Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - Minor Leaguers are Forming a Union | 535

Episode Date: August 31, 2022

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Hello and welcome to talking baseball. September Saviors, who's going to get the call and make the final push to the postseason for their team? And some other stuff, let's do it. Hello and welcome to talking baseball, presented to you by Seatgeek. My name is Jimmy Jakeson to my left. Trev looking great in his John Boy Media, uni in the center, and producer, BBD, behind the dish. Brought to you by Seat Geek, coming to you from the studios. his studio. I got the Chris Archer chain. I can see that. That looks nice. A rude hat. What's that

hat, Trev? You know, this is a fashion company that I bought this hat. It cost way too much money. And it doesn't look great on me. So I'm trying to figure out a way to wear it because, like I said, it costs a decent amount and I've only worn it a couple times. So I'm figuring that out, guys. But I do look good in my jersey. That's for sure. A lot better than, our other co-host, Jacob Storia Alley. Jake, how are you doing? It's just Jake. It's on the birth certificate.

So let's try to tighten that up. I'm doing well. I'm doing well. Suns out, guns out. You can tell Trev's intimidated by trying to come at me like that off the rip. I'm doing well. Our yanks are back in a funkeroo. Watch out for that.

Tampa, you sneaking? An excited talk talk ball with you guys. Midweek episode. We got some good September call-ups as the calendar is about to turn. That's exciting. And a lot of, you know, is it a labor pot again? I don't know. Trevor's tidbits.

Some union stuff going on. And Manfred got confronted by a bunch of Hall of Famers and he was a bit shook by it. Per the reports. So we'll get into all of that. I think we're going to do some labor stuff first. Is that leading us off, tribe? Just an update for everyone? Is that what we decided?

We can 100% start there. By now, you know, I think people have heard the news that the MLBPA is going to help minor leaders organize and then eventually unionize. It all came about from a group put together called the Advocates for Minor Leaguers. And these guys have been going to bat for, you know, just spreading awareness about kind of what the situation is really like in the minor leagues. It has a bunch of former ballplayers on it, a couple other people as well. And they've just been fighting for, you know, minor league rights since 2019, I believe. So effectively what

happens now is there'll be a bunch of voting cards sent out to the minor leaguers. And if a 30% clip comes back that they want to organize and have MLBPA, PA, um, bargain on their behalf, a formal vote then goes out and a majority wins there. And then the minor leagues will be absorbed into the MLBPA. So, you know, before when we used to talk about, you know, labor talks and the CBA, a lot of people would be like, why don't we talk about minor league conditions in the CBA? And before this, you know, or if this does happen, it'll be the first time that the PA will be allowed to negotiate on anyone outside of.

of in the 40-man roster. So it's a big step, you know, a couple notes on it. The executive board, which is made up of a bunch of, you know, high-end current players, guys that have been around the block, they voted in, they were unanimous, overwhelmingly in favor of inviting the minor leaders into the union. I think that doesn't surprise a lot of people because, you know, if you go through the minor leagues at all, you understand like a lot of changes needed to be done. And then I guess clearing some stuff up.

It won't necessarily be the PA executive board negotiating on behalf of the minor leaguers. It'll be their own separate bargaining unit, which will effectively be the advocates for minor leaguers. So, you know, it's pretty cool. It's a step in the right direction. I was kind of talking to you guys about it saying, you know, things were already getting a little bit better in the minor leagues. teams were focusing on housing. They understand the benefits of, you know, nutrition and rest and all that stuff now

and making sure that these facilities are getting up to date. But it's been slow. It hasn't happened quickly enough. I think this will accelerate that entire process. And eventually we'll get to where I think the game should go where like major league baseball teams treat the minor leagues like what they are, the lifeblood of your organization. So this is obviously a step in the right direction.

we'll keep everybody updated as we get like the vote numbers and all that stuff. And I'm sure during the off season we'll kind of dive a little bit deeper into it. But if you saw the headline and we're wondering what was going on, I mean, that is what's going on with that. And like you said, it's been going on for a little bit now where I feel like, I don't know if Slade Heath got as part of this group, but he's been, and I know him just from Yankee ties and all that. He's been an advocate for the minor leagues forever. I think I follow him on Instagram or Twitter, so I see it a lot. And I remember in 2018, 19, it started getting really loud.

And these groups started really getting loud. And so far we had the condensment of the minor leagues, where now each organization only has four or five teams. I know the Yankees at eight. It's much easier to make sure you're taking care of the guys if you don't have a bunch that are there just to be paid little and be a practice squad. And then we've had housing now.

We had a bunch of other stuff. So this is the one more step. And while it maybe like seems slow, in the grand scheme of things, if we go from where we were in 2017 to where it looks like we're going to be in 2023 or 24, like that's kind of a history of baseball, very quick tidying up. Maybe as fast as it can happen without, you know, getting going into pitfalls and messing up along the way. So it's pretty cool. I think whatever players, I know you wanted to shout them out,

but the same way when guys signed as free agents and they thank Kurt Flood because like the history of the game like making sure like, man, so many minor leaguers in two decades from now are going to hopefully understand how long of a battle it was and how bad it was and how bad it was. These guys are fighting for it. It was pretty cool because hopefully 20 years from now. Sure.

So this is the time period where it's like that's when it changed. That's what we're in right now. Yeah. So there was, you know, three, four. former players that started this. It was actually started in 2020. I think I said 2019. It started in 20, Raoul Jacobson, Ty Kelly, and Matt Perret. Those guys started it. They brought in

Billy Fletcher Jr., who's like a labor leader, and then along the way they've added a few other baseball players and put them on their board and stuff like that. But I agree with you. I mean, this is something that was always talked about. But, you know, talk is cheap, man. You got to do something. And they've been at this. And I guess you're right, James. Like, you know, in two years, this particular group has been absorbed into the MLBPA or is in the process of that happening.

It's pretty cool. And I agree. I hope the stories of how bad the minor league's conditions carry on. So guys do feel thankful as we get better and you know, you start living the Kush life down in the bushes, as we used to call them. Yeah, I guess I guess that's where whenever we talked about this, I was always a little surprised. We talk about the kind of how the race originally were the team that treated baseball differently. I was always shocked that there wasn't a team and an owner that viewed their minor leagues as their investment, because it truly is. And I realized that it ends up being the top 1% of a team's minor leaguers that really

end up being the impact players. So maybe the investment-wise on their end doesn't seem worth it. But taking care of these guys and making them part of your organization and keep making sure they sleep well. I mean, we hear the stories about minor leaguers that are sleeping in houses and guys sleeping in closets and things like that, that it just seems, it seems ridiculous. And Trev, I know you made sure as someone who was a first round pick and you had the bonus to take care of guys along the way, I think you still have in New Britain, Connecticut, I think you're still paying for a TV service there because you wanted it under your name to make sure you took

care of the boys that yeah i i guess i'm surprised that it's taking this long to get here i'm glad that group has helped get got us here and we've heard the things about housing i guess that my biggest question is kind of coming from the melb side and i i guess this would be an opinion from you is do you think melb was like kind of blindsided by this do you think they just knew it was going to happen and that it was in the cards and they were going to have to deal with this at some point and they were just waiting for it or do you think they were

kind of taken by surprise a little bit? MLB as far as like Major League Baseball? Surprise at what? The minor league was trying to unionize? Kind of like with this news was you know this all this minor league stuff

makes sense to me like you know this should be happening we've talked about on here a few times and we've seen it evolving. We've seen teams offer housing and things like that. I guess were they surprised by the announcement of the, you know, the minor leaguers coming under the union? And, you know, were they in shock or have, do you think Major League Baseball has been expecting this to happen for a little while now? I'm sure they have been expecting it. I mean, there was a lawsuit that they had to pay out that was filed originally in 2014. They had to pay $185 million. There's a class action lawsuit.

filed by a bunch of minor leaders, I believe, that of like Penn or something like that. And that was when they were seeking pay for like spring training and instructional league and stuff like that. So they have that. They have a bunch of these groups coming up, especially when they see a group like advocates for minor league is kind of, you know, getting some traction online and getting a lot of eyeballs on it, then knowing what they're trying to do in their mission. I feel like Amel be smart enough to know that something like this is coming. And you know what, dude, they should encourage it, to be honest with you.

it's going to make everything better for their product. Like that's what I don't understand. That's what I never understood about the minor leagues is like it's your product, dude. Like if you want to like, say you like raise beef. Okay, Jake. Like you know about beef. You eat a lot of beef. I am.

You raise cattle. Don't you want to feed them the best? Yeah. Don't you want to treat them the best? Or do you want to just put them, you know, I don't know, dude. Well, my one question would be is how profitable our minor league. team. So if I was to try and get into the meeting of the people that may be opposed to this or this may change things for them, it would be minor league team owners, the ones that aren't owned by the MLB owners as well, because a lot of changes now. And I don't know the profitability of minor league teams.

How long is the minor league season? 150 games. So you get 70 something games to make your money. I know there's some that are really, probably really, really profitable that sell out a lot. But there's got to be others like double-ed teams that don't. Trev, you played minor league ball. You went stadium to stadium. Are they all, like, there's a lot of affiliate leagues that don't make money.

I know this is the minor league. So there is a connection, but it's kind of the same thing. Like how much more pressures is put on minor league teams? We've got to be profitable because pay is going to raise housing. raising all that. Yeah, but it's, they don't pay the salaries. The teams pay the salaries. So that, the, you know, a pay increase wouldn't affect them at all.

Most of the equipment and all, most of the equipment and all the stuff that they'll bring in. I'm assuming that's kind of what they're going to be talking about is, you know, each facility needs to have this. And there's going to be a list of things that each facility has to have. That's all usually going to come from the team. That's cool. The teams are going to have to be paying this. To own a minor league team, then you don't really have to,

pay for the products. You're just, you're running a business. You're operating a business of sorts where customers come in and out and you kind of operate the stadium more or less. The players are like the biggest product. Essentially, yes. Yeah. If you're a minor league owner, you're still involved with the players, you know, you do

promotions and, and whatever, you're still very much involved. I mean, I've had a great relationship to some of the people, uh, that have owned the minor league teams that I played with. Um, but, you know, the pay increases and stuff, I think that's going to be great for, you know, all of these teams, the minor league teams, you're going to just get happier players. Players that are going to be like,

I don't know, it's just going to be a better atmosphere, in my opinion. And players are going to be more willing to go above and beyond to promote your team because they're getting fairly compensated for it. Yeah, I guess I don't know what's going on in the other rooms. And I tried to get in there. I was wrong. I didn't have the right mindset.

But I'm interested. This is great, though. Yeah. This is great, though. I just, again, I'll never understand why I took this, long, you know, but we could talk about 2009 what we were eating in spring training as big leaguers and, you know, all of that. Like it was just there weren't good enough standards essentially. And then that just has changed. Just 2010, when we twins, we got a couple big free agents. We got

like Carl Pavano. We get Jim Tome. And then it's like, oh shit, we got to like step it up a little bit. Our food changed. Then nutrition came in. And then like, bam. bam, bam, bam, bam. And all this stuff now when you look back, it's like no shit, dude. Like nutrition matters. Rest matters. Like keeping your players happy and, you know, healthy, like matters. But it wasn't the case that long ago, dude. A while ago, back in 2009, I didn't even take care of myself, Treve. I was wearing terrible shirts. And now I wear Miz and a Maine and they're really comfortable. They were, I'm out on. cotton in the summer. I'm hoping fall comes. I can be back in on cotton for now.

Miz and Maine is my go-to. Machine washable. Super dry. Moister wicking. sweat. I don't my shirt doesn't get wet, even if I'm hot. You'll receive $35 off any regular price order of 125 more when you use code baseball. $35 off when you go to M-I-Z-E-N-A-N-D-M-A-I-N.com and use our promo code at baseball. They got a ton of new polos, dress shirts, pullovers on their right now. Get ready for fall. That's what I would do. They got like the QZips are really nice for fall. Trevor. Trevor has a question and I, there are some rumors around the office about Mizan and Maine Mondays, but Trevor Plouf, yes. James, it looks stretchy. Those shirts. Are they stretchy? Yeah. Yeah. I don't wear anything that's not stretchy anymore. Like, I don't care what it is.

Formal wear, got to be stretchy. You never know when you got to bust out like an athletic maneuver. And if you're in something stiff, it just hinders your ability to do that. And we don't like that. Absolutely. Absolutely. Well, some of the baseball teams might stretch their lineup. Ooh. Or their roster and bring up some skies.

Jake, you are going to tell us the best call-ups that might happen. There's some studs. Do you think, before you tell us, please, do you think any of them, like, is there, you Not a specific person. Do you think we're going to get one from here out, like another Michael Harris or Peña, like a rookie that makes a difference? Even if it's in the bullpen,

kind of like Waka did and David Price did. They were kind of like September callups that then were part of the postseason. A thousand percent. And there's two different buckets here. And we're going to, you know, like we've been doing with our talking baseball recap apps, we're going to focus on the contenders. Because there's some cool guys that are going to get called up.

And there are a couple super-priced. prospects I want to mention. But yes, and like, also go back to the raise. And there's a, there's a good article at MLB.com that kind of sparked us on this. And they got, basically, they got feedback from all the, all the beat reporters about who could be your team's impact September call-ups. But, like, think about the raise. And in this article, it's funny, the raise say Wander Franco, which, yeah, yeah, if that guy gets called up, I could see him being pretty impactful. But also, do you guys remember Shane McClanahan? I mean, they called him up to start in the postseason before he had gotten action. So now the raise are always the extreme example, but we are going to see some guys,

and I think I wanted to start out east. We'll go east to west, maybe. But there's two teams that I think they're definitely going to call up impactful guys. And I think the number one, and it's a team that's been looking for a spark a little bit, is a Toronto Blue Jays, a team that, has kind of been 500 since the first month of the season, more or less. And I think they're going to call up, or this article says, and I agree with it, I think they're going to call up Gabriel Moreno again. Because A, originally when September call-ups happened, you called up a third catcher because it was just like it's the most grueling position.

It allows you the most flexibility. It's the end of the year. But the Js are a special example themselves because Alejandro Kirk has been one of the breakout players of this season, and the Jays do like to deach him. So on the days you deach him, you have another option behind the dish, and it helps out that that option is the number 18th ranked prospect.

And when Moreno came up earlier this year, it was a little overmatched. Not even. I mean, he was a 276 hitter. There was just no pop. It was all singles. And since he went back down to the minor leagues, he's been hitting again.

And Trev and I talked about this a little bit on Monday. I think I've got a new flirtation in baseball. It's guys who get called up, get sent down for a little bit, and then get back, get called up again because they've kind of got, they got the taste in their mouth, and they want it again. So I think him, and then Chadwick Trump for the Braves. Our guy. Yes. I mean, all-time baseball name. Not as high of a prospect as Gabriel Moreno, but it allows them with William Contreras, who you could put in a similar boat to Alejandro Kirk. And even Travis Darnow, when that guy's right at the plate, that guy's a beast. He's right right now. I know. The thing is crushing August. And he's got like a 360 batting

average in August. It just allows you to be so much more flexible with using them as pinch hitters or putting them as the DH on a given day that I think those are two guys that I think those are going to significantly impact the day in, day out lineups of two, you know, potential playoff impact teams in Atlanta and Toronto. I think are the Braves using both catchers? Does Contreras D.H when Darno starts? I think they try to get those guys in the lineup when they can. Yeah, Contreras D.H is all the time.

Yeah. I know he was the starting D.H. And the All-Star game due to replacements for injuries. Yeah. But so do they not have a third? Are they? I think at different points this year, like Chadwick Trump has been up earlier this year. But yeah.

It's a risky thing. to do to have both catchers in the starting nine because then you can't lose your DH. But I'm looking at it now. It looks like they do that a lot, which is, and it's their like four or five hitters. Yeah. Yeah. So that can definitely for them, it just allows you so much flexibility. And like you're saying, you know, sometimes we see teams do that if you need to swap in the DH and you lose the DH.

That means your pitcher has to hit. But teams still do that towards the end. of the game if they don't think the pitcher's going to bat again. But yeah, it allows another layer for them. And, you know, the Jays, I know Kirkie defensively doesn't necessarily doesn't necessarily turn the needle as much as his hitting does. So, yeah, I mean, those are significant changes going through a month of the baseball season. Yeah, but the Js use their D.H.

So I don't know how, I think it would still be like a backup situation or something because didn't Springer get a lot of D.H starts? They like to rotate guys through there. But I mean, Kerkie's got 40 games at DHS this year. That's a good amount. I like this time of the year because there's a couple sides of it. You know, there's the side that you're kind of talking about now. Teams that are in races that like, you know, maybe need a jolt or an extra bat off the bench.

You know, we'll talk about a few more of those guys in a bit. But there's also the other side where it's like, hey, let's see what we got. You know, like we're talking about with the dimebacks. They just recently called up their number one prospect, Corbyn Carroll, and he kind of had like an electric debut. Yeah. And he's going to get some playing time. Like these other guys might come up there.

They might pinch hit from time to time because these rosters on these contending teams are pretty much set. But Corbyn Carroll, he's just going to go out there and play ball. And you're going to get to see a little bit of glimpse into the future. The dime back's been playing really well lately. Then you add Corbin and do it. It's like, talking about it. teams playing spoiler when you're the d-backs yeah you're playing spoiler but it's more like we're playing to see if we can compete with these teams with these young guys like if you're if you're

a young guy if you're corbin carol this is the time it's like fuck it i belong in the big leagues i don't care about playing spoiler i care about showing you in the rest of the big leagues is like i'm here to stay so you're going to get a few of those different guys other than get the leeway um but on the on what you're talking about like you know derrick hall coming up for the phillies and And him being just the bat off the bench, that's also very exciting. You have some, just your roster just gets that much longer, that much deeper.

And every year, man, somebody comes up and makes a difference during the race. And I think that's the next bucket. You mentioned my guy, Corbyn Carroll. As we, you know, we are the voices of baseball. Some people say in the comments. The super prospects, what's next? You mentioned my guy Corbin Carroll on my snakes. The dude looks like a freak show.

When you just look at him, he's not the most intimidating cat. He's listed at 510. But the dude flies. And I think he's a five-tool guy. Like you mentioned, he came up for his debut. It was part of the D-backs down-seven run rally. They put up two six spots in back-to-back innings to come back against the fills, and Corbyn Carroll was in the middle of that.

And you're right, Trev. I know I teased it at the end of the last episode. but the snakes, they kind of have something brewing. And it's definitely like, if Corbyn Carol is special, special, which he has a chance to be, and you get that taste in your mouth for September, there's going to be some interesting snakes conversations this offseason, which I love.

The other guy who deserves a shout. And again, I told you the kiddie gloves are off on this team, the Baltimore Orioles. They've made themselves a part of this conversation all year. And Gunner Henderson, left side of the infield guy, currently listed as the number two prospect in baseball. The front office said he's on their radar screen for joining the club. And man...

Well, then do it. Right? If you're... Let's go. Why would you say that? It's not do it. I mean, he's been lighting up AAA. He's got 11 home runs in his 64 AAA games.

He's got a 502 slugging in AAA. Batting average is 282. On base is 386. And who's he going to replace? Mateo or Urius? Not Mateo's been pretty good for that. I think Gunner's better at third base. I think he grades out like way better at third.

But it's one of those two. He's going to be on the left side, right? Yeah. And that's where, you know, if you're Baltimore, maybe that's the conversation that we're not appreciating enough is Jorge Mateo has been. Mateo hasn't really been good for them. He's not an OPS guy, but he's electric.

Like he's Trevor, he's a Mani Margo. His defense is elite at shortstop. and he steals the back. Yeah, he's got a three war this year, basically just from, you know, being able to run and play defense. And you wonder if that's the tricky part of this, because he's, you know,

Gunner's rated out very well defensively. So, I mean, you got a 277 on base percentage with Mateo. I understand that. But I think part of the conversation would be, you shouldn't be blocking him. Ureas has been playing really good for them recently. Could he play a little second base

and maybe you put Henderson at third and Ruggies out? but I guess the only conversation with the Orioles before bringing this guy up is that they have been so fun and so good if you end up knocking a Mateo or someone like that out of the lineup and then things go the wrong way, it changes your whole vibe. But for how talented this kid is, and if you're an Orioles fan and the opposite side of it,

if he can give you a little more of a push, and now this Orioles team that I was brutal on, to start this year, I was looking at some of these guys out there, and I wondered if the Orioles were going to win 60 games this year. If now I can look, and I see Cedric Mullins, Rushman, you know, their pitchers have been doing really well lately, and if you can call up Gunner Henderson,

if you can get an October push for this year, and those same Blue Jays I just talked about, Orioles are a game and a half back. If you can sneak up on them, or if you can guess get real excitement for next year, you'd love to see it. It would be great for the sport. It would be great for the city of Baltimore.

Yeah, I'm not fully entrenched in, I'll lean on Baltimore or Baltimore crew in the chat. Maybe I'll ask Kev in the office. Offensive numbers-wise. And Gunner-Henderson's supposed to be very, very good. I think they had him as a 70 third base defense and 50 shortstop. So. High level.

I mean, and if he can produce. I don't know. there could be the odor factor where Urius and Mateo mean a lot to the club, but they're both having not great offensive seasons. I think you can kick your EAS to second base and O'Dore to the bench. Sure, even then. Right. And you give yourself the option, right?

Which that would be fun to see. And, man, I mean, we're talking top three prospects in baseball. These aren't, you know, even some of these guys who also, you know, we're not going to fully shout out this episode, but Tristan Casas might get the call for Boston, and he's got a chance to be really good. You know, even Paraza for the Yanks, like it doesn't look like it's happening.

You know, those guys in that 30 to 40 range, they got a chance to be really good, but you also never know. When you're in those top five, especially in recent years, now that scouting and everything's gotten to a next level, you've got a really good chance to be a special ball player that would love to see it for Baltimore.

And then the final bucket, you know, I shout out a couple more of those guys and maybe sound off in the comments. If you've got a guy weren't missing. You know, I know, I saw the Rockies have a shorts up on this list that might get the call. Not fully in my book yet. I hope he is. I hope he's the next guy. As Akeel Tovar. But two guys who we could see currently on playoff teams who could have impacts this postseason,

whenever there's a pitcher out of Houston, I get scared. I say that as a Yankee fan in the rest of baseball because, man, that place is a factory. And they've got a kid named Hunter Brown, who's got a 2-5-5 ERA at AAA this year in over 100 innings pitched. He touches 99 on the gun. Houston's got six starting pitchers.

It's part of what makes them completely different as a franchise. Furlander just went on the I-L. Does I mean... Well, now they're down to five. But if that... Well, he could he be coming up or... He could be coming up, or he can be your two-inning weapon out of the bullpen because if he's throwing 99 as a starter, you like to think he's got that in the

pin. And then the other guy who stood out on the list. Cody Morris for the Guardians. We always wonder where the Guardians get these young guys from. Cody Morris, he's got a 162 ERA and AAA this year with 93 strikeouts and 61 innings between AA and AAA. I mean, the Guardians, they're currently leading the Central. He seems like a kid that could get a shot this year.

and, you know, a guy like that can change your whole bullpen formula, and I love it. Trev. They called B. Hunter Brown. Hunter Brown as an hour ago is going to get the call to join Houston. Look at that. Look at that. On it. Ooh. That's cool. But we, I don't know if you guys did this on the recap episode, but talking about the Orioles a little bit and then you talking about players that go to the show, go back down and then come back. Kyle Bradish, since his return from being sent down.

I think they sent him to me. I mean, it's not to a double A since his return has been nuts. So it is cool when they go down, fix something, come back up and like, I'm fucking staying this time. No thanks. No more of that minor league crap that they have to make new unions about to feed us all right.

I'm going to be in the show. The Wolf of Wall Street Award. You know what's funny is they, people would talk like, or I've heard organizations talk like, you know, it's good the minor leagues are like that makes you more hungry to get to the big leagues. We don't want people just cozy and double A

and it's like, shut the fuck up, dude. Like, if you've ever said that, if those words have ever come out of your mouth or you thought it, then be the first person tell you, shut the fuck up. And by the way, go check out the article because, you know, there's A, there's other prospects, Ken Waldichuk, who is a big part of the

Frankie Montas trade. He just got called up. He's going to make a start on Thursday. He's in this article. And there's a bunch of veterans on here, which kind of made us laugh because it's away from the concept a little bit. But I know like Matthew Boyd, a talking baseball favorite. He's been rehab in all years.

The Mariners might give him some innings. I forgot they got it. Yeah. So there's a couple of vets that are going to sneak into this September 2, and they can be even more impactful than a rookie. You ever heard of J-Flare for the Cardinals? Yep. Yep.

I do this to you guys right now. Hammercock. Sorry. Let's ask him. Let's ask him. Yeah, speaking of Roman, you get $10 off your Roman swipes, Trev. Speaking of Jayflair's hammercock. I was going to give you guys a thick neck so we can transition to Roman from that.

If I said thick neck, you'd say. Well, he said hammer cock. So he kind of beat you to it. But young, young. Hanex, Hammercocks. Josh Jung? Josh Jung? Josh and Jace, the bros.

It'd be assuming something, but I feel like it could be an educated, an educated assumption. About Josh and Chase. Yeah. Oh, Josh is. Yeah. Yeah.

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of the year. Batting title maybe five times. Called one of the best hitters to ever play. Interacts with me on Twitter a good amount, which I like. He and some one career war. He and some other Hall of Famers had their Cooperstown brunch with Manfred, where they talk about the state of the game. And apparently they let Manfred have it.

and Carew led the attack. And Manfred was shook. He didn't like it. And then Rod Carew shared it with the public. And like Manfred has line like, what stays in Cooperstown brunch? Said Cooper's down brunch. What?

Yeah, man. What? Yep. So the same complaints, Rosenthal wrote the article about it. And it was like the same complaints we have, but because their Hall of Fame, famers and older men, they are just, like, lumping into, like, old men screams at clouds.

But, like, like, I don't know if that's what you're doing. Like, if you're just like, yeah, they're just old and they're out of touch. Like, no, they're complaining about the same thing. Like, a lot of people are complaining about. It's a manfred's credit. The shifts, they are implementing like that. They're testing it out. They want to try it.

They want to change it. I do think they, they hoped the game would correct itself and it didn't for 20 years. It went on like a bit too long. And then pace of play, the three batter minimum rule, the runner on second base, a little bit of you are ruining our great game vibe. And I think I agree with the main four points. The three batter minimum rule has not done what you thought it would do.

It's not more intriguing. There's a better way to do what you were trying to do, I think, if you just limit reliever usage or tighten up rosters like Brandon McCarthy has a bunch of different ways and ideas for that. But what we're seeing is more position players pitch because of stuff like that.

And then the Ghost Runner, I think there's a better way to do that too. Although I have become numb to the Ghost Runner, which is... I hate the Ghost Runner. I hate it because all of a sudden you're playing a different game. A lot of the time,

when Madfran talks about that specific new rule, he says it works. He says people like it. I don't think people like it. I think it might work, but that doesn't mean it's best for the game. You know what I mean? Yeah, absolutely.

We've done all the stats. Majority was like, what, 80% of extra inning games ended before the 11th anyway. So you're not fixing that much. Yes. Yeah. And like you said, I think Manfred, and I don't want to give just Manfred credit for, you know, deciding to, you know, do stuff with shifts or the pitch clock.

Like he has a collection of people, former players that are now with MLB, you know, figuring these things out. Okay. Like, it's not just Manfred in like his lab coming up with different ideas. That's just like not the case. But we have to keep remembering. I think Rod has to remember this too. I'm sure he knows. Is it that Manfred is just,

he's the punching bag for the owners and for like that side of baseball. He's admitted that. Like he's not, I said this on baseball today with T. Rose. We have this notion that the commissioner of baseball is guarding the game and making sure it's going in the right direction at all times.

That's just not the case, dude. That's not his number one job. But I do think there have been commissioners that have, and I don't know. I don't know the level. He stated explicitly like what he needs to do. And that's shield the owners from essentially the press. He is.

But I think there's other sports where owners have kind of taken charge and went to the owners that these are my ideas. This is what I want to do. Do I have your approval? And then went and did him. I don't think he's that kind of commissioner. I agree. But I'm just saying.

So that that's a bucket in like this is not good. Like we we want someone who will do some stuff. You know, Bud Seelig, for all his faults, he brought interleague play. And we'll look back on some stuff. Like, you know, their balanced schedule next year. That's better. You get credit for things that happen under your reign to use, like, the historic word for it. And there are some things.

But it is hilarious that he thinks he's just going to, like, the Cooperstown talk to Hall of Famers, and they're just, like, ready for him. I was going to say, I mean, hey, Trev, I'm going to fluff you. a little bit. I do this about once a month. You know, we're through the dog days. Rod Carew, pretty cool baseball reference page, 328 batting average for the career.

92 home runs, Trev. Eat that Rod Carew. That's pretty cool, big dog. So love that for you. And yeah, I was kind of shocked that you guys were turning it on Uncle Rob here. Because could you imagine you think you're going to a friendly brunch and the door closed is behind you and Johnny Bench and Jeff Bagwell locked the door and they say why don't you sit down Bob because we got some stuff to talk about. I mean just blindsided. Um, no man I, I, I,

Hey, look, for real, you're making a good point, Jake. There's, like, that's his nightmare situation. I don't think he's ever liked having that brunch. She's got to go sit down with a bunch of dudes who got a lot of time on their hands to think about stuff. They've seen a lot change in the game. Things they used to value deeply are not valued anymore. A lot of the stats that they were trying to, you know, get to aren't valued anymore. They're saying all the things that you thought were right or wrong.

So like, I understand that these guys can be angry about some things going on with the game, but Rob Manfred asked to know that that that is. just not he probably needs to like stop having that brunch i think he's done he's probably going to send someone else now yeah yeah i do like his for his sake yeah there's certain things that are like you know there's been this whole campaign against uh four rbis now and it's like guys come on like this isn't really a head-to-head paddle rbis are i don't want to do it but you had pool holes and alonzo and all those talk about it's like obviously rbis are good as a team staff but again

as an individual stat there's a lot of shit that goes on for that. You want to drive runners in. But I just think it's funny that they got attacked. And then I do agree with half of it. Me and Rod grew on the same team. He is like vice president of the keep paper out of baseball campaign that I started. He solidified that.

He responded and said, I agree. Keep paper out of baseball. So we're kind of like, you know, running mates. Well, we talk about baseball all the time. We talk about the state of the game. We care about this. state of the game. We're very invested in what the state of the game is and what will it be and what it will be. You know, so like all of these ideas, we've been talking about it.

It's great. I think, I think we're going to be in there. We got young studs. We got stadiums that are selling out. We got people tuning in. We had high raid, um, uh, games this year. And we, there's no pitcher hitting in the NL anymore. That's better. We're going to have a balanced schedule next year. We have a better while, maybe a better playoff system. I'm not positive. We'll see. I'm interested to find out about the new playoff system.

And they're going to try and change the shifts next year, which the shifts have to what we know have been like Gabe, who works for us, his whole life. That's the baseball he knows. They let it go so long that we have young kids now that are like doing the old man argument of like, don't change the game I know because they know, they know shifts. Like they know when Giambi and Tashara came over and then their batting average died in their home run sword because they couldn't beat the shift and McCann and Tashar. And I'm ready to go back to ball and play and running.

So I think I get me to next year in a way if we implement this stuff and the pitch clock, when those things are instituted and people don't hate them. vehemently because they're new, maybe five years from now, I think that version of the game, I think we're like on path. So, at credit to whoever's making the decision, I think they are trying the right things and hoping to implement the right things. They got it wrong for the last, the last, like, 2011 to 2017. They were just wrong with a lot of the stuff they're trying to do.

Our good friend, Raulubanias, is helping out on the LB side. he's you know Roe was awesome one of the nice you guys are in that VP of what on field gameplay or whatever it is and I really like Roel I think that's a really good role

for him to have and I trust him I trust him in that role because I know you know why I trust him because I know he talks to dudes and he's getting the pulse and feeling it out it wouldn't surprise me

if he's listened to some of our stuff he's very in tune like that so basically we're running to big leagues If you get a second today, baseball hall.org, and you can click around and look at all the guys in the Hall of Fame, which is just cool anyways. Something that's really funny, and I'd love to know the decision making here. You know, all the old guys are pictures in black and white, and that makes sense because their pictures were in black and white. A lot of the modern guys, you know, Jim Palmer's pictures in color, David Ortiz, Tony Oliva.

Some of the new guys are also black and white. Mike Piazza, Trevor Hoffman, their pictures are in black and white, which just seems like, I don't know. Like they're dead? Who made that choice? Where. What website you're talking about?

Baseballhall.org. And if you just click on, like, the Hall of Famers, it just has 15 pages of Hall of Famers. And yeah, the black and white pictures seem kind of random for the new age guys. Yeah. Can you imagine a young Mike Piavers?

and a young Jake Story Alley just kicking around. Died tips. Maybe you went to Italy together, back to the motherland. I'd love to. I'd love to. I have an assignment for everyone. I bet you won't do it. It's brought to you by Draft Kings.

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On morning today, we were looking at all the Malcoms that have played baseball, not that many. And we found the Malcolm with the most career war is Mal Hill, I think his name was. I know Malcolm Smith. He knows Malcolm Smith. Well, it's his career war.

I think, you know, just maybe you won. From 2017 to 2021? Yeah. Oh. He played in Bakership. He didn't make the Biggs. But there's a Malcolm, there's one Malcolm in the minors right now.

Mm-hmm. So we wanted to reach out to him and be like, dude, if you make the Bigs, all you got to do is get over 0.2 war, and you're the best Malcolm in the history of baseball. Ever. So if you're someone who loves baseball reference and just stuck at a job where you're in front of a computer, go find me more and let's go find all the minor leaguers that can be the best of their name

and like just easy wins. Like this guy, he's a double a reliever for the Braves. He comes up, has like 10 game stretch where he gets some outs, is the best Malcolm per war in the history of baseball. I'd bet on it. So find some others. You got the pass and button over there, BPD. Awesome. The Arizona Diamondbacks have exercised their 2023 club option on Tori Lavello.

Oh, nice. Let's go, baby. We play for rings in the desert. Valley boy, 818 Tor the Velairelo. I like it, man. Hey, I want to apologize to Malix Smith, not Malcolm Smith. That's my bad, bro. You know, that is my bad.

Malik Smith, he's pretty speedy. He probably got some. I mean, he's got to be the number one. Alex. Oh, yeah, for sure. He's got to be. 5.3 career war. His pronunciation key is the best I've ever seen.

Like Alex with an M. Like Alex with an M. Perfect. Only Malix in baseball. So like, yes, awesome. But, you know, there was like 10 Malcolm's. They just all suck. There was also, Jim, I think people may have spotted it before if you're on the YouTube.

When you were mentioning Rod Carew, my face, locked up. Because it's a great baseball reference. Hall of Famer, MVP, 328 Lifetime, a lot of bold. In that area where they list their agents, his says Jerry Simon question mark. We think it's Jerry Simon,

but don't hold us to it. Hey, man. I've sat with Rod Carew and Tony Oliva and had them tell me stories about when they first come up, they first came up together. you know this was uh in the you know 60s late 60s early 70s and he's like imagine us you know rolling down downtown in the Cadillac drop top me and Tony Oliva he goes we kind of stuck out down there didn't we and they would start laughing about it man it's those guys there's just so much baseball

knowledge i think they roomed together for like almost their entire career like even in the big leagues, which is just needs to be a TV show. I love it. I found an article about Rod Carew. 1986, he didn't play in 86. But this says that in May, there was a team that offered him a contract to come back. He was 40 years old and he had already said he's not playing anymore. And then in St. Paul, Minnesota, Carrou's attorney, Jerry Simon

confirmed that he had received an offer. So maybe that's, you're welcome baseball reference. It's his attorney. Maybe that's the question mark. Don't know. All right. Thank you guys very much for hanging out with us for a little bit today. Congrats to all the September call-ups that are coming.

Good job. Goodbye, August. You're out. You're out. I hate you. Rod Karu, I'm hoping. Hopefully I'm doing this.

Rod Karu, more triples than homers. Don't eat them. If you wanted to swing for homers, you could have.