Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - MLB Offseason Winners & Losers!

Episode Date: February 9, 2026

Save on essentials. Save the everyday with Amazon.URL: https://www.amazon.comUse our code for 10% off your next SeatGeek order*: https://seatgeek.onelink.me/RrnK/TALK.... Sponsored by SeatGeek. *Restrictions apply. Max $20 discountLife’s a Trip. Make the most of it at BestWestern.com Coach Trev and Talkin’ Jake discuss which teams have won and lost this offseason, how Framber Valdez will fare on the Tigers, Ronald Acuna’s crazy player comp and more! 0:00 Intro5:15 Dodgers14:40 Pittsburgh Pirates17:35 Marcell Ozuna signing21:55 Baltimore Orioles29:35 Detroit Tigers34:55 Framber Valdez40:00 White Sox41:50 Toronto Blue Jays47:00 Chicago Cubs49:45 Atlanta Braves53:25 Philadelphia Phillies1:00:00 Yankees1:03:45 Boston Red Sox1:09:35 Seattle Mariners1:12:22 New York Mets 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. It's baseball season people. Winners, losers. You're going to get the truth. That's coach. Let's talk ball. Casey Mize. Dustin Petroya.

Hello and welcome to talking baseball, a special edition because it's February 9th. I think I said that right. Football's done. It's in the camp. It's baseball sisson. I. I'm Jake Storelli, aka talking Jake. Basically Sam Darnold.

I got written off, but now I'm back. And that is Coach Trev, Trevor Plouffe, Bad Bunny of Baseball. How you doing, Coach? Benito. Bad Bunny. Yeah. Let me tell you this. Let me start out.

Let's just get into it. Let's just get into it. Bad Bunny put on a hell of a show. He's a performer. Like, he can't. You can't fight that. If you were worried about the halftime show, you got too much time on your hands. That's what I think.

End of the day, it's a halftime show. Can I give a quick Kid Rock story? Maybe. I'm going to give you a maybe. Okay. That was a true story. Okay. Spring training, 2000.

Okay. With the twins. With the twins, right? We have a charity, Ron Gardnerner's charity bowling event in spring training, which is hilarious. Alligator Lane's shout out. Or Alligator Alley's, I think they called it. Ad.

we do an auction a live auction right and so everyone's around and most of the time how these things start is starting bids someone puts it up and then there's a bunch of bids up here right so um i'm trying to be cool i'm like i want to be one of those starting bids you know i was like a still like not even on the team yet so they didn't really have money whatever kid rock uh tickets come up it's playing at like the everglades around arena in Fort Myers. And I'm like, all right. Like, I'll do this one. Throw my hand up for the starting bid, whatever it was. It was kind of expensive. It was like four like good tickets. Sure. Throw my hand up thinking like I'll start it. You know, whatever.

Nobody else. Wow. You want. So the starting. So the starting bid wins. I'd, me and Olivia went and saw a kid rock like back in the day. It wasn't that good. Wow. For those new to the program, welcome. We're doing winners and losers. We usually open with a bit of politics. It's not even politics. I'll say this. Kid Rock, I think, at the, like, the second Woodstock,

he has a crazy ball with the ball. I mean, the energy in the crowd is insane. So I don't know. I guess we're playing both sides here. No, Benito is fantastic. Congrats to the Seahawks. Probably the best team in football this year. I think only you and Matthews Rams were up to snuff with them.

And the Hawks got him a few times. They did. Let's talk some ball. We are here, Trev. It's pitchers and catchers are reporting. Most of the guys are already down there. Like, it's literally game on, especially with the slightly earlier report dates

because of the WBC this year, that we're going to do one of the big ones. We're going to do some winners and losers. It is an interesting year, Trev, because we're not, you know, it's funny whenever I talk to someone that's, like, learning or new to the company. I forget who I was talking to this weekend. But I was like, yeah, we don't do like hot takes.

Like that was kind of our, the lane we kind of took was just like, I don't know, we just kind of talk about it fairly and we tried to. We're not, this team lost, fart noise. But I think we want to do both sides. You got to have some winners. You got to have some losers. This one is weird, Trev, because normally there's a team that it's like, holy smokes, look at the offseason this team had.

They brought in these three free agents. They had this massive. trade. They only lost one guy. Like, wow, there's not a ton of that. There's one. Oh. We think there's, I mean, I think consensusly around. Consensusly. Nailed it. Around baseball, I think there's one winner. Who's that? And you don't, I mean, you don't have that in your mind right now. Is it a team by you? It is. Okay. Yeah. Because they just win everything. Right now they are winning everything. Are we going to start there? I, think we start there and just get it out of the way.

Let's do it. Yeah, let's start with the best team. And by the way, Trev, the thing that I didn't, because I don't know if we've talked about this, because it was the whole conversation was the Dodgers repeated. Like, no team has done that since 2008. Great. It was the first time I saw on social media this weekend,

as everyone was doing their, it's baseball season, get ready. Dodgers are going for a three-peat. I haven't seen, literally you haven't seen the word three, Pete, said around baseball in 25 years that I was like, damn, that's going to be part of the chase this year. Yeah, they, I mean, they're obviously the team to beat. They didn't really have a ton of holes. You could talk about some of the outfield stuff. Well, guess what? They addressed it.

They bring in Kyle Tucker four years to 60. Everybody needs bullpen help no matter who you are as a team. Okay, let's go get, you know, one of the best relievers in all of baseball. Let's steal them from a team that, like, you know, wants to compete with us and actually quoted as saying they want to of the East Coast. Edwin Diaz from the freaking Mets on a three-year $69 million deal. And of course, they brought back our guy, McGee Rojas, because Shohei said they had to.

Them's the rules. A couple options, exercise, bring back Muncie and Bessia. But this is a team that just, they got two of the better players of their respective positions to come on to a team that's already won back-to-back world series. I mean, they had the best off-season. They didn't lose. really anybody of note.

Like Kiki will probably be back in June or July. When they need him, yeah. Even if he signed somewhere else, they'll bring him back. So this, yeah, by far I think it's not even close. Dodgers,

they did it again. It's scary. I'm rooting for a divisional loss this year because I can't, I can't already be, I'm thinking about my life online if the Dodgers win again. Wow.

Didn't see that. Sorry, I late face. Jeez, what a plot twist there. Yeah, I mean, it's kind of insane. You know, if you're doing subtractions, you know, Dahl and Rob got us Kirby Yates up on the YouTube and in our document we're going through. Kirby Yates had a kind of tough year last year.

He graded out negatively. Michael Conforto, who was in the corner for them a lot until it's Kiki time in the postseason, he wasn't great for them that you're, you've now added arguably the best closer, or, you know, I think Edwin goes toe to toe with any of the other great closers in this game. And then Kyle Tucker is just, you know,

one of the most well-rounded players in baseball. I think the stat that keeps popping up is he's one of four players that's been four and a half war the past four seasons. A lot of fours in there. Didn't plan that. And not even sure if that's the complete stat, but it's around that. Yeah, man.

It's kind of surprising because, again, a lot of teams did a lot more moves that we're going to talk about a couple of those teams. But it's like with what they have set up, they didn't really lose anything. And this, I feel rude saying this. If they did lose things, they were kind of negatives to the team last year in a way. And they've added the best closer, one of the best corner outfielder's that, yeah. Because I shouldn't even be factoring in like, oh, well, these pitchers will be healthy next year. and maybe Tanner Scott will come back, because technically that's not this offseason.

But yeah, when you line this up against the other teams of just, like, best editions, they might win. I'm on their fan grass page just for fun. Sure. And I know Tommy Eben had some surgery, so we'll see where he ends up. Like, is it Highson Kim's season? Are we going to see this guy play?

I don't know. You and I have been. We're champions. We're kind of running his fan club. We don't even know why. I think we just like his name. No, like the way he plays. He's got a great skill set.

Yes. Yeah, I mean, we'll find out. And I think the other thing, and I want to say this when I was doing that kind of weird kickoff speech about the offseason winners and losers, I do think teams. And again, like, let's see where we're at. We're going to be a CBA. We're going to be a labor pod by the end of this season again. Can't wait for that. That, you know, baseball has some ebbs and flows to it.

We saw it with some of the shorter term contracts this year. It looks like that's going to finally becoming a thing. I mean, the AVs are pretty awesome, so you don't hear players really complaining about it. I think this new modern approach of not putting all the chips on the table, at least in the off season, like I think teams are kind of, hey, let's roll the ball out there till the midway point. And if you're the Dodgers and Hison Kim, who they brought in,

if he's a guy, awesome, cool. If they need a second basement at the deadline, they'll go out and trade for them that I think, a lot of the premier teams. Some of the teams that I think were leaning, again, losers is a little harsh, but how about this? I'll throw my Yankees out there.

I think the Yankees clearly, they liked what they had, and instead of putting the chips more on the table for this off season, they're going to see where they're at the deadline, and then they're going to move prospects and that kind of capital. That's fair. That's part of the game.

That's part of what you have to do. but I feel like you still, to be a successful organization year in and year out, you do have to take your swings at free agency as well. And they're doing that, but you're not going to win every single time and get a guy to come play for your team. And sometimes you might have a different grade than say like, you know, the consensus is out there. But yeah, you need, I think still to be successful in this league and do it consistently, either one or two things, you better be damn good at developing talent. and drafting. Like, you have to do that. That's like, I think that's number one.

To be a successful organization, no matter, no matter if you're the Dodgers and spending all sorts of money or not, you have to develop players. And I know right now their roster isn't chock full of that, but it was before. And they still have one of the best farm systems in baseball. So like, like, you have to do that. But if you can't do that, you still need to be a player in free agency. But we, I don't know how do we go. Like, Dodger talk is probably done for us.

Yeah. The only thing. Do you want to pick like another winner? Because I think there's been good off seasons, but the only great offseason, I think, was the Dodgers. Yeah, the only other thing I'll put on the Dodgers fire. And we've talked about this before. But when it comes back to free agency,

we talk about a lot of teams or they miss a guy or they've got this dead money or the Dodgers haven't really had that. I mean, like Tanner Scott is in a funky area. and like, okay, Conforto was one year that other teams probably don't have the... A lot of teams don't have the opportunity to bring him in as like a bonus piece like they did last year.

But they've hit on so many of these guys. And that's part of like where they do deserve snaps on that. Yeah, I guess who jumps out the most... Do you want to kick off or receive? Football. I'll take the ball, coach. Bad bunny. Yeah, you.

want the ball. You've always wanted the ball. Who you want. It was me. Sean McVeigh, talking ball again. Love that. I'm basically part of the team. Dude, they hired Kingsbury. That's you, Kingsbury and McVeigh, that's like, uh,

I have so many, like, I have so many funny Sean McVeigh stories that he's just, he is energy in a bottle. As, as you can just tell. I have one more, uh, a free ad, sorry to our sales team and our whole organization. But I did Google Alligator Alley Bowling, Florida, just to see what came up. And in Gainesville, it looks like they have a place called Alligator's, which is just incredible.

Nice. I think your place, Gator Lanes in Fort Myers? Yep, Gator Lanes. There it is. Sorry. And then there's an alley Gators in Tampa as well. So I don't know. We just like... Just great names. We just like a little pun here and there. And bowling alleys need to make a comeback. So go check it out when you're visiting spring training.

this year. My parents used to bowl in a league and we would sit and do our homework at the bowling alley while they bowled in the league and got secondhand smoke because smoking was still allowed inside. I don't know. No rules. We just did

some bowling. Nobody cares. Today's episode is sponsored by Amazon. When life throws you a curveball, Amazon's everyday low prices on essentials help you save the day. Amazon has everything. Everything. Whenever you need it, from planned purchases to unexpected moments, they got everything in one place saving you time, money, so you can focus

on what matters most. And for us, that is having as much time as possible to catch up on all of the baseball action. From tech to clothing, to daily needs, or anything else you need to prepare for the start of baseball season, Amazon has everything you need all in one convenient place and can deliver to you anytime, anywhere. Whether it's routine shopping or handling life's Curveballs, shop Amazon, and save on Essentials. Save the every day. Where do you want to go, Coach? So I think I'm going to go a little outside the box here. Beautiful. Because I think I owe them an apology and there was just another major signing today. Interesting. I'm going to Pittsburgh Pirates, man. Interesting. I'm going to your case.

Give me your case. Because I don't love it. Fine. Like, I understand. Are they on the echelon, of other teams that we're going to talk about. I think this off season, by the way, is all jumbled up because we have some teams listed as losers that I think, like, they're just, they're a good team already, so they didn't have to have a massive off season. I think the pirates were like, we hear you, everybody.

We know we have some, we have a pitching staff. We have arguably the best pitcher in all of baseball, uh, seems like a generational talent in Paul Skeen's. We know what we have behind him in that rotation. So they, they know and they made a bunch of like notable off uh offensive additions they went after kyle swarber offered him a ton of money this is not the pirates that we've like seen over the

last i know three years that we've we've said the same thing year after year can you guys do something and bring in some offense i even have a clip out there that i know is going to haunt me when i said hey if you want to see paul skein's pitch play in the playoffs play and it'll be the show That was like a mean thing that I said, I'm usually not mean like that. I shouldn't have said that. Yeah, what happened that night? I don't know. What was that?

It's going to come back to bite me because I think that. I don't know. I'm telling you, I'm not saying this year it's going to happen, Jake, but they did add, okay, let's just add in a trade, B. Lau goes there. He's a pretty good offensive player, isn't he? Yes. You can hit some homers. Whenever he plays, yes.

You love Brandon Lowe. I do. When he's on the, he has a little bit of an injury history, but when he plays, He rakes. Sure. You bring in a kind of like a possible dynamic young guy in the password from Boston. Those are the two trades. But then you go out and you get Ryan O'Hern, who can bang the ball around the yard.

You got Marcelo Zuna, who can bang the ball around the yard. They needed the right-handed bat so Marcel could fit that. Like they made notable offensive upgrades that I think you have to, I think you have to put them in the winners category for the offseason. How could you not? So like I'm, I'm in on them, not to be a postseason team this year. I love the CMB in contention for it. But like going out and like signing guys and cleaning up your deficiencies,

or at least attempting to, that's what the offseason is all about. And they did it. So I'm putting them in the winners category. I see the argument. I like Ozuna. He had some metrics that went down and he's, he is getting old 35. he did have an oblique injury that that's when he got zapped of a lot of his power, but he still got on bait.

Like, I'm in on Marcelo Zuna for next year as a DH. Like, talk about a guy that has loved and adjusted to the DH role that I think is difficult to do. That, yes, and like Ryan O'Hern has shown he will hit right-handed pitching the past few seasons. Brandon Lowe, when he's out there. So, yes, like, when you look at that Pittsburgh top six in their lineup, Spencer Horwitz Hive Raise up Go check out

Yeah I mean that's That is I love that you brought him up And Connor Griffin as well Like They have A path Jake

It's narrow It's narrow It might need a machete It's a narrow Coat And maybe there's some spiders In there And I just

I'll be interested A pirate has a sword A pirate has a sword When it turns into TPP season and we start going through every team and we look at them side by side and you know we I feel like when you we do that process we end up seeing tears of teams that it's like oh okay wow like we whenever we jump up and we get to some of those like top eight teams you're like oh my god like this is this is a different lane I'm just interested to see how we

truly feel about Pittsburgh because skeens I mean skeins is like two pitchers basically like the stuff he's putting out on the field. I think you can already call him generational. Is Connor Griffin going to be on this year's timeline? That's what I'll be interested to find out. And there was another team I was looking at. He's 19, coach. I don't know.

Maybe he's that guy and we'll see. I don't know, man. I just have some questions. And like in the NL Central, which hasn't been regarded as a beastly division, And although with where the Cubbies are at, and maybe the Cubs, sneaky winner. I don't know, man.

Like, do I like the Pirates more than the Reds? I don't think so. That's not what this exercise is about, though. Yeah, but we should. The Pirates had the ability to have an offseason that we're like, yo, let's roll it. They were in on Schwabber. They were in on some other guys.

That I don't. That's not what we're talking about because I can just say, Well, are the Phillies better than the Pirates or the, you know, the Cubs? Right. Yeah. They are. But like, do they have a great off season?

No. So that's what I'm talking. I think that's where maybe my definition is different than maybe somebody else's. But I think when you have clear needs and you address them in the off season and did they get the best players to do it? No, but they made notable signings and trades. And I believe they've boosted their payroll to. to its highest ever, which still not too high. Dalton's got that in there.

Current payroll, $105 million entering 2026, largest in franchise history. So they still got a ways to go to catch Steve Cohen and the Mets, but they're putting the chips in a little bit. Give them some crumbs, Jake. I'm giving them some, I would put them in a middle area. Like, I don't know.

Like, I think the Mets landed in a middle area, where there's so many parts out, so many parts in that I can't. say the Mets are winners. I can't really say they're losers that I think if you're the pirates, yes, I get your argument. I think I could have spent, maybe spent the money a little differently. Like I like the Lao trade. Like could O'Hern and Ozuna been Pete Alonzo? And how do I feel about that? They tried. I mean, they tried. I know. I know. And that's, you know, where did the offers actually land? And guys openly said, like, I didn't really want to go to Pittsburgh, which that's not a

great look. Yeah, they've moved the needle. I would look, hopefully next year or by mid-season, we're talking about them fully. This was the step in the right direction. I mean, I'll pivot off of that. Like, if we're comparing two teams, the Baltimore Orioles, I would think are a much bigger winner than the pirates.

They sign Pete Alonzo, who I think is as stable as power as you're going to find in baseball. And dude, he fits in with those guys. Yeah. Like Pete with Adley and that crew and the beer bong thing they got going on. They're just going to listen to Morgan Wall and talk about hunting. No way it was our last night. Hey, also, Rob, can you bookmark what I said about the pirates and keep that clip for me?

Because I know eventually I'm going to have to use it as a countermeasure to everyone yelling at me online. That's great. Great. Taylor Ward sneaky trade that kind of got overlooked early on this offseason. He almost hit 40 Taters last year. So Ward and Pete, you know, there's 70 home runs for you. Ryan Halsley, to go in the back end of the bullpen with Kitchridge. Like, I don't, you know, Helsley's Mets thing went as bad as possible.

But before that, he was regarded as one of the best relievers in baseball. So let's get him in the lab. Baz, they traded for him. Like, that's a potential breakout guy if he can have one tinker kind of go right. And if not, he's still an MLB pitcher. Like, Boz has been in the league for a while and he's still very young. Zach Eflin and their parts out right now. Grayson Rodriguez, who that whole thing landed in a weird spot,

but that's how they got Taylor Ward. And then like Sugano, who struggled for a little bit and then became more stable. and Gary Sanchez, they're like, the parts out to the parts in for me. And if I'm comparing, you know, Pittsburgh, who we just talked about, I would much rather have Baltimore's offseason. They're in a better spot, like, actually to compete, yes.

But I think they had more parts in already. I'll argue this. Okay. I'll argue this. Look at us. Because I think I'm in, I like the Orioles. And I'm actually, I'm just playing, what's that called?

Devil's advocate? Devil's advocate. Because I finishing each other's sandwiches. I thought that might get you. That's so bad. When we go to TPP's, I'm gonna be in on the Orioles.

I'm gonna be in on them. I like this team. I'm in on like holiday reaching his potential. I think there's just two. I think he just, wants it too much. And I think he's going to work his way to becoming, like, a very good baseball player.

So mark by words there. There's a world, Jake, where I can see the Pittsburgh Pirates in the Baltimore Orioles having the same record. Pittsburgh Pirates and the Baltimore Orioles. I don't know. Seems a little harsh. I know. Seems a little harsh.

That would be, like, best case scenario for the Pirates and maybe mid-worse-case scenario for the Orioles. But I'll tell you why. I like what they did offensive. I think they're going to be able to hit the ball. Shoot almost with anyone, especially with a full, healthy year of Gunner.

And then if some of those guys do make that next jump, but I love Ward. I love bringing the pop of him and Pete in there. I just, I'm not sold on starting pitching. I know there all the time, man. And maybe that's just a fault of mine. Like, that's maybe why I said that about the pirates.

Like they have the pitching, man. they have the ability to stay in games. I know like, yeah, Shane Boss could be that guy. If they would have added, if they would have gotten Framber or like somebody of that ilk, we're talking to completely different offseason for me. I do think they had a very good off season.

But to come this close and then not like just take that next step, that's where it kind of, I think even if you're an Orioles fan, you're happy with some of the moves because, hey man, we just got our butts kicked last year. It's nice to see us taking some steps to go the other way. But you have to, I would have traded some of those moves for like a Framber. Or like maybe they add that gallon and maybe we.

That's what I'm saying. Like maybe it's not done. If they end up with. If they end up with Galen, Giolito, Bassett, like how much better does that make you feel? I like Bassett. I like Bassett. I like Bassett for this team a ton. I like Bassett for them too. kind of being like

as of Chris Rose being the old guy. Yeah. Right now, I'm just saying like they're in a gauntlet of a division. Like I think the east is going to be very, very good.

And I guess prove me wrong, starting pitching wise. But, okay, I think they did. They're a winner of the out season. I think so. You need to do like grades?

Is that how we could like, uh, for what we're talking about here? I don't think that's our lane. I think, you and I would get in trouble with that. I'll do it. I'll do it. I'll give them a B.

You didn't even go to college, bro. I got college credits, dude. That's good. That's crazy. I give a B. Wait, because I didn't go to college. I don't know what letter grades are. That's Peter Moyland, dude.

Fucking 11 grade, year 11, whatever they call it. Peter Moyland, good. I give them a 40. What? How is that, dude? Shut up, Peter. I guess, well, this is where this is where this offseason in particular, I think is a little weird because, okay, I was about to go into a speech about grading on a scale. I don't care.

Don't do that. I just, I think, I think Baltimore had one of, like, I think they have an argument for the second best off season, which to give them a B for that, I don't know. I don't know. Grading on a scale is. So stupid. It's a little. Unless it makes your grade better, great for you. But like the system in a whole out on it.

Yeah. I think, I think it's, it's BS if people are doing. What if you're around a bunch of dummies? If people are succeeding at whatever you're doing, I think it's BS. If you're, it's like, oh, you got a 91, but 10 people got a 95. So like, that's BS. But dude, I was in, I was in an econ class that nobody knew what was gone. on. This is actually, shout out. Nusur Rajput, the professor, my guy.

Was he a bad professor? It was just tough, man. Like, he expected us all to be, like, econ till we die. And, like, there's probably one person in the room that wanted to take that class, but it was required for business. Final day rolls up, and everyone's, like, anxious. Like, he's going to either have to pass or fail all of it. Like, dude, people are getting testbacks with, like, 30. and you're just like, dude, like, what? So I don't know. I, like, tried to study, which I only did for, like, five tests in my life.

I'm taking the final exam, and I'm like, I'm kind of, I think I'm doing okay. Without even thinking, I go to hand in, I finish. I was the first person to finish the test. The professor looks up, and he was like a pretty straight, straight face guy. You just started chuckling. He's like, you didn't. Like, you shouldn't be the first one done with this test. And he graded everyone on a scale.

I think I got C plus, got through. I don't know. Maybe I am. Maybe I did you need to go to college to have an opinion on this. You didn't need to go to that class. Can I let me, I want to follow up with a weird, I have my weird winner. You're Pittsburgh. Yeah.

My weird winner is the Detroit Tigers. Because the first thing that I would take for my. Why is that weird? Well, I think the first big. biggest thing is they didn't trade scoobal, which that was one of the stories of the offseason is this kind of guy who's on a legendary run right now. Were the tigers going to move on from him? They do not, and not only do they not move on from him, they had Framber Valdez.

Speaking of your best Western traveler check-in, Framber Valdez to Detroit, we haven't talked about it on this show yet. So I don't know. Life's a trip. Make the most of it. Go to Best Western. A little Best Western in Detroit action? Me, Dahl, Rob. Trev taps out of that trip. Why? I don't know.

I don't know. We'd love to have you. That's not a trip that's actually happening so far this year. We'll let you guys know. Go to Best Western. They have 4,000 of them. That not only do they keep Scoobel, the 1A bad dude in the game, him in Skeen's, They add Framber, which gives them one of the best one, two punches in baseball. Kenley Jansen goes in the bullpen.

The second, in the past four years, he's number two in active saves. It's a little tricky. It's Hater and then him. First is Class A, but he's, he going. See you. They're like, yeah, Glaber with the qualifying offer. They could have lost Glaberers. They could have traded away Scouble.

They could have not signed Framber. they have their highest payroll in team history. So, and, like, I guess for me, I'm also keeping an eye on the division. Nobody else really, like, the Royals had a Royals-ish offseason. I think they'd be one of those middler, middle of the pack teams. Your twins have been doing and not doing. And then the guard dogs are doing their same thing. That I think what Detroit did, we could have been viewing

them in a very different scope. Yeah, I mean, if they didn't sign Framber, it's a completely different discussion. Yeah. I mean, they needed that. Take a little bit of the weight off of Scoobel's shoulders. I love the one-two punch. He's a dog. He eats up innings.

He's going to save the bullpen a little bit for them. All that's great. Flaherty's back. He's stoked about the season. I talked to him the other day. And I think what people don't realize is they're also. Offense was sneaky good last year. Yeah.

During the year. I think everyone remembers kind of how the playoffs went when they didn't really score. And so you could kind of point that direction. They didn't really make any additions to the offensive side of the ball. Matt Veerling's back. Yeah, my guy. Your guy guy. But they're a team.

They're looking for guys to step up. Like, can Colt Keith take the next step? Can he be a guy? Had a decent year last year. is there more like with dylan dingley that's kind of getting greedy with your catcher but like is there more in there can riley green turn into like a super superstar like i think that's what when you listen to scott harris talk which again weirdly i like listen to like him what are you doing it's off-season it's chris rose that's you want to listen to scott harris talk that's crazy man i don't like you know

but you know that's that's something gms will tell you or whatever he is is he was a president or not we expect more out of our players and that's i think that's as much as it as it is a cop out sometimes there's there's some truth to that like hey like we think this guy i mean colkeith is what 23 or 24 years old like you know can he enter his prime and turn into something like can we expect more of the guys we have we like them i don't that that's the one thing i'll go to it then it's like they they're a decent offense i think they had some things go real real right for them last year And can they, like, can they, like, so you have to have that happen again.

I'm in on the win because Framber is great. And they've, they've just kind of done it. Like they've proved, yeah, they proved me wrong for sure. But they end up losing the division last year. Like Cleveland won the division. Yeah, I know. People remember that? I know.

Just like an epic, an almost an epic collapse by them. But they have a good team. They have like a formula that, works. And I talked about this with Chris. If you're a manager and you didn't want to take on the Framber Valdez challenge, I'll call it, that's sad. Everyone should have said, I want that. Give me that guy. I got him. Well, and hey, we talked about dynamics a little bit. Hinch is his former manager. So there's already something established there. And it has a massive ego, so that works. And scoobel's the guy.

Like, so I think for what we were talking about for Framber, which, dude, Trev, you're right. We got so far off the needle with Framber because of a cross pitch. Dude, he got 38.3 million, the most by a left-handed pitcher ever. Like, that's who this guy kind of is. I mean, you have to hit free agency at the right time, and we've talked about his, like, durability and that kind of stuff that adds to it. Most by a Latin American pitcher.

How about that? Let's go. Fifth highest for a pitcher ever behind Shohei Scherzer, Verlander, and Wheeler. So, like, this is a dude and him and Scobel at the top of your playoff rotation. Like, I'm in. And I think all the stuff you talked about in the lineup, like, when I look at Colt Keith's baseball card, that seems like a guy that's primed for a breakout season.

That feels like, you know, they're doing the all-star ceremonies, and he's waving the tiger cap on the first baseline. Riley Green's 25. Like, we almost have some Riley Green fatigue, and it feels like there can be more in there. Torkelson's 26. The light bulb kind of went on last year. Like, I'm, I think Carrie and Glaber hit.

I think they have their recipe. They got some lefty-righty platoon stuff. Hinch is the guy, which I like. Like, Hinch is the manager. And I know sometimes we never know where to land the plane with actual manager conversations, but I like where the offseason landed for Detroit. Yeah, and they have the ability to go and get somebody offensively during the season.

I think that's, you can put them, I guess anybody can. Great analysis. Yeah. But you know what I'm talking? Maybe that's where they're thinking. No, what I'll tell you is interesting. Their two top prospects, Kevin McGonigal and Max Clark, top 10 guys.

They're both 20, 21, and they're, they've, like played double A baseball. Yeah. Shortstop and a center fielder. So it's going to be very interesting to me is one of them going to be able to make the final leap this year? Like, what are they doing timeline-wise? Like, what if they get the juice and the trade deadline comes along? I'm wondering how they're going to navigate that. There's still a lot of young guys on the roster.

They've got those guys. they've got a couple other top 50 prospects. Are they just looking at the next five years of Tigers baseball? Yeah, of course that's what they're doing. I know they are, but I... It gets a little annoying because it's like, hey, Scoobble's here for one more year. Exactly.

That like... Like there are times I get it, man. Sustained success, building the organization from the ground up. Yes, in on that. Every once in a while, a effing unicorn comes around that you probably need to push the chips in a little bit. and that is on, he's on your team. And you didn't, you haven't pushed the chips in basically at all with him on your team.

If you want to call Framber Valdez push the chips in, maybe you can. But like, I think if you're a Detroit fan, you're like, I don't think we really went like this with Scoobel. Yeah, I guess that's where I'm interested. They've had some success. I mean, they, they were in the CS, right? No. They went to, they went to game five of the DS 15 innings against the Marin.

They got beaten the DS by the mirrors in that game, yeah. I don't know. Like, how would we be treating them differently if they went to the CS? No, I think we'd be more pissed at them. Ooh, interesting. I like that. That was all brought to you by Best Western. Like I told you guys, 4,000 hotels worldwide.

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Do we want to do some quick winner snaps for a couple other teams that popped up? Are we on the same wavelength? I was going to say the same thing. I did want to add that that Kid Rock show I went to, like, Kid Rock was like not great, but puddle of mud crushed it. Whoa. Yeah. Didn't realize that.

Yeah, puddle of mud. Puddle of mud. What a show I went to. Me and Olivia were like, where are we here? What do they have? Oh, I mean, blurry and she hates me. I mean Talk about a song

That spoke to like my chunky middle school heart Yeah Oh that's them too Yeah I tried so Okay So let's start checking boxes Yeah I think we should go quick through the winners here

I have one that's off the the sheet But let's just go what's on the sheet The white socks Like are they like in the same boat as the pirates? Yeah I think there could be a There's like a snaps White Sox Pirates Bucket. Like you guys kind of did stuff and that's nice. I don't know what it means.

I don't either. I mean, I think there's some, like, there's some fun stuff going on, uh, on the white socks. Like Colson Montgomery is like a real like,

he's like a hell of a player. Yeah, man. So like you have that. Number one. That's great to like, they, they have stuff. Yes.

Uh, I think a lot of people are going to be excited to see what Murakami can do. Uh, at that ballpark, I, Chicago is, the new Japanese hub. Love that for Chicago. Great. You bring in Saranthony, which is the look. That one's fishy to me.

I'm not really sure like how many games they're going to be leading. They need to guide the back end of the bullpen. But trade bait like you read about. Love that for them. You know, Austin Hayes, nice addition in the outfield. They trade for Jordan Hicks. Acuna, who I'm super in on, never kind of found his footing with the Mets. I'll call it right now. I'm like, Akunia. has a great season next year. Like, I wouldn't surprise me if he ends up a three plus war season next year. Okay.

They have a, they have an MLB team. Like I think for the past couple years, we like haven't been able to say that. So again, when we're talking winners and losers, they've elevated in that way. And they finally traded Luis Robert, which I think they needed to happen. They've moved on. Like, they've turned a page in White Sox history and they're going to see how all these young guys are. and hey, if they, if they, your guy Chase Midroth. We always, you know, Edgar Carrow, we can't stop.

Yeah. I think another, I'd say, I'd say the biggest miss so far has, would be the Toronto Blue Jays. I think they have an argument similar to the Dodgers, similar to the Orioles where they, they spent a ton of money. I want to hear this one. They spent a ton of money this off season. Okay. So it's the part out that I think scares just feels so different as Bo Bichette.

Like Bo Bichette has been, when we've talked about the Blue Jays for the past five years, it's been Vladdie and Beset, right? That Bichet is out and what is that going to mean for the team? But, like, Dylan Cese is a serious arm that he could, that contract's going to be an interesting one to look back at in a few years. Is it going to be Zach Wheeler 2.0? Is it going to be like a, eh, I don't know. Okamoto, nobody has an idea, but my dude got paid.

Like, when you look at how much hitters got paid, like 60 million was one of the bigger payouts for a hitter this year. And then, like, Cody Ponce coming back over. I'm not sure what that's going to look like, but we've seen that work for so many guys at this point. Tyler Rogers, that, yeah, when I look at the parts out, Bichette, Sir Anthony, IKF, like Manoa, you have to count Bassett at this point, Scherzer, that the team dynamic is like Bassett, Scherzer and Bichette, like those are big players, big personalities. But like they put chips back on the table. Is David Popkins back or not?

He is. That's all that really matters. Look, I would be more excited if I had clarity on like this whole Shane Bieber situation. That's right from the start. From the start. So he is a little hurt. like I need to know what kind of hurt he is because if he looks like he did the end of the season and is that guy that totally changes things for me we're talking about

Gossman cease a healthy Bieber and then you savage to start out the rotation that's that's awesome man and then you got you got ponds to back him up and and some other guys there so like I like the rotation there like the whole I need to know more about Bieber so if you're Toronto fan if you got some inside information or maybe I'm just missing it. I want to know more about that. I'm good with this team, dude. They have a team. This to me feels

like all the kind of pieces of the puzzle are there. Losing Bobichette really, really hurts. Yes, we need to see what Okamoto can do in Major League Baseball, or in Major League Baseball. I want to see what he is. But yeah, they have they already have the pieces here.

So, like, again, I think they're, I mean, Dylan sees for Boba Chet is kind of like the offseason, right? So like, do you consider that a win? I'm not really sure. Yeah, I don't know. And like, again, like we do, Okamoto, we're flying blind right now.

Yeah. What, he could be a guy. Like, what if he's, I think he profiles differently, but what if he's say a Suzuki? Then it's like, yeah, dude, the Blue Jays had an amazing offseat. But we don't know. What if Ernie Clement hit 300 in the playoffs instead of 500? Like, are we looking at this lineup different?

Like, I think we have not Ernie Clement fatigue, but what's the opposite of that? I think the other thing that's fun that, I don't know if this will be a case study or not, but, you know, all the defensive analytics that go into baseball now that sometimes they help your story, sometimes they don't. Like going from Besedit short to Jimenez full year, I wonder, you know, that grades out, war-wise as a similar player probably, but one of them is all defense, one of them's all offense.

I wonder how that feels like. Remember when he hit every clutch postseason Homer? What is the postseason? He took Shohei up top in game seven to put about three nothing coach. It was going to be one of those badass home runs we've ever seen. Because he's got that swing.

You know I love that swing. Remember how nuts that was? Yeah, dude. Those last couple games were bonkers. All I wanted to do was, like, I'll say it. Okay, sometimes I get tired of baseball at the end of the year. So much October drains me. To grind.

Not this time? Yeah. I wanted to keep going. Yeah. Yeah. And to think, yeah, there's a couple swings and plays that instead of talking Dodgers, repeaters. I think so much happened that we didn't even give, like in real time, didn't even think about it.

Like the ICF lead off third base, like the Miggy Row play on that. Dude, the Miggy Row defensive play. How about freaking Pahess going up and tackling Kiki to, I mean, Ernie Clement would have a statue. Ernie Clement should still get a statue. All right. That's just. Blue Jays are going to be fun this year, man. I often find myself thinking about David Popkins, which that's, he's the man.

Questions? David S. Popkins. Any other winners that need to come out? Hey, I got, let's do this quick because I was interested the way you phrase it. I think the Cubs have more of a winner argument than a loser argument. Bregman's kind of been there, White Whale, apparently, and they bring him in. And the Edward Cabrera trade was kind of a sneaky. There's some potential there.

But we have downplayed Kyle Tucker leaving with the Cubs a lot. He got $240 million to play baseball. and they just retooled their whole pitching that I don't know what to do with that. So, so I got a couple. Okay. I want to go down. We haven't even talked about other red socks listed on our sheet. Okay, fine.

I don't want a finger point. Yeah. They're listed. I don't necessarily agree with where they're out on the sheet, but I want to go one more team because I was kind of like reading up on here and then I was like, oh, this does make sense. The Braves. Hmm. Bobby Swares.

Yeah. Going up, shoring up the bullpen. They go out and get some outfield help in Yaz and Dubon. And they just, Ha-Song Kim comes over. I know he's hurt. What's the report on that? It's kind of bad.

I think broke his hand. He's like, like three months? It's season-ish. Yeah. That puts a damper on the off season. It's a little damper on it. And yeah.

I think I'm going to be like the most gung-ho on the Braves going into the year. Like big bounce back year. They kind of like, they kind of like filled some holes that they needed there. And like they already have a very, very good team. And we're talking like full health, let's go, tiny rock and roll braise. I like the Bobby Swarres edition a lot for them. I think I gave them the same speech last time that if they end up with Gallin, Bassett, Gialito, I really like their outlook.

But again, that's, I don't know. Ricella Iglesias and Bobby Swarres at the end of your games. Yeah, sign me out. Pretty nasty. Those are the guys you didn't want to see at the plate. Ronald Kunia Jr. Dancing with Bad Bunny. Yeah, but you have to feel like there's an effect there.

My Celebrity All-Star teammate. Hey, is that true that Bad Bunny offered to pay for the Puerto Rican insurance for the WBC? And they said no? I mean, maybe. I don't, I'm not as prepped on that as I'd like to be. Shout up Bad Bunny. I'm, he's, he's a vibe, huh? I also liked his interview.

I just saw the clip of it, but they were like, he's like, I'm not an athlete. I'm on a, I'm not. Oh, yeah. When he was carrying the rock, I was sitting next to a certain MVP. By the way, Drake May MVP 2 almost won it. I don't know if you saw what he did against the Seahawks or what my guy did. Whatever. I said, hey, bad bunny, bad ball security.

I would have slap that thing out of there. Panic had a really good, really good tweet on it that, um, We posted and it got viral. It made me laugh. It was high and tight. The old teaky barber. Got it pinned. Okay.

Was I going to say something about the Braves? I don't think so. Okay. Let's, we've given out a lot of flowers, Coach Trev. I think we need to... I think we got to give out some losers. And preface it by saying, like, obviously we know there are some teams that, like, did not have a good off season. I'll go. Ale Central. Not great, guys. Let's start there. The rest. I mean,

the guardians, not great. It's part of the reason the Tigers, for me, were, like, they could have done the front office BS of like, sign Framber. We're trading scoble for this, that, and the other, and we're still the favorites. But they didn't. So that's where I gave them a little credit. Guardians talking about trading Stephen Kwan. and then doing nothing else. They did sign Jose Ramirez to an extension. Great. But like, I mean, they. Tough for them.

Look, yeah, my twins didn't have a great off season. I understand that. Things might be changing in that organization. Shout out Tom Poled out. Let's go, baby. I remembered what I was going to say before. Just been, it's tearless season on Wake and Jake with Jolly, which is always just an interesting look at the different positions around baseball.

Ron LeCoonia Jr., I didn't realize how much of an on-base guy he is. Like, well, no, you think, you think of his contact, you think of his speed, you think of his power, got 417 clip last year. And he was 416 in his MVP season, like. Hasn't he 3, 4, 5th in before? I'm pretty sure. He 3, yeah, his MVP season, and he just missed it last year in limited action. But I don't know, I think when you normally think of guys who are as toolsy as Ronald, you kind of just assume they're like, I don't know, like, I thought Ronald Cune was like a 3-5. on base guy. When I saw 380, I was like, Jesus, this dude's a mom.

My new player cop for him, Mani Ramirez, with speed. What? Yes, dude. Mani Ramirez is who you went with for Ron Lecun. Yeah, dude. I think he's got a different skill set. Wait for the second half of his career when the speed runs out and he just tortures, pitchers and kind of poops on baseball. I mean on that.

Thick Ronnie. I'm sorry. I shouldn't use that word. Come on, Trev. Okay, we wonder. You know what? The losers are brought to you by Seekek. Sorry, guys. And if your team hasn't been mentioned yet, scary.

But maybe go see them. Maybe we're wrong. Spring training is here. I'm going to Tampa this weekend. I keep forgetting that. The World Baseball Classic is right around the corner. NBA, Chell, the World Cup's coming up this summer. Shout out to Seek,

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download the app, have the code automatically added to your account so you can use it later. How do you like that? Seekkekeke coach? Am I leading this one off too? Give me the ball. Am I Kenneth Walker right now?

You are. All right, I'll start. Former team of mine. Again, I'll preface this by saying, still a very good team on paper. But I think we can start with the Philadelphia Phillies. And I, now, now with a caveat, there was a couple guys they had to bring back. Right. Who they brought back? Kyle Schwerber coming off MVP2, give him five year 150.

J.T. Riumuto, got him. Got him. Got him. three years 45 did not think the third year was coming so like they had to re-sign those guys and they did and Jose Alvarado and as he does something stupid again

will be in the bullpen at the end of the year in part of the playoff front so that's nice for them but you know I think you I think you losing Ranger definitely does not help I also think losing Harrison Bader does not help them at all although we're talking about

a Crawford, like, getting a chance to, like, be a guy there. So maybe, maybe I'm canceling those out and we're doing it. I just think it wasn't, it wasn't a great offseason. And, like, the only way it could have been a win is if it was a great off season. If Alex Bregman gets there and they make a bomb trade or, you know, something like that. Like, if Cattel Marte ended up there, like, it would have been a great off season. I don't think it's necessarily like a loss off season, but it's it's middling because they're already good.

Yeah, I think the things you can point at are like Harrison Bader is great for them last year. And he goes and that is what it is. Ranger Suarez, dude, like who he's been for them during the season and during the postseason. And then the final piece of data is that they thought they were signing Bo Bichette. Like, they went to bed that night, seven years, 200 million Boba Chet, which, Trev, the other side of this argument is, okay, again, Real Mudo and Shoreboro are bringing the same guys back, which, no qualms, and I'm not going to poke anything at that. But now you're telling me, okay, Justin Crawford, maybe he gets a look, and hey, if he's a dude, he's a dude. Aiden Miller, one of their top prospects, but they were going to bring in Bichette.

So that doesn't necessarily have to be shots fired at him because any team should want to bring in Bo Bichet if he wants to play there. And then Andrew Paineter in the rotation, who he's supposed to be a dog, like let's find out. But now we're talking about banking on a few young guys here that what is that? Like we talked about, I guess a little bit with some of these teams,

are you going to be bridging the gap to the next? half of Phillies baseball? Are you going to be at the trade deadline being like, damn, we're a starter short, we're an infielder short. You know, they also, like, Castellanos is still looming. I mean, that could end by the time this podcast comes out. And, you know, like, stop and boom.

Like, I don't know. I think Philly fans expected some movement, and maybe they shouldn't because the team did win 96 games last year, but you can't call it a win. All right. Let's want to go to scary hours real quick. Yeah, hell, yeah. You're a Phillies fan.

I mean, I don't know. Either turn this off or, like, getting closer. Harper is going to eat the hell out of us. Real talk. Oh, Harper is fine in this conversation. I would never disrespect Bryce Harper. Big fan of his. Same.

I think he's underrated hot guy. How about that? I don't think he gets enough credit for how hot he is. And he thinks. How about that? I think you're right. He does have a couple. And hey, you know, if the gun was,

pointed at me with this statement. My goodness. But like some of those Harper TikToks when he was really getting into it, he looked. Oh. Um, how do I say this? He had like new parent face. Like he, he looked tired. Yeah. He looked tired.

He looked tired. We'll just leave that one here. I'm going to leave that. Listen. Love this team. Philly's fans, no, I've been on them. I want them to win a World Series. Sam Fold.

Going to school right now? I still don't understand that Sam I love you so much invite me to a party college party I don't really want to go to a college no man I don't like not at all once you age I'll go to a tailgate though what's up anyways this team good team do you know who's like really at the helm of this team double these Dave Dombrough yeah my guy I'm going to bring you back in time about a decade. Oh, yeah. When he was with the Detroit Tigers, the hell of a team.

Never got the job done fully. And man, oh man, did he leave that organization like a waste pile for a while? Don't let that happen in Philly. Please. Like, they got to win one, coach. And I'm not like super in tune on like what their, you know, farm system looks like right now. but I know the tigers went through a tough time after Dombrough left. And I'm just saying, like, I don't want that to happen for Philadelphia.

I, um, yeah, I don't think we need to get any darker with it because I also think those young players we talked about if they need to make a move, that's, that's where Dombrough thrives. But like, those Detroit Tigers teams are arguably like one of the best teams to never win it. And like, I don't know. You don't want those thoughts to be creeping in. You don't want those thoughts to be creeping in. Sorry, I don't.

I'm sorry, I don't know. You've thought about it too, Philly's fans. You've thought about that. Well, hey, let me, you know, if Philly fans were actually getting mad with us, although I think most of them have the same sentiment, I'll do a double dip with myself and my enemy. My friend is my enemy.

I think the Yankees and Red Sox, you can like, the Yankees are running it back. The Red Sox, the Yankees are not the same in this regard. Okay. Yankees are running it back. Go. Yankees are running it back. They won 94 games.

They made a lot of moves at the deadline. And maybe that's the new team. And let's see what we're. And Cole's going to be back mid-year. Ryan Weathers. Let's see what the pitching looks like. I don't know, man. I come back to Aaron.

One day Aaron Judge will not be Aaron Judge. And right now the fourth. four hitters surrounding him are Trent Grisham, who had a breakout year, and I hope that's who he is, but also baseball can be funny. Cody Belanger, I love Cody, and, like, his fit next to judge is actually perfect, so like that. And then, like, they've got so much in the Ben Rice basket, which I hope we're talking about him a lot this year. And I, you know, he was the unluckiest hitter in baseball ever last year. Okay. I've just seen how baseball works. I hope Ben Rice is one of those guys. And we're, there's a bunch of rice and judge jokes and it's special.

But like, you can also, if I look down in May and I'm looking at the guys surrounding Aaron Judge the best hitter I've ever watched play and it doesn't feel right. God, that's really, that's not going to feel good. So that's, that's what I have to say about that. It's a little Phillies-ish, right, where you run it back. You had to bring back Bellinger. You had to do that. Most of you guys listening to you and, you and, you're not, you're going to, and Jim and Joe's talk, like that was a foregone conclusion in your mind. Like that didn't even really feel like

it's obviously not an addition because he's just running it back. But you felt like that was going to happen. It did. That's a good thing. If you would have went somewhere else, we're talking completely different feel to this off season.

Look, I think what a lot of people don't realize and myself included at the end of the year, like the Yankees had a very, very good team last year offensively. Like the best offense in baseball was the New York. Yankees. Yes, Judge was great, but like the hitters around him were also very good. You mentioned Trent Grisham, hell of a year. He had some, he had some streaks where he was just unbelievable.

Like awesome. Trent was awesome. Yeah. So I'm in, I'm, I'm super curious about the source-stop situation, just like everybody else is. I think it all hinges. And this is, you know, kind of an outsider looking into. Do I watch Yankee games? Yes. Am I in tune as you are? It all hinges to me on what. those two starting pitchers look like when they come back. Like if you get like Bangor Rodon and Cole and you have now like an excellent rotation and you're bringing back what by all statistics basically was the best offense in baseball,

that's pretty good. And you got Bednar in the back and you got, you know, like decent options at the end of the bullpen. I get it. I like a little bit more there too. Maybe I'm wrong, but I think I like a little bit more there in the back end of the bullpen. But if you're talking about,

talking about, Freed, Rodon, Cole, and Schlittler, and the best offense in baseball, I can get behind that. Yeah. Hey, man. I get it. I worry about the pieces surrounding judge. And, hey, the Yankees are getting, you know, we've done way too much talking about grading on a scale.

But, like, the Yankees are being graded on a different scale that, yeah, there's a lot of nice pieces there. I'm very, I'm obviously very interested to see where we're at with midseason. And then I guess I threw the Red Sox in the same pot with them. And I take it back. Like the Bregman thing was a big blow because of everything they talked about as an organization and the Devers part of this, which Red Sox fans, you know, part of the reason they they like ended up going with the Devers trade.

MLB executives are like, wow, they actually got some stuff back. Now they kind of don't. The Devers trade is pretty much done after they traded Kyle Harrison for Caleb Durbin. Oh, Caleb Durbin's for Devers. I do like. And I don't know. I will be interested to see. I mean, they got Sunny Gray and Wilson Contreras essentially for free, but in a way, that's a bad sign.

But I could also, hey, the Yankees did that with Belly last year, and it worked out fantastic. And then, like, Ranger Swires is an impact piece. So I don't, I think the Bregman thing looms and feels probably. a little bigger than it actually is. I don't know. That one's tough. I do like the team. I had them in the World Series last year.

It didn't work out. I still am very bullish on where I see the Red Sox. And I do think there are another team that still has like a ton of value that they can go to and trade from. They still have those outfielders that people really will covet during the year. So like their their like roster is not set. Like it's just not. Like there's going to be more moves.

But yeah, I'm, I'm in, coach. I love, obviously love the Rangers for signing. I love me some Caleb Durbin. I like the trade for them for, with the Milwaukee that happened this morning. Short King Caleb Durbin, Monasterio. I think they even got a pick in the draft, which is, you know, I guess. That's all you care about. Call it what you want to call it.

But they have, they have. They have a chance to be one of my favorite teams in baseball. They do. I just, I don't know why I like them so much. Obviously, Garrett Crochet leading the helm with Ranger Suarez, one, two punch is awesome. And then behind that, you kind of have, what I would consider still question marks, but like I'd err on the sign of them being like a pretty good back end of the rotation in Gray and Beio and Oviedo.

And there's some other guys there that you didn't even talk about, like some of the young guys. And they had success last year too. So I'm in. I'm in on the Red Sox. I think the Bregman, this is where I forgot to go. Sorry, mine's wandering. Bregman, I think, is a big loss to that team. It is.

Do I still like the roster? Yes. But again, like, you just heard time and time again, like the influence that he had in that clubhouse. And you just, you can't, you can't take that for granted. He's a great player. I think having someone around him or having, being around someone, like him elevates players.

So there's that effect. We'll see if they, maybe that lives on this year. Like some of the lessons that they learned from him last year just kind of roll on and we see these guys kind of take it to the next level. But I'm so in on this team. Again, with the caveat that they still have massive trade chips to play with during the year. Yeah, as I look at it all on paper, I like, I soft like their offseason. It will be interesting to check in and see how they deal with their young guys.

Because, again, it's a lot of lefty pitchers. A lot of lefties. And I don't know, if they get off to a limp and start and the fan base is talking about Bregman Endeavors, it'll just be interesting. It'll just be interesting. That's where they're feeling the pain. And again, it's not misguided, but I think it's just like, okay, yeah,

Devers is gone. We thought we're getting Bragman. That didn't happen. Bichette didn't. I call them boshet. Boshat. I like that, yeah. Anyone ever said that before?

Boshat. That sounds like a swear word. Bichette was supposed to go there. It didn't happen. Cotel Marte rumors were there. It didn't happen. Esock Paredes rumors were there. It didn't happen.

Hey, you got Caleb Durbin though, which we like. Hey. So I think that's where some of the anger comes from. But like, if you sat back and just looked as a Boston Red Sox fan and said, do I like my roster going to the year? I think you say, hell yeah. Yeah. For spring training mode, let's see what this,

team is. And yeah, again, I think Boston just thought their team was going to land in a different place. This is, of recent years, this is my favorite pitching staff of theirs going into a season. And like, is this, on Fangrasst,

I don't, this isn't the staff. Like, is, we're not saying, we're not going to see Peyton Toll at all or Connolly early. Hey, man, they've got depth. I think they're going to see what they're working with. Too many lefties that like, we just can't have them in the rotation?

I think you can't have, I know this is corny, but you can't have too many starting pitchers. Somebody's going to get hurt. Like, those guys are going to throw. But can you have too many lefties in starting rotation is my question? I don't know. I think it depends on your plan. I think you can, right?

If you're just feeding righties. They got those guys dangling as trade chips. They're both 23 still, but just about to turn 24. You have the outfielers. Like, they're positioned so well. I agree. I agree that, like, it'll be interesting to see if they put the chips on the table. Because they, they haven't. They haven't. And, like, they, okay, I guess I can use the affiliate.

They thought Bregman was coming back. Remember? They were like, we're devastated. So, okay. And you didn't, offensively, you didn't replenish that. So that'll be something to watch. But Red Sox find a way to hit every year. Yeah, Wilson Contreras, bro. Right? Don't be sleep. Might be a fantasy steel this year. Nice, dude.

Good. And I think, Trev, of all the teams that, because, hey, I don't want to be rude to, well, I will be rude, but like, Cincinnati, Miami, San Diego, Tampa, like, there's a lot of teams that didn't. Should we, Seattle? They kind of had a nice off suit. Hey. Oh, shit. Seattle's going to be pissed at us. They didn't need to do a lot.

but they brought in Brendan Donovan and re-signed Josh Naler. I mean, they're sitting very, very pretty. I think Seattle fans are like not, they're like, they're fine with us not talking about them because. Ooh, I like that spin for us. I like that. See how I did that right? Seattle doesn't even want us talking about him.

I think they had a very nice offseason. I guess they lose A.ohenio, but when he came over, he wasn't, he wasn't Arizona, A. Yeah, a few postseason at bats, but he was not good for them. I guess, I mean, resigning Naylor, if they had lost Naylor, that's a different conversation. They add Donovan. So, yeah, I guess it's not Rob Reff Snyder, mashing some lefties. Speaking of lefties, don't bring them to Rob Reff.

They are a clear, one of the clear winners of the offseason. It's a very safe. That would be. I don't know if it's safe. I mean, going to getting Brennan Donovan's is great for them because I did this with Chris Rose. Jose Ferrer? Yeah.

Yeah. I left the out of the pen that they needed. We saw Gabe Spire's arm fall off in the freaking postseason. They, Brandon Donovan fits their timeline, not only their roster this year, but their timeline of like guys they have. Cole Young, who's the, who's the shortstop prospect for them? Cole Young. Money long.

Montgomery. Cole Emerson? Cole Emerson. Montgomery is with the White Sox. I got to get my young guy's names right. Colt Colson. If J. P. Crawford last year this year, they have Emerson coming up. Like, is he going to be a shortstop?

Is he going to move the third base? Like Donovan can, like, kind of just like mix a match all over the diamond. Wherever they need, they can plug them in. So he just, it's a win of an offseason for them, no doubt. Yeah, I agree. That where I was building up that speech for was just the Mets have done so much. I kind of mentioned them early on that like the parts in, parts out for me is almost so overwhelming that it's tough to pick either direction.

I really like the Peralta trade for them. Offensively and defensively, I'm interested to see where it goes. I think I'd lean positive, but also, I don't know. I'm such a Pete guy that, like, there's a lot of Homer. That's a lot of RBI you're missing. Parts out a lot, no doubt. Kind of like heartbeat of your team, I would say, too.

Yeah. So you have no heart in you. I'm just kidding. No, I think they went from having one of the worst off seasons of, in recent memory, to having a very, very good. I would give them a letter grade. Here we go. B plus.

Okay. I mean, dude, Boba Shett comes in. Devin Williams, I know you're like soured on Devin Williams. I know that. I understand that. He's still a very, very good reliever. Okay. Like so like that softens the blow of an Edwin Diaz there.

The Freddie Peralta trade like, I mean, are you kidding me? Like they're getting this guy to fortify the rotation, which they completely needed. Look at this sheet. Look at our YouTube right now. It's a lot. It's a lot. If your podcast only, Rob's been posting, you know, the addition, subtractions, resignings. And this is easily, easily the most movement.

A lot of the, a lot of the subtractions, though. I mean, I guess you're so right. Like, it was a lot of freaking, like, guys that have been with that organization for a while. They needed a shakeup, coach. I know. That's where I was going to make a joke. When you talked about, you know, changing the heartbeat, like, maybe they needed a heartbeat change. Like, that seems like that was part of their offseason intentions.

Gosh, it's so many people. Okay. Freddie Pralta, obviously super high on. I'm a Tobias Myers believer. Sure. Like, especially if you think you can tap in. to you can get him on the mound and fix some stuff. Like the guy's got, he's electric.

So, yeah, I'm in on Tobias Meyer. I want to see what Lubbob does. Yeah, I call him that. So what? Come at me. I want to see what he does there. I'm a man. I think the Polanco signing is interesting.

That could go one or two ways, in my opinion, coach. I'm happy that he got the bag, but he was awesome, awesome for the Mariners at the beginning of last year, kind of fell off and then had some really nice postseason and hits for him. I think he's going to fit and fine to that lineup. And then I mentioned Boba Shedden Williams. They added a ton. I know they subtracted a lot, but I think

the shakeup was needed. And if, I mean, they needed the pitching more than anything, like the starting more than anything, and they got that. So that's where I am like high on them. If they didn't get those guys,

it's a good. And it was just Boba Shet and Devin Williams for Edwin Diaz and Pete Alonzo. I'm out on that. Like, that's, I mean, call it net if you want, but like the fact they got Freddie Peralta and Tobias Myers, to me, that's big. It's big. Yes. It's massive, it's a massive overhaul. And it's like everything we're saying.

I mean, Nimmo and Alonzo have been such staples for how you started off a Mets game. And that's, that's gone now. So I, you know, this, this, the analyst, the analysis you've waited for at the hour 15. minute mark. I like Bichette and Freddie Peralta for the team. Like that's great. That's fantastic. No, but they freaking needed, they needed starters. They were going to pull another rabbit

out of the hat like they did like two years ago. Okay. Like, which they did people. Yeah. Okay. Let's go Shamaniah. Let's go. Go Luis Robert. Dude. Be that guy. I mean, that would, if he has

one of his good seasons, then I think the offseason's a massive win, but I can't, I can't tell you that. He ain't been that for a little bit. Is this like David Stern's like kind of like hot seat season? If this, like, goes down in flames, Jake, which I don't think it's going to. I don't think so, yeah. If this goes down in flames.

Hey, man, it's just going to be interesting. They missed the playoffs last year with 83 wins. Like if they do that again, 83 wins stinks, bro. It's not a good season for a team with expectations like this. It's not. For me, it still feels like they're trying to do too much of a high wire act of being the Brewers Mets. Like. Yeah, just be the big dogs.

Get rid of that little little dog mentality. Get out. Like if I know I know this isn't how it works and guys have to agree and blah blah blah But like how would we be talking about the Mets if instead of Polanco and Luis Robert They signed Belli and Alonzo I think we would be hyped for the Mets Belly would have looked great there good looking guy another sneaky underrated hot guy everyone See I'm the other way I'm the other way really too much too much credit yeah he's so tall and like you know athletic and good body that he gets by with a lot of things.

That's horrible. If he was shorter, he wouldn't be as good looking. I think he gets, girls don't care about height. And I think the other thing, I don't, he gets the stoner stuff so much that I think that takes away from him just being a good looking cat. All right. Him or Freddie Peralta right now.

Ooh. I'm a hair guy. Freddy's hair is pretty, and I don't know. Maybe I'm still. Before you hit the music, Bob. Right. I need to answer this. Boba Chet or Cody Bellinger.

Again, I guess I, first thing I jumped to his hair, which is odd. Boba Shed doesn't have the hair anymore. Oh, that's right. Yeah. Cody, Cody. Cody. I'm not letting you talk me out of that. Oh, who swing is sweeter?

Oh, my, end the episode. Just people listening to their first episode and they're like, What the hell did they just do at the end? Awesome. Oh, a couple things happened. Nick Martinez is going to the raise. Wow. Oh, gosh.

The White Sacks are signing Eric Fetty. White Sacks. Okay. Your Chicago came out there, Babel. And Trev's twins getting in the mix. They've signed Gio or Schella to a minor league deal. Hey! He's been there.

Gio's back. Okay. I think you wore my number when he's there. Some competition at camp at Gator Lanes in Fort Myers, Florida. Make sure we see you there. Alligators, that's so good. Wow. Thank you, Rob.

Some big updates at the end. We'll be back Wednesday. Pitchers and catchers report. Maybe we'll get some more news. Basset Gialito Gallon. Come on. Oh, yeah. Come on.

Jake sucks. Over under 81 for me today I got you over I'm sorry Trying to light the fire I've been working I can see having a nice 83 today I see right on 81

Nice I'm going for 80 Taking the under boys Come on