Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - Mets Make Major Hire & Would the Angels Really Trade Trout? | 713

Episode Date: September 13, 2023

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Hello and welcome to Talking Baseball. We got shuffling in the Mets front office. Michael Trout on the table, finally? Let's talk about it, Trev. If thou shalt hangeth, thou shalt bangeth. Welcome to Talking Baseball, presented to you by Seat, Geek, myself, Trevor, BBD. James, supposed to be here.

We are swimming in it today. We've got a couple. We've got a big exciting, literally a big exciting guest coming to the office. If you guys follow all of our John Boy media stuff, we're really excited. So with that, players only, sexy guys only. Speaking of Trevor Plouf and Calanasty, how are you? I don't think that's what it's called. I'm doing well, though.

Thank you, Jake. We had a nice little talk about your outfit and kind of where we landed with it. I was happy. You're in Cuba, you took your boat down there. It didn't start up again. So you kind of like just are stranded down there, but you learn to love the land and work with the locals. And you're happy, which makes me happy.

And you know what else makes me happy? Doing the show with you guys. I love it. I love our community. I love baseball. I love talking ball. So it's only fitting that I'm a co-host on the number one baseball show in the world, talking baseball.

washed up in Cuba kind of became a became a little bit of a USA pipeline guy you get stuff done I get stuff done Bobby I'll put the buttons up I did I had a moment on the train this morning where I was like just leaning over on my phone

and the chain was hanging out and I was like this is I got a tightened I went back to two chains yeah yeah I fixed this one two chains but I got me a few on okay is that because your guy PCA got called up

and he's making catches, so now you can afford to get more chains because his stock is through the roof. He's incredible, huh? Just everyone loves PCA. Got that long-ass last name. Can barely fit it on your jersey. You got the red hair.

You got the skills. This guy's a limit for this guy. That ball he tracked down in Cores last night was awesome. Let's, uh, Trev, we've got some ball to talk. And that was maybe my favorite text I've gotten from you in a long time, ever since some of those late-night texts you used to send me. You said, I want to talk ball.

And we're talking ball today, and it's brought to you by Shady Rays. I've got my Shady Rays. I was wearing those on the train, too, getting a lot of hashtag looks. Shady Rays, if you have no idea, then you haven't been with us. Because Shady Rays has been with us for a while now. They're the best in the sunglasses game. Gear built to last, but at an affordable price. and they have their lost and broken replacement guarantee.

So they're basically sunglasses for life. You get them, you break them, you lose them, shady rays will replace them. And we have our own collab shades. Those are the one I was holding up. There's a Jake pair. God, I love these. I wear them every day.

Jim's got his own. He wears his every day. And we've got a discount on those. Oh, my God. Code talking. So that's going to get you, that's now going to get you 50% off the Jimmy and Jay Collab Shades. Am I reading that right?

Yes. They're in on the deal. Oh, my. So that or, yeah, the two plus pairs of premium polarized sunglasses with code talking at shadyrays. com. Throw a couple in the cart. Sun's still out. A couple more months.

Actually, it's out every month. It's just out less. You can use sunglasses. Go to shadyrays.com. Code talking. 50% off two or, more pairs of premium polarized shades. Trev, I was interested to see your reaction, because, you know, we were talking about

the midweek and we kind of had a hole where it's like, okay, open board, what do we want to talk about? I think the Trout Convo is kind of fun. I feel like the Angels have put that on the back burner for the past five years, and I thought it should have been more in play. that whole franchise is coming to an interesting moment in their history. But Trev, you, and I think I agree, I think the bigger news is Stearns, David Stearns,

who's essentially been running the brew crew for the past couple years. There was some funny business that he kind of had to take a step back to become eligible for the Mets job, and everyone had been rumoring this for a while now. It becomes official. It's going to be an interesting, set up with the Mets because I think Cohen's on the record saying like

running a baseball team should not be a one man job. So that's interesting. And I think there's a brew ripple ripple effect to this as well. But I guess Trev where do you want to start with the whole thing? Yeah, there are so many layers to this. First, I think it's a great hire

by the Mets and Steve Cohen. And I think what we've seen from Steve Cohen, he comes into the league and we see him as sort of like this maverick, this gun slinging maverick with all this money and he's ready to just kind of change the landscape of owning an MLB team. And he kind of did. He came in guns ablazing, signed, you know, a bunch of people took the payroll to a place

that's never been, had a tax tier named after him. So, you know, like in those regards, he came in and changed a lot of things, the way people thought about what an owner could do, especially in New York and the huge, difference between the previous owners of the Mets to Cohen. But now I think that he's realized that, you know, it's like any business. He's got into the weeds and figured out, okay, there are some things that work, some things that don't. Maybe I can't go in there and fix everything through free agency. And there's other ways that I have to improve our organization. And he's been, you know, adamant about saying, we need to build up our farm system. So they've tried

to do that. They made a bunch of trades this year, paying down salaries to get better prospects, which I think is another thing that he's going to influence a lot of other owners to do. I think it makes a ton of sense. If you miss on a contract and you want to get rid of it, you pay it down so you can get a better prospect. That makes a ton of sense. So he started to do that. Now, the next thing you have to do is address your management situation, you know, the people in your front office. And he's wanted Stern since the day he's got. there. I want to ask you about that, Trev. And I was just clicking through some articles to see if there was something there. Because you're right. When Cohen got the team in 2020, he wanted

Stearns. Stearns, by the way, at that time was 35 years old. So it's crazy where he's at at this point in his career. But what do you think that is? Like you're Steve Cohen, you're buying the Mets. And do you think it's through some connections or do you think it was through research that they're like who is the next young best executive? Like, how do you think that process happens? Because how I'm trying to figure out how Steve Gowin goes from, I'm buying the Mets to I want David Stearns as my front office guy. So, okay, I think that a couple different things probably happened.

I don't think he knew who David Stearns was when he takes over the Mets. Again, I think he's had to learn the baseball landscape. You know, he might have heard of him or whatever. He went to, he went to, he's from Manhattan, I believe. He's from New York. Upper East Side kid. Yeah. So there's, you know, there's that whole thing.

And I knew he, I know he, Stearns, I'm talking about grew up a Mets fan. So I don't know if there was some talk like, hey, man, this is a guy that could be an interesting fit for us, you know, down the road. He's with the rurers now. But they've expressed, and this has been written many times and quoted many times, they want to turn the Mets into. The Dodgers, what the Dodgers have done essentially. And what the Dodgers have done essentially is, you know, take, you know, they took an executive from the race and said, hey, we're going to give you money. Like, we're going to give you a budget to work with, a big budget to work with.

And now go do all the things you did before, but also we can sign free agents. I think they are in a similar position as the Dodgers where, hey, we're going to go get this guy who. listen to the teams that Stern's worked for. They're all the teams that you want your guys to work for. Maybe besides the raise. The raise is the one, like, if you work for the raise, you're going to get a job somewhere.

But he worked for Cleveland from 2010 to 2012. Then he goes to Houston from 12 to 14, and then he's with the Brewers. And everywhere he's been, it's been like he's been there before their success. So you have to imagine he's had, you know, parts, or he's had a hand in the success. In Cleveland, 2010

through 12, 16, they make the World Series. And they do a good job of drafting and getting guys. They bring in the door. They have, you know, Kipness. They bring in free agents. Like, you know, a lot of things worked in Cleveland. They've been able to develop pitching and have that player development. You know, I don't know how much of a part he had

there is pretty early on his career, but he was there. And then you get over to the Astros for a couple years. And this was all, you know, before. the success and you know 17 and but you have to draft these guys and you have to create a plan to do what the Astros did and he was part of that

then he goes over to the brew crew and you know they hadn't had a ton of success and he leads them I think it was from 18 to 21 four straight playoff appearances probably you know I don't know gotta be one of the better runs in Brewer's history

so like this is he's had success and he's done it you know those are all considered small market teams Houston's a little bit different there but at that point they weren't operating with a massive payroll so I think he's been able to do it at places without the payroll and now here he is getting the payroll so I just think it's I think that is especially appealing to a guy like Cohn like hey this guy knows how to work things without me like he doesn't need what I bring to the table which is cash but if I give him that cash

we can now have the best of both worlds and I think that's that's kind of why he probably approached Stearns and it's probably why everyone's so excited about this acquisition or this hiring is that Steve Cohen's getting what he wanted and I think it is a really, really good fit. So do you think do you think that for the Mets, because I called BS a little bit,

like I thought, and I mean especially look, you know, Scherzer with Texas, he's been banged up a little bit and he, you know, hasn't been necessarily the $43 million year Max Scherzer or however you want to label it, even though the Mets are still paying it. They moved off Verlander. I don't know. I kind of was calling BS. I thought the Mets were doing, hey, you know, let's get off these guys. But in my head I had them as big players, this free agency and Shohay,

just because if you're still trying to change the identity of the Mets, getting a guy like Shohay Otani, an international superstar, can be one of those things. Like, if you outbid the Yankees and the Dodgers and all that to get Shohay, do you think the Stearns move signals that, because they openly said that next year's kind of going to be reset and if you look at their financials and you look at the free agent pool, wouldn't be shocking. And I guess that would kind of give Stearns a year to set up the organization

like through the minor leagues and some different prospect capital, how he'd want to to set up a clean slate to attack 2025. So do you think that's the plan? I mean, I don't know what their plan is necessarily. I know what they've said in the media. They've used all sorts of different worlds. They want to be words. They want to be competitive is a word that they've said. So, you know, I think that that is a discussion that they're going to have to have. I think it would be absolutely silly of them to just completely remove themselves from the Shohei Otani talk. Like, you have to approach that and you have to go after him.

If you have an owner, it's the richest owner in sports and baseball by far. And you have a guy like Shohei Otani in free agency. and you can go get them. If you don't try, it's crazy talk, right? So they have to be in on Otani. Are they going to get them? I don't know. No idea.

They could? You know how they're going to get them? Offer more money. They got that, dude. Now, I don't know if they want to continue to operate like that. Because Steve Cohen has come back and said, you know, remember when he came in, five years if I don't win a championship, it's a disappointment. He said that.

He's kind of retracted those statements as he's gotten into the thick of things. He's like, oh, it's a little bit harder than I thought. So that's, yeah, that's the interesting part of this whole thing is where, what is the direction over the next couple years? Because where Stearns has been before, he's had time to build up, you know, a system and, you know, restock the farm system. I don't know. And the best, I don't think it needs a ton of restocking, but obviously you want to get as many good plays

players in your organization as possible, develop them, supplement it with free agency, that whole thing. I don't know if Mets fans are going to be ready for that. After what they've got the last couple of years, and I know they haven't had any success with it necessarily, but you give a taste of, hey, we're going to be involved in this every year. Every offseason, we're going to have a great off season leading into the season. It's going to be like total optimism. Like that, that gets addictive, dude, for a fan base. You don't want to go from what happened over the last two off seasons. And again, I understand what happened in the regular season.

They won't out. What did they win? 2,000, 200 games? Yeah, I think even like 101, something like that. 101, they lose the division to the Braves, which was tough. This year we know what happened. But I just don't think as a fan base, you're like, okay, fuck it, let's blow it up. Let's get back to the, let's get back to bare bones, get all of our minor leaguers ready.

and then in five years will be in company or be competitive you i don't think that's the case whatsoever with it and it better not be so i think that the direction of it is is so interesting now i'm kind of i'm curious what kind of pick these guys have now because they've been right they're going to have they're going to have a top 10 pick you're going to have an impact draft pick uh you guys just traded uh for those you know for those pitcher shers or verlander you got prospects back because you ate money. Epler is still going to be around, so like he's going to still be supporting those guys they brought in.

But yeah, you've got a draft pick, and I think what's going to be one of the storylines of the offseason is Pete Alonzo. Are they going to move him one year left that if you're not, if the Mets are genuine and next year is going to be another kind of reset to go full tilt, which could be the right move. I mean, you kind of have to trade Alonzo, right? So that's a massive asset, or I guess that's where we'll find out from Uncle Steve and Stearns whether how much of a new approach it would be.

Because if this was Milwaukee, it's a no-brainer. They're trading Alonzo. They'll get some prospects back and they'll make it work. If you're the Mets, Pete Alonzo's don't grow on trees, man. You know, you could trade for some prospects and, you know, one or two might pan out. They might not at all. Alonzo's like a lock for 45 homers a year if he's healthy and you can't just, that doesn't happen.

It doesn't just happen. I'm so torn on this for the Mets because I really feel like he's worth the extension that he can get right now. I agree with you. I get that he's a bat first, first baseman, probably going to be a DH type guy. and you know

you can say what you want about oh it's not going to age well how old is this too he can't be that old Pete's 28 years old um I'm curious it seems to me like they won't extend

him if I'm just going by like what I think David Stearns is going to do because he is going to approach things he can't completely flip how he operates in one year and in fact I probably they probably don't want him to change how he operates because they hired him for a reason.

I think they go in to the offseason. I think they keep Pete and then I think they trade him. Or if they get blown away by an offer in the off season, maybe they trade him. But I don't think because he's not a free until 2025, they still have another year of him next year. I don't think the value, you know, going, trading him in the off season

is going to be so much more than if you do. trade him at the deadline. I don't think you're going to get some crazy, you know, different return from those two different times. The risk you take is, well, what if he starts off poorly? And then, okay, we're trying to get rid of him and we're selling low

on him. Now, he's had a decent year. No, he's had a great year. He's had a great year. The batting average, the batting average is a little below where you'd like it, but read the rest. I was looking at the OBP's, I was looking at the

OBP is down an OBP, but no, everything, this is who he is. And he's had a great year. He's racked up three, six war, baseball reference war. So, like, that's the one thing you think. You could say, like, we're selling, we could sell high on Pete right now. And, you know, I think they'll probably regret trading him because I think he's going to be good for quite some time. But that is, that's the question. Where are we going? What is this mean? What's our plan going forward? Are we just saying, screw, Let's get right back into it. Like, again, how they approach Shohay is going to tell us everything.

If they're actually in on Shohay, then they're ready to get right back in the thick of things. But if they're like, ah, and they're pausing on Shohay, then I would buckle up if I was a Mets fan. If they're not in on Shohay, I would tell Mets fans, you're going to have a couple years here where we're building back up. We're trying to figure things out as an organization. and it's not going to be the every offseason we're going and signing the best players. That's very telling to me. The other little fun spin zone here.

Let's say next year the Mets are being honest. They're not about it. Let's reset. Okay, for me, that kind of says I'd really look into the Alonzo market. It's a thin free agency. Pete Alonzo would easily be the best hitter, so you could probably get a really nice return,

and who knows what he's looking for? contract-wise and all of that. I mean, couldn't that also make Shohei make more sense? Like, instead of giving Pete Alonzo the 25-30-mill, I have no idea what his market would truly be, if that 30-mill a year goes into the 50-mill a year you give Sho-hay, and show-hay's arm, you know, next year is supposed to be a rest year for his arm, so you could kind of spin that to Show-hay, like, hey, next year, you know, get your feet wet in New York city get healthy and then

2025 we're going to bring in everyone the kids should be up here and we want to win the whole damn thing the next five years. I don't know. Yeah. In my mind, I just don't think they don't extend the lawn zone. Okay. For a bunch of different reasons. Again, though, like, you know, this is

it's just going to be such a telling offseason for them. I'm so curious to see where Mets fans' heads are because it's You just go from an owner that you, an ownership that you don't love. And then you get this guy coming in. And he's done, he's been everything that you wanted them to be.

And probably more. He's wet and spent and brought guys in. And then he's made, like, he's made hard decisions. So at the deadline. I think people, you know, you got to respect that a little bit. That's not easy to do. It's not popular. To say you're beat.

not many people like to say their beat and then not only to say your beat and dish guys out but to have the wherewithal to pay down the contracts to get the better prospects I mean I think you just got to be like okay I like this

at least we're making decisions and not just standing pat it's a line I mean like it's a line I'm stealing from Jolly Olive but I mean Cohen understands sunk costs better than anybody. It seems like anybody in the industry. He is maximizing the value he could get.

He's straight up buying prospects. One amendment to something we said before with the new lottery system, new rules on the draft stuff. Mets have to be like in the top six, otherwise their pick drops back 10 spots. So there's a chance it's not that impactful on paper of a pick. There's good players in the first round draft where we get. Tanking's dumb.

But yes. Tanking is dumb. The draft is crazy. The draft is such a crap shot. The draft is crazy. And the words of Joe's McFly, doing nothing is crazy. And you're right.

Cohen's pressed a lot of buttons. And they like Joe's McFly would say it. Doing nothing is crazy. I am losing my mind right now. I mean, the good news for Mets fans, a lot of them are also Jets fans, so that's good. Buck.

The other thing that we haven't mentioned, Buck's probably out. Bad year, new GM. That's the final. You think Buck's like, thank God. I think a little bit. You know, people need to realize what

kind of grind it is being a manager. And I'm not saying like you're making a difference on the field necessarily. You guys know how I feel about managers. Okay. I'm just saying day in, day out, having to talk to the press,

especially when it's not going well, especially when it's in New York, especially when your Bucks Showalter's age, especially when you don't need to work if you're Bucks Showalter. You can go home and be with your grandkids. Does he have grandkids? I'm assuming it's a good guess. I don't know.

Bucks a stag, bro. He's got grandkids all over the place probably. Yeah, I don't think he's back. I don't think he's back either. And I don't know who steps in. I don't have really even have even thought about that. I think that's like the least of the Mets problems or worries. And that's funny because everyone applauded the Bucks Show Walter Hiring.

Hey, man. Screw the young guys. Let's get these old guys back in there. And it really, I mean, has it worked out? Who are the old guys that got hired in the off season? Bochie's been fine. Although, you know, now everyone's blaming him for the bullpen, which is like silly. Go back to Dusty.

Who else was it? Bochy. Dusty too. The show altars are grandparents. I feel like there's one other old guy that got a job. Four grandchildren. Oh, yeah, it's going to be so interesting

for the Mets, man. I guess any other questions that kind of the Mets have we covered Otani, we covered Schoalter, I mean, at least I gave my perspective. I think he's out. Do you think he's out? I think so. I just think it's one of those pivot points where you could run it back for another year and have that be the hey if Buck taps into something if he's the you know the old old military type leader that finds a new angle and the teams into it and they put together a sneaky baseball season

which any team can do it any time and Buck is at the helm of that you can almost be like okay Like, you know, Buck has these guys' ears and they're believing in it and we're doing our thing. Like, cool. Or if they fall flat again and that's part of the plan, then you can kind of change that whole energy for the next year. So I don't know. I'd lean it's over. But I, you know, there's another path there. Mets fans buckle up.

Because this is such an interesting free agent class. I mean, obviously there's Shohei Otan. Now we got another Japanese pitcher who, look, they've had success with Japanese pitchers. They like the Japanese pitcher they have. Maybe they'll just become the hub for Japanese pitchers. Yamamoto, he's coming out. Cashman, your guy was there to watch them throw a no-no. It's already a Yankees.

Metz have been there. Do they approach this guy? Like, I'm so curious what they're going to do. I feel like there's not going to be a five-year period where they just don't sign free agents and they try to build up a system. I don't think that's happening, I think this is going to be like a real quick thing because I don't think Steve Cohen can necessarily sit on his hands. He might be able to figure out sunk costs great,

but he's also where am I going to spend my next dollar? How am I going to improve this team through free agency? Because you have to consider when you're in that big market, when you're a guy like Steve Cohen, you got to get, and he's realizing this, it's not just about your system. It's not just about your front office. you know, the free agency market plays big time in your decision making as well. Like you have to be good in all facets of the game.

There's no way to me that I think he just lets a bunch of free agents just go to other teams. Especially they fit what they want to do over the next several years. Otani is a big one for me. I want to see how really how involved they'll get. Because it is going to be obviously a massive contract still. Even with the UCL tear, it's going to be a massive contract. Maybe they solve... He's supposed to be the guy that gives the massive contracts.

Well, as I think through this, A, I think they sit down, Stearns, Cohen, maybe you, me and B.BD, get the invite. We bring a couple Blue Moons, and we say, hey, fellas, let's figure this out the old-fashioned way with one of America's greatest bruskees. Blue Moon, Belgian-style wheat ale, one-of-a-kind. We roll in there with some fresh Valencia oranges. Hey, fellas, listen up.

The fresh Valencia oranges. Here you go, Steve. We roll up with the oranges, and they're like, what's that? And we say, oh, well, we just went to get. combear.com slash baseball. The blue moon just got delivered at the door, Stevie. Buckle up, okay? That's get.

combear.com slash baseball. Blue moon made brighter, celebrate responsibly. click the link in the description. And I just found another little bit of Jake Vuvu. Pete Alonzo kind of projects as a DH, right? Like, you know, he still can play first base, but the older you get and he hasn't been elite over there. Hasn't been a glove first guy over there.

If you were to sign Shohei Otani, Oh, then Pete's gone. Isn't that the DH? I don't think those are going to happen together. I don't think Shohei and Pete Alonzo necessarily they're going to play on a team together past 2024. God, us out in the city with those two for a night?

I throw Steve Cohen a blue moon. He whips out keys from his back pocket, punctures a whole freaking shotguns it right in front of me. I said, Steve, where have you been my whole life, bro? I think Steve Cohen and I. Steve, you got any zins on you, huh? I got friends that do that. Don't be doing, guys.

No free ads. Steve Cohen and I, I think, will be friends. Okay. Yeah, I've learned to handle these rich dudes. I've learned how to handle them. You just got to put them down. Speaking of... You just got to put them down a little bit.

Speaking of handling rich dudes, a guy that was considered the best player of our generation for about a decade. And then he had a teammate show. show up from across the big pond and does everything he can do plus pitch. It's not the pond. Don't call it the pond, bro. The big pond, the BP.

It's not the pond. Mike Trout. The Pacific. The Millvale Meteor. This kid from Jersey reminds people a mantle. Mike Trout trade rumor season is here, but it feels like the first official time ever, or at least since he signed that big boy extension.

Because he committed to them, you know. It was all laid up. out for Mike Trout, right? Like, the Angels had been the Angels. He, I'm sure he'd heard some of the playoff stuff. He's balling out. He's about to, you know, enter the second half of his career, like, go into the 30s. He signed that big boy extension with L.A., and it's like, okay, like, he's in it. Good for him, I guess. You know, he got paid and he's going to stay there and be an angel. The USA Today reported the Angels are open to trading outfielder Mike Trout. Wait, who reported it?

USA Today. Who writes for them? You know, you know it's Big Bob. You know it's Big Bob. Barrel chest, Bob Nightingale. Barrel chest, Bob. The only two guys I trust in this game, Bob Nightingale and Jeff Passing.

That's it. Maybe Steve Cohen, if you're hooking up with your number, Steve. Trouty, he's sneaky been banged up a little bit since 2020. He's missed some playing time. Trev, I guess maybe it makes sense now. And this whole year we've done the Angels ride. And it's Shohei and Trout and how much talent can they add around it? And man, get this team a playoff game.

Like this could be fun. Things fall apart. I mean, it seems more than ever like Shoah's gone. We've got people filling in for him on picture day. If I'm the Angels, there's got to be something to the spirit of like, Almost we have to move on. And maybe that's dumb.

Maybe that's just really wrong because Mike Trout still has a lot of incredible baseball left in him. But if there ever seems like a time, it feels like Mike Trout could be on the move this offseason. Where are you at with the whole thing? I've never really considered it until, like, all this has come out. Show, hey, man. Just in his wake, just leaving, just, you know.

Kind of a mess there. I think that if they would have traded Shohay at the deadline, I don't think we're talking about trading Mike Trout. Okay. If that makes any sense. I think that keeping Shohay being basically wrong about it, even though they had the right intentions, and I think, again, I'll say this, I'm blue in the face.

I think it was the right move at the time. I don't think you were going to get what you thought you were going to get, for show hey yeah you will get some prospects 100%. You were going to get some people. They were going to be decent players. Maybe. But with that sour taste in their mouth, saying, dang, like we kind of missed a chance there to restock the farm system.

We weren't going to be in the contention anywhere. Even at the time, they were still kind of like there was a lot of teams all jumbled up there. They weren't exactly like secured in a playoff spot. they had to go off and do something. They didn't. They lost a bunch of games afterwards. I think that because they did that, and they traded away some more people for Gialito and Lopez,

I think now it's changed the perception a little bit. And I think that Mike Trout, after being paired with Shohei, and nothing has come of it, and they just haven't been able to, they haven't been able to make a winner. Yeah. To create a winner.

They just haven't been able to do it. I think that there is a little bit of thought. Like I think it's just, it's been, it's popped into his mind, man. And once you get that in your mind, like, hey, can I,

can I be somewhere else or maybe I'll get a chance to win? And maybe it'll be beneficial for the Angels organization as well. Like you kind of like throw that in there. Like, hey, man, like I can make you guys better in the long run as well. I can be happy. All these things can get together.

I'm kind of, I think they're one. 100% entertaining it. And I think Mike Trout is going to be on board because he's got 10 and 5. And he's probably already has a no trade clause in his contract. It doesn't matter if he does or not because he's got 10 and 5. So he has to agree to any trade, any trade. I think he'd agree to a trade.

I don't think there's any doubt in my mind. So like you cleared that hurdle where you got to get the guy to waive his no trade clause. I think he would. And now it's, can you pull the trigger? I know he's owed $37 million a year. Every year for the next seven years, I believe. That's a lot of money. But it's Mike Trout.

It's Mike Trout. I know he's been injured. I get it. And people are going to say, oh, he's only played, you know, 36 games in 2021, 119, 2019, 2022, 82, this. So, yeah, he's missing time. There's no doubt about it. But when he's on the field, he's, I don't, what do you think he is?

He's a top five? Worst? I mean, when he's playing, yeah, I mean, you can get into the weeds about him versus Yordon or Muky or Freddie or Olson. Like, you know, there's a lot of good players at baseball. As long as it in that category, he's worth it, people. But he's also, he's basically a lock to almost have. have a one dot, which, you know, as much as I love Matt Olson, Matt Olson could next year have

an 888 OPS, and we'd be like, wow, that's a really, you know, that's a nice year, but Matt Olson came down from his 60 homer season. Trout has been clockwork that I think he has seven years at 37 million a year, around like 259. If he was a free agent, would he get that contract? Absolutely. It does become an interesting trade proposition because A team taking on Mike Trout is saying, hey, we're taking on almost $300 million. No, you're not just getting all of our top prospects. Like, this isn't a video game. That's where it gets interesting.

And it's also where the Angels at. Like, they called up all these kids immediately. You know, around the horn, you got a lot of kids. That division's brutal. Houston, Texas has come up. Seattle is in their window that if you're the Angels, is it not time to take like a two-year, let's play, some kids. We've been drafting a lot. We have the big budget. Like, let's move past Otani Trout Rendon,

Rendon in a very different bucket than those guys. But, you know, this is a big money, big market team. Your division looks awful for the next two years. I don't know. It's a lot easier for me to say trade Mike Trout as not an Angels fan or not the Angels front office. But I mean, think about every, Think about every player that's involved in this. Philadelphia, you don't think they want Mike Trout and you don't think Mike Trout would want them, Dave Dumbraowski. I can't imagine Mike Trout.

I know how perfect it is, but that cast of characters they'd have, that's the Avengers. What are we doing here? You got Bryce Harper, Trade, Turner, Mike Trout, J.T. Rio Muto, like, the list goes on and on. That's the stuff of video games. You're going to hear about both New York teams.

Like, is that? you know, what Stern's got sign off on? Could the Yankees actually... Ever the Yankees been looking for a left fielder and a center fieler for like the forever? Sure have, Trev. Wouldn't fix the right hand in this, but I can figure it out.

We'll find a spot for Trouty. Isn't the Martian switch hitter, so he's got a left hand? A team that's interesting to me. Oh, so now we're going to teams. He's traded. Okay. He's traded. Give me a percentage. Give me a percentage before we get into the teams.

I'd say 50-50. I think the obvious right front office move would be to move on from Mike Trout, while his value is still Mike Trout. Like there has been a lot of injuries. He's going to get older. I mean, Mike Trout is, how old is he now? He's 32. 31. He's 31, I think.

32, August 7th. Happy birthday, Mike. Oh, okay. So I don't know, like, how far are we from talking about a 34-year-old? Mike Trouten, does that look different? Like, I know he... No, I don't think it does. I think people need to realize

34 ain't that freaking old, okay? Like, the way people can take care of their bodies. I know he's been injured, so that that's what people will talk about, but... Is he got... Different body type, different stuff going on, but, like, I want to compare legends to legends to legends, like, go look at Mickey Cab's page since 34.

Go look at pool host's age since. Like, the game changes. Those are different They're different body types I get it But everyone does get older That's undefeated A team that I'd be interested in

Because especially when you talk about Wear and tear and maybe moving to the corners What about the socks, man? If Boston You can basically say Hey we'll throw Mike Trout in left field He doesn't have to cover a lot of ground For the next seven years

and he can just go out there and rake. Like, I don't know. If you're any big market team and Mike Trout's on the table, you got to listen to that combo. He's Mike Trout. And I don't know. For me, it's just how proud are you if you're the Angels front office? I think if you're not being proud,

I think we made our run and it just has never worked that we kind of need to do this next thing as a franchise. Maybe Mike Trout's not that guy. Maybe he says, let's do it here and we'll figure it out the next couple years, but I don't know. The one caveat to all of this talk is where

Shohay going to go and how quickly is that free energy going to take to settle? Because he's going to be the number one guy for these large markets. The teams that will be they would want to trade for Mike and they could afford to trade for Mike, I say afford, meaning willing

to spend. Every team can afford to have Mike Trout. Book that. Willing to spend is what I mean to say. The teams that are willing to spend to get my chart are also going to be on Otani. So, like, and I think they prefer Otani at this point. So I think it's going to be the teams that miss out on Otani might look that way. You know, the one thing is it's not just a money thing. And that's what, you know, like if you're the guardians,

I thought that was a very interesting point of view. You know, they didn't make any trades of the deadline because it was going to cost them prospect capital. but when it just became a strict financial transaction, they went out and got Lucas G. Alito, Renalo Lopez and Matt Moore, like, oh, that's money. We, we're not worried about that. Mike Trout, going to cost prospect capital.

Shoal Tani, just going to cost money. It's going to be interesting to see how these teams go after that. I mean, could you see a Mike Trout in San Francisco? They've been looking for their guy forever. If they miss out on Otani, could it be a Mike Trout situation there? That's a big old outfield to play. They got a lot of kids out there. They love a star.

Any team should be in play. It'll be interesting to see. The Dodgers, people are going to sell mad, but he would look great in the Dodgers. God, that would be the final punch to Angels fans. If he goes to the Dodgers and they win, like, if I'm the Halos, it's almost like, let's go to Portland. Like, we, this was fun and all.

but man. Yeah, that's the only one that can't happen. Why don't you go to the Draft King Sportsbook? Football's back. We've got our against the spread league, me and Trev, undefeated. No surprise there. And at Drafking Sportsbook, an official sports betting partner of the NFL, new customers can bet $5 on football and get $200.

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The crown is yours. Looking at the board right now. Yeah, Poppy's in. Hey, Ravens plus three and a half. Trev, a little bit of a tight midweek, but as we wind it down, we had a couple things on the sheet here. I mean, there's Rangers collapse stuff,

although they've just won two against the Blue Jays, I know. I'm over the demise. Okay. Freaking out so much. Relax. Okay, I'm relaxed, man. The bullpen had a bad run. I get it.

They had more blown saves than saves. I get it. There's other parts of the team as well. And look, there's nothing more deflating than a bullpen blowing a late lead and continuously doing that. It hurts. It hurts. But remember what happens in this game. Things can change like that. Guys can get hot. You just got to get into the playoffs. And then some of those guys that are blowing a bunch of saves, they don't pitch anymore.

Right. They're just warm bodies to play catch with. That's it. So like, I know it's not ideal for Rangers fans. They'd be having their bullpen look like crap and blow saves. I understand that, but the Braves went into the postseason when they won it all, and the bullpen was the problem for them. And then what happened? The Nationals went into the postseason. Nobody knew what the heck they were going to do, and all of a sudden, Daniel Hudson threw every single inning for them. The Giants went into one in 2014, I think it was, when they won it all. And Madison Bumgarner just pitched everything out of the bullpen. Like, you can find ways to figure things out. So just everyone relax. Just get to the dance.

Mariners 3 and 7 in their last 10. Mariners in Toronto tied for the last wild card spot. That story as it continues. Texas is a half game in as a today. Man, one of those teams is going to be full-blown heartbroken. Full-blown. Yanks and socks are dead, finally. Yanks and socks are dead.

The N.O. Wild Card is still strong. San Francisco, Miami, one and a half game back. Cincinnati one game back. Right now it's Arizona, Chicago. Philly. Hmm. What was your world, this is what we're end, the show. What was your World Series prediction?

Jeez, no idea. Hopefully the Braves. You don't know, you don't remember? No. Mine was Phillies over the Yankees. Okay. I'm still, I'm still on the Phillies. Obviously, the Yankees are out.

But I wanted to see if you were like, if you had to pick right now, what's your World Series prediction? I would go Braves over Baltimore just to be a little sexy. that's just chalk chalk I mean I don't think that I don't think Baltimore's the AL Chalk Who's picking them? How are they not the Baltimore Chalk?

They're the best record in the AL The second best record in all of baseball So who do you have? You went for the one two Who do you have coming out of the AL? I have to think I think it's probably I think we might get a rematch of last year

I think that's the chalk You think Houston's a chalk Yes Interesting They're Houston Their season begins in the CS I think I'm deep

Oh wait Who is the Philly Houston was the rematch of last year Excuse me I'm sorry Okay You rematched two years ago Treve

I'll find my world series prediction for Friday We'll get the stimulator going And we'll get everyone ready for the weekend Thank you everybody Love you guys Toronto So much love

Jake sucks Hubea Poppy Me and you need to go Why not? You know, it would be like the scout, the movie, The Scout. Cohen, let us in the room. We'll find some people down there, bring him back. Let us in the room, Steve.