Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - Carlos Correa & Trevor Bauer Situations are Up in the Air | 588

Episode Date: January 2, 2023

The Mets did not like Correa's physical, Trevor Bauer's suspension was reduced and he is reinstated, the Rangers have a good rotation, and the White Sox Signed BenintendiVisit https://athleticgreens.com/baseball to get a FREE 1-year supply of immune-supporting Vitamin D AND 5 FREE travel packs with your first purchase.Timestamps:0:00 Happy New Year3:00 Correa Deal Hits a Snag16:00 Conspiracies21:40 Trevor Bauer Reinstated by MLB34:40 Texas Rangers Sign Nathan Eovaldi45:15 Andrew Benintendi Signs with the White Sox54:00 Outro Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello and welcome to talking baseball first episode of the new year. Thank you very much for tuning in. We got some housekeeping to take care of a lot of stuff about to happen in an MLB and some stuff already has. So let's talk all about it. Hello and welcome to talking baseball. Thank you very much for joining us today. My name's Jimmy. I'm here with Jake from Standing.

Standup desk Jake. I like your standup energy. And Trev sitting down, lazy. also producer BBD behind the dish. All right, Trev, you're up first because you just took a sip. What's up? Guys, 2023 is here. You guys know we had a big old party.

C Rose was there looking good. I just mentioned on the amp portion before this, but I'll do it also on the YouTube portion. Chris Rose was 14 minutes from midnight. And we're having a good time. We're dancing, about to have, you know, a kiss and a champagne pour. at midnight and he jets from the party. 14 minutes before I've never seen it

and that's why he's C-Rose because he never, never stops like, I don't even know the word I'm looking for right now. Never ceases to amaze me, I guess is what I'm trying to say. He's a different cat, man. Jake, how are you doing? He's outsmarting everyone. Emotional.

Yeah, I mean, I wish I could have done the same but I mean at that time of night, Miley and Dolly were just kicking in a gear that you're not getting me turn away from that. Excited to chop it up with the lads. Got the coffee going. I am standing up. Jess has apparently one of those desks that go up and down. So I raised her up.

So I'm full. I'm bouncing around today. Terrible audio probably for me. But I'm excited to yuck it with the boys. There's some serious baseball. Maybe some snakes talk at the end. Evan Longoria. not on my list not on my how uh topics i don't know what's going on with you jim buck too i'm good i think

i'm healthy pretty pretty pretty uh pretty terrible maybe the worst christmas ever for katy and i so uh new year's eve in bed at seven or us so so you celebrated was a european london new years one we don't we've never really cared about new year's eve or done anything for it but i wish we would like every year we're like you want to they're like no we're like fuck wish we were the kind of people that would but we've been sick the flu was awful we got the flu christmas day spent like five days in bed and now for the last three days we've been like on the mend but so we tried to go for a walk we made it like half a mile and just like can't go anymore just out of breath and exhausted it sucked don't get the flu so brutal getting better i haven't talked about like baseball in a while

a lot's gone on james there's a lot of different moves i think that's what this episode's going to be about a little bit of here a little bit of there we do have some kind of bigger topics to start it off but um definitely a ton of moves that we need to just tell the people about right well there's two looming things that we don't we can't react to because it's just like they're just in they're just up in the air right now and they're going to be crazy once we get more info on them. We'll start with Correa because I think that's the biggest story in baseball right now easily just because it was already so huge.

Giant signing him and then not signing him. I mean, he's he's getting, you guys did your reaction to it. But I think after your episode, even more details came out about how he was at the press conference room in a giant jersey with his family. Shout out to Jeff Passon, whose article. was like really cool story of laying out the scenes of like being in the hotel room when they canceled the press conference and then the Mets call and then the Mets balk once they see the physical. No one likes whatever.

The doctor who repaired his ankle back in 2014 put that rod in there. I mean, he's under the gun. What did he do? Nobody knows. He just put like bamboo stick in there instead of metal. Everyone hates this physical. So now he's up in the air. He doesn't want to renegotiate with the Mets.

The Mets want to renegotiate. Steve Cohen wants to put a special clause in the contract, like never before seen clauses. If blank, then he doesn't get this money, which I don't know if they've said what they would actually be. But this situation is wild. I can't wait for five years to get full transparency. We don't have that.

Yeah. There's been some other talk on the giant side. You know, after we did our reaction to, it. I think around baseball, we were kind of laughing at the Giants night. What are you guys doing, man? And we had the whole Aaron Judge thing from Haman that wasn't their fault, but we pinned that on them anyway. We laughed at the Giants and the Giants fans like, oh, you had Ars and Judge for a little bit. Awesome. And then the Correa news breaks. And it just was kind of like a recipe for, it was an easy punching bed. We were punching down on the Giants, all the us baseball fans. But, you know, as it

turns out, you know, they had legitimate concerns for the physical. Now the Mets are. feel in the same way. But, you know, like you're right, James, there's nothing really to update other than that most people are saying a deal is still likely with the Mets. Like it hasn't fallen apart completely. It seems to me like, and I mentioned this with C-Rose, this is complete conjecture people. But I know how these teams operate and leverage and all that good stuff operates. I believe the Mets know if they raised concerns about the physical and if they actually dropped

out, it significantly impacts Carlos Correa's earning potential this offseason. Like, I don't think there's any doubt about it. They know that. So for them, if you just raise some concerns, like, you know, we still want the deal, but I think there's a way for them. I know he said he's not renegotiating. Of course, Carlos and Boris are going to say that, but it wouldn't surprise me if at the end here, Mets get the deal done, but they're going to shave maybe a year off or some money,

or maybe they do get that clause to protect them. I think there's going to be some wiggle room because I just, these businessmen, these dudes in the front office, they understand that if they pulled out, Correa is not signing a 12-year deal. He's not signed. I don't think he's going to get $300 million from somebody else. Not if two teams pulled out in the physical.

Complete conjecture, by the way. Complete conjecture. I mean, no, you sound like the dude from Glass Onion. Man, it's bruised. dude. I feel for Carlos Correa. Who would I thought we got here? Maybe this is a whole part of his like PR campaign to get back in love with everyone. Like no no one wants to sign me. My my ankles lost. Well, for 12 years. Twins are still in play, Trev. That's where we last left off. It was the right word, bro. You're killing it. Yeah, I was surprised. It's a great you had a great wordage. If you're hammering it twice, it better be. I was proud of you. Man. he's going to end up with the Mets. And I think it comes down, what do both sides want?

Carlos Correa wants to be a Mets. The Mets want Carlos Correa. There's some weird going on with that ankle. And we don't know. The doctors may not know. Whatever the doctors do know, they think it's really bad. Like a level of bad we haven't really seen with any other player before when it comes to a physical. So I don't know.

The other part that I think you guys haven't mentioned yet, We've talked a lot about the new CBA and the owners, Steve Cohen, making comments about Carlos Correa being a Met. Apparently, that's a big old deal because you can't do that unless a guy's on your team. And if they are on your team, well, then they're on your team. So I think what we're going to do is, and I think they were talking to the PA to figure out all of this, what this means in a special clause and a, I don't know if loophole is the right term. but basically the Mets want some sort of insurance that if Carlos Correa's ankle,

we believe, just becomes almost unplayable. Like this guy can't play baseball anymore that they get covered on that. And I don't know. I realize you can't make, you know, individual rules for each player that hits free agency and has something weird happen. But we've clearly hit a weird spot with this. And I don't know. Like the Mets still very.

much want Carlos Correa. Like, that's been the word out of Metzcamp that let's, let's figure out the right way to get this done. Otherwise, let's go Twins, baby. Oh, my gosh. I will be at Twinsfest. And maybe I'll break the news there that Carlos is Korea is coming back home, baby. Yes.

James, I didn't know that they did ankle surgeries with bamboo. That's interesting. I'm glad that I heard that on our show. Yeah. Everyone's to the discount. Yeah. they were still trying to revolutionize everything back in the day. I don't know.

I don't like feel bad for Correa. I mean, it's not like these teams don't want to give him a contract. They don't want to give him a 12 year contract. Boris's whole pitch was pay him until he's 40 years old, 41 years old, the same way you're paying Turner till he's 41 and Bogart's till he's 41 and judge till he's 40 and all of that.

And they were like, okay, yeah, that makes sense. and then they get the physical and they're like, wait, he doesn't have an ankle. Well, I don't want to pay this guy. Those other guys have ankles. I mean, I wonder, and this is where I really want to know the full thing of it. Like last year when he did the short contract with the twins, did he turn down a 12 year deal from another team for less A.A.V. Did he get any offers?

Did they tell teams up front or not doing long term? Like, did he miss out then? Did the ankle get worse with the twins? Probably not. probably just the original but would he get with the Mets right now be like dude we'll give you five years 130 you know 30 30 30 a year for the next five years before it looks bad and they're saying is that the right math 150 whatever it is just like we'll give you like we'll pay for the next five years the AV you want well we can't do 10 because it looks like you're not going to

have an ankle the bamboo is going to disintegrate like so I I just can't wait until we get actual insight on this in the future to understand it because it's not like no one wants them for next year or the next year or the next year. It's they don't want them for those end years up until he's 40 the way that Boris was trying to get him paid. I'm really curious to see what this ends up being. And you're right, if the Mets pull out and the Giants say, well, you guys treated us like shit so we don't want to renegotiate, then it's like twins happen. Then you're looking at the five-year deal or a three-year deal. I mean, I believe what will happen is the Mets are going to get a provision. A clause like J.D. Martinez got with the Red Sox, if you guys remember that one, it was like a five-year deal.

They were able to opt out of the last two years if a serious injury occurred. It didn't. In fact, he played his whole tenure there, and now he's a free agent or he signed with the Dodgers. That's right. So, I mean, it's not unprecedented. so this could happen. But I think that there are some things that could happen that will blow this whole thing up.

There's no doubt about it. You know, the Mets and Steve and the spending that they've done, obviously it doesn't seem like they care right now. But you don't want to... I don't want to call it a bamboo ankle. I feel like that's just going to start taking on a life of its own. But if you really are concerned about something... If you really are concerned about something,

long term. I mean, 12 years is a long time. You know, there's not, they're not just giving away money. They're going to do their due diligence. And if they feel like this is going to be something that impacts it, I mean, it could happen. They could, they could pull out of this deal for sure. And Luis Castillo in his like Mariners extension, there's like a no Tommy John clause in there. Forget the exact terms of it, but that's essentially what that is. So I don't know, find what the hell seems messed up. Find some spot for, if he gets ankle surgery, it's a, only nine years or something. Everyone,

whatever the number is. I think it's, I think it's in that last year or something. If it's like the last year of that, he's out for Tommy John. It's some, I forget the exact way it's phrase, but we can imagine if he tries to pitch through it because he wants that and then

damage is even worse and then damn. Come on, PA. I don't like that clause. Everyone gets Tommy John. I mean, for Correa, we,

we, we make it sound very simple with our math, five for one 30, five for 150, whatever it is. we're talking about half. Like whether you're talking $300 million, $150 million, whether you're talking two bananas or four bananas, half.

Like, and this is what all players work to in their career, to be the 1% of the 1% to get the opportunity to get a massive contract like this, to get the 10 years, to get the 11 years. He's gotten it twice. And now the giants and their doctors, full pulled out before the presser. Like Jim, you really liked how the full picture was painted. And I know you were wondering if there was other funny business going on.

I think it's just this bamboo ankle. And he's going to end up the Cohen quotes because I just sent myself through the spin cycle because I was like, well, he just broke the new CBA. And if you comment on a guy, they're supposed to be on your team. But if you're so horrified about a guy's ankle that you don't want to give him, you know, years 9, 10, 11, 12 of 30 million a year or whatever it is, then, you know, what would Steve Cohen get for breaking the CBA? Like a $1 million fine? I think he'd make that deal. So I don't know. It's everything is still pointing Mets, but it feels like we're waiting for the next breaking news on it.

And I hope it is Correa to the Mets. So I want to make sure that we were like clear about this. he's never even like been on the IL for this injury when he's been in the big leagues. This is something that happened as a prospect in 2014. He had surgery on it. There is a plate in there, I believe. I have a plate in my forearm. And what they told me was if it started to feel, if it just started to feel poor or they started to ache or something, like eventually they could take it out.

But if not, you bamboo arm, your new Blitzball nickname. Yeah, bamboo arm. Saw my non-throwing arm, unfortunately. AJ Pollock, that fuck. Oh, come back now. Yeah, I would have got that son of a gun. AJP. I don't know, man.

It's so interesting. Like, my brain is going, like, this is a, could be a conspiracy. And, like, everyone wants these clauses in the contracts now. Like, if we, if everyone, everyone's been hurt, bro. Everyone's, like, has something that aches them. If every contract now doesn't have a clause, well, that thing flares back up. up we're going to avoid your contract like that's not cool if we're talking about conspiracies and we're going to talk freely in the allegedly speculation range i sincerely do not believe

what i'm about to speculate on is true at all but wouldn't be wild if cohen knew he was going to use the physical and he knew like i don't know the end game but if cohen and people probably think he's a mastermind but after meeting a lot of people they're not really these evil masterminds but you know, what if he calls, Boris says, oh yeah, we'll do it for this and this and this. But he got on the phone with the Giants too. It was like, what happened? And then he was like, oh, okay, I knew this.

And everything's been planned for an end game. We don't know. And then I'm going to talk about like Jake saying. I'm going to talk about him like here. They're going to find me sure. But there's no way we sign this. Like, we're going to use the physical as well as a negotiating point. And the, the Mets were never intended to stand by that contract.

was public to sweep them from the giants like what if they it was thought out i really don't think that's that's that's what i was alluding to earlier yeah about yeah you can use this now and shave some years and some and some dollars off that contract and and i think that's the most likely outcome here is that we do see i don't think there was that was their 10 year deal you don't think it was initially these guys are smart man i think Cohen knew i think the this is to be a story in baseball history. Correa got stolen from the press conference. And the Mets swooped in and made, like, it's his era,

made him change position because he wanted, the giants were, the giants were haltering and I don't, I don't, you know, halt. I just go. And I think he was, you know, chasing that fucking awesome baseball history story. But then he got the physical and he probably had some people on this team like, wait, wait, wait, Steve, it's like, kind of real. I don't know.

I'm so confused. This whole situation, I mean, eventually it'll be cleared up, but right now we're just out there thinking about things. Penn Byrne just got to keep ticking. It's not our fault that we're like coming up with these conspiracies because there just hasn't been enough info out there. It's all, you know, behind closed doors and we have the holidays here. So we're just, it's sitting around stewing in people's brains.

And, you know, you and I, James have brains. Jake is we're going to take him find them one one day. It's, it's more of a slippery slope than I think I initially thought, brainless me. Because, yeah, I mean, couldn't you literally say any pitcher that had Tommy John, which is what, 80% of pitchers now and be like, well, I mean, there's some elbow stuff there that happens. What's what if it's like one doctor? Like, who's the main doctor, Andrews? He's in the clear. But like his, his rival all the sudden, Dr. Andrews is like, Dr. Brown give shitty Tommy Johns.

and then every single player that's got a Dr. Brown Tommy John all of a sudden just can't sign like another deal. Is that soda? Yeah, bullshit. It's like a son-in-for-bullshit doctor. You know, you mentioned this guy that did the surgery like in 2014. Yeah, sorry, Dr. Brown's soda, by the way, right? Yeah, a shitty soda, Trev.

They used to be at all the delis I would go to. Listen. Oh, I like Dr. Browns. Yeah, they're like those orange and, like. like those red beard things. We love you, Dr. Brown. Yeah. This doctor, not Dr. Brown, the one that actually did the surgery, isn't, you think he's like,

Hey, I'm, I'm a good surgeon. Like, I stand. He would have raised his hand. If he stood by it, he would have raised his hand. I'm a good guy. Do you think he's like, oh shit, that wasn't, that wasn't, we should use bamboo. Yeah. Astros told me this was like not a good prospect.

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Athletic greens.com slash baseball to take ownership over your health and pick up the ultimate daily nutritional insurance. Hmm. The other big story that is looming and it has like a in three or four days whenever this comes out, tipping point is the Bauer news. the Dodgers will have to make a decision on Trevor Bauer because he has been reinstated. The arbiter found that the suspension was valid, but not the length that they had suspended him for. So his suspension has been reduced from 324 games to 194 games.

This means a couple things for the Dodgers. One, it affects their luxury tax for the 2023 campaign because, $22 million will be on their books, right? Yes. There was 50 more games that he was supposed to be suspended for this year. He's going to be reinstated effective immediately, but he's still not going to get paid for the first 50 games. That's my understanding of it.

So that's how you get down from 30 down to 22. Yeah. So the Dodgers, whatever their plans were, I mean, they had to be smart enough to be planning like this could happen and this not could happen for their luxury tax. But then they have a decision on January 6th if they're going to, if he's a Dodger or not. That's the date. We've heard some rumbling is coming out that they're leaning on not keeping him. And there's been people, I don't know, man.

A lot of this is also hearsay. We've heard some people say that teammates of his, former teammates of him, his don't want him back in the clubhouse. the Dodgers fan base didn't want Carlos Correa apparently, so they were out on him. And like, this is, it's interesting times for the Dodgers. I mean, these are big decisions they had to make. They passed on Correa, obviously. That kind of looks like a good move now looking back.

But this Bauer one is, is interesting because, you know, when he is on the field, we're just talking straight up baseball here. He's a pretty good pitcher. And for them, he'd slot in probably like middle of the rotation, and you're looking at a pretty healthy rotation if a guy like Bauer, is like your three or four.

I don't remember the full, sorry, go. Yeah, my gut feeling is they do release him and just eat the 22 mill and move on. I mean, the brand is very important to all these teams. And, you know, if they deem Bauer, you know, detrimental to the brand and they don't want to have to, they don't want to have to face all the questions every day because there still is like civil hearings going on and different litigation that's surrounding him. I think they end up moving on. think he ends up pitching for somebody.

But that's kind of the big mystery. Like who's going to step in and say, gosh, like, you can use a pitcher. I know it comes with some baggage, but, you know, he can, he can throw the pill a little bit. I got a few ideas for teams, but I'll let you talk, Jake or Jimmy. Kimbo, you were going?

Well, yeah, I, I mean, I don't think the Dodgers are going to, I think the Dodgers are going to not keep him on the Dodgers. What's the word there? What's the term? they're not reinstating him they are just they're releasing that they're releasing him they're releasing him they'll design and then they'll have the seven days to trade him and all that there were those the rumblings again i don't i forget it's been so long that there was like a mass exodus type thing from the players

like they all enfolled him at the same time they all uh like moved his stuff out of the clubhouse at the same time i forget but there was like storylines like that going around that they were kind of like not wanting that inside their walls the players on the dodger And then as far as what kind of team would take this on, there's not like a Patriots in the MLB where like they'll take the headcases because their system is so sound. Is there that I know of that I think the Astros might be that team. Like I'm not saying just head cases, but like I don't think they care.

I don't think the Ash, oh yeah, they already had a circus. So that's a good. But yeah, but there's not like a one team that's like, hey, we'll take on your circus and we'll absorb it. Yeah, that the Patriots were for a little bit in the NFL. Sure. I get you said. So what I think is, okay, well, where's a team that's, that's not really contending?

And they don't have a lot of spotlight on them right now at all. And they will take the spotlight and the bad media hit for the potential trade. Like basically money laundering. Like we'll take Bauer and we'll wash away this bad image and all the media for you for the first half of this season. And it'll be over with. and then he'll just be performing and come the deadline, you'll need a pitcher and you're going to trade us stuff for now. The people don't care any more image of a good starting pitcher.

Like, you know, is that something the pirates are going to do where they're out right now or the Reds are going to do who they already had Bauer once are going to do, I have no idea. But that's kind of the timeline or the path to back to like playoff baseball. I don't think a contender right now is going to go out and mess with their clubhouse or mess with their papers at all. We have no idea is what you guys just said because we have no idea. You know, whether, you know, I'm a big Supreme Court guy, as you guys know, and, you know,

we look for past cases to base stuff off of. We have no clue. The Dodgers, I mean, you know, this Bauer contract brings them right up to the luxury tax or the competitive balance tax. And this is a guy they initially brought in to pitch there. and hey, you know, the Dodgers and baseball change a lot. Like Justin Turner has been a leader of that clubhouse for a while. He's no longer there.

You know, there's some different guys in the mix that maybe the early reports that everyone saw and everyone just kind of shrugged and was like, okay, was like, oh, yeah, the Dodgers are going to move on, right? It might not. He might just be there. Like they can be like, hey, we're going to be paying this guy $22 million no matter what. Or is there a trade market out there? And if there is a trade market out there, if you're a team like, you know,

we're trying to think of these lesser competitive teams getting in the mix. You threw out, I don't know, the Marlins, the pirates, whoever it is, my debacks. I don't know. They're always in this weird compete kind of mode. You know, if they're going to go out and get Bauer and then they're just going to try to build them up, if you're a competitor, wouldn't you just try to like skip that part and say, we'll just bring them into town and we'll we'll wash the money ourselves like i i have no idea where it ends up um it the early reports where dodgers were out i i don't know what they're

going to do because let's say they they're just going to release them uh and is anyone going to trade prospects for him or or anything no it'll be a salary thing if they if they end up designating him and they have the seven days to trade him i think most likely what it'll be is a pay seven million dollars of a salary or something like that and take him on but i'm like kind of on a different path of this than you guys i think that a contender would sign him and i i i look i'll give you my teams want to hear my teams i mentioned one already houston they kind of have been through the bad PR craze they understand how to handle it they're they're kind of like people love to hate the astros and this would just be like another thing to them and he and do they

need starting pitching? Like, no, but a smart organization understands that starting pitching depth is kind of key. I think they could be it. I think the Texas Rangers who are looking to suddenly compete. I know we're probably going to talk about the rotation a little bit later in the show and they have

pieces there already, but again, like, strictly on the field that we're adding an above average pitcher to your rotation. I think the Mets and Steve Cohen. I don't think he really cares about the reputation. And I've mentioned this on baseball today, he's a guy that has his own legal issues. And, you know, a guy like that who has

gotten now a second chance probably wants to give Bauer a second chance. Like this, these are, these are the things that I'm thinking. I'm thinking like teams that want to compete for real. Like, do the Mariners step in the fold here? Like, we got to get over the hump somehow. Like, do they step in the fold? I think that people are going to be, I think every team is looking at the situation being like, okay, can we do this? What would the negative? aspects of it and would they outweigh, you know, the on-field performance? I think there's going to be some teams to say, we like the on-field performance enough. I have an evil mastermind plan again.

Okay. Perfect. Collusion galore. And the Dodgers don't like long-term contracts. They like short-term contracts with high A-AV. And Gray is bamboo ankle, bad. And Cohen calls up the Dodgers and is like, hey, we'll take Bauer off your hands for you and we'll back out completely of this Correa thing,

drop his, you know, so he's only getting short term. Now you're contenders. Mets get Bauer, Correa to the Dodgers, collusion galore. The whole fucking sport crumbles from it. Lockout, PA is like lit on fire. They're hiring, so it's a good time to be a young lawyer. Tough to find a hole in it. But if we did, I don't know.

The more and more we're circling on it, like, for me, it feels like AL contender or he stays on the Dodgers. If you're the Dodgers, why would you trade him? A.L. Contender. Think about the, think about the NL contenders. Like, they're not going to trade him to the Padres in division just to get rid of them. Padres, I just locked it in my brain. Okay, Jim's in on that.

Padres, I'm in on that too, for sure. If you're the Dodgers, you just want to do that. You're just not going to give them. They're trying to wipe their hands clean. It's hard, too. The time has been served and it's done. And that's where we've gotten at this point that it's either going to be the Dodgers just say, well, he's coming back.

He's going to pitch for us and we'll see what happens. Or I kind of like, because I don't think they trade him NL and just give them to the Mets or the Braves or the. Padres. I think, if anything, it would be AL and it's a team like Texas got mentioned, hey, we're doing this damn thing. Screw it. Or about the Toronto Blue Jays. They're always chasing talent and sometimes they have to go or overpay a year. We've talked about that before. You know, they could use a fifth starter right now. Trevor Bauer, I mean, that could change their whole outlook. Toronto, I know it's a big media thing, but it's, you know, a different country.

so you're kind of separated from stuff. I don't know. I don't know. But for the Dodgers just to go NL contender or just release, I don't know, Trev. I got a question for you guys. And since we're just going off the walls here, because both the stories we've talked about already, there's a lot of mystery, mystery, mysterious things happening.

And we don't know. So we're just kind of making stuff up. What kind of shape do you think Trevor Bowers in right now? like is he like ready to go like he's been throwing in his warehouse like doing silly shit yeah he's been doing all those videos all the time yeah but what's what does that mean like is he is he is he amped up like is he has he been following a normal regiment last year did he simulate 25 games in his warehouse did he throw i don't know but i'm sure that people follow kids that follow momentum or people that follow momentum will probably be able to tell you in the

comment section like he's probably very public with this i'm guessing it's a little bit of a glass onion. And as you peel back the layers, if there's anyone that should be prepped for this, is Trevor Bauer. He was on his own throwing routine even when he was in the big leagues. So I think he's, Trevor Bauer does his own thing. That's kind of been his ammo from the start that I think during this time, he's been training, doing his long toss, the long double-sided ball thing that he used to use. I'm sure he's been doing all of it. I like that. That's a, what's that called? I don't know.

Yeah. I don't know either. Everyone knows what you're talking about. It's like a shock weight, but like a, with a bell bar. What? Get one in the warehouse. Yeah. Shake weight.

It's like a shake weight, but with a long stick with like a, all right, let's move on. Other two topics we got are the Rangers pick up a Valde and I like this. this deal for Avaldi, I think. I haven't dug deep into it, but when it broke, did you guys talk about this already? No, I did a C-Rose,

but when this broke, I was like, ooh, I kind of like that fit. It makes sense. Is he from there? Or is he from Florida? But now the Rangers on paper

have like a crazy good staff. And Avaldi, I think he's a pitcher that's better than his numbers. I don't know if his numbers got better lately. I don't know what they are. But I think, I think Avaldi's a gamer and better than his numbers.

A lot of times I think he wasn't above average pitcher. But now they got Keeney, huge, Avaldi, they got DeGrom. Rangers got themselves a rotation. This is, go ahead, Jake. I think that when you say Avaldi is better than the numbers, I think there's a little bit of a Fenway effect there. You know, if you're just looking at ERA, playing in Fenway, you know, we felt it every year. It feels like just runs happen sometimes. I think with him there's, you know,

I mean, we already talked about it with Correa. There's injury risk. Like there's injury risk with every player in baseball, even though his final year of the contract has something written about that. Hey, if you're a Rangers fan, you just have to be on the moon. I mean, they got Simeon and Seeger last year and we said, hey, we think these are long-term signings because I mean, by years-wise, they were. If you told them the next year, you were getting to Grom and Evaldi, I don't know. And remember, I mean, the year Martine Perez had last year, they signed Heen Dog 2, which I know we can, you know, some memories of Heen Dog for some fans are as in high regard, but he was great last year. The Texas Rangers have done a full facelift. And I mean, there's full

conversations of what does it mean, but they got a pitching staff that they got to charge. of a lineup. And I don't, I don't know if they're done. We just rumored them for Bauer. So we'll tweet that out. Texas in on Bauer. John Gray is, uh, with them. And he had a, he had a really good stretch of like 13 starts last year that you can point to, but didn't start great. And I'll actually, you know, an under four ERA is pretty good. But, and he had a stretch of 13 games at like a two five ERA last year. So, yeah, they got to, I'll tell you this. If the Yankees or the Red Sox or, or any team that has been the like you guys buy players put together this

this roster it would be thought of way more but kind of it would it would be like very highly regarded and then thought to be a failure if they didn't win the division or make a wild card game but because the rangers are kind of like a little bit of a have the state of baseball on a pretzel or a little bit of a blender like oh is this going to work there's still that hesitation to be like gung-ho but i think if a team with a different perception had these pieces it would be thought of as like,

whoa. I agree with you, James. That's actually a really good point because we have, we put that stigma on the Rangers and I'm a big part of that. I've been just shit talking the Rangers organization

for years on this show. And it's because you don't like the Texas Rangers like the original Cowboy Law organization. No, it's because it's just John Daniels and I just had a tumultuous relationship. I don't even think he knows that we have a tumultuous relationship, but him and I am in my head.

John Daniels. And I don't even think he's like doing anything. It just like put him like this. Sounds like a guy that hired the Texas Rangers back in the day. A couple things here. James, I agree with your point. Jake, you whispered briefly. You just whispered about Martine Perez's year last year.

196 innings. He made 32 starts with a 289. And this dude has to accept the. qualifying offer? Like, where are we at right now? Like, I don't, I don't know if I agree with that whole thing and like what happened to his agent telling him to do that. Doesn't make much sense to me. The dollars have been flying around this game and you take a one year. Now, it's almost $20 million. Great. But you just have that year in a contract here. And that's what we're doing. It doesn't make a lot of sense to me. But this rotation is looking solid. The lineup, you can get

excited about. I don't know. This is my take on it. And then I want to hear your guys. Everything has to go right for the Texas Rangers in this rotation. Like you got to get Jacob de Grom back. You got to get, what, 150 innings out of this guy? You're hoping for more. But like 150. And then you got to have Martine Prezic, kind of like, hey, like, don't regress too much. Like give us, give a sub three, five ball. And then Heaney, can you do it for a longer stretch? John Gray can you, you know, like, everything has to go right for this team to work out. But if it does go right, I mean,

you don't like this lineup a little bit? James, you got Simmon and Siegel to talk. Remember what Nate Lowe did last year too? Yeah, yeah, I'm a thick neck over there, Josh Jung.

Yeah, so I like Josh Jung and his big old neck, but like almost you don't have a sure thing past. That's what I'm saying. That's what I'm saying about the roster. Things have to go right for this team, and they can't. Like, I mean, Lowe had a great year, but we've seen a lot of you have great years and not, like he's not a perennial.

He's going to compete year yet. I hope he is. And then, you know, Adelis Garcia. Heim had a great year behind the dish. But he's their five right now. I don't think he had a, I don't think he's a five, a whole hitter. They still need to add some bats. There's no doubt about it.

Then you got young. then you got backyard Brad Miller, Tavares, Josh Smith. That could be the most empty lineup ever if you don't get everyone progressing, playing well, and you get like, you know, one stretch of a Simian Seeger injury or Simian takes,

you know, three months to hit a home run again. I thought their lineup was going to be better looking than that. I need to make another move. I think you need to go look at the roster. I think you need to go look at everyone else's roster. We get spoiled sometimes looking at, some of these elite teams that we talk about a lot.

Oh, the Astros 1 through 9 is 6. But most teams have what? Like five hitters. And then you're 6 and 7. You're like, okay. And then 8 and 9 are probably usually out. That's just how teams are constructed. It's hard to have these lineups with no holes.

So like, you know, maybe it's not the best lineup. But you add a piece here, make a trade there. And now we're talking. And if this pitching staff can do it. But it is, like I said, a lot of ifs with this team. They got four guys that you like going in any baseball. season. Adelis has done it for a couple years. Nate Lowe has progressed. He got to a high point last year that we don't know if he's that, but he's been above average for a few years. Seeger and

Simeon are studs. Hime was a great catcher last year, but we don't know. Young, we talked about. He's a prospect. You have no idea. But I think we have to go back to pitching depth because there's a couple guys we haven't mentioned. Jake Oter Rizzy is currently on this pitching staff. He's their six slash swing man. Throwing a lot of good Major League innings. Our guy Taylor Hearn, Hearn, Hunge, he's an absolute stud. Hot, Dame Dunning. We've never known which Army Thrones with.

He's still on this team. He was like their three man coming into last year. He threw 153 innings for them last year. Glenn Otto threw 135 for them last year. They have pitching depth. And that's before we get to Cole win, Jack Leider, and Kumar Rocker. So what the Texas Rangers have done is they've built legit pitching depth. which you got to love.

And I think their plan will be, hey, let's see what Josh Young is. I mean, you know, it could be in May, and we're talking about him as a, you know, a nice young up-and-coming player. If they add a bat and whether that's flipping a pitcher, whether that's whatever it is, right now their lineup is thin.

And the reason we're not talking about them as a Mets or a Red Sox or a team that, you know, would go out and empty the bankroll and bring in all these guys, is the big bad wolf, the Houston Astros. This team isn't near them. And that's just, that's the, the bad news about it. Yeah.

I think I'm a Texas Rangers fan again. How about that? I need them to get more, another bat. I don't, I'm not into what their lineup at all. I don't think it's a, as it stands right now,

a lineup of a competitive competing team. All right. You need so, you want like how many, you want like so many less need this to happen. And I guess I could be missing something from Rangers fans. Like you can't both Josh's, they're not both penciled in, right?

You know, I mean, they have a lot of young guys. I know we, you know, we didn't love a Thompson got called up last year. Zeke Duran. Yeah.

There's, there's playing time to be had. Leoti Tavaris is 24 and he put together a nice stretch for a little bit last year. So yeah, I mean, some of that stuff will, hopefully soar itself out in a good way. But like,

like Trev was kind of saying, if everything goes right and never does. But everything going right is like, this is a lot. Like even like Tavares, Heim, low, one of those three isn't going to progress.

I don't know who, but that's just the numbers of baseball. Like not all three of those guys are going to get better and have full complete years that are, that are what they did or better than before. And that's, that's your, that's your,

That's your fourth, fifth, and sixth option. You know, you still have the 7, 8, 9 of complete crapshoots. I don't know. Oh, I like that roster more. I don't anymore. I kind of love that we're deep diving on the Rangers roster. It's been some time since we've done that on this show. Yeah, we can get out of here.

We can, we can move the next one we want to hit real quick is that the White Sox, uh, spent the most money in free agency they've ever spent. Is that a, if I say it that way, is that correct? It's the biggest contract on a single player. make most money on single player, whatever. Benintendi to the White Sox five years. How much was it? 73. 575.

It passed Yosmani Grandal's largest contract in White Sox history for 73 million. But he got five for 75. So the White Sox pick up Ben Intendi to play left field. Other teams wanted him, but not at that price point. This contract and the red, not at that length, none of that many years. This contract and the Red Sox contract. contract for who's their short guy? Not Senga, that's the pitcher.

Yoshida. Yoshida are the most confused I've seen baseball writers this offseason. These are the two ones where like the collective response from baseball writers and journalists that have been chronicling this shit for years. We're like, what? As far as the Benintendi? Ben Intendi. It was almost the reaction was, oh, I guess that is kind of five years of the average salary.

and he is kind of just slightly above average, but that just seems like a contract that's bizarre. And then the Red Sox one was everyone was like, what the fuck are you guys doing? We're on Benny now. White Sox spending on. It's, you know, you know how much I believed in this White Sox team last year,

and I'm looking at the roster on fan graphs right now. And he slots in there nicely. And you're going to be able to take Eloy out of left field because, gosh, he did not know, He didn't even know where Lefiel was. I didn't like watching him out there. He kept getting hurt. Like, we just need this guy to hit.

Okay? So now that allows Eloy to just go bang, which I like, okay? Ben Attendee plays a good outfield. I think the deal's fine. What I'm missing is our guy, the cog in the lineup. My other Cuban ballplay that I love so much, Jose Ebrayu, him missing from this lineup, I think, is massive. Like, he was the rock in the middle of that lineup

that's going to give you that awesome A. be. And without him, like, I still can get excited about this team a little bit. You know, I still think, like, this is a very competitive team. I still like their pitching a lot. But the lineup to me without Jose is a little bit thin. We're going to need some of these guys to step up and be the people that, like, we think they are. Like, Luis Robert, like, needs to go. Like, we need this guy to have a bangor year. We need to have this, him have his MVP season. And then we'll be talking about the white socks, but, you know, we keep kind of going back to the lineups and they seem a little light. The offseason is not over. They can still make more moves. But I like, I like the Benetending

move for the White Sox, especially in that division, man. It's almost TPP season, isn't it? Because, I mean, we're doing a lot of a lot of if it clicks. And that's what this time of year is about. New year, new me. I mean, Tim Anderson and Benny at the top of the lineup, if those guys are on their game, I mean, you're you're looking at two runners on for, excuse me. for Robert and Eloy. I love that style that they're going to be playing with those two guys up there. Little old school, a little Trey Turner at a meeting going on for your Nats. Now, does it look like that?

Because the White Sox last year just looked like and felt like a disaster throughout. Could those guys set a tone and be two of the best table setters? Could Tim Anderson compete for another batting title? Well, Benny has another year with an OBP around 375. Because if they do that and they're setting up Robert and Eloy and Munkata and Andrew Vaughn, And yeah, there's something there. If that doesn't work and we're feeling white Soxie from last year, talk about a pivot year from them, man.

You know, we thought they were World Series contenders. They were not. And yeah, I mean, you know, we used to talk about Luis Robert as one of the top young, up-and-coming, you know, players in baseball. Can he do that? Can he be that? Eloy's my guy guy. He gets hurt last year playing the outfield.

you know, I think his bat has shown he has the pop. If he can play 150 games, you know, he could hit you 40 homers. But I mean, the White Sox won the bidding war, which was crazy. There was not a lot of defensive contact left fielders. Benny checks those boxes, new CBA. He gets the fifth year. And he had a huge year going into free agency. And he's 28.

Like, you know, when we talk about conformos or date. David Peralta is 36, and we're seeing him in the free agent pool. Benny's 28. So I don't know. The White Sox, we're just going to be shrugging because, again, a lot of the talent you still like. But after last year, how can you believe in them? I have a question about our boy, La Pantara. We've put him in, like, superstar tier since he's been, since he debuted, right?

right? And he had, I think it was in 2020, he had a really good start and then finished really poorly so his numbers didn't end up looking great. 2021, he has a 946 OPS, only 300 played appearances. So that we're like, okay, this is it. Last year, 400 played appearances, 746 OPS. It's like, what kind of player is this guy? Like, you see the tools. You know he can do it. He's only 25 years old, I believe. I was about to say I'm buying all the Luis Robert stock in the world because he's dinged up right now. But maybe I just buy a little bit of it. I don't know if I'm going all in on it.

I want to see this guy go out and have a full year, middle of the lineup, you know, driving in runs, you know, playing a good defense. I need to see a full year of it. We've seen flashes of it. We've seen, you know, bits and pieces here and there. like I want to see this guy be the cog in the middle of that lineup so we can he can rightfully be talked about in that superstar tier because I think we were a little premature with that. Yeah, I mean the white socks in general but I want it to boil down to like Larusa blew it up and in five years the story is like you know actually it was a terrible

hire that ruined everything because they they've been acting like it wasn't and it may not have been it may have been all these other circumstances but I mean could we be looking back like what if they didn't? make the hire everyone said was going to be a botched job we had so much momentum and talent fun they're just like what do you know we said it and then lucas gilito came on i think he talked to see rose about or something he's like oh no we're all behind this move we love it he's great and we're like okay well we'll listen to you lucas you're there you're in the clubhouse but then you realize you kind of got you in the media you have to talk nicely about your manager

mostly. Robert got that contract going into the season. He was one of those and we're like, oh, wow, he must be a dude. He hasn't played 100 games in a baseball year yet. I know it's a little unfair to 2020 because he played 56 out of 60 games, but our guys got to play over 100 games at least. And yeah, I mean, you know, the Tony LaRusa stuff gets, you know, last year, like you said, Trev, Luis Robert, 284, 319, 746. You know, if he had been playing, for a different manager, would he have given that 338, 378, 946 OPS? I don't know. But yeah, I mean, for him and Eloy, in the middle of that line, a Posey Abray who's gone,

you guys need to be the dudes. This is a huge year for them. And they're still in the Central, which is a very winnable division. I question C. Rose and his guardians all the time. Are they going to be the new San Francisco Giants who came out of nowhere and then kind of went back to the middling that we're used to? although the Indians or excuse me the Guardians have been a pretty

consistent like the most consistent team in that division yeah it's basically who's gonna be who's gonna embarrass themselves the twins of the white socks that's that's been the central tigers get a little kick last year

they signed a lot of guys yeah all right I mean hey BBD how much how long have we gone we are right at about 55 man And it's with an intro that might be playing right now or outro that might be playing right now. Cool.

All right. Well, hey, that's the main topics. There's some big topics we want to get into in the future date, like the Vars show trade and some of the debacks moves, the Marlins, what they're doing. And then there's a bunch of stuff that probably never gets talked about unless more things happen with that team, like the angel signing Brandon Drory or Brantley returning to Houston or Carpenter going to Padres. To whips a week, baby. soon. If we don't get to them, we'll get to them then. Yep.

So we'll get to them. All right. Birch Smith signs with the Eagles. Yep. Good stuff all around. All right. Well, thanks for tuning in. Appreciate you guys.

See ya. Later. Go check out Dalton Park shows. Either good or bad things. Good? I usually said that. The best thing.