Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - It's Baseball Season | 600

Episode Date: February 13, 2023

Padres extended Yu Darvish on a six year contract, Dodgers signed two players in David Peralta & Alex Reyes, the DBacks signed Andrew Chafin, Derek Jeter is a FOX guy, and more!Use code TALKIN for $20 off your first SeatGeek order. https://seatgeek.onelink.me/RrnK/TALKINTune in to the Daytona 500 on Sunday, February 19th at 2:30 PM Eastern on FOXHead to https://ro.co/jomboy for 20% off your first orderGet Blue Moon delivered by visiting https://get.bluemoonbeer.com/BASEBALL to see your delivery options. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey guys, thanks for tuning in to the podcast. Just wanted to let you know that one of the best tournaments we've run thus far is premiering on the J.M. Warehouse YouTube channel. One inning league roulette, quick games, lots of action. One team doesn't make the postseason. One team doesn't get drafted. Hearts get broken. Heroes get made. Make sure you tune in and join us in the live chat.

JM Warehouse YouTube channel. Games premiere at 6 o'clock. Thanks. Hello and welcome to talking baseball. February 13th Monday episode, you Darvish, Miami making another trade, Jake's Peralta signs? Let's do it.

Dodgers. Hello and welcome to talking baseball. It's episode number 600 on the nose. How about that? That's cool. Brought to by Seatkey Code Talking. Helps you out over there. And we got some news.

Super Bowl is over. So people like to say it's baseball season now. That's a thing that's kind of really popular these days. Jake, wedding season for you. Trevor, James Davis, yes. A couple five days away or something like that. Already legally married, so that part's kind of a boner. But trying to, excited to do it with some fiends and family.

And, yeah, Super Bowl's done. I love my Dodgers. Me and Trev's Dodgers sneaking in a couple moves. And yeah, I get, you're right, people do love. I got excited for our social media team because they were going to get to do like, it's baseball season, it's baseball season. And it's baseball season, Trev. I think basketball is happening too right now. So we share, we share part of it.

But yes, spring training. I think pitchers and catchers are reporting like today or tomorrow, which is awesome. spring training's here. So you definitely get the feel that we are on to something and we're still getting some news. This has been the most consistent news cycle of any off season.

It's just been kind of like little drips here, little drips here, little drips here, little drips here. We've had a couple big flurries, but today we got the Darvish stuff to talk about some of the trades. It's going to be good. I'm excited to chop it up.

And then I got the Wednesday episode all by myself. As you guys take off on this beautiful vacation for Jake's wedding. Someone's got to work. You never go on vacations. What's up, James? It's that really baseball season?

No. It's not. Yeah. It's like such like a little brother thing. Baseball fans do. Because we still got so long until baseball season. It's six weeks till baseball season. It's six weeks to baseball season. And like, yeah, we got some news today, but, you know, the first week of spring training is fun, very fun. Hopefully the World Baseball Classic is fun. And then you get the slog of spring training.

And then, you know, it's almost like a trick because I was like, it is baseball season. I was like, wait, hold up. We got a little bit to go. So I got like another week till everyone's reported and that first a couple days after is good, but really, kind of overrated. I'm sneaky. WBC's getting me.

It hasn't hooked me at. and stuff. I'm kind of in, man. Yeah, it has not gotten me yet. I'm going to watch, but I'm not. Can't say you're excited. I was excited when I found out Yankees weren't playing in it. I'll put it that way.

Interesting. Interesting take there. Well, because we've had so many injuries. The Yankees have had like three to five guys get hurt in the World Baseball Classic in its years. That first one, they got crushed. So when Severino got told he couldn't play in it, I was, I think we talked on talking next. I was like, I wouldn't lie. I don't know. I went off injuries. So I am excited. We'll see how it's managed. DeRosa's managing team USA, right?

Yes. All right. Yeah. Captain America. I like it. We'll see. We'll see what happens. I mean, with that kind of lineup and stuff, you don't really got to do much, right? Just kind of like, let them play. Let the boys play a little bit. Well, I just sometimes it's like spring training, like rotation. and this guy's going to get in, this guy's going to get in, and guys, guys are only going three innings,

and then you got like, you know, Taiwan or Japan fucking throwing complete game shutouts, and it's like, all right, there's two different levels of care here. Four years from now, could I see Trevor Plouffe coach and team USA?

Dude, I, what I should have done, I thought about this, because, you know, I'm 36 now, right? Right. Like, I don't got a lot of, like, athletic real years in front of me. Once you hit 40,

I don't think I'll be able to strap up the cleats and get out on the field and do things. But I feel like I could still perform now, not to the same levels I used to. But I was trying to think, like I should have tried to go play for some random country. You know, like some of these guys do.

Like, when's the next time I'm going to get to play like real competitive baseball? Probably never. So I kind of fucked that one up a little bit. Even though I don't know where I would play. There's no French team. Well, let's, you got to go be an ambassador.

We sneak you in a Curacao or something like that? I was trying. I was trying to have a relationship. Who could I have been a part of? Is a Czech Republic team? Like, I don't know. Do they in the French get along? Well, what's your, do 23 and me and find out who you are?

I, I have. Okay. So what do you got? Are you? Nothing that's in a world baseball capacity. If you, I'm French. If he converted to Judaism, could he be on the Israeli team? You have cracked our team.

You just have to convert. Yeah, I got to convert. The thing is I've got to say you want to play, I think, and we'll take. Who's on team Israel? Jock's on team Israel? Jocs like the face of his Joe. We got a couple arms. Darren Sammy, St. Lucian Cricketer could play for Great Britain right now if he applied.

Yeah, get me on Great Britain. See if I could be a late roster edition. I just went one for one in my alumni game, three shoddy innings. It's the Ryan LeVarnways on the squad. It's the 2026 WBC and your team USA is against my team Italy. the finals. We're both coaching. Oh, my God.

I forgot Team Israel has Danny Valencia. And I was like, yeah. Jeff knows him. Yeah. I do know Danny. Daniel, I call him. Daniel. Who's Daniel?

Know what other event is coming up? The Daytona 500. Oh. And by the way, we've got some of our people are going to the Daytona 500. Jack and Zoe. You may. They know them, we got ice. Some of the best content you've ever seen.

I think they're playing with football in the infield of the track. NASCAR's like hooked it up for us. It's going to be sick. So check out their stuff. And make sure you check out the race. On the 19th, the day after my wedding, the day after Jimmy's birthday, will be buckled up watching as there's a hundred thousand plus people down there for the Daytona 500. It's truly one of the more unique events in sports.

It's not baseball season. It's Daytona 500 season. And this year, it's more special. It's their 75th anniversary. Wow. Time flies when you're having fun. I always forget they were around before cars. Park yourself on the couch for the afternoon

and tune in to the Daytona 500 Sunday, February 19th, 2.30 p.m. Eastern on Fox. I wonder if Jets will be on the call. He's a fox guy now. Yeah, he's a fox guy now, huh? How about that? I got a text yesterday from one of my buddies. He said, hey, I got some news for you guys if you want to break it.

And I said, I guess. Like, what do you got? And I didn't see anything at the time. He goes, uh, Jeet is about to be announced on Fox. I'm like, oh, cool. Like I'll, I'll tell our social team, maybe we'll break it. I log on to social media. I'm like, bro, seven minutes ago they announced that you could have given it to me like

an hour ago or something. That would have been cool. He was worried. It's going to be interesting. They're trying to do like, uh, you know, A-Rod and Jeter together talking is going to be something. Them and Poppy. Jeter.

That nostalgic for you guys as Yankee fans? Jim so disappointed in him. Jim can't believe he's like in the game. Yeah. When Bruce Springsteen started doing like a sit-down interview, my dad was like devastated. He was like, Bruce, you don't do this. Like, too cool for it.

I remember being like, what dad? He was like, he doesn't do this stuff. He's, he just. He's a blue collar singer does his music. And it was after 9-11, he did the album. And he did like a sit-down on my dad. The big Bruce went for years was like, what? Jeter is doing some crazy shit right now.

He's everywhere. Yes. I don't get it. And he's notoriously a nothing interview. What's he going to bring? It might change. It might change, James. Well, yeah, but I'm interested.

He was doing. the nothing interviews. Yeah. As a performance. So I don't know. He clearly, ever since whether Cooperstown or the documentary or I don't know, couple kids running around, Jee-T's back in the game.

I love it. I need to see. I can't make a judgment now. I need to see how he does. I'm not going to praise him already. I'm not going to say he's bad. I've seen Jets in front of a lot of cameras in my lifetime. And if he's trying to compete with Rod, Poppy, and Frank, I think he's going to do all right.

I think so, too. Yeah. It's a good call. Don't come on this show, Jets. Yeah, you don't want this. This is only big enough for one former shortstop. Ooh. Should grab Jets Wednesday?

And we've got a third basement, too, in Trev. Oh. What do you guys want to start with? Who Darvish? Yes. Signed his third six-year deal. Is that a record? How many other guys?

Because people have signed longer and shorter deals, but people have signed 18 years worth of deals, but have any other players signed three six-year deals in their career? He signed a six-year deal with the Rangers and a six-year deal with the Cubs and now a six-year deal with the Padres. This kind of took me by surprise. I've been saying all off-season the Padres, I thought they were going to go get pitchers because Darvish and Snell

or Musgrove, maybe not Snell. They're coming up. Musgrove got his last year. So Snell then, we're coming up. coming up. They were losing a couple of free agents. And instead of losing Darvish, they sign him for six years, 126 mil. Kind of a sneaky one. I told Jake, we were in the warehouse together on Thursday, and you were like, what? Like, you're, whoa, that's stoked.

Good for him, but a little, don't see it coming. The AAV is pretty low. How old is he in? What age does this take him to? You Darvish is currently 36. He'll turn 37 in August, and this basically takes him through age 42, which, hey, you know, we're coming off the Super Bowl. Maybe Tom Terrific changed everyone's expectancy in sports. I don't know, man.

I'm happy for you. I'm happy for the Padres, because right now it just adds to the pot of like, all right, we're all in on literally everything that's going on here. And you, you know, we just did our all underrated teams. You Darvish, he's one of the first guys I said it a lot with. Like, he's kind of, I think his career in general is kind of underrated. Going back to when he was with Texas and, you know, some funny business in the World Series

with the Dodgers, Cubbies to now, he's pitched a lot of Major League Baseball that, I don't know. I guess I was excited that you Darvish wants to twirl it till he's 42. Or he was just like, hey, I'll take that money. You guys were giving out a lot of money earlier in the offseason. I'm in. And you have some left over. The guys that codified baseball have been all over Darvish's stats.

His two-strike stats are like as impressive as it gets. I didn't know that. It's a very nuanced thing. But if you get to two strikes, if you Darvish get you to two strikes, you're pretty much fucked. I'll try to pull up the numbers. Sorry to cut you off, Tremb. Because you don't know, I mean,

there's so many pitches he can go to and speeds. It's impossible to set up a game plan against you Darvish. We talked about that before. This was it. They've been tracking MLB pitches since 1988, and no pitcher with 200 plus starts during that time has allowed a lower batting average or a lower slugging percentage with two strikes than you Darvish.

Good for him. He had a great year last year, too. Almost 200 innings pitched. His strikeout rate was high. His walk rate was low. Jake, he loves ERA still because he's an old school guy like that. 310. Do you like it?

I do like that. Do you like it? Do you want me to butter and I fit even better? When's the last time you looked at his nude photo shoot? I mean, 30 seconds from now. Trevor, why don't you redo his shoot yourself? I don't know what you're talking about. I was going to say something, though.

You know, you haven't seen New Darvish's nude photo shoots? He's young there. Do you want me to do it or like photograph him? No, I want you to do it. Oh, okay. I mean, you don't see his wiener, right? Oh, yeah, you don't see his wiener. But the cover of the magazines is him in bed and then.

He's a little younger than I like there. Okay. Do you like your nude photo shoots older? How old is he in this? Oh, I mean, he's definitely going to replicate this at some. point. Okay. But you better start now. Trav Darvish extension. This deal takes them. Speaking of extension.

This deal takes him till what, the age 42 season, but he's got a new elbow in 2015. So really, we're talking about maybe not so much wear and tear on that part of his arm. But we talk about guys training differently now. We've seen a couple examples of guys in their 40s doing the damn thing. teams are more willing than ever. Can you imagine, I don't know, two years ago, us talking about a team giving someone a contract through age 42, especially a starting pitcher. That just doesn't happen, dude.

And now all of a sudden, we're seeing that. We're seeing teams willing to commit. How many guys this off-season signed a contract that led into their 40s? Like five? Five or six? It's, I don't know if, like, people's, thought process has changed as far as like age and being able to be competitive. But we at one point were saying the athletes prime, baseball players prime was 28.

When I was playing, that's what they said. And then all the sudden during my career, I said, now actually 28's a little too old. We're more like 26. That's your prime. I'm like, what the fuck? That's nonsense. What happened? Now, who know your prime doesn't matter how old you are, bro?

Go out there and do it. And that's how it should be. You can't put this stupid, you know, made up number out there so this is your prime. No, everyone's different. I think people are starting to realize that people work different,

their bodies are different, and you're going to get different results from it. I mean, you Darvish, at 35, just had one of his better seasons. And they're banking on him to continue to do that. And like, as you mentioned, the $18 million AVA, it's a good chunk of change,

but, you know, that's a three or, three or four starter AV right now. And it's only going to get more. So, I mean, the Padres are, they're doing it, man. They're spending. There's a, A, the dude is a gem for the sport. I mean, 2.7 mil follows on Twitter. The dude has his own YouTube where he's got like 500K subs.

You know, we are on the front lines of, you know, there's a lot of people out there that are still, baseball is dying, baseball's not cool, like, wrong and wrong, gotcha. And Udarvish is like a big member of that, man. He's got international power. He's got power over here. And he's with this fun Padres team that I hope we're seeing

U Darvish in some big games, at least the next couple years. And yeah, the money's funny, man. The money's funny because we were going for these AVs and, you know, less years, right? Because we didn't want to run into those contracts. And then I think when push comes to shove and you start doing that game of chicken, The teams would rather stretch it out another year or two And just say, hey, you know, we'll deal with that when we get there If they're still performing at some level.

Like you're saying, the money ends up looking okay. Like look at the way we've talked about Bryce Harper and Machado's contracts. You know, if you told us, if Mani Machado has a good year this year, he's going to opt out. And if you had told that when he signed it, we all would have said, you're bloody, whack. You're bloody. So, yeah, it continues to move, Trev.

And that's why I, you know, could have been your WBC, man, I don't know. You know what I say about Darvish? He needs to hunt accolades. Okay. I think he's going to be the best Japanese if he, you know, continues next three years. I think he's going to be, as his last couple, I think he's going to be the best Japanese starting pitcher. Yeah, Nomo, but, I mean, Darvish is pretty.

by like total volume. Yeah. Yeah, even like career ERA, career stats are pretty good. But he doesn't, he hasn't won a Cy Young. No Japanese pitchers ever want to Cy Young. I'm sure that would make him like a superhero if he does that. He doesn't have a lot of like cool bold on his baseball reference. He led the league in wins in 2020.

It doesn't count. And led the league in FIPP in 2020 as well. It doesn't count. He's got a strikeout title. He's a year two, he got the strikeout title. That's the one cool one. But I was expecting more. You go to these pages.

So like in these next six years, you, let's rack up some accolades. Two number twos in the Cy Young. That's tough. Play for you. That's sure. Finish in 2013 behind Scherzer, who went 21 and 3 with a 29. Darvish was 13 and 9 with a 28 and had the strikeout title that year. So that's interesting.

Better ERA plus than Scherzer. So, I mean, how about one A, B right there. My goodness. And what the last one in 2020 was? Bauer was the central. Bauer, that's right. All that central pitching. So, yeah, I know All-Star games aren't a B-All-end All-Stap,

but five All-Star games is pretty impressive. You got to be a guy-guid to get to that many All-Star games. And, yeah, rack up a couple more. I mean, yeah, I think he currently has the title. A couple more counting stats to catch up. Teno Mo is cool. And he also has to fend off who's coming in Shohei. So, yeah, we got to, you got to put that bar as high up there as you can for now

because that other dude's coming. It's going to be fascinating to see how long Shohay, like, is a starter. I guess we don't really think about that because that's what we know him as. But it's difficult to remain a starter in the big leagues for that long. Like is eventually, is he going to transition into some sort of bullpen role? Like, I got, I'm starting to wrap my mind around that. I never really thought about it. But you brought it up and now here I am.

I didn't bring that up. Should get his 100th career win this year. Pitchers care about that. What is he? He's half Farsi or Iran? Japanese. I think it is Iranian. Japanese and Iranian.

Yeah. I think so. I think his dad played for Berkeley or something, shit like that. who was from Iran, Iran. Yeah. I mean, look, I love this guy. I've told you guys that from day one.

Facing him is an enigma. You don't know what to do up there because he doesn't have a fastball that you can kind of sit on. It moves, changes speeds. He's got the Ephis pitch that everyone knows he got me out on, famous clip there.

You can go check that out. That is a famous. But he's just, it's tough. But, I mean, that's why he's been able to hang around and get three, six-year deals because he's not, yeah, he has stuff. He's got electric stuff, but he also can pitch, dude.

And when you have that mixture, that's how you get the longevity and the, you know, I don't have a lot of accolades, but five all-stars, a couple of Sall Young two. It's pretty good. He's got some, you know, zero, but I was expecting more bold or just more because he's been a prominent pitcher for a while,

and he's going to continue. For the Padres, they have Musgrove and Darvish locked up for five years now, that's kind of cool. No other starters locked up, but then they have a bunch of position players locked up as well. So this window is being extended, which sometimes you don't see teams do it.

You see them purposely keep themselves on a five, six year window. The Padres are now committing way beyond that, which means if you're paying these guys, you're either going to have a big trade at one point or you're going to go more all in. But either way, still fun to be a Padres fan, I think. I don't think you can be upset about this, can you? No.

The AV's low. He's good. Dude, as a fan, you're like, yeah, just keep doing this. Who cares? Like, keep giving all of our good players money, so we have these good players. That makes a lot of sense to me. The Astros also gave one of their pitchers a extension,

not six years, but five years. Not $126 million, but $64 million. Christian Javier. Now, he had three years left of arbitration, so they're buying that out, and then they're going to add three more on top of that. Two more. Yeah, that makes sense. That's easier math. Math pod. Two more on top of that, which gets him to a decent salary by the end of it.

21, the last two years. The two years of free agency is $21 million each. Also, I wonder if this hurts or helps if they ever want to trade. We've talked about the astros. I've talked about trading some of their depth pitching. He's pretty good. When they were talking about that, they weren't talking about Javier. They were talking about, um, uh, or kitty at the deadline, like trading some of their depth. But now you got money tied to them. When it's arbitration, there's a lot of other factors that people are training for. So maybe he's around for long haul because that'd be smart to do anyway. He's pretty good in like a very interesting way. I don't know. Astro's just bored and they're like, why not do this?

Well, they... New GM needed to do something. You're talking about sneaky having your core locked up. They gave Yordon an extension. You know, Bregman and Altuva are on the books for a little bit. Tucker is kind of the next one coming up. And again, that's always one of my favorite loser Jake baseball exercises is like Kyle Tucker on the open market is.

You should have mentioned him on all underrated team. He's like, he would have fit a qualification. He's going to set a number. So I wonder if they can figure something out there. You just lose arbitration? I'd ask you. Yeah, I think Kyle Tucker just lost his. arbitration case. Javier last year, 254 ERA, a 194 strikeouts and 148 innings, a 152 ERA plus. I think that means

there was only nine starters with a higher or a better ERA plus than him. Man, it's silly, especially when you do these numbers right after Darvish, but it's the arbitration. So I mean, I mean, I mean, Trev, you mentioned an athlete's prime, and some guys can keep it going. They have Javier through, like, his non-debatable prime. He's 25 now. This brings him to 30, 31. It looked like it clicked. He's disgusting, and he's locked up for, again, a very affordable price,

even though a lot of that's related to arbitration. I think one of the cooler aspects of this story is, you know, this guy signs that DR and you know sometimes when you're talking prospects from Dominican or Venezuela you know you might get a million dollar signing bonus and then you know those guys are kind of fast track to the big leagues. This guy signed for

$10,000. Coming over you know I've been around when you're in the low level minor leagues there are a lot of guys that sign out of the DR in Venezuela for that kind of money and they don't get a ton of like real opportunity. I mean, you have to really go off to get that type of opportunity.

The people that get the bonuses get more opportunity. That's just the way it is. So for him to kind of like work his way up and then kind of like be in this transitional role of I'm a reliever, then I'm a starter, I'm back and forth, I'm a multi-inning reliever. And then finally they trust him to become a starter. He has an incredible outing in the World Series last year. $64 million. It's a hell of a payday for O'Havier,

and he certainly deserves it, because his numbers are incredible. And he passes the eye test, too. I think that's the fun part of this. Sometimes you're like, well, that doesn't make sense, but when you watch him pitch, like, okay, I understand that. And another great move for the Astros, keeping this core together for so long.

I mean, controllable pieces for this long is how you have sustained success. And to answer your question, James, I think this does. If they ever decide they want to trade Christian Javier, this makes him much more desirable as the money is locked up, two free agents locked up. Much more desirable to a smaller pool of teams. Because.

I think to any team, teams like cost control players. And $21 million for, you know, what we consider this guy on any other team, like what? A two, at least? Yeah, I just think sometimes you get guys going to like, You've seen the Reds trade for guys before, and we've seen teams that aren't, we've seen the other markets trade for guys

that are in the last two years, but also you can, you can trade them again or non-tender them or whatever. I don't know. This is decent money being shelled out if you're not one of the top third teams that doesn't care about that. But yeah, if a contender that's going to be looking for someone of his caliber,

then I think it is better. It's kind of everything in baseball, though. Like, I don't know. I don't see the Marlins taking this on. Well, I don't see them trading him at all. I mean, they're there. Yeah. It's interesting they do this.

And then Tucker loses his arbitration, which was, they were. They seem to be decently far apart. Yeah, the farthest apart of the of the year, Bichette was as far apart. It was 2.5 million apart, I think. He loses and got five million. He filed at 7.5. Yeah, but it was his first year of arbitration. So they have nothing to really base it.

off of. Only three players have filed their first year and won at that kind of margin. But the new GM, Dana Brown, said they want to lock them up to a multi-year deal. Well, then do it, bro. Back-to-back 30 homer seasons for Kyle Tucker. He won the Golden Glove last year. He stole 25 bases last year. Yeah. The only team that's been losing arbitration cases this year when they've actually gone

through is the Miami Marlins. They took Luis Arise to arbitration, and they took Lazzardo, maybe. Jim, maybe you need to take your hair to arbitration. Interesting. With Roman, because 42% of men experience moderate to extensive hair loss in their lifetime. I've got to be honest with you guys, I am starting to fight the battle. It's happening. I get a little age, a little stress.

It's all come together. And Roman is where you need to go. Come join me. Don't wait till it's too late. Get on the front lines now. Roman offers clinically proven medication to help treat hair loss from the comfort and privacy of your home. Some people say privacy.

Research shows that 80% of men who use prescription hair loss treatment had no further hair loss after two years. Getting started is simple and complete with a free online visit. licensed healthcare professional or work with you to find the best treatment plan. So with free two-day shipping, why don't you go to row.com slash johnboy today, RO.c.O.co slash johnboy for 20% off, 20% off and free shipping with Roman. RO.com slash johnboy, 20% off your first order. Yep. It was Lazardo. So the Marlins lost their arbitration cases for a rise,

who they just traded for. And Jesus, Lizardo, the Marlins, also just traded for Jesus Lazzardo's former roommate. Puck. A.J. Puck. They were going to be the lightning rod that

sparked the A's and they were the top two guys. And now they're both Marlins and the Marlins traded J.J. Bleday, who does have Jays in his name, but maybe it was too many Js because they're getting A.J. back. So it might be just like a one J only situation.

Which I understand in respect. I am worried though that they're losing their way. They still have John Jay there as the first base coach. I'm worried about him. He was only two J's only enough room for a guy with two J. I don't know what the hell I'm trying to say. Yeah, well this trade's interesting. I mean, Lazardo's like, hey, can you go get my dude Puck?

He's kind of just stuck in Oakland. Former roommates. And then the A's and Marlins were like, yeah, cool. We don't care. I don't like to talk about myself ever, but when I was in camp with the A's in 2017, these guys were the next generation. You know, also with Chappie and Olson there. But these two guys, I mean, that's all you ever heard about was Jesus and A.J. Puck.

And you couldn't really miss Puck walk around the clubhouse. He had this long hair. He's super tall. As you guys know now. But back then, he was definitely a sight. and my first thought when I saw him was like, fuck, I would never want to face this guy. I feel like I still think that way.

And, you know, he's had some success, man, especially last year. It was good. 62 games, a 3-1-2-R-A, more strikeouts than innings pitched. You're right, he's a gross lefty on the mound. A little bit of a double entendre. Depending how he's tightened it up that week.

Yeah, for me, this is two things. The Marlins brought in Lazzardo when, you know, they kind of punted on him, and it looked like he might be broken, and you hit that prospect like, uh-oh. And then Lazzardo turned in a great year for them last year. And now he slotted into their three spot in the rotation. You know, he had a 3-3-2 ERA last year for the fish. So I don't know. They clearly think they can probably tap into puck muck.

more, I'd have to guess Puck's days as a starter with his injury history are done, but if they think they can tap into him more as a reliever, he can be a ninth inning, eighth inning type guy. But I think the bigger side of this, JJ Bladay, who mentioned him briefly, we did their team profile and projection, and that's coming out soon, this guy was a big time draft pick, and he got a cup of coffee last year, and it wasn't pretty. and if you're trading, you know, I think was he the three pick in the draft, or top five pick in the draft? Bladay, I think it was the fourth overall pick.

If you're trading that guy away for a player that now looks like they're probably a reliever, even, you know, potentially a high-level reliever, that means they were kind of out on J.J. Bladay. So that he's going to Oakland and maybe he'll get a ton of reps, and that can be what figures it out. but a potential everyday starting outfielder that's a top four pick for a relief pitcher. It means the Marlins were out on JJ Bladay.

Or Oakland really came calling because they can stash him at AAA and delay his service time. Also six years of control. The number there is not going to be good. When you have Puck, who was, I think, getting close to higher arbitration because he was almost a super two situation. So A is just being as cheap as you could put.

possibly get if this is a move they're they're reaching out for also you got jazz chisholm future gold glover in center field now right and outfield for miami so you don't need that i wonder if puck's excited that the aes had said he was going to fight for a starting pitcher spot as a lefty and there's no ways now he's the third one of three lefties in the bullpen for miami talk about arbitration potential getting a hit, you know, getting the start and being young and all that, if he was able to start with the A's and put up some numbers versus one of three lefties for Miami. I wonder if he's excited to get out of Oakland and go with Miami or the opportunity and the

position kind of stinks now for him from what he was told he was going to do. I mean, I guess we'll see how it shakes out there, but definitely I think you hit it. you probably kind of stoked to get out of Oakland, number one. But then you do realize, yeah, like if I was in line to get starts in Oakland, can I get that same opportunity in Miami? We know Miami's pitching depth, their starting pitching depth is there, but this guy is different, you know, and if they decide to give him a look as a start, I wouldn't be surprised.

Or you just put him in some high leverage spots, and you can earn a nice chunk of change doing that. If you're racking up some saves or games finished, it's also a way to boost your arbitrage. but you're right James I mean as a starter that's kind of what you want that's where the money is and that's where all these guys want to be um if i was a j puck i'd be stoked that i'm out of oakland and i'm with the team that's not necessarily like in their highest competition window but maybe trying to head towards that but just getting out of oakland in that situation's got to be a relief

and then j j j j bladay is like shit yeah jake does have a good point though To trade that guy. Because what do the Marlins always need? We talk about it anytime we talk about the Marlins. They need hitting. So to trade that guy for a reliever, which you guys mentioned AJ Puck, and hey, maybe they tap into him the same way with Lazzardo.

Maybe he goes and starts, go show the world, kid. I think he's lined up for a lockdown type reliever, but like a special get-paid reliever, if he does it right. Puck has started eight games at any level since 2018. So I think at some point you kind of have to look in the mirror and be like, hey, I could be a dominant

like Andrew Miller, like funky, 6, 7, lefty. And those guys get paid, man. So if I do that for a couple years right, I don't think it's the same equation it used to be with starters and relievers. You'd still love that starters money. We just talked about a couple guys. Well, when it comes to arbitration, it is.

But, man, I think, uh, Yeah. And do you feel bad because Bladay is a fellow Vandy guy? I mean, go Dors, and it's going to click. And, you know, Tony Kemp. You have some inside info now that he's a vandy boy about J.J. Bleday and maybe his makeup or something? Because you did, you're making a good point there on the Marlins side.

Hey, I just, I think the Marlins punted a little early. I think he got his cup of coffee last year. It wasn't pretty in a small sample size, 65 games. What makes his reps now for the Marlins? De La Cruz? Yeah, I mean, Blued A Blay wasn't necessarily penciled in, but they have De La Cruz there. Jesus Sanchez, who got a couple shoutouts last year on talking baseball,

is floating around. So I don't know. It just feels like all these, with the Marlins, there's these bodies that we've mentioned for a couple years now, and they're looking for something to click, and maybe they know something we don't. But I don't know. Marlins and A's.

Interesting. AJ Puck's one of those guys, you know, with his body type, six, seven, lefty. Bro, throw strikes and throw over 90 miles an hour, and you're going to have a job for the next 10 years. That's how it works. That's how this game works. I don't know if I've ever told this story on talking about it,

so I think I might have. Glenn Perkins, failed starter in the big leagues, wasn't really working out. gets optioned down the AAA with me, 2009 or something. I don't know. He got to the biggest very quickly and then kind of was like in a state of transition, didn't know what was going on. I was in the car with him as is in AAA and his wife is like,

what are we going to do? Like basically like, you know, is your career over? You just got sent down, blah, blah, blah. And Glenn Stoneface said, I'm a left-handed pitcher that throws over 90. be okay. And then sure enough, like three or four all-star appearances later, he's

doing all right. So, AJ Puck, man, you got a lot of baseball left in you for sure. I don't want to jump on a segue here. Don't do it. The bike or otherwise. Because it's going to circumvent the Dodgers for a second. But Andrew

Chafin, 65% 93 mile per hour fastballs and the other 33% is sliders, and he just got another 6.5 milly for my snakes to keep doing it. Like, and Puck has more than that in the chamber currently. So yeah, go do that. Go do that. Be it lefty that throws over 90, guys.

It's easy. I was looking at Bledavers older pitchers, the minors. Apparently, Trev, that's a stat, scouts really like in the minor leagues. how do you perform about guys that are older than you? Because I keep hearing people talk about this, about these young kids, like, he's the youngest one in the league, and he's hitting, blah, blah, blah.

I checked out your numbers. You were great against older pitchers, Trev. Whoops. Dude, yeah, give me all the old guys, 100%. Well, I think it's like when you're 20. Why do they like that? Because like you're coming up. You're coming up the ranks faster than them

and still dominating them. J.J. Bladay, opposite. it. He's not good against the older guys. Treb, you sucked against younger pitchers in 2010 in the minors. Just letting you know. Those guys couldn't throw a strike, though. How old were you in 2010? 24, 23, to start the year.

So those guys were young. You only had 29. You only had 69 at plate appearances. For me, I wanted guys that were around the plate. And the older guys definitely are around the plate more. That's what I tell you. I mean, when you're in AAA, this is a phrase that they'll use a lot. Like, this guy's going to be better in the big leagues.

I'm like, why? Big leagues is hard. Well, they throw more strikes in the big league. So if you're a guy that struggles with a little bit of plate discipline issues, you get to the big leagues, they're going to kind of like just hammer you with fastballs and see what you can do. So a lot of guys have more success that way. And then they start understanding they can expand the zone on you and stuff. But that's why I like the older pitchers because they're around the zone more.

Makes sense. Go chafin. Good for chafin. Easiest league to hit him. Their lighting's better. And all the other stuff, balls. Oh, although they use big league balls in AAA now,

which is, that's nice. It's nice. Replace. Dude, Jafin, nice seven career war, okay? Snakes, baby. Let's go.

Okay. Go around over there. Oh, no, we're down two to one in the fifth inning. Here comes Melanson. Here comes Mantepa. Here comes ginkle. Here comes chafin. Don't say ginkle on the show ever again.

Good game. Longo, Homer, walk off. Oh, extend the lead. I had them up. That's why they were using their good pen. Oh, okay. I think down to one. Longo still walked it off, though.

Oh, okay. Sounds pretty dope. We play for rings in the desert. If somehow the snakes aren't in it, come the trade deadline. Mantiply, Chafin, Malanson, Kevin, G. Miguel Castro ended up there.

Interesting. Speaking of snakes, Coach Trev's snakes defeated James Loney's Cubs in our first game of the West Hills. Literally. I mean, can we hire a beat reporter

to be on this? You and Loney competing? I got some like some, you know, I'm going to dish out some dirt. Loney was late. I was there at 8 a.m. with my kids in the batting cage.

Don't do that. About 8.45. Don't do it. That's his style. Justin coaches were there. He said, yeah, I delegate. Oh, see? See?

Not me. I micromanage, baby. Can we have... Sick of your style. Maybe your sweet Ila cover the game for us and report for us next week. I would love to hear her three-day late report from the game. She was there. We have a girl on our team.

Shout out Presley. She roped one off of me for like a double down the line. during coach pitch. And I love it because now I was watching her and saying, I want to play. So it's cool. Okay. That is cool.

No, what else is cool? Before we talk about Treves Doyers, after talking about my snakes. And then Trev's going to tell us what all he remembers about Kenny's Vargas. Vargas. Yeah, I will. Kenny Vargas had some pop.

Kenny's. Blue Moon. Oh, great commercial by Blue Moon yesterday. They stole the show. They were a winner. How about it? Blue Moon. That's because they're with us.

Trev. They're the winner's beer. That's not in the read. But you gotta believe that. The winner's beer. Blue moon, spring, it's baseball season, people. We can't drive it home. Enough. It's baseball season.

Go get yourself a Blue Moon with a little Valencia orange peel. Oh. You know, Treb's a man of high taste. Don't just grab a rando orange. No. Grab yourself a bodegi orange. Get yourself a Valencia orange. A bodega orange.

Treat yourself with a blue moon. The Belgian wheat ale is a one-of-a-kind beer. And it's just made brighter, you know. Crafted carefully, full-flavored, refreshing notes in a smooth, creamy finish. And you can get it delivered, people. That's what I'm talking about. Get.

Dot blue moon beer.com slash baseball to see all your deliver. options. I'm interested in that. It's get. dot blue moon beer.com slash baseball. Get it delivered. The words of my pops,

don't drink and go out, drink and stay home, or do whatever you want. Celebrate responsibly. Blue moon brewing Colorado, Golden, Colorado. The Dodgers, or Blue Moon,

whatever you guys want. Are the Dodgers the Blue Moon of baseball? I thought he was going to talk about Kenny's Vargas. Kenny Vargas! What do you want to know about Kenneth? Who did he sign with again? did he sign with somebody he did Travis Vargas

was you know kind of how Avicel Garcia's mini-miggy this was mini-poppy and he could hit the shit out of the ball take that much switch hitter when he gets in the groove smash baseballs with the best of them but there was a lot of places you could go

as a pitcher that would get some swings and misses that's what I remember about Kenneth what's the most amount of triples you ever had in one game Oh my gosh, what? One? No. You had two. Why are you looking at my stuff?

I don't know this. It makes me really like... You don't like when I look at your stats? No, because they're not great. Trev, I'm hyping you up. You had two triples in one game. You had three different games in your career, minors and majors where you had five RBIs,

RBI, and one of them, I was looking, came off two triples. probably like doubles Bigney game No no minors Minors Okay only mine

Yeah I don't remember that Well one was off Ian Kennedy So basically show Do you remember that? I like Ian Kennedy I'm not gonna I'm not gonna talk poorly about him You can just say like yeah

But what a triple I hit Nice triple I pumped him too in the show Big one Oof Off speed Change up 2 1 Chase field

Before the Humidores Got that ball And made it a dead park that thing used to be a launching pad. I put it in the orbit out there. And then Scott Strickland, you hit a triple off him in the ninth. You probably didn't want to leg that out,

but you did. Gamer. Long strided by the end. You probably knocked him, ruined his baseball career. He was trying to make a comeback, hadn't pitched in four years in the minors, gives up a triple to eight hole.

Trevor Ploff. Hey. He was he in the eight hole? You were hitting in the eight hole. Save that. He didn't do that. Well, I think you just got bumped up to AAA or something.

I don't know. Hmm I was Yeah, okay I could see that Trev Dave

Why you asked me about Kenny's Vargas Because How did you get there The day you had 5 RBI in the

majors That game You were hitting Cleanup Against the White Sox Mm-hmm Behind Joe Mauer And I was like

Fuck, That's cool Trev's cleanup Behind Mauer And behind you Was Kenney's How you say Kenny

It's not Kenny Well, it's Kenny, but we call him Kenness. Kenes. Well, there's an S at the end of his name. Kenes Vargas. He was hitting behind you. That's some real pop. Yeah.

It's real pop. He hit a homer in that game as well. But, no, there is, I've seen his name around the interwebs circulating. I think he might have signed a deal. And he's always on social media putting his swings on there. So if you want to go check that out, follow Kenneth Vargas on IG. Trevor Plouf triples on a line drive to right fielder, Shelley Duncan, Garrett Jones scores. Luke Hughes scores. Matt Macri scores.

Basis loaded triple. Matt McCree. Matt McCree, yeah. And then Trevor Plouffles on a line drive to right fielder Matt Carson. Probably Dove for it, missed, ninth trying to be a hero. Matt Carson, that's a name right there. Cincinnati Red signed slugger Kenneth Vargas for 2023. There you go.

I thought that's what you were leading me into. This was just a random Kenny's Vargas. Game drop. Yeah, I was just looking at your stats. It was in the box score. We kind of did all of our topics, so I was just... Missed arguably the biggest one with the Dodgers signing. Two major leakers.

Did we just start to skip it? It was in the middle. Yeah. I think it's under there on our shoot. It is the next one. They made you bunt against Ian Kennedy. That's weird. Enough Treve.

He sucks. He's talking to us now. Peralta and Alex Reyes. Dodgers, Trev. 30 minutes on the clock. Let it rip. I can just talk about Alex Ray. is forever. My friend I met in Denver

at the All-Star Game CAA party. It's a great move for the Dodgers. I mean, you're buying super low on a guy that has big-time potential. I know he's been injured, but $1.1 million for a guy

that, you know, like I said, has that potential. I think it's a good deal. He had also a team option for $3 million more next year. There's some incentives that can bump it up, but you know, you're taking a flyer on a guy. that has the stuff and you believe that you believe that you can work with him and get something out of him. So I like that.

And then Peralta out there in the outfield mix. I mean, that's your guy, bro. This is your guy, Jake. And seeing him in Dodger Blue, kind of like it, giving him more options out there. I think there's quite a few different options for the Dodgers. None of them, you know, going to get you off the seat or anything like that. But that doesn't make any sense. But you know what I'm saying.

A lot of intriguing options for the Dodgers in the outfield. Peralta last year had a positive OPS plus. He got traded over to Tampa and he had a bad run there, but still on the season he had a positive OPS plus. And he had tough splits last year. So A, that's either, all right, maybe something was happening versus lefties, or Peralta, the thing that surprises you about him, he's 35. So, you know, he got called up kind of later.

So I think in a normal baseball fan's head, you picture him being 30, 32, 33. He's going to be, he's 35, he's going to be 36 in August. And I wonder, hey, you know, maybe worst case if he's a platoon guy, you know, who are the Dodgers, right? The Dodgers love to play a good matchup. So maybe he's done versus lefties, and that's it. Or they'll tap into him and he's still good. This is a guy that he was on our radar because the Yankees had needed a lefty, lefties.

fielder and David Peralta check that box. Hey, there's obviously some risks there because he's 35 and, you know, that can be tough sometimes. But now that the Dodgers are in on him, the guy has a gold glove and a silver slugger already in his basement. I don't think he's coming for that, but how many times have we seen the Dodgers tap into guys? So wouldn't be surprised if we're talking about David Peralta having at least a positive

of OPS Plus and contributing to what'll be one of the best teams in the league. We have Mookie Betts out there. He's going to be in the lineup every day in the outfield. Then you have, you know, Chris Taylor had a tough year last year, so I'm sure they'll look for him to bounce back. But as far, other than Mookie bets, there's a lot of guys who are just, you know, maybe platoon guys. I mean, is Trace Thompson? Can he become a thing in center field? That'd be cool. But it's definitely not a sure thing. Yeah, Jason Hayward there as a non-roster invited to camp. A lot of, it's not typically what you expect from a Dodgers team to go out there with two outfield spots kind of unspoken for.

And you're going to mix and match all year long. It doesn't make a lot of sense. But they're the Dodgers and I'm sure they'll figure it out. I just thought about Tony. Dodgers just seem to be just. Are they punting 2023? No, but they're just not doing like normal. They're just doing all these one-year deals.

Like they, like 50 million on the books this year that's going to come right off next year. So any hole they had or perceived hole that they think they had, they are filling it with one-year deals. And I, I mean, it's a common thought amongst baseball people as they are just about to pounce on Otani and playing this offseason for the Otani sweepstakes. It should be wild. But yeah, I mean, they got so much money on for just one year. Are you guys in the camp that Otani is going to be traded during the year?

Well, you know, what's spoiler. When the Angels team profile and projection comes out, I believe we talk about that. So we'll- We did talk about it. Okay, we'll save it for them. But I mean, is that what we're going to be seeing from the Dodgers? Like, hey, like, let's do what we do. We have a great roster.

That's not like short change the Dodgers here just because they have a few unfilled positions. like they have a great roster they're going to be there and then if you go out and acquire show hey like they've done that before they got two massive names in one trade what two years ago and tray turner and max scherzer like that's not out of the realm a possibility of that for them to go out and acquire otani during the year and then sign into that extension i i like the dodgers 2023 uh lineup and roster and i think they're going to be good and i don't think these are bad moves I just see that pot of money getting committed to just this year and not giving any options or anything for next year.

It's all I think about is like, oh, boy, I think they're going to go after Otani big time. Might as well. He's good. So I'm looking now and like, I thought Otani spent a little bit of time out in the outfield. He really hasn't spent any time in the outfield. eight innings and none started,

just kind of like went out there after he was done pitching or something? Like when did that happen? I mean... Like when does he go in the game to be an outfielder? They take him off the mound, put him to the outfield to keep his bad. That was before the DH-Otani rule, I guess.

Okay. I don't know. I mean, he obviously can. There's nothing he can't do, but at the same time, like, I'm cool with it. He does everything else. I'd like to see him out there.

You wouldn't? I almost, I almost love it from an angel's perspective. Like, they're asking him to do a lot. Like, hey, we'll have somebody play the outfield, babe. What if they were like, look, we're not resigned this fucking guy. There's no chance in hell. Like, let's tell him he's got to play outfield now.

Let's just do it. He's not going to be here next year, so who cares? And they just started putting him on right field every day. Well, hey, a little showcase in July. Yeah. Why not? Oh, my gosh. It looks like he went DH to left field, pitcher to right, pitcher to right, pinched

hitter to right, pitcher to right, pitcher to right, pitcher to right, pinch hitter to right. So, yeah, it was just to keep his bat in there for another bat. You know how sometimes, like, in the NFL, they'll running back will be on his last year of his contract, and they'll just run them into the ground because they're mean like that. It'd be interesting to see if the Angels, like, seventh inning comes around, Shohay's at like 100 pitches, he's like, all right, I'm done. And they're like, no, no, stay out there, bro.

Finish the game. Closing games on his throw days. You got it. You got it. Yeah. Your bullpen day? Why don't you throw your bullpen on the mound? It's the same thing.

Save those bullets, baby. I mean, that's the only way he can, like, one-up himself, right? If he's, he competes for the Cy Young as a starter. He racks up, like, 13 saves. And he plays some games in the outfield. Yeah, right. The Halos are going to the World Series this year. Let's go.

Why'd you say that, Jake? I don't think they are going to the World Series. Oh. Oh, TPP preview. Yep. All right. That's the baseball news. It's baseball season.

Fitchers and Catchers report this week. Usually, usually it's right after Valentine's Day. I think you saw some pictures from today. In 600 episodes, guys. We celebrated 500. Why not 600? It goes like 500,000. Yeah, it sucks for 600, you know.

Join Tomey, A-Rod. We're in the 600 club. I think Jesus is going to do fine. He spoke so poorly of Jeter today. That's incredible. Arod posted an Instagram where there's just a crowd. I think it's a T-Wolf fans behind him. And he captioned it,

how many people would be here if I hit 700? I don't even get it.