Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - Teams Facing Most Pressure At The Trade Deadline

Episode Date: July 28, 2025

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 JMBASEBALLLooking for a refreshing citrusy kick this summer? Grab a Mountain Dew! Find out where at https://www.mountaindew.com/find-dewBook your next trip at https://www.bestwestern.com Coach Trev and Talkin’ Jake discuss the Blue Jays being the best team in baseball, Nathan Eovaldi’s Rangers being right in the mix, Manny Machado’s beef with Jon Jay and more! 0:00 Intro3:30 AL Burn8:25 AL Standings11:10 Blue Jays / Tigers18:48 A’s / Astros22:29 Braves / Rangers28:12 Dodgers / Red Sox35:38 Phillies / Yankees37:40 Guardians / Royals39:00 NL Burn42:30 NL Standings47:25 Cardinals / Padres54:25 Marlins / Brewers58:25 Mets / Giants1:01:40 Rays / Reds1:03:45 Standout Performances1:09:38 Trev - CJ Abrams1:12:55 En Fuego1:18:20 Players who are struggling1:21:30 Awards Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello and welcome to talking baseball. It is swing season. We have trades. We have fights. We have historic performances. Let's talk ball. Seth Lugo straight to the bank. Little Amish, Jake Storelli. Hello and welcome to talking baseball. Present you by Sikhie Co. Talk in 2025. I am Jake Storelli, aka Little Amish. That is Trevor Plouf. Former Philly. Welcome to talking baseball. We are here. There's been a few smaller trades that have happened. We're waiting for the next one. It won't be Seth Lugo.

Might as well just take that money. How's that turn to starting pitcher going for him? Nick Kamakertz had a four-home or day. Go check out where the tech... Wait for the standings people, because the Texas Rangers are in a new spot. The three best teams in baseball are the Toronto Blue Jays, the Milwaukee Brewers and the Chicago Cubs,

just like we told you before the season, Trest. Cubs would have been in there, I think. Maybe. Blue Jays probably not. And Milwaukee, we believe in them, but maybe not best record. So, yeah, some surprising stuff going on. It's great because we have seen at this point, Jake,

some teams, so it was supposed to be flooded with a bunch of competition for these last wild card spots, all these guys at the trade deadline are going to be making moves. I think we've seen some teams completely fall out. My twins fall out. Like they're going to sell. They're not adding, even though they say they might straddle the line, whatever the heck that means. But we're getting some, we're getting some clarity in all those situations. And now, here we are in trade deadline week. Like there's going to be pop up episodes. There's going to be big stuff going down. You and I will probably have to go live a few times, which, you know,

is that's where we live. Live is where we live, Jake. Oh, I see. That'd be a good tattoo, but you'd really have to explain it to people. No, it's, Live is where we live. Live is where we live.

Live is where we live. And gossip episode to the mass. Oh, this is. If you want that. Because I'm in it. Like, I am. If you're in our baseball, Love Island,

um, overlap, we, we've got some. juicy stuff going on with the boys from the 305 that got hot in San Diego and St. Louis. Machado, John Jay. Well, we're going to get to the bottom of everything. And Trev, yeah, as you said, there's some clarity or we hope there's some clarity, like your twins trying to do the straddle.

We'll see. I don't say straddle. You said straddle. It feels like a sell, but at the same time, the Kansas City Royals who are a game and a half up on them. They extended a guy and they traded for Randall Gritchick. So about momentum. Let's see what's going on. I don't have it. Dude, the Tampa Bay Rays, who were great for a month and a half, have been horrible. And now everyone thinks they're going to sell everything.

Yanks are horrible. There you go, everyone. My Cincinnati Reds are a game out of the postseason. We got a lot to digest people. So let's do it. And that means it's an American League Monday. in the night. Detroit, who was the best team in the American League for a long time, lost three out of four to the Toronto Blue Jays, who are now the best team in the American League. Eric Lauer, eight innings, one earned, absolutely. He's on pitchers who shove teaser. Nathan Lucas is turning on balls. It's Vladdy. It's Joey Loh Perfito, who's decided to join the party for him. Bo Bichette's five-hit day doesn't even really count because that's the game they lost to Jack Flaherty and the Tigers. I think the Tigers announcer said Detroit can celebrate because it's been so bad for them.

The opposite for Toronto, who I think has won 21 out of 26. What? Blue Jays running the American League. The Seattle Mariners and the Angels played for and they ended up splitting them. Julio with a couple big games. Boy, does he love playing an. Anaheim, his numbers there are crazy. Brian Wu, I knew he was having a good year.

I didn't understand how much six innings pitch, basically every game. And hey, know what we like? Zach Netto walk off on his bobblehead day. That's how you make a memory, people. Mike Trout, 1,000 RBI snaps. They split four. Oh, the A's and the Astros played. You must know what happened.

The A's sweep all four games. James. They're your best Western road warriors, people. Life's a trip, and boy did we find out. The comma, Nick Kamakerts, big Amish. The best offensive day ever, people are saying, four homers, six hits against the Houston Astros, and that was just part of the four-game sweep. Their first four-game sweep under Mark Katsay, they do it against the Houston Astros who had been so good. Sevy's involved. Lawrence Butler has turned into Denzel Clark defensively. Everything seems to be clicking for them.

Miguel Anduhar, first ever leadoff game, so he hits a leadoff homer. That's Best Western. Baby! The Phillies played the Yankees. They took two out of three. How do you like that? Yankees salvaged the set on the final day. Zach Wheeler, it was one inning.

It was Ryan McMahon. That's nice. Everything else, horrible for the Yanks. Good for the Phillies. Schwabber, you're going to hear a lot about him this episode. Trey Turner with six hits in two games. That's still pretty good. And it just felt like everyone was turning on balls for the Phillies

and that Yankees bad defense was there and their bad bullpen. And we're not going to talk about it. Red Sox take two out of three from the Dodgers. Dodgers take game one. Emmett Sheehan and Brian Beio, the young pups, Teosker, leans on one. Kershaw versus Crochet, the old lefty, the young lefty. I love it. Sox.

your guy Rafael puts on a show this series, Trev. And then Dustin May, the young Dodgers Ritey against the former Dodgers Ritey and Walker Bueller, Red Sox, Roman Anthony and Alex Bregman. Breggman says he reminds him of your Don getting called up. Hello.

Sox take two out of three. Speaking of Sox, the Chicago series, White Sox, take game one, Chase Midroth with the lead off Homer. Edgar Carrow, where does Trev have him on his top catch for 26, we'll find out later. Otherwise, it was Cubs the rest of the series. Big bad Ben Brown, five innings of one earned ball. PCA, you know he got in the mix. Matt Shaw continues to go for them. The Atlanta Braves and the Texas Rangers, and circle this one, the Texas Rangers sweep them.

They are in fuego right now. Evaldi shoves like he has all year. Jack Leiter has one of his best starts as a big leaguer, but they've kind of been doing that all year. The offensive showed up. Josh Smith playing all over the field with three hits. Wyatt Langford with the big day. Michael Harris was fantastic, but it wasn't enough for the Braves as they get swept. And your final series in the American League, the Royals take two out of three from the guard dogs. Like I mentioned, they extend Lugo. They trade for Gritchick. Jonathan, India, hoping for a signature moment with his walk-off Homer in that first game. Noah Cameron shoves in the final game as Mike Garcia provides the offensive thump and that's what happened in the aL on the music there's

something different i'm not here to play you behind the mic ryan McMahon at third base same i'm getting in the middle of this john j machado beef i'm gonna figure it out let's call john jane right now let's do it i might have to be your phone not mine i think i i didn't save his number you want the standings i need i'm gonna start out east pop it's Toronto Blue Jays, as you mentioned, on a heater, eight and two in the last 10, and it goes even further back than that's 20 games over 500, 63 and 43. They're having a party up there in Canada. Drake is back.

Saying that. I think. I don't think so. I'm not up to date on that beef. I'm, maybe I need to get in the streets. I'm going to start a beef show. Okay. I cook beef.

Cooking and fights. Nice. The Yankees, 57 and 48. They're five and a half games back now. The Red Sox, six and a half. They're 57 and 50. The raise back to 500. They're on an L4, 53 and 53.

And the Orioles, 47 and 58. The Tigers, they are reeling right now, but still have a commanding lead in the Central. Eight games up on the Guardians. The Tigers are 61 and 46. The Guardians, one game under 5, 52, and 53. The Royals, a half game behind. high in that. 52 and 54, my twins,

it's over, Pop. We're going to be trading guys. We're losing some of our bullpen. 50 and 55. The White Sox always a round number, 30 games under 500, 38 and 68 for them. Out west, the Astros, even though they got sweat,

they still have a four game lead over the Mariners and the Rangers. 60 and 46 for the Astros, 56 and 50 for the Mariners and the Rangers who are on a little heater here, nine and one in the last 10, six game win streak. Again, 56 and 50 for them. The Angels, are they dead pop?

Probably. 51 and 55 for them. 46 and 62 for the athletics who, we'll talk about them. I got a lot to say about them. The wild card. They don't call it the mild card. Can't wait for those tweets after the first big game in the wild card series. 57 and 48, the Yankee. have a one and a half game lead. The Red Sox second wild card, they have a half game lead over

both the Mariners and the Rangers who are tied. I'll give some love to the rays who are three games out. I'll give some love to the guardians who are three and a half games out. And I'll give some love to the Royals who are four games out. And that's where I stop. Royals are making moves, signing guys, angels, twins, five, five and a half games out. You don't get mentioned. I'm sorry, pop. Those are the standings in the American League. Trevor, beautifully done. And I think in the AL, it's going to start out with two playoff teams that we started out with. It's the team that has played the best in the last 20 games, the Toronto Blue Jays,

and the team that has played the worst in the last 20 games, the Detroit Tigers, 6 and 14 in their last 20. Toronto is 16 and 4 in their last 20. Toronto, it is everything, man. And we've talked about, Trev, I've loved your point about, like, big rallies or winning streaks, the bottom of the lineup has to contribute. And Toronto has shown that. It's been great at bats, and it feels like there's different cats every night.

I mentioned Joey Lopifito jumping on the bus. Dude, it is all over. George Springer has been the best hitter out of the break. Boba Chet with a five-hit day. I know that's in a loss, but like his stats are getting back to Bow, Boshet. Vladdy's involved, the late Homer rally. It is everything. They're passing the torch to the next person on every level of this team. Gossman has a great start. The whole team is clicking at one of the best clips we've seen in like talking baseball history.

They are absolutely crushing it since May 25th, 37 and 15. They were eight games back on May 28th. games back. 37 and 15 now they're five and a half games up. Like that. And you're right. I mean, it's been, it really has been their complete roster. It's been their calling card.

They're a team. They're doing this, which kind of seems like a far cry from what we had in years past where it seemed like there was a disconnection. Like the leadership wasn't necessary there. We were questioning that. They go,

they signed Vlad to the extension. Maybe that calmed everything down there. Or maybe that all the winning cures everything. I think that's more of the case. You start winning, things start feeling great when you show up to the park. It's been a lot of fun for them. We did get confirmation on the Eric Lauer lip thing. No, that's not part of the series.

Oh. He did have a great start here. Davis Schneider diving making touches. Eric Lauer had a cyst removed from his lip. Like he had surgery on it. Okay. Which like we knew he was joking, but they did a great job. And now look at these Blue Jays.

They're goofing? Got ice blue jays? Like get me out of here. How much? Give me like how much did you want that story to actually be true? I mean, a million percent. And nothing at the blue jays. And like, yeah, I fucked up. Yeah, just Max Scherzer gets to punch people. Like, that's insane. That was that that's where they went wrong with that joke, that joke or went right is the fact that it was so believable. Yeah. No, they're, they're winning on every front. They're out joking us. They're out joking us.

And that's where I get mad. You can play good baseball, but don't do that. And then, you know, like, game one, Ernie Clement with the Homer after the intentional walk is awesome. Then Loperfeetal backs it up. It's like things are absolutely clicking for them. Kind of can't talk enough about them.

Since the All-Star break, they went through San Francisco, the Yankees, and now Detroit. All three of those teams kind of struggling right now, but still like all, well, the Giants aren't a playoff team, but the other two were and the Giants are close to a play. Right. These are good teams. They're good teams.

And they went through them. Even though they're struggling, there's still good teams and they're playing great ball. Jake, the last time they had a lead in the division like this, like this much of a lead, this much of a lead between them and the second place team, you can guess the year. 92?

93. Okay. What did they do in 93? Joe Carter. Yeah, yeah. So Toronto's having a great, great time. Tigers, on the other hand. Yes.

Struggling, offensively, amongst other places as well. They finally had a breakout in the last game of the series, in the eighth inning. They got some runs. Before they won that game, 13 runs in their sixth game losing streak. That's not good. In July, it's been really, really bad for them. 208, 287, 351 is a team.

That's an 80 weighted runs created plus, 3.5 runs per game. Everyone's been struggling. Riley Green's been struggling. Hobby Baez has been struggling. But I guess if you're the Tigers, you get Kerry Carpenter back. Maybe that sparks the offense. Is that what you're waiting for? I don't know.

They're also growing rally stashes, so that's fun. Yeah, that's their best bet. Really like the AJ Hinch quote on it. Generally speaking, we're willing to do anything. I can't grow a mustache fast enough, but I see our boys are resorting to desperate times, desperate measures. So I like that from Hinch. And yeah, I mean, dude, it's such a long season.

And I'm not saying this on the Toronto side at all, because I don't, they'll probably slow down a little bit because every team has to, but like what they're doing kind of makes sense to me, and I love the energy they're playing with. Detroit, another shoe is going to drop. I guess we just didn't expect it to be this harsh, but look what's going on around, I mean, even in the AL, like Tampa has been just as bad.

The Yankees have been just as bad. So, you know, I think you get the rally moustaches going. You hope tonight, you know, their next game, if you can start to build a win streak and then things can change. But they ran into the best team in the AL right now that they used to be. And yeah, man, I mean, it comes down to, you know, A little teaser, Zach McKinstery is on our new version of Slump Watch that, like, they need guys to start performing. And Toronto, man, whatever the baseball sauce is.

And I'm very much not giving myself credit for this, but I want to say a month ago or even a month and a half ago, Bo Bichet hit a game winning homer, and it looked like Boba Chet feeling it. Like, yes, I'm that MF. and that looks like how the whole team is playing. It's looked like they've had doubts that they were kind of doing the looking themselves in the mirror and being like, well, I'm not the problem. I'm Bobauchet.

I'm Vlad Guerrero, but I don't know. Maybe this Toronto team isn't the team. Now they're looking at everyone like, I got you, you got me. Ernie Clements got us after the intentional walk. Nathan Lucas, like Tyler Heineman. Tyler Heimann, keep saying the name. name. The bat flip by

Clement was awesome. I said this on baseball today when we cover it. It was like a Yermos, a fuck you without saying it. Which is so fun.

That team is fueled by it and they look awesome right now. And think about this. We thought that Andres Jimenez would be so big for them. Santander. much. I mean, in limited playing time on the IL right now,

like he's put up a 622 OPS. I know that's on his calling card. The defense has been good when he's been in there. But he really hasn't been contributing to this. Santander has been one of the biggest negatives on their team this year. Like, it's wild what the world of baseball can do to you. And I think that brings us, I'll go to Houston in the A's, because there's a whole West conversation that needs to happen. The Houston side, again, they've generally been playing decent ball up into this point,

and they get baseballed, and part of it is a historic offensive performance. Nick Kurtz, four home run game, six hits. People are debating, is it one of the best offensive games of all time? Just flicking balls, oppo into the Crawford box, just making backdoor breaking balls, like it's easy to hit them 370 feet. And then the storyline,

I'm interested what you have to say on the A's because they've taken themselves out of the conversation of this season. But you look up and down the lineup and you're like, okay, did Langealier's just Homer in three straight games? Soderstrum's putting up a nice year. But I'm interested to see the A's conversation. And then the other thing is this leads into the AL West. Like are the Astros getting reeled in by Seattle

and Texas, both four games back. I mean, this obviously doesn't help. You know, like, this is a tough one. I think the aishos are fine. I think this is more about the A's. And I've told you, man, they have a nice group of position players, like a nice young core of position players.

Like, they have guys. Like, Max Muncie's hurt now, but he came up and he's had some really good swings. obviously you know about Jacob Wilson Denzel out there in center field can go get it hopefully his back comes along Lawrence Butler Brent Rooker like they have almost like

too many good offensive pieces of that that like really hasn't been their problem it hasn't been great all year long but a lot of that's because they just get behind in games their pitching has been so bad especially their bullpen so you know that kind

like when you get down in games puts pressure on your offense all these things this is a good offensive unit. It really is. And they have a ton of potential, as we're seeing here. These are young guys. But it's, yeah, they're pitching showed up this series. And look what happened.

They sweep the freaking Astros. Like sometimes it's kind of all it is. Is can you get some starters that give us a lead? You know, we had Severino with a really, really nice start. Then my guy, Lopez, Jacob Lopez, another, you know, nice little four and a third inning start for him. but if they get any semblance of decent pitching, like this A's team can be a good team. Well, and that's where, I mean,

this whole series was a massacre because they did pitch. Exactly. Like Springs pitch, Severino with seven innings. Said he went more foreseen. And yeah, I guess as we're in swing season, Houston, who's, you know, still commanding the West, and you can wash a bad series because everyone's going to have them. I think our guy Gordon just went on the aisle for them

that they've got 18 dudes on the aisle They are Walter, excuse me Triple A, what are they, the Space Cowboys or something like that? Yeah, who is their AAA? But it's, and it's not like in a negative way, it's like these guys have come up and done well. It's, it's, they have most of their regulars on the aisle right now.

Sugar Land Space. We're talking about organizational depth. I mean, good job on the Astros for having that guys coming up. I've been doing it. But eventually, shoot, like, that kind of runs out as well. Yeah, don't be surprised if that deadline starting pitcher trade announcement drops and everyone's like, oh, yeah, Houston got that guy. But Trev, like I was saying, and I, Mariner's Angels, I mean, Trev, I love how much notes you take.

You're a special man and a nice guy. But the Texas Rangers are the other story here that, the offense has finally happened. I was beating the drum. I've given up on teams this year. Like the Reds broke me a little bit, and they're back in the mix, and I'm excited for that.

The Texas Rangers, I couldn't quit because their pitching is literally the best. They have the best ERA in baseball. Evaldi's back. His ERA's won five on the year or something like that. And, dude, the offense is happening. And, man, it feels like the other similarity, I'll pull from the Reds there.

The old dogs managing, you know, stay the course. They've seen a lot of baseball, a couple old birds at the helm, and now their teams are starting to click. Texas is very much in the mix in the American League this season. I got a little like mental block here. Didn't the Rangers do this not too long ago where they just went on an absolute heater at the end of the year?

Was that 2023? So, 2023, they were in the mix, the whole year. And they actually, it depends, I guess, when you're measuring from, because they limped at the end that the rain. It did limp at the end. Okay, so this is not what, okay.

Their bullpen was bad. And Seattle and Texas let Houston catch them in the final couple weeks of the season. Yeah, so that's not what I'm talking about. But yeah, no, this is, it's obviously a very, very good roster. I think it's, you know, yes, they've been reliant on pitching.

I'm going to talk about Nathaniel Valde here in a little bit. And they do have some areas for improvement. They haven't done well against left-handed pitching because obviously most of their people that have been producing offensively are left-handed. So, like, they're in the market for a right-handed bat kind of anywhere. Like, they'll take a right-handed bat at any position and they'll just figure it out. And then it's interesting because they've been so good pitching-wise, but they don't really

have, like, a set closer. So, like, if they go out and get one of those guys, which, again, my my twins have about three dudes who could close on any team. Duran, Jacks, and Brock Stewart, I think is the biggest wild card here. I think teams are really going to go after him

because the price tag will probably be a little bit lower. And he has years of control. If they go get one of those guys, or a hell isly or something like that, like it just reinforces a strength for them. And the offense is going to come around. Shout out my guy, Marcus Simeon with the walk-up.

That's really cool for them. I'll go Nathan Evaldi, because I was going to use them as my standout but I want to just talk about him he is yeah you're right the the numbers have been absolutely incredible on the year it's got a 0.88 whip which is that's excuse me a 0.875 i'm not rounding up thank you're not rounding up uh you're right a 1 5 year around the year uh what's changed for him he's always been a really good pitcher but over the last like four years has just really taken off uh in 2021 his splitter usage was 12.

A lot of cutters. 2022 is like, oh, the cutter, I'm out on the cutter. Splitter usage goes to 20.9%. 2023, 27.6%. 2024, 30.8%. And this year, right at 30% as well, a little bit of a dip only because the curveball usage is up. So he's finding himself, I guess, as a pitcher at 35 years old, making adjustments and saying the splitter is my best pitch i'm going to start to just keep i'm just going to spam that

and it's just changed everything about him i don't know like he's you could talk about a lot of these guys there's a lot of really really good pitchers in the league right now you can talk zach wheeler you can talk skeins miserowski coming on to the scene scobs this is a dog dude i i honestly don't know like he's in the conversation of guys that you want game seven giving the ball in a big series easily with how he's pitching this year and with postseason history. Yeah, he already has postseason legend status when he was with the Red Sox versus the Dodgers

in that World Series when he came in and held that game close. I believe they lost that game, but like he's a dog, man. He's a freaking dog. I know, I love Nathan Evaldi. I've been saying that. I tried to get the twins to sign him. Didn't happen. Sheesh.

Corey Seeger has another on Bay Street going. That is of note. He does it literally every year. Jack Peterson just came off the IL. What if he plays like his baseball card instead of being the worst hitter in the league? And thick-necked Josh Young called up from the minors, and he has a big weekend.

So they have... They're a sneaky team to go out and get at Iuhino. Although I think... Mm. Another twin that would fit perfectly there is Willie Castro. I could see that. That would give them... an extra level of versatility.

They also just could like what they have. If you didn't know about the first half of the season, you just be like, okay, best pitching staff. They need a right-handed bat. They need a right-handed bat. They've been so bad against lefties that they need one. Okay. I'm fine with that.

Okay. Trev, let's see. What else do I have? Oh, I think the other big series in the AL. Well, I guess there's two, but unless people want to hear me crap on the Yankees. Dodgers Red Sox. I think you've got some awards coming from this. And some of the highlights from this series were awesome.

But yeah, we have a couple of Roman Anthony, big games. He has his first triple. Why am I tracking that? Part of the job, people. Bregman's back, three-hit day. And he also, he has a beautiful Fenway, like pop-up. in a lot of places, but it scraped that green wall and it counts. I really, this is, you know, the Saturday game was on Fox and I was watching,

and there's a good crochet quote. I made two bad pitches. Been watching them on repeat, too. Fox has played them 30 times. You'd think the Dodgers won tonight. So, guys, saw that too. That's really, really good. That's some good pitch or salt, but that's the problem when one of them is to show, hey,

socks take two out of three. That's so good. I think are we like big garret crochet guys now? We were before. Yeah, dude. Like he was like if I did winners and losers from All Star Weekend, like that guy was awesome. And that quote is awesome.

This was a fun series. A lot of people talking about Aralda Chapman going in, striking Mookie out and like how weird that would have been to talk about a couple years ago. Mookie came back. He had a death from the family. So he got to that game in the third inning and then end up striking out looking against Chapman. Dodgers are kind of down.

bad their offense has been struggling um and i don't you know mookie doesn't look right i don't know what they're going to do about that they try to put them in the lead off position uh to to spark it just hasn't hasn't gone his way enough about the dodgers should because the red sox did win this series i'm going to talk more about uh raphaela uh but marcella mire going on the i l kind of doesn't help them but it like kind of like helps them or like they can play all the guys they want to play now instead of having to figure out day to day. He's going to be playing second base and they're going to put Duran in center and kind of do that whole lineup, which is interesting. But I'm still on the Red Sox. I'm still on

them to go on some sort of big run this year. I had him winning the, I had them winning the AL East. They're not there right now, as we mentioned. They're six games back. But I still have them going on a run, but they they kind of have all the pieces. Like they have they have a complete roster. Yeah.

Like what are they going to add at the debind? Pitching. Pitching. Yeah. That's it. Everyone wants that though. And Trevor, again, I'm trying to get better at

this postseason analysis stuff. Like if the playoffs started today, the Red Sox are in. And I believe they'd be playing the New York Yankees. And guess who's destroyed the New York Yankees the past couple years? The Boston Red So, like, you're right. It feels like they're going to have another push in them. And let's see what this Red Sox team looks at at full tilt.

If Roman Anthony's clicking and they start feeling the good juice of baseball. But, like, they're already here. They're already in the dance. They obviously have to do more to secure that the rest of the way. They're now in play for a big high-end closer as Chapman leaves the game. I guess the velocity was really, really down. So let's see what they do. I think if they go and get a Ryan Helpsley,

that's like the spark that ignites that rally. Could be. they're also, again, and I don't want to be, you know, I don't want people think this is Yankees, because every team needs pitching. But the two teams we just talked about Boston and Texas, they've kind of, in their history, they've had these fluid bullpens that have kind of figured it out. Like, Jordan Hicks got the save yesterday for Boston.

Sean Armstrong threw 35 bullets for Texas the other day, and he finds a way. Like, I don't know, these teams, I feel like every year we look at, their bullpen and we kind of do the, they need more guys, right? But Texas is third in bullpen ERA. The Red Sox are fourth. So they're doing something, right, you know? Dodgers.

Any Dodgers concerned? Like, are we being blind to it? Shut up, Bragman for what he's doing since coming back from the I.O. I think that's also huge for them. Dodgers, what I saw from them, again, the twins are kind of like the get right team right now. like they're helping everybody. So good job on their part. The bullpen

is decimated. So that's a huge part of this. I mean, I saw some of the worst bullpen outings I've seen in baseball this year from them. So they have to figure that aspect out. The starting pitching is good and Snell's like Dom. Did you see his rehab? Oh my God.

Oh, I love it. It's these guys, these minor vigors have never seen a pitch like that. Like his curveball is bouncing at 50 feet and they were swinging and missing. It was insane. He probably had 10Ks of guys swinging in a ball that didn't even reach the plate.

This is fantastic. If we're being honest, I mean, Snell's curveball slider when it's right is one of the best pitches in baseball. It embarrasses major leaguers that 4.2 innings, zero hit, zero run, 7Ks for the OKC Comets. I'm sorry. Sorry whoever he was facing,

because that's a tough one. That is tough, man. Some of the worst swings I've ever seen. The Reno Aces, tough day at the office. Don't know. We don't swing shame. I'm not talking shit. We don't swing shame here.

Starting pitching is fine. Like, they're going to be okay. Bullpen horrible. And then for them, the offense has been up and down. I mean, again, show him. is going to do his thing he's going to hit his homers although he's kind of like been exposed a little bit as of late like people are just it's a little scary what people are trying to do to him and we've seen it a lot like ronald the cunia yeah it's just up and in up and in up and in and you can tell

he's getting frustrated and starting to swing and chase a little bit there and again like i said it's it's it's dangerous like guys go up and in like he's i don't want to say he's going to get hit but like it's probably going to happen just because of the way guys are pitching him. So there's that aspect, you know, the Max Muncie effect. We'll see if he can come back and kind of spark that offense again. Mookie needs to get going. I think offensively they'll be fine. But the bullpen needs to be figured out.

That's fine. Trev, I'll be honest, the rep. Well, I have some Phillies flowers to give out. I guess if you want to talk about Phillies Yankees for a minute. Tell me, what do you got? your yanks the yanks bullpen is as depleted as i've ever seen it and their defense was as bad as i've ever seen a yankee's defense uh they traded for ryan mcmand and kind of instant instant reward defensively we haven't seen someone play third base like him since like a rod so

it's been a minute um and they can have a good defensive infield but it's not about the yankees because they got beat down by the phillies ranger swares is an absolute delight um i don't his where his pitches end up sometimes feel like a glitch. And that the Phillies offense. I've got some more Schwartz later. Real Mudo turned on some. Harper put one into the deep bleachers. Like Otto Kemp, how's your two-home or day?

Philly's here. The Yankees got lucky. Zach Wheeler hit two guys in the inning the Yankees rallied. Otherwise, they would have got swept. So that's kind of what I have to say about that. Phillies, what are they in the, I don't have the wrong thing up, I don't have the standings out just yet.

Not standings. Okay. But at one and a half games back now of the surging Mets. Yeah. That team having to go play a wild card series. That's, they don't want that.

They don't want that, but the other team, the other team doesn't like showing up to Philly. I know that other team doesn't want the Phillies, but like, I want to see the Phillies in a seven games. game set or five games set whatever it is like they i feel like they deserve to what they've done and the maneuvers they've made like they deserve to do it but that's ball people that's ball

well one last one kansas city yeah two or three the guard dogs basically wanted to mention shout out jonathan india walk off home against class a got hit in the face by him march 30th and then comes back 1-2 slider, middle, middle for the walk-off homer in the 10th, which is awesome. Because usually you get back in a box against the guy you're like, fuck this. I don't want

to get in the face again. One-two, hair-going, and he loves this one. Watch as he crosses the plate. Oh, can we go to when he crosses the plate? It takes his time right here. Watch this. He sees him. He says, he's like, fuck you, man.

Oh, yeah. I do like that. Yeah, it's interesting because they're like, they go trade for Randall Gripick. They sign Lugo to the extension, and then they're only a game up on the twins. The twins are going the opposite way. Well, and you wonder, like Caglione gets hurt.

Their other pitchers are hurt that, hey, they've operated a lot of they've operated a little differently. And you know, as we talk about these teams that have gotten hot or cold, like look how good the Marlins are playing. we're about to talk about that. You know, everyone's, the Royals had to wonder if Lugo was getting traded.

Instead, he's extended. India, probably curious. Like, nope, we're adding Grandal Gritchick. Like that, sometimes the vibes matter. Sometimes they don't. I think we're going to find out in Kansas City in the next couple weeks. Let's hop over to some NLTRA.

In the National League, Trevor cannot wait to talk about this gossip. The Padres and the Cardinals, they played four games. They split them. But the drama happened on the field. Wilson Contreras doesn't like getting hit. Povetta says, I don't hit people, dog. I didn't want to do that.

And Machado takes a couple. And now we are fighting. Miami, South Beach. Whose side are you guys on? We're going to dive into all of that. Yeah, they did play some baseball. Machado is hitting as well, which that's nice for him. we're going to talk a lot about this.

The Marlins and the Brewers, two of the teams playing the best in the National League, feel like their sibling teams. The Marlins take two out of three. Otto Lopez opening it up late in that first game. Dane Myers, Herberto Hernandez, absolutely, absolutely in that second game. And then Jackson Churillo, as the Brewer salvaged the series in the first game, in the final game. He has been having a nuts second part of his season,

just like he did in his rookie season. Mention the Rays are struggling. The Reds are not. The Reds sweep them, baby. 7-2-6-2-2-1 on that final day. Brady Singer dropping him. Ellie's been balling out but not homering. I'm going to talk about that a little bit.

And the Cincinnati Reds game out from the Well-Gar. I shouldn't ruin the standings. The New York metropolitans are feeling hot, hot, hot as they sweep the San Francisco Giants. It ends on Sunday night baseball. Matt Chapman does his best with a two-homer performance, but not as much as Ronnie Maricio. You know about Soto, you know about Nimmo, but do you know about Romo? The kid, four-hit day, including a home run.

Francisco Alvarez is back and hitting for the Mets. They are one of the hottest teams in baseball, not just talking about Swaggy V and what he's doing. The last three series, I'm going to be honest, this might be the last you hear about them. The Pirates took two out of three from the Diamondbacks. If your team got shut out, you lost. The first game was in 11 innings.

D-backs won. The other two games, I wish we were talking more Paul Skeens, because he might be cruising to the Cy Young with six-innings shut. out. Tommy Fam, RBI single. I don't know. The Nationals in the Twins. Treves been mentioning the twins as they've got pieces to trade. Hey, Zebby Matthew shoved. A 1-0 twin shutout. They lose the next two. Nationals. C.J. Abrams deserves some love. He goes nuts. Two for three with a homer and three stolen bases in that final game. Luis Garcia, good ball player. Jake Irvin,

the hometown kid shoving against the twins. Going to pass on me? And then the series everyone's talking about. The Orioles and the Rockies played three baseball games. We always talk Mickey Moniac. He homered. Trevor Rogers, one hit in seven innings. Cigano.

Tyler O'Neill back-to-back homers. Yes. That's what happened in the National League. Excellent job, Bobby. Can't wait to talk all about my twins. No, I won't do that, guys. We are going to start, Jake out West with the National League.

We talked about the Dodgers. Four games up on the Padres. No team in the West is playing that well right now. There's no secret there. 61 and 45 for the Dodgers. 57 and 49 for the Padres. Giants now seven games back in the division. They're on a 2 and 8 and an L3, 54 and 52.

The Diamondbacks out. They're trading. 51 and 55 in the Rockies, 27 and 78. Kyle Farmer on. the hill. Position players pitching is dangerous. We need to get, we need to stop it somehow. People hate when I say that. In the central, the Chicago Cubs and the Milwaukee Brewers are tied at the top of the division, 62 and 43 for each of those teams. The Reds surging a W-4, 7 and 3 in the minus 10, 56 and 50 on the year. Still six and a half games back, but they're looking for the wild card, though.

Cardinals, 54 and 53, the way they're playing right now, looking more like a seller than a buyer. 44 and 62 for the pirates. And you're right. Skeens is going to win, Sa Young and Scoobel. Yeah.

Seems like. We have our Sai Young, I'll get into it later. And at least, the New York met's a game and a half up on the Philadelphia, Philly, 62 and 44 for them as they won seven in a row. 60 and 45 for the Phillies, 50 and 54 for those Marlins who you mentioned. They've been playing great ball as of late.

44 and 60, they're dead. The Atlanta Braves are 17 games back in the division. It's July 28th and the Atlanta Braves are 17 games back in the division and feel like we don't even need to talk about them anymore. 43 and 62 for the Nationals

in the wild card Jake, and this is where it gets juicy. the Cubs and the Brewers obviously tied for the top spot in the wild card there. The Phillies have a three and a half game lead over the Padres who hold a one game lead over those Cincinnati Reds who I mentioned earlier. I'll give the Giants some love. There are three games back of that final wildcard spot. I guess I'll give the Cardinals love at three and a half games back.

And then after that, Thiembeck's selling. Marlins probably selling Peter Bendix got a plan and then the rest of the National League is atrocious. Those are the standings in the National League. That all was brought to you by Mountain Dew. Thank you to our friends of Mountain Dew for supporting this episode, bold flavors and a refreshing citrus kick. Mountain Dew is perfect for any occasion,

whether it's beach days, boat days, the golf course, or how about going to the ballpark or anything in between? Ever since we've become partners with Mountain Dew, our warehouse, our office, every activity feels like there's been Mountain Dew everywhere. And man, for me it was a little bit of a throwback, you know. I'd been out of the do game for a little bit. We are back in. So however you do to the do, get outside, crack a do.

I guarantee you'll have a good time. Go fishing. Trev said that's what on his on his Instagram now. So if that's what you're looking for, go grab a mountain deal. Any fishing commentary for us? Yeah, no, it's been all over my Instagram. That along with the,

there's some sort of phobia. It's the fear of like deep water. So I get a lot of like deep ocean stuff, which really I think I do have that phobia. Yeah. A lot of it's AI generated, which also sucks. But the AI stuff's getting crazy. I want an AI filter.

Aren't all filters AI? I don't know. Like I just, there was an AI video of like, this is what people from each state look like. And I was like, this is interesting. And I was like, no, it's not. This is nothing. This is literally nothing. I hate the deep ocean stuff.

Freaks me out. It's not, yeah. You know, I'd done it before. Right. Deep sea fishing for tuna off the Pacific coast, in very deep water there. We decided it was really hot. We jumped in the water in the middle of the ocean.

Yeah. I looked down and I saw the darkest color I've ever seen in my life, just like the endless bottom of the ocean. And it scared the shit out of me and I'll never, ever do that again. No, thanks. Trev, we are a gossip show. Oh, we're to start here. And we're here.

If you guys don't know, and I feel bad for Cardinals and Padres fans. There won't be a ton of ball talked right now. Okay, yeah, let's get it. The gossip is juicy, Trev. And I guess I can just tee up. We had some hit by pitches. I mentioned that in the way through.

Machado gets in the mix. And bench is clear and the whole deal. And sure, you know, this happens. It's hot out. The boys are getting rowdy. And the press came in. Post-game interview, Machado gets in front of the mic, and they're like, oh, you know, your buddy John Jay is involved.

And this is no joke for the people listening. Like, the Miami baseball boys are very united. Like, they are a tight-knit group. And even some stuff you're about to hear is going to jog your memory. Bob, I don't know if you have the interview that maybe we start with that. I'm John's here. Pretty good friends. Yeah, all right.

Right. I know the real him. I know the real him, Trevor. I'll let you cook because there's some layers to this. I will start this by saying, I've been friends with all the Miami guys for quite some time. I met former Twins farmhand Hobby Sanchez, one of my best baseball friends. You know him.

And through him and Ryan Braun, who went to Miami and his friends with all those guys, I met all of them. And I have, I've had like some of my favorite times out there in Miami with this crew. And that's why I like, I was like, this is a tight knit group. I texted all of my LA constituents out here. We were, I was said, guys, we need to be more like the Miami guys. Like, let's set some dinners up to the off season.

We need that brotherhood. Turns out we don't want to be like the Miami guys. You just want to keep what we have because it's good. When all that went down, I don't even know if I should. name names because I or maybe I should because it's all out there I mean yonder Alonzo tweeting out of emoji of a rat yeah we're there as he's involved in this uh scenario in some fashion manny Machado saying that we didn't get anything from jay who now I believe lives in st. Louis I think he might have houses in both places

um but it's interesting so I got a I got a text like right away God, should I say, I got a text from yonder, like right away. Yeah. Basically saying, hey, just so you know, like, I'm sure you guys are going to do some stuff on this dust up. I want you to know, like, we don't, we don't fuck with Jay. Right. And I'm like, what? Like, I asked him, I said, what the hell did he say?

They make man he so mad. There's a ton of beef. And I think this goes back quite some time. So then I started asking around to the guys that I know are like in the circle. I texted Braun and said, what the hell is going on here? He goes, I don't really know the full story here, but they all like do not like John Jay. And I don't know why. So again, I put other texts out as well.

My guy, Javis, who's like literally boys with like all these guys, he said that today he's going to give me a call and explain the whole situation to me. There's too long, too many intricacies to explain it over text. You got to have a one-on-one phone call for all of them. of this stuff. So like I doubt I'll like share it on the show. But this is to me it's just fascinating because again like yes I think throughout baseball and you have the picture up Rob if we remember in 2017 or whenever Manny signed with the Cardinals, John Jay goes to the White Sox and they're like hey they're they're courting manny Machado yonder and john jay are going to go to the white so look at this freaking picture of all of them i mean they're just it's for those

podcasts only i know we try to push the youtube because rob produces a ton of A ton of beautiful stuff, and there's some good visuals. It's Yonder, John Jay, and Mani Machado basically tickling each other's ears. Like, it's not basically they're doing and why. You know, I tell you hang out with the boys. I don't know. Come on. So I'll leave it with this.

Javi, who's very a level-headed guy in this situation, said this has been brewing. It's stupid stuff that adults, and friends should not have let get to. So I think it just was a culmination of a bunch of stuff. Maybe we'll be able to share it, maybe not. But I don't know, man. Like to me, that was, and it is kind of like a big story. First of all, I don't like John Jay getting in Mani's face on a scrum on a field.

You know I don't like. If you're a coach, you're a coach, bro. You can't do it to players. Like that is a rule that I don't think I'll ever get off of. So I don't love that. but now we found out that there's just actual beef between these two. So it makes a little bit more sense. And yeah, I don't know.

I don't know if this is going to come out at some point. But obviously, like in the world of baseball, I guess like we have to like stress this or else people are like, what the hell are these guys talking about? In the baseball world, like those, that Miami crew is, was thought of to be very, very like solid. like they like they all run together but apparently that has not been the case at least with jay and and the rest of these guys so yeah that that's that was going to be the

only part i drove home that like i i got met yonder uh in atlanta at the all-star game and i was like oh you know trev's always talking about miami he's like yeah man like we're we're tight he's jealous and like you genuinely are like that treff's starting that story saying he texted the la guys is like how how the miami guys operate is a family that, yeah, it's just, it's of no, I guess, more if you're really heavy in baseball. You got to be pretty deep for it. But to me, it's fascinating. Maybe it's just because I'm very close to the situation.

Maybe people are going to think this is the dumbest thing we've ever talked about. I don't know. I'm sorry. It's hit home with me. The fact that I don't know what's going on is also killing me. Right. Well, because I'll say this. Every interaction I've had with John Jay has been great.

Right. Every single one. He's been a partial celeb on this show. When he was on the Miami coaching staff, we talked about him. Yeah, I don't know. I'm interested to find out. I think baseball fans are too because it was a hot moment. Hot moment in the four-game split. Trev, let's do some like two-minute drills on some of these series.

because Marlins Brewers arguably the best baseball being played of two teams Marlins win the series and they are they feel blue Jays-ish they feel like Brewers from a couple weeks ago they are just rolling

I'm curious to see what they do at the trade deadline because do they want to try to like get in the National League Wild Card hunt to me it seems like no like this is a this is a kind of they're still in a rebuild mode and Bendix is going to try to get rid of some of these pieces.

I don't think Stowers get stelt. Sandy will see what happens with him. But yeah, they've been playing good ball. You mentioned Auerberto Hernandez. Like, I've been reading some Marlins blogs, believe it or not, believe that he should be moved. I'll give that a shout. I was just reading it not too long ago before the show started.

Marlins blog show. Fish on first. Shout out them. They're saying, got me. That got me. It's a good name. It's a good name.

They're saying, hey, maybe we need to put him at first base. It's been a black hole for us offensively, put him at first base. He's been deaching, playing some corner outfield. They have some players there, man. They have been fun to watch. A lot of comfort behind victories for them. And then, yeah, I mean, for Milwaukee, it's one series.

Like, they're absolutely rolling as well. I'll tell you, you know, Rob asks us, you know, any clips you guys want to show during the show. I'll tell you one that I wasn't it. I didn't want to watch. Pat Murphy holding back tears. talking about Blake Perkins who hits the walkoff. So I just don't have the stomach for that right now. Little Poppy's not stable enough that I don't think I can watch that.

He's been holding back those tears for 50 years. When's the last time he cried? I can't. Bob, don't show me this. If he's really about to cry, I'm going to cry. Marlins, 20 and 9 in their last 20. game. I know, dude, it's a joke. Hey, you trade a couple relievers,

but you let the main ingredients continue to go. Called Blake Perkins, the ultimate team player. I'm not going to do it. Since June 22nd, Miami position players are tied for 10th highest, weighted runs grade plus at 105, their ninth in F4. The starter's 3-8 ERA is the eighth lowest over that stretch, and relievers have a 202.

It leads the majors. They're playing fantastic baseball. They're all locked in. They're passing the baton. Trev, again, this is a fan base that Roe, talk much and Yankees. Or excuse me, I blew it. There's Perkins' walk off. Did you know, the Mets have won seven straight?

You mentioned where they were in the standings. They're a game and a half up on the Phillies now. Bullpen, how about zero earned runs in 11 innings? That's a good season. series. I mentioned Maricio, the kid. I thought about giving him an award, his four-hit day. Soto, casually with 25 homers to the opposite field there in San Francisco, which isn't easy. And Gregory Soto, their new trade piece, he throws a perfect seventh inning. So the Mets, who it felt like they went through some rocky times, the pitching, it felt like was having a

squeaky wheel moment. That ship has righted and they are winning ball games again. Yeah, I mean, they're getting guys back, Manaya, saying Peterson's been great. And, you know, even though offensively, Lindor and Alonzo haven't been great, like, they've had guys come back. You mentioned Alvarez, Beatty having an ice little run here, Ronnie Maricio. So, like, they're another team that has the depth and they've had the draw from it this year. They are, they're kind of like a fascinating. Hold on one second. Let me read something.

I was just had it up. Nimmo has been really, really, really good for them. Anyways, they're kind of a fascinating team at the deadline. As they're getting some of this pitching back, I wonder what they end up doing. I think they're going to look for something in center field, and there are a lot of center fielers that are available, even a guy like down in Miami, Dane Myers.

I have Harrison Bader going to the Phillies. Can he go back to the Mets? He was just there last year. Like, is that an answer for them against left-handed pitching? He's, I think he's been okay against left-handed pitching, but he's kind of been hot lately. Do they make a big splash and go for Luis Robert, which is that a big splash anymore?

I don't think it is. Could be, could not be, you know? I don't think it is anymore. I'd like to see them go out and do that. That'd be, that'd be fun. And it seems like if you're Steve Cohen, you've made such a huge investment into this team, like, what's another?

10 to 15 mil at the deadline. Pocket change. Yeah, I'm super interested to see because how do they value their young major league ready guys between Acuna, between Beatty, between Maricio, between Vientos, like, those are super appealing at the trade deadline because the team who gets them puts them right in the lineup the next day

and they're like, hey, this is one of our future pieces we just got. I know you guys didn't like that we traded this guy away, but we got one of them. And for Mets fans, I don't think they super care right now. Got their lefty and Soto. That's huge. He pitched a perfect seventh inning. I don't know if you said that already.

Sorry. Oh, the Giants on the Giants side. I thought Matt Chapman had such an interesting quote. You're saying like, there's no signs of us getting out of this. Like, Buster Posey's made it clear. You make the trade for Devers. Like, we're going to get better at the deadline and keep, making a run at this, you know, the NOS and the NL playoff picture.

If your guy says that in the media, like, you kind of got, like, you got to do it. Like, that must mean he's heard that or has talked about it. Or is he just saying, like, fuck it, I'm just going to put this out there and see what happens. Like, we're not going away. I'm not trying to waste a summer. We just trade it for Devers. Right. Like, let's go.

Adomis and Chapman was cool when they were hugging at home plate after Chapman's second Homer, but not as cool when they blow the lead. And yeah, man, Devers, I don't know, I had a, we're talking baseball drama. He was the original drama this year. Devers hit a ball that they were saying on Sunday night probably would have been a Homer, if not a double at Fenway, that in San Francisco wasn't out. There was one percent of me that was like, did the Red Sox pull the trigger just because this is one of the ballparks that would also hurt Devers' stats going forward?

There was 1%. It was 1%. It was not an easy place to hit, that's for sure. Sure isn't. Fenway is. Trev, there's one team that I think deserves to be talked about. I'm talking about them with my award, so maybe we just... Is that the Reds?

The Cincinnati Reds. You're getting an award there? I have my standout for them. Can I give a little on the bullpen? please okay uh they've been incredible as of late as they sweep the freaking uh tampa bay raise uh holding them to five runs in the three game set taylor rogers um go is going into sunday uh zero earned runs in his last 10 appearances scott barlow who did you know shout out marshal ploof coached him in high school oh uh zero earned runs over

his last nine outings, again going on Sunday. And then Emilio Pagan has been unreal. Unreal. I love that that blows your mind. It does blow my mind. I mean, he was with the twins. I used to get a text from Marty Fish every time he came in the game saying, like, what are we doing? Send me some screenshots from that chat.

I should do it. Marty doesn't care. He knows Jiu-Jitsu and shit. 0.98 ERA over his last 19 outings. Ellie's been red hot. There's a lot. we know the starting pitching can go there's a lot to really like about this red team red team and what did i say about this team before this season on their uh t p p i said terry francona is not

coming out of retirement for some bullshit ass roster and finally they look like what they should look like one game out of the wild card uh playing really good at home recently six games up. You know, they win that final game. Their two runs they score are balls that don't leave the infield. Sometimes when things are going well in baseball. Put the ball and play, people. They do that.

Let's go to standout performances. It's time for performances. This guy stood out for Trev. Standout performances are brought to you by Seek. The MLB Playoff Chases on. Wow. You know, we're locked on the deadline. That's what comes next, people.

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Code Talking 2025 is going to save you 10% off your next set of tickets at Seatgeek. Talking 2025. Thank you, Seatgeek. Trev, I'm going to cut you off. because I'm going to keep the ball rolling on the Cincinnati trade because I want to talk some Ellie de la Cruz because he has a four-hit day at the office on Friday night. What was interesting to me when I was getting into Ellie's numbers,

he hasn't been homering, which, okay, that's fine. He's one of the fastest guys in baseball. But it's a really hard sport to be good at nowadays if you're not homering, like to have the slug or the on. base or whatever. That hasn't really mattered at all for Ellie De La Cruz, who in his last 27 games, or excuse me, yeah, 27 games is homerless, but he's got a 314 batting average, a 402 on base,

an 804 OPS with seven steals and zero caught stealing. So, you know, there's a couple different ways you could spin that. You could say, you know, okay, he's going to, he's about to, find his homer swing and go nuts. I would probably bet on that. Or it's like, oh, damn, he's got a hot streak, but he's not homering. I could see how he could chop that up. The Cincinnati Reds are winning baseball games,

and I do this speech probably once a month with Ellie De La Cruz. I just love, when you look at his baseball reference, everything is on a linear progression of just being a little bit better. The last three years, I will read off. you know, 98 games, his rookie year, last year, 160. This year he's played 105. Batting average. He went from 235 to 259. This year, 285. 300 on base. 339 on base. 365. The slugging is the same. The OPS is the same. He's the guy. And I think sometimes we get a little blinded, Because we're familiar with Ellie now.

Like, we know, we know Ellie. We've seen him. He stands out a little bit, too, for the way his playing style and who he is. He's 23 years old. Yes. But he's the guy on that team. Like, Trev, I know the pitching is kind of what's made them a very good team, especially recently.

Like, whoever's getting the pill for them and the bullpen like you just talked about. In their lineup, depending if they add, you know, they've been in on the Ellie De La Cruz. or excuse me, the Eugenio Suarez return rumors. Ellie's got to be the guy for them. And in a way he is, but I think we all know there's like more in there. The fact he hasn't been homering to me is pretty wild while still contributing a lot to the team.

So with the red standing out, Ellie always stands out in a way. And I'm very interested to just see what the next step is for him. I think that's why he's such a good player doesn't have to hit home runs to have this type of streak. He's got all the tools in the bag. And you're right. Like there is an element to me that's like, yeah, he'll eventually, he'll probably hit 40 homers one day. That's what it seems like to me.

K percentage up or down. You mentioned the linear, you guys up. Where's it going? Give me the walk percentage and the K percentage right now. Okay. I'm going to have to do some quick math in my head on it. What's the percentages? That's on baseball reference.

Oh, yeah. I normally don't scroll down there. Walk percentage is up and strikeout percentage. percentage is down, dude. Boom. Simple game. Don't you level the number support your argument?

Yes. Yes. That to me, that's probably the most telling aspect of all of this because that just means you mentioned he's 23 years old. More pitches you see at the big level, the good guys that have these careers like Ellie's going to have, they start walking more and striking out less. And then kind of like at the end of the career,

it kind of changes, but like in this prime time, like, that's it, that's what should happen. Well, and Trev, the crazy thing is, again, I know it's redundant. It's 23. This is, this is when a lot of top prospects get called up. Oh, we're calling up our top guy. He's 23 years old. This guy's going to be a stud. Ellie's at it and he's getting better every time.

And I, speaking of getting better, remember that when I get to my final award. That's how you keep the people listening. Oh, gosh. I got one thing to look up Okay I think so I think it does Ah fuck

I'm going with CJ Abrams Oh He went two for three with a homer He had three swipes He was going to hit for the pitch Twice in this game on Sunday His year Has been phenomenal

It's finally kind of like Offense is all kind of coming into play 340 OBP 475 slug for the 815 OPS 131 OPS Plus on the year. He just got to 100 hits on the year.

14 homers. He's got 23 bags now. I was going. I was like, please let that coincide with a defensive upgrade. It has not. Ellie's kind of there too.

I was just going to ask, hey, Reds fans, let me know how Ellie's looked because the last time I saw him, he looked bad. I guess Nat's fans, let us know how CJ's looking. Against my freaking twins.

Negative seven. out's above average. He's in a third percentile. So the narrative continues with the defense. I don't know what that means. Can you move him to second base or something? Like is a position change in the cards? Like, is that what we need?

The offense is there. You can't have that at shortstop. Right. You can't. Not if you want to be, and you know this more than anyone with your game. Up the middle needs to be absolutely solid. So I don't know if like second base is viable.

If this guy is, let's throw him in the outfield. It seems like that would work. Don't know if that's true. He seems like one of the guys he can go in the outfield and ball out. He's got the tools. Right? I'd rather. Sprintz up there.

Like he can run. I'd rather try third or second before. Once you go to the outfield, it's jover. That's fine. Right. He's not that young. anymore, is he? He's 24. Probably 24 years old.

These guys have been around forever. I know. It's crazy, right? So, yeah, I don't know. If that needs to happen, position change, let me, I guess Nat's fans, I don't know if they've talked about that, but they probably should. Because as this guy is starting to go offensively, and he's also on a linear progression there. A 712, 747, now 815 OPS for him, you know, as you're finding a guy a stick

and you got the young core there, you got to figure it out defensively. I agree. Trev, chase Midroth, snubbed your guy. I almost went there. The numbers overall in the season,

not great, 88 OPS Plus. I was hoping, give me something over 100, I'll talk about you. Edgar Carroll next year? Need one of these. If you get your OPS plus to over 100, I will,

buy you a ball of the one. Oh, shoot. That's, I think that's an easier task. Or if you like the other stuff. Oh. I'll get you that too. Uh-oh.

Edgar Caro catcher ranking coming up next year for hit day. You ball player are my favorite. Trev, there's a lot of dudes that could have got love. A chunk of them ended up on Enfuego. Dirt nasty's on fuego. That means I'm on fire, baby. Like wake up. We're going to start out with a series.

Tyler O'Neill mentioned your doppelganger. Harrison Bayer did not want to make fun of his clothes. That's fine. Me and Harry are actually, we're good now. Oh, you built something. He respects me. He figured out you weren't just a media guy. You played in the show.

I'll tell you why. Gosh, people hate this. Twice now, I've gone up to him and said, hey, man, that's a really nice play. And then he kind of looked at me and I was like, because this happens. Like he threw a runner out in the Dodgers series And it took a really bad hop on him

Yeah man like you came in and charged I said that took a nasty hop on you get good transfer there He's like he did you notice that You elevated the conversation look at that I'm a I'm a ball guy right dude like come on Okay and that was in flago thanks truck Tyler O'Neill 5 for 9 a double three homers in the series six runs driven

Mikel Garcia probably not talked about enough uh this year Right year. Five for 10, two triples, two hummers, four runs driven in. He's batting 335 on non-fastball. Jake, that's best in Major League Baseball. He's batting 262 on pitches out of the zone this season. Jake, that's second best in the American League. I don't know if you want to be on that list.

Like, I guess if you're going to be on that list, you better be second or first. Yeah, you better be up there. He's batting, this is what I like a lot. He's batting 257 with two strikes this year. That's second best in the American League. I like that one. Shea Langerlyers. You mentioned him as like an afterthought with the A's offense.

What's going on there? Has it been mentioned that Nick Kurtz is going to win the AOL rookie of the year over Jacob Wilson when that was like a lock not too long ago? Mentioned. Mentioned. Six for 16 for Lange Lear's three homers, five runs driven in. He's homered in three straight games for the first time in his career. T.J. Friedel, four for 10.

A homer three runs driven in four walks for the one. That's not that great. Four for ten in a series? Dahl, out on that. Here's a good one. Braves fans, you've had nothing to cheer for this year. Maybe a couple of Ron de Cunia plays here and there and Spencer Strider coming back, I guess.

But Michael Harris, the second, 11 for 23, two doubles, two triples, two homers in the week. He's hit safely in 11 of his last 12 games. He's one of two batters to accumulate one plus F-Worse in Seattle Star Break. The other one is Nick Kamakertz. Wilson Contreras, didn't like getting hit, but he likes getting hits.

10 for 24, 5 doubles, two homers, six runs driven in on the week, and then Boba Shett, our guy, still one of my favorite swings in all the baseball, 12 for 32, five doubles a homer, 10 runs driven in. On Sunday, went 5 for 5. We mentioned that earlier's fourth career, five-hit game. That's insane.

This is first one since 2023. He's got a 19 game on base streak. Julio Rodriguez, starting to go. That's got to be real nice. for Mariners fans. Nine for 30, four homers.

They're all solo shots. Talking about Angel Stadium. Four, I mean, this is, okay. Julio owns Angel Stadium. Forty for 112. It's a 357 average. And then Mike Trout had all his thousandth, his 1,000-first RBI against the Mariners,

because, of course. That's good for Julio. Pitchers who shoved. Our guy, Eric Lauer. Eight plus innings pitch for the second time in his career and first time since 2018. He's not allowed more than three-earned runs and 16 outings this season for the Blue Jays. 69 innings pitch. Nice. 261 ERA and 0.93 whip.

If you're under a one whip, you got me. Zevi Matthews, the twins needed a start to get back into things and they got it from him. Six innings pitch, zero earned runs. It's his first career outing allowing zero earned runs. It's 15 for him, if we're counting. He's allowed two hits or fewer for the first time in his career. Nice start by him. He's got a future.

Kate Horton for the Cubs, six and a third innings pitch, zero earned runs. He's made four starts. He has four starts of five or more innings pitch and scoreless since June 1st. That's tie with Paul Skeen's, Terrick Scouble, and Matthew Boyd for the most in Major League Baseball. It's a nice list to be on for Gargai, Kate Horton. J.T. Ginn. for the north no west sacramento a excuse me not north

west sacramento a's he goes six innings pitch zero earned runs uh it's the first time in his career that he's done that's his longest outings since 2025 and the last guy on inflago brady singer unsung hero of the Cincinnati reds doesn't get a lot of love because of the other guys on that team seven in a third innings pitched one earned run It's his first outing of that regard since September 10th, 2020. So it's been a long time for him. And that's Susan Fuego, and that's the pitchers who shove.

Jake, now it's your turn, Pop. Well done. Brady Singer. Have a second half, dude. Be one of those guys this year. Who's struggling, Bob? Amen. I mentioned you were going to hear about this guy later.

Zach McKinstree. Two for 28. That's an 0.6. since the All-Star break. That is the lowest in Major League Baseball. We hate that. J.P. Crawford, four for 43. Swing rate of 76% with two strikes.

That's the highest in baseball. Controls the zone. I don't know what that's about, JP. Our guy, Cam Smith, the kid who broke out, has now taken a little step back here. He's four for 38. Sheesh. Tough stretch. Gavin Sheets.

San Diego. Cheats. Four for 35. Swing rate of 10% on the first pitch. That's the lowest in baseball. Hasn't homered since July 9th. All right. Let's figure that out.

And then how about this? The sport comes for everyone. James Wood. Four for 35. That's a 114 batting average. His 18 strikeouts are the most in baseball. baseball since the break. So we tell the fellas this to get them off the struggle bus.

Unfortunately, this is our low point. But you got to go down to come up. The I.L. Hassan Kim, who already spent a lot of time on the aisle this year, lower back strain TBD. You mentioned Marcelo Meyer for the Red Sox. It's a right wrist sprain. Always tricky with baseball. So let's see what goes on there.

Landon Roop for the Giants, right elbow. They're hoping it's a minimum stint. Brandon Walter for Houston, a left elbow. They're waiting to hear on that. We talked about all the injuries there. Don't be surprised if they get in the mix. Jorge Soler with some lower backs of, this was the toughest one.

Chris Taylor fractured his left hand on a hit by pitch. Fractures it again, making a catch that he's out for another month with that. Chris Bubich left rotator cuff, his beautiful season, six to eight weeks. Let's see what goes on there. I mentioned Jack Cags his hammy. Oh, that's right. Aaron Judge, that whole drama, right flexor strain. They're hoping it can be the minimum, but he might come back and not be able to play the field,

which that means Giancarlo. Always something in Yankee land these days. That's fun. And then my king, Alejandro Kirk, concussion. So TBD on that. Now, coming back from the aisle, let's pick it up. Yes. Tyro Estrada, the Young Prince, absolutely.

Your guy, Midnight Johnny. Johnny DeLuca is back for the raise. Hunter Harvey and the Kansas City pick. Young Thick Austin Riley for Atlanta. Sal Freelix. Carrie Carpenter for Detroit. Jock Peterson in Texas. And how about Blake Trinon?

You will see him come October. those guys are back let's start everyone's week the right way boom who you got coach you and Marcelo Meyer with the same injury you had that in college though the real oh oh

be better for a forearm I like it's all right dude stuff dude stuff um my award goes to well I'm trying to think of a good name for it my award is the if you can do it there you can do it anywhere oh and my word goes to sedane raffaella

we'll first start out talking about his offense which has just been you know so much better this year and he's racked up a ton of war because of it he's an elite defense defensive player we've seen it uh this year 762 ops 109 ops plus that is after a year where he hit 664 and had an 84 OPS plus. He's running the bases better this year as well. 14 swipes to three caught stealings last year. He had 19 swipes on the year, but he also had 10 cot stealing. So he's getting more efficient on the base pass.

He's hitting better. A large portion of why his numbers are up this year is because what he's been doing on the fastball. Last year he had 224 against it for a negative 4 run value. This year he's seeing 303. slugging 584 against four scene fastballs for a positive five run value.

That is a huge jump. And so like he's just, he's on time for the heater because he actually hit sliders well last year. He's hitting sliders again well this year, but you have to be on time for the heater or, you know, you're going to have a pedestrian offensive year like he did in 2024.

So that's up, base running efficiency up. What I love about this guy, is he finally got settled into a position. Center field this year. Last year, here's his game logs. 10 games at second base, four starts. 82 games at shortstop, 71 starts.

Four at third base, 87 in center field, and one in right field. So all over the freaking place. And not just like up the middle, playing some corners as well. Obviously in a pinch, different games, stuff like that. But the fact that he played them is still very impressive. And you know, he had some really nice, he had a nice year last year defensively as well. It's different this year.

He's turned into a platinum glove nominee. But I think it's because 96 games, 91 starts in center field. You're going to see him throw at Will Smith right here. Just a great caram off the wall, perfect throw, got him. We've seen him go to his right, to his left, behind him. Like, he goes and absolutely fucking gets it out there in center field. and the Red Sox have been good because of it. But now, as you mentioned, you and Marcel O'Meyer with the same wrist injury,

he's being forced to go back and play second base. And what did he do in the series against the Dodgers? Just turned a freaking double play on a line drive to thwart a rally. Here it is. Teosker up to bat, Hassan Kim on second base. Dives initially called safe. You're going to see in the replay right here. He out.

ends the inning right there in the top of the eighth. That Will Smith one, by the way, was in the top of the seventh with two outs. This guy, by the way, love number three, him wearing number three. Is that a Pokey Reese? Did Pokey Reese wear number three for the Red Sox? In my head, yes.

Need to check that out. The fact that he's able to go and be in center field and then come back down, do we get a passing bomb? Whoa. Dalton just dropped it on. on us. It's not really a trade. It's not a trade, excuse me. Bryce Harper stood nose to nose with Major League Commissioner Rob Manfred during a meeting last week and told him to get the F out of our

clubhouse if you wanted to start talk about a salary cap. That's not good for us, people. Anyways, Raphaelah, I don't know, like I just want to give him credit for he's establishing himself at the Bigley level for a playoff team becomes a platinum glove center fielder essentially. He hasn't won it, but I think he's in the running for it. And then just goes back to second base and has an immediate impact. He's like, I don't care, I'll play anywhere. That is not what happened all year in Boston. As we remember, the Raphael Devers

saga. He's got 13 outs above average. That is 99th percentile. He's got 88th percentile. He's got 88th percentile. you 96 percentile arm strength. He's got a 90th percentile sprint speed. The offense is coming. Like, we're beginning to see a breakout in Sedane Raphael. And they have a ton of guys. Like, this is why I'm so high on the Red Sox. They have a really nice young core there that they all seem like they're going to be dudes. So shout out Raphael. I thought it was funny, the juxtaposition of Raphael Devers and then him. I know it's different. One guy's.

much more established, but Raphael is quickly establishing himself, so he gets my work. Well, and part of the reason he's establishing himself is his versatility. And yeah, man, it's that that double play at second. Cora's reaction to it was awesome. Just like, almost you could see the player in Cora being like, this guy, man. Like I put him out at second base when I could keep him at center field and he probably runs away with the gold glove this year. Like, dude, Cora, who's had a weird, year, like emotion-wise or some of his interviews, people have been wondering what's going on.

That's the Cora, like, I think people fell for, like, giving love to his guy. Like, you dog, going a second base, giving that effort. Getting Heiss on Kim, who it's a bang, bang play. Like, not a lot of people would be fast enough or athletic enough to get him, but this guy was, because he's probably one of the most athletic guys in the sport right now. Like 510 listed 165 to be able to play center field and shortstop Like there's that list is very thin Especially playing them at a high level

So yeah he's um And with where his bat has gotten to that guy That guy is a problem It's listed as I mean how many people do you see with 2.2 O war And 2.1 D war I like that a lot That's um that's a balanced ball player baby, a ball player's ball player.

Cora's full quote, it sucks because he's the best defensive center feeler in the big leagues, but right now we need in the play second more than we actually wanted to. He's willing to do it. He's all about winning. A little zing right there. A little backhand, huh? 17 defensive run saves.

So whether you like that or outs above average, he's crushing it. My final award is brought to us by the Draft King Sportsbook. People head over to draft. The Draft Kings, a summer night. Whether you're hanging out with the crew, you're by yourself, fire off a bet. See how it feels with Draft King's Sportsbook.

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Oh, my God, Treve. Blue Oyster Colt. Correct. The famous Saturday Night Life skit. Now, need more cowbell. All Kansas Live one time. They're great.

I could see that. Don't fear the Reaper. I'm not referencing the band or the song, really. I'm talking death. You know, it's a tough way to live. Just fearing death every day. You've got to live, people. There is a new best left-on-left hitter in baseball.

guy that used to not be great against lefties. We talked about player development before when we were talking about the linear progression or however you want to try to be good and stay good at this sport. Kyle Schwerber crushed the Yanks this weekend. He made Yankee Stadium look comical for his lefty swing. His home run, to get him his 1,000th hit, 319 career home runs.

his 33rd career multi-homer game. The violence he swings that bat with is amazing. And, like, if they were making Yankee Stadium and Kyle Schwaber was a Boston Red Sock, I think they would get rid of the short porch because, like, he makes it look too easy. Kyle Schwerber, how he became the best lefty in baseball, he said, and he heard it about Randy Johnson,

and they were wondering, he doesn't know where it was from, if it was from like John Cruck or someone within the Phillies, but he said, when facing a lefty as a lefty, you have to be prepared to face death. That's what Kyle Schwaber said. And now Kyle Schwaber has become the best lefty

at hitting lefties, in all of baseball. His splits, he is 273-399 on base, a 1.032 against left-handed pitching. So he's a 908 OPS against right. He's a 1.032. And he doesn't fear the Reaper anymore, man. He goes up there. He's got the pan handle batting helmet, so it's covering the chin.

And he's just ready for death. and he's been providing that to now other pitchers. So I don't know if that's advice to other lefties. I don't really know what to do with that, but I know he got his 1,000-fit. He's got 320 homers. He looks fantastic. I know I've said this a couple episodes.

I sent a couple pictures to the group chat. A little baby cub. Kyle Schwerber looked like he was heading to thick-boy territory, like Matt Stairs Club. Dude, he looks like a linebacker now. Like Schwartz looks like he played left field at the stadium the other day, which is one of the bigger left fields. And I know it's been a topic of conversation

because he has 36 homers and he's about to be a free agent. But I was seeing those numbers, Kyle Schwab reverse lefties. Originally when Chris Sale got traded to the Braves, we thought like, oh, it was to neutralize the Phillies lefties. Nothing neutralizes this. guy right now. He's a one of one guy. And yeah, every time you watch him, it feels like he impresses. When did that turn around for him? That's a great picture. It's a crazy pick.

Oh, my God. What year did it turn? Did he have really bad splits early on? I'm looking right now. So when he was a cubby. Even in 2022, right, right, 2022 or 2023? 2023, 849 OPS against Ritey's, 758 against Lilletys. He had 188. Be also at 201 against right-handers that year. Right. And then last year, he had a higher OPS against Lepties as well. Like, it's been turning around for him.

And so maybe he decided to face death. 2021, 900 OPS versus Ritey's, 687 versus LFTYs. So like. He doesn't wear protective gear either. In my head, I don't even think he wears a shin guard. I think it's, I don't think he wears. as anything. Oh, he...

Are you wrong about that? He might have elbow stuff. When they were talking about that quote on the broadcast, I did know, he has the frying pan batting helmet, which if... Everybody has that. I know. Most people, but, you know... I hate that thing.

Yeah, so he's got a little elbow and he's got... He does have an elbow? Yeah. Couldn't see that right there. Okay. No shin, though. It's just such a violent, lefty swing. He's crushing fastballs like Raphaelah.

He's got a 19 run value against them, hitting 291. He's slugging 709 against the four-seeing fastball year. By far his best year against four-seemers. Oh, and Rob, do you have the catch in left field too? Schwerber makes a nice play in Yankee Stadium left field. Goes back on it. He's got it. He's got it.

A little fall in the butt. Oh, God. And he comes up just cackling like a hyena. And, hey, you know, kind of the theme of the awards here are good ball players willing to do whatever for the team. Like, remember when Schwabber was playing first base for the socks, just trying like hell, even though it wasn't his skill set? I mean, one of the most, if they did a beloved players in baseball survey by the players, he's top five, top 10, easy?

Yeah, he's awesome. easy um hey it might become part of wednesday's episode with bryce harper and rob manfred in each other's faces just as me and rob you're getting tight i gotta i don't know who's am i on here i know you might have to be the meet the middleman there um and if there's a big trade people uh we're we're on call so uh worst case we'll see you wednesday don't be surprised if we see you earlier We love you. Baseball's here. Out from Wall fan.

Jake sucks. Thought I heard the music earlier. Griffith is so mad at me. A busy day. Football's starting back up. We got late. We got chunky. Who cares? We just talk ball. Pop. That's the magic of this show. Wrist injury, huh?