Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - Free Agent Signings Start Picking Up Steam!

Episode Date: February 3, 2025

Book your next trip at https://www.bestwestern.comUse code TALKIN2025 for 10% off your next SeatGeek order*: https://seatgeek.onelink.me/RrnK/TALKIN2025. Sponsored by SeatGeek. *Restrictions apply. Max $20 discountDownload the DraftKings Sportsbook app and use promo code TALKINTalkin' Jake and Trevor Plouffe discuss the latest free agency signings! They break down Jack Flaherty going back to the Tigers, How Max Scherzer can help out the Blue Jays, the impact Ha-Seong Kim will have on the Rays and more! 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. How's your hurler? Jack Flaherty to Detroit. Max Scherzerzer for the Great North. And oh yeah, Hassan Kim's Array. I see you Carlos Estevez. Let's talk ball. Is it hot stove?

Jack Flaherty. Homer. Oh. Just kidding, Jack. I don't know. You're not going to like that. Hello and welcome to Talking Baseball, presenting you by Seeky.

I'm Jake Storrelli. That is Trevor Plou, producer Rob Chiracco. Back at it in February, the 3rd of February pitchers and catches. Kitchers. My Canadian accents leaking out with this Max Scherner News. Pitchers and catchers are reporting soon. Corey Kosky's underrated. Vince Hall of Fame this year.

Nice. There's one more American football game. that's got to be done. Football or basketball took headlines over the weekend. Good for them. And I do want to say one nice thing before we get started, Trev. I'm a big, I'm a Rosillo Simmons guy. That's where I get a lot of my NBA action from. And, you know, they were, they were blown up because people were excited to hear for them. They jumped live on the mics to get it out. And I was doing flashbacks to us doing that stuff. And I think it's really cool that we have an audience that supports us and does that stuff with us.

So thank you everyone. That does that in the baseball world with us. How are you doing, Coach? Well, I'd also like to thank our fans. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Our Grammy's award speeches. I'm doing great. I'm excited to talk some ball.

Obviously, I'm familiar with a couple of different pitchers that just signed. So I'm excited to talk about them. I don't know, coach. We are like getting into it. Spoiler alert, we're filming some TPPs today. Prev's exciting. When that starts, it is go time. And I think I am.

I was a little hesitant. I always get a little nervous around like the start of baseball season because we do a lot, dude. I mean, our show ramps up to three times a week. We're doing TPPs. I'm doing baseball today. I got my broadcasting. So it is a lot.

In my mind, it kind of gets overwhelming. But I don't really feel that way this year. I feel like I'm ready to tackle the 20. 2025 freaking season, Jake. So let's talk some ball. Yeah, we're later, we're going to be talking about, you know, Lenin Sosa's outlook at second base for the White Sox this year. Golly, the White Sox TPP is going to be a movie, baby.

Toolsie. Let's get in, dude, couple big arms get signed before, well, A, before spring training, which we know the history of that. and to a couple of the wildcard teams of this MLB season. Jack Flaherty, Max Scher, it's all brought to you by Seat Geek, New Year, and it's time to celebrate someone on the elevator today. You know, we're in an office building,

and two co-workers that apparently don't know each other well. They dropped a happy New Year to each other. No, no. Yes, dude, February 3rd. Can't do that. That's, Yeah. I'm over that.

I know. You know, some people are like a week after you can't say, and I disagree there. But when we get into the second month of the year, not. I was wondering, can I miss something?

Actually, I take it back. I take it back. They're Chinese. I don't know. Chinese New Year was on Saturday. Happy Chinese New Year. Hey, go to Seat Geek,

use code talking 2025. You'll get 10% off tickets on SeatGeek, 28 million downloads. Seatkeek is the number one rated ticketing app. I haven't given this speech in a while, but I guess a little sentimental today, but Seat Geek during, you know, they were a huge part of our postseason,

and they said that people were using the code, which I love because that means you're saving money on an event you're probably going to anyways. Seat Geek talking 2025, 10% off your next set of tickets at Seat Geek. That's 10% off any tickets with promo code talking 2025. The app is so easy to use.

I can use it. And you're going to concerts. You're going to any sporting game. Go get those tickets on C-Geek and save 10% with talking 2025. Coach, let's start with our guy. Jack Flaherty, the first ever active guest on Talking Baseball. We did our live show with him back in the day in Santa Monica. your guy, guy, my wedding partner, Jack Flaherty,

re-signs with the Detroit Tigers, with the kind of two-year opt-out deal that we've been seeing become a little more popular around baseball. It's listed as two years, $35 million. It'll be $25 million for the first year, and then it can go up to $20 million the second year if he starts 15 games, but he has the opt-out.

And I don't know, there's a lot of fun parts here where it's Jack Flaherty goes to Detroit where he had crazy success last year. He won the World Series in L.A., where he's from. I think it was a little surprising how the market developed or didn't develop for Jack, but he lands with this kind of insurance policy contract for next year if he needs it, or if he does what he did in Detroit last year, he'll hit free agency and he'll get paid even more. more money. Yeah, I mean, 2024 was a absolute banner year for him. As you mentioned,

he finds a home of Detroit, has success, likes it. I mean, I hung out with him during the year in Detroit, and he wanted to be there. But I also think he was enamored with, you know, going into free agency, you know, behind a full, healthy year with good numbers. I mean, who wouldn't want to test the market and just see what's out there? So he ends up first getting traded to the Dodgers, winning the freaking world series for his hometown team having oral herschizer catch him

at the parade as he's stumbling about a little bit but you know as he should and then yeah the offseason came and I thought I mean I think everyone thought hey this guy is going to get broke off four years five year deal and it just never came to fruition for him it just didn't

so yeah I think Detroit had this offer out for quite some time with him that's my understanding you know we're talking to him I think he was waiting for something maybe a little bit more significant, but in the end, I think this is a great landing spot from him. I told him while we were into choice, said, you should go back here. Like, this is a pitcher's park. You know, you feel comfortable here. This is a young team who's, at the time wasn't really having success. But, you know, you could tell, you know, they had some pieces

there. And now we know this is a team that's definitely going to be fighting for the L. Central title and can make some waves in the postseason. And they definitely, needed to get more starting pitching for this year. So I think it's a great spot. He likes the coaches there, had success. The deal is surprising. I think that's the biggest takeaway here with me. I thought there would be more teams going after him, trying to lock him up.

He's young. He's got like the right body type. He's kind of changed his repertoire a little bit, had success with his breaking ball last year. And typically guys that had coming up career years like that, who are young are fetching longer deals, but it just didn't happen. And we've seen that from time to time in free agency.

We've seen that, I could name a bunch of guys that had happened to. But in the end, I think he's in a really good spot. I talked to him last night, and he's happy, and he's already posting all of his Detroit pictures and the social media blitz.

And I don't know, man. I think, I think the Tigers are very happy that they got him for the, this. They have to be ecstatic. A two-year deal, essentially is probably going to be a one-year deal, I'd assume. And then what I told him last night was they're going to get you back in the organization. They're going to start having success earlier than they did last year, and they're going to say, we need this guy. They don't have a bunch of pitching prospects coming up the pipeline. They don't

have a bunch of guys signed to long-term deals. They're going to need a guy like Jack. And it wouldn't surprised me if during the year next year, they tried to lock him up a little bit longer. So I'm happy he's going there. I think it's a very, very good spot for him. He got his ring. I mean, he's kind of doing it. Is he a little disappointed? I don't really know.

He didn't ever seem disappointed to me in talking to him. Definitely was probably looking for longer than this. But in the end, he ends up where I think he should have ended up. Yeah, it's, we're at that interesting point of free agency, and we've, we've talked Bregman and Alonzo, you know, a lot at this point. And, you know, you wonder what offers everyone gets in free agency, but you also, you want to, A, land in a spot where you want to be, like living wise and, you know, just a city you like,

and somewhere you might want to raise a family. Like, all the real life stuff that everyone goes through. then B, it's also, you know, what level of success can I have here as a player that, um, I, sorry for a little mariner shrapnel, but A, an article came out that was like, hey, I don't know if people can hit in Seattle and you're like, okay, that's bizarre. And then I saw your guy, Jorge Polanco, re-signed after having one of his toughest seasons as a pro. And I was like, that, that just feels so bizarre to me. Where Jack Flaherty, you're going, you know, his time with Detroit and,

sure it was, you know, a little over half a season last year, but it was disgusting. He had a 295 ERA, 11.2K per 9, a whip under 1 that like, okay, so you get a nice contract with the ability to land in a different spot that we've seen work out for Blake Snell. We've seen this opt-out contract work for Matt Chapman. Like if you perform this year, things can work out. I'm interested to see how Bellinger does with my Yankees this year.

That would be another one to put in that camp. I wonder if Alonzo ends up with one of those contracts. And yeah, it's an interesting case because there's some medical stuff going on that, I don't know. You know, you're pretty close to Jack, and we don't actually know anything. We know that he's had some back stuff and he's got some shots last year for that with pitcher injuries. I don't know how to label anything anymore, but I know this guy has pitched big league innings And last year, of the 107 pitchers with 120 innings pitch, yes, he had the seventh best strikeout to walk ratio on MLB.

Prochet, skein, sail, scoble, glass, now, sunny gray. So, you know, we're talking about guys that are elite ones in baseball, that Jack's Velo doesn't jump off the page. we saw that especially in the postseason where if he had full rest, you saw that fastball 93, 94. If he didn't, it was around 90, that I'm very interested to see is that, is that body, is that finding the right pitching coaches to work with

as he becomes an older baseball player? Like, I don't know. I feel like we've talked about some of these other pitchers, especially guys coming over from overseas and like, hey, they're going to have to be careful with their innings and pitch once a week. And it's like, well, hey, if I know Jack, clarity, if we give him an extra rest day here and there, he can give me what he did in that

first half last year, done. Yeah, I think if you're the Tigers, you scored big time. I mentioned that earlier, but you get a, you sign him for $14 million coming off like a mediocre season, a one year deal. He comes and gives you, you know, you just read off all the stats in the first half, an exceptional first half plus, you know, if it wasn't for Jack, they wouldn't be in contention enough to go pitching chaos and make the playoffs. right like he was a big part of that they end up trading him they get their starting shortstop of

the future in tray swiney the catcher they got from the dodgers also one of the top 100 prospects in baseball and then you get to sign the guy back you get to sign the guy back for basically a one-year deal i mean this is all looking great uh for the tigers and now you look at their rotation jake you know okay you got tarrick at the top who's just an absolute dog prop is he the best pitcher in baseball like i don't know probably one of yeah he's insane he's insane he's He's, like, he'd be, I think he'd be the guy, like, most scared to face. Oh, wow. He is just.

Lefty, you? Come on. Yeah, I, I know. That's what I'm saying. It's just herky jerky. It's a, it's a big body coming at you. He's going to be screaming afterwards. You never, you just don't know what's going on with this guy.

It's one of those pitchers accidentally big bodies. Like, it's just like, I don't know. I guess I'm this big. 99. It is. It's limbs. It's just everything coming at you all at once. And then now we got Jack, we got Alex Cobb.

You know, these guys are veteran pitchers. We're going to give you some innings. You know, Reese Olson, what's Jackson Joe going to do? Casey Mize, I think Kent is still there. Like, they have more depth than they've had in quite some time. And then I'm curious to see. This is like a thought I've had about the Tigers and A.J. Hinch. Is there a point next year where they go, all right, we made it.

We're here. Here comes pitching chaos again. Let's pair it down to three starters and just get and just do bullpen games again. It works so well for them last year. Right. And they really had what, two starting pitchers. Is, where's my guy Cater at? Your boy Cater Montero?

The future. He's there, right? He hurt? I don't think so. This might be not listening. Why is he not listed on any, on fan grabs? I do love him. He's just out of the league?

You need to do some research on it. Yeah, he's currently listed as a AAA call-up guy for them. Okay, well, let's cater, let's go, baby. I got your back. And I think that's the point to take out of this, that the Tigers who have been quiet this offseason, it's still saying they're linked to Bregman, now everyone's linked to Bregman.

They haven't been that quiet. They've done some things. They've done more than the, Most teams in the Central, the Royals in them. I know the team you wanted to say. The twins haven't done anything. The White Sox are, you know, the White Sox. Right.

Jack Flaherty, Alex Cobb, which Cobb's an interesting case of, it's crazy how we value pitchers, because I'll tell you, whatever Cobb's numbers are on the Rapsodo machine, like teams like him because he hasn't played a lot of baseball. When he has, he was pretty good last year. But, you know, he didn't throw the innings, Jack did. But that's why Jack gets the option you're attached to him. But, yeah, if you're the Tigers, all those young names you said, Job, Mize, Manning, Cater,

it allows them that every year there's baseball teams that we end up laughing about the TPPs who are about to record because they have three young guys breakout, and we say, well, you know, I didn't know Jackson Job was going to have a two ERA into July. And that allows these Tigers young players just a little bit more room to breathe that when they get called on, which they will, whether it's in the rotation or in their bullpen, I'm interested to see because if you have the pitchers and you have the starting pitchers, you roll them out there.

You don't jump to pitch. Do you? I know. So they're coming up with a new strategy, dude. Because they've added to that bullpen. It's not like they've subtracted from it. It worked for them. AJ Hinch has said, yeah, this doesn't work over 162,

but it's been proven to work over the last two months, the last 60 games of the season. I'm just saying, if it comes down to September and they are a game up or something like that, and maybe Alex Cobb is struggling as of recent, and, you know, they have three starting pitchers they like and two, they're like, eh, it's not too great.

Do we see them actively try to do bullpen games? games, like on purpose. Bring back pitching chaos. It's good to have in your back pocket, but I think, I think Hinch would tell you I'd rather not. I will, I'd be willing to put a bet that something like that happens. Are you in Hinch, boys? I'm not boys with Hinch. I've said a lot mean things about AJ. Have you shook his hand at like, have you called a Twins Tigers game? I don't shake the opposing manager's hand when I. If you knew, if you saw Rocco. Yeah, like if you saw Gabe Kapler. Oh, I mean, that's a big hug.

Maybe a pat on the butt. More than that, yeah. He's not a manager anymore, though, Jake. I, uh, no, I don't know AJ Hitch. I'm just saying, like, I'm thinking, am I smarter than AJ Hinch? I don't know. People always call him so freaking smart. I'm honestly, I'm going to cast a ballot and I'm going to say no real quick.

I don't know. Did you a Stanford guy like me? Didn't he go to a good school? I think he went to Stanford. A.J. Hinge. A couple Stanford men. So that's tough. I mean, I don't know how to.

even pitch you guys against each other. I don't dislike him as a person. I don't know him as a person. I just correlate him to the astro scandal and him saying, I didn't want it to have him. But it kept happening. I'm like, you're the manager. Don't bring that up.

I don't need to get back into that. Tigers, I'm excited about the Tigers. Even their lineup, Jake, I'm excited about. Trevor, I think adding Glaver Torres to that lineup is really good. I think a full year of, well, was Colt Keith up there all year last year? I think he was actually. Another year under his belt, Colt Keith is there. I think Jay Shung is going to be interesting to see.

We'll see if he's going to be there for a full year or if they sign Alex Bregman. But you got my, you know, Jesus was a carpenter. Right in the middle, right the greens a stud. Like they have the pieces there. Now last year we were, you know, we wrote them off because they didn't, we didn't, they hadn't shown anything, Jake. But now I think we've seen what they can do. I mean, I don't know if I'd call them the favorites in the ALE Central.

It's kind of muddled at the top there. I still think the twins have a decent chance. I think the guardians are going to kind of do what they always do. And the Royals have improved greatly and have, you know, the third best player in the sport on their team. It's going to be interesting. I mean, we know what the Central always does to us. I, off the top of my head right now, I guess I'd lean Cleveland just on recent history of them

being able to put a 90-win team together. Like there's a little brewer's side to it. But I think the Royals got better. They improved. And I think Detroit, Detroit's just an interesting case study of how they finished last season. And I'm actually, I don't say this a lot, Trev, but I'm glad you called me out before because they, Labor Torres is probably going to be their lead off or two-hole hitter. Jack Flaherty comes back.

He'll be their second pitcher. Alex Cobb will be in the middle of their rotation. They just signed Tommy Canley to add to that bullpen. Tommy Canley had a 2-1-1-ERA in 42 innings last year. So like they can pitch the ball, so can the Royals who signed Carlos Estevez. So I don't know. We will do our normal mental gymnastics with the AL Central this. year. I think both these teams can really pitch the ball. The question is, how much offense can

they get? The Tigers landed 24th and OPS and 29th and on base percentage last year, which, hey, with how many young guys they're rolling out there, you could spin that as a positive. If they become a middle of the pack offensive team, watch out for these tigers. It's a low risk move. It's one years or two years. And if you just put baseball stats, on a sheet. And even, you know, sometimes I'll, you know, me and Jimmy would say we're not the biggest strikeout guys. Like I'd rather give me the three flat ERA with less strikeouts than the three five ERA with more strikeouts where FIP or some other numbers would disagree with that. Jack had the strike, like the strikeout numbers last year are crazy from Jack because he was

banging one of the best off-speed pitches in the game last year. Careful Trump. The Tigers, it's always interesting when we record the team profile and projections. We start hitting a tier of teams that it kind of goes like, ooh, I think the Tigers are in that tier. I'm interested to see are the Toronto Blue Jays in that tier because they just brought in an inner circle Hall of Famer. Max Scher is heading to the Great North, one year, 15. and a half million dollars. I mean, what does this do for the Blue Jays?

What does it do for Max Scher? What does it do for the ALE East? And Trev, I talked about the Great North. I want to talk about the best of the West. Our new friends at Best Western, today's episode is brought to you by them. Life is a trip, so why not make the most of it? 4,000 hotels worldwide. Best Western is your gateway.

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So go ahead, linger a little longer, get more out of every moment, and book more of what matters most. Life's a trip. Make the most of it at Best Western. Book your next day today. Trev, Mad Max to Toronto. What do you got? I mean, I like the signing for them. I don't know if I love the signing for them, but I think that they've improved greatly.

I know we kind of always bang on another bang on. We always bang on Toronto for missing out on the big free agents, but they've added a ton this offseason. Santander, two bullpen pieces in Hoffman and Yumi Garcia. Now you add Scher to, you know, I think a good rotation. And then Andres Amenis comes over, Miles Straw, whatever. Sorry, Maristrar, I didn't mean that. No, like whatever.

Man, that's bad. I think Scherzer is going to be a fascinating watch in 2025. There's a couple things I really am curious to see. Number one. And then we'll get into what it means for Toronto, but I'm just going Scherzer first. I think one of the most interesting battles, or at least a fun battle,

is Justin Verlander, Max Scherzer in the career strikeout race. Yeah. Because I believe, let's see, I have it up here. Justin Verlender is 10th all time. with 3,416 strikeouts. Holy shit. That's a lot of strikeouts.

Think about that. 3,416 times you said, sit down. That's crazy. Scherzer is number 11. Nine strikeouts behind them, 3,407. They're both on, you know, one-year deals. Who's going to end up 10th all-time in strikeouts? And there's really nobody close to catching them.

They're going to have the 10th spot for quite some time. There's no other active pitcher besides Clayton Kershaw, who's way behind, who's just approaching 3,000. So he's not going to get there. I think that's fascinating because JV. and Max Scherzer have been kind of like lumped together forever since they've been in the tiger's rotation way back in the day. As far as Scherzer, like what he's going to bring to the table,

there's a really, really awesome article I was telling you, I was reading before the show written on Sportsnet.ca by Arden's Welling. And he just talks about what he's just telling Blue Jays fans what you can expect for Max Scherzer, what maybe the Blue Jays front office saw in him to give him this deal. First of all, one year, $15.5 million is, you know, there's no such thing as a bad one-year deal, like I say it all the time here. And Scher has a proven track record. He's going to give you innings.

If he's healthy, he's going to give you, and he's going to give you starts. This is what he's done throughout his career. Obviously, we know the stuff isn't the same. I'm one for 17 career against Max Scherzer, with the 209 OPS. This guy used to tune me up. I didn't know what was coming.

Didn't matter if I knew what was coming. I was going to miss it. The stuff isn't the same anymore. Basketball V. Eelos down, but as any good pitcher does as the age, he's added different pitches to the mix. Started throwing the cutter, which has been a really great pitch for him.

He started throwing the get, me over curveball, which he's stealing strikes with. He still is going to get ahead of you. And then this is what I thought was really interesting that Arden pointed out in his article. He said, Max still is a guy that can command his pitches. He can live on the peripherals of the strike zone. You have to be able to do that. He used to do that with plus plus stuff. And it was unhittable. It was he tunneled and he spotted the ball where he wanted it. And it was just, that's why he's a inner circle Hall of Famer like you're talking about. Now, as the stuff deteriorates, he still has kept that, you know, the ability, the ability to locate.

You pair that with Alejandro Kirk, who is one of the better pitch framers in all of the game. That is money for Max Scherzer. So you can expect them to go, here's the edge of the zone. I'm going to hit that. Oh, I got that pitch. Let's go a little further. Let's go a little further. Let's go a little further until the umpire doesn't call it.

And he's going to get the benefit of the doubt because he's Max Scherzer. So, you know, it's, I think this is a great pairing for him. It's got a great defense behind him, as we know. And then he's got a pitcher, catcher, excuse me, that can help, you know, when he's around the zone, bring it, get extra strikes. I think that, I don't know what we're going to get out of this guy, but it would not surprise me if Max Scherer ended up making 28 starts with like a 3-7, 3-8.

And you're talking one year, 15 and a half for that. that's an absolute bargain for the Blue Jays. And I'm, I'm, I was mad at the Blue Jays for quite some time. But I'm rooting for them big time this year because they have went out and really done their thing. They're back over the CBT threshold for the first, not for the first time. They got back under it last year.

So they'll be first time offenders. payroll, you know, $270 million this year. They've went out and put the effort in. They haven't traded Vlad. They haven't traded Bo. We're hearing, we're hearing talks about extension for Vlad. Like, they are, they're pushing the chips in, man. You have to respect that. Again, I don't, like, it's not like, I don't think there's going to be a game-changing signing for them,

but I do like it. Yeah, there's, I always tread lightly around Toronto because they, they have some bad blood towards my yanks. The fact Max Scherzer is willing to go there, this isn't a slide at Toronto, but it's just a topic we've talked about a lot of, like, Some guys just don't want to do it.

Some guys don't want to do the travel paperwork. Some guys want to live somewhere warm. There's some taxes and stuff involved. Max Scherzer's going to Toronto. And I think there's another Verlander thing. I think Verlander got 15 mil. Scher got that 15-5. So maybe we're all just chasing.

And it was kind of noticeable to me when you looked at Toronto's team. Okay, Kevin Gossman has. had a really, headate, a solid year. It's just his expectations have moved because he's been one of the better pictures in the AL that he had some struggles last year. Burrios had a really solid year. Chris Bassett ended up being Chris Bassett last year.

Bowden Francis was a breakout guy for them down the stretch. That what's in there? He's a first round pick. Did the light bulb come on for him? And then Yario Rodriguez was listed as their fifth, the swing man from Cuba, a couple, uh, words that hit Trev's chords there.

He was listed as the five. He will now be their swingman. So you know there's going to be injuries, especially, like you said, with Max, he's probably going to have a month or a couple skip starts because, you know, him and Father Time are doing the great dance. It allows them a little more room for error in their rotation

and in their bullpen. And it is funny. like now looking at what the Tigers, we just went through what they did, Cobb, Flaherty, Glaber, Canely. The Blue Jays, it's an interesting offseason. Santander, Jeff Hoffman, who broke out for the Phillies. Max Scherer, Yermi Garcia comes home, Andres Jimenez, who you're going to see some world-class defense up the middle.

Like, in this year that they are courting Vlad, and, you know, I think at this point Vlad's going to hit free agency, and he deserves. that. But if you guys can put together a solid product this year and Vladdy, everything I said about Toronto, some guys are, if all parts are equal, if Toronto offers the same contract as Team B, a lot of players inherently choose Team B, whether they're American or whatever it is, I don't think Vladdy has that. So as long as this year can be cleanish, whatever that means, and you guys can give Vladdy the best offer and he resigns and now you've got that guy for 12 years,

now we can start thinking about the true future of Toronto Blue J baseball, which I still hope they put the chips a little more in if they end up being the Alonzo team. They've tried. They've tried, dude. I know, I know. And that's, again, that's not where I'm trying to do shots fired at them. But I guess when I'm thinking about the AL East as a whole, when I'm looking at this Blue Jay's team.

Again, if there is one more thing I could look at and be like, damn, man, like if I'm a pitcher, I don't want to go through Vladdy, Beau Santander and Pete. And then, hey, on a given three-game set, here's Gossman Scher Francis, or here's Burrios. Like, when you're talking about in the real realm of baseball, it's like, yeah, these guys could be a bad time to play. And if they end up in 80, you know, they're... Above 500 at the All-Star break, and now we're trading and adding, and who fits?

I don't know. I think for the future of Toronto baseball, they are trying, and there's a lot of front offices that we could point to and say, like, are they? I mean, yeah, they've been second fiddle on a bunch of guys. Otani, Roki, Soto, you know, the list goes on and on. So you have to applaud them. And I guess at certain times we've probably said, step up a little more, dude. Right. Like, you know, I can't always applaud second place.

But, you know, I think when they've gone after them this many times, the Giants went through all that. They've continued to sign guys. I'm curious on your take on this. We just talked about the Tigers. Now we're talking about the Blue Jays. What's the order you rank those two teams going into 20s? Tigers Blue Jays?

Yeah. I think it's very difficult. It's a great one. I think the rosters aren't too far separated. I think Toronto currently has an AL East problem. I mean, you said that the Tigers have an argument to be the favorites in the AL Central this year. I mean, Toronto is more debatable for last place in the east than first place. So that's what they currently have working against them.

I mean, man, I think if it was straight up and this, again, turns into our coastal elitist and stuff, I think both teams on paper head to head. I like the Blue Jays a little more. Who's more East Toronto or Detroit? I guess Toronto. I don't think it's that far off, though. I think it's one of those things that it's an optical illusion. Yeah.

I just Googled Toronto on a map. That sucks. That's not what you should have Googled right there. I believe they are. They're both East Coast time zone. I do know that. And then there's something about the Great Lakes. They're right there.

Toronto's more east. Yes. A lot more? A significant amount. That's Canadian. I've been Canadian all morning, Bob. Yeah, Detroit. It's Detroit, Cleveland, Toronto.

And I think there's some fun fact that, like, Toronto. is further east than Atlanta. Is that the fun fact? I don't know. I don't know. Geography's tough. Yeah. I don't know why it just makes maps like real sized.

Okay, now we're talking. It's not real. What do you, when you say makeups real size, go on. I want you to go on about that. You know what I'm trying to say. You look at a map

and there are certain countries that are smaller on the map than they actually are, to the other countries on the map. And there's some, like, word for it. This should just make them all to scale. But they're not. How about quick exercise?

Because you and I are trying to put on our TPP brains as it's that time of year. Oh, geez. Okay. So let's just do offensive players. Vladdy and Riley Green are maybe closer than the outside. No. Vladdy.

Oh my God, dude. I mean, I guess war, like defense should be factored in. You said offensively, Vladdy is... Non-pitchers, if that helps you. Non-pitchers. Like as a player, like worth... Is it war? What are you talking about, man?

Yes, as a baseball. I want to fight you right now. Let's fucking do it. Let's eat. I'm going to see you soon. I think we'd... You'd lean Vladdy, but like, if Riley Green has a better all-around season next year than Vladdy, that shouldn't be a surprise.

I mean, there's a possibility of that happening. Okay, how about this? Vladdy Santander Bichette compared to Detroit would be Riley Green, Carpenter, Glaber? We're talking overall? Yeah, just kind of like if I think... Carpenter's a DH. Right. So probably lose a little bit of steam on your war argument there.

I, yeah, that's, that is tough. Right, this is the exercise. I'm not trying to put you in a pickle, but I, I think Bo's, I'm, I'm high on Boe this year, so I would, I would take, I would take the Blue Jays. I think the Blue Jays have, I just think he's going to work his ass off and Andres a minute, it's going to be the best influence ever for him.

I think the Blue Jays have, have the higher upside. Maybe that's the way to phrase it. And then the pitching staff, I think you could talk yourself in either direction. You probably give Detroit the lean because of Scoobel. just because like no Yeah, I would give the lean to Detroit on that. That's banking on Jackson Joe being a guy.

I mean, he's like the seventh best prospect in baseball and we got a taste of him last year. It wasn't great, but I think he's got the stuff to be really, really good. So if you lean, scobs, flaredity, a good Jackson Job, I think that probably clears Gospin. They just have options. Like Casey Myers was a 1-1 who got some time last year. Reese Olson actually had a really nice year.

Yeah. And then bullpen at Detroit was amazing last year. It's not even close, yeah. Yeah. Blue Jays have done a good job adding, which was, you know, their biggest weakness last year. I mean, 29th in the IRA, 29th and K's per 9. And they're all in the 20s.

So, yeah, obviously they're in Detroit there. Okay. Yeah, let's see. I mean, Toronto's going to be a team that we talk about a lot this year, if we're being honest. I mean, between Vladdy, if they were to hit the trade deadline, and we're selling in Vladdy, and Bo, and Max, and I think Bassett's contract.

Like, they're going to be one of the teams that people have circled this year that if they're selling at the deadline, it's going to make the deadline a lot more fun. If they're not, good for Toronto. Can you give me an end-depth scouting report on Richard Love Lady, please? Dick Love Lady. You know, kind of a funky lefty arm angle a little bit. He can get out.

It's just an unfreaking believable name. It's just a nuts baseball. His parents knew what they were doing. What are the... Right? Hey, it's working out for him. Trev, we've got a couple more. Your guy, Hassan Kim.

I don't want this one to go too far under the radar because speaking of, you know, when we're talking about potentially racking up war or playing good ball, and I think he signs with a team similar to where you thought he was going to sign, but not at all. Hassan Kim to the raise is brought to you by The Draft King Sportsbook

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void in Ontario. Bonus bets expire 168 hours after issuance. Four additional terms and responsible gaming resources, see dkng.co slash audio. Tread. HSK to the rays. The rays always kind of snake in the grass. And we always hear rumors about them offering contracts to guy.

Like, they, I think they had a Soto meeting. There's, they, they, yeah, they're always, they're around. more than they were for a little bit in free agency. And here they are for Hassan Kim, which is a guy that we've debated. There was a shoulder injury that definitely affected his free agency, because I think if that was not in play, it would have been a very different free agency.

Two years, $29 million, $13 million this season, 16 mil and 26, if he does not opt out. So he gets one of the opt-out contracts. There's incentives in there. and yeah man I mean this this guy had four war in 2023 basically the same in 2022 that whole stadium chanting Hassam

Kim was one of the more like powerful things you'll see on a baseball field and yeah I don't know I guess your his free agency wasn't clear like the the couple teams that you'd say were lined up for a guy didn't really jump out that you initially were kind of like, I don't know, I almost like Milwaukee.

Like, doesn't he feel like Milwaukee? Like, they'll get the value out of him. In a way, the Tampa Bay raise were like, hey, we can get the value out of this guy. And he goes to your Tampa Bay. Yeah, I mean, Milwaukee was one just because they value versatile players and his kind of ball player, where defense is definitely their main concern,

but he also has been, you know, right around league average offensively, well when he's healthy. Yeah, the shoulder injury thing is tough for him because he, he would have cleared this, obviously, in free agency if he was fully healthy.

I think it scared a lot of teams off, especially when you're talking about a guy at shortstop. You know, you got to be able to still check the ball over there and move the right way. But I think the race has got a great deal here, and I think it's a perfect deal for them. You know, they wanted to improve defense and they've done that.

I think the biggest thing is, when is he going to come back? you know, a lot of people are saying, yeah, that beginning of May, mid-May thing might not be the case. I think the rays are obviously hoping that that's the case. They need this guy there. But if you're talking about an infield of Yanni Diaz, B. Lau, a junior Caminero, who we just saw hit a freaking crazy go-ahead Homer in the Kribe series, or not the Crebe series, the end of the Dominican League. and crazy pimp job

is that what you even call that I don't even know you call it a celebration and then you put Hassan Kim to be a stopgat from our guy Carson Williams it works out perfectly that's a nice little infield there

and you could argue that's a full you know those four guys putting up against every other infield in baseball like you're talking they're in the conversation right

don't answer that right now let me keep going you think about it Yeah, I'll think I'm. I just, he's a raised guy. And Evan Longdorga told me, you're just a raised guy. Hassan Kim is just a raised guy. The versatility is there.

If they need him at shortstop, sure, second base sure. This guy can just go all over the place. He racks a more. He knows what he's good at. The rays know what he's good at. And they're going to put him in positions to succeed. So I just really, really like this. And again, there are times when you have a guy in the minor leagues that they do with Carson

Williams, who they think is going to be the dude. He's just not ready yet. So you get a stop gap. And this is the perfect stop gap, as long as he's healthy. I love this for the raise. I really do. Yeah, shoulders, always a little tricky with baseball, and you're right. I mean, is it May 1st, June 1st, or July 1st?

And that's going to be an intriguing part of his first year. Yeah, it gives the raise more versatility in that infield. Taylor Walls is one of the most fun defensive players to watch on the baseball field. He's struggled on the offense. defensive side. Caballero is the biggest pest in baseball. I'll let you talk about Oslavas Basabe a little more, although he's in a similar ilk of those previous players. That, yeah, I, the Reyes, it's one of the most common phrases on this show. Ray gone Ray. The Ray's going Ray. And it's, again, we're starting to get pitching staff because they get McClanahan back. We're starting to get the

appetite for the raise again that you mentioned, you know, Yandi had a really slow start last year. Then he was Yondiya's. When Brandon Lau is on the baseball field, he mashes. And then yet, Common Arrow is one of the players to circle in this offseason. Not everyone saw the Winter League highlights, but they're special, and he's a special guy.

Like, he has the potential to be a difference-making player that if he is, okay, and Hassan Kim, comes back and maybe the race tapping to Chris Morel. My guy, Christopher Morel, the right way. Like, this race team has a little bit of steam that, hey, when we just talked about the Blue Jays,

you need to think about that. When you're talking about the Blue Jays and how much you've loved the Red Sox offseason and the Yanks are kind of being the Yankees and the Orioles are supposed to be in their sweet spot. The L. East is a bloodbath, man. And I don't know. I feel like other division

still get mad hearing me say that a little bit. But, like, I don't know. I think this is the most excited I've been about a race team in a couple years. And, yeah, when Hassan Kim joins them, where are they going to be at? Do they even need him? But they probably will. He's going to improve. Like I said, the rotation this year is going to be filthy.

You get McClainahan back and go look at everyone's stats last year the rest of the way. They have six guys that can really throw the pill for them, Jake. You got Taj, who had some really good starts last year, Pepe who they got from the Dodgers, Lattel and Boss, who was filthy last year. They can be formidable with their rotation. The bullpen is good, kind of some strange names, maybe some names you recognize. Obviously, Pete Fairbanks still there, but they have a bunch of guys they're going to get a lot out of. And now basically it's can they find the offense to keep up?

and Kim, he'll help that a little bit when he's back. But I think they're banking on, like you said, Yondi, kind of having to bounce back here. Everyone being healthy this year. And our guy Caminero being who they think he can be. And if they do that, then, yeah, we're talking about a team that were probably going to be like, holy shit, the razor in first place and they at least in June. What the heck? Having undefeated April. It can happen.

Edwin, he set up last year. Watch out. they're going to throw the ball. Eloy is there. Forget about Eloy. Yeah, they, the race, I mean, they finished, funny enough. They finished 10th in ERA starting pitching and relief pitching, seventh and whip starting pitching and relief pitching,

and it felt like a down-raise year. Don't be, like, no Mclanahan. Like, the race are going to be back in the mix this year. And I think that's good. Playing in Tampa at the, the Yanks. That's going to be, I hate facility.

That's going to be. We have two teams playing in minor league facilities this year. That's crazy. I know we've talked about it. That's crazy. This one's unavoidable, though. I mean,

this was a natural disaster. The other one was more of a disaster of the humankind. But like imagine if an NBA team was playing at a college facility for a year? I guess it's happened. The, The Vikings played at University of Minnesota for like three years. Yes, but. Can you Matt?

Oh my gosh, it was coldest place in the history of the world? I've never, I've still never been to Minnesota. I want to, we need to do that, I know. I like lakes.

You're a king out there. I know. I like that fresh air. Fresh air and mosquitoes will be all over that sweet blood ears. Oh, no, that's a problem. Well, you stay in the city. They spray in the city. Okay.

And Manitonka, like, there's not that many mosquitoes. Bugs. At least I haven't experienced that. I still have some, like, scars from St. Lucia bugs, because I get, I've done, like, research on it. It's your blood type. It's, like, your body heat, and I'm warm. I'm as dense as can be physically and mentally. It's kind of like the Earth's core.

Trev, let's check off a couple boxes along the way, because I don't know how much these other moves register. And a lot of them are in the back end of the bullpen. I did mention Jorge Polanco back to Seattle, which makes me excited and a little sad. I mentioned Canley to the Tigers. The biggest one, Carlos Estevez, dude, this moose, bro. He's one of the guys, when you see him on the mound, you're like, that's bigger than a lot of humans.

He got traded from the Angels. He was closing games out for Philly for part of last season. He signs with the Kansas City Royal, Speaking of snakes in the grass, man. It feels like these guys keep popping up signing pitchers that you're like, I think they might be really good. Estevez and Erseg on the back end, that's a sneaky, powerful finishing combo. Where are you at, Tray?

This is like, if you run a front office and you see a glaring weakness in your team, you go out and address it, that is what the Royals have done. Hunter Harvey last year, they signed him, they sign Earths, or they trade for him, trade for Ursig, and now they get Estevez. That's going to be the back end of their bullpen. So they started off terribly in that regard. You lose games because of that. Kansas City, when they were on their amazing run in the 2010s,

that was their crawling card. It was game over when you got, if you had the lead in the sixth inning. They're trying to be more like that. We know what the starting pitchers did last year. The offense is interesting to me. I don't know if we're going to, I mean, for Bobby Witt to duplicate what you did last year, it would be crazy. I did just call him the third best player in baseball. So I, you know, he probably will.

He'll probably be better. He is an absolute stud. And I got to bring this up every once in a while. Back in the day, I was on an island when I said, I'd rather have Bobby Witt Jr. Yeah. Than Julio Rodriguez. Now look at me. Now look at me.

This is, Royals are scary. Royals are scary. I like this move for them. Identifying weakness and correcting it is what a good front office should do. Some other front offices should try that approach. They did it. They're going to be,

we just talked about the L Central is going to be a four team race. It will. No offense to the White Sox who were doing the TPP later. Yeah. Weird off season for the twins. The twins have a good team. They do. In that division, they have a good team.

Minnesota Moose, Matt Walner. Yeah, why were you talking about him? Like, the Yanks were going to trade for him? No, I did. For people they don't know, Jake tried FaceTime me a couple times while I was doing something. I think I was recording or something. I don't know. He asked me out, Matt Walner, and is he good?

What's up with that? If you're a baseball person, go look at the stats on Matt Walner's page. And if you had a young baseball player that had those stats, the way you would talk about Matt Walner, is not the way I feel like Matt Walner gets talked about. So I wanted to hear it. He got sent out last year early because he was striking out a lot. Right.

And then he got brought back up and he was good. I think he can be really good, like I told you. He's good with a chance to be really good. Back to the Royals, who made the Yoffs last year. You're right. It's fun how they've addressed their bullpen. I mean, even the John Shriver trade going back to before last season. The Royals are going to really pitch the ball.

I mean, where, Paul Regans, where is he at on the MLB tier of lefty pitchers or young lefty pitchers? Lugo and Waka twirling the pill, Lorenzen, Boo bitch. And yeah, what they've done on the back end of that, I think their bullpen is a strength. Their lefties, this is why people come to talking baseball for the analysis. Their lefties are such lefties. Like, Angel Zerpa's like the wild horse lefty. Like, he might hit me. He might strike me out.

That's exciting. Sam Long's going to come in and do his thing. Lynch did some things out of the bullpen for them last year. So, like, they've got their lefty options. They got their back end guys that it's kind of name value-wise. don't think people know how set it and forget it. Estevez and Erseg. It's like those guys have been,

Erseg's been one of the breakout players throughout baseball. Estevez has been at it for a little while that they can really pitch the ball. And their bullpen, the numbers weren't great last year, that that can actually be an area of improvement for, you know, the Royals who had a really nice year last. I mean, how many games do they improve over 2023? like 30 or something.

It was ridiculous. There's a million. Vinnie Pasquintino has one of the nicest guys you'll come across will have a lifetime of not loving me because A, I half big time to met a bar once. And then B, I don't know if the Royals improved by 20 games last year, they're a 500 team. Well, they improved by 35.

Yeah. Jonathan India comes over, talking baseball legend, Joey Weimer also over there. So, I mean, they've made moves, man. They've made moves, they've improved. And let me tell you something about Vinny. What's up with you wearing Chiefs gear, bro? You're a Jets fan.

A little callout. He's a Kansas City guy. You got to play the game. Don't, don't, no, you know, stick to your guns, bro. You never see me wearing Vikings gear? At that time, I was a Hawks guy. I was a Seahawks guy. I was going to say.

I was a Seahawks fan. Then I became, freaking friends with whole QB1 of the Rams. Right. Whoops. Yeah, Vinny Vinny's great, man. He posted

I do like Vinny. He's some involvement with the Kansas City Sporting Club, the soccer team and it was like, Witt, Salvi, Mahomes, and him. And he's just like, one of these things doesn't belong. It does. It does. It does. Three statue guys

and the Italian hammer. Coach, You got anything else? I think this was kind of juicy for February 3rd. Everyone trying to get that work done before he got a report to spring training. I'm trying to look at these other deals. If there's anything that we need to go over? We'll get to Adam Fraser soon.

Yeah, Adam Fraser will be next up for sure. We got to get to that. Tim Mazza Power Sinker. Yeah, I don't know. I've been talking myself into the Jorge Polanco bounce back. And now he's in Seattle. and we're writing articles that people can't hit in Seattle. Nicest freaking guy ever.

We'll be back Wednesday. Pete? Jake sucks. Who was it? Didn't someone come out and say that was it in Seattle or Tampa that the pitcher looked like he was crooked? I think Seattle, the article, I think it's Petriello, and it's an amazing read that the batter's eye is slanted.

Let's just not do that. They're saying there's a ton of wind on the mouth. I don't. I don't know. I don't know.