um but he was oldest shortstop that's stuck there for a long time that's playing now but got to be car got to be uh brent uh crawford Crawford. Yeah, Crawford. I was seeing a JJ Harry. He's older than me. He played shortstop. Oh, even if they're not playing shortstop, like they were.

They were shortstop in our house. Did Machado ever play shortstop? Only when, only that last year. In the contract year, he played the whole time with Baltimore. Imagine being JJ Hardy and just being that good at shortstop where they kicked the guy over to third base. Yeah, Crawford doesn't fit the model I'm talking about.

Like the stolen base. fast young shortstop that's still you know because they do fade like I'm not saying that yeah of course like it's a difficult position to play for sure for sure but I but my incredible my good twist on this is they usually fade around 30 to 32 and bobby wit for this contract is younger than that for majority of it so like it's still really good yeah I mean Corea I'm excited for him this year I know we're getting out track I think he's in a fucking massive year. And I'm pushing, don't tell the twins ownership this,

but I'm going to be pushing for Royce Lewis extension very, very much. Nobody tell the twins. Don't tell the twins ownership. I'm going to do that. They already know. You and Correa have a bold in common. GIDP? Yeah.

It's my only one. You led the league and he led the league. Wow, he's only got, Correa only has two bowls. Now he's got some blue links on his baseball reference. Only two bolds on his. I like that. Some bolds and blue links.

Yeah. The blue links are good. A couple MVP votes, All-Star game, gold glover. So like the blues are good. The bolts are led into grounding the double plays last year. And in 2018, he led the league in sack flies. So like, I thought there would be more bolts.

Me, Carlos Correa, Armand Killebrew, just leading the league in ground and double plays, Twins history. I like that. All right. go to Carlos Correa's old teammate, Jose Altuve. Do you want to do an ad for our shop while I step outside for 30 seconds? Yep.

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I like a lot. I just bought a bunch of new hoodies for myself. So if you want to go check out shop.jomboormedia.com and see what we've got. You can over there. And also Blitzball Battle 4 gets released in 11 days. which is pretty close. Trev's in it.

Trev plays with his brother, Marshall, forgotten rotten. Game two. Game two is baggage, Jake and myself versus Trev and Marsh. So be ready for

Blitzball Battle four on the Warehouse Games channel. All right. Jose Al Tuve, Trev. Do the Jake. Jose Altoo. Jose Altuva. Jose Altu.

I just hope. Shout out, big guy. Yeah. Feel better. Big guy. Five years. 125 million contract extension yesterday.

It's Altovae's third extension with Houston. A Astro signed Altuve to a four-year, 12.5 million extension in 2013, and a five-year 151 in March 2018. So, 2013, 2018, and now 2024, he signed extensions for 12.5 million and then 151 million, and then 151 million and now 125 million. The deal will start in 2025 and we'll take Altuve through his age 39 season. Money per year. Okay, so it's front-loaded.

So 30 million this year, 30 million in 20-ne next year, 30 million in 2026, 30 million in 2027. The last two years drops down to $10 million each, which will make it very easy to cut him if he's really not performing anymore and release yeah will yeah you think they'll they'll ever cut him if they found themselves needing to it's a cutable sound really to need to cut 10 after that point i don't know that's gonna that's gonna that's gonna take a lot for them to do that yank's did it with a rod they wouldn't be getting like the payroll relief of it it would be yeah i don't think it's payroll they're not gonna i think it's to eat it if he wants to retire if he's not performing like they can eat that and he doesn't play for yeah okay um or

Or they can trade them or whatever. It's very light at the end. Yeah. It's a justifiable like bench player salary. If the Astros aren't, if the Astros aren't good and they want to go give them a chance to play in the postseason, you don't know five years from now. I think the Astros still will be good.

But I'm just saying it leaves a lot of wiggle room the last two years. They could have done this the opposite way. This is, again, great. This is a guy who should be an Astro for Life. He's going to be an Astro for Life. I don't see them trading him. I don't see him wanting to go anywhere. He's been, he's been,

adamant about that. This is a guy that has Boris as his agents and has never a reach for agency. Every single time he's about to, he signs an extension. That's not what Boris does. So he really is driving the fact telling him that he wants to be there. And why wouldn't he? That's what the Astros said about Berkman too, Trev. But you know,

Big Puma played in pinstripes. People forget. Oh, Al Tuvae on the Yanks. Oh my goodness. Can you imagine the cheers in the Bronx for that guy? He's like the perfect, I don't Is there a better, in my opinion?

I know he's always going to be clouded by 2017, but I like to make the point that he did not use the system or if they ever tried to use it with him. He didn't want it. He didn't want it. He benefited from having the runners on base in front of him and the hitters behind him. Yes, but from everyone that's come out publicly and said it

and guys that I've talked to personally, like they were saying he didn't want to do it. Now, there's the old, I mean, you want to talk about this. We talked about this so much. I want to talk about Jose Al-Tube. Just like everything that he does on the baseball field is awesome. And not only is it the numbers that he puts up,

but I feel like he just gives hope to everybody. This dude's 5-6. He's like he has the second most post-season home runs in history behind Mani Ramirez. He's three behind him. He's going to pass. He's going to be the most prolific power hitter in post-season history. He's 5-6.

Yeah. And that's why you can get him until he's 38, because, you know, a shorts age better. Yeah, if you can do it while you're short, you're good. That's what they say.

Especially hitters, pitchers, complete opposite, but, I just think he's, I mean, he's everything that you want. This guy before,

like in 2019, people would ask me, who's my favorite player to watch? It's not a yang yet. Jose Altovi is who I'd always say. Now it would start a bunch of shit because to,

uh, lame radio, figures in Houston spread told all of the people in Houston that I invented the buzzer stuff when I just I heard Joel Sherman

write about it in his article and Michael K. Talk about in the SPN and then responded and said oh they're talking about this now. Two guys we've been unfairly judged by the cheating scandal. You and Joseo Tupae. Do most unfair treatments of that whole thing.

I still get it every single that. People think I like made it up. Oh, I know. Because that one tweet... You didn't even... The video, that was just you talking about another article. Yeah. No, it's the tweet.

It was a fake account that said they were Beltron's niece and I quote tweeted it. And all I said is, I've heard this as well. So I wasn't saying like, look, they're... I heard it from them. Like, people have misconstrued the whole thing. Even though it was a fake tweet, the rumor was in it. And I was quote tweeting and say, I heard this rumor as well. And also Joel Sherman reported it.

And then ESPN. So that whole thing, I can't say Altuve is one of my favorite players to watch anymore. Because it starts a whole shitstorm. But he is one of my favorite players to watch. And if you go back to any episode of like 2018, 2018, 2019, I would say that. He's awesome. I'll definitely say that. He's amazing.

I mean, I got to lace him up against him and just saw the, you talk about bat control. We were talking about that before the show. bat control with this guy's off the freaking charts and that is a lost art in our game and something that I wish you know more guys tried to have and I know you're trying to put the barrel in the ball

every time you swing the bat but there was something different about wholesale too but I guess every player can't do that you have to have a specific skill set I mean I don't know what his eyesight is but this guy is he's a wizard man he really is you play him up

he'd never bunt but sometimes he'd show it so you'd have to play him up you play him on the line he hit in the hole he hit down the line like it's it was nuts man so i just i have so much respect for this guy and i told you james i was reading an article by chanelra rome on the athletic about this extension just kind of researching for the topic today and i came across this beauty of a paragraph that's going to really i think make you laugh we all know the story about Jose going to Astros tryout

and getting sent home the first day because he was too short, they didn't want him there, he ended up coming back the second day anywhere, anyway, because his dad's like, you're going to go back there. The show's version of it is this. Altova signed for $15,000

as a 16-year-old international free agent. The Astros sent him home from the first trout he attended due to his height, but he returned the next day at the behest of his father. Nice. She hasn't left the organization since. And who wrote that article?

Jamler Rome. And where's he from? I don't know. He's a Houston beat writer. But he used the word behest and now it is like one of those things. It's a simulation people. You put that out in the world all of a sudden now I'm seeing the word behest. He's from Louisiana.

No chance he knows that word. Sheesh. That's a northeastern word. So do you know who has that same exact story? Who? Brett Gardner. I love that. That makes sense. I mean, of the same ilk. Yeah. At Brett Gardner, he went to, like, his town had like five people in it.

And we went to college tryouts and, like, didn't make the team. And his dad just said, go back. And he showed up the next day in uniform and went back to practice. What? I didn't hear it. Yeah. What did you say, coach? And didn't his dad, like, right? a letter to the coach or something,

you got to watch them in a game. You got to. Yeah, it was something like that. It was something like he's not going to impress you in these like drills, like watch them play a game, which is like what's Brett Gardner's like talent. But yeah, Altuve is just, you know, people are shortest. Fuckers.

He's awesome. You know, his defensive has gone down a little bit over the last couple years. But you pay him to hit. You pay him to be a leader on your team. I feel like he makes the play when he needs to make the fucking play. Let's get honest about his height for once in our lives too because the old graphics used to say like 5-5. And now they say 5-7. If you pull up at an Astros game when they were in the National League, like his rookie year, the graphics said like 5-5. So are they going the opposite way with him? They want to play up how short he is?

I don't know what it is. If I had to say anything, they should play up. They should make him shorter. All of a sudden he's going to be 5-1. He's 5-6 on baseball. football reference. 5-6-166. Yeah, but I, and that's his height, that's his height, but there's an old graphic of the, huh, I wish I had it. I wish I knew how to find it, actually.

I've seen it on Twitter, where they had them listed at like 5-4. That's interesting. This guy's accomplishments are off the charts, MVP, eight-time All-Star, two-world series, gold gloves, six-time Silver Slugger, three-times batting title, ALCS MVP, two-time majorly player the year. Like,

this guy's, he's a Hall of Fameer, people. Whether you want to talk about that or not, this guy's going to be in the Hall of Fame. It's one of the best second basemen we've ever seen. I mean, his playoff, like his, like, uh, playoffs or, uh, the early round home runs. I forget the stat, but fucking awesome. He's an 851 career playoff hitter, his OPS.

He's got 27 homers, 55 RBI. Like I said, he's three away from Mani, passing Mani Ramirez for most homers all time. That's what happens. When you go to the ALCS seven years in a row. And it's just getting harder and harder to get back there with all the extended playoffs. They don't care. So what does this mean for Bregman?

What does this mean for Tucker? Is that the next combo here? It's Framber, Tucker, Bregman are all coming up. They have some of the younger guys who are still kind of like in the arbitration, the Hunter Browns, and that whole. crew. So yeah, I think they have to, I think they have to make a decision from what I read, and I don't know about this at all. Like, it seems to me like Bregman will join the likes of the George Springers and the Carlos Correyes and the Garrett Coles and the Grinkies to leave.

And they'll figure it out, man. I mean, I thought there was a quote from Crane saying, like they want Tucker. But I forget, but I thought there was something like he said, know we want to keep him around. Framber's probably out. It's crazy. I don't know. I would try to find a way to lock all these guys up, but I understand you can't. Some somewhat. I mean, I look pregnant. Let me see, like, what's he, like,

he's still just as good as ever. Yeah. 29 years old. Put up an 804 last year on a down year. Still went 25 and 98. Not bad. So. Yeah, they have some interesting.

interesting decisions and this this takes care of one that we you know we kind of thought this would happen they didn't seem like to me that al-tube would ever be the one to leave they've constantly said that they wanted him to be an astro for life and he is going to be until apparently he's going to the pinstripes uh that comes from uh jimmy o'brien job boy well no no maybe that'd be cool but uh it'd be wild i just said they said the same thing about berkman you know and then they were bad and they said go go chase a ring with those shitty yinks so I'm trying to find this graphic of the height so hard. I don't know why I can't find it.

Congratulations. So, Tuvei, and Astros fans and the Astros. Another three, three time winner here of a deal, I believe. I like it. You know, and all those Astros fans that just, like, won't fuck with us at all. Like, you know what? Each their own. You don't have to.

Some people do listen and enjoy. I appreciate it. I think if they ever listen to us, talk about their time, they're like, oh, that makes a lot of sense. Like, they're, give us a lot of credit. I've never been anti-astros ever. That's the craziest thing. What a crazy time that was.

Do you remember that? Yeah. I mean, I don't like that. You and I just hop on and started talking. The people that cheated the system, that, that was, I was anti that. But I mean, I mean, before the scandal, I didn't have any ill will towards the Astros. I thought they were an awesome story.

And I liked Verlander and Altuvae were my, favorite people to watch. They beat the Yanks in 2017. They were a little corny. There's some cornyness. Braggman was corny. Braggman actually has been helped by the scandal because he was getting into a level of like

W.W.E. corny villain. Maybe he would went so far that way. We would have loved it. I don't know, man. Never know. Maybe. It's funny.

They're literally just annoying like, oh, they keep beating us stuff. And all that stuff when they found, when you found out they were doing that was like, uh, Oh, that turned it to Guys. Ultra

Uber cringe, yeah, but And, and, and, and, and, and, and,

and, the, the shit where after they would, they would, they would fucking use the system in 2017, they would send

a, a player to the clubhouse the next day and tell them the pitcher was tipping. Yeah, I remember that.

A pitcher told us that, and then also Archer, um, report, like, shared that. was Archer? It's an athletic card.

I think it was archer. That was, that was really fucked up. So I'm anti all of that. I'm just saying before it came out, I had no, like, bias. Didn't know those things. Sucks. All right.

And then, oh. Last thing of the show right here. The inevitable has happened. Kershaw's back. Way to go. The greatest hedge or the greatest advantage maybe in baseball. is the fact that the Dodgers just get to sign this guy

although this time has an option for him in 2025 but they get to keep signing this guy back to the rotation set to return for a 17 big league season oh he isn't expected to be available until sometime next summer after undergoing surgery on his left shoulder no he's going to be like this this summer 24 okay yeah next summer

from October when he had it I mean why this is important Even if he was healthy, I wouldn't rush him. Yeah. Why this is important for the Dodgers is they have a ton of guys in the rotation of a bunch of depth, but a lot of either inexperience or injury history. So that's kind of the play they've had over the last, some of the last years. It's like, let's just get a bunch of depth.

We understand like there's going to be injuries and maybe we don't have a bunch of guys that can throw over 180 innings, but we have enough depth, whether it's at the top for minor league system or, you know, swing men in the bullpen, whatever it may be. like they just, they have guys now and they've needed it because you got Yamamoto's at the top of your rotation. They were pitched in the big leagues before. Beeler's coming off of surgery.

Bobby Miller's a young guy. Tyler Glassnow is an injury kind of guy. They have enough now. I think that we always knew this was going to happen. There's always rumblings about the Texas Rangers with him, but I think he's another guy that's just going to be in this uniform for the rest of his life. and

it's just man like I said he gets so disrespected and his last playoff appearance didn't help because they came out the dime back just came out and smoked him again but like what he's done in the regular season

you can't compare to like literally anyone like he might be the best left-handed pitcher like one of the best ever ever people I know the playoff shit sucks I wish he sucks and last year

year's like, I wish he shoved. But yeah, the regular season numbers are incredible. They're incredible. Talk about bold. A lot of bold. One of my, I said this on Waken Jake to Jake yesterday, not here today. Feel better, big guy. Feel better, big guy.

One of my earliest memories after going full time was in the RV. I remember Jake and Trev were debating like, oh, is Kirschau starting to fall off, starting to decline? performance-wise. I think Jake you would say that sometimes. Yes, Jake was saying that sometimes and Trevor was adamantly no. I've always been adamantly know.

In the four seasons that have been played since, one of them is 20-20, a shortened season, sure. 300-438 innings and a 267 ERA. Yeah. I hated that when, like, the collective. It was like 2019. He had an ERA in the threes for the first time. It was 303.

And I was like, uh-oh, it's like, what are you talking about? The RA Plus was like not elite, elite elite for two consecutive years when it was juice balls, by the way. And then... Yeah. It was like a bald guy growing one follicle of hair and being like, oh, I don't know. Not bald anymore. It's like, oh, he's still bald. That doesn't change anything.

He's very good. And yeah, it's interesting how he's been able to do it. Velocities obviously declined a bunch. I think he's averaging like 89 miles an hour with his fastball. So he's got the slider going. People really think about Kershaw with like the big old curveball. Now it's more like that cutter slider thing. He's able to change speeds with it.

I like when pitchers, you know, have to change, you know, as they get older. Most guys have to do that because, yeah, the velocity goes down. You've got to become more of a pitcher, make adjustments. Like I think it's so cool that he's been able to maintain his level of excellence, specifically during the regular season while having to make all these adjustments, man. How come you don't have an in with him yet? I do, I'm sure, if I need it.

Well, you're your best friends with his best friend from childhood. I don't know. I think he lives in, like, in the offseason. I think he's in Texas, I'm pretty sure. Man, do they not talk anymore? You ever ask? Do you want me to, like, do like a three-way date or something? I mean, I'm just saying.

I'm sure there's going to be a time this summer where Matthew and I are going to go watch Clayton pitch together. Okay. I'm on NBC, Los Angeles.com, and it says, you know, are Stafford and Kirchaw still friends? Oh. And I'm trying to figure it out. I think maybe did I kick him out? Did you replace him? I think I might have, yeah.

Let's see. No, I would love to hang out with Clayton. I've actually never really, like, sat down and talked to him. Yeah, I talked to Clayton the other day. you know, he's excited for me. Okay. Talk to him the other day. Clayton, is that what they refer to him?

Like, Kirsch. Kirsch, okay. Yeah. That makes me feel better. Clayton? Yeah. Hard to say Clayton.

You need to say it with an accent. You need to like, you need to drag out that L a little. Clayton. Yeah. Clayton. Possible. All right.

The numbers on this. There's no numbers out on it yet. No, they never, they don't do that. They don't need to do numbers. Well, there's something going on. This got leaked because the physical's not even done yet.

And he's going through injuries. So how do you do the physical? So whenever something gets reported and little insider tip here, whenever a trade or a sign and gets reported before the physical, that usually means it didn't come from Passing or Rosenthal because they're professionals, respect the industry. Uh,

because one time Jake and I had. had a Yankees deal. And we like texted Jeff. And he was like, well, yeah, we have that too, guys. But the physical's not done. So we fucked up. And that was when I said, I'm not going to break news anymore. You know, when they say stay in your lane, I'm just going to do it.

Because it turns out, I don't know the way it works. Yeah, breaking news is for the birds. You got it all, Jeff. Take the whole thing. Only thing we know about the deal and Trev mentioned it before is there's just that there's some sort of second year option on it.

Unclear if that's a straight-up player option. If that... I think it's a certain number. Yeah. I think it's like, let's agree to talk again. Yeah. He can do whatever he wants. It's not a straight-up one-year deal.

Yeah. All we know. Yeah. All right. That's the episode. We appreciate you guys very much. Thank you for tuning in. Subscribe to the channel.

If you enjoy that and get ready. because team profile and projections are coming up soon. Feel better big guy. As I pat him on top of his head. Yeah. Aw. Feel better, big guy. Aw.

Some of us are built different, Jake. You ain't one of them. Damn. Damn.