Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - Selecting the July 2023 All-JM Team! | 699

Episode Date: August 9, 2023

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Hello and welcome to Talking Baseball, a tradition unlike any other. We are giving out pedals. It's the all-J-M team through July. Escat. Hello and welcome to Talking Baseball. It is August the 9th. Trade deadline week sent us into a tizzy. And we're back at it with T. Plizzy live in Kalinasty.

Myself, Davis, Dalton Feeley is in the room. just in case we have, where, where is this guy, a moment? I don't think we will today. Been diving in the sheet. I will say, Trev, we got to dive in nose deep pretty dang quick. Because normally you expect to look at this and be like, oh, it's August. You know, that's a runaway, that's a runaway. Oh, this one's kind of close.

Trev, I think shit's gotten tighter, man. There are a lot of tight battles going on. Sorry. I didn't mean to cuss. I'm sorry. How are you? I'm doing all right. I agree with you. I'm looking at this sheet now. Some guys have really stepped it up, Bobby Wood, Jr., my friend. And they've made these races. You're right. I'm not going to use the word tight like you did, but the gaps are getting closer. The gaps of Rohan are getting closer. I think at this point in the year, more guys would separate themselves. Love a good gap. How are you, Trev? I'm doing great, Poppy. You know, I'm doing the Twins games pre-imposed from Magnum Cudonum Studios this week.

So I got my stuff in the morning. I get my workout in midday. Then I do my work at night. I'm just a working guy. I'm a grinder. When they send it out to you. When they send it out to you, it's like, we're going to Trevor Ploof live in L.A. Yeah.

That's exactly what they say. I'm like, okay. The people of Minnesota are like, ooh, Trevor Bluff lives in L.A. now? I think that I do bring that to like the twins organization in Minnesota in general. It's like I'm the California guy who like fucks with them. You're the twin sexy cousin. I guess. Yeah, I come into town every once in a while.

You know, just thought by to say hi. Shit, Trevor's in town. We should get dressed up today. Let's get into it. Because no joke. Like even some of the close battles that we normally would dive into, AL Catcher, NL First Base. I think there's a clear winner.

But even those, I think we got to hit high and fast because, God. Your guy that we would normally at least shout out in this. We don't have time to shout him out, really. It's all presented to you by Seat Geek. They are presenting sponsor, Code Talk, and you should have went to Joe Mauer weekend and saw, Trev on the field. You could go to the snakes game Friday.

I will be in the building. We are working on some fun stuff. Our snakes did just drop to 500. So we're trying to steady the ship anyway we can. They're bringing in the big guns. They're bringing in the little guy out of the bullpen. Come say hi or go see your team's trade deadline acquisitions or maybe the kids they're playing now or the same guys for the Yankees.

70,000 events every single day. Code talking, you'll get $20 off your first purchase at Seek. $20 off your first purchase with promo code talking. Click the link in the description. Trevor, I mentioned the AL Catcher. We head around the horn. This has been mostly a two-horse race throughout the season. And now, a couple switch hitters.

Jonah Heim and Adley Rushman. You've got kind of the prince who has promised in Adley Rushman and all he's done is a chief. He's helped lead the Orioles to the best record in the American League. You know, since he's been called up, their record is 180 and five losses or whatever it is. And his numbers are very good. Jonah Heim for the Texas Rangers,

another big switch hit and catcher, a guy that, I don't know, wasn't super highly touted or anything. like that, he has been as impressive as a ball player can be, and Trev, not to give away our poker hand too quick, even though I said we had to. I think there's strong arguments that Jonah Heim has been better

on both sides of the ball. He's stolen so many strikes for them. He is the guy that they rely on to do that and also come up and be an offensive threat. And he's been that. He's on the I.L. right now, which really hurts the Rangers. They've gotten, crushed with injuries, dude. So it'll be interesting to see how they as a team

respond to all this stuff. But Jonah, I believe it was Jonah, then Adley, then Jonah so far in the three months. I'm looking at the sheet right now. We have Janir Diaz listed. We have Jonah Heim. We have Cal Raleigh,

and we have Adley Rushman, with an honorable mention going to Sal Perez. Jonah leads all the catchers in extra base hits and RBI's. just running away with you, a 70 to Adley Rushman's 47. Again, this is through July people. So some of these statistics are going to be a little different. So through July, he leads in a lot of the meaningful categories, including OPS, war, whether it's B-War or F-Wor. So I think Jonah Heim's our guy. And I think, you know, we kind of just say that and move on. We got some

stuff to talk about poppy. It snaps. And again, like, if you're an Orioles fan, you might feel like you just got punched in the mouth, but it's the reason why we kind of originally want to tap into this kind of format is that if you watch your guys every day, and the Braves fan and Matt Olson will talk in a little bit, but like, you know, you see them every day, 162, and you're like, well, that's our guy. He's the best, what we're getting from that position. And this, like, isn't shots fired at Adley, who we're probably going to be talking about at the end of August, it's just how good both of these guys have been and congrats to Jonah Haim

who has been a key cod for the Texas Rangers and you're right, Trev, their next month. Don't have a dog day's month. No. And they won't. The ass shows there. You know, Adley, I wanted to shout out. I just saw this.

62 walks of 71 strikeouts. That's hot. It's hot. He's nasty, dude. Adley, we'll see you at the end of August. at first base Trevor I'll let you tee it up a little bit because I think you wanted to add some stuff to the mix

although I think there's a pick but please So Yanni D.S. is one at every single month so far And we don't take that lightly. The opportunity to have a silver daisy is exclusive. You don't have that too often. So when I'm looking at the numbers here I think there are a couple guys we need to talk about Yandi obviously one of them

Vlad Jr. and also Nate Lowe. I think those are the three guys. We have Josh Nailor listed on here with Tristan Kossas, as the honorable mentioned. Tristan has really come on as of late. Overall numbers, I still think it's Yandi. A lot of like the power numbers and extra base hit numbers are about the same. You can talk about doubles here. Yondi has 21.

Vlad has 21. Low has 28. That's nice. Then in Homer's, Yandi has 14, Vlad 7. low 12. They all have driven in right around the same amount. I mean, Yondi's lower than that because he hits higher in the lineup.

I believe he's always leading off for the raise. Is that correct? More or less. Most of the time. Most of the time. Because of that on the base percentage, it's hard not to. That's in the four.

The on base percentage is there. It's in the 400s. He's not a three, four, five guy. Oh, he is a three, four, five guy. At the point of this, yes. This is, again, through July. Wow. He does have the highest OPS.

I don't know if I mentioned that already. And if you go to B-war, he is just above Nate Lowe at a 3-5. Nate Lowe has a 3-3. F-4, same thing. They're separated by 2-10s with Yandhi a 2-8 and low at a 2-6. Yondi has the highest weighted runs,

created plus. So I think with all that and the fact that he's got three months in a row, this will be his fourth if we vote him in. I think Yondi's probably our guy. It is. He is. I'm glad we're giving Nate Lowe, Nathanielo, excuse me, some love. Because this was kind of a big year for him. He had, you know, kind of a full breakout last year after being good, good. And then it was kind of, okay, 140 OPS plus last year. Are you going to, are you that guy?

And he's kind of climbing back to that. So again, another guy in the Texas Rangers lineup, and you're going to about a few more coming up. Part of the reason they've been so, so successful. I just think Yandi Diaz, you know, at the end of August, the OPS is in the nines. Nobody else had that. You know, Vlad's technically started with a seven. There's a 15-game gap. I think Yandi had one I-L stint.

I don't think that's the difference in how much better Yandhi has. been so I think it snaps for Yandi Diaz. It's got the story of the biceps. We got to talk. Let's make sure people understand these statistics are through July. That always gets lost here. We're about a week into August. Those numbers are out.

And I've already had a couple guys made aware to me that they're having a big August. That's not part of this. My favorite is it'll never stop till the end of time. the people that think it's just the month of awards that they think it's just that month. They're like, this dude had a bad month. And it's like, well, you know.

It's cumulative. Three good ones before it. That's the whole point. We've got catcher. We've got first base. I think we've now run into one of our easiest decisions. It's the second base position. And a team you've already heard.

We're just going around the, Horn Forum, your Texas Rangers. Marcus, Marcus Simeon has a 5B war. He, I think he has the best offensive and defensive stats on this. The guy is competing with him. Whitmerfield, who you might hear for Util in a little bit, and, well, you know, he's battling in his own way. Brandon Drury is missing games and a potential U-Till guy as well.

a little shout out to glaver Torres who is always what's what's that word when you talk about athletes and they're kind of enigmatic glaver Torres has been a little enigmatic with Yankee fans his stats won't tell you that

he's got some of the better second baseman hitting stats simeon's in a league of his own here and he's your guy trev uh he is he's doing it on all sides of the ball here. Defensively, he's been great in that vaunted Texas lineup. He's one of the guys that's producing for them. And again, he has the first three months as well. So he's in line now for the

Silver Daisy if he continues this offensive pace. And he's going to have to because of the injuries we just mentioned to some of these Rangers. But Marcus is the clear cut winner at second base for me and I guess for all of us. Man, and what, I know we do it every now and then, but, you know, going from A's shortstop that they're going to roll him out there to see if he figures something out to, I don't know, premier all world second basement

in the past few years. He's a worker, man. He's a worker. Like, he's going to put the work in if he's not good at something. It's just the way he is wired. You know, he's the nice, this dude, but there's that dog deep down in him.

Like, he's got it. Outwardly, he's just going to come up to you and kill you a kindness, but he's a worker, man. I love it. He's a good dude. I would love to see, I also think, I don't know, I'd love to see him be an extra in a movie, like handsome, clean, like kind of like a bodyguard or something like that. Like, you don't, in a way, you don't fuck with Marcus Simeon.

He looks like the guy on criminal minds. Like, I love that. that show, by the way. So I would like to see him on criminal miles. You're a criminal minds guy? How are you not a criminal minds guy? It's classic. Sharmar Moore. Okay. He's kind of got, yeah, shave his head and get the goatee going. That's the goatee. That's the thing for me. I've seen Marcus with a goatee and I think that's what got me. When are you watching criminal minds? I feel like I used to watch it in the hotel rooms while I was playing. Like you just put it on. I think it's like on A&E or some weird channel,

and you just rock it, bro. You can go watch it on Pluto TV. Not advertising that. Congrats to Marcus, who is running it. And man, he looks, I don't want to say uncontested because anything can happen in baseball, but boy, he, uh... If you can hit at these middle infield positions,

like you're going to stack up some awards, dude. Especially with the way he picks it at second. Can play a lot of defense too. The shortstop position in the American League, you'll remember Jorge Mateo grabbed it in April. Since then, it's been Wander Franco, and Trev, like you alluded to, your friend, Bobby Witt Jr., has entered the chat

with his 29 stolen bases and 18 homers at the end of July. Wander is right there. Bo Bichette just got hurt and he's kind of been trailing along with Bobby Witt. It's a two-dog fight, but it's maybe the weirdest two-dog fight on the sheet because Corey Seeger, have I mentioned the Texas Rangers? Holy shnikes. I'm looking at these numbers right now and he's got 66 games played completely.

compared to the 100, 20, 506 on the sheet, but his counting stats have kept up with these guys. That's insane. Counting stats, Corey Seeger is there and he's just,

he's winning this entire, it's a 186 WRC plus that, Treve, we've fallen into this conversation a lot doing the All-JM team and how much have you played, And, you know, if someone's stats are so much better, it really becomes, what do you value?

And I don't, a lot of Wanderfranco and Corey Seeger's stats are identical outside of stolen bases. And Corey Seeger's, you know, average and on-base percentage numbers are in different worlds. I guess what do you value? A shortstop who has been playing MVP-level baseball, for 66 games or a shortstop that has been out there playing high-level defense, providing something with the stick, great speed in Wanderfranco. This is an all-time JM discussion here because usually we discount dudes who aren't on the field.

We just say you got to be playing to be considered for our award. but when you do rack up these numbers in the short amount of time, that's crazy to me. I didn't think, I knew that he had missed a bunch of games. I didn't know that the counting stats were there. He leads, the four guys we have listed here, let's just name them. We got Bichette, we got Franco, we got Seeger and Bobby Wood Jr. Okay.

Corey Seeger's played in 66 games. He leads all these dudes in doubles. He's got 29 doubles compared to 25's next height with Bichette. he has 15 homers, the highest is Bobbywood Jr. with 18. Again, these are through July. Like, the stats are there. The RBI's, he's right there. The leader would be Bobbywood Jr. with 60.

He has 58 in 40 less games. So I know we usually discount dudes for missing games, but I might like, in this instance, I might say this is more impressive because he has missed the games. It's tough, man. This almost feels like, you know, when a guy's going for the batting title and he has less games or not the qualified games

and they have to, like, chop down his... Like, we almost need that for Corey Seeger, because I think if you... No, but the opposite of it. We need to add because he's only... You're trying to boost? Six games. This is crazy, dude.

Yeah, that's, um... You open up his baseball reference page and it's kind of a do we not talk about Corey Seeger enough, a guy with a World Series MVP in the bag, guy whose career hitting stats are electric. I mean, he's got a 350 average, again, through July, 350 average, a 413 OEP and a 631 slug.

He's one dot in it. His offensive, I'm assuming this is the F war, or F offense, excuse me, is off the charts. The defense is there as well, not as much as a Bobby Witt or a Wander. But that's cumulative. Oh, boy.

I think I'm going Seeger here. I think it's that impressive to me that he's gotten that much of the job done and that little of the games. If we go back, let's talk about what we've had. Did you mention it already? It's been Mateo, then Wander, the last two months. Okay, you did say that.

I, and I should, tell the people, John John was going to be here today, but he's dealing with some illness right now that he hasn't even answered my text. So I'm a little worried about my buddy. But let's get back to all JM. Trev, I will

kick it to the deciding vote today, BPD, because I'm going to go Wander just because of this. Shortstop defense is so important. Yeah. And Wander is really good at that. and he has been out there for those games for the 102 leading up to that besides the two games he got benched or whatever that for a lot of other positions

I think I'd be with you on the Seeger train but having my guy at shortstop making the plays I need at shortstop even in those days when Wander you know doesn't contribute offensively I think that matters so So I'm going to kick it to Bebes, and wherever the gods may land, they land. Yeah, Dalton and I were having this conversation pre-show, pre-arrival to the office. And I said to him that just what Corey Seeger has done offensively

is just so far and away above what other people have done I think he has earned my vote. The glove, obviously the games played are limiting some of the numbers there, but it has not been a negative in the field. So that's helping him too. Maybe if he was also like a bad defensive shortstop, like that could chop him down a bit compared to these guys, but I think Corey Seeger has my vote.

Congrats to Corey Seeger, who has been. There's not a daisy on the line, so I feel better. about that choice too. The best hitter in baseball? So I will add this. He has played in every month. He's just missed some games. So in April and March they played,

had 11 games. So miss some time there. He won dotted it. In May he played 13 games. Ho-hum and 887. June 26 games, got a full month in. He won dotted it. July got 16 games in.

He missed some time. He won dotted it. August, he's played. all six games. He's one dot yet. But yes. I, uh, congrats to Corey Seeger. No, I mean, there's, I think we could, if we wasn't a wrong answer. If we needed to kill sports radio for an hour and a half, we could do that one. Uh, but we don't. And we've got to wrap up the infield. Trev, you have a question. Clearly, if you're having someone date your daughter, you pick a shortstop, obviously.

I know you said Matt Olson, but you know the real, who she really wants. is a shortstop. Which one of these guys listed here is more your speed to enter your family? I mean, me and Wander are kind of two, you know, those Thanksgiving football games would get. She'd see Wander and say, that's like my dad. That's too much like my dad. Well, you know, daughters end up marrying their dad.

So that's, I can see it, me and Wander. me and Bo are into, you know, the same stuff off the field. Corey Seeger's probably my little, I don't want to say my last pick, but Bobby Witt Jr. is tough to turn down. He'd treat her right. He's the fast kid. I'd have him, I'd have him change the facial hair. There'd be some jabs at the goatee.

Okay. So who you pick it? He'd be like, I hate going over to your dad's place. He always makes fun of my goatee. You can he wander, baby. I'm, you know, let's go out dancing. Let's have a time. Wander Frank.

It would be fun. Dating. And you get to call him son. Son? Hey, you know, I know you got a... Are you from the South now? You got bench this year and I think it was the right move. I think you're going to learn from that.

When did you move to West Texas? Shut up, old man. Me and your daughter are going to the basement. Trev. Third base, also not clean. We have some classics here. Devers and Jose Ramirez. These two have been peas in a pod.

Your guy, Matt Chapman, is back in the mix in a big way. And then you've heard about the Texas Rangers entire team. You're hearing about most of the race team. Esauk Parades gets a shout on this list, only because he's arguably been the best offensively out of the crew. Leading up until this point, it's gone Chapman, thick-neck Josh Young, who we're not going to hear from from a little bit. And then J-RAM.

So we've had a different body every month. Sounds like Fort Myers, Trev. What, where do you think you're... I don't know, man. Yeah, this is really tough. This is really tough. I think we're choosing between two guys here. I know Devers offensively has been really good,

but with the all-j-M team, we're usually looking for a more well-rounded guy. Not to say he can't play D, but so far the numbers here against these guys aren't going to hold up. We have Chapman doing a defensive. We have Jose Ramirez doing a defensively. They also both lead in F-WR and B-WR.

I think those are the two guys who all. I'll be choosing between. I still haven't made my mind up just yet on who I'm going with. Chapman came off really, really hot early on. He's cooled since then. Some of his defensive stats weren't good early on. I believe they've turned around because obviously they should. He's a fucking psycho out there.

Love watching that guy play defense. And then Jose Ramirez, I mean, look, probably the most consistent player in the big leagues, one of, a top five consistent player. in the big leagues MVP level every single year. Plus he just had an all-time moment. We can't talk about that because it happened in August. But we know it happened.

That's an all-time moment for him. That makes him look so freaking good, man. I want a little bit more time with the sheet. Chapman's strikeout numbers, I don't love it, especially when you're talking about J-Ram through July having more walks than strikeouts. You know that gets me go. I know.

I want to have a little bit more time with the sheet. You can talk a little bit about what your thoughts are, and then I'll give my answer in about two minutes. You're right. And Red Sox fans, you know, I know I'm not the guy that you come to for to be consoled. Devers numbers are awesome. I mean, the 25 homers is the most. The 76 RBI is the most.

It's just the rest of the stats are in the same realm or a little lesser. He's got the lowest on base percentage. He's got a chunk lower batting average than Ramirez that I do. I think Devers gets ruled out for now. If, you know, have a second half and I think you're going to open up discussions, and it's looking like we're going to have a new third baseman every month. Trevor, I'm going to break this down to boring lot. And for me, it's looking at these stats and looking at these players.

And, you know, basically all-J-M team is, I don't want to say I think about assembling a team, but it's what do I want at that position? Do I want the power-hitting lefty that's going to give me mediocre defense? Do I want Maddie Chapman, who, you know, on a given day, he can give you three hits and dominate while making special, special defensive plays in the field? Or is it the switch hitting third baseman who can make great plays defensively,

who can hit for average, who can hit for power, who is also the only speed guy on the list? For me, I think I land on Jose Ramirez, and I, you know, the punch is present in all of our heads, but I think the baseball stats there are too with the highest batting average, the highest on base percentage. The highest OPS? Paredes has him by a notch,

but that's the first time we've mentioned him, and he's moved around the infield a lot as well. I think I'm Jose Ramirez, and it's a, I don't know, it's a credit to Chapman Endeavors, but that's my guy. I land Jose as well, and I'm going to say this

because I think it's pertinent in these discussions when we're talking offensive numbers. The rest of his team stinks. Ooh, okay. Okay, they don't stink. I'm sorry, I don't mean to be mean. But compared to these other teams, we're talking about the Blue Jays,

the Red Sox, and the Rays. These teams are very good offensively. Right. The Guardians are very, like, overall, all as a team very bad offensively. So Jose, to put up some of these numbers that you have to rely on your team for, it is impressive to me.

So I'm going to go with him as well, and I'm not thinking about what happened in August, but I'm also thinking about what happened in August. Snaps for Jose Ramirez. Snap for Jose. You and Jose, same body. Yeah. Exact same body.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I think he's got a couple shirtless picks out there that I'm like wait that's I like that's not too far off from what I'm operating with I don't know if I've ever seen the shirtless picks I guess I got a have you seen some of his outfits too uh Jose Ramirez shirtless haven't googled this today

um as soon as you type the j and it comes up oh yeah no I've never looked this one up not a ton of results uh and again my last piece of solace for Red Sox fans. There's been now a different third baseman every month. Chapman Young, or excuse me, Jose Ramirez just doubled up.

So I lied. I wouldn't be shocked at all if Devers swoops in at the end to have the final pedal. Or a guy who we didn't mention, you know, a guy like a Gunner Henderson. Some of these guys are on the honorable mention list. They're not far off. You love Gunner. I mean, he's putting together a nice little season. You gotta keep going, baby.

Let's do the American League outfields, those that know, no. We need a center fielder, and then we want the other two best outfielder. So sometimes it is the three best. We value the center field defensive position. And luckily, Trev in the American League, unless you got something up your sleeve, I don't know about a guy that has been incredible pull to pull, and this was a massive season for him, and he has put together a massive season,

speaking of surrounded by a lot of other stuff, Luis Robert Jr. is having an amazing, amazing 2023 campaign. He is. He is going to get our center field vote here, which is important to get out of the way. But yes, he has been on a team that has just been a disaster. too. To be able to come every day and to the ballpark and pay attention and have these sorts of results is impressive when you're going through dealing with a lot of the stuff that the White Sox players have had to deal with, whether that's underperformance, media scrutiny, trading away all the players of the deadline. And now all this stuff that's coming out now about the culture there. And shoot, we don't know what's going on there. I mean, I don't want to speak too much onto it. But I'm just saying a lot of distractions there on the South Side.

and yeah, he's been really good. He's got 29 homers already. This is through, excuse me, through July, 70 runs, 60 ribbies. He's very, very impressive, and he can do it on all sides of the ball. This is why people were talking like, hey, this is the Latin Mike Trout. He said that. Who said that? Somebody's prominent said that.

Who said that, though? Could have been the White Sox. Who knows? Maybe it was the White Sox Scouts. somebody said that, but it's because you know who it was, Trent. It was your guy guy. Yonder Alonzo.

Wow, Jan. Okay. I can see that now. That makes a lot of sense. Yonder likes to hype the guys up. No doubt. Hey, snaps for Luis Robert. I will say,

going back to last month, he was our center fielder. Before that, it was Keirmeyer and Mike Trout. Randy a Roserana has been on this outfield list every month, and I'm not sure if he's going to be here this month. Adolice Garcia was there last month. Judge in May.

And how about Jared Kellnick's April? How far we've come with this all-JM team? Trevor, I kicked it off with Luis Robert. I have my two guys. I want to see if we're in lockstep on them. Okay, there's a there's a guy who's crushing the ball who I think is kind of a clear cut.

One I have in my mind, and it's Adelisse Garcia. I'm with you. I'm with you. We're in lockstep there. Some of the numbers are pretty silly there. I believe he's leading all the guys, on R-sheet and runs batted in, which yes he is, through July he had 84. Think about that.

84 stakes before July. That is a beautiful thing. And I believe, I don't know if it was you and I talking about him or C. Rose and I talk about him. He's pretty much been a 30-100 guy every full season that he's had. Like real close. If he hadn't, if he didn't do it, it's one home or off or a couple R. eyes off. So I think

Adelis Garcia is going to do it here. And he's doing it defensively as well. He's got that freaking absolute cannon, pretty good arm to seven stolen bases. No cot stealing. You always like to see that, even though some of these stolen base numbers for these outfills are pretty

outrageous. But I think it's Lubbob and Adelis so far for me in the outfield. Yeah, I'm with you. I know sometimes counting stats aren't sexy because, hey, that Texas Rangers offense is special, but, you know, I'm, Jaron Duran is on this list, and some of his numbers are really nice, like really nice, and good for you, Jaron.

Adelisse almost has double the runs, and he has more than double the RBI. Like, at a certain point, counting stats do have to count, because at the end of the year, that's what we're trying to do. and he is the king of counting stats. If you're looking for home runs, if you're looking for runs, if you're looking for RBI, it's Adelis Garcia. So yeah, I had him on the team too.

He remains from last month another Texas Ranger. My God. Now this last one gets tricky, Trev. I love this guy, so it's not too tricky for me. selection and again I know this is what happened in August what he did last night was special special we are two peas are we together yes dude because it's insane that this guy's numbers are here it's insane that it didn't happen yet but he clipped Felix last night and just the different numbers that pop up on his page are unreal like we fell into the same thing last year where it was like

wow you know man Julio Rodriguez he's got 24 steals. Kyle Tucker has 20. Yeah. He also has the highest OPS on this sheet at 890 while playing good defense. The guy is the most casual freak show in the MLB right now. I totally agree. Every time you see him do something, like, what the hell? If he's stealing bags, if he's hitting homers, if he's, and his defense on here, his Fangrass defense is a negative. but I feel like every time I see this guy play, he's making a diving catch,

he's throwing somebody out with that long-ass arm of his. I mean, I don't watch the Astros play day in and day out, so maybe there's some bad route running or something that I don't know about. There's enough like prior years of very good defense that I'm willing to chalk this up to a weird sample. He's got a gold glove, right?

Yeah. Yeah. I'm willing to chalk this up to like over less than a year of the defensive numbers can be weird. But even, yeah, I agree with that, Bebers. But even with the negative defense, we're talking about offensively what he does,

then on the base pass, what he does. And we know, like, you know, the Ashos have been without Yordon for a big chunk of the season. They started the year without Aaltuve. Bregman was really struggling at the beginning of the year. I mean, Kyle Tucker had to bolster that offense, had to put him on the back, dude.

And that's a long back, that tall, fucking dude. It's a real long back, so a lot of people can ride on it. and he's needed that long back. Now he's got all his guys here. I mean, I just think he is, he's one of my favorite players in the show. So I'm going Kyle Tucker with my last pick here. We, we had it. We had it.

And it's kind of a sick outfield, dude. I mean, imagine Luis, Robert, Adoles Garcia, and Kyle Tucker actually out there. Like, that's, you got two righties and a lefty. We're playing defense. We're playing offense. and Kyle Tucker just has this way about him that, Treve, we talked about how much of a freak show Seeger's offensive season has been this year. Corey Seeger's Fangraph F offense number that my guy Dalt has in here,

the only person whose number is higher in the American League, or excuse me, well, it's Corey Seeger. Kyle Tucker. Kyle Tucker has arguably been the best offensive player in the American League this season. And he just kind of floats by and we're like, yeah, he looks like Abe Lincoln and he throws kind of weird because he is a freak. Hey, look at this, dude. Think about this. We're talking about outfielders here. This guy, even though he's slugging in the fives, he has. I just lost up.

51 walks and 58 strikeouts. 58Ks. That's Stephen Kwan, for instance, a guy that we say has legendary bat to ball skills. He didn't swing and miss for the first like thousand pitches he saw, whatever the hell it was. He's got 47 walks to 52 strikeouts. Kyle Tucker's on par with a guy that we talk about with incredible bat to ball skills, but he also has juice and can do all sorts of things.

I mean, I know we already picked him, but snaps for Kyle Tucker, man. Shoot. I got nervous when you guys started talking that it was not Kyle Tucker's the next guy you were going to do. Randy a Roserana loses a potential silver daisy. Tough. He must have had a tough July or these other guys are just freaks. Watch out for Julio sneaking up.

He is gaining ground offensively and defensively. Yoshida's also been there all year, so some love for him. I'm looking at Randy's stats right now. You want to hear the July stats? Let's hear the July stats. Reminder, these awards are through July, not just for July, but Randy. 22 games started, 85 at Bats. He hit 153 with a 223 on base percentage for a 482 OPS.

That'll get you kicked out the club. Eesh. That'll get you kicked out the club. Trevor, I have good news. Instant snaps. And I take away what I just said about Kyle Tucker being the second best hitter in the AL. Yeah, you're crazy. I was going to say.

Not about one guy. I guess he has an argument with. Seeger, but Shohei Otani 39 home runs at the end of July 1.087

OPS batting average into threes if you're into that. Can throw a little two if you need them. He's 3-4-6ing it. Almost 3-4-7ing it. Jeez. Halos, let's go, man.

No, it's over, bro. Give us anything. They won last night. They know it's over. Nate Steele in the building. This is what I think. I mean, honestly, get the pick for Shoahe.

You're going to get a nice little draft pick there. But now it's like, let's just get higher up the board, right? I mean, come on. Don't. Congrats to Shohei Otani. Just what he wants to hear. He's on the all-JM team.

yet again. I mean, is anybody going to catch him? I mean, your don's one dot on the nose through July. He missed some time. If anyone can do it, it's your dawn, but. Well, we'll see if Brent Rooker can return to form after his April, where he won. Don't talk about Brent Rooker like that. What?

Don't do that. He had a big April. If Shohay shuts it down right now, right now, August 9th, is he the MVP? Yeah. Yeah. I think so. Because he pitches too. I thought you were going to say,

is he all J.M.D.H. And I was going to say, just don't sleep on Yordaun. Yordaun's got time to catch that number. If there's one MFer that can match him offensively, it's that freak show. Yeah, he's... Oh, Shohay. You kidding me, dude?

He signed an extension. Trev, the always-contrad. controversial U-Till position. Guys listed that we've come across already. Drury and Witt Merrifield were mentioned at the second base position. Zeke Duran, who may be the most versatile. And Luke Rayleigh, who we've mentioned during these U-Till segments, and U-Till always gets our most funkiest reaction

because it's how U-Till is your U-Till. We had Taylor Walls, we had Zach McKinstree, and then we had Zeke Duran last month. What are your beautiful eyes seeing? I think we always go back to, yeah, what is U-Til? I think if you're playing left field, right-field, in first base, I don't know if I consider you U-Til. You're more just a corner guy.

You're not the most util you could be. Like, U-Till to me means you can play a middle-infield position. Or I would even give like a Bellinger a U-Till because he can play center field. Up the middle is important. You have to, yeah, I think you've got to play up the middle in some fashion, whether that's center field or second base. It's a lot more points in your favor. Or if you can play all the infield positions, I can give you a util.

How do you feel about that? Even if you don't play outfield at all, but if you can mix it up at all the infield positions, I give you you too. Yeah, I mean, that's four positions where the ball gets on you quick, yeah. So right now I'm looking, and, you know, Whitmerfield qualifies.

Luke really doesn't qualify to me in what I just said. Luke Rayleigh hates you right now. Yeah, a little bit. The OPS is 8-9. Yeah, it's nice. it's nice he's crushing the ball he's crushing the ball he pitched twice how that that count as a middle huh how about zach short keeps getting in these games man where's where's zach short on this list where is zach short uh dollen just let out a frustration exhale like he he had everything except our guy

he needs to have zach short on every yeah jm list every every year Zach short should RKF kind of right with them if you want to talk about. Wow. What a turnaround in a Yankees. For Zach Short. Perception for ICF. Stop making them the everyday shorts. If I'm hearing you correctly, you must be leaning Zeke Duran, or does Witt's second

base in corner do enough for you? This is always the toughest one, because Witt is stealing all these bases. He does play a middle. middle infield position, so he does qualify. If we're looking at runs bad at Witt has the most. If we're looking at runs scored, Witt has the most. But he has the lowest OPS. I think it's between Witt and Zique.

Man, that's a tough one for me. I'll put this out there, and I think it may lead to a decision, but I'm going Luke Raley. I'm sorry. I can hear the middle infield speech or center field, and I get that, but... For me, that's bonus points. Luke Rayleigh is first base, either corner.

And he's giving you an 8-9 OPS. Like, the numbers are crazy that... Do you consider Alex Kiroloff a utility player? Both corners and first? Left field, first base. If he could play right-field, yeah. Oh, now right field makes you a utility guy

because he plays two corner outfield positions. I just don't consider that utility. I think there are guys that cannot play both corner outfield positions. Kirillov has played 10 and left field, 11 and right field 56 at first. I don't consider Alex Kirillov a utility player. Dalton?

Positional versatility, sure. Dalton? Just one point I want to make out for Luke Rayleigh versus Alex Kierloff, if we're going in that discussion real quick. Ralees played almost even numbers between first and both corner outfield spots. Kierloff played 50 games compared to 20 games in left and right combined. For me, I don't want to discredit for what Raleigh is doing offensively based on how they're using it.

They have guys like Yandi Diaz at first base, who's played primarily. Isaac Paredes, who's playing third a little bit of first. I don't think how well Raleys played offensively should be discredited because he's ability to move around in the outfield in the corner. spot on first base. I think I agree. I also believe maybe those statistics are a little off of Kierloff because they move within the game all the time, first base to outfield. So I don't know if that counts as a game started or is that games in general you were looking at there. Well, there was, I was looking at total appearances

when I read it. There is a conversation beforehand should they be penalized if they don't start there? Because isn't that part of their versatility? If you bring someone else into the game that goes and plays another position and that you move, that should be bonus points for you. That's, that's, no,

100, I'm not taking away. These guys are moving around. They have positional versatility. I'm just, my definition of utility player is a little bit different. And I'm okay with you choosing Luke really.

It's not, not everyone can do first base and outfield, but more guys, way more guys can do that. It's true. Than play middle position. It's true. So if there is,

someone close, I will always probably lean towards a guy that's in the middle of the diamond. I think that's right, Treve. I am picking up everything you're putting down as far as up the middle ability with the util. That's more util than just first base

corner outfield stuff, but it doesn't mean the other guys aren't being utilal guys at all. I will pick Whitmeryfield for my choice here. Because I think it's close enough and I value that positional, the middle positions. So Beaver's.

Oh. Four is yours. My pure vote, I think I would have still gone Zeke Duran, but I'm tie breaking between those two. Grayley's swiping bags, too. I think Gailene, Luke Rayleigh between those two. Congratulations. That's got to be his first pedal.

How about Luke M.F. and Rayley, dude. God. Man, there's something so funny to the fact. You know, we talk about organizations and where you're drafted. Little Dodgers raise for Luke Rayleigh. You know, that sounds a lot better than going A's white socks. Liam Hendricks. Marcus Simian.

Congrats to Luke Rayleigh, who has been absolutely balling this year and deserves the credit. Uh, and O'Graveman. Hot. Trev, the ale pitcher, and then we gotta crank some NL because we have been cooking today,

and you should be outside, grilling, cooking, summers here, and you should be wearing your shady rays. And Trev, the people at Shady Rays have heard us and they listened. You may know,

me and Jimmy have our own signature pair of glasses. Whoops. Sorry about. you. And part of the problem, Shady Raids was rolling out that crazy deal, right? But our glasses weren't a part of that. So what they did is they made a new deal.

JM30 will get you 30% off the custom Jimmy and Jake collab shades. I am obviously as biased as someone can get. My shades are sick. There is a slight green tint to them. You can barely see. They look all black, kind of men in black. When you get in high and tight, you're like, ooh, little Jake sucks on there, the signature, the frog.

Jimmy, you got a couple pinstripes on the back end there, comma, a breakdown. His are also sick. I'm a little biased towards mine. And again, you will get 30% off with code JM30. And if you say, screw them, I'm a Trev guy, I'm a BBD guy, I'm a Dalton Feeley guy. I'm a Dalton Feeley guy. They still have their code talking for 50% off two plus pairs of premium polar eye shades.

So Shady Rays is rolling it out for you. It's August. Get yourself some sunnies. Click the link in the description. Trev, you raised your hand. Best deal in the biz. This is a message to Shady Rays. If you want your company to explode more than it already has,

let me design a pair of shades as well. Okay. Thank you. We can work on that. We can work on that. Trev, the AL pitcher, I'm just going to tell you, and I think people know with how I feel about the Yankees currently, that there's not bias.

I see the most innings pitched. I see the lowest ERA. I'm a pretty simple fella sometimes. Garrett Cole has been awesome. He is my vote for the AL pitcher. Oh, my goodness. You just went out quick. I mean, he is, it's not like he's running away with everything.

He's good. Like there's a lot of people that are close to him too. You're not even going to think about these other guys. I've thought about it. Or also 55 in and haven't done NL. So that's kind of why I delivered it that way. Oh, we can stay here all day, Poppy. Okay.

All day. Yeah. All day. Then talk about Luis Castillo. Talk about Nathan Avaldi. Give me some Gossmann. Give me some Framber. Framber is carrying the pedal from last month.

Framber has the pedal from last month. I believe before that, who was it? It was Cole. We went Cole Evaldi Framber. Of these guys, I'm looking more at Nathanie Evaldi than anybody else. Framber did something really special, I believe, in August. I believe that was in August. So that does not count.

These statistics are through July. But there's other guys. I mean, Gossman has the best K per nine and the best walks per nine. that means something. You're walking less people and striking out more people. I'm looking and I'm a liking. You got a big old FIP on him. Nathan Evaldi has been really good.

He actually has right, he's right there with Garrett Cole as far as E.R. Ray, I know he's pitched in three less games. He is on the IL right now. I just think they're pretty close. I want to make sure I'm crossing my T's and dot in the eyes. Sure. as you would say. No peer pressure.

Wow. I love me some Garrett Cole, too. I've really turned the corner with him. I do. He's everything you want in an ace. He's like what Russell Wilson used to be. With the Seahawks. What a comp.

Yeah. Everything you want, kind of dorky, but all he cares about is ball, really. And then Russell Wilson started caring about social media, then it wasn't great. So, Garrett Cole, my advice. to you is just stay off the social media, bro. Just keep being the Yankees' horse.

How about that? Gosh, these guys are pretty close. Garrett's running away with the B-war. Gospon's got him in the F-war. Gospons' FIP is real, real nice. I think I might put Beaver to the test here, even though the chair's empty. Okay.

I don't know, man. This is a real tough one for me. I think pitcher is always the toughest. I think I'm going to take Kevin Gospin with my pick. Hey, man. Like you said, the strikeout numbers are crazy. Everything else is fairly close or in the same realm. Yeah, it's real, real close.

So, yeah, we'll, I don't know, Beaver's either had to pee or he ordered lunch that we'll have to break up. Is Dalton here? Who did Dalton pick? He's got his picks here. Dahl? Dalt's picks through July. you took

Garrett Cole Garrett Cole So don't that Beaver's know that Because I feel like that'll sway his mind He may already know But Let's

Let's keep the boat moving To the national league, Trev Oh, we got to wait for Beaver's But let's move on I like that Yeah and we'll surprise him We'll actually keep it rolling And we'll see if he says something

We'll go there If not we might sneak attack him After the catcher position so everyone loves an inside joke. The National League, catching position. Eish. Arguably the toughest on the sheet.

So a great start. Oh my gosh. A great start for the NL. Because William Contreras has been raking lately. I think his brother has been too, but, and he's got some electric stats. arguably

he's got some fantastic offensive stats Sean Murphy and Will Smith who have been at this thing all year although Sean Murphy has swept so far their stats look like you told chat GPT to give you two different catching statistics that are as close as possible

because across the board Sean Murphy's got a little more pop Pop. Will Smith has a better on-base percentage. The F offense loves Will Smith a little more. It loves Sean Murphy's defense a little more. We've been splitting hairs all year. These are two guys that are constantly in the conversation

for who is the best catcher. I'll let you go. the only thing that's keeping Will Smith in the conversation here for me is that walk to strikeout ratio because you know I'm just a sucker for that. I really am. 48 walks to 50 strikeouts.

Sean Murphy to me pretty much everywhere else kind of takes it. So I'll put my vote in for Sean Murphy, although Will Smith is very, very close. And I do, I do like the fact that Sean Murphy has won at all three months. That means he's been super, super consistent, which should mean something.

But I'll go Sean Murphy for my NL catcher. The 909 OPS from Sean Murphy is tough to beat. A 9 OPS from a catcher, yo. The defensive metrics do tend to like him more, and I do want to apologize to Dodger fans because I said that's not Will Smith's strength, and I saw some Will Smith tape, and he can play defense back there.

The Dodgers pitchers weren't helping him with a lot of the base runners too too much. Treve, I know how much you love Will Smith, and I love him too. That OPS is tough to beat with everything Sean Murphy does. And, you know, we talked about a lot of Texas Rangers players on the AL side. I think we're going to talk about a lot of Atlanta players

on the NL side, along with Dodgers, if we're being honest. It's Sean Murphy. All in. Will Smith is right there. Yeah. Will Smith is right there that if there's a hiccup or an injury,

it's an incredible season from a catcher. And how about William Contreras? You know, people were worried about his defense, but the Brewers have a little defensive catching clinic going on at their facility. And you might see his brother in the mix. And hey, how about Francisco Alvarez making the sheet? I think for the first time with his slugging in the fives.

But a congrats and snaps to Sean Murphy as we kick off the National League. Babes, we need your AL pitcher between Cole and Gossman. 10. Nine. Looking at the stats, looking at the stats. Seven. Six. Oh, Gary Cole.

Oh. It's our year. Obviously. It's our year, baby. Yankee fans pick their guy. Where was Sunny Gray on this list? Where was Bailey Ober? Check up your butt.

Dalton almost threw up. Substantially lower ERA. Dalton had cold too. Yeah, because he's always around to you guys. Bailey Ober's the guy. The nightmare. You know what? We're both giving it to Bailey.

We make him a shirt. I told him we'd make him a shirt and we haven't. We're whip guys. Bailey Ober shirts? Paul's got him and whip. Have you met Bailey Ober? He would fuck you up.

He would fuck me up. He would fuck me up. Don't give him a hug. He's 6'9. You know where your face would be. Right in there. I got a sneeze coming. Congrats to Sean Murphy.

Chasing. You're disgusting. A daisy. Hey, you got to be conscious of that stuff when you're down here, man. Uh. This is. I referenced it at the start of the show.

It's probably the most fucked up guy who won't be on the list. Because he's dating my daughter. Yeah, it's tough for you, huh? He's on his, he's on pace for a casual 50 bones this year. And the guy who's going to get it is a guy that he'll be compared to forever. Huh. for transactional reasons.

Trev, I'll let you see what you can dig up for Maddie because that homer number is Goddy. Freddie Freeman's the best hitter in baseball. Dude, this is way closer than you're making it seem. It's, I am. You're right. You're right, but that's because I felt like I teed it up before. This is close.

I don't know, Trev. Talk me into it. Okay. I mean, on base percentage for Freddie, that's going to be there all the time. And it's a very sexy number. A 409 OBP gets me. No doubt about it. But look at the slug.

Who's winning there? It's Maddie. Maddie Story Allie is winning there. Okay. 36 Jimmy Jacks through July, 89. We were just owing and awing about Adelisse Garcia's 84 runs bad than through July. I'm not sure if that's the right number. But 89 through.

July. It's big. If you're talking about extra base hits, Freddie Freeman's got him by one. But that's mostly doubles. That's why the slugging is higher for Matt Olson. The runs are very similar.

Freddy's got 89 compared to Olson's 80. Olson has more walks. He strikes out a little bit more. The walk percentage is higher for Matt Olson, which is crazy to me. I guess it's just because

Freddie just gets more hits. That's where the on-base percentage is going crazy. I'm not so sure it's a runaway for Freddy. Now, do I think Freddie might have them just a little bit? Yeah, but you're making it seem like it's a runaway, and I'm just not so sure. I'm very curious

why the war is so different. I think it has to do with the base running. There's a little bit of defense. There's a little bit of base running, and that home run number, I know is big, but like you mentioned, extra base hits.

By one. By one. By one, but that goes with Freddie having, how many more hits does he have? 23 hits at this point of the season. Like, Frederick, if we're now going both leagues, I think Otani is your number one offensive.

contributor. I think of all hitters in baseball, and let me see who else I'm forgetting in the Nathole, well, a guy that used to be Freddie's teammate. I think Freddie is having a top three offensive season in baseball this year. Yeah, he's an MVP discussion. And Matt Olson may be top five, but...

Same league, same position. Top top eight. Have we ever done two? No. There's never been a... I think we did one month, actually. Now that you say that. I feel like we did one time.

We couldn't decide. We did a rollover month. Oh, yeah. Who's going to be better the following month? We wanted them to fight it out. We didn't have won it, right? I think so. There was a dual month.

Schwarber got the rollover. Whoever won May of last, whoever won June of last year would also get credit for May. So do you want to do that where we say? hey, these guys are so close whoever wins August also wins July. You're trying to put a little skin in the game, huh?

I'm just not, I mean, look, if we're looking strictly at war numbers, Freddy's got him. If we're looking at any other numbers, they're really close. If I'm not looking at war, don't even look at war. And I look at every other number. It very much becomes a game

of power versus contact, right? Like, you know, Freddie's got a 329 batting average. Olson's got a 263. All right, I'm ready. On three. One, two, three. Freddie Freeman. Yeah.

It's just, it's just, it's just, it's just, it's time's better. I commend the truck. There's been one player as a joke since we've started this program. I said, I would allow to date me. my daughter, and I'm picking against him. Like, you don't have a daughter. I don't have a daughter. It's great seeing Ila last week.

She had some fun in the city, huh? Holy smokes. She loves New York. Crush New York. Congrats to Freddie Freeman. Sorry, Maddieo. You were close to a rollover, but it just wasn't in the cards. How about San Francisco having...

two first basements listed here. Dahl, you want to explain yourself with Wilmer Flores and Lamont Wade Jr.? Dalton? Yeah, I got to go back and check out Wilmer Flores' first base eligibility, but his July, like his numbers, I don't know if you saw it.

It goes through July, just to emphasize, it goes through July, but holy cow, I mean, this man had one hell of a July, which put him up there. Lamont Wade kind of cooled off, but that on base percentage this year has been unbelievable. again, just offensively.

I think those four guys I had in the sheet, Freeman, Goulchman, Olson, and Walker are better. But I got to give credit to my snakes, and the Giants. They have two guys who are really good, who have had really good seasons. And Flores, potential, used to be a utility guy. Like, he used to be a Utah guy.

He plays a lot more DH in first base now, but got to give credit or credits to do, honorable mention for them both. We got a tweet last night that was like, you guys need to give Wilmer Flores a little bit of life because he has been killing it. And I have it here real quick. Flores has played 33 starts at first base

compared to 20 at DH. He just hasn't played enough. Okay. Okay. Christian Walker. I'm going to give you my second base pick and then I'm going to just step out for a second. Okay.

Husson Kim, you're a fucking... Really? Congratulations. Trev, you just... You might have just rattled the cage for some people. because Luis Arise, the chase for 400, right? And how special that is, he's gotten a pedal every month. He was on the pursuit of four bills.

I mean, he still is. He's faded a little bit. He is hitting 381. The tricky part with Luis Arise, not known for his defense. In fact, that was part of the reason the twins were willing to move on from Louisa Rize a bit. 429 on base is still very special. 9.05 OPS, absolutely.

He has three home runs and one stolen base. Ozzy Albies deserve some snaps. He has 24 ding-dongs. I mentioned you're going to hear about a lot of Atlanta Braves. Playing close to what has average defense there. A couple of the other stats, the on base percentage is pretty low. I could tell Marte we play for rings in the desert.

I mean, there's some numbers with him. Jeepers, creepers. We fell into this the other day, Trev. What Ha-Song Kim is doing this year is like top five NLMVP type stuff. We've got a 5-8B war right now, which I believe, yeah, it's one of the highest in baseball. Is that the highest National League? B-war.

I'm looking at it up right now. I think as of the end of July, which is when we put this down, the guy who's been kind of the consensus NLMVP from the start of the season, Ronald Acuna Jr., 5.7B war. Yeah, right now baseball reference has him listed as the highest. It goes, Kim. Acuna, Otani, Freeman, Betts, Seeger, Simeon, Wanderfranco, Lou Bob and Lindor. Indoor, I didn't know

was having a season like that. Okay. Sneaky up there in Queens. Yeah, but Hassan Kim, man. How about it? I hate to introduce some slop and funk. He, while he has settled in to second base for the most part, not sure if by the end of the year he'll remain eligible for this.

For this month, he is still util eligible. I am. I'm going to put. Hassan Kim at second base for now. He has played the majority of his games there. He has been incredible. He has earned it. Let's give snaps to Hassan Kim.

If you till gets ugly or outfield gets ugly, we know we have a little wiggle, and we've wiggled in the past. I have misspoken on the war statistics. That was position player war. Okay. he's second to Shohei Otani when you consider that

Showtahotani also pitches because Shohei right now is 8.6B war. Could call it a season and win MVP. Holy shnikes. You don't see that. So we're snapping for Hassan Kim's second base. It snapped. It snapped.

He may get some pedal. He may get moved, but he is on the team. He's getting a pedal. If we did that, we could keep Louisa rise there for the silver daisy. I don't know if that's fair. I got to look at the util position when we get down there. Last month in the util position,

we had a guy named Muki. Yeah. I know he might go back. He might just do that again. The National League shortstop position, I was a little surprised. Pardomo's been hanging around all year with some fun stats, but he's drifted back a little bit.

he had platoon stuff early on. Maddie McLean is sneaking into the mix with some very impressive numbers this year. I do believe this is a two-horse race, and one of the horses, this went Bogart Swanson-Swanson so far, and Dansby, who has been playing great lately, although I think a chunk of that is August,

and with the Cubs rise, I thought this was going to be a Dansby runaway Contrere Montreux-Rer Frankie Lindor who has been fighting with Dansby in a lot of NL shortstop's conversations has a lot

to bring to the table I didn't realize how much pop he was playing with this year 21 homers 23 doubles those are the most between any of the short stops I just mentioned with the most stolen bases as well he gets hurt with batting average, but that's about it, Trev. Well, he's also posted pretty much every single day,

and the batting average might be a product of his batting average of balls in play. It's been low all year up until July. It was 265 in April. It was 231 in May and 233 in June. I don't know what his career Bavibavib is, but I'm assuming it's around the 300 mark or even, a little bit higher. So you can expect him to get that average up a little bit as the season goes on. He's done that over the last, like I said, July, it was 307 and then August so far it's been

455. So it's coming back. So his average will be there. And yeah, I was surprised. I knew I knew he started out just kind of like not great, but the last couple months he's been, he's been pretty good. So yeah, this is a, this is an interesting one for me. I mean, I see. Dan's be kind of doing it and him kind of being like one of the faces of a resurgent Cub team I mean he comes in, signs the free agent deal

that means something to me like we all thought the Cubs were going to sell but having a guy that is at shortstop is steady on both sides of the ball even better than steady on both sides of the ball. I think that's got to be in the discussion here.

So this is This is a difficult one for me. Even though Lindor is running away with some of the war stuff, I just, I need some more time here. Are you leaning somewhere? I am. I'm leaning Lindor. It's tough because I often find myself being a Dansby defender

because, again, like, you know, he was the last shortstop in that class. People are wondering when his defense is going to fall off because of the arm strength. He comes back and he's going to. gone Gadzooks again, but the Gadzukes, I think, is kind of in August. And I don't want to discredit what Frankie Lindor is doing because it's crazy impressive. And I mean, the counting stats again, 65 runs, 65 RBI for Lindor, 48 and 45 for Dansby.

He's got him in homers. he's got him in steals. If there's anyone that can pick it with Dansby Swanson, it's Lindor. So, like, I'm trying to be as neutral as possible, and I think when I'm being as neutral as possible, my pick goes to Francisco Lindor. I just open up a whole new can of worms here. Don't go down the Matt McLean wormhole.

Yeah, it's not his fault that the Reds didn't have him up. Was he hurt at the beginning of season? I don't believe he was hurting. I don't, he's just sitting in AAA, just like, oh, this is where you belong, go work on your defense kid? One of those situations? No, he wasn't ready. Because, dude, I mean, I know some of the counting stats don't favor him, but, you know, the percentages do. He's got a higher on base percentage than both Dansby and Lendor.

He's got a higher slugging percentage than both of them by far. his OPS is much better than them by far he's got he's he's the guy with the 894 through July he plays defense too he's got some bags I don't know man maybe maybe we hold off on him this month because

he doesn't have enough games played but you can't really hold that against him that his team just didn't call him up he's probably been the better player overall. I can't hold it against him. It's not his fault he's going to... I can't hold it against the other players either. Listen, you...

He's been the better shortstop. The reason he's not getting it can be the team's fault. I'm voting Matt McLean. I'm voting Matt McLean. I know the Reds have dropped down a little bit. had that super, super hot streak, but this guy's been a huge part. He's been playing a lot of second base recently as well.

Yeah, they've been moving guys. Well, they have four shortstop. All the, all the infielders. They want to try them all out everywhere. End of August, Matt McLean's played 52 games at shortstop. It compared to what at second base? 17. Still considered, I mean, he's got a 3-1 war just in those.

I don't know, man. I'll go on McLean. I think when he's been on the field, And now we're talking about 300 A-Bs. So it's not a tiny little sample size. Since he's been up in the big leagues, he's been better than these guys. That's fine.

That's fine. I'm choosing Matt McLean. BPD, you need to pick between Matt McLean and Francisco Lindor. Yeah, McLean, for me, the number of games and played appearances, while not his fault, does matter. Lindor has played so much. I mean, that might be my tiebreaker between him and Dansby's.

He's played 13 more games, and it's about 50 more played appearances. They're close. Those two, their walk and K-Rates are almost identical. That's nuts. McLean's walk and K-Rights are less where you want to be compared to them. Young guy, I think that'll correct it over the next few years, but I think Lindor has my vote. I was going to say McLean could go into,

you till, but he don't want that smoke out of me. I don't think he wants that. I don't think he wants that yet. Hey, I'm, Trev, congrats to Francisco Lindor. I am glad you gave Matt McLean the love he deserves. He deserves the love. Because he- Well, can we, like, put that on the sheet that I, like, gave Matt McLean some love? No, you get nothing.

I feel like we're going to be, all the Reds fans. What about McLean? He'll be like, he's our second baseman. Matt McLean, people have been, wondered why I got so hot about the Ellie de la Cruz being in All-Star times. This is why. Yeah.

This is why. I'm sorry my guy's 5-8, but he's a fucking stud. And I'm sorry his name's Matt McLean and not L.A. Dela Cruz, but like, and well, L.E. De La Cruz is like the fastest, coolest ball player ever. So, hey, I understand. What if his name was like Maddie McSnakes

or something like that? there's snakes all over the ballpark in Cincinnati people are bringing real snakes to the ballpark it's a conversation it's a conversation change it conversation for another time you know he's one of those he's one of those mixed that doesn't have the extra C it's just yeah that that's been kind of

that's honestly been negative points for him for me being Mick Lane and not Mick Claim I keep typing the wrong thing when I try to go yeah me too exactly I do MCCL and it's like no it's just with the capital L Okay. So we just need Matt McLean to change his name. Yeah, it can be McSnakes if you want.

Congrats, Frankie. Treb, I have horrible news. Third base is tougher, I believe. Third base is tougher, I believe, than what we just ran through. Nolan Aeronado, you heard of him. Jamer Candelario gets traded within the same league. So his stats continue to roll on impressively. By the way, his hot start with the Cubs is all August.

And it may not matter. He has the highest war on both sides. Mani Machado has begun to go again. You're familiar with him, and you also know he's young, he is thick, he is Austin Riley. Trev in the previous month, it has been Muncie, Muncie Jammer. As everyone predicted, where are you at?

I have no idea. This one is really, really close. And there's some really, really good ballplayers on here. I love their base, man. If you just go by OPS, we have Nolan leading the way at 836. Jamer right behind him at 823. Austin Riley right behind him at 834. Mani bringing up the rear at 789.

pretty close there, slugging the same, they're all right around 500, OBP the same, they're all around 330, 340. There's not a lot that's separating these guys. Even, I mean, defensively, it's been Manny, according to F defense, which I think is new to the sheet this year, or this month, excuse me. We know Manny can, all these guys can play defense. All of them can't. Yeah.

I do not have a lien right now. Even in stolen bases, no one's really doing anything. I mean, Candelario's got six. He leads the way. Machado's got three. He's the second behind him. RBI, I think there's a little bit of separation there. 77 for Aeronado.

Next is 64 for Austin Riley. If you're just looking at everything, overall, I'm probably leaning Aeronado. The extra base hits between him and Condolario really close. 42 for Aeronado, 46 for kind of. Elario, but Aeronado leads in homers. I think my pick as of right now is Nolan Aronado, unless you can change my mind.

I don't know if I can change your mind because it's, it's rail thin. I think my lean because he's leading and hit by pitches. No, I think if you, if you

wash this sheet and there is no names, I think in my heart of hearts, I would pick Jammer Candelario. He's been the second best defensive third baseman by these metrics. The guy who would be the first in defense would be last place offensively of these numbers. He's arguably second place offensively. I think there's even a first place argument that I'm, I'm going Jamer.

You know, one of the bigger name recognition positions on the sheet. And I think if that's out, I'm Jamer Candelario. So that's where I'm going. Is Nolan your final vote? Yeah, you didn't convince me enough. I mean, I like both these guys. It is very close. So I guess we'll let Beaver decide.

All of these guys, you know, strike at Walker. have been a little bit of a tiebreaker, at least me in Trev's head, I think, and they're all in a very similar area. Man, it is really tight. Just barely, I think my lean is Jamer. Barely. Don't raise his hand, very...

Ten more doubles. Yeah, just a real quick note. Trev, I was with you, with Aeronado. Only because, I mean, counting stats aren't everything, but he's got 24 more RBIs on an offense that hasn't been the known Cardinals offense, and while doing that, has 21 points higher of an average.

So to make you feel better, I also had Aronado. Looking at this sheet, I was excited that the bad man is back, that Aronado is fully in the conversation again. Those are my one-two. He does have the most RBI. Cardinals' offense hasn't necessarily been the Achilles' heel for them this year. It's been solid. Well, you know, I've defended counting stats.

Jamer came over from the Nats. Tough. It's tough. This could have gone any direction. This could have gone any direction. Riley has the most homers. You like counting stats, 75 runs. Although that's a little more team-driven.

The Cardinals have the sixth best OPS in baseball. So we got to shout that out. It's crazy. What a year for them. People were mad that I picked. He and Chris Roseville has picked the Cardinals' offense over the Braves' offense. Now, clearly, we were wrong. But people made it seem like we were crazy.

I mean, the sixth best offense in a lot of categories, homers, OPS, OBP, average, they're seventh. I mean, they're not too sluggish. We're the Braves rank and all that. I guess I better check that out. So I think they're probably three in most of those categories. Pretty good. I think they might be higher.

2-2 OPS 1 runs 3 OBP and average 2 You know who the best team is? The fucking Rangers Yeah Only because they came up for every position Congrats to Jamer for now Back to back. So close

I think you'll see someone new there Maybe you won't because he did get off to an 8 for 9 start with the Cubbies Trev He's won about 3 in August Outfield D-H-U-Till and starting pitchers is brought to you by Manscape. Take care of your downstairs. Biscuits.

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talking manscape.com, 20% off with free shipping. It's code talking. Get the platinum package because the gold standard is no longer good enough. Ooh, click that link. Trevor and the National League outfield, we need a center fielder. And I think we have a guy that's good news. although out of the woodwork last month, Brandon Nimmo shook the tree and got surrounded by Ronald Acuna Jr. and Corbynese-Carrant.

Ronnie's been there every month. We've seen Mookie go from there to you till. James Outman and Brandon Marsh, how was your April? But here we are at the end of July. In the center fielder, which the box we have to check off first, I think is no longer a conversation because he was supposed to be traded

and then he's kind of already a Chicago legend for what he's done to let them go add and how impressive he's been. Cody Bellinger. Holy crap. I think this whole outfield is going to be really easy for us, especially if we're talking about Mookie and the Util position.

I think it's no doubt Cody Bellinger in center field, and I think there's two outfielers that kind of separate themselves from the pack. Maybe a discussion for another one. But Cody definitely, for me, gets the center field shot here, the 900 OPS. That is, I'm so happy for the guy.

Right. Had the highs, had the lows, has to go to a new organization. You never know how that's going to work out, and it's just been great for him. So I guess snaps for all code. Dude's got seven figures coming this off. reason, no.

Seven figures. What? How many? How low is that? Seven figures is just like in the millions. I think I meant ten. You meant nine. It's never been a math pod.

So we got that. Then I think it's, let's just run through this one, coach. Ronald the Cooney Jr., what you've done, you're the National League MVP as of right now, almost one dot in it. You're just kind of doing everything right,

51 swipes. How many homers this guy have right now? 24 homers and 51 swipes through July. That's a joke. And then the other guy that will mention, I believe, and then this is where kind of maybe we have the discussion between Juan Soto and Corbyn Carroll. This is where we have a conversation.

At the end of August, Corbyn Carroll had one more homer. Through July, excuse me. He had 33 swipes to six swipes. Where he ends up losing and almost everyone loses is on base percentage to Juan Soto. And OPS on the whole. I'm interested to see what you say. Somehow Corbyn Carroll grades out negative defensively with his legs. That seems near impossible.

But I know sometimes the defense. So numbers don't fully know what to do with guys that change around. And he plays all three spots. I'm surprised, in my heart it felt like you were leaning Soto there. Well, I just think that there are two different types of players. Very different. So one is just basically an offensive threat. And that's what he does.

And he gets on base and he's going to hit some homers. Like he's going to have the power because he's just a good hitter. Corby and Carroll, to me, is a more well-rounded player. and I think if you're asking me who I want on my squad, I know it's crazy to disrespect Juan Soto like this, but I think I want a Corbyn Carroll on my squad before I want to Juan Soto. Is that crazy to say? And I guess, I guess let's throw the caveat out there that it's,

Juan Soto's done this longer. So there's more of a track record. So I definitely have to take that into consideration. But if Corbyn Carroll is who we think he is, then we're talking about a guy that can kind of do it all. I think, again, we don't, we want to reward the right guys. We don't want to think about names.

Sorry, Olivia was just right here. I could tell by the, I could tell by the look on your face. I could tell by the look on your face, it was Olivia. Because also, if it was someone doing yard work, you would have had such an angry look on your face. No, what are you talking about? I love a guy, Dan. Corbyn Carol has more extra base hits.

He has more runs. he has a crazy amount of steals got a higher average like he out slugs Juan Soto 530 now you're getting here right like you're you're seeing this I was I'm kind of there

so I think we landed in the same place I just thought you were gonna I thought you were gonna three four five me with Soto um going by the baseball it's Corbyn Carroll and it's

Juan Soto we have to mention because we always mention 98 walks to 94K so he's that's something different and he's had a great great year

he's got his stock back up which is nice I don't know if it's $440 million backup which is what he turned down right is that the right number

that was the that was thrown out at one point yeah I think the Nats Nats extended offer. And again, people don't forget,

we're most likely putting mooky bets in the utility role. He's still doing that enough that we can give him that, right? Yes, I think the question is, do you have mooky above either of those guys? Do you have a rise over those guys as well? And we got to do some shuffle work.

Yeah, I know. It's all crazy because Mookie now has played just way more games in the outfield, right? Let's see. This past month, a lot of second base, man. A lot of second base with a shortstop. Yeah, he's done a lot. One sec, guys. Okay.

Some moving positions late. Sorry. Sorry to the Yelis. Sorry to the Lane Thomas's. Sorry, Nimmo. Lars New Bar snuck on here. How about that? I had no idea.

The outfield stays for now. Let's see how ugly it gets in a second. And by the end of the year, given what the Dodgers added, I'm not sure by the end of the year, Mookie will full be able to do some funk. But I don't know. We'll see how they're.

Are we set on our outfield? We have two, Bellinger and Acuna, we have we decided. Oh, I thought we were both Carol. Soto and Carol? You were staring at Olivia. I thought we both said Carol. It sounded like Carol over Soto.

Okay. It's pretty decided. Okay. Okay. D.H is a little tricky, and I'll abbreviate it, because to be a D.H, you have to play D.H, which I think really makes it a two-person position.

JD Martinez and Jorge Soler. It's hard to just sit on the bench and get four at bats a day. These are the two that have been doing it in the National League. Soler with some right field games as well. These guys have some eerily similar numbers. Jady Martinez is power numbers. The slugging is ridiculous. Where the on-base percentage is a little oddly low for him.

Soler has some of that. Trev, this is a flip a coin for me. Seems to me like we're ruling Nolan Gorman out for this. He's played a little bit too much second base and third base. So we can look at him at the util position. I want to remember that. But if we're going between J.D. Martinez and Jorge Saler, I know they are pretty similar,

but I'm going to lean J.D. here just because of the power. And so there has the power too. and they actually really need it to show up more in Miami as the season goes on. The runs driven in. I guess that's not Solera's fault. The Red Sox are like a top five offense in baseball. And in that counting stat, you really depend on your other guys. Sheesh!

Now I'm talking myself in the circles here. Austin Red Sox. JD has the OPS on him by 50 points almost. Excuse me, it's 46 points. Still going. I don't know, man. I think I'm leaning JD, and it's not really for any particular reason. I mean, Salair leads in runs, walks.

The only thing that I'm looking at that really separates them is the RBI, and I can't really fault Saler for being on a worst team. I'm with you on, I think, purely in a vacuum. I would take J.D's stats just a little bit over Saler. Very close, very similar guys. Saleras played 102 total games to Martinez's 85. Yeah, I mean, that means something to me. That feels significant enough.

It's 15 games. We've had a few positions that have been 15 games different. Not enough to rule JD out, but that's part of it. This is an absolute coin flip. Yeah, no, it really is. And I, you know, going back to previous months, It was Solair last month. It was JD the month before.

It was Cutch to start the year. I'm going to go J.D. Martinez. The OPS is significantly better that when he has been out there, he has been the better ball player, that's the most I can decipher between these two. You just went J.D? I went J.D.

I'm going Solaire. So, Bebers, you're up. Ebes? How much do I value those 15 more games? Ten. One. I think it's JD. Congrats to Red Sox.

J.D. Martinez. Who got it last? They've been trading since May. It was J.D. Solair, J.D. Yeah. The war overall was the same. Yeah, yeah, before that. But the last three months.

Give it to McCutcheon again. Reenter the conversation. He's an honorable mention. Congrats to J.D. Martinez. U-Till, where we currently have Mookie Betts penned in. Tommy Edmund and Nolan Gorman from the top ropes for St. Louis, although they're on a different page than Mookie Betts. Hassan Kim.

So basically Trev. we have three spots between Mookie Beetz Corbyn Carroll Hasson Kim and Louisa Rise What What

So pay attention Because you We tried to talk to you For about three minutes before And you are this the whole way So you put Mookie back in the outfield Then we can talk about these other guys that you till Mookie would

If Mookie could Potentially jump Corby Carol in the outfield. I think I do have him above him if we're doing a power ranking of pedals. Yes. Which would allow Hassan Kim to go to Util if we wanted and have a rise at second. Back at second, going for a daisy. Here's what also.

Basically, Corby and Carol will be the odd men out here. Essentially, it's a rise versus Carol. In theory, there could be a Corbyn Carroll, a rise discussion, which now we're really talking. Oh, Shnikey. I think we keep like, I don't

like going back like this. I don't think that's fair. We made our decisions. But we made the decision. Mookie still is very much eligible for UTill spot. Very much. I say Mookie Betts

runs away with the Utill spot. I'm fine with it. We've been enamored with the Louis Irae's chase, but literally that's it. I'm basically. Let's see where Mookie is played in July, because that's going to mean something.

I just told you. I told it's a chunk of second base. It's a chunk of outfield and three shortstop appearances. Okay. Then I keep me utility. I am too. And I would rather have Corbyn Carroll than Luis Rai's current season. I think so too.

Snaps to Mookie bets. Snap to Hassan Kim. I know we game snaps earlier. But my God, what an absolute killer he has been this year. The last and final position, Trevor, the National League starting pitcher. In previous selections, Zach Gallen, Zach Gallen, Clayton, Kershaw, the boss. A force has awakened in San Diego with Blake Snell. Justin Steele has been banging on the door this whole time.

That weird Bigfoot MFer Strider is hanging around with historic strikeout rates. Wheeler always finds. away and Zach Allen is still lurking too. Where do you go? Initially I go straight to Blake Snow, how dominant he's been as of late. He's posted every day, 22 games started. You know, the innings are never going to be his thing. He's not going to be a guy that's going into the eighth or ninth on a regular basis or even the seventh on a regular basis. That's just not kind of the pitcher he is. Effectively. wild you could call him. He's going to rack up the strikeout numbers. Spencer Strider has the

K's per 9. There's no doubt. But I think the ERA, as old school of a stat as that is, still matters somewhat. So he's kind of down there with the 373, although that's a nice number. It's not like a Blake Snell's 2.5. Although if we look at FIPP, it's much better than Blake's So those are, it's interesting because F-4 really takes into account FIPP and B-Word doesn't. I'm gathering that from this information because right now it's Zach Wheeler leading the way in F-Wor at 4-5 and Spencer Strider leading the second, or excuse me, third behind Zach Gallen at 3-4. I'm kind of all over the place right here. So if you want to give your pick, then let me sort it out. Would it mind it.

My top two. and call me an ERAist. It's Snell and Steel. Gallen has the innings by a chunk, but I just think Blake Snell has been so dominant lately that I would give him the knot over Gallen. Strider, I'm sorry. At a certain point, ERA does matter.

It's the earn runs allowed. Like, sometimes you've got to kiss. Keep it simple, stupid. That brings Steele into play. Snell has three more starts on him, which is only actually 10 innings. What Justin Steele has done this year is amazing. He's not allowing home runs.

He doesn't punch tickets, but you know end of the day, that's not what's significant to me, really. I'm trying to keep bias out of it, but I do lean, and again, pitching is always the closest. I'm O. Eileen Blake Snell. Okay. There's a few things I value with a starting pitcher.

One is your ability to keep guys off the basis. Okay. And that will be a whip stat. And right now, Zach Gallen leads, although it's close for most of these guys. Blake Snow has the highest whip at a 1-2. Most of these guys

are around a 1-8-1-1. Or, excuse me, 108-1-1. So I like looking at like a walks per nine And some of these guys really, really have that I think a nice mixture of Ks per nine Plus walks per nine. You got to have that mixture, the right one there. So if I'm looking at that,

I kind of still like look at Zach Gallin And what he's done and even a Zach Wheeler And what he's done. And but you're right. Like for some reason I keep going back to the ERAs. Justin Steele looks really good. I think I'm choosing between Justin Steele and Zach Gallen. How about that?

Okay. Some really, really good pitchers. I see Dalton's picked Blake Snell, so he's on your side. That's what you picked, right? I picked Snell. Snell will let a couple guys on, but, boy, is he really good at not letting him score? It hasn't been a problem. If Justin Steele's strikeout numbers were a little higher,

I would pick him in a heartbeat. Keeps the ball in the ballpark. Doesn't want guys. I'm going to pick Justin Steele. I think if I had to pick a guy who I wanted on the mound right now, I think Snell has maybe the highest ceiling for a good start. But I think that Justin Steele is going to be just super consistent. I'd venture out to say that he's given quality starts in almost all of his outings.

You might have one or two bad outings, but other than that, I bet it's been really, really good. check right now as you guys decide. He's been awesome. My ballot has already been cast, which leaves us, let me give a brief

recap before we hit the music. Your AL, all J.M. team. Jonah Heim, Yondi Diaz, Marcus Simeon. Do you pick Franco or Seeger?

Seeger, Seeger. Corey Seeger. Third base, Jose Ramirez, in the outfield, Luis Robert Jr., Adolice Garcia, and Kyle Tucker, Shoah at D.H. Luke Rayleigh, your U-Till player with Garrett Cole on the bump. In the National League, Sean Murphy behind the dish, Freddie Freeman at first, Hassan Kim, at second.

Lindor at short Candelario at third Cody Bellinger in Centerfield surrounded by Ronald Acuna Jr. and Corvin Carroll. J.D. Martinez as your D.H. Mookie Betts as your U-Till. And your National League starting pitcher through the month of July is...

I think Justin Steele. Justin Steele, congratulations. Wow. He's been a... awesome. Good for him. Fucking good for him, man. Two stars. He's giving up over three earned runs. Two. That's what the tie breaker was for me. Jake sucks. Where would

they be without him? Not here. I'm happy we ended there. I like that. Not here. Holy. Another month of what they're doing. Too much of a grind. Wait, too much of a grind. We'd do it for the people. Is anyone still up for a Silver Daisy? Like two

people, right? There's guys. Cheers guys.