Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - Dodgers Sign Teoscar Hernandez & Giants Trade for Robbie Ray | 764

Episode Date: January 8, 2024

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Hello and welcome to Talking Baseball. The Dodgers go out and get another player. The Giants and Mariners make a trade and the Mets pick up some dudes. Let's do it. Hello and welcome to Talking Baseball. Thank you very much for joining us today. It's brought to you by Seatkeek, where you can use Code Talking. My name is Jimmy sitting here next to Jake.

We got Trep in California and producer BBD behind the dish back from vacation. How was your vacation, Bebs? Vacation was good. Checked out. A lot of European cities I haven't been to before. And probably not again, just realistically. Nice. But I liked it.

Good stuff. Trev, how are you doing? I'm doing great. I'm excited to talk ball with the boys, Beaver's not exactly like a ringing endorsement for your European cities. I loved Prague and Budapest, Viena Blah. So in the right situation, I'd go back to the other two, though. All right.

How did you end? I don't want to get into this too much. We'll talk afterwards. They organized a trip, and they were like, oh, you want to come to? I was like, cool, I don't have to organize anything. Awesome. Okay. Fair.

Fair enough. That's the short version. Jake, you look great. How are you doing? Trev, James, Davis, Budapest. We'll finish with some Emmys award show stuff. so excited for that. Was that the one that was last night or no?

No idea. Golden Globes? Yes, Golden Globes. Hot in the streets. Some trades and more action kind of teams avoiding the big free agents, but I don't know. Where there's smoke, there's fire.

We're starting to get closed. Treves got his Robbie Ray's jersey on. He was traded. So I'm excited to dive in with the fellas. It's January. I almost told Bebs to open the show with the TPP music just to get you boys fired up a little bit. But I thought we'd have enough juice on this beautiful January 8th.

We got a tiny bit of juice here. A little bit of juice. I got to be honest. What's up with the market? Can we get some fucking trades and signings and shit? We're getting deep. Like if we get, what's the date? Today's January 8th.

Okay. Once we get to the January and double digits, you're basically a month away from spring training. Two days. Two days. Yeah. And like next week, we're basically two weeks away from spring training.

Because all the dudes report are early now. Fucking. The top, like, four free agents are all Boris guys and he's willing to wait. So the team's got to step up. That stinks. Anyway, we did get some moves. We got a, another Dodgers move.

The Dodgers went out and got their guy. I don't know if you saw these quotes, Trev, but yesterday, I believe it was yesterday, the night before Friedman came out. Friedman? Yeah. Came out and he had the quotes and he was like, you know, right now our next agenda item is to add a righty outfielder who crushes lefties and can hold his own against righties.

And some people joked like, yeah, everyone likes that guy. That's a good hitter. and then the other baseball reporters were like, so, Teosker, if you look at all the people that are, it was like, well, Randy via trade matches that or free agency just Teosker. Okay, so the Dodgers are trying to get Teasker. And then like less than 12 hours later, it gets reported.

So when he said that, he had to know exactly, which is just the Dodgers having so much fun. It's kind of like leaking his own moves. Yeah, I mean, there's a combination of things that make the Dodgers able to do this. I mean, I think obviously they have the TV deal and they have the money.

So they have the resources to go out and enter free agency for pretty much anyone as they've shown this year spending over a billion dollars in one single off season. But now it's to the point where they have such a good team

on paper that guys are drawn to it. Hey, I'll do a one-year deal. I'll be surrounded. A bunch of guys will be on base in front of me. This is what Tiosker is thinking. A bunch of guys are going to be on base. My counting stats are going to go up

because of that. and I got a chance to win a World Series and play with Otani and be in L.A. Like it's just there's a lot of things going on with the Dodgers organization right now. Not only are they considered one of the best for people to go play for, but now they have the roster to back it up and they have the ability to spend. I mean, there's there's so many reasons why this made sense. And then we get the deferment, the deferral part of this, 8.5 million of the 23 and a half will be deferred. And it's funny because, you know, we talked about

Otani and that crazy contract. And at the time, and Beavs, can you fact check this for me? I want to make sure it's actually from his account. I believe Justin Turner tweeted out, whoever buys the team next is going to be paying all this money? And is that what they're doing? Do you think that's for sure what they're doing deferring all this money i know it helps in the moment as well with the aav and what they have to pay against the cbt but do you think that's their plan to blow it out for eight years and then just say hey we're out that's what i said on the initial reaction with you and rosy but you guys shut it down but i was like well i i mean it's different coming from us i never played for the dodgers organization i don't think you guys ever played for the dodgers organization but like

Turner, like, he's Dodger royalty. And for him to come on say this is pretty nuts. He could just be, like, you know, just fucking around too. Yeah. Good joke. Yeah, he tweeted, next ownership group will figure it out. And the like big eyes emoji. Not the eyeballs, but like facemaking big eyes on December 11th.

He was in Nashville when he tweeted it. Oh. It says from Nashville. Man, was that winter meetings? The eye emojis. That wasn't winter meetings. Eye emojis changes that situation. a little bit and being in Nashville, you know, maybe J.T.

should I fire off this tweet? You love it. You love it. I don't know about selling the team. I'm not sure if that's going to be a thing. We'll cover it in eight years if we do. The only thing I'd know with that is isn't Yoshinobu's opt out. Like he can opt out if they sell the team or whatever.

So maybe that part doesn't matter. Either way, Tay Oscar, I've always loved Teosker Hernandez because he's a threat constantly whether he's having a good time or bad time. He can be streaky. He had two months last year where he had a 900 plus OPS. The other months he kind of struggled. He also had great road numbers last year. And we've seen players go to Seattle for a year,

not known as a hitter's haven, and struggle a little bit. So what's going on there is Teosker, where his numbers were a little down last year. He's willing to take a chance on himself, hitting seventh or eighth in the Dodgers lineup. My goodness. and he gets paid more than people expected per year because he only took the one-year deal. So he's going to try to do a little get-right with the Dodgers.

And then, you know, Fangraphs had him getting about a three-year for 15 mil per year, and he ends up getting, you know, $24.5 million for this one year of baseball. So betting on himself a little bit, I also think this is the Dodgers. Hey, you're deferring all this money for, everyone, then let's pay to Oscar a little bit this year. We'll defer a little bit just for funsies because that's where we're at. But yeah, I mean, they boost their lineup and he's a guy that I don't mind batting five hole on a good team, never mind 7, 8, 9.

So you have to love it if you're a Dodgers fan. If you're a Mariners fan, could have just given the qualifying offer. You would have a draft pick. What was the qualifying offer for? money this year, though. It was similar, but he wasn't going to take it. I mean, his agent. Less than what he got.

His agent, Rafa, who is active on social media, which is fun to see the thoughts of an agent. He was tweeting out, like, early October, the splits of, like, how good his numbers are on the road and how bad they were at T-Mobile Park. I mean, he had a 486 slugging on the road and 380 at T-Mobile. 2.95 batting average on the road and 217. So, yeah, Mariners kind of cost themselves a draft pick there. And Tayasker gets to have some fun. He also tweeted out that MLB Outfielders with 25 homers in each of their last four full seasons. Tayasker, Judge Soto, Schorber.

I love those butter and my stats. That's the best. Yep. Hey. Get your agent some money. He also tweeted out that, uh, It's January 3rd. Only MLB position players besides Otani,

who have signed for more than two years. Candelario and Guriel, who had to go back to his team. So something's going on. I mean, Kierremeier came out and said that he got way less offers than he did last year. Slight Mitch Garver, Lupole.

Gialito. Well, maybe I was after this. I don't know. Gialito was like, not a lot of people were coming. I don't know. We're getting like all the hush-hush is similar to 2018 where it's like

no one wants players right now. Kind of crazy. But good for the Dodgers because they do and they're getting all of them. Yeah, I'm interested to see you know, kind of how it all shakes down in L.A. I believe he's going to be there starting everyday left field there. You got Outman

in center field and then you got some sort of mixture of Margot and Jason Hayward and right field. I'm still like, I can't wrap my head around Moogie Betts playing second base every single day, but that's where we're at. This Dodgers lineup is a menace. There's something about Seattle, and I don't think it's for every hitter, obviously, but when you go there, it just feels cavernous, especially as a right-handed hitter. You get up there, and I know they've had some really good pitching, too,

and that might affect kind of the way I see it. It just, it's a little cold there. The ball doesn't necessarily fly great there. I think left-handed hitters have it a little bit better in Seattle, I could see how that could, especially if you come from Toronto and then you go to Seattle. I could see how that could weigh on you mentally when you step up to the park there and you're just not, you don't feel as strong as you do standing in Toronto's batters box. You get up there and you're like, dang, I got a really pump one to get it out of here. And that's, you know, not the case in every single park. So I'm a fan of that logic.

Like, hey, like sometimes you just don't see the ball well somewhere. like, let's get the heck out of there. Willie Adomis, another great example of that, going from Tampa to Milwaukee. Dalton has a great note on our sheet. Teosker has played in 29 parks, the only one he hasn't played in his cores. And in a small sample size at Dodgers Stadium,

he's 0 for 7. Oh! No hits! I wonder who is pitching. I see that ending. The Dodgers have so many lefties. You know, for a sport, baseball you see.

predominantly like righty starting pitchers. They have six lefties and they're starting nine now on those days. That's crazy. And they'll sub out three of them when there's a lefty on the bump. Yep. Yeah, I mean, Chris Taylor going into like a super utility role, I think is perfect for him. Like their bench is looking a lot better. Yeah, this is good.

Yeah, and I think I said this on here. Miggie Rojas dubbed me a little bit because I was on the Dodgers should trade for Corbyn Burns and Willie Adomas. And for me it was kind of everything we're saying, right? The Dodgers are going all in. You know, Gavin Lucks coming off of significant injury. McGee Roe. You know, if you're putting the chips all in, keep going.

And we posted that as a social media clip. And Miggie Roe replied with a, we're all good with a smiley face. So that's, that's, that's, Mickey. That's Miggi Rojas translation for go fuck yourself little guy. So they might just be good there because they're good everywhere. If Gavin Lucks can't handle an everyday shortstop role and maybe the offense isn't there or maybe the defense isn't there, like you have Miggie Rowe that you can just plug in there.

He's going to be a good defensive shortstop. They have enough offense around. They can do that. That's how you can keep Gavin Lucks to 125 games next year coming off that injury. You can have Miggie Rowe play. Like they got to figure it out They still need a little more pitching right now Yamamoto, Glassnow, Bueller, Miller,

Sheehan You'd like to think they'd do something else But they're looking fine They're looking good, though They're looking pretty good I'm trying to find the Dodger pitchers That got Teosker out And it is

It is a wild Griffin Canning Okay shout out Griffin Canning And that's got to be wrong He's an Angels. Yeah. I clicked the, I clicked the one up. So here we go.

Okay. Caleb Ferguson. Yep. Yep. Got him. He's still there. And then we have Walker Bueller. Sure.

Walker Bueller. Walker Bueller. Pedro Bias. Gone. Not still there. So he stinks at Dodgers Stadium. That's. Clayton Kirshaw, he'll be back.

Is he not? Is this the thing? Is this where, like, everyone thinks he's going to come back? Everything's going to come back. And then, like, finally it happens. He's coming back. Okay. They're like 17 to 20 mil, Clayton, that's what you're going to get.

Just let us know what you want. Clayton's probably going to take 17 because he's just a phenomenal. Probably going to take 20 the numbers that are coming out. Well, he threw Tiosker 24 and a half? Do you think he says that? Like, look, guys. we all know I'm coming back. But you gotta up it.

I've been undervalued the last three years. Like, let me get that 26, 27. They probably would do it. I like them texting just one number back and forth every day. Sometimes they go up, sometimes they go down.

Sometimes there's a silly one. Like he sends like a 375 mil with like a tongue out emoji. Eh. Do you think he does it? You take it in Bitcoin. Kirshah's got to be like totally by the wayside, right?

his agent just feels like he's like a just tell me at the end to his agent. He's like already packing his bag up to go to their spring training site. Yeah. Maybe he's packing. Ah, he's probably not. He's got a good head of lettuce on him. Nutrafall, but the point with Nutrafall is even if you have a good head of lettuce, preventatory is a word I like to use that I think is a word.

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It's not in there. The Giants and Raises. That's not a slogan. It's not a slogan. We We make up slogans here. The Giants and Rays made a trade. Robbie Ray. No. Giants and God damn Robbie Ray, Giants and Mariners. I've got you there. Yeah.

That was a little brainwashing. Yeah. Giants and Mariners made a trade. Robbie Ray goes from the Mariners to the Giants and the Mariners acquire Mitch Hanigur and Anthony Discofani. And this trade for a while, I was like, I know it's a salary dump, But does this do anything for either team? I am not casting a decision there.

I just need to be told what this does for each team. Jake. I'll go first. Thank you. If you are the San Francisco Giants, you got Robbie Ray, who won a Cy Young. We've been through the strikeout numbers before and how they're, you know, kind of comically good.

He gets hurt. TJ, I had a laugh, and this isn't it. I was just laughing at what. baseball and sports are. Robbie Ray signs for five years to the Seattle Mariners, and you're like, damn, like, this is a guy, you know, Robbie Ray puts together a good four or five years. You know, are we retiring numbers? And then injury, trade, you're a giant. So he's supposed to come back middle of this year. I think they owe him, what is it, $73, $83 million. So for two and a half years of Robbie Ray, that's what the giants are paying. So for me, this was the giant saying, hey, for the free agent

pitching market. We would rather go get Robbie Ray. We'll get off of Mitch Hanager's contract as well to kind of neutralize the money a little bit. Mitch has been banged up when he plays well, which he did with Seattle, so they take him back. You know, when he's healthy and out there, he's healthy and out there, but that's kind of been one of his problems. So they do that. And the Mariners also get Anthony Descalfani back, which if you go watch Jolly Olive's video on the 2021 Miracle Giants, you know, Anthony Di DiScofani, my Paizan. He's thrown some innings in this league, some ups and downs. I know during that 21 season, I think he tapped more into a slider. Maybe the Mariners think there's something with that going on. So they get some innings for this year. Maybe they get something out of Hanigur.

They get off of Robbie Ray. While the Giants, I think their risk or reward was, hey, let's bring in Robbie Ray. We believe in our coaching staff. And if we can get two and a half years of Robbie Ray at that price, that might be the better financial decision than taking a risk on some of these free agents. So that's little Jakey's jakey Spice's opinion on it. I think you crushed it. Whoa. Pretty good. I guess now my thought process is like I understand all of that. I just don't like what the Mariners are doing. And you know, I forgot Robbie Ray was there for so many years. So for the Giants, if he returns to form, that's, and they got Webb, they got some pitchers. I like what they have in the future. It's not like a Giants move for this year, obviously. But for the Mariners, this is,

said this to you before the show. They're like the Guardians now, but I don't think they have the ability to win their division, like the Guardians can win their division by doing what they're doing. Like, they always, they're making all these trades to get off payroll and get major league players back, but it's kind of like traded this fish for that fish. And I don't know if you're getting better or worse in the mix, but you're, you're just doing stuff. Like, they get disco for one year and Hanager for two, and he's making decent money, like 20 million and then 15 million. I don't know if the Giants ate any of that.

Probably not. It's like the Robbie Ray. So it's like you just got rid of guys who were making that much money to dump them. Now you got them back, but you got Robbie Ray gone. But that in the end, I think, I don't know. The Mariners are confusing the hell out of me. I think you guys nailed it. I mean, yeah, it is a little bit confusing.

But for the Mariners, here's something that I found that's really interesting. So he had a full no-trade, Robbie Ray had a full no trade, his first two years of the contract. So this year, it was the first year he could get traded. He got traded. I think Depoto and the Mariners organization is just like, we might have messed this one up. How do we get this money off the books? And there probably wasn't a, in my opinion, I mean, I don't know. I don't think there was probably a lot of traction there.

So when they saw a deal that they liked and we're like, we could, we could see this. happening they took it they got that money up the books i i like hanegger uh going back there they haven't um there wasn't any room for him in san francisco because you got yes canforto uh jung hulie now uh willmore flores is going to like be in the mix there dh so like he was expendable in san francisco and there's like a new outfield in seattle which is kind of fun you know hanager they bring in luke ralee who we haven't talked about yet but he just got traded over there and what's his name? J-Rod in center field.

So, like, I dig it. I kind of see what they're doing there. The Mariners have a bunch of starting pitching, too. That's true. So they didn't necessarily need Robbie Ray and to get that money off the books, and maybe they just weren't convinced of him. I know he said,

DePoto said nice things about him, as all GMs do when they trade away players. But, I mean, if there is an organization and you just don't feel like it's a good fit with the player, then they took the first opportunity. as much as they could to get rid of them. And I think the Giants, that's fine with the Giants too, because you do have a guy who can be elite, when healthy.

And you know, like, that organization thinks that they can take these seemingly older projects and kind of fix them, at least in 2021. Go check Jolly's video out. That's exactly what they did. I do have a trivia question for you guys, and you're probably going to get it. What's Robbie Ray's best pitch been in his career?

Slider? Fastball. That's what I thought too. It's his four-seem fastball has always been his best pitch as far as run value is concerned. And I didn't know that. I didn't know that at all.

So look, I think he's kind of a two-pitch pitcher. Maybe they just go out a sweeper because that's what every single person does and all of a sudden Robbie Ray is going to be an all-star Sall-Young vote-getter again. I don't know. I think it makes sense for both sides. I'm happy for Hanigur, though, to go back up to Seattle.

Because I think sometimes you go somewhere and then you get to go back home to where you're comfortable. I think it could help. Robert Ray added a sinker in 2022, which is why I liked him going into 2023, and I put him on my Cy Young votes draft, but then he got hurt. He didn't throw it in 2023 before he got hurt anyway. He just went back to a straight two-pitch pitcher fastball slider. It does what it does. How about this?

2017 the run value on his 4 seamer was 22. It's elite. 2019 17 run value. And then all of a sudden in 2020, the COVID year, Jake's favorite year in existence, minus 14. What happened? Okay. And then it went back up.

21, 9, 22. I mean, that's a weird thing. Yeah, I think the whole thing that year he got crazy wild and then he went to Toronto. He got with his old pitching coach and they found it again. I don't know. No, it's funny about this for agency, and it's kind of what I said, but I can articulate it a little better now.

Like Robbie Ray in my heads, I didn't have him as, like, inning eater Robbie Ray. Robbie Ray has 120 plus innings pitch in one, two, three, four, five, six, seven seasons, which I don't know, I've been looking at some of these guys that we've been talking about, and they're not on that boat. So if you're the Giants and Giants fans, like we mentioned Jung Ho Lee and Robbie Ray, like when you start looking at this off-season, it's like, okay, we've added some potential talent where the Mariners fans,

you know, their biggest goal has been move around salary and like mix it up. So maybe there's more coming. Maybe there's not. And the whole thing was getting rid of the strikeout. So we've heard that. But I think bigger picture, like I got excited. Like the formation of this show,

I got excited. I thought Seattle's window was coming. It looked like Seattle window was here. And then it looked like it closed instantly. because Houston's still Houston and the Texas Rangers came on the scene. Yeah, I was excited for that, too. I think Mariners fans were too. Look at a little more Robbie Ray stuff real quick.

Oh, I got a little more free too. Oh, let's do it. I'm going to go just, I mean, go shot for shot. Who's got the best thing? Well, I think it's a little bit of recency bias with Robbie Ray because obviously he's hurt, had a bad season. Can you say his name right? Can you say his name right?

He never pitched at all. Robbie Ray? Robiray. Rob Roy. Rob Roy. Rob Ray. I didn't do that say that. That's how we say it.

Oh, that's how you say it. Okay. 2021, the guy threw 32 starts to a 284. 2022, 32 starts through 371. I mean, you're off one year. I think that's what the giant see in this guy. The ability to get a guy for two and a half years at cost-controlled, decent price.

Okay. My one note on Robbery is a speculative, speculative. speculative. And, but I just, it's just a thought. You talked about his fastball. So I went and looked at the average spin rate. And it looks like maybe in 2020 when the whole league got caught up, testing stuff out, maybe he tried something and then decided not for him because it goes a nice little peak

and then right back down to normal after 2020. But it's not that much actually when you look at it's like 300 RPM. So he went up in 2020. Yeah, he went up and the results went down. So I have no fucking idea, but if you wanted to do fan fiction, you could be like, maybe he was like, let me try this shit out. And then did. And he was like, fuck that. My hands are naturally pretty good.

I think we're going to turn this whole show into fan fiction. Welcome to talking in. Thanks a dream. Like Robbie Ray next year, San Francisco ditches the tight pants. They're out. Nobody wears tight pants anymore. It's all about the bag. What if he comes out and just ridiculous.

the baggy pants just to say I'm switching things up on you your MLB debut pants yeah big all cut the elastic out the bottom over the shoe sometimes you hook the back spike in that's I never do you the Robbie Ray I know has the tight pants on underneath the baggy pants he's going two pants it's a big reveal playoff game yeah yeah that's somebody panses him during the big day he is prepared well that's Robbie Ray That's Robbie Ray. Hey, the Mets placed a couple bets on some free agents. They did.

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68 hours after issue on cdkNG.com slash football for eligibility, deposit restrictions, terms, and responsible gaming resources. Wow. Should we do the Caballero and all those trades before we get the Mets? Jake likes the Mets more. Caballero. We can chew off all the little guys at the end.

Who's the little guy? Harrison Bader? I mean, he's roped up, dude. He has roped up. He's seen his swipes. He fucked me up. He fucked me up. mess you up.

Fast Twitch muscles. Well, we got, it's Bader, but it's also Manaya. Yes. And, you know, Mania's kind of been out of the, like, baseball fans' brains for a couple years. This dude was really, really good.

I saw him personally, throw a no-hitter against the Red Sox. So I was there when that happened. I jinxed and cursed the Red Sox into it. So the Mets signed him. Two years, 28 million. opt out after the first season. Nice.

And Bader, who, where does he fit with the match, Jake? Is he going to be their everyday center fielder? Right now, Fangrass has him slotted in nine-hole center field. Harrison Bader's story at this point, he mashes lefties, not so hot against righties. Not sure if there's adjustments that can be made there or if it is what it is at this point. watching him play center field is one of the more fun things I think you can see in this sport.

There's a little bit of a showman to it, and there's a little bit of impressiveness. I mean, he can cover ground. Good arm, too, for a center fielder. He's a fine, if he's going to be in the bottom of your lineup, like you're going to get defense and you're going to get contributions. He had some big playoff games for the Yankees. It felt like he had big games when he did contribute. He feels like a three-for-five guy surrounded by a couple, O for four.

something like that. That's just raw feel and nothing. If he's in a platoon, you love it. If he's at the bottom of the lineup, catching balls in the outfield, it's a helpful player to have on your team. And maybe for one year, if he can tap into something a little more,

I mean, he's a guy that can rack up four war easily for you. I have a question. Sure. How much did Kiermire get from the Blue Jays? One, ten and a half. And Bader got... One for ten and a half. 10, same?

I believe 10 and a half and 10 respectively. I think your guy, I think your guy, Kiermaier got done dirty, Trev. And I think you let him know that I'm upset that he, and he should have got more money. Okay. Ader's very good at center field, but Kiermire hit last year. Sure. Kiermire arguably had a better year than Teosso.

Yeah. It's been interesting and frequency in general is you see this over the last, I don't know, just six, seven years, maybe even longer than that. You'll see a lot of guys come out and say, man, like, it's weird, I got the same offer from all the clubs. Like, how is that possible? How is it possible that I'm getting the exact same verbiage an offer from these clubs? So, you know, I'm not saying there's collusion amongst clubs. I'm not saying that. No.

I would never say that. Although it's been proven, and Paul Mulder has shared many things with me about that. He actually got paid because he was cluted against. It seems to me like there's probably some talks, some birdies out there just saying, hey, this is what we're going to pay. This is what everyone should pay.

But then, yeah, you get something like this where you'd figure Kevin Kiermire and Harrison Bader would be probably on the same tier. If not, you'd just mention Kiermire, maybe a little tick above, because of the season he had. But it seems like, man, when you get a price set on you, you get a price set on you.

And that's why this whole show Hey, Otani thing, I think, was genius. Whether Otani's camp wanted to actually just really shut all the numbers down or not, because there was some talk like Nez came out and said, like, we didn't ever really said all that. That was just kind of a media thing. I think it works. If you really, if teams really aren't talking and you really don't have numbers out there, you know, being projected and being leaked, I think it helps people out.

But, yeah, I don't really have an answer for you, James, because that makes sense what you just said. Good for Bader. He's a local guy, gets to stay in hometown. It's just another long line of guys the Yankees have that then the Mets get. Who did they do that with earlier? Severino, Batanzas, Todd Frazier. All this stuff.

They're still got to get Arcella. Yeah, they're going to get GEO, obviously. They're paying. taxes on all of these numbers too like they're in the fourth tax thresholds like mania you know we can talk about minaya but first his contract um they're paying five 15.8 million in taxes on minaya's salary next year so they're actually paying 29.8 to have this guy pitch for them with the opt out so that's just for the one year and then they have the next year as well like that's they're really in crazy territory right now. And I don't know what they do to get out of it. You have to get under

the tax threshold to get out of the threshold that you're in. But I don't see how they can do that, especially if they're trying to sign Pete Alonzo to an extension. Like, they're going to have to be paying 100% on the dollar. I have a question. And maybe this is better suited for the TPP's coming up. The Mets right now, Jake. If you compare them to the Mets before last season and the Mets before the season before that. Where does this stand? Not as exciting as last year, but where did that get them? I don't know, you know?

Like I... The Mets not... The Mets still have talent. I mean, yeah, I like the Mets roster. Nimmo McNeil, Lendor, Alonzo Marte. There's some young guys, Alvarez, Bady, then they've got some potential click options. the staff right now, I mean, you're really leaning on Sanga after one year who was, it was an incredible year. And I, you know, the Ghost Fork looks gross.

Like pitch ninja's been tweeting it out recently. I think he had an interview with hitters about it. But right now, two through five in the rotation are question marks. Could some of those question marks come through? Could Kintana become a quality start specialist again? Could Sevi bounce back? Manaya's got some butternice stats that I know that Jolly was getting into. And, you know, he's pitched a little.

lot of big league innings that if Shaw Manaya puts together a solid season, I wouldn't be shocked. But there's just a lot of question marks there that I don't know. Right now it feels like the Mets kind of, as they said, they're not all in on this next season. I do think they want to give themselves a chance because, I mean, the 84 win diamondbacks made it to the World Series. So if they can hang around come deadline season, they'll stay in the mix. But I mean, right now the Braves and Phillies, it doesn't really feel like a discussion.

and even, you know, the Marlins were nine games better than them last year. I want to stay on Mania for a little bit. We know the numbers overall not great. In San Francisco, in May, what do they have him do? What does every pitcher do as of late? Sweeper. At a sweeper. Out of sweeper.

He added it to his repertoire at the end of May. Hitters hit 1.40, 161, 163 against the pitch. They swung and missed at it, 35.1% of the time it was thrown. So the Mets are obviously seeing that. He made some starts at September that were good. They're banking on him being that guy. But that's, I like the Mets lineup. And I even like the Mets depth in their lineup.

But the pitching staff is a lot of things have to work out really, like everything has to be A plus in that staff. I agree. They're going to have to continue to add. Yeah, I agree. That's kind of where I'm out with it. I think the potential with the lineup is a lot of fun. Yeah, I just, yes.

I just, you know, oh, last year they're going to be really good. Me too. But one year, one year happens to teams. It does. It does. You want to cover all these little bitty, little bitty moves?

I'll tee it up for you, boys. We hit Luke Rayleigh a little bit, Robbie Rye's cousin, who an all JMU Till guy had really like an awesome year last year. 19 homers, 130 WRC plus, and 400 played appearances. He can play all three outfield spots and some first base. He stole 14 bags too.

So he can do a little bit of everything. And it's an interesting because if the rays are willing to move on, is it the raise like, hey, we're turning an asset that we got for nothing to turn into another asset? or do they think Rayleigh was maybe over his head because he was really good last year. And they trade him in for Caballero, who could potentially play some shortstop

and middle infield for him. I'll be honest, I only have one image of Caballero. Him and Garrett Cole got into a little dual last year. He's a menace. He's a menace. He's the perfect Ray. He's the perfect Ray.

So I'm dreading Caballero as a Ray. And Luke Rayley, out of the Mariners moves, I'll be honest, that's the one that I probably like the most at this point. And then the other kind of smaller fun one, R. Guy Guy, Richie Palacios,

spring training house, 21, traded for Andrew Kittridge, who he's thrown a lot of big innings out of the raised bullpen before. This is a very raised trade and I think a Cardinals trade. Cardinals cash in an asset that they, I don't know,

they kind of stumbled into Ritchie a little bit. They've needed bullpen help. If they could get Andrew Kittridge to be good Andrew Kittridge, that's a solid reliever in the back of your bullpen, where meanwhile, the raise again, will probably tap into Richie Palacios, he'll be a pest and the rest of the legal hate him. So that's a, that's kind of Jakey's around the league, boop. All right. I want to start with the Palacios and Kittredge. I was mad at the Cardinals for doing it because I think Palacios, I mean, he played really

well for them in limited time last year, and I think he's got a ton of potential and a ton of team control, but you're right. They got him for cash from the Guardians. They don't need him necessarily. They have enough depth that he's expendable. So if you're an organization and you hit on a guy and he does have a nice couple months for you, go ahead and get something that you really need for next year. So I understand it from the Cardinals standpoint.

You do bring in Kittredge. The raise on Kittredge are like, dude, we've had this guy for years. And it basically paid him nothing. He has had some big innings for us. He was closing out games for us. But I believe he's a free agent after this year. I think so. He's a third year ARB.

So they're trading a guy in who they've just milt for years, paying nothing, and they turn him into a guy they can control for six years. Like, that's very razish to me. And those two guys they got, Caballero and Palacios, very razy guys. Utility-esque can play multiple positions. Caboero's stats. minor league stats are really good hitting wise. This guy could turn

into something like an Eddie Escobar, something like that, which would be huge for the race, because that's how they use guys. And then the whole Wander situation that we really haven't talked about. Wander Franco is probably done playing baseball. I'll say definitely done. You can say definitely done.

So they need a shortstop, dude. They need someone to go play. They got a couple guys there that they like internally, but if you can bring in a guy who again, I think last year was his first year. So he has another five years of team control. Getting rid of Luke Rayleigh, though, is... Yeah, I was just reading... He'd come back to bite them, man.

He had no options, and they have so many outfielders. But... But... They got now Walls. Who's the kid that came up for... Fonder Basaba Bay? How do you say it? Basabe.

And Cabrero now, who the other two are supposed to be glove first week kidders. I think... Caballero is supposed to be weak-love good hitter. Caballero and Cominero now. God. Rays. They love their names.

That's tough. That's tough. That dude is such a pest, though. Like, he can steal bases. He thinks he's like, you know, got the, uh, the, uh, the, uh, smoldering look of, who's the smoldering brave that's not around anymore? Paché. No.

a brave in 20. I actually had a smolder. There was a brave in 2021. Smolder brave. Oh, oh. Camargo. Camargo.

Yes. You're on Camargo. Caliente. Jess's favorite player. Right now 6 through 8 in the raised lineup, Palacio, Siri Caballero. That's just a bad time.

I know it's not the scariest part of a lineup you've seen, but that's just a bad time. you know that came up in talks though when the radio's like hey we could we could get this guy caballier like do you remember that fucking stare down match he had with garrick cole like that'll be fun for us to watch you know that came up man yeah i remember i remember the exchange yeah caballero yeah he was kind of uh yeah he was kind of you know he was doing his thing and i was doing mine that's when cole threw on like 20 feet in the air right over his head i love like he got under his

skin. Well, Cole got the best of them in the end, though. Struck him out. Yeah, well, of course, he's filthy. I miss high with the end too. Yeah, but all the rays have had guys that have gotten, like, under Cole's skin and they got the best of him. That was actually the biggest thing Cole fixed last year was he didn't let a bad thing ruin his outing. Got him to be a kid's book. It's true. He even talked about it. Like it, you know, he used to. Preseason, he talked about that being like what he was going to focus on. What he was going to focus on at this offseason. Yeah. Can I say something that sticks out to me about the

Ray's roster resource page. Yeah. Yandi Diaz, 32 years old, listed as their first basement lead off hitter. Every other position player currently listed on their roster and all five currently listed starting pitchers. Ages start with the two. I don't know what to do with that.

Different numbers within the 20 range there, but. A bunch of young ones. This is a grosso race team that we've seen in a while. Yeah. And Johnny DeLucah, your guy. By the way, kind of roped up bigger than I thought he was.

Thick, thick boy. Can we talk Luke Rayleigh a little bit? We didn't talk about him going to Seattle, and I was just, this is why I want to talk about him, okay? Okay. I think his swing fucking lays. There's certain guys that you watch, you're like, okay, that swing plays. Like, it's going to work.

Or, like, it's so simple and repeatable that. The slumps won't necessarily be there. Now I'm not saying this guy's going to go and be a perennial all-star, but he has a chance, man. Like, it's the same swing that you'd see like, well, I don't want to give him this, because I think he strikes out much more than Michael Brantley. But shout out Michael Brantley, by the way, retire.

One of my favorite hitters to watch. But an easy, simple, repeatable swing. And we even talked about this with a guy on the twins, Kiroloff. Like, repeatable lefty swing is going to get it done. Like, this guy's going to be a productive big league. hitter. How far he goes? I mean, we'll see. What kind of adjustments can he make? You know, all that stuff. Do they let him face lefties? That's the thing. That's the thing. Because almost all of his abats last year were against

righties. So he has to be able to do that. But he was fine against lefties. He was fine against lefties. Yeah, he just didn't do it a lot. Which is a race thing. But I like this, like it's so repeatable and so clean. and he can steal bases. Like, I really... We talked about him quite a bit last year. But I think that if he's out there playing every single day,

I think we're going to see some numbers out of him next year. I really... I just, I like the swing. Our final segment, where's Snell going? Chris Rose says he's not an East Coast guy, even though he won a Sa Young with the Tampa Bay race. But we're, you know... It's a good clip of you, too.

I think we've said that. It's a good kid. That was a good... clip of my big bro. Dan Rourke's like, well, 5 ERA in the Yankee Stadium. And my uncle going at it.

We've had some heated discussions out of the L.A. He's on East Co's guy. He's pitching Tampa. That's Florida. That's true. There's sides to both arguments. Point C. Rose and Point Jimmy.

Florida is Florida. It's different. When baseball speak, it's the northeast. Okay. That's where you have all your... It's the whole New York media. I think New York media gets a little too much.

No. Where's he signing, Treb? When you go, when you look around, like when I lived in California and when, you know, saw the A's and the Giants coverage and then I was like little weird and Yankee stuff. I was like, oh, I get it. They're promoting their team. New York. But like, you don't have to pay attention to it.

Well, when you, like, when you fuck up and then there's, 15 reporters at your locker waiting for you. And then if you don't show up, now there's 15 reporters writing a bad article about you. That doesn't happen. Accountability is huge. Yeah. 100%.

John Carlos Stanton, king of it. Yes. Go say, my fault. I need to be better. Yeah. Well, for good or for worse, there is a difference to it. But I think Snell could handle that fine.

He can talk. It just does he want to. He's got a relaxed five. But now there's room. saying he wants the Yankees, but that's just nothing. Stroman wants the Yankees. Snow wants the Yankees. Everybody wants the Yankees. Why? Go

want the Dodgers. In January, they want the Yankees, huh? Go want the Dodgers. Their agents have no reason not to get the Yankees. On three, all four of us, let's say where Snell goes. I like this game, okay? Oh, shit. Ready? Ready? Ready?

No, I'm not right. One, two, three. Dodgers. Bebers didn't say anything. I muttered Red Sox. I don't know. What did you say, Travis? Sam Fran.

Nice. Dodgers. Do you say Cubs? Yeah. Sure. Sure. I just, I just, the Cubs have spent a lot on a manager and haven't spent any other money.

Have they signed anybody? No. I mean, go look at one, right? Well, I mean, yes. They maybe signed 12 people that are,

you don't know of. Like, they've done so much like manicuring. If you go look at, at their transactions right now on fan graphs. It's hilarious. But nothing on the Major League level, but they spent so much money on a manager

that if they don't get something, it might be looked at as like all-time, just weird. Weird slash bad off-seasons ever? If they have a horrible season, my managerial take will just be cemented forever. Dude, maybe that's their point. maybe they're saying the manager matters so much.

We got counsel. We don't need to go pay for the best player. Counsel will turn a C into an A. They said that. He's a count, the council curve. So we're not, we're not judging for that.

All their players just got better because counsel's around. I guess. No. Shout out Craig counsel. You don't. You disagree. I don't. I disagree big time.

And so does. Massively disagree. And so does everyone. I suppose devil's advocate situate. I suppose what they put out there is like, well, he's a long-term play. One off-season flip is hard. Like, you'll be there five years or whatever.

Best argument I've got for him is that they're thinking long-term. But do something, because this is weird. That's not what I believe. Like, he just went out and got double pay. Like that's not his fault Maybe that was his pitch Maybe we don't need players You got correct counsel

That's what they said They said he'll take yours and beat you Or what I can I can make Nick Madrigal The best you have a scene Shout out Nick Madrigal Haven't seen me in the same room have you I have not I've seen you

We actually texted about that Jake We need some weird time together Haven't had that in a while You got a buttoned up on me I know Look at me Bucking up Jake Well

That's the show It's a great show Guys We canceled it We turned B stories And A stories Hell some D stories Into B stories

Jake's sharp Montas I'm gonna hit with Yelly Soon Starting up next week This week Thank you.