Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - Predicting The Rest of Free Agency! | 1090

Episode Date: February 4, 2026

Book your next trip at https://www.bestwestern.comHead to https://www.factormeals.com/talkin50off to save 50% off your first box!Download the DraftKings Sportsbook app and use promo code JMBASEBALLUse our code for 10% off your next SeatGeek order*: https://seatgeek.onelink.me/RrnK/TALKIN2026. Sponsored by SeatGeek. *Restrictions apply. Max $20 discountCoach Trev and Talkin’ Jake break down the trade sending Brendan Donovan to the Mariners, where they think the remainder of free agents will sign, who’s had the best offseason and they start their life pod!0:00 Intro2:50 Brendan Donovan traded to the Mariners20:50 Framber Valdez25:20 Who’s winning the offseason?29:10 Free Agency remainder38:15 Life Advice 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. Brendan Donovan traded to the Seattle Mariners. Final free agent predictions. First ever advice pod? Let's talk ball. Let's talk ball. Let's talk everything. Gerangelo Sinjay.

Sam Fold. Hello and welcome. Hello and welcome to Talking Baseball. Presented to you by John Boy Media. I'm Jake Story Ellie. That is Trevor Plouffe. Rob Sharako, producing his butt off. Don't feel again.

Stats, information, everything for us. And it's a big up. I don't know. We both have the sauce today. I don't know if it's a Super Bowl week has gotten to us. I don't know if it's the excitement of baseball or the world baseball classic rosters coming out. But a little pep in the step, coach.

How we doing? I'm doing good. We do have some fun stuff to talk about today. We got, you're right. We hear about Terrick Scoobal's arbitration case. I believe it today. We're going to find out the verdict of that. I believe the WBC rosters have to be set by tomorrow,

so we will be getting some news the next couple of days about some big-time topics. And that's even going to affect what we're talking about here with scobs and the tigers. But yeah, man, I'm definitely getting the itch. It's that time. I'm talking to a bunch of my dudes who are already headed out to spring training,

already going out there, setting up their stuff, depends at the facilities and it's like, okay, we're here. Do you think it's, I've, just following the Yankees, they've definitely committed to getting to Tampa spring training earlier. Like they, it's pretty much if you're one of the guys on the team that you have to be in Tampa in like January now. It depends like on the organization and maybe even the roster, like who wants to get down there.

And then I think most of the guys that go down early are in like bad weather. places. If you're in like Arizona, um, you live in Arizona in the off season or you live in California, like a lot of those guys report a little bit later because they have the ability to get outside and do what they need to do. Um, but no, shoot, man, there's been years where, you know, I would go down really early because I just was like ready. I was, I couldn't wait any longer. I wanted to get down there. You're just hungry, I guess. Um, so it just depends, man. We'll talk about hunger.

We'll talk about everything this episode, but it starts. Brendan Donovan, a very good baseball player. Some set Jeff Passon tweeting out the Brendan Donovan, Bo Bichette player comp. All right, Jeff. Easy. Easy. Bo had a down year the other year. But the point was Brendan Donovan has been a really good hitter at the Major League level throughout his career.

Rumored to be traded. He was kind of the prize piece of the Cardinals. trading off-season with Sunny Gray, Wilson Contreras being a little more salary-led. This was to attain prospects. And they did. I mean, a couple of guys, if you're in the baseball world,

you've heard of. Ere-Angelo Singe? Seng-J? Sanger. We just talked about that for like five minutes. Say, can't stand you. That's a Seinfeld reference. Did the kids still know that?

I don't think so, right? I think they do. Okay. Ty Pete, we got that one. Colton Ledbetter. And hey, Bray's got involved in this. Ben Williamson. What is this? I liked Ben Williamson when I saw him play.

I did. I did. I know, like, the offense wasn't there for him, you know, in his first initial bout with the big league pitching. But, like, I think he could improve. And I like his glove at third base. Can't believe you passed up on a Pearl Jam pun with Ledbetter. Oh.

You might not even know that. Wow. Can't find Led Better Man. How about that? That's not what you wanted, but that's what I had. Let's start with Brendan Donovan, because he might be your Mariners leadoff hitter this year, playing second base.

They get him for two years. That's, you know, this trade window that I think a lot of us as baseball fans have become more familiar with. Like, that's when these guys get traded. And man, what's it, a career 120 OPS plus? Where are we at? 117. He was 119 last year.

He's been positive every year as a player. That always stands out to me because that's really hard to do in baseball. And Mariners get another like bona fide guy who hits. Yeah, he just makes total sense for their organization. We talked to in the past couple of years about, hey, we're trying to get out of the big strikeout percentage with the Mariners. really they've done a little bit better of a job but getting a guy that like brennan donovan who's a contact oriented hitter not solely a contact oriented hitter but a guy that doesn't strike out a ton

that fits the mold uh the positional versatility that fits the mold they kind of have this like jumbled up um group of guys where you have cole young who's a guy who i think they really like but hasn't really established himself he's at second base jp crawford is a free agent after next year Cole Emerson is one of their top prospects who's maybe a shortstop, maybe isn't, depending on who you kind of ask. So when you have a guy like Brendan Donovan who can play pretty much every single one of those positions, maybe not shortstop. Has he played shortstop? Boba checked out for me. And can also move to the outfield.

Like he just fits depending on who shows up. Hey, if Cole Young shows up and is a freaking guy, boom, Brennan can play third base. If Cole Young shows up and doesn't hit again, Brandon Donovan. can play second base maybe we see col emerson at third base and then when j p crawford's gone it all moves and you still have a guy like brennan donovan there who can play multiple positions so he just he just fits you can say that for a couple different teams but i think overall when you're just talking about like what seattle needed you know what their offensive approach needs to be or get better at he does he just it just made more and more sense over time and they finally coax the raise into another

three team trade because that's like all they do. So that's a great A plus for me for Seattle. The menager tour raise. They love it, dude. They just like getting involved. You know, sometimes you get attention from both sides. Brendan Donovan, I guess what's interesting for me is what other teams should have been in on this.

I think the Red Sox and some of their, they had some Brendan Donovan interest. We've hopped around with the different teams between Nico Horner's availability or rumored availability, Donovan's availability. I think it's a good fit for Seattle. I do think the interesting thing is it looks like they're slotting him at third, which arm strength he grades out well. Like you mentioned, he's moved around a lot. He played five games at short last year.

I don't know how those felt Cardinals fans, I guess let us know. And I don't know. I guess the thing that has piqued my interest, and maybe I'll let my jakey baseball weirdo brain get into it. But Brendan Donovan and Boba Chet moving to third base. I wonder if there's a new, you know, the defensive analytic nerds got in the lab this year and was like, actually, you know, you can put someone over at third base and they can figure it out and your defense might be okay. I don't know. That's just some brainstorming on the fly there. But, man, those Seattle Mariners teams,

when we used to look at the lineup and we were like, yeah, that doesn't feel right now, their top five Donovan, Raleigh, Julio, Josh Naler, and Randy. We can work with that, coach. Absolutely. I mean, take the over on whatever Brandon's projections are going to be. I think with Raleigh hitting behind him,

he's going to see a lot better pitching or a lot better pitches to hit. I don't know. I'm very, very intrigued with the Mariners. The Mariners fans will let you know how good they are. I'm kind of, I'm agreeing with them. I think the Mariners are obviously the favorites to win the AOS. And it wouldn't surprise me if we saw another,

a deep playoff run from this roster, as long as, you know, health abides. And I, yeah, I guess I don't know. I thought there would be more Mariners stuff there. I guess it's laid out pretty, pretty simple. You know, we prospects get dangerous with us because we, like most people, we don't know. Let me tell you about Draft King's first. Super Bowl 60.

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I was close with that one. Is a name you've probably heard or seen, or you've heard it pronounced differently than how I'm saying it. Because he was the switch pitcher. Throws right and left. There's some rumors they might just have him stick to the right side now because he's got a little more juice there. Treve, I mean, I could,

I think you and I could do an hour on this topic, but I don't know. He's a legitimate prospect. I think he was at the All-Prospects game. Why am I liking on the title of that? Futures game. Futures game. Cheese and biscuits.

And Ty Pete is a guy that I've also heard of in prospect circles. So if you're a Cardinals fan afterwards, probably been a tough, unexciting offseason, at least you're going to have a, couple guys at camp that can be some fun stories to tune into. I mean, this is what they're doing, man. The Cardinals are, I did a bunch of this with Chris Rose on baseball today. They're in an interesting position, a position that Cardinals fans haven't had to go through

in quite some time. I liken them actually to the twins where they did what they did for so long and it worked and then all of a sudden it didn't, you know, as far as pitchers they were drafting, you know, evaluation and player development. It's all just changed so rapidly. And they were kind of behind the times on that. So like they're going through that. You know, Heimblum comes in last year, revamps the player development side, like hires a bunch of people to get that going.

So they can have better drafts, better development. Now he's taken over the roster and, you know, it just hasn't really worked the last couple years and he's convinced all these guys to weigh the no trade clauses and he's bringing in guys revamping the farm system he's and and kind of not salary dumping because i don't think that's what it is i think he's he's committed to a rebuild so when you commit to a rebuild yeah you get salary off the books you try to trade these guys for what you can i think you did a good job with the brett and donovan trade but yeah they're they're in an unfamiliar territory where it's going to be a couple years until we have them back in contention for the NL Central,

and that just is not something I think that those fans are used to. I don't say this that often. I think they needed this. And if you're a Cardinals fan, you probably agree. It sucks that you're going to go into the season with basically zero expectations. But I think, and let us know in the comments. I think you agree with kind of them doing this now. But here's the thing.

you want it to be done fast. Like two years. Don't give us a five-year rebuild, okay? Hime, you only get so much time. That's the new slogan. Yeah, and I guess the other part of it is you just, like you're saying, you want to see movement, you want to see progress.

And with who the Cardinals are as a franchise, it feels like they can do that because this is a team in a city that will and has bolstered their team before between Sunny Gray and Wilson Control. Treris and going back Goldie, Aeronado, Pujols. Like, this is one of baseball's kind of premier franchises that's in a little bit of a rut right now. And again, who knows what the expectation can turn into in one baseball season

when we see these wildcard teams with, you know, getting into the postseason with 83 wins, that it's not exactly what this Cardinals roster reeks of right now. But, you know, if Mason Wynn can take another step forward, if Ivan Herrera, You know, go look at his stats from last season and what potentially he can be. J.J. Weatherhole, one of the top 10 prospects in baseball. I guess if you're a Cardinals fan, yes, you've kind of come to grips maybe with this year.

Maybe you haven't. A reminder. You're talking competing this year. I'm not. I'm not currently. I'm just saying, like, dude, baseball happens. I don't know. Do I look at, I don't look at the Cardinals roster and say, this is going to, this is,

this has to be horrendous. No, I don't be it's horrendous, coach. No. But, and again, so much right has to happen in a baseball season. But there's a lot of young talent that I don't think there's going to be excitement for this season. I think it's just you want to get excitement for next season because you just cleared the books. You brought in a couple new prospects that who the Cardinals are as a team in a franchise. And I guess the other thing is you can take in the division. Like where, how do we feel about the.

Tubbs and Brewers come next season. Pretty good. Right. Like pretty good. And you think you're going to feel that way about the following season. But we also see, you know, whether it's father time or a weird season happens. Like, yeah, I'd hate to hate to do this, a little shrapnel for this fan base and for your prediction history. The Chicago White Sox. Like, dude, we stared at that roster and we were like, man, this team, this team has built it. And this is going back a few years ago.

when it was Gialito and Lance Lynn and like, I don't know, Luis Robert was supposed to be the next trout. That sometimes we, you look at a team and you see that now and a year later you could feel something totally different that if you're a Cardinals fan, you're hoping you feel different about your team

and maybe you feel different about where the Cubs and Brewers have landed. Look, I think there's a decent collection of position players on this roster. You mentioned a few of them. Like, Jordan Walker is still only 23 years. gold. Okay. Pitching is not there for me. It's going to be a couple years.

Let's play a little thought game. Okay, a little thought game. You are a thought, aren't you? Oh, bringing that back. Wow, all right. All right. Better roster, who do you, like, better feeling about for this year,

Cubs or Cardinals? Cups. Brewers or Cardinals. Bruis. Reds or Cardinals. Reds. Pirates or Cardinals. Sadly, closer than I'd like to think. I think you, unfortunately.

I think Pirates fans are feeling like, all right, like, things are looking up a little bit. Yeah, I mean, you pick the pirates. You pick the pirates. I get what you're saying, but, you know, last year the Blue Jays were projected to be like fourth in the AL East. So it's, I realize we're talking about different economies of scale here a little bit. But nice term, Jake. Thank you, everyone in the comments. I wasn't going to let you have that one.

You like that? I don't know. Not sure if I used it right. Neither is Trev, so we keep it moving. No, I won't fake it with the people. Like, I'm not excited for the Cardinals' 2026 season. Wins-wise, I think talent-wise. Like, what if Jordan Walker has his, like, Joe Adele breakout season

of a guy that was a big prospect. It never, light bulb never went on. Maybe it comes on. Like there's a lot of guys you look at on the field and you're like, okay, something can click here. And I will,

so I'll just reverse my bias. People remember winter meetings. I'm a part of the Cardinals. That's so true. I do like that the entire starting nine is on the Fangress Roste resource resource page is all draftees or amateur signings of the Cardinals.

How many times do you see that? You don't see that a lot. That is, that is crazy. Only Yoel Pozo. Oh, no, Jose Fermin and Thomas, Thomas Sejesse. On the bench listed is not, not from St. Louis. All from Red teams. So there you go.

There's some analytics for everyone. Good for, dude, Seattle. Nice little offseason Mariners. And what, okay, the raise get Ben Williamson. And it's just, he does seem like a raised guy. the defense passed the eye test and people think he can be really good there. It's just how much can he hit. And, you know, I still think if you can really pick it at third base,

I think you can be a little below league average hitter and that can be a guy on your team. I think some teams disagree with that. It depends how your team is built. And I guess if you're Tampa, does this mean anything? Like, is Caminero? I mean, Caminero's been at third and is young and holds his own over there that, I don't know. I guess they're just taking a chance on a young ball player. I read something that the raise have been involved in six of the last seven three team trades.

So, yes, they are a monage. Forward team. If you guys can't get it done, tap us in. Tap us in. Trev, let's get into kind of like our final predictions, dude. I think you and I are done. I'm so done with predictions. It feels like we did predictions with Rose and Jolly two years ago.

And here we are. Who's winning that, by the way? Can we get an update? I think Chris Rose got hot to trot like early in free agency. I think I'm doing awful. So we will get those up. And it's all brought to you by our friends at Best Western. That's right.

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Life's a trip. Make the most of it at bestwestern.com. Do we have some standings? Bob O'Dalto? Oh, Bob's on it. Let's get into it. Trev, the biggest fish is Framber Valdez. some Blue Jay rumors are leaking out again.

They were kind of involved early on. They did bring in Dylan Sees and they, Cody Ponce, that if they go for Framber, I mean, they would get close to, if not like the Blue Jays won the offseason. They are top two spenders this offseason with the Los Angeles Dodgers. We saw them play seven games to round up the year. I don't know. The Orioles keep.

coming up because people think they're going to do one more pitcher at least, I guess, anything else you're seeing, Coach? So, yeah, Framber is like the guy that I think the teams that have been spending money all off season, he's the guy they'll go after. Teams that really feel like they're in contention for a World Series. So the Orioles are a team that have been spending, you know, pretty much all off season. And they do have a big need for a starting pitcher. you know, if you look at who they got going out there,

like they can field obviously a starting five. But you got Trevor Rogers at the top and he finished the year really well. It'd be really nice for them. You know, Eflin is supposed to be ready for spring training. We'll see how that goes. But it would be really nice for them to round out their roster with a guy like Framber because if you look at the lineup,

you can dream upon that lineup. They did a good job with the back end of their bullpen, bringing back Kittredge. They have Helsley back there. like it is they're going to compete without framber i think they become gosh man i'd put him like second in the a least if they get framber i think they're like i will go neck and neck with the yankees as far as like roster wise and who i would pick i'm still going blue jays for the one spot and then those two teams two a two b and that's a that's a that's a big

big jump man for the oars. They've done a really, really nice job this off season. This would be the, the, uh, cherry on top. Nailed it. Nice, dude. Um, yeah, I, it's scary all around for me. And I, you know, sometimes we, we call ourselves out on being coastal elites. Um, dude, if, if, if, well, A, of Toronto bolsters themselves even more. I mean, they, they, they went to the world serious. Do you go Toronto one? Are you still, Yankees like, hey, there, there, there's, there's, still the cream of the crop. I haven't fully process it. I'll be honest.

Yankee fans are in a weird spot, dude. They brought back the same exact team. And like, again, the team wasn't bad. They won 94 games the same amount as the Blue Jays in the regular season. They just got trounced by the Blue Jays in the playoffs. The thing that I keep saying in my darkest moments are the Yankees should have lost the two-game wild card to the Red Sox. Jaron had a ball go off his glove.

That if he squeezes that, The Yankees lose two playoff games to the Red Sox at home. That would have been their whole postseason. Like, do I think they still would have brought back the same team if that happened? So that's where I get caught up in my feelings that I'm trying to be neutral sports Jake, the fan, and I'm running into myself. But dude, like you said, I liked Baltimore last year. The wheels clearly fell off and their pitching got so thin and so bad early

that if they make another impact move. Like, dude, Kyle Braddish doesn't get talked about a lot because he's had some injuries. His last 44 starts, he's had a 278. Yeah. Like what Trevor Rogers did, Shane Boz has a chance there to go that, yeah, man, dude, the Red Sox had a nice offseason.

Yes, they lost Bregman, but Sunny Gray Wilson Contreras and mostly Roman Anthony's here. They're like, I don't know what to do with the ALEs, but you're going to have one of four teams severely, disappointed again. Do not tell Red Sox fans that have a nice offseason. They are not happy. You're right, but they think they're one move away from like a nice off season. Like, the only guy left that they're hoping to get, they've whiffed on Bregman, they whiffed on Donovan, they whipped on Ahanaheos-Wores, they whiffed on somebody else. I can't remember who it is.

Yeah, Caravis had a list going. he did oh of course he did he wants paredes oh paredes is the guy yeah that's their i mean yeah so they're not happy with the off season but i think obviously if you're the orioles and you won 75 games last year and now you got this guy right here who knows ball saying you can be the second best team in the a a l east just like that that's a hell of an off season did they win the off season we're going to have that episode coming up soon people but got i mean top up top my head it's like Dodgers, Mets, no, Blue Jays, fuck. Dodgers, Blets, that's the Blue Jays and the Mets.

Dodgers, Blue Jays. I think Mets have an interesting conversation. I think Seattle might have like snuck in at the buzzer here. Good job. Nailor signed right away, right? That's part of this offseason. That's done pretty quick. Yeah.

Yeah, we're going to do a whole winners and losers episode people. So we'll, that'll come up. For Red Sox fans, Ranger Suarez, Sunny Gray, Wilson Contreras, like, that's not. I forgot about Ranger. That's what I'm saying, man. Okay. And if you're a Red Sox fan saying that you're one hitter away, and again, respect to Isok Paretas, who that man can turn on a ball and Fenway slash Houston is where he should

be to be the best version of himself, if you're thinking you're an Esok Perretta's away in your offseason from having like a wow off season, then you kind of had a good offseason. You know what I'm saying? So like, I also want to say that all of you guys. Okay. The root for teams. What's you guys, pal? Yeah.

Yeah, you guys. What's you guys? I'm saying it. Yankees fans, Red Sox fans, Mets, all you guys are so freaking spoiled. Let's talk about who the twins brought in. Okay. You want to talk about that? I don't think you do.

Rob, play sad music. Do you have sad music over there? I feel like we had some. I mean, Josh Bill. Great guy. I love me from Josh Bell. That we did the other day for the players out of the top 100. Josh Bell,

Josh Bell had some. I love Josh Bell. His numbers were better than I expected from last year. Matt Wallner incoming 40 Homer season. Like we said that last year, coach. Yeah, and hey, I'll say for all of our listeners. When you started going into your Minnesota twin speech, a proud franchise.

guys. Dalton Feeley and his Arizona dimebacks, he was given a head knot over there. Like he nod in love with their offseason. And there's a few. It just got Carlos Santana. I just got Carlos Santana. Your guy. Yeah, my guy. Your guy. All right. Well, there will be time to be sad when we do losers another time. Treve, I guess, okay, where you and I get

caught up, and maybe this Heyman tweet can be the joke for us. He tweeted this last week with two weeks to go, Orioles, Tigers, D-backs, Padres, Braves, Yanks, Cubs, Angels, Giants, Rays, A's, White Sox. Maybe Jay's Marlins and Phillies looking for pitching. Yeah, that's kind of the whole thing we've been doing. The rest of the guys left, and maybe Zach Gallon is a little bit on a different tier. But a guy like Bassett's, G. Elitos, guys like that, I think our teams looking for filler at the back end of the rotation.

And these guys are good filler. Like I think actually teams should be after these guys right now. This isn't like, all right. Like these guys have proven track records. Like, you know, and especially in today's day and age, if you fancy yourself a team that can get guys in the lab and fix a few things, these are your freaking guys, man. Well,

there are all the guys left have like certain things that they do really, really well. Like, can they get this? Zett Gallen's curveball working again. It didn't work last year. That's like the first thing you could do. I could probably do that. Hey, let me see your data. Look your finger like this, bro.

Snap a couple off, kid. Yeah, I got you. So, yeah, the teams that could use these guys, you just ramble them all off. I think a lot of the guys are going to have to go for one-year deals with the option. I believe Zach Gallen is the only. one with qualifying offer attached to him. I don't think Bassiter Gile will have that.

No. So those guys, you know, I think or probably go to teams looking to just kind of fill in at the back end. And Zatgown still could. I mean, he could go to, why keep doing this? Yeah, I don't know what that is. I just saw that. It's nice for the YouTube. Yeah, okay.

Because you're not really like throwing a heater there. You're just kind of. What is that? A little change up maybe. I don't know what I just did. Zach Gallen to me, you know, on the Cubs will be awesome. I think about him on the Padres. Like they need some depth.

Some teams that if you're like, hey, we add this guy, like it could put us over the hump. Those are the teams, I think, are going to be into Zag Gallen. Yeah, and if we go through the notes here, like the teams that are popping up the most are Orioles, Atlanta, and Detroit, which has kind of a weird twist to it, we'll talk about. But yeah, you wonder how much of that is a little, I was going to say game of chairs. Both of our brains just not 100 today. What's the game? What's the game when you've

musical chairs? Musical chairs. Jesus. What? Zach Gowan, I was doing a little research on this guy. Yeah. If you kind of like go look at the the starts he had. He'd have a couple good starts. you have go bad starts and then at the end of the season 10 quality starts in the last three months of the season so like it's there yeah it's there it just for whatever reason uh he didn't put together like a full season this guy is still like think about how we we've talked about Zach gallon on this program yes like he he can be he can be your ace he definitely can be your number two starter so i i do think he is going to command more than Bassett and Gileo. And I love both those guys, too.

I love Bassett in particular. Swingman Chris Bassett. Yankees should be in on Chris Bassett. I mean, I agree with you. Yeah, I think Gallin and Gialito have pop potential that, like, they could be a two or a three starter for your team. Bassett has kind of shown who he is. And I would say his kicker that improved was his postseason performance.

I think that matters. man. He came out and he was absolutely nails, which his pitch profile, you wouldn't necessarily think for that. We normally think of the guy that throws 97 and they go to the bullpen and they throw 99. Bassett and his pitch mix and his funky delivery for one inning, if he can be in the zone, that's a problem. We saw it. That I think he has his, like that's his sales prop where Burlander and Scherzer, they have a different sales prop that also isn't that bad with how JV. finish the year. Shurser being one of the craziest MFers to ever play this game, that you're adding, I mean, a massive leader to your team? Like, how much are you helping

young guys while also probably getting some quality innings along the way? I still can't believe they're going, man. They're continuing to go. Yeah, you mentioned Verlander end of the season. Shurs or another in the postseason, did it? I can't believe. Yeah. He left to do it. One five innings in that game? That was awesome. and then yelled at John Schneider and was like, you're not taking me out? Like this, like, he's still got it. He still got it.

I don't know what is. It is, but he still has it. It's time for the free agent forecast brought to you by Seat Geek, where we keep tabs on players on the move this off season. Here we go. If you had to match one of these guys with a team, like what feels right?

Like, I got... Including Framber in this? Including Framber, yeah. I like Framber to the Orioles. Yeah. The only thing is I don't know if they have, like is Pete Alonzo going to be the guy to tell Framber, hey, chill the F out? It's interesting, right?

Like, there are a lot of young pups over there still. Zach Eflin could also be that guy, but I know Zach, and he's kind of just like, chill dude. It's where, hey, clubhouse dynamics do matter. I know we've done the Framber thing before. It's where I've liked Toronto from the start because, like, you know, Vladdy is kind of the, things run through Vladdy. And he's kind of grown up before our eyes that like,

I like that. You think Addison Barger's going to take any shit? I don't know. I'm still freaked out by ass. I'm still freaked out by how hard he hits the ball. How does he swing that hard? How fast he throws it? Wow, those playoff throws, front row seat for that coach.

Yeah, so I'm going strictly because the clubhouse thing is obviously an issue for Framber. That's, I believe. that's why he's still unsigned. But as far as, like, fit, I think if the Orioles added him, it's like, here we go. I kind of like Bassett in Atlanta. That's rumored on one of these articles.

They, they, I'd love to see another guy I feel a little more stable about in their rotation. Like, I see upside in their rotation, which maybe that's good. Chris Bassett and what he showed last year. And does he not feel like a brave? Just like, at the charity event, 1%.

Yeah, maybe. I don't know. I wish the Padres would, you know, they've said that like this impending sale of the team, the ownership kind of influx will not affect payroll. Prellers out there just saying that, I wish they could sign Zat Yowin. I don't think it's going to happen.

I think he is in the command a few years. Because I also like that fit a lot. Are the Cubs going to go for blood? They liked him at the start of the office. Heyman had a tweet that they signed him, and then it went all the wire from there. Yeah, right? It's been a long off season, bro.

All right, that's kind of what we've got there. Let's talk about a little factor. Oh, and Dalton has the score update from our free agency draft. My goodness. Factor, if you want to eat better, but you don't have the time or energy to make it happen with Factor. No meal planning or following recipes. It's two minutes, real food and you're done.

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All right. I've got Dahl with the sheet here. Holy smokes. Chris Rose. You ran away with it? 45 points on the board. Two 15 point Johnson's for getting the year. The year?

Is that it for Alonzo and the All-Star appearance? That's right. Can I still see a adult? I'm sorry. Alonzo, Schwaber. God, Scherzer's still out there. Geez. I've done atrocious.

I had Bregman to Detroit, which is wrong. Jolly has 20 points. Coach, you have 20 points. I'm at 10. I still got Framber. You still got Framber. Five to the Cubs. Strong leadership.

That's a lot of years. I don't know if Framber's getting five. He might. He might. It's just a chance. Jolly still have Starling Marte's points out there, going back to Fitzburg. Watch out, coach.

I have to remember that, like, I need to draft All-Stars. Yeah. Five points, no matter what. It's a great call. Yeah, I had a cut. We did this before the qualifying offer, so I had Woodruff on my team.

Why am I not getting points for Harrison Bader, by the way? He signed a two-year deal. That's, I don't think this has been updated yet. Dalton has the updated sheet. Easy, coach. He. Look at that.

Look at the fire come out in you. Harrison Baylor to the Dodgers would have been electric. It's still going to be electric. He's an electrician wherever he goes. One year, Paul Goldschme, that's still got to happen, right? That could be 15 or 10 points right there. Probably not the Diamondbacks, though. Why not?

They just signed your guy, Carlos Santana. Oh, yeah. You can't have enough leadership. Okay, so we'll probably do a final check-in with that. point. All right, people, it's finally happening. And maybe this is just for me and Trev at this point. Maybe it's for everyone. And we wanted, we've wanted to for a while now. I mean, we've debated making another pod and maybe that's what this will turn into. But, you know, we like, we've got a lot of people here. We've got a lot of opinions. We want to talk a little life with the people. A little late night,

Jake and Trev, how we used to reference it. Yeah, we put out a tweet in an instant today. Wasn't exactly perfect. That's on us a little bit. But, you know, and I want to give a little shout out to my guy. Ryan Rosillo has crushed. He does a life advice thing at the end of his shows that has become kind of a cult classic that, again, they're not the guys that created life advice. That's been on a lot of shows going back. Dalton was referencing the newspaper before this, where he used to read some Delilah, the old radio show. Do people remember that? I want to start it out by, just something for the people. And Trev, we talked about this before the show.

I think something that people can do that's an easy life enhancement, especially if you're someone who travels. Go get involved with one of the airport clubs. You know, like whatever you fly, like Delta, they have a club. A lot of the credit cards, Capital One, Amex. It changes the whole travel experience. It makes you excited to go to the airport. It might sound a little bit.

some of them are. But some of them, like, if you just get the past, you're good forever. And the ease that it adds to traveling and between the money you're going to spend at the airport and the stress it's going to cause you, it's like my number one thing I would recommend to people in life if you're a traveling. So I use my Amex to get into like the Delta Club. How are you getting in if you don't have, you know, one of the big boy credit cards? Because I, I, I, I never went until I had that. So it's... You can't just buy a pass, I don't think.

So it's a lot of the credit cards have them now. There is a, there's a pass called priority pass that you can like get. I actually, I might have too many things because this is the one thing in life that's a perk that gets me like excited. But yeah, I would look into it, people. Because if you're going to, it just, it makes the planning process so easy instead of like timing your meal before you go. just worried about where you're going to go in the airport. It takes all the thought out of it for how much we travel. It definitely, it's my favorite thing I have.

I would say you're right about the money. It probably saves you because if you're going to get a coffee at the airport, maybe some snacks, like they have all that for free in these clubs. So you can have as much coffee as you want, some sodas, bring some stuff on the plane. There's obviously food out for you. I've been to, so throw back, I think this was after BB, two soaked in champagne. I took a, I took a shower at one of these places.

Yes, dude. Like, yeah, I'm, I'm in on that, coach. I'm in on that. It is a little bougie, but if you can find your way into one. Private bathrooms. And like you said, instead of the airport controlling your decisions, it feels like you control the airport. Do you want a shower?

Do you want a coffee? Do you want snacks? Do you want a meal? Do you want to turn off? Like, it's my, the first piece of life advice I feel confident giving to the people. Okay. I mean, I don't know this is the first piece of advice I want to give out, but mine kind of rolls into that. We were talking about it before and we're talking to Dalton about this.

I think people are really scared of a few things in life, especially we're talking monetary stuff here. When I was growing up, it was like, don't get a credit card. Like, that will ruin you. and I'll say this, you need to have a credit card. Don't be an idiot. Right. Like, still have a budget. I think that's the first thing.

Budget yourself. Live below your means. I'm telling you, that's the way to go. But get a credit card. Because you're going to accrue points, maybe get into one of these boozy lounges with Jake. But it also, it just, it makes sense. You're going to build your credit score up,

and you have to do that with a credit card. And again, it's the same thing as paying with a debit or cash. Just don't be silly with it. That's where people get into trouble where they think it's free money. It's obviously not that. But you need to have some credit cards out there, people. I had a 550 credit score. I'll lay it out there.

I did. When I first met Olivia, I had been paying for, like I was, because I was the first rounder in the minor leagues, I felt obligated to make sure all the stuff was in my name, all the utilities. And so there were times before, like, you could just like auto pay on the internet. People, this was like 2005, 2006, a bill would get sent for like 25 bucks to the house we were not at anymore. And so like I had things turned over to collection, like a bunch of little small things turned over a collection, cratered my credit score.

So maybe that's my life advice. Get a good credit score because it helps out so much in the future when you go to purchase a car, a house, anything like that where you need to have a credit score to get financing. But yeah, a credit card will help you do that. And then if you don't know your credit score, find your credit score. Get that bad boy up to at least the sevens people. They used to knock you for checking it, which I think society fought back on. And now you can look it up. I was taught my initial thing, and this is going back to like 21-year-old, Jay,

is like, just pay for your gas. Like something you're already paying for in your life, use credit. And then get used to that. And then once you feel comfortable in the process, you're kind of right. Like you should be using credit cards for whatever you're spending on if you're normally spending on it because that's, yeah, you're getting points. You're getting into clubs. Like all these credit companies now have like perks if you if you do it right.

You just have to be very careful to not do it wrong. Yeah. I mean that leads into such. I have like a lot of other financial monetary advice. It goes along with having credit and like borrowing money as opposed to spending your own money, where your money should be. But that's not for here. It's not for here.

Let's, um, Spencer Wendgren wrote one in on the Instagram. Um, and this is a heavy one. And I think as we go, We'd like to get even more specific examples. If you're struggling with a roommate or something, if you've got how to deal with a raccoon in your attic, we can solve all of these or we can try. Spencer Wingrand aimed wide.

What's the biggest lesson you guys have learned getting to where you are right now? You're me. If you want it, you got it. I think it truly is. I always say this. Life's just a bunch of decisions stacked on top of each other. So like try to make good decisions as much as possible. You're going to make some bad ones.

That's fine. But just keep making good decisions as best you can. I think one that is really, really rang true with my life is just surround yourself with like people who you want to be like. Like if you have. So I always say I want to be around guys that are good husbands, good parents. And then like our goal oriented. Like that's because that's what I want to be. I want to like, you know, be a good husband, be a good father.

And I want to like, I want my trajectory to be like this. So you need to have goals. So I've done that as a baseball player, shacked up next to Justin Moreno and Josh Willingham and Joe Mower and Jim Tomey. And I was just like, I'm going to be your friend. Like, sorry about it. And that helped me in my baseball career. And then just when you choose your friend group, because when you get to a certain age,

you get to start choosing your friends, I think. I think you really can. The more you spend around people that have, like, the values that you want to pursue, the better off you're going to be in life. And I feel like I'm like a living embodiment of that. So do that. Snaps. Snaps.

Yeah, I love that. I agree with that. I think where my brain initially jumped, I just hard work. Like, I think maybe Italian heritage kicks in a little bit or just from whatever this company has turned into, that, like, a lot of times that's just the answer. Whether it's, you know, if you're listening

and there's something you always thought was cool, whether playing piano, cooking, woodworking, or something, like pretty much the answer for almost anything is, like, doing the work. I know it sounds dumb and it's all stuff we kind of know, but also sometimes we get in our own heads about it, and like, working out, like, it's literally putting in the work that, yeah, if there's something out there that you're wanting to do, obviously not everything in life. If I start training every day to become an NBA player, it's not going to work well at this

point. But, I don't know, the three-point shot is coming along. And I don't know, like, if you want to learn a foreign language, the way to do it is crank, like get into it. So I don't know. It's not new advice for a lot of people But I think it's the Maybe the number one thing

I'd just be like If there's something you're looking to do There's like one way to get there My dad would take me to work with him And he was a pool man And we'd go and He'd always be like You know, do you want to do this?

Is this something that you're interested in doing The rest of your life? And I'd be like, not really I didn't really know how to respond to that I'm right on. I'm like, tough I was like not really He's like, yeah, you don't want to do this.

He goes, this is hard work. He goes, there's other hard work that you could do that you're going to have a lot more fun doing. And that was his thing. It's like, you either have to work hard at what I'm doing or you need to work hard at baseball. And that's like kind of what you're saying. I don't know, anything that you truly are passionate about, just kind of just do it and like work hard to that. It's going to get better. I'm also, and this is going to make me sound so old, dude.

Love this. I'm already unk. This might put me like above. that, like stop complaining. Oh, wow. Like, I get sometimes shit's not right, but the people who kind of like make it just, all right, put it to the back burner and just kind of work through it. There are times, man, you need to vent. I understand that. Find someone you can vent to and you can complain to, but keep it to like one or two people. Don't be the complainer. Wow. Like, be the, be the problem solver type of person. Complaining kind of

Thanks. Kind of a waste. It doesn't do anything for you. Again, if you need to get some stuff out of your chest all about that, find a few people that you can do that too. Okay. I don't know how we're doing right now. Great.

What if you have a family member that's kind of angry with you because they think that you're doing something wrong or not having the right emotion for something, but you think you are? and you don't want to kind of apologize for it. I think it's always best to just you be the first person to be like, maybe I'm wrong. Let's talk it out.

Like you need to hear, like when people are, at least in my experience, like when people are really mad at you, like there's usually like a reason. And like you might not agree with the reason, but like they actually feel that way. So I think you have to say, all right, maybe I am wrong and just be that person almost every single time. It could be from your kids, your wife, your sister, your in-laws, whatever.

Always just say, right, maybe I am wrong. I think that is such a disarming way to go about things. And then just talk it out. You know, I think if you just disarm them with that, I think you get to a solution faster than just constantly budding heads back, well, I don't think I'm wrong. I don't think I'm wrong, you know, and hear him out. Like if you just say, maybe I am wrong and let's talk about it. I think that usually solves itself right there where you actually have a good discussion about whatever the heck is going on. It's easy to do that. People think that's really,

I mean, it might seem hard, but if you take, I always say like just take a bigger picture. Like, zoom out on life is also a great life advice. Like zoom out. Sometimes you're way too close of the situation, you need to zoom out. Okay, what does this really mean in the grand scheme of life? Okay, like, I want to move past whatever perils are happening right now. So if all it takes is for me to be like, yeah, maybe I am wrong. Let's talk about it. That's, I totally get that.

And I think I've done that too. And my sister and I have talked about it. We called and, but she was very adamant on me apologizing. Apologize. But I just don't. And he doesn't think he should like I should. I mean, I'm wrong. And it's like, I think, Trevor, I like,

what's the negative of you apologizing? It would be my question. I liked what you said at the end, because you're saying you can kind of come in with like the maybe I'm wrong, and that's kind of the neutralizer. I also just like what you said, hey, I want to get past this. That I think that's the other opener like,

hey, maybe I'm wrong and I want to get past this. And then you go from there. And then like, if things are still boiling over at a certain point, you got to, it literally, It was, I did say, I was like, and I apologized for the way that you are interpreting my words. That's not apologizing. That's tricky. That's tricky, Rob.

Is it? Yeah. I think just, I think if you're truly dealing with someone with your sister, and like, everyone had siblings. Yeah. Just, you know what? My bad. I'm sorry.

Like, you just need to move past it, man. I have. Yeah. She won't move past it unless you actually said. Unless I literally say I am sorry. And what does it really mean to you? Like, what's it really going to hurt for? you to be like, you know what, I apologize.

You're absolutely right. And I've gone back and forth with myself with this because, you know, it's something that's in my life, I feel I do apologize for a lot of things, especially within my family. And I get blamed for a lot of things, even though I think that it's kind of false, you know, like kind of just putting the blame on me because I can and I will apologize, you know? So you don't want to go too far with it. Apology baiting. Right.

because, you know, and then it's just like, she, you know, she could just be like, I, I'm right. He apologized. He said he's sorry. And I just, there's just so many. I know, dude. And I know. I mean, kind of. All right. You won. Yeah. Yeah. So I feel like you have a great relationship with your, like, your family. Your wife, your kids. That's what matters. Yeah. That's what matters more than anything. So like if this is causing drama and like, it's like affecting how that is flowing, then I'm like, you can have whatever you want. Right. I'm keeping this, I'm keeping this good. And that's, that's the thing.

It's like, I don't know. There's just, there's a lot of, a lot of he said, she said, and then just like, family's tough.

I need an apology. And I'm like, no. I've, I've had some stuff with my sister as well, who I love dearly. Yeah. We've had some times where I'm just,

I feel like it, the best thing to do is just like, you're right and like if you feel like you've apologized too much i don't know like that's kind of just in your own head just i'm like a moot plastic guy like right away like i i feel like get the like the like the ego thing out of it and just be all right if you if you land if you're comfortable with everything like trev was saying except the fact you're apologizing too much then at the end of the day like that's that's the win right like you don't have to deal with that anymore. And they also be like, I don't really mean it. I'm going to apologize. And that's it. So you're

kind of winning. It made it, it made it go away. But there's also like the whole dynamic of like, you know, she goes to my mom and it's like, well, Rob, apologize. So then my mom has it in her head that I, I did this heinous thing too. I mean, without knowing what it is. I know. Yeah. Well, it's a long. Okay. Not a long story. But, um, I mean, do you want me to get into it? I think we pocketed. I think you laid out the example. I think we...

For people going forward, we're always looking to try stuff. Thank you, Rob. Yeah, of course. I think we landed on some good stuff there. Coach, I don't want to say you're an expert in the field, but you've... Yeah, I appreciate it.

You've been a family man for how many years now? I mean... I mean, married for 13, kids for 10. I, you know, I don't know. I am unc now. I feel like I've had a lot of life experiences. And they're... I don't know, man.

my thing almost all the time my my I'm like all right you can win it I feel like I've teach my son that that's like the one thing like baseball is so good like learning how to lose yeah like everyone's oh I'm a winner no matter what I'm like cool you ain't gonna win every time bro like learning how to lose is so fucking important in life yeah like all right I lost what do I learn from it let's move on that's like my entire I mean that's that comes from being a baseball player learning like i'm gonna i'm gonna lose at least 70% of the time so how do you move on from that and that's something that i feel like it's lost in social media now where everyone's like you better be a winner you better win this like all right dude like being a winner is like going like this you know

like sometimes you're here here but like overall the trajectory just keeps going up look at that year long chart not not the day by day perspective is is massive Wow. All right. I think we stumbled into kind of what we were looking for there. Again, we want to try stuff always. And again, I know that's not a lot of baseball. But if you guys want to send stuff in, we want to bop around and have some fun with it. So we'll probably have some more instas and tweets and stuff coming out. So thank you guys. Thanks for everyone that did respond. We kind of beefed the question a little bit, but that's a little poppy.

You'll wear that one. Enjoy the Super Bowl this weekend. Football's done. Oh, we're going to get the tweets, Trev. It's baseball season. Oh, yeah. Jake Sacks. Seahawks by 13. They're a better team.

It's football, though. You know who wins? Babboni. Roger Goodell. Wherever that guy shows up, Pete. Vince. Here's your pick? Ah, Seahawks.