Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - Announcing Our June 2023 All-JM Team! | 684

Episode Date: July 5, 2023

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Hello and welcome to Talking Baseball. I heard the All-Star rosters are out. Don't care. It's all-JM season through June. Let's get it. Hello and welcome to Talking Baseball. Presenting you by Seekek. Yes.

Seat Geek. Code Talking, you'll get $20 off your first purchase. Maybe it'll be at your local team's baseball game. Maybe it could be at one of the other 70,000 events. That they do every single day. That's a lot. It's busy. Is that a real number?

Yeah, we got to check the stats on that. A lot. That doesn't feel right. But it's impressive because they're seat geek. They know what they're doing. They're the geeks of seats. Maybe you'll see us out in Seattle, the Great Pacific Northwest.

I've never been. I'm excited to go out there. I think Seat Geek's doing some stuff with us for the Home Run Derby. So you should download Seat Geek. Code talking $20 off your first purchase. There's a link in the description. description. Trevor Plouf, we're running hot. You didn't miss me. It sounds like. People are still requesting Jolly. How are you? Welcome to my world. Whenever Jolly fills in on

baseball today. It's like, oh my gosh, Jolly's so good. Yeah. What about us, people? We've been doing this for so long. You're just over it? My goodness. Look, I am running hot today. I had a great day yesterday. Okay? An excellent Fourth of July. Um, played some beersby, played some beer pong, ate some meat. What else can you ask for on this nation's Independence Day? It's a beautiful thing. I'm here to talk some ball. Yes, the All-Star game is here.

Yes, you can go see us. Yes, you should. Buy tickets. I believe there's a few left. We're like running out. Yeah. It's going to be a big event at optimism brewing. But the main team that the big leaguers care about,

we're about to decide right now. There, per usual, Trev, are some tough ones. that will get ugly. Let me tell you something real quick. Tell me it. Olivia looks so hot yesterday. I just have to get that off my chest. I have to.

I love my wife so much. She looked great yesterday. I had one of those... Incredible. Sorry. You know, sometimes, you know, don't mix life and work, they say, you know, don't shit where you eat,

things like that. I saw my Jessica's phone light up with a text message from Olivia Plouf. And I said, you know what? I think we're in too deep. I think I'm out.

I think I'm gone. I'm calling it. I think I got to hang up the jersey. It's too much. It's too much. Sometimes it is too much with her. It just gets me going. Like, I'm fired up right now just thinking about it. I'm fired up, that you're fired up thinking about her yesterday and the 4th. Now I'm kind of thinking about, yes, I'm getting a little fired up.

A lot of testosterone. Yeah. Yeah. I'm looking at this sheet right now. A bunch of boys full of tea. High T levels. Jolly coming in here with his staff. and low T.

Let's get into it. Hold on. Give me the Joey Wendell voice with Jolly Olive. Welcome to talking baseball. I'm Joey Wendell, this is Jolly Olive. Here's a stat for you. You sound like the guy from Rugrats, the red-headed one. No, who doesn't?

Chucky. Who doesn't need stats? Me. Bruce Bochy. You know, Tony LaRusa. That's not where we need to be. And that's the episode.

Let's get out of it. Yes, yeah, thanks everybody for tuning in. No, let's give out some. Because I was excited because Trev, we dream about the full silver daisy. I think if you get the first three leading into the All-Star break, it's kind of like, whoa. We're officially on Daisy Watch. You might. You want to announce who has a chance right now.

I'll go through the lineup right now. Yondi Diaz won it in April and May. Marcus Simeon won it in April and May. Randy at Rosarana has won it in April. in May. Sean Murphy has won in April in May. Louisa Rize has won in April and May. Max Muncie,

Ronald Acuna Jr., and Zach Gallin. Muncie, that snake. He's out, I think. Seven or eight dudes still have a shot. I tell you who's not going to do it. Jorge Mateo.

Got it in April. He's had some really tough months after. There has been a correction. That's a... that's the all-j-M team. So let's get into it, Trev. You want to do A-L or NL? We're going to go A-L, and we're starting with,

we're Cron-Pod on the sheet. Cron-Pow. A-L catchers are up first. This one, to me, there could be a little bit of a debate, but I think one guy probably has it. Do you want to start? I will start. We're between the two fellas.

It's Jonah Hyme and Adley Rushman. I mean, how are your big boy switch-hit and catchers? I mean, pump that into my veins. Salvey's got the ding. dong's per usual. Big dumpers always lumping around, but these two are neck, head and shoulders. Neck, hello. Josh Young? LSU. Um, these two are heads and shoulders above the competition. Trev, you mentioned your lean, and I think I end up here too, and I don't want to start teasing some of the bad news for Byrds fans, because Adley Rushman seemingly has a great argument. He's, you know, he's having a

basically a two-war season. He's gotten on base a ton. He's, you know, he's an on-base guy, and he's played a couple more games than Jonah Heim. But Jonah-heim, it feels like just the slug is impactful. I think the defensive metrics like him a little more. You know, some of the stuff you don't love to get into normally,

but RBI do matter at a certain point when you've driven in you know, 56 to 35, almost 20 more runs batted in from the catcher position? I don't know, Trev, I'm leaning Jonah. I was interested to see if I could be talked out of it, but I think you might be leaning the same way. If we're going by the hitting stats, they're pretty close. You mention RBIs. I'll mention on-base percentage for Adley Rushman.

I mean, that's kind of his calling card. 52 walks to 48 strikeouts. Remember, this is through June people. Okay, so there's been a couple of days in July here. So the stats won't always match up with the current. Well, they just won't. I love that from anyone in the big leagues, but especially a catcher that can do that. Get on base right now through June, a 377 clip. Now, I'm going on to fan graphs right now to see, you know,

where we're sitting at with the defensive metrics, because I think these guys are close. You mentioned RBI's, I get it. Jonah Heim's been doing that. These guys, so Jonah Heim won it April, Adley won it in May. These guys are going to be going back and forth all year long, it seems like. I have Jonah Heim right now as like defensive war as the best catcher in baseball on Fangraph's page. He's got seven defensive run saves. Like the defensive metric war has him at 13.

Next closest is Sean Murphy. Hello. Hatchers. Adley's doing all right. Zero defensive run save, so that's, you know, not negatively impacting. I know there's more to it than just those stats and how you call a game and your frame percentage and all that stuff. So given the offensive stats are similar, they leaned Haim a little bit, but the defensive metrics definitely lean Heim.

I'm going to go John Haim for the selection. I'm going to check one thing real quick. I'm kind of around there too. The defensive metrics are liking Hymne more this year. I don't think they're down on Adley and last year they loved him. And this is a little bit of a silly way to do it. But they're very close, but technically Joan Himes over an 800 OPS and Adley's just below through June.

And that doesn't not matter to me when the defense also likes that guy a little more. So I even have the framing stats like Heim better. And how much do we care about that? I don't know. It means something, though. We're having to choose between these two guys. Right now has William Contreras at the top of that metric, Sean Murphy and Jonah Heim third.

Adley Rushman 5th, though. They're close. For me, it's simple. It's close. Jonah Heim just had a nice June. 849 OPS. Adley was in the 6th. I went to look at their platoon splits because sometimes we hate a platoon and king.

If you're getting worked on one side of the play, that can hamper your team. Both of them are doing it from both sides. Jonah Heim, he's 800 OPS from both sides. I think it's Jonah Heim in a sweep. I think... It's a close sweep. All three games are close. I would bet on Adley coming back.

Like I think these two are the class right now, big boys A checkered board daisy Like going back and forth Maybe that's something we can talk about Maybe they can get like a matching orange and blue one And celebrate each other at the ale catching position They probably won't do that

Maybe their bodies, yeah What was that? I think this next decision here On the surface We're going on the first basement for the AO Congratulations Jonah Hyman Congrats Jonah Gave you snaps

I think from the surface it looks kind of like a runaway but we might have to talk about it a little bit. Right now, Yandi Diaz and what he's been able to do offensively kind of puts him head and shoulders above the rest of the guys at the first base position. Why does Nathaniel Lowe's war, his B-war, match Yandis? Is he a defensive whiz that I don't know about? I think there's a couple things. He's not fully matching his B-War, by the way.

He's a couple points, sure. Say B-Wore again. B-war. The other thing that, Trev, you're leaving the door cracked for a conversation when I don't really think it is. Yeah, I know. I tried. I tried.

It's Yandi Diya's missed a little bit. So he's 10 games behind these guys. but Yanni Diaz has as many homers as Vlad Guerrera Jr. He's got more runs than the rest of the competition. The batting average, 316, on base. He's getting on base at over a 40% clip. So he's got everything. The OPS is in the nines.

The other guys are fighting to be low eights. I'm sorry, I, you know, interested to see who are, AL first base gold glove winner and maybe Nate Lowe is going to sneak up on us or, you know, Vladdy. But it's Yondi, dude. It is Yondi. He gets knocked a little bit, 524 innings at first base to Nathaniel Lowe 746. So Yondi is de-hing some.

There's no good defensive first baseman, apparently. According to my graphs, they're all like negative defense. It feels like, yeah, I don't, I don't think they're measuring it right. I'm trying to think who is. The nerds I've listened to and follow say that they just haven't figured out first base yet. Who are our current slick fielding first base? Because the Yankees got Rizzo and he was kind of the king of it. And Rizzo's been good.

Yeah. Late night Lamont is good. Christian Walker. He can play right now. Christian Walker's done well. Carlos Santana. Who? Six defensive runs saved at first base.

That leads the league with the thing. Daniel Lowe. And maybe... But I agree with you. Yondi's offensive statistics are just better than everyone else's. And if you can do a four and a five, 400 OBP, 500 slug,

you're going to get my vote more often than not. Three, four, five in it. Yandi gets the AL pedal for this month. And by the way, he is now three for three. You mentioned it at the top. Yandi Diaz, raised baseball. How many guys do you mention before you get to Yandi? We're trying to make it less.

We might have. Could go pole to pole as the A.L's best first base. What do you think he looks like in the shower? My God. He has four of my cocks. He might have like a cushion month built in. Right now the offense is, the difference is crazy. Me and Trevor running hot today.

I don't know. We tried to tell you. We tried to tell you if you thought first base was kind of a quick, easy decision. second base on the is even easier than that. My good friend. Marcus Simeon, that's right. You guys go back to your Oakland Athletics Days, right? That's right.

He's turned into just an incredible player. He was an incredible person. He's persevered through some things. Found a nice home. Found a big payday. Making a lot of money, that guy. But he's putting it up. He's backing it up.

You didn't know he was going to be a guy guy, huh? No. I mean, not a lot of people did. Nobody did. I mean, that's, you know, I'm driving home that point a little bit. He worked, he worked his ass off. And I believe he was, was he not with the White Sox first and then the A's? White Sox first, then the A's. The glove was shaky. The throws were shaky, but he worked to, you know, get that right. The hitting came around. The power showed up out of nowhere. And now look at him, man. He's running away with it. I believe he has all three months as well for second base. So congrats, Marcus, I mean, some of the numbers there, 344, 457 for an 801 OPS. He leads in B-WR with a 36B-WR, 121, rated runs, created plus. He's part of that Texas offense that, hey, fight me if you want.

They go toe-to-toe with the Braves, and all we talk about is the Braves. Go look at the statistics, people. They're there with them. And that's why they're at the top of the division still. A lot of raves, a lot of Rangers, a lot of Braves. raves. A little shout out to, I don't know if he pops up on our util section. A guy that popped up at second base as just one of the eligible candidates. Actually, two guys that have been filling in and moving around. Brandon Drury and Maricio Dubon. Drury's been moving around for

the Angels. He's starting to, his power numbers are there, 14 homers. Dubon, man, that guy is a fun watch and he slaps it around the field too. Glabors around two. But they're, they're, are not in the same stratosphere as what Simeon's been doing this year. What was that a look on your face, Trev? I just didn't know why Glaver was on a sheet. No offense. I didn't make this sheet.

I know, Dalton. He put it on a sheet. Boy, Dawton. I like Glaver. You know what? I like Gleiber. There's a clear next tier at that position. I think you'd love Glaver. I think I would too. I think you'd love Glaver. There's not many guys that I met that I hate. Some of them, if I hate you, I hate you.

Yeah. Like, and you know. Like, you know I don't like you. Like, Glaber Torres goes over to the raise, and he has four necklaces, and his OPS goes up 100 points. I'm hoping for Max Kepler's sake. That's what happens. The third base position, Trev.

A American League third base. You know something about this. You've played some AL third base. Why don't you tee it up, Big Haas? Well, you skipped over shortstop, but we can go to third base if you want. You know, I don't know. I go numerically in my head.

Okay, so first month it was Matt Chapman, who came out swinging, tapered down a little bit. That's fine. Josh Jung. Ooh. That thick old neck. That thick boy. I want it in May. Yeah, Yan-M Diaz, neck.

There's some competition here. There's some competition. Now, if you're looking, you know, straight at the war statistics, you got Jose Ramirez It's kind of leading the way there. But as far as like regular offensive production, I mean, you can go a bunch of different ways here, man. Raphael Devers has 19 homers and 61 ribbies right now. Now, he doesn't get on base a lot.

He's got a 312 OBP, but if you're just looking at those specific numbers, he leads the way there. You know, Josh Young has been very good offensively. He's got a 125 way of runs created plus. I mean, if I'm looking at all of these together, and there's been some excellent ball played Jose Ramirez just kind of stands out just above everybody 520 sluggy nobody else is in the fives there he has the highest Ops of the guys that we have listed right here um he just kind of does it all man like he's just there he's inevitable Jose Ramirez the steal of home he had against the Raldas Chapman is like a fucking all-timer man I love stuff like that seemingly he's he kind of just pulls that out whenever he feels like people don't remember how good he is.

He's a top five MVP candidate every single year. Whether he starts off slow or not, it doesn't matter the numbers are going to be there. I think that's kind of what's going on right now. So you kind of got to give it to Ramirez. You mentioned this a little bit of a roller coaster at third base so far. Thickneck Josh Young had brought his whole damn neck into the equation. Devers stat line is funky. man, what is that?

Red Sox fans, is he like trying to hit homers? I'm very interested. I mean, he's always swung big, but he's such a natural, beautiful hitter that the stat line from Rafi, it's surprising to see it look like that. And then the other guy that, based purely on war,

has an argument for second place and obviously stats that come with that, Isok Perides from your raise. What? Talk about another thick boy. My goodness. 13 homers. Another Ray's like revitalization project.

That's a wrong word for it. Just snagged him from the Tigers after they were like, oh, yeah, this guy was a big prospect, but he doesn't hit for us. Well, he's hitting for the race. All of that BS is because it is. Jose Ramirez is back, Trev. He's a big part of the Guardians why they're competing again for the AL Central.

His June, 3.30 batting average, a 400 on base and a 1.030 OPS with four stolen bases, including home plate in extras off of Raldas Chapman. A straight steel phone, which is awesome. The defensive metrics support this as well. He's positive in every single one you can think of. right now overall fan grass has him as the third

best behind Key Brian Hayes and Ryan McMahon who's had a really good year of defensive maybe we'll talk about him in the NL so yeah snaps for Jose now it's three different dudes at third base congratulations sounds like prom night

what um I skipped over shortstop I skipped over shortstop Trev um accidental got both you with that one Um a lot of

Just when I'm out on you Just when I'm out on you Yeah I come back and you win me over With your humor I know Now I know it fucking Just must feel like

On a daily basis That's what the ladies like I start So sick of you So sick of you And then you crack a little One liner And you bring us back in

We uh No I don't That's an off air one Um The shortstop position Trev you were an AL shortstop I was

We have some guy guys here And I think we haven't Oh my God We have an interesting conversation This is tough This is one of the bigger So let's go back This was just a conversation

For the All-Star game Which now your guy Wander is in Yes Mateo as we mentioned Won it in April Love his game But you know He's down a little bit

And then And then Wander Franco won it in May. So now on our sheet, we have some guys here. We have Boba Chette, All-Star. Wander Franco, All-Star.

Corey Seeger, All-Star. Is Sear and All-Star? He is, right? Yeah. He's starting, I think. Yeah, okay. Bobby Wood Jr. on this as well. He's probably not going to be in the conversation. Give him a few snaps, you know, second year doing his thing. Eventually, we're going to be talking a lot of.

about Bobby Wichie. 23 steals. Crazy. Yeah. Love watching him play, but it's the big boys here, Bichette, Seeger, and Franco that we got to talk about.

And if you're talking about war right now, Wander Franco's head and shoulders above these guys. Why do we keep saying head and shoulders? Yeah, I'll stop. I started that today. I don't know why. You did that. So we have Wander Franco there.

You're talking about some advanced offensive statistics, Way to Runs Created Plus. We like using that one. It's pretty simple. Corey Seeger's running away with it. 178 compared to 134 for Bow and 127 for Wander.

The traditional stat lines also love Seeger here. He's one dot in it. He's not he's not 3, 4, 5 in it. He's 3, 4, 6 in it. Yeah. So there's a turn-on factor there for me.

Where I'm like, hey, Seeger is kind of just doing it. Now he doesn't steal bases like Wander does. Wander has 20 Stolen bases, Decorri Sieger's 1. So there are some things to talk about. Offensively, Seeger has been the guy. But that's not all the shortstop entails.

Where are you leaning? I mean, you know, Bichette barely gets mentioned, hitting 316 with a 500 slugging. I, and I don't want to skew your vote, because I think this is the most open that we're going to see, or one of the most open we're going to see. Corey Seeger is going to have to do it for another month for me. He's behind on games.

Bichette and Franco. Bichette has 82 games. Franco has 78. Corey Seeger's at 50 when this came in. So it's awesome. He's one-dodding. He's out of this world. Cool.

I mean, we're talking 30 games. That's a month. And if all of the... the other counting stats, which gets really tricky with stolen bases, right? Because that's not Seeger's game. So home runs, RBI runs, Seagher's right in the mix. And with a higher batting average, a higher everything else. But those other counting stats are just important for me.

And it's going to be, for this month, for me, it's going to be hard to ignore Wander Franco's 26 stolen bases. because, you know, we dream about OPSS plus, our stolen base stat sometimes. And I think if we had that in front of us, I think it'd be even... I think Franco's the winner, and I think with OPSS Plus,

it would be more of a runaway. Some guy is doing that stat now, and he says it's partially inspired by stuff that we talked about. Partially. I got a couple DMs from people saying that's just what Wobah is, and frankly, I can't refute that. Yeah. We don't want it to be called a Wobo, bro.

Wobba's out. OPAS-S-plus. Yeah, just let us do our thing, okay? I'm with Wander on this one as well. I agree with you on the amount of games played. Love what Seeger is doing. Defensively Wander is going off right now. He leads the big leagues at shortstop,

according to Fangres and defensive war. Everything is UZR-150s up. Defensive runs saved at 13. Nobody else has higher than 9. That's Danesby Swanson, by the way. Shout out. Hello. So he's doing it just, he's impacting the game in every single way you can.

Even, you know, sometimes he gets fired up. Yeah. Too much. They send his ass home. Wake up call. It worked. Wander Franco. Congratulations.

Congrats Wander. Yeah. 100th percentile outs above average. I think in one more month we could be having a very, very, very interesting conversation. Seeger stays around. Watch, uh, if you're, if you're being a real baseball nerd today and you're with the right people and you're, maybe you're at work and you're miserable that post 4th of July, why are we here? Why are we doing this?

Trevor blue phrases is in. Go watch. We're different. Watch videos of Wander Franco hunting down balls in the air, uh, like in foul territory. Tori or deep, like he gets to deep left field and it's like, oh, a lot of guys do not move like that. Say deep left field again. Deep left field. You've been, you played a little left, right, or only right?

I played every position except for center, pitcher, and catcher. Would have love to be in your head when you were out playing left field. Didn't want to be there. Nope. The ball will find you, kid. Hellie. So. All right, let's move on.

Speaking of outfield. That rounds out the infield, and the American League infield was brought to you by Shady Ray's. You guys know Shady Ray's. I've got my Shady Ray's right here. I'll throw them on. Trev just threw his on.

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Shady rays, I think they're getting involved in some of our All-Star stuff. and we have another big thing coming with them soon. So, summer's here, Trev. It's hot. It is hot. I love that you said they fell and you didn't gas because everybody gasped when their sunglasses fall. Or sometimes when you put them in your pocket with your keys and you're like, that's the dumbest thing I've ever done. Scratches for days, but Shadyrays will take care of that for you.

Different. Don't know how they're in business. I don't understand. It's too good of a deal. Like just full 90s 4 a.m. TV. I don't know how they're doing this. I'm being serious. What a great company they are.

Speaking of some greats, Trev, the American League Outfield has some all-time greats that are in discussion. Like you said, Randy is trying to run it. He's in the derby, right? I believe so. in the derby, yes. He asked and he shall receive. He's also trying to stay all JM.

We've had some injuries recently that I don't think that affects our decision making, but could it affect upcoming months. We've seen Kelnick on this list. We've seen Mike Trout. We've seen Kevin Kiermeyer. We've seen Big Aaron Judge. He's been out. Trev, we normally start with center field because we require one.

as you mentioned one of the positions you did not play, it's tough to play out there. It's very difficult to play out there. We need a center fielder. Obviously, there's a Texas ranger on the list because their whole team just hits. Lioti Tavares. It looks like it's going to come down to

the all-timer. First, the Puma, a guy we've called out, Luis Robert Jr., has entered the equation. He has the highest F-war and B-Wore on the sheet. And some of the other stats to back it up, that is our decision made, Treyf. I think he's our center fielder. I think we go with him.

I think there's no doubt, you know, the way he's been playing, he went into Anaheim, had a really good series right up against his counterpart, Mike Trout. Yeah, I mean, he's just kind of doing everything right. And he's playing a really good defensive centerfield as well, which really means something to me.

I don't, I want my guys in the outfield, especially in centerfield, to be able to do it all. And right now, Lou Bob's doing it all. So he has my vote for center field. Then we can talk about the other two selections. But for him or for that, he's in. That's huge. In my head, I thought there was going to be more of a convo with Trouter and it was going to be a little controversial because do we just have some hamate stuff happening? Roberts going, he's one dotted the past two months.

I didn't realize that And by the way, not that it matters for this episode But he's off to a hot start in July too That Okay, Cuban Mike Trout beats out Mike Trout For the center field position This is where it's interesting now Because we have, I think

I would say like three guys Who are in contention for the two remaining spots So we have Randy at Rosarana Yes We have Aaron Judge and Mike Trout those are the guys that I'm looking at right now and there's some other guys who are having really, really good years

up into this point, a couple Boston outfielders for Dugo and your Shia deserves some love what they've been able to do. Adelis? Adelis Garcia? Our moonwalker. Adelis Garcia is doing really well.

If you want to convince me some other names, you can. If you think you want to bring Garcia to the discussion, I'm all about it. So I think the rest of these are pretty close. I think Garcia deserves to be at the table. 20 homers has him at second to Luis Robert 60 runs is the leader in the clubhouse

and 66 RBI also the leader in the clubhouse that if anything it's part of the discussion I have to sort through it I'm going to Seeger Judge I'm sorry Aaron Judge has 49 games that I'm That's significant Some of these guys are getting close to doubling judge's games

Okay I'm in for that I thought you were going to kill me if I didn't mention judging this, because some of the counting stats are still there for him. But the games played means something to this team. He's, you need to be on the field. You know, I think. Here's the thing is we've done that before, though, when Mike Trout was out last year,

and his stats were just so good that he continued to win until somebody took him over. But because there's so many guys around this level, I'm with you here. Through June this many guys. guys like doubling him up games-wise like it's one thing to be behind on games but like just getting lapped judge just played what 60% of the season like a math pod that's and and shrinking like the way the guys that we all just said were borderlined a rosarayna garcia trout i would much rather have

their 78 80 or 81 games played compared to judges 49 however good they were so judge he's going to have to be out for me. Okay, so then Rosarena, Garcia, and Trout, we have to pick two of those guys. Do any of the socks deserve more love? Not necessarily. I think they're just behind. Yeah, Verdugo and Yoshita. They're on their own pace.

Yodi Tavares, what the hell, Texas? Make it stop. Whole team. Where are you at with Trout? He just got banged up, but I don't. think it was in July. It doesn't matter. It doesn't affect this voting.

He would be the only other guy that we mentioned. It's in the top 10 as far as outs above average. He's 10th of all outfielders. So we've been taking that into account a lot. Some defensive metrics are not

as bullish on him. Defensive runs save. Let's see where he's at. That's like an easy one. Some people don't like that one. but it's easy to look it up. It's a counting stat. Like certain positions are better for it than others. He's at zero.

He's at zero. Other people are above him there. Adelis Garcia ranks better in that. He does. Out's above average. So now I'm just confused. Holy. This is tough.

The average loves trout. This is tough. Randy's getting on base at a 400 clip. I think Adelis has to be in just because some of the old school stats. You mentioned he leads, he's second in homers to, Luis Robert Jr. But first in runs, first in RBI. Yeah, base percentage at 3.30 is kind of hurting him

compared to some of the other guys. But I'm in. A lot of extra base hits. Part of one of the better offenses in all of baseball. Let's give it to him. At least, that's one of my votes. I think you're right. I slug of any of these guys.

It's close. I think you're right. Only... Only because... So all three of these guys are so close. That's why you can hear it in our voice that we're looking for any little number that might be an edge or a leg up.

I wanted to have... Find arguments for Randy, because it's in contentioned to full daisy this thing, but he gets caught stealing a lot and the defensive numbers aren't liking what he's doing. Adelis has a separator of the county. stats, which again, some people are going to hate that, but at the end of the day, we're counting stats.

Like, number one run, number one RBI, second in homers. I think of the remaining he's got the highest slugging, and he does play good defense. So Adelis is in for me, and it's just a question of Randy or Trout, which is the best ever versus the best ever do it, and I don't know. This is a tough one. They're very similar. They're very similar. all of their stats.

How about even plate appearances? 344 through June, 345. Randy's got one less than Mike Trout. So maybe we give it to Trout for that plate appearance. Just kidding. That's ridiculous.

But they are that close in all of these statistics. Randy's got him in hits by five. Trout's got him in doubles by five. Tried with triples at one piece. Nice. Trout's got two more homers than him, two more runs scored than him.

but a Rosarena has 15 more RBI than Mike Trow. So they're just back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. And when it's like that, I got a lean defense. So, I mean, even freaking the OPS, Randy has him an OPS. It's negligible, but he has them. 885 to 859.

I have a pit in my stomach. 401 OBP we love that because I shouldn't know this but I know this I know Trout is hurt and Randy's going for a daisy but that shouldn't be in my head No that doesn't you've taken it's not even in my head then I'm not thinking about it

Mike Trout's handmate bone is intact This is June Let's say it on three I'd love to do that Ready? I'm not Give me one second Yeah Yes

One Two Three Randy or Roserina Wow Wow Go do it Randy I'd like to say one other thing

Maybe some team aspect came into that I don't know But I guess we are going to see Rangers Rays and Braves everywhere The fact that Randy Roserana is actually good is crazy. Like, you know, like, no, we saw him pop on the scene,

this guy who'd played, like, 12 baseball games, and then he was in the playoffs, and he was mauling, like, anything, like nothing we've ever seen before. Like, it just feels like in baseball, you see those happen, and you're like, oh boy, like baseball. Every year there's, like, a guy. Baseball's going to happen soon to this guy.

No, Randy's gotten better. He's awesome. He's probably going to win the derby. and he wins and he stays. He stays in line for a silver daisy. So your AL outfield, Luis Robert, Adelis Garcia, and Randy Rosarena.

I like that outfield. That outfield bangs. Holy cow. DH can be quick, Trev. Yeah, you think? I do. There's one guy that's running away with it. He's running away with everything.

It's Shohei Otan. some of the numbers are just absolutely ridiculous. He is one dotting it. If you get the OBP up, just four more points, which he might already have in July, sitting at 396 through June. But the homers are there. The RBI are there.

The runs are there. Everything is there. This guy is world class. So snaps to show. Yeah. Tani, U.R.D.H. Well deserved. He had a nice month, huh?

30 homers I think he has and he added another one he's got 31 before the break and probably can have 35 if we are being serious before the break if he gets on

if he gets on a judge home run chase just stop the sport no need I just I just want to look at every single one of use out there there was like judges

they're the same type of I'm not. I love Aaron Judge. And I'm not talking crap about him. This is Show Hey, Otani. You're skewing the words a little bit. I didn't say same kind of player. Whatever.

Hey, congrats to Shohei. Know what I would love your Dong working his way back. Love to see him get back in a mix a little bit. Get back and reenter this conversation. By the way, outfield three Cuban ball players. Yeah. Hell yes. How about Adelis Garcia and Randy Rosarena

were on the Memphis Redbirds that I played in AAA in 2018? Cardinals fans look out. Patrick, Patrick Wisdom also on that. Whoa. A lot of guys. We've talked about it before, and I also just mentioned on baseball today.

Anyways, utility position. This one's kind of easy too. You tell us why, Trev. Okay. So we have right now on our sheet, Ezekiel Duran, Zach McKinstree, Whitmerryfield, and Luke Raleigh. Now, if you're looking at offensive statistics,

you have Luke Raleigh and Ezekiel Duran, you know, going back and forth. Both in the nines were their OPS, both slugging, doing it there, 12 homers for Zique, 13 homers for Raleigh. The thing that's different for me is first base and corner outfield

doesn't seem like utility a lot. I mean, it's difficult. saying to playing first base isn't difficult going the outfield. They're two completely different things, but when you have Zeeke going, playing games at short, games at left, games at second,

he's got only two games at third, but he's also played first for a game. Like, he's kind of more of the traditional defensive utility player that you can really move everywhere. I like my utility players to be able to play middle infield. In my mind, that makes sense.

It doesn't have to make sense for everybody else out there, That's what I think of. When I think of a utility player, you gotta at least be able to play shortstop or second base. I think you, me and John BVD, we've danced around this topic. The utility position...

There's levels to it. There's levels to it. The more util you can be, the better. And what Luke Rayleigh is doing is nice to be able to plug and play a right fielder, left fielder, or first baseman, while having a 940 OPS.

That's electric. Zeke Duran. I think he can go out and play any position on the field. So shout out to our guy Whit Merrifield, who's doing a little bit of a Raley, some second base and some corner outfield. Made the all-star team. Made the all-star team.

Second base is thin, man. Good for Witt, getting back after it. Zach McKinstree, who's got a lot of shout-outs. His offensive numbers have started to come down. He has played a lot of positions. Zeke Duran, these Texas Rangers, look where he's played, look how he's hitting, and a little kick to our guy, KMack,

from our Blitzball stuff, and he's going to be in floorball coming up. A little teaser for that. Oh my God, is he really? KMack is, and he like plays, Travis. He comes from a hockey back. It's like his hobby. are in trouble.

Someone's going to get hurt. Sometimes, you know, KMack is a little bit of a character. He, his Yankee scouting reports from his time in the minor leagues have been fairly spot on. This was the one I was the most skeptical about. He said Zieg Duran is going to be an all-star at some point. And it's gotten a lot closer than I ever thought it would. So shout out to KMack.

Shout out to Zik Duran, who's played shortstop, left field. second base, third base, even one game appearances at first and right. A deserving, and I think what we want the utility position to ideally be, snaps to another Texas Ranger

who's doing it. Anyone else in their lineup goes out. He's just filling in. We'll go there for a month. At an all-star level. Starting pitcher, Trev, I don't know. It's going to be a tough one.

April we had Garrett Cole May we had Nathan Eovaldi I have a lean here A lot of these guys are very similar I mean they're having great years Cole Eovaldi and Framber kind of To me are the guys that I'm looking at here

No Mclanahan for you I'm looking at Mclanahan as well But when I'm just going over the numbs here dude Like they're all I don't know It just seems like Framber has separated themselves just a little bit in almost every category or if he hasn't separated himself

he's right there as well so he has 16 games started most of them have 16 or 17 that's just you know how many games has your team played so that doesn't mean anything complete games and shutouts he's right there with Gert Cole and Evaldi innings pitched he's right there

with everybody at 105 I mean just everything that you can point to he's kind of leading the way homers per nine which I like for pitchers he's leading the way there

with these guys opponents batting average all these guys are right around the same right around 210 to 230 whip they're all

so Eivaldi wins there with a one whip framers got a 1.05 it's just very very close um I have every number I'm looking at because that I'm like

oh I like this about Avaldi and then Framber is either right there just behind or a little ahead. Yeah, it's very close with all of these guys. So this is going to be kind of like a preference type of pick for us. Like who do you like seeing on the mound better? In my mind, I go to one game, one starter, who do you want out there?

When it's this close. So I'll give you my pick because I like putting the pressure on you. I'm going Framber here. I just think like The walks per nine Everything's there I mean they're all very similar I just think in a one game situation

I trust Framber More than any of the other guys To keep the ball in the park And to give me a quality start Because that's what Framber does Trev some of the Some of the baseball Modern Age

Nerdier people that may listen to our show that again, welcome, happy to have you. We, and this is where I want to compliment it. There may have been moments where you were cringing earlier hearing us talk about RBI and stats like that, which guess what? They still matter. They just matter less important than they used to.

And that's good because back in the day, if we were doing this, if this was our 1998 radio show, he says, it's McClanahan, he's 11 and 1. And the ERA plays too. we do have a lot more stats now. And man, something about Framber having one less start than McClanahan, but nine more innings pitched. He beats him in ERA, this record seven and six,

and we don't care anymore. We figured that one out, people. Like, it's nice to have on your team, that feeling of Garrett Cole being 8 and 1 or McClan being 11 in 1. Some of the far advanced numbers, they love Gossman. He's got the highest F-war.

Gossman, for me, I still think some of the numbers are off there, although he is striking everybody out. At the end of the day, I just need you to get guys out. And if you're getting guys out and you're keeping the ball in the ballpark and you're not walking people,

I think you're right. As you tiptoe this line between Framber, Evaldi, Cole, Gossman, McClanahan, the guy that ends up towards the top the most, it's Framber Valdez. And I think that's why B-Ref, B-Ref, B-W-W-W-W-R-W-L-W-L-E-W-R-W-L-E-W-W-W-T-W-E-W-W-T. A lot of these other guys have one kind of skewed. Framber's there, and it's because every number is there, and I think it's Framber Valdez. As the owner of Jimmy's vote this month, some Jimmy Liddix on it, looking at some game logs,

Framber has allowed more than three runs twice this year, and of all the, I believe it's three times. So when is that close, I don't know. Is that a tiebreaker? You got a nitpick at this point. Sure. And my vote's also for Amber. Our small glove king, does he still have that small glove, Trev?

I think he's gotten a little bit. It's gotten a little bit bigger. He listens. That rounds out the American League. Let's just jump into the NL, Trev. Let's get after it. Because at catcher, we have someone who's been running it. Sean Murphy.

And by the way, he's been running it with a closely contested guy who's one of your favorite players in baseball. And I think part of the reason he's one of your favorites is for some reason he just gets a little overshadowed. He's got a celebrity with the same name as him. He plays on the Dodgers, which it's easy to get overshadowed. Will Smith is having an unreal season. He's one of the best players in baseball. It seems like he's always after the comma in the sentence. Sean Murphy has been before the come in the sentence

and I if you want to go either way with it I'll let you So Sean Murphy has won the first two months of the LJN team You're right Will Smith is one of my favorite players And you know there's been talks about You know the inability to throw out runners for the Dodgers Most of that most of that's on the pitchers Yes

Like Will Smith still has the pop time to do it So I don't even want to like bring that in he's also like doing well defensively, which kind of, you know, we were talking about before. Sean Murphy right now, second in the league behind Jonah Heim in Fangrass defensive war. Will Smith, not too shabby, sixth in the league. Framing likes Sean Murphy as well. But defensive run saved has Will Smith above Sean Murphy. So they're kind of, you know, you can, you can again go back and forth with these two guys.

If you're asking me, you seem like. you made up your mind on Sean Murphy. I didn't say that. And I'm looking at all of the statistics. Games played 61 for Murphy, 60 for Will Smith. Murphy's got him in doubles. He's got him in hits. He's got him in homers.

He's got him in RBI. Will Smith has one stolen base. John Murphy's nothing. He is. a 400 OBP guy, Will Smith, that Sean Murphy's 390. This is very close, but I think if you're really objectively looking at,

you've got to lean Sean Murphy here, and you got to give it to him by the slightest of margins, and he keeps his Silver Daisy run going. It's a brutal loss for Will Smith. Because the Sean Murphy, Will Smith, is almost the AL pitchers we just talked about, that every time, every time you're looking for the like hey will smith has this and we need to talk about this

it it's just not enough you mentioned the on base percentage which is his win 404 on base 390 on base from murph dock i mean that's you know and end of the day that's not a big gap where the 556 slugging to the 507 slugging that is significant that is significant that you know $294 to $2.802. It's just, I wish there was more of a Will Smith argument. And if there was a person to have it, Trevor, he's kind of been your guy, but I don't think it's there. The only thing I've got, ultimately, I think my vote still would go Murphy,

and there's a little bit of tie goes to the current pedal owner. But the only thing I've got for Will Smith that I think is real, is the strikeout rates and walk rates offensively. They are significant on both ends there. He is 5% better on the walk rate and almost 10% better on the strikeout rate. That's the only one I've got that's like... That's really real.

But the overall numbers and every individual category outside of those is so close and the defense likes Murphy noticeably more. It's not crazy. It's not a crazy difference. But I was about to talk about extra base hits. I'm like, okay, well, Sean's slugging. He's doing all this things.

28 extra base hits for him. And 23 for Will Smith. So he's also close there. Shout out a couple guys, Patrick Bailey. Yeah. Giants fans are going to be like, what about our guy, Patrick Bailey? You know, Patrick Bailey just had it a historic month?

Not enough A-Bs for us, players. This is whole season stuff here. After all-D. Maybe we'll talk about you. Keep it going. Remember that. So snaps for Sean Murphy. I did like that Elias Dius,

Elias, how do you say it? I always get it wrong. Oh, now I got to go. We got to hit up Kelsey. How about 73 games back there? He's not one of the spring chickens at Catcher either. Like he's been through a couple battles. That I did love that with his still very,

very impressive offensive stats, but Murphy and Smith are in a different world. Elias. Lee. That's right. You hit the Lee. Hit that Lee. Congrats, Deshawn Murphy. The first base position, which is always just a mind-fucking of itself.

And as I peruse the stats, it looks more mind-fucky than normal because I think Frederick Freeman, Paul Goldschmidt, Matt Olson, and Christian Walker all very much have arguments in their own right. Christian Walker, you might be a tier below that, but you just got your shout out.

Don't look at the homers, Trev, because that'll screw up your whole thought process. I think Freddy's got this one, guys. Like, I get, you got to talk about what Goldie's done. He won it in April. Freddie Freeman won it last month. Freddy's just kind of doing it. He's three, four, five in it.

He's got the highest OPS through June. He's got the highest. F war, he's got the highest B war, he's got the highest weighted runs created plus. He's got 11 stolen bases, which is tops there, which gosh, I didn't even know he was doing that. Freddie has 11 steals?

Is this right? No way. I know he can steal bags, but 11 stolen bases to one spot stealing it. New rules, he figured him out. So now Olson has him in homers and he's got him in RBI because he's driving in dudes. but Freddie also has 28 doubles to Matt Olson's 14

that's where the slug is about the same and he slugs 543 and Olson's got him at a 572 clip but the OVP's there I'm leaning Freddy here man Why does he have 11 steals Because he's a fucking ball player He didn't learn these rules He had 13 last year

Francisco Lindor 11 steals Michael A Taylor 11 steals Shohei Otani 11 steals Got a hot wife. I mean, what else this guy got to do? He's not leading in DMD, date my daughter. That would be Olson, 28 homers. I hate that you're right.

Freddy's sick. He's sick. Take the show over for 30 seconds. I'm voting for Freddie. You guys figure it out. He's the best hitter in baseball. Yeah, we've all voted Freddie. My votes, Freddie.

We'll snap without you. He's kind of our dog. He's the best hitter in baseball. The fact that Alonzo Steer in Lamont Wade can't even get shoutouts is crazy. It's a deep position, man. Congrats to Frederick Freeman. Although one good Goldie month, Matt Olson keeps on going at the pace he's going. He keeps his homer gap at this for another month or two.

Matt Olson might be able to put a fort, like a fort, where's Matt Olson's homers? 28 at the end of June. So he's still at 28. I was going to say if he puts a 40 up there. Hit two this weekend. 30 at the break. Him and Shohei chasing the home run record.

Let's go to second base, which has been another, hey, let's shout out five guys, but there's a guy who's going to win it and he's going to win it again. Luis Arias has been running it at the National League's second base position. only because he's chasing even, I guess, even more rare history than the home run record at this point?

I mean, it just got broken. I don't know. I don't even know what that means, but he, what? There's a way to phrase that in like a buster-only style that would have made sense, but I didn't do it. Oh, I like that. We're chasing history. Luis RISE is still chasing 400.

All of the hitting numbers are still through the roof. That being said, there are guys. on his butt. Ozzy Albies is putting together a nice season. Tyro Estrada will not be ignored. And Catelle Marte, my goodness. Go snakes, go. Cotel might be your second place finisher.

He has, he might have an argument for first place. I'm still in a rise, Stan. I think we still have to go with him here. The 442 on base to go along with the 390. is just that's separating yourself, doing something to separate yourself, even though some of the counting stats aren't going to like arise, he's not going to hit homers,

he's not going to drive in a ton of runs, but what he's doing offensively is special. So I think he's going to have to really slump for somebody to take him over or somebody's just going to have to really go off. But he's won at the first two months, and for me he's going to win it again through June. The snaps. he's still on the history pursuit and yeah if he if he's off that pace and drives on like

350 one of these months and sure the defense isn't going to be in his favor and the power isn't going to be in his favor but right now it's still him sometimes you got to keep it simple stupid he's leading and bagging average on base percentage and hits that's still that'll play that'll play from the second base position uh come on kattel might as well go catch him. I'll go to third base because I went out of order last time, and I might as well play it cool. NL third base, which you've heard me go on rants

about how awesome the third base position is in Major League Baseball, and this is a special era of third baseman. It has been a little messy along the way in Max Muncie. Remember he had that incredible April, everything he hit was a homer. We kind of regrettably gave him the next month we gave him May but it was like it felt like he didn't earn it

but nobody else did he's not even on our board right now the names Dalton has given us Nolan Aronado sure jamer candelario JD Davis and still young thick mid thick Austin Riley

what are you seeing Trev I was expecting more out of the NL third basement to be honest with you. As we're looking at these numbers, I am a little bit underwhelmed, if you will. The highest OPS we have listed here is J.D. Davis at 818. Where's our nine guys?

Yeah. Are they off a third base? Like, what's going on here? If I'm looking here, yeah, Max once he's not on the sheet, Ryan McMahon gets an honorable mention for what he's doing defensively, him and Key Brian Hayes. We kind of mentioned that earlier today. On the show, they're doing it because that's what they do, especially Key Brian. What's up? I need to hang

out with him. Yeah. You know I love defensive third basements. Gosh. They're all very close. Aronado 807 OPS, Jamer 805 Ops, J.D. Davis, 818, Austin Riley, 796. So they're all right there. Should Ryan McMahon be on this sheet? Does Dalton hate the Rockies? What are the numbers? Give me some numbers. So, again, I have a couple July games in here, so I hope he hasn't gone nuts these past couple games. I don't think he has.

Now I'm going to look. I don't have a crazy last couple games. 817 OPS. I see a 27B war. He does it on both sides. I don't... He's 828 at the end of June. 828 OPS, 350 on base, 478 slug,

20 doubles, 12 homers, 41 ribbies. and he's playing banner defense. What's the B-war? The last time I called Dalton in here, he almost had a panic attack, so I'm not doing it. 2-7-B-war compared to the guys that we're looking at right now are he'd be second in the clubhouse next to Jamer.

Call him in. I can grab him. He did want to sit in on the conversation and we got backed up here, so I didn't get to grab him. We got about 14 minutes to get through the rest of this show. He needs to get his ass in here. Let's go to shortstop while we get him in.

Because this is an interest. Oh gosh. Hold on one second. Has he done enough? Shorestop is going to be a difficult conversation as well because we got this guy inserting himself into the conversation who hasn't played enough games. Dalton?

Matt McLean. Okay, Dalton's here, guys. That mic's on. Hey, Dahl. Hi, Jake. Hi, Trav. Speak, friend, and enter. We have a question.

I love questions. No Ryan McMahon on the third place, third base, and L side. Can I ask your thoughts? Yeah. McMahon, that's one of the weirder, funkier positions. Sure is. So on the list I had, correct me, from Aronado, Kendallario, J.D. Davis, and who was the,

fourth person I had. Austin Riley. Okay. Um, with McMahon, one of the biggest things. Now, I know strikeouts in baseball is a very common thing. His strikeout percentage. Sometimes a conversation is different for one guy to another. Like a guy like Matt Olson is a very high strikeout guys. Well, but he also has like 28 bombs. Right. Ryan McMahon, very high striker guy. That's what, 15-ish home runs this season? 13. 13. He's had a good year. Don't even wrong. I gave Candelario and Davis some bump. Candelario, I think, is first in war in all NL third basements.

And I don't have my computer on me, so you got to tell me if I'm right around here. You're all over it. Okay. J.D. Davis is having a surgence of a year for the San Francisco Giants. Third, wild card team. Someone that we, I don't think anyone thought would be back to playing this caliber level.

Aeronado, I mean, we talk about the Cardinals and how bad they've been, and shockingly how bad they've been. But Aronado has still been Aronado. I know his war is a little bit lower than it's usually. April's dragging him. Yeah, and that's also because of April. Like, think about where he was in April to now, and his offensive, his basic offensive numbers,

the old volume, average, home runs, RBI's runs. They're better than Ryan McMahon. They're better than Ryan McMahon. And then you go to Austin Riley. First place, Braves. He's starting to mash again. And I like Ryan McMahon. I've seen him a lot.

I think my biggest thing holding Ryan McMahon back was the strikeouts compared to everybody else. Okay. Treve, what was, who did you like McMahon? Over. We just like him, man, because offensive statistics are pretty much similar to a lot of these guys. Yeah. Close enough where you can talk about it. But defensively, according to fan graphs, he's one step behind Key Brian Hayes.

And pretty much every metric he leads in defensive run, say is at 13. Key Brian Hayes has 10. Overall defensive war, he's at a 7, compared to Key Brian Hayes is a 7-7. So he's just, he's doing it defensively. His UZR-150 is really good. Really good.

He's leading third baseman in that as well. So we like to bring that into the fold here. For sure. I don't know what overall war says about these guys on F-Word. Do we have that for, for McMahon? I guess I could just click right here. It should be on both. I know I don't have a Mickman because he was my fifth guy.

like on the shoe. You gave him an honorable mention. So he was literally the last guy off. I was really debating it between him. I will say one thing, in my opinion, when I do this, I think I should take more defensive fielding into account. I do lean offensive primarily. And I think that's because, you know,

with a lot of us watching baseball, we see the baseball, the offense, and that's the fun in it. And the defensive side doesn't take as much into, the fan account. So that's something I will approve on coming into future episodes for sure. I have a 1-6-F-war for him.

Cancelled out. And a 27 B-Wor. How does that make any fucking sense? Is there making it up? I always find it funny, the discrepancy between F-W and B-War. Like there are some guys, I think you could evaluate a player

totally differently. Yeah. Mm-hmm. So for F-war, that would put him Behind Jamer, J.D. Davis, and Austin Riley ahead of Nolan Aeronado. His B-war would only be behind Jamer, I believe. Now, Dalton's pick, now we know it's Jamer.

Max Muncie's out. We have to pick a new third base, and I say we just say something on three. I'm giving the numbers double check. I have my pick. You do. It's funky. This one's a weird one.

Yeah. It's supposed to be one of these strongest positions. Mm-hmm. Historically. All right. I'm ready. Ready. I'm looking at one.

One less. One, two, three. Jamer. Jamer. Jamer. I mean, Jamereranato. I think Jamer Candelario just won his first pedal. And how about it?

How about it? Thank you, darling. Sorry to scare you again. No, we were just curious. I wasn't crapping myself this time. Last time I was scared.

You were scared. This time I was okay. And I didn't like that. Well, I'm going to keep you here real quick. You have Matt McLean as your shortstop, but he just hasn't played enough games. I know.

And on the sheet, listen, on the sheet, I haven't read Nitalics because I highlight that he has not played a lot. The one thing is like a lot of the shortstop, like, somehow McLean's in comparison to these guys,

and he's played way less. And he's been one of the guys. We talk about L.A. Dela Cruz for the Reds in that offense. We talk about Spencer's Deere. Matt McLean's got to get a little bit of love. You know we talk about Matt McLean. Oh, I know you guys. You know.

Don't. Don't, I know. Don't say that the Reds offense is functioning without Matt McLean. A couple things here. One, let's give Jammer Candelario a little bit of love. Yeah. I think the Detroit Tigers didn't tender him. if I remember correctly.

And then he signs with the Nats. And he's doing this now. So good for him. And this is a guy that- He'll be an interesting name over the next month. He led the AL in doubles in 2021, Trev. I know you're a big doubles guy. Love that.

And this year- He's doing well too, so I'm in for the pick. And I think this year he's got 26 doubles, which is top three in the MLB. Top-M-L-B, so he's been very good. He's slapping it around a little bit of Natt love on the show. And that Dalton-Feeley segment was brought to you by the Farmer's Dog

before we get to the shortstop and the outfield. Farmers Dog, Noodle loves it. I had a couple people DM me this weekend because we just had our trivia show come out that had code names and it has me enacting Noodle's emotions while he eats it. And a couple people reached out and we're like, that's pretty intense, man. Well, noodles's intense when he eats it. The Farmer's Dog, it's higher, quality.

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50%. That's a real deal. Trev, I know you're coming up against it over there. We are, too. Johnboy, he's having more babies every time I see him. The shortstop position, you guys teased it. Matt McLean is screaming up. I am in agreeance that he hasn't played enough yet,

but boy, is he coming up on Lindor, Perdomo, and Swanson. We've seen a lot of Lindor and Swanson pop up over these lists. We've seen Perdomo the whole year, too, which he's been a little bit of a platoon situation. We haven't known what to do with that at the start. I think he's starting to play more as he's proven that he can hit against the other side as well. Trev, I guess what's jumping off the page to you?

I thought this was going to be an easier discussion, but it's just not. Because a shortstop position is so different where, you know, I lean defensively heavy on it. If you can hit, great. but there is just a lot of different things going on. On our sheet we have, like you mentioned, then Dora Pardomo Swanson.

We honorable mention to Arcia, Bogart's and Trey Turner. Trey Turner's not sure why he got an honorable mention to be honest. He'll be coming. He'll be coming. He's coming. Okay, I like that. Again, not a great offensive season for short stops in the NL. McLean is doing his thing,

but again, he's just not there yet for us. Love that for everybody. He's not there yet for us. So Pardomo has the highest OPS. Got the highest on base percentage at 388. I don't know, man. Swanson's leading all the defensive metrics, so he has it there, but offensively he's just not slugging.

Lendora's got the most homers. You can go back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. I'm looking for something that really separates, and I ain't finding it, coach. For me, I agree with everything you said, but I think I have my answer, and I don't know if we're overthinking it. And I think it was the same conversation last month, minus Matt McLean. I'd vote Dansby again. Like you said, the defensive metrics love Dansby.

He won the gold glove. He passes the eye test. And the offensive numbers, you're right. The slugging isn't there, but he's getting a lot. on base at a 352 clip. You know, the batting average, 264, that plays that what I'm looking for for my shortstop, I'd love if one of these guys was standing out a little more. He's got Perdomo on 10 games, which you'd like to see more, but that's also a little deceptive

because it's 100 at bats. Because I think that games isn't game started. So, you know, Perdomo might be coming in later in the game. I think he gets into every game he doesn't start at some point. That Dansby Swanson has more than a hundred more at bats against them, which again, shout out to Pardomo for even being in this conversation because he's been so good when he's out there. But for me, I want my shortstop out there.

I want my shortstop to be able to pick it. Lindor and Swanson become the conversation there and I lean Danesby. I was going to honestly talk about Pardomo and kind of lean that way. You're kind of talking me into the games there. There's some what each guy's asked to do in their line. up, Perdomo. I think when he does start it, I don't think it's changed that he's mostly towards the bottom. Swanson's up in the top or middle of that Cubs lineup.

Defense loves all three of those guys. I was preparing myself to make this Perdomo argument because I know the defense is there and his strike out and walk numbers have an edge over the other guys. But I think my vote, I think, is leaning Dansby. You guys convinced me. I'm going dance me. I wish it was prettier, Trev. I can hear the emotions in your voice. It feels like it should be easier, but it's just not.

I will say, I think this will be the last time we can fend off Perdomo with those pure stats. He has been playing more. And towards the second half of June, he was getting some lead-off game. So you're right, and I agree with you, BPD. Like, at the start of the year, a lot of 7, 8, 9. If he's starting to lead off and do those things for the snakes, his... A month of numbers at the top of the order should close that AB disparity a bit.

Give me more per domo. So the infield is rounded out. By the way, just while we're... With what the tone around the Mets has been, I couldn't believe Lendor's having this good a year. Yeah, I mean, it's a little funky. I mean, 225 batting average. That's not who he is.

I think in everyone's head, Lindor is like a 275 guy, but the power, the power and the defense. So he could easily come and snag it at any point as well. Matt McLean, hello. Looking ahead, Xander's off to a great start of July. He may reenter next month. The outfield position. I do think there are a couple layups that can be made.

coming off of the previous teams. We had Ronald CUNY Jr. He has been running it. Teaser, he will continue to. Martian Outman, wow. Forget about April sometimes. And then Mookie Betts and Corbyn Carroll rounded it out last time. Trev, I'm going to ruin the way we normally do this. Ronald Cunia Jr. in, don't compare how you're measuring it.

4.5 F-W, 4.9B war, 20 homers, and what's, 37 stolen bases. He will be in one of the corners. We're going to run into a problem here. Okay. Because yes, he's good. Snastair O'Cunia. Great.

We have to have a center fielder in there. Yes. Now you're saying one of Mookiee bets or Corbyn's out. because you can't get Corbyn Carroll has played 26 games in center field 44 in left field and 21 and right I'm not giving him a center field designation I'm not okay can you you can't do that right

where's he been playing because this has been this has been part of the conversation because we's kind of a split he was currently designated as center field which now would make things very complicated very messy Last month he was our center fielder. Did we not pay attention to that last month?

No. He'd been, he's been mixing it all three outfield spots, I think. In June, man, they play him all over. But in June, he played one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten. He appeared in ten games in center field, in June. Does that make him a centerfielder? I think he plays centerfield.

It sounds like after 10 games in center in June, I think he's more of a center fielder now than he was a month ago. Do we even have a center fielder listed on this sheet right now? The guys in blue have been designated as center field. Brandon Nimmo is a centerfielder. I knew that. Corbyn Carroll plays centerfielder. center field regularly.

I think it's been good. I'm sorry that the snakes are so cracked defensively that we call up Youngha Alec Thomas and we put him in center. Is that a sin? It's hurting you. Bro, we have standards here. Don't... Right. Don't forego those standards because it's going to be a difficult decision.

Okay, so let me think about this. Corbyn Carroll. he has currently played 26 games in center field we're about half halfway through the season so he would only play 50 games in center then I guess I would not put him

as my center fielder so that means we got to go TJ Fredel Fidel Friedel I mean I don't think Friddle's playing how much center center player It's looking to how much center he's played like games

That's I'm saying we don't have a lot of center field options here Okay he's playing center field So, 57 games, 47 starts. My game started. Carol is 36 starts and left, 20 starts in right, 17 in centers. He's out. The lowest of those three.

He's out. So then it basically comes Nimmo or Friedel. Nimmo's been out there every day playing center field. Holy schnikes. I was not expecting to have this conversation. I thought this was going to be very easy. I thought we're going to have to say Juan Soto, thanks, but no thanks. for now and Tautice Jr.

Thanks, but no thanks. But now we're having this discussion where not only have those guys not going to make it, but one of Corby and Carroll or Mookiee Betts, and I go ahead and look at those statistics next to each other.

That's going to be a tough one. Now we're talking about Friedel and Nimmo. Friedo's got the stolen bases. He's got the average. He's got the OPS. I have my answer. Okay. Give it to me.

With everything that has just come to light in front of us here today. I've got a guy that's playing centerfield every goddamn day. And we kind of, he's constantly are like, just missed, you played great, kid. I want a center fielder who's out there every day. And I want a center fielder who puts up numbers. And Brandon Nimmo is the guy doing that on this list.

So he is my center fielder. Okay. Okay, I got one more thing to look at before I give you my answer for centerfielder. It's fine. I'm getting it up right now. Yeah. Okay. Okay.

Congratulations to Brandon Nimmo, our center fielder for the month of June. It's the right move. It's not easy to play. We have standards here, people. It would have been easy. We also didn't think, but we just gave him center field last month, Corbyn, Carol. But I think the percentages were different. It must have been.

I think he was on pace to play a lot more, more than half of his games at center field. Now he's not. Now we have to decide between Corby and Mookiee Betts. For posterity's sake, I think my vote is for Friedel, but Mnimo, congratulations. Okay.

Thank you. No sweep. I respect that. Sheesh. The members through June are crazy, similar between these two guys. Let me drive home the point again, because when you start going into center fielders in the National League,

like Swinsky comes into play, Marsh, some other guys, and it's really hard to play center field. So that's why the games played became the deciding stat for me. I think 80 starts in center field, or 79 starts 80 games for Nimmo. So that of itself is very impressive. So now I have to pick between Corby and Mookiee Betts you're telling me. No Juan Soto.

No Tatis. No Lane Thomas. There's an argument to be made for Juan Soto. Because he's, I mean, 921 OPS for Soto, 923 for Mookie Betts, 925 for Corbyn Carroll. Good luck with that. Jesus. Soto and Mookie have same plate appearances. I think defensively, you know, who.

better in that situation, but the B-Wor likes Soto. F-War likes the other guys. To me, it's between those two guys, Betts and Carol. For now, Satis Jr., like coming on pretty dang strong, to be honest with you.

How good defensively he is out there, but he's not in my conversation for this month. So it's between Carol and Muki. He closes a game threshold in a month. I have a moose. Mookie Carroll pick. Okay. Go for it.

I have mine too. I think I have mine. Say it on three. Okay. Three, two, one. Corby Carol. Corby and Carol. OPSS plus, dude.

24. He's doing everything offensively, Mookie is doing. 24 stolen bases to seven. Here's the thing also, though, I don't know if this hurts or helps Mookie's. but like he might be playing shortstop for the Dodgers.

Well that's what I'm saying. Corby Carroll's yelling at Mookie saying I'm playing center, Pop. Like Mookie's, it's, I want to like give him credit for what he's been able to do. I want to look at his game logs right now because there it's, right now this year he's played 11 games at shortstop, 17 games to second base, 53 games in right field. So he qualifies for outfield. But the fact that he plays second base and shortstop, too, is, nuts to me and it actually makes me want to change my freaking pick do you want to

you till's coming it doesn't matter i know that oh utility i i mean i think i think i think i'm seeing enough that i like corbin carroll we stay with corbin carroll we stay with corbin carroll bam we do it congratulations to our three outfielers who is it again acunia carroll and our center fielder was nimmo yes gosh can you please make that very apparent on our sheet that we put out on social media that like we have to have a center fielder the plays no we just we want the engagement we need the comments oh my gosh dude just firing us okay so then that let's just go to you till that's let's because if we're saying and and he should be included in this because he is moving around yeah playing the middle infill positions and he's playing

outfield. I think Mookie Betts wins in a landslide. I'm close. Congratulations, Mookie Bet on winning utility. And does that keep him in for a daisy this year? It's misshapen, but it's No, he missed April. He missed April. Which honestly

James Outman ticket. Makes me feel a little better about everything. Hassan Kim just got fucked a little bit. He's been awesome. Gosh, that's so true. He's been awesome. But, I mean, Trev, you made an incredible point.

Mookie Betz has a 9-2-3 OPS, a 553 slugging, playing middle infield and, you know, one of the higher caliber right fields you can play, that, yeah, that should not be ignored. That Hassan Kim, although he's been awesome and incredible defensively up the middle, which gives him really good war, he's been hitting well, a 757 OPS,

but a difference between, a 923 OPS hitter and a 757 OPS hitter it's really not it's really not you take the 923 every time Mookiee Betz utility player is like

fucking show hey winning the AL MVP it's going to happen every every year they have you doing Dodgers I need shortstop dog and Mookie's like I'll do it Mookie is playing shortstop for the Dodgers

What year is it? Okay. We need a DH, dude. I feel like I just got beat up. Solair just got invited to the All-Star team. J.D. Martinez matches. McCutcheon's been great. Is his on base around four bills?

Are you kidding me? Lord of Scriel Jr. Too many outfield. Too much outfielders. There's so many outfielder's, dude. What is this? Soto and Tatis? Castellanos is an all-star

They don't even get to be like invited to the convo You have a DH I feel like I just got beat up I'm looking to see how much McCutcheon's deaged Okay Yeah I think of this group of four I would assume he's DH He's D-Hed

He's D-Hed Him and J.D. Martinez are D-Hing They are D-Hing I mean so is Solair I think right So they don't play defense Oh, he snuck out to right field 20 games. Good for you, Horace. He's got a big arm.

But still majority DH. 60 DH. Qualifies for DH, absolutely. Okay, so now we're talking. We got three real deal players here. I mean, JD is out slugging everybody. His OPS is higher than everybody. The homers are, you know, behind Solair by three,

but he's got more ribbies than everybody. He's got more doubles than everybody. He's got more triples than everybody. I think I'm leaning JD here for my DH. I love the 400 OBP. He's only got a 305 OBP. Gosh, that changes my mind a little bit. But what does it matter if you're slugging better?

Slugging substantially better. Break, this is tough. The OBP. I kind of want to split the gap with Solair. Yeah, I mean, look, F4 has him at 1-6. Him and McCutcheon at 1-6, and J.D. Martinez is at 1-1-1. Are they being helped by a couple defensive opportunities?

I'd assume McCutche and can't be. Nine stolen bases for Cutch. Hoo-hoo-hoo! JD's got a real, real low walk percentage and a real, real, real high strikeout percentage. I was going to go him, but I'm just now I'm thinking maybe there's a different route here. I try to retweet.

Okay, I got my guy. I think I've decided. I'm going Jorge Salair. And you, Poppy? You can't have this dead air on the podcast, bro. Let's go. Let's say something. We edited it out.

Sorry, Bebs. Right now I'm on Cutch. Sorry, Bebs. Oh, he's on Cutch. I'm on Coulare. So now it's... It's crazy that it's not J.D. It's crazy that it's not Cutch.

It's Jorge Soler. I'm comfortable. Because that OBP from J.D, that's crazy. I can't believe. believe it's down there. McCutcheon, the on-base percentage is awesome, but he's got 10 homers to Soler's 22?

That's a lot. That, like, that's... We've got players on this All-JM team that have 12 homers. That's the gap from McCutcheon to Solair. Solair also two more doubles. Jorge Soler, All-JM, first time.

How's he look in the shower? Yes. Same answer as before. And that brings us to our last decision here. And Zach Gallen has one April. He has one May. Has he done enough for you to keep his Silver Daisy hopes going? Yes and no.

He isn't a wrong answer. This is awful, man. What? that Stroman Some of the choices we have here Bryce L, they're sitting with a 244, Gallin's at a 302, Kerrishaw's at a 255,

Steele and Stroman for the freaking Cubs, 243, 247 respectively. Some really, really good starting pitching coming out of the National League. This is going to be a tough one for me because Gallin is not running away with it. He does have the most innings pitched through June. The FIPP likes, I mean, he has better

fit than any of the other pitchers, which means something means a lot to be honest with you. But some of the other guys are right there with them. This is going to be a difficult decision. Clayton Kirshah. Justin Steele is compared to the other four guys behind on innings. That might have him out of my head. It's a significant number.

Zach Gallen having. But what's innings per start, though? Because he only has 15 starts. So it's not his fault. Yes. I think there was. send no. You know, like I, you know, 20 innings is significant to a team in a bullpen.

I do love ERA at the end of the day. Clayton Kershaw. That's your vote, huh? That's my current vote. He's got the highest Ks per nine. Gosh, man. These guys are all so close right now. I don't want to just choose that gown to keep his Silver Daisy hopes alive.

FIP loves them Or not. Three ERA, tough to look at. Shut up. You know I'm a new school brain. ERA. ERA doesn't matter. Geree doesn't matter.

That everyone talks about. Levers, what do you got? Do I even need to make a decision here? You're going to have to make a decision because for me, I like that. Like where the innings pitched ERA Whip Like where that

Converges I can't shake Marcus Strowman And what he's what he's been doing this year with the Cubs I've been praising a lot of guys along the way here On strikeouts and walk rates and his are I suppose technically the worst of this group But Innings pitch

That's a wild card picture me He's not allowing any He's not allowing any hits not allowing homers the innings are there okay okay you're going brys elder i'm going clain kirchersh he's going to get the pedal for this month uh the numbers are all very very close um a couple things i'm looking at and maybe i shouldn't be look at this but just it's cliton kershaw the career longevity uh has been great he is and this is out of our brain he is he is hurt right now.

But he's been pitching so well and he's had to keep that Dodgers rotation afloat, man. Like when everyone's getting injured, he's got a bunch of young guys coming up. He's been so consistent when they needed him to be. So Zach Gallen, you're close. Bryce Elder, you're close. Stealing Stroman. Look out, dude. Cubbies.

I'm going Clinton Kirschall here. If they ever figure it out, stealing Stroman. Those guys won two is nuts. A crazy ending to the all-JM team. You want to know something crazier? Yes. This is Clayton Kershaw's first pedal. It's about damn time.

About damn time the sports media got something right. That's a tough one right there. All-JM team, June. Tell us why you like our list so much. That's what you'll do. She sucks. Scream in the comments. Retweet the graphic.

Get angry. You just ruin my day. But it's okay. I love being here with you. You got great teeth. There's your update. Need a dentist to tell you that? Lost more.