Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - Who Won Winter Meetings? | 935

Episode Date: December 16, 2024

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Hello and welcome to Talking Baseball. Winter meetings are over. Where are we at? And there's been a bunch more signings and trade. We got to catch up, Tread. Catch up. Let's talk ball. Jeffrey Springs.

Fuck. Swing and miss. Come on. Lefty. Right into the sweet spot. No. Hello and welcome to Talking Baseball presented to you by Seat Geek Code Talking 10. Go check out whatever has a seat.

I'm Jake Story, L.A., joined by Trevor Plou for Rob Chiracro, producing December 16th. I mean, it's almost time for the big man to come down the chimney. And hopefully a couple, Santa's got a couple gifts remaining for your baseball teams because there's still a lot of big free agents out there. There's still going to be some trades. But coming out of winter meetings, like, that's the window.

And we saw it. Like, we still got a whole sheet of, guy. I didn't know Conforto got 17 mil. What? Okay, Dodgers just sneaky, just handing out money, complimentary pieces. They're on another level, Jake. Hey, Conforto, you come in and platoon with Teia? I don't know. They haven't signed him yet. Trev, you have kind of some big news off the field. I don't know if you want to tell the people. I do. Well, number one, very sick yesterday. I told you I was at my youth team's game. We were in the championship

game. We got these guys playing so good. The improvement has been drastic. But Olivia and I got some sort of stomach bugs, so I was puking at the field. Like, just not having a good time. We're up 11 to 1 in the championship game in like the fourth inning

and ended up losing. And we had a bunch of crying kids and I was like, dude, you guys should be crying. Yeah. We had late last night. We went and picked up a dog. You know, it's been in the works for quite some time. So we got to surprise our kids this morning, dude.

It was very cute. And we've been kind of thinking about it for a while, but we finally did it. I'm sick, but I'm happy. You got some great moments ahead. Teddy and Ila, I mean,

they're already cute enough, but you throw a puppy in the mix, and that's just memes. And then, you know, I'll tell you the real, you know, on the dark,

you're going to have some tough puppy moments. Yeah. Something, something you like is going to get destroyed, and that's okay. And then the other one that kind of gets me, like when I, when we got noodle, I was like, hey, if we take care of this, you know, knock on wood and everything. I was like, this, this dog's going to be at my 40th birthday. And like, you know, I got him when I was like 27.

So I don't know, some of those thoughts start coming in. We don't need to start talking about time and relativity. I was just going to say our, our. Insta DMs have been ruined lately. Trev's traveling to other galaxies, and we don't know how to get back, but we can do it. You can get back at just four million years later, yeah. And I think it's the 10-year release of Interstellar.

So let's save that for the end. Let's get into ball talk, Trev. Because we, you know, I've been poking fun at baseball fans because they keep saying like, hey, we need this window of baseball transactions. where like a lot of it goes down. And we kind of do have that with winter meetings. Sure, it'd be cool if some more action happened, but we also got to get to February,

and there's going to be more action along the way. So I want to kind of do a zoom out wide and see, like, where we're at. I don't know if we want to say winners and losers. That's the clicky way to do it, but, you know, there is a big Mets signing, and they've had a ton of other signing. Like we still haven't talked Clay Holmes and some of the other action there. But just see where we're at in general and then catch up on everything. Andres Jimenez trade.

I got a couple, I think, off. Jake Berger. Off the sheet winners and losers. I think there's some really fun things going on around baseball. Yeah, we could talk about Juan. Hey, you know who won? Juan Soto. Juan Soto won.

Because every single day we hear about his contract is not 15 years, 765. it's 15 years, 855. And then it's like plus some perks and sweets and his mom has a clothing allotment. What's that about? What's that? What's that? That feels like, Trev, I haven't been in the CBA, but that's mom shopping allotment? I don't know.

That's the beauty. I mean, look, for as much as players feel like they've lost in the last two CBAs, I mean, there's still something to be proud of if you're a baseball player where like, you can kind of do anything. thing in contracts. You can't do that in other sports. Right. In baseball, it's like, kind of like whatever you want. You can tamper. You can do all sorts of stuff. Cespitis got horses,

right? Like, oh my gosh. Yeah. If I could go back in time and just ask for some more stuff, I would. Just to say I did it. Right. Just say I did ask for that. Because there's no limits. I want tickets to the Minnesota Wild. You know

what? Maybe you want some Corona. Yeah. Today's episode is sponsored by Corona. It's for the fan that never loses. And here's what I mean. My team doesn't win every single night. I was sad about a signing about a week, week and a half ago. And then they went out and they started winning some other signings. And whether it's a homer, a touchdown, a dunk this time of year, there's always something to cheer for. And the best beer to pair with awesome moments, it's Corona. Corona is all about finding the maximum amount of joy.

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21 plus, relax responsibly. Corona extra beer imported by Crown imports, Chicago, Illinois. Trev. Where, too? You said you have some off-the-board winners? That's what I'm talking about. I do.

One is kind of obvious. And I think that we will be talking about this team quite a bit in the coming year. The Washington Nationals. This dude, like the Major League Baseball Draft Lottery, no one even thinks about it. It's just like in. It just happens and then say, oh yeah, this is the draft. order now. That's very important, dude. Like, I think, I don't know exactly what their odds were. I believe it was like 25%. And you know me and my percentages. I am not good with them. There's no doubt

about that. But they weren't necessarily favored to get the number one pick. Boom, all of sudden, you know, your draft changes. The number one overall pick, they're going to select Ethan Holliday now. Like, he's been the consensus number one pick going forward. So, you you don't even have to focus on your top pick anymore. He's going to be your guy, barring something crazy happening. And now you can kind of go and set your sights on the next couple rounds. But we're talking about a team that is already kind of up and coming. They've drafted high the last couple of years, no doubt about it.

You know, they have James Wood, they have Dylan Cruz coming up. We like kind of the young core that they've had on their team. They have some money to spend. Like this is a team that, again, there's things before. the draft lottery that we were looking forward to, but now they have a number one pick coming their way, and no one's really even talking about it. I just think that that is very important, and clearly that's a organizational win for the nationals. And again, I called upon them last year. I said, this team's going to be fun to watch, check them out. They were kind of in a running for,

you know, a wild card spot there for a little bit, definitely tapered off. CJ Abrams did not have a good second half. There's a lot of weird talk about him, but they have some players there and you know, cost-effective dudes because they're young. Again, I just think we're going to be talking a ton about them this year

and then the following year. Like this is the team that is up and coming. This is Orioles in 2023, if you will, in my opinion. So I think they are a clear winner of the winner just because they got that number one slot. As long as they're not the Orioles

in 2025, you know what I'm saying? Yeah. Hey, hey, hey, we'll get to that. We'll get to that. Travis, unbelievable place to start. That's why you're different. Isn't it true, though? No, I mean, that's massive.

And if you go into recent draft history, like, you know, the top of the board, there's not as much miss as there used to be. Yeah, that changes the Nats outlook a little bit. I mean, not immediate, but when we're talking some of these big free agent plans, these three-year plans, these four-year plans, like, you know, this is a little bit of what I like to label Turkey Math,

which is really an inside joke that's now been brought to John Boy Media, but it's just making the math make sense in your head. Like maybe if you're the nationals who are this, they're a big budget team. We've seen them have big budgets. They offered Soto, what, 430 a couple years ago and now look, either way. Like signing, let's say if they sign Pete Alonzo, and it's six years, you know, 25 mil a year,

whatever that lands at, no one could do that math. Hey, you know, in six years when it's time to lock up Dylan Cruz or it's time to lock up Ethan Holiday, like that 25 mil, you can kind of, in theory, roll that over to the next guy. I know that's not necessarily how it works, when you're keeping the financials or talking to ownership, it kind of can work out that way. So the nationals who have been quiet,

although, you know, that Connor Pilkington minor league contract, I know you did want to discuss serious armed talent. We're starting with the Nats. Good. So I think 25% is a, is very big odds to get the number one. Yes. They actually had a 10.2% chance of getting it. And the ping pong ball went their way.

Last year we saw the Cleveland Guardians had a 2% chance. And this is a team that, you know, they weren't tanking. They weren't, you know, and they get the number one overall pick. They were able to trade Andres Jimenez because of the guy that they got with their number one overall pick. The Nationals, Jake, for reference, they've had two number one picks prior to this upcoming draft. Do you know who they were? I bet you do. Price Harper.

Yeah. It's good. Steven Strasbourg. Yeah. Those are pretty impactful players, dude. So this means something. This is why I have them as, you know, obviously one of the winners of the meeting. Yeah, I guess Seattle, who's become the opposite of the apple of our eye, the ire of our eye, not a phrase.

Seattle moved up, I think 14 spots. at the three picks. So again, draft a pitcher. Okay, so you've got the Washington Nationals who currently still rumored to be in on guys.

Man, it is funny looking at their lineup. Where are they going to get the real pop from? And that's why there's Pete Alonzo rumors there. They could also use a veteran pitcher to kind of groom some of those young. Gibby! It's always been Gibby. No, we have another landing spot for Gibby.

Oh, I'm sorry. We're going to get into that. We'll reveal that later. Hey, you know what, Trev? I'm going to keep it down there. Okay. Because the Orioles are currently in the L column. I mean, I already took my Yankees jab a little bit,

but you're talking about the excitement of having top picks and going, like, hey, that Tyler O'Neill contract, we were, I think we were more happy for Tyler O'Neill than the Orioles. Is that? I like, no, I like the signing for them. Don't get me wrong. I like that signing. Now, like, are you trying to replace Santander's numbers? Like, I mean, shoot, you might get there with Tyler O'Neill. Like, they got a great season last year. So I don't, I don't, that's not a bad signing at all. I just think we're, we're expecting them to do more. We expected them to possibly go out and try to get crochet. We expected them to figure out a replacement for Corbyn Burns. And they haven't been able to do that. So I don't want to like, I don't want to downplay the Tyler O'Neill deal. I do like that deal, but I think to your point where we want more. Yeah, and I mean, maybe it's, maybe it would have been fair to start with, like,

the Boston Red Sox side of it. Like, we're going through the AL right now, the AL feels thin. And I know we did this in the postseason, but the Yankees lost, you know, probably their, I don't know, the Yankees lost an all MLB hitter last year. now they're replacing it with some pitching. The Red Sox feel like they've joined the party for the first time. Nobody knows really what's going out out West. Like tell me who you love out West,

especially if you take away Houston's natural pedigree at this point. And then the Vaunted Ale Central will get to. But like, I don't know, man. For Baltimore, we got this new ownership group. We're going to sign people. We even brought in the wall, which we moved the wall back to sign free agent pitchers, right? So now we didn't sign any free agent pitchers.

We brought the wall back in. Where does that leave us? I don't know. If I'm Baltimore, I'm just a little panicked. They started squirting water on people, though, so it all evens out. Yeah, that's fine. It gets hot there in the summertime. Yeah, I'm curious to see kind of the direction that they go.

I mean, they were one of the best stories over the last couple years. You know, we saw them come up. I think a lot of us balked at their success in 2023. Then it was kind of undeniable. You win 101 games in the big leagues. Hey, man, like you got something going on there. I think we saw some, I think there's a lot to still like about the Baltimore Orioles. We saw some of the young guys have some success.

Colton Couser had a nice year, but we saw Jackson Holiday come up. And I think he was the one, you know, the star that we were hoping would just come out and run away with rookie of the year. And like, he struggled. And I think that's, if you're taking a realistic approach, like, oh, yeah, like, probably going to struggle. Dude, like, the big league is very difficult. There's a ton of pressure on this kid. You know, so he's going to be okay. If they get all those guys contributing again, yes, do they need to go out and get some starting pitching?

Yeah, they do. But there's still some guys out on the board that I think makes sense for them. Are they going to be able to land them? We'll see. But I agree with you, like, in that division, there's other team is making moves, and they're kind of falling back. if I'm doing my power rankings of the AL East right now. You like Boston, Trev. I think I'm going Yankees.

I think I'm going Boston. I think the Blue Jays are last for me. And then Rays and Orioles, I don't really know. And that's just because I give the Rays a lot of respect, even though sometimes they don't deserve it. But so you're sitting third or fourth in that division in my mind. And I don't know if anyone could prove me wrong there. And that, I guess that's the point.

And hey, Baltimore Birds fans, if you guys are getting a little hot and bothered right now, like I... They're not. How could you be? We're telling the truth, man. You lost, Corbyn's isn't there anymore. Right. Santander.

I guess, Trev, it's just for me, it's the whole movement of baseball that we're, hey, Orioles re-signed Gordon Burns. This is a very different conversation. Orioles have something up else up their slate, Dylan Cease or something like. like that, but this is supposed to be, they were the example. Yeah. And it was, we're going to see Baltimore for the next five years. Right.

They were going to, they got that guy, Sig and the, from the Astros front office. And Adley Rushman, like, you know, we're, we're starting to build a Hall of Fame plaque. And his last year got really weird. And now, like, Gunner's the alpha dog, which he's the freaking guy. Awesome. But I don't, I don't know, man. Like, just,

here are oil fans. I'm going to sprinkle some, I'm going to sprinkle some cheese on a gunner to win ALMBP next year. Okay. I like that. I will. Um, but yeah,

they, like when we talk AL powers, the fact that they're, them in the Red Sox are on, on the same podium right now. Like, they, they weren't supposed to.

This was, like, this was supposed to be the go button. Like, their, their GM's talking about like, weren't, we're not going to trade a lot of our prospects

because we've already done some of that. And I, again, I think you've got to say that because otherwise, you know, that's just good negotiating at a certain point. But I don't know. I think Orioles fans have to be a little scared and maybe maybe the bigger chunk of that is because Boston,

if you're looking around at like who's next, it's starting to look like the Boston Red Sox. You know, they get a new owner in there. And I think a lot of people were very excited about that. And I'm curious, like, you know, sometimes when guys are minority owners and they come up and they step into the majority stake, there's a lot of expectations there. The dude's from Baltimore. Seems like he's having a good time there. I think initially there's all this like, yeah, let's go.

We're going to raise payroll. We're going to go do this. And then when they jump into the business, I don't, maybe they start to get a little, you know, gun shy. I don't know. But he, Rubenstein was supposed to come in and make a splash. And he hasn't done that yet. but there's still time. Right.

And that's the beautiful part about this. Like going back to the San Francisco Giants last year, like some of these teams aren't going to get their work done until January, February, and it's going to be a little nervous over the holidays. But hell, even the Padres traded for Dylan Cs, like right before their first game. They were playing in the, where were they playing?

Tokyo. And Dylan Cs had to take the late flight by, himself out there, meet the team. Hey guys. Be funny if that happens again to him. Kind of crazy. Just losing spring trainings, not with your... That's when you build camaraderie with the fellows, Trev.

Can I go... Can I stay on the Al train? And I'm going to stay in the ALEs and say the Toronto Blue Jays? Talk about him. And why don't we mention while we're doing this? The Andres Jimenez trade, which... Okay. Was one of the interesting things.

that kind of snuck through the way radar radar some might say at winter meetings but andres Jimenez the platinum glover uh his first full season with cleveland he had like an eight war season it was like a seven seven he got what we thought was a team friendly extension that i now think that's a little up in the air depending how you value andres himenez um andres himenez and Sandlin, who's been a solid reliever in that Cleveland bullpen, but they have so many guys who you could label that way. For Spencer Horvitz, who got the call last year for Toronto and did some hitting, and then another prospect, Nick Mitchell in the trade. Spencer Horwitz got flipped off after that for your guy, Luis Ortiz. How about that? Your boy. But for the Blue Jays,

Well, I'll let you go now that that's teed up, but that's kind of what has been Toronto's offseason up until this point. Last year, their bullpen struggled mightily. They did get another, they got Nick Sandlin from the Guardians in that deal as well. I love Andre Semenez. I think he is an awesome player. We talk about him and Rokia at the middle all the time. He obviously brings a ton of value to the team.

I think the reason I am saying that they are the losers right now, number one they've obviously underperformed at the big league level and I'm looking right now at their rankings last year 23rd in runs 26 and homers

27th and still on bases their offense was just not there last year starting pitchers middle of the pack relievers no good obviously the bright spot was Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

The reports are now that they offered him a $340 million extension that he turned down if I'm the Blue Jays I got to start thinking about moving him now even though that was already like a thought like the reports now that you offered him this deal

and now we know for sure that he said no to it I think that you got to think about moving him and kind of retooling regrouping whatever you want to call it because right now again we just talked about the Hale East pecking order they're probably sitting in last place Jake

Right. So you got this guy, you just saw the hall that, and is Vladdy Kyle Tucker? Like, I know, but like he's pretty dang close as far as value to a team. He hits the shit out of the ball, man. So you could go get a haul for this guy and figure out what you got to do.

And maybe you trade Boba Chet too and if you just, they need a new direction. Like the direction they're going, this winning the team defensive award, hey, you're going to win it again probably. You just brought a guy over. that all he does is play defense. Like, great, but that hasn't worked for them.

So I just have them right now is in this no man's land where they probably are going to have to trade, Vladdy. Because if you don't, he walks, you get a compensation pick for him. So I'm, I just think that for a team that had so much promise over the last couple years, I just kind of never lived up to it. And now they're in a position where they're probably going to have to trade.

their best player. It's a, you know, it's a similar story, right? Like, you know, this Blue Jays core, we knew every, we knew everyone's last name because we knew their parents who were like Hall of Fame baseball guys. And now they're here. And man, Blue Jays fans, I know they have some of the most animosity for Yankee fans. So, hey, I love you.

I love the Great North. Like, what do you guys think of the trade? I'll be honest. The first thing that went through my head, dude, Andre Semenes playing defense is, it's literally, it's art.

Like, it's a form of art. The footwork and what he does, like I want to put on classical music and watch Andres Jimenez do what he did. Like watch Andre Semenes highlights and put on classical music. Maybe have a cappuccino.

Like, that's the dream Saturday afternoon. Bo Bichette, and for how much I love Bo Bichette, the hitter. Like, I took his over on hits the past couple seasons. Like, he had his first real hiccup at the Major League level last year between injuries and performance. And the thing with the shortstop market, we talked about how it's not, it's nothing.

For me, if you're trading for that Andres Jimenez contract, I'm wondering if the Blue Jays are, like, let's put him back at short. And Bo Bichet is on the trade table. And I know his value is not at his highest, but there's still value for shortstops. Because right now it's Hosson Kinn. He has a track record.

Right. And Hosson Kim is a totally different value prop. Like, I think we've done some Bobichet to the Braves. And like, imagine, like, instead of him being the leadoff hitter or the two-hole hitter, carry the team, Bo? Like, they're like, hey, Bo, you're going to hit fifth or sixth. Like, I could see that panning out really well for the Braves like it did with Chris Sale, very different. But, you know, Trev, I don't, Jimenez's contract,

he's making 10 mil this year, 15 next year, and then it's 23, 23, 23, 23, with a team option for 2030. In the past two years, he hasn't hit. But he's been easily the best defensive second baseman and who came up as a shortstop that for me, I'm trying to get in the Blue Jays front office's head. If we're going to take on that contract, it can't be for him to play defense

and have a 90 OPS plus at second, right? So I don't know. That's where I'm trying to crunch those numbers. And it's not computing on my end unless you're going to slot him somewhere else and build his value back up. It's interesting. I didn't know it shot up that much. and this is obviously why the guardians were looking to deal him.

I mean, they got a couple years out of him for pretty cheap. You know, a lot of value. Plus, you know, they ended up flipping some of the players in the return for starting pitching. Guardians did a good job with this. Maybe they're part of the W section of the winter meetings. Losing him is tough, but, you know, they had to, you know, refill that starting rotation. So they're trying to do that.

Yeah, that's interesting with, moving him to short there would be teams lining up to get boba shit even though he had a bad year last year offensively and defensively it's a mixed bag sometimes I watch him play

and I'm like hey I guess got it and there's other times where I watch and play I'm like you don't got it you know and maybe that's a little bit of a focus thing sometimes guys get comfortable you get a new situation

where you feel like people are really counting on you and maybe you put in a little extra work it's really the only way to get better defensively set up on the show many times you've got to put in the work, the extra hours, all the extra ground balls.

That's the only way to get better. And maybe a little kick in the butt would do that to him. But I still think he has the ability to play at least like an okay. He makes the highlight plays. And that's just one of those. Is it focus? Is it footwork? Is it?

I don't know. But that's like I can almost. Blue Jays, where are you going? I picture the headline. Dude, like, the plays Jimenez makes, and maybe that should be more of the focus, the plays Jimenez makes at second base paired next to Bichette, like we saw this be a problem with the Padres.

It was Bogart's next to Kim, and everyone was like, what are we doing here? Yeah. That's almost the exact same situation with some different contracts in play. But yeah, it'll be interesting to see if there's any Vladdy smoke, because if you're not going to extend them the East isn't going to line up for you this year.

And it just becomes, okay, is his trade value the same at the deadline, where teams are maybe needier and you can get a bidding war? I think it's not. I think it's comparable, whether you go now or the deadline, yeah. Yeah. But he's coming off a freaking fantastic year. Like, that's... Right, like, why even risk it?

And if you're a team and you can, if you can pay for that one year, um, God, they are... Feels like there's going to be some rumors around that. I mean, San Francisco Giants I know would love to get their hands on them. Are they winners or winners? Or are they eating steaks, track? Omaha Steaks, baby, yeah. Do you want to send a meaningful gift that's more than just stuff?

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One of the best gifts I've ever gone. It's awesome. It like makes grocery shopping easier. It makes like what, okay, so we got dinner tomorrow night. You know what happens is you end up ordering from it. You get the packets. You're like, dude, Let's like throw a, let's just throw a dinner party. Like we got all this meat. And then so it turns into a night, man. There's nothing like memories, Jake, okay? We got all this meat.

Like hearing you say that. I feel like we've been doing a lot of East Coast, but I... Yeah, you need to give us a W, okay? You got one? I need to fly the W. Am I happy with the Cubs? I'm half happy. Am I happy with the athletics?

I mean, it's obviously the Mets, and maybe this one's quick because they got Soto, and he's a generational talent, and there's more coming out in the contract that we were laughing about earlier on in the show. For me, you know, when they signed Soto, we still gave a little, like, what's next, and it doesn't have to be a lot,

but, like, is Pete Alonzo coming back? Are they going to add more to the pitching staff because you'd think so? Because the two guys they added, Frankie Montas and Clay Holmes Holmes is going to try to transition from a reliever role and he's I just like that

I want to be unfair to Clay I don't think his stuff you'd naturally look at and I think we've differed on this like he's got a crazy sinker that that plays all day so if you want that to be the argument but normally you'd look at a reliever and be like hey they've got three to four pitches

like let's let's stretch you out and make you a start That's not necessarily where Clay lands. But Stearns has brought the Milwaukee pitching factory over there that I think their game plan is give us arm talent and we'll be able to make it work with our pitching coach in our lab. That if we have Juan Soto, Inlandor, and Vientos and Nimmo and McNeil and Marte and Alvarez, like, we're going to hit and we're going to figure out the pitching that I'm still interested to see the next steps. but, dude, Mets fans are, they feel like they had a cloud lifted from over them. Yeah, I mean, the Soto, just Google Soto contract details,

and it's a fun read. And I just, man, I imagine him going and talking to the Steinbrenner's and cashmen and be like, this is what I want. And I mean, like, no, like we never do that. And then he goes over to Cohen, and he's like, whatever you want, big dog.

He had 22 seats in like the premier diamond section plus a suite. Yeah. Like who's coming to all these games, bro? I don't know. You don't have a... I love you, Juan Soto. Nobody called you from the Yankees. There's no way you have 40 friends coming to every single game.

I love you. Like, I'm a pretty, like, social guy. There's no way I could have 40 friends coming to a game. So are these going to be for his charity? Who knows? but that's just, it's really, it is funny. And look, I do think they are winners. It doesn't matter.

Again, I said, it's not an overpay. If you got it like Steve Cohen has it, he doesn't care. Right. Like, for me, when I order Chipotle and all of a sudden it's 20 bucks, I'm like, that's not worth 20 bucks, but I'm going to eat it and be happy. If Steve Cohen went and paid $20 for a meal, he'd be like, that's the, cheapest meal I've ever got in my life. Do you understand what I'm saying? You don't think he's got, you don't think Uncle Steve's got like he has a sausage, egg and cheese for eight bucks every Sunday

or something like that. Come on. I don't know. I'm just saying, dude, these guys, like this money's different to them. So yes, like, it's a lot of money. And who knows what the end of this contract is going to look like. We've seen it, you know, with a bunch of guys, Miguel Cabrera, Albert Pooleholz. We're talking first ballot hall of famers. Juan Soto is surely on the track for that. At the end of this contract, could it end up not looking great? Sure. He doesn't care. He's trying to make a name for himself, the Mets, he's trying to win a few World Series along the way,

and this is what he had to do. I don't love the rotation as it sits, but we didn't love the rotation last year going into the season. And guess what? We end up really liking the rotation at the end of the year. Yeah. Sevi, Sevi, pitch great. Manaya found his way. Kintana, you know, gave really good, meaningful innings to them.

So you have Sanga for a full season now. Can Montas or Clay Holmes be your next Severino? Maybe. Can they bring Mania back? It sure seems like that's what they're trying to do. But yeah, I also have them as a winner. I'm in on the Clayhomes to starter bandwagon. I think it could work out. But yeah, I mean, they are 100% winners of the winter meeting.

They have to be. You added a generational hitter, a guy that gets compared to Ted Williams and bonds. Like, you don't need to look at the sweet access and, you know, the escalator to 55 mill. Maybe there's a day where that feels smaller. I don't know. It might be 10, 15 years from now. Bitcoin's at 106,000 right now.

So you don't think Steve Cohen's got some Bitcoin? I don't, I'd assume so. I don't really know. How about we jump to the opposite end of the scale? I got to get away from the East Coast, although Phillies aren't an interesting convo. There's a lot of interesting combos. I want to, the opposite side of the coin I'm talking about is your Oakland A's,

who. Yeah, I like this conversation. I've been a lot more active than we would have thought. They give Luis Severino the biggest contract in Oakland Athletics history. And then they trade for Jeffrey Springs, who I think he was a huge part of that Tampa Bay raise, undefeated April a couple years ago and just a nice pitcher who made his way back at the end of last season and had a couple good starts and was kind of looking like he was going to be a

big part of the Ray's potential bounce back season that we were going to have I think you and I both have them above the Toronto Blue Jays right now and who you never know where the rays are going to truly land but the Oakland Athletics have added two solid starting pitchers. We don't know where they're going to play. They're called the athletics now. And Trev, if you look at the lineup and you like young talent, what do you see?

Okay. A lot of things going on here. Obviously, yeah, they're playing in West Sacramento this year. So it's not going to be easy for them to bring in more talent. they're going to have to kind of, I guess quote unquote, overpay. I don't know who else is going to offer SEVE a three or 67. Although, like, I don't think that that's watching him pitch last year doesn't seem like too much of an overreach, maybe an extra year.

I think that's kind of probably what's sealed a deal there. I thought it was really funny. There was a picture of him and I believe his wife and he's just freaking got his outfit on. Oh, yeah. Just signed his contract. And he's looking out over a minor league ball field. Yeah. It's like him looking like this.

And I'm like, dude, I know what you're thinking right here. Hey, you're happy for the money. But this is, you go from playing in New York, both sides of New York to, no offense to West Sacramento. I had a lot of great times in Sacramento. But it's a stark change. I don't love their team.

The A's as much as like Jolly said, if he looked right now, they'd be the, it's a little hot. Has him winning the AOS. I don't have them there yet. I think the Rangers, who we really haven't talked about yet.

I have the Rangers as a W in the winter meetings. Yovaldi and Jake Berger. I think I want to see what their number is. They're one of the most slept on teams in all the baseball. They had a shitty year last year. They were hurt. They have a ton of talent on that team. So I probably have them as my favorite right now.

Here's the thing. This is the interesting part of all this. I love J.P. Sears. I think he's going to be great for them. You match him with Sevy. They have some guys. there. This is the interesting part. This is where we're going to bring Kyle Gibson into the fold. Oh.

Okay. Wow. The reports are that because of the CBA, they're finally going to get to 100% revenue sharing, which means they're going to get close to like $70 million for not doing anything. Right. Now, they are trying to raise their, because you have to spend 150% of the revenue sharing on your roster, which would mean they'd have to get to $105 million. Right now they're sitting at 88.5.

If they don't get there, there's a possibility that the Players Association is going to file a grievance against the A's, which has been like talked about for many years, and they won't possibly receive that revenue sharing. So, a couple things. Obviously, they're making these signings. Hey, Sevy, come get some of this cash over here.

We've got to get to 105. There's a couple guys you could really take advantage of this. Because it is very hard, Jake, to convince someone to come play. Who was I was thinking that? I was reading something they mentioned. Like, oh, Walker Bueller. Walker Bueller ain't going to go playing a minor. I'll lock one thing in.

I'll tell you where Walker Bueller is not signing. Not going to go there, right? Kyle Gibson I think he'd be okay with it like you know Gibby if he's like hey what's what are these teams off of me one year 15

oh the A's are offering one year 22 Kyle Gibson to the A's Brent Rooker also right you know he's making 5.1 this year through arbitration

there were some article that was talking about well they could look to sign him to an extension and just kind of like up his AAV just so they get to the 105 number.

Do it guys. Brent Rooker, go sign an extension through ARB. Don't give away your free agent years. Sign it through ARB. Get your AAV up

because they're looking to they have to increase payroll and it's not as easy as going in just signing free agents. You're playing in a minor league park so the guys that are already there that can't move anyway. Like Brent Rooker should be

trying to get paid, trying to up his AV and then a guy like, yeah, Like, Gibby was a can to my mind. I'm like, that's, I could see Gibby pitching for the A's 20, 25. The kind of crazy thing is, Trev, they have a little bit of pitching. I mean, we're obviously grading on a slightly different scale, but Sevy, Spring, Sears, Mitch Spence had 24 starts last year.

Joey Estes had 24 starts last year. So they're interesting because I know teams are daydreaming about Salaf. dumping to Oakland. And what does that throw in a prospect? Does that, what does that do for the A's? They've got a lot of ways they can go with it. And I know our guy Jolly was a little too excited, but Brent Rooker by the numbers is a guy.

Lawrence Butler, it looked like the breakout happened last year. J.J. Bladay, kind of the same. Like, his extra base hits was nuts. Land Jaliers hit 29 homers last year. Jake, 26 and runs. Sure. 25th and OBP, 20th and OPS. Some of these guys are great.

That's exactly why I'm saying you don't sign Kyle Gibson. You sign a hitter. Because we- 26 in the IRA, 26 and whip. Like they need guys. They need guys. But Severino and Springs, like that's for a lot of teams. I'm just saying they need to get to that one-off five.

So who are you bringing in? I would spend the money on hitting. Okay. And it's at that point. it's who takes it. You know, Sevy. I'll go back to the A's. That's what I'm saying.

Done it once. Like Sevy, you know, for Sevy, he was at the height, the peak of the game, the Yankees, young, fireballing ace. You know, things fell apart. Last year he has a nice bounce back with the Mets. It was still like a 1-8B war and, you know, what's really in there. That, yeah, he turned down the qualifying offer. He got a three-year deal that it could have been with whoever.

that if there's the hitter version of Sevee, you go out and you do that. And then if you get traded or, you know, not to be rude to, you know, I know there's a ton of interest in Christian Walker. He's 34. Like if he gets the biggest bag from the A's, is that insane?

I don't know. A little bit. Yeah, he's looking for payout. If you're Hassan Kim, is that nuts? I don't... A couple people that MLB trade rumors mentioned, they're saying,

you know, they want third base help. Breggman's probably not in the plans. Yeah, I don't see Breggie doing it. But Jorge Polanco, Yomankada, I guess they're trying to trade for Alec Baum. Is the hitter... Is the hitter version of Sevi,

not Glaber Torres? If the A's throw the bag at him, I don't... I don't know, Trev. I got to wash... I got to wash my hands from that combo. I don't like it. It's interesting, right?

But they get Jeffrey Spings, he's nasty, change the guy. You told me, like, at the beginning of the show, you threw with me a Jeff Springs change. I'm swinging over the top of it. Now, if you try to come inside with that, I might turn on it. I don't know.

In that return, I think the other kind of interesting name going back to the raise and you got to scare you a little bit as this guy Joe Boyle. I watched the video on him today. Big, big dude. Yeah. Cheese at the top of the zone. Wipeout slider.

obviously has a ton of control issues, command issues, where he, you know, this walked a ton of people. But you get him in the race organization, they tweak a few things, and now are we looking at some sort of front-end starter? I don't know. That takes some work. I don't think it's just as easy as putting him on the raise.

Like he's got to figure some things out. But the armed talent is there. I believe they also got a draft pick, a competitive pick there, competitive round pick. So Bray's doing race things, essentially. Trev, the ultimate compliment for Joe Boyle, he was having kind of a weird start against the Yankees. Like you mentioned, he's pretty erratic but has a lot of armed talent.

Dan Rourke, who you know might be our craziest Yankee fan, produces baseball today. After the Joe Boyle start, he was in the office and he's like, that guy kind of had future Yankee vibes, huh? That's a huge compliment. Because he was throwing a hundred. and he's just got to figure it out. And he probably will.

That comes with time. Trev, let's do a little West Coast and then we'll bring it back to the beautiful Central. But I'm just laughing if you click on San Francisco's fan graphs, baseball roster resource page. Their two biggest free agents have signed with the Dodgers, Snell and Confordo, have gone there. there. Now they brought in Willie Adamas. And the West as a whole, it's just,

what are we fighting for right now? Because the Dodgers literally aren't going anywhere. Like there's almost, in a sport that is unpredictable, the Dodgers can't take steps back because they are that talented. That I don't know, like, maybe is it, are the Padres the losers of them? the West right now because nobody knows

what is going on with them. I want to give San Francisco credit for bringing Willie in kind of like a culture changing guy. Busters doing his thing out there. They need to do more for me to consider. They won in the fact they got

Willie Adolence to sign there. But they're not winners just yet because yeah, the Dodgers, for fun, for fun, for fun. And you're right, they took your Saw Young winner and Blake Now, they're just on a different level. I don't think you're playing to win the NOS right now.

You're just not. You're playing to get into playoffs and makes a noise. So I have them as kind of like middle of the pack. They did a good job. They got their guy. By all accounts, that was their main target, was Willie Adomas. Got them. Now what are you going to do?

What's the next step? You have to make more moves here. As they're sitting December 16th, they really haven't. So right now, purgatory for the Giants. Padres, on the other hand, They're interesting to me. I mean, there's rumors of them trying to trade Dillon C's.

Why? Like, what are we doing? Like, you have a good team. You could have knocked the Dodgers out. You had them on the ropes. So don't go backwards. If they end up doing that, I'm going to give them a huge what is you doing, baby.

Like, they have, I mean, if you listen to the Dodgers talk, all of them, managers, players, that was their World Series. They beat Padres. That was what they felt was their biggest challenge.

So don't go backwards. These guys are admittedly scared of you. You know, they're at least, they give you much more thought than any other team. So we'll see what they do. They need to figure some things out. I don't think trading Dillon Cease is the right thing for them to do.

I don't. Yeah, it's, you know, ProFar and Kim are two of the more interesting free agents out there and Tanner Scott, who's going to get a lot of money. It is interesting, just looking at the, The parts out don't look as jarring as I thought, but I, you know, our resident Padre fan, Ryan Cohen,

I think he tweeted out this morning, he's like, I don't know the plan. I don't know the next move. Are we selling? Are we sell buying? You know, there's Araya's rumors out there. Like, is he on the table? I don't know, but you're right.

I mean, they were up to one on the Dodgers, and it was right in front of them. That now there's a ton of question marks. And yeah, for the Giants, it's great. And you have a little bit of an identity with Adamas and Matt Chapman on the left side. We're like, we love that. But it still feels like they need more. And maybe it's all just thrown off by the Dodgers.

Because they're up, they signed Conforto for 17 mil as like a nothing. I don't want to say a nothing move because that's rude to them in Conforto. But like, on the Dodgers, Richter scale, that's nothing. I like the giants how they're constructed if everyone goes off essentially. There's like little room for air, I think, is what I'm saying here. You know, like they have some guys in that lineup.

There's guys that you like. John Hul-Lee, can you be the guy that everyone thinks you can be at the top of the lineup? Great. Behind Tim, you have Wade, you know, Willie's doing it. You have chat. Fitzgerald came and crushed it last year. Now he's moving to second base, maybe a little bit of pressure off of him. Elliot Ramos came up and was a baller last year.

So if you look up and down the lineup, like they have guys. Like that's a pretty solid lineup. They all have to freaking do it. And like I said, the room for air is not big, but like I like the lineup. You could talk about the pitching staff.

Like, again, I like it. Like there's obviously track record with Logan Webb, Robbie Ray can be absolutely filthy Jordan Hicks has some of the best stuff in the game when right. You know, like they have guys there.

Kyle Harrison has, you know, shown at times that he can be a stud. So like they have, they have talent there. I don't know about depth right now. Like the depth is kind of what they're lacking. But if all goes right, everyone stays healthy.

Like this is a team that 100% can be fighting for a wild card spot. I don't have him winning the division. I don't. And even the best case scenario, I do not. But playoffs, yeah. Yeah. Buster Posey back.

God, I... Trev, I mean, there's... I'm actually surprised. There's not as many moves. I mean, there's so many small ones. Like, Blake Trinan, like, two years, $22 million. Yeah, he's a really good reliever. He's back with the Dodgers.

I don't know if our analysis goes a ton deeper than that. He's good. What's that smile? You like that? I'm just thinking, yeah, they just, yeah. I mean, it's true, though. What do you say are the Dodgers?

Got a great team. You know, win the NOS. The argument is closer to like, do we need to limit teams more? Like, that's where they're at. God, if they get Roki Sasaki, watch out. Hey, maybe,

maybe, maybe, I can't wait to finish with the Central, but you just said you liked what Texas has done. They got Jake Berger for, I don't want to say cheap, but prospects you haven't heard of, and he's got easy 30 home run power and can slot in as a depth piece for them. They re-sign Iavaldi,

so you like what's going on in Texas, it sounds like. I do. They just were crushed with injuries last year, We have a very sour taste in what we feel about the Rangers. Yeah, they won the World Series. It was all good. They had guys come up there and ball out. I mean, if I'm looking at their lineup right now,

I'm talking, again, if everyone's healthy, Jonah Heim, Nate Lowe, Simeon Seeger, you know, Evan Carter, like Josh Chong. They have a ton of guys in that lineup. It is deep. They have Jacob de Grom coming back. I'm very curious to see what, let's go. on with that. You know I love Nathan

Evaldi. He's like one of my favorite pictures. He's like my new David Robertson. Oh wow. Like sign Eovaldi he's going to give you like solid starts. He can dial it up when he needs to. He's the guy. I just think that they have they have a squad there that people have forgotten about

mainly because last year was just crappy for them. They never were in it whatsoever. Most of it was due to injuries. So like look dude, this is a team that come back spring training everyone's healthy

I said before I'm curious to see what they're over under is going to be like I'm probably going to smash the over on it yeah it's it's interesting because you know like a lot of other teams

I mean actually their lineup there's not a ton of holes even their bench that's what I'm saying they have a squad Josh Smith currently listed on the bench Zeke Duran who is the Josh Smith

the year before that leotivarra so like there you'd like another starting pitcher, maybe. I mean, you could say that for literally every team, but I don't know, does DeGrom have a year in him? Like, does DeGrom have a 25-start season in him?

Because he's on this team now, and so is Avaldi and John Gray, that it feels like they have some bullpen work to do, and they can do that. And you wonder, is that a Tanner Scott landing area? Is that that? But I already feel myself buying Texas stock for next year. and it's also because Houston is currently,

you have to say currently in the L column, it feels like they're going to do work, but currently Bregman is out there and Tucker's gone. Agreed. I mean, yeah, you got Paredes to play third base. I think that's a downgrade from Alex Bregman. Yeah, you're going to be hard pressed to replace a guy like Kyle Tucker. We'll see, man.

I have them in my L column as well. You know, they could land some players and they could have a good year because we've seen them do that before. We've seen them lose players and come back and figure everything out. Power rankings, A.L. West. I think, gosh, this is, that's actually really tough. I want to say I'm going to go Rangers as my number one team. I think it's currently Texas, Houston, Seattle.

Oakland and then the A's Or then the Angels Or don't say Oakland by the way Right the athletics And then the I think But you can make an argument for the top three I'm obviously scorned by Seattle for no reason They're still up there

Yeah they're a top three team in the AOS Go get everybody put it Go get CASUS go Yeah Seattle I can't start with them this deep into the show. Does anything in the Central need to be discussed? I don't think so.

That's crazy, dude. What's happened? The Cubs got Kyle Tucker. I mean, they deserve... Sure, we had a whole episode on that already. Right, Matthew Boyd, the brewers are brewing, and we'll see what's next. The Pirates, dude, that Luis Ortiz trade just made me hot.

Like, that's a win for Cleveland. They got off of Jimenez's money, and they got Luis Ortiz to throw them a buck 60 this year I don't they're just operating differently the reds the reds do something

let's go twins aren't going to do anything tigers what are you doing what is you doing baby you got some young guys that we like you just you know kind of shocked the world in your playoff run

Alex Cobb go get Jack Flaherty let's go oh go bring him back go bring him back Jordan Romano to the Phillies That's not the Central

Nice Nice Treve I think that's all I've got Shane Bieber back to the guards Nice familiar See at the deadline Who's your favorite In the AL Central this year

Good luck My favorite in the AL Central It's Cleveland It's so funny because I still think Like this division kind of stinks Yet there's three representatives It's not the Royals You don't have the royals?

I need more. I need more. Okay. Cleveland's track record, man. Hey, here's something in the Central. I'll just sign my deal to call games again for the Twins. Wow. That's huge.

That's huge. Biggest news that's come out of the Central Day so far. That is big. No wonder they can't sign anyone. Trevor, I think we wrap it for now. We'll see what else we've got in the coming days. Thank you guys for tuning in. We might have some creative apps coming up

as we lead into the holidays next week. Stink. No Yankees talk. Oh. What did you guys do? Sign my friend Max. Seen that? Max Fried to Devin Williams.

Don. I like that. He's in a hit though. He's got to score one. He's got to score one.