Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - Dodgers Offseason Might Not Be Done

Episode Date: January 22, 2025

Download the DraftKings Sportsbook app and use promo code TALKINThe Dodgers are getting EVERYONE! Except for Anthony Santander who signed with Toronto! Jake and Trevor discuss what this means for Toronto in the AL East, if they got Pete Alonso AND Alex Bregman could make them AL East favorite, and should you blame Tanner Scott and Kirby Yates for signing with the Dodgers?Check out Ken Rosenthal’s latest Athletic article about the Dodgers discussed on the showhttps://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6076507/2025/01/21/los-angeles-dodgers-system-advantage/  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. Tony Tater, Santander, to Toronto. We got a couple new Hall of Famers, and the Dodgers. I added the best bullpen arms. Let's talk ball. Oh. Are we both Santander? Hello and welcome to Talking Baseball,

presenting you by Seatgeek Code Talkin 20205. My name is Jake Storelli. That is Trevor Plouf. Rob Chiraco producing as we sink our teeth into January 22nd. It's going to be February soon. It's going to be Santander in Toronto. I've given myself some pats on the back

because I feel like any time I could, I've tried to tell the people it just felt like a fit. And we'll dive into the Blue Jays, maybe a little A.L East while I've got your ear. And we've even got a special guest and some Hall of Fame talk coming at the back end. Coach, let's do some Toronto and Tony Taters. Anthony Santander hit 44 of them last year for the Baltimore Orioles,

and he is going to head to the Great North to the Toronto Blue Jays. Five years, $92 million. He had the qualifying offer attached. There is an opt-out, but the club can. match and add another year on that. That can escalate it to 110 over six years. Deal slightly front-loaded, a little bit of deferred money, because obviously it's 2025.

What are we doing if you're not deferring money? And Trev, yeah, again, I was given myself a slight pat on the backs. I just, the Toronto Blue Jays have been hunting for something from the lefty side of the bat for a while. I mean, going back to the Dalton Varshow trade, going back to all their righties on the team before that. I do think there's something to a guy that's in division. Like, you're going to see a lot of familiar pitchers.

You don't have to worry about as much drastic change. And Santander comes with a little bit of risk defensively and on base percentage, but this guy has been one of the best switch hitters in baseball for the last three, four seasons now. Yeah, like on a team like the Blue Jets, won consecutive team gold glove awards. You can, I said this on the show.

It's okay to have an outfielder that can't necessarily go and get it that hits 40 homers. That used to be the tradeoff back in the day. And I think that Toronto's, you know, it needs that. So I'm happy he got this deal. And by all accounts, you know, the Blue Jays were, you know, went above and beyond kind of what other teams were willing to do. And I think more than anything, first of all snaps for Santander. He did it.

Yeah. Awesome. Like, you know, he did have a great start to his career. and, you know, found something, you know, maybe just decided to say, F it, and let me hit some homers, which he obviously did. But for Toronto, I mean, I think if you're a Blue Jays fan, even if you're like, hey, man, like, does this make us,

whatever, a favor in the ALEs? You're probably going to say no to that. But what it does do for you as a Blue Jays fan, it lets you know that they're trying to keep Vladdy around. They're trying to put something out. there you know if not just for this year the last year of Vladia and Bo but um maybe to keep the keep the gang together and not just go into you know a a rudderless three or four years trying to figure out a new direction uh we got some reports about uh from our our good friend Carlos Baerga

about them trying to potentially lock up of Laddie before the season starts so i think that is kind of where this points me is, okay, hey, the Blue Jays, for all the crap that we have given them, and they finished last in the ALES last year, and before that they made the playoffs. Didn't work out for them, but this isn't like some piece of shit roster. Like, you know, they got some players on there. Like, they've got to figure out some things. But that's what this signifies to me is they want to stay competitive, not go into a lull of a couple of years.

I think you've got to be pretty freaking stoked if you're a Blue Jays fan. Offensively, I think it's an awesome fit. And it's a top of the lineup now that with Bichette, if the Blue Jays are going to do anything this year, and I do want to talk about what kind of goggles we should have for the Blue Jays this year, you're going to need Bo Bichette to bounce back to form, and he should, man, he's in his peak. And what he can do offensively is a special lead-the-league

and hits type hitter. Laddie, we've talked about a little. bit, we're going to talk about a lot more. He is one of the most, like, valuable players in baseball. Like, find me young hitters with his resume, that if Bo bounces back, if Vladdy lives up to that, now with Santander switch hitting that you can break those guys up a little bit and provide the pop he can provide, that is a top of the lineup. Springer to bounce back, Varsho, Alejandro Kirk, you're going to need other

parts of the operation to go, but we've seen, you know, if you have a good core, top of the lineup, that if you can get that starting pitcher the third time around, if you can get to the weak part of their bullpen, that's the big way to score runs. And then you're looking for, like every team in baseball, that young breakout guy, that, you know, is it Will Wagner, which we'll talk some more Wagner coming up. Who is it? I don't know. But at least now you're in a position. a dream that like, hey, Santander and Vladdy could combine for 70 homers next year. Like they combined for 70 plus last year that if Bichette's getting on, you have a core of an offense to believe in.

And dude, you're right on Santander. I mean, some of, you know, when you start getting this long into free agency, we start wondering what is the contract going to be there. And a guy that didn't get off to a crazy start to his career, that this is, awesome for him and as watching him play on an opposing team the last handful of years, I'll tell you what. There's going to be people that look at the on-base percentage and they're like, the 308 last year and he's a career, you know, 325, 318 the year before that and that

should decline. Yeah, all ball players decline a little bit. He is a threat and he's a guy you don't want to see at the plate. That's what I care about. I made this I'm excuse me I made this point with Rosie about you know some of the bouncebacks you talked about

Springer we'll see it you know he's let's go man be nice to return to a little bit of form for him as far as you know Boba shit you talk about his walk here all the time what that means for motivation and focus and maybe some off the field stuff stops and you get back in not saying

that he's necessarily doing I'm just saying that's what happens when guys lock it in but also playing with Jimenez I'm calling for the best defensive year of Boba Chats career. Oh, okay. Just working with him and getting the reps in because obviously they're going to need to go in. It's going to be so fun, dude, when you're a shortstop and, you know, the, the relationship, the middle infield relationship is so fun.

Like these dudes are going to be out there at 7 in the morning, taking ground balls together, getting familiar with each other. It's like, you know, doing the horizontal dance a little bit. You got to get into rhythm with each other. Not too fast at first. Slow it down. Let me see what you got. and then we can speed it up.

That's what they're going to have to do out there in Dunedin. Okay, so I'm happy that he's there. I think Bichette will have a good year. But yeah, I mean, I guess we can talk about the rest of the ALE East and where this gets the Blue Jays. You're my ALEA's expert. If I had this right now looking at it, I got him third place at best.

So are they getting They're not better than the Yankees I don't think they're better than the Red Sox And I don't think they're better than the Orioles Right But third would be A surprising Turn of events for me

But am I wrong? No, it's It's what else is in here Because you can Okay, do you think the Blue Jays can have an above average lineup. I think they can. You really need those guys to go nuts

and you need something else to happen. So can they have an above average lineup? Yes. I do think their rotation can also be above average. Like you need Kevin Gossman to tap back in. I mean, in what was kind of a down year for him, he still had a 383 ERA.

He is going to be 34 this year. Your guy Barrios was very solid for them last year. Bowden Francis was a breakout player towards the back half of last season. Chris Bassett is still there. Yario Rodriguez, the Cuban ball player. I know you're about that. Who got introduced to the bigs last year. Like, I think their rotation can be above average.

I think their bullpen can be above average. They sign Jeff Hoffman. and they have Chad Green, Jimmy Garcia, Eric Swanson. So it's, I think the potential of all of those can be above average. Do I think those can fall below average? I do. And it's in the game of baseball where, I don't know, there's so much variance year to year,

it's tough to feel that all three of those are going to click on all three cylinders. All three cylinders? Is he a car guy? when the rest of the division you can talk about four teams better than them three teams easily and then the rays are the rate how many cylinders are in a car

cars have different amounts of cylinders or four right six cylinder that sounds that sounds badass right I think you get up to A but now no way Rob cars oh V I know I had a V12 yeah

I had a V12 Cadillac back in the day. Little car. Ooh. I'm not like a car guy whatsoever. We just both exposed ourselves pretty good on that. I could change a tire. Yeah. Hell yeah.

I think it was fast. So, okay. We're saying this. All reports are saying that Toronto is still shopping. Whether that's the trade market, whether that's the free agent market. A couple guys out there could definitely help. They got the money.

It's all we ever hear from Toronto fans. You got money? They're not crying poor in Toronto like some of these other teams. They're saying, hey, we got it. Tell me Alex Braggman doesn't fit there. Tell me he doesn't fit there. And tell me he doesn't change the lineup. A lot.

I guess the one that stands out to me, and again, this is Heyman, but it's Alonzo. Like everything I just said about Santander, like, hey, man, Pete... I mean, Pete and Santander combined for, you know, 34 plus 44. We all know that's just under 80 homers, 78. I was waiting free for that, yeah. Okay, so this Blue Jays offense that a couple weeks ago,

or a couple days ago we're looking at in like, okay, should they trade Vladdy, should they trade Bo? Did they just add, could they add 80 home runs? Because that would change your whole offensive outlook. And I guess, Trev, what you mentioned and has, me doing a little head tilt. Okay. Hey, Santander, Vlad, and let's say Pete happens.

And now we're daydreaming pretty deep. And Bo, you fellas are out there to hit. Hit. Hit. Through this defensive stuff, it ain't working. Jimenez? Varshow. Kirk, who I believe led the league in framing last year,

my short king. Just keep that body down there. Catch everything above your head. That's a strike. I don't know. At least you're looking at guys like, hey, you're out there and you do this and let's see what happens. I mean, I just, again, but that's us daydreaming them signing Pete Alonzo, which I have no idea what Pete wants in his free agency. I have no idea if Toronto's going to throw the bag in anyone else.

They need to do more if we need to be doing like a Toronto's interesting combo. I agree. Pete will be, if they could get Pete who, you know, he's got the qualifying offer on him, which is, You know, they just signed a guy that had the qualifying level on him. Maybe they're just saying, who cares? If they could get Pete, Pete right now doesn't have a deal. Or he's offering teams a three-year deal. At least he offered the Mets that. If Toronto's like, bro, we'll give you a fat check for this year.

One year, cushion, we've seen it happen before. Interesting. They could get up to how, I mean, he's asking right now for how much a year? High 20s? I think the original goal was to break the first base, A.AV, which I think was like 31. Yeah. 31. Hey, Pete, we'll give you a 33 for one year.

Who says no to that? Right. Probably Pete. But maybe not at this point. Yeah, I get, you'd probably have to do it that Bellinger Chapman contract style. Three with opt-outs? Options, yeah.

Okay. Interesting, right? Get Breggie in there too. If they, seriously. Right. If they went out. I know Breggman, looking for $200 million.

And I don't know if they want to go there. I'm just saying, yes, if you wanted to all of a sudden put yourself in the conversation for can we win the AL East, you go get those two guys and you can do it. So this is, you're a business man, Jake. We all know that. Yeah. You're a businessman. Yep.

Your product, not doing so hot right now. You know, it's like, hey, not doing hot. But people want to support your product, but it's just not that good. you had a chance to make your product good. You got to spend a little money. You got to spend money, but you know as a businessman. You have spend money to make money. So this is available with two phone calls.

Maybe let's just get them on the phone together. Just one phone call. Oh, wow. I love that. Yeah, what's up? Hey, Alex is on line two. A little three-way call. Remember that back in the day?

Click. You're running a little hot this morning. I'm just saying. the way you delivered that. All I'm saying is, all I'm saying is, it is available to the Toronto Blue Jays to put themselves into the category

of frontrunner, AL East. Right now, it's available to them. For me, because I, both, I can't daydream that. The tigers are at a standstill on their talks with Alex Bregman.

Nobody's talking to Pete. Nobody's talking to Pete. And that's why I think I'm starting to believe in that smoke And for whatever Pete's trying to do And I could see it For me, I could see it making sense They got the DH spot kind of open Um

Think about that in the field Alex Bregman, Boba shit, Andra Semenis, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Bregman still has some real suitors That I do think So be a real suitor I'm not saying they have to be a fake suitor Right, but we just talked about this an episode ago

Toronto has had a lot of runner-up appearances that I feel Alex Bregman feels like he has a plan for his free agency that I don't know if it's Boston or, you know, the Mets were supposedly supposed to be in play for either of these guys. Detroit, I never liked, but everyone else did. Okay, like, you're right. But I guess for me, every team could be like, hey, if we sign Pete and Bregman, we're going to be better next year. They can. They can. But this team wants and has the resources to do it. Right. They've been linked to every big free agent over the last three years. And you just said they've always been the bridesmaid. There's another opportunity. What are you, gun shy now? You've wanted free agents to come. Right now, I feel like they got some leverage. They have an advantage. And they could just say, hey, we want you guys. Come be part of this. I think if you're a free agent that's still around January 22nd,

you'd like to hear that on the other end of the phone call. Yeah, I... Now I'm juiced up. I think they should do it. I never even thought about that. I'm sorry, I haven't. I guess for me, I could see Pete happening and it's like, hey, how was our offseason? And it's like, we had... Hey, Toronto, you're 16th in payroll right now going into 2025.

16th. You got a whole, the Rogers Corporation owns you, right? Canada's team. Big corporation.

Canada's team. You can't spend more money than, I don't know. Maybe I'm wrong about this. I think they want to. Toronto's not 16th. That was age.

I had it up wrong. Okay. Toronto. There's seven. Toronto's 16th. Apologize. Trev kind of like seventh. For that mom.

I apologize. Hey, I just think, okay, when you're a front office and you go into meetings and it's like, what did you do to the team this off season and Vlad's walk year? You say we added Santander and Pete, two guys that have each had 44 home run seasons in the past two years. That changes your team's offense. Like, I could see that happening and we've been looking for a home for Pete and it just hasn't made sense.

I could see, I just, I think Bregman is going to land somewhere else for the dream that Toronto could sign both of them. I do think if they were to get Pete and they were to sign a kind of one of the remaining pitchers like an Andrew Heaney, just like a depth guy that could give you a two-war season and give you 150 innings, I'd feel a little better about their starting rotation depth. Their bullpen has a chance, like you can add another lefty arm or something like that, and bullpins just fluctuate year-in, year out.

And their bullpen was pretty rough last year. 29th in ERA that maybe Jeff Hoffman and Chad Green can can kind of settle things down on the back end there. I hope the Blue Jays get more in the action. It then, Trev, the conversation from there, and we don't have to do this whole thing now, but like all five ALE East teams could put a quality product on the field.

Like the rays are going to raise and what's Junior Caminero and Lowell back and blah-b-b they're pitching's healthy. The Blue Jays, we're talking about them adding some significant impact-free agents. Red Sox's back in the mix. Yankees back in the mix. Orioles in there. I don't know. I mean, I think we've seen four teams in a division make the playoffs before,

but it just gets, it gets tricky quick, man, that we're going to be talking about the A.L. Central a lot. and hey, the West is down but up? Like, I, I don't know. I'm interested to see where Toronto lands this because if they don't do anything else, no one's buying. I mean, we're talking about them adding impactful guys and then maybe we're buying. If they had those guys, I think I'm buying.

What do you mean? How about- Isn't it fun spending someone else's money? There you go. Right? Hey, go sign Pete and then trade for Dylan C. It's like, now we're talking. I like that.

Now I hate the Yankees schedule, though. Hey, Toronto, you've done something, you've been waiting to do something. It seems like they're not done. I guess the only other thing that I've been wondering is, like, this felt like a reaction to the Sasaki move, which I don't, like, couldn't they have gotten this Santander signing early? We never know what's going on in negotiations and stuff, but this Santander number was higher than a lot of things.

people expected. So I would just love to know what was the thought process throughout or maybe the timeline should. They wanted to get somebody, dude. Right, but they could have got him in or probably not September. They could have gone him in December for, I was going to say a lower price. I know nothing. I have no information. What if, what if, okay, that's, I know we've gone a little too long on this already, but now we're playing G. We're excited. We're playing fantasy GM right here. Boba shit. I know he's at his lowest, We were trading him this off seat.

He's at a low trade value. He's owed 17 M's this year before he goes into free agency. They got a guy, Erelvis Martinez, one of the top prospects, second base spin. I think he got pop last year suspended. We're going to look past that.

Bring him up. League minimum, second base. Jimenez goes a shortstop. Save $17 million. You had one of those guys with that. money. Clear up some cash. Can you do that? Would they be, I don't want to get too far. I was going to say, would it be better if Bichette was gone and they had Alonzo? That was gone and they had a lot. No? They'd probably have to eat some money on Bichet. You need, no. I mean, I think teams are

bought into Bo Bichet for this year, but I just, okay. I mean, I am, but I think, you know, unless it's heat and then. Hassan Kim. I don't know, man. I think if you're the Blue Jays and getting in the front office and even the fan, like, Vladian Bo, like this is, this is it. And I love that the front office is, I hope they do a little more. If they do Santander and Pete, I'm going to be like, okay, Blue Jays, and And Andres Jimenez. Like, I realize his offensive profile isn't of those guys, but he's going to outwar them by three, three war.

So, like, if I'm a Blue Jays fan, and I came into this offseason, scared we're going to trade both, scared we're going to trade Vladdy. And the front office went, and they got Santander, we're daydreaming of Pete now, which is a big move. And they brought in Jimenez, who it's a weird contract, and it's a lot of defensive war, so you've got to do some mental gymnastics. But, hey, those are three impactful players. I've seen Andres Jimenez win games with defense. Like, I know we don't think that way. but they still need to get to work more, and I hope they do. Hey, the team that's done a ton of work this offseason,

I can't believe we're talking a little more Dodgers, but they might have added the two best relievers. It's all brought to you by the Draft King's sports book. Football fans, it's playoff time. We got some exciting games to look forward to, and you can get in on all the playoff action right now with our partners at the Draft King Sports. Sportsbook. Right now, they're offering all new customers $200 in bonus bets.

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21 and over, age and eligibility varies by jurisdiction. void in Ontario. Bonus bets expire 168 hours after issuance. Four additional terms and responsible gaming resources. See dkng.com slash audio. Trev, this first one is kind of unofficial. And I'm just realizing we haven't talked Tanner Scott here. Tanner Scott to the Dodgers, which one of my taglines has been,

where does the Dodgers line stop? And clearly seems like we're not there yet. probably the best reliever on the market, Tanner Scott, who's had the armed talent for years. He used to be wild. It looks like the control has figured itself out that he has found a dominant, dominant form. And then the other leak that hasn't been fully confirmed yet,

but Kirby Yates, who's had a hell of an MLB career, we've talked on this show before because there's some interesting. He's from Hawaii, and his face just look kind of... This is a little off the books. His face makes me feel like me and him sipping on a couple coronas by the beach would be a good time. I don't know what that is.

I don't know if that's analytics. But go look at his stats from last year, a 117 ERA, that the Dodgers, who people thought their bidding might be done, might have signed the two best relievers on the market. I mean, yeah, the one place you could have looked at the Dodgers and said, maybe there's a little bit of weakness there was the back end of their bullpen. Trina was gone and, you know, it just seemed like they were kind of relying on just a few guys throughout their playoff run or the World Series run last year.

All of a sudden, Trinon's back. Tanner Scott is here. Kirby Yates is here. Kopeck, I believe, is going to miss the first month of the season, maybe two months of the season. but he'll be back, Bruce Star, like, that's mentioned,

Vesia, like there's so many guys there that there is no weakness on this Dodgers team. They have filled every imaginable hole. I know you're into that. I don't know. I don't really know what there's to say.

I mean, I said, I said yesterday about Tanner Scott. I said, look, man, these guys, it's January 22nd. They were still around.

Like, your team could assign these guys. Like, why didn't they? I think there are some report saying that the Cubs did offer Tanner Scott and he just wanted possibly more money. He just wanted to come to the Dodgers. And I guess, do you blame them?

Do you blame these guys? Like, it's not like... At first I did a little bit, Trap. I'll be honest with you. When I initially heard he turned down more money from Boston and I believe the Cubs were reported. I was kind of like, hey, you know, I, hey, the Dodgers are cool. Japan pipeline, and, you know, they're the model org right now,

and I want to push that. We got best relievers in the market. Tanner Scott's made nine and a half mill playing baseball. That's a lot of money. I get that. But this is his contract. This is his, so, A, it's how much money did you turn down, which I would guess probably isn't a crazy amount. But it's also Tanner Scott's path when I thought about it, Tanner Scott was on the bad Orioles. Tanner Scott was on the Marlins. Tough. That, hey, if the money's in the ballpark and you can basically guarantee, Tanner Scott could close a World Series game.

Like, okay, I'm in. So I got, yeah. He got a taste of San Diego. And he saw, you know, gosh, I don't want to, like, offend San Diego. Right. But he saw, like, big bro up in L.A. That's tough. They're going to hate that.

They're not going to love that, Coach. They won the World Series, is all I'm saying. Yeah. San Diego Big Brodom in, what, 2022? That was awesome. I don't blame him. You want to go win, man. Right.

It's just getting now, the Dodgers, here's what I think. The Dodgers, I don't think, are done yet either. Where? they have they have they have a surplus of starting pitchers um i'll be it some young guys they probably want to hang on to but they could easily ship those guys off pitching as needed everywhere in the league i don't know who they'd bring back i don't know i just think they have their options are still open and it doesn't like they're spending

a ton of money they're way over the luxury tax threshold they're paying 110% premium and on every premium on every single contract they're giving out right now, which is crazy. So every time they give a guy, what do they give Tanner Scott? 4 for 72. So that actually comes out to 144. I think more than that, actually, that they're actually paying for this guy. This is 110%. I'm not a math guy.

I think they could go the trade market and we'd, like, I think if they needed to improve somewhere during the year, say an injury happens or whatever. they have the ammo, the farm system and the major league ready talent to go make more moves. So if you're sick of the Dodgers improving their team, get a bucket. Keep a bucket nearby. I think they could do whatever they want right now. Yeah, again, I don't know where it stops. We really haven't seen this.

And it's why the Dodgers have been such big fodder around the sport. is it good, is it bad? This hurts me a little bit to say it's good. I mean, people are talking baseball and people are excited and let's test baseball, right? Like nobody's repeated. And I, you know, anyone that knows ball, which you do, and that's why you're subscribing to the channel right now,

is like they're guaranteed nothing. And that's going to be the fun part come October. Yes. But God, they're stacked. They're stacked different. It's, yeah, it's going to be a, a tall task, but again, yeah, we've seen it happen many times before. Gosh, I had something I was going to say.

Now I totally blinked on it. That's not exactly where you want to land right now. Okay. No, it's not coming back. Dodgers. That's right. Let's find out. Okay, who closes games for the Dodgers?

I think that's a fun exercise. Does it matter? I don't think they care. By committee? Line up, matchups. I think it ties into this whole clubhouse, dude. like, hey, we're all getting paid. I don't care if you pitch the 8th or you pitched the 9th.

Like, if we're going to be one of the greatest, like, dude, I don't, Trinan was probably the best reliever and he set up for years. I think Kopeck is still just on, think of his last year. Kopeck left the white socks and ended up on the Dodgers. And then Tanner Scott, LOL same, dude. I don't, I don't care.

Like, okay, so you're going to put me in my, my best lane. Hey, Tanner Scott, they got some really good lefties, so you're either going to be the eighth or the ninth today. Cool. Hey, Kopec, uh, we're facing the Blue Jays, a lot of righties. Uh, you're, you're closing this one out. Sick. I don't think they care. They're out here to win ball games, get paid and get laid. Where I was in a go, I remembered. Nice brain for me. Sweet. There's a great article. I've talked to you about it before the show in the athletic. And if you're not paying that. I think you should. I think it's like very well worth it. So free ad for them. Kenny Rosenthal has an article talking about the Dodgers and you know, yeah, they're the new evil empire,

but what's it really about? I think it really illustrates what I've been trying to say. We've mentioned on the show before. Like it's you do have to keep up and you have to figure out a way to do it. The Dodgers, do they have an advantage with their cable deal? Sure. Were they the last team to sign a massive cable deal right before everyone stopped signing massive cable deals. Sure. But that's not all that they do. I mean, they have they have invested money,

invested money and taken risk and created an organization from the floor up, dude, not talking just the major level. They were the first team to really, you know, incentivize their minor leaguers, feed them correctly, bring in all these coaches.

They've done everything the right way. go read the article. He talks about how, you know, all the money they're paying from the competitive balance tax, that's going to the lesser teams who aren't spending money. They're just pocketing that money. He talks about road attendance, which is the highest of any team since 2008. So they're bringing, when they come to your ballpark, you're getting that money as well. Like, they are elevating the sport of baseball, you know, bringing it to Japan more so than it ever has been.

There's a lot of things that the Dodgers are doing that is helping the game of baseball. You could hate them. That's okay. I fully expect people to hate the Dodgers. But again, I think that's part of the entertainment aspect of it. And for Ricketts in Chicago coming out and saying, they try to break even. Great. You broke even for a year on the baseball side.

You own a bunch of hotels around the area. You're invested in the rooftop. There's a Drafking sports book out there. You're making money, auxiliary money to your team. But you bought the team in 2009 for $845 million. Forbes estimates it now at 4.2 Billy. I'm no math guy, but that's over three Billy you made on the team. Don't sit here and tell me, we don't, we can't do that.

We don't do that. That's, that's cap. Mm. Not talking Carter. I, uh, yeah, man. I, and you know, the thing that always gets me in it, this is a, hey, you shout out the athletic. I'll shout out Bill Simmons. It's just a friendly competition.

Um, one thing he, he got me with it. I can't shake is like, we, we value teams or Forbes throws a number on it. And I'm sure they're probably better at it than I would be. But here's, he said one of, one of, one. One of the most wild thing he saw was Golden States ownership group. You know, San Francisco, the tech area. You got a lot of rich, rich people. Like different level of rich.

Not even daydream about being that rich, like crazy rich. He's like, you know what was a cool chip for one of those rich guys to have? He owned the Golden State Warriors in a room of really rich guys. Yes, there's only so many teams. That guy owned the Golden State Wars. The city of Chicago, Descartes. Cubbies, if they hit the market. Mark Cuban tried to buy him.

I'll take the over. I'll take the over on 4.2 bill. I always take the over on that. And let me tell you this. If you're in a business, and you're these guys, and you're trying at best just to break even, you probably get out of the business.

Right. If that was true. Come on, bro. Don't. We're not stupid. Not us. In some places we are. Sometimes.

Like cars, V12, sick. Sick. Okay, Chevy Camaro. Drive, let's, I think we're talking about Kirby Yates. I mean, kind of a short king, 510,

no extension, but swing and miss like you're read about. I mean, I think that's the big thing is they got the Dodgers have a ton of swing and miss the back end of the bull. But what else is there to say? I know everyone's sick of us talking about the Dodgers. I get it, dude. I know. But what are we supposed to do? They're the people signing guys right now.

Just, uh, I'll, here's what I'll do. I'll tell you Kirby Yates is stats. 61.2 innings pitched last year. 33 saves a 117 ERA, 85 strikeouts. He, um, he was one of my favorite pictures to watch last year. Um, I guess I kind of have a man crush on Kirby Yates. We, we might, have to connect this. If you like a baseball savant page, go check that out. His splitter is disgusting. It's, there is nothing a hitter can do. It, it looks just like the fastball. It's a weird arm angle. The fastball wasn't easy to hit either. The fastball had a 128 batting average. Yes. Again, or excuse me, a 113 batting average. 113, 210 slug, 18 run value to the four-scene fastball.

Splitter, and you got to be ready for both of them. 93 heater, 86 splitter. That's it. When you are at the plate and you have to decide which one it is, you don't have much time, fastball top of the zone, splitter falls the other way, you got a little ride on that fastball. I mean, they got another guy that does that a starter named Roki Sasaki. Yeah, except he can throw 100. Yeah, and two.

Hey, Trev, this is a loaded question, and maybe it should be for another day before we get to some of the Hall of Fame stuff. If you're a minor league pitcher, things aren't clicking for you. You know, you're topping out at 94 on the gun, 93 on the gun, 92 on the gun. why don't why aren't and maybe they are and I'm just being naive but I see someone like Kirby Yates funky funky funky arm angle he's throwing 93 with an 86 split and he had one of the best seasons of an MLB reliever last year

I guess I don't get why more guys wouldn't try to mimic this more I realize it's loaded like like you said he's kind of a short king it's a weird arm angle it's not as copy and paste you'd like, but if you can find a way to tap into this, you can be one of the best relievers in the sport. Tap into what? I guess the arm angle and a fastball splitter.

They all try to do it. So not everyone's body moves the same. So you can't just do every single arm angle, or you can't just copy mechanics. I had a great conversation with Joe Ryan about that. And, you know, he was talking about he always thought that he had a low, arm angle so he wanted to throw stuff like that um like a two seamer that move that way or like holds his change up a certain way and then he went uh two drive line and they just said well you know yeah

here use that low arm angle though don't make the ball go down make it go up you get like more up shoot with it so he changed was able to do it but it was based on his biomechanics so like you have to go in there kind of see what your body can do and then yeah you can mimic pitch I mean, the data is out there. It's not as easy as just watching a video and say, oh, I could do that. But, hey, guess what? Sometimes it is. It's all individually tailored to, you know, kind of like how your body moves.

Can you do this? I mean, it really is you got to get into, you got to get on those little tracker balls all over you, put yourself into the system, and then kind of see what you can manipulate. And guys do it all the time. I mean, that's not like a far-fetched thing. more. Do you ever track or ball it? The only time I did it was like for MLB the show. It would come like during spring training and like put them on you and

do your swing and stuff like that. I was kind of, I was like right before that. I'm a Rob Van Skoiet guy. Right. That's true. That's true. Everyone knows that. All right, coach. Let's let's wind it down with a little Hall of Fame chatter. Like we said, the three lefties and our special guest appearance coming in a second. I'll get my bit out quick. I think all three are Hall of Fame guys. Wagner, one of the best closers to ever do it. Pretty crazy how when we

started just looking at a couple more stats, everyone was like, wait, Billy Wagner is disgusting. Cici, an all-time human and baseball player. And each row Suzuki, I think you could say LOL same, that it's a pretty good class. The only thing I'd put out there, you know, C.C., like you've mentioned, he's kind of, especially on our Yankees side of this journey, he's kind of been at arms reach a little bit. There was one kind of kerfuffle when it was like, hey, we're, Cici, we're fans. Like the way you talk about the Raiders, when you're tough on your Raiders, that's how we have to be on the Yankees when they're playing bad. Since then, his wife Amber, who's connected in baseball, CAA, like,

She's been awesome. And the story I like to tell that's just one of our cool moments that have made this company and all that stuff is the famous Cecea ejection where he threw at Sukray, the Ray's backup catcher, because I think the Yankees catcher, Romine, got hit. And Cece was going to cost him his bonus on the year. He did it anyway. It was, you know, at Cici. It wasn't even a question in his mind. I think the story that came out recently was, might have even been yesterday, was like Brett Gardner told Cici don't hit him.

And Cici on the way out was like, hey, get ready to drop your glove and fight. So that's kind of what Cici was bringing to the table. He's beloved Cleveland, Milwaukee. That Milwaukee run is historic. So as Cici hit the Rays batter, he points to the Rays dugout and says, that's for you, bitch. John made up a t-shirt. He'll tell you not the most complicated design.

It was one of our first t-shirts that really sold. And I mean, we used to track everything. Like if someone bought a shirt, we knew their name and we were related. An order came through for a bunch of, that's-for-you-bitch t-shirts. And I was, at first I was a little scared. We were selling a t-shirt with the word bitch on it, just because I'm soft.

And I was like, I don't know. Are we going to control? for this. I have no clue. You know, there's kids that watch ourselves. The order was from the Sabathia family. And Amber bought shirts. That's for you, bitch shirts, for the whole family. For the kids, for mom, for all of it.

And seeing that come through as massive Yankee fans that were trying to do something, that's a lifer, lifelonger for us. So that's kind of all I have on how great all those guys are. But I want to tell that story. I think, oh, I love C.C. So you got your CC stuff out. I think seeing Billy Wagner yesterday and how emotional he was getting the call and

kind of cool to see him, he did not have the phone on speakerphone. It was just up to his ear. I don't know. Maybe he's just an, maybe he doesn't know how to do speakerphone, you know, a little bit older. Not a speakerphone guy.

No, a speakerphone guy. I hate what people are on speakerphone. It's tough to hear. I hate holding a phone to my ear. I also hate that too, but whatever. That's the size of the point. Billy Wagner, obviously very well deserving.

It's taken the voter some time to kind of catch up and realize what's going on. I believe there's only eight other relievers in the Hall of Fame, which is crazy. Small, yeah. Yeah. Wagner, obviously definitely deserved it. His last year on the ballot, he cruised. It was 82 and a half percent or something like that. So I'm very happy he's just that emotion, man.

Coming from like an adult male like that, you just don't see it that often, you just realize how much this means. to somebody. He's going to go, have a great, you know, summer day out there, getting ducted. It's, it really, really is special. So I'm very happy he got in. Then, yeah, obviously each row coming over, kind of transcending the sport a little bit, for being honest. Definitely got to play against him and I'll give some each row stuff. I remember playing shortstop with him, and he was the first guy, and even third base, too. You better get rid of that ball. You had no time. You had no time to get a grip.

You had no time to take an extra step. You better fire that thing because he was out of the box. I wonder what his fastest time from home to first was. If we could find that, maybe we'll talk about the next episode. It was crazy. The juxtaposition, people love when I use that word, by the way.

Yeah. Between him and Howard Poolehouse, Pooleos was even harder because he had so much time. You felt like, I don't know what to do with the ball. He's so far away from the bag. Oh my gosh. Each row, man, if you flinched, he was safe.

But obviously an incredible career, you know, over 3,000 hits here in the States alone. Just kind of redefined, I think, what we thought hitters could do. And even maybe I say that now, I'm thinking maybe even like an ode to the past of how hitters used to play. Run hard, steal bases, get on base. You know, like he was an incredible arm, everything. Obviously, you know each row, man. If you're listening to this show, you understand what each row meant to the game. So happy for him.

I believe he was one vote short of a unanimous selection, which is insane. So, yeah, a great class, in my opinion. Kind of like three totally different positions and three very well-deserving guys. I want to end by saying, Kenny Lofton, Veterans Committee, got to vote this guy in go look at his stats he's my guy look out for some stuff with Chris Rosenham that's going to come out

on our network but congratulations to those three guys and Cece we'll come we'll come we'll get there yeah let's kick it to our special gift Trev there's a fun little

fan graphs article here in 2016 that's talking about how quickly each row got down to first base. At age 41, he was tied for fifth average time to first base in baseball. And I think at the All-Star game in 2001, they had him at a 3-6, which that's just... It's just silly.

Yeah, like that number means something to some people, but he was running out of the box as he hit. And I don't know, I think in this conversation, John Boy jumped in and it was a little clunky at the start. It's a lot of good stuff. I do think it's interesting, and it gets mentioned in there, like, we don't even let guys try to be Ichero, and only so many can. But, like, if Ichero came up as an AL minor leaguer, they would have told them to not do this.

They would have told them to try to piss on balls, because he kind of could. So everyone says. Everyone always says that. Right. Okay. Yeah, right. In batting practice?

Yeah, that's great. So did you. I'm not a hater. You're a hater. I'm a hater. Let's, some good John Boy and Trev coming up. And we'll see you guys.

Listen to this. Couple lefties, although Ichero through Ritey. I guess I never really thought about C.C., Billy Wagner and Ichero. Lefties, but kind of not. Trevor Plouf, my Hall of Famer. How are you?

Thank you. Hall of Fame of decidedly average. Average. Yeah. I didn't really think about that. All the lefties going in. yeah, each row did throw right-handed. Good job, Jake.

Yeah, thank you. That's why we do this show, dude. You know it. It kind of doesn't count. But it's such an iconic lefty batting stance. Of course it counts. I mean, lefty just, I feel like

when you're talking about like what a guy is, what he hits. Okay. No one really cares what you throw, bro. Just take, hey, for people out there, except first baseman. Don't let your kid hit right-handed and throw left-handed.

Just out on that. Yeah. a couple of those. I'm like, fine, why are we doing this? Yeah, there's a couple generation of, was Minkevich? No, the cavej through right-handed. Right. I'm trying to think who did it. Oh, my bad. I have it backwards right now.

But you're, you're absolutely right. If you're throwing left-e, hit left-y, lefty-righty? Stop that. That's one of her. Jake Myers, maybe. Anyways. Oh, gosh. Name your favorite left-handed thrower, right? hinted hitter.

Kaz McCormick, one of those outfielers. What do you got, coach? I don't know, man. I'm excited to talk some ball. You know,

the Hall of Fame, I think this class, shoot, as I get more and more away from the game, it's like I played with these guys. You know, typically I think of the Hall of Fame.

Yeah, these old heads to finally get in their due, but I did not play against Billy Wagner, but obviously C.C. and Eachiro and, you know, a bunch of guys that are on the ballot this year. I played against some,

So it kind of hits home a little bit more than usual, and I'm excited. You know, Cici's my guy. I'm like, want to be his friend. I don't know if it's ever going to happen. He's cordial to me. As far as friendship goes, we don't necessarily have one, but I'm working on it. We did good with Cici at the All-Star Break. We had a nice time.

No, he likes us. Like, he knows us, and if we see him, he'd say, what's up? He would dapp us up and all that. We got the blessing of the king. Right. But, you know, he's not hitting. you have to play golf. I'm not Victor Cruz.

That's the next level that you and C.C. haven't hit yet. Yeah, I'm trying. We've got a special guest in studio. I don't know if the cams. I was just coming to say hi and congrats to Itro and C.C. And Wagon. That's beautiful.

I didn't know I was going to mess everything up. That was beautiful. Do you guys know that you are in a race to 50s? 50 Blitzball battle hits. Ooh, I saw the spreadsheet yesterday. You have 47 and Jake has 46, so the next tournament. I better do better. I mean, my numbers took a huge hit with Blitzball 5.

Yeah, is your first tournament not finishing above average offensively? It was horrible. You have like a 54 OPS Plus. Yeah, Olivia got really mad at me, so I'm going to step on game up. Can't disappoint her. Yeah. And you've never finished.

And you've never finished first in OPS for a single tournament. You know, I don't hit homers. But the other two people you're looking at have. I don't hit homers. You finish second three out of five times. I got to get the ball in the air, coach. I'm like,

I'm like, I'm like, uh, Eric Hosmer. I listen to baseball today on the, on the train today. I can't believe Rose, uh,

doesn't want each row on the Hall of Fame. Just crazy. Hey, we just want Kenny. that's all he's gonna do the rose rotation Kenny Lofton yeah I know I like that I like when I'm not a numbers guy though

like each rose a hall of famer I don't if anyone wanted to come with me with any numbers I would say oh I don't give a fuck the dude's a hall of famer well he had 3,000 hits like transcended the sport for 15 years or whatever it was so yeah I think people used to be valued differently we used to value guys that just got hits

now it's like yeah what kind of hits I think it's it's an entertainment business I agree with numbers. You need, like people, you can win me over with numbers, but there's some people that are Hall of Famers that I don't care what if you tell me, like he's actually only a 104 OPS Plus.

I don't care. Eachor is a Hall of Famer. Yeah. But then there are other, the other way, like if Lofton's numbers, I'm like, oh shit,

okay, sure, he's in. He's got some moments too. I think a lot of people forget about some of the Kenny Laughton moments, but yeah, I mean. It's an entertainment business.

I'm listening on tape to this old book, the New York game by Kevin Baker. And his eyes. opening, like when the sport was younger, how much it was entertainment and not numbers. Well, yeah, that's, that's been the big change. And I hear people like complain about that now, but I think because we were in the swing of it, I never fully grasp how much it has changed from like, even players' perspective. Like they're like, like, like, Judge doesn't like doing media or like, it won't like talk to the

press and they're talking how Babe Ruth knew he was carrying the sport like Caitlin Clark and he literally never turned down an interview ever because he knew that that's like the job and like got a little bit away from that in in every aspect of the sport like players managers the beat reporters fucking hate the game instead of promoting it they just like tear it down it's pretty weird I would say the game that the sport the technology came into first that baseball draws a lot of their like their methods from is golf and it's

you know obviously one of the sports where entertainment is needed the most and just hasn't been there Justin Thomas came out with a huge letter you know to the rest of the players on tour saying we need to do more interviews more in-game stuff like he's like asking them

to do that because it's you know I think I think we're going to get back to that where people realize hey people need to like have fun when they see Like we need to have fun. It's not just we got to satisfy the dudes up in the front office. You know, like you have to satisfy the fan.

Once again, Bryce Harper, entertainer forefront on TikTok making terrible bagels. Well, he's got the banana bread look good. It did. But the bagels, I was like,

dude, I didn't see the bag. You're from Vegas. There's no way this comes out good. There's like three ingredient bagels. Yogurt. Ooh. Oven sweat.

I was like, this sucks. Yogurt bagels? Yeah, that was one of the three ingredients. Dude, I watched. The only one I watched to like, I need to see how this comes out because there's no way.

And then they looked all right. I almost wanted to have Joe's do a, I'm going to make Bryce Harper's food series. Yeah. Million dollar series. And then eventually they cook together. And it's like the scene from Superbad putting powder on each other's noses. Just give Joe's like some three inch inseam shorts and let them go to town baking. Boom.

Thought of Joe's the other day because that runner who was running the fourth. morning, his dick fell out. I have it ending as one of those, like, those AI videos. What is that? That's an AI video. And then. Bagels with me. That's an AI video?

What are you watching? Oh, you don't. I'll send you.