Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - Bryan Reynolds Signs Extension + Under-the Radar Moves That Are Working | 654

Episode Date: April 26, 2023

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Hello and welcome to Talk in Baseball. The Brian Reynolds Extension gets done. There's more home runs in baseball than last year and a couple guys who are killing it under your radar. Let's talk baseball. Low in the zone. My snakes are not hot. Mike Trowell.

Low in the zone. Power. Hello and welcome to Talking Baseball presented to you by Seat Geek. Today's episode is sponsored by Seat Geek. And with over 28 million downloads, Seek is the number one rated ticketing app. There's 70,000 events each day. There's NBA playoffs, NHL playoffs. MLB season is rolling.

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You heard that other voice. You heard that other voice, eh? Hey, it's Trevor Poo from your Minnesota Twins. I wish I'd talk like that. That'd be such a nicer person overall. I use C-Keekeek. I'm going to the game on Friday in L.A. My friend Jack Flaherty's pitching,

and I wanted to get some nice tickets. Do you know what kind of bubble I clicked? Better have been green. It was green as shit. I liked that. Got a great deal. So thanks, Ekeek. What did you say?

Treve, we got to be honest with the people. Jimmy's eyeballs are quitting on him. He's at the eye doctor again. Second time in a week. You feel like shit. I've been out of clothes for five days. That's why I'm wearing a... That's why I'm wearing a turtleneck and a jean jacket.

Things are falling apart. I was in the same room as man. Fred last night. How are you doing? That we kind of I tried to get more out of you about the Manfred situation, but we started talking in politics. So that was interesting. Yeah. I'm doing all right. I'm going to battle through this. As you guys can probably tell, I'm a little congested. I slept like a cone head last night just standing up against the wall, just fell asleep because that's the only way I could breathe. So that's kind of how I did last night. I just said in the opening, my snakes, not hot.

I think we're one 10 and one. Yeah. Don't know what's going on. Parents are frustrated. Are you going to get fired? I think I'm going to quit. I can't take it anymore. Speaking of outfits, I want to throw this out to the people.

Yeah. I'm doing stuff, Valley, all that. I got to get suits. My suits for my playing day is too big. It's thick back then, dude. I can't wear them now. So I got a few, but I need to kind of up my game. I'm going to this one place.

to get some. And I've decided on Joe Ryan starts when I am in attendance. I will be donning the white mock turtleneck similar to what you have on under my suit jacket in homage to my really good friend, Joe Ryan. And I hope that plays well with the people. I just want to let them know. Is this you asking me to pull an Aaron judge with Anthony Volpe and put the call into your suit place and say, you know, I got this one? I got my guy.

I love the judge did that and he better like continue to do that. That's just standard, you know, what your standard protocol. I don't know. Yeah, exactly. No, I got the hookup here. These are my guys from way back. I'd give him a shout out now, but I don't know if that's appropriate. Okay.

Perfect. Um, Trev, your, uh, your twins are railing my Yankees. Why don't you just get it off your chest right now? Because, yeah, some of the stats that are coming out are tough. Happy for your twins. Buck Daddy. Hey, that one barely got out. When he hit that, I mean, the way you flipped those, that thing is in the second deck, barely got out.

But no, twins are, twins are looking good. Starting pitching is looking good. I mean, Sunny Gray was dominant. Joe Ryan scattered some hits, uh, but had a really nice, uh, line at the end of the night. And honestly, I mean, the Yanks are just kind of down bad right now. That back half of the lineup is just ain't looking good. We do talking Yanks. We interviewed Boone yesterday. And we also do Sharp stats with Katie Sharp. She's the best. And yeah, some of the stats are glaring. The Yankees top four in their lineup have been top five in baseball OPS-PS-wise.

The bottom five in the lineup have been bottom three, I think. So yeah, the Yanks are in a really weird spot right now. Happy for your twins. I hope they, I hope they ride it. I hope they're like, hey, screw all those old twin facts that have nothing to do with our twin twins team. Our twins team, eh? Why don't we just go out there and ball out, you know? I've said it before. That's how it's how it's how it is. Like, nobody in that locker is like, oh my gosh, we got to face the Yankees, nobody. All of those years. Brad Radke was so bad against the Yanks. Yeah, did we get beat? Like in the season's

series, sure, but that's nobody was like scared of the Yankees. So twins are looking good. Look, our pitching has been incredible. We got some really, really, we got some really talented dudes in the bullpen. And the starting staff has been great. Hitting, kind of still needs to come around a little bit. So we're like not even firing. You can spin that optimistically. I'm spinning it. Treve, the Pittsburgh Pirates have been spinning it. early and often in this baseball season. Did Sheltie get an extension?

Did I dream that the other day? She'llty got an extension. The pirates are in first place. Brian Reynolds was a very popular topic this offseason. It was one of our biggest episodes of this off season. Brian Reynolds demanded a trade and we all kind of went like, whoa, like baseball players don't do this. It felt like NBA move.

And we all also kind of laughed because we're like, well, they still have them for, I think, three years. So, you know, I don't know. And then we complimented him because Brian Reynolds and Shelty Bow said, like, you know, it's not a distraction at all. Like, he's handling his business. He's everything that the Pirates organization have asked him to do. He has done. And he got off to a crazy start. Remember the first, like, week and a half of the season?

He was leading the league and everything. And we're like, is the price tag going up? he's still having a fine season early on, as are the Pittsburgh Pirates, and the extension is done, Trav. It's eight years, 106.75 milly. It comes out to 13.3 a year. So, I mean, a part of that is buying out final arb years, right? And then it gets added on to that.

It's Pittsburgh's first nine-figure extension. There's now three teams that have not handed one of those out. And Reynolds, Trevor, I think we need to have the conversation on the air. It's kind of where is he on the pantheon of baseball? Because let's be honest, Pittsburgh hasn't been in the forefront of a lot of baseball fans' minds until kind of recently. And he gets a minor, no trade clause, six teams, and no opt-out, which was supposedly the hold-up previously. So, Trevor, with that, what are your thoughts on the Brian Reynolds extension? I'm happy for him

and I'm very curious because the pirates have gotten off to this great start without O'Neill Cruz if it was different let's just say the pirates haven't caught this wave they let the wave pass and there's a lull in the ocean they're sitting out there on their board saying hey man

hey ocean gods can you send another set my way say they're down bad does Brian Reynolds get this extension does Derek Shelton get this extension I'm very very curious man right because it doesn't feel like you should make decisions like that on what 20 game samples but in a way it feels like you're right I know they were they were going towards it in spring training so that kind of points to like

yeah they probably still have done it and at this a AV I think it's a freaking steal for the pirates I really do I mean look I'm not going to put Brian Reynolds in like the upper upper echelon of outfielders in the AL because I don't think he is that but he isn't a well above average center fielder when you take into all facets of his game I mean this guy This guy's a very, very good baseball player. I think that's kind of where his contract ended. I mean, what did you say the AAV was like 13 point something? I don't think he makes over 15 in one particular year until the club option, which is like 20.

So for the pirates, I mean, I think this is just an incredible deal for them. And they're looking now towards the future. And I think if you're a Pittsburgh Pirates fan, not just because of this start, but kind of, you know, you see some of the young guys come up and you're seeing glimmers of hope, it's time to turn your attention towards that, I think, which is great. We want every single team and every single fan base to have the feeling at least what the pirates have right now, that we have potential to win. It's not the case every time. Some teams have it every single year. Pittsburgh certainly hasn't had it in the last few years. But this is definitely a sign that, hey, man, like the window is opening or we're building a

window. How about that? A big old one. The massive window. And Trev, how's your core? I mean, you know, you mentioned O'Neill Cruz has been out of it, but, you know, when he comes back, we still, he's got a chance to be a unique, special player. Guy Brian Hayes, remember, they locked him up. They bought out some of his arb years. You know, that seven-for-80 number or whatever it was. Jack Swinsky, you know, I'm not sure, but he's, he's been hitting like, he's sure. He's 24 that, hey, you have people. You have of a young core here that Brian Reynolds is now locked up. Like if you wanted that Reynolds jersey or that Hayes jersey, you can make your move.

And let's see what it means for these pirates in this young season as they keep winning 16 and 8 one game ahead of the Central. They lock up their manager. So they believe in what they're doing and they're showing that fiscally, which you got to appreciate. And Trev, I do think the conversation is really interesting. And I almost wish we had the microphone going because that's what the people would want. because, you know, when we're in front of the mic, sometimes you've got to be careful of what you're saying. But we were having an honest combo of like,

how good is Brian Reynolds? Like we haven't, I haven't watched too many full Pittsburgh Pirates games in the last three years. So I got into the numbers a little bit, Trev. Ooh. Since, hey, we don't hold back on this show. I don't think I've ever held back anything I wanted to say. Since 2001.

Well, since 2001. Since 2021, the past three years. So no COVID season, no 2020. Okay. Since 2021, I sorted by players that had 800 played appearances. So Brian Reynolds, who's played most of the games over the past three years, he's got like 1,300. So I chopped it down.

I put it to 800 played appearances. So, you know, if you miss some time, you were still going to be on this list. And then I just sorted it by OPS, which again, isn't the end-all be-all, but it's a good, it's a good combination of how much... It's a pretty good indicator. How much are you getting on and how much are you slugging?

That's the whole damn thing, right? So of players that qualified for that. So again, 800 played appearances and then ranked by OPS. Where do you think Brian Reynolds ranked? And this is a really unfair question to you. Wait, give me the breakdown. Who are you ranking outfielders or center field?

This is all players. All players. All hitters. OPS. OPS. From 2021 through now. So 21, 22. He had a big,

2021. I know that. I don't know what his OPS was, but it was high. He had a good 2021. Oh, shit. All players? All players.

I know. It's a tough question. 25th. Brian Reynolds is 16th. He is sandwiched between Kyle Tucker and Mookiee Betts. Wow. So, yeah.

I mean, I'll rip through the list quick just because it's names. It's Judge. Judge Harper, Alvarez, Goldschmidt, Guerrero, Soto, Otani, Freeman, Devers, Riley, Altuve, Jose Ramirez, Alonzo, Ocunza, Alonzo, Ocunee, Ocunner, Kyle Tucker, Brian Reynolds, and then it's Mookiee, Matt Olson, Schwerber, Bogarts, Trey Turner, Machado. So, I think what I said to you off air that I think I'll say again now is if Brian Reynolds played for, a Boston, a New York, the Cubs, the Dodgers. I think we would have a lot more respect for him. That OPS is not, that's not a gag OPS. That's a real number.

That, yeah, man, that, I think there's an argument that the contract, you know, if Brian Reynolds plays it out and he's healthy and he hits free agency the right way, he probably could have hit a bigger number. Like you've said before multiple times, Brian Reynolds, he doesn't have to risk the next two and a half years of injury or bad play. And he's got guaranteed $100 million going into his bank account. That ain't bad.

Yeah, I mean, dude, that's amazing. It's interesting, though, because 16th overall, I mean, maybe did his agent have those numbers? Did he miss that one? But I get it. You're right. I mean, this is what happens. I mean, you, he tried to create leverage for himself. And maybe he did a little bit.

But at this point, when you still have a couple years of arbitration, you just really don't have leverage. Right. You know, your team can say, all right, we'll just play out the next couple years. And we'll see if we can get you back in free agency. And sometimes when you're a guy like, you know, Brian Reynolds, who's put up these numbers and you're like,

you want to capitalize on that. And I think you did. I mean, this is like you, mentioned it. It's a lot of money, dude. And apparently, you know, the team is on the upward trajectory. If you look at their roster resource on Fangrass, I mean, they have like six or seven dudes in the top 100. So like help is coming. Like this window for the pirates is definitely on the horizon. I don't know if it's this year, but it's coming. And look, they had to convince

him of that too, right? Yeah. Like for him to sign on and say, I'm going to, you know, give my next eight years here. Like they had to convince him, I'm sure, like, hey, we're going to put together a pretty good product. He knows the people in the minor leagues as well. He's familiar with the system. It's just a good day for Pirates fans. You think, I mean, look, like, Kutch is doing it.

Like, do you think Kutch, like, I'll stick on for a couple more years? Why not, right? If I'm banging and they want me and they'll pay me, absolutely. I love it, man. I'm happy for all parties here. I really, yeah. And, I just, and hey, I'll allow you to walk me back if I deserve to be walked back, but I just had another interesting player comparison jump into my head.

Because again, Brian Reynolds, I think it's important. Age is a factor in all this. He's 28 now. So when he hits free agency, it would have been 31, I think, which again, that's, can, if you're still really good, you'll be fine in free agency. Michael Conforto Michael Conforto I just looked at his four-year stretch

from 17 through 2020 so I'm including the COVID season there he was an 864 OPS hitter and then 2021 he has a down year he hurts his shoulder and he had he missed a season and then he gets a two-year deal with the Giants

that if you're Brian Reynolds It's like that risk is very real. And now he does not have to deal with that at all. So there's, I mean, yeah, I get that. There's ways around that, you know, these insurance policies, a lot of guys take them out. I did when I was going through arbitration just to make sure you're covered. You know, they cost a little bit of money,

but in the end it's worth it for peace of mind. So he could have continued on this path, but he gets his payday, man. Can you imagine just, I never felt this, put a pen to paper. 100 M is guaranteed, no matter what. Still be like a complete idiot. Right. Like, you know, there's some things you can't do, but pretty much you're just going to get that.

What do you think he's going to have in his basement? That's a fun combo to have. These guys, they get the money. Ryan Reynolds's future basement. I think he leans into it. I think he's like looking for a theme that he gets like actual pirate memorabilia. Like he's got like a, he's got pieces from an old pirate ship and he's got like actual treasure down there and stuff that people are like,

Is that what Vandy Boys do? Pirates stuff? No, I think he's- What do you like shoot bows? Nashville? Shoot bows? You know, like a bow and arrow. That's what people in Nashville do, you think? Isn't Nashville the South sort of?

Kind of. I mean, it's become like just a country. Vegas. Like, I don't, Nashville's entered a crazy territory. All those Californians coming, ruining our state. When's the last time you've been to Nashville? Never been in Nashville. What? I would love Nashville. You would love Nashville. Yeah. I got a cowboy hat. You would like walk up to people and you'd like start talking about hunting and they'd be like, hey man, I'm on a bachelor trip from Connecticut. Like, stop talking hunting. People in the south immediately absolutely hate me.

And then they do. That's the truth. And then I win them over though. Because I've been like camping and shit my whole life. I grew up outdoors doing it. So I can win them over that way. I can fish and they love it. If you can fish.

Yeah, that's true. Okay. All right, big guy. You're all right. Oh, you can barbecue you too? All right, big guy. Yeah, and the South people kind of look at me like a rabbit. And they're kind of like, oh, he's like, it's kind of cute.

He can't hurt us. and if we need to, we'll kill him. Like, if I, if I need to eat. If I need to eat. Trev. I'm happy for Brian Reynolds. That Brian Reynolds is brought to you by Rhone. This is BBDs.

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Save 20% off your entire order. 20% off your entire order when you had to R-H-O-N-E.com slash baseball. And use code baseball. There's a link in the description. What are the pants you wear, Beeps? Their own pants. The commuters? Yeah, they were on the commuter line.

I received them as a gift a few years ago. Are they joggers or they're... They do the joggers as well. These are like slacks. You'd wear them to like a real job. They'd be uncomfortable, nice pants. Like they're my go to when I have like, I have to like bring an outfit.

Okay. But they do all sorts of degrees of outfits these days. Look at that. Trev, kind of closing off the Reynolds combo before we move on. Any comments about Royals, White Sox in Oakland Athletics being the final three teams to give out a nine-figure deal? I mean, what do you want me to say? Well, I...

The White Sox is very shocking to me. It's a big market. I feel like we've seen some like really good teams come out of there. I mean, I guess what was the one of the World Series in what, 2005? A couple years ago. I remember that I remember that freaking World Series. Who made the play, the backhand play? Who was the shortstop there?

Was Ibar the shortstop? No way. You made a play to end the World Series. The World Series winning was Yerebe? Juan Yerebe was playing short or was it playing third? I mean. That was 20 years ago, so I guess. Man, that roster.

Remember you can get fussy. AJ presents. That one shocking to me. I'd never give him about $100 million deal. Tadahito Iguchi. Okay. Playing some second base. I don't think it's like an, I mean,

I guess maybe it is an indicator of where you are. as a franchise. I mean, they're like the Royals back-to-back World Series appearances. They did that with a young crew and then busted it all up. I don't know what I have to say about that. It's shocking for the White Sox.

Those are two teams, I'm like, okay, I guess I get it. I mean, the twins, like, sometimes when I hear the numbers that the twins have done, like obviously they extended Joe Maurer, but Ricky Nalasco, when he signed for like 40-something million

was the highest free agent pitcher they ever signed. And now Pablo Lopez has a clip to that. I think Urban Santana was like 50-something. It's like they're slowly climbing up, but it's still kind of shocking because it does seem like

at a certain point, you've got to pull the trigger on a free agent, right? You can't always just, unless you're a team that developed starting pitching, like you better go out there and get some from time to time. Yeah. Competitive.

I think people will be shocked to hear this from Jake the Yankees fan. The thing I love about sports is a level playing. Langfield. You know, I'm going to lose you for a second, but MLB, the show, I started playing a little bit, and they have a mode, Battle Royale, where you get three badass players, you get three good players, you get seven okay players, and then you get, you know, a list of not great players. And I like that because you play the same teams. And like, it's whoever plays better or whoever, you know, built their team more uniquely.

And, man, there's times when I have to, like, kind of, exhale and I'm unhappy because I do love my Yankees and I love being a Yankee fan and I love saying like, you know, the second half of their lineup ain't great right now. And I go out and get Reynolds, go out and get Hap and they didn't do that. And that's very Yankee thinking. And then I go back to the Yankees offseason like they signed Carlos Rodon, which would be, you know, I think five, six, ten teams biggest free agent signing ever. And it's one of those things that it's like, man, the Oakland have put together a lot of good teams. And have they ever been on the same playing field?

No. And that's part of the reason they're going to go. And I guess what? When they're in Vegas, I bet they ink someone for nine figures. Maybe. The White Sox, that one seems crazy. Because they've had a very vocal GM, Ken Williams, right? Who, you know, they were supposed to offer the most to Machado or Harper, right?

Like, he did that weird press conference in a golf cart. and then it's like, you know, they signed Ben Intendi this offseason, and that was their biggest free agent saying. So, yeah, man, it's one of those things that it's like, it's, I hope one day we find a salary floor or something, or we get a couple more of these gung-ho owners. Oh, you can have a floor with no ceiling, Trev. No, you can't.

Well, that's their opinion, not yours. That, uh, I don't know. It's eye-opening stuff sometimes. We don't always check in on that. Kind of segues into something that we wanted to go over. This was from a Passon tweet. Shout out Jeff Passon. I actually Googled him and some of the pictures

that come up are something else. Like, he looks better now. You just Googled Jeff Passon? Yeah, because then I did news and I got to the article I wanted to find. Jeff Passon Nudes. Let me see what comes up. No, not, no, I didn't do that.

Okay. But when he's younger, I think this is maybe his Yahoo Sports Days. He was a little, like, more edgy. They get some spikes going up in the hair. Now it's more of the comb over, the fomfy look, if you will. Okay. Three of the four best teams in baseball, as we approached the four-week mark of the season with payroll rank

are the Tampa Bay Rays at 28th, Pittsburgh Pirates at 27th, and Baltimore Orioles at 29th. Does that mean something to you? I do see the Jeff Pass and pick you're talking about. It's a little 90s, 2000 spike. Babes, you'll see it when you know. He just looks a little younger. He's got a little butt chin going on there.

I know the edge. Let's get it on the screen. That would be a real treat. Here's what I'll say. It's still really early in this baseball season. I think the rays are, I don't know what to do with them, man, because they've been a great team for a while

without really paying a buck. Yeah, there goes. I mean, that's... I mean, he'll steal your girl, and then he'll break down the contract to you. I'm trying to think, like if I saw that dude out, what my first instinct would be...

He plays ball. I like it. Yeah. All right. So, you know, these first place teams, first of all, you have... And this is very early. That's my first thing, but Texas, Atlanta, and the Dodgers who have now tied my snakes,

you got three top ten teams there who have all rolled out different budgets for free agents or guys in house. So, like, I don't know, I obviously don't flinch at that. Pittsburgh, let's see where this team lands. Like, I like them, but again, if you ask me who wins the NL Central, I don't think either of us would lock in the pirates. I love that they have hope. Tampa Bay is kind of the outlier here, man. That, yeah, like, whatever they've been doing and however they view it, obviously every team should want and try to steal that

because some of the value that they get out of baseball players is incredible. So they are still the outlier for me. You know, I think as we get going, you'll see a couple more teams put themselves in the mix. Imagine Tampa with a new stadium. Would that be cool or would be like, no, that's not really the race? Would they lose their mojo if they have like a nice stadium?

Would they get a little too comfortable? Yeah. A little too comfy for the race? I don't know. I think they'd be good with a new stadium. Okay. Payroll situation in Major League Baseball is such a weird thing

because baseball is a sport where, you know, the first six years, of a player's career or cost-controlled. And if you have some guys that come up and in those first six years, like, are good and you have a core, you can be on the lower end of the payroll and be happy.

If you're not developing players, or maybe you develop one or two, and you need to supplement your roster going out into free agency is going to cost you a little more and your payroll is going to go up. So, like, I don't think payrolls, I mean, it's never really been an indicator of, you know, are we going to be competitive?

I think that more teams, though, need to spend less time being on the bottom of it when things aren't working out. Like if, like, I have no problem when a team has a young core and they lock them up for cheap and so their payroll is not high. Sure, that happens sometimes. But if you're continuously at that level and things aren't working out and you're not trying to supplement your roster with free agents to make your team better. That's where I kind of have the problem. You know, like Pittsburgh right now, not having a high payroll. Well,

I think they're about to raise it in the next couple of years. They have some people coming up. They have a window. They're going to want to supplement their roster. But I think it took too long to get here. Yeah. I think that's where I land on this. Like, I don't want a floor. I don't want a cat. But I think team should be, should be dipping into, free agency more to try to improve their roster in like the quote unquote lean years if you will there's been too many teams that have spent too long in the seller that I think you know you're losing fans when you're doing that and I don't know if you stay there long enough like I'm curious about the A's man like they they had a very passionate fan base I don't think it's massive but it's

very passionate they're going to lose a lot of those fans as they move to Vegas. And if they don't put out competitive rosters when they move to Vegas, they're going to be lost in the shuffle, man. They're going to be a team that is just like, hey, let's go to Vegas to see our team play. It's going to be, it's going to be

visiting games or like away games, excuse me, at the home stadium, unless they put a competitive team on the field. It's going to be very interesting with them. Yeah, the league average payroll is 160,000.

You know, right now my Orioles that I'm buying stock on, 64 mil. The raise are 74. Yeah, it's just one of those weird things. It's like, okay, so to get to league average, the raise would have 90 mil to spend per season on players? Like who, you know, that could $3.30 million players? Yeah, you know, you can chop that. Doesn't that entice you as an owner, though?

If you have this team that's been assembled for, I mean, for you, like, you didn't assemble the team. You just own the team. If this team has been assembled for you and you're like, dang, like, how much does the team cost to me? Oh, that's pretty good. As an owner of the team, wouldn't you be like, hey, like, let's fucking go. Like, let's go for it. Let's go out.

Like, let's go get one of these free agents. No, Treve. Why not? If I'm an owner of this team and I care more about dollars and cents than I do about winning necessarily. I'm pointing at the raise, whether I'm the raise or not, and I'm like, that's the way we should do business. Like, you know, if you're... I don't like you as an owner, by the way. I know, I hate myself as an owner, but if you're, you know, right now the top three payrolls, we can name the owners of the teams very easily. It's Cohen, it's Steinbner, and it's

sidler, who have jumped on the map. I don't know, man. Who's fourth? Do we have that in front of you? Fourth is the Phillies. Middleton. Went to the World Series last year. Dodgers, fifth. Okay, ownership group. Angels are sixth. Yeah, they've been up in payroll.

Artie. Which brings an interesting question of, so I was going through the top ten payrolls. Ten, the Houston Astros. We know what they've been up to. The Texas Rangers have made two of the biggest free agent years we've seen in like baseball history. The Braves.

We know what's going on there. The Jays. And then I just listed the top six. Halos, Dodgers, Phillies, blah, blah, blah. Number 11 is the San Francisco Giants. And the Giants and the Angels, number 12 is the White Sox, by the way. We give these teams a lot of crap

because they're not better. That I don't know. Also, like, if I'm an owner and I'm looking at dollars and cents and I can put a product on the field and I could cut $100 million off the top, Who knows what they're making per game. And if you have a winning team and losing team, we don't know.

That's the whole secret of this. But also, if you can tell me that the 28th ranked raise can be the best record in baseball and be a force year in, year out, I'd say, do that. Figure out how to do that. And the problem is nobody else can't. See, I'm on a completely different page from you right there. You just name the top 10 teams.

I'm like, I want to be like those teams. Like, those are perennial playoff teams. I want to be that owner Trev? Is that fan Trev? That's everything to me. Every Trev. As a player, come on, let's get some good players in you're like you. You can't point to the one team at the bottom and say, I want to be like that. That's like a lottery ticket, dude. If you want to have a successful franchise, and you probably just named, you know, those teams have probably the highest, they're worth the most. I don't think that necessarily that has a job. I don't think that has

direct correlation to payroll, but winning does. That helps it out. I'd rather be like that. I'd rather be like one of those top 10 teams than anything. Yeah. Unless you're going to pay for players, man. I would, my minor league, let's go over what I would do as an owner. Oh, okay.

My minor league setup would be insane. I would have, like, so many coaches, I'd pay them well, I'd get good minor league coaches. I would just pour money into the player development side. I know teams are trying to do that, but that would be the main focus for me, because that pays dividends later. That's like, you know, you reap what you sow. You got to take care of those dudes.

I would do that. I would take chances, signing young guys early that I believed in, and then I would be very, I would be very aggressive on free agents that I wanted. I think that's the formula, man. I mean, the good teams do that. That.

Right. The Braves, do that. Take your team. The Dodgers, do that. You know, like, these are the teams to do that. Yeah. Before we get a payroll, I'll give you a couple teams that are, that are belly to belly on this sheet. What?

The Houston Astros and the San Francisco Giants are next to each other in payroll. The Colorado Rockies are 15th. The St. Louis Cardinals are 16th, which they're currently floundering. but um 15th for the Rockies i know who would they give money to blackmen and brian chris bryant blackmen their pitchers are kind of getting paid now like marquez and freeland and interesting that that's pretty shocking to me uh mariners and tigers are back to back um two two franchises doing different things right now so yeah um you know i think everyone knows where we land at this point uh pay and go get good players.

And that's hot takes. I'll add that to my analytics training a little bit. Go pay for the good players you need for your team to win. Yeah, I like that. That's a good one. Trev, I've got something here that you're going to like a lot, and I actually have it in person. Blast motion, Trev.

Blast motion. Throw this on your knob, And let's get some stats. We're combating the pitchers, man. It's about time. And if you want to dominate the plate this season, Blast Baseball is the number one hitting improvement solution. There's swing trainers and swing analyzers attached to the knob of any bat

and you get real-time feedback. 3D Swing Tracer compares your swing with smart video capture technology. No matter the weather, location, season, or equipment, blast baseball, you can train all year. regardless. You hear that, my Northeast Kings? All year. Catch up to those Cali, Florida, and Texas boys. All year. I was the, Chris Rose never mentions it. I was the number one two-way player in Connecticut. Uh, he never mentioned. California kids are also using blast motion. So I don't know if this is like enough. Go to blastmotion.com. B-L-A-S-T-M-O-T-I-O-N.com. Enter code talking and you'll save

$10 on blast baseball personal swing trainers and swing analyzers. If you're getting your hitting your hitting game up or you have someone in your life getting your hitting game up, get yourself a little blast motion. Teddy loves it. And I know I've told you the snakes aren't doing so hot. Teddy's not the problem. Is that what you're telling me? He really isn't because I never have to tell him to pay attention, which I'm like very

proud of. He's like in the freaking game and he like wants to win, like big time. so I'm very proud of that and he has improved he's on the smaller side right now skinny but that blast motion you can swing and get your swing

speed so he's like always trying to beat his top swing speed and it has a cool noise when you do it I love it we'll beef him up soon we'll get him working on the pool just like his forefathers before him that's right yeah get those four arms man

oh that's uh that's where the power comes through I told this story I don't know I think maybe on this show before or maybe I haven't. We were doing a camp back when I was younger and there was like a Japanese youth program that flew in and they were doing this camp.

I think it was the Reggie Smith camp in the valley. And they had this the Japanese team like the coaches had a grip strength machine which is just so you just grab it and you

pull it and And as your grip strength. You do it, you know, they do it every spring trading in the minor leagues in these organizations as well. And people, like, that's a fucking fight waiting to happen. My grip strength's better than you. Yeah, high tea. Right.

My grip strength was never the best. But my dad got this thing and just goes, and the Japanese dude's face was like, like he'd never seen someone grip like that before. And I was like proud of my dad And I remember him saying That's what 40 years of Pushing a metal pole through water will get you

Yeah I was like oh shit So maybe that is it You're out there and clean your own pools people You have freaking I've never seen my dad like lose an arm wrestling contest Like he is a beast Everyone asks about my calves

I don't do any cab workouts The first 15 years of my life I walked on my tiptoes It's incredible workout Um, Treb. That's That true.

Uh, I mean, kind of, like I ran on my toes. I'd, you know, try to be a little taller, um,

because I'm short. Um, I got another, this story won't hit home for everybody. I got a buddy who's such a meathead and he had the little forearm, like, squeaky workout thing.

So he was trained, he was becoming a pharmacist. So he had to take like real school classes and stuff. So he'd bring it with him to class. And he'd just, Wrap it all class. So it got a little used and it got squeaky. And at one point, one of the professors was like,

what the fuck is making that noise? And like literally everyone knew it was him. And he had to do this like meathead like, oh, I don't know. Sorry, Professor. I'm just trying to working on my forearms. And they were like, dude, why don't you just get out of here? We don't. A little WD40 on that bad boy.

Mike Piazza used to carry one of those around. Do you know that? I like that. Yeah. I like that. Man, he could hit. You love Mike Piazza. Can I give you a, can we segue into what I think I really want to talk about to end this episode? Yes.

The under the radar pickups. Okay. We'll taste a couple dudes. Let's taste a couple dudes here. I like this. I think this is, these guys deserve a shout out. There's a bunch of guys who kind of went to different teams, some old, some not so old, but getting fresh chances. And we could talk about Longoria and kind of the impact he's had. there. Look out for Longo on a special episode of the Rose rotation. He might make it like a sneak appearance. Yeah, we talked about that. Adam Frazier.

Famous Adam Frazier for the Baltimore Orioles doing some things. I think like Christian Vasquez has been mightily important to the twins and their rotation and just kind of like settling everything down. He's, you know, a captain out there. You got to have that. I think he's been really good. And then, you know, guys like Brett Honeywell, Kevin Kiermeyer out in Toronto, Kevin Pilar, with the Braves doing some things. I think all those guys has ever mentioned. But some more than others. I think this guy, the first guy will go to has really been great for the Braves.

And the Braves just have like a surplus of dudes that come up and can play ball, which is crazy. But Sam Hilliard, filling in for Michael Harris. He's off to a 327 batting average. I don't know why I just read that He's got a 992 OPS Yeah Four doubles Three home runs

10 runs Four stolen bases And he was acquired from Your Rocks In the offseason For a right-handed pitcher Dillon Spain I don't know if they

Forsaw Him coming in and filling in like this But this is the type of stuff that you have to have If you want to be a successful team One of your guys goes down He comes in

So shout out Shout out Sam Hill You're kind of hot boy too Yeah Trev, big Sam Hilliard, listed 65-2-336, kind of a freaky athlete. And I'll give myself a minipad on the back. I forget if it was, because it was like the first move of the offseason, or I forget if it was their TPP.

But I said this guy has a chance for Braves' Devil Magic because he has all the tools. And the other thing is, and we drive this home probably once every other month, there is a reverse course field effect. That when you play at Cores and you play on the road, your stats get killed because the pitches look sharper and better away from cores

and by the way, you know, if we were ranking coaching staffs, the Braves would probably be high up and the Rockies wouldn't get a ton of love. Although I know Jimmy has a Bud Black breakdown coming and he says Bud Black might be his favorite coach to read his lips.

I don't know if it's going to continue for Sam Hilliard, but I'll say this. He has a career 739 OPS. Like that's, that's solid. The nerdy young boys will tell you his OPS Plus is lower than that because he played in Cores. But guess what? They might not have that right.

In fact, I don't for OPS Plus and Cores players. So Sam Hilliard, hey, it's a small sample size. Everything is in this young season. But yeah, man, he's filling in better than what you'd expect Michael Harris to be. I mean, he had 600 plate appearances coming into this year. So like not a lot of, you know, sample to work with. And really, yeah, he has a hit for average orbit and on base percentage guy. So that's where we're getting this inflated OPS.

He's got a 400 OBP. He's hitting, you know, his bad if is probably really high. I need to check that out. But is it sustainable? I don't know. It doesn't have to be because Michael Harris is going to come back and he'll be okay. But, you know, having these people to plug in like that, that makes your season. So shout out Sam Hilliard.

He's a country boy. and you should be 6-5? Career, 122 games at home. 254, 321 and 801 OPS. Career on the road, 185, 282-669 OPS. Do what you want with that, people. Coors can be tricky. I was told DJ LeMayhew probably isn't going to hit outside of course,

and he's been just fine at the stadium, if not better, because of that little porch in right field. So, yeah, he's going early. this guy would think of you as a rabbit for sure okay Sam he would no yeah Sam oh yeah yeah yes uh let's move to Oakland give the Oakland a little shout out here Brent Rooker formerly of my twins 51 played appearances or 51 a bats excuse me he's got a one daughter he's been hitting a bunch of homers he had a couple

big games two doubles six home runs actually a 1.1 69 nice OPS 14 ribby's nine runs he hasn't stolen a base yet i don't know why don't put that on the sheet but a nice start for him uh matt strom which is interesting this is a good one for me you know he's pitched for a couple different teams now uh you know if you see him the long hair he likes to open baseball cards he's got four games started for the Phillies i guarantee they did not envision that when they when they signed him they gave him the two years 15 mill um has he started games before this year i guess I guess I should look that up.

So I know when they signed him, they kind of said swing man potential role. But Trev, the point of that is whenever you hear that, you normally don't get giddy for the starter side of it. You're normally like, okay, we've got a six starter. But yeah, he's been good for them. He didn't start any games last year for Boston. So yeah, so 2016, 2019, he had 16 game started. That was for those San Diego Padres to 471.

So yeah, definitely more of a long man and maybe a spot starter, but hey, he's had to fill in and he's been doing a really nice job. His statistics are looking nice. He's 18 innings pitch. He's struck out 27 people in those 18 innings. A 0.94 whip. Hitters are hitting 156 against him. And, yeah, man.

I actually, I want to piggyback another guy with him because it's a similar story, but Ariti. Seth Lugo. Seth Lugo, who, you know, became a reliable bullpen guy for the New York Mets, he hits free agency. He says, I want to start. And again, sometimes I think about how far away we are from the actual athletes mindset. Because think about this. If you have a guy on your team who, you know, he's a young guy, he goes out and starts some games,

he gets knocked around, and then he gets kicked to the bullpen, and he's lights out of the bullpen. What do we say? We say, all right, kid, go get it. Knock yourself out. That person, their whole life has been a starting pitcher. And they like getting the pill every fifth day and going out and winning the game, six innings strong, seven innings strong. And then you're told to go lock down an inning.

And guess what? Some guys are great at it and they make a really good career out of it. And you can make crazy money, especially now today. Seth Lugo, I think when he hit free agency, he said, I wanted to be a starting pitcher. and he's had four starts, a 278 ERA. He's 33 years old. That, man, you know, I think both of these teams had in the back of their head.

If the starting pitching doesn't happen, well, then we've got a fine reliever. We've got a good lefty and strong. We've got a good righty and lugo. To put yourself out there like that and want that opportunity is pretty cool. And for our people that have been enjoying, ref guess with Jolly Olive and a lot of our people rotating in there I don't want to ruin a future episode

but there was a guy on there that had a very interesting baseball reference that I had forgotten. A lefty pitcher tref who was a reliever. He actually closed a bunch of games for Texas in like the late 0708-09. Lefty. He became a starting pitcher

for Texas at the end of his stay there and then he got a big free agent contract with the Angels. Any idea who I'm talking about? Oh, Hamils? C.J. Wilson. No, no. I knew it was C.J. Wilson.

That's what I meant to say. C.J. Wilson owns a bunch of car dealerships. Dang it. C.J. Wilson. I was shocked to see the relief numbers there because I know him as like he was a back-to-back all-star in 2011, 2012. He got the big Halo's free agent

contract. Everyone talks about like he was one of the first like Halo free agent guys that kind of didn't work. He's he's got some really nice seasons for them. Um, very nice guy C.J. Wilson. I like that. Um, and I'm willing to to talk and advertise one of his car dealerships for the right vehicle. Um, he's got a Porsche dealership. Okay, C.J. Wilson. You look like a poor. You look like a Porsche. Yeah. Right now with that outfit. Hopping the collar. It's red. Everyone's like, yeah. Don't really like this guy. You ladies like a short. You ladies like a short. married man with bad hair and bad fashion. Hello.

Yes, I do. What you hop in? Well, how much do you make, little fella? Also, not a lot. Trevor ploof off, C.J. Wilson. Any idea, Trev? Give me one for three. I feel like I've done okay.

You doubled off him the very first time you face him. Oh, I don't like where this is going. Oh, for 10, three walks after them. Oh. Wow. A lot of line outs. we change that. A lot of lines.

A lot of line. I was unlucky. You know, they ban the shift now and stuff. Ground out short, weak, short stuff. No, he was a good pitcher, man. Yeah, he was good. I knew it was him. I don't know why I said Cole Hamels.

They kind of look similar-ish. I guess similar in ranges. Trev, especially in our world we live in, where Yankee fans. White lefties. Where the job of Chamberlain experiment was one of the, you know, he was as dominant as a reliever you've seen. And then the starting pitching kind of mess. with them and then he's like out of baseball,

that to go from reliever to starter is really hard. And a lot of teams won't even give you the opportunity that I give those guys like a ton of credit, a ton of credit. You're right about the competitive factor and everybody that's in the bullpen, 85% of those dudes want to be starters. Some people find their lane and like, okay, I'm in the back end of the bullpen and life's good and I'm making some money.

The long guys, they all want to be starters. I mean, most of those guys are kind of failed starters. Pitchers, every, like, every bullpen guy was a starter their whole life. Pretty much. I think now. It's kind of like position players, everybody was a shortstop or a center fielder. You do that until you can't. I think with where baseball is at, nowadays you get more guys who are relievers.

They throw 100 and they do that for an inning. And, you know, but some guys is like relieving. college now. For every reliever that's doing that path, guess what? Every failed starter is going to try to join you out there and you've got to be better than them. So, tricky.

Let's give one more before we end the show. And maybe we've stumbled into a new J-key analytical vibe here, okay? Connor Joe. Yeah. For your Pittsburgh Pirates. Yes. One daughter OPS. He's got 71 plate appearances.

He's got already 10 extra base hits, six doubles, two triples, two home runs, eight walks to 15 strikeouts, so you like that. You want to be in that one to two ratio there. And the analytical factor of this is he played a course. So what we're going to do, Jake, now is we're going to go look up every player that plays for the Rockies. And if he hits on the road, or excuse me, if hits at home but doesn't hit on the road, we're going to trade for those guys because we're like, hey, there's a reason for it.

Here we have Connor Joe going off in his age 30 season. And are people starting to see the trend here? I mean, maybe and maybe the bigger problem is like Colorado might actually be like up against it. Okay. Like if Connor Joe and Sam Hilliard, and again, these are small samples, but if they can be, you know, starting level type play, players, but because of Colorado's effects, they like, couldn't be? I don't know, man.

There's, I know we've talked about it a lot. 76 game started at home. This guy's a 387 OPP, 845 OPS. On the road, he's a 324 OBP, 358 slugging for a 681 OPS. We just stumbled into something. Congratulations, front offices. Take this and run with it. The problem was I was supposed to.

be in the Rocky's front office. Now I'm screwed. I got to take that to the snakes. Yeah, you got to go to the snakes. Shit. Okay. Come help my team out while you're at it. Yeah, I'll help your snakes. Shout out, Conor, Joe. That's awesome. I like these guys get a new opportunity and thriving in their situation. Your favorite player, Connor Joe, Elsie Winger. All right, guys, Jimmy sends his best. Hopefully his eyeballs work.

Otherwise, this whole thing doesn't work. Trevor, playing through injury, BVD, handsome. Uh, myself and my new, uh, my new car from C.J. Wilson. Uh, we'll see you guys Friday recap episode. I sucks. sucks. What happened last night? Nestor Cortez was looking at Volpe. After he made the air. That's a bad look. Got to be honest with you. Yanks need a shake. Yanks need a Jake. Spark them. I have some analytics.