Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - Astros Sign Josh Hader to MASSIVE Deal | 768

Episode Date: January 22, 2024

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Hello and welcome to talking baseball. Josh Hader joins the Astros. That's a nice bullpen, Stevenson and Yareel. They sign as well. Relievers, they're going. Hello and welcome to talking baseball. Thank you very much for joining us today. We hope you had a fantastic weekend.

The off-season continues to go at a slow place for everyone except relievers. My name is Jimmy. Jake is here, Trev's here, BPD behind the dish, brought to you by seat geek, Code Talking, helps you out over there. Josh Hader, the number one reliever in free agency

comes off the board and two more quickly follow him to the angels and blue jays. But the big story is Hater to the Astros and Jake to my left. Maybe relievers for one of those guys. James Treviolo, big, big dude. Hope everyone had a great weekend.

Good for football. Have one weekend a year. It's basically over now. Don't need to watch the rest of the way. I think Broncos will just take it home. And yeah, Hater, you know, I think we were all kind of daydreaming another Texas team. And I think it's always funny,

it's always funny when Houston shows up in the offseason. It's kind of like we have a good team no matter what, but at some point we're going to flex on you. And they do it with kind of the guy respected as the best reliever, if not the best lefty reliever. And yeah, they've got a back end now. And I'm getting excited for Texas baseball this year. How about them cowboys, Trev? Them cowboys.

I know we said haters is the most important part of this episode. But James, I don't think that's true. I think you want to bring something up. I just want to get out in front of it right now. We had our guy Gabe Kapler put together maybe the greatest. single video in video history last night. Do you guys want to talk about it? I need to talk about it because I always thought Gabe Kapler was a cool dude that we looked up to.

And this video is like Michael Scott levels times a bejillion. So it's Gabe Kapler. Maybe that was his point. If he's joking, it's hilarious. If he's not joking, it's real scary. It's real scary if he's not joking. And I don't mean to be rude, Gabe. Can we play it?

Can we play a little snippet of it? Play a little snippet. I've got a snippet. There's copyrighted music. Maybe on YouTube you're not hearing any of it. Don't let that make you get in the car. Just walk faster. Exclusive.

So he opens up and clearly this situation just happened to him. He's walking and he says, hey guys, if you are going somewhere, that's a 10 minute drive, but also that same route, it says it's going to be 15 to 17 minutes walk. So that's a pretty unique need to be somewhere point A to B that isn't applicable to everyone. And then he says, well, the 10 minutes is probably going to be accurate driving. But that 15 to 17 minutes, you can just walk faster and cut fast. three to four off. So maybe that stops you from getting in the car.

Just walk faster. I don't even know where the motor. Spot the lie, James. I don't know where the motivation even is in that motivational speech. Like he didn't land the plane or the metaphor at all. Is crazy. Can I tell you what I think he's thinking? I think he's thinking Apple's got or whatever GPS service he uses has the cars locked

down, but not enough people are using the walk feature. I think he's saying the walk feature isn't right. Oh, I don't think he's saying that. I think what he's trying to say is like, oh, you're trying to lose weight and get your steps in. Well, you know what? Every time you go to the grocery store, park in the farthest spot away and get those steps in. And that's just a little bit you can do to exercise more in your life. I think he's going for that sentiment.

But his in the grocery store thing, that's something people say because it's very relatable. the 15 to 17 minute walk, 10 minute drive, you're probably only in L.A. Going from like Starbucks to the beach. Can I say something as another well-thought-out man like, Gabe? If you can't trust yourself when all men doubt you, but make allowance for their doubting you. Yeah, that's Kipling.

That's Gabe Kapler's Twitter profile. I love that. That's one of the best poems ever, If by Kipling. Look, for all the teams trying to gain advantages on the margins, that's what Gabe Kapler's doing, guys. That's why he's a highly sought after executive right there. If you can bear to hear the words you've spoken,

twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools. Jim, you might be bringing back Yank Sox rivalry, That battle for fourth and fifth place, Gabe running the socks, couple thinking men. But honestly, if you... You two bumping horns. If you're Gabe's boss, you have to text and be like, this a joke.

There's a joke because we can't be bringing... I love you, Gabe. I want that on the record. We can't be bringing this type of insight to the GM meetings. Because that's basically saying, hey, man, that guy, he looks like a pretty good prospect, but that one's ranked higher. Let's go with that one.

What if the other prospect walks faster, Trev? Let's talk about... Josh Hader, guys. Let's talk about our guy. This is a big one. The Astros don't usually sign guys to this amount of money. And we have some turkey math that makes it like the highest signing for a reliever ever, which I thought was bull crap. But I get it.

So anyway, Josh Hater goes to the Astros on a five-year $95 million contract. No deferrals. which makes it the largest contract ever given to a relief pitcher in terms of present-day value because Edwin Diaz's $102 million contract with the Mets has deferred money, and that depreciates or whatever. So Astros got their guy. Now, they usually don't spend this big. I think this is the most they've spent on a,

the most in they've spent on a free agent in Jim Crane's whole tenure, with the Astros because they were very much like, you know, they tanked and they had the best prospect pool and have done really well nurturing their own down on the farm. But they lost so many relievers and they had an amazing bullpen. I think they lost four or five guys from last year's crop. So you're going to be in the postseason. You're the Astros. Go get your guy.

They got Joe Shater. I love this signing for them. It's, it's, it's, you, you mention all the guys they lose from the bullpen. They didn't lose anybody like this. You know, you bring in a guy Josh Hater who like quite possibly might be taking over for one of the best postseason relievers ever. Like Ryan Presley has said he's willing to give up the ninth inning for Josh Hater. That's how much it means for those guys to get back into the World Series, win another one. He understands that.

You got to bray you, Presley, and Hader, and you can just mix a match and do whatever you want at the end of the game. I mean, I think it is a savvy move. And we are, I think every time we talk about the Astros, we talk about like they're in, they're about to be in a transitional stage with these guys that have been there for so long, becoming free agents.

I mean, they got to deal with Altuva, they got to deal with Bregman. Even Presley is going to be out of there unless they keep these guys. So I think that's going to be one of the, stories the next couple years is what do they do with this it's a dynasty you like you know i think it is what what do they do with it how do you keep all these guys around we'll see one of the ways to keep your dynasty going is to sign the best reliever going right now doesn't he has doesn't he have the longest score this inning streak in baseball history isn't that him

40 something i don't know google it he pbd's got the fingers gone so it's jimmy it's Incredible, man. Best hair. Nice guy. We've gotten a me, Hater, a couple times. Good dude. And, hey, Trev, you know, when it comes to money and contracts, him and Diaz, I know there's some funky math you got to do.

Jim found the stat you're looking for. Boom, belted a lead off Homer off Hader, whose streak of 40 straight scoreless appearances dating to last season matched Houston Astros reliever Ryan Presley for longest such stretch in MLB history. So a fun fact attached. Would you look at that? Buddies on the back end. Me and Trevor Plouf's story.

For Hater, yeah, you walk away saying I got the best reliever contract in MLB history. Guys get proud on that. And Trev, he's basically getting, you know, double that because no state income tax in beautiful Texas. So Hater's just going to be collecting more than Diaz. So he can flex that on him if he really wants to. The back end of their bullpen's awesome. Brian Abrayu is like baseball nerd sneaky like, you know, he might be the best reliever in baseball. He's really good.

He's really good. Ryan Presley at the end of a playoff game, sign me up. I don't know what pitch is coming. Neither do you. And now they get Josh Hader back there. So they'll probably be able to match up left and right if they want at the back end. Or if we're being honest, I think if Josh Hader's Josh Hater, that's kind of just the guy you want. So we'll see how that looks like.

if I'm Yordon Alvarez, I'm psyched. They both have five years on their contract, so Yordawn's like, I never have to see that guy. That's pretty cool. Like that's one last thing. And yeah, I mean, this felt very Houston to me. Like Jim was saying the other side of it, free agency, this is technically Crane's biggest contract he's given out in 12 years to a free agent.

But they've locked up Altovae, they've locked up Bragman, they've locked up Yordaun. When your players are that good, you can just pay them. so you don't have to go deep sea fishing or just have the Mets pay Verlander and then trade for him a little later. They don't have Bragman locked up, right? They originally signed him to- He signed an extension. Now that's almost up. But that's, I think-six years they had him. Because for me, yeah, this conversation is Houston's Houston.

We're going to see them in October. Are they feeling good? What does it look like? I think the bigger conversation is Verlander, he's got 140 innings to vest to get one more year. otherwise this is his last year. So Justin Verlander's like an injury away from being one year. Altova and Bregman are on their last year of their contract, sinking up. So as we watch the Texas Rangers hold the World Series trophy.

And like you're saying, Trev, this, you know, this team is a dynasty. Label them however you want if you think they're a bad dynasty. You know, I'd take those results. Give me a bad dynasty if you think you need three to make a counter, or whatever your rules are. Give me dysentery. Or give me death. I'm interested to see that we've been wondering,

Springer left, Correa left, when's it going to feel different? Like there's a chance next year when we talk about the Houston Astros. It could actually feel different. But for this year, I mean, they're going to be one of the dogs in the AL. Yeah, I think they've been able to do.

Oh, sorry, James, go ahead. I was, I think they're going to lock up Well, I don't think so. But if you read all the rumors, the general public seems like, and I think Crane said Tucker and Altuvae and Bregman might be the out one out, which is kind of crazy.

But who knows, maybe they lock all of them up. They've probably been doing pretty well financially. Yeah, that's the thing is, you know, they've had so much success and they haven't, you know, gone out and signed a ton of free agents and had bad contracts on the books. So I do believe, yeah, at some point, you got to take some of that.

money that you've made making all those postseason games and and keep these guys around but at the same time when you keep bringing young guys up like a yordawn like a kyle tucker like a jeremy pain yeah and those guys are making you know league minimum until you have to pay them which obviously they paid some of those guys uh that becomes like the new core so when a guy like korea leaves or a guy like springer leaves it doesn't feel like you're losing out on everything it just feels like oh that's just we keep we keep on marching dude so even if bregman leaves it's like will it hurt and will it look a little different sure but they still have all these pieces to make up for it and guess what i guarantee they got some guys in the pipeline coming up too they're just a well-run organization yeah you're right

they also just on the signing it is the most they ever spent on a free agent in crane's tenure also Hater rejected the qualifying offer, so they're giving up a second, their second highest pick in the upcoming draft and 500 grand in international bonus pool money. So this was a big one. It was a big one, yeah. Trev, the farm thing is interesting.

You're right. There's definitely an Astros or the Astros till they're not the Astros. Their farm doesn't look like it used to. I know they've found guys from different parts that were like, did these dudes come from, but right now I don't think they've got a top 100 prospect. Like, you know, hey, with that being said, Jeremy Payne is 26.

Yainter Diaz is, well, Janor Diaz is 25. Like, it can become the lifeblood of a team. I think we're at a super interesting spot because originally just off the top of my head, I was like, you know what, maybe you stretch out Tuve's years and you can lower the AAV on it. And, you know, he's a, he's an astro for life. You pay him until he's 41. and even if he's, if it doesn't look pretty at 40-41, you know, that number that you're paying him doesn't hurt you as much.

And like, you lock that up. Bregman, man, the career war on these guys is insane. Like, Alex Bregman has 35.4 career war. He was a five-war player last year. Altufe, 49.3 career war. Like, these guys in my head, because we did hear Bregman trade rumors this offseason. and hey, who knows what kind of money that guy can demand.

If he has a big year this year, he's going to demand one of those, I don't know, 200 million, like, like he's one of those guys. So that's where it does get interesting. And you guys know I daydream about Kyle Tucker's potential next contract way more than I should. So I don't know, interesting, interesting 12 months coming up for H-Tunkey Tom, Funky Tom City where the top drop, City of the Purple Drank, Kelsey Winger. And you, Gregman is going to play this year at age 30.

He's going to have an 850 OPS. And he's going to demand what, I don't know, $25 to $30 million a year for five to six years. I mean, that might be light. Like this guy is, as consistent as it comes. And if you tell me if you think the same. Like body type and kind of the way they play,

it doesn't feel like that's going to diminish anytime. soon. The 30 mark isn't going to hurt these guys. They just, I feel like we're going to see Alex Bregman and Jose Al-Tube, I mean, forever. It feels like they're going to play baseball forever and be like upper end players in the big leagues forever. Like their skill set will allow that. So yeah, I mean, it's going to be interesting to see how they handle all these guys because you mentioned Kyle Tucker. What are you going to do with him? All these things. They have, they have some decisions coming up, but in the end, you get Josh Hater. And can you imagine there's not a better one, two, three. in the back end of a bullpen anywhere else.

So you like, you like Brighman's body type. Well, baseball reference has listed six feet 192 pounds. No way. Yeah, I agree.

Guess who else is listed at six feet 190 pounds. Altuve. Bryce Matthews. Guess where he was born, Houston. He was like their number one pick a while ago. He's probably just going to skyrocket up the system and replace Bregman at third.

They gave him six foot on baseball reference. Okay, guys. Let's just. What are you talking about? I mean, who gives that? I don't know, dude. What's your, what your listed as? I'm listed at 6-2.

That's an extra inch. I'm actually 6-1. I know that. Okay. 215? 215? I'm giving Bregman. I'm giving Bregman 5, 10 and a half.

When do you think your weight was 215? I got some. My heaviest years I got up there, like 2015. I was that guy. Do you think you could email them and petition to like, hey, change this? Like, hey, bro, I slimmed down a little bit. I was like, I was like, I'm actually 6-1-198. 1-195.

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I'm at Boot Hill Casino and Resort in Kansas 21 plus ages varied by jurisdiction void in Ontario bonus bets expire 168 hours after issue and cdkNG.com slash football for eligibility and deposit restriction terms and responsible gaming resources resources a little follow-up before we get to the other reliever semi-relievers that got big contracts do you guys think Houston's done? Yeah. Right now the rotation is J.V. Framber, Javier, Hunter Brown, and Erkiti. Good, better than a lot of other places.

With J.P. France, who started last year, and then they put them in a rude spot in the playoffs, but through 136 good innings for them last year. Just playing for him. Lance McCuller should come back mid-season. Your guy, guy, Trev. We think Houston, this is it. We got Hater. Let's roll the ball out there.

I don't. I don't. I think they're looking at their bench. I think that's an area they can improve on. They have three million bucks to spend before they get over the next tax threshold. Yeah, but that's the deadline. Let's pick a dude up. Pick Verlander up. Yeah, maybe. I mean, maybe like a Whitmerfield, something like that. Like a debt piece, man. Like I think that's something that I, the bench is, the bench to me is lacking a little bit. And not this, they don't necessarily need to do that right now. You're right, James. They could, they could wait and see like kind of how their season is going. Who's a very.

All that good stuff. Is that targeted at John Singleton? I mean, Lindsay Singleton, like our number one friend of the show? She listens. There's not one spot on the bench. John can have this ball on the bench.

I think they need somebody else. Good job, that was good job. Shout out of Lynn. Yeah, she's a Disney adult. We're talking about Disney when I went. So shout out ones.

But they got guys. Like, isn't there AAA guys that have been up and down right now? Your guy, Caesar Salazar. He got 19 played appearances last year. Chris Gittins is in AAA for them. That's just fun for us. Yanky.

Hell yeah. David Hensley. He came up in 2021 and was really good. The original Greek freak. It didn't pan out last year. Yeah, but he's tall. We love some Corey Jolls. Oh, he's 27.

He'll get there. He's six years. All right, all right, guys. Dixon Machado. Yes. It's a good name. Kennedy Corona Oh my goodness

That's a hell of a name Kennedy Corona I can't May or may not Have some of those today What was with all the Framber-Bregman Trade rumors this off season

People are bored Because people are saying They're trying to figure out What they're going to do I'm very This is one of the biggest They're going to win They're going to win

Until they're not there And they're going to win After they're gone too They've proven that I mean Garrett Cole Carlos Correa, George Springer. They got rid of Verlander brought him back.

I mean, they are, they don't care. Yeah, the list of guys that have left. Yeah. Is actually wild. Big time players, man. Josh Reddick. Yeah. McCann.

They have to, they have to leave space to add Maldonado at like midseason. Cora. So true. Yeah, Maldonado be back. Hinch. Eltron. Espada. Oh, man.

All right. Let's talk about, I want to talk about, I want to talk about, talk about this next guy do it you want to lead it in i was trying to find the name of that that executive that was like you love him that was orioles just say oriole no not him that's sig no no that like the like

Wall Street bro dickhead guy that was like yelling everyone was trying to remember his name Tomlin like if he wasn't on this show Wall Street dickhead Toppin Tobman Tobman let him die oh yeah yeah yeah yeah I remember that

Okay, tell us all about Robert. Robert Stevenson. I guess I got to get the contract details up for the people. Three years, $33 million. He signs with the Angels, relief pitcher. I just love the story because this is a guy who, I believe, was a first round pick

and kind of like bounced around to a couple of different teams. He was in CINSI. He was with Pittsburgh last year, with like just very average results in the pen. Like, had stuff, but, you know, you're pitching to a four or five out of the pen, you're going to be a middle guy. You're, you're,

it's not doing anything for these teams. And all of a sudden, Tampa trades for them. And every time Tampa trades for somebody, you're like, uh-oh, like, what are they going to do? And all they did. My goodness. This guy had the stuff, but their pitching coach,

Kyle Snyder, who I believe will probably be a manager somewhere soon, uh, says, hey man, stop throwing your slider like this and just, you know, do this or whatever it was. Just move your fingers a little bit. And he became the best reliever in baseball at the end of last year. People were swinging and missing more than they were making contact on his slider.

I think they classified as a cutter, but it's a slider. I watched a bunch of highlights on him. Dude, and it's also not needs to fix it. It's nasty. It's a slider. It actually doesn't have a lot of horizontal movement. It's vertical drop.

No. It's like a bullet slider that just go. So it does. It's not like a break. But it's down. He added VLO on it, and that one is, to me, that Velo, he got from changing his grip on the race. Then it became more, like, vertical and down. Yeah.

And when you watched him early with the Pirates last year, it was a little bit more horizontal. But it's 97 at the top of the zone. So you have to respect that. And then he just gets great arm action on that pitch, whatever he calls it a slider. Yeah. But he gets great arm action on that pitch. And it's just, you see. the swings the guys are taking on it

and it's it just disappears. It looks like a fastball out of his hand and it's gone and man he found that pitch. I think that's what people will probably say about this is well he did it for 30, 40 innings last year and that's like the best he's ever been. Can

he continue with that? And to that I say yes. Yeah. The only question. Now he knows how to hold this baseball a certain way and he makes it do funny stuff and that is the life of a pitcher man. I love it. I love these stories. I love these stories, this guy, if he didn't find this pitch, if Kyle Snyder didn't say, hey, put your fingers like this, he'd be, you know.

Yeah, but we're coming to a trouble in and out of baseball. And all of a sudden, ban, you got $33 million coming your way. I love this, man. I love it too, but I mean, the angels are going to fuck them up. I mean, no, he has all the data now. That's what they thought with fucking, um, the guy, uh, pitcher from the Dodgers that came over. He, heaney. No, not heaney. Oh, they got the other one. Tyler Anderson. The Dodgers fixed him. This is what the angels do.

They just go after pitchers that the Dodgers or the Rays or another team fix, you know, and then they bring him into their rotation. They're like, you'll be good for us now, right? And it's like, oh, never mind. I guess coaching matters. So, sorry. They got new coaches, James. They got new coaches.

They're all new coaches over there. I'm rooting Robert Stevenson on. Don't listen. Just call Snyder up on his, like, backup phone and send him pictures of your grip and your fingers. and, like, you know, he'll be nice about it. If you're Kyle Snyder, Treff, you're a businessman. Yeah.

Don't take a managerial job, Kyle Snyder. Just be like a contracted pitching coach. Yeah. Like, and have all of these guys throw you 100K and don't have to deal with any of the bullshit. Because, yeah, I mean, you do have to be honest. And that's where James comes in sometimes. If this was the Dodgers or the Ray's resigning him,

we'd probably be going, watch out for Bobby Steve maybe being the best closer next year. Instead, there's a little bit of fear. And with how volatile relief pitchers can be, it's a little bit of a scary signing for the Angels. I hope they're gross back there. Estevez had an awesome season. I'm going to fight back with you guys.

It is a cutter. It's just a down cutter. We're cutting it down, baby. It's got a lot of movement. I hope it's fully clicked. And, hey, like you also said, Trev, there's the good stuff here. He found the pitch. He's like a first round arm talent. Maybe it's just coming together and maybe it's low mileage and he's going to be nasty for the next three years.

I mean, with any signing and we're not these guys, but, you know, in the Ray's School of Business, like Nick Anderson, remember how much he came up and then he had some injury problems. There's always a little bit of risk. The Angels, they always need pitching. They brought in pitching. Gunner root for Robert Stevenson. If this was with another team, we'd be hype. The Angels leaves you with just a little bit of nerves. But I'm happy for a dude that you're right, Trev. I mean, this guy was doing the MLB vagabond life. The Rockies, the Pirates, the Reds?

I mean, no shots fired. I think those teams will fire their own shots at themselves the past few years that he goes to Tampa. He gets a little bit of that good juice, and he turns it into life-changing money. Like, that part is awesome. It's a great story I'm buying all the Angels stock

I already bought it up sorry guys I think they're gonna be competitive I think no you don't I think they got I do James I really do I like their lineup more than a lot of people Rendon's quotes lately have not been great more than Houston to stop talking to the media please

Treve stop stop stop stop babying the Angels fans I am not babying them James I'm not saying they're going to go win the AOS but I think they're going to be better than a lot of people give their credit for and they've been making moves they're trying at least a whole new coaching staff bringing guys in i okay i get we got to see it

on the field and i get it's justified the way that most of us feel about the angels angels angels fans know that too i'm just saying no they don't guys and they're the most i really i i like them the angels fans should be like desolate but they're they're always believing which blows my mind you know like last year i ranked them having one of the most disappointing off seasons and i got destroyed by our audience, Angels fans. So we're talking about it. It's so good. And I said they got a bunch of reclamation projects.

They're still on a roster. And now they're worse because they lost Otani. I think last year broke them. I think it was the final Otani year. And then they kept them. That was a tough one. It ended Angely again. Yeah.

I mean, Trev, the Rangers, Astros, Mariner's. It's just and what they're doing there. I'll tell you what. I think there's different stages. of Angels grief. I think I was where you were two years ago. I think you're going to feel some anger, probably after this season.

And like how are we doing this? And now I've kind of landed in like a camp counselor lane with the Angels where it's like, I want them to look at me in like 15 years and be like, man, Jake was, you know, he was night. Like he wanted the best for us. But I don't think the best is there. I want Trout in the playoffs. I wanted Otani in the playoffs. That's why it got me so upset.

Yeah. Teams that don't have that talent, I don't really put a lot of care into wanting them to be good. But I wanted the Angels to be really good the last five years. And they never had a proper offseason once. They gave Rendon a contract that Jake and I heard from multiple people at winter meetings before Rendon signed. Don't look for him to get a long-term contract. he openly doesn't want to play baseball for more than two more years.

We heard that from people that very much know the situation and had good insight. And we're like, oh, shit, man. Like, it's that well known that he doesn't like baseball that teams aren't going to offer him. You know who did? The Angels. That's crazy. Yeah, he's got a bad quote out there right now talking about shortening the baseball season,

too many games, which you know what? Like, I think a lot of people can feel that way. I think maybe we take seven games off or something like that, give some more off days to the people. So I almost understand where he's coming from, but that's just not, you don't want, like Anthony Rendon shouldn't be the guys saying.

Because of, you know, how we already view this and what you just talked about. Just kind of like put those two together. Man, that's tough, dude. If he's on your team, if you're an Angels fan, and you got your knee-length dickies on, your black socks and your spiked hair with your chained belt,

like you're probably not happy with that quote, right? No, you're not. He should have just not said that, but like in that episode, like in the clip, like right before he says that line, he does say, and I am saying an answer here that people will take the wrong way. Yeah. Like he knew what he was getting into a little. But he believes it.

He could be able to be able to take in the wrong way. He believes it with all his heart. And I, yes. If they're making the playoffs this many people get in, I am with them. They get like 154 and have it be more organized. So it's easier to watch and follow along.

Because spring training wildcard, series stink. Couple more off days. I'm giving them like one more year to change it. Couple more off days. Get the old's a little more rest. I'm about that life. But yeah, Tony can't say that.

But the most important thing is Tony also doesn't give a shit what we're saying. Oh, no. 100% doesn't care. Although remember, did he fight in Oakland days fan last? Yeah. Opening day.

Yeah. In Oakland. He was like, I don't want to play this. Let me get suspended. That was incredible. Treve, your other guy, I guess you, you know, one of your GM formulas, I talk about my binder a lot. You have your formula. It's Cuban pitchers, or Cuban ball players, excuse me.

And Yareel Rodriguez, he comes over. And he was an interesting for agent, because let's be honest, with a lot of the international guys, we don't know. You don't know what you don't know. You know, he's got some numbers in Japan. He's been closing and he's been doing it at a high level, which seems like there should be some translation there. But he also started for the Cuban national team a little bit. And we're in this era of baseball where we're hunting innings and relievers,

if you can make the jump to become a starting pitcher. Like, it feels like relievers wanted that door to be open for years and it's finally swung open. And he gets a four for 32. So I think one year more with $1 million less than Robert Stevenson, who has basically a big, you know, two-thirds of a year last year and cash is in on it. Yario comes in.

He's supposed to have a big fastball. And with the Blue Jays, who they have a full rotation more or less, the rumor is he did want to sign with a team that was going to give him an opportunity to start. So we think that they're probably telling him, hey, you know, let's keep you stretched out. if injury comes, you're the guy. But the Blue Jays get involved this offseason.

Yeah, this one's interesting for me. I mean, $8 million for a guy is kind of like, you know, what you would give, you know, almost like a middle reliever or something like that, maybe a little higher. But it is interesting how we've seen teams approach trying to get more innings out of their relievers, you know, calling them, whatever you want to call it, a swing starter. But I don't, what my question, I guess, is, like, what makes him believe he can do that? Has he done this before?

It seems to me like he's done like 50 innings, 60 innings, 50 innings. And all of a sudden he skips this year, pitches in the World Baseball Classic, doesn't pitch in the MPB. And now all of a sudden he's going to be a guy that's going to give you 120 innings? Like, how do they, where do they come up with that? Just because he said, that's what I want to do. And they're like, okay, now we're supposed to believe he's going to be a swing starter.

I got to see it. I don't know a ton about this guy. Of course I love that he's Cuban because I believe all Cubans are just, boring better at baseball than the rest of the world. Fight me on that. But yeah, I mean, I got to see it from this guy. I don't know how they're going to use them, but the reports now of him trying to, you know,

have that longer leash, I guess, or, you know, a two, three inning guy. He hasn't done it before, has he? Am I missing something? I'm missing a lot, you know? It feels like these signings, they definitely have more info than the public, which they should, and they should know more.

I just wish I could tap into it somehow or they were a little more open about it or something. Like what was his market? Where other people around this? And is Peter Moyland mad? You know? When he pitched really well in the World Baseball Classic and then got a contract,

I think probably got a minor league deal. They're getting 30 mil now, Pete. Right away. It's nuts. I sent Gabe's video to one of my friends. And his response was, dude, that's not real. No way. Please tell me that's not real.

We don't know if it's real. Yeah, I hope it's not. Gabe could just be the funniest person ever. Yeah, if Gabe, like, text you, like, crying emoji, like, just, like, on the side. Just let me know, because I need to be, I need this taken off me. Do I, should I, I have not texted him. No, you can't. About it.

Do you think he knows that this is going on on the internet? Like, people are saying, like, what? Yeah. I mean, I mean, Gabe, Gabe isn't, is an IG model. He has over 200,000. followers on Instagram. Yeah, but he posts when he goes to his TikTok. But that's like...

He goes to a steak restaurant. But that is like a movie about like a vapid model, like making fun of like the industry of models being dumb. That's like the weather report where she feels her boobs and says it's raining. It's like that level of thought. You're like crazy. Can I read just an excellent response to that? It was our tweet that went out talking about. or showed the video.

And our girl, Vanika, who's been on the show before everyone remembers Vanika, she quote tweeted it and said, he's too hot for his own good because I really sat here and watched this stupid video about walking faster

just to stare at his face. Boom. She nailed it. That's a pretty girl syndrome. I think if I post that video, I'm canceled. Gabe posts that and the world's talking about it.

Oh, shoot, man. Can I say something? I have something about Moyland. Okay. I want to close the loop on Yariol a little bit here. Oh, okay. I have a trade to submit. Okay.

Okay. Yareel Rodriguez from the Toronto Blue Jays for Robert Stevenson of the Los Angeles Angeles. Blue Jays get a high leverage arm on the back end. We'll see the variance there. Angels get a guy with potentially more upside. He's younger. He's just about to turn 27, and maybe he's,

can eat more innings. I just like whoever the Blue Jays signed more. Right. So I'll stick with the Blue Jays guy. Okay. I'll take Stevenson. I'd take Stevenson. Even over a Cuban.

Then you just did the trade. You both just did the trade. Oh, if I'm the Jays, I do that trade, yeah. Who got signed first? Ooh, good question. Same time. And who's up next? Same time. Who's up next on the reliever market?

D. Rob. Naris. Oh, Nerris. Yeah. I think Yareil went first, but that's just off the top. So Hater went and then the teams that were like, well, we're not paying that kind of money for Narris. Like they saw the market and they're like, oh, we're out. Let's go to the tier two.

They went and got Stevenson and Yariol. Article about Peter Moreland when he joined the Braves in spring training from 2006. And a good quote from Bobby Cox here about Moylan. he's a quote is the Australian looked all right he's got a nice little breaking ball and a change up that's a good sign it's not like he cost us a fortune

by the way Peter Moyland at that point throwing a hunch from an angle that an arm's not supposed to do that from I don't know if he was at a hunch yet we can ask him this article says it was in low 90s I think he was I think that was like the whole he'll send us something about Australia yeah

James that you're kind of an expert on it having lived there Well, sure. I said yesterday to a group of people that I'm with, I would love to go visit Australia, like, take a vacation there. And they all said, why? Like, why would you do that? And my response to that was, well, I did a class project early on in my life about Australia. And that's like one of the cooler countries that you can get because, you know, koalas and kangaroos and all that fun stuff.

Great barrier reef. Well, yeah, I don't understand. A lot of cool things about it. My question to you, James. My question to you is, is it worth taking a vacation there? Like, should I do that? Well, definitely, if you're on the East Coast, you need to take like a, like a eight to 10 day vacation

because it's a day flight. So that stinks. So, and it costs a lot of money. But yeah, what, I mean, what are they talking about? Australia is like it's a big destination. It's a huge destination vacation spot. Do people really go there? Okay, I didn't know that.

Yeah. I think there's a lot to do there. A lot of beaches. The opera house, a lot of beaches. Oh, yeah, there's tons of shit. Great Barrier Reef. There's, you know, go up to Queensland. We did the whole Gold Coast.

Yes. A lot of people do when they go is they get like RV campers and they drive up and down from like Canterbury up to Queensland and shit like that. We did that. I want to go back because I haven't been since I... No, don't go to Perth.

I just shout out. I'm not going there. Yeah, don't go. That's where like the fucking crazies are. Just shout out. All the ballplayers are from Perth. Yes. Yeah.

Because that's an island in an island. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Well, thank you for. answering that James. Not an actual island for those people. I'm just like, it's just outback all around them. Yeah,

I want to go back really bad. I haven't been back since I was 10 when I moved away. Talking baseball, Australia tour, 2025, maybe. Moilow's dream. Mowland's already there. That's the news. BPD would kill it in Australia. BBD, I'm just telling you right now.

You know who's killing it in Australia? Greg Bird on Moyland's team. Love that. So many questions. Bring training invite? Do you guys want to give some snaps on these potential quick hitters real quick and then move on our way? Throw them my way. I'm going to mess the name up so you guys go with the first one.

Is it Rachel Balkovic? I'm not even looking at the sheet, but I'm... It is. It is. Congratulations. The Marlins hired Rachel Balkevick as director of player development. Snap. She's really cool.

She's been on the show before. Or a different show? talking yanks talking yanks that's right yeah snaps for dusty baker he reunites with a Giants as a special assistant in the front of office that could be that and I'm not going to snap for this one white socks discussing

possibility of a new ballpark oh okay are we snapping for that no I would guess most teams every office season discuss the possibilities no snaps for that although I do love Chicago keep the guns and the bullets out this time because that fan

got shot and everyone stopped talking about it without finding out what happened, even though we know what happened. That's so true. Oh, man. Cardinal signed D.H. Matt Carpenter. Hmm. Cute. Like it.

Reunions are fun. We always like that. Yeah, reunions are fun. And I think they're just a little desperate for like, can you show the kids the Cardinal way? We kind of lost. 100%. We kind of lost.

A thousand percent. Like Lance Lynn, Gibby. Like, they're just desperate for veteran. Like, this is what it means to be a big leagueer guys. And it feels like they're. They're very much, you know, getting guys in here to be almost like Segway camp counselors. I don't hate it, dude. Sometimes you've got to do that.

Obviously, what happened last year was not acceptable in St. Louis. But they got some veterans there now. Yep. That's the show. Subscribe. Appreciate you. Subscribe. Subscribe.

Subscribe. There's a grotto at the place I'm staying. My goodness. Ooh, Jake sucks. Last thing. There's a urinal in this place that has, on the wall above it, a place to rest your head. You just put your head on it.

Hands down, it's the greatest day I've ever seen. It's nice if it's not gross. It's not. I got to see a picture. Jake, you would love this thing, dude. Oh, yeah. I'll show you. I actually do have a picture of it. Am I tall enough for that ride?

So you see the red pad? Yeah. Oh.