Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - Your Team's Spring Training Storyline | 780

Episode Date: February 19, 2024

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Hello and welcome to talking baseball. Spring training has started and what do you need to watch out for? You guys tell us on today's episode of Talking Baseball. Boom, boom, boom. Hello and welcome to Talking Baseball. Thank you very much for joining us today. It's brought to you by Seat Geek. My name is Jimmy.

His name is Jake, Trevor, joining us from California and BBD behind the dish. It's February 19th as we record this. I just want to let you know that the very next game, of Blitzball Battle 4 is me and Jake versus Trev and his brother. Baggage versus forgotten rotten. Ooh, haven't faced each other since the championship game of BB1. So how did that work out? Like that.

That's crazy. Pretty wild. So go check that out. I think that's tomorrow night. Tuesday night. Tuesday night. February 20th at 8 p.m. on the warehouse games channel. Jake,

Jake. already out. How are you doing? James, Trev, Davis. Glad you're starting to feel better. Big guy. I'm doing well. Anniversary birthday weekend for me and Jomelope.

Some Snell rumors are swirling. And I'm excited to see where, you know, Jim, I know you got into some internet weeds last week between, like not being kind of ready and excited. for baseball season slash spring training and people reporting. To now I think you've done like a 180 of like pump it into my veins. Yeah, last week with TPPs coming out, PPPs for talking yanks, the Cashman interview for a thousandth episode,

and then all the spring training, like every manager met and talked about. And like we got like all the fake storylines. So we went from the deadest week ever, which I said I didn't like. And Astros fans decided to say, I'm a giant piece of shit for three days. straight. And now I'm like fully caught up in the hype that is early spring training, which I think is fine. Trevor, are you excited? I know you've been sick, but have you excited about all the health, best shape of our life's updates we're getting? I am. I do have one question before I get into that. Who lost more bodily fluids this weekend,

me or Jake? Different orifices, but. You don't know that. You don't know that. I am excited about all this. You know, I don't want this to be taken. the wrong way, but we've already had a few of our normal, like, not normal, but spring, spring training injuries happen. So we got Bradish going down. We got Josh Jung pulling the calf. And it's like, I think this, this type of stuff when not even those organizations, but other organizations are like, oh, yeah, injuries happen. Like, we had the eternal optimism going on. Now it's like reality is setting in. We're facing live hitters. Like, oh, the guy we, we think we're counting on, like, he kind of looks crappy in those live A, Bs. Like, maybe we should go get someone.

I think there's going to be a flurry of movement soon here. I like all the, you know, like the Xander Bogart's news. Like all this stuff is happening. It's baseball season's back. It's so fun. I know games are starting in like two days or something like that. It seems like it's really quick. But I'm into it, man.

I want things to start going because I want to be able to confidently do our last TPPs without having to worry about like, dude, are we going to miss the biggest transaction of that team. So I think things, because of all those injuries and reality setting in is about to start happening. I am excited. I was going to say something about the free agent signings

and the Orioles. And I forget. But we got a lot of voicemails coming up, so I'm excited about that. I was, fuck, I was going to ask you guys opinion on something. Orioles are one of these calls, not the first. I was going to say this.

The Bogart's news is crazy. That's awesome. It's awesome, but nuts. They've now signed two short stops to long-ass-term deals that are not playing shortstop. By year three of those deals. Yeah, in the last four years, they signed Tatis and Zander to be their long-term shortstop,

and now they're playing right field and second base. Shortstop's one of those positions. You play it so you can't. Yeah, yeah, Tribe, but usually half the money goes towards the short. Like, they're not signing those contracts, contracts at that dollar amount if they are playing right field and second base. Those guys will gladly move off because they already got paid. paid.

Yeah, that's right. You paid for a premium position. And, I mean, at least Tatis has made it, like, he's still a premium defender. It might not be at a premium position, but he's still, yeah. Marcus Simeon at second base. They, like, still might move Tatis to center at some point. I don't think this year, but. I think it makes a lot of sense to move him to center, but whatever.

I want to hear what the people are saying. And if you want to hear what one of our people is saying, new show alert, Swamp Donkey Radio, sweet Lorenzo from We Got Ice. Three Homer first inning last night. How about that? Everything's coming up, Z. Go check it out. Was listening to the first ep on the way in.

Zoh is an old school sports radio guy. Want to dip his pen in, and he's dipped it, producer Ronnie. They're talking a lot of baseball and some other sports around the way. So go check out Swamp Donkey Radio with our sweet Lorenzo, Malia. Voice mail number one. Well, we're on the Padres. Hey, talking baseball, huge fan here.

I'm a podres fan, and I know you guys, you know, just for sex, don't get much love to the Padres, but the biggest problem is don't have an outfield and going to see what our pitching staff looks like, relief fishing and looks great, but I'm happy that the Padres are finally letting their prospects go up. That's their biggest problem. is picking and prospect development.

And finally, hopefully we can see that actually work in the future here. And actually finally see some of our rookies there in top 10, top 100 prospect rankings do well. Let me know you guys' thoughts. Thank you and love you guys. Well, tough. Thanks. Thanks. He said you don't know.

Padres are good. But then the problem is they don't have an outfield and the rotation. and those are important elements of a team, especially the rotation. We just started talking on the Padres before we even had a Padres voicemail. Yeah. I feel like we talked about the Padres probably too much for what they've done last year. He said we don't think they're good, I think. I don't know.

But then he doesn't think they're good, Trev. It's fine. He said we don't have an outfield, which they don't, and that their rotation isn't great, which it isn't. It's not, it could be good. It's not on paper right now, like steady. Their top three could be very strong. I mean, Musgrove, Darvish, and Mike King,

like that could be a sneaky top three if everyone's healthy in pitching and performing. You get scared. It's rotation depth and that outfield, which I, you know, feel like there's got to be a solution here, or do they have their DH spot open? Like, let's, can we put someone else on the fathers

so they can be feeling a little better? What do you? Profar's, promise to the left field spot right now because they needed a second outfielder. Can you give us a scouting report on Randy Vasquez? Like, you guys saw him pitch, right? Big curveball.

Like modern day fastball, like a sneaky, you know, probably sits mid-90s. The fastball and curve were nice. He very much needed a third pitch. So I don't know. Like if he was, how about this? If he was listed as the Yankees' fifth pitcher, we would be nervous this season.

We'd be probably livid. So six, seven, cool. Yeah, hey. Five scary. Young player, maybe it kicks in a gear more. I like what the Padre said. Like their bullpen could come together. I've kind of forgot about their two international guys they brought in.

Like if those guys are good, they could have like a good deep bullpen. But yeah, you'd really like to see. Like right now their roster resource has Mani Machado listed as the DH and Matt Batten, a good baseball name, listed as the third baseman. You wonder, like, we've been looking for the,

I know they need lefties, but we've been looking for a J.D. Martinez team, like would be interested in that. And a guy like Eddie Rosario or someone left-handed who could play some corner outfield and DH a little bit, like it feels like that would balance out the lineup a lot. And that, those players are still kind of out there. But yeah, need to see a little bit.

more from the Padres. There's outfielders available. It just depends kind of like what you want to do. I don't think this team's in the running to go sign a Cody Bellinger unless it's on a one year deal, which I don't think he's going to take. He doesn't, he shouldn't take that. So, you know, you'd have to, yeah, get creative. You talked about Eddie Rosario. How about another win? Max Kepler's still rumored to be traded. I know the Yanks have

been talking about him for quite some time, but I think that they have addressed some of their outfield stuff, so I don't know if he really fits there anymore. I mean, there's guys to be had. So, yeah, I don't know what they're going to do. Again, we just talked about screen training and the injuries and kind of teams really begin to view their roster in the real light. Because when you're just sitting looking out on paper, it looks great.

But then when you see it perform and you see what's out there right in front of you, you start to make decisions. So it could be as simple as that. Over the next couple weeks, they might sign a few guys. And in this instance, go sign two or three guys and see which one pops off. See which one fits your team. It doesn't have to be a big signing to do that. Jake, are you a fan of Matthew Batten?

I like the name. From Trumbull. Shelton went to Trumbull High School. Shelton. So now are you a fan of him? Connecticut. Yeah. Okay. Jake's a fan.

Bring in Padres. Adam Duval. Sure. Michael A. Taylor. Moms love him. What's their situation with money? aren't they not? I think they can't bring in a big money.

You can't get someone for free. Yeah, but they traded Soto. He's making, you know, what, 25 mil or something like that? So how much can they spend? 31. So how much can they spend? 10? I mean, Tommy Fam is out there.

You know, like, maybe you want to keep away from San Diego. I don't know. But there's guys out there. We'll see. And you know what? Robbie Grossman, your die. Just move more infielders, the outfield. They get a bat.

I think it last year. It didn't work. Jake Bowers So you're available Oh my name is Dan I'm a diehard Mets fan And going into spring training I'd say the biggest storyline for the team is

Who is going to be the starting first baseman Either Brett Beatty or Mark Vientos You know they both Didn't do great last year Viantos showed some flashes But his defense wasn't great We're only in this spot because Ronnie Maricio, you know, out for the year with the ACL.

But I think it's going to be really interesting to see because I think it's probably going to be Beatty. But I wouldn't exactly be surprised a bit to the end post. So that would be a big thing to watch. Thanks for taking this. And yeah, keep up the good work, boys. Starting third baseman. Third base. Third base.

I think he said first, but they're competing for third. man, Beatty had a tough go last year on the senior circuit. I didn't realize how tough those numbers got. Career great in the minors, so you always wonder, can a light bulb go off for a young guy, lefty third baseman? Yes, he can. Yeah, right?

Like, he's still very young, and I mean, you know, Viantos is, yeah, Viantos is 24. his numbers were pretty tough, but a lot less run. He only played 65 games last year. So, yeah, I don't, I would like to know, and I'd probably bump Jolly Olive or Mets fans, because you guys know your team a little better. But, like, who does it, like, Trev,

you said a lot of these spring training stuff are, you know, kind of known in the front office. I wonder if they're like, if they, who do they want? Do they want Beatty? I don't know. Well, I bet they, They wanted Ronnie Maricio, then he gets hurt. I think that's kind of you're sitting there saying,

this guy's probably going to be our third base. And we have these guys waiting in the wings if something happens. And then all of a sudden something happens. And now you have to make a decision. There are times where you go into a spring training and you legitimately just want to see what these guys look like. Like how was their off season? How are they looking against live pitching?

It doesn't mean that if you play well in spring training, that you're going to be in the big leagues and you're going to perform well. But it might mean you get the first shot at it. If they're between two guys, they might look at spring trading and not statistics necessarily, but what's the quality of your at-bats? You know, were you making good contact? How did you look defensively?

And between Vientos and Beatty, they'll probably be deciding who gets the first shot. Doesn't mean you have, you know, you have the job the entire year because you have to go perform at the big league level. But I'd bet that they'll have those guys on different schedules so they could see them performing against the A pitchers and then kind of making their decision from there.

That's kind of usually how something like this would work where I think I've said that in the past where these spring training battles are bullshit. An injury happens like it did where the guy that you want to start that position is out for the year then you might actually have a battle. I mean, who care? They should just pick up someone outside.

Their whole thing is one-year deals, play them and try to trade them at the deadline if they're worthwhile. Like are they, do they need to give these guys reps to see what they're going at? Can they go get your guy Longoria? Can they get Arcella? Can they pick up a dude who's

Joey Wendell's on the match? I don't think they would do that because they're treating this as like a bridge year. They want to see what these guys have. Like if you can get one of these guys making league minimum and like, oh, this is an answer, a solution for us, then great.

That's my question. I mean, it's still too early to pull the plug on both these guys. I know, exactly. But everywhere else, they're just, like, they were linked to get Urchella, and then you still have so many, like, third baseman that you can get on a one-year deal out there if that's what they want to do. So I wouldn't be shocked if they invite one of these guys to camp. I'd love Longo because I just got into the splits a little bit,

and neither of these guys hit Lefties. So if you could just have Longo, A, that's a win. And then just Longo is your lefty mash and third baseman. Like, that's his role. Be a veteran. Take some of these guys under the wing. I would like that. He's still so young, dude.

I mean, what about Donnie Barrels? Is he with the team? He's not. He's a free agent. He's not. I don't know how much third base he can still play. Yeah, I guess so. But he hit last year.

He did hit last year. All he knows. All he knows. Matt, bring Josh Donaldson in. Do it. You won't. Brad Miller? Oh.

He's having a baby, or did he have a baby? We ask you. I'd ask you. All right. So I think it's, we don't know up in the air. But we're not supposed to know. They're telling us. Go nuts.

One of the kids? I'm watching out for it. Who's going to be the third basement for the Mets? Thank you for you. Spring training and RBIs. Dan, Dan, the Mets fan. Blue Jays can here calling in. I think that the biggest thing that I'm looking forward to watching this year,

because, I mean, unless we add another bat to the lineup, which I think everyone is calling for, we, you know, the team kind of is what it is. And really the only battle, I think, is to see how that fifth spot in the rotation shakes out. We have Alex and Noah obviously working his way back. Ross Hackens has kind of said that that is probably who's going to take it. But Yariol is also getting stretched out. so just Ricky Teeteman, top prospect also looking at the knocking on the door there.

So interesting to see how that plays out. There, the Manoa updates were some of the ones that were fun. Like I was like, okay, cool. Like that's a fun storyline I saw, uh, um, Blankin on manager's name, pissing me off that I can't think of it. Schneider. I was going to say, hide. That's the Orioles. But burly guys.

Talking about it. Like, yeah, you know, he come in good shapes. Heads good. and then Manoa had some good quotes about it, like thinking like last year's actually a benefit. And yes, all of first week of spring training quotes are of this kind. But I was, oh, okay, a bounce back year for Manoa. That would be fun.

Or Ricky Tiedeman? Tiedeman. Yeah, he was... Teeteman. Big lefty and still super young. They signed Rodriguez, who was kind of like a multi-ineralie. like a piggyback guy and bass had some quotes in an article talking about i believe their rotation through the most innings in all the baseball last year they were like just healthy and he's saying and

he he was just talking like we have one of the best pitching staffs in all of baseball and he really believes that then he said you know these guys coming up you know teed him in and the other guy is what francis he goes if they came up and all of a sudden they became our number one starter it wouldn't shock any of us, that's how good a step to have. So if you're talking about four legit starters in your rotation, and then you have France, Teeteman, and Rodriguez, and Manoa, be happy with that, dude. Go look around the state of baseball and look at rotations. There's very few teams that have five, like, bona fide starters in their rotation. It's always, the back end is always a swing state where you have a guy that, yeah, he could be good, but here's a couple of

guys, you know, either in the bullpen to start the year or in AAA, like, I think the state of the Blue Jay's pitching stuff is pretty dang good. I love the Blue Jays pitching, man. That the stuff about those prospects are right, like they're not being banked on. But, you know, for prospects, like we talk about if something clicks, like, if one of those guys starts to click, then this team is either going to have the capital to, like, do a significant move. Because the lineup is just bizarre.

Like, and you know, it's kind of the signature of this Blue Jays team, right? Like, Bichette, Vladdy, even George Springer was kind of, you know, one of those first big free agents they brought in. Like, those top four now being Ritey's, and they signed Justin Turner, I know those guys can hit anyone, but like balance just matters. Like, it's a signature of baseball over time that you wonder if they see something like that, if there's a trade out there to be made for a significant. lefty bat that could break up those guys,

I think it would really make the Blue Jays feel a lot different. So I don't know what's out there. I don't know what's on the table. For spring training, I think Manoa looking like himself would be just such a positive story for that team. Like he became a vocal leader for them. And that would just be nice. Like, wow, this guy that we kind of looked at as our one or two last year,

now he's our five and he looks good. I think that's what you want. And, I mean, Teeteman is still so young that it's like, you know, that guy can get a couple more reps, and if you need them, you call them up. But I don't know. That Blue Jays lineup sends me spinning like once a week. If Blake Snow went to the Blue Jays,

it would be an incredible fit, and it would just make sense. Although don't you guys have some New York Yankees or stadium stats? Stromine? No. Snow. Okay, fine.

He's meh, it's fine. I mean, he would look great. But he would look great on any uniform. I'm just saying that culture and everything, I could see Snow really thriving in Toronto. Article from two days ago says about the Blue Jays number five starter jobs, dealt for grabs, Alec Manoa. They also list Bowden Francis, Mitch White,

Yariya Rodriguez, and Tidaman, who is young, but I guess they say here, He's built like a Greek god. And is like the most, like last year, he was one of the best stories out of spring. And now he's one of the best stories out of spring. Yeah, I guess hasn't even started. They like him. Lefty pitcher.

There we go. Whippy action? 100. Long lefty. 20 years old. Sign me up. One year and one start in AAA last year, though. So I think you got to pump the brakes on that.

They don't pump the brakes anymore, dude. And no breaks. I know we've gotten very young with the offensive players. I don't know if they've gotten young with pitchers. I could be wrong. Might as well take, this is my thought process. If I'm a front office person,

because they all call themselves different things. President baseball, who gives a shit, bro? Just fucking put the roster together. If I was one of those guys, save your bullets for the big leagues. I don't need your bullets in the minor leagues. Right?

Like every pitcher has a limit. amount of bullets before shit happens. I mean, there's very few guys that play their career and don't have some sort of arm issue. So let me get those good young bullets in the big leagues. I don't need them in the minor leagues. How about that? Yuri Perez is the name you would say for Teetamon.

He was in, he skipped AAA, got called up when he was 20 years old. So Marlins did it? Note the name I would say. What would you say? I'd say Neutrophol. Ooh. Okay. 80% of men will experience hair thinning in their lifetime. Hello. It's normal, but it doesn't have to be your fate. Get ahead of it with Nutrafall clinically tested hair growth supplement for men. Number one dermatologist recommended hair growth supplement brand with over 1 million people seeing thicker, stronger, faster growing hair. There's a sneaky JM person who we just found out is a big NutraFal user. Don't know if I can reveal it. You'll have to.

tune in next time. Say thicker again. Thicker. And if you use code talk base, what that? Nutrafol.com slash men and enter promo code talk base. You get $10 off your first month subscription plus free shipping. There's a link in the description. Go get ahead of it with NutraFal.

NutraFal. Hey, Talkin Baseball. This is Marshall from Maryland. I wanted to say that I think the order. and their biggest spring training storyline is probably their young pitching. Not so much braddish, but more so, not so much bradish and burns, but more so Rodriguez and Kramer to see if they're still where they were at last year. I also think to see if Jackson Holiday is going to make the opening day roster.

I think that could be big. I think, you know, he seems like a nice handsome young fella. and I've heard his defense is even better at gunners. The last thing would be Dylan Tate. There was a video that came out a few days ago of him throwing like 103 or something crazy. So to see if he can come back and maybe he can fill him that closure role

if Crembril can't do it. All right, have a good one. Jake sucks. Oh, my gosh. I forgot they signed Craig Kimbril. Yeah. That was not on my radar. Him and Orange is going to be interesting.

Corbyn Burns, every time I see him orange. I'm like, it kind of plays. It looks a little strange, but okay. What was the question? The Jackson Holiday going to make camp, or the team out of camp, and then like the young pitchers, how are they going to bounce back, or not bounce back, but like how are they going to use their sophomore year essentially? And since this guy called the, the Braddish injuries happen, so I think the young pitchers are even more of a storyline now. Yeah, I mean, you guys know I'm Orioles till I

die. The pitching, obviously more interested to see now. I mean, Bradish was incredible last year. I do think the order of operations is funny. Like, if Bradish had gotten hurt and then they traded for Corbyn Burns, I think we would have been like, oh, damn, look at that. Bradish gets hurt. They get burns. That's their replacement. Instead, it happens after and we're like, ooh, this is going to hurt the Orioles. Interested to see their pitching depth and how the young guys bounce back. Obviously, that's a fair topic. I think they've got enough guys that they'll get something out of that. And then Holiday, yeah, that's interesting because, you know, he's essentially been promised. Like, if you check, you know, you don't want to be this guy, but like MLB social media is all over

this guy. Like, we're doing segments. The Orioles are pretty much acting like he's their shortstop. That I guess for me, I just wouldn't want it to be like, you know, those final days of camp, you find out Jackson Holiday is going to start in AAA. Like, imagine the message that would send to the team. So I'd like to think that's not happening. But I don't know. We've seen Orioles do so we've seen other teams do things like that that I don't know. He's got to, they're giving him every chance to get the job out of spring. He's so young, though. There's no, I don't think there's any way he makes a team out of spring. And this is what I was like him to, I want him to make the team, but, you know, I've seen the story before. And I don't,

and I know there's some rule changes if he comes up and and performs at a certain level, he gets a full year of service time anyway, but people, we're still talking about, unless they want to just lock them up right away, then they don't care about service time. But if they want to keep him for all these years and, or to get the extra year, then we'll see him in May. Right? There's so many things I can point to. Oh, he just needs more on seasoning, all this stuff. Like, this is what teams have done for so long that maybe I'm just accustomed to it. Maybe the, maybe the Orioles are all of a sudden going to change the culture of baseball and young kids, but I don't know, man.

I want him up there. You got married. Yeah. 20. He's 20 years old. Hey, this might be your guy guy, Trev. Like, I think he's... I love him.

Hey, let me get married, so I don't have to worry about that anymore. And let me just go break every record. I've told you that, man. As soon as you get married, you don't have to worry about shit anymore. Then you're out at night, on the road. Like, it helps your baseball game out, people. As long as you got a good wife. This doesn't matter, but it does,

matter. His dad was so good. 889 career OPS. Just jacked. Scary, dude. Nickname Big Daddy. I thought that was me. He's so young.

So young. Yeah, he got 18 games at AAA last year. If he has this good camp, he would have to really force their hand, I think, at camp. Because I just don't I don't even know if they're in a rush. But he's penciled in on fan graphs and shit, so maybe. As for their rotation, I don't know.

It's tough to look at for me now. Like there's a lot of talent, but so hard to get repeat performances. Like I think sophomore slump watches my storyline for the Orioles for the first three months. I don't think it's unfair. I don't think it's unfair. Because you don't have, we're trying to think of. this as you know baseball as we've seen it over the last however long we've been watching baseball like you see like trends are trends for a reason because they continue to happen like the league

figures you out like it's it is a very difficult thing to go have continued success through your entire baseball career just doesn't happen so it's not like a slight on these guys like oh there's stuff tick down or um whatever they didn't work hard in the aussies it's like well no no it's a better game plan against you and now they've seen you a little bit more and grace and shown the ability to start shitty and then end strong. So an adjustment had to be made. And, you know, like, he's going to be fine. He's a stud, dude.

All right. Swarvin, Irvin, still there. Love that. Hey, guys. My name's Jimmy. Nice name. Calling about my giants. Curious to see what Junghu Lee becomes.

We want to get an extended look at him. He is, you know, if he's half the guy, they claim him to be. If the media hikes him up to be, that's going to be. That's going to be great because the Giants have been starving for their big free agent. That's not to say he exactly is the dude for some people. I wouldn't say he is for myself after watching what the Dodgers did. Yeah, not a fan. But we get Junghuli, and if he's half decent, we'll be excited for that.

We'll feel a little bit better about our chances. After him, it's Kyle Harrison. He debuted last year, and he looked good. I don't think, I don't have his numbers up, but he looked good, and I'm excited to see him pick up where he left off. I think he could be a 1B starter after Logan Webb, depending on how Cobb looks, depending on what Jordan Hicks does.

But, yeah, Jung Wu Lee and Kyle Harrison are who I'm paying attention to in spring training here. Also, shout out Amir Garrett. We got him on a minor league deal. My name's Chris Archer, and I'm having zero fun. Jake sucks. Love the show, guys. Thanks a lot. Hey, Archer catching strays?

My guy. What is that? didn't have any fun in that brawl. He did not. He did not. Matter of fact. No lies were told. I'll kick off a little bit.

Harrison, him and Teateman, Ricky. They were the two, like, super young lefties that everyone was talking about last spring. Harrison gets dipped in last year and puts up, you know, fine numbers and gets his feet wet. Yeah, if you're a Giants fan, if you think your team's going to do something this year, you have him pairing up with Logan Webb. and that's lefty, righty, one, two punch. Logan Webb, I always constantly underappreciated, like where his stats end up every year are pretty impressive compared to a lot of the pitchers in this league.

And then Zhang Hu Li, it's some mental gymnastics because I think we've come in all a little, you know, foot on the break if we're driving, interested to see. But yeah, I'm certain, you know, we're in fan graphs projection season and stuff like that. they've got him going like 290 batting average 350 on base which yeah if he does that that's a that's a really nice center field ball player um but i think the other thing to look out for even if he does get off to this great start and he shows you like look at yoshita last year say of suzuki like this first season of

162 um in melb like is it a tail of two halves or can he flip that and even if he starts slow get better that's what I would want to track. Like what does his year look like on the whole? Yeah, me and Jimmy from Jimmy the Giants fan listen to different media, I guess. Because I have not been reading the Jungholy hype train articles. There's been a few out there. Like patient hitter commands the strike zone.

You know, but there's also like side-by-side comparison statistics between him and Hassan Kim. I've been reading the cautionary text. articles. Yeah, he's a full power guy, which is fine for where he's playing. He's probably not going to go off there very much. So the power numbers are probably going to be limited, I would say, just by his ability and the park he plays at. So you're banking on, you know, a high on base percentage. You're hoping that he kind of like figures outfield out. Like there's kind of some mixed reviews there as well. Look, it's so hard to project how these guys are.

are going to come over and perform when you get your first taste of Major League Baseball. That's just for anybody. Prospects, people coming from different leagues, different countries. This is a wait and see for me. I hope he does well. I hope he figures things out.

I hope he can make adjustments. The way they say you can make adjustments, he's going to have to. It's just different. Yeah. And then Logan Webb's awesome. I'll echo that. He's one of my favorite pictures to watch.

That power sinkers. Just nasty. Sports Info Solutions last line on an article about Lee says Lee should turn into a solid to above average player with some upside a la Jeff McNeil okay interesting interesting it's interesting just like the those words average to above average by um sports info solutions mean different to your average fan because the average fan judges everyone off versus the top 10% in the entire sport. You know what I mean? Like that means they're saying he's going to be around like 95 to 105

OPS plus and as a fan when you pay big money for a dude, you're naturally expecting him to be way bigger than that. So I think that's where like the, the, uh, reading articles from the scouts and shit is get you get a different understanding. Six years one 13 he got. I forgot he got done money. Yeah. And I think that's the, you know, when when people are saying that's your potential, I just think that's scary because if there's a step down from that, then you're probably not living up to that contract. But hey, I mean, again, if I think he's regarded as a better, a little bit of a better hitter than Hassan Kim coming in, but Hassan Kim's this incredible defender that let's go that job. Let's see what that looks like. So,

Howson Kim's bumped 200 plus mil to other positions. That's awesome, dude. I fucking love that. Danor Bogart's, I mean, growing back there, he had an incredible response to it. If you guys want to check that out, he handled it like the best way you could ever handle something. Yeah, he's won twice.

Dude probably wants to win again pretty bad. And he goes, I won one at third base. I won one at shortstop. Now I want to win one at second base. I'm like, all right, bro. It's awesome. All right, so, I mean, I guess, I consider myself an Angels fan.

I honestly don't know how much longer I can take it. But with that said, I think the biggest struggle, the Angels are going to have the soft season, as I just said, is giving fans a reason to be fans of them because right now, I mean, unless something drastic changes, they already sells or something. I mean, it just seems like there's absolutely no reason to watch them and give them, you know, a cent of your money or a second of your time. Because it's like no matter what, it's like they're determined to win no more than 80 games every year.

So, yeah. Is there a question? Was that just a diary entry? Basically. Are you okay? This is what's happening to Angel Spans We shouldn't be laughing at this I felt like there was a baby crying in the middle at some point

I appreciate I can be the optimistic guy here I can't That was sad Mike truck's not asking for a trade man It's fine yet She would But he might in the future

That's funny That was a great answer by him I'll give you Four reasons Five reasons to be excited and maybe watch this team. Mickey Moniac, Logan O'Hoppy, Zach Netto, and Nolan Chenuel.

Shannon. And Ron Washington, that's fine. Yeah, and Ron Washington. Ron and the kids can be fun. That's what I'm saying. These kids are fun, and Ron, like, is going to bring that out. He was already out there.

I love about fucking Ron Washington. He was out there. Most managers just rove around and they fucking, I'm going to do that. He is in the trenches with these dudes. That's what I was wondering. when he took the job, is he still going to be in the trenches? He was.

He's out there with Zach Nato at shortstop. Be like, no, bro, do this, do that. Like, I love that. So you can get excited about Ron and the kids. That's what I'd be excited about. Okay. I agree. What's wrong?

My favorite picture of Ron Washington is Wikipedia. Best. He doesn't know his favorite picture of him, but that's it. Neutrefall. Mr. Hayden from California, aka Giraffman. I am doing the Guardian. I'm a longtime Guardian fan from Cleveland. Couple things to watch.

Shortstop, don't have one. It's going to be the Daniel Arias and Ryan Rocio. Rios. He was the minor league stud. Arias played in the majors last year. Did pretty well at the end of the year. But he was the centerpiece of the Clevenger trade, so we got a tough thing there.

We don't have a single outfielder, not one. Not one at all. Hopefully, Pamil maybe does something. That'd be nice. If you take all of our good players. And other than that, if our pitching stays healthy, and we get a couple guys that could take a big step on offense, like Josh Naylor and Andreas Amenez and have Jose back.

I mean, I know Trev loves the twins, man, but if they're healthy, we've got one of the best rotations in baseball. So I think the guardians should be a sneaky good team. We just got to get lucky like we did in 2022, and hopefully we don't play those stinky Yankees. Go Guardians, Jake sucks. Yeah. Well, we have the Guardians TPP coming up.

And this was like a roller coaster. This was an overall voicemail, awesome voicemail. I love the energy. I love the optimism at the end, even though he opened up with not having four positions. Shortstop, we don't have one. We don't have a single outfieler. I think those are his quotes. And, yeah, so we have the Guardians team profile and projection coming up.

But good voicemail. Made me rethink maybe what I was saying. I think Look, Kwan is an outfielder. You have Kwan as an outfield. He still put up a 3-6 war last year even though he was dead on 100 OPS plus.

So like, you know, you're getting value there and he's making nothing. So you have one outfielder. You've been searching for a power bat in your outfield for God knows how long. I always bring this up. I'm sorry. Nolan Jones is going to be an absolute star.

That was a bad one for you guys. But yeah, you don't have, I mean, other than that, Yeah, you're searching. And the shortstop thing is, I don't know how they're going to figure that out. We talked about that on the TPP. A lot of people like Rokio. Arias is there.

I think, I don't know how they're going to handle that one. It depends on how they really think their season is going to go. And I'm not in their minds. If they really think that they can compete with, you know, the rotation's good and the vision is not that good. So we can compete. If they really think that, then you've got to put your best foot forward opening day. I don't know if they're going to do that, though. And we just did the TPP,

so we don't want to give too, too much away. But there's so many young players, and it's either, hey, you're the Cincinnati Reds last year and look at all this young talent in your lineup. I just, Cleveland hasn't had the reputation with the hitter. So it's going to be fun to find out with Nailor, Manzardo, whoever's at shortstop, a couple other guys, Davison, Dealo, San.

Santos, your guy guy. Division, bro. Yeah, like, you know, you can get an optimistic young core, and the Guardian's front office deserves a bit of respect. Or, like, you know, not to be hyper rude, and here's some shrapnel, but, like, these royals are supposed to be in, like, their young talent flip window,

and it really didn't happen except kind of Bobby Witt. So it's going to be an interesting year in Cleveland, A new manager, a lot of young guys, but that can mean a lot of things. Go get them. That's what I say. Go get them. Stephen Vo. People are hating on the twins.

Chris Rose. People kind of hate the twins. Yeah. I think people are mad that they're just kind of winning the division. There's some things that could go wrong there, but they've done a good job. There's some solid, solid players there, right? People are hating on the twins. People are sort of hateing.

They got Lopez extended him. They got Buxton, extended him. Like, they've made some moves. I respect her. Me that's supposed to be like a fucking guy. Brought in Trevor Ploof, like, Matt Walner, the Minnesota Moose. Let's not talk to him.

Hey, hey, can't talk twins. This guy was a, he was a Guardians fan. Speaking of Draft Kings. Wow. Nice, Treb. NBA season is rolling. God, what a weekend for them. Pause not.

But you can get in on. the action with their no sweat bet up to $1,000 in a bonus, but I will say this on my wedding anniversary I got really bored, had him bet in a while, a bet on the All-Star game spread, and I won. I can't lose that.

Can't lose that. Live bet. Plus 16, minus 16 and a half for the East. Ugly bet on the All-Star game? And maybe you could hit at the download. Happy anniversary. Download the Draft King Sports. Now use code talk and just asleep. New customers can get a no sweat bet up to $1,000 if your first bet loses only on drafting

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Ages varied by jurisdiction, Void in Ontario. One no-sweat per customer issue. as one bonus bet based on amount of initial losing bet. Bonus bets expire 168 hours after issuance. CDKNG.com slash promos for deposit wagering and eligibility restrictions, terms, and responsible gaming resources. One more ad real quick. If you haven't watched the first game of Blitzball Battle 4 on the J.M. Warehouse channel,

there is an ad that Jake does that you have to go watch. There's a lot more of those coming out. There's five of those. Yeah, well, this one's good. Yeah. Well, the Joe's one is special, so we'll be on the lookout for that. Look out for Joe. Anything can be content.

Mm-hmm. Two more. All right, timer set. So the Red's biggest thing going into the season, you know, turn and play said veteran presence of the Lado's been there for like 17 seasons. That's going to be a big, you know, who has the beginning of season? What are we going to do there? You know, they talked about moving.

Johnson India there. It's going to be, there's a big log jam, really in the infield, outfielders. We got three lefties started outfielders. So, the platoon there is going to be rough. If they have the, it was correct, it's going to be rough there. But that's the biggest thing. Herald for the starters. I think the team can really win the central this year.

You know, if you squint real hard, they can win the central, you know. But if you're not squint, you're not squint. He's like, man, this he's got some holes to fill. But they've got a lot of depth in the farm system, their top 10 farm system, and they're just rolling out guys. So, the other day, the cruise at the All-Star game, let's get them there. Jake sucks. Keep it real. Yeah.

Yeah. Votto. I never really thought about that. Yeah. Votto leaving, is that similar to a Yadi leaving? Because who is the veteran now? Is it India? who has three years of service time.

And kind of like fighting in a way? Like they talked about trading him. Because Candelarios just got over there. He's got six years, but he's just got over there. Tyler Stevenson's got three years on their roster. Who's the veteran? Frankie Montas. Molly?

I would add somebody so, I would get Longoria over there so freaking fast. Hey, Longo, you're not going to play much, too. We have a shit ton of infielders, but, like, want to come hang and, like, be with the boys for a year and, like, teach them how to do things right? Like, they need somebody. That's what he just did with the baby snakes, right? Yeah. That's interesting, dude. I actually never put that together of Otto leaving, and now there's a void of veteran presence.

Who's even the mainstay? I think it's Jonathan India. That's nuts. I'm looking at the roster right now, and, you know, there's, like, Emilio, Pagong just got over there. Suter just got over there. They need an old pitcher, too. Bring in, like, Rich Hill.

India's been in three seasons. That's like when Mancini was the veteran of the Orioles. And he was like, I'm two years in. I will say, I think, I think sneaky, Stevenson's been a part of four seasons. And he's a catcher, catcher's natural leaders. Yep. I think T.J. Friedel.

Catchers work with the pitchers too much, dude. Yeah, well, they got to keep them happy. You know their deal. He's just saying they're on free time. Like, I think sneaky Friedel, India, and Stevenson have all been there for like three years, kind of. So you've got something there. But I love bringing in a couple old. You got to.

You got to bring in somebody. That's a great point, whoever that voicemail. Yeah, you think about all the people they had a couple years ago. Like in India's first year around him, he had. had Barnhart, Votto, Winker was young, but he was part of that crew. Remember we had him on the show? Castianos was there.

Oh, Burgen. Moose was there. Yeah, you weren't part of that. They didn't invite you. You had, um, he signed, though. You had a lot of veterans there, India's first year. Yeah, that is an interesting storyline. Loose, the white socks.

Yeah. Can they trade? I was going to try to trade, trade with the Blue Jays. doesn't really line up. Never mind. We got to find a veteran for the Reds. We got to find a veteran for them. A Reds vet?

Okay. Give me a second. You can find you an old. Jake's looking. Pitcher or hitter. Hitter. Got to be a hitter. Dick care about part-time players.

Let's see. Brandon Bell. Great. Done. That's great. Talk about first base. What else you need? That's all.

You did a great job, Jake. Great find. I'm soft. Next. Next. If they do that, they had trade somebody, but okay. Good. Hey, talking baseball.

It's Nolan from Atlanta, Georgia, here, big Braves fan. There's really not much to talk about what the Braves is there. I think the storylines I'm worried about is who's going to lock up that fifth starter spot between elder and company. Is Chris Lowe going to be able to stay healthy? and if so, how is he going to perform? You know, it needs to be healthy for the playoffs at the very least. And I think another thing is, are we going to lock up Mac Street? Are we going to lose them to Brigency?

And it feels like inevitably the Dodgers. Like, I feel like he's been a Dodger for the last three years not even being on the Dodgers. But, yeah, not many questions. Just a couple rotation spots. All right. I love it, Braves fans. Nothing doing, but we're just kind of worried about,

next year. Is Friede going to be here next year? What a good place to be. And Treve, you know the answer to that. Freed question, right? I would have, this is my honest answer. Knowing him, I can't believe he hasn't already signed a long-term contract in Atlanta. It's crazy. Like, he's not a guy that's out there to gouge anybody for money. Like, he's not like, I need a test free agency. I don't think he even needs to be in Los Angeles. Like, I don't think he needs to be a Dodger. I don't think, honestly. it's not his personality. Like he's had success there,

as comfortable there. Like, I feel like he should have been locked up so long ago and they just missed the window. And even his agency, like, CAA is not like,

we need a test free agency. They're not that kind of a, they're okay with extensions. So it's shocking to me that it hasn't happened yet. But at this point, yeah,

I think he's going to see what's out there. And I actually don't see him as a Dodger. How about that? I just don't see it. Okay. We love it.

It's a phrase I've never used seriously, but I mean, sneaky, like rent-free voicemail there. Like, what? Yeah. Max Fried's contract year, you've already got them in the Dodgers next year. That's a little, I mean, I guess good for the Dodgers. That's just how they've been living. Hey, Max Fried's last 83 starts.

They have a lot of pitchers, the Dodgers. Four years. 266 ERA. He's a stud. Man, if Max is out there for 27 plus starts this year, he's going to get Baglio Ardornias. I didn't like that. Honestly, and I know, people get mad when I talk about this,

but he's like a great person. He's a nice guy. He's not going to fuck up. You have to take that into consideration. Like he's kind of not date my daughter because I'm worried my daughter would be, like, rude to him. She break his right? He can do better than that.

My daughter's a little mean, Max. My daughter's just a little mean. Wow. Yeah, she is. You should find somebody kind. Damn. Yeah. It's tough.

Yeah, it's insane that he hasn't. But yeah, they're so set. It's ridiculous, man. Brave spring training, worried about free agency. Come on. I do. I do. I mean, here's their fifth starter candidates.

Elder Darius Vinez, Smith Shaver, Dylan Dahl. There's so many. Husker, Yanoa, Ian Anderson, eye on, can you step it back up? They have a lot of options. I am very, very curious to see if Chris Sale just gets like a spark of new life.

He looks the same. You guys, like... He was a good last year. Do you see that video of him having catch with Freed? It looked awful. Like, no, like in a complimentary way. Like, the way the ball comes out of his hand Yeah.

It's just, I felt bad for freed. Like, that's the worst throwing partner ever. I want to watch this. Where was it? It's probably the weirdest that I've ever took in the big leagues was Chris Dale. I got used to because I face them so much. But it is a strange, it's different. It was either Braves or MLB media account.

But I was like, yeah, look at them playing catch. I was like, that stinks for free. If they give sale the fifth starter job out of spring training, I would assume they have almost a six-man-ish rotation where you got somebody ready to like, I don't think he's going to go long in games to start the year. So you have to have another guy, swing guy, whoever that may be.

But I would bank on him being, I think, the fifth guy. Okay. All right. Is there any more? That's it. Trab, the three pictures you face the most is hell. That's not great. Sail Kluber-Virlander.

Yeah It's tough It was tough The division was very flush with pitching When I was there Starting pitching for sure I did my best guys

Fuck Yeah Identical batting averages Vers saling cluber 283 283 That's pretty good Trev

Kluber never walked to you I was I was never a batting average guy I was ahead of my time How about oh Can we talk about Bill James Yeah Yeah

Get the fuck out of here bro. Yeah. I can't. You should have taken that to the grave. You should never have said that. Yeah, I said it's basically like the Pope coming out and being like, you know what, gay marriage is cool. Divorce is fine.

Everything we were talking about before is bullshit. Like people are living and dying on your word, Bill James. All the nerds out there have been telling Jake and I clutch doesn't exist and situational baseball is a sham. Bill James said it. And Bill's like, actually, guys, uh, uh, uh, we didn't have. have enough data. I think I might have been part of the problem here or really led people think in that situational hitting. If you need to believe in the analytics, you need to believe in the analytics all the time. Yeah. Human element. There's no human element. We can't track it.

So it went from, we have the data that supports it. There is no such thing in situational hitting too. We didn't have enough data to support the fact that there is no situational hitting. Dude, and every single player that stepped in a batter's box has said, well, there's guys that handle the bat a little bit better than others in situations. This guy can put the barrel to the ball and maybe move a runner or hit behind a runner. This guy's better than RBI situations. And now we're, we got completely shit on. And now all of a sudden, like, actually, that's true.

And if you just watch the games, you know it's true. I mean, some guys can bunt. Some guys can't. Treve, I haven't. Sometimes bunting's okay. I haven't, I haven't reacted to this from a place of anger yet. Because I was just like, thank God that this far. is over because you're fucking God, the one who made the laws.

That's, it's a great time. Came down and said, never mind everybody. And I love analytics and I love diving into data. Sure. But it's unbelievable that there were people and still probably people out there were like, well, actually Bill James didn't mean all that. Like still finding like that were just dismissing the place. players.

It needs to co-exist. Like the data doesn't exist. Interview every fucking player and there's some data. And they're like, no, that data is not a number. So only numbers here. It's like the most obtuse thing that has ever happened by a smart person. Too smart for their own good. Yes.

I know a lot of people like that, dude. A lot of people. It's good to be just a little dumb. Hello. Billy Butler, great hitter. We're friends. Great hitter. Text them.

I don't think I have his number anymore. You do. Didn't he text? You do. One of the first time... You didn't save it? One of the first time... Trev.

We, like, talked to you at a text from her, like, last year or something like that. That's a Jake move. No, don't you remember... I think I've told this story before. Billy Butler would give me his number. Like, he would hit batting practice, and then he would stay outside and, like, hang out with... the other team when like the twins when we would hit batting practice he would talk to me and he'd

like give me his number like he gave his number like he's not he's never like you have it billy and you didn't say and he just wouldn't text him did it billy beller hate his teammates is that what we're finding no he's he's he's i don't want this to be like a billy butler slander session he's a great guy sounds like he's hilarious very nice he just like that's he loved being at the yard and talking ball dude he just loved it so much like that dude looks baseball he was he was collecting data that mattered to him. Yeah. Insights.

He could hit, bro. He could. Situations. So yeah. Thanks, Bill James. Just a casual Sunday night or Saturday night, whatever it was. Never mind. Sorry to my faithful listeners.

Never mind. Oh. Ground balls to second. When there's a runner on second can help you win a game. And you can do it on purpose? Nah. And some guys might be back. or out it's a tool that if you can do it on purpose.

Luis Sarai should go back to fucking arbitration. No, let's do this again. Hey, have you seen the video that Jake tagged me personally in about Louis Sirai's that maybe you have or have not? The drill he does when he hits off a tee? It's fucking wild, Trev. Do you have the shout of me? So if this is the T, this is the T,

he goes, and he's looking at the ball, and he looks down. and then his he but it was hilarious how he did it so after every swing okay and snapped his head like right back to look at the ball Jake I don't know where you saw that

but you tagged me in it was on instant ham it was on Instagram I don't know what to count or anything yeah maybe it was his I think I sent it to you that's what I'm saying you sent it to me yeah and I enjoyed the hell out of it I know him and Nelly Cruz do some interesting drills together

I know that Hey, whatever it's He's doing. It's working. It'd be working. It's working. I like him. I'm not.

All right. Is that the app? That's the app. MLB and Louis Reyes combined items. The lab. So much bodily fluid lost us a weekend between the four of us. To hydrate. It's true.

Oh, I was hydrated. I've got a drink in a week. Thanks, people.