Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - The Biggest Fear for Your Team | 878

Episode Date: August 21, 2024

Use code TALKIN10 for 10% off tickets on SeatGeek. https://seatgeek.onelink.me/RrnK/TALKIN10*Up to $25 offStart your free online visit today at https://Hims.com/talkin for your personalized ED treatment options.Go to http://shadyrays.com and use code TALKIN for 50% off 2 or more pairs of polarized sunglasses.This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at https://betterhelp.com/TALKINBASEBALL  and get on your way to being your best self.++++++Timestamps:0:00 Plouffe Yucking Ball in San Diego7:15 LA Dodgers Failing to Show Up in the Playoffs12:55 Reds Underperforming22:50 Padres Fans are Scared for Tatis to Return32:35 Do Baltimore Orioles Have Enough Pitching?39:00 Are the Giants Futureless?44:45 Who is the Phillies 4th Starter?48:25 Twins Pitching, Health, and Consistency54:55 Toronto Blue Jays are Living Their Nightmare, Never Should Have Let Semien Go58:55 Trevor Plouffe's Braves Dream Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices 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 episode 666 again. We're talking nightmares. We're talking fears. We want to know what you're scared about. Let's talk about it. Hello and welcome to Talking Baseball. Present you by Seeky. Code Talking 10. Jake Story Ellie, New York City.

BPD producing his buns off, New York City. And in beautiful. Slam Diego. Fernando. It's Trevor Plouf from the hotel room And the Capua suite Overlooking the water Trev, how are you?

I do have a great view of the water here And I was a little scary Did I buffer out on the internet? Full freeze right at the start of the intro. It would have been a good time to just restarted. Okay, okay, okay. Yes, I'm in San Diego having a great time. I told you I wanted to start off with a little story

Just quickly before we start yucking some ball, getting to some voicemails. A couple of my guys came down from L.A., my neighbors. You know Kyle and Tyson. Yeah. Well, they came down to support. So after Monday's game, we kind of went out, started to peruse the town.

He went out of a drink somewhere. It ended up back across the street from the hotel because there's a bar where they filmed a lot of the original top gun. Oh, yeah, I've been there. That's the, that's... You've been there? Yeah, the win. Winter Meetings was like right across the street.

Yeah. No idea it existed. So we end up going in there. I'm like, this is awesome. You know what I mean. You love Top Gun. Obviously, I got Top Gun Hat. Shout out that bar.

Man, is there anything better than a good, bad buy? I got Top Gun Hat. It's not a good buy, but it's not a bad buy. It's a great buy. Actually, the only question is it like, is it like stolen valor a little bit? I'm not into that whatsoever. So I decided it's going to eat my barbecue hat. When I'm, when I got the wood fired up,

I'm going to be wearing that tug gun hat. Anyways, I'm sitting there. The boys are bopping. We're having a few crevices, Corona extras, obviously. And all of a sudden I hear this voice. I'm like, I know that voice. And who could it be?

Bill Miller, the big old old school umpire sitting there. Oh. I go out to him. I go up to him said, Bill, what's up, man? And then we just start yucking ball. No. Top Gunn. Bill Miller, beers. It was an excellent, excellent evening.

So I had to shout out that bar and also shout out Bill Miller. You know what? We had a great conversation about the game of baseball. That's awesome, man. I, uh, man, at first, uh, I thought you were talking about the old Red Sox, uh, third base batting champ 2003, Bill Miller. Uh, which no shots. No shots. fired. You still got a great Bill Miller, one that's arguably seen more ball.

Although, go look at Bill Miller, the third baseman's baseball reference. Okay, I will. Batting title, career 291, 373 on base. I think he was a little bit of a pseudo like money ball guy. Like, no, this is. Don't you spell it like Mueller? Mueller, yes. Yeah, and he was on the famous 04 Red Sox.

that broke the curse, that 2003 season. My God. Man, you, um, Bill Miller at the top gun bar. Just yucking. And, man, that, in a way, that's my biggest nightmare. Jealousy just doesn't look good on me. And we ask the people, it's August 21st. We've got a little over a month of regular season baseball.

I think the last day of the regular season is September 28. So we are, we're a week away from a month away. How do people label that? Six weeks? Five weeks. I've never been good with the weak stuff. No, you're not. 52 weeks in a year.

Well, Jimmy's a big, a month is four weeks guy, and I'm a big, a month is six weeks guy. And I think the answer is just five. Of those two, it's just closer. The answer's just five. It's like four and a half It's four and a half Treve we ask the people

We are a show of the people We are men of the people We've got a really fun one next Wednesday A little teaser for those people That are in our JM baseball world I will tease Family Feud concept Myself and Treve

We'll see if the we got I think the We Got Ice Boys Might be in bowl It's going to be a lot of fun. Today, we put out a tweet asking for voicemails, asking for teams biggest nightmares. Nightmares and Fears. That's our, is that a Kid Cuddy album?

Or is that our album, I forget. Fears and Nightmares is Meek Mill, I think. Dreams and Nightmares. Okay. Oh, I like that song. That's the one where everyone gets all hyped up. Oh, yeah. F Drake, man.

So we had a bunch of teams called Intrev. The San Diego one, and you're there right now, I think, is going to get you a little hot to trot, and I'm excited of that. And before we get into the first one, speaking of hot to trot, how about some hymns? Your sex life is important people. It's something, it's natural. It's like inside of us. We've been doing it for years. Like, before we spoke, right?

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Prescriptions require an online consultation with a healthcare provider who will determine if appropriate restrictions apply. See website for details and important safety information. Subscription required prices vary based on product and subscription plan. There's a link in the description. Let's see where the people in BBD have led us first. Thanks, Henry. I'm a Dodgers fan.

calling in and my biggest fear is that this team will once again fail to show up. No matter how healthy the roster may be when we get to October with Glashdown and Yamamoto, the whole bullpen back, our entire roster, our entire lineup. No matter how healthy we are, we will fail in October. I have no doubt about it. I just don't see it happening, thanks. Trev, we know some Dodger fans. You know a lot of Dodger fans.

I have our one guy, JD, shout out Jack Davis, who stands out in my head. and they are, they're an interesting group, right? Like, they have that almost old school Yankees' demand of excellence. Like World Series or bust for the past, I mean, closer to a decade than not a decade now. And I don't know, I guess the interesting tone in that caller's voice for me was not even, like, scared of health, almost like a wo-as-me, health doesn't matter. I guess on my end, I'm very much like, my God,

are Glass now in Yamamoto going to be in the rotation? Because if they're not, then I see Dodgers fans very much woes me and like how did this happen? You know, this is the thing is every single team except for one goes home disappointed. Like it's just a numbers thing, a one in, I mean, it's better than a one in 30 chance, obviously, especially when you get to the playoffs. but like they've essentially assembled as good of a roster as you can assemble.

Now the health permitting, you know, we'll see if they get those guys back. I would love to see Yamamoto pitch in the playoffs. Like for that guy to come over to the States, miss an entire season, and then all of a sudden bang your back in the playoffs with the expectations that you're talking about will be something. But I just think it's the game of baseball. And I'm kind of hate being the guy that's like, oh, the playoffs are a crap. because I don't necessarily believe that either. I think there are teams that understand what the playoffs entails

and what you need and they go out and make moves to make sure that they can get through those situations. So I don't think the playoffs is necessarily just a crapshoot. Teams can get hot. There's no doubt about it. But I think if we're all healthy and the Dodgers have a full compliment and Gavin Lux is doing what he's doing, Max Muncie is now back

The roster is seven Hitters Deep They can just crush you Jason Hayward last night Crush the Mariners Soul So like they have a bench They have six or seven starting pitchers Again if everyone is healthy

Yeah And now you got Coppec kind of Breathing fire down there Has you given up a run yet Since he's been over there I don't think so no need No need to get runs Why would you give up runs

If you're Michael Copac Muncie just came back Edmund just came back What I'm saying? So I just think To have that mentality I don't love it Like have some You want your boys to have confidence

When they run out there on the field Let's have some confidence in the boys How about that? Yeah I guess for me From the outside scope of Dodgers land A Wrap up that division Like you know

I think we're sitting at three Yeah no kidding We're sitting at three games today. I guess the toughest part for me for the Dodgers is like they do have a even a five game set. Like everything that they've assembled

Shohei Muki, Freddie, the pitching, everything. Even a five game set is horrifying. That if they end up in a three game set that's just team smell blood around the Dodgers.

And I don't know. I'm interested to see how their next month goes because yeah, I mean, they could be sitting there with, dude, their current rotation is good. Kershaw, Stone, Bueller, Flaherty, Miller? A, your paw prints are all over that thing. They've got an IL rotation, Glassnow, Gonsolin, May Yamamoto.

That I don't know, we've talked about the Astros having basically a whole rotation on the IL. Dodgers have a whole rotation on the IL. I mean, these teams are class for a lot of different reasons. But it's going to be interesting to see who's down there on the back. And my God, dude, they're bench right now. Kike Hayward Kiermeyer, unless you're subbing out Edmund Rojas, Muncie? Like, they are, sheesh.

No, I said, they assembled a great roster, and now the boys have to just go do it. That's the bottom line, man. I was talking to someone yesterday about, you know, next year what their starting rotation is going to look like. You know, you have Yamamoto back, you have Otani back, then you have Glass now signed up. Gavin Stone's been great.

Like, is Bueller, Mueller, Miller, um, Consulin, is there a room for Clayton Kershaw next year? They say he wants to come back again. You have to give him the contract, but like, where's, like, what's the, what's the rotation? You know, I've actually heard some Texas rumors around him. Yeah, me too. Let's get to the next one. Hey, crew, Evan here, big time Reds fan.

I know that over the course of the season, both Chris and Trev in particular, I think, have been hot on the Reds, but my big worry is they're seeming underperformance. I think as the time I'm leaving this voicemail, the Reds are about three games under 500, but if you look at their run differential, they should be closer to seven games over 500. So there's kind of a 10-game swing. And I think what that number tells me is that when the Reds win, they're more likely to win big in some type of blowout game. And when they lose, they're more likely to lose in a close game where they maybe lose by only a couple of runs. And I don't know exactly what to chalk that up to if that's immaturity on the part of a lot of young guys who don't know how to kind of press through these tough, tight games,

or if it's something deeper than that. But it seems to be a bit of a concerning trend, one that I hope turns around in next season. But, yeah, something that certainly has me scratched my head this year. Thanks for listening, guys. Love the pod. Keep up a good work. I'll kick to you first, Trev, on some Reds ball. This is the first thing I always look up.

I'm getting to it right now. Okay. Okay, this is not what I expected, unless let me go here. Not what I expected. Because usually when teams are like, oh, they're underperforming, they're not doing this, and, you know, they should be better. And the run differential, I say, okay, what are they hitting with runs in scoring position? the Reds right now are sixth in all of baseball

and OPS with runners in scoring position. They're 14th in runs though, so I guess that means they're not getting a ton of, I guess opportunities, 25th and on base percentage. I mean, I think you can look there, right? You got to get on base to give yourself opportunities to score runs.

Sitting right in the middle of the pack and runs scored is, I think, going to put you exactly kind of where they're at right now. 61 and 65, I think you can, you can point to a bunch of different things throughout a season. Yeah, you can point to having young guys and, you know, and all that. But in the end, I think that's the biggest thing for me is you got to have opportunities to score runs. Especially when I call the games and I'm like, I have this like, you know,

bird's eye view of the game. You just kind of like have all the notes in front of you, a producer in your ear. You start to realize, like, you just have to give you. And here's baseball analytics for you. you just have to give yourselves opportunities to score runs. Sometimes you're not. Sometimes you will. The more opportunities you put,

the more pressure you put on a team, I mean, that's the game of baseball. That's the offensive game of baseball. So I guess I would start there, Jake, which is kind of an, it's interesting because they do cash in the chips

with runners and scoring position, but it seems like they don't have as many opportunities as the other teams would have. Treve, I don't tap into a lot of scouts or front office. office people, not that I have a ton of connections per se, but, you know, I trust these eyes. These eyes no ball. But I will say someone I trust in the baseball world was talking some Cincinnati Reds.

And they were basically saying, like, the defense is subpar to where it needs to be at an MLB level to compete with some of these teams that are, you know, put an emphasis on that. The Reds don't put an emphasis on that. Like, we've seen Spencer Steer move all around and, you know, hey, where's Jonathan India going today? Like, the Reds don't put an emphasis on defense. I think the other thing, some of their bullpen, like, I think their bullpen grades out pretty good. But I wonder the depth of it. And I would have to compare the these numbers against other teams, and I think the caller alluded to this, but because of some of these numbers, I think the Reds are built to beat up on bad teams, which they have. They have a 36 and 23

record against teams under 500. So they've beat them pretty good. I mean, close to like a top 10 level in baseball. But against teams over 500, the same. Cincinnati Reds, the only teams worse than them, Nats A's White Sox. The Marlins, the Rockies have been better against teams over 500 than the Cincinnati Reds. So I don't know, I guess whatever you, whoever's listening may think is the recipe to beating the better team or whatever the Reds are missing. And I think you could point to defense mostly. I think that's it. But again, that's a little bit of from hearsay,

and I kind of agree with the hearsay. Well, there's minus 30, was a 37 defensive run saved. That's 27th in all the baseball. You could talk about the starting pitching, and I know that Chris Rose, they've had some pretty good starting pitching. Andrew Abbott's been good, 25 games started with a 3-7. Hunter Green's been great.

24 games with a 2.4 games with a 2. He's now on the IL, but he's been, it's been a really, really good season for him. Nicodolo, 20 games started 4-5. Frankie Montas was there. I know they love him and it was sad to see him go. They talk about him very highly in Cincinnati still, but he had 19 games started with a 5. Graham Ashcroft, 15 games started with a 5-24. It's a little bit of everything, right, with the Reds?

they had some massive expectations because of what a month or five weeks of exceptional baseball they got the baseball world in a frenzy and we put big expectations on this team but I think they kind of everything hasn't been as advertised this year in Cincinnati. Yeah, I uh... And hey, maybe it's just dumb and obnoxious.

The Reds are 10 and 21 one-run games, which the nerds will tell you you can't control year-in and year-out. And maybe they're right because Cincinnati, that's the 29th best winning percentage in one-run games. It's Chicago, the White Sox below them, but the two teams above them, and maybe note this, the Astros and the Braves have not been great in one-run games, which I don't know. I almost put that as a feather in like, watch out for those two even more. Because that's just bad luck. Sometimes you can say it's bad luck,

but I think there are things that you can do to get better in those games. You can run the bases better, whether that's being more aggressive or just being better on the base pass. And I think the back end of your bullpen really matters in that situation. So early on, you remember the Astros

were they were blowing some games and it wasn't necessarily like save opportunities. We know the haters been great and save opportunities are bad and non-save opportunities. So when the game is tied or close. They were coughing games up early. I watched the San Diego team right in front of my face.

I've seen their trade acquisitions, bro. Jason Adam and Tanner's got to come in and just been absolutely lights out. So all of a sudden, you know, remember how bad San Diego was in one-run games last year? Now they're running the base is great. And now they have a back end of the bullpen that they can absolutely rely on.

They have, they're five or six deep with dudes there. And I think so you can make those adjust. year in and year out. If you don't have that lights out back in the bullpen, you're not running the bases particularly well. I think that's kind of when you get into those situations we're losing a bunch of those one-running games. Man, Bebs, I don't want to throw off your order,

but that should be a good segue into our San Diego one. And it's brought to you by Shady Ray's. Shady Ray's people. If you're in San Diego, that sun's out there all year long. Oh my God. 365. And anywhere else, the sun does shine.

How? Wow. That kind of feels like a better help read. But Shady Ray's, they're the best in the game. Five stars by 300,000 people. They're a big partner in our warehouse. There's the custom Jimmy and Jake Shades. I've been wearing the Jimbo's. A little bit of a, hello.

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It's 50 plus percent off two plus pairs of premium polarized sunbows, sunglasses, they call them. And before I let Trevor Plouffe talk, always, you know what's nice? You know what? Buy a pair of shades. Find the ones you like. And then maybe buy a second for a friend or significant other.

and then next time you see him, you know, it's a flex? Hey, I got you these sunglasses. Whoa. You just kind of took all the power in that moment. Trev, you raised your hand. I was right about opportunities with runners in scoring position. They've had 938 at bats with runners in scoring position talking about the reds here. They're 26 in baseball.

The teams below them, the Mariners, obviously. The White Sox, the Tigers, and the A's. Yeah. That's a no bueno. Let's hear, Bebs. Hey, guys, Jeremy. Big Padres fan. So I got two things.

Number one, I lived out of baseball fandom dream of mine. I got to watch my Padres commentated by the beautiful, eloquent Trevor Plouf, as they faced the twins last night. That was awesome. Number two, my worry about my Padres is that Tatis is coming back, and it sounds weird, but my recent memory in the past five years or so, years or so, they've played their best ball without Tateef in the lineup. And I don't really know why. He's been around the clubhouse still. He's not like not with the team or anything. But for whatever

reason, it seems like whenever he's in the lineup, they're not clicking like they should. 2023 was a weird year. That was when he came back. 2020 he wasn't there. NLCS. And they've played their best ball this year without him. So I wonder about your guys off on that. Thanks. Trev, BBD let me know beforehand. And he said he heard the first one of those. And he was like, okay, like, all right. So yeah, you don't want Tatis back. All right.

400 voicemails, by the way. 400 voicemails. Shout out. 400? Yes. Shout out to our crop. Our crop. Our supporters.

I don't know. What does that mean? Subscribe. He asked. I do like a corn. Trev, BBD said there was five Padres' voicemails that said the same thing. Just in the sample I got to listen to. I didn't get to all 400.

So, okay. This is, and this is, as a sports nerd, there's kind of a famous Bill Simmons Ewing theory about the Knicks. They were missing Patrick Ewing, and they had one of their best seasons. And it's almost like, does a team become more cohesive because of players missing and then are you getting more out of that team? It's a bizarre thought exercise and I think we're both about to shoot it down,

but it's funny that that's on the Padres mind right now. I mean, it is. It's in just plain like, what am I trying to say here? Like logically, it does not make any sense, right? Like, this guy is one of the best players in baseball when healthy. We've seen him do things on the field that like rarely get done. 80 games played this year 821 OPS

You know He's gonna steal some bags for you He's gonna play You know A great right field for you I don't know what the vibe is With him in the clubhouse I will tell you this

I've been talking to your doppelganger Tyler Wade every single day Yeah He loves chopping it up with me We go way back to beers and AAA together And the first thing he told me about this team was dude, I've never been part of a team like this where everyone is

just really pulling for each other. So it sounds like vibes are at an all-time high. I will throw this out there. Your other doppelgainer freight train David Peralta has been

absolutely, I think he's one dotting it in August and he's playing a nice right field right now and so it's really, I mean, I mean, especially since like the All-Star break, it really, and they have the best record in all baseball since the All-Star break, it really feels like they're not missing Machado, excuse me, Tatis, because they've been getting production.

Like, Tautis elite level production out there and right. I mean, I don't know. I don't really subscribe to that, especially because he has been around and in the clubhouse. I can't really get behind it. I will say, like, again, like, Peralta's done such a fabulous job filling in for him, and maybe that's why Padres fans are feeling that.

Like, okay, like, maybe we don't need him. Like, we're playing our best ball, and some other guys doing a great job, too. But I promise you you want Tautis in your lineup come October. Yeah, it's, I'm glad to shout out my guy, freight train David Peralta, who's got that good, that good old thick going right now? A good what?

Old thick? The good what? Yeah. he has been balling for them. Yeah, I think you just got to, I think there's a lot of ebbs and flows in a baseball season and use it as a good thing. Like when Tatis comes back, you know,

and by the way, when Tatis does come back, I'm not sure the exact timeline. I don't know what you've been hearing on the streets of San Diego over there. Do you have anything? I don't. I mean, they're in like an interesting position right now too because Hassan Kim just went on the IL. Oh.

And so they don't want to put Bogarts back at Shortstop. They want to leave them. They're saying sparingly he might go over there. So then it's like, who do you play at Shortstop? Right now it's been Tyler Wade, the last two games. You know, shout out, love my guy. He's got a 60 OPS plus right now. He's got to get the back going a little bit.

So there's no way they bring Tatea back to play Shortstop. No. I mean, is it like this? Does Jake Croninworth gets some run at short? Like, I don't know, really know what the solution is. Do you bring, you don't pick Jackson Merrill out of center field and put him back at shortstop. There are a team full of shortstop with no shortstop right now.

What's up with that? Talk about a nightmare. The nightmare there is a ground ball of short in the ninth. Yeah, man. Here's a, for Padres fans, get Tautis healthy. Again, as I'm searching online, like the updates, not a ton there.

Like Schilt says he's making progress four days ago, but nothing near a timeline that, hey, when Fernando Tautis is ready to go, if everyone's balling out, ease Tatee's in. You know, bat him seventh. Like, don't, you know, don't have to bank on him, and that's nice.

That's probably the way it should be. Or, you know, Tatees might... Badham ninth? No, I don't. I said like seventh or six. Like, you know, don't feel the pressure. Like things are clicking and let Fernando work his way back that when he is Tatease, then put him in that two hole or wherever the hell you want him.

I lot. That's no. I'm out on that. Okay. Put the guy in the two hole right away wherever, you know, at the top of the line, put that guy. See, you're messing with the juju. Because then what happens?

If they're eight and two and then Tatees comes back and then they go two and eight and he's hitting second, everyone points at him. And I know that's what, dude, this guy's making three. $300 million. You're allowed to point at him. Let's go. Perform him, dude. The Phillies have guys batting seventh in their lineup who are all making a 150 mil.

Jackson Merrill bet six or seventh in this lineup. He's the guy they're letting in. Tatis, you don't got to do that, man. But that's, hey, Tatees could come back and they're on a three-game loser, and they'll be begging for him. So let's get him back. Let's get him healthy. But this is one of the fun reasons we did this up because it's funny that that's a

That means times are really good in San Diego right now, by the way. I cannot believe. I didn't even think about that on the broadcast. I'm going to bring it up today. Yes. They are a team full of short stops that doesn't have a shortstop. ProFar came up a shortstop. He's not an option.

It's hilarious. No. Yeah. hilarious. But hey, I mean, before we go on, but seriously, if you watch the Padre's game last night, you're probably going to see a highlight of ProFar with an excellent throw from left field. like a Derek Jeter jump throw in the corner in left field

to throw out Ryan Jeffers at third base. But also Jackson Merrill did the exact same thing on a ball in the gap to get it in quickly. He fielded it, backhanded it like a shortstop, jumped throwed it in. It was hilarious to see that

because the entire time I was thinking like these guys, I mean they're largely, I mean like their entire life, they were infielders. That's just in them. And you could totally notice a difference when there's a guy,

that plays outfield his entire life. Comes up as an outfielder. And then there's a guy that moves to the outfield from the infield. Watch this play. Like that's not an outfielder. Outfielders don't make that throw. How about Machado making a follow-up throw? Look at this.

Yeah, Machado's like, got him out. I watch this. That's an incredible play. That's one of the best plays you're going to see this entire year in baseball. And again, like you're just going to see the subtle differences in how guys field ground balls, guys that are infielers that go to the outfields are so much more confident in their hands. They're not going to go down to a knee to chest up a ball.

That's not what they do, dude. They're going to glove it and throw the dang thing in. This Padres team, bro, pro far came up shortstop. Cronoer shortstop. Machado shortstop, Bogart shortstop, Jackson Merrill shortstop, Tyler, Taylor Wade shortstop. Tatis, Hasson Kim, shortsop, shortstop, shortstop. That's insane.

And then the more irony part, ironic part, Luis Sarai's, D.H. They have the slappy D.H. Well, he came up with the second base, man. That's so funny. Good times to be a Padres fan. Who's next, Bebes? Charles here in Baltimore. You know what?

I'm worried about the Orioles pitching. Sarantham. blown a few big games already. Greyrod might not be here. I just don't know if Burns, Eflin, Fores, and Kramer is going to win us a playoff series. We've got to win now. We've got everyone under team control.

What do you guys think? Orio's going to pull it off, or the pitching going to fight us? Let me know. Trev, your birds. And it seems like this call was either before the update, but Zach Eflin has some shoulder stuff going on that I believe he's going on the I.

So I can dig up some of the updates on this. But I guess Orioles pitching in general, what's your sense? I mean, I wanted them to go for the home run at the trade deadline. They had all the prospect capital in the world. I wanted them to go out and try to get a scoops or get a crochet. Didn't happen. They brought in Eflin. He's been really, really good for them in his four starts.

Four starts with 213. so let's just assume everyone is healthy and we'll just start with the starting pitching I mean Corvin Burns you like it Efflin you like it Rayrod you like it so there you have top three that you love

and then that's before we can talk about Albert Swores who by the way I didn't know was Robert Swarres' brother How have we not? Did you know that? No Is it true? Someone said that last time

I was like are you serious we talk about these guys all the time. Interesting. Wow. Wow. That's awesome. They look completely different, by the way. I don't know if they're different parents or something, but like the body types are a little differently.

They're a little different. So there's a little talking baseball banger for you. I'm sure a lot of people are like, yeah, obviously they're brothers. I don't know how we based that. I've got, derail us for one second. I don't watch a, you know, I just consume. sports. Me and Jess, she's like,

hey, there's a documentary I want to, I want to watch Monday night, no Yankee game. Dude, there's this story. I think you'd love it. Three identical strangers on Hulu. Basically, it was this hot thing in the 70s. This kid shows up, spoiler, spoiler, spoiler.

This kid shows up to college one year. And it's the set, or it's like 1980. Times are good. And everyone, it's his first day on campus, and everyone starts going, Eddie, what's up? Eddie, how you doing? Kids not Eddie. And so, but everyone's just like, oh, Eddie, good to see you, man. Welcome back.

So Eddie's, like, best friend who knew Eddie wasn't coming back to that school comes in and sees the guy and, like, feels like he sees a ghost. And he's like, who the fuck are you? Dude, turns out they find out. They were twins, adopted. same birthday, separated, blah, blah, blah, they reunite. And then there's a couple other plot twist, and I'll let you, you know, the title is three identical strangers. Whoa.

And yeah, there's a couple other moving parts, so I don't want to ruin everything. But you'd also let, I mean, they were three 19-year-old Jewish kind of Italian-looking boys. They got famous in New York City in the 80s. There's some good stuff. around it. There's some weird stuff around it. Maybe go check it out if you're looking to come off your sports. That's where you live. Good and weird. Bringing it back to the sports a little bit.

I talked about injured pitching staffs. The Orioles could come to the table right now. Braddish Eflin means gray rod Tyler Wells. So they've got their five with Felix and Danny Colum in the bullpen. I think their starting pitching is going to be there. I'm very interested to see how the back end of their bullpen lines up. They started using Sir Anthony at the end of the games. I mean, he's finished four games now for them.

Got three saves, took one L. I think he's got the ability to do it. I've seen this guy in person many times. People forget I was a Philly back in the day. Actually, nobody forgets that. No. You left your mark. I mean, I think that's a question.

I think that's a question is, okay, back in the bullpen is always that's the equation when you get to the playoffs. It's who's hot. I mean, we've seen it time and time again. Like, yeah, you've got the guys that you have and you think this is going to be the line. And then all of a sudden, it's not. Because in the postseason, it's just about who can get out.

So I think that for them will probably be, and that'll be Hyde's biggest, you know, managerial decisions would be like, okay, what's the bullpen lane? I think the starting pitch will be fine. If those guys are healthy, if they come back and they're good than you have four or five starters deep right there that I think match up pretty well. So I'm not really worried.

I agree with you. I'm not really worried about them with the starters. I'd like to see what they do at the back end. I, again, really, really wanted them to go for a slam dunk. I had to trade that and they didn't, but Eflin's pitch like that. You can't really expect more from him. Yeah, Eflin was great.

And the report says they're expecting him back after the 10th. 10 days. So whether it's burnt, I mean, you have burns, which that's a difference maker. And then some combination of Eflin or Greyrod or Albert Suarez, like they're going to be able to figure out their first four or five innings decently. And then, yeah, at least they have options on the back end of guys who have pitched in big games. Dirty Craig, Sir Anthony Soto, Canoe, Perez.

I feel like he can be built for it. I feel like his highs are high and his lows are lows You'd say that about a lot of bullpen guys Like, would you be shocked if Yankee or Kano All of a sudden just didn't allow a run in the postseason? No Like that's what happens Somebody's got to step up

Slanging that thing What's uh who else we got, Beaverton? Yeah man, so I'm a San Francisco Giants fan And you know, it's a real shit show of an organization A little bit better than the Yanks I know you guys are Yanks fans I'm talking to a Yanks fan right now I mean, my biggest fear about the Giants is just, I mean, we're bad, man.

We got no future. I mean, we'll let Snell walk. We'll let Chapman walk. We'll hold on the Farhan for no goddamn reason. Good young pitching. I mean, we need to trade for Vlad, but, I mean, it just scares me that this team's run by Farhan's ID. Appreciate you listening. Subscribe to our podcast at Giant Hot Takes.

Yeah, good Giants. Jeez, we're going to sneak that one in. Yeah. add right at the end there. Don't hate it. Hey, work your magic, bro. Trev, our giants, I feel like we've done this conversation with less passion than

Hiante's fans. Hey, they're handling their white socks business right now, but I don't know, we talk about three NOS teams before we get to them normally. Any giants? I think that's kind of the story here, man, is they're looking up right now.

at three teams, and they will be for the foreseeable future. These three teams in front of them are, like, have guys that are absolutely locked in for, at least for sure next year. And in the Dodgers case, a lot of these guys are locked up until when? Freaking 2028. Yeah. The Diamondbacks, same thing. You know, besides having Christian Walker leaving,

like they're pretty much locked in. Santiago Podge is assigned these guys until 2040 for the most part. So I, they got to figure something out, man. Like, it's either, and you can't, and I'm not saying they should do this, but I just want to remind the people, you can't, like, just tank anymore. Like, it doesn't work that way with the draft lottery.

So that's kind of out the window. So now you have, you do, you have some really good pitching that you have control over. So what's the thing that they've kind of been missing? And he mentioned it, like trading for Vlad would surely help this team. But Dave,

they've been just middle of the road, like a mid-team in an upper-class division, basically. And when that's going on, I mean, you're going to have that feeling more often than not, where it's like, we're not there. We're not on the same level as those other teams. And I know Giants fans and the Giants players are not going to like that, but that's the reality of the situation is,

this roster isn't as good as the other roster. Monsters. Yeah, I've said it on previous EPS recently, but they're kind of the only team that's on the outside looking in that you feel like there could be something. Like if they finish off this White Sox sweep tonight with Logan Webb on the bump, that would be four straight wins. And we talked about it. Like, we're coming up on that final part of like, go-er.

be gone. And if they find one more go, it's interesting with that rotation. Robbie Ray with nine punchouts last night. Second half Snell, Logan Webb, Hayden Show Me Your Bird Song. Like, they are Kyle Harrison, my guy. Like, they're the only team that I could see

in a month being like, dude, the goddamn San Francisco Giants put together and 18 and 6, and now they are in the mix. But that NL West is a disaster. I thought the question was more based on the future. Right. Kind of how I was basing my answer. Do I think that the Giants could sneak into the playoffs this year?

Yes, I 100% do. I would love to see that four NLS teams going into the playoffs. We asked that question on baseball today. Would that be bad for the game of baseball? I'm like, no, why would it be bad for the game of baseball? You want the best teams in the playoff. Well, love to see it. Because I think they did.

They had a, in my opinion, they had a really good off season. And they went out and got guys and they spent money and they tried to improve the roster. So to me, that would be, you know, that would vindicate, you know, teams going and making plays in free agency if they were to make the, the playoffs. But as far as like the future, that's kind of where I was pointing to. Like they got to figure out a lane. I think the only thing that the Giants can do in the near future next couple of years is really step on the gas pedal. That's it. Yeah. Like you got to pedal to the metal man. They want to. I mean, you know, Junkhu Lee was supposed to be a big part of this, 100 mil. Yeah, that's true. He's been out of mentions that he's not there. Yeah.

Because Elliot Ramos came in and it's been great. Right. They signed so lair. and then traded him. It's an interesting franchise for sure. We got a couple more. And by the way, if you're, this isn't an ad, but I'm probably going to go to Draft Kings. Blake Snell in Seattle Saturday. Can you bet a perfect game?

No hitter. But, I mean, if there's a place where my guy stands on his business, it's in that Pacific Northwest. That's right. He loves the climb. it. He's about it. He's from there. Give me another, Bebs. Hey, I'm a Philly fan. So my biggest

concern is the back end of our rotation. I like Wheeler. I like Nola. I like Christopher Sanchez, but Ranger's Forres is hurt right now, and we have Tyon Walker, who's maybe the biggest villain to the Philadelphia Phillies have any player in the league from any team.

And so my concern is, come playoff seven-game series. You know, we're going to need Forres back from injury dealing. We're going to need, I mean, hopefully we're not going to need Taya Walker, and we're going to need Sanchez and Nola to be consistent. Nola likes to get up the long ball. So that's my biggest concern, back into the rotation.

Trevor, your Phillies. And by the way, I think it's of no Ranger Suarez. I think he's eyeing a major league comeback Saturday to face the Royals. So, like, he is on a path. So, yeah, I mean, if you have those four guys there, Wheeler, Nola Sanchez, you really can't complain about much. And then you start to think, okay,

how does the schedule line up? Will you have to have some sort of piggyback bullpen day? Will Taiwan Walker get a turn through the lineup? And then you run the pen out there. You might not even have to, depending on, again, how the schedule lines up, how you do in the series. You might just be able to run those four guys and that's it.

So if you have that, I don't think there's that much. If you're the Phillies, man, you don't got much to worry about except just the results of the game. You've got to go out there and play. Things are good in Philadelphia. I understand that you want to have five starters. That's just not the reality of a baseball season.

And again, the series could line up where you don't even really need a fifth starter. And if you did, I mean, you can talk about Taiwan. But short leash, man. That's essentially what it would be. Maybe they don't even. give him that. Maybe he doesn't even get the start and they just go like full bullpen day.

But I don't, I don't know if it's even really going to get to that, Jake. Yeah, the good news is that's not a problem. Wheeler, Nola, Chris Sanchez, and, you know, if Ranger Suarez's first half ranger or playoff ranger, you've got more starting pitching than everyone in the postseason. So like, you're good. You're good, pop. I mean, I'm looking right now if Kirkring has How many, he hasn't gone multiple innings all year long

That's interesting I thought maybe he would be a guy They would look to bulk up in the posties And give him a couple Sometimes they'd do something like that But he hasn't thrown more than one inning all year long That's interesting Don't you have a story from when you were in rookie ball

And a girl made you wear a Kirkering? I was going to say something If I'm not The rest of this show is sponsored by Better Help What are your self-care non-negotiables Never Skip a Leger day or how about a therapy day people it's 2024 uh if you know what makes you happy it's hard to make time for it sometimes but it's good to take time for yourself uh and maybe therapy should be a

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Hello. My name is Max from Minneapolis, Minnesota. Huge twins fan here. Trev, love seeing you on the broadcast. I think the biggest fear I have for our Twinkies, I feel like there's been a bunch of issues with maybe pitching and injuries. But overall, I think it's consistency. When the twins are hot, obviously they have one of the best records in baseball since, like, mid-April or something.

But if they play like they did, you know, in early April or if they play, you know, if a lot of their pieces aren't playing well, that's something that could go wrong. I think we have the pitching. I think we have the hitting. I think we have the defense to speed. I think we have everything, but it's all about putting it together. So my biggest fear is consistency. see. I think if we hit the right stride, everybody's playing well, we'll go far, but if not,

I don't know if we'll make it past the first round. That's all I got. Trev? That's such a Minnesota way to ask the question. Like, hey, we're good, but if we're not good, that's not good. That's true.

You're kind of right. That's like, very spot on. I don't really know how to answer that question. Yeah, if the team isn't playing well, and they go up against a team that is playing well, then it's going to be night night for the twins. So let me give my kind of take on the state of the Minnesota twins. Is that okay?

Buckle up, people. Yeah, okay, okay. We got to have the guys back. Carlos Correa and Byron Buxton need to come back. I would love Brooks Lee to be part of this team as well, but I think the first two guys are much more important to the dynamic of this lineup. because this lineup has a chance to be pretty dang good. Pretty special, pretty long, a bunch of guys that can get the job done.

But when you're missing two of your best hitters, it changes things. So I think that's the main thing. Get those guys healthy. The rotation, I think, is the scariest thing for me. I'm starting to even think that about the bullpen. So I guess I get a lump pitching in a hole. Bailey over is fantastic. Bailey over is going to be a top 10.

Cy Young guy this year. Quality Start King. He is just he's taking it up a nods. But I'm looking right now at the baseball reference page where they list the top war the top 12 guys in war. It's Carlos Correa and Byron Bucks and don't have either of those guys right now. So we need them back.

Pitching for me is interesting. The starting pitching in general because we're going to have Pablo Lopez and Bailey Oberg are going to be the first two guys to start games. And after that it's Samin Woods, Richardson. He's a rookie. David Festa, who I think is probably

pitched the best out of any of the rookie group. He might be the three guy. He's a rookie. And Zebby Matthews, love the name, all-time name. Also a rookie, two starts under his belt. So like there's a lot of youth in that rotation, which, you know, you put the bright lights on

in the post season. How would you know, bro, you never played? I don't know. I'm assuming there's more pressure in the post season, I think I'd be right there. That's where my fear is. They can figure out the bullpen. They have guys to get it done. I really wish they would have went out and got a Tanner Scott

and got somebody for lefties because you're going to come up in those kind of lanes from time to time. We really don't have a guy like that. So I think my fear is the pitching. And then the health and everything else. I will be honest with you. The twins have continued to find ways to win baseball games.

I said it the other day, I think they're overperforming for what their roster is right now. But if they get those guys healthy and they can just kind of like Matt Walner's doing his thing. Yeah, he is. Slug people, which they have a chance to do that. You know, if you're talking about a, if you're talking about, you know,

a Byron Buxton, Carlos Correa, Matt Walner, Royce Lewis, Matt Walner, like, you have a chance to outslug people. And I think that's what they're going to have to do to be successful in the postseason get it to the back end where they have Griffin, Jackson, Eon, Duran, and Jorge Alcala. Like, there's a recipe there.

but it's, it's, I really believe it's kind of like a, it's a tight rope right now for them. Get those big boys back. This is, I mean, not much to add. You're the twins guy. I'm the expert there. You're the expert. Fun, a fun, another draft king's one before the season was Correa Springer, home runs versus each other.

It's currently Springer by one. Correa's had much better time when he's been on the field. But, man, those guys know what they're doing over there. And Trev, I think, you know, barring knock on wood. I think those guys are going to be there. Like, I think if there's a playoff game tomorrow, there's a chance those guys could be on the field. I want to see who's around him.

You know, Eddie Chulian just got called up. Can he find anything? Maybe not. He's not going to lose here. If all those guys are healthy, he won't be playing. Like Jose Miranda had parts of this season where he was an electorate. I want to see it starts with Royce, Carlos, and Buckdady.

I want to see the supporting pieces and are all three of those guys there because that's a twin team we haven't seen a lot. 17 games that Royce Lewis, Byron Bucks, and Carlos Crea played together. That's insane. It's Brooklyn Nets, Katie Harden, Kyrie. Don't sleep on Matt Walner, dude.

You know I'm not sleeping on Matt Walner. He's like, he's like, okay, this is going to be far-fetched. Relax, everybody. Everybody. This is just me. talking as a twins fan Twins ambassador if you will

Matt Walner's our John Carlos Stanton bro like he could absolutely carry a team hits the absolute shit out of the ball but there are times where it goes away in there look at the numbers on the year Ryan Jeffers always hitting

I like these twins and I hate it I like these twins and I hate it don't look at our starting pitching right now just find a couple guys who can back bang some sliders? Sounds like my Thursday night. Let's get the last one, Bebs. Hey guys, Garrett here.

I'm a Blue Jays fan. And my biggest fear for the Toronto Blue Jays is that missing the playoffs back in 2021 caused a butterfly effect that caused the front office to overreact in the process, kept the franchise back from being a true competitor. Maybe if they'd made the playoffs that year, Simian stays.

and they can find a way to work around their defensive issues that they'd had. But ever since then, it feels like every trait that they've made has set the team back in basically every conceivable fashion. Thank you. Your Blue Jay's thoughts, Trev. I've got to be honest with you. The nightmare with the Blue Jays kind of seems to be, I mean, kind of like everything.

We're living in it. I don't even know what to start with them. Jake 2020 made it to the wild card got swept 2021 missed the season missed the postseason

22 made the wild card got swept 23 made the wild card got swept this year going to make the postseason I don't know man I always think that the blue jays are going to be this team that's going to knock the ball of the park they make and go they put together a pretty dang good pitching staff and it just

just hasn't happened for them. I don't even know where to go with that. I don't even know what the butterfly effect of the 2021 season has to do with anything. I don't really understand the question. I think that's okay to say that. I don't really understand the question. But these,

they're almost like the giants where it's like they're looking up at a bunch of teams, man, their own division. The Blue Jays are going to be an interesting case study to look back. You know, Marcus Simeon, that monster year he got seven years 175. We saw him on the Texas Rangers, went in the World Series.

We see him racking up war defensively, even when his back goes. And Trev, I mean, you brought it to our attention because people forget you played and you were teammates with Marcus Simeon. And one of the phrases that I just, I loved you saying was like, man, if there's a guy that you,

as an owner or a GM or a coach that you want to give money to, it's him, how he shows up to the field, his work ethic, everything he's about. That's the guy. And, I mean, there's been questions about that in Toronto for a few years. Like, it kind of felt like they gave the kids the keys to the kingdom, and maybe that wasn't the right move. There were also veterans that came through, Brandon Belts.

I mean, Justin Turner's, guys like that. I think it's going to be interesting to look back at the guys they traded. Tay Oscar, Lordus Gueriel, guys that have continued to, hit a little bit. And one of the big moves they made, they brought in Dalton Varsho to be the lefty that that lineup was craving so hard. And he hasn't, he's been a contributor, but I don't think he's been what they were hoping when they traded Gabby Moreno and Lordus Gurriel.

Very interesting to see the next steps, because that team does have money in their pockets, and there's still talent around the field, but it feels like, you know, I just mentioned the Brooklyn Nets. It feels like my next chapter in Toronto. Yeah, I think you always have to have someone that you can say, this is our leader and shows up and his work ethic, the whole deer that's going to be around for a while. You mentioned that Brandon Bell, Justin Turner coming,

those guys weren't going to be around for a while. It doesn't have the same juice necessarily. So, yeah, I don't know what the Blue Jays are going to do. They get decisions to make on Vlad and Bo. has been basically non-existent this year, which is crazy to me. Right.

I want to end this show with a dream. Yes. He did nightmares. Yeah. You know, nightmare first, Austin Riley out for the year. The rest of the

regular season, at least. They signed Gio Rochella. That's nice for them. Here's my dream. I also saw that Yulee Guriel has been in AAA with them

starting to ground balls third base. Wouldn't mind seeing some Yule Gourriot. How old is that guy? Are we going to see Yuley and Vado on the cot corners for the Jays to wrap up the year? Yuley Gereals with the Braves.

Oh, excuse me. Oh, my God. He's kind of been balling. 73 games in Gwinnett. He's got a 2.97. He's 40 years old. This guy might be on the three bagger. These are always my favorite. Yulee Guriel's done it all.

Cuba, America, batting titles, world series. He's just been in Gwinnett, raking? Raid Hooters in Gwinnett. Okay. End the episode. We, uh,

hey, we love our people so much. You got four games at second base for Yule this year. My God. You guys are the best. We will see you here. on Wednesday. Chick sucks. Friday.

It's a simulation. Maybe a little goss chick in the thumbnail. I think that might help. I was in a top gun bar with Bill Miller. This is a simulator. Who recognized who? He was so boisterous. He was owning the bar.

I went up to him. Yeah, you did. Hey, Bill. Trevor Ploot.