Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - Mets Swoop in to Sign Carlos Correa! | 586

Episode Date: December 21, 2022

Carlos Correa Shocked EVERYONE overnight, going to the New York Mets on a 12-year contract.*****Timestamps:0:00 Carlos Correa is a Met19:45 Ramifications for the SF Giants30:15 Blue Jays Sign Chris Bassitt & Kevin Kiermaier40:30 Dodgers Sign JD Martinez & Thor, Boston Signs Justin Turner******Use code TALKIN for $20 off your first SeatGeek order. https://seatgeek.onelink.me/RrnK/TALKINDownload the DraftKings Sportsbook app and use promo code JOMBOY so they know we sent youIf you or someone you know has a gambling problem, crisis counseling and referral services can be accessed by calling 1-800-GAMBLER (1-800-426-2537) (IL/IN/LA/MI/NJ/PA/TN/WV/WY), 1-800-NEXT STEP (AZ), 1-800-522-4700 (CO/KS/NH), 888-789-7777/visit http://ccpg.org (CT), 1-800-BETS OFF (IA), 877-8-HOPENY/text HOPENY (467369) (NY), visit OPGR.org (OR), or 1-888-532-3500 (VA).21+ (18+ NH/WY). Physically present in AZ/CO/CT/IL/IN/IA/KS/LA(select parishes)/MI/NH/NJ/ NY/OR/PA/TN/VA/WV/WY only. $150 in Free bets: New customers only. Min. $5 deposit. Min $5 pregame moneyline bet. Bet must win. $150 issued as six (6) $25 free bets. Ends 12/31/22 @ 11:59pm ET. Stepped Up SGP: 1 Token issued per eligible game. Opt in req. Min $1 bet. Max bet limits apply. Min. 3-leg. Each leg min. -300 odds, total bet +100 odds or longer. 10+ leg req. for 100% boost. Ends 1/8/23 @ 8pm ET. See eligibility & terms at sportsbook.draftkings.com/footballterms. 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.

Hello and welcome to Talking Baseball. Carlos Correa, Giants Great, is now a New York Met. Uncle Steve, players only. Hello and welcome back to Talking Baseball presented to you by Seat Geek. Code Talking $20 off your first Seat Geek order. Go see Carlos Correa's former team, the San Francisco Giants, play the New York Mets. the first day of the season. Opening day, 23,

Mets Giants, must watch. Carlos Correa is a Met. Aaron, Judge, the Yankees captain, 16th Yankees captain in history. Number 17 right here, Jake Storelli, and my guy getting nasty in Calabassey,

Trevor Ploufjuse. How you doing, Big Dog? You know, usually I wake up, and I feel good. I take a look over. I see Olivia. I'm like, dude, life is, life is all right, you know? This morning was a little different.

I woke up to a text from our guy, Kyle, our group chat was popping. And Kyle was like, he said something. But it was blurry and I was still kind of half asleep. And bam, you get hit with this freaking news. What was going? Scott Boris doesn't sleep. No, what's that about? He's up negotiating.

Are you kidding me? Carlos Correa to the Mets, 300 M's, Giants, see you later. You made a good effort. I mean, is there a bigger? What is you doing, baby, than the San Francisco Giants

offseason right now? I mean, I feel for this fan base, I think, like, I want to start saying, I am sorry to San Francisco Giants fans. You had John Heyman giving you false information. and then you had Carlos Correa on your team. We did an episode, Jake.

Yeah. We said the rivalry between the Dodgers and the Giants is going to be off the charts. Carlos Cray is the perfect villain in San Francisco. He looks good in orange. You're damn right, he looks good in orange, but it ain't going to be the orange and black. Oh my gosh, he's a met.

And you know what? Credit Uncle Stevie. He smelled blood in the water, and the dude's a shark. He went after it. My goodness. I mean, in the past 24 hours, basically, we got a tweet that was like there's no timetable for Correa's presser. There's some questions about his physical, which that's still the greatest unknown of all of this,

which is Correa from the start, his free agency last year. We've heard rumors about his back. People are saying it's not his back, but we still know nothing about the physical. and our guy, we should give brother Jeff credit. He's got an article with a lot of the big questions if you're wondering kind of how this all went down because they did agree to terms and what does that mean? And can you still negotiate with other teams if you agree to terms?

And basically it's, you know, until Penn hits paper, kind of like how real life kind of works, you're not. And Carlos Correa, although it was announced that he would be a San Francisco giant, he's going to Uncle Steve Cohen's Mets. And I think we circle up on the Giants, Trev, because I think that's, we can talk about what's next for them,

because you're right, we did do a full episode about, yeah, I like the fit and offense and defense and Crawford slides to third, right? We'll see what their plan is. The New York Mets, Carlos Correa, who I, has an argument that he was the best shortstop available of this amazing shortstop crop,

both sides of the ball, platinum glove. The hitting stats are better than I'd remembered if you go and check out his baseball reference. The dudes put together a couple big boy seasons. The youngest of the shortstop's 28, but maybe he's not a shortstop anymore, Treve, I think he's the Mets third baseman

next to his PR teammate, Frankie Lindor. That's nuts, man. A-Rod. You know what? You know, I love Cuban ball players. I also love Puerto Rican ball players. Get you Eddie Rosario on this team, stat, please.

Okay, listen, I do want to touch on, like, the agent and negotiating thing, because typically what happens is, you know, yeah, you're negotiating with a team. And even when you actually come to terms with a team, you really want to keep it a secret so you can go tell the other teams that you were talking to. Look, we're out. We're going to sign this because the agents do want to have a good relationship with these front offices. They represent a lot of players.

They want to be able to talk to these people and, like, be respected. But once the team side comes out and says, ah, the physical is not exactly where we want it. It opens up the floodgate. You can go talk to other teams. If you think that contract that you agreed to in terms is in jeopardy, which it is, which it was, I don't think it's the least bit shady or, you know,

a bad business practice to go back out and see what you got there. And that's what happened. And like Jeff said in his article, you know, the Mets did make that last attempt at Correa. And that's proved to be the difference. And now he's a met, man. It's just, uh, what a fucking, what a world we're living in right now with Uncle Stevie. The payroll is going to be close to 500 M's with the luxury tax. And guess what?

He doesn't care. He doesn't get a shit. It's nothing. Uh, you. know, beers might go up a dollar at City this year up in Trev's queen, flushing New York. Flushing, yeah. That's something to track.

I'd like to track that. I want to do the best. I want to do the fun baseball stuff with the Mets. I want that to loop in to, because I talked about it a little bit on Waken Jake, Trev, but the effect of an owner and what Steve is doing and what this is going to do to the other owners, because holy smokes. But first, Mets, baseball. Nimmo, was he going to leave?

Nope, he's back. He got re-upped. He'll be hitting lead off for you. Corrella Lindor, your left side of Team Puerto Rico, your left side of the Mets, two $300 million players, one of the slickest switch hitting short stops, one of the slickest righty shortstops with one of the most powerful arms we've ever seen in Major League Baseball. He'll be going to third base. Pete Alonzo, again, check out that baseball reference. Boy numbers only. Jeff McNeil, squarling it around. Starling Marte, who they brought in last year.

We're going to have Mark Kana who they brought in last year. They just brought in Omar Narvaez. We mentioned it barely because it was like, oh, a catcher for $7.5 million. That'd be some team's biggest free agent this year. Vogelback, listed as DH. Darren Ruff is still there. Is that your DH platoon?

Eddie Escobar is a floater. Guillory is a floater. They got big prospects. Brett Beatty. They've got Francisco Alvarez. Your pitching staff. Verlander, Scherzer, Sanga, Carasco, Kintana. Trev, this whole free agency started, the first move of free agency?

They gave Edwin Diaz a closer 100 mil. Looking at this lineup, okay, now. And Francisco Alvarez kind of is a wild card to me, too, because this dude is an offensive-minded catcher. I think he can throw the shit of the ball, too. but the reports that you typically hear about him are massive pop from the backstop. And if you like, I know we have Omar and Obias here, but if you kind of add that bad in there as well,

we're talking this, the lineup is like nine deep. Like Mark, right now, Fangrass has Mark Kana hitting eighth for you. Mark Kana is a really good big league hitter, dude. Yeah. And to think about the, there's so many things right here. Let me just go over this, okay?

there's balance in the lineup, left-handers, there's right-handers. Your bench pieces, like having Eddie Escobar on your bench and the fact that he can play kind of a bunch of different positions and he's a switch hitter and can give you good of bats from both sides, like their lineup and their defense is set. You talked about the starting rotation. That set, the bullpen. David Robertson, to me, I was saying this guy's praises all the time. Like, he's going to be like kind of like a middle, high leverage guy for them, maybe,

like sixth inning type guy. you talked about Edwin Diaz. It's like, it's like, it's like the porridge, bro. This team, not too young. Not a lot of rookies on this team. Maybe splash in one behind the plate, maybe. Not too old either. Yeah, you got Verlander.

This team is just right. All sitting right. 29, 30, 31, like experience. You got Buck Shoalter at the helm. You got an owner that's clearly not afraid to spend any money. The franchise right now, you can't be in a better place than the New York Mets right now. You just can't. They've got those two top 50 prospects who are MLB ready.

And I think that's important because, you know, you can go around the league and, you know, you see a guy who's ranked 21st top prospect, but expected MLB time is 2025. You know, we'll see you when we see you. I wonder if the Mets are going to try to trade those guys in and upgrade somewhere else. Do you keep those guys around as the youth? So when injuries and stuff do happen, they'll get their chance. And then you might have just stumbled into another young piece for your team. I mean, you know, it's become like an internet joke.

And it does crack me up when you do something boring and you say life is a movie. For Mets fans, life's a movie right now. We just got the richest owner. he's blowing through the own tax that got made up, like, in his honor. This is unreal. The New York Mets. Like, for the last 30 years of, like, TV and cinema, if you made, like, a punchy Mets joke, everyone got it.

It's over. Are Uncle Stevie and, is it Siler who owns the Padres? I think so. Are they just, like, boys being like, hey, let's fuck the system up? Because both these teams, Padres and the Mets, if you go back, I don't know, three or four years, like they're middling, right? We had a shirt out, Metsi as a getsy.

Padres are like kind of this team that no one really talks about because they play on the West Coast and they're not the Dodgers. Both these teams have just went out and said, fuck it, dude, like, there's, oh, there's good players available. Oh, we'll take them.

Yeah. And they really have, like, put the other owners on notice. If you, oh, you want a free agent? So do we. And you better pay up. And they, I mean, they've been set in the market and set in the market. I'm very curious to see where this goes. Because we've never seen spending like this before in baseball.

We just haven't. Not at this level. Not concentrated around, you know, one owner with these new taxes and everything. I mean, it's unprecedented what's happening right now. And you're right, man. If you're a Mets fan, holy shit. Yeah, I mean, I know some Braves fans, their guy Peter Moyland. I had a couple tweets this morning, a little on edge.

I mean, you know, you were in the middle of, we were talking like Braves potential dynasty, right? And now your toughest matchup might be in your division. And by the way, you lost your first baseman in shortstop that got you that ring. I mean, Braves fans don't really care because they'll still be the Mets until they're not to the Braves. But your division is stacked.

The Phillies who just went to the World Series, they signed Trey Turner and Ty Walker, which we haven't really talked about. The Nats went full rebuild, but by the way, they're a team that can build up that payroll, and we've seen it. I mean, you know, the Nats,

when they paid for Strasbourg insurers, you know, they were paying dudes. Someone mentioned the Marlins in my comments this morning, and they're like, man, that sucks. And I was like, you know what? It doesn't, it doesn't. Because we're talking Miami. Treve, the moment the WBC got mentioned there,

I got text from you and Joe's McFly, say, we're going. Miami's an awesome city. Miami bumps. Miami slaps. There's money in Miami. The San Diego Padres, if they can go and ball out and bring in the dudes they've brought in the past few years, Miami Marlins, it comes down to ownership, man. And I wonder the ripple effects this has across the league,

because the Miami Marlins right now cannot compete in the National League East. straight up. People like rare things, okay? Especially people that have billions of dollars. They like rare things. They like having things that other people can't have. You know what's rare? An MLB franchise.

There's only 30 of them in the world, okay? And if you have a chance to own a franchise in a big city and leave your mark, that's what these guys are looking for. And I think there was going to be some billionaires that aren't in the game right now. They're looking at Steve and be like, you have made yourself. Like, I'm sure he was popular in New York circles just because of the amount of money he had and what he can do in the power, whatever. He never could have dreamed how popular he is in New York right now. And that's something that typically money can't buy.

But if you buy a baseball team and you do what he's doing, it can buy. that I think the social aspect of this is going to come into play. We're going to see some people off the field looking to buy into MLB because it's just rare. Yeah. I think this is going to change sports ownership the way this has gone down. I want to give credit to Bill Simmons. He's obviously like a legend in the sports game. He got me once because he opened my eyes up to that, that the Golden State Warriors,

with everything they've done. And obviously, you know, Steph Curry, they didn't fully know. They kind of stumbled into something there. But they've turned into the Golden State Warriors. They got an arena in San Francisco. This is also a time in San Francisco where that place has boomed and we'll get to the Giants in a second. But Silicon Valley and like everything that's happened in the Bay Area

over the past couple years. But guess what? The Warriors owner? He owns the Golden State Warriors. And he gets to tell all those tech nerds. Like, hey, that's cool. I own the Warriors. And, man, you're absolutely right.

And I hope sports start going that way. Because there's too many teams, and you can name them, and I won't. But too many teams that view it as a business and an asset, but not as a competitive fun thing. Steve Cohen wants to go out and win and be kind of famous and be the big dog at the table. And let's roll it out there. There's a few MLB franchises and other franchises, too.

that, you know, like you've said, owning a sports team is very profitable. Not necessarily how they show the books in their bottom line every year, but if you go to sell that franchise you bought for 200 mil and 93, and you can sell it for $2.5 billion now, guess what? You just made a couple doll hairs there. And I hope with how much money in the world and everything, we get a couple of those owners out, you know, flip that house, sell it, and bring me the Cuban, Mark Cuban type.

I think we're going to see that. Give me the guys who want to compete. And I mean, the Miami Marlins, think about our mindset from the start since they became a team. It's like, oh, well, Miami, you know, their prospects, they bring them up, and they had a couple winning years, and then they trade them before they get there. And, you know, Miami, they never pay for players. They had that one year when they wanted to get the new stadium and show the fans that they were going for it, that they got a bunch of free ages.

and they traded them away. If Mark Cuban bought the Miami Marlins tomorrow, they could be one of the highest payroll teams, and they probably would be. And man, fan bases are going to start clamoring for their Uncle Steve. Imagine being the rich guy. Imagine being Cincinnati's famous billionaire. Imagine being the Pittsburgh billionaire

and the pirates are for sale, and you can become what Steve Cohen is becoming? Yeah, man. and I mean, give me it. Give me all of it. I don't know what's going on with my microphone. I got some light coming in here. It's on fire.

We're talking hot ball right now. Listen, I think, credit to Steve, 100%. But you can also say, look, it's New York, of course. Like, that's what New York's, the owner of a New York franchise is supposed to do.

I think the Padre is doing what they're doing is almost like more shocking, to the baseball world than what Steve Cohen is doing. I know what the payroll is, and it's obviously very shocking and awesome to see him. But the fact that the Padres can go out and spend money like this, that has to open up everybody's eyes.

And you have to look at your franchise and say, well, they're doing it. What's going on here? Why are we bocking at an extra $10 million over 10 years? Like, why are we missing out on these free agents over nominal amounts of money relatively. You have to ask these questions of these different franchises.

My own Minnesota Twins, I love you guys. But you could have had Carlos Correa if you just stepped it up a little bit. Right. We saw that. We saw that. He went from 13-345 to 12, whatever this one is.

Twins could have got there. I think they were close. but like sometimes you just got to spend a little bit more. You got to get out of your comfort zone. And boy, oh boy, Uncle Steve is making these owners uncomfortable. When Aaron Judge signed one of the things I said to Yankees fans, which nobody was actually mad, but it's the internet. But, you know, when his, what was it, 9 for 360, is that his final number?

Judge, yeah. Yeah, nine for 360. I was like, well, if you were comfortable with the 302 or 300, that had been rumored. You're talking over nine years. It's like six and a half million per year. Like you're really going to worry about your team's payroll that intensely, especially Yankee fans, which no one cares.

Let's talk some Giants Trev in that part's talking about the Draft King's sports book because they got to start making some different bets. And I'm very interested to see what they're going to do. What if you placed your bet on the Giants to win, you know, a certain amount of games? All I know is if that ticket, cashes, that ticket cashes. But, yeah, that's, that might be a loser

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Trev, the Giants. What do you do? All the big free agents are gone. This was Aaron Judge, the local kid. You end up getting outbid by the Padres. All right, you brought in Correa. We kind of loved it. Didn't know what the medical said,

but, I mean, a pillar at shortstop. That's what we said. You could plan around Correa for the next decade. decade and go figure it out now I don't know man I don't it's a funky roster yeah and it's an interesting thing for Giants fans because you know I'm around quite a few out here and the way their attitude is you'll you'll mention the Dodgers and they're like oh yeah Dodgers great they've won all these division titles how many trophies they got in that time oh they got the one COVID season we got three in the last you know whatever it is 12 years

They'll always mention that. And it's right. I mean, they had a nice run, and they've been a good franchise, but, and they won 107 games last year, two years ago. But where they're at now, I mean, you can't keep referencing 10, 12, and 14, because those are getting further and further away. And I know the front office was making a bid to bring in a star. and you got, for lack of a better term, dry hump, twice. So now you're sitting there and yeah, you're looking at this roster and it's not a roster that's going to compete for the NL West.

It's not. As currently constructed right now, I know they brought in some guys, some guys that I really like. But I think for the most part, they're complementary pieces and we were looking for kind of like a game-changing talent to go there. And there's none left right now in the free agent world. Confordo who didn't even play last year, right?

I don't think he's a franchise changer the way that a Correa or a judge would be. So it's back to the drawing board and now they're going to have to figure out where they go. I mean, now, now if you're a Giants fan, you're like kind of what Dodgers fans are thinking. Are we just reloading and just saying, fuck, we're waiting for show hey?

Because I think that's what teams are thinking now. If you were going to go spend that money and you missed out, well, you better be in on Shoah. And guess what? Guess what his deal is going to be? It's going to be half a Billy. It is. Yeah.

So be ready to step up. I mean, if you're a Giants fan, you have to say, this is what we're going to hang our hat on. We're going to go with Show Hey next top season. Unless they do something drastic through trade or whatever, this is not a roster that's going to compete in the NOS, not against the Dodgers and the Padres.

Teams currently in on Shohei Otani. Angels, Dodgers, you think the Mets won't be rumored? Uncle Steve? Are you kidding me? You think the Yankees won't be rumored? I mean... The Red Sox have missed out on every free agent, too. The Red Sox fans better be outside with signs saying, Show Hey, Show Hey, Show Hey, Show Me, Shoah.

I know it's too early to fast forward to next free agency, but it's going to be Show Hey, all of next year. Machado has... Has that opt out? There's been some rumors of heat. I guess that's the thing. If I'm a Giants fan, I'm happy that I do have a front office

that wants to make the big move, that wants to bring in the superstar and wants to do that. You just thought it was going to be this year. And now it feels like you're going to have another feeler year. You know, like what's Mitch Hanigar going to be? What's, you know, Jack Peterson signed the qualifying offer? You know, competing with,

the Dodgers and the Padres out West right now is tough. And it just feels like you're going to have another feel it out. And like, what is Lamont Wade over a full season? What is Tyro Estrada? What are some of these guys? And next free agency, you know, they're probably going to land a big dude. Know who's a free agent next year? Your guy Matt Chapman, Trev.

Like, there's going to be dudes next year, but I think as a Giants fan, you thought you had Judge, you thought you had Correa. and now, I mean, they're a franchise that a couple years ago won 108 games, 107, whatever it was, and the roster didn't look crazy different, a couple guys.

You believe in what your team's doing, you like Gabe, you like the front office, but man, it feels like your dream scenario this point is the third wild card? Like, I don't know. Dude, I mean, only so often does everything line up the way it did for the Giants in 2021, where, you know, you stay relatively healthy, guys have career years, everyone kind of meshes up, you're winning close games, you know, that was kind of like best case scenario. And that rarely, rarely ever happens for a team. Like you're going to have to stay off injuries.

You're going to have to go through times where guys are just not having their best years. So to be able to rely on that or to think that you're going to rely on that best case scenario, super optimistic about the roster, it just doesn't happen all the time. So you can be, you could think like,

hey, this roster, if it all shakes out right, we can compete. It's like, well, it ain't always going to shake out right. And if you don't have a surplus of talent

or a guy like a judge who can carry you, like he carried the Yankees last second half. Like you need those guys on your roster at some point. I just, they don't have it right now. It's tough. I'll say this about Giants fans. You're right.

They have to be happy that they do have a front office that's trying to make a big splash. But trying's only so good, man. Like you've got to get it done. And like if you're a Giants fan, are you like saying who's, what doctor is this? Right. Can we, can we, what happened? What doctor? Who are you?

Who are the Mets doctors? Right. Is he going to clear that? Like, that's, we can't even dream of that Because maybe that's going to be next week's episode. Correa to the Twins. Oh my God, he's like, I guess I got to go back to Minnesota. Contract goes back up to 370.

I don't know. You wonder what information comes out about this. Is it the back? What else could it be? And I mean, Treve, I guess it's the part that's being ignored to this. And, you know, we'll see where we're at five years. with the San Francisco Giants, but if in five years Carlos Correa has annual back injuries or his knees messed up or his show.

I have no clue. But doctors said don't play this guy? I don't know. I don't think they said don't play this guy. I think they said, well, we see this, this. And, you know, maybe in this fourth year, this could flare up and blah, blah, blah, it's like, you know what? I don't think Steve Cohen cares about that.

I think Steve Cohen cares about the next three years. Yeah. Like he basically promised a World Series, and he's, you can't, you cannot run your team thinking about, oh, well, these guys might get hurt. You can't do that. You put the best team on the field that you can. And you understand there's going to be some years in this 12-year deal where Carlos Correa might be banged up a little bit.

That's every fucking player on the planet, bro. 12 years of clean health? It doesn't happen. Like, you have to be realistic about this. When you give a guy 12 years, you're not expecting 12 banger years. You want like four or five banger years, about three or four years that are really good

and then try to be serviceable the rest of the way. That's the bottom line, dude. And you're giving yourself a chance now. their time is now I mentioned the age of this roster it's perfect it's set up enough youth enough experience I like it and it's hard

I'm looking now and this is a big statement because there's some good teams in the NL and we still have to do our TPPs we really dig down into these rosters but this Mets roster is on the top tier in the NL

wow it is I mean who's a above them. I don't know. I still like the Braves a lot. Dodgers feel like they still have I believe Braves are top tier. I believe the Dodgers are top tier. I believe the freaking New York Mets are top tier. Padres. Padres. Yeah. Top tier. I have to look at that. I have to look at that. I think the bigger statement, Treve, is we're going to be coastal elites all next year, man, because that's Dodgers, Padres, Phillies, Mets, Braes.

You know what? Midwest, I don't know what to tell you. Cardinals, go do your BS move where you bring in Brian Reynolds and you give him a 12-year contract. Oh, my God. And he's the next guy. I'm not saying they have the best roster in the National League, but they're on the top tier. Your top tier. And boy, oh, boy, like, is the National League so much deeper than the American League? It's a good argument for it.

We were saying that last playoffs a lot. Um, Trev, speaking of your American League, there's some topics that we, we've been pushing things down because the baseball cycle credit to baseball a little bit, right? Uh, baseball's, since winter meetings, baseball's been hot in the streets. We had a couple episodes leading up to winter meetings that were like, hey, I hope, hope baseball goes and there's not some CBA crap we miss that nobody's going to sign. Um, and it's been nuts since. We still haven't done Benny.

we still haven't done really like a Dodgers Red Sox talk. I think where we want to go is hopping over to the Yale. And speaking of coastal leaders to a degree, the Toronto Blue Jays, Chris Bassett, who are they East Coast? Do they count? Yeah, I think so. I think you're right.

Right? They got to be. They play against the East Coast. There's like a bay there. I know there's like a bay in Toronto. A lot of lakes. They have a coast. The Blue Jays, Trev.

And maybe we could tie it, because they brought in two guys. One is your guy guy and alpha of all alphas. Kevin Kiermeier, one year, $9 million. Go Purdue, go. Chris Bassett. Another Trev guy, actually. Guys on different wavelengths from everything you've told. My fingerprints are all over.

Trev's Blue Jays. They brought in Basset, which again, if you're going back into the starting pitching market that was available. You know, I think he's got an argument to be one of the top four or five guys that were out there. Toronto brings him in. You got to love the fit. At the time,

we said, you know, talked about Toronto tax a little bit because normally you got to pay a guy a little more. And this free agency, I mean, it looks absolutely fine. And man, I haven't looked at this in a while. Manoa Gosman-Brios Bacett, your fingerprints are all

over this team, Trev. it. I guess the interesting thing is we thought there was going to be a big swing somewhere in this Blue Jays lineup. They traded T. Oscar. It hasn't happened yet. You obviously love Kiermeier defensively and what he can do out there. But right now they have him slotted in the nine hole. So I guess where are you at with these J signings? And do you think there's more common? We always talk about how right-handed they are. And we thought they probably would try to address that with the Teos. Oscar trade doesn't seem like they really care too much or they're not just going to do it just to do it. They want the right people there. So if you're looking to lineup, we obviously

love the lineup. These guys can bang the starting rotation. Like on paper, I love it. You know, I think that again, I'm a Brillo's truther and he just didn't really have it last year. Like, I hope he bounces back because if you do Manoa Gospin and Bassett, that's a really, really nice top three. And then Kikuchi and Brios are kind of the wild cards. Those guys can be really good. They can be very, very good, four and five. Then you're talking about a very deep rotation. The Blue Jay's roster is really good.

It hasn't changed a ton. KK being in center field and allowing Springer to, what, move to left, I guess? He usually shifts over to right. To right? That's right. Okay. We'll see how that plays out. I love KK. you know what he can do on the defensive side. I guess I don't need extra offense out there, and they're playing that game.

Hey, let's go have some boys run it down out there in the outfield, and we have enough, you know, scoring potential in our offense already. So I like the roster a lot. I do. I think that, you know, last year was supposed to be the movie. Maybe this year will be the sequel, a better sequel. Sometimes the sequel is better than the movie. It doesn't happen often, but it can happen, Jake.

So we're looking for that in Toronto. The roster's really good. I even like the bullpen. I think they could add another bullpen piece, and that'd be really nice. But they're up there. They're up there in the ALE East. I mean, you could make an argument that they have the best roster in the ALE East. It feels just off.

And by the way, the world of baseball and how quickly it moves. You know, Springer, we now associate him with the Blue Jays. Matt Chapman, your hot corner for the Blue Jays. Love him. The bottom two in this lineup now are currently listed as Whitmanerfield and Kevin Kiermeyer. I forgot that he, Whitmer Phil is over. Right. So Blue Jays, it feels like there's a move to be had.

Are they in on Brian Reynolds? Are they in on... They got all those catchers. We keep saying, are you going to trade one of these catchers? It feels like they're a move away. And, man, I don't want to... I don't want Blue Jays fans to take this as kicking them when they're down. I know they were one of the last teams in on Jose Ramirez

before he re-upped with Cleveland. Remember when all that was happening? They were debating if they were going to trade or sign him. How perfect would that dude be on this team? Hey, Matt Chapman's a pretty nice payoff too. But I wonder what's next for them. Because it feels like it's got to be a trade. They have assets.

They're so right-handed. They're so talented. They're in a window, man. Manoa Gossman, and then whoever breaks between Berrios Bassett, who Bassett probably shouldn't even be compared to Barrios and Kikuchi for how good he's been in recent years. I don't know. It's kind of a what's next.

If they roll this roster in the next season, we're going to be excited. There's a ton of talent, like you're saying. But, yeah, Jansen, Kirk, Gabriel Moreno, what happens there? I think that's going to happen. I think it has to happen. In the words of, you know, Joe's McFly, you buying or you're selling.

I guess who's, I don't even know who's selling a big, lefty bat. Like, every team needs that. I think that catchers, especially guys that they have, these guys can all hit. And if you're a team that's looking for offense in a way to, you know, find some value in your roster, it's like, let's go get a good hitting catcher.

And they have three of them. They can get rid of one of them and bring somebody else in. I think we will see that before the season. I think that's almost a foregone conclusion. Now, who is going to be? I don't know. He's going to be Kirk, it's going to be Janssen.

I don't think they trade Gabriel Moreno because he's got so much control left that you'd probably want to keep him. And that could be your move, whether that's to bring in a bullpen guy or whether that's to bring in some sort of left-handed balance in the lineup. We'll see.

I don't know what position are you looking to upgrade in that lineup with a left-handed bat. Yeah, I mean, in my head it's been outfielder. D-H-type. You know, I don't know if you want a pencil in Kiermeier every day. You know, I think he's a guy that plays a lot. I mean, I think George Springer in recent years, if they could get him off his feet here and there,

they moved Tayasker, who, Teosker Hernandez, it was my Eddie Rosario theory. Like, rack up, guys who have good stats, hey, awesome, you know, good for you. Teosker Hernandez was always in the middle of that line. Like, I think there's something more impactful. Eddie Rosario, when he was on the Twins, and he'd have basically an 800 OPS on the nose every year.

He was bat in third. It wasn't Eddie Rosario in the sixth hole or seventh hole, like kind of behind guys. Like, you were game planning for Eddie Rosario. He was there. Teoscar was kind of the same. There was bigger dudes in front of him. But they still have to replace that void

that was kind of left by him. And, hey, I hope Danny Jansen broke out last year. The stats are pretty nutty. But right now, the bottom of that lineup, Whitmerfield's been, he hasn't been the Whitfair Merrifield we remember from some of those big Kansas City years. Kiermeyer, obviously, he does it on the other side, and he does it amazing on the other side. Lordeus Gariel, he had a solid year last year, I guess.

I don't know. The second half of that lineup, if you guys, give me the lefty or switch hitter in the middle of this lineup and you slide everyone down a spot you love the blue jays right now it just feels like if it feels a trade away and i wonder it it's got to be with like another contender right because i'm a lot of the a lot of the lesser teams i don't know if there's dudes that are really being shopped josh bell would have been a great fit for this team, you know, kind of rotate him and Vladdy there at the D.H. You know, he can play first, but mainly he'd be thumping in your lineup for you.

Obviously, they missed out on him, but something of that effect. I think that's what the Blue Jays would need. Some left-handed thump. Max Kepler, he's been rumored in trade talks. It's interesting. There's interesting. Okay. There's a lot of ways they could go.

I believe it's going to be one of the catchers. And even if it doesn't happen, this is already a very good roster. Yeah. Yeah. Do Boba Chet stats, people have, are just, they just need to go look. Yeah. Like, even with a semi-down year last year, but I mean, I don't know if you really even want to call it a down year last year. He still had an 802 OPS.

Go find you some short stops at 802 OPSs. Not many of them. Okay. Career. He's at an 831. This guy's a banger. He's only 24 years old. He's been around forever.

He's got four big league seasons already. It's ridiculous. Yes. Geez, he might have a payday coming. Sheesh. Trev, you know, we're in a weird part of the year where we want to save a couple boxes. You know, I know we've been in 10 days,

kind of a big one. There's a Dodgers conversation. Turner. I guess what, we want to check off a couple of the boxes, but we still have a couple more off-season episodes coming up. So I guess what's speaking to you? I see Brantley, Taiwan Walker, Brandon Drury to the Angels, our guy guy. I said we can kind of quick hit it.

I mean, the Dodgers and Red Sox kind of coincide. They've been trade partners as of late, and now they go, JD Martinez goes to the Dodgers on that one year 10. And Turner goes from the Dodgers to the Red Sox on a two-year-22. I think that's an interesting storyline there. The way these two teams have gone the last couple years, the Red Sox are missing out on all the free agents as well. I like, let's go Dodgers here because they also signed Noah Cindergarde, one-year deal, 13 million.

There's another million and a half in incentives. But the JD Martinez deal is cool for a couple reasons. I think people have already been talking about this, but Rob VanSkoic, their hitting coach there was JD's guy who kind of helped J.D. flourish, you know, him and Miggie working together. But Rob is reunited with it. This is kind of the guy I feel like put Ranscoic and Craig Wallenbrock kind of. on the map. They turn this guy into an absolute monster. And I think it's really cool

for JD to go back and have this guy every single day. So if you want to take you want to go to draft kings and look at some J.D. Martinez offensive numbers like preseason stuff, I would bank on some of those going over because I think Rob's going to get him locked in and we might see a really a really good offensive year from J.D. Martinez.

The Dodgers, man. Yeah, J.D. Martinez, I mean, he's a hitter. It sounds dumb, but also being a D.H. is kind of a skill, and this guy's been mostly a D.H. for a little bit now. And I think you slot him in there. Right now they have the Dodgers lineup listed as Betts, Freeman, Will Smith, Muncie, J.D. Martinez. Gavin Lucks sneaking in there. Yeah, it's funny. Turner in and J.D. Martinez. And like you said, Boston, Dodgers have been talked about for a few years now between the mooky trade. You know, it sounds like Boston, they, Turner, you know, the fact that he'll be able to play some defensive days there that I think that's kind of where they made their decision or

that's what I saw Boston people saying. It's a great deal for Boston. Justin Turner can still do it out there, man. He's like another one of these guys that just kind of gets like, eh, is he going to go away anytime soon? Turner's a ball player, dude. That dude's a baseball rat. I love that move for Boston.

He, I mean, obviously the red with the red socks. That's going to be cool. Happy for everyone there. He went nuts the second half of last season because Triv, like. Like the numbers ended up in a fine spot overall, but like people forget, I guess don't forget, but he was such a bad start and got hot the rest of the lights. He was so good.

He was one of the best hitters in baseball the second half of the season. I just butter knife these. the last 59 regular season games, 349, 419, 968 OPS. He'll have the monster to play some wallball out there with. And, yeah, one of Jake's theories of sports, do what the other team doesn't want you to do. Justin Turner's a guy, I don't want to see it to play in a big app.

No. No, he's going to give you a great at bat. That's a guy that wins, big at bats. Oh, that could be a Yankees crusher right there. With the hair and the beard right now? Are you kidding me? I was going to say, you know, Vasquez has a little jinge in him. Yeah.

And he played it off nicely there. I think people in Boston are going to absolutely love Justin Turner. He fits that mold, like a little dirty. He's got the pintar all over his jersey. He's got the beard. He is like an anti-Yankees guy. Like just kind of a rat dirty. Like he reminds me of like that 04 Boston Red Sock type of guy.

dude, just a dirtball ball player. I love it, man. But also very rich. Also very rich. It's done well. Red Sox lineup is fun. Yoshida, Story, Devers, Turner, Verdugo, Kike, Kossis, Arroyo.

And then right now they've got Reese McGuire and Connor Wong as their catching platoon. The rotation right now is Sale, Pivotto, Whitlock, Paxton Bayo. I'm not normally the injury guy, but with sale in Paxton's history and I mean, even, you know, Whitlock's been a reliever and Bayo's a kid,

still a lot of what's going on there. I like the moves they did in the bullpen with Jansen and Martin. I, we thought the Red Sox were going to get one of the big dogs. Their lineup is sneaky better than I thought. I mean, looking at a Justin, Turner in the middle there. And if, you know, Trevor's story with a year in the division, I don't know what Yoshida is. Pretty top heavy.

Feels a little top heavy right now. And you wonder what the other moves are there. And, I know, Avaldi, is he coming back? I don't know. I think everyone kind of knows where I stand with the socks at this point. I mean, compared to Yanks, Jays, and Ray's. I still think they're behind them. We'll see where the Orioles land, a team that did finish ahead of the Red Sox last year. I can't even think about the race right now. Like my mind is not ready to process a Tampa Bay Rays roster. It's just not. It's not the race time of year. Free agency is when they do their business. We shouldn't even do a TPP for the Tampa Bay Rays. We'll wait until August to do it. Like, oh, okay, this is what they did. We'll do and introduce everyone to who

the raise actually are this year, instead of guessing what Jonathan Oranda is going to be this season. Dodgers, Trev, do they have a big move coming, or do they believe? Because, you know, we mentioned Cinderguard Quick. Their rotation,

Kershaw, Ureus, Gonsal, and Cinderguard May, guess what? I would bet pretty good money that they get good results from that crew, because he got some names, you got a coaching staff in an organization that all they have done his pitch number one ERA last year from their starting pictures.

You got a couple guys of the upper level minor leagues they might be calling upon. I mean, that's what they've done so well. They've been able to have a farm system that they can draw from. Now, yes, are they going to enter a free agency? Yes. Are they going to trade? Yes. But having that in your back pocket, well, we have this great farm system.

We can just bring somebody up. That is what, that's what propels you to all these division titles year in and year out. that's what lets you be competitive to the max is when you're able to have three resources to draw from and not just two or one. Like they have a lot of different areas they can pull from and they do it. And that's why they've been so good. I mean, yeah, I like that starting rotation. And there's a little bit of injury history there. And some, I would say, I don't know if they call them question marks.

And we've seen these guys all perform at an elite level, all of them at an elite level. in the big weeks. Now, are we going to get that from them next year? Probably not all of them, but there's enough depth there that you really like the rotation, you still really like the lineup, and we just know the Dodgers are going to be there.

You pencil them in, or pen them in, to the playoffs for sure, and then we'll see what goes. Just a reminder, Tony Gonsolins, ZRA last year, 214, Wulio Ureus, 216, Clay and Kirschaw, the high of those three at 228. Are we are we

Is this the year we see like a Full Gavin Lux Breakout it sounds like he's going to be the shortstop There and you're going to get a full run of this guy He's 25 years old right People have been writing this dude off like How many of bass does he have now in the big least He's got 894 like you're starting to get eyeballs on pitches

You're starting to see the game like he had some really really good stretches last year You're starting to see the game for what it is You're starting to, when you're a young hitter, there are times when you're just like overmatched a little bit and the game speeds up on you. But, you know, as time goes on and you see the pitches and you're in these moments, this guy's been in big moments for the Dodgers. Everything starts to slow down.

And then you can just play the game. That's the big thing when you get to that point in your career where you're like, okay, like I've seen a fucking slider. Your slider isn't going to be any better than the sliders I've seen. Or your fastball at the top of, of the zone. I've seen those before. And like, you just learn how to play at the big league level because it can be very intimidating and you're doing it every single day. And it's like the ocean, bro. It's coming whether you want it or not. The tide is rising every single day. And

sometimes it feels like you're drowning. But sometimes you're surfing that shit. You're shacked in the green room, grabbing the rail. Gavin Lux is going to get barreled this year. Mark my words. I'd buy a little Gavin Lux all-star stock But like if the numbers go up and being in LA There's a formula Is he from like Wyoming or something Oh Wisconsin even better Yes give me some Gavin Lux glow up

L.A. Hollywood shit I love it Show cut Um Yeah I I My biggest thing walking away from this is like You believe in the Dodgers

You have to. They were first in ERA last year, first in starting pitching, second in bullpen ERA. They were number one hitting OPS team. They've got it figured out. They have the names at the top. It just feels odd for me,

a Dodgers team coming into the season with how the Padres just loaded up that, you know, the bottom third of their lineup right now is Trace Thompson, Chris Taylor, you know, that feels right. And then James Outman, who's a 25-year-old prospect,

for them. It feels like there's a Dodgers move. You just got to wonder, is it, you know, is it a corner outfielder that's going to get some run for them? Is it, you know, are they going to be in the trade game? Is there a retool in there with like, you know, thinking about if Toronto had to trade with a contender for a second I did like, I don't know, Max Muncie to Toronto, Matt Chapman to the Dodgers? Does that, I don't know. I don't know. I don't that's not a trade that the blue jays would make I mean there's because I think Muncie doesn't have too much control left either worse he at and and and yeah he's a free agent after this year so they're both three Chapman I guess both free agents after this year so I mean

you'd have to tweak around it a little bit yeah but I don't know that I I don't know I think I think we're going to probably get two trades this offseason that are going to jar us that are like contender to contender that there's not a lot of guys really good players on lesser teams that need to be traded. Like even Brian Reynolds like the pirates literally came out

and we're like, no. We like him a lot and we have him for three years. No. What is Brian Reynolds mindset? Is he just like, what the fuck? Yeah, I'm good. Yep. People want me. Yeah.

But I got this. On the subject, Max Muncie does have a club option for 10 mil after this year. It's like he's got this girlfriend. He doesn't want to be with her anymore. And she doesn't really treat him that well, to be honest with you. And all these other girls are like, hey, like, we love you. Right.

We treat you right. And he's like, oh, well, that'd be nice. I'd like to be treated, right? Love. But his girlfriend says no. That's not a great analogy, but I just think of Brian Reynolds kind of being a little sad. And just to remind you, I don't like that. when we talk about the Mets and circling back to Uncle Steve and the Dodgers

and some of the contracts we've seen, and Brian Reynolds, who is an all-star center fielder, uh, you know, switch hitter. Maybe he has to move to the corner, but he's been a really great ball player. The biggest contract that Pittsburgh Pirates have ever given out is $70 million.

He Brian Hayes. So, kind of love him. It's got to be a little bizarre playing for, the pirates knowing that if you do your thing right for a good year there's no chance you play there i don't know uh i want give me some contender contender shake-up trades maybe comment some below and we'll dig into them uh otherwise trev it's kind of the holiday season baby oh merry christmas happy honica whatever holiday you celebrate i love all the holidays we love

holidays. Check out everything on John Boy Media. We just did a fun holiday video. That was actually very funny. Chase Station's probably Chick sucks. Chexs. Jay Station might have a big episode. It's out. It's out. That's out.

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Yeah?