Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - Willson Contreras Gets Hit and Breaks His Arm + Potential Surprise Trade Deadline Sellers | 834

Episode Date: May 8, 2024

Use code TALKIN10 for 10% off tickets on SeatGeek. https://seatgeek.onelink.me/RrnK/TALKIN10*Up to $25 offGet ahead of the game with Blackbox Sports AI! Visit https://shorturl.at/cFIX6 and use code JOMBOY for $100 off an annual subscriptionGo to http://shadyrays.com and use code TALKIN for 50% off 2 or more pairs of polarized sunglasses.++++Timestamps:0:00 Trevor's Skin Updates (It's Bad Right Now)4:35 Willson Contreras Hit By JD Martinez's Bat & Breaks His Arm24:55 Who Could Be a Surprising Trade Deadline Seller?40:35 Angels Should Trade Right Now44:25 Our Dream Trades45:50 Nolan Arenado to the Kansas City Royals48:25 Who Can the Nationals Trade?51:00 Why is Hitting in Seattle so Polarizing?54:10 Jazz Chisholm Trade Partners 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. Ouch. Wilson Contreras gets hit. Some potential trades. And we got the whole three of us today. The Blue Man Group. Hello and welcome to Talking Baseball. Presented to you by Seat Geek.

Go Talkin'10. Go check that out. They're still rolling that promotion. Trevor Plouf and Calanasty, BBD behind the dish. And Jimmy O'Brien here with us. as we get into, I mean, a hot topic. All the baseball fans seeing Wilson Contreras getting hit last night. That was brutal.

Excited to unpack that a little bit. We had some articles going back to last week. Kenny R. and I don't know, people are starting to daydream of the trade deadline. It's May 8th. Your team's in it or out of it pretty soon. And some other happenings around the league. A couple outside-the-box thoughts might be coming at the end of the episode. James, how are you?

I am doing well. Outside the box thoughts, huh? Yeah, I got one. And it's building off of one of Trev's thoughts. Wow. Yeah. Interesting. Trev, you built the box and he's going to go outside it.

How are you? I'm doing well. I am trying to figure out who's at fault for Contreras breaking his arm. I think it's Contreras. But who forced him to do it, you know, trying to really, really figure it out. Who's the root problem? Yeah. What's the fix?

Trevor? Everything is great with me. I'm actually very excited for this episode. We're all here having a good time. I do have some sad news. I have developed, this is actually a true story. You know, we put in a lot of work for these shows and we sacrifice a lot. And sometimes you've got to give your body up as well.

So I come out here. You know, I'm in my backyard. I don't know if I have insulation in these walls. I think I do, but I'm not really sure. It gets cold out here. So I have a space heater, right? Sure. Space heater is always in the same place.

It feels real nice on my legs. The problem is I've developed, I'm being serious right now. I've developed erythema abigny. Also known as Toasted Skin Syndrome on my left leg. You've burned yourself? I'm squirted to you. Yes.

Does it look gross? It's like a, you can look this up. It's like, your skin gets like almost like blotchy. It looks like a rash, but it's not raised, doesn't really itch, but it's like discolored and it's, I've developed it's because I can't, it's.

No, no, spell it so we can all Google it. Oh, okay. It's E-R-Y, T-H, E-M-A, and then AB, A-B, and then I-G-N-E. Those are two separate words. They, when you see this, I know, I know that like what you're saying is true.

But when you see the, the letters you just sent me, like when you actually visualize it, that's not words. I think it's Latin, James. Arithemia abigny. Yeah, I've developed that. Seriously, yesterday I was outside. I was like, why has my leg looked so weird? And then I sent a picture to my mom and my sister are both nurses. And they're like, okay, this is what it is.

And they're like, what have you been doing? Yeah, like blotchy kind of skin like that. Mine's like almost like a little worse though. So you toasted yourself, Michael Scott style. I've toasted myself. I had the heater in the same spot. It just blows on my left leg. It feels great.

But over time, I've now developed this. And now I have to get rid of my heat source and maybe it'll go away. That's what the doctor said. Latin for loser that burnt his own leg. Blood, sweat, tears and skin miscoloring. Guess it's an injury up today. All for the people. For everyone tuning into the YouTube,

I think we currently have seven colors of blue represented, from Robbins Egg to Navy and everything in between. Multiple blues on everyone. And I guess we'll keep the injuries rolling, Trev, because you mentioned what you're going through and prayers in the comment section. Please, we hope you stop burning yourself. But we always wonder where the baseball news is going to come from.

And last night, William Contreras gets cracked by J.D. Martinez. You see instantly the bad reaction. He does a shake and run around, and it's one of those. You know, our Zoe from We Got Ice this morning was saying, like, man, like, these guys have actual pain thresholds. Like, that's got to stink. And we're seeing a lot more of this in baseball. And Jim, I think I want to kick off with you first

because I'm a simple guy at the end of the day, and I think you summed it up best in your tweet last night. There's two basic things happening. Hitters are standing further back in the box as far back as they can to counter-velo. And catchers are coming up as far as possible to try to steal the low strike. and I think almost anyone can do that math, that that's going to lead to more problems. So where are you at?

Yeah, it's a batters have always stood as far back as possible because you want the most time. Like, you know, a lot of batters erase that backline. But I'll let Trev talk about that because he was a batter that did that. But just looking at the footage, catchers are getting so close because you want to steal the strike. You want to catch it in front of the umpire's eyes, let it travel.

the furthest distance because as it travels more, it goes lower. So you want to grab it while it's in the strike zone. You know, that's what they're taught. And you're getting not only this, but the back swing. Like Contreras got hit on Hap's back swing last year. Ozuna's been hitting catchers like a crazy rate on his back swing. And, you know, last year people were getting upset by that. But like, Michael's got upset at Hap.

So I think people are trying to figure out, like, is a lot of people in the replies were saying, this is how it gets regulated. Someone gets hurt. And it's like, ah, that kind of stinks because he already got hit in the head last year and was bleeding and that didn't stop him. So I don't know if you can regulate it. There's boxes.

Does the catcher have to let the ball travel? Will this just be erased once automatic umpires get here and framing is no longer part of the game? Or is it something we have to attack? Treb, what do you think? I mean, yes, if we, well, it depends on the erasure. If we get a full automated, you know, ball and strike system, then yes, the framing will no longer be needed. If it's still a challenge, if it becomes a challenge system the way it is in AAA, I still think framing will be valued because you only get so many challenges.

And I'm very curious to see, you know, what major league teams will do with that. I had a discussion with Rocco Bell Deli about it, and he's like anti-challenged because he thinks that hitters and pitchers won't be able to contain themselves, and they're just going to be like, okay, challenge, challenge, challenge, which part of me thinks could be true, depending on the person, like these guys, man, they, you know, shocker, some of the baseball guys have egos, and like they think they're right all the time. I'm not talking about myself, Jake.

I saw your eyes right there. Making a living. Don't do that. Making a living. So, yeah, I think framing eventually will not be as important as we do get at least a challenge system or a full automated strike zone. Then, yeah, you just sit back there and what do you do? What are our catchers going to do if we go full ABS? Get them a chair.

Save them knees. No, seriously, like if there's nobody on base, they might just sit down. Like, or kneel on both. I don't even know. I can't wait to see what happens. But it is interesting to me because. when you look at the picture and I don't know, Beaver's, do you have that picture

like the James tweeted out last night? It's one side angle and it really shows just how close Contreras was to J.D. Martinez and J.D. Martinez, you know, he's had multiple catcher interference calls on him over the year. I mean, this is crazy. Like, they are so close.

Like, I honestly don't know who to blame here. I think both of them are at fault because Contreras is, I mean, he's on his, back leg. Now, Jady is one of those guys, like you mentioned, James. It's way, way back in the box. And I sent this to you last night. And I was like, is he four or five inches behind the white line, the batter's box? And we couldn't really figure it out. You sent me this one way up top shot that looked like he was on the line. But that's what these guys do. The first thing they'll do is they'll

get in the box. The guys are standing in the back. They'll get in the box and they'll just kick the line out. And they're just saying, oh, I'm just getting my footing in the back. All they're trying to do is get the line out so they can get as far back as possible because you mentioned you want to combat V-Lo you want to be able to see the ball as long as possible meanwhile the catchers are getting up closer so they can catch the ball as close as possible it's a bad recipe for this and it's actually shocking to me that this and it has happened more catcher interference has happened more but I mean this this this broken arm can happen nightly with the way things are going so I'm I I do not like guys standing that far back in the box I

do not like them kicking the line out. I think there's got to be some way to combat that. I think there needs to be some sort of line where the catcher's glove can go to. That's it. And here, I know we already have a batterer's box, but we need to maybe enforce that a little bit more because, like I said,

like the very first thing these guys will do, and you can watch the lead-off hitters of every single game. If they're a person that likes to stand in the back of the box, that's what they're doing. They're just going to go kick the back of the box out for everybody else. and then we start the game. So, like, there are some simple things to fix this,

but they're just, that hasn't been enforced, like, ever. Like, when's the last time we ever saw an impart say, hey, man, get in the freaking box? Like, it just doesn't happen. And I'm not really sure why it doesn't happen. I mean, I don't know if it's one of those things that everybody wants to do it so they don't want to tell on the other team because their team is doing it.

I think that might be it. I mean, it should be one of the most enforced rules. Like where you have to stand when you hit. I, um, yeah, I don't know. I tweeted out a tweet last night. Like I just quote tweeted one because I, I go. I wanted to see more pictures to see if anyone posted more pictures. So I just Googled or I searched on Twitter, Martinez Contreras and then hit like pictures.

And I found one from last year. It was the different Contreras. It was his brother. But it was like J.D's got too defensive or catcher interference already. Look how far back he is. And then someone, the comment of the video, which I didn't even really like read, was saying the rule is this. So I had a lot of people upset with me for sharing the wrong interpretation of the rule. But I was just sharing it like, oh shit, look at this.

Someone like said this was a problem last year with these two players, even though it's a brother, not a kid, whatever. But I want to clarify, MLB reached out and told me like, that rule's wrong. And I was like, yeah, sorry, I didn't intend for that to be what was taken away from sharing that. the batter as the rule states can as long as he has a fucking toenail on the line he's in the box so in those pictures if if the ball of martinez's foot is touching white it's legal per the current rule get that picture back up what kind of batter's box is that did that that looks like just took like a that's the thinnest battered box i've ever seen in my life what So, okay.

Looks like I drew it. That was another common reply that I don't know. And my only guess is we're at Dodger Stadium. Like was this a rain delay and they redid the lines in between games with spray paint? But someone in the reply. I know what a trap is. Someone in the replies was like, that's AI. This picture's AI.

That's fake box. And I looked at it and I was like, what is that batter's box? It's from a game in 2023 last year. In L.A.? Well, they're wearing Dodger White, right? Yeah. The tweets from August 16th of 23. Looks like a funky camera lens a little bit.

Like almost nothing about it looks right. It is like a phone picture of a TV. Oh, okay. Probably something with that, but it still looks misshaping. The line length already. August of 2023, you said. August 16th, 20203 is the date of that tweet. don't know if this was that night

night before. I think it was that night. I'll see if I can find another picture from see if Dodgers got messed up lines. You're a censor guy. That's like that's what people know you as. That's the guy that loves sensors in sports. We can't have sensors for stuff like this.

Like, hey, man, your back foot is too far back. Well, that's the thing. I think by the letter of the law, J.D. wasn't. And that's where I'm... Let's try to get to some solutions because I think that's where it can be fun and creative. I'm going to start way too creative, and this is kind of what I was talking about. Trev, when you were talking about the Pete Alonzo play with the sliding into home plate and you were talking about a home plate that kind of rises and falls,

like what if the batters box, I realize now you can stand on the chalk, but what if the batters box had like a mound to it, that like you had to be actually in the batters box? like a ridge, you could push off that back. That went up and down with the plate. Again, that's starting to get into a lot of technology. But I mean, is the answer here not like catchers, you have to be here, hitters, you have to be here.

And we just need to enforce that better, whether it's the current rules or updated rules. The problem... Enforcing it means something. The problem lies with coaching and this new philosophy of stealing strikes and putting people at risk. Like, Bebs, can you share my screen? Do we have that? Because I want to show,

because this is, Contreras is being taught to do this recently. And he got in the head. And, you know, maybe he's like, hey, I don't like this. But he's, or he did it on his own. But when he went to the Cardinals, he changed where he set up in his spot and started getting way up in the batter's ass. And when you have batters that,

lunge forward, don't let the ball travel that much. So this is when he's catching in St. Louis as a cub. That's where his glove is. If you can see that, like it's gloves right there. I'll put it as knee. That little line. And then this is the next year. Same shot.

I lined up the dugout, the Geico sign and the other sign. The railing is in the same exact spot. Look how much forward. So this is where he was before he went to the Cardinals. and then everyone wants to steal strikes and now look how much forward he is. That's insane. That is insane.

And then this was last night with JD. Again, like the railing. I toggled that so it's all matched. So, yeah, that's crazy. It's just a bad matchup of players. Like those two guys in particular because JD not only does he get way back in a box, but he's one of the guys that all he wants to do

is get his bat in the like get his past started early way back in the back of the zone and keep it all the way through the zone he wants to get there early and stay there late so you got a guy you know putting his hands back here you got a catcher reaching his hand up there and it is crazy there's actually quotes too from marmal which i'm not blaming i'm not blaming this on him it sounds like i am but he says it's a huge risk and it was talked about in the off season and a topic of discussion because there were more catchers interference calls because they were evaluated on framing. The closely able to get to the hitter to get that low pitch, it's definitely a topic of conversation. The risk is high and we just experienced it.

God damn it, baseball is so stupid. Why are we letting people intentionally risk injury because tricking old men is a skill set we want? That's exactly what it is. You're tricking an old man with bad eyes. It's an impossible task, and now we're tricking them to make it even harder so we can have the ejections and all the hula, which is fun. I enjoy it. Sure. But like when we're like, when Marmal says, yeah, we know it's a risk of injury, but it helps steal the strikes. Well, none of that is an issue.

That's so stupid. Well, he's saying it's a, this is the thing. He's saying it's a risk of catchers interference. It's not even thinking about injury. Like it's just about, oh, it's going to affect our team. They're going to get on first base. Well, it's like also you could break someone's hand and or for. arm and can you put my screen up again?

For anyone who couldn't see this, I'm going to make it much easier. That yellow dot. That's where his glove was as a cub. And this is where his glove is as a fucking cardinal. Just if you didn't really understand how much of a difference it is. That's like three feet. Insane. That's crazy, bro.

So let's fix that. Let's not make that a strategy that we like are pride of, proudful. Because you've got back swings going on catchers' heads all the time. Yeah, I used to not like guys that went in the back of the box. And then I think now, like maybe I should have been in the back of the box. I was in the middle of the box. And the only reason I was like that, and I think it was just something I developed when I was younger. Like when you play youth baseball, you know, they're not, the place isn't, the box isn't taken care of.

So where everyone stands, there's usually like massive holes. Anyone that's played baseball is experienced that. You get into the batter's box. there's just two massive holes where everyone's feet goes and I hated that I couldn't stand that so I just moved up instead of back I moved up so now my back foot was like

kind of in the middle of the box and my front foot was almost out of the the front of the box like what an idiot I was I should have moved back and I move forward instead and surprise I never had a Kedger's interference call on me never good for you

never because I was up in the box like an idiot How often did you catch guys with like a follow-through? Never. Never? I never caught a guy with a follow-through. I never had a catcher's interference. You're every catcher's dream, man. Yeah, they were stealing strikes on me, my whole story.

Like, I really fucked myself. Yeah, standing in a hole stunk. Yeah. It's the worst, dude. And then when there was rain and then that hole was a puddle, so now you got to do I go closer or do I go further? people and then you get to the field on youth fields in particular and like they drag let's say they drag it or raked it and it was just loose dirt in those holes it wasn't like they packed it down so like oh this this box looks nice and then you get in there and your foot just sinks down because it's just loose dirt it's it's a problem i mean tell me how that feels tell me how that feels when you're a five foot four two hundred pound freshman

sophomore year. Yeah, they used to call me Meals on Wheels. I could fly. Alejandro Kirk. Yeah, I was trying to change the game. Didn't it work? I'm glad it worked for Kirkie. So what are we doing?

Box for the catchers can't come up here? I don't know. Honestly, like, I don't, because the catcher reaches, too. The hitter should be given that space. As long as stealing a strike works and tricking old men at a very tough task already. is a strategy we cling to, this is going to happen.

Yeah, I don't have a solution. I just hope that, I mean, I don't, I don't want this to happen anymore. So I hope catchers are looking at the situation being like, I don't want to break my arm. So maybe I'll just back up a little bit. Right. It's got to send shockwaves through the catching world.

You see this guy. Dude, that's how people get contracts. It's the same as like the glass now saying, I'm throwing hard, dude. I'm a radar slut. I think it was yesterday. I think Trevino, was on N.

It would be network, and it was all about his framing stats. Yeah, the Yankees don't care about, like, blocking or throwing out runners now. All of their caught stealing, like,

I think 80% of them are from the pitcher catching the guy stealing. They just care about framing. Can't even say for sure they, like, care that much about if the catcher hits. Treby's hitting this year. Didn't we get a stat that was from a front office

that was like, if we steal nine strikes a game, that's equivalent to a run or something like that. I think, yeah, well, we have the... When you're thinking about these, you know, a lot of teams pride themselves on run prevention or just what they're valuing from the catcher position. And if you could get one runoff nine strikes,

which you can steal that off an ump in one game, like to them, that's a catcher war of, you know, a 50 war season. So I don't know. More rules. I got a text back from Gibby All I said was any retribution for last night And he says no He swings like that all the time when heaters beat him

He said at first I thought he was laughing Going down the line But then he realized he was just making a cringe face Like damn I know that hurt So Yeah I mean From Gibby but he's also the nicest person That I've ever met so

J.D Martinez's quote You're expecting to hit a ball you hit an arm And you're like what was that? I hit meat. I felt I hit meat. That's a tough feeling. Yeah. That brings me back to freshman in high school, Jake.

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over the weekend. So like Shady Ray's, John Boy Media and the Kentucky Derby, those are, it's where you want to be. We're obviously very big in Minneapolis. Right. Mall of America,

big Shady Ray's store. Okay, how about that? Triple ad. Let's get into some realistic daydream, maybe some not realistic daydreaming. as we I want to say approaching the trade deadline not so much

but we're hitting the time of year we had the arise trade go down you know Marlins are out White Sox are going to be out Jimmy's working on trading all of them away if you haven't seen Jimmy's three things yet They're gone That Kenny Rosenthal came out with an article

The kind of maybe teams That we see a couple of these every year that it's like, damn, if they're out at the deadline and you can trade with these guys, like, you know, it ends up leading to a better product at the end of the year, because it's all the playoff teams bulking up, which we like. So with that, I know Dalton put down a few teams

and a lot of teams from Kenny Rosenthal's article. I don't know if Dalton started with the Diamondbacks because Arizona was alphabetical or if Dalton's feeling a little salty about his snakes right now. But Jim, I guess is there a team that you're, I don't want to say you're rooting for to become a potential trade deadline plunder team? But are one of these teams jumping out that it's like, hey, this would be big for the season or maybe they even want to sell? It could be better for their team if they end up selling. They're surprise sellers that are interesting.

That was the article that Kenny wrote. And, you know, in it he had teams that I would love as a Yankees fan. sell. Right. Astros, the Blue Jays and the rays. I don't think the rays are going to sell. I really don't think the Astros are unless, um,

unless it's really bad and they would have like mutual conversations with Berlander, Bregman, Presley, and be like, hey, what do you want to do? blah,

because I think there's a lot of respect between that team and all those players. But those conversations have happened before. I remember when the Orioles had it with, um, Adam Jones is a free agent. And he said, no, I don't want, I don't want to be traded. I don't want to uproot my family for two months and blah, blah, because other guys are like, yeah, let me go, you know, win a championship.

Remember when Lance Berkman got traded to the Yankees? And they were like, yeah, we talked to him. And he said he wanted to go chase a title. So the Astros would have to be, like, be terrible and then get traded. Blue Jays are really interesting because it would be a big, that's their future, right? Like some of these guys that are coming up, that was the window. You know, like if Vladdy, whose contract's up doesn't get extended.

Right. And then, and they're not in it. And they see we need to trade him because otherwise we're going to lose him for nothing. That is the end of a chapter for the Blue Jay. So just how dramatic I think that would be in like, wow, the Vladdy window is over. Is, is kind of wild. Are they still in the window? feel like they are still in the window, but is it like the smallest window we've ever seen?

Everyone is still in the window in sorts. Something that I enjoyed trying to navigate was which teams are not a lock for the postseason and may do the trade early because they want to leave themselves still time to trade. I think the Blue Jays would fall in that window. Like if they were interested in a rise, would they have gone? going, got him. Well, they would go get some of these other white socks or Marlins, players, and try to get them before the window, like a June trade or an early July trade to give themselves three weeks of, and this guy, let's see if he can help get us back in. I think the Astros are

definitely going to add pieces because I think they're not going to try and trade at all. And like the Royals were in on a rise. So the Royals are looking to add early because I think they want to do that now to really push themselves so that they have time to do the double trade, which we've seen teams do a lot recently since the new rules. I think that, well, first of all, like the Blue Jays and Vladys is so interesting to me. And I don't know if we're going to get to this article, but Jim Bowden had one talking about trading Vladdy to the Astros. I think that's a really interesting fit. But yeah, I mean, Vladie has this year.

He has next year as well. It's like to me, like they signed a bunch of pitchers. up there. The rotation is strong. They still have Vladdy and Bo. I believe both through 2025. Is Bo before or is he also the same? No, I think they're the same timeline. I think it's Beau Vladdy. Who's it? Bassett is on that with his

contract. Romano, I believe. Romano's got another left, I believe. A chunk of the core. Yeah, it's like you almost can't. You have built this roster up. Has it provided the fans with what they've wanted? Probably not. I think they've underachieved in this quote-unquote window.

But you still have a full year of it to see what you're doing. I understand the hall will be different next August or next July. It's going to be way less. But like, if you trade flat. Yeah. They can get a lot for their rentals. Like Kikuchi's pitching well. I think Turner's hitting and people always need like DHS or benchbats.

those are different trays than throwing out Vladdy and I think that does you know signal that we're trying to figure things out here we don't believe in this roster essentially but if you showed the rentals Turner and guys that are done at the end of this year it's I think that's you would have to have a team

like in Bowden's article the Astros really like going after him wowing you with the deal but yeah a lot of the double a lot of the double year trades, I don't really see it happening, especially with the Blue Jays,

but I do see, you know, they have the other guys to offer. That would be cool. I'm interested in the Cardinals, man. We just, we just, their best player, their best hitter, the guy that's really been

the most consistent player is now out for how long? I mean, that's a two-month injury at the earliest, I'd assume. You fracture your forearm like that. I mean, I went through that.

That's not an easy, that's not an easy path back. So you're sitting at the bottom of your division. You think the division's pretty dang good. There's some teams at the top there that are doing well. Are you going to get back into it? You just signed three older pitchers this off season. What direction do they go?

Because they do have some younger position players that I think that they really like. But you have guys sitting there. We already said Paul Goldschman's going to the Yankees next year. That's great for you guys. Happy for that. Now you don't want them. I like Paul. I've got some other landing spots for him.

Oh, well, Jimmy's, Jimmy already confirmed he's going to the Yankees next year. But a guy like Nolan Aeronado, who has, what, three or four years left, like I think he's a very intriguing piece because his contract does seem, I mean, it's a lot of money. It's a lot of money for a guy that's, you know, mid-30s now, but the Rockies are paying down some of this salary. So, you know, this year's $35 million, but $5 million is getting paid by the Rocky. So it's $30 this year.

Then it's $32, $5 million paid for the Rocky. You're paying 27 and 2025, where he's 34 years old. And then it goes down to 27, but the Rockies are paying 5 million. So now you're only paying 22 for him at 35 years old. And then in 2027, it's $15 million. So it's heading the way you wanted to be heading as Aeronado ages. I think a lot of teams would take him on. Like, he's still a very productive player.

And he's a guy that you want, I think, would be a very good leader for a lot of different clubhouses. I'm curious to see if they try to unload both of those deals, a Goldschmidt and an Aeronado deal, and then just kind of focus on some of the younger guys they have and trying to reignite the roster, if you will. Hit up the Rockies, see if they'll cover some of the tab. I mean, that could make the trade even easier for you. The Cardinals for me, like the ALE East is gnarly, man.

The Orioles aren't going to stop. Like the Yankees, and this isn't Yankees BS. They had one of their worst teams ever. They still won 82 games last year. And now they feel like a new form of the Yankees. So those teams are going to be there in the end. The Red Sox hot start. I mean, if they keep pitching, that's always been the thing.

I don't know. I think I've got the race circle that they're going to do something because they just operate different anyways. So the raise could be a little above. 500 and they could still cash in on an asset while move on to their next thing because that's what the raise do. The Blue Jays, God, I don't know because what you guys were saying, if they, if they're going to sell it this deadline, then you might want to just retool the whole thing because

then it is one more year of Vladie and Bichette. They'd have to know or be thinking that they're going to extend those guys. And you feel like those conversations would have been going on these past three years that if those players are also one year away from free agency, that they probably want to test free agency. So those are the wild ones. And like you guys said, with Houston up, they got to turn it around. I mean, it's been ugly.

And I think the other thing that's in my head, and I know they've changed around some things in their front office, but like they've never business. Business-wise, they've made the moves. Like, you know, Correa was the number one bad guy. Like, Houston with Correa, you know, they're shortstop. When it was time, they didn't get too proud. They're like Sprint.

They've had guys move on. We've just never seen them have to make those decisions at a deadline because they've been so good. But I don't know. If it doesn't get figured out, if they can't get back to 500, you know, by July, which they can, especially. If any team can, they can. I don't think they'll end up being proud.

And I do think you're right. They'd have a conversation with Alex Bregman. Like, they've earned that. But I don't know, if you're Alex Bregman and hopefully he starts turning things around, you'd like to think he'd be loved to be thrust into a moment where he could kind of turn around where his season's currently at, a guy with a ton of playoff experience.

I don't know. And I think a lot of, hey, if you're listening about your team, and you're going, what the, you're trading away my Cardinals? We're about to get hot this week. Maybe you are. Also, maybe you aren't because last year was buns, and now you're falling behind everyone again. I have one team that, you know,

we talk about trades and, like, sellers, but what about, like, you know, what about teams looking to add? And Chris Rose has kind of been all over this, and the more and more he talks about it, the more I'm into it, the Baltimore Orioles. Like they have too many position players.

Like they have a AAA team that's like they're going nuts. So you can capitalize on that. Like you have all this capital in prospects. You don't have any room for them. You've drafted too well. You have too many guys there for, you know, to play. You know, you have a plethora of outfielders sitting there, whether at the big league level or at the AAA level,

like those are the guys that have you know less than a year of service time the teams covet big time you're talking about six plus years of control and what are the Orioles need like what what do they need to improve their team I mean like when you're talking about when you're talking about a team like the Orioles who is we're getting it in the playoffs and we want to win in the playoffs you need relievers to the max so like a guy like Michael Kopeck who is. really like figured it out with the white socks. So their white socks are probably out of contention. I think you declared him dead. I'm awesome. Jimmy has another team for Kopeck. So back off. White Sox have made a trade.

Oh. Eric Fetty to the raise. Robbie Grossman, back to the Rangers. White Sox get right-handed pitcher, Anthony Hoopy, Nuiio Natua. We're going to bleep that out. Yeah.

Should. In my video yesterday, I was going across all the people to trade off of the White Sox and I went, Robbie Grossman, nope. Okay, well, I'm very curious. To think where you think no pet goes. Can we just get into that or is that later on the show? I did it with no bias.

I scoured one team, thought about one team, and traded him to the Yankees. And that was without any bias and just thinking, I know what I know, the Yankees need relievers. And they have a lot of relievers coming off the board at the end of the year. So they need a stud to give them. a year and a half. And they'll just change

that four seam into a two seam and be good. Just let it run. No. But I that was a joke, obviously, for those that don't. I just chose the Yankees because I want that. I think 100% that kid's going to go to a contender. Say that in a more old man voice.

That kid's going to go to a little contender. I think 100% that kid's going to go into contend. I don't know how to do an old man's. Because you can't. Well, I think, That's tough. Anyways, no, I watched this kid pitch, man. Like, he's, like, figured it out. Like, he throws the absolute shit out of the ball right now.

He still needs... I think he... I honestly think he needs to be, like, challenged. He's one of these kids that's like, you better challenge this kid because if he's not being challenged or he's not being told he's no good or he's...

There's not something pushing him. I don't think he performs. Like, I think being with the White Sox is probably been the worst thing for his development. because what have they done? The leadership there has been nil. They've had basically, you know, no challenges throughout the season.

He's had an up and down career, trying to be a starter, now he's in the bullpen. If this kid gets pushed and gets challenged and gets around guys that are like, hey, man, this is the way. Shout out Mandalorian. He could turn into something really special

during the playoffs. Like he has that type of arm talent. I mean, I saw him, he could be a little bit wild. but when he's around the strike zone, I mean, he's nasty this year. So, I mean, I have 100% expect him to be traded. I just, I don't know where yet.

The Orioles seem like a good fit to me. But really, as we know, any team that's looking to be, to cause noise in the playoffs needs relievers. You know what I'd do? If I were the angels, I'd pick up the phone now and try to take advantage of teams

that want early trades before some of these guys that I value might, go the opposite way. Like Simber's having a great year. I think one bad start. He needs a reliever. Hunter Strickland, they signed to a minor league deal.

He's having a good start to a season in the bullpen. Go to the raise. Go to whatever team just needs extra arms right now and just get something before it goes the other way. They also have Tyler Anderson. He's got this year end the next year. Trade him to the raise. The Dodgers made him awesome.

The raise will just make him awesome too. So if I was the Angels, I'd be on the phones now. trying to like offload while some teams need immediate help and you have teams that guys arms that are doing well. Is that the way we're going? Like teams are like basically deciding already. It's May 8th.

Hey, this, we know this isn't really our year. So let's go try to get as much value as possible because in years past and then, or just in the past in general, it's always been like, well, let's wait until the trade deadline because everyone's more desperate then. And we can pit this team against this team. in that team. Well, I think it's easier to do it now when you're like, hey, man, you can get this guy for three extra months.

It's going to help your team. So come at us. I think it is easier on GMs to go do it now. More teams are in now. And then there's that secondary window where they, like, go out at the last couple days. But the angels have a less than 0.1% chance on baseball reference. And Fangrath has them at less than 2% chance to make the playoffs.

So they're not. No. Yeah. I think there's, I hope we see more of that. And I think like you're saying, Trev, there's an easy sell both ways there. Like, but at the same time, if your team just be open to that. Like if you're not getting the trade you want for your guys, sure, wait to the deadline, because then you can do the same thing.

But if it's there, just go and then play some more young guys. And hopefully it restarts whatever you're trying to restart. Look how pesky those nationals are starting to get down there in D.C. Jim, you mentioned you had no bias before. You know who doesn't have bias? The U.S. government. I think they have bias. AI.

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Click the link in the description. Check it out. I do also have to say, before we start daydreaming of a couple more trades and fits, potentially. Trev, I'm just picturing Ron Garnhire right now, listening to you talk about a young player who needs to be challenged, who's got all this potential, and he's just, he's smoking his pipe and saying,

I finally got through to him. Yeah, I don't know if he smokes a pipe. Cigar, for sure. Okay, Stoge's for Ron. Trev, who's your, you're a dreamer, late night, Trev. What are some of the, fun ones because you mentioned Bowden's article and you said you had a couple

up your sleeve. I didn't know if you were alluding to that with Aronado a little bit or what else do you got? Aronado's my guy that I've been thinking about where can this guy go? Because at first I was like, what's he doing? I know like it wasn't great last year. So I wanted to see

like kind of where the stats have landed as of late 774 OPS last year. I think some of the defensive metrics were down. But he still at 26 homers, 93 runs, driven in. Like, he plays a good defense. I'm not, I'm, you can't tell me that Nolan Aeronado is not a plus defender. I'm sorry. Okay. So this guy, you know, yes, he's 33 this year, but I believe there's still some, a lot of ball left. And he's a worker, man. Like, he is not to anybody that's played

with him or against him. Like, they understand, like, the amount, like, he's a baseball rep. You know, I love that. So, you know, I'm going around thinking, okay, who could use a third baseman, who's under control. You don't want to just, he's not a rental. Like, he's, Through 2027 he's locked up. And I mentioned the salary already. So it's a decent salary. You don't want to give him to a team that's at a CBT threshold that's going to push him over. I don't think that's the fit for him.

I do have one team. I think this will be just an amazing left side of the infield. It's the Kansas City Royals. Nolan Aeronado to the Kansas City Royals. Pretty young team. you know, they have a veteran leader in Sal, but, you know, it's always nice to add veteran leadership in that infield. Now, you can say, well, they have some guys there. Mikel Garcia is there.

They have another guy named Caden Wallace, who they drafted in the second round a couple years ago who they think that's kind of like their, maybe their third base in the future. But those guys can move to other positions. Like, you can get a guy who is, how many All-Star teams does he made? Like, he was MVP3 just in 2022. too. There's good baseball left in this guy. And they have the payroll flexibility. They're a team on the rise. I just think that adding a guy like this to your roster can help you in so many different ways. Clearly the results on the baseball field matter. I think he can add to that.

But also just in the clubhouse, like the way he goes about things, I think he'd be such a compliment to Bobby Witt Jr. there and be such a great mentor. for Bobby Witt Jr. there that it just makes a lot of sense to me. And the Cardinals, you know, I think they have a lot of players, like they could replace him at third base. Mason Winne has looked really good at shortstop. Like you have guys that you can plug and play at third base. And also, I don't know what, like, where the Cardinals are at with everything. I don't think they're, I had them winning the Central this year. It already looked like it wasn't going to happen. And then Contreras is out now. I think, I just don't think it's, going to happen for him this year. And where do they see their window the next two or three years?

I'm not really sure. But I know the Kansas City Royals think that they're about to open one up and having a guy like Aeronado go there and mentor and provide for you on the field, I think is really nice. And he seems like he's a middle America type player. I don't want to see him on the coast. I want to see him stay in the central. So Aeronado to the Royals, I don't really have anyone going back. I'm not a prospect guy. You guys know. Sure. You know, they can choose from the Royals prospects. I don't know who it's going to be, but I like

the Major League fit of Nolan Aronado, playing third base next to Bobby Wood Jr. for the next three seasons, man. I like that a lot. That would be something. Royals fans, mad at your Mikel Garcia. Does he even have to move? His grace. He's having an

okay year. I think I'd choose Nolan Aronado over him. I think that could be fair. I think you make that argument. Thank you. I think you can make that argument. What are the tea leaves showing you, Jim? I'm a hunting one right now that I might like. I'm trying to see the tigers. They have not a good, they have not a good.

They don't have good numbers versus right-handed starters. But I don't know the availability positionally that they have. Like who's locked up or not locked up in their outfield? they got Carpenter. Riley Green's great. Yeah, Riley Green's great. And Carrie Carpenter? He's been pretty good.

Carpenter can D.H. a lot, too. Center fielder? Wenssel Perez kind of got the call and he's been going. But I think they could find room in the outfield. D.H. is kind of locked up too. Markana, Riley Green, Carrie Carpenter. That's a chunk of it. Yeah, I don't know if they fit.

I'm trying to trade Jesse Winker. He's got signed. It's a one-year deal by the Nats. I know the Nats are above 500 right now, but their playoff odds aren't great. And, like, going deep into the playoffs aren't great. And they got all these guys on one-year deals, hoping that they can trade them, like Gallo, Winker, all this.

Now, Winker's going off. He's crushing right-handed pitchers. So I was trying to find a landing spot for that. You also got Trevor Williams on the Nats, who's having a really good year. You've been great, yeah. And I know the Nats are above 500s, and national fans might not want that.

but I don't think they're good enough to not cash in on those two guys if they continue to perform like they are. I like that. Maybe, maybe, I know we talked about the double trade a little bit. Like if you try to buy and if it's not working, it's not working. Jesse Winker back to Cincinnati for a little bit now that he's grooving, that could be a fun little revival. And if they don't kick into gear, you can trade back.

They're 24th versus right-handed starters. They just got Friedel back, and they're hoping that sparks their lineup. Arizona is also down, but Carol just homered, so hopefully he goes up. And they're not going to replace him. So it's hard to find the Ray's. Winker could be a Ray. What I like about Winker is his stats now are back to his career norms. Yeah.

You know, basically identical. His career is 369, 443 for an 813. This year he's 376, 432 for an 808. What's going on in Seattle, Trev. Why do some guys absolutely love hitting their trout, Judge Stanton come to mind? And some guys get traded there to Oscar. And I think there was another one that recently said it and said like they hated hitting there. I did not. I did not. It seems to be polarizing where players either are like, I love it or I get me out of here. I think right field is reachable. So I don't know if lefties hit better there or not. But that seems like it's a fair reachable.

fence line and but then center field left center and left field seemed always seemed just big to me it seemed like a big outfield um and i believe there's like it's the fences uniformed like kind of like all the way around so you can go up and get the ball pretty sure we were in seattle last year and i was looking at that when i was with the twins broadcast uh but no i don't know if it was the pitching or just the way i felt in the box but it always felt a little cold there uh i remember remember that. Always feeling like the elements, like even though you could put the dome or the the retractable roof up, um, is it a retractable roof? It is, right? Yes. Elements weren't good for me there. I didn't see the ball particularly well and it felt like a big outfield. So I, I don't know.

My numbers I know are bad there. It could be just a combination of all those things. But it wasn't, you know, it wasn't a place where I was like, I can't see the ball. I don't know if I really had a place like that where I was like, I can't see the ball here. certain times a day at certain parks, but I don't recall Seattle being that way. Okay, well, I just looked up last year the splits for the league. They now have it where like right-handed hitters at this park, left-handed hitters at this park.

And out of the 60 different options there, right-handed hitters at Seattle was the lowest OPS out of all handedness and park combos last year where left-handed hitters at Seattle was a, 725 OPS, which was not top half, but like in the middle, but still below average. Okay. Lefties at Fenway highest, number one. Look it off the monster.

Letties at Fenway. I love that. And then lefties at cores, number two. Righties at cores number three. Righties in Texas number four. Lefties in Cincinnati, number five. Safeco is your worst

Your worst stadium Trout So the guys I mentioned Judge Trout Much better Everywhere else Easy power Easy power

You don't have to worry about that They don't worry about all the things That you kind of said Because they They clear homers by a lot So you have to be pretty much that like All-Star player Go get showhead

Yeah Yeah easy Five for 62 No extra base hits Holy That was... Really? I mean, King Felix.

It was... Times were different. Didn't strike out excessively. Nice. You're getting it on. Who knows? A couple fun ones for me. We started daydreaming this the other day.

I think Jazz Chisholm trades are kind of fun. I think whether it's... I think you could cover the whole spectrum. Like, it's... If he starts picking it up, which he has a little bit lately, do you throw him into the Blue Jays pool and just let the... boys go nuts up there and figure it out. I don't know about that one.

That would be electric. I don't know if it worked. It'd be electric. I also like the Kansas City angle. Like you go from Miami to Kansas City, and there is already like a young core established there that maybe if Jazz feels like he's running with the core instead of like by himself. Or, I mean, the other daydream is him going to a veteran laden squad where he's like

the eighth hitter in the lineup. This would never happen because it's individual. but like if the Braves flipped Kelnick again and Jazz Chisholm was like their eighth hole left fielder and just tried to go super team. I think all of those end up being electric and part of that is jazz electricity. The other one that this won't happen, but it should happen and it's been my qualm with this team. Paul Goldschmidt rental to the Cleveland Guardians, man. God, they need a righty bet.

They need a first baseman. Like, it's literally perfect. But it won't happen because the Guardians don't put chips on the table. That will be awesome. I would love to see that happen. The top of their lineup is literally all lefties and Jose Ramirez Switch.

Yeah, they just brought Minzardo. He's a lefty as well. You just put Nailor to DH? Yeah. Paul Goldschman is like in an 0 for 29 or something like that right now. So I don't know how many teams are. And a half.

Get him out of there. A little addendum on the stadiums. The year before it was switched where Ritey's did better in Seattle and lefties did worse and the other year. So it seems personal reasons. Okay. Being dead last for Ritey's was last year seems like not the norm. But it is hard to do there.

Okay. Jazz Chisholm trade. I don't know, man. I don't know. If people watch that interview, I don't know if you can go get that. I mean, dude, openly just said he didn't go to a practice.

us for four years because he hated his teammates as a pride point. Like he said it like people were going to like be like, damn, that's cool, man.

The guys, he thinks everyone loves him and whatever he does is the coolest thing. The guys interviewing him were like, what? Why didn't you, don't you think it's your responsibility

to be with your teammates? And he was like, nah, fuck them. Do you say that? Yeah. Did you not watch that full interview, Treve?

I know it got clipped up and diced up. The full thing is... It's sane. If I'm a GM, I'm not bringing that to, like, my team. Just personally. That's the, well, there's the Blue Jay side of it is like, fuck it, we ball. And then there's, again, teams have always the big teams that think that they can, you know, whether Dallas Cowboys and baseball, the old Yankees, like they used to bring in talented guys

because you're going to fit in or that's it. That if there's an org that thinks that, I mean, Jazz Chisholm, he's making two and a half mill this year. He's starting to hit Arb. Like, I don't know. It's a value prop between Miami and whoever could potentially bring him in. Because if you get the best of a healthy jazz chisholm, there's great value. If you don't, it's tough. He complained that they made him do like bus karaoke as a rookie.

It's like Dallas Braden made us like us do. Like, that's so fucking normal. Everyone does that. It's not great. I didn't want to do it, but you have to do it. Yeah, I didn't want to do it. I don't even know if they do that. to be honest,

to be the other ones. It's kind of corny now, but Dallas brought me up, and I hate singing. I had to do it. I didn't feel attacked by, it was crazy. He was complaining about the shit that like,

what? Listen to like any older players rookie story. I was definitely, hazing has gone too far at points, of course. And it's nicer when you welcome someone

and you're friendly. I like the change. But what he was saying wasn't even a bad shit. There's all, like that stuff is, All that is about is creating team chemistry, like breaking down your guard.

And like saying we are one and you can be yourself and be like we need this. We need to everybody on the same level. If you don't want to do it, I mean, then you're not on that level. I don't know. I was watching the game was the Dodgers are playing the Marlins.

So McGee Roe versus Jazz. What was going to happen? Miggy Rose starts talking crap to the dugout. And I was like, is that jazz? then I realized Jazz was in center field and then afterwards Miggie Rawls is like, no, I'm just talking that was me talking to my friend

and the dugout, we're just joking around. Maggie's like, no, I have friends on my former teams. Yeah, I'm curious like if, was there an interaction? Probably not. Like, I don't think they crossed paths, but well, no, Miggie was playing last night.

Jazz did hit a homer. I wonder if Jazz looked at him going around the bases. That's all squashed, man. Oh, I love it. I just suck for stuff like that. Have you heard it, Treve? Can you hear this?

Like, just leave him alone because he don't do nothing to none of y'all. I watch this kid all day. He comes to the field. He doesn't even practice. Like, that's the thing. Like, bro, my first three years of the big leagues, I didn't even practice. Why didn't you practice? What do you mean?

I didn't, bro, I'm not there for you. Like, I'm not going to be around you guys, bro. I don't like y'all like that. Y'all don't like me. I don't like y'all, bro. When you saw me at the baseball field from 2020 to 2020, you would only see me from 2.m. to 3.3.10. And if you get, nobody's allowed to even be at the field at that time.

So you wouldn't even see me. You understand what I'm saying? I know exactly. I work early. So you don't have to be a regular team schedule practice was at 3.45 to 5? The game's at 640. The game's at 640. You see me at 2 to 3.

I'll go after 2 to 3 o'clock. I'm sleeping. the whole day until the game starts. Literally, you could ask any of my teammates. 2022 season, 2021 season, 2020 season. Never saw my face. No fan even saw me outside of there. Trev, as a player in the big leagues for multiple years,

your reaction to that? I don't know how to react to that, to be honest with you. I mean... Neither did the guys interviewing him. They were just like, uh... Like, okay. There are times, especially now it's changed. There's so much more.

own program type guys out there and it's more acceptable to be own program to a certain extent. But if you're completely alienating yourself from a team, I mean, yeah, it's going to cause, you know, it's going to ruffle some feathers in the clubhouse. And I don't even believe him. I am going to ask people that were on the team, jazz. I'm going to ask people and see what they say because from, so you work from two to three, which is, means you were in the cage and maybe you went into the training room a little bit, but you didn't participate in team, you didn't hit batting practice,

you didn't take ground balls on the field. Like, I'm calling false on that. Like, there's no way that for those, for your rookie year, your sophomore year, and your third year, you didn't ever hit batting practice or go take ground balls or fly balls on the field. No way that happened.

No way. Yeah. I felt bad because Miggie, like the public was kind of siding with jazz over Miggie, but the actual interview didn't get like actually clipped up to hear it and like, what? Dude's bragging about never being part of the team. I've said this before on jazz. Like he's like an average ballplayer.

Like he's not a spectacular ball player. Like, and look, you can come at me and say all you want. I knew what kind of ball player I was. Like I was average. Okay. I never thought, hey, I should get my own shoe from Jordan, which is what he thinks. I never thought I should be on the cover of a video game. I don't know how that happened. But like, he hasn't earned any of that. That's the truth, dude. I don't know. He needs to, he needs a full season because you can, his past three years, if you do the 162 game averages,

he's a 32 homer 35 steel guy. So, like, he can have that, but he hasn't done it. Right now, your guys' career slash lines are very similar. 245 batting average for him, 242 for you, 306 on base for him, 304 for you, 447 slug for him, 410 for you, 754 OPS 714 for you. I should have been a better hitter shoot oh dude

just take away that Philly that was bullshit anyway Seattle games don't count you're in yeah he played 60 games in 2022 and that was his best year 860 OPS and like hey if you're an 860 OPS guy all the time

talk your shit but for 60 games I agree with Jake send him to the blue jays unless he's outwardly saying stuff like jazz does Like you're your I don't even care

I honestly don't even care But sometimes when I hear it I have to react to it And here I am Sorry for playing it for you I knew it upset you Because it upset me And I'm not even a ball player

Of any sort It was just bizarre Miggie Row and jazz chisholm Baseball's Kendrick and Drake beef Continues tonight Make sure you tune in Or just watch your team And tell us what else we should know about your team.

Tell us who would be the good trade fit or tell us who you're trying to trade away or what we missed. We will see you guys back Friday. Just watched the Jazz Homer from last night. McGee Row wasn't in the game at the time. He'd defensive replace later. Borks. Baseball today with Chris Rowling.

You missed a great Jake sucks the other day, Jenny. I had Island here sick, and she came and just. Oh, that's beautiful. You've never seen a happier human. She's like, she can say sucks. As long as it's at the ugly man. Duna da da-da-da-da-da-dur.