Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - Giants Sign Matt Chapman & Phillies Extend Zack Wheeler | 794

Episode Date: March 4, 2024

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Hello and welcome to talking baseball. Matt Chapman goes to San Francisco and Wheeler is staying in Philly. Let's do it. Hello and welcome to talking baseball. Thank you very much for tuning in today on this fine Monday morning. We just got some news that Wheeler is staying with Philly Chapman going to San Francisco. I found that out over the weekend. Very excited to have some news.

to discuss. My name is Jimmy. Jake, sitting next to me. Trevor, with the glove on in California, BBD producing behind the dish. Trev, excited to see you soon this week. Excited we have some stuff to talk about. What are you excited?

Yeah, we got some news. I'm excited to see you. I do want to mention that the best thing I saw all weekend and I passed the phone around a little bit was baby James putting on your old Yankees jacket. Come on, man. That was cool. Yeah.

I didn't know he could put on his jacket by himself. but he can. He's like, I mean, he's got some flair to that jacket style. And then, you know, the vintage look, he killed it, bro. Not bad. He's a very cute baby, so congratulations. But if you haven't seen that, go check out Jimmy's Instagram. Is that a story or is that living on the grid?

No, I think that was a post. We also, just to take it from Jake first, went to the park, brought the tea in the bat and like played ball in the park for the first time, not just in the basement or the backyard. And I was like looking around at Katie. I was like, this is very cool. And then this kid came up and I'll show you this because it was wild because he's two and shouldn't be doing this.

And they played ball together and he was pitching to the kid. And the kid was hitting. Oh my gosh, dude. Yeah. That's awesome. Kid kind of took him up top. Yeah. Kid was good.

Welcome to the game. He was like seven. James was two. Welcome to the game. Fucking many, many times you'll feel deflated on a baseball field, baby James. Many times. It looked like Joe's McFly going up against Trevor Plouf last night in the Warehouse Games channel. Line drive doubles.

Baby James, I'm clearly a supporter, kind of one-uping you, Treff. I saw that. I mean, come on. And yeah, big week, and how about it? Your guy, Maddie Chap. I know you got the inside on some of that. I'm hoping at the end of this, you're going to reveal who you saw at dinner this weekend. But we got some baseball news and the calendar.

Do you know what the calendar says, Trev? March 4th. Baseball. Oh. Baseball. We're about two weeks out from the Korea games. We're about three weeks. Like, it's happening.

Jeff Passing. So I'm excited to talk about it. And a lot of seats at those games, Jim. tons of seats and if you want some seats code talking it's going to get you $20 off your first order use the app or the website all the good stuff

got a link in the description shout out to our guy Justin Pennick he did a C geek and the should the editors deserve the love on that one because well Pennick put his best foot forward but I mean it's almost like a real

like mockumentary like SNL level quality commercial. And Seat Geek let us run with that. So make sure you guys are going to Seekek, download the app, get some seats, go see some ball. Ball. Our ad reads on the Blitzball Battle 4 Turney are worth the view as is without even the game.

If you just click on it just for the ads, I think you'll be happy. But watch the game too. They are really funny. Okay, let's get right into it. Chappie, as soon as our San Francisco Giants team profile and projection is recorded and posted, we get the update that Matt Chapman has signed with the Giants. It's the new Boris special. Same situation, Bellinger found himself in.

A deal with a ton of opt-outs, and this one's even a little more confusing because there's buyouts for every year to guarantee more than the base salary. So the way it reads that I like is the right here, the first year, it's going to be one year for 20 million. Now, technically it's $17 million and then a buyout at the end. Or you can be there for two years and he'd get $38 million. Or he could be there for three years and get $54 million. or he could be there for four years and get $73 million.

There's opt-outs after year one for Chapman and year two for Chapman and then a mutual option for year three. Usually mutual options don't get, don't happen. So if you want to kind of like, it can happen. I'm not saying it won't. But usually they don't. Both parties aren't are both. One of them is like, nah.

So if you look at it that way, you can say in all likelihood this is a two-year deal for 38-mill. I'd say it's one. I mean, it depends on the year he has, right? Like, I think that's what it's all about here. Boris is trying to set him up and give him the most options, whatever leverage is left. What I'm curious about is, you know, a lot of people will say, oh, the qualifying offer. is affecting guys and it does there's no doubt about the teams look at that and say okay we got to give up a second round pick plus we got to get some international slot money which i believe the

giants had to give up a second round pick right 51st overall or something like that um 500 grand international bonus pool money that didn't shy him off from essentially for one year so i don't think the qualifying offer was necessarily a factor as obviously not for the Giants, but for other teams as well. And that's kind of like the biggest thing. Like if he goes out this year, has a great year. Next year you can go back into the free agent class without a qualifying offer pick attached. But I don't know if how much that actually affected him this year.

And how much of this free agent kind of high-end free agent freeze, we're going to call it? I don't know. Is this like all TV deal manufactured? Is this all like what's going on? I don't think we've gotten to the bottom of it just yet. I know he didn't come off like the greatest platform year, but this is a guy that's going to give you like four war a year. And like there are signs that his offense could, you know,

regress back to the mean and be even better this year, like some of the hard hit stuff with him. So it's been a very strange year for free agents. And for Chappi, you know, he's happy. I did talk to him. And I texted him, you know, congrats. Like, it's real money what you're getting here. He's excited about being back with Beaumel.

He really enjoys playing for him. and you know like it's going to be he's on a good team which is which is nice uh but i'd be remissive i didn't say like there's he's had some chances to secure some more money you know whether it was from the a's there's rumors that the a's had offered him an extension there's rumors that the toronto blue jays have offered an extension took himself to free agency and it just you know i he's happy but i know that money wise and contract wise this is probably not exactly where he thought he was going to be, especially Jake, after that April that he had to start 2023. Right. That's kind of what we're going off of. We heard the rumors Toronto,

try to throw, I think, five years, 100 mil at him. And then he comes out, contract year, a player of the month in April. And it's like, oh, boy, if Maddie Chapman does this for a seat. Trev, you've always said it. And it's not a bullshit thing. It's not because he took your job in Oakland and you consider him a friend. But like, if this. guy puts it together on offense for a full season with the way he can play defense, like it's all going to be there. The war is going to be there. The problem is his impressive, most impressive offensive seasons are now in the first half of his career. And that 2019 does stand out a little bit. And there's a lot of guys in baseball that their

2019 stands out a little bit. So the thing that's interesting, His numbers offensively still end up being positive compared to the league. He's never had below an 100 OPS plus, but his last three seasons, you know, a 108 OPS plus, 226 batting average, 743 OPS, that if we're being honest, what he's projected to do is kind of lower than his career numbers and lower than the first half of his Oakland career. So him, like belly, a little different than Snell. Snell's still bizarre. These guys had questions about their free agency.

And, yeah, it's, you know, baseball reference that doesn't have a dog in the fight. Slash, it's just an algorithm that comes up with these guys projected seasons. They project Matt Chapman to be 233-3-26 to 753 OPS, which, hey, that's a nice ball player. and he's going to give you all-world defense at third base. So the contract kind of lands around there. For Matt Chapman, he's saying, hey, I've still got a 2019-2018 season in me.

And if he does it in one of the next two years, go re-up in free agency, find another landing spot. And that's where it's kind of good on the Giants for giving him this contract. Because like you meant, the pick compensation is what it is, the 51st pick in the draft. Like you can go through drafts and you'll find. find talented guys that get drafted in that area.

So if he has one really strong year, five, six war, ops out, that's going to be a little tough for the San Francisco Giants, but they'd also have gotten a year of good value at Matt Chapman at that price, and he won't have the qualifying offer. So I don't know. If you're Matt Chapman, you're a little shrug because you've seen contracts offered to you that were nine figures, but you still have a chance in your land.

ending in a in a decent situation for you? Yeah, I mean, it's too, it's coming up two tough years. Like last year, I mean, third base is a position where you want some pop, right? And I think he was like, I'm looking at it now in Fangraphs. As far as third baseman and slugging goes, he was pretty down there, 15th, 16th. So, yeah, I don't, I'm, I, he needs a good year, but I don't, I don't know next year with Braggman being the leader. was like the leader of third baseman this year. And in some way, the Giants didn't even match the qualifying offer because if he doesn't

opt out, then he's got $18 million for year one. And that's $2 million less than he would have got if he just took the qualifying offering offer, which seems to be a big point of the Giants here. And a big point why Boris probably was like, I need the buyout. So if he does opt out, I didn't earn him less than the qualifying offer. Because if he was to opt out and get $18 million for one year, Boris literally got him a worse deal than the qualifying offer, which is one year 20.

He would get him one year 18. So Boris is like, I got to save my own ass here and add two mil on the buyout. So at least I match it if he opts out. But in theory, if he doesn't, he got less than the qualifying offer. So I don't know if it's a misreading of the market. It's really untimely last two seasons. but with Bregman leading next year, if he reaches free agency,

I don't know. He's going to have to put up crazy numbers to opt out and get this unless he wants a longer deal. So I don't know. It's an interesting one for me. Yeah, I mean, look, the offense, he needs to pick up. Like, the guy is as strong as strong could be. Like, the power potential is there.

Like, he's cranked like upper 20s homers a couple different times. Like I mentioned before, the hard contact rate is there as well. So, like, things can line up for him. And, you know, he isn't giving, I mean, I watch him play, and I think this guy's an incredible third baseman still. Like, some of the defensive metrics have not, like, he's not bad at them, but they've gone down a little bit,

which you kind of expect with age. But, like, when you just watch him play, like, the guy can play third base, like, with the best of them. Like, at some points in his career, he was the best infielder defensively. platinum glove like this is the guy and when you can plug that in that helps your pitching staff out it helps everything out watching this guy go to work helps all your other infielder is out

but it's it's the offense for me that yeah he's got to go out there he just needs to figure out a way to stay consistent and uh i think the numbers will be there i'm curious yeah yeah who's i'm curious about like the tv deals i think that is really really slow down the market or at least given all these teams an excuse if they wanted to like hey we're going to cut payroll because of this um and once those get figured out which i don't know necessarily that they are and i don't know how far we want to go down into that but like the diamondbacks now are offering direct to consumer it's like a hundred bucks and you can just watch all their games and if that's the future then like the tv deals are going to be not as fruitful to these teams and what does that

mean for like the rest of free agency going forward. Well, yeah, it's a different conversation. But if they do go that, if they do go that route, the ceiling is higher, but they need to promote the sport. I mean, you know, Netflix. These teams are getting like 40, 50, 60 million dollars a year from these TV deals. I don't know if they're going to be able to reach that in each individual team's market. You're offering for 100 bucks.

What is the math on that, BPD? Well, you got, they're offering those deals because they got customers that pay for cable, which is a subscription. Yeah. All the same. What is that? What's 40 million divided by 100? I thought it can't.

I should be able to do that, Matt. Trev, I think the TV deal stuff is interesting. I don't know how much it affected Maddie's free agency. You know, my snakes, who you just referenced, they went out, they got E-Rod, they re-signed Lourdes. Like, if you take out his April where he was player of the month, which, hey, that's not super fair. Like, it's a six-month season, and he was the player of the month.

so that shouldn't be thrown out. But from May 1st to the end of the season, 205-298-6-59 OPS. So to give that guy 20-plus million for multiple years, it's tough. That's why a lot of, I don't know, I think a lot of front offices were looking around. And I do think it's going to be a great landing spot for him.

I know it's not known as a hitter's park, and that's kind of the struggle. The front office came out and they said they profile his bat pretty good there. What else are they going to say? but, you know, a lot of the fun tweets were like, hey, Matt Chapman with Logan Webb, like, yet you might see a plattie come his way again. You might see Logan Webb win a sigh. Like, there's more to it.

And I hope, you know, the hard hit numbers are incredible. Like, he hits the ball as hard as anyone. And a full circle talking baseball moment, how about a Giants coaching staff? You know, if they can tap into that just a little bit, and I hear what you're saying, Jim, about the Bregman Free Agency, he's going to be, you know, probably the guy next year, as long as he has a good year going into free agency, which we expect.

But there can also be a piggyback effect. Like thinking of all the short stops in that one class, what was it, two years ago now, you know, say if Matt Chapman has a good year and boosts up the offensive profile a little bit and does his thing defensively, now if Bregman's out there and he's hunting 200-mill, you could have all these teams that are like, well, you know, we could get Matt Chapman for that Hyundai Mill next year or whatever. So just play good and the rest figures itself out. And if you're a Giants fan, there's a lot to like.

And I do think it affects their outlook a little bit. I think it was my final thing on their TPP. I think them and the Padres are kind of battling for that third spot in the NL. And it's do you like depth or do you like top end talent? And with Matt Chapman, it just gives their offense another layer for something to click. but yeah, I mean, with the opt-outs, Matt, have a good year in the next two years, and the rest will take care of itself.

I also wonder, were there just not a team is needing third baseman this year? You know, since he went out and got Candelario, Toronto got Justin Turner and IKF, so I don't know if they're going to like, I don't know what's going on there. And then who else? or Shella went to the

Tigers. Tigers is Joey Wendell getting a lot of run. I mean, there's a lot of teams that probably needed a third basement that weren't going out to spend money to sell or they want Braggman next year, I'm sure, you know. I think the Giants had a really good offseason. I mean, if you really break down all the moves that they made

and you're putting them as third place in the NOS, I think that they have a ceiling of maybe second place in the NOS that things all click and, you know, Everybody is on the Diamondbacks bandwagon, and they showed how and what they could do last year. But it wouldn't surprise me if the Giants and the debacks were running the same record at some point this year, and we were talking about both these teams in the same light,

because they went out. They signed Zhang Huli, who's like, it's pretty good in spring training. You know, he seems like he's going to help that offense a lot. See what kind of defense he plays in center. Solair, huge power threat there. You get Hicks, who, like, who knows what the heck's going to happen with him.

is he going to be a starter? Probably not. I've been telling all my Giants fans that like, it's going to be a reliever, dude. Let this guy do what he does well. You didn't sign him for starter money anyway. Anyways. Then you trade for Robbie Ray.

So like, that's a pretty dang good offseason for a team that we're all kind of like. And they're not done. Going away to the side a little bit, right? Yeah. I mean, they're also not done. They want to sign another pitcher. Obviously Boris has more guys out there.

Also, Farhan came out. and said that, you know, J.D. Martinez is surplus now. And he said, we'll explore different things. It's certainly possible that a move or two happens before the end of camp. Not saying they're going to get a ton for one year of J.D. Davis. But they'll get something. If you go get J.D. Davis. If you trade J.D. Davis, you still have Wilmer Flores there who, like, you know,

one of those guys is going to play third base before Chapman got on there. And now he's going to play third base. If you bring in J.D. Martinez, then both those guys are expendable. I don't know what that means for you and what you can get, but they're going to have to make some decisions here before the season, I think. Our walk-year yanks would like one of those guys. Who do you want? I don't know, but Yankees are on the J.D. Davis, like, potential list

because they were in on Kiki. Yeah, pop and plays first and third. Yeah. Defense. Yeah, it's going to be interesting to see who else the Giants make the deal with Trev. And you can be making My favorite show. The Deal with Bloomberg's The Deal,

co-hosted by Yankees legend, Alex Rodriguez. I say, Poppy. Every week, A-Rod and Bloomberg reporter Jason Kelly speak with big-time athletes, including Trev Sharapova, Jimmy Strahan, and Bebes' Derek Jita. Sheesh.

Deal takes you behind the scenes into the world of sports and media and entertainment, wins, losses, and lessons learned along the way. From Bloomberg Podcasts and Bloomberg Originals, you can listen to The Deal on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcast. Go check out what Rod's doing. He's always good for an unintentional laugh out of me. And God, he does love business.

When Arod gets locked into business talk, he gets that kind of dog salivating, looking at a ball look going on. The question for me is, are they in on? the two pitchers. Trevor is his hand. Ah, whatever. Okay. I was going to say something about A, Rob, but

we've moved on. All right. Yes. Yes. They're in. They're in on those pitchers. They need to be. I sure hope so. If they sign Monty, are they your team, Jim? No, not really. I still like them a lot, but I mean, my team for

what, to be honest? Logan Webb, Monty. Like, yeah, I like some of their guys. If they would have kept Kai Kray on that coaching step, then yes. Now he's with the Guardians with Stephen Vote, which by the way, if he starts looking like Stephen Vote, he will.

We're going to ask to question Kai Karee and his motives. I think he already did start looking like Stephen Voter. Like messy beard, a little bit rounder. Come on, Kai. Don't be getting away from those Pilates that you and Gabe used to do. That guy underscore Kai on Twitter

slash X. Yeah, if they signed Snell or Monty, then they're fun. They're good. I still, the rotation still would, I would know, I would still need to see

what the other guys are. Yeah, they just have to get through the beginning of the season. Hopefully, you know, Ray comes back, Cobb comes back, and then there's a chance

that, you know, we're looking at a potentially deep San Francisco Giants pitching staff, but to start the season, it's not necessarily that way. I mean, even if you put Kyle Harrison in the tier of like,

he's going to do it, which a lot of people think, he can. You still have some very young guys with very small amounts of experience, you know, manning your rotation to start the year. And then you have some question marks going back from guys from surgeries. So I do think that they need another end to really be like to move themselves up a tier. How about that? I agree. I am in agreeance. I am doing one quick comparison here of players. Just offensive profile.

And it is interesting that J.D. Davis and Wilmer Flores over the last three seasons have better offensive results than Chapman. I know the defense is special. Yeah, and they have ground wall pitchers and the defense is special. But I don't know. I didn't expect the numbers to come out the way. Like Wilmer Flores. Wilmer's been awesome.

He's going to play. Yeah, he's going to play. Yeah. But even J.D. beats, he beats Chapman in almost every slash line the last three seasons. Oh, he's got a 419 slugging and Chapman's got a 420. Chapman's got a stolen basis. Think about years ago when we just, I tested defense.

Now, Chapman looks good, I test defense, but he wouldn't be getting paid the way he's getting paid now. Yeah. We wouldn't, it would just be, I mean, they base it off of your offensive statistics. and I'm like, oh, he could play a little D, okay. Like, they didn't really matter. Good. I could spin that the other way.

Like, I feel like gold gloves and platinum gloves used to speak louder just because it's like, wow. Well, they only gave gold gloves to guys that hit fucking homers. That Chapman hits homers. I'll sell JD Davis the past couple years. Got me. It's true. He did. 71 homers in the last three seasons for Chapman.

He's so good for the clubhouse, man. Oh. Well, next up, the Phillies are just making their fan base happy. Which is why I like this, Phillies team, man. I like the way they're going about it. They have a little Astros Braves to them. And I know they collected all these guys via free agency. So they're not homegrown like the Astros and Braves, which is much more.

Don't they feel homegrown, though? Yeah. They just, they feel like this collection of players came and, like built a home there because they're all not even Wheeler, you know? So Wheeler signs an extension, huge extension, to be honest with you. It's the most AAV ever for an extension. He signed a three-year, $126 million contract extension. There's no options in the deal.

It's straightforward. $42 million AAV is the highest ever in a contract. extension. It's the fourth highest in MLB behind Otani, DeGrom, and Verlander. He was expected to be the best free agent pitcher next year, so that landscape changes a little bit. And after this season, he gets his 10 and 5 right. So there's no trade. He's got full, no trade clause. And he's going to be entering the final season of his. Yeah, he signed five years 118. Now he gets three years, 126. He just had his third baby, and he said they love it there, and they want to stay.

Dude, when he signed that deal coming from the Mets, people laughed at it. They were like, what is Philadelphia doing? He was, I believe he was 30 years old, and people were like, you know, it was all about the other guys at that time. It was, you know, Strasbourg's and, you know, the other Mets pitchers and all these things going on. And they signed him to that deal. People were like, what's going on? and he has been an absolute juggernaut since that deal. And I do want to pat myself with the bat

because I remember looking at the numbers being like, they got him for that, and these have been his career numbers so far. It looks like a great deal. People were like, oh, he just, he was walking too many guys, and maybe he doesn't strike out enough hitters and all this stuff. He goes over to Philly,

and he's just been lights out since he's been over there. I mean, he's been a workhorse. The numbers have been good. He's pitched in massive games. he's become their ace and you go into a place with Aeronola and you become the ace like that's a pretty good thing for you to be doing

so that deal that five years 118 whatever it was that's a steal man they've gotten all their money back there and now they reward this guy and there's no signs of him slowing down like whatsoever

and again he does feel like he's and he has been there quite some time but he feels like a Philly to me like I don't I don't consider him a mat I consider this guy a Philly. So they've done a really nice job, James. You got to give credit to the ownership, Middleton. You got to give credit to Dombrowski.

And I guess similarly as he came before him, Klintak, does he have any fingerprints on this team anymore? I'm not really sure. But I love this for the Phillies, dude. I really do. They've all so much bought into the city. And I think, is that like a Bryce Harper thing? Like when Bryce came and he was like,

I fucking love Philadelphia. I want to be there forever. It feels like they've all just bought into that. And like, if you're a Philly's fan, like, that's got to feel so freaking good, dude. It's also you get to the playoffs. You get that home crowd. You see what the support looks like there. Trey Turner gets his applause, a month, having, like, a terrible slump.

Like, credit the Phillies fans, I think for, I think this field goes out to the whole thing. Everyone's kind of playing their part in making something special. I hope they win a World Series. I hope it doesn't come at the fate of my Yankees losing one. I hope they win one because I think it is cool what they've built. And yeah, I mean, Schwerver free agent, Turner free agent, Harper for agent, Castellanos free agent, Real Mudo trade, Marsh trade. So it's none of them is homegrown, but it does feel like they got something cool going on.

You wonder we talk a lot about ownership or we kind of go into coaches a little bit and coaching staffs and what does it really matter. This is an interesting case study because is it the guys? Was that a part of it? Is it the organization? Does it start at Middleton, the owner? Like, I, you know, I initially jumped to Harper, too, but a lot of these guys were here before that, and it is funny. Like, Aaron Nola very much wanted to stay a Philly.

That was his whole free agent story. He's an LSU guy. Like, that's a very specific breed of people. Like, our Kelsey Winger will be the first one to tell you, and he has made Philly as home. Schwaber kind of done count to me. I think Kyle Schwerber feels like home kind of anywhere he goes. if he had signed with most any city falls in love with Kyle Schwerber so he's kind of out uh Bryce Harper adopted Philly the most we think about how much we've talked about

opt-outs and no trade clause and stuff Harper said fuck it like if you're in I'm in and he owns that every day so there is something to him setting the tone with that Trey Turner became Captain America right after he signed so all right dude you're good Nick Castellanos another guy that kind of makes anywhere home The guy grew up one of the three Marlins fans in the world. In his free agency, they did not go out and get him. And now you go see, if you open MLB, Instagram, it's him and his son. Son not getting in the bad after he hit the home run.

That's pretty good. Come on. Let's go Liam. That's being a dad moment, Trev. I don't have to, you know, I should tell you guys. Brandon Marsh just gross looking. Yeah, I don't know where you draw the line of the city adopting them or winning makes everything so much.

better. But it feels like there's something in ownership and probably the biggest thing in ownership is that they went out and they got all of these really good baseball players. I think you can go back to Jake Arieta, Reese Hoskins for like setting the vibe in the clubhouse because like, hey guys, I played for them. What was that vibe with you and Arieta again? What's that? You and Arieta? What was the vibe? Great. Oh my God. Our vibe was incredible together.

A lot of fun. No, I'm just saying, like, the vibe, the club house was already there. Like, the unity was there. J.T. Uimoto comes over. Like, he's an absolute stud there. Like, they've got a collection of guys who, I mean, we talk about this all the time. Like, you bring a bunch of guys together from different organizations. You don't know if it's going to mesh.

But they have done it and done it, like, perfectly. These guys love each other. They love playing together. Like, they're always hanging out. They're doing it. winning breeds some of that happiness but I think they all really love

playing together and they've done different things you mentioned like some of these guys branching out and go and do team USA together like that creates a bond like this is a very tight tight knit group and James I agree man like I haven't given my World Series prediction yet

famously predicted one my bad the Phillies are high on my list of teams that I will pick or could pick to win the World Series this year It just seems like they're going to get one in the Bryce Harper era. And fuck, man. Like, I don't know if there's a better year than this year for them to do that. I agree.

And it's nice for Wheeler. He's not going to free agency. Next year's free agent class for starting pitchers is pretty nice. Which is why Jordan Montgomery isn't getting like that much attention right now. Snell's an otter situation. But yeah, I mean, next year you've got to. Freed, Burns, even Walker Bueller, thinks free agent next year. Shane Bieber's a free agent next year.

John Means, if you believe in that guy and won a lefty. I say one more thing. Yeah, please. Wheeler, I don't know if you read the stats off since Joy in the Phillies. 101 games started in the four years. 306 ERA, like 29 FIP, 9.7Ks per nine. All great numbers. And remember, this is a.

the Phillies. They don't play defense, bro. They bang. That's what they do. And to be able to put up those type of numbers too, like that's, I think it's even more impressive. Trevor, that's actually kind of an old narrative. The Phillies play a lot better defense last year, man. I don't care. This guy's been there longer than last year and we've seen them boot the ball around, okay? It's true. One of something crazy that I wouldn't have guessed. How similar Corbyn's and Walker Bueller's career stats are? 106 starts each Same amount of war

135, 137 Similar innings 700 to 600 and 140 326 ERA for Burns 302 ERA for Walker Walker's got more injuries but like he packed in a ton in the seasons he played

ERA plus 129 for Burns 136 for Walker I don't know just kind of brought that up to look at the next year's class didn't realize those two would be close Walker is a stuff We're just a stud, dude.

I can't wait to see him on the mound again. Fun to watch when he's on. It's gonna be, uh... Freed's got him both beating everything, though. Freed's a fucking stud. Just like we've talked about for months, you know, a lot of those guys year heading into free agency. It moves,

it moves the needle, a chunk. And Max Freed's about to get fucking so much money. Yeah. He doesn't even know what to do with that much money, dude. Take the Garrett-Cole deal and then make it in like today's times. and that's what Max Fried's he's a lefty and doing all that and has those numbers.

Oh my God, that's fun. I'm like the best person ever. Like, fuck. Remember that guy that called in the voicemail? He's like, he's a Dodger. Yeah. He's a Rocky. Everyone knows.

He's KB. reunited. Not reuniting, but. Hey, I'll do my Chris Rose impersonation for you guys. What does the Wheeler contract do for Blake Snell's situation right now? 42 million AAV.

This is what Wheeler's. agent is going and getting his guy with the team that he's already with. Does Snell turn to Boris and say, hey, go get me that? I'm Chris Rose. Are the Yankees like considering this whatsoever because they're paying 110% tax on top? Like they're doubling plus the money. That's crazy. I mean, I know people, some people don't like when we do too much Yankees stock, but they're...

Well, he's, that's one of the teams they're talking to. Maybe they're negotiating via the media a lot and the Yankees are public. saying that they don't want a short-term deal. Now, it just came out last night or today. The Phillies are currently in on a short-term deal first now. The Yankees are saying, we don't want one. I think the Angis are like, no, we want a long-term deal, like a five-year deal at what we think he's worth.

Kind of when you were gone, I was having the conversation about the Bellinger deal where I was saying, I wonder if Bellinger got offered, like a five-year, whatever the number is. I'm blanking right now. That would be like kind of a less A-A-V, but, hey, the lump sum is pretty decent. And I wonder if the Yanke's like, we want you to take that.

That's what we think you're worth over five years and we want you for five years. And we're not interested in these short term. And that's what they're publicly saying. I don't know if that's what they're actually doing. And then Boris and Heyman are negotiating via the media saying like, Snell's interested in, snores, snores. Stores.

Interested in a short term deal. So I don't know. I think the Yankees are still in or they're still very much being used. I'm sorry. The Philly sign Blake Snow, I'm going to pick them to in the World Series. I think I am due. I would probably do the same. And then the day the Braves are in the favor of the win.

Little Wheeler pivoting to Snow. Last year, his worst as a Philly. I know, like the FIP and everything's still lined up. But I don't know. It is funny to think that, you know, he's turning 34 this year. He just had technically his worst season as a Philly that they do lock him up to the extension. I mean, he's been, like you talked about, it's one of the best pitching free agent contracts we've ever seen.

And I would love to know because I think what's happening with Snell right now, if we're being completely honest, I think he's getting his ass low-balled to a gross degree, to like a gross degree that, and he kind of wants to go to the end. Yankees. I think he was hoping the Mariners would be involved. Dodgers seem like they're, like it's, he's in a, he's in a tight spot right now that, hey, maybe the injury happens this week, and that's, that leads to the solution. Worst season as a Philly is true, but then the context of like last year.

Right, but I'm just saying, think about what we talk about with free agency. Like if he's getting older, age is a huge number when it comes to free agency. If Zach Wheeler. But I'm just saying he got side young votes last year. The landscape of NLB. He was a top 10, top five pitcher in the National League, like easily still. Yeah, top 10 in the National League is more than fair. But again, if he gets older, gets an injury this year, that would change the outlook of his free agency a decent amount.

And what I was comparing it to Snell is with what we've seen these Phillies been doing, I wonder if, like, it's just, it's open negotiation. Like, hey, not going to lowball you to try to get you to sign this. Like, what do you want, Zach Wheeler? Are you trying to get another six-year contract? Because we might not be about that. You want to go three and pack it? Like, we're down.

That's what I would love to know, because Blake Snell is not getting that treatment right now. Yeah, I'm very curious to see where he ends up, man. And, you know, a lot of times, I guess now in Free Agency, you still can have a little bit of leverage for what you've done, but these teams are now projecting, and that's what they're going by. And that's a huge difference from the way that Free Agency.

agency used to be. I mean, if you had a banner year, a platform year, like you're going to get paid, now they're like, well, actually, you know, this projection model has you for this, and this is what we want to pay you, and they stick by their guns, man. And you wonder, oh, what dial did you turn to get me to those projections, sir, because, you know, I feel like I'm still a pretty dang good ball player. That's what a lot of the baseball players will say, and the teens will say we trust our computers, which, you know, Maybe they're right. Maybe they're wrong.

But I, uh, I'm curious to see who's really actually in on Snell at this point, barring an injury. Like, who are the teams still after me? We've heard the Yankees. We've heard the Phillies.

And we really haven't heard anybody else. I guess the Giants a little bit. Snell, man. And I like to bring up a point made way, way long ago. Brandon Marsh, gross on purpose. Good looking cat underneath all that stuff.

Right. Philly, that's the energy. Yeah. And where's you gonna tell? I don't remember that. You got it? He just doesn't want to be known for his charm. Oh my gosh.

Brandon, what are you doing? He wants to be known for his skill. Philly, Trev. You know? That's, look, he looks like Philly right there too. Yeah, but I mean, turn that knob up to 11, man. Bryson Stott's a hot boy. If you're, Treve, well, you were saying about the computers and stuff before,

projections and that's how guys get paid. imagine being Snell, a guy that pitches completely differently than everyone who's ever, like, pitched. Like, I'm willing to give up the walk. Your computer probably isn't going to like me. If you're Snell, I don't think you want the fucking opt-out shit because Max Fried's going to be the top lefty next year. He's going to set the market.

Just call Bill James up and be like, well, actually, if you walk someone, it's better because you might be able to strike him out the next batter. Bill back on his word, James. James. I feel like that makes sense. The computer should understand that, but they're too stupid. I like Bill James.

Bill late night, Friday, tweet. I apologize for everything I've done. Just a fucking news dump like you've never seen before. I've hurt the game. Bill, we appreciate you. And we appreciate the Draft King Sportsbook. Dude started a cult. Make sure you get in on the action with the draft king sports book.

They are giving away a no sweat bet up to $1,000 back in bonus bet. Tell him, Jim. Download the Drafking SportsBee app. Use code. Talking. You had it. You had it. They'd been changing them on us.

Get a no-sweb bet up to $1,000 if your first bet loses only on Draft King Sportsbook with Code Talk. And the Crown is yours. Gambling problem. Call 1-800 gambler. In West Virginia, visit www. www. 8778-8-8-Hop-N-Y or text hope-N-Y and Connecticut help is available for problem gambling. Call 888-88-9-7-77 or visit ccpG.org.

please play responsibly on behalf of Boothill Casino and Resort in Kansas 21 plus ages varied by jurisdiction void in Ontario one no sweat bet per new customer issued on one bonus bet based on amount of initial losing bet bonus bets expire 168 hours after issue in cdkNG com slash promos for deposit wagering eligibility restrictions terms and responsible gaming resources all right is that the app I think so we got some spring training updates some quick hitters for everyone ooh a cune underwin and MRI is right in nean March 1st show it irritation around his meniscus. It's highly likely that the reigning National League MVP will be ready for opening day,

though. Good news. We're getting an update on that today. We don't have it yet. Okay. Verlander showed up at camp two weeks behind because of a right shoulder issue on March, that. He threw 60 pitches in the bullpen esters remain hopeful he'll be ready for opening day.

I hope not because it's against the Yankees, but is still tibid. Josh Young. Now his brother is Jace. Yes. He got a little cramp in the calf, a little pull calf. There was a video of it actually, which is interesting. Taking ground balls in the back field just so hold the blame. That's a bummer.

Hate that. Grissom status for open days in doubt due to a groin strain for the Red Sox. He's not played a spring training game due the groin and hamstring issues. How did a great start. Manoa dealing with soreness in his throwing shoulder. Right hander tried to throw a bullpen session on March 1st, but he stepped, stopped midway through. No structural damage.

That's not good. I am rooting for him to be good. I like him as a heel. I like not liking him when the Yankees played against him. Good call. It's like a respect thing. Like, when you're good,

it is fun to have an adversary. He was really good. Yeah. Really good. Yeah. The numbers, the nerds never liked his numbers because he doesn't throw hard

and all that, but he was good. Our guy, Happer, mild left hamstring strain. But he's optimistic. He just, He's just got married. He doesn't want to do. He's fine.

Too much sex. Orde-als. The Springs. Josh Lowe, another baseball brother. Ian Hap's laid up right now, screaming. Not expected to play for 10 to 15 days after being irritated by left hip inflammation. He said he could play, but doesn't want to risk it turning into a more severe injury. Spring training.

10 to 15 days is legit. That's going to push him back. It's right on the bubble, right? Yeah. I mean, because you want to get that bats in. Oh, yeah. not playing at all. And yeah,

10 to 15 days right now, not playing at all, I think means you're missing going to the first week or so. Yes. Start on the 10 day. Agreed. Christian Walker exited

the D-BACs Cactus League contest. What fucks ever called the spring training game? The Cactus League contest against the Giants on February 29th after being hit in the right hand by a fastball. That stinks. He will not swing a batterer thrown until the swelling goes down. Oh, my God. James,

just so you know, this continues on for, many, many pages. Well, there's a lot of injuries right now in spring training. They're all mild, though. Well, I guess it is longer than I thought. I'm enjoying reading these. I don't know if you guys just want a newscaster voice me as I keep going for the people.

But fortunately, haven't been too many, like, oh, we lost a guy for the season type injuries. Okay. This one's interesting to me since the Orioles already lost a pitcher and Braddish, means is expected to not pitch in any great fruit league games as spring. He spent the early part of the offseason resting after an October flare-up to his surgically repaired left elbow and reported the spring training on February 14th, about a month behind other pitchers in his throwing program.

Okay. So, I mean, he's out for like April then. That's kind of a big news. Who's there, who's going to be their fifth? And all sorts of young, handsome guys. Who do you want to see? You want to see Cole swerve and Irvin? Yeah.

Tyler Well. What is the news on Senga? I guess we could ask around the office here. Is he missing a month? He will miss opening day. He's missing. Yeah, he had a PRP injection. Uh-oh.

That was tough. Sad warehouse day for Jolly. Mets have shut down Jeff McNeil from hitting activities due to a case of left bicep soreness. David Bednar yet to appear in a game this spring is dealing with right lat tightness. On the other side, and this is making me laugh. Matt McLean, oblique,

took 70 swings and some ground balls on March 1st. 70? 70. What's that about, Chris? He's on a swing, down. Obliks for the worst, bro. Take your time, Mr. Matt McLean. Do you know how we could land at 70?

Is it like... He might have did 50 the day before. Yeah. And I'm guessing you do sessions of 10 or whatever, so you can just, like, do the math, like weightlifting. dry hacks. Oh my gosh. That's the worst. Sounds like middle school. I have a question. When we were talking about Kellnick and his spring training stuff,

was that on an episode of this or was that on the Mariners PPP? That was on this? That was this. Yeah. Spray or not for a little bit. Okay. Can I check in on there and then we'll go? I want to see if he's taking a pitch yet. So I thought we got feedback on that. Yeah, people were saying that's wrong. Oh, they were calling us noobs. Yeah. they only track the

Well, they called Jimmy Nunes. I was taking it as a team. Oh, is it because they don't have... They just don't put all the info in there. Because like the Yankees... Oh, so like his next game has all the info. I get it. It's if they're on TV or not.

So it's if they have the video. I know like specifically the Ray's ballpark they don't make it publicly available. I don't know if the Braves played there yet. For every reason, they're like games there. Stackast doesn't get. Trev, any spring training rules? we don't know about, like, Christian Walker

gets hit by a pitch. If you're a starter and you get hit by a pitch in spring training, can you just be like, hey, this day's over for me, fellas. Oh, yeah. Yeah, okay. Absolutely. If you're like, if it hits you and you're like, any discomfort, you're just like, hey,

scrub with 88, like, come run for me. Best feeling in the world is the first time you get pinched run for as a big leaguer because you, you know, you come up and you have to do the pinch running for quite some time. At least I did, most guys have to go through that. Like you come in the game in the fifth

and some guy who like you probably don't even like that much. Like it gets on base and you have to give him the high five as you go pinch run. He's going to hit the showers and go to dinner and you got to finish up the game. The field's all hard. It sucks. There's nobody to stands anymore. But then it flips and you become the guy that gives the high five and takes it to the showers. No better feeling than that.

Oh my gosh. All right. Some names to watch. Zach Veen leads all spring training with stolen bases. He's stolen four bases. He's been caught stealing three times.

So he is having an adventurous spring. He's got 12 at bats, three hits, no walks. So they must be pinch running him and he's just like stealing. That's a lot of fun. So he leads in stolen bases

and caught stealing. Good job. He's running. Owen Casey from the Cubs. he's tied with a bunch of other people on hits. He's got eight hits. Other names you might like. Tyler Nevin, Cattel Marte, Eloy Jimenez,

Elieer Hernandez. Oh, Elier Hernandez leads. We got three triples. Same with Blaze Alexander, obviously. There's a couple of Blazes. Isn't there to Blaze Jordan as well? Blazzing is on the way. Blazes and Jackson's are coming.

I like to think we led the charge on that. James Wood from your Washington Nationals has the highest slugging of all qualified players in camp. He's got three home runs in eight, eight hits, three home runs. February Florida legend. Cole Tucker has four walks and eight played appearances. And I said, hey, man, you must be seen the ball well. And he goes, actually, there's not down many strikes. That's tough.

Hey, that's part of it. I think James Wood might be on everyone's radar at the end of this year. My goodness. Him and Wyatt Langford are the guys that are banging. Young guys banging. I don't know what's going on with this search, though, because Soto's not coming up. Don't search for James Wood, Google,

because you're not going to get James Wood the baseball playing. James Wood, the actor. Okay. They put James Wood baseball. Yeah, can't even do MLB yet. I do wonder if these stats only include, like, usually MLB.com spring training stats include all games, but certain players just aren't showing up.

So something's going on. That's a bummer. That's the app. Wyatt Langford having himself a spring. He's crushed. Trying to earn the job. I think he's going to. Oh.

Right before opening the day, get that eight-year 100 million contract with escalators. Bullshit. Atlanta Brave Center fielder, Forest Wall with nine RBIs. Three homers, six hits, one walk,

one stolen base. Where to go, Forrest. What's that bench gig? Megan the Stallion, nine looks at Trevor at dinner. Ooh. leading the league.