Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - The Biggest Surprises and Disappointments of the 2024 Season

Episode Date: September 25, 2024

Use code TALKIN10 for 10% off tickets on SeatGeek. https://seatgeek.onelink.me/RrnK/TALKIN10*Up to $25 offTry Huel with 15% OFF today using code TALKIN at https://my.huel.com/talkinbaseballsept24. Fuel your best performance with Huel today!Get the booking.com app today and book your postseason travel! https://bit.ly/3ZhFtfL  Try AG1 and get a FREE bottle of Vitamin D3K2 AND 5 free AG1 Travel Packs with your first purchase at https://drinkAG1.com/baseball  Download the DraftKings Sportsbook app and use code TALKINGAMBLING PROBLEM? CALL 1-800-GAMBLER, [phone] or visit gamblinghelplinema.org (MA). Call 877-8-HOPENY/text HOPENY (467369) (NY). Please Gamble Responsibly. 888-789-7777/visit ccpg.org (CT) or visit www.mdgamblinghelp.org (MD). 21+ and present in most states. (18+ DC/KY/NH/WY). Void in ONT/OR/NH. Eligibility restrictions apply. On behalf of Boot Hill Casino & Resort (KS). 1 per new customer. Min. $5 deposit. Min. $5 bet. Max. $200 issued as non-withdrawable Bonus Bets that expire in 7 days (168 hours). Stake removed from payout. Terms: sportsbook.draftkings.com/promos. Ends 10/31/24 at 11:59 PM ET. Sponsored by DK.+++++Timestamps:0:00 Jolly and Trevor's Teams are Disappointing Them Right Now4:00 Cleveland Had a Commanding Lead in the Central ALL SEASON  7:55 New York Mets  12:20 Blue Jays Had No Ohtani Backup Plan  13:35 Rangers World Series Hangover  17:00 Brewers and the Tobias Myers Emergence  27:00 Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is Truly One of the Best Hitters in MLB  35:00 Jackson Merrill and Jurickson Profar Changed the Padres Outfield and Season40:30 Brent Rooker and Lawrence Butler are the New Bash Brothers?47:45 Padres Nailed Their Trade Deadline57:30 The Twins Disappointed Down the Stretch  1:06:45 Craig Counsell Did Not Save the Cubs Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello and welcome to talking baseball. We got surprises. We got disappointments. The parents are out of the house. The kids are here. No babysitter. It's sugar time, baby. Let's go. We don't know what's happening. Hello and welcome to talking baseball. I am not Jake's story, Ali. I'm Coach Tread.

You guys know who I am. Jolly Olive in the house filling in for Jake. He's got some stuff going on today. We love the big guy. I love him. I really do love Jake. I love talking ball with him, but I also love talking ball with you, Jolly.

Beaver's obviously along for the ride as well. And like I said, we are talking surprises, disappointment. This will be a yucking ball episode. It's brought to you by Seeky, Use Code, Talkin' 10 to get the promo code. It's easy. Green means good, red means bad.

Everybody knows that. Jolly Olive, me and you. We're a little sad today. I'll let you talk about how you're feeling. What's that, my man? It's a solemn mooring for both of us, Trev. I mean, our teams are letting us down at the very end. It's just about the worst feeling in sports.

Now, I think my Mets are still in a position of hope. They can go out there win some games and turn the narrative around. Your twins, I'm worried about your twins right now, Trev. Me too. I am too. It's been a slow burn. It's been actually, it's like, I don't want to say it's like the Titanic and the iceberg because I think I think a lot of people have seen it from far away.

It's not like it just happened out of nowhere. It's been tough. There's still some time left. I agree your team is in a better position than mine. But that's kind of what this episode is about, about some surprises. We're going to talk about, you know, what's caught our eye around the big league season this year, you know, who's outperforming. or who's just come out of nowhere, and then we'll get into some disappointments.

We like to keep this show optimistic, but there are times, Jolly, where you just got to talk about people underperforming. That's part of the show, man. So we'll get into that. First, I want to tell you guys a little bit about Huell. If you're running late, you have no time for breakfast, and you're starving.

That sounds like my morning right now. I'm starving. I haven't eaten anything. I got some water here. I would love a Hule. We've all been there, you're racing to your meetings, practice, school pickups, you guys don't know what that's about.

I do. But sometimes all you need is a delicious, delicious, nutritious, I like that. Meal, and it can be ready in seconds. That's where today's sponsor, Healed, the world's number one complete nutrition brand comes into play. Jolly.

They have sold over 400 million meals worldwide. Yes, you heard that right, Jolly. With an M? 400 million? Yeah, it's incredible. So it's trusted by millions of people looking to feel their day with convenient, complete nutrition. I have some inside right now. I probably should run and get one.

I might text Olivia to bring me one because I am starving. It's designed by experts to provide all the nutrients your body needs from a meal. Heel takes the guesswork out of healthy eating. And if you want to get 15% off, just use code talking at Hewle.com. That's H-U-E-L.com. 15% on Hewle.com. When you use the code, Talkin, unlock a healthier, easier way to eat with Heel. Nutritionally, completely.

eat meals and minutes so you can focus on what really matters. They're shakes. They're like protein shakes with more calories and more nutrients. They're the best. My kids even like them. And that is a testament that He'll is going to love. So you know what else people love. What they love, Triff? Surprises. Good stuff happening. We each are going to give, I don't know, a couple surprises, maybe a disappointment. And I think what we're going to do is start off with some things that we're actually not going to talk about. So we'll skim over some of these. I don't know if any of us are talking guardians.

And that's, are you, Bebers? I had no guardians plans. Jolly? Yeah, no, I missed out on the Guardians a little bit. Haven't watched a lot of Cleveland Ball. Got a lot of respect for what they're doing. But yeah, they missed my list. Okay, so let's just give them a nice, some snaps.

Guardians came into the season, a brand new manager and Stephen Vote, not expected to do a lot. No, losing Shane Bieber early on, Tristan McKenzie. It seemed like the Guardians were going to be going through some sort of a transitional year. Obviously, Jose Ramirez is there. Josh Naylor's done his thing before,

but we didn't know what to make of it. Stephen Kwan comes out. All of a sudden, he says, I'm going to start swinging harder and see what happens. He was incredible. He's been incredible. They've had a lot of things go right for them. David Frye was a surprise all-star for them.

He kind of carried their team throughout the first half offensively. Jose Ramirez is almost 40-40. Nobody's talking about that. So he's continued to do his thing. Naylor with some big home runs. Really, though, it's been a story of their bullpen and Emmanuel Claisse and Hunter Gaddis. And you could go on and on about what they've been able to do

with their pitching staff. I mean, they're starters right now, Charlie. We're talking Matthew Boyd, Ben lively, like names that you don't associate with a team that almost has the best record

in all of baseball. But I usually don't give a lot of credit to managers. You know that. Of course. I really don't, because I don't think that they can impact the game on the field too much.

But they can impact the game off the field and create the vibes. I think Stephen Votis done that. These guys really, really have bought in to the... I mean, and I don't even know if he really approaches it this way, but they bought into the kind of like the why not us, we're good enough, who cares what anybody else is saying,

let's just go play our game and see what happens. And then when you start to have some success and you're leading the division, then it's like, oh, this isn't just fodder. This isn't just our manager trying to give us a rah-rah speech. Like he's putting us in good, positions and we're winning because of it. And here they are, man.

Clinched the A.L. Central already. I don't think anybody wants to face them. You could talk about the offense and the bullpen being overused, but we've been talking about that since, I don't know, May. Yeah. And they haven't stumbled yet. So, I mean, snaps to the Guardians. This organization has been, I believe, since 2012, they have the fourth highest

winning percentage in all of baseball. Yeah, I know they've been. See the Guardians. the most division titles since like mid-2010s too like they've they've been a winning organization for a while and it's a little it's just right place right time for a guy like stephen vote who was a part of oakland day's teams that went worse to first and had his own you know like chant in the crowd about people believing in him he believed in the same way for this guardian's roster it's not going to be the name value talent you're used to but at this point like he said the conversation is kind of redundant like we know that they didn't have the star level talent they still got the job done they've been getting

it done for months on end at this point. There's no reason to believe why they can't go on and run in October. Naps, guys. Except for Chris Rose. I doesn't believe. He's always been so negative. I don't know what that's about. That's crazy. That's where I got kind of negative on the Guardian since I was listening

to him, but then I realized he's just saying that almost like a knock on wood type. He really believed. He's hedging his emotion. He doesn't want to put it out there. Yeah, exactly. Jolly, another surprising team, which I don't think we're going to get into this year, are your Mets? And I know we're in a position now where they're fighting for

the playoff live against Atlanta in Truist and you said we've seen this movie before but this wasn't supposed to be a year where we're talking about a Mets team that really can in my opinion if they got into the playoffs I think that they have the momentum and they have

found a formula that I think that they can actually go deep into the postseason. This isn't like get in and oh that's great. I think they have the squad all the pieces lined up to actually make a postseason run. So why don't you give us a little synopsis of why they've been able to do what they've been able to do? Yeah, I mean, you use the phrase transition year for the Guardians. I think the National League counterpart for where they were at were the Mets in a different vein,

obviously, with the payroll situation and all that. But this was a year where they put chips on the table to possibly compete, but also set themselves up for another successful trade deadline in May. It looked like we were certainly headed towards that. direction and then whether you want to attribute to rallying cries or jd martinez's wisdom on the hitters or the rotation coming together any of those reasons were giant contributing factors to this team pulling it together in june and july and going on this run and yeah they are well positioned right now they had a tough loss last night against the braves but uh their strength of schedule in september

has been pretty fierce they've played a lot of good teams and have answered the bell on a lot of those challenges. So yeah, if they're able to crack open a playoff spot and slide in and stay there, they got a really good shot. A good shot as any other National League team to go on a run in October. It's just about getting there at this point. When I think about the Mets, I think about their starting pitching and kind of how it's really, really come together right in front of our eyes. I mean, Luis Severino has the stuff, but who could have expected the year that he's had? Right. Really. And then Shamaniah figuring some stuff out. He looks like he's figured out for the foreseeable future.

You're going to get a big boy contract. I think that's so cool, man. And we have the technology for pitchers now to make adjustments and figure things out. But he, it almost looks like he's found who he's always supposed to have been. Big boy, good arm angle, you know, kind of working both sides of the plate. It's a different type of look for a hitter that you just don't see too often. And you always say, like, hey, if a left, he can throw

strikes, especially a tall lefty can throw strikes and can throw over 90 miles an hour. Like you're going to have a job somewhere in some capacity. But he is, he's turned into an elite pitcher. At age 32, just set in career highs and everything. And it really

happened halfway through the year. I think he's from Nebraska. Can you fact check me on that? He just like a big. Valparaiso, Indiana? Indiana, excuse me. I get those mixed up all time. Who can blame me for that? Not my book. drafted by the Royals.

Didn't have that either. Yeah. I can't wait to get to my surprise because the transaction sheet on my guy. Traded for Ben Zobrus. Crazy. Didn't know that. Yeah. Then I was teammates with him with the A's.

And he had, you know, my fingerprints are all over. You're the center of the universe, man. Yeah. Yeah. The other thing with the Mets, you know, on top of, you know, this season wasn't, you know, coming in, the expectations weren't crazy or, like, making the playoffs and all that, like on its own. sure, but I was thinking the other day,

like they started O-N-5 against Brewers and Tigers, which now that part of it doesn't look so bad, but coming into the year, we weren't the highest on those two teams. And they started O'N-5, and they've, like, three different times when on, like, huge miracle runs this year to, like, more than make up for that start.

How many tweets are out there, like, a number of O'N-5 teams to ever even make the playoffs, let alone, like, do anything after? And obviously there's still work to be done to get there, but... Need one more miracle, right? They've been really doing it. I need one more. I didn't agree.

Alvarez missing some time with McNeil. I know he came on in the second half, but the first half was dreadful. Beatty did not perform like he needed to. In Vento steps up. Like, they... Hopway, Mark. It's been awesome. Big chain.

Let's talk about a few disappointing teams quickly. Again, we're kind of just glazing over these before we give our answers. I think, the Blue Jays have to be one? I feel like they've been disappointing for years, for really being honest. The talent level on that roster has been very good. They just haven't been able to get the job done. Chris Bassett actually alluded to this. He said that after they missed out on Shohei and some of the big free agents, they just didn't have a plan. It was like they put all their chips into that and then didn't really supplement this roster well enough. So,

you know, we're seeing a team where the offense just hasn't been there. Like, Vladdy had a great year, a bounce back year. Shut up a lot of people, including me, who suggested maybe he's a 780 OPS guy. And you know what? I don't think that was a bad take, to be honest with you, because that's what he's been besides,

I believe, in the 2021 year where he went off. We'll talk about it. Maybe that was just a year. We'll talk about it. Oh, you're getting into him. We'll talk about it. Oh. No spoilers, but we'll talk about it.

We'll glaze over this one. Bad producing on my part. Toronto Blue Jays disappointing for me. We'll talk about somebody later. That's a secret. And then the last team I really kind of want to get into, I think, are the Texas Rangers. Yeah, I've got to mention them. If you want to go, you go, man.

I mean, their offense has been really tough. I know they've dealt with some injuries, but they just never found their footing this year. Yeah, never really felt like they got going. They're the first World Series winner since the Nats, I believe, to not make the playoffs in the year that followed, which is just not company you really want to keep. For me, it was just, you know, the face value guys not really coming through. Seeger had another injury. Semion kind of had a down year. The pitching staff was kind of a known quantity going into the year.

Like they knew they couldn't rely on guys like Scherzer and deGrom until later into the season. And last year, they had a big trade deadline that kind of set them on that trajectory. And this year, they didn't really have the ammo to get there. And in the end, it just kind of fell apart for them. kind of just a deflating season. There was no real point where it felt like a huge disaster. They just never really got going. Yeah.

I mean, we had, we had an episode before this season, it was Yumi and Jake going through, you know, kind of some things that might surprise us, might disappoint us coming into the year. And I forget if you or I said Rangers or Astros each rotation-wise, but Rangers rotation was like, yeah, the guys, if they're healthy, yeah.

Obviously, you love DeGroms Scher, Evaldi, even Heaney, John Gray. But there's a lot of guys with known injury histories that we knew we're going to miss some amount of time to start the year. And those guys never fully got going, never fully got healthy. They never had their, like, awesome stretch. That yelling, exciting outfield never got going, really. They, it's like, yeah, they just, there was no footing. Yeah. Ever.

And I wonder how Rangers fans let us know in the comments. Like, are you okay because you won the World Series? And this year was just like, because you never got going, there was the disappointment levels probably lower than if you blew it at the end of the season or something like that. But because you have the ring too, I mean, it's got it. I don't know, man. Hosted the All-Star game this year. It's been a weird.

couple, like 24 months for Texas Rangers. I don't know what that hangover is like, obviously, Mets fan here, but like you got to imagine that like the wound isn't crazy, right? Because you're just coming off the highest of all highs. But it definitely doesn't feel good knowing that you were top dog in the league and now you're kind of a footnote in the 2024 season. But shout out Kirby Yates. Had a great year.

Yeah, but you know what they're doing now in Texas? What they're doing now in Texas? Football. Yeah. They're busy. They're going to high school football games. They're fine. It never made sense to me that they were just kind of immediately out on bringing back Montgomery.

I know he's had his own disappointments this season, but, like, they, the whole time I felt like they could have used that. And they just weren't gonna. Yeah. All right. Let's get into some of our picks now. And I think I'll start this bad boy off because I'm the host. And I, let me do what I want to do. I got a guy here.

that I think has helped another surprising team. And that team is the Milwaukee Brewers, almost similar to the Cleveland Guardians, you know, longtime legendary manager, not ousted, leaves. Different,

different scenario here. We'll talk about them. He leaves for a division rival. We're talking about that later. But, you know, I think the brewers in a lot of people's minds were taking a step back this year, because, you know, the trade court burns, Brandon Woodruff goes down,

Devin Williams isn't available for the beginning of the season. The offense has always been shaky and you kind of don't know what you're going to get. It seemed like they were going all in on this run prevention, you know, bringing guys up that can defend. But I think what we've seen around the league is the teams that really went for athleticism this year have benefited greatly from it, you know, stole. and run prevention have been huge, timely hitting. Obviously, it's very important to any team.

But one of the biggest surprises for the brew crew, because they don't have a plethora of starters, the biggest surprises for them has been this guy, Tobias Myers. And I'm going to start by reading this guy's transaction log. I've never seen one like this. It's got you excited. It's got me excited because there's some names in this.

there's just some silly things. There's some organizations that really desperately needed this guy that kind of just let him go. 2016 guys got drafted by the Orioles in the sixth round. Now the Orioles right now would surely love Tobias Myers in the rotation.

Would surely love that, right? So 2016 gets drafted. Can't trade a draft pick in his first year. So 2017 they said, let's trade him. And they traded him to the raise. or Tim Beckham. Former 1-1.

Former 1-1, Ray. Okay. I played with Tim. I want you to know, I'm not looking at the list right now. I'm listening to you. Oh, you don't know. This is raw reaction.

This is great. This is raw reaction. He's traded to the Reyes for Tim Beckham. I don't really remember Tim Beckham going to the Orioles, but hey, it is what it is. Okay. He's in the Ray's organization for quite some time. He stays there until 2021.

doesn't have a ton of success in the off season, November of 2021. He gets traded to Cleveland for junior Caminero. Wow. Big time infield prospect. He's up with the raise now. He's only 20 years old. He's going to be a problem.

So, you know, the raise liked Tobias. They thought, you know, hey, this guy's pretty dang good. But here's one of the top prospects in baseball. get him. And at the time, the Guardians had a ton of infield prospects. They said, we'll dish one of our prospects out. I don't know how old he was at the time. I'm guessing.

So this is in 2021. 17. He was 17. It's hard to know. Yeah, really fault the Guardians for that, right? It probably got him for 10,000 bucks or something. I don't know. So anyways, I trade him over to Cleveland.

Okay. Or junior Camero. July of the next year in 2022, he gets purchased by the giant. So not traded. I don't even know what that means, Charles. They got nothing out of him?

They just purchased him. So just wave? I'm not really sure. Is that a Rule 5 thing? I think that's just like cash considerations. I don't know what that means. I don't think it's a Rule 5, but it could be purchased by the Giants. That's July of 2022. In August of 2022, the

White Sox claim him off of waivers from the Giants. In September of 2022, he's released by the White Sox. What are we doing? And then in November of 22 in the offseason, Milwaukee picks him up as a free agent. When you said released,

my heart dropped for White Sox fans that. One of the crazier transaction sheets I've ever seen because there are some names, I mean, junior cammen. Arrow. Like you're, you're getting traded for a top prospect, and then all of a sudden you're getting purchased and released. And then cut by the worst team

ever. Crazy. So now he's with Milwaukee. He has some success. They like the way that he can strike guys out, but the consistency still isn't there. And then this year, he's made some adjustments. This is where I love. I love when guys make adjustments. Similarly, we're talking about with Shamanai earlier on.

He ditched his two seamer. And I mean, this is like, this is like simple stuff. This is simpleton analytic you know spin rate crap in Milwaukee how do they

how does he end up there how does that happen to them he ditches his two seamer they're like hey we like to spin that you put on your foreseamer so why don't you stop landing glove side like tailing off to your glove side

and go more straight towards the batter so you can emphasize that spin get that ride that's what he's been able to do let's played up his four seam spin got four pitches, man, that he basically throws. Four seamer.

If it's a lefty, he's got the cutter in front. If it's a right, he's got the slider in front, but it's four seamer, cutter, slider, and change up. This year, the four seam, the slider, and the change up have been big time positive run value pitches for him. The cutter's been getting hit a little bit. But he's completely turned everything around. 25 games started this year for him.

He's got a 309 ERA. This guy was off of the freaking scrap pile. gets into the right organization makes just a very few rudimentary mechanical changes and here we are and look man as good as your bullpen is

which you know the brewers have probably the second or third best bullpen in all the baseball you still need guys to give some length and eat some innings up and this guy's been able to do that and more kind of out of nowhere

he's still young and they have him controllable for the next six years for nothing. For nothing, Jolly. So he's been one of my biggest surprises and you just got to hand it to Milwaukee for figuring out

or just putting the last piece of the puzzle in place, man. Trevor, let me ask you something since you're hot on the Brewers now. Give me all the intel. Because by the way, I mean, that's just a crazy story from the transaction list to minor rudimentary fixes to his game.

Milwaukee's headed for the postseason. they're going to win. They already clinch the central. Who gets the game one ball on the brewer's staff? Is it our guy? Is it Freddie? I don't know. I think it's got to be, I think it's got to be Freddie just because, like, he's been there, done that.

That's a good question, though. It's a good question. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know either. I'm assuming. I'm assuming it's Freddie. I assume.

Like seeing his first year in the Brewers' organization last year, Tobias Myers, all in the minor leagues, 140 innings across Dublin AAA. It wasn't even like statistically a good year. Punch some tickets, kept the walks down, was giving up so many homers. Like,

whatever, that's crazy. And honestly, you could talk about the Brewers, and I think for a lot of the year, they were trying to piece together a rotation, but they've kind of like figured it out. Yeah.

Or like, they have, I think they have five guys that they can toss out there. I think they'll probably pair it down, maybe piggyback some guys there, but I'm assuming it's going to be Freddie, then Tobias, and Colin Ray. Another one of those teams you don't really want to face in the playoffs, especially one of those, you know, three game sets where anything can happen pretty quick. Love your pick. I am going to give my next if that's cool with the people.

Well, before we do that, I'm going to tell people about booking.com. Booking.com. Booking.com. Yeah, yeah. And Beavers, I am looking for that. And here it is. This episode of baseball today is brought to you by our guys at booking.com. It's the official accommodation partner of Major League Baseball. Booking.com, say it with me. Booking dot... Yeah. Yeah. I like that. That's a good slogan. With the NLB postseason upon us, it's time to explore those U.S. cities you always secretly wanted to learn more about.

We're talking about those rival cities. Jolly, you could have went down to Atlanta and used booking. We've got a nice little hotel. You've got a scene, this movie, play out. We don't know the ending of the movie. I know better. I know better. With hotels, bed, and breakfast,

vacation rentals, resorts, and so much more on booking.com, you might just find your perfect stay for this postseason, even in your baseball's rival city. There's really nothing like showing up to your rival team stadium for a playoff run. I wouldn't really know who is the twins rival. I played for the organization,

and I'm not sure. It used to be the white side. It could be the guardians. It could be the royals. It could be the brewers. I'm not really sure. I'd go to all those cities. I really enjoy Kansas City for what it's worth.

So no matter what team you're reading for this postseason, booking.com can make you a fan of any U.S. city. The right state can make you a fan of any U.S. city, even your baseball rivals book today at booking.com and download the booking.com app. Nicely done, Trev. So I'm going to go with this. to we're going to start positive.

That's what we do on the show. Yeah. Yeah. I'm going to go with someone who is a good player and has been a good player, but I was kind of in your boat a little bit. And maybe I get swayed too much by the voices of talking baseball, but you guys know your stuff. I like listening in.

You know your stuff. You do your research. Shout out Dalton. I'm going with Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who is a, a surprise in a weird way because Vladi has been a great player for many years now. He's been a great player ever since that 2021 season that we all remember where he got MVP runner up. Probably would have won MVP in any other year. Had he not had to compete with Shohei Otani, he led MLB in home runs with 48. He led the American League in triple slash line, had the best OPS Plus.

It was a dream year. And I said it many times that I believe was the best is. iteration of this Blue Jays squad, this Blue Jays core, 2021, the year where they didn't make the playoffs, but won 91 games, and he was a big reason for that. In the last two years, he took a step backwards, and I think with, you know, elite-level players who have demonstrated elite-level production, we hold them to a higher standard, and sometimes that can be unfair. And I think some of us thought maybe this is the guy that Vladi actually is. Maybe he is more of like an 800 OPS.

He'll give you 30 home runs. He might not play flashy defense, but he's a value. piece in your lineup. And then this year, he cut his hair off and slimmed down a little bit, and he's back to being that guy. And I really didn't see it coming, especially in a year that kind of went downhill for the Blue Jays pretty quickly. It could have been easily a year where Vladie wouldn't have had to be so locked in,

knowing that this team isn't playing for much. But instead, he's got the second highest average in baseball trailing only Bobby Witch Jr., the third best on base, trailing only Judge and Soto, and his 167, OPS Plus, which is two-thirds better than the rest of the league, is the same as it was in 2021. He's matched that production on a league-adjusted scale. He's also set a career high in doubles. It's his first 100 RBI season in three years.

He's doing it all at the plate, but two things have caught my eye outside of just him cranking the ball and getting those power numbers back up. One, he has more war this season than the last two years. years combined. And war, whether you subscribe to it or not, it's an all-encompassing stat. It incorporates all facets of the game. So on every side of the ball, Vladdy has improved pretty substantially. The other thing with that is that I think he's become a more disciplined hitter at age 25. And that bodes well for the future because that's a skill you can continue to hone and improve on. He's swinging at the first pitch this year, 27.3% of the time, 14% percent.

down from last season. That's the largest drop-off of any hitter in baseball this year. So a more patient approach, I think, has reaped a lot of benefits for him, specifically against fastballs as well. He's hitting nearly 100 points higher against fastballs this year than he did last year. All of these things just kind of contribute to a really well-rounded year for Vladay. He's running faster than he has in the last three years as well, based on sprint speed. It's been really fun to watch.

I actually got to watch him play pretty in-depth when the Mets went to Toronto. played them. And he's back to instilling fear in opponents, I think. For a while, I'd watch Yankees' Blue Jays games and he'd come up and I wouldn't have the same feeling watching him take at bats as I did in 2021 where it felt like he was going to do something big every time he stepped up. That vibe is really returned. And it makes me really excited for where the Blue Jays can go next year. They have a lot of offseason questions, probably more than many other teams in the league right now. but they do have something they can rely on now. And that's Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

He's become less of an unknown and more of a surety for this team going forward. And it's really nice to see because a guy like Vladie is really good to have at the forefront of the game, second generation superstar, and he'll be the show cover athlete, all that stuff. You want a guy like Vladie to be an elite level player. And I'm happy he's back where he is.

Love that. And he's so young. I think that's what people to understand. Is he 25 right now? 25 years old. That's a, that's a, joke. The 2021 season, you kind of look at some of the, you know, the K percentages and walk percentages. He walked more than ever in that 2021 season. And then it went down to, he was a 12.3

percentage in 2021. It went down to 8.2. Back up to 9.8. This year he's sitting right now at 10.3 so he's headed in the right direction there. You mentioned the fastballs and what he's hit against that. That's kind of what I look at when I'm looking at, you know, the difference between years of a guy struggles one year or goes off one year. What are you doing against the heater? is that you always have to be on time for the heater. Everything kind of falls into place after that. When I see guys, you know, like him, crushing the fastball in 2021,

then taking a little bit of the step back the next two years, it just tells me that mechanically something is a little off. I know he was still hitting the ball very hard, but I think there are times where he got in between pitches and that just kind of, that'll zap your power from you, which kind of happened. The slug was down the last two years. So getting on time with that,

whether that is a mechanical thing, whether that is just straight up starting earlier, just kind of depends on the player. He's been able to figure that out. And I do agree with you. I just, I like that he, I think he's,

I think he's very good for the game. He's like not one of these guys. It's like he's, he does it the right way. Yeah. Not getting in trouble out, you know, being an idiot off the field.

Like I think he does, he does things the right way. I'm happy he's back and I'm happy shut everyone up, including me. And Blue Jays fans had a tough year, so I'm happy for them too because not a lot

has gone right in 24. What happened to Boba Shet? What happened to Boba Shet? What happened to the rotation? He could be on our disappointing list. He really could be. I love Boba Shet. I think when his swing is right,

it might be the prettiest swing in all of baseball. It ain't right. Side angles of his homers are just works of art. Where is an interesting uniform? He's one of those guys that wear shorts instead of baseball pants, but it is what it is. over the knee.

He wears the pants over the knee. Like Carlos Santana. They're like up there. I'm looking on bobbish at pants. That could be a problem. Yeah, it's strange. I'm happy to start there. I'm happy to get some light to Vladdy

because Blue Jay's fans, they do need a little bit of love right now. He does. Bebeb, you got somebody? I do somebody I'd like to shout out. It's kind of a duo of guys. And we've talked a little bit about them throughout the year, but,

You might recall coming into this season, we really had no idea what the Padres outfield was going to be. They came into spring training with two outfielders on the 40-man roster. And one of them is Fernando Tatis, classically trained shortstop, who made a beautiful transition to the outfield. But that was a surprise. And he was kind of the only one fully on the Major League roster.

Azakar was in the mix on the 40-man coming into spring training. They had lost Soto Grisham, and they thought jerks and pro far. They eventually do get pro far back on that one for one that we've been talking about all season. And then him and Jackson Merrill, their top shortstop prospect, becoming a really good centerfielder.

They made outfield not a problem. They might have the best outfield in the NL. They have two guys who have regularly been featured on our all-JM team. Jackson Merrill leads all rookies in F4, homers and RBIs. He leads all out and all outfielders in war. He's over five with, you know, still a week to go. He's a Padre's rookie leader,

a bunch of categories, pro far led, leads the NL and non-base percentages were recording this. It's his best season. I didn't know that. Yeah. It's a guy who is kind of just trying to hang on. He ends up in a weird deal with the Rockies last year

and they cut bait, and he just goes back to where he's been comfortable in San Diego, and they bring him back and we're like, okay, yeah, they needed outfielders. We thought that was kind of just, yeah, it feels a need, and he knows them, so that's great, and he's been the best. He's been consistently among the best outfielders all season.

He's, those two guys doing what they did really unlocked everything for this Padres team that is pretty firmly in the playoffs. Yeah, they clinched. They've clinched, and, They're one of the most dangerous teams that you just don't want to face. They clinched on a triple play. We didn't bring that up yet, did we?

What the, they got the magic, man. They got the magic. I've been telling people, it's been a year of San Diego all year long. I've seen it, dude. I have seen it. They have figures and stuff out down there. They have all the momentum.

I always talk about the Phillies. least having this incredible clubhouse. I feel like didn't, didn't the podgers get like docked for like their clubhouse vibes last year? Like it wasn't good. There was some Melvin stuff. There was 2021. They had the fight in the clubhouse.

That's a long time ago. Maybe that's it was. I don't freaking know. The clubhouse vibes are immaculate there right now. Travel nice stuff. They're all pooling for each other. You're right about pro far. 384 on base percentage is leading the national league.

A bunch of guys in the American. including your Vladimir Greer Jr. are above him. Aaron Jets 459. Oh my. Yeah. Do you guys remember what the Padre's record was at the All-Star break this year? Ooh.

I guess. 100 games played. I'll give you that. Mine jumps to 50. 47 and 43. That doesn't add up 53. 47 and 53. 50 and 50.

500 team two months ago. And now they're. 91 and 66 clinch the playoffs. Two more wins might be your division champions. And a lot of it has to do

with that. They got the best record in baseball. I know. And they, when I watch them play, they look like the best team in baseball.

I agreed. Machado started getting hot. That was a big turnaround for them. Yeah. Getting Tatea's back, obviously helped them out a lot. No, they got the juice,

man. I saw Jackson Mero. This is just a quick little antidote. You know, they've been trying to find a shortstop. Hassan Kim has been out. I always think that's really funny because they're a team full of short stops and they have no shortstop. It's crazy.

Really weird. They moved Bogarts back over. Bogart's the last couple weeks has been playing shortstop after they, like, I can ship them out and said you can't do it well enough. Go to second base, man. But he's been playing there. But at one point, they had, I think it's Mason McCoy is his name.

Sure. He was up. and they brought in Jackson Meryl was taking ground balls at shortstop pregame when I was down there and I was like wait a second if this guy all of a sudden goes back to shortstop for the postseason run like he's he's goat you can't do that I don't care how good you are you can't do that potra's don't give I don't give a shit how good you all that put Tate's back there just see what happens put Tati's got a strong arm he might throw one Patees might throw one in the stands every game He's just mason win.

Same thing. Go Padres go. They got the juice, man. All the juice. Really do. Oh, they can'tana. Whatever, dude. Should we be mean?

You can be mean. I think I'm supposed to be reading an ad now. Let me get to it, okay? Being mean is brought to you by AG1. Today's episode of talking baseball is brought to you by AG1. I need some AG1 too. AG1 is a foundational nutrition supplement that delivers daily nutrients and gut health support and is backed by multiple research studies so you can trust what you're putting in your body.

AG1 contains prebiotics, probiotics, and gut supporting ingredients to support your digestion, reduce bloating. That's huge for me. And keeping you regular if you catch my drift. In a research study, 80% of participants notice less gas and bloating after 30 days of drinking AG1. In a research study, 97% of participants felt digestion improved after 90 days of drinking AG1. So start with AG1 and notice the difference for yourself. It's a great first step to investing in your health, and that's why we're so excited to be partnered with them. Try AG1 and get a free bottle

of vitamin D3K2 and 5 free AG1 travel packs with your first purchase at drinkag1.com slash baseball. That's a $48 value for free if you go to drinkag1.com slash baseball. Check it out. We've got links and descriptions always. Nice. As Joe's McFlyb, call it, AG Greens, Athletic Greens, Greens. That's what he says.

That's what he says. He goes around and says, do you know what is green, though? What? There's a team in baseball that has green. Nice. In their uniform. And that's who I'm going to talk about next.

I'm not going negative just yet, Jolly. I'm going one more surprise. Okay. Surprise. I'm going one more. Boom. You guys have some vitamin D. Time to help.

We can't just move past that. The fuck was that. My show, Joe. I'm going to give it to the New Age Bass Brothers. Oh, I like it. They're in Oakland. The people of Oakland, I can't tell if they're happy right now

because they're able to let all this emotion out. You know, it's the last series at the Coliseum. People are tearing the seats out of the Coliseum. Didn't know you could do that. They're just tearing them out. They're going to ban them from all future A's games? Like, not. They're getting rid of them anyway.

Gosh, they have Zood that transition. Zoot it. Golly. But what they have in Zood is the development of a few of their players. I'm going to start out with Brent Rooker. who has had an absolutely incredible year. Former twin. And, you know, he's been a guy that's hit before,

but nothing like this. Okay, guys. The numbers on the year, 294, 365, 565 for the 930 OPS, 38 home runs, 110 runs driven in, 11 stolen bases to boot.

Why not Brent Rooker? And let me ask you this. Did you guys see the foolish baseball? Who? That freaking guy Bailey. Exactly. Yeah, who? He put a tweet out when they had like the rendering of the new stadium supposedly in Las Vegas.

And it had Brent Rooker and it had him hitting like 308 or something like that. Yeah. And he said, this is something about like, I know. this is fake because they have Brent Rooker hitting in the threes. Well, you know what? Bailey. It's close enough, bro. It's close enough.

Anyways. Brent Rooker's been incredible. I feel like we've known that he could be incredible and you know, he just hasn't really put it all together when I watch him hit now. He's just really got everything

slowed down. Everything feels like it's you know, in time. He's not rushed to get to any pitch. And it's shown, man. 166 OPS plus he's had a phenomenal year. So you can't be the Bash Bros. There it is. There it is.

303. Oh, come on. I hope it. Dude, if this, I don't think he can do it because we're so far into the season. I don't think you can get to 303 from 294. He touched it like a week ago. if this MFer hits 303 on the dot I'm, we're in a simulation.

Yeah. Like there's no. I'm pretty sure the week after the A's posted that, they demoted Astero Rees, right? I'm pretty sure that was like the same week and they had him leading off there. Jolly, I can't talk about that. I had Esoteror Reese like over 45 steals from my preseason law.

And they just buried him for no reason. There's more to that story. Maybe we'll get a 30 for 30. Estuary. He did. Yes. Anyways. You can't be a brother.

You can't be a Bash brother without having a brother. Having somebody else to do it with you. And for a while, Brent Rooker was looking around like, can somebody do it with me? I want to be a Bash brother. And he certainly wasn't looking

at Lawrence Butler. Because on July 2nd, he came into the game hitting 179 with a 260 on base, 269 slug for the 529 OPS. Certainly wasn't looking at Lawrence to be his bash brother. July 2nd. But then, July 2nd, okay?

But then Dave, is it not Dave Bush? What's his name? Darren Bush, my former hitting coach as well, said, hey, Lawrence, guess what, dude? Can you see the ball? Let me ask you a question. can you see the ball because your head's going like this and like this

it's one of the first things I tell kids here's a baseball if you're driving in a car on a on a like a two-way highway where you're going this way cars going this way you know how fast it looks when like it passes you

it's because you're going that way and it's going that way right so if your head is going towards the pitcher a ton and that ball's coming at you, it's going to look crazy fast. You can't see it. Is this high school science teacher Trev I'm getting right now?

It's just common sense hitting coach Treb. So Darren Bush is like, let's slow the movements down, bro. Eliminate excess movement. Let's see the ball and then see what happens. So he made that adjustment since July 2nd. How about this? 312, 357, 627 for the 984 OPS.

That's seventh highest in baseball since them. 69 games, nice. 20 homers, 49 runs driven in, made the simple adjustment. And now we got the New Age Bash brothers out there. This dude hits homers. He's got the swag. He's, he's hit three homers in a game. He went nuts.

The celebrations are great. He looks like a future star. And I don't think anybody saw that coming on July 2nd when he had the 529 OPE. yes. It's put together a really, really good year. I believe his war is in the three now, in the threes now, which is kind of like, man, if you can put a war up in the threes, people like think, what's that mean? Go check it out. You'll see how many people put up a three war year. It's not many, okay? So Lawrence Butler and Brent Rooker are my surprise.

Another, you know, happy, optimistic surprise, the New Age Bash Brothers, man. You know what I like, Trev? Well, first of all, like that entry. lot because, you know, those guys deserve their shine. Lawrence Butler, most stolen bases in baseball without getting caught, 18 and 0. Yeah, I like that. It's pretty cool. Makes him kind of the Konseko of the Bash Brothers because Brent Rooker's got some Mark McGuire to him.

He does. He does. Good call, right? I don't know if Lawrence Butler wants to be that, but. Yeah, there's a lot of baggage there, but, you know, someone's got to fill the role. Come on, man. Play into it. It's history.

Should I keep being nice? we'll save disappointments for the end. Is that what we're doing? Sure. All right. Let's do that. It's a Padres pod, guys. It just is.

They're the hot story right now. They clinch last night. They're fun. I just mentioned the All-Star Break. They're 50 and 50. You know what happens two weeks after the All-Star Break, Trev, NBD? The trade deadline. The trade deadline is an important time of year to decide what,

exactly you are going to be in the final two months of the season the most important time of this season august and september the padres are known for making some pretty ballsy trades in their history going back 10 years at this point ever since the beginning of the a j preller era this year was no exception they made by far the most noise of any team at this year's traded deadline that was buying. Obviously selling, we'll probably sit in the Marlins. The Padres sent away their number two, number four, number five, and number 24 prospects, plus one other unranked prospect, and brought in a hall of talent. A lot of it was bullpen talent, which I think raised a lot of eyebrows because they traded position players and starting

pitchers to get relievers to build their super bullpen. And there is a very small margin of error when you're going that big on bullpen because if any one of those guys turns into duds, you're faced with a pretty tough transaction. Instead, everything has gone right for the pottery since the trade deadline, and a lot of it has to do with the guys they got. Brian Hoing,

listen, I'm an NL East fan. Wasn't in my book. Not going to lie. I mean, I watch the Marlins when we play them, and otherwise I try to ignore their existence because they're frustrating to me. they always beat my Mets. Brian Hoing was not in my book.

Since July 30th, the trade deadline itself, 0.87 ERA. It's the fourth best in the National League. How about Jason Adam? Established raise closer, bullpen factory, 1.07ERA, 6th in the National League. I was surprised by that. It's a big surprise.

Tanner Scott, he was supposed to be the guy guy. He's been great as well, 2.10, but not as good as the other two guys. The other two guys, hoeing, he's under control until 2029. Jason Adam, under control until 2027. Not only did the Padres build a Super Bowlpin for their impromptu World Series run this year, they have these guys for the foreseeable future. Aside from Tanner Scott, who's going to be a free agent and probably get a bag in this offseason.

So now, with those three guys, you've gotten 71 in two-thirds innings with a 1.38 ERA. That's going to help you win a lot of baseball games, I'd say. But that's not all they did. They didn't even finish there. They also picked up Martin Perez off the scrap heap from the Pittsburgh Pirates. Pittsburgh Pirates didn't want him anymore. They weren't interested in the innings he could provide. They traded him for an unranked prospect that I mentioned before.

And Martin Perez has been an absolute guy for the Padres out of nowhere. They're eaten one in his nine starts in San Diego. He's given up one earn run or less in six of his nine starts. His whip has dropped from 1.65 to 1.09 since he came over in Switch teams. And I think that's just Padres Voodoo Magic, man, because otherwise how can you possibly spin that working out that well for them? And I think the thing with me is like, you got to go out there and make moves for these things to happen.

You can stand Pat and trust in your talent, but at the end of the day, the Padres were always a talented team. and they saw an opportunity to get better, an opportunity that no other team seemed to be brave enough to take, considering how high the prices were at this year's deadline. They went out there, they fucking did it, and now they're on the fast track to maybe becoming the NL1 seed, and a big reason why are those moves.

So that was a big time surprise for me, because I thought at 50 and 50, you know, hovering around 500, they might have been a little more cautious. Instead, they push the big button, and now they're reaping the rewards. I love it. I've said it many times on our show. Your team could have had those guys. It would have been easy.

If you're looking at what the, if you're looking at what the Padres are doing, I mean, they have a formula. They have seventh, eighth, and ninth covered. I mean, that is, it's scary when you're a team and you understand, hey, they got these three fire-breathing dragons. They can mix a match, righties, lefties. And you have to basically win.

the game through six innings because it's going to be very difficult to score off those guys. We saw it last night with the Dodgers. I will say this. You talk about prices being too high. I think prospects are kind of like real estate. How do you know what the price is too high? When I bought my house, I was like, oh, the price is kind of high. Like, should I do that?

Turns out, got a great deal on my house. Turns out, like, you don't know. And you say You say they gave the second And the fourth and the fifth best prospects You know what happens when you get rid of those guys? New guys. Somebody else becomes your second, fourth and fifth best prospect.

Who cares? And you know what? On top of all that, like they do this pretty much every year. They always protect the right guys. You know who they didn't trade away last year or the year before? Jackson Merrill, who was the top five prospect. I think they just have a really keen eye on who they believe in

and who they might not, or maybe view as expendable, who knows what Robbie Snelling or Adam Mazur turns into, but there's a chance. They don't turn into much, and instead, now you have this Kansas City Royals 2015-esque bullpen that you got halfway through the season to just add on to everything. You don't know about that bullpen.

You were too young for that. I watched them ruin my dreams, Trout. That's true young. I forgot it was the Mets. I forgot about that. I know them better than anybody. Think about this. I mean, let's talk about me a little bit, obviously.

I saw that. Too much in me, my bad. 2014, 2015, 2016. Do you know who the American League representatives for the World Series were? 2014, 2015, Kansas City Royals. 2016? Guardians. Cleveland.

These are teams I'm playing against every freaking day. Wait, let's get me. I'm like, what can I get a piece of this act? You guys are going to the world series. I can't even make the playoffs. It hurt me. It hurt my soul. I'm getting your numbers versus the Royals bullpen right now.

I'm getting them right now. You know what? You know why I pump three times? Greg Holland. Home runoff Wade Davis. Let's go. One for eight. That was when he was a starter, though.

That was when he's a starter. Counts. Don't care. Counts. It doesn't go. Two off, two off Craig Allen? Let's go.

Only two. I thought I got three. No. Never faced Kelvin? Oh, Kelvin, you faced four for 10. You cook them. You own the bowl pen. You own them.

Andrew Miller? Guys. Let's find out. Find Andrew Miller. We're not going to talk about Andrew Miller. I pumped Andrew Miller in spring training one time. Okay. I remember coming back to the dugout and Bob Melvin goes, how'd you do that?

He's working on things. I was a menace in spring training. And then I signed with Oakland. I hit like 400. I was a freaking, I thought I was going to win. and Emily player like comeback of the year shit. Four for 14 off Cody Allen.

He's guys had nothing on you, Treve. You had to face them every week. You know what's funny? I actually was a pretty good hitter for a while. You guys never give me credit for that. Okay. I think we're going to talk a few disappointments. We're going to talk a few disappointments.

Before that, Bieber's going to tell us about draft kings a little bit. Please. Oh, yeah. That chill is. the air leaves falling to the ground and football every weekend. That's what fall is all about. You can make each weekend

even more exciting by getting into the action with our partners at Draft Kings. The number one place to bet on touchdowns. Right now, all new customers who bet just $5 will instantly get $200 in bonus bets when you use code talking. Stay in on the action. Use your $200 bonus bets

to bet anytime touchdowns on Draft Kings. So download the Draft King Sportsbook app. Now, new customers use promo code talking and bet just $5 on any wager and get $200 in bonus pets instantly. That's promo code talking only at Draft King's Sportsbook. Gambling problem, call 1-800 gambler. In New York, call 8778-Y or text Hope & Y 467369.

In Connecticut, help is available for problem gambling. Call 888-88-889-77777. Or visit ccpg.org. Please play responsibly on behalf of Boot Hill Casino and Resort in Kansas. 21 and over, age and eligibility varies by jurisdiction. Void in Ontario. Bonus bets expire. 68 hours after issuance.

For additional terms or responsible gaming resources, see dkNG.com slash FT Ball. So I think I'm going to piggyback off of your trade deadline talk with the Padres. Also, I wanted to just look this up. The Padres have this guy,

I talked about it on the show before, his name's Sean Reynolds. He's 6'8. Fire Breathing Dragon. They sent him down, like, on August 30th. They're too rich. They're too rich, man.

What you want them to say? The guy had a 0.82 ERA, a 0.98f, and they just sent him out. 21Ks and 11 innings. The Padres, they're that DJ Khalid album cover suffering from success where they're like this, but they're kind of smiling. Because they just got too much tone right now. They don't know what to do. Do you just get him out of here? Do you know where he came from?

No. The Marlins. Oh, okay. I was just taking a guess. Taking a shot. That's fair. Okay. Speaking of my twins, they are going to be a disappointment for me for a couple of different reasons. I think the expectations coming into this year were pretty high in Minnesota. You have your first postseason series win since Moby was a minnow. You know what I'm saying? It had been a while since the twins have had some postseason success. So you bring in Carlos Correa. Things are looking good. Royce Lewis is here and you have all this momentum going into 2024.

And then TV deal kind of goes awry, which happened to a lot of teams. Front office comes out and says, hey, along with the ownership, we have to cut payroll, which means no significant additions in the off season. So a team that wins their first postseason series is largely together in attacked core now is not going to add and fix their deficiencies. You're like, okay, that stinks. But hey, we got, we got enough. We got guys here. You know, we think we can do this. And for a while, they were doing it. You know, they were chasing down the guardians, but, you know, had a couple really good months. The offense really

started to click. Things were all good. Royce gets hurt on like the first day. So they were waiting for him to come back. He ends up coming back against the Yankees, comes back with a bang, hits a homer in the first game, I think they end up getting swept there. They go on this, that run,

but they won 12 in a row. They were playing bad ball at the beginning of the season. They go on the run, win 12 in a row, don't even look back from there. So, okay, now they're a success story of 2024.

Trade deadline comes around. There was a few deficiencies for this team. You know, I think that starting pitching wasn't a super strength as far as depth for them and I also do think

that there just wasn't a lot of starting pitchers available for the Minnesota Twins and kind of what they were doing so I don't really fault them for not going out and getting a starter you still had Pablo

Joe Ryan was still there Bailey Ober was doing his thing and you had some young guys that showed some promise so you're also hoping Chris Paddock came back I don't fault them for not going to get any starter. But the bullpen, which was supposed to be

maybe the biggest strength of the team, they were supposed to be one of the best bullpins in all the baseball, going into the season. On paper, they probably were. Dealt with some injuries. Brock Stewart never really got going. Justin Topa hasn't seen the field. Got him in a, the trader for him

and the Jorge Polanco deal, never saw the field. So now you're looking at bullpen depth that you're understanding, hey, we need some help in the bullpen. You just mentioned San Diego going out and doing it. And the twins went out and got, I get these guys mixed up, I believe it was Trevor Richards. Not Trevor Rogers.

Trevor Rogers is the guy from the Marlins, right? Trevor Richards. Warren Hamillader. They went out and got Trevor Richards, who, by the way, is a right-hander that throws, I don't know, 91 miles an hour, his big pitches is change up. He was supposed to be the guy that neutralized lefties for them. Did not work out.

They've released him. I don't know they sent him down or released, I think they released him. They fumbled. They fumbled, jolly. They could have went out. They have one of the better farm systems in baseball. They got a bunch of left-handed hitting outfielders,

almost too many that they could have parted with, and they could have helped this team and helped the bullpen, but they didn't do it. That's disappointment number one. That was tough. I think that that really took the wind out of the sales in that club out.

I think it really did. Number two, I think that they've mishandled Royce Lewis. Now they're telling everybody he's not a third base, that they want to move into second base, like the throwing motion isn't there. I don't think that's something you do

to your best offensive player in the middle of a playoff race. I just don't think that that's the time to do it. If you want to move a guy to a different position, second base is not just something, a position you can just throw a guy over to. I don't think Royce has the skill set to go and move over there without a full off-season of training.

Like getting reps feeling it so he can feel comfortable. He doesn't have that in him. And that's okay. He's a great ball player. That's coincided with him having a prolonged slump. A guy who was maybe the most confident player I've ever been around. He came out and said, I don't do that slump thing. They started to kind of move him off a third base, get over to the second base.

Then all of a sudden, man, you lose a little bit of that confidence. oh, I'm not good enough and he's been slumping ever since then. I don't think they're 100% like, well, I think they're correlated but I don't think it's 100% to blame but it's definitely partly to blame. That guy needs that confidence.

That is his superpower and you're draining it from him. So I think they completely mishandled that situation that did not go make any efforts at the trade deadline. They were cut payroll to start the year. So this is a team. that had all the momentum in the world, man,

and they are on the verge now of not making the playoffs, an epic meltdown. They got to be on my disappointment list. They've got to be. And they are. I appreciate you being transparent there, Trev. I mean, I don't want to be rude, but I look at these kind of stats sometimes. If you take away their record against the White Sox,

which, you know, you can't take away games, in a season. I'm just outlining this to paint a picture. They would be six games under 500. They're 12 and 1 against the White Sox. That's inflating them to an 81 and 76. You can say that about the Tigers too. Yes, you can absolutely, you can say that about any team

in the A.S Central. Every team. Pretty much any team that's played this. I think except the Guardians, right? Darn it the Guardians like 500 against the White Sox. I think when I, when we last looked they were like seven and five against them or something like, whatever the numbers would be. Point being like with the twins, it's just all,

all domino effect and every team gets injuries so you can't use that as a crutch for explaining why things went wrong but i'm glad that we went one after the other with padre's deadline and twins deadline because these teams were not even in similar areas i think the twins were in a better position in the podres at the trade deadline and that's how quickly things can change in two months based on what your front office does for you um one move is not enough for a team trying to win a division doesn't matter what the move is uh a team can always benefit from reinforcements and i really did feel like this team's a couple of relievers away from becoming a much more lockdown pitching stuff one more thing on my twins because i just got to get it off my chest they

pinch hit pretty much more than anyone that is their philosophy and whether that's in the fifth inning whether you know it doesn't matter like when a matchup presents itself roco ball deli is going to take it and they have had abysmal abysmal numbers pinching Mani Margo is 0 for 30. Yeah. He hasn't got a hit and they continue to do it. I also think that taking guys out in like the fifth inning and just pinch hitting does not allow people to become comfortable in their own skin. You're constantly looking over your shoulder when you're on the on deck circle.

A lot of these guys are switching positions, two positions a night. Like it's not a comfortable brand of baseball. And you say, oh, these are professionals. They got to get used to it. No, man. The game is hard. Especially on the offensive side. Like, you need to feel comfortable.

And they just, because they pitch it so much. And at such early times in the game, not only has it not worked, but I think it's just caused like this anxious feeling within the clubhouse. It's just, I don't think it's the right brand of baseball. I don't. Yeah, like some teams can play

into that, but baseball is a creature of routine kind of sport where guys really benefit from knowing where they're going to hit and knowing where they're going to play on a day-to-day basis. And shifting that around to try and create electricity, sometimes just can blow up in your face. They, yeah, looking at pinch hit stuff, the twins of pinch hit the second most times in baseball,

they have the eighth worst WRC plus. Oh, no. And a big group that's in that window. So one more bad one, I think, can swing it either way. But that part of their game wasn't in my book. Wasn't in mine either. Let's go one more disappointment, I think, before we wrap things up. We're talking managing, right?

We're talking about making moves and games and who to use when and all that. A manager can be really important to a team season. It also could have little effect. Now, this one, it kind of feels like low-hanging fruit, but I think we're at the point where we can talk about it because the season is at its end nearly. I am submitting Craig Counsel as my disappointment. Not the Chicago Cups, even though they were a disappointing team this year,

a team I did expect to compete and win the NL Central. Craig counsel signed the largest manager deal ever this past off season. Five years, $40 million. He had an offer on the table. To the bank, baby. To the bank. I think more than he earned as a player, don't quote me on that. So, I mean, you can't fault him for that.

No, it's not Craig's fault. I want to preface this entire discussion by saying that. But when you take that money and you take that paycheck and you make headlines and history, you are the face of whatever happens after that, essentially. Go to the division rival. And you go to the division rival. After your hometown, not hometown team, but your home team offered you $5 million a dollar,

$5 million a year annually, which would have still made you the highest paid manager ever. Here's where I'm at with this. I think it's insult to injury that at this point, the two guys that are probably going to win National League manager of the year are employed by the two teams that wanted Craig counsel the most outside of the Cubs, which are the Brewers and the Mets with Mendoza and Pat Murmans.

Murphy. Insults injury. That's tough. The Cups have the seventh highest payroll in baseball this year. It's the highest of any team with a record that low. The six teams in front of them are either in playoff position or have a better record than them. This is a team that added showda Imanaga. They added Michael Bush via trade. They added a bunch of relievers to the bullpen to bolster that side of it. And a stat that I think is one of the few that you can look at when trying to evaluate a manager's effect on a game is the Pythagorean win-loss record, which basically takes run differential, puts it into a blunder, and gives you an expected win-loss total based on how many runs you're scoring and how many runs you're allowing. Now, run differential has its flaws. There

are blowout games for and against you that can skew the number. The Cubs are underperforming their Pythagorean win-loss record more than any other team in baseball besides the White Sox. They're supposed to be, by this metric 86 and 72, which would have them half a game back of the final final playoff spot in the National League. Instead, there's six games back of the final playoff spot in the National League, and their season is pretty much over. They're on pace for 83 wins.

Do you know how many games they won last year under David Ross? 83. 83 games. It's going to be the exact same win-loss total based on their pace right now. It's Council's lowest win total in a season since 2016, which was his second year in Milwaukee, his first full season there, before they became the team that they've been for the season. the past 10 or so years.

It's just, it looked like an all-time baseball move that could have been, like this is where the things really turned for the Cubs in the 2020s. And instead, it's kind of just like, well, now you just flush $40 million down the drain for something that basically didn't have an effect on your team.

It makes counsel look bad because now he looks like a guy that could have been a system manager in Milwaukee because Pat Murphy has done such a good job there with less, tools at his disposal. At the same time, Cubs, what is you doing, baby? Because you spent $40 million on council and then you didn't make another move for two months after that.

So it was just a really frustrating season, I'm sure, for Cubs fans to watch unfold, knowing the talent they have on this roster with guys like Ian Hap, say Suzuki had a great year. PCA has kind of emerged now as a younger talent, the rotation S pieces. Like, there was no reason why this team should not have won the NL Central. one of the less competitive divisions in baseball. And instead, here they are, basically where they were at the end of last season. So Craig Counsel and the Cubs, I guess, put them in one if you want.

They're my disappointment. I never thought that this was the move that was going to put the Cubs over the hub. I don't know. There's just, it's a tone. So much a guy can do. I get you can set tones. But usually you set tones with like really young teams and kind of guys that are, they had veterans on that team.

They had guys that are making a ton of money. That's, those guys take over the clubhouse. Yeah. Like they, they had things in place. That's why, like,

I said, Stephen Vogt can have an effect on that clubhouse because there are some young guys. Obviously, Jose Ramirez is the leader there, but I think there's a lot of guys that he had to kind of instill faith in and give them that,

you know, that confidence in themselves. I don't think the Cubs necessarily needed. that. So I don't really know, you know, was he going to manage circles around everybody else? Was he going to get everyone in the perfect situations? That'll help. But yeah, from the get go, I thought this was silly. We talked about the Cubs con poster. And like the biggest name on it was Craig Counsel. I was like, what about the players, man? Like, is this real? Forgot about that. I'm not going to lie. So, you know, the expectations were huge. I think that just never was going to be what

maybe that front office thought it was going to be. I mean, we've seen teams in the past, like, usher in new eras with men. Like, the one I always think of is when Cleveland picked up Terry Francona from Boston. Like, that really began their era in the 2010s. And I thought, hey, like, the same thing can happen here. It just first year didn't go great. Well, I love it.

Don't love it for the Cubs. Don't know for a great counsel. But I think this is a good episode. I think we shed a lot of light. We could have talked about Chris. sale. Yeah. And, like, I mean, I think that's one of the bigger surprises.

We didn't get our lives. That's okay. That's fine. This guy's been a great pitcher, guys. But, you know, what he's doing now, potentially winning the triple crown in the NL, I think that's a big surprise. You could even go, Ronaldo Lopez. Yes, Jolly?

Tune in to Jollyellia off the Saturday if you want to hear more about Chris Sale. There you go. Shout out. That's a great, great YouTube channel. Go check it out. We could have talked about Mason Wynn, kind of being the guy. St. Louis, a lot of different things, man. Sometimes, man.

What's no what you think is the biggest surprise, biggest disappointment. Jax sucks. I'm always disappointed in Jake. It's true. Always. Seth Lugo. Yeah. Yeah, Royal starting pitching staff could have definitely been in there.

O's deadline. Hunter Gaddis. You're a hundred Gattas, kind of. Always Hunter Gaddis. Jaron. Jaron Jarns, kind of a big surprise. Trump Carlo had a nice year. Thanks, Jolly.