Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - Spring Training Injury Woes

Episode Date: March 10, 2025

Start your free online visit today at https://Hims.com/talkin for your personalized ED treatment options.Use code TALKIN2025 for 10% off your next SeatGeek order*: https://seatgeek.onelink.me/RrnK/TALKIN2025. Sponsored by SeatGeek. *Restrictions apply. Max $20 discountDownload the DraftKings Sportsbook app and use promo code TALKINTrev and Jake break down what’s happening at Spring Training with Gerrit Cole being recommended to have Tommy John surgery, what Grayson Rodriguez’s injury means to the Orioles, how the Mets will fare without Francisco Alvarez for a couple months and more! 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. We got to catch up. A lot of arms are hurt. There's one big arm in New York. The position players, too. Vladdy got offered six bills. No, he didn't. We haven't talked ball.

Trace Thompson, six homers. Flanger. Bobeshett to right. Yeah, he gets that. Caught. Damn. Hello and welcome to talking baseball, presenting you by seat geek.

March 10th, nine, eight days away from a game that counts. It'll be overseas. You might as well get a ticket to that game and you might as well use Seatkeek because they are the best in the biz. The MLB season is here. Basketball and hockey are rolling. Concert season is going on. And you can get 10% off with the code talking 2025.

I'll peel back the curtains a little bit. one of my favorite tournaments has happened in this week at Madison Square Garden the Big East Turney My Huskies Yeah it is I mean Treb I'll send you a Insta reel later That has all the I mean Alan Iverson

To Ray Allen Cardiac Kemba Anyways Getting tickets off Seatkeek And I use the Code Tog in 2025 And I saved myself 10% off So you can do that too, whether you've used a code before, whether you haven't used the code before. Talk in 2025, 10% off at Seat Geek.

Go check it out, download the app, punch in the code, save yourself some money. Blue Jays might need to save themselves some money. Coach Trev, my financial advisor, former MLD player. How are you? I'm doing great. How are your finances right now? Great.

I've got to dive in. Really good. I'll send over some numbers. No, there is a lot of ball to talk about. And yeah, we've been doing some draft episodes lately. We've been doing whatever it is. But catching up on the news. And unfortunately, a lot of the news today is kind of is injury related.

But definitely need to talk about everything. I'm excited. I started to think about, yes, like when spring training comes along, you just, you're getting that mode. It's fun. Everyone's having a good time. There's parties. There's charity events. there's concerts all these things but ball's about the start like this is about time where guys are

over spring train and they're like can we just put the lights on and go to freaking work um Tokyo yeah and then opening day it's it's all coming pop and I can't wait to uh dig into it today with you I was texting with Ian Hap a little bit you own a bottle of wine um and I was actually I was asking him a favor uh for a warehouse games thing um And he's, hey, he was excited to talk to me, which you never know what you're going to get with Ian Hap. And he was excited to go to Japan. He honeymooned over there.

Of course he did. Of course he did. Because he's a man of class and taste. He's like, I've been to Bora Bora many times. He didn't say that. Don't quote that. But yeah, like the, and that was just like a whoa, because, I mean, they're about to get on a plane,

do a real flight. get ready to play a baseball game. Yeah, they must be leaving any day, right? To go over there, get acclimated. So that's the, and dude, as I start spinning and we start thinking about real baseball more, you know, the Cubs who are in the mix this year, like two games against the Dodgers, and, you know, the Diamondbacks missed the NL playoffs with 87 last year. So I don't know, I know not all games are the same, but in a way they are that, I don't know,

If you're the Cubby's looking to get off the ground the right way. I think if you lose two for either team, if you lose two overseas and you're like, what the hell is that? You can watch that pretty easily. But still, it's games that count. 89 for the dimebacks last year. 99 and they didn't dance?

Yeah, the three team tie for 89. It was them, the Braves, and the Mets. Remember that weird last day? Yeah, it's a fun day. A couple teams that didn't even play 162 last year. it is interesting because we do I've talked to guys I never actually got a chance to go somewhere

exotic for opening day but you talk to guys who do it and it doesn't seem like real baseball yet so the stats count you're juiced up a little bit but it's not like at your home park at a major league baseball field so it's it is an interesting thing I like that we do it but I really do feel that guys are still like

is this is this real Although, like, to your point, it is. Like, it counts in the freaking standings, dude. It's real. It is real. Yeah, I like the, I like when they do the opening day overseas. I keep getting lost when they do the, they do the random Mexico series every year, it feels like. And it, I don't know.

It feels like we don't tune into that game. It feels we open up the talking baseball document and we're like, oh, yeah, Nelson Cruz. 30 homers in the game. That's actually my favorite series is when the pitchers start crying about, you know. Well, Trev, it's funny you mentioned pitchers crying because that's what this next segment is about a little bit. And we've got a little bit of a gambit to cover because there's three big names to three different levels of injuries. Garrett Cole, Grayson Rodriguez, and George Kirby. I unfortunately do think for the talking baseball program,

Garrett Cole would be what's leading a lot of baseball shows. So sure, you can go listen on Talking Yanks when we record tomorrow. But Garrett Cole has been recommended Tommy John. He is seeking out a second opinion. But I don't know, man. It brings over the whole gambit of questions. Like, okay, even if the second opinion says you might be able to bounce back mid-year, which he actually did last year,

what do you even do with that at this point? And Garrett's getting a little older. He's got four years left on the contract. So I don't know. There's a lot of questions going on Yankees' longer term, I suppose. For me, the bigger thing is, Trev, you know, we've got We Got Ice that work here at Johnboy Media, Boston fans who their Boston baseball side has been a little dormant. I mean, I just had the, on the subway over, I was like, wait, crochet in, coal out. that's a really bad start of the formula for my yanks

the we got ice guys nicest humans are going to meet i think like on the surface they are who knows deep down i like that especially that guy jack doyle you know i keep a close eye on him i think what's going on is they're used to just being loved by their fans they don't want to get in the streets the red socks yankee streets on the internet that's just not a place where they want to be and they're smart stay away from all that Yeah, the Garrett Cole thing, it's paired with the Louise Heel news. Right.

So to me, like obviously I feel for for both those guys, especially Cole, because if he is T.J. And it's just a long road ahead, long rehabbing road ahead. And it's just, it's not fun. On the Yankee side, I just start to think, where are they going to go? Like, they can't do nothing, man. Like you can't just go within your organization throughout the year. That is not, that's not what they should be doing. Like they have to look outside.

So now you start to think about who are the guys that are available to come in and, you know, not necessarily take Garrett Cole's place, but fill out that rotation. And it brings me to a, I mean, I guess a couple names. There's guys out there available is like Sandy has to be available. Now, Sandy is going to cost a lot because he has a couple of years left on a very team-friendly contract. He himself is coming back from an injury, but he's looked good in spring training.

Is Jordan Montgomery available? We're about to do the Snake's TPP at some point today, and they got about seven starting pitchers, and they're not doing a six-man. So they have a couple guys that are going to be available. So I'm curious. I'm just curious what the next move is. You know, we can only talk about an injury so much.

It sucks for Garrett Cole, sucks for the Yankees. really sounds like he's seeing Eletrosh today to get a second opinion or at some point soon. But if he does end up going under the knife, I think the Yankees have to pivot somewhere. And I do think as of right now, it takes them away from being the favorites in the ALEs. I don't think that's like a hot take or anything. It's just you lost Garrett Cole, dude. And Louise Heel. So that's where my mind goes is where what's the move for that?

I think they have to go get somebody. Are they willing, and do they have enough to go get Sandy? It seems like that would be the move. Yeah, it starts turning into Prospect Capital, which they do have some. What are the Marlins looking for? What do they want? And other teams want Sandy. And like we've talked about a little bit, like I would still let Sandy throw a couple games,

put up five starts to the tune of a 1.5 ERA, and it's like, oh, shoot, Sandy's back. because he was the bad man. Like for a year and a half, Sandy was the baddest dude on the mound. That, like, Sandy coming back, it's like, well, he's coming back from Tommy John. How's it going to look? Like, there's none of that if Sandy comes back. And it's like, oh, wait, this dude is an absolute freak show. And I know we talked about that a little bit.

And then for me, it's the other teams like, okay, hey, Marlins, before you trade Sandy, why don't you listen to this? Why don't you listen to this? They shouldn't be in a rush to trade him just because the Yankees have a need. No, but I think around baseball, we're going to get some more guys. This is what they're waiting for. Bendix down there in Miami's waiting for injuries. I mean, it sucks.

It's an unfortunate part of the game, but that's exactly what he's waiting for. Now, could he, yeah, could he hold onto his chips a little bit longer and maybe another team enters the race? But I agree with you that teams who haven't lost pitchers are still also in on Sandy. But if you're the Yankees and you're going into the season, and with World Series aspirations and your ace gets hurts, I think it becomes,

like you have to be proactive about it. And so this is the time now we're like, hey, what's up? You might sneak a little text to Cash. Hey, how are you? And Cash is like, I know exactly why you're texting me. Yeah. Yeah.

It's interesting, man. And again, it doesn't have to be Sandy. That's just the big name out there. If you really wanted to try to go one for one replacement with Garrett Cole, that's where you go. you bring in Jordan Montgomery and it's nice but it's not the same

and again we talked about Louis Hill he's got a right latch strain supposed to be out three months those things are interesting he'll be back at some point this year so you can just bank on that but you know you don't you got to

they got to do something pop doing nothing is crazy it sure is and I guess my concern is that that's where they're going to go because a couple weeks ago, the Yankees had depth and they were going to trade Marcus Stroman this offseason. They lose their one and probably their three-four starter in heel.

The 23-side young winner and then last year's rookie of the year. But, yeah, major dent to the Yankees. I'm worried they're not going to Audible. Again, Marcus Stroman now enters the rotation. So, hey, a little Yankees-esque problem. Marcus Stroman started the year very strong last year. couple seasons he started very strong. And Marcus Stroman benefits when there's a good defense behind him.

And the whole world got to see what the Yanks were working with defensively last year. So there's optimism there. Will Warren is a prospect for them who his stuff has changed and evolved that people, past the Johnboy eye test. Last year we went to spring training and he said that slider gets hit. This year at spring training, he said it doesn't. So that's my scout. That's my QB1.

So I don't know. I guess my fear is the Yankees haven't shown that they're the big budget yanks. Like part of the reason they were supposed to trade Stroman was to get under the last salary tax threshold. So they're still over that. And then, like, if you're talking Sandy or someone else, okay, so Jordan Montgomery, let's say the cost is almost on the house. You've got to pay his 25 mil, figure it out, and maybe even the debacks or whoever cut into that. Now the Yankees are heading 20, 25 mil over that tax threshold.

So I'm worried they're going to sit and wait. And the other thing I'm worried about is, dude, we're two years. We're talking about the World Series. Yankees did get embarrassed by the World Series, and their path wasn't the toughest. We'll let people worry about that. The year before that, the 2023 Yankees missed the playoffs.

And they had Willie Calhoun hitting third and playing the outfield, where I don't know if he should be doing that. I know Willie's your guy. I love Willie. I know where you're going. That's fine. I think Willie be like, yeah, I probably shouldn't hit third on the Yankees. I hope Willie grasps on somewhere, locks down a seven hole and has a beautiful year.

I believe he's in, did you go to Japan or Korea? Not sure. You went to one of those. I haven't been keeping up. Possibly the Mexican League. I saw it on his Instagram. That, yeah, it's, things have gone a lot more interesting in the ALEs. And I guess the attachment to that, well, you mentioned Louis Hill.

We haven't even talked to in Carlos. Stanton, which I don't want it to get too Yankee, and I guess it's people shouldn't be shocked, but he's having some serious, both elbows, both elbows with severe tendon injuries. So that doesn't sound good for one of the most guys with the biggest injury history recently in baseball. Yeah, he said he did it making bat adjustments in the off season. So I don't know if that was like length and weight of your bat, or he's talking like batting stance. I didn't really understand that. Do you have more clarity on that?

I don't. I don't. Okay. If you just say bat adjustments, that means you change the length and the weight or the shape of your bat. That doesn't mean like you would say, you keep talking like this. I'm going to get a boner. About weight and length and length and shape of your bat. Come on, man. You keep saying it. I'm getting a little rowy over here. Okay. I'm always there, pop. I live there. are. Yeah, I mean, so the Stanton stuff for me, I understand, you know, it's not ideal and it's kind of a strange sound of injury, but because he has kind of been on the shelf quite often, it doesn't really, you know, go crazy for me.

Like I think the Yankees have understood like, yeah, we need him for a certain part of the season and it's really not April. So we'll see how that goes. Oh, it sounds like it's kind of a serious thing going on. So hopefully he figures that out. But, yeah, I think the pitch. stuff is more prevalent and more, you know, real for the Yankees right now. Yeah, and just, I guess the other thought starter for everyone else and for your team this

spring training is like what, what has happened? Because, okay, team aside, the Yankees have lost their, their DH. Oh, Giancarlo had like a 114 WRC Plus last year and was a postseason, like, icon. Lost their one, they lost their four, and that's ignoring a couple other, bullpenish and things like that. But yeah, I think the outlook of the ALE East has really changed. And another part of that is Grayson Rodriguez is down for now. Right triceps, soreness and elbow inflammation will start the year on the IL.

Cortzone shot coming. His Velo was down. Got banged up last year with right latin shoulder. So yeah, there's a quote that it's not ligament, but I don't know. we're talking about similar stuff that a guy went through previously. And I don't know, like this guy was supposed to be the guy. Like, you know, Grayson Rodriguez was the top pitching prospect. He came up.

Everyone saw the tools. And with the other moves the Orioles have made, I think they're viewing pitching differently. But if you have high hopes for the Orioles, I think this guy has to be a significant part of it. Yeah, I think if you're drinking the cool lid, which a lot of people are, I think, yeah, you expect him to, in his age, 25 season to kind of continue to build on. What was a decent year last year? Only 116 and two-thirds innings pitched. But like he made some strides. So you're expecting another jump. And now here we are, you know, talking about some elbow and some triceps. Again, as you mentioned, I said, no ligament damage. And I think they're in a little bit. I guess better spot with kind of where they're at in the rotation, obviously because they didn't lose two guys. So right now it's going to be Eflin, Morton, Sugano, and Kremmer, and then

they have to figure out that last spot. It could be Suarez, could be Povich. And then there's the guys that are out there. And looking now at more names, they don't really seem, I don't even know why I'm saying this. They don't really seem like Yankee names, but like our guy, Gibby's still out there. I'm looking at the names right now. Obviously Montgomery, Lance Lynn, Taiwan Walker. Maybe those do sound like Yankee names. I think Big Thai likes the city. Maybe they do sound. But so I think I think the Orioles will probably stay in the house and just and just get our guy Suarez. Again, still shocking it's still shocking at his brother's Robert. And it's just, it's just a never will get over that. So I think they're going to be okay. And it sounds like, you know, that's not going to be like a super long term thing

for him and yeah they need to be at full strength i mean they are they're in that window and you know not only are they dealing with gracing they're dealing with gunner henderson has a intercostal thing which is the tendon in between your ribs i've pulled that before and that is not fun again there's nothing you can do except just wait it out and hope and hope it heals correctly um but it's i hate i hate when we get spring training injuries it actually bums me out i'm trying to like have a fun upbeat episode today and just like get people whatever what are people doing right now at the gym in their car driving to work trying to entertain people but all this news is so sad Jake it's like well it's how do you dress it up uh Trev it's not for like Boston fans or race fans I'm gonna

you know I I know Trev you mentioned we talked about it before we went on and you mentioned a little bit. Like, Twitter's just turned into this, like, crazy hostile war zone where it's nice when you can sneak in some good baseball combos. But, you know, there was a time when it was, you know, if a player on the opposing team got hurt, like that was kind of a yellow alert on X because it's going to be like, you're not celebrating my guy getting hurt, right?

And it's like, well, I don't know, if you're a Red Sox fan, if Cole, Heel, and Stanton, and Greyrod, and Gunner are hurt, that's you don't you can be a little excited not about the guys getting hurt but for your team's outlook keep it in though right because once you put it out there the baseball god's like oh what are you doing we have a guy at our company that's made some silly tweets max manis putting out there about clay homes being the met's four starter and then mania gets hurt now he's the three starter he put that out into the war world, Jake. And then two of his pitchers are now on the shelf and he's getting, he's getting

dragged. You just can't put that out there. Okay. So if you are a Red Sox fan or a race fan, don't forget about those race. Who might be for sale. Yeah. How about that? Being forced to sell. That's another story. Keep it in. Keep it inside. You know, you can be happy for your team, but don't celebrate other injuries. I'm not about that life. How about that? That's fine. I think the other... Don't tell me how to lit traves. Shut up. He's my financial and life advisor.

You guys all back off. The other two that have popped up are guy George Kirby for Seattle. It does seem like this one they are playing a little safer and seems a little safer. Right shoulder inflammation,

no structural damage, day to day week to week. You know this has been one of the bigger Emerson Hancock programs in the world. So he might get his opening day roster dreams coming true. Yeah, let's keep updated on that because George Kirby at his best is one of the best in baseball. And then, dude, the one that broke at the buzzer last night, as we were already planning on talking about injuries, Francisco Alvarez, which, you know, I forgot how much Mets fans are banking on

him kind of at least being this elite hitting catcher coming into this season and they should have reason to believe that gonna miss six to eight weeks and I think the other overlying thing with that as part of this whole conversation

Trev you might have even seen me cringe a little bit when you said Luis Heel is a lot to come back. If you get hurt and you miss spring training I mean pitchers are their own beast and I'll if you want to drag them a little more, I'll let you go on that. Like, if you're not built up from that spring training,

that there's a lot of times it just doesn't happen. Hitters, I think it's different because you're getting healthy, but it's catching up. Paul O'Neill talks about it on some of the broadcasts where he's like, yeah, there's a couple times that happens, and it feels like you're trying to jump on a moving train, and whether that's just symbolic of where the team is at, or, you know, at that part of the season,

are pitchers just a little more fine-tuned? Like they know their stuff at that time of year that they can, I don't know, it's an interesting thought process. And it, let's see what goes on with Francisco Alvarez, but a tough blow for the Mets who Luis Torenz at catcher and then I don't know. They've had some injuries in their staff, Montas and Mania out, which is, you know, obviously it's not great for the Mets. It's not great for their season outlook.

Six to eight weeks with a handmade stuff. That's such an interesting injury because it really is. I think it's unique to baseball. It's basically like right under your thumb. There's like a little hook bone that. Interesting. If you hold the bat, like a lot of guys will want to get extra leverage on the bat. I never understood that.

Just get a longer bat. But a lot of guys will place their palm over the knob of their bat. Right. There's all sorts of stuff going on now. There's no knob bats. There used to be the big flared knob. I don't know if you remember that at all. That was pretty interesting.

counterbalance. Yeah, there it is. So I'm not sure if Francis Grafrez does that or not, because you don't have to hang it over to get that injury. But a lot of times that's what will happen. The knob will just kind of crank on that and so you get a chip in there. Then you can't swing at all. So that one's a tough one.

And as far as coming back during the season from injury, I think what I learned is you have to just take your time, which sucks. and everything from outside influence to your own brain and you want to come back as fast as possible. You're like, dude, I'm not trying to waste a year. I'm trying to put up numbers. Like, I'm trying to be out there helping my team.

But the truth is, like, you got to go make sure you're feeling good. You cannot replicate game speed no matter what in the cage. You can't, you just can't. So you have to go play rehab games. And even then, the minor leagues is not the same as the big league. So you just can't, it's, it is a little bit. I like Paul Neal saying it's like a moving train because there's, there's just nothing like it. Like you can't, you just can't get game speed, even at the minor league level.

You can play AAA games and do all these things. It's not the same. Like the adrenaline just isn't there. Right. And so you get back. And I think that's why a lot of guys come back and they get hurt again is your adrenaline spikes, you're moving so much faster that you haven't tested it out at that speed.

Like I would come back from calf injuries or hamstring, and you're running, your sprinting as fast as you freaking can, you know, on a backfield somewhere. It's just not the same as here's the game. Oh, there's a pass ball or here's a ball to my left. I got to move. And it's just you can't replicate it. So to all these guys, take your time,

as much as you're, you know, telling yourself, get back as quick as possible. It's just not the way to do it, man. Yeah, the Mets have had it. What's going on in New York, baby? Baby. Yeah, what is going on in New York? Mania Montas? You've seen me the last 24 hours. I'm a disaster. You have been. Yesterday, you were on one. Today is, you need to get through today, Bob. I'm, dude, I've got a grindy day, bro.

I know you sent me your schedule. And yesterday we were trying to lighten your load a little bit. Maybe that's what you need. you couldn't turn your laptop on. So we couldn't record some TVP. I was out here ready to go. I came home from a birthday party early to record with you and Jake could not get his laptop to turn off. Emotional day.

Only the caps lock button worked. Which I wouldn't say makes that a fully functioning laptop. I forget if you mentioned... It's a preeminent internet company and we can't get a laptop for you. I talked to finance Tony this morning. I think some things are going to get done. I think some things are going to get done.

And Andrew Kittredge, I forgot if we mentioned him on the way through with the Orioles. He was a big signing for them. One year 10 million, arthroscopic left knee surgery, expected to miss a couple months. And again, that final speech we wrapped up on, like, okay, Andrew Kittredge, not going to really have a spring training. He's going to, again, I think for pitchers, if you're healthy, and especially like a left knee, like, okay, Kittredge, go get built up, do your version of a spring training in June. June or whatever it is and then we'll see you. But when you're $10 million for a reliever, Trout, to get that kind of money,

you've got to be a dude. And that was part of Baltimore's, if you're on the Baltimore bounce back this year, you're like, well, Kittridge, Bautista on the back end, that's different. Yeah, that was their plan. Kittridge, Kano and Batista, getting them back and kind of handing the ball to them at the end of the games and, you know, lose a starter for a little bit, lose one of your high leverage relievers. There's going to be some pivots.

I think I'm interested in that. These are three teams with obviously playoff aspirations, like true playoff aspirations, and there are players available. I'm curious. I'm like, yeah, is it worse? Givie back on the Orioles. Put them back there.

Where's my guy going? I kind of like him. I kind of like him and Steve Cohen in the same room. What would they talk about? Like what would Gibi and Steve Cohn? I don't think they have anything. comment. But maybe they'd find common ground.

Send the Gibby text. Both like a good steak maybe. Let's see. I'm going to text Gibby right now and say, where are you going? Yankees, Baltimore. I like that a lot. And the other thing I like about Kyle Gibson is he is him. And what's that?

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We can just send me something. Rob, talk to our people. Thumbs up from Produce Rob Chirot. Yeah, let's get me, yeah, come on. Trev, well, A, real talking baseball fans are going to be excited. Where are you going with this? Because something that I think we should note. but again, real, like, day ones are going to be hype.

Lawrence Butler gets extended by Oakland, which we love. Love that. Lawrence Butler broke out last year. The A's have, like, had to spend some money somewhere because some CBA kind of nonsense and everything that's going on with the athletics is insane. Hard hit rate, third best on breaking balls for the kid. Normally that's what you're worried about with the young ends.

So that's for athletic fans, seven years, 65 and a half million, with a $20 million club option coming after that. Awesome for Lawrence Butler. Trev, do you want to tell them for the real talking baseball fans why this is big news? Oh, okay. I wasn't sure where you're going. First of all, yeah, we love Elba. And people are like, he's worth way more.

Dude, this is taking him through like pre-arb and arbitration. I think it takes away one year, maybe two years of free agency. He'll be a free agent again at 31. Like this is a deal. Josh Willingham once told me, never turned down your first fortune. Like this guy, it's all he's ever going to need. Okay, he's going to go play stress-free baseball now. He'll probably get better.

And then, yeah, if he wants to cash in at 31 again, he can. So like, I do love this deal. The reason you're saying it is because my best friend, no offense, Jay. Fine. Both in wedding parties since we were freshman in high school. Ollie Linton is his agent. And we're very excited for our guy. Winston Oliver Lent Jr. actually named Teddy's middle name after him.

Wow. Yeah. My guy. Shout out Ollie. Best bunter you've ever seen? Dude. Yeah. We would bunt back and forth.

We have a band together called the Penguins. He plays the drums. I was guitar and bass. Big time. This is awesome. Ollie's been at CAA for quite a while now. He's really making a mark. He's like the guy. He's kind of the guy.

He's kind of the guy. He's like chopping up. He's always with CC. Like, I'm trying to be friends with CC. Ollie, not you. Ali's kind of alfing everyone. Yeah. Still me a little bit.

That bankroll's changing. So congrats to athletic fans. Going to be a wild couple years. Let's just buckle up. for all of that. Trev, the one that I'm pretty juicy about, and you have some eyebrows raised, but Vladimir Guerrero Jr.,

who's going to be one of the storylines of this season, last year of his contract, hey, in that injury segment before, we mentioned the socks and the raise being happy, the Jays fans, a team that a good two months could change the whole organization's outlook for, I don't know, Trev, 14 years. We got rumors from Vladdy's camp that they wanted 14 years, 600 million, which, okay, we've talked about it on this show,

and Vladdy's an interesting case, like everyone, but he has shown peak baseball potential, one of the best right-hand hitters in the game. He's going to hit free agency at an early age, people listening. You know the formula by now, that he has a chance to break the bank. The interesting part with Vladdy is first base, but I don't know. He can play first base. And, you know, Juan Soto, like his defensive prowess in the outfield,

wasn't what got him hundreds of millions of dollars, which he said he got bigger offers. We'll talk about that in a second. I don't know, Juan. I think Juan might be fibbing a little bit. I guess for me, A, if Vladdy's demanding that number, and you and I, actually, Trev,

you and I talked at a bar in Jersey City, and you said something like, dude, Vladdy, if they throw the money at you, sign. And I was like, dude, if you're Vladdy, hit free agency and make everyone. And then you said, if Toronto offers him five, 500 mil and I kind of looked at you like yeah right well that was the number that

Carlos by Hager was throwing out there so it's it's interesting yeah everyone says yeah go reach free agency but if you're happy somewhere and you do a lot of guys to play still want to play for one team their entire career that that is I think it's appealing I wish I would have done it I'm happy I got to go in different organizations and meet people, but I think ultimately I would have, I think everybody dreams about being in one organization for their entire career, especially a guy like Vladdy,

then you're talking like, Ring of Fame, Hall of Fame of the Blue Jays, and you know, whatever. Like you can really set yourself up with a franchise. I think it'll be really cool for him. Now, yeah, I mean, the numbers are interesting. He says, under 600.

What does that mean? He says he wants 14. The quote is interesting. I'll read the quote from Vladie. I know the business. I lowered the salary demands a bit, but also lower the number of years. I'm looking for 14 years. It's a long time, Vladdy.

I would like 14, 15, even 20 if they give them to me, but I'm doing it the right way. So you want a long-term deal. So, Jake, as you know, I was crunching some numbers on the calculator. 14 years. And we want to get to that five number, basically. That's what I think. 14 years, 37 and a half a year, which, you know, I think that's maybe we get there,

$525 million. I think that gets the job done. I really do. They say they offered him, Guerrero, he confirmed the Blue Jays offered him a $340 million extension early in the off season. So that can't be, that's got to be like an eight-year deal, right? Right.

All right, I'm not math. 340 divided by 8. It puts me at 42. So maybe it was even less or more years. Maybe that was a nine-year deal. Maybe it was a 20-year deal. It could have been a 20-year deal. I'm interested, yeah, but I think if the Blue Jays do put the money out there and it sounds like he wants, he wants to be there.

And again, this is just remember this from now on. When guys say we're going to stop negotiations at the beginning of the season, they don't mean net at all. At all. Imagine if someone's like, yeah, I'm going to give you, like, they're willing to give you, obviously $340 million. That's what they've already offered you. You're going to take the phone call.

I don't care who you are. Like, you're going to sit down and be like, okay. Your agent just says, no, not today. No. Not today. No, you keep talking. It's such bullshit, like an arbitrary, like cutoff date. I don't want it to be a focus on the, guess what, bro, whether you want it to be a focus

or not, doesn't. matter. Of course the baseball world's going to talk about it. You can't tell reporters not to ask you something. Like it's silly. I'm curious. I'm curious where it goes. You know, Vladdy, his baseball savant page is absolutely

hilarious. Even in his down years and this is what a lot of people were talking about. And we questioned Vlad and he, hey, who are you, man? As a player, even his down years, all the peripherals are excellent. Like he is, he hits the shit of the ball. You know, he squares the ball up.

Like he's, he's everything that you want in a hitter. Now, yeah, the defensive position, whatever, it's first base, it's not great. But he's going to demand,

just because of his age and a couple of seasons he's put out there, he's going to demand. I'm guessing in the fives, man. Like, to me, that seems right.

Well, and I think the interesting game for the Blue Jays at this point, is what would Vladdy actually sign? Like, actually, like you're saying that that 525, if they put that contract in front of Vladdy, does he sign that today? I don't think they give him 14 years, though.

That's, I think he's got to come down there. Yeah, I mean, years get tricky, and the deferrals have thrown everyone off that years or years or years at this point, that if you signed Vladdy to whatever contract, you're looking at the next decade and then survive whatever's left. Do you think you're running a team?

Sure. Like, I feel like 10 years. Let's just go 10, round number, like 40 a year. That's a lot of money, man. $400 million. That's not enough for Vladdy. That seems crazy to me. Hey, you're my, don't bring a salary cap in baseball.

If Vladdy does what he did. No, I'm not, I'm just saying, 40 seems like a good number for a guy that's a bad, a bad guy. If Vladdy does what he did last year, he's getting above that. I mean, Juan Soto got 800 million. Is it uncle's... People don't talk about that enough. I think we might a little bit. I don't think so.

I feel like... In my mind, everyone still thinks, oh, Shohay got this massive deal. Showhays' deal is a fucking steal. It's not. Present-day value $440 million. Juan Soto's present-day value, $800. Double Shohay. Yeah.

Maybe we don't talk about that. What are the Dodgers doing? Yeah, they just brought in Snell and Kirby Yates. Who cares? You can throw the seventh. Dodgers. Yeah, again, he's going to be one of the storylines of the season. Things go south in the Great North.

It becomes the whole, do you trade them? Do you trade them? Do you not trade them? I don't know. for me, and I tweeted this out that I was like, if I'm the Blue Jays, I'm thinking about it. Again, you'd love to know where everyone's actual lines are. But then some Blue J fans were like, man, you know, we're, okay, so we wanted, we wanted to throw 700 mil at Soto. We wanted to throw 700 mil at Otani. So now if Vladdy is one of those guys, which I would bet that, like, I don't think he's, I don't think he's on pace with those guys.

Oh, Tani's in a different world. I think Soto's in a different world than Vladdy as well. I truly do. I truly do. Do you think Vladdy could put together 90% of what Soto does for the next eight years, decade? I mean, no. The Vladdy Convo's true. No.

The numbers would say that's the safer answer. If he runs back next year, it changes his whole trajectory. I guess that would be the other thing in my head if I'm the Blue Jays, that if Laddie runs 2022, which is probably his third best year, he had an 818 OPS. Like, the numbers change.

So I would just roll the ball out there. I'm trying to find, I'm trying to think of like a comparable hitter. But dude, if you lose it. Tim. Who's a comparable hitter that has, you know, look, Vladty career, obviously Matt Walner. A couple huge years, but 863 OPS, great.

Right. There's a bunch, I feel like there's a bunch of 860 OPS guys that aren't looking for $500 million. I guess, I guess for me, if you do from 2021, because 2020 and 2019, he was 20 years old and 21. Sure. So if you do it from 2021, it's an 887 OPS. OPS.

Okay. And again, we're, we're thinking that there's, I think the general thinking is there's more in there. Like, I think he can be a 900 OPS guy. I don't know. It gets tricky, right? I'm looking at like people, okay, like, okay. Cotel Marte, older. Right.

815 OPS. He had, he's got a five-year, $76 million deal. and this guy's one of the most electric players in all of baseball. Like, are they that far off in ability? Well, he took, he has one of the best contracts, team friendly in baseball. I guess that's a bad example. Yeah.

It's okay. Don't get down on your soul. Francisco, or excuse me, not Francisco. Yordon, Alvarez, career 973, took a six-year 115. So, like, I want Vladie to reach for the stars. Do not take this the wrong way. But, like, also, the more and more I think about, I'm like,

that's insane to ask for that. It's just the age. Well, and Trev, the other, again, he's, I do think he's a better all-around hitter, but how did Pete Alvarez? And Yoron Alvarez? No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I'm acknowledging your Yardon part,

I do think part of his ARB got bought out. Like, that wasn't, I don't know. look at Pete Alonzo's free agency. I know it's apples and oranges a little bit, but Pete had kind of a down year. If Laddy has kind of a down year, you could potentially be talking about hundreds of millions of dollars, which I don't think a lot of people want to touch that,

but that's why we're different, bro. That is, I think that is the story. Like if he goes out and he crushes it, has a as a as a as a in the nine somewhere this year uh stays healthy does all that stuff hey my caps lock button is on that's weird that's simulation stuff then i i can see him reaching for it hitting free agent at the perfect time i'm young people i think people want that still i think right like that's that's the whole other part to this is like what are people willing to pay $3.40 from the Blue Jays, but that's just because he's in-house and they're facing

a very pivotal moment in their franchise history right now. That doesn't mean, because he's worth that much to the Blue Jays, doesn't mean he's worth that much to a different franchise. I am, the more and more we talk about it, the more and more fascinated I am with where it actually ends up. Hey, listen, my true feeling on this is I hope it gets $500 million. I hope he gets whatever he wants, dude. I love that he's like a legacy player. Seems like a great guy. I haven't heard anything negative about him. He's working his ass off to get in the shape. I love his swing. Like, there's a lot of things to like about the guy. You and Vladdy Sr. like boys. So I'm hoping that. I'm also just curious to see where it ends up. Because there are, this sport is littered with a bunch of

comparable contracts that are players that, you know, didn't get $500 million. Right. Like, you're What is Yoron Alvarez? The top five hitter, top three hitter? Top five hitter, I think is pretty safe. I will go, it's Judge Soto, him? Yeah, I mean, it's like, where's everyone out with Trout? Like, what's... He's not there anymore. Did you say Shohei? Like, he's... I don't... Pretty damn good. I think I'd take Yordon over Shoah, I think. Like, what are Bobby Witt and Gunner?

Oh, good. gosh okay yeah i think he's in that mix but i do think i think they bought out like arbier so it's not a true free agency for yordaun well yeah i mean it's not a true free agency they did bring out buy out some of his free agent years yeah and those are valued he valued those at 26.8 never turned down your first fortune cuban ball players baby one of the bigger storylines of this season we'll keep an eye on it as it I do think we have some fun notes to end on, and it's all brought to us by Draft Kings. Make sure you guys go to the Draft Kings sports book.

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see dkng.com slash audio. Trev, do you have your draft king king of the week for me? I do, and I think we have two guys in the same team. I'm going with my guy, PCA, on second base, O2, two out. So he's getting a nice little lead here. Ball gets by the catcher.

He's home before they even pick the ball up, Jake. Yeah. I watched that and I was like, there's no way he was on second base. He was on second base. Watch this, dude. Like he even slows down a little bit and then turns the jets on.

And he's going to be so fun to watch, man. I just, I think he's got incredible potential, especially I feel like in today's game, his skills are appreciated, maybe a little bit more, because we have the disengagement rule, so stolen bases are up.

I think obviously his defense and center is kind of like off the charts. So you just put him out there and just kind of like let him do his thing. I think that's the coolest thing for a baseball player if they're just like, hey, go do your thing, bro. They don't, they don't even, like he has to put up numbers, obviously, but he's out there to cause havoc on the base pass and go defend and take away extra base hits in the outfield.

Like, that's what he does. His bat has a little pop in it, like more than you think. And he's just a nice guy. He's so funny, dude. He works out. I think, I don't think he works out with any other baseball players. He goes to this, like, gym in Venice, which is, like, outside. And he was wearing, like, Chuck T's and, like,

jeans to work out. He's a menace. Some guys are different. He's different. Hey, and I, you know, people, people probably wonder if we're like sucking up to the league or anything, but man, a guy like PCA, even five years ago, it would be like, okay, yeah, we're going to put him out there. He's going to play some defense. He'll swipe some bags. But, you know, if the pop doesn't come, like, blah, blah, blah. Like, I think in today's baseball where the base running knob has been turned up, and the way he can play defense that even if the bat doesn't land in a tier or two up like that's a useful ball player and that's someone that people should be watching play baseball because he's electric he's going to be he's going to be like one of the kids

the youths yeah players because he's got you know he's got style and he's dying the hair he's just electric on the field yeah he's he's a guy that people will gravitate towards I got my finger on the pulse of the youth. That sounds weird, but I'm, that does sound weird. I'm a youth coach. So I see, I'm always asking, who, who do you guys like, man? Tatis is still like almost one of the number one answers. Muki, Shohay.

I mean, I'm in L.A., so they love all the Dodgers and stuff. But PCAs is going to be one of those guys. You know what, for my, for my king of the week, Rob, let's watch the Brent. Well, it's not the Brent Rooker video. It is because you're a golf guy. MLB, we're making content, babe, and that's what we're all about. I did like this video that MLB posted on their socials.

A little, what would you say? It's a whip around. I'm passing the phone to another guy from Tennessee with a broken golf swing. What's up, guys? It's Brent Rooker. I'm passing the phone to the guy who's the nastiest on the mountain. What's up, everybody? It's Paul Skeins, and I'm passing the phone to the best to ever do it.

Hey, this is Mike Trout, and I'm passing. my phone or this phone to my favorite influencer, Bryce Harbor. Okay, so a couple things of note. Brent Rooker clearly wasn't told that Mookie was just going to throw him under the bus. No, he was like smiling, yeah, I'm happy to be a part of this crew. This is like the guy, like guy guys of Major League Baseball. Brent Rooker is part of that. Love that for Brent.

But yeah, he's just naive to the fact that Mookie is calling him out. Mooky with the full-blown dunk. A couple. Broken golf swing? That's about as harsh of an insult as you can get as a guy. What's up, guys? It's Brent Rooker. I'm passing the phone to the guy who's in that.

That's tough. And then Skeen's good. Yep. Sure. Sometimes Skeen's look is pretty... The next year, Paul's going to have it fully lock. but the beard sometimes throws me off. He needs, yeah, he needs to get it going a little bit.

Higher a stylist, maybe. He would, if you said that around him, he'd just choke you out. Yeah. Immediately. Massive. It's, it's not bad. It's just, it's happening. Paul Skeens is going to look at that picture in three years and be like,

what was I doing? And that's okay. He's, he's just grinding right now, bro. He's in it. He's like, I'm going to be the best picture of all time. And that's all he's worried about. and then eventually he'll be like, okay, hold on. And what the hell was that Mike Trout image at the time?

No, that was. First thing I thought about, like, Mookie is hilarious, but Mike Trout, like, you should have done it again. It's a bad take. Mike Trout, and I'm passing my phone or this phone to my favorite. He's like on some backfield and like, hey, Mike, can you come over here and just do this real quick?

And he's like, what? I mean, he's reading it. You don't have to read it, Mike. It's just like one sentence. For whatever reason. for everyone taking selfie videos, his angle was a little off. It's early.

You can tell he was like barely had coffee. It's, okay, because I was about to say it had like guy that got separated from the Bachelor Party energy. It's like, oh, dude,

I'm outside this Dunkin right now. I just charged my phone. I'll be back at the house in like 35 minutes. He's like, why are we doing base running drills right now? I hate spring training. That's what that look is like.

A little dehydrated, like these, you know, probably a little bit of a go. Yeah. Might be a good landing spot for Vladie next year. The admin that's running this for the Angels was too scared. You like Mike, you zooed that. Can we do it again? You can't say that to Mike Trout. Cannot say that to Mike Trout.

A guy we talked about for a decade as the best player in baseball. He got his flowers from Paul Skeens there. I like that a lot. It's nice. It's nice. Give me a big Mike. Trout year. Give me a big baseball year.

Thank you to everyone. Sorry about all the injury stuff, but I guess that's part of the gig. We will be back Wednesday, which is a week away from baseball. Wow. I stinks. Tough. Tough 24 for me.

I was going to say you and Mike Trout have a similar look right now. Similar. We both like the weather. We both like baseball. You can see the sun rising in my video because it was dark when we started and now I'm getting blasted. Hulse of the youth.