Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - Who Has the Best Infield, Outfield, Bullpen, and Rotation? | 641

Episode Date: March 27, 2023

It's our annual Position Unit Draft! Jomboy, Talkin' Jake, Trevor Plouffe, and BBD are drafting an Infield, Outfield, Rotation, and Bullpen. You cannot select two units from the same team, Outfield includes the DH position, Infield includes the catcher position!Use code JOMBOYPRESEASON for 15% off your next purchase at SeatGeek* https://seatgeek.onelink.me/RrnK/JOMBOYPRESEASON*max discount $50, expires 3/31/2023Visit https://get.bluemoonbeer.com/BASEBALL to see delivery options.Gambling Problem? Call [phone] or visit gamblinghelplinema.org (MA), Call 877-8-HOPENY/text HOPENY (467369) (NY),If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, crisis counseling and referralservices can be accessed by calling 1-800-GAMBLER (1-800-426-2537)(CO/IL/IN/LA/MD/MI/NJ/OH/PA/TN/WV/WY), 1-800-NEXT STEP (AZ), 1-800-522-4700(KS/NH), 888-789-7777/visit ccpg.org (CT), 1-800-BETS OFF (IA), visit OPGR.org (OR), or1-888-532-3500 (VA).21+ (18+ NH/WY). Physically present in AZ/CO/CT/IL/IN/IA/KS/LA(selectparishes)/MA/MD/MI /NH /NJ/ NY/OH/OR/PA/TN/VA/WV/WY only. VOID IN ONT. Eligibilityrestrictions apply.Bonus bets (void in MA/NH/OR): Valid 1 per new customer. Min. $5 deposit. Min $5 pregame moneyline bet. Bet must win. $150 issued as six (6) $25 bonus bets. Bonus Betsare non-cashable and cannot be withdrawn. Bonus bets must be wagered 1x and stakeis not included in any returns or winnings. Bonus Bets expire 7 days (168 hours) afterbeing awarded. Promotional offer period ends 5/28/23 at 11:59PM ET. See terms atsportsbook.draftkings.com/baseballtermsNo Sweat Bet: Valid 1 offer per customer. Opt in req. Valid only on MLB bets. First betafter opting in must lose. Paid as one (1) bonus bet based on the amount of your initiallosing bet. Max. $10 bonus bet awarded. Bonus bets are non-cashable and cannot bewithdrawn. Bonus bets must be wagered 1x. Bonus bet stake is not included in anyreturns or winnings. Bonus bets expire 7 days (168) hours after being awarded.Promotional offer period ends 4/2/23 at 11:59PM ET. See terms atsportsbook.draftkings.com/baseballterms.++++Timestamps:0:00 Intro9:05 The Draft 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. It is the position units draft. Everybody's favorite episode. Make sure you comment. Well, my favorite episode, let's do it. Hello and welcome to talking baseball. Thank you very much for joining us today. It is opening week.

This Thursday opening day is here. My name is Jimmy. Jake is sitting next to me. We got Trev coming from California and BBD behind the dish. And before the season starts, we got a job. draft some units. So that's what we're doing today. Trev, how you doing?

I'm doing great. There's a lot of talk of me dying before the episode started. So I hope we like don't do that anymore. Because I'm feeling pretty good. My body feels all right. There was just some signs I think from nature that were pointing that way. But this is James.

One of my favorite episodes to do because I feel like we all win. There's a lot of good units out there in baseball. And we get to talk about them all. Jake, take your headphones off. I want to see your outfit in, like, it's full get-up. It's just going to be really tricky because I won't be able to hear you, Trevor, James. Yeah, I'm wearing my snakes. I plan on taking any one of their position groups.

Jimmy did note before the draft only bullpen with a negative war last year in the desert. So I'm, do you believe in bouncebacks in regression? I guess we'll see in the draft. But yeah, I got my snakes bucket head on, which does not pair with podcasting headphones very well. But we're here, fellas. I mean, an iconic talking baseball episode, like James said, we are streaming opening day all day, Thursday with the games. Anthony Volpe will be at shortstop for the Yankees. And yeah, Trev, you said, no more death talk, and you brought it up yourself.

So that's how we randomly got there. But I think we can put that in our rear view for now or at least till later in the episode. James? Let's do it. Let's draft some units. The big unit. People forget about that. How are we deciding who goes first?

Because this is always a problem for us. Well, apparently you won last year, Traff. Last year's champ. Do you want? Historically, we do random number generator. I'm more of a random guy. Okay. Do you remember who you chose last year?

Do we have to have a tweet somewhere like a graphic out? Yeah, I think it's also on our normal sheet. It's at the very bottom. There's definitely a graphic. Talking baseball. Okay. So for those that don't know, you draft an infield, the whole team. Obviously, you're going to talk about the expected starters,

but by the end of the year, you get just whoever played those positions, stats and war and all that. You're going to get an outfield. Outfield includes D. infields includes catcher, uh, bullpen and rotation. So that is four rounds.

Four rounds. You cannot, you cannot have two units from the same team. Last year, BBD, Twins infield catcher, outfield DH, Philly's rotation Mets, bullpen Braves,

Trevor Plouffe, Blue Jays infield, Astros outfield, Dodgers rotation, White Sox Penn, Jimmy Dodgers infield, Yankees outfield, White Sox rotation in Ray's bullpen, and I had the Braves infield, the Angels outfield, the Brewers rotation, and the Giants bullpen.

Who won? Because I had a couple hiccups there. Sounds like James had a hiccup. You had a hiccup. BPD's whole thing was a hiccup. I think, ooh, I'm okay. With Astros outfield and DH, you did well. I think that Blue Jays infield and Dodgers rotation.

Jimmy, I think, got a good boost from the Yankees outfield, and especially that one guy. And then, yeah. Who were the four infielders, infields we chose last year? Twins, Blue Jays, Dodgers, Braves. Twins were the Mr. Irrelevant pick. Twins were 10th in war last year.

Blue Jays were second. Dodgers were third. And then, Rays, you said? Braves. Braves were fourth. So we missed the number. We missed the number one. We missed the number one.

which was St. Louis. They'll be up there this year. And they were a snub when it happened. I remember that. Yeah, yeah. I remember we ended and we were like, well,

what happened? What was your question? Where was Red Sox people last year? All I got that day was, why didn't you pick Red Sox? Why didn't pick Red Sox? They were... Cardinals was a known.

I was skipping over them. Red Sox finished 15th in war in the infield last year. All right. All of you were wrong. I was right. Wow. And I said, I think I said on the,

episode Cardinals would be the smart pick here but I wanted twins because I like Gio and Gary and they just got Correa who's good they were a fun group to root for St. Louis Cardinals fans are sneaky just as mad at us as Mariners fans a lot if we don't talk about them or pick them so shout out St. Louis and the rooster downtown shout out to the roosters and the rooster the rooster downtown so you want to do random number to start this off or how do you want to do it yep let's do random number here's my pick. Now we know your pick. That's okay.

Okay. It's a random number generator. What's Jake? Yeah, that we have to know the numbers we pick. I'm just saying. We're actually all revealing. Right now we could box you out.

Jake would choose 45. I would choose, or 44, I would choose 46 and your chances would be screwed. Unless it lands on 45. Yeah. Well, yeah. 77.

14. 23. I think I'm the most boxed there. Come on, Volpe. Am I doing it? Usually. Okay. And I'm on three.

Okay. So I go first. Jimmy's 14. So you did max of 100, not max of 3, right? Because I got 57. I had one through 100. Nice. Why don't you spend it again and get closer to mind?

I believe you. So you have your pick of pick. I'm choosing to go first. Confident. Choosing to go first. Okay. BPD, do you want to go second, third, or the wrap round? I think I will select the second pick.

Wow. Okay. Treve. I'm going three. I like three hole. Clean me up. Well, Jake, you get two of the top five picks. What I say when Trevor's done with me.

So that's exciting for you. And thus, position draft is brought to you by Blue Moon. Ooh. I'd have to do a Blue Moon draft after this. You know what I'm saying? That's a double entendre draft. Whoa. Spring training is here and almost gone.

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Valencia oranges only. Is that Cali? Are those Cali oranges? Oh, I grew up next to Valencia, but I think that might be a Florida thing. A lot of orange grows out there in Valencia. We'll find out. Valencia oranges are a type of orange.

That makes sense. Famed in Valencia, Spain. But yeah, we've got them in SoCal now. maybe Florida too. All right, you guys ready? I mean, I'm ready. I can take a catnab for the turn, but I'm ready. Wow.

Okay, I'm taking the Astros pitching. My number one pick. Rotation or bullpen? Rotation. Okay. Although bullpen's a good pick out of them as well, if you want that. They're just good. They're just good.

They got Framber, Javier, Luis Garcia. the Jose or Kitty. And then McCuller's going to come back, Hunter Brown. They got options. I like their depth in case someone gets hurt. And then I like their depth, one through four, as well as a rotation. I think they're going to be at a good team. They're going to be competing and putting up good stats.

Verlander's not there. So it's kind of like a, you might say that hurts them. And sure it may, but also I think it's kind of a little bit of a dance to say who's going to step up and fill that spot, and they're all going to do it. So I'm taking the Astros starting rotation with my number one pick. Do you see what I'm doing right here, James?

Stretching? I feel like that's a little bit of a stretch to the number and overall pick. I don't think it's a bad choice. I mean, look, it's the Houston Astros pitching staff. There is depth there. But number one overall, I think I might have went somewhere

a little bit different. That's fine. And you should have got the best. number closest to three. I should have, I guess. And what was the number three? That's my number. You're not troubled at all by my choice here.

It won't change your choice. You have the next one, right? No, BPD does. I have the next one. Astor's rotation definitely one of the draftable rotations on my board. They were the, they were the number one rotation last year. They lost that big guy.

Yeah, they lost their big guy. They're also one of the, the organization knows. how to pitch. I guess it's going to be interesting. Gwen McCuller's back. And it's a big year for like a Luis Garcia. Like, are you a dude, dude?

And maybe he is because Christian Javier did that last year. Yeah. And I looked at the, if one of the top four gets hurt, how much does one of the top three gets hurt, how much does it change? And out of the best options, they were the one where I was like, not that much. Yeah.

They'll pitch. They'll pitch. Okay. So that's how I did it. The injury test. Okay. Davis I like that

With my second pick I wouldn't have gone Asher's rotation First overall This is the team I would have taken Had I gotten first So I'm glad I picked the second pick

I will take the St. Louis Cardinals infield I think they're Just between Like ability And then The depth they've got At those positions

I'm excited to have them They were by far My number one unit they upgrade the offense at the catcher position tremendously with Wilson Contreras this year. They have last year's first and third place MVP. I forget exactly where Aronado finished. No, he was top three. Tommy Edmund's a guy we believe in.

Nolan Gorman's fully an extra guy. Brendan Donovan, also kind of an extra guy slated as their primary second baseman for now. They got studs. They've got a good mix of youth and vets. I'm excited to have them. It's a strong pick. what Goldschmidt and Aeronado did last year on the corner of the infield of sick

and the fact Wilson's now there and Tommy Edmund locked up that shortstop job after years of being like, I don't know, who's the Cardinal shortstop? Is it DeYoung? And yeah, Brent Donovan casually won a utility gold glove and wrapped up four war last year and that's before you get to Nolan.

So yeah, DeYoung's still around to his death. Strait right now. The Newarker, man. Jordan Walker got the call. Jesus. Yeah. I mean, going from Snubb last year, year to getting picked second overall this year.

That's a pretty big jump. And I guess that's a testament to what, Tommy Eben and Brendan Donovan, like, coming on to the scene a little bit because they've really solidified that, you know. Yeah, second base is actually where they got majority of their war last year. They were the number one infield. And second base was

8.9, where first base was 6.8 and third base was 7.3. But the combination there at second, did them in. Only negative spot was catch. I think that gets cooked a little. bit because I think other guys got credit, like from the days they're not playing second base on that. I think we looked into that last year.

Like, I think they forced them into a position. So I think even some of Brendan Donovan or Gorman and Edmundsats when they weren't playing second, still get classified a second base. So that's where they're playing other individuals. Yeah, or the days when they're in exact science. Those guys aren't playing first and third. Yeah. It gets those positions get knocked down.

Kind of. Yeah. Either, I don't know which one it is. Yeah. But catcher is the only spot where they were negative last year. And they should be. They were still defending.

Yeah. Not bad. I, that would have been my number one overall pick, Beaver. So a great pick right there. I have a backup plan. And I'm also going to choose an infield. This is one I truly believe, and I had him last year.

I'm going to go with the Toronto Blue Jays infield. I like young studs. You guys know that. I think Boba Shett's one of the more underrated players in the game. We're going to have Vlad doing Vlad things. I like at the catcher position, there's not like a big drop-off between your backup catcher and your primary catcher.

You kind of have like two guys that can go do it. Then you know I'm always going to root for my guy Matt Chapman. It's a contract year for him. Things are going to go really well for him. And then also on the bench, like I like guys. If somebody was to get injured, you know, Kevin Vigio's there, Espino's there, like they have the depth also.

I think, is it the turf? Do they just go a little bit faster on that turf, even though the infield's dirt? I don't know, but I can't quit the Blue Jays infield. I'm constantly, I constantly find myself rooting for this team, not just the infield in general. Like, I want to see these guys, like, show up. Like, they've talked to big game,

and they've done some good things at the big league level. I think it is time for them to take the next step. So I will select my Blue Jays infield with a third overall pick in this draft. Good choice. Like we said, the number one and two infields from last year off the board in Cardinals and Blue Jays. Birds. Bo Bichette has led the American League in hits the past two seasons. That's kind of a crazy stat because I don't know.

He's at the top of the lineup and he plays every game. But still, you're like, wow, that guy does that. If he's got another gear, I think he's. He's 25 now. It's insane. And Vladdy kind of came down from his MVP year, and he might even take back up. So, yeah, that's a strong pick. Jake, two infields off the board.

You have two picks coming up. Are you going to snag your third infield spot? Or are you going to go elsewhere? I have a few infields I'm pretty comfortable with. So I think I can... I thought that was a draft. I thought that was a packed unit. I like what the guys did.

Like I think those two Those two teams are Our first round eligible I think those were my top two And if I didn't get one of those two There was a lot that were Three to six So what I think I'm going to do

Ooh I do have a sleeper pick there You know what I have two Outfields I really like I'm just going to have to pick between them And I think I'll go chalky with it and I will run it back from last year. I will take the Los Angeles Angeles Outfield.

The fact that it's outfield in D.H. You get Trout and Otani. Taylor Ward had his little breakout last year. Maybe he can build upon that. Even if they can't, they brought in Hunter Renfro. The guy's like an auto 30 homers and plays really good defense. So I will take my A's Angels outfield. You know, it'll stink when they trade Shohei and Trout this year.

I believe in it and I I'll bet on those guys Although there's there's a couple other outfields out there that are nice But they're the ones I believe in Injuries and all that last year hurt them They finished outfield and DH 8th And MLB war wise I had identified them as a first round draftable group But I don't think that number has show hay in it

His D.H numbers? Yeah. You said that was outfield, right? Outfield and D.H. Oh, okay. You just said outfield. That's why I asked. I said outfield in D.H.

3.8, 8.6. 3.8 from the D.H and 8.6 from the outfield. Unfortunately, I don't get Showe's pitching stats. Not part of this, but good hitter. Mike Trout, Shohey, O'Honnie. I love the Hunter Renfoe love because I feel like he's one of those guys that needs more love. And that's what we, you know, when we first set out on this show, we said let's the guys don't get talked about a lot let's talk about them a little bit

honor renfro's one of those guys taylor ward everyone in camp liking this guy thinking he can maintain that pace he started maybe not maintain the pace he started last year at but like something of that gist and i think you got a nice pick there with your first overall what'd you have for their outfield war fan graphs has it at 3.8 as a team I don't have Trout missed a lot of time. Yeah, Trout still had a six-war season last year. So they had the most people play in the big leagues last year with under-replacement-level statistics.

So maybe they just got dragged down. Were they all corner outfielders? Bring down Trout. I don't know. So 8.6 on war last year. And then DH 3.8. Yeah. Okay.

Trout was six. Ward was four. Otani, nine and a half. That's where we'll get in the books. I think it comes down from other guys, no? Yeah, but you can only bring it down so hard. We'll get there. Love my pick.

I like your pick too. And I will go with a sneaky, I guess you don't get really value from the bullpen. So I will go with, I think I'm going to go with a starting rotation. And the question is which one, right? Like, that's the whole game. Mm-hmm.

I'm going to go with the Seattle Mariners. No. Sounds like Treve was interested. We've seen Luis Castillo come to full-blown fruition as he's found a home, a pitcher's ballpark, and competitive baseball. Robbie Ray, Logan Gilbert, George Kirby, with some Marco Gonzalez and Chris Flexen. depth. I really like what Seattle's done,

and I think they've had to build a roster that can compete with Houston. And I think safe-wise for the rotation, I think they're the play. So Seattle. I like that rotation a lot. I was another, I was looking at. West Coast, baby. I've been cherry-picked twice now on my picks. That's okay.

I do like this rotation a lot because of the depth. Not only at the big level, They have six guys that they're going to run out there, most likely throughout the year. Flexing being the guy that's kind of a swing man, if you will. But then they have a bunch of guys coming up as well. So, like, there's just a ton of depth. And we also have to pander to our Seattle Mariners fans that they'll yell at us. So that's another reason, Jake, that's nice to take them in the second round.

I've never pandered, but I will see them out in July. Got about that. Double-checking baseball reference to see if they calculate it differently. They have, because they do calculate it differently. differently, but see if it's wildly off. They have the Angels Outfield War, all outfield for last year as 6.9. And the D.H is 3.2.

So I think it's the same. So I don't know what gets it there. Yeah. Well, 8.6 is more than 6.9. You'd added the D. We'll figure all this out, people. Let's get the draft. That's why we usually skip that part.

All right. Jesus. That's how we calculate who wins, no? Yeah, but I think it's, okay. It's also little vibes. I'm just reading the numbers off the sheet. Is this low, let's not be low viz. It's not. Get away from that a couple times

because the numbers get messy. We did this at the end of last year. Here's what I'm thinking with my pick. The outfield situation, it's like not, like when I'm looking at everything, it's not that great. I dig the angels pick, but then every time I go to an outfit,

I'm like, ah, like, there's some people there that I don't really want. So I think that's like the, the worst unit group in the big leagues right now? Is that even a thing? Do you guys believe that? When you look at that, do you feel the same way? I feel like every team's got like a question mark. I see what you're saying. You think there'd be more full outfields.

Yeah. But in saying that, I'm going to draft an outfield. Okay. Because there's one guy here that I just can't quit and I think they'll figure things out. When Dr. Smooth comes back, I really like this outfield. I'm going to take the Houston and Astros Outfield. And their DH, because their D.H. Because their D.H. is Jordan fucking Alpharez. And they also have that Abraham Lincoln M.F.

are out there in right field. So I like the Astros depth here. And like the ceiling, I guess, is very, very high for the Astros. Outfield. And for that reason, I'm taking them. It was between them and the Braves for me. And I just think Yordon puts him over the top a little bit there. There is a world where he had 60 homers this year.

So Astros' second overall pick, second round pick for me in the outfield. It's a good one. It's good. I thought you might do some gamesmanship because I really like four outfields. And I thought with Jimmy having taken Houston's rotation, there could have been a way you guys could have gamed him out of one of the good outfields, IMO. But with what Yordon and Tucker are going to do, I mean.

You land in a good place. And Trev, this will probably help you. I just decided I was going to go for them this round, so I'm doing a little scrambling. So you were able to get one of your snakes back. The only other thing I was thinking with this outfield grouping is what is the Padres out field going to look like once Fernando comes back. And he's only got out for 20 games or whatever, 20 days, whatever it is.

I think once you see him there, they could have persuaded me, but your Don's the X-Fes. factor for me here. I think he's just too good to pass up. Really good. And, all right, I think I've landed on my pick. There isn't fully a gamesmanship strategy because I think Jimmy couldn't take either of the two picks I'm considering here. So I'll take Astros' bullpen off the board. They're one of the teams. You blindly believe in them to figure out that bullpen. They've got studs. Ryan Presley's as good as anybody. They just gave Montero. I can't take them. You can't take them. I couldn't do any gamesmanship. Well, you can take someone else.

and just get them after I'm done. I'm taking a rotation in the next round. You also can't take them. These are the two picks. Tushay. I couldn't think of a way to game it more. So taking Astros. Bullpen, just blindly believe they,

they're a team that can figure it out midseason if these guys aren't doing it. So they're gonna do it. And these guys, I don't see a guy I don't believe in. I thought about taking them. I went, I went with bigger war because I think as a bullpen you can you can only rack up so so much but they're I mean Presley Montero Brayon Naras-Anik Natan like and they'll get some other dude

it's as close as you can get to penning in a good bullpen is is Ryan Presley like if you had to pick one guy to come in and get you a safe and you just were like he's going to do a good job he's not going to walk guys he's going to go after guys Like he's on the short list of closers that you put in the game. Yeah, Kossay was... Kase, yeah. Unbelievable last year. There's a couple guys that pure armed talent,

I think you'd end up taking Presley. Sure. But what Presley's done, I mean, you know, when we were getting into those change-up stats during last year's playoffs, threw it 4% of the time during the year, and then he was throwing it in 3-2 counts and stuff. You're like, you're a sicko, dude.

Yeah, he's, and the guys that are setting him up are absolutely filthy too. And again, I don't know if, like, check stats on this. People in my mind, I just don't see them walking anybody. Like, they just don't give free passes. And that's the way to win in the bullpen. Clean innings, Jim. Mm-hmm. And clean innings, like the way they manage them.

Yeah. Dusty. I'm taking the Braves infield. It's a good one. They lose Dansby, but they get Matt Olson without the shift, and they get Sean Murphy behind the dish. And our CIA Hill would just probably be a good, awesome brave anyway. Grissom will be up again at some point, right?

Could? They finished to the top five last year. And they're really good. Ozzy, healthy. Yeah. Healthy Ozzy will definitely help out a lot. Austin Riley's just turned into a monster. And then Orlando Arcia, I think you're right, James.

I think he's just going to find, like, he's going to be, like, Jake likes to say a piece of the puzzle. Just fits right in there. It doesn't have to do too much. Just kind of has to play his game. So I think you might see a little uptick there offensively as there's literally zero pressure for him to perform offensively right now. And then, yeah, you bring in Sean Murphy and you have Travis Darnow. So that's one of those things where you get both catchers as well. I like it.

year two of Matt Olson in that division too. Serf having a nice city connect jersey. Yeah. I like them. And then I'm taking the Yankees outfield. They got Judge. They finished second last year with Judge and basically Judge alone. Stan hit 30 home runs last year and it was a bad year for him.

So I think you can, if you think he's going to do better, you got Stanton and Judge. And then if Bader comes back, I think in three weeks, he gets a lot of defensive war. and they don't have Gallo and Hicks rotating 140 games. So hopefully they only, the fringes improve, which,

and Stanton going up helps the come down of judge wherever it falls because he's not going to do what he did again. But it's a pretty safe pick, I think. So I'm taking the Yankees outfield plus D.H. I like that. Didn't Boone say that Stan's going to be playing some outfield

40 games? They're put a number on it. I listened to your guys interview. with Aaron Boone, which snaps for you guys. That was amazing. 40 games out there, huh? I mean, it was cool. The way Boone defended it is like a lot of just people that talk about baseball say it.

Like, hey, you know, it's good to keep the body active and, you know, play in the game and not just sit stiff for three innings and take your bat. So, yeah, that would be nice. And if our guy is Waldo gets a lot of run in the outfield this year, he racked up a two war in 44 games, basically just on defense. So if he's out there and he can make some plays, you can get some points that way.

I like it. It is a safe pick. But the ceiling is very high as well. Low floor, high ceiling. Who's next? BPD? My turn. No, it's BPD.

Shit. My turn. I'm going to a rotation, like I said. I think the pick. is a repeat pick for me last year. I took them number one overall. And this year I'm getting them in the third round. I'm taking the Mets rotation.

Verlander, Cy Young Guy last year, Scherzer, not going to doubt him to be a candidate to get another one. Senga's fascinating. Looks like he could be pretty good. And they've got depth, Carrasco, Peterson, McGill.

Kintan will be back eventually longer than he'd like, but they're good. That's a... No. What do you got, Treve? Dalton Feely's number one ranked rotation. And yeah, I mean, they're stacked. The rotation side of this, I think everyone wins.

Like, there's no one that's going to have a bad rotation in this. You're going to end up with a good one. And if they need to add there, Uncle Steve's not afraid to go trade for a guy. He will approve that trade. Why are you looking at me like that, Jake? You look at the camera. It's a show. Have you know what you look like you talk about me dying you look like you're dead just looking

to the camera like that i mean i'm full bonnet i'm you are can you even hear any no your senses no that's why i'm staring at you as i'm doing my best to listen because the ears are over uh you're not a great hearing guy bad hearing anyway so i'm looking at those lips trev here's what i'll say about the meds rotation and i really like this aspect of it you have so much experience there like the notes that are going to be shared between Verlander and Scherzer and even saying it he's coming from a completely different place like putting these minds together these really thoughtful you know long-term baseball minds together I mean who knows what they're going to start doing is freaking Scherzer going to start doing a ghost fork like stuff like

that can happen as as the season goes on pitch grips all this stuff that you can do now so quickly. I'm not saying they're going to, James. You really look to me like, fuck off right there. But you know what I'm saying? Pitch grips and everything like that can happen very quickly in today's game because of all the technology. I love the experience and I think that's going to play into the season. Just need Scherzer to stay healthy. I think Verlander will, Sanga, need to see what he is, first time through everything. His first time through the whole league is probably going to be awesome. I remember when Tanaka did that. His first time through like no one could touch him.

It was, he had like a 0.14 ERA or something like that. And then his second time through he got beat up a little bit. Certain teams like figured it out. Certain teams didn't. So when new pitchers come over, I always reserve judgment until he faces teams twice. And you saw that in the World Baseball Classic where Japan threw a guy that was probably worse than some of their other starters.

But the U.S. players hadn't seen him before, so they struggle with them. I'm up. You guys have all taking rotations, right? Biberch can you check that for me yeah but you should take you should take a bullpen now i have to take a bullpen now yes yeah i've taken it infield in field in the outfield you guys have all taken the rotation so i will take my bullpen now um this one's a no brainer for me because i wanted this team on my team so you know i would um when i'm in seattle in july i want

the people be like good job bro you picked our team i'm taking the seattle mariners bullpen and in the third round, I think this is an extreme value pick. And they have a bunch of dudes out there. I think they were the best unit in baseball last year according to a war. Their bullpen? Yes. Wow. No.

I know that's a tough one. They're Dalton Feeley's number one ranked bullpen, which... They are Dalton Feeley's number one ranked bullpen, but I just did a fan grafts war. They were 13th. Thirteen. I just did a A.O. West preview. I just prep for that with C. Rosie. And a lot of different articles I read talked about how they were one of the best bullpins in baseball.

Their top is probably good. This could just mean that like they're like long guys or whatever. Sure. Like guys eat it. Yeah. You know some of the names out there, Seawald, Munoz, Castillo, Murphy, are my favorite name in baseball pen Murphy. They have a ton of dudes that can do it. And they've already done it.

Last year they had a really good year. So I'll take them in the third round. I think that's a, like I said, extreme value pick for me. Castillo and Munoz back to back, man, that's like, uh, no thanks. Like, Seawald's nasty and gets you out, but you're like, all right, let's, let's try. Like when, when, when those guys are throwing, remember that, was that Munoz versus the Yankees when he was just throwing sliders? And you're like, my God, man.

Like, you got 104 in the chamber and he just, he rattled off like eight sliders. And you're like, you're a sick puppy, dude. At like 93. And the rotation will keep these guys healthy all year long. Like they're not going to override the bullpen because they have the rotation there that's going to... I mean, these guys are not five and dive type guys. The game within the game. J.P. Crawford.

All right, Jake, you got to round yours out. My pitching inning this year. I will take... There's a really high risk, high reward bullpen. But I am going to play it safe with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Um, they, they pitch. Uh, they're Houston National League. They, um, they had the number two bullpen ERA last year, number one whip.

Um, doesn't really matter who's coming out of there. Evan Phillips kind of broke out. Bruce are still back there. Vassi effort. I mean, you've seen all these guys pitching like big playoff games. Um, and the Dodgers just put them in positions to succeed. And they literally. have a special formula with pitching that allows them to make any pitcher good,

which really doesn't get talked about enough. So I will take the Dodgers bullpen. Nice. Which I think leads us into the final round of the draft, which is brought to you by draft kings. They are literally the kings of draft. So if this is something you're into, you might want to look into them.

And, man, look at this. America's pastime is back. step up for some season open and action with the Draft King Sportsbook and they will give you $5 pregame money line bet and you'll get $150 in bonus bets if their team wins so you just need to find a winner you can find that pretty easily look at the odds download the Draft King Sportsbook gap now and signable code talking

new customers can bet just $5 on any pregame money line and get $150 in bonus bets if their team wins only a draft king's sports book with code talking minimum age and eligibility restrictions apply see show notes for details see show notes is a tough one for me i would always mess that one up see show notes you can get tripped up in there pretty easily um my last pick i will have to take an infield um man there's there's a few different ways to go about this yeah who you choosing from You know, both New York teams still on the board, and you're going to get some good action from them.

Los Phillies, you know, a couple injuries here and there, even the Mariners who I can't take. I am going to go with, and I'm not sure who's going to be where, when, and how, but I will take the San Diego fathers. You know, we'll see what goes on with Nola and Campasano behind the dish, but they brought in Bogarts. Machado did everything. thing Aeronado did last year.

And then Kim and Croninworth, like those guys just rackham Willie. Shout out old YouTube. So I will take the Padres infield. Could have an injury and then Tatis is in the infield. You get everything he's doing. You got options. Or Rugnet O'Dour too.

Wow. See, Tatis at that backfoot Homer the other day? That was crazy. Sick. Oh. People are going to forget about everything with Tatis as soon as he steps back. on the field. He might zoo some balls in the

in right field every once in a while, but dude is so electric. Like, there's no holding that down. Forty-two homers. Remember how cool he was? 42 homers in 130 games last time we saw him. It'll be still cool. It'll be so bad if he just wasn't cool anymore. He was like heading towards being the family

feud answer for like favorite baseball player. Yeah. Being good solves everything. Write that down. Yes. performance trumps all That's the first Padres unit on the board First P-U-O-TB

Oh And that means the Astros are not going to get All four Units I think we've always had a team Get every part of them drafted I think so One year

But the Astros infield goes undrafted They brought in Jose Brayu Altuve's hurt That scares you But gonna be back Hensley's gonna be stud Endley's going to be awesome. I thought they'd still go.

But it makes sense. Like I said, I think there was a lot of good infields. Yeah. If I was still picking an infield now, they would still be in my consideration. They'll probably be a big of a miss. It's Houston. We picked every other unit.

Like, relax, Houston. Geez. No one tracks. It is Trev. Trev the goat? Last pick? Yeah, I mean, this is a pretty easy one for me, I have to select a rotation, and you guys left me the Atlanta Braves rotation.

Thank you very much. We have this 2023 Tsay Young winner in Spencer Strider. Max Fried will finish second win another gold glove. Charlie Morton, say it for me, Jake. Oh, Charlie Morton. It's been a while. That guy, along with some other guys. So you're going to have Kyle Wright and Mike Soroka.

They're both going to start the year on the IL. But Schuster's look really good in spring training. And so is Dodd. Schuster's just like 6-3 lefty dude who's just kind of carving. So they have the depth there as well. But I think the top-end talent goes with anybody in the league, and then you have the depth. That makes a perfect play for me.

In my last pick, I got these guys. I can't believe it. I think I won the draft. Be weird if you didn't feel that way. Okay. Yeah, we did the preview. I think Spencer Shreder is my frontrunner for Syll Young this year. The stats are a cheat code, man.

If he runs that for a full season, it's not going to be an argument. For a two-pitch pitcher, too. Yeah. Pretty crazy. The league might catch up a little bit, but not a lot of them. He might have a third pitch. He might throw a ghost fork. He's against a third pitch.

Yeah, he doesn't want to throw it. Yeah. So the good pitch is. Why would I throw my third best pitch? I don't need any friends. I already got to. He changed his number, I believe, this year. Is he 99 this year?

Which I don't love. Yeah. I don't love that aspect That's some number regression Putting a target That's putting a target Bro But there's anyone that could live up to 99

I think it's him Wayne Gretzky did good A little silly I like it I heard a lot of Wayne Gretzky stories over my time in Palm Springs Okay Let's hear it

It's for off It's for off It's for off It is for off Beams what do you need an outfield I do need an outfield and the more I've thought about it since my last pick, the more it's clear to me I should draft the San Diego Padres outfield.

The top end talent with Soto locked into being an outfield in DH and with Tatis probably mixing in there as well. Grisham does it as well as anybody with the glove. His offense for the regular season can't be worse than it was last year, so we're going to get some positive regression there, and he showed he still has it, the playoffs. He's a guy you like to watch. And then you figure Matt Carpenter, Nelson Cruz, the shifts going away, they'll handle

the DH spot, and they've got some interesting depth. Jose Azakar. I don't know if I'm saying that, right? Interesting, interesting minor league guy should get a good amount of run this year as well, especially while Soto's out, or while Tate's out. Hard to ignore the top end talent there and go for that on a fourth round pick. And again, Outfields was hard to fully believe in a lot of them. Tatis and right and Soto and left. I mean, that's good enough to play with anybody in this unit draft. So I'm stoked for that.

Good job, Beavers. That's a great end pick. Dalton Feely's number two ranked Outfield. Shout out Dalton. Shout out. Jimbo. What do I need a bullpen? You need a bullpen.

I guess it. I'm taking the Phillies bullpen. Oh, you love that. I don't know if I do. Go raise. Stop it. You love going race. That's your pick. Yeah, but I think they weren't good last year.

Not listed, yeah. Do you believe him? I think the raise had a bad. They were seventh in the R.A. last year, and they were in, um, they were 14th in war for relievers as a team. So they also like wouldn't, they were. all as a group, anti-gay. So I'm kind of not supporting them because that sucks.

So I'm not going to take them. I'm going to take the Phillies, which I, it's so weird just because for like three years, they were the worst bullpen in the history of all of baseball. So it's just kind of a mind fuck. But they are, they got Dominguez, Alvarado, Kimbril Soto, like they got good arms down back there. So I guess I'm taking them. That's my. I want to take the Guardians, but I don't like Karen check.

I love Clause. So I think, like, I like the Guardians, like, top three guys, where the Phillies have more names. Can't claim to know a lot about their guys after those two. I already took the Braves' infield. You took the Yanks. And I took the Yankees outfield. I like the Braves and the Yankees bullpen better than the Phillies,

but I can't take those. Couldn't take gas. So I kind of last... Cardinals at all? Do you take any close? cards. He's already made his pick. People don't be trying to help him out right now.

Yeah. I mean, Cardinals and Phillies. Those twins? Twins bullpen, no. Having a bunch of them in front of me now. Yeah. Wait, well, is that like scouting reporter? No.

Who are the snubs? Congratulations on our draft. Snubs, I got to say, like, the twins outfield. I get it, people. I get it. there's other ones that are flashier but I think like defensively we might put up some war there which is going to help

and if Byron Buckson plays 130 let's get to a hundred and go off did anyone take the shouting out my twins yeah did anyone take the Braves outfield no they were close because I yeah they were they were who I was choosing up against the Padres if Harris and Ronald de Cunia those two

could carry it on their own I think the deep cut there would have been the Mariners like if Julio, Teosker, if the Kelnick breakout is real, there's something fun there. Pollock's still mashing lefties. Astro's got three units selected. Braves got two, Padres two, Mariners two. Padres two were both at the end there, snuck in.

Yeah. Mets one, Angels one, Dodgers one, Yankees one, Cardinals one, Mets one, Blue Jays one. That's got to be the least amount of Dodgers ever. Yeah. Yeah, they have to have had multiple the other years. years, both of them. No Orioles units. Oh, the kids.

Well, what's the team that's going to be really mad at us, that they've got no units drafted? Every team. White Sox, well, like, deservedly so. The White Sox usually get someone drafted, not this year. I don't know how mad they'll be. Twins. I think Guardian's infield, I mean,

Jose Ramirez, Andres Jimenez, Ahmed Rosario, for what all those guys did last year. You add Zanino and you put Naylor at first or Josh Bell. Infield's tough, though. But in-fields tough. They're probably the infield that's most affected by just the way we do this draft, because Bell or Naylor are going to DH most days, like one of those two,

and technically that doesn't count for what we're doing. Do the Dodgers have anyone picked? Astros Infield is the only infield that's, like, got snubbed. You could see the Yankees or the Mets. Oh, yeah, he's, I don't know. There's a lot of questions there. A lot of bodies, though. There's a lot of bodies.

That's why, you're going on pure war, like, you know, they got them. war last year. Rour's rotation. People are going to see that because they got some high end talent there as well. They kind of burnt me last year though.

Yeah, the Dodgers have one team pick, the bullpen, that's it? Bullpen, yeah. Their starters could have gone too. They're going to pitch. It's not as sexy, but I thought their rotation would go.

Their bullpen went? Mets will be, Mets only get their rotation off the board. They'll be, somebody's going to say, something about how they didn't get much consideration for other spots. Rangers starting pitching, people are excited about that, but they haven't gone. You want to hear a stat I'm about to share on baseball today about the Rangers?

Yes. If they win on opening day, it'll be the first time they're over 500 in three years. Fuck. That's tough, bro. A lot of pressure. There's always a team that's under 500, and then, makes a playoff spot. It could be you.

Another group, and maybe it's rowdy fans, but I think they also very much have an argument. The Toronto Blue Jays, like Manoa Gossman, Bassett, and then if you get anything from Burrios and Kukuchi this year, which both guys kind of had nicer springs, I think they have an argument. If they only had, like, one of those guys as your coin flip guy,

like one more like lock lock, then I think they're for sure off the board. also the Yankees starting pitching i understand there's some guys injured there but like that was like yeah their calling card this year i mean yeah i mean they got two guys i mean they got two guys goes mcfly says he's going to be pitching for them this uh coming april so that's kind of tough for the ranking there but once those guys are back i mean how long is rodong going to be out for he's already doing a bullpen so i think he's going to be back middle of may they're saying that could end up that could end up looking really bad for us because i think they have a chance to

really rack it up well when healthy that's still three guys that you would like be excited about. If they had one of those guys ready to go on opening day, technically the other, they're not going to be out long in theory, so they'd still have gotten drafted, I think, but... Yeah, any... Which is hard to do right now.

Matt Blake, their pitching coach, fourth and ERA, starters, third, and bullpen. Either of those could have went, and you'd say, that's fine. We're just kind of believing in it for a few years now. They've just been good. All right. There you go. There's the draft.

Raise rotation. Jake and I kind of fell in love with them a few weeks ago. Who? Raise rotation. Yeah. Glass and I will be back. Eventually. They pitch.

They pitch. Shout out Mariners, you know. That's what I always say. Yeah. Always. Tell us who else we missed. And subscribe. Subby.

Still on that USA train. U.S. U.S.S. U.S. Kurt Shaw did yesterday. Give a call to Old Shrude. Leave this alone.